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Edit Article wikiHow to Play Mad World More than a few beginning musicians or others might be interested in figuring out the musical key to the hit song "Mad World," a melancholy ballad to disorientation or alienation from the world as it seems. This song was originally written by Tears for Fears in 1982, but since then it has enjoyed other incarnations, for example, as a track in the cult film "Donnie Darko." The song enjoyed new popularity when American Idol winner Adam Lambert chose it for part of his dramatic song lineup. This versatile song is not extremely complicated from a musical standpoint. Some simple and essential items will help beginners to understand how to play "Mad World" and make it sound something like the original version. 1. 1 Choose instrumentation. Playing this song will be different based on what instruments the musicians are using. In many variations of "Mad World" the major instrument is the piano. However, for other musical presentations, the guitar is the lead instrument. Think about which instruments are best for a specific rendition of this song. 2. 2 Utilize the common chord progression for the introduction. Sheet music for the song shows the intro as being composed of two chords: F minor and B flat major. Playing these two alternately will provide the back-and-forth kind of sound featured in the introduction to "Mad World." 3. 3 Use a different chord progression for the verse. When the song is played with F minor as the base chord, the verse chord progression would be from F minor to A flat, E flat and B flat and back to F minor. • Think about alternatives for the key of the song. Changing the key can make the song sound a bit different. For instance, some versions of sheet music for "Mad World" use the chords E minor and A major for the intro. Being able to change keys for a song quickly is part of what makes a musician more experienced and professional, and it's worth putting some time into the study of relative chord progressions in order to be able to effectively change keys. 4. 4 Go back to the original chord progression for the chorus. For example, if using the introduction chords F minor and B flat major, return to this same chord alternation for the chorus. • Listen to the way the alternating chords match the vocal chorus line: "I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad ..." Here, the timely resolution back to F minor is part of what makes the song feel a certain way. Getting this feeling right is part of playing this song well. 5. 5 Work on tempo. The pace of the chords is very important for "Mad World." Again, listen to the lyrics and try to make the pace of musical play match the vocals and the overall ethos of the song. Getting the sound right will evoke associations with the original version and make your version sound good. Community Q&A Ask a Question 200 characters left Article Info Categories: Guitar Chords and Songs Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 6,634 times. Did this article help you?
Cruelty beyond imagination Matthew Bible Background 01.02.2017 – New Testament: Matt 2.16 To read the Bible in a year, read Matthew 2 on January 2, In the year of our Lord 2017 By Don Ruhl When the wise men did not return to Herod to reveal to him the location of the newborn King of the Jews, he did something that I cannot fathom, How could a man be so cold and heartless? What about the soldiers who carried out his command? They had to be as cold and heartless. How do we picture such an event. Yet, it happened, because the devil determined to kill the Christ before He could do His work of saving man. However, the devil failed miserably. • Why did Herod feel threatened by a baby? • Would you describe Herod as a man of the people? Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s
Posted by: Pradeep \| October 1, 2008 Global financial problem – still long way to go World is going through the most serious global financial crisis since the Great Depression. It is centred in the United States, but its implications are worldwide. The nationalisation of Bradford & Bingley in the UK and financial support for Fortis in Europe highlight the dangers of contagion. Only concerted action by governments and monetary authorities, particularly those of the US, can prevent a global disaster. The crisis is as much real as it is based on the fear in the minds of participants in the financial system. That is why the $700 billion Troubled Asset Recovery Plan proposed by US treasury secretary Paulson and rejected by US House of Representatives is so important. The US government must commit large amounts of taxpayer funds and show firm determination to solve the problem. There were four main factors behind this crisis. One, the US had long and continuous economic expansion with low inflation over the last 15 years, making financial markets and regulators complacent. They forgot that there is a “business cycle”. Only 18 months ago, regulators, particularly the US Federal Reserve, were focused on dealing with the so-called ‘liquidity glut’. In the process, they missed noticing the emerging risk due to asset price inflation, particularly in real estate. Two, during these good times financial institutions (FIs), particularly investment banks, grew very large. They took big risks and made huge profits. In recent years, FIs contributed nearly 40%, as against the normal 10%, of total US corporate profits. They paid huge salaries to recruit the best and the brightest from top business schools, who, in turn, helped create and sell complex financial products, credit derivatives and other securities whose risks were not understood by either investors or the top managements of investment banks. Three: The good times encouraged banks to take higher risks. Highly leveraged transactions with “life covenants” became the norm. Investment banks themselves, became highly leveraged: 32:1 for Lehman Brothers before it failed, as against 8:1 for a conservative bank. Investment banks did not have sufficient capital to support the risks on their balance sheets. Four, there was major failure of leadership at most FIs. Dealmakers took charge and risk managers were completely sidelined. Credit was mispriced so much that there was only small difference in the yield between junk bonds and US treasuries. The very first inkling of the crisis came in February 2007 when Bobby Mehta, chief executive of HSBC, North America and another executive of HSBC, USA were sacked for catastrophic forays into high-risk US mortgage securities. These two bankers had received $40 million in bonuses the previous two years. The bank was forced to issue the first profit warning in its 142 years history but the timely action to recognise and deal with this problem has served HSBC well. Few market participants picked up the implications of this market signal. Since early 2008, treasury secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke have been spearheading the fight against the financial crisis. Their challenge is to prevent systemic failure and recession, without creating a moral hazard, which would encourage people to act irresponsibly in the future. They orchestrated Bear Stearns’ merger with JP Morgan to stabilise the markets in March. Last month, they took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, virtually government enterprises believed to have “the full faith and credit of the US government” behind them. They let Lehman Brothers file for bankruptcy as it did not represent a systemic risk. By this action, they also gave a salutary warning to shareholders and creditors of FIs that the US government would not always bail them out. Merrill Lynch’s merger with Bank of America, nudged on by the regulators, was a smart move. It addressed a problem before it became serious. AIG had to be rescued. Its normal insurance business continues to be sound, but it has assembled a huge portfolio of structured securities and credit default swaps that posed a risk to the entire financial system. Washington Mutual’s takeover by JP Morgan, and Wachovia’s acquisition by Citigroup underline the current fragility of US banking system. Depending upon how effective the US government and other monetary authorities are in dealing with the current crisis, it would take at least a year, possibly more, for the credit markets to get back to normal. In the medium term, we will see US lawmakers impose fresh, perhaps, too many, regulations, on the financial system. The structure of the financial industry will undergo a major change. After the Great Depression, the Glass-Steagall Act separated commercial banks and securities firms. Ironically, the current financial crisis has led to combination of the two. There will be other changes. Insurers will have to stick to their basic business and not take on huge risks on unrelated ventures. There is likely to be more regulations on hedge funds and other unregulated financial entities. Capital requirements for most FIs will be further enhanced. There would be an overhaul of executive compensation, and strengthening of risk management. Most derivatives such as Credit Default Swaps would become exchange-traded to eliminate counter party risk. Rating agencies will completely revise their approach to rating of mortgage and other complex securities. This crisis will have some impact on India as well — we are not decoupled from the global financial systems. We have already seen the Indian stock market move in tandem with global markets. Capital flows into India will, the in short term, slow down. The rupee will depreciate. On the other hand, our domestic financial system is robust and well capitalised. The Reserve Bank has already initiated sound measures to control inflation and excesses in the property sector. There is an additional concern and an opportunity. Indian corporates who made large acquisitions overseas in recent years, with significant leverage, will be challenged. At the same time, asset prices are very depressed, particularly in the US and Europe, presenting Indian companies with interesting acquisition opportunities. Originally written by Mr. Arun Duggal, TOI Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s %d bloggers like this:
Posted on 04/03/2012 by __socrates Wikis > Dictionary of Islam > Al-Hazaratu'l-Khams AL-HAZARATU ‘L-KHAMS . According to the kitabu ‘t-Ta’rifat, al-hazaratu ‘l-Khamsu ‘l-Ilahiyah, or “the five divine existence,” is a term used by the following:- 1. Hazratu ‘l-ghaibi ‘l-mutlaq, That existence which is absolutely unknown i.e. God. 2. Hazratu ‘sh-shakadati ‘l-mutlaqah, Those celestial (ajram) and terrestrial (ajsam) existences which are evident to the senses. 3. Hazratu ‘alami ‘l-arwah, That existence which consists of the spiritual world of angels and spirits. 4. Hazratu ‘alami ‘l-misal, That existence, which is the unseen world, where there is the true likeness of everything which exists on the earth. 5. Hazratu ‘l-jami’ah, The collective existence of the four already mentioned. Based on Hughes, Dictionary of Islam
Learn More Diverse methods have been developed to generate terrains under constraints to control terrain features, but most of them use strict restrictions. However, there are situations were more flexible restrictions are sufficient, such as ensuring that terrains have enough accessible area, which is an important trait for video games. The Genetic Terrain Program(More) Terrain generation algorithms have an important role in video games: they can provide a realistic scenario for the game experience, or can help keep the user interested in playing by providing new landscapes each time he plays. Nowadays there are a wide range of techniques for terrain generation, but all of them are focused on providing realistic terrains ,(More) To speed up content creation video game industry is increasingly turning to procedural content generation methods. However, creating and fine tuning procedural algorithms is a time consuming task. To address this issue several Search-Based Procedural Content Generation (SBPCG) techniques have been devised. They propose to automatically search the right(More) Nowadays the video game industry is facing a big challenge: keep costs under control as games become bigger and more complex. Creation of game content , such as character models, maps, levels, textures, sound effects and so on, represent a big slice of total game production cost. Hence, the video game industry is increasingly turning to procedural content(More) Microsoft Windows 10 Desktop edition has brought some new features and updated other ones that are of special interest to digital forensics analysis. The search box available on the taskbar, next to the Windows start button is one of these novelties. Although the primary usage of this search box is to act as an interface to the intelligent personal digital(More) • 1
Alternate History Franco-American War (Franco-American War) 42,130pages on this wiki Add New Page Talk0 Share Franco-American War Date July 7, 1798 - October 5, 1804 Location Europe, North America, the Atlantic, the Indian Ocean Result American-British victory; • Transfer of Louisiana to Great Britain and the United States • Transfer of Guadeloupe to Great Britain • Formation of new countries in North America • Release of all remaining French possessions outside of Europe US flag 13 stars – Betsy Ross United States Union flag 1606 (Kings Colors) United Kingdom Flag of France France Flag of Spain Spain Commanders and leaders US flag 13 stars – Betsy Ross Benjamin Stoddert Union flag 1606 (Kings Colors) James Gambier Union flag 1606 (Kings Colors) Robert Calder Flag of France Edme Desfourneaux Flag of France Victor Hugues Flag of France André Rigaud The Franco-American War was a war fought almost entirely at sea between the United States and France. After the fall of the monarchy during the Revolution, the United States refused to pay their debts to the new republic on the grounds that it had been owned to the monarchy. France was outraged, and this lead to several attacks on American shipping, leading to strong retaliation. The French had been a crucial ally of the United States ever since the Revolutionary War, starting in 1778 when they signed a treaty of alliance against the United Kingdom. However, in 1794, a revolution conquered the French monarchy, the American government signed a treaty with Britain that resolved several points of contention between the two ever since independence. Ad blocker interference detected!
Washing Hands and Running Water “Anyone the man with a discharge touches without rinsing his hands with water must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. ‘A clay pot that the man touches must be broken, and any wooden article is to be rinsed with water. ” – Leviticus 15: 11 √ Image Source: http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-illustration-4629419-running-water-sprite.php 1. Leviticus 15 deals with coming in contact with bodily fluids • The passage stresses the importance of using running water to wash hands 2. Many a wounded soldier fell victim to surgeons who lacked running water (or the knowledge of its key in preventing septic situations) √ Source: http://www.civilwarhome.com/civilwarmedicineintro.htm √ Source: http://creationwiki.org/Bible_scientific_foreknowledge#cite_ref-Castiglioni2_33-0
Lebanon Old Society Lebanon, CT Lebanon, CT, was incorporated in 1700 by James Fitch and John Mason, who had been given plots of land by the Mohegan Indians, the original inhabitants of the area. Its population was then 350 people, and as the town grew, it was divided into ecceliastical societies or parishes, the arm of the Congregational Church that handled secular business. When new societies were established for each new church, they were often named numerically ("First" or "Second") or descriptively, sometimes after the neighborhood or new town that formed around them. Thus, "Lebanon Old Society" refers to the first eccesiastical society established to manage the affairs of the earliest Congregational Church in the town. When it was provisionally divided in 1732 (and actually in 1804), it was referred to as "South Society," while the "new" parish was called "North Society." All related documents: retrieve them Bates, Albert C. "Introdution." List of Congregational Ecclesiastical Societies Established in Connecticut Before October 1818, with their Changes. Hartford: Connecticut Historical Society, 1913. University of Connecticut Libraries, online; Simpson, Nancy. "Lebanon, Connecticut."New London County USGenweb Project. www.ctgenweb.org.
This article describes two of the most common methods used to create basic animation effects in Adobe Director and may be helpful if you are just beginning to explore some of Director's advanced animation capabilities, or if you are starting to make use of Lingo scripts in your movies. The image below is used as an example for this article. If you want to use it without downloading the example movies you can RIGHT-CLICK the image and save it as a file for the exercises that follow. Hot Air Balloon There are two example Director movies you can download for the exercises below. Both movies are in a Director MX 2004 format, but should load into Director MX as well. Keyframe Balloon Animation (18.2 KB) Scripted Balloon Animation (18.5 KB) Balloon with Moving Clouds (1.8 MB) In case you're new to Adobe Director and animation, here is a brief glossary of some of the terms used in this article. Cast - The database of media assets used in a Director movie. Channel - Similar conceptually to a "layer" in a paint program, a channel allows a sprite associated with that channel to have unique control parameters that can be manipulated independently from other channels. A Director movie may have up to 1000 channels. Frame Rate - The number of frames per second (FPS) of graphic content that are draw to the screen. Keyframe - A "snapshot" of one or more sprite properties, such as screen position, at a specific point in time. Linear Interpolation - To 'interpolate' means to calculate a new value in between two known values. Linear interpolation creates new values at equal distances along a line between two known values. When you animate objects with the Score or Stage and set the key positions of a sprite, Director computes the in-between (tweened) points to determine how the sprite moves from one keyframe to the next. Lingo - The built-in scripting language for Director. Score - The layout space for sprites, similar in appearance to a spreadsheet. The score contains up to 1000 channels and a virtually unlimited number of frames. Sprite - 1) A cast member that has been placed in the Score, and consequently can be seen on the Stage. 2) Any graphically manipulable or programmable object that has been placed in the Score. Stage - The window of presentation where all visible action takes place. Tweened Frame - Animation that is automatically generated by the computer when it is given at least two keyframes. Tweened animation is usually generated by means of linear interpolation. The Director Coordinate System The cartesian coordinate system is one of the most fundamental and important concepts to understand when you begin to work with 2-D graphic software. The purpose of a coordinate system is to provide a form of notation to describe a spatial position, or point. Cartesian Coordinates XY The image on the left shows a representation of Director's coordinate system. A two-dimensional coordinate system like this always assumes the horizontal ( X ) value is shown before the ( Y ) value, so the upper left part of the screen is (0, 0), indicating 0 pixels on the X-axis, and 0 pixels on the Y-axis. If the screen were 800 pixels across and 600 pixels high, the bottom right corner of the image would have (800, 600) as the coordinates. The middle of the screen would be (400, 300). The green lines show the direction each respective axis increases in value. The X-axis increases in value toward the right, and the Y-axis increases in value from top to bottom. Methods of Animation Adobe Director provides powerful and versatile tools for creating animation. Typically, there are two methods developers use to animate in Director: 1) Keyframe animation, and 2) Scripted animation. We will go over each animation method briefly. Keyframe Animation Keyframe animation in Director is an extension of traditional cel-based animation where the animator draws "key" poses that define the action or movement within a scene. The keyframe method translates nicely to a visual paradigm in a computer interface, so it should come as no surprise that programs such as Director, Flash, and powerful 3-D animation applications like Maya, Softimage, and Animation Master make extensive use of keyframe animation tools. Keyframe animation in Director involves placing sprites in various channels in the Score and using Director's timeline animation tools to alter sprite position, size, rotation, and other visible qualities of each sprite to achieve the desired effect. For many animation needs keyframing is effective and relatively easy to work with because each sprite can be modified visually. However, as useful as keyframe animation can be it is not without disadvantages. Keyframe animation is only as versatile as the tools the software provides to work with it, and the tools are sometimes not enough. For example, keyframe animation in software frequently makes use of linear interpolation, which finds intermediate positions from one or more specified screen coordinates. To gain more animation precision using keyframes requires more keyframes. At some point there may be so many keyframes that the animation process becomes counterproductive. Another disadvantage of keyframe animation is that it is not particularly well suited for games, where complex logical conditions often determine the visible actions of sprites. Here are some considerations to take into account when thinking about keyframe animation. Consider creating keyframe animation when: • The animation task is relatively simple. • The animation is relatively short in duration. • There are few cyclic (looped) animation needs. • You don't need interactivity, such as that required by a game. • You have to create an animation in a hurry. Let's look at an example of how a simple animation task might be handled using the keyframe animation tools in Director. Suppose our task is to animate a hot air balloon so it moves across the screen from left to right in a straight line. Hot Air Balloon - Keyframe 1 Here's the process we could use to accomplish this: 1. Using Director's keyframe animation tools we drop the image of the balloon into sprite Channel 1 in the Score. 2. While still using the Score window we extend the sprite over some number of frames, say 10. (Depending on the settings your copy of Director has, your sprite may span more or fewer frames by default.) 3. We select just the last frame of the sprite by OPTION+Clicking on the last frame of Sprite 1 in Channel 1 (Macintosh), or ALT+Clicking the frame of Sprite 1 in Channel 1 (Windows) in the Score window. 4. Reposition the balloon in the Stage window where we want it to end up, and let Director fill in the tweened frames. Director Score Window - 1 Sprite The image below shows how the 10 frames of animation might be displayed on the Stage using this technique. The blue dot near the center of the balloon image represents the initial keyframe for the balloon. The small black dots along the line represent the intermediate (tweened) frames, and the larger red dot at the right represents the final (end) keyframe. Essentially, the blue and red dots represent a "snapshot" of various sprite properties such as horizontal and vertical position, rotation, size, etc. (In the image of the Score above, the white dots at the beginning and end of the "Balloon" sprite represent the sprite's first and last keyframes, and show the same information as the image below, but in a different visual style.) Hot Air Balloon - Keyframes In the example above, Director uses the "snapshot" positional information from the keyframes to determine the tweened frames by computing the absolute distance the sprite must move, and dividing that distance by the number of frames over which the movement occurs. The end result is that the sprite ends up in the position below. Hot Air Balloon - Last Keyframe A keyframe approach works nicely for this kind of simple animation, but how do we slow down the balloon? If you've run the "Keyframe Balloon Anim.dir" movie you probably noticed that the balloon moves too fast, and "jerks" across the screen. Let's try to slow it down and smooth out the balloon's movement. Using Director's keyframe animation tools we can move the last keyframe to a position further away from the initial keyframe so there is less movement per frame. Since Director uses linear interpolation we know that by adding more tweened frames the end result will be that the balloon will appear to move more slowly between the keyframe positions. If we stretch out the duration of the balloon's keyframes so they are 50 frames apart, the balloon's Stage representation would look like the image below. Hot Air Balloon - Lots of Keyframes Notice how many tiny black dots there are between the keyframes. Each dot is showing us a representation of a tweened frame, and since there are 50 of them now the display is much more dense. Our score looks different too. Sprite 1 now requires a span of 50 frames just to slow down the movement of the balloon. Director Score - Long Sprite Span Slowing the balloon down even more would necessitate dragging the last keyframe of the balloon sprite even further to the right in the timeline, or slowing down the overall frame rate of the movie. In a more intricate animation, with multiple sprites, the Director timeline can become downright unwieldy if you rely solely on the Score. When animating in the Score with keyframes becomes an exercise in patience, it's time to consider another approach: scripted animation. Lingo and Scripting Before we go any further, let's address a couple of overall issues relating to Lingo, and computer programming and scripting at large. 1. Lingo is just as much a programming language as any other. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Scripting and programming are virtually the same thing. The main difference is that the code for a scripting language like Lingo can be written faster and is usually easier to work with. 2. Programming is an art form and a language, and as such you have to work with Lingo on a regular basis to improve your skills with it. 3. The better able you are to be simple, the easier you may find it is to learn to program. Part of the process of learning a scripting language like Lingo is understanding how stupid the computer really is, and trying to make your brain think in tiny little specific steps. Lingo is like a newborn child, and you can't assume it knows much at all. It needs a good parent and teacher. Start out writing simple scripts and you'll be surprised to find that advanced scripts are really just comprised of lots of small ideas that work in concert. 4. Lingo scripts are read by the machine from top to bottom, left to right. The Lingo instructions you write will be interpreted in that order. 