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In this short, costumed scientists create a carefully choreographed childhood for a flock of whooping cranes to save them from extinction. It's the ultimate feel-good story, but it also raises some troubling questions about what it takes to get a species back to being wild. Perched in a duck blind in a wildlife research center outside of Washington, D.C., Andrea Seabrook gets a glimpse of her first whooping crane: a tall, snowy-white bird on stalky legs with a bright red-crested head. It's no surprise she had to drive to Maryland and hide in a tiny shack to see one -- less than a hundred years ago, there were just 16 whooping cranes left, and only 4 breeding females. Now scientists like John B. French are taking these cranes under their wings to keep them from dying out. It's no easy task -- the scientists go to ludicrous lengths to teach these cranes how to survive in the wild, while making sure the cranes never know they're interacting with humans. Chicks nestle with taxidermied moms, are taught the basics of crane life by puppet-wielding researchers wearing white cloth suits, and are led across the country by ultralight planes (piloted, of course, by a crane-suited human). Crazily enough, it seems to be working -- there are now somewhere around 500 whooping cranes in the wild, 30 times more than there were in the 1930s. But that's not quite the whole story. Andrea tells us about a sad mystery in the middle of this monumental effort -- one very crucial moment where things go terribly wrong. She and John French explain the strange behavior that has crane champions worried, and what might be causing it. *Image of whooping crane at Patokah River National Wildlife Refuge in Indiana on its migration south. Steve Gifford/USFWS/flickrCC-BY-2.0. For more on whooping cranes, check out Operation Migration's site for tons of amazing photos and info. And take a look at their YouTube channel, where we found this video of a friendly puppet teaching a whooping crane chick how to eat and drink: Flip through this slideshow of whooping crane photos from the US Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters:
by Mary Pappalardo, Writing Intern In June of this year, Rhode Island’s state legislature passed what is known as the Homeless Bill of Rights. The language of the bill makes it clear that discrimination against the homeless population is unacceptable. This is an important move for Rhode Island, especially in a time when throughout the country other states are making it more and more difficult to be homeless. Since then, pushes for similar bills have been seen in other states like California and Oregon. Pittsburgh is a city with its own distinct homeless community. Statistics from 2011 suggest that in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, the homeless population is estimated to be over 2,000. Are we a city that could use a Homeless Bill of Rights? With the growing attention the issue of homelessness is getting, what are the viable ways of addressing it in Pittsburgh? The Homeless Bill of Rights focuses most specifically on nondiscrimination. We can think of discrimination as a storekeeper turning away a homeless person based on their appearance, though this is not entirely discriminatory. Private businesses are allowed to place restrictions such as “No Shirts, No Shoes, No Service” in the interest of preserving their clientele; while it may seem harsh, they are within their legal rights. The kind of discrimination that Rhode Island’s bill focuses on is the limited access to services that comes from homeless people’s lack of an address. “Maybe you’re required to have an address in order to get access to something. An abstract example would be: in order to access the soup kitchen, you’d have to show an ID card. So the government, in creating its soup kitchen funding act could say, well we don’t want everyone in society thinking they can get a free meal so they have to have a shelter ID card. It creates such a burden,” says Linda Tashbook, from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, who has worked with homelessness for over 20 years. ID requirements like this hypothetical one would make day to day practices substantially more difficult for the homeless population, because to obtain an ID, proof of residence is often required. This kind of discrimination is the main focus of Rhode Island’s bill. What Tashbook has noticed in her years of work, though, is that Pittsburgh as a community is perhaps more receptive to its homeless population than other cities tend to be. There are countless organizations throughout the area that are working collaboratively to care for those who are displaced from their homes. There are big shelters, like those run by East End Cooperative Ministries and Saint Joseph’s House of Hospitality that offer both meal and accommodation services. Pitt Dental School has provided dental care—toothbrushes, cavity fillings—for homeless people who can’t afford visits to the dentists. There is a program at Western Psych called the Neighborhood Living Project that works specifically with members of the homeless community with mental disabilities, offering a range of services including lawyer referrals to ensure that their rights are not denied. One of the most effective programs in Pittsburgh is Operation Safety Net, a groundbreaking street-medicine program. By seeking out those living on the streets or frequenting drop-in centers and shelters, Operation Safety Net brings the medical care to the homeless, and eliminates the difficulty of access by making regular rounds to a number of locations. The service workers in programs like these form a network of providers who work together to try to provide the best care possible. Tashbook recalls a story of one man who was known by this network . He had been living out of his car for a few years, but after serious flooding, he essentially lost his home. Because caseworkers knew about him, though, someone reached out to him to assure him that they would find him space. He went to live in a shelter, and one of the caseworkers there told him about a new pool of federal money that had become available for housing subsidies and that he might be eligible for. This man went through the interview process, and sure enough he was eligible; they were able to get him into his own apartment. “There are just a lot of caring people either based through our hospitals or our universities that are reaching out and doing things with the homeless all the time,” says Tashbook. One of those people, Joe Lagana, founded the Homeless Children’s Education Fund (HCEF), which works to support the education of homeless children and youth in Allegheny County. HCEF has done extensive work throughout Allegheny County, setting up learning centers, funding mini-grants for partner organizations, and countless other initiatives. Like Tashbook, Lagana notes that Pittsburgh is ahead of the curve when it comes to relations with its homeless population, “I do believe we have made more progress than other regions of our size and complexity.” Neither Tashbook nor Lagana believe that this higher level of engagement excuses Pittsburgh from its obligation to work harder for this typically marginalized community, though. But, perhaps a Homeless Bill of Rights focusing on discrimination is too broad a piece of legislation. While it marks a turning point in the way the issue is addressed in Rhode Island, the bill does not tackle all of the problems that exist. Rhode Island’s bill came at a time when the state engaged with its homeless community much less effectively than it needed to. A homeless shelter in one of the biggest cities in Rhode Island couldn’t offer meal services, but due to demand for beds, people needed to be present at the shelter by late afternoon. This meant that people who went elsewhere for their meals often could not get a bed; it was widely known among the homeless population that depended on the shelter that you had to pick that day whether you wanted food or a place to sleep. The shelter had too many people depending on it, and not the kind of government regulation that would allow them to rectify the situation. Had there been a law in place that required shelters providing accommodation to also provide food, the shelter might have been able to apply for grants to help fund a meal program. Specific legislation tailored to hone in on localized issues is the only way to ensure an extensive and thorough change in policy towards homelessness. Despite a large network of service providers, things cannot improve comprehensively without a change in the system that has perpetuated homelessness. Lagana’s work with homeless children has made the gaps all too clear for him. “Officials from the schools and related agencies are not clear, passionate or aware of the homeless population…where they reside and what their educational needs are. In most cases, when homeless children show up at school, the educators are not aware that the student is experiencing homelessness,” says Lagana This lack of engagement on the part of the administrations is a clear illustration of the kinds of issues surrounding homelessness in Pittsburgh. Lagana has worked with lawmakers to begin providing for homeless youth in state legislation. In July 2012, Governor Corbett signed Act 123 of 2013, a senate bill on which Lagana worked with legislators that sets up a task force to study Pennsylvania’s homeless youth and their educational needs. It is important that legislation like this is being passed, because the effect of homelessness on the development of a student is dramatic. “A large percentage of children experiencing homelessness have developmental delays or special needs as a result of instability caused by multiple changes of housing. Each change of school requires a major adjustment on the part of the student to new classmates, teacher, and curriculum. Not all, but many of the these children have literacy issues and thus cannot keep up with their classmates, get frustrated, and stop going to school regularly. They usually do not represent themselves well in classes and do not get the attention that would help them to accelerate. Their brains are often traumatized by the instability,” says Lagana. If we believe that education is the great equalizer, then it is clear that we must be concerned with making sure that all children have access to the best opportunities for education possible. Regardless of housing status, all children should feel safe and provided for in their school setting, and specific legislation addressing this issue is a step forward. Tashbook has also noticed the need for specialized laws. She points to the practice of homeless sweeps in Pittsburgh; public officials for a long time had been clearing out areas populated by homeless people, without warning, and disposing of whatever they found there. The Pittsburgh chapter of the ACLU negotiated a settlement with the city in 2003 that set strict guidelines for homeless sweeps: the city needed to provide a full week’s notice of the impending sweep by posting in the area to be cleared for seven full days and also they agreed that whatever they collected in the sweep would be kept in storage for 30 days in a location that would be publicized at the site of the sweep. This past year, Tashbook has interacted with two different people who have experienced two separate incidents of sweeps in which these guidelines were not followed. “That is an example of a place where city code needs to provide particular protections for homeless people, because doing it through a court case didn’t work. They’ve slacked off, they’re not fulfilling their obligations, and now homeless people have to bring a big case in court to enforce their rights and they don’t have the wherewithal to do that. So more targeted laws of this type make sense to me,” says Tashbook. Rhode Island’s Homeless Bill of Rights is a symbolic step in the right direction, and it should be praised for that. However, Pittsburgh’s own situation illustrates the need for a more widespread reform to the way we think about and work with our homeless populations. We need targeted and focused policies that make the system work for those who find themselves without a home. There are myriad reasons that push people into homelessness, and we must address these issues as well. What we cannot allow ourselves to do is grow complacent or neglectful, because it is only in a concerted group effort—like the work being done by Lagana, Tashbook, and the network of service providers that already exists—that we can make the kind of difference necessary for impactful change. Special thanks to Linda Tashbook and Joe Lagana for their contributions to this post.
Age and Origin of the Human Species The speciation event that produced Homo sapiens sapiens could not have occurred contemporaneously in more than a very few individuals. It follows that those few s. sapiens would have possessed a very restricted sample of the progenitor species' genetic diversity. However, the diversity observed in current populations implies that there were never less than several thousand breeding pairs in the human ancestry (Harpending et al., 1998). Accordingly, the founding s. sapiens and their descendants must have interbred with the progenitor species (and perhaps other pre-human populations) in order to preserve the diversity which exists today. While some changes in the genome must have occurred after the speciation event, the "lifetimes" of the genetic elements considered (in this context and the works cited here) are far longer than new estimates of s. sapiens' age (Mountain et al.,1994). As a consequence, most current diversity must be the result of interbreeding with pre-human populations. On this view we would expect to see the most hybridized elements of the modern indigenes in those areas where pre-human population density was highest, such as Africa and S. E. Asia. Also, we would expect those populations to have the greatest diversity today, because they would preserve more of the pre-human genome, which would have had much more genetic variety than was represented in the tiny, original population of s. sapiens. In fact, we do find that Africans and some S. E. Asian populations have not only more diversity (Jorde et al., 1997), but central Africans are said to have ancestral genetic elements as well (Tishkoff et al., 1996). It is also clear that the population which gave rise to s. sapiens had been separated from the sub-Saharan Africans' ancestors for longer than our species' lifetime.1 This requires the proponents of the "African Eve/Out of Africa" views to posit a segregation of central Africans from the proto-modern population in which speciation occurred. Since they also claim that modern humans originated in and radiated from Africa, Tishkoff (for instance) is driven to suggest that this hundreds of thousand year sequestration was somewhere in N. E. Africa.2 This is an implausible, ad hoc suggestion. By contrast, it is natural to suppose that separation implies the population ancestral to humans was a part of the radiation out of Africa into Eurasia, before the speciation event occurred. If the speciation event took place in Eurasia, we would expect that the descendant population would show a "bottleneck" effect, and that those populations would possess low genetic diversity today, relative to central Africans, which is what we do find.3 By contrast, central Africans have always had a large effective population size (Tishkoff et al., 1996), and are characterized by extraordinary diversity (Kidd et al., 1998). Also we would expect that Asians and Europeans would be more closely related to each other than either are to Africans, as is revealed in the discussion of cladistics below. This view also accounts for the existence of the Eurasian types. Yet more impressive evidence for a common Eurasian origin is the existence of a 200,000 year-old betaglobin linkage common in Asia and rare in Africa (Harding et al., 1997) and the “ancient Eurasiatic marker”: NRY binary polymorphism M173, whose particular significance is discussed below. The age of the human species had lately been estimated at between 150,000 and 250,000 years, based on studies of mitochondrial DNA. Those estimates were based on the assumption of clonal transmission of the mtDNA, and the cited studies invalidate that (Awadalla et al., 1999; Hagelberg et al., 1999; Eyre-Walker et al., 1999), but we do not know by how much the dates are off. Eyre-Walker has proposed that "Eve" may have lived twice as long ago as current estimates,4 or as long as 500,000 years BPE. If there were bottlenecks subsequent to a mtDNA replacement event, which wiped out older lines, it would seem that the sweep occurred more recently than it really did. Accordingly, new estimates of s. sapiens’ age preclude the possibility that such a replacement event took place in, or marked the origin of, our species. More than one group of researchers (such as Harpending and Jorde) consider that the data support a "clean sweep" of earlier mtDNA lineages and this has frequently been raised in support of the "Eve/Africa" view. However, such ancient dates for an mtDNA replacement event would be consistent with radiation of pre-human species out of Africa, rather than the origin of s. sapiens. There has never been any reason to assume that the putative female (whose mtDNA is said to be ancestral to that found in all living humans) was, herself, a s. sapiens. The entire basis for the "Eve" hypothesis (that all modern, human mtDNA originated with one woman, or even in one restricted population) is falsified by recent research indicating plural lineages in the mtDNA genome. The putative ‘African Eve’ is probably neither chronologically nor causally related to the origin of s. sapiens. In this circumstance, it is only reasonable to assume that the date of the human cultural explosion suggests the approximate era of s. sapiens speciation. Research on the Y-chromosome yields an estimate of 59,000 years BPE for the “most recent common [paternal] ancestor”, (Underhill, et al, 2000) assuming no selection and population structure effects. Given that caveat, the -59kyr date fits those of the earliest human cultural remains like a hand in a glove. About forty thousand years ago, people from central Asia migrated into Europe, and their descendants constitute a majority of the population there today (Semino & Passarina, 2000) so we know what type of people they were. They came from the general area of those earliest human cultural sites, and they shared a genetic marker designated as M173. The population which carried that marker must have existed for some time before their migration began, because derivative forms of it are found in Siberia and the Amerinds, which implies that it was present in their common ancestral population that existed prior to 40,000 years BPE. Again, we have a good idea of what that ancestral Eurasian type was, by inference from the populations it generated, and it seems likely to be as ancient as humanity itself. When was there time, within the human culture period, for evolution of the Eurasian ancestral type from African immigrants? Moreover, the precursors to humanity are all present in Eurasia (from H. ergaster, and heidelbergensis, through archaic sapiens) while no comparable sequence has been discovered in Africa. Even if, contrary to all the data adduced here, humanity had originated in Africa, it seems contrived to assume that s. sapiens would have immediately migrated from that continent, to leave their earliest known (and all subsequent) cultural artifacts in Eurasia. But if (on the Afro-origins view) they did, why did they evolve into the Eurasian ancestral type? What mechanisms, events, and pressures would conduce to such a change? Why did those other populations, said to be ‘first out of Africa’ (on account of their genetic diversity) such as the Andaman Islanders and tropical S. E. Asian types, not experience any such change? Do the Afro-origin people perhaps agree that the speciation event created the Eurasian type from archaic sapiens? The invocation of "genetic drift" and "founder effect", as used to assert a counter-intuitive interpretation of the diversity gradient (Tishkoff et al., 1998)5, will not serve. I believe it is incumbent upon those who support the view of s. sapiens origins in Africa to explain how and why they were converted to Eurasian types so quickly. And those who maintain that humans originated long before they began to leave cultural artifacts need to explain why; what changed, that made them really human? Why would humans evolve, long ago in Africa, but only begin to behave like humans once they arrived at northern latitudes: are we back to the climate theory of evolution? The author’s view is that the only logical interpretation of all the available data, including the characteristics of extant populations, is that the speciation event occurred in a Eurasian population, of archaic sapiens, with ancient indigenous roots, in which case it is obvious how s. sapiens' progenitors were sequestered from central Africa. The current Eurasian populations are lightly pigmented, and that is associated with high latitude species and populations in many other genera. It has often been suggested that the ancient ancestors of the Eurasian types were part of a population that had been resident at high latitudes long enough to manifest the derived characteristic of light pigmentation. On this view we would expect to find that light-skinned people would display low diversity and a distant relationship to central Africans, which is what we find. In fact, the genetic difference between Africans and Europeans is so distinct that the proportion of European admixture in Afro-Americans can be determined with a margin of error of only 0.02 (Destro-Bisol et al., 1999). Harpending states that the population ancestral to s.sapiens was "small during most of the Pleistocene" and that "the number of our ancestors just before the expansion ('origin') of modern humans was small, only several thousand breeding adults." We can compare this characterization of our ancestral population with the evidence that Africans have always had a large effective population size. It is this incongruity that forces Tischkoff to postulate that the pre-human population was both "isolated from the rest of the African continent" and "somewhere in N. E. Africa."6 Moreover, this would have been for a very long time. Perhaps in Lemuria or Atlantis? The evidence indicates that humans came from a sparse population in Eurasia; that their diversity was further reduced by the speciation event; that they subsequently expanded in every habitable direction; and that they interbred with the populations they came in contact with, producing extant hybrid populations. Hence Mountain et al. (1994) reports that in the cladistic tree "the European branch is significantly short relative to all other branches," that "the neighbor-joining tree... places the European sample close to the center of the tree with an extremely short branch," and further that "Europeans and northeast Asians are closely related." The first two of these statements are inconsistent with origin and radiation out of Africa while the third does not lend it any support. Evidence for radiation into Africa was found by Hammer et al. (1998) and Tischkoff et al. (1998) noted such evidence, but the latter went on to suggest that no attention should be paid to it.7 The radiation of low-diversity s. sapiens from Eurasia is also the best explanation for the discoveries, dates, morphology and genetic data in S. E. Asia. There, s. sapiens and erectus lived in proximity for as long as 20,000 years (Swisher et al., 1996). So many of the human fossils from this area and era show a mixed suite of s.sapiens and erectus features that interbreeding is the most plausible interpretation of the data. Many students of fossil morphology have long contended that there is continuity between S. E. Asian Hominid fossils and extant indigenous peoples.8 Genetic data show these populations are distinct from northern Asian populations and of comparable diversity to Africans (Chang et al. 1996).9 The Ngandong specimens, in particular, have occasioned much debate on account of their mixture of s.sapiens and erectus traits and their affinities with Australians.10 We would expect that the crania of such hybrids would show affinities to both species, and that is why these fossils are so hard to classify. Some authorities say they are clearly erectus, while others point to modern traits, and especially that very similar skulls (from overlapping dates) are found in Australia. Moreover, the traits in question occur in the modern population. This is not merely consistent with, but constitutes strong evidence for, the view that radiating, low-diversity s. sapiens interbred with relic erectus populations, thus acquiring the near-African diversity and primitive morphological traits manifest in the Asian fossil record and extant indigenes. The hypothesis presented here uniquely explains one particularly puzzling aspect of the Australian fossil record. The oldest fossils from Australia are the most modern in morphology. On my view, this is explained by the fact that the first wave of humans who passed through S. E. Asia on their way to Australia were less hybridized with resident erectus populations because they spent less time living among them. Populations that settled Australia later (leaving the Kow Swamp-type skulls) had been living in S. E. Asia for as much as 20,000 years and were far more hybridized in consequence. Wolpoff accepts that the Ngandong skulls are representative of the population that produced the Kow Swamp-type specimens, and left descendants in the modern population But he explicitly rejects the view, as set forth here, that there was inter-species gene flow, and calls it "unacceptable". This, however, is a socio-political rather than a scientific statement. He does not contend that it isn’t a reasonable construction of the data, but rejects it on grounds of dogma, because of its implication that some modern populations express a more primitive genome. Wolpoff considers that the hypothesis of hybridization is "unacceptable" because it "raises the specter that some human populations can be interpreted to differ from others because they have more genes from an extinct, primitive human species." Thus, according to Wolpoff and other adherents of this doctrine, scientific truths which conflict with their politically-correct "just so" paradigm are outside the bounds of contemplation. It is noteworthy that he is driven to contend that erectus is human (‘true’man) in order to preserve logical consistency … at the expense of common sense. The people of the Andaman Islands have also been the subject of a study which has been reported as "supporting 'out of Africa.'"11 This is an example of the almost universal, and usually unstated, assumption that there are only two possible hypotheses of human origins: the multi-regional, and African views. If the data conflicts with the multi-regional view it is said to “support” African origin. This not only begs the question, but is arguably deceitful. In this case, the data, considered by itself, may not contradict African origin, but as part of the pattern already noted above, it actually supports the opposing hypothesis presented here. The Andaman Islands are yet another of the places where s. sapiens interbred with a relic erectus population, were hybridized, and existed in an isolated condition until the present. Not surprisingly, they show genetic affinities to central Africans, because (like them, and some S. E. Asians) they preserve substantial portions of the pre-human genome. It is nonsense to suggest that the first groups of humans "out of Africa" immediately migrated to the ends of the earth (Andamans, Australia, New Guinea, etc...) or that the populations of all such remote places should possess such diversified and similar genomes by chance. The inferred pattern of hybridization is the more parsimonious hypothesis. They are found in these out-of-the-way places because they were driven there by more advanced populations who supplanted such hybrids elsewhere. Yet another challenge exists to the claim that our species radiated out of Africa. There is a consensus among anthropologists that s. sapiens' cultural artifacts indicate a higher level of cognitive function than any previous species. The technical level and diversity of their tool industry alone would have set them apart. Add to that, whole new categories of behavior: the creation of representative art, the domestication of the dog, etc... Thus, we would expect that populations which were hybridized with predecessor species would be intellectually and cognitively disadvantaged in relation to low-diversity, Eurasian populations In fact, we do observe that (Herrnstein and Murray, 1994), which clearly reveals the direction of species radiation. Expressing this view, however, is likely to attract such vehement abuse that few dare. Only those whose livelihood is not subject to the fiats of "wimmin and minorities" can openly speak the truth on this subject, and their views are ruthlessly censored. Notes 1. Harpending, et al. (1998); see especially the conclusions. 2. & 3. Tishkoff, S. A., from a report in the Science Daily of 25 January 1999 of a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Anaheim on 22 January. 4. Eyre-Walker, 'Recent Finds in Paleoanthropology' in Athena Review vol. 2, no. 2 (10 March 2000). 5. See p. 1395 and p. 1399, and generally, to account for the observed diversity clines, which intuitively support radiation out of Eurasia by low-diversity s. sapiens, gaining diversity as they interbred with pre-human populations subsequent to their speciation. 6. Tishkoff, as quoted in Science Daily (above). 7. Tishkoff et al. (1998). On page 1399, she postulates a "dramatic" founder effect and genetic drift. 8. Wolpoff, Milford H., submitted a post entitled "No Homo erectus at Ngandong" to Human Origins News (http://www.pro-am.com/origins/news/article19.html) on 16 March 2000. He is perhaps the best known proponent of the view that there is continuity between the ancient and modern populations; saying, for instance, that the population represented by the Ngandong specimens is "incontrovertably" ancestral to some Australian fossils and living people. 9. Chang et al. 1996, p. 98 notes the way Melanesians are genetically differentiated from other Pacific islanders and Asians (citing Flint et al. (1993)). Their figures 3 & 5 are somewhat pertinent. Mountain, op. cit., p. 6516, notes clustering of pygmies and S. E. Asians. Figure 1 shows how representative global populations cluster: the pattern is consistent (in the author's interpretation) with Eurasian hybridization of a species whose genome subsumed the diversity of the current (also hybridized) Africans. Kidd, op. cit. p. 225, cites Harding (1997) concerning variation of betaglobin in S. E. Asians. Jorde, op. cit., Figure 2 shows S. E. Asians clustering with pygmies. Hagelberg (as cited in 11, below) finds affinities between pygmies and Andaman Islanders. 10. Wolpoff's post (8, above) seems to be in response to the statement of Philip Rightmire (cited as "an expert on the species") in the 15 December 1996 issue of Human Origins News that "They [Ngandong specimens] are unequivocally H. erectus." 11. Hagelberg, E. & Fox, C. L. in an unpublished study, quoted in Scientific American, 'Science and the Citizen', January 1999. References Awadalla P., Eyre-Walker A., Smith J. M. (1999) 'Linkage Disequilibrium and Recombination in Hominid Mitochondrial DNA', Science vol. 286, pp. 2524-2525 (24 December). Chang F-M., Kidd J. R., Livak K. J., Pakstis A. J., Kidd K. K. (1996) 'The world-wide distribution of allele frequencies at the human dopamine D4 receptor locus', Human Genetics, 98: 91-101. Destro-Bisol G., Maviglia R., Caglia A., Boschi I., Spedini G., Pascali V., Clark A., Tishkoff S. (1999) 'Estimating European admixture in African Americans by using microsatellites and a microsatellite haplotype (CD4/Alu)', Human Genetics 104: 149-157. Eyre-Walker A., Smith N. H., Smith J. M. (1999) Proceedings of the Royal Society, London Series B. Biological Sciences 266, 477. Hagelberg E. et al. (1999) Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, Series B. Biological Sciences 266, 485. Hammer M. F., Karafet T., Rasanayagam A., Wood E. T., Altheide T. K., Jenkins T., Griffiths R. C., Templeton A. R., Zegura S. L. (1998) 'Out of Africa and Back Again: Nested cladistic analysis of human Y chromosome variation', Molecular Biological Evolution, April 15 (4): 427-41. Harding R. M., Fullerton S. M., Griffiths R. C., Bond J., Cox M. J., Schneider J. A., Moulin D. S., Clegg J. B. (1997) 'Archaic African and Asian lineages in the genetic ancestry of modern humans', American Journal of Human Genetics, April 60(4): 772-89. Harpending H. C., Batzer M. A., Gurven M., Jorde L.B., Rogers A. R., and Sherry S. T. (1998) 'Genetic traces of ancient demography', Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, USA, vol. 95, pp. 1961-1967. Herrnstein, R. J. and Murray, C. The Bell Curve, (1994) Simon and Schuster (The Free Press) Also: Lynn (1991), Zindi (1994), Lynn (1994), Snyderman & Rothman (1987), Jensen (1993), Jensen & Whang (1993). Jorde L. B., Rogers A. R., Bamshad M., Watkins W. S., Krakowiak P., Sung S., Kere, J. and Harpending H. C. (1997) 'Microsatellite diversity and the demographic history of modern humans', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, vol. 94, pp. 3100-3103. Kidd K. K., Bharti M., Castiglione C. M., Zhao H., Pakstis A. J., Speed W. C., Bonne-Tamir B., Lu R-B., Goldman D., Lee C., Nam Y.S., Grandy D. K., Jenkins T., Kidd J. R. (1998) 'A global survey of haplotype frequencies and linkage disequilibrium at the DRD2 locus', Human Genetics 103: 211-227. Mountain J. L. and Cavalli-Sforza L. L. (1994) 'Inference of human evolution through cladistic analysis of nuclear DNA restriction polymorphisms', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, vol. 91, pp. 6515-6519. Semino, Ornella & Passarino, Giuseppe (2000) ‘The Genetic Legacy of Paleolithic Homo sapiens sapiens in Extant Europeans: A Y Chromosome perspective.’ Science vol. 290 (5494) pp 1155-60 (Nov. 10). Swisher III C. C., Rink W. J., Anton S. C., Schwarcz H. P., Curtis G. H., Suprijo A., & Widiasmoro (1996) Science, vol. 274 (5294), pp 1870-1874. Tishkoff S. A., Dietzsch E., Speed W., Pakstis A. J. et al. (1996) 'Global patterns of linkage disequilibrium at the CD4 locus and modern human origins', Science, Washington, March 8. Tishkoff S. A., Goldman A., Calafell F., Speed W. C., Deinard A. S., Bonne-Tamir B., Kidd J. R., Pakstis A. J., Jenkins T., and Kidd K. K. (1998) 'A Global Haplotype Analysis of the Myotonic Dystrophy Locus; Implications for the Evolution of Modern Humans and for the Origin of Myotonic Dystrophy Mutations', American Journal of Human Genetics, 62: 1389-1402. Underhill, Peter A., Peidong Shen, Alice Lin, Li Jin, Giuseppe Passarino, Wei Yang, Erin Kauffman, Batsheva Bonne-Tamir, Jaume Bertranpetit, Paolo Francalacci, Mutanser Ibrahim, Trefor Jenkins, Judith Kidd, S. Qasim Mehdi, Mark Seielstad, R. Wells, Alberto Piazza, Ronald Davis, Marcus Feldman, L. Cavalli-sforza, & Peter Oefner (2000) Letter, Nature Genetics; vol. 26, November.Wolpoff, Milford H., in a post entitled: "No Homo erectus at Ngandong" to Human Origins News (http://www.pro-am.com/ origins/news /article 19.html) on 16 March 2000. [Origin of Human Species Printer Friendly]
The octocopter flew about a thousand feet up into the sunny California sky carrying what looked like a miniature stealth fighter jet replica made from cardboard. Then the copter released the unusual paper plane. As the plane approached the ground, it appeared to steer itself. Well, that's clearly not a toy. This inexpensive paper plane is actually a functional drone designed to make targeted one-way supply deliveries for humanitarian and disaster relief. It was created by a dedicated team at San Francisco-based Otherlab, a combination research group and startup incubator. Otherlab's team, led by Mikell Taylor, made the drone in response to a DARPA call for disappearing unmanned systems as part of the agency's Inbound, Controlled, Air-Releasable, Unrecoverable Systems (ICARUS) program. It's designed to land within about a 33-foot (10-meter) radius of a pre-programmed GPS spot. Currently, dropping emergency supplies like blood and vaccines from the air is messy and inefficient with plenty of loss, Taylor explained. Sending regular drones is expensive because they have a bad habit of crashing and turning into trash. Airdropped cargo attached to a parachute can break apart in mid-air, land in a pond or end up in the wrong hands. "DARPA was interested specifically in something that could degrade fairly quickly so when you deliver your supplies with a hundred of these, you don't have drones littering the ground for the next 20 years," Taylor said. To that end, her team constructed the body from flexible cellulose-based material. Inside were off-the-shelf electronics, although DARPA has a separate program for electronics that dissolve on impact.
A study led by USC researchers at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles finds the adapted environments significantly reduce autistic children’s physiological and behavioral stress. Ifunanya Nweke launched Jazz Hands for Autism, which has provided music training, vocational development and job placement for more than 150 musicians with autism. The USC-led study demonstrates the strong association between children’s early sensory trajectories and later sensory challenges impacting their development. USC scientists are the first to identify patterns of white matter connectivity exclusive to core autistic symptoms, pointing out a potential flaw in previous autism neuroscience research. Research shows that Autism Spectrum Disorder and Developmental Coordination Disorder have their own distinct patterns of social and motor skills. A USC analysis of data collected from more than 82,000 autistic children across seven years reveals significant differences in their health care utilization according to sex, race and ethnicity. A study by researchers at USC and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill suggests sensory issues in early infancy may be the first signs of a later autism diagnosis. A computer adaptive test, powered by machine learning, helps clinical practitioners decide what questions to ask next in real-time based on caregivers’ previous responses. Master’s students Monica Caris and Riley McGuire just wanted to educate people about autism, but already their capstone project has become part of yearly officer training. A USC-coordinated project will build formal alliances that accentuate the perspectives of autistic people, their family members and caregivers, service providers and researchers.
Learn how to fix a memory leak and optimize your system performance with this comprehensive guide. Identify, resolve, and prevent memory leaks effectively. Are you experiencing sluggish system performance or unexpected crashes? You might be dealing with a memory leak. In this article, we’ll delve into the world of memory leaks, their impact on your system, and most importantly, how to fix them. So, let’s get started! Understanding Memory Leaks Before we dive into the solutions, let’s take a moment to understand what memory leaks are. In simple terms, a memory leak occurs when a computer program fails to release memory that is no longer needed, leading to a gradual loss of available memory. This can result in reduced system performance, increased resource usage, and even system crashes. Memory leaks can happen due to various reasons, such as improper resource allocation, circular references, or coding errors. Identifying and addressing memory leaks is crucial to ensure optimal system performance and stability. Detecting Memory Leaks Detecting memory leaks can be a daunting task, but with the right tools and techniques, it becomes much easier. Several debugging and profiling tools are available that can help you identify memory leaks in your code. These tools provide valuable insights into memory usage, allocation patterns, and potential leaks. Additionally, adopting effective debugging strategies, such as analyzing memory usage patterns and monitoring memory allocation, can aid in detecting memory leaks. By closely monitoring memory consumption and identifying abnormal behavior, you can pinpoint potential memory leaks and take appropriate measures to resolve them. Resolving Memory Leaks Now that you have identified a memory leak, it’s time to fix it. Follow these step-by-step guidelines to resolve memory leaks and optimize your code: Analyze Memory Usage: Begin by analyzing the memory usage patterns of your application. Identify the sections of code that are responsible for excessive memory consumption. Identify the Source: Pinpoint the exact location in your code where the memory leak occurs. This can be done through careful inspection, using debugging tools, or by employing memory profiling techniques. Review Resource Allocation: Review your code for any improper resource allocation or failure to release resources after their usage. Ensure that all dynamically allocated memory is properly deallocated when it is no longer required. Check for Circular References: Circular references can also lead to memory leaks. Look out for situations where objects reference each other in a way that prevents them from being properly garbage collected. Implement Best Practices: Adopt best practices for efficient memory management, such as minimizing unnecessary object creation, reusing objects when possible, and optimizing data structures to reduce memory overhead. Test and Monitor: After implementing the fixes, thoroughly test your application to ensure that the memory leak has been resolved. Monitor memory usage during testing to validate the effectiveness of your solution. By following these steps and incorporating good coding practices, you can effectively resolve memory leaks and optimize your code for better system performance. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Q: What are the signs of a memory leak? A: Signs of a memory leak include gradually decreasing system performance, increased resource usage over time, and potential system crashes or freezes. Monitoring memory usage and detecting abnormal patterns can help identify memory leaks. Q: Can memory leaks cause system crashes? A: Yes, memory leaks can lead to system crashes. As memory usage continues to grow unchecked, it can deplete available system resources, resulting in instability and potential crashes. Q: How do I prevent memory leaks in my code? A: To prevent memory leaks, ensure proper allocation and deallocation of resources, avoid circular references, and adopt best practices for memory management, such as reusing objects and minimizing unnecessary object creation. Q: Are memory leaks only a concern for large-scale applications? A: No, memory leaks can occur in applications of any size. While large-scale applications may be more prone to memory leaks due to their complexity, even small programs can suffer from memory leaks if not properly managed. Fixing memory leaks is crucial for maintaining optimal system performance and stability. By understanding the causes and impact of memory leaks, adopting effective detection techniques, and following the step-by-step resolution process, you can effectively address memory leaks in your code. Remember to regularly monitor and optimize your code to ensure a smooth and efficient application. So, get started on fixing those memory leaks and enjoy a more reliable computing experience. Note: The above article is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Always consult a qualified professional for specific guidance related to your software development needs.
Wednesday Word 22/05/2022 Home Learning Resource Try these fun games with your child to practise maths skills and help to build your child's confidence. Most children love playing games and it's an easy way to support their learning. On the following website you can find lots of information as to how you can help your child with maths at home. You can also find lots of maths games on our Maths Subject Page Oxford owl have a FREE eBook Library. Look for the 'My class login' button Password: year 2 Common exception words By the end of year two, children should be able to spell these words.
By Mark Landis \| Contributing Columnist The rivers in Southern California are an enigma, and by some observer’s standards, their meager, seasonal flows wouldn’t even qualify as a “real river.” But few places in the world have captured, managed, channeled, and fought over their water resources with more necessity and ingenuity than the cities of Southern California. Southern California rivers are unique for several reasons; they are short by normal standards, their flows are comparatively low, their origins can reach lofty alpine elevations over 9,000 feet, and the area they collect their water from, or “watershed,” is small in comparison to other major rivers. As an example, the Sacramento River in Northern California is four times longer and has a watershed 10 times larger than the Santa Ana River, which is the largest river in Southern California. Five rivers that begin and end in Southern California and drain into the Pacific Ocean and have made a significant impact on the region’s development are (north to south); the Santa Clara River, the Los Angeles River, the San Gabriel River, the Santa Ana River, and the San Diego River. An 1888 photo shows a wooden flume that carried water from the Santa Ana River to Riverside via the Gage Canal. By the late 1800s, the San Bernardino Valley was a labyrinth of irrigation channels and canals from the Santa Ana River and its tributaries. (Courtesy of Tom Atchley) A photo, circa 1870, shows the water wheel on the Los Angeles River at the start of Zanja Madre. The wheel was built to lift water from Zanja Madre to a brick reservoir built in 1858. This site today is west of Dodger Stadium, near the North Broadway Crossing of the Los Angeles River. (Courtesy Photo) An aerial image from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers shows the future location of the Santa Fe Dam, on the San Gabriel River, in Irwindale, circa 1845. The view shows the mouth of the San Gabriel Canyon, where the river exits the San Gabriel Mountains and makes its way across the San Gabriel Valley toward the ocean. (Courtesy of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) A map shows the major rivers of Southern California, south of Santa Barbara. (Courtesy Photo) Major sections of these rivers have been contained in concrete channels, or are often completely dry, so many people don’t ever realize they are rivers, much less a critical part of the region’s history and development. Native Americans in the area knew that available water resources changed throughout the seasons, and most simply adapted by relocating to where the water was. When the first European settlers arrived, they clustered their settlements around the water sources that appeared reliable. Considered the birthplace of modern-day California, the Spanish mission in San Diego was established in 1769, along the marshy banks of the San Diego River, just a few miles from today’s Mission Bay. The San Diego River has a small watershed area of about 440 square miles, and its highest source in the Cuyamaca Mountains begins at an elevation of 3,750 feet. After a drought in 1803, Spanish padres and local laborers constructed a diversion dam and canal on the San Diego River to bring a more reliable supply of water to the mission and the local fields. The dam was 220 feet long, 12 feet high and 13 feet thick. A 5-mile-long aqueduct was built from the dam to the mission, and the project is believed to be the first major irrigation project in California. Major remnants of the mission dam still exist, and the site on the river is now a National Historic Landmark, open to the public in Mission Trails Regional Park in San Diego. San Gabriel Mission was established in 1771, along the banks of the Rio Hondo, a tributary of the San Gabriel River. The missionaries built irrigation channels, and developed farmlands around the mission. The San Gabriel River is 58 miles long, and has a watershed of about 689 square miles. It originates in the San Gabriel Mountains, with tributaries that begin above 9,000 feet elevation. There are two reservoirs on the upper San Gabriel River, and two large flood control basins at the Santa Fe Dam in Irwindale, and the Whittier Narrows Dam in Pico Rivera. Water from the San Gabriel River was harnessed in 1898 to power the Azuza Hydroelectric Plant, and its replacement built in 1949 is still in operation today. The tiny pueblo of Los Angeles was founded in 1781 along the banks of the Porciúncula River, which later became known as the Los Angeles River. This small, 48-mile-long river originates in the Santa Susana and Santa Monica Mountains, northwest of Los Angeles, and has a watershed area of about 824 square miles. Prior to the opening of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, the Los Angeles River was the city’s primary source of water. An extensive series of canals called “zanjas” (Spanish for “irrigation ditch/canal”) from the river provided drinking water and irrigation to the local fields. The Los Angeles River is fully urbanized today, but portions have been preserved as wild riparian areas, and numerous bike and walking trails have been built along the historic waterway. The Santa Ana River and its tributaries have a long history of irrigation and hydroelectric generation projects. It is the longest river in Southern California at 96 miles, and it has the largest watershed at 2,650 square miles. The Santa Ana River begins at elevations over 8,000 feet in the San Bernardino Mountains, and it drains into the Pacific Ocean at Huntington Beach. In 1820, the Spanish Missionaries at Mission San Gabriel commissioned a zanja to be constructed from Mill Creek, a tributary of the Santa Ana River in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains, to supply water to the newly established “Rancho San Bernardino.” In the early 1850s, Mormon settlers began building intricate canal systems using Santa Ana River water to irrigate their farms and orchards in the San Bernardino Valley. Downstream users in Orange County also made extensive use of the Santa Ana River for their farmlands. In 1882, a tributary of the Santa Ana River in Etiwanda produced the first hydroelectric power in the Western U.S., and several larger hydro plants were built on the river system in the 1890s and early 1900s. The large mountain and valley drainage areas of the Santa Ana River make it susceptible to heavy flooding, and major flood control basins were built on the river at Prado Dam in Norco, and at Seven Oaks Dam in the San Bernardino Mountain foothills. Big Bear Lake is also part of the Santa Ana River system. The Santa Clara River begins in the Western San Gabriel Mountains, at an elevation of about 5,800 feet, and it drains into the Pacific Ocean near Ventura Harbor. It also has major tributaries from the Topatopa Mountains to the north. The river is 83 miles long, and has a watershed area of about 1,200 square miles. Much of the Santa Clara River flows through semi-rural areas, and it is less urbanized than other major rivers in Southern California. The river’s watershed provides habitat for a wide variety of plants and animals, and it has been a major source of water for surrounding farms and communities. In 1842, California’s first gold strike was made in Placerita Canyon, which is a tributary of the Santa Clara River. The strike sparked a rush of prospectors into the area, and water and alluvial deposits from Placerita Creek were used for placer mining in the area. The Santa Clara River has two major reservoirs, Lake Piru, which is a reservoir on the Piru Creek tributary, and Castaic Lake, a reservoir that is the terminus of the West Branch California Aqueduct. These historic rivers still provide a significant portion of water to their surrounding communities either by direct canals and pipelines, or through replenishment of the local water tables for pumping. They also provide critical wildlife habitat within urban areas, and their watercourses and welcoming greenbelts are used for a variety of outdoor recreation. Mark Landis is a freelance writer. He can be reached at: Historyinca@yahoo.com
Scientists meeting in Stockholm say they’ve confirmed that subatomic particles known as neutrinos have the ability to morph from one type of the particle into another. The finding could one day help scientists explain why the universe contains matter but very little antimatter. Neutrinos, one of the fundamental building blocks of matter, come in three distinct types or flavors: electron, muon or tau. These particles have no electrical charge but their mass can vary by flavor. An electron neutrino has a mass no greater than 2.2 eV (electron volts). The muon neutrino can have a mass that is less than 170 KeV (kilo-electron volts). The tau neutrino, which has a mass of less than 15.5 MeV (mega-electron volts), was discovered in 2000 at the US Department of Energy’s Fermilab near Chicago. Scientists produced a beam of muon neutrinos at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) near Japan’s east coast and aimed it at the gigantic Super-Kamiokande underground detector in Kamioka, 295 km away, near Japan’s west coast. They discovered that some of the muon neutrinos had morphed into electron neutrinos somewhere along the journey. Physicists know these three different neutrino flavors have the ability to freely change from one type into another through a phenomenon called neutrino oscillations. However, the new findings made by the T2K (Tokai to Kamioka) team, mark the first discovery of electron neutrinos showing up in a beam of muon neutrinos. “Understanding the properties of neutrinos in more detail would give an important clue to solving the riddle of how the universe has come to exist,” Takashi Kobayashi, a member of the T2K team, told the Japan News. This new way of observing neutrino oscillation is the key for scientists to be able to make measurements that would allow them to distinguish the different oscillations of neutrinos and its anti-particle counterpart anti-neutrinos. This is something that could help in better understanding the physical processes that involve matter and antimatter. “We have seen a new way for neutrinos to change, and now we have to find out if neutrinos and anti-neutrinos do it the same way,” said Professor Dave Wark, who helped lead the international T2K experiment. “If they don’t, it may be a clue to help solve the mystery of where the matter in the universe came from in the first place. Surely answering that is worth a couple of decades of work.”
Memory based machine intelligence technique development The purpose of this research project is to model the human brain and develop a memory mechanism based on next-generation Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms. The human brain can be modeled using different ways such as pure mathematical models, deep graphic neural networks, or spiking neural networks. Some sensors such as EEG, near Infrared imaging device, will be used to monitor the brain activities during vision tasks. The new AI algorithms will be developed to implement the memory functions such as storing, recalling, information abstracting and supporting reasoning. Image data and vision tasks will be used for the evaluation of these algorithms for unlimited storing, fast image retrieval and recognition. The algorithms should not only provide high accuracy but also works with low computing cost or power consumption. For the implementation, different hardware such as CPU, GPU, FPGA and neuromorphic chips can be explored for fast implementation. This project is a further development from the previous project: Neuromorphic computing - simulating the human brain memory mechanism. The successful candidate should hold an Honours Degree or a Master’s Degree in Mathematics, Data Science, Computer Science, Electronic Engineering, or another relevant subject area. Candidates with knowledge or research experience in sensors, signal processing, computer vision, machine learning, and strong programming skills are preferred. How to apply If you are interested in applying for the above PhD topic please follow the steps below: - Contact the supervisor by email or phone to discuss your interest and find out if you woold be suitable. Supervisor details can be found on this topic page. The supervisor will guide you in developing the topic-specific research proposal, which will form part of your application. - Click on the 'Apply here' button on this page and you will be taken to the relevant PhD course page, where you can apply using an online application. - Complete the online application indicating your selected supervisor and include the research proposal for the topic you have selected. This is a self funded topic Brunel offers a number of funding options to research students that help cover the cost of their tuition fees, contribute to living expenses or both. See more information here: https://www.brunel.ac.uk/research/Research-degrees/Research-degree-funding. The UK Government is also offering Doctoral Student Loans for eligible students, and there is some funding available through the Research Councils. Many of our international students benefit from funding provided by their governments or employers. Brunel alumni enjoy tuition fee discounts of 15%. Meet the Supervisor(s) - Dr Hongying Meng is a Reader with Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences, Brunel University London. Before that, he held research positions in several UK universities including University College London (UCL), University of York , University of Southampton, University of Lincoln , and University of Dundee . He received his Ph.D. degree in Communication and Electronic Systems from Xi’an Jiaotong University and was a lecturer in Electronic Engineering Department of Tsinghua University , Beijing in China. He is a Member of Engineering Professors’ Council, and a Fellow of The Higher Education Academy (HEA) in UK. He is a Senior Member of IEEE and an associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology (TCSVT) and IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems (IEEE TCDS), and a general chair for 16th International Conference on Natural Computation, Fuzzy Systems and Knowledge Discovery (ICNC-FSKD 2020) Related Research Group(s) Electronic Systems - Investigating processes and mechanisms found in nature to inspire alternative approaches to the design and implementation of intelligent electronic systems.
A prototype space-based gravitational wave detector performed far better than expected during its trial run, raising prospects that a follow-on observatory to listen for echoes from the biggest crashes in the cosmos will be launched ahead of schedule. LISA Pathfinder, which has been in orbit for a little more than a year, was intended to test if two small cubes could be kept in an extremely steady and measurable state of free fall. If successful, scientists could use the technique to detect ripples in space, a phenomenon first envisioned by Albert Einstein 100 years ago. The ripples, which are called gravitational waves, occur due to massive objects, such as black holes and neutron stars, warping the fabric of spacetime as they move. The first detection of gravitational waves was made last year with the ground-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO. Putting a system in space would give astronomers a way to detect ripples that oscillate over hours instead of in fractions of seconds, such as the gravitational waves detected by the twin LIGO observatories. The waves LIGO detected were caused by two black holes, each about 30 times more massive than the sun, colliding to become a single larger black hole more than 1.3 billion light years away. RELATED: A Rapidly Spinning Black Hole Was Seen Killing a Distant Star The space-based LISA observatory, by comparison, would be able to detect black holes one million times more massive than the sun that date back to the dawn of the universe. "It's a different astronomy and very, very rich," astrophysicist Stefano Vitale, with the University of Trento in Italy, told reporters at a recent meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston. For LISA to work, the space buoys have to be kept at a level of quiescence equal to one-millionth of one-billionth of the force of Earth's gravity, said Vitale, the lead scientist for LISA Pathfinder. The goal of the demonstration mission was to get within 10 percent of that mark. To save money, LISA Pathfinder suspends two cubes within one spacecraft, which contributes additional forces. A laser keeps tabs on the distance between the cubes. The operational LISA would use three satellites, formation flying in a triangle more than 620,000 miles apart and tracked by lasers, to detect gravitational waves. RELATED: Our Supermassive Black Hole Could Be 'Supercharging' Stars' Magnetism LISA Pathfinder ended up far exceeding expectations. "We have done better than the requirement for LISA," Vitale said. "This is a final green light for LISA." Originally targeted for launch in 2031, scientists are now looking at launching two years earlier, Vitale said. By then, LISA should have many terrestrial counterparts. The two LIGO detectors are in the process of being upgraded and will be joined this year by a third gravitational wave detector, called Virgo, in Italy. With three detectors, scientists can triangulate an observation and home in on the location. For example, If Virgo had been operational when LIGO made its first gravitational wave detection, scientists would have been able to determine where the black holes crashed to within 10 square degrees instead of 600 square degrees, said astrophysicist Gabriela Gonzalez, with Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. In 2020, Japan expects to open its Kamioka Gravitational Wave Detector, KAGRA, which is being built more than 650 feet underground in Kamioka, northwest of Tokyo. A fourth detector in India is aiming for a 2024 debut. Top photo: The collision of two black holes holes - a tremendously powerful event detected for the first time ever by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO - is seen in this still from a computer simulation. WATCH: Do Black Holes Ever Die?
What does BMW stand for? Discover the meaning of 'BMW' and why the manufacturer’s badge is blue and white The BMW nameplate has long been synonymous with an array of performance, executive and luxury models throughout its history. But what does BMW stand for? Here, our in-depth guide runs through the brand’s history, and what the BMW name means. Like a number of car manufacturers, the BMW name is an acronym that stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke which, when translated into English, means ‘Bavarian Motor Works’. The BMW brand was founded in the German state of Bavaria and has its origins in a company called Rapp-Motorenwerke, which was an aircraft engine manufacturer founded in 1913. Rapp supplied engines to the German air force during the First World War, at a time when cars were not yet commonplace. In 1923, production of BMW motorcycles began, with the company switching to car production in 1928. This switch followed BMW's acquisition of the Automobilwerk Eisenach car company, after which it began building a licensed copy of the British Austin 7 called the BMW 3/15. During the Second World War, BMW once again became a major aircraft engine builder, and after the war ended, enforced manufacturing restrictions meant BMW's production was limited to basic items, such as household appliances, for several years. BMW's first car after the war was the 501, a luxury saloon capable of seating up to six people, powered by a six-cylinder engine. For many, it marks the beginning of BMW's modern road car story, but the 501 was expensive at a time when there were few wealthy people to buy one, so sales were small. The manufacturer teetered on the brink of bankruptcy and, in 1959, BMW was close to being taken over by Daimler-Benz, a decision that would have radically changed the path of motoring history. Instead, Herbert and Harald Quandt made a large investment into BMW, buoyed with enthusiasm that the rear-engined BMW 700 model would be a success. For many, the introduction of the BMW 'Neue Klasse' (New Class) in 1962 was the beginning of the manufacturer's path to becoming a renowned saloon-car manufacturer. With independent front and rear suspension, along with front disc brakes, it had impressive handling and was the first BMW with the 'Hofmeister kink' – a rear window pillar design that's become a mainstay of nearly all modern BMW’s ever since. This was followed by the era which introduced the famous BMW ‘ultimate driving machine’ slogan. The phrase was introduced in the Seventies as part of an advertising campaign, and has been synonymous with the BMW name ever since. The BMW badge explained You may have heard that the blue and white quadrants in the middle of the BMW 'Roudel' badge represent a spinning propeller or perhaps aircraft engines. It's a reasonable thought given BMW's early history, but the real reason is a little different. The blue and white are taken from Bavaria's official state colours; use of a state's coat of arms was banned in commercial products, so BMW inverted the pattern. BMW hasn't exactly been quick to dispel the propeller myth either, using aircraft propellers in some of its earliest advertising. Famous BMW nicknames The nickname 'Beemer' (sometimes spelt 'Beamer') was born in the UK in the 1960s, coined by BMW motorbike and motorcycle racing fans. It's believed that 'Beemer' gained popularity because it's easier and faster to say than 'BMW' in English, as it only has two syllables instead of three. When the popularity of BMWs took off in the US during the 1970s, fans initially used 'beemer' as well. However, a newsletter for a BMW car club in Boston was titled 'Bimmer' and a BMW enthusiast magazine with the same title also hit the shelves, promoting a new nickname and boosting its usage. Chinese BMW owners may refer to their car as a 'bao-ma', which translates to 'precious horse'. Horses are considered sacred in Chinese culture, signifying a competitive advantage over rivals. Best new car deals 2022: this week’s top car offers Top 10 best cheap-to-run cars 2022 Top 10 best electric cars 2022
The human condition to understanding the world, and thus the way we organize it and our societies living in it, has been linear. Mr. Spock couldn’t understand humans, because we’re not logical. That’s because logical is linear; equations, processes, functions, algebra, and programming, all molded into simple, understandable context for the human mind to process and comprehend. It was this oversimplification that gave us sanctuary from the fear that there really was no true order to the universe. Humankind has this tendency to classify everything into neat little boxes, but the world is far more dynamic and non-linear, and yet even knowing this, we do our best to try to organize everything into neat little rows, schedules and graphs. Instituting this linearism to our universe creates a sense of empowerment, but there are no straight lines and it’s not neat and orderly. It’s muddled and chaotic, but somehow it all still works. Struggling with this reality of justifying linear systems to define the non-linear world around them, scientists of the 19th century began thinking, “out-of-the-box” and struggled with the task of creating a new science and mathematics to measure, or attempt to at least understand the random complexities of actual life. The algebraic equations were far too linear and obtuse; geometry presented perfect points and angles for an imperfect world, and so -- Chaos Theory was born. In the movie Jurassic Park, when waiting for a Tyrannosaurus Rex to appear on their park tour, the character of Doctor Ian Malcolm attempts to explain Chaos Theory to Doctor Ellie Satler. He explains that the fact that the T-Rex doesn’t follow any set patterns or “park schedules” as being the essence of Chaos. Going further to explain chaos as the study of “unpredictability in a complex system.” He also explains his own version of the Butterfly Effect, first introduced by E.M. Lorenz in 1979 in the title of a speech: "Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly's Wings in Brazil Set Off a Tornado in Texas?" In any event, to get a grasp of Chaos, there’s actually an example of the Butterfly Effect from ancient folklore: For want of a nail, the shoe was lost; For want of a shoe, the horse was lost; For want of a horse, the rider was lost; For want of a rider, the battle was lost; For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost! The small variables in the progression from the initial condition resulted in an epic outcome. In a sense, the lack of a nail caused the kingdom to be lost, or again from the Jurassic Park movie: God creates dinosaurs, God destroys dinosaurs God creates man, Man destroys God Man creates dinosaurs Dinosaurs eats man, Woman inherits the Earth Chaos Theory is not a new type of mathematics, nor is it a revolutionary new science that provides a definitive framework of arbitrary events, and no; it’s not fortune telling. You can’t use it to win the lottery or make a killing on Wall Street. Chaos Theory is a simplified “analysis of aperiodic behavior within a system.” “Aperiodic” implies behavior that never exactly repeats itself (like lightning striking the same place twice), so it tends to be difficult, if not completely impossible to formulate solid conclusions and strategic paths to follow these systems. We’ve also come to recognize that this wildness to the universe is a needed component of development and creation. This anarchy around us provides us with tremendous value, if we could successfully harness the chaos. Fire is the rapid chemical reaction of two combustible substances to generate flame, and chaos supreme. It’s destructively wild and unpredictable, yet if harnessed, it could keep the cave warm during the cold winter nights, and light our way through darkness. Humankind has always been driven to harness the chaos around us, so we can do things better, faster and cheaper. The sails of a sailboat or ship harness the wind. Boiling water increases in density 1,600 times, which creates the ability to stir pistons in a steam engine. The combustion engine, little controlled explosions, the windmill and electricity, which is another exemplary chaotic paradigm. Now, electricity is almost as ubiquitous as the air we breathe. Do I need to include the splitting of the atom as an example, too? My point is that humankind both survives and thrives on the innate ability to harness the chaos in the universe around us. You’re now wondering what this all has to do with digital video surveillance, but it has everything to do with everything. Throughout history, the skeptics of Chaos Theory usually asked one simple question, “why was Chaos Theory not discovered sooner in our history, if in fact, our history has been random acts of chaos.” The answer is the computer. No human being can endure the millions of repetitive computations involved in studying chaos. Now, if you hyperlink that computer to millions of other computers, people and applications, then you create a new found chaos that generates energy, which once harnessed can create tremendous value, and intelligence. The Internet itself isn’t “viral,” as many believe; it’s the dynamic aperiodic system --- the synchronicity of those people, places and technology, unlike anything else in our history, that emits an energy that makes it viral. The successful harnessing of this chaotic energy creates successes such as Facebook, Google, eBay, etc. If you separate each component of these examples, you’ll find that they lack the same level of empowerment individually, but together you have chaos energy. In his best-selling book, The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell proposes that word of mouth epidemics that make sensations happen when a company can cross the chasm from the Early Adopters to the Early Majority, or when they “tip.” This is when that pilot light bursts into a useful fire. This is accomplished, according to Gladwell, by a synchronicity of the Mavens; those people who keep companies and people honest. The Salesperson; someone who’s mastered the art of persuasion, not solely by using a sales pitch, but the overall elusive nuances that truly make people “buy” from one person over another. And the Connectors; people that just know a lot of other people, and in that wealth of contacts are other Connectors, Mavens and Salespersons to exponentially generate an epidemic (e.g. the iPhone versus Windows Mobile). It’s like potassium nitrate, which when left isolated is simple saltpeter, but when combined with plain charcoal, then ground into fine particles; you’ve an explosive combination -- gun powder. The same holds true for the IP Network; a delicate mixture of people, places and technology, all synchronized in the perfect recipe to make chaos energy; it's secret. The trick is to recognize it, harness it and keep up with it. People should not have to work around technology - technology can now work around people.
