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Photo: Beau Stanton In 2016, The Robert F Kennedy Community School in Koreatown, commissioned artist Beau Stanton to paint a mural on one of the major walls on campus. Although the LA artist intended no harm, public outcry immediately sprung up from the community because of the “rising-sun” esque background pattern on the artist’s Ava Gardner mural. Although artist Beau Stanton has often used similar imagery in his work before, the prominence of the background sparked reactions within the community in which it existed, Koreatown, Los Angeles For those unaware, imperialist Japan caused major harm to Korea for many years well before WWI and WWII. From 1910 to 1945 imperialist Japan enslaved Korea, colonized its people, and stripped it’s already scarce land of all it’s resources. Imperialist Japan also burned 200,000 historical Korean documents, forbade speaking Korean, and started an all out war to destroy Korea’s history. The usage of this imagery by Beau Stanton has invoked in the artist’s audience a negative reaction whether intended or not, so much so, that there were public protests against the artist’s mural which eventually prompted drastic action by Los Angeles Unified School District. Starting late 2016 – mid 2018 the Koreatown community protested the mural consistently demanding public discourse and action. Mid 2018, NPR then confirmed that Los Angeles Unified School District then promised to remove the mural entirely while the mural artist Beau Stanton attempted to prevent that effort. The community demanded action consistently and protested the issue enough to the point where the LAUSD decided removal was appropriate. After much public discourse on May 29th, 2019 the LA Times reported that the removal of the mural would be halted and that the artist Beau Stanton would oversee a modification process to remove the rising sun imagery. Although it’s clear Beau Stanton intended no harm, the community appreciates his willingness to listen and implement the community’s wishes. After the community constantly requested follow up from our team, we decided to reach out both to the Wilshire Center Koreatown Neighborhood Council and the Los Angeles Unified School District requesting updates and official responses on the promised solution. After speaking with both organizations directly we are able to clearly report the following: Since the planned modification agreement in 2019 the community call to contribute ideas was “underwhelming” according to LAUSD. Shortly after the first round of community submissions the COVID-19 pandemic largely halted all efforts of conversation and community discourse to source the modification. Although COVID-19 has largely delayed this effort, Los Angeles Unified School District is now actively requesting the community submit ideas for the modification as of 8/21/2021. You can submit your ideas here! With the target date of repainting the community sourced modification looming, it is important that you contribute your ideas using this link before the deadline of August 27th 2021! Please take the time to contribute what would be a better piece of imagery and style to use for the community. Thank you to Beau Stanton, RFK Community School, WCNKC, media outlets, and the community for engaging in the public discourse and process. It is amazing to see that even with our difference Following backlash from the community, Beau Stanton, agreed to alter his work. He agreed to alter the mural in a way that ‘involves creating a transformative work using the original mural as a base for layering and weaving additional imagery on top like an urban wall with many historic layers’. Although the decision makers behind the mural once promised complete removal, Beau Stanton agreed instead to modify the mural. Stanton showed his interest in hearing suggestions from a variety of stakeholders in Koreatown to communicate a more ‘positive personal meaning’ as well as reflect Koreatown’s rich history. The official modification of the Ava Gardner mural was unveiled on September 15th, 2021. After receiving contributions and support from the local community to modify his work, Stanton leaned on the RFK Community School students for final touches. As a result, the mural now maintains its original base but includes imagery that celebrates Koreatown’s diverse immigrant culture. Most importantly, even though parts of the controversial stripes exist, Beau Stanton and the leaders followed through with the promises they made 3 years ago. We are thankful that artist Beau Stanton and the decision makers at the RFK Community School collaborated with actual stakeholders of the local community to follow through with their promises. Heuk Hwa Dang is a new boba shop in the Madang Courtyard. Opened on April 9, Heuk Hwa…
“What kinds of games can we play with the little toys we got over the holidays?” Over the next 3 posts, we will show you 3 simple (old-favourite) games that children like with small toys or objects. _________________________________ A fun game, perfect for those indoor winter days! Materials Tray Small objects Directions Place your objects on your tray. The number of objects will depend on the age and abilities of your child(ren). Start with something simple like 5 or 10 and then build up from there. Have the children look at the objects on the tray. Have them close their eyes and turn away. Remove 1 object from the tray. Have the child turn around and guess which object that you removed. Switch roles. To make the game more complex, use like objects (e.g., all seashells or all animal figurines.), vary the position of the objects each round on the tray, remove more than one object at a time etc. What’s missing? Purpose Improving one’s memory Safety Notes Small objects and toys can be a choking hazard. Be sure to keep them out of the reach of children 0-3 years of age or those that tend to put things in their mouths. Please like & share: Leave a Reply Cancel Reply Your email address will not be published. Name* Email* Website Comment Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email.
Māui (Maui) is the great culture hero and trickster in Polynesian mythology. Very rarely was Māui actually worshipped, being less of a deity and more of a folk hero. His origins vary from culture to culture, but many of his main exploits remain relatively similar. Tales of Māui’s exploits and adventures are told throughout most of Polynesia; they can be traced back as far west as islands off New Guinea. Some exploits common to most Polynesian traditions are stealing fire for humans from the underworld, fishing up islands with his magical hook, and capturing the Sun to lengthen the days. There is a great deal of variation in the representations of Māui from nation to nation, from being a handsome young man, to being an old wise wandering priest. Although Maui was said to be very rascally or “kolohe”, many of his deeds were to better the lives of his fellow people. He was respected throughout most cultures of the Pacific and still is famous to this day. In Hawaiian religion, Māui is a culture hero and ancient chief who appears in several different genealogies. In the Kumulipo he is the son of ʻAkalana and his wife Hina-a-ke-ahi (Hina). This couple has four sons, Māui-mua, Māui-waena, Māui-kiʻikiʻi and Māui-a-kalana. Māui-a-kalana’s wife is named Hinakealohaila; his son is Nanamaoa. Māui is one of the Kupua. His name is the same as that of the Hawaiian island Maui, although native tradition holds that it is not named for him directly, but instead named after the son of the Hawaiʻiloa (“discoverer of Hawaiʻi”, who was named after Māui himself). Revelator of Birds Some of Māui’s most renowned feats included causing birds (which were invisible to mortal eyes) to become visible. In his long ago, forgotten time, the music of the birds delighted Māui. He observed them with keen interest, their varied and beautiful plumage which adorned the foliage of fragrant trees, and their melodious music, however, no one else could join him in enjoying what was apparent to his vision. For, although Māui’s friends could hear their wonderful bird songs, none perceived the true source of the sounds. Māui felt compassion for his friends, for humanity, and their inability to behold with their eyes the colorful, musical creatures as they flitted from tree to tree, so, Māui caused the creatures to become visible to the naked eye. Creation of Hawai’i Māui also is credited with the creation of the Hawaiian islands, when he went on a fishing expedition with his friends, and, using a magic fish hook, pulled up various island groups from the oceanic depths. In some versions of the Hawaiian fisherman story, Māui is said to be a bad fisherman. His brothers would mock him for not catching any fish and he would retaliate with mischievous tricks against them. Māui and all his brothers were sons to a divine father and mother but only Māui was granted miraculous powers, which is why Māui was able to possess this magical hook made from the bones of his divine ancestors. One day, his brothers went fishing but would not permit Māui to join them on the canoe, and this irritated Maui. When they returned, Maui told them that, had he gone with them, they would have caught many more fish rather than just a single shark. His brothers considered his remark and then took him out on their next trip. They asked him where all the “good” fish were. Māui then threw in his magical hook baited with Alae birds, sacred to his mother Hina. The ocean floor began to move and generate huge waves while Māui asked his brothers to paddle fast to accommodate for the oncoming fish. They paddled with great power and were getting tired but Māui told them not to look back because if they did the fish would run away. One of the brothers disobeyed and the fishing line snapped, revealing new islands. Had nobody looked back, there would have been more islands. The secret of fire As men had not yet discovered fire, during Māui’s tenure in a land of perpetual volcanic eruptions and fire in the mountaintops, Māui decided that rather than periodically hike for dozens of miles across corals just to obtain glowing embers of the extinguished fires put out the previous night by cold winds, he decided upon a simpler solution. He would bring the fire to him. Māui knew of a tribe of intelligent birds that mastered the art of fire-making. His plan was to capture their leader, and coerce from him the secret of fire. The bird taught him that he should rub certain sticks together in order to produce fire, and this is how the secret of fire was brought to humanity. Tamer of the Sun and the Heavens Before Māui’s involvement in the matter, the Sun (Lā) notoriously traveled on irregular paths in the sky, coming and going unexpectedly at times, which made activities such as farming very difficult for man. To this end, Māui crafted snares made of his hair in order to trap the sun and compel it to travel more slowly and adhere to regular courses of travel. In this manner, Māui regulated the sun’s activities for the benefit of mankind. Pillar of the Sky Similar to Atlas and Herakles of ancient Greek mythology, Māui lifted up the heavens, which, for a long time, had lain heavily upon the plants of the Earth, leaving insufficient room for growth and for humanity to move about with ease.
Eating more of the foods that cause inflammation, than the foods that relieve inflammation will overload you immune system which will trigger off an inflammation response. This in turn will cause symptoms of chronic health problems to appear. As you can see below that cooking our food over 112 to 120 degrees (some experts say 112 and others 120) will destroy the enzymes in food making them more inflammatory in nature. Since my training in Bio-Terrain auditing I make sure to have foods that are alkalizing and anti-inflammatory. Make sure that you are digesting what you eat. If not even organic, anti-inflammatory and alkalizing food over a period of time will cause inflammation. Before I go on to tell you about the foods that cause inflammation there is one other important piece of information we should all know. Not only is what we eat important, but the way we prepare our foods can also bring about an inflammatory response. Eating browned foods (fried, barbeque, microwaved, high temperature cooking) may cause a wide range of health concerns. Nerve damage, Heart attacks, Kidney problems, and Strokes just to name a few. Browning our food is one of the factors that contribute to a inflammatory condition. Scientists have known for some time that cooking in this way produces AGE's (advanced glycation end) products. These advanced glycation end products can cause damage to our tissue. Browning our food helps the protein and sugar come together to form these damaging AGE's. These proteins and sugars can end up in the blood and cause it to become sticky and gummy. This interrupts the flow of our blood. Cooking with water or steaming our food prevents the sugar in the meat from forming, thus lowering the inflammation our body has to deal with. When roasting, lower the temperature a few degrees. Cook your meat for a longer period of time. Use a braising tool, cover the roast with the juices several times. Simmer chicken in a sauce. I personally put olive oil in my pan and a little water an cover. Then I add my other ingredients. The list can be very long. Therefore I will not go through every product out there. This is the research I've done and the results. The foods that cause inflammation are organ meats, egg yolks (Unbroken egg yolks are fine. When the yolks are broken when you scramble them the cholesterol in the yolks are then oxidized. The yolks then produce toxic cholesterol by-products. It is important to keep the yolks in tact. So poach or hard boil them). Some dairy. There are some dairy products have fillers in them to make them thick. I like natural, so I make my own, that way I know what's in it. SIDE NOTE: Eating Natural yogurt and Kefir is a great way of getting good bacteria into your bowels. Yogurt and kefir should be made with unpasteurized milk. This will help with the digestion of food and also help our immune system to function better. Sixty percent of our immune system is in our bowels. If our bowels get sick we will get sick in many different ways. That is why it is important to keep our bowels in working order. The appendix is the gland that helps to regulates bacteria in our bowels so the good bacteria out weights the bad. Now back to why egg yolks, meat and some dairy are inflammatory. This is because of the arachidonic acid they contain. Arachidonic acid is a fatty acid that is essential to our life, but we do not need large amounts of it. In large amounts it is very bad for our health. Foods That Cause Inflammation! Then there are foods like hot dogs and smoked sausage products that contain chemicals like nitrites. Then there is our favorite----processed foods. They are made to make our life easier, and shorten our time in the kitchen, but we end up sick over time. These food cause inflammation because there is so much saturated fats, sugar and chemicals in them. Not to mention the way they are cooked. The really big ones are foods with trans fats or partially hydrogenated oil in them. These altered oils are deadly. These oils are changed so that the foods that they are put in have a longer shelf life. It also makes the use of these oils last longer when deep frying. Therefore cutting the cost. It ends up costing us big time. It can cost us our health. The other foods that cause inflammation are soda pop and sugar. These foods can make our blood sugar go up and can cause our immune system to malfunction. The list of foods that cause inflammation can be very large indeed. Organ meats, hydrogenated oil, anything with hydrogenated oil in it. Fried foods, like french fries, hot dogs and fast foods. You may ask, where do I start on the road to an inflammation free life? I started by buying foods that are as close to the natural state as you can get. Eating whole foods. I read labels, if I don't know what something means I find out. I also put that product back on the shelf. I keep the foods that we eat simple and fresh. That is what makes them taste great. The List of foods that cause inflammation may be long, but as you take more and more of these foods out of your diet, and replace them with whole healthy foods, your health will become better as each day goes by. Remember make "whole foods your pharmacy to good health".
• Green Belts are unsustainable. Urban containment policies push up rents and house prices and generally increase the cost of living, force households into ever smaller homes and more cramped transport, and are harmful to the environment. This hugely depresses people’s quality of life. • In The Green Noose we recommended a policy of “Abolish and Protect”, whereby substantial parts of the existing Green Belt would be re-designated under other land-use classifications, while the remainder would be available for development. This would allow markets to operate and so ensure that welfare-maximising solutions emerged. • However, debates about Green Belt policy always descend into demands to know where development will take place, or claims that every hectare of declassified land would be concreted over. While the former misunderstands the role of planning policy, and the latter is disingenuous, such arguments are almost impossible to avoid. • This paper seeks to provide examples of where development could take place. As it is location-specific, we have chosen to focus on one Green Belt – the Metropolitan Green Belt around London. In doing so we (artificially) distinguish between the Metropolitan Green Belt and “London Green Belt” (i.e. those parts of the Metropolitan Green Belt within the boundaries of Greater London). • Our aim is not to prescribe sites for development, but to demonstrate that there is ample land within the Metropolitan Green Belt that would be suitable for development and could be built upon without undermining the overall purpose of Green Belt policy (as defined by the NPPF). • We look at six scenarios: 1. Declassify Metropolitan Green Belt land within walking distance of a rail way station 2. Declassify Green Belt land in London within cycling distance of a railway station 3. Allow development of Green Belt golf courses 4. Infill areas of Green Belt that do not support Green Belt Policy 5. Remove agricultural land from the Green Belt 6. Declassify and re-use of already developed Green Belt land. • Each of these would make a dramatic contribution to meeting housing need in London and the South East; in three cases, a single measure would more than meet all additional housing need until 2030. Read this report.
Vegetable Art Animals for Kids It is harvest time for many different vegetables in your garden. And whether you have a garden or not you can create a fun activity for your kids. Some artists create intricate designs, with meticulous carving and flare, but vegetable art for kids does not have to be so extensive and detailed. Create children’s games out of vegetable art, bringing out their creativity–for little kids this is one of the best ways to encourage them to eat vegetables. From flower bouquets to animal shapes, vegetable art with an imagination provides for a multitude of possibilities. Things You’ll Need Different kinds of vegetables Play dough – if you are planning to make it easier for little kids and try to avoid too much carving. Especially for creating eyes. Toothpicks, long and short Pencil or marker Bowl with ice Choose any vegetables based on their shape and try to think of animals you could make out of them. For example cauliflower is perfect for creating bodies for little sheep – see the image above. use. an eggplant to create a pig. Lay the eggplant flat, and using a peeler, peel two half-inch pieces, with an inch separating them, upward, so they curl and resemble pig’s ears. Do the same toward the bottom of the eggplant for the tail. Carve eyes, and attach four toothpicks for legs. If you are planning to carve details out with a carving knife, sketch details on the vegetables, such as eyes or other features, using a pencil or marker. If you prefer using less or no carving use play dough to create eyes and other parts of the animal. You can also use peas and cloves for creating eyes for animals. Cut thin slices for creations, such as flower petals, using a peeler. If making a flower bouquet, peel a carrot on the long side by holding the peeler against the carrot and sliding down slowly, peeling away a piece a centimeter thick. Stack two or three pieces and carve the shape of the petal, repeat for multiple petals, then attach petals to a stick or skewer. Avoid using glue to connect pieces. Toothpicks are more practical, and glue makes your creation un-edible. If you are creating more than one animal you can place your creations in a bucket of ice to preserve them while working on other pieces. Do not leave vegetables out longer than a couple days, or they will begin to rot. You may also like: Things You Can Do With Potato Stamps
Almost everyone has had to deal with hair clogging sinks, drains and septic system or sewer pipes at sometime in their life. It can be messy affair, take time and, in general, be a disgusting event to resolve. Why does hair cause so many septic tank problems when it goes down a drain? The answer lies in what hair is made of. Hair is comprised of tough strings of proteins, somewhat similar to what fingernails are made up of. For a variety of complex reasons, these proteins are not as easily broken down by bacteria as organic waste is. They certainly are not even close to being broken down within the twenty four to forty eight hours they are held in the septic tank (the typical hold time in a septic tank for most septic systems). As a result, hair survives pretty much intact for many months within the pipes, septic tank and drainfield of a septic system. Hair, in fact, can survive for hundreds of years if the environment is suitable. There are countless accounts of human remains being found in peat bogs that are hundreds of years old and the hair is still intact! If a septic tank has a filter in the outlet baffle, hair will become trapped and is removed from the system during the periodic maintenance cleanings. If the septic tank has been sized correctly for the household and there is adequate hold time for the wastewater, the hair will settle and become part of the sludge layer at the bottom of the septic tank. It is pumped out with the rest of the sludge during the periodic septic tank pumping performed every two or three years. If there is no filter or the hold time is not adequate, the hair is free to flow throughout the system until it eventually reaches the drainfield (if it doesn’t cause a clog on its way there). Clogs occur when hair encounters an obstruction and accumulates, forming a filter and trapping objects and organic waste flowing past. What starts as a couple of strands wedged in a pipe joint or trapped in a bend in the piping eventually will grow to a full blown clog over time. Slow flowing drains and backups are usually the consequence. The best way to deal with these clogs is to try to mechanically dislodge them, using a snake or disassembling the piping to remove the clog. Many homeowners, however, will try to deal with these clogs by using chemicals to dissolve the hair. As had been cited many times in other blogs on this site, these chemicals are, in general, bad news. They may dissolve the clog but can also damage the bacterial environment in the septic tank, causing even more problems. Some of these chemicals may eventually make their way into the ground water table. The best way to avoid septic tank problems attributed to hair is to prevent it from entering the system in the first place. Use screens and filters in sink and tub drains; humans constantly shed hair along with skin. Preventing some of this from getting into the system only reduces the chances you will have problems.
Open Source Software: Revolutionizing Education In recent years, open source software has emerged as a significant catalyst in revolutionizing the field of education. This article delves into the transformative impact that open source software has had on educational institutions and explores its potential to shape the future of learning. To illustrate its practicality and effectiveness, this piece will first examine a case study where an open source Learning Management System (LMS) was implemented in a university setting. The proliferation of technology in classrooms has led to a growing demand for innovative tools that can enhance teaching and learning experiences. Open source software, characterized by its accessibility and collaborative nature, presents itself as an ideal solution for addressing these needs. By allowing users to freely access and modify the underlying code, open source software grants educators and students unparalleled flexibility and control over their digital environment. For instance, consider a hypothetical scenario where a university opts to replace its proprietary LMS with an open-source alternative. The implementation of such an system would enable instructors to customize course materials according to their pedagogical preferences while providing students with greater autonomy in managing their own learning journeys. The Benefits of Customizing the Curriculum Open source software has revolutionized education by offering numerous benefits for customizing the curriculum to meet individual needs and preferences. By allowing educators to tailor learning materials, open source platforms have created a more engaging and personalized experience for students. One notable example is the case of Smithville High School, where teachers have utilized open source software to create customized lesson plans for their students. By accessing a wide range of educational resources available online, they were able to design interactive lessons that catered to each student’s unique learning style. This flexibility in curriculum customization has not only increased Student Engagement but also improved academic performance. To illustrate the impact of customizing the curriculum through open source software, consider the emotional response it evokes among students: - Increased motivation: Students feel empowered when they are given the opportunity to shape their own learning experiences. They become more motivated to actively participate in class and take ownership of their education. - Enhanced creativity: The ability to customize the curriculum allows students to explore different avenues of creativity. It encourages them to think critically and come up with innovative solutions. - Improved confidence: When students can learn at their own pace and focus on topics that interest them, they gain confidence in their abilities. This confidence translates into higher self-esteem and a willingness to take on new challenges. - Greater inclusivity: Open source software enables educators to include diverse perspectives and cultural references in the curriculum, fostering an inclusive learning environment where all students feel valued. Table 1 showcases how customizing the curriculum using open source software positively impacts various aspects of education: \|Student Engagement\|\|Increases active participation and attentiveness during classes\| \|Learning Outcomes\|\|Improves comprehension and retention of knowledge\| \|Teacher Satisfaction\|\|Enhances teacher-student interaction and fosters a sense of accomplishment\| \|Collaborative Learning\|\|Encourages teamwork and cooperation among students\| As open source software continues to advance, the benefits of customizing the curriculum become even more apparent. By tailoring education to individual needs and preferences, educators can create a learning environment that nurtures student growth and facilitates academic success. Transitioning to the subsequent section on enhancing student participation and involvement, it is evident that customizing the curriculum through open source software plays a vital role in promoting a collaborative and interactive classroom experience. Enhancing Student Participation and Involvement Building on the benefits of customizing the curriculum, open source software also plays a crucial role in enhancing student participation and involvement. By providing students with interactive platforms and collaborative tools, open source software empowers them to actively engage in their education. One hypothetical example that illustrates this is an online learning platform that utilizes open source software to facilitate virtual group projects. This online learning platform allows students from different locations to collaborate on a project using open source software tools such as shared document editors and video conferencing applications. For instance, imagine a group of high school students studying biology. They are tasked with researching and presenting on a specific topic related to genetics. With the help of open source software, they can access shared documents where each member can contribute ideas, edit content simultaneously, and provide feedback in real-time. Additionally, they can schedule virtual meetings through video conferencing tools to discuss their progress and divide tasks efficiently. The use of open source software not only facilitates collaboration but also fosters creativity among students. It provides them with the freedom to explore innovative solutions by modifying existing code or creating new applications tailored to their educational needs. This hands-on approach encourages active problem-solving skills while allowing students to take ownership of their learning process. Moreover, it nurtures a sense of autonomy and self-direction, as students have the opportunity to experiment with different approaches and customize their digital learning environment according to their preferences. - Increased engagement: Open source software offers interactive features that grab students’ attention and make learning more enjoyable. - Enhanced teamwork: Collaborative tools provided by open source software promote effective communication and cooperation among students. - Empowered learners: Open source software enables students to become active participants in shaping their educational experience. - Real-world relevance: By utilizing open source tools commonly used in professional settings, students develop valuable skills for future employment opportunities. To further illustrate the impact of open source software on student participation, consider the following table showcasing some benefits and corresponding examples: \|Improved communication\|\|Students using instant messaging for group discussions\| \|Encouraged problem-solving\|\|Students creating a new educational app\| \|Increased accessibility\|\|Students with disabilities utilizing assistive technologies\| \|Diverse learning resources\|\|Students accessing free online textbooks and lectures\| Through these various advantages, it becomes evident that open source software empowers students by transforming them from passive recipients of information to active contributors in their education. By leveraging the potential of open source software to enhance student engagement and involvement, educational institutions can maximize their financial resources. This will be discussed in the subsequent section on “Maximizing Financial Resources in Education.” Maximizing Financial Resources in Education Building upon the benefits of open source software in enhancing student participation and involvement, its impact on maximizing financial resources in education is equally significant. Section H2: Maximizing Financial Resources in Education Open source software provides numerous opportunities for educational institutions to maximize their limited financial resources. By utilizing free or low-cost open source alternatives, schools can redirect funds towards other crucial areas such as infrastructure development or teacher training. For instance, let’s consider a hypothetical case study of a small rural school facing budget constraints. By adopting an open source learning management system (LMS) instead of investing in costly proprietary software licenses, this school can allocate those saved funds towards purchasing additional teaching materials or upgrading computer hardware. - Empowers educators by offering cost-effective tools that enhance classroom experiences. - Enables schools to reallocate funds for extracurricular activities and community engagement programs. - Reduces dependency on expensive commercial software vendors, promoting self-sufficiency within educational institutions. - Fosters collaborative efforts among teachers globally through shared resources and knowledge exchange platforms. In addition to these advantages, open source software also enables customization based on specific institutional needs. The table below showcases three key aspects where open source software effectively maximizes financial resources while fulfilling diverse requirements: \|Flexible Licensing\|\|Cost Savings due to license fees\|\|Moodle LMS\| \|Scalability\|\|Affordable scaling with increasing demands\|\|LibreOffice Suite\| \|Community Support\|\|Accessible expertise without extra costs\|\|WordPress\| By leveraging the flexibility and scalability offered by open source solutions, educational institutions can effectively optimize their limited financial resources and ensure quality education for all students. As open source software continues to revolutionize education, its impact extends beyond financial considerations. The next section will explore how it enables educators to adapt teaching methods to better meet individual needs, further enhancing the learning experience. Adapting Teaching Methods to Meet Individual Needs Building upon the discussion surrounding the maximization of financial resources in education, an emerging and transformative approach is revolutionizing education. Open Source Software (OSS) has become a powerful tool that offers numerous advantages for educational institutions and learners alike. By providing cost-effective solutions, fostering collaboration, and enhancing accessibility to quality educational materials, OSS is reshaping the landscape of education. One compelling example illustrating the impact of OSS in education involves a school district facing budget constraints. With limited funds available for purchasing expensive proprietary software programs, they turned to OSS as a viable alternative. Through adopting open source solutions like LibreOffice and Moodle, the district was able to provide students with access to essential tools for learning without compromising on quality or functionality. The benefits of incorporating OSS into education extend beyond mere cost savings. Here are several key reasons why open source software is revolutionizing the field: - Flexibility: Unlike proprietary software that often limits customization options, OSS allows educators to tailor applications according to their specific requirements. - Collaboration: The open-source nature encourages collaboration among educators globally by enabling them to share resources, ideas, and best practices freely. - Community-driven development: Rather than relying solely on corporate entities for updates and improvements, OSS projects benefit from vibrant communities of developers who continuously contribute enhancements based on real-world needs. - Enhanced security: Due to its transparent nature, where code can be reviewed by anyone interested, OSS enjoys heightened levels of scrutiny that help identify vulnerabilities more efficiently. \|Flexibility\|\|Allows customization of applications according to specific requirements.\| \|Collaboration\|\|Encourages global sharing of resources, ideas, and best practices among educators.\| \|Community-driven\|\|Development relies on contributions from diverse developers worldwide instead of being restricted to corporate entities.\| \|Enhanced security\|\|Transparency enables thorough code review by interested individuals, leading to more efficient identification of vulnerabilities.\| Incorporating OSS into education has the potential to democratize access to quality educational resources while ensuring financial sustainability for institutions. By embracing open source solutions, schools and universities can leverage their collective knowledge and expertise to create a collaborative environment that benefits students, teachers, and the education community at large. As we explore the transformative power of open source software in education, it is essential to consider how this revolution extends beyond resource availability. The subsequent section will delve into adapting teaching methods to meet individual needs, further enhancing the educational experience for all learners. Expanding Opportunities for Resource Accessibility Building on the idea of adapting teaching methods, open source software has also played a significant role in expanding opportunities for resource accessibility in education. By breaking down barriers to information and providing equal access to educational materials, open source software has revolutionized the way students learn. This section will explore how open source software has transformed education by promoting inclusivity and enhancing resource availability. With the integration of open source software, educators are now able to provide a wide range of resources that cater to individual needs. For example, consider a hypothetical case study where a visually impaired student is enrolled in a traditional classroom setting. In such cases, open source screen readers can be utilized as assistive technology tools, enabling the student to access digital content independently. By leveraging these accessible resources, students with disabilities can participate fully in their learning journey without feeling left behind or excluded. To further illustrate the impact of open source software on resource accessibility, here is a bullet point list highlighting its benefits: - Cost-effective: Open source software eliminates high licensing fees associated with proprietary educational platforms. - Customizability: Educators have the freedom to adapt open source tools according to specific instructional requirements. - Collaboration: The global community contributes to improving existing resources and creating new ones through collaborative efforts. - Continual improvement: Due to its transparent nature, bugs and issues within open source software are often identified and resolved promptly. The table below provides an overview of key features that make open source software beneficial for educators and learners alike: \|Flexibility\|\|Open source software allows Customization based on needs.\| \|Accessibility\|\|Provides inclusive options for learners with diverse needs.\| \|Affordability\|\|Reduces financial burden by eliminating costly subscriptions.\| \|Community\|\|Offers collaboration and support from a global user base.\| By embracing open-source solutions, educational institutions can empower educators to tailor instruction and create an inclusive learning environment. The next section will delve deeper into the ways in which open source software enables teachers to adapt their teaching practices to meet individual student needs, fostering a more personalized educational experience for all learners. Empowering educators to tailor instruction, open source software offers limitless possibilities for adapting teaching methods and catering to diverse student requirements. Empowering Educators to Tailor Instruction As open source software continues to gain traction in the education sector, it has become evident that its impact extends beyond simply providing cost-effective solutions. By fostering resource accessibility, open source software offers new possibilities for educators and learners alike. One notable example is the use of Moodle, an open source learning management system (LMS), which allows educational institutions to create online courses and provide students with readily available resources. One key benefit of open source software in expanding opportunities for resource accessibility is its ability to support collaborative learning environments. With tools like forums and wikis integrated into platforms such as Moodle, students can actively engage in discussions, share knowledge, and collaborate on projects. This level of interaction not only enhances their understanding of course material but also cultivates important skills such as communication and teamwork. To further illustrate the advantages of open source software in promoting resource accessibility, consider the following emotional bullet points: - Increased access to a wide range of educational materials regardless of geographic location or socioeconomic status. - Empowering learners by allowing them to take ownership of their education through personalized learning paths. - Enabling educators to easily update and customize resources based on evolving teaching methodologies. - Encouraging the sharing of educational content among teachers worldwide, fostering a global community dedicated to enhancing education. Furthermore, a three-column table could be utilized to demonstrate how open source software facilitates resource accessibility: \|Enhanced collaboration\|\|Discussion forums\|\|Improved critical thinking and problem-solving abilities\| \|Personalized learning\|\|Adaptive assessment systems\|\|Increased student engagement\| \|Customizable resources\|\|Tailored lesson plans\|\|Addressing diverse learner needs\| \|Global knowledge sharing\|\|Open educational resources (OERs)\|\|Breakdown of barriers between institutions\| In summary, open source software expands opportunities for resource accessibility in education through collaborative learning environments and the provision of customizable resources. This empowers both educators and learners, fostering a more inclusive and engaging educational experience. The next section will delve into how open source software promotes active learning and collaboration, building upon the foundation established by its role in resource accessibility. Promoting Active Learning and Collaboration Building on the ability of open source software to empower educators, its use in promoting active learning and collaboration has become increasingly prevalent. Section H2: Promoting Active Learning and Collaboration Through the integration of open source software, educational institutions have witnessed a transformation in their pedagogical approaches. By facilitating active learning and fostering collaborative environments, this innovative technology has opened new avenues for student engagement and knowledge acquisition. To illustrate its impact, let us consider a hypothetical scenario at a university where an open source platform is employed to enhance classroom interactions. In this case, students are encouraged to actively participate in discussions through online forums and contribute to shared documents using collaborative editing tools such as Google Docs or Etherpad Lite. To further emphasize the benefits of incorporating open source software into education, we can explore key advantages that arise from promoting active learning and collaboration: - Enhanced critical thinking skills: Engaging students in interactive activities stimulates their analytical abilities and encourages them to think critically about the subject matter. - Increased peer-to-peer interaction: Open source platforms provide opportunities for students to collaborate with one another, exchanging ideas and perspectives beyond the confines of traditional classroom settings. - Improved retention rates: Active participation fosters deeper understanding and retention of course material compared to passive learning methods alone. - Cultivation of digital citizenship skills: By working collaboratively within online spaces, students develop essential digital literacy competencies necessary for success in today’s interconnected world. \|Advantages of Open Source Software for Education\| \|– Facilitates active learning\| \|– Encourages collaboration among students\| \|– Enhances critical thinking skills\| \|– Fosters digital citizenship development\| In conclusion, the incorporation of open source software into education promotes active learning and collaboration by providing students with interactive platforms and encouraging them to engage with course content on a deeper level. This approach not only enhances critical thinking skills but also cultivates valuable digital citizenship competencies. By embracing open source technology, educational institutions can create dynamic and collaborative learning environments that prepare students for the challenges of an increasingly digital world. As open source software continues to revolutionize education by empowering educators and promoting active learning, its impact on improving efficiency and effectiveness in education cannot be overlooked. Improving Efficiency and Effectiveness in Education Building on the benefits of active learning and collaboration, open source software has also proven to be a valuable tool in improving efficiency and effectiveness in education. Open source software offers numerous advantages that enhance the overall educational experience. One example is the use of Learning Management Systems (LMS) powered by open source software, such as Moodle or Sakai. These platforms provide educators with a centralized space for organizing course materials, facilitating communication between students and teachers, and managing assessments. By leveraging these tools, educators can streamline administrative tasks, saving time that can be redirected towards more meaningful interactions with their students. In addition to LMSs, open source software provides a wide range of applications specifically designed to address different aspects of education. Here are some key ways in which open source software improves efficiency and effectiveness: - Accessibility: Open source software often prioritizes accessibility features, ensuring that learners with disabilities have equal access to educational resources. - Customization: Educators can tailor open source software applications to suit specific pedagogical approaches or individual student needs. - Cost-effectiveness: Unlike proprietary solutions that require expensive licenses, open source software is typically free to use and modify, allowing institutions to allocate their limited resources more efficiently. - Ongoing development: Open source projects benefit from continuous community-driven improvements and updates, ensuring that users always have access to the latest advancements. To illustrate the impact of open source software on education further, consider the following table showcasing the comparison between traditional proprietary solutions versus open-source alternatives: \|Feature\|\|Proprietary Software\|\|Open Source Software\| \|User Feedback & Updates\|\|Controlled\|\|Collaborative\| As evident from this example, open source software provides a more cost-effective, customizable, and community-supported alternative to traditional proprietary solutions. In the quest for improving efficiency and effectiveness in education, open source software has emerged as an invaluable tool. By leveraging platforms like LMSs and taking advantage of its numerous benefits, educators can optimize their workflows and enhance student learning experiences. Encouraging Innovation and Creativity in Teaching Transitioning from the previous section on improving efficiency and effectiveness in education, open source software also plays a significant role in encouraging innovation and creativity in teaching. By providing educators with versatile tools and resources, it empowers them to explore new approaches and develop engaging learning experiences for their students. One example of how open source software fosters innovation in education is through its support for project-based learning. Imagine a high school computer science class where students are tasked with creating a mobile application. With access to open source development platforms like Android Studio or Flutter, they can collaborate, experiment, and innovate as they build their apps. This hands-on experience not only enhances their technical skills but also promotes critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity. Open source software offers several advantages that contribute to fostering innovation and creativity in teaching: - Flexibility: Educators have the freedom to customize educational software according to their specific needs and preferences. - Collaboration: Open source projects encourage collaboration among teachers, allowing them to share resources, exchange ideas, and collectively improve instructional materials. - Continuous improvement: Since the code behind open source software is publicly available, developers worldwide can contribute enhancements over time, ensuring constant updates and improvements. - Cost-effectiveness: Open source solutions often eliminate expensive licensing fees associated with proprietary software, making innovative technology accessible even for institutions with limited budgets. To further illustrate the impact of open-source software on education’s creative potential, consider the following table highlighting some popular open-source tools used by educators: \|Moodle\|\|Learning management system\|\|Facilitating online courses\| \|LibreOffice\|\|Office suite alternative\|\|Creating documents, presentations, spreadsheets\| \|Scratch\|\|Visual programming language\|\|Introducing coding concepts to young learners\| \|WordPress\|\|Content management system\|\|Building websites or blogs for educational purposes\| Through these tools and many others, open source software creates a collaborative and innovative environment where educators can craft personalized learning experiences that inspire students. Transitioning smoothly into the subsequent section about enabling personalized learning experiences, it is evident that open-source software not only revolutionizes education by improving efficiency and encouraging innovation but also empowers educators to provide tailored instruction for each student. Enabling Personalized Learning Experiences Building upon the concept of encouraging innovation and creativity in teaching, open source software has emerged as a powerful tool for revolutionizing education. By providing educators with access to customizable and collaborative platforms, it enables them to explore new approaches to instruction that foster engagement and enhance learning outcomes. One example of how open source software has reshaped educational practices is the case of Edmodo, an online platform that connects teachers, students, and parents in a virtual learning environment. With its user-friendly interface and extensive features, Edmodo allows teachers to create interactive lessons, share resources, facilitate discussions, and provide personalized feedback. This not only empowers educators to design dynamic teaching materials tailored to their students’ needs but also promotes active participation among learners by offering them opportunities to express their ideas and collaborate with peers. - Increased student motivation through interactive learning experiences - Enhanced teacher-student collaboration fostering a sense of belongingness - Accessible educational resources benefiting underserved communities - Empowered educators driving pedagogical innovation \|Open Source Software in Education\| \|– User-friendly interface\| \|Cons\|\|– Requires technical expertise\| \|– May lack comprehensive support\| \|– Constant updates may be overwhelming\| The utilization of open source software in education not only encourages innovative teaching practices but also reinforces another crucial aspect – enabling personalized learning experiences. Supporting Different Learning Styles and Paces Building on the idea of personalized learning experiences, open source software offers a wide range of opportunities to tailor education to fit individual needs and preferences. By leveraging the collaborative nature of these platforms, educators can create dynamic and customized learning environments that empower students to take control of their own educational journeys. One example illustrating how open source software enables personalized learning is the implementation of adaptive learning systems. These systems utilize advanced algorithms and analytics to assess students’ strengths and weaknesses in real-time, allowing for personalized recommendations and targeted interventions. For instance, imagine a hypothetical scenario where an online math course utilizes an adaptive learning system. As students progress through different topics, the platform adapts its content delivery based on each student’s performance. If a student struggles with fractions, the system could provide additional practice materials or suggest alternative explanations until mastery is achieved. - Increased engagement: The ability to customize learning experiences fosters higher levels of motivation and engagement among students. - Enhanced accessibility: Open source software allows for greater flexibility in accommodating diverse learners by providing multiple modalities for accessing educational resources. - Empowered self-directed learning: Students are empowered to set their own goals, track their progress, and make choices about how they learn best. - Cultivation of critical thinking skills: With access to a variety of open source tools and resources, students develop essential problem-solving abilities necessary for success in today’s rapidly changing world. In addition to adaptive learning systems and various benefits listed above, open source software also facilitates collaboration among educators globally. Through shared repositories and online communities dedicated to education technology development, teachers from all over the world can collaborate on creating innovative lesson plans, sharing resources, and refining teaching methodologies. Table demonstrating examples of successful collaborations among educators utilizing open-source technologies: \|Open Educational Resources (OER)\|\|Educators collaborate to develop and share openly licensed educational materials, such as textbooks, videos, and activities.\| \|Learning Management Systems (LMS)\|\|Teachers work together to create comprehensive online platforms for managing course content, assignments, and assessments.\| \|Coding Clubs\|\|Educators come together to establish coding clubs that provide students with opportunities to learn programming languages and engage in hands-on projects.\| \|Virtual Field Trips\|\|Collaborative efforts result in virtual field trips using open-source technologies, providing interactive experiences that bridge geographical barriers.\| In conclusion, the use of open source software revolutionizes education by enabling personalized learning experiences tailored to individual needs and preferences. From adaptive learning systems to fostering global collaboration among educators, these platforms empower students and teachers alike. By leveraging the collaborative nature of open source software, educational institutions can shape a future where every student has access to high-quality customized education suited to their unique learning style and pace.
Rachel Shteir’s essay on Houdini today is pegged to a new exhibit at the Jewish Museum. But its timing is propitious: Houdini, who died on Halloween (no, really), was buried 84 years ago yesterday, and, this year, his yahrzeit happened to fall yesterday as well. Which meant that, yesterday, a group of Jewish-magician admirers observed the great man’s death in their distinctive annual way. Participant Julian Voloj emails: When a member of the Society of American Magicians dies, his fellow magicians perform a “Broken Wand” ceremony at his funeral. “When a magician becomes a member of the society, he is given a wand, a magic wand,” explains George Schindler, Dean of the Society. “Without the magician the wand is useless.” The first magician who was ever honored in such a ceremony was Harry Houdini, who was president of the Society of American Magicians from 1917 until his death in 1926. Although the Broken Wand ceremony is usually only performed once, it became a tradition for magicians to gather the anniversary of Houdini’s death to pay respect to the greatest magician of all time. “First these gatherings were not organized,” Schindler explains, “but since 1969, every year the Society holds Broken Wand ceremonies at his gravesite.” In 1976, Noach Valley, a rabbi and hobby magician [and father of Forward cartoonist and Friend-of-The-Scroll Eli], who had just relocated to New York, participated in his first Broken Wand ceremony. He suggested adding a Jewish component: Kaddish if there was a minyan, El Male Rahamin if not. He has recited the prayer ever since at the Machpelah Cemetery in Queens. So light a candle or raise a glass for a great magician and, as Shteir notes, just as great a humanist. Bound for Glory [Tablet Magazine]
Stories Below come from our Media Partner 3BL Media - Click their logo or any of the stories for more information Toy Safety – An Overview Updated January 2011 Public anger, expressed in part by the widespread rebuke of elected officials, rising economic pressure on the middle and moderate income family, and the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 have all helped to bring about change… slow change…but change never the less in the toy industry, both in the United States and in other lands. Since the screaming and scary headlines of 2007 and 2008, there have been regulatory and legislative steps taken to assure the safety of toys. Legislation adopted by the US Congress -- while burdensome to some businesses -- set the tone for child toy safety in this country. Also, actions by the government of China, along with those in other Asian nations (the region being the source of the majority of toys sold in America), cracked down on many of the abuses that have led to dangerous and toxic toys being shipped to the USA and other countries. The situation is not fully corrected, but certainly has improved. According to a recent study (October, 2010), “Just over half of American adults are concerned about the safety of toys being sold this holiday season despite the fact that most have yet to buy a toy recalled for safety reasons.” These results reflect consumer awareness and the concerns of the buying public. Perhaps, this is the best safeguard of all to ensuring safety in the market place. The issues -- lead in toys, cadmium in child’s jewelry and renewed focus on the possible dangers of Bisphenol A plastics still show that more has to be done. A University of Massachusetts study released in 2010 stated that in the past three years, “…17 million toys have been recalled in the U.S. over high lead levels.” The report highlighted the need to prevent these toxic toys from ever being manufactured. For all of these reasons and to further protect our infants and children – Hot Topic Toy Safety will continue to focus attention on this continuing serious problem. Updated January 2008 Over the past five years the number of products manufactured in China and then recalled within the United States by the [federal] Consumer Product Safety Commission has doubled. In 2006, there were 467 recalls of products imported to the US. In 2000, Chinese manufactured products were responsible for 36 percent of all product recalls in the US – and this number has increased to 60 percent of all recalls. This dramatic increase can be attributable mostly to an increase in toy recalls -- with China manufacturing 70-80 percent of all toys sold in the US, according to the Toy Industry Association. According to the Toy Industry Association (TIA), the agency has provided toymakers with voluntary safety standard for all toys. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) also regulates toys through its own force of inspectors to monitor the marketplace for both domestic- produced and foreign-made toys. The toy industry -- along with other businesses -- has moved so much American manufacturing to China in order to cut costs, that the industry players are now exposed to growing problems despite regulations, laws and voluntary industry efforts to contain the issues. Public-health experts say Chinese manufacturers repeatedly revert to lead paint regardless of the rules or oversight because it is cheap and readily available, and cutting corners helps factories meet relentless customer (marketers) and retailer and consumer pressures to contain costs. Such violations easily slip through because of regulatory gaps in both nations. The Chinese government has tried to reassure consumers about the safety of its products. Chinese Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai stated in summer 2007 – as the holiday buying season moved front-of-mind in the US -- that more than 99 percent of Chinese exports are safe and of good quality. But, it is that 1 percent that is drawing the attention of American parents. They are seeking answers…they want someone to be accountable and tell them which toys are safe for their children and grandchildren. U.S. law is pretty clear. The importer is responsible for quality and safety of goods imported into the country," said Erin Ennis, vice president with the U.S.-China Business Council. "But the Chinese can absolutely do more to prevent safety issues." (One consequence of this issue: more Plaintiff Bar lawsuits against US companies.) U.S. retailers and toy makers, including Mattel, have attempted to devise processes to prevent products with lead contamination and other problems from reaching shelves. But the company systems vary, and these efforts haven't kept problem toys from slipping through the process. Sometimes, toys that have passed inspection more than once are later found to contain excessive levels of lead paint. This is a sign that Chinese companies may have been able to deceive the safety inspections. Combined with the recent scares in the United States of Chinese-made pet food (2007) and globally of Chinese-made pharmaceuticals and toothpaste, the string of toy recalls is inspiring new demands for stepped-up enforcement of safety by United States regulators and importers, as well as by the government and industry forces in China. Consumers, advocates, media, and the public sector -- all are seeking stepped-up enforcement of safety by United States regulators and importers, as well as by the government and industry in China. As the 2007 Christmas season moved into high gear for consumers and retailers, toy safety became a very hot topic -- Accountability- Central Editors focus on news, commentary, reliable data and information, and research, to help all players better understand the issue; seek solutions; ascertain who is responsible; propose solutions; make intelligent buying decisions; and lobby for changes to protect the safety of our children. We’re interested in your news, views and commentary on these critical issues. Section Created November 2007 by the Editors Latest on Toy Safety Imports December 21, 2015 Holiday Toy Safety: Common Sense Trumps Activist AdviceSource: Inside Sources If you believe the U.S. Public Interest Group (USPIRG), the “Slinky Jr.” or “Fun Bubbles Jump Rope” that Santa might bring to your children should send shivers down your spine. These items are among the “toxic” toys listed in the... Source: News Channel 6 Christmas is a magical season for children. Visions long ago may have included sugarplums. Today’s children are likely dreaming of toys, toys and more toys. December 3, 2015 Annual Toy Safety Survey Finds Choking Hazards, No LeadSource: Capital Public Radio As parents get ready for the holiday shopping season, the California Public Interest Research Group is warning of potentially dangerous toys November 17, 2015 Kids Test Out 2015’s Best Toys At The Good Housekeeping InstituteSource: CBS local NY The Toy Testing Lab at the Good Housekeeping Institute is a child’s dream. Experts screened more than 500 new toys for safety and skill building, then kid testers came up with the top 25. December 17, 2014 Consider toy safety as holidays nearSource: News OK Sharp edges and points, cords and strings, small parts and flying objects. None of these are most likely on your mind when you are scouring stores and the Internet trying to fulfill your kids’ holiday wish lists. December 2, 2014 Study says scooters lead the toy-injury packSource: USA Today Attention holiday toy shoppers: A new study finds that toy-related injuries increased over recent decades — at least if you include one particular toy November 20, 2014 Consumer Group Lists '10 Worst Toys' for KidsSource: ABC News A light-up bow whose arrows are advertised as flying up to 145 feet and the "Catapencil" ? a pencil with a miniature slingshot-style launcher on its end ? are on an annual list of unsafe toys released Wednesday by a... November 18, 2014 Danger on the toy shelfSource: Times Union The little metal toy charm of a cute fairy being sold at Ocean State Job Lots looks innocent enough, but it could expose any child who touches it — or puts it in his or her mouth — to dangerous levels of cadmium, a heavy metal... December 26, 2013 Fewer 'Toys from Hell' under Christmas tree this yearSource: USA Today CHICAGO – If current trends hold, there will be fewer "Toys from Hell" under the Christmas tree this year. That term is quietly used in the manufacturing industry to mean products that poison, break, burn or explode. But this... December 19, 2013 Toy Safety Check List - text/videoSource: PA Home Page Children across the country are looking forward to seeing the presents they'll get this holiday season. While many toys are safe, there are still a number of hazards that parents may want to look out for. Eyewitness News spent... \|HOME \| ABOUT THE SITE \| REGISTRATION INFORMATION \| VOICES: FEATURED COMMENTATORS AND BLOGGERS \| SPECIAL SECTIONS\|
The Great White Shark The history of the Great White Shark, how and where it lives. Probably the most widely-known of all sharks and the most dangerous in temperate waters is the Great White shark or Carcharodon carcharias. It is mostly found in relatively shallow offshore waters. The Great White shark is actually not white at all. It is dark grey or blue on its back and upper sides. The dark color becomes dirty white or cream on the lower sides and belly. Under each fin, there is a black spot and the fins are often dark on the tips. The sharks' eyes are black. The largest of the carnivorous sharks, the Great White's size ranges from 21 to 37 feet in length. There are no known specimens that are smaller in length. No juvenilles have ever been caught. It is believed that the Great White is a relative to the great Carcharodon megalodon whose teeth show their sizes reached nearly 100 feet in length. This is more than twice the size of the Great Whites we find today! The Great White shark swims with a stiff-bodied motion even though their body is flexible. They keep their body temperature warm which is why they stay away from tropical waters. They could overheat. The Great White has excellent senses of smell and vision. This is helpful when hunting. Their main source of food are seals and sea lions, although fish are also eaten. It is possible however for them to mistake a human being for a sea mammal. Once they have tasted the human, they usually reject the taste, but have already caused serious injury. The Great White is now a very rare fish because it is the ultimate predator in its food chain. This makes it less abundant than its prey. It is also hunted for its flesh for food and because of the movie JAWS, Great Whites are seen as "man-eaters." When they are caught, hunters get a lot of money for even one tooth. Eventually, Great Whites will have to be placed on the endangered list of animals because this mysterious beast is dwindling away.
Seeing Red: Causes of Eye Irritation and Redness As is true of many physical symptoms, the conditions that cause eye redness range from the pathetically benign (staying up past bedtime) to the decidedly dangerous (acute glaucoma). (Fortunately for us, benign causes greatly outnumber the dangerous.) As noted in Sun Gets in Your Eyes, eyes and eyelids are sensitive structures: Abuse them and you’ll see (and feel) the effects quickly. Stop the abuse, however, and your eyes will usually return to normal fairly quickly. The problem, however, is that some causes of eye redness don’t just go away: You may need to seek medical treatment to address an underlying condition. Why You Should Be Concerned About Eye Redness 1. Protecting Eye Health: Sure, your pinkish peepers may simply be the result of one too many late nights, but there are other causes of eye redness (see below) that can’t be cured by a good night’s sleep and, if left untreated, can cause vision loss. 2. Looking Pretty: Forget about crow’s feet, nothing ages a person more dramatically than eye redness (and frankly, chronically bloodshot eyes can cause people to wonder about your personal habits). Since even mild redness can dull the whites of your eyes, getting treatment is important. Eye Redness Causes Below is a very partial list of conditions that may lead to eye redness. Again, a doctor’s visit is the best way to determine the reason for your condition as well as its proper treatment: 1. Conjunctivitis: Remember “pink eye” from your school days? This particularly disgusting affliction that not only made your eyes horribly bloodshot, but often caused them to ooze a nasty green pus, gluing your eyelids shut during the night. While some forms of conjunctivitis are caused by allergies, and are thus non-contagious, conjunctivitis caused by viral or bacterial infection is another story. (Bacterial conjunctivitis can be treated with antibiotics, while the viral version goes away on its own.) Because bacterial/viral conjunctivitis is so catching, it’s important to follow your doctor’s instructions about returning to work or school while you recover. 2. Contaminated Makeup: While it’s tempting to scrape the last of your high-end mascara out of its tube or to resurrect that old eyeshadow pan that’s been hiding in your backpack, don’t. Contaminated eye makeup can lead to eye irritation and infection. Be safe and toss eye makeup after four to six months of use. If you do develop an eye infection, get rid of all your eye makeup to prevent re-contamination. 3. Environmental Factors: Allergies to ragweed or pets, as well as exposure to environmental pollutants, can cause irritated, red eyes. Your doctor can run tests to diagnose allergies and may be able to prescribe soothing eye drops or an antihistamine to help manage your condition. 4. Occular Rosacea: Many people are familiar with rosacea, facial flushing that can result in a ruddy complexion and, in some cases, acne-like bumps on the skin. Sometimes this condition affects the eyes as well, causing red, dry eyes. Like skin rosacea, occular rosacea often worsens over time and, if left untreated, sometimes contributes to vision loss. Doctors can prescribe antibiotics and eye drops to manage symptoms, though you will likely have to do your part and avoid rosacea triggers such as alcohol, spicy food, and hot beverages. 5. Acute Glaucoma: While glaucoma is often a slowly progressing disease, with symptoms worsening over time, it’s possible for the condition to come on suddenly. If you suddenly develop eye redness, develop visual disturbances such as seeking rainbow “halos” around objects or experience severe pain in an eye, seek medical care immediately. Keep in mind that eye redness, while common, isn’t actually normal: When your eyes turn red, they are trying to tell you that something is amiss. Take action by taking stock of your lifestyle and, if necessary, getting help from a medical professional.
the website where English Language teachers exchange resources: worksheets, lesson plans, activities, etc. Our collection is growing every day with the help of many teachers. If you want to download you have to send your own contributions. thanx but.. posted by That is a nice worksheet but I want to say that the man with Turkish flag isn t look like a Turk, not at all. I don t want the world s children to learn wrong things about my country. Turkey left wearing the man s hat 100 years ago.. We are modern people , I mean. The picture doesnt reflect us. I am sorry for the criticise I know it is just a sheet and aim is o teach children, but I wanted to make clear, I hope u wont be resent ;) Great Idea--but I noticed a grammar error on Page 2 posted by Hi there! Just a suggestion if you ever upload it again--at the top of page 2 it should say "which one you are" not "which one are you". Otherwise, great idea. Whatever helps students forget they´re learning is always helpful. Thank you all!! posted by It´s great to see you liked the game!!!! çiğdemmmm: I am form Argentina, and really, the man with my flag isn´t very representative either!!! It´s just a game!! I think the best way to learn a language is using it!! And learn when to use each verb! That´s how I create this worksheet!!! Thank you all!! Alejandra grammar mistake posted by nice work, but you should change just the order of the sentence since it isn´t a question..."which one you are" not which one are you...just to make this paper better! XOXO Congrats! posted by I used to play the REAL game when I taught primary school children. Now, thanks to you, I can play it with my adult students online. Perfect! (PD: De dónde sacás estas figuritas? CLAP-CLAP-CLAP!)