5. Lingo indents specific lines of code to help you see how they are related. Lines that indent to the same "indent" level are part of the same code "block." If a line that should be part of a code block does not automatically indent, you probably have a syntax error, which means you mistyped something, spelled a Lingo keyword incorrectly, or left out something that Lingo needs to figure out what you're trying to get it to do. Sometimes Lingo gets mixed up, and won't indent a legitimate line of code. You can hit the TAB key on a line of Lingo code that doesn't indent correctly, and it will indent if it's written correctly. Scripted Animation When precise sprite choreography is required in your animation, Lingo is often the best solution. Scripted animation is commonly used for game development where animated sprites must react, in real time, to the user's actions, and perform their pixel gymnastics based on complex logical conditions. Animating with Lingo has many advantages. Primarily, Lingo removes virtually all restrictions pertaining to the movement and actions of each sprite. If a developer can dream up a series of movements for a sprite, the chances are that it can be accomplished with a series of Lingo statements. Lingo animation also breaks away from the restrictions of timeline based animation where subtle sprite property changes can be difficult to realize. The only disadvantages for using Lingo to animate is that it requires some proficiency with the language, and it is sometimes a more time consuming process than Score and timeline animation. Other than that you are only limited by your imagination and how well you can spin the propeller on your head to make Lingo work for you. Consider creating scripted animation when: • The animation task is relatively complex, or requires precise movement. • You have multiple cyclic animation sequences that need to play repeatedly. • You need the artwork to be interactive, and respond to user input. • The animation task would be too tedious to create by hand with keyframes. For example, a moving star field, snow, or rain. • You need a reusable graphic manipulation system that can be modified. • Your artwork needs to have random qualities such as speed of movement, or animated textures. Now let's put Lingo to work and see how we might use a "Scripted Animation' solution to move the balloon across the screen. First, download and open the "Scripted Balloon Anim.dir" Director file, or download the Balloon graphic from above and import it into Director. You don't need the balloon graphic per se, as any graphic will do, but the balloon image is well-suited for this exercise, so the assumption is that you're using it. First, drop the balloon cast member into Channel 1 of the Score window. Director Score Window - Last Keyframe Highlighted Notice in the example to the left how the last keyframe of the sprite in Channel 1 shows a white rectangle, rather than a circle. The white rectangle tells you that no "end" keyframe has been set. This is what you want. The reason for this is that we want to control the movement of the balloon sprite with Lingo, and we therefore do not need to set keyframes to animate the balloon. Next, let's look at the property inspector to see where the balloon image is currently located. Use the "/" divide key on the number pad of your keyboard to toggle the visibility of the property inspector. Note: Make sure the "Num Lock" light is 'Off' on your keyboard so the number pad keys work as controls for your Director movie. Director Property Inspector Window The property inspector is one of the most useful panels in the Director interface, as it shows you at a glance various sprite properties, such as horizontal and vertical position, the ink mode, etc. Right now we're most interested in the "X" value of the sprite, which tells us where the sprite is located horizontally (i.e., on the X-axis) of the current Stage window. You can see that the balloon is positioned at 94 pixels from the left edge of the screen. This is a good general area for the balloon to start from. If you want to snap your balloon graphic to a position, type in a number in the "X:" field, then hit the TAB key. Our next task is to add Lingo code to the balloon sprite so it moves across the screen from left to right. To do this on a Macintosh with a single button mouse, CONTROL + CLICK the sprite and choose "Script..." from the popup menu. On a Macintosh with a right mouse button, or on a Windows computer, right click the sprite and select the same "Script..." option from the popup menu. When the Script window opens you should see something that looks like the image below: Director Script Window The Script window is where you store the commands your sprite will follow. You can have a virtually unlimited number of scripts in a Director movie. Each script usually contains one or more "handlers." A handler is a block of Lingo code that responds to a specific message and executes any number of Lingo statements that are a part of that handler. In the example on the left, a basic handler was already created for us. This handler will respond only to a "mouseUp" message, which means it will only operate if the user pushes the mouse button down, then lets go of the button. Mouse messages are among the most commonly needed input for interactive movies, but in this example we will drive the animation with a different message called "exitFrame." To control a sprite with Lingo you must refer to the channel where that sprite lives. In this example, the balloon sprite lives in Channel 1, so we first tell Lingo that we're going to alter some property of sprite Channel 1: Once we have established the specific sprite, we need to determine what property of the sprite we want to work with. To do this we specify the sprite, then we type a period to tell Lingo that we are going to specify a property of that sprite, followed by the property we want to work with. The "locH" property of a sprite allows the developer to both view the current horizontal ('X') location of a sprite, as well as set it's horizontal position. To prepare the sprite for our assignment of it's horizontal position we will write this statement: In Lingo the equals '=' operator is used to assign a value, or to check a logical statement or condition. In our animation example we want to use the equals operator to set the position of our sprite. In the simplest case we can simply add an equals operator to the end of the previous statement, and type in a number, like this: sprite(1).locH = 300 This will immediately set the current horizontal position of Sprite 1 to 300 on the screen. If incorporated into the current handler it would look like this: on mouseUp me sprite(1).locH = 300 This makes the sprite jump to a horizontal position 300 pixels from the left side of the stage, as soon as the mouse button is clicked. This might be considered a kind of animation, but it's not very interesting. What we need is a handler that will move the balloon sprite continuously across the screen. There are many methods you can use to move a sprite in Director, but In the above example our sprite jumps to a position instantly, and we don't get to have the fun of watching it traverse the space across the screen. Here's a modification of the above script that's closer to what we want: on mouseUp me sprite(1).locH = sprite(1).locH + 10 The modified script takes the current horizontal position of Sprite 1 and adds 10 to it each time the mouse button is clicked, effectively causing it to move to the right. This will animate the Balloon sprite, but it has at least two problems. 1. To move the sprite to position 300 on the screen would require 30 mouse clicks! 2. The sprite only moves if the mouse button is clicked. What we need is a way to have the sprite move all by itself, without the need for the mouse to be clicked. To do this we'll change the mouseUp message to an exitFrame message. The exitFrame message is automatically sent out when the playhead is finished drawing the current frame. There are many messages Director automatically sends out, but exitFrame is one of the most useful for driving animation. Remember, a message is what activates a handler. If we change the above script to use an exitFrame message, rather than a mouseUp message, we will automatically move the sprite across the screen as the exitFrame messages are sent. The number of times the exitFrame message is sent out per second depends on the frame rate setting. You can view or change the current frame rate of your movie by typing CONTROL + 2. Usually, the frame rate will be 30 by default when you start up Director. Copy the following script to your balloon sprite and run your movie to make your sprite move across the screen. on exitFrame me Note: Using exitFrame to drive the animation of sprites is a good idea because the message is sent out repeatedly for every frame that Director draws. You can think of Director as having a built-in high speed virtual artist that can draw so fast that your eyes see what the virtual artist draws as animated. You can adjust the speed at which Director renders frames, but the default value of 30 frames per second should be more than adequate to provide the illusion of motion. If you want to slow down the speed at which the balloon moves across the screen, try adding a smaller number to the current position of the sprite. For example, changing the '10' to a '1' moves the Balloon 1 pixel every time a frame is drawn. At 30 frames per second (FPS) the sprite will move 30 pixels every second. Previously, the balloon would move 300 pixels per second. Conversely, you can increase the number to make the sprite move even faster. We have finally gotten the Balloon Sprite to move across the screen, but there's a problem you've probably already noticed. Once the sprite crosses the screen it keeps going. What would be more interesting is to have the sprite continuously move across the screen, not just one time. Fortunately, this is an easy problem to fix. We need to add what is called a "conditional statement" to our handler. A conditional statement creates a logical condition that when true will allow us to change what happens. In this example we want the horizontal position of the sprite to eventually cause the sprite to start again at the left side of the screen. Here's the solution: on exitFrame me if sprite(1).locH > 720 then sprite(1).locH = -100 end if The conditional statement adds three lines to our handler. Here's a breakdown of the conditional statement: if sprite(1).locH > 720 then If the horizontal location of sprite(1) is greater than 720 Lingo will execute the next line of code. sprite(1).locH = -100 Move the sprite to a horizontal position of -100 on the screen. Using a negative number will make the sprite appear to emerge from the left side of the screen. If you want the sprite to start again from the visible part of the screen change the -100 to a positive number. end if This line simply makes Lingo go to the next line in the handler, and informs Lingo that the current logical condition is done. Since there's only an "end" line after the "end if," the handler will start over from the top as many times as the exitFrame message is sent. Since the frame rate of our movies is 30, the exitFrame message will be sent 30 times per second automatically. This makes the balloon move 60 pixels per second because we add '2' to the current position of the balloon, until it goes past horizontal position 720 on the screen. Once the balloon is past the right edge of the screen it will immediately jump to a position offscreen on the left side and cross right again and again, until the movie is stopped. on exitFrame me sprite(1).locH = sprite(1).locH + 2 if sprite(1).locH > 720 then sprite(1).locH = -100 end if Improving the Animation Script The above animation script is simple and fairly flexible. By changing some of the numbers in the script many possibilities begin to emerge. The next best thing we can do to this script is make it work on any sprite it is attached to, not just Sprite 1. To do this we can substitute 'me.spriteNum' wherever sprite(1) is written in the script. The changed script looks like this: on exitFrame me sprite(me.spriteNum).locH = sprite(me.spriteNum).locH + 2 if sprite(me.spriteNum).locH > 720 then sprite(me.spriteNum).locH = -100 end if Essentially, the me.spriteNum statement forces Lingo to talk to whatever sprite channel number is currently attached to the script. For example, if the script is attached to a sprite in channel 10, the above script will work. If it's attached to a sprite in channel 5, the script will work. 'me.spriteNum' extracts the sprite number and makes it relative to whatever sprite channel the script is part of. It's a little more work to write, but it makes the script even more versatile. What's the Point? The final modification we'll make to the script is to make it easier to change the direction the sprite will move horizontally and vertically. Director has a special function and data type called a point, which has both a horizontal and vertical component. The point data type can be used to set both the horizontal and vertical positions of a sprite at once, or to perform mathematical operations that change the sprite's position. Sprites have many properties, and in this article we have only explored the .locH property. Sprites also have a .locV property, which changes the vertical position of the sprite, and a .loc property that allows both the horizontal and vertical properties to be assigned the value of a point. To set our balloon sprite to a specific point on the screen the script might look like this: sprite(1).loc = point(100,100) The above statement would immediately move sprite 1 to screen point 100, 100. We can use points to make our original animation code even more versatile by rewriting the animation code so an X (horizontal) value of the point data type is added to the current location of the sprite to get the same net animation effect as before. However, using this method makes it very easy to move the sprite from right to left by simply adding a negative number to the current position. This moves Sprite 1 two pixels to the right every time it is executed: sprite(1).loc = sprite(1).loc + point(2,0) This moves Sprite 1 two pixels to the left every time it is executed: sprite(1).loc = sprite(1).loc + point(-2,0) This moves Sprite 1 two pixels down every time it is executed: sprite(1).loc = sprite(1).loc + point(0,2) This moves Sprite 1 up and to the right by two pixels every time it is executed: sprite(1).loc = sprite(1).loc + point(2,-2) You can begin to see how truly versatile a Little Lingo can be. On your own, try writing a scripted animation that: • Moves a sprite forward then backward across the screen. • Moves a sprite up and down on the screen. • Zig zags a sprite across the screen. • Moves a sprite in a "box" pattern around the screen. When you feel comfortable animating a single sprite with Lingo, try animating more than one sprite. Using the method shown in this article allows multiple sprites to move simultaneously, at different speeds, and at different directions. You have up to 1,000 sprite channels to work with. Hmm. Imagine the possibilities...
The original 'snowbirds': Pacific golden-plovers Male Golden-Plovers are striking during the breeding season. They start changing into these colors before they leave Hawaii. TIP: If you travel to a warmer place for a winter getaway, look for Alaska birds hiding out at your destination. Many Alaskans take a break from winter, and this year I traveled to Kauai. I arrived late at night, groggy from hours in airports and on planes. The next morning my traveling companions and I went out for breakfast. I was startled to spot a familiar suspect dashing onto the golf course next to the restaurant patio, in plain sight — a Pacific golden-plover! These lanky shorebirds are champion long-distance flyers, putting my airplane travel to shame. They power through the nearly 2,500 miles from their breeding grounds in Alaska to the Hawaiian Islands in about two days, nonstop. They lack the waterproofing on their feathers that seabirds have, so they don’t rest on the ocean. A few birds winter in California, but the majority winter throughout the South Pacific, from Hawaii down to New Zealand and across to Asia. Fossils found on Oahu reveal the plovers have been making the trip for 120,000 years! In Alaska, Pacific golden-plovers nest in remote areas in Western Alaska from the Alaska Peninsula up to Point Hope. (The species also spills over into eastern Siberia.) The Yup’ik name for this bird is “tuuliik,” and the Inupiaq word is “tullik.” The birds spend only three months in Alaska. The first birds depart Hawaii for Alaska around April 25. The adult males tend to arrive first, sometimes before the snow is completely melted, so they can reclaim last year’s breeding territories. Females tend to wander more; usually they wind up in a new territory with a different partner each year. When the birds pair up, the race against time begins! Both parents take turns incubating the four eggs. The chicks hatch in about 25 days. As soon as their fluffy baby down dries, they’re ready for action. The family leaves the nest within hours of the last chick hatching, the youngsters already snapping up their own insect meals. Being on the lam within hours of hatching gives the chicks a chance at survival. Predators such as foxes or Long-tailed Jaegers lurk around. If the chicks stayed in the nest, they would be easy targets. There are other threats: a caribou herd on the move may crush eggs, and caribou have been known to eat eggs and young birds. In barely a month the chicks are ready to fly. When they hit this stage, usually around August, the parents leave. Females usually depart first, leaving the male to care for the chicks a little longer. It may seem heartless, but laying eggs is energetically very costly. The weight of four eggs roughly equals the weight of the female herself. She needs to eat large amounts of food to put on enough fat to fuel her long flight to the warm wintering grounds. The males leave a little later, making landfall in Hawaii by late August. The young plovers aren’t strong enough yet to fly the long distance when their parents disappear. They spend another few weeks foraging and building strength. It’s unknown exactly how the birds navigate on their first migration. It’s possible they use the position of the sun and stars (even though they have never seen a night sky until they head south), or maybe a sensitivity to the earth’s magnetic field guides them. It seems miraculous any of the youngsters reach the warmth of Hawaii. When the Pacific golden-plovers reach their wintering grounds, they undergo a personality change as drastic as their change in plumage. From protective parents hiding chicks, they become boldly unconcerned. Any open grassy space will do, regardless of how many people are around. I spied plovers on golf courses, on the lawn by my hotel, in a deserted picnic area along a foggy mountain trail, and near the busy Kilauea Lighthouse. I also spotted one individual poking among black rocks exposed by low tide. The bird’s buttery yellow feathers almost glowed in contrast. The birds spend most of the day foraging for insects and other invertebrates, dashing a few steps, sometimes pausing with one foot delicately lifted, before snapping up their prey. Some birds strictly patrol the borders of a winter feeding territory during the day. The territories are much smaller than breeding ones. Other birds seem to care less, feeding in small, loose groups. Perhaps they aren’t experienced enough to hold their own territory. Perhaps these are just different strategies for survival. At dusk, the plovers move to communal overnight roosting areas, often on top of buildings. Like squabbling siblings in the back seat of a car, however, they don’t let other birds get too close. Owls and feral cats are the main predators, so snoozing among friends provides the protection of extra lookouts. Although the average plover’s lifespan is about five or six years, some individuals live for decades. The record is about 21 years. Along with the personality change, the birds have a new alias as well: in Hawaiian, the name for Pacific golden-plover is “Kolea.” The name supposedly mimics the calls the birds make. It also means “one who takes and leaves,” which perfectly describes the feeding frenzy to fatten up before leaving for lands beyond the northern horizon. Legend says the Kolea, as they flew north, may have aided ancient Polynesian seafarers in discovering the Hawaiian Islands. There are traditional songs and hulas about the Kolea. Some of the songs convey how the Kolea feeds and fattens up, then disappears to an unknown land to lay its eggs. In legends, the god of healing, Koleamoku, could turn himself into a Kolea. They were also messengers to the high chiefs from the gods. Below is a translation of one of the songs (“Kahiki” means a place outside Hawaii): ‘Olelo No’eau: Ai keke na hulu o ka umauma ho’i ke kolea i Kahiki e hanau ai When the feathers darken on the breasts, the kolea returns to Kahiki to breed ‘Ai no ke kolea a momona ho’i i Kahiki! I ho’okauhua i ke kolea, no Kahiki ana ke keiki When there is a desire for plovers, the child to be born will travel to Kahiki Kolea no ke kolea i knoa inoa iho The plover can only cry its own name O ka hua o ke kolea aia i Kahiki The egg of the kolea is laid in a foreign land — from Mary Kawena Pukui, ‘0lelo No’eau: Hawai‘ian Proverbs and Poetical Sayings, Bishop Museum Press 1983 Today, the birds are favorites of many human residents of Hawaii. A “Kolea Watch” citizen science project asks volunteers to report when birds head north, trying to pinpoint timing. There is a “Krazy for Kolea Kontest” held by the Molokai Dispatch (a local newspaper) and the Hawaii Audubon Society, offering prizes for the first confirmed Kolea sightings in the fall and for reporting banded birds. Another seafarer left a written record tying the Kolea to their northern home: Captain James Cook. He noted the birds on a trip to Tahiti, wondering if they nested on the mythical Great Southern Continent he sought between Australia and New Zealand. When he was searching for the Northwest Passage in the Bering Sea, his crew spotted a plover flying south and guessed it came from land somewhere north. It’s breathtaking to think of the alternate life these birds live so far from Alaska, for millenia their beating wings tying two parts of the globe together long before humans knew it was possible. Fireside Lecture: Yax té Totem pole Around the Web • Switchboard: 907-586-3740 • Circulation and Delivery: 907-586-3740 • Newsroom Fax: 907-586-9097 • Business Fax: 907-586-9097 • Accounts Receivable: 907-523-2230 • View the Staff Directory • or Send feedback
Determinants of Household Drinking-Water Source in Indonesia: An Analysis of the 2007 Indonesian Family Life Survey Penulis: Sri Irianti; Puguh Prasetyoputra; Tri P. Sasimartoyo Safe drinking water is a human right as it is an essential element to sustain life and maintain human health. Literature review confirms that there are many aspects that should be considered in providing safe drinking water in an equitable manner. Therefore, evidence-based data at national level are needed to inform policy-making process. This study presents data regarding drinking water ladder and its determinants using partial proportional odds regression model. Drinking water sources were classified into three categories, unimproved sources, improved sources and piped water on the premises. The overall model is statistically significant (p < 0.001) with McFadden adjusted R2 of 0.157. The correlates include spatial variables, environmental variables, demographic variables and socioeconomic position. There are disparities across major islands and rural-urban areas with the former lagging behind. Moreover, the higher the household is in terms of sanitation ladder, the more likely they have access to improved water sources. Similarly, socio-economic status also determines the use of improved water sources. Recommendations are provided in the light of the results. Cogent Medicine DOI: 10.1080/2331205X.2016.1151143 No. Arsip : LIPI-16012 Download Disini
Cooking is a skill and one for which even the most experienced chef can still benefit from opportunities to learn more. Cooking is a skill that each one of us is constantly improving over a lifetime. This article is a great way to improve your dishes come out. The tips provided here will improve the way you as you grow as a cook. Boiling takes time and other lengthy cooking processes remove some of the nutrients contained in vegetables. To preserve their nutrition, cook them quickly with methods like steaming or sauteing, or enjoy them raw. A cool and dark location is best for storing spices and herbs. Humidity, heat and light can all cause flavors to weaken thus making your foods not able to obtain their potential. In general, herbs and spices that are ground will retain their flavor for up to one year. Whole spices, on the other hand, can still be bursting with flavor five years down the line. If you store them the right way, they will be fresher. People use apples for cooking many things during the holiday season, but if not stored properly they quickly go bad. To avoid rotting, you should keep them in a plastic bag and in a cool temperature. One rotten apple will quickly ruin the bunch so keep a close eye on them while stored. Quickly cooking vegetables allows them crispier and more nutrient-filled. Vegetables that are cooked slowly can lose their taste and nutrition. These cooking techniques make the vegetables in general. Cooking better vegetables for the least amount of time is essential. For healthier, lower-calorie mashed potatoes, add some cooked cauliflower to your tubers. The taste of cauliflower will blend nicely with the potatoes. Cauliflower is also the same texture and color of potatoes when mashed so it’s a great way to add more veggies, while lowering calories from classic mashed potatoes. Airtight Containers Beans and tofu are excellent sources of protein that you need to add some to your diet. Both are available to buy at almost every grocery store. Try frying tofu and you will have a tasty alternative to meat. Beans can always be cooked with some spices and herbs is a meal full of flavor and protein. All sugars, flours, and mixes should be stored in airtight containers. These airtight containers can keep your food fresher for a longer period of time, as well as protecting your food safe from insects and pests. Almost every store has some form of them, and they are usually inexpensive. TIP! Take the time to investigate the ingredients for your recipes. Quite often, certain cooking supplies are filled with unhealthy ingredients that you may not be aware of. You should read the food labels when you are buying ingredients for a recipe. Many common cooking ingredients contain items that may not be very healthy. You want to ensure that anything you buy is not high in sugar or sodium. Always measure any cooking oils! This will help you reduce how much fat in your foods while cooking. This lets you to keep track of exactly how much oil you use. When serving salads to guests, keep the dressing in a dish to the side. Some people prefer more dressing when eating salads so it is important that each person add their own dressing.Make sure you have a wide selection of dressings to choose from. When seasoning your food, add the seasoning in increments rather than putting it all on at once. This method helps to preserve and enhance the flavor of the seasoning instead of allowing it to cook away. Do not use any wine when cooking a recipe that you have not think normally tastes good. There are wines available that was made specifically for cooking. You should discard your spices about twice a year. The flavor of spices fade just a few months after opening the container.If you don’t use a spice very often, and it will go bad before you have to replace it, split it with someone. Always follow instructions to the letter whenever you cook macaroni and cheese properly. The macaroni will be perfect once the cheese is melted over the noodles. Use a non-slotted spoon when you serve it. Spice it up the dish with a bit of pepper! Directions should be followed closely when you are making macaroni and cheese. The macaroni will be cooked just right and the creamy goodness of the cheese melting everywhere will be a crowd-pleaser. To serve this all-time favorite, a large spoon works great. You can even add some pepper to give you macaroni a little kick! Be creative with your cooking.You need not have to follow a recipe to the “T”. That is a sign of a genuine cook! Cutting Board It is important to properly care of wood cutting board if you want it to last a long time. A cutting board made from wood can crack and warp if it is exposed to excessive moisture, heat or dryness. You should never put the board fully underwater, rather apply a wet sponge to clean it. You can do some restoration to a damaged board by regularly oiling it with a product specifically for cutting boards to maintain yours. Make sure that the cutting board is completely dried before you use it. Dry ground meat with a towel before you put it in the pan to remove excess moisture. Getting rid of the excess moisture will ensure that it cooks properly. If you leave it there, the meat will not cook properly. It will cause the meat to sizzle. Therefore, it’s more likely that the meat will steam instead of sear like it should. TIP! Let your food rest a bit before sitting down to eat. Many do not realize the importance of letting their cooked food rest. Learning how to employ better cooking techniques is fun and useful. So exciting, in fact, that it can prove just as much fun as actually eating what you prepare. If you want to improve your cooking skills, make sure you apply the tips you have just read and experiment with new things. Cooking like learning, is a never ending story. Be Sociable, Share! Recommended Resources
Fort Guijarros: Soldiers, Yankee Whalers, and Fisherfolk Fort Guijarros was the first defensive structure built by the Spanish military to protect San Diego Harbor. The fort was originally dedicated and named San Joaquin in 1796. Over the years that followed, it became home to soldiers, Yankee whalers, and fisherfolk. Visit us this summer and explore the past that is an integral part of Ballast Point.
