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Dr. Edward P. Radford, who energetically promoted a higher estimate of the cancer risk from radiation exposure and whose position was eventually upheld, died on Oct. 12 at his home in Haslemere, England. He was 79.
The cause was a stroke, his family said.
Dr. Radford was chairman of a committee of the National Academy of Sciences that released an initial report in 1979 indicating that one-half of 1 percent of Americans would develop cancer from manufactured sources of radiation like power plants and X-rays.
The report, widely expected because it was released shortly after the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, came in for sharp criticism by some members of the group that prepared it, the Committee on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation.
The split in the 21-member committee was so bitter and public that the academy withdrew the report and the next year issued a revised paper that essentially halved the estimated risk, a conclusion that Dr. Radford rejected.
He argued for a model showing that there was a risk, albeit small, even at the lowest levels of exposure, while his opponents favored a model that found there was a threshold below which there was no harm.
The committee's conclusions were important to the nuclear industry because they were used by the Environmental Protection Agency to update its radiation protection standards. One committee member said of Dr. Radford, ''If the guideline levels were reduced the way he wants them, there wouldn't be any nuclear industry at all.''
Since then, Dr. Radford's ideas have been upheld by many other scientific bodies that study radiation, said Dr. Evan B. Douple, director of the Board of Radiation Effects Research at the National Academy of Sciences. ''He's been an outspoken person who's contributed to the debate on radiation protection standards,'' Dr. Douple said.
Dr. Radford was also known for his research on cigarettes, particularly studies in the 1960's finding that radioactive polonium 210 was present in tobacco and made its way into the lungs of smokers. The concentration was high enough, he and his colleagues said, that the radioactivity could be a contributing factor in lung cancer.
He also developed a kind of chart called a nomogram that was widely used by anesthesiologists to calculate the proper mixture of oxygen and anesthetic in the days before computers, said Vilma R. Hunt, a retired professor of environmental science at Penn State.
''That kind of quantitative rigor characterized his approach to his clinical work and to his work on ionizing radiation,'' she said.
Edward Parish Radford, who was known as Ted, was born on Feb. 21, 1922, in Springfield, Mass., and graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned his medical degree at Harvard in 1946. He was in the Air Force from 1947 to 1949; one of his duties was to measure radiation levels at flight altitudes soon after atomic bomb tests in the South Pacific.
He held research positions at the Harvard School of Public Health, DuPont, the University of Cincinnati and Johns Hopkins University, and was the chairman of the department of environmental medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health from 1979 to 1983. He then focused on consulting in legal cases about the health effects of radiation and toxic chemicals.
His marriages to Nettie Garrison and Olivia Kolar ended in divorce.
He is survived by his wife of 18 years, Jennifer Barnard Radford; 4 daughters, Martha Jo Radford of Farmington, Conn.; Donna Radford Patterson of Grand Junction, Colo.; Catherine Radford of Charlestown, Mass.; and Lilith Radford Calkins of Harvard, Mass.; a son, George Leslie, of Exeter, N.H.; and 11 grandchildren. | <urn:uuid:82be4f58-d0b9-4f0c-9cf0-255b4b9988c5> | CC-MAIN-2019-39 | https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/22/world/edward-radford-79-scholar-of-the-risks-from-radiation.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-39/segments/1568514573105.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20190917181046-20190917203046-00327.warc.gz | en | 0.981483 | 772 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Define the concept of stress?
APA include the reference for more information.
Let's take a closer look. I also attached an article, which discusses different theories of stress. I also attached a sample article written in APA format and another APA resource for future reference.
1. Define the concept of stress?
One way to define stress is "a state of bodily or mental tension resulting from factors that tend to alter an existent equilibrium" (Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, n.d .). However, many theories of stress have been proposed (see attached article), which define the concept of stress based on their theory.
For example, Hans Selye (1985) defined stress as ""nonspecific" in that the stress response can result from a variety of different kinds of stressors and he thus focused on the internal aspects of stress" (cited in Cordon, 1997). In fact, Selye (1956) developed a three stage stress model including:
(a) Alarm reaction is an initial stage of lowered resistance ...
Defines the concept of stress and explains the physiology and psychology of stress. References and supplementary information on stress are also provided. | <urn:uuid:d685f8cb-f81c-4917-9864-84d4ea351540> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | https://brainmass.com/psychology/psychological-appraisal-and-stress/physiology-and-psychology-of-stress-299577 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257647692.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20180321195830-20180321215830-00085.warc.gz | en | 0.938626 | 248 | 3.34375 | 3 |
Children see the world as ‘designed’!
Much to Richard Dawkins’ chagrin, children infer from their own observations that there must be a Creator
Prominent misotheist Richard Dawkins has long argued (e.g. in his book The God Delusion) that belief in God is propagated through “indoctrination”, especially of children.1 But Dawkins is having to face up to some awkward facts. Awkward for Dawkins that is, because the facts point to children recognising that living things are designed, i.e. nature originated at the hand of a Creator God.2,3
For example, researchers at Oxford University (at which Dawkins himself was until recently the holder of the Charles Simonyi Chair in the Public Understanding of Science) have earlier reported finding children who, when questioned, express their understanding that there is a Creator, without having had any such instruction from parents or teachers. As Dr Olivera Petrovich, who lectures in Experimental Psychology at Oxford, explained in an interview with Science and Spirit:
“I tested both the Japanese and British children on the same tasks, showing them very accurate, detailed photographs of selected natural and man-made objects and then asking them questions about the causal origins of the various natural objects at both the scientific level (e.g. how did this particular dog become a dog?) and at the metaphysical level (e.g. how did the first ever dog come into being?). With the Japanese children, it was important to establish whether they even distinguished the two levels of explanation because, as a culture, Japan discourages speculation into the metaphysical, simply because it’s something we can never know, so we shouldn’t attempt it. But the Japanese children did speculate, quite willingly, and in the same way as British children. On forced choice questions, consisting of three possible explanations of primary origin, they would predominantly go for the word ‘God’, instead of either an agnostic response (e.g., ‘nobody knows’) or an incorrect response (e.g., ‘by people’). This is absolutely extraordinary when you think that Japanese religion — Shinto — doesn’t include creation as an aspect of God’s activity at all. So where do these children get the idea that creation is in God’s hands? It’s an example of a natural inference that they form on the basis of their own experience. My Japanese research assistants kept telling me, ‘We Japanese don’t think about God as creator — it’s just not part of Japanese philosophy.’ So it was wonderful when these children said, ‘Kamisama! God! God made it!’ That was probably the most significant finding.”4
Today, nearly a decade since Petrovich’s study, there is now a “preponderance of scientific evidence” affirming that “children believe in God even when religious teachings are withheld from them”.3
Dr Justin Barrett of the University of Oxford’s Centre for Anthropology and Mind says that children have “a predisposition to see the natural world as designed and purposeful and that some kind of intelligent being is behind that purpose.” He cited one study where young children who were asked why the first bird existed replied “to make nice music” and “because it makes the world look nice”.3
However, Barrett and other evolutionists are endeavouring to claim it as “an evolutionarily useful skill”. That is, it’s something that evolution hard-wired into our brain. (A very common fallback position for evolutionists, which, unfortunately for evolutionary theory, completely destroys their claims of rationality—see, e.g., How your brain creates God? and C.S. Lewis on materialistic thoughts.)
According to Barrett, it is evolution that explains our “predisposition” to believe the world was created, and also the widespread public resistance to believing evolution.
“Children’s normally and naturally developing minds make them prone to believe in divine creation and intelligent design,” says Barrett. “In contrast, evolution is unnatural for human minds; relatively difficult to believe.”
But then, how does he know that his own evolutionary belief is not due to its truth but because he evolved a predisposition to believe it? See this amusing clip from British comedian John Cleese:
Yes, and it’s especially difficult for people to believe evolution once they’ve been shown its falsity, and that the biblical account of the history of the universe makes sense of the evidence around us, as one leading creationist scientist can personally testify.
Unfortunately, a barrage of evolutionary pronouncements continue to dominate print and airwaves, as if “Darwin” is now established fact—signed, sealed and delivered. However, New Scientist, despite its overt evolutionary bias and proclamations, deserves some credit at least for confronting Richard Dawkins with this challenge: “If children have an innate belief in god [sic], however, where does that leave the indoctrination hypothesis?”2
But Dawkins glossed over the difficulty as if the contradictory facts weren’t awkward at all. “I am thoroughly happy with believing that children are predisposed to believe in invisible gods—I always was. But I also find the indoctrination hypothesis plausible. The two influences could, and I suspect do, reinforce one another,” he said.
Such wordplay doublespeak hardly does the former Professor for the Public Understanding of Science credit. But it does explain why evolutionists are so keen on indoctrinating students, even if it involves deception. New Scientist then related that Dawkins went on to suggest that “evolved gullibility” is behind children’s widespread (cross-cultural) belief in a Creator.
Au contraire, if there’s gullibility in evidence here, it’s not being demonstrated by the children, who can recognise Good Design when they see it.5
References and notes
- Dawkins has in fact verged on equating religious education with child abuse, arguing there is a case for “protecting” children from the faith of their parents/teachers. Return to text.
- Brooks, M., Natural born believers, New Scientist 201(2694):31–33, 7 February 2009. Return to text.
- Beckford, M., Children are born believers in God, academic claims—Children are born believers in God and do not simply acquire religious beliefs through indoctrination, according to an academic, The Telegraph, 24 November 2008. Return to text.
- Bryant, R., In the Beginning: An Interview with Olivera Petrovich, Science and Spirit, 1999. Return to text.
- For a comprehensive compendium of design evidence in living things, Dr Jonathan Sarfati’s book By Design is just the thing for the thinking person’s library. And don’t just take our word for it—see this review. Return to text.
Comments are automatically closed 14 days after publication. | <urn:uuid:629ee0f2-f679-4bc8-9044-a679470de6bf> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://creation.com/children-see-the-world-as-designed | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296943637.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20230321064400-20230321094400-00294.warc.gz | en | 0.948129 | 1,496 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Researchers at MIT have studied heat transfer in an effort to help predict and prevent a boiling crisis at nuclear power facilities and others that rely on heat transfer. In a recent MIT News article titled “Getting to the bottom of the ‘boiling crisis,’” David L. Chandler explains that nuclear plants operate well below the levels that could cause a boiling crisis, but the new understanding gained by these researchers could allow plants to operate at higher output levels.
Due t o the risk of overheating or a potential meltdown, regulations require operations to run at no more than 75% of the critical heat flux (CHF), but CHF has been poorly understood and conservatively estimated, Chandler reports. However, small changes can have a big effect on boiling and CHF and this has been difficult to measure and study until now, assistant professor and lead author Matteo Bucci said in the article.
“We have been able to actually measure and chart the phenomenon with the required spatial and temporal resolution,” he said. This has provided an understanding of how a boiling crisis begins.
Through this research, the team found that as bubbles build up on a heated surface, they behave like a traffic jam, crowding together and merging, and eventually forming an insulating layer on the surface, Chandler reports.
“The boiling crisis is essentially the result of an accumulation of bubbles that merge and coalesce with each other, which leads to failure of the surface,” Bucci said in the article.
Now, with the information collected from their experiments and using mathematical analysis, the researchers can quantify the incident to pinpoint when bubble merging will occur.
Chandler reports that surface texture, among other factors, play significant roles in heat transfer, and small adjustments could allow CHF to be raised, leading to more reliable heat transfer.
“We can use this information not only to predict the boiling crisis, but also to explore solutions, by changing the boiling surface, to minimize the interaction between bubbles. We’re using this understanding to improve the surface, so we can control and avoid the ‘bubble jam,’” Bucci said. “… If you can show that by manipulating the surface, you can increase the critical heat flux by 10 to 20%, then you increase the power produced by the same amount, on a global scale, by making better use of the fuel and resources that are already there.”
The research results were published in the journal Physical Review Letters in a paper written by assistant professor of nuclear engineering Matteo Bucci and graduate students Limiao Zhang and Jee Hyun Seong. | <urn:uuid:e499a449-3ee0-4142-9bc8-86a70b77284a> | CC-MAIN-2019-22 | https://www.controlglobal.com/blogs/off-site-insights/mit-researchers-study-heat-transfer-for-better-understanding-of-boiling-crisis/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-22/segments/1558232254253.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20190519061520-20190519083520-00096.warc.gz | en | 0.946986 | 539 | 3.40625 | 3 |
By Shawn Berry
The withholding of kindness must be one of the greatest tragedies, for it benefits no one. Much worse, it serves to isolate and divide us into smaller and smaller groups. Can we get any smaller than the nuclear family? Some have pushed further into living alone! Isolation has severe health impacts on humans including reduced lifespan.
This is such an awkward moment for us modern humans to navigate. Our biopsychology is failing to catch up with the rapid changes of the last 200 years. At the turn of the 19th century the global population just tipped 1 billion and the industrial revolution kicked us into a whirlwind of fast-paced technological, economic and social changes. At that moment only an estimated 7% of humanity lived in urban areas. The UN estimates 2007 was the year when, for the first time, more people in the world lived in urban than in rural areas.
Think about it, homo sapiens emerged approximately 300,000 years ago. For all that time, most humans have lived a simple rural subsistence lifestyle in relatively small bands. Our advanced sophisticated body-minds have evolved for millennia in this context and now, just now, we have been thrust into these massive mechanized and digitized urban environments. We are still in collective shock at not knowing our neighbors. Fear is rampant and, honestly, the world is still not a safe place. I understand the need for discernment, and even fear and mistrust of strangers. But at what cost? The Harvard Study on Adult Development has shown us that the “warmth of relationships throughout life has the greatest positive impact on ‘life satisfaction’.”
So it seems simple – just be kind and warm and we can all be happy. However, that is not an option for everyone when some people, disconnected from true community belonging become seduced by the attraction of short-term wealth accumulation and are able to perceive fellow humans as less significant.
Breaking. Othering. Stealing. Poverty does not exist on its own, it is the result of theft and suppression. The myth of wealth is that it is due to the merit of the individual. The shadow truth is that it was stolen from the commons. Even the wealthy do not win in this zero sum game. We all suffer when the mental illness of hoarding is erroneously lauded as a virtue. In traditional cultures, a community member who is found to be hoarding would have their surplus redistributed and their mental illness embraced and treated by the community with warm understanding and firm boundaries.
I am calling for Just Kindness.
Just: so everyone’s needs matter and are met. Kindness: for healing and warm relations.
I understand many of us don’t have the privilege to know how good it can be. Due to long-running proliferation of many social diseases such as racism, economic exploitation, slavery, violence, and warfare, far too many people have been raised in unjust conditions.
But many of us have been shown kindness and it is our duty to pass it on. Kindness can be simple words of gratitude or appreciation, touch or gentle presence. Those are all very good.
I am also thinking of a more powerful kindness that will guarantee that everyone’s basic needs are met. For those who have too much, kindness will be a limit on accumulation, and healing to fill the hole they have tried to stuff with power and possession; healing with warmth, love and real connection.
That is Just Kindness. If you have some, please share it. If you don’t, can you find some in the simple grace of your next breath? I see a way forward for us to heal together toward a kind, warm and connected future.
I am inspired by a simple vision of humans working in harmony with each other and with nature, to create a joyous and abundant world for all. To this end I have spent my career starting and growing democratic, solution oriented, systems changing enterprises and organizations. I am currently a Partner and Worker-owner at LIFT Economy.
- World population by year
- History of urbanization and numbers of people living in urban areas
- Callaway, Ewen (7 June 2017). “Oldest Homo sapiens fossil claim rewrites our species’ history”. Nature. doi:10.1038/nature.2017.22114
- Study of Adult Development, Harvard Medical School
The views and opinions expressed in this blog post are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Good Work Institute or any other agency, organization, employer or company. And since we are critically-thinking human beings, these views are always subject to change, revision, and rethinking at any time. Please do not hold anyone accountable to them in perpetuity. | <urn:uuid:f194e01d-99a5-475d-bfe6-0511fd787fc3> | CC-MAIN-2021-21 | https://goodworkinstitute.org/blog/just-kindness/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-21/segments/1620243989006.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20210509153220-20210509183220-00430.warc.gz | en | 0.954186 | 985 | 2.515625 | 3 |
The number of people searching online for "Time Travel" - and research done on the topic - is increasing with some of the evidence presented credible - the rest leaving much to to be desired. Time travel can be physical and spiritual in the sense of consciousness traveling between grids of reality.
Time travel is the concept of movement (such as by a human) between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space, typically using a hypothetical device known as a time machine, in the form of a vehicle or of a portal connecting distant points in time. Time travel is a recognized concept in philosophy and fiction, but traveling to an arbitrary point in time has a very limited support in theoretical physics, and usually only in conjunction with quantum mechanics or Einstein-Rosen bridges.
In a more narrow sense, one-way time travel into the future via time dilation is a proven phenomenon in relativistic physics, but traveling any significant "distance" requires motion at speeds close to the speed of light, which is not feasible for human travel with current technology. The concept was touched upon in various earlier works of fiction, but was popularized by H. G. Wells' 1895 novel The Time Machine, which moved the concept of time travel into the public imagination, and it remains a popular subject in science fiction.
Can time travel take you forward, backward, both, or neither? In the realms of science and pseudoscience anything is possible. Read more
India: 700s BCE to 300s CE - Mahabharata
Hebrew: 200s to 400s CE - Talmud
Japan: 720 CE - Urashima Taro
1733 - Louis-Sebastien Mercier's L'An 2440, reve s'il en fut jamais
1781 - Johan Herman Wessel's Anno 7603
1819 - Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle"
1824 - Faddey Bulgarin's "Pravdopodobnie Nebylitsi"
1836 - Alexander Veltman's Predki Kalimerosa
1838 - Missing One's Coach: An Anachronism
1843 - Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol
1861 - Pierre Boitard's Paris avant les hommes
1881 - Edward Page Mitchell's The Clock That Went Backward
1887 - Enrique Gaspar y Rimbau's El anacronopete
1888 - H. G. Wells' The Chronic Argonauts
1889 - Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
1895 - H. G. Wells' The Time Machine
There is no widespread agreement as to which written work should be recognized as the earliest example of a time travel story, since a number of early works feature elements ambiguously suggestive of time travel.
1889 - Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
1895 - H. G. Wells' The Time Machine
Time travel to the past is theoretically allowed using the following methods:
A proposed time-travel machine using a traversable wormhole would (hypothetically) work in the following way: One end of the wormhole is accelerated to some significant fraction of the speed of light, perhaps with some advanced propulsion system, and then brought back to the point of origin.
Alternatively, another way is to take one entrance of the wormhole and move it to within the gravitational field of an object that has higher gravity than the other entrance, and then return it to a position near the other entrance. For both of these methods, time dilation causes the end of the wormhole that has been moved to have aged less than the stationary end, as seen by an external observer; however, time connects differently through the wormhole than outside it, so that synchronized clocks at either end of the wormhole will always remain synchronized as seen by an observer passing through the wormhole, no matter how the two ends move around.
This means that an observer entering the accelerated end would exit the stationary end when the stationary end was the same age that the accelerated end had been at the moment before entry; for example, if prior to entering the wormhole the observer noted that a clock at the accelerated end read a date of 2007 while a clock at the stationary end read 2012, then the observer would exit the stationary end when its clock also read 2007, a trip backwards in time as seen by other observers outside.
One significant limitation of such a time machine is that it is only possible to go as far back in time as the initial creation of the machine; in essence, it is more of a path through time than it is a device that itself moves through time, and it would not allow the technology itself to be moved backwards in time. This could provide an alternative explanation for Hawking's observation: a time machine will be built someday, but has not yet been built, so the tourists from the future cannot reach this far back in time.
According to current theories on the nature of wormholes, construction of a traversable wormhole would require the existence of a substance with negative energy (often referred to as "exotic matter") . More technically, the wormhole spacetime requires a distribution of energy that violates various energy conditions, such as the null energy condition along with the weak, strong, and dominant energy conditions.
However, it is known that quantum effects can lead to small measurable violations of the null energy condition, and many physicists believe that the required negative energy may actually be possible due to the Casimir effect in quantum physics. Although early calculations suggested a very large amount of negative energy would be required, later calculations showed that the amount of negative energy can be made arbitrarily small.
In 1993, Matt Visser argued that the two mouths of a wormhole with such an induced clock difference could not be brought together without inducing quantum field and gravitational effects that would either make the wormhole collapse or the two mouths repel each other. Because of this, the two mouths could not be brought close enough for causality violation to take place.
However, in a 1997 paper, Visser hypothesized that a complex "Roman ring" (named after Tom Roman) configuration of an N number of wormholes arranged in a symmetric polygon could still act as a time machine, although he concludes that this is more likely a flaw in classical quantum gravity theory rather than proof that causality violation is possible.
This is a consequence of the relativity of simultaneity in special relativity, which says that in some cases different reference frames will disagree on whether two events at different locations happened "at the same time" or not, and they can also disagree on the order of the two events (technically, these disagreements occur when the spacetime interval between the events is 'space-like', meaning that neither event lies in the future light cone of the other). If one of the two events represents the sending of a signal from one location and the second event represents the reception of the same signal at another location, then as long as the signal is moving at the speed of light or slower, the mathematics of simultaneity ensures that all reference frames agree that the transmission-event happened before the reception-event.
However, in the case of a hypothetical signal moving faster than light, there would always be some frames in which the signal was received before it was sent, so that the signal could be said to have moved backwards in time. And since one of the two fundamental postulates of special relativity says that the laws of physics should work the same way in every inertial frame, then if it is possible for signals to move backwards in time in any one frame, it must be possible in all frames.
This means that if observer A sends a signal to observer B which moves FTL (faster than light) in A's frame but backwards in time in B's frame, and then B sends a reply which moves FTL in B's frame but backwards in time in A's frame, it could work out that A receives the reply before sending the original signal, a clear violation of causality in every frame. An illustration of such a scenario using spacetime diagrams can be found here.
According to special relativity, it would take an infinite amount of energy to accelerate a slower-than-light object to the speed of light. Although relativity does not forbid the theoretical possibility of tachyons which move faster than light at all times, when analyzed using quantum field theory, it seems that it would not actually be possible to use them to transmit information faster than light, and that there is no evidence for their existence.
Some theories, most notably special and general relativity, suggest that suitable geometries of spacetime, or specific types of motion in space, might allow time travel into the past and future if these geometries or motions are possible.
In technical papers, physicists generally avoid the commonplace language of "moving" or "traveling" through time ('movement' normally refers only to a change in spatial position as the time coordinate is varied), and instead discuss the possibility of closed timelike curves, which are worldlines that form closed loops in spacetime, allowing objects to return to their own past. There are known to be solutions to the equations of general relativity that describe space-times which contain closed timelike curves (such as Godel spacetime), but the physical plausibility of these solutions is uncertain.
Relativity states that if one were to move away from the Earth at relativistic velocities and return, more time would have passed on Earth than for the traveler, so in this sense it is accepted that relativity allows "travel into the future".
According to relativity there is no single objective answer to how much time has 'really' passed between the departure and the return, but there is an objective answer to how much proper time has been experienced by both the Earth and the traveler, i.e. how much each has aged. On the other hand, many in the scientific community believe that backwards time travel is highly unlikely.
Any theory which would allow time travel would require that problems of causality be resolved. The classic example of a problem involving causality is the "grandfather paradox": what if one were to go back in time and kill one's own grandfather before one's father was conceived? But some scientists believe that paradoxes can be avoided, either by appealing to the Novikov self-consistency principle or to the notion of branching parallel universes.
Stephen Hawking once suggested that the absence of tourists from the future constitutes an argument against the existence of time travel - a variant of the Fermi paradox. Of course this would not prove that time travel is physically impossible, since it might be that time travel is physically possible but that it is never in fact developed (or is cautiously never used); and even if it is developed,
Hawking notes elsewhere that time travel might only be possible in a region of spacetime that is warped in the correct way, and that if we cannot create such a region until the future, then time travelers would not be able to travel back before that date, so "This picture would explain why we haven't been over run by tourists from the future."
Carl Sagan also once suggested the possibility that time travelers could be here, but are disguising their existence or are not recognized as time travelers.
However, the theory of general relativity does suggest scientific grounds for thinking backwards time travel could be possible in certain unusual scenarios, although arguments from semiclassical gravity suggest that when quantum effects are incorporated into general relativity, these loopholes may be closed. These semiclassical arguments led Hawking to formulate the chronology protection conjecture, suggesting that the fundamental laws of nature prevent time travel, but physicists cannot come to a definite judgment on the issue without a theory of quantum gravity to join quantum mechanics and general relativity into a completely unified theory
First of all, if one is able to move information from one point to another faster than light, then according to special relativity, there will be an observer who sees this information transfer as allowing information to travel into the past.
The General Theory of Relativity extends the Special Theory to cover gravity. It does this by postulating that matter "curves" the space in its vicinity. But under relativity, properties of space are fairly interchangeable with properties of time, depending on one's perspective, so that a curved path through space can wind up being a curved path through time. In moderate degrees, this allows two straight lines of different length to connect the same points in space; in extreme degrees, theoretically, it could allow timelines to curve around in a circle and reconnect with their own past.
General relativity describes the universe under a complex system of "field equations," and there exist solutions to these equations that permit what are called "closed time-like curves," and hence time travel into the past. The first and most famous of these was proposed by Kurt Godel, but all known current examples require the universe to have physical characteristics that it does not appear to have. Whether general relativity forbids closed time-like curves for all realistic conditions is unknown. Most physicists believe that it does, largely because assuming some principle against time travel prevents paradoxical situations from occurring.
A proposed time-travel machine using a wormhole would (hypothetically) work something like this: A wormhole is created somehow. One end of the wormhole is accelerated to nearly the speed of light, perhaps with an advanced spaceship, and then brought back to the point of origin. Due to time dilation, the accelerated end of the wormhole has now experienced less subjective passage of time than the stationary end.
An object that goes into the stationary end would come out of the other end in the past relative to the time when it enters. One significant limitation of such a time machine is that it is only possible to go as far back in time as the initial creation of the machine; in essence, it is more of a path through time than it is a device that itself moves through time, and it would not allow the technology itself to be moved backwards in time.
This could provide an alternative explanation for Hawking's observation: a time machine will be built someday, but hasn't been built yet, so the tourists from the future can't reach this far back in time.
Creating a wormhole of a size useful for macroscopic spacecraft, keeping it stable, and moving one end of it around would require significant energy, many orders of magnitude more than the Sun can produce in its lifetime. Construction of a wormhole would also require the existence of a substance known as "exotic matter," or "negative matter", which, while not known to be impossible, is also not known to exist in forms useful for wormhole construction (but see for example the Casimir effect).
Therefore it is unlikely such a device will ever be constructed, even with highly advanced technology. On the other hand, microscopic wormholes could still be useful for sending information back in time.Matt Visser argued in 1993 that the two mouths of a wormhole with such an induced clock difference could not be brought together without inducing quantum field and gravitational effects that would either make the wormhole collapse or the two mouths repel each other. Because of this, the two mouths could not be brought close enough for causality violation to take place.
However, in a 1997 paper, Visser hypothesized that a complex "Roman ring" (named after Tom Roman) configuration of an N number of wormholes arranged in a symmetric polygon could still act as a time machine, although he concludes that this is more likely than not a flaw in classical quantum gravity theory rather than proof that causality violation is possible.
Another approach, developed by Frank Tipler, involves a spinning cylinder. If a cylinder is long, and dense, and spins fast enough about its long axis, then a spaceship flying around the cylinder on a spiral path could travel back in time (or forward, depending on the direction of its spiral). However, the density and speed required is so great that ordinary matter is not strong enough to construct it. A similar device might be built from a cosmic string, but none are known to exist, and it doesn't seem to be possible to create a new cosmic string.
Physicist Robert Forward noted that a naive application of general relativity to quantum mechanics suggests another way to build a time machine. A heavy atomic nucleus in a strong magnetic field would elongate into a cylinder, whose density and "spin" are enough to build a time machine. Gamma rays projected at it might allow information (not matter) to be sent back in time. However, he pointed out that until we have a single theory combining relativity and quantum mechanics, we will have no idea whether such speculations are nonsense.
Quantum mechanical phenomena such as quantum teleportation, the EPR paradox, or quantum entanglement might appear to create a mechanism that allows for faster-than-light (FTL) communication or time travel, and in fact some interpretations of quantum mechanics such as the Bohm interpretation presumes that some information is being exchanged between particles instantaneously in order to maintain correlations between particles. This effect was referred to as "spooky action at a distance" by Einstein.
Nevertheless, the rules of quantum mechanics curiously appear to prevent an outsider from using these methods to actually transmit useful information, and therefore do not appear to allow for time travel or FTL communication. This misunderstanding seems to be widespread in popular press coverage of quantum teleportation experiments. The assumption that time travel or superluminal communications is impossible allows one to derive interesting results such as the no cloning theorem, and how the rules of quantum mechanics work to preserve causality is an active area of research.
The Novikov self-consistency principle and recent calculations by Kip S. Thorne indicate that simple masses passing through time travel wormholes could never engender paradoxes - there are no initial conditions that lead to paradox once time travel is introduced. If his results can be generalized they would suggest, curiously, that none of the supposed paradoxes formulated in time travel stories can actually be formulated at a precise physical level: that is, that any situation you can set up in a time travel story turns out to permit many consistent solutions. The circumstances might, however, turn out to be almost unbelievably strange.
Parallel universes might provide a way out of paradoxes. Everett's many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics suggests that all possible quantum events can occur in mutually exclusive histories. These alternate, or parallel histories would form a branching tree symbolizing all possible outcomes of any interaction.
Since all possibilities exist, any paradoxes can be explained by having the paradoxical events happening in a different universe. This concept is most often used in science-fiction. However, in actuality, physicists believe that such interaction or interference between these histories is not possible.
It has been suggested by physicists such as Max Tegmark that the absence of time travel and the existence of causality may be due to the anthropic principle. The argument is that a universe which allows for time travel and closed time-like loops is one in which intelligence could not evolve because it would be impossible for a being to sort events into a past and future or to make predictions or comprehend the world around them.
Note that this imposes no restriction on supernatural agents (e.g. God) which are not confined by the bounds of spacetime.
It is interesting to note that any religion which postulates the existence of fulfilled prophecy requires, at the very least, an agent which can move information from the future into the past.
In Christian theology, for example, God is assumed to exist unbound by space or time. Doctrinally, God is held to be omniscient and omnipresent. Statements in the Bible such as Jesus's claim "before Abraham was born, I am" (John 8:58) and Peter's claim "[Jesus] was chosen before the creation of the world" (1 Peter 1:20) (assuming the creation of the world began at t = 0) imply that God does not occupy the same timeline that we do. This is further supported by the assertion "I the LORD do not change" (Malachi 3:6), since change requires movement along, and constrained by, a temporal continuum.
Two popular interpretations of these statements are that God exists outside the space-time continuum; or exists at every point in space-time simultaneously. In either case, God can transfer information from one point in space-time to any other point without restriction.
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali have been considered by some, such as physicist Fred Alan Wolf in his book, The Yoga of Time Travel to describe an inner process by which we can access knowledge of the past and future in the present. This form of time travel can be acquired by transcending the five Earthly anchors of the ego mind which otherwise leave us locked into the illusory self.
H. G. Wells' The Time Machine is considered the literary masterpiece of the genre. Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is another early time travel classic.
Probably the most elaborate demonstrations of supposed time travel paradoxes are in Robert A. Heinlein's All You Zombies and By His Bootstraps.
One very well known time travel fiction writer is Jack Finney. His novels include Time and Again, From Time to Time, The Third Level, among others.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling features a time travel paradox as does the film version.
Michael Crichton's Timeline, in which characters travel to 14th century France, describes time travel in great detail, explaining the science of exactly how the time machine works. The book was made into a movie in 2004, with much of the science explanation missing.
Fabric of the Cosmos
Part 1 explains that we exist in a Holographic Universe.
Part 2 explains the illusion of time.
Time Travel Blog 2018
Time is an illusion. Time loops. Time reboots. Time travels. Time is perceptional. Time is multi-faceted. Time is entangled. Time can be encapsulated and retrieved. Time fascinates and intrigues. Time is complicated. Time is based on physics and mathematical algorithms. Math is a Matrix ... the Matrix of Illusion. We are all time travelers.
How a rotating universe makes time travel possible PhysOrg - January 13, 2023
It turns out that time travel into the past is actually relatively easy. All you need to do is make the universe rotate. The famous mathematician Kurt Gdel was a friend and neighbor of Albert Einstein at Princeton. He became incredibly curious about Einstein's general theory of relativity, which was and continues to be our modern formulation of the gravitational force. That theory connects the presence of matter and energy to the bending and warping of space and time, and then connects that bending and warping to the behavior of matter and energy.
Traveling Back in Time Is Possible Inside Universes That Spin Science Alert - January 13, 2023
That theory connects the presence of matter and energy to the bending and warping of space and time, and then connects that bending and warping to the behavior of matter and energy.
A Physicist Came Up With Math That Shows 'Paradox-Free' Time Travel Is Plausible Science Alert - December 19, 2022
No one has yet managed to travel through time Š at least to our knowledge - but the question of whether or not such a feat would be theoretically possible continues to fascinate scientists. As movies such as The Terminator, Donnie Darko, Back to the Future and many others show, moving around in time creates a lot of problems for the fundamental rules of the Universe: if you go back in time and stop your parents from meeting, for instance, how can you possibly exist in order to go back in time in the first place? It's a monumental head-scratcher known as the 'grandfather paradox', but a few years ago physics student Germain Tobar, from the University of Queensland in Australia, worked out how to "square the numbers" to make time travel viable without the paradoxes.
'Time Cells' in The Human Brain Encode The Flow of Time, Scientists Say Science Alert - October 27, 2022
How does the human brain keep track of the order of events in a sequence? Research suggests that 'time cells' - neurons in the hippocampus thought to represent temporal information - could be the glue that sticks our memories together in the right sequence so that we can properly recall the correct order in which things happened.
Our modern understanding of time and causality comes from general relativity. Theoretical physicist Albert Einstein's theory combines space and time into a single entity - "spacetime" - and provides a remarkably intricate explanation of how they both work, at a level unmatched by any other established theory. This theory has existed for more than 100 years, and has been experimentally verified to extremely high precision, so physicists are fairly certain it provides an accurate description of the causal structure of our Universe.
Time May Not Exist at All, According to Physics Science Alert - April 25, 2022
Does time exist? The answer to this question may seem obvious: Of course it does! Just look at a calendar or a clock. But developments in physics suggest the non-existence of time is an open possibility, and one that we should take seriously. Physics is in crisis. For the past century or so, we have explained the Universe with two wildly successful physical theories: general relativity and quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics describes how things work in the incredibly tiny world of particles and particle interactions. General relativity describes the big picture of gravity and how objects move.
Both theories work extremely well in their own right, but the two are thought to conflict with one another. Though the exact nature of the conflict is controversial, scientists generally agree both theories need to be replaced with a new, more general theory. Physicists want to produce a theory of "quantum gravity" that replaces general relativity and quantum mechanics, while capturing the extraordinary success of both. Such a theory would explain how gravity's big picture works at the miniature scale of particles.
Physicists Have Reversed Time on The Smallest Scale Using a Quantum Computer Science Alert - June 17, 2020
Researchers from Russia and the US teamed up to find a way to break, or at least bend, one of physics' most fundamental laws of energy. The second law of thermodynamics is less a hard rule and more of a guiding principle for the Universe. It says hot things get colder over time as energy transforms and spreads out from areas where it's most intense. It's a principle that explains why your coffee won't stay hot in a cold room, why it's easier to scramble an egg than unscramble it, and why nobody will ever let you patent a perpetual motion machine. It's also the closest we can get to a rule that tells us why we can remember what we had for dinner last night, but have no memory of next Christmas. That law is closely related to the notion of the arrow of time that posits the one-way direction of time from the past to the future. Virtually every other rule in physics can be flipped and still make sense. For example, you could zoom in on a game of pool, and a single collision between any two balls won't look weird if you happened to see it in reverse.
Where Does the Concept of Time Travel Come From? Live Science - November 2, 2019
The concept of time travel - moving through time the way we move through three-dimensional space - may in fact be hardwired into our perception of time. Linguists have recognized that we are essentially incapable of talking about temporal matters without referencing spatial ones. Perhaps because of this connection between space and time, the possibility that time can be experienced in different ways and traveled through has surprisingly early roots. One of the first known examples of time travel appears in the Mahabharata, an ancient Sanskrit epic poem compiled around 400 B.C. In the Mahabharata is a story about King Kakudmi, who lived millions of years ago and sought a suitable husband for his beautiful and accomplished daughter, Revati. The two travel to the home of the creator god Brahma to ask for advice. But while in Brahma's plane of existence, they must wait as the god listens to a 20-minute song, after which Brahma explains that time moves differently in the heavens than on Earth. It turned out that "27 chatur-yugas" had passed, or more than 116 million years, according to an online summary, and so everyone Kakudmi and Revati had ever known, including family members and potential suitors, was dead. After this shock, the story closes on a somewhat happy ending in that Revati is betrothed to Balarama, twin brother of the deity Krishna.
Traveling Back in Time With Lasers: One Scientist's Journey to Time Travel Interesting Engineering - January 8, 2019
Meet the scientist trying to travel back in time CNN - December 31, 2019
Researchers reverse the flow of time on IBM's quantum computer - Quantum simulation gives a sneak peek into the possibilities of time reversal Science Daily - March 14, 2019
Researchers have developed an algorithm to simulate returning a particle briefly to the past. The results suggest new paths for exploring the backward flow of time in quantum systems. They also open new possibilities for quantum computer program testing and error correction.
Physicists reverse time using quantum computer PhysOrg - March 14, 2019
Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology teamed up with colleagues from the U.S. and Switzerland and returned the state of a quantum computer a fraction of a second into the past. They also calculated the probability that an electron in empty interstellar space will spontaneously travel back into its recent past.
Time travel is 'technically possible' says physicist - but you'll only be able to go backwards Daily Mail - November 16, 2017
As the common tropes of science fiction continue to break out into reality, from humanoid robots to self-driving cars, there's one concept that has seemingly remained beyond our grasp: time travel. But, jumping through time might not be impossible, after all, according to one astrophysicist. By the rules of theoretical physics, certain conditions exist that would allow for the construction of elaborate wormholes, which could transport humans back to different eras. A wormhole could be constructed in a way that allows one end to remain nearly motionless, while the other moves at almost the speed of light. This could theoretically allow humans to travel through time.
Physicists Simulate Sending Particles of Light Into the Past, Strengthening the Case that Time Travel Is Possible Earth Mysteries - July 14, 2016
The study of closed time like curves (CTC's) provides valuable insight into particles that can loop back on themselves, breaking free of linear time.
Time Travel Is Possible: How to Send a Message to the Past Epoch Times - October 24, 2014
A scientist's journey through grief, aspiration, affirmation, and a loop in time. To understand the progress of this research, one must understand two of Einstein's theories:
According to Einstein's Special Relativity Theory, time is affected by speed and gravity.
Wormhole Is Best Bet for Time Machine, Astrophysicist Says Live Science - August 26, 2013
The concept of a time machine typically conjures up images of an implausible plot device used in a few too many science-fiction storylines. But according to Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, which explains how gravity operates in the universe, real-life time travel isn't just a vague fantasy. The concept of a time machine typically conjures up images of an implausible plot device used in a few too many science-fiction storylines. But according to Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, which explains how gravity operates in the universe, real-life time travel isn't just a vague fantasy. Traveling forward in time is an uncontroversial possibility, according to Einstein's theory. In fact, physicists have been able to send tiny particles called muons, which are similar to electrons, forward in time by manipulating the gravity around them. That's not to say the technology for sending humans 100 years into the future will be available anytime soon, though. Time travel to the past, however, is even less understood. Still, astrophysicist Eric W. Davis argues that it's possible. All you need, he says, is a wormhole, which is a theoretical passageway through space-time that is predicted by relativity.
Erasing history? Temporal cloaks adjust light's throttle to hide an event in time PhysOrg - October 12, 2011
Researchers from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., have demonstrated for the first time that it's possible to cloak a singular event in time, creating what has been described as a "history editor." In a feat of Einstein-inspired physics, Moti Fridman and his colleagues sent a beam of light traveling down an optical fiber and through a pair of so-called "time lenses." Between these two lenses, the researchers were able to briefly create a small bubble, or gap, in the flow of light. During that fleetingly brief moment, lasting only the tiniest fraction of a second, the gap functioned like a temporal hole, concealing the fact that a brief burst of light ever occurred.
Faster-Than-Light Discovery Raises Prospect of Time Travel Live Science - September 23, 2011
If subatomic particles called neutrinos can go faster than the speed of light, it would require a rethinking of the basics of physics, including the possibility of time travel.
Shock and Skepticism Greet Faster-Than-Light Discovery Live Science - September 23, 2011
The news that particles called neutrinos may travel faster than light has been met with shock, skepticism and excitement from physicists around the world.
Speed-of-light experiments give baffling result at Cern BBC - September 22, 2011
Puzzling results from Cern, home of the LHC, have confounded physicists - because it appears subatomic particles have exceeded the speed of light. Neutrinos sent through the ground from Cern toward the Gran Sasso laboratory in Italy, 732km away, seemed to show up a tiny fraction of a second early. The result - which threatens to upend a century of physics - will be put online for scrutiny by other scientists. In the meantime, the group says it is being very cautious about its claims.
Time travel: Light speed results cast fresh doubts BBC - July 26, 2011
Physicists have confirmed the ultimate speed limit for the packets of light called photons - making time travel even less likely than thought.
Big Bang simulated in metamaterial shows time travel is impossible PhysOrg - April 13, 2011
By observing the way that light moves inside a metamaterial, researchers have reconstructed how spacetime has expanded since the Big Bang. The results provide a better understanding of why time moves in only one direction, and also suggest that time travel is impossible.
Time travel theory avoids grandfather paradox PhysOrg - July 22, 2010
The possibility of going back in time only to kill your ancestors and prevent your own birth has posed a serious problem for potential time travelers, not even considering the technical details of building a time machine. But a new theory proposed by physicists at MIT suggests that this grandfather paradox could be avoided by using quantum teleportation and "post-selecting" what a time traveler could and could not do. So while murdering one's relatives is unfortunately possible in the present time, such actions would be strictly forbidden if you were to try them during a trip to the past.
The answer is because your consciousness is detaching from the girds that create the illusion of reality.
Why Time Seems to Slow Down in Emergencies Live Science - December 12, 2007
In The Matrix, the hero Neo could dodge bullets because time moved in slow motion for him during battles. Indeed, in the real world, people in danger often feel as if time slowed down for them. This warping of time apparently does not result from the brain speeding up from adrenaline when in danger. Instead, this feeling seems to be an illusion, scientists now find. To see if danger makes people experience time in slow motion, scientists at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston tried scaring volunteers. However, roller coasters and other frightening amusement park rides did not cause enough fear to make time warp.
Could Physicists Make A Time Machine? It All Depends On Curving Space-time Science Daily - August 23, 2007
Technion researchers have developed a theoretical model of a time machine that, in the distant future, could possibly enable future generations to travel into the past. In order to travel back in time, the spacetime structure must be engineered appropriately, This is what Einstein's theory of general relativity deals with. It says that spacetime can be flat. That is - it has a trivial, simple structure. But it can also be curved with various configurations. According to the theory of relativity, the essence of gravitational fields is in the curving of spacetime. The theory of relativity also defines how space is curved and how this curvature develops over time.
New model 'permits time travel' BBC - June 17, 2005
If you went back in time and met your teenage parents, you could not split them up and prevent your birth - even if you wanted to, a new quantum model has stated. Researchers speculate that time travel can occur within a kind of feedback loop where backwards movement is possible, but only in a way that is "complementary" to the present. In other words, you can pop back in time and have a look around, but you cannot do anything that will alter the present you left behind. The new model, which uses the laws of quantum mechanics, gets rid of the famous paradox surrounding time travel.
Pretend To Be A Time Traveler Day
The basic premise of this day is to pretend to be a time traveler, either from the past or future, who has somehow ended up in present day.
Science fiction presents opportunities to physically time travel with warnings about tampering with timelines. I have physically met people who claim to be from the future having traveled - or been sent back to this timeline - to warn us about whatever. This is sometimes associated with science, extraterrestrials, mental illness, or substance abuse.
If time is an illusion, we are all time travelers on a journey to simultaneously experience endless events on different levels of conscious awareness. At this level our brains focus on the green screens of physical reality and react accordingly. Metaphysics, Dreams, and Out of Body Experiences take Time Travelers on consciousness journeys allowing the observer to tap into the flow of the collective unconscious or grids of experience. All of reality is about experiencing and evolving through the Holographic Universe in which we dwell.
October 5, 2022. Do these images depict time travelers? I don't think so.
A painting from the 1860s has a detail seemingly swiped from modern times: a woman hunched and walking with her eyes seemingly glued to a phone. It looks like a book. We interpret what we want to see. A man crouches in wait to spring a flower on her.
which allegedly depicts a woman (?) talking on a cell phone
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ORNL, UT and Knoxville invent eco-friendly way to de-ice roads
The scientists at Oak Ridge National National Laboratory (ORNL) work hard every day to change the world, but sometimes it takes help from others to get a product out of the lab.
In 2016, Dr. Budhendra “Budhu" Bhaduri, director of ORNL's National Security Emerging Technologies Division, had one of those ideas that would require the whole community to come together to save billions of dollars and conserve wildlife in cities around the world.
Two years later, it took Bhaduri, one of his colleagues, a UT professor, a local businessman and Knoxville's public service crew to make Precision Delcer, a new way to de-ice roads, a reality.
Work on the state-of-the-art software started when Bhaduri and Dr. Olufemi "Femi" Omitaomu, a scientist in his division, were studying ways to implement Lidar data, a mapping tool that scans the earth's surface for geographical figures.
"When you have a geographic bend to your outlook of the world, you start asking questions," Bhaduri said. "I started noticing that if you have shades and shadows on the road that prevents the sun from hitting certain spots, that probably triggers a slower melting than others."
Bhaduri and Omitaomu knew that in Knoxville, a city that rarely has to spread brine, a saltwater mixture, on the roads, the project had some potential. But they were motivated by how the innovation could help smaller communities that are burdened by the cost of wasteful de-icing methods.
"The engineering mechanism (that salt trucks use) was so simple and usually not efficient. It was striking," Bhaduri said. "That's when we started having these conversations about what can we do to address salt issues now."
Their work sat untouched until 2018 when Dr. Ernie Cadotte, a professor at the UT's Haslam College of Business, made it the topic of his innovation and creativity class.
"I was aware of a lot of technology (at ORNL), and I was also aware that a lot of scientists have ideas but they can't commercialize them because it doesn't fit within their job description," Cadotte said. "I'm always looking for some technology that has some commercial potential, so one day, I asked Budhu if they had any technologies that he thought might have some commercial appeal but needed some work to understand the market."
Cadotte challenged his students to develop the scientists' idea into a marketable product. From there, Kevin Homan, president of Clinch River Computing, helped the students create a working prototype and partnered with Knoxville's public service department to equip a salt truck with the invention. Within two semesters, the product was ready to go on the road.
"It's was one of those things that I wasn't sure whether it was going to be worthwhile. We needed people who would be open to trying new things and putting some time into it," Cadotte said. "We were lucky in that respect."
Precision Delcer goes beyond bringing people together. If used to its fullest potential, the product could save governments billions and make the world a safer place for people and wildlife.
How it works
The core of Precision Delcer's capabilities is based in Omitaomu's research. He used Lidar data to map every 50 meters of road in Knoxville and rate the sections to determine the amount of brine they would need to melt ice and limit runoff.
Most salt trucks spill brine as they drive, but traditional systems do not account for how much salt roads need or the speed of the truck, meaning that some parts of roads get too much or too little brine. Test drives with Precision Delcer's technology show reductions of up to 14% of brine usage, reducing the amount of salt that cities dump into waterways and pile on roads.
"Brine is one of the deadliest things that we put out in the environment that not only corrodes our infrastructure but also harms wildlife," Bhaduri said. "Salt runoff from the streets is an enormous detriment to water quality and the aquatic population."
Increased salinity in freshwater negatively affects the water we drink and the animals that live in local waterways. Salty roads can also attract deer, who lick salt and cause driving hazards.
"There is a huge environmental cost associated with the way governments salt their roads," Bhaduri said. "We want to change that."
Precision Delcer also will save governments money that they can use for other projects or increase their salt coverage.
"We found that 90% of the U.S. counties that get large snow events are breaking their budget backbone to try to deal with those disasters," Bhaduri said. "Not many people die from snow and ice events – it never makes headlines. But, in the background, it makes a huge impact on local communities, especially small ones."
By reducing salt where it's not needed and applying it where the need is greatest, less fuel and fewer fillups are needed, truck routes can be extended and vehicle wear and emission will decline. Safer roads also allow people to get back to work and school more quickly after heavy snow and ice, boosting economic activity.
"There is a multibillion-dollar industry out there with this application of brine," Homan said. "It's really a wide open opportunity from a commercial perspective."
The first working field prototype went out on a Knoxville salt truck in January 2019. Everyone behind Precision Delcer is hoping it was just the beginning for the product.
Homan is taking Precision Delcer a step further by bringing a commercial version of the product to market for communities that are looking for a safer, more affordable option.
"Science and technology is very quantitative. We make widgets and engineering systems all the time, but some of these things never go out and make an ultimate impact on our society, unless there is a human element that we recognize," Bhaduri said. "To me, that has been one of the most enjoyable and fascinating aspects of this – how the community as a whole has been able to get themselves wrapped around this concept." | <urn:uuid:809dcc71-7fee-4beb-94ab-87a3be7c96b3> | CC-MAIN-2020-29 | https://www.knoxnews.com/story/money/2020/05/06/ornl-ut-and-knoxville-invent-precision-delcer-better-way-de-ice-roads/5137600002/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-29/segments/1593657131734.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20200712051058-20200712081058-00412.warc.gz | en | 0.976515 | 1,297 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Multi-tenancy is an architecture in which a single instance of a software application serves multiple customers. Each customer is called a tenant. Tenants may be given the ability to customize some parts of the application, such as color of the user interface (UI) or business rules, but they cannot customize the application’s code.
The WebLogic domain can now be split between partitions, which are logically associated to a tenant. Tenants can be different companies or departments, basically different users communities. The partitions are administrative parts of the domain as they can contain isolated resources (applications, data sources etc) as well as runtime components as partitions can be started and stopped, thus starting associated applications together with all their dependencies.
The term “software multitenancy” refers to a software architecture in which a single instance of software runs on a server and serves multiple tenants. A tenant is a group of users who share a common access with specific privileges to the software instance.
Multi-tenancy can be economical because software development and maintenance costs are shared. It can be contrasted with single-tenancy, an architecture in which each customer has their own software instance and may be given access to code. With a multi-tenancy architecture, the provider only has to make updates once. With a single-tenancy architecture, the provider has to touch multiple instances of the software in order to make updates.
In cloud computing, the meaning of multi-tenancy architecture has broadened because of new service models that take advantage of virtualization and remote access. A software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider, for example, can run one instance of its application on one instance of a database and provide web access to multiple customers. In such a scenario, each tenant’s data is isolated and remains invisible to other tenants.
Multi-tenancy is the key common attribute for both public and private clouds and it applies to all three layers of a cloud: IaaS, PaaS and SaaS.
- High security: There are 3 key components that define the degree of isolation between multiple tenants in a data center: access policies, application deployment and data access and protection.
- Economy: The software development and maintenance costs are shared between the tenants. Service assurance and faster updates: with multi-tenancy, the provider has to make updates once. In contrast with single-tenancy, an architecture in which each customer has their own software instance and may be given access to application code.
- Efficiency and flexibility: A SaaS provider can run one instance of its application on one instance of a database and provide web access to multiple customers. Each tenant’s data is isolated and remains invisible to other tenants.
- Lower costs through economies of scale: With a single-tenancy-hosted solution, SaaS vendors must build out their data center to accommodate new customers.
In contrast, in a multi-tenant environment, new users get access to the same basic software, so scaling has far fewer infrastructure implications for vendors (depending on the size of the application and the amount of infrastructure required).
- Ongoing maintenance and updates: End users don’t need to pay costly maintenance fees in order to keep their software up to date. New features and updates are included with a SaaS subscription and are rolled out by the vendor.
Configuration can be done while leaving the underlying codebase unchanged.
- Using WebLogic Server Multitenant improves your time to market, simplifies movement of workloads to and from the cloud, enables up to 3X hardware consolidation, and reduces operating expenses by up to 25%.
Benefits of a Multitenancy (MT) in Weblogic:
- Microcontainers: Domain partitions act like microcontainers, encapsulating applications and the resources (datasources, JMS servers, etc) they depend on. Partitions are isolated from each other, so that applications in one partition do not disrupt applications running in other partitions in the same server or domain. This results in :
-Max portability between environments
-Parity between development and production
-Fast start up/shutdown – disposability
-Easy scale up
-Enable migration to cloud
- Logical Virtualization within the application server: It includes administrative constructs and infrastructure, including pluggable partitions, that enable you to share domains for many applications. By pushing virtualization higher in the technology stack, more of the stack can be shared. More sharing results in better efficiency.
- Isolation: Virtualization within the application server naturally implies some form of isolation between the applications running on the shared platform. For WebLogic Server Multitenant, Oracle built several forms of isolation that are critical for consolidating independent applications into a shared domain. These isolations are :
-Runtime and resource management (JDK and WLS partnership, runtime resources like Heap, CPU, threads, request)
-Administrative (Admin roles, lifecycle troubleshooting for every partition)
-Security/Identity (realms, users per partition, separate authentication and authorization providers.)
-Traffic/data (dedicated JNDI segregated data, dedicated and shared coherence caches)
Security Isolation: In WebLogic Server Multitenant, each microcontainer can have a separate security realm. This enables you to define a separate set of administrators and users for the microcontainer, as well as separate authentication and authorization providers.
Administrative Isolation: WebLogic Server Multitenant enables just such a set of administrative isolation features. Each microcontainer can be managed by its own set of administrators. It can also be started, stopped, configured, and updated independently
Data Isolation: Because each microcontainer has its own dedicated data source configuration, Java Message Service (JMS) configuration, and dedicated Oracle Coherence runtime cache service, data for the microcontainer is isolated from the data for all other microcontainers. Data sources in a microcontainer provide a natural pointer to a separate data set –a hallmark of a microservice architecture. Because JMS messages are also stored and processed for an individual microcontainer, data in JMS messagesis also naturally segregated. With dedicated cache services within a shared Coherence cluster, cached data is also segregated for each microcontainer
- End-to-End Integration: Multitenancy provides end-to-end integration and ease of use with OracleTraffic Director, Oracle Coherence, and Oracle Database 12c pluggable databases. WebLogic Server MT lifecycle management links together partitions across different components to form one cohesive unit that serves a tenant’s needs. To do this, the lifecycle manager provides configuration integration across components.
Microcontainers within WebLogic Server are only part of the story for WebLogic Server Multitenant. The solution provides end-to-end integration and ease of use with Oracle Traffic Director, Oracle Coherence, and Oracle Database 12cpluggable databases. ORACLE WEBLOGIC SERVER MULTITENANT END-TO-END INTEGRATION WebLogic Server Multitenant End-to-End Integration included in WebLogic Server Multitenant is the integration with Oracle Traffic Director, which is a high throughput, low latency HTTP(s), WebSocket, and TCP software load balancer.
In a WebLogic Server Multitenant environment, Traffic Director can act as a microcontainer gateway. When you add a pluggable partition to a WebLogic Server configuration, the Traffic Director configuration is automatically updated to include routing information to the services running in the microcontainer. When you move the microcontainer to a different environment, Traffic Director automatically routes traffic to the new location.
Oracle Coherence, the industry leading in -memory data grid solution, is also part of the end-To -end integration story. Coherence clusters can be part of the shared infrastructure, which means additional efficiency, ease of use, and cost savings. For services running in microcontainers, WebLogic Multitenant can automatically create dedicated or shared cache services within a shared Coherence cluster without additional manual configuration
Few Terms used in Multitentancy:
Pluggable database: The multitenant architecture enables an Oracle database to function as a multitenant container database (CDB).A CDB includes zero, one, or many customer-created pluggable databases (PDBs).A PDB is a portable collection of schemas, schema objects, and nonschema objects that appears to an Oracle Net client as a non-CDB. All Oracle databases before Oracle Database 12c were non-CDBs. Two types:
Virtual host: defines how partition is accessible from external world. This information is automatically registered in Oracle traffic director.
Virtual targets: A virtual target is the target used by a resource group at the domain level and partition level. Virtual targets are targeted to managed servers or clusters and they define access points to resources.
Resource groups: With the introduction of Weblogic Multi-Tenant, you can group applications and resources to create a resource group with the elements needed by each environment. In addition, we should create partitions (one per each environment) to target one or more resource groups on these partitions.
- at the domain level : A resource group created at the domain level has a global scope and cannot be used by any partition
- at the domain partition level: a resource group created at the partition level has an scope that only covers that partition, it means that applications at this level are not available at the domain level or for other partitions
This configuration can be seen in the following picture
Partitions: A partition is an administrative and runtime unit that is equivalent to a portion of a domain, which is used to run applications and their resources. Oracle recommends that you should not create more than 10 partitions per domain.
Security realms: I will create a security realm per partition in order to manage the security independently.
Partition users: The security realms created in the previous step will be used to define administrative users in charge of the administration of each partition.
Tenants: Tenants represent distinct user organizations, such as different external companies (for example, Company A and Company B), or different departments within a single company (for example, HR and Finance), that use applications and resources within a WebLogic domains.
A tenant is a logical grouping of your own choosing; it is not a configurable object. That is, you manage domain partitions, not tenants.
Resource Group Templates: A named, domain-level collection of deployable resources intended to be used as a pattern by (usually) multiple resource groups. Each resource group that refers to a given template will have its own runtime copies of the resources defined in the template. A resource group template is a convenient way to define and replicate resources for multiple tenants. Resource group templates make it very easy to deploy the same collection of applications and resources to multiple domain partitions
Resource group templates are defined at the domain level, and then referenced by one or more resource groups.
WebLogic Server MT Supports Only Java EE Applications
This means that WebLogic Server MT does not support the following products:
- Oracle Web Service Manager
- SOA Suite
- Application Development Framework (ADF)
- Oracle Service Bus
- Oracle Enterprise Scheduler
- WebLogic SCA
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The present paper deals with a minority of burials in Roman (B-C) and Migration period (D) Norway, namely the ones containing weapons. Its aim is two-folded: 1) to present an overview of this material to non-Norwegian colleagues, and 2) to discuss the significance of the weapon burial rite in its Scandinavian and North European context. Regarding the first, I intend to focus on the chronology, regional distribution and typology of burials with weapons. As for the latter, the emphasis will be on weapon graves as evidence both of the militarisation of barbarian society in general and more specific of warlike relations between the Roman Empire and the northern Germans, particularly the question of Scandinavian auxiliaries in the Roman army.
In the Nordic area, the first weapon graves appear in the Late pre-Roman Iron Age; mainly, but not exclusively in parts of Denmark (Hedeager 1992:115). Well-known examples are found on Bornholm (for instance Simblegård) and Fyn (Langå). As for Norway, a small number of finds, mostly from the south eastern part of the country and all of them cremations, shows this early development here as well (cf Martens 2008). The oldest group of weapon graves in Barbaricum occurs east of the River Oder in the early part of the Late pre-Roman Iron Age, and according to some researchers, the rite might have its origins in the Upper or Middle Vistula area (Adler 1993: 211).
Although there are clear regional differences when it comes to leaving weapons with the dead (Hedeager & Kristiansen 1981:122f; Watt 2003), the practice of leaving weapons with the dead from that point onward exists in many parts of Scandinavia right through to Christian times, i.e. to the late 10th and.early 11th centuries. For large tracts of Norway, the majority of weapon graves do in fact belong to the Viking period (late 8th – mid 11th cent.).