Describes the sidewall appearance. Examples: BSW= Black Side Wall, WSW = White Side Wall OWL = Outlined White Letters. \|Load Index\|\|Not Available\|\| The load index (LI) is a 2 or 3 digit number that corrolates to the maximum amount of weight the tire can carry. For example, a tire with a load index of 87 indicates that the tire can carry a maximim load of 1,201 lbs. In the case of our example the 87 identifies the tires ability to carry a maximum of 1,201 lbs. So 4 tires will carry a maximum of 4,804 lbs. Refer to your vehicle owner's manual for the recommended minimim Load Index. It is not recommended to install tires with a lower Load Index. By doing so, this could cause your tires to be overloaded thus potentially causing a blowout. \|Speed Rating\|\|Not Available\|\| Speed Ratings (SR) are based on laboratory tests and indicates the maximum speed the tire can achieve. These tests are based on limited time trials. Higher speed rating tires typically will yield better handling capabilities, but may often result in lower mileage. Refer to your vehicle owner's manual for the recommended minimum Speed Rating. It is not recommended to install a tire with a lower speed rating as it could affect the handling of your vehicle. It is important to note that speed ratings only apply to tires that have not been damaged, altered, under-inflated or overloaded. Additionally, most tire manufacturers maintain that a tire that has been cut or punctured no longer retains the tire manufacturer's original speed rating, even after being repaired because the tire manufacturer can't control the quality of the repair. \|Load Range/Ply Rating\|\|F/12PLY\|\| Ply Rating is related to the max load capacity. This value can be defined with a letter or number. The higher the number/letter, the higher the load capacity. To help consumers evaluate their tires, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) created the Uniform Tire Quality Grading System (UTQG). The UTQG rates tires are rated on their tread-wear, traction performance, and temperature resistance. The grade for each of these can be found on the sidewall of your tire (except for winter tires and certain light truck tires). Click here for more information. \|Max Single Load(lbs)\|\|3960\|\|The maximum load this tire will support. Remember to multiply this number by the number of tires installed on your vehicle to get the maximum carrying capacity. This number is directly related to the Load Index.\| \|Max Single Air Pressure(PSI)\|\|95\|\|The maximum air pressure this tire will support. This does not represent the amount of air pressure your tires should have at all times. Consult with your owner's manual to determine the best air pressure you should use for your vehicle.\| \|Tread Depth\|\|13.0\|\|The amount of tread on the tire. Once the tire is worn to 2/32nds, it is considered fully used and should be replaced at that time. Most tires will have tire indicators in the grooves of the tire to help you determine when the tires are worn down to 2/32nds.\| Nondirectional - most common, same tread pattern on inside & outside of the tire. Can be rotated to all four corners of vehicle. Asymmetrical - tread pattern is different on the inside to the outside of the tire, and must be mounted properly. Can be rotated to all four corners of the vehicle. Directional tires - roll in only one direction, must be mounted properly. Once mounted they must remain on the same side of the vehicle, and only be rotated front to rear. \|Rim Width Range\|\|Not Available\|\|The approved wheel rim width range this tire will support.\| \|Measured Rim Width\|\|6.0\|\|The recommended wheel width as recommended by the tire manufacturer to get the best wear us performance for this tire.\| \|Section Width\|\|9.1\|\|The measurement from sidewall to sidewall.\| \|Tread Width\|\|Not Available\|\|The measurement from one side of the tread to the other side of the tread.\| \|Overall Diameter\|\|31.9\|\|The height of the tire when fully inflated.\| \|Manufacturer Part Number\|\|5151441\|\|Manufacturer part number (sku)\| We accept American Express, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, PayPal and PayPal Credit. \|Size\|\|Load Index/ Speed index\|\|UTQG\|\|Load Range/Ply Rating\|\|Overall Diameter\|\|Section Width\|\|Rim Width Min\|\|Rim Width Max\|\|Rim Width Meas\|\|Tread Depth (in)\|\|Max Single Air Pressure (PSI)\|\|Max Single Load (lbs)\|\|Max Dual Air Pressure (PSI)\|\|Max Dual Load (lbs)\|\|MFG #\| Long lasting radials I have had these tires for 2 months, approx 250km. No signs of wear and they run much cooler. I was only getting about 1000km’s on my previous tires which were bias ply. Best price I could find for this tire. Took a chance on the redesigned Carlisle Radial Trail RH as they were half the price of the Maxxis brand and I needed 5. Tires arrived quickly and are as expected so far. They did fine on the first trip. Great radial trailer tire Excelente tires,I installed two Carlisle ST 145 R12 on a Seadoo Sportster trailer,drove from Toronto to Florida over 4000 km both ways.Perfect tyres for long hauling.Highly recommend this product. Fantastic buy! Fast shipping! Even after paying the shipping charge, nobody could beat the great price. I have since purchased a new set of tire for my daughters truck. Thanks for the great deals. Excellent trailer tire ! Very happy with these. I towed my trailer from Toronto to Banff. Tires have over 8000kms on them with no visible tread wear. Made 50 holes in them and they do not leak! Very happy with these Carlisle radial trailer tires. Used them to make tires with bolts in them for ice racing a Ford Festiva. 50 holes, 50 screws, 100 washers, 50 nuts and they sealed up nicely. The carcass is really strong, standing up to the stress of ripping the bolts sideways on the ice without tearing or leaking. Survived a whole season and never lost any air. No idea what they are like as trailer tires though! Quality trailer tire Ordered 4 tires one day and a day later they were delivered. Impressive service. Drove with a tent trailer out East and back, 5000 km round trip and no issues at all with tires, no significant wear and a lot was at 110 km/hr on Trans Canada. Priced tires locally and tires-easy was better, including delivery cost. I would order more in future. Richard de Faria Good tires, were hard to find Happy with the higher load range E that these tires offer. Good tires great price Along with excellent service Definitely a.great purchase Great tire. Good quality. Great tire for a good price. Have had them on my trailer for several months now and run true. No vibrations or concerns. Will definitely buy again.
It’s been a wild six months for megastorms. In October 2015, Hurricane Patricia became the most powerful ever measured, with winds topping 322km/h before being downgraded near the coast of Mexico. In February 2016, there was Winston, the most potent cyclone recorded in the Southern Hemisphere, which made landfall on Fiji. Now meet Fantala, the strongest storm measured over the Indian Ocean. NASA’s Aqua satellite captured Fantala using its Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) as it clocked wind speeds of 274km per hour on April 18. A second image released by NASA shows wind speeds as measured by the ISS’s Rapid Scatterometer (ISS-RapidScat), which bounces microwaves off the ocean to determine the roughness of the water. What might be to blame for these record-setting storms? Of course it’s all El Niño’s fault. El Niño means warm ocean temperatures in this part of the world, which helps set the stage for big tropical storms like this. But the supersize nature of these storms is also thanks to the 11 consecutive record-breaking months of hot temperatures the planet is experiencing. — NOAA Satellites (@NOAASatellites) April 18, 2016 As for this latest storm, we got lucky: Although Fantala was churning near the coast of Madagascar, it never made landfall. But with temperatures continuing to climb and El Niño not quite over yet, there will likely be more of these gigantic storms in the near future. Top: Cyclone Fantala, seen near the coast of Madagascar. Image: NASA
In this lesson, pupils learn what a refugee is by reading a definition, some statistics and some information about how refugees might feel. Learners are encouraged to put themselves in the place of a refugee and consider how they might feel at leaving behind their homes and belongings. They can also watch a short video produced by UNICEF, in which two brothers talk about their journey from Syria to Germany. In the main part of the lesson, learners work in groups to produce a poster presentation. They imagine a group of refugee children of the same age are coming to live in their town. They follow clear steps to plan, research, prepare, do and present ideas for activities to make the refugees feel welcome. Finally, they present their ideas to the class using posters to help them explain their ideas. - To promote cross-cultural understanding and tolerance - To encourage planning, collaboration and teamwork - To raise awareness of World Refugee Day - To give pupils an opportunity to be creative - To develop presentation skills Young learners aged 12+ CEFR level B1 and above The lesson plan and worksheet can be downloaded in PDF format below. In addition, you will need: - Project materials: coloured pens, pencils or crayons, paper, a large sheet of card, scissors, glue - Optional: access to a classroom computer
“You’ve got to think about big things while you’re doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.” – Alvin Toffler, Futurist Alvin Toffler is one of the world’s best known futurists and writers, recognized for his decades of work discussing revolutions in technology, business, and society. His ideas have influenced presidents, enterprise executives, and educators alike — and they have a powerful message to send to students budding into the next generation of business leaders. Are you creating a future you desire? Or not? Knowing what direction you are heading is key. We all need to have a clear vision for leading ourselves in order to get to the future we desire, or we will end up somewhere else. Below I have listed some questions to help you think through what is important to you for creating the future you deserve. Answer these questions honestly to start formulating your vision. 1. What do you really care about? What are you passionate about doing? What are your hopes and dreams? 2. What do you value? 5. Close your eyes and relax. Think out three to five years from now. Picture in your mind what you want your future to look like. What do you see? For example, - Where do you see yourself located? - What does the organization or environment look like? How are things organized? - Are you spending time primarily indoors or outdoors? - What is it you see yourself doing? What are others doing? - Are you primarily working with others and/or alone? - In what ways are you interacting with others? Are they positive interactions? - Do you like what you see? Are you and others happy, fulfilled? - What else do you see in this picture? (Get as specific as you can.) 6. Are your answers rooted in reality or lacking reality? 7. Will your vision of the future enable you to explore possibilities, to stretch and grow your skills and experiences, beyond where you are today? 8. Does your vision inspire you? Is it energizing? Write down your reflections in response to each question noted above. After you are done, look across your answers. What responses resonate more with you? Any surprises? Look for a common direction in your answers. This should help to clarify and reinforce your vision. You might want to have a conversation with someone you trust to share and discuss your reflections. Talking out loud can be a clarifier as well. Lastly, refine your vision by organizing it into a set of bullet points or outline. This simplified format can serve as a daily reminder for you, and can help make it easier to work toward your vision. Create your vision. Follow your vision. These are stepping stones to the future you desire!
Before The Pyramids: Cracking Archeology’s Greatest Mystery by Alan Butler and Christopher Knight is an important work which explains how the pyramids evolved by employing standardized measurement statistics and the use of star combinations like Orion’s Belt to make computations from the starting point of the Giza pyramids of ancient Egypt. The authors explain how the pyramids evolved from the simple mud brick mastaba tomb to the step pyramid and finally to the true pyramid with three small triangles along the major boundaries and one small triangle at the top of the pyramid. Pyramids were aligned to four cardinal earth points using the Thuban or polestar for the northern projection. The megalithic yard consisting of 2.722 feet was the measurement statistic chosen for engineering construction purposes, as well as the megalithic inch which was .8166 of a standard inch. For neolithic people Sirius was the brightest star passing overhead at a rate of 366 times per year, according to the authors. Orion’s Belt lines up Sirius with Mintaka, Alnilam, and Alnitak. Mintaka is above the Khufu pyramid, Alnilam is above the Khafre pyramid, and Alnitak is above the Menkaure pyramid. It is believed that the rocks on the sides of the sphinx were subjected to massive water flow after a great comet hit the earth centuries ago. The authors’ analysis of megalithic measures and the finding of a relationship between the Thornborough Henge in England and the Giza Pyramids of Egypt represent the long-sought linkage between the Atlantean cultures and pre-historic times. Before The Pyramids is a robust attempt to establish linkages between the pyramids, the stars, and the engineering measurement statistics employed by the designers of the pyramids many centuries ago. This book has important implications for work in other fields such as archeology, astronomy, mathematics, engineering, and Egyptology .Powered by Sidelines
This then is our universe: On the whole, it is spatially flat and 13.7 billion years old, both of which are known to 1 percent precision; it is expanding at a rate of 70 plus/minus 2 km/sec per megaparsec, and the expansion us speeding up; and it is composed of 24 plus/minus 4 percent matter and 76 plus or minus 4 percent dark energy, with 4.2 plus/minus 0.5 percent of the matter in the form of atoms, between 0.1 and 1 percent in the form of neutrinos, and with the bulk of the matter dark and as yet unidentified. Stars...account for less than 1 percent of the total composition. The microwave background temperature has been measured to four significant figures, 2.725 plus/minus 0.001 K, and its tiny variations (about 0.001 percent) across the sky have been mapped with a resolution better than 0.1 degree.What is most astounding about this paragraph is not the information that it contains, but that it can be written at all. Everything in science is subject to revision, but experimental cosmologists are writing a story of creation that is impressive in its quantitative precision, especially when you consider that we are talking about a universe whose breadth is measured in hundred of billions of light-years, at least, and contains hundreds of billions of galaxies that we can photograph. All of those mind-blowing images from the Hubble Space telescope reveal just the tiny part of the universe that is luminous. The new creation story is getting more detailed all the time. Increasingly sophisticated instruments peer back to the beginning of time with ever greater resolution and every part of the spectrum. Later this year the most powerful particle accelerating machine on Earth, the Large Hadron Collider on the border between France and Switzerland, a 17-mile-wide underground colossus, will be up and running, taking physicists to energy levels that approach ever more closely the temperature of the big bang. (Check out the photographs of the Large Hadron Collider in last Sunday's New York Times Magazine.) Yet, very few people on the planet have even the remotest idea what any of this means. Half of Americans, for example, profess to live in a universe that is coeval with human beings, less than 10,000 years old. For all practical purposes they live in the conceptual world of Dante Alighieri. There are two typical responses to the universe described in the paragraph from Nature. One is to whine "It all makes me feel so insignificant," and retreat into the anthropomorphic faith of our ancestors. The other is to embrace with pride what is surely one of the greatest flights of human intelligence and imagination.
SPECIAL TO THE ADVANCE STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- On the last Monday each May, the United States pays homage to its veterans who have died in battle, with a national holiday, Memorial Day. Once known as Decoration Day, it originated following the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of that war. The first known celebration was an observance on May, 1, 1865, at the Washington Race Course in Charleston, S.C. The gravesite of 257 Union soldiers buried there became labeled Martyrs of the Race Course. It was in 1868 that it was proclaimed that Decoration Day should be observed nationwide and it was done so on May 30 of that year. By the end of the 1870’s, the Civil War rancor was gone and the observances included the brave soldiers of both the Union and the South. Both Ironton, Ohio, and Doylestown, Pa., lay claim to the oldest continuous Memorial Day parade, the first being held in 1868. By the 20th century, the day had been extended to include all who had died in all wars. The change from Decoration Day to Memorial Day was gradual, first used in 1882. It became nationally common after World War II. The Memorial Day weekend has evolved into three-day celebration and commemoration. The first official weekend of summer, it has also become one of picnics and barbecues and family gatherings and fireworks. The well-known Indianapolis 500 auto race, begun in 1911, is held on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. But the essence remains the same: Honoring and commemorating veterans of American wars. Lt. Nick Lia died in a discharge of a Claymore mine on Feb. 2, 1968, at a place called Quang Tri Province, Vietnam. Lia was serving his second tour of duty in spite of having been wounded by shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade. A football star at Curtis High School, Nick was a key member of Wagner College’s undefeated 1964 team and was captain of the ‘65 squad. Lia is memorialized with a magnificent sculpture by Island artist Gregory Perillo on the grounds of Wagner College. A plaque reads: “US Marine 1st Lt. Nicholas Anthony Lia, Wagner College class of 1966, dedicated his life to the service of his country in both war and peace.” Sgt. Angel Mendez was a United States Marine with the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, in Vietnam in the Quang Ngai Province in December of 1966. He led a squad to assist half a platoon of Marines who were pinned down by enemy fire. Mendez saved the life of his Platoon Commander, Lt. Ronald D. Castille, later Chief Justice of the State of Pennsylvania, and was himself mortally wounded. Mendez was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. Sen. Charles Schumer has recommended that Mendez’s award be upgraded to the Congressional Medal of Honor. What sort of unbounded courage propels an 18-year-old to take it upon himself to race 100 yards into the face of an enemy machine gun nest as Pvt. Joseph F. Merrell did. Merrell, a New Brighton native, was with the 15th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army ‘s 3rd Infantry Division near Lohe, France, during World War II. On April 18, 1945, while his unit was under fire by German machine guns, Merrell made his run. He ran through concentrated fire, killing four enemy and destroying the machine gun nest. He started forward again, this time over 200 yards after having his rifle smashed out of his hands by a sniper bullet. Armed with only three grenades, he rushed another German position. His self-appointed one-man attack resulted in his killing 23 German soldiers before suffering a fatal burst which killed him instantly. His Medal of Honor, awarded posthumously on Feb. 26, 1946, is now on exhibit at Fort Wadsworth. Pvt. Joseph Merrell is buried in St. Peter’s Cemetery in West Brighton. How these young men found the courage to selflessly sacrifice their own safety in such life-threatening situations is miracle enough, and they are rightfully revered and mourned as men and as heroes. But perhaps the greatest tragedy of the human condition is why their sacrifices should be necessary in the first place . God bless them all!
Gravity appears to be crucial to the development of mouse embryos, implying that mammalian reproduction in zero gravity may be trickier than scientists thought. Researchers have bred animals from sea urchins to frogs in space. When they tried to artificially fertilize mouse eggs in a machine that simulates a gravity-free environment, fertilization took place normally, suggesting that microgravity hadn’t harmed the sperm. But as the embryos continued to develop inside the clinostat, many developed problems. Their cells had trouble dividing and maturing [Wired]. Scientists speculate the reason that the mouse embryos developed less successfully than previous animals is because mammalian embryonic development is more sensitive and complicated than that of other types of animals. “Sustaining life beyond Earth either on space stations or on other planets will require a clear understanding of how the space environment affects key phases of mammalian reproduction” [Wired], the researchers wrote in their paper, published in the journal PLoS ONE. 80beats: A Mating Strategy Involving Giant Sperm Has Stood the Test of Time 80beats: Finch Mothers Can Subconsciously Control the Gender of Their Little Ones
NextEra Seizes on Cleaner Energy to Reach Record-Low Emissions NextEra Energy Inc. outperformed the electric power sector in terms of air emissions and efficiency last year, largely due to a shift to cleaner energy sources, the electric power company said last week,. The results were record-low air emissions in 2010, NextEra announced Friday. This follows a historical trend; air emissions have been on the decline since 1990, a time period during which its generation fleet has grown 249 percent. At the same time, its carbon dioxide emissions have declined 34 percent, while its sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions -- a chief driver behind acid rain -- dropped by 90 percent. Smog-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx) fell by 91 percent. About 53.5 percent of NextEra's electricity generation in 2010 came from natural gas, followed by 19.5 percent wind, 12.9 percent nuclear, 10.7 percent oil, 2.1 percent coal, 0.8 percent hydro and 0.4 percent solar. Here's how NextEra stacked up against its industry peers, according to the company. 0.42 pounds SO2 per MWh 2.87 pounds SO2 per MWh 0.30 pounds NOx per MWh 1.30 pounds NOx per MWh 621 pounds CO2 per MWh 1,289 pounds CO2 per MWh The company said it is also more efficient than its industry peers, using 7,991 British thermal units (BTUs) to produce a single kilowatt hour of electricity, compared to the industry average of 10,060 BTUs. NextEra is the parent company of NextEra Energy Resources and Florida Power & Light Company. It was revealed last week that NextEra Energy Resources, which it says is the nation's largest wind energy developer in the U.S., would sell Google 100.8 megawatts of wind energy from an Oklahoma wind farm that will be operational later this year. NextEra's headquarters also earned LEED-Gold certification for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance last week. Image courtesy of NextEra Energy.
Disproportionate Numbers of Young People Have HIV, Don't Know It About 1 in 15 people living in the United States who has HIV is 13 to 24 years old—and more than half of these young people don't know they have the disease, new estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show, and the agency says schools must work harder to prevent HIV's spread. These estimates, shared today by the CDC, are from 2009. In all, about 1.1 million people in the United States have HIV, the agency reported. The CDC estimates that about 70 out of 100,000 teenagers and young adults have HIV and they accounted for 12,000 cases—about 26 percent—diagnosed in 2010. Meanwhile, 13- to 24-year-olds represent only about 21 percent of the total population. The majority of the new cases, about 60 percent, were among black teens and young adults. Another 20 percent of the new cases were among Latinos of the same age. The infection rate among young people is disproportionately high, the CDC said, while the percentage of people in the same age group tested was disproportionately low. In 2009, people ages 13 to 24 comprised 6.7 percent of persons living with HIV, but more than half, nearly 60 percent, didn't know they were infected, the CDC said, the highest rate for any age group. The agency wants more effective school- and community-based interventions that can help ensure young people know their risk for HIV, delays their first sexual activity, increases condom use for those who are sexually active, and decreases other behaviors, such as alcohol and drug use, that contribute to HIV risk. While early diagnoses and treatment can reduce the progression of HIV and prevent its spread, young people are less likely to be tested, access medical care, keep up with that care, and achieve viral suppression, which is the halting of the function or replication of the virus. HIV infection among youth is much higher in the South than most other parts of the country, the CDC says. AIDS in the South, including how sex ed is taught, was the subject of a documentary earlier this year called "deepsouth."
Bees perceive illusory colours induced by movement. “Certain black-and-white patterns, when rotated at appropriate speeds, can create the artificial perception of hues. We report that this illusion is not confined to human vision, but is also perceived by an insect, the honeybee. The findings suggest that certain features underlying the processing of colour information are shared by man and bee.” Bonus quotes from the main text: Freely-flying bees (Apis melrifera) were trained to discriminate between two visual stimuli presented in a horizontal plane immediately beneath the surface of a glass-topped table. One of the stimuli bore a reward of sugar water. The locations of the stimuli were interchanged frequently to prevent the bees from using position cues to identify the rewarded stimulus. Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: Want to make your Africanized honey bees more aggressive? Get ‘em drunk! Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: How dogs navigate to catch frisbees. Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: Is that bee on crack? Oh, wait…it is. NCBI ROFL. Real articles. Funny subjects. Read our FAQ!
• emanate • em-ê-nayt • Hear it! Part of Speech: Verb Meaning: 1. To issue (from), to spring forth (from). 2. To arise or originate (from), to come out of or from, to begin at. 3. (Transitively) To emit, to send or project outwardly. Notes: Emanate offers several adjectives, but I would recommend only emanative, as someone with an emanative spirit of kindness. You may use emanant, but it sounds too much like eminent, imminent, and immanent, three other Often Confused Words. In Play: Today's Good Word is quite flexible for it may be used intransitively: "As Ivan Odor knelt to ask Prudence Pender's hand in marriage, she noticed a smell remindful of salt herring emanating from his socks." It may also be used transitively: "By reading the paper regularly, Izzy Badenoff became aware that his old college had emanated many brighter lights than him into the world." Just remember that things emanate from some point of origin. Word History: If an English word ends on -ate, it most probably started out as a past participle of a Latin verb. This time the verb was emanare "to flow out", based on the preposition ex "out of, from" + manare "to flow, run", referring to liquids. It is difficult to find relatives of this word elsewhere in the Indo-European languages. Middle Irish had a word, moin "moor, swamp", that is probably related. However, the root of manere does not seem to have survived in Germanic languages like English and German, nor the Slavic languages like Polish and Russian. Come visit our website at <http://www.alphadictionary.com> for more Good Words and other language resources!
Last week’s post dealt with three very serious types of DNA tests. But not all DNA tests detect health-threatening conditions. A few years ago “Born to Run? Little Ones Get Test for Sports Gene” ran on the front page of the New York Times, above an arresting image of a preschooler having his mouth swabbed for DNA. It’s from 2008, but remains a classic: I still assign it. The sports gene company tested for variants of one gene, ACTN3. Two copies of the R577X variant indicate inborn skill at endurance events, and no copies suggest a child stick to sprints. The lucky heterozygotes might excel at both! Never mind that a child has some 20,000 or so other genes affecting physiology. DISSECTING A DNA DATING WEBSITE The most damage a sports gene test can do is to keep a child from something she loves because of a DNA-obsessed parent. A more questionable application of DNA testing is in “relationship science,” something I learned about a few weeks ago when a reporter from healthline.com asked me about it. And so I perused the website of the “leader in human genetic compatibility.” The company offers tests for four genes. Three are members of the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) complex, which encodes the cell-surface proteins that determine who can give body parts to whom and reflects many disease susceptibilities. The fourth gene, SLC6A4, encodes a serotonin transporter. Both the HLA genes and SLC6A4 have been studied for decades. Yet the test panel doesn’t include ancestry markers, which I think might be more important in mate selection than tissue compatibility. The company is using HLA typing as a surrogate for scent, claiming that 40% of olfaction comes from the genes. But the existence of human pheromones is still under debate, although they were predicted to exist half a century ago, and many a website will happily sell you some. (The image shows tiny wasps with the wonderful name Nasonia vitripennis mating, thanks to pheromones wafting from the male.) More telling in the scent department may be the 1995 study of women preferring the sweaty T-shirts of men least like them genetically. Wikipedia credits it with starting the field of genetic matchmaking. Why wouldn’t humans have pheromones, when so many other animal species do? Plus the HLA genes are so involved in biological compatibility that I suspect they indeed have something to do with scent and pheromones. But do we need a DNA test to tell us when a potential date stinks? Maybe so. That’s one characteristic we can’t yet inspect on our electronic devices. Knowing one’s HLA type is not without value, but its hard to say whether one should seek a mate with a different or similar profile. People with different HLA variants may be less likely to pass infections back and forth. But couples with similar variants would be better off if one of them needs a blood transfusion, bone marrow transplant, or part of a liver. THE SEROTONIN TRANSPORTER SLC6A4, which encodes a serotonin transporter, is also a logical choice for a dating gene. Like the HLA genes, its variants are associated with several health conditions: sudden infant death syndrome, Alzheimer aggression, depression following emotional trauma, alcoholism, neuroticism, deviant sexual behavior, hypertension and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The SLC6A4 protein recycles the neurotransmitter serotonin to the reuptake stations on presynaptic neurons in the brain. Serotonin is what’s theoretically scarce in some cases of depression (like pheromones, that hasn’t been definitively shown either), and so the transporter provides a target for the “selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors” like Paxil. It’s also the target of the older tricyclic antidepressants, as well as amphetamines and cocaine. People can have a short version or a long version of one part of the SLC6A4 gene. In one study, people with two short variants self-reported future dissatisfaction with their marriages if they previously reported high or low emotional behavior (whatever that means). Conversely, if people have at least one “long” version of the serotonin transporter gene, then their emotional behavior does not influence their perceived long-term stability of their marriages. What the serotonin transporter has to do with dating is beyond me, although I have not dated in centuries. But I think a shared love of dark chocolate, running, and binge-watching Orange is the New Black may be more meaningful measures of day-to-day compatibility than SLC6A4 genotype. Testimonials on the company’s website attest to the fact that people do believe that choosing dates based on limited genotyping has value. They are falling into the trap of genetic determinism, the idea that DNA is destiny. “We knew the test would show a great match because we knew we had chemistry when we met. We think the test results show that the Instant Chemistry DNA test can help singles find that person who they have a real connection with,” writes one satisfied customer. I emailed the company requesting data showing that people with particular genetic profiles are more likely to be compatible, and how the company defines and assesses compatibility. I haven’t heard back yet. However, a news release from July, prompting a flurry of media coverage, informed us that the company is “proving that there is science behind attraction,” with “new, groundbreaking research.” So stay tuned. Using genetic testing in mate selection is a decades-old strategy. Dor Yeshorim is a program that originated in the Hasidic Jewish community in New York City. It has tested thousands of young people from all over the world for several “Jewish” genetic diseases since a rabbi who had children with Tay-Sachs disease started the program in 1983. Testing is anonymous, using numerical identifiers, and carriers are not told what they carry – just whom to avoid having children with, if they so choose. Their testimonials are the plummeting incidences of some of these diseases in the tested population. At the other end of the seriousness-of-genetic-testing spectrum, federal regulators are finally cracking down on dubious DNA-based claims. Two years ago I’m embarrassed to admit that I bought “age-defying with DNA advantage cream makeup” because I couldn’t resist the goop in the see-through container swirled into a double helix shape. I’d thought I’d read that FTC had made these genetics references in cosmetics ads disappear, but they forgot to tell Google. Adding “DNA” to skin cream ads doesn’t really hurt anyone. But making medical claims is a different story. My favorite study exposing misuse of genetic testing is from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, like the sports gene flurry also from 2008, when direct-to-consumer genetic-testing debuted. GAO investigators submitted DNA samples from a 9-month-old girl and a 48-year-old man to four “nutrigenetics” companies, but with 14 made up lifestyle/dietary profiles. None of the companies, which offered dietary suggestions and pricey packages of exactly the supplements that an individual purportedly needed to avoid her or his genetic fate, bothered to do a health history. Lo and behold, the advice from the four companies tracked with the made-up backgrounds and not genetics. And the results reported on very common conditions (to which genes may contribute minimally) and stated the obvious, like not smoking. Concluded the study: “Although these recommendations may be beneficial to consumers in that they constitute common sense health and dietary guidance, DNA analysis is not needed to generate this advice.” Some of the suggestions could even be dangerous, such as vitamin excesses in people with certain medical conditions. I don’t know if the FDA, FTC, or GAO are interested in a dating website that preys on those who don’t know much about DNA. My advice for deciding whom to date? Talk to people! Don’t shell out hundreds of dollars to learn about a handful of genes. (Some of this material comes from chapter 20, Genetic Testing and Treatment, in my textbook Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications, just published by McGraw-Hill in the 11th edition.)
Five Things You Didn’t Know About PTSD. It’s a feature in almost every war movie ever made. The army character comes home from a warzone and experiences vivid flashbacks of a traumatic battle, which plays havoc with his/her emotions and causes confusion amongst the character’s friends and family. Unfortunately, this is the extent of knowledge or answer so many people give when asked about their understanding of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. But the reality is, there’s so much more to this disorder than just the cliché film scene. What is PTSD PTSD essentially refers to certain types of behaviour or reactions that develop after a traumatic event or experience. And like so many mental health issues, PTSD is not always immediately obvious in individuals who suffer from the disorder – leading to its classification as an ‘invisible injury’. But this certainly doesn’t mean that its symptoms aren’t real or potentially life altering. To give you a better understanding of PTSD, we’ve compiled five interesting facts you more than likely didn’t know. Serious car accidents are the leading cause of PTSD in Australia Almost every person regularly drives or is a passenger in a motor vehicle, which is why it’s not hard to believe that car accidents are one of the leading causes of serious injury in Australia. In 2017, approximately 13,000 people in NSW were hospitalised due to motor vehicle-related injuries and studies have shown that these individuals could be up to 27 per cent more likely to experience signs of PTSD. These signs can take many forms including flashbacks of the incident triggered only when the individual enters a motor vehicle to immediate and heightened levels of anxiety at the mere mention of a car accident. An individual can develop PTSD years after a traumatic event We’re all different and no one traumatic event is the same, so it’s important to realise that while some individuals can experience PTSD one month after an event, others can take years. Witnessing or being involved in a similar circumstance as the previous traumatic event years later, can trigger symptoms of PTSD. Flashbacks of a traumatic event is not the only symptom of PTSD Flashbacks, although a major symptom of PTSD, is far from the only one. An individual who is experiencing PTSD can develop severe anxiety, can have their mood severely impacted and can lose interest in participating in activities they previously enjoyed. An individual’s sleep can also be affected and feelings of guilt or loneliness can arise – which can see them elect to avoid public places or social activities and substance abuse can often develop. PTSD is not always the result of one traumatic event Sure, many cases develop as a result of one specific event but constant exposure or a build-up of witnessing traumatic events over time can also lead to the PTSD. This is particularly common in emergency workers who often deal with a number of traumatic events both directly and indirectly over the course of their career. Unfortunately, this is a common trend amongst these workers, who choose not to seek help because they believe many of these emotions will go away, and before they know it, the symptoms just overwhelm them. Violent or sexual trauma is more likely to cause PTSD Arguably the most devastating trauma an individual can witness or be exposed to is violent or sexual trauma. And so, given the devastating impact of these events, studies have shown that they’re more likely to result in PTSD than any other circumstance. For example, police and ambulance officers deal with violent situations more than most other professions, and as a result, these workers are more likely to suffer from signs of PTSD. PTSD is a serious and real problem in our society, and if you feel as though you’re struggling or may be suffering from symptoms of the disorder, don’t be afraid to tell someone and seek help. Find out how much you can claim.Get started Do I have a case? Our senior lawyers will assess your case for free1.
March 15th, 2019 Youth movement against climate change We warmly welcome new ELF blog contributor Tabea Wilkes, who looks at the youth movement against climate change and asks what legal avenues can hold governments to account for our children’s future. Fridays For Future In August of last year, Greta Thunberg began a three week school strike for the climate. She has continued this strike every Friday since August, and has attracted a wealth of attention that has propelled her to speak before the UN Climate Change COP 24, where in an impassionate speech she famously called out the world’s leaders for being “childish”. She has now been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Thunberg, who was named ‘Woman of the Year’ in Sweden last week, has become the almost accidental leader of a worldwide youth movement. Her FridaysForFuture campaign has inspired the Youth Strike 4 Climate, and thousands of students have joined this worldwide strike planned for the 15thMarch. This is a movement that should not be dismissed lightly. As Thunberg said, “we have had 30 years of pep talking and positive ideas […]The one thing we need more than hope is action”. With over a thousand events planned internationally for Friday, it is perhaps time to consider how the momentum might fuel legal discussion, and how the law could be used to give this movement lasting impact. How can we legally hold the government accountable to protect the rights of our children – the future generation? Protecting the rights of ‘future generations’ In the international sphere, the idea of future generations has been developed through the conception of sustainable development. This is defined in the Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, more commonly known as the Brundtland Report, as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. It inherently establishes a relationship between the present and the future generations, where the interests of the future generation impose corresponding responsibilities for the present. The established relationship between the present and future generation could be developed under one of two legal frameworks. The first framework creates a duty for the present generation to protect the rights of future generations. This framework bears some normative weight because the conception of “rights” is often held above other competing interests. The second framework positions the present generation as the guardian for the interests of the future generation, and requires the interest of the future to be weighed against the interests of the present. Public Trust Doctrine The trustee / beneficiary relationship set out in the second of these legal frameworks resurfaces in what Professor Mary Wood calls “the oldest doctrine in environmental law” – the Public Trust Doctrine. A concept taken from the Roman Law, where air, water, and sea were deemed as “common to mankind” and not subject to private ownership, the Public Trust Doctrine was incorporated into the Magna Carta to restrict the Crown’s proprietary control over natural resources and first appeared in UK common law in the 12thcentury in the case of Juliana the Washerwomen. Originally limited to protecting public resources for the purpose of navigation, fishing, and commerce, the doctrine could now evolve into a powerful legal tool for ecological preservation of public resources. United States: Youth Climate Case The connection between the Public Trust Doctrine and the rights of future generations has already been drawn in the United States, where, in a case that through an odd twist of fate is also called Juliana, a group of young people, through their guardian Dr James Hansen, have been suing the US Government to secure the legal rights to a stable climate and a healthy atmosphere for present and future generations. In 2015, Our Children’s Trust, along with EarthGuardian, filed the constitutional lawsuit. It argues that through it’s affirmative actions that contributed to climate change, the US Government failed to protect essential public trust resources and has violated the youngest generation’s constitutional rights to life, liberty and property. The argument is based on the legal theory developed by Professor Wood, known as Atmospheric Trust Litigation, which is rooted in the Public Trust Doctrine. As of March 1st2019, 32,000 young people had signed to supportJulianato go to trials. Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act In the UK, a step towards ensuring the safeguarding of future generations has come not in the form of case law, but in legislation. In 2015, the Welsh Government here in the UK passed a progressive bill. The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act imposes a positive obligation on public bodies to consider the well-being of future generations, making it the first law of its kind in the world to incorporate an obligation to consider sustainable development in all decision making. Although it does not refer to it explicitly, as Paul Davies and Michael Green of Latham Watkins argue, the Act reflects the essence of the Public Trust Doctrine. Amongst other things, it establishes a statutory Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, a post taken up by Sophie Howe in 2016, who acts as legal guardian for the future generations of Wales. The potential of the Public Trust Doctrine to restrain constitutional supremacy remains a critical discussion in the development of the legal protection of future generations in the UK. The loss of the supervision and scrutiny of the CJEU as a consequence of EU Exit may open a space for this discussion. As Marc Willers QC of Garden Court Chambers and Emily Shirley of Our Children’s Trust for UKELA write, the Public Trust Doctrine could allow UK Judges to “seal the gap” left by Brexit, and allow UK judges to scrutinize the government for any failure to safeguard the environment for both present and future generations. Youth Strike 4 Climate The strike planned for Friday is the first amplification of the interests of the future generations – in their own words. Protecting the interests of future generations by imposing corresponding responsibilities of generations today may be the first step for, in Thunberg’s words, “young people [to] hold older generations accountable for the mess they have created.”
Oral Health Topics ADA Statement on Infection Control in Dentistry Twenty-five years ago the ADA Foundation’s Health Screening Program helped identify HBV as an occupational hazard in dentistry. The ADA responded by being the first to recommend that dentists follow standard infection control procedures. The ADA subsequently worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to develop CDC’s own infection control recommendations for dentistry, which were issued in 1993. Since then, both the ADA and CDC have updated and supplemented their recommendations from time to time to reflect new scientific knowledge and growing understanding of the principles of infection control. In December 2003, the CDC published a major consolidation and update of its infection control recommendations for dentistry (PDF).1 Although the procedures recommended in the 2003 document are for the most part unchanged, the new document does incorporate relevant recommendations that were previously scattered throughout several other CDC publications and contains an extensive review of the science related to dental infection control. The 2003 CDC Guidelines are a comprehensive and evidence-based source for infection control practices relevant to the dental office that have been developed for the protection of dental care workers and their patients. The ADA urges all practicing dentists, dental auxiliaries and dental laboratories to employ appropriate infection control procedures as described in the 2003 CDC Guidelines, and to keep up-to-date as scientific information leads to improvements in infection control, risk assessment and disease management in oral health care. The ADA has long advocated the use of infection control procedures in dental practice and provided dentists with resources to help them understand and implement them. In addition to the online resources available at ADA.org, the Association has a number of publications that provide detailed information about infection control and treatment of patients with infectious diseases. These include Dental Management of the HIV-Infected Patient and ADA Catalog products, including the Effective Infection Control training DVD (P692), the ADA Regulatory Compliance Manual and the OSHA Training for Dental Professionals DVD (P889). CDC Guidelines for Infection Control in Dental Health Care Settings—2003 (PDF) Adopted by the Council on Scientific Affairs March 2004. The CDC website has a section on infection control that is designed for dental professionals. Below are links to information from the CDC and other agencies and organizations. The American Dental Association did not produce the material you will find on these sites, and presence of a link here does not imply or constitute ADA endorsement. We also have provided links to additional resources developed by the ADA.
Illegal demand for rhino horns for use in traditional Asian medicine has soared in recent years. As a result, rhino deaths by poaching hit an all-time high in 2010, and 2011 is likely to beat that number. Last year, the owner of the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve near Johannesburg, South Africa, proposed a new idea to help save rhinos: poison their horns. By injecting the horns with cyanide—a process that would not harm the rhinos but could sicken or even kill anyone who tried to consume "medicine" made from the horns—Ed Hern theorized that he could disrupt the market for illegal rhino horns. A year later, Hern and his Rhino Rescue Project have taken the idea further. They are now proposing instead to inject an anti-tick parasiticide into rhinos' horns. "The treatment is for the benefit and improved health of the animal—but it is highly toxic to humans," Hern's daughter Lorinda, who serves as the reserve's marketing manager, said last week at a press conference. Symptoms of ingesting the drug cocktail—developed by a veterinarian at Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve—include nausea, vomiting and disruptions of the nervous system. In addition to the parasiticide, a pink dye would also be injected into the living animals' horns. Although this would not change the horns' outward appearance, the dye would show up in horns or powders passed through airport x-ray scanners, helping officials to identify the illegal materials being transported by smugglers. The third step would involve implanting a GPS device in the horns of living rhinos (to help track horns after poachers kill an animal and before the horns are ground into powder). They also propose creating a database of rhino DNA to help link seized rhino horn to its area of origin, which could make it easier to prosecute poachers. The Rhino Rescue Project's Facebook page discusses how last year's idea of using cyanide gave way to a less lethal alternative: "Our original idea of poisoning the horns was circumvented by the need to treat the horn, and thus the animal, against parasites instead. Furthermore, our legal advisors strongly advised against the idea of intentionally poisoning horns. Ectoparasiticides are not intended for consumption by humans, and are registered as such. Although not lethal in small quantities, [they] remain extremely toxic... Because of these side effects, the treated rhinos and their horns have to be visibly identifiable to avoid ingestion of treated horns by people. We then realized that the treatment of the horns with a mixture of ectoparasiticides coupled with an indelible dye would go a long way to helping us achieve our goal of protecting all rhinos in South Africa from poaching." The Herns said they will make the parasiticide cocktail available to other private rhino owners. Other groups are not so sure about the effectiveness or ethics of the treatment. "If it makes people sick, it will surely make animals sick," an Endangered Wildlife Trust spokesperson told South Africa's News24. "What if the rhinos use their horns to scratch themselves? The toxins may enter the bloodstream and have an effect. Every rhino is an individual with unique behavior. Our main concern is that this treatment is not damaging rhino or other wildlife." Ironically, the use of poison to protect rhinos comes at a time when many poachers are poisoning rhino carcasses to hide their tracks. Dead rhinos attract flocks of vultures, which can alert rangers to recent poaching activities. Poachers are killing rhinos, chopping off the horns, and then poisoning the carcasses to kill any scavengers, including the endangered cape vulture (Gyps coprotheres). "Vultures feed in groups. So, one poisoned rhino carcass can kill at least 50 vultures at one go, Kerri Wolter of the Vulture Conservation Programme told Johannesburg's The Citizen last week. "This is frightening considering the fact that in southern Africa, we only have 2,400 pairs of breeding Cape vultures." Photo by Johann Snyman via Flickr. Used under Creative Commons license
Companies that need online transactions cannot afford server breakdowns. As a result, these businesses seek ways to create a failsafe procedure that keeps their data safe even if the server collapses. One such method is failover clustering. Failover clustering operates on a group of computer servers to assure high availability (HA) or continuous availability (CA) for server applications. This technology ensures that if one server or node fails, another cluster node stands ready to take up the workload without disruption. Some failover clusters employ physical servers, while others use virtual machines (VMs). Everyone selects the kind of cluster they need based on the requirements of their server application. A cluster consists of two or more nodes that exchange data and software to be processed through physical cables or a specialized secure network. Clustering technology of several types can be used for load balancing, storage, and concurrent or parallel computing. In some instances, failover clusters are combined with extra clustering technologies. A failover cluster's primary function is to provide CA or HA for applications and services. CA clusters, also known as failure tolerant (FT) clusters, let end-users continue using applications and services even if a server fails. You might see a brief interruption in service caused by HA clusters, but the system can recover with no data loss and little downtime. Why is failover clustering important? With failover clustering, you can repair inactive nodes without shutting down your database, avoiding downtime concerns while quickly repairing broken servers. Furthermore, in the event of a hardware failure, this technique terminates the database to protect the active nodes. Failover clustering also automates data recovery in the event of a failure. This reduces your reliance on the information technology (IT) crew and allows your servers to recover quickly. It also delivers excellent structured query language (SQL) cluster availability with minimal downtime. The automated failover functionality of failover clustering preserves the function of your database, even if there’s a hardware breakdown. How do failover clusters work? Failover clustering consists of two fundamental processes, HA and CA, for server applications. While CA failover clusters try to reach 100% availability, HA clusters strive for 99.999%, commonly known as five nines. This downtime totals no more than 5.26 minutes each year. CA clusters have higher availability but require more hardware to operate, increasing their overall cost. High availability failover clusters A high availability cluster is a collection of independent computers that share resources and data. A failover cluster's nodes have access to shared storage. A monitoring link is also included in high-availability clusters to check the other servers' heartbeat or health. A heartbeat is a private network shared only by the nodes in the cluster. It’s not accessible from the outside. At any point, at least one node in a cluster is active, and at least one is dormant or passive. In a basic two-node arrangement, if Node 1 fails, Node 2 recognizes the failure via the heartbeat connection and configures itself as the active node. Clustering software on each node guarantees clients connect to an active node. Larger installations may employ dedicated servers to administer the cluster. A cluster management server always sends heartbeat signals to identify any nodes failing and, if so, to tell another node to take up the work. Some cluster management software tools handle HA for VMs by grouping the machines and servers into a cluster. If a host fails, a different host resumes the VMs. As a possible single failure point, shared storage represents a risk. However, combining a redundant array of independent disks 6 and 10 – aka RAID 6 and RAID 10 – can help maintain service even if two hard drives fail. Electrical power might be another single point of failure if all servers are connected to the same grid. Providing each node with its own uninterruptible power supply (UPS) keeps them protected. Continuous availability failover clusters Unlike the HA paradigm, a fault-tolerant cluster comprises numerous computers that share a single copy of a computer's operating system (OS). Software commands given to one system are also executed on the other systems. CA insists that the organization employs formatted computer equipment and a backup UPS. CA needs a constantly accessible and almost perfect replica of the physical or virtual system running the service. This redundancy model is known as 2N. CA systems can compensate for a wide range of faults. A fault-tolerant system may identify a malfunction of: A hard disk drive A processing unit in a computer A subsystem for input and output (I/O) A power source A component of a network The failure point may be discovered promptly, and a backup component or method can take its place immediately without disrupting the next service. Clustering software can connect two or more servers to behave as a single virtual server or construct various alternative CA failover cluster configurations. For instance, if one of the virtual servers fails, the others respond by temporarily removing the virtual server from the cluster quorum. The virtual server then redistributes the burden across the other servers until the crashed server is ready to restart. A doublehardware server with all physical components replicated is an alternative to CA failover clusters. They compute separately and concurrently on various hardware platforms and synchronize using a dedicated node that monitors the results from both physical servers. While this solution provides protection, it may be more expensive. Failover clustering features Many organizations use failover clustering for mission-critical applications. This is because the following characteristics make failover clustering a significant technique. Scalability: Because failover clustering is based on a group of clusters collaborating to prevent server failure, you can easily and readily scale as needed by adding new clusters. Stability: Clustered servers connect through wires. The remaining clusters can still offer service even if one or more fail due to external factors. Real-time monitoring: The cluster nodes are constantly monitored to make sure they work properly. When a cluster gets restarted or transferred onto another node. Cluster shared volume (CSV): This feature provides a consistent and distributed namespace for nodes to use while working with shared storage. It’s crucial to keep server applications running without interruption from start to finish. Types of failover clusters Significant advancements in failover clustering have occurred in the last decade, with many organizations now offering their own version of clustering solutions. Some of the most common cluster services are detailed here. VMware failover clusters VMware provides numerous virtualization technologies for VM clusters. The vSphere vMotion’s CA architecture precisely duplicates a VMware virtual machine and its network between physical data center networks. VMware vSphere HA, a second product, provides HA for VMs by grouping them and their hosts into a cluster for automated failover. Additionally, the program does not rely on external components such as DNS, which lowers possible points of failure. Windows server failover cluster The Windows server failover cluster (WSFC) method fosters the creation of Hyper-V failover servers. Between 2016 and 2019, this strategy grew popular among Microsoft Windows users. WSFC allows cluster monitoring and offers the necessary failover mechanism automatically. In the event of a server loss, WFSC moves the clusters to a separate node or attempts to restart them. Additionally, its CSV technology provides a distributed namespace that allows several nodes to share memory. This Microsoft product, introduced with SQL Server 2017, has robust HA solutions that use WSFC technology. SQL server components are considered WSFC cluster resources in this context. They’re further integrated with other WSFC-dependent resources. As a result, WSFC has authority over identifying and communicating orders to restart a SQL server instance or to move instances like those to a new node. Red Hat Linux Other than Microsoft, other operating system vendors come with their own failover cluster solutions. For example, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) fans can use the HA extension and Red Hat Global File System (GFS/GFS2) to establish HA failover clusters. Single-cluster stretch clusters spanning many locations and multi-site, disaster-tolerant clusters are supported. Storage area network (SAN) data storage replication is commonly used in multi-site clusters. Applications of failover clustering This robust mechanism facilitates the following real-time applications. Availability of mission-critical applications. Online transaction processing (OLTP) computers must have fault-resistant systems. OLTP, which requires complete availability, is used for airline reservation systems, electronic stock trading, and ATM banking. Many industries, such as manufacturing, shipping, and retail, employ CA clusters or failure-resistant computers for mission-important applications. E-commerce, order management, and staff time clock systems count as examples. High availability clusters are often acceptable for clustering applications and services that require only five-nines uptime. Disaster recovery also benefits from failover clustering. It is strongly recommended that failover servers be hosted at remote sites because a calamity such as a fire or flood destroys all physical hardware and software. Storage Replica, a technology that duplicates volumes between servers for disaster recovery, is included in Windows Server 2016 and 2019. Stretch failover is a technology feature that lets failover clusters span two locations. Organizations can replicate data over various centers by extending failover clusters. If tragedy strikes at one location, all data is preserved on failover servers at the others. Replication of a database According to Microsoft, the WSFC was first launched in Windows Server 2016 to safeguard "mission-critical" services, like its SQL server database and Microsoft Exchange communications server. For database replication, other vendors supply failover cluster technology. For example, MySQL Cluster has a heartbeat method that enables fast failure detection to other nodes in the cluster, often in under a literal second, with no service disruptions to clients. Databases may be replicated to faraway sites using the geographic replication capability. Benefits of failover clusters The idea of failover clusters is to ensure that users experience minimum disruptions in service. However, other additional benefits of failover clustering are discussed below. Increased resource availability: If one intelligent server fails, the others in the cluster pick up the burden. This saves crucial time and information. Strategic resource allocation: You get to distribute projects between nodes in whatever way you choose. This minimizes overhead since not all computers are required to execute all projects simultaneously, giving you a way to use your resources more freely. Increased processing power: More machines, more power. Greater scalability: As your user base and report complexity expand, so can your resources. Simplified management: Clustering makes handling significant or quick-changing systems easier. Limitations of failover clustering As significant as failover clustering is, it comes up against the following limitations. Complex configurations: Failover clustering configuration for Windows requires you to handle many networks and network cards at once. As a result, deploying this method is difficult, especially for beginners. Tool integrations: Windows failover clustering and Hyper-V must be more closely integrated. You have to adjust each of themto complete failover clustering successfully. Web interface: There’s no web interface to adjust cluster parameters. To access the cluster manager feature, you must manually log in to a remote desktop. Failover clustering solutions: managed DNS providers By working in conjunction with failover clustering systems, managed DNS providers redirect traffic to alternate servers or data centers during failover events, ensuring uninterrupted access to your services so you achieve high availability and minimize downtime. * Above are the top five leading managed DNS providers software from G2’s Fall 2023 Grid® Report. Failover clustering has emerged as a reliable and essential option for high availability and fault tolerance within current IT infrastructures. It provides ongoing operations despite hardware failures or scheduled maintenance by automatically spreading workloads and resources across numerous networked nodes. This technology gives you another way to handle the most important aspect of your business – making each customer’s experience safe and happy. Fortifying your system’s resilience doesn’t hurt, either! Get started with a guide to DNS security for a robust system strategy. Unlock seamless online experiences Supercharge your digital presence with top-tier managed DNS provider solutions. Samudyata Bhat is a Content Marketing Specialist at G2. With a Master's degree in digital marketing, she currently specializes her content around SaaS, hybrid cloud, network management, and IT infrastructure. She aspires to connect with present-day trends through data-driven analysis and experimentation and create effective and meaningful content. In her spare time, she can be found exploring unique cafes and trying different types of coffee. Unlock seamless online experiences Supercharge your digital presence with top-tier managed DNS provider solutions. What Is Failover Clustering? How Does It Work + SolutionsFailover clustering is a failsafe procedure that ensures server scalability and availability. Learn about how it works, types, key features, and benefits. https://learn.g2.com/failover-clusteringhttps://learn.g2.com/hubfs/Failover%20Clustering.png2023-09-22 08:15:27Z Samudyata BhatSamudyata Bhat is a Content Marketing Specialist at G2. With a Master's degree in digital marketing, she currently specializes her content around SaaS, hybrid cloud, network management, and IT infrastructure. She aspires to connect with present-day trends through data-driven analysis and experimentation and create effective and meaningful content. In her spare time, she can be found exploring unique cafes and trying different types of coffee.https://learn.g2.com/author/samudyata-bhathttps://learn.g2.com/hubfs/3-Oct-26-2023-01-29-08-3093-PM.pnghttps://www.linkedin.com/in/samudyata-bhat Never miss a post. Subscribe to keep your fingers on the tech pulse. 