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LGBT Gypsies and Travellers: Our Stories
Many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people from Gypsy Roma and Traveller communities sadly experience homophobia, which is similar to many other cultures. Many hide their sexual identity because they fear rejection by their family and community, others because of their religious beliefs.
There is no empirical research or statistics to evidence the hidden problem of homophobia within the Gypsy Roma Traveller communities against their own LGBT community. From our own casework and engagement with the wider Gypsy Roma Traveller (GRT) NGO sector and various other stakeholder groups, we know this is a real issue within the GRT community, however it is still rarely talked about.
The shame and guilt inflicted on LGBT community members has and can force many to live their lives in denial, in secret, fearing for their health and wellbeing.
Read our guidance to find support services to help you overcome these issues (download link below). It is intended as a basic information guide to identify how to stay safe and offers services for family and friends.
On the Road to Being YouIt’s important to stay safe and do things at your own pace.
It is common for people to struggle to identify their sexual identity for many and varied reasons. The first thing to note is that being part of the LGBT community is okay.
Although times are changing, homophobia still exists in all communities. The fear or dislike of homosexual people is encountered anywhere, much like prejudices against Travellers or Gypsies in general. Being LGBT doesn’t change who you are, it’s only one small thing about you, though it may feel big at the moment. | <urn:uuid:1e99ff26-3800-447d-9b70-7375c310badb> | CC-MAIN-2019-13 | https://travellermovement.org.uk/advocacy-support/lgbt | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-13/segments/1552912202303.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20190320064940-20190320090940-00027.warc.gz | en | 0.962494 | 343 | 2.75 | 3 |
There are many reasons why we should have an aquarium for decorating our interior. Yet, the most glaring reason is to get some refreshments. We can have only a small bowl to keep our gold fish. Besides, we can purchase a big aquarium to keep various fish. The biggest the aquarium the more beautiful it will be. We can enjoy colorful fish inside the aquarium with the pretty landscape. The first species are varied as well. We can choose both small and big fish for coloring our aquarium. If we are planning to have a big fish tank, we need to opt for big freshwater aquarium fish that looks perfect for it.
We have to learn the character of fish in order to keep it optimally. Additionally, we have to know the survival capabilities and the best living atmosphere for the fish. Here are some types of big freshwater fish to choose from:
This fish is the native to the Amazon River basin. The colors are bright and the patterns are cute. It is beautiful to have the Discus fish since they have the wide variety of the stunning colors. The fish have been popular for at least 4 decades. They are easy to maintain and can survive well. The fish can grow to 8- 10 inches. It is also beautiful to have this fish because of their special behavior. Unlike other fish, Discus can recognize the owners. Besides, they can also greet with their special gesture.
It is a big fish with 48 inches in the wild. In the captivity, the fish can grow to 30 inches. Therefore, we need to have a big tank for keeping it. The size should be at least 4ft x 4ft. It is better if we can have a larger aquarium. It is crucial to give them sufficient space to swim and turn around. What do they eat? Arowana eats live fish like crabs and shrimp. We can also feed them with bugs, frozen foods, or pellets. If we keep the Arowana in our tank, we have to equip it with a heavy filtration. The fish make a huge waste so we need to keep the tank clean with good quality and heavy filtration.
3. Freshwater Sting Rays
If you do not want to make your giant aquarium too mainstream, sting rays will be a great choice.
To take care of this type of fish is not easy at all. We have to note that the skin and tails are fragile. Besides, we need to keep it with the right mates. Larger fish and non-aggressive fish are recommended.
We can find big freshwater aquarium fish for sale at the fish shop. However, we need to make sure that we buy from a reliable store so we can get a stable fish with little risk to get stressed. What we should remember is that we need to have bigger freshwater aquarium fish as the big fish tank mates. That way, the big fish will live healthily and safely. Please check my another post about Top 10 Cool looking freshwater fish | <urn:uuid:e84a685f-97cb-4f8d-95ad-3e6462c890b6> | CC-MAIN-2019-35 | https://blogaquarium.com/opt-big-freshwater-aquarium-fish/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-35/segments/1566027330786.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20190825173827-20190825195827-00035.warc.gz | en | 0.96326 | 601 | 2.5625 | 3 |
The World Summit on
Sustainable Development in September 2002 was an anti-climactic
conclusion to three decades of global environmental activism. Delegates
agreed few new targets for governmental action, save a welcome pledge to
halve the number of people without access to sanitation and safe drinking
water by the year 2015.
What did emerge from Johannesburg was a new debate. Many governments
and some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) argued that voluntary
partnerships between business, governments, and NGOs were the best way to
make concrete progress on sustainable development
Ten years earlier the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro generated a
long list of official commitments and optimism that governments could
protect the environment and reduce poverty. Johannesburg symbolised the
extent to which Globalisation has scrambled the interests and capabilities
of governments, corporations, and activists. Now former antagonists are
drawn to work together in ways that are uncomfortable, controversial, and
yet often highly effective. It is an era of strange bedfellows.
The New Global Context for Environmental Action
Thirty years of effort to restore and protect the environment has left
a mixed record. While many local environments are on the mend key global
trends are worsening
The Kyoto Protocol, which
will likely enter into force after 2002, will not solve the problem of
global warming. Leaving aside the intransigence of the U.S. (the largest
single source of greenhouse gases) the Protocol does not commit the
developing countries (collectively the world's largest source of future
greenhouse gasses) to reduce emissions.
There are good reasons for omitting developing countries from the Kyoto
mandate. The developed nations are responsible for the current high levels
of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and they have greater financial and
technological capabilities to reduce emissions. Ultimately, however, the
solution to climate change and other global environmental problems will
depend on the active participation of the developing world.
Globalisation has proved a two-edged sword for business and the
environment. As the political will and capabilities of governments to
address environmental issues has waned, private capital has become the
main source of foreign investment in many developing countries. The
multinational companies whose investments have helped to create economic
gains and environmental stresses in the developing world now face pressure
to improve their environmental performance. Similarly in the United
States, a trickle of voluntary initiatives has become a flood.
The contrast between Johannesburg and Rio illustrates the extent to
which the institutional context for addressing environmental problems has
changed. Broadly speaking, governments came to Johannesburg with less
interest and fewer resources than they brought to Rio. Business, on the
other hand came ready to do business and enter into partnerships with
environmental organisations and governments.
Some NGOs want government to reassume a strong hand in regulating the
growing influence of global corporations. Others are trying to surf the
new waves; aligning with the corporations who seem more motivated than
governments to take action on environmental issues.
In one sense, partnerships between corporations and environmental
organisations are not new. Companies have provided charitable grants for
the programs of environmental organisations for decades. The controversy
in Johannesburg surrounded a new type of partnership in which the common
interest of the company and the NGO has grown beyond philanthropy. Now
both organisations seek to solve an environmental problem associated with
the company's core business without waiting for a government mandate.
These partnerships are a significant departure from the ways in which NGOs
and businesses have typically behaved.
The Pioneers: Environmental Defense and McDonald's
Two of the first organisations to break this tradition were
Environmental Defense (formerly known as the Environmental Defense Fund or
EDF) and McDonald's, who launched a landmark partnership in 1990 to reduce
waste in McDonald's restaurants and supply chain. This reduced more
than 150,000 tons of packaging, recycled more than two million tons of
corrugated cardboard, and purchased more than $4 billion worth of products
made from recycled
materials. It has been followed by similar
initiatives to reduce water and energy consumption and a new
partnership with the Center for Environmental Leadership in Business at
Conservation International to promote conservation and sustainable
agricultural practices among suppliers of commodities, such as fish, beef,
potatoes, and oils.
While difficult to prove, it is likely that the
McDonald's-Environmental Defense initiative spurred other companies and
NGOs to partner on voluntary environmental action. EDF in 1994 launched
the Alliance for Environmental Innovation, which has undertaken similar waste-reduction
initiatives. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has launched
more than 30 voluntary programs to encourage the private sector to act
above and beyond regulatory
requirements (pdf 139Kb). EPA's Project XL grants companies the
flexibility to test alternative approaches that achieve better
environmental results more efficiently than existing regulatory
requirements. Other EPA
voluntary programs promote pollution prevention, energy efficiency,
water efficiency, waste minimisation, mass transit, watershed
conservation, sustainable agriculture, and more.
This is an edited version of a paper given to the New America Foundation on 20 November 2002.
Discuss in our Forums
See what other readers are saying about this article!
Click here to read & post comments. | <urn:uuid:b5e357c1-8ab9-4a1a-924e-e693a140a66a> | CC-MAIN-2022-27 | https://onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=1180 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-27/segments/1656103645173.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20220629211420-20220630001420-00522.warc.gz | en | 0.926701 | 1,122 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Words nearby winding drum
How to use winding drum in a sentence
Even his signature instrument, Auto-Tune, has become as accepted an ingredient in hip-hop as the drum machine.Future Makes Us Rethink Everything We Thought We Knew About Rap Artists|Luke Hopping|December 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
One of its few concessions to the luxurious standards of the neighbors is a long, winding road.Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days|David Freeman|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Check out Le Marais, one of the oldest quarters of the city, where gay-friendly establishments line the winding cobbled lanes.
You will find winding pasture for sheep and highland cattle.
Bulbous columns, winding staircases, and whimsical bas-reliefs of mythical creatures wrap around the palace.
If you use it wisely, it may be Ulysses' hauberk; if you reject it, the shirt of Nessus were a cooler winding-sheet!The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4|Jane Porter
Roulard had played the trumpet in the regimental band in which Aristide had played the kettle drum.
There a familiar sound met his ears—the roll of a drum followed by an incantation in a quavering, high-pitched voice.
"I wonder if 'twas a brass drum, such as has 'Eblubust Unum' printed on't," said Mrs. Slocum.
His arm was drawn around the drum, and finally his whole body was drawn over the shaft, at a fearful rate. | <urn:uuid:4b920022-ffad-4719-b9f7-d15d1df8f2c1> | CC-MAIN-2021-43 | https://www.dictionary.com/browse/winding-drum | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-43/segments/1634323587799.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20211026042101-20211026072101-00543.warc.gz | en | 0.954884 | 350 | 2.625 | 3 |
The global energy and water communities must work together to face some of the main challenges and provide clean drinking water and energy for a growing world population.
That’s the message from the World Water Week which kicked off in Sweden yesterday, where decision-makers, businesses and practitioners from across the globe have met to discuss issues related to the “inextricable connections” between energy and water.
While energy is needed for pumping, storing, treating and transporting water, water is also needed to produce almost all sorts of energy. This year’s event seeks to find solutions to the challenges of water and energy in the world.
Torgny Holmgren, Executive Director of World Water believes the challenges are “immense”.
He added: “With the global demand for water projected to grow by 55% between 2000 and 2050 and electricity demand expected to increase by 50% in the next two decades, there is an urgent need for a closer relationship between the energy and water communities if we are to provide solutions for all peoples to prosper.”
According to the World Bank, more than 748 million people lack access to water, 2.5 billion lack access to sanitation and more than 1.2 billion people don’t have access to electricity. | <urn:uuid:8341f946-55bb-4943-a3ab-21487a8ce42b> | CC-MAIN-2017-43 | http://www.energylivenews.com/2014/09/01/world-water-week-discusses-energy-and-water-links/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-43/segments/1508187828134.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20171024033919-20171024053919-00809.warc.gz | en | 0.947519 | 263 | 2.78125 | 3 |
During the polar vortex that brought frigid temps to a wide swath of the Southeast in February, millions of Texans lost power when un-weatherized power systems froze, leaving customers to face several days without heat. It’s an event that has captured nationwide attention and left many asking whether this could happen here. The event also presented an excuse for the fossil fuel industry to falsely question the reliability of wind energy — an energy resource from which North Carolina’s economy stands to gain billions of dollars of investment and thousands of jobs.
What actually happened in Texas? Texas regulators and grid operators do not require weatherization measures — for extreme winter or summer conditions — at power plants. Natural gas supply dropped nearly 45% as gas facilities froze and, since the Texas energy market was not set up to exchange energy with other regional providers, as we are here in North Carolina, they were left without options. All power systems, including wind, can be — and are, in most areas — weatherized to protect against outages induced by hot or cold temperatures. With climate change increasing the frequency and intensity of these types of extreme weather events in all seasons, we’ll need to be focused on building more resilient energy systems that minimize impacts to the health and safety of our people and our local economies.
Unfortunately, wind energy was used as a scapegoat early on as Texans lost power. Energy experts and elected officials have mostly set the record straight about the cause of the outages, debunking those who initially blamed wind — pointing to how well wind turbines work in very cold places like Minnesota, Alaska, and Antarctica — but that misinformation was damaging. Setting the record straight is especially important here in North Carolina because wind is a critical energy resource we can employ to reduce pollution and grow our clean energy economy. Wind projects — both onshore and offshore — are capable of generating large volumes of energy to power homes and businesses, and we have opportunities to significantly expand our investment in this resource.
Earlier this month, the N.C. Department of Commerce released a report indicating the wind industry will bring $140 billion of investment to the East Coast — both through the construction of wind projects and the build out of the manufacturing supply chain. It will be up to us to compete for as large a piece of that $140 billion pie as we can. Our neighbor, Virginia, for example, is well ahead of us in their commitment to offshore wind, and time is of the essence if we hope to win any of these investments and projects — and the good-paying jobs that come with it.
Another important takeaway from Texas is how over-invested they are in fossil fuel infrastructure, with gas making up 51% of their energy mix, and coal coming in just over 13%. Around 30% of their coal and natural gas plants were down during the event, accounting for a majority of the power loss. There are signs of progress on the transition away from fossil fuels in the Southeast, but we’ve got a long way to go.
In 2020, Duke Energy rolled out a climate report that detailed their path to net zero carbon emissions. While there’s optimism around Duke’s focus on reducing carbon and expanding renewables, the company’s overreliance on gas in its near-term and long-term plans will be risky and expensive for North Carolina customers. A greater focus on limiting carbon pollution and transitioning to cleaner, more affordable, more resilient energy sources like wind and solar is needed.
The state’s Clean Energy Plan provides the direction Duke and other stakeholders need to pursue a cleaner path, reducing our reliance on the coal and gas sources that are fueling climate change. This cleaner path is critical to our state’s economic health, too, employing 112,000 North Carolinians and driving billions of dollars of investment into our state every year from manufacturing and other sectors. Wind and solar are not only reliable, particularly combined with new, more accessible energy storage options, they are now the cheapest sources of electricity across the country. We have too much to gain from the wind industry to let a misinformation campaign from Texas keep us from seizing those benefits. Renewable energy paves North Carolina’s path toward a healthier, more affordable, more reliable and resilient clean energy future.
To stimulate discussion and debate, Coastal Review Online welcomes differing viewpoints on topical coastal issues. See our guidelines for submitting guest columns. The opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of Coastal Review Online or the North Carolina Coastal Federation. | <urn:uuid:4f26d257-beed-40bd-bfe8-cb2773de6a82> | CC-MAIN-2021-39 | https://coastalreview.org/2021/03/nc-has-much-to-gain-from-wind-power/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-39/segments/1631780060877.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20210928153533-20210928183533-00087.warc.gz | en | 0.950869 | 915 | 2.71875 | 3 |
LIVERPOOL is to become home to the world's first permanent transatlantic slave trade museum.
The #10m centre of excellence, provisionally titled the National Museum and Centre for the Understanding of Transatlantic Slavery, aims to be open to the public in 2007.
The new museum will expand on an existing gallery, Against Human Dignity, which is already part of the city's Maritime Museum.
It is hoped to also introduce a new research institute which will develop further understanding of the slave trade.
National Museums Liverpool director Dr David Fleming said: "We want to replace that gallery with something bigger which addresses issues of racism and makes it much more relevant to the modern world."
Dr Fleming believes that the full story of the slave trade is currently not being properly addressed.
Although the British side of the story is often explored, in order to correct any misapprehensions about the slave trade, the African and transatlantic version of events must also be told.
The Daily Post understands that one of the most likely sites of the new museum is the old Granada studios next to the Maritime Museum.
Liverpool played a prominent role in the slave trade in the late eighteenth century and the trade was central to the development of the city and its economy.
Dr Fleming said: "Much of the wealth of Liverpool was based on profits of the slave trade.
Remnants of the slave trade can be found in the architecture of distinguished landmarks around the city, including the Town Hall.
Although slavery is still considered by many to be a very sensitive issue, NML is adamant the new centre is not intended to reopen wounds. Dr Fleming insists that guilt should not be the factor that prevents the issue of slavery being confronted.
"The fact that it's an unpleasant story, and that not enough people know about it, shouldn't equal guilt. It's been unfairly neglected because of guilt," he said
The new museum should be up and running to coincide with the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade and it will become a major tourist attraction.
NML is positive the exhibit will prove to be a big success. Dr Fleming added: "This is an ambition of ours. NML feels very strongly about this project. It will become a must seel." | <urn:uuid:3f47555a-6036-4da3-9cba-2a9949182690> | CC-MAIN-2019-22 | https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpool-open-10m-slave-museum-3537959 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-22/segments/1558232256227.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20190521042221-20190521064221-00351.warc.gz | en | 0.963337 | 463 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Cathedral House Conference Room
Despite the image of America as an egalitarian society, it has, since early in its history, a binary system for defining citizenship and privilege. The marker for power and privilege became race. Blackness symbolized evil, abject states and otherness. Institutions in our society present themselves as race neutral but are influenced by the lifetime of conscious and unconscious stereotypes and beliefs held by those who control the institution.
Given this reality, this workshop will examine how our own racial identities develop in such a context where racism is like the smog in the air we all breathe. We will explore some of the ways we have encountered and responded to difference. Ideally, as we expand our consciousness, we have more capacity to find the "other" within ourselves and to encounter "others" from a place of identification and connection.
Janice O. Bennett, PhD is a psychologist/psychoanalyst in private practice. She writes and presents on race, culture and the legacy of slavery.
Sarah Hill, LCSW is a psychotherapist and bodyworker. She is also a teacher and a writer and is always grateful for opportunities to talk about race.
For more information, contact Steven Lee at firstname.lastname@example.org or 212.316.7483. | <urn:uuid:e0904f78-2a28-49be-b7d3-1f57fc30e897> | CC-MAIN-2018-05 | http://www.saintsaviour.org/events/2017/5/8/dialogues-on-race-and-religion-racism-and-its-impact-on-american-society | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-05/segments/1516084886739.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20180116204303-20180116224303-00450.warc.gz | en | 0.951806 | 265 | 2.6875 | 3 |
The Panthéon (French: [pɑ̃.te.ɔ̃]; Latin: pantheon, from Greek πάνθειον (ἱερόν) ‘(temple) to all the gods’) is a building in the Latin Quarter in Paris, France. It originally functioned as a church dedicated to Paris patron saint Genevieve to house the reliquary châsse containing her relics, but secularized during the French Revolution and designated as a mausoleum containing the remains of distinguished French citizens. It is an early example of neo-classicism, with a façade modelled on the Pantheon in Rome, surmounted by a dome that owes some of its character to Bramante‘s Tempietto. Located in the 5th arrondissement on the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, the Panthéon looks out over all of Paris. Designer Jacques-Germain Soufflot had the intention of combining the lightness and brightness of the Gothic cathedral with classical principles, but its role as a mausoleum required the great Gothic windows to be blocked.
For more … consult Wikipedia: The Panthéon | <urn:uuid:7ad0b2b5-d2c4-4290-9332-af34443921c8> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://www.paris-savannah.com/2011/08/09/the-pantheon/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233510149.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20230926043538-20230926073538-00583.warc.gz | en | 0.937719 | 266 | 2.671875 | 3 |
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You can find more information about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set on your device and how to manage and delete them at www.aboutcookies.org. | <urn:uuid:0f5581a7-41ce-4c38-a234-00ec5662f4eb> | CC-MAIN-2017-22 | http://udsc.gov.pl/en/regulaminy-i-cookie/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-22/segments/1495463609061.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20170527210417-20170527230417-00040.warc.gz | en | 0.956176 | 133 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Cognitive impairments affect the majority of patients with schizophrenia and these impairments predict poor long term psychosocial outcomes. Treatment studies aimed at cognitive impairment in patients with schizophrenia not only require demonstration of improvements on cognitive tests, but also evidence that any cognitive changes lead to clinically meaningful improvements. Measures of “functional capacity” index the extent to which individuals have the potential to perform skills required for real world functioning. Current data do not support the recommendation of any single instrument for measurement of functional capacity. The Virtual Reality Functional Capacity Assessment Tool (VRFCAT) is a novel, interactive gaming based measure of functional capacity that uses a realistic simulated environment to recreate routine activities of daily living. Studies are currently underway to evaluate and establish the VRFCAT’s sensitivity, reliability, validity, and practicality. This new measure of functional capacity is practical, relevant, easy to use, and has several features that improve validity and sensitivity of measurement of function in clinical trials of patients with CNS disorders.
21 Related JoVE Articles!
Handwriting Analysis Indicates Spontaneous Dyskinesias in Neuroleptic Naïve Adolescents at High Risk for Psychosis
Institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, NeuroScript LLC, University of California, San Diego.
Growing evidence suggests that movement abnormalities are a core feature of psychosis. One marker of movement abnormality, dyskinesia, is a result of impaired neuromodulation of dopamine in fronto-striatal pathways. The traditional methods for identifying movement abnormalities include observer-based reports and force stability gauges. The drawbacks of these methods are long training times for raters, experimenter bias, large site differences in instrumental apparatus, and suboptimal reliability. Taking these drawbacks into account has guided the development of better standardized and more efficient procedures to examine movement abnormalities through handwriting analysis software and tablet. Individuals at risk for psychosis showed significantly more dysfluent pen movements (a proximal measure for dyskinesia) in a handwriting task. Handwriting kinematics offers a great advance over previous methods of assessing dyskinesia, which could clearly be beneficial for understanding the etiology of psychosis.
Behavior, Issue 81, Schizophrenia, Disorders with Psychotic Features, Psychology, Clinical, Psychopathology, behavioral sciences, Movement abnormalities, Ultra High Risk, psychosis, handwriting, computer tablet, dyskinesia
Investigating the Effects of Antipsychotics and Schizotypy on the N400 Using Event-Related Potentials and Semantic Categorization
Institutions: McGill University, McGill University, McGill University, McGill University.
Within the field of cognitive neuroscience, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a popular method of visualizing brain function. This is in part because of its excellent spatial resolution, which allows researchers to identify brain areas associated with specific cognitive processes. However, in the quest to localize brain functions, it is relevant to note that many cognitive, sensory, and motor processes have temporal distinctions that are imperative to capture, an aspect that is left unfulfilled by fMRI’s suboptimal temporal resolution. To better understand cognitive processes, it is thus advantageous to utilize event-related potential (ERP) recording as a method of gathering information about the brain. Some of its advantages include its fantastic temporal resolution, which gives researchers the ability to follow the activity of the brain down to the millisecond. It also directly indexes both excitatory and inhibitory post-synaptic potentials by which most brain computations are performed. This sits in contrast to fMRI, which captures an index of metabolic activity. Further, the non-invasive ERP method does not require a contrast condition: raw ERPs can be examined for just one experimental condition, a distinction from fMRI where control conditions must be subtracted from the experimental condition, leading to uncertainty in associating observations with experimental or contrast conditions. While it is limited by its poor spatial and subcortical activity resolution, ERP recordings’ utility, relative cost-effectiveness, and associated advantages offer strong rationale for its use in cognitive neuroscience to track rapid temporal changes in neural activity. In an effort to foster increase in its use as a research imaging method, and to ensure proper and accurate data collection, the present article will outline – in the framework of a paradigm using semantic categorization to examine the effects of antipsychotics and schizotypy on the N400 – the procedure and key aspects associated with ERP data acquisition.
Behavior, Issue 93, Electrical brain activity, Semantic categorization, Event-related brain potentials, Neuroscience, Cognition, Psychiatry, Antipsychotic medication, N400, Schizotypy, Schizophrenia.
Generation of Comprehensive Thoracic Oncology Database - Tool for Translational Research
Institutions: University of Chicago, University of Chicago, Northshore University Health Systems, University of Chicago, University of Chicago, University of Chicago.
The Thoracic Oncology Program Database Project was created to serve as a comprehensive, verified, and accessible repository for well-annotated cancer specimens and clinical data to be available to researchers within the Thoracic Oncology Research Program. This database also captures a large volume of genomic and proteomic data obtained from various tumor tissue studies. A team of clinical and basic science researchers, a biostatistician, and a bioinformatics expert was convened to design the database. Variables of interest were clearly defined and their descriptions were written within a standard operating manual to ensure consistency of data annotation. Using a protocol for prospective tissue banking and another protocol for retrospective banking, tumor and normal tissue samples from patients consented to these protocols were collected. Clinical information such as demographics, cancer characterization, and treatment plans for these patients were abstracted and entered into an Access database. Proteomic and genomic data have been included in the database and have been linked to clinical information for patients described within the database. The data from each table were linked using the relationships function in Microsoft Access to allow the database manager to connect clinical and laboratory information during a query. The queried data can then be exported for statistical analysis and hypothesis generation.
Medicine, Issue 47, Database, Thoracic oncology, Bioinformatics, Biorepository, Microsoft Access, Proteomics, Genomics
P50 Sensory Gating in Infants
Institutions: University of Colorado School of Medicine, Colorado State University.
Attentional deficits are common in a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders including attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, autism, bipolar mood disorder, and schizophrenia. There has been increasing interest in the neurodevelopmental components of these attentional deficits; neurodevelopmental meaning that while the deficits become clinically prominent in childhood or adulthood, the deficits are the results of problems in brain development that begin in infancy or even prenatally. Despite this interest, there are few methods for assessing attention very early in infancy. This report focuses on one method, infant auditory P50 sensory gating.
Attention has several components. One of the earliest components of attention, termed sensory gating, allows the brain to tune out repetitive, noninformative sensory information. Auditory P50 sensory gating refers to one task designed to measure sensory gating using changes in EEG. When identical auditory stimuli are presented 500 ms apart, the evoked response (change in the EEG associated with the processing of the click) to the second stimulus is generally reduced relative to the response to the first stimulus (i.e.
the response is "gated"). When response to the second stimulus is not reduced, this is considered a poor sensory gating, is reflective of impaired cerebral inhibition, and is correlated with attentional deficits.
Because the auditory P50 sensory gating task is passive, it is of potential utility in the study of young infants and may provide a window into the developmental time course of attentional deficits in a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders. The goal of this presentation is to describe the methodology for assessing infant auditory P50 sensory gating, a methodology adapted from those used in studies of adult populations.
Behavior, Issue 82, Child Development, Psychophysiology, Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders, Evoked Potentials, Auditory, auditory evoked potential, sensory gating, infant, attention, electrophysiology, infants, sensory gating, endophenotype, attention, P50
Nerve Excitability Assessment in Chemotherapy-induced Neurotoxicity
Institutions: University of New South Wales , University of New South Wales , University of New South Wales .
Chemotherapy-induced neurotoxicity is a serious consequence of cancer treatment, which occurs with some of the most commonly used chemotherapies1,2
. Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy produces symptoms of numbness and paraesthesia in the limbs and may progress to difficulties with fine motor skills and walking, leading to functional impairment. In addition to producing troubling symptoms, chemotherapy-induced neuropathy may limit treatment success leading to dose reduction or early cessation of treatment. Neuropathic symptoms may persist long-term, leaving permanent nerve damage in patients with an otherwise good prognosis3
. As chemotherapy is utilised more often as a preventative measure, and survival rates increase, the importance of long-lasting and significant neurotoxicity will increase.
There are no established neuroprotective or treatment options and a lack of sensitive assessment methods. Appropriate assessment of neurotoxicity will be critical as a prognostic factor and as suitable endpoints for future trials of neuroprotective agents. Current methods to assess the severity of chemotherapy-induced neuropathy utilise clinician-based grading scales which have been demonstrated to lack sensitivity to change and inter-observer objectivity4
. Conventional nerve conduction studies provide information about compound action potential amplitude and conduction velocity, which are relatively non-specific measures and do not provide insight into ion channel function or resting membrane potential. Accordingly, prior studies have demonstrated that conventional nerve conduction studies are not sensitive to early change in chemotherapy-induced neurotoxicity4-6
. In comparison, nerve excitability studies utilize threshold tracking techniques which have been developed to enable assessment of ion channels, pumps and exchangers in vivo
in large myelinated human axons7-9
Nerve excitability techniques have been established as a tool to examine the development and severity of chemotherapy-induced neurotoxicity10-13
. Comprising a number of excitability parameters, nerve excitability studies can be used to assess acute neurotoxicity arising immediately following infusion and the development of chronic, cumulative neurotoxicity. Nerve excitability techniques are feasible in the clinical setting, with each test requiring only 5 -10 minutes to complete. Nerve excitability equipment is readily commercially available, and a portable system has been devised so that patients can be tested in situ
in the infusion centre setting. In addition, these techniques can be adapted for use in multiple chemotherapies.
In patients treated with the chemotherapy oxaliplatin, primarily utilised for colorectal cancer, nerve excitability techniques provide a method to identify patients at-risk for neurotoxicity prior to the onset of chronic neuropathy. Nerve excitability studies have revealed the development of an acute Na+
channelopathy in motor and sensory axons10-13
. Importantly, patients who demonstrated changes in excitability in early treatment were subsequently more likely to develop moderate to severe neurotoxicity11
. However, across treatment, striking longitudinal changes were identified only in sensory axons which were able to predict clinical neurological outcome in 80% of patients10
. These changes demonstrated a different pattern to those seen acutely following oxaliplatin infusion, and most likely reflect the development of significant axonal damage and membrane potential change in sensory nerves which develops longitudinally during oxaliplatin treatment10
. Significant abnormalities developed during early treatment, prior to any reduction in conventional measures of nerve function, suggesting that excitability parameters may provide a sensitive biomarker.
Neuroscience, Issue 62, Chemotherapy, Neurotoxicity, Neuropathy, Nerve excitability, Ion channel function, Oxaliplatin, oncology, medicine
A Protocol for Computer-Based Protein Structure and Function Prediction
Institutions: University of Michigan , University of Kansas.
Genome sequencing projects have ciphered millions of protein sequence, which require knowledge of their structure and function to improve the understanding of their biological role. Although experimental methods can provide detailed information for a small fraction of these proteins, computational modeling is needed for the majority of protein molecules which are experimentally uncharacterized. The I-TASSER server is an on-line workbench for high-resolution modeling of protein structure and function. Given a protein sequence, a typical output from the I-TASSER server includes secondary structure prediction, predicted solvent accessibility of each residue, homologous template proteins detected by threading and structure alignments, up to five full-length tertiary structural models, and structure-based functional annotations for enzyme classification, Gene Ontology terms and protein-ligand binding sites. All the predictions are tagged with a confidence score which tells how accurate the predictions are without knowing the experimental data. To facilitate the special requests of end users, the server provides channels to accept user-specified inter-residue distance and contact maps to interactively change the I-TASSER modeling; it also allows users to specify any proteins as template, or to exclude any template proteins during the structure assembly simulations. The structural information could be collected by the users based on experimental evidences or biological insights with the purpose of improving the quality of I-TASSER predictions. The server was evaluated as the best programs for protein structure and function predictions in the recent community-wide CASP experiments. There are currently >20,000 registered scientists from over 100 countries who are using the on-line I-TASSER server.
Biochemistry, Issue 57, On-line server, I-TASSER, protein structure prediction, function prediction
Determination of Protein-ligand Interactions Using Differential Scanning Fluorimetry
Institutions: University of Exeter.
A wide range of methods are currently available for determining the dissociation constant between a protein and interacting small molecules. However, most of these require access to specialist equipment, and often require a degree of expertise to effectively establish reliable experiments and analyze data. Differential scanning fluorimetry (DSF) is being increasingly used as a robust method for initial screening of proteins for interacting small molecules, either for identifying physiological partners or for hit discovery. This technique has the advantage that it requires only a PCR machine suitable for quantitative PCR, and so suitable instrumentation is available in most institutions; an excellent range of protocols are already available; and there are strong precedents in the literature for multiple uses of the method. Past work has proposed several means of calculating dissociation constants from DSF data, but these are mathematically demanding. Here, we demonstrate a method for estimating dissociation constants from a moderate amount of DSF experimental data. These data can typically be collected and analyzed within a single day. We demonstrate how different models can be used to fit data collected from simple binding events, and where cooperative binding or independent binding sites are present. Finally, we present an example of data analysis in a case where standard models do not apply. These methods are illustrated with data collected on commercially available control proteins, and two proteins from our research program. Overall, our method provides a straightforward way for researchers to rapidly gain further insight into protein-ligand interactions using DSF.
Biophysics, Issue 91, differential scanning fluorimetry, dissociation constant, protein-ligand interactions, StepOne, cooperativity, WcbI.
Protein WISDOM: A Workbench for In silico De novo Design of BioMolecules
Institutions: Princeton University.
The aim of de novo
protein design is to find the amino acid sequences that will fold into a desired 3-dimensional structure with improvements in specific properties, such as binding affinity, agonist or antagonist behavior, or stability, relative to the native sequence. Protein design lies at the center of current advances drug design and discovery. Not only does protein design provide predictions for potentially useful drug targets, but it also enhances our understanding of the protein folding process and protein-protein interactions. Experimental methods such as directed evolution have shown success in protein design. However, such methods are restricted by the limited sequence space that can be searched tractably. In contrast, computational design strategies allow for the screening of a much larger set of sequences covering a wide variety of properties and functionality. We have developed a range of computational de novo
protein design methods capable of tackling several important areas of protein design. These include the design of monomeric proteins for increased stability and complexes for increased binding affinity.
To disseminate these methods for broader use we present Protein WISDOM (https://www.proteinwisdom.org), a tool that provides automated methods for a variety of protein design problems. Structural templates are submitted to initialize the design process. The first stage of design is an optimization sequence selection stage that aims at improving stability through minimization of potential energy in the sequence space. Selected sequences are then run through a fold specificity stage and a binding affinity stage. A rank-ordered list of the sequences for each step of the process, along with relevant designed structures, provides the user with a comprehensive quantitative assessment of the design. Here we provide the details of each design method, as well as several notable experimental successes attained through the use of the methods.
Genetics, Issue 77, Molecular Biology, Bioengineering, Biochemistry, Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Computational Biology, Genomics, Proteomics, Protein, Protein Binding, Computational Biology, Drug Design, optimization (mathematics), Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins, De novo protein and peptide design, Drug design, In silico sequence selection, Optimization, Fold specificity, Binding affinity, sequencing
Detection of Architectural Distortion in Prior Mammograms via Analysis of Oriented Patterns
Institutions: University of Calgary , University of Calgary .
We demonstrate methods for the detection of architectural distortion in prior mammograms of interval-cancer cases based on analysis of the orientation of breast tissue patterns in mammograms. We hypothesize that architectural distortion modifies the normal orientation of breast tissue patterns in mammographic images before the formation of masses or tumors. In the initial steps of our methods, the oriented structures in a given mammogram are analyzed using Gabor filters and phase portraits to detect node-like sites of radiating or intersecting tissue patterns. Each detected site is then characterized using the node value, fractal dimension, and a measure of angular dispersion specifically designed to represent spiculating patterns associated with architectural distortion.
Our methods were tested with a database of 106 prior mammograms of 56 interval-cancer cases and 52 mammograms of 13 normal cases using the features developed for the characterization of architectural distortion, pattern classification via
quadratic discriminant analysis, and validation with the leave-one-patient out procedure. According to the results of free-response receiver operating characteristic analysis, our methods have demonstrated the capability to detect architectural distortion in prior mammograms, taken 15 months (on the average) before clinical diagnosis of breast cancer, with a sensitivity of 80% at about five false positives per patient.
Medicine, Issue 78, Anatomy, Physiology, Cancer Biology, angular spread, architectural distortion, breast cancer, Computer-Assisted Diagnosis, computer-aided diagnosis (CAD), entropy, fractional Brownian motion, fractal dimension, Gabor filters, Image Processing, Medical Informatics, node map, oriented texture, Pattern Recognition, phase portraits, prior mammograms, spectral analysis
Diffusion Tensor Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Analysis of Neurodegenerative Diseases
Institutions: University of Ulm.
Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) techniques provide information on the microstructural processes of the cerebral white matter (WM) in vivo
. The present applications are designed to investigate differences of WM involvement patterns in different brain diseases, especially neurodegenerative disorders, by use of different DTI analyses in comparison with matched controls.
DTI data analysis is performed in a variate fashion, i.e.
voxelwise comparison of regional diffusion direction-based metrics such as fractional anisotropy (FA), together with fiber tracking (FT) accompanied by tractwise fractional anisotropy statistics (TFAS) at the group level in order to identify differences in FA along WM structures, aiming at the definition of regional patterns of WM alterations at the group level. Transformation into a stereotaxic standard space is a prerequisite for group studies and requires thorough data processing to preserve directional inter-dependencies. The present applications show optimized technical approaches for this preservation of quantitative and directional information during spatial normalization in data analyses at the group level. On this basis, FT techniques can be applied to group averaged data in order to quantify metrics information as defined by FT. Additionally, application of DTI methods, i.e.
differences in FA-maps after stereotaxic alignment, in a longitudinal analysis at an individual subject basis reveal information about the progression of neurological disorders. Further quality improvement of DTI based results can be obtained during preprocessing by application of a controlled elimination of gradient directions with high noise levels.
In summary, DTI is used to define a distinct WM pathoanatomy of different brain diseases by the combination of whole brain-based and tract-based DTI analysis.
Medicine, Issue 77, Neuroscience, Neurobiology, Molecular Biology, Biomedical Engineering, Anatomy, Physiology, Neurodegenerative Diseases, nuclear magnetic resonance, NMR, MR, MRI, diffusion tensor imaging, fiber tracking, group level comparison, neurodegenerative diseases, brain, imaging, clinical techniques
Combining Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and fMRI to Examine the Default Mode Network
Institutions: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
The default mode network is a group of brain regions that are active when an individual is not focused on the outside world and the brain is at "wakeful rest."1,2,3
It is thought the default mode network corresponds to self-referential or "internal mentation".2,3
It has been hypothesized that, in humans, activity within the default mode network is correlated with certain pathologies (for instance, hyper-activation has been linked to schizophrenia 4,5,6
and autism spectrum disorders 7
whilst hypo-activation of the network has been linked to Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases 8
). As such, noninvasive modulation of this network may represent a potential therapeutic intervention for a number of neurological and psychiatric pathologies linked to abnormal network activation. One possible tool to effect this modulation is Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: a non-invasive neurostimulatory and neuromodulatory technique that can transiently or lastingly modulate cortical excitability (either increasing or decreasing it) via the application of localized magnetic field pulses.9
In order to explore the default mode network's propensity towards and tolerance of modulation, we will be combining TMS (to the left inferior parietal lobe) with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Through this article, we will examine the protocol and considerations necessary to successfully combine these two neuroscientific tools.
Neuroscience, Issue 46, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, rTMS, fMRI, Default Mode Network, functional connectivity, resting state
Using Continuous Data Tracking Technology to Study Exercise Adherence in Pulmonary Rehabilitation
Institutions: Concordia University, Concordia University, Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur de Montréal.
Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is an important component in the management of respiratory diseases. The effectiveness of PR is dependent upon adherence to exercise training recommendations. The study of exercise adherence is thus a key step towards the optimization of PR programs. To date, mostly indirect measures, such as rates of participation, completion, and attendance, have been used to determine adherence to PR. The purpose of the present protocol is to describe how continuous data tracking technology can be used to measure adherence to a prescribed aerobic training intensity on a second-by-second basis.
In our investigations, adherence has been defined as the percent time spent within a specified target heart rate range. As such, using a combination of hardware and software, heart rate is measured, tracked, and recorded during cycling second-by-second for each participant, for each exercise session. Using statistical software, the data is subsequently extracted and analyzed. The same protocol can be applied to determine adherence to other measures of exercise intensity, such as time spent at a specified wattage, level, or speed on the cycle ergometer. Furthermore, the hardware and software is also available to measure adherence to other modes of training, such as the treadmill, elliptical, stepper, and arm ergometer. The present protocol, therefore, has a vast applicability to directly measure adherence to aerobic exercise.
Medicine, Issue 81, Data tracking, exercise, rehabilitation, adherence, patient compliance, health behavior, user-computer interface.
Habituation and Prepulse Inhibition of Acoustic Startle in Rodents
Institutions: University of Western Ontario.
The acoustic startle response is a protective response, elicited by a sudden and intense acoustic stimulus. Facial and skeletal muscles are activated within a few milliseconds, leading to a whole body flinch in rodents1
. Although startle responses are reflexive responses that can be reliably elicited, they are not stereotypic. They can be modulated by emotions such as fear (fear potentiated startle) and joy (joy attenuated startle), by non-associative learning processes such as habituation and sensitization, and by other sensory stimuli through sensory gating processes (prepulse inhibition), turning startle responses into an excellent tool for assessing emotions, learning, and sensory gating, for review see 2, 3
. The primary pathway mediating startle responses is very short and well described, qualifying startle also as an excellent model for studying the underlying mechanisms for behavioural plasticity on a cellular/molecular level3
We here describe a method for assessing short-term habituation, long-term habituation and prepulse inhibition of acoustic startle responses in rodents. Habituation describes the decrease of the startle response magnitude upon repeated presentation of the same stimulus. Habituation within a testing session is called short-term habituation (STH) and is reversible upon a period of several minutes without stimulation. Habituation between testing sessions is called long-term habituation (LTH)4
. Habituation is stimulus specific5
. Prepulse inhibition is the attenuation of a startle response by a preceding non-startling sensory stimulus6
. The interval between prepulse and startle stimulus can vary from 6 to up to 2000 ms. The prepulse can be any modality, however, acoustic prepulses are the most commonly used.
Habituation is a form of non-associative learning. It can also be viewed as a form of sensory filtering, since it reduces the organisms' response to a non-threatening stimulus. Prepulse inhibition (PPI) was originally developed in human neuropsychiatric research as an operational measure for sensory gating7
. PPI deficits may represent the interface of "psychosis and cognition" as they seem to predict cognitive impairment8-10
. Both habituation and PPI are disrupted in patients suffering from schizophrenia11
, and PPI disruptions have shown to be, at least in some cases, amenable to treatment with mostly atypical antipsychotics12, 13
. However, other mental and neurodegenerative diseases are also accompanied by disruption in habituation and/or PPI, such as autism spectrum disorders (slower habituation), obsessive compulsive disorder, Tourette's syndrome, Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's Disease (PPI)11, 14, 15
Dopamine induced PPI deficits are a commonly used animal model for the screening of antipsychotic drugs16
, but PPI deficits can also be induced by many other psychomimetic drugs, environmental modifications and surgical procedures.
Neuroscience, Issue 55, Startle responses, rat, mouse, sensory gating, sensory filtering, short-term habituation, long-term habituation, prepulse inhibition
Bladder Smooth Muscle Strip Contractility as a Method to Evaluate Lower Urinary Tract Pharmacology
Institutions: University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
We describe an in vitro
method to measure bladder smooth muscle contractility, and its use for investigating physiological and pharmacological properties of the smooth muscle as well as changes induced by pathology. This method provides critical information for understanding bladder function while overcoming major methodological difficulties encountered in in vivo
experiments, such as surgical and pharmacological manipulations that affect stability and survival of the preparations, the use of human tissue, and/or the use of expensive chemicals. It also provides a way to investigate the properties of each bladder component (i.e.
smooth muscle, mucosa, nerves) in healthy and pathological conditions.
The urinary bladder is removed from an anesthetized animal, placed in Krebs solution and cut into strips. Strips are placed into a chamber filled with warm Krebs solution. One end is attached to an isometric tension transducer to measure contraction force, the other end is attached to a fixed rod. Tissue is stimulated by directly adding compounds to the bath or by electric field stimulation electrodes that activate nerves, similar to triggering bladder contractions in vivo
. We demonstrate the use of this method to evaluate spontaneous smooth muscle contractility during development and after an experimental spinal cord injury, the nature of neurotransmission (transmitters and receptors involved), factors involved in modulation of smooth muscle activity, the role of individual bladder components, and species and organ differences in response to pharmacological agents. Additionally, it could be used for investigating intracellular pathways involved in contraction and/or relaxation of the smooth muscle, drug structure-activity relationships and evaluation of transmitter release.
The in vitro
smooth muscle contractility method has been used extensively for over 50 years, and has provided data that significantly contributed to our understanding of bladder function as well as to pharmaceutical development of compounds currently used clinically for bladder management.
Medicine, Issue 90, Krebs, species differences, in vitro, smooth muscle contractility, neural stimulation
In Situ Neutron Powder Diffraction Using Custom-made Lithium-ion Batteries
Institutions: University of Sydney, University of Wollongong, Australian Synchrotron, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, University of Wollongong, University of New South Wales.
Li-ion batteries are widely used in portable electronic devices and are considered as promising candidates for higher-energy applications such as electric vehicles.1,2
However, many challenges, such as energy density and battery lifetimes, need to be overcome before this particular battery technology can be widely implemented in such applications.3
This research is challenging, and we outline a method to address these challenges using in situ
NPD to probe the crystal structure of electrodes undergoing electrochemical cycling (charge/discharge) in a battery. NPD data help determine the underlying structural mechanism responsible for a range of electrode properties, and this information can direct the development of better electrodes and batteries.
We briefly review six types of battery designs custom-made for NPD experiments and detail the method to construct the ‘roll-over’ cell that we have successfully used on the high-intensity NPD instrument, WOMBAT, at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO). The design considerations and materials used for cell construction are discussed in conjunction with aspects of the actual in situ
NPD experiment and initial directions are presented on how to analyze such complex in situ
Physics, Issue 93, In operando, structure-property relationships, electrochemical cycling, electrochemical cells, crystallography, battery performance
Olfactory Neurons Obtained through Nasal Biopsy Combined with Laser-Capture Microdissection: A Potential Approach to Study Treatment Response in Mental Disorders
Institutions: Johns Hopkins University, Howard University, Johns Hopkins University, Sheppard Pratt Hospital, Indiana University.