Norway’s physical geography
Norway is one of Europe’s most mountainous countries; average elevation is 460 m, and more than 30 % of the mainland is located above the tree line. It’s long and rugged coastline (covering 13° latitude from 58°N to 71°N) is strewn with some 50,000 islands. The whole of Norway was glaciered during the last ice age, as well as during several earlier glacial stages. The glacier’s movement carved out valleys, some of which became fjords when the ice melted, and the retreating glacier left pockets of sediment which have attracted settlements since the Neolitihic.
The large mountain range that runs through the Scandinavian Peninsula separates the eastern from the western parts of the country. This, and the limited distribution of land suitable for agriculture, means that Norway during most historical periods has been characterised by a limited number of clearly demarcated settlement regions and districts, separated by mountains, woodland and/or water. Due to the same limited distribution of sediment, the settlement structure, in the Roman period as in historical times, has by and large been characterised by either single farms or very small clustered settlements. The land to the east of the Scandinavian Mountains (Østlandet) is dominated by a number of valleys congregating on the Oslofjord, among them Gudbrandsdal, Valdres, Hallingdal, and Østerdal. Some of Norway’s main agricultural areas are situated in the southeastern part of the country, primarily in the lowland Oslofjord area (Østfold and Vestfold) and in the districts centered on the lakes Mjøsa, Randsfjorden, and Tyrifjorden. The southernmost part of the country mostly consists of low hills to the south of the mountain range, only broken by river valleys where the estuaries in particular are suitable for settlement. Two smaller areas stand out for being very flat and historically speaking relatively densely populated; the coastal districts of Lista and Jæren.
Western Norway is dominated by deep fjords, the largest being Sognefjord and Hardangerfjord, with steep mountains going all the way to the sea. In this traditionally treeless area, the main settlement districts are situated on larger islands like Karmøy, as well as in the inner fjord areas. Further north, the area bordering on the Trondheimsfjord with its more gentle landscape constitutes another major agricultural region (called Trøndelag), comparable to the Oslofjord area. Here, the valleys congregating on the fjord open up and form rather extensive lowland areas. North of Trøndelag the landscape is again dominated by high mountains stretching all the way to the coast, and with numerous fjords. Along the coast of North Norway are several large islands, including Lofoten and Vesterålen.
Norway’s long coastline means that, historically speaking, the main routes linking the different regions and settlement districts were coastal routes using boats or ships. In a mountaineous country like this, inland routes were never as important as the sea routes. However, a number of main routes through the inland valleys of Østlandet connected the Oslofjord area and Vestlandet and Trøndelag, respectively.
Types of burials
Mortuary customs in Roman and Migration period Norway are varied and complex. Both extensive cemeteries, smaller clusters of graves and isolated graves are known, the first two probably reflecting variations in settlement structure between villages or clustered settlements on the one side, and single farms on the other (cf Stylegar 2006). Well-known cemeteries like Gunnarstorp and Store-Dal in Østfold in the Oslofjord region are of the first mentioned type, as is the Veien cemetery in Buskerud, bordering on the Tyrifjorden.
Mounds as well as cairns are common in most of the country during this whole period. The mounds are sometimes surrounded by circular ditches or stone settings, or they have a standing stone on top. There is a myriad of grave types besided mounds and cairns: singular standing stones, several stones put together as circular, square, triangular or ship-shaped stone settings, and flat graves without any visible marking above ground.
Both cremations and inhumations are widespread. In a macro-perspective, cremation was the only rite in the Pre-Roman Iron Age, and its domination continues throughout the Roman and Migration periods (and, in most parts of Norway, even later; until Christianisation, in fact). However, the very first inhumations appear in the Early Roman period. In this respect, Norway is no different from most Germanic areas. The oldest inhumations in the country are associated with the above-mentioned extensive cemeteries in the Oslofjord area. In the Late Roman period, and even more so in the Migration period, we have the majority of inhumation graves in the western and northern parts of the country.
Among the inhumations, wooden coffins and stone cists (‘hellekister’) are both common. A minority of inhumation graves are dug into the ground, while in most cases the dead body has been put on the ground (either in a wooden coffin or stone cist or without) and a mound erected on top. There are a small number of graves in wooden chamber, starting in the Late Roman period. In the Migration period the stone cists can be oversized, some of them 6 or 7 m long. The latter is a regional trait, found in the southwestern part of the country (Stylegar in press). Inhumation graves are often richly furnished, often with a number of vessels for food and drink that are usually placed at the foot-end, i.e. in most cases to the south. In many instances the deceased is laid to rest on textiles, horsehides etc.
There are also several different types of cremations. Urn burials are the most common type; the urn is either a ceramic vessel, a wooden vessel or an imported Roman bronze vessel. Sometimes the cremated bones are tucked into sheats of birch bark. Most urn burials either have very few furnishings or lack them completely. It is not uncommon to find fibulas and other dress accessories, and likewise bear claws from skins which were either worn by the dead or served as blankets during the burning of the dead body. Some urn burials do, however, come with rich furnishings, and this goes for other types of cremation burials as well. The urn is either dug into the ground or put in a mound or cairn; sometimes in a small stone cist. Cremation pits and cremation layers without urns are also known. It is often difficult to distinguish between cremation layers and urn burials in a vessel made from clay or organic material.
Weapons in cremation graves are in most cases ritually destroyed, often by bending.
It is neccessary to say a few words about the material presented in this paper. In total, 552 weapon graves dating from the Early Roman Period through the Migration Period are included. Most of these graves, but far from all of them, are easily accessible through published find catalogues (mainly Fett 1940; Ilkjær 1990; Bemman & Hahne 1994). I also rely on a number of regional studies (Shetelig 1900, 1912a, 1912b; Grieg 1926, 1932; Hougen 1924, 1929; Herteig 1955; Petersen 1957; Sjøvold 1962; Straume 1962; Munch 1965; Marstrander 1983; Resi 1986).
The Early Roman Period (B1-B2)
Let us now, picking up from where we left, i.e. at the end of the Pre-Roman Iron Age, have a closer look at the distribution of various types of weapon graves over the next few centuries. Starting with the Early Roman Period, there is still a very limited number of burials with weapons, although many more than in the previous period. Apart from a cluster of graves near the Oslofjord (most of the in Østfold), as in the previous period, there is now a handful of weapon graves in Jæren, near Stavanger, as well as scattered graves in the coastal districts in the West, and a few in Trøndelag. There are about as many inhumations as cremations. The former are part of a bigger picture of early inhumations dating from the first and second centuries AD, many of which do not contain any weapons, but are otherwise richly furnished. The inhumation graves with weapons are in most cases cut into the ground, a trait which seems rather typical of this period but which occurs only a few times in the following periods, and with a mound built on top. The large stone cists (‘hellekister’) do not appear until the Late Roman Period. As for the cremation graves, they are of one of two major types – urn burials, with the urns in the Early Roman period in most cases made from either wood or clay, or cremation layers. In a small number of burials dating from this period, a Roman bronze cauldron is used as an urn.
The major difference regarding the distribution of weapon graves in comparison with the Late Pre-Roman period is the substantial number of graves in the inland districts of Østlandet, called Opplandene (literally ‘the uplands’), an area with no weapon graves dating to the Late Pre-Roman Period. There is a cluster around lake Mjøsa (the historical districts of Toten and Hedmarken), and also around two other big inland waters of East Norway, namely lake Randsfjorden and lake Tyrifjorden (the historical districts of Hadeland and Ringerike, respectively). All these weapon graves are cremations, and, although a number of them are urn burials (one of them, interestingly, using a shield boss as urn), there are no instances from Opplandene where a Roman bronze vessel is being used as an urn in this period. This, however, would change in the Late Roman Period.
The Early Roman Period material from Norway is too small, 60 graves in total, and too heterogenous to make any assumptions about weapon combinations etc. Two graves stand out as being more richly furnished than the others; both are inhumations, and both are from the Oslofjord area. A third grave should be mentioned; an urn burial from Rogaland dating from B2, and which has, and this is indeed a rarity, a horse bit among its furnishings.
The Late Roman Period (C1-C2)
In the 3rd century, we are dealing with a significant rise in the number of weapon graves. There is a total of 195 graves with weapons dating from periods C1 and C2. The distribution of the graves is in some ways similar to what we saw in the previous period; thus, the districts bordering on the Oslofjord still have a number of finds, as have Jæren as well as Trøndelag. Now there is also a certain density of weapon graves in Sogn, and the first graves are appearing in the coastal districts in northern Norway, including Lofoten. The distribution pattern is characterised by a number of marked clusters separated by large tracts where weapon graves are rare or non-existing.
But the outstanding feature regarding the distribution is again the graves in ‘the uplands’ of eastern Norway. Almost half of Norway’s Late Roman weapon graves stem from the central settlement districts of Hedmarken, Toten, Hadeland, and, as a ‘newcomer’, Valdres, which is a mountain valley situated halfway between Oslo and Bergen. Valdres and Hadeland alone account for nearly a quarter of all Late Roman Period weapon graves in Norway. The number of weapon graves in these upland parts of the country is matched by Gotland only in Scandinavia.
In Opplandene, as in eastern Norway as such, the weapon burial rite peaks in the Late Roman Period, in fact it peaks in C1.
As in the previous period, the weapon graves is not a homogenous group. For instance, both cremations and inhumations occur regularly, even if it is possible to discern regional regularities in this respect. Thus, while both rites are found in the Oslofjord region, in the West and in Trøndelag, cremations dominate in the former region and inhumations in the latter two (even if the typical ‘hellekister’ are not introduced until C2, and then only slowly). North of Trøndelag only inhumations are known, while all weapon graves in the Opplandene are cremations.
The majority of weapon graves in this period are poorly furnished except for the weapons. But there are a few outstanding finds which are indeed richly furnished. First among them is of course the chieftain’s grave from Avaldsnes in Rogaland. The Avaldsnes find includes a golden neck ring weighing close to 600 kilograms.
A particular type of urn graves stand out clearly against the background of cremation layers, which seems to be the otherwise dominant type of rite in Opplandene. This is the urn burials which I mentioned earlier, the ones where the urn is an imported Roman bronze vessel. In most cases the vessel in question is a so-called Østland cauldron, Eggers’ types 38-42 (cf Eggers 1951). The burials in Østland cauldrons can be male or female, although the majority seems to be male. Most such graves have little or no furnishings. But there is a characteristic group of burials in Østland cauldrons which also contain weapons. Even if these occur as isolated graves in many coastal areas north to and including Trøndelag, there is a marked cluster in Opplandene, more precisely in Hadeland (there are no such graves in Valdres, for instance).
These particular weapon graves have caused much debate among scholars, and I will discuss them more closely later on.
The Migration Period (C3-D2)
At first glance, the total number of Migration Period weapon graves, 296, seems to prove a further strenghtening of the weapon burial rite in the fifth and early sixth centuries. However, what we are dealing with is a regionalisation of the rite; while most areas can document either a stand-still or a decrease in weapon burials in this late period, there is a marked growth in the number of graves in the West, i.e. the districts of Agder, Rogaland, Hordaland, Sogn and, to some degree, Møre, as well as in the North. There are several clusters of weapon graves in the West, the first and foremost being Jæren. Agder, Rogaland, Hordaland and Sogn account for over sixty percent of the weapon graves in this period. In these areas the weapon burials are almost exclusively inhumations, and they are intimately connected to the huge stone cists, the ‘hellekister’.
In the East, weapon graves are now completely absent from many areas, most conspiciously from Hadeland, while Valdres still has a number of graves. As for the Oslofjord region, most of the weapon graves in this period are found in Vestfold and Telemark, on the western side of the fjord, but even there the number of graves are decreasing, even if the remaining ones are more elaborately furnished than in the preceding period. The majority of these late weapon graves belongs to the early part of the period. Eastern Norway is now unequivocally bi-ritual; the relatively few and scattered weapon graves are either cremations or inhumations. In Opplandene there is still a predominance of cremation graves, with only the uppermost part of Valdres, which historically speaking has had extensive contacts to the West, being dominated by inhumations.
Urn burials, including in bronze cauldrons, are a significant trait in western Norway in the Migration Period. But, in contrast to the preceding period, they no longer feature weapons. In the East urn burials – with or without weapons – are virtually non-existing.
In the bigger scheme of things, Hadeland and the Oslofjord region follows Denmark, mainland Sweden and large parts of Barbaricum in that the practice of putting weapons in graves decreases after period C1a (Ilkjær 2001:2).
The ‘hellekister’ in the West is a special case. They first appear in C2, as stated above, and they peak in D1. The same goes for the weapon graves in western Norway. The ‘hellekister’ are made from flagstones, they are very often ‘oversized’, i.e. very long and relatively narrow, and it is difficult to point to any real model for this typical western rite. The Roman Period stone cists in Jutland, Denmark (see Lysdahl 1971), are too different to be considered as the model for the ‘hellekister’, although there are some affinities between the Jutland cists and a local group of subterranean cists in the district of Vest-Agder.
For most of the Roman Period, and to some extent still in the Migration Period, there seems to be a negative correlation between graves with weapons and graves with drinking equipment made from glass or bronze or other imported objects, as well as personal jewellery and food offerings. The main exceptions are obvious high-status graves like Avaldsnes, Sætrang and Snartemo. Still, there is a greater degree of overlap between richly furnished graves and weapon graves in the latest phases of the Late Roman Period (C2-C3) and in the Migration Period than in the preceding periods, and this is particularly so in western Norway, where quite a few ‘hellekister’ contain both weapons and several ceramic vessels, jewellery in the shape of golden finger rings, in some cases imported glass beakers etc.
Weapons and status
What do the weapon graves represent, then, status wise? The use of weapons in burial rituals is basically a reflection of the militarisation of societies in the tribal zone beyond the limes (Stylegar 2008). Hedeager’s 1992 study of Roman Period weapon graves in Denmark concluded that weapons are usually found with younger men, ’in other words, weapons are particularly linked to the function of the active warrior’ (1992:162). Several more recent studies have taken Illerup and the other Roman Period war-booty offerings in South Scandinavia as their departure point, and tried to correlate weapon combinations and military hierarchy from these finds with other types of archaeological source material, not least the contemporary weapon graves (von Carnap-Bornheim 1992; Gansum 2000; Ilkjær 1990, 1993, 2001, 2003; Ilkjær & von Carnap-Bornheim 1999; Solberg 2003:103-123; Stylegar 2008).
As for Norway, Roman period weapon graves have been the subject of a number of recent studies (Joki 2006; Eketuft Rygh 2007; Storli 2006; Stylegar 2008). Storli, for instance, has suggested that a relative distribution of weapon groups similar to the one argued by Hedeager in her 1992 work can be discerned in Northern Norway. She follows Hedeager in arguing that individuals buried with a complete set of weapons represent a military elite (Storli 2006:88-89).
But it makes sense to distinguish between the earlier graves furnished exclusively with weapons, and the later ones which includes weapons as well as a wide array of other categories of objects. It is possible, inded, it is likely, that while the earlier graves signal a warrior identity or warrior status pure and simple, in the latter ones we are dealing with a more complex, probably aristocratic identity, where the martial theme are expressed as part of a bundle of different aspects, including the long-distance political contacts witnessed by Roman import finds. Let us concentrate on the early graves, and view them in light on what they might tell us about warrior status and military organisation in Roman Period Scandinavia.
The types of weapons used by Germanic armies in the Late Roman period are well-known and well studied. Thanks to the excavations and subsequent publications of Illerup, Ejsbøl and other war-booty offerings, we now also have a rather clear picture of functional aspects and internal organisation of Germanic armies. Ilkjær and von Carnap-Bornheim differentiates between three qualitatively different combinations of weapon equipment, and thus three different levels of hierarchy in the beseiged army at Illerup: army commanders with swords, shields, belts, and riding gear decorated with mounts made of gilded silver, officers with swords, shields, belts, and riding gear decorated with bronze mounts, and regulars or infantry with a combination of weapons different from the officers, most often a spear, a javelin, and a shield with mounts primarily made of iron. In the only partially excavated Illerup ’A’ offering, 5-6 sets of weapons associated with the uppermost level were found, against 35-40 associated with the middle level, and c. 350 with the lower (Ilkjær 2003:50).
A study of the Late Roman weapon graves from Opplandene, altogether c. 150 finds, makes a useful comparison with these results from Illerup (Stylegar 2008). Here, the numerical distribution of weapon types is rather similar to the one from Illerup: 12 % of the weapon graves can be attributed to Ilkjær’s level 2, against 88 % in level 3. For Illerup ’A’, the comparable ratios would be 9 % and 89 %, respectively. Only one burial in the study area belongs to level 1 – the C3 burial from Sætrang in Ringerike, Buskerud, with a bandoleer with silver fittings. This single burial of course defy any statistics (it equals 0,7 %; just one more find would bring the percentage up to 1,3, and thus very close to Illerup’s 1,5 %).
The geographical distribution of weapon graves in Opplandene is interesting in this regard. As mentioned already, there are major clusters of such graves in some local areas, like Hadeland, Hedemarken and Valdres. But there are other, more enlightening facts about the distribution of weapon graves in this area. There is a tendency for graves with swords, either belonging to level 2 or level 3, to form large, marked clusters. Graves with lance and/or javelin (and sometimes shield) as the only weapon(s), however, also occur in more peripheral areas, and thus have a much more widespread distribution than the sword graves. In the Illerup find, swords are associated with the upper and middle level of the military hierarchy, as well as with a minority within the lower level. But topographically speaking there seem to be clear differences between weapon graves with or without swords, as graves with swords are found first and foremost in clusters which also contain level 2 graves, i.e. graves associated with the middle level of the Illerup hierarchy. There is only one kind of military organisation which seems to fit this pattern, namely aristocratic retinues – with chieftains and their sword-bearing retinues residing on central farms, while spear-wielding regulars who could be called upon in case of war, otherwise were making a living on more peripheral farms (cf Stylegar 2008).
There is an extensive literature concerning the retinue or comitatus described by Tacitus and said to be widespread among the Germans (Germania, ch. 13-15; see for instance von Carnap-Bornheim 1992). The comites would consist of both cavalry and infantry (Kristensen 1983). They had taken a special oath which obliged them to assist their leader (princeps) in war as well as peace. In return they received maintenance, gifts and a part of the spoils in case of raids or other war-like acitivities. The princeps’ reputation depended on the number of brave warriors in his retinue, which again depended on his generousity and luck in war. In peace time the retinue was a heavy burden, economically speaking (Hedeager & Tvarnø 2001:105). Skre argues that ’the aristocracy in the Nordic countries had warriors attached to their persons and households from the Roman Period and well into the Middle Ages’ (Skre 1998:261).
Several of the 3rd century weapon types occuring regularly in the Opplandene region of eastern Norway, have close parallels in a south-eastern zone stretching through Gotland, Bornholm, Funen, South Jutland, Mecklenburg, western Prussia, Silesia and Bohemia, while they are comparatively rare both in western Scandinavia and north-western parts of the Continent (Grieg 1926:91). A long time ago, H. Shetelig pointed out that these types probably represents the weapons used by Roman supporting troops, auxiliarii (Shetelig quoted in Grieg 1926, p. 91; cf. Albrethsen 1997).
The characteristic clusters of 3rd century weapon graves in Opplandene were introduced into the scholarly debate by Shetelig already in 1900, and he returned to comment on this phenomenon at several later occasions (Shetelig 1900, 1920, 1925).
’Cremation burials with a rich equipment of weapons and often with imported bronze vessels appear sporadically, one and one, from the beginning of the Roman Iron Age on both sides of the Oslofjord, and in the lake districts in the Uplands, at Tyrifjorden and Randsfjorden. … It is the older finds, from the 1st-3rd centuries, that have this rather widespread and even distribution across Eastern Norway. But during the 3rd, and even stronger in the 4th century, the burials of this type cluster very clearly in one single, limited area, in Hadeland with Toten and Valdres, the old historical Hadeland, while they gradually disappear elsewhere’ (Shetelig1925:136).
In 1920 he explicitly linked the Late Roman Period weapon graves in Hadeland, Toten and Valdres to finds from the area occupied by the Marcomanni and their Germanic allies during the Macomannic wars of the late 2nd century. ‘The men buried here,’ he wrote, ‘seem to be strangers towards traditions and rites in the local area, and at the same time they have very close connections to Barbaric-Roman culture in the border areas of the Empire. Through literary cues one is led to believe that this people were migrants returning home, people who had been with the German tribes in Bohemia or on the Danube’ (Shetelig 1920).
Shetelig especially linked this return to the name Hadeland, i.e. ’land of the warriors’ (Shetelig 1920; for the possible meaning of the landscape name, see Sandnes & Stemshaug 1997). Shetelig’s hypothesis was later supported by S. Grieg, even if the latter believed that the people buried in the weapon graves in Opplandene were new immigrants from Europe, and not warriors returning home (Grieg 1926:91). Others have been more skeptical; A. Herteig in his study of Toten arged that most weapon graves in the area stem from what today are wealthy farms, and thus that the weapon burial custom reflected the upper strata of a farming society (Herteig 1955).
Still, the distribution pattern of the weapon graves in Opplandene seems to me to give support to Shetelig’s ideas, in the very least to a variety of his hypothesis. Three different questions have to be answered: Why do the weapon types and weapon combinations in Scandinavian graves adjust to changing conditions in the Roman army with little or no delay? How do we interpret the particular pattern of distribution of weapon graves in areas like Opplandene; meaning not only the characteristic clusters in smaller districts like Hadeland, but also the way the different types of weapon combinations are distributed? The distribution pattern does not fit well neither with the idea of individual warriors returning from service on the European continent, nor with a farming population utilising martial symbolism simply as a status marker. It is a whole system we seem to be dealing with, and this strongly suggests that what we have for instance in Hadeland, is either a local or regional military organisation, or/and a larger group of warriors returning home or settling in a new area.
There seems to be a mutual relationship between this military organisation in Opplandene and the Germanic armies pushing against the Roman Empire’s northern frontier on the upper and middle Danube in the late 2nd century, or indeed the Roman armies defending the frontier. Discussing the Illerup ‘A’ find, Pauli Jensen et al. suggest that the similiarities between ‘the Germans who fought on the Roman side in the Marcomannic wars and later on served as mercenaries in the period after Marcus Aurelius, have brought home with them their knowledge of the Roman military structure’ (2003.325). Poignant examples from east Norway in this respect are a handful of weapon graves with spurs and three or more spears, in the fashion of Roman cavalrymen (cf. Kontny 2008:118, Hyland 1993).
It is not only a question of transferring knowledge, however. Many of the weapon graves in Opplandene contain weapons which are not only based on Roman models, but are in fact Roman products. These are double-edged swords, some of them with figure inlays (Rygge 1970; Ilkjær & von Carnap-Bornheim 1999, 2000). Shield-bosses, lances and spears appears to be Scandinavian products (ibid.); interestingly, the major iron-producing areas in Norway during the Late Roman Period are situated in Valdres, Gudbrandsdal and Trøndelag, i.e. areas with many weapon graves (Stenvik 1997; Larsen & Rundberget 2008). Apart from swords, many weapon graves in Opplandene, especially in Hadeland, contains imported bronze vessels. These graves in particular links Opplandene with the European mainland.
Among the Late Roman Period weapon graves the ones where an imported bronze cauldron serves as an urn is a characteristic group. In these graves weapons, and sometimes a few other types of personal objects, are kept in a bronze vessel together with the cremated bones. The cauldron, in most cases a so-called Östland cauldron (Eggers types 37-43), is often placed in a small stone chamber inside a mound; there are only a couple of examples of the cauldron being placed in a pit below the surface. These ‘cauldron burials’ from the 2nd and 3rd centuries have a distribution very similar to the distribution of weapon types discussed above; they are found along an axis stretching from Norway along a south-eastern route through Central Europe, where similar graves are known from cemeteries like Hagenow in Mecklenburg, and ending in present-day Bohemia and cemeteries like Dobřichova-Pichora (Droberjar 2006; Voss 2007; Baumgartl 2009). Some of these cemeteries have a very large percentage of weapon graves, as have districts like Hadeland and Valdres in Norway (Kolník 1980; Droberjar 2006). As U.-H. Voss (2007) argues about the cemetery of Hagenow, five or six generations of an elite manifest rank and status through burial rites, using weapons and military equipment, as well as other artefacts stemming from participation both in Roman military service and Germanic retinues. Early Germanic kingdoms like Maroboduus’, which were consciously modeled on the Roman system, would give ample opportunities for the barbarian elite in this respect. It seems only natural to interpret the ‘cauldron burials’ in Opplandene in this light.
The weapon graves from Opplandene are not very lavishly equipped. Except for weapons and (in some case) a bronze urn they do not contain much. Other Roman Period burials from Norway, often inhumations, are richer in the sense that they have more Roman imports (glass vessels and bronze drinking utensils) as well as objects made from precious metals in them, but these graves do not, as a rule, contain weapons. Some of these latter graves, spread out both geographically and chronologically, might represent individuals having diplomatic contacts with the Romans, i.e. foederati (cf. Grane 2007 for a number of possible examples from Denmark). This is a possible explanation also for a small number of very rich weapon graves situated away from the clusters with ordinary weapon graves, with Avaldsnes and Kongshaugen/Giske, both from western Norway, as the prime examples.
Addendum: Auxiliaries’ graves, Chatyr Dag and the Norwegian connection
In a context like the present publication, it seems fitting to comment rather briefly upon the Late Roman Period cemetery of Chatyr-Dag in the Crimea, as the graves there have been connected not only to Germanic auxiliarii, but even to auxiliaries originating from present-day Norway (Kazanski 1991; Myts et al. 2006).
Auxiliaries in the Roman army were recruited from peoples that did not have Roman citizenship. Men who came to the auxiliaries were either volunteers or conscripts. Some allied tribes, such as the Batavians, provided troops to the Romans in place of taxes of money or goods. Certain auxiliary units were formed of single ethnic groups, such as cohors I Hamiorum Sagittariorum, a unit of Syrian archers stationed on Hadrian’s Wall in Britain (Anderson 2009:16). The Roman army was essentially based on heavy infantry, thus it favored the recruitment of auxiliaries with different specialities, such as missile troops, cavalry, or light infantry. So what do we know about the burial rites of these Roman auxiliarii?
Burial with weapons is not a ‘Roman’ rite, meaning that it is not an Italian tradition, despite the fact that Roman weapons appear in numerous burials, even within the Empire. ‘Depositing weapons in graves’, writes N. Roymans, ‘represents a tradition which was not practiced within the Roman army; members who died during active service were buried by their fellow soldiers without their equipment’ (1996:35). Discussing weapon graves in native cemeteries within the Empire, Roymans suggests that these belong to ‘veterans of auxiliary units who, on ending their active service, had taken their equipment or part of it home. When they died, they were buried according to native traditions’ (ibid). But weapon burials also occur in some Roman legionary sites, like Krefeld-Gellep, as well as in Hees and Hatert near Nijmegen (Anderson 2009:147f).
There are several cemeteries within the borders of the Empire which have been interpreted as belonging to auxiliary units. Well-known examples are Windisch-Dägerli in Switzerland and Brougham in England (Hintermann 2000; Cool 2004). Both these cemeteries are located next to a known and long-used military installation, and with the majority of the burials dating to the period of military occupation. Several different legions and auxiliary units were stationed at Windisch (Vindonissa), while Brougham (Brocavum) seems to have housed only one auxiliary unit – the cavalry unit numerus equtium Stratonicianorum (Anderson 2009:106). Both cemeteries included urned as well as unurned burials, and militaria were found in a number of graves. Not only men, but also women and children were buried in these cemeteries (Anderson 2009:123).
Other cemeteries have been more or less convincingly linked to Germanic auxiliaries, even if written sources do not specifically mention the presence of auxiliarii units in the area. This is the case for instance with a single weapon burial in Algarve, Portugal and the cemetery of Queen Alia Airport, Jordan. In the Algarve case, the identification of the decased as a Roman auxiliary soldier of Germanic descent is based on the sword found in the grave; in the Jordanian case a single cremation burial in an inhumation cemetery seems to be the only basis for the identification of the deceased as a barbarian auxiliary (Ibrahim & Gordon 1987; Mendes 1999, cf. Anderson 2009:138f.).
As for the cemetery of Chatyr-Dag in the Crimea, it is situated on the south-eastern slope of the mountain ridge of this name, ca. 8 km to the north of Alushta and near the modern road between this city and Simferopol. 55 graves were excavated at Chatyr-Dag between 1980 and 2002 (Myts et al. 2006). The cemetery was used from c. AD 250 to the early part of the 4th century. Most of the burials were cremation pits, but a number of burials were cremations in stone cists with bent weapons and tools and agricultural implements. This particular combination is otherwise known in the Crimea only from Charax, which had hosted a detachment of the Legio XI Claudia at the end of the 2nd century (ibid.). Thus it seems logical to look outside the Crimea for the origins of the people buried in these two cemeteries.
V.L. Myts et al. seek to put the cemetery at Chatyr-Dag into the historical context of relations between the Roman Empire, the Bosphorian kingdom and other peoples in the Crimea in the late 3rd century. They argue that the emperors of the Tetrarchy used barbarian mercenaries to guard an important mountain road along the southern coast of the Crimea from Chersoneses to Theodosia. Both Chatyr-Dag and Charax lay exactly on this road (2006:193). As for the origins of the men buried at Chatyr-Dag, Myts et al. state that no similar burial rite is known neither from the northern Caucasus nor from central and east Europe. The only place where cremations in stone cists with weapons and agricultural implements are known in the Roman period, they continue, with reference to M. Kazanski (1991:496), is south Norway (Myts et al. 2006:193).
These authors make a convincing case for interepreting the cemetery at Chatyr-Dag as belonging to Roman auxiliary troops. But the identication of these soldiers with people of Norwegian origins is not rock-solid.
Kazanski (1991) mentions a number of graves, mostly from Opplandene, as examples of graves where cremations in stone cists and bent weapons as well as agricultural implements as furnishings occur. While all these traits are indeed known from Roman Period Norway, the are hardly ever found combined. Kazanski mentions graves like Snortheim and Fjellberg in Valdres, Snipstad, Valle and Gile in Toten and Egge in Hadeland. All these graves are weapon graves, and all are cremations. Except for Egge, the weapons in them are bent. Egge and Gile are cremations in small stone cists, but not the other ones. All of them are burials in mounds, and not dug-down (as opposed to the flat graves at Chatyr-Dag). Agricultural implements are furthermore rare in Norwegian graves from this period. None of the graves mentioned by Kazanski have them. In east Norway some Roman Period urn burials have a small sickle or leaf knife, but these are never combined with weapons. A small handful of weapon graves do have a type of curved iron knife probably used for preparing animal hides, but this type of object is almost exclusively found in women’s graves (Gustafsson 1981, see also Petersen 1957; Grieg 1926:96). The weapon graves in south Norway in most cases contain weapons only, and almost never any objects except personal equipment (mostly small objects which would have been attached to the belt).
The particular combinations known from Chatyr-Dag do not to my knowledge occur in Norway at all in the Roman Period, even if all the single elements can be found in Norway. But the same can be said for different parts of Europe. Bent weapons is of course a traditon with roots in the Pre-Roman Iron Age, and it is found many places in North Europe, including in a minority of cases within the Przeworsk and Chernyakov cultures (Moscati 2001). Cremations with weapons and agricultural implements (sickles and curved knives) feature prominently in Germanic cemeteries in Saxony, Mecklenburg and Pommerania; this is indeed one of the main differences between the weapon graves at Hagenow, for instance, and the ones from Hadeland.
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M. Watt 2003. Våbengravene – regionale forskelle inden for våbentyper og gravskik i Danmark, 100 f.Kr.-400 e.Kr. In L. Jørgensen, B. Storgaard & L. G. Thomsen eds.: Sejrens triumf. Norden i skyggen af det romerske imperium. Copenhagen. | <urn:uuid:07b270bc-0b72-4f79-a51c-2a6749cc0fb8> | CC-MAIN-2021-21 | https://arkeologi.blogspot.com/2011/08/weapons-graves-in-iron-age-norway-1-550.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-21/segments/1620243988802.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20210507181103-20210507211103-00601.warc.gz | en | 0.893152 | 13,026 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Avoiding Wildfire Damage
A Checklist for Homeowners
If you live in a forest or wildland area, you face the real danger of wildfire. Wildfires destroy thousands of homes and devastate hundreds of thousands of acres of woodland every year.
Protecting your home from wildfire is your responsibility. To reduce the risk, you’ll need to consider the fire resistance of your home, the topography of your property and the nature of the vegetation close by.
This homeowner’s checklist will help learn what you can do. You should also contact your local fire department, forestry office, emergency management office or building department for information about local fire laws, building codes and protection measures.
Always be ready for an emergency evacuation. Evacuation may be the only way to protect your family in a wildfire. Know where to go and what to bring with you. You should plan several escape routes in case roads are blocked by a wildfire.
Do you know your wildfire risk?
Learn about the history of wildfire in your area. Be aware of recent weather. A long period without rain increases the risk of wildfire. Consider having a professional inspect your property and offer recommendations for reducing the wildfire risk. Determine your community’s ability to respond to wildfire. Are roads leading to your property clearly marked? Are the roads wide enough to allow firefighting equipment to get through? Is your house number visible from the roadside?
Have you thinned out and maintained the vegetation around the house?
All vegetation is fuel for a wildfire, though some trees and shrubs are more flammable than others. To reduce the risk, you will need to modify or eliminate brush, trees and other vegetation near your home. The greater the distance between your home and the vegetation, the greater the protection.
Create a 30-foot safety zone around the house. Keep the volume of vegetation in this zone to a minimum. If you live on a hill, extend the zone on the downhill side. Fire spreads rapidly uphill. The steeper the slope, the more open space you will need to protect your home. In this zone, do the following:
- Remove vines from the walls of the house.
- Move shrubs and other landscaping away from the sides of the house.
- Prune branches and shrubs within 15 feet of chimneys and stove pipes.
- Remove tree limbs within 15 feet of the ground.
- Thin a 15-foot space between tree crowns.
- Replace highly flammable vegetation such as pine, evergreen, eucalyptus, junipers and fir trees with lower growing, less flammable species. Check with your local fire department or garden store for suggestions.
- Replace vegetation that has living or dead branches from the groundlevel up (these act as ladder fuels for the approaching fire).
- Cut the lawn often.
- Clear the area of leaves, brush, dead limbs and fallen trees.
Create a second zone at least 100 feet around the house. This zone should begin about 30 feet from the house and extend to at least 100 feet. In this zone, reduce or replace as much of the most flammable vegetation as possible. If you live on a hill, you may need to extend the zone for several hundred feet to provide the desired level of safety.
Visit FEMA.com for more tips on keeping your home safe from wildfires. | <urn:uuid:cb0b00ba-143a-4729-8432-27ed23b6af5e> | CC-MAIN-2019-47 | https://www.umatillaelectric.com/safety/avoiding-wildfire-damage/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-47/segments/1573496668782.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20191117014405-20191117042405-00027.warc.gz | en | 0.923061 | 695 | 3.234375 | 3 |
TMJ stands for temporomandibular joint, the joints connecting the skull and jawbone. They are used in countless movements of the mouth, as in eating, speaking, and even smiling. Many conditions may affect the joints and nearby muscles and ligaments. These conditions are often grouped together and called TMJ or more accurately, TMD.
Temporomandibular Joint Disorders (TMD) are actually quite common and may present in a wide array of symptoms. Mild symptoms, such as frequent pops and clicks, to occasional aches in the jaw to much more severe, ranging from tenderness in the region to painful headaches to increased tooth sensitivity Symptoms may be aggravated by eating, talking or movement of the mouth. TMD may result in facial swelling or fatigue of the facial muscles. Lock-jaw may also be a sign to seek TMJ treatment.
TMJ can be difficult to diagnosis, as there is still much about the disease that is not understood. It may be misdiagnosed as an ear infection or toothache, as there is often no clear cause. TMJ treatments vary greatly depending on the severity of the symptoms. Self-care techniques are commonly prescribed for mild-moderate cases. Most of the TMJ treatments in Toronto may include, sticking to a softer diet, massage, limiting jaw movement, and wearing a nightguard (bruxism appliance) to stop the clenching or grinding of the teeth. Over the counter pain medications like Ibuprofen may also bring relief but are not recommended as a long-term solution. If stress is a trigger for a patient’s TMJ pain, they may need to make lifestyle adjustments.
If the pain persists, Botox injections may be recommended to partially paralyze the muscle, working as a temporary cure. A patient may need to undergo orthodontic treatment if the alignment of the teeth is viewed as the root cause, in order to put the teeth into a more balanced occlusion. In extreme cases, jaw repositioning surgery may be required. This is a last resort to remove scar tissue and cartilage and to reposition the joints and jaw bone.
For TMJ treatment, your dentist can suggest surgical or non-surgical treatments depending upon the extent of your symptoms and condition. Normally non-invasive treatments are used first in order to treat the problem, with surgery being the last resort.
Looking for TMJ treatment in Etobicoke/Toronto?
While this is a common problem, not all dentist provide TMJ treatment in Toronto. Therefore, it is important to seek professional help when dealing with this complex problem. TMJ is sometimes challenging to diagnose, hence it is essential that you turn to experts with years of experience in both diagnosing and treating this condition. Moreover, if left untreated, the pain can get sever, cause dental erosion and sleep disruption. Therefore, instead of living with pain, contact Cloverdale Dental Group. We provide safe and effective TMJ treatment in Toronto. | <urn:uuid:37f1c6a3-58e0-4e92-98ea-23c2fa7f8a76> | CC-MAIN-2019-04 | https://www.cloverdaledentalgroup.com/services/tmj-treatment/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-04/segments/1547583657510.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20190116134421-20190116160421-00603.warc.gz | en | 0.950211 | 610 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Chicago Foot Care for Children
Children can experience many of the same medical issues as adults, as well as some issues that occur more commonly in a pediatric population. Some of the most common pediatric podiatry issues include:
- flat feet
- in-toeing (sometimes called “pigeon-toeing”)
- sprains and fractures of the foot or ankle
- athlete’s foot infections
Sports injuries are also very common, arising from physical activities like soccer, baseball, tennis, hockey, dancing, skating and snow sports. Some children have congenital defects that cause problems with gait (the way the child walks) and interfere with their ability to participate in sports and other activities, in addition to making them feel more self-conscious.
Another problem that can affect a child’s ability to join in with sports is Sever’s Disease. The temporary condition can occur when children grow very quickly, causing the growth plate in their heel bone to become inflamed. Children may also experience heel pain due to other conditions, such as plantar fasciitis and Achilles tendinitis. No concern over foot or ankle health is too small to bring to the attention of your podiatrist! If your child is suffering from any pain in their feet or ankles, it’s always best to ask a professional to take a look.
Why is it important to see a podiatrist with experience in pediatric podiatry?
Because children’s feet and ankles are rapidly growing, pediatric foot care requires special skills, training, and experience to ensure this growth process is not hindered. Plus, the rapid growth and regeneration of tissue that occur in children also affects the way foot and ankle injuries heal, and those differences also must be taken into account when determining the best course of treatment.
When should I take my child to a podiatrist?
Your children’s feet will go through many changes up until the age of around 14-16, when their feet stop growing. It’s not always easy to tell the difference between natural changes and problematic changes, especially as many foot problems develop slowly.
If your child has an infection or if they’re struggling to walk, then you should book an appointment with a podiatrist as soon as possible. There are also many other signs that your child needs to see a podiatrist, such as:
- Feet that are curved instead of straight
- Visible differences between your child’s feet
- Discomfort when standing
- Toe walking past age 3
- Lack of foot arches
- Ankles that roll inwards
- Toes that are curly instead of straight
- Lack of symmetry when your child walks
If your child has difficulties keeping up with their friends or frequently trips, then it may also be an indication that there’s a problem with their feet. When you visit Global Podiatry, we’ll inspect your child’s feet thoroughly for signs of problems and give you advice about how to identify potential issues early.
How are pediatric foot and ankle injuries diagnosed?
Diagnosis begins with a history of the symptoms as well as a careful visual examination of the foot and ankle. Depending on the symptoms, passive and active movements may also be used to determine the source of pain or stiffness. Diagnostic ultrasound and x-ray may be performed using on-site state-of-the-art equipment to evaluate both bone and soft tissue injuries.
How are children’s foot injuries or conditions treated?
Many injuries and conditions like flat feet can be treated conservatively using custom orthotics or, in some cases, bracing. Very rarely, surgery may be needed to correct severe defects or injuries like complex fractures. Your child’s podiatrist may advise custom orthotics for corrections to the posture of their ankles or feet. Orthotics are very effective for correcting a number of common problems and can help to stop complications developing later in life.
For conditions like in-grown toenails, the exact treatment we advise can depend on the severity of the problem. Cleaning and cutting the toenail may suffice in minor cases; more serious cases could require the surgical removal of part or all of the nail.
When we create a treatment plan for your child, we’ll be working to achieve a solution to the root cause of their problems, not just their symptoms.
How to care for your child’s feet at home
Great foot care starts at home. There are many things that you can do to help your child’s feet develop properly and remain healthy, such as:
- Check your child’s feet for problems as often as possible
- Make sure they always wear shoes when playing outdoors
- Wash and cover any scratches on their feet, no matter how small
- At bath time, wash and dry your child’s feet thoroughly, especially between their toes
- Make sure that your child’s shoes are the right size and feel comfortable
- Check your child’s shoes regularly for signs of abnormal wear, particularly around the heel
Show your child how to wash and dry their feet properly when they’re old enough to do it themselves
If you would like more advice about preventing common foot problems, then we’ll be more than happy to help you! You don’t need to have any concerns about your child’s feet or ankles to book an appointment at Global Podiatry, you can arrange to see a podiatrist for advice and regular checkups.
Visit Global Podiatry for expert children’s foot and ankle care in Chicago
For many young children – and adults! – visiting the doctors isn’t a fun experience, but we hope to change that. We have substantial experience treating children of all ages and do everything we can to make the experience as comfortable and relaxing as possible for them. To get more information about diagnosing and treating foot and ankle conditions, get in touch with Global Podiatry today. We have clinics conveniently located in Chicago & Wheeling, IL, so you won’t have to travel far to get expert care for your child’s feet. | <urn:uuid:a7e27ff1-1a96-4b4f-90bb-c9b463088ecc> | CC-MAIN-2022-27 | https://globalpodiatry.com/childrens-foot-care/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-27/segments/1656103035636.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20220625125944-20220625155944-00323.warc.gz | en | 0.953855 | 1,286 | 2.625 | 3 |
The Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research (MTHR) Program, possibly the largest investigation so far into health risks associated with mobile telephone technology, was set up to resolve uncertainties identified by previous evaluations of the possible health risks associated with the widespread use of mobile phone technology.
The researchers studied mobile phones, mobile phone base stations -including newer 3G stations- and the TETRA emergency services radio system used in the UK. The extensive research included five epidemiological studies and eight volunteer studies, three of which explored reported hypersensitivity to signals emitted by phones and base stations.
The study involved commissioning Dr Phil Chadwick of Microwave Consultants to design a system producing exposures representative of those in real phones. This model was used in all the volunteer studies so as to eliminate variation in results due to phone design. The resulting device was modified from a commercially available phone and produced in two variants.
One simulating a 900MHz GSM mobile phone and the other a TETRA radio. In both cases the waveform of the emitted fields contained all the significant characteristics of a real signal.
The system had a headset that enabled it to be mounted in one of the standard positions used to assess exposure. Each phone was capable of producing three different exposure conditions: CW (constant RF); modulated (RF that varies in the same way as a mobile phone signal); and sham (ideally no RF, but in practice, an exposure at most 100 times less than in other two conditions). The various output modes were selected using hexadecimal codes so that neither researcher nor subject knew which exposure condition had been selected. The maximum Specific Absorption Rate was 1.3 W/kg averaged over 10 g.
"None of the research so far suggests that biological or adverse health effects are produced by radio frequency exposure from mobile phones. Reassuringly no epidemiological association was found between short-term and long-term mobile phone use (less than ten years) and cancers of the brain or nervous system," states the report.
"Studies on volunteers provided no evidence that brain function is affected by exposure to the signals emitted by mobile phones or by TETRA radios used by the emergency services."
Likewise, studies on electrical hypersensitivity did not support the theory that unpleasant symptoms are experienced as a result of exposure to signals from mobile phones or base stations.
Base station emissions were also measured and exposures confirmed low, although exposure in the immediate vicinity of micro cell installations was found to be higher than those from the larger macro cell installations.
Not surprisingly, the study confirmed that the use of a phone or hand held device while driving does increase risk of accident, but researchers found it caused no greater risk than other in-car distractions. Researchers recommended however, that precautionary advice from vendors of mobile devices was limited and that policy makers need to adopt alternative, more effective methods of communicating the risks associated with operating machinery or driving vehicles while using hand held devices.
The program recognizes that some concerns still remain and has proposed an extension of the study to keep working on these. Priorities will include work to assess whether long-term exposure (greater than ten years) increases the risk of developing cancers of the brain and nervous system and the effects of mobile phone exposure specifically in children.
The debate of whether or not mobile phones cause cancer or affect the brain looks set to continue for some time yet. Evidence contradicting the MTHR project's findings was supplied in a study of 300 people that found frequent mobile phone users did demonstrate slowed brain function. These researchers also want to continue their study over a longer period to examine over 17,000 people. | <urn:uuid:a865c1ac-36dd-4af9-b5ec-0149b6636bbe> | CC-MAIN-2017-22 | http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/feature/mobile-phone/no-cancer-risk-from-mobile-phones-10872/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-22/segments/1495463609837.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20170528141209-20170528161209-00049.warc.gz | en | 0.954924 | 736 | 3.359375 | 3 |
The UK is reported to have the highest rate of teenage pregnancies (girls aged 15-17 years) in Europe. In this review, we examine the epidemiology of teenage pregnancy in the UK and consider the evidence for its impact on the health and well-being of the mother, the baby, the father, and society. There has been little change in the teenage pregnancy rate over the last decade in the UK; rates are still considerably higher than those in other European countries. Pregnancy and childbirth during teenage years are associated with increased risk of poorer health and well-being for both the mother and the baby. However the reasons for this increased risk are not necessarily biological but may reflect the socio-economic factors that precede early pregnancy and childbirth. There is little evidence about the impact of teenage fatherhood on health and future studies should investigate this. The impact on society is a perpetuation of the widening gap in health and social inequalities. Public health interventions should aim to identify teenagers who are vulnerable and support those who are pregnant with evidence based interventions such as teenage antenatal clinics and access to initiatives that provide support for early parenthood. | <urn:uuid:2f77c0dd-e565-4156-a0a0-b5f2e7358f3b> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | http://adc.bmj.com/content/early/2008/11/19/adc.2007.115915 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886105976.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20170820053541-20170820073541-00384.warc.gz | en | 0.959496 | 226 | 3.078125 | 3 |
If you have ever in your life read anything related in investing then you have heard the term Debt-to-Equity ratio.
The debt-to-equity ratio measures how much money a company should safely be able to borrow over long periods of time. It is determined by comparing the company’s total debt (including short-term and long-term obligations) and dividing it by the amount of shareholder’s equity. For now, you only need to know that shareholder’s equity can be found at the bottom of a balance sheet.
Shareholder equity, also referred to as owners’ or stockholders’ equity, is the net worth of a company. It represents the stockholders’ claim to a business’s assets after all creditors and debts have been paid. It can be calculated by taking the total assets and subtracting the total liabilities. Shareholder equity usually comes from two places:
1. Cash paid in by investors when the company sold stock.
2. Retained earnings, which are the accumulated profits a busi- ness has held on to and not paid out to its shareholders as dividends.
Because these are the two ways a company generally creates shareholders’ equity, the balance sheet is organized to show each part’s contribution.
The result you get after dividing debt by equity is the percentage of the company that is indebted (or leveraged). The normal level of debt to equity has changed over time, and it depends on both economic factors and society’s general feeling toward credit. Generally, any company that has a debt-to-equity ratio of more than 40–50 percent should be looked at more carefully to make sure there are no liquidity problems. If you find the company’s working capital and current/quick ratios are drastically low, this is a sign of serious financial weakness. | <urn:uuid:8fe3644a-757d-44e9-8adc-8ba9ccc6d716> | CC-MAIN-2021-31 | https://williamthomason.com/2018/10/10/assessing-a-companys-debt-to-equity-ratio/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-31/segments/1627046151672.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20210725111913-20210725141913-00284.warc.gz | en | 0.964915 | 383 | 3.078125 | 3 |
Posted on 2016-12-05
Conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye, is an inflammation of the conjunctiva. The conjunctiva is a protective membrane covering the white part of the and the Pink is one of the most common eye disorders. This can be caused by allergies, bacteria or viruses. Avoid touching your eyes. Apply pharmacist recommended eye drops. Learn about pink treatment. | <urn:uuid:380aa7e3-6fd3-4acd-9eb9-1a35a49a21f6> | CC-MAIN-2018-09 | http://www.com-original.com/tags/treats | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-09/segments/1518891813088.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20180220185145-20180220205145-00056.warc.gz | en | 0.922154 | 83 | 3.75 | 4 |
Refrigeration Compressor Oils
Refrigeration oils play a important role in the extended life of refrigerant compressors. . Earlier mineral oils were primarily used in refrigeration systems due to the phase-out of CFC refrigerants. Due to insufficient lubricity (lubricating ability) and miscibility(mixing ability) of mineral oils are not compatabile with new refrigerants. The use of Synthetic oils such as alkyl benzene and polyester can be used with lubricants to find acceptable new refrigerants.
Synthetic lubricants have been used for many years in various industries. As with other oils, lubricants are blended specifically for use in refrigeration systems. Synthetic Oils were considered too expensive for general use compared with mineral oil. Oil producers and compressor manufacturers go to great lengths and expense to develop and test new lubricants. There are tests for viscosity, floc point, pour point, flash point, etc. The service engineer does not need to know the details of these oil qualities, but should understand the terms and why they are important.
Types OF Refrigeration Oils
Mineral Oils also called Petroleum Oil.
SYNTHETIC REFREGERATION OILS
Must be stored in metal containers.
ISO VG 32 ,46, 68, 100, 150.,220.
Need Higher Feel Free to Contact us. | <urn:uuid:d2409a61-2031-4922-815c-1005a111e473> | CC-MAIN-2021-21 | https://petrotek.ae/lubricants/specialitylubricants/22/refrigeration-oils | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-21/segments/1620243992721.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20210513014954-20210513044954-00188.warc.gz | en | 0.927112 | 287 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Sharing. It is one of those ideals that is, for the most part, universally considered to be a behavior to strive toward. But sharing isn’t always easy – especially for kids. Since we as adults sometimes struggle with sharing, it shouldn’t be surprising that children may balk when it comes to practicing what we preach.
Teaching kids to share is about much more than teaching good manners. Fostering a spirit of sharing is about teaching kids to be generous, to be accepting of others, to embrace diversity. When we teach our children to share, we are encouraging the development of skills that will help them be successful in life – skills like self control, tolerance, effective communication and problem solving.
Here are some ideas to encourage sharing:
1. Model the behavior. Make sure your kids see you sharing with others. This should happen both at home and away from home.
2. Set clear expectations. Make sure your kids understand the behavior that is expected of them. Sometimes when we say “share,” we actually mean “give.” (“Shared” food is not going to be returned.) Make sure your child understands the varying degrees of sharing.
3. Practice the language. There is a language of sharing. It begins with “please” and “thank you.” It also involves making sure your child knows how to ask someone else to share with them.
4. Teach respect. Sharing is a skill that can be learned, and it becomes much easier as kids get older. One reason for this is that as they get older, children are better able to understand the concept of respecting others. This means they are more receptive to other people’s needs and ideas.
5. Teach appropriate times not to share. Keep in mind that there are some things you shouldn’t expect your child to share. One of those is time with you. Put away your phone, turn off the television and get away from distractions for some time together. Another is a special toy. Create a home for it and treat it as a prized possession to be put away rather than shared. | <urn:uuid:41070307-92c5-48c8-9f02-5d205f4a5a68> | CC-MAIN-2018-34 | http://bricks4kidz.social5.net/post/more-than-good-manners-jan-9/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221213540.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20180818095337-20180818115337-00005.warc.gz | en | 0.969 | 442 | 3.734375 | 4 |
At any point considered how the PC functions? This is the way.
A PC is a machine (equipment) that gets and processes information as per the guidelines given to it, and after the information has been handled, the consequences of the handling are generally shipped off a result gadget.
The info gadgets for taking care of the PC with information and guidelines can be a console, mouse, scanner, or might be created inside from ‘applications’ put away as customized directions (programming). The handling of the information is finished by the focal handling unit (central processor), which is the core of the PC. The result gadgets can be a screen (screen), printer, plotter, speakers, ports, or another PC.MacBook 12in M7 Review.
A central processor is on a chip called a microchip (around 1 inch square in size). This is essentially your Intel pentium chip. Frequently alluded to as the minds of a PC, the central processor handles a large portion of the tasks that are expected of the PC by handling directions and conveying messages out, checking for network, and guaranteeing that tasks and equipment are working appropriately. It goes about as a courier to significant parts like Smash, the screen, and circle drives.
Hard Circle Drive
The hard drive is where every one of your projects and reports are put away. Whenever you introduce programming or save a record, it gets kept in touch with the hard drive. The hard drive likewise peruses any information you are attempting to get to, for example, when you open a text record or play a MP3. Think about it like a library and a curator completely turned inside out in one. This is super durable stockpiling (essentially until you uninstall programming or erase a record). The hard drive is regularly implied by the drive letter “C”. The present hard drives can store a Tremendous measure of data. Another PC could have a hard drive that will hold 500 Gb’s!
Irregular access memory (Smash) is the spot in a PC where the working framework, application projects, and information in current use are kept with the goal that they can be immediately arrived at by the processor. The items in Slam are lost when the PC power is switched off. The more Slam a PC has, the greater limit the PC needs to hold and handle enormous projects and records.
Your PC couldn’t work without the motherboard. This essential circuit board integrates everything! It permits all aspects of your PC to get power and speak with one another. All that runs the PC or upgrades its exhibition is either essential for the motherboard or connects to one of its development openings or ports. On the off chance that a part isn’t associated with the motherboard, your PC won’t have the foggiest idea that it’s there. You may like to read the MacBook 12in M7 Review.
ROM and Profiles
Peruse just memory (ROM) chips, situated on the motherboard, contain guidelines that can be straightforwardly gotten to by the microchip or central processor. Information move from ROM is quicker than any circle, however more slow than Slam. The guidelines and information in the ROM chip that control the boot cycle and the PC equipment are known as the essential information/yield framework (Profiles), once in a while called firmware.
The ROM chip that contains the firmware is known as the ROM Profiles chip. It is likewise alluded to as ROM Profiles, or basically Profiles, and is generally checked “Profiles” on the motherboard. The obligation of the Profiles is to act as a contact between the PC working programming and the different equipment parts that help it. In basic terms, the Profiles chip awakens the PC when you turn it on and reminds it which parts it has and what they do!
Sound and Video Cards
Sound and Video Cards are Result Gadgets. They contain extraordinary circuits that permit your PC to play sounds and show designs on your screen. | <urn:uuid:037ce7c6-9f70-4e3c-a40e-0d32bb712f5c> | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | https://trendingsol.com/how-does-a-pc-function/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947474377.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20240223085439-20240223115439-00247.warc.gz | en | 0.945597 | 821 | 2.859375 | 3 |
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Blame it is a strong word It is the act of putting responsibility on something or someone sometimes being their fault others times not In William Shakespeares play Romeo and Juliet the son and daughter of two rivals fall in love in spite of having to hate each other because of their family Because their was love impossible they commit suicide to stay together as husband and wife There are many characters to blame for the suicide of Romeo and Juliet however the main characters that are responsible are their fathers Montague and Capulet due to the hatred between them and wanting them to marry someone else therefore the blame should be put on the two fathersThe hatred between Montague and Capulet is the main reason for the deaths of Romeo and JulietIn the begining of the play we know both some background information and what will happen in the story For years the Montagues and the Capulets have been rivals fighting against each other From ancient grudgebreak new mutiny Where civil blood makes civil hands uncleanFrom forth the fatal loins of these two foesA pair of star-crossed lovers take their life IPrologue3-6 Basically they have been fighting for a long time due to their pride and because they keep on fighting and the lovers Romeo and Juliet can not be happy This causes the blame to be put on the fathers AlsoCapulet tried to marry Paris and Juliet by force Romeo just killed Tybalt and they think that she is sad because Tybalt is dead Therefore they want to marry her to ParisCapulet tells Juliet Hangtee young baggage disobedient wrench I tell thee what- get thee to church a Thursday Or never after look me in the face IIIv160-162 He is telling her that if he doesnt marry Paris he will disown herHe despised Romeo for killing Tybalt and being his enemy If he would not have forced her to marry Paris she
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- Jen Soust, alumni @ UCLA | <urn:uuid:0c0ace3e-2999-42a1-8139-2ee15386243d> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | https://www.kibin.com/essay-examples/analysis-of-romeo-and-juliet-zHOh2HmR | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988720026.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183840-00036-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967502 | 484 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Young people in Australia view scientists as ‘nerds and losers’ isolated
from the rest of society. This is the conclusion of a survey of school students
conducted in Sydney and Melbourne for the Australian government’s Department
of Industry, Technology and Commerce (DITAC).
The science minister, Ross Free, told ANZAAS that the results of the
survey were ‘worrying’. Such ‘negative perceptions’ had serious implications
for Australia’s ability to attract young people to study and pursue careers
in science and technology, and to provide skilled people for the future,
According to Free, a former science teacher, the as yet unpublished
report also reveals that schoolchildren think of scientists as ‘lonely .
. . they devoted their lives to hopeless causes while everyone else was
looking after number one . . . they were not accepted in society, because
they did not want to be’.
The survey was conducted for DITAC by Woolcott Research, a private consultancy
in Sydney. It was based on long discussions with four groups of eight students,
aged 13 and 14, from both private and government schools. Toby Hill from
Woolcott said that the survey was significant and reflected attitudes prevalent
among young people. The school survey was part of a larger study which included
quizzing 1000 people in a questionnaire and in-depth interviews with senior
company executives and groups of women, including science undergraduates.
The school students could not see the relevance of science to their
everyday lives. They were all studying science because it was a compulsory
subject, but made no link between science and things of value in society,
except in medicine. They made no link between science and basic products
and services. Research was esoteric and carried out for its own sake.
Schoolchildren considered science a hard subject. It was easy to lose
sight of fundamentals, and learning required following sets of instructions
rather than participating in the process of discovery.
The survey also revealed that women were not keen on a career in science.
They see research as isolated, unrewarded and offering poor prospects. | <urn:uuid:dc8b3d5e-0c66-4e14-812b-e63f3ff89777> | CC-MAIN-2021-49 | https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg13217901-700-the-australian-and-new-zealand-association-for-the-advancement-of-science-met-in-adelaide-last-week-ian-anderson-reports-children-reluctant-to-join-the-nerds/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-49/segments/1637964359082.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20211130232232-20211201022232-00069.warc.gz | en | 0.978893 | 455 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Damascus, SANA-Every year on May 31, the World Health Organization (WHO) sounds the alarm bell over the consumption and use of tobacco, warning nearly one billion people against a grave menace blamed for claiming the lives of seven million people annually.
The focus of this year’s World No Tobacco Day is “Tobacco and Heart Disease” as tobacco is classified as the second cause of heart and other cardiovascular diseases after high blood pressure.
Joining the global drive to fight the use and consumption of tobacco, Syria is taking part with awareness-raising activities, lectures and theater performances in collaboration with NGOs, according to the Anti-Smoking Program of the Ministry of Health Dr. Abeer Obaid.