Bus arbitration - computer architecture, Computer Engineering Bus arbitration: In single bus architecture when more than 1 device requests the bus, a controller known as bus arbiter decides who gets the bus; this is known as the bus arbitration. 905_Bus arbitration.png o Each device on the bus assigned an unique identification number. o Place their ID numbers on 4 open-collector lines. o All components have equal responsibility in performed the arbitration process. o A winner is chosen as a result. Posted Date: 10/13/2012 6:58:18 AM \| Location : United States Related Discussions:- Bus arbitration - computer architecture, Assignment Help, Ask Question on Bus arbitration - computer architecture, Get Answer, Expert's Help, Bus arbitration - computer architecture Discussions Write discussion on Bus arbitration - computer architecture Your posts are moderated Related Questions types of lock Network throughput It is an indicative measure of the point carrying capacity of a network. It is distinct as the total number of messages the network can transmit per unit tim Q. Explain Design of adder? Adders play one of the most significant roles in binary arithmetic. As a matter of fact fixed point addition is frequently used as a simple measure Consider the following expression. Assume that complement inputs are available. F(A,B,C,D) = ∑m (0,1,3,5,9,12,14) + ∑d (4,10,15) 1. Find minimal expression for SOP. Draw gate ne Busy hour traffic is the (A) maximum average simultaneous traffic. (B) traffic during peak hour. (C) traffic when all subscribers are engaged. (D) the durat Explain about MMX architecture MMX architecture introduces new packed data types. Data types are eight packed, consecutive 8-bit bytes; four packed, consecutive 16-bit words;
When the Ford Motor Company announced in December 1988 that it had developed a catalytic converter that would not require platinum, the metal's price plunged. Platinum producers feared that demand would evaporate. But Ford's new converter is still in testing, and platinum demand is near an all-time high. Platinum prices have been sustained at about $500 an ounce this year by environmentally conscious governments in the United States and Europe, and by status-conscious Japanese. The metal's leading uses are in jewelry and catalytic converters. Jewelry accounted for 38 percent of the 3.4 million ounces sold outside Communist (or formerly Communist) nations in 1989. A record 1.15 million ounces of platinum went for jewelry in Japan, almost 20 times the amount used by American jewelers. Another 37 percent of the non-Communist world's demand came from producers of catalytic converters. Slightly more than half of this amount went into converters in the United States, the first country whose air pollution standards made the devices necessary. Tougher American pollution laws will require a new generation of converters that will use even more platinum. The likelihood of tighter environmental standards is making the converters more common in Europe as well, especially in West Germany, where stricter anti-pollution regulations are already in place. Platinum is also an important chemical catalyst, used in making many products worth far less per ounce than the pure metal: gasoline, fiberglass, optical glass, certain types of rubber, some electrical equipment, even plastic seat covers and nylon carpeting. But the metal's chemical use has diminished as manufacturers seek ways of doing without this costly ingredient. Investors, too, are becoming less likely to buy platinum as they become disenchanted with the financial returns. And the music industry's platinum records? They are usually made of nickel, with shiny foil or paint, and not a single gram of platinum. Of Metal and Politics South Africa, Soviets Are Main Suppliers For all the economic sanctions the United States has invoked against South African apartheid, trade in platinum continues undisturbed. The non-Communist world depended on South Africa last year for 77 percent of its platinum, and the United States was no exception, buying in about the same proportion. The only other major source, the Soviet Union, produced about 16 percent of international supplies - up from about 10 percent in previous years, as the Soviet Union tried to earn more Western currencies. The worldwide stock of platinum is close to meeting demand, but turmoil in either country could disrupt shipments. Some analysts suggest that political reforms in the Soviet Union and South Africa could bring new militancy among mine workers looking for improved conditions. News of unrest in either country regularly sends platinum prices climbing; calm sends them back down. While jewelry makers could easily turn to gold and silver, automobile makers cannot. Jeremy S. Croombes, an analyst at Johnson, Matthey P.L.C., the London-based corporation that is the world's largest trader in the metal, said he is especially worried about unrest among black miners in South Africa. ''The black population might want to sit back and let various leaders negotiate on their behalf,'' Mr. Croombs said. ''Or they may want to make their voices heard through strikes and industrial disruption.'' Investment Ups and Downs Once-Healthy Market Collapsed Last Year For a while, platinum appeared likely to join silver and gold as a mainstay in any precious-metal portfolio. Investment demand, virtually nil until the early 1980's, grew to 155,000 ounces in 1983, 490,000 ounces in 1985 and 630,000 in 1988. A range of bars and coins was proliferating. But last year, as gold and silver prices stagnated, investors decided they needed only 160,000 more ounces of platinum. The Japanese, the world's most active platinum investors, turned away abruptly, cutting their demand from 415,000 ounces in 1988 to 65,000 in 1989. ''The demand for platinum as an investment tool has been dragged down by gold and silver prices, which have performed more poorly than platinum,'' said Bruce Kaplan, a precious metals consultant in Los Angeles. Last year, platinum prices fell from about $560 an ounce to about $500. Investors are less interested in using platinum as a hedge against inflation, Mr. Kaplan said. Higher demand from jewelry and industry sources has kept platinum prices relatively stable this year - which might be making the metal less attractive to investors. Common wisdom in the platinum business is that the metal seems brighter when its price is moving, no matter which way. The Japanese are said to buy when the price is falling, while Europeans and Americans jump in on the way up. New Technology It Isn't Likely To Curb Demand For a while, it seemed that Michigan had more to say about platinum prices than producers or investors. In December 1988, Ford announced ambitious tests of a catalytic converter made without platinum. About 40,000 Cougars and Thunderbirds in California were to be equipped with the new devices. On the day of Ford's announcement, platinum prices plunged $71 per ounce. Ask the company how things are going with its platinum-free converters now, and the response is a copy of the 1988 press release. Platinum assists in converting nitrogen oxide pollutants in automobile exhaust into carbon dioxide and water. Few still believe that pollution control equipment can dispense with platinum entirely. Ford says that even if converters without platinum are practical now, tighter emissions standards might require platinum to be reintroduced. Ford contends that its new converters will at least enable the company, and the nation, to lessen its reliance on South Africa and the Soviet Union. Some auto makers are increasing their use of rhodium, another precious metal that is often found in platinum ores. ''Rhodium will undoubtedly be an essential component of auto catalysts used in Europe,'' Mr. Croombs said. Its use in catalytic converters increased 16 percent worldwide in 1989. At $1,600 an ounce, rhodium is far more costly and rare than platinum, but also more efficient for use in converters. But even as some turn to other metals, the demand for platinum in converters increased 9 percent in 1989 and is likely to grow more quickly this year. The growth is likely to be greatest in Western Europe, where only three of every 10 cars already have the converters. Where price is no object, platinum fuel cells are fine. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has used the exotic batteries to power its space shuttles. Now the developers of these cells need to make the giant leap back to earth and find less expensive, everyday applications. The cells, which look somewhat like stacks of car batteries, use platinum to catalyze a chemical combination of hydrogen and oxygen, generating electricity. Lee Marino, a spokesman for Johnson Matthey P.L.C., said that the fuel cells waste 10 percent less of their power than do standard utility engines. Major corporations are eager to pursue this new technology. International Fuel Cells, a division of the United Technologies Corporation, is already selling platinum fuel-cell generators that can heat and provide emergency power for small apartment buildings. A Japanese joint venture between International Fuel Cells and the Toshiba Corporation developed the cells for the space shuttle. In the longer range, scientists say that the power cells can propel buses and delivery trucks. ''There are a variety of potential applications for the future that we're only beginning to explore,'' Mr. Morino said. Photos: Two miners in a platinum mine in Rustenburg, South Africa (Johnson Matthey); Jewelry made from plati-num is especially popular in Japan (Michael Bondanza); Platinum coin of the type that lures investors. (Advantage International); graph: demand for platinum for catalytic converters, jewelery and investment, 1980-1989 ; pic chart: various percentages of different uses for platinum (Source: Johnson Matthey, P.L.C.)
Atrial fibrillation, or AFib, is a common but serious condition that can lead to stroke, blood clots, heart failure and other cardiac-related problems, particularly in those over the age of 65. Affecting nearly 3 million Americans, this type of arrhythmia is characterized by a quivering or irregular heartbeat. If left untreated, a person with AFib has twice the risk of cardiac-related death and is 4-5 times more likely to have a stroke. And as our population ages, the number of patients with AFib is rapidly increasing. Recent studies have also demonstrated a potential association between atrial fibrillation and the development of Alzheimer-type dementia. While some people can't tell they even have AFib, most describe the following heart-related symptoms: Skipping beats Beating fast and/or hard Other common symptoms include: Shortness of breath Chest pain What happens during AFib? In a normal rhythm, the heart contracts and relaxes in a regular, steady pattern. During AFib, the two upper chambers of the heart (atria) quiver or beat irregularly and out of sync with the lower chambers of the heart (ventricles). Because the heart muscle is not beating efficiently, AFib may lead to blood clots and potentially stroke. About 15 to 20 percent of people who have strokes also have AFib. Treatment for AFib If you have AFib — or think you might have it — you should be under the care of a cardiac electrophysiologist, a physician that is specially trained to assess and treat atrial fibrillation and other heart rhythm disorders. Your treatment will depend upon the underlying cause of your AFib, how long you've had it, how severe it is, and whether you have other heart conditions. As a general rule, the treatment goals for AFib are restoring a normal heart rhythm, controlling the rate (how many times the ventricles contract), preventing blood clots and treating any underlying disorder that's causing AFib, such as hyperthyroidism. General treatment options include medications, lifestyle changes and medical procedures such as cardioversion catheter ablation and Atrioventricular (AV) node ablation. In 2013, West Florida Healthcare and Northwest Florida Heart Group earned the area's first full Atrial Fibrillation Certification status from the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care (SCPC). To attain this, the team at West Florida Healthcare met or exceeded a wide set of stringent criteria and underwent a comprehensive review by the SCPC. If you suffer from AFib or are experiencing any of the symptoms listed above, see a specialist who is trained in the treatment of this serious rhythm disorder. Marcelo Branco, M.D., is a board certified Interventional Cardiologist and Electrophysiologist with Northwest Florida Heart Group and West Florida Hospital. For more information, visit www.nwfheartgroup.com or call 494-3212. Read or Share this story: http://on.pnj.com/1IK48vL
warning: Creating default object from empty value in /var/www/vhosts/ulliryder.com/httpdocs/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.pages.inc on line 33. Tweeting into the Future This course examines the ways that gender and race are influenced by technology and social media. Miscegenation and Interracial Relationships This course examines the history of anti-miscegenation legislation in the US. The goal is to understand how such legislation sought to keep people of different races apart and, in so doing, was a primary mechanism for creating and maintaining racial categories. Constructing Race through Media and Film Ethnic Los Angeles The objective of this course is to examine the ways multiple racial and ethnic communities have contributed to the cultural and political life of Los Angeles. We examine the vibrant, contested and complimentary relationships between various constituencies. The 1960s This course explores the political and social movements of the 1960s in the US. Students gain an understanding of the struggles for justice and equality that characterized much of this crucial decade in our history. African American Rhetoric & Image This course is designed to help us understand how African Americans have used symbols to construct and reconstruct images of themselves and their communities over time, primarily through music, public address, and media. Central American and Caribbean Revolutions This course examines the history of revolution in Central American and Caribbean nations. We particularly focus on international responses to these revolutions, including US interventionist policies. Introduction to Latin American Civilizations This course is designed to explore major themes in Latin American history, including pre-conquest civilizations, Spanish conquest, colonialism and post-colonialism and modern Latin American nations and their relationship to the US. Introduction to African American Literature This course presents students with some of the major writers and literary critics in the African American canon. Special attention is paid to the connection between literature and political activism.