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Spiders are unique in having a dual respiratory system with book lungs and tracheae, and most araneomorph spiders breathe simultaneously via book lungs and tracheae, or tracheae alone. The respiratory organs of spiders are diverse but relatively conserved within families. The small araneoid spiders of the symphytognathoid clade exhibit a remarkably high diversity of respiratory organs and arrangements, unparalleled by any other group of ecribellate orb weavers. In the present study, we explore and review the diversity of symphytognathoid respiratory organs. Using a phylogenetic comparative approach, we reconstruct the evolution of the respiratory system of symphytognathoids based on the most comprehensive phylogenetic frameworks to date. There are no less than 22 different respiratory system configurations in symphytognathoids. The phylogenetic reconstructions suggest that the anterior tracheal system evolved from fully developed book lungs and, conversely, reduced book lungs have originated independently at least twice from its homologous tracheal conformation. Our hypothesis suggests that structurally similar book lungs might have originated through different processes of tracheal transformation in different families. In symphytognathoids, the posterior tracheal system has either evolved into a highly branched and complex system or it is completely lost. No evident morphological or behavioral features satisfactorily explains the exceptional variation of the symphytognathoid respiratory organs. Similar content being viewed by others The study of the respiratory organs of Arachnida has a long trajectory, with the first anatomical account published more than two centuries ago (Meckel, 1809:109). The book lungs of Scorpiones were then referred to as “gills,” and it was only some years later in 1828 that their pulmonary nature was recognized (see review in Purcell, 1909). Respiratory organs within Arachnida are diverse and include book lungs, tracheae, or can be completely absent (see, e.g., Levi, 1967; Dunlop, 2019; Küntzel et al., 2019). Book lungs seem to be structurally homologous within pulmonated Arachnida (Scholtz & Kamenz, 2006), and their presence is a synapomorphy of Arachnopulmonata (Sharma et al., 2014; Scorpiones, Araneae, Pedipalpi, and most likely Schizomida). Recent genomic studies (Ontano et al., 2021) have enlarged the composition of Arachnopulmonata by supporting a sistergroup relationship between Scorpiones and Pseudoscorpiones (a lineage now known as Panscorpiones) in which case the absence of book lungs in pseudoscorpions is inferred to be secondary (that is, the book lungs are lost). Although the morphology of book lungs is quite conservative across all pulmonate arachnids and these organs are considered as homologous, comprehensive comparative studies have found an interesting diversity of fine structures of the book lungs of Scorpiones, Amblypygi, Uropygi, and Araneae (Kamenz et al., 2005; Scholtz & Kamenz, 2006; Kamenz & Prendini, 2008; Küntzel et al., 2019). Early branching lineages of the order Araneae (spiders) possess the most ancestral condition of two pairs of book lungs on the second and third opisthosomal segments (see below). In addition, while the respiratory system within most arachnid orders remains constant, spiders are unique in that breathing in most of its distal lineages occurs simultaneously via book lungs and tracheae, or tracheae alone. Spider respiratory physiology has been studied for more than a century and is reviewed in Schmitz (2016). The anterior respiratory system (ARS) of spiders is situated in the second opisthosomal segment (epigastric area, between the pedicel and the epigastric furrow) and consists of the anterior book lungs in most species. The book lung spiracles are openings usually connected with the epigastric furrow. Internally, each spiracle opens into an atrium, which in turn is connected to horizontally organized air pockets, the flat lamellae: each lamella is a leaf-like tracheal structure with very thin cuticle that allow the gas exchange to occur (see Ramírez, 2000, 2014). The posterior respiratory system (PRS) is located in the third opisthosomal segment (postepigastrium, between the epigastric furrow and the posterior spiracles) and bears book lungs or tracheae (see Foelix, 2011). The basic tracheal arrangement in most araneomorph (“true”) spiders consists mostly of a single tracheal spiracle located near the spinnerets, and includes a short, flat atrium, and two pairs of tracheae (lateral and median). The tracheae are mostly contained but distributed freely within the opisthosoma. Tracheal arrangements in different spider families present different degrees of complexity, from short, simple abdominal tubes to highly branched tubes reaching the prosoma (e.g., Lamy, 1902; Purcell, 1909, 1910; Petrunkevitch, 1933; Marples, 1955; Forster, 1970; Blest, 1976; Millidge, 1986; Bromhall, 1987; Ramírez, 2000, 2014; Ramírez et al., 2021). Most posterior tracheae and most anterior tracheae/book lungs are interconnected by the transverse duct: a canal connecting the atria and tracheal trunks at their base (Lamy, 1902; Purcell, 1909, 1910; Ramírez, 2000). The transverse duct is lined with spicules that prevent it from collapsing (Ramírez, 2000, and references therein) and therefore is a relatively rigid duct. Not only the complexity, but also the diversity of posterior tracheal configurations in spiders is remarkable. The posterior respiratory system may consist of two lateral sac-like tracheae (“reduced book lungs”) plus median apodemes (e.g., Filistatidae); two lateral and two median tracheae, plus a pair of intermediate sac-like tracheae (i.e., a pair of single leaves; e.g., in Austrochilidae); two lateral and two median tracheae leading to a single posterior spiracle (e.g., most Entelegynae); a widely variable configuration of tracheae and apodemes, but without median tracheae (Synspermiata sensu Michalik & Ramírez, 2014); complete absence of posterior respiratory system (e.g., “Lost Tracheae Clade”: a clade within Synspermiata: Diguetidae, Tetrablemmidae, Pacullidae, Pholcidae and Plectreuridae); and an extreme condition where both pairs of book lungs are missing and the first pair is replaced by tracheae (e.g., Caponiidae) (see Ramírez, 2000, 2014; Griswold et al., 2005; Wheeler et al., 2017; Ramírez et al., 2021). As mentioned above, two pairs of book lungs are the plesiomorphic respiratory configuration for spiders, a condition also present in its early-branching lineages as well. It has long been established that the lateral tracheae are homologous to the posterior book lungs and the median tracheae derive from the third entapophyses and sometimes even retain a muscle insertion (Lamy, 1902; Purcell, 1909, 1910; Ramírez, 2000). Plausible evolutionary scenarios within Araneae suggest two, four, and up to six independent “simplification” events of the posterior respiratory organs where relatively simple tracheae-like structures are derived from book lungs (Forster, 1980; Huckstorf et al., 2015; Ramírez et al., 2021). Additionally, the evolution of complex tracheal systems (i.e., tracheae supplying the prosoma) or alternatively the loss of the posterior respiratory system seem to have occurred independently at least four times in each case from simple tracheal systems limited to the opisthosoma (Ramírez et al., 2021). It seems that after the (posterior) tracheal system evolved, it underwent active evolutionary changes, which explains — as is the case of arachnid orders — such enormous diversity of tracheal morphologies within spiders. Given the morphological complexity of the book lungs and the diversity of tracheal morphologies across Araneae (explained by multiple independent origins), an evolutionary scenario where book lungs are regained from a posterior tracheal system is considered unlikely (Huckstorf et al., 2015; Ramírez et al., 2021). The respiratory system of minute spiders — the case of symphytognathoids Symphytognathoid spiders are minute ecribellate orbweavers (Araneoidea) that build highly modified orb webs and exhibit a great diversity of respiratory structures and configurations. The name “symphytognathoids” was coined by Coddington (1986) for Forster’s (1959: 270) concept of Symphytognathidae (sensu lato): “By “symphytognathoids” I mean the Mysmenidae, Anapidae, and Symphytognathidae; I do not mean to imply superfamily status for the group.” (Coddington, 1986:7). Shortly thereafter symphytognathoids were expanded to include the family Theridiosomatidae (Coddington, 1990: 19) and its monophyly corroborated based on morphological characters and web-building behavioral data by Griswold et al. (1998) and Schütt (2003). Presently, Symphytognathoids include the families Anapidae, Mysmenidae, Symphytognathidae, Synaphridae, and Theridiosomatidae (Lopardo et al., 2011). Phylogenetic analyses based on Sanger sequencing data from a few nuclear and mitochondrial markers, the so-called “usual suspects”, have consistently failed to corroborate the monophyly of symphytognathoids as originally proposed (Rix et al., 2008; Rix & Harvey, 2010; Lopardo et al., 2011; Dimitrov et al., 2012, 2017; Hormiga & Griswold, 2014; Wheeler et al., 2017; Fernández et al., 2018). Most of these analyses, however, do recover the monophyly of each individual symphytognathoid family with relatively good support. Sanger sequencing data have supported the monophyly of symphytognathoids only when combined with an extensive morphological and behavioral dataset (Lopardo et al., 2011). As it turns, the recalcitrant problem of resolving the interfamilial relationships of symphytognathoids resides at the crux of a much larger problem, the phylogenetic relationships of the 17 araneoid families. As a consequence, inquiry into the evolutionary chronicle of symphytognathoids is inextricably linked to the Araneoidea problem. Transcriptomic analyses of extensive taxonomic samples of araneoids and thousands of loci (Fernández et al., 2018; Kallal et al., 2021) have also refuted symphytognathoid monophyly with high nodal support values. Surprisingly, the most recent phylogenomic analyses (Kulkarni et al., 2020, 2021), using ultraconserved elements (UCEs) and up to 26 symphytognathoid representatives, suggest (and paradoxically also with high nodal support values) that when the sequence data are analyzed as nucleotides, rather than as amino acids, and when about a hundred or more loci are used, symphytognathoids are indeed monophyletic. We take this latter proposal as the best supported phylogenetic hypothesis of symphytognathoid relationships. The earliest description of the respiratory system of a symphytognathoid was provided by Lamy (1902: fig. 47) for the theridiosomatid Theridiosoma gemmosum (Koch, 1877) (see hereafter supplementary material for authorship of taxa). This orb-weaving spider has the typical respiratory arrangement of most araneoids and entelegynes: anterior book lungs and a posterior tracheal system with two lateral and two median tracheae confined to the abdomen and opening into a small atrium leading to a single posterior spiracle. Subsequent studies, focusing mainly on Anapidae, have uncovered a remarkable diversity of respiratory arrangements in symphytognathoids (e.g., Forster, 1959, 1980; Gertsch, 1960; Levi, 1967; Levi & Kirber, 1976), and concomitantly have proposed evolutionary hypotheses involving simplification of structures to explain such diversity of respiratory organs. In the present study, we explore the evolution of the respiratory system of symphytognathoids by synthesizing all available information from the literature and combining it with our own data, mainly from the family Mysmenidae. The taxon sampling of our SEM analyses is based on Lopardo and Hormiga (2015), which provide the most comprehensive comparative morphological and behavioral dataset for symphytognathoids, together with the densest symphytognathoid taxon sampling to date. Additionally, we hypothesize evolutionary transformations to explain the diversity of respiratory structures based on comparative frameworks provided by the most extensive phylogenetic analyses of symphytognathoids to date. Finally, we provide an overview of factors that are plausibly affecting the evolutionary changes in the respiratory system of symphytognathoids. Material and methods Morphological methods follow Lopardo and Hormiga, (2015). All morphological data from the aforementioned comparative study was scrutinized for the examination of the respiratory systems. Additionally, we obtained new morphological data for the mysmenids Maymena ambita, M. mayana, M. rica, Trogloneta cantareira, T. granulum, Isela sp. (as Kilifina-MYSM-002-KENYA in Lopardo & Hormiga, 2015), Mysmenopsis dipluramigo, Microdipoena guttata, and three undescribed Mysmena species from Madagascar and Argentina (Mysmena-MYSM-005-ARG, -015-MAD, and 028-MAD of Lopardo & Hormiga, 2015); the anapid Tasmanapis strahan; the theridiosomatid Coddingtonia euryopoides and the synaphrid Cepheia longiseta. We further observed partially or completely the respiratory arrangements of five additional species: the mysmenids Mysmena woodwardi, an undescribed Mysmena from Mexico (Mysmena-MYSM-010-MEX), two mysmenines from Madagascar and Argentina (Mysmeninae-MYSM-008-ARG, and Mysmeninae-MYSM-009-MAD), and the anapid Sheranapis villarrica. The extent of observation of the respiratory arrangements depended on availability of specimens. See Appendix for a list of all examined material. For observation of respiratory structures, we used the digestion method of Álvarez-Padilla and Hormiga (2008). Abdomens were bisected horizontally and digested with SIGMA Pancreatin P1750 enzyme complex, in a solution of sodium borate prepared using the concentrations described by Dingerkus and Uhler (1977), as modified by Álvarez-Padilla and Hormiga (2008). Bisected abdomens were left in this solution at room temperature (i.e., 20–25 °C) overnight or for a few hours. After enzymatic digestion, abdomens were transferred to distilled water, and then to ethanol. For SEM study, the digested abdomens were dried using an Autosamdri-815 (Tousimis®, Rockville, MD) critical-point drier using separate porous capsules, mounted on aluminum rivets with adhesive copper conductive tape, and then sputter-coated with gold–palladium using a Desk II LLC Cold Sputter Coater (Denton Vacuum, Moorestown, NJ, USA). Images were taken with a LEO 1430VP scanning microscope at the Department of Biological Sciences SEM facility (The George Washington University, GWU). In addition, we performed an exhaustive taxonomic literature survey for all species currently described within the symphytognathoids (collected and generously accessible from the online World Spider Catalog; WSC, 2020) and scrutinized the available literature for descriptions or information related to respiratory system structures (see Table 1 and supplementary material). Schematic drawings representing all observed/reported respiratory arrangements, tree edition, and edition, assemblage and labeling were done using CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2020. The distinction between short median tracheae and relatively long third entapophyses lies in the lining of spicules preventing the walls of the (hollow) tracheae from collapsing, whereas the entapophyses are usually solid and lack spicules (Lamy, 1902; Purcell, 1909; Ramírez, 2000). No observation under light microscopy was performed in this study to discern both structures. However, as mentioned above, median tracheae can sometimes retain a muscle insertion; therefore, the comparatively very short median structures observed here (e.g., compare lateral and median structures in Figs. 1b, 3e, 4c against 2a) are assumed to have a negligible respiratory performance, and instead a more predominant muscle attachment function. The reconstruction of the evolution of respiratory systems in symphytognathoids is based on the optimization of characters 21–33 of Lopardo and Hormiga (2015, their Appendix 2). Outgroup taxa are represented by species in the araneoid families Tetragnathidae, Linyphiidae, and Theridiidae. The parsimony optimizations were performed in TNT v1.1 (Goloboff et al., 2008) using the two alternative hypotheses of interfamilial relationships recovering Symphytognathoids as a monophyletic group (but see below for a discussion on the optimization under non-monophyletic hypotheses). The first hypothesis is the preferred optimal tree of Lopardo et al. (2011: fig. 12), and it is based on their total evidence analysis that combined morphological, behavioral and Sanger sequence data. The second hypothesis uses the interfamilial relationships of the UCE topology of Kulkarni et al. (2021: fig. 4b), which results from a dataset that included a combination of the taxon sample of UCEs recovered from the transcriptomic study of Fernández et al. (2018) and the UCEs of Kulkarni et al. (2020). This second topology is based on the same taxon sample as the first tree with the symphytognathoid intrafamilial relationships also taken from Lopardo et al. (2011: fig. 12). The independent regains of the anterior book lungs and the concomitant non-homology of such a complex trait was investigated under two alternative character codings. The first coding approach follows the original multistate character from Lopardo and Hormiga (2015; character 21): anterior respiratory system: (0) book lungs with more than 20 leaves, (1) book lungs with less than 15 leaves — “reduced book lungs,” (2) tracheae). In the second approach, we recoded the multistate character as two binary characters: anterior respiratory system: (0) book lungs, (1) tracheae; and book lung leaves: (0) with more than 20 leaves, (1) less than 15 leaves (species with anterior tracheae were scored as “unapplicable” for this second binary character). Character recoding was performed using the program Winclada (Nixon, 1999). For both phylogenetic frameworks, we additionally explored the optimization under asymmetric character state changes on the first binary recoded character (i.e., book lungs vs. tracheae), applying the parsimony approach performed by Miller et al. (2010; see references therein, see also Oakley & Cunningham, 2002), in TNT using a Sankoff matrix under parsimony and searching for the minimum loss/gain ratio that produces homology of the book lungs and forces multiple independent origins of tracheae across the tree (i.e., transformation costs ranging from even (100/100) to asymmetric (100/1): ccode(21; cost 21 = 1 > 0 100 0 > 1 100; to ccode(21; cost 21 = 1 > 0 100 0 > 1 1;). Results and discussion Comparative morphology of the respiratory system of symphytognathoid families (refer to Figs. 5-7, Table 1, and supplementary material) As currently circumscribed, Mysmenidae comprises 158 described species in 14 genera (World Spider Catalog, WSC, 2020, see Lopardo & Hormiga, 2015 for the removal of the genus Phricotelus from the family and its placement as Araneoidea incertae sedis). The respiratory system has been studied and described (or only reported) by a small number of arachnologists but for a relatively large number of species, encompassing six genera: Mysmena (Marples, 1955; Levi, 1956, 1967; Forster, 1959; Lopardo & Michalik, 2013; Lopardo & Hormiga, 2015), Microdipoena (Levi, 1956, 1967; Forster, 1959; Lopardo & Hormiga, 2015), Mysmenopsis (Forster, 1959; Lopardo & Hormiga, 2015), Maymena (Gertsch, 1960; Lopardo & Hormiga, 2015), Isela (Griswold, 1985; Lopardo & Hormiga, 2015), and Trogloneta (T. cantareira; Brescovit & Lopardo, 2008; Lopardo & Hormiga, 2015). There is a large diversity of respiratory arrangements within Mysmenidae (see Table 1 and supplementary material). Contrary to other symphytognathoid families (see below), and except for a few species, a different and peculiar arrangement can consistently be found on each particular genus or subfamily, which are described below. The ancestral mysmenid respiratory system based on the total evidence phylogenetic hypothesis of Lopardo et al. (2011) is as follows: anterior tracheal system extending into the prosoma and connected by a transverse duct; posterior tracheal system comprising a single narrow spiracle adjacent to the spinnerets and internally consisting of a small atrium, median entapophyses and lateral tracheae restricted to the opisthosoma, and arranged separately, most likely resulting in four trunks usually arising independently from the posterior spiracle, via a small atrium (Figs. 5 and 6). No extant mysmenid species, however, is known to have this hypothetical ancestral tracheal system. The mysmenid ancestral reconstruction based on the phylogenetic hypothesis of Kulkarni et al. (2021) renders a similar anterior respiratory arrangement; but due to the placement of Synaphridae as sister to Mysmenidae, the reconstruction of the posterior respiratory system is rendered ambiguous (median tracheae as third entapophyses, but either a simple or a complex lateral tracheal system) (not shown, refer to Figs. 5 and 7). The respiratory system for Brasilionata, Chanea, Gaoligonga, Mosu, Mysmeniola, Phricotelus, Simaoa, and Yamaneta remains unknown. The anterior respiratory system of Maymena has been studied in Maymena mayana by Gertsch (1960), and its respiratory arrangement (“Book lungs present and tracheal tubes arising from spiracle located immediately in front of spinnerets”; Gertsch, 1960:31) was assumed to be similar in the additional Maymena species described in that study (i.e., M. chica, M. misteca, M. calcarata, and M. ambita). The respiratory system of Maymena was also briefly reported in Lopardo and Hormiga (2015:778). Anteriorly, M. mayana and M. ambita possess book lungs consisting of about 20 leaves and connected by a rigid transverse duct, in M. rica the book lungs are reduced (Fig. 1a, c, d). In addition, one tracheal tube arises from the reduced book lungs in M. rica (Fig. 1d; see discussion below). Posteriorly, all Maymena species studied have two long single lateral tracheal tubes (seemingly confined to the opisthosoma) and two short (seemingly) median entapophyses arising from a small atrium connected to a narrow posterior single spiracle (Fig. 1b), an arrangement identical to what can be regarded as the ancestral reconstruction of the mysmenid posterior respiratory system (Fig. 5). Concurrently, although characteristic of Maymena within Mysmenidae, the same respiratory arrangement of Maymena is also present in theridiosomatids as well as other members of Araneoidea (e.g., Steatoda), suggesting that this arrangement may have evolved independently within the family. The respiratory system of Trogloneta has been described in detail for Trogloneta cantareira (Brescovit & Lopardo, 2008) and also reported in Lopardo and Hormiga (2015:779). Anteriorly, two reduced book lungs with seven leaves each, connected by a rigid intertracheal transverse duct (Fig. 1e, g). Posteriorly, a tracheal system with one narrow spiracular opening located adjacent to the spinnerets, small atrium connected to two unbranched single lateral tracheae confined to the abdomen and one single unbranched (i.e., fused) seemingly median entapophysis. This distinct respiratory arrangement is also found in T. granulum (Fig. 1e, f), and it may be widespread within the genus. Each of the genera comprising the kleptoparasitic subfamily Mysmenopsinae is characterized by a different respiratory arrangement. The respiratory system of Isela was first described in detail by Griswold (1985) for I. okuncana. Posteriorly, one narrow spiracle located adjacent to the spinnerets, atrium connected to four long unbranching tracheal tubes (corresponding to a pair of single median tubes and a pair of single lateral tubes) confined to the abdomen. Anteriorly, the respiratory arrangement was described as “…atria giving rise to 13–14 short trachea-like lamellae…” (Griswold, 1985:208) also restricted to the abdomen. The respiratory system of another Isela representative was examined (Isela sp. – “Kilifina-MYSM-002-KENYA”; Lopardo & Hormiga, 2015:780). Posteriorly, it is identical to the respiratory system described for I. okuncana (Fig. 2a, c); anteriorly, it has reduced book lungs of about 14–15 leaves, but it also has a cluster of about six tracheae arising dorsally from the most dorsal leaf of the lungs (Fig. 2a, b; see discussion below). This could have been the confusing mixed condition observed in I. okuncana under light microscopy. The anterior system of Isela sp. is connected by a rigid intertracheal transverse duct, as it is presumably also in I. okuncana. The respiratory system of Mysmenopsis was first reported for M. palpalis by Forster (1959), who discussed the details, diversity, and evolution of the respiratory system in many genera representing different families within symphytognathoids. Remarkably, the anterior system of this species consists of tracheae (not book lungs). The anterior tracheae extend to both prosoma and opisthosoma. Posteriorly, one wide spiracle (reported by Forster as two close spiracles) located adjacent to the spinnerets leads to two long tracheal tubes (most likely the lateral pair). The respiratory system of Mysmenopsis was described in Lopardo and Hormiga (2015:781, based on M. dipluramigo and M. penai): anterior tracheal system composed of several tracheoles extending to the abdomen as well as the prosoma, connected by a membranous intertracheal transverse duct (Fig. 2d). In addition to sharing the same anterior tracheal arrangement, all Mysmenopsis species have a wide posterior spiracle adjacent to the spinnerets. However, the posterior tracheal system of the two species examined in Lopardo and Hormiga (2015) differs from the one described by Forster (1959) in that it consists of two bundles of lateral branching tracheae arising from the atrium at each end of the posterior spiracle, seemingly restricted to the abdomen (Fig. 2d, f). The posterior median structures are presumed absent, or are alternatively functional tracheae intercalated with and identical to the lateral tracheal bundles. Each of the four characteristic respiratory arrangements mentioned above are typical of four different but closely related genera (Maymena, Trogloneta, Isela, and Mysmenopsis). The subfamily Mysmeninae, comprising the remaining investigated mysmenid genera (i.e., Microdipoena and Mysmena, and the several undescribed taxa examined herein and in Lopardo and Hormiga (2015); see Table 1 and supplementary material), have a remarkably different, although quite conserved, fifth type of respiratory arrangement, which is typical and unique for this subfamily (but see below). This respiratory system has been previously described (Marples, 1955; Levi, 1956, 1967; Forster, 1959), although these descriptions were understandably superficial in the absence of SEM examination (but see a detailed description of the respiratory system of Mysmena leichhardti in Lopardo and Michalik (2013) and of Mysmeninae in Lopardo and Hormiga (2015:783)). Anteriorly, several tracheal tubes seemingly restricted to the abdomen arise on each atrium, which are connected by a rigid intertracheal transverse duct (Fig. 3c). The posterior tracheal system opens through a wide and advanced tracheal spiracle located halfway between the spinnerets and the epigastric furrow. The shape of this wide spiracle is similar to that described for synaphrids (Lopardo & Hormiga, 2007; Lopardo et al., 2007; see discussion below), consisting of two distant openings connected by a thin furrow (Fig. 3a). The thin furrow is almost imperceptible under light microscopy, and therefore it has been described as two separate spiracles in previous mysmenid studies. Internally, mysmenines have a common M-shaped atrium, where two bundles of branching lateral tracheae arise on each side, most of them extending into the prosoma (Fig. 3b–d). Two-minute seemingly median entapophyses, each arising from the two most anterior locations of the M-shaped atrium, are each surrounded by a bundle of lateral tracheae (Fig. 3e). These apodemes are only visible by SEM and had been consequently overlooked in the original descriptions. Given that so far all examined Mysmeninae species seem to have this remarkable tracheal system (but see below), it seems reasonable to predict that this tracheal pattern is widespread in this subfamily. The anterior respiratory system of Microdipoena guttata was described by Levi (1956; also 1967) as being an intermediate stage between tracheae and book lungs: “…structures between the seminal receptacles and the body wall which may be remains of book lungs but do not seem to be trachea” (Levi, 1956:3). The internal respiratory system of M. guttata (examined here and in Lopardo & Hormiga, 2015), consists of a posterior system as described above (and also identical to that reported by Levi, 1956:3 “…trachea extending from the spiracles between spinnerets and genital groove, but these are bunched for a shorter distance and seem connected at their base”). Anteriorly, nevertheless, the extremely large, membranous and convoluted copulatory ducts of this species (also common within Mysmeninae) might have been misinterpreted as the “intermediate” structures (see e.g., Fig. 3b). Two Mysmena species have each been reported as having a unique respiratory arrangement. Mysmena phyllicola has been described to have anterior book lungs of about five elongate lamellae (Marples, 1955), which was considered similar to the “intermediate stage” reported for Microdipoena guttata (see above; Forster, 1959), and a posterior respiratory system consisting of one single relatively advanced tracheal spiracle (located halfway between the spinnerets and the epigastric furrow) connected to four tracheal tubes restricted to the abdomen. Mysmena vitiensis, on the other hand, has two anterior unconnected tracheae, and one single and advanced posterior spiracle also connected to four tracheal tubes restricted to the abdomen (Forster, 1959). The holotype and only specimen of M. vitiensis was not available for study. The type material and only specimens of M. phyllicola were examined here, but no detailed observation was possible. Given the limited observations of the respiratory system of these two species and the peculiarity of their arrangements, more specimens are required to confirm the available data. Finally, we expect that the closely related genera Brasilionata and Mysmeniola as well as the three-dimensional spherical web builder genera Simaoa and Gaoligonga might also have a respiratory arrangement similar to those described here. Anapidae is the largest symphytognathoid family, comprising 233 described species in 58 genera and including the subfamily Micropholcommatinae (World Spider Catalog, WSC, 2020). The respiratory system of Anapidae has been studied and partially or completely reported for quite a number of species belonging to 49 out of the 58 current genera (Hickman, 1939a, 1944, 1945, 1979; Fage, 1937; Forster, 1958, 1959; Gertsch, 1960; Levi, 1957, 1967; Platnick & Shadab, 1979; Forster & Platnick, 1981, 1984; Platnick & Forster, 1986, 1989; Kropf, 1995; Ramírez et al., 2004; Rix, 2005; Lopardo & Hormiga, 2008, 2015; Rix & Harvey, 2010). Our findings and the published data suggest at least 14 different respiratory arrangements (Fig. 5, Table 1 and supplementary material), varying from anterior reduced book lungs and posterior simple or absent tracheae, to anterior tracheae and complex, simple, or even absent posterior tracheal system. The anterior tracheae/book lungs can be connected by a transverse duct or not connected, the tracheae extending into the prosoma or limited to the abdomen, and/or with spiracles connected to the epigastric groove or advanced and located near the pedicel. The respiratory system remains unknown for Borneanapis, Conculus, Crozetulus, Dippenaaria, Enielkenie, Forsteriola, Gaiziapis, Metanapis, and Sinanapis. Although it is out of our scope to perform a detailed review on the evolution of anapid respiratory system (a comprehensive phylogeny of the Anapidae that will allow for a more accurate account of their evolution is currently a work in progress by S. Kulkarni and G. Hormiga), we nevertheless preliminarily discuss the implications of the optimization of the respiratory system in the current phylogenetic hypotheses (see discussion below). Symphytognathidae, the traditionally called “lungless” spiders, currently comprise 90 described species in eight genera. The internal respiratory system has been described or depicted for only six species representing four genera: Symphytognatha globosa (Hickman, 1931: fig. 6; Forster, 1959: fig. 144), Patu samoensis (Marples, 1951), Anapistula secreta (Forster, 1958) Anapistula australia, Patu vitiensis (Forster, 1959: figs. 158 and 146, respectively), and Curimagua chapmani (Forster & Platnick, 1977: fig. 22). The respiratory system of Symphytognatha picta was neither described nor illustrated, but scored in the morphological matrix of Lopardo and Hormiga (2015: characters 21–33). In their revision of the family, Forster and Platnick (1977) provided a summary of the respiratory system, including internal respiratory structures, at the generic level (i.e., for Anapistula, Curimagua, Globignatha, Patu, and Symphytognatha). Additionally, some information, mostly regarding external spiracle location, was provided for 15 additional species within the genera Anapistula (nine species; Harvey, 1998; Cardoso & Scharff, 2009; Lin et al., 2009, 2013), Patu (two species; Lin & Li, 2009; Lin et al., 2009) and Crassignatha (four species; Lin & Li, 2009). Finally, four undescribed Patu species were scored and/or depicted in Forster (1959) and Lopardo and Hormiga (2015: figs. 114C, 117B, F, 120C, E). Summarizing, Symphytognathidae seem to comprise three different tracheal arrangements (Fig. 5, Table 1, and supplementary material), the most common one (present in all but one of the examined genera) consisting of anterior tracheae connected by a rigid transverse duct and entering the prosoma, and an absent posterior respiratory system. Anapistula and an undescribed species of Patu (from Western Samoa; see Forster, 1959) comprise a peculiar posterior tracheal system, similar to that of Mysmeninae and/or Synaphridae (see above), i.e., a wide and advanced tracheal spiracle consisting of two distant openings connected by a thin furrow. Internally, the tracheal arrangement consists of two bundles of seemingly lateral tracheae connected by an atrium and entering into the prosoma. The median tracheae/entapophyses of Anapistula have not yet been observed. Lastly, we report a third tracheal arrangement observed in an undescribed Patu species from Dominican Republic, with a posterior tracheal system consisting of a single narrow posterior spiracle adjacent to the spinnerets, small atrium leading to two single lateral tracheae and a single unbranched (i.e., fused) seemingly median entapophysis (Fig. 4b). The respiratory system remains unknown for the genera Anapogonia, Crassignatha, and Iardinis. This family of “large” symphytognathoids (their body length is usually over 1.5 mm) includes to date 133 described species in 19 genera. Curiously, although the first account on the symphytognathoid internal respiratory system was performed for a theridiosomatid more than a century ago (Lamy, 1902) and given the relatively large amount of taxonomic literature available for this family (more than 80 references), merely nine publications describe in part (e.g., externally) or in more detail their respiratory configuration (Pickard-Cambridge, 1894; Fage, 1937; Marples, 1955; Coddington, 1986; Song et al., 1999; Jocqué & Dippenaar-Schoeman, 2006; Labarque & Griswold, 2014; Lopardo & Hormiga, 2015; Prete et al., 2018). Furthermore, only four species in three genera are partially accounted for their internal respiratory system, as textual descriptions or illustrations: Theridiosoma gemmosum (Lamy, 1902: fig. 47; Lopardo & Hormiga, 2015: fig. 123A), Theridiosoma lopdelli (Marples, 1955), Cuacuba mariana (Prete et al., 2018: fig. 8C), and Chthonos quinquemucronata (Fage, 1937). The respiratory system of Coddingtonia euryopoides was scored in the morphological matrix of Lopardo and Hormiga (2015) but not illustrated. The typical theridiosomatid respiratory arrangement consists of two book lungs, and a posterior narrow tracheal spiracle adjacent to the spinnerets and opening into two seemingly median entapophyses and two single lateral tracheae restricted to opisthosoma. This arrangement is presumed to be invariant across the family. Our findings on Coddingtonia euryopoides reveal a similar posterior respiratory arrangement, but the presence of reduced book lungs (Fig. 4c), suggesting that the family might show some diversity in respiratory arrangements awaiting further investigation. Unfortunately, the respiratory system of the majority of theridiosomatids remains unknown. Although its first species was described in 1881 (Simon, 1881:132), this relatively obscure and small family has lately benefited with very detailed morphological studies (Lopardo & Hormiga, 2007; Lopardo et al., 2007; Miller, 2007; Marusik & Zonstein, 2011). Synaphridae comprise to date only 13 described species in three genera, two of them (Africepheia and Cepheia) monotypic. However, the respiratory system has been described and depicted in detail for four species representing all three genera, and seems uniform within the family: Africepheia madagascariensis (Miller, 2007: fig. 8), Cepheia longiseta (Lopardo & Hormiga, 2007: figs. 30–31, 58–63; see also Lopardo & Hormiga, 2015: fig. 107F), Synaphris saphrynis (Lopardo et al., 2007: figs. 30, 33–39; see also Lopardo & Hormiga, 2015: fig. 110F), and Synaphris schlingeri (Miller, 2007: fig. 61). The respiratory system of synaphrids consists exclusively of tracheae. The anterior spiracles are connected to the epigastric furrow. Interiorly, the anterior tracheae are connected by a rigid transverse duct, with five tracheal tubes arising from each anterior spiracle, four oriented anteriorly toward the cephalothorax (Fig. 4d), one oriented laterally. The posterior tracheal system consists externally of two distant spiracular openings exteriorly connected by a thin ridge (i.e., one wide spiracular opening). The thin ridge leads to a deep, flat, membranous atrium, anteriorly ending in a rigid U-shaped canal that connects to the tracheal ducts. Two main tracheal bundles arise from the junction of the tracheal ducts and the U-shaped atrial canal, one on each side, directing tracheoles mainly anteriorly. Both tracheal systems seem to extend into the prosoma (Fig. 5). The bigger picture: the evolution of the respiratory system in symphytognathoids Given the diversity of symphytognathoid anterior respiratory structures, some workers have hypothesized a trend of the “primitive” well-developed book lungs towards a reduction in leaf number and later its complete replacement by anterior tracheae (e.g., Forster, 1959, 1980; Gertsch, 1960; Levi, 1967; Levi & Kirber, 1976). A comparable “simplification” event has also been suggested for the evolution of the posterior respiratory system of Araneomorphae (see Huckstorf et al., 2015 and Ramírez et al., 2021; and references therein). Forster (1959:272) hypothesized that two separate posterior spiracles (i.e., the wide spiracle of Mysmeninae, Anapistula, and Synaphridae) leading into tracheae located midway between the spinnerets and the epigastric furrow was the ancestral condition of his Symphytognathidae s. l. (Anapidae + Mysmenidae + Symphytognathidae). To explain the diversity of the respiratory system in symphytognathoids, Forster (1959) proposed a pattern of changes related to the position and number of posterior tracheal spiracles, which involved the fusion of the two advanced spiracles into a single spiracle adjacent to the base of the spinnerets, to ultimately being lost (i.e., from complex to simple to absent). We inferred the evolutionary transformations of the respiratory system of Mysmenidae and other symphytognathoid families based on the optimization of such characters onto the preferred optimal trees from Lopardo et al. (2011) and Kulkarni et al. (2021). Our optimizations offer different evolutionary hypotheses for both the anterior and posterior respiratory systems compared to the aforementioned hypotheses for symphytognathoids (Figs. 6 and 7). The reconstruction of the ancestral symphytognathoid respiratory system based on the total evidence analysis (Figs. 6 and 7) is as follows: anteriorly, fully developed book lungs connected by a transverse duct; posteriorly, tracheal system arising from one single narrow spiracle located at the spinnerets and internally consisting of two median apodemes and two lateral simple tracheae restricted to the opisthosoma, arranged separately in four tubes arising independently from the spiracle. This plesiomorphic respiratory arrangement is found in one species of the basal Theridiosomatidae (Theridiosoma gemmosum) and optimizes as homologous to that of the theridiid representative in this dataset, which is placed as either sister taxa of symphytognathoids (Fig. 6) or sister to a clade that includes all other araneoids (Fig. 7). The plesiomorphic symphytognathoid arrangement seems to have re-evolved independently in the mysmenid Maymena. Furthermore, the reconstruction of the ancestral respiratory system of the ANTS (Anterior Tracheal System) clade on both the phylogenetic hypotheses of Lopardo et al. (2011) and Kulkarni et al. (2021) results in a similar arrangement to that reported as the mysmenid ancestral reconstruction (i.e., anterior tracheae extending into prosoma and connected by a transverse duct; posterior tracheae comprising a single narrow spiracle adjacent to spinnerets and internally a small atrium, median entapophyses and lateral tracheae restricted to the opisthosoma; Figs. 5-7; see above). Anterior respiratory system The anterior respiratory system of Theridiosomatidae reflects the plesiomorphic condition of symphytognathoids; however, the bulk of the respiratory diversity occurs in the remaining symphytognathoids excluding this early branching family (note, however, that the book lungs in one of the theridiosomatid representatives in this dataset, Coddingtonia euryopoides, became reduced). Character reconstructions based on both the phylogenetic hypotheses by Lopardo et al. (2011; Fig. 6) and Kulkarni et al., (2021; Fig. 7) imply that an anterior tracheal system extending into the prosoma and connected by a transverse duct evolved from fully developed book lungs in the ANTS Clade, which comprises all symphytognathoids excluding Theridiosomatidae. Hence, the anterior respiratory system seems to not have evolved in sequential steps of decreasing complexity of the book lungs towards tracheae as previously proposed (see above; e.g., Forster, 1959, 1980; Gertsch, 1960; Levi, 1967; Levi & Kirber, 1976). Conversely, and although ambiguously optimized, reduced book lungs have originated independently at least twice from this homologous tracheal system present in most symphytognathoids. Reduced book lungs originating from tracheae evolved independently in a clade comprising the mysmenid genera Trogloneta, Maymena, and Isela, and also in most anapids. The ambiguity in the optimization tracing the fully developed book lungs of most Maymena species makes the delimitation of its origin and its ancestral condition uncertain. As mentioned above, reduced book lungs originate from fully developed book lungs only once, in Theridiosomatidae. The optimization (not shown) of the anterior respiratory system as a binary character in the hypothesis of Kulkarni et al. (2021) produces a similar hypothesis with at least two independent regains of (reduced) anterior book lungs from tracheae: once within Mysmenidae at the base of the clade including Trogloneta, Mysmenopsinae (with a reversal to tracheae in Mysmenopsis), and Maymena (fully developed book lungs from reduced book lungs), and at least once within Anapidae (with a reversal to tracheae in Taphiassa punctata). The optimization of the same binary character in the hypothesis of Lopardo et al. (2011) results in an ambiguous pattern of evolution at the familial level within Symphytognathoids; however, the optimization of this character suggests nevertheless a regain of (reduced) book lungs from tracheae at least once within Anapidae. Forcing homology of the anterior book lungs under a parsimony asymmetric evolutionary scenario resulted in a minimum loss/gain ratio of 100/49 (in the hypothesis of Lopardo et al., 2011) and 100/66 (in the hypothesis of Kulkarni et al., 2021) producing a reconstruction with plesiomorphic book lungs and seven independent origins of tracheae across both trees, i.e., one more step than under symmetric parsimony. The non-homology of a relatively “complex” trait such as the book lungs as implied in the optimal reconstructions seems a controversial scenario. Forcing homology of book lungs at the cost of multiple instances of convergence of tracheal structures implies an evolutionary hypothesis where the transition to tracheae must be about one and a half to two times more likely than the reappearance of book lungs. In addition, the robustness of our results (like any phylogenetic analysis) is clearly taxon- and topology-dependent. Alternative hypotheses of symphytognathoid non-monophyly based on molecular data (e.g., Dimitrov et al., 2012, 2017; Wheeler et al., 2017; Fernández et al., 2018; Kallal et al., 2021), where symphytognathoid families are mostly unrelated to each other, might provide a different hypothesis where the anterior book lungs are mostly the symplesiomorphic condition, with tracheae evolving independently in or within each family. An interesting exception might occur in the topologies in which Anapidae and Symphytognathidae are closely related (e.g., in the hypotheses of Dimitrov et al., 2012, 2017; Wheeler et al., 2017), the regain of book lungs could result, as is the case in our study, in a distal clade within Anapidae. Interestingly, different combinations of reduced book lungs plus anterior tracheae were observed in a few species (Lopardo & Hormiga, 2015: character 21). In the anapid Tasmanapis strahan the reduced book lungs have a single trachea extending anteriorly on each leaf (Fig. 4a). In the mysmenopsine Isela sp. (Kilifina-MYSM-002-KENYA), the reduced book lungs have a clump of about six tracheae arising dorsally from the most dorsal leaf of the lungs (Fig. 2a, b). Finally, in Maymena rica only one tracheal tube arises from the most dorsal leaf of the reduced book lungs (Fig. 1d). Less evident, an opposite case occurs in some representatives of Mysmenopsis (M. dipluramigo and M. penai), where the anterior respiratory system is predominantly tracheal, except for a minute ventral leaf arising ventral to the tracheal tubes (Fig. 2e). These unusual and different combinations of respiratory units could represent intermediate stages and therefore could potentially enlighten the understanding of the evolutionary transformations from one structure to the other, in these particular cases from tracheae to the regain of book lungs. It appears that structurally similar book lungs can originate from different processes of tracheal transformation. On one hand, it could occur simultaneously, where each tracheal tube modifies into a leaf (e.g., anapids), and on the other hand, it could occur sequentially, where the tracheal modifications start ventrally and advance dorsally (e.g., mysmenids). The implications of these two potential pathways in the development of book lungs remain unknown. Posterior respiratory system The evolution of the posterior respiratory arrangement of the ANTS Clade (i.e., Forster’s “Symphytognathidae” sensu lato: Anapidae + Mysmenidae + Symphytognathidae, also including Synaphridae and Micropholcommatinae in the explored dataset) differ from the hypothesis proposed by Forster (1959): the diversity of tracheal systems originates from one single narrow spiracle located adjacent to the spinnerets, and not from a wide and advanced tracheal spiracle located halfway between the spinnerets and the epigastric furrow. Based on our analysis, the wide spiracle originates independently at least two times from a narrow one (plus most likely two additional times in Anapistula and in Anapis), and in only one of these occasions the spiracle remains adjacent to the spinnerets (i.e., in Mysmenopsis). A wide spiracle entails a more complex, branching posterior tracheal system (but not vice versa, see below), the origin of such complex system is ambiguously optimized for Synaphridae and Mysmeninae. Although the loss of the posterior tracheal system in most symphytognathids and the early branching anapid genus Acrobleps is ambiguously optimized, it seems to have occurred from a narrow posterior spiracle as well. The diversity of posterior tracheal arrangements encompasses those already described for Mysmenidae as well a few additional ones (see Fig. 5): Two long lateral tracheal tubes and two shorter median apodemes arising independently from a narrow posterior single atrium/spiracle (Maymena, Theridiosomatidae, and some Anapidae) (Figs. 1b and 4c); Two single (i.e., unbranched) lateral tracheae confined to abdomen and one single unbranched (fused) median apodeme from a narrow posterior atrium/spiracle (Trogloneta and Patu-SYMP-001-DR) (Figs. 1f and 4b); One narrow posterior atrium/spiracle connected to four long unbranching tracheal tubes (corresponding to two median and two lateral tracheal tubes) confined to the abdomen (Isela, some Anapidae) (Fig. 2a); One wide posterior atrium/spiracle (i.e., adjacent to spinnerets) connected to two long tracheal tubes (most likely lateral) or two bundles of lateral branching tracheoles arising at each end of the posterior atrium/spiracles and seemingly restricted to the abdomen (the median structures are absent) (Mysmenopsis) (Fig. 2f); A wide advanced spiracle (i.e., not adjacent to spinnerets) connected to a M-shaped atrium, where two bundles of lateral branching tracheae arise, most of these tracheoles extending into the prosoma, each surrounding a vestigial median apodeme (Mysmeninae, maybe Anapistula, possibly also Anapis) (Fig. 3b–e); The complete loss of the posterior tracheae (most Symphytognathidae and Anapidae); Median and lateral tracheae sharing a common basal trunk, resulting in two bundles arising from the atrium (Synaphridae); Median tracheal trunks branching into two bundles of narrow tracheoles extending into the prosoma (or not), and two simple unbranched lateral tracheae (Anapisona), in a tracheal arrangement similar to that described as “desmitracheate” for some linyphiids (see, e.g., Lamy, 1902; Blest, 1976; Millidge, 1984, 1986; Hormiga, 1994, 2000; Arnedo et al., 2009) (but note that all studied linyphiids have anterior book lungs). Given the extraordinary morphological diversity of the respiratory organs of symphytognathoids (in particular those within the ANTS Clade), the task of discerning the definite pattern of evolutionary transformations appears challenging. However, there seems to be a tendency, as implied by the results of the combined phylogenetic hypotheses, for the posterior respiratory system (in which the plesiomorphic condition is a relatively simple structure arising from a posterior narrow spiracle) to become either a highly complex tracheal system (also advanced and usually extending into the prosoma), or completely lost, a pattern in agreement to what has been hypothesized for Araneomorphae in general (Ramírez et al., 2021). Potential factors driving the evolution of respiratory structures in symphytognathoids In general, symphytognathoids with reduced book lungs seem to have retained a simple posterior tracheal arrangement, whereas taxa with an anterior tracheal system appear to either have evolved a complex, branching posterior tracheal system or have lost it. A number of hypotheses have attempted to explain the diversification of spider respiratory organs, although few have included symphytognathoid taxa. It is out of the scope of this study to propose or even test such hypotheses, but we provide an overview of some of the factors that may play a role in the evolutionary changes of the respiratory system of symphytognathoids. Physiological explanations have focused on the degree of development of either the anterior book lungs or posterior tracheal system (i.e., not in the transformation of anterior book lungs into tracheae), since the taxa examined in previous studies have well developed anterior book lungs and diverse posterior tracheal systems (Uloboridae, Opell, 1990, 1998; Filistatidae & Araneidae, Anderson & Prestwich, 1982; Salticidae & Lycosidae, Schmitz & Perry, 2000, 2001, 2002; Schmitz, 2004, 2005; see Schmitz, 2016). In taxa with a dual respiratory system, the book lungs oxygenate the hemolymph and the tracheal system carries oxygen directly to the tissues. The walls of the whole tracheal system, however, can function as gas exchange surfaces and provide oxygen not only directly to the tissues, but also to the hemolymph; the tracheae of spiders have been therefore termed “tubular” or “tracheal lungs” (Forster, 1959; Schmitz & Perry, 2000, 2001). The relationship between metabolic processes and web-building has been scarcely explored. Opell (1990, 1998) has shown that in hackled orb weavers (Uloboridae) respiration with the anterior book lungs and the posterior tracheae are complementary, suggesting that the posterior tracheal system meets more specific oxygen demands, possibly related to a more intensive manipulation of webs and/or prey subduing. Arnedo et al. (2009:253) posed the possibility that the complex branching tracheal system of most erigonine linyphiids, the so-called desmitracheate pattern (Millidge, 1984), could be somehow linked to differences in web architecture. There are two main types of sheet webs in linyphioids, “aerial” and “substrate” webs typical of many erigonines. These authors argued that “It is tempting to speculate about a causal connection between the transition from aerial into substrate webs and the modification of the simple haplotracheate pattern into a desmitracheate system, based on the energetic differences of monitoring these different types of web.” Unfortunately, Arnedo et al. (2009:253) concluded, neither the required detailed phylogenetic hypothesis nor the biological data needed to establish in more detail, and ultimately test, such hypothesis are yet available. More recently, Ramírez et al. (2021) have hypothesized that in araneomorph spiders the posterior tracheae evolved to supply the demands of the spinning system, ultimately associated to the evolution of aerial webs. A relationship between variation in the web architecture and respiratory organs is not evident in symphytognathoids. Identical webs are built by species with different respiratory systems: e.g., compare Maymena, Acrobleps, Crassanapis and Anapisona; or those of Symphytognathidae, Elanapis and Tasmanapis. In addition, different webs are built by taxa with similar respiratory systems: e.g., compare Acrobleps and most symphytognathids; and in particular compare the relatively simple respiratory arrangement of Maymena and Theridiosoma gemmosum and the different degree of manipulation of their webs (see Lopardo and Hormiga (2015) for a discussion on symphytognathoid web evolution and Eberhard (2020) for a review of symphytognathoid web architecture). Mysmeninae species have a well-developed tracheal system and also build highly complex tri-dimensional webs, whereas synaphrids and the symphytognathid Anapistula have a complex, branching tracheal system but build sheets or planar orbs, respectively (Eberhard, 2020). Furthermore, kleptoparasitic symphytognathoids (described at least once in Anapidae and Symphytognathidae, common in Mysmenopsinae) are reported to share a similar lifestyle that involves limited web and prey manipulation, yet have different respiratory arrangements, consisting of mostly tracheal system (Forster & Platnick, 1977; Platnick & Shadab, 1978; Vollrath, 1978; Griswold, 1985; Müller, 1987; Baert & Murphy, 1987; Coyle & Meigs, 1989; Baert, 1990; Eberhard et al., 1993; Ramírez & Platnick, 1999; Lopardo & Hormiga, 2015; Dupérré & Tapia, 2015, 2020). For example, in Sofanapis the anterior tracheae are restricted to the opisthosoma and complemented by two lateral plus two median posterior tracheal tubes; in Curimagua anterior tracheae enter the prosoma and the posterior system is absent; Mysmenopsis has a well-developed anterior and posterior tracheal systems, and its sister mysmenopsine genus Isela has reduced book lungs and two lateral plus two median posterior tracheal tubes. As discussed above, the general respiratory pattern of symphytognathoids is either anterior book lungs with simple posterior tracheae, well-developed anterior and posterior tracheae, or relatively well-developed anterior tracheae and lacking a posterior system. These arrangements do not appear to match the complementarity of respiratory structures suggested for uloborids. In Salticidae and Lycosidae (two well-known families of cursorial spiders with different degrees of complexity of the tracheal system), it has been shown that well-developed posterior tracheae extending into the prosoma may play an important role in gas exchange during high metabolic demands, whereas poorly developed tracheae (i.e., as in Lycosidae) might play no role at all but could be of some importance in local oxygen supply or overall carbon dioxide release, respectively (Schmitz, 2005). No physiological data exist for symphytognathoid spiders, and therefore based only on superficial morphology and behavior, it is not known whether these minute spiders have comparable oxygen demands, or fit this proposed pattern, especially when the life histories of these aforementioned families are so dissimilar to the web-building or kleptoparasitic symphytognathoids. However, it was hypothesized that the increased metabolic rates in orb weavers are likely related to their life style and ecology (Canals et al., 2015) and it was empirically shown that in Araneus diadematus oxygen consumption nearly doubled during web-building (Peakall & Witt, 1976). Thus, even though there is no obvious correlation between web architecture and the respiratory system anatomy, it can be hypothesized that the evolution of the respiratory organs of symphytognathoids is influenced by the energy demands of web-building (see also Ramírez et al., 2021). In addition, although a potential correlation between diversification rates and the development of tracheae remains to be studied and tested (Dimitrov & Hormiga, 2021), it might be worth to point out that the kleptoparasitic subfamily Mysmenopsinae (comprising only two genera) might prove a good starting point for comparative studies: the African genus Isela (two species described) has reduced book lungs and simple posterior tracheae, in contrast with the American genus Mysmenopsis (52 species described, almost all reported to be kleptoparasitic) which has well-developed anterior and posterior tracheal systems. Body size and other systems Spiders show the largest range of body size among Arachnida, ranging from the miniscule symphytognathids to the impressive size of some theraphosids (Mammola et al., 2017). The smallest spider species belongs to the family Symphytognathidae: the smallest adult females spider recorded is Anapistula ataecina with 0.43 mm, and the smallest adult male spider is Patu digua with 0.37 mm (Cardoso & Scharff, 2009; Forster & Platnick, 1977). In general, spiders with a posterior tracheal system are on average smaller than those with two pairs of book lungs (Dunlop, 2019). However, it is not evident whether this is a direct consequence of body size, nor how the process of miniaturization affects this correlation (Schütt, 2003; Dunlop, 2019). For example, a link between smaller body size and further reduction of the book lungs (i.e., in number of leaves) is unclear for symphytognathoids, in particular given that the current phylogenetic hypotheses (e.g., Kallal et al., 2021; Kulkarni et al., 2021) imply that “reduced” book lungs have originated from anterior tracheae. Also, given their inherent minute size, any correlation between symphytognathoid body size and anterior book lung leaf number might be expected to be susceptible to the decimals of millimeters. As reported in the present study, that might not be entirely the case: minute species with a body size of 2 mm (as measured in females, relatively “large” symphytognathoids, e.g., theridiosomatids and the mysmenid genera Isela and Maymena) are found to have from eight to more than 20 book lung leaves (also 2 mm Mysmenopsis species have a relatively well-developed anterior tracheal system); small species (e.g., Maymena mayana, female body size 2.5–2.9 mm) also have around 20 book lung leaves; and conversely minute symphytognathoids with a body size of 1.3 mm can have between 8 and 12 book lung leaves (e.g., Maymena rica, Tasmanapis); Crassanapis chilensis, with a body size larger than 1.5 mm, has eight leaves); and so on. Arnedo et al. (2009) observed that in Araneoidea (the ecribellate orb weavers), complex branching tracheal systems are primarily found in groups that are of small size, that often live in the leaf litter and that are not necessarily each other’s closest relatives. In addition to symphytognathoids, branching tracheal systems are found in linyphiids (mainly in erigonines and “micronetines”; Blest, 1976; Millidge, 1984, 1986; Hormiga 2000), in some tetragnathids (e.g. Glenognatha; Alvarez-Padilla & Hormiga, 2011; Cabra-García & Brescovit, 2016), and cyatholipids (Davies, 1978; Forster, 1988; Griswold, 2001; although most cyatholipids build aerial webs in vegetation or on tree trunks, some are litter dwellers, such as Matilda species in Western Australia). To our knowledge, the only group of medium to large sized araneoids with a complex, branching tracheal system are the tetragnathid species of the genus Nanometa (Alvarez-Padilla & Hormiga, 2011; Alvarez-Padilla et al., 2020). It has been observed that in arachnids with centralized respiratory organs (i.e., book lungs), the oxygenated hemolymph is distributed to the tissues via highly complex arterial systems, whereas apulmonate arachnids (i.e., with decentralized respiratory organs, also smaller in size) display a reduction in their arterial systems where tubular tracheae supply directly the tissues with oxygen. This functional correlation between the respiratory and the circulatory system suggests an evolutionary trend within Arachnida of the reduction of the book lungs and the elaborated vascular systems into a tracheal system and a more simplified circulatory system, seemingly occurring several times independently (see Wirkner et al., 2013 and Klußmann-Fricke & Wirkner, 2018; and references therein). A similar trend has been suggested within Araneomorphae where at in at least four independent instances the modifications of the posterior book lungs into tracheae is correlated with the reduction of the number of heart ostia (i.e., the loss of the 4th ostium; see Huckstorf et al., 2015 and references therein), or vice versa. The independent re-gain of both structures in Hypochilidae and in Austrochiloidea seems unlikely (Huckstorf et al., (2015; see also Ramírez et al., 2021). The current symphytognathoid phylogenetic hypotheses suggest that secondary reduced book lungs have originated at least twice independently from tracheae and that the whole respiratory system within these minute spiders seems to be undergoing rapid evolutionary changes. Unfortunately, the fine details and diversity, and its potential functional correlation with the circulatory system in symphytognathoids is unknown (see also Dunlop, 2019). It has been proposed that a decrease in body size is inversely correlated to metabolic rate, and that in minute spiders, the replacement of the anterior book lungs by tracheae might have evolved to cope with higher metabolism but also to prevent water loss (e.g., Levi, 1967; Levi & Kirber, 1976; Schmitz, 2016). Most symphytognathoids are relatively similar in body size and are found with few exceptions mostly in humid places, and have a respiratory system not necessarily consisting of tracheae. Also, as mentioned above, some symphytognathoids build similar webs but have different overall respiratory arrangements and vice versa; therefore, water loss by itself cannot explain such diversity in the respiratory organs of symphytognathoids. Physiologically, the size of the (anterior) book lungs in terms of surface and volume is directly proportional to the metabolic rates of the spider (Anderson & Prestwich, 1982; but also intrinsically proportional to body size, Anderson & Prestwich, 1980), although it is not clear how the metabolic rates are affected by body size. Depending on their position, tracheae provide spiders with a more flexible respiratory behavior, as “tracheal lungs” to increase respiratory surface area, or for local oxygen demands via terminal diffusion (Schmitz, 2016). One aspect affecting the metabolic rates of minute spiders is the size of their nervous system. Size, and particularly miniaturization, have an impact in the structure and function of the nervous system. Very small spiders are reported to possess relatively large central nervous systems, which occupy proportionally a larger volume of the cephalothorax and extend into the coxae, and may also be related in the ventral deformation of the sternum (the typical “domed” sternum of symphytognathoids) (Eberhard & Wcislo, 2011; Quesada et al., 2011). For example, the central nervous system of Anapisona simoni (Anapidae) and Mysmena sp. (Mysmenidae) juveniles comprises 77.8% and 63%, respectively, of the cephalothorax volume (Quesada et al., 2011). Such morphological distortions have been presumed to minimize behavioral deficits related to very small nervous systems (Eberhard, 2007, 2011; Eberhard & Wcislo, 2011; Quesada et al., 2011). In addition, minute spiders may have reached the minimum possible neuronal cell body diameter (Quesada et al., 2011). Nervous tissue is metabolically expensive to maintain, and in some spiders the tracheal system is especially responsible for providing oxygen to this system (Schmitz, 2004, 2005, 2016); this might be especially so in very small animals and their relatively large costly brains (Eberhard & Wcislo, 2011) and would explain the large number of tracheae from the anterior and/or posterior respiratory system reaching into the prosoma. As stated in Lopardo and Hormiga (2015), the reduction in size might be chosen as a tempting explanation for most of features observed in these minute spiders (e.g., spinneret spigot conformation, circulatory system; see Lopardo & Hormiga, 2015 and Dunlop, 2019, respectively). Should size alone be an important factor, ontogeny may prove useful to tests such correlation, with spiderlings showing differences in the complexity of their respiratory systems compared to adults of the same species. However, factors other than miniaturization might be acting in concert to promote such diversification of respiratory systems. So far, no evident correlated pattern of evolution is perceived among these minute families. The respiratory system of symphytognathoid spiders is very diverse not only across families, but also highly variable within them. In symphytognathoids, the anterior tracheal system extending into the prosoma and connected by a transverse duct evolved from fully developed book lungs. Conversely, reduced book lungs have evolved independently twice from anterior tracheae. It appears that structurally similar book lungs can originate from different evolutionary pathways of tracheal transformation, although intraspecific and ontogenetic variation should be studied to better understand these transitions. A wide posterior spiracle has evolved independently at least twice from a narrow one, becoming advanced (located halfway between the spinnerets and the epigastric furrow) in at least two occasions (both the width and the location of the posterior spiracle are ambiguously optimized for synaphrids and mysmenines). There seems to be a tendency in symphytognathoids, as implied by the phylogenetic reconstructions explored in this study, for the posterior respiratory system to become either a highly complex and branched tracheal system (e.g., in some mysmenids and anapids) or to be lost altogether (e.g., in some symphytognathids). So far, no single phenotypic trait, such as size, habitat preference, natural history, web and/or prey manipulation, web architecture, etc., can satisfactorily explain the diversity of respiratory organs in symphytognathoids, but more likely a combination of several factors might be driving phenotypic variation of the tracheal system. 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World Spider Catalog. Version 21.5. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch. Accessed on 28 December 2020. doi: 10.24436/2. Wunderlich, J., & Song, D. X. (1995). Four new spider species of the families Anapidae, Linyphiidae and Nesticidae from a tropical rain forest area of SW-China. Beiträge Zur Araneologie, 4(1994), 343–351. Wunderlich, J. (1995). Drei bisher unbekannte Arten und Gattungen der Familie Anapidae (s.l.) aus Süd-Afrika, Brasilien und Malaysia (Arachnida: Araneae). Beiträge zur Araneologie 4(1994), 543–551. We are indebted to Gonzalo Giribet, Charles E. Griswold, James M. Clark, Diana L. Lipscomb, Marc W. Allard, Fernando Álvarez-Padilla, Martín J. Ramírez, Dimitar S. Dimitrov, Ligia R. Benavides Silva, and Siddharth S. Kulkarni for support and/or discussions. We are grateful to Martín J. Ramírez, Cristian J. Grismado, Luis A. Compagnucci, Luis Piacentini, Gonzalo Rubio, Ana Quaglino, Fernando Álvarez-Padilla, José Luis Castelo-Calvillo, Charles E. Griswold, Robert J. Raven, Nikolaj Scharff, Diana Silva-Dávila, Lisa Joy Boutin, Tamás Szüts, and Dimitar S. Dimitrov for their help in the field. Our thanks extend to the following colleagues and institutions for kindly providing the precious specimens examined in this study: Charles E. Griswold (California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, USA); Christian Kropf (Department of Invertebrates, Natural History Museum Bern, Switzerland); Christine Rollard and Elise-Anne Leguin (Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France); Gonzalo Giribet and Laura Leibesperger (Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA); Jaromir Hajer (Department of Biology, University J.E. Purkinje, Ustí nad Labem, Czech Republic); Jonathan A. Coddington (National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, USA); Jürgen Gruber (Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria); Martín J. Ramírez and Cristina Scioscia (Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”, Buenos Aires, Argentina); Nikolaj Scharff (Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen, Denmark); the late Norman I. Platnick, and Lou Sorkin (American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA); Robert J. Raven (Queensland Museum, Brisbane, Australia); and Rudy Jocqué (Musee Royal Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, Belgium). We are thankful to an anonymous reviewer and particularly Martín J. Ramírez for useful comments and careful, critical reading of our manuscript. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. Funding for this research has been provided by grants from the US National Science Foundation (DEB-0328644, DEB 1144492, and DEB 114417) to GH and Gonzalo Giribet, grants DEB 1754289, 1754278, and DEB 1754262 to GH, Gonzalo Giribet and Sarah Boyer, and by a NSF AToL grant (EAR-0228699) to W. Wheeler, J. Coddington, GH, L. Prendini, and P. Sierwald. Additional support was provided by a Weintraub Fellowship and a Research Enhancement Fund from The George Washington University (to GH), by a Sigma-Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research (to Martín J. Ramírez, Luis A. Compagnucci and LL), and a Cosmos Club Foundation Program of Grants-In-Aid to Young Scholars (to LL). Conflict of Interest The authors declare no competing interests. Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Electronic supplementary material Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material. List of specimens examined and reported in the present study. Comaroma simoni. AUSTRIA: Carinthia, Weissensee, Kleiner Silbergraben, 1150 m asl; July 7, 1991; C. Komposch leg., ♂♀ (GWU, Kropf donation); no data, H. Franz leg, slg. H. Wiehle, ♀ (SMF 11456/5). Sheranapis villarrica. CHILE: Región IX (Araucanía): Malleco Prov.: Mon. Nat. Contulmo, 19–21.xii.1998, Ramírez, Compagnucci, Grismado, Lopardo, ♂♀ (MACN-Ar 10381). Tasmanapis strahan. AUSTRALIA: Tasmania: Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers N.P., Nothofagus rainforest, Nelson Falls, 15.0 km 089° E Queenstown, S42° 06′ 13.9″ E145° 44′ 10.0″, 338 m, 9.iii.2006, Ramírez, Griswold, Hormiga, Lopardo, Scharff, Silva, Boutin, Szüts, ♀ (MACN-Ar 11536); Newall Creek, 9.57 km 177° S Queenstown, S42° 09′ 37.1″ E145° 32′ 20.1″, 159 m, 10.iii.2006, G. Hormiga, L. Lopardo, ♂ (GWU). Isela sp. (as Kilifina -MYSM-002-KENYA). KENYA: Kwale, 30 km S Mombasa, 12.xi.1992, on diplurids webs, V & B Roth, 39° 40′ E 4° 10′ S, 8♀ 7♂ 2 juvs (CAS, MYSM-0020). Maymena ambita. USA: Virginia, Stafford Co., Falmouth, mixed deciduous forest, 27.vi.1978, H,L&F Levi, ♂ (MCZ 51259, SEM); Alabama: Madison Co., Aladdin Cave, Sharp’s Cave, AF Archer, 1.xii.1939, ♀ (AMNH, SEM); Tuscaloosa Co., Tuscaloosa, River Rd & Guild Woodo Rd, hollow logs, 4.vii.1981, J Coddington, 1sub♀ 1juv (MCZ 51256); ♀ (MCZ 51254). Maymena mayana. GUATEMALA: Alta Vera Paz, Gruta de Lanquin, 6.ii.1980, B-V. Roth, 4♀ ♂ (CAS). MEXICO: Veracruz, Municipio de Atoyac, Grutas de Atoyac, 18.9215° N 96.7653° W, A. Gluesenkamp C. Savvas P. Sprouse E. Gonzalez O. Francke, 22.ix.2004, 460 m, in cave, 5♀ 2♂ (AMNH, AGG 951, ATOL, 95% etOH). Maymena rica. COSTA RICA: Heredia, Organization for Tropical Studies field station at Finca La Selva, near Puerto Viejo, on West River Road, general, 10.i.1982, J. Coddington, 4♂ 2♀ (MCZ 53351). Microdipoena guttata. USA: Virginia, Page Co. Rileyville, Sheridan School Mtn. Campus N38° 43′ 49.2″: W 78° 22′ 58.8″, 300 m, 29.vii.2006, L. Lopardo, D. Dimitrov, ♂♀ (MCZ, several specimens). COMOROS: Mayotte, Majimbini, maison de la Convalescence, ruines, 21.ii.1998, forest, sieved litter, R Jocque, 2♂ (MRAC, MYSM-0067). CÔTE D'IVOIRE: Appouesso, forêt classée de la Bossematié, rain forest, pitfall traps, R Jocque & N Séabé, station B,C,D,F, 19.ix.1994, 6♂ (MRAC, MYSM-0076). Mysmena woodwardi. NEW GUINEA, AI Valley, Nomdugl, West Highlands, ex moss, rain forest, ca. 6500ft, T.E. Woodward ♀ holotype (QM). Mysmena MYSM-005-ARG. ARGENTINA: Misiones, P.N. Iguazú: Sendero Macuco y Picadas aledañas, 18–21.i.2005, manual (coll. Grismado, Lopardo, Piacentini, Quaglino, Rubio), 25° 40′ 43″ S, 054° 26′ 57″ W, 2♂ 3♀ 1 juv (MACN-Ar, MYSM-0101). Mysmena MYSM-010-MEX. MEXICO: Chiapas, Ocosingo, Ejido Nueva Palestina, Benito Juárez, Reserva de la Biósfera Montes Azules, 16° 21′ 45″ N, 91° 13′ 57″ W, MAP 150 m., 24.x.2005, F. Alvarez, L. Lopardo & J. Castelo leg., 5♀ (GWU/MCZ, 80%ethanol, LLS-067). Mysmena MYSM-015-MAD. MADAGASCAR: Antananarivo: R.S. d’ Ambohitantely, Forêt d’ Ambohitantely, primary forest, ca. 20.9 km 72° NE d’Ankazobe, 18° 13′ 30.3″ S, 47° 16′ 44″ E, Elev. 1574 m, montane rainforest, General coll., 20–21.iii.2003, Ldd, D.Andriamalala, D.Silva, et al., DSD0040, 15♀ 13♂ 5juv (CASENT 9015033, 75% ethanol, LLS-020, LLS-021). Mysmena MYSM-028-MAD. MADAGASCAR: Antsiranana: Reserve Speciale d’Ambre, 3.5 km 235° SW Sakaramy, 26–31.i.2001, 12° 28′ 8″ S, 49° 14′ 32″ E, Elev. 325 m, tropical dry forest, general coll. Day, J.J.Rafanomezantsoa et al., JJR0115 (CAS), 5♀ (CASENT 9004610, 75% ethanol, LLS-025). Mysmeninae MYSM-008-ARG. ARGENTINA: Misiones, San Pedro, P. Prov. Cruce Caballero, 13–16.i.2005, CC-Salto, manual, 26° 28′ 00″ S, 053° 58′ 00″ W, coll. Grismado, Lopardo, Piacentini, Quaglino, Rubio, 5♀ (MYSM-0105, LLS-070), 1♀ (MYSM-0090), 1juv (MYSM-0092) (MACN-Ar—80% ethanol); NE San Pedro, 27–29.x.1995, manual, M.J. Ramírez, 1♂ (MACN-Ar, MYSM-0117); P.N. Iguazú, area Cataratas, 11–16.xii1999, manual, M.J. Ramírez & L. Lopardo, 1♀ 1juv (MACN-Ar, MYSM-0134); P.N. Iguazú, isla, paseos superiores, 8–15.ii.1995, manual, M.J. Ramírez, 1♀ (MACN-Ar, MYSM-0136); Saltos del Uruguaí, 10 km N Puerto Libertad, 23–25.ii.1997, manual, M.J. Ramírez, 4♀ 1juv (MACN-Ar, MYSM-0140); INTA San Vicente, 10 km N San Vicente, 26.i.1997, manual, M.J. Ramírez, 3♀ 2♂ 2juv (MACN-Ar, MYSM-0143). Mysmeninae MYSM-009-MAD. MADAGASCAR: Antananarivo: 3 km 41° NE Andranomay, 11.5 km 147° SSE Anjozorobe, 5–13.xii.2000, 18° 28′ 24″ S, 47° 57′ 36″ E, Elev. 1300 m, montane rainforest, general collecting, C.E. Griswold et al., BLF2543, 8♀ 1♂ 1juv (CASENT 9004228, 75% ethanol, LLS-017, LLS-018). Mysmenopsis dipluramigo. PANAMA: Coclé, 5 mi. SO. of El Valle, 11.i.1958, AM Chickering, 9♀ 4♂ 2 juvs (MCZ 51292, MYSM-0043). Trogloneta cantareira. BRAZIL: Sao Paulo, Cotia, Reserva do Morro Alto, 18–28.vi.2002, Equipe Biota col., ♂♀ (USNM, ex IBSP 59785, MYSM-0169); ♀ (USNM, ex IBSP 59786, MYSM-0170). Trogloneta granulum. CZECH REPUBLIC: South Bohemia (Jihočeský Kraj), Blanský Les Protected Landscape Area, Vysoká Běta, 780-790 m, 5.ix.2006, J. Hajer, V. Růžička, ♂♀ (GWU, J. Hajer donation). Cepheia longiseta. FRANCE: Gallia; coll. Simon; 4538, b.849, 14♀ 18♂ 3 juv paralectotypes (MNHN-AR1059, MYSM-0171); Banyuls, no collector, ♂ sub♂ (MNHN, MYSM-0177). ITALY: South Tirol, Bolzano Province, Bolzano/Guntschna[= Guncinà], 27.vi.1988, 470, Noflatscher, 2♀ ♂ (NMW 14994, MYSM-0176). No locality data, no collector, ♂ (MNHN, MYSM-0178). Coddingtonia euryopoides. THAILAND: Chiang Mai Prov., Doi Inthanon NP, cloud forest, Kew Mae Pan Nature trail, N 18° 33′ 19.9″; E 98° 28′ 56.4″, 2170 m, 4–5.X.2003, ATOL Expedition 2003, 5♀ ♂ (USNM); 2sub♂ (USNM, 95% ethanol, LLS-043); 1 ha. inventory, ca. 500 m from checkpoint at intersect. rd. summit/Mae Chaem, wet primary forest, N 18° 31′ 47.9″; E 98° 30′ 9.0″, ca. 1800 m, 6–7.X.2003, ATOL Expedition 2003, ♀ (USNM, 95% ethanol, LLS-052). About this article Cite this article Lopardo, L., Michalik, P. & Hormiga, G. Take a deep breath… The evolution of the respiratory system of symphytognathoid spiders (Araneae, Araneoidea). Org Divers Evol 22, 231–263 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-021-00524-w
There is a comment on this Visual Studio Blog post (about how we made Visual Studio faster): “Focus on speed, not memory usage. Memory is very cheap, but CPU performance is muuuuuuuuch moooooooore expensive.” Yes, memory keeps getting cheaper, but actually, reducing memory use is critical to increasing the performance of any large application like Visual Studio. Conversely, giving the application more memory will make it faster. That’s why using a 64 bit OS automatically gives more memory to VS (see Out of memory? Easy ways to increase the memory available to your program). You can see this by starting Task Manager or Process Explorer and observe the CPU column. It is rarely close to 100% for one processor (25% on a 4 core machine). Even when you initiate an operation, such as starting an application, the CPU rarely stays high for very long. Most of the time the CPU is waiting for user input, a request to disk or network. Reducing the disk bottleneck increases performance. The disk is a physically spinning object, and there are read/write heads that are moved precisely to positions on the disk surface. There is a delay to actuate the head position motor, waiting for the right disk sector to be under the head, etc. This is a lot of work, compared to reading electrons from solid state memory (those of you fortunate enough to use a SSD (Solid State Drive) know this well!). Looking at it another way, memory speeds are measured in nanoseconds and disk speeds are typically measured in milliseconds (1 million nanoseconds in a millisecond. How many microphones in a megaphone? Just one J) To create a short video demonstrating memory versus disk speeds. I chose a scenario that repeats easily and would consistently execute the same set of instructions: the startup of Visual Studio 2010. When a new process is created many files need to be read in from disk. The OS caches a lot of the disk content in memory, so that instead of reading it from slow disk, it’s actually hitting faster memory. I used my laptop (Dell Core i5 with 64 bit Windows 7 and 8 Gigs RAM) and repeatedly started Visual Studio 2010. I used a command prompt that showed a time stamp to help show the timing better. It also was quick to hit the up-arrow/enter keys to start VS easily without a mouse. I had Process Explorer displaying the percent CPU use. It took about 2 seconds to start each time. The CPU usage hovered close to 25% (of 4 processers or 100% of 1 processor). In 2 seconds, a CPU can execute about 2 billion instructions. If computers had blinking lights (as my first ones did) then the disk light would be blinking a lot: a sure sign that the CPU is just waiting for the disk. (Relaxen und watchen das blinkenlights. What lights?) Then I cleared the OS disk cache, which took about a minute while the OS suspended running processes, flushing memory caches of dirty, copy-on-write pages, etc. (During this minute I did nothing but wait, so I edited out that minute from the video.) When I hit up-arrow again, there was a noticeable delay even for the command prompt to respond. After a few seconds, the VS splash screen showed, and after about 40 seconds, VS completed startup, executing the same 2 billion instructions 20 times slower! So, decreasing memory consumption means more is available to the process and the operating system, which will use it to reduce disk access. The OS memory manager plays a huge role in perceived application performance. CPU accessing memory is cheap and fast. CPU accessing disk is expensive and slow. Memory capacity, however, is much smaller than disk capacity. Like 8 Gig RAM vs 500 Gig disk. So it’s imperative to use the RAM resource efficiently. The memory content for a process consists of data read from disk as well as dynamically allocated memory for transient objects, such as strings, data, class instances, etc. We reduced Visual Studio’s memory use in all these areas significantly to increase its performance. You can simulate flushing the OS cache somewhat by hibernating the machine (not putting to sleep: sleep mode keeps memory content by using a small amount of power). However, the hibernation file is read in a linear fashion, rather than the sequence requested by a normal OS process. Another way to simulate is to bring up other large applications that use a lot of memory, such as Outlook or Word, which will page out other apps, like VS. When reactivating VS, memory will need to be paged back in. Indeed, when you compare the amount of memory used in various scenarios by VS 2010 and VS2012, the latter uses much less memory (sometimes hundreds of megabytes less), even considering that many more features have been added than removed.