Dr. Obaid said in a statement to SANA’s health bulletin that the main topics of these events are in line with the general motto of the World Health Organization’s campaign this year.
“The primary target of these activities are the youth and teenagers, particularly school students, given the prevalence of this phenomenon among them. Having taken one cigarette often plunges one in the circle of addiction, and their ability to quit is weaker compared to older ones,” she explains.
The anti-smoking program resumed its awareness-raising activities last year after a hiatus during the war years given that the Health Ministry’s focus had shifted to other pressing issues including vaccinations and children food. | <urn:uuid:b958bd1f-2c77-4a54-9998-3f5a12cf74e3> | CC-MAIN-2018-34 | https://sana.sy/en/?p=138917 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221211316.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20180816230727-20180817010727-00427.warc.gz | en | 0.950674 | 292 | 2.734375 | 3 |
A work order is usually a task or a job for a customer, that can be scheduled or assigned to someone. Such an order may be from a customer request or created internally within the organization. Work orders may also be created as follow ups to Inspections or Audits. A work order may be for products or services.
A work order may include one or more of the following:
- Cost estimates
- Date and time to execute the work order
- Information about the location and entities to execute the work order and
- The person to whom the work order is assigned
In a manufacturing environment, a work order is converted from a sales order to show that work is about to begin on the manufacture, building or engineering of the products requested by the customer. In a service environment, a work order can be equivalent to a service order where the WO records the location, date and time the service is carried out and the nature of work that is done. The type of personnel (e.g. job position) may also be listed on the WO. A rate (e.g. $/hr, $/week) and j also the total number of hours worked and total value is also shown on the work order.
Contractors may use a single job work order and invoice form that contains the customer information, describes the work performed, lists charges for material and labor, and can be given to the customer as an invoice.
A job order is an internal document extensively used by projects-based, manufacturing, building and fabrication businesses. A job order may be for products and/or services. In a manufacturing environment, a job order is used to signal the start of a manufacturing process and will most probably be linked to a bill of material. Hence, the job order will probably state:
- the quantity of the product to be manufactured, built or fabricated
- the amount of raw material to be used, its price and amount
- the types of labour required, rate (per hour or per unit) and amount
- the machine utilisation for each machine during the routing process, its rate and amount
In a service environment, a job order cannot be the equivalent to a work or service order where the job order records the location, date and time the service is carried out and the nature of service that was carried out, the work order does not. The type of personnel (e.g. job position) may also be listed on the job order. A rate (e.g. $/hr, $/week) and also the total number of hours worked and total value is also shown.
- Maintenance, repair and operations
- Order fulfillment
- Sales order
- Order management system
- Corrective work order
- "What is a Work Order". ReachOut Suite. Retrieved 2017-06-17.
- Facilities Management Request for Service Archived October 24, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, College of William & Mary, wm.edu.
- Instructions for Completing Network & Telecommunications Work Order Form Archived June 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, California State University (Long Beach), csulb.edu.
- Corrigo work order flow diagram Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, www.corrigo.com.
- Dispatched work order flow diagram, www.dispatchedsoftware.com.
- Preventive maintenance
- Job work order and invoice form, deluxeforms.com. | <urn:uuid:330b40be-8c2f-40f1-86e7-776156a51a41> | CC-MAIN-2019-30 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_order | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-30/segments/1563195524972.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20190716221441-20190717003441-00488.warc.gz | en | 0.925475 | 717 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Also in this section…?
- 'Vanessa', John Everett Millais
- 'Over some wide watered shore', John Linnell
- 'Ploughing in the Campagna', George Heming Mason
- 'Angel Playing a Flageolet', Edward Burne-Jones
- 'Sunday Morning', Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema
- 'Pastoral, Mountain Shepherds', John Linnell
- 'Landscape near Abinger', George Vicat Cole
- 'The Heights of the Abruzzi', William Linnell
- 'The Jew's Harp', David Wilkie
- 'Ships at Anchor', Richard Parkes Bonington
- 'Nicholas Robinson', Thomas Clement Thompson
- 'A Nun', Henriette Browne
- 'Playing at Work', Charles Edward Perugini
'The Heights of the Abruzzi', William Linnell
The Abruzzi mountains are east of Rome. With their wild scenery and picturesque people, they were a favourite haunt of artists who visited the city in the 19th century. William Linnell, the son of the landscape painter John Linnell, was in Italy from 1861 to 1865.
This grand work, the largest in George Holt’s collection, was shown at the Royal Academy in 1868. Holt bought it from an exhibition in Liverpool later that year.
Medium and Support: Oil on canvas
Date: about 1868
Accession No: WAG 265 | <urn:uuid:0b810933-4978-4cec-ab26-9fbbc00d8131> | CC-MAIN-2019-22 | http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/sudley/collections/entrancehall/heights_abruzzi_linnell.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-22/segments/1558232257002.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20190523023545-20190523045545-00298.warc.gz | en | 0.876189 | 308 | 2.53125 | 3 |
State of the Cities 2014
For the first time in human history, the majority of the world's population (54%) lives in urban areas, including 80 percent of Americans. This number is expected to grow to 66 percent of the world's population by 2050.
Increasing population growth in cities not only leads to greater citizen demand on local government but also creates an entire new ecosystem in which local governments must respond and adapt. For this reason, the National League of Cities is publishing this yearly benchmarking report, State of the Cities, which provides analysis of trends in cities and the response of local governments based on annual state of the city addresses from mayors across the country.
Key findings from this year's report:
- Topline issues for the nation's mayors are jobs and the economy, budget and finance, and public safety.
- Jobs, education and housing are common topics in the speeches of larger city mayors, whereas public safety is the leading priority issue in cities with population below 50,000.
- Transportation issues receive extensive attention from mayors in the West and South, environmental issues from mayors in the West, education from mayors in the Northeast, and housing from mayors in the West and Midwest. | <urn:uuid:0447fb0f-22ae-4e44-97b3-d9f5762b144b> | CC-MAIN-2020-34 | https://www.nlc.org/resource/state-of-the-cities-2014 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-34/segments/1596439739328.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20200814130401-20200814160401-00429.warc.gz | en | 0.942617 | 242 | 3 | 3 |
Recent research has focused significant attention on the impact of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) on family caregivers. Research studies indicate that family caregivers often demonstrate intensification of the following symptoms: depression, anxiety, hostility, marital dissatisfaction, and weight gain. In general, as the impairment of AD patients increases, caregiver stress also increases. However, as forgetfulness increases, caregiver stress increases, levels off, and then actually decreases to pre-impairment levels. Authors hypothesize that because cognitive impairment is inevitable and expected, caregivers are more prepared to deal with symptoms associated with forgetfulness than with other problems. The behaviors of AD patients that are experienced as particularly distressing include dangerous, unpredictable demanding, hostile, and manipulative behaviors. Whereas caregivers may tend to view the behavioral problems of AD patients as deliberate and/or directed toward the caregivers, cognitive and functional impairments are more likely to be seen as beyond the control of AD patients. Black caregivers appear to feel less stress when providing care for a relative with AD, perhaps because of the cultural value placed on the elderly. Researchers are beginning to study creative intervention strategies with caregivers. Promising intervention programs use cognitive training programs, the dissemination of information, emotional support, respite programs, and behavior management techniques to decrease caregiver stress and slow patient impairment.
Carrie Trent, ’97
Sponsor: Carolyn Enns | <urn:uuid:0326d125-f4a3-4b2b-b106-888fcc402849> | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | https://symposium.cornellcollege.edu/1997/04/01/the-impact-of-alzheimers-disease-on-family-caregivers-and-common-intervention-strategies-a-review-of-research-findings/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579250610004.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20200123101110-20200123130110-00087.warc.gz | en | 0.92987 | 276 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Computers don't handle visual imagery with the same native ease with which they parse text or crunch numbers. Flickr was the first site to solve this problem with something called collaborative tagging. The idea is that if everyone is allowed to tag everyone else's uploaded photos, then a rough-and-ready categorization will naturally emerge from the wisdom of the crowd. It works because it has to there aren't enough librarians in the world to look after Flickr's archive of 3 billion photos, much less file them away for future reference. But it also works because the many really is smarter than the sum of its parts. The Library of Congress has even started to poll the Flickr hive mind when cataloging its own photos.
Next California Coastline | <urn:uuid:93f232de-8dc7-4806-bd5d-10b86c679128> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1918031_1918016,00.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257828314.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071028-00294-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967914 | 149 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Officials working to restore the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ecosystem have released more details on a proposed pump-building project that would boost water supplies to farms and cities.
The California Natural Resources Agency released thousands of pages in the preliminary draft of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan on Wednesday.
The 50-year plan calls for building two tunnels to divert water around the delta and keep water pumps away from fish. It also outlines the creation of nearly 120,000 acres of fish and wildlife habitat to mitigate the tunnels' impact.
Documents show the project initially could harm some fish species, but would benefit them in the long run.
Officials say they hope to finalize the plan later this year. It still needs state and local approval before building can begin.
The Associated Press | <urn:uuid:d30b1d0b-f9af-44dd-bd15-7d0a0bd5515c> | CC-MAIN-2013-48 | http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/mar/01/ca-delta-plan-would-build-tunnels-to-pump-water/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164695251/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204134455-00032-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94332 | 155 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Why Trail Mix is the perfect healthy snack
Our ProMixes are made with nuts, seeds and fruits. But should you snack on this sort of stuff? Is it healthy?
Let’s find out…
1. Nuts & Seeds are a great source of natural protein
Nuts and seeds contain lots of natural plant protein, which is a fundamental building block of our bodies.
2. ProMix is low-GI
Nuts have a Glycemic Index-lowering effect, slowing digestion and the release of glucose into the blood stream. ProMix is therefore a sustaining source of energy, without the sugar spikes.
3. ProMix is a great source of fibre
Fibre is an important part of a healthy balanced diet. It can help prevent heart disease, diabetes, weight gain and some cancers, and can also improve digestive health.
4. ProMix helps you feel filled up
Nuts and seeds satisfy hunger and reduce appetite – the protein, fibre and fat all act to control appetite and food intake.
5. Dried fruits count as one of your 5-a-day
Dried fruit actually retains most of the nutritional value of fresh fruits, and so is an important source of vitamins, minerals and fibre in the diet. A 30g portion of dried fruit counts as one of your 5-a-day.
6. Nuts are good for your heart
People who eat nuts as part of a heart-healthy diet can lower the LDL or “bad” cholesterol level in their blood and so lower their risk of heart disease. People who eat nuts regularly have lower rates of heart disease.
7. Nuts & Seeds are a good source of healthy fats
Not all fat is bad. The unsaturated fat found in nuts is an important part of our diet that’s needed for energy, essential nutrients that our bodies cannot make themselves. Nuts & seeds are cholesterol free.
8. ProMix is plant based
There is increasing evidence to suggest that diets higher in plant-based foods result in less lifestyle diseases (obesity, diabetes, heart disease etc).
9. ProMix is a great source of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and phytosterols.
Nuts, seeds and dried fruits are all packed with lots and lots of healthy stuff which is just so important in keeping your body healthy. You certainly don’t get this stuff from donuts or highly processed protein bars.
10. Nuts may help you lose weight
Studies find that eating nuts does not lead to weight gain and may instead help with weight control, perhaps because nuts help people feel fuller and less hungry. People who eat nuts regularly actually tend to be leaner than those who don’t.
BTW – we make the best trail mix in the world.
Mozaffarian D, Hao T, Rimm EB, Willett WC, Hu FB. Changes in diet and lifestyle and long-term weight gain in women and men. N Engl J Med. 2011;364:2392-404.
Bes-Rastrollo M, Wedick NM, Martinez-Gonzalez MA, Li TY, Sampson L, Hu FB. Prospective study of nut consumption, long-term weight change, and obesity risk in women. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009;89:1913-19.
Bes-Rastrollo M, Sabate J, Gomez-Gracia E, Alonso A, Martinez JA, Martinez-Gonzalez MA. Nut consumption and weight gain in a Mediterranean cohort: The SUN study. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2007;15:107-16.
Mattes RD, Kris-Etherton PM, Foster GD. Impact of peanuts and tree nuts on body weight and healthy weight loss in adults. J Nutr. 2008;138:1741S-5S. | <urn:uuid:d678f785-ef95-4fea-9b19-5864ab42da0f> | CC-MAIN-2018-17 | https://wyldsson.com/is-trail-mix-healthy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-17/segments/1524125947693.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20180425041916-20180425061916-00154.warc.gz | en | 0.9059 | 798 | 2.578125 | 3 |
In the software development world using the Agile approach is as obvious as breathing. But do we know exactly what Agile means and if it always works as intended? Can Agile truly accord with every software development project? Let’s take a look at a short description of what Agile is and what problems it was expected to resolve.
The agility concept started in the sector of software development to address the variable nature of software products and the uncertainty and difficulty of defining requirements at the beginning stage of the project. But it should be emphasized here that Agile itself is not a methodology. It’s an approach, a kind of philosophy, which gathers values and principles leading to the delivery of good quality software development products in the VUCA world. Agile is an umbrella term for methodologies that follow the Agile Manifesto, the document that started everything. It contains 4 key values and 12 main principles which, in a nutshell, allow teams to deliver value-driven solutions to fulfill customers’ needs.
There are many different types of Agile methodologies that you can choose from when you start a software development project. The most common are Scrum, Kanban, Extreme Programming (XP), Feature-Driven Development (FDD), Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM), Crystal, or Lean. According to the newest state of Agile report 95% (!) of respondents say that their organization practices Agile development methods. As the report states: “Scrum is the most widely practiced Agile framework, with at least 75% of respondents practicing Scrum or a hybrid that includes Scrum.”
It’s worth mentioning here that Soldevelo as a software development company fits that global trend. For a few years, we‘ve been using Scrum in almost all our projects. The beginning was difficult, but over these years – and still to today – we’ve been doing our best to become Agile masters 🙂 We focus on the continuous learning process, starting from basics like Scrum certifications (70% of our technical staff is Scrum certified). We are in the habit of learning lessons from our mistakes and day by day – or rather sprint by sprint 😉 – increasing the effectiveness and quality of our work.
And based on our experience what can we say about using Agile in software development projects?
In theory, everything looks great and easy, but implementing Agile into practice is neither ideal nor simple. Following for instance the Scrum framework, in the Scrum Guide we can read that Scrum is simple to understand but difficult to master. And, unfortunately, that’s very true! It seems that the main reason Agile fails in software development projects is that it is used when it simply doesn’t make sense and can result in more problems than value.
It usually happens when:
- projects are small and not too complex
- from the very beginning, it is clearly known what should be delivered and any bigger changes in scope are not expected and/or not welcome
- clients and/or end-users can’t be truly engaged in the development process
The second area that usually impacts Agile processes and causes some difficulties in implementation are related to the project environment. A few key conditions have to be met to let Agile flourish and provide the value that is expected.
Agile definitely won’t work properly when:
- the team is not self-organizing and lacks professional developers
This means that a team that consists only of junior developers, who have never worked in an Agile way plus have no dev experience, even if supported by a great Agile Coach, won’t achieve great results in their project… at least at the beginning 😉
- there’s no engagement and understanding of the Agile approach among team members, especially among developers themselves
A team whose members don’t want to do anything more than coding, who don’t believe in Agile and don’t want to improve anything besides technical skills, even if called an Agile team, in truth has nothing in common with the real Agile and definitely won’t bring any hoped-for value.
- there’s a lack of developed standards of work matching the Agile approach, often connected with no training or inadequate preparation to work in an Agile way
Without appropriate preparation, there’s no way to work Agile! Simply saying “from now on we are Agile” and only being ready for change are unfortunately not enough. The training process, certifications, coaches or mentors, and change agents are a must before you start using Agile on a daily basis.
- there’s a lack of or insufficient support from company management and leaders when it comes to spreading the Agile spirit within the whole organization and among teams
Sometimes it’s just easier to pretend that the company practices Agile than truly work on changing project processes and spend time and money on training. The Agile spirit has to be noticeable everywhere in the workplace and only then can be genuinely adopted and bring value.
- the client doesn’t understand Agile, or even if they do the uncertainty of what would be delivered is an excluding factor for them to use it in their project
Even if your company, your teams, your managers, believe in Agile, and you’re perfectly prepared for it, your client might be not so convinced. In that case, forcing Agile on them is likely to have adverse effects. If the client prefers less risk, wants to plan everything beforehand, and wants to be sure at the beginning of what they’re paying for and what is going to be delivered at the end – that’s fine! Agile is not a suitable approach then, no matter how much you want it to be so 😉
The world is changing rapidly and Agile is a natural answer to these changes. But before you blindly start implementing this approach in all your projects without any preparation or thought about if it truly fits your current needs, it can end poorly. Agile is trendy, without a doubt, but it won’t resolve your problems with delivering good quality software. It’s not a wonderful remedy, which in the blink of an eye converts your team into Agile heroes, who will create an incredible solution just like that. Using Agile may change your perspective, may change your process of delivering software, may show you how to learn and improve on a daily basis. However it is intended to work under certain conditions, and only you can assess if it may help your project or make it even more difficult 😉 | <urn:uuid:da005de2-fe67-472a-b630-9001ee50124c> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://www.soldevelo.com/blog/is-agile-always-the-best-solution-for-software-development-projects/?related_post_from=3923 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652663039492.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20220529041832-20220529071832-00559.warc.gz | en | 0.942594 | 1,377 | 2.65625 | 3 |
We aim to address the challenging economic realities facing our country including poverty, lack of jobs and disproportionate high unemployment, lack of affordable housing, foreclosures, etc. The NAACP’s work enhances the capacity of African Americans and other underserved groups through financial economic education; individual and community asset building initiatives; diversity and inclusion in business hiring, career advancement and procurement; and monitoring financial banking practices.
- Empower local communities with the necessary education, resources and partnerships to develop sustainable economic models that advance diversity and equity.
- Ensure that government and industry are knowledgeable, and committed to bridging racial inequality particularly as it relates to employment, wealth, lending and business ownership.
- Grow a movement of concerned citizens and organization who work together to produce an inclusive and strong middle class economy for the 21st century. | <urn:uuid:725ee124-94f8-4e03-8197-dbfb1bff6113> | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | https://naacpsantacruz.wordpress.com/economic-opportunity/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676590711.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20180719070814-20180719090814-00185.warc.gz | en | 0.930887 | 164 | 2.609375 | 3 |
By John Price and Satoko Oka Norimatsu
The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) are now regularly using the U.S.-controlled Kadena Air Base and White Beach naval port on Okinawa for their operations in the Asia Pacific.
Not only have such operations exacerbated tensions in the region, the CAF have become complicit in the ongoing dispossession of Uchinanchu (Indigenous Okinawans) who, for the past 75 years, have continuously fought to regain their lands, stolen by the U.S. military.
Particularly troubling is how the U.S. took advantage of the circumstances to turn Okinawa into a military colony. The dispossession of the Uchinanchu began immediately after the Battle of Okinawa in 1945 that left the Indigenous population, who were noncombatants, incredibly traumatized and imprisoned by the U.S. military.
To this day, approximately 26,000 American military personnel are still stationed in Okinawa and their military facilities occupy 15 percent of all Okinawa Island.
Closer to Taiwan than to Japan, Okinawa today has also become a prime tourist destination. But few are prepared for the unending barbed-wire fences ringing U.S. military installations, including the Kadena Air Base currently being used by Canadian forces.
As Indigenous people dispossessed of their land, and as victims of the war, many Okinawans have come to treasure the concept nuchi du takara—‘life is precious’. This spirit has provided them with the determination to fight for over 70 years to take back control of Okinawa.
The land has its own memory and tells its own stories.
Sites of remembrance
On the southern tip of Okinawa, at a location known as Mabuni Hill, stands a huge green space—Okinawa Peace Memorial Park—a sacred site for many Okinawans. The park memorializes over 200,000 who perished in the ferocious March 1945 land battle, often referred to as the “Typhoon of Steel”. Of the casualties, over 122,000 were Uchinanchu, Okinawans. The deaths represented one-quarter of the total population, caught in a deadly yet unnecessary showdown between the warring Japanese and American troops.
As described by the Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum: “A significant aspect of the Battle of Okinawa was the great loss of civilian life. At more than 100,000 civilian losses far outnumbered the military death toll. Some were blown apart by shells, some finding themselves in a hopeless situation were driven to suicide, some died of starvation, some succumbed to malaria, while other fell victim to the retreating Japanese troops. Under the most desperate and unimaginable circumstances, Okinawans directly experienced the absurdity of war and atrocities it inevitably brings about.”
The novel Odori, by Okinawan Canadian author and scholar Darcy Tamayose, has captured this absurdity and its extensive impact that affected her own family, part of the Okinawan diaspora in Alberta. Winner of the 2007 Canada-Japan literary award, Odori takes readers on a mystical journey back to wartime Okinawa. Epitomizing the spirit of nuchi du takara, it recounts the journey of an Okinawan woman coming to terms with the senseless loss of a twin sister caught in the crossfire of a needless battle.
The spirit of nuchi du takara has spread, giving birth to a peace-seeking culture on the island, prompting the construction of the Okinawa Peace Memorial Park, including the Cornerstone of Peace, a wall inscribed with the names of over 240,000 people who perished in the war—be they Okinawans, Japanese or American soldiers, or Korean forced labourers. It is a testament to the fact there are no winners in war.
And so today, Okinawa is an island of peace and an island of war.
The military colonization of Okinawa
The U.S. military took over Okinawa at the onset of the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, only to permanently attain the island nation as their Pacific stronghold.
Having suffered the loss of one-quarter of their population and the destruction of their homes and livelihood, the surviving Uchinanchu were rounded up and kept in virtual concentration camps by the U.S. military. As Takazato Suzuyo and others have documented, many women were raped, malnourished elderly and children fell ill, and many died.
Out of this trauma the notion of nuchi du takara—‘life is precious’—took hold. These words are believed to be uttered by Sho Tai, king of the Ryukyu Kingdom (Okinawa), as he was being banished from the Island in 1879. Japan annexed the Kingdom at that time and moved to assimilate Uchinanchu, discouraging use of the Okinawan language, banning female tattoos, and limiting ties with China.
After the war, the U.S. military became the new colonizers.
Simon Buckner, the head of the U.S. Army who led U.S. troops during the battle of Okinawa, wrote in 1945: “I hope that we keep this island after the war, since it is a vital strategic base to use for preventing trouble from any Asiatic power. It looks right down Japan’s throat, gives access to the China Sea and the Asiatic coast, cuts north-and-south traffic by sea in the western Pacific, and gives our fleet and air forces an operating base connected by Iwo Jima and the Marianas with a line of bases that cannot well be broken or isolated.”
An ardent white supremacist, Buckner argued: “We should not incorporate Okinawa into our country but control it as a ‘mandate,’ ‘protectorate,’ or some name that will keep the Okinawans from becoming American citizens and all coming to Anchorage.” A former commander in Alaska, he also argued against bringing Black troops to Alaska because that state was already “plagued with problems of Indians who are half Swede, half Chinese or half something else”.
Although Buckner died at the end of the battle for Okinawa, his colleague Chester Nimitz, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, carried out the plan, asserting U.S. military control over the entire island.
Soon after, U.S. president Harry Truman approved a proposal to assert sovereignty over the islands (National Security Council policy 13/3). This act of colonization was embedded in the San Francisco Peace Treaty that Japan was obliged to sign on September 8, 1951, as the price for postwar independence. On the afternoon of the same day, prime minister Yoshida Shigeru signed the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty. The U.S. thus gained not only complete control of Okinawa but also the right to place bases and troops on Japan’s four main islands.
The U.S. military then proceeded to dispossess many Okinawan farmers of their lands to build military bases throughout Okinawa and neighbouring Ie Island, a coercive process dubbed by Okinawans as “Bayonets and Bulldozers”.
Although left destitute, Okinawans resisted their dispossession and by the 1950s major protests erupted against the U.S. military’s control over the island. In that decade, organized resistance mushroomed into a dedicated movement called shimagurumi (all-island struggle).
The shimagurumi struggle of 1956 was a driving force behind the election of Senaga Kamejiro as mayor of Naha, an outspoken advocate for Okinawan rights. The peace movement in Okinawa converged with that of Japan to demand an end to U.S.-Japan military collaboration and respect for Japan’s peace constitution.
Faced with mounting opposition, the U.S. government responded by having the CIA abet Japan’s right-wing politicians, including in Okinawa where they successfully conspired to unseat Senaga. The U.S. ambassador to Japan Edwin Reischauer advised interference with Okinawan elections in 1960s through the U.S.-backed Liberal Democratic Party on the Japanese mainland. U.S. interference in Okinawa and Japan was only one of sixty-four fully documented, covert regime-change operations carried out to protect the U.S. empire abroad.
In the 1960s, U.S. B-52 bombing missions against Vietnam were carried out from Kadena Air Base. The Wall Street Journal revealed that nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons were stored in Okinawa. And base-related sexual assaults all fuelled huge protests and the demand for freedom from U.S. control in Okinawa and in Japan.
The peace movement’s demand for the U.S. to relinquish its control over the islands finally led the U.S. to give up its colonial control over Okinawa. In 1972, the Japanese government regained control over the island. A precondition, however, was that the U.S. be permitted to keep its bases on Okinawa intact and, under a secret agreement, even to re-introduce nuclear weapons to Okinawa in case of emergency.
An uprising against the terms of the new agreement rocked the island and Japan’s mainland. Still, the U.S. retained its vast network of bases—a military colony legitimized through integration into the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty.
Matters came to a head in 1995 after three U.S. servicemen stationed in Okinawa abducted and raped a twelve-year old girl, leaving her for dead. She survived but was hospitalized with severe injuries. The rapists were arrested and eventually tried, convicted, and sentenced to seven years imprisonment.
News of the atrocity quickly spread prompting another anti-U.S. uprising and creating a crisis for the U.S. military. The result was a travesty—at the end of 1996, the U.S. and Japanese governments announced that the U.S. would return some of its bases in Okinawa, including the U.S. Marine Futenma air base, but on the condition that a new “replacement facility” be built further north on the eastern shore of the Okinawa Island, which turned out to be at Henoko/Oura Bay, Nago city.
This “replacement facility” was originally thought to be a small helicopter pad or something of its kind, but as recently reported, the plan evolved to be one that includes a “dual 1800-metre runway structure protruding ten metres above the surrounding sea, a deep sea port, and an ordinance storage facility”. Residents of Nago, where the new base is under construction, have consistently opposed the construction of the new base, with 54 percent voting against in a 1997 plebiscite and various polls finding 60 to 70 percent of residents opposed to the base.
The most recent poll in early July showed that 70 percent of the people of Okinawan there did not want the new Henoko base. This uprising against Henoko revived the notion of shimagurumi under Governor Onaga Takeshi, who called for Okinawan unity of conservatives and progressives in resisting the base, and the new bi-partisan political force in Okinawa led by Onaga was called the “All-Okinawa Movement.”
And in recent elections, Iha Yoichi, former mayor of Ginowan City and anti-base activist, won re-election as for the House of Councillors in the Japanese Diet.
The fight to reclaim Okinawa continues despite ferocious opposition from the ruling parties in Japan who take advantage of their power and the fact some Okinawans’ livelihoods depend on base-related employment or business. This resistance is part of a larger movement for Indigenous rights, peace, and justice across the Pacific.
Next: The Pacific Peace Alliance Challenges RIMPAC. | <urn:uuid:18c6c1ea-1abc-441d-9bfe-8ce54c39dcfe> | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | https://www.straight.com/news/john-price-and-satoko-oka-norimatsu-canadian-armed-forces-impinge-on-okinawa | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446710698.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20221129132340-20221129162340-00611.warc.gz | en | 0.9614 | 2,446 | 3.171875 | 3 |
In what nefarious substances was the club trafficking? Marijuana? Cocaine? Heroin? No, the members of Rawesome Foods of Venice, California, were accused of the heinous crime of consuming milk and other dairy products that had not been pasteurized — products that the Food and Drug Administration and other government agencies insist are so dangerous that individuals must not be permitted to ingest them.
Advocates of unpasteurized (“raw”) milk consumption beg to differ. They argue that raw milk is nearly as safe as pasteurized milk and that its benefits outweigh its slightly increased risks. Many go to great lengths to obtain raw milk, joining private food clubs like Rawesome, entering into agreements whereby they purchase shares in cows and in turn receive the cows’ milk (called “herd sharing”), and, in some cases, openly defying the FDA’s ban on interstate raw milk sales.
Farmers take even greater risks in supplying raw milk to their willing customers. Two of the “Rawesome Three,” as the arrestees are popularly known, were suppliers. (The third was the club’s owner.) Other farmers across the country have been raided and threatened with prosecution.
It all adds up to a war on raw milk, pitting proponents of natural, unprocessed foods against nanny-state bureaucrats who declare, as the FDA did in response to a lawsuit challenging the interstate raw milk ban, that individuals “do not have a fundamental right to obtain any food they wish.” Instead, they may consume only those foods that government has approved.
Ratcheting Up Regulations
How did we get to the point where raw milk became illegal? After all, for thousands of years prior to Louis Pasteur’s innovation, humans consumed unpasteurized milk from various animals, and in many parts of the world — including Europe, where raw milk not only is legal in most countries but is even sold in vending machines — it is still commonplace. If raw milk were really as unsafe as the government would have us believe, surely the human race would have been wiped out millennia ago.
In the United States, the initial wave of mandatory pasteurization laws came about as a result of urbanization combined with carelessness and ignorance, according to David Gumpert, author of The Raw Milk Revolution: Behind America’s Emerging Battle Over Food Rights. As Americans moved into the cities in the late 19th century, cows were brought in to supply them with milk, Gumpert explained in an interview with The New American. The cows, he said, were “being raised in really miserable conditions in cities, fed the leftovers from distilleries, and they produced a terrible quality milk.” Moreover, he added, “the workers who milked them often had diseases of their own. So you had this combination of circumstances that really lent themselves to the spread of diseases … and you had these terrible outbreaks among children especially. And lots of that’s because we didn’t have any ways of treating those illnesses.... There wasn’t any understanding of the importance of sanitation, refrigeration, those kinds of things.”
Pasteurization, then, was a godsend under such circumstances, and mandating its use undoubtedly saved many lives. New York and Philadelphia led the way, with other cities soon following their lead; but, said Gumpert, “that was about the extent of it.” Other researchers have found that raw milk continued to be sold and consumed widely outside these cities without leading to any major outbreaks of illness. Even some urban milk producers cleaned up their acts and were able to sell safe raw milk again.
Toward the end of World War II, however, a concerted effort to require pasteurization got under way. Beginning in 1944, a series of fraudulent “news” articles helped frighten the public into submitting to yet another intrusion on its liberties. As Ron Schmid, N.D., recounted in Green Living Journal:
Ladies’ Home Journal began the campaign with the article “Undulant Fever,” claiming — without any accurate documentation — that tens of thousands of people in the US were suffered [sic] from fever and illness because of exposure to raw milk. The next year, Coronet magazine followed up with “Raw Milk Can Kill You,” by Robert Harris, MD. The outright lies in this article were then repeated in similar articles that appeared in The Progressive and The Reader’s Digest the following year.
Harris later admitted that his article was fictitious, but by then the damage had been done. “The undulant fever epidemic lies and many others like them were repeated in subsequent magazine articles read by tens of millions of people, as well as in countless newspaper articles in the ensuing years,” Schmid lamented. Soon many states, beginning with Michigan in 1948, began passing laws mandating milk pasteurization. Today, said Gumpert, “you have about 20 states that don’t allow the sale of raw milk, you have about 20 states that do allow the sale of raw milk, mostly from the farm, then you have 10 states that allow the sale of raw milk at retail.” Some of the states which prohibit raw milk sales do, however, permit private arrangements such as herd sharing.
The feds got into the act in 1987 with an FDA regulation banning the interstate sale of raw milk — a rule that went mostly unheeded for nearly 20 years. But with increasing interest in natural foods, including raw milk, has come increasing scrutiny from both state and federal authorities.
The first prominent crackdown in recent years occurred in Michigan in 2006. Following an undercover investigation of a farming cooperative in Ann Arbor, authorities pulled over Richard Hebron and confiscated about $7,000 worth of food, including 453 gallons of raw milk, that he was delivering to the co-op. They also searched his home office and seized his computer. “When they tested the milk, they couldn’t find any problems with it,” Hebron told Time magazine. “It seems like they’re just looking for some way to shut us down.” Six months after the incident, following an enormous amount of public protest, the state settled with Hebron on relatively favorable terms.
Significantly, the settlement with Hebron “approv[ed] in principle the validity of cow share agreements,” Gumpert wrote on his blog the day the settlement was announced. Thus, Michiganders now have official legal cover for obtaining raw milk in that manner.
Hebron’s milk supplier, Amish farmer David Hochstetler of Middlebury, Indiana, was visited by the FDA shortly after Hebron’s cargo was seized. He came to the government’s attention again in 2010 when 25 people were sickened by Campylobacter, a foodborne pathogen that can cause diarrhea or dysentery, that public health officials claimed had come from milk supplied by Hochstetler’s dairy. Extensive testing of the milk by both Hochstetler and the state of Michigan found no evidence of Campylobacter. Nevertheless, he was graced with the presence of more FDA agents, who tried to get him to sign an agreement stating that he would no longer ship milk out of state. Hochstetler declined.
Now Hebron and Hochstetler are again in the feds’ sights. In November each received a subpoena to appear before a federal grand jury in Detroit in connection with a federal criminal investigation. The investigation appears to be part of a concerted effort on the part of the FDA and state officials to — pardon the pun — cow producers of raw milk into submission. Raw milk advocate Max Kane obtained an e-mail summarizing a 2009 conference call about raw milk that included officials from the FDA, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. The e-mail clearly shows that these officials wanted to crack down on raw milk sales. “They prefer to address one person or group at a time,” the e-mail said, “and want to start with” Hebron and Hochstetler.
The government seems hesitant to pursue its investigation, however. Hochstetler — perhaps thanks to his county sheriff, who threatened to arrest any federal agents trying to search Hochstetler’s property without a warrant from a local judge — was released from his subpoena. Hebron’s appearance before the grand jury was cancelled, but as of this writing, he has not been fully released.
Pennsylvania Amish farmer Dan Allgyer was the target of another high-profile FDA operation. The agency suspected Allgyer of selling raw milk to individuals in Maryland, a state that prohibits the sale of raw milk, through a private food-buying club. To prove its case, the FDA sent agents to join the club pseudonymously. These agents placed orders for raw milk and then picked up their milk, supplied by Allgyer, at private residences. They had the milk analyzed to prove it was unpasteurized (and found it was also perfectly safe to drink). Then, evidence in hand, armed agents conducted a pre-dawn raid on Allgyer’s farm in April 2010, locating coolers that were marked for delivery to various Maryland locations. The FDA is now trying to obtain a permanent injunction against Allgyer prohibiting him from selling his milk in Maryland.
The FDA’s sting operation on the club and its raid on Allgyer’s farm generated such outrage among club members and other natural-foods enthusiasts that they staged a “Rally for Food and Farm Freedom” on Capitol Hill in May 2011. In addition to the usual protest signs and speakers, including Gumpert, organizers actually trucked in a cow and served up glasses of moo juice straight from the udder, “playfully daring one another to drink what, if sold across state lines, would be considered contraband product,” the Washington Times reported.
The rally, which drew over 400 people, also highlighted the disagreements between raw milk enthusiasts and “the non-dairy creamer people,” as speaker Sally Fallon Morell labeled the bureaucrats at the FDA and the Department of Agriculture.
Wondering About Warm Milk?
“The FDA and USDA promulgate two falsehoods,” Morell, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, a natural-foods activist group, said. “One is that there is no nutritional difference between raw and pasteurized milk.”
Indeed, a “Food Facts” page on the FDA’s website specifically states: “Research shows no meaningful difference in the nutritional values of pasteurized and unpasteurized milk.” But is this true? Apparently it depends on one’s definition of “meaningful.”
“There is approximately a 10% loss of vitamins B1, B6, B12 and folate and a 25% loss of vitamin C” when milk is pasteurized, according to a 1997 paper by Dr. B. M. Pickard of the Department of Animal Physiology and Nutrition at the University of Leeds. Furthermore, wrote Pickard: “Pasteurization destroys the ability of certain proteins in milk to bind the important vitamin folate and hence help its absorption. Heat treatment might also cause a similar inactivation of other protein carriers, for example those for zinc and vitamin B12.”
To the FDA such differences may not qualify as “meaningful,” but to anyone not part of the nanny-state apparatus, they appear quite significant indeed.
Perhaps even more harmful than the loss of vitamins, which can be obtained through supplements or other foods, is the loss of bacteria. Pasteurization kills pathogens in milk by heating it to 71.7o C (161o F) for 15 to 20 seconds. Unfortunately, it also destroys beneficial bacteria, and with them milk’s disease-fighting properties.
“Untreated milk contains varying amounts of anti-microbial proteins and other anti-infective agents which are designed to protect the young animal from infectious disease,” Pickard observed. “It is not only newborn animals which may benefit from this protection. Studies have shown that consumption of untreated milk by various tribes favored the suppression of infection.” In other words, raw milk can help strengthen the human immune system; pasteurized milk, owing to its lack of (good) bacteria, cannot.
Recent studies from Europe have also found that raw milk consumption is a significant factor in preventing allergies and asthma.
“I have seen so many of my patients recover their health with raw milk that I perceive this as one of the most profoundly healthy foods you can consume,” alternative-medicine expert Dr. Joseph Mercola told Time.
“The other lie [from the government] is that raw milk is inherently dangerous,” Morell said at the rally. “We know that raw milk is inherently safe. There are numerous components in raw milk that kill pathogens. You cannot get pathogens to grow in raw milk.”
The FDA demurs, saying that “raw, unpasteurized milk can carry dangerous bacteria such as Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria” and arguing with as much fervor as Morell that “raw milk DOES NOT kill dangerous pathogens by itself.”
Both sides are employing a bit of hyperbole. “There is no such thing” as “a risk-free food,” Gumpert told TNA. “All foods can potentially make you sick,” he added, including both pasteurized and unpasteurized milk. The question is whether raw milk is significantly more likely to cause illness than pasteurized milk.
Based on CDC data, Gumpert estimated that “there are between 50 and 150 reported illnesses from raw milk each year.” Meanwhile, there are 20,000 to 25,000 foodborne illnesses reported annually, which means raw milk accounts for no more than 0.5 percent of all foodborne illnesses. In 2007, the CDC conducted a survey which found that 3 to 3.5 percent of Americans were consuming raw milk — a percentage that has probably increased since. “So you’re talking about one half percent or less of the illnesses, foodborne illnesses, for three to three-and-a-half percent of the population consuming the product,” Gumpert said. “I don’t see any evidence that raw milk is a serious public health hazard.”
Pickard, too, found that unpasteurized dairy products accounted for an exceedingly small fraction of the total foodborne illnesses in any given year, noting: “Over the 31 years from 1951-1982 only 6 deaths were attributed to infections from untreated milk. Yet in one year alone, 1982, there were 67 deaths from other types of bacterial food poisoning.”
Moreover, he pointed out, “Contrary to popular belief, contamination with pathogens can occur in pasteurized milk.” A 1982 outbreak of gastrointestinal infection in the United States from pasteurized milk is thought to have affected about 800 people. Additionally, in 1984-85 there was an incident of food poisoning in pasteurized milk from a plant in Illinois that may have affected nearly 200,000 people. As recently as 2007 three people died from an outbreak from pasteurized milk in Massachusetts.
Contrary to Morell’s claims, raw milk is not “inherently safe.” It can carry pathogens that pasteurized milk is unlikely to carry. However, contra the FDA, raw milk does have “components which inhibit the proliferation of bacteria before it is consumed,” according to Pickard. On the other hand, he stated, pasteurized milk’s “ability to restrict bacterial growth is lost or severely curtailed.... This means that bacteria contaminating milk after pasteurization (e.g., from filling machines, from the air, or even entering under the bottle cap) can grow more rapidly than they would in untreated milk.” In other words, pathogen-free raw milk is likely, though not certain, to remain pathogen-free, while pasteurized milk stands a greater chance of becoming infected.
Singling Out Small Producers
Raw milk partisans are quick to point out that the government’s alleged concerns about food safety seem to be applied selectively. Gumpert recalled: “There are a couple of producers of raw milk cheese that were discovered by the FDA or by the states to have either Listeria in the cheese or Listeria in the plants.... No one had gotten sick in either of these places, but … they essentially shut these places down.” Meanwhile, he noted, “Listeria’s been found at, say, Kellogg’s or Dole, and those places are not shut down.... [The government gives] them warning letters and they go in and inspect, and they keep giving them another chance to make things right. They don’t do that in cases involving raw dairy.”
Little wonder, then, that fans of raw milk see themselves as Jack trying to fend off the giant corporate interests.
“The laws against raw milk have nothing to do with safety and everything to do with economics, with supporting the pasteurized milk cartel,” Morell asserted. “About 80 to 90 percent of the milk is controlled by four companies, who are very efficient … at accumulating wealth at the top. And the heads of these companies make millions of dollars a year while their cronies at the FDA go after poor Amish farmers to try to put them out of business.”
There would seem to be something to Morell’s assertion. The National Milk Producers Federation, which represents the big dairy companies, issued a press release on November 1 entitled “NMPF Urges Food and Drug Administration to Defend Laws Against Raw Milk Sales.” The release began: “The nation’s top public health organization needs to stand firm in the face of mounting pressures to further legalize the direct sale to consumers of a potentially dangerous product: raw milk.”
Even mainstream news outlets have figured out who’s behind the war on raw milk. Reporting on the Rawesome raid, the Los Angeles Times wrote that raw milk “has drawn regulatory scrutiny, largely because the politically powerful dairy industry has pressed the government to act” in the face of increasing “demand for all manner of raw foods.”
In addition to dairy interests, Gumpert suggested two other factors driving the attacks on raw milk. First, “the public health community in particular, as well as the medical community, have just been taught for so long that raw milk is not safe that they can’t accept the possibility that that isn’t true.” Second, “it’s part of an overall movement in our culture … that involves a combination of … fearmongering and efforts by the government in particular to exert greater control over the population. And they’re doing it in a number of ways, but I think certainly control of the food supply is a key part of all of it.” Those sentiments were echoed by a Rawesome volunteer who told the San Jose Mercury News at the time of the raid, “I guess that’s [the government’s] bone of contention, that they can’t control us.”
With the corporations and the bureaucrats working hand-in-hand, is there any hope for Americans to regain their freedom to consume the foods they desire? “I think the positive sign or the hopeful sign is that consumers are beginning to get involved, and that is going to be essential if this food rights movement is going to have any chance of success,” Gumpert said. “Farmers cannot do this by themselves.” Consumer involvement is especially important “because the regulators and politicians in particular don’t want to deal with the consumers because this is something that could cost politicians votes,” he explained.
One politician who has taken notice of consumers’ desire to choose their own foods is Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), who introduced legislation to rescind what he called the FDA’s “unconstitutional misapplication of the commerce clause for legislative ends,” namely its ban on interstate raw milk sales. Paul has even referred to his bill more than once on the presidential campaign trail; one MSNBC reporter remarked that Paul was cheered “like a rock star” after mentioning it in New Hampshire.
With more people drinking raw milk every day, some engaging in civil disobedience, and a popular presidential candidate taking up their cause, the prospects for food freedom just may be improving — something that should make constitutionalists say “cheese.” After all, as Ron Paul inquired, “If we are not even free anymore to decide something as basic as what we wish to eat or drink, how much freedom do we really have left?”
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Duck hunting success can be largely determined by the weather. Duck hunters dream of that strong cold front that rolls in from the north. The cold front where you can see the dark line of clouds that distinguishes the wind change and precipation that accompanies a front. Duck hunting on days like this can be some of the best hunting of the year. As the days after the front moves through, high pressure settles in and clear skies prevail. The duck hunting starts to get tougher and tougher, but why? Let’s take a look at some different weather conditions we all face while in the field or on the water and how to maximize your opportunities in each.
Storms that send ducks south
By storms, I don’t mean thunderstorms. I mean a weather system or a front. Usually during duck season it’s a cold front. Some can have a little more punch than others and these are the fronts that duck hunters look for. As Fall turns to Winter, cold air begins to build in Canada. The cold air begins eliminating food sources and available water for roosting. Some ducks can sense it’s coming and will migrate just ahead of the front or right with it leading to awesome duck hunting. A few years back, there was a cold front accompanied by a sharp 30 degree drop. This front rolled through central Illinois about 730 one early December morning. You could see the dark bank of clouds move in from almost straight north. As the bank of clouds got closer, the giant flocks of ducks and some geese riding the front were easy to pick out. These birds could feel the front coming and knew that if they stayed north food and water would very soon be gone. They took advantage of the strong wind and maximized their ability to fly south. Duck hunting on days like this can be awesome! If at some point during the day a strong front is forecast to come through, you better do everything in your power to be out there with a gun in hand. Not only will ducks likely be riding the front, but any other ducks in the area should be active as gusty winds keep water churned up and locations where a bird could stay out of the wind are constantly changing. Migrating ducks are a duck hunters dream. They’re hungry, tired, and not familiar with the area. Here is a duck hunting video that took place during the passage of sharp cold front.
Freezing weather duck hunting
Freezing weather goes hand in hand with a stout cold front. Cold weather means fozen water and less area for ducks to dabble and roost. This is what forces many ducks to make their move south, but there are always some old, wise ducks that stick it out as long as they can. They are resourceful and find tiny pockets of open water and locate carb loaded food sources to help get them through the cold. As the duck season progresses and the weather gets colder and colder, areas for duck hunting become limited, but so do the areas a duck can be. Your job is to find those little pockets where ducks hang out during cold times and find a way to either get near it or hunt on it. Years ago, this tactic was much much more succesful. Now, there are “hot tubs” or power plants lake seemingly everywhere that always have open water. Hunting near these can can be good, but they offer a large area for birds to go. A spring fed bend in a creek that seems to always have open water would be ideal because of the small area. It might not hold as many birds as the power plant lake, but they will be more concentrated in the creek.
In cold weather, carbs are king! An excellent source of carbs for a duck to battle the cold weather is corn. If you can’t find that small nook of open water holding ducks, and can’t hunt the power plant lake with open water, then find a field they’re feeding in. The cold weather forces ducks to increase their food intake. The calories they consume are the fuel they need to stay warm in extreme temperatures. In order to get what they need, they’ll likely feed twice during the day giving duck hunter more opportunities at success.
Arguably some of the worst conditions for duck hunting. When it’s nice outside, ducks are lazy. No wind means calm water all over for them to raft up on and if they do give your spread a look, they’ll likely be reluctant because of the lack of movement. The best you can do is just get out there and hope for the best. As we learned this year, you never know what could happen on any given day. The conditions may look like you would be better off sleeping because it’s supposed to be sunny, 60 degrees, and no wind. Unless you are out there, you just never know. By being in one of your hunting locations, you can at least see what lines the birds are using and where they are heading. This observation can be great for future hunts on days where weather conditions will be similar. On sunny days during quiet weather, a hunter can stick out like a sore thumb. Anything shiny is amplified with the reflection from the sun. If you do get ducks into range you have to be extra careful to getting spotted. On cloudy days, shiny gun barrels and uncovered faces aren’t nearly as problematic.
Ducks in the fog
Duck hunting in foggy conditions can be just as tough as a sunny, fair weather day, but it probably has more potential. The ducks ability to pick off the hunters or notice something wrong in the decoy spread are limited. They’re predominantly using their hearing to locate other birds. Duck hunters can be limited as well. It’s best to call frequently. There may not be any birds close, but if there is, you want them to hear you and take notice since they’re not able to see your decoy spread. Throw a short calling sequence out there then stop and listen to see if you hear wings or a cadence back at you. In these conditions you have to be ready at all times becuase you never when they may drop in out of no where.
Your duck hunting can be highly dependent on the weather conditions you’re hunting in. Keeping a close tab on the weather can help you determine when the best time to be out there will be. However, just because the forecast looks bleak doesn’t mean you should sleep in! In duck hunting, there are no guarantees! The National Weather Service has all your duck hunting weather needs.
http://fowledreality.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/TipsForBetterShooting4.jpg16202880Fowled Realityhttp://fowledreality.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/FRLogoWhite-300x200.pngFowled Reality2017-09-21 08:44:202017-09-21 08:44:20Tips For Better Shotgun Wing Shooting – Match the Speed of the Target
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moved that Bill , be read the second time and referred to a committee.
He said: Mr. Speaker, I rise today in this House on behalf of our veterans. They have defended our values throughout the world and deserve the support of the government to ensure that, when they face difficult times upon their return—I am thinking of our veterans in the modern era— they are given the appropriate assistance, especially if they are injured.
Today, we will continue studying the important Bill , which is at second reading. Passage of this bill means a great deal to our veterans. The government has agreed to provide $2 billion to come to the assistance of our veterans. I am thinking, among others, of the veterans in the modern era, those returning from Afghanistan with injuries. It is our responsibility to ensure that, should they have this misfortune, they at least do not have financial difficulties in future.
What are the statistics? We provide services to approximately 140,000 veterans. Of this number, 65,000 are veterans of World War II or the Korean War. The average age of the veterans of these wars is 87. We also provide services to approximately 67,000 veterans who served after the Korean War and whose average age is 57. These include modern-day veterans who are around 20, 25 or 30 years old and who are returning from Afghanistan.
As you may expect, these modern-day veterans have different needs than those who served in World War II or the Korean War, whose average age is 87, as I just mentioned. Why do they have different needs? They are young and, when they return wounded, their objective is to return to civilian life and to find a new job that fits their new reality—I am referring to any physical or psychological injuries they may have. The services we provide to them must therefore take into account this new reality that did not exist before.
What were our veterans receiving before? In the past, veterans received a disability pension, medical benefits, of course, to ensure that they could live independently, and long-term care, depending on their needs in this regard.
Today, our “new” veterans, our modern-day veterans, have completely different needs. In 2005, Parliament, in its wisdom, passed a new veterans charter. The vote was unanimous given the new needs. The reality of these individuals is different; they want to be rehabilitated, return to civilian life and continue to live a full life, and we provided a range of new services related to this new reality.
Despite the fact that this new charter was passed unanimously, we told our veterans and the associations representing them that the charter would be an evolving one. In fact, we have been listening and have now determined, based on the experiences of those who have come home wounded, that there are problems with the new charter that must be fixed.
Who did we listen to? We listened to the seven associations that represent them. I am referring to the Royal Canadian Legion, the Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association and other veterans' groups. We also listened to our veterans themselves and the ombudsman, who shared certain points of view with us. We also listened to parliamentarians who made comments on the changes that are needed. We also listened to our troops in Afghanistan. What is more, I went to Afghanistan where I had the opportunity to listen to what our soldiers had to say about the lump sum payment. I will elaborate on that in a few minutes.
We also listened to suggestions from representatives from standing committees and from the new veterans charter advisory group on changes to be made.
We said it was a living document. The government listened to what it was told and decided to make changes to this charter in order to meet the needs of today's soldiers and veterans.
What changes are we going to make to this new veterans charter? There are three changes, but they will bring in four other changes.
The first change involves income allocation. The basic purpose is to ensure that the veteran participates in a rehabilitation program in order to be able to return to civilian life, hold a new job taking any handicap into account, and continue to live a full life. A modern-day veteran returning from Afghanistan injured and participating in the rehabilitation program, will receive an allowance equivalent to 75% of his or her salary. However, a low-income earner receives roughly $26,000, which is not enough. Adjustments had to be made because some of these veterans have families and young children.
This is what Bill would do. A corporal's salary will now serve as the base for the 75%, meaning that a veteran returning injured from Afghanistan will receive at least $40,000 annually while participating in a rehabilitation program.
The second change concerns the permanent monthly allowance. We found that those coming home seriously injured and unable to return to work were not receiving enough financial help. Currently, soldiers returning home receive between $536 and $1,639 per month, based on the severity of their injuries. Those who cannot return to work because their injuries are too severe will receive an additional $1,000 per month for the rest of their lives.
Soldiers who have been seriously injured and cannot return to work due to the severity of their injuries will receive a minimum of $58,000 per year until the age of 65.
When the legislation was unanimously passed in 2005, the new veterans charter did not take veterans' previous injuries into account. That will be fixed: we will also take those injuries into consideration, which means that 3,500 people will now be receiving between $536 and $1,609 per month, and those amounts have now been indexed. Those 3,500 people will now benefit from this new measure.
I would now like to talk about the lump sum payment. For months a rumour was spreading that the government was giving nothing but a lump sum payment of $276 to injured veterans coming home from Afghanistan. It was also said that they were not being taken care of afterwards. But that is not true. Our veterans receive the first two benefits I spoke about, in addition to a third, the lump sum payment.
According to critics, people were often not able to properly manage the $276 that they received as compensation for their injuries. We checked, and 69% of veterans were satisfied, but 31% were not and would prefer to receive a different form of compensation.
We examined the 31% closely and found that they were often cases of people with mental health issues or people suffering from post-traumatic operational stress.
When I went to Afghanistan, I told our soldiers that I was prepared to change to be more flexible. One of our soldiers asked me to give them as much flexibility as possible. On the plane on the way home, I told myself that I would go further than I had planned to ensure that the needs of our modern-day veterans, who may come back from Afghanistan wounded, are met.
Under our bill, people will now have options with regard to the lump sum payment. If they prefer to receive the amount in cash, they can do so. If another veteran prefers to have the money as an allowance over a certain number of years, we can do that. If he or she wants to have it allocated over 5, 10, 20 or 25 years, it is possible. The veteran will receive an annual payment allocated over the desired number of years. The veteran can also choose to receive a combination of the two types of payments, receiving part of the amount in cash and part allocated over the desired number of years. These three changes in Bill will serve to better meet the needs of our modern-day veterans.
However, that is not all we did this year. As I mentioned, we have been listening to what our veterans have to say. We have made improvements to the system for those suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In the past, each case was examined individually and not everyone had the right to all services. We decided to change that, and now, anyone who is diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis will receive all the services that the department provides to veterans.
Another issue is agent orange. People wanted the eligibility period for the ex gratia payment of $20,000 to be extended by a year. Just before Christmas, I went to Fredericton to confirm that our government is extending the period by one more year. In addition, widows, who were not previously eligible, are now completely eligible for this ex gratia payment of $20,000. I cannot begin to express how happy these people were with our government's decision.
Another priority is to improve the quality and efficiency of the services we provide to our veterans. Among other things, we plan to reduce processing wait times by one-third by the end of March so that we provide services more effectively to our veterans.
We have also developed a new telephone system. Now, 80% of the veterans who call us receive an answer within two minutes.
We will also increase the number of case managers. Veterans returning from Afghanistan want to receive quick responses. We have added 20 case managers in the field, and in less than two weeks, our modern-day veterans can get answers about their rehabilitation plan.
We will also give departmental employees working on the front line more decision-making power, so that they can make quick decisions in providing services to our veterans. And this is just the beginning, since I am committed to paying close attention to the needs of our soldiers and our veterans, and to remaining in close contact with the associations that represent them.
This is a first step, here. My department is the only one to have received an additional $2 billion that was not originally included in the budget so that we can meet the needs of our modern-day veterans and ensure that our programs are tailored to their reality.
We will continue to work with organizations and advisory groups. I also want to thank the parliamentarians in this House. Since there are talks of a possible election in the very near future, we must ensure that our veterans, including our modern-day veterans, do not end up paying the price. This bill must be passed before the budget is passed, so that any injured soldiers and all soldiers becoming veterans have access to the services of the Department of Veterans Affairs and this government.
I thank hon. members for their support.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to Bill .
Before I begin, I must honour all our veterans, their families, the fallen, and those still serving. There is no commemoration, praise or tribute that can truly match the enormity of their service and sacrifice. I want them to know that serving them has been one of the greatest privileges of my life and that their stories of sacrifice, service and strength are being heard.
For example, I will not forget the words of a few gentlemen in Halifax who survived the fire on HMCS Kootenay, the worst peacetime accident in Canadian naval history. Survivors then had to fight to prove they were on the destroyer in order to get any help from Veterans Affairs Canada.
Their life experiences affect me and all Canadians deeply, and remind us that we owe them a debt of gratitude we can never repay. Instead of trying to repay our obligation, we let them down on so many issues. For example, too many injured veterans go without the care they need. Too many veterans do not receive the support they have earned. Too many veterans have nowhere safe to sleep at night. It is truly shameful that a 92-year-old veteran in Edmonton ever had to say to me, “There is a long road to go to make this right and you must not give up because we never did”.
I, therefore, want to apologize for the fact that this year veterans across Canada yet again had to be the heroes. They had to lead us to see the injustices and push us to begin to right the wrongs. They felt compelled to organize a national day of protest to beg for the privacy, care and help they were owed and needed. We broke our sacred trust with them and for this I am profoundly sorry.
We have a moral obligation to our veterans and their families, an obligation to listen to their concerns, understand them and, most importantly, address them. Specifically, we owe them the care they were promised and the benefits they have earned.
Days before Parliament resumed this past September, the government issued a first veterans announcement. Clearly, the government did not want to return to face questions on why nothing had changed since the implementation of the new veterans charter in 2006. A series of announcements continued to trickle out throughout the fall of 2010. The tabled Bill , the enhanced new veterans charter act, on November 17.
The proposed legislation brought together several of the fall announcements and would make changes to the new veterans charter, as called for by several veterans organizations, including the Royal Canadian Legion, and would introduce changes to the administration of the lump sum disability award. Specifically, Bill would amend parts 1 to 3 of the new veterans charter, as well as part IV of the Pension Act.
On behalf of veterans, I must ask why the government waited four years to propose any change to the new veterans charter, which had been hailed as a living document, a work in progress that would be continually adapted to meet the changing needs of veterans? I must also ask why Veterans Affairs Canada did not live up to its 2006 commitment to review lump sum awards versus disability pension within two years?
Former veteran ombudsman Pat Stogran explained to the Senate Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs that such examples of lack of timely action undermine the sincerity of the chorus of loyalty to our veterans. Liberals have no intention of holding up this bill and will work in the best interests of veterans and Canadian Forces members and, most importantly, work to ensure that this bill rightfully addresses their needs.
With the rumour of an election in the future, we want to ensure the passage of Bill and its extra support for veterans.
On behalf of veterans, I must also ask why the government did not fully respond to veterans concerns about the lump sum payment. A study by the minister's own department found that 31% of veterans were unhappy with what they received.
While the minister promised new improvements to the lump sum payment, the government merely divided up the payment differently, for example, as a partial lump sum and partial annual payments over any number of years the recipient chooses, or as a single lump sum payment.
In November I met with second world war veterans, Korean war veterans, Canadian Forces veterans, reservists, RCMP and commissionaires at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 362 in Saskatoon. Every one I met believed that the government must make immediate changes to the problematic lump sum payment system. I was deeply saddened to learn that everyone knew of a veteran who had little to live on and that many veterans are working into their seventies and eighties because they need the money.
The Royal Canadian Legion would still like the department to address the amount of the lump sum payment which currently stands at a maximum of $276,000. In Canada, disabled workers receive on average $329,000. Australian service members receive about $325,000, and British service members receive almost $1 million. The Legion feels that those injured while serving their country should expect to receive at least the same amount awarded to civilian workers whose lives have been drastically changed by circumstances beyond their control.
Having pointed out this concern, there are important changes in the proposed legislation: at least $58,000 per year for seriously wounded or ill veterans, those too injured to return to the workforce; a minimum of $40,000 per year no matter what the salary when serving in the Canadian Forces for those receiving the monthly earnings loss benefit; an additional monthly payment of $1,000 for life to help our most seriously wounded veterans who are no longer able to work; improved access to the permanent impairment allowance and the exceptional incapacity allowance, which will include 3,500 more veterans.
