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How to start writing a documentary essay A documentary based on a test, otherwise known as “documentary essay” raises a theoretical issue relating to an event or historical event and analyzes the merits of the issue by creating a debate on both sides, based on current facts. For many students, the tests based on documentary issues are quite difficult due to the amount of time and research is needed to complete the test. The shape of this type of work can make many students feel overwhelmed and worried about where and how to start working on his documentary essay. Choose a theme. You do not need a title chosen perfectly drafted before you can move to the next step of preparing your documentary essay. However, this type of work you do necessarily require a significant amount of research. Therefore, an idea of the specific subject on which you want to write you avoid walking aimlessly wandering the library and the Internet for hours, without any exact address. You can choose any topic as true historical facts. Your topic need not be related to a famous person or an important historical event; however, finding information and facts by people will make the job easier to choose obscure subjects that have little or no documented history. Create your title asking a question about your topic. For example, if your theme is “World War II” your question might be “The Second World War changed the global economy?” or “World War II was the catalyst for the Cold War?” You can use the phrase question / issue that occurred to you as the title of your documentary essay. Research your topic and looking for facts to substantiate and refute the question of your title. Please read history books, text materials and scholarly articles to gather as many facts as possible about your topic. For example, if you’re writing about “How World War II changed the global economy,” you need to research on the state of the global economy before and after the Second World War. Be sure to focus your research on the relevant facts and points. If you’re writing about the economic effects of World War II, no need specific information about military strategies that were used during the war. Create an outline of “neutral facts”, “positive developments” and “negative facts”. Neutral facts are indisputable points are quite the year of a certain event occurred or the people who were involved. Positive events are those underlying question your title or tend to make it seem “more real”. Negative events have the opposite effect and disprove the question of your title. The best way to create this outline is to create a heading for each section in your word processor and write the facts under the appropriate heading as you are. A good practice is to label the source of information beside the fact you mention. Continue adding to your outline until you have enough information to give an overview of your topic and two well-reasoned arguments (one in favor and one opposed) to the question in your title. Establishes a structure for your documentary essay. First place the titles in your document (rather than “as you advance”) to guide you through the writing process. You must have titles for your “Introduction” and “Overview” of your theme, argumentative statement in favor of the question on your subject, an opposite argumentative statement to question your topic, an analysis section to start the discussion and “conclusion”. Use your sketch to fill the sections you created in Step 5. When you reach the “analysis” section, you must trust your own logic and reasoning to deal with the facts that you’ve obtained. However, a solid outline will help you start your documentary essay.
Separate but Never Equal - Grades: 6–8 - Unit Plan: After reading the article “Separate but Never Equal” by Mara Rockliff, students compare/contrast lives of black and white people during segregation. - Analyze text structures, including comparison and contrast - Understand what segregation was like during the 1960s. - Copy of the article “Separate but Never Equal” by Mara Rockliff (An introductory article for the novella, The Gold Cadillac by Mildred D. Taylor. An alternative might be "I Was Not Alone -- an interview with Rosa Parks" by Brian Lanker from I Dream a World.) - Venn Diagram - White Board - Pencil and Paper Set Up and Prepare Copy article and Venn diagram for each student - Begin lesson by showing students a short presentation or clip of the Civil Rights Movement. Pictures can be easily located on the Internet. One Web site that I use is http://www.infoplease.com/spot/civilrightstimeline1.html - Ask students questions that will allow them to reflect on the circumstances preceding the Civil Rights Movement. This will spark a lively discussion. Examples: - Did you know at one time there were separate drinking fountains and restrooms for whites and African Americans? - Do you realize that at one time there were restaurants in which African Americans were not allowed to eat? - Have students read “Separate but Never Equal” by Mara Rockliff, which describes segregation in the 1960s. Students may need help with vocabulary such as segregation, sit-ins, sue, suit, and inequalities. - Discuss the article with students by asking the following: - What is Plessy v. Ferguson? - Why did some African-American parents sue their school district in 1949? - How long after that did it take for the Supreme Court to rule that separate schools were unequal and what was the name of this famous case? - In the opening quotation; John Lewis, U.S. Congressman and Civil Rights leader, makes three comparisons, what are they? Provide students with some background knowledge about John R. Lewis. Explain to them that he organized sit-ins and other non-violent protests at segregated lunch counters and other facilities in the South during the early 1960s. These demonstrations helped to raise public awareness of the injustice of segregation, leading to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. - Another option for guiding the discussion on the article would be to draw a two-column chart on the board labeling one column “white” and the other “black.” Have students fill in, or you can fill in, details from their responses about the drinking fountains, movie theaters, buses, shopping, and restaurants. - Have students complete a Venn diagram independently comparing and contrasting the schools attended by black children with those attended by white children. Allow the students to discuss with their peers. - Explain to students that many people have risked their lives to fight racism. For homework, have students brainstorm a list of people who have fought injustice and their efforts. Tell them to ask their parents for help with this. - The next day divide students in groups of three to four and encourage them to share their information about the people who fought racism. Have members of each group merge their lists on a large poster paper so other groups can compare. - Have each group select one person that they discussed and research that person. Information should be presented to class. Supporting All Learners - The lesson uses cooperative activities that can help lower level students and ELL students. - Independent activities allow higher level students to take on a greater challenge. - Students can research legal cases such as Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education - Invite a speaker who actually lived during this time and fought for equality. Encourage students to ask interview relatives about this era and to compare their experiences during the 1960s with the students' own experiences in the present day. - Did students read the assigned article? - Did they complete the Venn diagram? - Did each member of the group participate and contribute to the poster activity? - Did each member of the group participate and contribute to the research presentation?
Medical abortion, also known as non-surgical abortion, is one way to terminate an early pregnancy using medications. Medical abortion is provided by trained health care providers in private office settings, family planning clinics and hospitals. A medical abortion can be performed from the time a woman suspects and confirms she is pregnant up until nine weeks from her last menstrual period. In clinical practice, medical abortion is about 95 percent to 98 percent effective, causing a woman to completely pass the pregnancy without the use of surgery. In comparison, early surgical abortion is effective 98 percent of the time. The medications prescribed for medical abortion at the UCLA Medical Center are mifepristone and misoprostol, as based on the best current medical evidence. Mifepristone, also known as "Mifeprex" or "RU-486," blocks the action of the natural hormone progesterone on the uterus. This causes the lining of the uterus to shed, as it does during a period, and stops the growth of the pregnancy. Misoprostol, also known as "Cytotec," causes the uterus to contract and initiates bleeding and cramping. How It Works A medical abortion involves at least two visits to a doctor's office or clinic. The treatment includes giving the medication and then confirming that the pregnancy has been terminated. Sometimes more than two visits are necessary. Medical Abortion vs. Emergency Contraception Medical abortion is not the same as emergency contraception, also referred to as the morning-after pill. Emergency contraception prevents a pregnancy. Therefore, once pregnancy has occurred, this is no longer effective. Medical abortion, on the other hand, is used to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Safety and Side Effects Mifepristone has been studied for over 20 years. Millions of women in more than 20 countries, including the United States, have used mifepristone and misoprostol or similar medications to have an abortion. All studies have shown the method to be safe and effective; there have been no reports of any long-term risks. Heavy bleeding requiring blood transfusion is extremely rare, occurring in less than 0.5 percent of study patients. Short-term side effects of a medical abortion include: There is no evidence of long-term risks with mifepristone when used for medical abortion and no long-term effects have been associated with misoprostol. There are no indications that any of the early abortion methods affect a woman's fertility. Little is known about the effect of mifepristone on a developing embryo. Misoprostol has been associated with birth defects when given in early pregnancy. Therefore, a woman should have a surgical abortion if a medical abortion fails. Cost and Insurance The cost of a medical abortion varies by clinic. Some providers charge similar rates for medical and surgical abortions. Many insurance companies, including Medi-Cal, will cover the cost of a medical abortion.
Japan is still suffering from the effects of a devastating earthquake and tsunami that have taken more than 6,000 lives with over ten thousand more missing. Neanderthals were no novices when it came to wielding fire, new evidence suggests—evidence that adds to our understanding of Neaderthals as intelligent, modern humans. Creationists emphasize that genetic mutations have never been shown to generate new, beneficial information in organisms (and often have deleterious effects), which undermines Darwinists’ case. And mutations in the naked-neck chicken are no exception. The cellular slime mold might seem to be a lowly form of life—maybe just the sort that could conceivably have evolved from inanimate matter. But new research reminds us just how wrong such fanciful imaginings are. It’s the news that, in the mind of one of our critics, “proved” evolution. The story begins with the discovery of the “amoebalike” Capsaspora owczarzaki living inside snails. Strange enough, that obscure microorganism is “one of the closest relatives to animals,” the Times declares as a starting point for discussing the supposed evolutionary transition of such unicellular creatures to animal life. And Don’t Miss . . . - Back in June 2009 we covered the incredible quantum-mechanical process that scientists think is behind birds’ amazing navigational abilities. Although we missed it in January, a reader has notified us of more research exploring how quantum effects may power birds’ internal compasses. Moreover, the research suggests that European robins can “maintain quantum entanglement in their eyes a full 20 microseconds longer than the best laboratory systems,” prompting one researcher to ask, “How can a living system have evolved to protect a quantum state as well—no, better—than we can do in the lab with these exotic molecules?” A great question, indeed! - Biologists claim to have “caught evolution in the act.” But is it so? The researchers discovered that hybrid flower species Tragopogon miscellus, bred in the lab in 2004, had “relaxed control of gene expression in its earliest generations” but now has regained control. What that means, however, is that the earliest hybrids “hit a reset button on gene expression, turning them all on—[which] could allow subsequent generations to experiment by switching off different genes,” in one of the scientist’s words. In other words, the “evolution” was based on genes that already existed in the original plant genome, not on new genes produced through random processes. - The “foundations of empathy” are found in the chicken, some researchers report, because hens show signs of distress when their chicks are threatened. But a Wall Street Journal book review challenges the extent of true altruism in animals, arguing that “the moral world of humans, to even the most casually reflective observer, reaches far beyond such primal urges [as sex, territory, possessions, reciprocity, kinship].” - “Difficult decisions ahead on Mars,” reports BBC News, because U.S. government funding of a new mission could be compromised. The joint ESA–NASA mission has, among other priorities, the goal of “drill[ing] below the planet’s surface to search for signs of life.” - “[T]ens of thousands of specimens” of marine fossils have turned up over the years in a Virginia sandpit. But just what could have caused whale, shark, dolphin, sea turtle, seal, crocodile, and other species to have been buried together? A catastrophic flood, perhaps? - Non-embryonic stem cells are playing a growing role in medical research. Some scientists have recently used them to better understand eye disorders, others to research stroke and heart disease research therapies, and others to study genetic problems that contribute to mental illness. Even horse owners are being encouraged to save foals’ umbilical cord tissue for future stem cell recovery. - Hot political news in the U.S. last week was a secret video recording showing the top fundraiser for government-assisted National Public Radio making controversial political statements while wooing would-be donors. The intelligent design-defending blog Evolution News and Views notes that the fundraiser’s statements about NPR’s one-sided coverage of climate change news implies that public radio is also biased when it comes to covering the origins debate. (For more background, see NPR officers compare deniers of climate change to birthers and flat earth believers.) Remember, if you see a news story that might merit some attention, let us know about it! (Note: if the story originates from the Associated Press, Fox News, MSNBC, the New York Times, or another major national media outlet, we will most likely have already heard about it.) And thanks to all of our readers who have submitted great news tips to us. If you didn’t catch last week’s News to Note, why not take a look at it now? See you next week!
Whether in the Wild West or on your work desk, the prickly cactus is an enigma amongst plants. They have a unique look that some people simply adore, but there’s no denying the majesty of wild cacti fields in desert vistas. They may be the introverts of the plant world, keeping you at bay with their painful spikes and preferring you just leave them alone. But after reading this, you’ll probably want some for your own garden collection regardless. Image by Monika from Pixabay 27 Facts About Cactus Let’s take a deeper look at this fascinating plant species and its peculiarities. 1. Cacti Can Store Incredible Amounts of Water After all, they live in the desert where the climate is brutal. Your average house plant would wither up and become a crispy mess after a few days exposed to the intense heat and lack of water. But cacti have a special trick up their sleeves. Image by Gunter Rohe from Pixabay It does rain in the desert on rare occasions, and when it does, these succulents get sucking — they absorb gallons of water through their roots at a fast pace while the going’s good. The exact amount will vary depending on the size of the cactus, but for example, a full-grown Saguaro can store up to 200 gallons in one go. 2. The Spines on a Cactus Are Actually Its Leaves No, they’re not thorns after all. The leaves on a plant are vital for producing food, without which the parent plant would die. Cactus leaves (called “spines”) can come in different prickly shapes: straight, curved, bristle-like, needle-like, round, and even hooked. There are valid reasons why cacti have spines instead of standard leaves. Self-protection against hungry desert-dwelling herbivores is one of them. Another is water collection in foggy deserts, where the cool mist condenses on the spines and trickles down to the roots. They also collectively provide shade to the main stem of the plant, and trap air around it to prevent moisture being wicked away by the hot desert winds. 3. Cacti Have Very Shallow Root Systems You’d think they’d dive deep into the desert terrain in search of water, but no. Any water in the desert evaporates pretty fast, leaving no opportunity for it to sink into the ground. Image by Ulrike Leone from Pixabay So the clever cactus sends its roots less than an inch downwards and then spreads them outward to collect as much water as possible before dries up. This network of roots just below the broiling desert sands can cover a fairly large area radiating outward from the stem, so watch where you walk if you go near one. 4. Cacti Can Have Long Lifespans Ask any plant owner and they may sheepishly admit they’ve killed a cactus or two in their time. Ask others and they may tell you about the decades-old cactus their grandma handed down to them. The average lifespan of these curious plants can be anywhere from 10 – 200 years, as long as the conditions are right. They need fast-draining soil, optimum temperatures, and natural lighting. Houseplant cacti can be a little fussier than the wild ones that adapt to survive their environment. To elongate their lives, ensure they’re in the best spot to thrive and don’t overwater them as the roots will rot. 5. Cacti Stomata Open at Night Stomata are microscopic pores that all plants use to “breathe” — they take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen through this mechanism, usually during the day. It’s essential for photosynthesis, which ensures the plant has enough food and energy. Image by David Mark from Pixabay But during this process of intake and output, plants can lose a lot of water. That’s not ideal in a desert climate where the intense sun evaporates the water off your eyeballs, let alone a plant. So cacti, again, have evolved a crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM). This allows them to close their stomata daily to protect their precious water reserves. They then open them at night to “breathe” while the air is cooler and less evaporation occurs. 6. Wild Cactus Go Dormant in Summer It almost sounds counterintuitive, doesn’t it? While many plants and trees enjoy an annual rest during cold winter, the hearty cactus tends to dormant in summer. This is because the heat gets too intense, which stresses them out and causes them to keep their stomata closed during both the day and the night as a defense mechanism. The resultant lack of photosynthesis leads the plant to a dormancy phase where growth is halted. That is until autumn hits, when temperatures cool and they can begin to “breathe” and grow again. 7. Cacti Have Ant Bodyguards You’d think the spiky spines were deterrent enough to keep unwanted contact from prying herbivores (and humans) at bay, and for the most part they are. Those needles can leave painful pricks in larger animals but can’t protect against smaller invaders. Image by elevados from Pixabay Mealybugs and other plant pests can easily maneuver around the spines, so the cacti have devised a form of pest control. They secrete four types of nectar in order to attract ants, and, with food and water being so scarce in the arid environment, the ants are more than happy to come running. To protect this precious resource, the ants will attack anything else on the plant, including smaller pests and even fungi and bacteria that might kill the plant. It’s a win-win for both parties. 8. Cacti Can Grow Almost Anywhere The desert may be their standard environment, but it might surprise you that cacti live happily in the tropics and even on snow-clad mountain tops. They’re highly adaptable plants, and have managed to populate most landscapes. Mountain cacti tend to grow wooly spines to protect them from strong mountain winds and frost and absorb moisture from melted snow. In the tropics, as long as their roots can breathe in coarse, airy soil that drains fast and they get some shade (they actually like it!), they’ll do just fine. 9. Don’t Drink Water Out of a Cactus if You Can Help It It’s been said often that if you’re lost in the desert, head for a cactus, cut off a piece and drink deeply. The plant might have gallons of water at your disposal, but it’s not going to taste good. Image by ILIER NAVARRO from Pixabay In fact, the water from inside a cactus is full of alkaloids and acids, so it’s very bitter. Drinking it would put your kidneys into overdrive to filter them out before safely sending the liquid to your bloodstream, so you might do yourself more harm than good. That being said, you can technically still drink water from a cactus if you’re desperate enough to do it. 10. Not All Succulents Are Cacti However, all cacti are succulents. To most people, these terms are interchangeable, but there are subtle differences. While they have a lot in common (water retention, a waxy surface, and thorns that appear to be spines), the main difference is that cacti have areoles whereas succulents don’t. Areoles are the bumpy openings on the plants where spines and flowers emerge from and are so named because of their resemblance to nipples. 11. Cacti Have a Waxy Coating Cacti have a unique feeling to their stems compared to other plants. Most of the latter have breathable surfaces that easily allow the water from a humid environment to penetrate their leaves and stems. In the desert there isn’t much humidity to be had, so a cactus has to do what a cactus has to do — it evolved a waxy surface to prevent the arid desert air from wicking away its moisture. This allows the plant to protect its reserves and stay hydrated long enough to survive. Image by annca from Pixabay 12. Only Mature Cacti Produce Flowers Cacti can deliver the most vibrant blooms, typically only one per areole. But age is an important factor as they can only put out flowers once they’re mature and ready for pollination (literally, the “birds and the bees”). The age of maturity is specific to the species of cactus, though. Some may mature at a young age and put out flowers in various colors, from pink to blue and white to orange. Others can take 30 years to mature enough to produce a flower. Sometimes, a cactus won’t flower if its nutritional and fertilization needs aren’t met. 13. You Can’t Cultivate From Wild Cacti They’re protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). So plucking pieces off for your home collection is a big no-no. There is no need to shed tears over it, though — many greenhouse growers produce fantastic cacti for plant enthusiasts to call their own for indoor and outdoor environments. 14. Cacti Have Unusual Pollinators Bees and butterflies can pollinate a cactus, but they’re pretty standard pollinators with many other plants, too. Moths, hummingbirds, and bats are the most unusual ones that will help a cactus reproduce. They typically pollinate by carrying nectar from one plant to another when they sip. Image by jadis96 from Pixabay Home growers usually don’t wait for nature to get involved and do it themselves. This is achieved by swabbing the pollen stamen or just removing it and inserting it into the other cactus flower. 15. Some Cacti Are Psychoactive Nevermind magic mushrooms, how about some abracadabra cacti? Some species of cactus contain psychoactive compounds that affect the central nervous system. It’s usually a compound called mescaline, producing a hallucinogenic effect. Shamans use these powerful substances in North and South America to induce a trance-like state to better commune with God. The peyote cactus in North America and the San Pedro cactus in South America are two such mescaline-containing plants. 16. Dragon Fruit is From the Cactus Family Now their exotic shape and curious inside make sense, right? Dragon fruit grows on a member of the climbing cactus family. It originally came from the tropical regions of Central and South America, where it grew in humid conditions with a mild climate. 17. The Word Origin of “Cactus” Might Surprise You Basically, the word we know today is derived from the Greek word “Kaktos”. Kaktos is a Spanish artichoke in Greece, also known as the “prickly plant of Sicily”. The Greeks used this word to describe the cactus as it seemed similar to the artichoke. Image by stanbalik from Pixabay It came out later that what they were looking at was actually an artichoke, though, and not a cactus as we know them. So it seems the cactus was named after a rather tasty veggie in a weird etymological twist. 18. The Tallest Cactus Is the Elephant Cactus Named for the shape of its main stem, which resembles an elephant’s foot, the pachycereus elephant cactus can grow to heights of 60 feet. The bottom of its main stem can also reach three feet in diameter, making it impressive in height and girth. You’ll find this cactus growing in Californian deserts, on islands in the Gulf, and in northern Mexico. It prefers to plant itself on rocky hills and flat plains in arid conditions. 19. Some Cacti Aren’t Green Of course, succulents come in some pretty pastel hues, but a few cacti aren’t primarily green, too. This can be a problem for chlorophyll production, so often, these plants are grafted onto green cacti so that they have an adequate food source. One of these wondrous mutants is the Gymnocalycium Mihanovichii Friedrichii ‘Rubra. It can present as red, yellow, white, purplish, or even orange. Image by manseok Kim from Pixabay It makes for a unique and interesting blobby little burst of color in your cactus collection, but without a graft it won’t survive. Any species of green cacti will serve the purpose, so you don’t need to worry about specifics. 20. Areoles Can Only Flower Once Sad but true. Once an areole has produced a flower, it will never produce another in the plant’s lifetime. Instead, a flower will bloom from a different areole when the cactus is ready to flower again. This is the case for most cacti, but there are always exceptions to the rules, and these five cacti are just that. Lepismium cruciforme, Myrtillocactus, P. schottii, Rhipsalis russellii, and P. marginatus can all flower from the same areole multiple times. The time it takes for a cactus to bloom differs between species. Cacti are generally slow-growing, and most commonly bloom once a year. Some will bloom twice a year, and then you get some that don’t bloom at all, usually because conditions aren’t optimal or they aren’t mature enough yet. If you want to see one of the rarest and most fleeting cactus flowers, the moonflower cactus blooms once a year for only 12 hours. But it’s a perfectly snow-white flower, so it’s worth the wait — don’t miss it! Image by Ralph from Pixabay 21. Cactus Can Be a Food Source These days you’re more likely to see it as an ingredient in a trendy gastropub’s version of a Mexican taco, or possibly at a health food store toting its “miracle dieting/curative” properties. Aside from fanciful eating, they tend to be more medically popular for their psychoactive properties. Not the hallucinogenic ones (although those can be popular, too), but ones that actually boost cognitive performance. These cacti, like the Indian Fig, are used in herbal medicines thanks to their benefits to the brain. About 12,000 years ago, ancient communities in Mexico and Peru included certain cacti in their meal plans, harvesting their fruits and returning them to their camps for meal prep. Whether they benefited from a boost in mental performance is hard to say, but clearly, the fruits were deemed safe to eat and enjoyed regularly. 22. A Cactus Killed a Man in Arizona In 1982, a man in Arizona repeatedly shot at a saguaro cactus that was 27 feet tall in an attempt to destroy it. One can only guess that he didn’t have an ax on hand. Either way, it wasn’t a smart move, as the saguaro ended up toppling over right onto him, killing him instantly. Image by Marabu from Pixabay The cactus might’ve gotten its own that time, but removing one by firearm isn’t recommended. If you have a problematic cactus, rather reach out to the wildlife service for safe removal. They know how to handle cacti without damaging the surrounding area (or getting squashed by one). 23. Cacti Are Popular Houseplants And the most popular ones on Instagram, at that. It’s easy to see why. They’re elegant, quirky, they don’t change shape quickly, and it’s an honest-to-goodness living thing that you can boast about and beautify your space with. Some people are drawn to the interesting shapes, some enjoy their vivid blooms, while other garden enthusiasts love how low-maintenance they are. Calatheas are the drama queens of plants; even alocasias can be persnickety. But give a cactus a nice clay pot and some fast-draining soil, then you can ignore it for months on end and it’ll be just fine. Don’t put a cactus in the bathroom — the humidity could cause rot due to inadvertent overwatering. Feng Shui suggests having a cactus in the house can bring in bad energy, but you’ll probably find any cacti enthusiast will disagree with that perspective. Image by liqionary from Pixabay 24. There’s a Cactus Pokémon Fans of the franchise and these spiky plants might delight in Maractus, the cactus Pokémon. It’s a cute little pocket monster with large ears, toting yellow and dark green spikes, but its overall appearance is feminine. Maractus even sings and dances to chase away bird Pokémon — who wouldn’t find that adorable? Why not buy a Poké plushie to go with your cacti collection because, after all, you’ve “gotta catch ‘em all”. 25. Cactus Fruits Are Super Nutritious The curious opuntia fruit, which is also known as prickly pear or nopal, is an oddly delicious addition to your health regime. It’s chock-a-block full of antioxidants, amino acids, and fatty acids, providing plenty of health benefits. These cactus fruits also have a high potassium content so that they can aid and improve digestion. Image by Valter Cirillo from Pixabay These fruits only come from the opuntia species that thrive in Central America and arid areas of North America and can vary in color. 26. The Saguaro Blossom Is Arizona’s State Flower Saguaros hold a special place in the cactus family as far as Arizona is concerned. They can grow anywhere from 10 – 52 feet tall, and up to 30 inches wide with as many as 49 arms (or branches). They grow slowly, so large ones are treasured. Blossoms appear on the ends of the arms and have a sweet, melon-like scent, and in 1931 Arizona made these saguaro flowers their official state flower. Image by kslackner from Pixabay 27. There Are About 2,000 Cactus Species It’s no wonder there are so many, when you think of all the colors and shapes, you’re able to see not only in the wild but in your local gardening shop. From the typical desert-dwelling cacti to the tropical and mountainous ones, most of them grow in the Americas. However, Mexico has the greatest number and variety of cacti in the world.
Once there was a strange little boy called Peter, who drove everyone crazy asking questions all the time. When he was to go to school, he asked his mummy: “Why do I have to go to school?” “Well, so you can learn how to read and write and count!” “Can you do that?” “Of course I can read and write and count!” “So why don’t you just show me how to do it?” “Because that’s not the way it’s done. Reading and writing and counting you have to learn in school!” “And tying my shoelaces and brushing my teeth and going to the toilet?” “These are things you learn at home!” “Come on now, question time is over, now it’s time for bed”, mummy said. When teacher wrote the letter A on the blackboard and said: “This is letter A!” Peter just said: “Why?” “What do you mean: why, Peter?” “Well, why is this letter A?” “Look here, Peter: There are many different letters. And each letter has a different name. And with different letters, we can write different words. And this – well, this is letter A!” “Yes, but why?” said Peter. “Peter, you are keeping everybody. Just take your pen and copy letter A into your book, okay?” When the children had learned all the letters, Peter said: “And how do you spell this?” clicking his tongue. “Well this”, said Peter, clicking his tongue again. “You cannot spell this”, teacher said. “Why?” said Peter. “Because there are no words with that kind of sound!” “So what if I call my dog? I always call my dog like this!” “Peter, we have to get on with our work now, okay?” When the children learned that two plus two equals four, Peter only said: “Why?” “What do you mean: why, again?” teacher said. “Well, why does two plus two equal four?” “Look here, Peter, look here: Here are two apples on the table. Now if we put another two apples on the table, and we count them, we can see that they are four. Can’t you see that, Peter?” “Yes I can see that they are four.” “So there, Peter!” “But I want to know why they are four!” And that’s how it was with Peter all the time. When people were talking about fish, Peter would ask: “And why can’t people live under water too?” “Because they would suffocate!” “And why would they suffocate?” “Because they cannot breathe under water!” “And why can’t they breathe under water?” “Because they have no gills!” Now that’s a good answer, isn’t it? Rather says it all, doesn’t it? Peter could have been content with it, don’t you think? Right here he could have stopped asking, no? But no, he was itching, he just couldn’t stop, he had to go on asking: “And why don’t people have gills?” Now do you think that’s in order? Do you think that’s okay? Does one have to go on asking until one gets no more answers? It annoys people. Makes them angry. And then, consider: If Peter would have stopped asking in time, he would know now why people can’t live under water: because they have no gills! But as he asked one question too many – he still doesn’t know! So, if you want to know why things are the way they are – stop asking questions in time! Well, that’s the story. That’s it. Did I hear anyone say: Why? Did I? Well, I can tell you why. I can show you. I have made up a list. A list of questions you had better not ask. Here comes number one on my list! Watch out, here it comes: Why – is water – wet? Well? Why is water wet? Such a simple question. Can’t anybody tell me? Can’t anybody give me the answer? Why is water wet? Because it isn’t dry! Aha! That’s the sort of answer you get! Well, wouldn’t I have been better off if I hadn’t even asked in the first place? Why does time pass? Why are there men and women? Why can we get something for money? Why don’t we see with our ears and hear with our eyes? Why is the dog called dog? Why is there something and not just nothing?
by Michaela Honkova and Earl Tower Thesis: The conspiracy by the Sith was only possible by the unique aspects of having disposable soldiers on both sides of the conflict. The Clone War was a major conflict fought between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems (CIS). The Galactic Republic was led by the Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, a Sith Lord in hiding. He orchestrated the war with the CIS, led by his own apprentice Count Dooku, as a plot to kill Jedi and obtain the control of the Galactic Republic. To keep positive control over the entire war, Palpatine played it as a chess game where he controlled both sides of the board. To make this work he needed the pieces malleable to his manipulations which is where the slave soldiers of both sides came into play. The Jedi were non-militaristic since the Ruusan reformation one thousand years ago, during which they renounced all military ranks, disbanded their armed forces and placed themselves under supervision of the Supreme Chancellor, all to convince the Galactic Republic they were not a threat. The Supreme Chancellor granted them all indiscriminately officer military ranks, disregarding their lack of experience, and put them to lead of the clone troops. The Jedi Council did not care for that decision, yet they did not have a choice but to obey. The war occupied their attention, distracted them from the larger picture, and pride set them above the soldiers they commanded. Together with the the lack of military skills, it led to poor strategic decisions. The Jedi did not do well, making themselves easy targets and getting themselves killed one by one. The troops were spread thin on many battlefronts across the galaxy to ensure both the Jedi and the troops lack the numbers to win effectively, resulting in huge losses. All the better for the Supreme Chancellor, as their numbers slowly decreased and heavy losses in battle left few soldiers in need of health care. Both sides of the war routinely used propaganda to shift public opinion in the desired direction. The long attrition campaigns with little progress made the Jedi look incompetent, thus disproving in the public’s minds the vaulted reputation of invulnerability the Jedi long enjoyed. Even small skirmishes could look like a large scale battle when it suited the Sith and the defeats convinced the populace that the Galactic Republic should up its effort or be crushed. By the planned use of clone soldiers, Palpatine was able to reduce potential objections to the war throughout the Galactic Republic. Using clones removed casualty list from becoming a matter of public opinion and objection. With no citizens dying, the war had a low humanitarian cost in the eyes of the voting public. The forced rapid aging of the clones combined with their high combat casualties cut the amount of combat veterans drastically, ensuring clone indoctrination would continue to dominate more than combat experience. The use of clone soldiers also reduced the matter to one of mere economic cost to the Galactic Republic. Each campaign could be won or lost as necessary to encourage public opinion to shift in the direction that most favored the Sith’s long term plan for acquiring power. As long as Palpatine kept the Galactic Republic strained by the war and avoided the danger of collapse, he could manipulate the situation to achieve his objectives of political power, and reduce the power base of his potential rivals and opponents within the Galactic Republic. In a historical context, the situation developed in the Star Wars franchise with the clone soldiers can be compared to the Janissaries of the old Ottoman Empire. The idea was to create an elite combat force that was loyal to the central power of the state, while removing independent cultural factors of ideology or ethics which would distract the soldiers from obedience and loyalty to the their commanders. The Janissaries became a very controlled instrument of military power, while the average subject of the Ottoman Empire was not burdened by wars conducted by the state, except in their taxes. To produce a major foe for the Republic, the Sith had to covertly aid in the founding of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, yet it had to be created in such a manner as to allow centralized control. The key building blocks of the CIS were the corporate sponsors and the rebellious star systems. To build a rapid, centralized force, the Sith planned for robotic forces through the use of droid armies and star fleets. The droid armies appealed to the strengths of the corporate sponsors of the CIS, by creating forces that were merely a matter of numbers on an accounting ledger. Droids could be built rapidly and controlled directly by a centralized council made up of officials from the corporate sponsors. Such centralized control gave precise command and control right down to the tactical level, ensuring no droid force could disrupt the shadowy battle plans orchestrated by the Sith. The rebellious star systems gave the CIS political cover, and a legitimacy of grievances against the Galactic Republic. The use of droid armies appealed to the rebellious star systems, because it placed no demands of manpower upon them, merely the need to agree to take a side in a war which only had an economic cost to them. The droid armies of the CIS enabled military strategies designed to counter the strengths of the Galactic Republic. The robotic forces could be rapidly created, and rapidly replaced when losses were suffered through attrition. The ability to recover from this attrition allowed a strategy, which could also be used to ensure the major battles were fought in star systems that may become a problem for postwar imperial policies, and greatly weaken them. Another advantage to using the droid armies was the perceived fear among the Republic’s populace of an inhumane force of countless machines bent upon their destruction, allowing for added propaganda effect. From the point of view of the chess playing Sith, the droids were an ideal tool. In a historical context, the CIS’s droid armies compare to the ancient mercenary armies of Carthage and some other classic polities. The core citizens had little care for the well being or deaths of the mercenaries, and the economic burden of paying for such mercenary armies was mostly borne by large mercantile interest. Carthage through the early Greco-Punic wars and the Roman-Punic wars was able to field sizable forces rapidly, and replace any losses through recruitment of local tribesman or hiring of mercenary armies from other classic states. The Carthaginian citizens seldom saw battle so they only protested the military adventurism of their Senate when the wars disrupted economic trade heavily or threatened the city directly. It all came down to the Sith conspiracy being only possible by having disposable soldiers on both sides of the conflict to fight the war in their stead. On the side of the Galactic Republic, the clone soldiers who knew nothing of the galaxy outside warfare, commanded by the secretive, disfavored Jedi, played the part of valiant but disposable soldiers for the Republic; while on the side of the CIS, the droids controlled by a few greedy corporations, played the faceless menace. With neither of these forces costings their respective parties anything but money, both sides became hapless chess pieces in the shadowy plans of the Sith.
The author of 21 Days to a Happier Family, Dr Justin Coulson, on raising kids who'll bounce back from adversity and challenging times. 'How can I help my child be more resilient?' is a question Dr Justin Coulson often hears from worried mums and dads. 9 Ways to a Resilient Child gives parents practical strategies to help their children cope with the challenges that life throws at them - from friendship problems and bullying to losing a game or failing an exam. Even our home environment and the way that we parent can impact our children's potential to recover from difficulty. Dr Coulson explains the factors that help or hinder resilience and why common advice such as 'Toughen up, princess' just doesn't work. Learn the secrets of positive psychology that will build your child's capacity to bounce back, stronger and more resilient than ever, including the ability to think flexibly, exercise self-control, and make safe and healthy choices. Discover the powerful impact of family, relationships, school and community, and the most effective ways to support your child. Dr Coulson aims to bolster resilience - not just in our children, but also in ourselves. Because it takes resilient parents to raise a resilient child.
