Datasets:

PalladiumData
/

palladium-stem-preview-25k

url stringlengths 17 838	text stringlengths 509 588k	meta dict
http://sites.bu.edu/ombs/tag/lasers/	As a neuroscientist, one typically becomes accustomed to thinking outside of the “box.” After all, the brain is incredibly complex and cryptic, and some creative thought is required to develop methods to uncover its secrets. Francis Crick advised that the greatest hurdle standing in the way of neuroscience is the inability to specifically stimulate a single neuron without altering any of its surrounding cells. This daunting task appears to be a thing of fantasy when considering the innumerable intricate connections the brain is composed of. However, Harvard University’s Samuel Lab has made a reality out of a dream with their groundbreaking research involving transgenic C. elegans. Recently published in Nature, the research of Dr. Andrew M Leifer and his team utilizes a manipulatory optogentics technique called ColBeRT to control the nervous system of a worm with the light from a laser. Optogenetics is the methodology of employing genetics and visible light to manipulate the activity of living cells. In order for optogenetics to be applicable in the laboratory, the insertion of opsin genes, which encode for light sensitive proteins, into an organism’s genome is necessary. The activity of the resulting opsin-containing cells can be regulated by exposure to visible light. Relative to the work of Leifer et al., optogenetics provides a platform by which the genetically altered motor and sensory neurons of C. elegans can be controlled with the use of a precise laser. Why use C. elegans? According to Leifer et al., “the nematode C. elegans is particularly amenable to optogenetics owing to its optical transparency, compact nervous system and ease of genetic manipulation.” The ColBeRT (Controlling Locomotion and Behavior in Real-Time) technique, which was designed for the optogenetics research being done at The Samuel Lab, provides a way to specifically track a worm’s movement. A video camera with real-time feedback follows an illuminated and moving C. elegans under a dark field. The worm is placed on a motorized stage, which keeps the image of the organism centered in the camera’s view. Once the worm’s movement is recognized and registered by a specialized graphical user interface (GUI) software called MindControl, the image of the C. elegans is processed and the worm’s image is divided into 100 evenly spaced segments. From these segmented portions, specific target cells can be chosen, the locations of which are transferred to a DMD (digital micromirror device). This pattern is then projected onto the worm by the DMD, allowing for the illumination of the targeted points with a laser. This laser can precisely pinpoint the location of a specific target cell by a simple algorithm specifically designed for the movement analysis of C. elegans. The impressive spatial and temporal resolution (~50 frames per second) of the ColBeRT technique makes the system scientifically applicable and valid. The ColBeRT’s spatial resolution of ~30ms allowed Leifer et al. to utilize the technique for a number of manipulatory actions on their transgenic nematodes. When cholinergic motor neurons of transgenic C. elegans were exposed to laser light, forward motor movement was suppressed and either paralysis or backward movement of the worm was propagated. Similarily, single touch receptors of the worms were also genetically modified to be sensitive to light. In a normal worm, a gentle touch will stimulate these receptors, causing the worm to repel in the opposite direction of movement. In transgenic C. elegans, illuminating these specific receptors with the light from a laser was able to affect the direction of the worm’s movement, just as a physical stimulus would have. Even more astounding, HSNs (hermaphrodite specific neurons), which innervate the vulval region of C. elegans, were also able to be genetically modified and stimulated with light exposure. When a thin laser strip was shone on the HSN region of the worms, involuntary egg-laying was evoked. Although still in its beginning stages, the ColBeRT technique seems to be a promising solution to overcoming one of the primary difficulties standing in the way of neuroscience. ColBeRT not only highlights cell-to-cell interactions, but also identifies the precise actions of specific neurons, something that had never been thought possible in the past. As technology develops further, perhaps we will soon be able to manipulate the cells of more complex organisms and eventually, even mammals. Optogenetics and techniques like ColBeRT may be the key to discovering the subtleties of different neurons and could even potentially help map out the human brain. Single Worm Neurons Remotely Controlled with Lasers – Scientific American The Samuel Lab videos – Vimeo	{ "palladium_score": 3.704738140106201, "timestamp": "2026-01-18T07:31:35.164823", "source": "Palladium-STEM (Preview)" }
http://www.healthline.com/health/multiple-sclerosis?globalHeader=yes	Table of Contents: - Symptoms of MS - What Is Multiple Sclerosis? - Multiple Sclerosis Treatment - Early Signs of MS Part 1 of 11 What are the symptoms of MS? People with MS experience a wide range of symptoms. Due to the nature of the disease, it can vary widely from one person to another. The symptoms can change in severity from year to year, month to month, and even day to day. Two of the most common symptoms are fatigue and difficulty walking. About 80 percent of people with MS report having fatigue. Fatigue that occurs with MS is more than feeling tired. It can become debilitating, affecting your ability to work and perform everyday tasks. Difficulty walking can occur with MS for a number of reasons: - numbness of the legs or feet - difficulty balancing - muscle weakness - muscle spasticity Overwhelming fatigue can also contribute to the problem. Difficulty walking can lead to injuries due to falling. Other fairly common symptoms of MS include: - speech disorders - cognitive issues involving concentration, memory, and problem-solving skills - acute or chronic pain Part 2 of 11 What is multiple sclerosis? MS is a chronic illness involving the central nervous system. The immune system attacks myelin, which is the protective layer around nerve fibers. This causes inflammation and scar tissue, or lesions. This can make it hard for your brain to send signals to the rest of your body. Types of MS include: Relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) RRMS involves clear relapses of disease activity followed by remissions. Symptoms are mild or absent during remission, and there’s no disease progression during the remission period. RRMS is the most common form of MS at onset. Clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) CIS involves one episode of symptoms that are due to demyelination in the central nervous system. This episode must last for at least 24 hours. The two types of episodes are monofocal and multifocal. A monofocal episode means one lesion causes one symptom. A multifocal episode means you have more than one lesion and more than one symptom. Although these episodes are characteristic of MS, they aren’t enough to prompt a diagnosis. If lesions similar to those that occur with MS are present, you’re more likely to receive a diagnosis of RRMS. If these lesions aren’t present, you’re less likely to develop MS. Primary-progressive MS (PPMS) Neurological function becomes progressively worse from the onset of your symptoms if you have PPMS. However, short periods of stability can still occur. Progressive-relapsing MS was a term people previously used for progressive MS with clear relapses. People now call it PPMS. The words “active” and “not active” are used to describe disease activity. Secondary-progressive MS (SPMS) SPMS occurs when RRMS transitions into the progressive form. You may still have noticeable relapses, in addition to gradual worsening of function or disability. Part 3 of 11 Treatment for multiple sclerosis No cure is available for MS, but multiple treatment options exist. If you have relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), you can choose one of the disease-modifying drugs. These medications are designed to slow disease progression and lower your relapse rate. Self-injectable disease-modifying drugs include glatiramer (Copaxone, Glatopa) and beta interferons, such as: Oral medications for RRMS include: Intravenous infusion treatments for RRMS include: Disease-modifying drugs aren’t effective in treating progressive MS. Other treatments may ease your symptoms and improve your quality of life. Because the disease is different for everybody, treatment depends on your specific symptoms. For most people, a flexible approach is necessary. Part 4 of 11 Early signs of MS MS can develop all at once, or the symptoms can be so mild that you easily dismiss them. Any symptom can occur first. The following are three of the most common early symptoms of MS: - Strange sensations, such as numbness and tingling of the arms, legs, or one side of your face can occur. It’s similar to that of feeling of pins and needles you get when your foot falls asleep, but it occurs for no apparent reason. - Your balance may be a bit off, and your legs may feel week. You may find yourself tripping easily while walking or doing some other type of physical activity. - A bout of double vision, blurry vision, or partial vision loss can be an early indicator of MS. You could also have some eye pain. It isn’t uncommon for these early symptoms to go away only to return at a later date. You may go weeks, months, or even years between symptom flare-ups. These symptoms can have many different causes. If you have these symptoms, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have MS. Part 5 of 11 Your doctor will need to perform a neurological exam, a clinical history, and a series of other tests to determine if you have MS. Diagnostic testing may include the following: - MRI is the best imaging test for MS. Using a contrast dye allows the MRI to detect active and inactive lesions throughout the brain and spinal cord. - Evoked potentials require stimulation of nerve pathways to analyze electrical activity in the brain. The three types of evoked potentials doctors use to help diagnose MS are visual, brainstem, and sensory. - A spinal tap, or lumbar puncture, can help your doctor find abnormalities in your spinal fluid. It can help rule out infectious diseases. - Doctors use blood tests to eliminate other conditions with similar symptoms. The diagnosis of MS requires evidence of demyelination in more than one area of the brain, spinal cord, or optic nerves. That damage must have occurred at different times. It also requires ruling out other conditions that have similar symptoms. This includes Lyme disease, lupus, and Sjogren's syndrome. Part 6 of 11 What causes multiple sclerosis? If you have MS, the myelin in your body becomes damaged. Myelin is the protective layer that covers nerve fibers throughout the central nervous system. It’s thought that the damage is the result of an attack by the immune system. As your immune system attacks myelin, it causes inflammation. This leads to scar tissue, or lesions. All of that inflammation and scar tissue disrupts signals between the brain and other parts of your body. It isn’t clear what may cause the immune system to attack. Is MS hereditary? MS isn’t hereditary, but having a parent or sibling with MS raises your risk slightly. Genetics may play a role. Scientists have identified some genes that seem to increase susceptibility to developing MS. Researchers think there could be an environmental trigger such as a virus or toxin that sets off the immune system attack. Part 7 of 11 What is the prognosis for people with multiple sclerosis? It’s almost impossible to predict how MS will progress in any one person. About 10 to 15 percent of people with MS have only rare attacks and minimal disability ten years after diagnosis. It’s not a medical diagnosis, but this is sometimes called “benign MS.” Progressive MS generally advances faster than relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS). People with RRMS can be in remission for many years. A lack of disability after five years is usually a good indicator for the future. The disease generally progresses faster in men than in women. It may also progress faster in those who receive a diagnosis after age 40 and in those who have a high relapse rate. About half of people with MS use a cane or other form of assistance at 15 years after receiving an MS diagnosis. At 20 years, about 60 percent are still ambulatory and less than 15 percent need custodial care. Your quality of life will depend on your symptoms and how well you respond to treatment. Most people with MS don’t become severely disabled and continue to lead full lives. This unpredictable disease can change course without warning. It’s rarely fatal, and most people with MS have a lifespan that’s close to normal. Part 8 of 11 Living with MS Most people with MS find ways to manage their symptoms and function well. You’ll face unique challenges, and those can change over time. Many people with MS share their struggles and coping strategies through in-person or online support groups. Having MS means you’ll need to see a doctor experienced in treating MS. If you take one of the disease-modifying drugs, you’ll have to make sure you adhere to the recommended schedule. Your doctor may prescribe other medications to treat specific symptoms. A well-balanced diet, low in empty calories and high in nutrients and fiber, will help you manage your overall health. Regular exercise is important for physical and mental health, even if you have disabilities. If physical movement is difficult, swimming or exercising in a swimming pool can help. Yoga classes range from beginner to advanced levels, and some are designed just for people with MS. Studies regarding the effectiveness of complementary therapies are scarce, but that doesn’t mean they can’t help in some way. The following may help you feel less stressed and more relaxed: - tai chi - music therapy MS is a lifelong condition. You should focus on communicating concerns with your doctor, learning all you can about MS, and discovering what things make you feel your best. Part 9 of 11 Dietary recommendations for people with MS Diet hasn’t been shown to impact the nature of the disease, but it can help with some of the challenges. If you have fatigue, for instance, a diet high in fats and simple carbohydrates won’t help. The better your diet, the better your overall health. You’ll not only feel better in the short term, but you’ll be laying the foundation for a healthier future. Your diet should consist mainly of: - a variety of vegetables and fruits - lean sources of protein, such as fish and skinless poultry - whole grains and other sources of fiber - low-fat dairy products - adequate water and other fluids You should limit or avoid: - saturated fat - trans fat - red meats - foods and beverages high in sugar - foods high in sodium - highly processed foods Portion control can help you maintain a healthier weight. Read food labels. Foods that are high in calories but low in nutrients won’t help you feel better. If you have coexisting conditions, ask your doctor if you should follow a special diet or take any dietary supplements. Part 10 of 11 Statistics about MS MS is the most widespread neurological condition disabling young adults worldwide. About 400,000 people in the United States have MS, though that’s only an estimate. Doctors in the United States aren’t required to report MS to any agency. According to the National MS Society, there hasn’t been a scientifically sound, national study on the prevalence of MS in the United States since 1975. Most people are between the ages of 20 and 40 when their doctor diagnoses them with MS. Women develop MS 2 to 3 times more often than men, a difference that has grown steadily for five decades. MS is more common among Caucasians of northern European ancestry than other ethnic groups. Rates of MS tend to be lower in places that are closer to the equator. The rates of MS are higher in places farther away from the equator. This may have to do with sunlight and vitamin D. People who relocate to a new location before age 15 generally acquire the risk factors associated with the new location. Part 11 of 11 What are the effects of MS? The lesions from MS can appear anywhere in the central nervous system. This means they can affect any part of your body. One of the most common symptoms of MS is fatigue, but it’s not uncommon for people with MS to also have: - some degree of cognitive impairment As you age, some disabilities from MS may become more pronounced. If you have mobility issues, you may be at an increased risk for bone fractures and breaks due to falls. Mobility issues can also lead to a lack of physical activity, which can lead to other health problems. Fatigue and mobility issues may also have an impact on sexual function. Having other conditions such as arthritis and osteoporosis can complicate matters. - About multiple sclerosis. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://multiplesclerosis.ucsf.edu/education_and_support/about_multiple_sclerosis - Adelman, G., Rane, S. G., & Villa, K. F. (2013, March 7). The cost burden of multiple sclerosis in the United States: A systematic review of the literature. Journal of Medical Economics, 16(5) 639-647. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23425293 - Apatoff, B. Multiple sclerosis (MS). (2014, March). Retrieved from http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/neurologic-disorders/demyelinating-disorders/multiple-sclerosis-(ms) - Hartung, D. M., Bourdette, D. N., Ahmed, S. M., & Whitham, R. H. The cost of multiple sclerosis drugs in the US and the pharmaceutical industry. (2015, May 26). Neurology, 84(21) 2185-2192. Retrieved from http://www.neurology.org/content/84/21/2185.full - Marrie, R. A., & Hanwell, H. General health issues in multiple sclerosis: Comorbidities, secondary conditions, and health behaviors. (2013, August 19). Continuum, 1046-1057. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23917100 - Mayo Clinic staff. Multiple sclerosis. Treatment. (2015, October 1). Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/multiple-sclerosis/diagnosis-treatment/treatment/txc-20131903 - MS prevalence. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nationalmssociety.org/About-the-Society/MS-Prevalence - MS symptoms. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nationalmssociety.org/Symptoms-Diagnosis/MS-Symptoms - Multiple sclerosis and nutrition. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://my.clevelandclinic.org/ccf/media/files/Multiple_sclerosis_center/2 MS and Nutrition.pdf - Multiple sclerosis in brief. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://msfocus.org/Facts-About-MS.aspx - Multiple sclerosis FAQs. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nationalmssociety.org/What-is-MS/MS-FAQ-s - Progressive-relapsing MS. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nationalmssociety.org/What-is-MS/Types-of-MS/Progressive-relapsing-MS - Types of MS. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.nationalmssociety.org/What-is-MS/Types-of-MS - Wellness for people with MS: What do we know about diet, exercise and mood and what do we still need to learn? (2015, March). Retrieved from http://www.nationalmssociety.org/NationalMSSociety/media/MSNationalFiles/Brochures/WellnessMSSocietyforPeoplewMS.pdf - What causes multiple sclerosis? (2009, July). Retrieved from http://msfocus.org/causes-multiple-sclerosis.aspx - Who gets MS? (Epidemiology). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nationalmssociety.org/What-is-MS/Who-Gets-MS	{ "palladium_score": 3.5077059268951416, "timestamp": "2026-01-18T07:31:35.164823", "source": "Palladium-STEM (Preview)" }
http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/5/introduction/	In Grade 5, instructional time should focus on three critical areas: (1) developing fluency with addition and subtraction of fractions, and developing understanding of the multiplication of fractions and of division of fractions in limited cases (unit fractions divided by whole numbers and whole numbers divided by unit fractions); (2) extending division to 2-digit divisors, integrating decimal fractions into the place value system and developing understanding of operations with decimals to hundredths, and developing fluency with whole number and decimal operations; and (3) developing understanding of volume. - Students apply their understanding of fractions and fraction models to represent the addition and subtraction of fractions with unlike denominators as equivalent calculations with like denominators. They develop fluency in calculating sums and differences of fractions, and make reasonable estimates of them. Students also use the meaning of fractions, of multiplication and division, and the relationship between multiplication and division to understand and explain why the procedures for multiplying and dividing fractions make sense. (Note: this is limited to the case of dividing unit fractions by whole numbers and whole numbers by unit fractions.) - Students develop understanding of why division procedures work based on the meaning of base-ten numerals and properties of operations. They finalize fluency with multi-digit addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. They apply their understandings of models for decimals, decimal notation, and properties of operations to add and subtract decimals to hundredths. They develop fluency in these computations, and make reasonable estimates of their results. Students use the relationship between decimals and fractions, as well as the relationship between finite decimals and whole numbers (i.e., a finite decimal multiplied by an appropriate power of 10 is a whole number), to understand and explain why the procedures for multiplying and dividing finite decimals make sense. They compute products and quotients of decimals to hundredths efficiently and accurately. - Students recognize volume as an attribute of three-dimensional space. They understand that volume can be measured by finding the total number of same-size units of volume required to fill the space without gaps or overlaps. They understand that a 1-unit by 1-unit by 1-unit cube is the standard unit for measuring volume. They select appropriate units, strategies, and tools for solving problems that involve estimating and measuring volume. They decompose three-dimensional shapes and find volumes of right rectangular prisms by viewing them as decomposed into layers of arrays of cubes. They measure necessary attributes of shapes in order to determine volumes to solve real world and mathematical problems. Grade 5 Overview Operations and Algebraic Thinking - Write and interpret numerical expressions. - Analyze patterns and relationships. Number and Operations in Base Ten - Understand the place value system. - Perform operations with multi-digit whole numbers and with decimals to hundredths. Number and Operations—Fractions - Use equivalent fractions as a strategy to add and subtract fractions. - Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication and division to multiply and divide fractions. Measurement and Data - Convert like measurement units within a given measurement system. - Represent and interpret data. - Geometric measurement: understand concepts of volume and relate volume to multiplication and to addition. - Graph points on the coordinate plane to solve real-world and mathematical problems. - Classify two-dimensional figures into categories based on their properties. - Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. - Reason abstractly and quantitatively. - Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. - Model with mathematics. - Use appropriate tools strategically. - Attend to precision. - Look for and make use of structure. - Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.	{ "palladium_score": 4.202691555023193, "timestamp": "2026-01-18T07:31:37.579201", "source": "Palladium-STEM (Preview)" }
http://affordsolartech.com/wind-generators-for-sale.html	Renewable electricity production, from sources such as wind power and solar power, is sometimes criticized for being variable or intermittent, but is not true for concentrated solar, geothermal and biofuels, that have continuity. In any case, the International Energy Agency has stated that deployment of renewable technologies usually increases the diversity of electricity sources and, through local generation, contributes to the flexibility of the system and its resistance to central shocks. Compact Linear Fresnel Reflectors are CSP-plants which use many thin mirror strips instead of parabolic mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto two tubes with working fluid. This has the advantage that flat mirrors can be used which are much cheaper than parabolic mirrors, and that more reflectors can be placed in the same amount of space, allowing more of the available sunlight to be used. Concentrating linear fresnel reflectors can be used in either large or more compact plants. A Wind Turbine Generator is what makes your electricity by converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. Lets be clear here, they do not create energy or produce more electrical energy than the amount of mechanical energy being used to spin the rotor blades. The greater the “load”, or electrical demand placed on the generator, the more mechanical force is required to turn the rotor. This is why generators come in different sizes and produce differing amounts of electricity. However, it has been found that high emissions are associated only with shallow reservoirs in warm (tropical) locales, and recent innovations in hydropower turbine technology are enabling efficient development of low-impact run-of-the-river hydroelectricity projects. Generally speaking, hydroelectric plants produce much lower life-cycle emissions than other types of generation. Hydroelectric power, which underwent extensive development during growth of electrification in the 19th and 20th centuries, is experiencing resurgence of development in the 21st century. The areas of greatest hydroelectric growth are the booming economies of Asia. China is the development leader; however, other Asian nations are installing hydropower at a rapid pace. This growth is driven by much increased energy costs—especially for imported energy—and widespread desires for more domestically produced, clean, renewable, and economical generation. Alternatively, SRECs allow for a market mechanism to set the price of the solar generated electricity subsity. In this mechanism, a renewable energy production or consumption target is set, and the utility (more technically the Load Serving Entity) is obliged to purchase renewable energy or face a fine (Alternative Compliance Payment or ACP). The producer is credited for an SREC for every 1,000 kWh of electricity produced. If the utility buys this SREC and retires it, they avoid paying the ACP. In principle this system delivers the cheapest renewable energy, since the all solar facilities are eligible and can be installed in the most economic locations. Uncertainties about the future value of SRECs have led to long-term SREC contract markets to give clarity to their prices and allow solar developers to pre-sell and hedge their credits. Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV), indirectly using concentrated solar power, or a combination. Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic effect.	{ "palladium_score": 3.6698694229125977, "timestamp": "2026-01-18T07:31:37.579201", "source": "Palladium-STEM (Preview)" }