It is also important to point out what, according to the Legion, has not been addressed: a larger disability award in line with what is provided to Australian veterans and to disabled civilian workers who receive general damages awards in law court; improved funeral and burial benefits; improved earnings loss benefits to provide 100% of pre-release income and, if permanently incapacitated, provide ELB for life; projected career earnings of a Canadian Forces member should determine minimum ELB payment; and promotion of academic research to support integrated approach to establish VAC entitlement eligibility guidelines.
According to the Bill is only the first step to addressing veterans concerns, but it is a good place to start. We agree. The proposed legislation is a small step forward, and we are prepared to support this bill because our veterans need urgent help now and because the minister assures us that further changes are coming. We hope this first step represents a real shift in thinking, in acting, that will address other gaps.
What really matters is how veterans and veterans organizations feel about the proposed legislation. Dominion president Pat Varga said:
|| This bill, as a first step, makes great strides in improving the New Veterans Charter and encompasses many of the recommendations made by the New Veterans Charter Advisory Group and the House of Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs. The Legion considers that further improvements are needed to the charter on which we look forward to continuing the ongoing dialogue with [the minister].
Pierre C. Allard, service bureau director, Dominion Command, reports, “We are ready to appear at ACVA and present our views on the way ahead....but the bottom line is that we suggest strongly that Bill C-55 should be enacted as soon as possible so that veterans and their families can benefit from proposed improvements”.
The second communication reads, “with the proviso that Bill C-55 is but chapter 2 of future chapters, it should be passed as is ASAP”.
The Gulf War Veterans Association states:
“We actively seek your co-operation and your support for the expeditious passage of Bill C-55 through the House Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs and during the subsequent parliamentary steps.
Although collectively we feel the bill falls somewhat short in addressing all the problems of the New Veterans Charter, it is nonetheless an important step in implementing corrections with the problems in the charter. With an upcoming election possible, the future of Bill C-55 looks uncertain and it could well die on the order paper. We humbly request that you support a one-day debate of the bill, followed by approval, which in turn would provide adequate time for members of all groups to express their concerns.
In closing I ask again, on behalf of all veterans, for your co-operation to help our veterans receive their much-needed and markedly improved benefits as soon as possible. This cannot happen if the passage of Bill C-55 is not handled expeditiously. Please help our veterans”.
The Canadian Association of Veterans in United Nations Peacekeeping states, “request the quick passage of Bill C-55. We appreciate there are changes to be made to the New Veterans Charter and I respectfully suggest (hope) that changes will occur one step at a time. I fully support the idea that the New Veterans Charter is a living document”.
The Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association states, “it seeks your cooperation to support the passage of Bill C-55. Although the bill falls far short of addressing all of the problems of the New Veterans Charter, it is a first important step forward in the process of finishing and correcting problems in the charter. With election talk increasingly in the air, the future of Bill C-55 looks very bleak and it could well die on the Order Paper if there is an election call”.
In summary, the minister, veterans' organizations, veterans and we are in agreement that Bill does not cover all the requirements that we would like to see, but we do agree that it is a small step and one that should be taken before a possible election.
As was relayed to me, “Time is of the essence. After the bill is passed then we can start discussing more improvements to veterans' benefits. If we start asking for changes now, you know as well as we, that the bill will be stalled and there will be more meetings. Please, one step at a time and then we can move on. We agree, it is a small step, and more is needed”.
While there is clearly very strong support for the legislation, some veterans say that the changes do not go far enough, for example, to help our veterans facing poverty and homelessness.
This past Thanksgiving, more 800 food hampers were to be delivered to the needy veterans and their families in Calgary alone. We absolutely need more facilities, like Cockrell House, believed to be the nation's first homeless shelter for veterans because there are still many veterans living up in the bush and on the streets.
The veterans I met during my visit to Cockrell House wanted us to understand that they loved serving their country, that they would still be on the streets if it were not for Dave Munro and Russ Ridley, who helped launch this important facility. Dave explained that when he enlisted, new recruits signed an unlimited liability clause, which meant they were obligated to do whatever was requested, no matter what the hazard. Dave feels that because of the enormity of the sacrifice they were asked to make, Canada owes them and should help them get back on their feet.
Luke Carmichael was one of the homeless. The Halifax native arrived in Victoria a decade ago with no money and no place to stay after serving 19 years in the armed forces, including a stint in Cyprus. He spent seven years living in a tent and three years in a trailer. Luke said that he found much needed support at Cockrell House. He now has a beautiful apartment, kept tidy with military-like precision, and is reunited with his sweetheart of 40 years ago.
Cockrell House exists because of volunteers like Angus, Terri and Karl, all of whom help run this facility at considerable personal expense. Cockrell House will need to obtain permanent funding next year to continue its important work, despite the generous support from people like Russ Ridley.
Veterans across this country want real change. One veteran told me that because VAC initially withheld a compensatory award, he ended up homeless. Another veteran was sent a cheque for $40,000, only to have $28,000 reclaimed, causing him to lose his house.
Let us commit today to addressing all challenges faced by our veterans. As one veteran in Halifax said to me, “There are a lot of suffering veterans out there who VAC knows about, and even more out there who no one knows about. They are not followed”. He told us of three young veterans who died alone suffering from PTSD and who had lost their spouses. “Let's keep them alive”, he said.
Our veterans deserve more than one day, one week of remembrance. They have earned care when they need it and throughout their lives, lifelong respect and the necessary economic, familial and social supports to transition back to civilian life, to adjust to a new life or to age with dignity and grace. They do not want empty, hollow words with no action. They deserve leadership with real change and they deserve what they did so extraordinarily well, namely action.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to speak to Bill , introduced by the government to help veterans.
The Bloc Québécois supports this bill, as we have said repeatedly here today. I heard our Liberal colleague say that it is a step forward and will help improve things for our veterans. We are talking about people who sacrifice their lives or who live the rest of their lives with injuries suffered during a combat mission.
The Bloc Québécois has always been very concerned about the well-being of veterans. We parliamentarians can sometimes have serious disagreements about the validity of a mission, as was demonstrated by the debate we had on the mission in Afghanistan. But when it comes to supporting veterans, the Bloc Québécois is always there, and we firmly believe that veterans should not have to pay the political price of this debate. They have sacrificed much of their safety, their well-being and their health. Therefore, when it comes to veterans who are injured or have a disability, we cannot be tight-fisted or frugal; rather, we must be generous in compensating these individuals. We must express our gratitude and recognition by providing them with all the help and support they need, and whatever their families and children need.
The bill contains measures that we hope will help veterans considerably. We are disappointed, however, as I have repeatedly told the , that the Conservative government decided not to include a lifetime monthly pension, as many veterans in Quebec called for in petitions presented here in the House. That measure, which veterans were entitled to under the old veterans charter, should have been restored.
The minister said many times that there were not necessarily any changes and that the primary goal was to reintegrate veterans into the workforce. But that was always the goal; that is nothing new. We strongly believe that having a lump sum payment instead of a lifetime monthly pension, as we had before, is a considerable loss for our veterans.
Bill proposes legislative amendments to the Canadian Forces Members and Veterans Re-establishment and Compensation Act. As I already said, this bill would amend the eligibility criteria for the long term disability plan and would provide an extra $1,000 per month to veterans who are receiving these disability benefits and who are unable to return to the workforce. This affects many people who, after participating in a military mission in a theatre of war, return nearly 100% disabled and unable to actively return to work.
This bill also offers veterans the choice between a single lump sum payment and the same amount spread out over a set period of time. A combination of these two options is also available.
Here is an example of the losses experienced by veterans. From our discussions with people working with veterans, we know that, in general, based on the cases handled, veterans are more likely to be 20% or 25% disabled than 100% disabled.
According to the previous veterans' charter, compensation was provided to a veteran at a rate of 20%, so he could receive $600, $700 or $800 per month for the rest of his life. When a young person received compensation for an accident in the theatre of war, he generally received compensation at a rate of 20% or 25%. If we are talking about $280,000, that means the person would receive approximately $50,000 from then on, at the age of 22 or 23. Before, that person could receive $600 to $800 a month for life, for physical or mental loss. As we mentioned earlier, post-traumatic stress disorder affects many military personnel.
The Bloc Québécois has the utmost respect for military personnel who carry out highly dangerous missions and risk their lives to express the will of the people. This profound respect justly implies that, since their lives are in danger, we have the responsibility not to expose them to further risk. Once their mission is complete, we have the collective responsibility to offer them all the necessary support when they return home.
Of course, this support must be given to veterans, but it must also be given to their spouses, families, loved ones and children. There is still a lot of work to do on that front.
And in terms of post-traumatic stress disorder, we heard many testimonies to the effect that the spouse of the person afflicted had not necessarily been informed about possible behaviours, or their reactions, or the potential help available to them.
I would ask the minister, who is present here, to listen to what I am about to say. A number of witnesses told us in committee that when they needed a psychologist or psychiatrist to get help for post-traumatic stress disorder and they contacted Veterans Affairs, it was often difficult to access those services. We heard it over and over again in committee: people told us that they did not feel that it was an easy task. There are members here from all parties who sit on the committee and can attest to that.
We have an idea of the dynamic of all those wanting psychological therapy, and often they are men. I worked in a CLSC network and men often have more difficulty than women recognizing their psychological weaknesses. It is difficult enough to ask for help, but when a person asks officials at Veterans Affairs and the request for help is not necessarily well received and it is difficult to receive compensation for the services the person needs, then there is a problem. I invite the minister to take a closer look at this as well. It is important.
The Bloc Québécois will always support any measure to help veterans. The Bloc Québécois has always defended the principle that we must not abandon our veterans when they return from difficult missions or when they end a career spent defending their fellow citizens.
For example, in budget 2009, the Conservatives announced various measures, as hon. members will recall. Budget 2009 maintains the $30 million annual investment included in budget 2007, for the period from 2007 to 2012. Budget 2009 also maintains the $302 million investment over five years announced in budget 2008. That amount will go to Veterans Affairs Canada in order to increase support for war veterans.
However, out of the $3.4 billion estimates, budget 2009 announced that $24 million would be saved by streamlining internal and administrative resources without affecting services.
We wondered about that and we met with certain stakeholders, because those savings worried us. I do not know how it is being carried out on the ground. The cuts are determined by executives or administrators and, often, they target the lower levels. It is important to be vigilant about service delivery. I do not want to go too far on this issue, but I am concerned about the cuts.
The Bloc Québécois will support maintaining past investments to help veterans. However, given the scope of the mission in Afghanistan and the number of Canadians wounded in this theatre of operations, the federal government could have increased its investment.
Bill is certainly a start and a step in the right direction. It is important to recognize that, although some of the measures improve the assistance provided to veterans with disabilities, there is still work to do. The Bloc Québécois is of the opinion that the government could have done more, namely by returning to a lifetime monthly pension, which is not included in the bill.
Despite all the debate and the demonstrations that took place on November 11 in Quebec, people called for the return of the lifetime monthly pension. The minister seems to want to avoid the issue by saying that, despite everything, veterans receive a lump sum payment and a pension. However, when veterans return to the labour market, they no longer receive that pension. The only amount they receive for a disability resulting from an injury sustained in the theatre of operations is 20 to 25%. Most of these people return to the labour market and are able to return to society.
Bill is part of a legislative process that dates back to at least 2005. At that time, the new veterans charter was supposed to be a major reform designed to completely overhaul the veterans compensation system.
It was the Liberals who put forward the new veterans charter. In some cases, the compensation provisions for wounded veterans were covered by the Pension Act, the terms of which dated back to World War I. With the new veterans from the campaign in Afghanistan, it became urgent to review the process to adapt to the new reality and to provide help to those who needed it.
In committee, some people told us they had received, among other invoices, an $8 invoice for the cost of the sheet the soldier had been wrapped in. Fortunately, things have changed. That would have been rather traumatic.
The new veterans charter differentiates between financial benefits intended to compensate for the loss of revenue a veteran experiences when he or she can no longer work because of an injury sustained while serving in the Canadian Forces and the sums paid to compensate for pain and suffering associated with an injury sustained while on duty. That is why the veteran will lose the financial benefits but will continue to receive his or her disability benefits. Under the old system, the pension amount would diminish if the veteran's condition improved, which encouraged people to focus more on the deficiencies rather than on rehabilitation.
I would like to make my point by asking a question. What is the current situation of our veterans? This bill is supposedly going to help them. As we saw in committee, it is becoming increasingly clear that veterans need help.
During our many meetings, we learned that the suicide rate among veterans is higher than in the general population. Statistics show that one out of six people returning from a military theatre of operations will be afflicted with post-traumatic stress. These people, who are often very young, need psychological and social support, which is not always available in isolated, rural regions. Veterans returning home far from large urban centres had a hard time receiving the services they needed. Veterans have often said that in order to support them, people need to understand their reality. In isolated, rural regions, it might be difficult to find experts to help someone who is suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.
According to the Survey on Transition to Civilian Life: Report on Regular Force Veterans, dated January 4, 2011, clients of Veterans Affairs Canada reported complex states of health. The great majority, more than 90%, reported at least one physical health condition diagnosed by a health professional—that is a very high percentage—and about half reported at least one mental health condition. Two-thirds had four to six physical and mental health conditions, and a fifth had even larger numbers of comorbid conditions, that is, the presence of two or more conditions in the same individual.
Overall, 6% of veterans reported having thoughts of suicide in the previous 12 months. Of those covered by the new veterans charter, 57% had trouble reintegrating into society.
Therefore, a great deal of work remains to be done to provide services to those who return from military missions with psychological trauma. They return to Canada and must return to society. Fifty-seven per cent is more than half; almost 6 in 10 have serious problems with reintegration.
The state of health, the degree of disability and the determinants of health of regular force veterans released from military service between 1998 and 2007 were worse than those of the general Canadian public.
I have some more statistics. Seventy-three per cent of veterans are very satisfied with their financial situation. Once they leave the forces, the satisfaction rate falls to 50% for veterans covered by the new veterans charter. Thus, 57% are dissatisfied with their financial situation once they leave the forces. Veterans covered by the new charter have their average income reduced much more sharply. Their income may be reduced by up to 64%. The income of veterans on a disability pension may drop by 56%.
There is still a lot of work to be done. This bill introduces new measures. The minimum compensation for earnings loss for a veteran in rehabilitation has been increased to $40,000, and this will affect 2,300 veterans over the next five years. Access to the permanent impairment allowance and the exceptional incapacity allowance has been improved. This means that 3,500 more veterans will be eligible. There is an additional $1,000 per month being offered to veterans who receive the permanent impairment allowance and who cannot return to work. Five hundred veterans will benefit from this measure over the next five years.
That is a step in the right direction. However, there is the issue of the lump sum payment, which the veterans have requested. Replacing this amount and reinstating the lifetime monthly payment are major advances.
The minister is here, and I would like him to listen to this. We are talking about accessibility to services and services tailored to families, services that are close by, especially in rural areas such as my riding of Berthier—Maskinongé and other regions of Quebec.
Madam Speaker, I rise on behalf of the federal New Democratic Party to indicate its initial support for Bill . As I have already told the minister in private and in public, New Democrats will be supporting the principle of the bill. It has been indicated to the minister privately and publicly that it is a tiny step forward, that the government should have moved one way but went the other way.
We know that any time opposition can get the government to move, that is a good thing. It is nowhere near what New Democrats would like, but in fairness to the minister, I honestly think he is trying to do the very best he can within the constraints of the Conservative government.
Let us go over the merits of Bill . I first want to thank the minister for listening to the debate today and working with members possibly through committee to make slight alterations to the bill to improve it. In all of the bills that come from government, especially the Conservatives, we see the word “may” written often. For those of us who have done collective bargaining, which my colleague from Hamilton would know very well, the word “may” means whatever one wants it to. It means that one may or may not do something.
Subsection 3(2) is where the bill gets a bit redundant. This program is already enshrined in the new veterans charter, but it is repeated in the bill, which states:
|| The Minister may, on application, provide career transition services to a member’s or a veteran’s spouse, common-law partner or survivor if the spouse, common-law partner or survivor meets the prescribed eligibility requirements.
That is already in the new veterans charter. One has to ask why it is in this bill.
If we go further down the page, there is a mistake. Section 12 is complete in the French language, but it is not complete in the English language. I would ask the minister to ensure his staff or the legal people get that completed before it goes to committee.
The word “may” is all over the map in the bill. New Democrats have a concern with that. The minister is right that he does not determine who has PTSD or any kind of medical concerns. That is up to the experts. However, when those experts make a decision and that decision is forwarded to the Veterans Review and Appeal Board or to the Department of Veterans Affairs , then the minister may want to do something. The minister may wish to allocate this or that program. The minister may or may not decide to do something to help veterans or their families. That word in a couple of paragraphs needs to be changed.
The word “shall” in some paragraphs should be changed. When it comes to the payment aspect, New Democrats will agree that the word “may” can stay, but not in any collective bargaining or contractual obligations. We call it a weasel word. We know the minister did not intend to do that in any way, shape or form, but we will have this discussion at an appropriate time.
As well, I have been in contact with all veterans organizations over the past few months about the bill. One of the things they have asked me to do on behalf of New Democrats and the opposition is to ensure that I talk with my Bloc and Liberal counterparts to seek their support to move the bill through the process fairly quickly. I indicated that I would and I am glad to see that Liberal and Bloc members have, although with reservation and they are right to express concern, agreed to move it forward.
I remember the days when the veterans charter was being discussed. Jack Stagg, the former deputy minister, may God rest his soul as he is no longer with us, before the implementation of the bill invited the various veterans groups to the process of the bill making, as well as the critics of the opposition, before the bill was even drafted so the minister could say that this is what he wanted to do and how could he get members' help to move it through even quicker.
The bill could have already been passed by now. If the government really wants to speed this along, I have advice for the minister for next time, and we hope there will be a next time, very soon hopefully, because we know this is one step forward of many steps that have to happen. The next time legislative changes are required that need the opposition's support, he should call us in advance. We would be more than happy to sit down with the department to give our acceptance or not in that regard. That way he would know how quickly something could be passed.
We know when it comes to veterans the last thing we wish to do, in any way, is to hold up something that may be beneficial to veterans and their families.
I talked about the fact that the bill is a small step forward. The new veterans charter divided veterans in this country into three classes. Right now, for example, World War II and Korean veterans who have a disability that is severe enough may be eligible to go to a hospital like the Camp Hill in Halifax, Ste. Anne's Hospital in Quebec, Colonel Belcher in Calgary, or the Perley here in Ottawa. Not every World War II or Korean veteran has access to those beds.
By the time we go to bed tonight this country will lose another 110 to 120 of its World War II and Korean heroes because of the passage of time. It is unfortunate, but time has caught up with them.
What will happen to those hospital beds when the last of the World War II and Korean veterans pass away? Right now, modern-day veterans from post-1953 do not have access to those beds. This is going to be a problem. We hope the government will look at this problem seriously and understand that there are now over 750,000 current veterans, RCMP members and their families.
There are going to be some 600,000-plus Korean and World War II veterans, many of them in their late 60s and early or late 70s, who are going to require long-term care or hospital care as a result of injuries suffered during their time in service. Right now they have to depend on the provinces to get that help. We hope the government will look at this serious problem and work with us to facilitate their having access to facilities.
Over the holidays we heard about SISIP. My friend, Dennis Manuge, a veteran from Porters Lake, challenged the government on the SISIP deductibility from his veterans pension, which is a clawback. Representing over 6,500 veterans in this country, the class action law suit made it all the way to the Supreme Court which ruled unanimously that the class action suit can proceed.
There are 6,500 disabled veterans this class action law suit affects. They have been asking for years that the previous government and the current government fix this problem once and for all. In fact, two DND ombudsmen have said to fix it. The previous veterans affairs ombudsman said it must be fixed. Two votes in the House of Commons said it must be fixed. The veterans affairs committees of the House and the Senate said it must be fixed.
Yet 6,500 veterans and their families have had to seek legal redress to get this fixed. The minister and the government could stand in the House of Commons and say that this court action and this legal action will stop now. Officials would meet with members of the class action law suit, Dennis Manuge and his group, and come to a reasonable compromise that is fair for the veterans and fair for the taxpayer.
I suspect, because I have seen it before, that the government is going to continue to spend millions of dollars of taxpayers' money fighting disabled veterans for what they so rightfully deserve. That is one thing the government could do to fix it right now. We said that the bill is step in the right direction, but it needs to go further.
We have talked about vocational training. I thanked the for his comments when he said that the DVA is now starting to look for veterans to be employed within the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The problem is that a military person with 23 years of experience may have 5 or 6 weeks of vacation entitlement time. If they become disabled, become a veteran and then go to work for DVA, they go all the way back to the bottom of the vacation entitlement plan. They go down to three weeks. They are not entitled to carry their years of military service over to DVA. Under the law, members of the military are not considered public servants.
The same applied to the RCMP and the RCMP were successful in taking the government to court to change that aspect of it.
We are telling the government that it is one line that it can change that would allow members of the military who are injured and need to leave the service, if they get jobs in DVA or other aspects of the public service, which the new veterans charter allows them priority service hiring, to take the years of service they provided to Canada with them. That is a simple thing that can be done and it would bring smiles to many veterans who find themselves in that case. It is a simple thing to be done and we hope the government will do that.
The government could do another thing to help veterans out. Let us imagine military persons with over 35 years service who have served their country, have travelled the world and have left behind their families many times as they have gone to serve in Bosnia, Afghanistan or wherever. They are 55 years old right now and all of a sudden, unfortunately, their spouse passes away. As sad as that is, it happens all the time.
If they are lucky enough and fortunate enough to remarry another person at 59 years old, great. They live for 20 years, they die and their second spouse would be entitled to their superannuation pension. However, if that individual had the audacity to marry the second person at age 60, lived for 20 years and died, the second spouse would get nothing. That is called the “marriage after 60” clause or, as we call it, “the gold digger clause”.
In fact, Werner Schmidt, a former Reform Party member of Parliament, now the Conservatives, and my colleague over there knows him quite well, introduced legislation in the House to ban the marriage after 60 act. If we were to remove one line in the legislation, we would be done, but, no, after all these years we are still fighting that clause. The reality is that when a military person, an RCMP member or whomever remarries, it should not matter to the government when they remarry. We know the law was put in during the Boer War, well over 100 years ago. The British government was worried that young girls would marry older veterans for that pension cheque. I am sure even the minister would know that is rightly unfair.
That is one thing the government could do right now to help many veterans and their spouses. If they are fortunate enough to find the love of their life once, that is great. If they get to do it twice, that is really remarkable. When they remarry should be no concern at all to Government of Canada, whether they remarry at 59 years and 364 days day, but on that 365th day, at age 60, they get nothing later in the future. That needs to change.
Those are just some of the aspects of change that could happen.
Another one is the agent orange aspect. We know that the current government, when it was in opposition, promised so much more on agent orange compensation for those folks who were affected from spraying in Gagetown from 1958 to 1984. In fact, the former minister of veterans affairs and the current , who was then leader of the opposition, said very clearly in Gagetown that they would look after everyone affected by chemical spraying from 1958 to 1984.
However, when the Conservatives became government, they implemented a plan that was even more restricted than what the Liberals were offering. The Liberals were offering that only those people in 1966 and 1967 affected by the spraying of agent orange that could be claimed back to the American aspect of the involvement in Gagetown would be compensated.
However, then we need to go to February 6. I am glad to see that the minister just recently changed that requirement and allowed many more people to make the application for agent orange.
However, the minister and the government knows that will only help about 1,100 more people. There are thousands upon thousands more people who were affected by chemical spraying in Gagetown. The one simple thing that we would ask is exactly what they asked when they were in opposition: a public inquiry into the spraying at Gagetown. If the minister were to stand and say that we will have a public inquiry as to the spraying at Gagetown, that would go a long way toward alleviating a lot of concerns for veterans and civilians. Those are the things that the Conservatives called for when they were in opposition.
Those are just a few of the items that the government can do in order to move the yardstick on veterans' care.
I will give the current minister some high marks. I have travelled with him on a couple of occasions already and I have seen that his interaction with veterans and their families is truly sincere. In fact, all of the ministers with whom I have associated since my time in 1997 have been nothing but sincere and true. Whether they were Conservatives or Liberals, I know that each and everyone of them truly wanted to do the very best they could to help the veterans and their families.
It is time to put those kind thoughts and words into action. Bill is a small start. There are a couple of small amendments that we may have to look at in committee. However, one of the recommendations I would make for the government for future legislation is that it increase the amount of payment that comes out, which right now is $276,000. It should easily be double and never in a lump sum payment for younger people. I do admit that if the government is willing to offer quite a large amount of money to people in their late 50s or early 60s, it may be something that they would want to think about. However, for people in their early 20s or 30s, it would be a major mistake to take that kind of money right off the bat.
We have a lot of people in DVA who will make the determination of whether a person is severely injured or not. We know it will not be the minister doing that. We would like to know how that determination is actually done, because we frequently hear that people who are severely disabled or severely injured or cannot continue in their employment, they can receive these benefits. Who determines that? How is that preordained?
Right now in many of the cases we have, one of the things I despise the most within the Department of Veterans Affairs, and I say it with great respect to people in that area, is the Veterans Review and Appeal Board. That is something I would like to see done away with in a heartbeat. If it cannot be done away with, then we should do what the minister said. He did not say this but I will say it for him. Instead of putting political friends on the Veterans Review and Appeal Board, the government should starting putting people on that board who have military, policing or medical experience so that when people go before the VRAP, they are adjudicated by their peers, not political hacks and flacks.
That, by the way, is what the Conservatives said in the convention in 2005 or 2006. At the convention, they actually said that the Veterans Review and Appeal Board would be replaced by people of medical, military and policing history. That is what we would like to see on the Veterans Review and Appeal Board.
Right now we have a bunch of folks there who have never served one day in their lives and they are adjudicating on people who have served valiantly for their country, who have signed the unlimited liability. We have the ultimate responsibility for their and their families' needs.
At the same time, when we talk about veterans and their families, we also need to include members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which is why I happen to be wearing the RCMP tie today. I believe the members of the RCMP serve their country just as much as those in the military and they should be treated together. I would hope that some of the benefits that are applied to veterans eventually will apply to members of the RCMP.
Those are some of the issues we have issued to the minister. We want to thank the minister for cracking open the door on the new veterans charter. It is a living document. We do not want it to die on Bill C-55. We want it improved and we want it done quickly. We know the resources are there to help. We in the NDP, and I am sure my Liberal and Bloc colleagues, will do everything we can to assist the who is a really decent guy, to move forward quickly on all the aspects we have talked about in order to make the lives of our true heroes of this country better for the long term. | <urn:uuid:dfb4643b-7298-4e5c-ae7c-c805bfcf36b7> | CC-MAIN-2017-26 | http://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/40-3/house/sitting-125/hansard | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-26/segments/1498128320261.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20170624115542-20170624135542-00664.warc.gz | en | 0.977525 | 10,925 | 2.578125 | 3 |
ESPP has published a draft “Phosphorus Fact Sheet”. The objective is to provide in a readily accessible form, supported by reference sources, key numbers and data relating to phosphorus production, uses, environmental impacts and recycling, in order to offer in one place answers to often asked questions. This responds to the issue that for many aspects of the phosphorus cycle, data is not easily available, or published data is contradictory or out of date, or confusing because of use of different units (tonnes of rock, of phosphorus, of P2O5 …). Best estimates are made of how much phosphorus goes to different applications: agriculture (much the biggest use: c. 87% to fertilisers and 7% to animal feed), fire safety, batteries, food and beverage … Estimates are also provided on phosphorus in food, in sewage, phosphorus “use efficiency” … The objective is not to have fully scientifically justified numbers, but estimates which are considered realistic by competent stakeholders. Any comments are welcome: on the estimated data, on the sources used, or for other data on aspects of phosphorus management which it would be useful to include.
ESPP Phosphorus Fact Sheet for comment https://phosphorusplatform.eu/images/download/ESPP-Phosphorus-fact-sheet-v21-4-19.pdf | <urn:uuid:004bb845-465d-4a47-ac2a-ec9193633409> | CC-MAIN-2022-27 | https://phosphorusplatform.eu/scope-in-print/news/1853-phosphorus-fact-sheet-for-comment | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-27/segments/1656103624904.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20220629054527-20220629084527-00464.warc.gz | en | 0.916972 | 273 | 3.34375 | 3 |
It would not surprise me if they find evidence to suggest that the asteroid was formed in the kuiper belt (out past Pluto) rather than in the inner solar system. This would upset the standard theory of planet formation.
I think planets are wanderers in more than one sense. I think the wander in from interstellar space where they are formed. Our solar system is unusual because it is stable. The apparent evidence of the many planetary systems around us is that the stars are eating the planets – or we are reading the gravitational evidence wrong.
I think the stability of our system is based on the relationship between Jupiter and Saturn. They gravitationally kick out new planets spiraling inward (over millions and billions of years) and transfer energy to earth and Venus (and perhaps Mercury) arresting their inward falls.
When you read about the discovery of the nearby stars having planetary systems, they tend to have large planets very close to the star. Part of this is because that is what we can easily detect, but the point is that there are too many of unstable systems where planets are within a few million years of falling into their suns. By the law of averages, the only way we could be around to see them in this state, is if this happens a lot. Our detection ability only reaches the closest stars in our galaxy.
It may also be that the interaction of the charged particles of the solar wind with the Earth's magnetic field, adds energy to the Earth's momentum. Although ti is a low amount, operating across billions of years it might be significant. (I'm not sure I am using the correct terms here, I'm not trained in physics.) The solar wind is almost certainly tied to the moderation of the climate that occurs in thirty to thirty-five years cycles, first noted by the Dutch and commented on by Roger Bacon in the early 1600s. There is one Russian physicist who thinks that the Sun is disturbed by gravity waves producing internal changes that result in this cycle. | <urn:uuid:7a1b825a-0208-451e-8e72-463d655272d5> | CC-MAIN-2018-17 | http://breathingroom.blogspot.com/2010/06/asteroid-material-will-provide-cluse-to.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-17/segments/1524125948126.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20180426105552-20180426125552-00137.warc.gz | en | 0.970041 | 402 | 3.234375 | 3 |
In 1864 the Greek Orthodox Community of Kavala acquired the right to build district outside the fort and the City's the first task was to build a church for the religious needs of believers, the church of Ioanni Baptisti, in a land that was countryside for city residents in the castle and pilgrimage dedicated to the Zoodochos Pigi.
The fitted plate in the narthex, inscription dated, stating: ΄΄Διονυσίου Ξάνθης/ Αρχιερατεύοντος/ αναλώμασι της των/ Ελλήνων παροικίας/ ο ναός ούτος ανηγέρθη εν έτει / ΑΩΞς (1866)΄΄. At both entrances of the enclosure, on the north which is the main entrance, on the road Philippi Str., and south on the road today Venizelos Str., is engraved with the year 1867, year of construction of the precinct and the entrance of the courtyard.
The church is honored in the name of the Holy glorious Baptist Ioannis and the main festivals are the Birth of the Baptist (June 24). It is a five-aisled basilica with a dome, kind skylight, which is the arch of the middle aisle. The Corinthian kionokrana, the small columns, the simple decoration of the temple and the stuccoed decorations on the arch of the roof and in various other places, are all neoclassical buildings, customary in this period. The apostles are depicted in oval portraits above the columns, between Genesis bow, and the Almighty in medal stucco colored flowers in the middle of the vault of the central aisle. The Twelve, Lord's miracles, individual saints etc. are represented on screen in two rows of twenty-six, over the icons. All images in this temple are paintings of the 19th century (1867) except St John's right of the despot Christ which was made in 1921. | <urn:uuid:44b36655-88a6-4170-ba13-953195b8b516> | CC-MAIN-2019-26 | https://www.emtgreece.com/tr/monasteries-and-churches/holy-metropolitan-temple-of-ioannis-baptistis | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-26/segments/1560628000266.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20190626094111-20190626120111-00055.warc.gz | en | 0.910011 | 481 | 2.765625 | 3 |
While the move to an independent living community is often prompted by something else, the benefit that it brings from a social perspective cannot be overstated. In fact, that may be one of the greatest benefits.
If you think that having good health is all about eating, exercise and medicine-think again. We all have a basic need to feel connected to other people. And it turns out social connections may be at least as important, if not more as these other commonly accepted health practices.
We are all aging, but that does not mean we have to become isolated or stop enjoying the company of others. New friends and renewed relationships with family can help to make the older years a time of growth and renewal.
Impact on Health
There are four things we know about connection between social relations and health:
1) Isolation is a powerful risk factor for poor health
2) Social support has direct positive effects on health
3) Social support can buffer some of the health related effects of aging
4) No single type of support is uniformly effective to all people, but some general principles apply
Alameda County Study
Having good social ties is actually directly related to physical health and has a positive ‘buffering effect’ even if there are other stresses in play or adverse life style choices have been made, such as smoking or excessive drinking.
Of course, exercise levels, smoking and diet are all important factors in determining your health, but a major piece of research (Berkman and Syme, 1989) found that the powerful influence of social support on health outcomes seems to be largely independent of how much your family and friends actually encourage you to make healthy life style choices.
The study tracked 7,000 residents of Almeda County, California over a nine year period. The research looked at their health habits, the number of social ties and close friends they had, the level of group contact such as church attendance they had, and whether they were married.
The death rates of the study group seemed to be clearly and directly associated with the number of social ties of each individual. Quantity came out as more significant than quality. People with few ties to others had mortality rates two to five times higher than better connected people.
This strong link between social ties and death rates was independent of more traditional mortality indicators such as smoking, drinking, exercise and obesity. The link applied to both sexes, all ethnic groups and in a 17 year follow up appeared to hold good all the way into old age.
Social connections have been shown to lower the risk of multiple health conditions including:
• Heart disease
Additionally, a person with better social connections will require less pain medicine after surgery and will recover more quickly.
MacArthur Foundation-Successful Aging Study
In the MacArthur Foundation study on Successful Aging, John Rowe and Robert Kahn describe the importance of social support for our health. The authors point out that having a strong social support system is important at any age starting with infancy and continuing long into the older years. Those who have strong social support tend to have fewer illnesses and to live longer, healthier lives.
We are hardwired to interact with others. This is important throughout the lifespan. Babies who are fed but not adequately held will have, at the very least, developmental problems. Older adults who are isolated are more likely to die.
As we grow older, significant losses of those in our inner circle are more likely and replacing that kind of support can be a challenge. The loss of a spouse, who can tend to be our strongest support person, is particularly difficult. The advice of successful agers in this instance is to get outside of ourselves and be a support to others. The need to be a giver of support as well as a receiver is very strong and can also be a predictor of good health.
Independent living provides direct access to a social network with plenty of opportunity for social connections and better well-being. | <urn:uuid:2cb2b885-22bb-46aa-8a70-7c961cf0d1be> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://www.wtcfamilycenter.org/stay-socially-connected/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571584.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812045352-20220812075352-00391.warc.gz | en | 0.965284 | 842 | 3.09375 | 3 |
PCB Stands For Poly Chlorinated Biphenal| Polychlorinated Biphenyl| polychlorinated biphenyls| Printed Circuit Board
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PCB definition / PCB means?
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The meaning of the PCB is also explained earlier. Till now you might have got some idea about the acronym, abbreviation or meaning of PCB . What does PCB mean? is explained earlier. You might also like some similar terms related to PCB to know more about it. | <urn:uuid:46549576-7f26-4e13-ac4e-61caba017564> | CC-MAIN-2018-17 | http://potolki-m.ru/Studies/pcb | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-17/segments/1524125945037.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20180421051736-20180421071736-00234.warc.gz | en | 0.936491 | 185 | 2.8125 | 3 |
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Sawgrass - Cladium
The Many Attributes of Sawgrass
Native to Florida, this iconic sedge is easily recognized as the most prolific plant in the Everglades. Named for the saw teeth on the margins and underside midrib of its long, grey-green leaves, sawgrass stems can grow up to six or seven feet in height. Leaves may grow up to three feet in length, are flat or V-shaped, and measure about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch wide. Stiff and serrated, these rugged leaves grow from the base of the plant’s hollow, three-angled stem. The inflorescence, or flower head, of the plant, may be several feet tall and includes various small drooping branches or branchlets. These branchlets feature anywhere from two to six brown, egg-shaped spikelets at each tip. The spikelets are each comprised of two or three spreading scales. The fruit of the sawgrass, found within these spikelets, is a tiny, wrinkled nutlet. Considered by botanists to be one of the oldest plant species on the plant, Sawgrass is well adapted to thrive in a variety of habitats and grows well in both fresh and brackish water swamps and marshes, along lakeshores and riverbanks, and on dry ground. Sawgrass is an attractive addition to home and business landscapes; however, sawgrass should not be planted in areas of high traffic as it may injure passersby. Sawgrass is typically sold as germinated seedlings, or plugs, and takes an average of six months to mature to a desirable size. Due to the vascular nature of this plant, it is not well-suited to areas with dry, humid conditions. However, Sawgrass thrives in areas with naturally moist soil and is a delightful addition on the edges of lakes or ponds. Because of its impressive size and rapid maturation, Sawgrass is often used by landscaping professionals to add elegance and aesthetic appeal to a variety of properties.
Sawgrass will make a great plant for any water garden. It will also grow well around lakes and ponds. It will grow well in Northern America. It does not do well in the mid-east. It does not like dry, humid conditions. Sawgrass is considered a seeding plant. The Sawgrass is common in the Wetlands. | <urn:uuid:11128f1a-ccfc-47f7-b6d1-4c65d7c796fa> | CC-MAIN-2018-17 | https://www.trees-plants.com/sawgrass-100-plants-price/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-17/segments/1524125945624.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20180422154522-20180422174522-00132.warc.gz | en | 0.965477 | 492 | 3.40625 | 3 |
Optic Neuritis (ON) is an autoimmune, demyelinating inflammatory condition of the optic nerve (which transmits visual stimuli from the eye to the brain). Optic neuritis represents a clinical syndrome more than a specific disease and often occurs alongside granulomatous meningoencephalomyelitis (GME) or, much less commonly with necrotizing leukoencephalitis (NLE).
In fact, “Optic Neuritis” is an umbrella term that comprises all diseases that cause signs in the optic nerve by primary demyelination. The symptoms usually manifest themselves as a partial (or total) loss of vision in one (or both) eyes or a sudden visual field defect. The main characteristic of ON is the recovery of all or part of the visual acuity gradually, however, brightness sensitivity and/or permanent residual deficits in color vision are common.
In dogs, inflammation of the optic nerves may be associated with inflammation in the brain or retinal inflammation or may involve the nerves only. There are several Causes of optic neuritis in the dog including viral infections, protozoal infections, fungal infections, tumors, Immune diseases, head trauma, and some forms of meningitis.
The optic nerve may be inflamed only in a portion of the nerve or along its entire length from the retina to the brain. When examining the retina - if the nerve beginning is inflamed, then that is visible. When the inflammation of the nerve is in the behind of the eye, the damage cannot be identified as the retina may appear normal.
Symptoms Of Optic Neuritis
- Blurred/diminished vision (usually the main symptom).
- Dilated Pupils
- Photopsia (flashing lights in one or both eyes).
- Swelling in optic nerve head.
- Blindness in rare cases.
- Pain with eye movement / Periocular pain
- Decrease in-depth perception.
Treatment Options For Optic Neuritis
- Treatment is directly dependent on the underlying cause of the inflammation. The cause of the optic neuritis must be identified in order for appropriate treatment to be instituted.
- When the optic neuritis is considered to be autoimmune in origin, or if meningitis is involved or idiopathic, corticosteroids such as prednisone and prednisolone are used to treat dogs to suppress the immune system.
- Anti-inflammatory medications, Antibiotics, and Pain Control Medications such as NSAIDs will be used to control infection and inflammation.
Home Remedies For Optic Neuritis
- When your dog is diagnosed with optic neuritis, ensure to follow precisely your vet’s medication instructions.
- Adhere to follow-up examinations schedule to monitor response to treatment and to identify any aggravation of the inflammation.
- Most of the dogs respond well to conservative treatment and get back their vision.
Prevention Of Optic Neuritis
Preventative measures for optic neuritis are not available. Early diagnosis and appropriate medical intervention may prevent other neurologic signs from developing and ensure minimal optic nerve damage.
Affected Breeds Of Optic Neuritis
Beagle, Chihuahua, Bernese Mountain Dog, Dachshund, German Shorthaired Pointer, French bulldog, Irish Wolfhound, Papillon, Pekingese, Pug, Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Maltese, Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, Yorkshire Terrier, West Highland White Terrier
Additional Facts For Optic Neuritis
- Immune-mediated disorder of the Central Nervous System (CNS).
- Granulomatous Meningoencephalitis
- Viral Infections (Herpes, Distemper, CanineInfluenza or Hepatitis).
- Fungal Infections (Histoplasmosis, Blastomycosis, Valley Fever, Cryptococcosis).
- Parasitic Infections (Ehrlichiosis, Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever).
- Protozoal Infections (Neosporosis, Toxoplasmosis).
- Vitamin A deficiency
- Head Trauma
- Some forms of Meningitis
- Idiopathic - unknown causes
Acute Optic Neuritis:
- Monocular, Bilateral - occur in both eyes.
- Vision loss gradually develops over a period of time, peaking within 1-2 weeks.
- Vision loss, eye pain, and Worsened eye movement are the most common symptoms.
- An afferent pupillary defect always occurs when both eyes are uninvolved.
- Central Scotoma is the usual visual field defect seen in acute optic neuritis.
Chronic Optic Neuritis:
- Signs of optic neuritis can persist even after clinical recovery.
- These signs in dogs after recovery of optic neuritis may suggest an earlier, subclinical attack.
- Persistent visual loss, contrast sensitivity, deficits in color vision, light brightness, and stereo acuity.
- Despite the return of visual acuity after treatment, there will be some degree of Optic Atrophy.
Optic Neuritis most commonly affects small to mid-sized dogs.
Canine optic neuritis is typically a manifestation of granulomatous meningoencephalitis or vice versa, it may progress to granulomatous meningoencephalitis.
ON is an immune-mediated demyelinating condition of the central nervous system (CNS).
The clinical manifestations are generally limited to afferent pupillary defects and acute vision loss. To ensure minimal permanent optic nerve damage, the diagnosis should be achieved quickly.
- Serum biochemistry profile and complete blood count.
- Tonometry, Slit Lamp and Fundoscopy.
- Inner Eye
- X-rays of the skull, chest, and abdomen or ultrasound to check metastasis.
- CT scan (bone involvement) and MRI (to check soft tissue damage).
- Fine needle aspiration or biopsy.
Although the mortality rate due to optic neuritis is less compared to other tumors, optic neuritis hugely impacts the quality of life of the dogs.
The prognosis for dogs in advanced stages of optic neuritis is poor. Prognosis is often positive with early diagnosis and appropriate treatment. The outcome deteriorates in dogs that are not treated promptly or with severe signs.
When To See A Vet
Emergency - Immediate Veterinary Assistance Needed:
- If your dog blinks excessively or the eyes look painful and red continuously.
- Decreased depth perception.
Food Suggestions For Optic Neuritis
Diet for eye health with anti-inflammatory foods diet:
The diet should be included foods containing vitamins A, C, omega 3s, zinc, carotenoids, beta-carotene, lycopene, and antioxidants.
- Omega-3 oily fishes such as salmon, tuna, cod, etc.
- Leafy greens such as spinach, kale, watercress, etc.
- Nonmeat/plant protein sources such as nuts, Lentils, Beans, Eggs, etc.
- Citrus fruits or juices, Sweet potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkin.
- Zinc foods such as Pork, tuna, and Oysters.
- Blueberries, Broccoli, cabbage, carrots, etc.
The ultimate prognosis for dogs with optic neuritis is eventually dependent upon the underlying cause of the disease. Dogs can have an improved quality of life for a period of time with proper treatment. | <urn:uuid:9ee7a292-ad3b-4bd1-9b21-aa1667c44615> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://www.petmoo.com/dogs/optic-neuritis-in-dogs/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296950247.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20230401191131-20230401221131-00323.warc.gz | en | 0.842665 | 1,619 | 2.953125 | 3 |
ORVILLE L. FREEMAN, the twenty-ninth governor of Minnesota, was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 9, 1918. His education was attained at the University of Minnesota, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1940 and a law degree in 1946. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps and rose to the rank of major by the time he was discharged in 1945. Freeman entered into a public service career in 1945, serving as an administrative assistant to Minneapolis Mayor Hubert Humphrey, a position he held four years. He also served as a delegate to the 1948 Democratic National Convention, and was the chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party from 1948 to 1950. Freeman next secured the Democratic-Farmer-Laborite gubernatorial nomination, and was elected governor by a popular vote on November 2, 1954. He was reelected to a second term in 1956, and to a third term in 1958. During his tenure, a water resource board was formed; the seaway port authority was created; the state’s health institutions were advanced; a fair employment practice law was sanctioned; and educational funding was expanded. After running unsuccessfully for reelection, Freeman left office on January 2, 1961. He continued to stay politically active, serving as the secretary of agriculture, a position he held from 1961 to 1969. Governor Orville L. Freeman passed away on February 20, 2003, due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease.
Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 2, Westport, Conn.; Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols. | <urn:uuid:e554245a-d3bb-4e7a-a48e-45d1d38769d5> | CC-MAIN-2020-29 | https://www.nga.org/governor/orville-lothrop-freeman/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-29/segments/1593655900335.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20200709131554-20200709161554-00001.warc.gz | en | 0.976854 | 354 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Immunology (Lippincott Illustrated Reviews Series) 2nd Edition
Chapter 19: Tumor Immunity
Cell growth and cell death are normally balanced so that a stable number of cells are maintained in a given tissue. Occasionally, however, cells arise that no longer respond to the usual checks and balances for division and death. These are tumor cells. Development from a normal cell to a cancerous one requires several transformation steps. Transformed tumor cells express characteristic cell surface antigens, and these antigens often initiate immune responses. Therapeutic approaches, which attempt to exploit these normal immune responses to tumors, continue to be investigated. However, tumors also evade recognition by the immune system, and at times, tumor growth appears to be enhanced by immune mediators produced against that very tumor.
A tumor, or neoplasm, is a collection of the clonal descendants of a cell whose growth has gone unchecked. When a tumor continues to grow and to invade healthy tissue, it is considered to be a cancer.
A. Terminology and definitions
Malignant tumors are distinguished from benign tumors by their progressive growth and invasiveness. Metastasis is a characteristic of many malignant tumors (cancers). Metastatic cells become dislodged from the main tumor, invade blood or lymphatic vessels, and travel to other tissues, where they continue to grow and to invade. In this way, tumors at one site can give rise to secondary tumors at other sites within the body (Fig. 19.1).
Metastasis. Tumor cells can detach from the primary tumor and travel through the vasculature to establish metastatic tumors at other sites.
Classification of tumors is based on the embryonic origin of the tissue from which the malignant cells are derived. Carcinomas develop from endodermal or ectodermal tissues (e.g., skin, glands) and constitute most malignant tumors, including cancers of the breast, colon, and lung. Sarcomas develop from bone and cartilage and have a much lower incidence than carcinomas. Leukemias are malignant cells of hematopoietic lineage that proliferate as individual cells, whereas lymphomas arise from malignant hematopoietic cells but grow as solid tumors.
B. Malignant transformation
Experiments with cultured cells have allowed researchers to trace the development of tumors. Cells that are infected with certain viruses (e.g., SV40 or Rous sarcoma virus), irradiated (ultraviolet light or ionizing radiation), or treated with certain DNA-altering chemicals show altered growth properties and often induce tumors when injected into animals (Fig. 19.2). Such transformed cells can be grown in culture almost indefinitely. In some cases when retroviruses (RNA viruses) induce such growth change in cells, the process is related to the presence of oncogenes (cancer-producing genes) of the virus. Change from a normal cell to a tumor cell is known as malignant transformation. The process of malignant transformation requires at least two distinct phases. The first phase is initiation, which changes the genome of the cell; the second is promotion, which results in stimulation of cell division.
Malignant transformation. Transfection or irradiation of normal cultured cells alters them in such a way that they will induce the formation of tumors when injected into experimental animals.
C. Tumors of the immune system
Lymphomas and leukemias are tumors of immune cells. Lymphomas are solid tumors within lymphoid tissues such as bone marrow and lymph nodes. Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphomas are examples. Leukemias are composed of dispersed single cells that arise from the bone marrow and may involve cells from either lymphoid or myeloid lineages. Acute leukemias arise from less mature cells and are found in both children and adults. Chronic leukemias are tumors of more mature cells that develop slowly and are seen only in adults.
D. Oncogenes and cell growth
In some cases, malignant transformation induced by retroviruses (or RNA viruses) has been linked to the presence of cancer-causing genes called oncogenes within the retrovirus. The viral oncogene Src (v-Src) from the Rous sarcoma virus is an example of this type of gene. Inserting this virus into normal cells in culture results in malignant transformation. Cells have genes, referred to as proto-oncogenes or cellular oncogenes, that are counterparts of retroviral oncogenes. Conversion of a cellular proto-oncogene (e.g., c-Src) into a cancer-promoting oncogene (e.g., v-Src) can occur by mutation. This change is generally accompanied by a change in cellular growth because the cellular oncogenes normally code for growth-controlling proteins.
1. Stimulators of cell division: Oncogenes that function as stimulators of cell division include those that encode growth factors and growth factor receptors. Oncogenes may also code for proteins involved in signaling pathways, particularly via tyrosine phosphorylation, and those that function as transcription factors. Increased activity of proteins encoded by oncogenes in this category can result in uncontrolled cellular proliferation. Examples include sis, which encodes a chain of platelet-derived growth factor, and erb-b, which encodes epidermal growth factor receptor (Table 19.1). Src and Abl in their proto-oncogenic (cellular) forms encode tyrosine kinases that regulate cell division. In their oncogenic forms, the regulatory function of these proteins has been lost, and the affected cells will have unregulated proliferation. Ras codes for a GTP-binding protein; continued stimulation of division occurs when the oncogene form of ras remains active. Transcription factors are encoded by the fos, jun, and abl oncogenes.
2. Tumor suppressor genes: Oncogenes that are inhibitors of cell division and are sometimes referred to as anti-oncogenes function as tumor suppressor genes. When a tumor suppressor is inactivated through mutation, the ability to suppress cell growth is lost, and uncontrollable cell proliferation can result. Mutated forms of the tumor suppressor p53 have been found in many human tumor cells. Mutation of the tumor suppressor Rb can lead to development of the malignant retinal tumors in children with hereditary retinoblastoma.
3. Regulators of apoptosis: A third category of cancer-related genes are those that regulate apoptosis. Some members of this group prevent programmed cell death (apoptosis), whereas others induce it. Bcl-2, an antiapoptotic oncogene discovered in a B-cell follicular lymphoma, normally regulates cell survival of selected lymphocytes during development. When Bcl-2 is inappropriately expressed, a cell that would normally die via apoptosis instead survives, resulting in unregulated cell proliferation. One of several proteins related to the prosurvival Bcl-2 is Bax, which is pro-apoptotic. The ratio of Bcl-2 to Bax proteins within a cell determines whether that cell will survive or undergo programmed cell death.
E. Tumor antigens
Tumor cells express antigens on their surfaces that are often the targets of immune responses. Many tumor antigens are cellular peptides presented by MHC molecules that stimulate antigen-specific T-cell proliferation (Table 19.2). Some antigenic molecules on tumor cells are variant forms of normal proteins that result from mutation of the gene encoding the protein. Others are normally found only on cells of certain developmental stages or lineages and are antigenic when expressed out of their usual context. Still, other tumor antigens are simply molecules found at higher than normal concentration on tumor cells, whereas a few others are proteins encoded by genes unique to tumors.
1. Tumor-specific transplantation antigens (TSTAs): TSTAs are not found on normal somatic cells but result from mutations of genes and the resulting altered proteins that are expressed by the tumor cells. Identification of TSTAs on naturally occurring tumors has proved difficult, most likely because the immune response generally eliminates cells that express TSTAs at levels great enough to be antigenic. However, TSTAs have been identified on tumors induced in culture by viral transformation or treatment with carcinogenic chemicals. When introduced into syngeneic mice, TSTAs induce cell-mediated immune responses that attack the tumor cells (Fig. 19.3).
2. Tumor-associated transplantation antigens (TATAs): TATAs are not unique to tumor cells; rather, their expression on tumor cells is altered. For example, the tumor antigen may be found in excessive amounts or may be expressed on a cell type where it would not normally exist. Human breast cancer cells often have high levels of the growth factor receptor HER2/neu, which is found in very low concentrations on normal cells but is overexpressed on approximately 20% to 30% of primary breast tumors. HER2+ tumors are aggressive with high chance of recurrence (see Table 19.2). MAGE-1, BAGE, and GAGE-2 are examples of oncofetal antigens because they are expressed on tumors and on normal fetal cells. After the fetal stage of development, normal differentiated cells do not express these oncofetal antigens, except for germline cells of the testis. However, oncofetal antigens are also displayed on human melanomas, gliomas, and breast carcinomas. Another oncofetal antigen, alpha-fetoprotein, is found in fetal liver cells and liver carcinoma cells (and serum of individuals with liver cancer). Other tumor cells may express greater than normal levels of tissue-specific molecules (e.g., MART-1 and gp75 are overexpressed by melanoma cells), whereas still other tumor cells express aberrant forms of such molecules. An example is MUC-1, a glycosylated (carbohydrate-containing) mucin that is found with decreased glycosylation on pancreatic tumors. Decreased levels of carbohydrates may reveal hidden MUC-1 epitopes.
Identification of TSTAs. Transformed cells injected into syngeneic mice sometimes induce tumor formation but sometimes do not. When a nontumorigenic line is generated (tumor rejected) and CD8+ CTLs are harvested from that animal, those CTL cells can recognize TSTA-bearing tumor cells.
III. IMMUNE SURVEILLANCE
The immune surveillance theory suggests that cancer cells frequently arise within the body but are normally eliminated before they multiply sufficiently to become clinically detectable. Accordingly, through the workings of an effective immune system that patrols the body and mounts responses against abnormal cells, most transformed cells never become true cancers. Tumors arise only if they are able to escape immune surveillance (Fig. 19.4). Evidence supporting the immune surveillance theory comes from immunosuppressed and immunodeficient individuals who have increased tumor incidence.
Immune surveillance. The immune system is on patrol for abnormal cells, often halting malignant cell growth before tumors arise. Only those malignant cells that escape immune detection become clinical tumors.
The first line of immune defense against tumors comes from the less specific component of the immune response, the innate immune system. These mechanisms prevent spread of malignant disease and are not specific to particular tumor antigens but recognize broad characteristics of tumor cells.
1. NK cells: NK cells have a limited ability to discriminate between tumor cells and normal cells. Recall that NK recognition of targets occurs via killer activation receptors (KARs) and killer inhibitory receptors (KIRs) (see Chapter 5). KIRs recognize human MHC class I molecules: HLA-B and HLA-C. Another inhibitory NK receptor, CD94, recognizes another class I molecule called HLA-E. When a KAR is engaged by binding to its carbohydrate ligands on target cells, the “kill” signal to the NK cell is activated (Fig. 19.5). However, if the KIR receptors are engaged by binding of ligands on the surface of a target cell, then the “do not kill” signal is received by the NK cell, and the target cell survives. Failure to engage the KIR will result in NK-induced lysis of the target cell. When expression of MHC I molecules on the cell surface is abnormally low, as is the case in some malignant cells, KIRs might not recognize ligands on the target (malignant) cell and might proceed to kill it. In some cases, Fc receptors on NK cells can bind to antibody present on tumor cells (produced as part of the adaptive response against the tumor cell), leading to antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity.
NK recognition of tumor cell targets. Transformed cells may have fewer MHC I molecules per cell and express stress molecules that are recognized by KARs on NK cells, allowing the NK cell to kill that target cell. Decreased MHC I expression decreases NK-KIR binding, permitting killing of that target cell.
NK cells that attack malignant cells are sometimes referred to as lymphokine-activated killer cells (LAKs). These cells are generated in the presence of high concentrations of interleukin-2 and are able to kill fresh tumor cells. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are T lymphocytes, often CD8+ CTLs. They may also include some CD4+ T cells and NKT cells. A therapeutic strategy against malignant melanoma involves obtaining tumor-specific TILs from tumor biopsies and expanding the cells by stimulating with interleukin-2. These cells are then injected back into the patient. In some cases, partial regression of the tumors has been observed.
2. Cytokines: Cytokines with antitumor activity are secreted by macrophages, which are often found in the vicinity of tumors (Fig. 19.6). Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is one such antitumor cytokine. When injected into animals with tumors, TNF-α and TNF-β can stimulate necrosis of the tumor cells. TNF-α also inhibits angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels by decreasing blood flow to the tumor.Interferons are another group of cytokines with antitumor activity. IFN-α, IFN-β, and IFN-γ have all been shown to increase MHC I expression on tumor cells (which often downregulate MHC I expression to evade the immune response). Increasing the MHC I expression can increase susceptibility of the tumor cells to CTLs. IFN-γ may also directly inhibit proliferation of tumor cells.
Cytokines with antitumor activity. Activated macrophages release TNF-α and TNF-β, which induce tumor cell necrosis and also release IFN-α, IFN-β, and IFN-γ, which increase tumor cell MHC I molecules on tumor cells, allowing them to become targets of CTL killing.
Specific antigen-dependent immune responses can develop to antigens on tumor cells. Although they are not always effective in halting progression of a tumor, evidence exists that both humoral and cell-mediated immune responses can be induced in response to the presence of malignant cells (Fig. 19.7).
• Antibodies are known to be generated against certain tumor-specific antigens present on the surface of malignant cells.
• CTLs can sometimes kill tumor cells by direct contact.
• DTH reactions involve Th1 cells recruiting and activating macrophages, which attack and kill tumor cells.
IV. IMMUNE EVASION
Although both innate and adaptive immune responses are evoked by malignant cells, tumor cells often escape the immune system and go on to produce tumors and diseases that are often fatal. Several mechanisms that facilitate evasion of the immune response by tumor cells have been identified.
Adaptive immune responses against tumor cells. Humoral as well as cell-mediated immune responses are mounted against tumor cells.
A. Antibody enhancement of tumor growth
Because attempts to immunize cancer patients by injecting specific antibodies that were developed in culture against their tumor cells often resulted in enhanced tumor growth, studies have been initiated to explore the mechanisms of antibody-induced tumor cell growth. The antitumor antibodies may bind to the antigens on the tumor cells, masking the antigens and blocking the ability of CTL cells to bind and kill the tumor cell. Antibody bound to tumor antigen may inhibit binding of Fc receptors on macrophages, dendritic cells, and NK cells.
B. Antibody modulation of tumor antigens
In the presence of antibodies directed against tumor antigens, downregulation of expression of certain tumor-specific antigens has been demonstrated. In a process known as antigenic modulation, the antigens disappear for a time and then reappear when the antibody is eliminated. Cells that do not express the antigen are no longer targets of other adaptive immune responses (Fig. 19.8).
Antigenic modulation. Antibodies to tumor antigens may cause the tumor to downregulate antigen expression.
Decreased expression of tumor cell MHC I may impair CTL recognition, but increase recognition by and vulnerability to NK cells.
C. Modulation of MHC I expression
Tumor cells often express reduced levels of MHC I molecules. Malignant transformation may result in a reduction or total loss of MHC I molecules by the transformed cells. If tumor cells express decreased amounts of MHC I, NK cell responses to them may be enhanced, whereas CTL-mediated responses against those tumor cells are decreased (Fig. 19.9).
V. CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY
Cancer immunotherapy is based on enhancement of the natural immune responses that the body mounts against malignant cells.
A. Cytokine therapy
Interleukins and interferons have been used to enhance the immune response to tumors. Because systemic administration of these cytokines can be dangerous, local application is required, complicating the treatment protocols. Although therapeutic benefit is sometimes obtained with cytokine therapy, more research and refinement of protocols are likely necessary before more widespread use and more benefit will be obtained from this approach (Fig. 19.10A).