- Historic Sites The Mosher Report The sexual habits of American women, examined half a century before Kinsey June/july 1981 \| Volume 32, Issue 4 The nineteenth century was, according to the stereotype, ashamed and fearful of all things sexual. It was an era when, as one visitor to America swore, teachers put “modest little trousers with frills at the bottom” over the “limbs” of their pianos. The Victorian woman’s lack of passion was proverbial, her frigidity extolled by the popular hygiene books and marriage manuals of the day. But were Victorian women in fact passionless? In a remarkable survey that historian Carl Degler found in the Stanford University Archives, it appears that at least one group of Victorian women defied the stereotype: they approached sex with gusto. This survey, though very small, appears to be the earliest systematic study of the sexual habits and attitudes of American women, including information on sexual desire, frequency of intercourse, and orgasm. Other studies, such as those of Alfred Kinsey and Shere Hite, deal almost exclusively with women born in the twentieth century; this survey contains responses of women born at the time of the Civil War. It was a study made years ahead of its time, but only part of the memorable career of the researcher, Clelia Duel Mosher, a physician who devoted her life to destroying the notions of physical inferiority that had stigmatized women. She was born on December 16,1863, in Albany, New York. Her father, Cornelius, and four uncles were physicians. Cornelius Mosher married Sarah Burritt and settled in Albany where he became an authority on insanity, a member of the Board of Education, and the father of two girls. In 1931 Clelia Mosher dedicated her unfinished autobiography “to my father, who believed in women when most men classified them with children and imbeciles.” When Mosher was eleven, her father sent her to the Albany Female Academy, from which she graduated in 1881, apparently planning to go to college. But Dr. Mosher forbade it, believing that his daughter, who had been a tubercular child, was much too delicate for college work. Moreover, her sister, Esther, had just died, and he wanted his remaining child at home. In order to keep her there, he converted the little greenhouse attached to their home into an educational laboratory where he taught her botany, and he hired a florist to give her lessons in horticulture. Gradually Dr. Mosher allowed her to expand the greenhouse and launch a business career as a florist. But his bid to keep his daughter at home backfired; in 1889 Mosher announced that she had earned and saved two thousand dollars—enough for four years’ tuition at Wellesley College, to which she had just been accepted. This self-reliant young woman became a twenty-five-year-old freshman in the fall of 1889. For a time it looked as though her father’s fears for her health had been justified. Ill-prepared for college, she was overworked. By the end of her first year, she was near collapse. Over the summer, however, she recuperated and returned to Wellesley in the fall. For her junior year she transferred to the University of Wisconsin, and in the fall of 1892, she moved once more—to the newly opened Stanford University, where she graduated as a zoology major in the spring of 1893. Mosher’s westward migration is intriguing. California was about as far away from home as she could get, but by 1892 her parents were both encouraging her work. Perhaps it was the very newness of Stanford and California’s persisting image as frontier that drew her west. During her time at Wisconsin, Mosher had begun to think of her own interests as being on the frontiers of science. By the time she arrived at Stanford she had decided on her mission—she was determined to challenge every existing stereotype about the physical incapacities of women. Her journals give no clue as to how she arrived at this decision. Except for the novels of George Sand, she never mentioned reading feminist literature or being formally involved in the growing feminist movement. She was certainly aware, however, that she herself had discredited her doctor-father’s dire predictions of her physical and mental collapse. She also may have been as startled as current readers by the response to her survey of women’s sexual habits, which she had begun at Wisconsin. After graduation Mosher remained at Stanford as an assistant in hygiene, a position that required her to take measurements of all incoming female freshmen. Her observations suggested a myth ripe for debunking: nearly every physiology text claimed that women breathed costally (using only the upper chest) because of the physiological requirements of pregnancy, while men breathed diaphragmatically (using the diaphragm). While admitting that most women did breathe costally, Mosher denied that physiology demanded it. She was certain that constrictive clothing and sedentary living were responsible. Setting up elaborate measuring devices in the gymnasium, she examined Stanford co-eds as well as unmarried, pregnant girls from the Pacific Rescue Home. Mosher concluded that the only differences between the sexes in breathing were those imposed by fashion and habit. In 1894 she presented these findings for her master’s degree from Stanford. Two years later, her thesis was corroborated by G. W. Fitz at Harvard. Having vanquished one myth, Mosher turned to “functional periodicity,” the allegedly insurmountable barrier that excluded women from the working world. The bias she was working against was formidable; one writer of the time described menstruation as “a constantly recurring infirmity that occupies seven years out of thirty of a woman’s adult life.” That view was a common one, but Mosher noted that most of the grim literature on female physiology sprang from male experience with pathological female patients. She decided to study healthy women, in order to determine what normal menstruation was, what factors made it abnormal, and whether these factors could be modified. She devised a detailed questionnaire that she gave to her women students, who began to keep careful monthly records. Mosher soon realized that she was in over her head. If her work was to have credibility, and if she was to interpret her vast mass of data accurately, she would need training in medicine. In the spring of 1896, at age thirty-two, she applied to and was accepted by the recently opened Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Borrowing money from her widowed mother, Mosher headed for Baltimore in the fall of 1896 to become one of thirteen women in a class of forty-one. At Hopkins, Mosher later wrote, she found both sympathy for her interest in women’s physiology and respect for the women students. She also found a female support network in operation. Gertrude Stein, who entered the medical school the year after Mosher (but never graduated), recalled that such formidable women as M. Carey Thomas, the president of Bryn Mawr, and other members of the Women’s Medical Fund, which had been instrumental in opening the school to women, would visit the women students over tea, urging them to study hard and not to disgrace themselves, their gender, or the fund. The faculty evidently thought well of Mosher, and upon graduation, at age thirty-six, she was selected for a one-year externship in the dispensary at the Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Howard Kelly also selected her to serve as gynecological assistant in his sanitorium. Mosher thought she knew what had brought her to the administration’s attention. Early in 1900 George Engleman, a Boston gynecologist, learned of the menstrual records she had collected at Stanford. He wanted the data and tried through a colleague at Hopkins “to put the screws on Miss Mosher” so he could get her records. The colleague ignored him. Finally Engleman wrote directly to Mosher, asking to have the records but adding, “If you wish to utilize your observations for any special purpose, I should ask at least to give me general results.” Mosher certainly did wish to utilize her observations; she held her ground and refused to relinquish her data. The incident may have prompted her lifelong protectiveness of her research, but it also brought her work to the attention of the Hopkins authorities and, she believed, resulted in the appointments. During her additional year at Hopkins, Clelia Mosher began to analyze the data that Engleman had sought, which included menstrual records of over four hundred healthy women, plus physical examinations. Her preliminary findings led to her first scientific publication, “Normal Menstruation and Some of the Factors Modifying It,” in the Johns Hopkins Hospital Bulletin . In this paper she tentatively identified four factors contributing to monthly disability: constricting clothing, inactivity, chronic constipation, and the general expectation that discomfort was inevitable. Each of these, she noted severely, was reversible and not physiological. At the end of the year Kelly offered Mosher a permanent position in the gynecology department. Would she, she asked, be trained as a gynecological surgeon? Kelly said he would train her, but he doubted whether any man would be willing to work under a woman. Mosher declined the offer. Instead, she returned to California, taking her mother with her, and opened a private practice in PaIo Alto. Once settled, she took up gardening with a passion. The skill that had paid her way to college now became her chief recreation. From her lush descriptions of each new leaf, bulging seed pod, and vanquished fungus, it is clear that the emotional investment in her garden was enormous. Outside her work, her garden was to become her chief solace. After opening her practice, Mosher embarked on a long round of grant applications, seeking funds for her menstruation studies. All the institutions to which she applied rejected her. Her research stood still for nearly a decade, to her intense frustration. So when an opportunity arose in 1910 to return to Stanford as assistant professor of personal hygiene and medical adviser for women, she jumped at it. Back in a university, with well-equipped laboratories and an abundant supply of subjects, Mosher resumed her studies and, within the year, published her first major article on menstruation. Further research had confirmed her earlier findings; there was no physiological reason why most normal, healthy women should be incapacitated by menstruation. She urged women to shed their constricting clothing, to breathe deeply using all their abdominal muscles, to eat sensibly, and above all to cast aside the debilitating myth that menstruation was synonymous with pain and depression. She preached this message to every woman who passed through her classrooms. Mosher took her own admonitions about sensible dress to heart. Hoping to educate by example, she adopted a simple compromise between fashion and comfort: shirtwaist dress, starched collar, four-in-hand tie, and untrimmed round hat. For the next thirty-five years, styles came and went, but Mosher’s outfit never varied. She was, recalls a former student, “quite a sight,” marching across the campus, always erect, breathing diaphragmatically. By 1914 Mosher was prepared to offer a practical physiological solution to the problem of painful menstruation. She proposed a simple deep-breathing exercise which, she claimed, would build up weak abdominal muscles and make menstruation less painful. Every Stanford woman was taught the exercise and urged to do it daily. Sixty years later one Stanford student still vividly recalls learning her “Moshers.” Her roommate swore by them; this student believed them to be nonsense. Though many were skeptical, letters from students and gym teachers across the country assured Mosher that “Moshering” worked. Whether or not “Moshers” worked, students testified that much of what they learned in Mosher’s classes profoundly affected their lives. She saw herself as a force for the physical emancipation of women and urged students to understand and appreciate their bodies. Her hygiene classes were spent studying skeletons and anatomical drawings. A colleague said, “[Students] were not sent to bed during the menstrual period but were given gentle, corrective exercises in the mat room of the gymnasium, looked at pictures of Greek women’s statues, read clippings and articles on modern women’s achievements and books on feminism.” To convince her students that bad posture could create internal problems, and to monitor progress on improving it, Mosher and E. P. Lesley of the engineering department developed a device called a Schematograph. It consisted of a reflecting camera that reduced a person’s shadow and cast it onto graph paper, where it could be traced; this device caught the “posture pictures” of Stanford co-eds each year. In the spring of 1915 the YWCA invited Mosher to address a national convention of its officers, and the speech was published shortly afterward in book form. In The Relation of Health to the Woman Movement , Mosher combined her growing feminism with her medical research. If women would only liberate themselves from the fickle dictates of fashion, she felt, if they would appreciate and care for their bodies and throw off the hobbling myths of physiological inferiority, theirs would be a glorious future. She concluded, “What we need are women no less fine and womanly, but with beautiful, perfect bodies, a suitable receptacle for their equally beautiful souls, who look sanely out on life with steady nerves and clear vision.” During the spring of 1917 references to the escalating war in Europe begin to creep into Mosher’s journals. Though fifty-three years old, she was determined to serve. That fall, when a former Hopkins professor visited Stanford, she cornered him and told him of her plan. He passed the word on to a colleague at the Red Cross, and a few days later the reply arrived. Could Mosher be ready to sail in two weeks? By November 23 she was aboard the Pacific Limited bound for New York. En route she mused in her journal: “The going to France is like the irristable [sic] marching of fate.… Everything in me cried out to do its part in this world catastrophe. I wonder how much the long line of Puritan ancestors who fought for American independence, how much the double strain of Alsatian French counts in this irristable [sic] force, driving me on.…” Once in France, Mosher became associate medical director of the Bureau of Refugees and Relief, her primary responsibility being to evacuate children from Paris. On one occasion she led a caravan of sixty anemic children from Paris to Evian, a two-day journey. Mosher was deeply moved by the devastation she witnessed, but did not fail to notice that French women were capably replacing their husbands, sons, and brothers in the fields and factories. One of the loose ends Mosher had tied up before leaving for France was an article on the muscular strength of women. Of this research, she enthusiastically noted: “It looks as though we have proved that there is no inherent difference in muscular strength between men and women due to differences in sex. Another tradition destroyed, and new freedom for women—.” The article, published jointly with Ernest Martin, a Stanford physiologist, appeared while Mosher was in Paris. In it she pointed out that, because of the war, women everywhere were performing tasks previously believed unsuitable for creatures of their delicacy. Clearly these beliefs needed re-examination. Their own research, the authors claimed—overconf idently—proved that there were no physiological differences in the strength of women and men. Rather, they said, existing differences resulted from the different ways in which boys and girls were raised. Returning to Stanford after the Armistice, Mosher was promoted to associate professor of hygiene but went through a rather difficult period. Her mother was failing, she had disagreements with a new administration, and she found her life monotonous and harassed: “The fates are still throwing dice for my future.… My garden cries aloud for care and I long with unutterable longing to dig and trim in it and then to come to my study and dig and work on my problem while my soul as well as my body grows strong and quiet and all the turmoil of these over busy years quiets down and I get perspective in regard to it all.… “I must reap my intellectual harvest, now ripe and waiting. I have something to contribute and the time is ripe for its reception. Something to give to the question of woman.” In 1923 her second book, Woman’s Physical Freedom , appeared. This time she dealt not only with young women but also with middle-aged women who approached menopause with terror, anticipating incapacity and even insanity. Much of the problem with menopause, Mosher suggested, was not physiological but psychological, rooted in the social changes that accompany middle life (such as children leaving home, which might make a wife and mother feel superfluous). Professional women, she believed, suffered far less. As an antidote, she prescribed political, church, and community work for the woman whose child-rearing days were ending. With Woman’s Physical Freedom Mosher began to enjoy a much wider audience. After the book went into its sixth printing and clippings began to come in from all over the world, Stanford promoted her to full professor, a position that she held for one year. She retired in 1929, after two fruitful decades of research and teaching, to a “dream house” of her own design. The door to her new home, she assured her students, was always open. Her papers indicate that many of them accepted this invitation. Until her death in 1940 students often returned to thank her for her advice and to tell her that they were sharing her ideals with their friends and daughters. Clelia Mosher died without publishing what will undoubtedly be remembered as her most innovative and interesting work—the remarkable sex survey that caused a furor among historians and psychologists when Carl Degler introduced it in his 1974 article for The American Historical Review . This survey, bound into volume ten of her unpublished works and entitled “Statistical Survey of the Marriages of Forty-Seven Women,” is important because it is the only such survey known to exist. While dozens of popular authors claimed to be experts on women and sex, no one had studied the subject in a systematic and objective way. Mosher did. Certainly her subjects do not represent a statistically significant sample of Victorian women. But their responses are often quite detailed and thus shed light on the question of how one group of women, in the face of conflicting and repressive notions about female sexuality, actually thought and acted. The first data go back to 1892. In her brief introduction to the survey, Mosher explained that she designed the questionnaire when, as a junior at the University of Wisconsin, she was asked to discuss the “marital relation” before the Mothers Club. Her lecture was based on forms returned by the club members, who were mostly faculty wives. (That these women agreed to fill out such a revealing questionnaire is intriguing, but no more so than the puzzle of why they asked an unmarried college girl, even one of twenty-eight, to address them about marriage in the first place.) Mosher continued the survey sporadically for nearly thirty years after leaving Wisconsin, adding the responses of women from her private practice and from Stanford. She sought the information so that she could better advise young women who came to her for help. Unmarried herself, but justifiably suspicious of material in marriage manuals written mostly by men, she was certain that married women themselves would be the best source of accurate information. In the brief introduction she says the survey gave “the investigator a priceless knowledge for the practicing physician and teacher; a background sufficiently broad to avoid prejudice in her work with woman.” The material gives no clues as to who these women were or how she chose them. Undoubtedly some simply refused to answer such personal questions, so in this sense Mosher’s subjects, like Kinsey’s and Bite’s, were self-selected. Not all of them answered the questionnaires at the same time. Of the thirty-six which are dated, seventeen were completed prior to 1900, fourteen between 1913 and 1917, and five in 1920. Only one respondent was born after 1890. Thirty-three were, like Mosher, born before 1870, and of these seventeen were born before the Civil War. These, then, were largely women who grew up, married, and raised children in the nineteenth century. Fortunately Mosher asked her subjects enough questions about place of birth and education to permit speculation about their social origins. Geographically, the women were fairly representative of late-nineteenth-century America. Educationally, they decidedly were not. Eighty-one per cent of those whose education is given had attended college or normal school, and the remainder had attended at least secondary school—this at a time when most people, male or female, did not even attend secondary school. Their alma maters included Cornell, Smith, Wellesley, Vassar, Radcliffe, Stanford, and the University of California. Most of the women were married to college graduates. When asked about their work experience before marriage (Mosher assumed none worked after), thirty of the thirty-eight women who responded had worked. Not surprisingly, in view of the limited job opportunities open to women at that time, twenty-seven had been teachers. (The other three were a librarian, an accountant, and a bookbinder. ) These women were principally daughters of the upper-middle class. The nine-page questionnaire that confronted Mosher’s subjects contained twenty-five multi-part questions, many of which sought genealogical and medical information, such as whether the respondent’s husband smoked, whether her mother found menopause difficult, and whether her grandparents were native-born. The second half of the survey, however, turned to matters of sex. Many questions required only a simple yes or no, but many women were moved to add comments providing detailed glimpses into their intimate lives—and what emerges is a study of the Victorian “marriage relation. ” Mosher was no doubt correct in claiming that such detail could only have been elicited by another woman. The first of the sex questions asked, “What knowledge of sexual physiology had you before marriage? How did you obtain it?” Eleven women claimed they knew a great deal about sex before marriage. They had learned it, they wrote, from books, courses, friends, and relatives. One woman learned the facts of life from “medical texts, watching farm animals, and also from very frank talks with my mother.” Thirteen said they had some knowledge of sex. Declining to give her sources, one woman added defensively, “learned everything I knew from good sources and in a pure and sacred way. ” The majority, however, said that they had known little or nothing: “Not one thing,” said one woman emphatically. Another admitted, “I was so innocent of the matter that until I was 18,1 did not know the origin of babies.” How did these naive Victorians fare in marriage? Mosher began her probe by asking them whether they “habitually” shared a bed with their husbands. About two-thirds of these women, some married as long as twenty-eight years, did sleep with their spouses. Some did so enthusiastically: “The first year I had separate beds, believing that was the right thing. I abandoned it entirely before the end of the year.” One wife did so “because I like to be near him,” and, she added, for “economic reasons.” Some did so reluctantly: “Personally, I prefer to sleep alone always. ” The remainder slept alone. One woman listed three reasons why she preferred that arrangement: “1. more comfortable, 2. more wholesome, 3. to avoid temptation of too frequent intercourse.” Temptation? The stereotype of the Victorian woman leaves no room for sexual desire. Yet thirty-five of the forty-four women who answered the question said they felt desire for sexual intercourse. Asked at what time of month she most desired intercourse, one woman chided: “It has no time regulation any more than kissing my husband or baby has.” Another woman wrote that sex was not only agreeable to her but “usually quite delightful.” Even more surprising is these women’s testimony to orgasmic experience. Mosher did not ask whether they ever had an orgasm but “Do you always have a venereal orgasm?”—thus assuming that orgasm was to be expected. While a few women did not answer and five wrote only “no,” leaving open the possibility that they occasionally experienced orgasm, thirty-four women indicated that they did experience it. From these answers, Mosher concluded that one source of sexual maladjustment in marriage might occur at first intercourse. Coming to marriage so innocent of sexual matters, misunderstandings were bound to occur. One problem, she believed, might be “physical terror though mental consent.” Indeed, one woman reported that the sudden introduction to sex was such a shock that she “ran away after one month of marriage. [Was] sent back by parents and told to behave.” Apparently as an afterthought, Mosher asked twelve women how many days after their wedding ceremony had first intercourse taken place. Six women said that first intercourse took place within the first three days; one said “immediately.” Six said from ten days to one year after the ceremony. Mosher also recognized that women’s slower sexual reaction time could lead to maladjustment if not understood. Some of her subjects recognized it, too. One woman reported that for years sex had been distasteful to her because of her “slow reaction,” but “orgasm [occurs] if time is taken.” Another, referring to differences in reaction time, complained, “Men have not been properly trained.” For some, failure to reach orgasm was devastating. The woman cognizant of her “slow reaction” reported, “When no orgasm, takes days to recover.” Another described the absence of orgasm as “bad, even disastrous, nervewracking,—unbalancing, if such conditions continued for any length of time.” One woman said its absence was “depressing and revolting,” and described orgasm, which she almost always reached, as a “sense of absolute physical harmony.” Others spoke of the “quiet” and “calmness” which followed. One woman described it as a “general sense of well being, contentment, and regard for husband.” “This is true, Doctor,” she added earnestly. The most detailed and personal responses were elicited by a series of questions on the “true purpose of intercourse.” Mosher asked whether intercourse was a necessity, or whether its purpose was pleasure, reproduction, or “other.” (Under “other,” one woman claimed, “I have taken it as a sedative.”) Of those who responded, nine believed that intercourse was a necessity for men; thirteen claimed it was a necessity for both sexes; and the remaining fifteen believed it was a necessity to neither. Though a few women felt that reproduction was the only acceptable reason for intercourse, and thirty marked reproduction as the primary purpose, twenty-four women believed firmly that the pleasure exchanged was a worthy purpose in itself. One young wife who checked both pleasure and reproduction said, “It sweeps you out of everything that is everyday.” Another woman, married thirty years, claimed it “makes more normal people.” This woman wasn’t even sure that children were necessary to justify intercourse: “Even if there are no children, men love their wives more if they continue this relation, and the highest devotion is based upon it, a very beautiful thing, and I am glad nature gave it to us.” Still another woman argued that intercourse should be indulged in for more than offspring: “The act is frequently simply the extreme caress of love’s passion, which it would be a pity to limit… to once in two or three years.” Since so many women believed that pleasure alone was a legitimate reason for intercourse, Mosher suspected that they must use some sort of contraceptive and she included a question on this subject. At least thirty women used some method of birth control. Even a mother who declared that marriage without desire for children amounted to legalized prostitution practiced withdrawal. Still, she probably would have disapproved strongly of the young wife, married one year, who had no children and, by using “clear water in a syringe,” obviously hoped to remain childless, at least for a while. Withdrawal and “timing” ranked high as methods of birth control, but most women preferred douching. Hot water, ice water, tepid water, alcohol, sulphate of zinc, and carbonated water had their adherents. Several women’s husbands used a “male sheath.” Two women used a “rubber cap over the uterus,” and one woman used cocoa butter—for what, she didn’t say. While most of the women Mosher surveyed found sexual expression to be normal and natural, sometimes even a joy, not all were free of guilt. One woman, who admitted she desired intercourse and experienced orgasm, noted that sexual relations were “apparently a necessity for the average person”; and “superior individuals,” with whom she felt she could not be classed, could be “independent of sex relations with no evident ill results.” Even more revealing was the young woman, married only a year, who wrote, “As I personally see it, I think a habit of intercourse once a month if both desire would be as much of an ideal as I now have.” She crossed this out, however, and wrote beneath it, “Since writing the above, I have become convinced that the ideal would be to have no intercourse except for reproduction, but it is often hard to live up to such an ideal.” Mosher’s own views on the matter of guilt are suggested in her brief conclusions. She was convinced that women had every right to experience and expect pleasure from sex, and she had little patience with marital guides that advised them otherwise. Blaming such misinformation for some women’s failure to adjust to marriage, she charged that “too often her training has instilled the idea that any physical response is coarse, common and immodest.…” The final question which faced each subject asked, “What, to you, would be the ideal habit?” Mosher had asked earlier about their actual habits of intercourse, so any discrepancies are visible. One woman’s ideal was “once a month, when both are well . and in the day light.” In reality, this woman reported having intercourse three or four times a week and found it “delightful.” One forty-seven-year-old woman said that her ideal was: “Now, at my time of life, never. In the prime of life, for a man twice a week, for a woman twice a month.” How a husband and wife were to resolve this discrepancy wasn’t stated. Another older woman also said that her ideal was no intercourse at all, and claimed that even as a young woman she tried to avoid it. She was, perhaps understandably, hostile to intercourse: early in her marriage, her doctor husband had become addicted to morphine and, when under its influence, had forced her to have intercourse at least once a night. Several postmenopausal women still enjoyed and desired intercourse. The only respondent who was divorced and remarried testified in 1913, at age fifty-three, four years after menopause, that “although my passionate feeling has declined somewhat and the orgasm does not always occur, intercourse is still agreeable to me. ” Remarried at age forty-six to an “unusually considerate man,” this very happy, childless woman advocated an ideal habit of “perhaps twice a month.” Clelia Mosher demonstrated in her small, pioneering survey that despite the conflicting warnings of the marriage manuals of the Victorian age, most of the women she studied engaged in sex with neither reluctance nor distaste. Indeed, many of them frankly acknowledged their desire for intercourse and orgasm. In the face of their disregard of the repressive sexual code of their era, as Degler noted, these women offer encouraging proof of humankind’s essential common sense. For her own part Clelia Mosher paid a price for her advanced views. That price was intense loneliness, particularly after her mother died. The personal papers that exist from her years of middle age reveal an introspective and pathetically lonely woman. She was caught between the practical nature of her work and an extreme romanticism that she carefully concealed. The same woman who marched resolutely across the Stanford campus, with perfect posture and sensible clothing, had sentimental dreams and fears that she poured out into a notebook. She wrote longingly of the friendships which sustained other women. There was a type of platonic friendship, she believed, that “supplies the working woman and compensates her for what she has missed in not marrying but cannot make up for her lost motherhood. ” Perhaps because of the intensity of her late-blooming career, Mosher had no such friend, and as she grew older she felt this lack more keenly. At age fifty-two she wrote poignantly: “I am finding out gradually why I am so lonely. The only things I care about are things which use my brain. The women I meet are not much interested and I do not meet many men, so there is an intellectual solitude which is like the solitude of the desert—dangerous to one’s sanity.” Her yearning becomes increasingly forlorn: “I think sometimes of some particular friend and I feel she understands as no one else does what is in my mind … then some day comes when I realize that what this friend is, does, feels is utterly foreign. I have imbued her with thoughts that have been in my mind, not hers, sympathies which have grown out of my desire for understanding … and with deep depression I realize she is the outward semblance of a creature of my imagination.” A series of increasingly intimate letters suggests that Mosher finally discovered the friend she longed for. The painful truth, however, slowly dawns—these letters were written to no one. All doubts disappear in March, 1919, when Mosher begins to address them “To you, my friend who does not exist.” Over the next few years, this invented companion became the only ear for Mosher’s troubles. The letters are filled with her quotidian difficulties, as well as her meditations and imaginative—and sensual—descriptions of nature. The letters make it clear that Mosher knew what she was doing. She even admitted to feeling self-conscious about the “correspondence,” but stated frankly, “I get a sense of companionship and you are spared the boredom of reading them. ” On April 16,1926, she wrote her “friend”: “I have given up ever finding you. I have tried out all my friends and they have not measured up to my dreams. They still are friends, and their friendships give joy and richness to my life but I cannot share my dreamland with them. I wander alone there and show the world my prose, my common sense. But I keep normal and wholesome by going ever alone in this land of dreams. It would not take long to be as drab as most of my contemporaries were it not for this land of dreams.” By 1926 Mosher seems to have resolved many of her problems. As retirement approached, she threw herself into the project of her dream house, which was a “thrill and joy” for her. She had hopes that its peace and beauty, and her happiness there, would inspire young women who needed help in holding on to their intellectual aspirations. In October of 1926, contemplating moving in, she looked forward with hope: “Can one go on being a balanced, sane person with only the casual companionship of one’s acquaintances, or is a certain give and take of daily companionship necessary to keep one at one’s best: Who knows? Anyway, I am going to try it.… I look forward joyously to my solitary future, rich in the beauty of my surroundings.” On the whole, Mosher seems to have resolved her problems. Her papers from 1932 include the beginning of an autobiography to be called The Autobiography of a Happy Old Woman . In that year, too, she wrote a joyful and lyrical description of the special beauty of that California spring. The wide gulf between Clelia Mosher’s inner self and the face she presented to the world is striking. The lonely romantic of these letters is the same efficient, dedicated woman who, as doctor and researcher, pioneered the destruction of sexual myths, celebrated the emotional and physical strength of women, and left us with a remarkable survey of Victorian sexuality.
A European study analyzes non-financial reasons why people choose specific types of vehicles. Additionally, it takes a look at the possible long-term energy and carbon-emissions implications of those choices. The study was conducted by researchers David McCollum of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and Charlie Wilson of the University of East Anglia, U.K. They have stated that available models and brands, comfort, acceleration, interior space and the availability of infrastructure are also important for a consumer to make his choice. Most of these are still lacking for most zero-emission and low-carbon vehicles, particularly electric and hydrogen ones. Six global energy-economy models were used in the study, upgrading the tools so the consumers’ behavior will be more precisely represented. Also, they modeled two different scenarios for the alternative-fuel vehicles (AFV) policy worldwide to 2050. The first one pushes the use of alternative-fuel vehicles and leads consumers to become less risk-averse. That results in low-carbon vehicles becoming the norm. On the other hand, without the push, the status quo has not significantly changed. Without such behavior-influencing policies, there was no growth in the infrastructure and the use of AFVs. The results from the researches showed us that the right choice of policies and strategies can lead to AFV’s market share of more than 25% of all vehicles by 2050. Without them, the share will be around 1% without any improvement of the status quo situation. Some examples of such behavior-influencing policies are fuel taxes, vehicle subsidies, technology mandates, efficiency standards, investment in refueling infrastructure and dedicated parking spaces, as well as social media campaigns and car-sharing networks to demonstrate the technology. The effect of such policies can be seen in countries, such as China, Iceland, Norway, Sweden. 40% of passenger cars on the Norwegian roads are plug-in hybrids or electric. These policies will be needed in order to sell alternative-fuel vehicles to many people who consider non-financial attributes.
Stem cells injected into the cerebral ventricles-or even injected intravenously-find their way to sites of inflammation in an animal model of multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a report in today’s Nature. Once there, they replace the damaged myelin, clean up astrocytic scarring, and help reduce inflammation. Most importantly, the treatment abolishes the motor deficits of the disorder. Focal transplantation of stem cells offers hope in a disease such as Parkinson's, where much of the disease can be traced to a well-delineated area of neurodegeneration in the substantia nigra; however, disorders such as MS and Alzheimer's disease involve much more widespread neurodegeneration. MS and similar demyelinating disorders also have other interesting points of intersection with Alzheimer's disease, including inflammatory processes in the areas of neurodegeneration. Gianvito Martino, Angelo Vescovi, and their colleagues at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, Italy, injected mice with antibodies to a component of myelin to produce the well-known model experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). They then injected the mice with neurospheres-small aggregates of stem cells and their progeny derived from the cerebral ventricular zones of adult mice. Whether introduced via the cerebral ventricles or the blood stream, these cells spread throughout the neural axis and differentiated into both myelin-producing oligodendrocytes and neurons. Interestingly, most of the transplanted cells were drawn to largely demyelinated areas of inflammation, where they gave rise to new myelin-producing cells. Concomitant with this repopulation, mice appeared to regain almost normal movement, beginning at about day 15 after transplantation. A further benefit was that these transplanted cells mediated the reduction of "scarring" caused by overgrowth of astrocytes in the demyelinated areas. This step can itself be beneficial, because reactive astrogliosis hampers remyelination. The stem cells also appear to have played a role in reducing inflammatory processes by decreasing levels of inflammatory molecules (e.g., tumor-necrosis-factor-α) and metalloprotesases. "One point of particular interest here is that these cells hitch a ride into damaged sites by using α4 integrin-the very molecule that mobilizes the immunological attack," notes Lawrence Steinman of Stanford University in California in his News and Views comment. α4 integrin is an adhesion molecule found on the surface of the immune cells that attack myelin in EAE. Apparently, the presence of this molecule allows the stem cells to cross the blood-brain barrier and move to areas of active inflammation in the CNS. "To the best of our knowledge, this work provides the initial evidence showing how neural precursors may represent a renewable source of cells which, when transplanted into the cerebroventricular system or into the blood stream, can reach multiple areas of a chronically injured adult CNS, enter the brain tissue and seek damaged areas where they promote structural and functional recovery," conclude the authors. For Alzheimer's researchers, a central question is whether this same method can deliver stem cells to areas of putative inflammation surrounding neurodegeneration in models of AD. And if so, can they work the same restorative magic that they did for this model of MS?—Hakon Heimer Q & A with Gianvito Martino: Q: Could this be applied to AD? A: To make neural stem cells travel into the right areas where demyelination was ongoing, we took advantage of the inflammation occurring in the experimental MS model that we have been using. Thus, I do not see how can we apply this experimental therapeutic model "tout court" to AD. As I understand it, inflammation in AD takes place in the later stages of the disease and is milder than in MS. To me, inflammation in AD is just a physiological reaction to neurodegeneration; in MS the scenario is the opposite, whereby inflammation causes neurodegeneration. Thus, I do not know if inflammation in AD is enough to make cells travel to the right place and replace nonfunctioning neurons. Q: Will you take this work into AD mouse models? A: We have not, to date, planned to work in AD mice; however, it would be extremely interesting to see such experiments. We have been impressed by what we found in EAE; we frankly did not expect these results in the very beginning. Therefore, it is time to go in AD, as well, and see what can happen, but I would suggest someone who is more deeply involved in AD research try this. I would be delighted to share my experience on that. Q: Are current mouse models adequate for such an experiment? A: I think that AD models in mice are suitable. The time frame when you inject the cells is crucial. The mode of action of our cells in EAE mice is bimodal. They not only differentiate into ensheathing oligodendrocytes, but they also mediate the proliferation of endogenous oligodendrocyte precursors and down-regulate proliferation of endogenous astroglia possibly via a humoral mechanism. No Available References - Wu S, Suzuki Y, Kitada M, Kataoka K, Kitaura M, Chou H, Nishimura Y, Ide C. New method for transplantation of neurosphere cells into injured spinal cord through cerebrospinal fluid in rat. Neurosci Lett. 2002 Jan 25;318(2):81-4. PubMed. - Pluchino S, Quattrini A, Brambilla E, Gritti A, Salani G, Dina G, Galli R, del Carro U, Amadio S, Bergami A, Furlan R, Comi G, Vescovi AL, Martino G. Injection of adult neurospheres induces recovery in a chronic model of multiple sclerosis. Nature. 2003 Apr 17;422(6933):688-94. PubMed. - Steinman L. Medicine: Collateral damage repaired. Nature. 2003 Apr 17;422(6933):671-2. PubMed.
Pakistan is an agricultural country where the majority of the population depends upon farming for a livelihood. The agricultural sector accounts for 24 percent of our GDP. 27 percent of our land is under cultivation out of which 80 percent is irrigated. However, lack of sustainable development in the agricultural sector will never make us self sufficient in food production to meet the needs of our rapidly increasing population. We often say, it’s all because of poor policy implementation and lack of proper planning. To some extent this is true, however the way our world eco-system is changing and affecting different regions, including South Asia, is another reason that is increasing our problems manifolds. One of the challenges our country will face in the coming two to three decades will be a severe food crisis. Food production majorly depends upon availability of water and a suitable environment. According to a study by the Water and Power Development Authority, water resources in the country have declined alarmingly as our population continues to increase in past decade. We must recall the severe drought in 1999-2000, which significantly changed the underground water table. UNDP, in one of its findings say that fresh water availability per person in Pakistan has declined to 20 percent of what of what was available 50 years before. We have one of the best irrigation systems in Pakistan, connecting five rivers with a well-distributed canal system that irrigates our agricultural lands. However, with the passage of time our rivers have started drying up. Pakistan receives about 59 percent of rainwater from the monsoon season. However, changes in the earth’s ecosystem due to global warming are shifting the monsoon season from this region. We can now clearly observe that rain in Pakistan is not on time. Crop production, according to the metrological department, have increased in recent years, however in the long term, production will go down as water shortage will ultimately affect food production. We have already observed that massive floods during the past two years destroyed crops over millions of acres of land. Water shortage in the long term, together with heavy downpours and massive flooding that may occur in the coming years will continue to destroy our food production capacity. Further scientific evidence proves that changes in the earth ecosystem will trigger heavy downpours and long term drought simultaneously. This will pose challenges to our food production. According to the earth hydrological cycle, evaporation causes rain which causes water to go back into the sea, and the cycle continues. Due to global environmental pollution, mainly the burning of fossil fuels, the average temperature of the ocean is also increasing. As the temperature increases, the oceans evaporate more moisture into the sky. Science proves that warmer air can hold a lot of more water vapor, and with each additional degree of temperature, the capacity of the atmosphere to hold water vapor increases by 7 percent. During the last 30 years, water vapors over the oceans have already increased by 4 percent. That’s why rainstorms are now getting bigger, more intense and causing floods. As the global temperature continues to increase, the earth water cycle gets intensified and there become longer intervals in drought stricken areas between downpours. Water evaporates from the soil more rapidly and makes droughts deeper. Scientists believe that the two massive floods of Pakistan correlate with the impacts of global warming. Similarly, future trends of water shortage and increasing droughts in many regions, including South Asia will further impact our food production leading to an additional price hike. Recent studies from UNICEF should alarm our government where people in Sindh are suffering from high malnutrition that is beyond the emergency level and in an even worst situation from many areas in Africa. If our government does not take appropriate adaptation measures and treat this crisis as an emergency, we will be on our way to severe food shortage all over Pakistan.