Elizabeth is known as the Virgin Queen because she chose not to marry. But don’t think she never got any offers. She was beautiful. She was witty. She could flirt in eight languages (Greek, French, Italian, Latin, Spanish, Flemish, Welsh, and, of course, English). This sassy, vibrant redhead was a real heartbreaker and she had her share of palace romps. One of Elizabeth's first marriage proposals came from the grumpy-pants, king of Spain, Philip II. Philip had been married to Elizabeth's older half sister, Bloody Mary. Philip was not exactly the life of the party. He spent most of his time dressed in black, brooding about the Protestants. He spent very little time with Mary. But Mary did satisfy Philip in one way. She had ordered thousands of Protestants burnt to a crisp thereby earning the name "bloddy mary". This made Philip positively giddy. After Mary's death, Elizabeth was crowned queen and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone except Philip. Philip thought he should remain king of England, so he proposed to Elizabeth. Elizabeth said no thanks and told Philip that is was just too weird to marry your dead sister's husband. True, it would have been weird, but that was not the real reason. After Mary's craziness, Elizabeth and the rest of her kingdom didn't want a Spanish Catholic ruler in England. Eric XIV always thought people were laughing at him behind his back. They probably were. He wooed Elizabeth by writing her love letters in Latin and challenging her master of the horse, Robert Dudley (see below), to duels. After many years of not giving an answer (Elizabeth always kept her suitors waiting), Elizabeth declined his marriage proposal. Eric later went insane and started executing people for the crime of "annoying the king". Eventually, his subjects grew tired of him and fed the crazy king some pea soup with a dash of posion. Elizabeth lovingly called Francois, Duke of Anjou, her “frog.” Elizabeth first said no to his proposal. Then she said maybe. Then she said yes. Then she said no again. Elizabeth always had a hard time making up her mind, but this decision was especially tough. She couldn’t marry a French Catholic without causing a serious ruckus. Sadly, she had to send her little amphibian hopping back to France. Robert Dudley nicknamed “Robin” was Elizabeth’s greatest love. Not only could he match Elizabeth’s sharp wit, but he also was a royal catch—tall, dark, and handsome. He could charm the flies off Elizabeth’s horse. But we can't give away all the sordid details of their affair. You will have to Read the full story to find out more >>
- Retinoblastoma (RB) is the most common pediatric intraocular malignancy. The pathognomonic genetic mutation maps to chromosome 13q14, which encodes a tumor suppressor gene (RB1). - For isolated intraocular RB, selective chemotherapy infusion into the ophthalmic artery (OA) is increasingly used to spare children the morbidity of enucleation and external beam radiation. - Intra-arterial chemotherapy into the OA can be associated with serious cardiorespiratory complications such as decreased lung compliance, hypotension, and bradycardia. - RB is a neuroectodermal tumor and the most common primary pediatric intraocular malignancy (1:20,000 live births) and represents 10-15% of infant malignancies.1 The incidence in males and females is equivocal, as is the incidence across races.2 - RB is classified as heritable (germline mutation) and nonheritable (somatic mutation), with nonheritable types being the most common.2 - Most nonheritable RB cases (60-70%) are unilateral and unifocal and present at a later age than the heritable types (mean age at diagnosis is two years).3 - Heritable RB cases (40%) encompass patients with germline mutations, positive family history, and bilateral or multifocal disease (mean age at diagnosis is one year).3 Children with heritable RB are at increased risk of developing second malignancies like sarcoma.4 - Most RB cases present by five years of age.3,4 - The most common presentation of RB is leukocoria or a white pupillary reflex (Figure 1), which warrants urgent ophthalmologist referral in a child. It can also present as strabismus, nystagmus, and redness. - Patients with metastatic disease may present with systemic findings such as weight loss, fatigue, gastrointestinal symptoms, or neurological deficits. - Ocular fundus exam reveals either single or multiple, whitish-colored masses with associated vessel dilation (Figure 2). There are three main RB growth patterns: exophytic, endophytic, and diffuse infiltrating.5 - Differential diagnosis includes cataracts, Coat’s disease (exudative retinal vascular disorder), persistent fetal vasculature, vitreous hemorrhage, ocular toxocariasis (roundworm infection).3 - For the general population, screening for RB occurs at pediatrician visits. - For children with a family history of RB or who have the RB1 mutation, regular screening begins at birth and then continues weekly to monthly, depending on the risk. These exams are typically done by a pediatric ophthalmologist and often require general anesthesia for a comprehensive examination. - In addition to regular eye examinations, genetic testing, and counseling for RB1 mutation is recommended for patients with a family history of RB.6 - Disease extent typically involves the following: physical examination, ophthalmologic exam under anesthesia, ocular ultrasonography, optical coherence tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging. - The International Classification of Retinoblastoma (ICRB) grouping system (Table 1) allows the classification of patients to predict the likelihood of success with chemotherapy and identify patients that can avoid the higher morbidities associated with enucleation and external beam radiation. - Patients with enucleation or metastatic spread are staged by the International Retinoblastoma Staging System (IRSS) (Table 2). - If untreated, RB is fatal and can invade local structures and metastasize to extraorbital sites. Survival rates with central nervous system disease are low.5 - The US survival rate is greater than 95% due to advances in treatments; eye salvage depends on the stage of disease at diagnosis.3-4 - The most common cause of death in patients with heritable RB is secondary malignancies.4 - Treatment options for RB depend on disease severity: chemotherapy (i.e., carboplatin, vincristine, and etoposide), cryotherapy, photocoagulation, thermotherapy, laser ablation, localized radiotherapy, external beam radiation and enucleation.3 - Radiation therapy has been traditionally used to treat retinoblastoma but can cause secondary neoplasms, facial bony deformities, cataracts, and glaucoma; this therapy is often provided during multiple short anesthetics. Cryotherapy and laser therapy can be curative for smaller tumors, but 80% of patients have too large of a tumor burden at presentation.7 - Newer approaches involve localized delivery of chemotherapy via the OA, which can treat the tumor with fewer systemic complications. Anesthetic Considerations for Selective Chemotherapy to the Ophthalmic Artery - For this procedure, the femoral artery is cannulated, intravenous heparin is administered, and a microcatheter is advanced into the ophthalmic artery. The chemotherapeutic agents are then administered, sometimes with verapamil to treat/prevent ophthalmic artery spasm. The femoral catheter is then removed, and groin pressure is held for hemostasis. A smooth emergence is desirable to prevent rebleeding from the femoral puncture site. - Serious adverse cardiorespiratory complications include hypotension, bradycardia, and/or decreased respiratory compliance that mimics acute bronchospasm. They usually occur within 2 minutes after ophthalmic artery catheterization, and deep anesthesia does not reduce the incidence of these complications.8 - This sudden and precipitous decrease in lung compliance occurs in almost one-third of cases and occurs more frequently with subsequent treatments (18% for the first treatment vs. 32% for subsequent treatments).8 Interestingly, there is usually no wheezing or obstructive capnograph and there are generally no respiratory issues in the recovery area. - If a balloon catheter is used, there can be significant bradycardia (oculocardiac reflex), which can occur despite pretreatment with atropine. - A topical vasoconstrictor, such as oxymetazoline, is often administered in the ipsilateral nare to reduce loss of chemotherapy through drainage into the external carotid artery. - A smooth emergence is desirable to prevent rebleeding from the femoral puncture site. - Postoperative nausea and vomiting prophylaxis is strongly recommended. - Another postoperative consideration is periorbital edema, especially if more than two chemotherapy agents are given. - Ortiz MV, Dunkel IJ. Retinoblastoma. J Child Neurol. 2016;31(2):227-36. PubMed - Broaddus E, Topham A, Singh AD. Incidence of retinoblastoma in the USA: 1975-2004. Br J Ophthalmol. 2009;93(1):21-3. PubMed - Aerts I, Lumbroso-Le Rouic L, Gauthier-Villars M, et al. Retinoblastoma. Orphanet J Rare Dis. 2006; 25(1):31. PubMed - Shinohara ET, DeWees T, Perkins SM. Subsequent malignancies and their effect on survival in patients with retinoblastoma. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2014;61(1):116-9. PubMed - Rao R, Honavar SG. Retinoblastoma. Indian J Pediatr. 2017; 84:937-44. PubMed - Skalet AH, Gombos DS, Gallie BL, et al. Screening children at risk for retinoblastoma: Consensus report from the American Association of Ophthalmic Oncologists and Pathologists. Ophthalmology. 2018;125(3):453-8. PubMed - Scharoun JH, Han JH, Gobin YP. Anesthesia for ophthalmic artery chemosurgery. Anesthesiology. 2017;126(1):165-72. PubMed - Nghe MC, Godier A, Shaffii A, et al. Prospective analysis of serious cardiorespiratory events in children during ophthalmic artery chemotherapy for retinoblastoma under a deep standardized anesthesia. Paediatr Anaesth. 2018; 28(2):120-6. PubMed This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The UK government’s “Your Life” campaign is a welcome effort to encourage more women to pursue a career in engineering A new government campaign with wide industry support is aiming to boost the numbers of young people — and especially girls — studying physics and maths and seriously considering careers in Science, Technology, Engineeering and Maths (STEM)-related professions. The Your Life campaign has ambitious and concrete goals: having ‘the vast majority’ of A-level candidates taking maths by 2020; to double the proportion of women taking technology and engineering degrees to 30 per cent by 2030, and increase the overall numbers selecting these degree courses; and to boost the participation of women at all levels in technology and engineering. Several already-announced initiatives are being subsumed into the campaign, including the removal of the cap on student numbers in higher education in 2015 and releasing £200million for improving teaching facilities for these subjects — which tend to be more expensive to teach — and £185million to support teaching, but only for institutions which can demonstrate a commitment to equality and diversity. The government is also to create chairs in maths and physics, whereby top PhDs will ‘inject significant subject expertise that will help fuel the pipeline of 16-18 year olds progressing in maths and science to university and employment in sectors requiring these skills.’ We don’t know what this means, but it sounds good and we await with interest what this will entail in practical terms. Another government assertion is that ‘setting high expectations in maths, science and computing curricula to match the best in the world’ will play a part. We don’t know what evidence there is that this will boost student numbers and can’t see any correlation between setting high academic standards and attracting more girls, but there’s certainly no downside to high standards as long as there is support for the teachers to attain them, because in many cases the teachers themselves will have to update their own knowledge and expertise in these fast-developing areas. It can’t be denied that there’s an issue to tackle in this area. At GCSE level, equal numbers of boys and girls — about 150,000 of each — study physics. At A-level, when students have more choice over their studies, this drops dramatically, down to about 25,000 boys and just 7000 girls. It’s clearly ridiculous to suggest that it’s the change in complexity between these two levels that puts girls off; it’s got to be the encouragement they’re given to study, and that has to be related to the way that the degree courses that require physics, and the careers they lead to, are presented to prospective candidates. As you’d expect from a magazine which regularly publishes Women in Engineering supplements and features, we’re strongly in support of Your Life. Evidence is mounting that there’s no qualitative difference between male and female brains and the suggestion that men are somehow ‘just better’ at STEM subjects must surely be confined to the Dark Ages; the relatively small difference in physical strength between the genders is no longer the barrier it might have been before mechanisation, and it’s ridiculous that the STEM sector is still largely failing to draw on the potential of half of the population. Indeed, it’s ridiculous that I should have to write such a paragraph. Institutions have, as you’d expect, been quick to offer their support. Nick Baveystock, director-general of the Institution of Civil Engineers, says ‘Female applications to ICE are rising, with graduate numbers reaching 18%, and our under 19s engagement work and collaboration with other bodies and Government has led to some excellent initiatives. But the reality is that we struggle to attract women into the profession, and to retain them, and I believe this erodes our ability to offer creative civil engineering solutions to societal needs. There is a commercial as well as social imperative to right the imbalance and efforts must be ramped up.’ The Royal Academy of Engineering chief executive, Philip Greenish, states that ‘Engineering is a highly rewarding career for women and men alike, and the Academy is committed to encouraging women and those from underrepresented groups to consider it as such’; the Academy has unveiled a series of pledges in support of the campaign, which you can read here. It is, of course, telling that both these quotes come from men, and that’s emblematic of the fact that industry has much to do itself: it can’t just be about education. Girls need visible and audible role models to demonstrate that they can succeed in any industry. This means that industry has to do better at promoting women to senior positions; putting forward and encouraging women in engineering positions to speak at conferences and take on roles as industry spokespeople. There’s already a flourishing movement of British women in academia and industry to improve their visibility — it’s known as ‘ScienceGrrl’ and it deserves more support. We’ll continue to support efforts to make engineering a broader, more welcoming place because we’ve been told so often that more diverse groups are more effective and more innovative, as well as just being more pleasant for all to work in. And it bears repeating that what we’re talking about here is taking advantage of the potential of more of the population to contribute to the industry and the country.
Fri, Aug 27 2010 04:00 PM Posted By: Special To The Star-news If you think obesity is an epidemic that affects only people, you may be barking up the wrong tree. Pets also have to watch their weight. According to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, 44 percent of dogs and 57 percent of cats are overweight or obese, and that percentage is rising, with older animals displaying an even higher incidence of falling victim to those extra pounds. Veterinarians report that overweight pets are also more likely to suffer from arthritis, heart and respiratory diseases, liver disease, skin problems, hip and joint disorders and diabetes. "Just as for people, eating right and getting exercise are fundamental to a pet's health," says board-certified veterinary nutritionist Dr. Edward Moser. "Paying attention to the ingredients and amount of food that your pet consumes, along with increasing their activity levels, will help the pounds come off and stay off." To help fat cats and pudgy pooches slim down, Dr. Moser says owners should choose a balanced diet for their pets with ingredients that can help naturally solve this challenging health problem, such as that from Wellness Natural Pet Food. For those plump feline friends, Wellness Healthy Weight is just the remedy. This special, lower-calorie recipe is formulated to help them achieve their weight- loss goals. A healthy blend of fiber satisfies hunger, and guaranteed levels of glucosamine and chondroitin support overburdened hips and joints. For health-striving canines, Wellness Super5Mix Healthy Weight Recipe is a satisfying, lower-calorie blend of ingredients that helps less-active dogs maintain a healthy body weight and overweight dogs lose weight. And it satisfies dogs' appetites with increased fiber, reduced fat and a lower calorie count. Instituting a controlled eating plan is a step in the right direction to maintaining your pet's health, but increasing your pet's activity level is sure to help, too. Exercise is essential for a pet's happy and long life. It doesn't have to be strenuous, but regular exercise is key. Setting aside a period of time each day for your pet's physical activity helps encourage a routine and also gives your pet something to look forward to. Take your dog for frequent walks and be certain your cat has room to romp. That can help them burn off excess calories. "Remember, two extra pounds on a small dog can be like 20 extra pounds on a person," says Dr. Moser. "It's important to watch your pet's weight." For more information, visit www.wellnesspetfood.com. © 2009 The Star-News
- 1 What Is the Difference Between Inline Skates and Skateboards? - 2 Which One Is More Difficult to Master? - 3 Which One Is Easier to Control? - 4 Which Riding Techniques Are Necessary? - 5 What Are the Benefits of Riding an Inline Skate vs a Skateboard? - 6 Which Inline Skate or Skateboard to Choose for Beginners? - 7 Safety Concerns Any kind of wheeled toy is great for learning balance, and bikes seem to be the most popular of them. But after learning how to ride a bike, some kids start to show interest in learning another sport on wheels, such as inline skating and skateboarding. Chances are that your child has a preference already, and if that is the case, you may not be able to change his/her mind. Still, as a concerned parent, you want to know which one of them is easier to learn, which one is safer and which could benefit your child the most. Let’s take a short overview of both of them so you can make a more informed decision. What Is the Difference Between Inline Skates and Skateboards? Inline roller skates for kids are basically a pair of boots with four wheels attached to the bottom. Mostly used for recreational purposes, inline skating gives the wearer the feeling of flying with the air. A skateboard, on the other hand, is a plane wood-like surfboard that also has four wheels attached at the bottom by two pairs of trucks. Mostly used for doing tricks, people also use it for riding short distances. What differentiates these wheeled toys from each other is their ease of use, difficulty in learning, applying brakes, riding technique and the dangers of both. Which One Is More Difficult to Master? Learning how to ride kids inline skates is easier than learning skateboarding. With skateboarding, your kid needs to learn more tricks and that could take up to one year for him/her to get a full grip while inline skating may take up to one month to learn. Note that there are different types of kids skateboards and kids inline skates available to buy and that their level of quality and features can impact your child’s learning process. Low-quality skates tend to have issues of bad bearings and wheels that make the skating/skateboarding process more difficult. Which One Is Easier to Control? If your kid is skateboarding on a road and he/she get obstacles such as stone or jump, he/she can jump from the skateboard easily and save themselves from falling and getting injured. In the case of inline skates, they are stick to your kid’s foot, so he/she cannot jump, like with skateboards, from them in an emergency case. This means, your kid must learn the proper inline skate braking method. Which Riding Techniques Are Necessary? Skateboarding requires the rider to push, roll and move on a skateboard. Inline skating is more about walking and balancing on the wheels. Because of this, inline skating and skateboarding have different riding techniques. When it comes to balance, riding comfortably on skateboarding is about the position of the feet on the board. The rider needs to place the dominant foot on the board while the other is on the ground for balance. Bending the knees help the rider to move in a forward position. With inline skating, riders need a flat surface to balance themselves. Because the rider’s movement depends on how they place their toes, this makes inline skating more challenging to balance than skateboarding. There are proper parks where your kids can perform both skating and skateboarding tricks. What Are the Benefits of Riding an Inline Skate vs a Skateboard? Both sports offer an endless number of benefits for your child’s physical and mental health. So, when it comes to saying which one is better, it is hard to say. Both types of skating will be helpful at improving your child’s physical endurance, motor skills, becoming stronger and more courageous, etc. Both are also beneficial for children’s cognitive development, creativity, social skills, curiosity and most importantly, their mental health. Which Inline Skate or Skateboard to Choose for Beginners? When shopping for kids skateboards, you’ll have two main types to choose from: longboards and a skateboard. Both types are usually single kicks boards. What makes them cruisers is the wheel type – they have longboard style wheels that are soft and roll easily. This makes them easy to learn on and also perfect for uneven ground like driveways and bike paths. There are different types of inline skates available on the market as well. Recreation is the most popular style of inline skate and this is the one you should look for as it is meant for beginner to intermediate skaters. Designed for comfort and performance, the recreational category is going to give a great fit and feel for a first-time skater. While inline skating and skateboarding can be both fun and great exercise for your child, they can also be dangerous. If done incorrectly they can lead to serious injuries. Safety tips for inline skating and skateboarding include wearing safety gear including a helmet and elbow and knee pads every time your child rides, maintaining the equipment in good shape, understanding that he/she understands and obey all traffic signs and signals and making sure he/she never wear headphones while riding.
When venturing into the wilderness, whether it be for hiking, camping, or any other outdoor activity, having the right gear is of paramount importance. The wilderness can be unpredictable and unforgiving, presenting various challenges and hazards. Equipping oneself with essential gear not only ensures personal safety but also enhances the overall experience. Here we discuss the significance of having the right gear when venturing into the wilderness and highlights some essential items that should be included in any outdoor enthusiast’s arsenal. - Personal Safety The wilderness is a place where nature reigns supreme, and as humans, we must respect its power and unpredictability. Essential gear plays a crucial role in ensuring personal safety while exploring the great outdoors. Items such as a well-fitted backpack, sturdy hiking boots, and appropriate clothing protect against potential injuries, weather conditions, and rough terrains. Latest security weapons like semi automatic shotguns are also necessary in wild. - Navigation and Communication Navigational tools and communication devices are essential for wilderness exploration. A compass and topographic map enable hikers to stay on course, especially in unfamiliar areas or when the trail is not well-defined. GPS devices or smartphones with navigation apps can also be valuable aids. Additionally, carrying a whistle, signaling mirror, or a personal locator beacon (PLB) can assist in alerting others in case of an emergency, providing a lifeline when communication is limited. - Shelter and Sleeping Equipment The wilderness often lacks the creature comforts of civilization, making shelter and sleeping equipment vital for a safe and comfortable experience. Tents, sleeping bags, and sleeping pads shield campers from the elements, including rain, wind, cold temperatures, and insects. Proper insulation and protection against the ground are crucial for a restful night’s sleep, especially in adverse weather conditions. - Water and Food Supplies Access to clean water and nourishing food is critical for sustenance during outdoor adventures. Carrying a water filter or purifier ensures a continuous supply of safe drinking water from natural sources such as streams or lakes. Lightweight and easily portable food items like energy bars, dehydrated meals, and trail mix provide essential nutrients and sustenance during long hikes or camping trips. Adequate food and water supplies prevent dehydration, exhaustion, and help maintain optimal energy levels. - First Aid Kit Accidents and injuries can happen even in the most controlled outdoor environments. A well-stocked first aid kit is indispensable for wilderness excursions. It should include bandages, antiseptic wipes, adhesive tape, pain relievers, tweezers, and any necessary personal medications. Being prepared to handle minor injuries and illnesses can prevent them from escalating into more significant problems and provide immediate relief until professional medical help can be reached. - Lighting and Fire-Making Tools Proper lighting and fire-making tools are essential for several reasons. Headlamps or flashlights provide illumination during nighttime activities or emergencies. Fire starters, matches, or lighters assist in creating warmth, cooking food, and signaling for help if needed. Fire can also deter animals, provide a psychological sense of security, and boost morale during extended stays in the wilderness. - Multi-Tool and Repair Kit A multi-tool, such as a Swiss Army knife or a multi-purpose tool, is invaluable in the wilderness. It incorporates various tools like knives, scissors, pliers, screwdrivers, and can help with a wide range of tasks, from repairing gear to preparing meals. A small repair kit with extra cords, duct tape, and sewing supplies can also be beneficial for fixing damaged equipment, ensuring its longevity and functionality. The wilderness offers a chance to disconnect from the modern world and reconnect with nature. However, this venture should never be taken lightly. Equipping oneself with essential gear ensures personal safety, enhances comfort, and increases self-reliance when facing the challenges of the wild. From personal safety items to navigation tools, shelter and sleeping equipment, water and food supplies, first aid kits, lighting and fire-making tools, multi-tools, and repair kits, each item serves a crucial purpose in making outdoor adventures safe, enjoyable, and memorable. Remember, being prepared with the right gear can be the difference between a successful wilderness expedition and a potentially dangerous situation.
What is CZ Stone? CZ stone is the abbreviation of crystal zircon. Zircon is a silicate mineral, which is the main refining zirconium ore. Zircon widespread in acidic igneous rocks, but also produced in the metamorphic rocks and other sediments. Zircon is very stable chemical properties, so the gravel in the river can be seen in the zircon gem. There are a variety of zircon, the zircon will be different in different colors such as red, yellow, orange, brown, green or colorless, transparent and so on. The gem after cutting through the zircon like a diamond. Zircon in the past has also been called zircon or hyacinth stone. Zircon withstand temperatures above 3000 ℃, so the spacecraft can be used as insulation material. Zircon can be made as tungsten rings,tungsten cz stone rings. As well, cz stone is usually used in jewelry, such as our tungsten rings with cz stone, including lots kinds of tungsten cz stone rings,tungsten rings with cz stone, cz ring, cz engagement rings.
The national flag of Hungary was hoisted and lowered to half-mast in front of Parliament on Saturday morning in a military salute to commemorate the leaders of Hungary’s revolution and freedom fight who were executed by Austria in 1849. October 6 was declared a national day of mourning in 2001. State commemorations on the square before Parliament were attended by Hungary’s President János Áder. Later in the day, Áder attended a commemoration in Kemecse, northeast Hungary, and said that the example and faithfulness of the heroes of the 1848/49 revolution and freedom fight had strengthened in later generations of Hungarians the conviction that “freedom is an irreplaceable value that we must never give up”. Speaking at the grave of General Mihály Répásy, the president said the desire for freedom Hungarians had in 1848/49 “was built on such a strong foundation in the soul, thoughts and values of Hungarians that it could no longer be destroyed by any of the subsequent periods”. Attending a commemoration in Arad, Romania, foreign ministry state secretary Tamás Vargha spoke of Hungarians’ eternal desire for freedom and independence. “This is a shared heritage of several generations, which we must not squander either,” the state secretary said, adding that Hungarians must always remain faithful to the ideals, struggles and sacrifice of their predecessors of 1848 and preserve their hard-won freedom. Hunor Kelemen, chairman of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ), said it was not enough to win freedom once. “It must be preserved, taken care of, defended again and again, shared with others, and we must be able to recognize where the boundary is where freedom, total freedom and limitless freedom begin to limit the freedom of others,” he said.
Atripla is the name of a fixed-dose pill containing three anti-HIV drugs: tenofovir DF, FTC and efavirenz. Atripla is a complete treatment for people with HIV. Common side effects include dizziness, difficulty falling asleep, trouble concentrating, rash, nausea and diarrhea. Atripla is taken once daily on an empty stomach. What is Atripla? Atripla is the name of a pill that contains the following three anti-HIV drugs: - efavirenz (Sustiva), which belongs to a group or class of drugs called non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs or “non-nukes”) - tenofovir DF, which belongs to a group of drugs called nucleotide analogues (“nukes”) - FTC (emtricitabine), which belongs to a group of drugs called nucleoside analogues (“nukes”) Atripla can be used as a once-daily treatment for HIV infection. How does Atripla work? When HIV infects a cell, it takes control of that cell. HIV then forces the cell to make many more copies of the virus. To make these copies, the cell uses proteins called enzymes. When the activity of these enzymes is reduced the production of HIV slows. All three medicines in Atripla interfere with an enzyme called reverse transcriptase, which is used by HIV-infected cells to make more HIV. Since Atripla inhibits, or reduces, the activity of this enzyme, this drug causes HIV-infected cells to slow down or stop producing new viruses. How do people with HIV use Atripla? Atripla is a combination of three anti-HIV drugs. Such combinations are called antiretroviral therapy, or ART. For more information on ART, see CATIE’s Your Guide to HIV Treatment. For many people with HIV, the use of ART has increased their CD4+ cell counts and decreased the amount of HIV in their blood (viral load). These beneficial effects help to reduce the risk of developing a life-threatening infection. Neither Atripla nor any other anti-HIV medication is a cure for HIV. It is therefore important that you see your doctor regularly so that he/she monitors your health. Evidence shows that HIV-positive people who are on ART, engaged in care, and have an ongoing undetectable viral load are substantially less likely to transmit HIV to others, be it through sex, when sharing equipment to use drugs or during pregnancy and birth. In fact, the evidence for sexual transmission shows that people on ART who maintain an undetectable viral load do not pass HIV to their sexual partners. For further information see the CATIE fact sheet HIV treatment and an undetectable viral load to prevent HIV transmission. However, it is still a good idea to use condoms because they can reduce your risk for getting and passing on other sexually transmitted infections. 1. Suicide risk Atripla contains efavirenz. In a review of several studies comparing 3,241 efavirenz users with 2,091 non-users, researchers found that in a small proportion of people, about 2%, there was an increased risk of suicide-related behaviour among people who used efavirenz. These behaviours included the following: - thoughts of suicide - attempts at suicide - completed suicide This elevated risk of suicide-related behaviour was double that seen in people who did not use efavirenz. Before you start therapy with Atripla let your doctor know right away if you have ever had any of the following: - thoughts of, or attempted suicide - a history of using street or club drugs - anxiety or excess worry - bipolar disorder - difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep Tell your doctor how much and how often you drink alcohol. After you start therapy with Atripla: if you have thoughts of suicide or harming yourself while taking Atripla, contact your doctor immediately or call emergency services by telephoning 911. 2. Mental health Some people who use efavirenz (one of the drugs in Atripla) may experience problems with thoughts and feelings. For example, you may: - become easily upset or angry - have unexpected feelings of sadness - have prolonged feelings of sadness, anger or depression - feel hopeless - have loss of pleasure in everyday activities - feel fearful - unexpectedly feel tired or experience a lack of energy - have difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep or waking up prematurely - have strange thoughts - have thoughts about harming yourself or others - have thoughts about suicide If you notice any of these problems before or after you have started to take Atripla, talk to your doctor right away. 3. Pregnancy and contraception If you are a woman who is pregnant or trying to get pregnant, and you are taking Atripla, let your doctor know right away. Efavirenz has caused birth defects in infants born to pregnant monkeys and in some babies born to women who used the drug while pregnant. The manufacturer of Atripla recommends that: “Pregnancy should be avoided in women who are taking Atripla and for 12 weeks after discontinuation.” Efavirenz may weaken the effectiveness of hormonal contraceptives—the “pill,” implants or injections. The manufacturer suggests that women taking Atripla use barrier methods to prevent pregnancy, such as condoms. 4. Hepatitis and liver health The manufacturer recommends that Atripla not be used by people with moderate or severe liver injury. The safety of Atripla in people co-infected with HIV and hepatitis B is not known. Atripla contains tenofovir DF, which has anti-HBV activity. Co-infected people who take Atripla and then stop it may notice their hepatitis B infection worsen. If you have this co-infection, talk to your doctor before you start Atripla. If you later need to change your therapy, remind your doctor that you have hepatitis B. People who are co-infected with HIV and hepatitis-causing viruses and who take ART are at increased risk for liver toxicity. It is important to have regular blood tests so that your doctor can assess the health of your liver. If lab tests reveal that you do not have HBV, speak to your doctor about getting a vaccine to protect you from HBV. Painfully swollen pancreas glands have been reported by some people taking tenofovir DF (one of the drugs in Atripla) as part of ART. Higher-than-normal levels in the blood of the enzyme amylase (made by the pancreas gland) have been detected in people taking tenofovir. This increase may suggest inflammation in the pancreas gland. Symptoms of pancreatitis can include the following: - abdominal pain, particularly when laying down - unexpected sweating If these symptoms occur, talk to your doctor right away. 6. Abnormal heart rhythms Efavirenz, in Atripla, can cause abnormal heart rhythms. Symptoms related to this can include feeling faint or fainting, or seizures. If you or a close relative (mother, father, sister, brother) have a history of heart problems including abnormal heart rhythms, let your doctor know right away. 7. Marijuana testing Some people who take efavirenz (one of the drugs in Atripla) may falsely test positive for marijuana in drug screening tests. These tests detect chemicals found in marijuana, which are released into urine. According to the manufacturer of efavirenz, a confirmatory test will clear up the matter by revealing the presence of efavirenz and not chemicals found in marijuana. This information may be useful to people taking Atripla who have to undergo drug testing for various reasons. 8. Different strains of HIV There are many strains or subtypes (also called clades) of HIV, such as A, B, E and others. Clade-B HIV is most commonly found in North America and Western Europe. However, due to travel and immigration, other clades of HIV can also be found in these regions. Efavirenz is effective against many different types of non-B clades of HIV. However, laboratory tests have found that efavirenz is not as effective against strains of HIV called “group O.” For more information about the strain of HIV that you have, speak to your doctor. 1. Central nervous system Atripla contains efavirenz. The most common side effects from efavirenz affect the central nervous system (CNS) and include the following: - difficulty falling asleep - difficulty concentrating - feeling drowsy during the daytime - Less common CNS side effects include: - vivid dreams (these may be pleasant or unpleasant) CNS side effects occur in at least half of people with HIV who use efavirenz and usually appear on the first or second day of therapy. Common CNS side effects (dizziness, difficulty falling asleep, difficulty concentrating, drowsiness) should begin to fade within the first month of taking efavirenz. Some doctors suggest taking efavirenz at bedtime to make its side effects more tolerable. If you are having difficulty coping with these or any other side effects, let your doctor know right away. Use of alcohol and street or club drugs may make efavirenz’s CNS side effects worse. In rare cases efavirenz may cause seizures. If you have a history of seizures let your doctor know before you start taking efavirenz. Some people who take Atripla develop a rash. Usually the rash occurs during the second week of therapy. Let your doctor know right away if this happens. Rash associated with efavirenz is usually not severe and goes away after about two weeks without special treatment. Your doctor may prescribe medication, such as antihistamines, to help ease the irritation of the rash. In rare cases, the rash may become severe and other symptoms may occur, such as blisters on the skin, itchy eyes, swelling, and muscle or joint pain. If this happens, call your doctor immediately. 3. Lactic acidosis Some people who have used the medicines contained in Atripla or related anti-HIV drugs have experienced a condition called lactic acidosis—higher-than-normal levels of lactic acid in the blood. Women who are overweight are at increased risk for lactic acidosis. Sometimes the liver of a person with lactic acidosis becomes swollen because of fatty deposits. Signs and symptoms of lactic acidosis may include the following: - abdominal pain - unexpected tiredness - unexpected muscle pain - feeling cold, especially in the arms and legs - feeling dizzy or light-headed If these symptoms persist, see your doctor right away. 4. Liver enzymes Increased levels of liver enzymes have been reported by some users of efavirenz, which is found in Atripla. In some cases, this may be an indicator of liver damage. 5. Breast enlargement in men Temporary breast enlargement has been reported by a small proportion of men using ART regimens, including some who took efavirenz (one of the drugs in Atripla). Generally, this problem cleared when the men stopped taking efavirenz. Breast enlargement has also been reported in other men who used ART regimens without efavirenz. This problem can occur in men, particularly under the following conditions: - lower-than-normal levels of testosterone - use of drugs that impair the production, or activity, of testosterone—ketoconazole (Nizoral), metronidazole (Flagyl), cimetidine (Tagamet), flutamide (Euflex) - use of growth hormone - higher-than-normal levels of thyroid hormones (hyperthyroidism) - use of street drugs, such as marijuana and heroin - the presence of liver disease If breast enlargement does occur while you are taking ART, speak to your doctor about this as there may be several options for managing this condition. 6. Bone health Atripla contains tenofovir DF. In experiments on monkeys using tenofovir at doses 10 to 30 times greater than the dose that would be used in people, the animals’ bones became thinner over a period of one year. Also, taking efavirenz (one of the drugs in Atripla) may reduce levels of vitamin D in your body. Vitamin D is needed to absorb calcium and to help strengthen bones. Before you start taking Atripla, tell your doctor if you have bone problems, thinner-than-normal bones (osteopenia or osteoporosis) or if your parents, brothers or sisters have bone problems. In clinical trials of regimens containing tenofovir, thinner bones and bone pain have been reported. Thinner bones are generally weaker and are at increased risk for breaking (fractures) should accidents or trauma occur. Researchers are not certain why bone thinning occurs in some people exposed to tenofovir. One theory is that bones became thinner because tenofovir appears to have caused the kidneys to malfunction. The kidneys filter blood, putting waste materials into the urine and returning nutrients back to blood. In cases of tenofovir-associated bone loss, damaged kidneys may not be able to restore bone building nutrients back to the blood. Bear in mind that some people with HIV can develop thinner-than-normal bones without ever using tenofovir. This sometimes occurs in people who use ART. The decrease in bone density tends to stabilize within a couple of years after starting ART. It may be useful for you to discuss with your doctor the possibility of having bone density assessments done before you begin taking Atripla or any other anti-HIV therapy. If your bones are thin, talk to your doctor about your intake of calcium and vitamin D3. Regular monitoring of bone density may also be useful. For more information about vitamin D and bones, see CATIE’s A Practical Guide to Nutrition for People Living with HIV. 7. Kidney health Atripla contains tenofovir DF, which is broken down by the kidneys. There have been reports of cases of kidney dysfunction and kidney failure in some people who used tenofovir DF. Atripla users may wish to have regular blood and urine tests done so that their doctors can assess the health of their kidneys. These can include tests to measure the following: - e-GFR (estimated glomerular filtration rate) In addition to tenofovir, there are other medications that are processed by the kidneys and have the potential to cause or amplify kidney dysfunction. Many of these medications are antibiotics, such as: - beta-lactams—penicillin and amoxicillin - quinolones—ciprofloxacin and related compounds - aminoglycosides—amikacin and gentamicin - anti-tuberculosis agents—rifampin and ethambutol - other antibiotics—co-trimoxazole (Septra/Bactrim), vancomycin (Vanocin) Bear in mind that there are other medications that can have the potential to cause kidney dysfunction, including (but not limited to) the following: - antiviral agents—acyclovir (Zovirax), valacyclovir (Valtrex), cidofovir (Vistide), foscarnet (Foscavir), indinavir (Crixivan) - antifungal agents—amphotericin B (Fungizone), intravenous pentamidine - anti-seizure drugs—phenytoin, carbamazepine, valproic acid - NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs)—acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), indomethacin (Indocid), naproxen (Naprosyn) - transplant drugs—cyclosporine (Neoral, Sandimmune) 8. Lipodystrophy syndrome In 2007 two clinical trials in the U.S. suggested that the use of efavirenz, which is found in Atripla, is associated with a significantly increased risk for changes in body shape. Efavirenz use is also linked to an increased level of cholesterol in the blood. These changes are part of a larger set of changes known as the lipodystrophy syndrome. The HIV lipodystrophy syndrome is the name given to a range of symptoms that can develop over time when people use ART. These include: - loss of fat just under the skin (subcutaneous fat) in the face, arms, and legs - bulging veins in the arms and/or legs due to the loss of fat under the skin - increased waist and belly size - fat pads at the back of the neck (“buffalo hump”) or at the base of the neck (“horse collar”) - small lumps of fat in the abdomen - increased breast size (in women) - Together with these physical changes, blood tests may detect the following: - increased levels of fatty substances called triglycerides - increased levels of LDL-cholesterol (lowdensity lipoprotein), or “bad” cholesterol - decreased levels of HDL-cholesterol (highdensity lipoprotein), or “good” cholesterol - increased levels of sugar (glucose) - increased levels of the hormone insulin - decreased sensitivity to insulin (insulin resistance) The precise causes of the HIV lipodystrophy syndrome are not clear and are difficult to understand because some people with HIV may experience one or more aspects of the syndrome. For instance, some people may experience fat wasting, others fat gain, and others may experience both fat wasting and gain. What is becoming increasingly clear is that unfavourable changes in levels of glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides over a period of several years increase the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Maintaining a normal weight, eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly and quitting smoking are all important to help you to reduce your risk of diabetes, heart disease and other complications. Regular visits to your doctor for checkups and blood tests are a vital part of staying healthy. If necessary, your doctor can prescribe lipid-lowering therapy. Researchers are studying lipodystrophy syndrome to try to discover ways to help people with HIV avoid or reduce this problem. To find out more about options for managing aspects of lipodystrophy syndrome, see CATIE’s A Practical Guide to HIV Drug Side Effects. Always consult your doctor and pharmacist about taking any other prescription or nonprescription medication, including herbs, supplements and street drugs. Some drugs can interact with the drugs in Atripla, increasing or decreasing their levels in your body. Increased drug levels can cause you to experience side effects or make pre-existing side effects worse. On the other hand, if drug levels become too low, HIV can develop resistance and your future treatment options may be reduced. It may also be necessary to avoid drugs that do not affect levels of the medications contained in Atripla, but cause similar side effects. If you must take a drug that has the potential to interact with your existing medications, your doctor can do the following: - adjust the dose of either your anti-HIV drugs or other medications; or - prescribe different anti-HIV drugs for you. The following lists of drugs interact or have the potential to interact with efavirenz (one of the drugs in Atripla). These lists are not exhaustive. The manufacturer recommends that the following drugs should not be taken by people using efavirenz (found in Atripla) because this could lead to serious, even life-threatening, interactions: - antihistamines—astemizole (Hismanal) - anti-migraine drugs (ergot derivatives)—dihydroergotamine (Migranal), ergotamine (Ergomar) - anti-anxiety drugs—midazolam (Versed), triazolam (Halcion) - gastrointestinal motility drugs—cisapride (Prepulsid) - antifungal drugs—voriconazole (Vfend), posaconazole (Posanol) - antipsychotic drugs—pimozide (Orap) The following drugs can increase levels of efavirenz in your body: - anti-HIV drugs—ritonavir (Norvir) The following drugs can decrease levels of efavirenz in the blood: - antibiotics/anti-tuberculosis drugs—rifampicin - herbs—St. John’s wort, Ginkgo biloba - Atripla contains efavirenz, which can decrease levels of the following drugs: - antibiotics—clarithromycin (Biaxin), rifabutin (Mycobutin) - anti-tuberculosis drugs—rifampin - antidepressants—sertraline (Zoloft) - antifungal drugs—itraconazole (Sporanox), ketoconazole (Nizoral) - anti-HIV drugs—fosamprenavir (Telzir), indinavir (Crixivan), lopinavir (in Kaletra), ritonavir (Norvir), saquinavir (Invirase), darunavir (Prezista), nelfinavir (Viracept) - anti-seizure drugs—carbamazepine (Tegretol), phenytoin (Dilantin), phenobarbital - blood thinners—warfarin (Coumadin) - cholesterol-lowering drugs—atorvastatin (Lipitor), pravastatin (Pravachol), simvastatin (Zocor) - drugs for high blood pressure—calcium channel blockers such as diltiazem (Dilitaz, Dilitazem), felopdipine (Renedil), nifedipine (Adalat) and verapamil (Verap, Tarka) - narcotics—methadone (your dose of methadone may need to be increased if you use efavirenz) Atripla contains tenofovir DF, which can interact with the following medications by raising or lowering their levels. These drugs may also change tenofovir levels: - ddI (Videx, Videx EC) - lopinavir (in Kaletra) - atazanavir (Reyataz) Tell your doctor if you are taking the anti-HIV drug maraviroc (Celsentri) as this can interact with efavirenz in Atripla. Resistance, cross-resistance and treatment interruption Over time, as new copies of HIV are made in the body, the virus changes its structure. These changes, called mutations, can cause HIV to resist the effects of anti-HIV drugs, which means those drugs will no longer work for you. Using a combination of drugs, such as Atripla, can delay the development of drug resistance. All anti-HIV drugs should be taken every day exactly as prescribed and directed. If doses are delayed, missed or not taken as prescribed, levels of the drugs in Atripla in the blood may fall too low. If this happens, resistant virus can develop. If you find you are having problems taking your medications as directed, speak to your doctor and nurse about this. They can find ways to help you. If you stop taking Atripla, low levels of efavirenz can remain in your body for up to two or three weeks. In the absence of combination therapy, these low levels of efavirenz are not high enough to suppress HIV and can cause HIV to become resistant to efavirenz. Therefore, if you are taking efavirenz and need to interrupt your therapy, speak to your specialist about ways to minimize the chance that HIV in your body might become resistant to efavirenz. HIV that is resistant to efavirenz will usually also be resistant to other NNRTIs, such as rilpivirine (Edurant), nevirapine (Viramune) and delavirdine (Rescriptor). When HIV becomes resistant to one drug in a class, it sometimes becomes resistant to other drugs in that class. This is called cross-resistance. Feel free to talk with your doctor about your current and future treatment options. To help you decide what these future therapies might be, at some point, your doctor can have a small sample of your blood analyzed using resistance testing. Should HIV in your body become resistant to the medicines in Atripla, your doctor, with the help of resistance testing, can recommend a new treatment regimen for you. Dosage and formulations Atripla comes in the form of pink tablets. Each tablet contains the following medications: - efavirenz—600 mg - FTC—200 mg - Tenofovir DF—300 mg The adult dose is one tablet at bedtime. Atripla is licensed in Canada for the treatment of HIV infection in adults. Your doctor can tell you more about the availability and coverage of Atripla in your region. CATIE’s online module Federal, Provincial and Territorial Drug Access Programs also contains information about Canadian drug coverage. Bristol-Myers Squibb and Gilead Sciences. Atripla (efavirenz/emtricitabine/tenofovir DF) tablets. Product monograph. 8 June, 2017. Author(s): Hosein SR, Ziegler B
Cathy Sun \| 2020年1月31日 Social Media: A New Stage of Games Between the Great Powers The term “social media” refers to websites and other Internet applications that enable users to create and share content with other users, as well as to react to such content in various ways. As social media has become more available, both in terms of Internet access and ease of use, an enormous amount of people have come to depend on it for their everyday lives and routines. For instance, according to a survey conducted in early 2019, around seven-in-ten U.S. adults (69%) use Facebook, the biggest social network worldwide, and WeChat, the largest social media platform in China, has over 1.15 billion monthly active users as of the third quarter of 2019. It is generally acknowledged that social media platforms are exerting a profound influence on civic engagement and international interactions, including Sino-U.S. relations. Overall, the widespread use of social media provides more diverse channels for China and the United States to work towards mutual understanding. On the one hand, government officials can share their foreign policy priorities on social media platforms in an effort to receive feedback, engage in diplomacy, educate people, and attempt to influence foreign policy outcomes. The U.S. Embassy in China opened its Weibo (the second largest social networking platform in China) account as early as 2010. It has posted 25,623 updates about the U.S. legal and political system and diplomatic news, gaining 2.64 million followers. In addition, the Foreign Ministry spokesman's office and Chinese diplomats have collectively landed on Twitter recently, reflecting a new strategy for public diplomacy. Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that it is reasonable for Chinese media to use overseas social media to introduce Chinese policies, tell Chinese stories, and communicate with local people. On the other hand, multinational corporations, non-governmental organizations, and the public carry out business operations, cultural exchanges, ideological exchanges and information dissemination on social media, which has developed into a place to display an international image, cultural attractiveness, institutional advantages and other soft power competitiveness. Ziqi Li, a woman from southwestern China whose YouTube video channel celebrating rural life is followed by nearly 8.3 million people, has been hailed by state media for her role in promoting Chinese culture. However, Sino-U.S. interaction on social media harbors potential conflicts. With respect to ideology and values, the traditional differences and conflicts between China and the United States will extend to cyberspace, especially social media platforms. A poorly considered statement can cause offense or even spark a conflict. The tweet on October 4, 2019 by Houston Rockets’ general manager Daryl Morey may prove to be a typical case. His tweeting of the slogan “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong” –one frequently used by pro-democracy protesters in the city – immediately set off an outcry in mainland China, angering tens of millions of Chinese NBA fans and government officials. This dispute on a social media platform clearly reflects the value differences that are its cause. The U.S. emphasizes the importance of the openness, free access, free expression, and free exchange of cyberspace, and equates these freedoms with basic human rights, so as to promote consensus in the international community. But according to the actual needs of its own economic and social development and the principle of independent management of the Internet in China, China subordinates the free flow of information to the good of Internet security, thus implementing some restrictions on the release and dissemination of Internet content. Due to the fast-paced and widespread character of social media, traditional conflicts between American and Chinese values have the risk of being exaggerated. Moreover, sometimes the behavior of social media platform managers rises to the level of national intention. Alleged disinformation campaigns on U.S. social media platforms about the Hong Kong anti-government protests, which Facebook and Twitter said originated from mainland China, may have deepened mistrust between Beijing and Washington. Beijing has always been wary of these services, and this will only further convince China that these types of platforms are allies of the U.S. government in its technological and ideological competition with China. Social media and digital technology are taking political responsibility and giving more and more of it to every individual. With a click of a button, people can share information unfiltered by traditional diplomatic channels and gatekeepers of media, instantaneously, nearly anywhere on the planet. However, international relations have to be handled delicately, especially Sino-U.S. relations, since they are the most significant bilateral relations in the world today. This requires that celebrities use their influence prudently and take responsibility for the discourse on social media platforms. It also entails that the public work to discern true information from false, and avoid blindly following trends. Jiaqiao Xiang \| 2020年1月30日 John Rindone \| 2020年1月29日 Cole McFaul \| 2020年1月29日 Victoria Reiter \| 2020年1月29日 Zhongming Yuan \| 2020年1月29日 Cindy Wang \| 2020年1月28日 Ruihan Huang \| 2020年1月28日 Kimberley Nunez-Argueta \| 2020年1月27日 Yunfei Dai \| 2020年1月27日 Bryan Carapucci \| 2020年1月27日
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Eye Health: Indicator of Overall Wellness It is often said that the eyes are the windows to a person’s soul. Although observing the soul has been rather elusive in my clinical experience, the eyes are like windows in many respects. They are the windows we use to help us understand and process the world. As a practicing optometrist, the eyes also offer us a unique view into the overall health of the body. In fact, it is the optometrist who is often the first health professional to detect systemic disorders such as diabetes, high blood pressure and even multiple sclerosis. The eyes are wonderfully complex and unique in many ways. One of the ways they are unique is that they are one of the only parts of body where it is possible to non-invasively view internal blood vessels in their natural state. Subtle changes in the blood vessels located in the retina; a very thin vital tissue covering the back inside surface of the eye could be warning signs for more global, systemic health concerns. Take diabetes for example. Nearly 1 in 4 Canadians suffer from either diabetes or pre-diabetes. Uncontrolled diabetes can cause changes in the blood vessels throughout the body including the eyes—changes that can be detected even before an official diagnosis of diabetes has been made. Likewise, high blood pressure, which can also cause structural changes to blood vessels, can be detected during a regular eye exam. In addition to allowing for insight into an individual’s cardiovascular health, the eyes also provide insight into the health of the brain and can even lead to the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. In up to 20% MS cases, the initial manifestation of the disease is inflammation of the optic nerve which can be detected during a routine eye exam. New research is also suggesting that an eye exam might someday help to detect certain types of dementia, specifically Alzheimer’s disease, long before the symptoms of confusion and memory loss happen. This would be a massive breakthrough in the medical profession especially because presently the official diagnosis of Alzheimer’s can only be made after post-mortem analysis. Probably the most shocking example of ocular symptoms relating to overall health of the body is gout. Gout is a common type of inflammatory arthritis which primarily affects the big toe joint. Remarkably, gout is also linked to inflammation of the eye causing pain and redness to the ocular surface. In other words, a disease that primarily affects the big toe can also cause changes to the eyes, located on the exact opposite end of the body! There is no other part of the body that offers such a unique and clear insight into the global health of the body than the eyes. This is why, in addition to getting your glasses prescription, a simple visit to your optometrist can play a crucial role in ensuring good ocular health as well as overall wellness.