Bipolar disorder (BD) is a severe neuropsychiatric disorder with poorly understood pathophysiology and typically treated with the mood stabilizer, lithium carbonate. Animal studies as well as human genetic studies indicate that lithium affects molecular targets that are involved in neuronal growth, survival and maturation, and notably molecules involved in Wnt signaling. Given the ethical challenge to obtaining brain biopsies for investigating dynamic molecular changes associated with lithium-response in the central nervous system (CNS), one may consider the use of neurons obtained from olfactory tissues to achieve this goal.The olfactory epithelium contains olfactory receptor neurons at different stages of development and glial-like supporting cells. This provides a unique opportunity to study dynamic changes in the CNS of patients with neuropsychiatric diseases, using olfactory tissue safely obtained from nasal biopsies. To overcome the drawback posed by substantial contamination of biopsied olfactory tissue with non-neuronal cells, a novel approach to obtain enriched neuronal cell populations was developed by combining nasal biopsies with laser-capture microdissection. In this study, a system for investigating treatment-associated dynamic molecular changes in neuronal tissue was developed and validated, using a small pilot sample of BD patients recruited for the study of the molecular mechanisms of lithium treatment response.
Neuroscience, Issue 94, bipolar disorder, lithium therapy, nasal biopsy, olfactory epithelium, laser-capture microdissection, real-time PCR, GSK-3β
Mapping Bacterial Functional Networks and Pathways in Escherichia Coli using Synthetic Genetic Arrays
Institutions: University of Toronto, University of Toronto, University of Regina.
Phenotypes are determined by a complex series of physical (e.g.
protein-protein) and functional (e.g.
gene-gene or genetic) interactions (GI)1
. While physical interactions can indicate which bacterial proteins are associated as complexes, they do not necessarily reveal pathway-level functional relationships1. GI screens, in which the growth of double mutants bearing two deleted or inactivated genes is measured and compared to the corresponding single mutants, can illuminate epistatic dependencies between loci and hence provide a means to query and discover novel functional relationships2
. Large-scale GI maps have been reported for eukaryotic organisms like yeast3-7
, but GI information remains sparse for prokaryotes8
, which hinders the functional annotation of bacterial genomes. To this end, we and others have developed high-throughput quantitative bacterial GI screening methods9, 10
Here, we present the key steps required to perform quantitative E. coli
Synthetic Genetic Array (eSGA) screening procedure on a genome-scale9
, using natural bacterial conjugation and homologous recombination to systemically generate and measure the fitness of large numbers of double mutants in a colony array format.
Briefly, a robot is used to transfer, through conjugation, chloramphenicol (Cm) - marked mutant alleles from engineered Hfr (High frequency of recombination) 'donor strains' into an ordered array of kanamycin (Kan) - marked F- recipient strains. Typically, we use loss-of-function single mutants bearing non-essential gene deletions (e.g.
the 'Keio' collection11
) and essential gene hypomorphic mutations (i.e.
alleles conferring reduced protein expression, stability, or activity9, 12, 13
) to query the functional associations of non-essential and essential genes, respectively. After conjugation and ensuing genetic exchange mediated by homologous recombination, the resulting double mutants are selected on solid medium containing both antibiotics. After outgrowth, the plates are digitally imaged and colony sizes are quantitatively scored using an in-house automated image processing system14
. GIs are revealed when the growth rate of a double mutant is either significantly better or worse than expected9
. Aggravating (or negative) GIs often result between loss-of-function mutations in pairs of genes from compensatory pathways that impinge on the same essential process2
. Here, the loss of a single gene is buffered, such that either single mutant is viable. However, the loss of both pathways is deleterious and results in synthetic lethality or sickness (i.e.
slow growth). Conversely, alleviating (or positive) interactions can occur between genes in the same pathway or protein complex2
as the deletion of either gene alone is often sufficient to perturb the normal function of the pathway or complex such that additional perturbations do not reduce activity, and hence growth, further. Overall, systematically identifying and analyzing GI networks can provide unbiased, global maps of the functional relationships between large numbers of genes, from which pathway-level information missed by other approaches can be inferred9
Genetics, Issue 69, Molecular Biology, Medicine, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Aggravating, alleviating, conjugation, double mutant, Escherichia coli, genetic interaction, Gram-negative bacteria, homologous recombination, network, synthetic lethality or sickness, suppression
Performing Behavioral Tasks in Subjects with Intracranial Electrodes
Institutions: Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Johns Hopkins University.
Patients having stereo-electroencephalography (SEEG) electrode, subdural grid or depth electrode implants have a multitude of electrodes implanted in different areas of their brain for the localization of their seizure focus and eloquent areas. After implantation, the patient must remain in the hospital until the pathological area of brain is found and possibly resected. During this time, these patients offer a unique opportunity to the research community because any number of behavioral paradigms can be performed to uncover the neural correlates that guide behavior. Here we present a method for recording brain activity from intracranial implants as subjects perform a behavioral task designed to assess decision-making and reward encoding. All electrophysiological data from the intracranial electrodes are recorded during the behavioral task, allowing for the examination of the many brain areas involved in a single function at time scales relevant to behavior. Moreover, and unlike animal studies, human patients can learn a wide variety of behavioral tasks quickly, allowing for the ability to perform more than one task in the same subject or for performing controls. Despite the many advantages of this technique for understanding human brain function, there are also methodological limitations that we discuss, including environmental factors, analgesic effects, time constraints and recordings from diseased tissue. This method may be easily implemented by any institution that performs intracranial assessments; providing the opportunity to directly examine human brain function during behavior.
Behavior, Issue 92, Cognitive neuroscience, Epilepsy, Stereo-electroencephalography, Subdural grids, Behavioral method, Electrophysiology
Predicting the Effectiveness of Population Replacement Strategy Using Mathematical Modeling
Institutions: University of California, Los Angeles.
Charles Taylor and John Marshall explain the utility of mathematical modeling for evaluating the effectiveness of population replacement strategy. Insight is given into how computational models can provide information on the population dynamics of mosquitoes and the spread of transposable elements through A. gambiae subspecies. The ethical considerations of releasing genetically modified mosquitoes into the wild are discussed.
Cellular Biology, Issue 5, mosquito, malaria, popuulation, replacement, modeling, infectious disease
Interview: Protein Folding and Studies of Neurodegenerative Diseases
Institutions: MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In this interview, Dr. Lindquist describes relationships between protein folding, prion diseases and neurodegenerative disorders. The problem of the protein folding is at the core of the modern biology. In addition to their traditional biochemical functions, proteins can mediate transfer of biological information and therefore can be considered a genetic material. This recently discovered function of proteins has important implications for studies of human disorders. Dr. Lindquist also describes current experimental approaches to investigate the mechanism of neurodegenerative diseases based on genetic studies in model organisms.
Neuroscience, issue 17, protein folding, brain, neuron, prion, neurodegenerative disease, yeast, screen, Translational Research
A Strategy to Identify de Novo Mutations in Common Disorders such as Autism and Schizophrenia
Institutions: Universite de Montreal, Universite de Montreal, Universite de Montreal.
There are several lines of evidence supporting the role of de novo
mutations as a mechanism for common disorders, such as autism and schizophrenia. First, the de novo
mutation rate in humans is relatively high, so new mutations are generated at a high frequency in the population. However, de novo
mutations have not been reported in most common diseases. Mutations in genes leading to severe diseases where there is a strong negative selection against the phenotype, such as lethality in embryonic stages or reduced reproductive fitness, will not be transmitted to multiple family members, and therefore will not be detected by linkage gene mapping or association studies. The observation of very high concordance in monozygotic twins and very low concordance in dizygotic twins also strongly supports the hypothesis that a significant fraction of cases may result from new mutations. Such is the case for diseases such as autism and schizophrenia. Second, despite reduced reproductive fitness1
and extremely variable environmental factors, the incidence of some diseases is maintained worldwide at a relatively high and constant rate. This is the case for autism and schizophrenia, with an incidence of approximately 1% worldwide. Mutational load can be thought of as a balance between selection for or against a deleterious mutation and its production by de novo
mutation. Lower rates of reproduction constitute a negative selection factor that should reduce the number of mutant alleles in the population, ultimately leading to decreased disease prevalence. These selective pressures tend to be of different intensity in different environments. Nonetheless, these severe mental disorders have been maintained at a constant relatively high prevalence in the worldwide population across a wide range of cultures and countries despite a strong negative selection against them2
. This is not what one would predict in diseases with reduced reproductive fitness, unless there was a high new mutation rate. Finally, the effects of paternal age: there is a significantly increased risk of the disease with increasing paternal age, which could result from the age related increase in paternal de novo
mutations. This is the case for autism and schizophrenia3
. The male-to-female ratio of mutation rate is estimated at about 4–6:1, presumably due to a higher number of germ-cell divisions with age in males. Therefore, one would predict that de novo
mutations would more frequently come from males, particularly older males4
. A high rate of new mutations may in part explain why genetic studies have so far failed to identify many genes predisposing to complexes diseases genes, such as autism and schizophrenia, and why diseases have been identified for a mere 3% of genes in the human genome. Identification for de novo
mutations as a cause of a disease requires a targeted molecular approach, which includes studying parents and affected subjects. The process for determining if the genetic basis of a disease may result in part from de novo
mutations and the molecular approach to establish this link will be illustrated, using autism and schizophrenia as examples.
Medicine, Issue 52, de novo mutation, complex diseases, schizophrenia, autism, rare variations, DNA sequencing | <urn:uuid:6d7c4605-6911-4650-a24c-4ce43aa706dd> | CC-MAIN-2017-22 | https://www.jove.com/visualize/abstract/23144705/neurocognition-insight-medication-nonadherence-schizophrenia | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-22/segments/1495463607649.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20170523183134-20170523203134-00570.warc.gz | en | 0.910635 | 9,075 | 2.671875 | 3 |
on Introduction page
and home page.
Strickbergers EVOLUTION (third edition) is a textbook for biology students. I like the chapters about the origin of the universe, the solar system, the earth and biological molecules (Part II 'The physical and chemical framework'). Even Fred Hoyle's panspermia theory is mentioned. It places biological evolution in its context. Something that is missing in other textbooks of evolution.
For example, there is neither oxygen nor atmosphere in Douglas Futuyma's textbook (5), while Strickberger has elaborate discussion of oxygen. What can be a more important molecule for life than oxygen? There is also a discussion of Haldane's dilemma under the heading "The Cost of Evolution and the Neutralist Argument". Several pages are devoted to the endosymbiosis theory of Lynn Margulis, and the section includes a page-long interview with Lynn Margulis (an early proponent of the endosymbiosis theory). These issues and many others make this book very relevant for the critics of evolution.
The cover of the book may look unattractive; the contents of the book is very attractive.
I have a minor ciriticism. I am puzzled by Strickberger's explanation of how evolution can produce a complex structure by a succession of selective steps (Chapter 4, The Darwinian Impact: Evolution and Religion).
The order of amino acids in proteins frequently has been compared with the order of letters in words and sentences. Critics of evolution use the analogy to demonstrate the extreme low probability of a random origin of a specific protein (4). Strickberger uses an experiment with letters in a bowl to demonstrate that one could get the proteins observed in organisms by chance and selection with a reasonable probability. Strickberger starts his simulation experiment with a bowl containing 10 different letters A, C, E, I, L, N, O, T, U, V in equal amounts . The probability of drawing all 9 letters EVOLUTION in one event is: (1/10)9 =.000000001 [example-1]. However when letters are drawn one by one and each letter increases the survival value of the whole letter sequence (despite being incomplete), then it is easy to get the word 'EVOLUTION' according to Strickberger [example-2]. He explains:
|Strickberger's example-1||example-2 final step.|
Note that once E has been drawn and survives, the chance of getting the EV combination is the 1/10 chance of drawing V and not the 1/100 chance of drawing EV together.
This is the basis of his argument. Following his argument to the last letter I assume we get:
once 'EVOLUTIO' has been drawn and survives, the chance of getting the target word 'EVOLUTION' combination is the 1/10 chance of drawing N and not the 1/1000000000 chance of drawing EVOLUTION together.
Further I suppose that example-1 corresponds to the real-life situation where intermediates don't have survival value (only the whole word), a kind of all-or-nothing situation, and example-2 corresponds to the situation that all intermediates (EV, EVO, EVOL, EVOLU, EVOLUT, EVOLUTI, EVOLUTIO) have survival value. Furthermore I suppose that every event in example-2 is separated by one or more generations.
Strickberger concludes from this example that the chances for getting the target 'EVOLUTION' in a single event is extremely small, while it can easily be produced by successive selection of adaptive combinations.
The simulation experiment itself is clear. The problems start with the extrapolation to evolution:
Maybe Strickberger has a valid point, but the example and illustration is confusing. The most serious objection is the problem of intermediates. The subject of the survival value of intermediates is a very old and crucial question and needs a clear treatment (3). Since it is a recurrent theme in the repertoire of the critics of evolution, he should devote more time and space to the subject. The very presence of the example indicates that he listened to some of the critics of evolution.
He also gives a collection of responses to creationist arguments (somewhat superficial and second-hand) and an interesting list of creation myths (which show that Strickberger studied the religious background of creationism), but the modern critics of evolution with non-religious technical arguments such as Michael Behe, Fred Hoyle, Michael Denton, Lee Spetner and Walter Remine are absent in his list of references. Especially, Lee Spetner (review) presented a usefull and critical discussion of the similar METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL simulation.
- total probability: Strickberger does not calculate the total probability of the string, he only states: there is a considerable chance of obtaining the word EVOLUTION. Well: that is a vague statement. What is the total probability? If we are not allowed to multiply the individual probabilities, must we add them? That would give 9/10. This method obviously leads to an absurdity: every word longer than 10 letters that could be produced would have a probability of more than 100%. The probability would become higher when the word is longer, which is also absurd. My intuition says that the probability should become lower. So I don't see how Strickberger could escape the conclusion that the total probability of the string in example-2 is also (1/10)9. As long as the frequencies of the letters in the bowl and the target sequence stay the same, the probability of arriving at the target
EVOLUTION is the same. It looks as if Strickberger proposes a system without memory: every new draw forgets about all the previous ones. Or does he want to say that the total probability is irrelevant, because each step has a reasonable chance (1/10)? Then it would be very easy indeed to create long protein chains.
- biological: apparently what he wants to say with his example-2 is that intermediates (even the shorter ones) always have survival value. Otherwise his example-2 simply would not work. But he cannot assume this, this has to be shown by evidence. Intermediates can be neutral or disadvantageous. And I think Strickberger makes a highly unrealistic assumption. It is not true for highly conserved proteins like histone-4 (1), but could be true for myoglobin, alpha-, beta-, gamma-, delta- hemoglobins (p. 260-265).
- biological: To establish the target EVOLUTION at each selection event 90% of individuals should not reproduce (or die without descendants), which is a very severe selection. This is unrealistic.
- setup: the rules of the game. The initial condition of the bowl is ten different letters (letters A and C are included to allow words like EVOCATION and ELEVATION). This could be to simplify the calculation but also gives "a reasonable probability" in each stage. When the bowl is set-up with all 26 letters the probability would decrease to 1/26. What matters of course is real life probabilities. Another simplification is the length of the target word EVOLUTION: small compared with the length of proteins (hundreds of amino acids).
- illustration: the illustration of example-1 shows a handful of letters. But a handful of 9 letters is not a sequence of 9 letters. It only contains the right letters: 1 E, 1 V, 2 O, 1L , 1 U, 1 T, 1 I, 1 N. From these 9 letters 362880 9-letter combinations ('words') can be made (2). How can an ordered sequence be produced from a handful of unordered letters? The order can only be produced by drawing letters one by one. But in that case the difference with example-2 is not clear anymore. The difference is of course that in example-1 only the complete string of 9 letters is evaluated and if the word fails, all the 9 letters are put back in the bowl and the drawing starts from scratch.
- See for an explanation of the histone-4 case: Mathematics of Evolution by Fred Hoyle on this site.
- that is the number of permutations of 9 objects: 9x8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1.
- see for the importance of intermediates: review of Michael Behe on this site.
- Michael Denton(1986), Hubert Yockey(1992), David Foster(1993), Dean Overman(1997), William Dembski(1999) (all reviewed on this site).
- Douglas Futuyma (1998) Evolutionary Biology, Third edition.
- 'in equal amounts': letter 'O' occurs twice in 'EVOLUTION', but not twice in his list of letters, so I suppose its frequency in the bowl is not twice as high as the rest of the letters. That complificates the example. Small modification in the text and layout have been made. Aug 19 2022
- Monroe Strickberger is also the author of the textbook Genetics, 1985, 3d ed.
- The homesite of Strickberger's EVOLUTION by the publisher.
- Google books.
- The fourth edition of Strickberger is edited by Brian K. Hall, and Benedikt Hallgrímsson. (including Preview Chapter 1 and Chapter 3!) | <urn:uuid:2bdaecc2-a48f-46fb-a3b2-4e79dbfad373> | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | https://wasdarwinwrong.com/kortho48.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446711151.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20221207085208-20221207115208-00723.warc.gz | en | 0.913098 | 1,973 | 2.859375 | 3 |
The Congressional App Challenge is a public effort to encourage kids to learn how to code, through annual district-wide competitions hosted by Members of Congress for their district. Students in participating districts code original applications for the chance to be selected for recognition by their Member of Congress and have their work put on display in the Capitol Building in Washington, DC. The district-wide competitions take place from July through early November.
The Congressional App Challenge’s mission is to inspire, include, and innovate efforts around STEM, coding, and computer science education:
- Inspire: To inspire students from every corner of the country to explore STEM, coding and computer science through hands-on practice;
- Include: To actively include and engage students from communities that are traditionally underrepresented in the tech community; and
- Innovate: To innovate policymaking by connecting Members of Congress to new and emerging technologies through personal interactions with their student constituents.
For more information, including how to participate, click here. | <urn:uuid:a66c40c2-6d35-4efa-b5a6-fcfd4ebcf790> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | https://norcross.house.gov/services/app-challenge | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267161661.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20180925143000-20180925163400-00356.warc.gz | en | 0.957496 | 200 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Today is World AIDS Day.
The HIV epidemic is mind-boggling; 33.4 million are infected globally.
In Australia, over 16,700 Australians are living with HIV, with an estimated 20 new infections daily. According to a research by LaTrobe University 54.7% of people infected with HIV are in paid employment, with the majority in full-time work (37.4% of total sample). With the high incidence of HIV cases, it’s likely that workplaces will have someone afflicted with the disease.
Fortunately we have very few incidences of HIV related discrimination in our country. Hopefully, people infected with HIV will never have to face discrimination of any sort at work. Besides, employers have no choice, infected workers are protected under various laws (e.g. The Anti-discrimination Act (NSW) and the Disability Discrimination Act) against discrimination.
On this day dedicated to highlight the scourge of the AIDS epidemic, it’s worthwhile to revisit the issue of discrimination and the rights of employees. | <urn:uuid:cd24f0b5-6406-4158-a4f1-7f561eff5283> | CC-MAIN-2019-04 | http://destinationtalent.com.au/2009/12/01/infectious-disease-hivaids-and-the-workplace/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-04/segments/1547583823140.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20190122013923-20190122035923-00274.warc.gz | en | 0.955145 | 212 | 2.546875 | 3 |
A “false friend” is a word in one language that sounds similar to a word in another language but that means something different. For example, a common error Spanish speakers make is to use the English word “sensible” when they actually mean “sensitive”. This is because “sensitive” translates to the Spanish word “sensible”. If you are a Spanish speaker, you have probably been in similar situations before. Watch this lesson to learn about Spanish false friends and how to correct them to say what you really mean. Avoid embarrassing moments before they happen to you! | <urn:uuid:bf4f390f-25a2-4f85-bd6c-3160f2421036> | CC-MAIN-2019-18 | http://inlingua-edinburgh.co.uk/english-mistakes-that-spanish-speakers-make/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-18/segments/1555578532948.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20190421235818-20190422021818-00378.warc.gz | en | 0.951908 | 125 | 3.4375 | 3 |
Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
DRAUCHT, Dracut, n. and v. Also †drawght. Sc. forms and usages of Eng. draught, draft. [drɑ(:)xt, drɒ:-, -ft]
1. An act or turn of drawing or pulling (a plough, etc.).
Ork. 1779 P. Fea MS. Diary (3 March):
Sown the long land and Lantea and harrowed it 18 drawght each. Abd. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb xliv.:
Gin they've ta'en up their yokin' straucht an' fair, they can luik back wi' a kin' o' contentment upo' the wark that's deen, min'in' . . . that ithers sud be layin' their shooders to the draucht.
2. (1) A load (Sh.10, Abd., Ags. (per Abd.27) 1949; Gall. 1900 E.D.D.). Also fig. Obs. in Eng. since 15th cent.
Cai. 1940 7 :
A dracht o peits = a creel load of peats. Abd. 1923 J. Lawrence in Bnffsh. Jnl. (10 April) 3:
Reaching home with a “draucht,” we reported to Mr Grant concerning the conditions on the field. Gsw. 1717 Records Trades Ho. (1934) 41:
For two draughts of daills to the Cowlairs . . . ¥0. 14.0. Gsw. 1860 J. Young Lays from Poorhouse 89:
Till gallant brutes could pinchly draw Their drauchts alang. Lnk. 1919 G. Rae Clyde and Tweed 9:
The restin' 'oor in the stookit bield, The crack, an' the lilted sang Are things, yince felt, that only daith At the last draucht cairts away.
(2) Two or more cart-loads of anything brought at one time (Cai. 1900 E.D.D., Bnff.2, Abd.9 1940).
Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 41:
The man's at the shore for a draught o' waar. Abd. 1915 H. Beaton Back o' Benachie 27:
When the corn “wis a' rickit” or “intae hooicks,” there followed many a hard morning's work at the flail, to get the draucht of corn to take to Port Elphinstone. . . . A pair of carts rarely went to Aberdeen; a dozen or more would arrange to go together.
3. A team of horses together with the cart or plough to which they are attached (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Rxb.5 1940). Also in n.Eng. dial.
4. (1) The drawing of breath, breathing.
Lth. 1918 A. Dodds Lothian Land 13:
Ye limmer, I wad nick yer dracht, An' lay ye deid.
5. “The roll or swell that precedes a storm” (Abd. 1885 Folk-Lore Jnl. III. 53, dracht). Cf. Eng. draught, a current, flow.
†6. A mill-race.
Ork. 1768 P. Fea MS. Diary:
Nov. 14: Got most of the Miln dam bigid but no part of the Drawght.
7. A sheep, gen. female, selected or drafted from the flock either as being unfit for breeding or as being one of the best for the market, gen. used attrib. (Sc. 1855 J. C. Morton Cycl. Agric. (1869) II. 722; Bnff.2, Kcb.10 1940; Bwk. 1942 Wettstein; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B., Rxb.5 1940). Also in n.Eng. dial. The form is now gen. draft.
Sc. 1849 H. Stephens Bk. Farm I. 213:
The lambs, dinmonts or wethers, drafted out of the fat or young stock are sheddings, tails or drafts. Bwk. 1814 Farmer's Mag. (Nov.) 498:
The demand for Draft Ewes has been very good. Those of the Leicester breed brought from 40s. to 42s., few of which are left unsold. [p. 497, draught.] Dmf. 1795 Stat. Acc.1 XIV. 420, Note:
Draft ewes. The oldest ewes, drafted from the flocks in Highland situations, which are presumed to be in a hazardous state, if continued longer on their old pasture; but thrive well, when brought upon better pasture, in the lower country. Rxb. 1798 R. Douglas Agric. Rxb. 207:
And, at both these last mentioned places, there is a fair in October for draught or cast ewes.
8. The entrails of an animal (Sc. 1825 Jam.2; Mry.2 1940; Bnff.4 1926; Ags.2 1940; Per., Fif., Lth. Wilson; Ayr.4 1928; Kcb.10 1940; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B., rare).
Sc. 1782 Mrs Maciver Cookery and Pastry 63:
Scots Haggies . . . mince the draught and a pretty large piece of beef very small. Edb. 1800 Mrs Frazer Cookery 79:
Make the haggies-bag perfectly clean; parboil the draught.
†9. A feature, lineament.
Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore 27:
For as her mind began to be at saught, Intill her face ilk sweet an' bony draught Came till it sell.
‡10. A ditch drawn to mark the boundary of a farm-holding.
Cai. 1900 E.D.D.:
In former times the boundaries of small farms were very often very crooked and many had fields quite detached. About the middle of the 19th century the landlords generally divided the various holdings by ditches, to which the term “draughts” was applied very generally at the time, although not much used now.
†11. A scheme, a plot (Sc. 1818 Sawers Dict. Sc. Lang.; Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 166). In use in Eng. 18th–19th cent., but orig. Sc.
Peb. 1715 A. Pennecuik Descr. of Twd. and Sc. Poems 109:
I ken by thee that draught was drawn That honest Truth was so abus'd.
Hence (1) draughty, drachty, cunning, crafty, scheming (Dmf. 1894 J. Shaw in Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. 146); (2) draughtiness, cunning, artfulness.
(1) Peb. 1793 Carlop Green (1832) II. 8:
Frae 'neath his bonnet, girdle braid, Wi' draughty dawts and deep Coaxed out hid thoughts. Ayr. 1823 Galt Entail xlix.:
But for the devices of auld draughty Keelivin, he would hae been proven as mad as a March hare. Slk. 1829 Hogg Shepherd's Cal. I. 233:
But ye're a cunning draughty man, and I leave the haill matter to your guidance. (2) Ayr. 1821 Galt Ann. Parish xxvii.:
I then perceived the draughtiness of Mr Kibbock's advice.
12. †(1) In pl.: “light grain blown away with the chaff in winnowing” (Jam.2).
Gall. 1810 S. Smith Agric. Gall. 114:
The quantity of oats consumed by a workhorse varies from fifteen to twenty-five bushels, if good oats are given; but as draughts are commonly given, the quantity is proportionally increased.
(2) Pig-swill, hog's-wash (Per. 1915 Wilson L. Strathearn 188).
Abd. 1920 R. H. Calder Gleanings I. 9:
She'll come to the draucht fan she's gane a filie teem.
‡1. To draw the breath in long convulsive gasps, esp. of a dying person (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Abd.27 1920). Cf. n., 4.
2. Of a horse: to train, to break in, to put in the traces, gen. in ppl.adj. drauchtit, trained, harnessed for work (Abd.2, Abd.9 1940). Also sometimes, by transference, of the ploughman. Cf. n., 3.
Abd. 1929 J. Alexander Mains and Hilly 60:
Gin I hid hidden a bit beastie risin' three aw cud 'a' been drauchtit, an' wid 'a' sav't a gweed penny.
3. To line off land with the plough by means of straight furrows (Cai.7, Bnff.2, Ags.17 1940; Abd.8 (Upp. Deeside) 1917).
Cai. 1911 D. D. in John o' Groat Jnl. (24 Jan.):
To dracht the neep lan'.
Hence drachtin'-pole, a pole used for drachting (Cai.7 1940).
Cai. 1930 Caithness Forum in John o' Groat Jnl. (24 Jan.):
A sat as straicht as a drachtin' pole.
4. Ppl.adj. dra(u)chted, -it, drawn, in combs. (1) deepdrauchtit, far-, lang-, designing, crafty (Sc. 1808 Jam., deep-; Cai. 1900 E.D.D., far-; Cai.9 1939, lang-); cf. n., 11; (2) hame-drauchtit, see art. s.v.
(1) Lnk. 1922 T. S. Cairncross Scot at Hame 21:
Where deepdrauchtit doctors staun' Wi' lang tubes to hear you wheeze.
You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Draucht n., v.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 26 May 2018 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/draucht>
Try an Advanced Search | <urn:uuid:5c7d2dc3-224f-4626-a8d6-a3e1b703d6cc> | CC-MAIN-2018-22 | http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/draucht | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-22/segments/1526794867904.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20180526210057-20180526230057-00356.warc.gz | en | 0.815408 | 2,411 | 2.78125 | 3 |
- Books, Literature, and Writing»
- The English Language
How Did American English Originate and Become Different from British English?
I've written this hub in answer to the question, "How did American English originate? Was there a conscious desire to have differences to British English?" asked by aspiretoinspire .
You Think I'm Joking?
- The Klingon Language Institute
This is where you go to learn to speak Klingon
Languages Evolve; Seldom Invented
Languages in general, tend to evolve, and are rarely created by design. One exception I can think of is the Klingon Language, which was deliberately invented to provide realism to the Klingon characters in the "Star Trek" TV series and movies. It is fantasy, but at the same time, it is a full language, complete with a dictionary. In theory, it would be possible to study and become fluent in Klingon.
- A Key to the Inter-National Language Esperanto
Learn the basics of Esperanto, an invented language with a bit more wide-ranging and practical application than Klingon.
Another Invented Language
Like Klingon, Esperanto is another invented language, but one that is actually in use. It was invented back in the 1800's, and was intended to make it easy for speakers of various European languages to understand each other, even if they did not know each others' languages; it's sort of a 'middle ground' language.
Esperanto is based upon root words that are similar in all of the languages, so even if the final word differs, it is easy to recognize. For example, "window" in Italian is "finestra," in French, it is "fenêtre," and in Spanish, "ventana." Esperanto gives it as "fenestro." In this case, the Spanish is the stretch in understanding the translation, but overall, it seems to be a workable, if relatively unkown language, at least in the major English-speaking countries.
The link at upper right in this section gives a good overview and chart of its main characteristics, as well as links for further study.
Back to Reality...
...and to practicality: back to our discussion of the differences between American and British English.
Conscious thought incomes later; much later in the process, as the language spreads over ever wider geographical areas, and a way must be found to allow for widespread communication that remains understood by all. That is where the concept of rules of grammatical structure and dictionaries come into play. Otherwise, we'd have the proverbial 'Tower of Babel.'
Some would give credit to Noah Webster as the "father" of modern English. That would be a mistake. What Webster did was catalog the existing language of his day; he did not invent the language. He merely provided the first dictionary of the American English language.
We Are All Speaking the Same Language--Why Don't You Understand Me?
The English Language, in any of its variations, can be absolutely maddening. People are speaking the same language, and yet, can have difficulty understanding one another.
In essence, this is because it is what can only be called a 'bastard' language. Its roots are not pure, from a single source, such as old Latin. English is a language that has borrowed heavily from many other languages, only a few of which include German, French, Spanish and Latin.
There was an instance of someone trying to translate a document, and asked his supervisor, "How do you spell 'maneuvers' in French?" Well...the answer is--there is no spelling change, because it is a French word to start with.
Proximity To Other Countries
As you can see on the map at right, the United Kingdom, or UK, sits in close proximity to France, Germany, Spain and Portugal. Italy is a bit farther away, but back in the days of the Roman Empire, those Romans got into everyone's lands. Italy is what is left, physically, of that Empire, but the influences of those days live on in surprising places all around the globe.
As you probably know, and can see on the map, the UK is an island, as is its neighbor, Ireland. Farther away are the Scandinavian countries of Norway, Sweden and Denmark. However, those were the lands of the famed Vikings, who had sea travel down to a science early on. Therefore, English also has roots coming from those languages.
There are many families of languages, but two are of prime importance in the development of English, and those are the Germanic and Latin families.
The Germanic languages include obviously German, but also (in the distant past) the Scandinavian tongues and Dutch. The article linked at right, from San Jose State University goes into considerably more detail on the matter.
The Latin (sometimes called "romance") languages include actual Latin and its derivatives of Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and French. They are listed here in order of their evolutionary distance from the original Latin.
The reason English is so perplexing to many (including native speakers who struggle with grammar rules) is this: English is essentially a Germanic language, onto which Latin grammar rules have been grafted. It is a difficult combination, made more so by inconsistency in the application of these rules.
- CONJUGATION in FRENCH - Conjugation of verb dormir
Too many variations on how to sleep, in French!
For example, in the Latin languages, it is proper to identify the subject of a sentence prior to any adjective, thus: "The dog brown was sleeping." ("La chien brun dormait," in French.) Notice, there is also no dual verb, ("was"), as the past tense is covered by the conjugation of the verb "sleep." You want confusing? Check out the chart linked just above, that gives all the French variants for all the parts of speech for the single word, "sleep!"
It sounds very awkward in English, for we are accustomed to the reverse phasing, "The brown dog was sleeping." In German, we get, "Der braune Hund schlief," 'braune' being the German word for brown, so we see that the English sequence follows that of the German rules.
Elisions, Contractions, Misunderstandings and Usage Changes
Oh, what fun! We have more changes between the variations of English that come about due to misunderstandings, deliberate changes to fit new circumstances, and simple contractions and elisions that come about naturally over time as a result of lazy speech patterns.
"Apron" is one such example. In the original British English, the word was "napron." It was paired with the letter "a" to indicate one. "Please put on a napron to keep your clothes clean."
I don't imagine it was very many centuries at all before the "a" migrated across to the rest of the word, splitting it after the "n," making the sentence read, "Please put on an apron ...." thus following the rule with which we are now familiar, that a word begun with a vowel is preceded by "an."
Some of the differences that come about between the languages, I'm not sure of; with others, I can hazard a reasonable guess. Check the chart below for some common cases of different words for the same thing. You'll note that one of the differences can be cause for a very embarrassing social misstep.
Ladder in one's Hose
Run in one's Stocking
Knock me up in the morning
Wake me in the morning
I'm going to ring me mum (in some local dialects, such as Cockney)
I'm going to phone my mother
Dialects, Regionalisms and Class Distinctions
As if all this were not confusing enough, there are certain turns of phrase that may be common in one area of a country, and completely unheard of in another region.
Likewise, there are certain accents that can identify a person's area of origin. The British English often spoofed on such shows as the old Benny Hill TV series, is closer to "Cockney," which is also the variant you hear with Liza in the early parts of the stage musical, "My Fair Lady." Then, there is the clipped, sharp, British accent heard from their newscasters.
You might compare the two as the difference between a Boston accent from here in the States, and an accent from the Bronx in New York, or the drawl of the deep South. They can be nearly indistinguishable to the untrained ear, as in the case of a young woman from the northern US going to the South for college.
The lady from whom she was going to rent an apartment asked, "D' y'all have aynyee payots?" The young woman was puzzled. "Payots?" She was not familiar with the word, and asked what those were. "Payots," repeated the woman, "You know, cayts and dawgs--payots." Oh. Pets.
Most of us have seen the common spelling variations between British English and American English.
They involve such words as: color, honor, favor....which in Great Britain, are spelled with the addition of a "u": colour, honour, favour.
Spell checkers for American English will flag those as misspelled every time, however, here on Hub Pages, with writers from around the globe, either is accepted.
I can see, however, that the proximity to France and the other countries with Latin-based languages is probably responsible for these particular variation. In French, for example, the first two examples are spelled as, "couleur," and "honneur." The folks in the UK got rid of most of the other "extra" letters, but not the final "u."
English is Spoken Virtually Everywhere!
- English Speaking Countries - A List of English Speaking Countries
A listing of countries with English as an official language or where English is predominantly spoken.
Many Other Varieties of English Abound
Of course, English is spoken in many countries worldwide, not just the USA and Great Britain. English is also spoken in Canada, Australia, New Zeland, Belize, parts of Africa, the Philippines, Malaysia, Guam and in many other places. Each is bound to have its own idiosyncrasies and accents. Think of the sing-song rhythm of the English spoken in Jamaica; or the (unfortunately stereotyped) "G'dai, maite" of the Aussies.
In many other countries, English is a common second language--there are many places to which one can travel and get along just fine without knowing anything of the "official" language of that country.
In fact, it may surprise you to know that English is so universal, that it is the international language of diplomacy and of international air travel. An Italian pilot, for example, coming in for a landing in Japan, will be conversing with the control tower in English! | <urn:uuid:e8c6a721-30c5-48e5-809f-4e8f98540387> | CC-MAIN-2017-43 | https://hubpages.com/literature/How-Did-American-English-Originate-and-Become-Different-from-British-English | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-43/segments/1508187820700.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20171017033641-20171017053641-00056.warc.gz | en | 0.962967 | 2,291 | 3.15625 | 3 |
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You are given a grid of dots, marked with yellow lines to indicate which dots you are allowed to connect directly together. Your aim is to use some subset of those yellow lines to draw a single unbroken loop from dot to dot within the grid.
Some of the spaces between the lines contain numbers. These numbers indicate how many of the lines around that space form part of the loop. The loop you draw must correctly satisfy all of these clues to be considered a correct solution.
In the default mode, the dots are arranged in a grid of squares; however, you can also play on triangular or hexagonal grids, or even more exotic ones.
Credit for the basic puzzle idea goes to Nikoli .
Loopy was originally contributed to this collection by Mike Pinna, and subsequently enhanced to handle various types of non-square grid by Lambros Lambrou.
http://www.nikoli.co.jp/en/puzzles/slitherlink.html (beware of Flash)
Click the left mouse button on a yellow line to turn it black, indicating that you think it is part of the loop. Click again to turn the line yellow again (meaning you aren't sure yet).
If you are sure that a particular line segment is not part of the loop, you can click the right mouse button to remove it completely. Again, clicking a second time will turn the line back to yellow.
(All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.)
These parameters are available from the ‘Custom...’ option on the ‘Type’ menu. | <urn:uuid:2892eec5-2a9b-4ca3-9076-6b08ace15196> | CC-MAIN-2018-17 | https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/puzzles/doc/loopy.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-17/segments/1524125945317.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20180421184116-20180421204116-00207.warc.gz | en | 0.924914 | 335 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Dutch barn is the name given to markedly different types of barns in the United States and Canada, and in the United Kingdom. In the United States, Dutch barns (a. k. a. New World Dutch barns) represent the oldest and rarest types of barns. There are relatively few—probably fewer than 600—of these barns still intact. Common features of these barns include a core structure composed of a steep gabled roof, supported by purlin plates and anchor beam posts, the floor and stone piers below. Little of the weight is supported by the curtain wall, which could be removed without affecting the stability of the structure. Large beams of pine or oak bridge the center aisle for animals to provide room for threshing. Entry was through paired doors on the gable ends with a pent roof over them, and smaller animal doors at the corners of the same elevations. The Dutch Barn has a square profile, unlike the more rectangular English or German barns. In the United Kingdom a structure called a Dutch barn is a relatively recent agricultural development meant specifically for hay and straw storage; most examples were built from the 19th century. British Dutch barns represent a type of pole barn in common use today. Design styles range from fixed roof to adjustable roof; some Dutch barns have honeycombed brick walls, which provide ventilation and are decorative as well. Still other British Dutch barns may be found with no walls at all, much like American pole barns.
Dutch barns in the United States
The New World Dutch barn is the rarest of the American barn forms. The remaining American Dutch-style barns represent relics from the 18th and 19th century. Dutch barns were the first great barns built in the United States, mostly by Dutch settlers in New Netherlands.
New Netherlanders settled along the Hackensack, Passaic, Raritan, Millstone rivers and their tributaties in New Jersey. In New York, they concentrated in the Hudson Valley, and along the Mohawk River and Schoharie Creek .
Relatively few—probably less than 600—Dutch barns survive intact in the 21st century. Those that remain date from the 18th and early 19th century. Dutch barns rarely remain in a good, unaltered condition. The Dutch Barn Preservation Society has cataloged hundreds of standing Dutch Barns throughout the Hudson, Mohawk, and Schoharie Valleys as well as in New Jersey. Schoharie County Historian Harold Zoch regularly speaks on Dutch barns.
The exterior features a broad gable roof, which, in early Dutch barns extended very low to the ground. The barns feature center doors for wagons on the narrow end. A pent roof, or a pentice, over the doors offered some protection from inclement weather. The siding was usually horizontal and had few details. Dutch barns often lacked windows and had no openings other than the doors and holes for purple martins to enter. The design of the Dutch barn allows it to have a massive presence, giving it an appearance larger by comparison to other barns.
Inside the barns are supported by heavy structural systems. The mortised and tenoned and pegged beams are arranged in "H-shaped" units. The design alludes to cathedral interiors with columned aisles along a central interior space, used in Dutch barns for threshing. It is this design that links Dutch barns to the Old World barns of Europe. Another distinctive feature of the Dutch barn is that the ends of the cross beams protrude through the columns. These protrusions are often rounded to form tongues. This feature is not found in any other style of barn design.
The Dutch barn was widely distributed in areas of New Jersey and New York. Dutch barns have been identified in southwestern Michigan, Illinois, and Kentucky in the United States Midwest. The Illinois and Kentucky examples may have been misidentified when recorded, and might have been Midwest three portal barns instead. However, New Jersey Dutch are documented as having settled in Henry and Mercer counties in Kentucky so there may be reason to believe that the barns in Kentucky may actually be Dutch Barns. Further research is warranted.
Dutch barns in Canada
Dutch barns in the United Kingdom
What are called Dutch barns in the United Kingdom are sometimes called a hay barrack in the U.S., a specific type of barn developed for the storage of hay. They have a roof, but no walls. These are a relatively recent development in the history of British farm architecture, most examples dating from the 19th century. Nowadays they are more commonly used to store straw. They also are called pole barns and hay barns.
Early barn types in the U.K., such as aisled barns, were primarily used for the processing and temporary storage of grain. Processing comprised hand-threshing (later in history replaced by machine threshing): the grain would then be removed to a granary for permanent storage. Following the agricultural revolution of the 16th to mid-19th century, with its emphasis on the improvement of farming techniques, there was a marked increase in the amount of hay that was produced (partly due to the use of water-meadows and partly due to crop rotation). The hay barn was developed in response to this: formerly the small amounts of precious hay produced had been stored in the haylofts over the cow house or stables, or in haystacks. However, haystacks are prone to spoiling in the rain, especially after the stack has been 'opened' for consumption. As the weather in the U.K. is often wet, several different types of hay barns evolved, but all shared certain characteristics: they were roofed and well-ventilated. Hay barns came into use at the end of the 18th century. Dutch barns are still very common in the U.K., and are nowadays most commonly used to store straw rather than hay.
Design in U. K.
Various types of hay barn included those with 'honeycombed' brick walls, forming a decorative as well as practical form of ventilation, and the Dutch barn, which has a roof but open sides. The roof kept off the rain but the lack of walls allowed good ventilation around the hay and prevented spoiling.
The term 'Dutch barn' has been used in the U.K. both to describe such structures with fixed roofs and those with adjustable roofs. The latter type are also, confusingly, sometimes called French barns. Due to their ease of construction these structures are often considered temporary and appear and disappear in the landscape; the interval is often determined by the life of the pole upright or the corrugated iron roof. They are often constructed with a rounded or arched corrugated iron roof and with metal uprights, although frequently, telegraph poles are used for the uprights.
- http://www.thebarnjournal.org/stories/story013/index.html The Barn Journal
- Noble, Allen G.; Seymour, Gayle A. (April 1982). "Distribution of Barn Types in Northeastern United States". Geographical Review, (PDF) (American Geographical Society) 72 (2): 155–170. doi:10.2307/214864. JSTOR 214864. JSTOR.
- Schaefer, Vincent J. Dutch Barns of New York:an Introduction. Purple Mountain Press, Fleischmanns, NY.
- Auer, Michael J. The Preservation of Historic Barns, Preservation Briefs, National Park Service, first published October 1989. Retrieved 7 February 2007.
- "National Register of Historic Places". WEEKLY LIST OF ACTIONS TAKEN ON PROPERTIES: 8/30/10 THROUGH 9/03/10. National Park Service. 2010-09-10.
- Centennial celebration of the Old Mud-Meeting House near Harrodsburg, Ky., August 25, 1900. Electronic reproduction. 2002.
- Historic Environment Local Management Website
- The Conversion of Traditional Farm Buildings: A guide to good practice, by English Heritage.
- R. W. Brunskill (1987). Traditional Farm Buildings of Britain. Victor Gollancz, London. pp. 36–50, 101, 142.
- Jeremy Lake (1989). Historic Farm Buildings: An Introduction and Guide in association with the National Trust. Blandford Press, Cassell, London. p. 98.
- John Fitchen, The New World Dutch Barn; A Study of Its Characteristics, Its Structural System, and Its Probable Erectional Procedures (Syracuse University Press, 1968) ISBN 0-8156-2126-4
- John Fitchen, Greg Huber editor, The New World Dutch Barn: The Evolution, Forms, and Structure of a Disappearing Icon (Syracuse University Press, 2001) ISBN 0-8156-0690-7
- Dutch Barn Preservation Society Newsletter
- Dutch Barn Preservation Society in the United States
- Dutch barn recorded by British archaeological project
- Hudson Valley Vernacular Architecture | <urn:uuid:883faaf7-79fd-4cfd-8c74-778427e3c6fe> | CC-MAIN-2014-10 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_barn | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-10/segments/1393999678556/warc/CC-MAIN-20140305060758-00063-ip-10-183-142-35.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935584 | 1,892 | 3.546875 | 4 |
The ideas in this guide offer practical guidance to developing habits that, once embedded, will enable students to respond proactively and positively to any challenge they might face during distance learning. By creating learners who are in control of their own education, we also create young adults who will continue to be independent thinkers in their lives beyond the classroom.
Being able to think and act independently remains one of the most important skills that a student can learn. We live in a culture that is rooted in individualism – where independence is central to our ethical and social world view. Failure to prepare students for the demands of a world where teachers will not be available to provide all the answers is to do them a great disservice.
While spoon-feeding styles of teaching can sometimes offer the most direct route to ensuring that all students are making demonstrable progress, it is possible to teach in a way that allows room for independence without sacrificing those all-important results. But to create a more independent learning environment we must first start by adjusting the mindsets of everyone in the classroom − students and teachers alike.
One of the major obstacles preventing students from becoming more independent is a fear of failure. To encourage a more independent approach, we must help students to see failure as an opportunity to learn, rather than something to be avoided at all costs.Download Now | <urn:uuid:84956b91-1148-404f-bb3c-42ef2c52ba4d> | CC-MAIN-2020-24 | https://parkhouseschool.com/independent-learning-in-the-distance-learning-era/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-24/segments/1590347424174.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20200602100039-20200602130039-00356.warc.gz | en | 0.945726 | 266 | 4.09375 | 4 |
California's State Water Project has received a prestigious award for engineering excellence.