In which Scrabble dictionary does PHYLLODES exist? Definitions of PHYLLODES in dictionaries: - noun - an expanded petiole taking on the function of a leaf blade noun - a flattened petiole that serves as a leaf There are 9 letters in PHYLLODES: D E H L L O P S Y All anagrams that could be made from letters of word PHYLLODES plus a Scrabble words that can be created with letters from word PHYLLODES 9 letter words 8 letter words 7 letter words 6 letter words 5 letter words 4 letter words 3 letter words 2 letter words Images for PHYLLODESLoading... SCRABBLE is the registered trademark of Hasbro and J.W. Spear & Sons Limited. Our scrabble word finder and scrabble cheat word builder is not associated with the Scrabble brand - we merely provide help for players of the official Scrabble game. All intellectual property rights to the game are owned by respective owners in the U.S.A and Canada and the rest of the world. Anagrammer.com is not affiliated with Scrabble. This site is an educational tool and resource for Scrabble & Words With Friends players.
occur in patches across several Southwest states, wherever conditions of temperature, drainage and rainfall are suitable. Apart from Joshua Tree National Park , the plant is quite common across all the Mojave Desert and hence occurs in parts of south Nevada, extreme southwest Utah and northwest Arizona, favoring elevations between 3,000 and 4,000 feet. The trees grow strongly, for example, along US 93 between Kingman and Wickenburg in Arizona; this road is known as the Joshua Forest Parkway and seems to have even more Joshuas than the national park, intermingled with that other distinctive symbol of the Southwest, the saguaro. Two other prime locations, both in Arizona, are the Beaver Dam Mountains Wilderness and Grapevine Mesa , around the road to Pearce Ferry near Lake Mead, where particularly dense forests of old trees stretch for many miles. North of the national park, the Mojave National Preserve also contains vast Joshua plantations, especially the region north and west of Cima. One less well known location is Saddleback Butte State Park , between Palmdale and Victorville. The Joshua tree is actually a species of yucca (Yucca Brevifolia ), that can reach a height of 50 feet and is believed to live for up to 1,000 years although they are difficult to date accurately - as they are not proper trees, there are no annual growth rings. A large cluster of white or greenish flowers can appear at the end of each stem from March to May, but this requires just the right combination of springtime temperature and moisture, and several years may pass without a major blooming. Plants start to form the familiar branched appearance when they are 6 to 10 feet tall and several decades old, with new stems forming only after a flowering. The tree was first named by Mormon pioneers in the nineteenth century, who thought that the upturned branches resembled the arms of the prophet Joshua, pointing the way to the promised land. Yucca brevifolia - more details Joshua Tree Distribution Map
Sound like last week’s news? No, this is not about U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul, the Magnitsky Act, President Vladimir Putin, ‘color revolutions’ and US-Russian relations in 2012. It is 1832. It is US Ambassador James Buchanan trying to negotiate the United States’ first free trade treaty with Russia, under Czar Nicholas I. My trip back 180 years started on Thanksgiving, a family day in the United States. On Thursday, I gave the family tree a good shake. Down tumbled Buchanan, a family ancestor who became the 15th president of the United States. My paternal grandmother was the granddaughter of Edward Buchanan, a younger brother of the President. Ok, that’s a bit tenuous. It might get me a free cup of coffee the next time I stop by the James Buchanan Pub and Restaurant on North Main Street in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. My father had a few books around the house signed by Buchanan. Unfortunately, his is not a hot presidential autograph. American historians routinely rank Buchanan as one the five worst presidents of the United States. In the last two months of his Presidency, seven southern states seceded and formed the Confederate States of America. On March 4, 1861, President Buchanan handed over power to president-elect Abraham Lincoln. Five weeks later, the opening shots were fired in the Civil War, the bloodiest war in American history. Complicating the ancestor claim is the fact that Buchanan never had any children. Through the 1970s, history books diplomatically referred to him as America’s only bachelor president. Now, he is more often referred to as America’s only gay president. Before he became president, Buchanan shared a house in Washington for 15 years with Alabama Senator William R. King. President Andrew Jackson, an army general who fathered 10 children, lampooned Buchanan and his Washington housemate as “Miss Nancy” and “Aunt Fancy.” Historians differ on why Jackson dispatched Buchanan, then a former Congressman, to St. Petersburg. Some say it was a reward, some say it was a punishment for a political slight. It is known that in January 1832, days after the Senate ratified his posting to Russia, Buchanan wrote a letter to an influential friend in Washington, hinting that “London would be a pleasant exchange for St. Petersburg.” But his destination was to be Russia. Relations between US and Russia have changed – and have not changed, if one is to judge by old letters and a 1962 book, “President James Buchanan: A Biography” by Philip Shriver Klein. Transport and communications have changed, but a values trench still separates Russia and the United States. The transatlantic sail from New York to Liverpool took 25 days. Buchanan wrote home that he was seasick almost the entire way. In Liverpool, he was met by a Mr. Ogden, the American consul. According to Klein, Ogden warned the neophyte ambassador “of the need for security in diplomatic activity, and gave him a special cipher” to code his letters. Happy to see the world at Washington’s expense, Buchanan visited London and eight other British cities. He took his first ride on a railroad, traveling from Liverpool to Manchester at the giddy speed of 30 kilometers an hour. Finally, he set sail for Lubeck, Germany and on to St. Petersburg. In St. Petersburg, he found an American legation that, in these days before the international telegraph, had not received mail from Washington in one year. He raised their spirits by renting a large mansion at “Grand Neva 65.” The villa was furnished with bronzes and marbles and the pantry had enough silver, porcelain and crystal for dinner parties of 30. On June 11, two months after leaving New York, Buchanan presented his credentials to Czar Nicholas I. Klein writes: “The monarch rather surprised the new envoy by coming forward, shaking hands with warmth and cordiality, and wishing him a happy stay in the city.” The Czar’s wife, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, proved to be very talkative, repeatedly stressing one point: “She thought the Americans were wise to keep out of European troubles, because they had enough of their own at home, especially with the Southern states.” This sounds like advice Russia’s Foreign Ministry could have offered yesterday. At the palace reception, Buchanan did not argue with the Empress. He said his mission was to negotiate the first trade treaty between the United States and Russia. While getting acclimated to Russia, Buchanan studied French, then the language of diplomacy and of Russia’s upper class. Buchanan had grown up in Pennsylvania, a state where the second, unofficial language was German. “What a dunce I was not to have learned the German language!” he lamented in a letter to a friend back home. “It would have been almost as useful here as the French. I now understand the latter tolerably well, but it will be long before I shall speak it fluently.” German would have been useful in 1830s St. Petersburg. Not only was the Empress a Prussian princess by birth, but the Ambassador’s key interlocutors on the trade treaty were four Baltic Germans working for the Czar: Count Nesselrode, Russia’s foreign minister; Baron Von Stieglitz, banker to the Czar; and Barons Krudener and Sacken, who served successively as Russia’s ambassadors to Washington. To an American born in a log cabin, Buchanan wrote Russia’s titles and aristocratic pomp grated on “the Republican simplicity of my country.” He wrote that if the folks back home in Lancaster could see his coach with four horses, “I would soon have a mob of men, women and children in my train.” “What is most ridiculous of all is the Chasseur, who stands behind me,” he wrote in a letter. “He is decked out in his uniform more gaudy than that of our Militia Generals, with a sword by his side & and a large chapeau on his head, surmounted by a plume of feathers.” Noting that passersby were supposed to doff their hats as his coach passed, he wrote: “I feel ashamed of myself whenever I pass through the city.” In his letters, Buchanan also had some undiplomatic remarks about Russian food and drink. “The Russian employed the best French cooks,” he wrote. “But usually ate a sour soup that would have repulsed a Delaware Indian.” Here he probably refers not to borscht with sour cream, but to shchi – a vegetable soup based on cabbage or sauerkraut. “Russian ladies were of high caliber, beautiful and educated,” Klein wrote. But Buchanan apparently preferred what he called ‘stag parties.’ Writing 180 years before St. Petersburg’s City Council passed a law banning “gay propaganda,” Buchanan apparently followed local tradition by keeping things discreet. But, in general, Buchanan wrote of St. Petersburg aristocracy: “Too quiet for me!” In contrast, the American envoy found Russia’s ‘lower classes’ were more convivial and drank “a species of white brandy strong enough to kill the Devil.” Presumably, he was talking about vodka, a spirit largely unknown to Americans for another century. The Ambassador felt free to be undiplomatic in his outgoing letters, because he personally handed them to American ship captains sailing out of St. Petersburg. But, he repeatedly warned friends to be careful in their letters to him. “When you write, do not say anything which would be offensive to the Government,” he once wrote. “They are not very delicate about opening letters here.” One day his secretary, Captain Barry, rushed to the ambassador, saying he had just seen a Russian servant of the legation going through official papers. Buchanan later wrote that it was no surprise to him. Klein, his biographer, wrote: “He had known, before he ever got to St. Petersburg, that there was no security of information in Russia, and he made it a point never to put in writing anything that could give offense or disclose a secret. In practically every document he wrote official and private, he included some comments highly complimentary to the Emperor.” Instead, Buchanan focused on his mission — negotiating the trade treaty. American unrefined sugar would be traded for Russian hemp, iron and sail cloth. Just the way Russian and American businessmen today lobby Congress to grant preferential trade status to Russia, Buchanan enlisted the help of von Stieglitz, the Czar’s banker, who maintained a large trading office in New York. A separate maritime treaty failed. Russian shipping companies feared that their seamen would jump ship in American ports, leaving their ships stranded. In behind the scenes court intrigue, Russia’s Ministers of Finance and Interior nearly persuaded Czar Nicholas I to scrap the trade treaty with Washington. In a last minute move, an aide to the Russian foreign minister went to the American legation and coached the ambassador changing the language to win the Czar’s approval. (Only one year ago, American diplomats were coaching their Russian counterparts prepare their ultimately successful application to join the World Trade Organization.) On Dec. 18, 1832, at a court reception for foreign ambassadors, Czar Nicholas announced that he had approved the trade treaty with the United States. The treaty, which awarded each nation “most favored nation” trading status, was believe to the first that Russia signed with a foreign power. In a snub to the British, the Czar then turned to the British ambassador, a Mr. Bligh, and ordered him to translate his remarks for the linguistically challenged American ambassador. With Czarist approval coming just before Christmas, Buchanan suddenly became the popular man about St. Petersburg. He was invited to the best winter season balls. The Emperor would stop him on a snowy street and loudly address him as “Buchanan.” The Empress praised him as fine dance partner. It took a while for Buchanan to realize why he was the flavor of the season. The British and French had come to an agreement over Belgium and were moving toward an entente. The Russians were hedging their bets, cultivating United States. Fueling tensions, British and French newspapers were filled with reports of Russian atrocities in the Czar’s repression of the Polish uprising of November 1830. Buchanan had avoided taking sides in the Polish conflict, ducking any statement that today would be called advocating “human rights.” But the Czar saw a hidden American hand at work in restive Poland. “America was its home, American was its spokesman,” Klein writes of the Czar’s view of Poland’s ‘color revolution’ of the early 1830s. “If America saw mitigating factors, it would moderate the frenzy of European revolutionaries on the subject.” Foreign Minister Nesselrode complained to Buchanan that The Washington Globe, a newspaper that backed President Jackson, “had been reprinting from the French and English journals some of the worst attacks against the Emperor.” Klein summarized: “Would Buchanan not write to Jackson and request to him to have the editor of the Globe stop printing this kind of material and to direct him to publish some compliments about the Emperor?” Buchanan tried to explain that the U.S. Constitution guarantees an independent press, ruling out the possibility that presidents would order newspaper editors to print articles. Perhaps Buchanan suspected that President Jackson, a tough, two term president nicknamed “Old Hickory,” was not likely take advice from a man he had dispatched as far from Washington as possible. Why not, Buchanan suggested, have Russian newspapers print rebuttals to British and French stories? Then, translations of these can be supplied to American newspapers to give Americans the Russian side of the Polish question. Buchanan apparently thought this pioneering foray into international public relations was successful. But back in Washington, the Russian Ambassador was now Baron Sacken, an elderly, ill-tempered Baltic German who had commanded Russian troops in Poland. Sacken accused President Jackson of hypocrisy: “He claimed friendship for Russia in his messages to Congress, but encouraged the Globe to print articles abusive of the Emperor.” At the time, Buchanan knew what Washington and the State Department were thinking – weeks after his Russian counterparts. Buchanan later complained that he never received a letter in St. Petersburg that had not been opened by the Russian police. “The letters have been sent to me either almost open, or with such awkward imitation of the seals as to excite merriment,” he complained in a letter to the State Department. What did get through to the State Department were his appeals to be relieved of his post before the onset of winter. While waiting for a response, he did some tourism in June of 1833, visiting Moscow and the Sergiyev Posad, the 16th century monastery outside of Moscow. On his return, he found that Washington has granted his wish. On August 5, he had his last audience with Czar Nicholas I. By then, the U.S. Senate had ratified the Russia-US trade treaty. The U.S. ambassador was back in the good graces of Czar Nicholas I. “Whilst we were taking leave, he told me to tell General Jackson to send another Minister exactly like myself – he wished for no better,” Buchanan wrote proudly of their last meeting, at Peterhof, the summer palace on the Gulf of Finland. “Thus has my mission terminated.” Then, with no one in Washington to check his expense accounts, Buchanan turned his trip home into a leisurely four-month Grand Tour of Europe, paid for by US taxpayers. After sailing from St. Petersburg to Lubeck, Germany, he visited Hamburg, Amsterdam, the Hague, Brussels, Paris, London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast, Dublin, and Liverpool. The stop in Paris included a meeting with the Marquis de Lafayette, the hero of the American Revolutionary War, then in the last year of his life. By December, he was back in Pennsylvania, preparing to run for the US Senate. After 12 years in the Senate, he served as Secretary of State, then as ambassador to Great Britain. During his term as President, he seemed to have carried with him the advice given him one quarter century earlier in St. Petersburg by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. He avoided European entanglements, focusing instead on such bizarre ideas as purchasing Cuba from the Spanish and turning Mexico into a protectorate. It is too bad he failed to act on the second part of her advice: Take care of problems at home, “especially with the Southern states.” For the next chapter, go watch Steven Spielberg’s new hit movie “Lincoln.”
One day, our Lord Jesus Christ came ashore in the country of the Gergesenes. As He passed a by a graveyard, two men came out from between the tombs. These men had demons that made them act mean, and people usually could not pass there. When the men saw Jesus, they said, “What do you want to do with us, Son of God? Are you going to tease or hurt us?” Nearby, a big herd of pigs was feeding on a hill. The demons in the men begged Jesus, “If you make us leave these men, let us go into the herd of pigs.” Jesus just said, “Go!” and the demons left the men. They went into the pigs. Then the whole herd of pigs ran down the steep hill and into the sea. All the pigs in the herd died. The people who had been watching over the herd ran away. They went into the city and told all about what had just happened to the men. The whole city came out to meet Jesus! 1. Where were the men when Jesus came by? 2. How did the men act? Would you have wanted to live near them? 3. What was on a hill nearby? What happened to them? 4. Who told the people of the city what had happened? What did the people of the city do? 5. This Gospel shows us how strong God is! With only one word, “Go!” even the demons obeyed Jesus. He healed two men and helped many others learn about Him. 6. If you are ever in a situation that seems too hard for you, remember this Gospel. Then pray and ask our Lord Jesus to help you as He helped the men in this Gospel. He can!
Recently we received an inquiry about maintaining flower beds. The homeowner had finally gotten control over her unruly yard by putting down landscape fabric and gravel mulch in all her flower beds. Weeding took 5 minutes, so that’s a win, right? Unfortunately, these are short term solutions that will result in long-term problems. Nature helps us understand. On a forest floor, dead plant materials decompose and this compost is naturally churned back into the soil by insects and animals. This cycle keeps the soil healthy and plants thriving. Landscape fabric prevents composted mulch from being reincorporated, greatly reducing the fertility of the soil. A garden we recently renovated had 7 layers of landscape fabric. What was revealed below all those layers was a sticky clay that desperately needed an infusion of organic material. No wonder the plantings were stunted. Double shredded hardwood mulch will decompose into a lovely compost, which we’ve all seen weed seeds flourish in. Hence our homeowner’s decision to use rock as mulch. No germination going on there! The seeds are fried by the sun and the lack of water. Unfortunately, this will also affect the plants she wanted to maintain. Because an organic mulch contains water, it helps even out the extremes of winter and summer. It acts as a temperature buffer, keeping roots warmer in winter and cooler in summer. It also keeps the plants hydrated during periods of drought. So how to deal with the weeds that flourish in an organic mulch? Here are a couple suggestions: - If the bed is completely overrun, consider starting from scratch. This can be accomplished by using black plastic or herbicides to kill all the plants, then amend the soil with a high quality compost (not manure, which will contain viable weed seeds.) It’s important to purchase mulch, compost and plants from sources that are not contaminated with diseases or weeds. - If you’ve used landscape fabric, pull it all up before amending the soil with compost around the plants you want to keep. Using preemergent herbicide (like Preen) in the early spring, and then periodically over the year. - Mowing frequently will reduce the number of blooming weeds nearby. Using an edger machine on your flower beds will prevent grass from creeping in. - Ultimately, some weeding will be required. Consider reducing the size of your garden and using an English style planting to help squeeze out weeds. One well-tended bed will have far more visual impact than a yard full of untidy plantings. Local nursery we recommend? Check out Windmill Heights in Culpeper, owned by fellow VT horticulture graduate Paul Hutcheson. Their website is http://www.windmillheights.com. Need professional landscape design and construction? Reach one of our Landscape Architects at 540-825-7570.
Why does the Communist Manifesto still terrify the rich today, which revolution was relevant for Marx what is meant by exploitation? Five short films explore the themes of alienation, communism, revolution, exploitation and the future with machinery. Berlin, 1836. At Marx’s place of study, Mason focuses on what Marx really meant by alienation. It does not only mean the state of being alienated from ourselves and from others, but also that the things we produce rule over us, rather than the other way around. London, 1847. How and where did the Communist Manifesto come about? Learn more about the work that terrifies the rich and powerful now as much as then. Paris, 1848. Following the 1848 revolutions, Marx reflects on the lessons learned from these events, which are still highly relevant for struggles today. Manchester. Mason explores the question of how the rich actually become rich. He focuses on the issues of labour, technology, and the theft of alien labour time. Man vs. machine? In this episode, you can learn more about the significance of machines not only for capitalism, but for potentially overcoming it. #Marxism (external link, opens in a new window)#communism (external link, opens in a new window)#ClassStruggle (external link, opens in a new window) * These fields are required Please select all cookies so you can experience L!NX at its best! We deploy our video and audio content via Youtube and Soundcloud! Allow our cookies if you want to see the full content! Cookie declaration
The Importance of Cybersecurity Training Cybersecurity is a critical aspect of our modern world, as threats to our personal and professional information continue to evolve. In order to protect ourselves and our organizations from cyber attacks, it is crucial to have proper cybersecurity training. Cybersecurity training equips individuals with the knowledge and skills necessary to identify, prevent, and respond to cyber threats. Online Cybersecurity Courses The internet has made education more accessible than ever, including cybersecurity training. Online cybersecurity courses provide individuals with the flexibility to learn at their own pace and from the comfort of their own homes. These courses cover a wide range of cybersecurity topics, from the fundamentals of cybersecurity to more advanced concepts like network security and ethical hacking. One popular online cybersecurity training platform is Cybrary. Cybrary offers a variety of free and paid courses taught by industry professionals. Their courses cover topics such as digital forensics, malware analysis, and cloud security. By taking online cybersecurity courses, individuals can gain the knowledge and skills necessary to pursue a career in cybersecurity or enhance their existing skills. In addition to online courses, cybersecurity certifications are an excellent way to demonstrate proficiency in the field. Certifications validate an individual’s knowledge and skills, making them more marketable to employers. Some of the most popular cybersecurity certifications include: These certifications cover a wide range of cybersecurity topics and are recognized globally. They require individuals to pass an exam that assesses their knowledge and skills in various areas of cybersecurity. By obtaining cybersecurity certifications, individuals can demonstrate their expertise and increase their job prospects in the cybersecurity industry. University Degree Programs in Cybersecurity For individuals looking for a more comprehensive education in cybersecurity, pursuing a university degree program is an excellent option. Many universities offer bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in cybersecurity, providing students with a deep understanding of the field. These degree programs cover a wide range of cybersecurity topics, including network security, cryptography, and incident response. Students also have the opportunity to gain practical experience through internships and capstone projects, further enhancing their skills and knowledge. Cybersecurity bootcamps are intensive training programs that aim to quickly equip individuals with the skills necessary to enter the cybersecurity industry. These programs are ideal for individuals who want to transition into a cybersecurity career quickly. Most cybersecurity bootcamps cover topics such as network security, ethical hacking, and vulnerability assessment. They typically last for a few weeks or months and provide hands-on experience through labs and real-world simulations. Cybersecurity bootcamps are a great option for individuals who want to gain practical cybersecurity skills in a short amount of time. Cybersecurity training and education options are diverse and cater to individuals with various goals and backgrounds. Whether you prefer online courses, certifications, university degree programs, or bootcamps, there is an option available for you. By investing in cybersecurity training and education, you can enhance your skills, increase your job prospects, and contribute to a safer digital world. Visit this thoughtfully chosen external source to expand your understanding of the topic. In it, you’ll find valuable information and additional details to enrich your reading experience. Check out this additional page, don’t miss out! Dive deeper into the related links we’ve prepared to enrich your research:
Hatshepsut was a female pharaoh of Egypt. She reigned between 1473 and 1458 B.C. Her name means “foremost of noblewomen.” Her rule was relatively peaceful and she was able to launch a building program that would see the construction of a great temple at Deir el-Bahari at Luxor. During the early 15th century BC, Ancient Egypt began its third and final golden age after Pharaoh Ahmose the First, founder of the New Kingdom period, drove out the Hyksos invaders. Ahmose’s great-granddaughter, Pharaoh Hatshepsut, contributed greatly to this age of prosperity by expanding the empire’s trade routes and constructing one of ancient Egypt’s greatest architectural wonders. Despite her gender, Hatshepsut managed to become one of the most successful pharaohs in all of ancient Egyptian history! Hatshepsut- The Greatest Female Pharaoh
The report, by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said more than 785,000 children are severely malnourished in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda due to a dry spell in the region. "Drought also exacerbates the risk of infectious diseases such as cholera, typhoid fever, diarrhea, acute respiratory infections and measles," OCHA said in the report. The UN agency said many of the areas impacted by drought across the region have also been affected by internal violence and conflict. Escalating food insecurity is also likely to further heighten risks for women and girls, who will have to travel longer distances to reach clean water and food. OCHA warned that the number of food insecure people is expected to rise in the months ahead as a result of consecutive poor seasons that have destroyed livelihoods and eroded the ability of communities to cope with. According to the UN, rainfall between March and mid-May was less than 50 percent of the annual average across the Horn of Africa.
\|Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt\| \|Date of birth\|\|unknown\| \|Place of birth\|\|spawned from the earth\| \|Date of death\|\|N/A\| \|Place of death\|\|N/A\| \|Vice President\|\|William Howard "Taft Punk"\| \|Term of office\|\|1901–1909\| \|Preceded by\|\|William McKinley\| \|Succeeded by\|\|William Howard "Taft Punk"\| Theodore "Teddy" "Bull Moose" Roosevelt was a folklore hero of North American tradition. One of the most popular mythological figures of the United States, he is usually described as a giant, and is often accompanied in stories by his walrus companion, William Howard Taft. The character of Theodore Roosevelt was invented in the late 19th century by sensationalist journalist William Randolph Hearst. He originated as a fictional American war hero whose imaginary deeds bolstered civilian support during the Spanish-American war. However, most Americans eventually became convinced that Roosevelt was a real person and elected him to the presidency in 1901. Surprisingly, his fictional tenure as president has been celebrated as one of the most successful in American history. In the 1930's, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was able to win the presidency based on the false premise that he was Teddy's distant cousin. Roosevelt was a big fat man with round glasses, sweaty hands and bad breath. His obsesity absorbed a whole round of gunfire aimed at him by an assassin when he tried to get re-elected as a Bull Moose in the 1912 US Presidential election. Roosevelt's survival led the development of the Bullet Proof Vest. According to legend, Roosevelt was conceived when Daniel Boone fornicated with a Valkyrie. Before he was delivered, a lightning bolt shot out of his mother's birth canal, heralding his arrival on Earth. At the age of seven months, Roosevelt ran away from home and settled on a range in the badlands of North Dakota, despite lacking the ability to walk. He lived there as a cowboy and deputy sheriff of a nearby boomtown for several years. On one occasion, when several bandits attempted to steal his riverboat, Roosevelt swam upstream and overturned their boat singlehandedly, setting the world record in the 1500m freestyle in the process. Roosevelt also famously defeated Mount Rushmore in a staring contest. The mountain was so intimidated by Roosevelt's piercing glare that his visage remains seared into the rock to this day. Roosevelt emerged from his self imposed solitude at the start of the Spanish American War, when he led a mercenary cavalry force of cowboys to Cuba. The regiment originally named themselves "The Fuckers-Up of Shit", but this title proved too offensive for the delicate taste of American newspapers and their named was shortened to "The Rough Riders". In May of 1898, the twelve companies of the Rough Riders gathered in Tampa, Florida where they would set sail for Cuba. However, only eight of the twelve companies ended up embarking on the journey, for Roosevelt's massive steel balls threatened to sink the ship. When they arrived on the shores of Cuba, the cavalry came across a talking walrus named William Howard Taft. Teddy was amused by the walrus's wacky hijinks and decided to appoint Taft as his second in command. The Rough Riders, now led by Roosevelt and Taft, fought the Spaniards at the battle of San Juan and won a decisive victory in what would end up as the most celebrated battle of the war. According to myth, the Riders won the battle without taking a single life, for the Spanish fled upon smelling Taft's noisome body odor. Upon returning to the U.S., Roosevelt won the presidency in a landslide victory with Taft running as his zany sidekick/vice president. Roosevelt appointed Bill Murray Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd to his Cabinet, and began a policy of trustbusting. In the 1890's, the United States was haunted by evil trusts that threatened to eliminate competition in the free market. Roosevelt and company named themselves the Trustbusters, donned silly looking weapons, gave themselves a catchy theme song, and set off to confine the trusts within their containment units (i.e. the U.S. government). They found success in defeating trusts, but before each one was vanquished, it prophesied about a much larger cartel known only as "Wal-Mart" that would put an end to the free market as we know it. Despite their success, the Trustbusters were forced to disband after Bill Murray left to make quirky indie flicks with Wes Anderson, and Dan Aykroyd left to direct "Nothing But Trouble" and sprouted a second penis on his nose. Roosevelt's presidency was also marked by what is known as "Big Stick ideology". This phrase derives from one of Roosevelt's favorite sayings: "Speak softly and carry a big stick, and you will go far," a term he attributed to a West African proverb. However, Roosevelt was less fond of "speaking softly" and more fond of "carrying a big stick" or, more accurately, "beating the shit out of things with a big stick". In the proud tradition of Andrew Jackson, Roosevelt enjoyed bludgeoning his enemies with an old hickory cane that he affectionately named "Denzel". Roosevelt famously applied his big stick during the construction of the Panama Canal. The Roosevelt administration wanted to build a canal across Central America that connected the Pacific Ocean with the Caribbean Sea, mostly so that Taft could have easier access to his walrus brethren on either side of the country. When the company in charge threatened to raise the price of the canal's construction, Roosevelt walked to Panama, struck the ground with his big stick, and singlehandedly created the canal. Riding with the rough men on horses, bellicose imperialism, teddy bears (patent lapsed), teddy nightwear, Teddy Boys...the legend is indeed long.
a day in the life later on the modern day man in Words: 1040 \| Published: 12.04.19 \| Views: 445 \| Download now In Ian McEwans Saturday, the protagonist Holly Perowne is given the task of representing the trials to be a contemporary guy. However , this individual seems to be more than just an average contemporary man. McEwan gives Henry the characteristics of the somewhat excellent man, somebody who society in a post-terrorism community may try to be like. These actions generate it seem to be as if McEwan is publishing Henry as a response to the war-driven universe. McEwan does this by making Henry neutral with regards to situations exactly where violence can be seen as acceptable. The image of the future man is definitely increased by simply Henrys bad viewpoint on old sights and great outlook at artefacts of the future. Initial, Henry has got the characteristics of the man who will be against speedy action in the form of violence. His thoughts on the first reaction of the earth responding to terrorism with conflict are given early, where he thinks to him self that the “ideawas all an aberration, that the world would surely calm downthat solutions were possible, that cause [was a] powerful tool”(McEwan 30). In this article, Henry describes his first thoughts surrounding how terrorism was to end up being handled, through reason rather than war. This individual seems to be persuasive himself which the rest of the world thinks just like he really does. This, juxtaposed with the anti-war protest in Saturday offers Henry the of a representative of a group of future-thinking individuals. Additionally , the relationship between these like Holly, who will be against violence, and the war-prone remainder of society is usually shown figuratively, metaphorically through Holly meeting with Baxter after their minor car accident. A metaphorical relationship between character of Baxter and war can be unmistakable. He’s described as within the “sixties-style suit [with] rigidity in the cloth round the biceps”(McEwan 74) and in addition “[gave] an impression of fretful impatience, of destructive strength waiting to become released”(McEwan 74). Looking strongly, at the physical description, the clothing suggests that he represents a historical watch of war in contemporary society, the tightness of the cloth around the muscle implies a more violent previous and and weapons that contain intimidation above society, since it intimidates Henry who sees it quickly. His intolerant and destructive demeanour also contribute to this kind of vision of any representative of battle when compared to Henrys more realistic approach of “reason” about situations. Henrys rationality is evidently put when he mentions that “self-interested cultural organisms find it rational to become violent sometimes”(McEwan 74). This distinguishes Henry from the associated with society as this description of violence signifies the notion that what is rational is never reasonable. By stating this kind of, Henry shows that the easiest solution for one is usually not always great for the public. This description moves away from the standardized government-dictated society that the world is usually living in, which contributes to Henrys image of an upcoming man. Moreover, Holly applies his theories of violence when his family is being threatened by Baxter. During his initial face with this kind of forced circumstance, he “tries to see the space through [Baxters] eyes, as if that might support predict the level of trouble ahead”(McEwan 166). In spite of the opportunity of any counter-attack may be possible ” inches[Henry and Theo were] in a good situation to rush him”(McEwan 167) ” Henry still studies the situation and waits to find the best possible option. Again, McEwan seems to be activities directly on Britains response to terrorism in the story, whereas one party might resort to a counter-attack immediately after an breach as a kind of primitive payback, a more contemporary mentality on the other hand may be that “When anything can happen, every thing matters. “(166). If the home can be represented as a nation, then McEwan taking into account the well-being of of its citizens before any potentially rash action has taken place. Though Henry in the end resorts to “[flinging Baxter] down the stairs”(McEwan 183) this only happens when every other obtainable option had been exhausted, this is what separates him and the remaining anti-war populace from the rest of society, and what eventually makes him a future man. Furthermore, what backlinks Henry towards the future are his thoughts about the past. Specifically, of earlier fixations of man when compared to more modern sights. An example of this could be the comparison of young and old brains with regards to structures. Henry and Grammaticus have got a conversation where Grammaticus argues that the “[Post Office Tower system has] No elegance, no warmness. It would possess put fear in [Adams] heart. “(McEwan 159). In this article, Grammaticus provides buildings a spiritual quality, probably from caused by an era where the great was that higher buildings were considered religious ones, and that was their very own purpose, therefore the reference to “Adam”. Henrys description of the tower is pretty different: “Post Office Structure ” much less ugly nowadays with its aluminum entrance, green cladding and geometric many windows and ventilation grills”(McEwan 66). His description is usually more apathetic when it comes to personal emotion towards building, as if he appreciates its goal and perceives it since nothing more. This is further realized if the specific qualities he points out on the building tend to be more intended for functional uses rather than beauty. Therefore , Henrys belief of any function above form as being a positive credit to complexes reveals a much more realistic way forward for man, that beauty now and upcoming is seen in its ability to offer as much work as possible instead of focus more on artsy qualities straight. General, Henry Perowne in Ian McEwans Sunday is described as a cutting-edge man. McEwan accomplishes this kind of by juxtaposing Henry with a anti-war demonstration and gives his the attributes of an individual who has recently seen the actual war will bring, someone who is more analytical in their actions, instead of quick to violence. This individual also does this by giving him a positive view on the beauty of function, rather than natural beauty for beautys sake.
Frank Morgan's Math Chat January 18, 2001 Old Challenge (Nathan Wright). In a sequence of random digits, what is the probability that the first two fives have exactly two digits in between them? Answer 8.1%, computed as the probability that the next digit is not a five (.9) times the probability that the next digit is not a five (.9) times the probability that the next digit is a five (.1), for a product of .9 x .9 x .1 = .081 = 8.1%. Al Zimmermann writes: "Having insomnia tonight, I wrote a program to verify this. I generated 1,000,000 sequences of random digits until each one had produced two fives. Here are the numbers of digits between the two fives: \|Number of non-5's\|\|Number of times\|\|Probability\| The program also calculated the average number of non-fives between the two fives. This came out to 9.003, which compares nicely to the theoretical value of which turns out to be exactly 9." Old Riddle (Cihan Altay). What is next in the sequence of hours of the day: 17:14, 12:01, 07:04 ? Answer. 02:06. On a digital clock 17 consists of 5 lighted segments (2 for the 1 and 3 for the 7), 14 consists of 6, 12 consists of 7, 01 consists of 8, 07 consists of 9, 04 consists of 10, 02 consists of 11, and 06 consists of 12. (When there are more than one possibility, use the numerically smallest.) New Challenge (Walter Wright). Consider the sequence: 3 1 2 1 3 2. It consists of a pair of 1's separated by one other number, a pair of 2's separated by two other numbers, and a pair of 3's separated by three other numbers. Can you find a similar sequence with a pair of 4's too? More? Send answers, comments, and new questions by email to Frank.Morgan@williams.edu, to be eligible for Flatland and other book awards. Winning answers will appear in the next Math Chat. Math Chat appears on the first and third Thursdays of each month. Prof. Morgan's homepage is at www.williams.edu/Mathematics/fmorgan. THE MATH CHAT BOOK, including a $1000 Math Chat Book QUEST, questions and answers, and a list of past challenge winners, is now available from the MAA (800-331-1622). Copyright 2001, Frank Morgan.
The new “Digital Districts: Web 2.0 and Collaborative Technologies in U.S. Schools” survey, conducted by Interactive Educational Systems Design (IESD) on behalf of Lightspeed Systems, netTrekker, and Atomic Learning, shows that the use of Web 2.0 is on the rise. Key findings include: ¦ Districts reported that 25% or more of teachers increased their use of Web 2.0 technologies across several categories. ¦ Most district respondents (65%) reported that very few or no teachers in their district used this technology. ¦ Across several Web 2.0 categories, the larger the district, the more likely respondents in that district were to report a positive attitude among their peers. ¦ Many districts are using or plan to use a variety of Web 2.0 applications for professional development, including posting content online (76%), use of online collaboration and communication tools (56%), and online professional development courses (49%). ¦ About half the respondents reported an increase in students’ familiarity with technology (53%) and in students’ desire to learn (48%) as a result of Web 2.0 use. ¦ Web 2.0 users cited an increase in student academic engagement (39%) and improvement in students’ collaboration skills (38%), but only 27% reported that incorporating Web 2.0 tools into the classroom had resulted in students’ using resources that were aligned to their individual learning needs.
Do you know about these ten most developed cities in India? Today we are going to list the top ten most developed cities in India. The estimated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and complete business sector estimation of goods and services produced in a city of a given time frame is the criterion of listing the cities. Must Read: Places to shop in Tamil Nadu The list of ten most developed cities in India goes like this: - Mumbai is the economic capital of India, capital of the state of Maharashtra and is the most developed city in India. The GDP of Mumbai is INR 12, 12,200 crores or USD 209 billion. - It is positioned number 29 in the world among the developed urban communities. Mumbai is India’s largest city (by population) and is the financial and commercial capital of India as it generates 6.16% of the total GDP. - It serves as an economic hub of India, contributing 10% of factory employment, 25% of industrial output, 33% of income tax collections, and 60% of customs duty collections. New Delhi, Capital of India: - Delhi is the second most developed city in India. Being the capital city of India, it is believed that various commercial ventures are likely to go there. - It is positioned number 37 in the world among the developed urban communities. This is the second richest city in India with a total wealth of US$ 450 billion. Delhi is also the home to 18 billionaires and 23,000 millionaires. - In terms of economy, it ranks 13th largest in India. Its nominal GSDP for 2017-2018 was estimated at INR 6.86 lakh crore or US$ 95 billion recording an annual growth of 8.1%. - This city is home to many big IT companies. It ranked first in India and 28th in the world in terms of foreign visitors in 2015. Kolkata (West Bengal): - Kolkata, before Independence, was the financial capital of India until 1911. As of January 2019, Kolkata is the capital of the state of West Bengal and is the third most developed city in India with GDP at 150 billion USD. - It is ranked 42 in the world among developed urban communities. - Kolkata is the commercial and financial hub of East and North-East India and centre of the Calcutta Stock Exchange. - Bengaluru or Bangalore is the IT hub of India, capital of the state of Karnataka and is ranked fourth in the list of developed cities in India. - Estimated Metro GDP of Bengaluru is approx. USD 110 billion and is positioned number 84 in the world among developed urban areas. - Hyderabad is another city which is growing rapidly to its IT foundation and gaining enough mileage out of it. IT fund generation in Hyderabad is one of the best in the nation. - The GDP of Hyderabad as of 2008 was US$ 60 billion and is the capital of the state of Telangana. Chennai (Tamil Nadu): - Chennai is another metro city in India and capital of the state of Tamil Nadu. It is another fastest growing city with a total GDP of USD 66 billion. - It is ranked 93rd among the most developed city according to GDP in the world. - Ahmedabad is among 10 fastest growing cities of India and capital of the state of Gujarat. Its value is based on adaptable assets. - Total GDP of Ahmedabad is 52 Billion USD. It is positioned at number 105 rank in the world’s most developed urban communities. - The industry agreeable climate of Pune has a suitable environment that helps in development. It is soon going to be the hub of mid-level IT Companies. - It has a total GDP of USD 48 billion. It is positioned number 108 in the most developed city in the world. Must Read: Best places to shop in Varanasi - Surat is another city from Gujarat and it is one of the fastest developing cities in the World. - It is well known for its material commercial ventures and diamond cutting businesses which is one of the greatest in the world. Therefore, it got its nickname the Diamond City of India. - GDP of Surat is USD 40 billion. It is positioned number 115 in the most developed city in the world. Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh): - Visakhapatnam is popular as one of the biggest ports in India. It is a significant spot for export and import which has helped the city to develop and it is the tenth most developed city in India. - Downright GDP of Visakhapatnam is USD 43.5 billion which put Visakhapatnam on 133rd rank in the world’s most developed city.
Differences in mammalian brain structure and genitalia linked to specific DNA regions in new study Humans are clearly different from chimpanzees. The question is, why? According to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine, it may boil down in part to what we don't have, rather than what we do. The loss of snippets of regulatory DNA, the scientists found, could be the reason why, for example, humans lack the penile spines found in many other mammals, and also why specific regions of our brains are larger than those of our closest relatives. Understanding these and other differences may help us learn what it means to be human. But it took the recent advent of whole-genome sequencing of several species and an open-minded, combined computational and experimental approach to reveal the particular two-steps-forward, one-step-back evolutionary dance that set us apart from other primates millions of years ago. "Rather than looking for species-specific differences in specific genes or genomic regions that exist in humans, we asked, 'Are there functional, highly conserved genetic elements in the chimpanzee genome that are completely missing in humans?'" said Gill Bejerano, PhD, assistant professor of developmental biology and of computer science. "We found several hundred locations that, as far as we could see, are absent in our species alone." Until now, many evolutionary geneticists focused on differences among genes, rather than the regulatory regions outside the genes. Losing small pieces of regulatory DNA, rather than the genes they control, means that the related changes are likely to be subtle: Although the location or the timing of the expression of the gene within the body may change, the gene product itself remains functional. The distinction leads to viable differences among individuals that can eventually lead to the development of new traits and species. "It's not only unusual, but also particularly interesting, to find these sequences missing in humans," said David Kingsley, PhD, professor of developmental biology. "These are the same type of molecular events that have been shown to produce evolutionary differences among other organisms." Other organisms like the three-spined stickleback fish, for instance. Kingsley's previous research focused on understanding how similar genetic changes over time have led to body modifications in the small fish that allow it to live in many very different environments. "In fish, we find that the loss of regulatory DNA has produced key evolutionary differences in body structures," Kingsley said. "The current study not only identifies an intriguing list of deletions in humans, but also links particular deletions with specific anatomical changes that are unique to the human lineage." Bejerano and Kingsley are co-senior authors of the research, which will be published March 10 in Nature. Three scientists share first authorship of the article: Cory McLean, a graduate student in Bejerano's laboratory; Alex Pollen, a graduate student in Kingsley's laboratory; and Philip Reno, PhD, a former postdoctoral scholar in Kingsley's laboratory now starting his own lab at Pennsylvania State University. The researchers compared the genomes of several species to identify 510 regions that are highly conserved among chimpanzees and other mammals but are missing in humans. (Only one of the regions contained a coding region of a gene, or the portion that is turned into proteins to do the cell's work.) They then used a software program developed in Bejerano's laboratory called GREAT (for genomic regions of enrichment of annotations tool) to see whether these regions preferentially occurred near certain types of genes. (GREAT is publicly available to researchers around the world at http://great.stanford.edu.) "We basically asked where evolution favored tweaking gene expression to get human-specific traits," said Bejerano. "We found two main categories of enrichment: genes involved in receptor signaling for steroid hormones like testosterone, and genes involved in neural development in the brain." "Most, but not all, of these regions are also missing in the Neanderthal genome," said Kingsley, "which indicates the deletion took place more than 500,000 years ago." The researchers found that one of the missing regions normally drives the expression of the androgen receptor in sensory whiskers and genitalia. Androgen is a sex hormone responsible for growth of sensory hairs, or vibrissae, and surface spines found on the penises of many mammals. The loss of these structures in humans decreases tactile sensitivity and increases the duration of intercourse in humans relative to other species. Another region was adjacent to a tumor suppressor gene that suppresses neural growth in a particular part of the brain. Loss of expression of this inhibitory gene could thus contribute to an expansion of neural production in humans and a larger brain. The resulting changes may have paved the way for monogamous pair-bonding and the complex social structure necessary to raise our species' relatively helpless infants, the scientists speculate. There are still many other human-specific deletions to investigate, say the scientists, who are encouraging their lab members to study the functions of other interesting regions. "Finding these sorts of human-specific changes is also a good motivator to look at other genomic events," said Bejerano. "Previous work in my lab has shown that many thousands of DNA regions are highly conserved among mammals, and almost never lost during evolution. Much of my lab is devoted to understanding what these regions do. Now we are starting to learn what can happen when they are lost." Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by the Stanford University Medical Center
BY DUANE ALLEN VACHON, PH.D. BY DUANE ALLEN VACHON, PH.D. Am going to take a break this week from honoring Hoosier Heroes, and indeed American Heroes. Much of my adult life was spent in Australia, more than was spent in Indiana. During my years in there I attended many dawn services and later in the day parades celebrating April 25th 1915. (I also learnt how to play a traditional Australian gambling game, two-up and drink Bundaberg Rum. That’s a whole another story!) That day like our Pearl Harbor day on December 7th 1941 became a day of infamy. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The soldiers in those forces quickly became known as Anzacs, and the pride they took in that name endures to this day. Anzac Day marks the anniversary of the first campaign that led to major casualties for Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. The acronym ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, whose soldiers were known as Anzacs. Anzac Day remains one of the most important national occasions of both Australia and New Zealand, a rare instance of two sovereign countries not only sharing the same remembrance day, but making reference to both countries in its name. When war broke out in 1914, Australia and New Zealand had been dominions of the British Empire for thirteen and seven years respective. Though the Gallipoli campaign failed to achieve its military objectives of capturing Constantinople and knocking the Ottoman Empire out of the war, the actions of the Australian and New Zealand troops during the campaign bequeathed an intangible but powerful legacy. The creation of what became known as an “Anzac legend” became an important part of the national identity in both countries. This has shaped the way their citizens have viewed both their past and their understanding of the present. Much may have been forgotten about those who won fame at Gallipoli but two locations there are still well known. One is Anzac Cove, the beach where most of the Anzacs landed on 25 April 1915. The other is Lone Pine where between 6 and 9 August 1915 there took place one of the most hard-fought actions in Australian military history – the Battle of Lone Pine. Australian casualties at Lone Pine amounted to over 2,000 men while the Turks estimated their losses at 6,930. When it was all over the dead lay thickly all around the position and the war diary of the 2nd Battalion AIF recorded that during the cleaning up process bodies were found in such a state of decomposition that men could only do the work by wearing gas masks. Charles Bean in his official history described Lone Pine as a battle of bombs and hand to hand fighting, ‘the heaviest of its kind in which Australian troops ever took part’. Something of the desperate nature of the struggle can be understood by the fact that seven Victoria Crosses were awarded to Australians for their courage at Lone Pine, five of them for actions on one day alone, 9 August 1915, an unprecedented event in Australian military history. Today, six of those Victoria Crosses are on display in a Lone Pine exhibition in the Australian War Memorial’s Hall of Valor. The Victoria Cross is the highest award for gallantry that a British and Commonwealth serviceman can achieve. The Victoria Cross is forever linked with acts of extreme bravery and the original document associated with the medal stated that it could only be awarded for “gallantry of the highest order. Since its inception, 1,357 Victoria Crosses have been awarded for outstanding acts of heroism. Sixteen VC winners are alive today. The bronze for the Victoria Cross came from a captured Chinese-made cannon used by the Russians at Sebastopol during the Crimean War. What is left of the metal is kept at the army base DSDC Donnington, in Telford, Shropshire. Today, there is only enough metal left for 80 more medals. The London jewelers Hancocks, based in the Burlington Arcade in London, make the medals. The bronze has always been unstable to work with as it has already been worked on when the cannon was made. Hancock’s have seven medals in storage but without the name and rank of the recipient and date on the back, they have no intrinsic value except their novelty. In World War Two, Hancock’s charged the armed forces the equivalent of $3.00 for a medal that today can fetch £200,000 at auction. The information in this article was sourced from a variety of sources both internal and external. Every effort was made to ensure that the information is current and correct. These articles are presented to honor the heroes they are written about. If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can read this in English, thank a veteran. Author: Duane Vachon Duane A. Vachon PhD has been a licensed clinical psychologist for over thirty years. He belongs to the order of Secular Franciscans and is a life member of the Guild of Pastoral Psychology. After living almost 40 years as an expatriate, he now writes from his home in Hawaii. He has several books published and has written hundreds of articles on social justice and spiritual issues. His Doctoral thesis on ethics has set the standard at many universities. Reach Dr. Vachon at firstname.lastname@example.org \| Experienced Administrator of the Myer-Briggs Test Serving all 50 States 10% discount for veterans Contact us on the web or by phone in Honolulu, HI, to take the Myer-Briggs Test and discuss the results with our experienced administrators.
Quick: When you think of inner-city poverty, urban blight, gang violence, and steep high school dropout rates among chronically unemployed minorities, what American cities come to mind? Los Angeles, New York, Detroit, Chicago, maybe Saint Louis? Yet recent studies show that smaller cities, particularly in the Northeast and Midwest, are plagued by the same problems—indeed, to a worse degree. Small-to-midsize older industrial cities didn’t experience the “comeback” secured via globalization and high-tech development that helped lift bigger metropolises out of the doldrums over the past two decades. Instead, these “forgotten cities” slid further into postindustrial malaise, with a massive influx of non-English-speaking poor seeking relief from high living expenses in larger metro areas. Saddled with fraying civic infrastructures, these places were ill equipped to prevent suburban flight or attract the young. Gerald Grant does not place Hope and Despair in the American City into this broader context explicitly. But his book is essential reading not only for his target audience of education reformers but for anyone concerned with the fate of smaller cities. An education and sociology professor at Syracuse University who’s spent most of his life in the central New York city, Grant begins by drawing a rich, personally informed historical portrait of his hometown’s perilous decline. Over the past four decades, the Syracuse metro area has lost 30 percent of its manufacturing jobs, and the city proper almost 40 percent of its population; by 2006, barely half the city’s ninth graders, now mainly poor and minority, graduated high school. At the center of Grant’s story is the foolhardy decision, replicated throughout the country in the ’60s, to “clear” the city’s predominantly black neighborhood to make way for a ghastly interstate running through the center of downtown. Federal “urban-renewal policy” (truly an Orwellian phrase) combined with redlining and restrictive racial covenants in outlying suburbs. The result was the doughnutlike metro geography we know all too well today: city centers filled with dislocated minorities, devoid of public resources, and surrounded by fluffy, affluent white suburbs. Today, it’s become a self-perpetuating dynamic driven not by white racism, Grant insists, but by unruly, increasingly low-performing urban public school systems. Raleigh, North Carolina, was headed down the same dreary path, Grant recounts—but in 1976, the city and Wake County school boards made the extraordinary decision to merge into one school district under the direction of the county. The winning rationale that brought business and civic leaders on board was articulated well before that decision, however, in a 1965 Vanderbilt University study concluding that the merger not only made good financial sense and would stabilize racial integration but also “would be a determining factor in the successful development of the Raleigh Wake County Community into a major . . . industrial urban complex.” The promise of the Wake County merger was not redeemed, however, until a decade ago, when county superintendent Bill McNeal urged the school board to commit the district to a 95 percent pass rate on state standardized tests. He had a lot to work with. The district had already achieved considerable integration through cross-county busing (thanks to post-Brown judicial pressure), which was made palatable by establishing many desirable magnet schools. McNeal further altered the system in three ways: He made socioeconomic status, rather than race, a main factor in school assignment; he shook up the “teaching culture” by giving teachers more autonomy while also expecting them to work together on teaching strategy, with the most gifted sharing knowledge with the most challenged; and he rushed resources to underperforming students and classrooms. McNeal staggered the program, implementing it in two five-year periods, first in the K–8 schools (1998–2003), then in the high schools (2003–2008), which were thus unable to blame failure on poor grammar school preparation. The results have been remarkable. Many schools attained the 95 percent test-pass target, and between 1994 and 2003, third graders’ pass figures on math and reading tests rose from 71 percent to 91 percent. For poor children, the math figures went from 55 to 80 during the first five-year period. Wake also retained good teachers, willing to educate their own kids in the school district, and attracted high-caliber teachers from across the nation. But the book’s real barn burner comes late. In the early 1970s, Detroit devised a metropolitan-desegregation plan similar to Raleigh’s, in which the city and its adjoining suburbs would be rendered into pie-shaped school districts. It was, of course, challenged, and Milliken v. Bradley went all the way to the Supreme Court, stacked with freshly minted Nixon appointees, in 1974. The court ruled the plan unconstitutional, since the predominantly white districts did not block black families’ access to their schools. Though few know it, we now live with a grand historical irony: Public schools in the South are far more integrated than most in the North, whose cities, especially the “forgotten” ones, have become ever more doughnutlike. When we consider the failures of busing, we think of the awful mid-’70s wars in Boston, which pitted urban working-poor communities against one another and asked nothing of affluent suburbanites. Grant’s fine book shows there’s another way, one keyed to restoring the educational center of metropolitan-wide economic development, if only we can summon the political will to do it. Catherine Tumber is the author of American Feminism and the Birth of New Age Spirituality: Searching for the Higher Self, 1875–1915 (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002).
In a world where every breath counts, õygen plays a pivotal role in sustaining life and powering various industries. This comprehensive article will delve into the fascinating world of õygen, exploring its significance, applications, and much more. Join us as we embark on this informative journey. The Essence of õygen Understanding the Fundamental Element In this section, we’ll unravel the basics of õygen, touching on its elemental properties and significance in the natural õygen in the Periodic Table Let’s start with the periodic table, where õygen is identified by its atomic number, 8. Its presence is ubiquitous, making up about 21% of the Earth’s atmosphere. Without õygen, life as we know it wouldn’t exist. Explore how this element is essential for respiration in humans, animals, and even some microorganisms. Production and Sources Learn about the natural sources of õygen, including plants and photosynthesis, as well as industrial methods of production. The Various Forms of õygen Beyond the Gas We Breathe Here, we’ll explore the different forms and states of õygen, going beyond the gaseous form we’re most familiar with. Discover the intriguing properties of liquid õygen and its applications in cryogenics and medicine. Uncover the less common solid form of õygen and its unique Applications of õygen Fueling Innovation Across Industries This section delves into the diverse applications of õygen across various sectors. Explore how õygen is a lifeline in healthcare, aiding in respiratory therapies, anesthesia, and wound healing. Discover its role in welding, metal cutting, and as a key component in the production of steel and glass. Learn about õygen’s vital role in maintaining ecosystems, including its significance in water purification. Find out how õygen is crucial for astronauts in space missions, providing a source of breathable air and rocket FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) Is õygen flammable? No, õygen is not flammable on its own. However, it supports combustion, making fires burn more intensely. Can you overdose on õygen? Yes, excessive õygen inhalation can lead to oxygen toxicity, causing lung and eye damage. How is medical õygen produced? Medical-grade õygen is typically produced through air separation techniques, followed by purification. Is õygen depletion a concern? Yes, õygen depletion in the atmosphere is a concern due to factors like deforestation and industrial emissions. What is hyperbaric õygen therapy? Hyperbaric õygen therapy involves breathing õygen at higher pressures to treat various medical conditions. How is õygen transported and stored? Liquid õygen is transported and stored at extremely low temperatures, while gaseous õygen is stored in cylinders In conclusion, õygen is not just a life-sustaining gas; it’s a versatile element with a multitude of applications. From healthcare to industry and beyond, its significance cannot be overstated. As we continue to unlock the potential of õygen, it remains a driving force behind innovation and TereBin: Unlocking the Magic of Music In the realm of music, some tunes transcend time and space, leaving an indelible mark on our hearts. #TereBin is one such musical treasure that has captured the essence of emotion through its harmonious melodies. Join us as we explore the depths of #TereBin, uncover its origins, and understand why it continues to resonate with music lovers worldwide. Table of Contents - The Origin of #TereBin - The Musical Brilliance of #TereBin - The Impact of #TereBin on Pop Culture - Why #TereBin Strikes a Chord with Listeners - The Power of Lyrics in #TereBin - #TereBin: A Journey Through Time - The Evolution of #TereBin - Exploring LSI Keywords in #TereBin - The Emotional Connection with #TereBin - How #TereBin Inspires Artists - The Global Reach of #TereBin - #TereBin in the Digital Age - Unraveling the Musical Composition of #TereBin - The Enduring Legacy of #TereBin - #TereBin: An Ode to Love and Longing - The Artistry Behind #TereBin’s Music Video - Creating Memories with #TereBin - #TereBin: A Playlist Essential - The Cultural Significance of #TereBin - Diving into #TereBin’s Fan Community - Connecting Through #TereBin - #TereBin’s Influence on Soundtracks - #TereBin: A Musical Masterpiece - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - Conclusion: Forever in Tune with #TereBin The Origin of #TereBin The journey of #TereBin began in the heart of India, where talented musicians fused traditional and modern influences to create The Musical Brilliance of #TereBin Explore the musical intricacies that make #TereBin a masterpiece, from its haunting melodies to its soul-stirring lyrics. The Impact of #TereBin on Pop Culture Discover how #TereBin has left an indelible mark on movies, television, and the global music scene. Why #TereBin Strikes a Chord with Listeners Uncover the emotional resonance that makes #TereBin a beloved favorite for music enthusiasts. The Power of Lyrics in #TereBin Delve into the lyrical genius of #TereBin, which captures the essence of love, longing, and nostalgia. #TereBin: A Journey Through Time Embark on a historical voyage to trace the evolution of #TereBin from its inception to the present day. The Evolution of #TereBin Witness how #TereBin has adapted and evolved over the years while retaining its timeless appeal. Exploring LSI Keywords in #TereBin Learn how #TereBin’s use of latent semantic indexing keywords enhances its online presence. The Emotional Connection with #TereBin Understand the profound emotional connection that listeners forge with How #TereBin Inspires Artists Discover how #TereBin has served as a wellspring of inspiration for musicians and creators worldwide. The Global Reach of #TereBin Explore how #TereBin has transcended borders and languages, captivating audiences around the world. #TereBin in the Digital Age Analyze the digital footprint of #TereBin and its online engagement with fans. Unraveling the Musical Composition of #TereBin Peek behind the musical curtain to understand the composition techniques that make #TereBin unforgettable. The Enduring Legacy of #TereBin Witness how #TereBin continues to influence music and culture, leaving an everlasting mark. #TereBin: An Ode to Love and Longing Experience the heart-wrenching tales of love and longing that The Artistry Behind #TereBin’s Music Video Explore the visual storytelling of #TereBin’s music video, which complements its music seamlessly. Creating Memories with #TereBin Share personal stories of how #TereBin has been a part of #TereBin: A Playlist Essential Learn why #TereBin is a must-have on every music playlist, regardless of genre preferences. The Cultural Significance of #TereBin Examine how #TereBin reflects the cultural diversity and richness of its place of origin. Diving into #TereBin’s Fan Community Get a glimpse into the passionate fanbase that has formed around Connecting Through #TereBin Discover how #TereBin serves as a unifying force, connecting people through shared love for its music. #TereBin’s Influence on Soundtracks Explore the influence of #TereBin on the world of film and television #TereBin: A Musical Masterpiece Unveil the factors that have elevated #TereBin to the status of a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) What is the origin of #TereBin? #TereBin originated in India, where it blended traditional and modern musical influences. Who are the masterminds behind #TereBin’s music? #TereBin’s music is the creation of exceptionally talented musicians who pour their hearts into every note. How has #TereBin impacted global music culture? #TereBin has left an indelible mark on music worldwide, influencing artists and resonating with diverse audiences. Why do listeners connect emotionally with #TereBin? Listeners connect with #TereBin because its music encapsulates universal themes of love, longing, and nostalgia. What is the enduring legacy of #TereBin? The legacy of #TereBin lives on through its continued influence on music and culture. How can I become part of the #TereBin fan community? You can join the passionate #TereBin fan community through social media and dedicated fan clubs. Q: What does #TereBin mean? A: #TereBin is a poetic phrase that signifies being without someone, often used to express feelings of solitude and longing. Q: Is #TereBin limited to a specific culture? A: No, #TereBin’s emotional resonance extends across cultures, making it a universally relatable concept. Q: How can I incorporate #TereBin into my creative work? A: You can infuse #TereBin into your art, music, or writing to convey deep emotions and introspection. Q: Are there famous songs or poems that feature #TereBin? A: Yes, many renowned songs and poems have beautifully incorporated #TereBin, celebrating its emotional depth. Q: Does #TereBin always have a melancholic connotation? A: While it often conveys longing and solitude, #TereBin can also be associated with moments of reflection and inner peace. Q: Can #TereBin be a source of inspiration? A: Absolutely, many artists draw inspiration from #TereBin’s emotional richness to create their masterpieces. Forever in Tune with #TereBin In the realm of music, few melodies can capture the heart and soul quite like #TereBin. Its rich history, emotional depth, and enduring legacy make it a timeless masterpiece that will continue to enchant generations to come. Health4 months ago Now Foods Prostate Health Support – 180 Softgels KSA: Comprehensive Review and Benefits Education3 weeks ago UTI Blackboard: Navigating the Future of Online Learning News4 months ago Bartlesville Radio News News4 months ago Exploring the Tennessee River Valley News: A Hub of News and Natural Beauty News3 months ago MSN Outlook Office Skype Bing Breaking News and Microsoft Ecosystem: Education3 months ago MDCAT2023: Your Ultimate Guide to Success Education3 months ago Reconduct MDCAT 2023: Your Ultimate Guide to Success Sports3 months ago All About Allod Sports
Researchers from the journal Science have concluded that elephants in European zoos have shorter lifespans than elephants living in protected areas in Africa. Specifically, they have calculated the median lifespan for a zoo-born African elephant to be 16.9 years as compared with 56.0 years in a protected park. Similarly, Asian elephants born in a zoo live 18.9 years as compared with 41.7 years. Researchers have also found that although survival rates have improved in recent years, mortality rates for elephants in zoos is still significantly higher. Causes of the shorter lifespans can be attributed to disease, infanticide, obesity, and stress. In the wild or in protected parks, elephants are able to roam vast distances with their herd. At zoos, space is more limited, thereby accounting for some issues like obesity and stress. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) has sharply criticized the study, noting that data was collected from only European zoos as opposed to North American zoos. Further, the AZA contends that the study is flawed because it does not take into account the many elephants who are killed by people in the wild. For more information: Boston Globe: Zoo elephants at far greater risk of premature death New York Times: Critical Report on Health of Zoo Elephants Is Debated Houston Chronicle: Elephants have shorter lives in zoos, researchers find For more information about African elephants and what you can do to help them, read Animal Fact Guide’s article: African Elephant.