Cancer immunotherapies. A. Application of exogenous cytokines can heighten immune responses to tumor cells. B. Monoclonal antibodies generated against TSTAs of the patient’s tumor cells can be “tagged” with toxins or radioactive materials to deliver a therapeutic “magic bullet” to a tumor.
B. Monoclonal antibodies
Anti-idiotypic monoclonal antibodies have been used to treat B-cell lymphomas (Fig. 19.10B), but the approach is complicated, requires custom antibodies for each patient’s tumors, and is quite expensive; therefore it is not currently practical or efficacious for general use. More general approaches to produce monoclonal antibodies against determinants that are shared by all B-cell lymphomas are being investigated. Use of monoclonal antibodies to deliver a toxin or radioisotope directly to the tumor cells, sparing healthy cells, is another promising approach. Monoclonal antibodies are also being developed against certain growth factor receptors commonly expressed by certain tumors.
C. Cancer vaccines
Development of vaccines to protect against the future development of cancer has many obvious benefits. Identification of the viruses responsible for malignant transformation, such as human papillomavirus in cervical cancer, has facilitated development of an immunization protocol to prevent infection by the virus, thus preventing development of cervical cancer. Vaccines are also being developed in attempt to prevent cancers from recurring in individuals who have been diagnosed with conditions including melanoma, a life-threatening skin cancer, and renal carcinoma. For melanoma, TSTAs have been shown to be quite similar from person to person, and vaccines now being developed are based on the common TSTAs.
Herceptin and HER2 positive breast cancer
Trastuzumab (Herceptin) is a drug therapy used to treat HER2+ breast cancer. Herceptin blocks binding to the HER2/neu receptor that is overexpressed on the tumor cells. The HER2 protein is a single chain growth factor receptor that normally functions by dimerizing with other receptor chains and signaling via phosphorylation of tyrosine residues. The normal biological response to HER signaling is stimulation of cell division. Tumors that express HER2 are overstimulated to divide. When binding and signaling via HER2 is blocked by the monoclonal antibody drug therapy, the cells expressing HER2 are arrested in the G1 phase of the cell cycle and their division is halted.
Customized vaccines are also being made using a patient’s own tumor cells and are given to patients after surgical removal of their tumors. Such vaccines are designed to stimulate an immune response against any malignant cells remaining in their bodies. Promising results have been obtained in some clinical trials.
• Cancer cells have unregulated rates of cell growth and invade healthy tissue.
• Metastasis is a characteristic of many malignant cells as they become dislodged from the main tumor and travel to distant sites in the body.
• Lymphomas and leukemias are tumors of immune cells that are derived from hematopoietic cells. Lymphomas are solid tumors, whereas leukemias grow as dispersed, single malignant cells.
• Malignant transformation is the process by which a normal cell becomes a cancerous cell.
• Oncogenes are sometimes linked to malignant transformation. Mutations of cellular oncogenes often results in a change in cellular growth.
• Tumor antigens include tumor-specific transplantation antigens (TSTAs) that result from altered proteins expressed as a consequence of gene mutations within tumor cells and tumor-associated transplantation antigens (TATAs) that are not unique to tumor cells but have unusual expression on tumor cells.
• The immune surveillance theory suggests that cancer cells frequently arise within the body but are normally eliminated by the immune system before a tumor develops.
• Innate immune responses against tumors include NK cell killing of tumors and macrophage production of antitumor cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor and the interferons.
• Adaptive immune responses against tumors include generation of antitumor antibodies, CTL killing of tumor cells, and DTH reactions.
• Immune evasion by tumor cells facilitates survival of malignant cells. Antitumor antibodies may actually enhance the growth of some tumors and may result in decreased detection of some tumor antigens. In addition, tumor cells often have lower than normal levels of MHC I molecules, helping the tumors to evade immune detection.
• Cancer immunotherapy is designed to increase the immune response against cancer cells. Cytokines and monoclonal antibodies have proven to have some limited effects in treating certain cancers. Vaccination, either to prevent development of a type of cancer or to inhibit recurrence of a tumor within a patient, continues to be explored.
19.1. Which of the following may be expected in cells over expressing Src?
A. Enhanced rate of apoptosis
B. Death by necrosis
C. Increased expression of MHC I molecules
D. Senescence (loss of ability to divide)
E. Unregulated cell division
The correct answer is E. A mutation in the oncogene Src results in loss of regulatory function of a tyrosine kinase that normally regulates cell division. Src does not regulate cell death by apoptosis or by necrosis nor would a mutant Src induce senescence. Increased MHC I expression would not be linked to a tumor cell with a mutated Src; tumor cells often have decreased levels of MHC I expression.
19.2. A bone marrow biopsy from a patient with acute lymphocytic leukemia reveals the presence of a mutated form of p53 within leukemic cells. This mutation is likely responsible for which of the following?
A. An increase in the Bax-to-Bcl-2 ratio
B. Decreased activity of NK cell KIR function
C. Excess activity of a GTP-binding protein
D. Growth of malignant cells as a solid tumor
E. Loss of suppression of cell growth
The correct answer is E. P53 is a tumor suppressor gene. When it is mutated, the suppressor action is lost, resulting in unregulated cell growth. An increase in the Bax-to-Bcl-2 ratio would favor apoptosis and not tumor growth that is seen with mutant p53. P53 mutants do not mediate NK cell KIR function. P53 is a tumor suppressor gene and not a GTP-binding protein such as ras. Leukemias grow not as solid tumors but as dispersed, single malignant cells.
19.3. Which of the following is correct regarding tumor-specific transplantation antigens (TSTAs)?
A. Also present in high concentration on normal somatic cells
B. Often found on normal fetal cells as well as on tumor cells
C. Readily identified on most naturally occurring tumors
D. Result from mutant proteins expressed by tumor cells
E. Stimulate apoptosis on cells that express them
The correct answer is D. TSTAs result from mutant proteins expressed by tumor cells. Mutations of genes within the tumor cells lead to altered proteins on the surfaces of the tumor cells. TSTAs are not found on normal somatic cells or on normal fetal cells but are unique to tumors. Although they have been demonstrated on experimentally induced tumors, identification of TSTAs on naturally occurring tumors has proved to be very difficult. Stimulation of apoptosis of tumor cells would result in elimination of tumor cells and would be beneficial to the patient with the tumor. Expression of TSTAs does not appear to stimulate apoptosis.
19.4. According to the immune surveillance theory,
A. antibodies arise during fetal development that can destroy tumors.
B. cancer cells rarely arise within a normal individual.
C. innate immune responses eliminate specific tumor cell antigens.
D. tumors arise only if malignant cells escape immune detection.
E. tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes prevent malignant transformations.
The correct answer is D. According to the immune surveillance theory, tumors arise only if malignant cells escape detection by the immune system. This theory suggests that cancer cells frequently arise within the body but are normally eliminated before becoming clinically detectable. This theory does not suggest that germline-encoded antibodies develop to destroy tumors. Innate immune responses against tumors are based on broad characteristics of tumors, not on specific tumor cell antigens. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes may induce tumor regression and do not induce a normal cell to become transformed into a cancer cell.
19.5. Which of the following is a cytokine known to have antitumor activity?
A. Epidermal growth factor
E. Platelet-derived growth factor
The correct answer is B. Interferons-α, -β, and -γ have all been shown to increase MHC I expression on tumor cells, and IFN-γ also appears to inhibit tumor cell proliferation. The growth factors and other cytokines listed have growth stimulatory actions.
19.6. Lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells are indistinguishable from
A. B lymphocytes.
C. malignant somatic cells.
D. NK cells.
E. T lymphocytes.
The correct answer is D. LAK cells are NK cells that are generated in the presence of high concentrations of interleukin-2 and are able to kill fresh tumor cells. LAK cells are not B or T lymphocytes nor are they macrophages. LAK cells can kill tumor cells and are not themselves malignant somatic cells.
19.7. Which of the following provides evidence of immune evasion by tumor cells?
A. Downregulation of MHC I molecules by tumor cells
B. Enhanced production of tumor necrosis factor by macrophages
C. IFN-γ-mediated inhibition of tumor cell proliferation
D. Generation of antibodies against tumor-specific antigens
E. Stimulation of tumor cell apoptosis by increased Bax expression
The correct answer is A. Downregulation of MHC I molecules is a defense mechanism used by many tumor cells to evade recognition by the immune system. The other mechanisms listed all describe immune responses initiated against tumor cells that have the potential to stop tumor growth. TNF and IFN-γ are produced by macrophages and inhibit tumor cell proliferation. Antibodies directed against tumor-specific antigens are part of the humoral immune response aimed at halting tumor progression. Stimulation of apoptosis by increased Bax expression would serve to eliminate tumor cells and is therefore not a mechanism to evade the immune response.
19.8. A new method to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer involves
A. administration of tumor necrosis factor to the cervix.
B. injection of antibodies against other patients’ cervical tumors.
C. stimulation of antibody-mediated cell lysis of cervical tumor cells.
D. use of patient’s tumor cells to develop an individualized vaccine.
E. vaccination against human papillomavirus.
The correct answer is E. Vaccination against human papillomavirus, the causative agent in cervical cancer, may reduce the future incidence of cervical cancer. Neither administration of TNF nor injection of antibodies against other patients’ cervical tumors is being done to prevent occurrence of cervical cancer. For certain other cancers, individualized vaccines are being used in clinical trials. However, such a vaccine requires that the patient have a tumor and would therefore not reduce the incidence of a type of cancer. | <urn:uuid:a431cb51-d517-40ed-ac84-4902db6a42bf> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://doctorlib.info/immunology/reviews/23.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560282935.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095122-00127-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927862 | 6,300 | 3.3125 | 3 |
Infestations of some insects are the direct result of moisture and accompanying mildews and fungi. Several insects are feeders on molds and mildews, or require the same high humidity conditions that favor mildew growth. Sometimes the presence of these insects provides a clue to water leaks or some other form of moisture problem.
The foreign grain beetle, Ahasverus advena, and several other tiny, fungus-feeding beetles, feed primarily on mildews and fungal spores. This insect, and other similar species listed below, sometimes become abundant indoors, especially in new homes. New homes often sustain mildew on newly installed lumber or sheet rock (gypsum board) that has absorbed water and produced mildew. These fungi provide a ready food source for several insects, resulting in (usually temporary) infestations. In older homes, foreign grain beetles are sometimes pests in bathrooms or other areas where high humidity permits growth and development of both the insects and their food.
Psocids (pronounced SO sidz), commonly called booklice, are not true lice. These minute insects feed on mildews and a variety of both plant- and animal-based foods such as dried fruit, flour, grains, cereal, dead insects, etc. Psocids depend on high humidity for reproduction and survival. They are most common in buildings and structures with excessive moisture or lack of air conditioning to maintain low humidity. They occur in books, rugs, foods and other items, especially if they are damp.
Adult foreign grain beetles are minute (2-3 mm-long) with a flattened body and a squarish shield covering the thorax (pronotum). The pronotum is slightly wider than long when viewed from above. Color is reddish brown. The wing covers (elytra) are covered with rows of punctures and very fine hairs. Antennae are long, slightly less than half the body length, with a three-segmented club. The front corners of the pronotum project forward at a 45 degree angle. Other household insects of similar appearance, and with similar feeding habits, include the Lathridiidae beetles: the square necked grain beetle, Cathartus quadricollis, whose pronotum is longer than wide; the rusty and flat grain beetles, Cryptolestes spp. (with elongated antennae and lateral raised lines on each side of pronotum, parallel to margin); and the minute brown scavenger beetles,which have a pronotum that is often hairy and distinctly narrower than elytra and three-segmented tarsi. In addition, there are the silken fungus beetles (family Cryptophagidae) with a pronotum lacking prominent front corner angles and with punctures on the elytra not in rows.
The merchant and sawtoothed grain beetles, Oryzaephilus spp., are more commonly found as pests of stored products, but can be distinguished by having 6 prominent tooth-like projections on either side of pronotum.
Psocids may also be common indoors. They are identified by their very small size (1 to 2 mm), pale coloration, and superficial resemblance (under high magnification) to termites. The common name booklouse comes from the fact that booklice are relatively easy to see on the pages of books, where they commonly feed on mildews growing on the paper (especially on books stored in attics or other non-air conditioned rooms).
Mildew feeders, like the foreign grain beetle, can become abundant in moist situations, especially where molds are present. Eggs are laid singly, or in clusters of 2-3, and hatch within 4-5 days. Females lay 1-4 eggs per day over a 20-30 day oviposition period. Life cycle from egg to adult requires an average of 22 days at 80° F (27°C) and 75% RH. Larvae require high humidities. Survival from larva to adult drops from 95% at 66-92% RH to zero survival at 66% RH in rolled oats. Both adults and larvae are capable of surviving on pure cultures of various molds. Foreign grain beetles are relatively long-lived, with mated males and females having average lifespans of 159 and 208 days, respectively.
Psocids require high humidity for survival and reproduction. Optimal conditions are 75% to 95% relative humidity and temperatures of 75° to 82° F (24° to 28° C). The average lifespan for one common species is about 25 days. Each female lays 50 to 60 eggs, and booklice are capable of rapid reproduction given good conditions.
The best control for mildew-feeding insects is good sanitation, moisture reduction, and increased ventilation. Pesticides generally provide little control. However, wall voids infested with foreign grain beetle may be treated with appropriately labelled insecticides such as aerosol-formulated pyrethrins or insecticidal dusts. Infestations may be expected to persist until moisture levels are reduced to the point that molds or mildews cannot grow. In new homes with central air conditioning or heating, several weeks of drying out may be required before the infestation runs its course. There is no evidence that infestations will persist once moisture levels have dropped. Control of psocids can usually be obtained by reducing the relative humidity of infested areas to less than 58%.
For more information
For more information about stored product pests that may be confused with foreign grain beetle, request Extension publication E-486, Pantry and Fabric Pests in the Home.
Michael Merchant, Ph.D., Professor and Extension Urban Entomologist, Texas AgriLife Extension Service | <urn:uuid:e4c4e4ca-3358-49eb-8f0e-71c753d747c2> | CC-MAIN-2019-04 | https://citybugs.tamu.edu/factsheets/household/misc-house/ent-2010/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-04/segments/1547583705091.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20190120082608-20190120104608-00129.warc.gz | en | 0.935451 | 1,178 | 3.65625 | 4 |
Running, if practiced regularly and in a correct and balanced way, can be a panacea for human health. Did you know, for example, that running can repair damage to the brain? A study by the University of Ottawa says so: according to the researchers this would be possible thanks to the nerve growth factor (VGF).
The experiment carried out on a group of mice with brain development deficiency shows that, during the race, the growth factor VGF increases, which seems to be able to repair damage to the myelin sheath. Dr David Piketts said: "The new research is particularly interesting because it helps explain the effect that exercise, such as running, can have on people with neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis in which the myelin sheath is damaged."
Some studies published in the journal of the US Academy of Sciences highlight a connection between constant physical exercise and an improvement in cognitive functions.
Running improves health, mood and repairs the brain
According to research from the University of Kentucky, it observed that a person between the ages of 50 and 69 who runs at least three times a week stimulates the production of new brain cells.
Most researchers agree that running boosts immunity. Running about thirty kilometers per week will have a positive effect on your defense system, while running more than ninety kilometers per week will have a negative effect.
It is proven that running increases the levels of serotonin, the good mood hormone. In some studies it was found that the improvement in cognitive function was linked to the increase in muscle strength. Doctors and scientists have demonstrated the benefits of running on the body in various researches, even going so far as to prove the reduction in the incidence of some cancers.
In some studies it was found that the improvement in cognitive function was linked to the increase in muscle strength. Running is an aerobic physical activity and requires a significant physical effort: this translates into an important calorie expenditure, difficult to achieve with other sports in the same time interval. | <urn:uuid:3855a2f9-6e12-4f2e-a9f2-ff1dd971712e> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.financial-world.org/news/news/running/9002/running-improves-health-mood-and-repairs-the-brain/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335350.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20220929100506-20220929130506-00359.warc.gz | en | 0.961102 | 399 | 3.515625 | 4 |
What is an Anaerobic Digester?
July 8, 2016
An Anaerobic Digester is a unit designed for processing organics through the process of anaerobic decomposition. These containers house a variety of organics along with the organism needed to convert these items into biogases, which can be used as an energy alternative.
These digesters have provided an opportunity for waste reduction. As some organic waste cannot be conventionally composted, decomposing the organics anaerobically allows them to be decomposed and using them in creating a new fuel source. At the same time, it prevents methane from entering the atmosphere.
American Biogas Council. “What is Anaerobic Digestion.” American Biogas Council. https://www.americanbiogascouncil.org/biogas_what.asp. Accessed July 5, 2015.
DeBruyn, Jake and Don Hilborn. “Anaerobic Digestion Basics.” Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/engineer/facts/07-057.htm. Accessed July 5, 2016. | <urn:uuid:dd6374aa-9f77-4c7e-a970-f0859bb4e0c7> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | https://www.buschsystems.com/blog/glossary-terms/what-is-an-anaerobic-digester/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679101779.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20231210092457-20231210122457-00761.warc.gz | en | 0.891974 | 250 | 3.515625 | 4 |
Heart attack with no symptoms? The danger of silent MI
It’s hard to imagine that something as serious as a heart attack could go unnoticed. But as many as 1 in 4 heart attacks are “silent,” meaning the symptoms go unnoticed or are mistaken for less serious conditions such as heartburn, muscle pain or simply not feeling like yourself.
Research has found that silent myocardial infarction (silent MI) without a history of traditional heart attack increases a patient’s risk of heart failure, heart tissue damage and subsequent heart attacks. Because these events cause no symptoms, regular and proactive heart care is vital to avoid permanent heart damage or even death.
LISTEN: Dr. Taylor discusses silent MI in the Medical Intel podcast.
Who’s at risk for silent MI?
Anyone can suffer a silent MI. The risk factors are the same as for a traditional heart attack: high cholesterol, high blood pressure, family history, lack of exercise and tobacco use, just to name a few. But a few patient populations are at increased risk:
- Patients with diabetes: Diabetes affects many body processes, which can change the way these patients experience the vague symptoms of silent MI. Sometimes the only hint is a loss of blood sugar control.
- Older patients, particularly women: Silent MI often leaves these patients feeling fatigued or generally unwell, or it might cause back pain. We emphasize women because, in general, they tend to brush off cardiovascular symptoms more often than men.
A silent heart attack can cause serious, long-term heart damage. While medications such as statins are effective to prevent future heart events, leading an optimal lifestyle is the best way to preserve your heart health. Avoid smoking, eat a nutritious diet and maintain a healthy body weight to reduce your heart attack risk by as much as 50 percent, compared to just 25 percent with medication alone.
Related reading: Dr. Taylor discusses silent MI in a WTOP Radio news article.
3 ways we detect silent MI
The EKG is our primary tool to detect silent MI. This test shows us your heart’s electrical system and can show whether you’ve suffered any heart damage. For example, I cared for a young, overweight man at MedStar Heart & Vascular Institute who was transferred to us in poor shape. He was in his early 30s, and he had trouble breathing and was retaining fluid. Something just didn’t feel right about his condition, so we ordered an EKG.
We found evidence of a previous silent MI, which led us to the discovery of a completely blocked artery that led to heart damage and his vague symptoms. These discoveries helped us get to the root of the problem and focus his care plan before another heart attack could occur.
This test employs sound waves to test how well the heart is working. If an area of the heart isn’t functioning properly, we’ll order additional testing to determine whether it has been damaged by an unrecognized heart attack. If you have vague symptoms you can’t put a finger on or simply feel “off,” talk to your doctor about getting tested for silent MI.
For this test, we’ll ask you to walk or lightly jog on a treadmill while we monitor your heart with an EKG. If the heart shows distress during exercise, you may need additional workup to evaluate your heart arteries.
More intensive tests can tell us deeper information if we need it. Based on the cumulative results, our heart team will devise a care plan to minimize your risk of further heart damage and future heart troubles.
Anyone who experiences unexplained symptoms—even if it’s just a feeling that something is not right—should get their heart checked out by a cardiologist. Too many heart attacks go unrecognized. Proper evaluation and treatment can help ensure better heart health in the future. | <urn:uuid:78231155-536b-4506-ae44-eb7d9e0ad046> | CC-MAIN-2019-09 | https://blog.medstarwashington.org/2018/02/07/silent-mi-heart-attack/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247495147.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20190220150139-20190220172139-00041.warc.gz | en | 0.929609 | 799 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Monita Mendiratta, MD Pediatric Pulmonary DrMDK.con
Read the full transcript »
Host: A very common question to a pediatrician is my baby gets up in the middle of the night and is crying and the mother thinks the kid either has I think whole nightmares or night terrors, first of all, what's the difference? Monita Mediratta: So the difference between a nightmare and a night terror actually is simply the stage of sleep in which the event is occurring. A night terror typically occurs in a deep stage of sleep called slow-wave sleep and it is a stage of sleep where the child is not actually dreaming and typically what happens is, the reason it happens is that there may be an immaturity of the child's central nervous system and so the brain isn't quite matured enough to deal with the transition of one stage of sleep to another. So typically as the child transitions from the deep-wave sleep into the dreaming phase of sleep the child's brain can have the sudden confused arousal where the child wakes up and your child may scream, the heart rate may be racing, the child may be breathing very fast and so the difference between a nightmare and a night terror typically too is that again the child is not dreaming so they won't be able to recall a dream or anything that frightened them. They actually may not respond to at all during a night terror because they are still asleep. Host: Can I actually perceive that night terror is actually realism? Monita Mediratta: The night terror is actually a confusional arousal, that's how we refer to it. The child is still in a form -- a stage of sleep. Host: Do they ever came that they are seeing is real? Monita Mediratta: They don't actually have a recollection of anything because they have been dreaming. Night terrors typically occur during the first few hours of sleep whereas nightmares occur towards the end of the night or the early morning hours when you are in what we call rapid eye movement sleep or REM stage sleep. Night terrors occur during non-REM sleep and so the child actually doesn't wake up saying that oh, I saw a monster in my sleep or oh something frightened me. The child is still within a stage of sleep and it can lapse from seconds to minutes to sometime even several minutes to an hour, and the best way to do if the child is not in danger of harming themselves because they can be quite dramatic and quite threatening for the parents as well. The child can thrash around in the bed. So the child is not at risk of injuring him or herself then the best thing to do is to just ride it out and eventually the child will fall back into a comfortable stage of sleep and the night terror will resolve on its own. Whereas if you actually go to shake the child and comfort the child and wake the child up the child may be more destructive in their sleep pattern for the night and may take much longer to fall back to sleep. Host: If the kid does wake up and you try to console the kid a little bit and explain what happened, is that true? Monita Mediratta: The child actually won't have any recollection of the event as far as the child can -- Host: I say the kid is not awoke, whatever the kid recalls and recall what should the parents to do for a job that went through an episode like this. Monita Mediratta: The best thing to do is to just console the child, but again the child won't have any recollection. The child may be absolutely fine when he or she awakens. Host: When is it considered something abnormal and that has been too longer. Monita Mediratta: Typically night terrors occur between the ages of 3 and 12 and there are children above 12 and children below 3 that happen, there are children as young as 18 months that can have night terrors. But they are really not abnormal. The best thing to do is to educate yourself about night terrors to know that there really is no medication or therapy for them per se, but there are ways that you can may be prevent them because there are things that can exacerbate or make them occur more awesome. Host: Give the examples of the night --? Monita M
Copyright © 2005 - 2015 Healthline Networks, Inc. All rights reserved for Healthline. | <urn:uuid:5908a797-ea10-4df6-9df3-5e3cafea1021> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.healthline.com/hlvideo-5min/night-terrors-vs-nightmares-8864 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131304444.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172144-00010-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964542 | 884 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Open access as humanitarian aidOn March 11, Japan suffered the largest known earthquake in its history and one of the five largest ever recorded. The resulting tsunami caused immense damage over 500 square kilometers (193 square miles). More than 11,800 people are confirmed dead and more than 15,500 still missing.
SPARC Open Access Newsletter, issue #156
April 2, 2011
by Peter Suber
First things first: If you're looking for practical information on how to help, or how to cope, see Google's crisis response page and the OLIVE wiki for quake survivors.
Beyond those survival basics, several forms humanitarian assistance take the form of free online access to research:
* Three US organizations created the Emergency Access Initiative (EAI) to provide temporary free online access to toll access (TA) research literature. The National Library of Medicine (NLM) and National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) both support OA. But the third partner is the Professional/Scholarly Publishing Division of the Association of American Publishers (AAP/PSP), which lobbies against OA policies in the US. The EAI will provide free online access to "to full-text articles from over 230 biomedical serial titles and over 65 reference books and online databases to healthcare professionals and libraries affected by disasters." Because the free access is temporary, and limited to those affected by the earthquake and tsunami, it's not OA and the EMI isn't calling it OA. Nevertheless it lifts access barriers to research. The free access began on March 14, three days after the earthquake struck, is currently scheduled to end on April 8, 2011.
* Thomson Reuters launched an OA portal of research on the diagnosis and treatment of radiation exposure.
* Elsevier began giving all Japanese IP addresses temporary free online access to the company's "primary online clinical reference tools", MD Consult and First Consult.
* Nature News released an OA special collection of news and opinion on the Japanese earthquake and nuclear crisis.
* ReliefWeb, the UN's OA repository for humanitarian relief, has a section on the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Among other content, ReliefWeb harvests from OA journals. See for example the articles it has harvested from BMC.
* OpenStreetMap is building OA maps of the disaster area to aid rescue and recovery efforts.
* Several initiatives around the world are crowdsourcing OA maps of radiation levels in different parts of the world as a result of the reactor leaks in Japan.
* RDTN.org is a new site crowdsourcing the collection of "reliable data" about radiation levels in Japan. "Although primarily built to gather data from citizens taking readings on the ground, the site also takes readings from official sources including Pachube.com, an infrastructure platform that gathers community-based environmental data, and Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology."
* Architecture for Humanity uses CC-licensed architectural plans to assist with disaster reconstruction.
I posted a call on SPARC Open Access Forum (SOAF) for other examples of free online access to research or data --not normally OA-- as humanitarian assistance to Japan. As I go to press, these are the only examples I know. If others appear later, please post them to SOAF.
Here's a sad example of an impediment to OA-related humanitarian aid. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) has sensors around the world as part of its mission to detect nuclear tests. In particular, it has sensors in Japan and throughout the Pacific. The sensors are picking up radiation leaking from Japan's six damaged nuclear reactors. The data would be extremely valuable to rescue workers and physicians in Japan, and to policy-makers everywhere thinking about nuclear power. They would even help calm some exaggerated fears on the west coast of North America. But according to Nature, "the CTBTO has no mandate for making radionuclide data publicly available for the purposes of monitoring nuclear accidents, because its member states have not yet agreed for it to have this role...."
This is a fixable problem. Thomson Reuters, Elsevier, and the publishers participating in the Emergency Access Initiative didn't have standing policies to free up articles for humanitarian purposes until they saw the need to do so (often well before the Japanese earthquake), got their acts together, and changed course in time to do some good. Let's hope it's not too late for the CTBTO to do the same. Every government participating in CTBTO --nearly every country on Earth-- should help CTBTO reach this decision.
In the face of a disaster like the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, OA research is less urgent than food, clothing, and shelter. But access to research can be an essential part of rescue and recovery. To show that, here's a brief history of OA as humanitarian assistance, organized by disaster, starting with the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. Because standing OA journals and repositories are available to every disaster-damaged region with internet connectivity, this list focuses on resources that would not otherwise have been OA or not otherwise created at all. (I maintain an offline list of these resources and would appreciate learning about any that I've missed.)
(1) The earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean, December 26, 2004
The Dutch Royal Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies created Aceh Books, an OA collection of more than 600 books about Aceh, Indonesia. The books are digital replacements for 400 years' worth of print books about Aceh destroyed by the tsunami.
(2) Hurricane Katrina, August 29, 2005
The US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released a collection of 8,000+ OA photographs of Hurricane Katrina and other storms from 1998 to 2008.
OA data from Google Earth aided rescue efforts after Hurricane Katrina. (The same article shows how Google Earth data also helped with rescue efforts after the October 2005 earthquake in Pakistan.)
(3) The earthquake in Haiti, January 12, 2010
The Emergency Access Initiative (noted above in connection with the Japanese earthquake) originally launched to offer assistance after the Haitian earthquake.
The Open Street Map community provided OA data and tools to assist rescue workers in Haiti.
A new, free iPhone app offered rescue workers the most up-to-date maps and geodata of Haiti, including maps and data from the Open Street Map project.
Cameron Parkins described two Haitian relief projects using CC licenses to share information with all who might need it.
(4) The earthquake in Chile, February 27, 2010
Chilean seismologists shared data on the earthquake which hit central Chile on February 27, 2010
The UK Geological Society released a collection of OA research on Chilean tectonics.
Students at Columbia University's School of Public Administration (SIPA) organized "crisis information" gathered from text messages, emails, and Twitter feeds, to assist with humanitarian aid to victims of the Chilean earthquake.
(5) The Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, April 20, 2010
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) launched the Deepwater Horizon Library, an OA collection of "maps, wildlife reports, scientific reports and other previously released public information used by emergency responders, fishermen, mariners and local officials during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill."
The US Environmental Law Institute launched the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Litigation Database to track ongoing legal cases related to oil spill. http://www.eli.org/Program_Areas/deepwater_horizon_oil_spill_litigation_database.cfm
The US National Library of Medicine added data on crude oil and dispersants to its OA Hazardous Substances Data Bank.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology provided OA information on 22 bird species "at risk from the BP oil spill".
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) launched a website of OA, near-real-time information on the response to the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill. The site gathered data from all US federal agencies working on the disaster.
Thirteen scientific societies wrote a joint open letter to the US Senate calling for public funds for research on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, on the ground that private funds from BP come with unacceptable copyright restrictions which limit public access to the research.
(6) The earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, February 22, 2011
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness (DMPHP) published four OA articles on the Haitian earthquake of January 2010 to assist with disaster relief for the New Zealand earthquake. DMPHP is a TA journal published by the American Medical Association (AMA).
* To round out this skeleton history, here are some examples of OA-related relief for what could be called generalized emergency rather than particular disasters.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science formerly had a project called Science & Intellectual Property in the Public Interest (SIPPI), laid down in March 2007, and SIPPI had a Humanitarian Licensing Working Group which issued a July 2004 report, Exploring a Humanitarian Use Exemption to Intellectual Property Protections.
Amanda L. Brewster, Audrey R. Chapman, Stephen A. Hansen, Facilitating Humanitarian Access to Pharmaceutical and Agricultural Innovation, Innovation Strategy Today, 1, 3 (2005).
Edward Mills, Sharing evidence on humanitarian relief, BMJ, December 22, 2005. An editorial arguing that an OA database of humanitarian efforts would itself make those efforts more effective and efficient.
In 2007, the Japanese government called for public comments on a proposed humanitarian exception to Japanese copyright law. The new exception would allow free copying and distribution of medical journal articles in cases of medical emergency. Most TA publishers submitting comments opposed the idea, including some who participate in the Emergency Access Initiative (see Japan and Haiti, above). If anyone knows what happened to this proposal, I'd love to hear the details. For example, if it passed, is it being used in the present disaster? If it didn't pass, is it being reconsidered now?
In 2008, Elisa Mason found that about half the journals in the field of forced migration were OA to some degree or another.
A May 2009 report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) argued that the US "humanitarian obligation" to global health should include green OA mandates for medical research. The report was co-sponsored by the Gates Foundation, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Google Foundation, Merck Company Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, US Department of Health and Human Services, US Department of Homeland Security, and US Department of State.
In February 2011, the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) agreed on a global standard for publishing aid data. The idea is that data released under the standard will allow "donors and recipients [to] coordinate their plans and complement the activities of others, reducing duplication and waste...."
Universities Allied for Essential Medicines has been working on humanitarian licensing for years. Its document archive on the topic has docs from just last month.
Also see the many items in the Open Access News archive on efforts to provide OA to research and data on avian flu, in anticipation of a global pandemic.
I'm not going to argue that TA publishers who make temporary sacrifices to provide OA during emergencies should make permanent sacrifices to provide OA all the time. I understand the distinction between emergencies and routine circumstances. You probably give more to the Red Cross after a disaster than you could afford to give every month. I do, and I have an answer ready for anyone who wants me to give the same amount every month.
But but but but. There's more to say on this subject. Here are four buts.
* But #1: Some publishers do provide OA all the time, rain or shine. More than 6,300 peer-reviewed journals, about one-quarter of today's total, provide OA to all their articles. At least two different business models for OA journals are making profits or surpluses for the publishers using them. Converting to OA is not impossible. For publishers making double-digit profit margins, the shift would mean accepting less. For publishers with more modest margins, it would mean changing business models, a non-trivial undertaking. However, publishers in this category should look at companies that have made the move. Hindawi is a profitable OA publisher which finished the job of converting all its peer-reviewed journals to OA in 2007. Looking back on several years of rapidly growing submissions, its co-founder and CEO said in 2010, "It is clear now more than ever that our open access conversion...was the best management decision we have taken...."
When Springer bought BioMed Central, Derk Haank, Springer CEO, said that OA is "a sustainable part of STM publishing, and not an ideological crusade."
Publishers contemplating the shift should also consider the evidence that it increases submissions and citations to the journal, even apart from increasing the productivity of researchers. If you were *thinking* about giving more to the Red Cross every month, at least you'd want the plus column to include the benefits to yourself as well as the benefits to others. With all respect to the Red Cross, the narrow self-interest of donating to the Red Cross is less than the narrow self-interest of shifting to OA, especially for smaller publishers excluded from big deals and facing a losing battle for shrinking library budgets under the subscription model. Reread Ahmed Hindawi's statement from 2010 that converting to OA was the best management decision his company ever made. That's not the way CEOs talk about upping their charitable donations.
* But #2: Most publishers allow author-initiated green OA. The percentage of surveyed publishers who do has declined as SHERPA/RoMEO surveys more publishers. But today SHERPA has surveyed more than 940 publishers, and reports that 55% allow postprint archiving, and 63% allow either preprint or postprint archiving.
Just as some gold OA publishers are making profits, some green TA publishers (TA publishers allowing green OA) are making very large profits. Elsevier falls into this category, for example, and it places no embargo on green OA. Permitting green OA is not impossible and it's not even a drag on revenue or profits. Publishers not ready to convert to gold OA should at least permit green OA. It doesn't require a financial hit and it doesn't require an emergency. And it would serve research (more in But #4 below), a major factor for non-profit society publishers committed to serving research more than serving stockholders.
The Nature Publishing Group puts a six month embargo on green OA, but has "actively encourag[ed] self-archiving since 2005" and reports that "to date, [it has] found author self-archiving compatible with subscription business models."
* But #3: The publishers already permitting green OA include the largest ones and most of the smaller ones. We still need to move the percentage of green TA publishers from 63% to something closer to 100%. But at the same time, we need to move the percentage of authors who take advantage of existing permissions from 15% to something closer to 100%. I'm looking at you, researchers. More often than not, you already have permission from your TA publishers to self-archive your work, and more often than not you don't take advantage of it. In that sense, the bulk of the OA shortfall can be traced to author inertia (preoccupation, unfamiliarity, misunderstanding) rather than publisher opposition.
There are three solutions to this problem. First, make green OA as familiar as gold OA to publishing researchers. This is a long slow process. I believe the curve is moving up, but the slope is shallow. Most researchers still don't understand their green OA options, and don't realize that publishing in a TA journal is usually compatible with depositing the peer-reviewed manuscript in an OA repository. The second and third solutions are funder and university OA mandates. The growth of OA depends on author decisions, but funders and universities are in an unmatched position to influence author decisions. If you regret the slow growth of OA, in routine circumstances as well as emergencies, then here's a simple strategy: make your own work OA; educate your colleagues about their OA options, especially their green OA options; and work for a strong OA policy at your institution.
(For what counts as a strong OA policy at funders and universities, see my article from February 2009.)
* But #4: Lifting access barriers in an emergency is a public acknowledgment that research is more useful when OA than when TA. It confirms what I've called the OA principle: the more knowledge matters, the more OA to that knowledge matters.
This proposition doesn't compare one set of OA articles with a control group of TA articles that might or might not be relevantly similar. We're talking about one and the same set of articles and data, without any "self-selection bias" or any of the other alleged confounders complicating the analysis of the citation impact advantage. Research is more useful after we lift access barriers than it was before, and publishers who lift access barriers in emergencies are admitting that.
This is the heart of the case for OA. It makes research more useful. When research is gratis OA, it reaches more people who can make use of it. Users needn't go without, and needn't rely on slow, unscalable methods like interlibrary loan and emails to authors. When research is libre OA, it can be used and reused in ways that exceed fair use. Users needn't slow down to ask for permission, risk proceeding without it, or err on the side of non-use.
Publishers may have financial reasons not to provide OA themselves. But reasons to stop short of gold OA aren't reasons to stop short of green OA. In any case, arguments against permitting or mandating green OA must be weighed against the fundamental background acknowledgement that OA research is more useful than TA research. My hope is that every publisher will remember this acknowledgement when considering or reconsidering its access policies. We need research to be as useful as possible every day, in routine circumstances, and not just in times of disaster. The "we" here are not just researchers but everyone who depends on research. The stakes are not always elevated by earthquake and tsunami, but they are elevated by illness, climate change, environmental degradation, species extinction, unsafe technologies, unsolved problems, and uninformed policies.
In a different context in 2009, I put the question this way: "Do we only want to solve the [access problem] in matters of life and death, or might we also want solve it in matters of scholarship, research, art, culture, and education?"
The question isn't whether we could give as much to the Red Cross every month as we manage to give in the aftermath of a humanitarian disaster. The question is whether we could make what we already do just as useful as emergency-level donations to the Red Cross.
When I give to the Red Cross in an emergency, I don't feel committed to do it every month. But I do feel blocked from arguing that donations to the Red Cross don't really help. Making that claim would be factually incorrect and personally inconsistent. Likewise publishers who provide free online access in an emergency are blocked from arguing that increased access isn't necessary or doesn't help, or that everyone who needs access already has access. Premise 1: There is an access problem. Working on solutions to this problem is not incendiary, but humanitarian in the broadest sense.
* Postscript. To keep this article a manageable size, I've tried to distinguish humanitarian relief in the wake of disasters from humanitarian relief to developing countries in the face of more chronic conditions, although I admit that the border between them is fuzzy. Hence, I haven't even tried to list the very many OA initiatives at work in the global south, day in and day out. But for lists of those initiatives, see:
EBSCO and Hasselt University's Open Science Directory
Ann Okerson's list of Developing Nations Initiatives (not updated since 2007)
The "oa.south" tag library from the OA Tracking Project (active since April 2009)
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One of the mysteries of the English language finally explained.
Designating or relating to a model of illumination and a method for interpolation of the illumination data for objects represented in computer graphics, which may be applied (or approximated) to render high quality three-dimensional images; especially in "Phong shading".
1970s. From the name of Bui Trong-Phong, Vietnamese computer scientist (d. 1998), who devised the model and algorithm.
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Karen & Ron Flowers
Directors, Department of Family
Ministries, General Conference
Theme: The close companionship of a husband and wife in marriage helps them to be better equipped to face and endure whatever crises life may bring.
Theme Text: Genesis 2:24; Ephesians 5:28-30; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Presentation Notes: The notes presented in this section do not constitute a prepared sermon script. The following helps are designed to offer a framework, supportive resources, and illustrations toward the development of a sermon on the stated theme. You will want to shape these ideas in your own style, drawing upon your own study and experience, to meet the particular needs of your congregation. Throughout the following outline, numbers in parentheses (1), (2), (3) will indicate illustrations, quotations and other material found in the section called Sermon Illumination that may be helpful in your sermon development and delivery.
Through the years, marriage has meant different things to different people. At times, marriage has served the purpose of joining two communities, nations, or groups together (See Gen. 34:9, 10, 16). For some, marriage has been the means of obtaining legal offspring to perpetuate the family name (See Gen. 30:3-5). Some have wed for the material help, economic security, support or status marriage would provide (See Prov.31:10-29). (1) Sexual lust has been another motivation for marriage (Judges 14:2, 3; 2 Sam. 11:2-4). The need to be dependent upon someone, the need to care for someone, the need to have power over someone, or the need to escape an oppressive situation in one’s family-all have been factors in the reasons others have married.
One Flesh: A Couple Identity
At the heart of the divine design for marriage is the nurture, the emotional and spiritual support, which the couple provide for each other as their lives come together. Throughout Scripture we find the oneness, the couple life of the married pair addressed from different perspectives, all of which combine to give us an understanding of God’s plan for oneness in marriage.
Marriage as partnership. The account of the first marriage followed the divine recognition of the human being’s solitary situation, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him” (Gen. 2:18). The helper (Hebrew ezer) is one who offers encouragement and strength in the human realm just as God provides help and support as our divine Helper (Deut. 33:7, 26, 29: Ps. 70:5; 121:1, 2) “Companion” or “partner” (New English Bible) accurately conveys the meaning. (2)
Marriage as one-flesh. In the pronouncement of Gen. 2:24, God indicates the special relationship which He intends for marriage, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” God’s intent for marriage was the formation of a new entity. Their “one flesh” is an intimate union, the formation of a new, unique organism characterized by loving attachment. (3, 4) Jesus reaffirmed and amplified the Genesis text. He gave special attention to the idea of two being one. Citing the Genesis passages which described how God brought together the first husband and wife, He concluded, “So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate” (Matt. 19:6).
Marriage as covenant. The marital union rests on a covenant, a solemn pledge of agreement which husband and wife make with each other before God and their human community (Mal. 2:14; compare Prov. 2:17). The marriage covenant calls for the highest form of choice-making. It is a commitment which, paradoxically, represents a choice to give up some choices (Stanley, 1998). The words of the woman in the Song of Solomon, “My beloved is mine, and I am his” (Song of Sol. 2:16 KJV) and “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine” (Song of Sol. 6:3 KJV) speak of this kind of commitment and may reflect actual words used by couples at that time in making their wedding pledge.
Marriage as wholistic oneness. “One flesh” includes the physical joining of husband and wife sexually. This is part of God’s created plan for men and women within the covenant of marriage. He pronounced maleness and femaleness as “very good” (Gen. 1:31) and, despite humankind’s fall into sin, He has not changed His mind. The Creator intended married sexuality to provide a joyful, pleasurable union of husband and wife (Prov. 5:18, 19). (5, 6) Joining together physically, however, is never just a purely physical act. “In the Biblical view, human beings are always considered as psychophysical wholes. They cannot be split into separate parts of soul and body, mind and spirit. They are always one, with the whole person engaged in any act.” (Achtemeier, 1976, p. 157). The physical union symbolizes a comprehensive intertwining of two hearts and two spirits. “God does not . . . wish us to join bodies without joining lives” (Achtemeier, 1976, p. 160). (7)
Marriage as a sacred circle. The married pair have a boundary around them which sets them apart from other couples. E. G. White refers to this boundary as a “sacred circle” (The Ministry of Healing, p. 361). However, husbands and wives do not cease to be individual persons. Marriage does not replace personhood. (8) It is important to remember that also, the sacred circle, which establishes parameters around the married couple, is not intended to be a rigid barrier which cuts the couple off from support. (9)
Marriage as a new “us” creation. Scott Stanley summarizes the concept of oneness in marriage: “It’s not as if the two are to become one blob, wherein one or both identities are lost. Rather, the two form a new, highly prized identity of ‘us” that is to be nurtured and protected” (1998, p. 8).
Growing in Oneness
Effects of sin. Sin profoundly affects God’s design for “one flesh” in marriage. Couple life cannot exist without the investment of the two in the relationship, yet the togetherness of many couples has suffered because of self-centeredness on the part of the husband or wife. Self-interest has overshadowed the mutuality of dedication, service and support toward one another that should be present. Sin resulted in struggles for control by one over the other.
Marriage is a beneficiary of the gospel. The good news is that Christ has bridged the gulf between humanity and God and the gulf between human beings which was created by sin (2 Cor. 5:18, 19) and marriage is a beneficiary. “Marriage has been perverted by sin; but it is the purpose of the gospel to restore its purity and beauty” (Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, p. 64). The walls that divide us have been surmounted by Christ. Paul declares that all male-female gender conflicts, which are often expressed in the home as well as in the Church and in society, have been transcended in Christ (Gal. 3:28).
Paul exalted the crucified Christ as the source of reconciliation (Eph. 2:14-18). What is true for all alienated relationships is true also for marriage: “To create out of the two a single new humanity in himself, thereby making peace” (Eph. 2:15 NEB). We are reconciled in “one body” (Eph. 2:16). That is the spiritual fact upon which the apostle can say that there is now “one” where there was “two.” In Christ the way is open for couples to experience “one flesh” as God intended in ways they could not know apart from Him. (10) The call of the gospel is for us to grow up into Christ in all things (Eph. 4:15).
Vital signs of a healthy oneness. We want our marriage relationships to be healthy, strong and growing in Christ. What are the “vital signs” that we can monitor to evaluate marital health? In Traits of a Lasting Marriage, long-time Christian counselors, authors and relationship seminar leaders Jim and Sally Conway (1991) list ten characteristics reported by 186 middle-aged Christian couples in the U.S.A. as being significant to a lasting healthy marriage: (1) lifelong commitment, (2) mutually satisfying communication, (3) spiritual vitality, (4) effective conflict resolution, (5) energy from friends, (6) sexual intimacy, (7) time to laugh and play, (8) realistic expectations, (9) serving each other and sharing leadership, (10) personal growth. Let us check the pulse of our marriages as we look specifically at the top four of these characteristics.
Lifelong commitment. Commitment is a positive decision made by a couple to stay together, to love and affirm each other, to grow as persons, and to make their marriage an expression of their desire for each other’s happiness (Conway, 1991). Numerous authors and researchers have found commitment to be a high priority in successful marital relationships. (11) Commitment is closely related to the Biblical concept of covenant. Jack and Judith Balswick (1991) see optimal marital functioning as being modeled after the characteristics of God’s relationship with humanity. Foremost among these is commitment that is “based upon a mature (i.e., unconditional and bilateral) covenant” (p. 33). (12)
Mutually satisfying communication. One researcher, Dr. Roy Rhodes, a Dallas, Texas psychologist, reveals that the average couple married ten years or more spends only 37 minutes a week in close communication (Conway, 1991). Communication “is not simply the ability to talk; it also implies that you are understood and accepted by the other person . . . . [It] includes a willingness to share myself with another person and a desire to understand that other person” (Conway, 1991, p. 64). God created the first couple to be naked and unashamed-emotionally, as well as physically. Sin drove human beings into hiding, from God and from each other. By His grace, and with the development of better skills that do not come naturally, we can shed this inherited legacy of hiding our inner selves behind tattered fig leaf garments and become more open and vulnerable with each other. (13)
Spiritual vitality. This refers to “a faith beyond ourselves, a trust in a personal God who loves us and is concerned for our best good. This faith is an intimate personal relationship, as opposed to the mere acceptance of a certain creed or belonging to a religious organization” (Conway, 1991, p. 86). Research indicates that couples who are more religiously inclined and from same-faith backgrounds have an edge when it comes to keeping marriages strong and avoiding divorce (Markman, Stanley, & Blumberg, 1994). (14)
Effective conflict resolution. In contrast to types of marriages where one spouse is subordinate to the other or where spouses are seldom expected to interact at a personal level, a “one flesh” companionship-type marriage encourages couples, as equal partners, to move ever closer emotionally to each other to become more and more open and vulnerable with each other. Yet with increasing closeness, conflict inevitably develops. This paradox is confusing and is accompanied by sufficient pain to turn many couples away from the pursuit of greater intimacy. “Conflict resolution is the vital key to effective growth in love and intimacy,” wrote David Mace, pioneer marital therapist and founder of the Association for Couples in Marriage Enrichment (Mace, 1982, p. 30). We are blessed today to have many Christian counselors and marital growth specialists providing training in interpersonal relationship skills. By God’s grace they are helping couples to recognize and avoid potential conflicts, to resolve conflict earlier and with less trauma, and to understand marital conflict in a new way-as a stepping stone to better understanding and growth in intimacy. Let us not abandon God’s call to one flesh intimacy; let us avail ourselves of tools and skills now available to us that will encourage us. (15)
Facing Life as a Team
As a Christian marriage researcher, Scott Stanley tells us, “People who are the most comfortable thinking in terms of ‘we’ tend to be the most dedicated and happy in their marriages” (1998, p. 162). “Marriage is about commingled lives. Marriage is about sharing and learning to share more. Marriage is about teamwork” (p. 165).
Becoming a team. E. G. White wrote, “To gain a proper understanding of the marriage relation is the work of a lifetime. . . . However carefully and wisely marriage may have been entered into, few couples are completely united when the marriage ceremony is performed. The real union of the two in wedlock is the work of the afteryears” ( The Adventist Home , p. 105). Developing an understanding of marriage as “we”-as teamwork-is a significant part of becoming “completely united.” Some couples have a remarkable grasp of the concept from the beginning; for others, such a sense of togetherness is reached slowly, often painfully. Sadly, some never really grasp what being a team is about. May the Spirit inspire each of us as couples today, to reflect on our experience and grow together in this area of oneness.
Illustration. Randy and June were career professionals who had married each other in their early thirties. Dedicated, hardworking, successful individuals and proud of it, they had little time for church or for God, though they considered themselves Christians. Married life was good at first. They enjoyed exercising, hiking, talking and listening to music together. However, they remained highly individualistic in their thinking. Five years into their marriage, two crises developed. First, June’s company decided to move across the country. When she announced her desire to move, Randy didn’t want to discuss it. “When I married you, I never agreed to give up my career,” he declared. “That’s like my whole life, what I’ve worked for all these years!” June retorted that her career was as important as his. As they struggled with the question of whether their commitment to marriage would triumph over their commitment to work, the second crisis came. June discovered she was pregnant. She hesitated to tell Randy, but then she thought, “Enough of this “me versus you business.” He was the father; he needed to know.
Randy’s first reaction was anger. Then he started looking for solutions, “What are our options?” he asked, with obvious implications. His selfishness and reluctance to be on a marriage team showed. June was devastated. Abortion was not an option for her. Her response of immense pain triggered something in Randy. That day he began for the first time to ponder the need to let go of his self-interest. He prayed at work throughout the day, and so did she.
That evening he came to June having done a turnabout in his mind set. Expressing regret for his earlier attitude, he confessed, “I wanted all the best of what we could have together without really wanting to be together. I don’t think being married is all about me or you; it needs to be about us. I don’t know how to do ‘us,’ but I’m willing to start learning. . . . I think I wanted this marriage only as long as it was good for both of us. I don’t believe that’s commitment. I want commitment. I want you to know I’ll be by your side, no matter what we decide to do. Will you be married with me? I mean, you and me together.”
June responded with tears and hugs. The couple took what could have been the end of their marriage and made it the beginning of a new life together (Stanley, 1998. Adapted).
Fortified to face crises. The importance of a married couple’s sense of covenant oneness with each other, together with their commitment to God, cannot be overstated. It is significant for their spiritual growth (2 Cor. 6:14; Compare Amos 3:3). It is significant for their parenting. “Parents are to work together as a unit” ( The Adventist Home , p. 312; Compare Gen. 27). Further, in the midst of life’s crises, their oneness is their best fortification.
Illustration. Patrick Morley tells how his wife’s sister and her husband faced the trauma of breast cancer. Nancy’s annual mammogram revealed a spot that required a biopsy. Fearing the worst, Nancy had asked that the surgeon call her husband Hal with the news of the biopsy results, rather than herself. After an excruciating week of waiting, Hal got the bad news. He had never been so scared. What would he do if he lost Nancy?
He held the grim report within himself all day and through the evening, even as he and Nancy kept an appointment to dine out with friends. When they were alone at last, he drew her close and began, “The doctor called me. We need to have surgery. They did find some cancer.” His use of “we” said paragraphs. They were silent and wept in each other’s arms for long minutes. At last, Hal whispered, “Nancy, I feel a love for you right now like I’ve never felt before.”
The mastectomy was successful. Hal slept in her hospital room, helped her in and out of bed, ran errands for her, cleaned up when her medicine made her nauseous. “We felt a new closeness,” says Nancy. “For the first two months we would just hug and hold each other all the time. Hal said to me, ‘You’ll never know how much I love you and how courageous I think you are.’ That really ministered to me. I realize how precious life is every day. I look at my husband and kids differently. I thank the Lord for giving me life!”
Morley concludes, “When the body of the wife is sick, so is the body of the husband. They are one flesh. When the body of the husband takes ill, so does the body of the wife. They are one flesh. We belong to each other, as we belong to the Lord. How important it is for your mate to have an assurance that you will be there in the dark hour of illness.” (Adapted from Devotions for Couples by Patrick Morley. Copyright �1994 by Patrick M. Morley. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. Available at your local bookstore or by calling 800-727-3480)
In the book of Ecclesiastes we find these beautiful lines about being in partnership:
Two are better than one; they receive a good reward for their toil, because, if one falls, the other can help his companion up again; but alas for the man who falls alone with no partner to help him up. And, if two lie side by side, they keep each other warm; but how can one keep warm by himself? If a man is alone, an assailant may overpower him, but two can resist; and a cord of three strands is not quickly snapped. (Ecc. 4:9-12 NEB)
These verses affirm God’s assessment that it is not good for human beings to be alone. Good friendships are so important to the nurture and support that we need as individuals. May God help us to reach out in friendship to others.
And how wonderful are these lines in praise of the companionship a loving Creator designed for marriage! May God open our eyes that we may see how we can be a source of encouragement to one another. May God grant us the strength and ability to lift one another, nurture one another, and keep one another warm! (16) May God help us to team together in facing whatever challenges life brings to us. Sometimes, we may have to walk alone in our marriages. If such is your situation, be assured that, through your personal relationship with God, you can do much. When, however, partners are linked with each other and with God, that threefold cord is indestructible.
One (1): “Neither Roman nor Greek civilizations provided an atmosphere that elevated the marital union. The Greek statesman, Demosthenes (3000 B.C.), indicated that it might take several of this lesser order of being-woman-to take care of man’s needs: ‘Mistresses we keep for pleasure, concubines for daily attendance upon our person, wives to bear us legitimate children and be our faithful housekeepers.’ The wife could be repudiated and simply dismissed for barrenness or even if her husband found her unattractive or uncongenial” (Mazat, 1996, p. 20).
Two (2): “‘Helper’ is a relational term describing a beneficial relationship, but in itself does not specify position or rank, either superiority or inferiority” (Davidson, 1988, p. 15).
Three (3): “Eve was created from a rib taken from the side of Adam, signifying that she was not to control him as the head, nor to be trampled under his feet as an inferior, but to stand by his side as an equal, to be loved and protected by him. A part of man, bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, she was his second self; showing the close union and the affectionate attachment that should exist in this relation” (The Adventist Home , p. 25, emphasis supplied).
Four (4): “The Christian idea of marriage is based on Christ’s words that a man and wife are to be regarded as a single organism-for that is what the words ‘one flesh’ would be in modern English. And the Christians believe that when He said this he was not expressing a sentiment but stating a fact-just as one is stating a fact when one says that a lock and its key are one mechanism, or that a violin and a bow are one musical instrument. The inventor of the human machine was telling us that its two halves, the male and the female, were made to be combined together in pairs, not simply on the sexual level, but totally combined” (C. S. Lewis, quoted in Brown & Brown, 1980, p. 139).
Five (5): “The woman was made from the rib of the man-originally they were one-and after the creation of the woman they long to become one again” (Achtemeier, 1976, p. 155).
Six (6): “All we are as male or female becomes open to the other, and is made complete by being joined with the inner self of one’s mate. We know each other and become one with the other and are fulfilled by each other in a way otherwise utterly impossible, and that knowing and that fulfillment carry over into our whole married life, and strengthen and deepen and periodically refresh it” (Achtemeier, 1976, p. 162).
Seven (7): Through this unitive aspect of sexuality, the perpetuation of the human family is provided for as well. In God’s plan, procreation is entwined with and springs from the same act of marital union whereby husband and wife find joy, pleasure and physical completeness. It is to a husband and wife whose love has enabled them to know each other in such a sexual bond that the creation of a new life may be entrusted. Their child is a special expression of their oneness, an offspring of their “one flesh.”
Eight (8): “Neither the husband nor the wife should merge his or her individuality in that of the other. Each has a personal relation to God. . . . Let the wealth of your affection flow forth to Him who gave His life for you. Make Christ first and last and best in everything. As your love for Him becomes deeper and stronger, your love for each other will be purified and strengthened” (The Ministry of Healing, p. 361).
Nine (9): The cells of the human body have boundaries which identify and protect them. They also interact with other cells and organisms within the body. The sacred circle around a couple should not become a wall behind which the couple or family are trapped. Excessive isolation can deprive the marriage and the family of much needed companionship and interaction with others-interaction which will help sustain and enhance their life together. The family, though a private entity to be sure, is also dependent upon networks around it for life support. Interactive caring and support among members and households (Acts 2:46; 4:32; Gal. 6:2; James 5:10) characterizes the families of the early Church.
Ten (10): “In the most intimate relationships of life, in our kinship with father and mother, brothers and sisters, in married love, and in our duty to the community, direct relationships are impossible. Since the coming of Christ, his followers have no more immediate realities of their own, not in their family relationships . . . nor in the relationships formed in the process of living. Between father and son, husband and wife . . . stands Christ the Mediator, whether they are able to recognize him or not. We cannot establish direct contact outside ourselves except through him, through his word, and through our following of him” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, p. 86 quoted in Anderson and Guernsey, 1985, p. 142).
Eleven (11): “A deep level of commitment and strong interest in promoting each other’s happiness and welfare” was among the top qualities of 130 Oklahoma (USA) couples who rated themselves very high in terms of marital satisfaction (Stinnett, Chesser & Defrain, 1979). See also Achtemeier, 1976; Markman, Stanley, & Blumberg, 1994; Smedes, 1988; Stanley, 1998.
Twelve (12): “When answering the survey question about whether a commitment to stay married had helped hold their marriage together, one husband said, ‘Especially my wife’s! There were times when my commitment wavered-hers never did, even when I was most unbearable.’
“This man, with a graduate degree and a high income, had suffered from such severe emotional problems during mid-life that he separated from his wife and was finally hospitalized with a breakdown. During his hospitalization, his wife visited him faithfully and did all she could to aid his recovery. After his release, they were officially reunited and have now been married a total of thirty years” (Conway, 1991, pp. 43, 44).
Thirteen (13): Many books on marriage, including those listed in the References below, contain helpful sections on communication. For an in-depth, user friendly textbook on communication, see Miller, Miller, Nunnally, & Wackman, 1991.
Fourteen (14): “If Christ indeed is formed within, the hope of glory, there will be union and love in the home. Christ abiding in the heart of the wife will be at agreement with Christ abiding in the heart of the husband. They will be striving together for the mansions Christ has gone to prepare for those who love Him” (The Adventist Home, p. 120).
Fifteen (15): You may wish to make available the resource article “Creative Conflict Resolution,” included with this planbook.
Sixteen (16): Christian clinical psychologist and marriage researcher Scott Stanley writes, “On the day that I married Nancy, our pastor added a vow into the ceremony that we had not talked about beforehand. He had me promise to keep Nancy warm. Of all that was said and done that day, those were the words that stood out to me, Nancy, and my mother. Promising to keep Nancy warm encompasses so much” (Stanley, 1998, p. 42).
Achtemeier, E. (1976). The committed marriage. Philadelphia: The Westminister Press.
Anderson, R. S., & Guernsey, D. B. (1985). On being family: A social theology of the family. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
Brown, J. W., & Brown, B. (1980). Together each day. Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company.
Bonhoeffer, D. (1959). The cost of discipleship. London: SCM Press.
Conway, J. & S. (1991). Traits of a lasting marriage. Downers Grove, Il: InterVarsity Press.