Selected as one of the greatest engineering achievements of the 20th Century, the SWP is the first project on US soil to be named as a Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).
"America's engineers have selected California's water project as one of the greatest engineering marvels of an entire century," said Department of Water Resources Director Thomas M. Hannigan. In California, only the Golden Gate Bridge is slated to receive a similar honor at a ceremony at the span on May 30. DWR planned, built and operates the State Water Project, largest State-run multipurpose water and power system in the nation. Serving 23 million Californians, the SWP is a system of reservoirs, aqueducts, power plants and pumping plants extending over 600 miles in length. Key features include Oroville Dam, tallest dam in the US, and San Luis Reservoir, largest offstream storage reservoir in the nation. Robert W. Bein, ASCE President, presented the award to Hannigan in ceremonies at the Sacramento Convention Center.
"It is fitting that the largest State-built water development project in the United States would be chosen by ASCE for this special honor," said Bein. "The State Water Project is an outstanding example of engineering ingenuity and dedication to ensuring the public's well-being."
The award ceremony was witnessed by dozens of retired DWR engineers who helped plan and build the State Water Project during the 1950s and 1960s. Among the DWR retirees was Engineer David N. Kennedy, who served longest as DWR Director, from 1983 to 1998. He was a planning engineer in DWR during the 1960s. Kennedy noted that when the State Water Project was built, it included the latest in environmental protection. An example: a temperature control outlet at Oroville Dam that was highly innovative and has benefitted generations of fishing downstream rivers.
DWR Director Hannigan noted that the SWP has served Californians reliably for more than four decades. He reported that since initiating deliveries in 1962, the State Water Project has delivered more than 60 million acre-feet of water.
The only two projects previously honored by ASCE as Millennium Monuments are the Panama Canal and Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan.
The Department of Water Resources operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs. | <urn:uuid:5f950828-cbf5-4983-86dd-374b9a06da65> | CC-MAIN-2016-36 | http://www.wqpmag.com/california-state-water-project-receives-major-engineering-honor | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-36/segments/1471982296721.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20160823195816-00087-ip-10-153-172-175.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966584 | 522 | 2.953125 | 3 |
The Read Without Glasses Method for Presbyopia was designed by Dr. Ray Gottlieb and Martin Sussman with the intention of creating a program that can be beneficial for middle-aged users with presbyopia.
This is the only eyesight training program which is specifically targeted to reverse the gradual loss of sight that most adults begin to experience in their mid-forties, evidenced as a lessened ability for visual acuity at close distances such as reading or working on the computer. The change is due to changes in the eye's capacity to focus, known as presbyopia.
This method, utilized 6 minutes daily, is effective in:
Whether you are just now beginning to notice problems in close vision or whether this problem has existed for years, the Read Without Glasses Method provides an option to reverse such vision loss through daily practice in a safe and natural approach.
Unconditional 60-Day Guarantee
Note: The Read Without Glasses Method does require two normally functioning eyes and is not helpful for those with lazy eye (amblyopia), only one functioning eye, eye turning problems (squint) and related binocular conditions. The method is also not designed for nearsightedness or eye diseases such as macular degeneration or cataracts.
Read Without Glasses created by Dr. Ray Gottlieb, O.D., Ph.D., F.C.O.V.D., a Rochester, New York, behavioral optometrist and vision therapit. He was aided by Martin Sussman who helped Dr. Gottlieb transform his exercise system into this home-use method.
How long does it take?
You should spend at least 6 minutes a day doing the exercises. Instead of simply building up eye muscle strength, the method also helps to develop flexibility and balance in your eyes and your visual physiology. More practice, especially done regularly enhances the benefits.
How does it work?
The method is partially based on the fundamental optic principle that turning the eyes inward (convergence) enhances near focusing ability. The method helps you re-train the focusing system accomplish this.
What About Glasses?
You should practice the method without wearing your glasses or bifocals or contacts. If you wear reading glasses or bifocals, you should considering getting a weaker pair.
Disclaimer: Vision therapy programs are not a replacement for regular optometric or medical care. | <urn:uuid:56c0c29f-cd05-48ff-b9df-245c4bd1df85> | CC-MAIN-2014-41 | http://www.naturaleyecare.com/shop/read-without-glasses-method-dvd.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-41/segments/1410657132883.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20140914011212-00006-ip-10-196-40-205.us-west-1.compute.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939809 | 495 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Approximately 4 million Americans suffer from Sjögren's syndrome, which was first identified in 1933 by the Swedish ophthalmologist Henrik Sjögren. About 90% of victims are women with a mean age of 50 years, although Sjögren's can strike any age group, including children (Talal 1987).
The main symptoms of Sjögren's are chronic dryness of the eyes and mouth; however, it is also associated with dryness in external genitalia as well as the ear, nose and throat area. There may also be decreased secretions in the gastrointestinal tract.
Sjögren's is an autoimmune disorder. Symptoms associated with Sjögren's are caused by the infiltration of immune-system cells (usually B and T lymphocytes) into glands responsible for secreting fluid. The disease can occur alone (primary Sjögren's) or in conjunction with other autoimmune diseases (secondary Sjögren's). Sjögren's has been associated with rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, scleroderma, and other connective tissue diseases (Talal 1987). It has also been associated with autoimmune disorders in the thymus gland; studies have shown that patients with Sjogren's may also suffer from thyroid disorders (Lazarus 2005).
Traditional treatment relies on cholinergics (ie, drugs that stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system); however, they can have significant side effects. Nutritional therapy focuses on essential fatty acids, which have been shown to modulate the immune system. Lifestyle changes are also a valuable therapeutic tool.
Although the disease rarely shortens a patient's life span, Sjögren's can have devastating effects. Ocular (eye) dryness can lead to chronic keratoconjunctivitis and corneal ulcers; oral dryness can result in severe and chronic dental decay, fissures, infections, as well as difficulty speaking and swallowing. The disease is often accompanied by depression, fatigue, and fever. Elevated liver enzymes occur in 25% of patients; liver enlargement in 33%; Raynaud's syndrome in 20%; fibromyalgia in 55%; and lymphoma in less than 5% (Carsons 1998).
Oral symptoms of Sjögren's syndrome include reduced saliva; a dry, sticky mouth; and difficulty chewing and swallowing. Decreased saliva makes the oral cavity more acidic; the lowered pH, along with the reduction in the number of antibacterial enzymes normally present in human saliva, makes tooth decay a significant problem. Dental caries is considered a potential marker for the disease (Lynge Pedersen 2005). Dry mouth can also affect speech, taste, and tolerance to dental prostheses.
Chronic dryness of the eye causes inflammatory reactions (Baudouin 2001), leaving a feeling of grittiness in the eye and intolerance to light. The roughened surface of the eye caused by the dryness causes light to scatter, resulting in blurred vision. Dry eye also renders eyes more sensitive to irritants and susceptible to infections, which can result in corneal ulcerations if left untreated. Eyelid dermatitis may be another manifestation of primary Sjögren's syndrome.
Other symptoms associated with Sjögren's include the following:
- Nasal dryness, nosebleeds, congestion, impaired taste and smell, as well as more serious conditions (eg, bronchitis and pneumonia) caused by damage to mucous glands in the nose
- Dryness in eustachian tubes, which can lead to a clogged feeling in the ear and impaired hearing
- Itchy, dry skin
- Vaginal dryness
- Nutritional malabsorption, caused by affected mucous lining of the stomach
Individuals with Sjögren's may develop neurological problems, such as impaired memory and reduced concentration (Sjögren's Syndrome Foundation). A French study linked the onset of facial palsy involving cranial nerves to Sjögren's (Rousso 2005).
Because it progresses slowly, Sjögren's syndrome is frequently misdiagnosed and left untreated (Derk 2004). Symptoms of primary Sjögren's syndrome—dryness, fatigue, pain, head and neck complaints, hoarseness, or hearing loss—can also occur as a result of medication use, anxiety and depression, or normal aging (Mahoney 2003; Mariette 2002). In a Chinese study, the average time between onset of symptoms and establishment of diagnosis was 7.8 years, indicating most cases were either improperly diagnosed or neglected (Zhang 1993).
Sjögren's is diagnosed on the basis of the presence of symptoms and specific autoantibodies. During diagnosis, the physician will ask questions to determine if a patient is suffering from dry eyes or mouth and will test the functioning of salivary and ocular glands. In addition, tests could be conducted to detect antibodies to Ro/SS-A or La/SS-B antigens. Researchers have also discovered increased levels of the antibody interleukin-18, an immunoregulatory and proinflammatory cytokine in patients with Sjögren's (Bombardieri 2004). This cytokine interferes with acetylcholine, the messenger chemical that triggers saliva production. | <urn:uuid:82d64ef7-3d31-4afc-85e4-59dc4dffe250> | CC-MAIN-2013-48 | http://www.lef.org/protocols/immune_connective_joint/sjogren_syndrome_01.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164035309/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133355-00053-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936457 | 1,105 | 3.609375 | 4 |
Routing is a network service that allows communication across sub-networks. A sub-network is a single broadcast domain and a single broadcast domain can be associated with a Virtual LAN configured across a managed switch network.
Routing, the Network Interconnection Service
The internet ‘IP’ protocol is an extremely capable at moving or ‘routing’ data between sub-networks and networks alike. Whist this is a good thing for authorised network access is also a point where unauthorised entry can wreak havoc with a computer system especially a system containing legacy devices and operating systems’
Routing is the network serivice that allows data flows to pass from one sub-network to another. An industrial routing service is largely defined by interfaces available, the protocols that can be routed and the rate at which the packets can forwarded. The routing service is one function of a Router device, other Router functions include firewalling, virtual private networks (VPN), redundancy protocols (VRRP/CARP), packet capture utilities, and many more.
A routed sub-network is sized using the ‘sub-net mask’ parameter and presents a default gateway to the Internet ‘IP’ Protocol end points that reside on the respective sub-network.
IP packets, destined for end points on remote subnetworks, are forward to the default gateway to be routed towards the destination network. If a route exists between source and destination networks communication can commence.
I say ‘can’ rather than ‘will’ as routers also filter packets. This filter is called a firewall, router firewalls can drop packets to introduce an additional level of security to a network.Read more about Firewalls | <urn:uuid:2bc22016-8bcb-460a-9127-907daa8f1d5c> | CC-MAIN-2022-27 | https://it4automation.com/resources/network-technologies/routing/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-27/segments/1656104542759.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20220705083545-20220705113545-00217.warc.gz | en | 0.907494 | 356 | 3.625 | 4 |
Once there was a real distinction in clothing between blue-collar workers and white-collar workers out of which the figurative sense of manual versus clerical staff evolved. Recently the term pink-collar worker has been invented to describe the female equivalent of the (assumed male) blue-collar worker, which is particularly applied to women who assemble electronic equipment and run back-office data-entry systems (the term may have originated in the title of a book by Louise Kapp Howe in 1977). More recent still are gold-collar workers, highly-skilled individuals who know a great deal about several areas of their company’s work, are frequently crucial to its continuing profitability, and who — it is argued — must be managed by techniques that take their special qualities into account. The term was reportedly invented by Professor Robert E Kelley of Carnegie Mellon University, and forms the title of his 1985 book on managing this new type of employee. He also uses the term gold-collar manager for those who supervise them. Other terms which have been used are knowledge worker (itself at least 15 years old, though it hasn’t yet reached most dictionaries), new economy worker, and professional eclectic.
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Donate via PayPal. Select your currency from the list and click Donate. | <urn:uuid:e2b07d06-51a9-45fa-9f26-65247369ee9b> | CC-MAIN-2018-43 | http://www.worldwidewords.org/turnsofphrase/tp-gol1.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-43/segments/1539583510754.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20181016134654-20181016160154-00107.warc.gz | en | 0.972073 | 268 | 3.03125 | 3 |
It is a well-known cliché in business that “cash is king” and that is a fact. Apart from being the source of paying monthly bills, wages, and other expenses, cash is also an indicator of business success. Also, a company can appear to be in profit “on paper” but may not have actual cash to fulfil the inventory requirements and operating expenses. It may soon go out of business. Profit figures in business consider several non-cash line aspects like depreciation expenses and goodwill write-offs etc. Also, profit reports are calculated from sales income, which could be different from actual cash received from sales. Hence, cash flow is a more prevalent factor in representing the financial health of a business over profits.
What is cash flow?
We can understand the meaning of cash flow as the movement of cash inward and outward in the business. Cash is the money in hand and money deposited in banks. Cash equivalent is a highly liquid investment that is readily available for use. Cash is considered the lifeblood of a growing business. The effect of cash flow is immediate and real, if not managed properly, it’s disastrous. Hence, it must be monitored, controlled, protected, and utilised appropriately.
Cash Flow in business is a cycle. It is used to avail of the resources. They are then utilised to offer some products or services to the customer. Cash then flows inward in the form of revenue.
The inflow of cash can be from various sources such as:
- Receiving money from the sale of products/services
- Receiving money from royalties, fee, and commissions
- Getting money from bank loans
- Interest generated from the invested money
- Shareholder’s investment in business
- Selling long term assets like land and property
The outflow of cash can be in several directions such as:
- Buying raw material for manufacturing of goods
- Buying finished products for resale
- Buying fixed assets
- Paying taxes, long term debts, or redemption of debentures
- Various operating costs and salaries/wages of workers
- Paying interests to bank loans
Types of cash flow
Activities that result in cash flow in business can be divided into three categories:
1. Operating activities
These are the primary activities of a business. For instance, in a cosmetics company, it could be manufacturing of cosmetics, procurement of raw material, sale of cosmetics, etc.
These are the main activities that are responsible for profit generation. The amount of operating cash flow indicates the capability of the business in paying its dividends, managing working capital, and other expenses, and investing money without the help of an external source of finance.
Cash inflow from operating activities can be from the selling of goods and royalties, commissions, or other revenues.
Outflow can be for raw material purchasing and other manufacturing expenses, salaries of workers, and tax payments.
2. Investing activities
Investing activities include the purchase of fixed assets like machinery, land, and building and furniture, etc. Transactions concerning long-term assets are also counted under investing activities. These activities are mostly futuristic and can generate some income and cash flow in the future.
The cash outflows from investing activities can be to purchase fixed assets, shares, warrants, and other debt instruments.
Cash inflow from investing activities can be interests and dividends received from loans given, investments done, repayment of a loan from third parties or disposal of fixed or long-term assets etc.
3. Financing activities
Financing activities include the equity issue and repayment, debt issue and repayment, dividend payment, and obligations of a capital lease. Cash flow in business from these activities is the net amount of cash generated by the company in a certain period. As and when a company requires capital, it will issue debt or equity. The accountants, investors, and financial analysts are eager to know how the company is funding its operations.
Cash inflow from financing activities can be from issuing shares, debentures, loans, and other short- and long-term borrowings.
Cash outflows from activities like repayment of amounts taken, interests to be given on debentures and advances, or dividends to be paid on equity.
What is Net cash flow?
Net cash flow is the profitability or loss measured by finding the difference between total inflow and outflow of cash through investing, financing, and operating activities. It can be calculated as
Net Cash Flow= Total Inflow – Total Outflow
where inflow is the revenue generated from sales of goods/services and outflow is the expenses made for utilising resources to avail those goods/services
What is Free Cash Flow?
Free cash flow is the amount of cash that is free and clear of any obligations to be paid to the shareholders in the form of dividends and interests. So, with FCF statements, investors get an idea about the company’s capability to repay expected dividends or interests within a certain period.
If the debt is subtracted from the free cash flow in business, the company will also get an idea about cash available for additional borrowings. Also, investors can find out the insights of future dividends based on current free cash availability after interest is paid.
Free cash flow can be calculated as
Free cash flow = cash flow by operating activities- capital expenditures
Since it considers the working capital, it provides a clear view of the fundamental trends. For example, a decrease in inflow means the company is getting cash from the customers rapidly, or an increase in the inventory could mean the piling of huge stock.
What is cash flow statement?
Cash flow statement is a financial statement showing the inflow and outflow of cash and cash equivalents from different types of cash flow activities. The primary purpose of this statement is to show the total cash inflow and outflow details for a certain period, under headings of financial, investing, and operating activities. It has various significances:
- This statement is a tool for the stakeholders who are interested in the financial information and condition of the company.
- It has huge importance due to its practical utility in financial matters.
- It shows a transparent picture of the financial health of the company.
- It helps the firm in balancing the two aspects: cash inflow and cash outflow.
- It helps in comparing the operating performance of different enterprises.
Although positive cash flow statements are a good sign, negative statements cannot be completely called a bad financial condition. There can be companies that have some expansion plans and, because of that, have negative statements. Hence, regular monitoring and analysis should be done before concluding.
Cash flow projection
Based on the cash flow statement, prediction can be made on the flow of funds in your business. That is called a cash flow projection. After all, you can make decisions on expansion or requirement of funds based on the current scenario only.
What is cash flow management?
Cash flow management is the process by which an organisation monitors, optimises, and analyses the cash flow in its business. As per a study conducted, 82% of businesses fail because of poor cash flow management. If the cash inflow lags the cash outflow, it may cause a financial crisis.
Hence you should be using some cash flow management techniques. You can follow these methods:
First of all, it’s very important for you as a business owner to keep a check on your cash flow.
Many accounting software is available which can help you in analysing the cash flow and generating reports. This would help you to be prepared for the coming situation.
Secondly, you may use different strategies to shorten your cash conversion period, which will help you get cash readily available for use.
Thirdly, if you are planning for an expansion and need funds, you can consider debt financing or equity financing as an option.
- Debt financing is suitable for land or machinery, building or equipment where they are kept as a security for availing loan services. For small funds required, this is a good option.
- Equity financing is another option where an investor is given a share of the business. Here you don’t have to repay the debt if the business goes in loss. However, he/she should be involved in all the business decisions.
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Q. What is cash flow management?
Ans. Cash flow management is the process by which an organisation monitors, optimises, and analyses the cash flow in its business.
Q. What is Free cash flow?
Ans. Free cash flow is the amount of cash that is free and clear of any obligations to be paid to the shareholders in the form of dividends and interests.
Q. What is Net cash flow?
Ans. Net cash flow is the profitability or loss measured by finding the difference between total inflow and outflow of cash through investing, financing, and operating activities.
Q. What is operating cash flow?
Ans. It is the cash flow from operating activities like manufacturing. | <urn:uuid:4b24a528-5918-4721-98d6-9e16e76ad6cd> | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | https://okcredit.in/blog/what-is-cash-flow-and-its-types/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224649348.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20230603233121-20230604023121-00636.warc.gz | en | 0.948123 | 1,970 | 3.265625 | 3 |
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--> Summary In September 1992, the Committee on National Statistics and the Committee on Population of the National Research Council held a workshop to explore data collection and data preparation on immigration in the United States. One purpose was to assist the Immigration and Naturalization Service in developing a statistical information system, as required by the Immigration Act of 1990. The other purpose was to suggest possible improvements to the data collection and analysis efforts of federal statistical agencies and the social science research community. Using as a basis the presentations and discussions that took place, the committees make the following conclusions and recommendations. Conclusions Research Issues The committees' conclusions regarding research issues cover four areas: It is extremely important to examine immigrants by nationality groups, yet the overall sample size of available surveys limits the ability to conduct analysis of immigrants by countries of origin. The need for large-scale data sets—possibly including new longitudinal surveys—on immigrants is a challenge for immigration research. Many surveys and the decennial census have limited information for distinguishing immigrant origins. Some surveys include virtually no data on immigrant status (whether a person is a naturalized citizen, a legal immigrant, a refu-
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--> gee, or a foreign-born person in some other visa status), whereas other surveys (and the census) provide information only on foreign-born persons—yielding limited data, for example, on the children of the foreign-born.1 At a time when U.S. immigration is both substantial and diverse, research is hampered by the inability to use existing data for immigration studies. The experiences of immigrants in the United States vary enormously and affect people's adjustment to life in this country. Studies of the use of welfare programs—to mention one important policy topic—need to distinguish among illegal aliens, legal immigrants, and refugees for analysis. Unfortunately, information on legal status and the visa status (for legal aliens) is absent from most available data. Of all the areas that require more research and improved data, no topic requires more systematic attention than family and social networks. The family is an important factor before, during, and after immigration. And ''after'' extends a long time: the status of the family greatly affects the children of immigrants. Several data sets, including the records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, could benefit from improvements in the study of the immigrant family. Research Improvements Having noted the priority policy questions for immigration data (see the section on establishing data priorities in Chapter 1), the committees also draw conclusions regarding broad areas for improvement in Immigration and Naturalization Service records: Cooperative efforts are needed to improve immigration statistics. The matching of administrative records, especially records on program and welfare use, offers many possibilities for improved immigration data. It would be useful to match welfare records to a sample of recent immigrants, for example, to make comparisons with the native-born. The results of such an effort would be beneficial for both the study of immigration and social program use. Coordination between the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Social Security Administration could provide improved data and should be encouraged. Matching records from the two agencies could provide longitudinal data on earnings for immigrants, an important but neglected topic of policy study. One possibility for exploration would be to assign a social security number to immigrants as part of the Immigration and Naturalization Service's administra- 1 The 1980 and 1990 censuses did not collect data on the nativity of the respondent's parents. Census data on the children of the foreign-born exist only for children who reside in the household with their parents. For children of immigrants who do not live with their parents, census data do not provide information about such important topics as the education, employment, and income of this transitional generation.
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--> tive procedures. A second possibility would be to take a sample of records on entering immigrants from past periods and link them to the Social Security Administration's records to provide data on earnings since arrival in the United States. With Immigration and Naturalization Service data linked to earnings information on individuals, dependents, and relatives, meaningful information on family processes would also be available for study. Conducting sample surveys of immigrants, using Immigration and Naturalization Service or other records, would add valuable information about newly arriving immigrants. There are special problems in surveying immigrants because they are widely dispersed in the U.S. population and are few in number in many areas. One possible survey design would be to use a sample of approved applications for a permanent resident visa—known as a green card. A relatively accurate address is provided by green card applicants. It would be possible to obtain information by enclosing a mail questionnaire, perhaps using several different languages, when the green card is delivered. Recommendations The committees make two kinds of recommendations: (1) on additional sources for the data needed for program and research purposes and (2) on new questions and refinements of questions within existing data sources in order to improve the understanding of immigration and immigrant trends. Parental Nativity A question on parental nativity (place of birth of respondents' parents) is an important one for the decennial census. Although such information was collected on the 1970 and earlier censuses, it was not included on either the 1980 or the 1990 census. Parental nativity data provide the information required to examine the social and economic characteristics of the sons and daughters of immigrants. Children of immigrants are a critical generation for study: they reflect the success and rapidity of adjustment of immigrants to U.S. society. The children of immigrants are a pivotal, young subgroup of a national population increasingly affected by large-scale immigration. Census questions require a strong political mandate for inclusion; for the 1990 census, there was no adequate mandate for including parental nativity on the questionnaire. The Immigration Act of 1990 now provides a federal mandate for parental nativity information. Recommendation 1. We urge that the Immigration and Naturalization Service work with other federal agencies and the Bureau of the Census, under the overall direction of the Office of Management and Budget, to include key immigration questions on future censuses, in-
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--> cluding a question on nativity and parental nativity, based on the requirements of the Immigration Act of 1990. Public Use Microdata Sample An important source of decennial data for immigration research is the Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS). The Bureau of the Census's 1990 PUMS files are 1 and 5 percent samples of the individual data from the decennial census. All individual identifications, including specific geographic residence, are deleted from the PUMS files in order to preserve individual privacy. The PUMS files are widely used by immigration researchers, particularly for the study of numerically small and widely scattered racial and ethnic groups. One valuable enhancement of the PUMS files would be to add such contextual data as local unemployment rates—the study of the impact of immigration on employment levels requires local-area data. Recommendation 2. We recommend that the Bureau of the Census consider ways to add local-area contextual data to the Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) files. Contextual data on such variables as local employment, income, education, and racial and ethnic composition would measurably improve this important data set for academic and policy research on immigrants. Current Population Survey The Current Population Survey, which produces a great deal of valuable data, is the key federal survey available for immigration analysis. For more than a decade prior to 1991, the Current Population Survey occasionally included questions on parental nativity and other immigration-related issues. Parental nativity—and such related questions as citizenship and year of immigration—are essential for immigration research and should be included as key questions as a regular part of the Current Population Survey. Subsequent to the September 1992 workshop, and partially in response to discussions at the workshop, a group of federal agencies worked to place a nativity question on the Current Population Survey. As of 1994, the Current Population Survey collects nativity information for household members and parents of members, allowing researchers to distinguish among foreign-born, native-born of foreign-born parents, and native-born of native-born parents. In addition, the survey includes data on the year of entry for immigrants and citizenship status. The survey makes available basic information on immigration for all survey months and for all members of the household. It is notable that these data are available as well for all supplements to the Current Population Survey.
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--> Recommendation 3. The committees applaud the introduction of key questions on nativity as a regular part of the Current Population Survey. Questions on nativity, parental nativity, citizenship, and year of entry into the United States provide information essential to the understanding of immigration in this country. We urge the Bureau of the Census to retain these key immigration-related topics on the Current Population Survey. Recommendation 4. We recommend that the Bureau of the Census, in consultation with federal agencies and immigration researchers, review the possibility of adding special immigration questions to the Current Population Survey. Additional, more detailed immigration-related questions would enhance the value of the Current Population Survey data for immigration policy research. Such questions might be included on the Current Population Survey on a special basis, perhaps on one of the special monthly supplements, or on a periodic basis, depending on the purpose and usefulness of the data. Joint Mexico-United States Surveys Whereas the Current Population Survey is the key survey for use by immigration researchers, there have been discussions in recent decades about a joint survey in Mexico and the United States for immigration study. Such surveys would have value for policy studies in both countries. They could explore potential immigration, immigration before departure and after arrival, and return migrants. Joint surveys have been discussed before in general terms; there may be a real opportunity for them at this time. Recommendation 5. We recommend that U.S. federal statistical agencies meet with their counterpart institutions in Mexico to discuss the potential for establishing joint surveys on immigration. Such a meeting should include key immigration researchers from both countries. Immigration and Naturalization Service Records Some valuable changes have occurred in the past decade at the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Some were made in part to respond to an earlier National Research Council report (Levine et al., 1985). One suggestion that emerged from the 1992 workshop has been implemented: the Immigration and Naturalization Service has convened a group that meets regularly to coordinate improvements in federal immigration data. Despite the changes made in immigration data since 1985—for the Immigration and Naturalization Service and other agencies collecting immigration data—
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--> weaknesses in the data persist: the Current Population Survey questions on nativity have not been asked regularly, data on emigration and illegal aliens remain poor, little is known about foreign students and new citizens, and procedures have not been developed to ensure continued adequate analysis and dissemination of immigration information. Some obvious opportunities for improving immigration data remain. Examples include establishing an advisory committee to advise the associate commissioner and the Statistics Division and conducting a review of all federal agencies that gather immigration data or for which immigration data have a substantial impact (e.g., educational planning). Workshop participants made suggestions for the Immigration and Naturalization Service to explore the collection of new data, including improving data on nonimmigrants, adding information on immigrant adjustment to information on previous nonimmigrant status, matching administrative records, conducting a longitudinal survey of immigrants, doing special surveys, and sponsoring case studies. Survey data on new immigrants would offer useful additional data for immigration policy research. Recommendation 6. We recommend that the Immigration and Naturalization Service establish the design and usefulness of a survey of green card applicants. A survey of new immigrants appears to be feasible, using the relatively accurate addresses that are provided by immigrants in order to receive their permanent resident visa. A survey of new immigrants would provide cross-sectional data on legal new entrants into the United States. An ongoing survey, perhaps conducted annually or every few years, would also provide baseline data for longitudinal data collection. The workshop did not include discussion of specific proposals for such longitudinal data collection, although future study could weigh the merits and design for such a proposal. A Longitudinal Survey The National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, one of the sponsors of the workshop, requested that the workshop participants address the potential value of a longitudinal survey of immigrants, a type of survey that has been suggested as important for the advancement of immigration research. Participants reviewed several types of data collection for longitudinal data, spending the most time discussing the merits of a prospective sample (a survey of immigrants who are then followed over time). The purpose of the workshop discussion was to understand the value and limitations of such a survey; it was not to propose a specific survey design or to endorse the need for a longitudinal survey. Chapter 7 summarizes the discussion on the value of a longitudinal survey of immigrants, alternatives to a new survey, and some technical issues in survey design.
Representative terms from entire chapter: | <urn:uuid:2c24cefe-ebb9-489d-8fb4-df1638862fcd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=4942&page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383077/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933837 | 2,727 | 2.6875 | 3 |
PatientPlus articles are written by UK doctors and are based on research evidence, UK and European Guidelines. They are designed for health professionals to use, so you may find the language more technical than the condition leaflets.
See also separate Primary Biliary Cirrhosis article.
Cirrhosis is a diffuse hepatic process characterised by fibrosis and the conversion of normal liver architecture into structurally abnormal nodules. Cirrhosis represents the final histological pathway for a wide variety of liver diseases. The progression to cirrhosis is very variable and may occur over weeks or many years. Around 80-90% of the liver parenchyma needs to be destroyed before there are clinical signs of liver failure. However, there is often a poor correlation between the histological findings and the clinical picture.
The fibrosis causes distortion of the hepatic vasculature and can lead to an increased intrahepatic resistance and portal hypertension. Portal hypertension can lead to oesophageal varices as well as hypoperfusion of the kidneys, water and salt retention and increased cardiac output. Damage to liver cells (hepatocytes) causes impaired liver function and the liver becomes less able to synthesise important substances such as clotting factors and is also less able to detoxify other substances (see also separate article Liver Failure).
Causes of cirrhosis
A number of chronic liver diseases can lead to cirrhosis. The cirrhotic process can take from weeks to many years to develop, depending on the underlying cause and other factors, including patient response to the disease process. For example, chronic hepatitis C infection can take up to 40 years to progress to cirrhosis in some people.
- Common causes of cirrhosis include:
- Less common causes include:
- Primary biliary cirrhosis.
- Biliary obstruction (may be due to biliary atresia/neonatal hepatitis, congenital biliary cysts or cystic fibrosis).
- Autoimmune hepatitis.
- Inherited metabolic disorders - eg, tyrosinaemia, Wilson's disease, porphyria, alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency, glycogen storage diseases.
- Sarcoidosis or other granulomatous disease.
- Primary sclerosing cholangitis.
- Venous outflow obstruction in Budd-Chiari syndrome or veno-occlusive disease.
- Drugs and toxins including methotrexate, amiodarone and isoniazid.
- Congestive heart failure or tricuspid regurgitation (although this is rarely seen now due to improved management).
- Infections including congenital and tertiary syphilis and schistosomiasis.
- It is difficult to estimate the exact prevalence of cirrhosis, as previously undiagnosed cirrhosis is often found at post-mortem.
- There are an estimated 30,000 people living with cirrhosis in the UK and at least 7,000 new cases being diagnosed each year. The number of people living with both alcoholic cirrhosis and non-alcohol-related cirrhosis seems to be rising.
- There is concern that there are growing levels of dangerous alcohol consumption in the UK which may lead to increased numbers of people with cirrhosis.
- An analysis in the Lancet showed that between 1960 and 2002, total recorded alcohol consumption in Britain doubled. The same report showed that between 1987-1991, and 1997-2001, cirrhosis mortality in men in Scotland more than doubled (104% increase) and in England and Wales rose by over two thirds (69%). Mortality in women increased by almost half (46% in Scotland and 44% in England and Wales).
Risk factors for cirrhosis
- Alcoholic liver disease and hepatitis C are the most common causes in developed countries.
- Hepatitis B is the most common cause in parts of Asia and in sub-Saharan Africa.
- There may also be a genetic predisposition to cirrhosis which may explain the variable rates of its development in people with similar risk factors (such as alcohol abuse or hepatitis C infection).
- Continued alcohol consumption increases the rate of progression of cirrhosis from any cause.
- Risk factors for the development of cirrhosis in those with chronic hepatitis C infection:
- Regular (moderate) alcohol consumption.
- Age >50 years.
- Being male.
- Risk factors for the development of cirrhosis in those with NASH:
- Older age.
- Insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes.
Cirrhosis is often asymptomatic until there are obvious complications of liver disease. Up to 40% of people with cirrhosis may be asymptomatic. Blood testing for other reasons may reveal abnormal liver function and prompt further investigation which shows cirrhosis.
The history should include a thorough enquiry for possible underlying causes of cirrhosis, including a full drug and alcohol history (including over-the-counter drugs, complementary medicines and recreational drugs), risk factors for hepatitis infection, and family history of autoimmune or liver diseases.
Cirrhosis may present with vague symptoms such as fatigue, malaise, anorexia, nausea and weight loss. In advanced, decompensated liver disease, presentation may include:
- Easy bruising.
- Poor concentration and memory.
- Bleeding oesophageal varices.
- Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis.
Physical signs are variable and depend upon the extent of disease.
- Cutaneous features of cirrhosis include:
- Scratch marks secondary to pruritus.
- Spider angiomata/naevi (mainly found on the trunk and face).
- Skin telangiectasias (called 'paper money skin').
- Palmar erythema.
- Petechiae or purpura.
- Hair loss.
- White nails (horizontal white bands or a proximal white nail plate; sign of hypoalbuminaemia).
- Finger clubbing.
- Dupuytren's contracture.
- Other signs include:
- Hepatomegaly and a nodular liver.
- Gynaecomastia and male hair loss pattern.
- Hypogonadism/testicular atrophy/amenorrhoea (due to the direct toxic effect of alcohol in alcoholic cirrhosis or iron in haemochromatosis).
- Kayser-Fleischer ring (a brown-green ring of copper deposit around the cornea, pathognomonic for Wilson's disease).
- Signs of portal hypertension include:
- Ascites (can be detected clinically when ≥1.5 litres of fluid is present).
- Caput medusae (veins seen radiating from the umbilicus).
- Enlarged spleen.
- Signs of hepatic encephalopathy:
- Asterixis ('flapping tremor'); suggests hepatic encephalopathy. To detect asterixis, take the patient's hand and gently hyperextend the wrist and joints of the hand, pushing gently on the tips of the four fingers. Ignore the thumb. Hold that position for several seconds and you will feel a slow, clonic flexion-relaxation movement against your hand if asterixis is present.
These will depend to a considerable extent upon clinical suspicion of the aetiology.
- LFTs: should include aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), bilirubin, gamma-glutamyltransferase (gamma-GT); AST and ALT are raised due to hepatocyte damage; gamma-GT is high in active alcoholics.
- Albumin: there is hypoalbuminaemia in advanced cirrhosis.
- FBC: occult bleeding may produce anaemia; hypersplenism may cause thrombocytopenia; macrocytosis can suggest alcohol abuse.
- Renal function tests and electrolytes: hyponatraemia may be present (due to increased activity of antidiuretic hormone). Poor renal function may represent hepatorenal syndrome.
- Red cell folate: alcohol abuse is often associated with a diet inadequate in folate.
- Coagulation screen: abnormalities of coagulation are a sensitive test of liver function; prothrombin time is reduced in advanced cirrhosis.
- Ferritin: low ferritin may indicate iron deficiency from diet or blood loss; ferritin is raised in haemochromatosis.
- Viral antibody screen: to look for evidence of hepatitis B or C infection.
- Fasting glucose/insulin/triglycerides and uric acid levels: these should be measured if NASH is suspected.
- Autoantibody screen: anti-mitochondrial antibodies are a very strong indicator of primary biliary cirrhosis.
- Alpha-1-antitrypsin level: to assess for alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency.
- Ceruloplasmin and urinary copper: to look for Wilson's disease.
- Fasting transferrin saturation and HFE (haemochromatosis C282Y) mutation: along with a raised ferritin, these tests can screen for haemochromatosis.
- Ultrasound scan of liver and possibly CT or MRI scan: their main use is to detect complications of cirrhosis, such as splenomegaly, ascites or hepatocellular carcinoma.
- CXR: this may show an elevated diaphragm and even pleural effusion (due to the passage of ascitic fluid across the diaphragm).
See separate Liver Biopsy article.
- Histology is usually needed for the definitive diagnosis of cirrhosis and liver biopsy is the gold standard.
- It may also give a clue to the underlying cause.
- Any coagulation defect must be corrected first and blood must be available for transfusion.
- If there are clear signs of cirrhosis, such as ascites, coagulopathy and a shrunken nodular-appearing liver, confirmation of diagnosis by biopsy may not be necessary.
Classification systems for cirrhosis
The Child-Pugh-Turcotte (CPT) classification system is a widely used and validated way to estimate prognosis in those with cirrhosis.
|Child-Pugh (Child-Pugh-Turcotte) Classification|
|Criterion||Score 1 point||Score 2 points||Score 3 points|
|Serum albumin (g/L)||>35||28-35||<28|
|Serum bilirubin (total)||<34 μmol/L (<2 mg/dL)||34-50 μmol/L (2-3 mg/dL)||>50 μmol/L (>3 mg/dL)|
|International Normalized Ratio (INR)||<1.7||1.7-2.2||>2.2|
|Ascites||Absent||Controlled medically||Poorly controlled|
|Encephalopathy||Absent||Controlled medically||Poorly controlled|
|A score of 5-6 is class A (life expectancy 15-20 years); a score of 7-9 is class B (life expectancy 4-14 years); a score of 10-15 is class C (life expectancy 1-3 years). This aligns with a perioperative mortality (for abdominal surgery) of 10%, 30%, and 80% respectively.|
The aim of treatment is to delay progression of cirrhosis and to prevent and/or treat any complications of cirrhosis.
- Specific treatment for the underlying cause.
- Ensure adequate nutrition, including calorie and protein intake.
- Alcohol: the most important measure for someone with alcoholic cirrhosis is for them to stop drinking. Continued alcohol intake can also increase the rate of progression of cirrhosis from any cause.
- Zinc deficiency is often seen in patients with cirrhosis and treatment with zinc supplements may be helpful.
- Pruritus is a common complaint in cholestatic and non-cholestatic liver diseases. Mild itching complaints may respond to treatment with antihistamines and topical ammonium lactate. Colestyramine is the mainstay of therapy for the pruritus of liver disease. Rifampicin has helped some patients unresponsive to colestyramine. Severe pruritus may require treatment with ultraviolet light or plasmapheresis.
- Patients with cirrhosis may develop osteoporosis and those at risk of osteoporosis should be given preventative treatment. See also separate Osteoporosis Risk Assessment and Primary Prevention article.
- Regular exercise should be encouraged and is important to prevent muscle wasting.
- Prophylactic antibiotic use in patients with cirrhosis and upper gastrointestinal bleeding significantly reduces bacterial infections and seems to reduce all-cause mortality, bacterial infection mortality, rebleeding events and length of hospitalisation.
- Patients with chronic liver disease should receive vaccination to protect them against hepatitis A, influenza and pneumococci.
- Drug prescribing: care is essential to avoid any drug that may not be properly metabolised in the presence of liver failure, have an adverse effect on the degree of liver failure or be a cause of drug-induced liver disease. See prescribing in Drug-induced Hepatitis article.
- Liver transplantation is the ultimate treatment for cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease. See the separate Liver Transplantation article.
- For the future: various antifibrotic drugs have been postulated that may slow down, or even reverse, the fibrotic process in cirrhosis and clinical trials have been carried out/are underway. Stem cell or hepatocyte transplantation aimed at restoring liver function is also being investigated.
- Surveillance of oesophageal varices.
- Surveillance for hepatocellular carcinoma.
If complications develop, the patient should be transferred to a specialised liver unit where there is the expertise to manage the complications and where the patient can also be assessed as to their suitability for liver transplantation.
Anaemia, thrombocytopenia and coagulopathy
- Anaemia may result from folate deficiency, haemolysis or hypersplenism.
- Thrombocytopenia is usually secondary to hypersplenism and decreased levels of thrombopoietin.
- Coagulopathy results from decreased hepatic production of coagulation factors. If present, cholestasis causes decreased vitamin K absorption, leading to reduced hepatic production of factors II, VII, IX and X.
- Patients with cirrhosis also may develop fibrinolysis and disseminated intravascular coagulation.
- These can occur as a result of portal hypertension.
- See separate Oesophageal Varices article for more details.
- This is a common feature of cirrhosis.
- It is an accumulation of excessive fluid within the peritoneal cavity due to the increased plasma volume 'spilling over' into the abdominal cavity.
- The clinical detection of ascites is described in the separate Abdominal Examination article but much smaller volumes may be detected by ultrasound.
- Its aetiology and management are discussed in the separate Ascites and Ascites Tapping articles.
Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis
- Ascites may be associated with spontaneous bacterial peritonitis.
- It is thought to be caused by the spread of bacteria across the gut wall and/or haematogenous bacterial spread. Escherichia coli is among the most common organisms implicated.
- This may be prevented by adequately treating ascites and treating those with high neutrophil counts in their ascitic fluid (>250 neutrophils/ml) with empirical intravenous antibiotics and albumin.
- Patients who survive an episode of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis should receive long-term prophylaxis with oral antibiotics such as norfloxacin, levofloxacin or trimethoprim.
- Cirrhosis is a major risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma. See separate Hepatocellular Carcinoma article.
- The risk varies according to the cause of cirrhosis.
- It is most often associated with cirrhosis caused by hepatitis C infection, followed by cirrhosis caused by hereditary haemochromatosis.
- Worldwide, hepatocellular carcinoma as a result of cirrhosis secondary to hepatitis B infection causes a large number of deaths.
- The risk of hepatocellular carcinoma is lower in those with alcoholic cirrhosis (8% five-year occurrence) or primary biliary cirrhosis (4% five-year occurrence).
- Patients with cirrhosis should be screened for hepatocellular carcinoma.
- The American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) guidelines recommend at least one screening per year for hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with cirrhosis, using imaging with ultrasonography, triphasic CT or gadolinium-enhanced MRI. Screening using serum alpha-fetoprotein is no longer recommended because of its poor sensitivity and specificity.
Other less common complications can include:
- Cirrhotic cardiomyopathy - there is cardiac hypertrophy and a blunted stress response of the heart. May cause significant problems perioperatively and mean that liver transplantation may be too dangerous.
- Hepatopulmonary syndrome - there is pulmonary arteriolar vasodilation, shunting and hypoxaemia. Transplantation may reverse this.
- Portopulmonary hypertension - an irreversible condition that can occur in those with refractory ascites.
- Surgery and general anaesthesia have increased risks in the patient with cirrhosis.
- This depends on the underlying cause and on the success of the treatment of the underlying cause. Prognosis is discussed in the separate articles for the conditions that can lead to cirrhosis.
- If someone with alcoholic cirrhosis continues to drink alcohol, the rate of decompensation can be rapid.
- Patients with fulminant hepatic failure have a 50-80% mortality rate unless they receive a liver transplant.
- Worldwide, the most important factor in prevention of cirrhosis is immunisation against hepatitis B.
- There is no vaccine against hepatitis C but some treatments may delay progression and alcohol must be avoided.
- Sensible drinking is essential for everyone and patients should be advised about the recommended limits.
- There are various separate articles providing further information about the assessment and management of harmful drinking and alcohol dependence: Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), CAGE Questionnaire, Alcohol-related Problems, Alcoholism - Recognition and Assessment and Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse - Management.
- Beware of hepatotoxic medications, including herbal remedies.
- Weight reduction and exercise can improve liver function in patients with NASH.
Further reading & references
- British Liver Trust
- Moller S, Henriksen JH; Cardiovascular complications of cirrhosis. Gut. 2008 Feb;57(2):268-78.
- Guidelines on the Management of Alcoholic Liver Disease; European Association for the Study of the Liver (2012)
- Tsochatzis EA, Bosch J, Burroughs AK; Liver cirrhosis. Lancet. 2014 May 17;383(9930):1749-61. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60121-5. Epub 2014 Jan 28.
- Heidelbaugh JJ, Bruderly M; Cirrhosis and chronic liver failure: part I. Diagnosis and evaluation. Am Fam Physician. 2006 Sep 1;74(5):756-62.
- Schuppan D, Afdhal NH; Liver cirrhosis. Lancet. 2008 Mar 8;371(9615):838-51.
- Lagana SM, Moreira RK, Lefkowitch JH; Hepatic granulomas: pathogenesis and differential diagnosis. Clin Liver Dis. 2010 Nov;14(4):605-17. doi: 10.1016/j.cld.2010.07.005.
- Bittencourt PL, Couto CA, Ribeiro DD; Portal vein thrombosis and budd-Chiari syndrome. Clin Liver Dis. 2009 Feb;13(1):127-44. doi: 10.1016/j.cld.2008.10.002.
- Velayudham LS, Farrell GC; Drug-induced cholestasis. Expert Opin Drug Saf. 2003 May;2(3):287-304.
- Dunbar JK, Crombie IK; The rising tide of liver Cirrhosis mortality in the UK: can its halt be predicted? Alcohol Alcohol. 2011 Jul-Aug;46(4):459-63. doi: 10.1093/alcalc/agr042. Epub 2011 May 3.
- Leon DA, McCambridge J; Liver cirrhosis mortality rates in Britain from 1950 to 2002: an analysis of routine data. Lancet. 2006 Jan 7;367(9504):52-6.
- Sinn DH, Paik SW, Kang P, et al; Disease progression and the risk factor analysis for chronic hepatitis C. Liver Int. 2008 Dec;28(10):1363-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1478-3231.2008.01860.x.
- Clark JM; The epidemiology of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in adults. J Clin Gastroenterol. 2006 Mar;40(3 Suppl 1):S5-10.
- Farrell GC, Larter CZ; Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: from steatosis to cirrhosis. Hepatology. 2006 Feb;43(2 Suppl 1):S99-S112.