Habitual Gender: Rhetorical Androgyny in Franciscan Texts Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza New Scholar Award Second-Place Winner This article examines the notion of “rhetorical androgyny” in medieval and contemporary Franciscan hagiography. Rhetorical androgyny is androgyny that exists as spiritual motivation in religious texts but finds no corollary in everyday life due to social constraints. Depictions of St. Francis of Assisi's transformation stress his assumption of feminine characteristics, but even as androgynous existence is upheld as the epitome of pious achievement, the very definition of androgyny is problematized. A demonstration of feminine qualities enhances the male saint while the woman saint closest to him, Clare of Assisi, may not assimilate masculinity. Nevertheless, the female saint achieves a higher state of androgyny in medieval sources than she does in modern representation due to a foregrounding of the tension between social constraints and spiritual ideals in religious texts of the Middle Ages. Back to Volume 31, Number 1
Anyone who has ever been through a virus attacking their system knows all too well that it can be incredibly stressful. iStockphoto.com/Justin Horrocks Strange as it may sound, the computer virus is something of an Information Age marvel. On one hand, viruses show us how vulnerable we are — a properly engineered virus can have a devastating effect, disrupting productivity and doing billions of dollars in damages. On the other hand, they show us how sophisticated and interconnected human beings have become. For example, experts estimate that the Mydoom worm infected approximately a quarter-million computers in a single day in January 2004. Back in March 1999, the Melissa virus was so powerful that it forced Microsoft and a number of other very large companies to completely turn off their e-mail systems until the virus could be contained. The ILOVEYOU virus in 2000 had a similarly devastating effect. In January 2007, a worm called Storm appeared — by October, experts believed up to 50 million computers were infected. That’s pretty impressive when you consider that many viruses are incredibly simple. When you listen to the news, you hear about many different forms of electronic infection. The most common are: - Viruses: A virus is a small piece of software that piggybacks on real programs. For example, a virus might attach itself to a program such as a spreadsheet program. Each time the spreadsheet program runs, the virus runs, too, and it has the chance to reproduce (by attaching to other programs) or wreak havoc. - E-mail viruses: An e-mail virus travels as an attachment to e-mail messages, and usually replicates itself by automatically mailing itself to dozens of people in the victim’s e-mail address book. Some e-mail viruses don’t even require a double-click — they launch when you view the infected message in the preview pane of your e-mail software [source: Johnson]. - Trojan horses: A Trojan horse is simply a computer program. The program claims to do one thing (it may claim to be a game) but instead does damage when you run it (it may erase your hard disk). Trojan horses have no way to replicate automatically. - Worms: A worm is a small piece of software that uses computer networks and security holes to replicate itself. A copy of the worm scans the network for another machine that has a specific security hole. It copies itself to the new machine using the security hole, and then starts replicating from there, as well. In this article, we will discuss viruses — from "traditional" viruses to e-mail viruses and exploits that could target your mobile phone — so that you can learn how they work and understand how to protect yourself. - Virus Origins - Virus History - Virus Evolution - E-mail Viruses - Viruses In the 2000s and Beyond - How to Protect Your Computer from Viruses Computer viruses are called viruses because they share some of the traits of biological viruses. A computer virus passes from computer to computer like a biological virus passes from person to person. Unlike a cell, a virus has no way to reproduce by itself. Instead, a biological virus must inject its DNA into a cell. The viral DNA then uses the cell’s existing machinery to reproduce itself. In some cases, the cell fills with new viral particles until it bursts, releasing the virus. In other cases, the new virus particles bud off the cell one at a time, and the cell remains alive. Similar to the way a biological virus must hitch a ride on a cell, a computer virus must piggyback on top of some other program or document in order to launch. Once a computer virus is running, it can infect other programs or documents. Obviously, the analogy between computer and biological viruses stretches things a bit, but there are enough similarities that the name sticks. People write computer viruses. A person has to write the code, test it to make sure it spreads properly and then release it. A person also designs the virus’s attack phase, whether it’s a silly message or the destruction of a hard disk. Why do they do it? There are at least four reasons. The first is the same psychology that drives vandals and arsonists. Why would someone want to break a window on someone’s car, paint signs on buildings or burn down a beautiful forest? For some people, that seems to be a thrill. If that sort of person knows computer programming, then he or she may funnel energy into the creation of destructive viruses. The second reason has to do with the thrill of watching things blow up. Some people have a fascination with things like explosions and car wrecks. When you were growing up, there might have been a kid in your neighborhood who learned how to make gunpowder. And that kid probably built bigger and bigger bombs until he either got bored or did some serious damage to himself. Creating a virus is a little like that — it creates a virtual bomb inside a computer, and the more computers that get infected, the more "fun" the explosion. The third reason involves bragging rights. Sort of like Mount Everest — the mountain is there, so someone is compelled to climb it. If you are a certain type of programmer who sees a security hole that could be exploited, you might simply be compelled to exploit the hole yourself before someone else beats you to it. And then there’s cold, hard cash. Viruses can trick you into buying fake software, steal your personal information and use it to get to your money, or be sold on the digital equivalent of the black market. Powerful viruses are valuable — and potentially lucrative — tools. Of course, most virus creators seem to miss the point that they cause real damage to real people with their creations. Destroying everything on a person’s hard disk is real damage. Forcing a large company to waste thousands of hours cleaning up after a virus attack is real damage. Even a silly message is real damage because someone has to waste time getting rid of it. For this reason, the legal system continues to develop more rigorous penalties for people who create viruses. On the second Tuesday of every month, Microsoft releases a list of known vulnerabilities in the Windows operating system. The company issues patches for those security holes at the same time, which is why the day is known as Patch Tuesday. Viruses written and launched on Patch Tuesday to hit unpatched systems are known as "zero-day" attacks. Thankfully, the major anti-virus vendors work with Microsoft to identify holes ahead of time, so if you keep your software up to date and patch your system promptly, you shouldn’t have to worry about zero-day problems. Ah, the floppy disk: When most people were using these to store and transport computer programs, viruses spread like wildfire. iStockphoto.com/filonmar Traditional computer viruses were first widely seen in the late 1980s, and came about because of several factors. The first factor was the spread of personal computers (PCs). Prior to the 1980s, home computers were nearly non-existent. Real computers were rare, and were locked away for use by "experts." During the ’80s, real computers started to spread to businesses and homes because of the popularity of the IBM PC (released in 1982) and the Apple Macintosh (released in 1984). By the late 1980s, PCs were in businesses, homes and college campuses. The second factor was the use of computer bulletin boards. People could dial up a bulletin board with a modem and download programs of all types. Games were extremely popular, and so were simple word processors, spreadsheets and other productivity software. Bulletin boards led to the precursor of the virus known as the Trojan horse. A Trojan horse masquerades as a program with a cool-sounding name and description, enticing you to download it. When you run the program, however, it does something uncool, like erasing your hard drive. You think you’re getting a neat game, but instead, you get a wiped-out system. Trojan horses only hit a small number of people because they’re quickly discovered, and word of the danger spreads among users. The third factor that led to the creation of viruses was the floppy disk. In the 1980s, programs were small, and you could fit the entire operating system, a few programs and some documents onto a floppy disk or two. Many computers did not have hard disks, so when you turned on your machine it would load the operating system and everything else from the floppy disk. Virus authors took advantage of this to create the first self-replicating programs. Early viruses were pieces of code embedded in a larger, legitimate program, such as a game or word processor. When the user downloads and runs the legitimate program, the virus loads itself into memory – and looks around to see if it can find any other programs on the disk. If it can find one, it modifies the program to add the virus’s code into that program. Then the virus launches the "real program." The user really has no way to know that the virus ever ran. Unfortunately, the virus has now reproduced itself, so two programs are infected. The next time the user launches either of those programs, they infect other programs, and the cycle continues. If one of the infected programs is given to another person on a floppy disk, or if it is uploaded so other people can download it, then other programs get infected. This is how the virus spreads — similar to the infection phase of a biological virus. But viruses wouldn’t be so violently despised if all they did was replicate themselves. Most viruses also have a destructive attack phase where they do real damage. Some sort of trigger will activate the attack phase, and the virus will then do something — anything from displaying a silly message on the screen to erasing all of your data. The trigger might be a specific date, a number of times the virus has been replicated or something similar. In the next section, we will look at how viruses have evolved over the years. Virus creators have added new tricks to their bag throughout the years. One such trick is the ability to load viruses into memory so they can keep running in the background as long as the computer remains on. This gives viruses a much more effective way to replicate themselves. Another trick is the ability to infect the boot sector on floppy disks and hard disks. The boot sector is a small program that is the first part of the operating system that the computer loads. It contains a tiny program that tells the computer how to load the rest of the operating system. By putting its code in the boot sector, a virus can guarantee it’s executed. It can load itself into memory immediately, and run whenever the computer is on. Boot sector viruses can infect the boot sector of any floppy disk inserted in the machine, and in places like college campuses, where lots of people share machines, they can spread like wildfire. In general, neither executable nor boot sector viruses are very threatening today. The first reason for their decline has been the huge size of today’s programs. Most programs you buy today come on compact discs. Commercially distributed compact discs (CDs) cannot be modified, and that makes viral infection of a CD unlikely, unless the manufacturer permits a virus to be burned onto the CD during production. People certainly can’t carry applications around on floppy disks like they did in the 1980s, when floppies full of programs were traded like baseball cards. Boot sector viruses have also declined, because operating systems now routinely protect the boot sector. Infection from boot sector viruses and executable viruses is still possible. Even so, it’s a lot less likely than it once was. Call it "shrinking habitat," if you want to use a biological analogy. The environment of floppy disks, small programs and weak operating systems made these viruses possible in the 1980s, but that environmental niche has been largely eliminated by huge executables, unchangeable CDs and better operating system safeguards. E-mail viruses are probably the most familiar to you. We’ll look at those in the next section. Virus authors adapted to the changing computing environment by creating the e-mail virus. For example, the Melissa virus in March 1999 was spectacular in its attack. Melissa spread in Microsoft Word documents sent via e-mail, and it worked like this: Someone created the virus as a Word document and uploaded it to an Internet newsgroup. Anyone who downloaded the document and opened it would trigger the virus. The virus would then send the document (and therefore itself) in an e-mail message to the first 50 people in the person’s address book. The e-mail message contained a friendly note that included the person’s name, so the recipient would open the document, thinking it was harmless. The virus would then create 50 new messages from the recipient’s machine. At that rate, the Melissa virus quickly became the fastest-spreading virus anyone had seen at the time. As mentioned earlier, it forced a number of large companies to shut down their e-mail systems to control the spread. The ILOVEYOU virus, which appeared on May 4, 2000, was even simpler. It contained a piece of code as an attachment. People who double-clicked on the attachment launched the code. It then sent copies of itself to everyone in the victim’s address book and started corrupting files on the victim’s machine. This is as simple as a virus can get. It is really more of a Trojan horse distributed by e-mail than it is a virus. The Melissa virus took advantage of the programming language built into Microsoft Word called VBA, or Visual Basic for Applications. It is a complete programming language and it can be used to write programs that do things like modify files and send e-mail messages. It also has a useful but dangerous auto-execute feature. A programmer can insert a program into a document that runs instantly whenever the document is opened. This is how the Melissa virus was programmed. Anyone who opened a document infected with Melissa would immediately activate the virus. It would send the 50 e-mails, and then infect a central file called NORMAL.DOT so that any file saved later would also contain the virus. It created a huge mess. Microsoft applications have a feature called Macro Virus Protection built into them to prevent this sort of virus. With Macro Virus Protection turned on (the default option is ON), the auto-execute feature is disabled. So, when a document tries to auto-execute viral code, a dialog pops up warning the user. Unfortunately, many people don’t know what macros or macro viruses are, and when they see the dialog they ignore it, so the virus runs anyway. Many other people turn off the protection mechanism. Because of this, the Melissa virus spread despite the safeguards in place to prevent it. In the case of the ILOVEYOU virus, the whole thing was human-powered. If a person double-clicked on the program that came as an attachment, then the program ran and did its thing. What fueled this virus was the human willingness to double-click on the executable. The same kinds of exploits have also been passed over instant messaging networks like AIM and Windows Live Messenger. Commandeered accounts will send out links to viruses in instant messages; anyone who clicks the link and installs a Trojan application will have their own account hijacked and unwittingly spam their own friends with the compromising link. Now that we’ve covered e-mail viruses, let’s take a look at worms. Phishing and Social Engineering While you may be taking steps to protect your computer from becoming infected by a virus, you may very well run into another, more insidious type of attack. Phishing and other social engineering attacks have been on the rise. Social engineering is a fancy term for someone trying to get you to give up your personal information — online or in person — so they can use it to steal from you. Anti-spam traps may catch e-mail messages coming from phishers, but the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team says the best way for you to beat them at their own game is to be wary. And never give out your personal or financial information online. A worm is a computer program that has the ability to copy itself from machine to machine. Worms use up computer processing time and network bandwidth when they replicate, and often carry payloads that do considerable damage. A worm called Code Red made huge headlines in 2001. Experts predicted that this worm could clog the Internet so effectively that things would completely grind to a halt. A worm usually exploits some sort of security hole in a piece of software or the operating system. For example, the Slammer worm (which caused mayhem in January 2003) exploited a hole in Microsoft’s SQL server. Wired magazine took a fascinating look inside Slammer’s tiny (376 byte) program. Worms normally move around and infect other machines through computer networks. Using a network, a worm can expand from a single copy incredibly quickly. The Code Red worm replicated itself more than 250,000 times in approximately nine hours on July 19, 2001 [Source: Rhodes]. The Code Red worm slowed down Internet traffic when it began to replicate itself, but not nearly as badly as predicted. Each copy of the worm scanned the Internet for Windows NT or Windows 2000 servers that did not have the Microsoft security patch installed. Each time it found an unsecured server, the worm copied itself to that server. The new copy then scanned for other servers to infect. Depending on the number of unsecured servers, a worm could conceivably create hundreds of thousands of copies. The Code Red worm had instructions to do three things: - Replicate itself for the first 20 days of each month - Replace Web pages on infected servers with a page featuring the message "Hacked by Chinese" - Launch a concerted attack on the White House Web site in an attempt to overwhelm it [source: eEyeDigitalSecurity] Upon successful infection, Code Red would wait for the appointed hour and connect to the www.whitehouse.gov domain. This attack would consist of the infected systems simultaneously sending 100 connections to port 80 of www.whitehouse.gov (22.214.171.124). The U.S. government changed the IP address of www.whitehouse.gov to circumvent that particular threat from the worm and issued a general warning about the worm, advising users of Windows NT or Windows 2000 Web servers to make sure they installed the security patch. A worm called Storm, which showed up in 2007, immediately started making a name for itself. Storm used social engineering techniques to trick users into loading the worm on their computers. And boy, was it effective — experts believe between 1 million and 50 million computers have been infected [source: Schneier]. Anti-virus makers adapted to Storm and learned to detect the virus even as it went through many forms, but it was easily one of the most successful viruses in Internet history and could someday rear its head again. At one point, the Storm worm was believed to be responsible for 20 percent of the Internet’s spam mail [source: Kaplan]. When the worm is launched, it opens a back door into the computer, adds the infected machine to a botnet and installs code that hides itself. Botnets are small peer-to-peer groups, rather than a larger, more easily identified network. Experts think the people controlling Storm rent out their micro-botnets to deliver spam or adware, or for denial-of-service attacks on Web sites. Viruses of all kinds were a major threat in the early years of the Internet’s growth. They’re still out there, but since the mid-2000s anti-virus software has gotten better and Web browsers and operating systems have become more secure. Will the big threat of the 2010s be levied against smartphones rather than PCs? Viruses In the 2000s and Beyond Anti-virus software is vital to keeping your system free of problems. iStockphoto.com/Rob Broek New viruses pop up all the time, but it’s rare for a worm or other exploit to have the kind of impact that Storm once did. The 10 Worst Computer Viruses of All Time struck around the turn of the century and in the early 2000s. Computers were ripe targets: Anti-virus software was expensive and not always reliable, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer was ripe for exploitation and PC users were unaware of how easily viruses could spread over the Internet. Viruses haven’t had the same kind of impact in recent years for a number of reasons. People are a bit better educated about viruses. Free anti-virus software is easy to download. Microsoft recommends its own Security Essentials, while companies like AVG and Avast offer their own free alternatives. Computer software, in general, is designed with the Internet in mind and is less susceptible to viruses. Just compare today’s Chrome and Firefox browsers to the infamously terrible Internet Explorer 6, which was patched for over a decade after its release in 2001. Viruses are still around, of course — in 2009, a worm called Downadup infected millions of computers in a matter of days. We’re just getting better at handling them. There are more viruses than ever out there for anti-virus software to keep track of. These programs will automatically update themselves regularly — often even daily — to guard against the latest virus mutations on the Internet. Just look at Avast’s Virus Update History to see how many Trojans, worms and other nefarious bits of code are added to the database every day. In a modern era of smartphones and tablets, it’s actually easier than ever to browse the Internet without getting a virus. Why? Because viruses are written for specific platforms. A virus intended to exploit something on Windows won’t work on Apple’s Mac operating system — the code that makes up the two systems is completely different. Similarly, the code that makes up mobile operating systems like Android and iOS is different from the code on PCs. Viruses that would cripple your computer won’t work on mobile devices. But mobile devices aren’t completely secure, themselves. There are viruses out there that can extract personal information from Android phones. Because Apple’s iOS is a closed source platform, unlike the open source Android, it’s more difficult to target with viruses. Besides, Windows is still a juicier target. While mobile viruses will certainly become more popular as smartphone sales increase, as of 2011, they’re a very minor concern. In the next section, we’ll look at patching your PC and other things you can do to protect your computer. How to Protect Your Computer from Viruses You can protect yourself against viruses with a few simple steps: If you’re truly worried about traditional (as opposed to e-mail) viruses, you should be running a more secure operating system like Linux and, to a lesser extent, Apple’s Mac OS X. You never hear about viruses on these operating systems because they represent such a small part of the market they’re targeted by far fewer viruses than the Windows operating system. Apple’s OS X has seen its share, but viruses are still predominately a Windows problem. If you’re using an unsecured operating system, then installing virus protection software is a nice safeguard. Many anti-virus options are available for free online. If you simply avoid programs from unknown sources (like the Internet), and instead stick with commercial software purchased on CDs, you eliminate almost all of the risk from traditional viruses. You should make sure that Macro Virus Protection is enabled in all Microsoft applications, and you should NEVER run macros in a document unless you know what they do. There is seldom a good reason to add macros to a document, so avoiding all macros is a great policy. You should never double-click on an e-mail attachment that contains an executable. Attachments that come in as Word files (.DOC), spreadsheets (.XLS), images (.GIF), etc., are data files and they can do no damage (noting the macro virus problem in Word and Excel documents mentioned above). However, some viruses can now come in through .JPG graphic file attachments. A file with an extension like EXE, COM or VBS is an executable, and an executable can do any sort of damage it wants. Once you run it, you have given it permission to do anything on your machine. The only defense: Never run executables that arrive via e-mail. By following these simple steps, you can remain virus-free. For more information on computer viruses and related topics, see the links on the next page. Frequently Answered Questions What is viruses in a computer? A virus is a type of malware that inserts itself into a computer program or file and then replicates itself, often causing damage to the computer. Lots More Information - Computer Security Quiz - 10 Worst Computer Viruses of All Time - How Hackers Work - How Trojan Horses Work - How to Remove a Computer Virus - How to Scan for and Remove Spyware - How Web Servers Work - How Firewalls Work - How Carnivore Worked - How Cell-phone Viruses Work - How do viruses and worms spread in e-mail? - How to Know if Your Computer is Infected With a Virus More Great Links - GoogleDirectory: AntiVirus - VirusHoaxes & Realities - faqs.org: ComputerVirus - "Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks" U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team. (Oct. 4, 2007) www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ST04-014.html - Baratz, Adam, and McLaughlin, Charles. " Malware: what it is and how to prevent it" Ars Technica. Nov. 11, 2004. (Oct. 8, 2007) http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/malware.ars - Boutin, Paul. "Slammed! An inside view of the worm that crashed the Internet in 15 minutes." Wired Magazine. July 2003 (Oct. 3, 2007) http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.07/slammer.html - Johnston, Stuart J. "Bugs & Fixes: Save Your PC From Virus Attacks." PC World. 2/27/2002. (Oct. 8, 2007) http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,81968/article.html - Kaplan, Dan. "Storm Worm making comeback with new spam run." April 28, 2010. (Oct. 29, 2011) http://www.scmagazineus.com/storm-worm-making-comeback-with-new-spam-run/article/168853/ - Kawamoto, Dawn. "Storm worm rages across the globe." CNET News.com. January 19, 2007 (Oct. 4, 2007) http://www.news.com/Storm-worm-rages-across-the-globe/2100-7349_3 - Leedham, Robert. "Android Gingerbread virus poses fresh smartphone threat." Aug. 22, 2011. (Oct. 30, 2011) http://www.lifeofandroid.com/news_detail/android-gingerbread-virus-poses-fresh-smartphone-threat/ - Lemos, Robert. "Worm double whammy still hitting hard." CNET News.com. Aug 21, 2003 (Oct. 5, 2007) http://www.news.com/Worm-double-whammy-still-hitting-hard/2100-1002_3-5066875.html - McAfee fact sheet on ILOVEYOU virus. (Oct. 3, 2007) http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_98617.htm - Monstersandcritics.com. "Worst virus in years infects 6.5 million computers." Jan. 16, 2009. (Oct. 30, 2011) http://www.monstersandcritics.com/tech/news/article_1453964.php/Worst_virus_in_years_infects_6_5_million_computers - "Mydoom virus floods computers worldwide." Times Online. Jan. 27, 2004 (Oct. 3, 2007) http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1-979473,00.html - Permeh, Ryan and Maiffret, Marc. "ANALYSIS: .ida "Code Red" Worm." eEye Digital Security. July 17, 2001 (Oct. 3, 2007) http://research.eeye.com/html/advisories/published/AL20010717.html - Rhodes, Keith A., Chief Technologist, U.S. Government Accounting Office. "Information Security: Code Red, Code Red II, and SirCam Attacks Highlight Need for Proactive Measures" Aug. 29, 2001 (Oct. 5, 2007) http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d011073t.pdf - Schneier, Bruce. "Gathering ‘Storm’ Superworm Poses Grave Threat to PC Nets." Wired.com. Oct. 4, 2007. (Oct. 4, 2007) http://www.wired.com/politics/security/commentary/securitymatters/2007/10/securitymatters_1004 - Turner, Dean, Executive Editor, et. al.; "Symantec Internet Security Threat Report: Trends for January-June 07" Sept. 2007. (Oct. 8, 2007) http://eval.symantec.com/mktginfo/enterprise/white_papers/entwhitepaper_internet_security_threat_report_xii_09_2007.en-us.pdf - US-CERT advisory on the Melissa virus. Mar. 27, 1999. (Oct. 3, 2007) http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-1999-04.html - "Virus Top Twenty for September 2007" Kaspersky Lab. Oct. 1, 2007. (Oct. 8, 2007) http://www.viruslist.com/en/analysis?pubid=204791964
Bascom Palmer Researchers Make Discoveries That Could Someday Restore Vision in Demyelinating Disease To see a video describing the discovery, click here. Identifying the mechanisms behind progressive vision loss associated with glaucoma and demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis is a goal for many ophthalmic researchers. Now a research team from UHealth's Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine demonstrates for the first time how these disease processes cause important changes to neurons in the retina. The discoveries are not only important scientifically, but they will facilitate clinical interventions to potentially reverse –- or ideally prevent -- vision loss before patients become symptomatic. Sanjoy K. Bhattacharya, Ph.D., M.Tech., associate professor of ophthalmology, study lead co-authors Di Ding, Ph.D., post-doctoral associate, and graduate student Mabel Enriquez-Algeciras, and their associates discovered fundamental changes to dendritic cells of neurons in the retina that correlated with loss of vision in experimental disease models. They report their findings in the January 2 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The process of protein deimination proves to be central to both vision loss and its potential treatment. Dendrites with lower levels of protein deimination tend to be stunted, which impairs their connectivity and, the researchers theorize, contributes to progressive vision loss in demyelinating diseases. This discovery of posttranslational modifications in the proximal part of the neuron represents a major paradigm shift, said Bhattacharya. Traditionally, researchers focused on changes to the soma and distal portions of the neuron in people with demyelinating diseases. “Now people should also realize that the proximal part is equally important. And if we have a specific way of targeting the proximal part, it can be very, very important for health and disease,” Bhattacharya said. For some patients in the not-too-distant future, these advances could obviate the need for complicated cell replacement therapy, for example. “The importance of this is that we showed, with a very tiny posttranslational modification, that we could restore visual function,” Bhattacharya said. Although they studied multiple sclerosis, where optic neuritis and vision loss often precede other symptoms, their molecular pathway discoveries also could improve the outcome of patients with other neurodegenerative disorders such as glaucoma. Location also is important, according to their multiple sclerosis model using transgenic ND4 mice. Protein deimination, it turns out, is a good thing in neurons but can be harmful at high levels in the astrocytes in the brain. This new finding clarifies earlier work that only implicated elevated deimination globally in the brain in disease. However, with this important discovery comes the challenge of developing therapeutics that target one cell type while sparing the other. “Development of therapeutics will not be easy. You need a therapy targeted to specific cells. If you want to bring overexpression of the deimination to the neurons,” said Bhattacharya, “and it goes into the astroglial cells, instead of doing a good thing you will be doing a bad thing.” Using mass spectrometry, Bhattacharya and his team not only identified the most important proteins involved in deimination, but also some important anatomic locations. “This is the first time loss of deimination has been shown” in neurons in the retinal ganglion cell layer (GCL), for example. Reduction of GCL deimination correlated with loss of inner retina visual function and defective neurite outgrowth. They verified these findings through evaluation of cell population specific markers in stained retinal sections that supported the decreased outgrowth of dendrites in the GCL. To verify the physiologic changes associated with vision loss in the ND4 mice retina, the investigators also recorded and compared pattern electroretinogram (PERG) findings between affected mice and controls. As expected, the amplitude of the PERG readouts dropped over time in ND4 mice and remained stable in controls, supporting a decrease in visual function over time in their experimental model. The next step was to demonstrate that hypodeimination was directly involved in this visual loss. To accomplish this, Bhattacharya and his colleagues generated ND4 mice with exogenous optic nerve expression of the peptidylarginine deiminase PAD2, an enzyme that deiminates proteins and is found in excess amounts in the brains of people with multiple sclerosis. The mice that expressed PAD2 showed a greater than 30 percent gain in PERG amplitude. Additionally, isolated neurons from these mice demonstrated a 48 percent increase in neurite length compared with controls. Not yet satisfied, the investigators next sought to identify the major deiminated proteins playing an essential role in the GCL. Using mass spectrometry they identified the RNA binding and export protein REF and its murine equivalent, REFBP-2. They demonstrated that decreased levels of deiminated REF are associated with reduced neurite outgrowth, or conversely, that replacement of exogenous deiminated REF could potentially promote elongation of neurites in the GCL and promote visual restoration. Their report in the Journal of Clinical Investigation also explains how REF/REFBP-2 binds to mRNA and allows its export from the neuron nucleus, at which point the complex becomes more deiminated. Specifically, SNAP-25 mRNA has a particular affinity for deiminated REF and binds to it to promote neurite outgrowth. In vitro experiments verified that SNAP-25 translation is much more enhanced in the presence of deiminated versus non-deiminated REF. Important to development of targeted therapeutics is the finding that neurite outgrowth is a local phenomenon in the dendrites modulated by specific mRNA species. REF, in particular, demonstrated this local activity in their studies. Bhattacharya said their findings add to a growing realization that posttranslational modifications such as deimination regulate local dendritic protein synthesis. Importantly, loss or reduction of protein deimination precedes the progressive loss of visual function. Reduced deimination in the GCL, therefore, could provide an early clinical clue to damage or dysfunction of neurons. “Increased dendritic connections could mean increased visual regeneration,” he said. Their research also is important because it supports a mechanism for visual loss in demyelinating disease outside of the traditional immune-activated inflammation research. “Our discovery of local dendritic protein synthesis regulated by deimination opens up a potential new avenue for intervention strategies for development of new treatment modalities for neuropathies,” the authors wrote. University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Lisa Worley, 305-243-5184 / 305-458-9654
Camcorder or other similar device capable or recording images and sound, PC for editing, Internet for clipart, projector, Internet access, Youtube account Students should already be familiar with the vocabulary related to facilities in a school and to basic questioning techniques. Students (in groups) are asked to discuss what should be included in the documentary A summary of the draft outline of the proposed documentary is shared with peers in group discussions Groups amend, as necessary, their original proposal in the light of group feedback Now, detailed discussion takes place in the individual groups. In order to do this efficiently, groups should appoint roles and tasks among the group members. Permissions need to be sought to allow students to leave the classroom to complete the filming schedule and, if appropriate, any interviews Viewing of the film and audio recording to make selections Editing of the selected material and inclusion of graphics as appropriate Presentation of draft documentary to peers and teacher Upload of approved final version to intranet or internet e.g. Youtube Groups watch and listen to the documentaries and make notes. Opinions and comments are shared with the presenters. The teacher should point out any key vocabulary or structures that have commonly been used throughout the task and assist with any language difficulties. Students will have succeeded if they achieve the following: identify appropriate information for the documentary establish a ‘running order’ negotiate roles fairly within the group complete a filming/interviewing schedule present in a coherent and fluent manner be informative and entertaining be able to provide constructive criticism on peer work act on feedback provided making amendments as required upload completed documentary to intranet/internet Students should already be familiar with camcorder filming and editing. Presentation skills and working collaboratively are will be further developed. Some technical assistance may be required at the outset and this may involve a whole class demonstration/exemplification of the style or format of the documentary. The ICT skills are key competences for educational, social and work-related use. The task requires essential competences in working with others. The task facilitates the incorporation of ICT into the classroom and encourages collaborative working. Student motivation is enhanced by the development of useful, real-life skills which will serve students well throughout their lifelong learning. The task incorporates many significant features of language competences across national curricula, development of ICT skills and collaborative working. The specific situation however can be modified, adapted, or expanded where necessary, to suit curricular constraints while still maintaining the essence of the task’s products and skills set. Any such modifications might require adjustments to the CEFR levels. Indeed, the original CEFR levels, as stated for this task, should not in themselves impose restrictions on the range of abilities for which the task is appropriate. Teachers will use their professional expertise to determine what modifications are necessary.
Minimization of free energy is used to calculate the equilibrium verticalrise and mensicus shape of a liquid column between two closelyspaced, parallel planar surfaces that are inert and immobile. States of minimum free energy are found using standard variationalprinciples, which lead not only to an Euler-Lagrangedifferential equation for the drop shape, but also to the boundary conditionsat the three-phase junction where the liquid meniscus intersects thesolid walls. The analysis shows that the classical Young-DuprÈ equation for thethermodynamic contact angle is valid at the three-phase junction, asalready shown for sessile drops with or without the influence of agravitational field. When both solid walls are composed of the same material, the meniscus shapeis symmetric about the midpoint and the vertical rise of the liquid isin excellent agreement with the predictions of the classical Laplace-Youngequation, provided that the spacing between the walls is very narrow. When the walls have dissimilar surface properties, the meniscusgenerally assumes an asymmetric shape. The height of capillary rise depends on spacing between the walls andalso on the difference in contact anglesat the two surfaces. The capillary rise between dissimilar walls can be closelyapproximated by an equation for the height of the liquid column proposedby O'Brien, Craig, and Peyton , provided that the heightis taken to be the average elevation of the meniscus. When the contact angle at one wall isgreater than 90_, the meniscus can have an inflection point separatinga region of positive curvature from a region of negative curvature, theinflection point being pinned at zero height. However, this conditiononly arises when the spacing between the walls exceeds athreshold value that depends on the difference in contact angles. Physical Review E (Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics) and Garboczi, E. Capillary Rise between Planar Surfaces, Physical Review E (Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics), [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=861608 (Accessed December 6, 2023)
Dental crowns, including porcelain crowns, are caps or covers that your dentist may place over your teeth to restore them to their original shape and size and allow them to function properly. Porcelain crowns are often used because they are strong and can be customized to match the color of the remaining teeth. This article… Home Care for a Broken Tooth A broken tooth leaves a tooth exposed to irritants in the mouth, like saliva and bacteria. That can leave you dealing with pain and bleeding. Severely broken teeth that leave the pulp chamber compromised require emergency dental care. Breaks that affect mostly the outer layer of teeth can be managed with home remedies while you wait to see a dentist. Treating a broken tooth Treating your damaged tooth at home can help alleviate any pain caused by the injury or sensitivity. Broken teeth sometimes leave behind sharp edges that can irritate soft tissues in the mouth, so you want to address those as well. Here are a few steps that you should take when you have a broken tooth. 1. Rinse your mouth Rinsing the mouth immediately after the injury helps remove any debris left behind by the broken tooth. Regular warm water works well, but a diluted saline solution or a mixture of water and hydrogen provides additional protection against infection and pain. Be careful not to vigorously swish the mixture when rinsing. It should be done gently to avoid aggravating the site of the injury. 2. Address any swelling to your face with ice packs Icepacks can be used to reduce any swelling that occurs as a result of the broken tooth. Trauma to the face is one of the leading causes of broken teeth, and that can cause significant swelling. Ice cubes can be covered with a towel to make an ice pack. The cold compress should be applied to the area for 15-minute intervals until the swelling and pain begin to fade. 3. Stop bleeding with gauze Blood coming out of a damaged tooth can be stopped by applying gauze to the area. The gauze might need to be replaced a few times before the bleeding stops. 4. Avoid foods and beverages that will aggravate the surgical site Certain foods are more likely to aggravate a damaged tooth than others. Examples of such foods include: - Coffee, alcohol, and acidic sodas - Bold beverages - Nuts that can get stuck inside the damaged tooth - Chewy and tough foods like beef jerky - Fruits with seeds - Sugary drinks and foods 5. Avoid chewing with the damaged tooth Chewing food with a broken tooth can lead to additional portions of the tooth breaking off. It is better to chew with the other side of the mouth until the damaged tooth has been restored. 6. Use over-the-counter solutions Over-the-counter painkillers and tooth repair kits can be helpful when dealing with a broken tooth. Tooth repair kits provide you with temporary fillings that you can use to cover any sharp edges left behind by a broken tooth. Clove oil works well when it comes to alleviating the pain caused by toothaches. Fix your broken tooth Ready for a permanent solution for your broken tooth? Call or visit our Vista clinic to set up an appointment with our dentist. Check out what others are saying about our dental services on Yelp: What Should I Do If I Chip My Tooth in Vista, CA. A dentist may install a crown or cap to restore a tooth's function and shape. Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics or CEREC® is an increasingly popular crown option among dentists and patients.Most dental crowns consist of metal, resin, ceramic, porcelain, or porcelain with metal. The placement of a traditional crown requires two visits to… A traditional crown is often placed on a damaged or troubled tooth over the course of two dental visits, but a CEREC® crown can be fitted in the same appointment that the tooth impression of a patient is taken. The acronym stands for Chairside Economical Restorations of Esthetic Ceramic, and these restorations provide a protective… CEREC® reduces wait time for dental restorations from a few days to a few hours. The CEREC fabrication process happens with the aid of design software and a computer-aided milling machine. This CAD/CAM system provides the speed and accuracy that allows a dentist to mill same-day dental restorations.The convenience of a same-day crown beats two…
The mystery of what kick-started the motion of our earth’s massive tectonic plates across its surface has been explained by researchers at the University of Sydney. “Earth is the only planet in our solar system where the process of plate tectonics occurs,” said Professor Patrice Rey, from the University of Sydney’s School of Geosciences. “The geological record suggests that until three billion years ago the Earth’s crust was immobile so what sparked this unique phenomenon has fascinated geoscientists for decades. We suggest it was triggered by the spreading of early continents then eventually became a self-sustaining process.” Professor Rey is lead author of an article on the findings published in Nature on Wednesday, 17 September. The other authors on the paper are Nicolas Flament, also from the School of Geosciences and Nicolas Coltice, from the University of Lyon. There are eight major tectonic plates that move above Earth’s mantle at rates up to 150 millimetres every year. In simple terms the process involves plates being dragged into the mantle at certain points and moving away from each other at others, in what has been dubbed ‘the conveyor belt’. Plate tectonics depends on the inverse relationship between density of rocks and temperature. At mid-oceanic ridges, rocks are hot and their density is low, making them buoyant or more able to float. As they move away from those ridges they cool down and their density increases until, where they become denser than the underlying hot mantle, they sink and are ‘dragged’ under. But three to four billion years ago, Earth’s interior was hotter, volcanic activity was more prominent and tectonic plates did not become cold and dense enough to spontaneously sank. “So the driving engine for plate tectonics didn’t exist,” said Professor Rey said. “Instead, thick and buoyant early continents erupted in the middle of immobile plates. Our modelling shows that these early continents could have placed major stress on the surrounding plates. Because they were buoyant they spread horizontally, forcing adjacent plates to be pushed under at their edges.” “This spreading of the early continents could have produced intermittent episodes of plate tectonics until, as the Earth’s interior cooled and its crust and plate mantle became heavier, plate tectonics became a self-sustaining process which has never ceased and has shaped the face of our modern planet.” The new model also makes a number of predictions explaining features that have long puzzled the Patrice F. Rey, Nicolas Coltice, Nicolas Flament. Spreading continents kick-started plate tectonics. Nature, 2014; 513 (7518): 405 DOI: 10.1038/nature13728 Note : The above story is based on materials provided by University of Sydney.
A structure, estimated to be around 3,300 years old was unearthed in Israel and the data opens the doors to further examination. The structure is believed to be a temple of sorts to a cult that worshiped the Canaanite god, Baal. Found among the artifacts are broken face masks, e conjoined cups, large jars and other items. Teh large jars contained smaller vessels that suggest they were used as offerings as they were found outside of the 52ft x 52ft excavated area. Not only that but the designs on the jars suggest they may have come from Cyprus thus adding to the mystery. What would Grecian artifacts be doing in that region and how much impact did that culture have? There’s much more excavation that need be done considering the the magnitude of the find. The site is located at Tel Burna in Israel near the city of Kiryat Gat. The project was announced during the annual European archaeologists gathering and director of the Tel Burna Excavation Porject, Itzhaq Shai gave out the details on the findings and future research. The researchers can only go by speculation at this point. It’s like putting together a puzzle that is made up of pieces that one can’t see. It takes careful excavation, then cleaning of any objects, forensic science application, utilizing new and old tools to determine age and authenticity. When the pieces come together the researchers then fine tune their estimates thus new evaluations and theories. Sooner or later the mystery will be solved and there may or may not be history changing events gleaned from this find.
- Researchers have identified a genetic mutation in several dog breeds that results in chondrodystrophy (CDDY) - CDDY results in abnormally short legs in certain breeds, and can also cause premature degeneration of intervertebral discs, resulting in Hansen Type I intervertebral disc disease (IVDD) - Currently, there are 21 dog breeds in which the CDDY gene mutation has been identified - A primary symptom of IVDD is reluctance to move the neck and head, a lowered head and/or moving only the eyes to look at objects; there are many other symptoms as well - Treatment of IVDD can involve medical management and/or surgical intervention; regular physical therapy is a critical component in treating the disease and reducing the risk of recurrence By Dr. Karen Shaw Becker Recently, researchers at the University of California-Davis identified a genetic mutation across dog breeds that results in a condition called chondrodystrophy. Chondrodystrophy (CDDY) is characterized by reduction of long bone length (shorter legs) as a result of early changes in the structure of growth plates. CDDY can also trigger an abnormal process that causes premature degeneration of intervertebral discs. According to the UC-Davis researchers: “Two retrogene insertions of functional fibroblast growth factor 4 (FGF4) explain short-legged phenotypes of dogs. FGF4 gene is involved in many biological processes including bone development.”1 The research team published their findings in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.2 “Dogs with intervertebral disc disease (IVDD) are 50 times more likely to have this mutation; that’s an incredibly strong correlation with disc disease,” said Dr. Danika Bannasch, a UC-Davis veterinary geneticist and the paper’s lead author. “Being able to identify the cause of this painful condition is the first step to alleviating pain and suffering for dogs at greatest risk.”3 Newly Discovered Gene Mutation Can Cause Both Abnormally Short Legs and Intervertebral Disc Disease in Affected Dogs The recent UC-Davis gene mutation discovery follows the 2009 discovery of an FGF4-retrogene insertion in dog chromosome 18 (FGF4-18), which causes chondrodysplasia (CDPA) — abnormally short legs — in certain breeds such as the Basset Hound, Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Dachshund, West Highland White Terrier and Scottish Terrier. The chondrodystrophy (CDDY) mutation just identified is actually a second FGF4-retrogene insertion in dog chromosome 12, and includes both the short-legged defect and abnormal premature degeneration of intervertebral discs that leads to Hansen Type I intervertebral disc disease (IVDD). In a second type of IVDD, Hansen Type II, there’s a gradual progressive protrusion of disc material that affects non-chondrodystrophic dogs (breeds without the gene mutation) who are older, usually between the ages of 8 and 10. This form of IVDD is most commonly seen in German Shepherds, Labrador Retrievers and Dobermans. In addition, most aging dogs have some degeneration of intervertebral discs, which commonly results in a condition known as spondylosis. Most of the time, spondylosis doesn’t cause pain or weakness and doesn’t progress to intervertebral disc disease. When Good Discs Go Bad Intervertebral discs are cushioning pads of fibrocartilage that sit between most of the vertebra of the spinal column. The discs have an outer layer of tough fibrous tissue and a center that is a gel-like substance. The discs act as shock absorbers and allow for flexibility of the vertebra in the spinal column. In dogs with the CDDY mutation, the gel-like substance inside the discs calcifies at an early age, typically between birth and 1 year, and causes degeneration of all the discs in young dogs. These abnormal discs are prone to herniation into the spinal canal, causing severe pain, nerve damage and sometimes, paralysis. This is the condition known as intervertebral disc disease or IVDD, and even in dogs without the CDDY variant, intervertebral discs are subject to degeneration, bulging outward, and bursting or rupturing. Depending on the location of the damaged disc, problems can occur anywhere in the body from the neck to the rear limbs. In cats, the problem discs are more often found in the neck and upper back. In humans, the condition is sometimes called a slipped disc or a herniated disc. Symptoms of IVDD Signs you should watch for include reluctance to move the neck and head or a lowered head. Some dogs only move their eyes to look at you — they don’t want to move their head or neck because it’s painful. An animal holding his head low and shifting just his eyes to look at you is definitely suspicious for IVDD. Other symptoms can include: \|Back pain\|\|Odd or tentative gait\| \|Stiffness\|\|Reluctance to sit or stand\| \|Crying out unexpectedly when touched or while moving\|\|Unwillingness to jump\| \|Abdominal tenderness or tenseness\|\|Anxiety\| \|Arched back or hunched posture\|\|Reduced appetite or activity level\| \|Incomplete or inappropriate urination\|\|Loss of bowel or bladder control\| \|Dragging one or more legs\|\|Trembling or shaking\| \|Toeing or knuckling over when walking or standing\|\|Loss of general coordination\| \|Weakness\|\|Paralysis in one or more limbs\| Breeds in Which the Chondrodystrophy Gene Mutation Has Been Identified According to the UC-Davis researchers: “CDDY is inherited as a semi-dominant trait for height, meaning that dogs with [two] copies of the mutation are smaller than dogs with only [one] copy. With respect to IVDD, the inheritance follows a dominant mode, meaning that [one] copy of the FGF4-12 mutation is sufficient to predispose dogs to IVDD. Dogs that have both FGF4-12 and FGF4-18 show a more drastic reduction of leg length. One area of current investigation is how CDDY and CDPA might work in concert to increase the risk of IVDD.”4 To date, the CDDY variant has been found in the following breeds: American Cocker Spaniel \|Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever\| \|Beagle\|\|Coton de Tulear\|\|Pekingese\| \|Bichon Frise\|\|Dachshund\|\|Pembroke Welsh Corgi\| \|Cardigan Welsh Corgi\|\|Dandie Dinmont Terrier\|\|Poodle (Miniature and Toy)\| \|Cavalier King Charles Spaniel\|\|English Springer Spaniel\|\|Portuguese Water Dog\| \|Chesapeake Bay Retriever\|\|French Bulldog\|\|Scottish Terrier\| \|Chihuahua\|\|Jack Russell Terrier\|\|Shih Tzu\| Research on the distribution of this mutation is ongoing, so this is not yet a complete list of affected breeds. Treatment Options for Dogs With Intervertebral Disc Disease Once a diagnosis of IVDD has been made and the affected discs located, a treatment plan can be developed. The goals for treating IVDD patients are to eliminate pressure on the spinal cord and resolve inflammation in order to return the pet to a pain-free and fully mobile life. Treatment can involve medical management or surgical intervention, depending on the severity of the disease. If the dog no longer has mobility and has lost deep pain sensation, the connection from the brain to the body has been severely compromised. Unfortunately, the only way to attempt to re-establish the connection is with surgery. Time is of the essence in these situations, and delaying surgery even for 24 hours can often dramatically reduce the possibility of a positive outcome. If surgery is necessary, there are a variety of techniques that can be used. The goal of any procedure is to relieve pressure on the spinal cord at the site of the damaged disc. In acute cases where the animal still has some mobility and a superficial pain response that indicates there’s still a viable connection between the brain and the body, pain management and control of inflammation should be accomplished first. In any case, once a pet’s pain and neurologic symptoms are well-controlled either medically or surgically, there will need to be an extensive period of complete rest in order for healing to occur. All disc patients must have a well-padded bedding area — a small area they can’t get up and move around in. If the animal can’t reposition herself on her own, it’s important to turn her every few hours to prevent bedsores. Assistance with urination, defecation, eating and drinking is often also necessary. Why Physical Therapy Is so Important for IVDD Patients During this time of complete rest, there are some very important therapies that can speed healing and improve your pet’s chances of a successful outcome. Acupuncture and electroacupuncture can be very beneficial in helping to re-establish the nerve connections in the body. Massage with or without medical-grade therapeutic essential oils is very good for disc patients as well. Massage of limbs and axial muscles not directly involved with the site of the injury and passive range of motion exercises can help improve circulation and assist with lymphatic drainage. Physical rehab technicians are trained to use gentle joint compressions to help maintain patient comfort and reduce pain. Also, these techniques help to maintain limb strength and muscle mass. Laser therapy at the surgical site or over the area of injury will promote a more rapid healing response, and neuromuscular electrostimulation will help slow muscle atrophy from disuse. When healing is far enough along, underwater treadmill therapy or swim therapy is a wonderful tool for helping the body recover from neurologic trauma. As patients continue to improve, a land treadmill enhances endurance and improves gait and movement patterning. Physio balls and specific therapeutic exercises can improve limb strength and core stability. Cavaletti poles are very effective for improving proprioceptive input and coordination. Pets who undergo rehabilitation after treatment for intervertebral disc disease heal faster, with a far better long-term outcome than pets treated with medical or surgical intervention alone. The good news is most pets who maintain deep pain sensation through an episode of this disease can be well managed without surgery, especially in cases where the condition is diagnosed and treated early. Unfortunately, IVDD symptoms recur in about 50 percent of pets, especially if they are obese, out of condition or if they’re allowed to jump freely. This is why regular physical therapy that focuses on establishing and maintaining core strength and muscle tone reduces the risk of recurrence, and helps keep disc patients’ quality of life excellent. 1, 4 UC-Davis Veterinary Medicine 2 PNAS 2017 October, 114 (43) 11476-11481
Ever since I have been bought up, during my lifetime, I have watched my parents, my relatives and people surrounding me indulge in ancient righteous the Hindu practice of special request messages to the Gods of the Navagrahas and the planets they represent, to shower their blessings and love and benevolence upon them. I like most Hindus I am sure never really understand the Navagrahas. Here is an exploratory around the Navagrahas, in the simplest way I can begin to take foothold on this mandatory practice each time a Hindu visits a temple. All that about the Navagrahas explained here is not at all exhausting, but it is an attempt to provide some guidance on these deities. What are the Navagrahas? Nine planets collectively known as Navagrahas are represented as celestial bodies (dieties). Of the nine deities, seven are named after the planets in the solar system, and correspond with the names of the seven days in the week of the Hindu calendar. However, Rahu and Ketu are two deities who are actually demons. The Navagrahas are organised as shown in the chart below. Navagrahas are are found in most Hindu temples either grouped together on a panel or on a pedestal in commonly visible areas of the temple. Navagraha temples are temples devoted to Navagraha—the nine (nava) major celestial bodies (Grahas) of Hindu astronomy. Many temples in South India contain a shrine dedicated to the Navagrahas. However, the term Navagraha temples refers to a cluster of nine separate temples, each an abode of one of the Navagrahas. While Navagrahas are usually found in many temples as subordinate deities, there are some temples which are exclusively built for them where they are worshipped as the main deities. One such temple is the Navagraha temple located on the banks of the river Kshipra in the outskirts of Ujjain, a famous pilgrim center of Saivism in central India. Some times we also come across temples built exclusively for only one of the Navagrahas such as the temples built for Surya and Sani in many parts of India. For example, there is a famous temple of Sani near Hindupur, which is frequented by many devotees. Many temples in South India contain a shrine dedicated to the Navagrahas. In the Hindu Mythology, the Navagrahas have an exalted position in a persons life as they exert a great influence and it is said that the proper worship of these 9 planets can greatly tone down their malefic influence and thus grant peace and prosperity in a persons life. Devotees usually propitiate these gods before offering prayers to the main deity in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. Worshipped in Hinduism for good luck or to overcome adversity, bad luck or misfortune arising from past karmas or birth related defects (dhoshas). Ancient Navagraha Mantras are invocation lines written by the great Rishis and Learned men of ancient times to appease, invoke and mollify the effects of planetary transits and please the Gods with our devotion. When we chant mantras, as is the specified pronunciation which is an important and most imperative part of chanting, we feel the positive vibes within ours system. If we talk about our physical body: it vibrates at certain frequency and this frequency always varies depends upon a person’s thoughts, emotions, way of living and life style etc. When we chant certain mantra for certain planet, it produces energy and help our physical energy in a way to cope up or neutralizing the effect of particular planet. There are certain Guru Mantras and Sadhanas /Meditations those are so powerful, if one does them, he is relieved from any kind of malefic planetary effects, black magic, wrong practices by other jealous people around, enemies practising, vodoo and witchcraft, because after doing them for certain period of time, that person vibrates more than planets. I will recommend making any meditation technique part of your life, because it will raise your consciousness and also raise beyond the planets and their effects. The entire place where the Navagraha is installed in a temple is a black granite stand and the Navagrahas are also black granite with the facial features not so well formed, but they are well decorated with the most favored colored cloth of the particular planet. entire pedestal that they are placed on has small channels that lead the water, milk, curd, yoghurt and oil abhisheka that the idols are regularly done to a clean place. The oil from the shani oil abhishek is collected to light the lamps in the temple. So on and so forth. As per Hindu customs, the Navagraha are typically placed in a single square with the Sun (Surya) in the center and the other deities surrounding Surya; no two of them are made to face each other. In South India, their images are generally found in all important Saiva temples. They are invariably placed in a separate hall, on a pedestal of about three feet in height, usually to the north-east of the sanctum sanctorum. There are 2 kinds of installation of the planets when arranged in this fashion, known as Agama Pradishta and Vaidika Pradishta. The charts below show these 2 arrangements and placement of each deity. Description of Navagrahas A brief description of each of the Navagrahas is given below: Navagrahas and their significance in Astrology The nine planetary gods have a great significance in Vedic astrology. Hindu astrologers draw the birth charts of individuals based upon their position at the time of their birth. Depending upon where they are located in the astrological chart at a given time, they exert positive or negative influence upon people and their destinies. The position of Sani, Rahu and Ketu are especially considered important. If their positions are not favorable, astrologers suggest remedial measures to pacify the planets and ward off their negative influence.
Servos seem to be the go-to option when adding motors to hobby projects. They’re easy to hack for continuous rotation for use in a robot, but with the control board intact they are fairly accurate for position-based applications. But do you know how the hardware actually works? [Rue Mohr] recently published an article that looks at the inner world of the servo motor. As you know, these motors use a voltage, ground, and signal connection for control. The position of the horn (the wheel seen on the servos above) is dependent on that control signal. The duty cycle of a 20 ms pulse decides this. Inside the housing is a control board capable of measuring this signal. It’s got a chip that monitors the incoming PWM pulses, but that’s only half of the equation. That controller also needs feedback from the horn to know if its position is correct or needs to be changed. Integrated with the gear box that connects the motor to the horn is a potentiometer. It’s resistance changes as the horn turns. Knowing this, it is possible to fine tune a servo by altering that resistance measurement.