https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/impact-of-extra-terrestrial-glycine-delivery-could-have-created-nucleobase-precursors/3010579.article	Quantum simulations show that comets and other celestial bodies may have not only delivered building blocks for life to Earth, but also synthesised them on impact Researchers from the US have discovered that exposing glycine solutions to sudden heat and pressure – 3000K and 48GPa to mimic a comet impacting Earth – can yield carbon-rich structures, including prebiotically-important nitrogen-containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (NPAHs).1 Glycine is a proteinogenic amino acid – one of 22 that are incorporated biosynthetically into proteins during translation. It is also the simplest amino acid and has been identified on comets such as 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.2 Now, Matthew Kroonblawd and colleagues at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have used semi-empirical quantum simulations to understand what happens when glycine-rich icy materials crash into a planetary surface. The study modelled 10 solutions of glycine under hot and compressed conditions, followed by rapid expansion and cool down periods. They produced a variety of small organic products and NPAHs with different functionalities such as carboxyl, amine and alcohol groups, as well as aromatic heterocycles like furans and pyrroles. NPAHs are important precursors to nucleobases. The researchers say their findings support an alternative pathway to circumstellar gas-phase radical reactions for creating NPAHs. It also verifies that prebiotic molecules carried by comets can not only survive an impact, but also react under such extreme conditions to produce a diverse series of organic products, adding to theories of how life came to exist on Earth.	{ "palladium_score": 3.740046262741089, "timestamp": "2026-01-18T07:31:37.579201", "source": "Palladium-STEM (Preview)" }
https://restorationchristianculture.org/speaker/jean-jacques-rousseau/	Jean-Jacques Rousseau, (born June 28, 1712, Geneva, Switzerland—died July 2, 1778, Ermenonville, France), Swiss-born philosopher, writer, and political theorist whose treatises and novels inspired the leaders of the French Revolution and the Romantic generation. Rousseau was the least academic of modern philosophers and in many ways was the most influential. His thought marked the end of the Age of Reason. He propelled political and ethical thinking into new channels. His reforms revolutionized taste, first in music, then in the other arts. He had a profound impact on people’s way of life; he taught parents to take a new interest in their children and to educate them differently; he furthered the expression of emotion rather than polite restraint in friendship and love. He introduced the cult of religious sentiment among people who had discarded religious dogma. He opened people’s eyes to the beauties of nature, and he made liberty an object of almost universal aspiration. Rousseau’s mother died in childbirth, and he was brought up by his father, who taught him to believe that the city of his birth was a republic as splendid as Sparta or ancient Rome. Rousseau senior had an equally glorious image of his own importance; after marrying above his modest station as a watchmaker, he got into trouble with the civil authorities by brandishing the sword that his upper-class pretentions prompted him to wear, and he had to leave Geneva to avoid imprisonment. Rousseau, the son, then lived for six years as a poor relation in his mother’s family, patronized and humiliated, until he, too, at the age of 16, fled from Geneva to live the life of an adventurer and a Roman Catholic convert in the kingdoms of Sardinia and France. Rousseau was fortunate in finding in the province of Savoy a benefactor, the baroness de Warens, who provided him with a refuge in her home and employed him as her steward. She also furthered his education to such a degree that the boy who had arrived on her doorstep as a stammering apprentice who had never been to school developed into a philosopher, a man of letters, and a musician. Mme de Warens, who thus transformed the adventurer into a philosopher, was herself an adventuress—a Swiss convert to Catholicism who had stripped her husband of his money before fleeing to Savoy with the gardener’s son to set herself up as a Catholic missionary specializing in the conversion of young male Protestants. Her morals distressed Rousseau, even when he became her lover. But she was a woman of taste, intelligence, and energy, who brought out in Rousseau just the talents that were needed to conquer Paris at a time when Voltaire had made radical ideas fashionable. Rousseau reached Paris when he was 30 and was lucky enough to meet another young man from the provinces seeking literary fame in the capital, Denis Diderot. The two soon became immensely successful as the centre of a group of intellectuals—or philosophes—who gathered round the great French Encyclopédie, of which Diderot was appointed editor. The Encyclopédie was an important organ of radical and anticlerical opinion, and its contributors were as much reforming and even iconoclastic pamphleteers as they were philosophers. Rousseau, the most original of them all in his thinking and the most forceful and eloquent in his style of writing, was soon also the most conspicuous. He wrote music as well as prose, and one of his operas, Le Devin du village (1752; “The Village Soothsayer”), attracted so much admiration from the king (Louis XV) and the court that he might have enjoyed an easy life as a fashionable composer, but something in his Calvinist blood rejected that type of worldly glory. Indeed, at the age of 37 Rousseau had what he called an “illumination” while walking to Vincennes to visit Diderot, who had been imprisoned there because of his irreligious writings. In the Confessions (1782–89), which he wrote late in life, Rousseau says that it came to him then in a “terrible flash” that modern progress had corrupted people instead of improving them. He went on to write his first important work, a prize essay for the Academy of Dijon entitled Discours sur les sciences et les arts (1750; A Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts), in which he argues that the history of human life on earth has been a history of decay. That work is by no means Rousseau’s best piece of writing, but its central theme was to inform almost everything else he wrote. Throughout his life he kept returning to the thought that people are good by nature but have been corrupted by society and civilization. He did not mean to suggest that society and civilization are inherently bad but rather that both had taken a wrong direction and become more harmful as they became more sophisticated. That idea in itself was not unfamiliar in Rousseau’s time. Many Roman Catholic writers, for example, deplored the direction that European culture had taken since the Middle Ages. They shared the hostility toward progress that Rousseau had expressed. What they did not share was his belief that people are naturally good. It was, however, just that belief that Rousseau made the cornerstone of his argument. Rousseau may well have received the inspiration for that belief from Mme de Warens; for although she had become a communicant of the Roman Catholic Church, she retained—and transmitted to Rousseau—much of the sentimental optimism about human purity that she had herself absorbed as a child from the mystical Protestant Pietists who were her teachers in the canton of Bern. At all events, the idea of human goodness, as Rousseau developed it, set him apart from both conservatives and radicals. Even so, for several years after the publication of his first Discourse, he remained a close collaborator in Diderot’s essentially progressive enterprise, the Encyclopédie, and an active contributor to its pages. His speciality there was music, and it was in this sphere that he first established his influence as a reformer. Controversy With Rameau The arrival of an Italian opera company in Paris in 1752 to perform works of opera buffa (comic opera) by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Alessandro Scarlatti, Leonardo Vinci, and other such composers suddenly divided the French music-loving public into two excited camps, supporters of the new Italian opera and supporters of the traditional French opera. The philosophes of the Encyclopédie—Jean Le Rond d’Alembert, Diderot, and Paul-Henri Dietrich, baron d’Holbach among them—entered the fray as champions of Italian music, but Rousseau, who had arranged for the publication of Pergolesi’s music in Paris and who knew more about the subject than most Frenchmen after the months he had spent visiting the opera houses of Venice during his time as secretary to the French ambassador to the doge in 1743–44, emerged as the most-forceful and effective combatant. He was the only one to direct his fire squarely at the leading living exponent of French operatic music, Jean-Philippe Rameau. Rousseau and Rameau must at that time have seemed unevenly matched in a controversy about music. Rameau, already in his 70th year, was not only a prolific and successful composer but was also, as the author of the celebrated Traité de l’harmonie (1722; Treatise on Harmony) and other technical works, Europe’s leading musicologist. Rousseau, by contrast, was 30 years younger, a newcomer to music, with no professional training and only one successful opera to his credit. His scheme for a new notation for music had been rejected by the Academy of Sciences, and most of his musical entries for Diderot’s Encyclopédie were as yet unpublished. Yet the dispute was not only musical but also philosophical, and Rameau was confronted with a more-formidable adversary than he had realized. Rousseau built his case for the superiority of Italian music over French on the principle that melody must have priority over harmony, whereas Rameau based his on the assertion that harmony must have priority over melody. By pleading for melody, Rousseau introduced what later came to be recognized as a characteristic idea of Romanticism, namely, that in art the free expression of the creative spirit is more important than strict adherence to formal rules and traditional procedures. By pleading for harmony, Rameau reaffirmed the first principle of French Classicism, namely, that conformity to rationally intelligible rules is a necessary condition of art, the aim of which is to impose order on the chaos of human experience. In music, Rousseau was a liberator. He argued for freedom in music, and he pointed to the Italian composers as models to be followed. In doing so he had more success than Rameau; he changed people’s attitudes. Christoph Willibald Gluck, who succeeded Rameau as the most-important operatic composer in France, acknowledged his debt to Rousseau’s teaching, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart based the text for his one-act operetta Bastien und Bastienne (Bastien and Bastienne) on Rousseau’s Le Devin du village. European music had taken a new direction. But Rousseau himself composed no more operas. Despite the success of Le Devin du village, or rather because of its success, Rousseau felt that, as a moralist who had decided to make a break with worldly values, he could not allow himself to go on working for the theatre. He decided to devote his energies henceforth to literature and philosophy. Major Works Of Political Philosophy As part of what Rousseau called his “reform,” or improvement of his own character, he began to look back at some of the austere principles that he had learned as a child in the Calvinist republic of Geneva. Indeed, he decided to return to that city, repudiate his Catholicism, and seek readmission to the Protestant church. He had in the meantime acquired a mistress, an illiterate laundry maid named Thérèse Levasseur. To the surprise of his friends, he took her with him to Geneva, presenting her as a nurse. Although her presence caused some murmurings, Rousseau was readmitted easily to the Calvinist communion, his literary fame having made him very welcome to a city that prided itself as much on its culture as on its morals. Rousseau had by that time completed a second Discourse in response to a question set by the Academy of Dijon: “What is the origin of the inequality among men and is it justified by natural law?” In response to that challenge he produced a masterpiece of speculative anthropology. The argument follows on that of his first Discourse by developing the proposition that people are naturally good and then tracing the successive stages by which they have descended from primitive innocence to corrupt sophistication. Rousseau begins his Discours sur l’origine de l’inegalité (1755; Discourse on the Origin of Inequality) by distinguishing two kinds of inequality, natural and artificial, the first arising from differences in strength, intelligence, and so forth, the second from the conventions that govern societies. It is the inequalities of the latter sort that he set out to explain. Adopting what he thought the properly “scientific” method of investigating origins, he attempts to reconstruct the earliest phases of human life on earth. He suggests that original humans were not social beings but entirely solitary, and to that extent he agrees with Thomas Hobbes’s account of the state of nature. But in contrast to the English pessimist’s view that human life in such a condition must have been “poor, nasty, brutish, and short,” Rousseau claims that original humans, although admittedly solitary, were healthy, happy, good, and free. Human vices, he argued, date from the time when societies were formed. Rousseau thus exonerates nature and blames society. He says that passions that generate vices hardly existed in the state of nature but began to develop as soon as people formed societies. He goes on to suggest that societies started when people built their first huts, a development that facilitated cohabitation of males and females; that in turn produced the habit of living as a family and associating with neighbours. That “nascent society,” as Rousseau calls it, was good while it lasted; it was indeed the “golden age” of human history. Only it did not endure. With the tender passion of love there was also born the destructive passion of jealousy. Neighbours started to compare their abilities and achievements with one another, and that “marked the first step towards inequality and at the same time towards vice.” People started to demand consideration and respect. Their innocent self-love turned into culpable pride, as each person wanted to be better than everyone else. The introduction of property marked a further step toward inequality, since it made law and government necessary as a means of protecting it. Rousseau laments the “fatal” concept of property in one of his more-eloquent passages, describing the “horrors” that have resulted from the departure from a condition in which the earth belonged to no one. Those passages in his second Discourse excited later revolutionaries such as Karl Marx and Vladimir Ilich Lenin, but Rousseau himself did not think that the past could be undone in any way. There was no point in dreaming of a return to the golden age. Civil society, as Rousseau describes it, comes into being to serve two purposes: to provide peace for everyone and to ensure the right to property for anyone lucky enough to have possessions. It is thus of some advantage to everyone, but mostly to the advantage of the rich, since it transforms their de facto ownership into rightful ownership and keeps the poor dispossessed. It is a somewhat fraudulent social contract that introduces government, since the poor get so much less out of it than do the rich. Even so, the rich are no happier in civil society than are the poor because people in society are never satisfied. Society leads people to hate one another to the extent that their interests conflict, and the best they are able to do is to hide their hostility behind a mask of courtesy. Thus, Rousseau regards inequality not as a separate problem but as one of the features of the long process by which men become alienated from nature and from innocence. In the dedication Rousseau wrote for the second Discourse, in order to present it to the republic of Geneva, he nevertheless praised that city-state for having achieved the ideal balance between “the equality which nature established among men and the inequality which they have instituted among themselves.” The arrangement he discerned in Geneva was one in which the best persons were chosen by the citizens and put in the highest positions of authority. Like Plato, Rousseau always believed that a just society was one in which everyone was in his proper place. And having written the second Discourse to explain how people had lost their liberty in the past, he went on to write another book, Du Contrat social (1762; The Social Contract), to suggest how they might recover their liberty in the future. Again Geneva was the model: not Geneva as it had become in 1754 when Rousseau returned there to recover his rights as a citizen, but Geneva as it had once been—i.e., Geneva as Calvin had designed it. The Social Contract begins with the sensational opening sentence: “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains,” and proceeds to argue that men need not be in chains. If a civil society, or state, could be based on a genuine social contract, as opposed to the fraudulent social contract depicted in the Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, people would receive in exchange for their independence a better kind of freedom, namely true political, or republican, liberty. Such liberty is to be found in obedience to a self-imposed law. Rousseau’s definition of political liberty raises an obvious problem. For while it can be readily agreed that an individual is free if he obeys only rules he prescribes for himself, this is so because an individual is a person with a single will. A society, by contrast, is a set of persons with a set of individual wills, and conflict between separate wills is a fact of universal experience. Rousseau’s response to the problem is to define civil society as an artificial person united by a general will, or volonté générale. The social contract that brings society into being is a pledge, and the society remains in being as a pledged group. Rousseau’s republic is a creation of the general will—of a will that never falters in each and every member to further the public, common, or national interest—even though it may conflict at times with personal interest. Rousseau sounds very much like Hobbes when he says that under the pact by which people enter civil society everyone totally alienates himself and all his rights to the whole community. Rousseau, however, represents this act as a form of exchange of rights whereby people give up natural rights in return for civil rights. The bargain is a good one, because what is surrendered are rights of dubious value, whose realization depends solely on an individual’s own might, and what is obtained in return are rights that are both legitimate and enforced by the collective force of the community. There is no more haunting paragraph in The Social Contract than that in which Rousseau speaks of “forcing a man to be free.” But it would be wrong to interpret these words in the manner of those critics who see Rousseau as a prophet of modern totalitarianism. He does not claim that a whole society can be forced to be free but only that an occasional individual, who is enslaved by his passions to the extent of disobeying the law, can be restored by force to obedience to the voice of the general will that exists inside of him. The person who is coerced by society for a breach of the law is, in Rousseau’s view, being brought back to an awareness of his own true interests. For Rousseau there is a radical dichotomy between true law and actual law. Actual law, which he described in the Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, simply protects the status quo. True law, as described in The Social Contract, is just law, and what ensures its being just is that it is made by the people in their collective capacity as sovereign and obeyed by the same people in their individual capacities as subjects. Rousseau is confident that such laws could not be unjust because it is inconceivable that any people would make unjust laws for itself. Rousseau is, however, troubled by the fact that the majority of a people does not necessarily represent its most-intelligent citizens. Indeed, he agrees with Plato that most people are stupid. Thus, the general will, while always morally sound, is sometimes mistaken. Hence Rousseau suggests the people need a lawgiver—a great mind like Solon or Lycurgus or Calvin—to draw up a constitution and system of laws. He even suggests that such lawgivers need to claim divine inspiration in order to persuade the dim-witted multitude to accept and endorse the laws it is offered. That suggestion echoes a similar proposal by Niccolò Machiavelli, a political theorist whom Rousseau greatly admired and whose love of republican government he shared. An even more conspicuously Machiavellian influence can be discerned in Rousseau’s chapter on civil religion, where he argues that Christianity, despite its truth, is useless as a republican religion on the grounds that it is directed to the unseen world and does nothing to teach citizens the virtues that are needed in the service of the state, namely, courage, virility, and patriotism. Rousseau does not go so far as Machiavelli in proposing a revival of pagan cults, but he does propose a civil religion with minimal theological content designed to fortify and not impede (as Christianity impedes) the cultivation of martial virtues. It is understandable that the authorities of Geneva, profoundly convinced that the national church of their little republic was at the same time a truly Christian church and a nursery of patriotism, reacted angrily against that chapter in Rousseau’s Social Contract. By the year 1762, however, when The Social Contract was published, Rousseau had given up any thought of settling in Geneva. After recovering his citizen’s rights in 1754, he had returned to Paris and the company of his friends around the Encyclopédie. But he became increasingly ill at ease in such worldly society and began to quarrel with his fellow philosophes. An article for the Encyclopédie on the subject of Geneva, written by d’Alembert at Voltaire’s instigation, upset Rousseau partly by suggesting that the pastors of the city had lapsed from Calvinist severity into unitarian laxity and partly by proposing that a theatre should be erected there. Rousseau hastened into print with a defense of the Calvinist orthodoxy of the pastors and with an elaborate attack on the theatre as an institution that could only do harm to an innocent community such as Geneva. Years Of Seclusion And Exile By the time his Lettre à d’Alembert sur les spectacles (1758; Letter to Monsieur d’Alembert on the Theatre) appeared in print, Rousseau had already left Paris to pursue a life closer to nature on the country estate of his friend Mme d’Épinay near Montmorency. When the hospitality of Mme d’Épinay proved to entail much the same social round as that of Paris, Rousseau retreated to a nearby cottage, called Montlouis, under the protection of the Maréchal de Luxembourg. But even that highly placed friend could not save him in 1762 when his treatise Émile; ou, de l’education (Emile; or, On Education), was published and scandalized the pious Jansenists of the French Parlements even as The Social Contract scandalized the Calvinists of Geneva. In Paris, as in Geneva, they ordered the book to be burned and the author arrested; all the Maréchal de Luxembourg could do was to provide a carriage for Rousseau to escape from France. After formally renouncing his Genevan citizenship in 1763, Rousseau became a fugitive, spending the rest of his life moving from one refuge to another. The years at Montmorency had been the most productive of his literary career; The Social Contract, Émile, and Julie; ou, la nouvelle Héloïse (1761; Julie; or, The New Eloise) came out within 12 months, all three works of seminal importance. The New Eloise, being a novel, escaped the censorship to which the other two works were subject; indeed, of all his books it proved to be the most widely read and the most universally praised in his lifetime. It develops the Romanticism that had already informed his writings on music and perhaps did more than any other single work of literature to influence the spirit of its age. It made the author at least as many friends among the reading public—and especially among educated women—as The Social Contract and Émile made enemies among magistrates and priests. If it did not exempt him from persecution, at least it ensured that his persecution was observed, and admiring femmes du monde intervened from time to time to help him so that Rousseau was never, unlike Voltaire and Diderot, actually imprisoned. The theme of The New Eloise provides a striking contrast to that of The Social Contract. It is about people finding happiness in domestic as distinct from public life, in the family as opposed to the state. The central character, Saint-Preux, is a middle-class preceptor who falls in love with his upper-class pupil, Julie. She returns his love and yields to his advances, but the difference between their classes makes marriage between them impossible. Baron d’Étange, Julie’s father, has indeed promised her to a fellow nobleman named Wolmar. As a dutiful daughter, Julie marries Wolmar and Saint-Preux goes off on a voyage around the world with an English aristocrat, Bomston, from whom he acquires a certain stoicism. Julie succeeds in forgetting her feelings for Saint-Preux and finds happiness as wife, mother, and chatelaine. Some six years later Saint-Preux returns from his travels and is engaged as tutor to the Wolmar children. All live together in harmony, and there are only faint echoes of the old affair between Saint-Preux and Julie. The little community, dominated by Julie, illustrates one of Rousseau’s political principles: that while men should rule the world in public life, women should rule men in private life. At the end of The New Eloise, when Julie has made herself ill in an attempt to rescue one of her children from drowning, she comes face-to-face with a truth about herself: that her love for Saint-Preux has never died. The novel was clearly inspired by Rousseau’s own curious relationship—at once passionate and platonic—with Sophie d’Houdetot, a noblewoman who lived near him at Montmorency. He himself asserted in the Confessions that he was led to write the book by “a desire for loving, which I had never been able to satisfy and by which I felt myself devoured.” Saint-Preux’s experience of love forbidden by the laws of class reflects Rousseau’s own experience; and yet it cannot be said that The New Eloise is an attack on those laws, which seem, on the contrary, to be given the status almost of laws of nature. The members of the Wolmar household are depicted as finding happiness in living according to an aristocratic ideal. They appreciate the routines of country life and enjoy the beauties of the Swiss and Savoyard Alps. But despite such an endorsement of the social order, the novel was revolutionary; its very free expression of emotions and its extreme