Complete revision notes on the UK parliament Unit 2 of AQA GOVP2 HideShow resource information Preview of Complete revision notes on the UK parliament First 382 words of the document: Revision notes- parliament A legislature is the body that makes laws, this is parliament in the UK and is split into 3; The house of lords, the house of commons and the monarchy. The queens powers are ability symbolic such as giving bill royal assent and appointing the government. Parliaments 3 main roles are to represent, pass bills to become laws and to provide scrutiny of the government y giving them somewhere to be accountable to (select committees and procedures like PMQs are how this is achieved). Two other roles are to Legitimise government as they are not elected directly and so they can vote to remove governments. It also provides the recruiting pool for the core executive. All of these roles have at some point been criticised . Evaluation of bi cameral systems Advantages Disadvantages Provides check on the first chamber Takes longer A check on the executive Costs a lot more Allows scrutiny of bills Doesn't represent the electorate in the Allows for delay of bills and more case of the HOL debate Encourages conflict between the two Broadens the basis of representation chambers The house of lords is made up of different types of lords; Life peers- Sit in the house of lords for their whole life and were created by the life peers act in 1958. They are appointed by the PM or HOL appointments commission. They account for 605 of the peers Hereditary peers- ones who have their titles passed down to them. There are now only 91 after the HOL reform act 1999 Lords spiritual- The COE bishops appointed by the PM, there are 26 of them What do the lords do? They can consider and revise bills from the HOC by rejecting, amending or simply passing legislation from the commons (HOC eventually get their way) Cab initiate non controversial legislation Can invoke the power of delay- can hold up legislation for a year for further debate. established in the parliament act 1949 but they cannot do this to money bills or bills from the party manifesto. Can hold general debates Scrutinize EU legislation through the large (70 member) select committee Other pages in this set Page 2 Preview of page 2 Here's a taster: It has been said that the house of lords is unrepresentative due to all hereditary peers having similar backgrounds and having similar ages yet the life peerages act has diversified the chamber.…read more Page 3 Preview of page 3 Here's a taster: Legitimisation- Stand for people, the respect of MPs has been undermined by scandals Political recruitment- Future executive members are taken from parliament however many of these are ones who have been good by not spoken their true opinion to please the whips and also might not have the right expertise if they are career politicians Representation- Voted for by the electorate- Socially unrepresentative and FPTP undermines the effectiveness The two chambers have unequal powers, the Salisbury convention states that they should not oppose government bills…read more Page 4 Preview of page 4 Here's a taster: IMF on monetary issues The activities of pressure groups The media The electorate which has the ultimate sovereignty Devolved powers Parliamentary government is the system we have in this country where the executive govern in and through the legislature. Over time they have become more merged so the legislature now maintains government power through large majorities rather than challenges it.…read more Page 5 Preview of page 5 Here's a taster: opposition are the main HOC opposition and key members get official government salaries) The departmental select committees made up of between 11 and 16 members with expertise on the topic is where the most effective scrutiny takes place. They have the power to call people from outside and look at papers and records from departments.…read more No comments have yet been made Similar Government & Politics resources: See all Government & Politics resources »See all resources »
Loading presentation... Present Remotely Send the link below via email or IM Present to your audience Start remote presentation • Invited audience members will follow you as you navigate and present • People invited to a presentation do not need a Prezi account • This link expires 10 minutes after you close the presentation • A maximum of 30 users can follow your presentation • Learn more about this feature in our knowledge base article Do you really want to delete this prezi? Make your likes visible on Facebook? You can change this under Settings & Account at any time. No, thanks Anti-Bullying Project No description logan cullen on 23 January 2013 Comments (0) Please log in to add your comment. Report abuse Transcript of Anti-Bullying Project Bullying Awareness (Cyber Bullying) Bullies have been around forever, but technology has opened a whole new door to it. As teens, we're becoming more aware that the "sticks and stones" adage is no longer true. Both real world and online name-calling can have a serious affect on kids and teens. In our presentation, we will explain exactly what cyber bullying is, how to cope with it, the consequences for both the bully and victim, and why people cyber bully. Introduction People bully for many reasons. Some reasons may be that they have been bullied before and want others to feel how they felt. They like to see others hurt. They are upset with themselves and think if others were as miserable as they feel, it will make them happier. They're jealous of someone, so they bully that person to feel more superior, and/or they bully someone to be cool, and fit in. Why NOT to cyber bully 1-800-668-6868 History (Kids help phone) .It makes others feel bad about themselves. .You could face serious consequences . Even if you are "Just Joking" people may take things seriously . You may be the cause to the next suicide attempt Friend: No one likes you You: What? Friend: Now I understand why, you're so stupid! You: :( Friend: Why are you even alive? You have no reason to be here! You: Just leave me alone, okay? Friend: You look so ugly, no one loves you! You: ....... CHAT ENDED 0845-225-5787 1-800-452-0688 (Distress Centre Durham) Why People Bully.... How does bullying impact others? pictures The bully will spread information on the internet for anyone to see. That can affect someone's social life, especially how other kids view them. It can also affect the person at school, because their lack of confidence will prevent them from participating and asking questions during class. It can make them feel embarrassed and self conscious about themselves as a person, depending on what may have been said. What is cyber bullying? Cyber bullying is when a person is being bullied over any form of technology. It is the intent to make someone feel embarrassed, self conscious, or bad about themselves. Cyber bullying can include the following: •Sexual harassment •Unkind posts or pictures •Imitating others online • Inappropriate image tagging •Unkind messages and/or discussions Harassment In some situations, cyber bullying is considered harassment. Intimidation or mean comments that focus on things like someones gender, religion, sexual orientation, race or disabilities fall into this category. In the U.S.A. online harassment is against the law in many states. That means law enforcement could get involved, and the bully or bullies could face serious consequences. Examples of sites and technology •Facebook •Twitter •Skype •Xbox Live •Text messages •BBM (Blackberry messenger) •Omegle •Snap Chat •YouTube •Tumblr. •Email •Instagram •KiK (Messaging apps) How to stand up to cyber bullying Some things you can do to stand up to cyber bullying are: •don’t respond, no matter how tempting it may be •block the bully •report the abuse •collect the evidence - don't delete any messages just in case •talk to someone you can trust, like a family member or a friend. Consequences for the bully Consequences for the bully can vary by how bad the bullying may be. But when it comes to the law, there are no exceptions. Some of the consequences may be: Signs and symptoms of cyber bullying Many kids and teens who are cyberbullied are hesitant to tell an adult, because they feel ashamed, or because they fear their computer privileges will be taken away at home. The signs that someone is being cyberbullied vary, but some things to look for are: •signs of emotional distress during or after using the internet or phone •being protective of their digital life •staying away from friends and activities •avoiding school •changes in mood, behavior, sleep, or appetite .Confiscation of internet and/or cell phone . Loss of Facebook or IM accounts In the worst case (or the best case, depending on how you look at it), a bully might be charged with a misdemeanor cyber harassment charge and sent to a juvenile delinquency program. In some countries it is a criminal offense if someone spreads rumors or offensive matter based on race, religion, or sexual orientation. Internet hacking and intimidation may also be considered an offense. Unfortunately, most cyber bullying cases never go into criminal charges, despite the efforts made by parents or guardians. Consequences for the victim The victims often suffer from self-esteem issues. Additionally, it affects them emotionally as they struggle with anger, frustration, and sometimes depression. There are behavioral consequences also - Acting out in class, not participating and self-harm. Suicide can also be a horrible consequence. Conclusion Full transcript
StudentShare solutions Essay example - The Quaternary period Only on StudentShare Pages 12 (3012 words) The Quaternary period of history is the most recent of epoch, but it spans ages. Many identify this period with the Ice Age, and the Quaternary is certainly a period that saw the blanketing of the earth with sheets of ice. However, it was not one of complete glaciation, as the period is marked with fluctuations in climate types… Extract of sample In order to accurately gauge the occurrences of the past in preparation for the future, it is necessary to establish a system or a scale of timing of these occurrences. In addition to knowledge of all the operations of the earth, having in mind a specific (or even general) idea of the time that it takes for events to occur gives historians, scientists, and even the man in the street an idea not only of the future impact of actions done today, but also when to expect those effects to materialize. Because of this, many scientists have worked hard at developing different techniques to date the past. Techniques have developed over the years, from those that rely on myth to ones that rely on scientific evidence. The general trend of these techniques as the were developed was to posit an older and older earth. The time for the beginning of the earth was at first "estimated" at about 4 ka BP (Walker, p. 2); now there's evidence of its beginning approximately 15 ba BP (Greene, 2003, p. 347). ... Download paper Not exactly what you need? Related papers Climate Change and Soil Formation in Southern England At the same time there has also been an increase in the population, and a change in the way individuals make a living and support themselves and their families. The first people to live in southern England were hunters and gatherers, but they slowly evolved into farmers as more people inhabited the area and methods of farming improved. Later, another change occurred with the coming of the… 5 pages (1255 words) Biological molecules 5 pages (1255 words) Folding and Aggregation The three dimensional structures of proteins aid in delineating protein functions at a molecular level and the structure of proteins are determined usually with X ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy etc. Some structural features of proteins would be necessary to perform certain biochemical functions although multifunctional and structural proteins may have higher number of residues than the… 4 pages (1004 words) Protein Concentration The two most common examples are -helix and -sheet (fig. 1)… 4 pages (1004 words) Renewable Energy Master Essay These are countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom amongst other developed countries. (Ruddiman 2005) The focus mainly has shifted to these countries due to their great contribution to carbon gases originating from their vast industries. Many countries have been responsive whereas others have remained adamant on their earlier stands and carbon pollution has remained as high as… 12 pages (3012 words)
Stress is so common that we will all encounter it at some point or another in our lives. It arises from life events such as starting university, moving houses, bereavement, unemployment, relationship problems, and difficulties at work but the list is non-exhaustive. Stress sometimes can be a positive thing as it can kick us into action. For the most of it, it affects us in a negative way. However, stress means different things to different people. Life events that might cause an individual severe stress might not affect another just as bad. How one feels is not as much determined by events and changes in the outside world, but by how these are perceived and responded to. One can learn to recognise own responses to stress and develop skills to deal with it. In cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), the first stage of stress management is called the formulation. This is a map of how the stressful situations, your symptoms and coping style influence each other. Cognitions and appraisals are pivotal in the formulation. Stress has many aspects: there are stress symptoms (cognitive, behavioural, physiological or emotional), stressors (life events, hassles or uplifts), and coping strategies (avoidant, emotional, including the use of alcohol, stress carrying or problem-solving). screen-shot.jpgWhen faced with stress, people have two types of thoughts about it: a primary appraisal (just how great of a problem the stress is for you) and a secondary appraisal (your perceived ability to cope with it). These are the cognitive components of stress. They in turn trigger the other stress components like physical and emotional symptoms. Individuals will attempt to cope with the stress by responding to it. Sometimes this coping behaviour is helpful and the stress subsides. But other times, the behaviour is unhelpful and the stress is reinforced, making your appraisal of the situation and stress more and more negative. This will create a vicious cycle that will maintain the stress. The emotional and physical response to stress also play a role in maintaining the vicious cycle by making you feel frightened or inadequate about the ways you are coping with stress. A Cognitive formulation of stress Stress depends on cycles between all these different components, so tackling one component should improve the experience of stress. As appraisal is central in the stress response, identifying the stress appraisals is essential. Stress symptoms should alleviate once the blanks are filled in and the vicious cycle broken. Book Online >> • Skype and FaceTime sessions are now seen as being as effective as Face to Face treatment. £20 off all video call sessions (Skype or FaceTime) per session, when you book online below. Special offer: Reduced rate £20 off Skype/Facetime per session BOOK ONLINE NOW • 6 sessions with a Psychotherapist: £600 instead of £720. 6 sessions with a Psychologist: £750 instead of £900 Special offer: 6 sessions for the price of 5 when you book and pay for a block of sessions upfront. BOOK ONLINE NOW • Affordable therapy service If our premium therapy service isn't affordable for you, we also offer sessions with less senior practitioners. Fee from £40 per session. To check availability and book online below. BOOK ONLINE NOW 4.74 Average 133 Reviews "Very helpful team, quick to respond and knowledgeable." "We recently had the pleasure of enlisting Dr Becky Spelman as a spokesperson for a media campaign that got traction across a series of broadcast channels. Dr Spelman was incredibly easy to work with throughout the entire process - from initial briefs, content approvals, prompt responses, and then key message delivery during the secured interviews. Always the professional, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend or use her for similar campaign and spokesperson work in the future." "Very kind and welcoming. Really appreciate their help."
Explain how to adapt the planning step of the "Three-Step Process for Oral Presentations" by focusing on audience, electronic media, and organizing. Asked on by user8985815 1 Answer \| Add Yours thanatassa's profile pic thanatassa \| College Teacher \| (Level 3) Educator Emeritus Posted on Within this particular system of creating presentations, there are three steps: • plan • write • complete The planning step is often considered the most important of the three. Your first step in the planning process is researching your audience. Some of the elements you want to research are: • Demographics: What are their ages? Genders? Ethnic and religious backgrounds? Socio-economic status? Levels of education? This information will enable you to relate the content of your presentation to the lives of the audience. • Rhetorical situation: Are they attending the presentation because they are interested in the topic? Because attending is required for a job or a class? Why might they be interested in the subject? • Relationship to the speaker: Is this an audience of friends? Colleagues? Fellow students? Strangers? Next, you should think about what sort of media are most appropriate to the audience. For example, would they respond best to a video or a slide show? Would they be most engaged by a traditional website or social media? Finally, as you organize your information, you should consider that you only have a few minutes to engage your audience before you lose their attention. thus it is important to put the key points of your presentation in a short executive summary at the beginning, and then present supporting information in a clear order next. We’ve answered 319,656 questions. We can answer yours, too. Ask a question
This project was awarded to grayfacedbu for $12 USD. Get free quotes for a project like this Project Budget Total Bids Project Description Write a program to display a calendar for any month of any year of the twentieth century and on. Your prompts do not have to be identical to these: Enter month number: 13 Month must be between 1 and 12, please re-enter: 0 Month must be between 1 and 12, please re-enter: 2 Enter year: 98 Year must be 1900 or later, please re-enter: 2002 February 2002 Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Another? (y or n) To determine the day of the week on which the month starts: know that January 1, 1900 was a Monday, and then find the number of days difference between that day and the first day of the month for which you are making the calendar. This difference plus one mod 7 (i.e. (totaldays+1) % 7) tells you the day of the week (0 meaning Sunday, 1 meaning Monday etc.). Finding the number of days from 1/1/1900 to the first day of any other month can be further broken down into the following subproblems: 1. Number of days in whole years (i.e., (Year - 1900) * 365); 2. One day for each year in the above range which is a leap year; 3. The number of days in each month from January thru the previous month of the year you're making a month calendar for. Remember the rule for leap years: A year is a leap year if it is divisible by 4, unless it is divisible by 100 (in which case it's not a leap year) UNLESS it's also divisible by 400 (in which case it's a leap year). year%4==0 && year%100!=0 \|\| year%400==0 (1900 was not a leap year, but 2000 is, 2100 will not be). See the function in the notes. Use the method of top-down design, breaking the problem into subproblems and each subproblem into further subproblems, until it is easy to code each subproblem as a C function. At this point, your problem decomposition should show the basic structure of the program, as well as making the code modular and easy to read and debug. To give you practice in writing functions, your program MUST have several functions, including one that inputs from the user the month and year. main should be not much more than a series of function calls. Global variables are NOT allowed. Displaying the dates hint: have a loop that prints out the blank days of the first week, then have a loop that loops over the days 1 to 30 (or 31, 28, or 29) The end of the week is when the date plus the number of blank days is a multiple of 7. ## Deliverables 4)must be in visual C++ code ## Platform windows xp visual C++ Awarded to: Looking to make some money? • Set your budget and the timeframe • Outline your proposal • Get paid for your work Hire Freelancers who also bid on this project • Forbes • The New York Times • Time • Wall Street Journal • Times Online
Engine On A Chip Promises To Best The Battery Their microengine is made of six silicon wafers, piled up like pancakes and bonded together. Each wafer is a single crystal with its atoms perfectly aligned, so it is extremely strong. [...] They make 60 to 100 components on a large wafer that they then (very carefully) cut apart into single units. Now the geeks will covet gasoline laptops to go along with their electric cars! But obviously this is not nearly as cool as powering your cellphone on human blood. Tags: , 22 Responses: 1. merovingian says: Wow, awesome technology. I find myself liking Epstein immediately. 2. mackys says: The matchbox-sized motor generates the equivalent of 100 watts, including the power electronics interface, and has an efficiency of close to 95 percent. Powered by a gas turbine, one tankful of fuel drives the generator for about 10 hours at peak 100 watt performance. 3. lars_larsen says: I'd rathar have one of these things in my model airplane than in my laptop. 4. violentbloom says: if only they'd used a flux capacitor instead of a non-renewable resource... • jamie_f says: Hey, this is just a stepping stone to the biodiesel version. Just shove eda mame in through the converted port that used to be for FireWire, and it becomes soybean oil. Make sure not to block the mulch exhaust port, though. 5. zzedar says: "Each wafer is a single crystal with its atoms perfectly aligned, so it is extremely strong." I'm about ninety-five percent certain that this doesn't mean anything. • "Single crystal" and "extremely strong" are true; getting rid of grain boundaries strengthens materials by quite a bit (an order of magnitude in some cases). And of course they're perfectly aligned, there's nothing to interrupt the lattice. • Actually, getting rid of grain boundaries weakens many materials (eg common engineering metals like iron) quite a bit, by allowing slip dislocations to propagate more freely. Much of the processing that goes into producing good steel is to get a nice fine grain structure. (If you're making an object small enough, the tradeoff presumably changes; but you need single-crystal silicon for chip-style fabrication techniques anyway.) 6. strspn says: Deja vu! Berkeley had an actual working gas engine this size five years ago. Detail PDF. IIRC commercialization hasn't happened yet because heat is a bigger problem than the MIT quotes suggest. 7. usufructer says: 10000 RPM is incredibly slow for a turbine of that size. Small turbines used in motorcycle turbochargers are capable of going over 200k RPM. 8. jason0x21 says: I'm curious as to how many people will be more comfortable carrying around little bottles of flammable fuel rather than a power adapter. And lets not even talk about trying to get that on a plane. And long meetings will have a little can, right next to the coffee, that people can pass around as need be. It makes the blood fuel cell look positively practical. • mackys says: Yeah, choking on the hot CO2 and soot this thing throws out doesn't sound like a good time. The only way I see around the problem is if it runs on pure hydrogen... in which case the fuel cell is going to be a lot more efficient anyway. These microturbines are neat, but I wouldn't recommend them for use indoors.
leave (someone or something) be Definition of leave (someone or something) be 1. : to not bother or touch (someone or something) Please leave me be. Word by Word Definitions 1. : bequeath, devise : to have remaining after one's death : to cause to remain as a trace or aftereffect 1. : permission to do something : authorized especially extended absence from duty or employment : an act of leaving : departure 1. : leaf 1. : some person : somebody 1. : some indeterminate or unspecified thing : a person or thing of consequence 1. : in some degree : somewhat : used as an intensive giving adverbial force to an adjective Seen and Heard What made you want to look up leave (someone or something) be? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible). a favoring of the simplest explanation Get Word of the Day daily email!