“Do not die before you see Bali “ That’s one sentence that often said by lot of tourist after visiting this beautiful island. This island are well known for many others phrases like “Island of Gods” or “Island of Thousand Temples”. A beautiful scenery is not enough for being called so; it is required unique tradition, rich culture and friendly local residence. Bali has so many culture heritage, still adhered to, implemented and maintained well in the community. The invasion of foreign culture is unstoppable, except in this island. Western culture invaded some part of Balinese people life but the tradition is still well maintained. Bali has not much to rely on, but tourism. Having a wide variety of diverse cultures and traditions certainly be an asset for Bali tourism business that everyone preserve and not to be affected by the periods of transition that is unstoppable. And the duty of the community to preserve Bali, not crushed or shifted due to the influence of today's modern world. The persistence of such unique habits is mainly caused by the function Pekraman Village (Desa Pekraman) that still consistently applied to all customs rules, while maintaining the trust and confidence of religious communities, so as not eroded with the advancement of age and foreign influences. These are the unique tradition and culture which you can only find in Bali. Where : Munggu Village Mengwi, Regency of Badung. When: On Kuningan holly day, 10 days after Galungan. The celebration to welcome the Mengwi kingdom war fleet that crossed the area who will go to the battlefield, is also celebrated to welcome the troops when he gets a victory in war with Blambangan kingdom in Java. In the past the Dutch colonial era tradition is never eliminated, but then disaster strikes, all of a sudden 11 people died among the Munggu citizens, then through tough negotiations with the colonial, the celebration can be re-celebrated until now. Mekotek celebration was once used spears of iron, which gives spirit to the troops or from the battlefield, but over time change and to avoid the participants were injured, the spear was replaced with a rod of pulet which is skinned, which measure about 2 - 3.5 meters. Day celebrations in Kuningan, participants dressed in traditional clothing, gather at Pura Dalem Munggu. Almost all residents comprising 15 hamlets of the age of 12-60 years come celebrate. Then a wooden stick pitted giving rise to noise "tek tek" in kimpulkan so as to form a cone / pyramid, for those who have the guts or who may have professed rose kepuncuk collection of wooden sticks and stand on command like that give encouragement to the troops. The same was done by other groups, forming a stick like a cone and will be reunited with each other. Command that stands above a collection of sticks will give command like warlords and menabrakkanya with other groups, with a gamelan diiring thus spurring the spirit of the ceremony participants. Even though its a bit dangerous edge is quite pleasant, it is not uncommon that a fall could not reach the top, but all the happy, excited, no anger, another core that can be drawn from the tradition of wood Grebek Mekotek or war, the war does not always lead to hostility and fatalities. Mekotek - Photo courtesy from google and took a while to identify the origin owner of each photos Where: Jasri Village Karangasem When : A day before Nyepi and a day after Nyepi Another unique tradition in Karangasem regency from the village called Jasri. It is a flame war. Sounds deadly but apparently it is a fun war. No offense no revenge. The procession begun after the sunset a day before the Balinesse Hindu holiday Nyepi, a day name Pengrupukan. During pengrupukan, usually held Butha Yadnya ceremony to make friend from any creature from the underworld (Butha). We need to make friends with anyone so they will not disturb us (human) during the Nyepi day (where everything must be in silent). According to the believe people of Jasri village, during the Pitra Yadnya ceremony – the priest (or so called Pemangku) is followed by the creature of the underworld – there for 50 or more people are trying to tell the creature to return to where they belong by throwing flame to the priests. Well, the flame is generated from burning the dried coconut leaves (danyuh). Ter-teran - Photo courtesy from google and took a while to identify the origin owner of each photos Ngerebong or Ngurek Where : Kesiman Village Denpasar When : TBD Ngurek meaning, make a hole or drilling. Not in the land but in your body using keris (curly shape weapon). This tradition is held only in specific temple named Pura Pangrebongan in Kesiman Village Denpasar. The processed are done through trance stages, where most of the participants are possessed by spirits (can be good or bad one), and they will start screaming, crying, growling and dancing accompanied by traditional music called Beleganjur. Ngerebong or Ngurek - Photo courtesy from google and took a while to identify the origin owner of each photos Megibung, is one of crucial culture heritage. A tradition of eating together in one container. Everyone can eat until satisfied cheekily. Megibung full of value of togetherness. Place to exchanging ideas, jokes and even get to know one or more of the friendship of fellow citizens. Megibung normally participated by 5-8 people, it is a form of togetherness is no difference between men and women are also differences of caste or warn, all sitting mingle and dine together. This tradition still firmly planted in Karangasem Bali. It was introduced by King of Karangasem, the I Gusti Agung Ketut Karangasem Anglurah Caka around 1614 or 1692 AD. When at the time, Karangasem on his expedition to conquer the kings in the land of Lombok. When the rest of the battle, the king urged all soldiers to eat together in a circular position later known by the name of Megibung. In fact, the king himself is said to come eat with the soldiers. Megibung starting from traditional Balinese cuisine cooking together, whether it is rice and side dishes. When finished cooking, the residents prepare food to eat. White rice is placed in a container called Gibungan, while the side dishes and vegetables that will be eaten is called a bouquet. Megibung tradition is held when there is a Religious Ceremony and in some places, especially in the area of Karangasem. For example in yadnya ceremony such as weddings, temple ceremony in the temple, cremation, ceremony quarterly, and other celebration. In this activity usually had occasion extended an invitation to relatives and relatives to witness the procession of Buddhist religious ceremony. So that the procession ceremony can take place as expected. There are some ethics that need to be considered during the event megibung, before eating we had to wash their hands prior notice, do not drop crumbs / food scraps from bites, do not take food next to us, if one had been satisfied and satiated forbidden to leave her, even if these rules are not written but still followed the participants ate megibung. Megibung - Photo courtesy of google and took a while to identify the origin owner of each photos Where: Can be happened in any part of Bali or Indonesia When : No specific date, can be anytime in the year depends to the situation. Ngaben is Pitra Yadnya ceremony. Pitra means ancestor and Yadnya meaning an offering/sacrifice without any conditions. This is the ceremony to honor the ancestor after he/she passed away – paying our debt (Rna) to ancestor (parents) called Pitra Rna. It is a cremation ceremony, supposed to be Ngaben is not a sad situation, it is supposed to be a happy moment celebrating the unification between Atman (Soul) and Brahman (The Creator/God). Ngaben - Photo courtesy of google and took a while to identify the origin owner of each photos Omed - omedan or Mass Kiss Where : Sesetan Village – Denpasar When: A day after Nyepi Omed-omedan or med-medan means of attraction (pull each other) in Bahasa Indonesia. The processes followed by young men and women who are not married, aged between 17-30 years. Omed-omedan followed kissing scenes between the young men and women. This tradition is quite unique celebrated only one day after Nyepi ceremony or on the day Ngembak Geni, 1st in New Caka calendar Bali. This unique tradition is celebrated in the village Sesetan, South Denpasar, Denpasar. Omed-omedan at the start of the event pray together, then divided into two groups of young men and women facing each other. Mutual attraction, hugging and kissing watched by thousands of people, those who do not succeed kiss her partner was rewarded with a splash of water. If you're travel or holiday to Bali, just try to watch this unique tradition, only about 15 minutes drive from the airport. History; In a small kingdom in the South Denpasar named Puri Oka, held game Med-medan or blistering of attraction between boys and girls, because so excited and thrill of the game, the show pull turned into a hug embrace, and sounds like noisy activity. The king was sick at the time, he was about to angry for the noise. Instead of mad, he feels that the game was quite fun and his pain disappear. Since then, he ordered the game to be held every first day of Caka new year (a day after Nyepi). In the modern society, this ritual is not agreed by many people in Bali (actually) its not related to any religious believes. It was originated since early 1900 and once the government stops the ritual, until two pig are fighting in the temple (Pura) nearby and suddenly disappear. This considered to be a sign of bad luck and the Omed-omedan tradition is restarted until today. Omed-omedan - Photo courtesy of google and took a while to identify the origin owner of each photos Mekare-kare or Pandan War Where : Tenganan Village – Karangasem When : 5th month of Bali calendar (around November each year) Bali Aga is considered one of the most original village in Bali, without any influence from outside world. This village has a tradition and a unique procession of pandanus war which is also known by the name of Mekare-kare or mageret pandan. This tradition is celebrated in the village of Tenganan Dauh Tukad, located about 10 km from the attractions Candidasa, 78 km from the city of Denpasar, can be taken approximately 90 minutes to the northeast of the capital Bali. Before the war began, residents of Tenganan perform ritual around the village. Procession pandanus war or Mekaré-kare Tenganan an offering ceremony to honor the ancestors and the god Indra who is the God of War, who fought against the king of the descendants of the Maya Denawa, an evil who prevent the people to worship the God. Tenganan religious beliefs different from other Hindu religion in Bali, they does not recognize caste and believed God Indra as the god of War and god of all gods. The ceremony are arming people with thorny pandanus. Is celebrated on the 5th month of Bali calendar. Held for 2 days, every fight short walk about 1 minute to do rotation for 3 hours, although eventually they to bleed for embedded thorn pandanus, after the war they were together to help one another pulling a thorn pandanus and give the stolen drugs in the form of betel leaves and turmeric, did not leave the impression of hostility. Mekare-kare - Photo courtesy of google and took a while to identify the origin owner of each photos Where : Seraya Village, Candi Dasa Karangasem When : every dry season Gebug means hitting with a vengeance with a rattan stick length 1.5 - 2 meters and Ende means shields used to deflect the shot. Gebug Ende have elements of art, such as dance, combined with the dexterity of the dancers play the sticks and shields. When Gebug Ende takes place not only to demonstrate the agility course, but there are values local secrecy. Held every summer in order to invite the rain. Is played by two men, both adults or children alike. Before Gebug Ende started by offering ritual. According to local belief, the rain shall fall when the match could have sparked the blood. The more the faster it will rain. There is no specific time in the game. Clear the game will end when one of the games have been desperate. No revenge afterwards. This tradition is already quite well known in the east hemisphere of Bali. Gebug Ende - Photo courtesy of google and took a while to identify the origin owner of each photos The word Makepung is derived from the base word of kepung, meaning ‘chase’, Makepung is one of the unique traditions stemmed from the agrarian life scene of the island, and is a widely enjoyed event in the regency of Jembrana, west Bali. The grand-scale events inspired from such a simple, traditional pastime preserves the unique traditions of this part of the island, as well as to promote tourism to this far flung western location. The competitions also provide positive impact on other local sectors such as agriculture and farming. The tradition has partly prevented the shift of land for farming use, and it has also encouraged the people to improve the quality of animal husbandry, raising winning buffaloes for the yearly events. There are approximately seven different circuits spread out in various locations throughout the district. The Sangyang Cerik circuit in the village of Tuwed, Melaya district is one of the main circuits. The other dedicated fields-turned-circuits include Delod Berawah, Kaliakah, Pangkung Dalem, Merta Sari, Tuwed and Awen. On the eve of the finals, there is a gathering among the racing teams called sekaa makepung with the Jembrana regent, and the evening is as festive as the major racing day that follows, being filled with art performances and public entertainment. On race days, international visitors will also be equally amused by the ‘buffalo fashion shows’ that feature the bovines beautifully and carefully dressed up with ornaments from hoof to horn, in another segment of the ‘best-dressed’ competitions. Good to Know about the Makepung Buffalo Races The Makepung races usually commence early mornings at 07:30 with dozens of pairs of Pepadu (racer) participating. Another hundred or so take part in the 'fashion' parade. The races last for five hours, with the buffaloes divided into three racing divisions. The dates for each year’s event vary. However, a rough estimate is that several heats take place monthly from July to November at the various circuit locations. All usually take place over the weekends on a Sunday morning. The tentative schedule for the 2016 Makepung buffalo races, based on the Jembrana government tourism office's previous year's dates are as follows: 1. 12 July: Delod Berawah Circuit 2. 26 July: Tuwed Circuit 3. 9 August: Mertasari Circuit (Bupati Cup) 4. 23 August: Pangkung Dalem Circuit 5. 6 September: Delod Berawah Circuit 6. 20 September: Awen Circuit 7. 4 October: Mertasari Circuit 8. 18 October: Kaliakah Circuit 9. 1 November: Delod Berawah Circuit 10. 15 November: Tuwed Circuit (Jembrana Cup - FINALS) The Makepung tradition of Jembrana inspired the creation of a Balinese dance of the same name in 1984. This dance is performed by seven to nine male and female participants, and depicts riders and the buffaloes themselves. One of the unique features of the dance is that it is accompanied by the Jegog bamboo orchestra which is also typical of the regency (bali-indonesia.com) Makepung - Photo courtesy of google and took a while to identify the origin owner of each photos The map to help you out locate the tradition took place To be continued soon...
Producers are considering different rations than “normal” due to the dry summer conditions and lack of hay supply. However, corn silage seems to be in abundant supply in some parts of the state. I have received numerous calls asking how much corn silage can I use and what is the minimum amount of hay that a cow needs. A research project that I completed at Purdue University evaluated limit feeding corn silage to meet the nutrient requirements of the beef cow. We found out the limit feeding corn silage can be a good option for overwintering beef cows. As you know corn silage typically has higher energy than the typical beef quality hay, so the cow’s energy requirements will be met with less total dry matter intake of silage compared to a hay diet. However, protein supplementation may be needed, depending on the protein content of the silage. The specific amount can only be determined by testing the feedstuffs and then balancing a ration. Also, with the drought conditions this summer, it is important to test the corn silage for nitrates. We also studied replacing part of the hay in the diet with corn. The diets were 0.5, 1.0, or 2.0% of the cow’s body weight as hay plus corn to meet the cow’s nutrient requirements. We found that the 0.5% BW of hay plus corn had the same performance as the 2.0% BW of hay treatment. At calving time the cows were in similar body condition and no calving problems were found. However, we did learn the importance of good fences. The 0.5% and 1.0% hay treatments met the cows’ nutrient requirements, but did not completely satisfy their appetites, so the cows were hungry during the adaptation period. All of these treatments were balanced for energy and protein to ensure the desired performance. During the research project, we made sure that all of the cows had adequate bunk space. We fed these rations as a total mixed ration using a mixer wagon. Some producers may not have a mixer wagon, so limiting the hay supply with this method may be difficult. Warren Rusche, SDSU Extension Cow/Calf Field Specialist, wrote an iGrow article on limiting hay supply through limiting the time cows have access to the hay, which might be a useful strategy for producers limited by their equipment inventory. Source: Julie Walker
The green energy revolution used to look pretty far off. Today, businesses are starting to factor the cost of climate change into their planning, countries have set targets for increasing the use of renewable energy, and wind farms and solar panels are popping up everywhere. But large-scale renewable energy development is still a challenge – especially in the absence of government incentives. Large-scale renewable power such as solar, wind, and wave power, though technically viable, is often seen by investors as too expensive to develop and too risky. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank Group’s private sector arm, is working to overcome those concerns. In Chile – a country with considerable renewable energy potential – these efforts are starting to have an impact. As the video below shows, Chile plans a significant shift in its energy equation – from 37% renewables today to 55% by 2024. Though still a very small percentage of the overall energy mix, non-conventional renewable power such as wind and solar is starting to happen there, without government subsidies. Chile is highly motivated to diversify its energy supply. It imports 75% of its energy requirements and has suffered price spikes and shortages in the past. To encourage development, it passed a non-conventional energy law in 2008 requiring 5% of all energy sold by electricity companies to come from renewable energy. After 2014, the percentage rises each year by 0.5%. Since 2006, IFC has invested more than $450 million in privately sponsored Chilean hydro, wind, and solar projects, including the 20-megawatt Hidromaule mini-hydro plant, which generates power for 70,000 homes from the natural force of a river; the 46-megawatt El Totoral, which was the first project-financed wind farm in the country; and three solar photovoltaic (PV) plants currently under construction. One of them is the 100-megawatt-peak Amanecer plant to be built by SunEdison in the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth and also one of the most conducive to solar radiative energy. The plant will be the biggest solar PV energy plant in Latin America and one of the biggest in the world. Together the projects will offset an estimated 1.7 million tons of CO2 emissions – roughtly equal to taking 200,000 cars off the road. The two other solar PV plants are “merchant plants” – meaning they are being built without purchase contracts or price guarantees. Instead, the energy they produce will be sold at market rates. This arrangement is generally seen as “very risky” by banks, says Juan Payeras, the IFC principal investment officer on the projects. Very few banks choose to go forward with such an investment without a “power purchase” agreement, which have been difficult to obtain for solar PV projects, and very few are willing to take the risk for the development of renewable energy projects, he adds. Despite the great potential of solar PV energy projects in the country, “the development of the sector was stuck without power purchase agreements,” Payeras says. “That’s where we came in.” For two of the projects, IFC combined its financing with financing from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (the U.S. Government’s development finance institution), and Netherlands-based Rabobank, which provides renewable energy project financing to clients around the world. The three solar projects have come about in the space of a year. Such projects can be developed quickly. IFC financing for the 30 MW expansion of a pilot project, the La Huayca II plant, for instance, was approved in October and will go online in March; the second project, the 50 MW San Andres plant, was approved in November and will also be operational in March. So how could this experience help other countries? Payeras says Chile is a testing ground for renewable energy that can be developed and operate without subsidies – and therefore be competitive with fossil fuels. As confidence grows in the technology and costs decline, finance and development of renewable energy will become easier in more places. Says Payeras: “IFC wants to be a catalyst and demonstrate it can be done.” Learn more about IFC’s work on renewable energy. Also check out Mapping the Renewable Energy Revolution and this infographic: Sustainable Energy for All – What Will it Take?
Politeness in Japanese is conveyed on two axes: one of politeness (or gentility, if it makes the double use of the word less confusing) and one of status. Gentility refers to one’s disposition, to one’s character, to the energy one wishes to convey. This is very simply handled in Japanese. Status refers to acknowledgments of how the people involved into a discussion are related. There are people who are higher than you in status; and there are people lower than you in status. Japanese has no language of condescension, so to speak to someone on an equal level is to talk to them “plainly.” The dimension of status, then, concerns itself with a view towards people of higher status: how one refers to them and their actions (honorific language) and how one refers to one’s own (humble language.) Here’s something interesting: the language one uses for a person is determined by the person one is talking to. What does this mean? If you are talking to your boss, you refer to your boss with honorific language, and to yourself with humble language. But if you are talking to a customer, you refer to them with honorific language, to yourself with humble language, and to your boss in humble language – because you are representing the company or business and the company as a whole is subservient to its customers. Likewise, if you talk about your family, because they are an extension of you, you speak about them with humble language rather than with honorific language. (You really don’t “show off” your family in Japanese culture) Polite Verbs (Teineigo) To make a verb polite, you take the verbal stem, add the appropriate mood suffix, and add an -ιmas suffix to it; and then a subsequent temporal/polar suffix to it. /ι/ stands for a weak vowel that appears in the surface form of a word as an /i/ whenever the lexical stem of the verb does not end in /ε/, which is a vowel that occasionally appears in the surface form as /e/ and sometimes not at all. I talk all about it in my verb runthrough. The temporal/polar suffixes are these: Affirmative Present/Future: -u Affirmative Past: -ita Negative Present/Future: -en Negative Past: en deshita (periphrastic) For verbs that use ω as a temporal/polar suffix (ω being what ends up as i/katta/kunai/nakatta): You can add the polite form of the copula da, desu, to the end to take more polite, albeit semi-illogical. In this case, the verb desu is not acting as a verb but as a politeness suffix. Here’s the catch: Japanese admits this kind of politeness as standard only when it is the verb of a verb phrase that is not embedded into another verb phrase. This means that indirect quotes are not conjugated for politeness, and neither are attributive phrases. Humble Verbs (Kenjougo) and Honorific Verbs (Sonkeigo) Humble Verbs and Honorific Verb are a bit more tricky, because there exist a few verbs that imply humility and are used in humble language. Let’s look at a quick table where there they use Teineigo and Kenjougo and Sonkeigo together. (Courtesy of https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Japanese/Grammar/Honorifics) (And if you’re a bit more confident with your Kanji reading, you can visit more thorough listings here and here) Note: The three very important verbs this list misses are “morau” and “kureru.” “Morau”’s Kenjougo equivalent is “itadaku;” the Sonkeigo equivalent to “kureru” is “kudasaru;” the Kenjougo equivalent to “ageru” is “Sashiageru.” Other than these exceptions, which are admittedly very common verbs, the verb construction is to take the verb’s verbal stem, add the prefix o- and the verb “suru” in Kenjougo and “naru” in Sonkeigo. Sonkeigo: o + verbal stem + naru Kenjougo: o+ verbal stem + suru If there exist a special verb with the humility or honor implied (so if it’s part of the list), then one does not use this construction. Kenjougo and Sonkeigo work along with Teineigo as seen in the table, but this is only when applicable, not all the time. It tends to be that if you are going to work along the status axis, you are going to be making your verbs polite. The only place where this is not the case is in anime and perhaps some dramas, where you hear the governing verbs of IPs in their plain form. Address suffixes are also considered part of Keigo. To speak on those briefly, for this is probably the most common form of Keigo. The standard address suffix for people is -san. The address for people of authority who have some form of didactic/guiding role is -sensei. The address for someone who is of a higher rank than you but not -sensei, used mainly in schools by lowerclassmen to upperclassmen is -senpai. The -sama address is used for someone of an unbelievably high rank, like high religious figures and royalty. The address suffix -kun is used towards young males. The address suffix -chan is an address suffix used for children and animals; and it is also an intimate address suffix for young girls. Note that -kun and -chan are not equivalent. A young girl can call a young boy -kun without knowing him well, but the boy cannot call the girl -chan. The intimate address suffix -bou exists for males, but does not carry into adolescence, and thus is used for small boys.
Located in Israel’s Golan Heights region, the Banias Nature Reserve serves as a strong reminder that Israel’s capture of the Golan Heights was about a lot more than just punishing Syria and seizing the military advantage afforded by occupying high ground. You see, Mount Hermon is in the Golan Heights. And the Hermon Spring emerges at the foot of Mount Hermon. Mount Hermon acts like a sponge, absorbing the rain and snow that falls generously upon it. The precious water then percolates through the limestone until it emerges as springs at the foot of the mountain. These springs create the Dan, Hermon (Banias), and Senir (Hazbani) streams, which are the headwaters of the Jordan River. Control of water is important everywhere, but particularly so in the Middle East. Below is Banias and the foothills of Mount Hermon in the background. All of this used to be Syrian territory: Because this is the Golan Heights, mine fields are scattered all around the western edge of the Banias Nature Reserve. But, it is safe to walk down in the canyon pictured above. And down in that canyon, one finds this – the Hermon Stream: There is a fair amount of whitewater here, but before the Hermon Stream enters Israel’s agricultural heartland in the Hula Valley, its gradient becomes more moderate. In the Hula Valley, fields are cultivated right up to the banks of the stream. Several miles to the south, the Hermon Stream reaches its junction with the Dan Stream and the two merge to create the Jordan River: One of the Banias’ pools is named the Officer’s Pool, and was used by Syrian officers stationed in the area as a spa and social gathering area until the Six Day War. And nearby to that pool is a small dirt road that marks the point where the pipeline used to carry oil from Iraq to Sidon in Lebanon (the TAP line). As they say, transiency is inherent in component things: This being the Middle East, there is naturally a staggering amount (at least to those of us in the West) of history associated with Banias… Though there is no mention of the Banias in the Old Testament, it is believed that the area was documented in biblical texts as Baal-Gad and Tel Dan. It appears with the name Banias in historic documents dating back to the third century BCE when a large Hellenistic settlement established itself near the Banias riverbed. While under Roman rule, Banias was annexed to Herod’s Kingdom and later passed on to Herod’s son, Emperor Philip the Tetrarch, along with the rest of northern Palestine and made into the capital of his kingdom. Later, the Crusaders saw Banias as a natural border between their kingdom in Palestine and the neighboring Muslim realm, whose center was Damascus. Because of its position on the crossroads between Sidon and Tyre in Lebanon and Damascus, Banias was considered a strategic asset. As a response to the Crusader conquest of Galilee in 1099, the Muslims fortified Banias. But in 1129, due to internal Muslim squabbles, control of the city was lost to the Crusaders. The Muslims finally recaptured Banias in 1132. After Saladin defeated the Crusaders in the 1187 Battle of Hattin, Banias declined in importance. The Mamelukes fortified the city, but finally abandoned its fortress, which was taken over by belligerent Bedouin chieftains. The once great city became a small village, which it remained until the area was conquered by the IDF in the 1967 Six Day War: The highlight of a trip to Banias is a visit to its waterfall: The water flowing downstream from the waterfall… Trees down in the forest along the banks of the Hermon Stream include Mount Tabor oaks, Kermes oaks, Syrian ash, oriental plane trees and willows. The animal kingdom is well represented also with Syrian rock hyraxes, golden jackals, beech martens, wild boars Sardinian warblers, wrens, Cetti’s warblers, rock doves and many others making frequent appearances at Banias:
Almost as soon as World War II ended, the question of what to do with a defeated, destroyed Germany threatened to drive a wedge between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies. At Potsdam in 1945, the Big Three (the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union) agreed to divide Germany into occupation zones, with the Soviets taking the eastern half of the country and the United States, Great Britain and France dividing up the west. The capital city of Berlin, located deep within East Germany, was partitioned in much the same way. Three years later, as the two sides found themselves increasingly at odds, the future of West Berlin hung in the balance. On June 24, 1948, outraged by the currency reform introduced by the United States and Britain into their occupied zones of Germany, the Soviets blocked all road, rail and water routes to the Allied-controlled sectors of Berlin. The blockade cut off the city’s electricity, food and coal supply, as well as its access to the outside world. For the Allies, coming to the aid of West Berlin—a democratic island in the middle of a communist state—was non-negotiable. Over 11 months, American and British pilots ferried some 2.3 million tons of supplies into West Berlin. According to agreements made in 1945, the United States and Britain still had three air corridors to Berlin open to them, so they decided to airlift food, coal and other crucial supplies into the city from Allied military air bases in western Germany. On June 26, the United States launched “Operation Vittles;” Britain followed two days later with “Operation Plainfare.” Over the next 11 months, American and British pilots ferried some 2.3 million tons of supplies into West Berlin on a total of 277,500 flights, in what would be the largest air relief operation in history. Though it began slowly, the Berlin Airlift grew more and more efficient. At its height, in the spring of 1949, an Allied aircraft landed at Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport every 45 seconds. The planes carried everything from food stuffs and medical supplies to coal and machinery, all vital to the survival of West Berliners who were hungry, scared and still reeling from the wounds inflicted during World War II. One of the airlift’s best-known heroes, U.S. pilot Gail S. Halvorsen, dropped parcels of candy, chewing gum and other sweets for the city’s children, earning the nickname “Candy Bomber.” “The airlift was a lifeline for West Berlin,” says Hope Harrison, an associate professor of history and international affairs at George Washington University who has written extensively on the Cold War, Germany and Russia. “To feel that the U.S. and Great Britain, who had been their enemies, weren’t giving up on them. The last time they were doing anything, they were dropping bombs, and instead they’re bringing in food and coal and everything else.” The Americans and the British desperately wanted to maintain a Western presence in Berlin. Though neither the Brits nor the Americans wanted war with the Soviets, they desperately wanted to maintain a Western presence in Berlin. As General Lucius Clay, the administration of US-occupied Germany, reported to Washington in mid-June 1948: “We are convinced that our remaining in Berlin is essential to our prestige in Germany and in Europe. Whether for good or bad, it has become a symbol of the American intent.” The Allies reasoned that if the Soviets opposed the Berlin Airlift with force, they would be acting aggressively against a humanitarian mission and violating an explicit agreement. Though the Soviets did harass some Allied planes during the airlift, they didn’t take more aggressive steps against it, not wanting to risk all-out war with the West. Though the United States hoped to resolve the crisis peacefully, President Harry S. Truman’s administration did send B-29 bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons to Britain during the airlift, indicating just how serious the situation had become. “This was the biggest conflict yet in the developing Cold War,” Harrison says. “It made it absolutely clear—communists on one side, democrats on the other. It really made that clear to the Germans.” The airlift also convinced the French, she says, who had initially taken a more vindictive stance toward the German people after the war ended. “It took the blockade of Berlin to persuade the French, the new enemy is the Soviets. It’s not the Germans anymore,” Harrison explains. “It brought the French along with the U.S. and Brits to say, ‘Look, we’ve now got to help the Germans, because we have a bigger enemy.’” Stalin did not want the Berlin Airlift. On May 12, 1949, the Soviets ended the blockade of Allied-occupied Berlin after 11 months, and West Berliners began welcoming the first British and American land convoys. A few weeks earlier, the Western Allies had met in Washington to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and two weeks after the blockade was lifted, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) was formally established. “Stalin got exactly the opposite of what he wanted,” Harrison says. “He was essentially, with the blockade, trying to stop the creation of a West German state. Well, he got the creation of a West German state, and a Western military alliance.” Early in the airlift, when British and American planes were struggling to carry the necessary amount of cargo to West Berlin, the Soviets offered to lift the blockade if the Allies withdrew the new Deutschmark from the city. But the Allies refused, and in the fall of 1948 some 300,000 West Berliners gathered at the Reichstag to show their opposition to Soviet domination, helping to convince the Allies to continue the airlift. By the following spring, it was clear that the Berlin Airlift had become a massive success. Meanwhile, the Allied counterblockade that stopped all rail traffic into East Germany from the U.S. and British zones had dried up the region’s supply of coal and steel, hampering its industrial development and making the Soviets worry about a political backlash. After the Berlin Airlift, a division in Europe between communist and anti-communist states was cemented. In October 1949, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was officially announced. Three years later, Stalin’s Soviet regime sealed the border between East and West Germany, leaving Berlin as the only conduit for East Germans looking to escape communism. Between 1949 and 1961, some 2.5 million of them fled via West Berlin, until in August 1961 the East German government erected the barbed wire fence that would become the Berlin Wall. The crisis over Berlin in 1948-49 had cemented the division of Europe into communist and anti-communist states, and transformed the German capital, previously identified with Nazism and Hitler, into a Cold War era symbol of democracy and freedom. For West Germans, the Berlin Airlift would instill an enduring sense of gratitude toward the United States and Britain, their former enemies who had refused to allow them to be swallowed up into the communist regime, and had helped them when they needed it most. “You helped us in our hour of need—we will help you now.” Decades later, long after the Cold War faded into memory, the long-term effects of the Berlin Airlift lingered. “So many Berliners of that generation to this day have cans of food or powdered milk they kept as a souvenir [of the airlift],” Harrison says. “After the terrorist attacks of 2001 on the United States, the city of Berlin took out a full-page ad in the New York Times with pictures of the airlift. It said ‘You helped us in our hour of need—we will help you now.’”
Governments and other stakeholders are increasingly interested in assessing the skills of their adult populations in order to monitor how well prepared they are for the challenges of the modern knowledge-based society. Adults are expected to use information in complex ways and to maintain and enhance their literacy skills to adopt to ever changing technologies. Literacy is important not only for personal development, but also for positive educational, social and economic outcomes. On an international level, there are three adult literacy surveys, the Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey (ALL), the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), and the OECD’s Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) which is currently in progress. Data from ALL and IALS reveal that low skills are found in countries and that these low skills pose problems for individuals trying to cope with work and life in modern societies where the demands for literacy skills are on the increase. The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is designed to assess the current state of the skills of individuals and nations in the new information age. It builds upon earlier conceptions of literacy from IALS in the 1990s and the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey ALL in 2003 and 2006 to facilitate an appropriate assessment of the broad range of literacy skills required for the 21st century. The framework broadens the definition of literacy to make it relevant to the information age, in particular, by including the skills of reading in digital environments. In PIAAC, “Literacy is the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society”.
Rome and Her Enemies: An Empire Created and Destroyed by War Osprey Publishing, Feb 1, 2008 - History - 304 pages Spanning over a thousand years and an immense geographical area, the Roman Empire was the greatest in world history. At its most powerful, the Empire cast a shadow across the known world, and its legacy continues to influence politics, art and culture around the world today. Rome's power was won on the battlefield, and the greatness of the Empire is reflected in the warlike reputations of the enemies it subdued. Hannibal and the Carthaginians, Mithridates, the Gauls, the Sassanid Persians and the infamous Gothsand Huns are amongst the forces that battled the might of Rome. Rome and Her Enemies juxtaposes the society and military structure of each of these peoples with those of the contemporary Roman army. It is divided into four chronological sections focusing on all the major wars and battles. It is lavishly illustrated throughout, and color photographs, artwork and maps support the text to provide a comprehensive introduction to the rise and fall of an empire created and destroyed by war. Introduction by Tom Holland, bestselling author of "Persian Fire" and "Rubicon". What people are saying - Write a review We haven't found any reviews in the usual places. Other editions - View all AAA Collection Ltd Adrianople allies Ammianus Angus McBride Antony archers armed armour attack Attila Augustus battle battlefield became bronze Caesar camp campaign Carrhae Carthage Carthaginian cataphracts cavalry Celtiberian Celtic warrior Celts century BC citizens Claudius cohorts command consul Crassus Dacian Danube defeat elephants emperor enemy equipment Etruscan fighting flank formation fought Fritigern frontier Gallic Gaul Germanic Gothic Goths Greek Guard Hannibal heavy infantry helmets Helvetii hoplite horse horse-archers Huns Iberian invaded Italy javelins king land leader legionaries legions Macedonian Marius mercenaries military missiles Mithridates neighbouring Numantia Octavian opponents organised Osprey Publishing Ltd Painting by Angus Parthian Perseus Persian phalanx Philip Pompey Praetorian probably province Punic Quadi ranks recruited Republic Rhine Roman army Roman Empire Rome Rome's sarissae Sassanian Savaran Scipio Senate Shapur Sheridan/AAA Collection Ltd shield siege slingers soldiers Spain spear sword tactics territory Tervingi tribal tribes troops Vercingetorix victory warfare wars weapons worn
Brother Benedict was a Franciscan monk from Worcestershire during the Middle Ages. While in the Monastery's herb garden, he uncovered what he believed to be a ferret rooting around. However, it was a Jarvey, who yelled "Get out of it, baldy!" then bit him on the nose. When he related the tale to the Friar, he was not believed, and asked if he had been drinking Brother Boniface's Turnip Wine. Since his nose was bleeding heavily, Brother Benedict was excused from Vespers. The name "Benedict" comes from the Late Latin name Benedictus which meant "blessed". Saint Benedict was an Italian monk who founded the Benedictines in the 6th century. After his time the name was common among Christians, being used by 16 popes. In England it did not come into use until the 12th century, at which point it became very popular. This name was also borne by the American defector Benedict Arnold (1741-1801). - Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Mentioned only)
North Carolina gardeners have a long growing season that accommodates both cool-season vegetables like greens and heat-loving garden staples like corn and tomatoes. Plant from either seeds or transplants and irrigate vegetables during summer heat so the soil is moist, not dry and crumbly. Available in white, yellow and bi-color ears, corn grows well in the North Carolina summer heat. The University of Illinois recommends planting sugary enhancer corn, which combines sweet taste and creamy texture for a superior ear of corn. In North Carolina, gardeners can plant corn beginning April 15. Corn requires full sun to grow; space seeds 1/2-inch deep and 9 to 12 inches apart in the soil. Southern peas, better known as cowpeas or blackeyed peas, are a staple of North Carolina gardens. These warm-weather vegetables can be planted beginning May 15. Southern peas grow in full sun or part shade and mature in 60 to 90 days. They add nutrients to poor soils and are often planted just to improve the soil in a garden bed. The peas require trellising to grow properly. Harvest southern peas when the pods bulge and eat them fresh, or leave them on the plant until the pods turn yellow or brown and enjoy dried peas. North Carolina gardeners can plant collards beginning August 1; this cool-season vegetables doesn't perform well in summer heat. Sow seeds 1/4-inch deep in the soil and thin out seedlings as they mature, leaving 6 inches between plants. Most collards mature in 60 to 75 days. Harvest individual leaves or pick the entire collard plant. A member of the cabbage family, collards are naturally tough and fibrous and require braising or steaming before they can be eaten. Okra can be fried, boiled, stewed or picked. The small green pods enjoy warm weather and may be planted in North Carolina beginning May 1. Place okra seeds in the soil, leaving 12 to 24 inches between seeds and placing the seeds 1 inch deep. To harvest plants, cut them from the pod when the average 2 to 3 inches in length; leaving them on the plant for longer causes the vegetable to grow tough. Tomatoes are a popular warm weather vegetable that can be planted in North Carolina in the summer months in successive planting. Tomatoes come in an array of types, colors and flavors; gardeners can choose between cherry tomatoes, paste tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes and cluster tomatoes. Plant tomatoes in full sun and stake them with a tomato cage to offer support to developing plants. While Early Girl tomatoes mature in 55 days, most varieties take 65 to 70 days to mature.
Schools' Chemical Hygiene Officers There have been several state-funded chemical clean-outs for high schools. Schools with chemicals on the state banned-chemicals list should have them properly disposed of as soon as possible. For private chemical disposal services, there are several companies certified to transport hazardous waste. For information on specific companies, consult the SAFECHEMRI listserv to find out who other Chemical Hygiene Officers have used in the past. You may want to call several companies to compare costs. Common mistakes made in the utilization of acid storage cabinets - Incompatible storage of concentrated nitric acid (oxidizer) with glacial acetic acid (a - Incompatible storage of concentrated nitric acid (oxidizer) with ethyl alcohol or acetone (flammable, but not acids). - Storage of multiple bottles of the same reagent (EPA regulations allow storage of no more than one year’s supply of any one hazardous chemical) - Storage of acids in bottles with glass stoppers instead of vapor-proof screw-on plastic - Storage of bases in acid cabinets (mixing concentrated acids and bases results in an extremely exothermic reaction). - Storage of concentrated acids with concentrated ammonia (also a base). Acid and ammonia vapors mix and form a white coating of ammonium chloride on everything in the cabinet. - Storage of acid bottles without appropriate secondary containment such as plastic - Use of a metal cabinet to store acids. Corrosive acid vapors are best contained by a cabinet made out of coated wood or plastic laminate.
Videos: Tiananmen Square Massacre 18 Years Ago in China Posted by Author on June 3, 2007 Do you know why the words “Tiananman” and “June 4” are both on China’s block list and are censored all the time on Internet ? Because it’s related to a massacre China government tried to cover up in these recent 18 years. Here’s a video report by CBC 18 years ago about the massacre happened in China’s capital City Beijing: In the spring of 1989, college students in China led a pro-democracy movement, calling for freedom, democracy, less corruption, and more transparency from China’s Communist leaders. Their protest was peaceful, non-violent, and the protesters were unarmed. Their protest also caught on widely, drawing in intellectuals, journalists, and labor leaders. (China Support Net) The students gathered togather in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, erected a statue that resembled the Statue of Liberty. Their version was dubbed the Goddess of Democracy. Millions of people in Beijing joined them. And also, besides beijing, students gained support from almost all classes of the Chinese society from all over the country including many high ranking officials. But finally at the night of June 3, 1989, the communist leaders decided to crack down on the student movement and called in the army. Chinese tanks and troops opened fire to students with live ammunition as they swept into Tiananmen Square. About 3,000 people were killed, and about 10,000 wounded. But the Chinese government declared later after the massacre that : – There’s no students been killed and no massacre happened on Tiananmen square; – On the contrary, there were soldiers been killed by “Mob” Till today, the massacre is still called as “riot” by the Communist government. Here’s another Documentary video in Google, “The cutting edge: Tank Man”, about the the massacre, the brave Tank Man who stand in front of and blocked the tanks, and the human rights in China. 52 minutes long. Highly recommanded to everybody. – China: Tiananmen Legacy Defies Olympic Gloss, Human Rights Watch, June 1, 2007 - Click to email (Opens in new window) - Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) - Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) - Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) - Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window) - Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) - Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) - Click to print (Opens in new window) This entry was posted on June 3, 2007 at 12:24 am and is filed under Beijing, China, Human Rights, Incident, June 4, Killing, Law, military, News, People, Politics, Report, Social, Special day, Speech, Student, Tiananmen, Video, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. 9 Responses to “Videos: Tiananmen Square Massacre 18 Years Ago in China” Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
The Great Depression of the 1930s both slowed progress and sped change. Heavy farm debt loads and low commodity prices caused a crisis of farm foreclosures and bank failures. Those farmers in a better financial position enlarged their holdings. Rural population diminished while cities grew. North Dakota reached its peak population in 1930, but the total thereafter dropped steadily until 1950. As a rural state, North Dakota suffered greatly when the prices received for farm produce declined. The search for a solution to that problem brought about different movements in the 1920s and 1930s. For example, cooperatives enjoyed a renewed popularity in the 1920s. As farmers tried to band together to market their produce and reduce the costs of farming, the North Dakota Farmers Union spread across the prairies. Substantial organizing efforts in the mid-1920s resulted in formation of a state Union in 1927; Farmers Union locals built elevators and organized oil cooperatives that served the needs of an increasingly mechanized rural economy. In 1932, the cooperative group helped form a militant defense organization, the Farmers Holiday Organization, to take direct action against low commodity prices and farm foreclosures. The renewed militancy in rural North Dakota quickly spread into state politics. A revitalized Nonpartisan League emerged in 1932, electing the colorful populist William Langer as Governor. Langer took bold actions when he assumed his office in 1933; he slashed state spending, imposed moratoriums on mortgage foreclosure sales, and embargoed shipment of grain from the state. However, his disregard of law brought Federal investigations, and in 1934 he was convicted of campaign law violations and removed from office; Lt. Governor Ole Olson finished the term. That same year, a divided NPL lost the Governor's office to Democrat Thomas Moodie; he assumed office in 1935, but was quickly disqualified when an investigation discovered that he did not meet state residency requirements. Lt. Governor Walter Welford succeeded Moodie, becoming the fourth Governor in seven months. Langer returned to the electoral wars in 1936 after successfully overturning his conviction and then being exonerated after four new trials in 1935. In 1936, he was re-elected Governor; though defeated in 1938 when he ran for the U.S. Senate, he unseated incumbent Lynn J. Frazier in 1940 and retained that office until his death in 1959. Though the explosive politics of the 1930s mostly centered on Langer, several other North Dakota leaders received national prominence. Senators Gerald P. Nye and Lynn J. Frazier became known for reflecting the isolationist philosophy prevalent among North Dakota people. Nye's investigation of the role of the munitions industry in bringing the United States into World War I made him a national figure and at the end of the decade he helped lead the national America First movement that sought to keep the nation out of World War II. Frazier established himself as a pacifist by annually proposing a Constitutional amendment to outlaw American participation in foreign wars. In 1936, Congressman William Lemke was nominated for President by the new Union Party; though he received fewer than one million votes, he carried the concerns of drought-stricken farmers throughout the nation. Despite economic problems, crop failures, dust storms, and weather extremes, North Dakota visibly modernized during the 1930s. The new skyscraper State capitol, begun in 1932, was completed in 1935. Federal relief programs improved highways, state parks, and city services throughout the state. State departments addressed public health and safety problems, and a movement for consolidated law enforcement was initiated with formation of a State Highway Patrol in 1935. Rural schools consolidated at an increasing rate. Public utilities extended their reach through development or rural electric cooperatives; the first, Baker Electric of Cando, energized its lines in 1938. For many, however, the economic hardships of the Depression could not be overcome. Thousands of North Dakotans lost their farms and either moved into the cities and towns or from the state. One historian estimates that over 70% of the state's people required one form or another of public assistance. The toll in broken dreams, physical hunger and hardship, and displacement will never be completely measured. Still, most North Dakotans stubbornly held on, husbanding their resources and spending carefully. Even during the hard times, for example, drought-stricken counties and cities rarely missed bond payments, and indeed the public debt in the state was substantially reduced during the Depression years. More favorable weather improved crop yields in the 1940s. With more commodities to sell, farmers benefitted even more from the higher prices stimulated by American entry into World War II. Within a span of five years, the farm debt in the state dropped markedly; at war's end in 1945 North Dakota residents had accumulated the largest per capita bank deposits in the nation. 612 East Boulevard Ave. Bismarck, North Dakota 58505 State Museum and Store: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. M-F; Sat. & Sun. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. We are closed New Year's Day, Easter, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. State Archives: 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. M-F, except state holidays; 2nd Sat. of each month, 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. State Historical Society offices: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. M-F, except state holidays.