You want to start guided math next year, but don’t know where to start? Let me do my best to share with you some tips to get you started. What is guided math? To me, guided math is teaching students in small groups. The small groups are organized by ability, so I am able to provide remediation/enrichment as needed. Centers are part of guided math. Math talk is encourage throughout the math block. This means that students are doing a lot of talking/thinking/explaining. Mistakes are encouraged as a way of learning and success is celebrated 🙂 Most importantly, the math groups do NOT stay the same all year. There is also a mixture of strategy math groups as needed throughout the year. Ask yourself these questions - How much time do I have? - How many students do I have? - Do I have a curriculum guide to follow? - What are the standards I have to teach? - What technology do I have available in my classroom? I have to split my math block into 40 min. in the morning and about 40 min. in the afternoon, so I have a total of 80 minutes for math. A perfect day looks like this, but remember math workshop is not perfect. You can read about that topic here. - MORNING ROUTINE: - Breakfast/Announcements/Morning Work: 8:15-8:35 - Go Over Morning Work: 8:35-8:45 - MORNING MATH: - Whole Group Lesson: 8:45-9:00 - Math Group #1: 9:00-9:25 - Math Group #2: 1:45-2:05 - Math Group #3: 2:05-2:25 - Reflection/Exit Ticket: 2:25-2:30 Start taking some notes. You will need to break up your time for Whole Group Instruction (mini-lesson), Math Groups/Centers, and Reflection. Remember, when you are introducing math workshop, it is totally okay to stop the class and have a discussion about what you notice. Point out positives and take notes of what needs to be worked on. As the weeks go by, you will find that you no longer need to have these discussion as often and math workshop starts running smoothly. A class with 18 student is perfect for creating 3 groups and meeting with the 3 groups each day. (Due to an early release day and testing, we only completed guided math groups 3 times a week) If you have over 18 students, you will want to try a 4 group approach. Click here to read about how to make math workshop work with 4 groups. Do you have a curriculum map that guides your instruction? We have one that suggests the sequence in which we teach our math concepts and how much time to spend on each topic. I say suggest, because there is no way that a curriculum map can be followed to perfection. Your students’ needs will be different each year. So, you may have to slow down/move on depending on how well students understand each topic. Here is a summary of our scope and sequence. As any strong team will do, you come together and plan. I am very blessed to be part of a strong 3rd grade team. We have lunch together each day and also weekly grade level meetings. This is when the real talk happens. Just because something is on paper doesn’t mean it is best for your students. Put your heads together and decide how you want to move forward. Please print, read, and study the standards you are to teach your students. If you are knowledgable about what standards you have to teach, you will no longer feel like you are attached to a textbook. You can create your own activities, or you can look for other resources outside the textbook. You can spend 20 minutes on one problem and feel confident that it was time well spent. You need to find out what technology you will have available on a daily basis. Do you have to share a iPad cart? Do you have a computer lab? How many classroom computers do you have? Computers is a daily center my students go to for 20 minutes. Students have a computer folder with all of their log-in information. This prevents students from interrupting my math group. It’s also nice, because students can help each other log-in if needed. I write on the board exactly what I want my students to work on. I love using www.ixl.com for computers, because the practice is organized by skill. Another website that I enjoy introducing to students towards the end of the year is www.mangahigh.com. I hope this post has been helpful as you start thinking about implementing math workshop in your classroom. Remember, the best thing you can do is to become familiar with the standards. When you study your standards you will be confident about the decisions you make in your classroom. Below are some great websites/books that will help you in your journey.
The term "Polynomial" means "equation with crazy powers of x" like x3, x4 and x5. In this chapter we'll put our synthetic division skills to the test by using "p/q" to fully factor these high-power nightmares. If you're one of the lucky few who get to use calculators in this chapter, the last video is for you! (If you don't get to use calculators, don't look. It's too wonderful.) Polynomial Graphs: Zeros, Multiplicity & End Behavior In this video I cover everything you'll need to graph a polynomial once it's been factored: "end behavior" of graphs (which way the arrows point); number of real zeros; and what the heck "multiplicity" means and how it's gonna mess with the x-intercepts on your graph. Includes Fundamental Theorem of Algebra N.CN.9 Complex & Imaginary Roots of Polynomials In this video I introduce complex roots to the graphing process, which is obviously going to be a bit strange since it's not like "3i" is on the x-axis.N.CN.9 Getting Equation From Roots This video covers a very specific type of burn problem that every teacher puts on their test for the polynomials chapter. The problem: "Find a polynomial function of least degree with rational coefficients and roots of 1, -1, and 2i." The burn? Just watch! Finding Rational Roots of Polynomials Finally, we're ready to factor higher-order polynomials using synthetic division and "p/q" (if you've had this in class, you know what I'm talking about). (If you're not sure about Synthetic Division, check out my polynomial division chapter.) Calculator Tricks For Polynomials In West L.A. where I tutor, it seems like most teachers don't let kids use graphing calculators on tests where they'd actually be useful. But if you're in that lucky minority who gets to use calculators, this video is for you. Lots less synthetic division to do when finding roots of polynomials! If you do not have an account, you should get one, because it is awesome! You can save a playlist for each test or each chapter, and save your "greatest hits" into a "watch right before the final" list (not that we recommend cramming, but when in Rome...)
As no comprehensive field studies have yet been completed on the black and rufous elephant shrew, little is known about its biology (1). However, it may be similar to other species of elephant-shrews, which are monogamous, with each pair sharing and defending a territory of between 1 and 1.7 hectares (6). The pair builds up to ten nests within their territory in which to shelter. Measuring up to one metre wide, each nest is made from leaf litter, and several nests are in use at one time (6). However, despite this, a pair of elephant-shrews rarely spends time together, and the male plays no role in the rearing of the young (2). The black and rufous elephant shrew is mostly active during the day, when it uses its long nose to forage through leaf litter in order to find beetles, ants and other invertebrates living on the forest floor (6). Smell is important to an elephant-shrew and its nose, like a rabbit’s, twitches continuously. An elephant-shrew’s main predators are snakes and birds of prey, so it also has to have a constant eye on the ground and the air for potential threats (2).
COVID-19 was first declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020. In the following weeks, hospitals across the globe were overwhelmed and the capacity of intensive care units (ICUs) pushed to the brink with critically ill patients. By the end of August 2020, more than 30 million cases were reported worldwide, with the death toll in the U.S. reaching 200,000 out of 6.5 million cases. In the early days of the pandemic as physicians and researchers grappled with how this new virus spread and the disease it caused, hospitals had to shift a thousand processes and treatment plans. Researchers at the 14-hospital Jefferson Health system examined how their efforts helped lower mortality rates more than similar health systems in the first few months of the pandemic. They published their findings in Journal of Clinical Medicine Research on March 3. “Similar to the global trend, our highest mortality rate was at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020,” explains senior study author Jack Jallo, MD, PhD, director of neurotrauma and executive director for critical care at Jefferson Health. “But as time went on, we noticed mortality rates and ICU admissions waning, and we wanted to take a closer look.” The Jefferson Health system serves the greater Philadelphia area and southern New Jersey, and has cared for more COVID-19 patients than any other health system in the Philadelphia area. Clinical researchers across the enterprise conducted a retrospective analysis of 1,204 patients who were diagnosed with COVID-19 and admitted to the ICU across the system between March and August 2020. They found that by the end of August 2020, the mortality rate had declined significantly -- from 46% in March 2020 to 14% just six months later. Among other parameters, their collected patient data included demographics, comorbidities, blood laboratory values and medical interventions. The researchers believe that a shift in infections of younger populations may have contributed to the declining mortality rates, as well as improved understanding of the coronavirus and the system’s ability to rapidly share evolving treatments for the virus. “At the start of the pandemic, hydroxycholoriquine was touted as having benefits against COVID-19,” explains Syed Omar Shah, MD, MBA, assistant professor of Neurology and Neurological Surgery and one of the authors of the study. “We actually found that hydroxychloroquine was associated with increased mortality, and once we stopped using it, our mortality rate started to improve.” First author Sohaib Roomi, MD, an internal medicine doctor at Abington Hospital-Jefferson Health credits the infectious diseases department for leading the charge in testing different drugs and entering trials for new drugs. “Because the medical literature around COVID-19 is changing quickly, it is critical to use the most current drug regimens to give our patients the best outcome, without throwing the whole kitchen sink at them,” says Roomi. “The communication with our infectious diseases colleagues allowed for that real-time assessment and enabled us to follow the data.” Shah adds that this communication spanned the enterprise – when there was a change in approach or new information was gathered at one site, it was quickly relayed to the other hospitals. “This is the advantage of a large health system like ours,” he says. “We were able to not only share resources, but also plan strategically and dynamically - when one ICU started to have an influx of patients, we designated and moved patients between hospitals so that no one ICU was overwhelmed.” Shah hopes that Jefferson Health has modelled a strategy for other multi-center health systems not just through the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, but any other pandemic in the future. “We’ve learned that the pandemic affects the whole of society, so health care should respond like a society,” he says. “Jefferson Health’s hospitals came together, but ideally all the healthcare systems in an area should come together to ensure that no one hospital gets overloaded, and no patient is left without getting the treatment they need.” Source: Thomas Jefferson University
Cirrhosis of the Liver Cirrhosis of the Liver The liver, the largest organ in the body, is essential in keeping the body functioning properly. It removes or neutralizes poisons from the blood, produces immune agents to control infection, and removes germs and bacteria from the blood. It makes proteins that regulate blood clotting and produces bile to help absorb fats and fat-soluble vitamins. You cannot live without a functioning liver. In cirrhosis of the liver, scar tissue replaces normal, healthy tissue, blocking the flow of blood through the organ and preventing it from working as it should. Cirrhosis is the twelfth leading cause of death by disease, killing about 26,000 people each year. Also, the cost of cirrhosis in terms of human suffering, hospital costs, and lost productivity is high. Cirrhosis has many causes. In the United States, chronic alcoholism and hepatitis C are the most common ones. Alcoholic liver disease. To many people, cirrhosis of the liver is synonymous with chronic alcoholism, but in fact, alcoholism is only one of the causes. Alcoholic cirrhosis usually develops after more than a decade of heavy drinking. The amount of alcohol that can injure the liver varies greatly from person to person. In women, as few as two to three drinks per day have been linked with cirrhosis and in men, as few as three to four drinks per day. Alcohol seems to injure the liver by blocking the normal metabolism of protein, fats, and carbohydrates. Chronic hepatitis C. The hepatitis C virus ranks with alcohol as a major cause of chronic liver disease and cirrhosis in the United States. Infection with this virus causes inflammation of and low grade damage to the liver that over several decades can lead to cirrhosis. Chronic hepatitis B and D. The hepatitis B virus is probably the most common cause of cirrhosis worldwide, but it is less common in the United States and the Western world. Hepatitis B, like hepatitis C, causes liver inflammation and injury that over several decades can lead to cirrhosis. Hepatitis D is another virus that infects the liver, but only in people who already have hepatitis B. This disease appears to be caused by the immune system attacking the liver and causing inflammation, damage, and eventually scarring and cirrhosis. Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, hemochromatosis, Wilson's disease, galactosemia, and glycogen storage diseases are among the inherited diseases that interfere with the way the liver produces, processes, and stores enzymes, proteins, metals, and other substances the body needs to function properly. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). In NASH, fat builds up in the liver and eventually causes scar tissue. This type of hepatitis appears to be associated with diabetes, protein malnutrition, obesity, coronary artery disease, and treatment with corticosteroid medications. Blocked bile ducts. When the ducts that carry bile out of the liver are blocked, bile backs up and damages liver tissue. In babies, blocked bile ducts are most commonly caused by biliary atresia, a disease in which the bile ducts are absent or injured. In adults, the most common cause is primary biliary cirrhosis, a disease in which the ducts become inflamed, blocked, and scarred. Secondary biliary cirrhosis can happen after gallbladder surgery if the ducts are inadvertently tied off or injured. Drugs, toxins, and infections. Severe reactions to prescription drugs, prolonged exposure to environmental toxins, the parasitic infection schistosomiasis, and repeated bouts of heart failure with liver congestion can all lead to cirrhosis. Many people with cirrhosis have no symptoms in the early stages of the disease. However, as scar tissue replaces healthy cells, liver function starts to fail and a person may experience the following symptoms:,Aec exhaustion,Aec fatigue,Aec loss of appetite,Aec nausea,Aec weakness,Aec weight loss,Aec abdominal pain,Aec spider-like blood vessels (spider angiomas) that develop on the skinAs the disease progresses, complications may develop. In some people, these may be the first signs of the disease. Complications of Cirrhosis Loss of liver function affects the body in many ways. Following are the common problems, or complications, caused by cirrhosis. Edema and ascites. When the liver loses its ability to make the protein albumin, water accumulates in the legs (edema) and abdomen (ascites). Bruising and bleeding. When the liver slows or stops production of the proteins needed for blood clotting, a person will bruise or bleed easily. The palms of the hands may be reddish and blotchy with palmar erythema. Jaundice is a yellowing of the skin and eyes that occurs when the diseased liver does not absorb enough bilirubin. Bile products deposited in the skin may cause intense itching. If cirrhosis prevents bile from reaching the gallbladder, gallstones may develop. Toxins in the blood or brain. A damaged liver cannot remove toxins from the blood, causing them to accumulate in the blood and eventually the brain. There, toxins can dull mental functioning and cause personality changes, coma, and even death. Signs of the buildup of toxins in the brain include neglect of personal appearance, unresponsiveness, forgetfulness, trouble concentrating, or changes in sleep habits. Sensitivity to medication. Cirrhosis slows the liver's ability to filter medications from the blood. Because the liver does not remove drugs from the blood at the usual rate, they act longer than expected and build up in the body. This causes a person to be more sensitive to medications and their side effects. Normally, blood from the intestines and spleen is carried to the liver through the portal vein. But cirrhosis slows the normal flow of blood through the portal vein, which increases the pressure inside it. This condition is called portal hypertension. When blood flow through the portal vein slows, blood from the intestines and spleen backs up into blood vessels in the stomach and esophagus. These blood vessels may become enlarged because they are not meant to carry this much blood. The enlarged blood vessels, called varices, have thin walls and carry high pressure, and thus are more likely to burst. If they do burst, the result is a serious bleeding problem in the upper stomach or esophagus that requires immediate medical attention. Insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Cirrhosis causes resistance to insulin. This hormone, produced by the pancreas, enables blood glucose to be used as energy by the cells of the body. If you have insulin resistance, your muscle, fat, and liver cells do not use insulin properly. The pancreas tries to keep up with the demand for insulin by producing more. Eventually, the pancreas cannot keep up with the body's need for insulin, and type 2 diabetes develops as excess glucose builds up in the bloodstream. Hepatocellular carcinoma, a type of liver cancer commonly caused by cirrhosis, starts in the liver tissue itself. It has a high mortality rate. Problems in other organs. Cirrhosis can cause immune system dysfunction, leading to infection. Fluid in the abdomen (ascites) may become infected with bacteria normally present in the intestines. Cirrhosis can also lead to impotence, kidney dysfunction and failure, and osteoporosis. The doctor may diagnose cirrhosis on the basis of symptoms, laboratory tests, the medical history, and a physical examination. For example, during a physical examination, the doctor may notice that the liver feels harder or larger than usual and order blood tests that can show whether liver disease is present. If looking at the liver is necessary to check for signs of disease, the doctor might order a computerized axial tomography (CAT) scan, ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or a scan of the liver using a radioisotope (a harmless radioactive substance that highlights the liver). Or the doctor might look at the liver using a laparoscope, an instrument that is inserted through the abdomen and relays pictures back to a computer screen. A liver biopsy will confirm the diagnosis. For a biopsy, the doctor uses a needle to take a tiny sample of liver tissue, then examines it under the microscope for scarring or other signs of disease. Liver damage from cirrhosis cannot be reversed, but treatment can stop or delay further progression and reduce complications. Treatment depends on the cause of cirrhosis and any complications a person is experiencing. For example, cirrhosis caused by alcohol abuse is treated by abstaining from alcohol. Treatment for hepatitis-related cirrhosis involves medications used to treat the different types of hepatitis, such as interferon for viral hepatitis and corticosteroids for autoimmune hepatitis. Cirrhosis caused by Wilson's disease, in which copper builds up in organs, is treated with medications to remove the copper. These are just a few examples--treatment for cirrhosis resulting from other diseases depends on the underlying cause. In all cases, regardless of the cause, following a healthy diet and avoiding alcohol are essential because the body needs all the nutrients it can get, and alcohol will only lead to more liver damage. Light physical activity can help stop or delay cirrhosis as well. Treatment will also include remedies for complications. For example, for ascites and edema, the doctor may recommend a low-sodium diet or the use of diuretics, which are drugs that remove fluid from the body. Antibiotics will be prescribed for infections, and various medications can help with itching. Protein causes toxins to form in the digestive tract, so eating less protein will help decrease the buildup of toxins in the blood and brain. The doctor may also prescribe laxatives to help absorb the toxins and remove them from the intestines. For portal hypertension, the doctor may prescribe a blood pressure medication such as a beta-blocker. If varices bleed, the doctor may either inject them with a clotting agent or perform a so-called rubber-band ligation, which uses a special device to compress the varices and stop the bleeding. When complications cannot be controlled or when the liver becomes so damaged from scarring that it completely stops functioning, a liver transplant is necessary. In liver transplantation surgery, a diseased liver is removed and replaced with a healthy one from an organ donor. About 80 to 90 percent of patients survive liver transplantation. Survival rates have improved over the past several years because of drugs such as cyclosporine and tacrolimus, which suppress the immune system and keep it from attacking and damaging the new liver. Source: National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse Updated: December 2003 Copyright © 2003 Nucleus Medical Art, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
You could describe scuds (members of the order Amphipoda) as “shrimplike sowbugs.” Like sowbugs (in the order Isopoda), they have two pairs of antennae; they lack a carapace (a covering “back” like a crayfish has); their eyes are not on stalks; and they have several body segments with legs, gills, and other appendages. But unlike sowbugs, their arched bodies are flattened sideways, like shrimp, and the gills arise on the thorax segments (not on the abdomen). The various appendages have different purposes: armlike gnathopods at the front for feeding, followed by leglike pleopods for swimming, waving water across the gills, and other types of locomotion. Although Missouri's isopods (sowbugs), depending on species, live on land or in water, all our our amphipods (scuds) are all aquatic. To identify scuds to species, and often even to family, you must be prepared to dissect them under a microscope and note many details, for example, of the appendages, including their structures and comparative lengths. Adult length: about ¼ to ¾ inch (varies with species). Habitat and Conservation Different species of scuds occur in different aquatic habitats, even deep water, but they are most often found near the bottom substrate, foraging among decaying plants and algae. Most avoid light, and some burrow into mud at the bottom of ponds. Most scuds crawl with their legs, though they can swim fairly well, too, often on their sides, giving them the name "sideswimmers." Several species are adapted to life in caves, and many of these are vulnerable to extirpation. Scuds are mostly detrivores: They feed on decaying plant and animal material, including algae and the miscellaneous organic materials that accumulate on the bottom of ponds, lakes, and streams. Ten species of amphipods are listed as Missouri species of conservation concern, which means they are vulnerable to being extirpated from our state. Several of these are cave-dwelling species that require clean groundwater and uninjured cave systems to survive. Because their cave habitats isolate them from other places they might survive, a relatively small, localized disaster that pollutes their particular cave system could easily wipe them out completely. During mating, male and female scuds twist their bodies together, and sperm is swept into the female’s marsupium (brood pouch) via water currents. Females can produce hundreds of eggs per brood; they keep them in the brood pouch until they hatch. There is no separate larval stage; the young look like small versions of the adults. They become sexually mature after growing and molting several times. Most people are scarcely aware that amphipods exist, but as surely as humans are attracted to seafood restaurants for lobster and shrimp, fish and other aquatic predators seek out scuds to eat. And many of those scud-eating fish end up on human dinner tables, too! Missouri is often called the cave state, and it is important to remember that a cave is much more than just a hole in the ground — it is a living community of organisms with unique food chains. Cave amphipods, like the scuds that live aboveground, are important scavengers and prey species in their ecosystems.
Geoffroy’s black-and-white colobus (Colobus vellerosus) \|Also known as:\|\|ursine black-and-white colobus, white-thighed black-and-white colobus\| \|Size\|\|Male head-and-body length: 61 – 64 cm (2)\| Female head-and-body length: 61 – 66 cm (2) Tail length: 75 – 81 cm (2) Male weight: 9.9 kg (2) Female weight: 8.3 kg (2) Classified as Vulnerable (VU A1cd+2cd) on the IUCN Red List 2004 (1), and listed on Appendix II of CITES (3). Geoffroy’s black-and-white colobus is predominantly black, displaying the least white fur out of all the black-and-white colobus monkeys (4). Markings occur in the form of a broad, snowy white beard and bushy white facial fringe, a distinctive white strip on the thigh and a white slightly-tufted tail (2) (5). It is thought that the black and white patches help break up the body outline in the shadowy forest canopy (4). Infants are born with a completely white natal coat, and begin to change colour at around three months (6). The body is slender, with a long tail, and prominent rump callosities (bare patches of tough thickened skin on the buttocks) (7). Like other African colobus, the thumbs are reduced to small nubs, but the remaining fingers are long and form a hook-like hand well adapted to gripping branches (4). This species was previously considered a subspecies of king colobus (Colobus polykomos), but was elevated to a distinct species in 1983 (5) (8). Found in West Africa from the Ivory Coast to west Nigeria (8), in Benin, Ghana, eastern Ivory Coast, western Nigeria and Togo (5). Lowland rainforest, deciduous gallery forest and savannah forest, up to 350 m elevation (2) (5). Geoffroy’s black-and-white colobus lives in multi-male, multi-female groups, with an average of 16 members, including up to four adult males (2) (5). The home range is around 50 hectares. Little is known about the mating behaviour and reproductive biology of this colobus except that females give birth to a single offspring (5). Diurnal and arboreal, this species prefers to stay within the trees, but will travel across the ground between forest patches in savannah habitats. The diet consists mainly of leaves, fruit and seeds (2). As in all colobus species, this monkey has a complex compartmented stomach to assist in the breakdown of tough leaf material (6). The major threats that face black-and-white colobus species are habitat destruction and hunting (4) (7). Habitat destruction and fragmentation has occurred as a result of subsistence farming, commercial agricultural development and selective logging (7). Hunting pressure on colobus monkeys for their meat, fur and for the pet trade has also been immense. Many African people have traditionally worn colobus skins for ornamentation and, overseas, skins have been used for trimming coats or made into rugs or wall hangings. The overseas demand was particularly high in the late 19th century, during which one to two million colobus were killed. Today, tourists in some parts of Africa continue to contribute to the decline in these animals by buying souvenirs made from their fur (4). However, this practice applies more to other black-and-white colobus, such as the East African C. guereza, with Geoffroy’s black-and-white colobus hunted more for its meat than for its pelt (5). This species’ listing under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) regulates its commercial trade across international borders (3). There are no captive populations at present but this colobus is known to occur in 15 protected areas (5). In order to better conserve Geoffroy’s black-and-white colobus, priorities must focus on preventing or managing hunting, and on protecting suitable forest habitats from further degradation and destruction (7). For further information on Geoffroy’s black-and-white colobus see: Oates, J.F. (1996). African Primates Status Survey and Conservation Action plan. IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group, Switzerland. African Mammals Databank: Authenticated (28/11/2005) by Matt Richardson, independent primatologist and writer. - Arboreal: living in trees. - Diurnal: active during the day. IUCN Red List (December, 2009)
Analysis of Food Dyes in Beverages Essay Words: 321 \| Published: 02.10.20 \| Views: 507 \| Download now Purpose: To determine the attention of dye in a athletics drink applying spectroscopy and graphical research. We will be using beers law to find the unfamiliar concentration of dye within a sports drink. Materials: Beakers, 50-mL, two to three; Test tubes (13 x 100)mm 3-8; FD&C Green 1 inventory solution, 50-mL; Lens damaged tissues; Pipets, serological, 10-mL; Sample of client sports drink, 10-mL; Spectrophotometer; Test tube rack Treatment: 4) You can put cuvette inside the spectrophotometer and click the calibrate button. 9) Put 4mL of share solution and 1mL of water within a test pipe to make the second solution. 10) Fill the cuvette 2/3 of the method with the second solution. 11) Place the cuvette in the spectrophotometer. 12) Wait around a few seconds and record the absorption on your own data desk. 13) Set 3mL of stock answer and 2mL of normal water in a test out tube to make the third remedy. 14) Complete the cuvette 2/3 from the way together with the second remedy 15) Place the cuvette in the spectrophotometer. 16) Wait a few seconds and record the ingestion on your info table. 17) Put 2mL of share solution and 3mL of water within a test pipe to make the last solution 18) Fill the cuvette 2 to 3 of the approach with the last solution 19) Place the cuvette in the spectrophotometer. 20) Hang on a few seconds and record the absorption with your data table. 21) Put 1mL of stock answer and 4mL of normal water in a test tube to help make the fifth answer 22) Fill the cuvette 2/3 from the way while using fifth remedy Conclusion: In this experiment, we all prepared solutions and used Beer’s rules to analyze the concentration of dye within a beverage. The graph would provide the most exact means to decide the concentration of an not known solution and that we know that absorbance measurements happen to be most appropriate in the range of A principles from zero. 2 to 1. 0.
Table of contents: - 1. What is hip dysplasia? - 2. Causes of hip dysplasia - 3. Diagnosis of hip dysplasia - 4. Treatment of hip dysplasia 2023 Author: Lucas Backer \| [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 01:10 Hip dysplasia is one of the most common birth defects in humans and can affect one or both joints. The disease may develop in the prenatal or infancy period. What should you know about hip dysplasia? 1. What is hip dysplasia? Hip dysplasia is one of the most common birth defects in the white population and can affect one or both of the hip joints. It is more common in women than in men. The disease can take two forms: - pure dysplasia- defective hip shape, - dysplasia with displacement of the femoral head beyond the acetabulum(congenital dislocation of the hip joint). Do you think that joint pain can only appear in the course of a serious illness or is the result of a physical trauma? 2. Causes of hip dysplasia Abnormalities related to hip dysplasia appear most often in the womb. In the perinatal period, these changes may even intensify. It is usually impossible to determine the cause of a child's condition. However, there are known factors that influence the development of hip dysplasia. They are: - abnormal curling of the legs by the baby in the womb (no space in the uterine cavity), - relaxin - appears in the mother's body at the end of pregnancy, in the child it causes the relaxation of the joint ligaments, which promotes dysplasia, - pelvic position of the fetus during pregnancy - often occurs in twin pregnancies, as there is little space in the uterus for both fetuses, - genetic predisposition, - straightening the legs in a newborn - straightening the naturally contracted legs may result in the thigh bone being dislocated from the joint. 3. Diagnosis of hip dysplasia In the typical form of dysplasia, the newborn is born with the defect without hip dislocation. The fetal development of the hip is specific as it develops in flexion, so that each newborn's hip joint has a weakened compactness. Extension of the hipis particularly harmful to the compactness of this joint. The newborn defends against this movement by keeping its hips physiologically bent. It is impossible to diagnose dysplasia in the fetus, diagnostics is performed in the first days after the birth of the child. In order to recognize the disease, it is enough to check two symptoms in the newborn - jumping and limiting abduction. An ultrasound examination can also be used. The symptom of the uneven folds is not characteristic of dysplasia, but it is important, as it causes anxiety in mothers who seek advice from an orthopedist. 4. Treatment of hip dysplasia Hip dysplasia is treated with the slow, gradual overcoming of the resistance of the shortened muscles until full abduction is achieved. In the case of a delay in the development and shallowing of the acetabulum, diagnosed in the first month of a child's life, usually the so-called wide diaper. Treatment of hip dysplasia is to center the head of the femur towards the acetabulum, which will relieve the joint. When the dysplasia is more severe, for this purpose, Frejka pillow,Pawlik harnessor Koszla splintDysplasia diagnosed only at 6-9. months of age, patients are treated in a hospital setting, according to the severity of the defect, including surgery. If hip dysplasia has not been treated, it will manifest itself in the pubertal period - fatigue, knee pain and hip pain will appear. In women, after giving birth to the first child, pain related to the disease may occur. Early diagnosis of dysplasiaand early treatment make it possible to guide the development of dysplastic hip until it is fully healed. Hip joint prosthesis is an artificial prosthesis that allows you to keep fit when there is degeneration of the hip joint. What are the symptoms of degeneration Tree people suffer from a rare skin disease that causes their body to grow on a tree bark-like growth. The disease is incurable, and it can Nipple dysplasia is a non-cancerous, non-inflammatory tumor. The nipples are at risk of cancer. Breast cancer is most common in women in their 40s Dentin dysplasia is a genetically conditioned disorder of its development. The disease is passed down from generation to generation and is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner Ultrasound of hip joints in babies is one of the mandatory examinations after the birth of a child. It is currently recommended that an ultrasound of an infant's hip joints be performed in between
In 2009, the first edition of Fowler’s Modern English Usage (1926) was reprinted by Oxford University Press, as part of their World Classics Series. In the introduction, David Crystal assesses Fowler’s status as a writer of this popular usage guide, as well as the book itself. The book was so popular, Crystal writes (2009:vii), that “within a few years, people no longer felt it necessary even to mention the title and talked simply of ‘Fowler’”. Crystal continues: “Adjectives soon followed – Fowlerian, Fowlerish, Fowleresque – and he eventually received the ultimate linguistic accolade, of being turned into a common noun”. But Fowler, as a term or otherwise, does not have an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary, unlike someone like Webster, though this is an encyclopedic rather than a linguistic entry. But he still has a place in the dictionary, and so does Websterian, “Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Webster’s Dictionary (see prec.) or any of its later versions or abridgements”. Fowler, however, regularly occurs as a term or, indeed a common noun. Here are several examples: Kingsley Amis, The King’s English (1997:75), “This work, known for many years simply as Modern English Usage, is also known even more simply as Fowler in expressions like ‘Fowler’s view’ and ‘Fowler is unambiguous on the point’”. Edward Finegan, (1998:578). “English Grammar and Usage”, in Suzanne Romaine (ed.), The Cambridge History of the English Language, Volume 4. Cambridge University Press. 536-88. “To this day, three-quarters of a century after its initial publication in 1926, connoisseurs consult ‘Fowler’ on the finer ponts of usage, much as ordinary citizens consult ‘the dictionary’ for guidance about spellings, meanings, and pronunciations.” Jenny McMorris (2001:217), The Warden of English. The Life of H. W. Fowler, OxfordUniversity Press. “… while … Churchill, planning the invasion of Normandy, snapped at an aide to check a word in ‘Fowler’.” Most strongly, perhaps, the following quotation, also from Finegan, suggests that Fowler deserves his place in the OED, alongside Webster: Finegan (1998:578): “As the name ‘Webster’ is synonymous with dictionary in some parts of the English-speaking world, ‘Fowler’ continues to mean honoured handbook of usage throughout.” Last year, moreover, a special issue came out of English Today, with an article by Ulrich Busse and Anne Schröder, called “How Fowler became ‘The Fowler’: an anatomy of a success story” (see also the post of 13 September called “Special issue of English Today”). Fowler, therefore, deserves an entry in the OED. But the earliest quotation we collected dates from 1997: there should be earlier ones, if we may believe David Crystal. Ao how close can we get to 1926, the book’s original publication date? And what about Crystal’s Fowlerian, Fowlerish, Fowleresque? These occur as well: the online newspaper database Factiva produced several instances of all of them. The earliest instance of Fowleresque found so far dates from 1993. But this word also occurs in the second edition of Fowler’s Modern English Usage: Sir Ernest Gowers (1965:xi), Modern English Usage, 2nd edition: “his point could be put more simply without any sacrifice of Fowleresque flavour.” So there is plenty of evidence for these words, and it’ll be interesting to see how more evidence is needed for the OED editors to pick all this up and give Fowler an entry in the dictionary at last. (With thanks to Nadia Petrova.)
IT’S a familiar site on beaches and in parks the world over, and has caused misery for millions of sun-worshippers. But lobster-pink skin caused by sunburn has helped lead to an important discovery that could bring an end to the suffering. Scientists have identified the chemical that makes the skin sting and itch following a day in the sun – paving the way for the treatment of more long-term conditions such as arthritis. Researchers from King’s College London used UV lamps to burn small squares on the arms of ten volunteers before taking samples of the damaged skin. Several chemicals were found to be present in higher levels than usual – including CXCL5 – which attracts white blood cells to the damaged area, causing tenderness. Further experiments showed it was also present in high levels in sunburnt rats. The scientists then used an antibody that blocks the action of CXCL5 to ease the pain of the sunburnt rodents. The antibody is not suitable for use on healthy people but could provide the basis for future medications to treat chronic pain.
This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) \|History of the People's\| Republic of China (PRC) \|Generations of leadership\| The Anti-Rightist Campaign (simplified Chinese: 反右运动; traditional Chinese: 反右運動; pinyin: Fǎnyòu Yùndòng) in the People's Republic of China, which lasted from roughly 1957 to 1959, was a campaign to purge alleged "Rightists" within the Communist Party of China (CPC) and abroad. The definition of rightists was not always consistent, sometimes including critics to the left of the government, but officially referred to those intellectuals who appeared to favor capitalism and were against collectivization. The campaigns were instigated by Chairman Mao Zedong and saw the political persecution of an estimated 550,000 people.[better source needed] The Anti-Rightist Campaign was a reaction against the Hundred Flowers Campaign which had promoted pluralism of expression and criticism of the government, even though initiation of both campaigns was controlled by Chairman Mao and were integrally connected. Going perhaps as far back as the Long March there had been resentment against "rightists" inside the CPC, for example, Zhang Bojun. The first wave of attacks began immediately following the end of the Hundred Flowers movement in July 1957. By the end of the year, 300,000 people had been labeled as rightists, including the writer Ding Ling. Future premier Zhu Rongji, then working in the State Planning Commission, was purged in 1958. Most of the accused were intellectuals. The penalties included informal criticism, hard labor, and in some cases, execution. One main target was the independent legal system. Legal professionals were transferred to other jobs; judicial power was exercised instead by political cadres and the police. Historical revisionism after Mao After Mao's death, many of the convictions were revoked in 1979. At that time, under leader Deng Xiaoping, the government announced that it needed capitalists' experience to get the country moving economically, and subsequently the guilty verdicts of thousands of counterrevolutionary cases were overturned — affecting many of those accused of rightism and who had been persecuted for that crime the previous twenty two years. This came despite the fact that Deng Xiaoping had been one of the most enthusiastic prosecutors of the movement during the "First Wave" of 1957. Censorship in China In 2009, leading up the 60th anniversary of the PRC's founding, a number of media outlets in China listed the most significant events of 1957 but downplayed or omitted reference to the Anti-Rightist Movement. Websites were reportedly notified by authorities that the topic of the movement was extremely sensitive. - Zhang Bojun, China's "number one rightist" - Luo Longji, China's "number two rightist" - Huang Qixiang - Chen Mingshu - Chen Mengjia - Zhu Rongji, later Premier of China - Wu Zuguang, playwright - "Uneasy silences punctuate 60th anniversary coverage". China Media Project. Archived from the original on 2010-06-11. Retrieved 2009-09-30. - The International PEN Award For Independent Chinese Writing, EastSouthWestNorth, retrieved 2007-01-19. - Harry Wu; George Vecsey (December 30, 2002). Troublemaker: One Man's Crusade Against China's Cruelty. Times Books. pp. 68–. ISBN 0-8129-6374-1. - An Overview of Democracy Movements in China - Petitioning for redress over the anti-rightist campaign – Human Rights in China (HRIC), 2005
It was first documented as an emmenagogue in St . Hildegard of Bingen's " De simplicis medicinae ". Of the newer additions, motherwort is a nervine, emmenagogue, anti-spasmodic, hepatic, cardiac tonic, and hypotensive. Various folk remedies for neem include use as an anthelmintic, antifeedant, antiseptic, diuretic, emmenagogue, contraceptive, febrifuge, parasiticide, pediculocide and insecticide. The resin has been used in the treatment of spasms, and, before that, as an emmenagogue, in the treatment of asthma, chronic visceral infections, hysteria and hypochondria. Emmenagogues, used to stimulate menstrual bleeding and as abortifacients, such as tansy, pennyroyal, senna, cottonseed, cedar berries, juniper, ginger, turpentine, asafetida, and camphor were known to and used by granny midwives. "' Fuke Tongjing Wan "'( ) is a vermillion waxed pill with yellowish-brown core used in Traditional Chinese medicine to " remove blood stasis and emmenagogue, to alleviate mental depression, and to relieve pain ". Local traditional medicinal uses include as an emmenagogue, abortifacient and also in the treatment of rheumatism and malaria . " P . barteri " is native to Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, and the Central African Republic. Arabs of the Levant traditionally use roasted tubers, while they are still hot, or hot ashes from burned tubers, to treat wounds, bruises, carbuncles, etc . Western and Islamic herbalists including Dioscorides, Galen, Charles Alston have described medical uses as stomachic, emmenagogue, and deobstruent, and in emollient plasters.
Environmental variables associated with anopheline larvae distribution and abundance in Yanomami villages within unaltered areas of the Brazilian Amazon Parasites & Vectors volume 10, Article number: 571 (2017) Many indigenous villages in the Amazon basin still suffer from a high malaria burden. Despite this health situation, there are few studies on the bionomics of anopheline larvae in such areas. This publication aims to identify the main larval habitats of the most abundant anopheline species and to assess their associations with some environmental factors. We conducted a 19-month longitudinal study from January 2013 to July 2014, sampling anopheline larvae in two indigenous Yanomami communities, comprised of four villages each. All natural larval habitats were surveyed every two months with a 350 ml manual dipper, following a standardized larval sampling methodology. In a third study area, we conducted two field expeditions in 2013 followed by four systematic collections during the long dry season of 2014–2015. We identified 177 larval habitats in the three study areas, from which 9122 larvae belonging to 13 species were collected. Although species abundance differed between villages, An. oswaldoi (s.l.) was overall the most abundant species. Anopheles darlingi, An. oswaldoi (s.l.), An. triannulatus (s.s.) and An. mattogrossensis were primarily found in larval habitats that were partially or mostly sun-exposed. In contrast, An. costai-like and An. guarao-like mosquitoes were found in more shaded aquatic habitats. Anopheles darlingi was significantly associated with proximity to human habitations and larval habitats associated with river flood pulses and clear water. This study of anopheline larvae in the Brazilian Yanomami area detected high heterogeneities at micro-scale levels regarding species occurrence and densities. Sun exposure was a major modulator of anopheline occurrence, particularly for An. darlingi. Lakes associated with the rivers, and particularly oxbow lakes, were the main larval habitats for An. darlingi and other secondary malaria vectors. The results of this study will serve as a basis to plan larval source management activities in remote indigenous communities of the Amazon, particularly for those located within low-order river-floodplain systems. Malaria is a preventable and treatable parasitic disease but still poses a high burden in some countries of Latin America, particularly Brazil which was responsible for 24% of the total number of cases in 2015 . Disease distribution is heterogeneous within endemic regions in the Neotropics, and some populations are at high risk of acquiring malaria, such as indigenous communities in the Amazon basin and Central America [2, 3]. A prime example is the Yanomami people, considered the largest, semi-isolated indigenous group that inhabits a 192,000 km2 area split between Brazil and Venezuela. Malaria incidence is unevenly distributed across the Brazilian Yanomami Indian Reserve with some areas with very reduced malaria receptivity and other localities that are hotspots of intense malaria transmission, including for Plasmodium falciparum . Hotspots in indigenous areas should be priority target areas for malaria elimination in Latin America, as in addition to the severe malaria burden on the indigenous populations, they may serve as a continuous source of Plasmodium spp. infections for neighbouring non-indigenous areas. In line with the current global drive for malaria elimination, most Latin American countries have adopted country or sub-regional strategies for the elimination of Plasmodium spp. transmission . In November 2015, Brazil launched its plan for countrywide malaria elimination, with a first phase focusing on sustainably eliminating P. falciparum transmission . In Brazil, malaria control is mainly based on early diagnosis and treatment and adult vector control strategies such as indoor residual spraying (IRS) and long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) . These strategies, which target primarily endophagic and endophilic mosquitoes, may have limited effectiveness against Neotropical malaria vectors which frequently feed and rest outdoors. Consequently, classical anti-adult measures may only partially suppress transmission due to Anopheles darlingi, the main Amazon malaria vector . Thus, additional vector control tools are required to help to further reduce malaria in Latin America. Novel vector control strategies to tackle outdoor transmission include long-lasting insecticidal hammocks (LLIH) for forest and mobile populations who may sleep outdoors [7, 8], topical repellents for personal protection and spatial repellents . All these strategies aim to reduce the contact between humans and exophagic host-seeking malaria vectors and in the case of LLIH, they may also minimize indoor exposure to mosquito bites in indigenous dwellings . Also, there is a renewed interest in strategies targeting anophelines during their most vulnerable aquatic phase. This approach has been indicated when larval habitats are few, fix and findable . However, to apply larval source management (LSM) activities efficiently, a comprehensive knowledge of the local ecology of anopheline larvae and their aquatic habitats is required. This has been considered a major drawback in implementing LSM activities in many settings . Nevertheless, LSM is a potential tool to reduce or eliminate anopheline populations insufficiently controlled by IRS and LLINs in some malaria-endemic localities of the Neotropical region. Comprehensive information on malaria epidemiology and vector bionomics will be necessary to eliminate malaria, particularly in these remote and hard-to-work indigenous areas. The variability in malaria risk in the Neotropics and within Indian Reserves is due to a complex interaction of many ecological and social determinants of the disease. Among the factors influencing transmission, entomological parameters of a few highly competent malaria vectors such as An. darlingi and An. albimanus are of major importance . The spatio-temporal distribution of anopheline larvae and thus, adult host-seeking and pathogen transmitting anophelines depend on parameters such as the number, quality and size of potential larval habitats, their distance from blood meal sources and a wide range of other environmental factors . Few entomological investigations have been conducted in nearby areas of the Brazilian Yanomami Indian Reserve. Suarez-Mutis et al. and Hutchings et al. focused on sampling adult mosquitoes in the Padauari river, Amazon State, and Cabral et al. reported both adult and larval collections. Also in Brazil, a larval study was conducted east of the Indian Reserve while another report summarized the adult anopheline occurrence in multiple collecting points within Roraima State . There have been several entomological reports focusing on adults [20,21,22] as well as larvae [23,24,25] in neighbouring areas of Venezuela. In this publication, we provide the first detailed anopheline species inventory, identify the larval habitat preferences and analyze some environmental drivers that modulate anopheline occurrence and densities in remote Yanomami indigenous communities of the Brazilian Amazon. We report results concerning larval habitats for seven anopheline species (six species of the genus Anopheles plus Chagasia bonneae), including the main malaria vector of the Amazon rainforest, An. darlingi. This information will help to devise feasible, sustainable and cost-effective LSM activities, targeting mainly An. darlingi immature forms in resilient transmission hotspots of the Yanomami endemic area, primarily within low-order Amazonian river-floodplain systems. We performed our study in three remote Yanomami communities in the northernmost region of the Brazilian Amazon, namely Parafuri, Toototobi and Marari (Fig. 1). In Parafuri and Toototobi communities, bimonthly collections were performed during 19 months, from January 2013 to July 2014, a time when only sporadic malaria cases were reported. A detailed description of these areas has been provided elsewhere . Briefly, Parafuri is a hilly Amazonian sub-montane forested area with altitude 440 m above sea level (masl), and Toototobi community is located in a low-land Amazonian rainforest (128 masl). In each field expedition, we spent 15 days in each Yanomami community and concentrated our samplings in the same four villages in each community. The third Yanomami community, Marari, is in a lowland Amazonian rainforest area (139 masl), which is drained by first to third order rivers and surrounded by nearby high mountains. The sampling efforts in the Marari community consisted of two pilot studies in 2013 and four field collections that covered the long dry season, from September 2014 to March 2015. In Marari, there is perennial and periodically intense malaria transmission, and the community is characterized by villages with high population density and a high risk of year-round immigration of parasite carriers from highly endemic areas outside the Yanomami Indian Reserve. Larval habitat definition and sampling strategy We used a defined set of criteria to classify the natural larval habitats that we encountered in these Amazonian low-order river-floodplain systems. In short, association with river flood pulses, seasonality and degree of sun exposure were the main characteristics for larval habitat classification. Lakes associated with the river (LAR), which were subdivided into oxbow lakes (OX) and non-oxbow lakes (NOX), were permanent and always associated with river flood pulses. These larval habitats had a high degree of sun exposure. Flooded areas associated with the river (FAAR), which are also associated with river water levels fluctuations, were always seasonal. These larval habitats varied in their degree of sun exposure. We also identified inland water bodies which were out of the reach of river flood pulses and formed mostly due to increased rainfall, such as flooded areas not associated with the river (FANAR), rainfall pools (RP) and small (SFS) and medium forest streams (MFS). These aquatic habitats not associated with river flood pulses were predominantly shaded. We identified all larval habitats within a 1 km radius of each village with the help of a local guide. Larval habitats were sampled following a standardized methodology. We used a fine-scale laser rangefinder (Scout DX 1000 ARC, Bushnell®, Overland Park, USA) to accurately quantify the perimeter of all larval habitats and after adjusting for the presence of additional niches adequate for larval proliferation, we estimated the total effective breeding area (tEBA) for each larval habitat. We defined the tEBA as the sum of all those portions of the water body surface that were suitable for anopheline proliferation. Based on the tEBA, we conducted some dips for each larval habitat. Dips were taken from the different EBA subtypes of all larval habitats. For larger larval habitats, a small portable inflatable boat was used to collect larvae that could not be reached from the edge of the habitat. Each larval habitat constituted a single record comprised of the larval collections of different subtypes of EBA. We recorded the total number of anophelines per dip, and then transferred larvae from standard 350 ml dippers (BioQuip, Rancho Dominguez, CA, USA) to plastic tubes with 80% ethanol. We reared a subset of field-collected L4 larvae in individual vials to obtain larval and pupal skins and their associated adult forms. A more detailed description of the classification of natural breeding habitats within low-order river-floodplain systems, procedures for the location of larval habitats and the larval sampling methodology used in our study area have been provided elsewhere . We employed MosqTent traps to collect host-seeking adult female anophelines during three or four consecutive nights in each village, alternating during each field trip between 4 h (18:00–22:00 h) collections at the same time in the intra, peri and extradomicilliary environments and 12 h collections in the peridomicily or extradomicily. These adult collections occurred concomitantly with the larval samplings. Larvae (third and fourth-instar) and adults were identified using the keys of Consoli and Lourenço-de-Oliveira and Forattini [28, 29]. Assessment of environmental variables Larval habitats were geo-referenced with a hand-held global positioning system (GPS) device. We recorded environmental variables for each aquatic habitat during each field survey, including its association with river flood pulses, seasonality (seasonal or permanent), sun exposure (shaded, partially sun-exposed or mostly sun-exposed), presence of submersed macrophytes, distance to the nearest human habitation, water turbidity (clear, semi-turbid or turbid) and water movement (stagnant waters or with some water movement). Permanent aquatic habitats were those that had water in all our field visits, while temporary ones were those that were completely dry on at least one visit. Sun exposure for each habitat was categorized as (i) mostly sun-exposed sites if between 75 and 100% of the tEBA of the larval habitat was exposed to the sun for a reasonable amount of time; (ii) partially exposed to the sun if between 25 and 75% of the tEBA was exposed to sunlight; and (iii) shaded if less than 25% of the tEBA was exposed to direct sunlight. Typically, water bodies of this last category were under dense forest cover, and little or no sunlight reached their tEBA. The distance from each larval habitat to the nearest dwelling was calculated using the BaseCamp software (Garmin, Olathe, KS, USA). Turbidity was determined by collecting a small sample from the water surface layer with a crystal pot and determining the visibility of two differential density black lines drawn on a white paper and placed on the far side of the pot. If both lines were visible, only the thickest or none of them, we classified water turbidity as clear, semi-turbid or turbid, respectively. Lastly, larval habitats classified with water movement presented some degree of current (longitudinal water movement) and some degree of constant water levels fluctuations due to its connection with a pulsing-system, such as riverbed pools or LAR directly connected to the river. We combined data for each species from the three communities to obtain a wider picture of anopheline ecological parameters within the Brazilian Yanomami Indian Reserve. All three areas are drained by low-order and clear water rivers, presented the same type of larval habitats and many species were common in the three areas. Separate analyses were done for each species that could be identified. We did not conduct any analyses on anopheline mosquitoes which we were unable to identify to species. All descriptive statistics were adjusted to estimate the number of larvae per 100 dips. We analyzed data using a negative binomial regression, which uses counts as the outcome variable and is appropriate for overdispersed data where many counts are zeros. We considered as a dependent variable the number of larvae adjusted for the number of dips, which worked as the model offset, correcting for the differences in the number of dips per larval habitat, which depended on the tEBA calculation per larval habitat in each survey . For An. darlingi, the outcome included the total number of all instars as L1-, and L2-instars of these species could easily be identified. For all other species, only the total number of L3- and L4-instars were included in analyses. We included in our final dataset a total of 711 data entries for analysis. Visits during which larval habitats were dry were excluded from the analysis, but the information was used for determining the seasonality of the habitat. We conducted univariate analyses for seven anopheline species from which we retrieved sufficient specimens and explored the effect of each environmental variable on mosquito densities independently. We then considered in multivariate regression models a continuous variable (distance from larval habitats to nearest Yanomami dwelling) and up to 6 categorical variables (association with flood pulses, seasonality, the degree of sun exposure, turbidity, water movement and presence of submersed macrophytes). As we detected strong effect modification between variables in the adjusted model for An. triannulatus (s.s.), an interaction term between seasonality and sun exposure was included in the analysis to obtain reliable outcomes. For An. triannulatus (s.s.) and Chagasia bonneae, only five variables were considered in the multivariate model as two variables had categories with no mosquitoes collected. Those comparisons with P < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. We entered the data into a database created using the Epi Info software (Epi Info™, Atlanta, GA, USA). For processing geo-data and LANDSAT images, we used ArcGIS software (ESRI, Redlands, CA, USA). Data management and statistical analyses were done using SAS software (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA). We collected a total of 9122 anopheline larvae (including all Anopheles spp. and Chagasia bonneae) from a total of 177 larval habitats, from where we performed 71,288 dips over the entire study period. We identified a total of 13 species, four species of the subgenus Nyssorhynchus [An. darlingi, An. oswaldoi (s.l.), An. triannulatus (s.s.) and An. nuneztovari (s.l.)], four species of the subgenus Anopheles (An. mattogrossensis, An. intermedius, An. guarao-like and An. costai-like), three species of subgenus Stethomyia (An. kompi, An. thomasi and An. nimbus), one member belonging to the Lophopodomyia subgenus (An. squamifemur) and one species of the genus Chagasia (Chagasia bonneae). Hereafter, we focus on the seven most abundant species collected. We identified a total of 1966 (21.6%) late-instar larvae (third and fourth stage) to species level. We were unable to identify at species level 5979 (65.5%) larvae (1970, 1949 and 2060 unidentified larvae in Toototobi, Parafuri and Marari, respectively), mainly because they were early instar (first and second stages) larvae and they were not An. darlingi. We also identified 1177 (12.9%) early instar An. darlingi larvae. The results of larvae collections stratified per Yanomami community are shown in Table 1. The results stratified by village are provided in Additional file 1: Table S1. We identified to species level 671 mosquitoes in Toototobi community. Anopheles oswaldoi (s.l.) (47.8%) was the most widely disseminated species and was the most abundant in three out of four villages, followed in overall counts by An. mattogrossensis (15.5%) and An. guarao-like (15.5%). In contrast, An. darlingi was the predominant species (53.3%) among the 763 anophelines identified in the hilly submontane rainforest area of Parafuri community, followed by An. triannulatus (s.s.) (21.4%) and An. oswaldoi (s.l.) (10.6%). Anopheles darlingi abundance was markedly heterogeneous amongst Parafuri community. One village accounted for 97.1% of all An. darlingi collections within Parafuri community, while this species was absent in two villages and collected in low densities in another (4.9%) and the vicinities of the Health Post (3.5%). In the third Yanomami community of Marari, we identified to species level 532 anophelines. Anopheles oswaldoi (s.l.) was again the predominant species (41.0%), followed by An. darling (18.0%). However, the An. darlingi/An. oswaldoi (s.l.) the ratio was heterogenous between villages. Anopheles triannulatus (s.s.) and An. nuneztovari (s.l.) were only collected in one village, the latter being found in very high densities. The total of anophelines collected in each type of larval habitat per community is shown in Table 2. We found substantial variability in the productivity of An. darlingi within OX and NOX between communities and villages. For example, only two L2 larvae of An. darlingi were collected during 19 months of sampling efforts in one shaded OX of Toototobi community. In contrast, a single mostly sun-exposed OX in Parafuri community accounted for 78.8% of An. darlingi (all instars) collections of this community. In Marari, An. darlingi was the second most abundant species collected in OX after An. oswaldoi (s.l.). Overall, An. darlingi was primarily found in the OX hydrological type with 67.7% of this species collected in OX. Anopheles oswaldoi (s.l.) was collected from all types of larval habitats, except rainfall pools. Anopheles triannulatus (s.s.) was almost exclusively collected in OX and NOX larval habitats. Anopheles mattogrossensis was more abundant in larval types associated with the river flood pulses, such as OX, NOX and FAAR. Anopheles guarao-like was found a wide variety of hydrological types in the three Yanomami areas and An. costai-like was also collected from different larval habitats, although in this case, larvae were more abundant in water bodies that were not associated with river flood pulses, such as FANAR, SFS and MFS. Chagasia bonneae were collected almost exclusively from water bodies with some degree of water movement, such as SFS, MFS and margins of low-order rivers. The other anophelines section of Table 2 included less frequent species such as An. nimbus, An. thomasi, An. kompi and An. squamifemur, which were collected from shaded SFS and FANAR larval habitats, An. intermedius which we found in OX and FAAR hydrological type and An. nuneztovari (s.l.) which was only collected from sun-exposed OX and co-occurring with other Nyssorhynchus species such as An. darlingi, An. oswaldoi (s.l.) and An. triannulatus (s.s.). Association of anopheline species with environmental factors The data for mean number of each anopheline species adjusted for 100 dips and their associations with the seven environmental factors considered in our analysis are presented in Table 3. Figure 2 provides a schematic distribution displaying the associations of the seven species considered for analysis with different combinations of larval habitat hydrological types and degree of sun exposure. For example, 76.3% of all An. darlingi were collected from OX that were classified as sun-exposed. The outcomes of the multivariate analyses for the 6 Anopheles spp. and Chagasia bonneae are summarized in Table 4. For species in the subgenus Nyssorhynchus, we found that An. darlingi occurrence was positively associated with proximity to Yanomami dwellings (Z = -4.10, P < 0.0001), larval habitats associated with river flood pulses (Z = -2.29, P = 0.022), aquatic habitats that were partially or mostly exposed to the sun (Z = -6.37, P < 0.0001) and clear or semi-turbid waters over turbid ones (Z = 3.20, P = 0.001 and Z = 2.00, P < 0.046, respectively). However, the univariate analysis also detected positive associations of An. darlingi with permanent water bodies (Z = 2.47, P = 0.014), with stagnant waters (Z = -8.83, P < 0.0001) and with the presence of submerged macrophytes (Z = -4.43, P < 0.0001). Anopheles oswaldoi (s.l.) showed preference only for larval habitats which were partially and mostly sun-exposed (Z = -2.20, P = 0.028) and for semi-turbid and turbid larval habitats (Z = -3.55, P = 0.0004). The univariate analysis also detected significantly more An. oswaldoi (s.l.) in larval habitats without water movement (Z = -2.22, P = 0.026) and the absence of submersed macrophytes (Z = 2.34, P = 0.02). Larvae of An. triannulatus (s.s.) were significantly associated with permanent larval habitats (Z = 2.23, P = 0.026) and with the presence of submersed macrophytes (Z = -5.82, P < 0.0001). The univariate