sensibility deeply moved its large readership and profoundly influenced literary developments. Émile is a book that seems to appeal alternately to the republican ethic of The Social Contract and the aristocratic ethic of The New Eloise. It is also halfway between a novel and a didactic essay. Described by the author as a treatise on education, it is not about schooling but about the upbringing of a rich man’s son by a tutor who is given unlimited authority over him. At the same time the book sets out to explore the possibilities of an education for republican citizenship. The basic argument of the book, as Rousseau himself expressed it, is that vice and error, which are alien to a child’s original nature, are introduced by external agencies, so that the work of a tutor must always be directed to counteracting those forces by manipulating pressures that will work with nature and not against it. Rousseau devotes many pages to explaining the methods the tutor must use. Those methods involve a noticeable measure of deceit, and although corporal punishment is forbidden, mental cruelty is not. Whereas The Social Contract is concerned with the problems of achieving freedom, Émile is concerned with achieving happiness and wisdom. In this different context religion plays a different role. Instead of a civil religion, Rousseau here outlines a personal religion, which proves to be a kind of simplified Christianity, involving neither revelation nor the familiar dogmas of the church. In the guise of La Profession de foi du vicaire savoyard (1765; The Profession of Faith of a Savoyard Vicar) Rousseau sets out what may fairly be regarded as his own religious views, since that book confirms what he says on the subject in his private correspondence. Rousseau could never entertain doubts about God’s existence or about the immortality of the soul. He felt, moreover, a strong emotional drive toward the worship of God, whose presence he felt most forcefully in nature, especially in mountains and forests untouched by the hand of man. He also attached great importance to conscience, the “divine voice of the soul in man,” opposing this both to the bloodless categories of rationalistic ethics and to the cold tablets of biblical authority. That minimal creed put Rousseau at odds with the orthodox adherents of the churches and with the openly atheistic philosophes of Paris, so that despite the enthusiasm that some of his writings, and especially The New Eloise, excited in the reading public, he felt himself increasingly isolated, tormented, and pursued. After he had been expelled from France, he was chased from canton to canton in Switzerland. He reacted to the suppression of The Social Contract in Geneva by indicting the regime of that city-state in a pamphlet entitled Lettres écrites de la montagne (1764; Letters Written from the Mountain). No longer, as in the Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, was Geneva depicted as a model republic but as one that had been taken over by “twenty-five despots”; the subjects of the king of England were said to be free by comparison with the victims of Genevan tyranny. It was in England that Rousseau found refuge after he had been banished from the canton of Bern. The Scottish philosopher David Hume took him there and secured the offer of a pension from King George III; but once in England, Rousseau became aware that certain British intellectuals were making fun of him, and he suspected Hume of participating in the mockery. Various symptoms of paranoia began to manifest themselves in Rousseau, and he returned to France incognito. Believing that Thérèse was the only person he could rely on, he finally married her in 1768, when he was 56 years old. The Last Decade In the remaining 10 years of his life Rousseau produced primarily autobiographical writings, mostly intended to justify himself against the accusations of his adversaries. The most important was his Confessions, modeled on the work of the same title by St. Augustine and achieving something of the same classic status. He also wrote Rousseau juge de Jean-Jacques (1780; Rousseau, Judge of Jean-Jacques) to reply to specific charges by his enemies and Les Rêveries du promeneur solitaire (1782; Reveries of the Solitary Walker), one of the most moving of his books, in which the intense passion of his earlier writings gives way to a gentle lyricism and serenity. And indeed, Rousseau does seem to have recovered his peace of mind in his last years, when he was once again afforded refuge on the estates of great French noblemen, first the Prince de Conti and then the Marquis de Girardin, in whose park at Ermenonville he died. Duignan, B., & Cranston, M. (2018, October 15). Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Retrieved January 10, 2019, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Jacques-Rousseau	{ "palladium_score": 3.803013801574707, "timestamp": "2026-01-18T07:31:37.579201", "source": "Palladium-STEM (Preview)" }
https://pmj.bmj.com/content/80/940/72	The first medical article on the hazards of asbestos dust appeared in the British Medical Journal in 1924. Following inquiries by Edward Merewether and Charles Price, the British government introduced regulations to control dangerous dust emissions in UK asbestos factories. Until the 1960s these appeared to have addressed the problem effectively. Only then, with the discoveries that mesothelioma was an asbestos related disease and that workers other than those employed in the dustiest parts of asbestos factories were at risk, were the nature and scale of the hazard reassessed. In Britain, America, and elsewhere new and increasingly strict regulations were enacted. Statistics from Altmetric.com Asbestos is the generic term for a number of naturally occurring fibrous minerals. Commercially, the most important of these are the white, blue, and brown varieties, otherwise known as chrysotile (a serpentine asbestos), crocidolite, and amosite (both amphiboles). Asbestos is widely distributed, but the largest deposits are found in Canada and Russia. It possesses amazing characteristics. Uniquely among minerals, it can be spun into a thread and then woven into a cloth. Clothes and soft furnishings can be made from asbestos—even though it is literally a rock. But why make such products out of a mineral except as a curiosity? The answer lies mainly in the material’s unparalleled fireproofing and insulating capabilities. However, asbestos possesses other attractive qualities: it is relatively lightweight (an important consideration when fireproofing naval vessels), abundant, cheap to mine and process, resistant to water and acids (and hence corrosion), durable to the point of indestructibility, electrically non-conductive, and unattractive to vermin. Finally, it can be put to an enormous number of uses (usually when blended with resins, plastics, or other materials). In many respects, therefore, asbestos is the perfect material for an industrialising and electrifying world of heat, combustion, and high speed locomotion. Not surprisingly, it came to be viewed, for the first two thirds of the 20th century, as the “indispensable” and even the “magic” mineral. By the mid-20th century asbestos was an ingredient in all manner of things, including motor cars (as an ingredient of brakes, clutch linings, and gaskets), buildings (for insulation and fireproofing), warships (also for insulation and fireproofing), domestic products (such as ironing boards), and electrical distribution systems. The product ranges of the largest asbestos companies, such as Johns–Manville, the American giant that dominated the industry for many years, ran to scores of pages. So asbestos had many “upsides”. Unfortunately, it also has a very significant “downside” in that exposure to its dust can cause three fatal diseases: asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma of the pleura and peritoneum. It has long been known that asbestos dust constitutes a danger to health; however, some issues, including the relative hazards of different types of asbestos and whether there is a safe level of exposure to any of them, remain in scientific dispute.1,2 Since the 1960s crocidolite has been regarded as a particular hazard, chiefly because of its strong association with mesothelioma. Amosite is widely regarded as scarcely less dangerous. In contrast, some have argued that pure chrysotile “may present little or no carcinogenic hazard” if uncontaminated by amphiboles. As recently as 2000, pure chrysotile was termed “a remarkably safe and valuable natural resource”, which could be used to substantial public health advantage in the Third World.3,4 Others dismiss such views and demand an international ban on all forms of asbestos.5 Such scientific disputes and policy uncertainties conform to a long standing pattern whereby medical knowledge about the health hazards of asbestos dust has emerged slowly and sometimes falteringly since the early 20th century. As Irving J Selikoff, one of the foremost authorities on asbestos related disease in late 20th century America, once said, nature long held “some secrets ... rather close to its vest”.6 DISCOVERY OF A LINK BETWEEN ASBESTOS AND DISEASE The sequence of developing knowledge about asbestos and disease has generated historical controversy.7–13 Some even maintain that the health hazards of asbestos dust were appreciated in the ancient world; such claims have been convincingly refuted.14 Those doyens of occupational medicine, Thomas Arlidge and Thomas Oliver, ignored the hazards of asbestos in the late-Victorian and Edwardian periods (though Oliver addressed them subsequently).15,16 The first medical paper on the subject appeared in the British Medical Journal in 1924.17 Written by William Cooke of Wigan Infirmary’s department of pathology, it briefly dealt with the illness and death from fibrosis of the lungs and tuberculosis of Nellie Kershaw, who had worked in the spinning room of a Rochdale asbestos factory. Following this case report, other papers soon appeared. These included articles by Oliver, who coined the word “asbestosis”, though most observers have mistakenly attributed the term to Cooke, who used it in a 1927 paper that further explored the Kershaw case.18,19 In 1928, following the discovery of a case of pulmonary fibrosis affecting a Glasgow asbestos worker, Britain’s factory inspectorate took up the issue. Edward Merewether, a medical inspector based in Glasgow, was instructed to ascertain “whether the occurrence of this disease in an asbestos worker was merely a coincidence, or evidence of a definite health risk in the [asbestos] industry”.20 At 36 years of age, Merewether was comparatively young when he embarked upon this task. He was also a newcomer to the inspectorate, having taken up his appointment only in 1927. Merewether’s initial survey was soon followed by a full scale investigation, which he completed in October 1929. He found that occupational exposure to asbestos dust, particularly for prolonged periods at high concentrations, constituted a “definite occupational risk among asbestos workers as a class”.21 The fibrosis of the lungs that could result might lead to “complete disablement” and death.21 His report endorsed a view expressed a few months earlier that a “new” disease, pulmonary asbestosis, had been discovered.22 Merewether had confirmed the existence of a new fatal disease, but he also believed that this disease was preventable. Dust control, he anticipated, “will cause, firstly, a great increase in the length of time before workers develop a disabling fibrosis, and secondly, the almost total disappearance of the disease, as the measures for the suppression of dust are perfected”.21 At this point, Merewether’s colleague, the engineering inspector of factories, Charles Price, investigated and recommended practical measures to control dust. Following negotiations between representatives of the asbestos industry, the Trades Union Congress (largely in the person of its eminent medical adviser, Dr Thomas Legge, the first ever medical inspector of factories), individual unions, the factory inspectorate, and senior Home Office officials, the government enacted the Asbestos Industry Regulations, 1931. Implemented in full in 1933, these required the suppression of dust in the dustiest, and hence, apparently, the hazardous, areas of asbestos factories.23 With these measures in place, and for decades to come, it was widely agreed that the 1931 regulations had solved the problem of asbestosis in British asbestos factories. Thus, in 1955, Richard Doll referred to the infrequency of asbestosis and attributed its rarity to the “great reduction in the amount of dust in asbestos works” since the early 1930s.24 In the same year, Donald Hunter, then one of the leading authorities on occupational health, observed that the legislation had been “effective in controlling the disease” of asbestosis.25 Other distinguished figures, including Georgiana Bonser of Leeds University and Andrew Meiklejohn of Glasgow University, expressed similar views.26,27 All of these opinions referred to the British experience; for years Britain’s efforts to prevent asbestos related disease were not replicated elsewhere. In the USA, asbestos was mined, manufactured, and used in large quantities (table 1), but, apart from the patchy industrial hygiene measures established by some states beginning in the 1930s, little regulation pre-dated the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. By this time scientific and regulatory attitudes towards asbestos disease had been transformed in several ways. Most significantly, it had been ascertained that asbestosis was not the only disease associated with exposure to asbestos dust. LINK WITH LUNG CANCER Suspicion that asbestosis might be linked with lung cancer began to emerge in the 1930s.28,29 This link became more persuasive in the 1940s, even though doubts remained.30–34 Then, in 1955, Doll established to the satisfaction of most informed observers that a causal association existed between asbestosis and lung cancer.24 He believed, however, that the Asbestos Industry Regulations had greatly reduced the risk of lung cancer for those who worked in Britain’s asbestos factories. As he wrote in 1960, “It seems likely that the risk may now be largely eliminated”.35 At this time, notwithstanding the discovery of a second asbestos related disease, there was every reason to suppose that the asbestos industry could continue to produce the fireproofing, insulation, and friction materials widely regarded as indispensable to modern life, provided that workers were protected from the heavy and prolonged exposures associated with asbestosis and lung cancer. In 1956, Meiklejohn dismissed the notion of a ban as “completely futile and absurd”.27 Such views remained prevalent during the 1970s and even the 1980s. Irving Selikoff, along with the editorial pages of the Lancet, BMJ, and JAMA and other commentators, emphasised precautions over proscription of the mineral.36–39 The 1960s saw several important developments in the story of asbestos and disease. First, a third asbestos related disease, mesothelioma, was discovered. Second, it was shown that the hazards of asbestos dust were not confined to heavily exposed workers in asbestos factories but extended to insulation workers, other users of products containing asbestos, and people who lived close to asbestos factories.40–44 There were even suggestions that urban dwellers, even in towns and cities remote from asbestos mines or factories, might face a hazard simply because they lived among buildings and cars containing asbestos.45 Third, even in Britain, with its well established and relatively high degree of regulation, some evidence suggested that asbestos related disease had ceased to decline and was possibly increasing.12 Fourth, in Britain and America at least, asbestos hazards began to attract increased media attention. Between 1964 and 1967, stories about the health hazards of asbestos appeared in such national newspapers as The Times, Sunday Times, Daily Herald, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Morning Star, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal, as well as in local and regional papers. In January 1967, the BBC broadcast a film on the subject in its early evening news programme 24 Hours. Thereafter, asbestos health hazards regularly featured in newspaper and television reports. Fifth, in 1969, the first third party products liability suit claiming personal injury from asbestos was launched in the USA, thereby initiating the process that led to the demise of many large, well established, and successful companies. LINK WITH MESOTHELIOMA Cases of pleural mesothelioma were apparently detected in the nineteenth century, but the term itself had not appeared, and its occurrence was “so rare that some pathologists doubted its existence”.46 However, during the 1950s, South African researchers J C Wagner, Christopher Sleggs, and Paul Marchand began to identify cases of mesothelioma in the crocidolite mining district of Griqualand West. Curiously, they found no such cases in the vicinity of the Transvaal asbestos mines, even though the asbestos there was the same as in Griqualand West. This discrepancy initially suggested that the mesotheliomas in the Griqualand West district could have had an origin unrelated to asbestos exposure. Wagner, Sleggs, and Marchand first presented their findings at a conference in Johannesburg in 1959. Papers they published between 1960 and 1962 established a “possible association between the development of mesotheliomas of the pleura and exposure to asbestos dust in people living in the Cape asbestos fields”.47–53 As this quotation indicates, the researchers had not established a clear causal association between exposure to crocidolite dust (let alone other forms of asbestos dust) and cases of mesothelioma among people who had never visited the northwest Cape. There was not long to wait. Papers published in 1964 and 1965 resulted in the general medical recognition of mesothelioma as an asbestos related disease.40–44,54–60 Scepticism remained in some quarters, but, as a leading article in the BMJ later put it, by “the end of 1965 it was clear that asbestos workers are at special risk of developing ... mesothelioma”.61,62 Though other causal agents have been identified, for years asbestos dust (at least certain types of it) has been widely considered to be the principal or even the only cause of mesothelioma.63 Recently, however, the longstanding assumption that mesothelioma is solely caused by asbestos exposure has been called into question by the recognition that there are “many cases (>20%) of mesothelioma for which there is little or no known exposure to asbestos”.64 A causal association between asbestos and mesothelioma is not in dispute, but it has been widely proposed that the disease may also be causally linked with poliomyelitis vaccine contaminated with simian virus 40 (SV40), which was administered to millions of people in Europe and the USA between 1955 and 1963. Mayall et al have suggested a “synergistic interaction between asbestos and SV40 in human mesotheliomas”.65 However, much remains in doubt. Carbone et al have warned against premature “conclusions about the possible role of SV40 in mesothelioma development in the general population”.66 Likewise, Jasani et al have observed that the “causal link between SV40 and mesothelioma ... still needs to be examined further”.67 More recently, Gazdar et al have pointed to “considerable evidence that SV40 has a causative role in the pathogenesis of mesothelioma”, but caution that “the evidence is still insufficient to distinguish between association and causation”.68 At present, therefore, it remains unclear whether a causal association exists between SV40 and elevated rates of mesothelioma.64–69 EXTENT OF THE RISKS POSED BY ASBESTOS Recognition that asbestos related disease was not confined to unprotected workers in the dustiest locations dates from the 1960s and had much to do with the discovery of mesothelioma and the appreciation that relatively brief and light dust exposure could cause the disease years before its manifestation. A few isolated cases of asbestosis in insulation workers were reported in medical journals as early as the 1930s.70–72 Furthermore, as we now know, the US Navy and Maritime Commission appreciated the need to protect heavily exposed shipyard insulation workers in the early 1940s.73 This knowledge was not disseminated to a wider audience, however, and Asbestos Worker, the magazine of the US insulation workers’ union, accurately noted in 1966 that “probably more attention has been focused on these particular health hazards in the last 3 or 4 years, than in the previous 30 or 40 years”.74 The key figure in identifying the dangers of insulation work involving materials containing asbestos and exposure to even intermittent and light dust concentrations was Irving J Selikoff of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Beginning in the early 1960s, with financial support from sources as diverse as the insulation workers’ union and (from 1968) the Johns–Manville Corporation, Selikoff and his colleagues produced a stream of publications indicating, among other things, that insulators who worked with asbestos material in the USA faced an “important risk” of contracting asbestosis, lung cancer or mesothelioma, and possibly also gastrointestinal cancer.40–42,75,76 In Britain the emergence of knowledge about mesothelioma and the hazards of insulation work coincided with the first doubts about the 1931 regulations. As a result, the factory inspectorate began revising these regulations in 1964. Five years later, following extensive consultation with business, scientists, and trades unionists, the Asbestos Regulations, 1969 were established. These allowed the continued use of asbestos only if maximum allowable concentrations of dust were not exceeded and if other precautions were observed. The regulations applied to all work sites and not, as previously, to asbestos factories alone. The maximum allowable concentration for crocidolite was set so low that its use was virtually eliminated. In the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s further restrictions, both voluntary and statutory, were placed on the importation and use of asbestos. At their peak, in 1973, UK asbestos imports stood at some 190 000 tonnes per annum; by 1997, the amount had fallen to 4820 tonnes of chrysotile, by then the only form allowed.12 Then, in July 1999, with one minor exception, the European Commission announced a European Union ban on all remaining chrysotile use by 1 January 2005. Britain implemented the ban some five years ahead of schedule in October 1999. Other European Union members have also beaten the deadline, and other countries have introduced their own bans.77 Elsewhere, including many parts of Africa, Asia, and South America, asbestos use remains widespread. In the early 1970s, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OHSA) identified asbestos as one of its first regulatory targets and introduced a range of controls. The OSHA reduced permitted exposure limits from 5 ff/ml (time weighted average) in 1972 to 2 ff/ml (time weighted average) in 1976.78–80 As in Britain, stricter measures on the manufacture, importation, and processing of asbestos and products containing asbestos followed in the 1980s and 1990s. A permitted exposure limit of 0.1 ff/ml (fibres per millilitre) was introduced in 1994.81 Many of the companies that mined, manufactured, and used asbestos have gone out of business since the early 1980s under the burden of litigation. At present, asbestos use is heavily regulated and banned in most circumstances in the USA. A “comprehensive ban on asbestos in America” is envisaged. However, since exceptions are apparently anticipated if no alternative materials are available and it can be demonstrated that no damage to health or the environment will ensue, it remains to be seen how “comprehensive” this “ban” will be.82 A chronology of medical discovery 1924: W E Cooke publishes the first paper on asbestos related disease. 1925: Thomas Oliver coins the term “asbestosis”. 1930: Edward Merewether confirms that inhalation of asbestos dust can cause a fatal disease. 1935: Kenneth Lynch and W Atmar Smith identify a “possible relationship” between pulmonary asbestosis and carcinoma of the lung. 1955: Richard Doll finds that certain asbestos workers face a “notably higher risk” of contracting lung cancer than the rest of the population. 1960: Wagner, Sleggs, and Marchand publish their first paper indicating a relationship between pleural mesothelioma and asbestos exposure. 1964: Selikoff, Churg, and Hammond demonstrate that insulation contract workers face a health hazard resulting from asbestos exposure. FUTURE OF ASBESTOS RELATED DISEASE Even if a worldwide ban on asbestos were to be introduced forthwith, past exposures will ensure that death and disease related to asbestos continue for the foreseeable future. Epidemiologists have predicted that the incidence of male mesothelioma in the USA should peak at about 2300 cases per year at the end of the 20th century and will decline to some 500 cases per year by about 2055.83 In 1995, Julian Peto et al predicted that male deaths from mesothelioma in Britain will peak at between 2700 and 3300 per year around the year 2020.84 A few years later, Peto et al forecast some 250 000 male deaths from mesothelioma in Western Europe as a whole by about 2035. Most of these deaths are expected to occur among roofers, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, gas fitters, and others employed in the building trades.85 Others anticipate figures as high as 10 000 per year among British males alone by 2020.86,87 It appears that the history of asbestos related disease still has some distance to travel. If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.	{ "palladium_score": 3.717029094696045, "timestamp": "2026-01-18T07:31:37.579201", "source": "Palladium-STEM (Preview)" }