Archive for graphs untangling riddle Posted in Statistics with tags , , on December 23, 2016 by xi'an Boston1This week riddle is rather anticlimactic [my rewording]: N wires lead from the top of a tower down to the ground floor. But they have become hopelessly tangled. The wires on the top floor are all labelled, from 1 to N. The wires on the bottom, however, are not. You need to figure out which ground-floor wire’s end corresponds to which top-floor wire’s end. On the ground floor, you can tie two wire ends together, and you can tie as many of these pairs as you like. You can then walk to the top floor and use a circuit detector to check whether any two of the wires at the top of the tower are connected or not. What is the smallest number of trips to the top of the tower you need to take in order to correctly label all the wires on the bottom? Indeed, first, if N=2, the wires cannot be identified, if N=3, they can be identified in 2 steps, and if N=4, they can also be identified in 2 steps (only pair two wires first, which gives their values and the values of the other two up to a permutation, then pair one of each group). Now, in general, it seems that, by attaching the wires two by two, one can successively cut the number of wires by two at each trip. This is due to the identification of pairs: if wires a and b are connected in one step, identifying the other end of a will automatically determine the other end of b if one keeps track of all connected pairs at the top. Hence, if N=2^k, in (k-2) steps, we are down to 4 wires and it takes an extra 2 steps to identify those 4, hence all the other wires. Which leads to identification in N trips. If N is not a power of 2, things should go faster as “left over” wires in the binary division can be paired with set-aside wires and hence identify 3 wires on that trip, then further along the way… Which leads to a 2^{\lfloor \log_2(N) \rfloor} number of trips maybe (or even less). Continue reading chain event graphs [RSS Midlands seminar] Medical illuminations [book review] random sudokus Posted in Books, R, Statistics with tags , , , on June 4, 2013 by xi'an 1. generate a random Latin square L with identity permutation matrix on symbol 1 (in practice, this implies building the corresponding graph and picking one of the largest cliques at random); 2. modify L into L’ using a random permutation of the symbols 2,…,n in L’; 3. modify L’ into L” by a random permutation of the columns of L’. A similar result holds for Sudokus (with the additional constraint on the regions). However, while the result is interesting in its own right, it only covers full Sudokus, rather than partially filled Sudokus with a unique solution, whose random production could be more relevant. (Or maybe not, given that the difficulty matters.) [The code uses some R packages, but then moves to SAS, rather surprisingly.] ugly graph of the day Posted in Books, Statistics with tags , , on February 25, 2012 by xi'an Julien pointed out to me this terrible graph, where variations cannot be perceived and where the circles are meaningless! Two three-point curves would have been way more explicit!!! Back from Philly Le Monde puzzle [48: resolution] Posted in R, Statistics with tags , , , on December 4, 2010 by xi'an The solution to puzzle 48 given in Le Monde this weekend is rather direct (which makes me wonder why the solution for 6 colours is still unavailable..) Here is a quick version of the solution: Continue reading
A 120 year old algorithm for learning mixtures of gaussians turns out to be optimal So, how was math writing in 1894? I’d imagined it to be a lot like one of Nietzsche’s last diary entries except with nouns replaced by German fraktur symbols, impenetrable formalisms and mind-bending passive voice constructions. I was in for no small surprise when I started reading Karl Pearson’s Contributions to the Mathematical Theory of Evolution. The paper is quite enjoyable! The math is rigorous yet not overly formal. Examples and philosophical explanations motivate various design choices and definitions. A careful experimental evaluation gives credibility to the theory. The utterly mind-boggling aspect of the paper however is not how well-written it is, but rather what Pearson actually did in it and how far ahead of his time he was. This is the subject of this post. Pearson was interested in building a mathematical theory for evolutionary biology. In hindsight, his work is also one of the earliest contributions to the computational theory of evolution. This already strikes me as visionary as it remains a hot research area today. The Simons Institute in Berkeley just devoted a semester-long program to it. In his paper, he considers the distribution of a single measurement among a population, more concretely, the forehead width to body length ratio among a population of crabs. The crab data had been collected by zoologist Weldon and his wife during their 1892 easter vacation on Malta. Wikipedia describes the crab (carcinus maenas) as one of the "world's worst alien invasive species", but fails to acknowledge the crab's academic contributions. Pearson-Weldon crab The Weldons had taken 1000 samples each with 23 attributes of wich all but the one attribute describing forehead to body length ratio seemed to follow a single normal distribution. Regarding this peculiar deviation from normal, Pearson notes: In the case of certain biological, sociological, and economic measurements there is, however, a well-marked deviation from this normal shape, and it becomes important to determine the direction and amount of such deviation. The asymmetry may arise from the fact that the units grouped together in the measured material are not really homogeneous. It may happen that we have a mixture of $2, 3,\dots, n$ homogeneous groups, each of which deviates about its own mean symmetrically and in a manner represented with sufficient accuracy by the normal curve. What the paragraph describes is the problem of learning a mixture of gaussians: Each sample is drawn from one of several unknown gaussian distributions. Each distribution is selected with an unknown mixture probability. The goal is to find the parameters of each gaussian distribution as well as the mixing probabilities. Pearson focuses on the case of two gaussians which he believes is of special importance in the context of evolutionary biology: A family probably breaks up first into two species, rather than three or more, owing to the pressure at a given time of some particular form of natural selection. With this reasoning he stipulates that the crab measurements are drawn from a mixture of two gaussians and aims to recover the parameters of this mixture. Learning a mixture of two gaussians at the time was a formidable task that lead Pearson to come up with a powerful approach. His approach is based on the method of moments which uses the empirical moments of a distribution to distinguish between competing models. Given $n$ samples $x_1,...,x_n$ the $k$-th empirical moment is defined as $\frac1n\sum_ix_i^k$, which for sufficiently large ${n}$ will approximate the true moment ${\mathbb{E}\,x_i^k}$. A mixture of two one-dimensional gaussians has ${5}$ parameters so one might hope that ${5}$ moments are sufficient to identify the parameters. Pearson derived a ninth degree polynomial ${p_5}$ in the first ${5}$ moments and located the real roots of this polynomial over a carefully chosen interval. Each root gives a candidate mixture that matches the first ${5}$ moments; there were two valid solutions, among which Pearson selected the one whose ${6}$-th moment was closest to the observed empirical ${6}$-th moment. Pearson goes on to evaluate this method numerically on the crab samples---by hand. In doing so he touches on a number of issues such as numerical stability and number of floating point operations that seem to me as being well ahead of their time. Pearson was clearly aware of computational constraints and optimized his algorithm to be computationally tractable. Learning mixtures of gaussians Pearson's seminal paper proposes a problem and a method, but it doesn't give an analysis of the method. Does the method really work on all instances or did he get lucky on the crab population? Is there any efficient method that works on all instances? The sort of theorem we would like to have is: Given ${n}$ samples from a mixture of two gaussians, we can estimate each parameter up to small additive distance in polynomial time. Eric Price and I have a recent result that resolves this problem by giving a computationally efficient estimator that achieves an optimal bound on the number of samples: Theorem. Denoting by ${\sigma^2}$ the overall variance of the mixture, ${\Theta(\sigma^{12})}$ samples are necessary and sufficient to estimate each parameter to constant additive distance. The estimator is computationally efficient and extends to the ${d}$-dimensional mixture problem up to a necessary factor of ${O(\log d)}$ in the sample requirement. Strikingly, our one-dimensional estimator turns out to be very closely related to Pearson's approach. Some extensions are needed, but I'm inclined to say that our result can be interpreted as showing that Pearson's original estimator is in fact an optimal solution to the problem he proposed. Until a recent breakthrough result by Kalai, Moitra and Valiant (2010), no polynomial bounds for the problem were known except under stronger assumptions on the gaussian components.< A word about definitions Of course, we need to be a bit more careful with the above statements. Clearly we can only hope to recover the parameters up to permutation of the two gaussian components as any permutation gives an identical mixture. Second, we cannot hope to learn the mixture probabilities in general up to small error. If, for example, the two gaussian components are indistinguishable, there is no way of learning the mixture probabilities---even though we can estimate means and variances easily by treating the distribution as one gaussian. On the other hand, if the gaussian components are distinguishable then it is not hard to estimate the mixture probabilities from the other parameters and the overall mean and variance of the mixture. For this reason it makes some sense to treat the mixture probabilities separately and focus on learning means and variances of the mixture. Another point to keep in mind is that our notion of parameter distance should be scale-free. A reasonable goal is therefore to learn parameters ${\hat \mu_1,\hat \mu_2,\hat\sigma_1,\hat\sigma_2}$ such that if ${\mu_1,\mu_2,\sigma_1,\sigma_2}$ are the unknown parameters, there is a permutation ${\pi\colon\{1,2\}\rightarrow\{1,2\}}$ such that for all ${i\in\{1,2\},}$ $\displaystyle \max\left( \big\|\hat\mu_i-\mu_{\pi(i)}\big\|^2, \big\|\hat\sigma_i^2-\sigma_{\pi(i)}^2\big\|\right)\le\epsilon \cdot \sigma^2. $ Here, ${\sigma^2}$ is the overall variance of the mixture. The definition extends to the ${d}$-dimensional problem for suitable notion of variance (essentially the maximum variance in each coordinate) and by replacing absolute values with ${\ell_\infty}$-norms. Some intuition for the proof While the main difficulty in the proof is the upper bound, let's start with some intuition for why we can't hope to do better than ${\sigma^{12}}$. Just like Pearson's estimator and that of Kalai, Moitra and Valiant, our estimator is based on the first six moments of the distribution. It is not hard to show that estimating the ${k}$-th moment up to error ${\epsilon\sigma^k}$ requires ${\Omega(1/\epsilon^2)}$ samples. Hence, learning each of the first six moments to constant error needs ${\Omega(\sigma^{12})}$ samples. This doesn't directly imply a lower bound for the mixture problem. After all, learning mixtures could be strictly easier than estimating the first six moments. Nevertheless, we know from Pearson that there are two mixtures that have matching first ${5}$ moments. This turns out to give you a huge hint as to how to prove a lower bound for the mixture problem. The key observation is that two mixtures that have matching first ${5}$ moments and constant parameters are extremely close to each other after adding a gaussian variable ${N(0,\sigma^2)}$ to both mixtures for large enought ${\sigma^2}$. Note that we still have two mixtures of gaussians after this operation and the total variance is ${O(\sigma^2).}$ Making this statement formal requires choosing the right probability metric. In our case this turns out to be the squared Hellinger distance. Sloppily identifying distributions with density functions like only a true computer scientist would do, the squared Hellinger distance is defined as \[\mathrm{H}^2(f,g) = \frac12\int_{-\infty}^{\infty} \Big(\sqrt{f(x)}-\sqrt{g(x)}\Big)^2 \mathrm{d}x\,. \] Lemma. Let ${f,g}$ be mixtures with matching first ${k}$ moments and constant parameters. Let ${p,q}$ be the distributions obtained by adding ${N(0,\sigma^2)}$ to each distribution. Then, ${\mathrm{H}^2(p,q)\le O(1/\sigma^{2k+2})}$. The lemma immediately gives the lower bound we need. Indeed, the squared Hellinger distance is sub-additive on product distributions. So, it's easy to see what happens for ${n}$ independent samples from each distribution. This can increase the squared Hellinger distance by at most a factor ${n}$. In particular, for any ${n=o(\sigma^{2k+2})}$ the squared Hellinger distance between ${n}$ samples from each distribution is at most ${o(1)}$. Owing to a useful relation between the Hellinger distance and total variation, this implies that also the total variation distance is at most ${o(1)}$. Using the definition of total variation distance, this means no estimator (efficient or not) can tell apart the two distributions from ${n=o(\sigma^{2k+2})}$ samples with constant success probability. In particular, parameter estimation is impossible. Mixtures with identical first 5 moments This lemma is an example of a broader phenomenon: Matching moments plus "noise" implies tiny Hellinger distance. A great reference is Pollard's book and lecture notes. By the way, Pollard's expository writing is generally wonderful. For instance, check out his (unrelated) paper on guilt-free manipulation of conditional densities if you ever wondered about how to condition on a measure zero event without regret. Not that computer scientists are generally concerned about it. Matching upper bound The matching upper bound is a bit trickier. The proof uses a convenient notion of excess moments that was introduced by Pearson. You might have heard of excess kurtosis (the fourth excess moment) as it appears in the info box on every Wikipedia article about distributions. Excess moments have the appealing property that they are invariant under adding and subtracting a common term from the variance of each component. Identical excess moments The second excess moment is always ${0.}$ As the picture suggests, we can make one component increasingly spiky and think of it as a distribution that places all its weight on a single point. In accordance with this notion of excess moments it makes sense to reparametrize the mixture in such a way that the parameters are also independent of adding and subtracting a common variance term. Assuming the overall mean of the mixture is ${0,}$ this leaves us with three free parameters ${\alpha,\beta,\gamma.}$ The third through sixth excess moment give us four equations in these three parameters. Expressing the excess moments in terms of our new parameters ${\alpha,\beta,\gamma,}$ we can derive in a fairly natural manner a ninth degree polynomial ${p_5(y)}$ whose coefficients depend on the first ${5}$ excess moments so that ${\alpha}$ has to satisfy ${p_5(\alpha)=0.}$ The polynomial ${p_5}$ was already used by Pearson. Unfortunately, ${p_5}$ can have multiple roots and this is to be expected since ${5}$ moments are not sufficient to identify a mixture of two gaussians. Pearson computed the mixtures associated with each of the roots and threw out the invalid solutions (e.g. the ones that give imaginary variances), getting two valid mixtures that matched on the first five moments. He then chose the one whose sixth moment was closest to the observed sixth moment. We proceed somewhat differently from Pearson after computing ${p_5}$. We derive another polynomial ${p_6}$ (depending on all six moments) and a bound ${B}$ such that ${\alpha}$ is the only solution to the system of equations \[ \big\{p_5(y)=0,\quad p_6(y)=0,\quad 0< y\leq B\big\}. \] This approach isn't yet robust to small perturbations in the moments; for example, if ${p_5}$ has a double root at ${\alpha}$, it may have no nearby root after perturbation. We therefore consider the polynomial ${r(y) = p_5^2(y)+p_6^2(y)}$ which we know is zero at ${\alpha.}$ We argue that ${r(y)}$ is significantly nonzero for any ${y}$ significantly far from ${\alpha}$. This is the main difficulty in the proof, but if you really read this far, it's perhaps not a bad point to switch to reading our paper. I sure drooled enough over how much I like Pearson's paper. Let me conclude with a different practical thought. There were a bunch of tools (as in actual computer programs---gasp!) that made the work a lot easier. Before we proved the lower bound we had verified it using arbitrary floating point precision numerical integration to accuracy ${10^{-300}}$ for ${\sigma^2=10,100,1000,\dots}$ and the decrease in Hellinger distance was exactly what it should be. We used a Python package called mpmath for that. Similarly, for the upper bound we used a symbolic computation package in Python called SymPy to factor various polynomials, perform substitutions and multiplications. It would've been tedious, time-consuming and error prone to do everything by hand (even if the final result is not too hard to check by hand).
Saturday, October 2, 2010 గాంధీ పై అంబేద్కర్ ఆలోచనలు... Angry Bird said... Can you please explain the reason behind posting these videos ? తెలుగుయాంకి said... I hope this is not the "only" way that Dr. Ambedkar saw Mahatma Gandhi - just as another normal politician - selfish etc. If so it is really disappointing for me to know that especially on the occasion of the Great man's birthday. కత్తి. మహేష్ కుమార్ said... @తెలుగు యాంకీ: Ambedkar measured his ideological opponent Gandhi from his point of view. Gandhi for Ambedkar is a political opponent. He refuses to call him Mahatma as he found him nothing of that kind. Mr.Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is a politician. What else is he any way? Leaving apart what Gandhi contributed to the world in terms of his philosophy that inspired many other leaders,Dalit perspective of Gandhi essentially remained of an upper caste Hindu protecting the interests of upper caste. Be it Poona pact or the way he glamorized HARIJAN. Gandhi surely evoked some sympathy for Dalits among upper castes, but Ambedkar evoked self respect among Dalits. Both are different. So the difference between these two stalwarts would remain different among Dalits. @Angry bird: నా బ్లాగూ నా ఇష్టం. gaddeswarup said... From (Gora's Life:An Outline): "At Sevagram Gandhi told Arjun, "You should become like Ambedkar. You should work for the removal of untouchability and caste. Untouchability must go at any cost." Arjun Rao was the groom chosen by Gora for his daughter Manorama (?). "I think, however, that for Ambedkar to stand up to the uncrowned king and anointed Mahatma of the Indian people required extraordinary courage and will-power. Gandhi thought so too. Speaking at a meeting in Oxford in October 1931, Gandhi said he had "the highest regard for Dr. Ambedkar. He has every right to be bitter. That he does not break our heads is an act of self- restraint on his part." Writing to an English friend two years later, he said he found "nothing unnatural" in Ambedkar's hostility to the Congress and its supporters. "He has not only witnessed the inhuman wrongs done to the social pariahs of Hinduism", reflected this Hindu, "but in spite of all his culture, all the honours that he has received, he has, when he is in India, still to suffer many insults to which untouchables are exposed." In June 1936 Gandhi pointed out once again that Dr. Ambedkar "has had to suffer humiliations and insults which should make any one of us bitter and resentful." "Had I been in his place," he remarked, "I would have been as angry." To Gandhi, Ambedkar's protest held out a lesson to the upper castes. In March 1936 he said that if Ambedkar and his followers were to embrace another religion, "We deserve such treatment and our task (now) is to wake up to the situation and purify ourselves." Not many heeded the warning, for towards the end of his life Gandhi spoke with some bitterness about the indifference to Harijan work among his fellow Hindus: "The tragedy is that those who should have especially devoted themselves to the work of (caste) reform did not put their hearts into it. What wonder that Harijan brethren feel suspicious, and show opposition and bitterness."" కత్తి. మహేష్ కుమార్ said... @గద్దే స్వరూప్: Thank you for the information. It is invaluable.
: Question Preview (ID: 25395) When everyone in the company understands the value of a safe work environment, _____. a) labor costs increase b) the experience modification rate increases c) a safety culture is created d) productivity declines Charred sections of a welding hose close to the torch may be caused by _____. a) flare-up b) flashback c) slag d) flash burn Which of the following must be included with every shipment of a hazardous substance and made available to workers on the job site? a) MSDS b) PPE c) ANSI standards d) SCBA A measure of the probability, consequences, and exposure related to an event is referred to as _____. a) evaluation b) safety c) risk d) hazard Benching systems cannot be used in _____. a) Type C Soils b) Type B Soils c) Type A Soils d) solid rock The activity that consists of breaking a job into its component tasks and then analyzing each step for potential hazards is called a _____. a) hazardous incident simulation b) job safety analysis c) safety pre-assessment d) safety breakdown structure When gas welding or burning, welders are required to wear tinted goggles or welding hoods with a filter lens of not less than a _____ shade a) No. 8 b) No. 4 c) No. 10 d) No. 2 The D-ring or support point on a safety harness should be placed _____. a) around your waist b) in the middle of your back c) between your shoulder blades d) over your rib cage To test the integrity of rubber-insulated gloves, _____. a) use a multi-tester and measure resistance from the thumb tip to the glove,s gauntlet b) trap air in the glove, squeeze, and check for weaknesses, thin areas, and small air leaks c) measure the length of each finger and ensure that each has stretched no more than 10% d) in a darkened area, shine a flashlight into the glove and check for light leakage Compared to direct costs (medical bills) resulting from an accident, studies have shown that indirect costs are _____ direct costs. a) almost eighty percent b) two to seven times that of c) half as much d) roughly equal to A person who is capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards and has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate such hazards is a _____ person. a) competent b) proficient c) eligible d) qualified Which of the following will NOT protect against brief exposure to dangerous gases or fumes? a) full facepiece mask with chemical canisters b) self-contained breathing apparatus c) supplied air mask d) half mask or mouthpiece with a mechanical filter CFR 1926 protects a worker's rights by requiring employers to maintain _____ for 30 years after they leave the job. a) OSHA Form 300s b) medical records c) health insurance claims d) annual performance reviews With every power tool, use an assured ground program or _____. a) GFCI b) approved concealed receptacle c) power strip d) safety switch One aspect of the mission of OSHA is to _____. a) provide legal representation for injured workers b) provide services for families of workers who were killed in jobsite accidents c) protect the health of Americans while at their jobs d) underwrite health insurance benefits for American workers What is the best way to protect yourself when working near moving vehicles and equipment? a) Have a signaler direct your movements. b) Wear a reflective or high-visibility vest. c) Set up reflective flags around your work area. d) Ensure that a qualified person is on the job site. When stepping off a ladder onto a platform or roof, the top of the ladder should extend above the point where the ladder touches the platform or roof by at least _____. a) 3 feet b) 5 feet c) 2 feet d) 4 feet The highest safe standing level on an extension ladder is the _____ rung from the top. a) fourth b) third c) second d) fifth Which of the following data is included on a material safety data sheet for a hazardous shipment? a) Expiration date of the substance b) Manufacturer,s recommended product substitutes c) Net weight criteria for packaging the container d) How to contact the manufacturer of the substance Play Games with the Questions above at ReviewGameZone.com To play games using the questions from the data set above, visit ReviewGameZone.com and enter game ID number: 25395 in the upper right hand corner at ReviewGameZone.com or simply click on the link above this text. Log In \| Sign Up / Register
Wednesday, 25 January 2012 #143 In the Field: Bird anatomy and sculpture workshop con't . . . Human arm top, bird wing bottom The skeleton of the bird's wing is more easily understood when compared to the human arm: Humerus - Innermost bone, between body and elbow. Ulna/Radius - middle or forearm bones, between elbow and wrist. The secondary feathers are attached to the ulna. Hand - Outermost bone, some metacarpals are missing, some are fused together. One of the digits is the thumb or alula, a small group of three or four feathers are attached to the bone. The ten primary flight feathers (nine in some perching birds) are attached to the hand. Drawing of wing skeleton showing primaries, secondaries and tertials by Sandy Scott 1 comment: 1. Thanks for this. I'm trying to learn bird anatomy on the fly. I believe I'll draw better birds once I learn their basic anatomy. Can you recommend any books? I am quite taken with your work. So, I've bookmarked your site. Very nice.