model for this species indicated that larvae was negatively associated with proximity to human habitations (Z = 2.10, P = 0.036) and preferred water bodies that were mostly exposed to the sun compared to partially exposed ones (Z = -5.04, P < 0.0001). No larvae of An. triannulatus (s.s.) were collected from shaded water bodies, larval habitats not associated with river flood pulses and with water movement. Within the members of the Anopheles subgenus, significantly more larvae of An. mattogrossensis were found in larval habitats further from the human habitations (Z = 3.54, P = 0.0004), associated with flood pulses (Z = -2.96, P = 0.003), seasonal water bodies (Z = -3.85, P = 0.0001), mostly and partially sun-exposed (Z = -5.97, P < 0.0001), clear waters over turbid ones (Z = 2.20, P = 0.028) and without submersed macrophytes (Z = 1.97, P = 0.048). In univariate analyses, An. mattogrossensis was also positively associated with larval habitats without water movement (Z = -2.07, P = 0.038), and positive associations concerning the adjusted analysis were only retained for the preference of larval habitats associated with flood pulses and sun exposure. In the adjusted model for An. costai-like, only a significant association with larval habitats out of the reach of river flood pulses was detected (Z = 5.34, P < 0.0001). However, when considering the univariate analysis, An. costai-like was also significantly more abundant in seasonal larval habitats (Z = -2.75, P = 0.006), shaded larval habitats (Z = 2.84, P = 0.005) and water bodies without the presence of submerged macrophytes (Z = 2.64, P = 0.008). For An. guarao-like, the only variable explaining the occurrence of this species was its preference for shaded over mostly sun-exposed larval habitats (Z = 2.01, P = 0.045). In the univariate analysis, only stagnant larval habitats were positively associated with more larvae (Z = -2.34, P = 0.019). This species was never found in larval habitats with the presence of submersed macrophytes. Finally, Chagasia bonneae was positively associated with larval habitats closer to the Yanomami dwellings (Z = -2.18, P = 0.029), with river flood pulses (Z = -4.19, P < 0.0001) and with water movement (Z = 8.12, P < 0.0001). Nonetheless, contrarily to the adjusted model, the univariate analysis indicated positive associations with larval habitats not associated with river flood pulses (Z = 3.04, P = 0.002), permanent (Z = 2.14, P = 0.032) and shaded (Z = 2.48, P = 0.013). These results indicate a very strong modulating effect between variables for this species. During a two-year larval collection in the Brazilian Amazon, within low-order river-floodplain systems (first to fifth river order), An. darlingi was the second most abundant species only exceeded in numbers by An. oswaldoi (s.l.). In contrast, larvae of An. darlingi have been regarded as difficult to find. In Belize for example, no An. darlingi larvae were found over a two-year study . In the Zo’é Indian Reserve of Brazil, a total of 6392 adults of An. darlingi were collected while only 26 larvae were recorded during three field expeditions . Anopheles darlingi has been found in many different larval habitats, natural [13, 30,31,32,33,34] and man-made [13, 35] as well as from large and permanent to small and temporary water bodies . This species has been characterized by its adaptability to different and changing ecological environments . Microdams, which are sections of streams and rivers where water surface flow is obstructed by overhanging twigs or fallen stumps coupled with the accumulation of floating debris have been reported as important larval habitats for An. darlingi [30, 32, 34]. In the Suriname Rainforest, An. darlingi was associated with seasonally flooded forest areas from the river and rain waters . On the interior forested malaria-endemic area of Guyana, An. darlingi preferred waters found in forest streams, seepage swamps and larval rainwater habitats, while in the savannahs of the interior, lakes were reported as preferred larval habitats . On the other hand, in the coastal areas of Guyana, An. darlingi larval habitats included man-made water bodies such as irrigation canals, rice fields and flooded drains and ditches . Our results contrast with some of the previous observations of An. darlingi preference for certain larval habitats. For example, our immature anopheline collections were negative in the low-order rivers in the Toototobi and Parafuri areas. We believe this was because these river canals had no microenvironments suitable as anopheline larval habitats. These microenvironments would be represented by micro-dams within the 1 km upstream and downstream perimeter from each village. In the low-order rivers of Marari on the other hand, only a small number of anopheline larvae (including An. darlingi) were collected during the dry season, mainly in micro-dams exposed to sunlight created by fallen trees with floating debris, sunlight pools in the riverbed, and the edges of the river with emergent vegetation or filamentous algae. Nonetheless, although anopheline larvae were collected, low-order rivers were not considered primary anopheline larval habitats since these habitats, and the larvae collected, were present in low numbers. In Marari villages, LAR (and specially OX) within 1 km radius of each village constituted the main larval habitats for An. darlingi, An. triannulatus (s.s.), An. oswaldoi (s.l.) and An. nuneztovari (s.l.). OX were more frequently positive and had the highest densities of An. darlingi larvae compared to other hydrological types. Larval habitats similar to sun-exposed LAR were previously reported as primary larval habitats [23, 24, 38]. In the state of Bolivar in Venezuela, natural lagoons and artificial water bodies generated due to mining activities were considered the primary larval habitats for An. darlingi and An. marajoara . Lagoons (which could correspond to OX, NOX or FAAR in our classification) were major larval habitats for An. triannulatus and An. darlingi in the Venezuelan Yanomami area [23, 24]. In our study sun exposure was a major determinant of anopheline occurrence. We encountered significantly more An. darlingi in larval habitats mostly (1365 larvae) or partially sun-exposed (305 larvae) compared with shaded ones (10 larvae). Our findings corroborate other reports on Neotropical anophelines. Galvão et al. emphasized that exposure to the sun was a major factor that governed An. darlingi occurrence and reported that in shaded forest larval habitats, specimens of this vector were absent. However, if the same area suffered deforestation and exposed some parts of the previously fully shaded larval habitats to the sun, these new exposed spots became productive larval habitats for An. darlingi while adjacent shaded areas continued to be unsuitable for this species. Deane et al. also reported few larvae of An. darlingi collected from shaded areas, and that vector preferred areas intensively exposed to the sun. Vittor et al. conducted a larvae ecology study in the Amazon region of Peru. They found that larval habitats with < 70% of their water surface covered in the shade were nearly twice as likely to have An. darling than water bodies with > 70% of their surface covered in the shade. However, An. darlingi preference for shaded larval habitats were also observed . In the Brazilian Amazon, shade seemed to be a major driver for An. darlingi proliferation in micro dam larval habitats and fishponds close to houses. Remote indigenous communities in the Amazon are typically located in ecologically conserved areas where most of the anthropogenic impacts are in the form of subsistence agriculture near their huts where the forest is cut down and previously shaded larval habitats may be exposed to sunlight and potentially become larval habitats for An. darlingi. This was observed in small, ephemeral and sun-exposed RP in Parafuri and a sun-exposed SFS segment in Marari. In Marari besides micro deforestation for agriculture purposes, an airstrip construction created suitable habitats for An. darlingi, demonstrating the importance of small-scale landscape modifications. Forested fully shaded SFS and RP had no An. darlingi larvae during our study. In addition to sunlight, the presence of certain subtypes of supportive EBA, such as submersed macrophytes, emergent vegetation, filamentous algae, water body margins with leafs or debris or clusters of floating debris inside LAR (further away from LAR’s shoreline) are necessary to support An. darlingi breeding. In the univariate analysis, both sunlight and submersed macrophytes were positively associated with An. darlingi. However, sunlight was the predominant factor in the multivariate analysis. The lack of significance for vegetation and An. darlingi presence in the multivariate analysis was likely due to collinearity between sun exposure and these other explanatory variables. Anopheles darlingi larvae have been collected in areas with current water such as the edges of small rivers and canals [42, 43]. Although water movement was not a predictive factor in our multivariate model for An. darlingi, our unadjusted analysis indicated an association of this species with stagnant waters (conditions found in OX and NOX that disconnect seasonally from rivers). However, we also found a few An. darlingi larvae within streams and low-order rivers with low water movement. Anopheles darlingi is believed not to thrive in turbid or polluted waters . Although we found significantly more An. darlingi larvae in clear waters, a few larvae were also collected in turbid LAR waters during its low-waters phase. Anopheles darlingi was previously reported in large, bare, and muddy road-pools . Our data further indicated that An. darlingi was the only species in which densities were significantly higher in larval habitats closer to the Yanomami huts, suggesting a dependency on human blood. In a recent study in the Western Amazon, the same was observed with higher densities of An. darlingi in fishponds within 100 m of houses and an absence of malaria cases in places > 900 m from fishponds . However, An. darlingi in the Lacandon forest of South México was found to be significantly more abundant in larval habitats away from human habitations . Differences reported in the characteristics of An. darlingi larval habitats in the various studies might be due to An. darlingi genetic variability [46, 47] and local adaptation . However, marked differences have also been reported in populations without clear biogeographical barriers such as our findings of an association of An. darlingi larvae with sun-exposed larval habitats and the shaded larval habitat preference reported in Southern Roraima state . Different observations could also be due to how sun exposure is defined by different investigators as open pools surrounded by vegetation may experience some shading for certain parts of the day. Differences reported in the larval ecology of An. darlingi could also be due to differences in sampling methodology. Primary An. darlingi habitats such as OX which are relatively large and intrinsically complex pose serious sampling challenges, including accessibility for all EBA subtypes. Some authors have emphasized that in their studies, only accessible margins of water bodies were sampled for An. darlingi occurrence [35, 45, 49]. We found An. darlingi larvae mainly in OX and NOX hydrological types, which required the use of a small inflatable boat to access most EBA subtypes within the larval habitat. In fact, we found most An. darlingi larvae in EBA subtypes that were not accessible from the LAR perimeter (Sánchez-Ribas J, unpublished data). Different conclusions regarding the association between environmental factors and An. darlingi would have been obtained if we had not used the inflatable boat in our study. We and other authors [26, 48, 49] warn against the strategy of focusing the sampling on the margins of aquatic habitats and advocate for extending the collections to other EBA subtypes within larval habitats. To circumvent this problem, we have recently proposed a standardized sampling methodology, which may be applicable in size variable and intrinsically complex Neotropical larval sites . Anopheles oswaldoi (s.l.) showed marked ecological plasticity being found in almost all hydrological types and all villages of the three Yanomami communities. Anopheles oswaldoi (s.l.) is a complex composed of at least three different species, i.e. An. oswaldoi (s.s.), An. oswaldoi A and An. oswaldoi B that are widely distributed in South America and have been found in a wide range of larval habitats, with a marked tolerance of different degrees of sun exposure, turbidity and larval habitat sizes . Anopheles oswaldoi (s.l.) was also the most common species collected as larvae, followed by An. triannulatus and An. darlingi during the dry season in partially shaded and shallow lagoons in the Yanomami area of Ocamo, Venezuela and the nearby Ye’kuana and Sanema indigenous areas of southeastern Venezuela . In a littoral area of the northeastern Sucre State of Venezuela, An. oswaldoi (s.l.) was primarily found in permanent and vegetated ponds of freshwater and non-vegetated canals . Anopheles oswaldoi (s.l.) was associated with heavily shaded swamps in Panama . Molecular analysis (cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene, cox1) on adult mosquitoes detected the co-occurrence of An. oswaldoi B, An. oswaldoi sp. nr. A and a single specimen which did not match with any of this other two groups (Sánchez-Ribas J, unpublished data). High ecological plasticity detected for An. oswaldoi (s.l.) larvae could be partially explained by potential bionomic differences between members of this species complex that co-occur in the Brazilian Yanomami Indian Reserve. Preferred larval habitats of An. triannulatus have been described as partial sun-exposed water bodies associated with emergent, submerged or floating macrophytes such as freshwater swamps, permanent ponds, lakes, ditches and river margins but also in seasonal water bodies such as rock holes, small ground pools and animal tracks . Anopheles triannulatus was classified as a habitat generalist in a study conducted in the Roraima and Pará States of Brazil, with a widespread local distribution without clear environmental associations . In the Pantanal region of Brazil, the three sibling species of the An. triannulatus complex, An. triannulatus (s.s.), An. halophylus and An. triannulatus species C, were associated with large floodplain water bodies, most of them permanent . Although An. triannulatus (s.s.) and An. halophylus exploited similar water bodies, they differed in their salinity tolerance, with the former species found in fresh waters and the latter in brackish water bodies . Anopheles triannulatus (s.s.) is present in Central and South America while An. halophylus and An. triannulatus C has only been found in a geographically restricted area of central-western Brazil . All specimens collected by us were identified as An. triannulatus (s.s.) and found almost exclusively in partially or mostly sun-exposed permanent larval habitats, without water movement and strongly associated with submerged macrophytes. Previous reports also showed An. triannulatus (s.s.) significantly associated with less shaded with submerged macrophytes lagoons in the Yanomami Venezuelan area of Ocamo and also in Venezuela, An. triannulatus was found in dry season river bed pools and clusters of floating vegetation during the rainy season . However, no An. triannulatus (s.s.) larvae were collected by us in SFS or MFS and river canal-related larval habitats. Although An. mattogrossensis has been incriminated as a secondary malaria vector in Brazil , few data have been published regarding its bionomics, particularly on the ecology of its immature forms. Anopheles mattogrossensis is a species of the subgenus Anopheles, and its larval habitats were more similar to species of the subgenus Nyssorynchus such as An. triannulatus (s.s.) and An. darlingi rather than with the other species of its subgenus (e.g. An. guarao-like and An. costai-like). Anopheles mattogrossensis was more likely to be found in partially or mostly sun-exposed larval habitats. Specimens morphologically identified as An.costai-like were found in shaded larval habitats not associated with river flood pulses. Larval habitats exploited by An. guarao-like were similar to those of An. oswadoi (s.l.), being collected in all types of water bodies but with a preference for shaded water bodies. Even for the most generalist species found in our study area, An. oswaldoi (s.s.) and An. guarao-like, a significant predictor of larvae occurrence was sun exposure. The taxonomic status of An. costai-like and An.guarao-like remain unresolved, and therefore we were unable to compare our data with previously published studies. Work is underway to elucidate the formal identities of species classified as An. costai-like and An. guarao-like in the present publication. Finally, Chagasia bonneae was associated with larval habitats that were predominantly shaded (univariate analysis), without submersed macrophytes and with some degree of water movement. These characteristics were found mainly in shaded SFS and MFS and also in shaded or partially exposed margins of low-order rivers. Filamentous algae were usually absent from SFS and MFS. In Venezuela, this species has been collected from stream edges with algae and partially exposed to the sun . In the Zo’é Indian Reserve of Brazil, a dense Amazonian forested area traversed by the low-order Cuminipanema river, Chagasia bonneae was the most common species collected as immatures, although the preferred hydrological type of this species was not specified . Another member of the genus, Chagasia bathana, was found in shaded running streams, mainly in areas of slowed current due to projected roots into the streams as well as within debris and dead leaves of side pools of streams . Our study had a number of limitations that should be considered when interpreting the results. A major challenge for any quantitative study of the larval ecology of mosquitoes is the difficulty in reliably sampling larvae. For this study, a rigorous sampling methodology was followed in all larval habitat types and attempted to sample all EBA subtypes within the habitat, including those EBA distant from the shoreline of large larval habitats that are normally out of reach. Data such as physicochemical measures of temperature, pH, total dissolved salts (TDS), conductivity and dissolved oxygen were not included in the uni- and multivariate regression models since we were unable to measure them reliably during the whole study period. Additionally, our sun exposure classification did not take into account the amount of time that each segment of EBA subtype was exposed to direct sunlight. Also, we were unable to identify and consider for statistical analysis first and second instars for all species, except An. darlingi. Molecular taxonomic analyses were not conducted on larvae and several mosquitoes identified in this study are known to be complexes of species. Molecular studies to identify these mosquitoes are ongoing. Small samples sizes for Chagasia bonneae (only 41 specimens) may have led to spurious results, such as the observation that Chagasia bonneae densities were higher in larval habitats located closer to the Yanomami huts while only three adult specimens of Chagasia bonneae were sampled in all collections highlighting a low anthropophilic biting profile. We identified high heterogeneity in species composition and larval densities between Yanomami communities and villages. This variability was explained by the different availability of larval habitats with different intrinsic characteristics at a micro-scale level. We confirmed that LAR, and especially sun-exposed OX, were key for the maintenance of local malaria vector populations of An. darlingi, An. triannulatus (s.s.), An. oswaldoi (s.l.) and An. mattogrossensis. Sun exposure was a major modulator for the occurrence of the majority of anophelines. Anopheles darlingi thrived in those few spots which were exposed to sunlight within an overwhelmingly predominant shaded forest environment. In this study, natural larval habitats of An. darlingi in remote indigenous areas located within low-order river-floodplain systems represent an excellent opportunity to incorporate feasible and sustainable LSM approaches. Targeting immature anophelines may be a cost-effective intervention in some specific resilient malaria hotspots of remote indigenous areas of the Amazon basin and Central America. Finally, more information on the ecology of Neotropical anopheline immature forms is needed in other settings, particularly for An. darlingi, to better understand the key environmental drivers that may modulate the occurrence of the main malaria vector of the Amazon basin. 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Contribution of fish farming ponds to the production of immature Anopheles spp. in a malaria-endemic Amazonian town. Malar J. 2015;14:452. Villarreal-Treviño C, Penilla-Navarro RP, Vazquez-Martinez MG, Moo-Llanes DA, Ríos-Delgado JC, Fernández-Salas I, et al. Larval habitat characterization of Anopheles darlingi from its northernmost geographical distribution in Chiapas, Mexico. Malar J. 2015;14:517. Emerson KJ, Conn JE, Bergo ES, Randel MA, Sallum MA. Brazilian Anopheles darlingi root (Diptera: Culicidae) clusters by major biogeographical region. PLoS One. 2015;10:e0130773. Conn JE, Ribolla PE. Ecology of Anopheles darlingi, the primary malaria vector in the Americas and current nongenetic methods of vector control. In: Adelman ZN, editor. Genetic control of malaria and dengue. London: Elsevier Science; 2015. p. 81–102. Rufalco-Moutinho P, Schweigmann N, Bergamaschi DP, Mureb Sallum MA. Larval habitats of Anopheles species in a rural settlement on the malaria frontier of southwest Amazon, Brazil. Acta Trop. 2016;164:243–58. Ruiz-Lopez F, Wilkerson RC, Ponsonby DJ, Herrera M, Sallum MA, Velez ID, et al. Systematics of the oswaldoi complex (Anopheles, Nyssorhynchus) in South America. Parasit Vectors. 2013;6:324. Grillet ME. Factors associated with distribution of Anopheles aquasalis and Anopheles oswaldoi (Diptera: Culicidae) in a malarious area, northeastern Venezuela. J Med Entomol. 2000;37:231–8. Komp WHW. The anopheline mosquitoes of the Caribbean region. In: National Institute of Health Bulletin, vol. 179. Washington; 1942. Silva-do-Nascimento TF, Lourenco-de-Oliveira R. Diverse population dynamics of three Anopheles species belonging to the Triannulatus complex (Diptera: Culicidae). Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 2007;102:975–82. McKeon SN, Schlichting CD, Povoa MM, Conn JE. Ecological suitability and spatial distribution of five Anopheles species in Amazonian Brazil. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2013;88:1079–86. Silva do Nascimento TF, Lourenco-de-Oliveira R. Anopheles halophylus, a new species of the subgenus Nyssorhynchus (Diptera: Culicidae) from Brazil. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 2002;97:801–11. Moreno JE, Rubio-Palis Y, Sánchez V, Martínez A. Fluctuación poblacional y hábitat larval de anofelinos en el municipio Sifontes, estado Bolívar, Venezuela. Bol Malariol Salud Ambiental. 2015;55:52–68. Tadei WP, Dutary Thatcher B. Malaria vectors in the Brazilian Amazon: Anopheles of the subgenus Nyssorhynchus. Rev Inst Med Trop Sao Paulo. 2000;42:87–94. Berti J, Guzman H, Estrada Y, Ramirez R. New records of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) from Bolivar state in south eastern Venezuela, with 27 new species for the state and 5 of them new in the country. Front Public Health. 2014;2:268. We are especially grateful to the Yanomami people for their great welcoming and for allowing us to perform larvae collections around their villages, their invaluable assistance in locating larval habitats and general logistical support. We also thank the health personnel of the Distrito Sanitário Especial Indígena Yanomami for overall support during field work, Dr Ricardo Lourenço de Oliveira for his valuable comments on the manuscript and Ryan Wiegand for providing statistical advice. This study was supported by grants from CNPq (grant number 479559/2013–9) and FAPERJ (grant number E-26/110.803). These funding bodies did not participate in the design of the study and collection, analysis, interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript. Availability of data and materials The datasets analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its additional files. The present study was approved by the CONEP Central Ethics Committee in Brasilia (CONEP n° 16,907). Also, an initial meeting was held in each Yanomami village, including their representatives, to fully explain the objectives, methods and risks of the study. We sought for approval in each village. Consent for publication The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Disclaimer: The opinions or assertions contained in this manuscript are the private ones of the authors and are not to be construed as official or reflecting the views of the U.S. Public Health Service or Department of Health and Human Services. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by U.S. Public Health Service or Department of Health and Human Services. Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. About this article Cite this article Sánchez-Ribas, J., Oliveira-Ferreira, J., Gimnig, J.E. et al. Environmental variables associated with anopheline larvae distribution and abundance in Yanomami villages within unaltered areas of the Brazilian Amazon. Parasites Vectors 10, 571 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-017-2517-6
Dogs can get the flu, too. And just like human influenza, it’s highly contagious. According to the American Veterinary Medical Foundation, the canine flu has two different strains: H3N8 and H3N2. In 2004, canine H3N8 influenza was identified in Florida in greyhounds. This strain has been the culprit in sick dogs in most states across the country. Canine H3N2 influenza was first identified in 2015 when an outbreak of the strain was detected in dogs in Chicago. Previously, H3N2 was only found in in South Korea, China and Thailand. The spread of this season’s canine flu outbreak is charted on the below map. As you can see, it’s everywhere with the exception (so far) of North Dakota and Nebraska. Compared to 2007, you can see why dog owners should be concerned. Transmission and Symptoms Canine flu is spread from infected dogs by doing the things that dogs naturally do: barking; interacting with other pups; sneezing; coming in contact with contaminated surfaces like toys, bowls, and leashes; and being around people who are in contact with infected dogs. - Persistent Cough - Thick nasal discharge - Fever (from 104° to 105°) - Eye discharge - Loss of appetite According to the CDC, the severity of the flu can range from a mild illness with no symptoms to pneumonia and death, though very few dogs die from the flu (less than 10 percent, according to the AVMA). It may take as long as two to three weeks to recover, but if your dog develops a secondary infection, it could lead to pneumonia. If your dog has any of these symptoms, take him immediately to your veterinarian. When is your dog contagious? Like many human diseases, canine flu is most contagious when the virus is incubating, usually a two- to four-day period when your dog shows no symptoms. That explains how it has spread so widely. Virtually all dogs exposed to the canine flu will become infected. Protecting your dog from the flu If you take your dog to dog parks, boarding or day care, there is an increased risk for infection. While you may not want to deprive your pup of doggie playtime, you can get him vaccinated. The vaccination partially protects against both strains of flu. Of course, like any vaccine, there’s lots of controversy. The canine influenza vaccination does not necessarily prevent your dog from getting the flu. Some doctors believe it can harm your dog’s immune system and make them sick. And there is a risk of side effects, such as fatigue, fever and vomiting. On the other hand, the vaccine can reduce the severity and length of the illness. If your dog is around a lot of other dogs often, vaccination may be worth considering. Talk to your veterinarian and do your research to make an informed decision about vaccinating against the flu. Other more natural ways to protect your dog include: - Keep them away from other dogs during the flu season - Wash your hands after touching other dogs - Change your clothes after contact with other dogs - Disinfect any hard surface that another dog has had contact with including toys and bowls - Wait outside the veterinarian’s waiting room (in the street or a car) until your dog is called - Take your dog to your vet immediately if you notice any symptoms Treating a dog with the flu The first thing to do is this: Don’t go crazy! Very few dogs die from the flu. Treat your dog like you would treat yourself. Make sure he gets plenty of rest in a quiet space and drinks a lot of water. Feed him high quality, healthy food and treats to tempt him to eat. If a lack of appetite persists, you can give your dog a high calorie nutritious supplement like Nutri-Cal, or your vet may prescribe something. Keep his eyes and nose clean using cotton balls and warm water. If he’s lying around a lot, provide him with extra padding or an orthopedic bed. Keep him cozy — not too warm and not too cold. Your vet may give your pup a course of antibiotics to prevent secondary infection. If he isn’t drinking, your vet may also recommend some intravenous fluid therapy. You can easily administer subcutaneous fluids at home if necessary. It can take several weeks for your dog to recover completely. Monitor his improvement. If a week goes by without any progress, or if he appears to get worse, take him back to your veterinarian.
Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2013.10.18 Jerry Toner, Roman Disasters. Cambridge; Malden, MA: Polity Press, 2013. Pp. ix, 220. ISBN 9780745651026. $25.00. Reviewed by Jane Draycott, University of Wales Trinity Saint David (email@example.com) Jerry Toner’s stated aim with Roman Disasters is to provide ‘a broad and innovative treatment of [disasters] in ancient Rome … in a way that is easily accessible to as wide a readership as possible, without sacrificing conceptual or empirical rigour’ (p. iix), and to show how the Romans ‘reacted to, thought about and used …disastrous events in their history’ (p. 17). To an extent he succeeds, although his approach is not without its problems. Chapter One (What is a Disaster?) attempts to offer a definition of disasters in order to establish the parameters of the study going forward. Toner acknowledges the potential difficulties in approaching disasters in the ancient world. For example, he notes that although Roman definitions of disasters were not dissimilar to ours, the Romans were most concerned with human/man-made ones, a concern reflected in the terminology used: clades, calamitas, casus, pestis. Chapter Two (Rome’s Disasters) neatly demonstrates the variability of ancient disasters, describing some of the most significant of those that occurred during the Roman Republic and Empire, encompassing military defeats, fires, an amphitheatre collapse, natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, environmental disasters such as deforestation, and the Third Century Crisis. This chapter was designed to mitigate the monograph’s thematic approach, it might therefore have profitably been still more extensive, offering more in-depth case studies of selected disastrous events that occurred throughout the period under investigation, incorporating both literary and archaeological evidence, and reviewing the existing scholarship on them. Chapter Three (The Disaster Experience) uses firsthand accounts from a range of ancient literary and epigraphic sources to try and give some sense of both what it was like to experience a disaster in Roman society and how people reacted to them both at the time (e.g. panic, immobility, flight, compassion) and subsequently (e.g. looking for opportunities for financial gain, turning to or away from religion). It cautions that while ancient accounts can be quite vivid when it comes to describing how people felt, they are somewhat less helpful when it comes to offering facts and figures. Chapter Four (Dealing with the Aftermath) explores the strategies that the Romans turned to in dealing with the after effects of disasters, and questions whether disasters forced profound social transformations and cultural adaptations. It notes that ultimately Roman society was extremely resilient despite the fact that the authorities had no tried and tested approach to dealing with disasters, no standardised disaster relief, and whether any relief was offered at all ultimately depended upon the emperor or the elite. Chapter Five (Thinking about Disaster) examines how the Romans explained and interpreted disasters, focussing primarily upon religion in general and Christianity in particular, and the opportunities that were provided as a result. Chapter Six (A Culture of Risk) assesses how the very structure of Roman society contributed to the occurrence of disasters, their severity, and their impact, exploring who was most vulnerable, the nature of risk and risk management, and the role of luck. Chapter Seven (Narratives of Disaster) investigates the rhetoric of disasters, showing how the events of a disaster could be fitted into a variety of narrative forms in order to give them a specific purpose. Chapter Eight (Inflicting Catastrophe) examines how the Romans inflicted disaster upon other ancient societies, primarily through the means of making war upon them. Chapter Nine (The Psychological Impact) queries the extent to which people that experienced disasters in the ancient world suffered psychological trauma as a result, and surveys their coping mechanisms. Chapter Ten (Roman Disasters in Context) explores the possibilities offered by looking at Roman disasters in a broader context, by directly comparing them with the disasters experienced by other societies, and culminates in a brief examination of the reception of the eruption of Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii by way of illustration. Roman Disasters relies predominantly upon literary evidence, and a significant proportion of this is extremely late and overwhelmingly Christian in outlook, which potentially poses a problem regarding the viability of reconstructing ‘Roman’ attitudes rather than ‘Byzantine’ or even just ‘Christian’ ones from it. The exclusion of Galen’s On the Avoidance of Grief, is hard to understand, as including this would have considerably strengthened discussions of a variety of issues ranging from Roman disaster preparedness, to the economic impact of disasters, to the psychological impact of disasters, to the fire of AD 192 itself. This questionable selection of literary evidence is mitigated through the utilisation of archaeological evidence only very occasionally, and the archaeological evidence that is incorporated is done so more for illustrative purposes than as a means of offering insight or assisting with analysis. When archaeological evidence is included, it is not considered in a sufficiently rigorous way and references are not given so as to allow readers to engage with it themselves (e.g. coins found in the Forum that were apparently dropped during the Great Fire in AD 64 [p. 32 ]). There are also a number of occasions where it would have been helpful to incorporate archaeological evidence to strengthen rather general assertions (e.g. when discussing how people responded to disasters, whether they panicked or tried to escape, why not refer to the numerous examples of individuals doing exactly that recovered from Pompeii and assess the belongings they chose to take with them, rather than the poem Aetna (p. 41)? When discussing fires, why not utilise sites such as Colchester or London not just for evidence of the event, but also the subsequent rebuilding (p. 54)? When discussing Roman military defeats, why not incorporate human skeletal remains or commemorative inscriptions for the Battle of Teutoburg Forest (p. 183-4)? This reluctance to engage with archaeological evidence also affects the illustrations, which while being good quality black and white photographs, are let down by captions which offer no useful information at all regarding the date, provenance, or context of the objects depicted. Considering that the monograph is aimed at a general audience, this is rather unhelpful and potentially very confusing. Also, the selection process seems to have been rather hit and miss, resulting in some rather irrelevant choices (e.g. a well-known first century BC-AD funerary procession relief from Amiternum is included to show what did not happen during disasters [p. 40]!). Roman Disasters is primarily concerned with examining the concept of disaster, rather than the actual disasters that occurred during the period of the Roman Republic and Empire into the Byzantine Empire through approaching each different type of disaster separately and examining the evidence for it in its entirety. Thus the monograph progresses thematically and shows how the Romans reacted to, thought about, and used disasters and as a result some of the chapters work well (e.g. Chapter 9: The Psychological Impact), others less so (e.g. Chapter 2: Rome’s Disasters). In view of this, a study that integrates both approaches is clearly a desideratum. Yet on balance this work certainly serves a purpose, particularly for readers encountering this aspect of antiquity for the first time, offering a useful counterpoint to pre-existing works on Roman disasters, which tend to focus on one particular type or specific event, and opening up a number of areas for potential future investigations. It is written in an informal and accessible style, it introduces numerous works of ancient literature that non-specialists are unlikely to be familiar with, and the bibliography consists primarily of English language scholarship published within the last decade, so it will serve undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as more general readership, reasonably well as an introduction not just to the disasters experienced by the ancient Romans, but what these disasters reveal about ancient Roman society as a whole. It would be a useful addition to any university or college library.
The Problem: Climate change, together with habitat loss/fragmentation and invasion of non-native species, poses profound challenges for conservation in montane ecosystems, with substantial risks to ecosystem integrity and the viability of native species. Scientific Foundations for Conservation: The Creekside Center for Earth Observation is working to assess ecological impacts of climate change and develop conservation plans for montane ecosystems. Global climate change translates locally into corresponding shifts of microclimate gradients, with potential habitat for some species increasing and for others decreasing. For example, distributions of plant species such as big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), currently most common in warmer, drier habitat of lower elevations, are expanding in higher elevation microsites as temperature rises. At the same time, populations of higher-elevation species are becoming more fragmented and shifting from south-facing slopes to cooler north-facing slopes. Microclimate shifts also cause additional non-linear, cross-scale changes in processes such as fire cycles and pathogen outbreaks. Elements of Conservation: - Habitat characterization: map current habitat using microclimatic models of key conditions (temperature, precipitation, solar exposure, soil moisture, etc.); - Habitat changes: evaluate shifts in microclimate maps based on likely climate change scenarios; - Biotic responses: predict shifts in distribution of native species likely to result from microclimate shifts - Conservation planning: develop management and mitigation plans to protect montane biodiversity and ecosystem services under future climatic conditions; - Education and outreach: communicate with diverse audiences (public, landholders, resource managers, decision makers, elected officials, etc.) through various media (press, field tours, web sites, briefing papers, presentations, brochures, etc.)
\|Locus\|\|Chr. 12 q23.2\| Melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) is a cyclic 19-amino acid orexigenic hypothalamic peptide originally isolated from the pituitary gland of teleost fish, where it controls skin pigmentation. In mammals it is involved in the regulation of feeding behavior, mood, sleep-wake cycle and energy balance. - 1 Structure - 2 Tissue distribution - 3 Activation and deactivation - 4 Function - 5 Clinical significance - 6 History - 7 See also - 8 References - 9 External links MCH is a cyclic 19-amino acid neuropeptide, as it is a polypeptide chain that is able to act as a neurotransmitter. MCH neurons are mainly concentrated in the lateral hypothalamic area, zona incerta, and the incerto-hypothalamic area, but they are also located, in much smaller amounts, in the paramedian potine reticular formation (PPRF), medial preoptic area, laterodorsal tegmental nucleus, and the olfactory tubercle. MCH is activated by binding to two G-coupled protein receptors (GCPRs), MCHR1 and MCHR2. MCHR2 has only been identified in certain species such as humans, dogs, ferrets, and rhesus monkeys, while other mammals such as rodents and rabbits do not have the receptor. MCH is cleaved from prepro-MCH (ppMCH), a 165 amino acid polypeptide which also contains the neuropeptides GE and EI. MCH has also been found in peripheral structures outside of the brain. Both the spleen and thymus have shown significant levels of MCH in mammals in multiple studies. The bloodstream seems to carry MCH around the body in mammals as well, though it is a very amount in humans.[clarification needed] MCH is found in the laterodorsal tegmental nucleus solely in female brains in rat models. MCH has also only been found in the medial preoptic area and the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus during lactation. Activation and deactivation MCH neurons depolarize in response to high glucose concentrations. This mechanism seems to be related to glucose being used as a reactant to form ATP, which also causes MCH neurons to depolarize. The neurotransmitter, glutamate, also causes MCH neurons to depolarize, while another neurotransmitter, GABA, causes MCH neurons to hyperpolarize. Orexin also depolarizes MCH neurons. MCH neurons seems to have an inhibitory response to MCH, but does not cause the neurons to become hyperpolarized. Norepinephrine has an inhibitory effect on MCH neurons as does acetylcholine. MCH neurons hyperpolarize in response to serotonin. Cannabinoids have an excitatory effect on MCH neurons. Some research has shown that dopamine has an inhibitory effect on MCH neurons, but further research is needed to fully characterize this interaction. MCH and the hormone orexin have an antagonistic relationship with one another with regards to the sleep cycle, with orexin being almost entirely active during wake periods and MCH being more active during sleep periods. MCH also promotes sleep, and within a sleep period increased levels of MCH seem to increase the amount of time spent in REM sleep and slow waves sleep. Increased levels of MCH can also increase the amount of time spent in both REM and NREM, which in turn increases total sleep duration. Increased levels of sugar promotes MCH and its effect on sleep and conserving energy. The presence of MCH in specific locations solely during lactation is thought to help to promote maternal behavior in individuals. Eating behaviors and energy conservation An increased presence of MCH can cause increased eating levels and has been linked to an increase in body mass. Inversely, a decrease in the amount of MCH present can cause decreased levels in eating. Increased amounts of MCH in olfactory regions, among others, have also been linked to an increased intake of fatty foods with high caloric content. Food that is found to taste good also seems to promote MCH, which reinforces the eating of that food. Sugar, specifically glucose, seems to promote MCH's role in sleep and energy conservation. This promoting of energy conservation has also been linked to higher body mass even when diet is controlled. It has been postulated that MCH has a modulatory role with the release of Luteinizing Hormone (LH) either by directly interacting acting on the pituitary gland or indirectly by affecting Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GNRH) in the hypothalamus. Estrogen seems to be necessary in order for MCH to affect reproduction. Though MCH was initially discovered for its role of determining the pigmentation in fish, trying to determine MCH's role in skin pigmentation in mammals has been much more difficult to determine. However, MCHR1 has been found in human melanocytes and some melanoma cells, so MCH is able to bind to these cells as well as keratinocytes though they do not express MCHR1. In melanocytes, MCH seems to have an antagonistic relationship with α-MSH, and decreased melanin production. Though, more information is needed to fully understand MCH's relationship with skin pigmentation in mammals. While MCH does promote sleep, there has been no research that links MCH to narcolepsy. Research has instead found that in individuals with narcolepsy there is a decrease in orexin neurons, which would promote wakefulness, while the number of MCH neurons do not vary from the average non-narcoleptic individual. Depression and anxiety Interactions between MCH and chemokines/cytokines that lead to an overall decrease in MCH release and neuron excitability has been linked with infection-induced anorexia. Chemokines and cytokines often appear as the result of inflammation or infection, and they can then damage MCH neurons, which can lead to anorexia in an individual. MCH has been identified in both melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma cell lines. However, pro-MCH, a precursor to MCH, has not been found in melanocytes, keratinocytes, or fibroblasts, which might indicate MCH might be brought into these cells by macrophages as part of the immune response. More research is needed to fully determine and understand any relationship between MCH and possible immune responses in skin. MCH was initially discovered in the teleost fish; it was found to help determine the fish's skin color. Later, a mammalian version of MCH was discovered in rats, where most of the functions and localizations are conserved across mammalian species. - Melanin-concentrating hormone receptor (MCHR) - Melanin-concentrating hormone receptor 1 (MCHR1) - Melanin-concentrating hormone receptor 2 (MCHR2) - Orexin (OX) - Barson JR, Morganstern I, Leibowitz SF (2013). "Complementary roles of orexin and melanin-concentrating hormone in feeding behavior". International Journal of Endocrinology. 2013: 983964. doi:10.1155/2013/983964. PMC 3727095. PMID 23935621. - Verret L, Goutagny R, Fort P, Cagnon L, Salvert D, Léger L, Boissard R, Salin P, Peyron C, Luppi PH (September 2003). "A role of melanin-concentrating hormone producing neurons in the central regulation of paradoxical sleep". BMC Neuroscience. 4 (19): 19. doi:10.1186/1471-2202-4-19. PMC 201018. PMID 12964948. - Ferreira JG, Bittencourt JC, Adamantidis A (June 2017). "Melanin-concentrating hormone and sleep". Current Opinion in Neurobiology. 44: 152–158. doi:10.1016/j.conb.2017.04.008. PMID 28527391. - Bittencourt JC (June 2011). "Anatomical organization of the melanin-concentrating hormone peptide family in the mammalian brain". General and Comparative Endocrinology. 172 (2): 185–97. doi:10.1016/j.ygcen.2011.03.028. PMID 21463631. - Guyon A, Conductier G, Rovere C, Enfissi A, Nahon JL (November 2009). "Melanin-concentrating hormone producing neurons: Activities and modulations". Peptides. 30 (11): 2031–9. doi:10.1016/j.peptides.2009.05.028. PMID 19524001. - Naufahu J, Cunliffe AD, Murray JF (November 2013). "The roles of melanin-concentrating hormone in energy balance and reproductive function: Are they connected?". Reproduction. 146 (5): R141–50. doi:10.1530/REP-12-0385. PMID 23884861. - Kemp EH, Weetman AP (November 2009). "Melanin-concentrating hormone and melanin-concentrating hormone receptors in mammalian skin physiopathology". Peptides. 30 (11): 2071–5. doi:10.1016/j.peptides.2009.04.025. PMID 19442695.
The original World Trade Center was a large complex of seven buildings in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. It featured landmark twin towers, which opened on April 4, 1973, and were ...... The twin towers of the World Trade Center were more than just buildings. They were proof of New York's belief in itself. Built at a time when New York's future ... The Twin Towers were the centerpieces of the World Trade Center complex. At 110 stories ... The other buildings were built over the next 14 years. In February ... The World Trade Center was more than its signature twin towers: it was a complex of seven buildings on 16-acres, constructed ... Designed to be very tall to maximize the area of the plaza, the towers were initially to rise to only 80-90 Today a new complex is rising at the site, known as the 'new WTC'. ... The two towers were different in height: the first one, built in 1972, reached a height of 417 Architectural firm REX to design Performing Arts Center at WTC. ACWTC Chairman John Zuccotti and President/Director Maggie Boepple today announced the ... www.ask.com/youtube?q=Why Were the Twin Towers Built?&v=5vgB8pckjUQ Jan 17, 2013 ... It featured landmark twin towers, which opened on April 4, 1973 and were ... 7 WTC. All of these buildings were built between 1975 and 1985. www.ask.com/youtube?q=Why Were the Twin Towers Built?&v=__gUjUv1vvw May 7, 2007 ... It contains footage of when the twin towers were constructe... ... The City chose to build the WTC instead of building a new tunnel and large ... Sep 11, 2001 ... The twin towers of the World Trade Centre have gazed out over Manhattan, ... The revolutionary structures, each 110 storeys high, were built to ... Sep 6, 2011 ... The 110-storey landmarks that dominated the Manhattan skyline for nearly 30 years were reduced to rubble in the 9/11 suicide attacks of 2001.
Dr. Fazıl Küçük Medicine Faculty Marks World Rabies Day Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) Dr. Fazıl Küçük Medicine Faculty academician Assist. Prof. Dr. Mümtaz Güran marked the 28th of September World Rabies by releasing a statement aimed towards increasing awareness about rabies, one of the oldest and most deadly illnesses in human history. Assist. Prof. Güran noted that despite no cure for rabies existing, it is an illness that can be prevented. Notwithstanding this fact, each year 55.000 people across the world die from rabies and half of this number is comprised of children under the age of 15. Assist. Prof. Dr. Güran’s statement which aims to create awareness about the illness is as follows: It is thought that rabies does not exist in our country. This could lead to people ignoring rabies and the risks associated with the illness. Rabies can be transferred from one country to another via the transportation of animals or migrating wild animals. This can cause unexpected epidemics. Therefore even if the level of danger is low raising awareness about this possibility is important. However, the fact that rabies is a preventable disease is pleasing. Periodical vaccination of animals is important. Therefore we must protect ourselves, our pets and our community by vaccinating our animals. In order for us to stay amongst the countries that don’t suffer from rabies, the Veterinary Department has an important role to play by carefully implementing the existing laws and by creating awareness about the previously mentioned facts and factors. Rabies is a viral disease that is generally transported to humans via warm blooded animals. It can be found amongst wild mammals such as jackals, wolves and foxes or domestic mammals such as dogs, cats, cows and donkeys. The main way to get infected with rabies is by getting bitten. In addition, rabies can be transported via the spit of infected animal. Rabies is a disease that can be prevented by vaccination. Currently, there are more than 150 countries trying to tackle rabies. Vaccinating dogs that result in 99% of the cases is of the utmost importance If all dog owners were to regularly vaccinate their dogs this would prevent rabies. Human vaccinations are also available. These vaccinations are especially vital for those who make up the high risk group of people (people who are regularly in the wild, people who regularly travel to countries with rabies, people who work in laboratories and children). Prophylaxis vaccinations are given to individuals who have been exposed to any kind of animal bite. The immediate cleansing of wounds with soap and water also increases protection. Once the symptoms of rabies begin to show, rabies is deadly for both humans and animals. The risk of rabies greater for children as they need to inform an adult when they are bitten. If bitten, an individual must immediately wash the wound with soap and water for 15 minutes and call a healthcare organization. If the doctor thinks a vaccination program is necessary, the program must be followed religiously. Wound treatment and rabies antivirus can be lifesavers as no treatment is possible after the symptoms of the disease show up. If your pet gets bitten, you must consult a vet.
What's involved in a 3D ultrasound? A 3D ultrasound takes thousands of pictures of the baby at one time. These are then translated by computer into three-dimensional images which are almost as clear as a real-life photograph. These still pictures of your baby mean that you can see your baby in three dimensions, rather than two. There is a depth and shape to a 3D image, giving a clarity which is not as evident in a 2D ultrasound. This is because a 2D ultrasound sees through the baby to its internal organs and tissues. With a 3D and even 4D ultrasound, the baby's skin can be seen so there is more of a realistic shape and form to the images. This is particularly clear when looking at the baby's face and delicate features. With 3D ultrasounds, both the transducer used to transmit the sound waves and the computer software are more advanced and complex. A 3D ultrasound is more expensive. How are 2D and 3D ultrasounds different? Once these pictures are stored and shaded by the computer, they can be seen on the screen as clearer, three-dimensional images. The width, height and depth of the baby and its internal organs can be seen very clearly. With 3D ultrasound the baby has a more realistic shape and form, with distinctly baby-type features. They look exactly as they would if they were already born, only smaller of course. Parents need to rely less on their imagination with a 3D ultrasound. It's as if all the 2D images have been filled in and puffed out so the image is quite clearly a baby, rather than a grainy image on the screen. What's the benefit of having a 3D ultrasound? Performing a 3D ultrasound requires a high level of clinical skill and expertise. Unlike a 2D ultrasound, a 3D ultrasound requires the transducer to be held still and steady while the sound echoes bounce back. They are then interpreted by the computer software. If you have had a 2D ultrasound previously you will find the imagery very different. When is the best time for me to have a 3D ultrasound? Some clinics claim that past 30 weeks of gestation, the baby's head is more likely to engage in the mother's pelvis so visualizing the face can be more difficult. But this really depends on the individual clinic and their own practice guidelines. How long will it take to have my 3D ultrasound? Why can’t I see more of my baby? If, at the beginning of the scan, your baby is facing away from the transducer, keep your fingers crossed that baby will move or rotate into a clearer position before the scan is finished. If your baby is curled up tightly, facing your back or has their hands covering their face, then you won’t be able to see much of their features. The sonographer may suggest you get up and go for a little walk or have a cold drink, talk to your baby, or gently massage your abdomen. These strategies may help to encourage your baby to move into another position. Options available at some 3D ultrasound clinics Benefits of having a 3D ultrasound compared to a 2D ultrasound Some parents find that having 3D ultrasound helps them to bond with their baby before birth. Having a clear view of their baby's face and features, looking for family likenesses, knowing the baby's gender and being able to see their baby makes a big difference. At the time of the 3D ultrasound, some parents choose to name their baby and see this as a unique opportunity to build early emotional attachment. Yet for others, they are happy to wait until when their baby is born to meet for the first time. The information of this article has been reviewed by nursing experts of the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, & Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN). The content should not substitute medical advice from your personal healthcare provider. Please consult your healthcare provider for recommendations/diagnosis or treatment. For more advice from AWHONN nurses, visit Healthy Mom&Baby at health4mom.org.
As a data analytics evangelist and advocate of learning about web and mobile properties by watching the fingerprints of those who use it, I’m always interested in helping people understand browser cookies and help dispel the fear and uncertainty surrounding their use. What is a cookie? Cookies are very small scripts that are placed on your browser (if allowed) that have the ability to do anything from: - keeping you logged in to a website as you navigate - acting as a beacon to track navigation between pages - watching you move from site to site - attempting to sell you on that tracked persuasion (To name just a very few functions.) With such varied functionality, it is difficult to apply a single hard and fast rule about whether to keep or remove cookies without knowing more about each one: Is this cookie anonymous? Almost all cookies use an anonymous identification number or token to assign to a given user’s browser. That’s all that is needed as that element provides a unique identifier. That said, as a common and completely legitimate way of doing business, it is normal on the web to offer something like a trial offer, or promotion, to engage a prospect. When that prospect is interested enough to complete a registration form and (usually) confirm an email address, a different kind of cookie is usually set on that browser. This cookie stores an ID number that is linked to a record in a sort of ‘database of prospects’ that holds the information about this particular user. That record could be your first and last name, email, phone, city, state, etc. and this cookie watches as you visit the site – how frequently, what pages you are looking at, etc. During this period it is assessing your interest level and if you are concentrating on a certain a product or service offered. The important thing to remember is that you are no longer anonymous to a company when you supply registration data. Is this cookie a “Third Party Cookie”? What the “Third Party” indicates is whether or not the cookie being set on your browser is coming from the same server as the website you are viewing or if it is from another website. Ultimately this is probably originating from a server that is part of a network of sites. Have you ever gone to say, the JC Penney site, and when you are done reading about your favorite shoes you look for recipes on what to cook tonight and BAM… like some sort of e-serendipity – there’s an advertisement for a JC Penney sale. And those shoes are to die for! That is how many advertising networks work, in conjunction with potentially millions of sites. These are often called ‘web bugs’ or ‘bugs’ for the simple reason that they do follow you and target your interest based on the pages on their site that you have visited. Some other functions they provide on behalf of the advertiser: - Can serve up a sequence of banner advertisements (Placed in a given order) - Estimate how many people have seen the advertisement, and calculate the response per visitor - Limit the number of times each is shown, and on what properties for that user The list goes on. When does this cookie expire? Earlier I mentioned a few different uses for a cookie and two examples I gave were keeping a user logged in, and watching them move between sites. - Session Cookies – This cookie will expire either at the end of the current visit to the website, up to maybe 24 hours later. Many times these are written to create a smoother web experience overall. (Remember, without any type of recognition a website will forget who you are from one page to the next. Cookies are the simplest, most ubiquitous technology used for this identification by web designers everywhere.) - Persistent Cookies – The expiration of this cookie is set for a longer time period. It might be used to track between websites on the network I mentioned in the JC Penney example, or to keep track of how many times you come back to that site (Are you a regular?) or even in the form that you filled out for the ‘non-anonymous’ cookie. There is an ongoing debate, at times a fierce one, about how to handle the user’s intention. There are several modifications to emerging technologies to guard users against activity that may compromise their privacy. One of these has to do with a ‘Do Not Track’ option that is passed through every header call from a browser. There are a multitude of problems with this, not the least of which is that it makes the broad assumption that users can’t make these decisions for themselves. It also dangerously relies on the honor system for compliance by web site mangers. (Which in my opinion, could lead to a false sense of security on the part of the user.) To a large extent, the development of browsers further complicated this issue by burying these options deep in their “advanced” settings, thus adding to the FUD element and setting the technology back. The lion’s share of cookies help deliver a better web experience with more targeted advertising. That said, there are also reasons to be careful, as information that is gathered can be abused. Look for more info on that in my next post on browser plugins and settings to best manage cookies.
Welcome back to my Beginner’s Linux tutorial series and today I’m going back to the subject of software installation. A while ago I looked at compiling software from source, but this time I’m going to look at installing RPM packages. Note that this tutorial is specific to distributions that use the RPM package format. That is most distributions (SUSE, Fedora, Mandriva etc.) , but there are a few very notable exceptions including Ubuntu, MEPIS and anything else Debian-based. For those distros, a completely different packaging format and set of tools is used, so I might cover that in a future tutorial. Just before we get into things, if you’re a complete newbie, I’d recommend reading my Linux Explained tutorial at Gizbuzz and my basic introduction into files and folders here to get you started with some of the concepts (I’m jumping in quite quickly to terminal stuff, so you need a basic understanding). Oh, and the ‘consuming packages with yum’ section is weighted towards Fedora users, but the rest is sound advice for any RPM-based distro. Right, so first of all, what exactly is an RPM package and why can’t I just double-click on it? RPM used to stand for Red Hat Package Manager (it originally debuted in Red Hat Linux) but now is used in so many more distros it’s called RPM Package Manager. Yes, the ‘r’ in RPM stands for RPM. Don’t ask, acronyms like that, are, kind of traditional. An RPM package contains all the files needed to install your software package, but with any software installation on Linux, your program will most likely rely on other things being installed in order to run. These are dependencies, and, generally, they’re hell to deal with. Consuming packages with yum Thankfully, some distributions offer a tool which automatically goes out, resolves those dependencies and grabs everything you need before installing it all for you. Fedora Core includes a brilliant tool called yum which does exactly that (if you’re not on Fedora, bear with me, I’ll go distro-neutral again in a minute). Provided your desired software is in a yum repository (a collection of packages hosted somewhere online), one command (or even a few clicks) can download and install what you want instantly. Generally, to install some new software on Fedora, your first port of call should be to try installing it via yum. So fire up a terminal program (Applications > System > Terminal on GNOME) and enter the following, making sure you’re connected to the internet. $ su - Password: [[Enter root password]] # yum install softwarename If all is well, you will get loads of messages fly about here and there and if your software is in the repository, you’ll be presented with a prompt which tells you how much data needs to be downloaded. Press y, then enter and it will be downloaded (along with anything it needs) and then installed. Now look in the Applications menus and you should find your application waiting for you to use. 95% of the time, this works, if the software you’re installing is 100% open source and is deemed good enough to be included in the repositories. Occasionally, the package might be under a different name (Mozilla Thunderbird, everyone’s favourite email client, is called thunderbird not mozilla-thunderbird for example). So you can do a yum search query to find related things and hopefully find what you are looking for. Also, if you’re package isn’t open source, or it’s new, it might not be at all. If you’re a bit command-line shy (I don’t blame you), Fedora includes a few graphical tools to ease this process. Fedora Core 5 introduced pirut (pronounced pirate) for installing packages. You can find it from Applications > Add/Remove Software (in GNOME). Older Fedora users can use yumex, which is slightly more powerful (read: geekier) and can be installed by going to the command line only once and typing: $ su - Password: [[Enter root password]] # yum install yumex SUSE’s YaST and doing it the rpm -Uvh If you can’t find it in a repository, aren’t on Fedora, or you just have got your hands on a .rpm and are wondering what to do with it, you can install .rpms the old school way. Note that doing installations this way won’t automatically resolve dependencies for you, so you might end up being a bit stuck when you get cryptic error messages about things resembling libfoobar.so.0. Anyway, if you’re still game for some installations (most install fairly easily), then read on. Recent distributions might offer a graphical way to install .rpm files, and you might be more comfortable using that. SUSE, for example, uses YaST to install .rpms, so double-click an RPM, choose Install with YaST and follow the prompts to install. Occasionally YaST decides to reject you and says “package xyz not included on medium”. If that happens, you’ll have to resort to the command line method below (it’s not that bad, really). Supposedly Fedora has something similar as well, but as that only seems to work in GNOME and I’m running KDE, I can’t test that for you at the moment. Anyone with experience doing this, leave a comment and I’ll update this bit. Other distros might have friendly ways to install, but we’ll go for the universal, if slightly geeky method here. Download your .rpm file to the desktop for now (it’ll make things easier), or if it’s on disc, copy it to your desktop. Now, fire up your favourite terminal and enter the following. $ su - [[Enter root password]] # cd /home/yourusername/Desktop # rpm -Uvh nameofsoftware-1.0.0-i386.rpm Replace yourusername with, well, your username and of course substitute in the name of your package (remember, typing the first few letters and pressing tab usually fills it in for you). If everything goes well, you should get a message saying ‘Preparing’, then a progress bar made out of hash signs (#) until the installation is complete. If that happened, whoo! You’re installed and ready to rock. If not, you most likely ran into dependency problems. Try using your software manager to search for and install the offending software and try again. Obviously, I can’t cover every possible case here but if you’ve got problems, give me a shout and I might lend a hand if I have time. So there you are – a quick look at installing .rpms with Fedora’s yum, through SUSE’s YaST on the graphical side and through rpm on the command line side of life. Anyway, I hope this helped, and if you’ve got any suggestions, had a few problems or you genuinely found this useful, I’d love it if you’d drop a comment on this post, it makes writing these so worthwhile! And finally, if you’re intrigued as to what -Uvh does, U is the switch to install/upgrade, v gives you status updates (verbose) and h gives you the hash progress bar.