- Leung PS, Rossaro L, Davis PA, et al; Antimitochondrial antibodies in acute liver failure: implications for primary biliary cirrhosis. Hepatology. 2007 Nov;46(5):1436-42.
- Kim YK, Kim Y, Shim SS; Thoracic complications of liver cirrhosis: radiologic findings. Radiographics. 2009 May-Jun;29(3):825-37. doi: 10.1148/rg.293085093.
- Heidelbaugh JJ, Sherbondy M; Cirrhosis and chronic liver failure: part II. Complications and treatment. Am Fam Physician. 2006 Sep 1;74(5):767-76.
- Wiesner R, Edwards E, Freeman R, et al; Model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) and allocation of donor livers. Gastroenterology. 2003 Jan;124(1):91-6.
- Chavez-Tapia NC, Barrientos-Gutierrez T, Tellez-Avila FI, et al; Antibiotic prophylaxis for cirrhotic patients with upper gastrointestinal Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2010 Sep 8;(9):CD002907.
- Kleinegris MC, Bos MH, Roest M, et al; Cirrhosis patients have a coagulopathy that is associated with decreased clot formation capacity. J Thromb Haemost. 2014 Oct;12(10):1647-57. doi: 10.1111/jth.12706. Epub 2014 Sep 30.
- van Erpecum KJ; Ascites and spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in patients with liver cirrhosis. Scand J Gastroenterol Suppl. 2006;(243):79-84.
- Llovet JM, Burroughs A, Bruix J; Hepatocellular carcinoma. Lancet. 2003 Dec 6;362(9399):1907-17.
- Riley TR 3rd, Bhatti AM; Preventive strategies in chronic liver disease: part I. Alcohol, vaccines, toxic medications and supplements, diet and exercise. Am Fam Physician. 2001 Nov 1;64(9):1555-60.
Disclaimer: This article is for information only and should not be used for the diagnosis or treatment of medical conditions. EMIS has used all reasonable care in compiling the information but make no warranty as to its accuracy. Consult a doctor or other health care professional for diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions. For details see our conditions.
Dr Michelle Wright
Dr Roger Henderson
Dr Adrian Bonsall | <urn:uuid:5932306a-04b0-4b23-bb73-2712dea3cd7f> | CC-MAIN-2015-32 | http://patient.info/doctor/cirrhosis-pro | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-32/segments/1438042986806.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20150728002306-00251-ip-10-236-191-2.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.828088 | 5,220 | 3.125 | 3 |
Debt continues to pose a significant problem for the Netherlands Antilles, ballooning by the end of 1998 to a massive US$1.75 billion. An appeal to the IMF produced a structural adjustment program that is heavily geared toward debt reduction, and through a combination of cutting its costs and raising its income the governmental aims by 2002 to reduce its budget deficit , which in 1998 hovered at 5.3 percent of the GDP, to 2 percent of the GDP. But maintaining parity between the country's sizable trade deficit and its invisible services earnings is a juggling act that is easily upset by glitches and ticks in the world economy. Shortfalls usually have to be supplied by borrowing—usually from the Dutch government
|Exchange rates: Netherlands Antilles|
|Netherlands Antillean guilders, gulden, or florins and Aruban florins per|
|Note: Currency rates have been fixed since 1989.|
|SOURCE: CIA World Factbook 2001 [ONLINE].|
and private sector . In 1999 talks began with the Dutch about possible debt restructuring or forgiveness. A 117-percent jump in the price of oil in 2000, which inflated the annual deficit by 13.6 percent, has now made these urgent. Rises in the world prices of oil have also accelerated inflation , which—climbing through the late 1990s—reached 6.6 percent in 2000.
Aruba's debt problems are more manageable. In 1998 the total external foreign debt was US$199.5 million, a rise of 11 percent over the 1998 level of US$180 million. Like the Netherlands Antilles, Aruba is vulnerable to high oil prices, which lift its import bill and inflates its currency. In 1999 inflation sat at 2.9 percent.
Since 1971 both the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba have adhered to the "dollar standard," with each pegging its guilder at US$0.56 (US$1.00=G1.79). Their central banks, therefore, play an important role in ensuring that each country has sufficient foreign exchange reserves to maintain the standard. In 2000 the Central Bank of the Netherlands Antilles held reserves equaling 1.6 months of import coverage, which was 2.4 months below the international norm; the Central Bank of Aruba held 5 months' worth. | <urn:uuid:cc709d6a-0c2c-48c3-9cb6-cd5586c2f5cd> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Americas/Netherlands-Antilles-and-Aruba-MONEY.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988720468.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183840-00197-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937011 | 478 | 2.515625 | 3 |
The supermoon may loom large and bright in the sky this Sunday, but the rocky orb will not trigger any natural disasters or even wreak havoc on the tides.
What the full moon's closest approach to Earth will do, however, is continue to fascinate and mystify humanity as it has for millennia.
"When I go outside and look at the full moon I feel very connected to the universe," said Michelle Thaller, the assistant director of science at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "The full moon is so immediate. It looks like a place you could go, you could stand on, you could visit." [ See Amazing Images of the Full Moon ]
She added that Carl Sagan once spoke about how the moon may have led to humans' desire to leave Earth and explore the universe, because other bodies, like the stars and planets, are so far away they aren't immediately visible.
"But the moon is so there; it's a part of our lives; it may have affected the way humans thought about the universe, our evolution as a culture," Thaller told LiveScience.
And this Sunday's full moon will be a close one. Since the moon takes an elliptical path around Earth, it can swing far away from us at one point on its orbit — called apogee — and super close during the lunar perigee.
Sunday's supermoon will reach its peak fullness at 7:32 a.m. EDT on Sunday (June 23), which is about 32 minutes after the moon reaches perigee; at this point, the moon will be about 221,300 miles (357,000 km) from Earth.
"The close timing of the moon's perigee and its full phase are what will bring about the biggest full moon of the year, a celestial event popularly defined by some as a ' supermoon,' said Joe Rao, as quoted by SPACE.com, a sister site to LiveScience.
At its closest and fullest, the supermoon will appear 12 percent larger than it will look during apogee on Jan. 16, 2014. The large ball in the sky has caused some to howl, it seems.
"A lot of the misconceptions are that this is somehow dangerous, that when the moon is a little bit closer, the gravity will cause earthquakes or tidal waves, or particularly high tides of any sort and that's just not true," Thaller said. "We've looked very hard to see if there were any correlations between where the moon is and natural disasters, and there just doesn't seem to be any relationship at all."
Thaller even mentioned that some thought that when they looked into a bowl of water under the light of the full moon they would see their future husband. "Unfortunately there really isn't any scientific basis for that," she added.
You can watch a free webcast of 2013 supermoon full moon on SPACE.com beginning on Sunday at 9 p.m. EDT (0100 June 24), courtesy of the skywatching website Slooh Space Camera.
Editor's note: If you snap an amazing photo of the Sunday Supermoon and you'd like to share it for a possible story or image gallery on SPACE.com, please send images and comments, including equipment used, to managing editor Tariq Malik at email@example.com.
- In Photos: Glitzy Images of a Supermoon
- Stop the Lunacy! 5 Mad Myths About the Moon
- Moon Master: An Easy Quiz for Lunatics
© 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:3cb2cbb6-d33b-42aa-96cf-39682ade4f8e> | CC-MAIN-2016-18 | http://www.nbcnews.com/id/52283005/ns/technology_and_science-science/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-18/segments/1461861718132.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20160428164158-00013-ip-10-239-7-51.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953325 | 740 | 2.765625 | 3 |
4525-47a Avenue, Red Deer, AB T4N 6Z6
“Retrace the steps of this epic adventure of exploration and discovery in Canada’s Far North”
The inspiration behind the Canadian Arctic Expedition 1913–1918 came from its leader, Manitoba-born explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson. His original idea was to search for unknown lands in the region of the Beaufort Sea with the American Museum of Natural History as his sponsor. However, the Canadian government of the time was anxious to assert its sovereignty over any new-found islands. It therefore intervened and became the Expedition’s only backer. The Canadian government then agreed to the urgent request of the Geological Survey of Canada that a major program of scientific research be added to the Expedition’s mandate. In this way, the Expedition became the first multidisciplinary scientific mission to the Canadian Arctic.
“Experience the hardships and successes of the 1913-1918 Canadian Arctic Expedition, a five year odyssey that encountered new lands, established new settlements and made new scientific discoveries in the Canadian North.”
A travelling exhibition produced by the Canadian Museum of Civilization in collaboration with the Canadian Museum of Nature.
Image of compass: Stefansson's Compass, about 1913 © Canadian Museum of Civilization G-74 | <urn:uuid:7e772e1f-d68a-4a8f-9e61-6dc251220c23> | CC-MAIN-2018-22 | http://www.reddeermuseum.com/exhibits-and-events/expedition-arctic/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-22/segments/1526794866772.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20180524190036-20180524210036-00391.warc.gz | en | 0.934564 | 266 | 3.5 | 4 |
The human nervous system is a sprawling network of nerves and cells which, together, regulate all of the vital functions that take place in our bodies. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS) are both components of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Together, they regulate the involuntary and reflexive functions of the human body.
The PSNS controls the ‘rest and digest’ functions of the body and maintains the body’s internal environment. It is responsible for regulating digestive and sexual function while keeping heart rate and blood pressure steady. The SNS is the driving force behind the ‘fight or flight’ response and triggers a number of physiological changes that prepare the body to confront or flee a perceived threat.
Sympathetic Nervous System
Parasympathetic Nervous System
|Originates in the thoracic and lumbar regions of the spinal cord
|Originates in the sacral region of the spinal cord and the medulla
|Controls body’s response to perceived threats
|Regulates the body’s functions at rest
|Fight or flight
|Rest and digest
|Release of adrenaline
|Effect on heart rate
|Increases heart rate
|Decreases heart rate
|Effect on lungs
|Bronchial tubes dilate
|Bronchial tubes contract
|Effect on muscles
|Effect on pupils
|Effect on digestive system
|Digestive function decreases
|Digestive function increases
|Effect on saliva production
|Saliva production decreases
|Saliva production increases
|Effect on mucus production
|Mucus production decreases
|Mucus production increases
|Effect on urine secretion
|Urine secretion decreases
|Urine secretion increases
|Effect on glycogen to glucose conversion
|Increased conversion of glycogen to glucose
What Does the Parasympathetic Nervous System Do?
The PSNS regulates the functions of your organs and glands at rest, otherwise known as the ‘rest and digest’ or ‘feed and breed’ activities. Put simply, the PSNS keeps your bodily functions working as they should. It keeps your heart rate and blood pressure steady while stimulating activities related to digestive and sexual function. These include the production of saliva, tears, and urine, digestion, defecation, and sexual arousal.
Key Effects of the Parasympathetic Nervous System
- Saliva production increases
- Mucus production increases
- Motility of the large and small intestines increases
- Activity in the stomach increases
- Urine secretion increases
- Bronchial muscles are contraction
- Pupils are constricted
- Heart rate is decreased
What Does the Sympathetic Nervous System Do?
The SNS is, arguably, even more important than the PSNS because it controls our ‘fight or flight’ response. If we find ourselves in a dangerous situation, it is the SNS that prepares us to save ourselves by either fighting the threat or running away from it. When confronted with a potential threat, the SNS directs energy away from non-essential functions (like the digestive system) and towards functions that are essential to survival.
First, the hormone adrenaline is released from the adrenal gland. As adrenaline flows through your bloodstream, it causes several physiological changes in the body that prepare it to fight or flee.
Heart rate and blood pressure are both increased. This boosts the flow of oxygenated blood to the muscles, which contract, ready for action. At the same time, the bronchial tubes dilate, increasing airflow in and out of the lungs and sending extra oxygen to the brain to improve alertness. The pupils also dilate, which allows more light to enter your eyes so you can see your surroundings more clearly.
All of these responses happen quickly and involuntarily, allowing you to react rapidly to the perceived threat. For example, if you see a car speeding towards you, you may leap out of the way before you have even fully registered what is happening, all thanks to the actions of the SNS.
Key Effects of the Sympathetic Nervous System
- Adrenaline is released
- Heart rate increases
- Blood pressure increases
- Bronchial tubes dilate
- Glycogen is converted to glucose at an increased rate
- Pupils dilate
- Muscles contract
- Saliva production decreases
- Mucus production decreases
- Urine Secretion decreases
- Activity in the stomach decreases
- Motility of the large and small intestine decreases
What is the Autonomic Nervous System?
The SNS and PSNS are the two main parts of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which controls the functions of our internal organs. All of the functions of the ANS are involuntary and reflexive, so we don’t always notice its effects on our bodies.
When the PSNS branch of the ANS is activated, the body is focused on ‘rest and digest’ or ‘feed and breed’ activities. The SNS stimulates the ‘fight or flight’ response and directs energy away from ‘rest and digest’ functions and towards those essential for survival. Together, both branches of the ANS regulate the vital activities of the internal organs when at rest and when under threat. | <urn:uuid:0d28564c-261e-4943-a848-973b40564113> | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | https://biologydictionary.net/sympathetic-vs-parasympathetic-nervous-system/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947473347.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20240220211055-20240221001055-00070.warc.gz | en | 0.880369 | 1,116 | 3.78125 | 4 |
The axolotl as it was established by scientists, is a larva of the Mexican ambistoma. Ambystomatidae, family of amphibians having a tail. Ambystomatidae — an overland animal, externally similar to a large salamander, but more modest coloring.
The axolotl has a fantastic ability to let grow the lost organs.
We, of course, know also other animals who can let grow new tails or paws, but to all of them to an axolotl very much far: he is able to restore completely not only extremities, but also eyes, jaws, heart. And at last is the only vertebrate who can grow anew the damaged fragments of the brain.
How it occurs?
Researchers from Broud’s (Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard) Institute found out that partially blasted паллиум (a part of a forebrain which at the person forms a cortex of larger hemispheres) an axolotl it is capable to form all types of neurones which were in it before damage. It means that again created tissue of a brain of an amphibian can give the same signals that were in its arsenal to wound. However there are also restrictions: axons (long processes of neurones) binding паллиум to other parts of a brain at neogenesis at axolotls are formed rather badly. Work is published in the eLife magazine.
Earlier it was already known that larvas of salamanders — axolotls — can let grow not only the lost extremities, but also some more exotic parts of a body — for example, sites of a brain. However it wasn’t clear, how correctly at the same time there is a neogenesis. For nervous tissue important not only number and a ratio of various types of cells, but also an order of their communications with each other. That to define it, the American neurobiologists used electrophysiology methods, and also the stains changing color of neurones how often they send signals of a certain intensity.
Authors assume that ability of an axolotl to regenerate various types of neurones is bound to its larval state. Salamanders can live in a form of an axolotl to death and at the same time are capable to reproduction (reproduction at a stage of a larva is called a neoteniya). Nevertheless when performing certain conditions (for example, at addition of an iodine in water) the axolotl at any age can turn into an adult salamander. It means that all cells of his body are constantly ready to a metamorphosis. Roughly speaking, they on properties are rather close to stem cells.
As for problems with restoration of long processes, researchers consider that here it isn’t disability of new neurones to form axons, and in lack of the corresponding signals from surrounding nervous tissue. At an embryonal development the destiny of each cell is defined by alarm substances which are emitted by her neighbors — other developing cells. Neurones of a brain of an adult axolotl of such substances don’t form therefore the new come cells don’t understand” where to refer axons. However if to add such substances to a tissue, new axons for certain it will be possible to grow.
The neogenesis mechanism salamanders of the lost extremities has nothing in common with action of stem cells, scientists found out.
Magic abilities of salamanders
Ability of these amphibiouses having a tail to let grow itself paws, lungs, brain concerned mankind throughout the millennia – it was studied by Aristotle, Voltaire, Darwin.
When the animal loses a part of a body, skin blanket cells quickly cover a wound with a so-called epithelial cover, fibroblasts break links with a connecting tissue and form a blastema of which the new extremity is formed on the place of a wound. For example, on a new paw only three weeks leave.
At the end of the 20th century scientists assumed that cells of salamanders are similar on stem, that is can turn into any organ.
Martin Kragl from the German Max Planck Institute found out that it not so. Together with the American colleagues he investigated as the Mexican salamander an axolotl of Ambystoma mexicanum lets grow herself an extremity and a tissue. Kragl used opening of staff of the University of California who proved that cells of a blastema of salamanders are similar to cells in the developing extremities of embryos of mammals which are capable to update the extremities, however lose these skills before birth.
Experiment in ultraviolet
Proceeding from the idea that development of extremities from a blastema practically repeats their natural development in the growing beings in a short look, the German and American scientists divided animals into two groups. The first entered GFP protein received from a fluorescent jellyfish. In ultraviolet this protein highlights cells in green color that allows scientists to track a parentage of various cells and their reserving. Both adult axolotls, and larvas entered into the second group. To them scientists entered the cells with a protein taken from gene-modified individuals. To larvas substance stuck there, from where, as biologists knew, various tissues and organs, in particular a nervous system had to grow. To adult individuals at first entered cells with a protein, and then cut off from a body on a piece.
Having observed several weeks for wards, biologists found out that cells behave very conservatively – they grow up only in those organs and tissues from which came. “Main conclusion of researchers: new cells of muscles make only old cells of muscles, new cells of a skin make only old cells of a skin, new neurones make only old nervous cells”, – writes the Science Daily edition.
Most visually this process was observed at larvas: stuck in the area from where the nervous system had to grow, the cells illuminated green extended on the growing axolotl in accuracy according to the scheme of a nervous system.
“Most likely, cells near the amputated organ will be reprogrammed that allows them to start fetal programs of formation of tissues irrevocably to an initial pluripotential cell”, – researchers in article published in the prestigious magazine Nature noted.
In other words, cells of salamanders behave essentially otherwise, than stem. If the last are capable to receive specialization and to develop in almost any organs, then in cells of salamanders the mechanism of accurate continuity is put.
From a salamander to the superman
The benefit of cages of salamanders is that to start process of regeneration they don’t need to reach an embryonic condition – they perfectly work being adults. Having revealed a secret of “active cages”, doctors will be able to grow up to the person the torn-off hand or a leg by an example of a salamander.
“Once we will be able to regenerate tissues of people”, – one of authors of a research Malkolm Meden believes. Hopes of the American scientists in many respects are explained by the identity of customers of a research: it was prosponsirovat by department of defense of the USA which representatives want to help the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who transferred amputation.
In some sources even write that Axolotls can bring together literally themselves in parts – attaching to themselves the released parts of other relatives – including the heads.
Roughly speaking, if to take pieces of axolotls, to put together and to mix, then it is quite possible (we don’t undertake to approve for certain) that this vinaigrette will soon grow together in something single, will rise by paws and will go on the aksolotsky affairs.
Thanks to the unique capabilities, these animals are found now not only in Mexico – they can be found in scientific laboratories worldwide where scientists incessantly cut them on pieces and then put again as a mosaic, hoping to solve this focus-pokus. | <urn:uuid:af77d8d5-c3df-4fcb-915c-97a90ab91eff> | CC-MAIN-2020-40 | https://earth-chronicles.com/science/the-being-capable-to-grow-up-a-new-brain.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-40/segments/1600400208095.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20200922224013-20200923014013-00667.warc.gz | en | 0.950981 | 1,690 | 3.125 | 3 |
We’ve all been doing our part to stay home as much as possible to stop the spread of COVID-19, but it’s still crucial that we continue to go to our well-visits and get any necessary immunizations.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), well-child visits are essential for many reasons, including:
- Tracking growth and development including milestones, social behaviors and learning
- Discussing any concerns about your child’s health
- Getting scheduled vaccinations to prevent illnesses like measles and whooping cough (pertussis) and 12 other serious diseases
Vaccines by Age
Vaccines are recommended throughout your child’s life to protect against serious, sometimes deadly diseases. Find out which vaccines are recommended for your child based on their age by using this chart from the CDC.
You may not realize it, but people need vaccines throughout their lives to stay healthy. Adults need to keep their vaccinations up-to-date because immunity from childhood vaccines can wear off over time. Adults are also at risk for different diseases. Learn about what vaccines may be recommended for you, and be sure to talk to your health care provider at your next well-visit.
Common Questions about Vaccines
The majority of parents choose to vaccinate their children according to the recommended schedule, but many parents may still have questions about vaccines. Use this Q&A from the CDC to get the answers to commonly asked questions regarding:
- vaccine safety
- side effects
- the vaccine schedule
- vaccine types
- protection from disease
Physician Health Partners care coordinators can help!
Care coordinators provide support to help you connect with a provider and get the care you need. Talk with a care coordinator today.
720-612-6700, option 2
Mon – Fri, 8 am – 5 pm | <urn:uuid:ad84d43c-be27-452a-969b-49e4e5e8797f> | CC-MAIN-2021-43 | https://www.phpmcs.com/about-us/blog/?rid=9108607f-b1dd-4f81-a969-a104fad32715 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-43/segments/1634323585025.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20211016200444-20211016230444-00628.warc.gz | en | 0.950121 | 383 | 2.90625 | 3 |
USC Stem Cell scientists are advancing our understanding of how the body develops, maintains and repairs the kidney and urinary system. They are also developing new regenerative treatments for the millions of patients with kidney injury and disease, bladder injury and disease, and urinary incontinence.
- One in 10 adults in the U.S.—more than 20 million people—are suffering from some degree of chronic kidney disease. Common causes include diabetes and high blood pressure.
- 13 million people in the U.S. experience urinary incontinence, frequently as a result of childbirth. | <urn:uuid:4ba65e90-c937-4d58-bbc8-650b67b8a2bd> | CC-MAIN-2019-35 | https://stemcell.keck.usc.edu/research/kidney-and-urinary-system/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-35/segments/1566027319724.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20190824041053-20190824063053-00379.warc.gz | en | 0.944807 | 116 | 2.609375 | 3 |
With violence spurred by hate speech on the rise globally, many countries struggle to diffuse local tensions while still protecting freedom of expression. In Ethiopia, recent reforms have resulted in constructive dialogue. Yet ethnic- and religious-based dangerous speech has also increased, as have spikes in ethnic violence, displacing millions. And the country’s passage of a controversial law addressing hate speech and disinformation, intended to deescalate friction, has led to worries about restrictions on personal freedoms.
Dexis’ team is part of this effort to deescalate friction by implementing Promoting Religious and Ethnic Tolerance (PRETE), and activity in Ethiopia that determines how local actors can help address hate speech online and then designing approaches to counter hate speech. By working with Addis Ababa University’s Center for Human Rights, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, the Attorney General’s Office, and two regional universities, PRETE is helping local stakeholders to identify what constitutes hate speech, understand relevant legal definitions, support data collection of hate speech online through machine learning, develop and disseminate counter-messaging, and reduce inflammatory, dangerous speech. In partnership with a media intelligence firm, PRETE is developing an online dashboard utilizing machine learning technology to ingest data across social media platforms (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) to map the hate speech landscape, monitor trends and patterns, identify key influencers, and other relevant analytics.
The link between online hate speech and violence is a vast and complex issue. PRETE is in its early stages and is tackling just one small aspect of it. What the project is rapidly learning has implications for multiple settings, such as:
PRETE works with university officials to identify a diverse team of select Jimma and Jigjiga University students to train on ways to identify hate speech online and develop effective counter-messaging. As Ethiopian universities are “de-ethnicized” through a lottery process for placement, universities have experienced tensions and even violence but present an opportunity for cross-ethnic dialogue and cooperation. The PRETE team trained over a dozen university students on polarizing issues in Ethiopia, hate speech, fake news, freedom of expression, and how and when to flag hate speech on Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms. The students were trained on using an online tool to flag hate speech content to support local data collection. This core group can also recruit other students and colleagues, training them in ways to get involved and broadening the overall knowledge base about hate speech.
The resulting data and analysis provide critical insights toward developing and delivering counter-messages and understanding who and what communities to engage with. This data is also intended to inform local and religious community leaders as they continue their outreach and messaging to stakeholders in local communities.
Due to COVID-19, discovering how to accommodate this work remotely when ICT infrastructure is underdeveloped in Ethiopia is now an even higher priority. Upcoming in-person workshops are on hold. The PRETE team is maintaining contact with university representatives and communicating directly with student leads of the working group via the Telegram messaging app. To ensure planning can continue, the PRETE team will work with students to maintain their flagging work through a mobile version of the tool and will keep open channels of communication with key stakeholders at Jimma and Jigjiga.
PRETE’s approach provides a concrete way for local students, activists, and leaders to contribute to countering hate speech and pragmatically support community stabilization. More broadly, it builds local capacity around digital literacy, civic education, machine learning, and analytics. Exploring how this model works in other contexts will be valuable to continue refining practical, locally-sustainable ways to invest in and sustain technological tools and platforms that address dangerous speech.
Sarah Kim is Senior Technical Advisor in the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Division at Dexis where she provides business development and technical support for State and USAID programs focused on security assistance, governance, political transition, conflict/post-conflict, and stabilization sectors.
Photo by Eric Lafforgue / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP | <urn:uuid:415c16a1-9235-476d-9bf3-185ac83dd33a> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://dexisonline.com/insights/can-technology-help-ease-ethnic-tension-in-ethiopia/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572212.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815205848-20220815235848-00508.warc.gz | en | 0.926875 | 828 | 2.59375 | 3 |
During Snow Days, come meet a couple of penguins from Shedd Aquarium in the Family Pavilion! You’ll be introduced to a couple of our outgoing penguins while one of Shedd’s trainers tells you fascinating facts about Shedd’s penguin population!
About Magellanic Penguins
The boldly banded Magellanic penguins live along the coast of southern South America, fishing the rich waters where the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans intermingle at the Straits of Magellan. Both the birds and the water passage were named for the Portuguese explorer who was the first European to discover them. The poor penguins were described by Magellan’s hungry crew as black geese that had to be skinned rather than plucked before being cooked. At more than 2 feet tall, Magellanics (Spheniscus magellanicus) are the largest of the “temperate-weather” penguins — those that don’t live in the southern polar zone — and their range overlaps with that of the rockhoppers. Magellanics are superb long-distance swimmers, and with their powerful paddlelike wings, they can zoom through the water at 15 miles per hour. They often form large hunting parties in search of cuttlefish, sardines, squid, krill and other small seafood. Unlike the boisterous rockhoppers, though, they are shy on land and withdraw to burrows under rocks or shrubs to nest. Each year when the nesting colony reassembles, each male reclaims his burrow, then vocalizes to reconnect with his long-term mate. Magellanic pairs raise both chicks, guarding them from aerial predators such as gulls and petrels. | <urn:uuid:6d425d78-2bbc-4f1b-a31b-f332b5db8fb9> | CC-MAIN-2017-22 | https://navypier.com/blog/live-magellanic-penguins-from-shedd-aquarium-at-snow-days-chicago/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-22/segments/1495463608652.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20170526090406-20170526110406-00499.warc.gz | en | 0.955729 | 358 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Water management is a basic yet essential service provided by the city government to its citizens and businesses. The initiative of developing ‘smart cities’, in which integrated ICT systems, data and citizen engagement are used to manage infrastructure and services more efficiently. One of the areas of opportunity is water management and water infrastructure solutions.
Water management is an integrated approach to the development, management and use of water resources. Typically it’s a cluster of activities of planning, developing, distributing and managing the optimum use of water resources.
The increasing population growth and urbanization of cities puts major demands on supply of water and the management of waste water that increase water efficiency & create water savings for the masses.
Metropolitan optimized water systems involve a amalgamation of public and private sectors in extracting, treating, delivering and billing for water to millions of water users such as households and businesses.
Improved technology plays an important role in Smart Water Management for Smart Cities by providing visibility in demand/supply to ensure equitable water distributions and optimize energy use to pump water in vast water distribution network, reducing the non-revenue water by detecting leakages faster and reducing theft by detecting ghost pipes. | <urn:uuid:e00cd18a-27f0-4ef5-8b60-f429f17cbd0a> | CC-MAIN-2018-05 | http://smartertechnologysolutions.com.au/water-management/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-05/segments/1516084890187.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20180121040927-20180121060927-00141.warc.gz | en | 0.927945 | 238 | 3.109375 | 3 |
The world is in a continually developing state, with new and exciting inventions and technologies arising on a regular basis. It would take some form of expert, or perhaps your average teenager, to entirely keep up to date with all that is new. However, while the new technologies are often hard to keep up with, this does not mean the world is becoming more difficult or complicated.
These new technologies have made life more comfortable and accessible than ever before. With mobile phones and computers now widely available to almost any who wish to obtain one. Through these devices, it is possible to live a great deal of one's life online.
A significant proportion of jobs, especially office jobs, take place through a computer, and this has led to a most significant change in the in the ways jobs are performed. Often, duties are performable from more than just an office desk, and due to mobile communications, workers are always reachable. Beyond work, most things that one could need can now are accessible and found online, from grocery shopping to recreational items or services.
So much is now present or available online, and this also includes information. With security generally increasing online, and peoples trust increasing overtime in the tech security measures that are in place, more and more people are open to providing their details and confidential information to many online sources.
Beyond this, the ability of people to access information is far higher than in the past. Whereas in years gone by, one would have to go to the library for general information, or official organizations to obtain more confidential information. Now, we have seemingly all the information we could ever need on the web. Further to this while, there are usually many security measures in place to protect information; this does not make it inaccessible to those who can dig deeper.
There are laws in place which aim to prevent and punish those would seek to steal information not rightfully their own. The fundamental regulation on this matter is the Federal Decree-Law Number 5 of 2012 on combatting cybercrimes.
Losses Resulting from Cybercrimes
Crimes of the technological variety are the new frontier. Much of the world's information has moved online, a lot of which is highly confidential. Therefore, some find the temptation to hack and steal too much to bear. Some of the most common forms of cybercrimes are as follows:
- To ensure security within the country, even obtaining access to websites and other areas within the cyberspace that one is not authorized to can result in a prison sentence and a fine between AED 100,000 to 300,000 as per Article 2 (1)
- Beyond personal information, there are also many documents present online that are either stored thereof transferred between individuals or entities. Article 2 of the law also covers this type of cybercrime. Subsection 2 states that a prison sentence of at least six months of imprisonment and a fine of between AED 150,000 to 750,000 for the deletion, destruction, alteration, copying or re-publishing of any data or information.
- One of the most common forms of cybercrimes is the theft of details; this would allow the perpetrator to access accounts, documents, and assets of another individual that could lead to said individual's losses. Article 2 (3) of the Decree Number 5 of 2012 states some of the repercussions for the theft of personal information, which includes at least one year of imprisonment and a fine of between AED 250,000 to 1 million.
There are many further Articles which discuss different penalties for even more crimes, though the dominant issues that arise.
To an extent, these might be seen by some as quite severe punishments. However, when one considers the potential damage that is possible through the cyberspace. The fact that peoples not only personal information but also highly confidential documents of businesses and the government can be found means that the utmost protection is required.
The reason for the flexibility provided in the penalty is due to this very previously mentioned point. While some crimes may be severe for individuals, the repercussions will be limited compared to the most sensitive of information.
As of late, a rising trend among businesses involves taking out insurance for protection against such forms of hacking or illegal theft of their Intellectual property and. For businesses, intellectual properties and trade secrets are of utmost importance, as they are what provide the companies with their USPs. Therefore, they would do well to protect them.
The Dubai Police are also involved in attempting to limit and catch those who attempt to commit cybercrimes. One such instance in which this occurred was in 2016 when AED 800,000 was found to have been transferred illegally from the account of a UAE resident to a European country through a hack. The police managed to restore the AED 800,000. Beyond this, the police are responsible for thwarting hundreds if not thousands of cyber and hacking related crimes every year.
Insurance against Cybercrimes
Before the implementation of the regulations, there was a lot less certainty and security for the digitally held elements of a business. An entity would have to have excellent security measures in place should they have information requiring protection, and this could come at a tremendous financial cost. Furthermore, it would rarely if ever be able to guarantee stability, as where there is a will, there is a way.
Relying on different regulations for cyber protection is not a hopeless cause though. An example of this was in a DIFC case (DIFC and some further free zones will have different regulations on the topic of cybercrimes) under the Judicial Authority of the Dubai International Financial Centre: Court of First Instance, 13/2015. In this case, the claimant's IT system was sabotaged by the defending party when they were wrongfully interfering with the claimant's property. The claimant successfully sued the defending party and was awarded USD 690,533. The total, which is far above the previously mentioned UAE mainland limit, was meant to cover for the damages that the Claimant endured as a result of the breach.
With the regulations now in place, there is some greater deal of trust in the system, but as with the ever-growing complexity and depth of the digital world, there are new potential methods of further assurance and security. Theft or hacking can occur at any point, and there is no real way to predict it. One of the ways a company can feel more financially safe is to get insurance that covers them at all time, and so if something terrible does come to pass, assurance will be available straight away. In 2017, there was around AED 4 billion lost due to cybercrimes; this should show just how serious the issue is to businesses.
Any regulation does not explicitly cover insurance of this kind. Instead, there is the general Federal Law Number 6 of 2007 which relates to Insurance for businesses. The number of policies being given out is regularly growing as the issue is severe and the potential risks and losses are genuinely an issue.
However, the topic is one shrouded in complications. Perhaps the biggest question is of how calculations of losses and cover will occur. With things being online and intangible, damages can be quite complex, and disagreements may arise regarding them. Though it must be said, the process is becoming much more comfortable to manage, and this is somewhat of an inevitability. Some businesses nowadays are entirely online and being unable to ensure them due to this, would be a grave mistake and business loss for insurance companies. As we move forward, all must get with the times at the risk of being left behind is a bygone era.
The Future of Cybercrime Insurance
The cybercrime insurance market is one which is growing fairly quickly. The driving force behind this growth is that it is necessary. The future is online, and there is every advantage to moving into the cyberspace. The change has arrived in a short period, and so the laws and regulations, as well as the companies that offer insurance, have yet to catch up fully.
Some significant steps are being taken though. Companies such as HSBC now offer cyber insurance and see it very much as a necessity. The fact that large entities are starting to expand into this new market is a good sign, and the hope is that many more will follow suit.
Currently, due to the complex nature of cyber insurance and the time and effort that goes into ensuring calculations are correct and appropriate, the costs for these insurance policies are high. In time as the certainty levels rise, this will become far less of an issue and accessibility will be on a higher level.
The issue present is a global one with many billions of dollars in losses occurring annually. There is a great deal of awareness on the matter, and some of the most prominent insurance entities in the world are working towards a smooth and natural system.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances. | <urn:uuid:381b9d78-4663-4de2-8fc9-edd8810a3009> | CC-MAIN-2020-45 | https://webiis05.mondaq.com/insurance-laws-and-products/756328/cyber-liability-insurance | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-45/segments/1603107881551.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20201023234043-20201024024043-00558.warc.gz | en | 0.971313 | 1,806 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Rick Santorum blames California's forestry policies for wildfires, says a lot of scientists would be looking for work if not for climate change during an appearance on CNN.
A smoke map using National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasts shows how pollution from the California fires spread to the U.S. East Coast.
The rain could help prevent the fires from spreading, but it could also trap equipment in mud.
The Camp Fire in California's Butte County created so much smoke that it made the air quality hazardous to breathe.
As news of casualties and the devastation caused by a recent spate of forest fires broke last weekend, the president blamed California for the disaster while also threatening to cut federal payments to a state which had overwhelmingly rejected Trump and his party at the polls earlier this month.
"I was with the president of Finland," Trump said. "He called it a forest nation ... And they don't have any problem."
Full containment is not expected until November 30.
"We will be talking about forest management," Trump told reporters early Saturday morning before leaving the White House to visit California fire officials.
The Bay Area has been shrouded in a polluted haze due to nearby wildfires.
In an interview with Chris Wallace, the president said firefighters were raking leaves.
Here's the lates on the fires and smoke around L.A. and what it could mean for the Monday Night Football matchup between Kansas City and L.A.
As of Thursday evening, over 600 people were on a list of people who were missing or unaccounted for.
A norovirus outbreak has spread across evacuation shelters for the Camp Fire in California as smoke decreases the air quality to hazardous.
The air quality is extremely poor in some areas of California, and the National Weather Service in Sacramento has instructed residents to stay indoors.
"No one knows who set the 'Camp Fire' in California. One distinct possibility is domestic terrorism."
"I said I had to go open the restaurant in case the first responders needed somewhere to go and eat," Marco Gonzalez said of his decision to ignore an evacuation so that he could provide meals to first responders and residents facing raging wildfires in California.
Six people charged with a series of offenses after being found in evacuated area during huge blaze.
With at least 48 people dead in Northern California's Camp Fire, a new blaze named the Sierra Fire in the state spread from 2 acres to 20 within an hour.
The California wildfires have burned hundreds of thousands of acres of land.
The sprawling Woolsey fire raging near Los Angeles has led to mandatory evacuations and the destruction of homes. | <urn:uuid:0ee90dda-d012-4f0c-a085-ad1157d9cb80> | CC-MAIN-2020-45 | https://www.newsweek.com/topic/wildfires?page=9 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-45/segments/1603107904039.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20201029095029-20201029125029-00389.warc.gz | en | 0.97078 | 527 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Everyone is familiar with the pain of a muscle spasm—most people have experienced the pain and discomfort of a charley horse or sudden cramp, which is caused by the involuntary contraction of a muscle.1
Most people, too, have experienced fasciculation, or muscle twitches, which are usually not painful the way a sudden cramp may be. When thinking about how to stop a muscle spasm, remember that cramps and fasciculation are the result of muscles contracting involuntarily.
Muscle spasms can be a response pain, which occurs as the body takes steps to protect itself. Shoulder impingement, for example, can cause muscle spasms. Another common cause, particularly for athletes, is facet joint pain.2 In cases where injury has not caused the spasms, there are several other possible causes, including:
- Poor nutrition
- Weak muscles
- A condition such as arthritis or fibromyalgia
How to stop a muscle spasm? Finding and correcting the underlying problem, not just the residual spasms, will help stop and relieve a patient’s pain.3 Once the underlying cause has been addressed, whether it is an injury or one of the causes listed above, treatment options can be discussed.
DCs almost always have patients who are experiencing muscle spasms in the muscles of the neck and/or back, and instrument adjusting can help relieve the underlying causes of those painful spasms.4
The treatments and how to stop a muscle spasm
Often, medical doctors will prescribe either muscle relaxers or antispasmodic drugs to patients suffering from local muscle spasms—Flexeril, Skelaxin and Botox are all common prescriptions. Another common treatment for back muscle spasms is injections.
Instrument adjusting is a useful tool for chiropractors treating patients with muscle spasms because it can allow for extremely precise adjustments. Some computer-assisted instruments can measure the spasms, providing more information to work with. In addition, the same types of computer-assisted instruments can show exactly how much change results from an adjustment, which helps the adjustments be perfectly targeted and leads to better results.
Without treatment, on-going muscle spasms can result in permanent damage, so treatment is essential.1 Some patients may be fine after their initial treatments, while others may need to perform regular stretching and strengthening exercises to prevent future muscle spasms. In some instances when considering how to stop a muscle spasm, on-going instrument-assisted adjustments may help patients remain pain free.
1 NYU Langone Medical Center. “Muscle pain and spasm.” New York University. http://pain-medicine.med.nyu.edu/patient-care/conditions-we-treat/muscle-pain-and-spasm. Accessed January 2015.
2 Sports Injury Clinic. “Facet Joint Pain.” SportsInjuryClinic.net. http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/sport-injuries/low-back-pain/facet-joint-pain. Accessed January 2015.
3 Gonzales C. “How you can get relief from back spasms now.” BasicSpine.com. http://www.basicspine.com/blog/relief-from-back-spasms/. Published May 2013. Accessed January 2015.
4 Cedars-Sinai. “Back Spasm.” Cedars-Sinai.edu. http://www.cedars-sinai.edu/Patients/Health-Conditions/Back-Spasm.aspx. Accessed January 2015. | <urn:uuid:22b55776-db77-4b70-af18-daa8497422c4> | CC-MAIN-2021-21 | https://www.chiroeco.com/muscle-spasm-treatment/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-21/segments/1620243989030.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20210510033850-20210510063850-00413.warc.gz | en | 0.91739 | 755 | 2.84375 | 3 |
What is pelvic pain?
Pelvic pain is a common problem in women. The cause is often not
clear. It can have many causes. In some cases, no disease can be found. Pelvic pain can
be either acute or chronic. Acute means the pain is sudden and severe. Chronic means the
pain either comes and goes or lasts for months or longer. Pelvic pain that lasts longer
than 6 months and doesn't improve with treatment is known as chronic pelvic pain. Pelvic
pain may start in genital or other organs in and around the pelvis. In some cases, it
may be psychological. This can make pain feel worse or cause pain, when no physical
problem is found.
What causes pelvic pain?
Pelvic pain can have many causes,
- Inflammation or irritation of nerves
caused by injury, fibrosis, pressure, or peritonitis
- Muscle cramps
- A pregnancy that happens outside the
uterus (ectopic pregnancy)
- Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), an
infection of the reproductive organs
- Twisted or ruptured ovarian cyst
- Miscarriage or threatened
- Urinary tract infection
- Ruptured fallopian tube
Some of the conditions that can
lead to chronic pelvic pain may include:
- Menstrual cramps
- Uterine fibroids (growths on or in the
- Scar tissue between the organs in the
- Endometrial polyps
- Cancers of the reproductive tract
- Other problems in the digestive, urinary, or nervous
What are the symptoms of pelvic pain?
These are examples of the different
types of pelvic pain most commonly described by women, and their possible cause or
origin. Always talk with your healthcare provider for a diagnosis.
Type of pain
- May be from an
- May be caused by spasm
in the intestine, ureter, or appendix
- May be caused by a
short-term lack of blood supply because of a problem with blood
- May be from
inflammation of the appendix or blockage in the intestines
- Pain of the entire
- May be a buildup of
blood, pus, or stool in the bowels
- Pain made worse by
movement or during exam
- May be from irritation
in the lining of the abdomen
How is pelvic pain diagnosed?
Tests will be done to find the
cause of the pelvic pain. Your healthcare provider may ask you questions about the pain
- When and where does the pain
- How long does the pain last?
- Is the pain related to your menstrual
cycle, urination, and/or sexual activity?
- What does the pain feel like? For
example, is it sharp or dull?
- What was happening when the pain
- How suddenly did the pain start?
Tell your healthcare provider all
you can about the timing of the pain and other symptoms related to eating, sleeping,
sexual activity, and movement. This can help with a diagnosis.
The healthcare provider will give
you a physical and pelvic exam. You may have tests such as:
- Blood tests
- Pregnancy test
- Culture of cells from the cervix
You may also have tests such as:
- Ultrasound. This test uses
high-frequency sound waves to create an image of organs.
- CT scan. This is an imaging
test that uses X-rays and a computer to make detailed images of the body. A CT scan
shows details of the bones, muscles, fat, and organs, and any abnormalities that may
not show up on an ordinary X-ray.
- MRI. A noninvasive procedure
that produces a 2-D view of an internal organ or structure.
- Laparoscopy. A minor surgical
procedure in which a laparoscope, a thin tube with a lens and a light, is inserted
into an incision in the abdominal wall. Using the laparoscope to see into the pelvic
area, the healthcare provider can determine the locations, extent, and size of any
- X-ray. A small amount of
radiation is used to produce images of bones and internal organs onto film.
- Colonoscopy. In this test, the
healthcare provider can view the entire length of the large intestine. It can often
help find growths, inflamed tissue, ulcers, and bleeding. It is done by putting a
long, flexible, lighted tube (colonoscope) in the rectum and up into the colon. The
colonoscope lets the healthcare provider to see the lining of the colon, remove
tissue to test, and treat some problems that are found.
- Sigmoidoscopy. This test lets
the healthcare provider examine the inside of a part of the large intestine. It can
find the causes of diarrhea, abdominal pain, constipation, abnormal growths, and
bleeding. A short, flexible, lighted tube (sigmoidoscope) is put into the rectum. The
scope blows air into the intestine to inflate it and make viewing the inside easier.
How is pelvic pain treated?
Treatment may include:
- Pain medicines
- Relaxation exercises
- Birth control pills
- Physical therapy
If a physical cause can’t be found,
your healthcare provider may refer you for counseling. This can help you cope with
chronic pain. In other cases, you may benefit from:
- Nutrition changes
- Environmental changes
- Physical therapy
- Pain management
Key points about pelvic pain
- Pelvic pain is a common problem in
women. Its cause is often unclear.
- Pain can be acute or chronic.
- Treatment will depend on the cause as
found by the physical exam and tests.
- Treatment may include medicines,
surgery, physical therapy, or pain management.
Tips to help you get the most from a visit to your healthcare provider:
- Know the reason for your visit and what you want to happen.
- Before your visit, write down questions you want answered.
- Bring someone with you to help you ask questions and remember what your provider tells you.
- At the visit, write down the name of a new diagnosis, and any new medicines, treatments, or tests. Also write down any new instructions your provider gives you.
- Know why a new medicine or treatment is prescribed, and how it will help you. Also know what the side effects are.
- Ask if your condition can be treated in other ways.
- Know why a test or procedure is recommended and what the results could mean.
- Know what to expect if you do not take the medicine or have the test or procedure.
- If you have a follow-up appointment, write down the date, time, and purpose for that visit.
- Know how you can contact your provider if you have questions. | <urn:uuid:58128350-ea22-4383-ad9b-d4054efd4dbe> | CC-MAIN-2019-39 | https://www.spectrumhealthlakeland.org/health-wellness/health-library/Content/85/P01550/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-39/segments/1568514573323.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20190918172932-20190918194932-00053.warc.gz | en | 0.899833 | 1,455 | 2.734375 | 3 |
that's so gay
By Diogenes (articles ) | Dec 10, 2009
The website bears the aptly unwieldy name Think before you speak. Don't say "That's so gay." A project of the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, the campaign employs posters, print ads and videos with the aim of curbing an element of teen slang that gay ideologues find particularly vexing.