Cartagena is full of stories, and one very present in its streets, squares and temples is that of slavery. A Unesco project (The slave route: resistance, freedom, heritage), seeks to ensure that the traces of this period are not forgotten, and that people better understand its causes and consequences. Cartageneros and visitors will now be able to know more accurately and accurately the history of slavery. A painful story that left its mark in many places and spaces of the city. With the support of the Ministry of Culture, the National University of Colombia, the Cartagena Tourism Corporation and the Institute of Heritage and Culture of the city, a group of 25 guides were prepared to narrate that history (sites, protagonists, geography, culture) and For this, they will rely on a primer in which historians have identified more than 15 sites of memory of slavery with which routes can be organized, that each one adapts to their time and resources. This initiative is part of Unesco's project "The Route of the Slave: Resistance, Freedom and Heritage", which has among other objectives "to contribute to a better understanding of the causes and modalities of slavery and slave trade, As well as the problems and consequences of slavery in the world. " Places such as the Plaza de los Coches, Plaza de la Aduana, barón Getsemaní, the architectural complex San Pedro Claver, Cerro de la Popa and numerous streets of the historic center can be traversed and appreciated from another point of view, as carriers Of a story worth learning about. The teacher of the National University of Colombia, Claudia Mosquera, one of the promoters of this initiative, gives us a reason to know these sites: visiting these places can produce questions that help us to become aware. In addition, it is a way to fight against oblivion and negation of a painful history like slavery. 5 THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT SLAVING IN CARTAGENA DE INDIAS 1- Between 1595 and 1640, the Portuguese brought to Cartagena about 125,000 enslaved Africans. 2- The one that today we know as Plaza of the Customs, in the colonial period was called Plaza de la Antigua Real Contaduría. There was an intense purchase of slaves. 3- It is on the outskirts of the Clock Tower and we know it today as the Peace Square. In the colony was called Black Square because there black slaves and free, sold fruits, vegetables and meat. 4- In the hill of Popa exists a place known like "Jump of the goat", site that was frequented by Indians, blacks and mestizos, to adore "Buziraco", a deity that looked like a goat. 5 - At the end of the XVII century, the slave trade had declined remarkably and the dubious honor of slave port in Spanish America, relapsed in Buenos Aires (Argentina). THE SLAVE ROUTE A) Ask your guide for "The slave route", get to know it and build memory. La Plaza: In the colonial period, the territory that now corresponds to the Historic Center was divided into two major sectors: La Plaza and El Arrabal, which correspond to the so-called Corralito de Piedra and Getsemani, respectively. The Plaza was divided into four neighborhoods: Santa Catalina, San Sebastián, La Merced and Santo Toribio, now San Diego. B) El Arrabal: in the area known as La Plaza, the process of enslavement of Africans left traces related to the process of traffic, sale and services in which the enslaved were used, as well as places related to daily life and their resistance to Preserve their traditions. C) Arrival: For much of the colonial period, thousands of ships of enslaved Africans arrived, who were merchants and distributed as labor, into the kingdom and other parts of the southern part of the continent. The Africans were disembarked and taken to the Bay of Las Animas in smaller boats, where they entered the city. Then they had to be counted and inspected to know their state of health. D) Plaza de la Aduana: the first control body over imports that were made from Cartagena, had as its main epicenter the Plaza de la Antigua Real Contaduría or Plaza de la Aduana. In it was the Royal House, place where all the goods that entered the port were legalized. It was the place, par excellence, where the purchase and sale of slaves was developed. E) Cars Square or Yerba Square: It was an important space for the transit of the enslaved population that moved between the square and the suburb, through the mouth of the bridge. The sector of this square, near the Bank of the West, was known as Plaza del Esclavo, because in its perimeter were realized sales or sales of enslaved. F) Plaza de La Paz: it was known as Plaza de las Negras because there, authorized or forced by its owners, black slaves and free sell fruits, vegetables and meats at retail. G) Plaza Fernández Madrid: In this place there were several jagüeyes or wells where the enslaved population and the servants, were going to collect water to take to their places of accommodation, to the residences where they provided domestic service. For this reason, it was known as Plaza de Los Jagüeyes. H) Martín Amador Street: It is one of those that ends in the Plaza Santo Domingo and that in the first centuries of the colony, was known as Santo Domingo, Calle de Nuestra Señora del Rosario or Palenque. In this one worked several corrals or deposits of esclavizados, later displaced to the district of Santo Toribio. I) Green Canyon Street: received the name of Our Lady of Slavery or Slave Street, because of its proximity to the Plaza de Los Coches where the sale of the enslaved in the seventeenth century. J) Calle de Nuestra Senora del Cavo - Second Street of La Cruz: in 1777 was located a cabildo of black carabali, brought by Dutch, French and English asentistas. K) Street of the Cabildo of Congos or Our Lady of Africa: possibly it was a place in which they inhabited Africans or descendants of these, pertaining to the congo cultural group. L) Street of Our Lady of the Pine or of Portobelo: worked in this street a cabildo of black carabalíes. M) Street of the Santísimo: worked in this street a cabildo of black mines. N) Calle del Quero: it worked a town hall of blacks of loango or Luanda. Ñ) Los Siete Infantes Street: there were two cabildos of blacks, one of arrares and another of jojoes. O) Street of San Pedro Mártir: a cabildo of black chalaes worked. P) Architectonic Set San Pero Claver: the Spanish Claver, dedicated his service to the evangelization of the enslaved while he healed and took care of them. The cloister where the House Museum San Pedro Claver works, is the place where you can know the work executed by the Jesuit in the early seventeenth century in favor of the enslaved who came to Cartagena. Q) Hermitage of Our Lady of Dolores: Known as Clock Tower, in 1755 was built the hermitage of Our Lady of Dolores, to the devotion of the Lieutenant of Artillery Don Manuel Novoa. At the mass officiated in this place, the slaves and the poor people of the city attended assiduously. More information on The Slave Route at here
Living Fossils: Clues to the Past Living fossils, or modern-day animals that very closely resemble their ancient relatives. Meet the coelacanth, horseshoe crab, dragonfly, tuatara, nautilus, and Hula painted frog. All are living fossils. Why have they changed so little over time, while other animals evolved or went extinct? Using contrasting “then” and “now” illustrations, veteran nonfiction writer Caroline Arnold alternates between a prehistoric creature in its native environment and its contemporary living-fossil counterpart. An amazing way to experience the ancient past! Illustrated by: Andrew Plant Published by: Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc.
What are the signs and symptoms of PHACE syndrome? Hemangiomas may be small or not visible at birth. They grow quickly and can be seen during the first days to weeks of life. In children with PHACE syndrome, hemangiomas usually cover a large area of the face, head or neck. They can appear as one lesion or a patch of multiple lesions. Other problems may be visible at birth such as a breastbone deformity. Signs and symptoms vary. Severity of symptoms and complications also varies. How is PHACE syndrome diagnosed? If a hemangioma looks suspicious for PHACE syndrome, additional testing is needed. These tests may include: Other tests may be needed. What are the possible complications of PHACE syndrome? As it grows, the hemangioma can lead to skin breakdown (ulcerations), change facial features and / or cause issues with breathing, eyesight, or hearing. Other complications depend on what structures other than the skin are involved. For example, developmental delay, seizures, headaches, and / or abnormal muscle tone could occur if the brain is involved. Does my child need treatment for PHACE syndrome? Usually the hemangioma(s) in PHACE syndrome require medication by mouth or on the skin. These medications are used to stop hemangioma growth. They also treat and / or prevent complications. Surgical treatments could also be needed. What is the management of PHACE syndrome? PHACE syndrome needs evaluation and treatment by a team of experts. Routine follow up is important.
A record harvest adds a new twist to the global food stocks roller coaster. At this time last year, I was reporting grim news from the United States Corn Belt. The hottest summer on record and the most expansive drought in more than half a century combined to destroy much of what could have been a record harvest, and grain prices shot to record highs as a result. Fortunes have changed, and plentiful rains are nurturing what once again looks to be a record corn crop. The latest United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates have U.S. farmers harvesting 354.3 million metric tons (13.95 billion bushels) of corn this season—a nearly 30 percent increase from last year. Together with recovering wheat harvests in Europe—which were also hit by droughts last year—and favorable corn conditions in South America, the U.S. corn crop is expected to boost world cereal production to a new record, according to the July Cereal Supply and Demand Brief published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The projected jump in supply has pushed down corn prices by 43 percent from last year’s record. Even more optimistic is the forecasted rebound in world grain stocks, which have, due to a number of reasons that I wrote about in June, recorded a period of lows in the past decade not seen since the 1970s. Buoyed by this year’s harvests, overall grain stocks for 2014 are expected to increase 11.5 percent to 567.5 million metric tons, the highest level since 2001/2002, the FAO said. The night-and-day difference between 2012 and 2013 reflects the vulnerability of harvests to increasingly severe weather, as well as the resilience of an increasingly global food system—a system that faces big changes over the coming decade. According to a 10-year outlook released in June by the FAO and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the pace of agricultural growth will slow as input costs rise and resources like land and water become scarcer. Food production, however, will continue to outpace demand. Moreover, the role of developing countries in providing the world’s food will grow significantly, a shift that brings both opportunities and challenges for water management. Live in the U.S. Corn Belt? Have any thoughts about the future of the global food supply? Contact Codi Yeager
I love Earth Day. Well, I love the idea behind Earth Day. Over forty years ago, industrial pollution was virtually unchecked in America. Activists were desperate for a way to make people see how important it was to require polluters, big and small, to clean up their act. So they created a holiday. Now, on April 22nd, people celebrate Earth Day and, allegedly, do kind things for the planet. The problem with Earth Day is that it lets people off too easy. One day?! One day of even hardcore environmental action can’t account for 364 days of neglect. But around the country, there’s proof that people get the real message of Earth Day. MindMixer is an online engagement tool that helps ordinary citizens crowdsource solutions to problems in their community. In many cities, this means making eco and health-conscious changes. Join us after the jump for some examples of truly impactful projects this online forum has helped make a reality! Eating Fresh and Local in Orlando: The City of Orlando posed a question on the MindMixer site asking communities how much more they would be willing to pay to have 50 percent of their foods come from local farms. Most (36 percent) would pay 10 percent more to have their foods come from local farms, followed by 22 percent who would pay 5 percent more. Installing electrical vehicle charging stations: Through the MindMixer site, the City of Orlando asked the community what types of programs they would support to increase energy efficiency and sustainability. Ideas that surfaced include installing electrical vehicle charging stations and holding an Earth Day event downtown in support of solar power and energy efficiency. Reusable Bags Designed by the Public: InspireBoulder implemented the public’s designs onto 30,000 new reusable grocery bags which will be distributed in the city of Boulder. The ideas were part of the city’s Reusable Bag Design Competition which were suggested on the MindMixer site and then later implemented by the city. Community Composting in Park City: Residents of Park City, Utah suggested ideas on their MindMixer site surrounding economic development, quality of life improvements and sustainability. As a result, one resident’s idea to implement a community composting program became real when Park City’s Environmental Sustainability Manager approved the idea, which is very similar to an ordinance passed by the city of San Francisco. What eco-problem has been nagging at your conscience? It’s time to stop waiting for someone else to take action, and be the change. Use MindMixer to help organize your neighbors, or just get out there and start talking to people. You’d be surprised how easy change can be when a few dedicated citizens put their mind to it.
The abortive 6th boundary view was largely justified on the need to address some bias in the electoral system. You will notice this fairly quickly if you have a quick play about with the swingometer - if you leave the Liberal Democrat share of the vote unchanged then the Conservatives need a lead of 11 percentage points over Labour to win an overall majority, while the Labour party can achieve an overall majority with a lead of about 3 percentage points. Equally illustrative are the last two general election results - in 2005 Labour had a lead of 3 points over the Conservatives, and got a majority of over 60 seats; in 2010 the Conservatives had a lead of 7 points over Labour, but did not have an overall majority at all. Prima facie this appears unfair. This is a different issue from proportionality. The currently electoral system, "First Past the Post", is not supposed to be a proportional system. The proportion of total votes received does not necessarily resemble the shares of votes case, and smaller parties in particular tend to struggle to get representation unless their vote is geographically concentrated. The fact that FPTP favours larger parties and punishes small ones is very much a feature, rather than a bug - its defenders would argue that the system is supposed to lead to a strong two-party system, with the winning party having a majority of seats, while its detractors would say that we would be better having a proportional system, such as STV. First Past the Post is intrinsically "unfair" towards smaller parties, and intrinsically favours the winning party - that's a different issue. This page looks only at the reasons why, even if both parties have the same level of support, the system apparently favours Labour more than the Conservatives. There are several reasons for this. Some are to do with the way the electoral boundaries are drawn up, most are to do with people's voting behaviour: 1) Out of date boundaries and unequal seat sizes. The most widely cited explanation for the difference in the size of the electorate between seats - Labour seats tend to have fewer voters, Conservative seats tend to have more voters, which produces an obvious bias (imagine there were 100,000 Tories and 100,000 Labour voters, all of whom lived in two big blocks. The Tories were split into four seats of 25,000 voters, the Labour voters were split into five seats of 20,000 voters - the result would be 4 Tory MPs and 5 Labour MPs.) There are well known extremes in size in seats - notably the huge Isle of Wight seat and the tiny Na h-Eileanan an lar - but these are for specific geographical reasons. This is a more systematic problem. Leaving aside Wales & Scotland (see below) the smallest seats in England are mostly Labour strongholds - places like central Newcastle or Liverpool. The largest seats tend to be Conservative voting, rapidly growing parts of the south-east. Of the twenty smallest seats, 12 are held by Labour compared to 5 by the Conservatives. In the twenty largest seats the position is reversed, there are 12 Conservative seats and 6 Labour seats. The reasons for this pattern are to do with the demographic trends in the UK and the delay in carrying out and implementing boundary reviews. While there are exceptions to the general rule, such as East London and central Manchester, the tendency in recent decades is for the population in the declining industrial north to fall, while the population in the rural south and the London commuter belt rises. These types of area also tend to be very Labour and very Conservative respectively, leading to a political impact. At each boundary review the Independent Boundary Commissions iron these differences out, but over time the Conservative seats grow and the Labour seats shrink, and the bias towards Labour reappears. Because the effect of boundary changes is one way, any delay in keeping the boundaries up to date with population movements tends to be to the advantage of the Labour party and the disadvantage of the Conservatives. There is almost always some degree of bias from this source because boundary reviews are conducted every 8 to 12 years, and often take many years to conduct. Hence the current boundaries, which began to be used in 2010, are based on the electorates in the year 2000, so will already be 15 years out of date when the 2015 election is held. The previous boundaries were based on the electorate in 1991, so were 6 years, 10 years and 14 years old at the three elections they were used for. 2) Over-representation of Scotland & Wales. While it was changed in 2011, under the legislation that the current boundaries were draw up under there were separate electoral quotas for Scotland, England and Wales that were not pegged against one another - hence if the population in one of the UK's nations grows the electoral quota will also grow, if another nation isn't experiencing the same population growth, their electoral quotas will slowly diverge. After the creation of the Scottish Parliament the over-representation of Scotland was removed and their boundaries were redrawn using England's electoral quota. Wales however continues to enjoy over-representation at Westminster- using England's electoral quota they would have 32 seats, but thanks to the lower electoral quota in Wales they currently have 40 seats. Since Wales contains large numbers of Labour strongholds, this benefits Labour. 3) Differential Turnout. A number of seats a county gets in boundary reviews depends upon the electorate, not how many of those people actually vote. Imagine if there were two seats, one solid Labour and one solid Conservative. In the Labour seat turnout is only 10% but in the Conservative seat it is 90%. Both seats would return one MP, but if you totalled up the vote for both seats the Conservatives would have 90% of the vote. This is a simplified version of what actually happens in most British elections - social groups who vote Labour also tend be the social groups with a low turnout, hence Labour seats tend to have lower turnouts than Conservative seats. 4) Support distribution the nature of the First Past the Post electoral system is that lots of votes are "wasted". Votes for party that isn't in contention to win a seat are not going towards electing an MP - equally, if a party already has 50% of the vote in a seat then any votes over and above that are "wasted". In terms of winning seats it is far more efficient for a party to have lots of seats with about 45% of the vote than fewer seats with 70% or 80% of the vote. In recent years the distribution of Labour and Conservative support hasn't actually been hugely different - though Labour do have slightly more seats than the Conservatives where they have 40-50% support, the ideal distribution of a party's vote. 5) Tactical Voting. Tactical voting is when supporters of a party that is unlikely to win in a constituency instead vote for a party with a better chance of winning in order to prevent a third party which they dislike of winning. In practical terms, for the last few elections Liberal Democrat voters in seats where the Lib Dems cannot win have voted tactically for Labour to stop the Tories, while Labour votes in Conservative/Lib Dems marginals have voted tactically for the Lib Dems to stop the Tories winning. This has further increased the number of seats that Labour get at the expense of the Conservatives. This means that in practice in seats where Labour win between 35% and 40% of the vote, they very often win them, as the rest of the vote is divided between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. In contrast, in seats where the Conservatived win between 35% and 40% of the vote they very often miss out on winning the seat because Labour and Liberal Democrat supporters have voted tactically for whichever party has the better chance of beating the Tories. This is not 'bias' of course, it is people making voting decisions based on the electoral system on how to use their vote in the most useful way, but it is a further explanation of why the system appears to be biased towards Labour. While the turnout effect is largely socio-economic and is likely to remain to some extent, tactical voting patterns are obviously dependent upon the politics of the day - were Labour and Liberal Democrat voters to become more reluctant to lend their votes to the other party, then the effect could easily fade away.
Roughly 46 million people in the U.S., or 15% of the population, lived below the official poverty line in 2011 ($11,484 for an individual or $23,021 for a family of four per year). About 10.4 million of them are considered part of the “working poor.” That means they spent at least half the year in the labor force (working or looking for work), but they still fell below the poverty level. Who falls into the group? The Bureau of Labor Statistics breaks it down in a new report. Five facts: Part-time work is only half the problem. About 4.4 million people who usually worked in full-time jobs were classified as working poor in 2011. That’s about 4% of all full-time workers. About 14% of part-time workers were classified as working poor. It’s a lot of hard jobs. The service sector accounted for 3.3 million of the working poor in 2011. About 13% of all service workers were classified as working poor. About 17% of workers in farming, fishing and forestry jobs were part of the working poor. And about 10.6% of workers in construction and extraction roles were working poor. Job loss is a leading problem, but not the only one. The working poor made up about 7% of the nation’s labor force in 2011, up from 5.1% in 2007. (The U.S. recession started in December 2007.) About 39% of the working poor in 2011 experienced unemployment during the year. About 6% of the working poor faced three major problems at some point in 2011: low earnings, unemployment and involuntary part-time employment. Kids, stay in school. One in five people (20.1%) with less than a high school diploma who were in the labor force for half the year were classified as working poor in 2011. For high school graduates with no college, it was 9.2%. For workers with an associate’s degree, 4.6%. And those with a bachelor’s degree or higher, 2.4% Kids, stay at home. Among teens who were in the labor force for at least half of 2011 and who lived alone or with people unrelated to them, 40.3% lived below the poverty line. About 14% percent of 20- to 24-year-olds who were in the labor force for half the year were in poverty in 2011, double the rate for workers age 35 to 44.
Unit tests are the second of the three pillars of automated testing. A lot has been written about them so I’m not going to repeat it, just will point some highlights. Unit tests are integral part of the development and are written by developers. Having done a second look at the production code you’ll find some bug you missed the first time that you wrote it. Think about how you re-read your school essays, you did not present your first draft, right? The outcome is better code structure at method level. If your code is to hard to unit test, then something is wrong and it needs refactoring. Maybe the method is too big, does too much stuff. Maybe you have wrong abstractions, or cannot easily substitute a behavior. Listen you your tests. You immediately know, when you introduce a change, does the new code breaks the existing behavior. You run your unit test on every commit. You can move faster and worry less about regressions. As a bonus, you get a set of unit tests. Note that I put this on the last place, because the goal of writing the unit tests in not the unit tests themselves. They just happen to be useful byproduct. The developers writing the unit tests should be in contact with the person writing the high level tests so that they do not repeat the same tests, but at a higher cost. For example, let’s say you have a web page that accepts credit card to make a payment. Some of the possible test cases are: Invalid expiry month/year (set in the past, contains characters other than digits, too much/ less digits) Invalid CVV (not exactly three digits, contains characters other than digits) Those checks should be performed on your backend (for security reasons, since an attacker can completely bypass any frontend checks) as well as on your frontend (for faster user feedback). Now assume that you need to automate all those test cases only with Selenium. This is the top of the testing pyramid, more brittle and very slow tests. It may take more than 5 minutes to complete all the test through the UI. Each test case may create brand new user, interact with web service, database, login to your application, navigate to purchase a service, then navigate to the payment section and then proceed to enter test case data and validate the result. Why is all of this extra effort needed? Your frontend will call the backend. The backend will call three verification methods to do all the heavy lifting. Then why don’t you tests those three methods directly. It is where the decision is being made. No need to go through all that Selenium trouble to test something that more easily and reliable tested with unit test. It’s like killing a fly with bazooka. The correct course of actions is to cover all the test cases with unit tests, then have no more than two acceptance high level automated tests. The one will test the happy path where all credit card details are correct, and the other will test what happens if any of the credit card details is not correct. Organizational Anti Patterns Unfortunately, most often I see two common patterns in companies that invert the testing pyramid (a.k.a the ice-cream cone). They have more automated blackbox tests that unit tests. The first pattern is that developers do not write unit tests. This is because they think they code is bug free, think that unit tests are a waste of time, the code is such mess that it need refactoring before being able to be put under test harness, or developers just don’t know how to write unit tests. Then all the automated testing is shifted towards the QA team. The solution is for developers to start appreciating the value that the unit tests bring as well as to start writing them. This is pretty big topic by itself. The second pattern is that Dev and QA are separate departments, they rarely talk to each other, except to throw something over the wall. As a result they either write too much overlapping automated tests for given functionality — unit and acceptance. Or do not cover it with sufficient tests, thinking the other team is covering it. The solution is this case is the three amigos, co-located team, sitting by each other, the whole agile shebang. Except for the most straightforward cases (e.g. your acceptance tests, blackbox tests) it may be impossible to test for boundary conditions, exceptions, DB corruption with your high level tests that treat your system as blackbox. However this is trivial to do with unit tests. Unit tests should be written whenever you change the code base. It does not matter if it’s for the development of a regular new feature or for a bugfix. Especially if you fix a bug, write unit test to verify the desired behavior and now you know that this exact bug will not appear again anymore. Unit tests and production code go together. The tests are easy and cheap to write, and will pinpoint to the exact location of the problem (where as the blackbox tests will usualy guestimate where the problem is) when they fail. Unit tests should also should not fail randomly. You should be able to run them in any order, only one test or all of them. Every unit test should setup and destroy everything that it needs. Write unit tests for bugs you encounter in production. Tests should be closer to the code. Write automated test on the lowest level possible. Where is the decision beig taken? Test at that point. Inexperience developers usually separate the development tasks in two and give different estimates, one for writing the code and another for writing the tests. With time and experience under their belt, there should be one estimate only as unit tests would become integral part of any development activity. And I’m not even talking about TDD here. In my experience one achieves mastery (knowing the test runner tool, the legacy code writing test for, how to refactor first in order to be able to write unit test at all) writing unit tests after he has written at least 2,000 tests cases. If you’ve worked with non-technical manager, he might have set code coverage threshold e.g.: “The build should fail if the code coverage drops bellow 90%”. This is bullshit and you should oppose this. When you measure a team against a metric, the team will do anything to meet this metric (for example to get the yearly bonuses). Developers are creative and they will find a way to game the system. They will most likely write tests with little or no assertions. Also remember the Pareto 20/80 rule — do 20% of the effort to get 80% of the results. Sometimes even with the best intentions it’s not realistic to achieve code coverage of more than 80-85%, it becomes exponentially difficult to hit the last 15-20%. A final note on the code coverage obsession. I’ve seen a bug, the cost of which was $50,000 in direct losses in code that was 100% covered by tests. How did this happened? Simple: the tests we’re not covering some unlikely (at least to the developer) scenarios. The method was expecting the input array to contain two keys with specific values and did not have any extra checks what will happen if the input array did not contain these keys. Or for that matter if only one of the key was present but the other missing. It just was assumed that they will always be there. So there were no unit tests written for these missing extra checks. When dealing with code that handles money, you really need to program defensively. Are you making assumptions that the input data will always be in the same format? What will happen if an exception is thrown? What will happen if write operation in the database fails? Unit tests should be fast and deterministic. This means that you should control all the external factors. This is achieved by mocks and stubs, but we’re not going into much more details about those for now. Your unit tests should not talk to the database or over the network. As a practical measure, you can try and run them on a machine with no network connectivity, just ti make sure that they still pass, and someone form your team forgot for example to disable a constructor that has side effect of opening connection to the database. The tests should pass in milliseconds. As you can see from the screenshot above, more than 2,000 tests pass for 10 seconds.
This page provides the web service to translate nucleotide sequence into protein, along with the brief explanation. In biology, translation is a conversion of when genetic code (nucleotide sequece) into amino acid sequence of the new protein being built. The mRNA (nucleotide sequence) only contains four major nucleotides (A,G,U,C) but this sequence must be translated into peptide sequence containing as many as 20 different amino acids. Hence more than one nucleotide per amino acid is required, and actually three are used. Three nucleotides would provide 64 combinations (called codons). Majority of combinations map to one or another amino acid (hence most of amino acids can be encoded by more than one codon). Several codons (UAA, UAG, UGA) do not encode any amino acid and serve as terminators (end marks), where the protein sequence should end (RNA continues after termination point, sometimes even starting a new protein). The two first nucleotides are more important; change of the third one frequently does not change the encoded amino acid. RNA to amino acid translation table (genetic code) is surprisingly universal; humans, mushrooms and plants all use the same conversion table. Only some very specific organisms that are often already parts of other cells (like mitochondria, for instance) may use a different code, while it is still highly similar. Genetic code is "locked" because any change in it causes the incorrect translation of hundreds and thousands of proteins where the changed code is used and such cell does not survive. However the cell may not be able to produce huge amounts of protein where one or more amino acids are encode by unusual code that is infrequently used for these amino acids in other genes of the cell. Gene engineers need to pay attention to this when they move the gene between the two very different organisms (like human and bacteria). Insertion or deletion of the single nucleotide would result completely different amino acids encoded after the point of mutation. Such mutations (known as frame shift mutations) are known and usually render protein fully unusable for the cell. Hence it is important to "synchronize" the starting point of the synthesis. The code AUG (that also codes amino acid) serves as start marker; the synthesis begins where this codon is found. RNA that participates in translation is already single stranded. However DNA, the initial source of the genetic information, is usually double stranded, and RNA potentially could be copied (transcripted) from either strand (chain). Transcripting from the "wrong" strand would result a reverse complement sequence that also encodes completely different protein. Normally only one DNA strand is transcribed for the particular gene. As a result, a given DNA sequence can be converted into protein sequence in six possible ways (3 frame positions + two DNA strands). Hence the tools that search for the given protein sequence in a sequenced genome DNA (like BLAST must actually perform six searches rather than one.
The second stage of weaning is the time when your baby will learn how to chew foods. So, you can gradually make the shift from mashed and pureed foods to slightly lumpier foods. This is a great stage for introducing different textures and tastes of foods from various groups such as fruits, vegetables, proteins, starch and the like. What does your baby need at this stage? You can introduce thicker foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals to give your baby his recommended daily dose of nutrients so that he can grow normally. Iron and Vitamin D are two important elements that should find a place in your baby’s daily diet. Stage 2 weaning is the time between 6 and 9 months. Therefore, you can progress from the stage of mashed potatoes to vegetables and fruits with a different texture such as boiled broccoli, aubergines and pineapples. You can also add nicely cooked eggs, pasta and yoghurt at this stage to your babies so that he gets introduced to different flavours and textures. Mostly, he may give a rousing welcome to the new foods that you give him. However, certain times, he may spit the food. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t like the textures. It may be because they’re still learning to eat. You should try it again as they’ll gradually accept it. Good food choices you can try at this stage - Boiled fish with very soft lumps - Mashed or minced meat - Well-cooked eggs - Pasta and bread - Pasteurised cheese and yoghurt (if he doesn’t have a milk allergy) - Iron-fortified breakfast cereals (please don’t add any salt or sugar in it) Some important points to note You should continue to nurse your baby because he would need around 600ml of your breast milk every day for his overall immunity and development. Please ensure that you give only full fat milk or dairy products to your baby so that he gets the desired nutrients from it. It is highly recommended that you don’t give him cow’s milk at this stage. This is because only when your baby completes 1 year, his digestive system and kidneys can react properly to the strong nutrients in cow’s milk. Starchy foods are important for your baby as he gets his calories, vitamin, calcium, iron and folic acid from them. Therefore, you should include starchy foods such as potatoes, rice, fortified breakfast cereals and pasta in his diet regularly. Proteins are very important for your baby’s growth. Eggs, meat, pulses and nuts can be included at least once a week in his diet. However, before including any nuts in his diet, you should check with your paediatrician if your baby has any nut allergies. Once you have prepared your baby’s meals, try to heat it as much as possible so that the heat removes bacteria completely from his diet. Then, allow the meal to cool down well before feeding your baby. When you taste his meal, it may appear bland for you. Please don’t add any spices or salt in this stage, as the textures of the meal would be perfect for your baby.
To rate this resource, click a star: Students are given six knowledge statements and asked to rank them according to how scientific they feel the statements are. A group discussion ensues. This activity is adapted from Scharmann et al. 2005. Journal of Science Teacher Education. Nature and Process of Science Correspondence to the Next Generation Science Standards is indicated in parentheses after each relevant concept. See our conceptual framework for details. - Science works only with testable ideas. - Moral judgments, aesthetic judgments, decisions about applications of science, and conclusions about the supernatural are outside the realm of science.
For those who have heard me teach or speak, they know that I believe that the 2008 Great Recession marked the final death of the Industrial Era as the driving force in our economy and society, just as the 1929 Great Depression marked the ascendant dominance of the Industrial Era over the Agricultural Era. In both cases, the trends were evident for many years prior to the final shift. In the case of Industrial over Agricultural, this trend was visible for almost 300 years before the Great Depression nailed the coffin shut. In the case of latest shift, the trend towards what has been called the Information Era has been evident since the late 1800s. But the term Information Era has always struck me as a misnomer given that most(1) of the service jobs created under this label were actually low level, "deskilled" positions that require very little engagement on the part of workers to apply information. Instead, Richard Florida has coined the term "Creative Economy" which I believe is a much better term to describe the post-Industrial era that the most advanced economies, including the United States, are becoming. In his writings, including his most recent The Great Reset, he argues that it is creativity, not just information, that is becoming the dominant source of value generation whether it be economic or social value. To me, here are some of the most interesting findings from Florida's work. At the risk of oversimplifying: - Service sector jobs can be divided into two types. Creative Class jobs involve high level processing of information to create value and solve problems and are often highly compensated. Scientists, artists, engineers, architects, doctors, lawyers, and managers are typical of this class. Conversely, Service Class jobs involve the execution of deskilled tasks, often in support of people in the Creative Class. These are lower wage jobs like food service, security guards, and janitorial work. Now I am not denigrating the dignity and worth of these jobs; they need to be done. But the fact of the matter is that today it is very difficult for people in these positions to earn a living wage. This was not the case with Industrial Era "blue collar" jobs. - During the Industrial Era, socioeconomic stability came to be built around private enterprise, in particular, large corporations. Salary, health benefits, and pensions were predominantly provided by private employers. Much of this infrastructure came as a result of the fallout from the Great Depression and enacted during Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. - During the Creative Era, socioeconomic stability is crystallizing around geographic location, not private enterprise. Job security today is less tied to a particular company than to a particular region. For example, one of the attractions of living in Silicon Valley, or Austin, New York, Boston, or Seattle for that matter is that even if you lose your job at one company, the chance of picking up new work at another company is better than if you live in an Industrial Era center like Detroit where the economy is dominated by a few large employers. - Unfortunately, at least in the United States, we have yet to put into place the socioeconomic infrastructure suitable for the Creative Era. For example, in spite of the recent health care reform bills(2), it is still not available to nor is it affordable by a vast number of Americans. Portability is limited to clumsy mechanisms like COBRA. Defined benefit pensions have been replaced by defined contribution 401(k)s and IRA plans, both of which are riskier. If location is the new locus for socioeconomic stability, this means that it is no longer possible nor sensible for private enterprise alone to provide answers. Local government has a role. Arts and cultural institutions have a role. And of most interest to me personally, educational institutions have a role. Creative Era Implications for Education? I'm still thinking this one through, but in terms of how to educate people to navigate and prosper in the Creative Era, a couple of things seem evident to me: - If information is the grist for the creative mill, then education needs to better prepare people on how to search, sift, and evaluate information quality, analyze and manipulate qualitative and quantitative data, make and validate hypotheses, and how to synthesize and communicate findings. - Education needs to prepare people to work in a more fluid work environment. This includes training to work as part of a project team, training in interpersonal dynamics, in creativity, in opportunity recognition, in personal self management, in risk assessment. Unfortunately, today's educational system is structured around producing Industrial Era employees with its emphasis on standardized curriculum, testing, "command and control" classroom setup, and adherence to synchronized class period schedules. At least this is beginning to change. For example, in Palo Alto, where I live, my kids do a lot more group project work than I did at their age. And I see more alternative learning options available. - People need to learn the rudiments of self-employment. I'm not saying that everyone should aspire to being self-employed. Rather I am saying that the probability that a young person starting a career today will experience a period of transition and self-employment is high. We should prepare them for this. Skills like networking, skills and interest self-assessment, self-presentation and salesmanship, and basic financial management are key. (1) According to Florida's classification of Creative Class vs. Service Class jobs to U.S. Dept. of Labor statistics, 60% of the service jobs in 1999 were the latter. (2) Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; Health Care and Reconciliation Act of 2010.
Cross Laminated Timber Comes To America And The New York Times Is On It KLH UK/Promo image Architect Alex De Rijk has said 'If the nineteenth century was the century of steel, and the twentieth the century of concrete, then the twenty-first century is about engineered timber.' In Europe, they are squeezing out Cross-Laminated Timber like toothpaste; there are five plants in northern Italy alone, building thousands of earthquake-resistant houses. Now Henry Fountain writes about it in the New York Times, noting both the virtues and the problems: The buildings have a low carbon footprint: Because trees remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, the carbon stored in all those panels helps offset the greenhouse gases released in making and hauling the other building materials and in the actual construction. And by using so much wood, cross-laminated timber buildings might also help solve a vexing problem in North America: what to do with millions of pine trees that have been killed by a widespread beetle infestation but are still standing in Western forests, posing a great fire risk. © KLH UK The article then describes Waugh Thistleton's tower in London, covered in TreeHugger here. Anthony Thistleton notes that it is very different from conventional wood construction or even heavy timber frame; “That’s one of the things we found difficult to get across, that timber panel construction is completely different from timber frame,” Mr. Thistleton said. “It’s got more in common with precast concrete construction.” Charles Eames/Promo image Indeed, it is more like building with Charles Eames House of Cards, with panels slotted and bolted together. As builder Pete McCrone concludes: Architects and engineers can start out as skeptics. In a very short space of time they get it, because it’s simple — it’s large panels held together with large screws. More in the New York Times
Professor Oliver M. O'Reilly Department of Mechanical Engineering University of California at Berkeley This course is an introduction to the dynamics of particles and rigid bodies. The material, based on a Newtonian formulation of the governing equations, is illustrated with numerous examples ranging from one-dimensional motion of a single particle to planar motions of rigid bodies and systems of rigid bodies. This was the first course Professor O'Reilly taught when he joined the U.C. Berkeley faculty in the Fall of 1992 and he has enjoyed teaching it many times since then. He typically uses his textbook - shown on the right - for lecture material. The homework problems for this course are assigned from a standard engineering dynamics textbook and are supplemented with computational components This course builds upon material learned in 104, examining the dynamics of particles and rigid bodies moving in three dimensions. Topics include non-fixed axis rotations of rigid bodies, Euler angles and parameters, kinematics of rigid bodies, and the Newton-Euler equations of motion for rigid bodies. The course material will be illustrated with real-world examples such as gyroscopes, spinning tops, vehicles, and satellites. Applications of the material range from vehicle navigation to celestial mechanics, numerical simulations, and animations. This course introduces and investigates Lagrange's equations of motion for particles and rigid bodies. The subject matter is particularly relevant to applications comprised of interconnected and constrained discrete mechanical components. The material is illustrated with numerous examples. These range from one-dimensional motion of a single particle to three-dimensional motions of rigid bodies and systems of rigid bodies. What is novel about the treatment of Lagrange's equations in this course is the emphasis placed on differential geometry. This enables the student to see the equivalence between Lagrange's equations of motion with the Newton-Euler equations of motion. Professor O'Reilly has also found that the material on rotations and curvilinear coordinate systems in this course are among the most useful topics that he teaches. This course's instruction is based off of another of Professor O'Reilly's books - seen above in English (found here) and at right in a Russian translation (found here). Review of Lagrangian dynamics. Legendre transform and Hamilton's equations, Cyclic coordinates, Canonical transformations, Hamilton-Jacobi theory, integrability. Dynamics of asymmetric systems. Approximation theory. Current topics in analytical dynamics. This course is considered by Professor O'Reilly to be a synthesis of the ME104-ME170-ME175 sequence of courses on particle and rigid body dynamics with material on vibrations from ME273-ME277. The first half of the course is devoted to Lagrange's equations of motion for mechanical systems and an examination of the stability and bifurcations of equilibria and steady motions (relative equilibria). In the second half of the course, canonical and non-canonical forms of Hamilton's equations of motion are introduced and illustrated using a range of examples drawn from the mechanics of rigid bodies and celestial mechanics. This is a collaborative online resource created by Professor O'Reilly and Alyssa Novelia of UC Berkeley and Assistant Professor Daniel T. Kawano of the Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology. The resource contains instructional materials featuring rotations of rigid bodies in three dimensions. Simulations, animations, and historical commentary are also provided. The applications are wide spread and include rigid body dynamics, inertial navigation, celestial mechanics, video games, and orthopaedic biomechanics, among many others. The complete educational resource may be viewed at rotations.berkeley.edu; a sampling of the most recently updated sections of this resource are featured below:
Number of patients exposed to brain disease now at 13 BOSTON —Thirteen people who recently underwent neurosurgery in Massachusetts and New Hampshire might have been exposed to a rare and fatal brain condition similar to mad-cow disease in cattle because of a medical device used, officials said. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health said yesterday that five patients treated at Cape Cod Hospital between June and August are at low risk of infection for the brain disease, called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. On Wednesday, New Hampshire announced that eight patients might have been exposed. Surgical instruments used on the patients might have become infected with the microscopic protein that causes the disease after they initially were used on someone now suspected of having carried the disease. Officials in both states said there is no risk to the general public and that all the patients have been notified.
Free solar maps of Canada created by EcoSmart from solar data collected from 235 weather stations across Canada and /or SUNY satellite data. The maps give the annual energy yield in kWh per kWp of PV solar system installed on various mounting systems: - 2-Axis tracker, - Vertical Axis Tracker (VAT), - Polar tracker, - Horizontal-Axis tracker ( in both directions) - Fixed racking. The results are corrected for the ambient temperature and low irradiation (PV Modules are more efficient at low temperature and less efficient at low irradiation level). The maps are based on TMY or P95 @ 25 yr. 2-Axis Tracking: The most efficient system A double-axis tracker always faces the sun. It is the most efficient mounting system. The map shows the maximum energy yield achievable by 1 kW modules under real conditions of temperature and irradiation with an exceedance probability of 95%. VAT: the next most efficient system A VAT system follows the sun azimuth (it rotates on a vertical axis from east to west). It is the second most efficient mounting system after 2-axis. VATs produce about 4 to 5% less energy than 2-axis trackers but have simpler mechanisms and are cheaper to fabricate. Our program calculated the optimum angle at each location. Thus, the map shows the maximum energy yield achievable by 1 kW modules on a VAT under real conditions of temperature and irradiation. Fixed: The less efficient cheaper system A fixed system is not the most efficient mounting system (trackers are more efficient). But it is cheaper to install. The program calculated the optimum angle at each location. Consequently, the map shows the maximum energy yield achievable by 1 kW modules on a fixed rack under real conditions of temperature and irradiation. Note that fixed systems become less efficient as you go North.
Response to Intervention RtI is an individualized, comprehensive assessment and intervention process, utilizing a problem-solving framework to identify and address student academic difficulties using effective, efficient, research-based instruction. The RtI process is a multi-step approach to providing services and interventions to students who struggle with learning at increasing levels of intensity. The progress students make at each stage of intervention is closely monitored. Results of this monitoring are used to make decisions about the need for further research-based instruction and/or intervention in general education, in special education or both. NEA supports the concept of early intervening services (EIS) and RtI, i.e., providing supports for students as soon as they need them. NEA argued throughout Individuals with Disabilities Education Act’s reauthorization that additional funds should be available to implement EIS & RtI. NEA feels a carve-out of IDEA funds dilutes already scarce funds. A growing body of research suggests that the “ability-achievement discrepancy” method of identifying students as eligible for special education services requires students to fail or fall behind for a substantial period of time before they are eligible for help. This requirement for an “accumulation of failure” acts as a barrier to early help. The RtI process has the potential to limit the amount of academic failure that any student experiences and to increase the accuracy of special education evaluations. It is designed to reduce the number of children who are mistakenly identified as having learning disabilities when their learning problems are actually due to cultural differences or lack of adequate instruction. Information and data gathered by an RtI process can lead to earlier identification of children who have true disabilities and are in need of special education services. Read More How RtI Is Used to Identify a Student as Having LD In an RtI process, students who show signs of learning difficulties are provided with a series of increasingly intensive, individualized interventions. These interventions are designed and delivered by general education staff in collaboration with other experts such as special educators and school psychologists and are based on reliable research. The intervention process includes systematic monitoring of the student’s progress. Students who do not show improvement, or a “response,” to this series of interventions are considered to be learning disabled and in need of special education services in order to receive educational benefit from instruction. Read More Response to Intervention applies to both Academic Issues and Behavioral Issues. A standard illustration of RtI is a pyramid format. George Sugai, Ph.D is the Professor & Carole J. Neag Endowed Chair in the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Sugai prefers a continuum model instead of the standard pyramid model, which provides specific barriers between levels of intervention (see below). The slide presentation is available for your perusal at the Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports website. A Clearinghouse of RtI Information: Jim Wright, a school psychologist from central New York, created a website called Intervention Central. This site offers free tools and resources to help school staff and parents to promote positive classroom behaviors and foster effective learning for all children and youth. The site was created by. The site offers links to help teachers - Understand the Model - Use Teams to Problem-Solve - Select the Right Intervention - Monitor Student Progress - Graph Data for Visual Analysis Mr. Wright’s site is a good tool for teachers who want to begin implementing Response to Intervention in their building. Read More TSTA Action on Response to Intervention TSTA attended National Center on RtI Summit in Alexandria, Virginia. In addition, Texas was represented by the Texas Education Agency, the Texas Association of School Administrators, the Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association and the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory. After two-and-a-half days of discussion, the group completed an initial draft of TEA RtI suggestions. That draft can be found on the Teaching and Learning page of the TSTA website. The final version of the website will be interactive and will provide numerous suggestions for successful interventions. The next meeting will take place at the Texas Education Agency during the month of January. What Are Other States Doing in Relation to RTI? The National Center on Response to Intervention has a new RTI State Database at http://state.rti4success.org. NEA is an active partner of the Center. This new website section provides resources on a number of topics related to response to intervention. The resources, which range from policy documents and briefs to trainings and tools, were developed by states, districts, or territories in the U.S. They are available in an easy-to-use database that allows the user to conduct a number of different searches.