Arab League boycott of Israel \|This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2015)\| The Arab League boycott of Israel is a systematic effort by Arab League member states to isolate Israel economically to prevent Arab states and discourage non-Arabs from trading with Israel and adding to Israel's economic and military strength. Prior to the establishment of Israel, the Arab League Boycott was designed to weaken Jewish industry in Palestine and to deter Jewish immigration to the region. An official organized boycott of the Yishuv (pre-state Jewish community in Palestine) was adopted by the Arab League in December 1945, and persisted against Israel after its founding in 1948. Although the boycott undoubtedly hurt Israel to some extent, it failed to economically cripple the country. Israel managed to build one of the strongest economies in the region, and even managed to evade the boycott and clandestinely trade with the Arab and Muslim world through a number of countermeasures. The implementation of the boycott has varied over time among member states, and has since waned, with some states no longer applying the boycott. Egypt (1979), the Palestinian Authority (1993), and Jordan (1994) signed peace treaties or agreements that ended their participation in the boycott of Israel. Mauritania, which never applied the boycott, established diplomatic relations with Israel in 1999. Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia do not enforce the boycott. In 1994, following the Oslo Peace Accords, the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) states, ended their participation in the Arab boycott against Israel. The move prompted a surge of investment in Israel, and resulted in the initiation of joint cooperation projects between Israel and Arab countries. In 1996, the GCC states recognized that total elimination of the boycott is a necessary step for peace and economic development in the region. While in its heyday, the Arab boycott had a moderate negative impact on Israel's economy and development, but also had significant negative effect on economic welfare in participating Arab countries, as the result of a deterioration in the foreign direct investment climate in the Arab world, and reduction in the volume of trade. In present days, the boycott is sporadically applied and ambiguously enforced, and therefore, no longer has significant effect on the Israeli or Arab economies. The boycott also negatively impacted other countries— particularly the United States during the Arab Oil Embargo in the 1970s. - 1 History - 1.1 Ad hoc boycott attempts of Jewish businesses in Palestine - 1.2 First Formal Arab League Boycott and Limited Application - 1.3 Establishment of the Secondary Boycott and Uniform Application - 1.4 Further Intensification of the Boycott and International Capitulation to Tertiary Boycotts - 1.5 Height of the Boycott — the Oil Crisis - 1.6 Weakening of the Boycott - 1.7 Contemporary Boycott - 2 Effects of the Boycott - 3 See also - 4 References - 5 External links Ad hoc boycott attempts of Jewish businesses in Palestine Arab boycotts of Jewish interests started as early as 1922, 26 years before the establishment of Israel. The original boycott forswore with any Jewish owned business operating in the British Mandate of Palestine. Palestinian Arabs "who were found to have broken the boycott ... were physically attacked by their brethren and their merchandise damaged" when Palestinian Arabs rioted in Jerusalem in 1929. Another, stricter boycott was imposed on Jewish businesses in following the riots that called on all of the Arabs in the region to abide by its terms. The Arab Executive Committee of the Syrian-Palestinian Congress called for a boycott of Jewish businesses in 1933 and in 1934, the Arab Labor Federation conducted a boycott as well as an organized picketing of Jewish businesses. In 1936, the Palestinian Arab leadership called on another boycott and threatened those who did not respect the boycott with violence, however, this boycott was unsuccessful as Jewish lawyers, physicians, and hospitals were too heavily integrated into Palestinian society. First Formal Arab League Boycott and Limited Application On 2 December 1945, the Arab League issued its first formal declaration of boycott. The declaration urged both Arab United Nations member states and Arab states which had not yet obtained UN membership to prohibit the products and usage of the products of Jewish industry in Palestine, effective January 1, 1946. The declaration, contained in Arab League Resolution 16, stated: Products of Palestinian Jews are to be considered undesirable in Arab countries. They should be prohibited and refused as long as their production in Palestine might lead to the realization of Zionist political aims The Arab League began to create an apparatus for implementing the resolution in February the same year. The first body established for this purpose was the Permanent Boycott Committee, based in Cairo, Egypt. On 12 June the Boycott Committee adopted a recommendation in Arab League Resolution 70, which called upon the Arab states to set up national boycott offices. Later measures adopted by the Committee included requiring those selling goods to Arab states to provide a certificate of origin to prove the goods were not manufactured by Palestinian Jews, the allocation of 50 percent of the value of goods confiscated in this manner to customs officials, the prohibition by Arabs of the use of Jewish banks, insurance companies, contractors, and transport in Palestine. Member states of the Arab League began implementing these resolutions through legal and administrative measures. After the Partition of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states was introduced at the United Nations on 29 November 1947, efforts to apply the boycott were intensified. However, the boycott was unsuccessful, as established in the first annual report of the Boycott Committee, and trade between Palestine (the vast majority by Jews) and Arab States neighboring Palestine continued to thrive. Following the Israeli declaration of independence on 14 May 1948, the Arab League repeated its calls for a ban on all financial and commercial transactions with Palestinian Jews, boycotting the newly formed State of Israel. The Arab League cut off postal, telegraphic, and radio communications with Israel, and Arab States began to impose a land, sea, and air blockade on the fledgling state. Israeli goods, shipped through Alexandria, Port Suez and Port Said, were confiscated by Egyptian inspectors. A prize court established in Alexandria in 1949 authorized the seizure of cargo ships destined for Israel. In 1950, regulations were promulgated to allow the search of ships and aircraft and the seizure of Israeli-bound goods found within. The Permanent Boycott Committee seized to function upon the outbreak of war between Israel and surrounding Arab States on May 15, 1948. Establishment of the Secondary Boycott and Uniform Application The Arab-Israeli war ended on 10 March 1949 with a decisive Israeli victory. On the 6th of February, 1950, King Farouk of Egypt issued a decree under which manifests and cargoes of ships could be searched to ensure that no "war contraband" was present on vessels bound directly or indirectly for Israel. War contraband included arms, munitions, and war material. However, article 10 additionally stipulated that other goods were to be considered "contraband" and were to be treated as war material — ships, chemicals, motor vehicles, money, gold, and fuel of any kind. At the time 90% of Israeli oil was supplied by Iran and imported through the Straits of Tiran. To prevent Iranian oil from entering Israel, Egypt blockaded the Straits of Tiran and the Gulf of Aqaba. Oil tankers proceeding through the Suez Canal were required to submit documentation to guarantee none of their cargo would arrive at an Israeli port. To enforce the policy of denying strategic goods to Israel, the decree authorized the use of force against any ship attempting to avoid search, including live gunfire, to make it submit to inspection. If a ship were to subsequently allow a search and reveal that they were not carrying any "contraband", the ship would be allowed to continue its voyage. However, if the ship resisted a search by force, it would be considered to have violated its neutrality. For this "hostile act", ships were to be seized and their cargo impounded even if they were not found to possess any "contraband". Ships found or suspected to transgress the Egyptian shipping practices delineated in this decree were blacklisted by Egypt and denied free use of the Suez Canal. The decree of February 1950 signaled a shift in the policy of the Arab League. The boycott's immediate purpose had originally been to prevent direct Arab trade with Israel (primary boycott). With this decree the boycott was expanded to the interruption of international trade with Israel (secondary boycott). On 8 April 1950, the Arab League Council embraced this shift, approving a decision by its political committee to the effect that all ships carrying goods or immigrants to Israel were to be blacklisted. In the summer of 1950, the governments of Britain, Norway, and the US lodged a complaint with Egypt about some of their tankers being blacklisted and barred from using the Suez Canal. On 1 September 1951, after ships destined for Eilat had been stopped at the entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba, Israel went to the United Nations, demanding Egypt terminate its restrictions on navigation through international waterways in adherence to the 1949 Armistice and to Security Council resolutions prohibiting further hostilities between the Arab states and Israel. The United Nations Security Council issued a resolution which condemned the Egyptian practice as an "abuse of the exercise of the right of visit, search and seizure." This resolution was ignored by Egypt. On 19 May 1951, the Arab League Council passed Resolution 357. Resolution 357 established a successor to the defunct Permanent Boycott Committee, the Central Boycott Office (CBO), with its headquarters in Damascus. Branch offices of the Damascus CBO were established in each of the Arab League member states. To direct the CBO the resolution created the position of Boycott Commissioner and provided for the appointment of his deputies, who were to function as liaison officers accredited by each member state of the Arab League. The primary task of the Damascus CBO was to coordinate the boycott with its affiliated offices, and to report regularly to Arab League Council. Biannual meetings were to be held each year after 1951 to coordinate boycott policies and to compile blacklists of individuals and firms which had violated the boycott. Each member state of the Arab League would enforce the resolution through legal and administrative measures. Finally, the resolution stipulated that "participation in regional conferences organized on the initiative of one country or by an international organization could not be attended if Israel were also invited", expanding upon its 1950 decree that such a conference would not be organized by an Arab state. Boycotts were almost exclusively applied against specific individuals and firms in third countries, and very rarely against the countries themselves, excluding a few short-lived boycotts of countries in the early 1950s. A plan was made by the Arab League in 1952 to boycott the Federal Republic of Germany after it signed the Reparations Agreement with Israel, which would provide Israel with restitution for the slave labor of Jews during the Holocaust and compensate for losses in Jewish livelihood and property that was stolen due to Nazi persecution and genocide. The Arab League strongly opposed the agreement, but its threats to boycott West Germany were never carried out due to economic considerations—the Arab League would be impacted far more negatively by losing trade with West Germany than vice versa. Similarly, at its second meeting on the boycott in 1953, the Arab League proposed a wide range of restrictions on trade with Cyprus, which had become a hub of illicit Arab-Israeli trade. The restrictions were greatly relaxed due to international criticism of the boycott of an entire state not involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict, but they were not completely eliminated. The boycott of third parties (secondary boycott) originally applied solely to funds and strategic commodities. However, on November 28 of 1953, Egypt increased its disruption of Israeli maritime trade by expanding its list of "contraband" to include "foodstuffs and all other commodities likely to strengthen the potential of the Zionists in Palestine in any way whatsoever." By 1953 the Arab boycott was a well-established feature of international trade relations, and becoming more brazen. In early 1953 the first reports were released about Arab attempts to make American and European airlines boycott Israel by refusing to service Israelis or land in Israel, or at minimum to not invest in Israel. This marked another fundamental shift in boycott policy wherein Arab states would pressure third party states agree to boycott Israel— the tertiary boycott. However, these rudimentary efforts were unsuccessful and the airline boycotts remained isolated to the Arab world. On 11 December 1954 the Arab League Council passed Resolution 849, approving the Unified Law on the Boycott of Israel. The provisions of this resolution, implemented in legislation by most member states over the following year, formalized the application of the boycott in the Arab States uniformly. The resolution contained new recommendations prohibiting Arab entities and individuals from dealing with agencies of persons working for Israel, and with foreign companies and organizations with interests, agencies, or branches in Israel. The export of Arab goods to countries to be re-exported to Israel was criminalized with a penalty of large fines and hard labor. Further Intensification of the Boycott and International Capitulation to Tertiary Boycotts In the mid-1950s boycott activities intensified, and gained a new and highly powerful ally — the Soviet Union. During Israel's early years it was seen by the USSR as a potential ally due to the significant socialist aspirations advocated by its founders and applied in its conception. The Soviet Union was one of the first countries to recognize Israel de jure upon its establishment in 1948. However, as Israel's democratic nature became evident and its ties with Western states were solidified, the Soviet Union would view Israel as an enemy in the West vs. East dichotomy of the Cold War. Instead, the Soviet Union would form an alliance with the revolutionary Arab Regimes, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, and later in the decade Iraq, united in Anti-American and Anti-Israel political objectives. The clout of the Soviet Union gave the boycott new international legitimacy and guaranteed anti-boycott resolutions a veto at the UN Security Council. The tertiary boycott, formerly ignored as an affront to international trade relations, became enforceable through the sheer political and economic power of the USSR. In 1958 Air France capitulated to Arab League demands after being denied of overflight and landing rights in Arab states for eighteen months due to its alleged investment in Israeli development projects. With the success of the first tertiary boycott the Arab League became increasingly demanding of uninvolved states to adhere to its boycott of Israel. In 1958 the boycott was expanded to prohibit all goods exported from a third state identical to goods imported by the state from Israel, including goods produced with Israeli raw materials or components. In the same year, ships visiting an Arab port and an Israeli port within the same trip were blacklisted. Height of the Boycott — the Oil Crisis Weakening of the Boycott A number of companies found loopholes around the boycott and managed to trade with both Israel and the Arab world. Some firms that did business with Arab countries officially complied with the boycott, but in practice subcontracted their trade with Israel to companies already blacklisted by the Arab states, while others did business with Israel through divisions or affiliates whose links to the company were disguised. Others strove to cultivate good personal relationships with Arab leaders, who would allow them to trade with Israel without economic repercussions in their own countries as a favor. Some firms placed on the blacklist managed to lobby or buy their way off it. Israel responded to the boycott by creating its own blacklist of firms that respected the boycott, and circulated them around the world to encourage Jewish-owned businesses to avoid dealing with them. In addition, Israel supporters in some Western countries managed to get anti-boycott laws passed, but they typically went unenforced everywhere except the United States. In 1977 the United States Congress passed a law that President Jimmy Carter signed, which made it a criminal offense to adhere to the boycott and imposed fines on American companies that were found to be complying with it. For the surveillance after the implementation of this law, an office called the "Office of Antiboycott Compliance" was opened in the US Department of Commerce. Despite the fines, there were some American companies (like McDonald's) which preferred to pay the fines and continue boycotting Israel rather than lose their business with the Arab world. Israel also took a series of steps to evade the embargo and clandestinely trade with the Arab world. Front companies in third countries were set up, which imported goods, then re-exported them to Arab countries with false labels and certificates of origin. In other cases, foreign companies would purchase Israeli technology and materials, use them to assemble completed products, and export them to Arab countries while concealing this fact from their customers. Arrangements with American companies were worked out where the American companies would buy goods from Israeli affiliates and export them as American-made goods. Israeli ships were re-flagged as ships of other nations and provided with faked bills of landing so they could directly export goods to the Arab and Muslim world. Greece and Cyprus were particularly popular hubs for smuggling Israeli goods into the Arab world due to their location, multilateral economic connections, large merchant fleets, and Cyprus' corporate and bank secrecy laws. Egypt was the first nation to abandon boycott, doing so in 1980 after signing a peace treaty with Israel the previous year. After more or less consistently adhering to the practice of seizing cargo bound for Israel since 1950, the Straights of Tiran and the Gulf of Aqaba were opened to Israeli trade and Israeli cargo went unmolested for the first time in decades. Afterwards, Egypt became a convenient destination to smuggle Israeli goods into the rest of the Arab world, as Israeli goods could be legally imported into Egypt and relabeled as Egyptian for trade with other Arab countries, although the treaty led to other Arab countries becoming more suspicious of Egyptian products. By the late 1980s, Israel's counter-measures against the boycott were proving a success, and the Boycott Office estimated that between $750 million to $1 billion worth of Israeli goods, or about 10% of Israel's exports at the time, were reaching Arab markets per year. In 1995, a year after it signed a peace treaty with Israel, Jordan lifted its boycott. The Palestinian Authority likewise agreed not to abide by the boycott that same year. In 1994 several of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf abandoned the secondary and tertiary boycotts. The period also saw "low-level diplomatic relations" between Israel and Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, and Qatar. In 1994, following the Oslo Peace Accords, the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) states, ended their participation in the Arab boycott against Israel. The move prompted a surge of investment in Israel, and resulted in the initiation of joint cooperation projects between Israel and Arab countries. In 1996, the GCC states recognized that total elimination of the boycott is a necessary step for peace and economic development in the region. Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia do not enforce the boycott. Mauritania, which never applied the boycott, established diplomatic relations with Israel in 1999. Saudi Arabia had pledged to end its economic boycott as a condition for membership in the World Trade Organization but came back on the promise following its acceptance into the organization in December 11, 2005. As the boycott was relaxed (or rather, not as stringently enforced) starting in the late 1980s and early 1990s, many companies which previously stayed out of the Israeli market had entered it, e.g. McDonald's and Nestlé. In 1985, the ban was lifted on Ford, which had been in place since the company had opened an assembly plant in Israel, and Colgate-Palmolive, although five other companies were added to the blacklist. Toyota began selling cars in Israel in 1991, although it claimed that it had never complied with the boycott, arguing that it did not have the resources to sell cars in the country. At one point the boycott was observed by the entire Arab League. Today, most Arab states, Syria being the exception, no longer attempt to enforce the secondary or tertiary boycotts. Syria, Lebanon, and Iran (though not an Arab state) are the only states which actively enforce the primary boycott. The Central Boycott Office has become obsolete. With the vast majority of Arab states benefiting from trade with Israel, any "boycott" has become symbolic in nature, limited to bureaucratic slights such as passport restrictions. Some countries refuse entry to travelers using an Israeli passport or with any Israeli stamp in their passport. The stamp may be a visa stamp, or a stamp on entry or departure. It can also include a stamp of another country which indicates that the person has entered Israel. For example, if an Egyptian departure stamp is used in any passport at the Taba Crossing, that is an indication that the person entered Israel. Countries with restrictions in place \|Country\|\|Israeli passport\|\|Israeli stamps or any other indication of a connection with Israel\| \|Iran\|\|Admission refused\|\|Admission refused\| \|Iraq\|\|Admission refused\|\|Admission refused\| \|Kuwait\|\|Admission refused\|\|Admission occasionally refused\| \|Lebanon\|\|Admission refused\|\|Admission refused\| \|Libya\|\|Admission refused\|\|Admission refused\| \|Malaysia\|\|Admission refused unless holding a letter of approval from the Ministry of Home Affairs\|\| \|Oman\|\|Admission refused\|\|Admission occasionally refused\| \|\|Admission occasionally refused\| \|Saudi Arabia\|\|Admission refused\|\|Admission refused\| \|Sudan\|\|Admission refused\|\|Admission refused\| \|Syria\|\|Admission refused\|\|Admission refused\| \|United Arab Emirates\|\|Admission refused\|\| \|Yemen\|\|Admission refused\|\|Admission refused\| Effects of the Boycott Although it cannot be estimated to what extent the boycott hurt Israel's economy, the boycott cannot be said to have affected it to the extent the Arabs intended. Israel's economy has performed relatively well since 1948, achieving a higher GDP per capita than that of all Arab countries except for the oil-rich gulf states of Kuwait and Qatar. The boycott nevertheless has undoubtedly harmed Israel to some extent. The Israeli Chamber of Commerce estimates that with the boycott Israeli exports are 10 percent less than they would be without the boycott and investment in Israel likewise 10 percent lower. Arab states suffer economically from the boycott as well. In its report on the cost of conflict in the Middle East, Strategic Foresight Group estimates that Arab states lost an opportunity to export $10 billion worth of goods to Israel between 2000-2010. Moreover, the Arab states of the Persian Gulf and Iran together stand to lose $30 billion as the opportunity cost of not exporting oil to Israel in the second half of the decade. Because of the boycott, certain products which were ubiquitous elsewhere in the world, such as Pepsi, McDonald's and most Japanese cars were not to be found in Israel until the boycott began waning in the late 1980s. A similar situation existed in the Arab world which boycotted the products of companies that were selling in Israel as in the case of Coca-Cola, Ford and Revlon. Despite the boycott, Israeli goods often do make it to Arab markets in boycott countries. The boycott evasion tactic of using a third country as a front to export Israeli goods to the Arab and Muslim world has still been used. In addition, Israeli products are not heavily boycotted in the Palestinian territories and often make it into the larger Arab world through the Palestinians. Foreign reactions to the boycott The United States adopted two anti-boycott laws that seek to counteract the participation of U.S. citizens in other nation's economic boycotts or embargoes (although these laws do not restrict the ability to engage in disinvestment campaigns.) These laws are the 1977 amendments to the Export Administration Act (EAA) and the Ribicoff Amendment to the Tax Reform Act of 1976 (TRA). The antiboycott provisions of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) apply to all "U.S. persons," defined to include individuals and companies located in the United States and their foreign affiliates, and prohibit them to participate in unsanctioned boycotts against other nations, punishable by fines of up to $50,000 or five times the value of the exports involved or jail term of up to 10 years. Conduct that may be penalized under the TRA and/or prohibited under the EAR includes: - Agreements to refuse or actual refusal to do business with or in Israel or with blacklisted companies. - Agreements to discriminate or actual discrimination against other persons based on race, religion, sex, national origin or nationality. - Agreements to furnish or actual furnishing of information about business relationships with or in Israel or with blacklisted companies. - Agreements to furnish or actual furnishing of information about the race, religion, sex, or national origin of another person. Of all the Western countries, only the United Kingdom has not passed legislation against the Arab boycott. Despite this, many companies in Western nations practice some degree of compliance with the boycott. Notable Targets of the Blacklist The following is a list of notable people, corporations, and works which were at any time blacklisted in the Arab world. - Marilyn Monroe, for "pronounced pro-Israeli sympathies" and "help[ing] to collect donations for Israel" (also converted to Judaism) - Elizabeth Taylor, for purchasing Israeli bonds (also converted to Judaism) - Louis Armstrong, for performing in Israel - Edward G. Robinson, for "pronounced pro-Israeli sympathies" and "help[ing] to collect donations for Israel" (also Jewish) - Eartha Kitt, for "pronounced pro-Israeli sympathies" and "help[ing] to collect donations for Israel" - Frank Sinatra, due to his pro-Jewish and pro-Israel activism - Harry Belafonte - Helen Hayes - Kirk Douglas - Jerry Lewis - Paul Newman - Sophia Loren - Phil Silvers - Hill, Amelia. "Steven Spielberg was target of Arab League boycott, WikiLeaks cable shows." guardian.co.uk. 17 December 2010. 12 July 2011. - Turck, Nancy (April 1977). "The Arab Boycott of Israel". Foreign Affairs (Council on Foreign Relations) 55 (3): 472–493. doi:10.2307/20039682. JSTOR 20039682. - Horowitz, Irving Louis (2011). Culture and Civilization: Volume 2: Beyond Positivism and Historicism. Transaction Publishers. p. 91. - This article incorporates public domain material from the Congressional Research Service document "Arab League Boycott of Israel.". - Joyce Shems Sharon. The Arab Boycott Against Israel and Its Unintended Impact on Arab Economic Walfare. May 2003. - Feiler, Gil. "Arab Boycott." The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East. Ed. Avraham Sela. New York: Continuum, 2002. pp. 54-57 - Feiler, Gil. "From boycott to economic cooperation ...." Google Books. 2 September 2009. - The 1967 Arab-Israeli War: Origins and Consequences - The Canadian Yearbook of International Law, Vol. 30 ..., Volume 30; Volume 1992 - India's Israel Policy - [1952:Germany to Pay Reparations : IN OUR PAGES:100, 75 AND 50 YEARS AGO http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/12/opinion/12iht-edold_ed3__26.html] - Naylor, R. T.: Economic Warfare: Sanctions, Embargo Busting, and Their Human Cost - Freund, Michael. "Congress to Saudis: End Israel Boycott". Jerusalem Post. April 6, 2006; 22:08. Retrieved January 28, 2015. - Arabs End Boycott of 2 U.S. Firms but Blacklist 5 Others, Los Angeles Times, July 19, 1985 - Toyota to Sell Cars in Israel, Officials Say, The New York Times, April 11, 1991 - "Visa Information for Algeria: Holders of Normal Passports from Israel". Timatic. International Air Transport Association (IATA). - "Visa Information for Bangladesh: Holders of Normal Passports from Israel". Timatic. International Air Transport Association (IATA). - "Visa Information for Brunei Darussalam: Holders of Normal Passports from Israel". Timatic. International Air Transport Association (IATA). - "Visa Information for Djibouti: Holders of Normal Passports from Israel". Timatic. International Air Transport Association (IATA). - "Visa Information for Iraq: Holders of Normal Passports from Israel". Timatic. International Air Transport Association (IATA). - "Visa Information for Kuwait: Holders of Normal Passports from Israel". Timatic. International Air Transport Association (IATA). - "Visa Information for Lebanon: Holders of Normal Passports from Israel". Timatic. International Air Transport Association (IATA). - "Visa Information for Libyan Arab Jamahiriya: Holders of Normal Passports from Israel". Timatic. International Air Transport Association (IATA). - "Visa Information for Malaysia: Holders of Normal Passports from Israel". Timatic. International Air Transport Association (IATA). - "Visa Information for Oman: Holders of Normal Passports from Israel". Timatic. International Air Transport Association (IATA). - "Visa Information for Pakistan: Holders of Normal Passports from Israel". Timatic. International Air Transport Association (IATA). - "Visa Information for Saudi Arabia: Holders of Normal Passports from Israel". Timatic. International Air Transport Association (IATA). - "Visa Information for Sudan: Holders of Normal Passports from Israel". Timatic. International Air Transport Association (IATA). - "Visa Information for Syrian Arab Republic: Holders of Normal Passports from Israel". Timatic. International Air Transport Association (IATA). - "Visa Information for United Arab Emirates: Holders of Normal Passports from Israel". Timatic. International Air Transport Association (IATA). - "Visa Information for Yemen: Holders of Normal Passports from Israel". Timatic. International Air Transport Association (IATA). - Cost of Conflict in the Middle East report by Strategic Foresight Group, January 2009 - 'Foreign Firms Yielding To Arab Boycott Of Israel', The Milwaukee Journal - February 24, 1975 - Bracewell & Giuliani LLP (19 December 2011). "Boycotts and Business in the Middle East: A Reminder of U.S. Anti-Boycott Laws". The National Law Review. Retrieved 31 January 2012. - "Office of Antiboycott Compliance". U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security. - Impact of U.S. Policy on the Arab League Boycott of Israel by Adam B. Cordover - Office of Antiboycott Compliance at the United States Department of Commerce - The Arab Boycott at JVL
What Is Spinal Cord Injury? What is spinal cord injury? A spinal cord injury involves damage to any part of the spinal cord or the nerves at the end of the spinal canal. The spinal column consists of stacked bones called vertebrae. The vertebrae house the spinal cord. These nerves carry communication signals between the brain and the rest of the body. When damage occurs to a part of the spinal cord or nerves at the bottom of the spinal canal, it is considered a spinal cord injury. The spinal cord is responsible for many things including, but not limited to, transmitting pain and other sensory signals, allowing for movement (both voluntary and involuntary), and communicating with organs and organ systems. Spinal cord injury severity is divided into two categories: complete and incomplete. A complete spinal cord injury means that all ability to control movement is lost below the spinal cord injury location. An incomplete spinal cord injury means that some motor or sensory function exists below the injury. Levels of severity Levels of severity include quadriplegia and paraplegia. Quadriplegia, also known as tetraplegia, refers to any spinal cord injury above the first thoracic vertebra (T1) or any of the cervical vertebrae (C1- C8) and generally results in the paralysis of all four limbs, the trunk, and pelvic organs. Paraplegia refers to any spinal cord injury below the first thoracic vertebra (T1) and generally results in the paralysis of the lower limbs, pelvic organs, and all or part of the trunk. Injuries closer to the neck typically cause paralysis in larger areas of the body than injuries closer to the lower back area. Most individuals with spinal cord injuries require devices such as walkers or wheelchairs to assist with limited mobility. Unfortunately, some individuals are completely paralyzed and require constant care. As a result of the loss of mobility, bed sores and urinary tract infections are common among those dealing with spinal cord injuries. The specific symptoms associated with a spinal cord injury depend on the type and location of the injury (incomplete vs. complete). Symptoms of spinal cord injuries include, but are not limited to, the following: - Loss of ability to control limbs - Loss of ability to feel touch or temperature in the affected area - Difficulty walking - Extreme headaches - Loss of bowel or bladder control - Muscle spasms - Signs of shock - Pain or stinging sensation in the spinal cord - Difficulty breathing and difficulty coughing - Changes in sexual function - Unnatural head position Spinal cord injuries often affect how the body functions overall. Permanent changes in bodily strength, sensation, and function, as well as, emotional and mental challenges may develop from a spinal cord injury. Affected areas may include the bladder, bowels, skin, circulatory system, and respiratory system. Muscle tone, overall fitness and wellness, sexual function, and pain tolerance may also be affected. Damage to the spinal cord can be caused by a traumatic injury, spinal compression, inflammation, infection, bleeding, or spinal arthritis. Other causes of spinal cord injuries include, but are not limited to, falls, spina bifida, polio, automobile or industrial accidents, diving accidents, sports injuries, arthritis, physical assaults (including gunshot or knife wounds), and cancer. Several factors increase the risk of a spinal cord injury. Men account for 80% of those who sustain spinal cord injuries. Individuals between the ages of 16 and 30 are at increased risk as are the elderly. Unquestionably, engaging in high-risk activities, such as diving into shallow water, playing contact sports, or driving recklessly increases the risk of spinal cord injury. Pre-existing conditions, such as arthritis or osteoporosis, also heighten the risk of spinal cord injury. Individuals should call 911 or seek emergency treatment if they experience sudden, extreme pain or pressure in the neck, head or back; paralysis in any part of the body; loss of sensation in the hands, fingers, feet, or toes; loss of bladder or bowel control; difficulty walking or sudden balance issues; impaired breathing; or a twisted neck or back. No one should attempt to move someone who is suspected of having a spinal cord injury. Call 911 and follow the directions that are provided.
Sites - Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) email a friend Serengeti National Park 34o 50.00' East 2o 25.00' South A1, A2, A3, A4i, A4iii 1,200 - 2,177m Year of IBA assessment Site description Lying between Lake Victoria to the west and the Eastern Rift Valley, this famous National Park is part of the East African central plateau. The park is bordered to the north by the Masai Mara Reserve (IBA KE050), to the north-west by the Ikorongo Game Reserve. To the south-west the Serengeti borders the extensive Maswa Game Reserve (TZ015) and to the east Ngorongoro Conservation Area (TZ013). Land sloping westward from Ngorongoro is primarily short-grass plains. This habitat gives way to long-grass plains and various forms of wooded and bushed grassland to the west and north, dominated by Acacia thorn-trees. There are extensive thickets of Acacia drepanolobium in the south-west and rich riverine forest along the Grumeti river. Rock kopjes are a feature of the open grassland and rocky hills form ridges in central and western areas. There are few wetlands, but there are many small seasonal rain-fed pools. The park drains westward towards Lake Victoria, the main rivers being the Mbalageti and Grumeti while the larger Mara river passes through the northern section close to the Kenyan border. Key Biodiversity See Box and Tables 2 and 3 for key species. Estimates of the number of species recorded from the park vary from 458 (Sinclair and Arcese 1995) to 505 (Schmidl 1982). A further 18 species were added to Schmidl’s list in 1990 of which two, Glareola nordmanni and Apalis karamojae, are of global conservation concern. Ardeola idae is a regular visitor in low numbers. The status of Circus macrourus is unclear as there are few dated records, although it has been described as locally common. Gallinago media has been recorded in November and December around rain-fed pools. There is a single record of Hirundo atrocaerulea from 1994.A remarkable feature of the avifauna is that three Tanzanian endemics occur in substantial numbers yet none has so far been recorded across the Kenya border in the Masai Mara. Two of these, Francolinus rufopictus and Histurgops ruficauda, are not considered globally threatened. Agapornis fischeri is locally common in mature Acacia woodland, a habitat in which Parus fringillinus is also frequent. Flocks of Prionops poliolophus have been noted from Acacia robusta woodland along the Duma river and the lower slopes of the Varichoro Hills. Apalis karamojae occurs in habitat where Acacia drepanolobium is well represented. Phoenicopterus minor are regular visitors to Lake Lagarja, but numbers fluctuate widely depending on water and salinity levels in other Rift Valley lakes as well as in Lagarja. Seasonal pools are important breeding sites for species such as Recurvirostra avosetta and Himantopus himantopus. The park is an important feeding area for Gyps rueppellii. Non-bird biodiversity: The Serengeti ecosystem holds the largest remaining concentration of large mammals in the world, more than 2.5 million animals. The remaining six individuals of Diceros bicornis (CR) are seriously threatened. There are relatively small populations of Loxodonta africana (EN) and a few Lycaon pictus (EN) may still occur. Panthera leo (VU) and Acinonyx jubatus (VU) are found in reasonable numbers.
Temporal range: Late Permian–Early Cretaceous Descendant group Mammalia survives to the present \|Fossil of Belesodon magnificus in the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart\| The cynodonts ("dog teeth"), in the clade Cynodontia, are therapsids that first appeared in the Late Permian (approximately 260 Ma). The group includes modern mammals (including humans) as well as their extinct ancestors and close relatives. Nonmammalian cynodonts spread throughout southern Gondwana and are represented by fossils from South America, Africa, India, and Antarctica. In the northern continents, fossils have been found in eastern North America as well as in Belgium and northwestern France. Cynodontia is one of the most diverse groups of therapsids. Richard Owen named Cynodontia in 1861, which he assigned to Anomodontia as a family. Robert Broom (1913) reranked Cynodonia as an infraorder, since retained by others, including Colbert and Kitching (1977), Carroll (1988), Gauthier et al. (1989), and Rubidge and Cristian Sidor (2001). Olson (1966) assigned Cynodontia to Theriodonta, Colbert and Kitching (1977) to Theriodontia, and Rubridge and Sidor (2001) to Eutheriodontia. William King Gregory (1910), Broom (1913), Carroll (1988), Gauthier et al. (1989), Hopson and Kitching (2001) and Botha et al. (2007) all considered Cynodontia as belonging to Therapsida. Botha et al. (2007) seems to have followed Owen (1861), but without specifying taxonomic rank. \|This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2010)\| The oldest and the most basal cynodont yet found is Charassognathus (Late Permian). Other basal cynodonts were the procynosuchids, a family that includes Procynosuchus and Dvinia. Cynodonts were among the few groups of synapsids that survived the Permian–Triassic extinction event and had a slow recovery after the extinction. The most derived cynodonts are found within the clade Eucynodontia, which also contains the members of Mammalia. Representative genera of nonmammalian cynodonts include the large carnivorous cynognathids, the equally large herbivorous traversodonts, and the small mammal-like tritylodontids and ictidosaurs. The presence of respiratory turbinates suggests a rapid metabolism and possibly endothermy. During their evolution, the number of cynodont jaw bones reduced. This move towards a single bone for the mandible paved the way for other bones in the jaw, the articular and angular, to migrate to the cranium, where they function as parts of the mammalian hearing system. Cynodonts also developed a secondary palate in the roof of the mouth. This caused air flow from the nostrils to travel to a position in the back of the mouth instead of directly through it, allowing cynodonts to chew and breathe at the same time. This characteristic is present in all mammals. Early cynodonts have many of the skeletal characteristics of mammals. The teeth were fully differentiated and the braincase bulged at the back of the head. Outside of some crown-group mammals (notably the therians), all cynodonts probably laid eggs. The temporal fenestrae were much larger than those of their ancestors, and the widening of the zygomatic arch in a more mammal-like skull would have allowed for more robust jaw musculature. They also have the secondary palate that other primitive therapsids lacked, except the therocephalians, who were the closest relatives of cynodonts. The dentary was the largest bone in their lower jaw. The cynodonts probably had some form of warm-blooded metabolism. This has led to many reconstructions of cynodonts as having fur. Most, however, were fairly large animals and lived in balmy climates, making fur less necessary. Smaller cynodonts, like Thrinaxodon and the increasingly smaller and more mammal-like groups, may have needed it for thermoregulation, but fossil evidence of their fur (or lack thereof) has been elusive. Modern mammals have Harderian glands secreting lipids to coat their fur, but the telltale imprint of this structure is only found from the primitive mammal Morganucodon and onwards. Marks in the upper and lower jaw of cynodonts has been interpreted as channels that supplied blood vessels and nerves to whiskers. Whiskers may have been typical of cynodontia as a whole, or have evolved in this group. - Classification of R. Owen 1861. - Classification of B. S. Rubidge and C. A. Sidor 2001 - R. Broom. 1913. A revision of the reptiles of the Karroo. Annals of the South African Museum 7(6):361-366 - S. H. Haughton and A. S. Brink. 1954. A bibliographical list of Reptilia from the Karroo Beds of South Africa. Palaeontologia Africana 2:1-187 - Ruben, J.A.; Jones, T.D. (2000). "Selective Factors Associated with the Origin of Fur and Feathers" (PDF). Amer. Zool. 40 (4): 585–596. doi:10.1093/icb/40.4.585. - Brink, A.S. (1955). "A study on the skeleton of Diademodon". Palaeontologia Africana 3: 3–39. - Kemp, T.S. (1982). Mammal-like reptiles and the origin of mammals. London: Academic Press. p. 363. ISBN 0-12-404120-5. - Ruta, M.; Botha-Brink, J.; Mitchell, S. A.; Benton, M. J. (2013). "The radiation of cynodonts and the ground plan of mammalian morphological diversity". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 280 (1769): 20131865. doi:10.1098/rspb.2013.1865. - Hopson, J.A.; Kitching, J.W. (2001). "A probainognathian cynodont from South Africa and the phylogeny of non-mammalian cynodonts". Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. 156: 5–35. - Davis, Dwight (1961). "Origin of the Mammalian Feeding Mechanism". Am. Zoologist, 1:229-234. - Palaeos cynodonts - Phylogeny of Theriodonts and Cynodonts - Bennett and Ruben 1986. The Metabolic and Thermoregulatory Status of Therapsids - BBC cynodonts
An exudate is a fluid emitted by an organism through pores or a wound, a process known as exuding. Exudate is derived from exude, "to ooze," from the Latin exsūdāre, "to (ooze) out like sweat" (ex- "out" and sūdāre "to sweat"). An exudate is any fluid that filters from the circulatory system into lesions or areas of inflammation. It can be a pus-like or clear fluid. When an injury occurs, leaving skin exposed, it leaks out of the blood vessels and into nearby tissues. The fluid is composed of serum, fibrin, and white blood cells. Exudate may ooze from cuts or from areas of infection or inflammation. - Purulent or suppurative exudate consists of plasma with both active and dead neutrophils, fibrinogen, and necrotic parenchymal cells. This kind of exudate is consistent with more severe infections, and is commonly referred to as pus. - Fibrinous exudate is composed mainly of fibrinogen and fibrin. It is characteristic of rheumatic carditis, but is seen in all severe injuries such as strep throat and bacterial pneumonia. Fibrinous inflammation is often difficult to resolve due to blood vessels growing into the exudate and filling space that was occupied by fibrin. Often, large amounts of antibiotics are necessary for resolution. - Catarrhal exudate is seen in the nose and throat and is characterized by a high content of mucus. - Serous exudate (sometimes classified as serous transudate) is usually seen in mild inflammation, with relatively low protein. Its consistency resembles that of serum, and can usually be seen in certain disease states like tuberculosis. (See below for difference between transudate and exudate) - Malignant (or cancerous) pleural effusion is effusion where cancer cells are present. It is usually classified as exudate. Exudates vs. transudates \|Transudate vs. exudate\| \|Main causes\|\|↑ hydrostatic \|Inflammation-Increased Vascular Permeability\| \|Specific gravity\|\|< 1.012\|\|> 1.020\| \|Protein content\|\|< 2.5 g/dL\|\|> 2.9 g/dL\| \|< 0.5\|\|> 0.5\| \|SAAG = Serum [albumin] - Effusion [albumin]\|\|> 1.2 g/dL\|\|< 1.2 g/dL\| upper limit for serum \|< 0.6 or < 2⁄3\|\|> 0.6 or > 2⁄3\| \|Cholesterol content\|\|< 45 mg/dL\|\|> 45 mg/dL\| There is an important distinction between transudates and exudates. Transudates are caused by disturbances of hydrostatic or colloid osmotic pressure, not by inflammation. They have a low protein content in comparison to exudates. Medical distinction between transudates and exudates is through the measurement of the specific gravity of extracted fluid. Specific gravity is used to measure the protein content of the fluid. The higher the specific gravity, the greater the likelihood of capillary permeability changes in relation to body cavities. For example, the specific gravity of the transudate is usually less than 1.012 and a protein content of less than 2 g/100 mL (2 g%). Rivalta test may be used to differentiate an exudate from a transudate. It is not clear if there is a distinction in the difference of transudates and exudates in plants. Plant exudates include saps, gums, latex, resin, and sometimes nectar is considered an exudate. Plant roots exude a variety of molecules into the rhizosphere, including acids, sugars, polysaccharides and ectoenzymes; this can account for 40% of root carbon. Exudation of these compounds has various benefits to the plant and to the microorganisms of the rhizosphere. - "exudate". The Free Dictionary - Medical. Retrieved 5 August 2014. - ""Exuded" Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary". Meriam Webster. 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-04. - Robert K. Barnhart, ed. (1988). Chambers Dictionary of Etymology. New York: Chambers Harrap Publishers. p. 363. ISBN 0-550-14230-4. - "Exudate". MedlinePlus. - Robbins Basic Pathology 7th ed - About.com > Malignant Pleural Effusion By Lynne Eldridge MD. Updated March 27, 2010 - The University of Utah • Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library > WebPath images > "Inflammation". - Heffner J, Brown L, Barbieri C (1997). "Diagnostic value of tests that discriminate between exudative and transudative pleural effusions. Primary Study Investigators". Chest 111 (4): 970–80. doi:10.1378/chest.111.4.970. PMID 9106577. - Light R, Macgregor M, Luchsinger P, Ball W (1972). "Pleural effusions: the diagnostic separation of transudates and exudates". Ann Intern Med 77 (4): 507–13. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-77-4-507. PMID 4642731. - Roth BJ, O'Meara TF, Gragun WH (1990). "The serum-effusion albumin gradient in the evaluation of pleural effusions". Chest 98 (3): 546–9. doi:10.1378/chest.98.3.546. PMID 2152757. - Power, Michael L. (2010). Anne M. Burrows, Leanne T. Nash, ed. The Evolution of Exudativory in Primates / Nutritional and Digestive Challenges to Being a Gum-feeding Primate. Springer. p. 28. Retrieved 2 October 2012. - Marschner, Horst (1995). Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants. ISBN 0124735436. - Walker, T. S.; Bais, H. P.; Grotewold, E.; Vivanco, J. M. (2003). "Root Exudation and Rhizosphere Biology". Plant Physiology 132 (1): 44–51. doi:10.1104/pp.102.019661. PMC 1540314. PMID 12746510.