For the uninitiated, it may be well to explain that saying "That's so gay" does not condemn the object of disparagement as characteristic or suggestive of homosexuality. The fascinating point, on the contrary, is that the word gay in this slang has become a general term of disapproval, semantically indistinguishable from "wrong." As Prof. Wittgenstein said, usage is meaning.
This is illustrated with admirable if unintentional clarity by the instructional videos provided at the site. One of them shows a pair of young cashiers named Emma and Julia discussing their plans for the night. The following dialogue takes place:
Julia: "So, are you going out tonight?"
Emma: "I can't. My parents say I have to be home right after work."
Julia: "That's so gay."
At this point an indignant customer interrupts to rebuke them: "That is so Emma and Julia!" and the voiceover draws the moral: "Imagine if who YOU are were used as an insult."
They've bull's-eyed the wrong target. English provides plenty of words that are meant to demean homosexuals, but gay is not one of them. On the contrary, gay is the term homosexual pedants insist the rest of us use in referring to homosexuals. "An insult," as analytic philosopher Michael Levin writes, "is a word or a gesture used with the intention of causing affront through the mutual recognition of that intention." Yet there is no mutual recognition here, as is obvious from the fact that the whole thrust of the Think Before You Speak campaign is to instruct the speaker about an intention he didn’t have. Nota bene: Julia didn't intend to disparage gays, she intended to disparage the decision of Emma's parents. And Julia's use of the adjective gay did not condemn that decision as fey or twee or camp but simply as wrong, as contemptible in itself. And that's the linguistically interesting point.
We've had occasion earlier to point to the etymology of the word "bad," which has become the most general term of disapproval in the language. The Oxford English Dictionary gives it thus:
bad-de (2 syllables) the Middle English reflex of Old English baeddel, 'man of both genders, hermaphrodite', doubtless like Greek androgynos, and the derivative baedling, 'effeminate fellow, womanish man, malakos,' applied contemptuously, assuming a later adjectival use.
Notice what took place: the word bad was not a tag or label that disapproving Saxons pinned on bisexuals. It worked the other way around: bisexuality was a notion that Saxons contemptuously pinned on things -- any kind of things -- of which they disapproved. Nor do we need any deep psychological investigation into the roots of Saxon homophobia to find the cause; the reason is nearer to hand. There's nothing wrong with a woman's being womanish. There is something wrong with a man's being womanish. To say it's bad for a man to be womanish is to state a tautology: x = x. As Beowulf said to Hrothgar, That's so gay.
It's important to understand that a womanish man is bad in a sense prior to and wholly apart from any moral judgment whatsoever about sodomy. A womanish man or mannish woman is bad in the "pre-moral" way that a closed aperture is bad or a permeable bulwark is bad. A nut with a left-handed thread is bad for a bolt with a right-handed thread. Try to put them together and, as the Aussies say, you bugger it up -- and even Aussies with no moral qualms about buggery will say it. As Levin explains, while our judgments may be conscious and personally formed, our tools for expressing them are acquired from without:
When we become entangled in decisions about how to talk, we lose contact with the reality our thought is supposed to be about. Like playing the piano, language is largely a system of acquired habits, and fluent speech accompanied by constant conscious decisions about which words to utter is as difficult as fluent pianism accompanied by constant conscious decisions about which keys to hit.
Hence the self-defeating futility of the Think Before You Speak campaign. They're asking the young to replace an unwitting 21st century reference to warped sexuality with an unwitting 8th century reference to warped sexuality. Even if the Emmas and Julias of the coming generation are inhibited from using a particular locution because of a political taboo attached to it, the structure of the human mind will not change. Gay activists are trying to square the circle, and the thing can't be done. Gays may well succeed in extorting social tolerance of homosexual activity -- in the short run, at least -- but until Homo sapiens retro-mutates into a sub-rational species we will continue to distinguish right from left, even from odd, good from gay.
"So are you saying my same-sex attracted son is bad?" Let me try to forestall the objection. No. I am saying (with the Church) that your son's same-sex attraction is bad. It is a disorder, and any loving parent wants his child freed from every disorder. The attraction is bad the way one man's autism is bad (innocently acquired, with harmful consequences). It is bad the way another man's alcoholism is bad (acquired innocently or not, with harmful consequences). It is bad the way a third man's kleptomania is bad (innocently acquired, yet intrinsically ordered to sin). Moral reprobation attaches not to possession of the affliction but to embracing and indulging it so as to pretend it's not an affliction at all.
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Posted by: email@example.com -
Dec. 11, 2009 5:26 PM ET USA
Excellent! I love the word,'gay'. I've used it as an adjective all my life..merry,bright,lively. I feel happy and gay. It's a good word, however made licentious later on, it became laughable and embarrassing. Sorry creatures seem to usurp the goodness out of something so innocent. Look at our poor language today...made innately phobic with time.
Posted by: -
Dec. 11, 2009 2:53 PM ET USA
i have always rejected the use of the word "gay" as a general reference to anyone gay. I think the correct use of gay is as a reference to a subject's attitude and demeanor in life, which, until recently, could be used to a man or a woman. I respect the historical development of the use of the word gay and also respect the use of it. But I maintain that the word gay has become a trap for homosexuals and that in fact not all homosexuals behave as gay people. A correction in semantics is due.
Posted by: Gaby -
Dec. 11, 2009 7:47 AM ET USA
The retort: "That's so Emma & Julia!" is off the mark: the girls used the word "gay" based on a widespread understanding of moral judgment - "gay" = bad. No such exists for "Emma & Julia". Only if Emma & Julia did something BAD, would a moral judgment ever be attached to their names. What really bugs gays is that a widespread moral judgment STILL clings to their name, IN SPITE of all their social machinations to obliterate it. They can suppress it, but they can't get rid of it.
Posted by: kmbold -
Dec. 11, 2009 12:48 AM ET USA
Breathtaking insight. Baedling, gay, fairy, whatever — he's bent. Now what is the etymology of that word? | <urn:uuid:fe8633ca-5595-4f31-a6aa-455d11f809a8> | CC-MAIN-2014-23 | http://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otr.cfm?id=5168 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-23/segments/1406510270877.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20140728011750-00268-ip-10-146-231-18.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952795 | 1,825 | 2.53125 | 3 |
L. monocytogenes is a ubiquitous, facultative pathogen that is a small, gram-positive, non spore-forming, catalase-positive, facultative anaerobic, motile rod sometimes arranged in short chains. Flagella are produced at room temperatures, but not at 37ēC. It can grow in refrigeration temperatures (4ēC - also known as cold enrichment) which is why this bacterium can cause severe food-borne infections. Sources of L. monocytogenes include soil, mammalian gastrointestinal tract, vegetation and silage.
Listeriosis affects all ages and sexes, but animals less than three years of age are more commonly prone to clinical disease than older animals. The bacterial disease is seen clinically in animals as one of four forms and is more common during the winter or spring months. Adult animals usually get the encephalitis form, while neonates often get the septicemic or visceral form of the disease. Cattle and sheep can also get the abortion form of the disease if there is an intra-uterine infection of the fetus. The fourth form of the disease is ophthalmitis associated with bacterial contamination of the cornea from the feed source. Some lactating ruminants may also have clinical mastitis associated with listeriosis.
The septicemic/visceral form in young animals is due to ingestion of the bacterium and primarily affects the gastrointestinal tract. Bacteria are usually found in the intestinal epithelial cells and specialized epithelial cells covering the Peyer's patches. Infection may be inapparent or may progress to bacteremia resulting in fatal septicemia.
Abortion is caused by placentitis resulting in fetal death and abortion. Some infections by Listeria sp. may result in fetal infection leading to stillbirths, neonatal death, or possible viable carriers of the bacteria. Listerial abortion rarely occurs with the encephalitis form of the disease.
The ophthalmic form is often associated with silage feeding and corneal contamination by the bacterium while eating. Ocular involvement may also consist of exposure keratitis if the animal has the encephalitis form with CN VII dysfunction resulting in inability of the animal to blink properly.
Mastitis caused by L. monocytogenes is rare but may occur. L. monocytogenes does not readily invade the udder. If mastitis occurs, the animal may have prolonged shedding of the bacteria in the milk.
Adult ruminants may also have the visceral form of the infection, but not have clinical disease. The bacterium is generally in the distal intestinal tract and most cases are too mild to be recognized clinically. Animals may commonly be asymptomatic intestinal carriers and shed the organism in significant numbers.
Infection by L. monocytogenes has been reported to be increasing in incidence and may be as high as 52% in farm animals, but overt clinical disease is considered to be rare. The disease is diagnosed clinically by the history and presenting signs with a failure of response to thiamine therapy. The most common treatment is oxytetracycline or penicillin G. Therapy works best in animals treated early in the disease process. Sheep and goats usually have an acute form of listeriosis and death occurs in 4-48 hours. Recovery is rare. Cattle, on the contrary, have a more chronic disease with survival for 4-14 days and potential spontaneous recovery with lasting brain damage.
A definitive diagnosis can only be made postmortem by histopathology of the pontomedullary region of the brainstem and by bacterial culture. Usually there are no gross lesions seen in the brain at necropsy. The characteristic microscopic lesions include multifocal asymmetrical microabscesses and mononuclear cell meningoencephalitis (thus, the name L. monocytogenes) in the brainstem, anterior spinal cord and, occasionally, cerebellum. Peroxidase-antiperoxidase test, a more accurate diagnostic tool than histopathology, is used to detect degraded bacterial proteins as well as intact bacteria in formalin-fixed tissue.
L. monocytogenes is transmitted from animal to animal through fecal oral routes, usually via manure contamination of the pasture or silage with the microorganism. Animal to human transmission is either directly through contact with infected animals or indirectly via milk, cheese, meat, eggs, or vegetables. The bacterium is inactivated with pasteurization; however, contamination of the pasteurized product with raw product has been reported as a source of infection.
Listeriosis in humans is seen primarily in pregnant women, newborns, elderly, and immunosuppressed (e.g. transplant recipients or AIDS patients). It has been reported that as many as 5-10% of humans may be asymptomatic carriers, harboring Listeria sp. in their feces or vagina. Disease in adult humans is commonly of the encephalitic or septicemic/visceral form.
Prevention is the key to listeriosis. In the livestock industry, feeding of spoiled silage and other rotten vegetation should be avoided and any sick animals should be isolated from the healthy animals. Good hygiene and sanitation on the farm is also important.
Whenever possible, people at risk for listeriosis ( see above) should avoid the consumption of those foods most frequently linked to listeriosis. Those at risk also need to adhere strictly to the food label directions for storage and "use by" information. It is virtually impossible to provide Listeria-free food products because L. monocytogenes infects many animal species with many infections being inapparent, and because the bacterium can survive and grow at refrigeration temperature levels.
Other means of prevention include thoroughly washing raw vegetables, thoroughly cooking raw meats, proper hygiene during food preparation, and consuming only pasteurized dairy products. Humans at risk should also avoid contact with animals that have aborted as well as with aborted materials (placenta and fetuses) on the farm.
Finally, livestock and crop producers can help control the spread of L. monocytogenes by avoiding the use of untreated manure on vegetable crops.
-by Andrea Starkey, Class of 2005
-edited by Dr. Ingeborg Langohr, ADDL
Arumugaswamy R and LF Gibson: 1999. Listeria in Zoo Animals and Rivers. Australian Veterinary Journal. 77(12): 819-820
Cooper, J and RD Walker: 1998. Microbial Food Borne Pathogens: Listeriosis. Veterinary Clinics of North America: Food Animal Practice. 14(1): 113-125.
George LW: 2002. Listeriosis. In Smith, Bradford P. large Animal Internal Medicine. 3rd edition, Mosby, Philadelphia, :A 946-949.
Finley MR and SR Dennis: 1999. Listeriosis (Circling Disease, Silage Sickness). In Howard & Smith Current Veterinary Therapy 4: Food Animal Practice. Saunders. Philadelphia, PA 396-400.
Rebhun, William C: 1995. Listeriosis. In Diseases of Dairy Cattle. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Philadelphia, PA 121: 410-413.
Ryser ET and EH Marth: 1991. Listeriosis in Animals. Listeria, Listeriosis, & Food Safety. Marcel Dekker. New York, NY 33-43.
Todar K: 2003. Listeria monocytogenes and Listeriosis. Todar's Online Textbook of Bacteriology. University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Bacteriology. http://textbookofbacteriology.net/Listeria.html
Whitlock RH: 1999. Brain Stem Diseases of Cattle: Listeriosis. Howard & Smith Current Veterinary Therapy 4: Food Animal Practice. Saunders. Philadelphia, PA. 663-665.
Working Group on Zoonoses. Zoonotic Pathogens: Health Risks from Listeria. Vederal Veterinary Office Magazine. June 2002: 14-15.
Washington State Department of Health. Listeriosis. October 2002: 1-5. | <urn:uuid:982a42fc-772d-4a06-ba44-8aa324c2baad> | CC-MAIN-2016-50 | https://www.addl.purdue.edu/newsletters/2005/Fall/listeriosis.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-50/segments/1480698542680.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20161202170902-00286-ip-10-31-129-80.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906911 | 1,708 | 3.5 | 4 |
A software agent is a computational entity which is able to function autonomously and with flexibility in an environment, usually also inhabited by other agents and processes. These two criteria distinguish a software agent from other software. Autonomous here means that, it has control of its own taks and is capable of accomplishing complex tasks designed for it without human or other agents’ intervention. Flexibility is defined as its responsive, pro-active and sociable behavior to reach towards changes it receives from the environment. In summary, a software agent is a computer system that is capable of flexible autonomous action in dynamic, unpredictable, typically multi-agent domains.
Intelligent agents have a certain degree of specific domain knowledge with which gives them the capability of reasoning and learning. This capability requires the agent to have access to a knowledge base and an inference engine for reasoning and iteratively contributing new information to the knowledge base. The capability of learning also determines the adaptive behavior of an agent to effectively handle new situations or contexts.
Collaborative agent has the capabiity to negotiate and communicate effectively with other agents, users and systems through a universally agreed nomenclature, communication language and interoperability norms. Inter-agent communication is carried out using, for instance, a knowledge query manipulation language that assumes specific domain ontology for specific agent applications. | <urn:uuid:843c8d1a-a2d5-43ae-8249-97e2bf318ae8> | CC-MAIN-2018-26 | https://andrerliem.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/read-concept-of-an-agent-based-electronic-marketplace/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-26/segments/1529267861752.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20180619021643-20180619041643-00299.warc.gz | en | 0.935666 | 266 | 2.828125 | 3 |
1020 Arcadia is an asteroid that was discovered by German astronomer Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth on March 7, 1924. Its provisional designation was 1924 QV. This object was named after Arcadia, a mythological Greek location and modern Greek province. Measurements of the lightcurve made in 2010 and 2011 give a rotation period of 17.02 ± 0.02 hours. It has a diameter of 25.9 km and a Tholen classification of S.
This object is a member of the Agnia family of asteroids that share similar orbital elements and physical properties. This family was named after the asteroid 847 Agnia. They most likely formed from the breakup of a basalt object, which in turn was spawned from a larger parent body that underwent igneous differentiation.
- ^ a b c d e Strobel, W. (1949). "Elemente und Grundlagen der Kleinen Planeten". Veröffentlichungen Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Heidelberg (G. Braun) 1 (1-9): 45. Archived from the original on 2015-03-25. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
- ^ a b c Gartrelle, Gordon M. (April 2012), "Lightcurve Results for Eleven Asteroids", The Minor Planet Bulletin (Minor Planets Section of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers) 39 (2): 40–46, Bibcode:2012MPBu...39...40G, retrieved 2013-02-21.
- ^ Sunshine, Jessica M. et al. (August 2004), "High-calcium pyroxene as an indicator of igneous differentiation in asteroids and meteorites", Meteoritics & Planetary Science 39 (8): 1343–1357, Bibcode:2004M&PS...39.1343S, doi:10.1111/j.1945-5100.2004.tb00950.x. | <urn:uuid:4ccf80a5-bb74-4692-b1e6-06be6b0e3acd> | CC-MAIN-2015-22 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1020_Arcadia | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-22/segments/1432207929171.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20150521113209-00318-ip-10-180-206-219.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.849976 | 401 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Principal Parts of Sewing Machine
The basic construction of any sewing machines home models is similar. The main differences are in the way controling a work of the sewing machine is operated. The old sewing machines have primitive manual control. Modern models have electronic control or by computer program.
Nevertheless, all sewing machines have principal parts that are listed below and seen in photos.
If you are beginner you need learn this getting started guide on your sewing machine having many color photos with tailors comments.
1. Reverse sewing lever.
2. Pattern selector dial.
3. Stitch length dial.
4. Bobbin winder stopper.
5. Bobbin binder spindle.
6. Spool pins.
7. Bobbin winder thread guide.
9. Thread take-up lever.
10. Thread tension dial.
11. Front cover.
13. Needle plate.
18. Extension table with accessory storage.
Extension table is the removable/free arm sewing bed that can remove if you simply 'pop' it out of place.
Using an extension table you can sew circular items, like hems and cuffs.
Note: There are also accessory extension tables you can use with your machine. Some sewing machines have more comfortable folding tables, like Juki sewing machine old model.
Bobbin winder device.
Tip: Wind thread on the bobbin at a medium speed. If you go too fast, it can stretch the thread out, making the thread more susceptible to breaks, as well as warping the appearance of your seam.
You'll notice that some of the bobbin stoppers have a little screw on the top. By slightly unscrewing, you can adjust the fullness of your bobbin.
Reverse lever or button have almost all sewing machine except for very old rare models.
Using this reverse device that make back-stitched is needed for the start and stop of every seam, for sewing any projects.
19. Built-in handle.
20. Hand wheel.
21. Power stitch.
22. Foot controller jack.
23. Free arm.
24. Presser foot lifter: A lever attached to the presser bar for raising and lowering the presser foot.
Handwheel is used to perform initial stitches manually. Flywheel is used for turn on bobbin winder device also. To turn on the winder you need press or pull out the wheel (depending on the sewing machine model).
Before sewing on sewing machine you need insert pedal plug to foot controller jack and turn on power switch.
Sewing machine foot control pedal is used for control a speed of sewing machine. Be wary, do not press the pedal sharply and don't work on high speed.
8. Presser foot release lever.
14. Presser foot holder assembly.
15. Needle clamp screw.
17. Presser foot.
There are many presser feet that you can use for performing various technological sewing operations and stitches. For example, using the zipper foot you can perfect install an invisible zipper on you skirt or dress.
Using special presser foot you can to sew automatic buttonhole etc.
28. Presser foot bar.
29. Needle bar: This is a steel rod to hold the needle at one end with the help of a clamp. Its main function is to give motion to the needle.
31. Thread guide: It holds the thread in position from the spool to the needle.
32. Tension Check Spring.
25. Bobbin case.
26. Shootle hook device.
27. Frond loading bobbin cover.
For front loading bobbins, you need remove extension table with accessory storage compartment. Then you can to reveal a flip-down cover and insert the bobbin case.
Note: Most modern sewing machines have top loading bobbin with clear clip-in cover on the needle plate.
This type of a bobbin case have most inexpensive entry-level sewing machines and old sewing machines like Singer.
English isn't my first language, so please excuse any mistakes and help correct them.
E-mail for sending is on the contact page.
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Operating Your Sewing Machine
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Vertical Rotary Shuttle Hook System
Sewing machines middle and upper classes have a rotary vertical or horizontal hook system. Here you can read how works vertical rotary hook and tips for repair it.
Tips For Choosing A Sewing Machine
A few key features of sewing machines that you need to know necessarily.
Bobbin and Top Thread Problems
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Rolled Hem Presser Foot Tutorial
Using the rolled hem presser foot you can hem thin fabric easily. The tutorial has 10 photos with pro comments.
Tips for Using a Serger
If you have an overlock sewing machine you need learn these tips on how to use your serger. All tips are from a professional tailor.
Tips for Using your Sewing Machine
If you need to learn tips from tailor read this post. Here you find top tips and tricks how to use your sewing machine. | <urn:uuid:35973b24-8aee-42c0-8845-a5b6b0ed8e7a> | CC-MAIN-2017-22 | http://sewway.com/using-a-sewing-machine-principal-parts.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-22/segments/1495463609837.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20170528141209-20170528161209-00088.warc.gz | en | 0.843918 | 1,133 | 2.546875 | 3 |
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Buddhist Four Sacred Mountains in ChinaThe Four Most Holiest Sites
Each of the four mountains is viewed as the abode or place of practice (dàocháng; 道場) of one of the four bodhisattvas.
or Qing-Liang –Shan (清涼山, Clear Cool Mountain), Shanxi Province
According to Avatamsaka Sutra (華嚴經), which describes the abodes of many bodhisattvas, Manjushri or Wenshu (文殊菩薩) is said to reside on a "clear cold mountain" in the northeast.
This served as charter for the mountain's identity and its alternate name "Clear Cool Mountain".
Ever since the East (Dong) Han dynasty (25-220) Er-mei Mountain had been famous with many fairy stories and aspired by practitioners as a mystical land of Taoism.
It was believed that many fairies were living in the mountains helping people avoid disasters from wars and sickness. It was in the early Bei (North) Song dynasty
(~960), the emperor brought in and strongly supported the development of Buddhism in Er-mei and eventually established this mountain as the holy abodes of
Samantabhadra, Chinese as Puxian (普賢菩薩).
Mount Jiu-hua was called Mount Lingyang (陵阳山)in Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD). It was renamed to Jiu-hua by a great poet Li Bai of Tang dynasty (618–907).
There are 99 peaks in the area, among them Shiwang Peak, Lotus Peak, and others. In 719, Kim Qiaoque (金喬覺), a Silla (新罗国)prince (today's Qingzhou city in South Korea)
came to Jiu-hua, practiced Buddhism for 75 years, and died at 99 years of age. After he passed away, people saw the phenomenon of his life and after-dead resembles
various auspicious Ksitigarbha (Di-zang, 地藏菩薩, Jizō) displays thus believed he was a reincarnation of the bodhisattva.
As this result, Jiu-hua Mountain became the holy abode for Di-zang Boddhisatva. During the golden periods of the Ming and Qing dynasties,
there were as many as 360 temples and 4,000 to 5,000 monks and nuns.
Putuo Mountain is an island southeast of Shanghai. During the Tang dynasty(618–907), along with the development of sea silk road,
Putuo Mountain became the center of Chinese Buddhism because it was considered the bodhimanda (place of enlightenment) of Avalokitesvara (Guan-yin, 觀世音菩薩).
Since then, Putuo has been a pilgrimage site for over a thousand years. Every year on February 19 (birth), June 19 (being a monk), and September 19
(being bodhisattva) of the lunar calendar, millions of people come to celebrate.
Other Buddhist Holy Sites in China
Yungang Grottoes, ancient Chinese Buddhist temple grottoes near the city of Datong in the province of Shanxi,
is composed of 252 grottoes with more than 51,000 Buddha statues and statuettes.
Longmen Grottoes is in Hénán province. There are as many as 100,000 statues within the 1,400 grottoes.
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|Copyright © 1999-2020 Manjushri. All Rights Reserved.| | <urn:uuid:efdf5e56-afea-45a0-b01d-b6872e992285> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | http://manjushri.com/CosmosDir/holy-sites-c.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141216175.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20201130130840-20201130160840-00004.warc.gz | en | 0.949413 | 847 | 2.609375 | 3 |
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
View all my book reviews
This book was originally published in the 1930’s and after 49 editions, is still one of the best selling books about writing. It covers all the basics in 95 concise pages, in a book small enough to fit in a pocket. Reviews say things like, “No book in shorter space, with fewer words, will help any writer more than this persistent little volume.” “…should be the daily companion of anyone who writes for a living and, for that matter, anyone who writes at all.”
It has competitors. Consider:
- Garner’s Modern American Usage
- Bernstein’s The Careful Writer
- Jack Hart’s A Writers Coach
…but still, Strunk and White is the most famous, most oft-quoted, most recommended of any. Amazon ranks it #1 in writing skills, #1 in grammar and #9 in reference. It’s the 555th most popular book on the entire site.
Why is that?
Look at the Table of Contents:
- Elementary Rules of Usage, which lists eleven rules–the eleven most relevant to writers
- Elementary Principles of Composition–This includes eleven also, with items like use the active voice, put statements in positive form, omit needless words. Great suggestions. Often, these are the mistakes writers make
- A Few Matters of Form, which includes colloquialisms, headings, hyphens, numbers
- Words and Expressions Commonly Misused--twenty-seven pages of words like aggravate/irritate, among/between, farther/further
- An Approach to Style With a List of Reminders–hints like Do not overwrite, avoid fancy words, don not affect a breezy manner, do not over-explain
Did you notice? Although these were considered important rules in the 1930’s and are the same issues faced by writers today. Maybe that’s why it’s still one of the best-selling, most popular books ever.
More writing tips:
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Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. In her free time, she is editor of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a techno-thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. | <urn:uuid:e48e286a-e642-4df4-a4a9-0f0dd960fc83> | CC-MAIN-2014-41 | http://worddreams.wordpress.com/2014/01/24/book-review-elements-of-style-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-41/segments/1410657140379.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20140914011220-00254-ip-10-234-18-248.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93637 | 599 | 2.625 | 3 |
FASTT system (Fluency and Automaticity through Systematic Teaching with Technology) is designed to help students develop fluency with basic math facts. FASTT Math assesses all students to address fluency gaps and to establish a baseline of fluency for each student. FASTT Math automatically differentiates instruction in customized, 10-minute daily sessions.
READ 180 is provided as a reading intervention program that uses technology, print, and professional development to meet the needs of students whose reading achievement is below proficient level. The program directly addresses individual needs through adaptive and instructional software, high-interest literature, and direct instruction in reading, writing, and vocabulary skills.
System 44 was designed for the most challenged, struggling readers in Grades 5¬-12. System 44 is intentionally metacognitive and helps students understand that the English language is a finite system of 44 sounds and 26 letters that can be mastered.
Assessment for screening and placement
Research-based phonics instruction
Highly motivating and age-appropriate adaptive technology
Waterford Early Reading Program provides three levels of full-year instruction. From Level One for emergent readers through Level Three for developing fluency. The program incorporates skills like letter mastery, reading and listening development, controlled and natural language stories, complex spelling, basic writing skills, and comprehension strategies. Follow-up literacy materials are provided to students for home library use. | <urn:uuid:70d35b65-d613-4608-a4a0-2074ac7f1b5f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.lawrence.k12.ma.us/curriculum-a-instruction/instructional-technology/server-based-technology | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408828.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00160-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912374 | 284 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Of all the holidays celebrated in the United States, July 4th is the FOURTH most commonly celebrated. Coincidence? I think not. Whether you refer to July 4th as the Fourth of July, Independence Day or America’s Birthday, we are all happy to celebrate it together.
A historic day that is now celebrated by water activities, cookouts, beer and fireworks is one of the most important days in United States history. As HMG prepares for their holiday weekend, we took some time to reflect on the history of our homeland. James described his meaning of July 4th in an inspiring way: | <urn:uuid:0d64df5b-4d29-4854-ad71-b700ff9c284c> | CC-MAIN-2019-26 | https://hmgcreative.com/tag/fireworks/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-26/segments/1560627999817.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20190625092324-20190625114324-00019.warc.gz | en | 0.987932 | 126 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Ms Romina Pimpini
Head of Junior School
In the Junior School, our work is based around academic rigour, as well as embracing our SCG Student Centred Vision through the daily interaction we have with our students. We also guide their individual growth and development as they experience social interactions, and at times challenges, each day. Our work, together with families, is to develop the resilience in our students so they may grow into independent well-rounded young people.
How fortunate we are to be able to witness this in our F-12 setting. The article below may be of interest to parents and carers as we work together for the benefit of your children.
How to use praise and encouragement to develop your child's confidence. By Michael Grose, Author
Perhaps the most exciting news in the parenting area over the last decade is the discovery of brain plasticity. That is, the brain is always growing and developing as opposed to it developing and reaching its nadir in a person’s late twenties; and then it’s all downhill from there. It’s exciting to know that your child’s talent and smarts are not fixed. Their brains can always learn more, continue to grow and be stretched. This doesn’t mean that your child doesn’t have a propensity to be smart in certain areas such as math or language learning or that all talent is created equal.
Genetics gifts us with certain abilities that are either developed or they’re not. Instead, your child’s abilities and talents, just like yours, are evolving over time.
So as parents it seems smart to develop a growth mindset in your child. A fixed mindset is limiting, even debilitating for kids. You want them to believe that with effort and practice they can develop their skills and abilities in whatever area or interest they want. Science is now on their side - their brains will continue to grow and stretch however a fixed mindset will let them down. If they believe that intelligence and talent is fixed then those beliefs will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Once again, it all comes down to attitude!
Jenny Brockis in her wonderful book “Future Brain” reminds us that success has more to do with fluid intelligence, tenacity and belief. She writes, “Our attitude or mindset is not something we are born with. It evolves gradually, refined by our experiences and who we spend our time with.”
Carol Dweck, author of “The New Psychology of Success” believes that a growth mindset is the quality that separates those who succeed from those who don’t. Her research reveals how the use of language when praising kids can have a profound impact on their attitudes. Subtle differences in tone, wording and phrasing can lead even a child at two and half to have a self-limiting belief when he or she started school a few years later.
- 1. Praise effort, strategy and action not results
Focus more on the processes of what kids do rather than results to develop a growth mindset. Kids need to hear comments such as “You worked hard to get that right!” (effort), “That was a smart idea to tackle the hardest task while you were fresh!” (strategy) and “You recognised the first few steps were the most important but then after that you were right.” (action). This type of praise, also known as encouragement, helps kids develop the belief that success has more to do with what they do than innate smarts and talents.
- Look for opportunities to stretch your child’s capabilities
Encourage kids to stretch their capabilities by adding depth and breadth to their list of activities. Boys, in particular, often go deep investing all their time into areas of interest such as sport or online gaming to develop their talents over time. Encourage them to stretch their capabilities across a range of areas rather than a few. Conversely, encourage a child who dabbles in many areas or interests without specialising in any area, to go deeper in one area.
- Give honest feedback
Providing your child with honest feedback about their performance not only helps them improve, but also promotes a growth mindset. We often shy away from giving feedback for fear of harming their self-esteem. Confidence can be maintained by being sensitive to how we provide feedback. For instance, focusing on two or three things kids do well before giving constructive feedback is one way you can keep young a learner’s head up while giving pointers about better performance. Having a plastic brain means that we can continue to acquire new skills, learn new things and embed new habits across our lifespan. It is important then that we help children develop a growth mindset so that they can reap the benefits of brain plasticity over their lifetime rather be limited by their belief systems | <urn:uuid:021d0a79-acc2-472a-af35-78f2eeef40fe> | CC-MAIN-2019-18 | https://www.scg.vic.edu.au/kaizen-the-philosophy-of-continuous-improvement-copy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-18/segments/1555578663470.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20190424214335-20190425000335-00545.warc.gz | en | 0.969095 | 998 | 2.75 | 3 |
Quinoa was a staple food for thousands of years in the Andes region of South America as one of just a few crops the ancient Incas cultivated at such high altitude.
Quinoa has anti-inflammatory nutrients including phenolic acids (including hydroxycinnamic and hydroxybenzoic acids), members of the vitamin E family like gamma-tocopherol, and cell wall polysaccharides like arabinans and rhamnogalacturonans.
Here are 11 proven health benefits of quinoa:
1. Quinoa is incredibly nutritious
Quinoa is a grain crop that is grown for its edible seeds. It is pronounced KEEN-wah.
It technically isn’t a cereal grain, but a pseudo-cereal. In other words, it is basically a "seed" which is prepared and eaten similarly to a grain.
Quinoa was an important crop for the Inca Empire back in the day. They referred to it as the "mother of all grains" and believed it to be sacred. It has been consumed for thousands of years in South America, although it only became popular and reached "superfood status" a few years ago. These days, you can find Quinoa and products made with it all over the world.
There are three main types of quinoa… white, red and black. This is coming with a total of 222 calories, with 39 grams of carbs and 4 grams of fat. It also contains a small amount of Omega-3 fatty acids.
Quinoa is non-GMO, Gluten Free and usually grown organically. Even though not technically a grain, it still counts as a "whole grain" food.
2. Quinoa contains potent bioactive substances called Quercetin and Kaempferol
The health effects of real foods go way beyond the vitamins and minerals we’re all familiar with.
There are thousands of trace nutrients in there… and some of them are extremely healthy. This includes interesting molecules called flavonoids, which are plant antioxidants that have been shown to have all sorts of beneficial effects on health.
Two flavonoids that have been particularly well studied are Quercetin and Kaempferol… and they happen to be found in large amounts in Quinoa. In fact, the quercetin content of quinoa is even higher than typical high-quercetin foods like cranberries. These important molecules have been shown to have anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, anti-cancer and anti-depressant effects… at least in animal studies.
By including quinoa in your diet, you will significantly increase your total intake of these (and other) important nutrients.
3. It is Very High in Fiber… Much Higher Than Most Grains
Another important benefit of quinoa is that it is high in fiber. One study that looked at 4 varieties of quinoa found a range of between 10 and 16 grams of fiber, per every 100 grams of uncooked quinoa. This equals 17-27 grams per cup, which is very high… more than twice as high as most grains. Boiled quinoa contains much less fiber, gram for gram, because it absorbs so much water.
Unfortunately, most of the fiber is insoluble fiber, which doesn’t appear to have the same health benefits as soluble fiber. That being said, the soluble fiber content is about 2.5 grams per cup (or 1.5 grams per 100 grams), which is still decent. There are numerous studies showing that soluble fiber can help reduce blood sugar levels, lower cholesterol, increase fullness and help with weight loss.
4. Quinoa is Gluten Free and Perfect For People With Gluten Intolerance
Many researchers have been looking at quinoa as a suitable ingredient in a gluten-free diet, for people who don’t want to give up staples like breads and pasta.
Studies have shown that by using quinoa instead of typical gluten-free ingredients like refined tapioca, potato, corn and rice flour, it can dramatically increase the nutrient and antioxidant value of the diet.
5. Quinoa is Very High in Protein, With All The Essential Amino Acids That we Need
Protein is made out of amino acids. Some of them are termed "essential" because we can not produce them and need to get them from the diet. If a food contains all the essential amino acids, it is seen as a "complete" protein. The problem is that many plant foods are deficient in certain essential amino acids, such as Lysine.
However, quinoa is an exception to this, being particularly high in in all the essential amino acids. For this reason, quinoa is an excellent source of protein. It has both more and better protein than most grains.
With 8 grams of quality protein per cup of cooked quinoa (or 4.5 grams per 100 grams), quinoa is an excellent plant-based protein source for vegetarians and vegans.
6. Quinoa Has a Low Glycemic Index
The glycemic index is a measure of how quickly foods raise blood sugar levels. It is known that eating foods that are high on the glycemic index can stimulate hunger and contribute to obesity. Such foods have also been linked to many of the chronic, Western diseases that are so common today… like diabetes and heart disease. Quinoa has a glycemic index of 53, which is considered low.
However, it’s important to keep in mind that quinoa is still pretty high in carbs, so it is not a good choice for a low-carb diet, at least not in large amounts.
7. It is High in Minerals That Most People Don’t Get Enough of, Especially Magnesium
There are many nutrients in the modern diet that people tend to be lacking in. This is particularly true of some minerals, especially Magnesium, Potassium, Zinc and (for women) Iron. Interestingly, quinoa is very high in all 4 minerals. It is particularly high in magnesium, with one cup having about 30% of the RDA.
The problem is that quinoa contains a substance called phytic acid, which can bind these minerals and reduce their absorption.
However, by soaking and/or sprouting the quinoa before cooking it, you can reduce the phytic acid content and make these minerals more bioavailable.
Quinoa is also pretty high in oxalates, which reduce the absorption of calcium and can cause problems for certain individuals with recurring kidney stones.
8. Quinoa May Have Some Major Benefits For Metabolic Health
Given the high amount of beneficial nutrients, it makes sense that quinoa could lead to improvements in metabolic health.
Although this needs to be studied more thoroughly, I did find two studies (one in humans, the other in rats) that examined the effects of quinoa on metabolic health.
The human study found that using quinoa instead of typical gluten-free breads and pastas significantly reduced blood sugar, insulin and triglyceride levels. The rat study found that adding quinoa to a diet high in fructose almost completely inhibited the negative effects of fructose.
9. Quinoa is Loaded With Antioxidants
Quinoa also happens to be very high in antioxidants.
Antioxidants are substances that neutralize free radicals and are believed to help fight ageing and many diseases.
One study looked at antioxidants in 10 foods, 5 cereals, 3 pseudocereals and 2 legumes.
Quinoa had the highest antioxidant content of all 10.
Allowing quinoa seeds to sprout seems to increase the antioxidant content even further.
10. Quinoa Has Several Important Characteristics That Make it a Weight Loss Friendly Food
In order to lose weight, we need to take in fewer calories than we burn.
It is known that certain properties of foods can facilitate this process… either by boosting metabolism (increasing calories out) or reducing appetite (lowering calories in).
Interestingly, quinoa has several such properties. It is high in protein… which can both increase metabolism and reduce appetite significantly. The high amount of fiber should also help to increase feelings of fullness, making us eat fewer calories overall.
The fact that quinoa has a low glycemic index is another important feature, but choosing such foods has been linked to reduced calorie intake.
Although there is currently no study that looks at the effects of quinoa on body weight, it seems intuitive that it could be a useful part of a healthy weight loss diet.
11. Quinoa is Easy to Incorporate Into Your Diet!
The last one is not a health benefit, but still incredibly important. It is the fact that quinoa is very easy to incorporate into your diet.
It is also tasty and goes well with many foods. Depending on the type of quinoa, it can be important to rinse it with water in order to get rid of saponins, which are found on the outer layer and can have a bitter flavour.
However, some brands have already been rinsed, so this may not be necessary.
Here are the steps to make about 2 cups of sprouted quinoa:
1. Rinse 1 – 1.5 cups of quinoa thoroughly with cold water. Place the quinoa into a 1 quart mason jar. Fill this jar to the top with more cold water. Let it soak for about six hours.
2. Pour out the water and put a sprouting lid on the jar. This lid can also be used as a strainer. Or, you can use a fine mesh strainer. After you pour the water out, set the jar with the sprouting lid on upside down in a bowl/container to catch excess dripping water.
3. About every 6 or so hours (or whenever you have time to/remember), rinse the quinoa with water, pour out, and put the jar upside down over the bowl again.
4. It will take a day or two for sprouts to form. Once you see little-thread-like spouts coming from the quinoa , place the quinoa on a tray or plate and cover with a cloth or parchment paper to keep away dust. Move this tray away from direct sunlight and keep at room temperature. Allow time for the quinoa to fully dry out.
5. Store in a sealed plastic bag or sealed glass container in the refrigerator to keep cool and ensure freshness. It’s best to use these sprouts within 1 week.
Quinoa can be ready to eat in as little as 15-20 minutes:
Put 2 cups of water in a pot, turn up the heat.
Add 1 cup of raw quinoa, with a dash of salt.
Boil for 15-20 minutes.
It should now have absorbed most of the water and gotten a fluffy look. If done right, it should have a mild, nutty flavour and a satisfying crunch. | <urn:uuid:3a6b3a6e-5087-4668-a602-e7c319589dbe> | CC-MAIN-2019-22 | http://www.rawplanet.co.nz/contents/en-us/d60_Quinoa.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-22/segments/1558232256586.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20190521222812-20190522004812-00450.warc.gz | en | 0.951472 | 2,252 | 2.71875 | 3 |
1. Choose Conflicting Values
Everyone has a set of values that they live by, even villains. However, in fiction, just like in life, these values often conflict. Value conflicts will give your characters compelling internal struggles that speak to the human condition and capture your readers’ attention.
To start, choose three values. That way, you’ll probably have at least two that conflict. The third value can just be neutral. Character values can include, for example, family, recognition, and safety.
Spoiler Notice: 13 Sins
ExampleIn 13 Sins, Elliot Brindle values family above all. Value 1: He feels he needs money to take care of everyone. Value 2: He has a mentally challenged brother, Michael, to take of, a pregnant fiancée, and his bitter father. Value 3: He also longs for the freedom only money can provide.
When Elliot loses his job, he is desperate for money. So when his cellphone rings with an offer to win a million dollars for being on a reality TV show, he says yes. After completing a series of challenges, Elliot realizes he’s broken the law. If he’s in jail, he won’t have either his freedom or the ability to take care of his family. However, winners get their records expunged so he keeps playing.
Elliot’s final challenge is to kill a family member. The Elliot at the beginning of the movie would have refused, but now, two truths shatter his “family above all” value. Truth 1: His brother Michael is also a player and has no issues killing him. Truth 2: Their father played this game years ago and killed their mother in order to win. So now he must either give up and die or kill a family member.
2. Decide How They See the World
Philosophers have said for millennia that there is no reality, that the truth lies in how you see the world. Psychiatrists call this the self-fulfilling prophecy. If you think the world is evil, you will see evil, and if you think the world is good, you will see good. The same is true for your characters.
A character’s past filters their present. A character’s backstory contributes to how they see the world, but it doesn’t just make the world look evil or good. It also affects the details they notice. An architecture student, a secret service agent trying keep the president safe, and a vacationer from abroad would see three different versions of the same city. This is true even if they are all standing next to each other and observing the same buildings and crowds.
ExampleIn The Voices, Jerry is a man with an innocent view of the world who works at a bathtub factory. He lives in a nice apartment and everything goes great for him. He also has two pets, a cat and a dog, who talk to him. Viewers realize something is off about the movie (and Jerry) because everything is too perfect. It turns out, Jerry’s more than “off”; he’s homicidal. He has pills to help with the hallucinations, but after he takes them, we see a broken down, filthy apartment.
To Jerry, the worst thing about the pills is that his pets refuse to talk to him while he’s on them. This fuels his decision to stop, which only makes his problems escalate as he dives deeper into denial and commits more murders. As the story gets darker, the rest of the world looks brighter and happier. It’s rare to get a look at two completely different views of the word through the same set of eyes, but The Voices manages to pull this off.
3. Play on a Fear
Real people have fears, so it’s important that your characters have some too. It’s tempting to give your characters common or random fears, like being afraid of heights. However, if your character never has to climb something high, you’ve missed an opportunity for character growth. Readers love it when a character has to face their fears to get to a happy ending. It gives them hope that they too can overcome their own fears.
It also shows change. If a character is afraid of something in the beginning that they are not afraid of at the end, then readers understand they’ve changed on a deeper level and won’t be going back to their old ways. Alternately, a character who never gets over their fears does not get the thing they wanted.
Spoiler Notice: Sorry, Wrong Number
ExampleIn Sorry, Wrong Number, Leona Stevenson’s fear is having to take care of herself. As the daughter of a wealthy man, she was used to having things done for her. Now that she’s a married woman and expected to stand on her own two feet, she can’t handle it. She takes to bed with symptoms that are psychosomatic. As long as she’s sick, no one expects her to be an adult. But once she overhears a murder plot, she realizes that someone’s life is counting on her.
If she doesn’t learn to overcome her learned helplessness, then someone is going to die, and it will be her fault. She tries her hardest to get help, but only by phone. She still thinks of herself as a sick woman unable to get out of bed, still letting her fear run her life.
Eventually, she gets so frustrated, she gets out of bed, but at that point it’s too late. The murderer is already in the house – her house – since it was her the murderer was hired to kill. (Her husband had had enough of her “illness.”) If she’d gotten over her fear any earlier in the story, she wouldn’t have been such an easy victim.
4. Discover What They Need to Learn
Just as every character has a fear, every character also needs a flaw. Their flaw is closely tied to the lesson they need to learn. After all, a story is nothing more than a lesson in character growth. If a character has no flaw, then they have no room to grow and change.
In the beginning of the story, the character has a certain way of looking at the world, and it’s usually flawed. Their viewpoint could be too naïve, too cynical, or too black and white. Their flaw is a fundamental issue with their mindset that affects every moment of their waking life. For example, take a person who runs away whenever something becomes difficult. Running away is their flaw, and the lesson they need to learn is to stay and face the difficulty.
ExampleIn A Christmas Carol, Scrooge is a miserly man who believes money is as important as oxygen (his flaw). Because of this, he doesn’t believe there’s enough to go around, so every penny is precious to him. Yet, he doesn’t enjoy the benefits of money either. He eats simple fare and is always looking for ways to cut corners even in his home life (such as not heating the entire house).
What Scrooge needs to learn in order to overcome his flaw is that money is simply a tool and that some things are more important than money. He needs to learn that friendship, love, and kindness give you a far richer life than money alone. Once he learns that, he becomes a happier man, truly enjoying his life and his money and seeing it as a way to bring joy to the world.
5. Create a Defining Moment (or Two)
In real life, our personalities represent the culmination of all our experiences. In fiction, writers rely on a defining moment. This is an event that happened to our character before the story started that shaped the character’s entire outlook on life. The moment doesn’t need to be huge and dramatic like abuse or kidnapping. It could be something like when one of the parents walked out, or the time in childhood when the main character’s sister stole the main character’s doll and the parents took the sister’s side.
Our brains remember negative things more often than positive ones. Adding a negative defining moment creates a partially broken character who has a chance at redemption. Of course, main characters are not the only ones who need defining moments: all characters should have them. Even if they are never mentioned in the story, it shapes a character’s personality.
ExampleIn Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Dexter is a rare example of two defining moments for a main character. Even better, one of them overlaps with a minor character’s defining moment. The first is a killing spree that his biological father committed, an early childhood memory revealed through reoccurring dreams about blood and death. This childhood incident gives Dexter a serial killer’s heart.
The second is a conversation with Harry, the cop who adopts Dexter with plans to “save” him from his heritage. Once Harry realizes Dexter’s urge to kill is too strong to overwrite, he changes the trajectory of Dexter’s life by teaching him “Harry’s Law”: only kill those who deserve to die. This changes not only Dexter’s life but also Harry’s. As a cop, Harry believes in rules and laws. Yet he loves his adopted son and wants to see him safe and happy. Neither of them is the same after this talk, and that’s what makes this moment “defining” for both of them.