May 10, 2010 AS PHYSICS FOLLOWS DARWINISM OUT OF SCIENCE: Bang goes the theory: How physicists lost touch with reality: From Einstein's formulations to the Hadron Collider, experiments stretch the limits of science. So why are physicists reluctant to test out their ideas? (Anil Ananthaswamy, 10 May 2010, Independent) Dark energy is the latest and most daunting puzzle to confront cosmologists, adding to another mystery that has haunted them for decades: dark matter. Nearly 90 per cent of the mass of galaxies seems to be made of matter that is unknown and unseen. We know it must be there, for without its gravitational pull the galaxies would have disintegrated. Cosmologists in particular and physicists in general, are now faced with the stark reality that roughly 96 per cent of the universe cannot be explained with the theories at hand. All our efforts to understand the material world have illuminated only a tiny fraction of the cosmos. And there are other mysteries. What is the origin of mass? What happened to the anti matter that should have been produced along with matter during the big bang? After almost a century of success at explaining our world using the twin pillars of modern physics – quantum mechanics and Einstein's general theory of relativity – physicists have reached a plateau. The way forward will involve reconciling quantum mechanics with general relativity into a theory of quantum gravity. In situations where the two domains collide – where overwhelming gravity meets microscopic volumes, such as in black holes or in a big bang – the theories don't work well together. In fact, they fail miserably. One of the most ambitious attempts to bring them together is string theory, an edifice of incredible mathematical complexity. Its most ardent proponents hope that it will lead us not just to quantum gravity but to a theory of everything, allowing us to describe every aspect of the universe with a few simple equations. But the theory's hoped-for denouement is nowhere in sight. Far from explaining our universe, string theory seems to predict the existence of 10,500 universes or more. Crucially, the theory is so far from being verified experimentally that it has become the poster child of what is wrong with physics today. Theory has lost touch with experiments – and, so, with reality. The greatest advances in physics have come when theory has moved in near-lockstep with experiment. Sometimes the theory has come first and sometimes it's the other way around. It was an experiment in 1887 by Albert Michelson and Edward Morley – showing that the speed of light is not dependant on the motion of the observer – that influenced Einstein's 1905 formulation of the special theory of relativity. A decade later, Einstein produced the general theory of relativity, but it was only after experiments in 1919 verified a fascinating implication of general relativity – the bending of starlight by the sun's gravity – that the theory gained widespread acceptance. And throughout the early to mid-1900s, theorists and experimentalists jostled and outdid each other as they shaped quantum mechanics. An equally fruitful collaboration occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, when particle physicists theorised about the fundamental particles and forces that make up the material world, and experiments confirmed their startlingly accurate predictions. But this energetic interplay is now deadlocked. The discovery of dark energy and dark matter, along with the failure, so far, of experiments to find the Higgs boson (thought to give elementary particles their mass), has allowed theorists free rein. Ideas abound, adrift in a sea of speculation. These physicists, like the Darwinists, have decided that the world isn't Created, even if their results demonstrate that it is, so they have to make up more and more fanciful theories and eschew the scientific method. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 10, 2010 5:51 AM
August 26, 2010 Barrel Sponges Now Dominant Life Form In Florida Keys Xestospongia muta, better known as the giant barrel sponge, is now the most dominant life form in the coral reefs of the Caribbean and the Florida Keys, according researchers from the University of North Carolina (UNC) Wilmington. Working at the Aquarius Reef Base near Key Largo, Florida from August 17 through August 26, UNC Wilmington professor of biology and marine biology Dr. Joseph Pawlik and professor of biology and marine biology Dr. Christopher Finelli have been studying the Caribbean barrel sponges, attempting to gather data on their mortality rate, reproductive habits, growth and age.According to a Wednesday article by Reuters reporter Jane Sutton, Xestospongia muta won "a recent battle for dominance among corals, seaweed and sponges" in the region. That, according to what the researchers told Sutton, is "a good thing"¦ because the sponges filter the water and provide a habitat for valued fish species." Furthermore, according to information posted to the UNC Wilmington "Sponges on Florida Coral Reefs: Demographics and Impacts on Water Quality" website, the hollow, multi-hued barrel sponges are vitally important "to habitat complexity and reef health" and "do not have calcified skeletons, and are less likely to be affected by ocean acidification due to global climate change." "If you can't have corals, better that you should have sponges than macroalgaes," Pawlik told Sutton on Wednesday. "And right now it appears the sponges are doing OK," as their population has grown approximately 40-percent over the past decade, he added. Pawlik and Finelli are also monitoring the area to see if the sponges are negatively affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that started back in April. On the mission's official website "critically important for understanding future effects" of the Deepwater Horizon petroleum spill on Xestospongia muta and other marine life forms in the area, including corals and fishes. The Aquarius Reef Base is a facility located less than four miles offshore, and is part of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. It is owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), and is operated by UNC Wilmington. Scientists from the university will return to the laboratory in September for a mission yet to be identified. Image Caption: Large barrel sponge dying from "orange band disease." 50' depth, Conch Reef. Credit: C. Finelli, UNCW On the Net: - Aquarius Reef Base - UNC Wilmington - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) - Sponges on Florida Coral Reefs: Demographics and Impacts on Water Quality
A fundamental topic in any discussion about handling is weight transfer. If you do not fully understand weight transfer, you will not be effective in understanding how to adjust the car for maximum handling performance. Given a certain car weight, there is a certain amount of mechanical downforce applied to each tire. As we stated in the tire traction article, this downforce impacts the grip potential of the tire. While a car is braking, accelerating, or cornering, the effective mechanical downforce on, and therefore the grip of, the tires is constantly changing. These changes are referred to as "weight transfer." Of course, the weight of the car isn't changing, or moving about the car, but the forces on the tire contact patches are changing due to inertia and momentum. If you were to have a set of scales under the tires while driving, you would see what appears to be a constant changing of the weight at each tire, hence the name. Referring to the figures, we have illustrated a street car weighing 3000 lbs, and with a typical FWD street car's weight distribution of 60% front and 40% rear. We'll assume the car's side to side weight distribution is equal. We see that when standing still, the front tires have 900 lbs of weight load, and the rear tires have 600 lbs each. Anytime the car's direction changes through braking, accelerating, or cornering, each tire will experience a gain or loss of mechanical downforce, such as the examples illustrated. This weight transfer has significant impact on traction. Unfortunately for us, the net sum of the traction of the four tires does not stay equal. What is lost from the unloaded tires is not entirely transferred to the loaded tires. Overall there is a loss in traction. Because of this, race car design, and some of the modifications you make to your street car, are designed to minimize weight transfer. It cannot be eliminated, but it can be reduced. The more it is reduced, the more traction is retained. By reducing the increase in load on the loaded tires, we can reduce the work they have to do. By reducing the loss of load on the unloaded tires, we retain the traction they can provide. Contrary to what you may be inclined to believe, the amount of weight transfer is not altered by springs, shocks, anti-roll bars, etc. Weight transfer is a result of inertia and momentum. These suspension components cannot change that. What these components can do is impact how much the suspension moves in response to the load change, and how quickly the load transfers to the tire contact patches. The amount of weight transfer is dominated by the vehicle's weight, location of the center of gravity, wheelbase, and track, and the amount of force applied during braking, accelerating, and cornering. Weight transfer is a function of the vehicle's weight and the forces acting on that weight. Reduce the weight, and ou reduce the product the of the forces involved. The center of gravity is the fulcrum point through which the vehicle's weight is multiplied by dynamic forces. In particular, the higher the CG point is, the greater the effect of the forces. Reduce the CG height reduces the product of the forces and vehicle weight. The longer the wheelbase and wider the track in relation to the height of the center of gravity, the more resistance the car has to weight transfer. They behave as counteracting lateral levers to the vertical lever of the center of gravity point. Another important concept of controlling weight transfer besides minimizing it, is to control where it is transferred. Where weight transfer occurs is related to the static weight distribution of the car, the roll couple distribution of the car, the height of the roll center of the car, and the slope of the roll center in relation to the ground plane. Roll couple distribution is the relative roll stiffness between the front and rear of the car, and the left and right of the car. In cornering, the front of the car may roll less than the rear of the car. This has impact on how the weight transfer is distributed. The roll center is the line through which the vehicle rolls. It is not necessarily parallel to the ground. Weight distribution, and roll coupling distribution can create a roll point at the front of the car which is lower to the ground that the roll point of the rear of the car. This creates a sloped line. The angle of this line has influence on how much weight is transferred, and where it goes. Modifications which reduce vehicle weight and the location of the center of gravity impact the amount of weight transferred and where it is transferred. Reducing a vehicle's total weight reduces the amount of weight transfer. Redistributing that weight front & rear, or side to side will change how that weight transfer is distributed among the four tires. This affects the individual mechanical loading and therefore grip of the tires. Removing weight from the car reduces the work the tire must do, and improves grip. Balancing the weight evenly in the car provides an even distribution for balanced response to dynamic changes. Intentionally biasing the weight distribution to a specific side or quarter of the car might be advantageous for the net results of grip under dynamic conditions. (You might want to shift weight to the right rear of the car at a track with a lot of high speed right turns to reduce the load of the left front tire, and increase the load of the right rear tire for more balanced grip during cornering). Static weight distribution can be changed by physically moving objects within the car (relocating the battery, removing items from the car, etc.). It can also be changed by altering the ride height of individual corners of the car. Lifting a corner alters the CG location and in effect, increases weight distributed to the opposite coner. This is done primarily through coil-over shock & spring setups and by spacers. Relocating the CG to a more favorable position can also reduce weight transfer. Without getting into the engineering of it all, the location of the center of gravity acts as lever handle. We know from basic physics that a lever can be used to increase force and work. If the center of gravity is very high, there is essentially a long lever in the car. During braking, accelerating, or cornering, the G forces are amplified by this lever created between the CG point and the tire contact patches. The further apart they are, the greater leverage, and the greater the weight transfer. With a given car, you can't change the CG location dramatically, but you do have some ability to affect the center of gravity enough to make major improvements to the car's handling performance. If you're willing to sacrifice some comfort, convenience, and looks, you can subtract and relocate weight to affect the front to rear and the side to side weight centers. You can also alter the CG height by lowering the car with lowering springs, lower sidewall tires, and to a smaller degree by adding removing, or moving weight in the car. Once you have selected your car, there's nothing you're likely going to do to change the wheelbase or track width. You might increase track width a little with wider wheels though. We said that springs, shocks, etc. cannot change the amount of weight transfer. What they can change is the rate of the weight transfer, and the impact weight transfer has on the suspension geometry caused by dive (braking), squat (accelerating), and body roll (cornering). The rate of weight transfer impacts the responsiveness of the car to driver inputs. The faster the weight transfer, the quicker the response. This allows the driver to have greater control of the car. However, a faster weight transfer requires greater skill of the driver. Smoothness and quicker reaction sensitivity to the tire traction are needed. It turns out that shocks have the largest impact on rate of weight transfer. The stiffer they are, the faster the tranfser. The impact of weight transfer on suspension geometry has to do with maintaining as large and flat a tire contact patch as possible. When the body rolls, dives, or squats as a result of weight transfer, the geometric relationship of the suspension components to the body and the wheel changes the shape of the contact patch. For the unloaded tires, the patch size will be reduced. This effect must be minimized. Changes in shocks, springs, anti-roll bars, and wheel alignment are made to maximize the tire contact patches of all tires during the dynamic changes of weight transfer. In the next articles which cover the major components, we'll define what those components do, and how they can be manipulated to control the effects of weight transfer and the changing tire contact patch size. Read Next Article (Tire Pressure)
What will the climate be like in a hundred years’ time? The answer to this question is highly uncertain, and will depend on a number of socio-economic as well as natural processes, which describe the links between human activity, emissions of greenhouse gases, and warming of the atmosphere. The existing policy discussion in important forums, such as the IPCC and Stern reports (see this Vox column), is largely based on the uncertainty about the biogeophysical and biogeochemical systems, as are analyses such as that of Wigley and Raper (2001). In a recent paper, we include such uncertainty – but highlight uncertainty about the drivers of climate change in the socioeconomic system (CEPR Discussion Paper, 7024). Clearly, how the climate evolves depends crucially on the policy measures that states can agree upon to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Our paper, however, abstracts from mitigation and concentrates on evaluating various sources of uncertainty about future climate in a business-as-usual setting – i.e., in the absence of any further policies to stop climate change. We make use of the RICE model (Regional Dynamic Integrated model of Climate and the Economy), developed by William Nordhaus and others at Yale University. This model quantifies not only how human activity affects the climate but also feedbacks in the other direction – how a warming climate will alter the economy’s productive capacity, as well as many other dimensions of human welfare. Many models used to judge the future climate describe the emissions caused by the economy simply by forecasting how GDP will grow over time. In RICE, population growth, productivity increases, energy use, and capital accumulation are all modelled explicitly, which makes it particularly useful for our purposes. While RICE was originally designed to propose an optimal climate policy, we program it so as to generate business-as-usual outcomes. The time horizon in RICE is 400 years, and a time period is taken to be ten years. Here is how climate change occurs in the model. In each of eight regions of the world, population and productivity grow according to given processes. This stimulates investments in higher capital stocks and raises consumption of fossil fuels. A long-run supply function for fossil fuels implies that global carbon prices rise as energy becomes more scarce, which somewhat dampens energy use. However, more fossil fuel consumption emits carbon dioxide (CO2), which, along with emissions caused by changes in land use, raises the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, even though some CO2 is taken up by the biosphere and the oceans (via the carbon cycle). Rising concentrations lead to higher radiative forcing that warms the world and the damages from global warming feed back to the economic system. The equations in the original RICE model have a set of fixed parameters. We introduce uncertainty by assigning probability distributions to about 80 of these parameters, and then perform a Monte Carlo simulation. This means that we solve the model a large number (10001) of times, each time drawing values for all uncertain parameters from their probability distributions. We use a variety of sources to determine the probability distributions we attach to the various model parameters. As an example of the socio-economic processes involved, we calculate means and standard deviations for regional population growth based on the forecasts available in the UN World Population Prospects database. The distributions of actual population trajectories used in the simulations are presented in Figure 1. Figure 1 Fan charts describing population forecasts 150 years ahead Among the natural processes involved, the most uncertain parameter is the model’s climate sensitivity – a measure of the long-run rise in global mean temperature following a doubling of atmospheric CO2. For this parameter we build on Roe and Baker’s (2007) analysis of feedback uncertainty to generate a skewed distribution similar in shape to that obtained by Murphy et al. (2004). Figure 2 shows the realised distribution of this parameter in our simulations. Figure 2 Histogram of realised values of the climate sensitivity parameter Each run of the model gives a future path for the variables of interest, including climate variables such as CO2 emissions, atmospheric concentrations, and global warming. Figure 3 presents a fan chart for global mean temperature over the coming 150 years (left panel), and a snapshot of the distribution at a point in time 100 years ahead (right panel). As the histogram shows, in all of our (10001) simulations, global temperatures go up by more than 2 °C, which the European Union has deemed to be an upper limit for manageable climate change (as referred to in Article 2 of the UNFCCC). While there are a few simulated futures with a warming of “just” 2-3 °C, anyone who pays close attention to this optimistic tail should seriously consider also the pessimistic tail of the distribution for climate change. As the histogram shows, the highest temperature realisations by 2105 involve a rise around 7 °C. The effects of such temperature changes are very hard to predict, but may include sea levels high enough to threaten major cities as London, Shanghai, or New York, and substantial risks of large-scale shifts in the Earth system, such as collapses of the Gulf Stream or the West Antarctic ice sheet. Figure 3 Illustration of the uncertainty about future temperature increase In 2105, the 99% confidence interval for temperature is almost 4 °C wide. This range of warming for the next century is of the same magnitude as the range reported elsewhere, but derived with very different methods. Sources of uncertainty What causes variability of global temperature in our simulations? The climate sensitivity parameter is the most important source of uncertainty. This reflects the fact that climate sensitivity is the last link (in the RICE model) in the chain from human activity to global warming. But other reasons are more squarely rooted in the human system. One is lower than expected improvements of energy efficiency in regions with high production and dirty technologies: chiefly the US and China. Another root is higher than expected economic growth in very populous regions, in particular the current low-income countries that host about half of the world population. To put it bluntly, futures in which today’s unfortunate manage to permanently break out of poverty (without large improvements in energy-saving technologies) have substantially higher global warming. Ironically, resolution of one of today’s most pressing global problems aggravates another one. Figure 4 illustrates how certain socio-economic variables make global warming deviate from the value one would expect given the (uncertain) climate sensitivity parameter. A striking example is the difference between the observations labelled 2 and 3 – the bottom right panel shows that climate sensitivity takes a value close to 4 in both cases, while temperature in a 100 years time differs by more than three degrees. The other panels reveal that observation 3 entails a future with low GDP growth in the two most populous regions in the world and very high improvements in Chinese energy efficiency. Observation 2, by contrast, corresponds to higher GDP growth in China as well as in low-income countries and – most importantly – a very low improvement in Chinese energy efficiency. Similarly, observations 1 and 4 are futures with a three-degree temperature difference, but this time the most important explanation is that low-income countries grow much faster in the future underlying observation 1. Figure 4 Illustrations of socioeconomic drivers of climate change uncertainty These futures indicate that alternative socioeconomic developments contribute a great deal to the uncertainty about future global warming. Figure 5 illustrates this further, showing another Monte Carlo simulation with 10001 draws, where climate sensitivity is held constant at its mean value. The 99% confidence interval is nearly 2 °C wide, i.e. half of the corresponding interval in Figure 3. Figure 5 Uncertainty about future temperature increase for a given value of climate sensitivity The upshot of our analysis is simple – without swift policy action, global warming will be a major problem even under very optimistic circumstances. Murphy, J. et al. “Quantification of Modelling Uncertainties in a Large Ensemble of Climate Change Simulations”, Nature 430: 768–772, 2004 Roe, G. H. and Baker, M. B., “Why Is Climate Sensitivity So Unpredictable” , Science 318: 629–632, 2007 Sir N. Stern (ed), The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 2006. Wigley, T. M. L. and Raper, S. C. B., “Interpretation of High Projections for Global-Mean Warming” , Science 293: 451–454, 2001
Spend 60 minutes with us as we answer your questions on quantum, like “What exactly is Quantum Computing?“ WATCH THE WEBINAR WATCH THE FIRESIDE CHAT ABOUT THE EVENT October 13, 2021, 4 PM to 5 PM EST Quantum computing harnesses the phenomena of quantum mechanics to deliver a huge leap forward in computational power to solve problems. In this October Disruptive Technologists Webinar, you hear from the finest minds in the Quantum arena. Quantum computers will soon be able to solve complex problems that today’s most powerful supercomputers can’t solve, and never will. But now quantum is going to a new level – it’s entering a new dimension. We are referring to computations using a completely new physical principle that has never been used before – we’re talking about computational power being available for much less energy and effort. Major areas that will be affected by quantum: Material Simulations: materials can be anything in the real world. For example, a pharmaceutical molecule is a material, as are aspirin and antiviral medicines. These are things that can be simulated. Take clinical trials: Maybe mapping DNA we get to the point where we can simulate molecules to such an extent that we don’t need to do trials at all. Manufacturing: The second category is optimization. For instance, using quantum in optimizing the entire supply chain of some manufacturing industry. There are now calculations that say that the energy savings would be significant and an important factor in mitigating the effects of global warming. We need to consider that large systems and single organisms are not just isolated bits. And it could all start with something like optimizing a package delivery system. AI and Machine Learning: There are a lot of things in machine learning which can be accelerated massively by quantum computing. Even so, the technology is still nascent – the paradox of quantum computing is that the industry is still working on the algorithms and the methods to do things. This is what is happening: industries are waiting for enough Qubits, i.e.: the quantum-mechanical analog of a classical Bit. Basically, how many Qubits do you have? So how disruptive is quantum computing? Very! UPFLEX FREE PASSES FOR INTERNATIONAL OFFICE SPACE REBECCA COSTA FUTURIST BOOKS MEET THE PANELISTS Mark Mattingley-Scott: A veteran of the IT industry and pioneer of IBM’s Quantum Computing program, Disruptive Technologists Board Member Mark Mattingley-Scott, former Quantum Computing Architect for 30 years for IBM just started his exciting new job as General Manager EMEA for Quantum Brilliance. Petra Söderling: Petra ran teams and innovation projects in a large multinational corporation (Nokia in Finland), founded and managed two startup companies in New York City (mobile apps) and New Orleans, LA (Real estate 3D). “Most recently I work as a Senior Advisor the Finnish government’s innovation funding agency, Business Finland. She lives and works in Colorado and advises the Finnish government on quantum, space tech, smart mobility, AI and cybersecurity. Finland is currently building its first quantum computer, a superconducting 5-50 qbit qc that will serve the Finnish scientific and commercial communities. The country has deep roots in cold atom technologies and hardware, but is actively inviting and building an international quantum algorithm ecosystem to support the existing capabilities. US is an important partner.” Danika Hannon: Since 2018, Danika has been moving into the quantum computing space. During that time, she: became a leader of the MN Quantum Computing Meetup, completed a data science bootcamp, served on the Women in Quantum Advisory Board, volunteered for a quantum computing and AI startup called Boltz.ai and became a Relationship Manager with Cambridge Quantum Computing, as well as the Deputy Head and IQSD Chair for the Quantum Strategy Institute. Ivy Cohen, President, Ivy Cohen Corporate Communications: Reputation Management and Communications Strategist. Frank La Vigne: Frank is a published author, podcaster, and conference speaker who discovered the near limitless potential of quantum computing at a Microsoft Research conference in 2019. In 2020, he launched the Impact Quantum site podcast to share his enthusiasm for quantum technologies with fellow data scientists and engineers. In 2021, Frank left Microsoft to join Koverse, a platform that adds enhanced security solutions for highly sensitive big data implementations. Moderator: Ivy Cohen, President, Ivy Cohen Corporate Communications MC: Sep DiMeglio, UX & Accessibility Engineer, Microsoft Interactive Videographer: Jeffrey Paul, Ziotag: advanced deep-tagging THANKS GO TO Microsoft Reactor #MSFTReactor
I'm doing a research project on Maltese (which, in brief, is a descendant of Arabic - very close to the Tunisian Dialect of Arabic) - and I thought you mind find this interesting. Here's an excerpt from Martine Vanhove's article "La Langue Maltaise, un carrefour linguistique" which you might find interesting: "...Des variantes vocaliques se sont phonologisées par transfert de distinctivité, et désormais de nombreux mots s'opposent par le timbre de la voyelle et non plus par la qualité de la consonne: /sayf/ (ar. s̟ayf) "été".vs. /seyf/ (ar. sayf ) "sabre", /barad/ (ar. tun. bar̟ad) "limer" vs. /bired/ (ar. tun. bred) "devenir froid". La présence de la voyelle d'arrière /a/ permet ainsi de restituer une ancienne consonne emphatique: /batal/ "devenir vacant" < ar. bat̟al/, /dalam/ "s'assombrir" < ar. d̟alam..." So as you can see, Maltese has not maintained "emphatic" consonants in its writing system (its written using the Latin alphabet with some additions) BUT the 'essence' of those Arabic emphatic survives in Maltese in the vowels rather than the consonants. [For those who don't know French]: The excerpt is essentially talking about how the 'distinction' between emphatics and non-emphatics is preserved in the vowel patterns rather than the consonants themselves -- so for example, "صيف" (summer) in Maltese is written "sayf" /səjf/ while "سيف" (sword) is written "seyf" /sɛjf/ and so on. So even though, as in this example, the phonetic value of the grapheme "s" does not change - the Arabic "emphatic" has trickled down in the fronting of the vowel etc.
Private blockchain has yet to hit it big like public blockchain — and some experts question whether it ever will. Over a seven-year span, blockchain is expected to grow from an estimated $4.3 billion industry to a whopping $228 billion industry by 2028, according to a report by Insight Partners. That figure includes both public and private, as well as consortium, blockchains. More on Blockchains18 Blockchain-as-a-Service Companies Making the DLT More Accessible Table of Contents What Is a Private Blockchain Private blockchain, which is also called permissioned blockchain, has a single operator or entity that restricts who can access the network and whether they will be able to view and create data on the blockchain, said Elias Strehle, chief technology officer at CircularTree and former researcher at the Blockchain Research Lab and author of “Public Versus Private Blockchains” report. The restricted access, or “trusted” blockchain system, tends to make this more attractive to enterprises who wish to keep some or all of their transaction information private. Private blockchains also feature the same core attributes as any type of blockchain. It uses a digital ledger to store contents within the blocks that comprise the chain, hence the name blockchain. The first block created is called a Genesis block and each block added afterward will have a cryptographic hash that refers to the previous block, allowing users to trace transactions and changes to information going back to the Genesis block. Public vs. Private Blockchain Public blockchain is decentralized, with no organization or individual in control of it, and its users can remain anonymous. Cryptocurrencies and NFTs are among its most popular use cases, said Blockchain experts. Because it’s decentralized, public blockchains are called “permissionless” and also “trustless” with its anonymous users. There are several benefits of a public blockchain. Anyone with an Internet connection can use it. All transactions are recorded and can’t be altered. Plus, the network is highly secure — there are just too many nodes to allow a cyberattacker to take control of the decentralized network. Low throughput is one of its biggest disadvantages. This is caused by trying to reach consensus with a disparate group of users. Another disadvantage is the voracious consumption of electricity that public blockchains consume as users mine for cryptocurrency on the network. A private blockchain requires users on the system to be verified, which is a key difference from a public blockchain, said Ahmed Amer, associate professor of computer science and engineering at Santa Clara University. It is also centralized or partially decentralized and its users can be identified, otherwise known as “trusted.” Private blockchains may also have an advantage of speed when processing transactions because they have a set of homogenous users who need to achieve consensus to validate transactions. Additionally, private blockchains tend to have less hoops to jump through to achieve consensus. Most do not offer incentives like cryptocurrency to entice participation in the private blockchain. In turn, private blockchains run more efficiently and fast. Despite these advantages of a faster, more efficient and trusted system, private blockchains also come with disadvantages as well. The primary concern is that private blockchains can be less secure. That’s a result of it being a centralized system with fewer nodes, reports GeeksforGeeks. Private blockchain records can be edited, overridden or deleted by the operator of the network, according to Investopedia. Users may find this feature to be a disadvantage, too. Future Projections for Private Blockchain In the past few years, only 14 percent of private blockchain projects or experiments went into production, Avivah Litan, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner and the report’s author, told Built In. “Those that did go into production were distributed to a limited number of nodes on the private blockchain and had very low transaction volume, calling into serious question the need for distributed ledger technology,” Litan said. “These projects did not have to use a private blockchain distributed ledger technology. Instead, they could have used a centralized ledger or even a regular database.” When debating whether to use a private, public or some other form of blockchain, there are important questions to ask yourself, experts say. “What you want to do is line up the functionality, expectations, rules, governance regulations and technical characteristics of what you want to build and then build a system that can match those requirements,” said Treat, noting he avoids using the terms private or public blockchain because he finds it woefully inadequate to limit the thinking to binary terms. Building a private blockchain faces challenges and one of its major obstacles is creating an ecosystem around the blockchain, Litan said. It’s really expensive to build an ecosystem and no one wants to spend a lot of money on it because there have been no proven returns, so management doesn’t want to approve it, Litan told Built In. “Standalone private blockchains will go away … But smaller, niche private blockchains that attach to public blockchains are more likely to remain.” Other concerns may center on the entity that runs or sponsors the private blockchain. This entity calls the shots, potentially leaving some users on the private blockchain network to wonder if that organization’s needs will be met before theirs, she added. Issues like these raise questions on whether private blockchains will remain part of the blockchain landscape in the future. “Standalone private blockchains will go away,” Litan predicted. “But smaller, niche private blockchains that attach to public blockchains are more likely to remain.” Other Types of Blockchain Four main blockchain categories exist, including private, public, hybrid and consortium (also known as federated) blockchains. Hybrid blockchains use both private and public blockchains, rather than being a standalone solution. “In the end, it’s just one private blockchain plus one public blockchain,” Strehle said. With hybrid blockchains, a company may put their data or transactions on a private blockchain to keep the information confidential but put a digital fingerprint of the data on a public blockchain to secure it, said Strehle. If a company suspects the data may have been altered, it can compare the information on the private blockchain with the reconstructed information taken off the public blockchain fingerprint, he added. Consortium or Federated Blockchains Consortium or federated blockchains operate with a particular group of participants who control the blockchain, rather than a single entity. This group sets the rules, edits or cancels incorrect transactions and solicits cooperation among its members, according to a Blockchain Council report. Here are other areas private and public blockchains differ, according to a chart by 101 Blockchains. More on Blockchains23 Examples of How Publicly Traded Companies Are Bullish on Blockchain Private Blockchain Uses/Examples “There’s an enormous scope of business functions … that can benefit from blockchain,” said David Treat, managing director and co-lead of Accenture’s blockchain business unit. “We have work underway in every industry.” Rather than deal with the inefficiency of businesses sending messages back and forth and reconciling the information through other means like invoices, receipts or spreadsheets, it’s more efficient to have a shared view and access of transactions via blockchain to verify the data and ensure it is safe and secure, Treat told Built In. Logistics and Supply Chain Private blockchains allow for more security and privacy in the logistics industry. Asset tracking, record of ownership, and shared record keeping benefit manufacturers, supply chain participants such as delivery companies, and customers in following items from their origination to destination. In the financial services industry, companies might Identify customers through blockchain’s cryptography key and ledger, as well as show regulatory compliance through the automated use of smart contracts via an organization’s centralized network. In healthcare, blockchain technology might be used to track and secure patient data. It could also help chronologically log patient claims — avoiding duplication with distributed ledger on a healthcare company’s centralized network. Banking and Securities Industries In banking, the use of blockchain tech might mean faster payments and settlements with fund transfers. Institutions are also eyeing the use of stablecoins, a cryptocurrency tied to the value of fiat currency and controlled by an issuing bank or investment company as part of a centralized network.
Bridges Kindergarten Practice Book, 1st ed., pdf Skills: Numbers to 30, comparing and ordering sets, skip counting, early addition and subtraction, story problems. File size = 2.8MB Tips for PDFs: Downloading – Some files are quite large and may take several minutes to download into your browser window. Another option is to right-click on the file link to download the PDF file directly to your desktop or computer. This allows for better monitoring of the download process. Printing – When printing a PDF, be sure that print scaling is set to "None." This will ensure that activities containing measurement items print in the correct dimensions. This set of blacklines is included in the Bridges Kindergarten Package in hard copy form as well as on the Blacklines Data Disk. The student pages are also available as a pre-printed consumable book.
This article discusses the history of critical literacy and how to use it in the classroom. It talks about the theory behind critical literacy and how it can be used effectively in and out of the classroom. The site also shows how one can use critical literacy through methods other than books such as media and technology. This site gives teachers lots of ideas of how to use critical literacy in their classrooms. Too many students read without analyzing the author’s message or point of view. Several activities are described to help stop this from happening as much in the classroom. This website discusses important questions such as “What is critical literacy?” and “Why is critical literacy important?” It lays out why it is so important to teach students critical literacy and these reasons clearly show how learning critical literacy at an early age will help students later in their academic careers. It also gives some good example questions to ask students to help teach critical literacy. This site talks about using technology to encourage critical literacy. This is a great way to use something other than books to promote deeper thinking about texts. This provides some innovative ways to engage students in the classroom and get them excited to learn about critical literacy.
Friday , November 8 – UNESCO has suspended the voting rights of the United States, two years after it stopped paying dues to the UN’s cultural arm in protest over its granting full membership to the Palestinians. The move undermined America’s ability to exercise its influence in numerous countries around the globe through the United Nations agency’s educational and aid programs. As per Unesco’s rules, any country which fails to pay its dues for two years loses its right to vote in its general assembly. The United States ceased all support for the agency in 2011, following a vote at Unesco to give the Palestinians full membership. Before withdrawing its financial support, the United States provided about $70 million, or 22 percent, of UNESCO’s annual budget. Israel suspended its dues at the same time and also lost voting rights today. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN). Its purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through education, science, and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights along with fundamental freedom proclaimed in the UN Charter. UNESCO has 195 member State and nine Associate Members. It recently added Palestine in November 2011. UNESCO pursue its objectives through five major programs: education, natural sciences, social and human sciences, culture, and communication and information. Projects sponsored by UNESCO include literacy, technical, and teacher-training programmes; international science programmes; the promotion of independent media and freedom of the press; regional and cultural history projects; the promotion of cultural diversity; translations of world literature; international cooperation agreements to secure the world cultural and natural heritage (World Heritage Sites) and to preserve human rights, and attempts to bridge the worldwide digital divide.
Stalking, Criminal Harassment, and Cyberbullying \|This information applies to British Columbia, Canada. Last reviewed for legal accuracy by Maurizio Datitlo, Crown Counsel in August 2017.\| It is criminal harassment for someone to repeatedly follow or contact you or engage in threatening behaviour, so as to make you afraid. Also capable of being criminal harassment: cyberbullying. What you should know Stalking can amount to criminal harassment Stalking may start with conduct that seems more annoying than dangerous. Receiving flowers or a letter from “an admirer” (for example) can be off-putting but innocuous. But when it’s repeated, it can be frightening. In some cases, it can amount to criminal harassment. This is a crime under section 264 of the Criminal Code. For stalking to be criminal harassment, here’s what’s required: 1. The person engages in harassing behaviour. This can include repeatedly following someone, repeatedly communicating with them, watching their home or workplace, or engaging in threatening conduct directed at someone or their family. 2. The person knows (or is “reckless”) that the victim is harassed by their conduct. The person knows their conduct is harassing the victim, or is reckless about whether it’s harassing them. “Reckless” means they know their conduct may harass the victim, but they don’t care. 3. The conduct scares the victim. The person’s conduct causes the victim to reasonably fear for their safety or the safety of someone they know. The victim’s fear has to be reasonable. The person does not have to realize their conduct is scaring the victim for it to be criminal harassment. Stalking can be criminal harassment even if the person doesn’t physically hurt anyone or damage any property. The law is designed to protect psychological, emotional, and physical safety. Cyberbullying can involve multiple crimes Cyberbullying is a type of harassment using new technology. Cyberbullies use social media (such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube), blogs, texting, instant messaging, and other communication platforms to engage in conduct intended to harm or embarrass someone. Although their work is public, cyberbullies are often anonymous and it is often harder to identify and stop them. In some cases, cyberbullying can amount to criminal harassment. This is a crime under section 264 of the Criminal Code. See above (under stalking) for a description of the elements required. Another Criminal Code provision outlaws a specific type of cyberbullying. Under section 162.1, it’s a crime to share an intimate image of someone without their consent. Someone who is reckless about whether the person gave their consent can be charged with this crime. “Reckless” means they knew the person may not have consented, but they didn’t care. Cyberbullying may also be defamation. Under section 300 of the Criminal Code, it’s a crime to publish a defamatory libel. This is something published, without lawful justification or excuse, that is likely to injure a person’s reputation by exposing them to hatred, contempt or ridicule, or that is designed to insult the person. But the reality is that criminal defamation is rare. More common is civil defamation — communication about a person that tends to hurt their reputation. See our information on defamation for more. If a person is charged with a crime If a person is charged with criminal harassment or sharing an intimate image without consent, the prosecutor (called Crown counsel) makes the case against them. The first stage is generally an application by the accused person to be released (on bail) pending the trial. If the court grants bail, it would usually attach conditions such as that the person not contact the victim or go near the victim’s home or place of work. It could also ban the person from using the internet, depending on the details of the crime they’re charged with. If the person disobeys those terms, the court may cancel their bail and charge them with a separate offence of breaching their bail conditions. If a court finds the person guilty of the crime, it will give a sentence. The sentence is based on the severity of the crime and the person’s criminal record. If the person is not sent to jail, they will usually be ordered to obey conditions similar to those imposed at the bail stage. For example, a court will typically order a person convicted of criminal harassment to have no contact with the victim directly or indirectly, to stay away from their home and workplace, and to not own or carry any weapons. A court may also ban a convicted person from using the internet. And a court may order a convicted person to take counselling, if it might help. Deal with the problem Step 1. Call the police If someone is stalking, harassing or cyberbullying you, call the police to report the problem. Record the details of every incident, including time, date, place, who was involved, and what was said and done. Keep letters, notes, voicemail messages, emails, texts, instant messages, and social media and internet posts. Give them to the police. Never reply to harassing messages — except to tell the person to stop. Telling the person to stop gives them no excuse to say they didn’t realize they were harassing you. If the harassment happens at work, report it to your boss (as well as to the police). If your boss is the one harassing you, report it to a co-worker. If the harassment happens at school, report it to the school authorities (in addition to the police). Step 3. Report cyberbullying to your internet or phone provider Report cyberbullying or other harassing communication to your internet or phone provider. Most companies have policies on acceptable use of their services, and can cancel the service of a customer who violates those policies. The company can also help police find a cyberbully who is using their network. If you get a harassing phone call, dial *57 immediately when the call ends. The phone company will record the phone number that made the call, so the police can get it. (This technique doesn’t work on all phones. For how call tracking works for your phone, contact your phone provider.) Step 4. Seek a court order to protect you You can seek a court order to protect you from a person who is harassing or stalking you. Depending on the circumstances, you could seek a peace bond under the Criminal Code or a protection order under the Family Law Act. These kinds of orders include conditions set by a judge that a person must follow — such as having no contact with you or not going near your home or workplace. Who can help Support for victims For support and services for victims of crime, call the 24-hour helpline at Victim Link BC. - Call 1-800-563-0808 (toll-free) - Visit website The BC government’s Victim Services and Violence Against Women Program Directory provides contact information for service providers across the province that assist women impacted by violence. With more information The website of MediaSmarts, a non-profit organization for digital and media literacy, features information on cyberbullying and the law. The BC government website includes information for victims, staying safe, and getting help. \|Dial-A-Law © People's Law School is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence.\|
To the Editor: Julia Stephens (Letters Sept. 12) says “Few, if any, new projects will ever be proposed in wilderness areas or in the extremely high, remote other areas adjacent to wilderness.” Exactly. Very few human activities are currently allowed in California’s wilderness areas. I’ve backpacked a lot of these wilderness areas, and the limited human impacts are inconsequential in the context of the huge land area. So what benefit to the frogs will critical habitat designation have? None. So why pursue it? (This whole process has been 10 years in the works.) For ulterior motives. David Hough of the CSERC (Letters Sept. 13) bemoans the destruction of meadows by drivers and littering in the national forests. Littering is illegal, and it would be fine with me if ATV’s were completely banned from federal lands. Just address those issues specifically, instead of using the ESA to forward your agenda. Because that’s exactly what is being done. Other than eradicating some trout, nothing that can be done under the ESA will benefit frogs, because it won’t affect any of the causes of the frog’s decline. But a lot of prohibitions of current uses will be incorrectly rationalized and implemented, just like with spotted owls. The final proof of the real intentions behind the frog agenda is the massive land area up for critical habitat designation. One tenth the area would be more than enough to realize whatever few benefits there may be for the frogs. Why not drop this whole ESA frog charade and use the wilderness areas as a laboratory by continuing to eradicate trout in a few carefully chosen lakes?
Seabrook tunnel raises questions SEABROOK — Water is leaking into a large tunnel beneath the Seabrook nuclear power plant, according to a report released this month, raising concerns about the vital electrical cables within. The water is likely to become a larger issue as Seabrook proceeds with relicensing, a two-year or longer process that was begun last fall to extend the plant’s operating permit another 20 years, from 2030 to 2050. Officials at the plant have known about groundwater seepage into the tunnel for years, apparently the result of a waterproof membrane that never worked, and elected to test five sections last year to look for further problems. Their results, published in a Nuclear Regulatory Commission report dated May 23, found the concrete in one section of tunnel had lost about 20 percent of its strength since it was built in 1979 because of an alkali-silica reaction, a common effect of water slowly degrading the aggregate within concrete, making it weaker. The other sections all tested fine. The weakened tunnel section carries cable that provides electricity to equipment needed to run the plant safely, like cooling systems. The NRC and NextEra, which owns and operates Seabrook, said none of those cables are in danger and officials have already increased existing efforts to drain water from the tunnel. Alan Griffith, a NextEra spokesman, noted that even at its highest point, water had accumulated to just two inches deep within the tunnel, where the cables run along the ceiling, five feet or more off the ground. The tunnels are enormous, constructed with two-foot-thick concrete, with ceilings beyond reach in some instances, Griffith said. He said the cables are not in danger of being submerged under water. “What’s most important is that none of these safety systems or structures, as the NRC report clearly states, have been impacted,” he said. But those who have lined up against the plant’s relicensing say that the tunnel’s weakened concrete could lead to problems in the future, whereby the electrical cables would be submerged in water, setting off a cascade of trouble. Two environmental groups, the Vermont-based New England Coalition and the Maine-based Friends of the Coast, both raised the issue of possible submerged cables early on when they petitioned to intervene in Seabrook’s relicensing, essentially earning a seat at the table to comment on the proceeding going forward. The groups want Seabrook, and other nuclear plants, to switch all their underground cable to ones that can be submerged, a process that would cost millions. “The condition of the concrete is not the core problem,” said Raymond Shadis, a spokesman for both groups. “The core problem is that if there is a chance where the safety-related cable can become wet or flooded, then you must put in cable that is designed to withstand flooding or moisture.” Shadis said the groups plan to raise the issue in Seabrook’s relicensing process, but it’s unclear whether the NRC will order any substantive changes. In the meantime, NextEra plans to retest the one section of tunnel with weakened concrete to try to verify the earlier results, Griffith said. Officials are unclear why that section, and none of the others, was affected more by groundwater seeping in. “We’re confident we’re going to be able to demonstrate our ability to operate beyond 20 years,” Griffith said of how NextEra expects to be relicensed. READER COMMENTS: 0 - Christmas spirit: Do you have more than a homeless man? - 1 - The Sony hack: Kim's judgment of Obama - 26 - Obama gets smoked: Castros celebrate in Havana - 35 - On naming the victim: It is Kibby's story now - 0 - After Newtown: A gun rights revival - 39 - Vermont's disaster: An Obamedy of errors - 15 - Jeb takes a dip: First Flavor of the Week - 21 - Asking about marriage: The Census should keep doing it - 3 - All lives matter: Even Al Sharpton says so - 14 READER COMMENTS: 0 - Dave D'Onfrio's Patriots Notebook: Finding a way to win - 0 - Sam Asano's Let's Invent: NoNose gets readers talking like nobody's business - 0 - Know the Law: Your trust can be named beneficiary of an IRA - 0 - Another View -- Bill O'Brien: Ask your state rep. to vote for transparency in the House - 0 - Old friends and a 'homeless angel' make for good stories anytime - 0 - Clooney gets it: Sony attack was not a 'crime' - 1 - New coats warm city kids, firefighters' hearts - 0 - NHIAA Roundup: Martin, Pinkerton top Salem in tournament - 0 - Inmate reported missing from Concord transitional unit - 0 The Sony hack: Kim's judgment of Obama 'Everybody was extremely fortunate'
According to the Center for Disease Control, 5.1 million people in the United States have congestive heart failure (CHF), characterized by the heart’s inability to pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs. A history of coronary artery disease, heart attack, high blood pressure and heart valve problems increases the risk of CHF. The key to preventing heart failure is to reduce your risk factors. You can control or eliminate many of the risk factors for heart disease — high blood pressure and coronary artery disease, for example — by making lifestyle changes along with the help of any needed medications. Lifestyle changes you can make to help prevent heart failure include: - Not smoking - Staying physically active - Eating healthy foods - Maintaining a healthy weight - Reducing and managing stress Many people with CHF can live normal lives with proper nutrition and medical management. If you have been diagnosed with heart failure, a good management plan includes these steps: - Weigh yourself each day. If you notice a weight gain of around two to three pounds overnight, fluid might be building up in your body. This could be a sign that CHF is getting worse. Talk with your doctor if you have noticed recent changes in your weight. - Maintain a healthy weight. Extra pounds can be hard on your heart. Getting enough exercise (about 30 minutes per day) can help keep your weight stable. - Limit sodium. Sodium increases fluid in your body. Limiting sodium to <2,000 mg/day will prevent risks of CHF, high blood pressure, and stroke. - Limit fluid intake to 6- 8 cups per day. It is important to stay hydrated, but a high fluid intake can increase risk of fluid retention. - Control blood pressure. Smoking, stress and alcohol can increase blood pressure and create extra work for the heart. - Stay on track with medications. Research shows that people who are compliant with medications live longer, have fewer CHF symptoms, and are less likely to be admitted to the hospital. WakeMed’s CHF program works in conjunction with primary care physicians and cardiologists to provide patients with education on managing CHF. For more information about the WakeMed CHF Program, including support groups, contact Marian Uy, RN, CHF Program manager, at 919-350-5732, or visit our website. Amy Bowen is a clinical dietitian at WakeMed Cary Hospital, and Kelli Wood is a dietetic intern from Meredith College. With questions for the dietitians, e-mail email@example.com. For individual nutrition counseling, call WakeMed Cary Hospital Outpatient Nutrition Services at 919-350-2358.
Humans are hardwired to see “patterns”, to recognize familiar things (such as faces) in almost any visual representation or photograph. This is one small argument against anyone’s perceived inability to draw, because you don’t really have to! Just the smallest gestures and marks can become recognizable “things”. If you don’t believe me head on over to @facesinthings twitter page to see an ongoing collection of inanimate objects all photographed to reveal… faces. Still, everyone can (and should) sketch regularly to improve and build ones own practice. Here is great eg. from David Grey’s “Visual Thinking” page that can get anyone up and squiggling “things” right away, in this case birds. Squiggle bird instructions Squiggle birds is a quick exercise that you can use to get people stretching their visual thinking muscles. It takes about five minutes and quickly, clearly demonstrates how little effort is really required to make meaningful, easy-to-read images. The main point of the demonstration is that our minds are already pattern-making machines, and very little drawing is actually required to convey an idea. The mind will fill in the rest.
What is a web server? A Web server is a software program which serves web pages to web users (browsers). A web server delivers requested web pages to users who enter the URL in a web browser. Every computer on the Internet that contains a web site must have a web server program. The computer in which a web server program runs is also usually called a "web server". So, the term "web server" is used to represent both the server program and the computer in which the server program runs. Characteristics of web servers A web server computer is just like any other computer. The basic characteristics of web servers are: - It is always connected to the internet so that clients can access the web pages hosted by the web server. - It has an application called 'web server' running always. In short, a 'web server' is a computer which is connected to the internet/intranet and has a software called 'web server'. The web server program will be always running in the computer. When any user try to access a website hosted by the web server, it is actually the web server program which delivers the web page which client asks for. All web sites in the internet are hosted in some web servers sitting in different parts of the world. Web Server is a hardware or a software ? From the above definition, you must have landed up in confusion “Web server is a hardware or a software" Mostly, Web server refers to the software program, which serves the clients request. But as we mentioned earlier in this chapter, the computer in which the web server program is also called 'web server". Web Server – Behind the Scene Now that you are reading this page, have you ever had a thought how the page is made available to the browser? Your answer would be, “I typed in the URL http://www.aspspider.com and clicked on some link, I dropped into this page." But what happed behind the scenes to bring you to this page and make you read this line of text. So now, lets see what is actually happening behind the scene. The first you did is, you typed the URL http://www.aspspider.com in the address bar of your browser and pressed your return key. We could break this URL into two parts, - The protocol we are going to use to connect to the server (http) - The server name (www.aspspider.com) The browser breaks up the URL into these parts and then it tries to communicate with the server looking up for the server name. Actually, server is identified through an IP address but the alias for the IP address is maintained in the DNS Server or the Naming server. The browser looks up these naming servers, identifies the IP address of the server requested and gets the site and gets the HTML tags for the web page. Finally it displays the HTML Content in the browser. Where is my web server ? When you try to access a web site, you don't really need to know where the web server is located. The web server may be located in another city or country, but all you need to do is, type the URL of the web site you want to access in a web browser. The web browser will send this information to the internet and find the web server. Once the web server is located, it will request the specific web page from the webserver program running in the server. Web server program will process your request and send the resulting web page to your browser. It is the responsibility of your browser to format and display the webpage to you. How many web servers are needed for a web site? Typically, there is only one web server required for a web site. But large web sites like Yahoo, Google, MSN etc will have millions of visitors every minute. One computer cannot process such huge numbers of requests. So, they will have hundreds of servers deployed in different parts of the world so that can provide a faster response. How many websites can be hosted in one server? A web server can hosted hundreds of web sites. Most of the small web sites in the internet are hosted on shared web servers. There are several web hosting companies who offer shared web hosting. If you buy a shared web hosting from a web hosting company, they will host your web site in their web server along with several other web sites for a Fee. Examples of web server applications Find definition for 'Web Server' in Google:
If you are a parent who homeschools your children, or a parent who wishes to supplement your childs public or private school education, you know and understand the importance of introducing your son or daughter to the arts. It is important that children know and understand the importance of art in our world. Not only will they gain an appreciation for the work of others, but it will open their minds and allow them to create their own masterpieces. Listed throughout this guide are various methods that can be used in order to highlight artistic pieces in your child’s life. If you are searching for ways to accomplish tasks, but are at a loss, the information listed here should be extremely beneficial. 1. When introducing your child to art, one of the best places that you can start is your own home. If you look around, it is probably quite likely that you will find some artistic pieces laying around in a decorative fashion, and maybe even some on the wall! Perhaps as you introduce your child to the art that is in the home, you both can look up the pieces online in order to learn more about them, and possibly even find other pieces online that are similar in nature. 2. The next way that you can teach your son or daughter about art is to visit the historical area in your community. There are many homes, and decorative pieces that are often part of these homes that are not only artistic, but also contain lessons about the history in your area. This is a great way to introduce your homeschooler to the arts! 3. The internet is a wonderful place when it comes to introducing your child to the arts. There are many websites that display famous works of art and are created in a “kid-friendly” way. Not only can your children get the artistic introduction that they need, but they can also learn some very important history lessons as well! 4. Art galleries are a wonderful type of place for introducing kids art. Here, you can find sculptures, paintings, and more! Children will have an exceptional time learning about how people create the art pieces that are there, as well as the history behind the art pieces. 5. Music is another fantastic outlet. It is important that the child is permitted to listen to various types of music so that they can gain an appreciation for the various sounds of the world. Not only will this assist in their level of communication, but it can also assist in the creative flow that they have when learning and creating their own masterpieces. 6. There are many educational programs available on the cable television and satellite television that display various forms of art that children can get familiar with. Many of these programs offer creative art ideas that children and parents can take part in together. It is ideal to try to work together with your children in order to teach them to have an appreciation for the arts. 7. Imaginative play is also a great way to encourage children to advance in their expertise in the arts. Make believe dress, pretend games, and similar games and activities are all wonderful methods for getting your child interested to the arts. There are many different ways in which you can introduce your child to the arts. These examples detail a small list of ideas that have proven to be effective when it comes to teaching kids the importance and luxury behind art. You may even consider traveling to various cities and other areas in order to introduce them to various outlets of visually stimulating art. No child should be without the benefits of having art in their life.
The best three YouTube revision videos which the OxNotes Revision Team could find for Kinetic Energy revision (for GCSE Physics 9-1 exam revision). These videos look into what kinetic energy means and how kinetic energy is calculated. Remember, learn the equation for kinetic energy as it is not given in the GCSE Physics exams. 1. "GCSE Science Physics (9-1) Kinetic Energy" A simple and very effective 4-minute video that gets straight to the point. 300,000+ views. 2. "GCSE Physics - Kinetic Energy Introduction" This video also explains how to use the kinetic energy equation, as well as how speed and mass affect kinetic energy. 3,000+ views. 3. "Kinetic Energy - GCSE IGCSE 9-1 Physics - Science - Succeed In Your GCSE and IGCSE" Not as short, but much more detailed. 1,000+ views. Bonus: Rearranging the equation for Kinetic Energy Just as important as the summary of Kinetic Energy is learning how to rearrange the equation for KE. This final video will teach you the next step in understanding KE. Where students go next: - Back to GCSE Physics Revision for Physics revision notes and best revision videos. - Best 3 YouTube Videos for Current in Series Circuits - Viral Feed - GCSE English Literature Notes
The Estrangement of Two Allies Against the backdrop of the major conflicts of the MENA region, the United States and Saudi Arabia are for the first time on opposing sides. Barack Obama criticised the putsch against the Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi, while Saudi Arabia welcomed the toppling of the Muslim Brotherhood leader. In addition Saudi Arabia, which perceives itself as a leading power in the Sunni world, has been following US rapprochement with arch-enemy Iran – the leading power of Shiite Muslims – with suspicion. But the greatest anger in Saudi Arabia was triggered by Obama's refusal to bombard Syria after the poison gas attack of 21 August. The most visible sign of this was ultimately Riyadh's refusal to take up its two-year non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council. The official reason for this, cited by the Saudi Foreign Ministry, was to register protest at the inefficiency of the world body. But in reality this was a slap in the face for the US, a partner Saudi Arabia no longer believes it can trust. The Saudi royal family is increasingly breaking away from the US President. The US-Saudi oil pact Two historic photographs document just how close relations once were for more than half a century between what has long been the world's largest oil exporter and world's largest oil consumer. On one of the pictures, dated 14 February 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Saudi King Abdalaziz Bin Saud sit on the deck of the American warship USS Quincy, which was in the Red Sea at the time. In return for access to Saudi oil, Roosevelt assured the King that the US would protect the territorial integrity of the Kingdom and from then on, treat it as America's most important partner in the Middle East. The Saudi King needed a robust ally, and the United States also needed a reliable partner. During the Cold War, Saudi Arabia would remain the most important partner in the Arab world. Egypt, Syria and Iraq fell into the orbit of the Soviet Union, and Iran, the second pillar on the Gulf, fell away with the 1979 Revolution. Fear of US-Iran rapprochement The second historic photo, dated 27 August 2002, shows US President George W. Bush on his farm in Crawford chatting with the similarly casually dressed Saudi Ambassador Bandar Bin Sultan Al Saud, who is shown sitting nonchalantly on the arm of a sofa. Contact between the two was so close that even on 9/11 when airspace had been closed down, Bandar managed to secure permission from the President to fly Saudi citizens back home in two aircraft. The fact that 15 of the 19 attackers were Saudi citizens inflicted initial long-term damage on these relations. Earlier resilience tests, such as Saudi criticism of US support for the foundation of the state of Israel in 1948, were short-lived. At the time, Saudi Arabia did not consider itself to be threatened by the new state, neither from a foreign policy nor a domestic policy point of view. It was more important to the Saudi King to safeguard American support, both political and military. Not least in view of the burgeoning Communist threat and the approaching surge of leftwing Arab nationalism. Three developments over recent years have led to an unprecedented alienation. Firstly, the Saudis feared the upheaval that took hold in parts of the Arab world in 2011. The Saudis openly criticised the United States for allowing both Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and Zain al Abidin Ben Ali in Tunisia – both long-term allies of Washington and Riyadh – to be ousted. Washington condemned the putsch in Egypt on 3 July 2013, while Riyadh played a role in this. The Saudis fear that the ideology of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood could find some appeal among their (young) population and endanger the rule of the dynasty of Al Saud. While the Saudis' Salafist system of order stipulates that the country's rule is subject to that of the leading clan, to Al Saud, thereby allowing Wahhabi theologians to shape society, the Muslim Brotherhood calls on every citizen to get involved in politics. To prevent such ideas from spilling over into their nation, the royal family plans to buy loyalty with an unprecedented expansion of what is an already generous welfare state. But this will only buy them time; popular satisfaction is not lasting. The national budget already requires an oil price of more than 80 dollars per barrel of crude oil. And public dissatisfaction continues to grow, as shown by recent demonstrations by women against their driving ban. Secondly, the Saudis fear an American conciliation with Iran. In the event of a successful rapprochement, all Arab Gulf states would lose their preferential treatment by the Americans, and they would no longer be of importance to Washington on the Gulf. This is why the Gulf states are blowing the same horn as Israel and warning the West against "cowardice" in dealings with Iran. The greatest Arab fear is a Shiite axis secured by the Iranian bomb. For this reason, the Saudis and other Gulf states are trying to oust the Bashar al Assad regime in Syria at any price. Since Saladin in the 12th century, the Sunni Muslims have pushed the Shiites back and onto the sidelines. Now, for the first time, a counter movement has arisen – with a Shiite axis from Tehran via Baghdad and Damascus to Beirut. The Shiites will defend this axis; with the toppling of Assad the Sunnis see an opportunity to break it. The refusal of Obama to bombard Syria, as well as his rapprochement with Iran, are destroying this hope. Row over Washington's energy policy Thirdly, America's energy policy shift is threatening Saudi interests. When the US attains energy independence it will no longer allow itself to be blackmailed by oil producers in the Gulf. When the US economy no longer uses oil from the Middle East, the US government will no longer be willing to invest in the region's security architecture. This would leave the Gulf states looking for new security partners. The foreign policy goals that Saudi Arabia – even in contradiction to those of the United States – is prepared to pursue, are becoming apparent in Syria. Here, the Saudis are not supporting the rebels that Washington would prefer to see as victors, but the only Salafist militia and jihadists that Riyadh believes can topple Assad. It was only recently that Bandar Bin Sultan, who is now head of the intelligence agency, began trying to weaken those jihadists with an international agenda – or in other words an agenda that extends beyond Syria. A second front in the Saudi engagement in the Syrian civil war is the battle against Shiite Iran and its Shiite-Alawite ally Assad. With its massive support for the Sunni rebels, the Saudis have played a significant role in the confessionalisation of the conflict. In addition, on a third front they must prevent the Muslim Brotherhood from becoming too strong in political opposition. This is why, for the post of Chairman of the Syrian National Coalition, the Saudis succeeded in installing a sheikh from the Shammar clan – that of the mother of the Saudi King Abdallah. To date, the Saudi royal family has managed to keep destabilising developments in the region at a safe distance from their own subjects. But nevertheless, the golden days of the wealthy Gulf states are numbered. It would be an illusion to assume that they will remain unaffected by the turmoil. © Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung / Qantara.de 2013 Translated from the German by Nina Coon Editor Lewis Gropp / Qantara.de
Bullying is associated with serious health concerns, whether a child is the bully or the victim. Bullying remains a serious problem in schools, and technology allows harassment to continue even at home. Download our fact sheet to learn more on what you can do to prevent bullying. The Clinic for Health Problems Related to Bullying provides treatment for children and teenagers with difficulties that often lead to bullying as well as victims who experience physical and emotional symptoms or related educational problems, including increased absenteeism and poor grades. Children frequently involved in bullying as bullies and/or as victims share a significant risk of suffering from various health problems such as: - Injuries that require medical care - Sleeping difficulties - Suicidal attempts An initial evaluation helps us determine the most appropriate intervention for your child. Treatment may individual, family and/or group psychotherapy, as well as prescription treatment. Bullying Needs to Stop As the largest provider of pediatric care in the Washington, DC, area and as one of the nation’s leading children’s hospitals, we treat the effects and consequences of bullying every day. Children’s National care providers are also passionate advocates and educators, and promote community awareness about bullying, the associated health risks, and the need to implement research-based bullying prevention programs that involve students, teachers, parents, and the community. Jorge C. Srabstein, MD, Medical Director of the Clinic for Health Problems Related to Bullying, has testified on Capitol Hill about the connection between bullying and public health problems in our society. For more information about Children’s National's current campaigns and research, speak with a member of the clinic staff or your child’s care team.
Paul Shapiro, vice president for farm animal protection at the Humane Society of the United States. Climate change: it could hardly be clearer that it's personal -- certainly in consequence, yet also in responsibility. While policy leadership from Washington on climate issues is no doubt critical, fortunately, we don't have to wait on Washington to take action. Rather, we can take personal responsibility ourselves, starting with our New Years resolutions. This New Year's, we can each top our list of resolutions with one that will make life better for us, for our planet, and for all of its inhabitants. This resolution, which starts and ends on our dinner plates, is a pretty easy one to honor. Earlier this year, D.C. Mayor Vince Gray, touting the benefits of vegetarian eating, noted "a plant based diet has been shown to use fewer resources and cause less pollution." He's in good company. More and more climate experts are reaching the same conclusion: we need to raise and consume fewer animals for food. Simply put, animal agriculture is responsible for nearly one-fifth of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions and is recognized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as "one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global." Worldwide, people use land more for raising and feeding farm animals than for any other purpose, with the meat industry being a key driver of deforestation. Eating fewer animals and more plants may be the easiest and tastiest way to help put a fork in global warming this New Year. That why experts like those at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health support the popular Meatless Monday campaign: what's good for the environment -- eating less meat -- is also good for public health. Perhaps it's time for us to stop digging the hole deeper with our forks. Instead, we can use those forks to be part of the solution. After all, we do live in one of the most vegetarian-friendly cities in the country. Whether it's the plant-based fare at Ethiopian, Thai, or Chinese restaurants we crave, or more traditional veggie burgers and pasta marinara, there's hardly a better place on earth to pledge to eat more plants. Commentator Paul Shapiro is vice president for farm animal protection at the Humane Society of the United States in Washington. To share your opinion, visit wamu.org/commentaries. WAMU commentaries come from contributors not on the staff of WAMU 88.5. These articles are not intended to reflect the positions of WAMU 88.5. The commentary page is seen as a forum to air diverse and challenging viewpoints. Please continue the conversation about this topic in the comment section below.
During the polar War era there were three main(prenominal) groups , which were theUSSR,the ground forces and the Third World.After the collapse of the USSRand the f every last(predicate) of the Berlin War,the world has started to advance it?s newshape.Some scholars have started to develop mental images regardingthis new world order.One of these scholars is Huntington,who hasdeveloped a paradigm based on cultural similarities anddifferences.He has received galore(postnominal) criticisms about his civilizationalparadigm.Skid more,who is maven of these critics finds Huntington?sparadigm ratter invalid and has developed his give idea basedon multicultrilsm.I nominate introduce these two theories and explain whichparadigm i find more convincing. According to Huntington ,civilisation is based on culture,religion,ethnicity and language.He thinks that the major source of conflicts isdifferences surrounded by cultures.He refers to the world events to support his idea.He gives examples of Palestinian-Israil and India-Pakistanclashes.Skidmore finds Huntington?s inclination inconsistent.He gives theexample of Latin America.Although Latin America was in addition a formercolony and although population speak a European language and workshipthe same God,they ar not located in the West.Skidmore thinks thatHuntington dismisses multiculturalism overestimating the role ofculture.In Skidmore?s definition of culture,it is a divers(a) andcomplex construct.He says that conflicts occur not only at intercivilizational levels but also within culture.Huntington respondsto Skidmore by saying that no paradigm is perfect. As for the influence of underlying sources shaping the smudge ColdWar the Post Cold War era which argon modernization,globalization,democreatization. Huntington says that modernizationis not westernisation.A country evict be modern keeping its bone marrow values. He gives examples of Japan,Malaysia and Signapore. He says future economic and political alliances will bedictated by culture.Countires from the same culture will cooperate andbecome flip partners.Huntington believes that body politic is a westernvalue which is incompatible with non-western cultures.When democracyis imposed on such countries,elections are hijacked bytraditionalist.Skidmore does not agree with Huntington thinks.He findsHuntington?s modernisation concept unconvinsing.He thinks thatmodernization transforms all cultures.He supports his idea by giving... If you want to get a all-embracing essay, order it on our website: OrderEssay.net If you want to get a full informat ion about our service, visit our page: write my essay
Welcome to the era of apps, social media, technology, INFORMATION and MISINFORMATION.There is no denying to the fact that in today’s era of internet access.We have access to good information as well exposed to a bundle of Misinformation also. We have all experienced questions like - Eating Sugar can cause cancer! - Drinking water from plastic bottles exposed to heat can cause cancer. - The treatment is out there but people (Big Pharma) are hiding the truth or suppressing it . - An alkaline diet can cure cancer . So, in this article we try to look at the facts for you to decide on what’s good for you. Does sugar cause cancer? General belief : Cancer cells require energy to multiply and hence sugar helps in cancer to spread by feeding them. Actual Truth : Every cell or organ in our body requires sugar to grow and so does cancer cell, but that doesn’t mean that cancer cells grow faster with sugar. Your body needs sugar to function normally. And if you deprive your body of sugar then the body starts breaking down the protein, muscle and fat for energy which is further detrimental for the body. So what’s is really the link between sugar and cancer ? Can we involve sugar freely in our diet? The answer to that is a BIG NO. Sugar doesn’t cause cancer but what sugar does to our waistline can cause cancer. Sugar leading to obesity and overweight can cause cancer that’s the only link between sugar and cancer, which has been misinterpreted and wrongly highlighted in the headlines often. What is best recommended? Eat the right sugar and the right amount of sugar in your diet along with good physical activity. Women should have no more than 6 teaspoons (25grams) and men shouldn’t have more than 9 teaspoons (37grams) of sugar per day says the American Heart association. Try involving natural sugars whenever possible such as Honey, maple syrup and molasses as they are packed with antioxidants when compared to the normal white sugar that we have at home. But, it doesn’t mean that you cross the above-mentioned recommended amount since these natural sugar also contain the same amount of calories. Avoid , Processed foods as they are usually high in sugar content. Bottom line : Sugars are an important component of your balanced diet when taken in moderate quantities however sugar leads to obesity which in turn causes cancer and other lifestyle-related diseases and hence should be avoided. Sugar doesn’t lead to cancer cell growth.