http://www.reachoutmichigan.org/funexperiments/quick/hawaii/Craters.html	Hawai'i Space Grant College, Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai'i, 1996 To determine the factors affecting the appearance of impact craters The circular features so obvious on the Moon's surface are impact craters formed when impactors smashed into the surface. The explosion and excavation of materials at the impacted site created piles of rock (called ejecta) around the circular hole as well as bright streaks of target material (called rays) thrown for great Two basic methods that form craters in nature are: 1) impact of a projectile on the surface and 2) collapse of the top of a volcano creating a crater termed caldera. By studying all types of craters on Earth and by creating impact craters in experimental laboratories, geologists concluded that the Moon's craters are impact in origin. The factors affecting the appearance of impact craters and ejecta are the size and velocity of the impactor, and the geology of the target By recording the number, size, and extent of erosion of craters, lunar geologists can determine the ages of different surface units on the Moon and can piece together the geologic history. This technique works because older surfaces are exposed to impacting meteorites for a longer period of time than are younger surfaces. Impact craters are not unique to the Moon. They are found on all the terrestrial planets and on many moons of the outer planets. On Earth, impact craters are not as easily recognized because of weathering and erosion. Famous impact craters on Earth are Meteor Crater in Arizona, U.S.A.; Manicouagan in Quebec, Canada; Sudbury in Ontario, Canada; Ries Crater in Germany, and Chicxulub on the Yucatan coast in Mexico. Chicxulub is considered by most scientists as the source crater of the catastrophe that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period. An interesting fact about the Chicxulub crater is that you cannot see it. Its circular structure is nearly a kilometer below the surface and was originally identified from magnetic and gravity data. Lunar Impact Crater Typical characteristics of a lunar impact crater are labeled on this photograph of Aristarchus, 42 im in diameter, located West of Mare bowl shaped or flat, characteristically below surrounding ground level unless filled in with lava. blandet of mateial surrounding the crater that was exzcavated during the impact event. Ejecta becomes thinner away from the crater. rock thrown out of the crater and deposited as a ring-shaped pile of debris at the crater's edge during the explosion and excavation of an characteristically steep and may have giant stairs called terraces. bright streaks starting from a crater and extending away for great distances. See Copernicus crater for another example. mountains formed becuase of the huge increase and rapid decrease in pressure during the impact event. They occur only in the center of craters that are larger than 40 km diameter. See Tycho crater for another example. In this activity, marbles or other spheres such as steel shot, ball bearings, or golf balls are used as impactors that students drop from a series of heights onto a prepared "lunar surface." Using impactors of different mass dropped from the same height will allow students to study the relationship of mass of the impactor to crater size. Dropping impactors from different heights will allow students to study the relationship of velocity of the impactor to crater size. Review and prepare materials listed on the student sheet. The following materials work well as a base for the "lunar surface." Dust with a topping of dry tempera paint, powdered drink mixes glitter or other dry material in a contrasting color. Use a sieve, screen , or flour sifter. Choose a color that contrasts with the base materials for most striking results. all purpose flour Reusable in this activity and keeps well in a covered container. It can be recycled for use in the lava layering activity or for many other science activities. Reusable in this activity, even if colored, by adding a clean layer of new white baking soda on top. Keeps indefinitely in a covered container. Baking soda mixed (1:1) with table salt also works. Reusable in this activity but probably not recyclable. Keeps only in freezer in airtight container. sand and corn starch Mixed (1:1), sand must be very dry. Keeps only in freezer in airtight container. Pans should be plastic, aluminum, or cardboard. Do not use glass. They should be at least 7.5 cm deep. Basic 10"x12" aluminum pans or plastic tubs work fine, but the larger the better to avoid misses. Also, a larger pan may allow students to drop more marbles before having to resurface and smooth the target materials. A reproducible student "Data Chart" is included; students will need a separate chart for each impactor used in the activity. Begin by looking at craters in photographs of the Moon and asking students their ideas of how craters formed. During this activity, the flour, baking soda, or dry paint may fall onto the floor and the baking soda may even be disbursed into the air. Spread newspapers under the pan(s) to catch spills or consider doing the activity outside. Under supervision, students have successfully dropped marbles from second-story balconies. Resurface the pan before a high drop. Have the students agree beforehand on the method they will use to "smooth" and resurface the material in the pan between impacts. The material need not be packed down. Shaking or tilting the pan back and forth produces a smooth surface. Then be sure to reapply a fresh dusting of dry tempera paint or other material. Remind students that better experimental control is achieved with consistent handling of the materials. For instance, cratering results may vary if the material is packed down for some trials and not Allow some practice time for dropping marbles and resurfacing the materials in the pan before actually recording data. Because of the low velocity of the marbles compared with the velocity of real impactors, the experimental impact craters may not have raised rims. Central uplifts and terraced walls will be absent. The higher the drop height, the greater the velocity of the marble, so a larger crater will be made and the ejecta will spread out farther. If the impactor were dropped from 6 meters, then the crater would be larger. The students need to extrapolate the graph out far enough to read the predicted Have the class compare and contrast their hypotheses on what things affect the appearance of craters and ejecta. As a grand finale for your students, demonstrate a more forceful impact using a slingshot. What would happen if you change the angle of impact? How could this be tested? Try it! Do the results support your hypothesis? If the angle of impact is changed, then the rays will be concentrated and longer in the direction of impact. A more horizontal impact angle produces a more skewed crater shape. To focus attention on the rays produced during an impact, place a paper bulls-eye target with a central hole on top of a large, flour-filled pan. Students drop a marble through the hole to measure ray lengths and orientations. Use plaster of Paris or wet sand instead of dry materials. Videotape the activity. Some people think the extinction of the dinosaurs was caused by massive global climate changes because of a meteorite impact on Earth. Summarize the exciting work that has been done at Chicxulub on the Yucatan coast Some people think Earth was hit by an object the size of Mars that caused a large part of Earth to "splash" into space, forming the Moon. Do you agree or disagree? Explain your answer. Physics students could calculate the velocities of the impactors from various heights. (Answers from heights of 30 cm, 60 cm, 90 cm, and 2 m should, of course, agree with the velocity values shown on the "Impact Craters - Data Chart". Go to Impact Craters Student Go to Impact Craters Data Go to Impact Craters Graph. Return to Impact Craters Activity Index. Return to Hands-On Activities home page. This activity has been copied, with permission, from the University of Hawaii's School of Ocean & Earth Science & Technology server to ours, to allow faster access from our Web site. We encourage you to explore Return to Reach Out! To Reach Out! volunteer organization at the University of Michigan	{ "palladium_score": 4.249468803405762, "timestamp": "2026-01-18T07:31:40.344021", "source": "Palladium-STEM (Preview)" }
http://www.databasejournal.com/features/mssql/article.php/3693856/Lesson-3-Working-with-SQL-Server.htm	In this lesson, you'll learn how to connect and log into SQL Server, how to issue SQL Server statements, and how to obtain information about databases and tables. Making the Connection Now that you have a SQL Server DBMS and client software to use with it, it would be worthwhile to briefly discuss connecting to the database. SQL Server, like all client/server DBMSs, requires that you log into the DBMS before being able to issue commands. SQL Server can authenticate users and logins using its own user list, or using the Windows user list (the logins used to start using Windows). As such, depending on how SQL Server is configured, it may log you in automatically using whatever login you used for Windows itself, or it may prompt you for a login name and password. When you first installed SQL Server, you were probably prompted for an administrative login (often named sa for system administrator) and a password. If you are using your own local server and are simply experimenting with SQL Server, using this login is fine. In the real world, however, the administrative login is closely protected because access to it grants full rights to create tables, drop entire databases, change logins and passwords, and more. To connect to SQL Server, you need the following pieces of information: The hostname (the name of the computer). This is localhost or your own computer name if you're connecting to a local SQL Server. A valid username (if Windows authentication is not being used). The user password (if required). If you're using one of the client applications discussed in the previous lesson, a dialog box will be displayed to prompt you for this information. Note: Using Other Clients - If you are using a client other than the ones mentioned previously, you still need to provide this information in order to connect to SQL Server. After you are connected, you have access to whatever databases and tables your login name has access to. (Logins, access control, and security are revisited in Lesson 29, "Managing Security.") Selecting a Database When you first connect to SQL Server, a default database is opened for you. This will usually be a database named master (which as a rule you should never play with). Before you perform any database operations, you need to select the appropriate database. To do this, you use the USE keyword. Plain English: Keyword - A reserved word that is part of the T-SQL language. Never name a table or column using a keyword. Appendix E, "T-SQL Reserved Words," lists the SQL Server keywords. For example, to use the crashcourse database, you would enter the following (in a query window): Command(s) completed successfully. The USE statement does not return any results. Depending on the client used, some form of notification might be displayed (as seen here). Tip: Interactive Database Selection - In SQL Server Management Studio (or SQL Query Analyzer), you may select a database from the drop-down list in the toolbar to use it. You'll not actually see the USE command being issued (although it is being issued for you), but the database will change and the window title bar will reflect this change. Remember, you must always USE a database before you can access any data in it. Learning About Databases and Tables But what if you don't know the names of the available databases? And for that matter, how do the client applications obtain the list of available databases that are displayed in the drop-down list? Information about databases, tables, columns, users, privileges, and more, are stored within databases and tables themselves (yes, SQL Server uses SQL Server to store this information). These internal tables are all in the master database (which is why you don't want to tamper with it), and they are generally not accessed directly. Instead, SQL Server includes a suite of prewritten stored procedures that can be used to obtain this information (information that SQL Server then extracts from those internal tables). Note: Stored Procedures - Stored procedures will be covered in Lesson 23, "Working with Stored Procedures." For now, it will suffice to say that stored procedures are SQL statements that are saved in SQL Server and can be executed as needed. Look at the following example: DATABASE_NAME DATABASE_SIZE REMARKS ----------------- ------------- ------- coldfusion 9096 NULL crashcourse 3072 NULL forta 2048 NULL master 4608 NULL model 1728 NULL msdb 5824 NULL tempdb 8704 NULL sp_databases; returns a list of available databases. Included in this list might be databases used by SQL Server internally (such as master and tempdb in this example). Of course, your own list of databases might not look like those shown above. To obtain a list of tables within a database, use sp_tables;, as seen here: sp_tables; returns a list of available tables in the currently selected database, and not just your tables; it also includes all sorts of system tables and other entries (possibly hundreds of entries). To obtain a list of tables (just tables, not views, and not system tables and so on), you can use this statement: sp_tables NULL, dbo, crashcourse, "'TABLE'"; TABLE_QUALIFIER TABLE_OWNER TABLE_NAME TABLE_TYPE REMARKS --------------- ----------- ------------ ---------- ------- crashcourse dbo customers TABLE NULL crashcourse dbo orderitems TABLE NULL crashcourse dbo orders TABLE NULL crashcourse dbo products TABLE NULL crashcourse dbo vendors TABLE NULL crashcourse dbo productnotes TABLE NULL crashcourse dbo sysdiagrams TABLE NULL Here, sp_tables accepts a series of parameters telling it which database to use, as well as what specifically to list ('TABLE' as opposed to 'VIEW' or 'SYSTEM TABLE'). sp_columns can be used to display a table's columns: Note: Shortened for Brevity - sp_columns returns lots of data. In the output that follows, I have truncated the display because the full output would have been far wider than the pages in this book, likely requiring many lines for each row. TABLE_QUALIFIER TABLE_OWNER TABLE_NAME COLUMN_NAME DATA_TYPE TYPE_NAME crashcourse dbo customers cust_id 4 int identity crashcourse dbo customers cust_name -8 nchar crashcourse dbo customers cust_address -8 nchar crashcourse dbo customers cust_city -8 nchar crashcourse dbo customers cust_state -8 nchar crashcourse dbo customers cust_zip -8 nchar crashcourse dbo customers cust_country -8 nchar crashcourse dbo customers cust_contact -8 nchar crashcourse dbo customers cust_email -8 nchar sp_columns requires that a table name be specified (customers in this example), and returns a row for each field, containing the field name, its datatype, whether NULL is allowed, key information, default value, and much more. Note: What Is Identity? - Column cust_id is an identity column. Some table columns need unique values (for example, order numbers, employee IDs, or, as in the example just shown, customer IDs). Rather than have to assign unique values manually each time a row is added (and having to keep track of what value was last used), SQL Server can automatically assign the next available number for you each time a row is added to a table. This functionality is known as identity. If it is needed, it must be part of the table definition used when the table is created using the CREATE statement. We'll look at CREATE in Lesson 20, "Creating and Manipulating Tables." Lots of other stored procedures are supported, too, including: sp_server_info: Used to display extensive server status information sp_spaceused: Used to display the amount of space used (and unused) by a database sp_statistics: Used to display usage statistics pertaining to database tables sp_helpuser: Used to display available user accounts sp_helplogins: Used to display user logins and what they have rights to It is worthwhile to note that client applications use these same stored procedures you've seen here. Applications that display interactive lists of databases and tables, that allow for the interactive creation and editing of tables, that facilitate data entry and editing, or that allow for user account and rights management, and more, all accomplish what they do using the same stored procedures that you can execute directly yourself. In this lesson, you learned how to connect and log into SQL Server, how to select databases using USE, and how to introspect SQL databases, tables, and internals using stored procedures. Armed with this knowledge, you can now dig into the all-important SELECT statement.	{ "palladium_score": 3.723707675933838, "timestamp": "2026-01-18T07:31:40.344021", "source": "Palladium-STEM (Preview)" }
https://www.everydayhealth.com/skin-and-beauty-photos/how-to-identify-common-bug-bites.aspx	How to Identify Common Bites and Stings Getting bitten by a bug can be a creepy experience, especially if you don’t know what tiny creature left you with that red, throbbing welt on your skin. Don’t panic. Most bites and stings from common insects are harmless and heal quickly. But some bites and stings, like those from fire ants, wasps, hornets, and bees, may cause intense pain or even an allergic reaction. Others, like poisonous spider bites, require immediate emergency medical care. Symptoms of bug bites provide clues to the cause and severity. For example, most bug bites cause red bumps with pain, itching, or burning. Some bug bites also feature blisters or welts. Tick bites can carry Lyme disease with a rash that looks like a bull’s-eye. Most bug bites are transmitted directly from the insect, and most bug bites occur outdoors. Two exceptions are bedbugs — tiny mites that live in and near beds — and lice, which spread through contact with an infected person, a comb, or clothing. The best way to prevent insect bites is to avoid insects, wear protective clothing, use pesticide, not eat foods or wear fragrances that attract bugs, and know your own personal risk for having an allergic reaction to a bug bite. Because certain bites can also spread illnesses such as the Zika virus and West Nile virus (both transmitted by mosquito), Lyme disease (from a black-legged tick), Rocky Mountain spotted fever (from a dog or wood tick), or Chagas disease (from kissing bugs), it's good to know what bit you. Learning to identify a bug bite by how it looks and feels will help you know whether to seek medical care or treat the skin bump at home. A mosquito bite appears as an itchy round, red, or pink skin bump. It's usually harmless but can sometimes cause a serious illness, such as the Zika virus (particularly harmful in pregnant women), the West Nile virus, or malaria. For most people, Zika causes a brief, flu-like illness. But pregnant women with Zika infection have had an alarming increase in microcephaly birth defects in their newborns — a debilitatingly small head and brain size. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) posted a 2016 travel alert advising pregnant women to delay travel to 50 areas where Zika is active including Latin America and the Caribbean. About 2,000 U.S. cases of the West Nile virus were reported to the CDC in 2014. Symptoms appear 2 to 14 days after the bite and can include headaches, body aches, fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and a skin rash. People with a more severe West Nile infection may develop meningitis or encephalitis, and have symptoms including neck stiffness, severe headache, disorientation, high fever, and convulsions. The bite of a parasite-infected mosquito can cause malaria — a rare occurence in the United States, with only about 1,500 cases reported by the CDC each year. Symptoms are similar to the flu and can include fever, headache, muscle aches, nausea, and vomiting from 10 days to 4 weeks after the bite. Malaria is serious, but it's good to know it is preventable and treatable, according to the CDC. Bed Bug Bites You probably won't feel pain when a bed bug bites, but you may see a row of two or more red marks on your skin. Some people develop a mild or severe allergic reaction to the bug's saliva between 24 hours and three days later. This can result in a raised, red skin bump or welt that's intensely itchy and inflamed for several days. This can also include hives, and may mean a trip to your healthcare provider for treatment, notes the American Academy of Dermatology. Bed bug bites can occur anywhere on your body, but typically show up on uncovered areas, such as your neck, face, arms, and hands. It's good to know that although they're common, bed bugs do not carry disease, according to the CDC. Most spider bites are not poisonous and cause only minor symptoms like red skin, swelling, and pain at the site. Other spider bites are a real emergency. If you develop an allergic reaction to a spider bite, with symptoms such as tightness in the chest, breathing problems, swallowing difficulties, or swelling of the face, you need medical care at once. Because spider bites can get infected with tetanus, the CDC also recommends staying on top of your tetanus booster shots and getting one every 10 years. A bite from a poisonous spider like the black widow or brown recluse is extremely dangerous and can cause a severe reaction. The black widow's bite, which shows up as two puncture marks, may or may not be painful at first. But 30 to 40 minutes later, you may have pain and swelling in the area. Within eight hours, you may experience muscle pain and rigidity, stomach and back pain, nausea and vomiting, and breathing difficulties. You might not have seen the spider that bit you, but always seek medical attention immediately if there's a possibility you could have been bitten by a poisonous spider. Call 911 or the American Association of Poison Control Centers at 800-222-1222. Brown Recluse Spider Bites The brown recluse spider is poisonous and usually lives in dark and unused spaces. Some people feel a small sting followed immediately by a sharp pain, while others don't realize they've gotten a brown recluse bite until hours later. Four to eight hours afterward, the bite may become more painful and look like a bruise or blister with a blue-purple area around it. Later, the bite becomes crusty and turns dark. Symptoms of a brown recluse spider bite occur within a few hours and include fever, chills, itching, nausea, and sweating. Because some people will have a serious reaction that can lead to kidney failure, seizure, and coma, it's important to get medical care at once, according to the NIH National Library of Medicine. Be sure to seek medical attention immediately if you could have been bitten by a poisonous spider, by calling 911 or the American Association of Poison Control Centers at 800-222-1222. Some tick bites can be dangerous because they may carry disease. Black-legged ticks, formerly known as deer ticks, may carry Lyme disease, and dog ticks can spread Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Up to 30,000 cases of Lyme disease are reported each year in the United States. Symptoms of Lyme disease include a skin rash in the pattern of rings, much like a bull’s-eye on a target, that appears up to a month after the tick bite. You may also have fever, fatigue, headaches, muscle and joint aches, as well as irregular heart rhythms. But 20 to 30 percent of people who get infected never develop a rash. Symptoms such as swollen or painful joints, memory loss, or other autoimmune responses that mimic those of other diseases may present themselves later, when Lyme disease is in its advanced stages. A diagnosis may remain elusive because many doctors will not equate these symptoms with Lyme disease. Rocky Mountain spotted fever from a tick bite is rare, with about 2,500 U.S. cases per year. It causes a fever, headache, muscle aches, and a skin rash. The rash begins on the ankles and wrists after a few days of fever, but later the rash spreads to the rest of the body; in some people, a rash never develops. Although this infection can be severe — and even fatal — it is preventable and can be successfully treated with prompt medical care, according to the CDC. Symptoms of flea bites may begin within hours after you're bitten, and the bites tend to appear in groups of three or four. You may notice itching, hives, and swelling around an injury or sore, or a rash of small, red bumps that may or may not bleed. Flea bites are more common on your ankles, in your armpits, around your waist, and in the bends of your knees and elbows. A flea-bite rash turns white when you press on it and tends to get larger or spread over time. Scratching the rash can lead to a skin infection, according to the NIH National Library of Medicine, and may need medical attention. In extremely rare cases, the bites of fleas infected with the bacteria that causes plague can spread the disease from wild rodents to pets and to people. Over the past 10 years, as few as one, and as many as 17, cases of plague were reported in the United States, according to the CDC, most in the rural West. Symptoms of plague include swollen lymph nodes, headache, fever, and chills that appear from one to six days after the bite. Bee stings cause a sharp pain that may continue for a few minutes, then fade to a dull, aching feeling. The area may still feel sore to the touch a few days later. A red skin bump with white around it may appear around the site of the sting, and the area may itch and feel hot to the touch. If you've been stung by a bee before, your body may also have an immune response to the venom in the sting, resulting in swelling where the sting occurred or in an entire area of your body. If you have this type of allergic response, called anaphylaxis, it is a medical emergency that needs treatment immediately. Symptoms of severe allergy to a bee sting include hives, swelling, trouble breathing, dizziness, cramps, nausea, diarrhea, and even cardiac arrest. Lice bites are tiny red spots on the shoulders, neck, and scalp from small parasitic insects that can live on your clothes or in your bedding. Because lice bites are so small, they usually don’t hurt, but they do itch. Some people may develop a larger, uncomfortable skin rash from lice bites. Continual scratching of the itchy spots could lead to an infection marked by symptoms including swollen lymph nodes and tender, red skin. An infected lice bite may also ooze and crust over, and will need to be treated by a doctor, but lice are not known to carry other diseases. Ant Bites and Stings Ant bites and stings are typically painful and cause red skin bumps. Some types of ants, like fire ants, are venomous and can cause a severe allergy. Fire ants bite first to hold on and then sting, giving a sharp pain and a burning sensation. If you're bitten by fire ants, you may see white, fluid-filled pustules or blisters (pictured above) a day or two after the sting that last three to eight days and may cause scars. The bumps may also be itchy and red, and you may have swelling around the site. It's important not to scratch or break the blisters open, because they can become infected, notes the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. Carpenter ants bites are also painful because they spray formic acid into the bite, which causes a burning feeling. Mite and Chigger Bites Mite bites do not usually spread disease, but they can irritate the skin and cause intense itching. Itch mites usually feed on insects but will bite other animals, including people. The bites usually go unnoticed until itchy, red marks develop that may look like a skin rash. Chiggers are a form of mite that inject their saliva so that they can liquefy and eat skin. In response to the chigger bite, the skin around the bite hardens. As the picture above illustrates, the surrounding skin becomes irritated and inflamed, and an itchy red welt develops. Mites also cause the condition called scabies which is contagious from person to person, notes the CDC. Female scabies mites burrow into the skin to lay eggs. When the eggs hatch, the larvae come to the skin surface, begin to molt, and burrow back into the skin to feed. This results in a skin rash that may look like acne pimples and create intense itching that gets worse at night. You may also notice light, thin lines on the skin where the mites have burrowed, including between the fingers, in the bends at the wrists and knees, and under jewelry on the wrists and fingers. - Dr. James L. Castner/Corbis Kissing Bug Bites Kissing bugs, also known as assassin bugs, can pass on the parasites that cause Chagas disease. According to September 2015 research from the University of Texas at El Paso published in Acta Tropica, more than half of these insects carry the parasite. In the United States, Chagas disease affects about 300,000 people, according to the CDC. Kissing bugs hide in the daytime but emerge at night, often leaving bites on the face and causing a swollen eyelid. In the first few weeks after infection, symptoms of Chagas disease can include fever, fatigue, body aches, headache, rash, a loss of appetite, diarrhea, and vomiting. But in the long term, and even decades later, the CDC notes that about 30 percent of people infected by kissing bugs will develop serious complications of Chagas disease: an enlarged heart, heart failure, abnormal heart rhythm, cardiac arrest, or an enlarged colon, also known as megacolon. - Last Updated: 06/05/17 - Last Updated: 06/05/17	{ "palladium_score": 3.646798849105835, "timestamp": "2026-01-18T07:31:40.344021", "source": "Palladium-STEM (Preview)" }