Davidson, R. (Spring 1988) “The Theology of Sexuality in the Beginning: Gen. 1-2“, Andrews University Seminary Studies.
Mace, D. R. (1982). Close companions. New York: The Continuum Publishing Company.
Markman, H., Stanley, S., & Blumberg, S. L. (1994). Fighting for your marriage. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Mazat, A. (1996). Captivated by love: Sharing and enhancing sexuality in marriage. Ministerial Association, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904.
Miller, S., Miller, P., Nunnally, E. W., & Wackman, D. B. (1991). Couple communication 1: Talking and listening together. Interpersonal Communication Programs, Inc., 7201 S. Broadway, Littleton, CO 80122 USA.
Morley, P. M. (1994). Two part harmony. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
Smedes, L. B. (1988). Caring and commitment: Learning to live the love we promise. San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers.
Stanley, S. (1998). The heart of commitment. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
Stinnett, N., Chesser, B., & DeFrain, J. (eds). (1979). Building family strengths. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
White, E. G. (1952). The Adventist home. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association.
White, E. G. (1942). The ministry of healing. Nampa, ID: Pacific Press Publishing Association.
White, E. G. (1956). Thoughts from the mount of blessing. Nampa, ID: Pacific Press Publishing Association.
Reprinted from Karen & Ron Flowers, Facing Family Crises. Silver Spring, MD: Department of Family Ministries, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 1999. | <urn:uuid:8882ed7a-2a96-4196-a9ea-bc63a9f2d700> | CC-MAIN-2020-10 | https://family.adventist.org/marriage-sermon-resources-close-companions/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-10/segments/1581875146643.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20200227002351-20200227032351-00364.warc.gz | en | 0.962889 | 6,679 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Water: Water Quality Standards Academy
You are here: WaterEducation & TrainingTraining ProgramsWater Quality Standards AcademyDevelopment of Site-Specific Criteria: Highlights
Development of Site-Specific Criteria: Highlights
- Listing Impaired Waters and Developing TMDLs
- Monitoring & Assessment
- NPDES Permit Program
- Human Health Ambient Water Quality Criteria
- Aquatic Life Criteria
- EPA's Role
- Two Concentration-Related Criteria
- Steps in Deriving the Criteria
- Prioritizing Chemicals
- Collecting Effects Data
- Assessing Acute Effects Data
- Calculate the GMAVs
- Rank the GMAVs
- Calculate the FAV
- From FAV to CMC
- Factoring in Water Characteristics
- CCC Approach Based on Available Data
- Assessing Chronic Effects Data
- CCC Calculation of the FCV
- FCV to CCC
- Criteria Review Process
- Site-Specific Criteria
Basic Course: Supplemental Topics
In some locations, the nationally recommended aquatic life criteria may be considered under- or overprotective if the species at a site have different sensitivities than those included in the national criteria data set. For instance, physical and/or chemical characteristics at a site can alter the biological availability and/or toxicity of a material. For this reason, site-specific criteria may be developed to address such conditions.
Site-specific procedures consist of:
- Defining the site boundaries.
- Determining the effect of biological, physical, or chemical characteristics on sensitivity or bioavailability and toxicity.
- Calculating numerical criteria by applying the recalculation procedure, the water-effect ratio procedure, or the resident species procedure.
Key Point. EPA regulations allow States and Tribes to develop site-specific aquatic life criteria. The Agency then considers the adequacy of the criteria during its review of the State/Tribe’s water quality standards. In general, EPA approves site-specific criteria if they are supportive of the designated uses established in the State/Tribe’s water quality standards and the criteria are based on sound scientific rationales. | <urn:uuid:cdb00028-543d-4b26-bb2c-d6f41b590862> | CC-MAIN-2014-49 | http://water.epa.gov/learn/training/standardsacademy/aquatic_page18.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-49/segments/1416931009295.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20141125155649-00175-ip-10-235-23-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.804334 | 452 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Madrid, Spain A pair of Spanish high school teachers want to harness new technology to settle an old argument: who's buried in Christopher Columbus' tomb?
Make that tombs. Authorities in Seville, Spain, and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic both claim to be watching over the remains of the explorer, known in Spanish as Cristobal Colon.
For more than 100 years, historians have debated which side is right.
The only sure way to find out, says history teacher Marcial Castro, is dig up both sets of bones, glean some strands of DNA and compare them to DNA from Hernando Colon, Columbus' son through an extramarital affair.
Hernando Colon's remains are the only available, authenticated ones of a close relative of Columbus, Castro says. They're buried at the cathedral in Seville, along with the bones that Spain says are his father's.
In the Dominican Republic, a huge, cross-shaped monument called the Faro a Colon, or Columbus Lighthouse, also purports to hold the remains of Christopher Columbus.
Castro, 38, teaches in a public high school in Seville province, studies genealogy on the side and has published several papers on historical figures. This is by far his grandest gig yet.
The Andalusian regional government has acted as intermediary and formally asked church officials in Seville to open Columbus' tomb.
"My heart is jumping out of my chest," said Castro, who is working with colleague Sergio Algarrada, a biology teacher at Ostippo High School in Estepa town.
They've enlisted help from Jose Antonio Lorente, director of the Laboratory of Genetic Identification of the University of Granada, to examine DNA from the various sets of remains.
Lorente usually works on criminal cases but has also helped identify people killed under military regimes in Latin America. His lab works regularly with the FBI.
But it is not clear if the Catholic church in Spain will go along, or if authorities in Santo Domingo will allow the bones in the Columbus Lighthouse to be disturbed by the probing fingers of science.
Another unknown is whether enough intact DNA could be recovered to carry out genetic tests. The double-helix that provides the blueprint of human life degrades over time, and it's been 500 years. "Columbus' DNA will be in bad shape," Lorente predicted.
Still, Castro said the Spanish academic community is also excited about his proposal, for which he has requested funding from National Geographic, and no one seems worried by the prospect of Spain learning it's got the wrong guy buried in Seville.
Source of confusion
Columbus died in the Spanish city of Valladolid on May 20, 1506. He had asked to be buried in the Americas, but no church of sufficient stature existed there so he was interred in a monastery in Valladolid.
Three years later, his remains were moved to a Carthusian monastery on the island of La Cartuja in Seville. In 1537, Maria de Rojas y Toledo, widow of Columbus' son Diego, was allowed to send the bones of her husband and his father to the cathedral in Santo Domingo for burial. There they lay until 1795, when Spain ceded the island of Hispaniola to France and decided Columbus' remains should not fall into the hands of foreigners.
So a set of remains that the Spaniards thought were Columbus' were dug up from behind the main altar in the newly built cathedral and shipped to a cathedral in Havana, where they remained until the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898 and Spain brought them to Seville.
It did so amid controversy. In 1877, workers digging inside the Santo Domingo cathedral unearthed a leaden box containing 13 large bone fragments and 28 small ones. It was inscribed "Illustrious and distinguished male, don Cristobal Colon."
The Dominicans said these were the real remains of Columbus and that the Spaniards must have taken the wrong body in 1795. The remains the Dominicans found are the ones kept in the lighthouse. | <urn:uuid:a3c32433-91a5-426a-a0f7-b7cae185dcfb> | CC-MAIN-2017-47 | http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2002/jun/13/researchers_hope_to/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-47/segments/1510934808260.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20171124161303-20171124181303-00745.warc.gz | en | 0.966353 | 850 | 3.109375 | 3 |
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If you've decided to write an essay on animals, either for a school assignment or for another purpose, here are the steps to follow. The first and main reason is that animal testing is cruel the second reason is that there is no real advantage to animal testing because they are not homologous. He blogs at animal rights: the abolitionist approach it is nothing short of terrible that anyone would harm a defenseless animal by reading his essays and engaging in discussions with him and others who have. Free animal cruelty papers, essays, and research papers if you ever witness animal abuse you should contact the police and give them a brief description of.
Animals as persons: essays on the abolition of animal exploitation new york, ny, columbia degrazia, david 2002 animal rights: a very short introduction. Groups such as people for the ethical treatment of animals (peta), american society for the prevention of cruelty to animals (aspca), hearts.
Animal cruelty essayscruelty means inflicting pain and causing suffering animal cruelty is a nationwide problem rapidly growing in today's society animals are. A brief history of animal abuse and cruelty essay 1152 words | 5 pages attracted by black smoke she managed to put out the the flames with her sweater and. Animal cruelty essay conclusion - commit your paper to us and we will do our best and character analysis, 2017 i thought of are short pieces of neuroscience . | <urn:uuid:39862617-086e-4c72-b9c8-914095dab72a> | CC-MAIN-2018-43 | http://whpaperetbl.mestudio.us/short-essays-on-animal-cruelty.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-43/segments/1539583511897.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20181018173140-20181018194640-00356.warc.gz | en | 0.935991 | 811 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Horses held great importance in steppe culture. At our dig site, the majority of the animal bone remains have been identified as sheep and goats, followed by cattle and then horses. Yet we know from the spectacular protomes on the Issyk Golden Warrior’s headdress and the splendid belt plaques that horses played an important symbolic role, and may have been the most prevalent of the domesticated species at Tuzusai.
When Kyra Lyublanovics, a PhD candidate from Central European University (Budapest, Hungary), arrived on Saturday to spend a month with us as our resident zooarchaeologist, she asked if there were any horses in Poselok Alatau. I am sure that in our fast-growing village there are still one or two people living on the outskirts who might own a horse. Then I remembered the Panfilova Hippodrome, where the president’s horses are kept, located in the collective just 4 km (2.5 miles) north of Alatau. On Sunday we took a ride in Kolya’s old orange Moskvich car to the hippodrome. Sure enough, there were beautiful horses in the stables and grazing in the vast pasturelands.
If there is a single idea that has dominated steppe culture from the Eneolithic period (4000 BCE) onward, it has been the hunting, herding, and eventually the riding of horses. In the late 1990s, when archaeologists David Anthony and Dorcas Brown examined the molars of horse teeth from the steppe sites, they saw microscopic evidence of bit wear, suggesting the presence of horseback riding more than six thousand years ago on the northern steppes of Kazakhstan. A recent article stated that DNA studies of horse populations now corroborate the archaeological evidence showing that horses were first domesticated in the steppe areas of the Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Whether horses were first used for riding or as traction animals remains to be proven.
Yet there is no doubt in my mind that horses, whether or not they were dominant in people’s diets during the first millennia BCE, certainly had a major symbolic importance. For example, some of the sacrified horses found in Berel Mound No. 11 are splendidly clothed in leather masks with ibex horns, suggesting their mythical nature.
We are very excited to have Kyra here to analyze the animal bones. Her work will provide data that can be compared to the glorious and splendid depictions of the role that horses played in steppe society.
Nomads and Networks: The Ancient Art and Culture of Kazakhstan remains on view at the Sackler Gallery through November 12, 2012. | <urn:uuid:4a283c37-1645-4f6c-a9b3-133bab796721> | CC-MAIN-2018-51 | https://www.freersackler.si.edu/nomads-and-networks-in-the-field-at-a-galloping-pace/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-51/segments/1544376827727.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20181216121406-20181216143406-00311.warc.gz | en | 0.961791 | 545 | 3.40625 | 3 |
عنوان مقاله [English]
The concept of affordance is referred to what the interactions between the built environment and individuals are made possible. Human senses and their past experiences are considered as tools or media for the facilitation of these interactions to happen. About 80% of human perception is dependent to humans’ visual capabilities and the color is a determinant factor in the recognition of environments and products and their immediate affordances; whether the product is digital or physical. Most color blindness, known as color deficiency, is genetic in which one cannot distinguish between certain types of colors. As a result, they face severe challenges interacting with products and environments. Despite the importance, particularly for colorblind people, a review of the related literature revealed that far less investigations have been carried out by industrial designers to date. Therefore, it is argued that the domain is worth investigating. In this research, our joint effort has been leading to proposing an instruction for the industrial designers, who design physical and digital products for the people with color blindness. | <urn:uuid:2d1b5d70-d100-44ab-85f6-6e04cf480394> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | http://dastavard.journal.art.ac.ir/article_1088.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764499819.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20230130133622-20230130163622-00214.warc.gz | en | 0.937481 | 278 | 3.6875 | 4 |
China’s government announced through the state-operated Xinhua News Agency on September 6 that it had completed the successful launch and landing of its first-ever reusable spacecraft.
Though there are few details of the craft and no pictures of the event, Xinhua News hailed the successful re-entry and landing of the reusable craft as “an important breakthrough in our country’s research” and one that could promise a “more convenient and inexpensive way” to reach space.
China’s government has been reaching out to space for some time now. In 2019, it became the first country to ever land on the far side of the moon.
This summer alone, China launched its first-ever solo-mission to Mars and completed an array of satellites that will serve as China’s alternative to the United States-operated Global Positioning System, or GPS.
For some, this is a worrying development and constitutes what some US politicians and commentators have taken to calling the second “space race.” The extent to which China’s space program threatens the US’ current space dominance, however, is up for debate.
China’s stellar aspirations are no new development. It is only the third country in the world to send its own astronauts to space aboard its own rocket, conducting its first manned mission to space in 2003. In 2016, China sent two astronauts to space for 30 days, in what was the country’s sixth human space launch.
The US has only recently begun to once again send astronauts to space aboard its own rockets, this time onboard SpaceX-produced rockets.
But for Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the last year has seen “China’s long-term space ambitions meet their fruition,” with a flurry of Chinese activities and missions in space demonstrating the nation’s lofty ambitions to its competitors and doubters.
The end of 2018 saw China launch its “Chang’e-4” mission, named after the goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology, to the moon’s far side, hoping to complete a feat that has never been achieved before as a result of the difficulty of communicating with the moon’s non-Earth facing side.
The Chinese rover successfully made it to the moon’s far side in January 2019, inaugurating what would prove to be a year of Chinese achievements in space.
Despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the world and on China, in particular, its space program has achieved numerous successes in 2020.
In June, China completed the final piece of the “Beidou” network, an array of several dozen satellites that is estimated to have cost upwards of some US$10 billion.
The Beidou network is one example of China’s strive toward technological independence and equal-footing with the US, with the network standing as China’s alternative to the US-created and operated Global Positioning System (GPS), allowing China a degree of strategic independence by making use of its own network and potentially offering it to others, undercutting the US’ long-held dominance.
China followed its completion of the satellite network by successfully completing the first stage of its ambitious “Tianwen-1” Mars rover mission.
Successfully launching in July, “Tianwen-1” is China’s first solo mission to Mars and, if all goes according to plan, the Chinese lander and rover will touch down on the red planet in February 2021, hailing another achievement in the Chinese space program’s efforts to illustrate its own successes and independence.
Most recently, China’s government and state-run news organization Xinhua News Agency launched the successful launch, orbit and landing of its first-ever reusable spacecraft. Though no photos were published, the spacecraft is said to have spent two days in orbit around the Earth, before landing back at the designated landing site in China.
One Chinese source speaking to The Verge said that the secrecy of the mission was due to the “many firsts” involved in the launch, another sign of China’s efforts to achieve parity in space technologies and capabilities with the US.
A new space race?
China’s increasing interest and successful activity in space has prompted worries among US politicians and analysts.
In a March 2019 speech, US Vice President Mike Pence claimed that the US was “in a space race today, just as we were in the 1960s, and the stakes are even higher.” Pence pointed to what he saw as China’s ambition to “seize the lunar strategic high ground and become the world’s pre-eminent spacefaring nation” as the driving factor behind this new “space race.”
One Foreign Policy article in the aftermath of China’s successful lunar mission claimed that “America Is Losing the Second Space Race to China.” The article went on to envision China’s government as possessing a detailed plan of space dominance by siphoning the moon’s natural resources and building its own communications network which will “deliver space dominance and global hegemony to China’s authoritarian rulers.”
Though China has undoubtedly taken steps toward improving its footing in space, it has yet to build-up an “impending dominance” that will “neutralize U.S. geopolitical power,” as reported by Foreign Policy.
Brian Weeden, the director of program planning at the space think tank Secure World Foundation, claims that the “gap” between the US and the Chinese space programs has indeed “narrowed,” but that “the U.S. is still the leader.”
Despite recently completing its new Beidou network, China’s 300 satellites are still outnumbered by over 1,000 American satellites. America’s agencies and space companies also possess more powerful and reliable rocket technology and a higher share of the commercial launch market.
As Benjamin Charlton, Senior Asia-Pacific Analyst at Oxford Analytica, writes, the headlines China has accrued over the last few years come as a result of “deliberately targeting vacant niches,” such as the far side of the moon in 2019.
This is not to detract from the success enjoyed by China’s space program but instead shows that “the tired trope of the superpower space race does little to make sense” of new developments above Earth, according to Charlton.
Despite its successes, China’s space program and its alleged ambitions of achieving parity in space with the US still have a long way to go.
This month, as China achieved its reusable spacecraft success, one of its rocket boosters plummeted to Earth, nearly landing on a densely populated area in China and causing mass chaos and destruction. Videos captured from a school reportedly showed toxic plumes rising from the crash site in the near distance.
This follows reports of an out-of-control Chinese rocket that shed debris over the West African nation of Côte d’Ivoire, also known as the Ivory Coast, in May 2020, after US analysts reported that Chinese operators had lost control of the rocket as it reentered the Earth’s atmosphere.
Neil Rennon, Professor at the University of Michigan’s Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering department, argues that while China is “getting stronger and more independent” in its ventures in space, its achievements are equally matched in many cases by American ventures.
As Benjamin Charlton argues, “a new space race really would begin” only when China demonstrates “substantial progress towards mining the asteroids, settling the moon, or beaming down solar power from space on a commercial scale,” all feats yet to be achieved by the US.
For now, America’s lead in space, though perhaps less daunting than before, remains dominant.
Have a tip or story? Get in touch with our reporters at [email protected] | <urn:uuid:eaa11a5f-d789-4417-9205-981abfe48cdd> | CC-MAIN-2020-40 | http://themilsource.com/2020/09/16/china-challenges-us-supremacy-in-space/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-40/segments/1600400222515.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20200925053037-20200925083037-00065.warc.gz | en | 0.953355 | 1,681 | 3.28125 | 3 |
To understand how Earth’s climate will change in the future, scientists need to know how much heat-trapping gas is going into the atmosphere today. However, oceans’ emissions of two major greenhouse gases, methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), vary dramatically in time and space. With a centralized digital resource, the Marine Methane and Nitrous Oxide (MEMENTO) database, information on CH4 and N2O concentration measurements from around the globe are collected to help researchers more precisely quantify these oceanic emissions.
Oceanic CH4 can arise from shallow sediments, and both CH4 and N2O are produced by ocean-dwelling microbes. Although only a relatively small fraction of global CH4 emissions—around 2%—come from the ocean (including coastal areas), oceans are a major source for atmospheric N2O, providing around 25% of the total. When it reaches the stratosphere, N2O attacks ozone, destroying it on a global scale.
Estimates of oceanic emissions are based on extrapolations of concentrations measured at the ocean’s surface or results from model studies. For example, using the data set of Weiss et al. , Nevison et al. calculated the first global field of surface ocean N2O concentrations to estimate the marine N2O source to the atmosphere.
However, the fluxes of N2O and CH4 can vary substantially from day to day and from place to place, meaning that even with recent improvements in measurement techniques and increased measurements, global emission estimates are still highly uncertain [see Ciais et al., 2013]. Millions of measurements taken at different times and covering the globe are needed for researchers to more precisely estimate how much gas is being emitted.
MEMENTO Ups the Game
MEMENTO, an initiative that began in 2009, is the first attempt to systematically compile all global data on oceanic CH4 and N2O measurements. It archives data taken not only at the ocean surface but also from the deep ocean. As curators of the data set, our goals are to see how oceanic concentrations of the gases vary in time and space and to provide more precise global emission estimates of oceanic CH4 and N2O to the climate research community.
MEMENTO already includes original data from more than 180 measurement campaigns, which have provided more than 20,000 CH4 and more than 100,000 N2O measurements over the past 50 years (see Figure 1 for sampling locations). These data sets include dissolved gas concentrations along with information on sampling position, sampling depth and time, and, if available, data on ocean temperature and salinity as well as oxygen and nutrient concentrations.
If available, we also include atmospheric measurements from the same campaign, such as air temperature and air pressure, usually sampled a few meters above sea level height. We also add to all submissions the contact information of the researchers who provided the data, their related publications, and if available, a link to the host center of the original data sets.
An Emphasis on Quality
We put all data submissions imported to MEMENTO through a systematic quality control procedure to guarantee that essential metadata are available and to minimize erroneous entries. If measurements lack information on sampling position, sampling time, and sampling depth (for oceanographic data), we do not import them into the database. In addition, we apply a first-order range check to all imported variables to exclude obviously incorrect data entries, such as negative concentrations, erroneous date formats, or data positioned over land.
CH4, N2O, and oxygen data are imported in their original units. In a second data-processing step, we will calculate global surface fields and depth profiles in common units. Missing temperature and salinity data will be supplied from external data sources.
A Work in Progress
We regularly update the database with newly available data sets and continuously improve it by including additional meta-information, allowing additional data formats, and implementing new data quality control criteria.
In addition, we are working closely with the recently initiated Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) Working Group 143, entitled “Dissolved N2O and CH4 measurements: Working towards a global network of ocean time series measurements of N2O and CH4.” As an additional quality flag for our data, we will implement standard procedures that are developed within the working group for measuring N2O and CH4.
As we expand MEMENTO, we will also build on the experiences researchers have gained from existing databases such as the Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT), the Global Surface Seawater Dimethylsulfide Database (GSSDD), and the Halocarbons in the Ocean and Atmosphere Database Project (HalOcAt). Specifically, we are looking to create best practices on how to structure data archives, methods for checking data quality, and ways to make data archives more user friendly.
A Resource for the Research Community
We intend for MEMENTO to serve as a living resource from which researchers can pull quality-controlled oceanic CH4 and N2O data for a variety of purposes. Researchers have already begun using the database to produce important results. For example, Zamora et al. and Suntharalingam et al. used MEMENTO data to model N2O production and consumption processes on global and regional scales. Freing et al. used the database to compute global N2O production rates from the in situ measurements. A list of associated publications is available on the MEMENTO website.
MEMENTO data are freely available to interested users, who can access the database via the MEMENTO website. We would like to expand our database, so please consider adding your CH4 and N2O data. Contact us to obtain the log-in information to the database and information on how to submit your data to MEMENTO.
MEMENTO is supported by European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action 735, the Surface Ocean–Lower Atmosphere Studies (SOLAS) Project Integration Programme and the German Federal Ministry for Education Research project Surface Ocean Processes in the Anthropocene, Grant FKZ 03F0660A. The database is receiving technical support from the Kiel Data Management Team at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research. | <urn:uuid:d0e49284-2efc-488d-b560-c1bf11ccdfcc> | CC-MAIN-2019-47 | https://eos.org/science-updates/counting-oceans-greenhouse-gas-emissions | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-47/segments/1573496667442.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20191113215021-20191114003021-00436.warc.gz | en | 0.899269 | 1,302 | 4.1875 | 4 |
Our Academy Ethos is promoted through our school values of Love, Courage, Community and Celebration!
Our pupils have defined our school values as:
Love: "Caring and protecting each other"
Courage: "Be brave, you can do it!"
Community: "We are a team"
Celebration: "We did it, we're really proud"
The Academy aims to serve its community by providing education of the highest quality within the context of Christian belief and practice. It encourages an understanding of the meaning and significance of faith and promotes Christian values through the experience it offers all pupils’
Collective Worship is held daily across a range of Christian and multi-cultural themes to ensure that all pupils benefit from equality of spiritual, moral and cultural guidance.
How we promote Fundamental British values
Schools are required to provide for the spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development of their pupils, including the active promotion of fundamental British values.
The government defines these as:
- The rule of law
- Individual liberty
- Mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs.
As a Church of England school, this is a priority at John Henry Newman Academy, reinforcing our core Christian values: Love, Courage, Community and Celebration.
What does this mean for my child?
Our work in promoting fundamental British values is designed, alongside our Christian ethos, to prepare children for life in modern Britain. Ultimately, we aim to help pupils understand:
- The importance of combating discrimination
- How we can influence decision-making by taking part in democratic processes like voting and petitioning through School Council opportunites; participating in whole-school decision making.
- The freedom under British law to choose different faiths and beliefs
- That the law is there to keep us safe.
How is this happening at our school?
Christian virtues and British values are reflected throughout our school in our ethos, policies and assemblies. Pupils are reminded of Jesus' words to:
"Love God" and "Love one another".
Many opportunities also occur within the curriculum, for example where pupils learn about different cultures and religions; and the importance of rules in PE. Extra-curricular activities enable pupils to vote in elections, complete questionnaires, have their opinions heard and as a result, learn about democracy.
Our Values versus Violence Curriculum develops pupils' understanding of their rights as an individual. We link this to their rights as a citizen of Britain.
Our duty to actively promote fundamental British values means that we always present political views to children in a balanced way. We are also responsible for challenging prejudiced or extreme opinions and behaviour.
As part of this responsibility, we have put measures in place to protect children from exposure to extremist views. All Staff have had Prevent Training to ensure that we can identify signs of extremism if present.
Promoting British values will reinforce, not change, our current Church of England ethos. | <urn:uuid:ccb9ad08-f1ae-414e-8b76-623254356a18> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | http://www.jhnacademy.co.uk/website/ethos_statement/231720 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257648198.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20180323063710-20180323083710-00252.warc.gz | en | 0.932421 | 604 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Tobacco Tax Act
Tobacco taxes are a key deterrent for preventing youth from smoking. Tobacco taxes are also used a tool aimed at the reduction of overall tobacco use. The restrictions on youth access and promotion and display of tobacco and tobacco products are based on research which illustrates how few people start smoking as adults.
The Ministry of Finance is responsible for administering the Tobacco Tax Act and the Tobacco Tax Act Regulation. And, while their focus is the registration and tax aspects of tobacco sales, there may be overlap with the work of tobacco enforcement officers when someone violates these statutes. Tobacco enforcement officers’ investigations may include examining sales records, inventory records, tobacco stamps and tear tapes on inventory. The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance are legally entitled to exchange information regarding authorized tobacco retailers in British Columbia.
For more information: | <urn:uuid:e1c8f2b3-c22a-4c8a-b471-149ca7bf35b8> | CC-MAIN-2018-22 | https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/about-bc-s-health-care-system/office-of-the-provincial-health-officer/laws-related-to-health-in-bc/tobacco-tax-act | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-22/segments/1526794866733.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20180524170605-20180524190605-00342.warc.gz | en | 0.948458 | 167 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Florida Citrus Struggling, but Still a Leading Crop
by ERIKA ALDRICH
Sponsored by Farm Credit of Central Florida
Citrus is one of The Sunshine State’s leading agricultural products, and despite challenges presented by citrus greening and more, Florida’s citrus growers are still optimistic about the future of citrus. Oranges were first introduced to the New World and Florida by explorers like Christopher Columbus and Ponce de Leon in the 1400s and 1500s, and grapefruit arrived in the early 1800s, according to Citrus Mutual. In 1915, production of citrus in Florida reached the milestone of 10 million boxes. In 1950, it reached 100 million boxes, with the 200 million box milestone following in 1971. The current Florida citrus industry faces serious challenges, but the industry is still fighting.
In the 2018-2019 season, Citrus Mutual maintains that Florida had over 430,000 acres of land dedicated to growing citrus. The latest USDA report for the 2019-2020 season put Florida’s total citrus acreage at 419,452 acres, a drop of 3 percent. While Florida citrus growers planted 7,885 new acres of citrus, 19,034 acres utilized for citrus production were lost since 2019.
Citrus Production Numbers
Florida’s citrus industry has been dealing with dwindling citrus production numbers since the arrival of citrus greening, a deadly citrus disease, in 2005. USDA’s NASS reported the total production of citrus for the 2018-2019 crop year to be 77.4 million boxes. In the 2019-2020 crop year, the citrus production total amounted to 73.2 million boxes of citrus, a drop of 5 percent.
The first USDA citrus crop forecast for Florida—and the most recent, released in early October—estimated the 2020-2021 citrus crop to be 57 million boxes of citrus, 4.5 million boxes of grapefruit, and 1.1 million boxes of tangelos and tangerines. If those numbers pan out, it will be a 15 percent drop from last season for oranges, a 7 percent drop for grapefruit, and an 8 percent increase for tangelos and tangerines. For comparison’s sake, the highest year of production for Florida citrus was the 1997-1998 crop year where 244 million boxes of citrus were harvested.
The Dollar Worth of Citrus
According to The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS), the total production value of Florida’s oranges in 2017 was $1.07 billion dollars and grapefruit was $136 million. Total cash receipts for Florida’s 2017 citrus industry totaled over $1.03 billion, which was 13.8 percent of the total of all Florida commodities.
For the 2016-2017 season, FDACS maintained the sales on-tree value of the year’s crop was $780 million. The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) listed the sales on-tree value of the 2017-2018 citrus crop at $551 million, with a lot of the year’s crop lost to damage from Hurricane Irma in September of 2017. USDA NASS’s Citrus Summary Report listed the total value of production for the 2018-2019 crop year at $902 million, while estimating the preliminary total value for the 2019-2018 crop year to be $728 million.
The Value of Citrus in Florida
While the Florida citrus industry continues to struggle with the devastating effects of citrus greening, the industry is nowhere near throwing in the towel yet. Florida Citrus Mutual maintains that the Florida citrus industry creates approximately 45,000 full-time and part-time jobs and has an impact to the tune of about $8.5 billion to the state’s economy each year.
Scientists, researchers, Extension specialists, government agencies, and citrus growers are all working together to beat citrus greening. Innovations like treatments derived from oak leaves, CRISPR technology, and a citrus-greening fighting peptide derived from Australian finger limes, show that everyone is fighting to overcome citrus greening and revive the Florida citrus industry. | <urn:uuid:e58fc183-5af4-493a-82bd-10f8fb14ab67> | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | https://centralfloridaagnews.com/signs-of-the-season-november/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224649343.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20230603201228-20230603231228-00163.warc.gz | en | 0.910245 | 852 | 3.03125 | 3 |
An Irrefutable Argument
Though himself of Prussian origins, in 1806 Count Helmuth von Moltke - the father of the great Prussian-German Field Marshal of the same name - was serving as a major in the Danish Army, commanding a battalion of militiamen. At the time Denmark was allied to Napoleonic France, which was at war with Prussia. The good major and his battalion were thus activated for service against Prussia. Moltke was ordered to take his battalion and join the pursuit of a Prussian division that was in retreat towards Mecklenburg. But when the pursuers reached the Danish-Mecklenburg frontier, the troops refused to cross, claiming that they were only obligated to serve in defense of the fatherland, and not for duty in foreign areas.
Undismayed, Moltke made a few arrangements and then ordered the troops into formation so that he could address them. When they had done so, Moltke addressed his men.
"Soldiers, I hear that some of you are reluctant to march across the frontier. A soldier's disobedience to his king is punished by death; he who is disobedient out of cowardice loses what is of more value than his life - his honor. If you retreat, it will be over my dead body, for I at least have no inclination to lose my honor. Loyalty then, and obedience to our most gracious king! One, two, three, Hurrah! - Forward!"
Meanwhile, even as Moltke spoke, a battery of artillery came up, promptly deployed, loaded with grapeshot, and aimed at the mutinous troops.
Seeing the inherent logic and good sense of Moltke's argument, the troops complied enthusiastically, crossing into Mecklenburg to a man.
Ser Giovanni Acuto and the Monks
Giovanni Acuto was a mercenary in fourteenth century Italy. Actually an Englishman, Sir John Hawkwood, he had a most successful career, rising to great wealth and power at the head of the famed "White Company." Hawkwood was typical of the mercs of his - or any other - time, brutal, treacherous, and, well, mercenary, by no means the nice fellow to be found in the novel The White Company by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
One day Sir John was out walking near his estates at Montecchio, in Tuscany, when he chanced to encounter two mendicant friars.
The good monks greeted him by saying, "May God grant you peace."
Hearing this, Hawkwood replied coldly, "And may God take away your alms."
Stunned by this response, the monks protested, "Sir, why do you speak to us thusly?"
"Don't you know that I live by war?" came the quick reply, "and peace would destroy me? As I live by war, so you live by alms."
Thoroughly chastened - or perhaps intimidated - the good friars made good their escape. | <urn:uuid:c0e892b9-bbdb-4a86-992f-a8a2db0911cb> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | https://www.strategypage.com/cic/docs/cic82b.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703518201.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20210119072933-20210119102933-00170.warc.gz | en | 0.980062 | 626 | 2.8125 | 3 |
History of the Trans-Canada between Montreal and Quebec City-Levis
Autoroute 40 east of Montreal
In 1997, the AutoRoute 40 outside of Montreal (other than the part called the Metropolitan Autoroute) was renamed Autoroute Félix-Leclerc after the late Quebec artist and political activist Félix Leclerc.
The western terminus of Autoroute 40 is located at the Ontario-Quebec border, where it continues westward as Highway 417 towards Ottawa. The portion of Autoroute 40 from the Ontario border to Autoroute 25 is part of the Trans-Canada Highway. The eastern terminus is in Boischatel, where it transitions into Route 138, which follows the north shore of the Gulf of St Lawrence, and a road link to Labrador.
Originally the route of A40 was planned to run north of Trois Riviere. Instead, A40 doglegs through Trois Riviere, as you drive east, the rote jumps south about 3km, using 155/A-55, which continues to cross to the south shore to also connect with A-20.
AutoRoute 20 east of Montreal
The A-20 east of Montreal (from the A-25 junction to its easternmost terminus) is named after Jean Lesage, who served as Premier of Quebec from 1960 to 1966, during the Quiet Revolution.
A-20 passes through Drummondville and Victoriaville, and continues east past Riviere-du-Loup to Riviere-Trois-Pistoles, where it merges with 132, the road that has followed the south bank of the St Lawrence from Valleyfield, just east of the Ontario-Quebec border.
On the south shore, at Saint-Vailier, the engineers discovered a very unstable zone of clay which required the construction of a drainage system, as a series of steel pipes with a diameter of 16 feet
Quebec City Region
The A-20 continues across the Quebec City via the Pierre Laporte Bridge. While the control city on the A-20 is listed as "Québec", the Autoroute never enters the city proper. Before departing the region the A-20 bypasses suburban Lévis.
During the Ice Ages, this area was sunk below sea level by the weight of the ice above. When they recede th glacial me;ltwaters provided rich sediments on the lowest areas
Ferries across St Lawrence
There are five car ferry crossing points east of Quebec City. As far east as Baeie Vomeau and Godbout on the north shore, and as far as Matane on the south shore.
Ferry Info & Links
More Trans-Canada Highway History← West
← Prev TCH Provincial History ↑ East →
Trans-Canada Highway Itinerary Map
Use mouse to drag/move map. Click on "+" or "-" to zoom in or out. "Satellite" combines map & photo. | <urn:uuid:d2e65528-3a2a-47eb-ae01-ea13e11e7b91> | CC-MAIN-2018-26 | https://www.transcanadahighway.com/quebec/Quebec-Trans-Canada_Highway_History-Montreal_to_Quebec_City.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-26/segments/1529267863407.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20180620011502-20180620031502-00181.warc.gz | en | 0.929011 | 618 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Science Monday, July 2, 2012
Forests, wildfires change over decades
The degree of damage done to forests from wildfires has changed dramatically from earlier last century.
The cyclical wildfires that have burned in the Rocky Mountains for millennia used to look much different, Craig Allen, an ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service, said at a recent conference in Aspen.
By analyzing tree rings, researchers have found that historical fires were frequent but burned mainly underbrush and young trees, thinning and opening the forests.
Once large-scale grazing began eating away at the “surface fuels” in the early 1900s, however, the historical cycle ended, a situation that was formalized by new policies of fire suppression. The tree density of forests skyrocketed, Allen said.
When generally drier winters in the Southwest over the past two decades allowed those new, denser forests to catch fire, the fires that took place were more likely to jump from treetop to treetop rather than spreading on the ground.
These fires were much more likely to burn whole stands of trees rather than simply thinning out the underbrush, opening the door for new, different species to move in post-blaze instead of the regenerated forest that would have emerged a hundred years ago.
■ Even hardy, drought-resistant junipers and pinyon pines are not immune to drought and pine-beetle damage. A new study from Oregon State University forestry researchers found that those two factors are the biggest contributors to the death of an estimated 2.5 million acres of pinyon-juniper forest over the past 15 years.
The researchers noted that even though pinyon and juniper have expanded their range in some parts of the Southwest over the past century, in other places the one-two punch of drought and increased bark beetle activity is now reducing the range again, potentially turning forested areas to grasslands.
In recent decades, most of the tree mortality has been caused by the normally drought-resistant trees being weakened by drought and, rather than recovering afterward, bark beetles have been able to take advantage of the trees’ weakened state to damage and kill the trees.
In addition to providing habitat and other roles, pinyon and juniper also play a key role in preventing erosion of dusty desert soils. As trees have died — as much 90 percent of them in some places, according to the researchers — wind erosion has been able to increase.
The wind-blown dust is then deposited on mountain snowpack, including in the San Juans and on Grand Mesa, where it can cause snow to melt faster and eventually reduce the amount of water making its way into the Colorado River.
■ Though extreme fire risk this year means there should be little to no fireworks to see here this Fourth of July, the next time you do see fireworks, remember to thank the wonders of chemistry.
Inside fireworks are packets containing finely ground-up metals. Once the firework explodes, those powdered metals begin to oxidize and emit heat and light, according to Kansas State chemistry professor Stefan Bossmann.
That light is a different color depending on the metal: Red for powdered strontium and lithium, orange for calcium, yellow for sodium, green for barium, blue for copper, violet for potassium and rubidium, gold for charcoal and iron, and white for titanium, aluminum, beryllium and magnesium. | <urn:uuid:f3a77e8a-1257-4828-9ed6-f1d470ea8482> | CC-MAIN-2017-17 | http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/science-monday-july-2-2012 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-17/segments/1492917122996.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20170423031202-00004-ip-10-145-167-34.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955794 | 700 | 3.90625 | 4 |
Overexertion and Strenuous Movement
The cause for up to 80% of low back pain is attributed to over use, repeated or strenuous use of our muscles. This can occur from occupational, sports, recreational or simply everyday use of our back muscles and vertebral joints. When muscles work harder or longer than they should, it causes strain or sprain, which is the cause of most low back pain. Obviously the severity and duration of back pain differs widely, leading to different diagnoses and prognoses for full or partial recovery.
Injury And Accidents
Injuries and accidents are a leading cause of back pain. An accident is an occurrence that is unforeseen. We fail to prevent them, hence we call them accidents. Again, accidents and injuries can occur during the activities mentioned above. Or from a vehicle accident or work related activity. Lumped into this category are any and all activities in which an accident may arise to produce injury and back pain.
Age And Gender
Other than the obvious, there is little to distinguish age as a risk factor, rather the factors listed above serve as the common denominators among back pain sufferers. Up to age 60 the risk is the same for both men and women. However, after that, there is a higher risk among women to suffer back pain due largely to Osteoporosis, which affects more woman than men.
Health Status And Dietary Factors
The status of your body in terms of strength, immune system and an overall healthy state of being is a factor affecting the incidence of back pain. Any condition that reduces your ability to exercise and increase your strength is a factor leading to higher incidence for back problems. Such conditions as cardiac, respiratory or obesity puts you at higher risk. Those with poor family health history and who maintain poor health and dietary habits or injest more toxins as alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, refined sugars, etc., are at higher risk. Smokers are at a higher risk of back pain than non-smokers.
Canal Size And Shape Of Spine
The size of your spinal space is a congenital factor, meaning that you are born with a predisposed opening for the spinal nerve and root. The larger the opening, the more room and less incidence for pinching of the nerves.
We all experience stress and other psychological factors in our lives. Stress is OK, if you can handle it. But, when stress overcomes you, it puts you at higher risk regards health related disorders and one of the risks is a higher incidence for back pain. Another stress factor referred to as “Post Traumatic Stress Related Disorder” after injury, is seen among people who lose productivity, whether job, sports or recreationally related, people have higher esteem when they are more productive. Stress has sometimes been said to be one of the most common occurrences seen with back pain. One who experiences back pain may also experience changes in sleep patterns, loss of appetite and resulting fatigue. When under substantial stress, you may also see a change in the person’s posture, resulting in changes to the body’s normal “center of gravity” exerting even more pressure to the disc and nerve structures. If this leads to depression, it can cause the person to take poor care of him or herself, resulting in a deconditioning and causing even weaker muscles. It is published that most “medical errors” occur when patients are not given the opportunity to make decisions about their treatment options. It is known that patients make the quickest recovery when they make choices and are active in their care plan and that’s what we offer. | <urn:uuid:1764fad0-255f-4b8a-9b1e-9ec2627f0a4f> | CC-MAIN-2019-26 | https://www.medicalwellnessnj.com/chiropractic-services/spinal-decompression/what-are-the-common-causes-of-back-pain/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-26/segments/1560628000353.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20190626134339-20190626160339-00054.warc.gz | en | 0.954102 | 740 | 2.5625 | 3 |
A Changing Climate Worsens Allergy Symptoms
For some of us, the yellow blossom of a daffodil and opening day at the ballpark are the first signs of spring. For about 40 million Americans, spring also means sneezing and congestion, a box of tissues, and a trip to the doctor. Unfortunately, for these hay fever sufferers, the suffering will likely get worse.
Researchers have found that changes in climate impose additional strains on those with pollen allergies. (Think weeds on Miracle-Gro.)
Three main factors related to climate change fuel increases in allergens. Carbon dioxide, the heat-trapping gas that is the primary cause of our warming planet, increases the growth rate of many plants and increases the amount and potency of pollen. Rising temperatures extend the growing season and the duration of allergy season. And an extended spring season alters the amounts of blooms and fungal spores that are known to exacerbate allergy symptoms.
While this is bad news for allergy sufferers, there is a flip side, too. Weed growth may provide clues on how to improve the production of certain crops.
"One way we have been getting at this is to look at cities as surrogates for climate change. You already have higher temperatures and higher carbon dioxide levels [in cities]. That in itself is a harbinger of things to come," said Lewis Ziska, Ph.D., a weed ecologist at the Agriculture Research Service division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "Spring appears to be coming earlier, and this is affecting the tree pollen, which is a main source of spring hay fever."
Ziska is known for his study of weeds in future warming scenarios (with higher atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide) projected for Earth. Ziska is eager to point out that carbon dioxide is blind: it does not discriminate between the plants that humans generally like (rice, forest trees, wheat) and plants we hate (ragweed, poison ivy). In fact, weeds often outpace the growth of useful plants when extra carbon dioxide is available.
In more than 20 years of study, Ziska has examined plant traits under all sorts of circumstances. He has looked at growth rates, bloom times, pollen production, and other factors under varying air temperatures, carbon dioxide levels, and moisture levels. His experiments on plants in Baltimore, MD, mimic the climate Americans will likely encounter by mid-century if heat-trapping emissions continue unabated: a temperature increase of three to four degrees Fahrenheit and a concentration of heat-trapping gases of 450 parts per million. Baltimore already has higher local emissions from transportation and manufacturing, and higher temperatures due to the urban heat-island effect, compared to rural areas of Maryland.
Ziska found that these conditions can have freakish results. Weeds that grew five and six feet tall in the country had counterparts in the city that were 10 and 20 feet tall. Ragweed, specifically, grew faster, flowered earlier, and produced significantly greater pollen.
In order to understand the importance of changes in carbon dioxide on plant growth, think back to your elementary school science classes. Carbon dioxide is among the four fundamentals needed for plant growth; the others include water, nutrients, and light. Carbon dioxide is so good at producing extra nutrients for some plants, including ones like ragweed that are most problematic for hay fever, that even a small increase will have a big effect.
So, what does this mean for public health? "The influence of climate change on plant behavior exacerbates or adds an additional factor to the number of people suffering from allergy and asthma," Ziska said. The intersection of climate change and health is something that epidemiologists are just beginning to analyze closely, he added.
Left unchecked, rising carbon dioxide levels and further warming pose serious risks for allergy sufferers. While some further warming over the next few decades is locked in, swift and deep reductions in heat-trapping emissions will benefit not only allergy sufferers, but all who are impacted by a changing climate. | <urn:uuid:0488ca89-51af-4956-9738-9e732d00f3d3> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/impacts/climate-and-allergies.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469258944256.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723072904-00021-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948319 | 824 | 3.203125 | 3 |
A Lottery is a game in which one can win a prize by picking random numbers. It is a type of gambling that some governments have outlawed, while others endorse and regulate. This article will explain the basics of a Lottery and explain how to calculate the odds of winning.
Basic elements of lotteries
Lotteries have several basic elements, including rules that control how many drawings are conducted and how much is staked in each drawing. In addition, lotteries must have a means to collect stakes from players. These usually involve a hierarchical system of sales agents who pass the money received from ticket sales up the hierarchy before depositing it in a bank. For example, many national lotteries divide tickets into fractions, where each fraction costs slightly more than the cost of a whole ticket. Oftentimes, agents will buy entire tickets at discounted prices and then sell small stakes on each fraction.
Besides raising money for state governments, lotteries also provide substantial entertainment for lottery players. While many people are skeptical of lottery play, it’s important to note that the odds of winning are based entirely on chance. The probability of winning a prize depends solely on the probability of all the elements in the draw, and no one can predict which numbers will be drawn.
Ways to calculate odds of winning
There are several ways to calculate your odds of winning the lottery. One way is to use an expanded formula. This method uses the number of possible combinations of numbers to find the number of ways that one of those combinations will occur. For example, if there are five white balls and one of them is a winner, the odds of the winner matching all five numbers are approximately one in thirty-two million.
Another way to calculate your odds is to use the simple probability formula. The formula is “n-r” – n is the number of possible numbers and r is the number of times each number has been drawn. For example, if you are playing Powerball, you will use a formula that uses 5 over 2 and a three-over-three rule. Using this method, you’ll have a winning chance of one out of every twelve draws.
Costs of playing lotteries
There are a variety of different costs associated with playing lotteries. Costs vary from state to state and can range anywhere from one cent to three dollars per play. They are calculated based on the total revenue generated in a state divided by the population. As such, lottery tickets are affordable for almost anyone.
While some critics make this claim, it is important to understand that playing the lottery has its costs. The cost of playing the lottery is often overlooked by those who play it. Many critics rely on studies based on zip code data, which assumes that everyone in a neighborhood has the same income. This ignores the fact that most people don’t purchase lottery tickets in their hometown and often purchase them while traveling to other locations. Moreover, they fail to take transportation costs into account.
Regulations for lotteries
The German government has recently updated its Regulations for Lotteries, making it easier for private lotteries with ticket sales of up to EUR40,000 to operate. The new regulations also call for a transition period for online gaming operations. The new rules also stipulate that lottery operators must pay employees and post bond. In addition, they must have their company’s name printed on tickets.
While lotteries are a legitimate form of gambling, there is a risk of scams and fraud. Some governments have outlawed or restricted lotteries. In the United States, however, lotteries are legal and run by state governments.
Problems with lotteries in the 17th and 18th centuries
Lotteries began to become popular in the Netherlands in the 17th century as a way to raise funds for the poor. The idea proved popular, and lottery games became an increasingly popular form of taxation. The word “lottery” comes from the Dutch word “lot”, which means “fate”. But there were problems with lotteries.
First, many states began to legalize lotteries. The Virginia Company conducted a lottery in 1612 in order to raise money for its Jamestown settlement. A man named Thomas Sharplisse won, earning him 4,000 crowns – a modest fortune. The lottery was re-run three years later. The company sold lottery tickets by emphasizing the benefits of white colonization. The idea was that buying a lottery ticket was an act of charity, and that one might save a savage soul. | <urn:uuid:1380f0ae-ae50-4acf-94e9-7cb6686dd2f5> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://donnerawards.org/2022/08/25/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233510810.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20231001073649-20231001103649-00299.warc.gz | en | 0.972463 | 942 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Galileo Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly known as Galileo, was a male Human scientist in the 16th and 17th centuries. He played a major role in Europe's Scientific Revolution, and was widely considered a father of the sciences for centuries to follow.
When T'Lera was accused of ill-intent after admitting the Vulcans had been observing Earth since 1943, she countered that Galileo and other had been observing the stars for far longer. (TOS novel: Strangers from the Sky)
Numerous starships and other space vessels christened Galileo were named in his honor. | <urn:uuid:a0c14000-f86d-48f2-bfa0-a7d4617ddab1> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Galileo_Galilei | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719877.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00155-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.99015 | 129 | 3.25 | 3 |
The launch went ahead at 12:42 Beijing time (04:42 UTC) with the only warning coming from a prior airspace notification. The successful launch was confirmed by state-run CCTV.
Gaofen-9 is the fourth to be launched from what is expected to be eight or nine satellites forming the China High-resolution Earth Observation System (CHEOS).
Chinese state media report it will be used to provide sub-meter resolution optical images for use in land surveying, urban planning, land ownership, road network design, estimating crop yields, as well as disaster preparedness and reduction.
China High-resolution Earth Observation System
Gaofen-1 was the first in the series, and delivered a number of incredible hi-res, false colour images of land features in China. It was also involved in locating ‘dozens of illegal cross-border paths’ and the curious case of detecting the country’s largest-ever discovered marijuana plantation – which subsequently ‘disappeared’.
This was followed by the previous satellite, Gaofen-2, which launched on August 19, 2014. With a spatial resolution of 1 metre – the highest of the series – Gaofen-2 returned the stunning images below.
According to the China National Space Administration (CNSA), CHEOS is a planned advanced earth observation system with high spatial, spectral and radiometric resolution with the satellites placed in various orbits.
Approved in 2010, CHEOS plans to provide real-time, all-day global earth observation in any weather and is expected to be completed by 2020. The constellation may also be utilised in Chinese president Xi Jinping’s ‘One belt one road’ regional development project.
China’s 6th launch in 2015
The launch was China’s sixth for the year, following missions sending three Beidou global positioning satellites, Gaofen-8, Yaogan Weixing-27, and on Saturday the classified satellite ‘Communication Engineering Test Satellite One’ into orbit.
On September 19, China will launch the first of a new generation of rocket, the Long March 6, which uses new engines fuelled by relatively clean kerosene and liquid oxygen propellant, and will eventually replace the current launch vehicles which run on highly toxic hydrazine.
Next year the new heavy-lift Long March 5 and medium-lift Long March 7 rockets, designed to launch and service China’s future space station and perform lunar sample return missions, will make their debut launches.
Today’s launch was the 209th in the Long March series. The first, in April 1970, put China’s first satellite – Dong Fang Hong-1 – into orbit.
In an intense period of activity, China is expected to attempt around ten more launches before the end of 2015. | <urn:uuid:c0c6f75d-277d-412d-8f0a-37bfc5fdfe30> | CC-MAIN-2018-26 | http://earsc.org/news/china-launches-hi-res-gaofen-9-earth-observation-satellite | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-26/segments/1529267864482.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20180622123642-20180622143642-00619.warc.gz | en | 0.934526 | 589 | 2.625 | 3 |
Globalization is a bogeyman in many circles, but the reality is far more complicated. Globalization is an ideology with a lot of potential for creating a brighter and more advanced future for people all over the world, but that’s not to say it’s without its own flaws of challenges. Nor is it a static philosophy. As the world grows, globalization will need to adapt to it. Some are characterizing this new brand of ideology as Globalization 4.0, and they’re working hard to ensure that it lifts up the lower class and working poor rather than just enriching the corporations and elites that benefit from their expansive international reach.
At the heart of this Globalization, 4.0 philosophy is the need for a new social contract. The era of the World Wars hastened in a dramatic revolution in global politics, and it brought about a philosophy for greater international engagement. In that setting, the need for human and labor rights, social welfare, and guaranteed employment were seen as a necessity for every human being. In reality, those bold proclamations haven’t come to fruition, and the result is some level of skepticism towards the globalist model throughout the world.
Globalization 4.0 asserts that a new social contract needs to adapt to changing times. This would include protections ensuring freedom of association, a move that could strengthen workers and rights unions without concern for recourse. Social protections like guaranteed healthcare and education are similarly a necessity. While varying degrees of these protections are in place throughout the developed world, many countries, including the United States, have fallen behind the curve. Similarly, a level of stability for labor is necessary, particularly as automation, artificial intelligence, and robotics are poised to eliminate the use for a sweeping number of jobs. Workers need an adequate living wage coupled with the freedom to bargain for their labor rights. They also deserve access to a safe and welcoming work environment.
But for the goals of Globalization 4.0 to work, there needs to be government regulations in place. The notion that a free market and the generosity of business owners would ensure equitable human rights has proven to be a pipe dream. That means that humans are in control of technological deployment and control data and that works have a role in conflict mediation. It also demands a system where labor and human rights are adequately enforced. Change will require a committed and sweeping approach to human values, but the Paris Climate Change Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals have proven that change can be enacted on a global level. | <urn:uuid:961f0e26-f971-47a9-8a30-49ab1db54792> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | http://jacobbump.org/building-better-globalization/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764499744.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20230129144110-20230129174110-00471.warc.gz | en | 0.953664 | 509 | 2.546875 | 3 |
PTR records are enabled but other mail servers cannot send mail to the server.
If PTR verification is enabled, the server may be unable to receive mail from some domains because these domains do not have PTR records defined.
The following RFC provides useful guidance on which DNS entries should be created for
It is best practice to have PTR records defined for A records. An MX record contains an A record and therefore by deduction must have a PTR record associated with its A record.
The tools available at www.dnsreport.com and www.dnsstuff.com are useful in diagnosing such issues.
What is a DNS PTR record?: Article ME020206
How to set up PTR records under Microsoft's DNS Server: Article ME020115
When sending messages to Hotmail, they appear in the Junk Mail folder: Article ME020241
Unable to send email to some domains, such as Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.: Article ME020003
|Product:||MailEnable (All Versions)|
|Class:||TIP: Product Tip|
|Revised:||Wednesday, May 4, 2016| | <urn:uuid:26621877-f753-48b9-967c-1f18827dd735> | CC-MAIN-2017-30 | http://www.mailenable.com/kb/content/article.asp?ID=ME020180 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-30/segments/1500549424876.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20170724122255-20170724142255-00360.warc.gz | en | 0.813776 | 239 | 2.5625 | 3 |
The article introduces the E-learning Circle, a tool developed to assure the quality of the software design process of e-learning systems, considering pedagogical principles as well as technology. The E-learning Circle consists of a number of concentric circles which are divided into three sectors. The content of the inner circles is based on pedagogical principles, while the outer circle specifies how the pedagogical principles may be implemented with technology. The circle’s centre is dedicated to the subject taught, ensuring focus on the specific subject’s properties. The three sectors represent the student, the teacher and the learning objectives. The strengths of the E-learning Circle are the compact presentation combined with the overview it provides, as well as the usefulness of a design tool dealing with complexity, providing a common language and embedding best practice. The E-learning Circle is not a prescriptive method, but is useful in several design models and processes. The article presents two projects where the E-learning Circle was used as a design tool.
Keywords: personalization; variation; e-learning; software design tool, grounded theory
Looking at research in the field, there are different opinions about where e-learning design will turn in the future. Some claims that activity-based e-learning is the next-generation e-learning (Griffiths 2004), while others argue that mobile learning (Dye et al 2005; Traxler 2006), personalization (Johnson et al 2006) or immersive digital games (Kickmeier-Rust et al 2007) is the next-generation e-learning.
There is a need for a holistic approach to e-learning, because the paradigms of instructional technology show how changing paradigms reduce the accepted models of instruction and instructional technology types (Koschmann 1996), which in turn reduce the opportunities for variation and individualization within e-learning. The holistic approach is also needed to avoid the overexposure of few parts of an e-learning system such as learning objects or assessment.
The study’s main objective is to investigate how to assure the quality of the development process of e-learning applications by implementing pedagogical principles into the software design process, more specifically the pedagogical principles individualization, variation and meta-learning.
Quality assurance means in this study systematic and planned actions in order to ensure that the product should be suitable for the intended purpose and to eliminate mistakes. Quality assurance will improve the end user satisfaction and reduce mistakes during the software development.
The structure of the article is as follows; first the research method is presented, with focus on research design, data collection and data analysis. The E-learning Circle is then described with text and figures (sector by sector), and an explanation of the use of the E-learning Circle is provided. The article then continues with a presentation of two projects, where the E-learning Circle is used. The results and the trustworthiness of the study are discussed, and reflections upon the research method are provided. Finally the article concludes with an overview of conclusions and further work.
The problem statement of the study is exploratory and open-ended, and requires an exploratory design. The research method used to develop the E-learning Circle is Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss 1967, Strauss & Corbin 1998). The inductive, theory discovering approach of Grounded Theory, allowing the grounding of theory in empirical data, is appropriate for exploratory studies.
The selection of research sites followed the technique of theoretical sampling, described as “data gathering driven by concepts derived from the evolving theory and based on the concept of ‘making comparisons’, whose purpose is to go to places, people, or events that will maximize opportunities to discover variations among concepts and to densify categories in terms of their properties and dimensions” (Strauss & Corbin 1998). The empirical data, upon which this article is based, were collected through interviews, focus groups, and expert groups.
Interviewing as data collection method was performed throughout the whole study. The study consists of 21 face-to-face interviews with 23 interviewees. The selection criteria of interviewees were designed to cover the users’ perspectives, including students, instructors, researchers and system developers.
The interviews were semi-structured, which means flexible, but based on a framework of themes to be explored. Questions were planned ahead, in order to find themes and open-ended questions and to prepare for flexibility during the interview. This was important in the exploratory study in order to allow new ideas and questions to emerge. The interviews lasted ca one hour and the interviews were recorded and transcribed.
The second method of data collection was the use of three focus groups, defined as “a small group of people assembled by a researcher to identify through informal discussion the key issues and / or themes related to a research topic” (Reitz 2004). The focus groups were arranged to collect data at an early stage of the study and each focus group consisted of 8-10 persons (students, teachers and researchers). The mix of user groups in the same focus group was avoided due to different interests, levels of ‘expertise’, and user needs.
The focus group sessions first consisted of a brainstorming session, where the focus groups got ‘next generation e-learning’ as clue, and then continued with a group discussion based on the ideas from the brainstorming.
The third data collection method was the use of three expert groups in a problem solving process. The expert group participants were system developers and researchers working on specific problems related to the emerging categories. The researchers were active contributors in the problem solving activities. The expert groups contributed to the development of three prototypes.
The first prototype was exemplifying how to implement best practice by developing wizards based on pedagogical design patterns (Kolås & Staupe 2004; Saatz & Kolås 2005). The second expert group developed the E-learning ontology (Kolås 2006) and the PLExus prototype (Kolås & Staupe 2007), which is a running prototype of a personal learning environment implemented in the semantic technology of topic maps. The third expert group developed a paper prototype using stereotype modelling to model ambient learners (Kofod-Petersen et al 2008), based on the emerging E-learning Circle.
Grounded Theory provides the researcher with analytical tools when analyzing the data in the iterative research process. “As grounded theorists, we begin our analyses early to help us focus further data collection. In turn, we use these focused data to refine our emerging analyses” (Charmaz 2005). In the processes of open, axial and selective coding (Strauss & Corbin 1998) tools like questioning, constant comparison, diagrams, and memos were valuable.
During open coding concepts are identified and their properties and dimensions are discovered in data, then the concepts are categorized. There are three different ways to perform open coding; a word-by-word or line-by-line analysis, analysis of a sentence or paragraph and analysis of a document, observation or interview as a whole (Strauss & Corbin 1998). In the process of analyzing the interviews open coding was mainly performed by analysis of sentences and paragraphs. The open coding of the interview transcripts created a large number of concepts, e.g. ‘Picking pedagogy’, ‘Choosing media type’ and ‘Freedom of relationships’.