USGS Groundwater Information Groundwater Resources Program New & Noteworthy Technical Announcement: USGS Issues Revised Framework for Hydrogeology of Floridan Aquifer Press Release: High Plains Aquifer Groundwater Levels Continue to Decline USGS Groundwater Watch USGS maintains a network of active wells to provide basic statistics about groundwater levels. Other Water Topics USGS in Your State USGS Water Science Centers are located in each state. Recession-Curve Displacement Method for Estimating Groundwater Recharge In Humid Regions References for the Recession-Curve Displacement Method Bevans, H.E., 1986, Estimating stream-aquifer interactions in coal areas of eastern Kansas by using streamflow records, in Subitzky, Seymour, ed., Selected papers in the Hydrologic Sciences: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2290, p. 51-64. Chen, W.P., and Lee, C.H., 2003, Estimating ground-water recharge from streamflow records: Environmental Geology, vol 44., p. 257-265. Coes, A.L., Spruill, T.B., and Thomasson, M.J., 2007, Comparison of recharge rates estimated from multiple methods for a shallow unconfined aquifer: Hydrogeology Journal, accessed online Feb 7, 2007 at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10040-006-0123-3 Daniel, J.F., 1976, Estimating groundwater evapotranspiration from streamflow records: Water Resources Research, v. 12, no. 3 p. 360-364. Delin, G.N., Healy, R.W., Lorenz, D.L., and Nimmo, J.R., 2007, Comparison of local- to regional-scale estimates of ground-water recharge in Minnesota, USA: Journal of Hydrology, vol. 334, no. 1-2, p.231-249. Dumouchelle, D.H., and Schiefer, M.C., 2002, Use of streamflow records and basin characteristics to estimate ground-water recharge rates in Ohio: Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources, Division of Water, Bulletin 46, 32 p. Flynn, R.H., and Tasker, G.D., 2004, Generalized estimates from streamflow data of annual and seasonal ground-water-recharge rates for drainage basins in New Hampshire: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2004-5019 27 p. Glover, R. E., 1964, Ground-water movement: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Engineering Monograph Series no. 31, p. 31-34. Halford, K.J., and Mayer, G.C., 2000, Problems associated with estimating ground water discharge and recharge from stream-discharge records: Ground Water, vol. 38, no. 3, p. 331-342. Lorenz, D.W., and Delin, G.N., A regression model to estimate regional ground-water recharge in Minnesota: Ground Water Vol 45, no. 2, p 196-208. Mau, D.P., and Winter, T.C., 1996, Estimating ground-water recharge from streamflow hydrographs from a small mountain watershed in a temperate humid climate, New Hampshire, USA: Ground Water, vol. 35, no. 2, p. 291-304. Risser, D.W., Conger, R.W., Ulrich, J.E., and Asmussen, M.P., 2005a, Estimates of ground-water recharge based on streamflow-hydrograph methods: Pennsylvania: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2005-1333, 30 p. Risser, D.W., Gburek, W.J., and Folmar, G.J., 2005b, Comparison of methods for estimating ground-water recharge and base flow at a small watershed underlain by fractured bedrock in the eastern United States: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2005-5038, 31 p. Rorabaugh, M.I., 1960, Use of water levels in estimating aquifer constants in a finite aquifer: International Association of Scientific Hydrology, Publication 52, p. 314-323 Rorabaugh, M.I., 1964, Estimating changes in bank storage and ground-water contribution to streamflow: International Association of Scientific Hydrology, Publication 63, p. 432-441. Rorabaugh, M.I. and Simons, W.D., 1966, Exploration of methods relating ground water to surface water, Columbia River basin – second phase: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report, 62 p. Ruhl, J.F., Kanivetsky, Roman, Shmagin, Boris, 2002, Estimates of recharge to unconfined aquifers and leakage to confined aquifers in the seven-county metropolitan area of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 02-4092, 32 p. Rutledge, A.T., 1997, Model estimated ground-water recharge and hydrograph of ground-water discharge to a stream: U.S. Geol. Survey Water Resources Investigations Report 97-4253, 29 p. Rutledge, A.T., 1998, Computer programs for describing the recession of ground-water discharge and for estimating mean ground-water recharge and discharge from streamflow data – update: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 98-4148, 43 p. Rutledge, A.T., 2000, Considerations for use of the RORA program to estimate ground-water recharge from streamflow records: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 00-156, 44 p. Rutledge, A.T., 2002, User guide for the PULSE program: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 02-455, p. 34. Rutledge, A.T., 2004, Use of RORA for complex ground-water flow conditions: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 2003-4304, 5 p. Rutledge, A.T. and Mesko, T.O., 1996, Estimated hydrologic characteristics of shallow aquifer systems in the Valley and Ridge, the Blue Ridge, and the Piedmont physiographic provinces based on analysis of streamflow recession and base flow: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1422-B, 58 p. Sun, Honging, 2004, Estimating the fate of precipitation from stream discharge: A case study in New Jersey: Bulletin New Jersey Academy of Science, vol 49, no. 2, p. 9-15.
Last week saw the construction firm VolkerWessels release their plans for road surfaces to be constructed entirely from recycled plastic a greener alternative to the traditional material asphalt. This latest report is a welcomed change for many as it is believed that asphalt is responsible for 1.6 million tons of global carbon dioxide emissions a year and also increases all road transport emissions by 2 per cent. There is a long list of positive aspects surrounding the installation. The new road material could decrease the time it takes to lay the surface according to the construction company it could take as little as a few weeks rather than months. Plastic offers all kinds of advantages compared to current road construction, both in laying the roads and maintenance. Explains Rolf Mars, Director at VolkerWessel. VolkerWessels also claim that the plastic roads will have a greater life span than the traditional roads we have now and that they will be able to obtain a greater amount of heat than the current road surface. Their plans also state that sections of the road will be pre-made in a factory and then transported to the construction site resulting in shorter work time, fewer road works and lower maintenance. Will plastic streets provide easier access to drains and other services? It is reported that the new innovation will result in lower maintenance time and costs should the drains or pipework need looking at under the road, the new material would mean it would be easier for drainage companies to access them. Its still an idea on paper at the moment; the next stage is to build it and test it in a laboratory. He continued. Rotterdam is a very innovative city and has embraced the idea. It fits very well within its sustainability policy and it has said it is keen to work on a pilot. Although the plans are currently only a concept idea, Rotterdam has given the idea its backing and the company aims to lay the first fully recyclable road within the next three years.
NACAC produced the following adoption fact sheets for SPARC to help inform adoption community members and adoption advocates. The fact sheets, derived mostly from 2011 AFCARS data, have information about the number of waiting children, the length of time children spend in care, the race of waiting and adopted children, types of exits from foster care, Title IV-E payments, and more. To download a PDF of your state’s fact sheet, click on the state on the map or click on the state name below. See below for sources and notes on specific data points. NACAC prepared these fact sheets using data made available, with permission, by the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) were originally collected by the Children’s Bureau. NACAC’s work was funded by SPARC. The collector of the original data, SPARC, the Archive, Cornell University and their agents or employees bear no responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here. When used, data on race of a state’s child population is from the 2011 Children’s Bureau Child Welfare Report Outcomes data center at http://cwoutcomes.acf.hhs.gov/data/overview. Notes on Specific Variables AFCARS defines waiting children as foster children ages 0 to 17 who either have a case goal of adoption or whose parental rights have been terminated. Youth who are 16 and 17 who have a goal of emancipation are not considered to be waiting children. Length of Stays For adopted children, the length of stay is the lifetime length of stay for those children who have had only one or two episodes in foster care, which includes about 94 percent of the children. For waiting children, the length of stay is for the most recent foster care episode. In our fact sheets, children were counted as IV-E if a IV-E payment was made on their behalf during the reporting period for waiting children, and at adoption for adopted children. Some children who do not receive a payment in this timeframe may still be IV-E eligible. Prior Relationship of Adoptive Parent Adoptive parent(s) can be counted in four categories—stepparent, other relative, foster parent, and non-relative. In the AFCARS state-by-state data from the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect, some states count parents in more than one category, while others do not. The data reported on the Children’s Bureau website does not duplicate categories and was our source for this variable on most states’ fact sheets. In some cases, however, the data did not seem accurate (all adoptions were by foster parents, for example) so we omitted the variable for that particular state.
OverviewCardiac arrhythmia affects more than 700 000 people in England, and is consistently in the top ten reasons for admission, placing a significant strain on emergency department time and bed availability (DH, 2005). Following the introduction of pre-hospital thrombolysis as part of the National Service Framework (NSF) for Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), the acquisition and interpretation of 12 lead ECGs has become a routine part of UK paramedic practice. Although training models have varied nationally, the main focus has been on the use of 12 lead ECGs to identify changes associated with ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in order to facilitate early reperfusion measures.Learning OutcomesAfter completing this module you will:• Undertake initial assessment of patients with T-LOC• Describe significant ‘red flag’ findings in patients experiencing T-LOC• List ECG abnormalities requiring referral in T-LOC• Apply the ABCDER mnemonic to screen the ECG in T-LOC The babyHaving someone read to him/ her helps the brain develop (2–3 months)Is able to sit alone for a short time (7–9 months)Copies speech sounds (7–9 months) Likes being read to (10–12 months)This of course had to begin with a birth and in the context of the paramedic profession the birth came about when groups of doctors in several parts of the UK formulated plans aimed at improving outcomes for patients suffering from cardiac and other acute events. These doctors trained small teams of ambulance service personnel initially with advanced skills which then led to the first national courses in the mid–1980’s which were known as ‘extended training’. These were very much based on a training methodology and there was an eagerness and enthusiasm to learn from the individuals involved. The term ‘extended trained ambulance staff’ was quickly replaced with the term ‘paramedic’. This book provides a well written and accessible text for paramedics who wish to begin engaging with research in pre-hosptial care. Written and edited by a number of high–calibre professionals who are involved with paramedic research and education, the book provides a good platform to assist the profession in developing towards more evidence– based medicine. CaseA paramedic team was requested to attend a children's party when a previously healthy two-year-old boy had became acutely unwell. He was sweaty, clammy and his parents reported that his heart was racing when they cuddled him. The initial observations by the paramedic team revealed a heart rate well over 200 bpm, temperature of 37.7 ° C and blood glucose of 5.9 mmol/l. He was immediately transferred to the nearest emergency department. High flow oxygen was administered by face mask during the transfer. His parents were requested to accompany him during the transfer to keep the child comfortable and avoiding further distress.A heart rate of 230 bpm was recorded in the emergency department and a 12 lead ECG confirmed the diagnosis of SVT (Figure 1 shows an ECG with SVT). The ECG showed narrow complex tachycardia with no preceding P-waves. There were no other abnormalities detected. Continuous ECG monitoring was commenced and the paediatric team was urgently summoned. Vagal manoeuvres of applying ice-packs on his face were attempted but this failed to revert back the rhythm to normal sinus rhythm. An intravenous cannula was inserted and a dose of IV adenosine at 100 mcg/kg was given followed by a quick saline bolus. The boy responded well and the rhythm reverted back to normal.Figure 1.ECG showing SVT in a child(Garg and Paul, 2012)The boy was admitted to the paediatric ward for cardiac monitoring which remained normal and the boy well. He was discharged home with advice to return if he became unwell. He is also currently being followed by a paediatrician at the local hospital. This paper reports on a qualitative study that appears to have been motivated, in part, by a need to develop patient reported experience measures (PREMs) suitable for use in pre-hospital care. It is a valuable addition to our understanding of both patients' and clinicians' experiences of pre-hospital care for individuals with suspected stroke or acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Mild hypothermia treatment (MHT) involves a controlled decrease of core temperature in order to mitigate the secondary damage to organs that follows post primary injury. In the case of traumatic brain injury (TBI) suggestions that the brain could be conserved by cooling go back as far as the 1940s. The idea was to reduce cerebral metabolism and hypoxic insult by using MHT. However, more recent research suggests that this is a ‘simplistic view’ of brain cooling when there is in fact a much more complex web of effects that need to be understood and accounted. There clearly needs to be a variety of multi-disciplinary team based simultaneous pre-hospital and then in-hospital treatments to ameliorate harm (Nonmaleficence ) and enhance brain healing processes (Beneficence). Examination will take place of the varied probable mechanisms of action and contemporary evidence for and against the use of MHT in TBI. Discussion will range across issues such as target range of MHT, time to achieve this range, duration of cooling, and finally re-warming rates on neurological outcomes following TBI. This in turn, should create a clearer evidence base, for the UK paramedic practitioner who is considering using MHT in the pre-hospital setting in the minutes following TBI and inform decisions around: methods and timing of cooling; shivering prevention using sedation; reliable on-going monitoring of core temperature and team building with hospital services. Communication is considered to be a core skill for healthcare professionals. The teaching, learning and development of communication skills are discussed with a focus upon occupational therapy and paramedic practitioner students.A mixed methods approach was taken to gather data; questionnaires were administered to evaluate the final year student opinions regarding how they are taught and learn about communication skills, and how well prepared they felt for practice. Programme Lead feedback was gained regarding student opinions and programme handbooks were analysed to further inform the research.The majority of students prioritised listening skills as the most important communication skill required for practice and held the pre-course expectation to be taught communication skills required for practice. Difference in opinion was highlighted regarding how adequately taught and prepared students felt, with a proportion of OT students feeling inadequately taught communication skills.Findings provide a clear indication of student opinions regarding how they are taught, learn about and are prepared for the communication skills required for practice; students value this training and would welcome more to be included in their programmes. The difference in learning experience is attributed to there being no specific module for communication skills on the OT programme. This article explores the benefits of intranasal as a recommended route for drug delivery in the pre-hospital setting for healthcare professionals. It is currently used in Australia, USA and some UK Ambulance services and remains a preferred route in certain patient groups. Intranasal can lead to a reduction in needle stick injuries for the healthcare professional and allowing immediate drug therapy in a emergency setting for bystanders. Randomised control trial's and evidence-based practice to discuss the absorption rate and different drugs that could be used through this route. After reading this article paramedics should be more aware of this safe route and its benefits in the emergency setting. Right ventricular infarction (RVI) can occur in isolation but is more commonly associated with inferior myocardial infarction (IMI). It has a higher mortality rate compared to isolated left ventricular infarction and often presents with complications. Early recognition of RVI in paramedic practice is key to decreasing patient mortality. This article focuses on RVI within the pre-hospital environment. Particular emphasis is placed on right precordial electrocardiogram (ECG) lead placement, judicious administration of intravenous fluids in the hypotensive patient, and specific complications associated with vasodilatory drugs in RVI. New developmentsOne of the most notable aspects of the show was the huge array of products and services available, in particular those exhibitors bringing new technology, or pre-existing technology which has now become affordable for the majority rather than the few. Seemingly the complete range of products and gadgets now available to the emergency services were on display, from high protection anti-riot vehicles on display in Hall 1, air reconnaissance pilotless drones in Hall 3 and the hyper-real manikin and faux-trauma dummies in Hall 2. Affordable infrared and heat detection technology, high-tech protective clothing and ultra-realistic training manikins are some examples of products, traditionally only available on a mass scale to institutions such as the military, but now obtainable for fire and rescue, first responder and police institutions and trusts. The Department of Health (DH) has published a renewed strategy for combating the 25 000 ‘avoidable’ deaths that occur each year as a result of cold weather in the UK (DH, 2012). Since 2010, when the country was gripped by a particularly disruptive cold stint, in which Heathrow airport was closed for three consecutive days and the UK economy lost an estimated £840 million (UK Parliament, 2011), the government has focused attention on combating the UK's susceptibility to, so-called ‘extreme’ weather. This prospective multi-centre study enrolled patients aged between one month and 18 years who achieved return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) after in-hospital cardiac arrest and had arterial blood gas (ABG) analysis performed at ROSC and 24 hours post event. Treating clinicians completed case report forms including details such as patient demographics, cause of the arrest, first recorded electrocardiogram, staff undertaking resuscitation, ventilator support, drug administration, duration of arrest, and ABG results. Paramedicine has changed dramatically throughout the last twenty years. With significant changes in both the education that underpins paramedic practice and the technology now used to enhance it. The quality of care being provided to the service-user has arguably never been so high.
This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) \|Born\|\|15 November 1894\| \|Died\|\|15 November 1952\| Banikanta Kakati was a prominent linguist, literary figure, critic and scholar in Assamese language with his immense contribution to the language in terms of literature, linguistics, cultural anthropology and comparative religion. Banikanta Kakati was born in 1894 at Barpeta of Assam. He was the second son of his parents Lalitram Kakati and Lahobala. Kakati showed sign of his genius from his early childhood. In his school days he obtained 105 marks out of 100 in his Sanskrit answer book. It is also said that he could memorize the whole of Pāṇini in his school days. Kakati secured the highest position in English in Assam in his matriculation under the Calcutta University. 1913, he stood first amongst all the candidates in the intermediate from Cotton College, Guwahati under the Calcutta University. He took first M.A. degree in English Literature from Presidency College, Calcutta in 1918. Later on he secured the first class first position in M.A. in English Language group in 1923 from Calcutta University. Kakati joined Cotton College in 1918 as a professor of English until he became the principal of the College in 1947. He joined in Gauhati University in 1948 as the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Head of the Department of Assamese. Kakati's health broke after the demise of his beloved wife Kanaklata in 1952 and died in the same year, on 15 November, the date of his birth. Soon after joining Cotton College as a lecturer in 1918, Banikanta Kakati took up the study of Srimanta Sankardeva and old Assamese literature. Soon, he was drawn into a controversy between two rival schools of Assam Vaishnavism. His erudite exposition of scriptural lore in the various issues of the Banhi under the pseudonym of Babananda Pathak, in defence of the values represented by the teachings of Sankardeva still makes fruitful reading. While studying MA examination in English, he obtained his doctorate for his thesis – Assamese : Its Formation and Development in 1935. The publication of the thesis in 1941 was a god-send for the Assamese people who had been frantically struggling to establish the identity and provenance of their mother tongue. Kakati had to work far from the great centres of learning, in a place where even Leonard Bloomfields’ Language (1833) could not be made available. Yet the work was acclaimed by no lesser an authority than Dr Emeneau who found it ‘ground-breaking in many ways.’ His interest in language proliferated over the years, but meanwhile, his mind started straying into other fields and pastures new. He made an intensive study of the Kalita caste and incorporated his findings in Kalita Jatir Itibritta (1941), Mother Goddess Kamakhya (1948) deals with socio-religious issues prevalent in Ancient Kamarupa. Finally he turned his attention to Indian mythology and his Vaishnavite Myths and Legends has been acclaimed as 'one of the very few studies of the religious scene in India, produced by our scholars, that deserve reading and pondering over.' Dr Kakati was one of the greatest critics that the country has produced. His Purani Asomiya Sahitya provides the axes for the appreciation of Vaishnavite literature of medieval Assam. He was certainly the most capable interpreter of religious mysticism in the poetry of the Nam Ghosha. He also raised the perennial issue of a possible tension between poetry and belief. Himself a scion of the Romantic age, Kakati sketched the critical background for the twentieth century Assamese romantics. The post-war decade in Assam is a decade of disenchantment. In this decade he also wrote on the contemporary situation which seemed to show that a great age was over and another was yet to be born. He died too early to see the achievements of the ensuing age. Banikanta Kakati's writings both in English and Assamese mark a distinct achievement in the history of Assamese scholarship. As a critic of old and new literature in Assamese and as a writer on sociology and religious trends in medieval India-particularly Assam, he set new standards. - Assamese: Its formation and Development (Download PDF[permanent dead link]) - Mother Goddess Kamakhya - Life and Teachings of Sankardeva - Vaishnavite Myths and legends - Purani Kamrupar Dharmar Dhara - Purani Asamiya Sahitya - Kalita Jaatir Itibritta - Sahitya Aru Prem - Taid, Tabu (1988), Banikanta Kakati, the man and his works, Publication Board Assam
A caps lock key is one of the keys commonly found on a computer keyboard. On most computer keyboard layouts, this key is located on the left side of the keyboard, below the tab key and above the shift key, though it appears in other locations on some keyboards. The function of this key is to toggle an option on or off that makes every typed letter appear by default as a capital letter instead of a lowercase letter. In daily work, the caps lock key is utilized often when the user needs to type a long string of capital letters, for instance, an acronym that contains several letters. In Internet culture, people often type words in all capital letters to denote anger, emphasis, or shouting in general. Many people also engage the caps lock when creating headings, titles, or important notes in documents. Typically, it is easier to use this key only when there needs to be a large number of capital letters. Otherwise, it is simpler to hold down the shift key to achieve one or two capital letters in a row. When the caps lock toggle is turned on and the default typing mode uses all capital letters, the shift key can also be held down to temporarily switch back to lowercase. This function is similar to how shift is used to create capital letters when caps lock mode is turned off. This may be a useful option when typing mostly long strings of capital letters with the occasional lowercase letter. The caps lock key also has uses in computer gaming. In most games, the function of the key can be rebound so it performs a different function. By default, however, this key frequently causes the character to crouch, sneak, run quickly, or other similar action, depending on the game. The caps lock key is not generally considered a vital key on the keyboard. While it is useful in some instances, its function can be essentially performed by holding down the shift key when typing. Some computer users choose to use a program to disable the caps lock function, often to avoid frustration from accidentally hitting the key while typing and discovering that all of the text is suddenly in capital letters. A few computer and laptop brands have even begun omitting caps lock from the keyboard layout altogether.
Here is one approach how to describe an internal combustion engine and link the energy conversion theory with the conception of novel ideas that resulted in the engine design as it is today, starting from the crank to turn the shaft to statistical thermodynamics at the molecular level with macroscopic thermodynamics laws inside the cylinder with piston, valves, connection rod. Complex formulae are avoided, but physical principles that led to winning initial and boundary conditions for PDEs are outlined. Note that physical feel and intuition how the engine should work are leading drives for successful design. Let’s say we have started with the question how to turn the wheel of a car or of a coach. First thought is to turn it by hand. But, obviously it is not practical. We don’t want to sit in the coach and turn the shaft all the time while we travel. Is there anything else that we can use to turn the shaft around it’s axis and transfer power to the wheels? What if you imagine a cylinder and a piston, and inside the cylinder a lot of small particles that push the piston up? Then the particles wait until the piston is down, then push again up. Sure, that looks like a nice idea. You can easily connect the piston via some kind of connection rod to the shaft and with one or two gears you can translate vertical motion of the piston to the rotational motion of the shaft. But, the major point is how the particles get energy to push the piston up. Why particles? Why not something else? What are these particles anyway? I will answer these questions in this article. Let’s start by answering what would be the major invention here. It is a chemical reaction between the fuel molecules and oxygen. Don’t forget, a chemical reaction, called combustion, is only process of breaking bonds between certain atoms and creating new bonds between the same atoms. Bond creation is done by sharing electrons, in most cases. So, here we have only electric forces in game, no others. Atoms are clusters of protons and neutrons held together by nuclear forces, with electrons orbiting around. So, in chemical reactions, the atom core remains intact, only electrons got shared or exchanged between these clusters of protons and neutrons! Hence no nuclear forces are acting in the chemical reactions, only electrical. Hence, chemical reaction can be called an electrical reaction. Note here the significance of bonds breaking and bonds forming. While combustion is usually associated with flames, smoke, etc. that is not the major characteristic important to us. Combustion is like any other chemical reaction, and, moreover, as we have seen, each chemical reaction is actually electrical reaction. Hence, combustion is an electrical reaction, where energy after atoms and electrons reorganization is responsible to move the piston. During this reorganization of atoms, the stored energy in the bonds got released and newly formed molecules with newly formed bonds accelerate, away from each other, with high speed from the point of initial impact. Note that impact is not the source of the increased speed of the new molecules. It is the bonds formed that supply that energy. This is the most important moment in internal combustion engine theory. These newly formed molecules (usually CO2 and H2O) are the ones that will hit the wall of the piston and push the piston up. Of course the molecules will hit the other sides of the cylinder but that work is lost. Now, given that you have these particles that accelerate away from each other once the bonds are broken and new bonds are created, and initial molecules are broken and new molecules are created, you want to make these particles to work for you. How would you do that? You will confine them in a closed space, some kind of enclosure, and a metal cylinder will serve that purpose nicely. So, let’s put molecules of oxygen and fuel in a container, a cylinder. Then, we will make one side of the cylinder movable, top lid say. That will be our piston. You can easily attach a connection rod to the piston and use this rod to turn the shaft connected to the wheel. At this point we have fully working internal combustion engine! What happens when all molecules are reorganized, i.e. when there are no molecules to push the piston up, or, in popular language, when all fuel is burnt, in one "cycle"? You have to somehow empty the container cylinder from the combustion products, i.e. molecules of CO2 and water, H2O, that did their role in pushing the piston up. Once the container is empty, you can add new mixture of fuel and oxygen, ignite it and get new molecules to push your cylinder up again. How is this emptying and filling done? Well, you can manually open the lid, i.e. remove the piston from the container, empty the content, then fill the container with the new amount of mixture of fuel and oxygen. But, again, that’s not practical and even might not let the engine work continuously. What’s the solution? The solution is to create two openings in the cylinder, and two valves to open and close each opening. They will be referred to as intake opening and exhaust opening. These valves can easily be connected to the camshafts, intake camshaft and exhaust camshaft. Both camshaft can be again easily connected to the main crankshaft which is powered with our accelerating molecules from the cylinder. So, once the intake and exhaust camshafts are synchronized, they will do the required tasks, namely allowing fuel and oxygen to enter combustion chamber, and, after burning, let them out. When we need a new amount of mixture of fuel and oxygen in the cylinder, intake camshaft will open intake valve and the mixture will go in. When the burning process is finished, the exhaust shaft will open the exhaust valve and the piston will push the combustion products out of the cylinder, through the exhaust opening. Again, we have used the energy from accelerating molecules which are the result of the combustion (combustion is, in it’s essence, an electrical reaction between the fuel and oxygen molecules) to turn the main crankshaft, and, by attaching convenient configuration of gears to the main crankshaft, we control opening and closing of the intake and exhaust valves. At this point we have, essentially, designed the 2 tact motor, internal combustion engine. Here is the illustration of the real internal combustion engine with its essential parts: Elements of an Internal Combustion Engine Here is a real world illustration of the inside of an automobile engine: And, let’s repeat again how it works. 1. Vacuum will suck in the mixture of fuel and oxygen. 2. Spark will ignite and initiate the electrical reaction, also called chemical reaction, between the molecules of fuel and oxygen. The accelerating molecules will push the piston down and do the work. 3. Once the combustion is completed, the flywheel will push the piston up and empty the combustion chamber, i.e. our cylinder, from the products of combustion. 4. Flywheel will close the exhaust valve, pull the piston down, and open the intake valve. Vacuum will suck in the new mixture of fuel and oxygen and the process will start again. But, the major thing is that the energy to push the piston to do the work, to rotate the crankshaft, is obtained from the bonds breaking and bonds forming between the molecules of fuel and oxygen, during the combustion process. During these bonds breaking and formation, molecules of CO2 and H2O get accelerated and push the piston thus transferring energy to shaft. It is these accelerated molecules that moves the crankshaft, and hence, car. As a side note, although we talk here about energy and work, they are the same physical concept. Moreover, although we talk about giving energy, transferring energy over distance, etc. energy is not an object. Energy is a calculated value, obtained by measuring mass, time, distance, keep that in mind. The motion is what we are after. [ car engine, chemistry, combustion engine, fuel, Internal Combustion Engine, physics, Thermodynamics ]
Last week the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) stated rather nonchalantly that they will be hosting a press conference on Monday, March 17th, to announce a “major discovery.” Without a potential topic for journalists to muse on, this was as melodramatic as it got. But then the Guardian posted an article on the subject and the rumors went into overdrive. The speculation is this: a U.S. team is on the verge of confirming they have detected primordial gravitational waves — ripples in the fabric of spacetime that carry echoes of the big bang nearly 14 billion years ago. If there is evidence for gravitational waves, it will be a landmark discovery, ultimately changing the face of physics. Not only are gravitational waves the last untested prediction of Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, but primordial gravitational waves will allow astronomers to glimpse the universe in its infancy. “It’s been called the Holy Grail of cosmology,” Hiranya Peiris, a cosmologist from University College London, told the Guardian. “It would be a real major, major, major discovery.” Any convincing evidence would almost certainly lead to a Nobel prize. The signal is rumored to have been found by a telescope known as BICEP (Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization), which scans the sky from the south pole, looking for a subtle effect in the cosmic microwave background (CMB): the radiation released 380,000 years after the big bang when space became transparent to light and photons were allowed to travel freely across the universe. While the CMB has been mapped in exquisite detail, astronomers think that hidden within the map is a second fingerprint, which would reveal gravitational waves. Its radiation was scattered toward us from the universe’s earliest atoms, similar to the way blue light is scattered toward us from the atoms in the sky. And just as the sky is slightly polarized — the waves have a preferred orientation — so is the CMB (on the level of a few percent). Cosmologists are digging through the data, searching for a subtle twist in the polarized light, known as B-modes. If a gravitational wave moves through the fabric of spacetime, it will squeeze spacetime in one direction (the universe will look a little hotter) and stretch it in another (the universe will look a little cooler). The photons will scatter with a preferred direction, leaving a slightly polarized imprint on the CMB, due to the passing gravitational wave. Not only will detecting this slight polarization pattern in the CMB allow astronomers to uncover evidence of primordial gravitational waves but they will provide proof that immediately after the big bang the universe expanded exponentially — inflated — by at least a factor of 1025. While the theory of inflation is a pillar of big bang cosmology and helps explain key features of the observable universe today (i.e. why the universe is outstandingly uniform on such massive scales), many physicists don’t buy it. It remains a theoretical framework because we can’t explain what physical mechanism would have driven such a massive expansion, let alone stop it. Inflation is the only mechanism with the ability to amplify gravitational waves, born from quantum fluctuations in gravity itself, into a detectable signal. “If a detection has been made, it is extraordinarily exciting,” Andrew Jaffe, a cosmologist from Imperial College, London, told the Guardian. “This is the real big tick-box that we have been waiting for. It will tell us something incredibly fundamental about what was happening when the universe was only 10-34 seconds old.” But even if the rumors prove true, it’s crucial to remain skeptical. Extracting the signal is extremely tricky. The CMB’s temperature varies by a few parts in 100,000. In comparison, B-modes account for just one part in 10 million in the CMB temperature distribution. The microwaves also travel across the entire observable universe first. Only last year the signal was detected in the CMB for the first time using the South Pole Telescope, but it was in fact distorted by intervening clusters of galaxies and not intrinsic to the CMB itself. The announcement will be made on Monday at noon EST.
Learn to Draw Simple Forms Art Book \|You Save\|\|$0.62 (7%)\| \|Ships FREE with $25+ order\| \|Gift wrap is available\| 1 to 3 business days Expedited delivery available. - Learn to draw simple things in the home and garden with the easy to follow instructions, practice sheets, and activity ideas from this eeBoo art activity book. - Develops skills: Drawing, Art Skills, Manipulative Skills, Imagination, Creativity - Awards: Oppenheim Toy Portfolio - Best Toy Awards - Gold Seal Created by acclaimed children’s book illustrator Lizzy Rockwel, this is a new art activity book from eeBoo’s drawing book collection. Learn to Draw Simple Forms Art Book is an award winning drawing book for kids 5 years and older. Follow the easy-to-understand drawing instructions from this Educational Toys Planet’s fun drawing book and you will learn to draw simple shapes and things around you. How to draw things in the garden? How to draw things in your room? You will find not only the answers to these and many other questions, but practice sheets, detailed illustrations, and creative ideas. Learn to Draw Simple Forms Art Book contains 32 pages that will inspire older children to improve their drawing techniques and will bring quality drawing time for your young artist. This beginners drawing art book from Educational Toys Planet is a great activity idea for rainy days or travel time. Customers Also Bought \|Manufacturer Recommended Age\|\|5 years\| \|Quantity Available in Stock\|\|20\| \|Manufacturer Part Number\|\|FBA_ARTBK1\| \|Amazon ASIN Code\|\|B0071ATILE\| \|Category\|\|Drawing and Coloring\|
The Britannica blog is hosting a conversation about Web 2.0 in education, and Steve Hargadon argues that the technologies will make a huge impact on the future or learning while Daniel Willingham says not so fast. Both posts are very well done and provide a measured starting point for the discussion. What I found really interesting though was Willingham’s take on the potential for project based learning in these environments compared to the potentials that we’ve been trying to realize in traditional classrooms. Importantly, I think, he says: Hargadon is clear-eyed in his list of challenges to making Web 2.0 an important part of K-12 education, but I think he underestimates the seriousness of his third point, â€œTeachers will need time and training to use these tools in the classroom.â€ There has been an enormous push to leverage technology in K-12 education in the last decade. The costs in infrastructure, personnel, training, and ongoing access are difficult to pin down, but conservative estimates are in the billions each year. Why has technology not revolutionized teaching, but rather been a series of â€œcomputer fads,â€ in Hargadonâ€™s term, and an all-around disappointment? At least part of the reason is that, despite expenditures, support has been inadequate. For example, support personnel tend not to be specialized, although the technology needs of the English teacher are different than those of the Science teacher. If still more money were spent, would that alleviate the problem? It might solve the technology problem, but the inherent difficulty of executing project-based learning well would remain. Especially when attempting to infuse project-based learning using Web 2.0 tools. As Willingham points out, project based pedagogies are more complex, require more planning, and aren’t as easily aligned to standards as more traditional teaching methods. Throw in some transformative technologies and… Unless of course you have teachers who “get” the potentials of the technologies and can draw on their own practice to guide their pedagogy, which I still think is the most important answer we need to find in this conversation. How do we help teachers get to that point where using project-based pedagogies (when appropriate and when more effective than other pedagogies) in Web rich environments is as natural as picking up a piece of chalk? On that note, I have to agree with one of the commentors on the Willingham post, David Zuckerman: Proceeding from Shirkyâ€™s dictum that, â€œSocial tools donâ€™t create collective action â€“ they merely remove the obstacles to it,â€ I would argue that Ed2.0 needs to concentrate now on the teachers, not the students, and among the corpus of teachers, focus ONLY on those who want to try to make some change, the â€œearly adaptersâ€ if you will. The others, some of them, will follow along in due course or they will not; but the enterprise moves forward on the energy of its best players, not on continued, and boring, Soviet-like efforts to lift everyone at once by dint of big meetings where All Teachers are obligated to come so they can receive some hours of poor teaching practice (being talked at, mostly) in the evident expectation (still!?) that somehow, this experience, the lead, will be transmuted into gold. A bit harsh, maybe, but to the point. Inherent in that statement and in Willingham’s post is the idea that we have to think differently about how we do professional development. The drive by trainings for every teacher are not the answer. We should be investing in those who do show an appetite for learning, for risk-taking, for reflective practice. Lots more in those posts to mull over…
Wellness care is for anyone that wants to experience a balanced and healthy lifestyle. People want to keep themselves healthy by addressing things that can cause problems every day as well as in the long run. There are several areas to wellness care: emotional, environmental, intellectual, financial, occupational, physical, social and spiritual. A plan by Dr Kalpana Desai is put together for a patient to meet their goals based on their current health and what they want to focus on in their life. Parts of their lives in which they are having trouble can be taken care of thanks to a total approach that covers prominent areas like diet, occupation, and lifestyle. Introduce Meditation To Daily Activities Meditation is something that can be done at any time day or night. Just a few minutes can help to calm anxieties or relieve stress. It can help spiritually by helping someone connect with their inner self. Taking a meditation break makes all the difference in attitude and mental well being. While some people think of it as an hour-long practice only for those with clear minds, simple sessions of even five minutes prove useful. As for clear minds, no one is able to keep their mind away from all thoughts. Channelling as well as moving those thoughts to the backburner is the key to making it work. Exercise Is Central To Wellness Exercise is an important component of healthy living and general wellness. A plan centred on exercise can include a full session sometime during the day or night. For example, if a person can get outside for a walk or do yoga in their office then it might be enough to complete their goals. Anything to get focused works among this category. Some exercises even work to help more than just one person. A good way to help the environment and get some exercise is by cycling to work or to run errands. Altering Diets Can Help Restore Balance Changing a person’s diet is great for wellness care. Consider healthy options like adding fruits, vegetables and whole grains to daily servings. This goes for snacks too as they are often the point when most diets succeed or fail. Try preparing meals at home if the goal is to lose weight. If someone is always cooking for others try getting out to a restaurant for lunch or dinner. Be aware of what you eat, know the ingredients as well as the nutritional information. Plan For Time Outs This can mean taking time away from social media or television, both have proven to be problematic for people as they try to balance emotions. Many people are addicted and just a small break can do someone good for their overall health. Support Matters To Everyone Support from friends, family, and co-workers is vital to success. Find meeting groups that provide the extra needed push to wellness in all categories. Classes also provide much of the same help for those seeking a group experience. Counselling is an option to assist in reaching the goals and may address underlying causes.
"small sack," c. 1200, bagge, probably from Old Norse baggi "pack, bundle," or a similar Scandinavian source. OED rejects connection to other Germanic words for "bellows, belly" as without evidence and finds a Celtic origin untenable. In some senses perhaps from Old French bague, which is also from Germanic. As disparaging slang for "woman" it dates from 1924 in modern use (but various specialized senses of this are much older, and compare baggage). Meaning "person's area of interest or expertise" is 1964, from African-American vernacular, from jazz sense of "category," probably via notion of putting something in a bag. Meaning "fold of loose skin under the eye" is by 1867. Related: bags. To be left holding the bag (and presumably nothing else), "cheated, swindled" is attested by 1793. Many figurative senses, such as the verb meaning "to kill game" (1814) and its colloquial extension to "catch, seize, steal" (1818) are from the notion of the game bag (late 15c.) into which the product of the hunt was placed. This also probably explains modern slang in the bag "assured, certain" (1922, American English). To let the cat out of the bag "reveal the secret" is from 1760. The source is probably the French expression Acheter chat en poche "buy a cat in a bag," which is attested in 18c. French and explained in Bailey's "Universal Etymological English Dictionary" (1736), under the entry for To buy a pig in a poke as "to buy a Thing without looking at it, or enquiring into the Value of it." (Similar expressions are found in Italian and German; and in English, Wyclif (late 14c.) has To bye a catte in þo sakke is bot litel charge). Thus to let the cat out of the bag would be to inadvertently reveal the hidden truth of a matter one is attempting to pass off as something better or different, which is in line with the earliest uses in English. Sir Joseph letteth the cat out of the bag, and sheweth principles inimical to the cause of true philosophy, by wishing to make great men Fellows, instead of wise men ["Peter Pindar," "Peter's Prophecy," 1788] Old English life (dative lif) "animated corporeal existence; lifetime, period between birth and death; the history of an individual from birth to death, written account of a person's life; way of life (good or bad); condition of being a living thing, opposite of death; spiritual existence imparted by God, through Christ, to the believer," from Proto-Germanic leiban (source also of Old Norse lif "life, body," Old Frisian, Old Saxon lif "life, person, body," Dutch lijf "body," Old High German lib "life," German Leib "body"), properly "continuance, perseverance," from PIE root leip- "to stick, adhere." The noun associated with live (v.) "to live," which is literally "to continue, remain." Extended 1703 to inanimate objects, "term of duration or existence." Sense of "vitality, energy in action, expression, etc." is from 1580s. Meaning "conspicuously active part of human existence, pleasures or pursuits of the world or society" is by 1770s. Meaning "cause or source of living" led to the sense "vivifying or animating principle," and thus "one who keeps things lively" in life of the party (1787). Meaning "imprisonment for life, a life sentence" is from 1903. Paired alliteratively with limb from 1640s. Not on your life "by no means" is attested from 1896. In gaming, an additional turn at play for a character; this transferred use was prefigured by uses in card-playing (1806), billiards (1856), etc., in reference to a certain number of chances or required objects without which one's turn at the game fails. The life "the living form or model, semblance" is from 1590s. Life-and-death "of dire importance" is from 1822; life-or-death (adj.) is from 1897. Life-jacket is from 1840; life-preserver from 1630s of anything that is meant to save a life, 1803 of devices worn to prevent drowning. Life-saver is from 1883, figurative use from 1909, as a brand of hard sugar candy from 1912, so called for shape. Life-form is from 1861; life-cycle is from 1855; life-expectancy from 1847; life-history in biology from 1870; life-science from 1935. Life-work "the labor to which one's life has been devoted" is from 1848. Expression this is the life is from 1919; verbal shrug that's life is from 1924 (earlier such is life, 1778). "of the nature of blood, pertaining to blood, bleeding, covered in blood," Old English blodig, adjective from blod (see blood). Common Germanic, compare Old Frisian blodich, Old Saxon blôdag, Dutch bloedig, Old High German bluotag, German blutig. From late 14c. as "involving bloodshed;" 1560s as "bloodthirsty, cruel, tainted with blood-crimes." It has been a British intensive swear word at least since 1676. Weekley relates it to the purely intensive use of the cognate Dutch bloed, German Blut. But perhaps it ultimately is connected with bloods in the slang sense of "rowdy young aristocrats" (see blood (n.)) via expressions such as bloody drunk "as drunk as a blood." Partridge reports that it was "respectable" before c. 1750, and it was used by Fielding and Swift, but heavily tabooed c. 1750-c. 1920, perhaps from imagined association with menstruation; Johnson calls it "very vulgar," and OED writes of it, "now constantly in the mouths of the lowest classes, but by respectable people considered 'a horrid word', on par with obscene or profane language." The onset of the taboo against bloody coincides with the increase in linguistic prudery that presaged the Victorian Era but it is hard to say what the precise cause was in the case of this specific word. Attempts have been made to explain the term's extraordinary shock power by invoking etymology. Theories that derive it from such oaths as "By our Lady" or "God's blood" seem farfetched, however. More likely, the taboo stemmed from the fear that many people have of blood and, in the minds of some, from an association with menstrual bleeding. Whatever, the term was debarred from polite society during the whole of the nineteenth century. [Rawson] Shaw shocked theatergoers when he put it in the mouth of Eliza Doolittle in "Pygmalion" (1913), and for a time the word was known euphemistically as "the Shavian adjective." It was avoided in print as late as 1936. Bloody Sunday, Jan. 30, 1972, was when 13 civilians were killed by British troops at protest in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Old English macian "to give being to, give form or character to, bring into existence; construct, do, be the author of, produce; prepare, arrange, cause; behave, fare, transform," from West Germanic makōjanan "to fashion, fit" (source also of Old Saxon makon, Old Frisian makia "to build, make," Middle Dutch and Dutch maken, Old High German mahhon "to construct, make," German machen "to make"), from PIE root mag- "to knead, fashion, fit." If so, sense evolution perhaps is via prehistoric houses built of mud. It gradually replaced the main Old English word, gewyrcan (see work (v.)). Meaning "to arrive at" (a place), first attested 1620s, originally was nautical. Formerly used in many places where specific verbs now are used, such as to make Latin (c. 1500) "to write Latin compositions." This broader usage survives in some phrases, such as make water "to urinate" (c. 1400), make a book "arrange a series of bets" (1828), make hay "to turn over mown grass to expose it to sun." Make the grade is 1912, perhaps from the notion of railway engines going up an incline. Read the valuable suggestions in Dr. C.V. Mosby's book — be prepared to surmount obstacles before you encounter them — equipped with the power to "make the grade" in life's climb. [advertisement for "Making the Grade," December 1916] But the phrase also was in use in a schoolwork context at the time. To make friends is from late 14c.; to make good "make right" is from early 15c. To make do "manage with what is available" is attested by 1867; to make for "direct one's course to, proceed toward" is from 1580s, but "Not frequent before the 19th c." [OED]. To make of "think, judge" is from c. 1300. To make off "run away, depart suddenly" is from 1709; to make off with "run away with (something) in one's possession" is by 1820. To make way is from c. 1200 as "cut a path," early 14c. as "proceed, go." Make time "go fast" is 1849; make tracks in this sense is from 1834. To make a federal case out of (something) was popularized in 1959 movie "Anatomy of a Murder;" to make an offer (one) can't refuse is from Mario Puzo's 1969 novel "The Godfather." To make (one's) day is by 1909; menacing make my day is from 1971, popularized by Clint Eastwood in film "Sudden Impact" (1983). Related: Made; making. Old English lagu (plural laga, combining form lah-) "ordinance, rule prescribed by authority, regulation; district governed by the same laws;" also sometimes "right, legal privilege," from Old Norse lagu "law," collective plural of lag "layer, measure, stroke," literally "something laid down, that which is fixed or set." Rare in Old English, it ousted the more usual ae and also gesetnes, which also were etymologically "something placed or set." In physics, "a proposition which expresses the regular order of things," from 1660s. Law and order have been coupled since 1796. To lay down the law (1752) is pleonastic (the "law" in the figure is biblical law, laid down from the pulpit). Poor laws provided for the support of paupers at public expense; sumptuary laws restrained excesses in apparel, food, or luxuries. It is more common for Indo-European languages to use different words for "a specific law" and for "law" in the general sense of "institution or body of laws," for example Latin lex "a law," ius "a right," especially "legal right, law." Indo-European words for "a law" are most commonly from verbs for "to put, place, set, lay," such as Greek thesmos (from tithemi "to put, place"), Old English dom (from PIE dhe- "to put, place, set"), Lithuanian įstatymas (from statyti "cause to stand, set up, establish"), Polish ustawa (from stać "stand"). Also compare Old English gesetnes (above), statute, from Latin statuere; German Gesetz "law," from Old High German gisatzida "a fixing, determination, assessment," with sezzen (modern German setzen) "to make sit, set, put." Words for "law" in the general sense mostly mean etymologically "what is right" and often are connected with adjectives for "right" (themselves often figurative uses of words for "straight," "upright," "true," "fitting," or "usage, custom." Such are Greek nomos (as in numismatic); French droit, Spanish derecho, from Latin directus; Polish prawo, Russian pravo (from Old Church Slavonic pravŭ "straight," in the daughter languages "right"); also Old Norse rettr, Old English riht, Dutch recht, German Recht (see right (adj.1)). [L]earn to obey good laws before you seek to alter bad ones [Ruskin, "Fors Clavigera"] stā-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to stand, set down, make or be firm," with derivatives meaning "place or thing that is standing." It forms all or part of: Afghanistan; Anastasia; apostasy; apostate; armistice; arrest; assist; astatic; astatine; Baluchistan; bedstead; circumstance; consist; constable; constant; constitute; contrast; cost; desist; destination; destine; destitute; diastase; distance; distant; ecstasy; epistasis; epistemology; establish; estaminet; estate; etagere; existence; extant; Hindustan; histidine; histo-; histogram; histology; histone; hypostasis; insist; instant; instauration; institute; interstice; isostasy; isostatic; Kazakhstan; metastasis; obstacle; obstetric; obstinate; oust; Pakistan; peristyle; persist; post (n.1) "timber set upright;" press (v.2) "force into service;" presto; prostate; prostitute; resist; rest (v.2) "to be left, remain;" restitution; restive; restore; shtetl; solstice; stable (adj.) "secure against falling;" stable (n.) "building for domestic animals;" stage; stalag; stalwart; stamen; -stan; stance; stanchion; stand; standard; stanza; stapes; starboard; stare decisis; stasis; -stat; stat; state (n.1) "circumstances, conditions;" stater; static; station; statistics; stator; statue; stature; status; statute; staunch; (adj.) "strong, substantial;" stay (v.1) "come to a halt, remain in place;" stay (n.2) "strong rope which supports a ship's mast;" stead; steed; steer (n.) "male beef cattle;" steer (v.) "guide the course of a vehicle;" stem (n.) "trunk of a plant;" stern (n.) "hind part of a ship;" stet; stoa; stoic; stool; store; stound; stow; stud (n.1) "nailhead, knob;" stud (n.2) "horse kept for breeding;" stylite; subsist; substance; substitute; substitution; superstition; system; Taurus; understand. It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit tisthati "stands;" Avestan histaiti "to stand;" Persian -stan "country," literally "where one stands;" Greek histēmi "put, place, cause to stand; weigh," stasis "a standing still," statos "placed," stylos "pillar;" Latin sistere "stand still, stop, make stand, place, produce in court," status "manner, position, condition, attitude," stare "to stand," statio "station, post;" Lithuanian stojuos "I place myself," statau "I place;" Old Church Slavonic staja "place myself," stanu "position;" Gothic standan, Old English standan "to stand," stede "place;" Old Norse steði "anvil;" Old Irish sessam "the act of standing." [stone, mass of mineral matter], Middle English rokke, roche "stone as a substance; large rocky formation, rocky height or outcrop, crag," from Old English rocc (as in stanrocc "stone rock or obelisk") and directly from Old North French roque, variant of Old French roche, which is cognate with Medieval Latin rocca (8c.), from Vulgar Latin rocca, a word of uncertain origin. According to Klein and Century Dictionary, sometimes said to be from Celtic (compare Breton roch). Diez suggests Vulgar Latin rupica, from Latin rupes "rocks." In Middle English it seems to have been used principally for large rock formations but occasionally of individual boulders. The extended sense of "a stone of any size" is by 1793, American English colloquial, and long was considered incorrect. It is an error to use rock for a stone so small that a man can handle it : only a fabulous person or a demi-god can lift a rock. [Century Dictionary] The meaning "precious stone," especially a diamond, is by 1908, U.S. slang; the sense of "crystallized cocaine" is attested from 1973 in West Coast slang. Also used attributively in names of animals that frequent rocky habitats, as in rockfish, rock badger, rock lobster (the last attested by 1843). Rock is used figuratively for "a sure foundation, something which gives one protection and security" (especially with reference to Christ), from the 1520s (Tyndale); but it also has been used since the 1520s as "cause or source of peril or destruction," an image from shipwrecks. Between a rock and a hard place "beset by difficulties with no good alternatives" is attested by 1914 in U.S. Southwest: to be between a rock and a hard place, vb. ph. To be bankrupt. Common in Arizona in recent panics; sporadic in California. [Dialect Notes, vol. v, part iv, 1921] As an example of fine distinctions, a party of men were discussing the present situation of the German army, this week. One remarked that the Germans were between the devil and the deep sea; while another corrected him by saying that the Germans were between the upper and nether mill stone. The third man whose name is Pilgreen, and who works in the treasurer's office, simply remarked that the Germans were between a rock and a hard place. [local item in the Pouteau (Oklahoma) Weekly Sun, Oct. 1, 1914] The rock-scissors-paper game is attested by that name by 1976 (as paper stone and scissors by 1941). Sources agree it is based on Japanese Jan Ken Po or Jan Ken Pon (or Janken for short); the Japanese game is described in English publications by 1879. early 13c., "silly, stupid, or ignorant person," from Old French fol "madman, insane person; idiot; rogue; jester," also "blacksmith's bellows," also an adjective meaning "mad, insane" (12c., Modern French fou), from Medieval Latin follus (adj.) "foolish," from Latin follis "bellows, leather bag," from PIE root bhel- (2) "to blow, swell." The sense evolution probably is from Vulgar Latin use of follis in a sense of "windbag, empty-headed person." Compare also Sanskrit vatula- "insane," literally "windy, inflated with wind." But some sources suggest evolution from Latin folles "puffed cheeks" (of a buffoon), a secondary sense from plural of follis. One makes the "idiot" sense original, the other the "jester" sense. The word has in mod.Eng. a much stronger sense than it had at an earlier period; it has now an implication of insulting contempt which does not in the same degree belong to any of its synonyms, or to the derivative foolish. [OED] Also used in Middle English for "sinner, rascal, impious person" (late 13c.). Meaning "jester, court clown" in English is attested c. 1300, though it is not always possible to tell whether the reference is to a professional entertainer counterfeiting mental weakness or an amusing lunatic, and the notion of the fool sage whose sayings are ironically wise is also in English from c. 1300. The French word probably also got into English via its borrowing in the Scandinavian languages of the vikings (Old Norse fol, Old Danish fool, fol). There is no foole to the olde foole ["Proverbs of John Heywood," 1546] To make a fool of (someone) "cause to appear ridiculous" is from 1620s (make fool "to deceive, make (someone) appear a fool" is from early 15c.). Feast of Fools (early 14c., from Medieval Latin festum stultorum) was the burlesque festival celebrated in some churches on New Year's Day in medieval times. Fool's gold "iron pyrite" is from 1829. Fool's paradise "illusory state of happiness based on ignorance or erroneous judgment" is from mid-15c. (foles paradyce). Fool-trap is from 1690s. Foolosopher, a useful insult, is in a 1549 translation of Erasmus. Fool's ballocks is described in OED as "an old name" for the green-winged orchid. Fool-killer "imaginary personage invested with authority to put to death anybody notoriously guilty of great folly" is from 1851, American English. Fool killer, a great American myth imagined by editors, who feign that his or its services are greatly needed, and frequently alluded to as being "around" or "in town" when some special act of folly calls for castigation. Whether the fool-killer be an individual or an instrument cannot always be gathered from the dark phraseology in which he or it is alluded to; but the weight of authority would sanction the impersonal interpretation. [Walsh, "Handy-Book of Literary Curiosities," 1892] 1726, "morbid longing to return to one's home or native country, severe homesickness considered as a disease," Modern Latin, coined 1688 in a dissertation on the topic at the University of Basel by scholar Johannes Hofer (1669-1752) as a rendering of German heimweh "homesickness" (for which see home + woe). From Greek algos "pain, grief, distress" (see -algia) + nostos "homecoming," from neomai "to reach some place, escape, return, get home," from PIE *nes- "to return safely home" (cognate with Old Norse nest "food for a journey," Sanskrit nasate "approaches, joins," German genesen "to recover," Gothic ganisan "to heal," Old English genesen "to recover"). French nostalgie is in French army medical manuals by 1754. Originally in reference to the Swiss and said to be peculiar to them and often fatal, whether by its own action or in combination with wounds or disease. [Dr. Scheuzer] had said that the air enclosed in the bodies of his countrymen, being in Æquilibrium with a rare and light air that surrounds them, was overloaded in lower countries with an air more dense and heavier, which compressing and obstructing the capillary vessels, makes the circulation slow and difficult, and occasions many sad symptoms. [Account of the publication of "Areographia Helvetiæ" in New Memoirs of Literature, London, March 1726] By 1830s the word was used of any intense homesickness: that of sailors, convicts, African slaves. "The bagpipes produced the same effects sometimes in the Scotch regiments while serving abroad" [Penny Magazine," Nov. 14, 1840]. It is listed among the "endemic diseases" in the "Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine" [London, 1833, edited by three M.D.s], which defines it as "The concourse of depressing symptoms which sometimes arise in persons who are absent from their native country, when they are seized with a longing desire of returning to their home and friends and the scenes their youth ...." It was a military medical diagnosis principally, and was considered a serious medical problem by the North in the American Civil War: In the first two years of the war, there were reported 2588 cases of nostalgia, and 13 deaths from this cause. These numbers scarcely express the real extent to which nostalgia influenced the sickness and mortality of the army. To the depressing influence of home-sickness must be attributed the fatal result in many cases which might otherwise have terminated favorably. ["Sanitary Memoirs of the War," U.S. Sanitary Commission, N.Y.: 1867] Transferred sense (the main modern one) of "wistful yearning for the past" is recorded by 1920, perhaps from such use of nostalgie in French literature. The longing for a distant place also necessarily involves a separation in time.