http://docs.python.org/release/1.5.2p2/lib/module-rotor.html	This module implements a rotor-based encryption algorithm, contributed by Lance Ellinghouse. The design is derived from the Enigma device, a machine used during World War II to encipher messages. A rotor is simply a permutation. For example, if the character `A' is the origin of the rotor, then a given rotor might map `A' to `L', `B' to `Z', `C' to `G', and so on. To encrypt, we choose several different rotors, and set the origins of the rotors to known positions; their initial position is the ciphering key. To encipher a character, we permute the original character by the first rotor, and then apply the second rotor's permutation to the result. We continue until we've applied all the rotors; the resulting character is our ciphertext. We then change the origin of the final rotor by one position, from `A' to `B'; if the final rotor has made a complete revolution, then we rotate the next-to-last rotor by one position, and apply the same procedure recursively. In other words, after enciphering one character, we advance the rotors in the same fashion as a car's odometer. Decoding works in the same way, except we reverse the permutations and apply them in the opposite order. The available functions in this module are: Rotor objects have the following methods: An example usage: >>> import rotor >>> rt = rotor.newrotor('key', 12) >>> rt.encrypt('bar') '\2534\363' >>> rt.encryptmore('bar') '\357\375$' >>> rt.encrypt('bar') '\2534\363' >>> rt.decrypt('\2534\363') 'bar' >>> rt.decryptmore('\357\375$') 'bar' >>> rt.decrypt('\357\375$') 'l(\315' >>> del rt The module's code is not an exact simulation of the original Enigma device; it implements the rotor encryption scheme differently from the original. The most important difference is that in the original Enigma, there were only 5 or 6 different rotors in existence, and they were applied twice to each character; the cipher key was the order in which they were placed in the machine. The Python rotor module uses the supplied key to initialize a random number generator; the rotor permutations and their initial positions are then randomly generated. The original device only enciphered the letters of the alphabet, while this module can handle any 8-bit binary data; it also produces binary output. This module can also operate with an arbitrary number of rotors. The original Enigma cipher was broken in 1944. The version implemented here is probably a good deal more difficult to crack (especially if you use many rotors), but it won't be impossible for a truly skilful and determined attacker to break the cipher. So if you want to keep the NSA out of your files, this rotor cipher may well be unsafe, but for discouraging casual snooping through your files, it will probably be just fine, and may be somewhat safer than using the Unix crypt command.	{ "palladium_score": 3.5322251319885254, "timestamp": "2026-01-18T07:31:42.644881", "source": "Palladium-STEM (Preview)" }
http://www.icr.org/article/5350/243/	Quasars Quash Big Bang Assumption by Brian Thomas, M.S. * According to the most prominent naturalistic theory of origins, the universe began over 13 billion years ago in a "Big Bang" that flung matter, energy, and space outward. But quasars near some of the most distant galaxies have posed a problem for this view. A new study showed that these objects, some of the brightest in the universe, cast even more darkness on astronomers' current understanding of starlight and time. Quasars, or "quasi-stellar radio sources," are super-bright, massive, glowing objects that appear to be associated with black holes near galactic cores. Like many stars and galaxies, they are millions of light years away from earth. Light from these distant sources appears shifted toward the red, or low energy, end of the electromagnetic spectrum. This is interpreted to be caused by an expanding universe.1 In the early 1990s, eminent astronomer Halton Arp discovered a thick trail of glowing gas linking a galaxy named NGC 4319 to a nearby quasar. He noted a huge problem with this find--the galaxy's redshift indicated a distance of 107 million light years away, while its quasar's indicated 1.2 billion light years.2 If the degree of light redshift is truly caused by space expanding between earth and the light source, then the amount of redshift between these obviously connected glowing objects ought to be the same--not an order of magnitude different! This discrepancy caused Arp and some astronomers to doubt the assumption that redshift--at least for quasars--is caused by an expanding universe. Other astronomers seem to have just ignored the contraindicating anomaly. Based on new research, however, they may have trouble continuing to disregard the contradictions. In a study published online in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, astronomer Mike Hawkins at the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh presented results from 900 quasars he observed over the last couple of decades. He found more problems presented by quasars to the standard cosmological model. For example, identical rhythmic light signatures were observed among two quasars, one with redshift showing it as 6 billion light years away, and another showing a 10 billion light year "distance." Physorg.com reported: Even though the distant quasars were more strongly redshifted than the closer quasars, there was no difference in the time it took the light to reach Earth. This quasar conundrum doesn't seem to have an obvious explanation.3 If redshift is not a reliable indicator of quasar distances, then how reliable is it for other objects? What else could be causing the difference in degree of redshift, and would this alternative cause have implications for other cosmic phenomena? In addition, if the data are ambiguous about the distances to quasars, then science cannot be as sure of the time it took for quasar light to reach earth. There are even more glaring observations that do not "seem to have an obvious explanation" in the current cosmological context. For example, astronomer Neil DeGrasse Tyson stated emphatically that "the universe was born 14 billion years ago,"4 yet this is not nearly enough time for light from separate regions of space to have crossed paths. According to the Big Bang model, in order for the temperature of space to be as remarkably even as it is, light must have intersected to have smoothed out its energy.5 This "Horizon Problem" has not been solved and is devastating to that model.6 Both the Horizon Problem and the anomalous quasar data reveal fundamental gaps in current astronomical understanding. Some of the basic, fundamental questions remain unanswered about the universe's structure, size, expansion dynamics, effects or causes of gravity, and the nature of light. And this precludes confident assertions about its age--if those assertions are based merely on today's observations and naturalistic assumptions. For example, astronomer Hugh Ross recently stated, "Technological advance provides definitive data on the age of the universe and earth. There's simply no scientific basis for thinking that the universe and earth are not billions of years old."7 Investigating--not simply ignoring--observations like unexpected quasar light behavior and super-smooth cosmic temperatures shows that the data are only definitive in their defiance of mankind's overconfidence that science has solved the secrets of the universe--including its age. Investigators may never be able to determine the universe's age based on natural parameters alone, but its age in earth terms has been clearly mapped out in the pages of Scripture, a document that carries the highest authority of divine authorship and veracity. And that authority, along with plenty of scientific evidence, points to a recent creation by an omniscient, omnipotent Creator.8 - Evolutionary cosmologists have extrapolated this expansion back in imaginary time to a Big Bang, but creation cosmologists point out that this may corroborate over a dozen Bible references to the Lord stretching out the heavens. See Humphreys, D. R. 2007. Creation Cosmologies Solve Spacecraft Mystery. Acts & Facts. 36 (10): 10. - Arp, H., G. Burbidge and A. Hewitt. 1995. More on the galaxy-quasar connection. Sky and Telescope. 75 (8): 9. - Zyga, L. Discovery that quasars don't show time dilation mystifies astronomers. PhysOrg. Posted on physorg.com April 9, 2010, reporting on research published in Hawkins, M. R. S. On time dilation in quasar light curves. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Published online in advance of print April 9, 2010. - deGrasse Tyson, N. For the Love of Hubble. Parade, June 22, 2008. - This use of "temperature" is unique. What has been measured is the blackbody radiation of the cosmos, which ought to be very irregular. Instead, it is measured at 2.7 degrees Kelvin whether near or far from galaxy-rich regions of space. See Gish, D. 1991.The Big Bang Theory Collapses. Acts & Facts. 20 (6). - Coppedge, D. 2007. The Light-Distance Problem. Acts & Facts. 36 (6). - Ross, H. 2009. More Than a Theory. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 17. - Humphries, D. R. 2005. Evidence for a Young World. Acts & Facts. 34 (6). Image credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Canalizo (University of California, Riverside) * Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research. Article posted on April 29, 2010.	{ "palladium_score": 3.9012370109558105, "timestamp": "2026-01-18T07:31:42.644881", "source": "Palladium-STEM (Preview)" }
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/03/lp322-03.shtml	\|Back to Taking Notes Lesson Plan\| Use crayons or markers to teach note-taking skills. note taking, notes, study skills, research, Earhart, theme About the Lesson This lesson employs a brief biography of Amelia Earhart as the starting point for note-taking exercises. The Earhart biography is only a suggested starting point for this lesson, however. You can substitute any piece of literature for the selection, or provide additional note-taking practice by repeating this lesson with a variety of content-rich, subject-related reading material. Very often, students read for a specific purpose rather than general information. For example, if students are working on reports about the causes of the Civil War, they will likely skim many Civil War resources to find the sections of those resources about the specific topic. That means students will be "eliminating" a lot of information as they skim for details about the causes of the war. In this activity, students skim a brief biography of Amelia Earhart -- or another reading selection of your choice -- to locate specific information related to the focus of their search. If you use the brief biography of Amelia Earhart, provide each student with a copy of that bio page. Then you might Whichever topic students tackle, they skim their copy of the biography for information related to the topic. They then use a crayon to underline -- or a highlighting marker to highlight -- information that supports the topic. The highlighted text provides a visual representation of the "notes" students might write if they were using library resources to research the topic. When students complete their highlighting, have them use the most important highlighted information to write in their own words a concise paragraph on their assigned topic or theme. After completing this activity, you might encourage students to go beyond the one-page biography and do more in-depth research using library or Internet resources. Provide each student with a different topic to research, for example: AssessmentGive students a clean copy of a brief biography of Amelia Earhart and have them cross out all but the most important information related to the following topic: Reasons Many People Think Amelia Earhart Is a HeroThe following might be among the phrases in the biography article that will be highlighted in marker or underlined in crayon: Lesson Plan Source Note: This lesson is loosely based on the Trash-N-Treasure technique. Teacher Barbara Jansen wrote Reading for Information: The Trash-N-Treasure Method of Teaching Note-Taking, an in-depth article about this unique note-taking strategy. LANGUAGE ARTS: English GRADES K - 12 NL-ENG.K-12.1 Reading for Perspective NL-ENG.K-12.2 Reading for Understanding NL-ENG.K-12.3 Evaluation Strategies NL-ENG.K-12.4 Communication Skills NL-ENG.K-12.5 Communication Strategies NL-ENG.K-12.6 Applying Knowledge NL-ENG.K-12.8 Developing Research Skills NL-ENG.K-12.12 Applying Language Skills Click here to return to this week's Note Taking lesson plan page.	{ "palladium_score": 3.7471203804016113, "timestamp": "2026-01-18T07:31:44.706789", "source": "Palladium-STEM (Preview)" }
http://psychcentral.com/news/archives/2005-02/uopm-bcr021405.html	Research represents big step toward development of brain-controlled artificial limbs for people WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 – Reaching for something you want seems a simple enough task, but not for someone with a prosthetic arm, in whom the brain has no control over such fluid, purposeful movements. Yet according to research presented at the 2005 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting, scientists have made significant strides to create a permanent artificial device that can restore deliberate mobility to patients with paralyzing injuries. The concept is that, through thought alone, a person could direct a robotic arm – a neural prosthesis – to reach and manipulate a desired object. As a step toward that goal, University of Pittsburgh researchers report that a monkey outfitted with a child-sized robotic arm controlled directly by its own brain signals is able to feed itself chunks of fruits and vegetables. The researchers trained the monkey to feed itself by using signals from its brain that are passed through tiny electrodes, thinner than a human hair, and fed into a specially designed algorithm that tells the arm how to move. "The beneficiaries of such technology will be patients with spinal cord injuries or nervous system disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS," said Andrew Schwartz, Ph.D., professor of neurobiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and senior researcher on the project. The neural prosthesis moves much like a natural arm, with a fully mobile shoulder and elbow and a simple gripper that allows the monkey to grasp and hold food while its own arms are restrained. Computer software interprets signals picked up by tiny probes inserted into neuronal pathways in the motor cortex, a brain region where voluntary movement originates as electrical impulses. The neurons' collective activity is then fed through the algorithm and sent to the arm, which carries out the actions the monkey intended to perform with its own limb. The primary motor cortex, a part of the brain that controls movement, has thousands of nerve cells, called neurons, that fire like Geiger counters. These neurons are sensitive to movement in different directions. The direction in which a neuron fires fastest is called its "preferred direction." For each arm movement, no matter how subtle, thousands of motor cortical cells change their firing rate, and collectively, that signal, along with signals from other brain structures, is routed through the spinal cord to the different muscle groups needed to generate the desired movement. Because of the sheer volume of neurons that fire in concert to allow even the most simple of movements, it would be impossible to create probes that could eavesdrop on them all. The Pitt researchers overcame that obstacle by developing a special algorithm that uses the limited information from relatively few neurons to fill in the missing signals. The algorithm decodes the cortical signals like a voting machine by using each cell's preferred direction as a label and taking a continuous tally of the population throughout the intended movement. Monkeys were trained to reach for targets. Then, with electrodes placed in the brain, the algorithm was adjusted to assume the animal was intending to reach for those targets. For the task, food was placed at different locations in front of the monkey, and the animal, with its own arms restrained, used the robotic arm to bring the food to its mouth. "When the monkey wants to move its arm, cells are activated in the motor cortex," said Dr. Schwartz. "Each of those cells activates at a different intensity depending on the direction the monkey intends to move its arm. The direction that produces the greatest intensity is that cell's preferred direction. The average of the preferred directions of all of the activated cells is called the population vector. We can use the population vector to accurately predict the velocity and direction of normal arm movement, and in the case of this prosthetic, it serves as the control signal to convey the monkey's intention to the prosthetic arm." Because the software had to rely on a small number of the thousands of neurons needed to move the arm, the monkey did the rest of the work, learning through biofeedback how to refine the arm's movements by modifying the firing rates of the recorded neurons. In recent weeks, Dr. Schwartz and his team were able to improve the algorithms to make it easier for the monkey to learn how to operate the arm. The improvements also will allow them to develop more sophisticated brain devices with smooth, responsive and highly precise movement. They are now working to develop a prosthesis with realistic hand and finger movements. Because of the complexity of a human hand and the movements it needs to make, the researchers expect it to be a major challenge. Others involved in the research include Meel Velliste, Ph.D., a Pitt post-doctoral fellow in the Schwartz lab, and Chance Spalding, a Pitt bioengineering graduate student; and Anthony Brockwell, Ph.D., Valerie Ventura, Ph.D., Robert Kass, Ph.D., and graduate student Cari Kaufman from the Statistics Department at Carnegie Mellon University. Source: Eurekalert & othersLast reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 Feb 2009 Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved. Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. -- Robert Frost	{ "palladium_score": 3.753355026245117, "timestamp": "2026-01-18T07:31:44.706789", "source": "Palladium-STEM (Preview)" }
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distraction_display	Distraction displays, also known as diversionary displays, or paratrepsis are anti-predator behaviors used to attract the attention of an enemy away from something, typically the nest or young, that is being protected by a parent. Distraction displays are sometimes classified more generically under "nest protection behaviors" along with aggressive displays such as mobbing. These displays have been studied most extensively in bird species, but also have been documented in populations of stickleback fish and in some mammal species. Distraction displays frequently take the form of injury-feigning. However, animals may also imitate the behavior of a small rodent or alternative prey item for the predator; imitate young or nesting behaviors such as brooding (to cause confusion as to the true location of the nest), mimic foraging behaviors away from the nest, or simply draw attention to oneself. Distraction displays were once considered to be a sort of "partial paralysis," or uncontrolled, stress-induced movements. On the basis of several observations, David Lack postulated that such displays simply resulted from the bird's alarm at having been flushed from the nest and had no decoy purpose. He noted a case in the European nightjar, when a bird led him around the nest several times but made no attempt to lure him away. He additionally noted courtship displays mixed with the distraction displays of the bird, suggesting that distraction display is not a purposeful action unto itself, and observed that the display became less vigorous the more frequently he visited the nest, as would be expected if the display were a response driven by fear and surprise. Other researchers, including Edward Allworthy Armstrong, have taken issue with these arguments. While Armstrong acknowledged that displaying animals could make mistakes, as Lack's nightjar seems to have done in leading him around the nest, he attributed such mistakes not to paralytic fear but to a conflict of interest between self-preservation and reproductive or enemy attack impulses: the bird at once experiences a drive to lure the predator away and also to directly guard the young. Armstrong also thought that the incorporation of sexual and threat displays into the distraction display did not necessarily represent a mistake on the part of the animal, but "might make the display more effective by increasing its conspicuousness." Finally, the observation of less vigorous displays due to repeated nest approaches does not preclude the parent animal simply learning that the human is not a threat to its young. Jeffrey Walters provided evidence that lapwings possessed the ability to distinguish between different types of predators of varying threat levels, a behavior which is presumably learned, perhaps through cultural transmission. Armstrong additionally noted that displaying animals were rarely captured by predators, as would be expected if the display were truly uncontrolled, and that the movements seemed to show signs of some sort of control by the animal, although likely not conscious, intelligent control. One example of apparent control is attention seemingly paid to routes used by the displaying animal when moving away from the nest. Furthermore, researchers have noted parent animals moving towards the predator during the display. While some of these cases could be attributed to mistakes made during "partial paralysis," in the case described by Wiklund and Stigh, snowy owls consistently walked or ran towards the predator while displaying, suggesting that the action was deliberate. An additional hypothesis in alignment with Armstrong's ideas about conflicting impulses suggests that the incorporation of sexual and threat displays into the distraction display may represent displacement. Displacement occurs when an animal, unable to satisfy two conflicting impulses, may initiate an out-of-context behavior to "vent". If a displacement behavior served an adaptive function, such as increased survival of the young, then it may have experienced positive selection and become ritualized and stereotyped in its new context. In any case, there are some forms of distraction display which may in fact have evolved from stress responses, an idea more in alignment with Lack's hypothesis. One of these is the "rodent-run" display, in which a bird fluffs its feathers to mimic the fur of a rodent and scurries away from the nest. It is possible that this display originates from a feather ruffling reflex to alarm. There are several conditions in which distraction display may be advantageous to the animal, such that the incorporation of displacement or stress behaviors into offspring defense will most likely undergo positive selection. Most such cases depend upon the condition or location of the nest: distraction display has tended to evolve in species whose nests alone do not provide a substantial physical barrier to predators, and in those that nest on exposed terrain or close to the ground. If the nest is on open terrain, the parent may perceive predators at a greater distance and be able to leave the nest and begin displaying before the predator is in sufficient proximity to locate the nest. Furthermore, if the nest is on or near the ground, the parent may be able to display more effectively; Armstrong noted the relative rarity in the literature of distraction display in arboreal-nesting species, and attributed this to the difficulty of displaying convincingly while on a branch. Nonetheless, there have been anecdotal reports of warblers, which nest arboreally, dropping to the ground to perform a distraction display when disturbed, as well as displaying along a tree branch. In addition, distraction display tends to be most adaptive when animals nest solitarily, as solitary nesters lack the opportunity for mobbing a predator or otherwise performing communal defense, although some species have been observed to display in groups. Finally, distraction display tends to be adaptive when diurnal predation by visually-stimulated predators takes place (as these predators are most likely to notice the visual display). Distraction display has been most extensively studied in birds. It has been observed in many species, including passerines and non-passerines, and has been particularly well documented in the Charadriiformes. Injury-feigning, including broken-wing and impeded flight displays, is one of the more common forms of distraction. In broken-wing displays, birds that are at the nest walk away from it with wings quivering so as to appear as an easy target for a predator. Such injury-feigning displays are particularly well known in nesting waders and plovers, but also have been documented in other species, including snowy owls, the alpine accentor, and the mourning dove. Impeded flight displays additionally may suggest an injured wing, but through an airborne display. False brooding is an approach used by plovers. The bird moves away from the nest site and crouches on the ground so as to appear to be sitting at a nonexistent nest and allows the predator to approach closely before escaping. Another display seen in plovers, as well as some passerine birds, is the rodent run, in which the nesting bird ruffles its back feathers, crouches, and runs away from the predator. This display resembles the flight response of a small rodent. It has additionally been postulated that threat displays, such as gaping by the Caprimulgidae and wing-extension by the killdeer, and sexual displays, such as courtship dancing by stilts, can become incorporated into distraction displays where the bird is feigning injury. In both cases the incorporated components may increase conspicuousness, resulting in a more effective distraction display. Stickleback fish have been documented performing distraction displays. A nesting male three-spined stickleback, when approached by a group of conspecifics, will perform a distraction display by digging or pointing into the substrate away from the nest in order to protect his eggs from cannibalism. There have been two explanations proposed for this behavior. One hypothesis is that the display arose from a courtship behavior in which the male normally "points" an approaching female towards his nest so that she may lay her eggs within it. Therefore, pointing at the sediment away from a nest containing eggs may divert a cannibalistic female's attention through sexual cues. A second hypothesis is that the stickleback distraction display arose from displaced foraging behavior and as such represents faux-foraging. In support of this