Ukraine National Anthem Ukraine National Anthem lyrics YouTube movie MIDI UkraineUkraine's glory has not perished ﾐｩﾐｵﾐｽﾐｵﾐｲﾐｼﾐｵﾑﾐｻﾐｰﾐ｣ﾐｺﾑﾐｰﾑ厘ｽﾐｸﾑ・ﾑ・ｻﾐｰﾐｲﾐｰ, ﾑ・ﾐｲﾐｾﾐｻﾑ・ﾐｩﾐｵﾐｽﾐｰﾐｼ, ﾐｱﾑﾐｰﾑびび・ﾐｼﾐｾﾐｻﾐｾﾐｴﾑ毛・ﾑτ・ｼﾑ毛・ｽﾐｵﾑび袴・・ﾐｴﾐｾﾐｻﾑ・ﾐ厘ｳﾐｸﾐｽﾑτび・ﾐｽﾐｰﾑ尉・ﾐｲﾐｾﾑﾑ孟ｶﾐｵﾐｽﾑ糊ｺﾐｸ, ﾑ紹ｺﾑﾐｾﾑ・ｰﾐｽﾐｰﾑ・ｾﾐｽﾑ・ｽ林・ﾐ厘ｰﾐｿﾐｰﾐｽﾑτ頒ｼﾑ・ﾐｼﾐｸ, ﾐｱﾑﾐｰﾑびび・ﾑ・ﾑ・ｲﾐｾﾑ厘ｹﾑ・ひｾﾑﾐｾﾐｽﾑ・・ Ukraine's glory hasn't perished, nor her freedom Upon us, fellow compatriots, fate shall smile once more. Our enemies will vanish, like dew in the morning sun, ﾐ飯τ尉・ﾐｹﾑび孟ｻﾐｾﾐｼﾐｸﾐｿﾐｾﾐｻﾐｾﾐｶﾐｸﾐｼﾐｷﾐｰﾐｽﾐｰﾑ尉・ﾑ・ｲﾐｾﾐｱﾐｾﾐｴﾑ・ﾐ・ﾐｿﾐｾﾐｺﾐｰﾐｶﾐｵﾐｼ, ﾑ禍ｾﾐｼﾐｸ, ﾐｱﾑﾐｰﾑびび・ﾐｺﾐｾﾐｷﾐｰﾑ・糊ｺﾐｾﾐｳﾐｾﾑﾐｾﾐｴﾑ・ We'll lay down our souls and bodies to attain our freedom, And we'll show that we, brothers, are of the Cossack nation. Anthem MIDI FIle About Anthem Shche ne vmerla Ukrainy(Ukraine's glory has not perished) is the national anthem of Ukraine. The lyrics constitute a slightly modified original first stanza of the patriotic poem written in 1862 by Pavlo Chubynsky, a prominent ethnographer from the region of Ukraine's capital, Kiev. In 1863, Mykhaylo Verbytsky, a western Ukrainian composer and a Greek-Catholic priest composed music to accompany Chubynsky's text. The first choral performance of the piece was at the Ukraine Theatre in Lviv, in 1864(image: Main square of Kiev /source: Wikipedia).
益西彭措法师　讲授目录 Table of Contents 一、佛法的核心 I. Essence of Dharma 1、轮回之苦 1. Suffering of Samsara 2、苦之根源 2. Cause of Suffering 3、断除苦难源头的方法 3. How to Cut off the Root of Suffering? 4、学佛难吗？ 4. Is Dharma Hard to Learn? 5、小结 5. Summary 二、什么是如法的闻思修 II. What are Properly Listening, Contemplating & Meditating According to Dharma? 1、闻思修的定义 1. Definitions of Listening, Contemplating and Meditating 2、闻思修的误区 2. Pitfalls of Listening, Contemplating and Meditating 3、小结 3. Summary 三、闻思修的衡量标准 III. The Qualifying Criteria of Listening, Contemplating and Meditating 1、什么是闻思修的衡量标准 1. What are Qualifying Criteria for Listening, Contemplating and Meditating? 2、什么是闻思修三慧 2. What are the Wisdoms of Listening, Contemplating and Meditating? 四、闻思修三慧的殊胜作用 IV. The Distinguished Benefits of Listening, Contemplating and Meditating Wisdoms 1、三慧是上成佛道、下化众生的唯一津梁 1. The Three Kinds of Wisdom Are the Only Way to Attain Buddhahood Above and to Transform Sentient Beings Below 2、闻慧能认识烦恼 2. Recognizing Afflictions with the Wisdom of Listening 3、思慧能压服烦恼 3. Suppressing Afflictions with the Wisdom of Contemplating 4、修慧能根除烦恼 4. Eradicating Afflictions with the Wisdom of Meditating 5、闻思修三慧是检验学佛效果的标准 5. The Wisdoms of Listening, Contemplating and Meditating are the Test of Learning Results 五、缺乏闻思修的严重后果 V. The Aggravating Results without Listening, Contemplating and Meditating 1、缺乏修慧的后果 1. What Happens without the Wisdom of Meditating? 2、缺乏思慧与修慧两种智慧的后果 2. What Happens without the Wisdoms of both Contemplating and Meditating? 3、三慧俱缺的后果 3. What Happens with None of the Three Wisdoms? How to Learn and Practice Dharma Khenpo Yeshe Phuntsok Rinpoche Larung Gar Five Sciences Buddhist Academy Sertar, Sichuan Province, China With the blessings of my noble guru, To all dharma practitioners, For the benefit of all sentient beings. — Translators During this national holiday, we have precious free time to gather together, to learn and practice dharma, thus accumulating merits on the way towards Buddhahood. Seeing the current situation of how people study dharma, I’d like to talk about the right method to learn and practice dharma, according to the sutra guidelines as well as the precious teachings from my noble guru H. H. Wish-Fulfilling Gem Jigme Phuntsok. So the title of my talk is, How to Learn and Practice Dharma. The number of Buddhism organizations and groups has increased much in recent years. Buddhists involve themselves in more activities for the benefit of others and of their own, such as sutra and shastra studies, meditation, animal protection and releasing, and many other charitable efforts, which are all booming. Since there are so many choices for our Buddhist life, we need to figure out which ones are the most essential, which ones are less important. We must not forget the essence of all these. I. Essence of Dharma So what is the essence of dharma? To answer this question, we need to look in the twelve links of dependent origination that depict the truth of samsara, the life cycles that all sentient beings go through. 1. Suffering of Samsara In daily life there are always many cases calling for help. Patients can’t be cured after exhausting all family savings; a family is struck by sudden accidents and falls into despair; children can’t afford basic education in rural areas, even many sick stray cats and dogs in streets. They are all suffering tremendous adversities. As Buddhists we are obligated to help them, and we naturally do so driven by our compassion. Meanwhile we should ask, by offering a hand at the moment, do we make their life free from any more problems? As life keeps changing, they get what they need for now, but how about the future? Nobody can guarantee that they will remain happy for the rest of their lives. We never know what will happen tomorrow. But one thing for sure, future problems down the road are inevitable. Why is adversity endless like the waves of the ocean? From the twelve links of dependent origination, we can see the cause of samsara is karma and affliction, and the effect of samsara is birth, aging and death. If the cause isn’t removed, then suffering won’t stop in the sequence of birth, aging and death. Therefore, even if it does help to address their immediate needs, this kind of help is limited. As you can imagine, ladling out surface water in a boiling pot won’t stop the boiling, because the pot is on a big fire. More than that, countless sentient beings have been undergoing unbelievable sufferings for eons. They live in the realms of hells or hungry ghosts and are tortured by severe pain that we human beings can’t imagine. 2. Cause of Suffering The cause of suffering for all sentient beings is karma. As long as karma continues, the unfavorable situations will keep occurring. If we find a way to eliminate karma, then we bring more profound and more lasting happiness to sentient beings. As a Buddhist, this is the most meaningful contribution. The dedication of our merits to sentient beings is a sort of direct way to relieve their karma, as the big karma may be reduced and the small ones eliminated. However, if we think about the seeds of karma, from beginningless time, every being has been accumulating countless karma seeds, and new seeds are continuously produced. Therefore, just by dedicating our merits the seeds of karma cannot be completely eradicated. The seeds of karma are sowed by affliction, nurtured by the water of affliction and continuously grow and ripen. If we are able to control and eliminate affliction, karma wouldn’t grow any more, since its water line is cut off. Thus we can release sentient beings from suffering. Then we ask, does affliction have its own source? We can see that the source of affliction is just self-attachment. It is due to ignorance that sentient beings hold on to the non-existing “I” as real. Questioning and analyzing like this, we can reveal all the direct and indirect causes of suffering. As long as the root, the ignorance of sentient beings, is cut off, all kinds of suffering in this world will be eliminated forever. 3. How to Cut off the Root of Suffering? If someone is too poor to make a living, a rich person may give him some money which lifts him out of poverty immediately. But to enlighten a sentient being is a much more complicated and daunting task, as it cannot be achieved by wealth alone. We need skills to work on ignorance, just like a doctor knows how to treat patients. In the ideal situation, we’ve already cleared our own ignorance and afflictions and have the ability of clearing those of others. Or at least, we know the authentic remedy to clear them. So where can we find this method of enlightening ignorance? Can an ordinary being find it by himself? Absolutely not. Otherwise since beginningless time, they should have found the answer. How about non-Buddhism or other philosophers? Neither can they, because none of them have liberated themselves. In this world, among all different religions and philosophies, only Buddhism points out the root of suffering. As the Buddha said, ignorance causes self-attachment, which produces affliction, affliction generates karma and karma leads to the results of suffering. This is the law of dependent origination. So if an intelligent and wise man cares about the wellbeing of himself and all others, he ought to seek effective methods from dharma to break the chain of twelve links of dependent origination. 4. Is Dharma Hard to Learn? Answer: Truthfully and clearly, dharma has revealed the cause of suffering in samsara, and the way to break free from samsara. But can we really take in the dharma teaching and quickly enlighten our daily life? For few people with extraordinary wisdom, it is doable. We do have good models in the past, like the Sixth Patriarch Huineng of Zen, the omniscient Mipham Rinpoche, as well as my guru, H. H. Wish-Fulfilling Gem Jigme Phuntsok. However as ordinary people like us, it will be hard enough to comprehend the truths in dharma, let alone practice them. Why is it hard? Is dharma deliberately obscure and difficult? Of course not. All of the dharma describe direct experiences of the enlightened beings, which – like our daily perception of a cup of tea or three meals – is intuitive, straightforward, and easy to understand. Meantime dharma is consistent with the Buddha’s teaching in sutra texts, and is very logical and evident. Then why is dharma so hard for us? It’s mainly due to our old habits. We ordinary people have adapted to this mundane world manifested by samsara. Our interest and intelligence are limited to what we see in this manifestation, and never give much thought beyond this world. We don’t know how to practice dharma, and feel it is distant from the world. No surprise because dharma advocates supra-mundane merits and aims to go beyond this world. Nevertheless, no matter how unfamiliar dharma feels, we can get used to it so long as we want to learn. Since dharma brings us the greatest benefit, definitely we should get acquainted with it again and again. This process comprises three steps: listening, contemplating and meditating, which are the cores of dharma learning. 5. Summary The reality of samsara is endless suffering, and the cause of suffering isn’t lack of wealth, but karma and affliction, which are produced by ignorance. Therefore, to eliminate the whole suffering of samsara, we have to eradicate ignorance. All of these teachings, however, are beyond our common sense in daily life. So only following the approach of listening, contemplating and meditating, can we really live the dharma and stop the endless suffering cycles for ourselves and for all sentient beings. 1. Definitions of Listening, Contemplating and Meditating In short, listening, contemplating and meditating make up the necessary process to learn and practice dharma. Through listening to sutra and shastra teaching, we realize the substantial suffering of this world and its root cause. We learn the truths of suffering and arising of suffering, as well as the state after suffering is eliminated and the way to reach the state, i.e., the truths of cessation of suffering and the path. Through contemplating, we digest the teaching we hear, grow faith in it and thus think and act according to the new principles. Through meditating and practice, we transcend our mind and replace old karmic habits with dharma teaching. Eventually our wisdom, or consciousness, will align with the Buddhist sages’ and our ignorance will be eradicated permanently. The three steps are not unique to dharma learning. To learn any worldly skill one needs to go through these same steps. It’s the common process for us to learn anything new. For example, you want to become a pilot. First, you study the mechanism of an airplane and the instructions of how to control it, and then memorize the theory. This is listening. Then, you review the knowledge and familiarize yourself with everything in a real aircraft. This is contemplation. Finally, you fly with your coach, and after repeated practices, you’ll turn those instructions to your new habits and reinforce them. This is meditating. So what are the common misunderstandings and pitfalls during this process? Let’s take a look. 2. Pitfalls of Listening, Contemplating and Meditating Generally speaking, there are five mistakes to watch out for. 1). Not listening carefully. Some sit through teachings just to receive the transmission and some blessing from it. They do not pay attention to the meaning of dharma, and the teaching just goes in one ear and out the other. Well, without sincere respect and faith for dharma, one wouldn’t be able to receive blessing from the lineage. Worse, this kind of attitude towards dharma will produce bad karma and lead to lower realms. On the contrary, with deep respect and faith, one will listen attentively and dedicate the mind to memorizing the teachings. 2). Listening but not contemplating. Some people just prefer listening. They may have heard much teaching, chanted and recited many sutras, but have not contemplated dharma meanings. We should know that one doesn’t reach dharma by just repeating the dharma words without absorbing their meanings. For example, continuously reciting the suffering of suffering, the suffering of change, all-pervasive suffering, emptiness, luminosity, etc., can’t help us to approach the real dharma. Even if we obtain the wisdom of listening, lacking logical and solid contemplation, the wisdom will only help us to recognize afflictions, but will not be strong enough to fight them. It’s like a bun drawn on paper, we see how it looks, but can’t overcome hunger by feeding on it. The omniscient Mipham Rinpoche once explained this clearly in The Precious Beacon of Certainty. As he said, for all of the dharma teachings from ground, path to result, there can be two learning results. One is to think through the teaching exactly according to the sutra, which will allow faith and unflinching determination to arise. Following the path described in the teaching, one can attain enlightenment rapidly. The other is to remember only bits and pieces of the wording, without ever examining the meanings, like a mindless parrot mimicking human speech. One may get a little faith in this way, but won’t acquire enough wisdom to cut through the jungle. The liberating path would be a picture on paper or some imagination in head, without any practical effects to lead to nirvana. Meanwhile, we must break old thinking patterns and views. It is a fault to subject Buddha and Bodhisattva’s pure vision to one’s narrow and biased view, just like making a clean vessel dirty. We’d better look from the level of Buddha and Bodhisattvas as much as we can, to comprehend their thoughts as they are in the teaching. This is a shortcut, rightfully so, to align one’s mind with sutras and shastras, and to master their profound meaning. 3). Not associating listening and contemplation with reality. One has to link dharma teaching to reality during learning. All of the dharma that Buddha taught is for eliminating the two attachments of self and phenomena, and the resultant two obscurations of affliction and cognition. So dharma is exactly to solve our own problems, not something or someone else. If we ignore this connection and separate the teaching from our own situation, then both listening and contemplation would become useless, and we would just be wasting the opportunity to obtain any blessing from dharma. 4). Only listening and contemplating, but without meditating. Meditation is the only way to experience dharma teaching. Meditation is the purpose of listening and contemplation. Once the view is formed through listening and contemplation and also get confirmed in our daily experience, we need to continuously meditate on it with our mind. Otherwise, the view wouldn’t have strong enough power to overcome afflictions and to replace old habits. This would be an even bigger waste, just like giving up the wish-fulfilling gem that’s almost in your hand. 5). Only meditating, but without listening and contemplating. Because most of us are not able to cultivate merit directly from meditating, we need the first two steps. Without listening and contemplating, we don’t have the right guide and methods for meditation. Listening and contemplating according to dharma provide us with the right view and methods as a solid foundation and effective protection against obstacles during meditation. Skipping steps and jumping straight into meditation might work for a few with deep virtuous roots and merits of wisdom, like Samantabhadra. But for most people who confine themselves in daily gain and loss, meditating without learning is useless, like barking up the wrong tree. In the end it will not generate any merit, and worse, may even erode the faith of liberation. 3. Summary All in all, each of the eighty-four thousand kinds of teaching from the Buddha are methods of taming our mind, which can only be achieved through the three steps of listening, contemplating and meditating. Meditating is the key, and listening and contemplating are prerequisites. So none of them can be skipped. Excellent listening and contemplating require us to fully understand the teaching, reproduce the original meanings from Buddha and Bodhisattvas, and also apply each of them to reality. The correct way of learning dharma is of high priority for us Buddhists. Only following the right way, will we be able to gradually feel the afflicted karma diminishing, thus commit ourselves to dharma. Only after we commit ourselves, is it possible to influence others with the same dharma. Following the process of listening, contemplating and meditating is the best way to get this point. Ignoring them and breaking the natural pattern will lead one to being stuck with old afflictions and karma for years without any progress. III. The Qualifying Criteria of Listening, Contemplating and Meditating Each of the three steps has a measuring standard. The criterion of listening is to attain the wisdom of listening; for the other two is to attain the wisdoms of contemplating and meditating. No matter which dharma gate we are going through, such as cause and effect gate, prajna gate or pure land gate, the gauge is the same, which is whether the wisdoms are produced. Simply put, the wisdom of listening is attained after listening, as we hear and understand the dharma teaching. It is analogous to the studying stage in worldly terms. The wisdom of contemplating is attained after much reflection of the dharma, when the meanings are accepted and engraved in our heart. It is equivalent to the understanding stage as usually called. The wisdom of meditating is attained when the dharma embed in our mind, after it is repeated and practiced for a while. It is called the application stage in worldly terms. Take as an example the selflessness of persons in the teaching of the middle way. With the wisdom of listening one should know all sentient beings are nothing but five aggregates of body and mind, and also that even on a relative level there isn’t a permanent, complete “I” who is immune to causality. The wisdom of contemplating is that, one thinks about this logically and truthfully, eventually becomes convinced and able to turn it into his own thoughts. Finally, with the wisdom of meditating one can break the habit of self-attachment and create a no-self state in his mind. Another example in learning Bodhicitta, the wisdom of listening is to be able to explain relative and ultimate Bodhicitta, their merits and how to arouse them. The wisdom of contemplating provides us a much more lucid and stable understanding, and the wisdom of meditating can change our mind to be consistent with Bodhicitta after applying the former wisdom to reality for practice. One more example of pure land. After hearing, chanting, and transcribing the sutras and shastras, we realize the superior beauty of the pure land, and the inferiority of the saha land. We also gain good knowledge of the great vows of Amitabha and the right chanting method. This is the wisdom of listening. Then we continue to contemplate these teachings and develop such an unflinching determination that putting sutra aside, we are still clear about why the pure land is superiorly beautiful and the current world is inferiorly ugly. Whenever thinking about the vows of Amitabha, we know why they are inconceivably powerful. Whenever reciting Amitabha, we know the effects of different methods and to which situation they apply. These are all coming from the wisdom of contemplating. At some point, by cultivating these thoughts and visualizations, we can practically, not only theoretically, verify the defects of this current world and the marvels of the pure land, and feel the great merit of Amitabha’s vows, as well as the practical benefits of the mindfulness of the Buddha. These are all from the wisdom of meditating. IV. The Distinguished Benefits of Listening, Contemplating and Meditating Wisdoms All the merits of three vehicles of dharma originate from the wisdoms cultivated through listening, contemplating and meditating. All the Buddhas, from the past to present, had heard and contemplated the dharma jewels diligently, exactly perceiving the teaching by continuous meditation, and then accomplishing their enlightenment. Our Fundamental Teacher, Shakyamuni Buddha, liberated countless sentient beings in this saha land, and his dharma jewels still transform the mass in today’s evil age of five turbidities, so that sentient beings can rely on them to get the benefits of liberation. But eons ago, our own master was an ordinary sentient being, and once fell into hell because he kicked his mother’s head. Although he got out of the hell due to the virtuous thought of taking on other’s suffering, but without diligently listening, contemplating and meditating on dharma, as an ordinary being, how could he bring such grand benefits to all sentient beings? Amitabha built West Utmost Joyful Land, a distinguished pure land where even the name of suffering is never heard of. He benefited countless beings of all the worlds. If Monk Fazang hadn’t put great efforts in listening, contemplating and meditating, how could he have generated so much energy just by himself? Another example is Venerable Milarepa, who had killed 35 persons for revenge, very rare and horrendous evil karma. However, with the fear of being reborn in lower realms and with the strong devotion to his guru, Venerable Milarepa became Buddha within the same life through practicing dharma. This is a wonderful demonstration of how powerful dharma is. Following dharma and practicing, the incredible power may not just turn a bad person to good, but also liberate one from samsara and achieve Buddhahood. Venerable Milarepa had shown this inconceivable power of dharma. There are more examples in history. Venerable Nanda used to be very attached to women, and couldn’t forget his early wife after he became a monk. When the Buddha showed him heaven, he saw the goddesses and desired them even more. Venerable Subhutti used to be easily irritable, and even the sound of wind and rain could anger him. Venerable Suddhipanthaka used to be dumb and often forgot the first sentence when going onto the second one. However, they were all enlightened and became great Arhats under the throne of the Buddha. What made this happen? It was nothing but the wisdom gathered through continuous and diligent listening, contemplating and meditating. So the wisdom obtained from dharma is hundreds and thousands of times more precious than the most valuable thing in the world. It will dig out the values of the precious human body, and make us the richest in the world. Meanwhile, we can help our friends and relatives by sharing dharma with them, so they can also receive the dharma blessing. In the biography of the old master Tanxu, Recollection of Shadow and Dust, there’s a story of a lay practitioner, Wenhua Liu. After reading and researching on Surangama Sutra for seven or eight years, he freed his enemies, wife, daughter and parents in his own vision. You may want to find and read the book. With these three kinds of wisdom, we can recognize negative emotions of the people around us and help them with dharma to analyze and overcome their anxieties, calm their turmoil and inspire them to live a meaningful and purposeful life. This is a very big support to the harmony of society and the peace of our nation. Much more than that, if one’s virtuous root gradually gets matured, one can practice the supreme Vajrayana which takes only six months to become Buddha. For most people dwelling in samsara for countless eons and with shallow wisdom and poor merits, this is absolutely inconceivable, because primary school alone takes six years. However, the wisdoms attained from dharma through listening, contemplating and meditating really makes it possible. The three wisdoms of dharma cannot rise from non-Buddhist or worldly knowledge, which at best leads people to pray to a nonexistent and humanized deity. They can’t imagine that the nature of mind of all sentient beings exactly possess the luminosity of tathagatagarbha, which perfectly has all kinds of merits. Therefore we should dedicate efforts to listening, contemplating and meditating, in such a way to cultivate the great wisdom, for our mind to be teeming with the merits of dharma. The wisdoms of listening, contemplating and meditating can generate numerous merits. For ordinary beings like us, the merits apparently generated at the initial stage are: recognizing afflictions, suppressing afflictions and then finally eradicating afflictions. 