The categorization of concepts also belongs to open coding, and is important in order to reduce the number of data units. We used in vivo categories (named by the respondents), e.g. ‘me-learning’, in addition to in vitro categories (named by the researcher) (Alvesson & Schiöldberg 2008) e.g. ‘meta-learning’. The focus group participants together initialized the categorization of ideas / concepts during brainstorming, and during the discussion afterwards the categories and concepts were questioned and compared.
Axial coding is the process of relating categories to their subcategories (Strauss & Corbin 1998). Diagrams proved to be effective in the axial coding, relating categories to each other and to subcategories. Diagrams also provided visualizations, which were useful finding subcategories among the main categories. “Subcategories answer questions about the phenomenon such as when, where, why, who, how, and with what consequences” (Strauss & Corbin 1998). The process of questioning, in combination with diagrams, was productive in the analysis in order to move the productive and creative work further.
“Selective coding is the process of integrating and refining categories” (Strauss & Corbin 1998). In this analyzing stage the attention is focused on the key components, with the goal of reaching theoretical saturation and moving from categories to theory. The writing of memos was one useful tactic. Codes and their relationships are not obvious in the coding phases, and it has been useful to go back to the memos to find old ideas that appear in a new way after more research.
A second tactic was to find the core category among which as many other categories as possible are related to and which occurs frequently in the empirical data. In this project the core category for a long time was ‘the student’ and the initial version of the E-learning Circle presented the student in the circle’s centre. After more research it was however obvious that ‘the subject’ as core category was more fruitful than ‘the student’ in order to cover the pedagogical principles of variation and individualization. ‘The subject’ as core category was hidden in the empirical data, as several interviewees claimed ‘the student’ to be the main focus. The ‘student’ category remains important, now as one of the circle’s main subcategories, but the subject’s characteristics were mentioned over and over again during the interviews. The importance of the subject’s characteristics was not said directly, but came through during the analysis. The ‘subject’ became during the selective coding to be considered as the core category.
A third tactic was to draw diagrams or models of how the categories are related to each other. The E-learning Circle illustrates how the use of integrative diagrams was useful in this study. Diagrams were helpful in the analyzing process to visualize the relationships between categories and based on the selective coding’s tactics the three sectors of the E-learning Circle emerged.
The E-learning Circle is a contribution to the software design process of e-learning applications, more specifically a tool to ensure early focus on the pedagogical principles of variation and individualization, including learning, teaching and assessment. The tool visualizes the connection between pedagogical principles and technological solutions.
The E-learning Circle is presented with “Subject” at the centre (Figure 1), which includes both a specific subject (e.g. Object-oriented programming or English literature) and a complete subject field (e.g. Computer science or English). Then the circle is divided into three sectors (illustrated with different colours):
Each sector has four levels, where pedagogy is the focus of the three inner circles turning to technology in the outer circle.
The “learning objectives” sector illustrates the connection between learning objectives and assessment tools (Figure 2). The learning objectives are divided into four types; skills, knowledge, attitudes and meta-learning. The use of the terms skills, knowledge and attitudes are inspired by well-known taxonomies (Bloom 1956; Kratwohl 1964; Dave 1970). Meta-learning is the state of “being aware of and taking control of one’s own learning” (Biggs 1985) and is added as a learning objective because also in e-learning settings it is important to focus on students’ ability to ‘learn to learn’.
The learning objective “Knowledge” is based on Bloom’s taxonomy for the cognitive domain (1956), and has the following subcategories; Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation. Several articles (Conole 2004; Conole 2005) have been formulating verbs that belong to each level in Bloom’s taxonomy e.g. the verbs reproduce, arrange, and memorise, which belong to the knowledge level, while the verbs categorize, combine, create and design belong to the ‘synthesis’ level. Similar categorization of verbs can also be found for other taxonomies, e.g. the taxonomies for the affective and the psychomotor domains.
The outer circle presents existing assessment tools to cover the assessment needs of different learning objectives on specific levels. A procedure to find existing assessment tools covering the different learning objectives is to consider each verb mentioned at each level of the four learning objective types and then connect assessment tools to these, e.g. the verbs reproduce, arrange and memorise (from the Knowledge level of Bloom’s taxonomy) have assessment tools like short answer, match and memory connected to them. This exercise is performed on each level of all the taxonomies and the results are shown in the E-learning Circle. Doing this exercise we find that it is necessary to develop more assessment tools within e-learning systems in order to assess the different learning objective levels.
This sector contains elements that describe the student group’s heterogeneity. The “student” sector is divided into the main categories “multiple intelligences”, “proficiency stages” and “culture” (Figure 3). To be able to individualize e-learning to a heterogeneous student group we need to quality assure the production of learning objects based on all categories mentioned.
The ”multiple intelligences” theory (Gardner 1985) provided a contribution to the discussion about who the learner is. The theory defines eight different intelligences: the visual / spatial intelligence, the verbal / linguistic intelligence, the logical / mathematical intelligence, the bodily / kinaesthetic intelligence, the musical / rhythmic intelligence, the interpersonal intelligence, the intrapersonal intelligence and the naturalistic intelligence. The idea is that all persons have eight intelligences, where some intelligences are more developed than others. The student sector describes what production tools the different intelligences require. Producing learning objects for different intelligences requires a variety of media types and production tools. Learning objects for the visual intelligence can be produced in tools like presentation software, mind maps, graphics tool (raster and vector graphics) and motion graphics tool (animation tool, screen capture tool, motion graphics tool and video editing tools). For the verbal intelligence we have tools like word processors, web editors, and tools to record audio. The logical intelligence needs tools like spread sheets, databases and modelling software.
The kinaesthetic intelligence has until now had few useful tools for e-learning, since simulators (e.g. a flight simulator) have been too expensive to use in e-learning settings. TV-games etc use cheap technology for kinaesthetic in-data with motion sensitive tools, where a web camera captures the user movements, which the system interprets and the user interacts with the system “waving” his hands. The e-learning systems also need to look to TV-games to satisfy the needs of the musical intelligence e.g. karaoke-systems that interprets if the singer hits the right tone. In addition there are midi tools to produce music. The interpersonal intelligence is covered by communication, coordination and cooperation tools (Studio Apertura 2006), while the intrapersonal intelligence is covered by tools like mind maps. The naturalistic intelligence is represented by tools like databases and hypertext editors.
The students also differ when it comes to proficiency stages; novice – advanced beginner – competence – proficiency – expert (Dreyfus 1998). The novice has different needs, e.g. need the help provided by a wizard, compared to a student on the advanced beginner stage, where e.g. a toolkit is useful, or the competence stage, where e.g. a framework is sufficient.
The cultural context also needs to be considered in e-learning. The E-learning Circle uses Hofstede’s (2001) five cultural dimensions; Power distance index, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance index and long-term orientation. In addition, “Location” is added to the E-learning Circle because one of the main features of e-learning is the opportunity for learning “anywhere”.
The teacher facilitates e-learning, and will use a variety of pedagogical methods based on different theories of learning; Behaviourism, information processing theory, cognitive constructivism and socially oriented theories of learning (Koschmann 1996). Heinich et al. (2002) have specified ten main pedagogical methods. In this article two of them; problem solving and discovery, are merged. The teacher sector (Figure 4) illustrates the nine methods’ relations to different theories of learning. Pedagogical methods are traditionally reusable, and the “teacher” sector shows how the pedagogical methods are implemented in an e-learning environment as learning activities, such as procedural simulation (Alessi & Trollip 2001), chat, animation etc.
The teacher sector illustrates that it is possible to vary the pedagogical methods also in an e-learning setting, and can make it easier to understand and accept that an e-learning system not necessarily needs to be dedicated to one learning theory (e.g. socio-constructivism) if the goal is to vary according to the different needs of the student group and the specific subject’s characteristics. The teacher sector also makes it possible to detect what learning activity tools an e-learning system requires.
The E-learning Circle’s (Figure 5) main application area is to assure the quality in the design process of e-learning systems ensuring that new systems support variation and individualisation. This section describes how this can be done.
The E-learning Circle is a tool dealing with complexity. Vendelhaven (2002) describes how mistakes, information loss, work duplication and misunderstandings are typical problems when the responsibility of segments is moved between persons. The E-learning Circle provides a systematic overview and merges both pedagogical principles and technological solutions, and as a design tool in the process of designing e-learning systems, this is useful dealing with complexity.
In the design of e-learning systems IMS-LD (IMS 2003), a method for modelling learning processes, has been important the last years. IMS-LD critics concern reusability and the teachers’ difficulties to use the specification (Downes 2003, Griffiths & Blat 2005). IMS-LD is not bridging the gap between teachers and software developers, as it is based on specifications from the software engineering field. “New tools and representations are needed if teachers are to intervene in editing and creating units of learning” (Griffiths & Blat 2005). The E-learning Circle is an attempt to provide a tool, which can work as a common language between the teacher and the software developer, which in turn also will be helpful to succeed with participatory design.
Best practice is a process or method that is more effective delivering a specific outcome than other processes or methods. The E-learning Circle has best practice embedded, e.g. the pedagogical methods and proficiency stages are best practice within instructional design.
The E-learning Circle is not a prescriptive method, but a design tool, which may be used to support several processes, e.g. development of requirement specification, user modelling, interface design and choice of system architecture.
The use of the E-learning Circle is not connected to one specific software design model, but it supports different software design models in several phases. In agile methods, the E-learning Circle can be useful in costumer collaboration, which is valued in the Agile manifesto (Beck et al 2001). Using the Unified Process (Booch et al 1999) the E-learning Circle is useful from the perspectives of use case and design views, and specifically within the workflows of Requirements and Analysis and design. The ‘Grimstad model’ (Crossley and Green 1985) was an early software design model with focus on teachers as developers mainly focusing on smaller applications (lessonware), and in this model the E-learning Circle may be useful in phases of idea generation and goal formulation, as well as the phases of metaphor and market design. In prototyping the E-learning Circle is useful for e.g. requirements analysis, user modelling, choice of architecture and interaction.
The use of the E-learning Circle as a design tool of course depends on the software design model in use. The following sections describe the use of the E-learning Circle in two prototyping projects.
In the process of theoretical sampling a prototype of a personal learning environment called ‘PLExus’ (Kolås & Staupe 2007) was developed. PLExus is based on the semantic technology of topic maps, a choice based on the emerging E-learning Circle. The semantic-based navigation of topic maps enables variation and individualization in e-learning through e.g. efficient context-based retrieval, customized views, information visualizations and deeper understanding of the domain conceptual relations (Dichev et al 2003).
To be able to develop a topic map it is necessary to build a topic map ontology, described as “the set of privileged topics and their characteristics, including associations between them” (Grønmo 2006) and a unique PSI (published subject identifier). PLExus was developed using the E-learning Circle in the requirement analysis and as a framework developing the e-learning ontology and unique PSI (Kolås 2006). PLExus provides a student interface allowing customized views of learning objects and learning activities based on pedagogical method, learning objective type, proficiency stage etc. An online wizard is provided to add metadata and learning objects to the PLExus topic map. The choices provided by the wizard are directly connected to the E-learning Circle.
The E-learning Circle is also used in the work of stereotype modelling of learners in an ambient intelligent learning environment (Kofod-Petersen et al 2008). The aim of this project was to use stereotype modelling as a mean of modelling ambient learners so that the learning resources could be quickly and efficiently adapted to the learner. The student sector of the E-learning Circle was specified by a set of facets with a value and a rating in the process of stereotype modelling, e.g. the facets of a spatial intelligent person are images, shapes and 3D-spaces, based on a person’s capability of conjuring up mental images and transforming them, working with shapes and navigating in three-dimensional spaces.
The two developing projects both based the work on the E-learning Circle, despite the major differences of the systems. The PLExus prototype provides the student a user interface where learning resources are accessible in a web interface with multiple access opportunities. The ambient intelligent learning environment on the other hand will provide the student an adaptive interface. This shows that the E-learning Circle is not system dependent, but is able to contribute to the design process of a variety of e-learning systems.
Other application areas of the E-learning Circle are to evaluate existing e-learning systems and to quality assure development of e-learning courses.
It is possible to use the E-learning Circle as an evaluation method, to evaluate existing e-learning systems in order to find the systems strengths and weaknesses and in order to compare e-learning systems based on pedagogical considerations. The drawback of using the E-learning Circle in evaluations is that such a process is reactive, while the use of the E-learning Circle in a design process is proactive. Advantages using the E-learning Circle as an evaluation tool are that the evaluation is independent of the evaluated system and that the evaluation will have a holistic approach.
Newby et al (2006) define instructional design as “the process of translating principles of learning and instruction into plans for instructional materials and activities. The emphasis is on creating a plan for developing instructional materials and activities that increase an individual’s learning”. Examples of instructional design models are the ADDIE model, A.S.S.U.R.E (Heinich et al 2002) and rapid prototyping.
The E-learning Circle may also be useful for teachers, and can contribute to quality assure the course development in an online learning environment. “Many first-time users of VLEs (Virtual Learning Environments) seek to adapt the way that they work to the way that the software needs things to be done” (Britain & Liber 2004). As a tool in the course development, the E-learning Circle illustrates and provides a systematic approach to the teacher how it is possible to vary the learning based on the different needs of the heterogeneous student group when it comes to e.g. teaching methods / learning activities, multiple intelligences, proficiency stages and cultural background. The E-learning Circle also enables the teachers to evaluate their own practice and make their pedagogical choices more explicit and in addition it visualizes the connection between theory and practice. The E-learning Circle makes teachers more conscious about the different aspects an e-learning course needs to cover, like identifying learning objectives and the needs of the students and selecting the most suitable teaching methods. The circle will then be useful e.g. in the process of ensuring individualization, variation and meta-learning in an e-learning environment.
The alternative use of the E-learning Circle to assure the instructional design quality may be seen together with rapid prototyping (Batane 2010), and the E-learning Circle can be regarded as a tool in the process of needs analysis within rapid prototyping.
The E-learning Circle emphasizes the importance of content knowledge (knowledge about the subject taught) as a basis, which later is connected to pedagogical knowledge and technological knowledge (Koehler et al 2005) to achieve effective e-learning where learning resources, communication and collaboration take place via technology.
The E-learning Circle uses specific pedagogical theories e.g. Bloom’s (1956) taxonomy and Gardner’s (1985) multiple intelligences. Some of these theories are controversial within the pedagogical field. The experience of this work, however, is that the theories are useful connecting technology to pedagogical theories. There is however possible to replace theories in the circle, for example the taxonomies used in the sector “learning objectives” could be replaced by Anderson’s (2001) revised taxonomy for the cognitive domain, Harrow’s (1972) or Simpson’s (1972) taxonomies for the psychomotor domain. Such a replacement will not influence the outer circle in a large extent.
Also concerning the student there are many pedagogical theories; Coffield et al. (2004) identified 71 models of learning styles. Some of these models are alternatives on how to describe the student. The pedagogical discussion of different theories, e.g. student descriptions, is therefore not the main issue. The important issue is that we are able to describe the student and able to connect technology to these descriptions. This can be regarded as both a weakness and strength of the E-learning Circle. The strength is that the circle remains the focus on the subject’s characteristics, and does not regard one pedagogical theory as the single most useful theory. The drawback is that the circle can be diluted if different users keep replacing the theories.
It can also be regarded as a weakness to use Dreyfus’ (1998) proficiency stages since these originally are used in skill acquisition. In most learning situations the learners are on different stages in the learning process, and therefore Dreyfus’ stages are used generically in the E-learning Circle. The E-learning Circle also shows that there are not many technological tools to support the fact that students are on different stages in the learning process, and indicates that more research should be conducted on these questions.
One may discuss whether meta-learning could be placed under ‘skills’. Learning to learn, e.g. learning to work in groups, learning to give constructive critics etc. can be considered skills, but the E-learning Circle keeps meta-learning as an additional learning objective to face the challenges of e-learning in life-long learning. Adding meta-learning next to the traditional learning objective types (knowledge, skills and attitudes) is one of the contributions to the e-learning field made through the E-learning Circle.
Robson (2004) claimed that “context is the friend of learning and the enemy of reuse”, and explains the problems of learning objects and reuse. The E-learning Circle suggests instead of specific context some generic student “types”, similar to “personas”, that we need to have in mind both when developing e-learning systems and when designing a course.
The E-learning Circle illustrates how learning objects must be retrievable for the students, based on different criteria like degree of difficulty, intelligence support and cultural dimensions. It is important that the learning objects are presented to the student without the danger of information overload. This is of great importance planning the human-computer interface of e-learning systems.
One aim of the study was to implement the pedagogical principle of individualization and the question “Why is not the student placed in the circle’s centre?” then becomes apparent. If the student is the main focus, many of the sectors would disappear. Focus on the subject taught is empirical-based and provides a holistic approach to e-learning, including learning objectives, assessment, student needs, learning objects, teaching methods and learning activities. The E-learning Circle implies an eclectic view of learning theories, and illustrates that different subjects have various characteristics and needs when it comes to learning theories and technology, but is still able to implement individualization.
The UNFOLD project claims activity-based learning is the next generation e-learning (Griffiths 2004). The E-learning Circle shows that learning activities are just one of many factors that are important in e-learning.
Dye et al (2005) suggests that mobile learning is the next-generation e-learning. Their argument is understandable if the technological solution is the main factor in the transition from one generation to another. The E-learning Circle focuses on pedagogy connected to technology, and illustrates how mobile learning is one of many student group heterogeneities. If mobile learning is to be considered the next generation e-learning, it is important that lessons learned from computer-based learning are remembered when moving to another technological platform. The E-learning Circle can contribute to quality assure that pedagogical principles are covered also in a mobile e-learning environment.
Validating qualitative research is not as clear cut a matter as it is with quantitative research and some argue that the term ‘validity’ should not be applied to qualitative research (Thagaard 1998; Salomon & Vavik 2008). We prefer to use the term ‘trustworthiness’.
To ensure credibility, we used Grounded Theory, a well-established research method within IS research (Orlikowski 1993; Pandit 1996; Urquhart 2001; Smit 1999). Triangulation also ensures credibility (Shenton, 2004) and this study uses triangulation by data sources (Patton 2002). Accuracy is ensured as far as possible through the thorough description of the research process.
Wibeck (2000) argues that brainstorming is a technique which does not belong within the definition of focus groups, because it does not allow criticizing each other’s ideas. The experience was, however, that brainstorming provided valuable data, encouraging creativity and creating new ideas. Data collection through focus groups was chosen because it provides multiple user perspectives, and because the group interaction allows creative ideas to thrive. This allows the researcher to ‘step back’ to a larger extent than in ordinary interview settings, because as focus group participants share insights and ideas, each individual member will respond, interact and continue the process. This was useful in an exploratory study in order to move ahead.
In this study, where focus is on how to improve the design process of e-learning systems, expert groups of software developers and the problem solving activities were valuable in order to stay close to the studied world (Charmaz 2005) and to provide data, which cover the intersection between pedagogy and technology. The aim of the study was to bridge pedagogy and software development, and expert groups were useful in order to bring pedagogical ideas into the situation of a software design process.
How to deal with the literature within Grounded Theory is often discussed, and Urquhart (2001) claims that “one of the oft quoted misconceptions about Grounded Theory is that the researcher does not do any literature searching”, but emphasizes that the Grounded theory researcher has to relate to literature in a slightly different way to a conventional researcher. “So literature is used to help build the theory, and the substantive theory is related to the literature, but only once the substantive theory has been developed” (Urquhart 2001). The E-learning Circle includes well-known pedagogical theories, but these were included in a late stage of the development of the E-learning Circle and are based on the empirical data, where coding and comparisons revealed that the pedagogical theories were hidden in the empirical data.
Since the Grounded Theory approach originated with the work of Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss in their book “The Discovery of Grounded Theory” in 1967, not only the two originators of Grounded Theory have moved in slightly different directions, but also other researchers have adopted and adapted the Grounded Theory, which has lead to alternative versions of Grounded Theory (Denscombe, 2003).
Smit (1999) describes the divergence between Glaser and Strauss, the two originators of the Grounded Theory method. “Strauss and Corbin mention that they set out to provide clear, straightforward, and basic information on the knowledge and procedures needed by researchers who want to build their first theory at a substantive level” (Smit, 1999). “Glaser argues that what Strauss and Corbin describe will not produce a Grounded Theory, but rather ‘a forced, preconceived, full conceptual description, which is fine, but is not Grounded Theory’ (Smit, 1999). Locke (1996) notes that there are no differences between Glaser and Strauss’s positions on the key analytical procedures (constant comparison and theoretical sampling) involved in Grounded Theory methodology. “However, they do write subsequently different renditions of researchers’ relationships to the worlds they study” (Locke, 1996). “With the Glasarian approach the researcher allows the theory to emerge from the data, whilst the Straussian approach the researcher interrogates the data in order to arrive at a theory” (Smit, 1999). This research is inspired by the Strauss’s version of Grounded Theory, based on the interpretive approach and the interrogation with the data.
Critics of the Grounded Theory approach include the epistemological positions. Denscombe (2003) describes how Glaser’s version is positivistic, while Strauss’ version is interpretive. “Glaser’s version rest on the belief that: (a) the researcher should maintain a distance and independence from the data; and (b) the meaning of the data will emerge inductively from the data if studied using a suitably neutral methodology... Contrasting with this, there is Strauss’s version, which is more in line with interpretivism, in that the role of the researcher is to go looking for the meaning that the data hold, possibly probing beyond their superficial meaning” (Denscombe, 2003).
Pandit (1996) describes some of the problems with Grounded Theory; First, the Grounded Theory research is extremely time-consuming; second, the Grounded Theory research involves long periods of uncertainty. Third, Grounded Theory research requires certain qualities of the researcher e.g. confidence, creativity and experience. Accordingly, the novice researcher are likely to find the approach more difficult than more conventional methodologies and the more experienced researcher is likely to produce better theory” (Pandit, 1996).
One disadvantage using the Grounded Theory method is that “the approach does not lend itself to precise planning” (Denscombe, 2003). Not being strictly dependent on a plan created early in the project has been interesting, and our opinion this made the results of this project better. Grounded Theory is experienced as useful in this exploratory project, and instead of regarding no precise plan as a weakness of the method; this allows an exploratory and creative approach and strengthens the research project.
Also the fact that Grounded Theory allows a variety of qualitative data collection methods (e.g. interviews, observations, document analysis) is an advantage. Together with the rich tools and techniques, the method helps the novice researcher in the process of analyzing the data.
“Grounded Theory has been increasing in popularity in Information Systems as a research method. This is evidenced by the growing literature that is either discursive on philosophy and application or detailed about the method” (Hughes & Jones, 2003). Hughes and Howcroft (2000) point out that there are four inconsistencies in the understanding and application of the Grounded Theory method in IS research. First, the projects range from those concerned with organizational change to those concerned with the practical use of the method to inform knowledge based systems design. Second, some use the method prescriptively, whilst others use some of its procedures to supplement other research strategies. Third, the underlying assumptions made explicit by the researchers range from qualitative-interpretive to qualitative-positivist and finally, Grounded Theory is used on its own or alongside other methods (Hughes & Howcroft, 2000).
The aim of the study was to investigate how to assure the e-learning system design quality by implementing the pedagogical principles of variation, individualization and meta-learning. The proposed E-learning Circle is a tool in the design process of e-learning systems, bridging pedagogy and technology by providing a common language for teachers and system developers. It is also a tool dealing with complexity in the process of designing e-learning systems and has best practice embedded. The strengths of the circle are the compact presentation and the overview it provides. It does not only provide a pedagogical toolkit or a technology-based syntax, but in concrete terms illustrates the connection between pedagogical theories and technology. This is done by connecting specific technological tools to well-known pedagogical theories.
The E-learning Circle is not a prescriptive method, and may be used in different design models and different e-learning systems. This is exemplified by two projects; the PLExus prototype and stereotype modelling of ambient learners.
In the future it will be interesting to test the E-learning Circle in other design processes. Further work will also include making the circle user-friendly by designing questions belonging to each part of the sectors and by performing user tests.
There is a need for a holistic approach to the view of next generation e-learning, where the R&D focus must turn from small parts like “learning objects”, “learning activities” or “mobile learning”, to these parts understood in the relation to the whole. The E-learning Circle is such a holistic contribution to the e-learning field.
This work is supported through the QUIS project, carried out with the support of the European Community - The e-learning programme.
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Kickmeier-Rust, M.; Pierce, N.; Conlan, O.; Schwarz, D.; Verpoorten, D.; Albert, D.: Immersive Digital Games: The Interfaces for Next-Generation E-learning? In: Stephanidis, C. (Ed.): Universal Access in HCI, part III, HCII 2007, Lecture notes in computer science ; 4556. Springer, Berlin, 2007.
Koehler, M. J.; Mishra, P.; Yahya, K.: Tracing the development of teacher knowledge in a design seminar: Integrating content, pedagogy and technology. Computers and Education, vol. 49., 2005, issue 3, p. 740-762.
Kofod-Petersen, A.; Petersen, S. A.; Bye, G. G.; Kolås, L.; Staupe, A.: Learning in an Ambient Intelligent Environment – Towards modelling learners through stereotypes. Revue d'intelligence Artificielle, vol. 22, 2008, no.5, p. 569-588.
Kolås, L.; Staupe, A.: Implementing pedagogical methods by using pedagogical design patterns. Paper presented at AACE Ed-Media 2004 in Lugano, Switzerland.
Kolås, L.: Topic maps in e-learning: An ontology ensuring an active student role as producer. Paper presented at E-learn 2006, October 13-17, in Honolulu, USA.
Kolås, L.; Staupe, A.: A requirement specification of a next generation e-learning system, TISIP, 2006.
Kolås, L.; Staupe, A.: The PLExus Prototype: A PLE realized as Topic Maps. Paper presented at the 7th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT 2007), 2007, July 18-20, Niigata, Japan.
Koschmann, T.: CSCL: Theory and Practice of an emerging Paradigm. Southern Illinois University, 1996.
Kratwohl, D.R.; Bloom, B. S.; Masia, B. B.: Taxonomy of educational objectives, Handbook II: Affective domain. David McKay Company, Inc., New York, 1964.
Locke, K.: Rewriting the discovery of Grounded Theory after 25 years. Journal of Management Inquiry, Vol. 5, 1996, no. 3, pp 239-245.
Newby, T.J.; Stepich, D.A.; Lehman, J.D.; Russell, J.D.: Educational technology for teaching and learning. 3rd edition, Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall, 2006.
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Pandit, M. R.: The Creation of Theory: A Recent Application of the Grounded Theory Method. The Qualitative Report, 2(4), 1996.
Patton, M. Q.: Qualitative Research & Evaluation methods. 3rd ed., Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, 2002.
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Saatz, I.; Kolås, L.: Support for the instructor - from technical to pedagogical point of view. Paper presented at the IASTED International Conference on Internet and Multimedia Systems and Applications (EuroIMSA 2005), 2005, February 21-23 in Grindelwald, Switzerland.
Salomon, G.; Vavik, L.: Introduction to Research in Education and ICT – Chapter 4: Why should I believe you? 2008. https://fronter.com/hsh/ (not available at 2010-06-23, secure web site)
Shenton, A. K.: Strategies for ensuring trustworthiness in qualitative research projects. Education for information 22, 2004, pp 63-75.
Simpson, E. J.: The Classification of Educational Objectives in the Psychomotor Domain. The Psychomotor Domain. Washington DC: Gryphon House, 1972.
Smit, J.: Grounded Theory Methodology in IS research: Glaser vs. Strauss. SART/SACJ, No 24, 1999, pp 219-222.
Strauss, A.; Corbin, J.: Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, Calif. 1998.
Thagaard, T.: Systematikk og innlevelse – en innføring i kvalitativ metode (3rd edition). Fagbokforlaget, 2009.
Traxler J.: The evaluation of next generation learning technologies: the case of mobile learning. Paper presented at ALT-C 2006: The next generation. 2006, September 5-7, in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Urquhart, C.: An encounter with Grounded Theory: Tackling the Practical and Philosophical issues. In: Trauth, E. M. (Ed.): Qualitative Research in IS: Issues and Trends. Idea Group Publishing, Hershey, Penn., 2001.
Vendelhaven, T.: Objektorienteret systemudvikling med UML. Ingeniøren bøger, København, 2002.
Wibeck, V.: Fokusgrupper – Om fokuserade gruppintervjer som undersökningsmetod. Lund: Studentlitteratur, 2000. | <urn:uuid:66367ceb-2dd1-4089-8a5e-b68b47f7d84a> | CC-MAIN-2017-13 | https://eleed.campussource.de/archive/6/2543 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218188924.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212948-00093-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905796 | 10,538 | 3.09375 | 3 |
The speed of WiFi router for home is mainly related to the following factors：
Ⅰ. It is related to how many megabytes of broadband. 50 megabytes of broadband is certainly not able to provide 100 megabytes of speed.
Ⅱ. If it is FTTH, then it is related to whether the connection line from optical cat to the router is Gigabit. If it is a 100-megabyte cable, even if the broadband is more than 100M, the actual use speed will not reach 100M.
Ⅲ. Like enterprise wifi router, It is related to the performance of Internet devices, and the speed measured by different devices will be different. For example, a highway with a speed limit of 120 km is given, but the tractor can only run with a speed of 30 km on it. Similarly, if we only have 100m broadband, of mobile phones or computers with poor performance will experience a slow the network. So sometimes you feel the speed of network is slow, then you need to change a new computer or mobile phone.
Ⅳ. It's about the router at home. Many home WiFi routers are from many years ago. After actual measurement and comparison, many old routers really can't keep upwith the needs of the times.
MXCV is an innovative enterprise specializing in the development and manufacture of wireless network products. As one of the best wireless network companies, Ceres has a variety of WiFi devices, such as WiFi router for home, enterprise router, indoor AP, outdoor AP, car AP, network card, etc., ranging from consumer devices to enterprise devices. They are mainly used on the Internet for IOT, UAV, campus, mining machine, and other industries. If necessary, welcome to consult. | <urn:uuid:4b3d367d-496e-4bb5-9d3e-15093515e99f> | CC-MAIN-2021-43 | https://www.szceres.com/influence-of-wifi-router-for-home-on-network-speed.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-43/segments/1634323585837.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20211024015104-20211024045104-00371.warc.gz | en | 0.934662 | 360 | 2.609375 | 3 |
What are the northern lights?
The northern lights are a spectacular natural show of glowing greens, blues, violets, yellows and sometimes reds seen in the night sky.
Scientists call this celestial wonder the aurora borealis.
The same light phenomenon van also be seen in the southern hemisphere, where it is known as the aurora australis.
What causes the northern lights?
This aurora is the result of a solar storm. That occurs when eruptions on the sun cause a rapid release of charged solar particles from the sun’s atmosphere. This release of particles is known as a solar wind.
Thrust from the sun, the solar particles shower onto the earth’s upper atmosphere, where the earth’s magnetic field propels them towards the north and south poles. There, the solar particles collide with gas particles in the Earth’s upper atmosphere, releasing energy in the form of light. Collisions between different gases result in different coloured lights.
Solar storms are a normal occurrence, but when activity on the Sun is particularly violent, the light show is more spectacular – and at these times you have a better chance of seeing the northern lights at more southerly latitudes.
Where are the best places in the UK to see the northern lights?
The aurora has been witnessed as far south as Cornwall.
But you’re better off heading in the other direction. The closer you go to the Arctic, the better your chance of seeing the northern lights – they are more frequently seen in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the north of England than in Wales or the south of England.
Light pollution often obscures the northern lights, so head to a Dark Sky Site to be in with the best chance.
There are 10 official Dark Sky sites in the UK. that are all great places to star-gaze, but to see the northern lights – as we’ve established – the most northerly are your best bet. These include Northumberland National Park, Galloway Forest Park and the Cairngorms.
Other UK sites are also known to be particularly good places to watch the northern lights. Here are a few:
- Holy Island and the Northumberland Coast AONB
- Lerwick, Shetland
- Yorkshire Dales, including Tan Hill
- The Lake District, including Derwentwater
- The Antrim coast – where favourite spots include the Giants Causeway and Dunluce Castle
Tips for watching the northern lights
To maximise your chances of seeing the aurora borealis follow these simple tips:
- Remember the weather. A cloudy night will completely ruin a display, so check the weather forecast regularly.
- Try to go to an open, rural area – you need a clear view of the sky, unobstructed by buildings, and where there is less light pollution from houses or industry
- Orientation is important. Make sure you can see the northern horizon.
- You’re most likely to see the northern lights between 10pm and 2am. However, if this is past your bedtime, then there is still a chance that you might catch a glimpse earlier in the evening, or if it’s still dark when you wake up in the morning.
Great – so WHEN should I look for the northern lights?
The sun is an unpredictable beast, but by monitoring any significant outbursts it is possible to get an idea of where and when a significant bout of auroral activity – such as a solar storm – will occur.
Websites such as Aurora Watch allow you to monitor the sun’s geomagnetic activity in real time and will tell you when the northern lights are likely to be visible from the UK.
Spaceweather.com offers ‘news and information about the sun-earth environment’.
And NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory is also constantly studying the sun’s activity. It is a great visual tool and can be used to predict a display of the northern lights.
But this is not an exact science. There is an element of luck in spotting a great display and the aurora changes by the second. As long as you follow these basic rules however, you certainly stand a good chance of experiencing one of nature’s most exciting events.
Find out more
Check out this guide to the northern lights and other aurorae from our friends at BBC Sky at Night Magazine, including fascinating science articles and stunning photographs.
Explore the skies here at countryfile.com
More information on the six areas in the UK which, thanks to their low levels of light pollution and pristine starry skies, have been awarded Dark Sky status by The International Dark Sky Association (IDA).
And finally: some amazing images of the northern lights
Thanks to our Facebook follower Chris Himsworth for these stunning shots of the northern lights in his home county of Cumbria…
And here’s another by Bernard Boyle, taken over Loch Lomond showing Ben Lomond:
• This article includes words by Kieron Allen and Paul Thornton. | <urn:uuid:ff69b92b-74d3-4ff3-baaa-c8a7c1c7d7e0> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.countryfile.com/go-outdoors/how-to-see-the-northern-lights-in-britain/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141542358.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20201201013119-20201201043119-00694.warc.gz | en | 0.928454 | 1,051 | 3.703125 | 4 |
The Knowledge of the Druids
The ancient Druids, members of the learned class among the ancient Celts, were teachers, philosophers, physicians, priests, seers and sorceress’. Their function was to act as advisors to rulers like kings and queens, as judges, as teachers, and as an authority in matters of worship and ceremony.
This illustration, ‘An Arch Druid in His Judicial Habit,’ is how 17th-century artists depicted druids.
However, druidry was a natural earth religion as opposed to an organized religion, such as Christianity or Islam. Druids probably acted, not as mediators of divinity, but as directors of ritual, guiding and containing certain rites. Especially where nature was concerned.
Druids were able to interpret events occurring in nature because they studied all aspects of nature, especially trees and plants, and had deep respect and knowledge of them. They used plants to tell the future and even made medicinal potions from them for healing.
This image is the front page of the magazine entitled The Druids, specifically from a March 1909 issue. The magazine was the mouthpiece of an organisation known as the Ancient Order of Druids.
The druids were expert observers of nature. They observed patterns in a person’s life according to the phases of the moon in which they were born and the season of the year. This knowledge is very accurate even today. The druids did not use star constellations to predict a person’s personality, as with star based astrology, but instead, and very accurately, they used trees.
Druids recognized that a child born within a certain season of the year would develop certain qualities. The system of Celtic tree astrology was developed out of a natural connection with the druid’s knowledge of earth cycles and their reverence for the sacred knowledge held by trees. They believed trees were vessels of infinite wisdom.
Druid Celtic Tree Astrology is based on the ancient idea that the time of our births (the season) is pivotal to the formation of our personality and behavior. The druids used a calendar based on thirteen lunar months instead of the traditional twelve. You’ll be surprised at how accurately the Druids Celtic Tree Astrology is.
Follow your birthdate below to read about your personality based on Ancient Druid Knowledge. What kind of tree are you? Share it below in the comments.
≡ December 24 – January 20
≡ January 21 – February 17
≡ February 18 – March 17
≡ March 18 – April 14
≡ April 15 – May 12
≡ May 13 – June 9
≡ June 10 – July 7
≡ July 8 – August 4
≡ August 5 – September 1
≡ September 2 – September 29
≡ September 30 – October 27
≡ October 28 – November 24
≡ November 25 – December 23
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In multivariable calculus, we often use a "change of variables" transformation to make our double integrals easier to evaluate. One of the most commonly used transformations is given by
Of course, this is nothing more than the usual transformation from polar coordinates to rectangular coordinates, where u is taking the place of the radius r, and v is the angle θ.
The following picture shows this transformation applied to the rectangle
in uv-space. The image of R is shown on the right. You can also see the image of a small subrectangle of R. Click on the red rectangle in uv-space and move it to see what happens to its image in xy-space.
Here's a question for you to think about. The Area Expansion Factor (i.e. the determinent of the Jacobian) for this transformation is simply u. As you move the red rectangle around, can you see geometrically why this is true?
|To move the rectangle in uv-space, move the cursor over the red rectangle until a square is highlighted; then click and drag the mouse.| | <urn:uuid:3ebb7083-3ac8-4d80-a70c-81038c30afa6> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://www.math.umn.edu/~rogness/multivar/polartransformation.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936462762.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074102-00180-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.870954 | 231 | 3.65625 | 4 |
They lie buried—their long, tentaclelike arms out stretched—in all the tissues of our bodies that interact with the environment. In the lining of our nose and lungs, lest we inhale the influenza virus in a crowded subway car. In our gastrointestinal tract, to alert our immune system if we swallow a dose of salmonella bacteria. And most important, in our skin, where they lie in wait as stealthy sentinels should microbes breach the leathery fortress of our epidermis.
They are dendritic cells, a class of white blood cells that encompasses some of the least understood but most fascinating actors in the immune system. Over the past decade, researchers have begun to unravel the mysteries of how dendritic cells educate the immune system about what belongs in the body and what is foreign and potentially dangerous. Intriguingly, they have found that dendritic cells initiate and control the overall immune response. For instance, the cells are crucial for establishing immunological “memory,” which is the basis of all vaccines. Indeed, physicians, including those at a number of biotechnology companies, are taking advantage of the role that dendritic cells play in immunization by “vaccinating” cancer patients with dendritic cells loaded with bits of their own tumors to activate their immune system against their cancer. Dendritic cells are also responsible for the phenomenon of immune tolerance, the process through which the immune system learns not to attack other components of the body.
But dendritic cells can have a dark side. The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) hitches a ride inside dendritic cells to travel to lymph nodes, where it infects and wipes out helper T cells, causing AIDS. And those cells that become active at the wrong time might give rise to autoimmune disorders such as lupus. In these cases, shutting down the activity of dendritic cells could lead to new therapies. | <urn:uuid:f2b691ce-866a-496c-8307-d92f22d4bda2> | CC-MAIN-2015-18 | http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-long-arm-of-the-immune-system/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-18/segments/1430453690104.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20150501041450-00050-ip-10-235-10-82.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935466 | 397 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Shadows Pro offers the Saphae Arzachelis, an ancient model invented during the 11th century by the Andalusian astronomer Arzaquiel. In this astrolabe, the stereographic projection is not done from a pole on the equatorial plane, but from the vernal point on a collure plane (passing through the poles).
1 - the throne, as on a planispheric astrolabe, allows the user to hold it vertically when pointing a star with the alidade.
2 - the limb is scaled in degrees.
3 - the plate shows meridians and parallels.
4 - the ecliptic is scaled in ecliptic longitude and marked with names of Zodiac constellations.
5 - the ruler rotates around the axis. It is scaled in ecliptic longitude.
6 - the point, also called brachiolus, is articulated and rotates with the ruler. Its end can be moved to a point on the plate at the intersection of a meridian and a parallel.
This drawing of universal astrolabe was made with Shadows Pro »
The universal astrolabe's main use is the conversion of astronomical coordinates, for example between equatorial and ecliptic coordinates.
Learn more on astrolabes in the » User Manual
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One of the many questions I get when speaking is “How can we help those with depression?” I’m so glad to hear people asking this question because it shows that they see, at least partially, the pain that their friend or family member is going through and they want to help. So here are a couple of suggestions I have gotten from friends who also suffer from mental illness.
My first response to this question is to tell the person that you are there for them. Depression and anxiety often make a person feel very alone. But these diseases can also make a person push family and friends away because they don’t believe that anyone can understand how they feel. Showing a depressed person that you are there for them by doing little things like helping around the house, can help that person start their road to recovery.
A friend with depression said this when asked what family and friends can do to help, “Invites back to life. Depression is not living. People should try to push you to resume daily life starting with fun!” She’s right. Depression is not living, depression is only an existence. By inviting a depressive out to daily events like shopping or just taking a walk, you are inviting them back to having a life.
Another way to help someone with a mental illness is to encourage them to seek professional help. Help them find a psychiatrist or therapist that they like. Make sure they are getting to their appointments and taking their meds.
The biggest gift you can give them is being nonjudgmental. They often can’t help the direction their mind is going in. By being nonjudgmental and showing understanding, you can help them stop the rumination which is a big part of depression and anxiety. The best thing you can do is be supportive and ask if there is anything they need.
Encourage them also to get involved with art, music, or anything that allows them to creatively express themselves. Expressive therapy is known to be extremely therapeutic.
It is often the smallest things that can have the biggest impact for a person with depression. Inviting them out to dinner or trying to establish some type of normalcy will help them feel much better about themselves and help pull them from the depression. For us, it’s the small things that count the most. | <urn:uuid:e4974733-6a0e-4651-bd8a-dc9a9ca3f4e1> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://adaptfordepression.com/2015/08/25/how-family-and-friends-can-help-those-with-mental-illness/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764499899.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20230201013650-20230201043650-00820.warc.gz | en | 0.982491 | 478 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Threatened reductions in foreign aid from the European Union and its struggling governments could undermine efforts to combat malaria, international health experts say.
The Geneva-based Global Fund, an international institution that finances treatment and prevention of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria estimates that money from its biggest contributors – which include the European Commission, EU member states, the United States and Japan – will decline with around 6% from $3.5 billion in 2012 to $3.3 billion in 2013.
Moreover, the organisation’s data show that contributions from private foundations and companies are also shifting downwards, from $181.6 million to $164 million, for an overall 6% drop.
Also, last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that funding for prevention and control has levelled off after rapid expansion between 2004 and 2009. In a statement accompanying the release of its annual World Malaria Report, the UN health body said “these developments are signs of a slowdown that could threaten to reverse the remarkable recent gains in the fight against one of the world’s leading infectious killers.”
WHO Director-General Margaret Cha called for more than doubling annual donor commitments to malaria prevention from $2.3 billion to $5.1 billion (€1.7bn to €3.9bn).
That seems unlikely given the challenges facing development aid overall. In Europe, billions of euros in spending to support poorer nations is at stake as national leaders weigh cuts to overseas development assistance.
Health experts echo the WHO in saying that losses in aid could hamper progress measured since the United Nations set out its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000 to reduce disease, hunger and poverty. Since then, the mortality rate from malaria has fallen 25% worldwide and 33% in Africa, where 90% of malaria-related deaths occur, WHO data show. | <urn:uuid:bf83ff57-bff9-4fbb-a841-60ebbb625d7d> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://brussels.cta.int/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=7379:threatened-aid-cuts-a-big-blow-to-malaria-fight | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280746.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00451-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948399 | 376 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Treatment for Disc Disorders from Our Kenosha Chiropractor
The intervertebral discs in the back help cushion the bones of the spine from each other. Disc disorders may occur in any part of the spine, but they are most common in the lower back. This part of the back is responsible for a lot of our strength and flexibility. However, this ability comes at a cost, and lower back problems are extremely common. Treatment for disc disorders from our Kenosha chiropractor can help relieve pain and encourage healing for disc disorders in any part of the back or neck.
Types of Disc Disorders
A number of conditions can occur within the discs of the spine. Herniated discs occur when the outer covering of the disc cracks or tears and allows the gel-like inner material to squeeze out. This reduces the cushioning ability of the disc, which can lead to pain and reduction in mobility. Herniated discs are sometimes referred to as slipped discs.
Bulging discs are similar to herniated discs, but instead of tearing, the disc actually just squeezes out of its normal space between the bones. Both herniated and bulging discs commonly cause nerve pain when their expanding shape presses on nearby nerves. Bulging discs can lead to herniation, but many people have bulging discs with no symptoms. To add to the confusion, bulging discs may also be referred to as slipped discs.
Degenerative disc disease is a condition that occurs where the discs start to fail in a number of different ways. They may thin out, shrink, lose flexibility, or change shape. This condition is most common among older adults, but it refers to any case in which the discs progressively deteriorate. Some cases of degenerative disc disease occur in quite young people, even children. However, because a kid's back is typically more resilient than that of an adult, our Kenosha chiropractor will check carefully for other causes if your child has back pain.
Most often, the symptoms of disc disease are pain and loss of flexibility. The two major types of pain that occur with disc disorders are mechanical and nerve-related (radicular) pain. Mechanical pain may feel more like an ache and occurs at the site of the injury. Radicular pain results when tissue presses on a nerve and creates symptoms in other parts of the body. Lower back disc issues can cause pain, numbness, and weakness all down the back and legs, for example.
Effective Chiropractic Treatments for Disc Disorders
Herniated discs do not exactly heal, but they often reduce in size and become symptomatic over time. Chiro treatment is one of the recommended options for helping you find relief from the pain while the condition is allowed time to subside. A number of types of treatment may be effective or indicated:
Depending on your condition, our chiropractor in Kenosha may focus on readjusting the bones of the spine, teaching you how to move with less pain, helping you strengthen and stretch the area, or follow a healthy diet to promote healing and weight loss, if necessary. Our doctor is very child-friendly if you have kids who need help with back problems. A kid's back is very important to their overall, lifelong health, so chiropractic care for children is one service recommended by Jeranek Family Chiropractic.
Among the possible back injuries that someone might suffer, one of the most common is a bulging disc. In addition, it is also one of the most serious. While many people are told that they will need surgery to correct a bulging disc, the good news is that this is not always the case. There are a few important points that everyone should know about bulging disc treatment in Kenosha.
What Is a Bulging Disc?
A bulging disc is the medical term used to describe a rupture of one (or more) of the discs that cushion the vertebrae in the back. Also called a slipped disc or a bulging disc, the job of a disc is to prevent the vertebrae from rubbing against each other. This would lead to nerve irritation and pain.
When a disc bulges, this cushion is gone. The vertebrae start to rub against each other, irritating not only the bones but the nerves as well. This leads to bulging disc pain.
What Causes a Bulging Disc?
There are several possible reasons why someone might suffer a bulging disc. Some people suffer a slipped disc in a traumatic accident. This might include a lifting injury or a motor vehicle collision. Others end up with a bulging disc following a fall from a great height.
It is also possible for someone to develop bulging disc pain due to chronic medical conditions. One of the most common examples is degenerative disc disease. This is where the discs in the back gradually collapse over time, eventually leading to a bulging disc.
What Are the Symptoms of a Bulging Disc?
The symptoms of a bulging disc will vary from person to person depending on the location and severity of the herniation. The most common discs that people rupture are located between L3 and L4 or L4 and L5. When this takes place, the nerves that run down the leg and end up becoming irritated. Usually, people feel bulging disc pain shooting down either the right leg or the left leg. It isn't usually both legs. Furthermore, some people might find that they can actually control this pain by changing the way they sit, stand, or sleep.
How To Heal a Bulging Disc Naturally
When someone visits a bulging disc doctor for bulging disc treatment in Kenosha, they might be told that they will need surgery to correct a bulging disc. Fortunately, a chiropractor in Kenosha may be able to offer alternative treatment options to those who have suffered a bulging disc. Some of the other options include:
- Chiropractic Care: A chiropractor in Kenosha can use adjustments and manipulations to ensure the vertebrae in the back are lined up properly. This is important for providing the spine a strong framework with which it can recover. A chiropractor can also perform spinal decompression to increase the space between the vertebrae, providing the nerves with additional room.
- Corrective Exercises: After the vertebrae in the back have been properly lined up, the next step is to perform corrective exercises. This is done to restore the strength, flexibility, and mobility in the back that might have been limited as a result of the bulging disc.
- Physical Therapy:Finally, physical therapy can be completed to prevent this injury from coming back in the future. Individuals may suffer a bulged disc because the back was not strong enough to support their activities. In addition to taking appropriate safety precautions, it is important to strengthen areas of the back that might be stressed.
Rely on an Experienced Chiropractor in Kenosha
Anyone who is looking for a bulging disc doctor in Kenosha, WI should contact our team today. At Jeranek Family Chiropractic, focus on the entire patient. We use a comprehensive array of healthcare services to treat your back injuries, including a bulged discs. Call us today at (262) 694-7833 to reach the friendly and helpful staff at Jeranek Family Chiropractic, your chiropractor in Kenosha. | <urn:uuid:a6a1174d-15df-4891-9ac6-9e7e51ab63dc> | CC-MAIN-2020-29 | https://www.jeranekchiro.com/disc-disorders | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-29/segments/1593657146247.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20200713162746-20200713192746-00169.warc.gz | en | 0.951903 | 1,520 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Have you felt a sudden pain around your vagina or penile area while peeing? Does your pee smell unusual? If the issue persists, you may want to get yourself checked for urinary tract infections.
What is a urinary tract infection?
Urinary tract infection is an infection caused due to the increase of microbes. The microbes are tiny, thereby making it hard to detect. The majority of urinary tract infection is caused due to the infestation of bacteria. However, some happen due to viruses and fungi. As per reports, this is one of the most common infections affecting human beings.
A 2013 study showed that around 50-60% of women are prone to urinary tract infections in their lifetime.
As the name suggests, the urinary tract infection affects the urinary tract and can infect any part, such as ureters, bladder, kidney, or urethra. Urinary tract infection usually has severe impacts on the lower tracts such as urethra and bladder. As far as upper area infection is concerned, it only affects the ureters and kidneys. Upper tract UTIs are far more severe than the lower tract UTIs, but at the same time, it is very rare too.
What are the symptoms of UTI?
Both men and women are severely impacted due to UTI. Some of the prominent symptoms of UTI include the following.
- Burning sensation while urinating
- Cloudy or bloody urine
- Pelvic pain (women)
- Rectal pain (men)
- The unusual color of urine
- Frequent urination
- The urgency in urination without much urinating
The ones mentioned above were the symptoms of lower tract UTI. The symptoms of upper tract UTI may vary from that of the lower tract UTI. Some of the symptoms of upper tract UTI include the following
- Tenderness and pain around the upper back and sides
As said above, both men and women suffer severely due to UTI. Both of them have almost common symptoms, with the only difference being in terms of rectal pain for men and pelvic pain for women.
The diagnosis of the disease is only conducted after checking for visible symptoms. The doctor may carry out a urine cell to check for the presence of bacteria, red blood cells, and white blood cells accordingly.
The urine collection for UTI is very much different from general methods as it uses the clean-catch technique. The genital area is washed off regularly, and the urine is collected mid-flow. This lowers the risk of bacteria infestation in the urine.
If the person is tested positive for UTI, the doctor may carry out further tests for confirmation. These tests would be conducted to check for functional or anatomical issues. Some of the prominent tests that may be conducted include the following.
Urodynamics: This test helps to conduct the storage and release of urine.
Diagnostic Imaging: In this case, the doctor may recommend an ultrasound, MRI scanning, radiation tracking, X-rays, and CT scanning.
Cystoscopy: The doctor may examine the bladder and urethra using a camera lens using the long thin tube for extra advantages.
UTI in Men
Significantly fewer men suffer from UTI. As per the reports, every 5-8 men above the age of 50 among 10,000 men suffer from the risk of infection. Older men are more prone to infection than younger men.
UTI in men affects the same organ like that of women. However, men are at an increased risk of developing prostate cancer if they develop UTI.
Men with a circumcised penis are less prone to the infection. The treatment method is the same as that of women with UTI.
If the UTI is caused due to normal bacteria, it can be easily treated using antimicrobials and antibiotics. However, the doctor will prescribe you a medication depending on the severity of the condition.
The doctor may further conduct a full examination to check if the infection is clear or not. This is also done to ensure the lesser risk of antibiotic resistance. Most of the time, the disease’s symptoms may be gone before the disease’s disappearance.
Frequent urination and drinking lots of fluid can be one of the most effective ways to flush out the bacteria easily. Since it can be painful, the doctor may prescribe over-the-counter medicines or analgesics to ease the pain. A heating pad around the abdomen can also be one of the best ways to treat the problem.
Most people may develop serious UTIs due to an underlying condition. In such situations, the root cause of the problem is detected and completely flushed out. The underlying conditions may also increase the risk of kidney damage.
The lack of fluids can further complicate the problems for people with UTI. The doctor may prescribe fluids and medications, depending on the condition. Since pregnant women are also at a high risk of infection, they may be sent to the hospital to prevent a child’s risk.
People with mild UTI can easily get themselves treated at home too. As suggested, drinking lots of fluid, especially water and urinating frequently, can be one of the best ways to ward off the bacterial infection.
Cranberry and its extracts have also been said to help relax the symptoms of bacteria. The cranberry extracts are available in tablet forms as well that can be purchased online. Nevertheless, you should consult your doctor before the consumption of these tablets.
UTI can be risky if not taken seriously in the initial periods only. Slight changes in medication and lifestyle can be of great help for preventing the bacterial infection from being life-threatening. | <urn:uuid:c879076c-7ba3-4d93-9cfc-47de0fa116d0> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | https://erectiledoctor.com/health-news/everything-to-know-about-urinary-tract-infection | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703509104.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20210117020341-20210117050341-00552.warc.gz | en | 0.94297 | 1,157 | 2.875 | 3 |
This picture shows the size of a sphere that would contain all of Earth’s water in comparison to the size of the Earth.
The blue sphere hovering over the United States, reaching from Utah to Kansas, has a diameter of about 860 miles (or roughly 1,385 kilometers) , with a volume of about 332,500,000 cubic miles (or roughly 1,386,000,000 cubic kilometers). The sphere includes all the water in the oceans, seas, ice caps, lakes and rivers as well as groundwater, atmospheric water, and even the water in all living matter. This image serves as a stark reminder as to the how precious a resources water is.
Credit: Illustration by Jack Cook, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (©; Howard Perlman, USGS.
Data source: Igor Shiklomanov’s chapter “World fresh water resources” in Peter H. Gleick (editor), 1993, Water in Crisis: A Guide to the World’s Fresh Water Resources (Oxford University Press, New York).
And how is that water distributed?
Only 2.5% of the world’s water is fresh water – 96.5% of it is in our oceans, and the rest is in saline groundwater and lakes. | <urn:uuid:b232a666-ae68-4d76-99f8-1ad236a1a871> | CC-MAIN-2014-42 | http://www.relativelyinteresting.com/visualizing-the-worlds-water/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-42/segments/1414119647884.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20141024030047-00244-ip-10-16-133-185.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901639 | 264 | 3.640625 | 4 |
OVERVIEW: Dental implants are changing the way people live! They are designed to provide a foundation for replacement teeth which look, feel, and function like natural teeth. The person who has lost teeth regains the ability to eat virtually anything and can smile with confidence, knowing that teeth appear natural and that facial contours will be preserved.
WHAT ARE DENTAL IMPLANTS?
The implants themselves are tiny titanium posts which are inserted into the jawbone where teeth are missing. These metal anchors act as tooth root substitutes. They are surgically placed into the jaw bone. The bone bonds with the titanium, creating a strong foundation for artificial teeth. Small posts are then attached to the implant which protrude through the gums. These posts provide stable anchors for artificial replacement teeth. Implants also help preserve facial structure, preventing the bone deterioration which occurs when teeth are missing. | <urn:uuid:16869f29-3d83-4a42-aa00-c8ea2f5cf2b2> | CC-MAIN-2018-17 | http://www.aaoralfacial.com/dental-implants/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-17/segments/1524125936833.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20180419091546-20180419111546-00002.warc.gz | en | 0.938216 | 178 | 2.859375 | 3 |
College of Science News
Study yields clues about West Coast sea stars' immunity
A study led by a UT Arlington graduate student examining sea stars dying along the West Coast provides new clues about the starfish’s immune response and its ability to protect a diverse coastal ecosystem.
Lauren Fuess, a Ph.D. candidate in quantitative biology, and her team looked at the wasting disease responsible for the largest die-off of sea stars ever recorded. Scientists believe that a virus related to rabies causes wasting disease. When infected, the stars’ arms contort, and they develop white lesions. The normally rigid stars begin to melt and become squishy in the final stages of the disease.
Wasting disease affects nearly 20 different species and it has caused up to almost 90 percent mortality in some areas off the West Coast over the last two years.
“The sea stars protect the rocky shores, keeping them from becoming dominated by mussels,” Fuess said. “When you remove the sea stars, you see dramatic declines of other species, so basically you go from a diverse ecosystem to a mussel-coated beach.”
The team researched the project looking at transcriptomes, or the molecules expressed from the genes, of sea stars infected with wasting disease as part of an Ecology of Infection Marine Disease course last summer at Friday Harbor Laboratories at the University of Washington.
Fuess, who recently received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research fellowship, works in the laboratory of Laura Mydlarz, a UT Arlington associate professor of biology.
“We’re looking at an increasing rate of diseases that may be linked to climate change as well as pollution in the ocean,” Mydlarz said. “What we’re working on at our field sites and here at UT Arlington is looking to see if some of this temperature stress due to climate change or pollution are causing the animals, such as the sea stars and the corals, to be more susceptible to diseases."
“Lauren’s research here is a great example of student excellence in this area.”
The team found that the sea stars have an immune response that is characterized by various types of immunities and that they have multiple aspects of the toll-signaling pathway, which is an important recognition.
“It’s how a cell recognizes a pathogen and then elicits a change in its genes so that the sea star can start defending itself against the pathogen,” Fuess said. “We found a lot of interesting genes - including the first melanin gene ever recorded in a sea star. Invertebrates can use melanin to wall off pathogens or any bacteria-like viruses that are attacking them.”
The team also found several changes in the extra cellular matrix and collagen gene.
“Genes that degrade collagen, which is a component of the sea stars’ structure, were being increased in the stars we studied,” Fuess said. “So, you have more degradation of that essential collagen and breakdown of the matrix that is used for their movement and rigidity. We also saw changes in nervous genes that might be contributing to that twisting of the arms.”
The title of the new study is “Up in Arms: Immune and Nervous System Response to Sea Star Wasting Disease.” The paper was published online this month by the journal PLOS ONE and is available here: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0133053.
Co-authors are: Morgan E. Eisenlord, Collin J. Closek, Allison M. Tracy, Ruth Mauntz, Sarah Gignoux-Wolfsohn, Monica M. Moritsch, Reyn Yoshioka, Colleen A. Burge, C. Drew Harvell, Carolyn S. Friedman, Ian Hewson, Paul K. Hershberger, and Steven B. Roberts. | <urn:uuid:0fa537fe-e655-468f-927b-7158f812b3de> | CC-MAIN-2020-29 | https://www.uta.edu/science/news/2015/08-03-study-yields-clues-about-west-coast-sea-stars-immunity.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-29/segments/1593657138718.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20200712113546-20200712143546-00084.warc.gz | en | 0.930409 | 829 | 3 | 3 |
In certain cases the suffix can distinguish different verb types: in reference verbs, the experiencer
is inherent and occurs as object, whereas in other verb types only -b (malefactive) or -l (benefactive) occur (abbat-wa mota-bbat "her father died, unluckily for her").
Tragel and Habicht (2012 : 1386) point out that even if the translative construction in general is the most productive resultative construction, there are nevertheless restrictions on its use: it is normally not used in cases in which the change cannot be considered the result of an intentional action on the part of the change experiencer
(*Poiss s a-i kurjategija-ks 'The boy became a criminal'), nor can it be used with processes intended as neutral (*Puu-d s a-i-d sugise-l varvilise-ks 'In fall the trees became colorful').