Australia's National Dictionary, the third edition of the best-selling Macquarie School Dictionary provides students with a fully updated, authoritative and user-friendly guide to language in both its traditional and contemporary usage. Entries have been especially selected from the Macquarie Dictionary database to meet the needs of students in the secondary school years. This new edition features: • More than 19,000 colour headwords and over 32,000 definitions • Over 1,000 new entries including headwords such as vodcasting, webzine, helicopter parenting and chick lit • Fully integrated thesaurus entries for almost 5,000 definitions • Screened panels with notes on grammar and language conventions • A simple re-spelling pronunciation system • Appendices on spelling and other useful language references Get your BONUS Macquarie Compact Speller with every Macquarie School Dictionary! Series: Macquarie Series Audience: Primary / High School Format: Single Pack of 1 or more items Published: 12th August 2010 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Australia Edition Number: 3
Printable Resources for Teachers Click on the green button to download a printable version of a scavenger hunt related to the museum's exhibits. Five questions focus on the the Humboldt County History wing of the museum, and five questions focus on the Native American wing. Recommend Grades: 3 - 5th grade Color Your Way through the Clarke This 31 page coloring book was created in 1988, but much of the material is still up to date. It is a great activity to get kids excited for visiting the museum. Feel free to print pages that interest you - or the whole thing! Recommended Grades: K - 4th grade Teacher Tour Packet This is a copy of the Clarke Museum information packet that we send to teachers after they schedule a school tour. Open Wednesday - Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eureka Arts Alive 1st Saturday of the Month 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. 240 E Street Eureka, California 95501
The fuel cell project is expected to lower the CO2 emissions of an Equinix data center to almost zero. The global interconnection and data center, Equinix Inc., along with Bloom Energy, have announced a 1 megawatt (MW) biogas fuel cells project at Equinix’s Silicon Valley data center, which will support its SV5 facility, and is expected to not only decrease the data center’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to nearly zero, but will also provide approximately 8.3 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of clean and reliable energy to power a portion of the data center, annually. The fuel cells utilize biogas instead of natural gas. Although natural gas is considered to be a clean fuel option, the bottom line is that it remains a fossil fuel. In other words, there are cleaner alternative fuel options, such as biogas, which has been used in this particular project. Bloom Energy’s biogas fuel cells use a propriety solid oxide technology. Via this technology, the cells produce electricity through a clean electrochemical process using air and fuel. The resulting byproducts of this process include only water and a tiny amount of carbon dioxide, reported Data Center Knowledge. In addition to clean energy production, the installation of these fuel cells is clean, too. They are installed without combustion, preventing a minimum of 1.6 million pounds of CO2 emissions from being added to the California grid prior to the biogas even being used. Additionally, due to avoiding 1 MW worth of demand at a local coal-fired or gas plant, indirect water savings is another benefit. The biogas fuel cells project is Equinix’s first step toward its 100% clean and renewable energy goal. Equinix Chief Global Operations Officer Sam Kapoor said that “This project demonstrates Equinix’s commitment to find cost-effective ways to reduce our carbon footprint and move toward 100 percent renewable energy.” Kapoor added that “By working with Bloom Energy to purchase 100 percent biogas and fuel cells, we’re able to support the energy needs of our customers in an environmentally responsible way.” Equinix is working toward its goal to provide all of its data centers with 100% renewable and clean energy. At present, the company attains an estimated 30% of its energy from clean renewables. In addition to the biogas fuel cells, these renewable sources include solar, fuel cells, carbon offsets, renewable energy credits, utility programs, and power purchase agreements.
NASA's shoals may be key to sea life PORT CANAVERAL –Eric Reyier surgically inserts a pen cap-sized transmitter underneath the shark's tough, white underbelly, sews the incision shut and sets the apex predator free. The "pings" the transmitter emits will soon show where the shark roams, then Reyier and fellow researchers can ponder why. "Every fish does something different," said Reyier, a fisheries biologist for InoMedic Health Applications Environmental Services, a consultant to NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Reyier has been tagging sharks and other sportfish since 2008, as part of an ongoing effort that now includes more than 90 researchers from Florida to Maine. They launched this recent day from Port Canaveral, to tag sharks, red drum and whatever other fish of interest they could hook. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is funding their research to discover how dredging sand off Cape Canaveral for beach renourishment might impact commercially and recreationally important fish. The federal agency wants to know how a variety of wildlife — invertebrates to large fish — use offshore sand shoals and how the ecological functions of those shoals might change after dredging. NASA's Kennedy Space Center funds similar monitoring of managed fish species Reyier and his colleagues do within KSC's boundaries. The information they're gathering could help to streamline permitting and to identify important spawning, schooling and other critical habitats. But they're also compiling more concrete evidence of the Indian River Lagoon's ecological importance to fisheries all the way up the United States East Coast. Last year, two black drum fish they netted in the lagoon and tagged with transmitters "pinged" in Chesapeake Bay, and one was later detected as far north as New Jersey — the longest migration ever documented for the species. The transmitters emit high-frequency pings picked up by an array of several hundred acoustic monitoring receivers spread along the ocean floor. The researchers cut small incisions in the fishes' bellies to insert transmitters, about the size of pen cap for small fish and transmitters about the size of a AA battery for larger fish. This day, aboard the 25-foot boat named Megalops Atlanticus (scientific name for tarpon), they go long-line fishing about a mile offshore of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Steel launch towers where Delta and Atlas rockets blast off interrupt an otherwise flat, remote landscape along the shore. Several Portuguese man o' war — vicious stingers that resemble floating blue-tinted plastic bags — bobble on the surface of greenish, cloudy water about 20 feet deep. Megalops Atlanticus sways side-to-side in the rough seas as the researchers carefully handle many things sharp. They bait hooks, cut incisions with scalpels to insert transmitters, stitch up the incisions with a needle and handle weary but ornery sharks with razor-sharp jaws. Douglas Scheidt, KSC's lead aquatic biologist, hands Reyier circle hooks he baits with the heads, tails and torsos of menhaden and spots. Reyier slides the 80 hooks, one at a time, down the 2,000-foot line. They set the line in a loop, marked with a floating red buoy. They wait about 45 minutes. Wearing blue and gray gloves, Reyier begins to guide the line in with his hands. Hook after hook comes up either untouched, or with the bait torn up. Scheidt removes whatever remains on the hooks. Just as this line seems a bust, a large dorsal fin breaks the ocean's surface. "That's a biiiiiiig blacktip," Reyier says, dragging out the "i" in "big." Sharks like this — ones longer than 5 feet — they tag in the water alongside the boat but don't bring on board to install a transmitter. They're more interested in where the younger sharks are going. After hauling up and tagging several more small sharks, Reyier feels a familiar tug on the line. It feels like what they really relish as researchers. "It's a puller," Reyier says as he tugs in the line. "It must be a red drum then," says Russell Lowers, a wildlife ecologist with InoMedic, as he steers the boat. Reyier pulls the 4-foot-long red drum aboard. They set the fish upside down on a piece of wood in a plastic bin of sea water. Reyier surgically implants the transmitter, sews up the wound, and Scheidt lowers the fish in a net, releasing it over the side of the boat. After a brief, exhausted pause along the surface, the fish vanishes back to the deep. The researchers' fish tracking taps a collaboration called the Florida Acoustic Cooperative Telemetry (FACT), an offset of the larger Atlantic Cooperative Telemetry (ACT) Network. ACT spawned during an Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission in 2006. Now more than 90 researchers from Florida to Maine track more than 70 species and have deployed more than 9,000 transmitters in the past decade. Monitoring receivers detect the high-frequency "pings" when the fish swim within about 550 yards of the receivers. Through the FACT array, the researchers can detect a variety of fish and sea turtles tagged by other researchers up and down the U.S. coast. They've detected more than 20 species to date, released as far away as New York, Connecticut, Delaware and Massachusetts, Reyier says. The researchers must fetch the receivers periodically to download the recorded data. They attach shallow-water receivers in the lagoon to floats and pull up onto a boat. For the nearshore receivers, they SCUBA dive, bring a new receiver down, bring the old receiver up, then download the data onto a laptop. On this venture, they'd ultimately catch seven sharks on the line, including blacktip, blacknose and a bonnetthead — and the one red drum. Soon, their pings will reveal their paths. "Every species sort of has its own story," Reyier said. Contact Waymer at 321-242-3663 or firstname.lastname@example.org. Follow him on Twitter @JWayEnviro Studying fish off of Cape Canaveral To date, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has funded the Navy (and a NASA contractor) $647,500 and the University of Florida $2.5 million to study the structure and function of the shoals off Cape Canaveral. A portion of this funding came from Hurricane Sandy Appropriations with continued funding from the BOEM Environmental Studies Program. Source: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Page 2 of The Mythic Roots of Western Culture’s Alienation from Nature. Adams and Belasco. Tapestry Institute Occasional Papers, Volume 1, Number 3. July, 2015. Outline / List of Headings available here. Two Views of Nature and Four Motifs of Human-Nature Relationship in Popular Western Culture Images and narratives from popular culture provide a place to start our exploration of how and why Western culture sees nature the way it does. Two very different and diametrically opposed views of nature exist. Nature is seen as either an Idyllic environment in which animals live in joyous harmony, or as a Ruthless environment in which animals experience an endless, bloody struggle for basic survival. The first view is generally perceived as naïve and childish, whereas the second view is often considered more adult and realistic. These two views generate four different motifs of human-nature relationship. In the Idyllic view of nature, there are two motifs of human-nature relationship. In the Animals Only/Pristine Wilderness* motif, humans are excluded from nature for the good of nature itself. When the animals in Bambi warn one another “Man is in the Forest,” it signals impending violence and death. This motif is expressed even more strongly in Felix Salten’s original novel than in the Disney film; a deer who makes friends with humans and insists positive relationship with them is possible pays a terrible price for that view. Crucial aspects of policy development for wilderness areas and parks are often based on the Animals Only/Pristine Wilderness motif and its assumption that human presence is always destructive to nature and must therefore be tightly regulated or even prohibited. The focus of public concern is generally not on the entire natural habitat, however, but on the animals in particular. So, for example, when a massive wildfire burns in a forest where no humans live, news feeds typically feature stories of animals that have been burned, killed, or displaced by the fire rather than on plants, “less cute” animals such as insects, or soil microorganisms. (That’s why we’ve chosen the name “Animals Only,” as prohibitions against plant-human or fungus-human interactions, to name two other possibilities, seem to fall only under a “Pristine Wilderness” point of view.) The “Animals Only” motif of human-nature relationship also generates the viewpoint that humans should not interact with any animals, even as pets. The Animals Only/Pristine Wilderness motif generates conflict between Indigenous peoples and the dominant culture when lands that provide traditional and sacred wild foods are set aside as reserves in which no hunting or fishing are permitted. In the other motif of human-nature relationship based on the view of nature as Idyllic, humans and animals are Best Friends and have the magical ability to communicate with one another. In Disney films such as Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, birds and small mammals help their human friend by doing her chores, giving her gifts, and tying ribbons in her hair. Visitors to wilderness areas and national parks sometimes act out the Best Friends motif of human-nature relationship by feeding or trying to pet wild animals such as buffalo and bears, frequently suffering serious injury or death in the process. The Best Friends motif can also impact cross-cultural communication between Indigenous and non-Indigenous persons because people of the dominant culture sometimes think Native people relate to animals in a “Disney princess” way, communicating with animals via “supernatural” or “extra-natural” means and experiencing magical events as a result. The alternative view of nature as Ruthless often makes people feel afraid. It’s present in many fairy tales and can be seen in the image of Red Riding Hood walking with great trepidation into the forest in the image to the left. Some anthropologists and biologists see this Fear motif as simply an expression of evolutionary reality: humans instinctively know they are prey and fear predators as a result. In the Fear motif, it’s best for humans to stay out of nature, as it is in the Animals Only motif of the Idyllic view of nature — but this time for the human’s good rather than for the benefit of nature. This type of relationship is seen as a natural consequence of human evolutionary and ecological identity. A completely opposite type of human-nature relationship in Ruthless nature view is also said to be an expression of human evolutionary and ecological identity. The Master motif views humans as “top predator,” as popularized by Desmond Morris (13). The Master motif focuses on technology, including tools and tool use, as the key to human-nature relationship, and it extrapolates from actual predators to physical elements of nature such as storms, volcanoes, and drought. So while a movie such as Jaws depicts an actual predator, physical elements of nature also play predatory roles in popular films and stories such as Twister. In that film, a tornado apparently stalks and ambushes the scientist Heroes at the movie’s climax, for example, and a funnel literally growls in several scenes (such as the one below, 14). Movies such as Jaws and Twister usually move characters through a story arc from the Fear motif to the Master motif during the course of the story, with the human Heroes surviving battles with Ruthless nature to win in the end. (Click the movie poster below to play a scene from Twister. Listen for the tornado’s predatory-animal type of growl at the end of the clip. Please report problems playing the video file.) The Fear and Master motifs are particularly prominent in the use of science and technology to protect human lives and livelihood from physical natural hazards. Wildfires that impact humans when the human/nature barrier “breaks down” are frequently approached within this worldview, for instance, with science developing fire retardants that can stop wildland burning. At the other end of the scale, widespread periodic flooding along the rivers of the Tennessee Valley was “mastered” by dams built during the 1930’s Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) project. The Fear motif was present in the public’s dread of recurrent flooding that threatened homes and lives, and the subsequent outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases that often followed. The rivers and mosquitos, plus the diseases the mosquitoes spread, were seen in a Ruthless view of nature. The solution was to switch from a Fear to a Master motif (both still within a view of nature as Ruthless). Mastery of nature was accomplished through the use of human tools and technological know-how to engineer and build dams that controlled floods, restricted mosquito breeding grounds, and even provided hydroelectric power from the waters of the mastered rivers (15). It’s important to realize there are Western views of nature and of the human-nature relationship that are not represented by these motifs or the views of nature that engender them. Transcendentalism, for instance, was (and is) a complex philosophy that doesn’t fit easily into any of the views we’ve identified in these popular culture motifs. That’s all right because we are not attempting to categorize all of Western culture’s ideas about nature and the human-nature relationship in this paper. Instead, our goal is to use major human-nature relationship motifs of popular culture as a key that will allow us to discover the larger cultural Mythic story about nature that informs these images — and therefore the hearts, minds, and actions of many people in the dominant culture. The four motifs of human-nature relationship we’ve seen in Western culture’s two main views of nature do not, by themselves, tell us why people of the dominant culture think the world is the way they see it. Because the Idyllic and Ruthless views of nature are mutually exclusive, if we take them at face value the best they can do is point to the existence of two completely separate views of nature in Western culture. That would leave us trying to understand how and why two such diametrically opposed views came to be distributed through various subpopulations of the dominant culture. It makes far more sense to see these dichotomous views of nature as binaries: subsets or parts of a single whole that’s less readily visible. That less-visible whole in this case would be a major cultural myth. References, Notes, and Credits Two Views of Nature and Four Motifs of Human-Nature Relationship *Note added July 2021: The original designation “Animals Only” motif is hereby broadened to include the term “Pristine Wilderness” as well. This permits the entire range of the view that excludes humans from nature — for nature’s own benefit — to be more readily apparent. Figure 1 does not include “Pristine Wilderness” in its illustration, however. This is an artifact of having added the additional term six years after initial publication of the model presented on this page. 9. Bambi. 1942. Walt Disney Productions. James Algar et al, Directors. Felix Salten, Perce Pearce, Larry Morey et al, Writers. Images on this web page are used under Fair Use as stated in the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107. 10. Built for the Kill. 2001. Granada Wild. Andrew Buchanan, Executive Producer. Naomi McClure, Writer. Images on this web page are used under Fair Use as stated in the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107. 11. Sleeping Beauty. 1959. Walt Disney Productions. Clyde Geronimi, Director. Erdman Penner, Charles Perrault, et al, Writers. Images on this web page are used under Fair Use as stated in the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107. 12. Into the Woods. 2014. Lucamar Productions, Marc Platt Productions, and Walt Disney Pictures. Rob Marshall, Director. James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim, Writers. Images on this web page are used under Fair Use as stated in the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107. 13. Desmond Morris. 1969. The Naked Ape. Dell Publishing Company. 205 pages. Seeing humans as primarily “hunted” or “top predators” impacts the ways scientists think about actual human vulnerability and the role of things like fear and aggression in human evolution. So echoes and ramifications of the Ruthless view of nature have deeply influenced evolutionary theory and ecology for the past 40 years and continue to generate controversy and even acrimony in both fields. Morris’s work sits squarely in this context. In some schools of thought, competitive survival of the fittest — “nature red in tooth and claw,” as Tennyson so famously wrote — is seen as crucial for successful continuation of individual genomes, populations, and species. Other schools of thought focus more on cooperation, mutual interactions, and other non-competitive processes, and see events such as extinction as largely random or stochastic rather than caused by lack of fitness. When applied to anthropology, these two schools of thought accord very different weight to processes of aggressive competition or social cooperation, and to the roles of tool use and hand-brain morphology or walking and leg-pelvis morphology, in human evolution. Causation itself, and the assumption of adaptive benefit as a cause for all biological traits, is an underlying philosophical issue in the debate. Possibly the most elegant and cogent statement of the non-adaptive viewpoint is the classic paper “The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: A Critique of the Adaptationist Programme” by Stephen Jay Gould and Richard C. Lewontin, published in 1979 in Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 205 (1161):581-598. (Available online at http://faculty.washington.edu/lynnhank/GouldLewontin.pdf. Accessed June 26, 2015.) An interesting point to notice is that although one view of nature in these scientific debates is as Ruthless, the other is not of nature as Idyllic. That is to say, a third view of nature is struggling for expression in this field of scholarship. This third view of nature is also apparent in the burgeoning discipline of Resilience Ecology, which has recognized the Master motif present in mainstream ecological science and critiqued its “Command and Control” model of natural resource management. (See, for example, C.S. Holling and G. K. Meffe. 1996. On command-and-control, and the pathology of natural resource management. Conservation Biology 10:328-337.) 14. Twister. 1996. Jan de Bont, Director. Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin, Writers. Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, and Constant c Productions. Image used under Fair Use as stated in the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107. 15. The paragraph about the Tennessee Valley Authority and river flooding was added 6/1/21 to clarify the Fear and Master motifs of human-nature relationship, both of which exist within the Ruthless view of nature. The images beneath that paragraph were added at the same time. Photograph of flooding in Chattanooga, Tennessee is from the TVA website describing the history of Chickamauga Dam. Image of a stamp commemorating and honoring the TVA is from the Smithsonian. Images used under Fair Use as stated in the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107.
NOAA Weather Radio is not just for emergencies. It is a round-the-clock source of weather reports and information to help people prepare for the day ahead. NOAA Weather Radio broadcasts: National Weather Service warnings Other hazard information, 24 hours-a-day Each National Weather Service office tailors its broadcast to suit local needs. Routine programming is repeated every few minutes and consists of the local forecast, regional conditions and marine forecasts. Additional information, including river stages and climatic data is also provided. Weather radios equipped with special alarm-tone features sound alerts to give immediate information about a life-threatening situation. During an emergency, National Weather Service forecasters will interrupt routine weather radio programming and broadcast a special tone that activates weather radios in the listening area. Weather radios can be purchased at your local electronics store.
Booker and Barack: What Can Obama Learn From Booker T. Washington?News at Home In many ways, Barack Obama would find a kindred soul in the president of Tuskegee, the largest black college of its time. Like Obama, Washington came from mixed parentage and grew up in modest circumstances. Washington had a white father (who he never knew) while Obama’s black father more or less abandoned him. Both were raised almost entirely by women who had a tremendous influence on their work ethic and life goals. Each overcame these early disadvantages by obtaining an education through grit, determination, and some measure of luck. From an early age, both were comfortable in the presence of powerful whites. As he grew to manhood, Washington anticipated Obama’s remarkable ability to reassure whites and forge cross-racial alliances. This description of a young Obama as community organizer could easily apply to Washington as he created Tuskegee: “Personality-wise, Barack did not like direct confrontation. He was a nice young man, very polite.... But challenging power was not an issue for him. Lack of civility was.” Obama by his behavior followed Oliver Wendell Holmes’s dictum, often quoted by Washington, that “Controversy equalizes fools and wise men - and the fools know it.” Each man sought the end goals of interracial reconciliation. In predicting that a black man would sit in the oval office, Washington, like Obama, showed himself to be a man of profound “hope.” Blacks as a whole revered Washington to the same degree as they now do Obama. In 1908, a neutral observer wrote that nearly all good black homes had Washington's picture "over the fireplace with a little framed motto expressing his gospel of work and service." Like Obama, Washington was a skilled diplomat to the wealthiest of Americans. Obama counts among his allies billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates; while Washington was a confidant of Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. Washington not only won their friendship but persuaded them to open their pocketbooks, thus making Tuskegee one of the largest colleges in the South - just as Obama’s campaign coffers gushed with unprecedented wealth. Despite the many similarities, the philosophical worldviews are profoundly different. Washington repeatedly emphasized that thrift was the basis of advancement. “You cannot plant a tree in air,” wrote Washington, “and have it live.” The secret of success was to shun excessive debt, delay gratification, and “learn the savings habit; until we learn to save every nickel and every dollar that we can spare.” Washington’s strategy eventually paid off. Without Washington, it is hard to imagine the rise of the black middle class in the 1950s. It was this middle class, often the product of black colleges founded on the Tuskegee model, which made the civil rights movement, and thus President Obama, possible in the first place. While Obama sometimes sounds like Washington in praising personal self-reliance, he has committed his administration to a massive borrow-and-spend policy. In words that would stun Washington, Obama pledges a “blood infusion [of spending] to the patient right now to make sure that the patient is stabilized, and that means that we can’t worry short-term about the deficit.” To our growing debt and spending of trillions, he appears ready to add trillions more. Like most men of his time, Washington did not believe that anyone could spend their way to success. Progress ultimately rested on a solid foundation of hard work, thrift, and production. Excessive debt, especially without the means to repay it, only created a trap leading to more debt and regress. It is doubtful that Washington could imagine the endless bailouts of our own day. They certainly would have appalled him. It would be a great tragedy if Obama’s administration, which starts with such hope and promise, ends in disillusionment because he “planted trees in the air” and left future generations with promissory notes from the present, to be paid by our children and grandchildren. comments powered by Disqus - Now it’s the University of Louisville’s turn to remove a Confederate statue - A fortress built by Alexander the Great after he conquered Jerusalem has been discovered - Yale students protest decision to keep Calhoun’s name - Six maps that will make you rethink the world - Middle Tenn. State President Wants to Strip Confederate General’s Name From Building - The historian and cartographer Bill Rankin has developed a new way to visualize slavery - Paula S. Fass says young Americans need required national service - Historians are now trying to show that the gay revolution also took place in the midwest - The Unconference Movement Grows – And Historians Are Taking the Lead - New appeal to "Bring Back Military History"
A recent survey conducted by the people who are developing "Raising of America," a video series on child well-being, asked “Why do children struggle?” The most frequent response was “Parents don’t know how to parent” followed closely by “Children don’t work hard enough.” In our society, which values the autonomy of the individual, these responses are predictable because they spring from the “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” narrative that health and prosperity are due mostly to the choices that individuals make. These responses parallel what I’m hearing as I travel the state asking “What needs to be done to create a healthier Minnesota?” The most common responses I get are “Parents need to learn how to parent” and “People just need to be responsible for the choices that they make.” That focus on individual responsibility was on my mind as I traveled to address a collaborative of state health departments addressing infant mortality. My presentation was on July 28, the birthday of Beatrix Potter (author of "Peter Rabbit"), which inspired me to look at how children’s poems, stories, and fairy tales help shape our view of life. Starting with "Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes" (Humpty Dumpty, Little Boy Blue, Three Little Kittens, Little Bo Peep, The Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe) the message is clear; the choices one makes have consequences – usually negative consequences from bad choices. If Humpty, that silly old egg, hadn't been on the wall in the first place the king's horses and men wouldn't have had to go to all that trouble. "Aesop’s Fables" (Town Mouse and City Mouse, Hare & Tortoise, Ant and Grasshopper) reinforce that narrative. The fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, Andersen, and others (Hansel and Gretel, The Little Mermaid, The Red Shoes, The Three Little Pigs, Santa Claus) offer a similar message but often expand the narrative to show how individual action can conquer life’s challenges. The sensible pig who built his house of bricks saved the day for his foolish friends who chose to make their domiciles from cheaper but unsafe building materials. Given the pervasive message of individual responsibility in children’s literature, it’s not surprising why that narrative persists as the dominant one in our society. One of the approaches necessary to advance health equity is to expand the understanding about what creates health. That means changing the narrative that health is not just about medical care and personal choices but also about the physical, social, and economic environment in which people live, work, and play. With that in mind, I tried in my speech to change the narrative of a children’s story to see how it might help change the narrative about what creates health. In honor of Beatrix Potter, I used "Peter Rabbit." My speech, like the story, started with: Once upon a time there were four little rabbits, and their names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter. They lived with their mother in a sandbank, underneath the root of a very big fir tree. One morning old Mrs. Rabbit said, "I'm going to the bakery to get some brown bread. You may go into the fields or down the lane, but don't go into Mr. McGregor's garden. Your father had an accident there; he was put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor." Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail, were good little bunnies... but Peter, who was very naughty, ran straight to Mr. McGregor's garden and squeezed under the gate! As the tale unfolds, it becomes clear that naughty Peter, despite the admonitions of his caring mother, made a bad choice by going into Mr. McGregor’s garden. His choice nearly cost him his life. The moral of the story is obvious, bad choices may have life-threatening consequences. But what would the moral be if the context of the story was known? You see, the Rabbits’ home under the root of the fir tree was not a great place to live. It was near a polluted creek that often flooded and inundated the Rabbits' house. The sandy soil in the neighborhood was not conducive to growing anything but weeds so food was scarce. Messrs. Fox, Eagle, and Badger roamed the sandbank and bullied the neighborhood. The Rabbits lived in fear of them. Across the lane was Mr. McGregor’s Garden. It had great soil and moisture so a multitude of fruits and vegetables grew in abundance. Many outsiders envied the garden but it had an almost impermeable fence which kept out undesirables making it a safe and secure place for those who lived there. The garden had been in the McGregor family for generations so Mr. and Mrs. McGregor had the systems in place to make sure it continued to be a place that met their needs. They countenanced no disruptions. Driven by hunger and the desperate need to feed his growing family, Mr. Rabbit had managed to get into the garden. But, the systems put in place by the McGregors quickly identified his intrusion and his capture was inevitable. Within hours he was served up in a crust to satisfy the appetites of the McGregors. Peter knew that story well. His mother mentioned it almost every day. Peter missed his father but also felt some of the same pressures that motivated his dad. He didn’t see that he had many choices if he was going to help his mother and sisters. Staying in the neighborhood meant fighting with the Fox, Eagle, and Badger over the meager resources available there. He didn’t like those odds. Brown bread from the bakery wouldn’t sustain him or his family for very long so he decided going into Mr. McGregor’s garden was the best option he had. You know the rest of the story – at least up to the point when Peter is put to bed by his mother. Who knows what happens after that? I’d like a “happily ever after” ending but I’m not optimistic about the ultimate end of the story. Unless there is an improvement in the conditions in which the Rabbit family lives, I don’t see Peter or his well-behaved sisters doing well regardless of the choices they make. I’m not sure if the audience at the infant mortality conference made the connection between my story and what needs to be done to improve the lives of infants and their families. I hope they did. One thing for certain is that remembering the impact of the stories I read to my children years ago and my brief in-flight analysis of children’s literature convinced me of the truth of Plato’s statement that, “Those who tell the stories rule society.” Now, go tell or read a story to your children, grandchildren, neighborhood children, or those who need more stories in their lives. But, be sure you include the context and the conditions in which the story characters live so that you and the children, understand that the community and its physical, social, and economic conditions are important in shaping the choices they make and determining what ultimately happens to them.
Writings and assessment Diogenes Laërtius described Epicurus as a most prolific writer and preserved three of his letters and the Kyriai doxiai (“Principal Doctrines”). The three letters are (1) To Herodotus, dealing with physics; (2) To Pythocles (probably a disciple’s abridgement), on meteorology; and (3) To Menoeceus, on ethics and theology. The Kyriai consists of 40 short aphoristic statements. Another major source is the papyri from the Casa dei Papiri discovered at Herculaneum (1752–54), which include not only parts of his great work Peri physeōs (“On Nature”), originally in 37 books, but also numerous fragments of correspondence with his friends. Many of Epicurus’ methods made him comparable to a religious figure. The breadth of his appeal in Rome during the 1st century bc is indicated by the fact that the poet-philosopher Lucretius based his work on Epicurus (Lucretius in fact held Epicurus in reverential awe), by the references to his thought by the statesman-moralist Cicero, and by the detailing by the biographer Plutarch of how Cassius soothed the mind of Brutus with his Epicurean ideas. Epicurus’ atomistic theory was revived in the 17th century by Pierre Gassendi, a French philosopher-scientist.
2010-11 extreme weather impacts Flood plumes and cyclone Yasi combined to affect large sections of coral reefs in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Approximately six per cent of the reef area in the Marine Park suffered severe damage, with broken corals reported across an area exceeding 89,000 square kilometres. The most severe damage was confined to the area between Cairns and Townsville, sparing the key tourism areas off Cairns and Airlie Beach from major impacts. In contrast, the impacts of flood plumes were generally confined to shallow areas of inshore coral reefs near major rivers, such as those in the Keppel Bay region. Our report Impacts of tropical cyclone Yasi on the Great Barrier Reef details survey results of the spatial extent and severity of physical damage. The Coral Reef Fin Fishery is vulnerable to the effects of severe tropical cyclones, as coral trout live in shallow coral reefs which are most at risk of cyclone damage. Commercial fishers reported there was a significant and sustained decrease in the catch rates of coral trout from shallow waters (less than 20 metres deep). Underwater surveys indicated this was due to fish 'going off the bite', rather than a decrease in fish abundance. Seagrass can be vulnerable to the effects of reduced light during long periods of exposure to flood plumes, as this can inhibit photosynthesis needed for growth. Significant losses of seagrass meadows occurred in 2010–11 in the path of tropical cyclone Yasi. There were also broader scale losses in meadows exposed to flooding. Islands are highly exposed to the destructive forces of cyclones. Aerial photographic surveys of islands revealed a number of cays disappeared or altered shape and size after the 2011 cyclone. Several new rubble cays also appeared. Dugongs and turtles The floods and cyclones of 2010–11 led to unprecedented losses of dugongs and green turtles within the Great Barrier Reef region due to the toll they took on seagrass, the animals’ main food source. About twice as many marine turtles were found stranded on Queensland beaches in that year compared to previous years, and the number of strandings remained high in 2012. At the end of 2011, there were 187 dugong strandings, compared with 73 for 2010, 48 for 2009 and 36 for 2008 over the same period of time. There were also 1460 reports of turtle strandings (including 288 alive), compared with 821 in 2010, 931 in 2009 and 799 in 2008 over the same period of time. In response to the dugong and turtle strandings, we implemented measures to minimise impacts on these animals. This included identifying hotspots for net-related deaths from incidental capture in Bowling Green Bay (near Townsville) and near the Boyne River at Gladstone, and working with the Queensland Government and commercial fishermen to identify ways to manage impacts. This led to regulations being implemented in late 2011 to modify netting practices in Bowling Green Bay, and the Queensland Government’s introduction of temporary changes to netting practices in the Boyne River. Many industries and communities also took action to help the Reef recover. As a result of increases in dugong and turtle deaths, a number of Traditional Owner groups voluntarily reduced traditional hunting activities in affected areas. The marine aquarium collection industry also placed a voluntary moratorium on collecting sensitive species in affected reef locations. In addition, aquarium collectors played a key role in assessing impacts from flood plumes in the southern parts of the Great Barrier Reef. The Coral Reef Fin Fish Fishery also identified strategies to improve the ecological, economic and social resilience of the fishery after extreme weather events. If you're heading out on the water, don't forget your free Zoning Map so you know where you can go and what you can do. We're delighted to celebrate the 40 years of the managing the Great Barrier Reef. Visit our Great Barrier Reef and discover its amazing animals, plants, and habitats. Everyone has a role to play in protecting our Great Barrier Reef. Find out what you can do to help protect this great Australian icon. If you see sick, dead or stranded marine animals please call RSPCA QLD 1300 ANIMAL (1300 264 625) A Vulnerability Assessment: of the issues that could have far-reaching consequences for the Great Barrier Reef. Current Conditions: Environmental and climatic forecasts for the Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is under pressure. Many people, including Reef Guardians, are making a difference. Become a marine scientist for a day Download our free app to share your sightings. Published every five years, our Outlook Report provides an overview of Reef health and management. Learn more about how the Australian and Queensland are managing the Reef through Reef 2050.
2012 has been a year of blistering heat, wildfires, and drought throughout much of the United States. With the specter of climate change looming, experts believe such extreme weather events will only become more common. As temperatures increase and population grows, demands on the already strained power supply will lead to increased occurrences of brownouts and rolling blackouts. With fossil fuels having fallen out of favor, nuclear increasingly viewed as risky, and renewable energy nowhere near the point at which it can take the place of coal, one has to wonder how the growing need for power will be met. In the minds of many, energy efficiency is a vital strategy to mitigate energy-related demand and curb the impact the rising cost of electricity has on bottom lines everywhere. In buildings, which represent 40 percent of our total energy requirements, automation and control technologies play a key role in efforts to reduce energy consumption. Energy-harvesting, wireless systems, which require no maintenance and provide a high degree of flexibility in system planning and implementation, are becoming increasingly popular in building monitoring and control. Cooling the Economic Engine of Growth Nearly all of the world's booming cities are located in the tropics. These hot and humid areas will be home to nearly 1 billion new power-consuming individuals by 2025. As population grows and temperatures rise, demand for air conditioning will grow substantially. Scientific studies show that health improves and productivity increases significantly with cooling of indoor spaces in hot weather. “It is true that air conditioning made the economy happen for Singapore and is doing so for other emerging economies,” Pawel Wargocki, an expert on indoor-air quality for the International Center for Indoor Environment and Energy at the Technical University of Denmark, said. In India, air conditioning has become a cultural priority, sending scientists scrambling to invent more-efficient equipment and better coolant gases to minimize energy use and planet-warming emissions. This demonstrates the beneficial relationship air conditioning can have with economic development. The Cost to Cool Research shows an alarming trend with respect to air-conditioning use. In 2007, for instance, only 11 percent of households in Brazil and 2 percent in India had air conditioning, compared with 87 percent in the United States. These data reflect considerable latent demand, with current energy consumption not yet reflecting what will happen when less-developed countries have more money and more people who can afford luxuries such as air conditioning. Optimizing Cooling With Energy-Harvesting, Wireless Automation Used in the control of HVAC and lighting, energy-harvesting, wireless technologies can be expected to save 20 to 50 percent on energy. For example, if a sensor detects that a room no longer is occupied, lights can be switched off and the HVAC systems controlled automatically, saving an average of 30 percent compared with a non-automated system. Alternatively, if enough natural sunlight is entering a room, lights can be programmed to dim or switch off automatically. To appreciate the broad utility of wireless sensors, consider that up to 50 percent of the energy used to heat or cool a space is wasted through open windows with the HVAC running at full power. In a typical building, hotels in particular, a sensor can be used to detect an open window or balcony door. The HVAC unit then can be signaled to reduce heating or cooling or shut off until the window or door is closed. Individual room or area temperature monitoring and control (Figure 1) can reduce HVAC energy consumption by up to 30 percent alone. A Standard for Green Buildigs Devices that are self-powered, meaning do not require wires or batteries, collect energy from their surroundings, including from motion, indoor light, and temperature differentials. This not only eliminates complicated and costly cabling, it ensures virtually maintenance-free operation. The EnOcean protocol, which recently became an international standard, supports self-powered devices. It is the only standard designed to support very-low-power devices and energy-harvesting applications. EnOcean-based products use little power by delivering very short data packets and utilizing frequency bands with excellent signal propagation and minimal interference. The EnOcean standard utilizes the less-crowded 868-MHz and 315-MHz frequency bands, making it suitable for use worldwide. This provides a safeguard against other wireless transmitters, while offering fast system response and eliminating data collisions. The range of EnOcean wireless sensors is about 900 ft in open spaces, such as warehouses, and up to 90 ft inside of buildings. Signals can be extended using repeaters. With EnOcean technology, an intelligent system can be realized by interconnecting automated thermostats, window contacts, humidity sensors, occupancy sensors, carbon-dioxide (CO2) sensors, and more. For example, a room controller receives information related to temperature, humidity, window position, or CO2 from sensors and controls the opening and closing of valve actuators for radiators. At the same time, the room controller sends information to an energy controller. Demand is calculated as a function of outdoor temperature and flow temperature to control energy generation (Figure 2). The more complex a cooling installation, the greater the amount of information needed to control it. The utilization of single-room controllers with energy-harvesting, wireless technology and self-powered, wireless sensors can reduce significantly, if not optimize, the energy needs of a modern cooling plant. High Energy Savings and Fast ROI Occupancy-based HVAC and lighting control and monitoring systems can help reduce building energy consumption by up to 30 percent, often with a return on investment (ROI) of three years or less. In more variable cases, such as hotel and student dormitory rooms, which typically are occupied around 10 hr a day and vacant more than 100 days a year, energy reduction can be more than 50 percent, with a ROI of less than 18 months. Companies supporting the EnOcean standard see increasing interest, particularly within the hospitality industry, in places such as Hawaii and Texas, where warm temperatures mean an almost year-round need for air conditioning. One, a U.S.-based manufacturer of wireless, batteryless energy-management technology specializing in Internet-protocol-based building automation, is leveraging the desire for energy efficiency in Hawaii. Its key-card-based system is saving a hotel in Oahu an average of 50 percent on HVAC-related costs and 45 percent on lighting costs. Another manufacturer recently began implementing a key-card-based system for a large hotel chain in Houston. The project includes five points of in-room control and an in-depth measurement and verification plan. Even though the cost of electricity in Texas is relatively low, the hotel expects to achieve a ROI in three years, possibly two. The Role of Building Codes The move toward energy-wise code modification began in California with the adoption of Title 24, a set of standards with energy-saving requirements for walls, roofs, windows, insulation, lighting, and HVAC systems. The introduction of Title 24 has saved Californians billions of dollars in electrical and natural-gas expenses. Although per-capita electricity use in the United States has increased by nearly 50 percent since the mid-1970s, California essentially has maintained its per-capita electricity use. Other states have taken aggressive approaches to developing building codes. Hawaii, for instance, recently passed legislation requiring a method of adjusting thermostat setpoints and turning off permanently installed light fixtures and outlets powering portable light fixtures and entertainment devices when a “sleeping unit” in a new hotel or resort is unoccupied. To meet this requirement, hotel owners can utilize a key-card switch or an occupancy sensor. Let's say you want to retrofit your building with energy-efficient HVAC or lighting, but funding is elusive. Fortunately, there are strategies to pay for energy-efficiency projects by significantly lowering your tax burden. Some companies help property and facility owners leverage tax incentives to implement energy systems. One tax benefit that can be applied to energy-efficient construction and improvements is found in Section 179D of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Also known as the Commercial Buildings Tax Deduction, 179D includes full and partial tax deductions for investments in commercial buildings intended to increase the efficiency of energy-consuming functions. The deduction available is up to 60 cents per square foot each for lighting, HVAC, and building envelope. These deductions are applicable to buildings built or retrofitted after Dec. 31, 2005. To qualify for the deduction, a taxpayer must receive third-party energy-efficiency certification. The Future of Wireless Is Now Wireless, batteryless devices provide improved flexibility, enhanced occupant comfort, and reduced energy consumption and are virtually maintenance-free. Companies utilizing EnOcean technology are driving innovative solutions in HVAC and lighting control. One, for instance, combines wired, wireless, and Web technologies to provide flexible options for interfacing EnOcean and BACnet, as well as the ability to control lighting and HVAC with one controller. Another introduced the first solar-powered, energy-harvesting-based diffuser. Collectively, the EnOcean ecosystem continues to push the limits of wireless technology, proving that energy-management devices can operate efficiently and effectively, even without batteries. Did you find this article useful? Send comments and suggestions to Executive Editor Scott Arnold at firstname.lastname@example.org. Cory Vanderpool is business-development director for North America for EnOcean Alliance Inc. (www.enocean-alliance.org), a consortium of 300 companies worldwide dedicated to advancing self-powered, wireless monitoring and control systems for sustainable buildings. Previously, she founded and served as executive director of GreenLink Alliance, a non-profit organization promoting energy conservation in buildings and tax incentives for building owners. She has a doctorate in environmental science and policy from George Mason University.
What If You Couldn't Take Your Money To Another State? One day, the legislature in the state where you live passes a new law: Until further notice, you're not allowed to take your money to another state. There are exceptions. You can take a few thousand dollars with you if you go on a trip. You can do some out-of-state shopping on your credit card, but not too much. Beyond that, all your money — your checking account, your savings account, the cash you buried in your backyard — has to stay in your state. You're free to leave the state, as long as you don't take your money with you. That's what it's like today for people who live in Cyprus. Cyprus is having a financial crisis right now. One of the country's biggest banks failed and is about to be shut down; all of the banks there have been closed for a week and a half. The Cypriot government is trying to figure out how to reopen the banks without triggering a massive bank run. As part of the solution, the government is imposing what are known as capital controls: rules that limit how much money people can take out of the country. Capital controls have a long and surprisingly interesting history. They were common for a long time; then they went out of fashion; now people like them again, sometimes. (For more on this, see Paul Krugman's recent column on the subject, which had the excellent headline Hot Money Blues.) But the case of Cyprus isn't just any set of capital controls: It's a set of capital controls within a currency union. Or, I should say: It's a set of capital controls within a currency union! The whole point of a currency union — the reason every U.S. state uses dollars and all the countries in the eurozone use the euro — is that the currency is the same everywhere it's used. Capital controls break this fundamental rule. To see why this is so, ask yourself which of the following you would rather have: - A bank account in Cyprus with 20,000 euros in it. You are free to spend this money any way you want, as long as you want to spend it in Cyprus. - A bank account with 20,000 euros in it in any other country that uses the euro. You are free to spend this money anywhere in the eurozone — or to exchange it for dollars or any other foreign currency and spend it anywhere in the world. In other words, a euro in the bank in Cyprus is less valuable than a euro in the bank anywhere else in the eurozone. Tyler Cowen described this as "Cyprus leaving the euro but keeping the word 'euro' to save face." Capital controls are clearly bad news if you have a bunch of money in a bank account in Cyprus. But the controls are also a warning to people in much bigger eurozone countries: A euro in your country may someday be worth less than a euro in the rest of Europe.