hypothesis was the finding that all-male, all-female, and mixed foraging groups responded equally to the display, which would not be expected if it were indeed mimicking a sexual display. Though rarely documented in mammals, a few instances of distraction display have appeared in the literature. One researcher documented a distraction display performed by a female red squirrel in order to protect her young. When the nest was approached, the female attempted to lead the researcher away through the trees using a ventriloquistic call that resembled the cries of the young. An additional study documented distraction display in Mentawai langurs, whereby a male will call loudly and bounce on branches while the female and young are able to quietly hide. Costs and decision to display While animals performing distraction displays are rarely documented as being killed, risks to the displaying animal do exist. One researcher observed and documented an instance in which a second predator become attracted to an animal already performing a distraction display, which was initially triggered by the approach of an initial predator. The displaying animal was killed. Additionally, it has been shown that some predators are “smart,” or have learned to recognize that distraction displays indicate a nearby nest. One study recorded a red fox that increased its searching behavior in response to the distraction display of a grouse and eventually found and killed the grouse nestlings. Factors influencing decision Given these risks, an animal must decide when distraction display is an appropriate response to a predator. Researchers have found several important factors that appear to influence the decision to use a distraction display and the intensity of the display, although it is not evident that these factors are taken into consideration consciously by the displaying animal. Several considerations involving the predator have been shown to be important, including the distance of the predator from the nest. Intensity of display has been shown to decrease as the distance of the predator from the nest increases, perhaps representing the balancing of risk to the displaying parent and to the vulnerable young. The type of predator has also been shown to be of importance, with birds tending to display most intensely to ground-dwelling carnivores and less intensely to humans and flying predators. Finally, the number of potential predators has also been shown to be important in sticklebacks, in which frequency of distraction displaying by the male is positively correlated with the number of conspecifics in a foraging shoal. In addition, the presence of a second parent at the nest correlates with increased display intensity, perhaps representing a diluted predation risk. The number of potential extra-pair mobbers has also been shown to marginally increase the intensity of the display, again representing a possible dilution of risk to each of the animals engaging in the distraction. Third, the timing of distraction display as a correlate of nestling age has been a matter of particular interest in birds, with study results showing that the age at which displays are performed differs in species with precocial and altricial young. In species with precocial young, distraction display is most frequent just after hatching, while in altricial young, it is most frequent just before fledging. This may represent a greater tendency to display at the times when parental investment in young is greatest, and the young are still very vulnerable. However, some studies have failed to find any correlation between the cost of replacing a brood (a measure of parental investment) and the frequency of distraction display. Lastly, game theory has been employed to explain how grouse may decide to display or not based on proxies for the abundance of “smart” predators, such as abundance of rodents in the preceding year. In this particular study, it was assumed that a greater abundance of rodents in one year may result in higher birth rates among foxes, which feed on the rodents, and therefore a greater population of one-year-old foxes in the following year. Yearling foxes are not yet experienced enough grouse hunters to be considered "smart." As such, distraction display may be a profitable strategy for the grouse in years following rodent population booms, as there is less risk of encountering a "smart" predator. However, a low rodent population in a given year may result in lower birth rates among foxes for that year, thereby resulting in a higher proportion of older, more experienced foxes in the population in the following year. In such a case, grouse may profit from not displaying, as they are more likely to encounter a "smart" predator. - Armstrong, Edward (1949). "Diversionary display.--Part 2. The nature and origin of distraction display". Ibis 91 (2): 179–188. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1949.tb02261.x. - Armstrong, Edward (1949). "Diversionary display.--Part 1. Connotation and terminology". Ibis 91 (1): 88–97. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1949.tb02239.x. - Barrows, Edward M. (2001) Animal behavior desk reference. CRC Press. 2nd ed. p. 177 ISBN 0-8493-2005-4 - Armstrong, Edward (1954). "The ecology of distraction display". British Journal of Animal Behaviour 2 (4): 121–135. doi:10.1016/S0950-5601(54)80001-3. - Caro, Tim (2005). "Nest defense". Antipredator Defenses in Birds and Mammals. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press. pp. 335–379. - Ruxton, Graeme D; Thomas N. Sherratt; Michael Patrick Speed. (2004) Avoiding attack: the evolutionary ecology of crypsis, warning signals and mimicry. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-852859-0. p. 198 - Foster, Susan (1988). "Diversionary displays of paternal stickleback: Defenses against cannibalistic groups". Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 22 (5): 335–340. doi:10.1007/BF00295102. - Ridgway, Mark; McPhail, John (1987). "Raiding shoal size and a distraction display in male sticklebacks (Gasterosteus)". Canadian Journal of Zoology 66 (1): 201–205. doi:10.1139/z88-028. - Whoriskey, Frederick (1991). "Stickleback distraction displays: Sexual or foraging deception against egg cannibalism?". Animal Behaviour 41 (6): 989–995. doi:10.1016/S0003-3472(05)80637-2. - Whoriskey, Frederick; FitzGerald, Gerard (1985). "Sex, cannibalism and sticklebacks". Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 18 (1): 15–18. Retrieved October 26, 2015. - Tilson, Ronald; Tenaza, Richard (1976). "Monogamy and duetting in an Old World monkey". Nature 263 (5575): 320–321. doi:10.1038/263320a0. - Long, Charles (1993). "Bivocal distraction nest-site display in the red squirrel, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus, with comments on outlier nesting and nesting behavior". Canadian Field-Naturalist 107 (1): 104–106. Retrieved October 13, 2015. - Byrkjedal, Ingvar (1989). "Nest defense behavior of lesser golden-plovers" (PDF). Wilson Bulletin 101 (4): 579–590. - Duffey, Eric; Creasey, N. (2008). "The "rodent-run" distraction-behaviour of certain waders". Ibis 92 (1): 27–33. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1950.tb01730.x. - Rowley, Ian (1962). ""Rodent-run" distraction display by a passerine, the superb blue wren Malurus cyaneus (L.)". Behaviour 19 (1–2): 170–176. doi:10.1163/156853961X00240. - Lack, David (1932). "Some breeding-habits of the European nightjar". Ibis 74 (2): 266–284. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1932.tb07622.x. - Walters, Jeffrey (1990). "Anti-predatory behavior of lapwings: Field evidence of discriminative abilities" (PDF). Wilson Bulletin 102 (1): 49–70. - Curio, E.; Ernst, U.; Vieth, W. (1978). "Cultural transmission of enemy recognition: One function of mobbing". Science 202 (4370): 899–901. doi:10.1126/science.202.4370.899. JSTOR 1747814. PMID 17752463. - Wiklund, Christer; Stigh, Jimmy (1983). "Nest defense and evolution of reversed sexual size dimorphism in snowy owls Nyctea scandiaca". Ornis Scandinavica 14 (1): 58–62. doi:10.2307/3676252. Retrieved October 26, 2015. - Tinbergen, Nikolaas (1952). ""Derived" activities: Their causation, biological significance, origin, and emancipation during evolution". The Quarterly Review of Biology 27: 1–32. doi:10.1086/398642. Retrieved October 26, 2015. - Grimes, A. (1936). ""Injury feigning" by birds". Auk 53 (4): 478–480. doi:10.2307/4078314. JSTOR 4078314. - Barash, David (1975). "Evolutionary aspects of parental behavior: Distraction behavior of the alpine accentor". Wilson Bulletin 87 (3): 367–373. Retrieved October 26, 2015. - Pavel, Vaclav; Bures, Stanislav (2001). "Offspring age and nest defence: Test of the feedback hypothesis in the meadow pipit". Animal Behaviour 61: 297–303. doi:10.1006/anbe.2000.1574. - Hudson, Peter; Newborn, David (1990). "Brood defence in a precocial species: Variations in the distraction displays of red grouse, Lagopus lagopus scoticus". Animal Behaviour 40: 254–261. doi:10.1016/S0003-3472(05)80920-0. - Sonerud, Geir (1988). "To distract display or not: Grouse hens and foxes". Oikos 51 (2): 233–237. doi:10.2307/3565647. Retrieved October 26, 2015. - Ristau, Carolyn (1991). "Aspects of the cognitive ethology of an injury-feigning bird, the piping plover". Cognitive Ethology: The Minds of Other Animals. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. pp. 91–126. - Baskett, Thomas S. and Sayre, Mark W. and Tomlinson, Roy E. (1993) Ecology and Management of the Mourning Dove. Stackpole Books, p. 167, ISBN 0-8117-1940-5. - Sordahl, Tex (1990). "The risks of avian mobbing and distraction behavior: an anecdotal review" (PDF). Wilson Bulletin 102 (2): 349–352.	{ "palladium_score": 3.616095781326294, "timestamp": "2026-01-18T07:31:44.706789", "source": "Palladium-STEM (Preview)" }
http://phys.org/news/2014-08-cordilleran-terrane-collage.html	In the August 2014 issue of Lithosphere, Steve Israel of the Yukon Geological Survey and colleagues provide conclusions regarding the North American Cordillera that they say "are provocative in that they blur the definition of tectonic terranes, showing that many observations of early geologists can be attributed to evolving geologic processes rather than disparate geologic histories." Western North America is characterized by the Cordilleran accretionary mountain belt, which has seen episodic plate convergence since the early Paleozoic, about 253 million years ago. Israel and colleagues write that this long-lived accretionary history of the northern Cordillera has resulted in a "collage of terranes" and overlap assemblages that seemingly have quite disparate geologic histories. Early geologic research in the North American Cordillera identified several tectonic terranes that were considered to be fundamentally different from one another based upon lithologic and age characteristics. Many of these terranes were thought to have traveled great distances before separately accreting to the ancient North American margin. Two of the largest terranes, the Alexander terrane and Wrangellia, found along western British Columbia, southwest Yukon, and eastern Alaska, have long been considered to be exotic to each other and to North America. However, in their investigation of relationship between Wrangellia and the Alexander terrane, Israel and colleagues have found evidence that suggests that the two terranes have shared a history since the Latest Devonian (about 364 million years ago), and that portions of Wrangellia are built upon a basement composed of the Alexander terrane. Israel and colleagues note that this conclusion would see the collage transformed into a more coherent picture with geologic ties between terranes that were previously thought of as complete separate entities. They conclude that this view of terranes adheres to the more traditional ideas of possible links between Laurentia and the accreted terranes with a few seemingly truly exotic pieces caught up in the collage. Explore further: Mountain-building and the end of an ancient ocean beneath modern New England More information: New ties between the Alexander terrane and Wrangellia and implications for North America Cordilleran evolution Steve Israel et al., Yukon Geological Survey, P.O. Box 2703(K-14), Whitehorse, Yukon, Y1A 2C6, Canada. August 2014 issue; online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/L364.1.	{ "palladium_score": 3.613053798675537, "timestamp": "2026-01-18T07:31:49.141454", "source": "Palladium-STEM (Preview)" }
http://www.technologyreview.com/article/428115/not-your-kids-sandbox/	Smart Pebbles: To test their algorithm, researchers designed tiny cubes with built-in processors and magnets. Imagine that you have a big box of sand in which you bury a tiny model of a footstool. A few seconds later, you reach into the box and pull out a full-size footstool: the sand has organized itself into a large-scale replica of the model. Researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have developed an algorithm that could make such “smart sand” possible. The grains of sand would be tiny computational devices that can pass messages to each other and selectively attach to their neighbors; in their research, the MIT team modeled the grains with cubes measuring about 10 millimeters to an edge. The cubes had rudimentary microprocessors inside and switchable magnetic connectors on four of their sides. Algorithmically, the main challenge in developing smart sand is that such tiny grains would have very few computational resources. “How do you develop efficient algorithms that do not waste any information at the level of communication and at the level of storage?” asks Daniela Rus, a professor of computer science and engineering and a coauthor with her student Kyle Gilpin on a paper presented at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in May. Rus and Gilpin’s answer is to convey shape information with a simple physical model. To see how the algorithm works, picture each grain of sand as a square in a two-dimensional grid. Now imagine that some of the squares—say, forming the shape of a footstool—are missing. That’s where the physical model is embedded. The grains pass messages to each other to determine which have missing neighbors. Grains with missing neighbors are in one of two places: the perimeter of the sand heap or the perimeter of the embedded shape. Once the grains surrounding the embedded shape identify themselves, they pass messages to other grains a fixed distance away, which in turn identify themselves as defining the perimeter of the duplicate. If the duplicate is supposed to be 10 times the size of the original, each grain surrounding the embedded shape will map to 10 grains of the duplicate’s perimeter. The grains not used to form the duplicate shape detach from their neighbors and simply fall away as the assembled object is lifted from the heap. The cubes that Gilpin and Rus used in experiments enact this simplified, two-dimensional version of the system. But computer simulations demonstrate that the algorithm would work with a three-dimensional block of cubes, too, by treating each layer of the block as its own two-dimensional grid. The same algorithm can be varied to produce multiple similarly sized copies of a sample shape or to produce a single large copy of a large object. “Say the tire rod in your car has sheared,” Gilpin says. “You could duct-tape it back together, put it into your system, and get a new one.”	{ "palladium_score": 4.031383991241455, "timestamp": "2026-01-18T07:31:49.141454", "source": "Palladium-STEM (Preview)" }
https://www.programming-techniques.com/2019/04/introduction-to-cpp-programming-language.html	Introduction to C++ Programming language Definition of C++ C++ is a case-sensitive, general purpose, and a free-form programming language that supports procedural, object-oriented, and generic programming. As it encapsulates both high and low-level language features, C++ is a middle-level language. A lot of platform like Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac, etc. supports C++ programming language. Benefits of C++ Over C Language - In C++, Stronger Type Checking is available. - The OOPS features in C++ like Abstraction, Encapsulation, Inheritance, etc make it more worthy and useful for programmers. - C++ supports and allows user-defined operators (i.e Operator Overloading) and function overloading. - The Concept of Virtual functions and also Constructors and Destructors for Objects. - There is Exception Handling in C++. - In C++ variable can be declared anywhere in the program, but must be declared before they are used. History of C++ Programming Language Bjarne Stroustrup developed C++ programming language in 1980 by at bell laboratories of AT&T (American Telephone & Telegraph), located in the U.S.A. The founder of C++ language is Bjarne Stroustrup. It is developed for adding a feature of Object Oriented Programming (OOP) in C without significantly changing the C component. C++ programming is relatively called a superset of C, it means any valid C program is also a valid C++ program. Usage of C++ Programming Language There are several benefits of using C++ for developing applications and many applications product based developed in this language only due to its features and security. Below is the usage areas of C++ where it has been widely and effectively used. It is used in the development of new applications of C++. The applications based on the graphic user interface, which are highly used applications like adobe photoshop and others. It is also used for developing most of the operating systems for Microsoft and a few parts of the Apple operating system. Microsoft Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP, office, Internet Explorer and visual studio, Symbian mobile operating systems are mainly written in C++ language only. The rendering engines of various web browsers are programmed in C++ simply because if the speed that it offers. The rendering engines require faster execution to make sure that users don’t have to wait for the content to come up on the screen. As a result, such low-latency systems employ C++ as the programming language. The C++ language is also used for developing games. It overrides the complexity of 3D games. It helps to optimize the resources. It supports multiplayer option with networking. Uses of C++ allows procedural programming for intensive functions of CPU and to provide control over hardware, and this language is very fast due to which it is widely used in developing different games or in gaming engines. C++ is mainly used in developing the suites of a game tool. Postgres and MySQL– two of the most widely used databases are written in C++ and C, the precursor to C++. These databases are used in almost all of the well-known applications that we all use in our day to day life – Quora, YouTube, etc. The compilers of various programming languages use C and C++ as the backend programming language. This is due to the fact that both C and C++ are relatively lower level languages and are closer to the hardware and therefore are the ideal choice for such compilation systems.	{ "palladium_score": 3.703974723815918, "timestamp": "2026-01-18T07:31:53.645174", "source": "Palladium-STEM (Preview)" }
http://www.akshardhool.com/	What the future holds? Is the question that has been obsessing the human mind, ever since the dawn of wisdom awakened the mankind? As humans watched the day and night skies, they realized periods or cycles in which celestial or heavenly bodies made themselves appear in the sky. The basic of these was of course the sun, which appeared all day long and disappeared in night. Other planets followed their own courses, which were not so simple. Then there were groups of stars or constellations, which first appeared to the human eye as stationary. However, observations over a longer period made humans aware that these too have their own cycles of appearance and disappearance. It was natural for the early humans to interpret these celestial cycles as some form of divine communication that would affect not only personal behavior, but also affairs of community or states. From this basic idea, the subject of astrology developed subsequently. Until the 17th century, astrology was considered a scholarly tradition. It actually led to the development of astronomy as a science and also helped in other branches of science such as meteorology and medicine. Only by the end of the 17th century, astrology lost its academic standing and became regarded as a pseudoscience. In the Indian context, we have a long tradition of astrologers or astronomers, who were also called mathematicians, because their work involved many new mathematical concepts. Some of these early mathematicians include Aryabhatta (आर्यभट्ट), Varahamihira (वराहमिहिर), Brahmagupta (ब्रम्हगुप्त), Bhattotpala (भट्टोत्पल) and Bhaskaracharya (भास्कराचार्य). Some of their works can be listed as Aryasiddhanta (आर्यसिद्धांत), Brahmasiddhanta (ब्रम्हसिद्धांत), Brhjjataka (बृहज्जातक), Brhatsamhita (बृहत्संहिता), and Lilavati (लीलावती). Besides these, another literary work stands out, because its author or the period, remains unknown. This work is known as Sooryasiddhanta (सूर्यसिद्धांत). The presently available transcript of this treatise is believed to be from the beginning of last millennium. The basis of all astrological observations has always been the path followed by the Sun around the earth (called as ecliptic) on a background that is full of constellations and asterisms. (Asterisms are group of stars that appear to follow certain patterns, which our fertile minds have managed to associate with figures and outlines of living or non-living things that we see on earth). For convenience of observation and measurement, Sooryasiddhanta divides the Sun’s path or ecliptic around the earth or ecliptic in following fashion. विकलानां कला षष्ठ्या तत्षष्ट्या भाग उच्यते तत्त्रिंशता भवेद्राशिर्भगसो द्वादशैव ते II २८ II तत्त्रिंशता भवेद्राशिर्भगसो द्वादशैव ते II २८ II “Sixty seconds (vikala) make a minute (kala); sixty of these, a degree (bhaga); of thirty of the latter is composed a sign (rashi); twelve of these are a revolution (bhagana)”. (Sooryasiddhanta 1. 28) (Sooryasiddhanta 1. 28) For Astrology purposes, each of the “Rashi” of thirty degrees is associated or belongs to an asterism that is seen in the background of that “Rashi”. These asterisms are known as the “Signs of the Zodiac”. (The zodiac is an area of the sky that extends approximately 8° to north or south of the ecliptic). It may come as a surprise to many of us that this system of division of the ecliptic, or “Rashi” and the concept of association of prominent asterisms with a “Rashi” as a particular sign of Zodiac, is virtually identical in ancient Indian Astrology or “Jyotisha” as well as in western Astrology, which is based on ancient Greek Astrology. Some of the Astrologists believe that the “Rashi” concept was a purely Indian effort, copied first, by people of Middle East, from where it propagated to west. There is another school of thought, which believes that concept of “Rashi” originated in ancient Geece, from where it was picked up by Indians. Be it as may be, there is hardly any point in entering the fray as neither it would lead anywhere nor would it win any argument, We shall therefore refrain from joining any argument and concentrate on the fact that concept of “Rashis” appears in ancient works of both Indian and Greek origin. We can therefore conclude that there must have been a common source or a person or a group of knowledgeable persons, who were familiar with literary works of both Indian and Greek Origin, and naturally were bilingual (proficient in Sanskrit and Greek). As it turns out, we have a readymade source of information, in form of two books, originally written by famous Indian mathematician Varahamihira. (Sixth century CE), who seems to have a full knowledge of Yavan (Greek) astronomical terms and doctrines1. He even gives the Greek terms for the Sanskrit names for the signs of the Zodiac. Varahamihira, in his books, quotes from treatises written by many other learned men or Pundits. However, he does not reveal to us the sources of his knowledge of Greek doctrines or names. MM P.V.Kane2 gives two instances, where Varahamihira, in his treatise Brhtsamhita, has referred to word “Yavana”. MM P.V.Kane says. “The word Yavana appears to be used in two senses by Varahamihira. In verse 14 of chapter 2, this word means the Yavana people in general, but in some other places (such as verse 1 of chapter 11), this word means either Yavana authors or some one writer from among them”. Bhattotpala or Bhatta-Utpala (भट्टोत्पल) was a 10th century astrologer-mathematician. According to Al-Biruni, he was a Pundit from Kashmir2, 3. He has written commentaries on Varahamihira’s two books Brhjjataka (बृहज्जातक) and Brhtsamhita (बृहत्संहिता). Bhattotpala, besides commenting on Varahamihira’s original text, also refers, like Varahamihira, to quotes from treatises written by other learned men or Pundits. His references to “Yavanas” (Greeks) appear to be more extensive. What is of special significance is that Bhattotpala mentions certain “Yavana” Pundits either by their titles or names such as “Yavanadhipati” (यवनाधिपति), “”Yavanedra” (यवनेंद्र), “Yavanacharya” (यवनाचार्य) and finally “Yavaneshvara” (यवनेश्वर). According to MM P.V.Kane2, out of these names, “Yavanacharya” appears to have been an ancient Greek writer. Regarding the names “Yavanadhipati”, “Yavanedra” and “Yavaneshvara”, there is no clarity, whether Bhattotpala is referring to the same author called by him as “Yavanacharya” or these are different authors from differing centuries. In another literary work known as Saravali (सारावलि) by Kalyanavarma (कल्याणवर्मा), written in the intervening centuries between Varahamihira’s books and Bhattotpala’s commentary, we do find words like “Yavanaraja” (यवनराजा), Yavanavrddha” (यवनवृद्ध), “Yavananarendra” (यवनेंद्र). There is also a mention of the name “Purva Yavendras” (पूर्व यवनेंद्र) implying that its author knew ‘early and later’ Yavana writers on Astrology. Bhattotpala makes one interesting comment about “Yavaneshwara” though. He says, “Varaha refers to the views of an ancient Yavanacharya, but he (Bhattotpala) has not seen the work. He has only read the work of Yavaneshwara Sphujidhwaja (स्फुजिध्वज), who mentions the views of Yavana writers of a bygone age and this Sphujidhwaja flourished in an age that was later than the beginnings of Shaka-kala (CE78)”. The original Sanskrit comment is given below. From this rather confusing state of things, we can make out two facts clearly. 1. Firstly, before the times of Varahamihira (6th century CE) there were several Greek or Yavan Astrologers known to Indians. They might have been based in India or Greece. One of them, commonly known as “Yavanacharya” or “Vrddhayavana” (वृद्धयवन), was rather well known. 