2. Recognizing Afflictions with the Wisdom of Listening The wisdom of listening enables us to recognize affliction. As a common characteristic, sentient beings are being surrounded by afflicting emotions all the time, but as being deluded, we seldom recognize them and, on the contrary feel good about ourselves. In fact, most of our mundane people have completely false perceptions. When confronted we always consider and defend ourselves first; an obsession of someone is called great love; being wishful and hurting others is “self-expression”; the effort of chasing fame and wealth is praised as the best exertion of life; attachment has a positive tone. All of these are due to a lack of wisdom, and are the manifestation of our ignorance. Fixing the mind and effort on such delusions, we spend the whole life busy about nothing. All is vain and adds much more bad karma. Through listening to the teaching of dharma, we can clearly see what things are valuable and thus stick to them for benefitting others and ourselves. Also we can tell what things are harmful and thusly cut them off. Those that are harmful to oneself and others are afflictions. So whenever they appear, we can detect them and recognize where they come from, even though we may not be able to remove them right away. This is how the wisdom of listening works. Some people claim, “My attachment is too strong and too hard to give up.” This is a typical case in which the wisdom didn’t arise from listening. This kind of person vaguely acknowledges a word “attachment”, but has no idea what it really looks like and doesn’t link it to himself. The moment he’s talking, he’s in attachments. He treats love, hatred and merits as real, and can’t realize that they are just the attachment he’s talking about, not to mention how to overcome them. In contrast, if one does have the wisdom of listening, he or she will feel ashamed rather than comfortable, not even keep repeating the complaint as a show-off. 3. Suppressing Afflictions with the Wisdom of Contemplating Once we attain the wisdom of contemplating, we can stop affliction from growing. The wisdom of contemplating means we take in the wisdom of listening as our deep belief. As people usually say, the thoughts are reformed and transcended. In this case we still have the habitual inertia from old views, and afflictions may still come up continuously. Nevertheless, we can recognize them immediately by the wisdom of listening, and further suppress them with the wisdom of contemplating, in the way to concentrate our mind on dharma instead of being distracted. For example, I’m irritated when seeing someone. When it happens and with the wisdom of contemplating, I can analyze the situation and easily understand that this uncomfortable feeling is only due to my expectation of others. As explained in dharma, I’m annoyed because someone’s behavior is not following my standards, so my ego gets hurt. With the realization of these facts, this person in deed helps me reveal my subtle attachments. A case like this makes me realize that I’m capable of anger and disappointment again in similar situation, so how am I going to get out of the jail of samsara? What’s more, disliking someone means my compassion is too shallow to let me recall that the person had been my mother in previous life and cared for me. Badly treating a mother from previous life is the same as badly treating my mother in this life, both unethical. Hence with the wisdom of contemplating, we can manipulate thoughts in the way taught by dharma, so that the on-going negative emotions and attachments can be suppressed. Furthermore, we may be grateful to the person who provides us an opportunity to discover our shortcomings. 4. Eradicating Afflictions with the Wisdom of Meditating We can completely root out affliction with the wisdom of meditating. It works like the gem sword of Manjusri, cutting off ignorance thus eliminating the growth of any afflictions. Suppose we’re meditating on compassion. When the meditation gets matured, compassion will become our accustomed thinking, and every thought in our mind will become associated with compassion. So we’ll automatically put first the benefits of all sentient beings. At this stage although affliction’s seeds aren’t cleared completely, and their karmic energy may still have some effects, they won’t control us anymore. Or we’re meditating on prajna, the emptiness. When getting the direct insight that all the phenomena do not substantially exist and are just dreams and illusions, we’ll not be able to attach anything even if we try to, because there’s no such thing to be attached. By rooting out attachment, afflictions will find no space and be eliminated too. Take as another example the emptiness of selflessness. When the habitual meditation ripens, the wisdom makes us perceive right away no self but five aggregates, which are many-bodies, ever changing every moment and interacting with each other as causes and conditions. So in this illusory world, we can find no permanence, no unity and no free “I”, “you”, or “he” to grasp. Then our mind becomes very tranquil, without worry or disturbance. Affliction is totally extinct because there’s no cause for it. Or if we’re meditating that all phenomena are illusions in this mundane world. Every day we diligently meditate that all phenomena are the play of causality, and there’s no coming or going, no substantial existence, and everything is a phantom in a mirror. Once we accumulate enough power of the practice, we can directly experience this lucid and blissful state, in which affliction permanently disappears. So from now on, we should use the three rules to check our progress during dharma learning. For example, these days we are studying The Exegesis of Prajna Chapter: the Wish-Fulfilling Gem of Purifying Water (Ketaka Gem). First you need to recite the stanzas before class, make necessary preparations to get an overview and mark the parts you don’t understand. This is the necessary pre-work that you can’t ignore. Then while listening, you should pay attention to the explanations of the stanzas, and also try to connect the dharma terms with real situation, and try to figure out how they correspond to reality, such as the nature of self, emptiness, manifestation and so on. Right after class it’s necessary to review. Following such procedures we will be able to grow the wisdom of listening and recognize how and where we attach ourselves to self, where it should be emptiness, and so on. Secondly, we need to meticulously analyze the dharma meaning, starting with each detail and then going up to the big picture. Analyzing the detail means to understand every dharma phrase and paragraph. Grasping the big picture means to comprehend why these phrases and paragraphs appear in the context of the whole book. Meanwhile, guided by the teaching, we should observe in our reality why the nature of self is empty, why appearance is illusory, and why “I” doesn’t exist even in the relative level of truth. In this way we will be able to grow the wisdom of contemplating. Finally, we should continue analytical and abiding meditation guided by the wisdom of contemplating, so that such wisdom will gradually merge into our mind and transform our mind into the all-knowing discriminating wisdom, which can manifest the dharma in its entirety without flaw. If we don’t get such experience and feel frustrated during learning, we need to go back and check our learning approach. Most certainly we have not followed the right way described above. In the beginning stage of dharma learning, some may feel a strong faith and afflictions seem not so apparent. However after a while, he experiences increased afflictions meanwhile the faith starts wearing off. Does that mean he has regressed? The answer is no, because usually at the beginning the person can’t really tell the afflictions. With more listening and contemplating, he develops greater ability to look into his mind, and find many more afflictions that are always there. These afflictions have been formed by the energy of habituated clinging since beginningless time due to delusion. So it’s actually a progress of being able to recognize them. It’s like approaching the ocean. From afar the water seems tranquil and still, but when up close, you see countless waves. There’s one more thing to be careful about. Usually if we don’t pay attention, the wisdom of listening can be easily mistaken as the wisdom of contemplating. In this case one likes to repeat complex or obscure dharma phrases – “self-nature is luminosity”, “affliction is the Buddha nature” and so on – blindly thinking one has reached those states. This is due to insufficient contemplating, not carefully observing the mind and not associating dharma with experience. Such behavior is absolutely not the wisdom of contemplating, not to say the wisdom of meditating. This is a common pitfall to watch out for. In summary, the wisdoms gained through listening, contemplating and meditating are immensely powerful, and there’s nothing in the world can compare with them. The wisdom of meditating is relatively hard to achieve, as we need to work on old habits. But the wisdoms of listening and contemplating aren’t difficult as long as we exactly follow the right way to study dharma. Also the two wisdoms help us recognize and overcome afflictions. On the contrary, not cultivating these three kinds of wisdom will result in huge obstacles for any Buddhist practitioners. V. The Aggravating Results without Listening, Contemplating and Meditating 1. What Happens without the Wisdom of Meditating? After diligent listening and contemplating and attaining the wisdoms, some may stop and not continue onto meditating. This is such a big waste of the wish-fulfilling gem. It’s like in a famine, a starving person desperately found some rice, cooked and prepared it, then walked away without eating. This is due to the old habitual tendencies acting as obstructions, and karmic obscurations starting to manifest. The wisdom of meditating arises from deep consciousness with innate continuity. Compared with it, the wisdom of contemplating is superficial and intermittent. In other words, it appears only when you intently contemplate, and disappears when the attention stops. It is in this high stage that we need to meditate to keep the wisdom activated at all times. After repeated practice through meditation, we reinforce the wisdom into new habits, which can shatter the old habitual attachments. If the wisdom of meditating is not formed, we can never be blessed by the realization of dharma. Neither can we devote ourselves to dharma activities for the continuity of the Buddha wisdom, nor help and liberate sentient beings effectively. In conclusion, we must continue meditation after attaining the wisdom of contemplating. Do not stop until reaching the wisdom of meditating, and always go further, as one more step in the long journey. If we only have the wisdom of listening, not followed by contemplation, we can’t cultivate the wisdom of contemplating. And of course the wisdom of meditation won’t happen like no springs coming out of dried water source. The wisdom of listening enables us to recognize affliction, however without reflecting on their faults and distress, on the antidote methods as well as on the blissful states of resolving it, we may still indulge ourselves in afflictive emotions. Some feel affliction is too hard to control after a little listening and contemplating. They fancy obscure shortcuts for easier results, and daydream of retreating in a remote cave to practice. But the wisdom of contemplating alone can effectively suppress affliction. Through deeply contemplating the true face of affliction, its cause as well as its fault and distress, new perspective and understanding will get rooted in one’s mind. As a result, whenever affliction rears its head, disgust will be the reaction followed by focusing on how to overcome it. So you see, no matter what afflictions arise, desire, anger, jealousy or pride, all of them can be suppressed effectively by the wisdom of contemplating, even though it may not prevent them from arising. On the other hand, without the wisdom of contemplating we have no means to defend ourselves from affliction. We can only watch it damaging the practice, or worse, get caught up and fuel its destructive flames with our wrong perception. If that happens, there is no need for a Mo or fortuneteller to tell you what Mara is hitting you, because it is yourself who nurtures the Mara of affliction, surrenders to him and becomes his follower. To avoid these problems, we shall stick to the continuous listening and contemplating, so that both wisdoms will be deeply rooted in our mind and become reliable. 3. What Happens with None of the Three Wisdoms? Listening, contemplating and meditating are the main approaches of the transmission of dharma teaching. Missing them will directly cause the recession of Buddhism, and the essence of dharma will be lost and thus it becomes nominal and not different from worldly knowledge. The main distinction between dharma and other religions or philosophies is that, dharma reveals the essence of all worldly phenomena which is suffering; it points out the root cause of unhappiness to be karma and afflictions, which is the arising of suffering; it offers the solution of eliminating them, and describes the states and path to the cessation of suffering. Without these essential teachings, dharma loses its unique features and can’t be distinguished from other philosophies. In that case, the practitioners have no aims or doctrine of being Buddhists. They may not first work on and improve their own mind with dharma teaching, but rather pursue other activities that resemble the taste of dharma. They are blind, and even poorer than the physically blind. If the virtuous roots are mature, the blind may still have a chance of listening, contemplating and meditating on dharma. But those who give up listening, contemplating and meditating, are doomed to grow wrong views and remain defiled by desire, anger and ignorance in this illusory world. Their path to liberation is once again terminated in this life, which would be an awful pity and loss. What’s more, if one didn’t study sutra thoroughly, he would likely lose the faith of Three Jewels. If just engaging in worldly charitable activities – encouraged too by other religions aiming for noble rebirth of human and gods – then we can hardly experience any difference with non-Buddhism, neither experience the unique enlightenment in Buddhism. In the long run, it could happen that such Buddhists just prefer material enjoyment and eventually give up the refuge and turn to non-Buddhists. Before achieving enlightenment as supramundane sages, all ordinary people’s minds have the seed of pervasive discrimination of self. Some non-Buddhism religions may also declare that phenomena are all like dreams and illusions, however they believe in the true existence of God, self-nature, etc. Their liberation relies on a concrete god taking them to heaven. They don’t think awakening is to abandon self-attachment and to eradicate afflictions by their own efforts of listening, contemplating and meditating. So without these efforts, and unable to realize the unparalleled value of Three Jewels and the distinctive merits of Amitabha, they may very likely stay in Buddhism while holding on to views of non-Buddhism, and praying to Three Jewels and Amitabha with non-Buddhism approaches. In such case there might be some blessing, but very little since it’s not the right way to pray and not aligned with Three Jewels and Amitabha. Hence to avoid non-Buddhism views and its tendency during dharma practice, we must rely on dharma as the only rule, instead of our own conceptualized mind. We shall study dharma with feet on the ground, and try to understand the real meanings of concepts such as samsara, nirvana, sentient beings, Buddha, affliction, wisdom, etc. We should never judge the teachings with our narrow thoughts and habits, and make up plausible understanding. In such a way it can be guaranteed that our practice is following the right dharma. To sum it up, we’d lose any blessing from the dharma jewels if we gave up listening, contemplating and meditating. The world would fall back to darkness as if the sun sank. Losing dharma would be the hugest loss for all sentient beings. The Buddha had been practicing for three countless eons before achieving full enlightenment, and led countless beings to enlightenment with his precious teaching, the dharma. Since then from generation to generation dharma was inherited by every patriarch, till today in our hands. If we don’t receive and pass it on, it would be like a big family losing successor, the precious lineage would be broken, and the awakening of sentient beings would become impossible. This is the biggest offense to all Buddha and Bodhisattvas, and the biggest unfiliality to all mother-like sentient beings. This is why today’s Buddhists should take the responsibility and strive to prevent it from happening.
Engines 101: The Basic Facts about Engines for New Car Shopping When shopping for cars, there is a lot of terms manufacturers use that you may see when reading brochures or speaking with a dealer. While you may have a basic understanding of what certain things are, you may not necessarily know what everything is or what it does. If this sounds like you, then read this article as it is a basic overview of engine terms and phrases you may see when picking out a new car. Engine Layout:When people refer to different engines you may hear the terms inline, V (insert amount of cylinders here), rotary, or Boxer used to describe the engine layout.Inline or straight engines, aka I (insert cylinder number) are called this because all the cylinders line up vertically along the crankcase. This alignment is very common due to simplicity and smaller overall size. The Boxer engine, aka flat-#, is a design that puts cylinders in a horizontal formation that are opposite of each other.What is important to know about these is that they offer a low center of gravity and generally provide better stability and control when driving.Generally, you will see a Boxer engine used with most Subaru vehicles. The V engines (such as a V6) are becoming more common as smaller engines are required to produce similar power to their larger predecessors, such as the V8. The V6 has made the inline configuration less popular as the V6 is easier to fit into most engine bays when the cylinders are put into two slanted opposing banks in the V configuration. The V6 also works well with the front wheel drive layouts that most modern cars possess. The V6 engine is the second most common configuration behind the I4 engine. The last engine type is rotary engine and generally you won't see this engine type used often as it has become nearly obsolete in newer vehicles. In a rotary engine, chambers form a circle around a center piece (the rotor) which rotates around a crankshaft. This is why it got the name rotary engine, as rotor rotates around the crankshaft. The only modern car you will see this in today is the Mazda RX-8. Engine Types:Generally you will see words such as I4 turbo or V6 supercharged, or naturally aspirated V8. This is referring to how the engine gets its air intake for combustion. The naturally aspirated engine has no forced induction. This means that no device forces air into the cylinders and that normal atmospheric pressure and a partial vacuum are used to pull air into the induction tract. In a turbocharged engine, the turbocharger uses the engine exhaust to power a turbine which is used to force air into the cylinders. This also allows for more fuel and generates more power at higher efficiency. A supercharger operates much the same as a turbocharger, except it uses mechanical energy for power instead of exhaust. Turbochargers and superchargers can put a greater strain on an engine but generate a great deal more power compared to a naturally aspirated version of the same engine. Other Terms: Two other terms you will see commonly used when hearing about engines is DOHC and VVT. DOHC stands for Double Overhead Camshaft, aka twin-cam, which means an extra camshaft is used over each cylinder head. The main benefit of this is that more valves can be used on the cylinder creating more power in a more efficient manner. VVT stands for Variable Valve Timing. There are many variations of this technology, seeming to differ depending on the manufacturer. What you basically need to know is that you typically get better engine performance and increased fuel efficiency. Since the engine of a car can vary tremendously, it is important to know the basics. The type of engine you choose can greatly impact the price, performance, and fuel economy of your new car. If you remember even a few of the terms covered here, you will be a much more knowledgeable car shopper. Please provide a valid ZIP code for your search. ZIP Code: Please wait. - Advertisement -
'Classical Civilisation opens your eyes to a mystical world.' - Year 11 Student Classical Civilisation The A ‘Level Classical Civilisation course involves the study of the life and literature of Ancient Greek and Roman culture. It covers 4 primary areas - Greek Epic, Roman Society and Thought, Comic Drama in the Ancient World and Virgil and the World of the Hero. All topics are based on the study of primary evidence and there is NO requirement for prior knowledge of the ancient world or classical languages. It is recommended that candidates have attained GCSE grade B in English Literature or History. There is no coursework required. Classical Civilisation students will acquire and develop skills which are demanded by both universities and employers such as analysis, independent research, interpretation, critical thinking as well as the ability to produce evaluative writing. Course Aims Acquire, through studying a range of appropriate sources, knowledge and understanding of selected aspects of classical world. Develop an awareness of the similarities and differences between classical and later times. Be able to apply analytical and evaluative skills at an appropriate level. Homer’s Odyssey and Society(F382) A study of Homer’s Odyssey including the analysis of content, structure, literary techniques and the society and values it represents. Roman Society and Thought(F383) The Roman writers include Horace, Petronius, Pliny and Juvenal, who provide an effective commentary on life and society under the Emperors, giving an opportunity for comparisons with contemporary media. Comic Drama in the Ancient World(F389) This topic studies a selection of plays by Aristophanes, Menander and Plautus, giving a fascination insight into the political, social and religious aspects of the times as reflected through humour. Virgil and the World of the HeroF(F390) Virgil’s Aeneid and Homer’s Iliad are studied, focusing on the literary aspects of both epic poems as well as the historical, social, political and cultural content. Examination Board OCR Final Assessment Two x 1-5 hour examination paper for AS Two x 2 hour examination paper for A2
Bizarre Giant Hexagon Spotted Over Saturn's North Pole One of the most bizarre weather patterns known has been photographed at Saturn, where astronomers have spotted a huge, six-sided feature circling the north pole. Instead of the normally sinuous or circular cloud structures seen on all planets that have atmospheres, this thing is a hexagon. The honeycomb-like feature has been seen before. NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft imaged it more than two decades ago. Now, having spotted it with the Cassini spacecraft, scientists conclude it is a long-lasting oddity. • Click here to visit's Space Center. "We've never seen anything like this on any other planet," he added. "Indeed, Saturn's thick atmosphere, where circularly-shaped waves and convective cells dominate, is perhaps the last place you'd expect to see such a six-sided geometric figure, yet there it is." At Saturn's south pole, Cassini recently spotted a freaky human eye-like feature that resembles a hurricane. The hexagon appears to have remained fixed with Saturn's rotation rate and axis since first glimpsed by Voyager 26 years ago. The actual rotation rate of Saturn is still uncertain, which means nobody knows exactly how long the planet's day is.