The article on the frontpage from 28 November 1838 is about democracy The heading is "On Estate and representative constitution". Kjøbenhavnsposten was an oppositional newspaper that campaigned for a democratic constitution to replace the absolutist monarchy in Denmark. Even though the strict censorship rules had been somewhat slackened during the 1830s on account of the introduction of an estates general in Denmark, the laws against political propaganda against the government remained strict. A widely used method to circumvent the censorship laws was to employ "strawman" editors who were paid to receive the fines or jail sentences that followed the transgressions of the law. Another method was to use translations of foreign articles that dealt with matters that, even though seemingly about foreign affairs, could easily be applied to political conditions in Denmark. Such is the case with the article on the scan of this edition of the newspaper. The article is a concise version of a book review originally written in German by the journalist Franz Chassot von Florencourt. Florencourt reviews the book "Deutschland und die repräsentative Verfassung" ("Germany and the representative Constitution"), which was allegedly written by a Prince von Solms Lich, that condemns the representative constitution. Although the article is entirely about German affairs, there is no doubt that the message is aimed at the Danish political situation. Among other things, the note in connection with the headline conveys the information that Florencourt in the full version of the book review calls the book "traitorous" and "perfidious". One of Hans Christian Andersen's first poems, Det døende Barn (the dying child) was published in the newspaper on 25 September 1827. Kjøbenhavnsposten would later on 13 May 1833 publish a parody on Hans Christian Andersen written by an anonymous author. - Bertel Nygaard (2009). "Hegelianism in Politics: Denmark 1830–48". Intellectual History Review. 19 (3): 303–318. doi:10.1080/17496970903266228. - Hans Christian Andersen (25 September 1827). "Det døende Barn". Kjøbenhavnsposten. - "JPG file". hcandersen-homepage.dk. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
As Galba struggled to secure order and support in the west, the governors in the east, including Vespasian, at first offered loyalty to the successive Neronian replacements, but soon began to formulate their own imperial dreams. As Galba fell to Otho, and then Otho to Vitellius, over a period of little more than a year, it became readily apparent that there was a unique opportunity for an enterprising and ambitious politician/general. If someone could succeed where Nero's successors had failed, ultimately shoring up the decadence of the last few decadent years of Nero's reign and a year's worth of debilitating civil war, that individual stood to be readily welcomed by the legions and the masses. While Vitellius bumbled in Rome, an eastern plot began to take firm hold. Despite having pledged allegiance to Vitellius after his victory over Otho in April of AD 69, the governor of Syria, Gaius Licinius Mucianus (bitter over his subordinate status during Nero's reign) and Vespasian began formulating their own plans. After a series of meetings between the two, and the inclusion of the Prefect of Egypt Tiberius Julius Alexander, the plans began to shape into a viable alternative to Vitellian rule. Though there may have been a rivalry over who held the prominent position, Vespasian advanced into the lead role for a few reasons. He already had two male heirs, Titus and Domitian, signifying the potential for a lengthy and stable dynastic rule while Mucianus had no sons. Vespasian, a pro-consular Senator, also held a prominent family name (the Flavii Vespasiani were originally of Plebeian stock but had advanced greatly under Claudius and Nero), while Alexander was both an Equestrian and a Jew. With the 2 lesser partners understanding their positions under Vespasian's lead, the trio was ready to make its move. On July 1, AD 69 Alexander ordered his Egyptian legions, III Cyrenaica and XXII Deiotariana to swear loyalty to Vespasian, while the Syrian Legions under Mucianus (IIII Scythica, VI Ferrata, XII Fulminata) did the same shortly after. Vespasian's forces (V Macedonica, X Fretensis and XV Apollinaris) readily supported their commander while the large contingent of legions bordering the Danube fell in line for him as well. With a considerable army sworn to Vespasian's cause, Mucianus was dispatched to march on Rome with his 20,000 men, while Vespasian moved to Egypt with Alexander to control the vital grain supply. The siege of Jerusalem, and the yet uncompleted subjugation of Judaea, was left in the very capable hands of Vespasian's son Titus, while Domitian, in Rome at 18 years old, likely did what he could to garner support in the capital. Meanwhile, before Mucianus' arrival in the west, the Danubian legions in Pannonia and Illyricum under Antonius Primus and Cornelius Fuscus took matters into their own hands, marching into Italy against Vitellius. With as many as 30,000 men (perhaps half as much as Vitellius commanded) the Danubian legions met Vitellius at Cremona in October of AD 69. Primus and Fuscus won a crushing victory, sending Vitellius' short reign hurtling into history. In December, another Vitellian force sent to waylay Vespasian's legates defected, essentially bringing the Year of the Four Emperors to a close. Vitellius tried to abdicate, understanding that the cause was lost, but enough loyal men remained to thwart any attempt to save his own skin. Vespasian's brother, Titus Flavius Sabinus tried to take control of the city but Vitellius' men killed him and his supporters. On December 20, the legions of Primus and Fuscus entered Rome, ending the life of Vitellius and taking control for Vespasian until Mucianus arrived shortly after. The combined and turbulent reigns of Otho, Galba and Vitellius lasted a scant 20 months in total. It's little wonder, considering the tired psyche of the masses, that a strong and competent man such as Vespasian was able to establish firm control and the foundation of a dynasty. On December 22, AD 69 Vespasian was afforded full imperial honors, matching those of the predeceasing Julio-Claudians. He would work vigorously in the early days of his takeover to not only legitimize his power, but to re-stabilize the legions, social conditions, the treasury, and the public perception of the Imperial office itself. Vespasian, while establishing a rather short lived 'Flavian Dynasty' that in itself would only last about 30 years, proved to be a vital historical figure, propping up a flailing Roman state at a time of
Rational numbers represent just a different quantity, different than integers. A rational number is a ratio of two integers. It is very useful to point that very early, that a rational number, or a rational quantity, is just a quotient of two integers (where divisor is different than 0), or two whole numbers, because kids are already familiar with integers. Rational numbers are quantities that sit between integers, although, strictly speaking integers are a subset of rational numbers, because every integer divided by 1 is by definition a rational number as well. Set of integers is a subset of rational numbers. But, for the introduction it should be acceptable to show that rational numbers are quantities that are between integers. For instance 7/5, 3/8, 17/19, 123/127, are all rational quantities. Note, however, that they are just constructed as division of two integers, 7, 5, 3, 8, 17, 19, 123, 127. Hence any quotient, any ratio of m/n (where m, n belong to the set of whole numbers or integers, n is different than 0) is a rational number. There is another way to nicely explain introduction of rational numbers. You really only have to know integers to construct all rational numbers. Let's say number 37/258. How you get this number using only integers? Let's use a length unit of measure, say, 1 meter. Take one meter and divide it carefully to 258 segments (obviously you can divide it to any number of segments you wish). Take that one, small segment which is one 258th part of meter and multiply it, or, put one after another, 37 times. The length you get by adding these small segments is exactly 37/258 meters! Note that we used only integers to obtain this new number, new length. You can call these kinds of lengths as you wish, but someone agreed to use word "rational" because it is written as a ratio of two integers. But, what this "ratio" really tells you is that you use known numbers, integers, and do operations, first division and then multiplication to obtain the new length. Rational number 37/258, by definition, is answering the question "which quantity, when multiplied by 258, gives exactly number 37?". Motivation for mathematics, increased focus of a student, and plenty of examples for whole numbers, rational and real numbers can be made by using: - Pirates, pirate's ships. Invent a story of a pirate's ship coming to an island. Wind speed is 10.754 m/s, rum bottle is 3/4 full, surface area of sail is 25.78 square meters. - Scuba diving. Various divers are at various depths, 7.89 meters, 12.75 m, and 21.997 m. Oxygen can last 1.23 hrs for each diver, etc. Temperature of the water is 12.79 degrees Celsius. - Text messaging. Each text message costs $0.87. How much 127 messages cost? - Car racing. Speed of Formula 1 cars (256.78 km/hr), time of arrival, fuel consumption (72.59 L/km), engine temperature (985.23 C), laps counts (2.5), tire rubber temperature, pit time(58.5 sec), randomness of pit times (probability distribution, average, expectation), track length (10.25km), compare tire diameter, volume with the length of the track. - Scale models airplanes. If the scale is 1:80, what is the wing span on the model, if the real wing span is 57.52m? - Duration of phone calls (3.25 min). - Pets and other animals. How much food they drink and eat (150.75 g of raw meat). - Volume of ice cream, ice cream cones (1/3 of a cone). - Space travel (duration, distance, speed). - Food distribution and humanitarian actions (airplanes on humanitarian missions, countries, how many people, food ratios, nutrition value). Kids and everyone like to help. Good motivation to use mathematics. - Speed in general, a numerical value, obtained by measuring distance and time. - Favorite student's rock star contact lenses dimensions - Airplane flight deck instruments, altitude, speed. - Car driving instruments, dashboard, fuel amount, speed, rpm, engine temperature. - Show the graph of stock prices on NYMEX web page - Airplanes specifications, distance traveled, trains, ships, transport. - Music, length of tones, - Surface areas of squares and rectangles - DVD, CD surface areas - TV screen surface areas calculations - Liquid level in the bottle, or any container - Time measurements by watches. During explanation make every attempt to clearly separate non mathematical reasoning from actual mathematical calculations in each of these examples. Clearly show that real world situations can be a motivation to count and measure certain objects, and hence to obtain certain numbers (rational, integers), but emphasize that those numbers and operations on them can exist by themselves too (pure math). Also, show that you can go from math to real world. You can say that you want to fill 1/2 of a bottle with water. Note that, here, you first came up with a number 1/2. You don't know yet what this quantity will represent! It is only a number 1/2. Only in the next, separate step, you decide it will be related to a bottle of water. Bottle of water! Not 1/2 of a watermelon, or 1/2 of a cake, or 1/2 of an apple, but a 1/2 of bottle of water! One of the best examples to illustrate rational numbers may be to start with pizza. Here is one whole pizza. That's number one. But, look. You can have half a pizza, right? How many halves will make one whole pizza? 2! How about one quarter of a pizza? How many quarters will make one whole pizza? 4! So, the main question we are asking here is what is that quantity then when multiply by 4 will give the whole one. That's 1/4! What is the quantity that when multiply by 2 will give one whole pizza? It's 1/2! Let's look at that pizza again. How many friends can divide the pizza so each one can have an equal slice? 2? 3? More? Sure, say 10 friends. Even more? Of course, there can be 120 people wanting to get a slice of ONE pizza. Each one of them will get exactly 1/120th part of pizza. You can see that we can divide pizza to as many slices as we want. What would be other numbers to divide pizza in equal parts? We surely can give examples of 1/9, 1/12, 1/125, 1/1279, 1/100242, ...Any integer can be a divisor! Now, let's say you want to divide 2 pizzas to, say, 15 friends. Each one will get, in that case, 2/15 part of pizza. Maybe you are having a big party and you have 5 pizzas and 17 friends. Each one will get 5/17 of a pizzas. This quantity, 5/17, is the real quantity, it exists as a real slice (how you are going to cut pizza equally is a technical issue :-). So, we can see now, that dividend, i.e. how many pizzas you can have can be any integer. You can have 1, 2, 5, 15, ...20, 100, pizzas. And you can divide them between 2, 3, 120, ...150, friends. This tells us that rational number can be represented by two integers, one is dividend, another is divisor. Like this a/b = c, where "a" can be any integer, "b" can be any integer. Number "c" is their quotient. Another interesting example to illustrate rational numbers is when you want to divide juices from 5 one liters juice boxes or more to 17 friends, but each one is getting a (unusual size) glass of 107 ml. You will start filling up glasses from the first box, and you can show your student how sometimes when a box is empty, and the glass partially filled then the glass must be filled up from another juice box or bottle. That's the nice point to introduce rational numbers too. You can download this post as an article in PDF file format by clicking on the picture below or from here. Let me demonstrate you, in one example, what is the difference between pure and applied math. It will help to understand where the numbers come from and why they can be used in real life situations, and how mathematics can be independent discipline no matter how many real life examples are there. Moreover, we should not move from integers to rational numbers without having another, perhaps deeper look, what numbers are, and their relation to objects counted. Once this is clear, then, it will be way more clear how we define ANY kind of a number. To give you an advanced start, all numbers are constructed from integers, either as ratios of two integers, or, sums of ratios of two integers, i.e. sums of fractions, finite or infinite (with repeating or non repeating decimals). When you see a person writing down 2 + 3 =... you don't know what objects she might be adding! But you know the result will be 5. That's, actually, pure math! You see, a person is writing down 2 + 3 =… Now, let's say it again, you don’t know what that person has in mind, which objects she was counting. But, you know that the result will be 5! That’s, so called, pure math. You have just abstracted pure numbers from any objects whose counts these numbers can represent! While objects counted (whatever they may be ) can have color, weight, temperature, texture, taste (if you count apples), the numbers you have just dealt with have their own properties, which are magnitudes and their relations with other numbers, i.e. great than, less than, equal, divisible by, etc. But these are numbers' properties and not the properties of objects we have counted. Investigating these numbers' properties is subject of pure math. One more nice point about pure math. You don't need to see 5 objects to come up with the number 5! You can start with pure number 1 and add four times number 1 and you got 5! You see how even you can abstract operation of addition from any real world object that may be counted. You can deal with number 1 only and by adding (or subtracting number 1) you can define all integers, without even counting any real world object. In the same way you can construct rational numbers, by dividing integers you just obtained! The examples in real world comes at the point when you associate to a number a thing or object you have counted! So, it is true that you can obtain a number, count, in two ways, by counting real world objects or just by declaring the number you are interested in, because you just constructed them in the field of pure math! Once you are aware that you can work only with numbers, or counts, you are in a position to investigate properties of these counts, without considering at all where they come from. Note, though, when you investigate properties of numbers, no real world objects, or examples, enter discussion. You may now want to continue to develop math as a separate discipline! Make more examples, think of more numbers, operations on them! 5 + 3 = 8. 3 x 4 = 12. 8 - 5 = 3. You can say now, that if you have 7 and you add 8 you will get 15, just by dealing with numbers, no matter what objects and rules about them were involved. You realize that you can work with numbers only! And with operations you have at your disposal, addition, subtraction, division, multiplication. Now, be sure, there are no other operations in math. These fours are sufficient to define all "kinds" of numbers and all mathematics. Other, so called, more complex operations (although they are not so in many cases) are just different sequences of these basic four, +, -, x, /, and mathematicians give them exotic names, that's all. This is probably the most important step you have made in learning math so far. Rational numbers can be quickly introduced to kids. The issue may be that kids are asked for too long to deal only with integers, that they may think there are no other numbers, or, that the other numbers must be difficult to understand since their introduction is so much postponed. The major concept to explain to kids is a quantity. Quantity is what we deal with in mathematics. Make no mistake, as we have shown, mathematics can exist without referencing any real world examples. It is because math deals only with numbers, counts. However, math can be used in real life once you start keeping track what is counted and why. The confusing thing for kids is that they continuously try to link the ways how the counts are obtained and why, with mathematics, thinking that the description how and why counts are obtained is a part of mathematics. But, it is not so! Mathematics knows only about numbers, it does not care where they come from. Think about it. It is you who will keep track how, what, when, and why you have counted certain objects. You can invent the game for two kids. One kid will define what to count and when, while the other kid will just write down the numbers, do the required operations on them and tell the result back to the first kid. The second kid is pure mathematician. The first kid is applied mathematician. This is how the thinking about math and applied math should go. Second kid, the "calculator" kid, will realize that the same operations and results can be applied and reused for many different requests and objects defined by the first kid. Students should be shown that all the other numbers, rational, real, imaginary, transcendent, irrational, are constructed from integers. Students should not be under impression that somehow rational or irrational numbers are complicated or exotic. It should be shown that rational numbers are fractions, and fractions are made of two integers. That's it! It's the operation on integers, in this case their division, that led to new so called type of numbers. But, these are not new "type" of numbers, these are just new, different quantities defined in a new way. That should be clear. It is operations (division) that has been applied to two integers to obtain a new quantity, somewhere in between two integers. Later, you can show that irrational numbers, the numbers that can not be represented by ratios of two integers, actually can be represented by a sum (though infinite) of smaller and smaller fractions! An irrational number cannot be written as a simple fraction but can be written as an infinite sum of smaller and smaller non repeating fractions. You see, using rational numbers, fractions, and adding them, you can get rational numbers again, but, also you can get irrational numbers, like square root of 2, which is an infinite sum of smaller and smaller fractions. Note about infinite sums here. You may think at first that when you infinitely add quantities, the sum must be infinitely big. But it is not so if the quantities you add up are smaller and smaller fractions! Just try to add more and more elements 1/(2*(2^n)), like 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16 + 1/32 +... Even if you use a calculator you will see that the sum is closer and closer to one, 1, as you add more and more smaller fractions! That's the essence of a irrational numbers! As you can see, knowing integers can greatly help understanding the complete number system! Using integers you constructed rational numbers, as fractions of two integers, and then, on one elegant idea, you obtained irrational numbers by adding up many smaller and smaller rational numbers. Knowing this you are absolutely ready to proceed further in mathematics very fast. Here is another famous example of an irrational number, Pi: Note that rational number can be represented as a ratio of two integers and as a number with finite decimal places or with infinite but repeating decimals, like 0.33333333.... which is 1/3. Irrational number can not be represented as a ratio of two integers. Irrational number can be represented as a number with infinite, smaller and smaller, but non-repeating decimals. Examples are square root of 2 and Pi. At this point I would like to show you how mathematics can be an independent discipline and also can be, and is, used in many applications and disciplines in real life. I will make a comparison between lines, some shapes and numbers. When you look at the building, and you want to draw it, you will draw some lines, squares, rectangles, trying to mimic the shape of the building as truthfully as possible. Look at the lines you draw. You draw vertical, horizontal, and lines at any arbitrary angle. It appears that which line and where you will draw it will depend on the shape of the building. And that's true. Now, look away from the building and get a new, blank sheet of paper. Draw a line on it. Draw horizontal lines, vertical, and at arbitrary angles. You are not required to draw a building. Just draw lines. You see how you abstracted lines, and, moreover you can play with them without taking care whether they represent anything in real world. Moreover, you can draw completely new building with your lines and call a company to actually build a new object from your drawings! Similar things is with numbers. You can count real objects and get their numbers and deal with them. You can add, subtract, multiply numbers following the real world examples, like, "how many litres of gas I will use if I travel 125 km with the car that consumes 8.9L/km..." etc. When you calculate this or any other example, you deal only with numbers. You are the one who will keep track of units, what you have counted. But, then, you can notice that 7 x 5 = 35 regardless what is counted! Similar thing happened with lines! You could draw lines without worrying if they represent any object in real world. Now, you can play with numbers, any number, and use ANY operations on them without worrying do they currently represent anything in real world. That's the essence of math. When you do applied math you still do pure calculations while keeping aside the units, what you have counted. But, in pure math you start with some numbers, it's up to you with which ones, without providing reasons why they are there, and do calculations on them. Try both scenarios and you will see the point! Asking someone to find a real life example of a number (integer, rational, etc) is the same as asking to find a real world example for a straight line. In the same way a straight line is abstracted from all real world straight distances, a number is abstracted from all the objects that have the same count. Looking at the line only one can not say what it represents but it he can say what line may represent. The same thing is a number. Looking at the number, one can not say what does it represent, but only what it may represent. The fact is, mathematics doesn't need real life examples to illustrate its concepts. Fiction is an equal member for mathematical examples illustrations. Take, for example, vampires! Twilight Saga is very popular now, so why don't use vampires to illustrate rational numbers. If a vampire sucks 278.52 mL of blood per 1 minute, how much blood a vampire can suck out after 7 minutes? You notice, real life examples are not necessary to illustrate rational numbers, and for that matter, many of other concepts in mathematics. We can count real world objects as well as completely fictional ones. Math doesn't care where the numbers are coming from. Math can't tell real world from fictional one! Another example. If Harry Potter flies 10 m/s how many meters he will advance after flying 5 seconds? Harry Potter and his flying device are fictional, yet mathematics is very real. Despite widespread math "applications", no real world concept ever enters a mathematical proof. Hence for mathematics, anything outside it, can be or is a fairy tale.The same way dragons from fairy tales don't enter mathematical proof, so apples, oranges, atoms, meters, do not enter the proof either. That's how mathematics see real world. Real or fictional world, none of their concepts ever enters a mathematical proof. You can download this post as an article as well, in PDF file format from here. You can read more "How math can be applied to so many different fields and how we can use math in real life". You can download my new book, or more precisely, book in progress, an intriguing collection of my thoughts on mathematics and mathematics education, in PDF format, free "Real World and Mathematics". If you want popular introduction to rational and irrational numbers, but from a great mathematical mind, you may want to read "Essays on the Theory of Numbers" by Richard Dedekind (Project Gutenberg, PDF file, http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21016 ) . Here are more links you might like as well: - Math and its relationship with real world - How math can be applied to so many different fields? - Where the graphs in mathematics and physics come from? - Tweets about math, physics, and how to approach math calculations - One insight about mathematical axioms, logic and their relation to other disciplines - How the ideas are born and notes on creative thinking - Mathematics Axiomatic Frontier - Why math can be an independent discipline? - More on creative thinking, math, innovations, physics, emotions - Comparison between making movies and math and physics - More tweets about math - Domains of math applications and math development - Where all those number series in math are coming from? - How to understand the role of math in economics, physics, engineering, and in other fields [ vampires, Twilight Saga, applied math, Harry Potter, Facebook, education, math education, rational, rational numbers, real world examples, real world math, real world rational numbers, teaching, teaching kids rational numbers ]
Reserving Root for Metadata Files, Folder for Python Package Name, Sphinx Based Documentation Project In today’s digital era, programming has become increasingly popular. People of all ages and backgrounds are learning how to code, while businesses and organizations are hiring software developers to create custom applications. However, with so many people working on software projects, it can be tricky to keep track of everything. That’s where project layouts come into play. In this article, we’ll explore the key aspects of a project layout, including reserving root for metadata files, having a dedicated folder for the Python package name, and using a Sphinx-based documentation project. Reserving Root for Metadata Files Metadata refers to the data that describes other data. In the context of software projects, metadata files are used to provide information about the project, such as its name, version number, and author. By reserving root for metadata files, you can ensure that this critical information is easily accessible and well-organized. The root directory of a software project is the top-level directory that contains all of the other directories and files in the project. By creating a dedicated folder at the root level for metadata files, you can easily find the information you need without having to search through multiple directories. Folder for Python Package Name Python is a popular programming language used to build complex software applications. When creating a Python package, it’s important to have a dedicated folder for the package name. This helps to keep your code organized and easy to navigate. By using a designated folder for the package name, you can easily locate your code and understand the structure of your package. This can be especially helpful when working in a team environment, as everyone can quickly find the code they need. Sphinx Based Documentation Project Documentation is an essential component of any software project. Not only does it help developers understand how to use the code, but it can also assist in debugging and troubleshooting. Sphinx is a popular documentation tool used in many Python software projects. By using Sphinx, you can easily generate documentation in multiple formats, such as HTML, PDF, and ePub. Sphinx also provides features such as cross-referencing, automatic linking, and code highlighting, making it easier to write and maintain documentation. Additionally, Sphinx integrates well with other tools, such as GitHub and Read the Docs, allowing you to publish and host your documentation online. Licensing: Permissive Licenses (MIT or BSD), Storing License in LICENSE File When creating software, choosing the right license is essential. A software license governs how others can use, distribute, and modify your code. There are several types of licenses to choose from, but permissive licenses such as MIT and BSD are popular due to their flexibility. Permissive licenses typically allow others to use and modify your code, as long as they include the original copyright notice and disclaimer. This makes it easier for others to contribute to your project and encourages collaboration. When choosing a license, it’s important to store it in a dedicated file called LICENSE. This file should include the full license text, copyright information, and any disclaimers. By including the license in a separate file, you make it clear to others how they can use and modify your code. Additionally, including a license can protect you legally and prevent others from using your code without permission. In conclusion, project layout and licensing are essential aspects of software development. By reserving root for metadata files, having a dedicated folder for the Python package name, and using a Sphinx-based documentation project, you can keep your code organized and well-documented. Additionally, choosing a permissive license such as MIT or BSD and storing it in a LICENSE file can protect your code and encourage collaboration. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced developer, understanding these key concepts can help you create better software projects. In the previous section, we discussed project layout and licensing. In this section, we will focus on two other important aspects of software development README files and contributing guidelines. We will explore the purpose and contents of README.rst, the use of reStructuredText format, the purpose of CONTRIBUTING.md, and the discussion of the code style guide, processes, and guidelines. README: Purpose and Contents of README.rst The README.rst file is a plain text file that provides information about your project, including its purpose, installation instructions, and usage examples. The purpose of the README file is to give users and potential contributors a brief overview of your project, its functionality, and how to use it. This makes it easier for them to understand the project’s context and purpose without having to delve deeply into the codebase. The contents of the README file may vary depending on the project, but generally, it should include the following information: – Project name and brief description – Installation and configuration instructions – Usage instructions with examples – Overview of the project’s architecture and design – List of dependencies – Contact information for support or contributions – License information The content of the README file should be short and concise, but it should also provide enough information to be helpful to someone who is new to the project. It should be easy to read and visually appealing, with consistent formatting and clear headings. Use of reStructuredText Format The README file is usually written in a markup language, such as Markdown or reStructuredText. reStructuredText, or RST, is a markup language designed to create documentation for Python software projects. It is more powerful than Markdown and supports more advanced formatting, such as tables and code highlighting. One of the main benefits of using RST for documentation is that it is easy to read and write. RST uses a minimal syntax that is intuitive and easy to learn. RST documents can also include inline code, links, and images, making them more informative and engaging for readers. Contributing Guidelines: Purpose of CONTRIBUTING.md Contributing guidelines are written instructions for external developers or users who want to contribute to a software project. The main purpose of contributing guidelines is to establish a clear process and expectation for external contributors. CONTRIBUTING.md is a file that provides information about how to contribute to your project. This file should be located in the root directory of your project. The CONTRIBUTING.md file should include the following information: – Overview of the project and its goals – Code of conduct – Information on how to report bugs and issues – Instructions for how to contribute (e.g., how to raise a Pull Request) – Guidance on how to test, build and deploy the project – Code style guide and other requirements These guidelines establish a fair and transparent contribution process and help ensure that the codebase remains consistent and high quality. Discussion of Code Style Guide, Processes, Guidelines One of the most important sections of the CONTRIBUTING.md file is the code style guide and other software engineering guidelines. Code style guides are a set of rules and conventions governing how code is formatted and structured. They ensure that developers write consistent and readable code, making it easier to understand, maintain, and debug. The code style guide should cover topics such as variable naming conventions, indentation, comments, and formatting. It should also specify which tools are required to build and test the project, and how to use them. In addition to the code style guide, the CONTRIBUTING.md file should also include information on the development process, such as how to submit a pull request, how code reviews work, how code is tested, and how the release process works. By including clear guidelines and processes, contributors can feel confident that their contributions will be reviewed fairly, and that they will be able to make meaningful contributions to the project. In conclusion, creating clear and informative documentation is essential to the success of a software project. README.rst files provide users and potential contributors with a high-level overview of the project and its functionality while contributing guidelines and code style guides help maintain the project’s quality and consistency. By using RST format, developers can create more readable and engaging content. By including clear guidelines and processes, you can ensure that all contributions will be thoroughly reviewed and that your project will continue to be successful. In this article, we have been discussing the essential aspects of software development, including project layout, licensing, README files, and contributing guidelines. In this section, we will explore two other important topics that are crucial to the success of open-source software development setup.py scripts and GitHub. setup.py: Purpose and Benefits of the Script The setup.py script is a Python script used in software projects that use setuptools. Setuptools is a package used for building, distributing, and installing Python packages. A setup.py script contains metadata about the package such as its name, version, author, license, dependencies, and more. It also contains instructions for building, testing, and installing the package. The primary purpose of the setup.py script is to automate the package distribution process. It provides the metadata needed to package and distribute the code. With a setup.py file, you can easily package your code into an installable package, upload it to PyPI (Python Package Index), and distribute your package to users. The benefits of using a setup.py script include: – Easy package distribution: With a setup.py script, packaging and distributing your code is straightforward. – Automatic installation: By using a setup.py script, the user can quickly install the package and its dependencies. – Metadata organization: All the package’s metadata is stored in one place, making it easier to manage. – Standard format: The setup.py script is a widely used standard format in Python development. Contents and Usage of the Script A typical setup.py script contains the following sections: – Metadata: This section provides metadata about the package such as the name, version, author, and license. – Package description: This section contains a brief description of the package. – Dependencies: This section lists the package dependencies. – Scripts: This section contains any scripts that come with the package. – Entry points: This section defines entry points for the package. – Tests: This section provides instructions for testing the package. To use a setup.py script, simply run the script with the appropriate command, such as “python setup.py build” or “python setup.py install”. The script will then build and package the code according to the metadata and instructions provided. GitHub: Importance of Using GitHub for Open Source Projects GitHub is a popular web-based hosting service for software development projects that use Git. It provides developers with a platform to collaborate, manage, and share their source code. GitHub is known for its social coding features and has become the central hub for open-source software development. The importance of using GitHub for open source projects includes: – Collaboration: GitHub allows developers to easily collaborate on projects regardless of their location or time zones. – Community: GitHub provides a space for developers to share their projects with the wider community and receive feedback and contributions. – Version control: GitHub provides robust version control features, allowing developers to track changes to their code and easily revert to previous versions. – Project management: GitHub provides tools for managing projects, such as project boards, to help developers stay organized and meet project deadlines. Managing Pull Requests One of the key features of GitHub is its pull request system. A pull request is a mechanism for contributing code changes to a project. When a developer creates a pull request, they are proposing a code change that can be reviewed and discussed before being merged into the codebase. Managing pull requests involves reviewing and merging code changes proposed by contributors. GitHub provides features for managing pull requests, such as reviewing changes, tracking discussions, and setting merge requirements. It also provides automated testing tools to ensure that code changes do not break the existing codebase. Effective pull request management involves setting clear guidelines for contributing code changes, reviewing pull requests promptly, and providing constructive feedback to contributors. By managing pull requests effectively, developers can ensure that code changes are thoroughly reviewed and tested before being merged into the codebase. In conclusion, software development involves many different aspects, including project layout, licensing, documentation, contributing guidelines, setup scripts, and version control. By understanding these components and using tools such as GitHub and setup.py scripts, developers can build high-quality software projects that are easy to distribute, manage, and maintain. Effective pull request management and collaboration are also essential to the success of open-source software projects. In the previous sections, we have discussed several vital aspects of software development, such as project layout, licensing, GitHub, README files, and contributing guidelines. In this section, we will explore two additional essential components of software development: versioning, branching, and releases; and documentation. Versioning, Branching, and Releases: Semantic Versioning and Documenting Backward Incompatible Changes Versioning is the process of identifying and keeping track of changes that are made to software code. Versioning helps to manage different versions of the codebase and ensure that changes are appropriately documented and tracked. Semantic versioning, or SemVer, is a versioning scheme designed to provide consistency in version numbers for software projects. SemVer defines version numbers in the format of MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH, where: – MAJOR represents a major version change that may include backward incompatible changes or significant new features. – MINOR represents a minor version change that may include additional functionality but is still backward compatible. – PATCH represents a patch version change that includes only bug fixes and backward-compatible changes. When a change is made to the codebase, it is essential to document whether it is backward compatible with previous versions. If it is not backward compatible, it should be included as part of the next major version change. Keeping Master Stable and Using Feature Branches Maintaining a stable codebase is essential for a successful software project. Keeping master, the main development branch, stable means that any changes made to the codebase have been thoroughly tested and are ready to be released. Feature branches are used for developing new features or making significant changes to the codebase. By using feature branches, developers can easily collaborate on new features without affecting the stable master branch. Once the feature is complete, it can be merged back into the main branch and tested thoroughly before being released. It’s important to establish clear guidelines and rules for working with branches to ensure that code changes are tracked, reviewed, and tested correctly. Documentation: Importance and Benefits of Good Documentation Documentation is a crucial component of software development that provides information on how to use, configure and develop a software project. Good documentation can help new developers get up to speed quickly, reduce the time and cost of learning, and increase the reliability of software projects. The benefits of good documentation include: – Increased readability and clarity – Accelerates the development process – Increases collaboration and communication – Increases trust of the user Without good documentation, developers might waste time deciphering code and researching functionality that should have been easier to understand. Documentation is especially crucial for developers that do not understand the context of the codebase being used. Use of Read The Docs and Sphinx-Based Documentation Project Read The Docs is a service that hosts documentation for open source projects. It automatically builds documentation based on code changes using tools such as Sphinx. Sphinx is a tool for creating documentation for Python projects. Sphinx-based documentation projects offer many benefits, such as: – Easy to use: Sphinx uses a simple and intuitive markup language similar to Markdown. – Cross-referencing: Sphinx can easily cross-reference other documentation pages and modules. – Customizable: Sphinx can be customized with different themes and extensions to make documentation more visually appealing. By using Read The Docs and Sphinx-based documentation projects, developers can quickly create high-quality documentation that is easy to navigate and understand. In conclusion, versioning, branching, releases, and documentation are vital components of software development. By adhering to semantic versioning and documenting backward incompatible changes, developers can manage different versions of codebase and ensure that critical changes are documented correctly. Effective branching and release strategies help ensure that master remains stable, and code changes are thoroughly tested before being released. Good documentation is essential to ensure that software projects are reliable, easy to use, and consistent. Sphinx-based documentation projects and Read The Docs can help developers create documentation that is professional, easy to navigate, and visually appealing.
Life in a fifth grade classroom nestled in the cool morning shadows of the beautiful Green Mountains of Vermont. Wednesday, September 28, 2011 Some of you asked me to post a video of the multiplication process. I know that sometimes, over the summer, you can forget the process of multiplying by several digits. Sometimes, too, students have misunderstood the process, or simply "mis-remember" it. So, for your assistance while doing homework, here it is! I hope that you find it helpful.
This high-elevation, grassland system is dominated by perennial grasses and forbs found on dry sites, particularly south-facing slopes, typically imbedded in or above subalpine forests and woodlands. Disturbance such as fire also plays a role in maintaining these open grassy areas, although drought and exposed site locations are primary characteristics limiting tree growth. It is most extensive in the eastern Cascades, although it also occurs in the Olympic Mountains. Alpine and subalpine dry grasslands are small openings to large open ridges above or drier than high-elevation conifer trees. In general, soil textures are much finer, and soils are often deeper under grasslands than in the neighboring forests. These grasslands, although composed primarily of tussock-forming species, do exhibit a dense sod that makes root penetration difficult for tree species. Typical dominant species include Festuca idahoensis, Festuca viridula, and Festuca roemeri (the latter species occurring only in the Olympic Mountains). This system is similar to Northern Rocky Mountain Subalpine-Upper Montane Grassland (CES306.806), differing in its including dry alpine habitats, more North Pacific floristic elements, greater snowpack, and higher precipitation. Information Source: http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/
Sleep is often undervalued in our fast-paced society, where productivity and busy schedules take precedence. However, the importance of sleep cannot be overstated. It is a fundamental biological need that profoundly impacts our physical health, mental well-being, and overall quality of life. In this article, we will explore the critical role of sleep in maintaining optimal health and wellbeing, the consequences of sleep deprivation, and practical strategies for achieving better sleep. The Fundamentals of Sleep Before delving into the impact of sleep on health and wellbeing, let's understand the basics of sleep itself. Sleep Cycles: Sleep is not a uniform state; it consists of cycles with distinct stages. These cycles include rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, where vivid dreaming occurs, and non-REM (NREM) sleep, which further divides into three stages. Each cycle typically lasts around 90 minutes, and a full night's sleep comprises multiple cycles. Sleep Duration: The recommended amount of sleep varies by age, with adults generally requiring 7 to 9 hours of quality sleep per night. However, individual needs can differ, and some may function well with slightly more or less sleep. Circadian Rhythm: Our bodies have an internal biological clock, known as the circadian rhythm, which regulates the sleep-wake cycle. This natural rhythm is influenced by external cues, such as daylight, and plays a vital role in regulating the sleep patterns of all living organisms. The Impact of Sleep on Physical Health Cardiovascular Health: Adequate sleep is crucial for a healthy heart. Chronic sleep deprivation has been linked to an increased risk of hypertension (high blood pressure), coronary artery disease, and stroke. During deep sleep, the body repairs and maintains blood vessels and the heart. Immune Function: Quality sleep is essential for a robust immune system. Sleep helps the body produce cytokines, proteins that support immune response, and boosts the production of white blood cells, which defend against infections. Sleep deprivation weakens the immune system, making you more susceptible to illness. Weight Management: Sleep plays a pivotal role in regulating appetite and metabolism. Sleep deprivation disrupts hormones responsible for hunger and fullness, leading to increased cravings for high-calorie foods and weight gain. Obesity and sleep problems are often interconnected. Diabetes Risk: Poor sleep quality and insufficient sleep duration can contribute to insulin resistance, a precursor to type 2 diabetes. Maintaining a healthy sleep pattern can help manage blood sugar levels. Chronic Diseases: Research indicates that chronic sleep deprivation is associated with an increased risk of various chronic conditions, including cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and mood disorders. The Impact of Sleep on Mental Wellbeing Mood Regulation: Sleep has a profound impact on mood. Inadequate sleep can lead to irritability, mood swings, and an increased risk of mood disorders such as depression and anxiety. It's a two-way relationship, as these conditions can also disrupt sleep. Cognitive Function: Quality sleep is vital for cognitive functions such as memory, problem-solving, and decision-making. Sleep deprivation impairs these functions, making it difficult to concentrate and perform well in daily tasks. Emotional Resilience: A good night's sleep enhances emotional resilience, helping you better cope with stress and adversity. Sleep allows the brain to process and regulate emotions, contributing to a more balanced mental state. Psychiatric Disorders: Chronic sleep problems are common in individuals with psychiatric disorders, and they can exacerbate the symptoms of conditions like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The Consequences of Sleep Deprivation Chronic sleep deprivation, often driven by lifestyle factors such as work demands, electronic devices, and social commitments, can lead to a range of detrimental consequences. These include: Daytime Fatigue: Excessive daytime sleepiness can affect concentration, performance, and safety, particularly when driving or operating machinery. Reduced Productivity: Sleep-deprived individuals often struggle to focus, make decisions, and complete tasks efficiently, which can hinder work and academic performance. Memory Problems: Sleep plays a crucial role in memory consolidation. Sleep deprivation can impair both short-term and long-term memory. Weakened Immune System: As mentioned earlier, sleep deprivation can weaken the immune system, making you more susceptible to infections. Mood Disorders: Sleep problems are closely linked to mood disorders such as depression and anxiety, and they can exacerbate these conditions. Weight Gain: Poor sleep can lead to weight gain due to imbalanced hunger hormones and increased cravings for unhealthy foods. Practical Strategies for Better Sleep Now that we understand the profound impact of sleep on health and wellbeing, let's explore some practical strategies for improving sleep: Establish a Sleep Schedule: Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends. This helps regulate your body's internal clock. Create a Relaxing Bedtime Routine: Wind down before sleep by engaging in relaxing activities, such as reading, taking a warm bath, or practicing relaxation exercises. Limit Screen Time: The blue light emitted by phones, tablets, and computers can interfere with your sleep-wake cycle. Avoid screens at least an hour before bedtime. Watch Your Diet: Avoid heavy meals, caffeine, and alcohol close to bedtime. These can disrupt sleep patterns. Optimize Your Sleep Environment: Ensure your bedroom is cool, dark, and quiet. Invest in a comfortable mattress and pillows. Exercise Regularly: Physical activity can improve sleep quality, but avoid vigorous exercise close to bedtime. Manage Stress: Practice stress-reduction techniques such as mindfulness meditation, deep breathing exercises, or yoga to calm the mind. Limit Naps: While short naps can be rejuvenating, long daytime naps can interfere with nighttime sleep. Keep naps under 30 minutes. Limit Liquid Intake Before Bed: Minimize the chances of nighttime awakenings by reducing fluid intake in the hours leading up to bedtime. Seek Professional Help: If sleep problems persist and significantly impact your life, consult a healthcare provider or sleep specialist for evaluation and treatment options. Sleep is a fundamental pillar of health and wellbeing, influencing every aspect of our lives. It plays a vital role in physical health, mental wellbeing, and overall quality of life. Recognizing the significance of sleep and implementing healthy sleep habits can lead to a happier, healthier, and more productive life. Prioritizing sleep is not a luxury but a necessity for a balanced and fulfilling existence. So, the next time you're tempted to sacrifice sleep for productivity, remember that a good night's rest is an investment in your long-term health and happiness. Offline Website Software
Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome (BWS) Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS) refers to an overgrowth condition characterized by a larger than normal physical build during childhood. For some affected individuals, the body parts on one side are larger which causes an uneven appearance. The growth typically slows down by age 8 and the condition is not that apparent during adulthood. The symptoms vary; these include abdominal wall defects (such as abdominal wall opening and hernia, macrosomia, macroglossia, kidney problems, and creases near the ears. Those with this condition are at an increased risk of developing kidney cancer; however, most patients have normal life expectancies. The treatment is generally a management of the symptoms and prevention of complications. BWS is caused by an abnormality in the 11th chromosome; around 85% of cases report a family member with the same condition. This was first described by Bruce Beckwith and Rudolf Wiedemann in the 1960s.
Author of Ed Engoron’s Choclatique, Running Press, 2011 The research keeps coming in and getting better on the health benefits of dark chocolate. Researchers in Australia collected data over 2,000 people who had metabolic syndrome—which is a cluster of medical issues that includes high blood pressure, a large waist and low levels of “good” cholesterol—and used mathematical equations to predict how eating a dose of dark chocolate daily could affect the number of strokes and heart attacks the group would be expected to have. And they found that eating dark chocolate every day may lower the risk of having a heart attack or stroke for people at higher risk of these conditions. Based on their results, the researchers calculated that for every 10,000 people with metabolic syndrome who ate 3.5 ounces (100g) of dark chocolate every day for 10 years, 70 non-fatal and 15 fatal cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks or strokes, could be prevented. In the past studies have shown that the risk of cardiovascular disease can be lowered over the short-term by eating compounds called flavonoids, which are abundant in dark chocolate. Flavonoids are known to have antihypertensive and anti-inflammatory effects, which relieve pressures on the heart. The new study suggests that eating dark chocolate is a cost-efficient way to reduce the number of heart attacks and strokes. The researchers noted that the study only looked at strokes and heart attacks, so how dark chocolate might affect the risks of other cardiovascular diseases, such as heart failure, must still be assessed. The study was published on May 31st 2001 in the British Medical Journal, and was funded by the Australian Research Council and the drug company Sanofi-Aventis Australia. ChefSecret: Let people with higher risk of heart attack or stroke know that adding dark chocolate, like Choclatique Q-91, to their daily diet may reduce health-related risks.