Rich over at Google Earth Design has just published an entry titled “10 Myth Busting Facts about Google Earth“. Over the years, we’ve covered most of these myths on Google Earth Blog, but it’s always good to re-post items like this to help out new users. Be sure to check out our Google Earth Basics page for a variety of tutorials. Here Rich’s list of facts that many users aren’t aware of: 1 — You can make your own map in GEarth. Use the “Add” menu at the top of your screen to add placemarks, lines, and other items to the map. 2 — Google Earth isn’t just satellite images and roads. Use the “layers” on the side of your screen to find a lot more data to use; photos, Wikipedia entries, 3D buildings and much more. 3 — Any map you make in Google Earth is not visible to anyone else unless you publish it. While you can certainly use the items in #1 to create your own maps, those maps are private unless you share them with others via email, or by posting on a site like the Google Earth Community or Google Earth Hacks. 4 — You can publish your own map without going through Google. This is very similar to #3, but it’s from the opposite angle. Not only can you create your own maps, but Google doesn’t have to get involved at all. Create a map, share it, post it, email it, whatever. There’s no gatekeeper to go through to be able to share your maps. 5 — The satellite data in Google Earth is historic, i.e. its not imagery taken today. This is one of the most common myths: Google Earth imagery is live, and you can watch people in real-time. In fact, it’s not even close. Frank wrote an excellent post about this last year, and it’s worth reading to gain an understanding about the process of moving imagery from satellites to your computer. 6 — Google does not censor satellite imagery. While there are a few cases where they’ve censored imagery in the past (like around the White House), it’s far less common than most people think. The fact that companies like CNN still thinks it’s real-time (and actively censored) certainly doesn’t help… 7 — You can use Google Earth offline. You can browse an area of the map, let Google Earth store that imagery on your system, and then you can use it when you’re not connected to the internet. [details] 8 — You can tilt the view to see mountains in 3D. This is less of a myth than it once was, but it’s always worth mentioning; you can tilt your view to see 3D mountains and buildings. You can read this article for help getting started with it. 9 — Google Earth is not a security threat. Pointing back to items #5 and #6 on this list, Google Earth isn’t the security threat that people think it might be. Having access to aerial imagery isn’t a big deal for people that want it, and the fact that it’s months (or years) old makes it much less helpful. If Google Earth were to cease to exist, you could still get similar imagery from Google Maps, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, Mapquest and various others. Google Earth just has the best interface. 🙂 10 — You can use Google Earth to explore other Planets, the Sky and History. Recent versions of Google Earth have added lots of great things to Google Earth, including Mars, the moon, the night sky and historical imagery. These are all wonderful tools that are easy to access, but a lot of users don’t even realize that they’re there. Be sure to check out his full list to see his comments on each item. What other misconceptions about Google Earth do you encounter from others? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
On April 7, 1899, an invading naval fleet approached the northern shores of Malta, and having carried out a reconnaissance to select the most suitable landing places, effected a successful invasion of our islands. At 8am that day, two battalions of Blue Jackets and one of Marines landed successfully together with their stores and equipment at Mellieħa Bay. As the guns of the fleet provided cover for the invading force, the seamen hauled their wheeled machine guns over the rough terrain and dusty rubble tracks up the steep slopes on the far side of Mellieħa Bay towards Marfa where they commanded a fine view of the valley and bay below. On the second day, after some heavy fighting, the invading force was ordered to retrace their steps and re-embark onto the ships that brought them there, together with all the equipment that had been landed. This was, of course, a military and naval manoeuvre planned to keep the forces based in Garrison Malta in a state of readiness for military and naval action. This manoeuvre was specifically designed to test the ability of the Royal Navy to carry out an effective landing of men and stores where no wharfage facilities existed while at the same time providing practice for the naval gunners to provide suitable ordnance cover from the accompanying ships of the fleet riding at anchor both in Mellieha Bay and the Comino Channel. What was considered most remarkable about this invasion by contemporary commentators was it was regarded as having been the first manoeuvre in which a combined force of naval and military components were involved in Malta; this being the brainchild of the newly arrived Governor of Malta, Sir Francis Grenfell. Sir Francis had just relinquished his post of Commander of the Egyptian Army to take up the governorship of Malta. Grenfell had joined the army 40 years earlier in 1859, and on his first visit to Malta in 1866 suffered an alarming experience that nearly cost him his life. Being tall and well-built he was a good swimmer and was thus selected to represent his unit in swimming competitions. Training at night, to avoid other teams timing him as he swam the length of the course, he started his training one evening when mid-way through he was seized by an enormous octopus which dragged him beneath the surface; thrashing wildly and tearing chunks of flesh off the octopus he managed to make it back to the surface and call for help. As a boat with its lantern ablaze approached the octopus released him from its grip, leaving a number of torn tentacles still attached to his body. It took Grenfell three days to regain his strength after this attack. Maybe it was no coincidence that Grenfell introduced a nautical component to these manoeuvres. The 1899, exercises were under the general direction of Lieutenant-General Sir Francis Grenfell. The invading force was commanded by Colonel Smith-Dorrien, DSO, and the Naval Brigade by Commander Madden of HMS Caesar. The defending force was under the command of Major-General Lord Congleton, CB, Commanding Infantry Brigade, Malta. All three of these officers were highly experienced officers, the first two would go on to play significant roles in the First World War I. Smith-Dorrien was one of the few British survivors of the disastrous Battle of Isandlwana during the Zulu Wars (1879) and held senior commands in the British Expeditionary Force during World War I. Madden, later Admiral of the Fleet Sir Charles Madden, served during World War I as Chief of Staff to Sir John Jellicoe in the Grand Fleet from 1914 to 1916, taking part in the Battle of Jutland. According to the Daily Malta Chronicle the field manoeuvres conducted from March 12 to 16, 1894, involved the entire garrison, so much so that even the Connaught Rangers, who were stationed in Gozo, were brought over to Malta and encamped at Selmun Palace – the officers being fortunate in occupying the palace itself, which was placed at their disposal by the Governor. Since the manoeuvres involved practically the whole of the Governor’s staff, the group photo taken by Richard Ellis on the occasion of the Queen’s Birthday Parade on May 26, 1894 gives us a good idea of the senior officers who participated. The direction of the manoeuvres was placed under the personal supervision of Governor Fremantle assisted by Major General Nicholson, commanding the Royal Artillery Brigade with Colonel Bayly as Chief Staff Officer. The opposing forces were in the hands of Colonel Conner (Gloucestershire Regiment) and Colonel Money (Cameron Highlanders) with Captains Maxse and Munro as their staff officers. Manoeuvres provided a welcome opportunity for troops holed up on a small island garrison to vent their pent-up anxiety Unfortunately the operations were somewhat marred by the high winds that prevailed, and the troops in their various camps suffered considerable inconveniences, although the officers of the Connaught Rangers must have slept snugly in Selmun Palace! Another insight into military manoeuvres in Malta is given through an album kept by the then Captain (later Sir) John Spencer Ewart. Ewart was an aide-de-camp and Assistant Military Secretary (AMS) to the Governor Commanding-in-Chief, Malta from January 5, 1894, until April 22, 1898. The AMS was referred to as such since his superior, the Military Secretary, was usually a general officer based at British Army headquarters in London. It is interesting to note the connection between military secretaries and Malta; a brief examination shows that Malta proved a good stepping-stone to Army headquarters. Major-General Sir Alfred Hastings Horsford, who served on the staff at Malta from 1870 to 1872, occupied the post of Military Secretary from 1874 to 1880; Major-General Sir Ronald Lane, Commanding Infantry Brigade Malta, 1901-1903, was appointed Military Secretary from 1903 to 1904, and Colonel John Spencer Ewart served from 1904 to 1906. John Spencer Ewart, born in 1861, came from a family with strong military connections. He chose to be known as J. Spencer Ewart to avoid confusion within his family; both his father John Alexander and his grandfather John Frederick were generals in the British army. Spencer and his brother Walter were commissioned into the 79th Regiment or the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, and their time in Malta overlapped: John arrived in Malta with Governor Fremantle and Walter accompanied his regiment to Malta from 1893-1895. Another brother, Arthur, joined the Royal Navy and achieved the rank of Rear Admiral. Throughout his career Spencer Ewart’s commanding officers made note of his organisational ability and efficiency which no doubt led to his appointment as Military Secretary. His Malta album shows that he was involved in matters both menial and significant. Among other things he was responsible for the organisation of the military manoeuvres of October 1894. By this date he had already gained experience in such exercises: in April 1893 he devised the scheme for Field Day (a mock battle equivalent to a military manoeuvre) at Blackfield Hill, Edinburgh, so it should come as no surprise to learn that when he arrived in Malta, Ewart would devise the operations for the military manoeuvres. The brief instructions for the actions that took place on October 10, 1894, are headed “Confidential”. The instructions for the hostile forces are printed in blue and those of the defenders in red (see illustration). The general idea was that the attackers had invaded Malta and driven the defenders back to the Corradino and Valletta Lines. The attacking force had invested a line running from Madliena in the west through Għargħur, to Naxxar, Balzan, Qormi and Gudja to Fort San Leonardo near Żejtun in the southeast. The idea was that the defending forces were to effect a night-time attack on the invaders with the aim of destroying the batteries set up at Għargħur and Żejtun. Mobilisation was to start at 6.15pm when the 1st Royal West Surrey Regiment were to rendezvous with the Cameron Highlanders at Paola for the attack on the Żejtun battery held by the 1st North Staffordshire and 2nd East Surrey regiments. In the western district, the 2nd battalion Royal Irish Regiment were to face the 1st battalion Gloucester Regiment in their attempt to overwhelm the attacking battery located at Għargħur. Both attacks were due to start at 7pm. The forces in the central section between Naxxar and Gudja were imaginary. The scene was set for a battle royal. The newspapers recorded that operations were conducted most successfully on all sides; the most important fact being that the exercises achieved their aim of giving the troops important battle experience. Military and naval manoeuvres in Malta were probably more effective from a psychological than practical value. Manoeuvres provided a welcome opportunity for troops holed up on a small island garrison to vent their pent-up anxiety. The following poem, taken from the Daily Malta Chronicle of May 1899, gives a good example of the morale-boosting value of the manoeuvres: Last time of the manoeuvres,/We nobly cleared the way;/The ships we sank, the men we killed/Are more than I can say./Go out now to Binġemma, or Marfa if you will,/And if the batteries are not back,/You’ll find them out there still. CommentsComments powered by Disqus Do not have an account?Sign Up
Students will design and construct a boat that takes into account buoyancy, ... The motivational activity for this lesson addresses that statement. Surface tension allows the cardboard boat to float on top of the water. Adding soap disrupts the arrangement of the water molecules. The water molecules near the detergent are attracted to the detergent as well as to other water molecules, so the surface tension of the water behind the boat decreases.
6 things you can do to stop plastic pollution today SAN FRANCISCO — Plastic trash is entering the world's oceans at a rate of as much as 12.7 million metric tons a year, fouling the waters and harming marine life. But there are easy, concrete steps you can take today to limit the amount of plastic that reaches the sea, say experts. The lion's share of plastic waste that ends up in the oceans comes from Asian countries. According to one 2015 study, the United States is responsible for just 0.9% of the world's mismanaged plastic waste. But Americans are uniquely placed to change the way the world deals with plastic, because of the outsized importance of our economy and our ability to get companies to change their practices, said Aimee David, director of ocean conservation policy strategies at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, Calif. The choices Americans make have tremendous impacts globally by pushing businesses — many of them U.S. brands — to make changes that can then be implemented around the world, she said. Already business have gone from sponsoring beach cleanups to changing the design of their products as consumers being to demand alternatives. “We were the ones that adopted a single-use, disposable lifestyle before anyone else did, and we exported it. I think now we are likely to be the ones to adopt change faster than anyone else,” she said. - Try to use less single-use disposable plastic. Whether it’s bringing a cup to your local coffee place to declining a straw, or keeping reusable grocery bags in your car and using a refillable water bottle at the gym, keeping things out of the waste stream is the best way to stop plastic pollution. - Be a selective consumer. Choose products that come with less plastic packaging, even if they're a little bit more expensive or a little less convenient. - Give businesses you patronize positive feedback every time you see them making an effort to use less plastic. That will give them more incentive to push their suppliers for items with less plastic packaging. - Take part in a beach cleanup in your area. - If you do have to use single-use plastic, make sure it makes it into recycling or the trash. - Take the time to cut the loops on anything that might entangle marine life before you throw it away, including six-pack strings and packing straps for boxes of printer paper, etc.
The GED® Mathematical Reasoning Test focuses on two major content areas: quantitative problem solving and algebraic problem solving. Evidence that was used to inform the development of the Career and College Ready Standards shows that instructors of entry-level college mathematics value master of fundamentals over a broad, shallow coverage of topics. National remediation data are consistent with this perspective, suggesting that students with a shallow grasp of a wide range of topics are not as well prepared to succeed in postsecondary education and are more likely to need remediation in mathematics compared to those students who have a deeper understanding of more fundamental mathematical topics. Therefore, the GED® Mathematical Reasoning Test focuses on the fundamentals of mathematics in these two areas, striking a balance of deeper conceptual understanding, procedural skill and fluency, and the ability to apply these fundamentals in realistic situations. A variety of item types are used in the test, including multiple-choice, drag-and-drop, hot spot, and fill-in-the-blank. The Career and College Ready Standards include Standards for Mathematical Practice, which describe the types of practices, or behaviors, in mathematics that are essential to the mastery of mathematical content. These standards form the basis of the GED® mathematical practice standards, which assess important mathematical proficiencies, including modeling, constructing and critiquing reasoning, and procedural fluency. Given these priorities, the GED® Mathematical Reasoning Test adheres to the following parameters: - Approximately 45 percent of the content in the test focuses on quantitative problem solving, and approximately 55 percent focuses on algebraic problem solving. - The test includes items that test procedural skill and fluency as well as problem solving. - The contexts within which problem solving skills are measured were taken from both academic and workforce contexts. - Approximately 50 percent of the items are written to a Depth of Knowledge cognitive complexity level of 2. - Approximately 30 percent of the items are aligned to a Mathematical Practice standard in addition to a content indicator. - The statistics and data interpretation standards are also measured in the GED® Social Studies and Science Tests. - Candidates are provided with an on-screen calculator, the Texas Instruments TI-30XS Multiview scientific calculator, for use on most of the items on the 2014 GED® Mathematics Test. They are also given a calculator and reference sheet. As of Friday, February 21, 2014, the standard time allowance on the GED® test - Mathematical Reasoning was increased by 25 minutes. - The time allowance for GED Ready™ - Mathematical Reasoning was also increased by 13 minutes. - Students who took either of these tests before February 21 received an email from GED Testing Service with instructions for receiving a free retake. In addition to the content-based indicators, the GED® mathematics test also focuses on reasoning skills, as embodied by the GED® Mathematical Practices. The mathematical practices framework is based upon two sets of standards: the Standards for Mathematical Practice found in the Career and College Ready Standards for Mathematics; and the Process Standards found in the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics, published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The content indicators and mathematical practices found in the GED® Mathematical Reasoning Assessment Targets, though related, cover different aspects of item content considerations. The content indicators focus on mathematical content, as typically seen in state standards frameworks and, to some extent, the Career and College Ready Standards for Mathematics. The indicators describe very specific skills and abilities of which test-takers are expected to demonstrate mastery. In contrast, the mathematical practices focus more on mathematical reasoning skills and modes of thinking mathematically. Most of these skills are non-content-specific, meaning that a mathematical practice indicator could be applied to items that cover a range of content domains (e.g. algebra, data analysis, number sense). The measurement of these skills is very much in keeping with the CCR Standards for Mathematical Practice, which were created in order to “describe varieties of expertise that mathematics educators at all levels should seek to develop in their students” (Career and College Ready State Standards for Mathematics , p.6). The mathematical practices provide specifications for assessing real-world problem-solving skills in a mathematical context rather than requiring students only to memorize, recognize and apply a long list of mathematical algorithms. While we consider it crucial to assess both content and reasoning, it would be unrealistic to assert that each individual item could address both types of skills. To be sure, there are inter-related concepts to be found in the content indicators and the mathematical practices, especially in the areas of modeling and fluency, but not every item assessing a content indicator interacts seamlessly with a mathematical practice. Rather than force alignments, we seek to create items in which content and practice mesh well together. These items would primarily assess practice, with content serving as the context in which the practice is applied. Items of this type reflect the reasoning and problem-solving skills that are so critical to college and career readiness. Where this type of natural overlap between practice and content is not possible, other items assess the content indicators directly, thereby ensuring coverage of the full range of mathematical content on each test form.
Cosmology and our View of the World Discourse and Difference, Lead: Nick Copanas & Jared Troutman Summary by Aaron Sommers: Discourse and Difference The discussion began with a short film clip of a Monty Python sketch. In it, there were an array of rooms in an office building, where a young man was searching for the "argument" department, he kept finding himself in variations of this concept, and never found his goal. It was humorous and was meant to display the miscommunication that can occur between humans who search for answers, although I myself find British comedy banal. Nick initiated the talk with an explanation of what philosophers, as people who concern themselves with discourse, strive for in their disciplines. We were told that they attempt to transcend the rigid areas of axioms that scientists sometimes encounter. Since every discourse has a history, it is heuristic, like science, and can therefore be enriched by further investigation and scrutiny. Dr. Moebius pointed out we do not want to box in every discipline and a cross-cutting approach will benefit everyone who seeks enlightenment. One student brought up an interesting question. He said that in the past one hundred years, science has become ever so progressive, and has improved the lives of millions with the advances in medical technology and the sorts. But what, he asked, has philosophy given society? Where are the results? To this, a great number of famous philosophers were mentioned, including, Heidegger and Wittgenstein, but no answer was given. As a matter of fact, it appeared after this discussion that philosophy has gone backwards, actually regressed, and has disposed of the important concepts of ethics that Spinoza had perpetuated, by replacing them with egoistic nihilists like Nietzsche and Sartre. Paul Brockelman has also mentioned that Sartre was not a good philosopher. The point that philosophy is a meta-science was expounded and later refuted by others. It does not appear to have the same obligations it once did. Although some philosophers like Bacon were scientists, the parameters of disciplines have changed as specialization has ousted philosophy as a science. Wittgenstein was brought up again. In his work, Meaning and Understanding, he talks about the importance of the study of language and relating them to objects. Dr. Davis questioned what we mean by the study of "things". What exactly, he asked, is "thingness" and where does it begin and end. Until this is answered, he was skeptical of what we would get out of this whole discussion. After this, more of the interconnectedness, or weaving of language was mentioned, paraphrasing Wittgenstein once again, and this confused the group as well as myself. At the conclusion, we had said that language between humans is a complicated and flawed medium. However, it is necessary to have information being transmitted form one discipline to another, as well as one age to another. Discourse allows us to do this in an organized and coherent matter. Although philosophers have a tendency to intellectualize, expound, and complicate their objectives, we find ourselves learning from any difference in our approaches to the daunting study of cosmology. April 8, 2002
role in clitoral responseThe body of the clitoris is suspended from the pubic bone by a short ligament and emerges to form a tiny external glans at the top of the vulva. Lying over the glans is a sheath of skin known as the clitoral hood. The glans has a generous supply of sensitive nerve endings, which account for the clitoris’ central role in tactile sexual stimulation. Simply begin typing or use the editing tools above to add to this article. Once you are finished and click submit, your modifications will be sent to our editors for review.
Free, interactive eLearning courses for mental health and allied health professionals. Evaluating your intervention Many interventions for families where a parent has a mental illness are provided to families across Australia each year The information at the link below ('planning and implementing evidence-based practice') aims to help professionals add to the growing research base on the effectiveness of these interventions. It intends to help program planners and facilitators to: - understand what makes a good evaluation - select and use an evaluation tool that suits their interventions. Why evaluate your intervention? - To add to the pool of evidence about the 'children of parents with a mental illness' approach - To help you find out what is and isn't effective - To assist you to plan future interventions and apply for funding If you are new to planning an evidence-based program, intervention or research, please read the helpful information at the section below. It outlines key points to consider and provides links to further information and resources. How to evaluate your intervention Once you have implemented a planned intervention, you can look at ways to evaluate its success. - Evaluation relies on knowing the outcomes and goals of a project and testing them against results. - Effective evaluation comes from measurable data and clear objectives. Resources to help you evaluate your program The links below will give you technical help to evaluate your program. These links reflect the key 'children of parents with a mental illness' intervention and program areas. The technical information within each concept focuses on things such as formal definitions, the theory behind the concept, how the concept is employed in other 'children of parents with a mental illness' programs and where you can obtain the questionnaire, scale or survey to measure that concept. Click on the link to the program area that you are interested in: - Young people - provides technical information about concepts such as self esteem and resilience - Parents, carers and families - provides information about parenting and family functioning - Workforce - provides information about workforce measures and social inclusion - Community - provides information about workforce measures and social inclusion
Although scientists have learned a great deal about the human genome, the overwhelming majority of DNA remains a complete mystery. For all the new advances made in genetics, we are constantly discovering how complex the DNA really is and how much more we have to learn. According to Dr. Jerry Bergman, a professor of science at Northwest College, At the moment of conception, a fertilized human egg is about the size of a pinhead. Yet it contains information equivalent to about six billion chemical letters. This is enough information to fill 1000 books, 500 pages thick with print so small you would need a microscope to read it! If all the chemical letters in the human body were printed in books, it is estimated they would fill the Grand Canyon fifty times! Scientists still do not know the exact number of genes, their exact locations, or their functions. Nor do they know much about gene regulation, DNA sequence regulation, Chromosomal structure and organization, or non-coding DNA. The list of things we have yet to learn about DNA goes on and on. What we do know about DNA is that it is a digital, error-correcting, and self-replicating code. Furthermore, within its complicated and elegant structure is held the blueprints of every living thing on the planet. Francis S. Collins is has long been on the cutting edge of DNA research. He is the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute and oversaw the Human Genome Project - which some have called the most significant scientific undertaking of our time. What most people don't know about Francis Collins is that he used to be an atheist, but that his experiences have lead him to believe in the existence of God. When Collins was practicing medicine he saw the faith displayed by some of his patients. Their strength in dire circumstances caused him to begin to ask questions. It was then, that a Methodist minister gave him a copy of the C.S. Lewis book titled Mere Christianity. The book opened his eyes to new possibilities, however the turning point in his life came while hiking in the mountains. It was the beauty of God's creation that finally broke his resistance. Today, Collins sees his research as a "glimpse at the workings of God". Although his beliefs are not without controversy, his story testifies to the fact that science and faith can co-exist. According to Collins, "One of the great tragedies of our time is this impression that has been created that science and religion have to be at war. I dont see that as necessary at all and I think it is deeply disappointing that the shrill voices that occupy the extremes of this spectrum have dominated the stage for the past 20 years." Collins plans to share his experiences in a book, due out this summer, titled The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. Random chance cannot account for the complex design of DNA. It is statistically and mathematically impossible. In the last 30 years, a number of prominent scientists have attempted to calculate the odds that a free-living, single-celled organism, such as a bacterium, might result by the chance combining of preexistent building blocks. Harold Morowitz calculated the odds as one chance in 10100,000,000,000 (ten to the one hundred billionth power). Sir Fred Hoyle calculated the odds that just the proteins of an amoebae arising by chance as one chance in 1040,000 (ten to the forty thousandth power). The odds calculated by Morowitz and Hoyle are staggering. Think of it this way, the chances of winning the state lottery every week of your life from the age of 18 to 99 are better than the odds of a single-celled organism being formed by random chance. The probability of spontaneous generation is about the same as the probability that a tornado sweeping through a junkyard could assemble a 747 from the contents therein. It is impossible. The evidence all points to the unavoidable conclusion that we not the product of chance or evolution, but the result of intelligent design. The views and opinions expressed in these articles, enews and linked websites are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views held by Koinonia House. Koinonia House is providing this information as a resource to individuals who are interested in current news and events that may have an impact on Christian Life and Biblical trends. Koinonia House is not responsible for any information contained in these articles that may be inaccurate, or does not present an unbiased or complete perspective. Koinonia House disavows any obligation to correct or update the information contained in these articles. PLEASE NOTE: Unless otherwise expressly stated, pricing and offers mentioned in these articles are only valid for up to 30 days from initial publication date and may be subject to change.
\|This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2014)\| Early photo-books are characterised by their use of photographic printing as part of their reprographic technology. Photographic prints were tipped-in rather than printed directly onto the same paper stock used for letterpress printed text. Many early titles were printed in very small editions and were released as partworks to a network of well-informed and privileged readers. Few original examples of these books survive today, due to their vulnerability to light and damage caused by frequent handling. What is arguably the first photo-book, Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions (1843–53) was created by Anna Atkins. The book was released as a partwork to assist the scientific community in the identification of marine specimens. The non-silver cyanotype printing process worked by pressing actual specimens in contact with light-sensitive paper; hence the word "impression" in the book's title.:14, 20–21 The Pencil of Nature (1844–46) was produced by William Henry Fox Talbot, who had invented the Calotype photographic process in 1839. Although significant as the first negative/positive photography process, the Calotype was also envisioned as a commercial prospect for the reproduction of images in books through mass publication. Anticipating commercial success, Fox Talbot established purpose-made printing premises in Reading to carry out the reproduction of his book. The Pencil of Nature was released in six parts between 1844 and 1846, to an initially promising list of private subscribers whose numbers dwindled, causing the premature termination of his project.:13–15,22 Julia Margaret Cameron created the first photo-book to illustrate a literary work. The 1874 edition of Tennyson's Idylls of the King contained twelve Cameron images that had been specially created, but reproduced as wood engravings. Cameron sought her own publisher, creating a new version of Idylls of the King, containing her original photographs as albumen prints, which came out in December of the same year.:69 Photographers such as Shinzō Fukuhara were producing photography books in the 1920s. The postwar years brought low-priced photography books, such as the many volumes of Iwanami Shashin Bunko magazine. From the 1950s onward, most Japanese photographers of note have had photo-books published. However, the simplest Japanese translation of photo-book is shashinshū (写真集), and the shashinshū section of a typical Japanese bookstore is full of books of photographs of little or no documentary or artistic merit but which instead conventionally portray currently popular celebrities. Many are of cheesecake models (guradoru), or porn starlets (nūdoru); others are of singers, television personalities, professional sportswomen (often wrestlers) and so forth. Storing digital images in traditional photo albums means printed copies are inserted in the pages of an album. Companies allow users to create personalized photo-books. The resulting book is printed on digital color printers and case bound. Professional printing and binding services offer easy creation of photo-books with professional layouts and individual layout capabilities. Because of the integrated design and order workflow, hardcover bound books with customized pictures and text can be produced very cost-effectively. Currently there are many photo-book software companies who sell licensed solutions to photo labs and print houses so that their customers can create photo-books (and other photo related paraphernalia) with ease. These software solutions are available for free download or online access or through apps. The development of digital cameras and the Internet allowed an enormous production and exchange of pictures, taken from different corners of the globe. There are many possibilities nowadays for users to upload and share pictures (examples are Google and Facebook). However, many people and institutions also publish 'photo-books' on the web, by providing the community with a huge web database freely available for everybody. - Parr, Martin, and Gerry Badger. The Photobook: A History. London: Phaidon. Vol 2. 2006. ISBN 0-7148-4433-0 - Heiting, Manfred, and Roland Jaeger (ed.): Autopsie. Deutschsprachige Fotobuecher 1918 bis 1945. Band 1; Goettingen: Steidl Verlag, 2012. - Martin Parr; Gerry Badger (2004). The Photobook: A History, Volume I. London: Phaidon Press. ISBN 978-0-7148-4285-1. \|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Photobooks.\|
Dec. 13, 2012 -- A 2-year-old beagle named Cliff may hold the key to preventing an infection that kills thousands of Americans each year. Researchers in the Netherlands taught Cliff to sniff out the intestinal bacteria Clostridium difficile(C. difficile or C. diff) in stool samples from infected patients and even from the patients themselves. C diff is commonly spread in hospitals and long-term care centers, causing diarrhea that can be mild to life-threatening. It is responsible for as many as 14,000 deaths in the U.S. each year, the CDC says. The hope is that other dogs can be trained to identify the infection far faster than it is found through current tests, preventing potentially deadly outbreaks in these settings. “This study proves the concept, but we have to confirm that this approach will be useful in the real-world setting,” says researcher Marije K. Bomers, MD, of the VU University Medical Centre in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Dogs Can Smell Better Hospitalized older adults who have recently had a course of antibiotics are most at risk for C. diff infections. Early detection can prevent the spread in hospitals and other care facilities, but current tests can take anywhere from two days to up to a week to confirm infection, Bomers says. She says the idea for the study came from the observation that the diarrhea of patients with C. diff infections has a particular smell that she and her colleagues could sometimes detect. It occurred to them that if humans could smell the infection some of the time, then dogs, with their superior sense of smell, should be able to smell it all the time. To test the theory, they enlisted psychologist and dog trainer Hotsche Luik, who was also Cliff’s owner. Over two months, the beagle was taught to identify the C. diff toxin in smaller and smaller quantities and in different samples, including human stool. During one test, he correctly identified 50 of 50 C. diff positive stool samples and 47 of 50 negative samples. In a separate test, he was taken to two hospital wards to examine his ability to sniff out the infection in patients. He correctly identified C. diff in 25 of 30 infected patients. He also identified no infection in 265 of 270 non-infected patients. He completed this task in one of the wards in less than 10 minutes. New Type of ‘Pet Scan’ The researchers write that highly trained dogs like Cliff may one day patrol hospital wards to seek out C. diff infection. “I love dogs. I think they are amazing,” says infection disease specialist Bruce Hirsch, MD, of North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y. “But I’m not sure I see this being deployed in an efficient way in a large hospital setting where there are many distractions.” Despite his skepticism, Hirsch says the research is definitely worth pursuing even though confirmation of the infection has already been shortened from a few days to a few hours in many hospitals, including his. “One big question for me is, ‘What else can a dog’s amazing sensory apparatus be utilized to detect?'" he says. “There are already studies suggesting that they can smell some cancers. There is no telling what else they may be trained to sniff out.”
GOLD - A BRIEF LOOK BACK IN HISTORY The precious metal with the very special color was already captivating our ancestors 6,000 years ago. Gold embellished the sovereigns of the time as well as their buildings, and gold was the preferred material for crafting religious items. Therefore, it is among the first metals of the human race to ever be extracted, handled, and even workshiped. In 600 BC, gold eventually established itself as a stable means of payment in the form of coinage, as we recognize it today. Gold has lost none of its preciousness since – on the contrary. Its rarity and durability, as well as its physical and chemical qualities (and the resulting various possible uses), make gold an essential material in many respects, even in this millennium. GOLD - FACTS AND FIGURES Assessments from 2007 indicate that the human race would have extracted around 170,000 tons of gold and siver over the last 6,000 years. What at first sounds like a lot, however, equates purely on a mathematical basis to a cube of pure gold with an edge length of just 20.65 meters. - A large percentage of this gold is converted into items of jewelry and art. - 18% is located in the vaults of central banks and other monetary institutes - 16% is in the form of bars or coins held by investors The current market for gold amounts to approximately 4,100 tons worldwide every year. A good half of this is needed by the jewelry industry; around 1,640 tons are requested by investors, and more than 450 tons are processed by industry. “This demand is met by an annual output of approximately 2,800 tons. Thus, the demand for physical gold exceeds possible extraction via minds considerable.” Through recycling of old gold (approximately 1,600 tons), this imbalance between supply and demand in the future will grow larger. And more fundamentally: At the current rate of extraction, it will only be possible to mine gold profitably for just under 20 more years! This clearly demonstrates that in the future, gold will become an even rarer and more sought-after material and investment item. GOLD IS IMMUNE TO INFLATION Over the years, the majority of us nominally earn more money, but can we afford more as well? Inflation is the magic (taboo) word that has prices for everything we need in our daily lives consistently rising. The fact is: The national debt is increasing at a rapid pace and to dizzying heights. Even a welathy state such as Germany is so heavily in debt that it must now raise over 35 million Euros just for interest payments. Over the past few years, the United States of America have actually stood short of national bankruptcy on multiple occasions. What happens then? The states start up the printing presses to be ble to handle the liability. Currency loses value and the individual citizens have less money in their pockets and can buy less as a result. At this point, we do not wish to fuel fears, but rather bring awareness. The financial and monetary crises of the last few years has distinctly shown many are vulnerable to monetary decisions made by others. Financial security, which we all aspire to, seems fragile to many. the collapse of major financial institutions, state subsidies for banks, or bail out funds hurriedly supplied to states in the Euro Zone were scenarios that many would have relegated to the realm of fairy tales a decade ago. However, anyone taking a look back in history could have anticipated what would happen. The worldwide economy is based on a financial system that has existed for a good 600 years and has not been considerable developed since. This system is based upon the notion that consumers, companies, but most notably states, incur debts until they have reached a level then renders amortization unthinkable. What follows is collapse with hyperinflation and a painful new start as most recently seen prior to the Second World War. The much chided governments are genuinely powerless against this cycle. Contrary to public opinion, they are also not entirely responsible for it either, for this system cannot be altered by governments alone. “Gold owners – as is often the case in history – were the winners during such crises.” We cannot reproduce gold randomly like paper money; gold retains its value even if the price of gold fluctuates occasionally. Gold is also, in comparison to money, not dependent on the citizens’ trust in states and institutions. Gold is simpy gold, and the payment method witht he most stable value in the history of humanity. Here is an example: In 1998, you could fill up a grocery basket with $20 USD, but inflation has decreased the purchasing power signifcantly. Gold on the other hand is not only stable, but increases in purchasing power. In 1920, a 1 I KG gold bar was valued at approximately $650 and could purchase an early model Ford vehicle. Today, a 1KG gold bar could purchase a $45,000 vehicle! Until 2018, many folks simply could not afford to purchase gold. Those who could had concerns about storage and liquidity. Personally, I heard about Karatbars international around 2011, but quickly lost interest as the increments or amounts of gold required to participate were “out of my league” as they say. In an upcoming blog post, I will introduce you to the concept of “CashGold” by Karatbars, which makes saving gold affordable for anyone! The smallest increment is .1 gram of gold. At the very least, anyone can save gold and hedge against inflation. As of this writing, a tenth of a gram of gold is about $5. For purist savers, Karatbars continues to offer physical gold bars and coins. However, CashGold is part of a larger vision of Karatbars International, where the concept of gold acquisition to build wealth and financial security is available to the masses. In the next post, let’s take a look at how Karatbars International got started and how it is developing into a transformational financial ecosystem that you and your family can benefit from for generations to come.
Since 2000, HSI and The Humane Society of the United States have been working with scientists to develop a non-hormonal birth control method—called “immunocontraception”— to control breeding in confined wild animal populations. So far, the method has been used to successfully control populations of deer and horses in North America, as well as African elephants in South Africa. In many parts of the world, free-ranging large, wild mammals are, unfortunately, a thing of the past. Instead, humans have confined many populations to large areas—such as reserves—with fences or other barriers. If allowed to breed normally, these confined populations tend to eventually outgrow their designated land. The inability to migrate elsewhere can lead to competition for resources, environmental degradation, and loss of biodiversity. To prevent this, managers are faced with reducing the population through culling, translocation or other means. Such reactive methods are often cruel and do not address the root cause of the problem—animals will reproduce. HSI continues to fund life-saving, cutting-edge research into immunocontraception as a humane alternative. Read an All Animals feature story on our latest efforts. October 13, 2014 Elephants in South Africa’s oldest game reserve, Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, located in the KwaZulu Natal province on South Africa’s East coast, received their first contraceptive vaccine to control the population’s growth rate. Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park is the largest park to have implemented an elephant contraception program yet. September 16, 2014 Elephants in Ezemvelo KwaZulu Natal Wildlife’s Ithala Game Reserve, located on South Africa’s east coast, were treated for the first time with a contraceptive vaccine to control the population’s growth rate. March 4, 2014 Elephants in iSimangaliso Wetland Park, located in KwaZulu Natal province on South Africa’s east coast, were treated for the first time with a contraceptive vaccine to control the population’s growth rate. July 24, 2012 HSI presented our findings on elephant immunocontraception as a form of population control in July 2012 at the Fourth International Wildlife Management Congress in Durban, South Africa.
Our Thursday posts focus on material from the New Testament. As part of our fourfold priority of history, integrity, truth, and Scripture we consider it important to read and review significant scholarly work with both the Old and New Testaments. Dr. David Scaer wrote a very intriguing book based on an overall narrative analysis of Matthew’s Gospel. We’ll be seeing how he classifies the different discourses in the work. Scaer, David P. Discourses in Matthew: Jesus Teaches the Church. St. Louis: Concordia, 2004. Kindle Electronic Edition. “Acknowledgements” Loc. 38. The hypothesis which led to the rise of this book was that in fact the New Testament documents were intended to teach systematic or dogmatic theology (Scaer 2004, Loc. 43). “Of all the New Testament books, Matthew has the most obvious evidences of a catechetical structure . . . “ (Scaer 2004, Loc. 51). “Preface” Loc. 67. “In this volume, the idea will be advanced that Matthew’s Gospel was written as a catechesis or summary of what believers were taught before being admitted by Baptism into the full eucharistic membership of the church” (Scaer 2004, Loc. 67). Scaer asserts that Acts 2:42 references the typical early worship service, and that the written Gospels grew out of this regular recital of “the apostles’ teaching” (Scaer 2004, Loc. 80). Scaer observes that documents created for catechesis tend to make a journey to use as confessions over time, as may well have occurred with Matthew’s Gospel (Scaer 2004, Loc. 89). He lists multiple parts of typical catechesis, especially in the Lutheran tradition, which are predominantly keyed to Matthew. The rise of systematic theologies and especially the rise of form criticism may have distracted attention from the natural shape of Matthew as a catechetical work (Scaer 2004, Loc. 115). The first part of the service, the catechetical part, seems to have taken reading the Gospel, preaching, and any other instruction all as one unit (Scaer 2004, Loc. 137). This catechetical use of the Gospels may serve to explain the different emphases, especially of the Synoptics (Scaer 2004, Loc. 154). Scaer now turns his attention to catechetical techniques. A catechism is a form of teaching, a didachē (Scaer 2004, Loc. 182). Often there are questions and answers, as well as memory devices. These elements are clear in Matthew. The catechesis introduces theological terms but may not always explain them completely. Again, Matthew does this (Scaer 2004, Loc. 209). The subject of catechesis is both words and deeds so the believer will understand faith and practice (Scaer 2004, Loc. 231). Scaer also observes that the non-chronological arrangement of the Gospel fits the mold of catechesis rather than biography (Scaer 2004, Loc. 259). Scaer discusses the arrangement of Matthew into five distinct discourses (Scaer 2004, Loc. 281). Though the exact parameters are uncertain, many scholars find the following division. “(1) the Sermon on the Mount, Matt 5:1-7:28a; (2) apostolic authority and martyrdom, Matt 9:35-11:1; (3) the parables, Matt 12:46-13:53; (4) casuistry, or resolving incidental matters of church practice, Matt [17:22] 18:1-19:1; and (5) the end times, Matt 23:1-26:1” (Scaer 2004, Loc. 286). These steps effectively train disciples in a variety of topics necessary to their lives. As the catechumen proceeds through the Gospel there are concepts which build on other, earlier, ideas, illustrated in brief by Scaer. He further ties the five-part division to the ideas found in the Pentateuch, finding parallels (Scaer 2004, Loc. 365). Scaer moves on to question whether Matthew is historical in nature (Scaer 2004, Loc. 432). The text is clearly not purely history, as it has instructive exhortations. Yet the matters of history remain important to Matthew (Scaer 2004, Loc. 437). Those who have tried to reconstruct an historical chronology from the Gospels find insufficient data and only vague agreement among the Gospels (Scaer 2004, Loc. 442). The emphasis is truly on Jesus’ teaching and his sacrificial self-offering. With the same non-historical plan in mind, Scaer observes that Jesus’ preaching may well have remained the same throughout his ministry, but that the more intense teachings are introduced later in the written catechesis (Scaer 2004, Loc. 473). All the work of Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry, including this blog, is supported by the generosity of people like you. Please consider joining our team of prayer and financial supporters. Read more here!
How do you define happy? Merriam-Webster provides a simple definition of happy as “feeling pleasure and enjoyment because of your life, situation, etc.” I think it’s safe to say that most of us use the term in this way. It’s feeling good because things are good. That’s what we want, right? For ourselves and for our children. Yet studies show that rates of depression and anxiety have been growing for decades. We live in a culture where we are encouraged to search externally for happiness – our job, the ideal spouse, income, owning more stuff, appearance, and on and on. We are always waiting for the next thing that will satisfy us. But guess what the problem is with these external things? That’s right, they’re external. That makes them fragile, fleeting and ultimately out of our control. People will disappoint us, the economy will fluctuate, and we can’t look like we’re 25 forever! Life ebbs and flows, ranging from debilitating loss to intense joy and everything in between. It’s beautiful and it’s messy and, yes, it’s the messy that will make or break us. Various studies have helped us to understand what exactly happiness is, how it’s influenced and how it can be enhanced. What “Positive Psychology” and the “Science of Happiness” have found is that what contributes to our overall happiness are the internal factors that get us through the messy – resiliency, outlook, self-awareness, humor, connection, to name some. At Pavilion Psychological Services, our clinicians are available to help you manage the messy – change, loss, stress, low self-esteem, health conditions, lifestyle change, addiction, interpersonal struggles, etc. “The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet.” -James Oppenheim
The brilliant, blue glow of young stars traces the graceful spiral arms of galaxy NGC 5584 in this Hubble Space Telescope image. Thin, dark dust lanes appear to be flowing from the yellowish core, where older stars reside. The reddish dots sprinkled throughout the image are largely background galaxies. Among the galaxy's myriad stars are pulsating stars called Cepheid variables and one recent Type Ia supernova, a special class of exploding stars. Astronomers use Cepheid variables and Type Ia supernovae as reliable distance markers to measure the universe's expansion rate. NGC 5584 was one of eight galaxies astronomers studied to measure the universe's expansion rate. In those galaxies, astronomers analyzed more than 600 Cepheid variables, including 250 in NGC 5584. Cepheid variables pulsate at a rate matched closely by their intrinsic brightness, making them ideal for measuring distances to relatively nearby galaxies. Type Ia supernovae flare with the same brightness and are brilliant enough to be seen from relatively longer distances. Astronomers search for Type Ia supernovae in nearby galaxies containing Cepheid variables so they can compare true brightness of both types of stars. They then use that information to calibrate the measurement of Type Ia supernovae in far-flung galaxies and calculate their distance from Earth. Once astronomers know accurate distances to galaxies near and far, they can determine the universe's expansion rate. The image is a composite of several exposures taken in visible light between January and April 2010 with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3. NGC 5584 resides 72 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. Object Name: NGC 5584 Image Type: Astronomical To access available information and downloadable versions of images in this news release, click on any of the images below:
execution by ibrahimEarly in his reign under the guidance of the able but ambitious grand vizier Kemankeş Kara Mustafa Paşa, İbrahim established peaceful relations with Persia and Austria (1642) and recovered the Sea of Azov hinterland from the Cossacks. After the execution of Kara Mustafa (1644), İbrahim, acting on the advice of his new ministers, sent an expedition to Crete; thus began... Kemankeş Kara Mustafa Paşa Simply begin typing or use the editing tools above to add to this article. Once you are finished and click submit, your modifications will be sent to our editors for review.