2. In the intervening centuries between Varahamihira and Bhattotpala, another Greek Astrologist “Sphujidhwaja” became well known. It is not clear whether he was commonly referred to by names such as “Yavaneshwara”, “Yavanadhipati”, “Yavanendra” or “Yavanaraja” or these names were used for an earlier Greek writer, who was also a King. According to Bhau Daji1, “Word Sphujidhvaja is a corruption of the Greek name Speusippus. Diogenes Laertius mentions two authors of this name, one of whom was a physician called Hcrophileus Alcxandrinus, and may, possibly, be the astronomer whose works were translated and studied in India”. However no other modern scholar seems to corroborate this view. Matter would have rested here with “Yavanacharya” and “Yavaneshwara” both lost in sea of obscurity. However. In the summer of year 1897, an Indian scholar, Pundit HaraPrasad Shastry, Professor of Sanskrit, Presidency College Kolkata, briefly happened to see a palm leaf manuscript4 in the library of His Excellency, The Maharaja of Nepal. The manuscript examined by Pundit Shastry was a remarkable one as it was a complete copy of a book called “Yavan-Jataka”. Pundit Shastry made an effort to read the last verse of this manuscript, which said, “that in the year 91 of some (unspecified) era, Yavanesvara translated from his own language into Sanskrit prose, Horashastra and that in the year 191, king Sphujidhwaja rendered that shastra into four thousand Indravajra verses”7. Mahamahopadhyay P.V.Kane managed in the year 1935, to get a transcript of the above mentioned manuscript from Nepal Darbar and translates5 the last paragraph as, “The seal of the sentences of the ocean of the knowledge of hora (astrology) was guarded by the veil of his own language and was seen in the year 91. Formerly, the Lord of Yavanas, being endowed with the vision of truth by the favour of the Sun, declared this shstra of the knowledge of hora (astrology) in unblemished sentences for enabling- the people to grasp it. There was a talented king named Sphujidhvaja, who turned this (shastra) into Indravajra verses, four thousand in number, in the year 191”7. One thing becomes very clear from both these translations. King Sphujidhwaja (he was probably a Greek king, as Bhau Daji says.) was not the original author of the book “yavana-Jataka” (Greek book of Astrology). He has merely converted it from original prose to verses. MM P.V. Kane also feels that King Sphujidhwaja was probably from Gupta era (3rd to 6th century CE). Meanwhile, MM P.V.Kane had turned his attention to other available manuscripts of the Book “Yavan-Jataka” that were available to him. He found that they were different from the Nepal Manuscript and some of them differed among themselves. However he found that most of the manuscripts had names that implied that the book was actually called “Vrddha-Yavana-Jataka” written by one “Minaraja”. Regarding identification of this “Minaraja”, MM P.V.Kane says6, “The name Minaraja is not necessarily non-Indian but it is not possible to shut our eyes to the fact that Menander (165/155 –130 BCE), a Greeko-Bactrian king has been identified with Mililinda of the Buddhist work ' Questions of Milind'. Miariija may be a Sanskrit rendering of a foreign word like Menendra”. Bhattotpala’s commentary on Varahamihira’s Brhjjataka contains twelve verses about the characteristics of the twelve rashis (signs of Zodiac), which he quotes as told by Yavanesvara. (Commentry on Brhjjataka verse 1.5). In Sphujidhwaja’s “Yavana-Jataka”5 the same twelve verses about the twelve rashis appear, following the first verse that is corrupt. The same twelve verses also occur in the “Vrrdha-Yavan-Jataka”6 composed by Yavanachrya Minaraja who is described as the overlord of Yavanas. These twelve versest about Rashis are given below in Appendix. We can therefore infer from above. 1. A Greek king (most likely Menander) known by various names such as Yavanesvara or Yavanacharya authored a text in Greek language, probably around 140 BCE, about Greek system of Astrology. The book was known as “Yavana-Jataka” first and later as “Vrddha-Yavana-Jataka”. This inference finds support from another reference2 in Bhattotpala’s commentary on Brhjjataka. Here, he quotes from great Sage Badarayana (second century CE according to Marathi Vishva-Kosha of Late Shri Laxmanshastri Joshi) which mentions a certain “Yavanendra”. This would mean that the Greek king, who wrote a text about Greek system of Astrology actually preceded Sage Badarayana. This matches well with King Menander’s age. 2. Varaha-Mihira, Kalyan-Varma and many other authors referred to this treatise, while authoring their own works. 3. Sometime in Gupta era, another Greek Astrologist Sphujidhwaja (Greek name Speusippus) converted the original prose written in Greek language into 4000 verses and named it as “Yavana-Jataka”. 4. Bhattotpala(10th century CE), though he had no access to the original “Vrddha-Yavana-Jataka” , referred to Sphujidhwaja’s book in his commentary on Varahamihira’s books, Brhjjataka and Brihat-samhita. 1. Brief Notes on the Age and Authenticity of the Works of Aryabhata, Varahamihira, Brahmagupta, Bhattotpala, and Bhaskaracharya : By Bhau Dajee : The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, New Series,Vol. 1, No. 1/2 (1865), pp. 392-418 2. Varahamihira and Utpala : By P.V.Kane : Journal of Bombay Branch of Asiatic society, Vol 24-25, 1949, PP. 1-31 3. Sanskrit literature known to Al-Biruni : By Ajay Mitra Shastri :pp.130 : Indian Journal of History of Science Vol. 10 4. Notes on Palm-leaf MSS in the Library of His excellency The Maharaja of Nepal : By Pundit HaraPrasad Shastry : Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal : Vol. 66 : 1897 : pp.310-316 5. The Yanavajataka of Sphujidhwaja : By. MM P.V. Kane: Journal of Bombay Branch of Asiatic society, Vol 30-2, 1955, PP. 1-5. 6. Yavaneshvara and Utpala : By MM P.V. Kane: Journal of Bombay Branch of Asiatic society, Vol 30-1, 1955, PP. 1-5. 7 Note: - Bill M. Mak of Kyoto University challenges this translation in his research paper “The Date and Nature of Sphujidhvaja’s Yavanajātaka Reconsidered in the Light of Some Newly Discovered Materials” published in 2013. He gives a new translation in which the numbers 91 and 191 are omitted. 15th March 2020	{ "palladium_score": 3.7393462657928467, "timestamp": "2026-01-18T07:31:53.645174", "source": "Palladium-STEM (Preview)" }
http://ioarvanit.gr/en/archives/2992	Measuring distances from our robot to other objects, is one of the most common data we want to obtain. For example, if we are building an autonomous vehicle, we want to check it’s distance from obstacles to help it make the right decision about it’s course. There are also many more examples of robots that we want them to activate mechanisms when something or someone gets close to them. One of the simplest, cheapest and most accurate ways to measure distances, is by using ultrasonic sensors. Their working principle is based on the fact that sound is reflected upon most objects and materials. These sensors have a transmitter that sends a short ultrasonic burst and a receiver that senses the ultrasound upon it’s return. Knowing the speed of the sound in the air (approximately 343 m/sec), we can calculate the distance it traveled, if we measure the time passed for the ultrasound to return to the sensor. All ultrasonic sensors operate in a similar way. They send a short (a few microseconds long) ultrasonic burst from the transmitter and measure the time it takes for the sound to return to the receiver. Let’s say that it took 10 milliseconds for the ultrasound to return to the sensor. That means: - that the time in seconds is 0,01. - Knowing that sound travels in the air 343 meters for every second, we can calculate the distance in meters by simply multiplying seconds by 343. in our case 0,01 x 343 = 3,43 meters. - This is the distance that the ultrasound traveled to the obstacle and back to the sensor, so the obstacle is 3,43/2 = 1,715 meters away from the sensor. Pros and Cons. The main advantages of using ultrasonic sensors to measure distance are: - they are cheap and there is a plethora of choices in the market, - they are not affected by the color or the transparency of obstacles, - they are not affected by lighting conditions, - they are pretty accurate on their measurements. Their drawbacks are: - They don’t work well enough on obstacles with small surfaces. - The angle of the surface of the obstacle is crucial for the sensor. - Obstacles made from sound absorbing materials (for example sponges) are hard to be traced by the sensor, since the absorb sound. Choosing a sensor. There is a wide variety of ultrasonic sensors on the market, for most robotics platforms. For those who prefer working with the Lego platform, EV3 and the older NXT, include ultrasonic sensors. Some examples of using them in the classroom are: If you are an Arduino or Raspberry pi fan and want to dive more into how these sensors work, there are several options that you can find online. The most common and affordable choice is the HC-SR04, which costs less than a euro on ebay (August 2018). For more details and comparative tests with various ultrasonic sensors, i advise you to watch two detailed videos (here and here) from Andreas Spiess channel on Youtube. Connecting the sensor to Arduino and programming. The HC-SR04 sensor has 4 pins: - VCC, that is connected to 5V, - GND, that is connected to Ground, - TRIG (Trigger), that is connected to the transmitter to send the ultrasonic burst, - ECHO, that is connected to the receiver. There are two ways to connect the sensor to Arduino: - Connect TRIG and ECHO to different digital pins and make all the hard work and calculations in our program, - connect TRIG and ECHO to the same digital pin and use a library to make all the calculations. I am going to start from the second way (easy) and then stay longer on the first, which gives the programmer more control and as an educator i find it more interesting. One pin connection and the NewPing library. For my program to work i will need to install the NewPing library to my Arduino IDE, using the library manager. Now i can write a simple program to print the distance obtained by the sensor to the Serial monitor. I uploaded the program to the board and started testing. Two pin connection – Calculating distance from time. As an educator, i find it more interesting to dig in the working principal of things, even if that means more work for my students. In order to do so in this example we will have to forget the luxury of the NewPing library and make all the calculations ourselves. First of all i changed the schematic by connecting the TRIG and ECHO to different digital pins. Before i can start coding there are some things i need to clarify: - TRIG (Trigger) has a default LOW state and when we change it to HIGH it starts sending ultrasonic burst. - When ECHO receives the bouncing sound it returns a HIGH pulse to the Arduino. - I will use the pusleIn function to measure the time the ECHO pin stays in HIGH state. This functions returns time in microseconds. Now i can start my algorithm: - Set TRIG pin to HIGH. - Wait for a short period of time (10 microseconds). - Set TRIG pin to LOW. Now i have sent a short ultrasonic burst. - Get the time from ECHO pin in microseconds. - Convert microseconds to seconds (division by 1.000.000). - Calculate the distance the sound traveled in meters. Multiply seconds by 343 m/sec. - Now i have the distance i meters. I will convert it to centimeters by multiplying by 100. - This is the distance the sound traveled to the obstacle and back. So the distance of the obstacle from the sensor is half of that. So i divide distance by 2. I upload the program to my board and the sensor works as with the NewPing library, returning decimal values since all my variables are float. Digging even further – Finding the actual speed of sound based on temperature and humidity. So far i used the speed of sound to calculate distance from time, assuming that this is a constant value of 343 m/sec. That is not actually true. Speed of sound depends on the “density” of the mean it travels through. In solid materials the speed of sound is greater than liquids and in liquids sound travels faster than through gases. The ultrasonic sensor sends sound through air which is a gas. In gases the speed of sound is affected mostly by the gas temperature, less by the gas humidity and even less by the gas pressure. For example in air with pressure of 1 Atm and - temperature of 0 degrees Celsius (32 F) and 50% humidity, the speed of sound is 331.61 m/sec, - temperature of 20 degrees Celsius (68 F) and 50% humidity, the speed of sound is 343.99 m/sec, - temperature of 30 degrees Celsius (86 F) and 50% humidity, the speed of sounds is 350,31 m/sec και - temperature of 30 degrees Celsius (86 F) and 90% humidity, the speed of sound is 351,24 m/sec. There are many online calculators for the speed of sound. I used the one on http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-airpressure.htm to get the above results. Since i had a cheap temperature – humidity sensor lying around (DHT11 Temperature and Humidity Sensor), i decided to improve the calculations in my code, using these two values to estimate a more accurate speed of sound value. First of all i embedded the new sensor in my schematic. Typical DHT11 sensors have either 3 pins (5V, GND and Signal) or 4 pins (5V, GND, Signal and NULL). The connections are as follows: - 5V DHT11 –> 5V Arduino - GND DHT11 –> GND Arduino - SIGNAL DHT11 –> A0 pin Arduino The next step was to add the measurement of temperature and humidity in my code using the dht.h library, which you can download from here. I followed the step by step tutorial from Brainy Bits and now the only thing i needed was to calculate the actual speed of sound. After a long search, i found that the formula needed was originally published in 1993 by Owen Cramer in his work “The variation of the specific heat ratio and the speed of sound in air with temperature, pressure, humidity, and CO2 concentration.”. I was also happy to find a JAVA implementation by a research team from the Univeristy of Sao Paolo Brazil. With a few tweaks to adjust it to my code the full program is as follows: I uploaded the program to my board and starting testing. I was happy to have more accurate measurements, even if that does not play a significant role in small distances of few cm. Using the ultrasonic sensor in class. The use of ultrasonic sensors in educational robotics is very common and there are hundreds of examples over the internet, either using the Lego platform or Arduino and Raspberry pi. Recently tinkercad added a new command block for getting the distance from an ultrasonic sensor. I find particularly interesting, for educational purposes, the analytical way of calculating the distance, from the time the sound takes to travel to the obstacle and back. In a previous project (smart trash can), that we implemented with my students from the evening club Young Hackers, we spent a lot of time to fully understand the algorithm that calculates distance from time using an analytical worksheet (in greek). We implemented the algorithm using a block style language (Ardublockly) that helped students a lot to understand every step of the way.	{ "palladium_score": 3.9757020473480225, "timestamp": "2026-01-18T07:31:53.645174", "source": "Palladium-STEM (Preview)" }
http://wwx.wikia.com/wiki/Lebensraum	\|Part of the Politics series on\| \|Flag of Nazi Germany\| </table> Template:Audio (German for "living space") was a belief in Germany in the early 20th century that Germany needed new land to expand in, especially toward the east. It became a major motivation for Nazi Germany's territorial aggression after 1937. Lebensraum was a reinterpretation of the by then century-old concept of Drang nach Osten. In his book Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler detailed his belief that the German people needed Lebensraum – for a Großdeutschland, land, and raw materials – and that it should be taken in the East. The idea of a Germanic people without sufficient space dates back to long before Adolf Hitler brought it to prominence. Through the middle ages, German population pressures led to settlement in Eastern Europe, a practice termed Ostsiedlung. The term Lebensraum in this sense was coined by Friedrich Ratzel in 1901, and was used as a slogan in Germany referring to the unification of the country and the acquisition of colonies, based on the English and French models. Ratzel believed that the development of a people was primarily influenced by their geographical situation and that a people that successfully adapted to one location would proceed naturally to another. These thoughts can be seen in his studies of zoology and the study of adaptation. This expansion to fill available space, he claimed, was a natural and necessary feature of any healthy species. Ratzel himself emphasized the need for overseas colonies, to which Germans ought to migrate, not for expansion inside Europe. Wanklyn, (1961) argues that Ratzel's theory was designed to advance science, and that politicians distorted it for political goals. Thus Lebensraum was picked up and expanded by publicists of the day, including Karl Haushofer and General Friedrich von Bernhardi. In von Bernhardi's 1912 book Germany and the Next War, he expanded upon Ratzel's hypotheses and, for the first time, explicitly identified Eastern Europe as a source of new space. According to him, war, with the express purpose of achieving Lebensraum, was a distinct "biological necessity." As he explained with regard to the Latin and Slavic races, "Without war, inferior or decaying races would easily choke the growth of healthy budding elements." The quest for Lebensraum was more than just an attempt to resolve potential demographic problems: it was a necessary means of defending the German race against stagnation and degeneration." 'Lebensraum' and 'Konzentrationslager,' ("concentration camp") were coined in the 1900-1910 era regarding German policies in its colony of South-West Africa (now Namibia). During the first decade of the 20th century imperial Germany colonized the land and committed genocide against the local Herero and Nama peoples. Later use of these words suggests an important question: did Wilhelmine colonization and genocide in Namibia influence Nazi plans to conquer and settle Eastern Europe, enslave and murder millions of Slavs, and exterminate Gypsies and Jews? Madley (2005) argues that the German experience in Namibia was a crucial precursor to Nazi colonialism and genocide and that personal connections, literature, and public debates served as conduits for communicating colonialist and genocidal ideas and methods from the colony to Germany. World War IEdit In September 1914, when victory in the World War seemed at hand, Berlin introduced a lebensraum plan for postwar peace terms. the concept of Lebensraum was endorsed secretly by the Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg and the rest of the German government as a war aim in World War I. Documents discovered by the German historian Fritz Fischer have suggested that in the event of a German victory, one policy under discussion by the German government as part of its Septemberprogramm was to annex a strip of Poland, and replace the population with Germans to set up a defensive barrier in the east. The popularion policy was never officially adopted nor put into effect. The significance of Fischer's discovery, as the Australian historian John Moses has noted, is that the goal of winning lebensraum was already in German thinking long before 1933 and thus cannot be seen, as some German historians have argued, as solely Adolf Hitler's personal brain-child. The "September plan" was a proposal that was under discussion but was never adopted and no movement of people was ever ordered. As historian Raffael Scheck concluded, "The government, finally, never committed itself to anything. It had ordered the September Program as an informal hearing in order to learn about the opinion of the economic and military elites." As the British historian A. J. P. Taylor noted in his 1963 foreword "Second Thoughts" to his 1961 book The Origins of the Second World War: The German Empire planned to annex territory in both Lithuania and Poland for direct colonization by German colonists after forcible removal of Polish and Lithuanian population. As early as April 1915, the Polish Border Strip plan against Poland, which was first suggested by General Erich Ludendorff in 1914, was approved as a German war aim by the Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg. The German historian Andreas Hillgruber argued that the foreign policy of General Ludendorff, with its demand for lebensraum to be seized for Germany in Eastern Europe during World War I, was the prototype for German policy in World War II. Lebensraum almost became a reality in 1918 during World War I. The new Communist regime of Russia concluded the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany, ending Russian participation in the war in exchange for the surrender of huge swathes of land, including the Baltic territories, Belarus, Ukraine, and the Caucasus. However, unrest at home and defeat on the Western Front forced Germany to abandon these favorable terms in favor of the Treaty of Versailles, by which the newly acquired eastern territories were agreed to sacrifice the land to Lithuania, Poland, and new nations such as Estonia or Latvia, and a series of short-lived independent states in Ukraine. The German historian Andreas Hillgruber argued the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was the prototype for Hitler's vision of a great empire for Germany in Eastern Europe. Hillgruber wrote that: The desire for lebensraum was a key tenet of several nationalist and extremist groups in post-World War I Germany, notably the Nazi Party under Adolf Hitler. As the American historian Gerhard Weinberg noted, German demands for territorial revision went beyond merely regaining land lost under the Treaty of Versailles, and instead embraced calls for the German conquest and colonization of all Eastern Europe, regardless of whether the land in question had belonged to Germany before 1918 or not Likewise, the British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper argued that the goal of overthrowing Versailles was only a prelude to seizing Lebensraum in Eastern Europe for Germany with no regard as to where Germany's 1914 frontiers had been. In Mein Kampf, Hitler was to write: The official German history of World War II was to conclude that the conquest of Lebensraum was for Hitler and the rest of the National Socialists the most important German foreign policy goal. At his first meeting with all of the leading generals and admirals of the Reich on February 3, 1933, Hitler spoke of "conquest of Lebensraum in the East and its ruthless Germanization" as his ultimate foreign policy objectives. For Hitler, the land which would provide sufficient Lebensraum for Germany was the Soviet Union, which for Hitler was both conveniently a nation that possessed vast and rich agricultural land and was inhabited by what Hitler saw as Slavic untermenschen (sub-humans) ruled over by what he regarded as a gang of blood-thirsty, but grossly incompetent Jewish revolutionaries. In Hitler's view, the idea of restoring the 1914 borders of the Reich was absurd as those borders did not provide sufficient Lebensraum; only a foreign policy that aimed at the conquest of the proper quantity of Lebensraum would justify the necessary sacrifices that war entailed In Hitler’s view, history was dominated by a merciless struggle between different “races” for survival, and “races” that possessed large amounts of territory were innately stronger then those that did not. Eberhard Jäckel has expressed a Primat der Außenpolitik (“primacy of foreign policy”) interpration of German foreign policy as opposed to the Primat der Innenpolitik ("primacy of domestic politics") thesis favored by some left-wing historians such as Timothy Mason. Jäckel wrote that since Hitler regarded the conquest of Lebensraum as his most important project, and since that could only be accomplished through war, domestic policy comprised simply preparing the nation for the inevitable struggle for Lebensraum There are, however, many historians such as Martin Broszat and Hans Mommsen who dismiss this "intentionalist" approach, and argue that the concept was actually an "ideological metaphor" in the early days of Nazism. The practical implementation of the Lebensraum concept began in 1939 with Germany's occupation of Poland. Later, the ideology was also a major factor in Hitler's launching of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941. The Nazis hoped to turn large areas of Soviet territory into German settlement areas as part of Generalplan Ost. Developing these ideas, Nazi theorist Alfred Rosenberg proposed that the Nazi administrative organization in lands to be conquered from the Soviets be based upon the following Reichskommissariats: The Reichskommissariat territories would extend up to the European frontier at the Urals. They were to have been early stages in the displacement and dispossession of Russian and other Slav people and their replacement with German settlers, following the Nazi Lebensraum im Osten plans. When German forces entered Soviet territory, they promptly organized occupation regimes in the first two territories—the Reichskomissariats of Ostland and Ukraine. The defeat of the Sixth Army at the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942, followed by defeat in the Battle of Kursk in July 1943 and the Allied landings in Sicily put an end to the plans' implementation. In his book Mein Kampf, Hitler notes that history is an open-ended struggle, and links the concept of Lebensraum with his own brand of racism and social Darwinism. Nevertheless, historians debate whether Hitler's position on Lebensraum was part of a larger program of world domination (the so-called "globalist" position) or a more modest "continentalist" approach, by which Hitler would have sufficed with the conquest of Eastern Europe. Nor are the two positions necessarily contradictory, given the idea of a broader Stufenplan, or "plan in stages," which many such as Klaus Hildebrand and the late Andreas Hillgruber argue lay behind the regime's actions. Historian Ian Kershaw suggests just such a compromise, claiming that while the concept was originally abstract and undeveloped, it took on new meaning with the invasion of the Soviet Union. He goes on to note that even within the Nazi regime, there were differences of opinion about the meaning of Lebensraum, citing Rainer Zitelmann, who distinguishes between the near-mystical fascination with a return to an idyllic agrarian society (for which land was a necessity) as advocated by Darré and Himmler, and an industrial state, envisioned by Hitler, which would be reliant on raw materials and forced labor. What seems certain is that echoes of lost territorial opportunities in Europe, such as the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, played an important role in the Hitlerian vision for the distant future: Racism is not a necessary aspect of expansionist politics in general, nor was the original use of the term "Lebensraum". However, under Hitler, the term came to signify a specific, racist kind of expansionism. Karl Haushofer was an acquaintance of Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy. Haushofer had limited influence on Hitler's ideals. "Haushofer primarily provided the academic and scientific support for the expansion of the Third Reich ." Haushofer ideas can be described by the expansion of heavily populated countries having the right to expand and gain land from less populated countries. This was his adaptation of Ratzel's Lebensraum . Empire of Japan: cy:Lebensraum da:Lebensraum de:Lebensraum im Osten el:Ζωτικός χώρος es:Lebensraum eu:Lebensraum fr:Lebensraum it:Lebensraum he:מרחב מחיה lt:Gyvybinė erdvė hu:Lebensraum arz:ليبينزراوم nl:Lebensraum ja:生存圏 no:Lebensraum nn:Lebensraum pl:Lebensraum pt:Espaço vital ro:Spaţiu vital ru:Жизненное пространство на Востоке sr:Лебенсраум fi:Lebensraum sv:Lebensraum tr:Lebensraum vi:Lebensraumzh:生存空间	{ "palladium_score": 4.001851558685303, "timestamp": "2026-01-18T07:31:58.446915", "source": "Palladium-STEM (Preview)" }