Watercourse states shall, individually and, where appropriate, jointly, protect and preserve the ecosystems of international watercourses. What is an ‘ecosystem’? An ecosystem is… - ‘…a dynamic complex of plant, animal, and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment interacting as a functional unit’ (Article 2, UN Convention on Biological Diversity (adopted 5 June 1992, entered into force 29 December 1992) (1992) 31 International Legal Materials 822) - ‘a system of plants, animals and micro-organisms together with the non-living components of the environment’ (Experts Group on Environmental Law, Legal Principles and recommendations (WCED 1987)) A water-related ecosystem is… - ‘ an ecosystem such as a forest, wetlands, grasslands and agricultural land that plays a vital role in the hydrological cycle through the service it provides’ (UNECE, Recommendations on Payments for Ecosystem Services in Integrated Water Resources Management (UNECE 2007), 2) Download Fact Sheets
Habitat - Wildlife Area Management Date Published: November 2006 Number of Pages: 79 Author(s): John McGowan and Leray Stream Acquisition of the Oak Creek Wildlife Area properties was initiated in 1939 to provide a home for the Yakima elk herd to reduce conflict with private landowners, orchard growers, and livestock interests. Land purchases continued from 1940 through the 1970â€™s in the Oak Creek, Cowiche, and Bethel Ridge areas and trades with DNR and Boise Cascade resulted in the current Wildlife Area of approximately 43,000 acres that includes alternating sections of DNR ownership. Most of these lands were purchased with Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Funds. An additional 10,000 acres were recently added to the Wildlife Area with the purchase of the Tieton lands from the Nature Conservancy. These lands provide a diverse mix of low elevation open shrub-steppe and forested habitat that provide key deer and elk winter range, approximately 20 miles west of Yakima, in Yakima County. A supplemental winter-feeding program was started at Oak Creek around 1968 to control wandering herds of elk to minimize damage to surrounding private lands, and miles of eight-foot high elk fence were constructed to stop elk movement into lower elevation agricultural lands during winter months. The feeding operations supports a popular viewing opportunity and provide the Department of Fish and Wildlife with excellent public relations and educational opportunity, with over 100,000 visitors passing through the Wildlife Area each year. The Oak Creek unit is surrounded on three sides by lands under management of Federal or State agencies, including the USFS Wenatchee National Forest (Naches Ranger District), WDFW (Wenas Wildlife Area), and Washington Department of Natural Resources (WDNR). These agencies manage their lands for natural resource protection, with objectives for salmonid recovery, enhanced range and forest condition and production, and beneficial wildlife management activities. WDFW and DNR are currently negotiating a land exchange to allow both agencies to manage their properties more efficiently since it consolidates a large portion of their respective ownerships. It also significantly increases the certainty that â€˜at riskâ€™ shrub steppe lands will be protected in perpetuity for fish and wildlife resources and related recreation. The primary management concerns and public issues identified in the Oak Creek Wildlife Area plan are: - Protecting and enhancing shrub-steppe, riparian and forest habitats. - Maintaining fish and wildlife populations through habitat protection and enhancements. - Monitoring and managing the impacts of public use on wintering elk and other species. - Providing public access compatible with fish, wildlife and habitat protection. - Controlling noxious weeds identified by the Yakima County Noxious Weed Board. - Protecting fish habitat and water quality by monitoring detrimental impacts. In 2006, WA staff continued efforts to control elk herds by maintaining supplemental feeding, fence maintenance, and winter range closures. Approximately 150 acres of recently logged area in the N. Fork Oak Creek was reseeded as forage enhancement for elk. Grant applications for the acquisition of 300 acres of riparian habitat were successful, and cooperative management of large land ownerships adjacent to the Wildlife Area were continued. Public education, information stations, wildlife viewing, and various administrative efficiencies were also accomplished in 2006. Plans for 2007 include: act as lead for a cooperative prescribed burn on the Tieton lands; initiate a large-scale forage reseeding project utilizing a two-year RMEF grant; inventory and draft an updated RMAP for the Wildlife Area; complete installation of a high-speed internet system and wildlife cameras; and begin infrastructure removal and enhancement projects on the Oak Flats riparian project. Additionally, all of the normal activities noted in 2006 above will occur in 2007. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. 2006. Oak Creek Wildlife Area Management Plan. Wildlife Management Program, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Olympia. 79 pp. Draft documents are provided for informational purposes only. Drafts may contain factual inaccuracies and may not reflect current WDFW policy. Persons with disabilities who need to receive this information in an alternative format or who need reasonable accommodations to participate in WDFW-sponsored public meetings or other activities may contact Dolores Noyes by phone (360-902-2349), TTY (360-902-2207), or email (email@example.com ). For more information, see http://wdfw.wa.gov/accessibility/reasonable_request.html
Exposition of the Old and New Testament, by John Gill, [1746-63], at sacred-texts.com gen 10:0INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 10 This chapter gives an account of the posterity of the three sons of Noah, by whom the world was peopled after the flood, Gen 10:1 of the posterity of Japheth, Gen 10:2 of the posterity of Ham, Gen 10:6 and of the posterity of Shem, Gen 10:21. gen 10:1Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah,.... The genealogy of them, and which is of great use to show the original of the several nations of the world, from whence they sprung, and by whom they were founded; and to confute the pretended antiquity of some nations, as the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Chinese, and others; and to point out the particular people, which were to be the seat of the church of God for many ages, and from whom the Messiah was to spring; which seems to be the principal view of the history of Moses, and of this genealogy, with which should be compared Ch1 1:1 Shem, Ham, and Japheth; see Gen 5:32. and unto them were sons born after the flood; for they had none born to them either before the flood or in it; they were married before the flood, for their wives went into the ark with them; but it does not appear they had any children before, though they then were near an hundred years old; and if they had, they were not in the ark, and therefore must perish with the rest, which is not likely: Shem's son Arphaxad was born two years after the flood, Gen 11:10 when the rest were born, either his or his brethren's, is not said; however they were all born after the flood; though some pretend that Canaan was born in the ark (y), during the flood, for which there is no authority; yea, it is confuted in this chapter, where Canaan stands among the sons of Ham, born to him after the flood. (y) See Bayle's Dictionary, vol. 10. art. "Ham", p. 587. gen 10:2The sons of Japheth,.... Who though mentioned last, the genealogy begins with him, by a figure which rhetoricians call a "chiasm". The posterity of Japheth are those whom Hesiod (z) often calls "Iapetionides", and him "Iapetus". According to Josephus (a), the sons of Japheth inhabited the earth, beginning from the mountains Taurus and Amanus, and then went on in Asia unto the river Tanais, and in Europe unto Gadira. Seven of his sons are mentioned, and the first is Gomer; from whom, according to the same writer (b), came the Gomareans or Gomerites, in his time called by the Greeks Galatians, that is, the Gauls of Asia minor, who inhabited Phrygia; both Gomer and Phrygia signifying the same, as Bochart (c) observes, and the country looking as if it was torrified or burnt; and Pliny (d) makes mention of a town in Phrygia, called Cimmeris; and the Cimmerians and Cimbri are derived by some from this Gomer, whom Herodotus (e) makes mention of as in Asia and Scythia, and speaks of a country called Cimmerius, and of the Cimmerian Bosphorus; and these seem to be the Gauls before mentioned, under a different name; and it is to be observed, that the Welsh, who sprung from the Gauls, call themselves to this day Cumero, or Cymro and Cumeri. It is plain from Eze 38:6 that Gomer and his people lay to the north of Judea, and the posterity of Japheth went first into the northern parts of Asia, and then spread themselves into Europe: six more of his sons follow, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras; the first of these, Magog, was the father of a northern people which bore his name, see Eze 38:2 and according to Josephus (f), who is generally followed, are the same that were called Scythians; from Madai came the Medes, often spoken of in Scripture, along with the Persians; so Josephus (g) says, from him came the nation of Madaeans, whom the Greeks call Medes; and very frequently in Scripture the Medes go by the name of Madai, their original ancestor; see Dan 5:28 but Mr. Mede (h) is of opinion, that Macedonia was the seat of this Madai, which was formerly called Aemathia; that is, as he gives the etymology of it, "Madai", the country of Madai; but the former sense is generally received. Javan is by all agreed to be the father of the Grecians; hence Alexander, king of Grecia, is in Dan 8:21 called king of Javan; and one part of Greece bore the name of Ionia; and the sea that washed it is called the Ionian sea. And his posterity are "Iaonians", in Homer (i) and Aristophanes (k); and the scholiast of the latter says, that the Barbarians call all Greeks Iaonians. The next son of Japheth is Tubal or Thobel, as Josephus calls him, who says (l) the Thobelians in his time were called Iberians, a people in Asia, that dwelt near the Euxine sea; and in Albania was a place called Thabilaca, as may be seen in Ptolemy (m), and another called Thilbis, from whom might spring the Iberians in Europe, now called Spaniards; but Bochart (n) thinks that the Tibarenes are the descendants of Tubal, a people that dwelt between the Trapezuntii and Armenia the less; and he wonders that this never was thought of by any; but in that he is mistaken, for our countryman Mr. Broughton (o) makes the Tibarenes to spring from Tubal; and Epiphanius (p) many hundreds of years before him. Meshech, his next son, is mentioned along with Tubal in Eze 27:13 from him came the Mosocheni, as Josephus (q), who in his time were called Cappadocians, with whom there was a city then named Mazaca, since Caesarea (r); and these seem to be the same that Pliny (s) calls Moscheni, who inhabited the mountains Moschici, which were at the north east of Cappadocia. Some derive the Muscovites from them, which is not improbable: the last of Japheth's sons is Tiras or Thiras, which Jarchi interprets very wrongly by Paras, or Persia; much better the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, and so a Jewish chronologer (t), by Thracia; for the descendants of Thiras, as Josephus (u) observes, the Greeks call Thracians; and in Thrace was a river called Atyras (w), which has in it a trace of this man's name; and Odrysus, whom the Thracians worshipped, is the same with Tiras, which god sometimes goes by the name of Thuras; and is one of the names of Mars, the god of the Thracians. (z) In Theogonia. (a) Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1. (b) Ib. (c) Phaleg. l. 3. c. 8. col. 171, 172. (d) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 30. (e) Clio sive, l. 1. c. 16, 103. & Melpomene sive, l. 4. c. 11, 12, 13. (f) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.) (g) Ib. (h) Dissert. 48. (i) Iliad. 13. ver. 685. (k) Acharneus. act. 1. scen. 3. p. 376. (l) Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1. (m) Geograph. l. 5. c. 12. (n) Phaleg. l. 3. c. 12. col. 180. (o) See his Works, p. 2, 58. (p) Ancorat. p. 546. (q) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.) (r) Vid. Ammian. Marcellin. l. 20. p. 170. Ed. Vales. (s) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 9, 10. (t) Sepher Juchasin, fol. 145. 1. Vid. T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 10. 1. (u) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.) (w) Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 4. c. 11. gen 10:3And the sons of Gomer,.... Who was the first of the sons of Japheth, three of whose sons are mentioned, and they are as follow: Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah; the first of these seated himself in the lesser Asia, in Pontus and Bithynia, where were some traces of his name in the river Ascanius, and in the Ascanian lake or bay; and also in the lesser Phrygia or Troas, where was a city called Ascania, and where were the Ascanian isles (x), and the Euxine Pontus, or Axeine (y), as it was first called, which is the sea that separates Asia and Europe, and is no other than a corruption of the sea of Ashkenaz. It seems to have been near Armenia, by its being mentioned along with Minni or Armenia, in Jer 51:27. Germany is by the Jews commonly called Ashkenaz; perhaps some of the posterity of Ashkenaz in Asia might pass into Europe, and Germany might be a colony of them; so Mr. Broughton (z) observes of the sons of Gomer, that they first took their seat in Asia, and then came north and west into Muscovy and Germany. The next son of Gomer was Riphath. Josephus (a) says, that the Riphathaeans which came from him are the Paphlagonians, a people of Asia Minor, near Pontus, so that he settled near his brother Ashkenaz; perhaps his posterity are the Arimphaei of Pliny (b), and the Riphaeans of Mela (c), who inhabited near the Riphaean mountains, which might have their name from this son of Gomer, who in Ch1 1:6 is called Diphath, the letters and being very similar. His third son is called Togarmah, who had his seat in the north of Judea, see Eze 38:6 his posterity are the Phrygians, according to Josephus (d); but some place them in Galatia and Cappadocia; and Strabo (e) makes mention of a people called Trocmi, on the borders of Pontus and Cappadocia; and Cicero (f) of the Trogmi or Trogini, who may have their name from hence; for the Greek interpreters always call him Torgama or Thorgana. The Jews make the Turks to be the posterity of Togarmah. Elias Levita says (g), there are some that say that Togarmah is the land of Turkey; and Benjamin of Tudela (h) calls a Turkish sultan king of the Togarmans, that is, the Turks; and among the ten families of Togarmah, which Josephus ben Gorion (i) speaks of, the Turks are one; and perhaps this notion may not be amiss, since the company of Togarmah is mentioned with Gog, or the Turk; see Gill on Eze 38:6. The Armenians pretend to be the descendants of Togarmah, who, with them, is the son of Tiras, the son of Gomer, by his son Haik, from whom they and their country, from all antiquity, have bore the name of Haik (k). (x) Strabo Geograph. l. 12. p. 387, 388. & l. 14. p. 468. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 4. 12. & 5. 30, 31, 32. (y) Vid. Orphei Argonautic, ver. 84. (z) See his Works, p. 2, 58. (a) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.) (b) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 2. (c) De Situ Orbis, l. 1. c. 2. (d) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.) (e) Geograph. l. 4. p. 130. & l. 12. p. 390. (f) De Divinatione, l. 2. (g) In Tishbi, p. 259. (h) ltinerarium, p. 27, 54. (i) Hist. Heb. l. 1. c. 1. p. 3. (k) See the Universal History, vol. 1. p. 377. gen 10:4And the sons of Javan,.... Another son of Japheth; four sons of Javan are mentioned, which gave names to countries, and are as follow: Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim; the first of these, Elishah, gave name to the Elysaeans, now called Aeoles, as Josephus (l) says; hence the country Aeolia, and the Aeolic dialect, all from this name; and there are many traces of it in the several parts of Greece. Hellas, a large country in it, has its name from him; so the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem interpret Elishah by Allas. Elis in Peloponnesus, Eleusis in Attica, the river Elissus, or Ilissus, and the Elysian fields, are so called from him. Tarshish, second son of Javan, gave name to Tarsus, by which Cilicia was formerly called, as Josephus says (m), of which the city named Tarsus was the metropolis, the birth place of the Apostle Paul, Act 22:3. Hence the Mediterranean sea is called Tarshish, because the Cicilians were masters of it; and Tartessus in Spain might be a colony from them, as Broughton observes; and so Eusebius says, from the Tarsinns are the Iberians, or Spaniards; and which Bochart (n) approves of, and confirms by various evidences; and Hillerus, (o) makes Tarshish to be the author of the Celtae, that is, of the Spanish, French, and German nations. The third son of Javan is Kittim, whom Josephus (p) places in the island of Cyprus, a city there being called Citium, from whence was Zeno the Citian: but rather the people that sprung from him are those whom Homer (q) calls Cetii; and are placed by Strabo (r) to the west of Cilicia, in the western parts of which are two provinces, mentioned by Ptolemy (s), the one called Cetis, the other Citis: likewise this Kittim seems to be the father both of the Macedonians and the Latines; for Alexander the great is said to come from Cittim, and Perseus king of Macedon is called king of Cittim,"And it happened, after that Alexander son of Philip, the Macedonian, who came out of the land of Chettiim, had smitten Darius king of the Persians and Medes, that he reigned in his stead, the first over Greece,'' (1 Maccabees 1:1)"Beside this, how they had discomfited in battle Philip, and Perseus, king of the Citims, with others that lifted up themselves against them, and had overcome them:'' (1 Maccabees 8:5)and Macedonia is sometimes called Macetia, as it is in Gellius (t), which has something of the name of Cittim or Cetim in it; and also the Latines or Romans seem to spring from hence, who may be thought to be meant by Cittim in Num 24:24 Dan 11:30 and Eusebius says the Citians are a people from whom came the Sabines, who also are Romans; and in Latium was a city called Cetia, as says Halicarnassensis (u); and Bochart (w) has shown, that Latium and Cethem signify the same, and both have their names from words that signify to hide; "latium a latendo", and "celhem", from "to hide", see Jer 2:22 in which sense the word is frequently used in the Arabic language; and Cittim in the Jerusalem Targum is here called Italy. The last son of Javan mentioned is Dodanim; he is omitted by Josephus: his country is by the Targum of Jonathan called Dordania; and by the Jerusalem Targum Dodonia; and he and his posterity are placed by Mr. Mede in part of Peloponnessus and Epirus, in which was the city of Dodona, where were the famous temple and oracle of Jupiter Dodonaeus, under which name this man was worshipped. In Ch1 1:7 he is called Rodanim, and in the Samaritan version here; and the word is by the Septuagint translated Rodians; which have led some to think of the island of Rhodes as the seat, and the inhabitants of it as the posterity of this man; but Bochart (x) is of opinion, that they settled in the country now called France, gave the name to the river Rhodanus, and called the adjacent country Rhodanusia, and where formerly was a city of that name, much about the same tract where now stands Marseilles; but this seems too remote for a son of Javan. (l) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.) (m) Ib. (n) Phaleg. l. 3. c. 7. (o) Onomastic. Saer. p. 944. (p) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.) (q) Odyss. 11. ver. 520. (r) Geograph. l. 13. p. 423. (s) Ibid. l. 5. c. 8. (t) Attic. Noct. l. 9. c. 3. (u) Hist. l. 8. p. 376. (w) Phaleg. l. 3. c. 5. col. 159, 160. (x) Phaleg. l. 3. c. 6. col. 163, 164. gen 10:5By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands,.... That is, by those sons of Japheth before mentioned; and by "isles" are meant, not countries surrounded with water, for the isles in this sense would not have been sufficient for the posterity of Japheth; nor can it be thought they would leave the continent, where there was room enough for them, and go into islands; and besides must have found it difficult to get there, when shipping and navigation were little known: but it is usual with the Hebrews, of whom Moses, the writer of this history, was, to call all places beyond the Mediterranean sea, or whatsoever they went to by sea, or that were upon the sea coasts, islands, as Greece, Italy, &c. Moreover, the word sometimes signifies countries, as it does in Job 22:30 and so should be rendered here, as it is by some (y), "the countries of the Gentiles"; so called, because in the times of Moses, and at the writing of this history, those countries were inhabited by Heathens and idolaters, strangers to the true religion: and this division was not made at random, and at the pleasure of a rude company of men, but in an orderly regular manner, with the consent, and by the advice and direction of the principal men of those times; and especially it was directed by the wise providence of the most High, who divided to the nations their inheritance, and set the bounds of the people, Deu 32:8. everyone after his tongue, after their families, in their nations; this shows, that what is said concerning the division of countries to the sons of Japheth is by way of anticipation; and that, though thus related, was not done till after the confusion of languages, since the partition was made according to the different languages of men; those that were of the same language went and dwelt together, the several nations of them, and the several families in those nations; by which it appears that this was done by consultation, with great care and wisdom, ranging the people according to their tongues; of which nations were formed, and with them were taken the several families they consisted of. (y) "regiones gentium", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Patrick. gen 10:6And the sons of Ham,.... Next to the sons of Japheth, the sons of Ham are reckoned; these, Josephus (z) says, possessed the land from Syria, and the mountains of Amanus and Lebanon; laying hold on whatever was towards the sea, claiming to themselves the countries unto the ocean, whose names, some of them, are entirely lost, and others so greatly changed and deflected into other tongues, that they can scarcely be known, and few whose names are preserved entire; and the same observation will hold good of others. Four of the sons of Ham are mentioned: Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan; the first of these, Cush, Josephus (a) says, has suffered no loss by time; for the Ethiopians, whose prince he was, are to this day by themselves, and all in Asia, called Chusaeans: but though this word Cush, as used in Scripture, is generally rendered by us Ethiopia, this must not be understood of Ethiopia in Africa, but in Arabia; and indeed is always to be understood of one part of Arabia, and which was near to the land of Judea; so Moses's wife is called an Ethiopian, when she was an Arabian, or of Midian, Num 12:1 and Chusan and Midian are mentioned together, Hab 3:7 see Kg2 19:9, Ch2 14:9 and Bochart (b) has shown, by various arguments, that the land of Cush was Arabia; and so the Targum of Jonathan interprets it here Arabia. There was a city called Cutha in Erac, a province in the country of Babylon (c), where Nimrod the son of Cush settled, which probably was called so from his father's name. Here the eastern writers say (d) Abraham was born, and is the same place mentioned in Kg2 17:24. The second son of Ham was Mizraim, the same with the Misor of Sanchoniatho (e), and the Menes of Herodotus (f), the first king of Egypt, and the builder of the city of Memphis in Egypt, called by the Turks to this day Mitzir (g). Mitzraim is a name by which Egypt is frequently called in Scripture, and this man was the father of the Egyptians; and because Egypt was inhabited by a son of Ham, it is sometimes called the land of Ham, Psa 105:23. The word is of the dual number, and serves to express Egypt by, which was divided into two parts, lower and upper Egypt. Josephus says (h), we call Egypt, Mestres, and all the Egyptians that inhabit it, Mestraeans; so the country is called by Cedrenus (i), Mestre; and Kairo, a principal city in it, is to this day by the Arabians called Al-messer, as Dr. Shaw (k) relates. The third son of Ham is Phut; of whom Josephus (l) says, that he founded Libya, calling the inhabitants of it after his name, Phuteans; and observes, that there is a river in the country of the Moors of his name; and that many of the Greek historians, who make mention of this river, also make mention of a country adjacent to it, called Phute: mention is made of this river as in Mauritania, both by Pliny (m) and Ptolemy (n) and by the latter of a city called Putea: this Phut is the Apollo Pythius of the Heathens, as some think. The last son of Ham is Canaan, the father of the Canaanites, a people well known in Scripture. Concerning these sons of Ham, there is a famous fragment of Eupolemus preserved in Eusebius (o); and is this;"the Babylonians say, that the first was Belus, called Cronus or Saturn (that is, Noah), and of him was begotten another Belus and Chanaan (it should be read Cham), and he (i.e. Ham) begat Chanaan, the father of the Phoenicians; and of him another son, Chus, was begotten, whom the Greeks call Asbolos, the father of the Ethiopians, and the brother of Mestraim, the father of the Egyptians.'' (z) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect 1.) (a) Ibid. (b) Phaleg. l. 4. c. 2. (c) Vid. Hyde Hist. Relig. Pers. c. 2. p. 39, 40. (d) Vid. Hyde Hist. Relig. Pers. c. 2. p. 72. (e) Apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 1. p. 36. (f) Enterpe sive, l. 2. c. 4. 99. (g) See Cumberland's Sanchoniatho, p. 59. (h) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect 1.) (i) Apud Grotium de vera Christ. Relig. l. 1. p. 8. & Ainsworth in loc. (k) Travels, ch. 3. p. 294. Ed. 2. (l) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect 1.) (m) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 1. (n) Geograph. l. 4. c. 1, 3. (o) Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 17. p. 419. gen 10:7And the sons of Cush,.... The first born of Ham, who had five sons, next mentioned, besides Nimrod, spoken of afterwards by himself: Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha; the first of these is Seba, the founder of the Sabaeans, according to Josephus (p), a people seated in Arabia Deserta, which seem to be the Sabaeans brought from the wilderness, Eze 23:42 and very probably the same that plundered Job of his cattle, Job 1:14. The second son is Havilah, who, as Josephus (q) says, was the father of the Evilaeans, now called Getuli; but the posterity of Havilah seem to be the same whom Strabo (r) calls Chaulotaeans, and whom he speaks of along with the Nabataeans and Agraeans, a people near Arabia Felix; and by Pliny (s) they are called Chavelaeans, and whom he speaks of as Arabians, and places them to the east of the Arabian Scenites. The third son is Sabtah; from him, Josephus (t) says, came the Sabathenes, who, by the Greeks, are called Astabari; the posterity of this man seemed to have settled in some part of Arabia Felix, since Ptolemy (u) makes mention of Sabbatha as the metropolis of that country, called by Pliny (w) Sabotale, or rather Sabota, as it should be read; Ptolemy places another city in this country he calls Saphtha, which seems to have its name from this man. The fourth son is Raamah or Ragmas, as Josephus calls (x) him, from whom sprung the Ragmaeans he says; and most of the ancients call him Rhegmah, the letter being pronounced as a "G", as in Gaza and Gomorrah: his posterity were also seated in Arabia Felix, near the Persian Gulf, where Ptolemy (y) places the city Rhegama, or as it is in the Greek text, Regma. The fifth son is Sabtecha, whom some make to be the father of a people in the same country, Arabia Felix, near the Persian Gulf, called Sachalitae; but Dr. Wells (z) thinks, that the descendants of this man might be from him regularly enough styled at first by the Greeks, Sabtaceni, which name might be afterwards softened into Saraceni, by which name it is well known the people of the northern parts of Arabia, where he places the descendants of this man, were formerly denominated; though Bochart (a) carries them into Carmania in Persia, there being a short cut over the straits of the Persian Gulf, out of Arabia thither, where he finds a city called Samydace, and a river, Samydachus, which he thinks may come from Sabtecha, the letters "B" and "M" being frequently changed, as Berodach is called Merodach, and Abana, Amana, and so in other names. And the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan; no account is given of any of the posterity of the other sons of Cush, only of this his fourth son Raamah, who is said to have two sons; the first is called Sheba, from whom came the Sabaeans, according to Josephus (b); not the Sabaeans before mentioned in Arabia Deserta, but those in Arabia Felix, where Pomponius Mela (c) and Strabo (d) seat a people called Sabaeans, and whose country abounded with frankincense, myrrh, and cinnamon; the latter makes mention of a city of theirs called Mariaba, and seems to be the same that is now called Mareb, and formerly Saba (e), very likely from this man. The other son, Dedan, is called by Josephus (f) Judadas, whom he makes to be founder of the Judadaeans, a nation of the western Ethiopians; but the posterity of this man most probably settled in Arabia, and yet are to be distinguished from the Dedanim in Isa 21:13 who were Arabians also, but descended from Dedan the son of Jokshan, a son of Abraham by Keturah, Gen 25:3 as well as from the inhabitants of Dedan in Edom, Jer 25:23 it is observed, that near the city Regma before mentioned, on the same coast eastward, was another city called Dedan; and to this day Daden, from which the neighbouring country also takes its name, as Bochart (g) has observed, from Barboza, an Italian writer, in his description of the kingdom of Ormus: so that we need not doubt, says Dr. Wells (h), but that here was the settlement of Dedan the son of Raamah or Rhegma, and brother of Sheba. (p) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.) (q) Ibid. (r) Geograph. l. 16. p. 528. (s) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 11. (t) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.) (u) Geograph. l. 6. c. 7. (w) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28. (x) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.) (y) Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 7.) (z) Geography of the Old Testament, vol. 1. p. 198. (a) Phaleg l. 4. c. 4. col. 218. (b) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.) (c) De Situ Orbis, l. 3. c. 8. (d) Geograph. l. 16. p. 536. (e) Via. Pocock. Specimen Arab. Hist p. 57. (f) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.) (g) Phaleg. l. 4. c. 6. col. 219. (h) Ut supra, (Geography of the Old Testament, vol. 1.) p. 197. gen 10:8And Cush begat Nimrod,.... Besides the other five sons before mentioned; and probably this was his youngest son, being mentioned last; or however he is reserved to this place, because more was to be spoken of him than of any of the rest. Sir Walter Raleigh (i) thinks that Nimrod was begotten by Cush after his other children were become fathers, and of a later time than some of his grandchildren and nephews: and indeed the sons of Raamah, the fourth son of Cush, are taken notice of before him: however, the Arabic writers (k) must be wrong, who make him to be the son of Canaan, whereas it is so clear and express from hence that he was the son of Cush. In the Greek version he is called Nebrod, and by Josephus, Nebrodes, which is a name of Bacchus; and indeed Nimrod is the same with the Bacchus of the Heathens, for Bacchus is no other than Barchus, the son of Cush; and Jacchus, which is another of his names in Jah of Cush, or the god the son of Cush; and it is with respect to his original name Nebrod, or Nebrodes, that Bacchus is represented as clothed with the skin of "nebris", or a young hind, as were also his priests; and so in his name Nimrod there may be an allusion to "Nimra", which, in the Chaldee language, signifies a tiger, and which kind of creatures, with others, he might hunt; tigers drew in the chariot of Bacchus, and he was sometimes clothed with the skin of one; though the name of Nimrod is usually derived from "to rebel", because he was a rebel against God, as is generally said; and because, as Jarchi observes, he caused all the world to rebel against God, by the advice he gave to the generation of the division, or confusion of languages, the builders of Babel: he seems to be the same with Belus, the founder of Babel and of the Babylonian empire, whom Diodorus Siculus (l) confounds with Ninus his son: he began to be a mighty man in the earth: that is, he was the first that formed a plan of government, and brought men into subjection to it; and so the Jews (m) make him to be the first king after God; for of the ten kings they speak of in the world, God is the first, and Nimrod the second; and so the Arabic writers (n) say, he was the first of the kings that were in the land of Babylon; and that, seeing the figure of a crown in the heaven, he got a golden one made like it, and put it on his head; hence it was commonly reported, that the crown descended to him from heaven; for this refers not to his gigantic stature, as if he was a giant, as the Septuagint render it; or a strong robust man, as Onkelos; nor to his moral character, as the Targum of Jonathan, which is,"he began to be mighty in sin, and to rebel before the Lord in the earth;''but to his civil character, as a ruler and governor: he was the first that reduced bodies of people and various cities into one form of government, and became the head of them; either by force and usurpation, or it may be with the consent of the people, through his persuasion of them, and on account of the mighty and heroic actions done by him. (i) History of the World, B. 1. ch. 10. sect. 1. p. 109. (k) Elmacinus, p. 29. apud Hottinger. Smegma, p. 270. See the Universal History, vol. 1. p. 276. (l) Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 90. (m) Pirke Eliezer, c. 11. (n) Elmacinus, p. 29. Patricides, p. 16. apud Hottinger. Smegma, p. 271, 272. Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. p. 18. gen 10:9He was a mighty hunter before the Lord,.... Which might be literally true; for, from the time of the flood to his days, wild beasts might increase very much, and greatly annoy men who dwelt very likely for the most part in tents scattered up and down in divers places: so that he did a good office in hunting and destroying them. An Arabic writer (o), of some authority in the eastern parts, says, that by hunting he got food sufficient for the builders of Babel, while they were employed therein; and Aben Ezra interprets it in his favour, that he built altars, and the creatures he took in hunting he offered them on them a burnt offering to God. But neither of these is probable; however, it may be observed, that in this way by hunting he arrived to the power and dominion over men he afterwards had; for not only he ingratiated himself into their favour by hunting down and destroying the wild beasts which molested them, but by these means he might gather together a large number of young men, strong and robust, to join him in hunting; whereby they were inured to hardships, and trained up to military exercises, and were taught the way of destroying men as well as beasts; and by whose help and assistance he might arrive to the government he had over men; and hunting, according to Aristotle (p), is a part of the military art, which is to be used both on beasts, and on such men who are made to be ruled, but are not willing; and it appears, from Xenophon (q), that the kings of Persia were fitted for war and government by hunting, and which is still reckoned in many countries a part of royal education. And it may be remarked, that, as Nimrod and Bacchus are the same, as before observed, one of the titles of Bacchus is "an hunter". Cedrenus (r) says, that the Assyrians deified Nebrod, or Nimrod, and placed him among the constellations of heaven, and called him Orion; the same first discovered the art of hunting, therefore they joined to Orion the star called the dog star. However, besides his being in a literal sense an hunter, he was in a figurative sense one, a tyrannical ruler and governor of men. The Targum of Jonathan is;"he was a powerful rebel before the Lord;''and that of Jerusalem,"he was powerful in hunting in sin before the Lord,''and another Jewish writer (s) says, he was called a mighty hunter, because he was all his days taking provinces by force, and spoiling others of their substance; and that he was "before the Lord", truly so, and he seeing and taking notice of it, openly and publicly, and without fear of him, and in a bold and impudent manner, in despite of him, see Gen 6:11. The Septuagint render it, "against the Lord"; he intended, as Jarchi's note is, to provoke him to his face: wherefore it is said; in a proverbial way, when any man is grown mighty and powerful, or is notoriously wicked, or is become a tyrant and an oppressor of the people, that he is even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. This was a proverb used in the times of Moses, as it is common now with us to call a hunter Nimrod. (o) Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. p. 18. (p) Politic. l. 1. c. 8. (q) Cyropaed. l. 1. c. 5. (r) Apud Abrami Pharum, l. 5. sect. 6. p. 128. (s) R. Gedaliah, Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 76. 2. gen 10:10And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel,.... The city of Babel, or Babylon, which was built by his direction; for though Babylon is by some writers said to be built by Semiramis, the wife of Ninus, and others by Ninus himself, yet the truest account is, that it was built by Belus, the same with Nimrod. Curtius (t) says, Semiramis built it; or, as most believe, adds he, Belus, whose royal palace is shown: and Berosus (u), the Chaldean, blames the Greek writers for ascribing it to Semiramis; and Abydenus (w), out of Megasthenes, affirms, that Belus surrounded Babylon with a wall: however, this was the head of the kingdom of Nimrod, as Onkelos renders it, or his chief city, or where he first began to reign. Here he set up his kingdom, which he enlarged and extended afterwards to other places; and from hence it appears, that what is related in this context, concerning Nimrod, is by way of anticipation; for it was not a fact that he was a mighty man, or a powerful prince possessed of a kingdom, until after the building of Babel, and the confusion of languages there; when those that continued on the spot either chose him for their ruler, or he, by power or policy, got the dominion over them. Artapanus (x), an Heathen writer, relates, that the giants which inhabited Babylon being taken away by the gods for their impiety, one of them, Belus, escaped death and dwelt in Babylon, and took up his abode in the tower which he had raised up, and which, from him the founder of it, was called Belus; so that this, as Moses says, was the beginning of his kingdom, together with Erech, and Accad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar, where the city and tower of Babel were built: for of these four cities, which were all in the same country, did the kingdom of Nimrod consist; they all, either by force or by consent, were brought into subjection to him, and were under one form of government, and is the first kingdom known to be set up in the world. Erech, according to the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, is Hades, or Edessa, a city in Mesopotamia; but it is rather thought to be the name with the Aracca of Ptolemy (y), and the Arecha of Marcellinus (z), placed by them both in Susiana; though one would think it should be that city in Chaldea which took its present Arabic name of Erak from Erech: the Arabic writers say (a), when Irac or Erac is absolutely put, it denotes Babylonia, or Chaldea, in the land of Shinar; and they say that Shinar is in Al-Erac. The next city, Accad, according to the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, is Netzibin, or Nisibis, a city in Mesopotamia; in the Septuagint version it is called Archad; and Ctesias (b) relates, that at the Persian Sittace was a river called Argad, which Bochart (c) thinks carries in it a manifest trace of this name; and observes, from Strabo (d), that that part of Babylon nearest to Susa was called Sitacena. And the other city, Calneh, according to the above Targums, is Ctesiphon, and is generally thought to be the place intended, and was a town upon the Tigris, near to Seleucia in Babylon; it was first called Chalone, and its name was changed to Ctesiphon by Pacorus, king of the Persians. It is in Isa 10:9 called Calno, and by the Septuagint version there the Chalane, which adds,"where the tower was built;''and from whence the country called the Chalonitis by Pliny (e) had its name, the chief city of which was Ctesiphon; and who says (f) Chalonitis is joined with Ctesiphon. Thus far goes the account of Nimrod; and, though no mention is made of his death, yet some writers are not silent about it. Abulpharagius (g), an Arabic writer, says he died in the tower of Babel, it being blown down by stormy winds; the Jewish writers say (h) he was killed by Esau for the sake of his coat, which was Adam's, and came to Noah, and from him to Ham, and so to Nimrod. When he began his reign, and how long he reigned, is not certain; we have only some fabulous accounts: according to Berosus (i), he began to reign one hundred and thirty one years after the flood, and reigned fifty six years, and then disappeared, being translated by the gods: and, indeed, the authors of the Universal History place the beginning of his reign in the year of the flood one hundred and thirty one, and thirty years after the dispersion at Babylon (k); and who relate, that the eastern writers speak of his reign as very long: a Persian writer gives his name a Persian derivation, as if it was Nemurd, that is, "immortal", on account of his long reign of above one hundred and fifty years: and some of the Mahometan historians say he reigned in Al-Sowad, that is, the "black country", four hundred years (l). (t) Hist. l. 5. c. 1. (u) Apud Joseph. contra Apion. l. 1. c. 20. (w) Apud. Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 9. c. 41. p. 457. (x) Apud. Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 9. c. 18. p. 420. (y) Geograph. l. 6. c. 3. (z) Lib. 23. (a) Vid. Hyde in notis ad Peritsol. Itinera Mundi, p. 65. (b) Apud Aelian. Hist. Animal. l. 16. c. 42. (c) Phaleg. l. 4. c. 17. (d) Geograph. l. 15. p. 503. (e) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 26. (f) Ibid. c. 27. (g) Hist. Dynast. p. 12. (h) In Pirke Eliezer, c. 24. (i) Antiqu. l. 4. p. 28, 29. (k) Vol. 1. p. 282. and vol. 21. p. 2. (l) Apud Hyde's Hist. Relig. Pers. c. 2. p. 43. gen 10:11Out of that land went forth Ashur,.... It is a question whether Ashur is the name of a man or of a country; some take it in the latter sense, and render the words, "and out of that land he went forth into Assyria"; so Onkelos; and in this way go Junius and Tremellius, Piscator, Bochart, Cocceius, and others, and the margin of our Bible, and interpret it of Nimrod; and the Targum of Jonathan is express for him, which is this:"out of that land went forth Nimrod, and reigned in Assyria, because he would not be in the council of the generation of the division, and he left four cities; and the Lord gave him therefore a place (or Assyria), and he built four other cities, Nineveh, &c.''so Theophilus of Antioch says (m), that Nebroth (Nimrod) built the same; but then the generality of interpreters which take this way give another and better reason for Nimrod's going out of Shinar or Babylon into Assyria than the Targumist gives; which is, that not content with his own dominions, and willing to enlarge them, he went out and made war upon Assyria, and seized upon it, and built cities in it, and added them to his former ones; in favour of this sense it is urged, that Moses is speaking of what Nimrod the son of Cush did, of the line of Ham, and not of the sons of Shem, among whom Ashur was; and that it is not probable he should introduce a passage relating to a branch of Shem, when he is professedly writing about that of Ham; nor is it agreeable to the history to speak of what Ashur did, before any mention of his birth, which is in Gen 10:22 nor was it peculiar to him to go out of the land of Shinar, since almost all were dispersed from thence; add to which, that Assyria is called the land of Nimrod, Mic 5:6 to which it may be replied, that parentheses of this sort are frequent in Scripture, see Sa2 4:4 besides, it seems appropriate enough, when treating of Nimrod's dominion and power, in order to show his intolerable tyranny, to remark, that it was such, that Ashur, a son of Shem, could not bear it, and therefore went out from a country he had a right unto; and as for the text in Mic 5:6 the land of Nimrod and the land of Assyria are manifestly distinguished from one another: add to this, that, if Nimrod so early made a conquest of Assyria, it would rather have been called by his own name than his uncle's; and it is allowed by all that the country of Assyria had its name from Ashur, the son of Shem; and who so likely to have founded Nineveh, and other cities, as himself? Besides these, interpreters are obliged to force the text, and insert the particle "into", which is not in it; and the order and construction of the words are more natural and agreeable to the original, as in our version and others, which make Ashur the name of a man, than this, which makes it a country: but then it is not agreed on who this Ashur was; some will have him to be of the posterity of Ham, and a son of Nimrod, as Epiphanius (n) and Chrysostom (o); but this is not probable, nor can any proof be given of it; Josephus (p) is express for it, that Ashur, the son of Shem, built Nineveh, and gave the name of Assyrians to those that were subject to him. The reason of his going out from Shinar, as given by Jarchi, is, when he saw his sons hearkening to Nimrod, and rebelling against the Lord, by building a tower, he went out from them; or it may be, he was drove out by Nimrod by force, or he could not bear his tyrannical government, or live where such a wicked man ruled: and as Nimrod built cities and set up an empire, Ashur did the same in his own defence and that of his posterity: and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah. The first of these cities, Nineveh, the Greeks commonly call Ninus, is placed by Strabo (q) in Atyria, the Chaldee name of Assyria, who generally suppose it had its name from Ninus, whom Diodorus Siculus (r) makes the first king of the Assyrians, and to whom he ascribes the building of this city; and who, one would think, should be Ashur, and that Ninus was another name of him, or however by which he went among the Greeks; and so this city was called after him; or rather it had its name from the beauty of it, the word signifying a beautiful habitation, as Cocceius (s) and Hillerus (t) give the etymology of it; or perhaps, when it was first built by him, it had another name, but afterwards was called Nineveh, from Ninus, who lived many years after him, who might repair, adorn, and beautify it. It was destroyed by the Medes and Babylonians, as foretold by Nahum, and it is difficult now to say where it stood; the place where it is supposed to have been is now called Mosul; of which place Rauwolff (u) says, who was there in 1574, that"there are some very good buildings and streets in it, and it is pretty large, but very ill provided with walls and ditches;--besides this, I also saw, (says he,) just without the town, a little hill, that was almost quite dug through, and inhabited by poor people, where I saw them several times creep in and out as pismires in ant hills: in this place, or thereabouts, stood formerly the potent town of Nineveh, built by Ashur, which was the metropolis of Assyria;--at this time there is nothing of antiquities to be seen in it, save only the fort that lieth upon the hill, and some few villages, which the inhabitants say did also belong to it in former days. This town lieth on the confines of Armenia, in a large plain:''See Gill on Jon 1:2, Jon 3:1, Jon 3:2, Jon 3:3, Nah 1:8 The next city, Rehoboth, signifies "streets", and so it is rendered in the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem; and, because in the Chaldee language streets are called "Beritha", Bochart (w) thinks that this Rehoboth is the city which Ptolemy (x) calls Birtha, on the west of Tigris, at the mouth of the river Lycus, though he places it by Euphrates; wherefore it should rather be Oroba, he places at the river Tigris (y), near to Nineveh also. The last city, Calah, or Calach, was a principal city in the country, by Ptolemy (z) called Calacine, and by Strabo (a) Calachene, and mentioned by both along with Adiabene, a country in Assyria. (m) Ad Autolycum, l. 2. p. 106. (n) Contra Haeres. l. 1. p. 3. (o) In Genes. Homil. 29. (p) Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4. (q) Geograph. l. 16. p. 507. (r) Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 90, 91. (s) In Jonam, 1, 2. (t) Onomast. Sacr. p. 304, 431. (u) Travels, part 2. c. 9. p. 166. (w) Phaleg. l. 4. c. 21. col. 256. (x) Geograph. l. 5. c. 19. (y) Ibid. l. 6. c. 1. (z) Ibid. (a) Geograph. l. 11. p. 347, 365. & l. 16. p. 507. gen 10:12And Resen, between Nineveh and Calah,.... This was another city built by Ashur, situated between those two cities mentioned: the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it Talsar, or Thalassar, see Isa 37:12 The conjecture of Bochart (b) is more probable, that it is the Larissa of Xenophon, situated on the Tigris; though Junius thinks it is either Bassora, or Belcina, which Ptolemy (c) places on the Tigris, near Nineveh: the same is a great city: which Jarchi interprets of Nineveh, called a great city, and was indeed one, being sixty miles in circumference, Jon 1:2 but the construction of the words carries it to Resen, which might be the greatest city when first built; and, if understood of Larissa, was a great city, the walls of it being one hundred feet high, and the breadth twenty five, and the compass of it eight miles. Benjamin of Tudela says (d), that in his time Resen was called Gehidagan, and was a great city, in which were 5000 Israelites; but according to Schmidt, this refers to all the cities in a coalition, Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah, and Resen, which all made that great city Nineveh; or were a Tetrapolis, as Tripoli was anciently three cities, built by the joint interest of the Aradians, Sidonians, and Tyrians, as Diodorus Siculus (e) relates. (b) Phaleg. l. 4. c. 23. (c) Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 5. c. 19.) (d) Itinerarium, p. 75. (e) Bibliothec. l. 16. p. 439. gen 10:13And Mizraim begat Ludim,.... Mizraim was the second son of Ham, of whom See Gill on Gen 10:6. Ludim he is said to beget, the word being plural, is not the name of a man, but of his posterity; and the sense is, that Mizraim begat the father of the Ludim, whose name very probably was Lud, which name is preserved in Isa 66:19. These Ludim are the same with the Lydians, Jer 46:9 and whose country is called Lydia, Eze 30:5 but to be distinguished from Lydia in Asia Minor, and the Lydians there who sprung from Lud, a son of Shem, Gen 10:22 for, as these sprung from Mizraim, the founder of Egypt, they must be somewhere thereabout; and Bochart (f) has proved, by various arguments, that they are the Ethiopians in Africa, now called Abyssines, whose country lies to the south of Egypt, a people formerly famous for archery, as Lud and the Lydians are said to be, Isa 66:19 and whoever reads the accounts Diodorus Siculus (g) gives of the Egyptians and Ethiopians, will easily discern a likeness between them, and that the one sprung from the other; both deifying their kings; showing a like carefulness about their funerals; both using hieroglyphics; having the like order of priests, who used shaving; and circumcision was common to them both, as Herodotus observes (h): and Ananzim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim: the name of the father of the Anamim very probably was Anam, though we have no account of him elsewhere: according to Hillerus (i), the Anamim were called so from the pastoral life they led; and, by a transposition of letters, were the same with the Maeonians, who inhabited that tract of land in Asia which was washed by the river Maeonia, or Maeander, and bordered on Lydia; but, as these were the descendants of Mizraim, they must be sought for somewhere about Egypt: much better therefore does Mr. Broughton (k) take them to be the Nubians and Numidians, which were near both Egypt and Ethiopia; though Bochart (l) seems to be most correct, in making them to be the Ammonians, who, Herodotus says, were a colony of the Egyptians and Ethiopians; these lived about Ammon and Nasamonitis, and in that part of Lybia in which the temple of Jupiter Ammon stood, and are the Nomades, that lived a pastoral life; and Bochart (m) thinks they are called Anamim, from Anam, which, in the Arabic language, signifies a "sheep", because they fed sheep, and lived upon them, and clothed themselves with their skins. The word Lehabim, the name of another people from Mizraim, signifies "flames"; and were so called, as Jarchi observes, because their faces were like flames, see Isa 13:8 burnt with the heat of the sun, living near the torrid zone; and therefore could not be the Lycians, as Hillerus (n) thinks, the inhabitants of a country in Asia, between Caria and Pamphylia, formerly called Lycia, now Aidimelli, which he observes abounds with places that have their names from fire and flames, as Mount Chimaera, the cities Hephaestium, Myra, Lemyra, Habessus, Telmessus, Balbura, and Sirbis; but these were too far from Egypt, near which it is more probable the Lehabim were, and seem to be the same with the Lubim, which came with Shishak out of Egypt to invade Judea, Ch2 12:3 and who were called Lybians, Jer 46:9 and their country Lybia, Eze 30:5 of which Leo Africanus (a) says, that it is a desert, dry and sandy, having neither fountains nor springs; which was near Egypt as well as Ethiopia, with which it is joined in the above place, see Act 2:10. The word Naphtuhim, the name of another people that sprung from Mizraim, according to Hillerus (o), signifies "open"; and he thinks they are the Pamphylians, who used to admit promiscuously all into their ports and towns, which were open to all strangers, and even robbers, for the sake of commerce; but, as these were a people in lesser Asia, they cannot be the people here meant. Bochart (p) observes, from Plutarch, that the Egyptians used to call the extreme parts of a country, and abrupt places and mountains adjoining to the sea, Nepthys, the same with Nephthuah; and therefore he is of opinion, that these Naphtuhim dwelt on the shores of the Mediterranean sea, near Egypt, in Marmorica; not far from whence was the temple of Aptuchus, mentioned by Ptolemy (q), and placed by him in Cyrene, which carries in it some trace of the name of Naphtuhim; and he suspects that Neptune had his name from hence; he being a Lybian god, as Herodotus (r) says; for none ever used his name before the Lybians, who always honoured him as a god: and it may be observed, from Strabo (s), that many of the temples of Neptune were on the sea shore. Some place these people about Memphis, the name of which was Noph, Isa 19:13 but perhaps it may be much better to place them in the country of Nepate, between Syene and Meroc, where Candace, queen of Ethiopia, had her royal palace in the times of Strabo (t). (f) Phaleg. l. 4. c. 26. (g) Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 143, &c. (h) Euterpe sive, l. 2. c. 104. (i) Onomastic. Sacr. p. 283. (k) See his Works, p. 4, 60. (l) Phaleg. l. 4. c. 30. col. 284. (m) Ib. c. 42. (n) Onomastic. Sacr. p. 281, 583. (a) Descriptio Africae, l. 1. p. 74. (o) Onomastic Sacr. p. 161, 178, 283, 421. (p) Phaleg. l. 4. c. 26. (q) Geograph. l. 4. c. 4. (r) Herodot. Thalia, sive, l. 3. c. 21. Euterpe sive, l. 2. c. 50. (s) Geograph, l. 8. p. 237. (t) Geograph. l. 17. p. 564. gen 10:14And Pathrusim,.... These are other descendants of Mizraim, the name of whose father very probably was Pathros, from whom the country of Pathros was called, and which is not only spoken of in Scripture along with Egypt, but as a part of it, Isa 11:11 and these Pathrusim were doubtless the inhabitants of it; which, as Bochart (u) has shown, is no other than Thebais, or the upper Egypt. Hillerus (w) takes the word to be compounded of and and renders it the corner of the Rosians, and makes it to be the same with the bay of Issus, where was a colony of Egypt, called Cilicians; but the former is more probable. And Casluhim; these also were the posterity of Mizraim, by another son of his, from whence they had their name: according to Hillerus (x), they are the Solymi, a people near the Lycians and Pisidians, that came out of Egypt, and settled in those parts; but it is much more likely that they were, as Junius (y) observes, the inhabitants of Casiotis, a country mentioned by Ptolemy (z) in lower Egypt, at the entrance of it, where stood Mount Casius: but Bochart (a) is of opinion that they are the Colchi, the inhabitants of the country now called Mingrelia, and which, though at a distance from Egypt, the ancient inhabitants came from thence, as appears from several ancient authors of good credit, as the above learned writer shows. Out of whom came Philistim, or the Philistines, a people often spoken of in Scripture: these sprung from the Casluhim, or were a branch of that people; according to Ben Melech they sprung both from them and from the Pathrusim; for Jarchi says they changed wives with one another, and so the Philistines sprung from them both; or these were a colony that departed from them, and settled elsewhere, as the Philistines did in the land of Canaan, from whence that part of it which they inhabited was called Palestine: and, if the Casluhim dwelt in Casiotis, at the entrance of Egypt, as before observed, they lay near the land of Canaan, and could easily pass into it. Some think this clause refers not to what goes before, but to what follows after: and Caphtorim, and read the whole verse thus: "and Pathrusim, and Casluhim, and Caphtorim, out of whom came Philistim"; that is, they came out of the Caphtorim. What has led to such a transposition of the words in the text is Amo 9:7 "and the Philistines from Caphtor": but though they are said to he brought from a place called Caphtor, yet did not spring from the Caphtorim: to me it rather seems, that the two latter were brothers, and both sprung from the Casluhim; since the words may be rendered without a parenthesis: "and Caluhim, out of whom came Philistim and Caphtorim"; though perhaps it may be best of all to consider the two last as the same, and the words may be read, "out of whom came Philistim, even", or that is, "the Caphtorim"; for the Philistines, in the times of Jeremiah, are said to be the remnant of the country of Caphtor, Jer 47:4 and as in Amos the Philistines are said to come out of Caphtor, in Deu 2:23 they are called Caphtorim, that came out of Caphtor, who destroyed the Avim, which dwelt in Hazerim, even unto Azzah, or Gaza, afterwards a principal city of the Philistines: for then, and not before their settlement in the land of Canaan, were they so called; for the word Philistim signifies strangers, people of another country; and the Septuagint version always so renders the word: their true original name seems to be Caphtorim. Bochart (b) indeed will have the Caphtorim to be the Cappadocians, that dwelt near Colchis, about Trapezunt, where he finds a place called Side, which in Greek signifies a pomegranate, as Caphtor does in Hebrew; and so Hillerus (c) takes it for a name of the Cappadocians, who inhabited "Cappath Hor", or the side of Mount Hor, or , the side of Mount Taurus; and in this they both follow the Jewish Targumists, who everywhere render Caphtorim by Cappadocians, as the three Targums do here, and Caphtor by Cappadocia, and as Jonathan on Deu 2:23 but then thereby they understood a people and place in Egypt, even Damietta, the same they suppose with Pelusium; for other Jewish writers say (d), Caphutkia, or Cappadocia, is Caphtor, and in the Arabic language Damietta: so Benjamin of Tudela says (e), in two days I came to Damietta, this is Caphtor; and it seems pretty plain that Caphtor must be some place in Egypt, as Coptus, or some other, and that the Caphtorim, or Philistines, were originally Egyptians, since they descended from Mizraim. (u) Phaleg. l. 4. c. 31. (w) Onomastic. Sacr. p. 161, 585. (x) Ibid. p. 161, 583, 777. (y) In loc. (z) Geograph. l. 4. c. 5. (a) Phaleg. l. 4. c. 31. (b) Phaleg. l. 4. c. 32. (c) Onamastic. Sacr. p. 160, 282. (d) Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Cetubot, c. 13, p. 11. (e) ltinerarium, p. 125. gen 10:15And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn,.... Canaan is the fourth son of Ham; the posterity of Phut, his third son, are omitted: the firstborn of Canaan was Sidon, from whom the city of Sidon had its name, being either built by himself, who called it after his own name, or by some of his posterity, who called it so in memory of their ancestor: it was a very ancient city, more ancient than Tyre, for that was built by the Sidonians; Homer makes mention of it, but not of Tyre: it is now called Said, as it was in the times of Benjamin of Tudela (f). Justin (g) says it had its name from the plenty of fish on its coasts; but, since Canaan had a son of this name, it was no doubt so called from him. And Heth; the father of the Hittites, who dwelt about Hebron, on the south of the land of Canaan; for when Sarah died, the sons of Heth were in possession of it, Gen 23:2 of this race were the Anakim, or giants, drove out from hence by Caleb, Num 13:22 and these Hittites became terrible to men in later times, as appears from Kg2 7:6 hence signifies to terrify, affright, and throw into a consternation. (f) Itinerarium. p. 34. (g) E. Trogo, l. 18. c. 3. gen 10:16And the Jebusite,.... Who had their name from Jebus, a third son of Canaan, and from whom Jerusalem was called Jebus, Jdg 19:10 and where his posterity continued to dwell when the land of Canaan was possessed by the Israelites; for they were so strong and powerful, that the men of Judah could not drive them out from thence, and here they remained until the times of David, who dispossessed them of it, Jos 15:63. There is an island near Spain, formerly called Ebusus, now Ibissa, where was one of the colonies of the Phoenicians, in which, Bochart (g) observes, the name of the Jebusites is thought to remain. And the Emorite; so called from Emor, the fourth son of Canaan, commonly called the Amorite, a people so strong and mighty, that they are compared to cedars for height, and to oaks for strength, Amo 2:9 they dwelt both on this and the other side Jordan: Sihon, one of their kings, made war on the king of Moab, and took all his country from him unto Arnon, Num 21:26 and in the times of Joshua there were several kings of the Amorites, which dwelt on the side of Jordan westward, Jos 5:1 hence it may be Amor, in the Arabic tongue signifying to command, and Emir, a commander. And the Girgasite; the same with the Gergesene in Mat 8:28 who, in the times of Christ, lived about Gerasa, or Gadara: a Jewish writer (h) says, that when they left their country to Israel, being forced to it by Joshua, they went into a country which to this day is called Gurgestan. (g) Phaleg. l. 4. c. 36. fol. 304. (h) R. Zacuth. Sepher. Jachasin, fol. 135. 