Detailed observations made by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have found an answer to the flash of light seen June 3 on Jupiter. It came from a giant meteor burning up high above Jupiter's cloud tops. The space visitor did not plunge deep enough into the atmosphere to explode and leave behind any telltale cloud of debris, as seen in previous Jupiter collisions. Astronomers around the world knew that something must have hit the giant planet to unleash a flash of energy bright enough to be seen 400 million miles away. But they didn't know how deeply it penetrated into the atmosphere. There have been ongoing searches for the "black-eye" pattern of a deep direct hit. The sharp vision and ultraviolet sensitivity of Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 were brought to bear on seeking out any trace evidence of the aftermath of the cosmic collision. Images taken on June 7 — just over three days after the flash was sighted — show no sign of debris above Jupiter's cloud tops. This means that the object didn't descend beneath the clouds and explode as a fireball. "If it did, dark sooty blast debris would have been ejected and would have rained down onto the cloud tops, and the impact site would have appeared dark in the ultraviolet and visible images due to debris from an explosion," says team member Heidi Hammel of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. "We see no feature that has those distinguishing characteristics in the known vicinity of the impact, suggesting there was no major explosion and fireball." Dark smudges marred Jupiter's atmosphere when a series of comet fragments hit Jupiter in July 1994. A similar phenomenon occurred in July 2009 when a suspected asteroid slammed into Jupiter. The latest intruder is estimated to be only a fraction the size of these previous impactors. "We suspected for this 2010 impact there might be no big explosion driving a giant plume, and hence no resulting debris field to be imaged. There was just the meteor, and Hubble confirmed this," adds Hammel, a veteran Jupiter observer of the 1994 string of impacts. Australian amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley saw the flash at 4:31 p.m. (EDT) on June 3. He was watching a live video feed of Jupiter from his telescope. In the Philippines, amateur astronomer Chris Go confirmed that he had simultaneously recorded the transitory event on video. The two-second-long flash of light in the videos of Jupiter was created by the same physics that causes a meteor (or "shooting star") on Earth. A shock wave generated by ram pressure as the meteor speeds into the planet's atmosphere heats the impacting body to a very high temperature, and as the hot object streaks through the atmosphere, it leaves behind a glowing trail of superheated atmospheric gases and vaporized meteor material that rapidly cools and fades in just a few seconds. Though astronomers are largely uncertain about the rate of large meteoroid impacts on the planets, the best guess for Jupiter is that the smallest detectable events may happen as frequently as every few weeks. "The meteor flashes are so brief they are easily missed, even in video recordings, or perhaps misidentified as detector noise or cosmic ray hits on imaging devices," says team member Mike Wong of the University of California at Berkeley. "It's difficult to even know what the current impact rates are throughout the solar system. That's partly why we are so excited by the latest impact. It illustrates a new capability that can be exploited with increased monitoring of Jupiter and the other planets," says Amy Simon-Miller of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the principal investigator on the Jupiter observation. As a bonus, the Hubble observations also allowed scientists to get a close-up look at changes in Jupiter's atmosphere following the disappearance of the dark Southern Equatorial Belt (SEB) several months ago. In the Hubble view, a slightly higher altitude layer of white ammonia ice crystal clouds appears to obscure the deeper, darker belt clouds. "Weather forecast for Jupiter's South Equatorial Belt: cloudy with a chance of ammonia," Hammel says. The team predicts that these ammonia clouds should clear out in a few months, as it has done in the past. The clearing of the ammonia cloud layer should begin with a number of dark spots like that seen by Hubble along the boundary of the south tropical zone. "The Hubble images tell us these spots are holes resulting from localized downdrafts taking place. We often see these types of holes when a change is about to occur," Simon-Miller says. "The SEB last faded in the early 1970s. We haven't been able to study this at this level of detail before," Simon-Miller adds. "The changes of the last few years are adding to an extraordinary database on dramatic cloud changes on Jupiter." Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
A new study has found HIV rates for black women in Atlanta and five other U.S. cities are higher than previously thought. The study found that the HIV rate was 0.24 percent for the 2,099 women in its cohort. This is five times higher than the rate estimated for black women by the CDC. HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus, damages a person’s body by destroying specific blood cells that are important to help fight diseases. It is the cause of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS, though not everyone with HIV develops the full-scale disease. The CDC estimates that 1.2 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV. The study, called the HPTN 064 Women’s HIV Seroincidence Study (ISIS), enrolled women, ages 18 to 44 years, from 10 community sites in six areas where HIV and poverty are common: Atlanta; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Washington, D.C.; Baltimore; Newark, N.J.; and New York City. Emory University served as the study site for Atlanta. With the help of community partners SisterLove, AID Atlanta, and Stand Inc., Emory enrolled 418 of the women in the study. Women were enrolled if they had not had a prior positive HIV test. Notably, the 0.24 percent rate in this study is comparable to the general HIV rates in sub-Saharan Africa, including the Democratic Republic of Congo (0.28 percent) and Kenya (0.53 percent). HIV is a major public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa, and the study suggests that it remains a major health concern for certain subpopulations in the U.S. “This study highlights the fact that HIV is still a problem in this country, particularly for those who are disproportionately impacted by the disease, including African-American women,’’ said one of the study’s principal investigators at Emory, Paula Frew, an assistant professor of medicine. “Importantly, it draws attention to the disparities that cluster together – poverty, race, and illness – and that we as a society must address these issues together to alleviate the burden of HIV/AIDS in the future,” Frew said. The women were interviewed about many aspects of their lives, including mental health, sexual behavior and financial insecurity. Frew said the investigators will also examine the non-HIV data collected. Women were enrolled in the study between May 2009 and July 2010. The ISIS study was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health. Deesha Patel is a second-year Master of Public Health student at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health. She is interested in health journalism and medical writing as well as epidemiologic research. SIGN UP TO RECEIVE OUR FREE EMAIL ALERTS Stay informed about health care news across Georgia and the nation. Help us pursue our nonprofit mission with a tax-deductible donation. EVERY LITTLE BIT HELPS
Pachelbel’s Canon in D is perhaps the most famous chord sequence of all time, and the basis of dozens of popular hits. If you can play and understand the Canon chord sequence, there isn’t much in popular music harmony you won’t be able to figure out! Its regular structure also makes it a great springboard for improvising and composition. This is Content Sample Page 1 for the Musicarta Canon Project on video platforms only. Browse the other Canon Project sample pages via the right-hand navigation table. The Musicarta Canon Project starts building your Canon performance straight away with a string of ‘thirds in the treble’. You learn to play them and then to play variations on them to produce a performance like this Module One target performance. This essential string of thirds, played here over one of the backing tracks included with the course, is thoroughly taught with video guidance so you can’t fail to learn, even if you don’t read music at all. As you can hear, even just on their own – and especially with one of the backing tracks – these thirds have lots of potential. You're making music right from the off with Musicarta! Can you hear how the simple string of third is being ‘mined’ for music in the module performance? If you already can, you have a talent worth developing. If you nearly can – and think you will be able to learn to – the Musicarta Canon Project is for you! Every module in the Pachelbel Canon Project has an ‘Audio Challenge’ to help you develop your musical ear. Module One has four simple thirds variations for you to try to play by ear. Here is one of them. Perhaps you can get it already? The written-out music for all the audio challenges is in the ‘Answers’ section at the back of the course workbook, and the MidiPiano performance video is always given on the module web page. The next step in building your Canon performance is to learn and add the bass line – the eight strong, low notes you’ll hear right at the start of any Pachelbel Canon recording. Musicarta has lots of ways to make sure the bass line goes into your memory and stays there, as a sound foundation for your performance and improvisation. Here’s the bass line in written-out music. …and as an audio file for you to copy. Note that all musical examples in the course have accompanying virtual keyboard performance videos on the module web pages so you can actually see what to play. Here, the notes are indicated on the keyboard. ...and here as an easily remembered sideways-on shape. Here are the bass notes combined with some of the thirds variations from Module One. You can already hear a real performance emerging from just these simple building blocks. The Pachelbel Canon is in the key of D major, which has two sharps (black keys) in its scale. A limited understanding of keys, key signatures and scales holds many popular-styles back. The Canon Project takes positive steps to make sure you are absolutely comfortable in the key of D. Classical pianists learn keys by practicing scales. The Canon Project includes a scale practice pattern module in D, but advanced exam-type scale-playing is not necessary. The keyboard diagrams in the Canon project work-book are ‘key-specific’ – they show the keyboard with the key signature already applied. The white keys that are not used are removed and the black keys that are not used are greyed out. And with all the videos on the course web pages, any tendency to 'forget about the key signature' is much less of a problem! Good modern keyboard players instinctively play three-note chords (triads) in the right hand with the melody note at the top. In Module Three of the Canon Project you add a note to the right hand thirds to make these triads. Keeping track of three notes at a time isn't easy to start with, so we use two hands, initially, to play the three-note chords. Here’s a sample performance. Module Four moves you quickly on to playing these triads with the right hand alone – with special emphasis on helping you keep track of all those shifting notes, and finding the fingers to play them. Here’s the MIDI file of that line of chords, playing on MidiPiano. Learning chords at the keyboard doesn’t get any easier than this - and all the musical examples in the workbook have demo MidiPiano performances like this! Once you can find the Pachelbel Canon right hand chords, adding the left hand bass line and one of the triad patterns from the previous module gets you this performance. If you take the triads down an octave and change the hand patterning just a little, you can start to hear the pop-rock potential of your growing keyboard chord knowledge. ‘Broken chord patterns’ are the backbone of the pop-styles keyboard player’s technique. The right hand triad is broken up, with the notes played one after another instead of all at once. To make the music it easier to understand and create spontaneously, we can use the letters B, M, T as a ‘shorthand’ for the bottom, middle and top notes of the chord. Listen carefully, and match up this music with the audio file below. (The whole-note chords are given just for reference, not played.) Here is the BMT coding for the next two-bar pattern. T B M T │T M B The rhythm is the same as before, but the middle two notes in the first bar of each pair have been swapped round. Can you play it? This is the end the first Musicarta Canon Project sample page, which has shown how you will build up to playing the eight right hand triads, and explore their potential over a simple bass line. The next sample page shows how we go on to develop the left hand accompaniment, and put the two together for impressive-sounding two-handed chord textures. The Musicarta Canon Project is a methodical step-by-step programme for building real, useful keyboard chord skills and understanding. If you’re serious about developing your musical talent, jump in and get with the programme! Click through to the second Pachelbel Canon Project sample page here.
We at Crossroads are obsessed by the weather….and with good reason. A storm in the Arctic can effect our programs. And comfort. You have to wonder about the animals which normally live beneath the Polar Vortex. For wildlife, fur coats are essential. In an article in National Wildlife Magazine, Emily and Per Ola D’Aulaire wrote about red fox: “The marvelous insulating quality of its fur enables the creature to sleep outside all year long. Indeed, the animal is apparently content to remain through the winter in such frigid areas as northwestern Canada and eastern Alaska, where temperatures plunge as low as minus 80 degrees. Curled into a tight ball, with its hairy tail covering the hairless nose and paw pads, a red fox breathes into its silken comforter, circulating warm air and resting as cozily as a man in thermal underwear lying inside a down sleeping bag.” This time of year, our local fox are developing their winter coats which have several layers. Closest to the skin is a short, thick “undercoat.” This wooly layer provides insulation and is shed in the spring. The beautiful red fur is made up of longer “guard hairs” which act like a windbreaker/raincoat to protect the animal from the elements. Frequently on winter hikes at Crossroads, we spot porcupines, usually high in evergreen trees. Their quills don’t even show in the winter unless the porkie is upset, and a porcupine up in a tree tends to take most things rather calmly. Porcupines also have multiple layers of fur. Quills are modified hair used for protection. Then, like fox, porkies have underfur–quite dark, rather short wooly hair. The guard hair–long yellow or whitish hairs– hide the quills and in winter, give the animal a sheepdoggish appearance. Deer, so sleek and svelte in summer, seem almost dumpy in winter. Their winter pelage is made of long thick hairs which are hollow. They keep body heat in and cold out. Snow falling on a deer may not even melt. The hollow hairs also make the deer buoyant in water, which is fortunate. Deer take to the water with surprising frequency during winter months. Some animals–ermine and snowshoe hare, for example–change color in winter, but more important than that, grow special fur that enables them to withstand cold. Beaver, mink….. all of our fur-bearing animals boast winter coats which tip the balance toward survival. In the wild, a fur coat is not a luxury. It’s a life preserver. The family program Saturday at 2:00 will be “Mammals in Winter.” Learners of all ages will visit our wildlife display to learn how the various mammal of Door County make it through the cold season. An optional hike will follow…..if it’s not too cold. Two nature hikes are scheduled for this week. On Friday at 10:00, the destination will be Crossroads Ida Bay Forest. Hikers will gather at the Collins Learning Center and travel by vehicle for this one hour exploration of the existing trails at our new preserve. At 4:00 on Sunday afternoon, we will hold a “Green and Gold Hike” at Crossroads, and we don’t expect to see any eagles, though it is within the realm of possibility. The last of our fall foliage will show their true colors.
What is a neurogenic bladder? Neurogenic bladder may also be called neuropathic bladder. The muscles and nerves of the urinary system work together to hold urine in the bladder and then release it at the appropriate time. Nerves carry messages from the bladder to the brain and from the brain to the muscles of the bladder telling them either to tighten or release. In a neurogenic bladder, the nerves that are supposed to carry these messages do not work properly, essentially paralyzing the bladder. What causes neurogenic bladder? In children a neurogenic bladder may be secondary to a birth defect or it may be acquired as the result of a different problem. The following are some of the most common causes of neurogenic bladder: - Spina bifida. A defect that occurs during early fetal development. The defect consists of incomplete bony closure of the spinal cord through which the spinal cord may or may not protrude. - Spinal cord trauma - Central nervous system tumors In many cases, neurogenic bladder is associated with the following: - Urine leakage. This often occurs when the muscles holding urine in the bladder do not get the right message. - Urine retention. This often happens if the muscles holding urine in the bladder do not get the message that it is time to let go. - Damage to the tiny blood vessels in the kidney. This often happens if the bladder becomes too full and urine backs up into the kidneys, causing extra pressure. - Infection of the bladder or ureters. This often results from urine that is held too long before being eliminated. What are the symptoms of neurogenic bladder? Each child may experience symptoms differently. Symptoms of neurogenic bladder may vary depending on the cause and other associated conditions. Symptoms of neurogenic bladder may resemble other conditions and medical problems. Always consult your child’s doctor for a diagnosis. How is a neurogenic bladder diagnosed? In addition to a complete medical history and physical examination, diagnostic procedures for neurogenic bladder may include: - Urine tests - Urodynamic study. During this study, your child’s bladder will be filled with saline so that the bladder volume and pressure may be measured. The tone or amount of contraction of the bladder can also be determined. What is the treatment for a neurogenic bladder? Specific treatment for a neurogenic bladder will be determined by your child’s doctor based on: - Your child’s age, overall health, and medical history - The extent of the disease - Your child’s tolerance for specific medications, procedures, or therapies - Expectations for the course of the disease - Your opinion or preference Treatment may include: - Insertion of a catheter or hollow tube to empty the bladder at regular intervals - Prophylactic (preventive) antibiotic therapy to reduce the incidence of infection - Placement of an artificial sphincter. A procedure that involves placing an artificial cuff around the neck of the bladder that can be inflated to prevent urinary incontinence and deflated when it is time to empty the bladder. These children will still require intermittent catheterization to completely empty the bladder. Please consult your doctor with any questions or concerns you may have regarding your condition.
If you made New Year's goals to exercise more (lots of us! Me too!) and get healthier in general, then be sure to include a super-important body part in your workout regimen: your brain. And I don't mean like this: Ha. But seriously--how often do you exercise your brain? The experts behind Lumosity--a brain-training site--say it's important to give your brain regular workouts. Not just because it helps keep your brain healthy and happy, but also because it will help the rest of you get in shape! Take a look at their tips for keeping your brain shipshape (I love these): Eat right.You do it for your body--why not your brain? Fruits and vegetables with antioxidants help prevent cell damage, and omega-3 fatty acids are important building blocks in the brain. Go to the gym.Regular exercise can help keep your brain fit with increased levels of brain chemicals and more efficient blood circulation. Studies have even shown that physical exercise stimulates the production of new brain cells. Get out more. Like, away from Facebook. We're social creatures and our brains really, really like social contact. Research has shown that having an active social life appears to delay age-related memory loss. Sleep. Sleep plays an important role in memory formation. Your brain uses sleep to process and make sense of the day, consolidate memories, and generate creative new ideas. Get your brain in boot camp. The best exercises for your brain are new challenges, such as memory games that use different parts of your brain and increase in difficulty as you improve on tasks. These games can even help improve self-esteem and willpower that can keep you motivated to carry out that resolution to exercise more. (PS: The games on Lumosity are actually really fun--the site works with institutions such as Harvard, Columbia and UC Berkeley to get research in order to design games specifically to improve brain function. But let me say again: fun!) Do you ever work out your brain? More on your beautiful brain:__
Spiders are a very common presence in most homes ... who has never happened to find a spider in the house that wanders undisturbed in the darkest and most unsuspected rooms and corners? This animal, belonging to the arachnid family, if taken individually is quite harmless and bites only if really threatened, however if it is not removed in time it causes discomfort and its presence becomes synonymous with poor cleaning and neglect. Spiders generally feed on insects that they capture and immobilize using the web, which is also used to form cocoons to protect the eggs. Some species live exclusively in the open, others can sneak into neighboring houses and rooms. Most spiders are harmless: they have venom glands, but the venom is mainly used to immobilize their small prey. Towards humans, spiders are usually not aggressive, but sometimes they can bite as a defense, only in some cases causing localized pain, redness and swelling. In Italy, only a few species of spiders can cause more serious symptoms, such as the Malmignatta or black widow (which lives outdoors, in environments with stones and shrubs) or the Violin spider, so called due to a characteristic violin-shaped spot on the side. front of the body. The sting of Lycosa tarentula, a large outdoor spider, can be painful but generally with localized effects. Ecopiakos Ecological Solutions - Leading company in Eastern Sicily- P.iva 05534520878
The vast majority of custom rifle makers do not manufacture their own barrels. It is simply too costly to perform this function in-house due to the cost of the equipment necessary and the relatively few barrels that the maker will require. This is, simply put, another area that required years of expertise to achieve anything close to perfection. Instead, they rely on specialists that usually do nothing but manufacture barrels. The three basic methods in common use for rifling a barrel are cut, button and hammer forging. Each method is widely used for custom rifle barrels. Each can and does produce quality barrels. Cut rifling is the oldest method and has been in use for about 500 years. I-read somewhere that it was invented in Germany about the time Columbus was sailing the ocean blue. It is performed basically as it has always been done, the only exception being the equipment used to perform the cutting. To simplify, cut rifling involves actually cutting or scraping the grooves in the steel to eventually form the lands and grooves of the rifling. These days, specialized equipment is used to insert a cutter in the drilled-and-reamed bore of the billet in order to cut and remove a small amount of steel with each pass of the cutter. While the cutting is going on, either the steel billet or the cutter is slowly rotated to form the twist in the rifling. Such twist normally is specified in number of inches required to complete one full turn in the bore. For example, the usual twist for a 30-06 is one in ten or 1:10. That means that the rifling requires ten inches to make one complete turn in the bore. The cutter is passed through the bore as many times as is necessary to cut the grooves to the desired depth, one groove at a time. The number of grooves cut in a barrel is variable, but three, four or six are the most common. Perhaps the most commonly used method today among custom barrel makers is button-rifling. In this method, the deep drilling and reaming are the same as for cut-rifling, except that the finished hole is slightly undersized for the button system. The barrel maker either makes or purchases a carbide “button” that contains the rifling impression in reverse in the button. Once the bore is drilled and reamed, this button is either pushed or pulled through the bore, essentially “ironing” the rifling into the steel of the bore. Whether pulling or pushing the button is the best method remains the subject of debate with advocates on both sides. I think that it is safe to say that a majority of barrel makers using the button method pull the button through the bore. Still, some much prefer pushing the button through. Excellent barrels can be and are made using both methods. The third method of rifling is hammer-forging. Another German development, this method is not in common use among custom barrel makers. In fact, I don’t know of a single one that hammer-forges their barrels. Many factories do, however. The cost of the equipment to hammer-forge a barrel is very expensive and is cost effective only for high volume barrel production. Hammer-forging is quite similar to button-rifling. In hammer-forging, the barrel billet is drilled and reamed as with the other systems. However, the billet is much shorter and much larger in diameter. The billet is inserted on a precisely finished bore-size mandrel containing the rifling (and in some cases, the chamber and outside contour as well) in reverse. This mandrel, with its stubby barrel billet attached, is then inserted into the hammer machine which literally pounds the steel in the billet to form not only the rifling in the bore, but some machines also forge the outside of the barrel billet to the final contour. One company, I believe it was Steyr from Austria, proudly proclaimed that their barrels were hammer-forged and the spiral hammer marks were left on the outside surface of the barrel to prove it. This system is very fast and very efficient at producing barrels in quantity and quality. The best of the hammerforge machines will produce a barrel about every three or four minutes. The commonly held view is that hammer-forging produces the least desirable quality barrels of the three methods although I haven’t found this to be particularly true. Very high quality barrels can be and are produced using all three of these methods of Personally, I think the major difference in quality of barrels produced by all three methods is much more dependent on the experience of and care exercised by the operator and the condition of the equipment being used than it is the method employed. Learn More About Custom Rifle Barrels There’s plenty about custom rifle barrels and more in the new book, Custom Rifles: Mastery of Wood & Metal. It provides an entertaining and informative look at custom rifles, and how they are made. Click to order Custom Rifles: Mastery of Wood & Metal.
The flu epidemic has invaded 48 states, overwhelming medical facilities, exhausting vaccine supplies, and killing 29 children and thousands of seniors. Both the problem and solution to this disaster hinge on how we relate to animals raised for food. Indeed, 61 percent of the 1,415 pathogens known to infect humans originate with animals. The more recent, contagious, and deadly viruses among these include Asian, dengue fever, Ebola, H5N1 (bird), HIV, SARS, West Nile, and yellow fever. The pandemic "Spanish" flu of 1918, killed 20-50 million people worldwide, and the World Health Organization predicts more pandemics in the future. Today's factory farms are virtual flu factories. Sick, crowded, highly stressed animals in contact with contaminated feces and urine provide ideal incubation media for viruses. As these microbes reach humans, they mutate to defeat the new host's immune system, then propagate by contact. Each of us can help end animal farming and build up our own immune system against the flu by replacing animal products in our diet with vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. These foods don't carry flu viruses, or government warning labels, are touted by every major health advocacy organization, and were the recommended fare in the Garden of Eden.
wholesale price index, measure of changes in the prices charged by manufacturers and wholesalers. Wholesale price indexes measure the changes in commodity prices at a selected stage or stages before goods reach the retail level; the prices may be those charged by manufacturers to wholesalers or by wholesalers to retailers or by some combination of these and other distributors. In the United States, the index measures the price movements of all commodities flowing into primary markets of the United States—whether domestically produced or imported. Primary markets are those in which a good in a given stage of fabrication is first sold in substantial quantities. Because primary markets include goods of all degrees of fabrication, the same commodity is often priced at several stages of processing. Cotton, for example, is priced in the form of raw cotton, cotton yarn, cotton gray goods, cotton piece goods, and cotton clothing. One of the earliest wholesale price indexes was produced for Great Britain in 1886, covering the period after 1846. The official wholesale price index in the United Kingdom, produced by the Board of Trade, goes back to 1871. In the United States, the first major effort to summarize wholesale price changes through index numbers was published in a report of the U.S. Senate in 1893. The present wholesale price index of the United States, maintained by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, has been computed for the period since 1890. In both the United Kingdom and the United States, economic historians have attempted to reconstruct wholesale price indexes for the 19th century that are superior to the early efforts. The number and character of the commodities included in wholesale price indexes vary widely from country to country. In large industrial countries like the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany, the commodities that are included usually number in the thousands; but for most countries it is much smaller, often only 100 or 200. The smaller numbers of products will serve well enough if only a general all-commodities index (or a few subindexes at most) is wanted. Greater numbers are required when many subindexes are desired. The United States, for example, publishes indexes for commodities classified according to stage of processing (crude materials, intermediate materials, and finished goods), according to the durability or nondurability of the products, and according to the economic sector for which goods are intended (consumers, producers, etc.). The commodities are also grouped into 15 categories and nearly 100 subgroups (fresh fruits, grains, etc.) and a large number of product classes (apples, bananas, barley, corn, etc.), for each of which monthly price indexes are published. In addition, there are a number of indexes for special commodity groups such as various categories of pharmaceutical preparations. The number of commodities included in the U.S. index has expanded from 250 when the index was started in 1902 to about 2,400 in the late 20th century. The new commodities have tended to be more highly fabricated and to have more stable prices, and they have therefore dampened the fluctuations in the index. One reason for the inclusion of more commodities was a gradual shift in the conception of the function of the index. Originally it was regarded as a measure of movements in the general price level, but as other indexes became available, such as the consumer price index, less reliance was placed on the wholesale price index for this purpose. At the same time, there was a growing demand for subindexes pertaining to particular classes of products for various business and analytical purposes. Countries in which industrial production is not highly variegated usually have smaller numbers of product classifications; these serve to distinguish between price movements of domestic goods and price movements of imports and between those of food or agricultural products and those of industrial products. Raw materials and standardized products in early processing stages that are easy to price tend to be well represented in the wholesale price indexes of all countries; whereas more complex types of producers’ goods, such as heavy electrical equipment, tend to be underrepresented or omitted even in the indexes of the advanced industrial countries. This is a source of upward bias in the general wholesale indexes since there is reason to believe that technological change has been particularly important in bringing about improvements in complex goods. Price data used to construct the indexes are usually gathered from business firms by mail, less frequently from trade journals and trade associations, and also from government purchasing agents. Weights are generally based on relative sales volume. Data from censuses of production (manufacturing, mining, agriculture, etc.) are used for weights when they are available.
Is X-Ray radiation dangerous ? X-Ray institutes perform radiography only if necessary. Exposure to dental X-Ray radiography is minimal and the damage is negligible. Damage that might occur from failing to treat teeth problems exceeds potential damage (if any) from X-Ray photographs. Taking precautionary measures and using proper machinery, focusing the ray and proper protective equipment reduces the potential damage. Every dental institute must carry a valid license from the Ministry of Health for each X-Ray machine separately. The license is renewed annually. To those who are concerned about the amount of radiation of X-Ray at the dental clinic, It can be said that the amount of radiation absorbed by dental photographs versus regular surrounding radiation we absorb daily certainly will surprise many. Well, the amount of exposure on two bite photographs, equal to radiation absorbed during 8-10 hours of life (depending on the type of filter on the X-Ray device). Status photograph equal external radiation we absorb without being aware of it at 2-5 days of life, and panoramic radiography equals to 10-20 hours of cosmic radiation. In comparison during a a status or panoramic radiography we absorbs 1 part of 20 from the amount of radiation we absorb during a one chest radiograph.
So many items in the home and office are potential poisoning risks, from cleaners to medications to personal care items. Kids are particularly at risk of ingesting poisons because they don't always know the difference between what's safe and what's not. Bruce D. Anderson, director of operations at the Maryland Poison Center, has heard it all. He answers questions about who calls the center and what help they can get. Who is most likely to get poisoned? The short answer is: everyone. Everyone is at risk for poisoning. We routinely get calls from folks of all ages, all backgrounds and for all sorts of reasons. People call about possible toxic exposures at work or call to ask questions about their medications or call because their roommate took all of their medications at one time to try to hurt themselves. In fact, people call us about their pets getting into things. We hear about it all. However, nearly half of the 35,000 or so human exposure calls the [Maryland Poison Center] manages each year involve a child under the age of 6 years who has gotten into something in their surroundings. Toddlers often stick things in their mouth as they explore their environment. Very young children also can't tell that the bright blue stuff in the bottle of window cleaner is actually window cleaner and not a sports drink. There are a lot of products that look like candy or food, but really are potentially toxic substances. What are the most common household poisons, and are snake and insect bites also a problem? The MPC gets calls about all sorts of products. You name it, we've probably been called about it and probably been called 1,000 times previously about that exact product or situation. Folks often tell us, "You're never going to believe what just happened …" Since the poison center arrived at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in 1972, we've managed over 1.9 million exposures. Most of those calls involve commonly available household products. If it's something found in every home, we'll get called about it commonly. Examples: cleaners like bleach and ammonia, over-the-counter medications like Tylenol and Motrin, common personal care items like toothpaste and deodorants, but also things like houseplants or mushrooms from the yard or pesticides. And, yes, we get calls about folks that have snakebites or spider bites. The bottom line: We get calls about everything. If you have a question, just call and we'll help you out. Are there steps to take before calling for help? The most important thing to do is to call and ask for help. The poison specialists that staff the MPC hot line are either pharmacists or nurses who have additional toxicology training and certification. They'll guide you through the process of trying to figure out what's happening. They will ask questions about what happened, who was exposed, what they were exposed to, how the patient is doing, what treatments have been provided and other questions. If possible, find the product container the person was exposed to. If someone was exposed to a medicine, get the pill bottle so that we can be sure exactly what the substance was, how much the person could have been exposed to, etc. It's also important to remember that if the patient isn't breathing, is seizing or bleeding profusely, then call 911. Why not just call 911 when poisoning is suspected instead of a poison center? Well, if the patient isn't breathing, is seizing or is bleeding profusely, then you need to call 911. If the patient is doing OK, just call the Maryland Poison Center. Why? We're the experts in dealing with poisonings. In fact, who do you think 911 calls when they have a poisoning case? In the vast majority of situations, with the help of the poison specialists, we can manage people safely at home without the need for an ambulance and a trip to the emergency department. Who answers the phones at the Maryland Poison Center and where is it housed? A: The folks that staff the MPC are all either pharmacists or nurses that work full time in the MPC. They all have additional toxicology training and certification. When you call the MPC, you're getting connected to the experts. In addition, those poison specialists are supported by a medical director who is board-certified in emergency medicine and medical toxicology, a director who is a board-certified toxicologist and a faculty member who [has a doctorate in pharmacology and] a master's in public health. In addition, we have outside consultants that are available for really unusual circumstances where additional expertise is needed (e.g., we have mycologists available for assistance identifying potentially toxic mushrooms, occupational medicine physicians for possible workplace exposures, etc.). The MPC is a service program of the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. The program has been hosted by the UM School of Pharmacy and providing free poison information service to Marylanders for the past 39 years. We're located on the UM Baltimore campus in downtown Baltimore. What can you do to prevent poisonings? There are a couple basics that everyone can do to try to prevent poisonings from occurring. Be aware of the potentially toxic products in your environment. That means know what's in your home, your garage, even the places you stay for your vacation. You can keep all medicines locked up. Just putting stuff higher up on a shelf or above the refrigerator doesn't prevent some children from getting into things. Keep all products in their original containers. We commonly hear about exposures to things like cleaners or automotive products because they have been stored in soda bottles or some other container. Not only is it more likely that someone is going to accidentally drink the product, but once that exposure happens, people don't know exactly what was in the container. There's no label to tell you what the product is. And, most importantly, know that if a poisoning does occur, you have access to the best available poison triage and treatment information by simply dialing 1-800-222-1222.
We’re all aware that preparing food from scratch (or as close to scratch as possible) is almost always a healthier choice than eating out. When we assemble our meals at home, we control the portion size and the amount of added sugar and salt; plus, our ingredients are likely fresher than those found at your average restaurant. (Not to mention, when we eat at home, we’re probably reducing our food expenses, especially if you follow our savvy grocery shopping tips.) If you want to take your healthy home cooking to next level, plan how you will prepare your foods, especially your veggies. While vegetables are often the most nutrient-dense items on our plate, many of those vital nutrients are vulnerable to degradation when exposed to heat. Here are a few essential food preparation tips to follow if you want to make sure you’re getting the most nutrients from your veggies. Preparing Healthy Vegetables at Home Eating raw. Eating raw is an excellent way to enjoy produce in its most natural state. It’s also the best way to make sure you’re getting the full vitamin C content of your food (heating food reduces vitamin C content). An all-raw diet probably isn’t the solution for many people, however. Not only can abundant raw foods be difficult on your digestive system, there is also some benefit to cooking certain foods. For example, gentle cooking methods increase the availability of lycopene and carotenoids. Sautéing. Although sautéing decreases the available vitamin C in foods, it may actually increase the availability of other antioxidants as well as fat-soluble vitamins (as sautéing usually involves adding a small amount of oil (fat) to a pan). Steaming. Sure, steamed foods may not be the most enticing, but their nutritional quality is superb. Steaming allows veggies to maintain carotenoids, glucosinolates, sulphorane, folate, phytochemicals, and water-soluble vitamin B. Spice and Everything Nice If gentler methods of cooking leave something to be desired flavorwise, don’t hesitate to experiment with spices (spice blends are great for beginner cooks!). Try adding some acid to your food, too. Yummy acids include apple cider vinegar, white or red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, and citrus juices–a squirt of fresh lemon can make a huge difference! When you have the time, creating custom sauces and marinades can also help elevate the flavor of basic veggies. What about starchy vegetables? Vegetables like winter squash and sweet potato have a starchy quality and tend not to digest as nicely when they’re not properly cooked. Steam, bake, or sauté these veggies until they are fork-tender, and your tummy will thank you. In general, avoid overcooking vegetables. Boiling and grilling (to the point of charring the food) tend to reduce the nutrient value of foods. However, these methods may be most suitable if you’re working on acquiring a taste for new veggies–as little beats a good sear on some asparagus or zucchini. Ultimately, it’s about finding balance with your cooking methods. In my own cooking, I tend to stick to the lighter methods of cooking, like steaming or lightly sautéing, for the bulk of my veggies, but I also enjoy roasted things, too. Sometimes I will even combine the methods in one meal. What’s your favorite way to cook vegetables? More cooking tips: Best Vegan Cooking Tips From Pro Chefs Get more like this–sign up for our newsletter for exclusive inspirational content! Photo: Peaceful Dumpling, Lauren Kirchmaier, Olivia Parr, Mary Hood Luttrell
- Web sites External Web sites - How Stuff Works - History - Chickasaw - Indians.org - Chickasaw Indians - Texas State Historical Association - The Handbook of Texas Online - Chickasaw Indians - The Official Site of the Chickasaw Nation Information on this self-governing native American tribe of Oklahoma, U.S. Features their government, constitution, art and culture, socio-economic guide, business enterprises, museums, library, and a schedule of events. Britannica Web sites Articles from Britannica encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. - Chickasaw - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11) The Chickasaw are a Native American tribe that originally lived in what is now the southeastern United States. Their traditional homeland was centered in what is now northern Mississippi, but it also included parts of what are now Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky. - Chickasaw - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up) An American Indian tribe, the Chickasaw once claimed a huge territory in what is now the southeastern United States. Their traditional homeland was centered in what are now northern Mississippi and Alabama, but it also covered parts of what are now Tennessee, Kentucky, and Arkansas. The Chickasaw may have once been united with the Choctaw as a single tribe. Like many other Southeast Indian peoples, the Chickasaw spoke a language of the Muskogean language family.
Scrabble?! PARAGRAPHIs paragraph valid for Scrabble? Words With Friends? Lexulous? WordFeud? Other games? Definitions of PARAGRAPH in various dictionaries: noun - one of several distinct subdivisions of a text intended to separate ideas verb - divide into paragraphs, as of text verb - write about in a paragraph There are 9 letters in PARAGRAPH ( A1G2H4P3R1 ) To search all scrabble anagrams of PARAGRAPH, to go: PARAGRAPH? Rearrange the letters in PARAGRAPH and see some winning combinations Scrabble results that can be created with an extra letter added to PARAGRAPH 9 letters out of PARAGRAPH 7 letters out of PARAGRAPH Anagrammer is a game resource site that has been extremely popular with players of popular games like Scrabble, Lexulous, WordFeud, Letterpress, Ruzzle, Hangman and so forth. We maintain regularly updated dictionaries of almost every game out there. To be successful in these board games you must learn as many valid words as possible, but in order to take your game to the next level you also need to improve your anagramming skills, spelling, counting and probability analysis. Make sure to bookmark every unscrambler we provide on this site. Explore deeper into our site and you will find many educational tools, flash cards and so much more that will make you a much better player. This page covers all aspects of PARAGRAPH, do not miss the additional links under "More about: PARAGRAPH"
- Web sites External Web sites Britannica Web sites Articles from Britannica encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. - hemlock - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11) Hemlocks are tall evergreen trees in the pine family. There are about 10 species, or types, of hemlock found in North America and eastern Asia. Hemlocks grow slowly and can live for 800 years or more. - hemlock - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up) A member of the pine family of trees, the hemlock can be distinguished from other pines by the structure of its branches and needles. Its slender, horizontal branches tend to droop. The needles are short, flat, and blunt-tipped.
January 25, 2007 The below is an edited extract from an address to be delivered at the annual conference of the Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN) later this week What’s the single biggest factor affecting a child’s educational performance? International evidence suggests it is is parental participation. Children perform best when their parents are involved in their education. So much for the fuss about school league tables. In fact, the research shows that the quality of a school has very little to do with one student doing well and another falling behind. Of course poverty, inequality, class sizes or lack of facilities are problems and can be contributing factors to a child’s lack of success but they are not at the very core of the issue. The home environment is crucial. But parents, the architects of this home environment, are working more than ever. The CSO recently revealed that close to 60 per cent of women are working, as opposed to 43 per cent 10 years ago. Many of these women are mothers, and fathers are not staying at home in great numbers. Many parents no longer have the time to juggle homework with commuting and a busy job. Parental investment in children is waning across society. Richer parents can minimise the impact by buying their way out of trouble with grinds and expensive schools. But for those who can’t, we need to think of ways to minimise the impact on children’s education. This is important for a number of reasons. First, the success of the State will be dependent on the brains of these children. If we can minimise the educational impact of a negative home environment, society will benefit in terms of welfare, prison and health costs later. Second, this is not an issue that is going to contain itself. The CSO trends would indicate that the difficulties faced by parents and children are only going to get worse and in these situations, failure breeds failure. Third, if we can ever afford to do something about this, we can afford to do it now. Pouring money into reducing class sizes, providing resource teachers and equipment is not as effective as you might think. The problem is that by the time these measures kick in it’s far too late. Disparity in educational achievement between one child and another does not develop over a school career. It only widens. If one child arrives in school able to read and another child of the same age doesn’t know how to open a book, the gap is already there. Early intervention in education is the key to minimising problems caused by a negative home environment. It is also a good way to involve parents who might not otherwise have become involved in their child’s education. American research shows that investment in education pays for itself when it is done early. Believe it or not, the benefit-cost ratio of early intervention is measured at eight to one. Later measures such as resource teaching and reduction in class size are in no way as effective. The benefit decreases as the child gets older. The Jesuits – who advised getting them young – had the right idea. So while the need for and benefits of early intervention are clear, let’s take a look at where we are at the moment. In Ireland, we have made huge strides but there is still the problem of persistent underachievement in certain areas. Our investment in pre-primary education is negligible and our spending on primary and secondary education is well below the OECD average. In the past number of years, we have been concentrating on the brains at the very high end of education. The Knowledge Economy is the favourite phrase of anybody, politician or otherwise, who is talking about investment in education. The idea is that Ireland needs to cultivate a research and design industry in areas such as engineering, technology and science before the Chinese and others like them take all our manufacturing jobs. Thus we are currently focusing enormous amounts of money on fourth-level education in an effort to build an industry that will keep things going when all the multinationals leave. It may make sense to those in charge. According to them, we’ll have a big head start on China and India and by the time those countries get their acts together, Ireland will have its high-end R&D industry up and running. But what is the point in spending vast amounts of money on fourth level if we have whole sections of society that have no hope of getting there? What use are free third-level fees when the only people availing of them can afford to pay? Simply, the State should invest more in the education of very young children to replace the lack of parental investment. Existing Early Start programmes have been evaluated but have not been running for long enough for us to see the effect on the children’s progression to further education . A form of this intervention took place in Ireland in the 1970s. The Rutland Project was a pre-school programme that sought to introduce children to a school setting and it also involved parents in their children’s education. The findings of the programme were interesting, in that any immediate advantage that the children in the programme had on entering school dissipated within three years. However, the benefits of the programme came to the fore later on when it was found that the participants were far more likely to go on and achieve formal educational qualifications. Again, evidence from the US shows that early intervention in pre-schools for poor children and more active teaching of the very young yields enormous benefits. Invest money in PhD students as we are doing and the rate of return falls completely. So where’s the problem? Why are we so reluctant to have a real vision in education? There are two main problems as I see it. First, the political problem. Long-term gains don’t interest political parties that are up for re-election next year. There are few votes in a strong vision for the longer term. Second, the teacher unions. If teachers are pushing for radical change in educational investment or policy, their case would be stronger if they were serious about delivering the best possible education to Irish students. But they are still much too defensive about under-performing teachers. And that undermines their wider credibility as agents for change with the general public.
Updated on September 19, 2019 Septic Tank – Rainwater Harvesting Is a Good Option in Storing and Conserving Water Rainwater harvesting is the collection of rainwater from the roofing system of residences and structures. The water that was gathered from harvesting can after be used for domestic functions, for ranch use, for watering and various other objectives. If it will certainly be used for household purposes you can utilize it for cleaning clothes, cleaning the cars and trucks, watering the plants and various other family usages. If it will certainly be made use of for consuming it must be processed and go through filtration and should pass through lab examination to guarantee that it will be risk-free and drinkable. Water harvesting can be an efficient cash and water saving for the majority of home owners. Rain gathering from rooftops is common since it is simple to gather rain. From the rain gutters of your rooftops you can attach a pipe causing your container, storage tank or storage system. The size of the storage system you need to prepare relies on the quantity of rain you need. Rainwater harvesting is a great method since you will certainly be able to conserve water and conserve it. Rainwater may have some particles as you accumulate it but you can stop this by making use of screen to filter the water even prior to it enters the pipeline from the seamless gutters of your roofs. As the initial rains of the season touch your roof you must allow it to clean your roof coverings and after that the following rain can be gathered and stored for future usage. Most often markets method rainwater gathering for their industrial use. Rainwater harvesting is a great method specifically if there is scarcity of water. You can preserve a lot of water through rainwater harvesting. Rain harvesting is additionally made use of to charge groundwater supply. After a lengthy dry spell you can expect the adhering to will be succeeding hefty rains. For groundwater recharge, ponds, lakes, and other unlined water surface tank can be used as taking reservoir and filter prior to it get to the below ground source. This will additionally improve the top quality of groundwater supply. Rainwater additionally helps to alleviate flooding. If even more rainwater is collected especially in the cities it will certainly minimize floods. Rain harvesting also helps reduce erosion. You all recognize that rain triggers hefty runoff particularly in mountainous and sloping areas where there are no more trees around that would certainly assist in soil erosion. With collecting dirt disintegration is reduced consequently saving lives and buildings in low lying locations and look at this site https://hutbephottaihanoi.vn/hut-be-phot-tai-hoang-mai/.
What is cybersecurity? Cybersecurity is the body of technologies, processes and practices designed to protect networks, computers, programs and data from attack, damage or unauthorized access. - NIST Cybersecurity Guidance for Small-Business Owners - 2016 - Cybersecurity Year in Review - Personal Identifiable Information - Cybersecurity Awareness Month - Finance and Technology - PA $AFE - National Cyber-Forensics & Training Alliance - New Video to help Consumers October 25, 2016 - FinCEN IssuesAdvisory to Financial Institutions on Cyber-Events and Cyber-Enabled Crime (PDF) - The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an advisory to financial institutions on cyber-events and cyber-enabled crime. Cybercriminals target the financial system to defraud financial institutions and their customers and to further other illegal activities. Financial institutions can play an important role in protecting the U.S. financial system from these threats. In addition to the advisory, FinCEN also issued Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) (PDF) regarding the reporting of cyber-events, cyber-enabled crime, and cyber-related information through Suspicious Activity Reports. October 2016 - Secretary's Letter on Cybersecurity The Department continues to work collaboratively with federal regulators, other states financial regulators, and other Commonwealth agencies to address cybersecurity challenges. October 2016 - FFIEC Announces it will host two webinars in observance of Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Register for the webinars here. September 2016 - The FFIEC issued a Revised Information Security Booklet on September 9, 2016, which is part of the FFIEC Information Technology Examination Handbook. 2016 - A Presidential Policy Directive (PPD-41) released on July 26, 2016, sets forth principles governing the federal government’s response to any cyber incident, whether involving government or private sector entities. For significant cyber incidents, PPD-41 also establishes lead federal agencies and an architecture for coordinating the broader federal government response. Presidential Policy Directive - United States Cyber Incident Coordination July 2016 - Cybersection - The Quarter Newsletter (PDF) 2016 - FFIEC issues Joint Statement on Cybersecurity of Interbank Messaging and Wholesale Payment Networks FIL-37-2016 2016 - Cybersection - - The Quarter Newsletter (PDF) Resources for Businesses - Patch-Management and Software Security Precautions - Federal Regulators Release Revised Management IT Booklet - Data Breach Protocol - Cybersecurity Act of 2015 - DOBS Staff Recognized at PA Digital Government Summi October 2015 - Cybersection - The Quarter Newsletter (PDF) - Cybersecurity Task Force Announced September 2015 - Cybersecurity Efforts and Resources (PDF) A letter from the Secretary of Banking and Securities to all state-chartered and licensed entities announcing the formation of a Cybersecurity Task Force, describing Commonwealth cybersecurity efforts, and encouraging the development of cybersecurity attack prevention and mitigation plans using available and recommended resources.