Knowing your characters in depth is the easiest way to create richer, more compelling characters. This prevents stereotypes, cardboard cutouts, and flat, uninteresting stories where readers don’t care about the outcome. It also helps you drive your story forward by asking the question, what would this character do next? When you know your characters well enough, the story unfolds in front of you. Your readers are going to love it.
Devlin Blake is an accomplished fiction author and writing coach with over two dozen published books including both fiction and non-fiction under a variety of pen names. Devlin’s signature writing system enables author clients to write faster and produce high quality work while holding down a job and enjoying life. Using this system, Devlin was able to create four novels in under a year with more ease, rich characters and robust story lines. Devlin is a sought after coach and consultant specializing in the horror/suspense writing genre. Get a complimentary copy of Devlin’s Plotting Alchemy, an easy way to plan a story.
Need an editor? We’re at your service. | <urn:uuid:9512b41a-072b-484f-b2ef-dd11e60f222c> | CC-MAIN-2019-22 | https://mythcreants.com/blog/five-tips-for-creating-a-layered-character/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-22/segments/1558232256314.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20190521082340-20190521104340-00162.warc.gz | en | 0.970931 | 2,222 | 2.921875 | 3 |
African cichlids enjoy an alien, exotic courtship routine. A dominant male attracts choice females to his territory by dancing seductively. If the female is sufficiently impressed, she lays her eggs and immediately collects them in her mouth, where the male fertilizes them. And, in some species, every once in a while, a lower-ranking male will dart into the scene and try to fertilize a few eggs before the dominant male knows what’s happened.
At least that’s what we thought was going on. But one day, while watching this nostalgic display in the lab, Stanford postdoctoral biology researcher Karen Maruska noticed something unusual. A dominant male was courting a female in one corner of the tank, at the entrance to a terra cotta pot he had claimed as his territory.
“Then, at the last minute, a subordinate male made a beeline for them from the corner of the tank behind the pot, so he could spawn at just the right time,” Maruska said. “And I thought: there’s no way the subordinate saw” that opportunity. In fact, he didn’t see it. He heard it.
Astatotilapia burtoni‘s predilection for waggling its tail and quivering its body before mating is well documented. But what Maruska, undergraduate researcher Uyhun Ung and Stanford biology Professor Russ Fernald would later write in a paper published last week in PloS ONE was that males also vocalize during courtship. Not only are females responsive to these calls, but their ability to hear them improves with their sexual receptiveness. This additional courtship component may provide crucial signals used for mate choice decisions and help explain how similar-looking cichlid species avoid accidental interbreeding.
Using underwater microphones called hydrophones, the researchers found that males would make low-frequency sounds when confronted with receptive females. And females preferred males associated with playbacks of these courtship sounds over males that were associated with no sound, or a neutral noise.
But not all hearing thresholds were created equal. Females that were sexually receptive – and had high circulating levels of sex hormones – were dramatically more sensitive to the low frequencies contained in the courtship sounds than females that had already spawned and were in the mouth-brooding parental care phase of their cycle. This kind of hormone-dependent hearing has been observed in other animals, and is a reliable indicator of the importance of sounds in courtship displays.
Subordinate males were also subtly more sensitive to certain frequencies than dominant males. Although the reasons for this change are less clear, Maruska suggests the subordinate males may “use the frequency of the sound to determine which males to fight with and attempt to take over their territory.” Because the frequency of the courtship sound is related to body size, subordinate males may listen to these courtship sounds to identify the smallest – and most vulnerable – males in their area.
A small pond
The cichlids studied by the Fernald lab are native to Lake Tanganyika in East Africa “where they co-exist with a lot of other cichlid species,” said Maruska. “Each species needs to find its niche in the system.”
The high level of diversity within the cichlid family is unusual, and difficult to maintain when all the relatives are in the same body of water. Researchers had previously assumed that cichlids, which tend to be brightly colored fish, only used visual cues to distinguish potential mates from out-of-species mistakes. But biologists now believe that visual cues alone can’t account for the phenomenon.
Recent field studies by other scientists have shown that cichlid species that live in overlapping areas in the wild produce distinct sounds. The Stanford researchers’ discovery that these sounds are an integral component of courtship rituals lends credence to the theory that the vast array of cichlid species may be a consequence of courtship displays that make use of more than one sensory system.
Still, “not a lot is known about fish sounds,” said Maruska. There remains a host of unsolved mysteries in the field. “We don’t even know the mechanism of sound production in this species yet.” | <urn:uuid:eedc0c3d-edc9-48e1-92f3-22cca347cb6b> | CC-MAIN-2017-09 | https://scienceblog.com/55009/african-cichlids-noisy-courtship-ritual/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-09/segments/1487501171078.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20170219104611-00582-ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963343 | 894 | 3.59375 | 4 |
Following reports of leprosy in Volusia County, Florida last month, an Alabama physician says one of his patients is the first known case of the bacterial disease in north Alabama, according to a AL.com report.
The Madison physician said his patient contracted the disease while outside the United States. According to Dr. Angelo Mancuso, his patient is north Alabama’s first known case of leprosy. The last reported cases were in south Alabama in 2012.
The patient has been referred to an infectious disease specialist and all appropriate health authorities, federal, state and local have been informed.
According to the National Hansen’s Disease Program (NHDP), Hansen’s disease, also known as leprosy, is a chronic bacterial disease that primarily affects the skin, peripheral nerves and upper airway. Feared as a highly contagious and devastating disease, it is well established that Hansen’s disease (leprosy) is not highly transmissible, is very treatable, and, with early diagnosis and treatment, is not disabling.
Compiled statistics reveal that Hansen’s disease (leprosy) is rare in the U.S. There are currently approximately 6,500 cases; about 3,300 require active medical management. | <urn:uuid:129559ce-9b96-4ca9-b79c-51715e854d3c> | CC-MAIN-2021-10 | http://outbreaknewstoday.com/leprosy-case-reported-in-alabama-contracted-overseas-61860/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-10/segments/1614178362133.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20210301060310-20210301090310-00029.warc.gz | en | 0.973229 | 260 | 2.953125 | 3 |
pejorative was our Word of the Day on 08/27/2008. Hear the podcast!
Examples of pejorative in a Sentence
Children born with an extra chromosome 21 are healthy, conspicuously happy and destined to live for many years. But they are not considered, in that pejorative word, ‘normal’. —Matt Ridley, Genome, 1999
The word barbarian was used by the Greeks, to designate an alien, and therefore, by definition, someone inferior in culture to a Hellene. The Romans applied this in the pejorative sense to the people who came to live along the Rhine-Danube frontier. —Norman F. Cantor, The Civilization of the Middle Ages, 1993
On occasion they expressed a preference for the terms Latino or Hispanic if that would assist them in escaping from the term Puerto Rican, which became, at times, almost pejorative. —John Hope Franklin, “The Land of Room Enough,” 1981, in Race and History, 1989
a word with pejorative connotations
the reviewer used the pejorative word “versifier” to refer to the writer, whose poems had struck a responsive chord with the general public
Did You Know?
If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Moms have given that good advice for years, but unfortunately many people haven't heeded it. The word pejorative makes it clear that both English and Latin speakers have long known that disparaging words can make a bad situation worse. Pejorative derives from the Late Latin adjective pejoratus, which in turn comes from the Latin verb pejorare, meaning "to make or become worse." Although pejorative words have probably always been part of English, the adjective "pejorative" has only been found in English texts since the late 1880s. Before then, English speakers could rely on older synonyms of "pejorative" such as "derogatory" and "uncomplimentary" to describe disparaging words.
Origin and Etymology of pejorative
Late Latin pejoratus, past participle of pejorare to make or become worse, from Latin pejor worse; akin to Sanskrit padyate he falls, Latin ped-, pes foot — more at foot
First Known Use: circa 1888
PEJORATIVE Defined for English Language Learners
Definition of pejorative for English Language Learners
: insulting to someone or something : expressing criticism
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up pejorative? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible). | <urn:uuid:76634ed8-8487-4bfe-bb90-7cf9bf5bd1f2> | CC-MAIN-2017-22 | https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pejorative | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-22/segments/1495463609404.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20170528004908-20170528024908-00405.warc.gz | en | 0.950053 | 555 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Finding hidden water
Editor’s Note: This excellent piece about water conservation is reprinted from Water Technology’s website. It makes the point that the Pure Water Gazette has often made about water usage: that our daily habits affect water usage more than we realize, and saving water can depend more on what we eat or how we spend our leisure time than on how much water we use washing dishes. —Hardly Waite.
It takes about 140 gallons of water to produce a dollar’s worth of dog or cat food and 270 gallons of water to produce a dollar’s worth of sugar, according to a study released earlier this year by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University. The report showed that much of the water used in private industry is hidden, mostly because it is not used directly. As the researchers dug deeper into the hidden or indirect use of water, they came to the conclusion that indirect use of water exceeded direct use by as much as 96 percent.
The researchers could not always determine if the water used for various products, from sugar to dog food, was not recycled or reused somewhere along the line. However, without question, they came to the conclusion that millions of gallons of water are used indirectly each year and that a great deal of this water may be unnecessary, if not simply wasted.
The goal of the study was to look for the indirect use of water and determine just how much is used. One conclusion from the study is the importance of water audits. By using water audits, industry leaders can know where water is being used, directly and indirectly, and where it can be used more responsibly and/or curtailed. Also, because water rates are rising, they can find ways to reduce operating costs.
The water audit process
This opens the door for water treatment professionals and others in water-related industries to help their clients by conducting a water audit. The process can be involved and, in many cases, facility managers will not have the time, resources, experience or desire to conduct the audit. They prefer to turn it over to a professional.
So how is a water audit carried out? The following are key steps in the process:
• Conduct an inventory. Information is gathered to determine how much and where water is used in the facility. This will serve as a benchmark. Typically, this is accomplished by collecting billing information from the water supplier. Two, three or more years of bills are recommended to really get a grasp of how much water is consumed in the facility, if there are fluctuations and why and if more or less water is being used now than in the past.
• Ask the client for employment records. If more people were working in the facility several years ago, more water was likely being used.
• Ask for plumbing diagrams or architectural drawings that provide plumbing information. This can be used as a guide to determine where water goes and how it is removed from the location. Pay special attention to landscaping irrigation and restrooms. These are often the key areas, followed by HVAC systems, where water is used in a facility.
• If a manufacturing facility, establish where water is being used and why. In one location, systems were still releasing water to manufacture a product that had been discontinued several years earlier.
• Investigate cooling towers and boilers. These systems typically require a certain amount of water be “bled” and replaced with fresh water. In some cases, this amount can be adjusted, so less water is used and the water released can be captured and reused for landscaping and related purposes.
It is often helpful if the facility has a zoned metering system. For instance, certain meters would register how much water is used in manufacturing and how much in office areas. This helps pinpoint where water is being used and, as referenced earlier, note if there are fluctuations and trends.
Water problem areas: Landscaping and restrooms
In most cases and in most types of locations, more water is used in a facility for landscaping and restrooms than anywhere else. That is why water use in these areas must be checked very carefully. This is also where the greatest water savings may be found.
As for the landscaping, a big concern is broken pipes or sprinkler systems that are not working properly. In one facility, it took a few months before they realized a landscaping pipe had broken. An alert account officer noticed the water bills, which typically are paid by automatic debit, had jumped rather significantly.
Restrooms come in next as heavy water-use areas, specifically the toilets and urinals. The first step in making restrooms more water responsible is to ask: Do you know how old your toilets are?
Because toilets can last for decades and are easily repaired, it is not uncommon for locations to have toilets that were installed before 1992, when the federal government instituted regulations requiring toilets to use no more than 1.6 gallons per flush. However, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) estimates that if all U.S. households installed toilets with water-saving features, “it would save an estimated 5.4 billion gallons of water every day.”
Although urinals do not use as much water as toilets, new urinals are designed to use about one gallon of water per flush, down from two or more several years ago. However, this is still a huge amount of water. Estimates vary, but most experts believe one water-efficient urinal can use as much as 30,000 to 40,000 gallons of water annually. This is why many facilities are now installing no-water or waterless urinal systems. On top of being more cost effective and less costly to maintain and install, these systems operate effectively and hygienically using no water whatsoever.
The three bucket approach to water savings
A final step in the water audit is helping the client determine which water conserving steps should be implemented based on the costs and the amount of water conservation sought. In some cases, the more costly measures can have the greatest water-saving impact.
Ultimately, it is the client who will decide what steps to take and when based on savings and costs. The water professional can group all the water-conserving measures discovered in the audit into three categories, often referred to as the “three bucket system.” These buckets are:
1. Water-reducing measures that can be implemented quickly at little cost. A good example of this is to simply find and fix all water leaks throughout the facility. One small office with five leaky faucets dripping about 30 drips a minute will waste more than 5,000 gallons of water annually.
2. Projects that can be instituted but will incur moderate costs. The state of Massachusetts determined that replacing all water-using urinals in state facilities with no-water systems would result in a significant water savings and could be done at relatively moderate expense.
3. Items that will be rather costly but may produce the most significant water savings. An example of this involves landscaping or xeriscaping. When the MGM Grand opened in 1993, more than 85 percent of the building’s acreage was covered with thirsty lawns and flowering plants. It required the use of more than 60 gallons of water per square foot per year. Today, after considerable expense, most of these areas have been converted to xeriscaping — landscaping using low-water-consumption desert plants and ground materials. Now, the hotel grounds consume only 20 gallons of water per square foot per year.
The goals of the water audit are many. To use water more responsibly, ultimately reducing the amount of water consumed in a facility is a No. 1 priority and cost cutting is another. It should never be forgotten that water and sewer charges in the U.S., although still low, are rising fast throughout the country. And, another benefit: An opportunity for the water professional to offer more services to his or her clients. And in tough economic times, providing more services such as this can prove to be very valuable indeed.
A frequent speaker and author on water conservation issues, Klaus Reichardt is founder and managing partner of Waterless Co. LLC, Vista, California. Reichardt founded the company in 1991 with the goal to establish a new market segment in the plumbing fixture industry with water conservation in mind. The company’s key product, the Waterless No-Flush urinal, works completely without water. He is a member of U.S. Green Building Council since 1999 and the University of California Santa Barbara EcoEntrepreneur Advisory Board. He may be reached at Klaus@waterless.com. | <urn:uuid:72efde07-d199-48a3-ad8d-08914e624272> | CC-MAIN-2018-47 | http://www.purewatergazette.net/blog/finding-hidden-water-november-12-2012/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-47/segments/1542039743247.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20181116235534-20181117021534-00080.warc.gz | en | 0.966238 | 1,762 | 2.796875 | 3 |
The 1968 Walker Report—Rights in Conflict, the official federal commission report on the 1968 Democratic Convention that came out a couple months after it ended—was made famous by its initial branding of the Chicago police's spectacular brutality during several periods in the long week as a "police riot." The behavior of the Chicago police was indeed appalling; the police even targeted the press for beatings (63 of the 300 press working the street were beaten by police).
Antiwar demonstrators spat and threw urine at both police and National Guardsmen. Spitting on police is recounted several times in the book. The Walker Report also describes a torrent of abuse heaped directly at National Guardsmen in uniform in an apparent attempt to goad them into violence. According to accounts, many of the demonstrators were holding cameras, ready to take pictures of guardsmen who reacted violently.
Interestingly, given Professor Jerry Lembcke's prior stereotyping of women, one policeman stationed at the Hilton reported that the obscene abuses shouted by "women hippies" outnumbered those by men "four to one." (Rights in Conflict, p. 235) (Of course, it might have been that the police officer just wasn't accustomed to women being as foul-mouthed as men.) One Guardsman is quoted describing how one male demonstrator went down the line spitting in servicemen's faces, flicking ashes and lit cigarettes at them, and making religious slurs (Rights in Conflict, p. 213). This represents yet another story debunking Jerry Lembcke's claim that there were no contemporaneous accounts of servicemen being spat upon (the Walker Report was completed just 53 days after the late August, 1968 convention).
A September 1, 1968 Chicago Tribune account praised the guardsmen who (unlike the police) were credited with showing extreme restraint in the face of extraordinary taunting:
"Newsmen observed that the demonstrators hurled insults at the guardsmen and some spit on them in an attempt to provoke them into action." (p. 2)
These two accounts tend corroborate in an indirect way one of Bob Greene's spitting stories in Homecoming. John Kelly, a national guardsman in uniform, was guarding the Conrad Hilton during the 1968 Democratic Convention (p. 130). When a young 2d lieutenant "gave us hell" for joking with the "young female hippies" who were putting flowers in the barrels of their guns, "one of the girls spat right in the lieutenant's face." She "melted into the crowd" before they could carry out the order to arrest her. Interestingly, Kelly was pleased with the young woman's spitting; he wrote: "What she did was just as good as fragging the son of a bitch."
And it shows that spitting stories do not necessarily feed some psychological need to account for the U.S. losing the war. Further, spitting was claimed to be witnessed by someone who had the anti-brass orientation that Lembcke for some reason thinks is being denied by those who claim that servicemen were spat upon.
Although neither the government report nor the contemporaneous Tribune news story directly confirms John Kelley's account, they do confirm that Guardsmen were spat upon at the place Kelly reports during one of the times that the National Guard was posted in front of the Hilton. And, of course, the Walker Report and the Tribune account are both contemporaneous accounts of spitting on troops.
Another installment soon . . . .
Related Posts (on one page):
- Spitting Report IV: Opposition To The Troops
- SPITTING REPORT III: EVIDENCE RELEVANT TO ONE OF BOB GREENE'S SPITTING ACCOUNTS.--
- Spitting Report, Part II: Of Civilian Airports and Attempted Debunkings.--
- Many 1967-72 Spitting Incidents Are Documented in the Press.
- Vietnam Spitting.-- | <urn:uuid:b46a5be2-d0c6-464f-8e1c-fb1159bd05b1> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.volokh.com/posts/1172052305.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988720475.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183840-00161-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964404 | 791 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Pediatric End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD)
Pediatric End-Stage Renal Diseases affects children of all ages. The outcome of End-Stage Renal Diseases in Children has considerably improved since the development of dialysis and kidney transplantation. Children constitute 1-2% of total ESRD population, but the devastating effects of ESRD are more significant than in adults. The mortality rate of children on dialysis is estimated to be 30 to 150 times higher than genal pediatric population. When examined by age, peritoneal dialysis is the most common initial ESRD treatment modality for children age 9 years and younger. Hemodialysis is the least common initiating modality in small children and increases in frequency with increasing patient weight.
- Track 1-1 Epidemiology of End-Stage Renal Disease in Children
- Track 2-2 Glomerular Filtration Rate
- Track 3-3 Nutrition in ESRD | <urn:uuid:95592273-08bd-47bd-8506-c426899866f1> | CC-MAIN-2019-47 | https://pediatricnephrology.cmesociety.com/call-for-abstracts/pediatric-end-stage-renal-disease-esrd | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-47/segments/1573496669431.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20191118030116-20191118054116-00455.warc.gz | en | 0.910199 | 195 | 3.484375 | 3 |
The structure of the dairy industry in developed countries has continued to evolve as production efficiency has risen. Industry consolidation is the norm, with reduced herd numbers, increased herd sizes, and adoption of specialized management practices that encourage higher productivity.
In the past, most dairy cows were housed in stall-barn facilities designed to maximize operator comfort. Today, free-stall facilities are built to maximize natural ventilation and cow comfort. Historically, barns were often placed in sheltered locations, whereas today they are usually located in open fields or on hilltops to ensure adequate airflow. The type of milking facility is also evolving; whereas in 2007, 49.2% of operations reported using tie-stall or stanchion milking facilities, almost 75% of cows are now milked in parlors, reflecting the fact that most large herds are housed in freestall or open facilities (and milked in parlors). Most parlors are highly mechanized and designed to minimize the amount of labor required, and economics dictate that milking proceed nearly around the clock to maximize the return on investment.
Milk quality is traditionally defined by the somatic cell count (SCC) and bacterial count in prepasteurized bulk tank milk. In all developed nations, regulatory officials set allowable maximums for SCC. Since 1986, limits for SCC and bacteria have been gradually lowered. The current upper limit for bulk tank SCC is 750,000 in the USA and 500,000 cells/mL in Canada. The SCC maximum in the EU is 400,000 cells/mL using geometric means as the basis for calculation.
Artificial insemination (through the commercial distribution of frozen semen) is the preferred method of reproductive management in most dairy operations. In fact, 45% of USA dairy operators in 1996 reported that no breeding bulls were present on their farms. The use of genetically elite sires has contributed to increases of >150 kg/yr in genetic merit for milk production. Declining fertility has accompanied advancements in genetic merit. Dairy farms commonly record herd conception rates of <40%. Technologies such as embryo transfer, rapid hormonal assays, controlled breeding programs that use reproductive hormones, and ultrasonography are used increasingly on modern dairy farms.
Nutritional research also has advanced rapidly, especially in areas such as rumen physiology and lipid metabolism (see Cattle). Lactating dairy cows are generally fed either a component-based ration (forages and grain are fed separately) or a total mixed ration (TMR, forages and grain are mixed and fed together). The basis of a successful nutritional program is the determination of nutrient content of the ration ingredients through laboratory testing, formulation of nutritionally sound diets, and assurance of adequate intake of required nutrients through feed bunk management. Maintaining a stable, healthy rumen environment is difficult with component-based feeding systems. TMR diets are generally based on mixing stored forages (in North America, usually alfalfa hay or haylage and corn silage) with grains (such as high-moisture corn or soybeans) and byproducts such as cottonseed or locally available commodities such as citrus pulp, brewers grains, or bakery waste. On larger farms, cows are often grouped and fed diets specifically formulated to meet their production and metabolic needs. Many farms use professional nutritionists to formulate rations.
Most producers raise their own replacement animals, but an increasing number of large dairy farms contract with specialized heifer growing operations. In the USA, >60% of newborn heifer calves are hand-fed colostrum within the first 24 hr of life to ensure adequate intake of immunoglobulins. The feeding of waste milk from cows undergoing antibiotic treatment or with mastitis is economical but may transmit infectious diseases to the calf. To decrease the potential for disease transmission, some producers pasteurize waste milk (15% of all calves in 2007) or feed milk replacer (>70% of calves in 2007). The amount of milk fed to heifers (typically 8%–10% of body wt at birth) has typically been restricted to encourage consumption of high-protein calf starters, with a goal of early rumen development and weaning by 8–10 wk of age. However, calf health was found to improve when calves were fed more milk than this, and current practice recommends that calves be fed an increasing amount of milk—up to 12%–15% of body wt after the first week of age (10–11 L/day). Holstein heifers are now heavier and taller at the withers than in published standards recommended from years past. The goal of efficient Holstein heifer-raising programs in North America is for heifers to calve at a weight of 550 kg at 22.5–25 mo of age. Various health management programs are used to reach this goal, including deworming and the use of oral coccidiostats, supplemental selenium, and ionophores.
Last full review/revision April 2014 by R. Page Dinsmore, DVM | <urn:uuid:f16e3ff3-e717-4fc8-b1d7-340a1cf92da9> | CC-MAIN-2014-41 | http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/management_and_nutrition/health-management_interaction_cattle/the_modern_dairy_industry.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-41/segments/1410657121288.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20140914011201-00135-ip-10-196-40-205.us-west-1.compute.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945701 | 1,034 | 3.015625 | 3 |
|A carronade on a land based mount.|
The fighting on Morris Island in July 1863 saw the collision of military technology that was hopelessly out-of-date and the most cutting edge. Among the more obsolete weapons employed in the American Civil War was the carronade. The carronade was a short-barreled smooth-bore cannon designed to throw hollow iron cannon balls at low velocity over a short range. The hollow iron balls had a greater exterior surface, and before the advent of explosive shells, carronades were among the most destructive of naval weapons, and were known colloquially as "smashers." After the introduction of explosive shells, carronades were hopelessly obsolete.
The handful that survived in 1861 were in storage, and the Confederacy captured a supply of these weapons at Gosport Navy Yard. In a world of rifled guns that fired explosive shells, the carronade was useless as a naval weapon. Lacking other weapons, the Confederacy re-purposed its captured carronades as short-ranged anti-personnel weapons for the defense of fortifications. Useless against ships in the 1860's, carronades could still be used like giant shotguns to spray charges of canister against attacking troops. On the night of July 18, 1863, the Confederate fortification Battery Wagner mounted four of these weapons--three 32-pounders and one 42-pounder--and they helped to turn the beach in front of the fort into a killing ground.
|A Billinghurst Requa Battery gun.| | <urn:uuid:cf09ff59-92ec-4926-8809-850706885d26> | CC-MAIN-2015-18 | http://www.civilwar-online.com/2013/07/military-technology-old-and-new-on.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-18/segments/1429246661675.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20150417045741-00201-ip-10-235-10-82.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975401 | 319 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Hohenwart's collection of conches
In this exhibition corridor, we can see two large display cases with numerous splendid and most interesting gastropod and bivalve shells. This is part of the collection donated in 1831 to the Carniolan Provincial Museum by Franz Hohenwart, as the President of the Museum Curatorium. It comprises about 5,000 specimens from the entire world and is, apart from Zois' collection of minerals, one of the fundamental collections of the Slovenian Natural History Museum.
Molluscs form a substantial group of non-segmented invertebrates, which include chitons, gastropods, operculate snails, bivalves and cephalopods. Today, the world is inhabited by some 128,000 mollusc species, of which 105,000 are gastropod and by some 20,000 bivalve species.
Distribution of molluscs is influenced by climate, temperature, sea currents, water depth, salinity, construction of soil, the manner of reproduction and other factors. Distinct related species live in different zoogeographical regions. The highest number of specimens in Hohenwart's collection come from the Indopacific region.
Although all the exhibited specimens deserve our attention, let us have a special look at the shells of the cephalopod called Nautilus(Nautilus pampilius). These are exhibited in the left display case, at the bottom left. Nautilus, which lives in the Indian Ocean, is today the only living cephalopod with external shell in the world. Its relatives are the long extinct ammonites as well as still living squids, cuttlefishes and octopuses. Under this, we can see the Mother-of-pearl Shell, Pinctada maxima, which used to be widely collected in nature due to its wonderful pearls. This is the reason why it has been almost extirpated in certain places. Today, they are being bred, in captivity, especially in Japan, where they are artificially stimulated to form pearls. Here let us add that a pearl can be created in every shellfish with sufficiently developed mother-of-pearl. When a foreign particle ends up between its two shells – such as a tiny stone or a parasite – the shellfish encircles it with the mother-of-pearl. In 1864, a well known Slovenian Nautilus Mother-of-pearl Shell Nautilus pampilius Pinctada maxima nature historian and collector found, in a stream near Borovnica, a shell of freshwater clam with a pearl inside it. Pearls, however, are no exception even in oysters, Mediterranean mussels and scallops.
Let us also mention the shells of gastropods from the group of cowries , Cypraeidae. You can have a look at their several species in the right display case, at the bottom right. They are of brown and white colours and of porcelain appearance. The last largest whorl runs over all the others. When a cowry is still alive, this beautiful shell is covered by a mantle full of warty, finger-like and thorny protuberances. This mantle secretes porcelain-like substance. Cowries have been always much sought-after by collectors, and once upon a time they were even used as money. In the Adriatic Sea, four cowry species can be found.
Left from the cowries, there are shells of gastropods equipped with mother-ofpearl. These are Haliotidae, commonly known as abalone shells or sea ears. They are easily recognised, for they indeed remind us of human ears. They live attached to rocks and exchange water through the small holes on the inwardly curved side of the shell. Their flesh apparently has a very pleasant flavour. In Japan, a species occurs that can grow so big that a single specimen can suffice as a meal for a whole family. But owing to their popularity and overgathering, many abalone shell species are threatened to become extinct. In the Adriatic Sea, a sea ear representative can be found as well, called Peter's ear or ear of St. Peter. This, however, is a small gastropod, living in the rocky coastal zone. It occurs only individually and plays no major role in human diet. | <urn:uuid:cfc7a499-f674-4729-b60b-bcbb3d4de18e> | CC-MAIN-2022-27 | https://www.pms-lj.si/en/exhibitions/permanent-exhibition/hohenwartova-zbirka-konhilij | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-27/segments/1656104660626.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20220706030209-20220706060209-00758.warc.gz | en | 0.959616 | 918 | 3.546875 | 4 |
Located on a trade route connecting Dubrovnik with the medieval mining towns of central Kosovo, Peja emerged as trade centre already in the middle ages. Its name derives from the Turkish word for silk (ipek). In 1999 Peja's bazaar quarter was burned down by Serb forces. More than two-thirds of buildings in Peja were damaged or destroyed, including many traditional stone kullas and Ottoman-era homes. Memories of the recent war live on in streets named after British Premier Tony Blair, and US Generals William Walker and Wesley Clark.
In an effort to industrialise the town after 1945 the communist leadership established leather, shoe, wood and furniture companies. In 1968, an outlet of the Zastava car plant from Serbia was opened here as the major employer. Today, however, little remains of socialist industrialisation in Peja. Only a large brewery is still active and sells its beer in Kosovo and to the Kosovo diaspora.
The history of Peja (Pec in Serbian) is closely linked to that of the Serbian Orthodox Church. To protect the patriarchate from Bulgarian raiders in the 13th century the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church was moved from central Serbia to Peja. From 1557 until 1766 Peja was the residence of the patriarch and archbishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Protected by high walls, the monastic complex sits beautifully located at the entrance of the Rugova Gorge. It features outstanding examples of paintings from the 13th to the 17th century. According to the Ahtisaari Proposal the Pec Patriarchy is a protected zone to guard Serb Orthodox heritage in Kosovo. | <urn:uuid:31b716f0-1a0e-481a-bba1-1e3e974ff9fa> | CC-MAIN-2019-39 | https://www.esiweb.org/index.php?lang=en&id=298&city_ID=49 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-39/segments/1568514574588.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20190921170434-20190921192434-00432.warc.gz | en | 0.969494 | 335 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Inventions: Panama Canal Emergency Dams
Inventor: Otis Ellis Hovey
Otis Ellis Hovey, Dartmouth 1885, Thayer 1887, had two words of advice about what it takes to be an engineer: “Hard work.” To which he added, “You want more than this? Well, I would add ‘common sense.’ So many engineers fail because they do not have the last quality.”
Hovey was, by all accounts, a hard worker, and he had a lot more common sense than his Dartmouth classmate and cousin Richard Hovey, author of the drinking song “Eleazar Wheelock.” As the assistant chief engineer of American Bridge Company Otis Hovey worked on some of the biggest projects of his era, including designing the superstructure of the Bellefontaine Bridge across the Mississippi and designing and building six emergency dams for the Panama Canal.
Hovey was also the authority on moveable bridges. He wrote the subject bible — Moveable Bridges, published in 1926 — and held patents on three moveable bridge designs which he dubbed Types O, E, and H (which just happen to be his initials.)
Hovey’s success didn’t come from common sense alone. The man had imagination. In 1895, at the age of 30, he designed a 3,200-foot bridge across the Hudson River — twice as long as the Brooklyn Bridge (then the world’s longest). Visiting Turkey, he designed a pontoon bridge across Constantinople’s Golden Horn. Though neither bridge was built, his plans displayed his signature blend of diligence, intelligence, and originality.
In his later years Hovey was regularly mistaken for look-alike Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes. Hovey served on the Thayer Board of Overseers from 1907 until his death in 1941.
Categories: Inventionscomments powered by Disqus | <urn:uuid:f3437ceb-7393-439d-80fa-7ee52517af95> | CC-MAIN-2015-48 | http://engineering.dartmouth.edu/magazine/inventions-panama-canal-emergency-dams | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-48/segments/1448398447043.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20151124205407-00285-ip-10-71-132-137.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976409 | 404 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Welcome to Seahorse Class!
Our teacher is Miss Moran email@example.com Our teaching assistant is Mrs Hatfull
Welcome to Turtle Class!
Our teacher is Miss Valentine firstname.lastname@example.org . Our teaching assistant is Miss Stone
Autumn Term 2020
Welcome back Year 2! It is great to have you all back at school and we can't wait to start delving into our new learning!
We understand that you have not been back in school for a long time and it is important that you have the time and space to talk about your experiences whilst the school was closed and to re-connect with your friends and teachers.
In year 2, we will continue to develop and master all of the literacy skills gained in Year 1 through a variety of rich key texts. We will begin this term by reading ‘Dougal’s Deep Sea Diary’, finding out what happens on his adventures! We will really explore the language and illustrations in this text, using it to revisit nouns and adjectives. We will then learn how to create, and use, expanded noun phrases when describing a character or scene. Once confident, we will begin to use double adjectives, punctuated with a comma, to develop and enhance our writing. We will also consolidate sentence demarcation, making sure that we always punctuate our sentences correctly. In Guided Reading, we will explore both fiction and non-fiction texts and begin to compare the features of both. We will be introduced to comprehension activities to help us understand how we can answer questions effectively. We will also continue to echo-read to develop our reading fluency and accuracy. In each session, we will thoroughly investigate the meaning of key words whilst exploring the language and structure of a variety of texts.
In Maths we will be exploring place value through mathematical manipulatives. We will be making sure that we are able to recognise the place value of each digit in a two digit number, describing these as tens and ones. We will also be looking at how we can compare and order numbers from 0 up to 100, using the symbols <, > and =. Then we shall be moving onto addition and subtraction. We will make sure we are confident recalling and using addition and subtraction facts to 20 fluently, and derive and use related facts up to 100. We will also be consolidating our knowledge and understanding of multiplication with a particular focus on our 2s, 5s, 10s and 3 times tables.
For information about other subjects your child will be learning this term, please see the curriculum newsletter and curriculum map below.
Click here to see our weekly timetable for Seahorse Class and Turtle Class
Weekly Learning Letters
- Year 2 Learning Letter 01 11 09 20 (0.29 MB)
- Year 2 Learning Letter 02 25 09 20 (0.38 MB)
- Year 2 Learning Letter 03 02 10 20 (0.27 MB)
- Year 2 Learning Letter 04 09 10 20 (0.24 MB)
- Year 2 Learning Letter 05 23 10 20 (0.21 MB)
- Year 2 Learning Letter 06 13 11 20 (0.26 MB)
- Year 2 Learning Letter 07 20 11 20 (0.44 MB)
- Year 2 Learning Letter 08 27 11 20 (0.31 MB)
English in Year Two
Reading in Year Two
Similar to Year 1, children will be listened to on a weekly basis in a guided reading group. This guided reading session is timetabled to enable the children access a different English based activity everyday e.g. a comprehension activity or a Spelling, Punctuation and/or Grammar (SPaG) related piece of work.
Continuing from Year 1, the children are taught to read accurately by blending the sounds in words that contain the graphemes taught so far, especially the alternative sounds for graphemes. By the end of Year 2, a child should be able to read books written at an age-appropriate interest level with accuracy. They should also be able to read at a speed that is sufficient for a child to focus on understanding what is read rather than sounding out individual words.
Writing and SPaG in Year Two
Throughout Year 2, children will have the opportunity to learn and develop their key skills of writing. By the end of Year 2 we would like all children to spell words in a phonetically plausible way, even if sometimes it is incorrect. They should be able to write down ideas that have been composed orally and letters should be orientated correctly. They should be able to use age-appropriate vocabulary, grammar and punctuation concepts correctly.
Maths in Year Two
Our curriculum map outlines our maths learning throughout the year. In regards to number, children will be taught to compare and order numbers from 0 up to 100 and to use place value and number facts to solve problems.
In measures, children will be encouraged to solve simple problems in a practical context involving addition and subtraction of money including giving change.
In fractions they will learn how to recognise, find, name and write fractions 1/4, 1/3, 2/4 and 3/4 of a length, shape and set of objects or quantity.
In multiplication and division they will recall and use multiplication and division facts for the 2, 5 and 10 times table including recognising odd and even numbers. They will also solve problems involving multiplication and division.
Have a look at what we have been learning in Year Two! | <urn:uuid:87e73151-62f2-47a2-b60d-cfc78ad98be9> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.kingshill.school/Year-Two-14062016120137/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141685797.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20201201231155-20201202021155-00511.warc.gz | en | 0.927947 | 1,144 | 2.625 | 3 |
How To Create a Lesson Plan to Engage Your Students (with Template)All Posts
Written by Maria Kampen
- Teacher Resources
Lesson planning can be a huge time commitment, especially if you’re new to teaching. But a good lesson plan template can save you hours of prep time and help you feel more confident when it comes to guiding your student’s learning.
Keep reading to find out how to write lesson plans that set you up for success — weeks, months or even years from now. Then download our free daily, weekly and monthly templates to get you started!
What is a lesson plan and what is it used for?
A lesson plan is a brief, detailed description of what’s going to happen during the lesson, including:
- Learning objectives or goal
- Teaching strategies you’ll use
- Materials needed for the lesson
- Goals or assessment methods for the end of the lesson or unit
A lesson plan is your blueprint for making sure the class runs smoothly and students learn effectively. From introducing the topic to the types of assessment you’ll use at the end of the unit, it helps guide your teaching and keep classroom activities on track.
A good lesson planning template can help you:
- Stay organized and on track
- Be more effective with your teaching strategies
- Plan for different levels of learning in your classroom
A daily, weekly or monthly lesson plan can help you save time planning and keep your classroom organized. Plus, it gives school leaders an idea of what you’ll be covering in your classroom and can help substitute teachers jump in at the last minute.
How to create a good lesson plan
A good lesson plan template gives you a planning shortcut and helps you keep track of relevant materials or which techniques worked best.
Every teacher’s lesson plan looks a little different, so feel free to adjust as necessary to meet the needs of your students. Follow the six steps below to help you create yours!
1. Set lesson objectives
The first step of knowing how you’re going to do something is to figure out what you’re going to do. Using curriculum requirements or even Common Core standards, explicitly state what students should know how to do do at the end of the lesson.
The best learning objectives:
- Refer back to curriculum or core standards
- Can be measured and assessed by teachers
- Are written clearly, without jargon or extra fluff
- Are achievable for students, regardless of ability
To craft good learning objectives, consider using the SMART goal formula:
- Specific — What skills are students learning?
- Measurable — How will students be assessed?
- Achievable — Is the goal possible, given student ability and lesson time?
- Relevant — How does this skill fit into the rest of the unit?
- Time-bound — How long should it take students to master this skill?
2. Share learning requirements
Sharing lesson requirements with students can help them understand the why behind what they’re learning and make connections across topics.
Build out space in your lesson plan to go over learning objectives with students at the beginning of the lesson or unit. Instead of working towards an uncertain end goal, this actively involves them in the planning process and helps them build a growth mindset.
While this is more effective for older students, phrase lesson objectives in a way all students can understand, and be specific.
3. Include lesson materials
Worksheets, PowerPoint presentations, podcasts — in today’s classrooms, there’s an endless supply of digital and physical resources to plan your lessons with.
In each lesson plan, clearly lay out what materials you’ll need and where you (and your students) can find them. Host digital materials on a classroom website or learning management system for easy access, and consider including copies of physical resources with your lesson plan so you don’t lose what you need.
While you’re planning, think about what students need to be successful. Depending on their learning style or your teaching methods, include materials like:
- Grading rubrics
- Charts and diagrams
- Copies of primary or secondary sources
- Instructions for classroom games or activities
Write down where to find them and record if you’ll need devices for students, to make sure you’re prepared.
4. Define lesson procedures
When you’re standing at the front of the classroom and all your students are ready to learn, what are you going to do first? This is where the bulk of your lesson planning lies.
Your lesson procedures determine what’s going to happen in your classroom. This can be anything you think students will respond to best, including:
- Learning activities
- Independent practice
- Opportunities for differentiation
- Specific teaching methods you’ll use
Plan ways to help students warm up their skills or introduce a new topic. You could start with connecting the topic to real-life events, activating prior knowledge or giving students time to explore a relevant question in pairs.
Then, plan lessons that help you give information to students and allow them to practice it for themselves. This could be a mixture of group work, blended learning or independent practice.
5. Designate grading and assessment methodology
As you plan the end of your lesson or unit, build in techniques that help you assess understanding and wrap up your lesson. Common ways of checking student knowledge include formative assessments, exit tickets and quick class surveys.
For every assessment you have planned, include clear criteria to help students succeed. This could include:
- A detailed rubric
- Examples of good work
- A syllabus with grade breakdowns and due dates
Include these materials in your lesson plan to help students understand what’s expected of them, and ensure you’re using curriculum-based measurements to truly assess learning.
6. Create your lesson plan outline
Once you’ve gathered all this information together, build a lesson plan outline to help make the process smoother. Every time you plan a lesson, you should be able to drop relevant info into your outline and speed up the planning process
Make a space to add in your learning objectives, materials and methods. If you have regular activities, like a morning warm-up or entry ticket, add them into the master copy to save time.
Make a master copy to keep at your desk. When it comes time to plan your lessons, you’ll have a detailed outline ready to go.
Add space at the end to record observations after the lesson. If you have time, write down a few quick points about what worked and what didn’t, so you can use the information to make the next plan even better!
To get you started, we put together a package of free daily, weekly and monthly lesson plan templates. Download them now!
Tips for making different types of lesson plans
A preschool teacher’s lesson plan doesn’t look the same as a high school science teacher’s. In fact, your lesson plans might even look different depending on your unit or the students in your classroom!
Daily, weekly and monthly lesson plans can help you adapt to the realities of day-to-day teaching and find what works best for you.
Daily lesson plan
Daily lesson plans are a great place to get really specific about the minute-to-minute steps in your lesson.
Follow the steps laid out above and include:
- Specific classroom activities, with instructions
- Ways to keep students engaged during the lesson
- What materials you plan to use and where to find them
These lesson plans are easy to give to substitute teachers in a pinch, so keep an extra copy in your classroom.
Weekly lesson plan
Weekly lesson plans can help you get a bigger picture look at what students are doing in your classroom over the course of a week.
In your weekly lesson plan, include:
- The parts of the day that stay the same
- Space to make sure students are retaining information
- A brief overview of what activities you’re going to use in each class
Use weekly lesson plans to make daily lesson plans easier and help you work faster.
Monthly lesson plan
If a weekly lesson plan is a bigger picture, a monthly lesson plan is a bird’s eye view of everything you need to cover in a month or a unit.
This is where you can make sure your lesson plans are always aligned to state standards and you’re not falling behind in your teaching plan.
If you have a team of educators who teach the same grade or subject, work with them to create a monthly lesson plan that structures outcomes and makes sure learning happens at the right pace.
Preschool lesson plan
In preschool, students are focused on building kindergarten readiness skills and key social emotional skills. It’s less academically rigorous than higher grades, so your lesson plan should reflect that!
In your preschool lesson plan, focus on activities and hands-on experiences. Social emotional learning activities can help students learn the importance of cooperation, sharing and self-expression, while play-based learning activities can guide exploration and help develop new skills.
Your lesson plan should allow for flexibility and student choice. Use it to structure days effectively and make sure students hit milestones and build foundational skills.
Middle school lesson plan
In middle school, students have more opportunities to learn independently and take charge of their own projects — with your guidance, of course.
Build time for group work and individual work, with clear guidelines. Make sure you communicate academic and behavioral expectations to help students be successful.
Help students build a growth mindset and share lesson objectives to give them an opportunity to actively participate in their own learning.
High school lesson plan
When you’re focusing on one subject at a time in high school, you have the opportunity to drill deeper into materials and instructional techniques.
Your lesson plan should also have opportunities for self-directed learning, as well as a variety of digital and physical resources to keep students engaged and expand their learning experiences.
Don’t be afraid to try new teaching strategies and dive into teaching theory to boost student learning! Monthly lesson plans are especially helpful for getting through a broad range of topics and keeping pace with the curriculum.
Distance learning lesson plans
While a remote learning plan follows the same basic template as an in-person plan, remote teaching is very different from classroom instruction.
Include a mix of digital and physical resources to keep students engaged as they learn online. Keep students and parents on the same page with lesson objectives and materials posted on your classroom website.
Include time for small groups and breakout rooms to foster connection, and have troubleshooting solutions handy in case of technological glitches.
Include a mix of synchronous and asynchronous activities to accommodate student learning styles and schedules.
Get started with free lesson plan templates
Lesson planning can be daunting at the beginning of the process. It’s a lot to keep track of, but any experienced teacher will tell you it’s worth it — and it gets easier over time.
Prodigy Math Game is an adaptive math platform for grades 1 to 8. While students explore and learn, teachers can access free tools that help them save time lesson planning, differentiate for all learners and collect student insights. Sign up for your free account today! | <urn:uuid:80c71052-6707-4d31-85e4-90da38823ff4> | CC-MAIN-2021-43 | https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/blog/lesson-plan-template/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-43/segments/1634323588246.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20211028003812-20211028033812-00200.warc.gz | en | 0.927898 | 2,347 | 4.34375 | 4 |
Students of phonetics in Britain have to learn to recognize the Cardinal Vowels established by Daniel Jones: at least the primaries (i e ɛ a ɑ ɔ o u) and four of the secondaries, namely y ø œ ɯ. Masters’ students have to learn not only to recognize them but to produce them, too.
Some readers may be surprised to learn that the cardinal vowel that generally proves most difficult for English and Scottish students to produce is primary number 8, u. These students have to learn to make a vowel sound that is considerably backer and rounder than their English GOOSE vowel.
This is also the cardinal vowel that Japanese students find most difficult.
If simple imitation failed, I generally found that the most helpful technique was to start from the English word wall. The BrE vowel in this word is reliably back. More importantly, so is the close and rounded w at the beginning. If you prolong this w instead of immediately gliding away from it, the result may be an acceptable cardinal-style u — properly close, back, and rounded. It may need to be made a little “tighter” (i.e. with a greater degree of tongue raising). Once the learner has produced that satisfactorily, you just need a few fluency and catenation exercises. Then you can compare and contrast English boot with cardinal but and moon with cardinal mun. (NB cardinal vowels have no inherent length. They can be prolonged or not at will.)