This event usually has over 20 Speakers, a Film Festival, tons of vendors as well as experiencer
The 10-step technique is outlined as a starting point for future research into methods that will address the needs of the poltergeist experiencers
and to help to address an issue that may grow in importance as society integrates more electronics into the daily human experience.
My contention that David, in Segment [B], can also be imaged from without clearly suggests that even though the explicit or inferred presence of an experiencer
(in this case, David) is a necessary pre-requisite of enactment-imagery, it is not a sufficient pre-requisite.
Consistent with this claim, the Values, Attitudes, and Lifestyles (VALS) scale separates individuals into eight types by psychological attributes: Innovators, Thinkers, Achievers, Experiencers
, Believers, Strivers, Makers, and Survivors.
Type 2 force/agent + active verb ofphysical impact + experiencer
+ instrument ['with' + (adj.
All experience of the sublime leaves the experiencer
speechless, and with a diminished sense of subjective identity.
Simply focusing on someone's attractiveness, in essence concentrating on their body rather than their mind, makes you see her or him as less of an agent - someone who acts and plans - more of an experiencer
," he explained.
At the same time, every single case springing from a human life and cast into the traditional language of the lament demands on each occasion a new interpretation according to the abilities of the performer and/or experiencer
, in order to be understandably and validly performed in each particular case.
1989) addressed the need for methods that yield quantitative data on experience as it is given to the experiencer
Lacy's model names the positions of Experiencer
, Reporter, Analyst, and Activist, and it brings the themes of resistance to commercial exploitation and criticism by the fans into the analysis. | <urn:uuid:99f57aa1-152f-4db6-a749-f405d473ec39> | CC-MAIN-2017-26 | http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/experiencer | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-26/segments/1498128320695.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20170626083037-20170626103037-00028.warc.gz | en | 0.924725 | 609 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Australia’s long history with asbestos has given it the distinction of having one of the highest rates of mesothelioma in the world. It is also the location of some of the most cutting-edge mesothelioma research.
The latest study, conducted by the School of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at UWA and published in the Journal of Interferon and Cytokine Research, suggests that a “cocktail” of drugs to simulate the immune system can eradicate mesothelioma tumors. The researchers used a timed triple immunotherapy (TTI) protocol of three antibodies designed to “turn off” the production of specific proteins associated with cancer.
Three Targeted Proteins
Three proteins were targeted by the drug cocktail. The first, CD25, is present on activated immune system T-cells and B-cells. The second protein, TGF-β, controls proliferation and cellular differentiation and is known to play a role not only in cancer, but also in asthma, heart disease, diabetes, and AIDS. The third targeted protein was CTLA-4, a protein found on the surface of T-cells which downregulates the immune system. By using drugs that deactivate these three proteins, the Australian research team managed to cure mice of their mesothelioma tumors.
“We report that a timed triple immunotherapy protocol using 3 agonist antibodies produced complete clearance of established AB1 murine mesothelioma tumors,” reports Shruti Krishnan, the paper’s lead author. Krishnan and her colleagues also found that combining the three antibodies into a single “cocktail” was just as successful against mesothelioma in the mice as giving the antibodies in succession.
B-Cells and Immunotherapy
When the cured mice were tested after three months, they were found to have higher levels of immunoglobulin G, an immune system antibody secreted by B-cells. There were also more B-cells in the lymph nodes closest to the tumors and in the spleen, suggesting that B-cells may play an important role in the success of this immunotherapy approach to mesothelioma.
Immunotherapy is an emerging treatment protocol for mesothelioma and other cancers designed to stimulate the host’s immune system to destroy cancer. The promise of immunotherapy treatment is especially important for mesothelioma patients because the disease is highly resistant to standard therapies.
Krishnan, S et al, “Successful Combined Intratumoral Immunotherapy of Established Murine Mesotheliomas Requires B-Cell Involvement”, September 26, 2014, Journal of Interferon and Cytokine Research, Epub ahead of print | <urn:uuid:ed5002e3-4d5c-4b8f-97ad-2c28fa7b90d3> | CC-MAIN-2021-49 | https://survivingmesothelioma.com/immunotherapy-cocktail-destroys-mesothelioma-tumors-in-lab-mice/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-49/segments/1637964363437.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20211208022710-20211208052710-00254.warc.gz | en | 0.954988 | 577 | 2.5625 | 3 |
The Heart of Buddha
Buddha Poornima is one of the most sacred festivals in the Buddhist calendar. It celebrates three important events in Buddha’s life- birth, enlightenment and final mergence. It occurs on the full moon day in the fourth lunar month of Vaisakha. In many of His discourses, especially to educators, students and youth, Sathya Sai Baba has said that one must have the head of Shankara (founder of the non-dualism school of philosophy), the heart of Buddha and the hands of Janaka (renowned emperor). The name and form of Buddha spontaneously evokes feelings of compassion and peace. This is primarily due to the life of purity and sacrifice rooted in the principle of avoiding harm (ahimsa) that Buddha led.
As we prepare to celebrate Buddha Poornima, let us reflect deeply on the life and teachings of Buddha, derive inspiration and strive to apply it in our daily lives. Here are excerpts from Sathya Sai Baba’s discourses revealing the heart of Buddha, given during Buddha Poornima celebrations for individual or group study.
Purity- the path to liberation
How can a man who is not aware of his humanness recognise the Divinity within him? Hence the first requisite is the recognition by everyone of his human essence. Based on this truth, Buddha declared that everyone should cultivate at the outset samyak-dhrishti (pure vision). It is only when man has a pure vision that he can get rid of impurities in the body, speech and mind. Hence the first requirement for every man is samyak-dhrishti.
The second quality that is needed is samyak-sankalpa (pure thoughts). Everyone should have pure thoughts. Only the person who has developed purity in vision can have purity in thoughts.
The third requirement for every man, along with purity in vision and thought, is samyak-karma (pure deeds). Everyone should do pure deeds. By his capacity for developing good vision, entertaining good thoughts and performing good deeds, man has the power to transform humanness into Divinity.
A fourth requirement for man is samyak-shruthi (listening to sacred words). When one listens to sacred words he can have only sacred thoughts.
The fifth quality prescribed by Buddha is samyak-jevanam (living a pure life). What is meant by "living"? It is not leading a worldly life attached to worldly pursuits. True living means making one's life meaningful by ideal actions. Man's life must be governed by idealism in action.
Next, Buddha declared that everyone should aim at samyak-sadhana (right spiritual practice). Sadhana means elimination of the evil tendencies in man and acquiring good and sacred qualities. True sadhana is the eradication of all evil in a man. Study of sacred texts, meditation and penance do not constitute the whole of sadhana (spiritual exercise). To remove all the impurities in the mind is real sadhana.
After this comes what Buddha called samyak-samadhi or nirvaana (realisation or liberation). What is meant by samadhi? It means treating pleasure and pain, gain and loss alike. Sama-dhi (equal mindedness) is "samadhi". To look upon light and darkness, pleasure and pain, profit and loss, fame and censure with an equal mind is samadhi. Buddha termed this equal mindedness as nirvana.
It is the recognition of the sacredness of the qualities of all the senses in man that constitutes real humanness. At the very outset, one has to keep the tongue pure. This was referred to as samyak-vaak (purity in speech). The tongue has to be sanctified by refraining from falsehood, slander and abusive speech.
Next comes samyak-darshanam (seeing only things that are holy). You must see only things which please your conscience. Seeing all worldly things is not proper seeing at all. Buddha laid emphasis on seeing good, thinking good, speaking good and doing good. Seeing all sorts of things is not good for anyone. The eyes should be used for seeing only what is pure, what is holy and what is edifying.1
True spirit of sacrifice and contentment
Buddha was once asked: "Who is the richest man in the world?" Buddha replied: "He who has contentment with what he has is the richest man." To the question, "Who is the poorest man?" Buddha replied: "He who has many desires."
A Maharaja, who was listening to Buddha's sermons on contentment and renunciation, wished to earn the approbation of Buddha.
Buddha used to keep with him always a rattle-drum. His disciples once asked him: "Master! Why are you always keeping this rattle-drum by your side?" Buddha replied: "I shall play on this drum the day a person who has made the greatest sacrifice approaches me." Everyone was eager to know who this person would be. Such persons are often the forgotten men of history.
Wishing to attain this distinction, a Maharaja loaded his elephants with considerable treasure and went to Buddha. He hoped to offer the treasure to Buddha and earn his praise.
On the way, an old woman greeted the Maharaja and pleaded: "I am hungry. Will you give me some food?" The Maharaja took out a pomegranate fruit from his palanquin and gave it to the old woman. The old woman came to Buddha with the fruit.
By then, the Maharaja had also come to Buddha and was eagerly waiting to see when Buddha would sound the rattle-drum. For a long time Buddha did not use it. The Maharaja stayed on.
The old woman approached Buddha staggering on her legs, and offered him the pomegranate fruit. Buddha took it immediately and sounded the little drum.
The Maharaja asked Buddha: "I offered so much wealth to you. You did not sound the drum. But you rattled it after receiving a small fruit. Is this a great sacrifice?
Buddha replied: "Maharaja! In sacrifice, it is not quantity that counts. It is the quality of sacrifice that matters. It is natural for a Maharaja to offer gold. But what great sacrifice is made when a hungry old women offers the pomegranate fruit to the guru despite her hunger. She did not care even for her life and gave the fruit. What greater sacrifice can there be? It is not sacrifice to offer what is superfluous. True sacrifice means giving up that which is most dear to you, that which you value most.2
Buddham saranam gacchami
Dharmam saranam gacchami
Sangam saranam gacchami
These three maxims imply that firstly, one must sharpen the intellect and the capacity for spiritual discrimination. Next, intelligence has to be used in the service of society. Thirdly, service must be based on dharma or righteousness. If these three steps are followed, they would lead to Bliss. Never harm any living creature in any way whatsoever. Help ever, hurt never – this is the essence of Buddha’s teachings.
Ahimsa paramo dharmah. Nonviolence is the supreme dharma. One must never ever hurt or injure another person by thought, word, or action. You may wonder: “Is such a thing possible?” Yes it is, provided you have firm determination. With resolution and absolute determination, there is nothing in this world that cannot be achieved. Fear is a great obstacle to achievement. Once you realise that the same divinity resides in all, you will never be afraid of anything or anyone.3
Take refuge in Love
Sathyam saranam gacchami
Ekam saranam gacchami
Premam saranam gacchami
In this transient and ephemeral world, there is one thing that is true and eternal. That is divinity and that is what everyone should aspire to attain. Sathyam saranam gacchami (I take refuge in Truth). Ekam saranam gacchami (I take refuge in the Self). Everything is the manifestation of divinity in this world; there is no second entity other than divinity. It is the divine principle that governs the entire world.4
There is an underlying message of unity in Buddha’s teachings. He had only one feeling in his heart, the feeling of love. He taught, Dharmam saranam gacchami (I take refuge in righteousness), Premam saranam gacchami (I take refuge in Love). Bereft of love, humanness has no existence. We should love all, irrespective of the fact whether one is a pauper or a rich man. Money should not be the criterion to share your love with your fellowmen. Money is not important. Money comes and goes, morality comes and grows. Do not hurt others. Help Ever, Hurt Never. Only then can you attain the state of Buddha.
For reflection and discussion
- How can we strive for purity in our thoughts, words and deeds?
- What steps can we take every day to practice ceiling on desires and experience contentment?
- How can we practice non-violence in thought, word and deed?
- How can we cultivate the spirit of sacrifice?
1. http://sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume30/sss30-13.pdf, May 15, 1997
2. http://sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume21/sss21-16.pdf , June 26, 1988
3. http://sssbpt.info/summershowers/ss2000/ss2000-08.pdf, May 21, 2000
4. http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume39/sss39-09.pdf, May 13, 2006 | <urn:uuid:0bf8c11b-7cbb-48cf-9db4-a592c53226cf> | CC-MAIN-2020-24 | https://sathyasai.org/events/festival/buddha-poornima | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-24/segments/1590348502097.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20200605143036-20200605173036-00417.warc.gz | en | 0.950167 | 2,107 | 2.53125 | 3 |
|58||HISTORY OF THE|
[Thanks to Betty White for transcribing the History section]
McClure, to weave jeans and corduroys by hand with a fly shuttle, much in the same manner as it is now done by water power. It may therefore with truth be said, perhaps, that the first small arms, the first solid cannon cast and bored, the first cotton thread ever spun by modern machinery, in America, were made in Bridgewater. The first nails manufactured by machinery in the United States were made here; probably the first nail completely cut and headed by machinery at one operation in the world, was made in East Bridgewater, by the late Mr. Samuel Rogers. In laying the shingles on the present meeting-house in East Bridgewater, which was erected in 1794, nails made by hand in a small machine invented by him, were principally used. The writer well recollects the circumstance, and often saw the machine in operation. It had been invented and constructed long before, and was supposed to be the first method ever discovered of making a perfect nail at one operation.
Some of the present manufactures carried on here, such as cotton gins and others, are probably the first ever made in New England.Few places therefore have done more towards the introduction and promotion of the manufacturing and mechanic arts, than this ancient town of Bridgewater.
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Copyright © 2003-2008 by Dale H. Cook. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:eb78bcca-570d-46ec-8145-06dff14b569e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://plymouthcolony.net/bridgewater/mitchell/058.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704655626/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114415-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949624 | 298 | 2.765625 | 3 |
(PhysOrg.com) -- For a century, scientists have assumed that the Earth has same chemical make-up as the sun. But this belief has been challenged by scientists at The Australian National University.
Professors Ian Campbell and Hugh ONeill from the Research School of Earth Sciences at ANU said their research shakes up our understanding of the Earths chemistry right to the core.
For decades it has been assumed that the Earth had the same composition as the Sun, as long the most volatile elements like hydrogen are excluded. This theory is based on the idea that everything in the solar system in general has the same composition. Since the sun comprises 99 per cent of the solar system, this composition is essentially that of the sun, Professor ONeill said.
As it is easier to measure the chemical make-up of chondritic meteorites, planetary geologists have long used these to more precisely determine the suns composition and therefore the composition of the Earth. From this, scientists have concluded that the Earth has a chondritic composition.
Professor Campbell said this thesis has been challenged again and again.
Recent discoveries have shown that the ratio of two of the rare earth elements in Earths volcanic rocks is higher than in chondritic meteorites. Many scientists have explained this by arguing that there must be a hidden reservoir of these elements near the centre of the Earth to balance this ratio out. This reservoir would also be enriched in the heat producing elements uranium, thorium and potassium, he said.
Professor Campbell spent twenty years researching mantle plumes columns of hot rock that rise from the boundary of the Earths core and are the mechanism that removes heat from the Earths centre.
The problem with the idea of a hidden reservoir is that although these elements could be hidden we would be able to detect the heat they produce, he said.
However, mantle plumes simply dont release enough heat for these reservoirs to exist. As a consequence the Earth simply does not have the same composition as chondrites or the sun.
Professor ONeill has developed an explanation as to why the Earths composition may differ from chondrites.
The Earth is thought to have formed by collision of planetary bodies of increasing size. In our research we suggest that by the time these planetary bodies had reached a moderate size they developed an outer shell that contained a significant amount of heat-producing elements, he said.
During the final stages of the Earths formation this outer shell was lost by a process called collisional erosion. This produced an Earth that has fewer heat producing elements than chondritic meteorites, which explains why the Earth doesnt have the same chemical composition as chondritic meteorites.
The research has been published in Nature.
Explore further: Mars formed rapidly into runt of litter | <urn:uuid:510eb83a-97ed-4d3e-8fb6-352a08c43a9a> | CC-MAIN-2017-51 | https://phys.org/news/2012-03-chondritic-hypothesis-discovery-beliefs-earth.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-51/segments/1512948551501.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20171215001700-20171215021700-00323.warc.gz | en | 0.957976 | 566 | 3.71875 | 4 |
SPATIO-TEMPORAL STUDY OF BRAHMAPUTRA RIVER ISLANDS (CHARS) FOR AGRICULTURE EXPANSION IN ASSAM, INDIA
The present paper aims to understand the spatio-temporal dynamics of the Brahmaputra river islands locally known as chars in Assam for agriculture crop expansion using long term multispectral satellite data and Google Earth Engine. This study also provides information on existing agriculture lands on these chars. For the study Landsat data is analysed to find the long term stable islands (1988–2018) and the present status of these islands for seasonal crop expansion. Validation of results was performed by using high-resolution satellite data. It is found that total area of vegetative chars has increased in past three decades and approximately 146 thousand hectares area of char is stable from past ten years. This study also reveals that the major crop cultivation is in Lower Brahmaputra Valley (LBV). In Upper Brahmaputra Valley (UBV), the crop cultivation is almost negligible compared to the large islands size. It can be inferred that less stable chars which are mostly located in upper Assam has negligible agriculture. It is also observed that at many places in lower Assam, double cropping system is followed. This study can be further extended by including factors like soil type, soil texture, rainfall, socio-economic etc. to study suitability for different crops. Proper facilities and incentives are to be provided to farmers of this region for better food security. | <urn:uuid:bf8003b3-beb1-45e4-8b12-1e0b1675223c> | CC-MAIN-2020-10 | https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00000758 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-10/segments/1581875145742.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20200223001555-20200223031555-00301.warc.gz | en | 0.942042 | 308 | 3.015625 | 3 |
There are people that will tell you that Computer Science fundamentals are arcane concepts that are not practical in the real world.
I get why people like to talk this way.
CS concepts; like trees, algorithms, and recursion, aren’t nearly as fun to talk about as exciting fringe technologies.
But if you start digging into how software actually works in the real world, you’ll find that there are a ton of cases where computer science plays a significant role.
Every developer needs a programming tool belt, a set of skills that allows you to solve the various software problems that you’re faced with.
ReactJS could be a tool in your tool belt.
If you’re trying to become a developer, you should think about CS fundamentals as an additional tool. An understanding of them will help you solve problems in a smart, efficient, and useful way.
In this post, we’ll dive into 3 really important CS concepts that you’ll need in your tool belt in order to solve a lot of the problems that come your way.
Let’s get into it.
If you spend time on the internet, you’ve probably come across a comment system web application, like Disqus. Web applications like Disqus help facilitate online discussions and make them easy to follow by using a reply functionality.
How do you enable this to happen?
Computer science! That’s how.
In computer science, there is a concept known as Trees. Trees are an abstract, but incredibly useful programming structure. They’re a “recursive” data structure, which essentially just means that the definition of a tree involves… the definition of a tree.
You can think about the Trees concept like a family tree. As a person, you have two biological parents. Each of your parents probably has two biological parents too.
If you map out your family tree, you’ll see that each person is connected to multiple other people.
This organizational structure is incredibly useful for a ton of real world applications, like commenting systems.
Let’s return to the Disqus example.
If you were to design a commenting system, you’d want to have many levels of replies. A comment should have a parent comment, and a number of children, which are sub-comments.
Trees are what allow you to do this.
If you understand how to effectively use tree structures, it becomes way easier to figure out simple scenarios like this, in which you want to map the relationship of replies to initial comments.
Trees also help you with far more complicated scenarios, like writing sorting algorithms.
Fortunately, Computer scientists have found optimal solutions for a lot of software problems. This means that if you understand the solutions, you won’t need to start from scratch in order to solve certain problems.
As an example, think about how you would go about looking up a specific name in a phone book. If the phone book contains a million records, the simplest solution would be to go through the entire book from start to finish. This would ensure that you’d find the specific name. However, in the worst case scenario in which the name is one of the last names in the phone book, you’d need to do nearly 1 million comparisons in order to find it. This would be an incredible waste of time.
Instead, you should rely on a different solution, one that exists because of computer science. To find the name in the phone book, you could use a smart Binary Search Algorithm, which would guarantee that you could find it in at most 20 comparisons.
At the scale of a 1 millions records, that puts the optimal solution at 50,000 times more efficient than the simplest solution. It only gets more efficient as the list scales to more records.
Pretty much every application out there uses algorithms to find information in more effective ways.
So, if you’re a developer who understands how to approach problems the way that computer scientists intended, you’ll be able to write code that is much more efficient than a developer who doesn’t understand algorithms.
Recursion is a method of programming that comes in handy in a variety of different situations. It’s a computer science trick that’s based on a divide and conquer (D&C) mentality that breaks a complex problem into more specific subproblems of a similar type.
Let me get into what that actually means.
Recursion is all about thinking about things that are related. You can describe it by making rules of nested elements. A famous example is saying the rule:
All boats should have a lifeboat in case the boat sinks.
If you go a step further, the lifeboat itself should have a lifeboat. And that lifeboat should have one, too. Things that are recursive in nature have an endless process.
Another real world example of recursion is a Russian matryoshka doll. You know, those little dolls that are nested within another doll.
By using the divide and conquer programming mentality of recursion to solve problems, you’re able to solve difficult problems with simple code.
This is something that comes up all the time for developers.
On top of that, it’s pretty common to be expected to know how to use a recursive approach to solving problems while on the technical interview, which is the only thing between you and your new job as a developer.
Trees, optimal algorithms, and recursion are 3 aspects of computer science that help developers solve everyday problems.
But not all aspects of Computer Science are applicable to everyday programming!
Despite having plenty of aspects of Computer Science that are useful in everyday type work, there are some aspects of computer science that aren’t practical in day-to-day coding.
In college, I majored in Computer Science. In the process of getting my degree, I learned some stuff that I never used and pretty much immediately forgot. I’m talking about things like:
- Deterministic & Non-deterministic Finite Automata
- OSI Network Layer Protocols
- An emphasis on how databases are built, vs. actually using them
- Calculus, Physics, and electives
There are plenty of reasons why getting a Computer Science degree can make sense.
But it’s important to know that you don’t need a CS degree to learn the practical aspects of Computer Science fundamentals that will give you the foundation you need to become a developer.
Some coding bootcamps teach essential computer science fundamentals.
We do it at Firehose. We do it because we’ve always believed that an understanding of these foundational skills is key to landing your first developer job and setting yourself up for a long and successful career.
An understanding of things like trees, algorithms, and recursion, are an essential part of your developer tool belt. If you don’t have them, it’s easy to fall into the trap of things like:
- Doing more work than is necessary (writing more lines of code)
- Finding solutions that aren’t as optimal
- Not applying well-known correct solutions to your problems
If you want to become a programmer, spend time learning the Computer Science fundamentals that matter.
It might not be the flashiest stuff. But it helps you solve real-world problems and will pay dividends as you move forward in your career as a developer. | <urn:uuid:d97235a7-6602-407e-aa71-c683e9d035dd> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | http://blog.thefirehoseproject.com/posts/cant-solve-real-world-coding-problems-without-3-computer-science-fundamentals/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886107487.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20170821022354-20170821042354-00050.warc.gz | en | 0.94361 | 1,546 | 3.3125 | 3 |
I use this prewriting packet in my 5th grade classroom to support students in planning stories. It would also work for other grade levels focusing on multi-paragraph short stories.
The packet includes a brainstorming section with the 5 story elements and an outline to help students sequence their stories. In addition, there is a drafting page with tips and examples for writing a hook and exposition. There is also another drafting page with tips and examples for writing a resolution.
Your purchase entitles you to use this product in your classroom. Thank you for not distributing this product or any adaptations of this product. Please direct those interested in these anchor charts to my TPT page. | <urn:uuid:2a197282-89e1-4505-8cb6-58e320f6b7e0> | CC-MAIN-2018-26 | https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Narrative-Prewriting-Packet-2793907 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-26/segments/1529267867050.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20180624180240-20180624200240-00410.warc.gz | en | 0.935131 | 134 | 2.515625 | 3 |
The basic types
of air conditioners are room air conditioners, split-system central air
conditioners and packaged central air conditioners.
Room Air Conditioners
Room air conditioners cool rooms rather than the entire
home. If they provide cooling only where they're needed, room air conditioners
are less expensive to operate than central units, even though their efficiency
is generally lower than that of central air conditioners. Smaller room air
conditioners – those drawing less than 7.5 amps of electricity – can be
plugged into any 15- or 20-amp, 115-volt household circuit that is not shared
with any other major appliances. Larger room air conditioners – those drawing
more than 7.5 amps – need their own dedicated 115-volt circuit. The largest
models require a dedicated 230-volt circuit.
Central Air Conditioners
Central air conditioners circulate cool air
through a system of supply and return ducts. Supply ducts and registers –
openings in the walls, floors, or ceilings covered by grills – carry cooled
air from the air conditioner to the home. This cooled air becomes warmer as it
circulates through the home. Then it flows back to the central air conditioner
through return ducts and registers. A central air conditioner is either a
split-system unit or a packaged unit. In a split-system central air
conditioner, an outdoor
metal cabinet contains the condenser and compressor, and an indoor cabinet
contains the evaporator. In many split-system air conditioners, this indoor
cabinet also contains a furnace or the indoor part of a heat pump. The air
conditioner's evaporator coil is installed in the cabinet or main supply duct
of this furnace or heat pump. If your home already has a furnace but no air
conditioner, a split-system is the most economical central air conditioner to
install. In a packaged central air conditioner, the
evaporator, condenser, and compressor are all located in one cabinet, which
usually is placed on a roof or on a concrete slab next to the house's
foundation. This type of air conditioner also is used in small commercial
buildings. Air supply and return ducts come from indoors through the home's
exterior wall or roof to connect with the packaged air conditioner, which is
usually located outdoors. Packaged air conditioners often include electric
heating coils or a natural gas furnace. This combination of air conditioner
and central heater eliminates the need for a separate furnace indoors.
Maintaining Existing Air Conditioners
Older air conditioners may still be able to
offer years of relatively efficient use. However, making your older air
conditioner last requires you to perform proper operation and maintenance.
Air Conditioning Problems
One of the most common air
conditioning problems is improper operation. If your air conditioner is on, be
sure to close your home's windows and outside doors. Other common problems with
existing air conditioners result from faulty installation, poor service
procedures and inadequate maintenance. Improper installation of your air
conditioner can result in leaky ducts and low air flow. Many times, the
refrigerant charge – the amount of refrigerant in the system – does not match
the manufacturer's specifications. If proper refrigerant charging is not
performed during installation, the performance and efficiency of the unit is
impaired. Service technicians often fail to find refrigerant charging problems
or even worsen existing problems by adding refrigerant to a system that is
already full. Air conditioner manufacturers generally make rugged, high quality
products. If your air conditioner fails, it is usually for one of the common
reasons listed below:
- refrigerant leaks. If your air conditioner is low
on refrigerant, either it was undercharged at installation, or it leaks. If it
leaks, simply adding refrigerant is not a solution. A trained technician
should fix any leak, test the repair and then charge the system with the
correct amount of refrigerant. Remember that the performance and efficiency of
your air conditioner is greatest when the refrigerant charge exactly matches
the manufacturer's specification, and is neither undercharged nor overcharged.
- inadequate maintenance. If you allow filters and
air conditioning coils to become dirty, the air conditioner will not work
properly, and the compressor or fans are likely to fail prematurely.
- electric control failure. The compressor and fan
controls can wear out, especially when the air conditioner turns on and off
frequently, as is common when a system is oversized. Because corrosion of wire
and terminals is also a problem in many systems, electrical connections and
contacts should be checked during a professional service call.
Regular Maintenance An air conditioner's filters, coils and fins
require regular maintenance for the unit to function effectively and efficiently
throughout its years of service. Neglecting necessary maintenance ensures a
steady decline in air conditioning performance while energy use steadily
Air Conditioner Filters.
The most important maintenance task that will ensure the efficiency of your
air conditioner is to routinely replace or clean its filters. Clogged, dirty
filters block normal air flow and reduce a system's efficiency significantly.
With normal air flow obstructed, air that bypasses the filter may carry dirt
directly into the evaporator coil and impair the coil's heat-absorbing capacity.
Filters are located somewhere along the return duct's length. Common filter
locations are in walls, ceilings, furnaces, or in the air conditioner itself.
Some types of filters are reusable; others must be replaced. They are available
in a variety of types and efficiencies. Clean or replace your air conditioning
system's filter or filters every month or two during the cooling season. Filters
may need more frequent attention if the air conditioner is in constant use, is
subjected to dusty conditions, or you have fur-bearing pets in the house.
Air Conditioner Coils.
conditioner's evaporator coil and condenser coil collect dirt over their
months and years of service. A clean filter prevents the evaporator coil from
soiling quickly. In time, however, the evaporator coil will still collect
dirt. This dirt reduces air flow and insulates the coil which reduces its
ability to absorb heat. Therefore, your evaporator coil should be checked
every year and cleaned as necessary. Outdoor condenser coils can also become
very dirty if the outdoor environment is dusty or if there is foliage nearby.
You can easily see the condenser coil and notice if dirt is collecting on its
fins. You should minimize dirt and debris near the condenser unit. Your dryer
vents, falling leaves, and lawn mower are all potential sources of dirt and
debris. Cleaning the area around the coil, removing any debris, and trimming
foliage back at least 2 feet (0.6 meters) allow for adequate air flow around
The aluminum fins on evaporator and condenser coils are easily bent and can block air flow
through the coil. Air conditioning wholesalers sell a tool called a "fin comb"
that will comb these fins back into nearly original condition.
Sealing and Insulating Air Ducts
An enormous waste of energy occurs
when cooled air escapes from supply ducts or when hot attic air leaks into
return ducts. Recent studies indicate that 10 percent to 30 percent of the
conditioned air in an average central air conditioning system escapes from the
For central air conditioning to be efficient, ducts must be airtight. Hiring
a competent professional service technician to detect and correct duct leaks is
a good investment, since leaky ducts may be difficult to find without experience
and test equipment. Ducts must be sealed with duct "mastic." The old standby of
duct tape is ineffective for sealing ducts.
Obstructions can impair the efficiency of a duct system almost as much as
leaks. You should be careful not to obstruct the flow of air from supply or
return registers with furniture, drapes or tightly fitted interior doors. Dirty
filters and clogged evaporator coils can also be major obstructions to air flow.
The large temperature difference between attics and ducts makes heat
conduction through ducts almost as big a problem as air leakage and
obstructions. Ducts in attics should be insulated heavily in addition to being
Buying New Air Conditioners Today's best air conditioners use 30 percent
to 50 percent less energy to produce the same amount of cooling as air
conditioners made in the mid 1970s. Even if your air conditioner is only ten
years old, you may save 20 percent to 40 percent of your cooling energy costs by
replacing it with a newer, more efficient model.
Air conditioners are rated by the number of British
thermal units of heat they can remove per hour. Another common rating term for
air conditioning size is the "ton," which is 12,000 British thermal units per
How big should your air conditioner be? The size of an air conditioner
- how large your home is and how many windows it has;
- how much shade is on your home's windows, walls and
- how much insulation is in your home's ceiling and
- how much air leaks into your home from the outside; and
- how much heat the occupants and appliances in your home generate.
An air conditioner's efficiency, performance, durability and initial cost
depend on matching its size to the above factors.
Make sure you buy the correct size of air conditioner. Two groups — the Air
Conditioning Contractors of America and the American Society of Heating,
Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers — publish calculation procedures
for sizing central air conditioners. Reputable air conditioning contractors will
use one of these procedures, often performed with the aid of a computer, to size
your new central air conditioner.
Be aware that a large air conditioner will not provide the best cooling.
Buying an oversized air conditioner penalizes you in the following ways:
- It costs more to buy a larger air conditioner than you
- The larger-than-necessary air conditioner cycles on and
off more frequently, reducing its efficiency. Frequent cycling makes indoor
temperatures fluctuate more and results in a less comfortable environment.
Frequent cycling also inhibits moisture removal. In humid climates, removing
moisture is essential for acceptable comfort. In addition, this cycling wears
out the compressor and electrical parts more rapidly.
- A larger air conditioner uses more electricity and creates added demands
on electrical generation and delivery systems.
Air Conditioner Efficiency
Each air conditioner has an energy-efficiency
rating that lists how many British thermal units per hour are removed for each
watt of power it draws. For room air conditioners, this efficiency rating is the
Energy Efficiency Ratio, or EER. For central air conditioners, it is the
Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio, or SEER. These ratings are posted on an Energy
Guide Label, which must be conspicuously attached to all new air conditioners.
Many air conditioner manufacturers are participants in the voluntary EnergyStar®
labeling program. EnergyStar-labeled appliances mean that they have high EER and
In general, new air conditioners with higher EERs or SEERs sport higher price
tags. However, the higher initial cost of an energy-efficient model will be
repaid to you several times during its life span. The Energy Office offers 5%
Dollar and Energy Saving Loans through local participating lenders for the
purchase of high efficiency air conditioners. Buy the most efficient air
conditioner you can afford, especially if you use an air conditioner frequently.
Air Conditioners — EER
Room air conditioners generally range from 5,500 to 14,000 British thermal
units per hour. National appliance standards require room air conditioners built
after January 1, 1990, to have an EER of 8.0 or greater. In Nebraska, the Energy
Office recommends a room air conditioner with an EER of at least 10.0.
The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers reports that the average EER of
room air conditioners rose 47% from 1972 to 1991. If you own a 1970s-vintage
room air conditioner with an EER of 5 and you replace it with a new one with
an EER of 10, you will cut your air conditioning energy costs in half.
Central Air Conditioners — SEER.
standards for central air conditioners require a SEER of 9.7 and 10.0, for
single-package and split-systems, respectively. But you do not need to settle
for the minimum standard. There is a wide selection of units with SEERs
reaching nearly 17. In Nebraska, the Energy Office recommends the purchase of
a unit with a least of SEER of 12.0. Before 1979, the SEERs of central air conditioners ranged from 4.5 to 8.0.
Replacing a 1970s-era central air conditioner with a SEER of 6 with a new unit
having a SEER of 12 will cut your air conditioning costs in half.
Hiring Professional Service
When your air conditioner needs more than the
regular maintenance described previously, hire a professional service
technician. A well-trained technician will find and fix problems in your air
conditioning system. However, not all service technicians are competent.
Incompetent service technicians forsake proper diagnosis and perform only
minimal stop-gap measures. Insist that the technician:
- check for correct amount of refrigerant;
- test for refrigerant leaks using a leak detector;
- capture any refrigerant that must be evacuated from the
system, instead of illegally releasing it to the atmosphere;
- check for and seal duct leakage in central systems;
- measure air flow through the evaporator coil;
- verify the correct electric control sequence and make
sure that the heating system and cooling system cannot operate simultaneously;
- inspect electric terminals, clean and tighten
connections and apply a non-conductive coating if necessary;
- oil motors and check belts for tightness and wear; and
- check the accuracy of the thermostat.
Choosing a Contractor
Choosing a contractor may be the most important
and difficult task in buying a new central air conditioning system. Ask
prospective contractors for recent references. If you are replacing your central
air conditioner, tell your contractor what you liked and did not like about the
old system. If the system failed, ask the contractor to find out why. The best
time to fix existing problems is when a new system is being installed.
When designing your new air conditioning system, the contractor you choose
- use a computer program or written calculation procedure
to size the air conditioner;
- provide a written contract listing the main points of
your installation that includes the results of the cooling load calculation;
- give you a written warranty on equipment and
- allow you to hold the final payment until you are satisfied with the new
Avoid making your decision solely on the basis of price. The quality of the
installation should be your highest priority, because quality will determine
energy cost, comfort and durability.
Installation and Location of Air
Conditioners If your air conditioner is
installed correctly, or if major installation problems are found and fixed, it
will perform efficiently for years with only minor routine maintenance. However,
many air conditioners are not installed correctly. As an unfortunate result,
modern energy-efficient air conditioners can perform almost as poorly as older
Be sure that your contractor performs the following procedures when
installing a new central air conditioning system:
allows adequate indoor space for the installation,
maintenance and repair of the new system, and installs an access door in the
furnace or duct to provide a way to clean the evaporator coil.
- uses a duct-sizing methodology such as the Air Conditioning Contractors of
America Manual D.
- ensures there are enough supply registers to deliver
cool air and enough return air registers to carry warm house air back to the
- installs duct work within the conditioned space, not in
the attic, wherever possible.
- seals all ducts with duct mastic and heavily insulates
- locates the condensing unit where its noise will not
keep you or your neighbors awake at night, if possible.
- places the condensing unit in a shady spot, if
possible, which can reduce your air conditioning costs by 1-2 percent.
- verifies that the newly installed air conditioner has
the exact refrigerant charge and air flow rate specified by the manufacturer.
- locates the thermostat away from heat sources, such as windows, or supply
If you are replacing an older or failed split system, be sure that the
evaporator coil is replaced with a new one that exactly matches the condenser
coil in the new condensing unit. The air conditioner's efficiency will likely
not improve if the existing evaporator coil is left in place. Iin fact, the old
coil could cause the new compressor to fail prematurely.
If you install a new room air conditioner, try to:
- locate the air conditioner in a window or wall area
near the center of the room and on the shadiest side of the house.
- minimize air leakage by fitting the room air conditioner snugly into its
opening and sealing gaps with a foam weatherstripping material.
Paying attention to your air conditioning system saves you money and reduces
environmental pollution. Notice whether your existing system is running
properly, and maintain it regularly. Or, if you need to purchase a new air
conditioner, be sure it is sized and installed correctly and has a good EER or
Using Your Air Conditioner
An air conditioner will cool the air in your home
fairly quickly. For economical operation, turn it on only when your home is
occupied. You may consider installing a programmable thermostat. These allow you
to set the time when the air conditioner will turn on, such as 30 minutes before
you arrive home from work on a hot day. During the day, keep the drapes or
blinds closed on windows that face east, south, and west. This will help reduce
solar heat gain into your home. | <urn:uuid:30762bfb-2f1b-48f2-a33c-20476d954718> | CC-MAIN-2014-15 | http://www.neo.ne.gov/april2002/apr02a.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-15/segments/1397609533121.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20140416005213-00242-ip-10-147-4-33.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902732 | 3,907 | 3.046875 | 3 |
The history of the horrors and heroisms which reached us during the six weeks in which Ft. Abercrombie held out until relief came, would make a volume, and cannot he written here. The unimaginable tortures and indecencies inflicted on brave men and good women, are something for which the Christian supporters and excusers of the Sioux must yet account at the bar where sentimental sympathy with criminals is itself a crime; and where the wail of tortured infants will not be hushed by reckoning of bad beef and a deficiency in beans.
While the Sioux sat in council to determine that butchery, some objected, on the ground that such crimes would be punished, but Little Crow, leader of the war party, quieted their fears by saying:
“White man no like Indian! Indian catch white man, roast him, kill him! White man catch Indian, feed him, give him blankets,” and on this assurance they acted.
One thing was clearly proven by that outbreak, viz.: that services to, and friendship for, Indians, are the best means of incurring their revenge. Those families who had been on most intimate terms with them, were those who were massacred first and with the greatest atrocities. The more frequently they had eaten salt with a pale-face, the more insatiable was their desire for vengeance. The missionaries were generally spared, as the source through which they expected pardon and supplies. The Indian was much too cunning to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. The tribe do not object to the conversion of individuals. Saying prayers does not interfere with their ideas of their own importance. Preachers do not labor with their hands, and Indians can join the clerical order or get religion, without losing caste, for labor to them is pollution.
Two wagon loads of arms and ammunition en route for Hole-in-the-day, were intercepted during the massacre, and for want of them he was induced to keep quiet. For being such a good Indian, he had a triumphal trip to Washington at government expense, got ten thousand dollars, and a seventh wife.
A MISSIVE AND A MISSION.
Soon after the people had returned to such homes as were left them, I received a letter from General Lowrie, who was then in an insane asylum in Cincinnati. I caught his humor and answered as carefully as if he had been a sick brother, gave an extract in the Democrat, accompanied by a notice, and sent him a copy; after which he wrote frequently, and I tried earnestly to soothe him. In one of his letters was this passage: | <urn:uuid:8e7775a3-a7d6-40db-8a41-138b92246496> | CC-MAIN-2016-07 | http://www.bookrags.com/ebooks/12052/117.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-07/segments/1454701167599.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20160205193927-00020-ip-10-236-182-209.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988018 | 531 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Influenza, or the flu, and the common cold can be tricky to tell apart. Both are respiratory illnesses caused by viruses, and they share many symptoms.
Both the common cold and the flu are contagious, but cold symptoms tend to be milder and improve within a week to 10 days. (1) While most people who get the flu recover in less than two weeks, the symptoms are more severe, and serious complications such as pneumonia, bronchitis, and sinus or ear infections can develop. (2)
Since colds and the flu are caused by viruses, rather than bacteria, antibiotics are not an effective treatment option.
Both the flu and colds affect the respiratory system, though flu symptoms are typically more severe than those of the common cold.
“There are many different viruses that can cause a cold, but most of these viruses cause very similar cold symptoms,” says Aaron E. Glatt, MD, an infectious diseases and infection control consultant at South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, New York.
Symptoms that the common cold and flu share may include body aches, headache, sore throat, cough, nasal congestion, sneezing, and fever. The flu is usually accompanied by higher fever (102 degrees F or higher), and influenza symptoms tend to come on more suddenly.
"Run-of-the-mill colds usually make you feel lousy but should not interfere with daily activities," says Stephen Russell, MD, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Alabama in Birmingham and the lead physician of the UAB Moody Health Clinic.
While most colds don’t require a visit to the doctor, they can turn into something more serious. According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, some warning signs to look for include high fever, shortness of breath, and symptoms that last more than 10 days or continue to worsen. (3)
The flu is caused by influenza viruses, but many distinct viruses (most commonly rhinoviruses) can cause a cold.
Certain populations are more susceptible to getting a cold or the flu, including the very young, the elderly, and people with a compromised immune system.
Factors that can increase your risk of becoming infected include:
Children younger than 6 are more at risk for colds and flu, especially if they’re in a daycare or school. Adults over age 65 are more susceptible to the flu and related complications.
Seasonal flu activity (flu season) typically occurs between October and May, although flu viruses are around all year.
Similarly, most people develop colds in the winter and spring, but they can occur anytime. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), adults average two to three colds each year. (4)
Viruses can more easily infiltrate the body if you have a weakened immune system. Certain chronic illnesses, such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, and autoimmune diseases raise the risk of catching a cold or the flu.
Chronic smoking makes your respiratory system more vulnerable to cold and flu viruses and complications.
Women in their second or third trimester are particularly susceptible to complications from the flu. “We’re not exactly sure why, but there has always been a question of whether or not the immune system changes during pregnancy,” says Laura Riley, MD, the chair of obstetrics and gynecology at Weill Cornell Medical College at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and obstetrician–gynecologist in chief at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City.
Like a common cold, the flu is caused by viruses. There are four types of influenza viruses: A and B, which are most commonly associated with seasonal flu activity and epidemics; C, which is relatively rare and causes mild respiratory illness; and D, which primarily affects cattle.
There are many subtypes of influenza A viruses, based on two proteins — hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N) — found on the surface of the viruses. Two strains of influenza A found in human beings are the H1N1 strain and the H3N2 strain.
A novel strain of influenza A (H1N1) virus, known as swine flu because it’s typically spread among pigs, led to a flu pandemic in 2009. Between April 2009 and April 2010, the CDC estimates that there were 60.8 million swine flu cases in the United States, which led to more than 274,000 hospitalizations and nearly 12,500 deaths. (5)
The H3N2 virus usually causes more severe symptoms and can be particularly dangerous to the young and elderly. Flu seasons that have many cases of the H3N2, such as the 2017–2018 flu season, tend to have higher rates of hospitalizations and flu-related deaths. H3N2 is particularly resistant to the flu vaccine, and it mutates more rapidly than other strains.
Less common than influenza A, these viruses cause similar symptoms and can lead to outbreaks or pandemics. Influenza B is not categorized by subtypes, but there are two strains of the virus: Yamagata and Victoria.
A study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases in July 2014 challenged the perception that influenza B was milder than influenza A. (6)
Like influenza A and B, these viruses are found in humans. But influenza C viruses are milder and do not cause epidemics. Seasonal flu vaccines, which contain strains of influenza A and B, do not protect against influenza C viruses.
This strain of influenza is not known to cause illness in humans. It primarily affects cattle, though researchers note that it could eventually form a new strain that poses more of a threat to humans. (7)
There is no specific test to diagnose the common cold. Your doctor may order tests or X-rays to rule out certain illnesses, such as strep throat or pneumonia.
To diagnose the flu, doctors sometimes use a rapid influenza diagnostics test. (8) Swab samples from the nose or back of the throat are tested for influenza viral antigens. Test results are usually ready in less than 30 minutes, but they are not always accurate. There are other, more reliable flu tests that can be performed only in hospitals or specialized laboratories.
The duration of a cold or flu varies depending on the virus involved and the immune system’s ability to fight off infection. That’s why the very young, the elderly, and people with chronic illnesses are most susceptible to viral infections and possible complications.
Cold symptoms typically subside within 7 to 10 days, while the flu may last up to two weeks. Even after most symptoms subside, some, like fatigue, can linger for several days more.
“The best weapon we have is our own immune system,” says Donald W. Novey, MD, a family and integrative medicine specialist in Poulsbo, Washington. Good nutrition, adequate sleep and exercise, and low levels of stress can bolster the immune system. “A failure on any one of these four points can weaken the immune system and either prolong an existing cold or lead to more frequent ones,” Dr. Novey says.
There is no cure for either the flu or the common cold. There are over-the-counter options that can ease throat pain and cough, decongest the nose and sinuses, and lessen body aches and headaches.
Cold medicines and pain relievers can have side effects and pose health risks, especially for people who have preexisting conditions such as high blood pressure. The Mayo Clinic cautions that children and teenagers with flu-like symptoms should never take aspirin for pain or fever, because it has been linked to the potentially life-threatening condition Reye syndrome. (9)
Prescription antiviral drugs can be used to treat the flu. According to the CDC, when taken within two days of the appearance of flu symptoms, these drugs can shorten the time you are sick. (10) They can help high-risk patients avoid more serious flu-related complications.
There are four U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)–approved antiviral drugs recommended by the CDC: oseltamivir (Tamiflu), peramivir, zanamivir (Relenza Diskhaler), and baloxavir marboxil (Xofluza).
To avoid getting the flu in the first place, the CDC recommends that everyone 6 months and older get a flu vaccine every year. These vaccines protect against the viruses that public health officials anticipate will be most common during the upcoming flu season.
“The best tool to prevent the flu is getting the vaccine. It’s not perfect, but it’s the most effective thing we have,” says Carol Baker, MD, a pediatric infectious disease specialist in Houston.
Common cold symptoms typically develop about one to three days after exposure to cold-causing viruses.
These viruses can be spread through the air, personal contact, and respiratory secretions — things such as a handshake, touching contaminated objects, and exposure to an infected person’s sneezes or coughs.
"Most colds stem from viruses that are spread from person to person through close contact," says William Schaffner, MD, a professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville.
There is no vaccine to prevent the common cold, but practicing good hygiene can reduce the risk of illness or spreading viruses to others. The CDC recommends washing your hands often for at least 20 seconds at a time and not touching your eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands. (11)
Most common colds are not severe, but they can worsen or lead to health complications.
“Enteroviruses that are often the culprits in the common cold can cause brain lining inflammation that causes severe headaches, difficulty looking at bright lights, neck stiffness, high fever, and confusion,” says Cameron Wolfe, MBBS, an infectious-disease specialist at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina.
If cold or flu symptoms persist or worsen, the patient may have a secondary or bacterial infection. That can lead to sinus or ear infections, bronchitis, and pneumonia. The flu can also worsen preexisting medical problems, such as triggering asthma attacks in people with asthma.
Most people feel the effects of the common cold or flu every year. Between 5 and 20 percent of the U.S. population gets the flu annually. (12) Adults average two or three colds each year; and young children may get sick as many as 8 to 10 times a year before they turn 2. (13)
There is a wealth of data available to track seasonal flu activity, including the CDC and World Health Organization websites, as well as local public health offices. There are also resources providing general information about colds and influenza viruses — from risk factors, prevention, and diagnosis to treatment.
The Everyday Health flu map predicts flu severity county by county across the United States so you can plan ahead and take precautions to avoid the flu — both at home and in places where you plan to travel.
By entering your zip code, you can find out what influenza conditions may be like in your county in the weeks ahead.
ACOG’s website Immunization for Women prioritizes providing patients and healthcare providers with a trusted source for the most up-to-date recommendations and guidelines on treating seasonal influenza and other vaccine-preventable diseases. It also provides a searchable ob-gyn directory.
The CDC’s website presents weekly updates on flu activity nationwide. The site details how the flu may be spreading in each state and which strains of the virus are most prominent. It also contains useful guidelines for the most current treatments and vaccinations.
Founded in 1973, the NFID is a nonprofit dedicated to educating the public and healthcare providers about infectious diseases. Its influenza web page provides basic information about the flu and links to sections about influenza in vulnerable segments of the population, such as children and the elderly.
Thanks to this search function on the CDC's website, you can locate your state health department, which can then help you find direct access to your county’s health department. Your local health department will likely provide updated information on flu activity in your area, as well as information on how to access vaccinations.
The WHO’s global influenza website provides worldwide surveillance information on flu outbreaks and what prevention efforts are taking place. It also provides information from its conferences regarding future strategies to combat the flu.
The CDC’s flu vaccine page provides up-to-date information on approved influenza vaccines, along with potential side effects.
This independent nonprofit provides extensive information on vaccine science and includes research on the effectiveness of specific vaccines.
This U.S. Department of Health and Human Services site educates the public on various vaccine-preventable illnesses, including influenza. The flu section of the site includes basic information about the flu vaccine and a search tool to help you find places to get vaccinated in your area.
The website offers information that will help you determine whether your symptoms are related to a cold and when you need to see a doctor, and offers preventive tips that may help you avoid getting sick.
The common cold section of the MedlinePlus website provides comprehensive information on the causes and symptoms of the common cold, as well as links to information on how to determine whether you are suffering from a cold, the flu, or an allergy. It also includes information on potential treatments and therapies.
This American Academy of Pediatrics site focuses on how to identify flu symptoms in your children, the potential treatments, and preventive tips.
This website’s flu section offers basic educational and preventive information on keeping your family healthy and how to treat a child’s flu symptoms.
The KidsHealth site also has a page dedicated to providing general information on common cold treatments for kids and potential complications.
The CDC’s FluView app allows you to track flu activity by region, which can also be helpful if you plan on traveling.
Type in your location, your reason for seeing a doctor, and your insurance carrier and Zocdoc will help you book a doctor’s appointment in your area.
Find more apps to help you fight the flu here. | <urn:uuid:a069a957-e98c-418c-813b-7d982b312719> | CC-MAIN-2020-24 | https://www.everydayhealth.com/flu/guide/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-24/segments/1590348492295.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20200604223445-20200605013445-00555.warc.gz | en | 0.943928 | 2,968 | 3.734375 | 4 |
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released oil and natural gas air pollution standards on April 17, 2012. These standards are a combination of court-mandated regulations for the oil and gas industry covering both New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) and National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants. The regulations target the emission of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), sulfur dioxide, and air toxics, but they will have significant co-benefits reducing emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. By requiring the use of a process known as "green completion" these are the first federal regulations to specifically require emission reductions from new or modified hydraulically-fractured natural gas wells.
The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to regulate pollution from new, modified and reconstructed facilities through the NSPS program, established in Sec. 111 of the Act. NSPS are rate-based standards which apply to specific categories of stationary sources. The Clean Air Act also requires EPA to regulate hazardous air pollutants, through the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants program established in Sec. 112 of the Act.
Together, these rules will require the use of "green completions" at drilling sites, a step already mandated by some jurisdictions and voluntarily undertaken by many companies. EPA estimates that this proven, cost-effective technology is currently used at roughly half of the fractured natural gas wells recently drilled throughout the country. In a green completion, special equipment separates hydrocarbons from the "flowback" that comes from the well as it is being prepared for production. This step allows collection and sale of the natural gas that would otherwise be released as waste.
The NSPS regulates VOC emissions from oil and gas production and processing facilities, including gas wells (including hydraulically fractured wells), compressors, pneumatic controllers, storage vessels, and leaking components at onshore natural gas processing plants. It also regulates (SO2) emissions from onshore natural gas processing plants. The MACT component adds regulation for glycol dehydration unit process vents used in well production and updates leak detection and repair requirements for all equipment. The final standards apply to facilities that commence construction, reconstruction or modification after August 23, 2011, estimated to be 11,000 wells per year. The green completion requirement will be phased in, with flaring allowed as an alternative compliance mechanism until January 1, 2015.
Exploratory, delineation and low-pressure wells are exempt from green completion requirements, but are required to flare waste gases instead, which eliminates VOC emissions and combusts methane.
EPA estimates that this regulation will improve air quality by directly reducing emissions of certain air pollutants:
The green completions required under these standards will have a co-benefit of reducing emissions of methane a potent greenhouse gas by 1 million to 1.7 million short tons annual, or about 19 to 33 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
Methane is a short-lived climate pollutant, with 37 times the radiative forcing of CO2 and with an atmospheric lifespan of only 12 years. Short-lived climate pollutants such methane, black carbon and hydrofluorocarbons account for roughly 30 to 40 percent of global warming to date. Targeted efforts to reduce these emissions can slow the pace of global warming and moderate climate impacts already underway, including the melting of sea ice and glaciers. These co-benefits are significant as the oil and gas industry is the largest source of domestic methane emissions, accounting for 40 percent of U.S. emissions of this potent greenhouse gas.
EPA's analysis of the rules shows a cost savings of $11 million to $19 million when the rules are fully implemented in 2015. These net savings result from the capture and sale of natural gas that would otherwise be vented to the air.
The first NSPS for oil and natural gas facilities for VOCs and SO2 were issued in 1985, while the MACT requirements were issued in 1999. In 2009, litigation was initiated by environmental groups against the EPA for failure to update these regulations. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a consent decree requiring EPA review of these standards by April 17, 2012. A proposed rule was released on July 28, 2011. The final rule was issued on the day of the final deadline, April 17, 2012, and a revised final rule was published on August 16, 2012. | <urn:uuid:080f5063-0f16-4f52-86f8-f2ec34712acb> | CC-MAIN-2015-40 | http://www.c2es.org/print/federal/executive/epa/oil-natural-gas-air-pollution-standards | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-40/segments/1443736678861.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20151001215758-00041-ip-10-137-6-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945182 | 894 | 3 | 3 |
If you want to write code for a PDP11 CPU or PDP11 machine, you need some environment to do so. I have only parts of a PDP11 machine and cannot simply use this to write code. So I tried several ways:
- Using SIMH emulator to emulate a PDP11 machine, boot up some PDP11 Operating System (RT11) and use the available tools from that OS
- Using native Linux executables that allow for assemble and link valid PDP11 executables
- Using Gnu GCC toolchain for bare metal programming
The SIMH emulator way is described in this document further below. The two other paths are described in additional documents.
Using Linux tools to create, assemble and link PDP11 files
See assembler.html for further information
Using Gnu GCC toolchain for bare metal programming
See this document for further information
Using SIMH Emulator (and PDPs RT11 operating system) to create, assemble and link PDP11 files
Get SIMH from https://github.com/simh/simh.
Build only PDP incarnations, search for
ALL target in makefile and comment
all unneeded emulator incarnations.
Then start build with
make. Executables are created in directory
Set up an emulation that boots RT-11 operating system
To execute the MACRO-11 macro assembler from DEC, the operating system RT-11 can be used as base.
Install RT-11 as described here: http://decuser.blogspot.com/2015/12/tutorial-setting-up-rt-11-v53-on-simh.html The page has a link to an old RT-11 image and also the same can be found here http://simh.trailing-edge.com/software.html.
If you become confused with the strange editor “EDIT”, there is some help in this file https://fjkraan.home.xs4all.nl/comp/miniminc/rt11_edit.txt
After following the steps described in the blogpost-Link, the simulation can be started with:
My boot.ini has the content:
set cpu 11/23+ 256K set tto 8b attach LPT lpt.txt set rl0 writeenabled set rl0 rl02 attach rl0 RT-11_V5.3_BIN_RL02_WORKING set rl1 writeenabled set rl1 rl02 attach rl1 storage.dsk set rl1 badblock boot rl0
The decuser link mentioned has a nice hello world test to do the edit, assemble, link, run cycle for the first time Their hello world;
.TYPE HELLO.MAC .TITLE HELLO .MCALL .PRINT,.EXIT ; TELL ASSEMBLER I WANT THESE TWO FROM SYSMAC.SML START: .PRINT #HELLO ; CALL OS FUNCTION TO PRINT STRING, ADDRESS HELLO .EXIT ; CALL OS FUNCTION TO TERMINATE THE PROGRAM HELLO: .ASCIZ /HELLO, WORLD/ ; AN ASCII STRING ENDING WITH A ZERO BYTE .END START
PDP Assembler information
PDP11 Assembler Tutorial - https://www.chibiakumas.com/pdp11/
THE PDP-11 HOW-TO BOOK - http://www.skrenta.com/pdpbook.txt
RT11 Editor hints - https://fjkraan.home.xs4all.nl/comp/miniminc/rt11_edit.txt
RT–11 Quick Reference Manual | <urn:uuid:0413503a-bf90-4c2e-b081-42fd7076d00e> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://spurtikus.de/posts/comphist/pdp11-coding/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233506339.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20230922070214-20230922100214-00192.warc.gz | en | 0.728855 | 806 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Vulnerability is a universal aspect of the human condition, arising from our embodiment and our location within society and its institutions. On the individual level, vulnerability refers to the ever-present possibility of harm, injury or biological impairment or limitation. As human creations, institutions also are vulnerable to capture, cooptation and corruption. Neither manifestation of vulnerability can be eliminated completely, though one can take measures to mitigate or ameliorate harm. Vulnerability should not only be equated with harm, however. Properly understood, vulnerability also is generative and presents opportunities for innovation and growth, creativity and fulfillment. As embodied and vulnerable beings, we experience feelings such as love, respect, curiosity, amusement and desire that make us reach out to others, form relationships and build institutions. Both the negative and the positive possibilities inherent in vulnerability recognize the inescapable interrelationship and interdependence that mark human existence.
The Vulnerable Subject is a reconceptualized legal entity that is meant to replace the autonomous and independent liberal subject. When placed at the center of political and social endeavors, the Vulnerable Subject expands current ideas of state responsibility. It refocuses the relationship between the state and individuals upon the universal need for resilience, thereby legitimating claims calling for state responsibility to ensure meaningful access and opportunity to its institutions.
Resilience is a highly relational concept, emphasizing the importance of understanding individuals within institutions and in interaction with each other. The state and the societal institutions it brings into existence through law collectively play an important role in creating opportunities and options for addressing human vulnerability. Together and independently institutional systems, such as those of education, finance, and health, provide resources or assets that give individuals resilience in the face of our shared vulnerability. Assets or resources may take five forms: physical, human, social, ecological or environmental and existential. A responsive state, must ensure that its institutions provide meaningful access and opportunity to accumulate resources and that some individuals or groups of individuals are not unduly privileged, while others are disadvantaged.
A governing body. The manifestation of public authority and the ultimate legitimate repository of coercive powerMost readily visible through "branches" of government and in realms referred to as "public". The state also becomes manifest through complex institutional arrangements creating legal entities that operate in traditionally "private" realms. These include the family, domestic arrangements and the workplace.
Legal equality in the United States tends to focus on formal and procedural processes, and not on more substantive or outcome-sensitive measures of equality. Many programs focus on target groups, rather than provide universal benefits. The Vulnerability and the Human Condition Initiative is interested in finding ways to ensure meaningful and universal equality of access and opportunity that specifically takes into account the state's responsibility to address existing entrenched privilege and disadvantage, not just prohibited forms of discrimination. | <urn:uuid:d82ec317-e689-49ab-a347-3d79b5e8da2d> | CC-MAIN-2016-07 | http://web.gs.emory.edu/vulnerability/about/definitions.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-07/segments/1454701166141.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20160205193926-00104-ip-10-236-182-209.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93192 | 564 | 3.46875 | 3 |
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