Home > Articles Index Feline Leukemia Virus What is feline leukemia virus? Feline leukemia virus (FeLV), a retrovirus, so named because of the way it behaves within infected cells. All retroviruses, including feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), produce an enzyme, reverse transcriptase, which permits them to insert copies of their own genetic material into that of the cells they have infected. Although related, FeLV and FIV differ in many ways, including their shape: FeLV is more circular while FIV is elongated. The two viruses are also quite different genetically, and their protein consituents are dissimlar in size and composition. Although many of the diseases caused by FeLV and FIV are similar, the specific ways in which they are caused differs. How common is the infection? FeLV-infected cats are found worldwide, but the prevalence of infection varies greatly depending on their age, health, environment, and lifestyle. In the United States, approximately 2 to 3% of all cats are infected with FeLV. Rates rise significantly13% or morein cats that are ill, very young, or otherwise at high risk of infection. How is FeLV spread? Cats persistently infected with FeLV serve as sources of infection. Virus is shed in very high quantities in saliva and nasal secretions, but also in urine, feces, and milk from infected cats. Cat-to-cat transfer of virus may occur from a bite wound, during mutual grooming, and (though rarely) through the shared use of litter boxes and feeding dishes. Transmission can also take place from an infected mother cat to her kittens, either before they are born or while they are nursing. FeLV doesn't survive long outside a cat's bodyprobably less than a few hours under normal household conditions. What cats are at greatest risk of infection? Cats at greatest risk of infection are those that may be exposed to infected cats, either via prolonged close contact or through bite wounds. Such cats include: - Cats living with infected cats or with cats of unknown infection status - Cats allowed outdoors unsupervised, where they may be bitten by an infected cat - Kittens born to infected mothers Kittens are much more susceptible to infection than are adult cats, and therefore are at the greatest risk of infection if exposed. But accompanying their progression to maturity is an increasing resistance to FeLV infection. For example, the degree of virus exposure sufficient to infect 100% of young kittens will infect only 30% or fewer adults. Nonetheless, even healthy adult cats can become infected if sufficiently exposed. What does FeLV do to a cat? Feline leukemia virus adversely affects the cat's body in many ways. It is the most common cause of cancer in cats, it may cause various blood disorders, and it may lead to a state of immune deficiency that hinders the cat's ability to protect itself against other infections. The same bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and fungi that may be found in the everyday environmentwhere they usually do not affect healthy animalscan cause severe illness in those with weakened immune systems. These secondary infections are responsible for many of the diseases associated with FeLV. What are the signs of disease caused by FeLV? During the early stages of infection, it is common for cats to exhibit no signs of disease at all. However, over timeweeks, months, or even yearsthe cat's health may progressively deteriorate or be characterized by recurrent illness interspersed with periods of relative health. Signs can include: - Loss of appetite - Slow but progressive weight loss, followed by severe wasting late in the disease process - Poor coat condition - Enlarged lymph nodes - Persistent fever - Pale gums and other mucus membranes - Inflammation of the gums (gingivitis) and mouth (stomatitis) - Infections of the skin, urinary bladder, and upper respiratory tract - Persistent diarrhea - Seizures, behavior changes, and other neurological disorders - A variety of eye conditions - In unspayed female cats, abortion of kittens or other reproductive failures I understand there are two stages of FeLV infection. What are they? FeLV is present in the blood (a condition called viremia) during two different stages of infection: - Primary viremia, an early stage of virus infection. During this stage some cats are able to mount an effective immune response, eliminate the virus from the bloodstream, and halt progression to the secondary viremia stage. - Secondary viremia, a later stage characterized by persistent infection of the bone marrow and other tissue. If FeLV infection progresses to this stage it has passed a point of no return: the overwhelming majority of cats with secondary viremia will be infected for the remainder of their lives. How is infection diagnosed? Two types of FeLV blood tests are in common use. Both detect a protein component of the virus as it circulates in the bloodstream. - ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) and similar tests can be performed in your veterinarian's office. ELISA-type tests detect both primary and secondary stages of viremia. - IFA (indirect immunofluorescent antibody assay) tests must be sent out to a diagnostic laboratory. IFA tests detect secondary viremia only, so the majority of positive-testing cats remain infected for life. Each testing method has strengths and weaknesses. Your veterinarian will likely suggest an ELISA-type test first, but in some cases, both tests must be performedand perhaps repeatedto clarify a cat's true infection status. How can I keep my cat from becoming infected? The only sure way to protect cats is to prevent their exposure to FeLV-infected cats. - Keep cats indoors, away from potentially infected cats that might bite them. If you do allow your cats outdoor access, provide supervision or place them in a secure enclosure to prevent wandering and fighting. - Adopt only infection-free cats into households with uninfected cats. - House infection-free cats separately from infected cats, and don't allow infected cats to share food and water bowls or litter boxes with uninfected cats. - Consider FeLV vaccination of uninfected cats. (FeLV vaccination of infected cats is not beneficial.) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of vaccination with your veterinarian. FeLV vaccines are widely available, but since not all vaccinated cats will be protected, preventing exposure remains important even for vaccinated pets. FeLV vaccines will not cause cats to receive false positive results on ELISA, IFA, or any other available FeLV tests. I just discovered that one of my cats has FeLV, yet I have other cats as well. What should I do? Unfortunately, many FeLV-infected cats are not diagnosed until after they have lived with other cats. In such cases, all other cats in the household should be tested for FeLV. Ideally, infected and non-infected cats should then be separated to eliminate the potential for FeLV transmission. How should FeLV-infected cats be managed? - Confine FeLV-infected cats indoors to reduce their exposure to other infectious agents carried by animals, and to prevent the spread of infection to other cats in the neighborhood. - Spay or neuter FeLV-infected cats. - Feed nutritionally complete and balanced diets. - Avoid uncooked food, such as raw meat and eggs, and unpasteurized dairy products because the risk of food-borne bacterial and parasitic infections is much higher in immunosuppressed cats. - Schedule wellness visits with your veterinarian at least once every six months. Although a detailed physical examination of all body systems should be performed, your veterinarian should pay special attention to the health of the gums, eyes, skin, and lymph nodes. A complete blood count, serum biochemical analysis, and a urine analysis should be performed at every examination. Additionally, your cat's weight should be accurately measured and recorded, as weight loss is often the first sign of deterioration. - Closely monitor the health and behavior of your FeLV-infected cat. Alert your veterinarian to any changes in your cat's health immediately. - There is no scientific evidence that alternative, immunomodulator, or antiviral medications have any positive benefits on the health or longevity of healthy infected cats. How long can I expect my FeLV-infected cat to live? It is impossible to accurately predict the life expectancy of a cat infected with FeLV. With appropriate care and under ideal conditions, infected cats can remain in apparent good health for many months, although most succumb to a FeLV-related disease within two or three years after becoming infected. If your cat has already experienced one or more severe illnesses as a result of FeLV infection, or if persistent fever, weight loss, or cancer is present, a much shorter survival time can be expected. My FeLV-infected cat died recently after a long illness. How should I clean my home before bringing in a new cat? Feline leukemia virus will not survive outside the cat for more than a few hours in most environments. However, FeLV-infected cats are frequently infected with other hardier infectious agents, and these may pose some threat to a newcomer. Thoroughly clean and disinfect or replace food and water dishes, bedding, litter pans and toys. A dilute solution of household bleach (4 ounces of bleach in a gallon of water) makes an excellent disinfectant. Vacuum carpets and mop floors. Any new cats or kittens should be properly vaccinated before entering the household. Can people become infected with FeLV? Epidemiological and laboratory studies have failed to provide evidence that FeLV can be transmitted from infected cats to humans. Regardless, FeLV-infected cats may carry other diseases. At greatest risk of infection are elderly or immunosuppressed people (e.g., those with AIDS, or receiving immunosuppressive medications such as chemotherapy), infants, and unborn children. It is recommended that pregnant women, people with suppressed immune systems, the very young, and the very old avoid contact with FeLV-infected cats.
The previous post on the geodesic dome greenhouse outlined the logic in choosing a dome for this site and how it was by far the better option for fitting in all the things I wanted to have in this greenhouse. These include an aquaponics system and a bathroom as well as growing space for tropical and frost-tender fruits and vegetables, seed growing areas, a rocket-stove water heater and a worm farm – a fair bit to cram into an area measuring just 7x5m at the outset. I also wanted to build in a subterranean heating & cooling system (SHCS) to make even better use of all the thermal mass present in the solid bedrock floor and back wall. This is a proven low-tech solution for maintaining comfortable temperatures and humidity levels in the greenhouse year round. It can minimise or even eliminate the need for supplementary heating or cooling. It works like this. Vertical pipes containing in-line duct fans are placed at various points in the greenhouse. They connect to underground perforated drainage pipes which cover as large an area as possible. The underground pipes exit at the surface. The fans are set to automatically come on when the difference between soil and air temperatures exceeds a set amount. So when the air is hotter than the soil by x°C, the fans come on, pulling the hot air down into the underground pipes where it’s cooled, the water vapour condenses out of it, and it’s released back into the greenhouse drier and cooler. When the air is cooler than the soil by x°C, the fans again come on, pulling the cold air underground where it’s warmed by the heat stored in the thermal mass surrounding the pipes. It exits back into the greenhouse warmer and moister. With 90% of the greenhouse sitting on solid bedrock, I had 3 options: - break out another half metre’s depth of bedrock to accommodate the pipework (not really a sensible option with no means of getting serious machinery to the site); - lay a half metre’s depth of crushed bedrock over the SHCS system and then build the greenhouse on that (again, not an easy option without serious machinery and the crushed bedrock would have to be brought in); - lay the SHCS pipes at the base of the beds and terraces inside the greenhouse as we built them. The first two options would be costly in time and money but allow for an optimal system to be constructed. The third option wouldn’t cost anything but would likely result in less than the ideal length of pipework for the size of the greenhouse. But I reckoned that once the passive effect of all the thermal mass underlying, surrounding and within the greenhouse is taken into account, the greenhouse’s ‘climate battery’ should perform well enough for its climate and situation to make this workable and worthwhile. Winter average temperatures here are around 5°C and rarely get much below -5°C. I’ve seen -12°C, but only once. Ground temperatures are around 12°C. I used 110mm grey waste pipe for the rigid vertical sections and 100mm perforated land drain for the underground sections. These are connected via manifolds made from 5-litre plastic bottles. This was very simple to do since the manifolds don’t need to be airtight – the air going through them is passing into perforated land drain, after all. The first section is at the base of the large central growing bed. The bed is roughly 1m deep. In these images, the walls are only partly constructed. The second section underlies the aquaponics fishpond and terraces at the back of the dome. The third section runs round the lower perimeter of the greenhouse outside the frame. Since the heatsink itself doesn’t need to be within the greenhouse envelope – only the entrance and exit need to be inside – we could use this space to our advantage. And there’s no bedrock in this area! The next stage, after completing the second length of the second section, will be to install the fans and the remaining lengths of vertical pipe above them. Once the control system is wired in and we have solar electricity supplied to the greenhouse, we will be able to complete and test the system. Tuning its performance and evaluating its success (or otherwise) will have to wait until the greenhouse has its covering and we have a whole year’s worth of experience with it, but it already puts out warm moist air on cool mornings through the vertical pipes!
Spending is an important part of financial literacy, and one of the easier concepts to teach. Especially in today’s market, where spending is just one click away and ads permeate everything from search engines to popular video games, teaching children about the value of money and good spending habits is important not only to their future success, but their online safety. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has a number of resources for consumers of all ages, and has been highlighted by Plano Public Library in past programs. You can check out this section on shopping for young children, or peruse their Money as You Grow page for topics relevant to your child’s age group. The website also has a search function for commonly asked questions, connecting you to the most relevant articles and activity guides for your child. Other resources include Jump$tart Clearinghouse, which has a search tool to find both free and paid resources to teach financial literacy at multiple grade levels (K-12). These include, but are not limited to, games, articles, book lists, tests and more. Plano Public Library offers a number of books, for parents and children, on spending and other financial topics. Check out these titles to guide you through teaching your child about financial literacy: \|Make Your Kid a Money Genius (even if you’re not): A Parents’ Guide for Kids 3-23\|\|Print Book \| eBook \| eAudiobook\| \|The Opposite of Spoiled: Raising Kids Who Are Grounded, Generous, and Smart About Money\|\|Print Book \| eAudiobook\| \|Lemonade in Winter\|\|Print Book \| DVD\| \|Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich, Last Sunday\|\|Print Book \| Español\| Does your child enjoy watching videos or playing games on your electronic devices? You can set parental controls to set limits on in-app purchases, and even screen time. Below are links to relevant support sites with step-by-step instructions for configuring your device. Check here for help with Apple devices and Google Play for Android. For more information on financial literacy, visit our Thinking Money playlist on YouTube. Check Plano Library Learns for monthly posts, booklists, and upcoming financial literacy programs. Share us with your family and friends, and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for all things PPL!
Ask SmallBiz: Family Constitutions By Ken Gilbert, Family Business Expert Q. What is a Family Constitution? Do all family businesses need one? A. A Family Constitution is an internal, binding agreement that all family members involved in the business in any capacity agree to respect. The current owners draft the document and then present it to the next generation(s) for agreement and signature. The Family Constitution includes high-level guidelines, such as financial, investment and divestment, and emergency management authority of family members. Rules of succession, or passing the business to the next generation, and other expectations about the future of the business are clearly set forth. A Family Constitution also describes the current owners’ thinking on issues such as family eligibility to enter the business (or not) and the required qualifications of a family employee or manager. The Constitution states which key executive roles may (or may not) be filled by outsiders. It clarifies topics that in many smaller family businesses are unspoken expectations, such as job descriptions to be fulfilled, compensation overtime, performance criteria and accountability, code of conduct and communication rules. All businesses with a potential successor generation (that is, business owners with children) that do not have another type of exit strategy (selling the business to a third party before retirement, for instance) should have a Family Constitution in writing before the succession takes place. The benefits of having a Family Constitution? Assurance that the family members employed in the business understand how they contribute to it. Peace of mind that all dis-aster scenarios have been thought through and a plan to address them is in place. Finally, certainty that the family understands and agrees on current owner desires and the direction of the company.
Does what you do determine whether you smoke? Not exactly. But a new government report shows that smoking is a lot more common among workers in some occupations than in others. Who smokes least? Who smokes most? Keep clicking to see which gigs are linked to most cigs... 22. Teachers and librarians No smoking in the library or classroom? Looks like professionals take these rules to heart. CDC data show that teachers and librarians are less likely to light up than the members of any other occupation - only 31.4 percent smoke. Do smart people smoke? Biological, physical and social sciences are among the least likely to smoke - only 9.2 percent do. Credit: AP Photo Lawyers can't seem to make a good case for smoking - only 9.4 percent of lawyers, judges, and legal support workers smoke. 19. Counselors and social workers How does smoking make therapists feel? One thing's for sure - only 10.9 percent of counselors, social workers, and religious workers light up. 18. Health-care practicioners Smoking is bad for your health - right? That doesn't stop 11.8 percent of doctors, nurses and other health-care practitioners who help diagnose and treat patients from smoking. 17. Computer and math specialists Do computer geeks and math geniuses smoke? Of those surveyed, 12.8 said yes. 16. Architects and engineers Architects, surveyors, engineers and mapping technicians - 13.6 of people in these fields smoke. Credit: Flickr/Night Owl City 15. Business and finance specialists How much money does a cigarette habit cost? Ask the 14.1 percent of business and finance specialists who smoke. 14. Artists, designers, entertainers, sports and media workers It's not just for show - 14.9 percent of people in these fields smoke. 13. Executives and managers How does Big Tobacco fare among big bosses? Of chief executives and other managers, 16.3 percent smoke. 12. Firefighters and protective service workers They might be trained to snuff out fires, but 16.4 percent of firefighters - and other protective service workers - light up cigarettes. Credit: Flickr/Andrea Zeppilli 11. Office and administrative support workers Secretaries, clerks, and other administrative support workers shuffle puffs as well as papers - 19.0 percent smoke. 10. Personal care and service workers Almost one in five - 19.7 percent - personal care and service workers smoke. This includes animal caretakers, funeral service workers, hairdressers, and hotel attendants. 9. Farmers, fishers, and loggers Think those working in the great outdoors breathe only fresh air? Think again - 20.1 percent of farmers, fishers and loggers smoke. Credit: Flickr/James Hawley Tobacco sales are high among salespeople - 20.7 percent smoke. Credit: Flickr/Hillary Chapin-Bishop 7. Building cleaners and maintenance workers The people sweeping up cigarette butts may be the same people who leave them - 22.9 percent of building cleaners and maintenance workers smoke. Credit: Flickr/Jerry Brague 6. Health-care assistants Home health aides, nursing aides, occupational and physical therapists' assistants - 23.7 percent of those helping out in health also help themselves to cigarettes. 5. Production workers Of workers behind the production of everything from fabrics and furnishings to food to metal, plastic and wood - 26.1 percent smoke. Credit: Flickr/Charles Roffey 4. Mechanics, installers, and repairers Don't be surprised if a mechanic shows up with a toolkit in one hand and a cigarette in the other - 27.2 percent of mechanics, installers and repairers smoke. 3. Transportation workers How many transportation workers smoke? Nearly one in three - or 28.7 percent. This includes workers in air, rail, water, and motor vehicles. 2. Cooks, servers, and food preparation workers Cooks smoke more than just meat - 30 percent of cooks, servers and food preparation workers smoke cigarettes. Credit: Flickr/Hanna Eliasson 1. Construction workers Construction workers know all about nails - and that goes for "coffin nails" as well as the kind you drive in the wood. The data show that a whopping 31.4 percent of construction and extraction workers (such as miners) light up.
Laboratory Experiments in the Social Sciences:Laboratory Experiments in the Social Sciences is the only book providing core information for researchers about the ways and means to conduct experiments. Its comprehensive regard for laboratory experiments encompasses â€œhow-toÂ” explanations, investigations of philosophies and ethics, explorations of experiments in specific social science disciplines, and summaries of both the history and future of social science laboratories. No other book offers such a direct avenue to enlarging our knowledge in the social sciences. This collection of original chapters combines instructions and advice about the design of laboratory experiments in the social sciences with the array of other issues. While there are books on experimental design and chapters in more general methods books on design, theory, and ethical issues, no other book attempts to discuss the fundamental ideas of the philosophy of science or lays out the methods comprehensively or in such detail. Experimentation has recently prospered because of increasing interest in cross-disciplinary syntheses, and this book of advice, guidelines, and observations underline its potential and increasing importance. Â· Provides a comprehensive summary of issues in social science experimentation, from ethics to design, management, and financing Â· Offers "how-to" explanations of the problems and challenges faced by everyone involved in social science experiments Â· Pays attention to both practical problems and to theoretical and philosophical arguments Â· Defines commonalities and distinctions within and among experimental situations across the social sciences
with Vernier Software & Technology’s data-collection interface Students can use the Sci-Voice Talking LabQuest 2 to collect data from more than 70 Vernier sensors. In addition to speaking the data-collection results, as well as displaying the results on the screen, the device can vocalize to students more than 20 characteristics of each element on the Periodic Table of Elements. The Sci-Voice Talking LabQuest 2 additionally features faster computing, wireless data sharing, and five built-in sensors (GPS, 3-axis accelerometer, ambient temperature, light, and microphone) making it easy and intuitive for students to collect, analyze, and share data from experiments. Each Sci-Voice Talking LabQuest 2 is sold as a kit that includes a Sci-Voice Talking LabQuest 2, a USB keyboard, and three Vernier sensors (the Vernier Stainless Steel Temperature Probe, Differential Voltage Probe, and Current Probe). To learn more about the Sci-Voice Talking LabQuest 2, visit http://independencescience.com/. About Independence Science Independence Science is an assistive technology company that specializes in providing tools to help students with disabilities have equal access and opportunities to perform independently in STEM fields without a sighted assistant. Consultants at Independence Science are making their expertise available to help school districts, colleges, universities, and state rehabilitation agencies across the country meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements and help students in science programs. For more information, visit http://independencescience.com/.
Recent years have seen a rise in the use of service-oriented architecture (SOA) technologies and integration. SOA is defined as “‘services’ that provide a platform by which disparate systems can communicate with each other.” Industry expert David Sprott said it best: “SOA is not just an architecture of services seen from a technology perspective, but the policies, practices and frameworks by which we ensure the right services are provided and consumed.” Further clarification of the term service can help people better grasp what SOA architecture really is. In this case, the term services is used to symbolize the building blocks that are used to keep information organized. These building blocks are specifically organized in groupings that that are familiar to the users. Additionally, the building blocks work to bring data about users and user behavior together in a single interface.
As the mother of a baby with special needs, you know your baby is going to require a lot of extra help and attention — especially in the first year of her life. One way you can directly help your baby is by breastfeeding or pumping your milk. The milk your body produces can protect your sick baby from getting serious infections. Your milk is more than just food for your baby. It is like an immunization that protects your baby from illness. Your milk is designed for your baby. When you visit your baby in the hospital, your body starts to develop protection against germs in the hospital. When your baby gets your milk, your baby will automatically be protected from these germs. Nothing can protect your baby’s gut like your milk can. Formula does not have live cells, immune factors and hormones to protect your baby’s fragile health. You can produce "custom" milk that is just right for your baby. Special babies, special needs The links below detail how breastfeeding can give your child with special needs the extra nutrients to thrive.
Fireworks displays dazzle spectators every Fourth of July. However, the same explosive power that awes audiences can also cause severe injuries when fireworks companies fail to take the proper care in manufacturing and igniting fireworks. For example, at a California fireworks show in 2013, a defective shell exploded early, sending rockets and shrapnel into the crowd and injuring 39 people. Although large-scale fireworks disasters are rare, suffering a firework injury at home is more common. An estimated average of 9,125 fireworks injuries occur each year, with an average of four deaths per year. Below, you’ll find information on the dangers associated with fireworks, a number of safety tips, and a look at how liability works in fireworks injury cases. Dangers of Fireworks The majority of injuries caused by fireworks are the result of misuse by consumers. Common mistakes include lighting the fireworks improperly, lighting the fireworks too close to other people, or lighting fireworks while holding them in one’s hand. Even when used properly, fireworks are dangerous explosives that can cause severe injuries. However, the likelihood of a firework injury can become magnified by manufacturing or design defects in the fireworks or a lack of adequate warnings. Malfunctioning fireworks can cause injury in several ways. For example, improperly manufactured fireworks can explode prematurely, before users have made it a safe distance away. In addition, a defective fuse may ignite the explosive powders in the firework in a way the manufacturer did not intend, causing the firework to explode in an unexpected way. Finally, fireworks designed to soar through the air, such as bottle rockets, can take unpredictable flight paths, injuring onlookers or hitting nearby vehicles and buildings. Whether the result of improper use or a product defect, firework injuries can be catastrophic. Reported fireworks-related injuries include loss of eyesight due to sparks and debris flying into users’ and spectators’ eyes, severe lacerations caused by debris and damaged firework shell casings, and burns ranging from minor singes to third-degree burns. Firework Injury Prevention Fireworks users can reduce the risk of injury by adopting the following safety tips: - Always follow the directions on the fireworks package, and never modify or experiment with homemade fireworks. - Never let children use fireworks without adult supervision. Even seemingly harmless fireworks such as sparklers still burn at high temperatures and can cause severe burns if used improperly. - Only set off fireworks outdoors, away from houses and fire hazards such as tall grass, dry leaves, and other fireworks. - Do not try to reignite used or malfunctioning fireworks. - Keep a bucket of water nearby for emergency purposes, and soak any used or misfired fireworks before discarding to prevent fires or accidental ignitions. Your Legal Rights Regarding a Firework Injury Whether a spectator at a fireworks show gone wrong or the user of a malfunctioning firework, victims may be able to recover damages for their injuries. Depending on the circumstances of the firework injury, a number of legal theories may apply. Injured spectators may be able to hold the person or company setting off the fireworks liable through negligence. Even the person or entity that organized the show – including cities that hire fireworks companies – may be liable for failing to properly supervise such the activity. Even though a city’s liability may be limited by state law, entities hiring fireworks companies still have a duty to protect bystanders from injuries. Cities can fail in fulfilling this duty and open themselves up to liability by allowing the use of illegal fireworks or by failing to obtain the proper permits. When fireworks malfunction and cause injury, victims may be able to recover damages from the manufacturer, the importer of foreign-made fireworks, or the local retail seller. Because all of these entities have a duty to sell products that function properly, they may be liable for any injuries caused by a defective firework. However, the vast majority of fireworks are produced in China, so suing the local fireworks stand operator is often the only way for victims to recover damages. Even individuals who misuse fireworks may still be able to recover damages for their injuries if they can prove that a defect, rather than their negligent conduct, caused the injury. If you have suffered a firework injury, it may be in your best interests to contact a personal injury lawyer to learn more about your legal options. A product liability attorney will be able to evaluate your claim and help you determine a course of action.
Protein, Phosphorus, and Sodium The American diet tends to contain too much, rather than too little have shown that excessive dietary protein may promote bone loss. With protein intake, the urinary excretion of calcium also rises, because mobilized to buffer the acidic breakdown products of protein. In addition, acid methionine is converted to a substance called homocysteine, which is also apparently capable of causing bone loss. Animal studies have shown that excessive intake of phosphorus can cause osteoporosis, as well. The effect of dietary protein on osteoporosis might be explained in part by the phosphorus content of many high-protein foods because phosphorus does appear to have an adverse effect on bone health. High-phosphorus beverages such as colas (which also contain a lot of sugar and caffeine) are among the worst foods imaginable for someone trying to Several studies have shown that individuals who consume a vegetarian diet have stronger bones later in life than those who eat animal flesh.9,10 However, other studies have failed to find a difference in bone mass between vegetarians and meat eaters. A substantial minority of human beings also appears to be Susceptible to of high-sodium intake. When these individuals ingest moderate amounts of salt, their urinary excretion of calcium increases markedly." In people with this sodium-dependent hypercalciuria, ingestion of too much salt probably risk of both kidney stones and osteoporosis. In today's fast paced society, emphasis is placed on readily available, easily prepared food, which can be on the shelf for prolonged periods of time. The food technology industry has developed many ways to achieve these goals. Unfortunately, the nutritional of processed, adulterated food is far inferior to that of fresh, perishable Modern food is bleached, radiated, extracted with organic solvents, enormous temperatures and extremes of acidity or alkalinity, and thousands of chemicals designed to preserve, texturize, color, or otherwise the food so that it will look, feel, and taste like the real thing. Hundreds of articles have been written about how these harsh processing can affect the nutritional value of food. One I example is the possibility processing can promote lysine deficiency. Lysine is one of the eight acids from which protein molecules are synthesized in the body. Studies have shown that when proteins are subjected to alkali treatment (as in the isolated soy protein or textured vegetable protein), a substantial amount of the lysine is destroyed.l2 Exposure of lysine to temperatures of 250¡C for one hour also caused significant losses of lysine.l3 Heating proteins even at moderate temperatures in the presence of sugars such as lactose, glucose, or sucrose destroy significant amounts of lysine.14 Thus, in the baking of pies, cookies, breads, and other grain products, where flour and sugar are heated together, substantial amounts of lysine may be lost. You might assume that, with all of the protein in the American diet, it difficult to develop a deficiency of an amino acid. The problem is, amino acid imbalance can be just as damaging as amino acid deficiency. Animal studies have shown that the ratios of essential amino acids in the diet are as important as the absolute amount of each. If a single amino acid, such as being systematically destroyed by food processing, then ingesting more of all of the amino acids will not correct a relative lack of lysine. It is therefore possible that millions of Americans are marginally deficient in Iysine, even if their diet is high in protein. The modern epidemic of herpes simplex infections is certainly consistent with that possibility. Lysine is known to inhibit the growth of herpes viruses and oral supplementation with Iysine has been prevent recurrences of herpes simplex outbreaks in susceptible Since the doses of lysine that were effective against herpes infections (312 to 3,000 mg/day) are similar to the amounts obtainable in the diet, it is possible lysine deficiency is a factor in the increased incidence of herpes simplex It is also possible that lysine deficiency contributes to the development of osteoporosis. Individuals with a rare genetic condition known as lysinuric intolerance develop osteoporosis during childhood. In lysinuric protein defect in the kidneys causes large amounts of lysine to be lost in the have suggested that lysine deficiency is the cause of osteoporosis in this disorder.17 Although the typical American diet would not result in Iysine deficiency that severe, it is possible that prolonged, subtle lysine by harsh food processing techniques could have an adverse effect on bones. The reduction in vitamin and mineral intake resulting from refining of foods can be made even worse by farming techniques that deplete the soil of essential Traditional methods of farming include using manure and compost to increase trace mineral content of the soil. In modern times, however, with the producing higher crop yields per acre, farmers use large amounts of inorganic fertilizers, which are often deficient in important trace minerals and disturb soil mineral balance. For example, the use of ammonia as a essential minerals such as magnesium' manganese, zinc, and copper to be from the soil.18 Repeated application of inorganic fertilizers, which are essential trace minerals, can further reduce the soil concentration of minerals. Many scientists and nutritionists are unaware of the effect the can have on the mineral content of edible plants i Indeed, nutrition contend that mineral-deficient soil will reduce crop yield, but will not affect the nutritional quality of crops that do grow. However, the facts otherwise. The presence of a "goiter belt" in the midwestern United States the fact that foods grown on iodine-deficient soil can cause iodine relationship between mineral concentrations in soil and food is also the epidemics of selenium deficiency that have occurred in cattle grazing selenium areas of the country. As another example, dairy cattle an horses are sometimes stricken by a condition known as grass staggers, characterized by unsteady gait and twitching and spasm of the muscles. This disorder can be either by supplementing the diet with magnesium or by adding magnesium to the soil.19 It appears that overuse of nitrates, phosphates, and potassium fertilizers depletes the soil of magnesium and causes a deficiency of this grazing animals. In the Florida Everglades the soil is low in copper. Domestic animals grazing in this area develop copper deficiency which makes them susceptible to sus~ taining bone fractures. But, when copper is added to fractures no longer occur.20 In another study, the manganese content of directly related to the manganese content of -the soil. Addition of calcium to the soil (a common practice by modern farmers) decreased the manganese by turnips. These studies indicate that modern farming practices deplete the soil of minerals, resulting in lower levels of these minerals in our food. The mineral content of our diet is further reduced by overconsumption of nutrient-depleted foods, such as sugar and white flour. The net result is that the food we consume today contains far less of many vitamins and minerals than it did in the past. One of the major theses of this book is that chronic, low level a wide range of micronutrients may increase the risk of developing In summary, many factors related to the modern American diet may promote not only osteoporosis, but other chronic diseases, as well. A health-promoting diet is one that emphasizes fresh, unprocessed foods, such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, and legumes Animal foods, dairy products, and salt should be used in moderation, and sweets, caffeine, refined flours, and chemical food additives should be avoided as much as possible. While some studies suggest that moderate alcohol intake improves health, others have shown that even small amounts of alcohol are not good for you. Certainly, excessive alcohol intake can cause many different problems, including osteoporosis. The human body is remarkably resilient and is capable of withstanding numerous stresses, but it is also true that the more closely you follow the principles of good eating, the healthier you will be. 1. Lemann, J., Jr., W. F. Piering, and E. J. Lennon. 1969. Possible role of carbohydrate-induced calciuria in calcium oxalate kidney-stone formation. No Engl J Med 280:232-237. 2. Lawoyin, S., et al. 1979. Bone mineral content in patients with calcium urolithiasis. Metabolism 28:1250-1254. 3. Yudkin, J., Dr. 1973. Sweet and dangerous. New York: Bantam Books, 112. Saffar, J. L, et al. 1981. Osteoporotic effect of a high-carbohydrate (Keyes 2000) in golden hamsters. Arch Oral Biol 26:393-397. 4. Schroeder, H. A. 1971. Losses of vitamins and trace minerals resulting from processing and preservation of foods. Am J Clin Nutr 24: 562-573. 5. Hollingbery, P. W., E. A. Bergman, and L K Massey. 1985. Effect of dietary caffeine and aspirin on urinary calcium and hydroxyproline excretion in pre and postmenopausal women. Fed Proc 44:1149. 6. Heaney, R P., and R R Recker. 1982. Effects of nitrogen, phosphorus, and caffeine on calcium balance in women. J Lab Clin Med 99:46-55. 7. Hernandez-Avila, M., et al. 1991. Caffeine, moderate alcohol intake, and risk of fractures of the hip and forearm in middle-aged women. Am J Clin 8. Spencer' H., et al. 1985. Alcohol-osteoporosis. Am J Clin Nutr 41:847. 9. Marsh, A. G., et al. 1980. Cortical bone density of adult lacto-ovo-vegetarian an omnivorous women. J Am Diet Assoc 76:148-151. 10. Marsh, A. G., et al. 1983. Bone mineral mass in adult lacto-ovo-vegetarian an omnivorous males. Am J Clin Nutr 37:453-456. 11. Silver,J., et al. 1983. Sodium-dependent idiopathic hypercalciuria in renal-stor formers. Lancet 2:484-486. 12. de Groot, A P., and P. Slump. 1%9. Effects of severe alkali treatment of prose on amino acid composition and nutritive value. J Nutr 98:45-56. 13. Breitbart, D. J., and W. W. Nawar. 1979. Thermal decomposition of Iysine. J Agric Food Chem 27:511-514. 14. Hurrell, R. F., and K J. Carpenter. 1977. Mechanisms of heat damage in 8. The role of sucrose in the susceptibility of protein foods to heat J Nutr 38:285-297. 15. Griffith, R S., A. L Norins, and C. Kagan. 1978. A multicentered study of Iysine therapy in herpes simplex infection. Dermatologica 156:257-267. 16. Griffith, R S., et al. 1987. Success of L-lysine therapy in frequently recurrence herpes simplex infection. Dermatologica 175:183-190. 17. Carpenter, T. O., et al. 1985. Lysinuric protein intolerance presenting as child hood osteoporosis. N Engl J Med 312:290-294. 18. Hall, R. H. 1981. The agri-business view of soil and life. J Holistic Med 19. Ebeling, W. 1981. The relation of soil quality to the nutritional value of plant crops. J Appl Nutr 33(1):19-34. 20. Rose, E. F. 1968. The effects of soil and diet on disease. Cancer Res 21. Hopkins, H. T., E. H. Stevenson, and P. L Harris. 1966. Soil factors and food composition. Am J Clin Nutr 18:390-395.
Energy efficiency in a materials world? A new blog from the CIEMAP team on the Climate Policy Journal site looks at how we calculate the true cost of materials for carbon budgets. The team argue that the conventional way of assessing a country’s carbon footprint – by measuring emissions within the country’s borders – neglects the emissions created abroad in making and transporting goods for consumption within that country. In addition to this, the general energy demand focus tends to be on how much energy a car or house, for example, uses. The CIEMAP team argue that the greenhouse gases ’embodied’ in the creation, transportation and disposal of materials used in products should also be part of its carbon footprint. A detailed analysis of emissions across the EU supply chain was carried out by the researchers. Read the full Climate Strategies blog More on CIEMAP on the EUED site
The Hundred Rolls The Hundred Rolls are a census of England and parts of what is now Wales taken in the late thirteenth century. Often considered an attempt to produce a second Domesday Book, they are named for the hundreds by which most returns were recorded. The Rolls include a survey of royal privileges taken in 1255, and the better known surveys of liberties and land ownership, taken in 1274 - 5 and 1279 - 80, respectively. The two main enquiries were commissioned by Edward I of England to record the adult population for judicial and taxation purposes. They also specify the services due from tenants to lords under the feudal system of the time. Many of the Rolls have been lost and others have been damaged, but a minority survive and are stored at the National Archives in Kew. Where they survive, they are a major source for the period. Those known in the early nineteenth century were published in 1818, while more recent discoveries are being collated by the University of Sheffield. Originally, when introduced by the Saxons between 613 and 1017, a hundred had enough land to sustain approximately 100 households, defined as the land covered by one hundred "hides", and was headed by a hundred-man or hundred eolder. He was responsible for administration, justice, and supplying military troops, as well as leading its forces. Within each hundred there was a meeting place where the men of the hundred discussed local issues, and judicial trials were held. Hundreds were further divided: larger or more populous hundreds were split into divisions (or in Sussex, half hundreds). All hundreds were divided into tithings, which contained ten households. Below that, the basic unit of land was the hide, which was originally enough land to support one family but later became a unit of assessment to taxation and indicated the profitability of the land with no necessary relationship to its area. During Norman times the hundred would pay geld based on the number of hides. To assess how much everyone had to pay, a clerk and a knight were sent by the king to each county, they sat with the shire-reeve (or sheriff), of the county and a select group of local knights. There would be two knights from each hundred. After it was determined what geld had to be paid, then the knights of the hundred and the bailiff of the hundred were responsible for getting the money to the sheriff, and the sheriff to the Exchequer. Above the hundred was the shire, under the control of a sheriff. Hundred boundaries were independent of both parish and county boundaries, although often aligned, meaning that a hundred could be split between counties, or a parish could be split between hundreds. The system of hundreds was not as stable as the system of counties being established at the time, and lists frequently differ on how many hundreds a county had. In many parts of the country, Domesday Book contained a radically different set of hundreds from that which later became established. The numbers of hundreds in each county varied wildly. Leicestershire had six (up from four at Domesday), whereas Devon, nearly three times larger, had 32. The Hyatt family invite you to get a totally free 2GB Dropbox: Click here All the information here should only be used as a guideline and must not be relied on as primary evidence.
11 Strategies To Enhance Your Child’s Self-Esteem Are you worried about your child or teen’s self-esteem? Do you hear your child saying things like: “I am not good enough”, “I can’t do it”, “I’m dumb” or “I suck at everything”? It can be scary, and sometimes even frustrating to hear your child talking about herself like that. As a parent, I want my daughter to feel she can do anything she sets her mind to. Don’t we all? Lots of research has been done on this topic, and most mental health specialists agree that negative self-talk can impact a child’s self-esteem. Here are 11 Strategies to help your child enhance his or her self-esteem: Be mindful of yourself: Yes, I start by looking ourselves as parents. It is not news that we, as parents, are our children’s role model. So, how’s your self-esteem these days? Remember, your child will copy your behavior more than what you tell them to do. Take special note of how to talk about yourself. Model positive self-talk: Try using positive self-talk at home in little tasks such as cooking, cleaning, shopping groceries, exercising, etc. You might feel awkward telling yourself how “awesome” you are at what you are doing, but something small like: “I am glad I got this done, I feel so accomplished” would help. Your child will be witnessing firsthand the power of a positive voice. Pay attention to how you describe your child: Even without noticing we tend to use certain words to describe our children. Be aware of these words because children define themselves, by the way their parents and other important figures in their lives, such as teachers, grandparents, and other caregivers do. If you describe one of your children as shy, and the other one as outgoing, there is a high probability that both of them will incorporate these words and exacerbate their behaviors—the one that is shy will become “shy-er” and the outgoing one, more so! Avoid jumping to fix it: It’s absolutely natural to want to correct your child when he is using negative words to describe himself. It can be heart-breaking. In the fight against the pessimistic voice, instead of correcting observe your child and attempt to understand what’s happening that is causing the negative self-talk. Be curious: Explore with your child what the issue is. For example, if your child says “I can’t get it” when doing homework, be kind and curious to explore if it is one specific homework or if is the entire subject that is bringing the defeated feeling. In the process, you can guide him to think about times when he was able to overcome a similar situation. This will help improve confidence and increase motivation. Be empathetic: Sometimes doing less is actually doing more. Listen carefully to understand your child’s pessimistic point of view. Use empathy to let your child know you understand what he is saying at that moment. Some examples are phrases such as: “It looks as you are struggling right now to finish your math homework” or “It sounds as you are frustrated now.” Younger children usually do not have the words to describe their feelings, and as parents, we can help them find the voice to express them. Help your child notice when he/she is engaging in negative self-talk: Have a conversation with your child about self-esteem and negative self-talk. Let him know that you will be helping him improve. One way to do this is to come up with a “code word” to call out when the negative self-talk is happening. I once had a client that came up with the name ‘Mr. Know It All’ and when he engaged in negative self-talk, mom would say: “It looks like Mr. Know It All” came out today.” This allowed the family to lighten up the mood as well as increase awareness of when the behavior was happening. Confront the negative voice: I have two suggestions that can be fun and liberating: (1) Turn the negative self-talk into a tune your child is familiar with, such as "happy birthday". Can you imagine singing “I can’t do this” as if you were singing happy birthday? You and your child will laugh together with this one. (2) Similar to singing is to pick a cartoon voice that your child loves and say aloud the negative self-statement using this voice. Develop a family “I can” mantra to turn negatives into positives: For example, each time a family member uses a negative statement about him or herself, any family member can redirect the person to a more positive one. A good way to remind the family about the “I can” mantra is by having visual reminders in different places of the house, such as the bedroom, bathroom mirrors, closets. Adding images or people who your child finds inspirational works well, too. Send positive self-statement reminders: Whenever your child accomplishes a goal, remind him to celebrate. For instance, let’s say your child is struggling in math and he gets a B (he usually gets C’s and D’s), celebrate by having his favorite dessert, or meal, or activity together. Practice relaxation techniques with your child: Teach your child about the importance of breathing. Diaphragmatic breathing can be taught by lying your child on a mat, a bed or the floor, and putting a paper cup on his stomach. Each time the mountain goes up and down in his stomach, he is using breathing to manage his feelings. To your children’s success! If you'd like to receive more relationship and family tips like these, click the button below: Your Therapy Friend, Sofia Robirosa is the owner of Infinite Therapeutic Services and is a Relationships & Parenting Expert. She offers individual, couples, and family counseling to individuals seeking to enhance their relationships, in her private practice, located in Plantation, FL. She attended Nova Southeastern University for both her bachelor and master degrees in marriage and family therapy and in business administration. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist, and a Leader in Active Parenting for children and teens, an evidenced based program. She is also a Certified Addictions Professional (CAP). She is a passionately committed therapist, who thoroughly takes pride and joy from her job. She enjoys working with a culturally diverse population, and is bilingual in Spanish and English. She is a member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and an active volunteer of the Broward Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. She loves her family, which is consisted of her husband, daughter, and two dogs. Some of her interests outside of work include spending time outdoors, traveling, and dining. Read more about her at: www.infinitetherapeuticservices.com and follow her on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/infinitetherapy/
Precaution 4: Don’t wear a mask or face covering that prevents you from breathing. Running requires oxygen. If you do not realize this, you should not be running. In fact, there are many things that you shouldn’t be doing. You probably should not leave your house, ever, at least, not until you have taken the course “Basic Things Required to Live 101.” If you are going to wear a mask or face covering, don’t use one that prevents you from adequately breathing like a pair of skinny jeans wrapped around your head. Keep in mind that your oxygen requirements tend to increase while you’re exerting yourself. So just because you can breathe easily with a mask on while sitting in a chair thinking about puppies, doesn’t mean that you can do the same while running. Before running with your chosen face covering, experiment by trying to breathe progressively faster and harder through the covering first. (To induce yourself to breath faster, just imagine some melting cheese.) If you end up passing out, that would be a sign that your face covering is not allowing enough air through to your mouth and nose. Read more at www.forbes.com – this article is courtesy of Forbes.com