End of preview. Expand in Data Studio

⚛️ Palladium-STEM (Preview): High-Density Scientific Corpus

"The Top 0.17% of the Open Web."

Overview

This dataset is a 25,000-document preview of the upcoming Palladium-V2 STEM Corpus. It represents the "Platinum Tier" survivors from a pool of 14.8 million scanned documents, selected for high information density, academic rigor, and reasoning capability.

The "Goldilocks" Methodology

Unlike standard web scrapes, this data was processed using a custom GPU-accelerated refinery:

CPU Gatekeeper: Filters for academic structure, citations, and mathematical notation (LaTeX, proofs, algorithms).
GPU Classifier: A BERT-based educational model scores every document on pedagogical quality.
The Result: A 0.17% yield rate. We rejected 99.83% of the content to leave only high-grade signal.

Data Provenance

Sources: High-authority domains including phys.org, wikipedia.org, newscientist.com, betterlesson.com, and university domains (.edu).
Content: Hard sciences (Physics, Chemistry), Mathematics (Proofs, Logic), Computer Science (Algorithms), and Academic Curriculum.
Quality: Average educational score of 3.78 / 5.0 (vs. standard web average of <1.5).

Usage

This preview is intended for:

Pre-training LLMs on high-quality reasoning data.
Fine-tuning models for STEM tasks.
Evaluating data quality filters.

Full Dataset (Coming Soon)

The full Palladium-V2 corpus (targeting 5M+ documents / 5B+ tokens) is currently mining. [Contact us for early access]

Downloads last month: 21

Size of downloaded dataset files:

275 MB

Size of the auto-converted Parquet files:

155 MB

Number of rows:

25,204