Here’s Daniel Jones’s demonstration of cardinal 8, from the recording he made in 1956.
The same difficulty faces the English-speaking learner of German. German long uː is just about cardinal. You can hear some authentic examples here, on Paul Joyce’s German Course site (the URL mentioned for this site in my blog for 10 July 2009 is no longer valid).
(Warning: to my ear the sound clip for this vowel on the Univ. of Iowa site sounds extremely odd and un-German. To hear it, go to Vokale, Monophthonge, hinten, and select /u/.)
Here’s Wikipedia’s sound clip for the word Fuß fuːs.
If I were teaching German uː I would apply the same technique. I’d emphasize the difference in sound between German du duː and English do, German Hut huːt and English hoot. And of course learners of German also have to master the front-back distinction in Brüder — Bruder ˈbryːdɐ — ˈbruːdɐ. (Both tend to get mapped onto English brooder.)
One of Joyce’s examples, Stuhl ʃtuːl, is particularly interesting. For many English people the vowel in this word, because of the following dark lateral, is not all that different from that of their English stool: the initial ʃ is no problem, but the final clear lʲ is strikingly different from the usual English ɫ used in this position.
My picture shows an eagle owl, German der Uhu ˈuːhu. Its name is onomatopoeic. It hoots in a cardinal way. | <urn:uuid:32b2cb3b-c1a4-4c16-8d6c-94d735369289> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://www.phonetic-blog.blogspot.com/2012/02/ooh.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936465487.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074105-00063-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934165 | 691 | 3.625 | 4 |
My wife asked me the other day “Why is there more sand here after the river floods?”. I explained that because it was a mountain river, the flooding caused more rocks to grind together and tumble down from the hills grinding themselves eventually into fine sand.
In my article Reprint – A Grain of Beach Sand – Photography Book by Gary Greenberg I showed photos of grains of sand, some formed from stones, shells, etc.
A more detailed explanation of the source of sand and why it is different colours I found in this article from the Live Science website called:
Credit: Beach photo via Shutterstock
Summer wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the sandy shores of an ocean, bay, lake or river. As the gritty stuff gets in between your toes, you may wonder why beaches are distinctive sandy stretches and why sand looks and feels the way it does.
And then again, you might not — you didn’t come to the beach to think, did you? But for those in an asking mood, a sandy beach is essentially where pulverized, weathered rock along with some fragments of shelled creatures and other biota have collected, tossed up by the waves and as sediment from inland areas. More . . .
“Sand is basically the material you get when you get a breakdown in rocks, when the rocks weather and decompose over hundreds of thousands and millions of years,” said Jeff Williams, senior scientist emeritus for the U.S. Geological Survey Woods Hole Science Center. [Stunning Sands Gallery: A Rainbow of Beaches]
Sand grits it out
Not every rocky mineral is equally built to last. So, over time, the weathering process yields certain common compositions for sand as the stronger materials persist.
“Some of the minerals are very unstable and decompose, while others such as feldspar, quartz and hornblende are more stable,” said Williams. “They’re harder, more resistant minerals, and so they tend to stay behind.”
These minerals — abundant in Earth’s crust — in ground-up form constitute a lot of the sandy particles comprising beaches. “Probably the most common composition would be quartz sand with some feldspar,” said Williams.
This mineral formula gives beaches that sort of typically, well, “beachy” complexion of a light brown found in many places in the continental United States and elsewhere. “The iron staining on the quartz and iron oxide on the feldspar gives the sand that tan or brownish color, but this varies greatly,” Williams told LiveScience.
Indeed, every beach is essentially a product of its regional and local environment, and is accordingly one-of-a-kind. [In Photos: The Top 10 Beaches of 2013]
“The sand on each beach is like a fingerprint — it’s unique to the particular beach where you find it,” said Williams. “The sand’s unique composition, color and grain size are a result of the source rocks it came from, but also a result of coastal processes that modify the sand over long periods of time.”
Examples of these processes include the types of waves and currents in an area, as well as the sea level history for that particular coast.
A sandy rainbow
All of these variables intermix to create wildly different-looking beaches, depending on location. For example, in the Florida panhandle, Williams noted, the sand is often very white because of its high quartz content over feldspar and hornblende.
Farther south around Miami, the sand also trends fairly white, but for a completely different reason: A significant amount of the sand particles there are made of calcium carbonate, or the tiny bits of fragmented shells from sea life.
Tropical regions have more of this shell-derived sand than temperate regions, where the sand is mostly silica-based in the form of quartz.
Williams pointed to some other neat examples. “Many of the beaches in Bermuda have not only white sand but have pink or reddish sand particles as well,” he said. The origin of this famous coloration is the remains of tiny, single-celled creatures called Foraminifera that have pink or reddish shells.
Hawaii, meanwhile, is well-known for its black sand beaches, the result of ground-up, dark volcanic rocks. Some beaches on Hawaii’s Big Island even have a greenish tint, thanks to the presence of the mineral olivine.
Old beach, new beach
As a final sandy thought, consider the fact that the sand on most of our beaches, especially on the East and Gulf Coasts, is rather old: some 5,000 years or so, Williams said. Very little new sand reaches the coast nowadays from the continental interior as it once did.
The construction of roads, dams, and so on, is one reason. “Development along the coastline sort of impedes the transport of sand from the interior to the coast,” said Williams.
The other major reason is a general rise in sea levels over the past approximately 12,000 years, which has flooded river valleys and created large estuaries such as Charleston Harbor, the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay and the Hudson River. These estuaries trap would-be sand before it reaches the coast, Williams explained.
As a tie-in, the erosion of beaches especially after major storms often requires beach nourishment, or replenishment projects. Sand is dredged up from offshore and deposited on the shoreline to rebuild lost real estate.
Williams noted that these projects, while often successful, must contend with the different characteristics of sand one can get even in very close vicinities. “You have to pay careful attention to the aesthetics,” said Williams. “People like to have the same sort of material on the beach as the native beach.” | <urn:uuid:b26a2f2d-7896-4327-96ff-8d1b2ea8593f> | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | http://lighthousememories.ca/2013/09/03/where-does-beach-sand-come-from/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618038507477.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20210418163541-20210418193541-00389.warc.gz | en | 0.940361 | 1,239 | 3.5 | 4 |
Millions of young girls in the developing
world are married when they are still children, and as a result are denied
the ordinary experiences that young people elsewhere take for granted:
schooling, good health, economic opportunities, and friendship with peers.
Despite national laws and international agreements forbidding early marriage,
gender roles and marriage systems in many countries dictate the practice,
through which girls are deprived of basic rights and subjected to discrimination
and health risks.
This paper identifies opportunities to strengthen the media as an element of peacebuilding and offers a guide for understanding how media-related interventions can be used in a variety of conflict conditions. For this purpose, it contains the following main chapters:
- Converging realities: Gender, conflict, and peacebuilding
- The changing international context since 1998
- Gender, human rights and peacebuilding
- Key issues for transformative approaches | <urn:uuid:a1fe5ed9-9969-47ed-b8e4-8be049f79d70> | CC-MAIN-2018-51 | https://reliefweb.int/updates?source=1086&created=20030101-20040101 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-51/segments/1544376823382.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20181210170024-20181210191524-00514.warc.gz | en | 0.930719 | 178 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Several ways to improve the performance of reducer from design and manufacture are as follows:
1. reasonable design of gear number and modulus.
The tooth number of the reducer determines the transmission speed reduction ratio, while the tooth number and modulus of the gear determine the load bearing capacity of the reducer. Among all kinds of gears of the reducer, the working condition of the sun wheel is worse, so it is necessary to choose the number of teeth and modulus according to the specific working condition of the reducer, and check the force of the sun wheel first. At the same time, in order to reduce the errors that may occur in the manufacture of gears, when the number of teeth is selected, the transmission ratio is a non-integer of prime numbers. This number of teeth can avoid periodic manufacturing errors of gears, resulting in vibration or abnormal sound.
2. set reasonable tooth side clearance.
The meshing of backlash gears can avoid the interference between teeth caused by manufacturing errors and thermal deformation, and facilitate the storage of lubricating oil. However, excessive clearance can obviously lead to the impact of gear on mesh, and then increase vibration and noise.
3. increase the coincidence degree of gear engagement.
The degree of coincidence of gear engagement represents the mean value of the logarithm of the teeth at the same time. The greater the coincidence degree, the more stable the gear transmission, the smaller the impact of gear engagement, the lower the noise.
4. gear modification
Gear modification includes tooth crown modification and tooth profile modification. The tooth profile of the gear is elastically deformed when it is meshed. When it is cut in or out of meshing, the top and root of the driven gear interfere, and the meshing stiffness changes sharply at the same time, which causes serious excitation. Gear modification can not only avoid interference, reduce excitation and dynamic load, but also reduce the effect of additional dynamic load caused by the pitch error of base circle.
5. gear material and surface treatment
The bearing capacity of the reducer is not only related to the tooth number modulus, but also directly related to the material selection of the gear and planetary frame. Generally, materials such as 40Cr, 42CrMo and 20CrMnTi are used under high speed and heavy load condition. In order to further improve the bearing capacity of gears and planetary frames. After heat treatment, the gear face has a certain thickness of hardening layer, the hardness can reach HRC60, has a high bearing capacity, and the gear heart hardness is low, making the gear has a certain degree of toughness.
6. manufacturing accuracy
The manufacturing accuracy of any machine will directly affect the mechanical properties of the machine, especially the machinery with high precision requirements. The accuracy of planetary gear reducers used for large machinery used in general engineering is above 7 grade.
The accuracy of gear manufacturing is one of the most important aspects of gear surface roughness. Because the gear pair transfers torque by contact and slides between teeth during transmission, the smaller surface roughness can reduce the wear between teeth, reduce the heat of the gear, improve the life of the gear transmission and the bearing capacity of the gear. In order to obtain high surface topography, gear grinding process is needed.
The manufacturing precision of gears also involves the accumulated error of gear pitch, the radial runout deviation of gear ring and the deviation of tooth orientation. These precision indexes are used to measure the deviation between the actual tooth profile and the ideal tooth profile. If the total deviation of the machined tooth profile is large, the force will be uneven, resulting in vibration and noise.
7. reasonable load sharing mechanism
In reality, the manufacturing error of gears always exists, and the load-sharing mechanism used in gear transmission device can automatically compensate various manufacturing and installation errors between gears and planetary frames, so as to achieve load balance. The planetary gear reducer usually adopts the floating load sharing mechanism with basic frame, which is divided into single component floating and two components floating simultaneously. A single component floats with a sun wheel, an internal gear and a planetary frame. The two components float with a sun wheel and an internal gear simultaneously, and the sun wheel and the planetary frame float. The floating effect of two components is better than that of a single component. | <urn:uuid:9c5028ae-8d3b-4764-b33e-f2b4e9582ab2> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | http://www.wonsmart.com.cn/several-measures-to-improve-the-performance-of-planetary-reducer.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320304572.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20220124155118-20220124185118-00099.warc.gz | en | 0.914733 | 883 | 2.703125 | 3 |
NASA Spins Manufacturing Technology to Forge New Tank Hardware
Five years ago a group of engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., had the bold idea to manufacture a five-meter diameter fuel tank entirely out of aluminum lithium 2195 alloy, using advanced manufacturing methods that included friction stir welded joints and single-piece spun formed domes.
Why is this idea such a manufacturing advancement in how tank domes are produced today? This technology incorporates lighter weight material, significantly reduces the number of pieces needed to create a tank dome, eliminates numerous complex welding, machining and inspection steps and can be used on any large liquid propellant tank with greater reliability and lower costs.
To manufacture a typical dome using aluminum alloy 2219 requires eight gore panels, or pie shaped pieces, 10 welding steps, and multiple operations and inspections to assemble these pieces into a full-scale tank dome. The new manufacturing method takes two commercial off-the-shelf aluminum lithium 2195 plates that are joined using friction stir welding to produce a sufficiently large starting blank. The welded plate blank is then spun formed to create the single-piece tank dome.
This novel manufacturing approach also allows engineers and technicians to use the lighter-weight, higher-strength alloy aluminum lithium 2195 compared to current tank designs that use the heavier, lower-strength aluminum 2219 alloy. This could reduce the weight of future liquid propellant tank domes by 25 percent, both through the material replacement and the reduction in the number of welds.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and Langley Research Center partnered with Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, Colo., and MT Aerospace in Augsburg, Germany, to push the envelope in dome manufacturing by making use of existing commercial materials and cutting edge technology. This international partnership demonstrates the agency's desire to tap into rich sources of innovation to help address technical challenges that will mutually benefit NASA and next-generation space exploration.
Engineers at Langley and Marshall are currently evaluating samples of the successfully manufactured tank dome to ensure the strength and reliability of these novel tank forming processes. Each step brings them closer to their vision of creating an entire tank out of 2195 aluminum lithium.
One additional full-scale development tank dome is scheduled for manufacture and testing in the coming months as part of the joint, four-year technology demonstration program.
NASA has invested in the Friction Stir Weld Spun Form Dome Project since 2005.
For more about NASA visit:
Kimberly Newton, 256-544-0371
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Ala. | <urn:uuid:f64cc042-157b-4e60-b020-d76e5f4e35db> | CC-MAIN-2016-40 | http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/news/releases/2010/10-019.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-40/segments/1474738662705.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20160924173742-00298-ip-10-143-35-109.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.892537 | 528 | 3.34375 | 3 |
Eastwick residents have long endured regular flooding. The Southwest Philadelphia neighborhood is home to the lowest point in the city. The community sits within the federally-designated floodplain. Historically, Eastwick was a vast marshland, and it’s almost completely surrounded by water: the Cobbs and Darby creeks to the west, Tinicum Marsh to the south, and the Mingo Creek and Schuylkill River to the east. In just the last twenty years, the Philadelphia Water Department estimates that about 130 Eastwick properties have flooded ten times or more.
But members of Eastwick United, a local registered community organization, do not believe the flooding problems are natural.
“We need to dispel that idea that this is a flooding area,” said Darien Thomas, a pastor and member of Eastwick United. The 30-year-old civic group represents about half of Eastwick’s residents.
For the past year, the city has been working with Eastwick residents on a plan to decide the future of 200 acres of publicly-owned land in the neighborhood. In January, Interface Studio was hired as a consultant to draft a feasibility study to find out what can — and should — be done with the land. The city tasked Interface with balancing residents’ desires and market realities, along with the environmental limitations of the waterlogged area.
During a heavy storm, rainwater pours into Cobbs and Darby creeks, which flow through Eastwick. There the rivers hit an elevated zone at the former Clearview Landfill, causing water to back up and then spill over the creek banks, flooding an area known as the “planet streets,” where the roads are named after celestial bodies. When the storms are even stronger, the Schuylkill River also pushes groundwater into the neighborhood, and a storm surge comes in from the tidal Delaware River. Experts call this Eastwick's “quadruple threat.”
But Thomas said that the city shouldn’t make decisions based on Eastwick’s frequent deluges, arguing that only parts of the neighborhood are naturally prone to flooding.
That disbelief in Eastwick’s propensity for inundation stems from when the neighborhood suffered its worst flooding with Hurricane Floyd in 1999. In one day, nearly seven inches of rain fell, a record amount that caused widespread flooding across Southeastern Pennsylvania. In Eastwick, water four feet deep covered the entire neighborhood.
But Hurricane Floyd, Thomas said, “was an unnatural flood.”
Many residents believe Eastwick flooded because water was intentionally released from the Springton Lake Dam, a 3.5 billion gallon reservoir that drains into the Crum Creek in Delaware County. They believe officials wanted to protect Media, a wealthier and whiter suburb.
“Everybody in here knows the flooding didn’t exist,” Eastwick United President Tyrone Beverly said during last month’s public planning meeting at Eastwick’s Penrose Elementary School. “They opened the floodgates and let that water run on top of you.”
Half of the packed gym cheered. The rest — planners, scientists, city officials and members of the neighborhood’s other civic group, Eastwick Friends and Neighbors, which is leading the planning process — rolled their eyes.
Leo Brundage’s Eastwick home has been flooded eight times since Hurricane Floyd. The block captain and retired ironworker lives in a house he bought in the 1980s on Saturn Place, just 150 feet away from both the Cobbs and Darby Creeks.
Brundage has become an expert in the dynamics of Eastwick flooding. He can accurately recount how Eastwick’s “quadruple threat” causes four to six feet of water to pool on his first floor.
But Hurricane Floyd, Brundage says, was different.
“We got flooded from Hurricane Floyd because of the dam, we all know that,” Brundage said. “If you ask anybody that’s been around here — that was here during Floyd, that came to our meetings — they will tell you.”
Brundage thinks the water was released to protect richer and whiter communities in Delaware County.
“[The Springton Reservoir Dam] was cracking, so they released a million gallons of water at high tide,” Brundage said. “And guess where the water came? This is Media,” he said, pointing up on an imaginary map. Brundage then pointed down. “This is Eastwick. It came down here.”
But official accounts contradict what Brundage, Beverly and Thomas believe.
“Springton Reservoir is really a conspiracy theory kind of thing,” said Chris Crockett, the chief environmental officer with Aqua America, which operates the dam. “There’s no science to back that statement up.”
When Hurricane Floyd hit on the night of September 16th, 1999, Aqua America, then known as Philadelphia Suburban Water Co., issued an alert saying there was a hole in the dam. According to newspaper accounts at the time, the statement led to fears that the dam could break, and forced the overnight evacuation of hundreds of residents along Crum Creek.
But the dam didn’t burst, and, a week later, the company’s president apologized for the false alarm. According to Aqua America, the dam, in fact, prevented more than a billion gallons of water from flowing down Crum Creek.
Springton Reservoir drains into Crum Creek, and the Crum drains into the Delaware River. Crockett, who, until last year, worked with the Philadelphia Water Department for 20 years and has a doctorate in Environmental Engineering from Drexel University, said the flooding during Floyd was caused by the Darby and Cobbs creeks, which are actually in a separate watershed.
“They’re like two different planets,” Crockett said.
Brundage and other neighbors know this. But they continue to believe that water was intentionally released on the night Floyd hit. Their explanation of how the water got into a different watershed, includes water flowing from the Crum Creek into the Delaware River, and then pushed upstream by the high tide into Darby Creek.
The tidal Delaware did back up a lot that night, Crockett said. But, he says it was caused by the hurricane itself, not an intentional release.
“When you look into the volume of water the Delaware River was moving during Hurricane Floyd, which was hundreds of thousands of cubic feet per second, and you look into the flow gauge of Crum Creek, it literally was a drop in the bucket,” Crockett said. “There was no way the Crum Creek contributed in any significant way to the tidal backup. It’s hydraulically and hydrologically not possible.”
Michael Nairn agreed. Nairn is an urban studies professor at the University of Pennsylvania and part of the team working on flood projections for the area.
“If the water was released during the storm surge and tides, it would have flooded the downstream areas of Crum Creek, not Darby Creek,” Nairn said in an email. “Additionally, Crum Creek empties into the Delaware closer to Chester. When you look at the map, it is some distance from the mouth of Darby Creek.”
Crockett added that Media is downstream of the dam, so if the water had been released, that community would have been impacted anyway.
But none of this changes Brundage’s mind. As part of the planning process, environmental engineers have tried explaining to the community several times why their houses flood. But even though he understands their explanations, he doesn’t believe them when it comes to Floyd.
“Listen, they can’t tell me,” Brundage said. “They can give you an academic view — yeah fine, probably the best around — but I’m giving you a true fact. I know exactly what happened.”
Whether the Eastwick flooding was an intentional act or simply a natural tragedy, the fact is, Brundage and his neighbors have reasons not to trust city officials. Brundage's three-story row home overlooks a beautiful park. Or so you’d think until you get close enough to read the warning signs posted by the Environmental Protection Agency.
“No one knew that this was a toxic landfill until we did research,” Brundage said, looking into bins of documents and newspaper clips he keeps in a closet.
The park, on the Lower Darby Creek Area Superfund site, is a former municipal landfill that operated until the 1970s. In 2006, Brundage got cancer, and so did some of his neighbors. They blamed the former dump, and pushed the EPA to take action. It wasn’t until 2011 that the EPA said the Clearview Landfill’s groundwater and soils presented unacceptable risks to human health. Those toxins flow into residents’ homes every time it floods. Brundage now sits on the Eastwick Lower Darby Creek Area Community Advisory Group, working with the EPA to clean up the site.
That bureaucratic debacle isn’t the first time government has let down the residents of Eastwick.
Like many others in Eastwick, Brundage grew up in the neighborhood. But in 1958, when he was 14 years old, the city forced his family out of the home they owned. Brundage said his family had to hire a lawyer just to get a reasonable amount of money back from the city. They were caught up in an urban renewal project that displaced more than 8,000 residents but was never completed.
“So, how many other black families were in the same situation?” Brundage asks, his voice breaking. “They just took the land.”
Eastwick residents resent seeing all of the community’s schools closed, saying city officials destroyed what was a perfectly integrated neighborhood with churches, theaters, businesses, and everything they needed.
“What I’m seeing now, is no more than what they did back in the 50's, forcing you [out], taking land,” Brundage said.
At the last public meeting, Interface Studio’s Scott Page said some areas in Eastwick could be developed but others would have to be used to mitigate flooding. Eastwick United members insist officials are using the flooding argument to deny them the kind of development the community wants — schools, parks, playgrounds, community centers, businesses — all so the city can give the land to someone with bigger pockets.
“The lie that we live in a flooded area has kept people back from developing in our community, thinking we can’t develop in that area because it’s a swamp,” said Thomas. “Well, they didn’t say that to the developers who came here years ago and wiped everybody out. And they built."
“[This] community can’t be rebuilt if the lie is out there,” Thomas said.
Greg Heller, Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority’s executive director, said he understands the distrust.
“We’re talking about decades of history, you’re not going to change it overnight,” he said.
But the city is going to stick with what the feasibility and planning study recommends, Heller said. That may mean no municipal facilities in the flood-prone areas or setting aside undeveloped land to absorb stormwater instead of allowing development. He added that in the last public meeting the consultants showed photos of flooding in Eastwick going back to the 1930s.
“Certainly, the flooding conditions in Eastwick are not a new phenomenon,” Heller said.
Heller said overcoming the neighborhood's deep distrust will be hard, but he’s committed to “doing the responsible thing” and thinks the process has already been a big step forward in terms of starting to remedy the past urban renewal failures and build trust in the community.
The city, Eastwick Friends and Neighbors, and Eastwick United only have a couple of months left to make compromises and come to an agreement about Eastwick’s future. If the Eastwick United members cannot let go of their strongly-held skepticism over municipal planning processes, then their doubts may end up backfire. The planners may move on without their buy-in or their input, which could further entrench the feelings of distrust and resentment. Judging from the last meeting — where residents disagreed fiercely with one another — there’s still a long way to go.
Mayor Jim Kenney visited Eastwick last month, promising neighbors he would stand for them. That may have helped ease the cynicism in Eastwick. Even Brundage softened his tone.
“Kenney seems to be concerned and assured us that we can count on him. So, only time will tell,” Brundage said. “There’s at least a little hope.”
The next public meeting for the planning process will happen early next year.
Dear reader, your support is essential for PlanPhilly’s independent, watchdog coverage. Please help us continue providing the local public interest news that you value in 2018 by making a tax-deductible donation during our once-a-year membership drive. Thank you for eleven great years of coverage on the built environment and counting! | <urn:uuid:77149085-6322-444f-8c2b-22f207ca59e2> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | http://planphilly.com/articles/2017/11/28/in-eastwick-belief-that-flooding-during-hurricane-floyd-was-intentional-still-muddies-the-water | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267160754.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20180924205029-20180924225429-00337.warc.gz | en | 0.960458 | 2,836 | 2.875 | 3 |
A hormone produced in the human placenta that maintains the corpus luteum during pregnancy.
- Rarely does this sickness cause problems for mother or baby, and most often it resolves itself around the 12 th week of pregnancy, when levels of the pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin plateau.
- The diagnosis of pregnancy is mainly determined by testing for the pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin.
- This blood test measures the level of the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin, which is produced by the placenta.
For editors and proofreaders
Syllabification: hu·man cho·ri·on·ic go·nad·o·tro·pin
Definition of human chorionic gonadotropin in:
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:a833aad9-312e-46bc-95b5-c63d283516a4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/human-chorionic-gonadotropin | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396875.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00164-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.878796 | 192 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Bootstrap Grid Examples & Snippets
What is a bootstrap grid system?
Grid systems are a very common feature in web design nowadays. In fact, almost every modern web page you visit, regardless of its content, appears to be perfectly organized and aligned. This is because the pages are developed based on a grid system – a framework comprising multiple grid lines, poles, and rows. The components of a website are aligned to these grid lines systematically so that the webpage appears neat and pleasing to the eye.
Technically, there are many ways to implement a grid system. However, the most popular and widely used among them is the Bootstrap grid system developed by Twitter. If you are familiar with the Bootstrap CSS framework, you will recognize the Bootstrap grid system. In fact, it is a part of the Bootstrap framework.
Why to use the bootstrap Grid system?
Although you can develop a grid system of your own based on the framework you are using, using a pre-built grid system will save you the trouble. Not only that, but also most well-recognized grid systems, like the Bootstrap grid system, are well tested and proven to be stable and performance-oriented. Additionally, since it is one of the most widely used grid systems, you will find many tutorials, examples, and tools related to it. The following are some benefits of using the Bootstrap grid system:
- You can use predefined sizes for the rows and columns or you can create your own custom sizes.
- It is easy to customize the number, size, and width of each element within the grid.
- It allows you to easily change the order of the elements, remove elements altogether and add new ones.
- The default settings of the Bootstrap grid system provide a nice starting point for your projects.
- It is a fully responsive grid system which will work well on any device.
- You can achieve a consistent look across all your projects by using the same grid system and stylesheet.
In this post we have put together some great examples for bootstrap grid .You can use these bootstrap grid examples and snippets to help you create your own website or to help you understand how to use the grid system. | <urn:uuid:66e78d04-54e4-424b-87aa-3df0ff589520> | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | https://cssauthor.com/bootstrap-grid-examples/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224648858.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20230602204755-20230602234755-00092.warc.gz | en | 0.925801 | 456 | 2.65625 | 3 |
The families of flowering plants
Habit and leaf form. Marine herbs. Perennial; rhizomatous. Hydrophytic; marine; rooted. Leaves submerged. Leaves medium-sized; alternate; distichous; flat, or terete; quite leathery (in some species), or herbaceous, or membranous; sessile; sheathing. Leaf sheaths not tubular; flattened, with free margins (the thin lateral margins narrowly infolded, to form flaps which overlap towards the sheath bases, with auricles adjacent to the ligule). Leaves simple. Lamina entire; linear; parallel-veined; cross-venulate (not reticulate in the conventional sense, but numerous transverse veins very conspicuous in at least some species), or without cross-venules (?); auriculate at the base. Leaves ligulate. Axillary scales present. Lamina margins entire, or serrate.
Leaf anatomy. Stomata absent. Hairs absent. The mesophyll without crystals. Foliar vessels absent.
Axial (stem, wood) anatomy. Young stems flattened. Secondary thickening absent. The axial xylem without vessels.
Root anatomy. Root xylem without vessels.
Reproductive type, pollination. Fertile flowers hermaphrodite. Plants hermaphrodite. Pollination by water.
Inflorescence, floral, fruit and seed morphology. Flowers aggregated in inflorescences. The ultimate inflorescence units cymose, or racemose (hard to determine). Inflorescences scapiflorous; clusters of spikelike inflorescences, each with three to five flowers, each spike terminated by a flower. Flowers minute.
Androecium 3. Androecial members all equal; free of one another; 1 whorled. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 3; with sessile anthers (the two thecae borne dorsally near the midvein at the base of a broad, shieldlike connective). Anthers dehiscing via longitudinal slits; extrorse; bilocular; tetrasporangiate (the thecae widely separated); appendaged (in that the connective has an apically prolonged midrib). Pollen shed as single grains. Pollen grains lacking exine, and dispersed in the sea as long filaments. Pollen grains nonaperturate.
Gynoecium seemingly 1 carpelled. Carpels reduced in number relative to the perianth. The pistil 1 celled. Gynoecium monomerous; of one carpel; superior. Carpel non-stylate (irregularly many-lobed at the tip); apically stigmatic; 1 ovuled. Placentation apical to marginal (the ovules attached laterally but towards the apex). Ovary sessile. Ovules pendulous; non-arillate; orthotropous (?).
Fruit somewhat fleshy (the pericarp spongy). The fruiting carpel tardily dehiscent (after commencement of germination, subsequent to elongation of the plumule into the fruit apex, and emergence of the root system: the fruit eventually opening longitudinally along the placenta, and sometimes with several additional, shorter splits from the base). Dispersal unit in material seen, variously the seed (or the seedling), or the fruit, or the inflorescence (or fragments of the latter). Dispersal in sea water. Fruit 1 seeded. Seeds generally stated to be non-endospermic (but ostensibly endospermic, with abundant food reserves in the much enlarged hypocotyl: see Belzuncea et al., 2005); small to medium sized (12–18 mm in P. angustifolia). Cotyledons 1. Embryo straight. Testa without phytomelan.
Seedling. Hypocotyl internode present (becoming very swollen, to occupy much of the seed). Seedling macropodous (food reserves mainly in the hypocotyl).
Physiology, phytochemistry. Alkaloids absent. Saponins/sapogenins absent. Proanthocyanidins present.
Geography, cytology. Temperate (warm), sub-tropical. Coastal Mediterranean and southern Australia.
Taxonomy. Subclass Monocotyledonae. Dahlgren et al. Superorder Alismatiflorae; Zosterales. APG 3 core angiosperms; Superorder Lilianae; non-commelinid Monocot; Order Alismatales.
Species 3. Genera 1; only genus, Posidonia.
General remarks. This description assumes that the large food storage component occupying most of the seed (see photos) is hypocotylar rather than endospermic, cf. Belzuncea et al. 2005.
Illustrations. • Posidonia oceanica: Nat. Pflanzenfam. II (1889). • Posidonia sp.: tidal deposits of fruits and vegetative material. • Posidonia sp.: tidal deposits of inflorescence and leaf material. • Posidonia sp.: opened fruits, showing seeds germinating prior to dehiscence.
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, distributions of character states within any set of taxa, geographical distribution, genera included in each family, and classifications (Dahlgren; Dahlgren, Clifford, and Yeo; Cronquist; APG). See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 1992 onwards. The families of flowering plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 19th October 2016. delta-intkey.com’. | <urn:uuid:e4850bc3-2720-4fa8-b2bc-4d6ac334a226> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://delta-intkey.com/angio/www/Posidoni.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560284429.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095124-00001-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.828281 | 1,307 | 3.359375 | 3 |
The distribution form of animal populations of individuals in the community, called distribution pattern. The relationship between population and ecological factors can be reflected, also can reflect the relationship between species.
General can be divided into the rules of distribution, concentration distribution and random distribution type. Each individual in the population if their independent survival without contact with other individuals, namely random distribution, this distribution is consistent in the environmental conditions, and there is no cluster under the conditions of existence; but few of the population is randomly distributed in the forest on the ground; some invertebrate animal, especially spiders that showed random distribution; living in central Newfoundland moose, also in winter groups randomly distributed, but in their cluster, it is no longer a random distribution. Concentration distribution is irregular, probably into homogeneous groups in changing the regular distribution or random distribution. When the animal can occupy space than it needs, their distribution is less obstacles, usually with regular distribution; distribution rule is the existence of internal struggle between populations, each individual competition, the existence of self survival and maintain a small circle, small circle between not near distance, so it is also uniform. Regularity. | <urn:uuid:9b8a3485-1f5d-4382-a568-e79f1d9a2e9f> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://et97.com/view/1525635.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281746.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00222-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931572 | 230 | 3.53125 | 4 |
Information and technology literacy model plus curriculum for K-12 through higher ed. Can be used as a problem solving model too. Includes 6 stages: task definition, information seeking strategies, location & access, use of information, synthesis, and evaluation.
Jeff Jarvis asks what the disaggregated university would look like, with students and professors both picking and choosing the best of what they wanted.
Start here: Why should my son or daughter have to pick a single college and with it only the teachers and courses offered there?…
Similarly, why should a professor pick just from the students accepted at his or her school? Online, the best can pick from the best, cutting out the middleman of university admissions….
Once you put all this together, students can self-organize with teachers and fellow students to learn what they want how and where they want. My hope is that this could finally lead to the lifelong education we keep nattering about but do little to actually support. And why don’t we? Because it doesn’t fit into the degree structure. And because self-organizing classes and education could cut academic institutions out of the their exclusive role in education. | <urn:uuid:5f1d56c5-9c7d-4536-8566-71a5a44cf4e2> | CC-MAIN-2015-22 | https://christytucker.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/daily-bookmarks-02282008/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-22/segments/1432207927863.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20150521113207-00055-ip-10-180-206-219.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961922 | 240 | 2.90625 | 3 |
THE Russian Navy is staging a spectacular comeback, following a long period of severe neglect.
The State Armament Programme (SAP) for 2011-2020 includes up to 100 new ships by 2020, submarines as well as other surface vessels. And the first half of 2013 has seen a flurry of unprecedented activity:
• In January 2013, Russia staged a major exercise in the Mediterranean and Black Sea
• In March, President Vladimir Putin ordered a large-scale surprise exercise in the Black Sea, involving dozens of ships and an estimated 7,000 troops from different services
• In early June, Russia said that from 2014 it will to expand its strategic nuclear submarine patrol area to include both the northern and the southern hemispheres
• And in early July, Russia and China staged their largest joint naval drills in the Sea of Japan.
The transformation is striking. During the decade after the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Russia’s main naval bases were transformed literally into scrapyards.
The message was driven home in August 2000 with the accidental sinking of the submarine Kursk. To newly-elected President Putin, it was an ordeal.
Initial navy denials of the event and Russia’s refusal to accept help from Norway and Great Britain caused the rescue to be bungled and all 118 crew members perished. Mr Putin was blamed for lack of empathy and for ineffectual leadership.
The disaster caused severe dislocation of plans for naval renewal. But that is now long forgotten.
During a meeting in July 2012, convened to discuss the SAP, Mr Putin emphasised the importance of naval shipbuilding. The audience was pleased to hear that although fiscal problems had forced the government to reduce spending on state defence contracts in 2013-2015, the navy would be protected.
The SAP includes building eight Borei-class nuclear powered missile submarines, eight Yasen-class nuclear powered multipurpose attack submarines and eight diesel-electric submarines. In addition, 51 modern surface warships will be built.
The showcase project is the Borei-class missile boat, designed to carry 16 sea-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). The lead boat – the Yury Dolgoruky – was laid down in 1996, launched in 2008 and formally introduced into the navy in January 2013, following extended sea trials.
All told, it appears that the Russian navy is well on track to recapture its past glory. But there are important snags.
The Borei-class boats are designed to carry the Bulava SLBM, held by some as the only truly modern component of the ongoing modernisation of the military as a whole.
The Bulava is designed to carry 10 manoeuvrable and independently targeted (MIRVed) nuclear warheads. But its track record has been troubled.
The Borei was originally intended to carry the Bark SLBM, which ran into technical trouble and had to be abandoned. As the replacement is much smaller, the boat had to be re-designed.
By 2009, when the Yury Dolgoruky began sea trials, there had been six failures in 13 flight tests and one failure during a ground test.
The first launch of a Bulava from its intended platform took place on the Yury Dolgoruky on June 28, 2011, and was declared a success. Following two further successful launches on December 23, then President Dmitry Medvedev announced that the Bulava would be adopted for service.
The wisdom of this decision has been questioned. Only one of the Bulava’s first 12 test launches was entirely successful, according to Russian military expert Pavel Felgenhauer.
And Russian military analyst Viktor Baranets said commissioning the SLBM was ‘reckless’ and ‘dangerous’ because the missile remains underdeveloped.
‘In its current form the missile could be even more dangerous for the (Russian) navy than for an enemy navy.’
For all its apparent technological sophistication, the Russian navy still has some way to go before it has completely shed its legacy of the Kursk disaster. | <urn:uuid:be653b71-350d-4bce-84e7-660e7aca07ab> | CC-MAIN-2019-22 | https://worldreview.info/content/kursk-disaster-still-haunts-russias-naval-renewal | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-22/segments/1558232255943.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20190520101929-20190520123929-00457.warc.gz | en | 0.970714 | 833 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Gisbert, T. and Bullen, M. (2015) Teaching and Learning in Digital Worlds: Strategies and Issues in Higher Education Tarragona Spain: Publicacions Universitat Rovira i Virgili (pdf version available online for 2.84 Euros).
What the book is about
From the Introduction
[The book] examines the teaching and learning process in 3D virtual learning environments from both the theoretical and practical points of view. It is divided into four sections:
- the first section discusses education in the 21st century from the perspective of learners in a digital society and examines the basic competences students need to respond to the personal and professional challenges they are likely to face. It also explores the issue of quality…..
- the second section focuses on the educational and teaching strategies higher education professionals must take into account when developing educational processes in technology environments…in such environments simulation will be our best teaching strategy and evaluation our greatest challenge.
- the third section explores the use of 3D virtual environments in education in general and in higher education in particular….
- The fourth section examines the range of experiences we consider to be good practice when applying 3D technological environments to the teaching of competences at secondary and tertiary levels of education both nationally and internationally.
However, this doesn’t quite capture for me what the book is really about, so I will discuss a little more closely below some of the themes addressed by individual chapters.
As a point of clarification, I will use the term ‘immersive environments’ as a shorthand to describe simulations, games and virtual reality, a point I will come back to in my comments at the end of this post.
Who wrote it
The book is edited by Mercè Gisbert of the Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Catalonia, Spain, and Canadian Mark Bullen, formerly of the University of British Columbia and the Commonwealth of Learning. However, the majority of chapters are based on a study (Simul@) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and coordinated by Universitat Rovira i Virgili, but involving universities in Spain, Germany, and Portugal, thus providing a valuable insight into the thinking about immersive environments for education in Europe.
Full disclosure: I wrote a short prologue for the book.
Themes covered in the book
Rather than a chapter-by-chapter summary, I have selected certain themes that re-occur through the book.
1. Digital learners
There is a lot of discussion in the book about the nature of digital learners and their ‘readiness’ for learning through digital technologies. In particular, Bullen and Morgan summarise the conflicting views and the research around digital natives and digital immigrants, and provide a more ‘nuanced’ profile of categories of digital learners. Martinez and Espinal in their chapter provide a detailed description of digital competence and how to assess it. Throughout the book there is emphasis on the need to ensure that learners have the necessary ‘digital competences’ to benefit fully from the use of immersive technologies for learning purposes (although the same applies to teachers, of course). For instance, de Oliveira et al., in their chapter, identify various components of digital competences.
One of the strengths of the book is that several authors make the point that the main educational value of immersive learning environments is for the development of ‘general competences’ such as learning to learn, teamwork, communication, problem solving and decision-making. Astigarraga provides a very good overview of the definition, identification and evaluation of competences, and Isus et al. develop this further with a chapter on evaluating the competences of teamwork and self-management. Larraz and Esteve devote their whole chapter to evaluating digital competence in immersive environments. These chapters will be valuable for anyone interested in competency-based learning, whether or not using immersive learning environments.
3. Key educational principles and affordances of immersive technologies
Another strength of the book is that several authors related the features of immersive environments to possible educational affordances, and the educational principles needed to exploit such affordances. Camacho and Esteve-Gonzáles have a list of 14 educational reasons for using immersive environments for learning and Cervera and Cela-Ranilla have collated from the general research literature about 15 key pedagogical principles ‘to be observed during learning processes’ when using immersive technologies for learning purposes.
4. Planning and implementing virtual learning environments
Towards the end of the book there are several chapters focusing on more practical issues. Marqués et al. describe the planning and implementation of a virtual world built in Sloodle, which combines OpenSim with Moodle, for educating both physical education and business management students. Estevez-González et al. take this further with a chapter on the tools used in Sloodle and the necessary steps needed to integrate OpenSim and Moodle. Lastly, Cela-Ranilla and Estevez-Gonzàlez provide an educational rationale for the design of the project. Garcia and Martin set out a design methodology for an immersive learning environment.
5. Experiences and good practices
The book ends with five chapters that describe actual applications of immersive learning environments, including PolyU developed at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (hotel and tourism management), a review of applications in economics and business courses, the use of an educational platform Virt-UAM developed at Universidad Autònoma de Madrid, and applications in law and psychology, and lastly a review of applications in secondary/high school education.
First, this is a very welcome and timely publication for several reasons:
- it sets out very clearly the pedagogical rationale for the use of immersive learning environments;
- it links immersive technologies very strongly to the development of competences;
- it provides practical advice on the planning and implementation of immersive learning environments;
- it provides a welcome European perspective on the topic.
From a personal perspective, it complements very nicely my own open, online textbook, Teaching in a Digital Age, where, because of space and time issues, I was unable to give this topic the treatment it deserves. Although not an open textbook, it is very accessible, available online for less than three euros ($3-4).
Given the book is mostly written by people for whom English is a second language, the chapters are clearly and well written, mostly free of the European English associated with European Commission projects.
Nevertheless, the European Commission has adopted the term competence rather than competency, which really irritates me, and this term is used throughout the book, when what the authors are really talking about are skills. Competent is an adjective meaning a minimal capacity to do something; incompetent is more frequently used in English English, and it is used to describe inadequacy. What we are really talking about here are skills, not competence. Skills have no limit, while competence tends to be categorical: you either have it or you don’t, which is why competency-based learning often requires 100% pass-rates. But skills such as problem-solving can get better and better, and that’s what we should be striving for in higher education, not a minimal pass requirement.
The editors have done a good job in ensuring that there is a coherence and progression between the different chapters, always a challenge in a multiple-authored book. However, I would have liked a summary chapter from the editors that pulled all the threads together, and also some more information about the authors.
The books strength and its weakness is the academic nature of the book, with more focus on theory, competences and affordances, and less on the actual technology design issues, although to be fair these start to appear at the back of the book. I would have liked to have seen more integration in the writing throughout the book between theory and practice.
The main omission is any discussion of costs in planning and developing immersive learning environments, which are time demanding of both learners and teachers. There are clear economies of scale that need to be employed to justify the high cost of initial design. If a virtual world and allied teaching strategies can be shared across several courses or even disciplines, the cost becomes more acceptable. There is also a high cost for students in terms of the time needed to master the technology and its educational applications if they only get one course in a virtual world. So it is a pity that there was so little discussion of costs and time in the book, and about the transfer of innovation into mainstream practice, which are significant challenges for the wider adoption of immersive technologies in education.
Nevertheless, this is a book I would highly recommend to all concerned about the implications of technology for learning design. Virtual learning environments hold great promise. We need more concerted efforts in higher education to use immersive learning environments, and this book is an essential guide. | <urn:uuid:d461cffd-a29c-4b1f-8f5a-449eeb1a830a> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.tonybates.ca/tag/b/page/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279489.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00043-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940154 | 1,833 | 2.609375 | 3 |
The personality of the name ‘Dixie’ can be described as both vibrant and independent. Those with this name tend to be full of life, always looking for new ways to express themselves and explore the world around them. They often have an adventurous spirit, never shying away from a challenge or new experience. Dixies are usually strong-willed and determined, setting goals for themselves and working hard to achieve them. They are passionate about the things that matter to them, and have the drive to make their dreams a reality. They are often creative thinkers and have a natural talent for problem-solving. Dixies are also known for their loyalty and dependability. They are faithful to those they love, and will always be there to lend a helping hand. Their loyalty extends beyond family and friends, and they are often willing to stand up for what they believe in. Despite their independent nature, Dixies are also very social people. They love making connections with others and are often the life of the party. They are natural charmers, and can often be found entertaining and engaging those around them. Dixies tend to be very open-minded, and are often eager to learn new things. They are natural explorers, and are always looking to expand their knowledge and understanding of the world. They are also great listeners, lending an ear to those in need of advice or comfort. Overall, the personality of the name ‘Dixie’ is full of life and energy. Those with this name are independent and determined, yet also loyal and dependable. They are often creative thinkers and problem-solvers, and have a natural talent for making connections with others. Dixies are open-minded and eager to learn, and are always looking for new ways to express themselves and explore the world around them.
The name Dixie is derived from the word 'dix', which is the French term for ten, and is often associated with the American South. The origin of the name is uncertain, but it is believed to have originated in the early 19th century, during the time of the American Civil War.<br /><br />The origin of the name is often attributed to the Mason-Dixon line, which was the boundary line between the Northern and Southern states of the United States. The line was drawn in 1763 and was used to divide the slave states from the non-slave states. The term 'Dixie' was used to refer to the Southern states, and the name was eventually given to a popular song from the era, "Dixie's Land", which was written by Daniel Decatur Emmett in 1859. The song quickly became a popular anthem for the Confederate States and was often played during the Civil War. The term 'Dixie' was also used to refer to the Confederate currency, which was printed in denominations of "dix" or ten. The name Dixie has been used as a given name since the mid-19th century, and it is still a popular choice today. It is most often used as a nickname for the name Dorothy, but it can also be a stand-alone name. Dixie is a strong and independent name, and is often associated with the South. It is a name that is full of energy and is often seen as a symbol of pride. The name Dixie is a reminder of the South's strength and resilience, and it is a name that has stood the test of time. The name Dixie is a great choice for someone who wants a unique and powerful name. It is a name that is full of history and is sure to make a lasting impression.