Individual retirement arrangements, sometimes referred to as individual retirement accounts or IRAs, are tax-advantaged investment programs that allow taxpayers to set aside funds for their retirement. There are a number of different IRA programs. Some, like traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs, are available to all taxpayers who have earned income. Other programs, such as SIMPLE IRAs, are limited based upon the taxpayer's employer. Corporate-based pension plans have existed in the United States since the latter half of the 19th century, but until the passage of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) in 1974, self-employed individuals and those who worked for companies that did not offer a pension plan had little access to retirement programs beyond their personal savings. ERISA made individual retirement accounts available to taxpayers who did not have access to other qualified plans. Congress later expanded access to IRAs to most taxpayers with an earned income through the creation of Roth IRAs. Congress also authorized retirement programs for small businesses, including the Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE) IRA. Any taxpayer who has taxable compensation, such as wages, salary, commissions, personal services fees, tips, taxable alimony payments, non-taxable combat pay and other income as defined by the Internal Revenue Service is eligible to contribute to a Roth IRA, provided their adjusted gross income does not exceed limits prescribed by tax law. Employers with 100 or fewer qualified employees may set up a SIMPLE IRA plan. Only qualified employees who work for such a company are eligible to have a SIMPLE IRA. Self-employed individuals may set up a SIMPLE IRA for their own benefit. IRS rules regarding a taxpayer's maximum contribution to a Roth IRA can be complex and may vary depending upon the taxpayer's filing status and income level. The maximum that can typically be contributed to a Roth IRA is $5,000 per year, or $6,000 for those who are at least 50 years of age, as of the 2010 tax year. Contributions to a Roth IRA may not exceed the total amount of the taxpayer's taxable earned income less any contributions made to a traditional IRA. Employees who are covered by a SIMPLE IRA plan may contribute up to a maximum of $11,500 in pretax earnings into their IRA, as of the 2010 tax year. Taxpayers who are at least 50 years of age may make additional contributions of up to $2,500 per year to their SIMPLE IRAs. Employers are required to make matching contributions to the employee's IRA up to prescribed limits if they offer a SIMPLE IRA. Contributions to a Roth IRA are made with after-tax dollars, but any growth that occurs within the account occurs without generating a taxable event. Funds must be left in the account for at least five years to avoid a tax penalty. Funds withdrawn prior to the taxpayer reaching the age of 59 1/2 will incur a tax penalty. Funds that remain in the Roth IRA for at least five years may be withdrawn after the taxpayer reaches 59 1/2 without creating a taxable event. Funds contributed to a SIMPLE IRA are made with pre-tax dollars, reducing the employee's taxable income in the year the contributions are made. Any growth in the IRA happens on a tax-deferred basis. Funds that are withdrawn before the employee reaches 59 1/2 are subject to federal income taxation at the employee's current tax rate, in addition to a 10 percent tax penalty. Funds withdrawn after the employee reaches 59 1/2 are taxed as ordinary income. - tax forms image by Chad McDermott from Fotolia.com - Can You Max Out a TSP as Well as Max Out a Roth IRA? - Problems With Roth IRAs - Can Roth IRAs Be Funded With Non-Taxed Inheritances? - Are Monthly Payments to a Roth IRA Reported on Taxes? - Can a Required Minimum Distribution Be Used to Contribute to a Roth IRA? - The Advantages of a Roth IRA Home Purchase - Can I Have a Self-Employed 401(k) & a Roth IRA?
Tel Qudadi (Tell esh-Shuna) is located on the northern bank of the mouth of the Yarkon River. A preliminary trial excavation was conducted at the site in September 1937 under the direction of P.L.O. Guy, followed by extensive excavations that were carried out in the winter of 1937-1938, on behalf of the Hebrew University, headed by E.L. Sukenik and S. Yeivin, with the participation of N. Avigad. Two impressive Iron Age fortresses were revealed in the excavations. The researchers dated the first fortress to the 10th – 9th centuries BCE, whereas the second fortress, in their opinion, existed from the latter part of the 9th century until 732 BCE, when it was destroyed as result of the military campaign by Tiglath-Pileser III. Despite the fact the excavations were conducted some seventy years ago, its findings were never published. Considering the importance of the site to the history of the Land of Israel during the Iron Age, and as a result of cooperation between the Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University, it was recently decided to publish the final excavation report. The study that was conducted until now by Oren Tal and Alexander Fantalkin of the Tel Aviv University has produced interesting results that are completely different than the insight gained by the excavators. In contrast with the previous conclusions, the ceramic assemblage indicates that the site was not established before the end of the 8th century BCE. The ceramic and other evidence that will be discussed in the lecture have made it possible to determine that the two fortresses existed, one after the other, during the Neo-Assyrian period. We believe it is reasonable to assume the Tel Qudadi fortress was one of a series of Assyrian fortresses that was built along the coast of the Land of Israel (some of which were erected on the mouths of the rivers) from the end of the 8th century and during the first half of the 7th century BCE. The implications of this proposal will be discussed extensively in the lecture. Additional Articles ...
There are over 1.6 billion people over the age of 50 worldwide, with 111 million living in the U.S. alone. While many are computer literate there are others who can't make the most of current technology. According to AARP, the best way to teach these older users about newer technology is to have them use it with their children or grandchildren. Anne Marie Kilgallon, AARP's VP of Strategy and Innovation, said that this learning can take two forms. Kids can teach their elders how to use new tech tools or those in the 50+ cohort can teach themselves to use technology to communicate with the younger generation. "AARP is really focusing on technology and the connector it can be across generations, regardless of what age you are and meeting you where you are," Kilgallon told Amy Oztan of FamilyTech TV. The AARP executive explained that, in many families, the teenager is the CIO, managing devices and training other family members. However, in other households, the older generation is completely self-sufficient. "Technology is a continuum. There's people who are tech savvy and people who are tech shy and they range in all ages. You can still find people who are millenials and probably not super tech savvy, but then you'll find people who are over 50 and completely tech savvy," Kilgallon said. She also said that users who are 50+ are the largest growing segment on Facebook where they communicate with friends and relatives of all ages.
Water is a precious commodity, essential for life; although its importance is often overlooked until it is in short supply. Finding drinkable water while on the trail always remains a challenge, whether hiking in a remote area far from civilization or ambling along through the countryside, never far from a paved road. Since the safety of natural water supplies must remain suspect at all times, it is essential to carry a water filter or purifier to avoid infection of any pathogens. Water filters and purifiers are widely used to treat questionable water sources while on the go. They typically contain a membrane that physically prevents larger microbial life from getting through and/or involve adding a chemical toxic to both microbes and viruses alike. Katadyn remains the manufacturing titan of water filters and purifiers, although I primarily use a Sawyer inline filter due to its lightweight and small size. A new kid on the block in the filter/purifier world is the PurifiCup, a self-contained, on-the-go water purifier that goes above and beyond in filtering out more than just dangerous pathogens. The PurifiCup differs from most conventional filters because of its world-patented design using a silver membrane filter, which the manufacturer claims eliminates up to 99.99% of bacteria and parasites, including some 600 different types of nasty backcountry critters. One membrane is not enough for the PurifiCup, as it uses an exclusive 3-stage filter technology that removes more than just biological pathogens. First, its ion exchange resin removes many heavy metals (e.g. lead, copper, cadmium, mercury, etc.) plus calcareous substances (e.g. magnesium and calcium ions). Second, an activated carbon component removes chlorine and other organic odorous substances such as THM, organic solvents and pesticides. Finally, the silver membrane eliminates the many pesky biological pests, including E. coli, giardia and Cryptosporidium. See the PurifiCup website for more information on its unique technology, as well as reports on its efficacy at removing biological pathogens and other dangerous substances from natural water sources. The PurifiCup is well made and compact. It consists of three main parts: an outer cup, an inner cup and the filter housing, with the two cups constructed out of sturdy 100% food grade plastic, allowing for many years of use. While packed for travel, the inner cup fits inside the outer cup, while the filter screws into the two of them like a top, with two caps sealing off the bottom of both the outer cup and the filter bottom, making a snug and secure container that easily fits into any backpack. While filtering, the outer cup functions as the reservoir for the dirty water, and sits on top of the filter with the inner cup underneath to capture the filtered water. The outer cup connects to the filter via a valve, while the filter sits loosely on top of the inner cap, which acts as a base for the entire unit. The sturdy construction and exclusive technology makes the PurifiCup a competent water filtration system for some backcountry adventures. However, the remote backcountry is not where the PurifiCup truly shines. The trail systems that skirt agricultural fields, descend into junk strewn ravines or approaches anywhere near human habitations (for example along the Finger Lakes Trail) is where this water purifier comes into its own, due to its unique technology allowing for the removal of both heavy metals and pesticides. Unfortunately, I have yet to give the PurifiCup the extreme field-testing that only the Adirondack’s murky, tannin-infested waters can dole out due to a knee injury at the beginning of the warm-weather hiking season last year. Instead, my only practical use of the filter was in my own kitchen, using clean tap water. At first, I found the filter rather slow, but after conferring with the manufacturer and taping the filter vigorously on the kitchen counter to remove trapped air, the water flowed quickly, taking less than a minute to filter 10 ounces. The lack of a field test is definitely a shortcoming of my experience with the PurifiCup, unfortunate, but beyond my control due to the injury. I plan to take it with me on my Birdathon adventure in the Pepperbox Wilderness this May, as long as health and weather conditions allow. Keep your eyes peeled for another review, complete with a field test, in the Adirondack Almanack during late spring or early summer. Despite the sturdy construction, interesting and seemingly effective technology, the PurifiCup is not without its shortcomings, especially for backcountry use, and particularly for those few intrepid souls such as myself that spend a significant amount of time off-trail bushwhacking. Note that these are perceived shortcomings, as I stated above I have yet to take the PurifiCup into the backcountry. The stability of the filter while in use is a primary concern for me. When fully assembled, the PurifiCup stands about 13 inches tall, with the larger outer cup sitting on top of the filter, while both are precariously perched on the inner cup, which acts as a base. Although a valve attaches the outer cup to the filter, the inner cup remains relatively unattached as there are no threads provided on the bottom of the filter casing. Given the outer cup is initially two-thirds filled with water, with the narrower and unattached inner cup acting as a base, the entire operation remains rather unstable. In a bushwhacking circumstance, where flat and stable areas are at a premium, this could be a problem. Without even taking it into the field, I can easily imagine knocking this over many times while setting up my campsite. Luckily, the filter operates rather quickly, reducing the opportunity to knock it over, although the filtering rate most likely decreases with use. Unfortunately, this points out another shortcoming; the PurifiCup is rather needy, requiring a lot of individual attention. Since it filters only about 10 ounces at a time, it requires many fillings, with the water constantly transferred from the inner cup to a larger receptacle. Given I like to multitask while filtering water (e.g. setting up my tarp, making dinner, watching birds, etc.), this is a major disadvantage over my current Sawyer inline filter filtering system. As noted by other reviewers, the possibility of drip back from the filter into the “clean” inner cup is a concern in the field after its initial use, when packed up and inside a backpack. The manufacturer could easily remedy this by placing a screw-on cap on the intake of the filter itself though. The PurifiCup’s design makes it cumbersome to use it with a collapsible water bottle, like the Platypus line manufactured by Cascade Designs. A threaded outlet on the filter does allow for screwing in a Platypus bottle but the entire filter has to be held up (or some sophisticated and imaginative contraption has to be designed to do so) while pouring the water into the outer cup before commencing the filtering. Only an octopus with its eight tentacles would fail to find such a feat a challenging effort, especially when swatting away hordes of hungry black flies, mosquitoes and/or deer flies. The manufacture’s literature indicates the PurifiCup’s capacity is only 11-12 gallons. This capacity seems on the low side for a backcountry filter, where one may easily go through a gallon in a single hot day. This may force one to filter their drinking water only, requiring packing in more stove fuel for boiling all cooking water. Otherwise, one or more replacement filter cartridges should be carried on longer trips or during very warm weather. The filter provides a counter, functioning similarly to a bicycle combination lock, for the convenience of keeping track of its production. The instructions recommend replacing the filter every 4 months for best performance. It goes unsaid whether this time is regardless of use, where a filter element could expire while sitting in a closet during the winter months. Although the PurifiCup is a very well made product, and appears to function adequately, I doubt it will make its way into my backpack for many backcountry adventures. Its instability, size, weight and limited capacity make it insufficient for my usual bushwhacking adventures, especially when compared to the Sawyer inline filter system I typically use now. However, the PurifiCup is a highly functional, compact and well-made piece of equipment, ideally suited for shorter trips, especially in areas near human dominated landscapes, where the contamination by heavy metals, livestock and chemicals is a major concern. In these areas, this filter probably excels in its ability to provide clean and drinkable water on the go. For day hiking trips, especially in more civilized area, the PurifiCup is an excellent choice for a portable filter where water on demand is required. Also, it makes an excellent choice for those in the prepper community too, acting as an excellent complement to dried foods from Wise Storage Foods, where it could come in handy during any emergency, such as a natural disaster, nuclear winter or zombie apocalypse. Just make sure you purchase many replacement filter cartridges. Disclosure: The manufacturer provided a PurifiCup Natural Water Series, in green, free of charge for the purpose of this review. Affiliate Disclaimer: Some links within this blog post may send you to a retailer website. If you chose to purchase any product on that site at that time, this author receives a small commission. These commissions provide compensation for the author’s time and effort necessary to provide the content at the Bushwhacking Fool.
CATS HAVE A BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE IF YOU PLAY WITH THEM Source: earth.com (Extract) Posted: February 4, 2023 Scientists have long argued that play is an indicator and promotor of animal health and welfare. Now, by applying in-depth empirical methods to analyze data gathered from around the world, a team of researchers led by the University of Adelaide in Australia has found that playing with your cat can also nurture closer human-cat bonds. To investigate play-related factors associated with welfare in cats, the scientists devised an online survey in consultation with veterinarians, animal behaviorists, and cat owners, aiming to measure factors such as cat quality of life, cat-owner relationship quality, behavioral changes, and problem behavior prevalence. “Our survey results, based on responses from 591 cat guardians from 55 countries, indicated greater cat playfulness and more types of games played were significantly associated with better cat quality of life,” said study lead author Julia Henning, a PhD student in Feline Behavior at Adelaide. “Also, longer amounts of daily play, greater number of games, both cat and guardian initiating play, and heightened guardian playfulness were also associated with better quality cat-guardian relationships.” Moreover, exclusive indoor housing for the cats was significantly linked with both increased cat quality of life and better cat-owner relationship in comparison to cats with outdoor access. “Behavioral changes that indicated stress, frustration, or unease were reported when play was absent. Therefore, we can conclude play may be a very important factor in assessing and maintaining cat welfare,” Henning explained. However, as senior author Susan Hazel (an expert in Animal Behavior and Welfare at the same university) admitted, self-reporting surveys such as this often have significant limitations. “Cat lovers’ answers may be prone to respondent and recall bias and limited in their ability to assess behavior. Participants who dedicated their time and effort on a voluntary basis are more invested in their cat’s care than the average cat guardian. Therefore, responses may not be an accurate representation of the general population.” Further research is needed to clarify how much and what kind of play is most efficient for improving cat welfare. The study is published in the journal Animal Welfare. NOVEMBER 25, 2023 NORTHLANDIA: DULUTH, VIRGINIA STATUES HELP US REMEMBER Statues serve many different purposes. One such purpose is to help those visiting them recall the past and memorialize those who have come before. >> NOVEMBER 21, 2023 WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT A MYSTERIOUS DOG RESPIRATORY ILLNESS The mysterious respiratory illness that may have sickened scores of dogs across the country could be caused by a new type of bacterial infection… >> NOVEMBER 18, 2023 DOGS ARE COMING DOWN WITH AN UNUSUAL RESPIRATORY ILLNESS IN SEVERAL US STATES Veterinary laboratories in several states are investigating an unusual respiratory illness in dogs, and encouraging people to take basic precautions to keep their pets healthy as veterinarians try to pin down what’s making the animals sick. >>
By Carolyn King The pool of genetic diversity in a domesticated crop like barley is much shallower than in the crop’s wild relatives. So researchers sometimes bring individual genes from a wild cousin into the crop to add crucial traits. But plant breeder Duane Falk is tackling the problem from the opposite direction: he is re-domesticating wild barley lines. By Carolyn King With this novel approach, he hopes to enable barley breeders to access much more of the vast diversity occurring in wild barley. Wild barley is native to the Middle East and was domesticated about 10,000 years ago. Falk explains that the first critical step in the domestication process was selection for a non-shattering rachis. A rachis is the central shaft in the seed head. In wild barley, Hordeum spontaneum, the rachis shatters at maturity, providing natural seed dispersal. In domesticated barley, Hordeum vulgare, the rachis does not shatter so the seed stays on the plant, allowing people to harvest it easily. He says, “A barley plant with a fragile rachis is of no value to a cultivated situation. And a plant with a tough rachis doesn’t survive in the wild.” The mutation for a non-shattering rachis is thought to have occurred at least twice in barley’s domestication history. “Each one of those two major domestication events would have involved literally a single plant. And, as a self-pollinated species, that single plant would have been relatively homozygous [genetically uniform]. So, most of the variation that we have in our modern crop has occurred as mutations within those two original backgrounds. It’s easy to see why there is not much diversity in domesticated barley,” says Falk, who is a professor emeritus in Plant Agriculture at the University of Guelph. He led the barley and oat breeding programs at the university and has been breeding barley for more than 30 years. “Domesticated barley differs from wild barley in at least 10 major characteristics, but all of those characteristics occurred by selection after it was domesticated,” he notes. These characteristics include things like larger seed size, more uniform maturity, stronger straw, and loss of seed dormancy. Modern breeding efforts have tended to narrow the diversity in cultivated barley even further. Bringing genes from wild barley into elite breeding lines helps broaden the diversity in cultivated barley a little. “Wild barley produces abundant pollen and crosses readily with domesticated barley,” Falk notes. “A number of breeding programs around the world have used wild barley in a limited way, mainly as a source of single genes for disease resistance.” But a single gene for disease resistance is only a temporary fix because the disease organism needs only one mutation to overcome the plant’s resistance. Also, crosses with wild barley bring undesirable wild traits into the progeny, such as a shattering rachis, dormancy, weak straw and so on. So the progeny are troublesome to plant and harvest, and repeated backcrossing with the cultivated parent is needed to get rid of those unwanted traits. Potentially, wild barley could offer much more than a few single disease resistance genes. “Wild barley has a lot of genes and gene complexes [for disease resistance and other valuable traits] that would be very difficult to bring into domestic barley, especially if a trait involves two or three genes that are independent of each other,” says Falk. “For instance, wild barley is adapted to a much wider range of environments than domestic barley. These adaptations are not simple, single-gene characteristics; they are quite complex. So if we want adaptations to much cooler conditions, much hotter conditions, better drought tolerance, we are not going to get them by trying to pull single genes out; that disrupts the whole complex.” So Falk is turning the tables on the problem. “I thought, let’s put in a single gene into wild barley, instead of looking for single genes to pull out of wild barley.” His idea is to move the non-shattering rachis gene into wild barley lines. The big advantage of this trait is that it allows a researcher to manage the breeding materials with standard equipment, planting them with a planter and harvesting them with a combine. “And as soon as we start handling the materials using current mechanical means, the characteristics that support the modern domesticated complex will be automatically selected for,” he explains. “For example, if some seeds have dormancy, the only ones you’ll be harvesting are the ones that did grow. You will automatically be selecting against the ones with high dormancy that didn’t grow. And only the ones that are easy to thresh will wind up in the seed bag; if they are not easy to thresh, they’ll go out the back of the machine.” From idea to action “Now that I’m retired, I don’t have any constraints on what I do or don’t do. So I decided to take on this re-domestication project. It is not expensive. It doesn’t require any technology other than some tweezers to transfer pollen. I have some funding in my account at the university to pay for growth room space, and I’m using some of the land on my farm for the field plots,” explains Falk. “The work is easy to do, but it takes time – I’ll need to backcross three or four or maybe five times to get the non-shattering rachis gene into the intact wild barley. Nobody else is doing it; they have too many pressures to do other things like teaching, research, breeding and so on. I’m interested in it, so I might as well do it.” Falk’s first step was to contact his friend Dr. Brian Steffenson at the University of Minnesota, who has worked extensively with wild barley. He asked Steffenson to provide a set of wild barley lines that represent the full range of diversity in his collection. “He gave me 14 different lines from 13 different countries. They cover the entire geographic range of wild barley from Morocco to Afghanistan. I have one from each country along the Mediterranean coast and into the Middle East, and two from Syria,” says Falk. “I’ve got lines from about 500 feet below sea level in Israel to about 4,000 feet above sea level in Iran. And I’m working on getting some wild barley lines from Nepal and Tibet that may be somewhat different from the ones that I already have.” Falk received the 14 lines about a year ago. In the university’s growth room, he grew out those wild lines and some cultivated lines for crossing. Along with the non-shattering trait, the cultivated lines also have the male sterility trait. Falk explains, “I have used genetic male sterility as a crossing tool for my entire career because it makes crossing the plants so much easier [since it prevents self-pollination].” The tremendous diversity in the wild lines was obvious right away: “There are tall plants, short plants, early maturing, late maturing, black seeds, brown seeds, white seeds, long awns, short awns.” He made the initial crosses last fall in the growth room and grew the first generation (F1) over the winter. The first segregating generation (F2) is growing in the field now. Once the F2 plants mature, he will select the ones that don’t shatter. Then he’ll backcross those with their original wild parent. Falk is also planning to try using molecular markers for the non-shattering rachis gene. Using these markers would increase his costs, but it could make the selection process more efficient because he wouldn’t have to wait for the plants to mature to see whether or not they shatter. This would save time and space in the growth room and so reduce costs on that side. “The backcrossing work will likely take about four or five years. If everything goes well, I’ll end up with 14 derived lines that are almost identical to the 14 wild lines I started with except that they will have the non-shattering trait and probably the male sterility gene as well,” notes Falk. “However, I will likely not be able to carry all 14 lines all the way through. For instance, I might not get crosses with one background, or one of the lines might be highly susceptible to disease and might not produce seed from the field plots. But I should get at least 10 lines, and that will represent a dramatic increase in diversity compared to what we have now in cultivated barley.” Having fun with a genetic treasure trove Once he has created the re-domesticated lines, Falk will make them available to breeders, geneticists and other researchers around the world. “They’ll be able to plant and harvest them normally and cross them easily. So re-domestication will make a very useful population out of something that right now is hard to handle,” he says. “It will open up a new set of materials that researchers should be able to utilize more efficiently. They can cross them with anything they want, expose them to the stresses in their growing region, pull out single genes, pull out more complex traits, try some very unusual combinations –have some fun. It’s something I wish I’d had 25 years ago.” Crosses with these re-domesticated lines could lead to some pleasant surprises. Falk gives a couple of examples from his earlier breeding work when he made crosses with wild barley and then simply selected lines that he liked. “Wild barley is normally considered to have really small seed, and really poor, thin, weak straw. But some of the largest seed in barley that I have in my breeding program came from a cross with wild barley. And some of the strongest straw in my breeding lines came from crosses with wild barley,” he says. “So perhaps there is something in wild barley that combines well with domestic barley or releases variation or produces new variation that we just don’t see in normal crosses. I’ve made thousands and thousands of barley crosses and I have never seen anything like the variation that shows up when you cross with wild barley.” To take the project even one step further, Falk plans to intercross the derived wild barley lines with each other to potentially release even greater genetic variability. “[For instance,] by crossing re-domesticated wild barley from Iran with re-domesticated wild barley from Morocco, genes will be brought together that would never have had a chance to interact before. This may give rise to unique plant types, grain quality types and adaptation potential that has never been seen before. This is another unique opportunity made possible by this method of addressing the diversity issue in barley.” Falk has already had enquiries from researchers interested in obtaining the re-domesticated lines. “An acquaintance of mine in Queensland, Australia, who studies starch said he would be very interested in looking at the starch profiles of these wild barleys because nobody has ever done it. He expects there will be some variation that might affect food quality, or feed quality, or malting quality in the derived lines.” Since no one has tried re-domestication before, there’s no way to know how successful Falk’s project will be. “I’m taking three steps back and hoping that I can take at least one step forward,” he says. However, he is optimistic that this approach will work because the genetics of barley are relatively simple compared to a lot of other crops and because the male sterility gene will make crossing much easier. Falk adds, “If this works for barley, theoretically it could work for any other crop that has a wild relative, especially crops where the domestication characteristics are fairly simple and the wild relatives are fairly closely related.”
Southern Hemisphere observers will have the best views during February (for detailed information, see "What to expect from Comet PANSTARRS in February On the 1st, the comet glows at 7th magnitude. It will brighten — perhaps to 2nd magnitude — and track rapidly eastward throughout the month. Early morning observers south of the equator will find it passing through southern Sagittarius , Corona Australis , and Piscis Austrinus comet pushes northward during March, and at midmonth it becomes visible in the evening sky for Northern Hemisphere observers. If it reaches its predicted brightness, it may appear around March 6 or 7, although only a degree above the western horizon 30 minutes after sunset. Each following day, the comet climbs 1° to 2° higher, which dramatically improves its visibility. By the time it reaches perihelion (its closest approach to the Sun) March 9/10, Comet PANSTARRS lies 7° high in the west 30 minutes after sunset and could shine at magnitude 0. As dusk soaks up the Sun’s rays and the sky darkens, the comet’s ethereal tail may come From perihelion to the end of March, the comet moves almost due north through Pisces while its brightness drops by about a magnitude every five days. The tail of Comet PANSTARRS swings through 90°, turning from east to north. Depending on how much dust the comet produces, this could create a nice broad dust tail to go along with a finer, straighter gas tail.
Rust is a systems level programming language, developed by Graydon Hoare. Mozilla Labs later acquired the programme. Application programming languages like Java/C# are used to build software, which provide services to the user directly. They help us build business applications like spreadsheets, word processors, web applications or mobile applications. Systems programming languages like C/C++ are used to build software and software platforms. They can be used to build operating systems, game engines, compilers, etc. These programming languages require a great degree of hardware interaction. Systems and application programming languages face two major problems − Rust focuses on three goals − The language was designed for developing highly reliable and fast software in a simple way. Rust can be used to write high-level programs down to hardware-specific programs. Rust programming language does not have a Garbage Collector (GC) by design. This improves the performance at runtime. Software built using Rust is safe from memory issues like dangling pointers, buffer overruns and memory leaks. Rust’s ownership and memory safety rules provide concurrency without data races. Web Assembly helps to execute high computation intensive algorithms in the browser, on embedded devices, or anywhere else. It runs at the speed of native code. Rust can be compiled to Web Assembly for fast, reliable execution.
WASHINGTON – NASA is delaying a mission to Mars that already had been over budget and will get even more costly. The launch of the massive roving robot with a rock-zapping laser was pushed back Thursday from next year until 2011, adding $400 million to the price tag. More than 10 different problems, all solvable with time, forced the postponement, Mars exploration chief Doug McCuistion said. The six-wheeled Mars Science Laboratory is designed as the most powerful spacecraft to explore the Martian surface. About the size of a small sport utility vehicle, it will probe the red planet's climate and geology in finer detail than previous missions. The project has been dogged by cost increases and technical challenges. Just two years ago the lab was supposed to cost $1.6 billion; the launch delay inflates the total price to nearly $2.3 billion. The biggest major technical problem involves motors and gear boxes that will help the rover drive around and bend its robotic arm to reach out to test soil. One of the most vexing problems: the brake sticks in the on position in cold weather, McCuistion said. Other problems involved cracks in a key pipe, computer glitches and easy-to-fix failures with solar power cells, he said. The problems couldn't be fixed and tested in time to launch next year, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said at a news conference. "Despite the delay, work on the mission really is progressing well with the exception of the motor problem," he said. Mars and Earth only pass close enough to launch probes every 26 months. The next opportunity is September and October next year; it will be the first time since 1994 that NASA will miss a chance to launch toward Mars. Sean Solomon of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, who heads a NASA Mercury mission, thinks the space agency made the right choice to slip the Mars launch, but he warned it could hurt other projects. "That's quite a high price to pay for this delay. We're not in a good place on this mission," said Solomon who chairs the planetary subcommittee of NASA's Advisory Council. It is the second time in two years that NASA has postponed a Mars mission. Last year, it delayed a planned 2011 launch of a $485 million Mars atmospheric probe by two years because of an unspecified conflict of interest in the selection process. AP Science Writer Alicia Chang in Los Angeles contributed to this report. On the Net: Mars Science Laboratory: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/
Strong contrasts in ambient isotope ratios and in diet suggest stable isotopes in the otoliths of oceanic fish can resolve water masses and geographic areas, promising a powerful multivariate approach for examining population structure and provenance. To test this, whole otoliths were taken from Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) sampled off the Patagonian Shelf and South Georgia, on either side of a population boundary, and otolith δ18O and δ13C values were measured to see if they could distinguish South American-caught fish from those taken in the Antarctic. Values of δ18O and δ13C predicted capture area with 100% success, validating their use for distinguishing provenance and corroborating the prior evidence of population isolation. Values of δ18O in the otoliths reflected ambient values as well as seawater temperature: low values in Patagonian Shelf fish were consistent with exposure to Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW), and high values in South Georgia fish were consistent with exposure to Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW). In contrast, differences in otolith δ13C appeared to reflect diet: relative depletion of δ13C at South Georgia compared to the Patagonian Shelf were most likely linked to differences in sources of metabolic carbon, as well as δ13C in dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) of seawater. These contrasting properties strongly suggest that stable isotopes can resolve the provenance of toothfish from Antarctic sampling areas that hitherto have been difficult to separate. These results show that, by using the chemistry recorded in otoliths, researchers can exploit biogeochemical variation in fully marine environments to examine the spatial ecology of oceanic fish. Numéro du document: Point(s) de l'ordre du jour (Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 71: 87–94 (2007) doi:10.1016/j.gca.2006.08.030)
Mercury-198 isotope for sale Mercury-198 isotope for sale, is also called mercury-198 isotope (Hg-198 isotope, 198Hg isotope). The isotope of mercury 198 is utilized in studies on the creation of length standards. Spectroscopic research is conducted utilizing mercury-198 isotope. Both the chemical form of Mercury-198 metal (Hg) and the chemical form of Mercury-198 oxide (HgO) are available for purchase on metalscrapsolution.com. Get Mercury-198 price or place an order with us. Properties of Mercury-198 Isotope: \|Properties of Mercury-198 Isotope:\|\|MERCURY-198\| \|Natural Abundance (%)\|\|10.04\| \|Atomic Mass (Da)\|\|197.966769\| \|Relative Isotopic Mass\|\|197.966769\| \|Neutron Number (N)\|\|118\| \|Atomic Number (Z)\|\|80\| \|Mass Number (A)\|\|198\| \|Nucleon Number (A)\|\|198\| \|Proton Number (Z)\|\|80\| \|g-factor (g value)\|\|0\| \|Electron Configuration Block\|\|d\| \|Melting Point (K)\|\|234.28\| \|Boiling Point (K)\|\|629.88\| \|Heat of Formation\|\|61.38\| \|Electron Affinity (kJ/mole)\|\|-0.5\| \|Electronegativity (Pauling scale)\|\|2\| \|Atomic Radius (pm)\|\|151b\| \|Covalent Radius (pm)\|\|150\| \|VDW Radius (pm)\|\|155\| Mercury, a member of the zinc group of elements, is a heavy, silvery, liquid metallic element. It is utilized in scientific equipment such as thermometers and barometers. This element is not a hydrogen scavenger for acids, making it less reactive than zinc and cadmium. Numerous complexes and organomercury compounds are formed by mercury. The majority of the time, mercury forms straightforward, stable compounds with metal-metal connections, unlike its lighter companions, cadmium and zinc. There are 47 isotopes of mercury, 7 of which are stable and are found naturally. Batteries, barometers, and thermometers all use mercury. Electrical switches and mercury-vapor lighting equipment also use it. FAQ about Mercury-198 Isotope: What is Mercury-198 isotope natural abundance? Answer: 10.040 % What is atomic mass for Mercury-198 isotope? Answer: 197.96677 Da What is isotopic mass for Mercury-198 isotope? How many neutrons does Mercury-198 isotope have? How many protons does Mercury-198 isotope have? How many electrons does Mercury-198 isotope have? What is atomic number for Mercury-198 isotope? Is Mercury-198 isotope stable? Is Mercury-198 isotope radioactive?
“STEM workers are disproportionately involved in creating and running successful tech companies … and coming up with breakthrough inventions …. It’s not an exaggeration to say that STEM workers are the driving force of economic prosperity.” — Jonathan Rothwell, writing for the influential American think-tank Brookings The demand for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) programmes is on the rise across the world. National governments are aware of the vital importance of the sector for economic growth and students are becoming more and more aware of the great job prospects and earning power they can command as a result of a STEM education. Now, the race is on in many countries to develop more STEM capacity and programming — which can be difficult given that high-quality STEM programmes can be incredibly expensive, both to provide (at the government and institutional levels) and to attend (from the perspective of students). STEM crises in major destinations Two leading study abroad nations are in the midst of STEM crises, if we can call them that. In the Brookings’ blog post referenced at the head of this article, Jonathan Rothwell talks about the dearth of funding for, and spaces in, American STEM programmes: Apparently, the Washington state legislature has resisted increasing funding to appropriate levels because it costs more to train science majors than majors in business, art, or other popular degrees. That’s amazingly self-defeating. Meanwhile, in a rush to sacrifice long-run prosperity to resolve short-term budget conflicts, many states are cutting funding to computer and engineering departments at public universities and colleges. These policies are … ludicrous in our high-tech age. This, in spite of the fact that —“in the average large [American] metro, 30% of job openings are in STEM fields but just 11% of the population have a STEM degree.” The Obama administration is endeavoring to improve STEM capacity to redress fears that the US is losing its competitive edge. Editor’s Note: See our article “US one step closer towards passing STEM legislation, increasing H-1B visas” for the latest update on new legislation that would automatically grant green cards to international graduates of US universities with degrees in STEM fields, as well as significantly increase the number of H-1B visas. In the UK, a study by the Royal Academy of Engineering notes that Britain is slipping in the international innovation league tables and points out that while the UK is currently graduating 23,000 engineers each year, India is producing eight times as many, and China 20 times as many. The study contends that the UK needs to “increase by as much as 50% the number of science, technology, engineering, and maths graduates it is creating.” Countries investing in STEM As the US and UK consider how to boost their STEM capacity, they of course know that China and India have been prioritising STEM for years now, with astounding results in terms of how much more globally competitive their economies have become. A new paper from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a European-based think tank, predicts that over the next 50 years, the size of China and then India’s economies will surpass the US’s. Other countries are investing heavily in STEM in the hopes of achieving the same kind of boost as China and India (though of course on a lesser scale, due to population size): - Saudi Arabia, the home country of the huge King Abdullah Scholarship Programme (KASP) provides full funding for 125,000 students to study undergraduate and graduate degrees in mostly STEM subjects. - Then there’s Peru, which announced earlier this year that it is investing more than US $136 million in science and technology and making available 1,000 new science and technology postgraduate fellowships by 2016, as well as 1,500 scholarships for Peruvian students at foreign universities. - In Brazil, the National Industrial Apprenticeship Service (SENAI) is investing US $750 million to create 23 new Innovation Institutes designed to support business innovation and research in Brazil. And Brazil’s Science Without Borders Initiative sends 100,000 students for study abroad focused on science, technology, and innovation. - Germany has doubled its STEM graduates between 2000 and 2010, which one report claims will boost “long-term economic growth by .35%.” - The Swedish government has just made its largest ever investment in life sciences –US $320 million. It has also budgeted for 400 new spots for engineering students at Sweden’s universities next year with a goal of 1,600 new places for civil engineering students to be created by 2016 — this has the attached price tag of US $32 million, a testament again to how expensive it can be to increase STEM capacity. - South Korea has allocated around US $51 million to assist Africa over the next two years in carrying out human resource development projects, including growing the continent’s scientific workforce, preparing higher education reform strategies and designing education policy. What it all means for student recruitment That there is demand for STEM programmes is undeniable – and demand among emerging segments in national populations, too. In Saudi Arabia and the Arab world as a whole, for example, there is a growing emphasis on getting women trained in STEM fields. According to University World News, in Saudi Arabia, 65% of all enrolments in science degrees in 2010 were women, versus 40% a decade earlier. Still, Saudi women make up just 34% of Saudi science master’s students and 29% of PhD students, and they command only 1% of research jobs in the country (the worldwide average for women researchers is 30%). A recent Economic Intelligence Unit report, Accelerating Growth: Women in science and technology in the Arab Middle East, contains recommendations for how to encourage more Arab women into STEM graduate studies and careers. Magdi Tawfik Abdelhamid, a researcher at Cairo’s National Research Centre, told University Word News that the report’s recommendations would be taken up by such associations as the “UAE-based Arab science and technology foundation’s Arab women network for research and development, and the Bahrain-based Arab network for women in science and technology.” So, women – especially in the Arab world – may be an increasingly promising target segment. As for the population of prospective STEM students as a whole, keep in mind that STEM programmes are often very expensive, and so prospect interest in scholarship opportunities or other financial supports may be an important aspect of a successful recruitment strategy. In addition, bridging/preparatory programmes and generally strong student supports can be very important for international students as STEM programmes are often very tough academically and can have high attrition rates. One university that invested in this area was The University of Texas at El Paso: Through a combination of bridge programmes, building a community of support for STEM students, increasing students’ research opportunities, and re-evaluating teaching practices, [the university] raised graduation rates in STEM disciplines by nearly 50% and more than doubled the number of STEM baccalaureate degrees awarded to Hispanics — making it the largest producer of Mexican-American STEM graduates in the country. As these points illustrate, recruitment for STEM programmes can be tricky. But as more and more students (and governments) become interested in STEM fields, figuring out how to tune recruitment strategies to address these programme-specific challenges and opportunities will be key.
We can’t stop plastic pollution without you Environmental Action has launched a 50-state campaign to ban foam cups and take-out containers across the country. With your help, we can reduce plastic pollution in the ocean and protect the lives of whales and other wildlife threatened by this trash. Plastic Pollution’s Growing Threat In a new study, scientists have discovered a record amount of plastic particles trapped in Arctic sea ice.1 Plastic waste breaks down into these particles, threatening wildlife and the future of our planet. One of the worst forms of plastic pollution comes from polystyrene foam cups (what most of us call Styrofoam). This foam never fully degrades. Instead, it turns into plastic particles that persist in the environment for centuries.2 Impact on Wildlife The amount of plastic in our oceans, rivers and lakes is taking a toll on wildlife. This study comes on the heels of a young sperm whale in early April who washed up on a beach in Spain with 64 pounds of human-made trash, including plastic trash bags, in its digestive system.3 This whale isn’t alone — scientists have found plastic in hundreds of species, including in 86 percent of all sea turtle species and 43 percent of all marine mammal species.4 And when animals ingest this waste, it can block their digestive system until they starve to death. For a bird or fish or turtle, it’s easy to mistake a small piece of plastic for food — especially when there are millions of pieces of plastic floating in the ocean, our rivers and lakes, including some so small we can’t see them. How You Can Help We shouldn’t allow our waste to put wildlife at risk. That’s why we’re working to convince governors in states across the country to take the next step and ban the use of plastic foam cups and take-out containers. But to get there, we need the strong support of our members. Will you chip in today? We need to act now, and we can start by not using plastics that end up in our water in the first place. Already, more than 15,000 Environmental Action supporters have told their governors to pass a ban on plastic foam. But we can’t stop there. 1. Matthew Taylor, “Record Levels Of Plastic Discovered In Arctic Sea Ice,” The Guardian, April 24, 2018. 2. “Plastic Marine Debris,” Oceanic and Atmospheric Association Marine Debris Program, September 2011. 3. Kristine Phillips, “A Dead Sperm Whale Was Found With 64 Pounds Of Trash In Its Digestive System,” The Washington Post, April 11, 2018. 4. José G.B Derraik, “The Pollution Of The Marine Environment By Plastic Debris: A Review,” Marine Pollution Bulletin, September 2002
Please note that as of October 24, 2014, the Nokia Developer Wiki will no longer be accepting user contributions, including new entries, edits and comments, as we begin transitioning to our new home, in the Windows Phone Development Wiki. We plan to move over the majority of the existing entries over the next few weeks. Thanks for all your past and future contributions. 2 Viewpoints In Html Code 1.Prefer percentage to numerical value Many elements in HTML page need define width and height,which usually is the numerical value.This will cause a problem that the element displays correctly in mobile with larger size screen,but in smaller screen it will be beyond the display area.To avoid the problem,percentage is recommended,which let the page calculate the fitted size for the current screen of the mobile.But the simple elements,such as text,is unnecessary used as this way. 2.Prefer text to image Image is more beautiful than text in some cases,but it cost much resource of the mobile even if today the mobile's performance is better than ever.And some user set the browser not displaying images for saving rate,which leads the images won't be loaded.So the user can't operate with this confused screen.In order to code a efficient UI,it had better use texts instead of images especially in the action button,which guarantees the base demand.
May 14, 2001 CXC PR: 01-07 Probing a large, nearby galaxy in the constellation of Circinus, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory presents a new view of both the galaxy’s supermassive black hole and a host of potential smaller black holes sprinkled throughout its spiral arms. The results include the first detection of a black hole’s periodic variability in X-rays outside our galactic neighborhood. Astronomers from Penn State University used Chandra to discover a variable object within the dozen or so X-ray emitting sources sprinkled throughout the Circinus galaxy. The intensity of X-rays from this source changes on a cycle of 7.5 hours – the first time this "periodic variability" has been detected at X-ray wavelengths in an object outside the "Local Group" of galaxies. And, along with its brightness, this evidence strongly suggests that the system contains a black hole some 50 times the mass of the Sun. "Extremely luminous X-ray sources such as this one appear to be common among other galaxies," said Franz Bauer, a postdoctoral scholar at Penn State and lead author of a July 2001 paper in The Astronomical Journal. "But until Chandra, we have never had an instrument that could clearly identify whether they were simply massive X-ray binary systems, or if they represented a new class of objects" "The periodic variability in the Chandra data of Circinus provides us with a key signature that these objects are indeed X-ray binary systems," continued Bauer. "This is important because black holes with masses much larger than 10 times the mass of the Sun such as this one are difficult to explain under current theories of star formation and destruction. Definitively finding a periodic signal in one allows us to test some of our past assumptions." The X-ray data acquired by two independent teams -- one at Penn State and George Mason University and the other at the University of Maryland -- also provide evidence that strongly supports the "unified model," a theory in which a large doughnut-shaped ring is thought to obscure the central black hole. In the case of Circinus, this ring of material obscures a direct line of sight to the central black hole. Its existence is inferred from a detailed analysis of the gas distribution and physical conditions near the center of the galaxy by the two teams. At least two different gas components are identified near the nucleus. One, a warm gas that is heated and ionized by the radiation field from the black hole, contains strong emissions of highly ionized elements such as argon, calcium, iron, magnesium, neon, silicon, and sulfur. The second gas component is cooler and features a strong iron emission line. In addition, the astronomers were able to show that the two gas components have different distributions, with the warmer gas being spread over a much larger region around the black hole than the cooler gas. "The Chandra observations of Circinus show us how complex the gaseous environment of supermassive black holes can be," said Rita Sambruna, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at George Mason University. "Because it is close and thus easy to study, Circinus provides an important testbed for what might be happening in other, more distant so-called active galaxies." The Chandra images allowed the astronomers to determine that the X-ray emission associated with the central black hole can be resolved into a number of distinct components. A bright, compact emission source is present at the center of the image, and that nuclear source is surrounded by a diffuse X-ray halo that extends out several hundred light years. The researchers also detected a cone of hot gas extending out from the galaxy's core to a distance of 2000 light years to the northwest. "The large region of X-ray emitting gas extending out of the galaxy disk looks very similar to the gas seen in optical observations," said David Smith, research associate at the University of Maryland. "This may imply the X-ray gas is heated by material close to the galaxy's supermassive black hole." On astronomical scales, this galaxy is considered quite close, a mere13 million light years from Earth. Since it’s located near the plane of our own Milky Way Galaxy, the Circinus galaxy is partially hidden by intervening dust along our line of sight. As a result, the galaxy went unnoticed until about 25 years ago. Along with Sambruna and Bauer, the first research group included Hagai Netzer of Tel-Aviv University and the following collaborators from Penn State: Niel Brandt, George Chartas, Gordon Garmire, John Nousek, and Shai Kaspi. The University of Maryland team also included Andrew Wilson. The results of theses Chandra observations appear in recent and upcoming papers in The Astrophysical and Astronomical Journals. Observations with Chandra, using the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) and the High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (HETGS), were made on June 6-7, 2000 and observations without the HETGS were made on March 14, 2000. The HETG and ACIS instruments were built for NASA by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, and Pennsylvania State University, University Park. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, manages the Chandra program for the Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. TRW, Inc., Redondo Beach, California, is the prime contractor for the spacecraft. The Smithsonian's Chandra X-ray Center controls science and flight operations from Cambridge, MA. Images associated with this release are available on the World Wide Web at: Penn State, University Park, PA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL Chandra X-ray Observatory Center, CfA, Cambridge, MA
Adults need around 7-9 hours of sleep each night to function optimally, but this can vary from person to person. Sleep is essential for overall health and well-being as it helps to repair and restore the body, regulate hormones, and maintain a healthy immune system. Let’s explore why people may be sleeping too much and share some strategies that may help you get the right amount of sleep each night. What is the recommended amount of sleep for adults? Adults need an average of 7-9 hours of sleep every day. However, individual sleep needs vary depending on age, lifestyle, and health. - Adults aged 18-65 years should aim for 7-9 hours of sleep. - Adults over 65 years of age should aim for 7-8 hours of sleep. Don’t get caught up in these common misconceptions about sleep requirements: Common misconceptions about sleep requirements include: - people can get away with not having enough sleep - adults need less sleep as they age - napping can replace nighttime sleep. Why is getting enough sleep crucial? Getting enough sleep is essential for our overall health and well-being. Sleep helps us to recharge and restore our energy levels, improving our alertness, concentration, and productivity. It also helps to boost our immune system, allowing us to fight off illnesses and infections more easily. Without adequate sleep, our physical and mental health can suffer significantly. What are the physical and mental benefits of getting enough sleep? Adequate sleep helps to reduce stress levels, improve memory and concentration, and even helps to reduce inflammation in the body. Physically, it helps to: - maintain healthy body weight - reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases - increase energy levels Mentally, it helps us to - stay sharp, alert and focused - make better decisions - improve our mood What are the consequences of not getting enough sleep? Not getting enough sleep can lead to a number of physical and mental health issues, such as: - cognitive impairment It can also affect our ability to concentrate and make decisions, as well as our overall productivity. Furthermore, not getting enough sleep can even increase our risk of developing certain chronic illnesses like diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Now that we know why getting enough sleep is important, it’s time to get familiar with the factors affecting the quality of your sleep. Factors that affect sleep quality (and quantity) There are several factors that can affect the quantity and quality of sleep that you get each night. What lifestyle factors affect sleep? Lifestyle factors that can affect sleep include: Eating a balanced diet and getting enough exercise can help regulate your body’s natural sleep-wake cycle while reducing stress levels can help to reduce the amount of time it takes to fall asleep. Lifestyle changes that contribute to better sleep Here’s a breakdown of how you can incorporate healthy lifestyle changes for your sleep schedule: Eat a balanced diet Eating a balanced diet and avoiding heavy meals late at night can help to promote better sleep. Eating low glycemic index foods and limiting your caffeine intake can also be beneficial. Getting enough exercise is important for promoting better quality sleep. Regular exercise can help to enhance the body’s natural sleep-wake cycle while also reducing stress levels. Stress can be a major factor in disrupting your sleep. Reducing stress levels can help to reduce the amount of time it takes to fall asleep, as well as improve the quality of sleep you get each night. Common sleep disorders you may have heard of Sleep disorders, such as insomnia and sleep apnea, can also affect the amount and quality of sleep you get each night. If you suspect that you may have a sleep disorder, it is important to seek medical advice to determine the best course of treatment. Insomnia is a sleep disorder that can cause difficulty in falling and staying asleep. Sleep apnea is a disorder that causes interruptions in breathing during sleep, which can lead to poor sleep quality. Tips for improving sleep Getting enough sleep is essential to feeling energized and productive during the day. If you're wondering why you're sleeping so much, there are a few steps you can take to improve your sleep quality and duration. - Establishing a consistent sleep routine is one of the best ways to improve your sleep quality. - Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day - Make sure the environment is conducive to sleep by reducing noise and light levels. - Limit any distractions such as television or mobile phones. - Relaxation techniques such as meditation, deep breathing, and progressive muscle relaxation can help you relax before bedtime and promote better sleep quality. - Regular exercise and healthy eating can also help you sleep better by regulating your circadian rhythm and reducing stress. - Sleep Stick is a doctor-developed proprietary sleep aid that acts fast and effectively. Made with natural ingredients, the Sleep Stick will help you sleep better, wake refreshed, and be ready to take on the day. FAQs: How much sleep do adults need? Is 6 hours a night enough sleep? Although 6 hours a night is considered the minimum amount of sleep an adult should get, it is not always enough. Getting at least 7 hours of sleep each night is recommended for optimal health and well-being. Is it good to get 5 hours of sleep? No, getting 5 hours of sleep is not good for your overall health and well-being. It is recommended to get 7–8 hours of sleep each night for optimal health and well-being. Do adults need 7 hours of sleep? Yes, adults need 7–8 hours of sleep each night for optimal health and well-being. Is 7 hours of sleep better than 8? Getting 8 hours of sleep is considered optimal. But, if you are having trouble getting 8 hours of sleep each night, 7 hours of sleep may be better for you than 5 or 6 hours. Do naps count as sleep? Yes, naps can count as sleep as long as they are taken during the day. Napping in the afternoon can help to promote a better quality of sleep at night. Sleep is an important part of our overall health and well-being, and it is essential to get enough quality sleep in order to function effectively during the day. There are many potential causes of excessive sleep, including lifestyle, stress, health conditions, medications, and more. Taking steps to ensure you get enough quality sleep, such as establishing a consistent sleep schedule and making lifestyle changes, can help you to improve your sleep quality. Sleep Stick is here to help you start your night on the right foot. The proprietary doctor-developed formula combines refreshing spearmint and active ingredients that create deep, restorative sleep during the night. Get your good night’s rest today. Good or bad, we’d love to hear your thoughts. Find us on Twitter (@twitter)
, helped to check the accuracy of those saliva-based, at-home COVID take a look at kits in measuring the oral microbiome, the micro organism present in animals and people. “We inhale a small amount of our saliva every day, so it makes sense that some of the microbes that live in our mouths would end up in our lungs,” stated lead writer Abigail Armstrong, a postdoctoral fellow on the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine (CABM) at Rutgers. “By studying the mouth microbiome in these banked samples of people with or without COVID-19, we can get an idea of how the microbial environment in the mouth and lung might impact the disease.” Salvia checks use preservatives to take care of genetic materials (RNA) within the SARS-CoV-2 virus to allow quick outcomes. But it was unknown if it additionally would protect the bacterial genetic materials. Researchers collected saliva samples from 22 individuals with the kits and in empty tubes. Six of the individuals additionally got here again the following days to provide one other set of samples so the researchers may examine their microbiome over time. They then in contrast their capacity to measure the microbiome in each sorts of saliva assortment. Results proven that samples collected within the COVID testing kits nonetheless allowed for correct measuring of the micro organism and gave a extra secure image of the microbiome over time in comparison with samples collected in kits and not using a preservative. So, saliva collected for COVID testing can be used to measure microbes within the mouth and assist additional our understanding of the systemic results of COVID an infection and in addition assist researchers to develop probiotic- or microbiome-centered therapies to assist deal with COVID-19. “This work puts us into a position to examine the many saliva specimens we have obtained from Rutgers study subjects volunteering to participate in COVID investigations,” stated senior writer Martin Blaser, CABM director.
\|Image is from a chicken rearing forum, and is copyright its poster, user stephanie1992\| I did have it asked of me whether the splotch on her face could be caused by the masking gene, but I find this highly doubtful. If this dog was a piebald, the mask would be affected by the white spotting gene just as any other gene would be. There are several possibilities as to what could be causing this dog's interesting coloring. It could just be an exceptionally unusual variation of piebalding, which I doubt. The facial markings are far too different from what would be expected in a piebald dog. It could be merle combined with the Harlequin gene, which I also doubt because the Harlequin gene appears to be isolated to great Danes. There is vitiligo, which causes the loss of color pigment from the body, but this dog does not look like a typical animal with vitiligo. This leaves only one option: the phenotype is caused by some form of mosaicism. This is a phenomenon that is seen in dogs on occasion, with the most commonly seen version being black spots appearing in otherwise red dogs (see here, here, here, and here). Mosaicism, by definition, is when body cells have or express different genetic material. This can be caused by several phenomena. There is somatic mutation, which is where some mutation occurs in a cell after an embryo begins to develop, producing an individual that has patches of cells with minor differences. I suspect that this is the cause of such things as what we call birthmarks. There is also Barr body formation, where an individual must have two or more X's in their sex chromosomes. The body only wants one X chromosome activated, and as such will deactivate extra X's in the body's cells, creating a Barr body. This causes the tortoiseshell phenotype in cats as the basic red and black genes in that species are X-linked; it is unlikely to affect the coloring in other animals. Lastly, there is chimerism. This is where two embryos become fused into one early in development, producing an individual with two distinctly different genotypes that would be as similar as any siblings would be. For this dog, she is likely either a chimera expressing a dominant black and some form of white (most likely extreme white piebald or extremely pale recessive red) or a black and white piebald with a mosaic spot on her face. I believe the first is the most likely, as the white in her coat is tinged with cream in a similar pattern to what would be expected in a very pale red, and I think the black is too extensive for a simple somatic mutation. This would mean that the two genotypes present would be dominant (K-) or recessive (aa) black and the pale recessive red (ee). It is also possible that some form of white spotting is in effect. As for her breed, I suspect that she is a German shepherd crossed with a border collie, possibly more than half German shepherd as she seems very shepherd-y to me (but then again, she could just be a working border). Whatever she is and whatever her genotype, she is a very interesting-looking dog.
How do you spell Hannukah? An extinct primitive bird of the genus Archaeopteryx of the Jurassic Period, having characteristics of both birds and dinosaurs. Like dinosaurs, it had a long, bony tail, claws at the end of its fingers, and teeth. Like birds it had wings and feathers. Many scientists regard it as evidence that birds evolved from small carnivorous dinosaurs. See Note at bird.
Attaining Healthy Nutrition Behaviors Concern: What nutrients does my body requirement to preserve healthy nutrition routines? Answer: There are a lot of nutrients that can assist your body end up being the photo of health. Vitamin A is a crucial nutrient that can be found in vegetables and fruits. Aiding cell recreation, Vitamin An assists vision, promotes bone and tooth advancement and assists to keep healthy skin, hair, and mucous membranes. An absence of this vitamin can trigger such concerns as night loss of sight, bad bone growth, dry skin, and weak tooth enamel. Doctors suggest 10,000 IU a day for a man, and 8,000 each day for adult women to maintain healthy nutrition routines. Vitamin C is another one of the most crucial vitamins for keeping your health. 60 milligrams each day are advised for groups of both sexes. This vitamin works as an antioxidant, safeguarding your body’s tissues from the damage of oxidation. Vitamin C also has actually been found to be an effective antiviral agent, safeguarding your body from numerous illness. An essential consider attaining healthy nutrition routines is to keep your mineral consumption at its current level. The word “mineral” explains any non-carbon-based compound that serves a function in the body. Some build bones and teeth, while others carry out such jobs as controlling muscle contraction. Minerals are classified into two groups based upon the human body’s need for them. Major minerals are minerals that our bodies need in amounts greater than 100 milligrams per day. Significant minerals consist of calcium, phosphorous and magnesium. Minor minerals are minerals our body needs less than 100 milligrams each day of. Iron, zinc, and iodine all fall under the minor minerals category. Proper use of these minerals combined with a diet that fits your life design can lead you well on your way to obtaining healthy nutrition habits.
Activation products are materials made radioactive by neutron activation. Fission products and actinides produced by neutron absorption of nuclear fuel itself are normally referred to by those specific names, and activation product reserved for products of neutron capture by other materials, such as structural components of the nuclear reactor or nuclear bomb, the reactor coolant, control rods or other neutron poisons, or materials in the environment. All of these, however, need to be handled as radioactive waste. Some nuclides originate in more than one way, as activation products or fission products. Activation products in a reactor's primary coolant loop are a main reason why reactors use a chain of two or even three coolant loops linked by heat exchangers. Fusion reactors will not produce radioactive waste from the fusion product nuclei themselves, which are normally just helium-4, but generate high neutron fluxes, so activation products are a particular concern. Activation product radionuclides include: \|Sulfur-35\|\|0.24\|\|Chlorine-35 1% branch\| - Handbook on Nuclear Activation Cross-Sections, IAEA, 1974 - Nuclear Structure and Decay Databases (nndc.bnl.gov) - New and revised half-life measurements results made by the Radioactivity Group of NIST \|This nuclear physics or atomic physics-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.\|