2. gen 10:17And the Hivite,.... These dwelt in Hermon, a part of Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal Hermon unto the entering in of Hamath, Jos 11:3 to the east of the land of Canaan; hence they were sometimes called Kadmonites, or Easterlings, Gen 15:19 and are thought to have their name from dwelling in holes and caves like serpents; hence Cadmus the Phoenician, and his wife Hermonia, who seem to have their names from hence, are reported to be turned into serpents, they being Hivites, which this word signifies, as Bochart (i) observes. And the Arkite; the same with the Aruceans, or Arcaeans, Josephus (k) speaks of in Phoenicia about Sidon, and from whom the city Arce had its name, which he places in Lebanon; and is mentioned by Menander (l) as revolting to the king of Assyria, with Sidon and old Tyre; and which is reckoned by Ptolemy (m) a city of Phoenicia, and placed by him near old Byblus; and hence Bothart (n) thinks Venus had the name of Venus Architis, said by Macrobius (o) to be worshipped by the Assyrians and Phoenicians. And the Sinite: either the inhabitants of the wilderness of Sin, who dwelt in the northern part of the desert of Arabia, or the Pelusiotae, as Bochart (p) thinks, the inhabitants of Pelusium, which was called Sin, Eze 30:15 the former being its Greek name, the latter its Chaldee or Syriac name, and both signify "clay", it being a clayey place; but Canaan or Phoenicia seems not to have reached so far; Jerom speaks of a city not far from Arca called Sin, where rather these people may be thought to dwell. (i) Ut supra. (Phaleg. l. 4. c. 36. fol. 304.) (k) Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 2. & l. 5. c. 1. sect. 23. (l) Apud Joseph. Antiqu. l. 9. c. 14. sect. 2. (m) Geograph. l. 5. c. 15. (n) Ut supra. (Phaleg. l. 4. c. 36. fol. 304.) (o) Saturnal. l. 1. c. 21. (p) Ut supra. (Phaleg. l. 4. c. 36. fol. 304.) gen 10:18And the Arvadite,.... The inhabitants of Arvad, or Aradus, an island in the Phoenician sea; it is mentioned with Sidon, Eze 27:8 so Josephus says (q), the Arudaeans possessed the island Aradus: it is about a league distant from the shore; Strabo (r) says it is twenty furlongs from land, and about seven in circumference, and is said to be built by the Sidonians; it is now, as Mr. Maundrel (s) says, by the Turks called Ru-ad, or, as Dr. Shaw says (t), Rou-wadde; See Gill on Eze 27:8. And the Zemarite; who perhaps built and inhabited Simyra, a place mentioned by Pliny (u), not far from Lebanon, and along with Marathos, and Antarados, which lay on the continent, right against the island Aradus, or Arvad, and near the country of the Aradians. Strabo (w) makes mention of a place called Taxymira, which Casaubon observes should be Ximyra, or Simyra; and Mela (x) speaks of the castle of Simyra as in Phoenicia. There was a city called Zemaraim in the tribe of Benjamin, Jos 18:22 which Bishop Patrick suggests, and Ainsworth before him, that Zemarus, the son of Canaan, might be the founder of; and there is also a mountain of the same name in Mount Ephraim, Ch2 13:4. And the Hamathite: who dwelt in Amathine, as Josephus (y), and was in his time called by the inhabitants Amathe; but the Macedonians called it, from one of their race, Epiphania, which seems to have been the country called Amathite,He removed from Jerusalem, and met them in the land of Amathis: for he gave them no respite to enter his country. (1 Maccabees 12:25)there was another Hamath, called Antiochia, but cannot be meant, since Hamath was the northern border of the land of Israel, then called the entrance of Hamath, which border was pretty near to Epiphania, but not so far as Antioch; this is the Amathus of Syria, twice mentioned by Herodotus, as Hillerus (z) observes: but both Reland (a) and Vitringa (b) are of opinion, that the Hamath so often mentioned in Scripture, which doubtless had its name from the Hamathite, is neither Antiochia nor Epiphania, but the city Emesa, or Emissa, which lay below Epiphania, upon the Orontes, nearer Damascus and the land of Canaan; and Hamath is mentioned with Damascus and Arpad, or Arvad, Isa 10:9 and, according to Eze 47:16. Hamath must lie between Damascus and the Mediterranean sea. And afterwards were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad; not only these eleven, but two more which are not mentioned, the Canaanites properly so called, and the Perizzites; these families at first dwelt in one place, or within narrow limits; but, as they increased, they spread themselves further every way, and in process of time possessed all the country from Idumea and Palestine to the mouth of the Orontes, and which they held about seven hundred years, when five of these families, with the two other above mentioned, were cast out of the land for their sins, and to make way for the people of Israel. (q) Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 2. (r) Geograph. l. 16. p. 518. (s) Journey from Aleppo, &c. p. 19. Ed. 7. (t) Travels, p. 267. Ed. 2. (u) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 20. (w) Geograph. l. 16. p. 518. (x) De situ orbis, l. 1. c. 12. (y) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 2.) (z) Onomastic. Sacr. p. 780. (a) Palestina Illustrata, tom. 1. l. 1. p. 121, 123, 317. (b) Comment. in Jesaiam, c. 10, 9. gen 10:19And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon,.... This is to be understood, not of the Canaanites, properly so called, but of them in general; and is a description of the bounds of the land of Canaan, as possessed by the people of Israel: the northern or north west border of it was Sidon, see Gen 10:15 and is to be understood of the country which reached from that city towards the east almost as far as Jordan: as thou comest from Gerar unto Gaza; two cities of the Philistines, well known in Scripture, the former for being the place where Abraham and Isaac sometimes sojourned, and the latter for Samson's exploits in it; these were the southern or south west border of the land of Canaan: as thou goest unto Sodom and Gomorrah, and Admah and Zeboim; four cities destroyed by fire from heaven, as is after related in this book; these lay to the south or south east part of the land: even unto Lashah; which, according to the Targum of Jonathan, is Callirrhoe, a place famous for hot waters, which run into the Dead sea, and who in this is followed by Jerom; but since it was not in the southern part of Judea, as Lashah was, Bochart proposes (a) Lusa, as being more likely to be the place, a city of the Arabs, which Ptolemy (b) puts in the midway between the Mediterranean and the Red sea; but this is objected to by Reland (c), since the southern borders of the land of Canaan were from the extremity of the Dead sea unto the Mediterranean sea, from which Lusa was at a great distance: the Samaritan version of this verse is very different from the Hebrew, and is this,"and the border of the Canaanites was from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates, and unto the hinder sea:''i.e. the western or Mediterranean. (a) Phaleg. l. 4. c. 37. col. 309. (b) Geograph. l. 5. c. 17. (c) Palestina Illustrata, tom. 2. p. 871. gen 10:20These are the sons of Ham,.... His sons and grandsons, which some reckon to be thirty, others thirty one, if the Philistines are taken in: after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations: families of the same language joined together and dwelt in the same country; see Gill on Gen 10:5 all Africa and a considerable part of Asia were possessed by the four sons of Ham and their posterity; Mizraim had Egypt, and Phut all the rest of Africa; and Cush and Canaan had a large portion in Asia. gen 10:21Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber,.... And for the sake of those Shem is particularly said to be the father of, is this genealogy given, and indeed the whole book of Genesis wrote: Eber was the great-grandson of Shem, and is here spoken of by anticipation, and Shem is called not the father of either of his immediate sons, but of the posterity of this man; because the Hebrews sprung from him in his line, among whom the church of God and the true religion were preserved, and from whom the Messiah was to come, as he did: the word Eber, Jarchi interprets, "beyond the river, Euphrates" or "Tigris", or both, as describing the seat of the posterity of Shem; but as this too much straitens them, since they inhabited on both sides, Dr. Hyde (d) has shown that the word used may refer to both, to those beyond these rivers, and to those on this side; see Num 24:24. the brother of Japheth the elder; he was the brother of Ham too, but he is not mentioned because of the behaviour towards his father, and because of the curse that was upon him and his; but Shem's relation to Japheth is expressed to show that they were alike in their disposition; and it may be to signify, that in times to come their posterity would unite in spiritual things, which has been fulfilled already in part, and will be more fully by the coalition of the Jews, the posterity of Shem, and of the Gentiles, the posterity of Japheth, in the Christian church state: and from hence we learn that Japheth was the eldest of Noah's sons, though some render the words, "the elder brother of Japheth" (e); and so make Shem to be the eldest; but as this is contrary to the accents, so to the history: for Noah was five hundred years old when he began to beget sons, Gen 5:32 he was six hundred when he went into the ark, Gen 7:11 two years after the flood Shem begat Arphaxad, when he was one hundred years old, and Noah six hundred and two, Gen 11:10 so that Shem must be born when Noah was five hundred and two years old; and since he begot children, there must be one two years older than Shem, which can be no other than Japheth, since Ham is called his younger son, Gen 9:24. even to him were children born, who are reckoned as follow. (d) Hist. Relig. Pers. c. 2. p. 47, 48. (e) "fratre Japheth majore". V. L. Samar. Syr. Ar. "frater major natu ipsius Japheth", Tigurine version; "fratri Japheti majori", Cocceius; so some in Vatablus. gen 10:22The children of Shem,.... Whose names are Elam and Ashur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram; and who, as Josephus (f) says, inhabited Asia, from Euphrates to the Indian ocean: his first born, Elam, was the father of the Elymaeans, from whom sprung the Persians, as the same writer observes, and his posterity are called Elamites, Act 2:10 their country Elam, and is sometimes mentioned with Media, when the Persians and Medes are intended, Isa 21:2 see also Isa 22:6, &c. in Daniel's time, Shushan, in the province of Elam, was the seat of the kings of Persia: the country of Elymais, so called from this man, is said by Pliny (g) to be divided from Susiane by the river Eulaeus, and to join with Persia; and the famous city of Elymais, the metropolis of the country, is placed by Josephus (h) in Persia. Ashur, the second son of Shem, gives name to Assyria, a country frequently mentioned in Scripture; and which, according to Ptolemy (i), was bounded on the north by part of Armenia the great, and the mountain Niphates, on the west by Mesopotamia and the river Tigris, on the south by Susiane, and on the east by part of Media. Strabo says (k) they call Babylonia, and great part of the country about it, Assyria, in which was Ninus or Nineveh, the chief city of the Assyrian empire; and which was built by Ashur, as Josephus (l) affirms, and says he gave the name of Assyrians to his subjects: Arphaxad, the third son of Shem, from him that part of Assyria, which lay northward next to Armenia, was called Arphaxitis, as it is probable that was its original name, though corruptly called by Ptolemy (m) Arrapachitis: Josephus says (n), he gave name to the Arphaxadaeans, whom he ruled over, now called Chaldeans; and indeed the name of the Chaldeans may as well be derived from the latter part of Arphaxad's name, "Chashad", as from Chesed, the son of Nahor, and brother of Abraham, as it more commonly is; since the Chaldeans were called Chasdim before Chesed was born, and were a nation when Abraham came out of Ur, before Chesed could be old or considerable enough to build towns and found a nation; see Gen 11:31 though Bochart treats this as a mere dream, yet he is obliged to have recourse to the usual refuge, that Ur was called Ur of the Chaldees, by anticipation. The fourth son of Shem was Lud, from whom sprung the Lydians, a people of Asia minor, and whose country is called Lydia, including Mysia and Caria, which all lay by the river Maeander; and Lud, in the Phoenician language, signifies bending and crooked, as that river was, being full of windings and turnings: some think that the posterity of Lud are carried too far off from those of his brethren, but know not where else to fix them. From Aram, the last son of Shem, sprung the Aramaeans, called by the Greeks Syrians, as Josephus (o) observes; and by Homer (p) and Hesiod (q) and so says Strabo (r); some by the Arimi understand the Syrians, now called Arami; and elsewhere (s) he observes, that they who are by us called Syrians, are by the Syrians themselves called Aramaeans, and this is the name they give to themselves to this day: the country inhabited by them included Mesopotamia and Syria, and particularly all those places that have the name of Aram added to them, as Padan Aram, and Aram Naharaim (which is Mesopotamia), Aram of Damascus, Aram Zobah, Aram Maacha, and Aram Beth Rehob, Gen 28:2 and the title of Psa 60:1, the Septuagint version here adds, "and Cainan", but without any authority. (f) Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4. (g) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 27. (h) Antiqu. l. 12. c. 8. sect. 1. (i) Geograph. l. 6. c. 1. (k) Ib. l. 16. p. 507. (l) Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4. (m) Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 1.) (n) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4.). So R. Gedaliah, in Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 76. 2. (o) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4.) (p) Iliad. 2. (q) Theogonia. (r) Geograph. l. 13. p. 431. l. 16. p. 540. (s) Ib. l. 1. p. 28. gen 10:23And the children of Aram,.... The four following persons are called the sons of Shem, Ch1 1:17 being his grandsons, which is not unusual in Scripture: Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash: the first of these sons of Aram, Uz, is generally thought to be the founder of Damascus; so Josephus (t) says. Usus founded Trachonitis and Damascus, which lies between Palestine and Coelesyria: there was a place called Uz in Idumea, Lam 4:21 and another in Arabia, where Job dwelt, Job 1:1 but neither of them seems to be the seat of this man and his posterity, who, in all probability, settled in Syria: his second son Hul, whom Josephus (u) calls Ulus, according to him, founded Armenia; which notion may be strengthened by observing that Cholobotene is reckoned a part of Armenia by Stephanus (w); which is no other than Cholbeth, that is, the house or seat of Chol, the same with Hul; and there are several places in Armenia, as appears from Ptolemy (x), which begin with Chol or Col, as Cholus, Cholua, Choluata, Cholima, Colsa, Colana, Colchis: but perhaps it may be better to place him in Syria, in the deserts of Palmyrene, as Junius and Grotius; since among the cities of Palmyrene, there is one called Cholle, according to Ptolemy (y). Gether, the third son, is made by Josephus (z) to be the father of the Bactrians; but these were too far off to come from this man, and were not in the lot of Shem: Bochart (a) finds the river Getri, which the Greeks call Centrites, between Armenia and the Carduchi, whereabout, he conjectures, might be the seat of this man; but perhaps it may be more probable, with Grotius and Junius, to place him in Coelesyria, where are the city Gindarus of Ptolemy (b), and a people called Gindareni, by Pliny (c); though Bishop Patrick thinks it probable that Gadara, the chief city of Peraea, placed by Ptolemy (d) in the Decapolis of Coelesyria, had its name from this man: Mr. Broughton derives Atergate and Derceto, names of a Syrian goddess, from him, which was worshipped at Hierapolis in Coelesyria, as Pliny says (e). The last of the sons of Aram, Mash, is called Meshech, in Ch1 1:17 and here the Septuagint version calls him Masoch; his posterity are supposed to settle in Armenia, about the mountain Masius, thought to be the same with Ararat, and which the Armenians call Masis; perhaps the people named Moscheni, mentioned by Pliny (f), as dwelling near Armenia and Adiabene, might spring from this man. (t) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4.) (u) Ibid. (w) Apud Bochart. Phaleg. l. 2. c. 9. col. 81. (x) Geograph. l. 5. c. 13. (y) Geograph. l. 5. c. 15. (z) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4.) (a) Phaleg. l. 2. c. 10. (b) Geograph. l. 5. c. 15. (c) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 23. (d) Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 5. c. 15.) (e) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 23. (f) Ib. l. 6. c. 9. gen 10:24And Arphaxad begat Salah,.... Or Shelach which signifies "a sending forth"; that is, of waters: it is part of the name of Methuselah, given him by his father, as prophetic of the flood, see Gen 5:21 and Arphaxad, who was born two years after the flood, gives this name to his first born, as commemorative of it: according to some, from him are the Susians (g); and in Susiana is found a city called Sele, by Ptolemy (h); but this seems not to be a sufficient proof: and Salah begat Eber; from whom, Josephus (i) says, the Jews were called Hebrews from the beginning; and which, perhaps, is as good a derivation of their name as can be given, and seems to be confirmed by Num 24:24 though some derive it from Abraham's passing over the rivers in his way from Chaldea into Syria; but be it so, why might not this name be given to Eber, as prophetic of that passage, or of the passage of his posterity over the Euphrates into Canaan, as well as Eber gave to his son Peleg his name, as a prediction of the division of the earth in his time? the Septuagint version of this text inserts a Cainan between Arphaxad and Salah, but is not to be found in any Hebrew copy, nor in the Samaritan, Syriac, and Arabic versions, nor in Josephus, see Luk 3:36. (g) Vid. Bochart. Phaleg. l. 2. c. 13. col. 92. (h) Geograph. l. 6. c. 3. (i) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4.) gen 10:25And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg,.... Bochart (k) thinks, that either Peleg, or one of his posterity, in memory of him, gave the name of Phalga to a town situated on the Euphrates; though the reason of the name, as given by Arrianus, as he himself observes, was because it divided between the two Seleucias, as the reason of Peleg's name was: for in his days was the earth divided; among the three sons of Noah, and their respective posterities; their language was divided, and that obliged them to divide and separate in bodies which understood one another; hence that age, in which was this event, was usually called by the Jews the age of division; whether this was done about the time of his birth, and so this name was given him to perpetuate the memory of it, or in some after part of his life, and so was given by a spirit of prophecy, is a question: Josephus, Jarchi, and the Jewish writers, generally go the latter way; if it was at the time of his birth, which is the sense of many, then this affair happened in the one hundred and first year after the flood, for in that year Peleg was born, as appears from Gen 11:11. and his brother's name was Joktan, whom the Arabs call Cahtan, and claim him as their parent, at least, of their principal tribes; and say he was the first that reigned in Yaman, and put a diadem on his head (l); and there is a city in the territory of Mecca, about seven furlongs or a mile to the south of it, and one station from the Red sea, called Baisath Jektan, the seat of Jektan (m), which manifestly retains his name; and there are a people called Catanitae, placed by Ptolemy (n) in Arabia Felix. (k) Phaleg. l. 2. c. 14. col. 93. (l) Vid. Pocock. Specimen. Arab. Hist. p. 39. 55. (m) Arab. Geograph. apud Bochart. Phaleg: l. 2. c. 15. col. 98. (n) Geograph, l. 6. c. 7. gen 10:26And Joktan begat Almodad,.... And twelve more mentioned later: the Arabic writers (o) say be had thirty one sons by one woman, but all, excepting two, left Arabia, and settled in India; the Targum of Jonathan adds,"who measured the earth with ropes,''as if he was the first inventor and practiser of geometry: from him are thought to spring the Allumaeotae, a people whom Ptolemy (p) places in Arabia Felix, called so by the Greeks, instead of Almodaei: Mr. Broughton (q) sets Eldimaei over against this man's name, as if they were a people that sprung from him; whereas this word is wrongly put in Ptolemy (r) for Elymaeans, as it is in the Greek text, a people joining to the Persians: and Sheleph and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah: to the first of these, Sheleph, the Targum of Jonathan adds,"who drew out the water of the rivers;''his people are supposed by Bochart (s), to be the Alapeni of Ptolemy (t), which should be read Salapeni, who were, he says, more remote from the rest, almost as far as the neck of Arabia, and not far from the spring of the river Betius. The next son, Hazarmaveth, or Hasermoth, as in the Vulgate Latin, is thought to give name to a people in Arabia, called by Pliny (u) Chatramotitae, and by Ptolemy Cathramonitae, whose country, Strabo says (w), produces myrrh; according to Ptolemy (x) they reached from the mountain Climax to the Sabaeans, among whom were a people, called, by Pliny (y), Atramitae, who inhabited a place of the same name, and which Theophrastus calls Adramyta, which comes nearer the name of this man, and signifies the court or country of death: and in those parts might be places so called, partly from the unwholesomeness of the air, being thick and foggy, and partly from the frankincense which grew there, which was fatal to those that gathered it, and therefore only the king's slaves, and such as were condemned to die, were employed in it, as Bochart (z) has observed from Arrianus; as also because of the multitude of serpents, with which those odoriferous countries abounded, as the same writer relates from Agatharcides and Pliny. The next son of Joktan is Jerah, which signifies the moon, as Hilal does in Arabic; and Alilat with the Arabians, according to Herodotus (a), is "Urania", or the moon; hence Bochart (b) thinks, that the Jeracheans, the posterity of Jerah, are the Alilaeans of Diodorus Siculus (c), and others, a people of the Arabs; and the Arabic geographer, as he observes, makes mention of a people near Mecca called Bene Hilal, or the children of Jerah; and he is of opinion that the island Hieracon, which the Greeks call the island of the Hawks placed by Ptolemy (d), in Arabia Felix, adjoining to the country which lies upon the Arabian Gulf, is no other than the island of the Jeracheans, the posterity of this man: the Arabs (e) speak of a son of Joktan or Cahtan, they call Jareb, who succeeded his father, which perhaps may be a corruption of Jerah; and another, called by them Jorham. (o) Apud Pocock. Specimen. Arab. Hist., p. 40. (p) Geograph. l. 6. c. 7. (q) See his Works, p. 3. 59. (r) Ut supra, (Geograph. l. 6.) c. 5. (s) Phaleg. l. 2. c. 16. col. 99. (t) Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 5.) (u) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28. (w) Geograph. l. 16. p. 528. (x) Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 5.) (y) Nat. Hist. l. 12. c. 14. (z) Phaleg. l. 2. c. 17. col. 102. (a) Thalia sive, l. 3. c. 8. (b) Ut supra, (Phaleg. l. 2.) c. 19. (c) Bibliothec. l. 3. p. 179. (d) Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 5.) (e) Apud Pocock. Specimem. Arab. Hist. p. 40. gen 10:27And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah. The posterity of Hadoram, from the likeness of the name and sound, might seem to be the Adramitae of Ptolemy (f), but Bochart (g) thinks they are the Drimati of Pliny (h), who dwelt in the extreme corner of Arabia, to the east, near the Macae, who were at the straits of the Persian Gulf; and he observes, that the extreme promontory of that country was called Corodamum, by transposition of the letters "D" and "R": Uzal gave name to a city which is still so called; for R. Zacuth (i) says, the Jews which dwelt in Yaman, the kingdom of Sheba, call Samea, which is the capital of the kingdom of Yaman, Uzal; and who also relates, that there is a place called Hazarmaveth unto this day, of which see Gen 10:26 the kingdom in which Uzal is said by him to be was the south part of Arabia Felix, as Yaman signifies, from whence came the queen of the south, Mat 12:42 and Uzal or Auzal, as the Arabs pronounce it, is the same the Greeks call Ausar, changing "L" into "R"; hence mention is made by Pliny (k) of myrrh of Ausar, in the kingdom of the Gebanites, a people of the Arabs, where was a port by him called Ocila (l), by Ptolemy, Ocelis (m), and by Artemidorus in Strabo, Acila (n), and perhaps was the port of the city Uzal, to the name of which it bears some resemblance: Diklah signifies a palm tree, in the Chaldee or Syriac language, with which kind of trees Arabia abounded, especially the country of the Minaei, as Pliny (o) relates; wherefore Bochart (p) thinks the posterity of Diklah had their seat among them, rather than at Phaenicon or Diklah, so called from the abundance of palm trees that grew there, which was at the entrance into Arabia Felix at the Red sea, of which Diodorus Siculus (q) makes mention; and so Artemidorus in Strabo (r) speaks of a place called Posidium, opposite to the Troglodytes, and where the Arabian Gulf ends, where palm trees grew in a wonderful manner, on the fruit of which people lived, where was a Phaenicon, or continued grove of palm trees; and here is placed by Ptolemy (s) a village called Phaenicon, the same with Diklah. (f) Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 5.) (g) Ut supra, (Phaleg. l. 2.) c. 20. (h) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28. (i) Juchasin, fol. 135. 2. (k) Nat. Hist. l. 12. c. 16. (l) lb. c. 19. (m) Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 5). So Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 23. (n) Geograph. l. 16. p. 529. (o) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28. (p) Ut supra. (Phaleg. l. 2. c. 22.) (q) Bibliothec. l. 3. p. 175. (r) Geograph. l. 16. p. 34. (s) Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 5.) gen 10:28And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba. The first of these, Obal, or Aubal, as the Arabs pronounce, Bochart (t) is obliged to make his posterity pass over the straits of the Arabian Gulf out of Arabia Felix into Arabia Troglodytice; where he finds a bay, called by Pliny (u) the Abalite bay, which carries in it some trace of this man's name, and by Ptolemy (v) the Avalite bay; and where was not only an emporium of this name, but a people called Avalites and also Adulites, which Bishop Patrick believes should be read "Abulites", more agreeably to the name of this man, but Pliny (w) speaks of a town of the Adulites also: Abimael is supposed by Bochart (x) to be the father of Mali, or the Malitae, as his name may be thought to signify, Theophrastus (y) making mention of a place called Mali along with Saba, Adramyta, and Citibaena, in spicy Arabia, which is the only foundation there is for this conjecture: Sheba gave name to the Sabaeans, a numerous people in Arabia; their country was famous for frankincense; the nations of them, according to Pliny (z), reached both seas, that is, extended from the Arabian to the Persian Gulf; one part of them, as he says (a), was called Atramitae, and the capital of their kingdom Sabota, on a high mountain, eight mansions from which was their frankincense country, called Saba; elsewhere he says (b), their capital was called Sobotale, including sixty temples within its walls; but the royal seat was Mariabe; and so Eratosthenes in Strabo (c) says, the metropolis of the Sabaeans was Mariaba, or, as others call it, Merab, and which, it seems, is the same with Saba; for Diodorus Siculus (d) and Philostorgius (e) say, the metropolis of the Sabaeans is Saba; and which the former represents as built on a mountain, as the Sabota of Pliny is said to be, (t) Ut supra, (Phaleg. l. 2.) c. 23. (u) Nat. Hist. l. 26. c. 29. (v) Geograph. l. 4. c. 7, 8. (w) Nat. Hist. l. 26. c. 29. (x) Ut supra. (Phaleg. l. 2. c. 24.) (y) Ut supra, (Hist. Plant. l. 9.) c.4. (z) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28. (a) Ib. l. 12. c. 14. (b) Ut supra. (Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28.) (c) Geograph. l. 16. p. 528. (d) Bibliothec. l. 3. p. 180. (e) Hist. Ecclesiast. l. 3. p. 477. gen 10:29And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab,.... If several of the sons of Joktan went into India, as the Arabs say, one would be tempted to think that Ophir in India, whither Solomon sent his ships once in three years, had its name from the first of these; See Gill on Gen 10:26 but as this would be carrying him too far from the rest of his brethren, who appear to have settled in Arabia, some place must be found for him there; and yet there is none in which there is any likeness of the name, unless Coper can be thought to be, a village in the country of the Cinaedocolpites, on the Arabian Gulf, as in Ptolemy (f), or Ogyris, an island in the same sea, Pliny (g) makes mention of the same with the Organa of Ptolemy (h), placed by him on the Sachalite bay; wherefore Bochart (i) looks out elsewhere for a seat for this Ophir, or "Oupheir", as in the Septuagint version, and finding in a fragment of Eupolemus, preserved by Eusebius (k), mention made of the island of Ourphe, which he thinks should be Ouphre, or Uphre, situated in the Red sea, seems willing to have it to be the seat of this man and his posterity, and that it had its name from him; or that their seat was among the Cassanites or Gassandae, the same perhaps with the tribe of Ghassan, Aupher and Chasan signifying much the same, even great abundance and treasure: Havilah, next mentioned, is different from Havilah, the son of Cush, Gen 10:7 and so his country; but it is difficult where to fix him; one would rather think that the Avalite bay, emporium, and people, should take their name from him than from Obal, Gen 10:28 but Bochart (l) chooses to place him and his posterity in Chaulan, a country in Arabia Felix, in the extreme part of Cassanitis, near the Sabaeans: and Jobab, the last of Joktan's sons, was the father of the Jobabites, called by Ptolemy (m) Jobarites, corruptly for Jobabites, as Salmasius and Bochart think; and who are placed by the above geographer near the Sachalites in Arabia Felix, whose country was full of deserts, as Jobab in Arabic signifies, so Bochart (n) observes, as the countries above the Sachalite bay were, by which these Jobabites are placed: all these were the sons of Joktan; the thirteen before mentioned, all which had their dwelling in Arabia or near it, and which is further described in the following verse. (f) Geograph. l. 6. c. 7. (g) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28. (h) Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 7.) (i) Phaleg. l. 2. c. 27. (k) Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 30. p. 457. (l) Ut supra, (Phaleg. l. 2.) c. 20. (m) Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 7.) (n) Ut supra, (Phaleg. l. 2.) c. 29. gen 10:30And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Zephar, a mount of the east. Mesha, which is thought to be the Muza of Ptolemy and Pliny, was a famous port in the Red sea, frequented by the merchants of Egypt and Ethiopia, from which the Sappharites lay directly eastward; to whose country they used to go for myrrh and frankincense, and the like, of which Saphar was the metropolis, and which was at the foot of Climax, a range of mountains, which perhaps might be formerly called Saphar, from the city at the bottom of it, the same with Zephar here: by inspecting Ptolemy's tables (o), the way from one to the other is easily discerned, where you first meet with Muza, a port in the Red sea, then Ocelis, then the mart Arabia, then Cane, and so on to Sapphar or Sapphara; and so Pliny says (p), there is a third port which is called Muza, which the navigation to India does not put into, only the merchants of frankincense and Arabian odours: the towns in the inland are the royal seat Saphar; and another called Sabe; now the sons of Joktan had their habitations all from this part in the west unto Zephar or Saphar eastward, and those were reckoned the genuine Arabs: Hillerus (q) gives a different account of the situation of the children of Joktan, as he thinks, agreeably to these words of Moses; understanding by Kedem, rendered the east, the mountains of Kedem, or the Kedemites, which sprung from Kedem or Kedomah, the youngest son of Ishmael, Gen 25:15 and Zephar, the seat of the Sepharites, as between Mesha and Kedem; for, says he, Mesha is not Muza, a mart of the Red sea, but Moscha, a famous port of the Indian sea, of which Arrian and Ptolemy make mention; and from hence the dwelling of the Joktanites was extended, in the way you go through the Sepharites to the mountainous places of Kedem or Cadmus: perhaps nearer the truth may be the Arabic paraphrase of Saadiah (r), which is"from Mecca till you come to the city of the eastern mountain, or (as in a manuscript) to the eastern city,''meaning perhaps Medina, situate to the east; so that the sense is, according to this paraphrase, that the sons of Joktan had their dwelling from Mecca to Medina; and so R. Zacuth (s) says, Mesha in the Arabic tongue is called Mecca; and it is a point agreed upon by the Arabs that Mesha was one of the most ancient names of Mecca; they believe that all the mountainous part of the region producing frankincense went in the earliest times by the name of Sephar; from whence Golius concludes this tract to be the Mount Zephar of Moses, a strong presumption of the truth of which is that Dhafar, the same with the modern Arabs as the ancient Saphar, is the name of a town in Shihr, the only province in Arabia bearing frankincense on the coast of the Indian ocean (t). (o) Geograph. l. 6. c. 7. (p) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 23. (q) Onomastic. Sacr. p. 116. (r) In Pocock. Specimen Hist. Arab. p. 34. (s) In Juchasin, fol. 135. 2. (t) Universal History, vol. 18. p. 353. gen 10:31These are the sons of Shem,.... His sons, and grandsons, and great grandsons, in all twenty six, no doubt but there were many more, but these are only mentioned; for none of the sons of Elam, Ashur, and Lud, are named, and but one of Arphaxad's, and one of Salah's, and two of Eber's, and none of Peleg's; when it is not to be questioned but they had many, as is certain of Arphaxad, Salah, Eber, and Peleg, Gen 11:13. after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations: from hence sprung various families at first, and these of different languages upon the confusion of Babel, which thenceforward formed different nations, dwelt in different lands; which have been pointed at as near as we can at this distance, and with the little helps and advantages we have: it seems from hence that Shem's posterity were of different languages as well as those of Ham and Japheth. gen 10:32These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations,.... This is the account of their families, from whom the several nations of the earth sprung: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood; not immediately, not till they were so increased as to form distinct nations; not till Peleg's time, when the division was made; not until the building of the city and tower of Babel, for unto that time these families were together, and then and not before were they dispersed abroad upon the face of the earth; and by degrees peopled all the known parts of the world, Asia, Africa, and Europe, and no doubt America, though the way of their passage thither is unknown to us; and to this partition of the earth by the three sons of Noah, Pindar (u) seems to have respect, when he says,"according to the ancients, Jupiter and the immortal ones parted the earth;''and he speaks of one man having three sons, who dwelt separate, the earth being divided into three parts. (u) Olymp. Ode 7.
Earth is home to many forms of life. We are committed to ensuring their well-being and proposing civil society ACTIONS to prevent irreversible climate-caused catastrophe. This means addressing the fundamental issue of sustainable energy as a long-term strategy in combination with shorter term strategies and ACTIONS needed to cope with existing threats. A Report to the Secretary General called for in the Declaration of the 60th UN DPI/NGO Conference and this collaborative website are "partner tools" aimed at helping civil society understand and respond to current and potential threats, as well as advocate corrective and collaborative action by all sectors of society, including governments, industry and individuals. in 2007 the 60th UN DPI/NGO Conference, adopted by acclamation a Declaration, CLIMATE CHANGE THREATS: AN NGO FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION, in which participants committed to work collaboratively over the next twelve months to prepare a report for the UN Secretary General. The Declaration strongly recommended that all sectors of society partner to implement concrete solutions based on recommendations that will emerge from the report. To be "climate-sensitive," the report, crafted by Climatecaucus was widely distributed by electronic means. It also built upon, update, and further refined the exchange of views held during the 60TH DPI/NGO conference. To develop this process, the DPI/NGO Executive Committee established an Editorial Working Group, which became the Editorial Board and create a report, supported working groups and a website (www.climatecaucus.net). Online “working groups” reported current effective strategies employed by civil society as well as proposed actions to combat the effects of climate changes. Based on very positive reaction to the Framework For Action, the report is now available on Amazon and CreateSpace. (c) is held by LRoeder to facilitate publication under EIN 54-2041714
The safety factor and life cycle both values are greater than straight axle as well as alternating stress and deformation values are less than straight axle. 8] alternating stress cycles during their service life. The maximum values of stress for UH3 and UH4 were under the minimum alternating stress from the S-N diagram. Figure 6 shows an alternating stress versus mean stress plot for the LCV leaf spring. The alternating stress was varied to find the fatigue life, while the mean stress was kept constant. 8 GPa at T = 20[degrees]C, which is an order of magnitude lower than the maximum amplitude of the applied alternating stress In the lifetime assessment, the alternating stress against the mean stress determines the fatigue damage of a mechanical component, as determined with the Haigh's Mean Stress Diagram. Step 4: Calculate the fatigue factor of safety by comparing the equivalent alternating stress to the fatigue failure strength. The main aim of the project is to determine the Von Misses stresses, Shear stresses, Maximum Principle stress, Equivalent Alternating stress , Total Deformation, Fatigue Analysis and Optimization in the existing Connecting rod. The amplitude of the reversed charge pulse is not enough to provide cell membrane breakdown, but it produces high alternating stress on the cell membrane, causing structural fatigue. To calculate the fatigue resistance of the stents, Clune used Goodman plots which compute mean stresses and the magnitude of alternating stress and also S-N curve to integrate the alternating stress life of the composite materials.
Europe’s Green Deal addresses climate change, but does it reach Pope Francis’ vision of ‘integral ecology’? The European Union has the ambitious aim of making Europe “the world’s first climate-neutral continent.” The slogan underpins theEuropean Green Deal, a wide-ranging series of new regulations and laws that analysts say is the world’s most ambitious political plan to respond to climate change. The goal, according to the Green Deal strategy statement, is no less than zero “net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050,” “economic growth decoupled from resource use” and “no person and no place left behind.” Introduced in 2019 by the E.U. Commission—a body of officials that serves as a kind of executive branch and bureaucracy to help the treaty-based union of European countries function—the Green Deal amends the European Union’s climate, energy, transport and taxation policies with the short term goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030. The Green Deal amends the European Union’s climate, energy, transport and taxation policies with the short term goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030. The European Union has already called for the end of the sale of gas-combustion engines by 2035 and for member countries to fast-track wind and solar energy projects. The E.U. Commission has also widened the scope of its carbon credit system. Another wave of legislation is in the works, including regulations for ecosystem restoration, changes in agricultural practices, sustainable product design, new standards for aviation and maritime fuel and limitations on waste in the fashion industry. In light of Catholic social teaching, particularly Pope Francis’ call for an integral ecology, that wide-ranging approach seems like the best way to proceed. But is anything—or anyone—being left out of the Green Deal? While few people deny the need to address climate change and sustainability, almost every provision of the Green Deal has generated some resistance. Under its proposals, European farmers, for example, may have to take large tracts of land out of production and set aside more land for non-crops like bushes and trees to create habitats for birds. Farmers will also have to reduce synthetic pesticide use by 50 percent by 2030. Many farmers say the E.U. Commission has not fully accounted for the costs of implementing such changes, arguing that programs to assist farmers through the transition are underfunded. Such concerns are shared by the church, according to Johannes Moravitz, policy advisor for ecology, agriculture and energy at theCommission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union. While the church emphatically promotes care of creation and efforts to achieve long-term sustainability, in the final ethical analysis, “the human person…has to be in the center,” Mr. Moravitz said. While few people deny the need to address climate change and sustainability, almost every provision of the Green Deal has generated some resistance. “The goal [of the Green Deal] in itself is good,” he said, “but we have to be really careful that the costs to reach these goals are not borne by those who are already struggling with rising costs,” he said. “When you read about the Green Deal, ‘leaving no one behind,’ it sounds very nice, but in practice, we can see very often it’s not quite followed.” Expanded carbon taxes will beginhitting the pocketbooks of most Europeans in 2029. Assistance programs to help pay for upgrades to make homes more energy efficient will be part of the process, but, according to Mr. Moravitz, the new costs will still represent a significant new burden, especially for those least able to afford them. Centering the human person “This is an issue where the church has to say, ‘No, the human person has a very unique place in the universe,’ and you have a social-political obligation to ensure that people will really not be left behind.” This concern applies on an international level as well. Developing countries, he said, should not have to suffer the consequences of the European Union’s shift in industrial and energy policies in the name of addressing climate change. Mr. Moravitz is concerned that Europe’s energy transition will rely on resources often found in or used by poor countries. “This is very concretely important for the Green Deal and especially our energy policies. The price for us ‘going green,’ if you want, or decoupling from gas, can’t be paid by poorer countries,” he said. Coal reserves can still be located on the continent, but European states are attempting to transition to energy produced by natural gas because of that fossil fuel’s smaller carbon footprint. That pits European nations against poorer countries in competition for liquified natural gas reserves, Mr. Moravitz said. Developing states have been outbid for those reserves by E.U. states, already leading to blackouts in Bangladesh. “This is an issue where the church has to say, ‘No, the human person has a very unique place in the universe,’ and you have a social-political obligation to ensure that people will really not be left behind.” Mr. Moravitz suspects the Green Deal’s approach could be fundamentally flawed. It ignores, he said, a pre-existing, “inherent problem” with the contemporary world’s economic model—an assumption of endless growth and accompanying consumerism. “What the Green Deal is trying to achieve is having our same economic and consumer-use models, but based upon different energy resources,” Mr. Moravitz said. In “Laudato Si’,” Pope Francis, echoing his predecessor Benedict XVI, called for examining “the structural causes of the dysfunctions of the world economy and correcting models of growth which have proved incapable of ensuring respect for the environment.” “Even theoretically, there is no such thing as endless growth,” Mr. Moravitz said. Perpetual economic growth based on wind and solar technology is not, in the end, any more sustainable than an economic system founded on fossil fuels, Mr. Moravitz warned. It is a serious conundrum for European politicians, according to Mr. Moravitz. Europe’s voting public has been trained to measure well-being by economic growth and buying power. “Any political party coming up with proposals to change [consumer] behavior, trying to change the way we live, the way we view the good life, probably will get voted out very fast,” he said. “This attitude leads to the issue of the Green Deal never changing anything actually….It’s a political problem, but also a cultural problem, and it’s very hard to solve the one without the other.” The contemporary last aim of E.U. politics “seems to have become fighting climate change by reducing carbon emissions to zero.” The Green Deal envisions a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and hydrogen. But that transition produces its own challenges, according to Mr. Moravitz. The energy from the sun and wind can be harnessed again and again, but the large-scale technologies—the solar panels and windmills—used to power that energy and the creation of the infrastructure to distribute it require tapping resources that are not renewable. And how the resources and minerals required by the continent’s energy transformation are acquired will also matter, according to Mr. Moravitz. The experience of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been a prime example of how the exploitation of Africa’s natural resources by European powers can lead to grave suffering. The D.R.C. is now in the middle of a cobalt rush. Thehorrors of cobalt mining have been well-documented. The blue mineral is essential for the construction of rechargeable batteries in mobile phones and, increasingly, cars—two goods that are crucial to the economy and lifestyle of contemporary Europeans. Foreign mining interests have stormed the D.R.C. to acquire its cobalt, and, once again, the extraction of this natural resource seems to be having little effect on raising the standard of living for most Congolese people. But the extraction process is causing both environmental damage and health harms to miners and D.R.C. communities. “The price for Europe ‘going green’ can’t be paid by poorer countries.” The European Unioninvested 50 million euros in infrastructure development and mining in the D.R.C. this year. The community has had toacknowledge the bleak humanitarian situation in the Congo. It remains to be seen whether this European investment will truly benefit the Congolese people. In 2022, the European Union committed at COP27, the most recent U.N. conference on climate change, to contribute to a “Loss and Damage” fund that will support low-income countries grappling with climate change even as they contribute the least to the problem. Africa as a continent generates the least amount of carbon emissions globally but may prove to be the most deeply harmed by climate change. The Rev. Martin Schlag, a professor of business ethics at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, a consultant to the Pontifical Council for Peace and Justice and author of The Business Francis Means: Understanding the Pope’s Message on the Economy, also worries that the Green Deal program is not as well conceived as it could be. In politics, he points out, there are always conflicting claims and interests that have to be weighed with the view to a higher goal or good. Over time this final goal—the last aim, as he calls it—changes depending on the cultural and historical moment. While general prosperity, social equilibrium and European unity had been previous “last aims” in Europe, the contemporary last aim of E.U. politics “seems to have become fighting climate change by reducing carbon emissions to zero,” he said. Like Mr. Moravitz, he is concerned that the commission members seek to reach zero emissions without sacrificing either economic growth or negatively affecting consumer culture. In tackling the problem, the various conflicts that have to be reconciled become clear, he said, citing the example of electric cars. The modern autos may not emit carbon when driven, but they require extensive mining of minerals needed for their rechargeable batteries. Even ecologists and other scientists are not always in agreement about the best ways to address climate change and other environmental problems. “However, are the consumers who are the voters willing to pay the bill? Are the tradeoffs thought through?” Father Schlag asks. “Much of climate change politics are formulated as ideals and as economic-social-and ecological win-win-win situations, just like Catholic social teaching promotes ‘integral ecology.’ However, the consequences for industrial politics are unclear.” He likewise cautions that Catholics should be wary of political goals that are not centered on the human person. Finding the practical solutions to whatever contradictions emerge as European leaders institute the Green Deal is not the place of the church, according to Mr. Moravitz. He notes that Pope Francis recently reminded politicians that they should engage closely with those “on the ground” in solving ecological problems. Father Schlag adds that Catholic social teaching also emphasizes the important role civic, non-governmental organizations have in society and that such entities will be essential in addressing ecological issues raised by the Green Deal.
Drugs and alcohol (pupils or parents) What is drug/alcohol misuse? Solihull Local Safeguarding Board use the following definition of substance misuse in their Joint Services protocol re. Families and Children Affected by Substance Misuse: Substance misuse is the use of or dependence on a substance leading to social, psychological, physical or legal effects that are detrimental to the individual or others. Substance use includes prescribed and non-prescribed, legal and illegal substances including alcohol. Clearly both drug and alcohol this may have implications with regard to parenting capacity in adults and a range of concerning issues for children and young people. The latest advice from Government is the 2012 Department for Education and ACPO Drug Advice for Schools. Schools are advised that as a minimum, there should be: - early access to support for pupils with drug or alcohol issues (or affected by family use); - a written drugs policy available to all staff; and - a senior member of staff with responsibility for policy and liaising with the local police and support services. It is also made clear that a school’s response to drugs and alcohol is most effective when: - it is supported by the whole school community; - drug education is part of a well-planned programme of PSHE education delivered in a supportive environment, where pupils are aware of the school rules, feel able to engage in open discussion and feel confident about asking for help if necessary; and - staff have access to high quality training and support. Searching, screening and confiscation: advice for schools – DfE advice explaining the powers schools have to screen and search pupils and to confiscate items may be of pertinence where pupils are suspected of possessing items that may compromise their safety or that of others. For further support with reviewing policy and developing effective practice please see Solihull’s Health and Wellbeing website. Potential school support Following the notification or disclosure of actual or suspected drug/alcohol misuse (own or that of parent/carer/friend) by a young person to an adult in school, the following actions should be considered: - School follows its Managing Substance Related Incidents policy once drug/alcohol misuse is disclosed or discovered. School Behaviour (when considering sanctions) and Safeguarding (a MASH referral may be appropriate) policies may also be of relevance - Establish and implement a Pupil Support Plan if appropriate - School may identify children and young people who are potentially vulnerable to drug/alcohol misuse and plan targeted interventions addressing risk management skills and approaches - An Early Help Assessment may be appropriate for some children and young people in order to meet need - Create a support plan with the parent/carer for action to be taken if that parent/carer arrives at school under the influence of drugs/alcohol - Staff awareness raising about the impact/signs/ways of supporting children & young people experiencing problematic drug/alcohol misuse - Training is offered to Solihull schools and information/links are published on the Health and Wellbeing in Solihull Schools website Curriculum (Universal provision through planned PSHE and Science) - High quality PSHE which includes appropriate learning around drugs and alcohol. (See Mentor-Adepis for further support) - Statutory elements of the Science Curriculum in maintained schools covering how the impact of drugs and lifestyle on how the body functions - Opportunities within a range of curriculum areas to explore risk, risky behaviour and why such behaviour might occur e.g. literacy texts - Opportunities to learn about and develop ‘protective behaviours’ i.e. listening to what your body is telling you when something feels wrong, no problem is too big, small or awful to be shared with a trusted adult Updates and changes These pages are updated regularly and should be used as the main source of information. Printed versions should be used with care as they can become out of date.
Information Processing and Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Comorbidity of Delusions, Overvalued Ideas, and Schizophrenia Psychology \| Social and Behavioral Sciences Schizophrenia, in conjunction with obsessive-compulsive symptoms, presents significant barriers to treatment. This is true even if the obsessive-compulsive symptoms would ordinarily be considered straightforward for cognitive-behavioral treatment. These many limitations in treatment are considered here in light of the information processing deficits that are associated with schizophrenia. Further, the demands of exposure with response prevention, used in the case of Sam, require special considerations in complex cases such as these. We highlight some of the specific approaches necessary in the clinical care of schizophrenia with obessive-compulsive symptoms in light of the information-processing deficits associated with each problem, and discuss some of the issues faced in clinical settings where there is a reliance on empirically supported treatments for conditions or classes of symptoms. The specific considerations raised here extend to cases of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) that are complicated by the presence of overvalued ideas, essentially a delusional subtype of the disorder. McKay, Dean and McKiernan, Kevin, "Information Processing and Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Comorbidity of Delusions, Overvalued Ideas, and Schizophrenia" (2005). Psychology Faculty Publications. 76.
War of Jenkins' Ear War of Jenkins' Ear was a British-Spanish conflict. It was provoked by a series of incidents in the Americas such as border disagreements with Spain in Florida, Spanish naval hostilities and English logging activities in Honduras. When the British government decided to use colonial troops in its campaign against the Spanish provinces in the Americas, Lieutenant Governor William Gooch raised Virginia's quota of 400 men, known thereafter as "Colonel Gooch's American Regiment." They were part of a force of 3,000 colonials under the command of former Virginia governor Colonel Alexander Spotswood, quartermaster general of the forces from America. When Spotswood died in Annapolis in 1740, Gooch succeeded to his military posts. Departing in October 1740 from the Virginia capes, he led an expedition against the Spanish in Cartagena (present-day Colombia). Gooch was absent from Williamsburg for ten months, leaving the government in the hands of the Council. The attack on the Spanish at Cartagena was unsuccessful, and Gooch himself was severely wounded when he was struck by a cannonball that injured both legs. In spite of the disastrous nature of the campaign, Gooch reported that "the Virginians were mightily rejoiced at my return day and night firing guns, bonfires and illuminations." The conflict acquired its colorful name as a result of widespread public outrage when shipmaster Robert Jenkins reported to the House of Commons that the Spanish had cut off his ear for suspected smuggling activities. All rights reserved. For details and contact information: See License Agreement, Copyright Notice.
The following history gives a concise view of how the season of Advent developed in the life and history of the Church. In 490, Bishop Perpetuus of Tours officially declared Advent a penitential season in the Frankish Church of Western Europe, ordering a fast on three days of every week from November 11 (the feast of St. Martin of Tours) till Christmas. This forty days' fast, similar to Lent, was originally called Quadragesima Sancti Martini: (CP notes that this does NOT translate as "40 days of the Holy Martini season!") the Forty Days of Saint Martin - or - St. Martin's Lent. The readings for the Masses in this season were taken from the liturgies of Lent. By contrast, the Advent season of the Roman liturgy, developing a century after that of the Frankish Church, was a non-penitential, festive and joyful time of preparation for Christmas. When the Church unified the liturgical season, the non-penitential nature of the Roman Advent conflicted with the longer and penitential Gallic Advent. By the thirteenth century a compromise was reached, which combined the fasting and penitential character of the Gallic observance with the Mass texts and shorter four-week cycle of the Roman Advent liturgy. The liturgy of Advent remained substantially unaltered until Vatican II mandated a few minor changes to more clearly delineate the spirit of the Lenten and Advent seasons. Jennifer Gregory Miller Jennifer G. Miller
27 January: International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust Sunday, 27 January is the date set for the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. In its present capacity as holder of the Presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, Belgium specifically intends to comply with the duty to honour the memory of the victims of this cruel genocide. The United Nations has chosen for this year's observance of the Day of Commemoration the theme of Rescue during the Holocaust: the courage to care. Sunday, 27 January will mark 68 years to the very day that the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp was liberated. As a symbol of the Holocaust, this camp and so many others was the scene of several million appalling deaths. No less than six million Jews along with Roma, Sinti, political prisoners and homosexuals were systematically persecuted, brutalised and murdered. This Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust is also intended to pay tribute to the memory transmitted by the survivors. These people play a key role in educating new generations in order to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive. Their stories must live on during the commemorations in order to encourage people to remember and to prevent the suffering of millions of men, women and children from becoming trivialised. Pursuant to resolution 60/7 on Holocaust remembrance, adopted on 1 November 2005, the United Nations General Assembly decided to designate 27 January of each year as the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. The Belgian Federal Authorities are fully engaged in this day of remembrance, which is acknowledged as being an important reminder of the universal lessons of the Holocaust and respect for the human rights of all people, irrespective of race, sex, language or religion. In March 2012 Belgium began its 12-month term presiding over the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, an intergovernmental organisation whose members are committed to the principles set out in the Stockholm Declaration. The Belgian Presidency has turned the international spotlight on the policies being undertaken by the federal authorities and the federated entities to facilitate remembrance, education and research focused on the Holocaust, the promotion of human rights and combating any form of racism and anti-Semitism. The awful experience of the Holocaust has also taught us that even during the darkest periods of our history, men and women in Belgium and many other countries found the courage not to remain indifferent to the injustice inflicted upon their fellow citizens. They bravely risked their own lives to save many children, women and men. These righteous people and these saviours had no intention of acting like heroes. They were simply doing what they thought was perfectly normal: helping and saving their fellow citizens.
This article is part of our special report The road ahead: challenges and opportunities for Europe’s regions. Mario Rajn, the mayor of Križevci, a medieval city of 20,000 people northeast of Croatia’s capital is pushing for his city to become energy independent by 2030. He explains what actions have been taken so far. “We wanted our citizens to embrace solar energy as much as possible,” Rajn said. The city started its first pilot project two years ago, offering its citizens the chance to invest into using solar energy for public administration buildings, at a 4,5% annual interest rate, considerably higher than the 2% they could obtain from banks. The city has pledged to pay back the citizens’ investment in 10 years with interest, becoming the owner of the solar farm in a decade. Inhabitant-investors saw the first returns at the end of last year. The idea of engaging residents has worked. In 2018 it took 10 days to crowdfund €33,000, raising a similar amount the following year took 48 hours. The two pilot solar plants are roughly 30 kW each, but the city is now planning to up the ante with a 5MW solar park. A fifth of the project will be financed by citizens with Croatia’s national power company as the largest co-investor. The big photovoltaic plant would cover about a quarter of the city’s energy needs, and Rajn says that the combination of about 1 in 7 households having their own solar panels by 2027 and exploiting the area’s geothermal energy, could see the city becoming energy independent by 2030. After using gas exploration drill holes from the 1980s that found thermal water to conduct the first studies, Križevci now hopes to generate 5MW of geothermal energy for heating. The city got €250,000 for exploration from HealingPlaces, a project aiming at a more sustainable development of spas led by Poland’s Central Mining Institute and financed by an EU cohesion policy programme that encourages cooperation across borders in Central Europe. Rajn said the plan is to start building a new drill hole to access the areas geothermal potential in 2022, hopefully with at least partial financing from private investors to cover the investment of about €3 million. The mayor said the city would “guarantee the investors that if they invest in geothermal heating, public buildings will use that energy for heating and for cooling during summer.” “Actually our local budget is like €8 million, we are quite a small town,” Rajn said. “We are a deeply centralised country, so a lot of money goes to the central state. That’s why we are looking for all the European projects that we can use.” Križevci has received a country-wide award for being the city to best utilise and access EU funds two years in a row. These projects put Križevci on the map both nationally and internationally, and the small city — alongside major urban centres and capitals of Skopje, Sarajevo, Maribor and Niš — became one of the Future Cities of South East Europe, a project led by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s Knowledge and Innovation Communities (EIT Climate-KIC). The participating cities will aim to bring air quality within World Health Organization (WHO) recommended limits by 2023, and have net-zero greenhouse gas emission economies by 2030, as well as reduce yearly the impacts of heat and flooding in their communities. Rajn identified frequent tax code changes at the national level as one of the main obstacles to getting private investors to commit. “Investors want safety and they want to know how to calculate the next 10 years. They expect a return on their investment in the next 10 years, not in the next 20 years.” “We have a lot of investment in our country in the last 20 years in the tourism sector, especially in condos and infrastructure.” “I think that came to an end, especially due to the COVID-19 crisis, and one of the biggest opportunities for Croatia is in investing in green energy. Our country must embrace it a lot faster, the world is changing rapidly, as we have seen in 2020.” Asked what Brussels should do to help along the transition of towns like Križevci, Rajn suggested increasing the percentage of funds cities can access directly, and not through their national governments. “The cities, we are the atoms in this whole organism of the EU. We are witness to the changes needed on a daily basis.” Rajn added that cities can implement the changes faster compared to regional administrations. “I think that the EU must allocate some of these funds, like the recovery fund, directly to the cities themselves,” he said. [Edited by Benjamin Fox]
When every one of us has been given more time and greater opportunities not only to evolve ourselves but to help other people to evolve themselves too, so that together we can build a new age on Earth. Because we do not know ourselves. When one is able to build relationship with self, he/she can not see others in pain. Rgs. our civilization is technology based. the dependence on technology creates a wall between two human emotions. so treading the same emotional state becomes difficult. If it is like that how happy this world would be. Selfish nature, greed , ego, and all negative qualities prevent one to be empathetic. We mostly lack compassion, love, generosity, fellow-feeling, affective understanding and vicarious sense, we don't have the empathetic feeling and humane understanding. Wrong! Male mind created all cultures from his wars,intolerance,violence and greed. His mind taught new minds to earth to follow that pattern over thousands of years. A mind that was slowly male culturally mind formed can never have it undone. There are over 7 billion minds and not one thought fits all. The world is full of disparities where there's a big gap between the have n have nots... Empathy is very hard in a country like India, where the well off live a very different life from the poor. We tend to isolate ourselves and see what we want to see. After a while, no one empathizes with the rickshaw puller. Try pulling a rickshaw, it is very hard work. Living in the consciousness/identity of "I", "ME", and "MINE" cannot generate empathy. Empathy is experienced when living in the consciousness/identity of "WE", "US" and "OURS".
Heart murmurs are a common finding during physical examinations by healthcare professionals. If detected, particularly in adults, it is important that they are investigated to ensure that you have a healthy heart, even in the absence of symptoms. A heart murmur is a type of additional sound, heard when a healthcare provider listens to your heart with a stethoscope. They are caused by turbulent blood flow within the heart, with the most common causes being heart valve problems (restriction or leakiness of a valve), holes within the heart (congenital heart disease) or fast flow of blood through the heart for other reasons (e.g. anaemia). As murmurs can be a signal of an issue within your heart, they should be investigated with further tests, unless the treating healthcare professional is sure that they are innocent. Often the first test to consider is a surface (transthoracic) echocardiogram scan, which is an excellent preliminary scan to assess your heart valves and to investigate for heart muscle issues. If further information is required about your heart valves or muscle, Dr Jordan can supplement this with an MRI scan or a more specialised form of echocardiogram scan (e.g. transoesophageal echocardiogram). If your murmur is found to be due to a heart issue, Dr Jordan will advise either monitoring with further appointments or a treatment plan, depending on the severity of the issue detected. What Are Heart Murmurs Heart murmurs are heard when listening to the chest with a stethoscope, being caused by turbulent blood flow within the heart. By timing the extra sound with the heartbeat, assessing the character of the sound and listening for any further changes to a normal heart’s sounds, it is possible to gauge the likely cause of the murmur. Nevertheless, it is usually advisable to determine this definitively with a heart scan, usually an echocardiogram scan in the first instance. How Common Are Heart Murmurs Innocent heart murmurs are common, particularly in children. However, the American Heart Association reports that 2.5% of people have valvular heart disease, frequently without any symptoms, and it is therefore important that heart murmurs are actively investigated to exclude this possibility. Some heart murmurs are caused by the fast flow of blood through a normal healthy heart. These are termed innocent murmurs and occur in the absence of heart disease. However, the most common cause of a heart murmur in adults is a heart problem, in particular disease of the heart valves. Other causes include a heart muscle issue or holes between chambers within the heart (congenital heart disease). Although there are no specific heart murmur symptoms, the underlying cause of the murmur can result in symptoms of breathlessness, chest pain, loss of consciousness, swollen ankles or heart palpitations. How is a Heart Murmur Diagnosed? Heart murmurs are diagnosed when listening to the heart with a stethoscope. This may be because you see a healthcare professional with symptoms or as part of a routine examination. The cause of the murmur can then be investigated further, usually with an echocardiogram scan in the first instance, to look for issues with your heart valves in particular. How are Heart Murmurs Treated? Heart murmur treatment depends on the underlying cause. Innocent heart murmurs require no treatment, some conditions requiring monitoring only, whereas others may require medication and/or surgery. Heart murmurs are a type of extra sound which can be heard when a trained healthcare professional listens to the heart. In adults, further heart tests are almost always needed, to ensure that your heart is in good health. You may be interested in reading other heart condition: Chest Tightness