The first name Dixie has been a popular choice for both boys and girls throughout the US and UK for generations. It has a long history of being associated with the American South, and its popularity has fluctuated over the years. The origin of the name Dixie is believed to have come from the French word “dix”, meaning “ten”, which was used to refer to the currency used in the former French colony of Louisiana. This was eventually shortened to "Dixie", and the term was used to refer to the region of the US located south of the Mason-Dixon Line. In the US, Dixie has been a popular name for both boys and girls since the early 1900s. It was particularly popular for girls in the 1960s and 1970s, reaching its peak in the US in the mid-1980s. Since then, its popularity has declined, but it remains in the top 500 most popular names for girls. In the UK, Dixie has been a popular name for girls since the 1980s, but has only recently become popular for boys. The name reached its peak in the UK in the early 2000s, and while it has since declined in popularity, it remains in the top 500 most popular names for both boys and girls. Overall, Dixie is a name with strong ties to the American South, and its popularity in both the US and UK has fluctuated over the years. It is a name that has been embraced by many, and its long history of being associated with the Southern US continues to make it a popular choice for both boys and girls. | <urn:uuid:57eb3195-0dce-499e-910e-40e6bcca7834> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | https://www.bidiboo.co.uk/name/d/dixie/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100499.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20231203094028-20231203124028-00477.warc.gz | en | 0.989856 | 1,068 | 2.875 | 3 |
Updated: April 20, 2021 8:27:34 am
Azhdarchid pterosaurs, the giant reptiles that flew in the skies nearly 65 million years ago, had necks longer than that of a giraffe (on average a giraffe’s neck is about 6 feet long). Now, researchers have reported a new finding about their long necks — that the thin neck vertebrae were supported by an intricate internal structure that is unlike anything seen before.
The results of their study were published in the journal iScience on Wednesday.
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What are pterosaurs?
Pterosaurs are reptiles that are close cousins of dinosaurs, the first animals after insects to evolve powered flight. Some pterosaurs were as large as an F-16 fighter jet, while others were as small as a paper airplane.
Pterosaurs went extinct about 65-66 million years ago (end of the Cretaceous period) and while they did not leave any of their descendants behind, scientists and researchers look for other ways to understand them – through their fossils, which, according to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), are not as abundant as their dinosaur cousins. One reason for this is that few pterosaurs lived in places where fossils tend to form, because of which their bones are preserved poorly.
Azhdarchid pterosaurs are one type of pterosaur and one of the distinguishing characteristics about them is how big they were, especially their long necks. Some of these pterosaurs were the largest animals to have flown in the sky, with wingspans greater than 30 feet, which is equivalent to the length of the digestive system in an adult human being, half the length of a cricket pitch or the lengths of two Volkswagen Beetles.
The name azhdarchid, as per a blog on the Scientific American comes from Azhdarcho, a Central Asian form named by Russian ornithologist and paleontologist Lev Nesov in 1984 for the Uzbek word azhdarkho, which means dragon.
What have the researchers found?
Researchers involved in this study were curious about how the reptile’s long neck functioned and how it was able to support the pterosaur’s body, allowing them to capture and eat heavy prey animals. Essentially, they were looking for an explanation that could help them understand how the pterosaur’s long necks didn’t snap when they carried large prey from one place to another.
The specimen for this study was obtained from the south east of Morocco and is accessioned in the collection of the Faculté des Sciences Aïn Chock, Université Hassan II, Casablanca, Morocco. While pterosaur bones are thin and fragile, in this particular specimen, some of its elements were in near perfect condition and researchers note that the preservation of the bone microstructure was also excellent.
When researchers used X-ray computed tomography and 3D modeling on this specimen, they found that the vertebrae was filled with radial, spoke-like trabeculae that crossed each other like the spokes of a bicycle, which explained how the neck was able to support itself and the weight of the pterosaurs’ heads.
“It appears that this structure of extremely thin cervical vertebrae and added helically arranged cross-struts resolved many concerns about the biomechanics of how these creatures were able to support massive heads — longer than 1.5 meters — on necks longer than the modern-day giraffe, all whilst retaining the ability of powered flight,” Dave Martill of the University of Portsmouth, UK who is one of the co-authors of the study was quoted as saying in a press release.
📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards. | <urn:uuid:c9ef96e6-331f-4175-8a54-42537a0f66a8> | CC-MAIN-2021-21 | https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-what-does-a-new-research-say-about-the-giraffe-like-long-necks-of-dinosaurs-cousins-7275282/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-21/segments/1620243988850.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20210508061546-20210508091546-00361.warc.gz | en | 0.973327 | 849 | 4 | 4 |
Vaccine Benefits, Vaccine Risks: 10 Basic Questions Answered
3. Some autism advocacy groups say vaccines -- especially those that contain the mercury-based compound thimerosal -- can cause autism and brain damage. They are sincerely worried. Why shouldn't I believe them?
"Autism is a serious and very challenging disease for families to cope with," says Schuchat. "Parents want explanations of how this happened to their child. lt is important for us to support research and programs that will help us better understand the factors that lead to autism and to find the best treatments. But a very large number of scientific studies have been carried out, and extensive scientific reviews, that have concluded there is no causal connection between vaccines or the preservative thimerosal and autism.
"There are hundreds of studies that have looked one way or another at these issues. Some are animal studies, some are toxicology studies, and some are human studies with a number of different designs. There have been efforts to review the evidence, the direct human evidence and the indirect animal evidence. Those reviews don't just look at the last sentence in the article but look at the study methods and ask if the methods and the results justify the conclusions. [The most recent] extensive review was carried out by the Institute of Medicine with a number of experts and concluded the information from all of these studies taken together did not support a causal association [between vaccines and autism].
"They concluded that other factors or explanations for autism should be sought. And more recently, people have thought that genetic and some environmental research may be more promising than continuing to pursue thimerosal."
(Do you think the MMR vaccine causes autism? WebMD's Rod Moser, PA, PhD, and Steven Parker, MD, both say "no." Find out why on their blogs. )
4. If only to err on the side of caution, why can't all vaccines be thimerosal-free?
"The vaccines that are given to children in the U.S. are nearly thimerosal free," says Schuchat. "All but the flu vaccines that are given to young children do not contain thimerosal. Some formulations of flu vaccine are thimerosal-free and some are not. So the pediatric vaccine supply is nearly thimerosal-free. Thimerosal is a preservative that keeps germs from overgrowing. So vials of vaccine that are multiple doses, 20 or 30 doses, have a preservative to keep them from bacterial contamination. It was put in there because people died from vaccines that were contaminated. | <urn:uuid:de6ca725-b00c-4148-b6dd-a194e5b57a9a> | CC-MAIN-2015-48 | http://www.webmd.com/children/vaccines/news/20080306/vaccine-faq?page=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-48/segments/1448398471441.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20151124205431-00036-ip-10-71-132-137.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969506 | 529 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Lab 5 – Activity 2 Worksheet – 9 pointsBIO 155, section # Name: Type your name hereImpacts of Ocean Warming and Acidification on Coral ReefsA Literature search and Popular Science Writing ActivityClasswork: instructions1.Over the next hour or so you will research and make notes to answer questions 2, 3, 4, and 5 in this worksheet. You may answer questions 1 and 6 at home.2.Use this worksheet to plan and organize your search, as well as to make notes and compile your research. There are boxes below to write down keywords, journal information, and research notes for each question.3.You will use Web of Science to research the questions, rememberto save relevant references to EndNote web during the search process.4.Follow the search criteria/stipulations for each question. For instance, some answers need to besupported by articles from high-impact journals. The list of high impact journals is provided below.5.Submit the completed worksheet to Canvas individually. Questions 2 through 5 are each worth 2.25 points [1.5 points for the answer/information, 0.5 for keywords, and 0.25 for including the reference(s)]. Worksheet total - 9 points.Homework: instructions1.Use the same technique you used in class to find information to answer questions 1 and 6. Citing sources is optional for these questions, but is recommended. The sources need not be peer-reviewed journals, but they must be credible, example: textbooks, government websites. 2.Next, verify if your research notes you have complied for each question: (1) answers the question adequately, and (2) fits the journal criteria. If not, research further to supplement your work. Note that your work will be checked for plagiarism when you submit your full paper. Hence, please ensure that you have paraphrased all the information in your own words. Copy-pasting sentences from publication into your report is considered plagiarism, even if youcited the original author(s) and placed the sentences between quotes.3.Find all the references you plan to cite in Web of Science so you can add them to your referencelist in EndNote web.4.Once you have compiled all of the responses into one worksheet, combine all the answers into paragraphs and integrate them to create a cogent paper. Include all in-text citations where necessary. 5.After finalizing all the references in EndNote web, export the reference list in Ecologyjournal format and place it at the end of your popular article. Be sure to make sure they match up with the in-text citations.
Lab 5 – Activity 2 Worksheet – 9 pointsList of high-impact Journal ScienceNatureTrends in Ecology and EvolutionProceedings of National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)Proceedings of the Royal Society - Biological Sciences (Proc B.)Biology LettersEcology Letters | <urn:uuid:c4f425d9-e992-44a8-a282-a0360466a0da> | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | https://www.coursehero.com/file/69200125/Lab5-Worksheetdocx/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618038916163.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20210419173508-20210419203508-00623.warc.gz | en | 0.877303 | 602 | 3.375 | 3 |
Factual Analysis: Get to Know the Facts!
Legal research starts with really knowing the facts!
A factual analysis isolates the relevant facts and helps to expose the legal question and issue(s). This skill takes practice!
The PEC (Parties, Events, Claims) method of factual analysis is a helpful starting point.
- Who are the people involved in the dispute?
- What are all the existing relationships between the parties?
- Are any of the parties in a contractual relationship?
- Are there family relationships?
- Does one party employ or supervise another?
- Does any party have a legal duty towards another party?
- Is any level of government involved?
- Is this a civil or criminal issue?
- What personal characteristics such as age, occupation, marital status, and employment status are known?
- What events gave rise to the dispute?
- To begin, ask yourself questions like:
- What happened?
- Where and when did each event occur?
- Who was present?
- Do the events follow a sequence?
- Organize the events in chronological order.
- Organize related events under separate headings.
- What are the different versions of the events?
- Parties will often give different accounts of what happened. Keep track of which facts are being reported by which parties.
- What is the legal history of this claim?
- Is this an appeal from a tribunal, arbitration, or lower court?
- What claims are the parties making?
- Are they seeking compensation for:
- Lost profits?
- Physical injury?
- Property damage?
- Are they seeking an injunction?
- Is a government agency seeking a fine or penalty?
- Are they seeking reinstatement?
- Is a jail sentence involved?
- How has each party characterized their claim?
- How will the claim likely be defended against?
These are only examples of the questions you should be asking yourself at the factual analysis stage. | <urn:uuid:00dfb36f-0543-4da5-a3f8-b515b78ca628> | CC-MAIN-2016-18 | http://web5.uottawa.ca/www2/rl-lr/eng/research-process/1_2-factual_analysis.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-18/segments/1461860116886.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160428161516-00126-ip-10-239-7-51.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926131 | 414 | 3.265625 | 3 |
As we enter the more treacherous months for New England weather, it is important to plan ahead for an emergency. While it is important to have an evacuation plan and an emergency preparedness kit, it is also essential to know how to shut off the utilities before a disaster. If these utilities are not shut off they may cause damage to your home and possibly endanger your family.
Water can become a critical resource during an emergency. If you have time to prepare before a major storm, be sure to store or stock up on as much water as possible. Fill containers from your tap if the water is safe for drinking, or go out to and buy some. Another good tip to conserve water for washing is to fill the bathtubs and sinks with water.
In an emergency situation, it is important to shut off the main water valve to your home. Burst pipes can cause extensive water damage, and cracked lines can make the water unsafe for drinking. The main shut-off should be located in the basement or attached to the outside exterior of your home. There are two type of valves, a gate valve or a ball valve. Both are easy to shut-off. A gate valve looks like a wheel and is more common in older homes. To close this, turn the wheel clockwise until it tightens (typically 6 turns). A ball valve is a simple lever, usually red. Turn this handle clockwise a quarter turn to close.
It is not usually necessary to shut-off your natural gas, even during a storm. This is because the pipes are buried deep in the ground and are not usually affected. According to FEMA, if your gas meter is inside your home you should only shut off gas flow when instructed by local authorities.
Make sure you contact your natural gas company in advance to learn about emergency shut-off procedures. Ask them for a diagram and post this next to the meter. Typically you will need an adjustable pipe or crescent wrench to turn off the gas, so make sure you have one on hand.
In the aftermath of a storm or earthquake, be aware and use your senses. A gas leak is extremely dangerous, and could cause an explosion. If you smell gas (similar to the smell of rotten eggs) or hear the sound of gas escaping (a high pitch whistle sound), evacuate your family immediately and leave the door open. Contact your local authorities, and do not go back inside of your home until a licensed professional has inspected your gas pipes.
The best way to detect a gas leak is to install professionally monitored gas detectors. These alarms will sound when as soon as a leak is detected, and your family will be able to escape as quickly as possible.
After a disaster a broken power wire may spark and catch fire, especially if there is also a gas leak. To prevent this it is important to shut off the electricity.
To shut off the electricity, locate the main electrical panel. Always shut off all of the individual circuit breakers BEFORE you flip the main circuit breakers at the top to “off”.
It is especially important to turn off the electricity if there is a potential your home will flood. In addition to turning off the circuit breaker, make sure you unplug all electronics from electrical outlets and try to store them in a place where they won’t be damaged. If flood waters rise above your outlets DO NOT plug anything in, even after the water has receded. Make sure a licensed electrician has inspected your home before restoring power. | <urn:uuid:b43ee0f0-7cad-47ad-a5a4-ce9a5e6c7645> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | http://www.americanalarm.com/blog/the-3-emergency-shut-off-switches-you-should-know-013527 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267157203.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20180921131727-20180921152127-00078.warc.gz | en | 0.953335 | 710 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Groups of albino guinea pigs were exposed to high concentrations of oxygen at several pressures and the eyes of the animals examined for histological changes both immediately and several months following the exposures. Normal animals as well as animals exposed to conditions of anoxia and hyperbaria were also examined. Ocular changes were observed only in the animals exposed to 100% oxygen at 3 and 5 atmospheres absolute. The primary alterations, which were found to be irreversible over the time of observation, included thinning of the corneal endothelium with darkening and condensation of the cytoplasm and pyknosis of the nuclei, and pyknosis and loss of nuclei from the epithelium of the lens.
Nichols CW, Yanoff M, Hall DA, Lambertsen CJ. Histologic Alterations Produced in the Eye by Oxygen at High Pressure. Arch Ophthalmol. 1972;87(4):417-421. doi:10.1001/archopht.1972.01000020419011 | <urn:uuid:ff113c2b-112d-46bd-b27d-a369b11365e3> | CC-MAIN-2017-30 | http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaophthalmology/article-abstract/630537 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-30/segments/1500549425737.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20170726002333-20170726022333-00006.warc.gz | en | 0.952525 | 214 | 2.53125 | 3 |
The little art class has about 20 children, ranging from 5 to 10 years old. Tiger attends the class too (hence we are taking a break from our Artist Study at home). We meet each week to learn about the elements of art in a structured way -- with a mix of theory, demonstrations, and practical activities.
Since the children have varied degrees of prior exposure to art, I decided to start the first session with them by leveling off everyone's expectations (of themselves and of what the class is about) by introducing what art is, how each artist is different, how there are many different ways to interpret and express art.... Essentially, what I hope to achieve with this class is:
- to introduce the children to the basic building blocks of visual art;
- to teach them basic techniques that they can apply for themselves at home;
- to help them express themselves; and
- to help them gain confidence in themselves through the process of making art.
The second half of the lesson was for the children to draw whatever they want using at least one of the elements.
This post is linked up to several blog hops, where you can see what other homeschoolers have been busy with. | <urn:uuid:9e004c62-de59-47d1-bc89-0652d8734155> | CC-MAIN-2017-30 | http://thetigerchronicle.blogspot.com/2012/06/art-class-elements.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-30/segments/1500549423809.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20170721202430-20170721222430-00176.warc.gz | en | 0.965712 | 245 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Professional drivers are facing a routine and serious health risk from diesel exhaust fume exposures at work. In what they described as “the largest real-world in-vehicle personal exposure study to date”, researchers from the MRC Centre for Environment and Health, Environmental Research Group and Imperial College London, found that professional drivers are regularly exposed to hazardous levels of diesel emissions as part of their work.
Other studies have linked diesel fume exposure at work to lung and blood cancer and heart, lung and other diseases). The new study funded by safety professionals’ organisation IOSH found that professional drivers are disproportionately affected by exposure to diesel exhaust fumes, including taxi drivers – the worst hit group – couriers, bus drivers and drivers working for the emergency services.
Dr Ian Mudway of Imperial College London, who led the DEMiSt research team, said: “We believe there are around a million people working in jobs like these in the UK alone, so this is a widespread and under-appreciated issue – indeed, it was very noticeable to us just how surprised drivers taking part in the study were at the levels of their exposure to diesel.”
In total, 11,500 hours of professional drivers’ exposure data were analysed in the baseline monitoring campaign. The results showed that, on average, professional drivers were exposed to 4.1 micrograms of black carbon per cubic metre of air (µg/m3) while driving, which was around four times higher than their exposure at home (1.1 µg/m3).
The levels recorded at home would be similar to levels experienced by office workers at their desks, the researchers said. The study found massive exposure spikes often occurred in congested traffic within Central London, in areas where vehicles congregate, such as in car parks or depots, as well as in tunnels and ‘street canyons’ (between high buildings). | <urn:uuid:cdab7855-88d1-4d57-9ed0-038b12e20110> | CC-MAIN-2021-49 | http://cancerhazards.org/?p=2361?shared=email&msg=fail | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-49/segments/1637964358786.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20211129164711-20211129194711-00540.warc.gz | en | 0.975663 | 392 | 2.84375 | 3 |
This is part sixteen in a series that will occupy the “money hacks” slot at Get Rich Slowly during April, which is National Financial Literacy Month.
During the first fifteen days of this video series, Michael Fischer explained the basics of saving and investing, introducing us to stocks, bonds, and compound returns. This week he pulls this information together to show how these concepts affect our investment decisions and our use of credit. He begins by looking at the impact of time:
The impact of time (7:15)
In this video, Michael uses several graphs to demonstrate how long-term investments in the stock market tend to minimize short term fluctuations. Because these exhibits are difficult to see in the presentation, I’ve scanned them from his book, Saving and Investing.
The market’s returns fluctuates wildly from one year to the next.
Even three-year periods show a huge range of returns, from -15% to +30%.
But move to five-year periods, and there are only a few minor dips into negative territory.
At ten years, there’s not a single period that yielded a negative return.
When we look at twenty-year investment periods, the numbers are strongly positive.
At thirty years, we see average annualized returns of 9-14%.
Now you know why it’s often claimed that the market offers a 12% average annualized return. Over the long-term, it certainly does. They key, though, is to minimize exposure to factors that would reduce this return. You can’t do anything about inflation, but you can take steps to reduce taxes and to avoid transaction fees.
Michael Fischer spent nine years at Goldman Sachs, advising some of the largest private banks, mutual fund companies and hedge funds in the world on investment choices. Look for more episodes of Saving and Investing at Get Rich Slowly every weekday during the month of April. For more information, visit Michael’s site, Saving and Investing, or purchase his book.
GRS is committed to helping our readers save and achieve their financial goals. Savings interest rates may be low, but that is all the more reason to shop for the best rate. Find the highest savings interest rates and CD rates from Synchrony Bank, Ally Bank, GE Capital Bank, and more. | <urn:uuid:b594a484-f092-4e26-888e-41e878299767> | CC-MAIN-2015-22 | http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/04/23/saving-and-investing-the-impact-of-time/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-22/segments/1432207928715.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20150521113208-00144-ip-10-180-206-219.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954976 | 480 | 2.703125 | 3 |
As a continuation of my previous host How does NSX virtual switch work I am now writing about how the routing works. I should thank Ron Flax and Elver Sena for walking through this process with me. Ron is learning about what I mean by knowledge transfer and being very patient with it. This post will detail how routing works in NSX. The more I learn about NSX the more it makes sense. It is really a great product. My post are 100% about VMware NSX not multi-hypervisor NSX.
How does routing work anyways
Must like my last post I think it’s important to understand how routing in a physical environment works. Simply put when you want to go from one subnet to another subnet (layer 2 segment) you have to use a router. The router receives a packet and has two choices (some routers have more but this is generic):
- I know that destination network lives down this path and send it
- I don’t know that destination network and forward it out my default gateway
IP packets continue to forward upward until a router knows how to deliver the IP packet. It all sounds pretty simple.
Standardized Exterior Gateway protocols
It would be simple if someone placed a IP subnet at a location and never changed it. We could all learn a static route to the location and never have it change. Think of the internet like a freeway. Every so often we need to do road construction this may cause your journey to take longer using an alternate route but you will still get there. I am afraid that the world of IT is constant change. So protocols were created to dynamically update router of these changes standardized exterior gateway protocols were born. (BGP, OSPF etc..) I will not go into these protocols because I have a limited understanding and because it’s not relevant for the topic today (It will be relevant later). It’s important to understand that routes can change and there is an orderly way of updating (think DNS for routing.. sorta).
A key component of routing is the internet protocol. This is a unique address that we all use every single day. There are public ip address and internal IP addresses. NSX can use either and has solutions for bridging both. This article will use two subnets 192.168.10.0/24 and 192.168.20.0/24. The /24 after the IP address denotes the size of the range in cidr notation. For this article it’s enough to denote that these ranges are on different layer 2 segments and normally cannot talk to each other without a router.
We are going to place these two networks on different VXLAN backed network interfaces (VNI’s) as shown below:
If you are struggling with the term VNI just replace with VLAN and it’s about the same thing. (Read more about the differences in my last post). In this diagram we see that each virtual machine is connected to its own layer 2 segment and will not be able to talk to each other or anything else. We could deploy another host into VNI 5000 with the address 192.168.10.11 and they would be able to talk using NSX switching but no crossing from VNI 5000 to VNI 5001 will be allowed. In a physical environment a router would be required to allow this communication, in NSX this is also true:
Both of the networks shown would set their default gateway to be the router. Notice the use of distributed router. In a physical environment this would be a single router or a cluster. NSX uses a distributed router. It’s capability scales up as you scale up your environment, each time you add a server you get more routing capacity.
Where does the distributed router live?
This was a challenge for me when I first started working with NSX, I thought everything was a virtual machine. The NSX vSwitch is really just a code extension of the dVS. This is also true of the router. the hypervisor kernel does the router with mininal physical overhead. This provides an optimal path for data, if the data is on the same machine communication never leaves the machine (much like switching in normal vss). The data plane for the router lives on the dVS. There are a number of components to consider:
- Distributed router – code that lives on each ESXi host as part of the dVS that handles routing.
- NSX Routing Control VM – this virtual machine that controls aspects of routing (such as BGP peering) it is in the control plane not data plane (in order words it is not required to do routing) (Design Tip: You can make it highly available by clicking the HA button at anytime, this will create another vm with a anti-affinity rule)
- NSX Control cluster – This is the control cluster mentioned in my last post. It syncs configuration between the management and control plane elements to the data plane.
How does NSX routing work?
Here is the really neat part. A routers job to deliver IP packets. It is not concerned if the packets should be delivered it just fings IP’s to their destination. So let’s go through a basic routing situation in NSX. Assume that Windows virtual machine wants to talk to Linux virtual machine.
The process is like this:
- The L3 Local router becomes aware of each virtual machine as it talks out and updates the control cluster with arp entry including VNI and ESXi Node
- The control cluster updates all members of the same transport zone so everyone knows the arp entries
- Windows virtual machine wants to visit the website on Linux so it arps
- ESXi1’s DLR (Distributed Logical Router) returns its own mac address
- Windows sends a packet to ESXi1’s LDR
- Local LDR knows that Linux is on VNI 5001 so it routes the packet to the local VNI 5001 on ESXi1
- Switch on ESXi1 knows that Linux lives on ESXi2 so it sends the packet to VTEP1
- VTEP1 sends the packet to VTEP2
- VTEP2 drops the packet into VNI 5001 and Linux gets the message
It really makes sense if you think about it. It works just like any router or switch you have mostly ever used. You just have to get used to the distributed nature. The greatest strength of NSX is the ability to handle everything locally. If Linux was on the same ESXi host then the packet would never leave ESXi1 to get to Linux.
What is the MAC address and IP address of the DLR?
Here is where the fun begins. It is the same on each host:
Yep it’s not a typo each router is seen as the default gateway for each VNI. Since the layer 2 networking is done over VXLAN (via VTEP) each local router can have the same IP address and mac address. The kernel code knows to route it locally and it all works. This does present one problem: External access.
In order for your network to be accessible via external networks the DLR has to present the default gateway outside, but if each instance has the same IP / Mac who responds to requests to route traffic? Once instance gets elected as the designated instance (DI) and answers all questions. If a message needs to be sent to another ESXi host than the one running the DI then it routes like above. It’s a simple but great process that works.
What if your designated instance becomes isolated? There is an internal heartbeat that if not responded to will cause a new DI election to happen. What about if networking fails on my ESXi host? Well then every other instance will continue to communicate with everyone else, packets destined for the failed host will fail.
Failure of the control cluster
What about if the control cluster fails? Well since all the routing is distributed and held locally everything will continue to operate. Any new elements in the virtual world may fail but everything else will be good. It’s a good idea to ensure that you have enough control clusters and redundancy as they are a critical component of the control plane.
© 2014, Joseph Griffiths. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:d6a6b924-01ad-45c5-bc85-103cc41c7dfd> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | http://blog.jgriffiths.org/?p=929 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886106990.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20170820204359-20170820224359-00136.warc.gz | en | 0.936821 | 1,718 | 3.09375 | 3 |
HAZOP (short for Hazard and Operability Study) is a well known hazard analysis tool used for process safety management and HSE risk assessment of plants and facilities. It is a highly structured and systematic method to identify all hazards in a process.
However, there are very few training courses out there that teach the HAZOP study technique thoroughly well, in a structured manner. Ditto for books-many of them are outdated and not as relevant as they once were. Hence Abhisam Software created this e-learning course, so that you need not refer to boring, outdated and irrelevant books to learn HAZOP. What you need is a practical, "why-we-do-it and how-to-do-it" training course and this is it!
Easy learning on HAZOP (Hazard and Operability Study) with Certificate of Competency
This is a Real E-learning program, with INTERACTIVE ANIMATIONS & SIMULATIONS that recreate plant situations, videos that explain concepts, real life examples and exercises, a full Case Study of a real process HAZOP, concepts such as CHAZOP, real life HAZOP Worksheets and much more. It is NOT just a video of a boring Professor speaking OR a simple powerpoint presentation. It is a full fledged computer program that will help you easily grasp concepts of HAZOP quickly and in an interesting manner.
This e-learning course covers HAZOP in detail, that will make you a pro in hazard and risk analysis, HSE risk assessment and related areas of process safety management. It is NOT merely somebody's outdated boring power point slide presentation or a text book in electronic format. It is a full fledged e-learning course with interactive animations & simulations, videos, worked examples, HAZOP worksheet templates and much more!
Forget attending classroom training with boring Powerpoint Slides, this e-learning course will have plenty of graphics and interactive animations that make learning so much more easier and fun!
Besides you can also get a Certificate of Competency in HAZOP if you take our online test after completing this course. There is no additional charge for this!
Please view the free demo by clicking the button on your right now.
Animations & Simulations
This e-learning software makes extensive use of Animations & Simulations to help you learn very easily. See below for a VERY SMALL sample of the kind of content that is inside the course. Note that these are low resolution screencaptures. The actual animations in the course look much better!
HAZOP is not only about technical aspects, but also about Management. Videos inside this XPRTU software enable you to learn about it. See such a sample video below. Note that these are low resolution screencaptures. The actual software has the complete video and looks better too!
Self Assessment Test
This e-learning software has a Self Assessment Test that enables you to know your own understanding of the subject and also to help you prepare for the Certification Exam. Note that Enterprise users also get opportunity to take additional mock exams before they take the Certification Exam. Below is just a Screenshot image. For live examples, please view the Demo here.
After studying many real life examples, the final module will have a Case Study. This will be a full fledged mock HAZOP of a Process Unit and includes realistic processes, P & IDs and filled-in worksheets. After this is over, there is also an Audit of the HAZOP so conducted, to make it more realistic. Before and After P & IDs are included.
The above are all part of the Online and Professional Download versions of the software. In addition, the Enterprise Version will also have Case Studies of other commonly used Process Units such as Distillation Columns, Overground Storage Tanks and so on. This gives an easy way to carry out your own HAZOP Studies in your own plant or facility. Below is an example of a P & ID which is part of the Distillation Column Case Study in the Enterprise version. | <urn:uuid:ae2a696c-96e6-472c-aed3-8ec721a25e26> | CC-MAIN-2018-34 | http://abhisam.com/hazop-training-course/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221215843.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20180820042723-20180820062723-00316.warc.gz | en | 0.936337 | 839 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Paper-based wireless sensor can detect explosive devices
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a prototype wireless sensor capable of detecting trace amounts of a key ingredient found in many explosives. The device employs carbon nanotubes printed on paper or paper-like material by using standard inkjet technology, and it could be deployed in large numbers to alert authorities to the presence of explosives.
A resonant lightweight antenna, which is uses as the wireless component for communicating the sensor information, was printed on photographic paper using inkjet techniques developed by Professor Manos Tentzeris of Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The same inkjet techniques used to produce RF components, circuits and antennas can also be used to deposit the functionalized carbon nanotubes used for sensing.
Aside using of heavy photographic paper or plastics to make these components more water resistant, the inkjet component printing can also use flexible organic materials. For example, liquid crystal polymer (LCP) can be used to increase robustness and weather resistance. The resulting components are similar in size to conventional components but can conform and adhere to nearly any surface.
The “ink” contains silver nanoparticles in an emulsion that can be deposited by the printer are used to print components, circuits and antennas at relatively low temperatures around 100°C (212°F). A process called sonication helps to achieve optimal ink viscosity and homogeneity, enabling uniform material deposition and permitting maximum operating effectiveness for paper-based components. The optimization and fabrication of the system, as well as the tests for detection sensitivity were conducted by Xiaojuan (Judy) Song, a Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) research scientist.
“The optimized carbon nanotubes are applied as a sensing film, with specific functionalization designed for a particular gas or analyte”, said Song. “The GTRI sensor detects trace amounts of ammonia usually found near explosive devices, and it can also be designed to detect similar gases in household, healthcare and industrial environments at very low concentration levels.”
These nanoscale cylindrical structures, with a diameter as small as the 1/50,000th width of a human hair in diameter, are coated with a conductive polymer that attracts ammonia. According to researchers, the sensor has been designed to detect ammonia in trace amounts which are as low as five parts per million. Such sensitivity combined with RF technology, enable standoff detection – identification of explosive materials at a relatively safe distance.
The wireless sensor nodes require relatively low power, which could come from a number of technologies including thin-film batteries, solar cells or some other sort of energy-harvesting techniques. GTRI researchers are also investigating ways to make the sensor operate passively, without any power consumption.
“We are focusing on providing standoff detection for those engaged in military or humanitarian missions and other hazardous situations”, said Krishna Naishadham, a principal research scientist who is leading the work at the GTRI. “We believe that it will be possible, and cost-effective, to deploy large numbers of these detectors on vehicles or robots throughout a military engagement zone.”
Leave your response! | <urn:uuid:ce628b26-b523-4785-89a1-6575ed8ff46b> | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | https://www.robaid.com/tech/paper-based-wireless-sensor-can-detect-explosive-devices.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224652235.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20230606045924-20230606075924-00789.warc.gz | en | 0.926139 | 653 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Key: "S:" = Show Synset (semantic) relations, "W:" = Show Word (lexical) relations
Display options for sense: (gloss) "an example sentence"
- S: (n) grain (a relatively small granular particle of a substance) "a grain of sand"; "a grain of sugar"
- S: (n) grain, food grain, cereal (foodstuff prepared from the starchy grains of cereal grasses)
- S: (n) grain (the side of leather from which the hair has been removed)
- S: (n) grain, metric grain (a weight unit used for pearls or diamonds: 50 mg or 1/4 carat)
- S: (n) grain (1/60 dram; equals an avoirdupois grain or 64.799 milligrams)
- S: (n) grain (1/7000 pound; equals a troy grain or 64.799 milligrams)
- S: (n) grain, caryopsis (dry seed-like fruit produced by the cereal grasses: e.g. wheat, barley, Indian corn)
- S: (n) grain (a cereal grass) "wheat is a grain that is grown in Kansas"
- S: (n) grain (the smallest possible unit of anything) "there was a grain of truth in what he said"; "he does not have a grain of sense"
- S: (n) grain (the direction, texture, or pattern of fibers found in wood or leather or stone or in a woven fabric) "saw the board across the grain"
- S: (n) texture, grain (the physical composition of something (especially with respect to the size and shape of the small constituents of a substance)) "breadfruit has the same texture as bread"; "sand of a fine grain"; "fish with a delicate flavor and texture"; "a stone of coarse grain"
- S: (v) ingrain, grain (thoroughly work in) "His hands were grained with dirt"
- S: (v) grain (paint (a surface) to make it look like stone or wood)
- S: (v) granulate, grain (form into grains)
- S: (v) granulate, grain (become granular) | <urn:uuid:e83c64fb-462a-4261-a8ac-4d5a89b879cd> | CC-MAIN-2016-18 | http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=GRAIN | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-18/segments/1461860118321.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20160428161518-00216-ip-10-239-7-51.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.899875 | 497 | 3.84375 | 4 |
In this survey many surface and subsurface specimens have collected from different parts of playa for laboratory tests (such as: soluble material, Aterberg limit, Hydrometer, direct shear, porosity and etc.) to determining geological engineering characteristics of the area. Many profiles of collapse and settlement parts have made to show the agent of damages. As a general rule two layer is determine in this area. The upper layer is called ?Salt layer with high porosity? and the lower layer is called ?High saline soft black mud? The component and engineering characteristics of each layer is mentioned in the main text.
Results show that the porosity and amount of solution material especially in top layer is extremely high, in other hand the rate of solubility and leaching of this layer is very high. Thus a light rainfall can solve a large amount of this material, omitting a big volume of sub grade and cause to collapse construction material of the road(fig 1). The lower layer is very low in plastic characteristics, weak in strength and high in soluble material. This layer has classified to high soluble soils and intermediate in liquefiable soil. | <urn:uuid:18876c19-5353-4aeb-a232-a9bd51a99344> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.gsi.ir/States/Lang_en/Page_25/DataId_7377/Action_BodyView/WebsiteId_19/Evaluating.the.agent.of.damages.threaten.the.jandagh.moalleman.road.on.the.playa.environment.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131304625.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172144-00208-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906143 | 232 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Agricultural soils contribute to human welfare through their generation of manifold ecosystem services such as food security, water quality and climate regulation, but these are degraded by common farming practices. We have developed a roadmap for evaluating the contribution of both private- and public-good ecosystem services generated by agricultural soils to societal welfare. The approach considers the needs of decision-makers at different levels, from farmers to policy-makers. This we achieve through combining production functions—to quantify the impacts of alternative management practices on agricultural productivity and soil ecosystem services—with non-market valuation of changes in public-good ecosystem services and benefit–cost analysis. The results show that the net present value to society of implementing soil-friendly measures are substantial, but negative for farmers in our study region. Although we apply our roadmap to an intensive farming region in Sweden, we believe our results have broad applicability, because farmers do not usually account for the value of public-good ecosystem services. We therefore conclude that market outcomes are not likely to be generating optimal levels of soil ecosystem services from society’s perspective. Innovative governance institutions are needed to resolve this market failure to safeguard the welfare of future generations. | <urn:uuid:55794161-c475-421c-a840-c7c345c7b3d7> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://agrifood.se/engPublication.aspx?fKeyID=1965 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233510412.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20230928130936-20230928160936-00073.warc.gz | en | 0.92713 | 235 | 2.640625 | 3 |
This diagram shows the historical world's tallest buildings.
|2.|| ||How tall must a building be in order to be considered a skyscraper?|
Since the term was first used in the late 19th century, buildings of 12 storeys or more have been considered skyscrapers.
|3.|| ||How can I submit new information or corrections?|
There is a special section of the forum for this, submit new information & corrections. Review the guidelines posted there.
|4.|| ||How are building heights defined and measured?|
Some building heights include mechanical penthouses, and some do not. We do not know which buildings use which form of measurement unless something tells us. Many building heights that are recorded do not follow a specific standard of measurement, so we really have no way of knowing for every building (there putting into question the validity of comparing buildings by heights, or at least the heights we use).
|5.|| ||How is official height determined?|
The official height of a building is the maximum of the roof and/or spire heights.
If a building does not have a spire, such as the Sears Tower, then its official height is its roof height. If a building does have a spire, such as the Petronas Towers, then its official height is its spire height.
|6.|| ||Are estimated heights used?|
Estimated building heights are used, but they are not displayed at all. Because of the visual comparison between buildings in the diagram it is usefull to use estimated heights for some buildings.
For example, we have the roof height of the Petronas Towers estimated at 425 meters so that if a diagram is sorted by roof height these buildings are put in the proper position. It would be no use to anyone to know that we estimate the roof at this height, so we do not display our estimates.
It would be incorrect for us to display the estimated heights because we only want to display accurate information, and do not want to spread inaccurate information.
|7.|| ||Why isn't there an approved status category?|
We have chosen not to differentiate between proposed and approved buildings/projects because when a project is approved by government, it is still essentially a proposed project and does not necessarily have a better chance of being built. It is still a proposed project until constuction begins.
There may also be several levels of government which must approve a project, making it difficult to know when all levels have given approval.
|8.|| ||Can you give me more information on a certain building?|
No, all the information we have is already listed in our database. If you can't find the information you want here, try asking in our discussion forum.
|9.|| ||Where do we get building data from?|
Most of the information we have comes from other websites, city hall websites and planning departments, and books.
|10.|| ||Can I download or purchase a custom set of building data?|
We do not offer this service.
|11.|| ||How can I print a diagram?|
We do not allow printing of our diagrams. If you would like a printed copy of our work please purchase one of our posters.
|12.|| ||Can I obtain a license to use your material?|
Please see the Commercial License Inquiry page.
|13.|| ||How can I add my drawings to the diagram?|
The drawing submission system is in an early stage of development right now. You can add drawings if you are logged-in.
Find the building in the diagrams which you want to add a drawing of, and click on its image to open a new window. On that page will be a link to "Add new drawing".
There is no way to add a new buildings yet, you can only add new drawing for buildings which already exist in the database.
Orders & Posters
|14.|| ||Do I need a PayPal account to pay with a credit card through PayPal?|
No. You do not need to have a PayPal account to pay with your credit card using PayPal.
|15.|| ||What payment options does SkyscraperPage accept?|
SkyscraperPage accepts all major credit cards, PayPal, international money orders and personal checks (checks must be from a US or Canadian bank).
|16.|| ||Can I pay with my credit card by mail?|
We do not accept credit card payments by mail. You can only pay with your credit card by using the online order form.
|17.|| ||What currency do you accept?|
All prices are in Canadian Dollars.
|18.|| ||Do non-Canadian customers pay sales tax?|
No. Only Canadian customers pay sales tax.
|19.|| ||How much tax do Canadian customers pay?|
Canadian customers, excluding British Columbia customers, must pay 5% GST. British Columbia customers pay 12% HST.
|20.|| ||Do you ship worldwide?|
Yes. SkyscraperPage ships world-wide.
|21.|| ||What is the shipping rate to my country?|
Our world-wide shipping rates are:
1 poster: $7
2 posters: $10
3 posters: $15
4+ posters: $20
|22.|| ||How long until I receive my order?|
Continental United States and Canada:
1 to 4 weeks. Most orders should arrive within 2 to 3 weeks.
2 to 6 weeks. Most orders should arrive within 3-4 weeks.
|23.|| ||How do you package and protect orders during shipment?|
We use tough shipping tubes for all orders. Our tubes are custom designed to withstand shipping conditions and guarantee your order arrives in excellent condition. Inside the shipping tube, individual posters are rolled in plastic sleeves and are protected by padding from abrasions during shipping.
|24.|| ||Can I return my order?|
All sales are final and no returns will be accepted.
|25.|| ||What if my order arrives damanged?|
While SkyscraperPage takes great care to ensure our packaging meets the stress placed on shipments sent around the world, there may be instances of irresponsible customs inspections or severe mishandling of parcels resulting in damaged contents. We will gladly replace contents that arrive damaged. Clear photographic proof of the damage may be required before resending an order.
|26.|| ||Do you plan on releasing new posters?|
Yes. SkyscraperPage is continually developing new posters.
|27.|| ||I am a retailer and would like to sell your posters in my store. Who do I contact?|
Please contact us and a representative will respond to your inquiry within 24 hours on business days.
|28.|| ||Can I buy your posters in retail stores?|
Yes. Please see our retailer list on the bottom of the main poster page.
|29.|| ||Can I have my hot-linked images removed?|
We will remove your hot-linked images from the forum if you contact us, giving us the URL of the page your images appear on and the URLs of your images.
There are ways to prevent image hot-linking. If you are using the Apache webserver use .htaccess files to stop this. More information.
|30.|| ||More Forum FAQ|
You can find additional frequently asked questions about the forum here.
|31.|| ||Can you give me information for my school assignment?| | <urn:uuid:85727700-c170-4ffa-b106-b0d89846f1d0> | CC-MAIN-2015-32 | http://skyscraperpage.com/site/faq/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-32/segments/1438042982013.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20150728002302-00199-ip-10-236-191-2.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920728 | 1,571 | 3.046875 | 3 |
|English for Beginners Practical English Travel English Telephone English Banking English Accounting English Dictionary|
|Audio English.org » Dictionary » P » Preconcerted ... Prefabricated|
Dictionary entry overview: What does predecessor mean?
• PREDECESSOR (noun)
The noun PREDECESSOR has 1 sense:
1. one who precedes you in time (as in holding a position or office)
Familiarity information: PREDECESSOR used as a noun is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
|Sense 1||predecessor [BACK TO TOP]|
One who precedes you in time (as in holding a position or office)
Nouns denoting people
Hypernyms ("predecessor" is a kind of...):
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "predecessor"):
forefather (person from an earlier time who contributed to the tradition shared by some group)
|Learn English with... Proverbs of the week| | <urn:uuid:85406d1f-8115-4f3d-a285-9c041a7fddc4> | CC-MAIN-2016-18 | http://www.audioenglish.org/dictionary/predecessor.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-18/segments/1461860121976.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20160428161521-00018-ip-10-239-7-51.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.858743 | 217 | 3.078125 | 3 |
Cooking With Grains - Cooking Class and Recipes
As we change our diets from the average American diet toward one that is more health promoting, breakfast is a great place to start! Begin by using a variety of fresh whole grains. These grains are prepared in minutes and are rich in nutrients. They can be cooking while you take your shower, get the kids ready or do 25 minutes on the exercise bike. Then, simply garnish with the broad array of condiments available and breakfast takes on a healthy and exciting new flavor.
Whole grains are nutritional powerhouses: they are rich in fiber, vitamins and minerals. What makes a grain "whole", is that it has not been processed or refined, thereby preserving its outer fibrous shell and its inner germ, rich in nutrients. Because the bran has been retained, each 1/2 cup serving of a whole grain provides 4-6 grams of fiber. (The recommended daily intake of fiber is about 30 grams). The indigestible outer covering is the source of insoluble fiber, effective at promoting healthy bowel movements and stabilizing fluctuating blood sugar levels. Soluble fiber is known for its cholesterol lowering effect. When unprocessed, whole grains are good sources of selenium, magnesium, phosphorous, iron, B vitamins, vitamin E and selenium.
The germ is where most of the amino acids, the building blocks of protein, are found. Most grains and beans lack the full complement of all eight essential amino acids in high enough ratios to be considered a complete protein source on their own. But when combined with nuts, seeds, beans or legumes, a complete protein is formed. Amaranth, millet and quinoa have more of the amino acid lysine, which most grains are notoriously deficient in, thus making them better protein sources.
Because our culture has tended to overuse wheat, oats, barley and rye, many people are becoming increasingly sensitive to them. It is the gluten portion that is often allergenic. Gluten is the component of these grains which makes them sticky, thus allowing them to be kneaded into breads. Yet, there are many other delicious grains used extensively throughout the world which do not contain gluten. The non-glutenous grains are amaranth, quinoa (pronounced keen-wa), millet, buckwheat, rice and corn. Teff, spelt and kamut contain very low levels of gluten and are often more well tolerated by sensitive indiviuals.
Whole grains should be stored in air-tight glass or ceramic containers. If you see little clumps of grain that cling to the glass like static electricity, it is usually the eggs of grain bugs. When mature, they hatch into larva and become tiny moths. Storing the grain is glass jars keeps bugs out. Simply toss any contaminated grain into a plastic bag and discard. Wash and dry the jar well before putting in fresh grain. Once cooked, whole grains can be refrigerated and reheated 2 or 3 days later.
Preparing grains couldn't be easier. The simple "2:1 formula" is almost universal: that is 2 parts water to 1 part grain. Slightly more water is recommended for drier grains like millet, quinoa and amaranth. (Use pure, filtered water, since it is the substance that will hydrate the grain). The cooking time is usually 25 minutes, but cooking time will vary depending on the level of heat used, the type of pan and whether or not it is cooked covered. Try adding cinnamon, ginger, vanilla and other spices to the cooking water. For dinner grains, try cooking with broth and added spices. | <urn:uuid:de378804-3865-432a-87e5-de8789d2ff7d> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.healthy.net/Health/Article/Cooking_with_Grains/746 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988720972.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183840-00201-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94422 | 755 | 3.28125 | 3 |
In digital image processing, anti-aliasing is the technique of smoothing transitions between color fields within an image. Anti-aliasing is used in digital photography, computer graphics, digital audio, and many other applications.
Anti-aliasing creates transition pixels between two or more areas of differing colors. The transition pixels are a blend of color and transparency based upon the surrounding color fields. These transition pixels help what would traditionally be seen as a "jagged", "stair-stepped", or "rough" edge appear as smooth and fluid to the human eye. | <urn:uuid:97f10509-dcf8-4625-adc6-cfff9aa92853> | CC-MAIN-2014-42 | http://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/tags/anti-aliasing/info | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-42/segments/1414637898751.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20141030025818-00050-ip-10-16-133-185.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938322 | 115 | 3.25 | 3 |
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