HVB Stiftung Geldscheinsammlung to the HVB Stiftung Geldscheinsammlung website Paper money and its place in history From the mid-nineteenth century onwards, paper money began to play an essential role in the currency of growing economies during the age of industrialisation. Increasingly, coins alone were no longer equal to the rising tide of payment transactions. Precious metals were gradually phased out as currency during the twentieth century, and coins became small change. Paper money, on the other hand, was gaining ground worldwide as legal tender. Banknotes provide us with visible evidence of change. They document the evolving role of money in the economic and cultural history of their issuing countries. And that is why they belong in a museum. Collecting, preserving and safeguarding paper currency for future generations is the role of the HypoVereinsbank's banknote collecting foundation, HVB Stiftung Geldscheinsammlung.
English version interment in Death topic From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishintermentin‧ter‧ment /ɪnˈtɜːmənt $ -ɜːr-/ noun [countable, uncountable] formal MXthe act of burying a dead body syn burial, → inter Examples from the Corpus intermentThis person might easily be the perpetrator of the crime that led to that appalling interment.Embalming is a sanitary, cosmetic, and preservative process through which the body is prepared for interment.Oak was occasionally used, but only for exceptionally important interments.The committee is therefore proposing to increase interment fees.By 1852 Bunhill Fields was almost full; indeed, the last interment there took place two years later.Private interment took place in York led by Canon O'Mahony with immediate family and Martha present.Soon, eighteen days after the interment, miracles began to happen at the grave.
Earth may owe its wonky core to subterranean iron cyclones Written by: Subscribe to Oneindia News London, August 12 : French scientists have come up with an explanation for why the Earth's inner core of solid iron behaves differently in the western hemisphere and the eastern hemisphere, transmitting seismic waves faster in the eastern side than in the west. Julien Aubert and his colleagues at the French national research centre's Institute of Geophysics in Paris say that this anomaly may be due to subterranean "cyclones" found in parts of the liquid iron outer core. The researchers say that such swirling cyclones drag cooler material from the top of the outer core right down to the bottom, where iron is gradually crystallising onto the solid inner core. They further say that the cooling causes crystals to form more quickly, and with random alignments, reports New Scientist magazine. That, according to the researchers, makes the material stronger, which in turn means it is able to carry seismic waves more quickly. Aubert reckons that most of the iron cyclones would have been found below Asia for the past 300 million years, and thus most of the cooling effect would have been in the eastern hemisphere. The researcher says that, over time, the inner core has grown by about 100 kilometres, and on the eastern side of the core that layer should have formed from the fast-transmission crystals. Please Wait while comments are loading...
Download Now Group Theory in a Nutshell for Physicists A. Zee, "Group Theory in a Nutshell for Physicists" English \| ISBN: 0691162697 \| 2016 \| 633 pages \| PDF \| 10 MB Although group theory is a mathematical subject, it is indispensable to many areas of modern theoretical physics, from atomic physics to condensed matter physics, particle physics to string theory. In particular, it is essential for an understanding of the fundamental forces. Yet until now, what has been missing is a modern, accessible, and self-contained textbook on the subject written especially for physicists. Group Theory in a Nutshell for Physicists fills this gap, providing a user-friendly and classroom-tested text that focuses on those aspects of group theory physicists most need to know. From the basic intuitive notion of a group, A. Zee takes readers all the way up to how theories based on gauge groups could unify three of the four fundamental forces. He also includes a concise review of the linear algebra needed for group theory, making the book ideal for self-study. Provides physicists with a modern and accessible introduction to group theoryCovers applications to various areas of physics, including field theory, particle physics, relativity, and much moreTopics include finite group and character tables; real, pseudoreal, and complex representations; Weyl, Dirac, and Majorana equations; the expanding universe and group theory; grand unification; and much moreThe essential textbook for students and an invaluable resource for researchersFeatures a brief, self-contained treatment of linear algebraAn online illustration package is available to professorsSolutions manual (available only to professors) Direct Download Tags: Theory, Nutshell, Physicists Add Comments: Enter Code: *
All diodes are sensitive to light. Photodiodes are just doped so that they are more sensitive. When a photon hits the pn junction, it causes an electron to jump the gap. Do this with enough photons and enough photodiodes, and you can run a pocket calculator. When you don't want to harness the photodiode for energy, but want to use it as a light detector, you should consider using the more sensitive phototransistor instead. Log in or registerto write something here or to contact authors.
HyperDB is a very advanced database class that replaces a few of the WordPress built-in database functions. The main differences are: * HyperDB can be connect to an arbitrary number of database servers, * HyperDB inspects each query to determine the appropriate database. It supports: • Read and write servers (replication) • Configurable priority for reading and writing • Local and remote datacenters • Private and public networks • Different tables on different databases/hosts • Smart post-write master reads • Failover for downed host • Advanced statistics for profiling It is based on the code currently used in production on WordPress.com with many MySQL servers spanning multiple datacenters. What can I do with HyperDB that I can’t do with WPDB? WordPress.com, the most complex HyperDB installation, manages millions of tables spanning thousands of databases. Dynamic configuration logic allows HyperDB to compute the location of tables by querying a central database. Custom scripts constantly balance database server resources by migrating tables and updating their locations in the central database. Stretch your imagination. You could create a dynamic configuration using persistent caching to gather intelligence about the state of the network. The only constant is the name of the configuration file. The rest, as they say, is PHP. How does HyperDB support replication? HyperDB does not provide replication services. That is done by configuring MySQL servers for replication. HyperDB can then be configured to use these servers appropriately, e.g. by connecting to master servers to perform write queries. How does HyperDB support load balancing? HyperDB randomly selects database connections from priority groups that you configure. The most advantageous connections are tried first. Thus you can optimize your configuration for network topology, hardware capability, or any other scheme you invent. How does HyperDB support failover? Failover describes how HyperDB deals with connection failures. When HyperDB fails to connect to one database, it tries to connect to another database that holds the same data. If replication hasn’t been set up, HyperDB tries reconnecting a few times before giving up. How does HyperDB support partitioning? HyperDB allows tables to be placed in arbitrary databases. It can use callbacks you write to compute the appropriate database for a given query. Thus you can partition your site’s data according to your own scheme and configure HyperDB accordingly. Is there any advantage to using HyperDB with just one database server? None that has been measured. HyperDB does at least try again before giving up connecting, so it might help in cases where the web server is momentarily unable to connect to the database server. One way HyperDB differs from WPDB is that HyperDB does not attempt to connect to a database until a query is made. Thus a site with sufficiently aggressive persistent caching could remain read-only accessible despite the database becoming unreachable. What if all database servers for a dataset go down? Since HyperDB attempts a connection only when a query is made, your WordPress installation will not kill the site with a database error, but will let the code decide what to do next on an unsuccessful query. If you want to do something different, like setting a custom error page or kill the site, you need to define the ‘db_connection_error’ callback in your db-config.php. Read all 7 reviews • Extended callbacks functionality • Added connection error callback • Added replication lag detection support • Removed support for WPMU and BackPress. • New class with inheritance: hyperdb extends wpdb. • New instantiation scheme: $wpdb = new hyperdb(); then include config. No more $db_* globals. • New configuration file name (db-config.php) and logic for locating it. (ABSPATH, dirname(ABSPATH), or pre-defined) • Added fallback to wpdb in case database config not found. • Renamed servers to databases in config in an attempt to reduce ambiguity. • Added config interface functions to hyperdb: add_database, add_table, add_callback. • Refactored db_server array to simplify finding a server. • Removed native support for datacenters and partitions. The same effects are accomplished by read/write parameters and dataset names. • Removed preg pattern support from $db_tables. Use callbacks instead. • Removed delay between connection retries and avoid immediate retry of same server when others are available to try. • Added connection stats. • Added save_query_callback for custom debug logging. • Refined SRTM granularity. Now only send reads to masters when the written table is involved. • Improved connection reuse logic and added mysql_ping to recover from “server has gone away”. • Added min_tries to configure the minimum number of connection attempts before bailing. • Added WPDB_PATH constant. Define this if you’d rather not use ABSPATH . WPINC . ‘/wp-db.php’. Contributors & Developers Browse the code
HMRC internal manual Excise Assessments Interim Guidance Evidence of fact: meaning of sufficient Sufficient evidence of facts, means that you have enough information to calculate your assessment to best judgement, see EAIG13000. The one-year time limit will not necessarily begin to run simply from when • you knew something was wrong • a previous officer knew something was wrong, or • HMRC had access to information. For example, during an audit visit you may study records that were available but not consulted during a previous visit. In this instance, the time limit of any assessment raised would not run from the date of the previous visit. However it is important to note that the relevant time is when the facts first become available to the officer who is making the assessment, and the lime limit does not begin to run simply when you know something is wrong but when you have sufficient information on which to base an assessment. An example of this is in the VAT appeal case of Pegasus Birds Ltd, [1999] STC 95. In the case of Pegasus Birds Ltd, [1999] STC 95, the Appellant claimed that assessments had been made out of time, as HMRC had been in possession of some of the information for more than one year. In considering whether the assessments in Pegasus Birds had been made within the one year time limit, Dyson J applied the following legal principles • The HMRC opinion referred in Section 73(6)(b) is an opinion as to whether they have evidence of facts sufficient to justify the making of the assessment. Evidence is the means by which facts are proved. • The evidence in question must be sufficient to justify the making of the assessment in question. • The knowledge referred to in Section 73(6)(b) is actual, and not constructive knowledge. In this context, constructive knowledge means knowledge of evidence which HMRC do not in fact have, but which they could and would have if they had taken the necessary steps to acquire it. The correct approach for a Tribunal to adopt is • to decide what were the facts which, in the opinion of the officer making the assessment on behalf of HMRC, justified the making of the assessment, and • to determine when the last piece of evidence of these facts of sufficient weight to justify the making of the assessment was communicated to HMRC. The period of one year runs from that date. • An officer’s decision that the evidence of which he has knowledge is insufficient to justify making an assessment, and accordingly, his failure to make an earlier assessment, can only be challenged on Wednesbury principles, or principles analogous to Wednesbury. • The burden is on the taxpayer to show that the assessment was made outside the time limit specified in Section 73(6)(b) of VATA. Thus the one year evidence of facts clock starts to tick when you have received the last piece of evidence that enables you to make the assessment, which you are now making to best judgement. Therefore you must ask yourself upon making the assessment, did I (or another officer) receive the material information on which I am basing this assessment within the last 12 months. If the answer is no, you cannot make an assessment under the one year rule.
Africanized bees They were the real scare in the previous decades, but not much has been heard about Africanized bees lately. There was a report last year which stirred some panic, but it proved to be false, so the dust settled once again. This article aims to shed some light on these creatures, how they came to be, their behavior and other matters. Keep in mind that these bees do exist in real life and they did cause hundreds of deaths in the 50 or so years they have existed. If you happen to encounter a colony, do not engage them, and if it is found on your property, call the experts to get rid of them. The best bee removal in Westminster and throughout Orange County comes from Bee Busters. The inception As their name suggests, their origin can be traced back to Africa. The bees on that continent needed to develop aggressive behavior and strength in order to survive the harsh conditions as well as the abundance of predators. Scientists believed that these traits would be ideal when paired with the more productive and docile European bees. The experiments started in Brazil in 1956. The breeding was successful, creating hybrid Africanized honeybees. However, the scientists failed to contain the bees to Brazil. What went wrong? The bees spread incredibly fast. Being stronger and more aggressive than their European counterparts, they were able to oust them from their ecological niche. By the early 1970’s, the bees reached the northern part of South America in Venezuela. The next decade saw them migrate to Mexico, until finally in the 1990’s they reached the southern USA. Initially, they caused a lot of problems with their aggression and persistence, so that created the myth of ‘killer bees’ which caused widespread panic. The country is still adapting to their arrival. They are not expected to travel any more north, as cold climates do not suit them. Like most bees, Africanized bees are very territorial. However, unlike most other species of bees, they are incredibly persistent and aggressive when they feel threatened. While most bees will break off the pursuit fairly quickly, these bees will pursue their target. It takes approximately 6 to 7 stings per LB, to inject enough venom into an average human to cause death. This, naturally, provided that there is no allergic reaction. So a 200 LB person would need 1200 to 1400 stings to be fatal. While this sounds like a lot of bee stings, Africanized bees are more than capable of such attacks. An average colony can have between 10,000 and 20,000 bees, and often much more. A queen can lay up to 2500 eggs per day. However, you shouldn’t believe everything you hear about them in the media. For instance, they are often represented as being much larger than regular bees. This is in fact very wrong, as they are typically smaller than their European cousins we are familiar with. So then, is their body count a result of the more potent venom? Once again, no. In fact, there is no difference between the venoms of these two species. And even if you consider the amounts of venom they possess, you might be surprised to once again learn that a regular honey bee is the winner of this comparison as well. So it is only their aggressive nature that sets them apart. Not killer bees after all A report from Puerto Rico shows that the same Africanized bees are much more docile there, as a result of less competition. So, their ‘killer bee’ reputation is perhaps too harsh, and depends solely on the conditions. In any case, you should not attempt to remove bees yourself. There are professionals who have the right equipment and training. Bee removal in Westminster in Orange County is a job for Bee Busters. Contact Bee Busters for any further information. Different Kinds of Wasp Nests Bee nest - Wasp nest removal Orange CountyMost of us aren’t too interested in bees and wasps. The only thing we want is for them to stay away from us and our property. However, to a trained eye, just a look at the wasp’s nest can help identify the species that is bugging you. This, in turn, makes it so much easier to prepare for the specific conditions which may apply. For instance, yellow jackets are infinitely more aggressive than paper wasps, and their stings hurt a whole lot more as well. It is good to be prepared. This is why we offer this helpful description of various bee habitations. Be warned that wasps and bees are aggressive when defending their home. Wasp nest removal in Orange County should be left to professionals with ample experience and appropriate equipment. Continue reading Can I Remove Bees From My House? A lot of home owners are concerned when they notice a bee hive on their property, especially if they have children or pets. Even though having bees in your garden is useful because they will pollinate your plants, most home owners like to have the colony removed. The dilemma is whether you should do it yourself or hire bee removal professionals. Our opinion is that the latter is a better option. You may say we are partial, and we are, but only because we have a decades-long experience in keeping and handling bees. In any case, read on and decide for yourself. Continue reading What Is In Wasp’s Venom? Wasp - Garden Grove Wasp Nest RemovalA wasp’s sting hurts a lot more than that of a honey bee. That is why our first instinct is to want them as far away from us as possible. In Garden Grove wasp nest removal is as easy as calling Bee Busters. But why do wasp stings hurt so much? Wasps secrete venom into their stingers. This venom can be used as an offensive weapon, to hunt for prey, but also as a defensive weapon, when defending the nest. It is this latter use that many of us have experienced on our own skins. Continue reading What You Should Know about Wasps The term ‘’wasp’’ actually covers a huge number of species (around 30,000). But the ones we really care about are the ones which persistently invade our favorite places, such as back yards, open air cafes and similar open-air spots in the summer. Unlike honey bees, which produce honey, wasps are often regarded as complete pests with no purpose and no use to humans. That might not be the case, but their sting is enough for us to want them gone from our properties as fast as possible. Continue reading The Weirdest (and Most Uncomfortable) Places Bees Can Make Their Home Ok, to be perfectly honest, none of these places are particularly uncommon, or even unreasonable for a bee to live in. After all, what bees look for in a perfect home is fairly simple and specific and touches bases with bees’ needs. It’s just that these places bring them in a direct conflict with us – those are our places; we don’t want to share them with insects. Especially those with stingers. Continue reading Bee Removal Laguna Beach: How to Recognize and Deal with a Bee Swarm Bees live in colonies, or hives, as anyone who’s ever taken a biology class can tell you. And if you’ve really paid attention in class, you may remember that in every hive, there is a queen bee. She does all the reproduction, and none of the hard work bees are known for, such as pollination and collecting nectar. That’s the workers’ job. And then there are the males (called drones). Their main purpose is reproduction. Afterwards they are of little use, and are kept and fed by the female worker bees. And so goes the life of the colony, all throughout the productive season. Continue reading Ice Bucket Challenge! You’re probably already familiar with the “#ALS Ice Bucket Challenge,” unless you live under a rock in the driest desert in North America (which apparently is Death Valley) … in fact even then you’ll probably see a tortoise getting doused somewhere near you if you look around. We here at Bee Busters were initially skeptical, we don’t like to jump on every fad that comes along. But then we got to thinking, how cool would it be with our new infra-red heat imaging camera?? And after all, we do believe in charity. We like to do things right, so we filled two five gallon buckets with water, ice, and ice cream salt, (in order to make it even colder). Kris was initially heavily in favor of the salt innovation when it was just going to be Rusty getting doused, but then Kris decided he needed to do it too so he kind of had to eat his words. Here’s the bucket being filled with ice, you can see the color change as the water get colder, which is pretty ahem cool. Now here’s Bee Busters head beekeeper Kris getting doused: And here’s Bee Busters technician Rusty, on his third round of Ice Bucket Challenge (still trying to recover his dignity after posting his first Ice Bucket Challenge video, in which he used a small bowl). We also changed it up and set the camera to a different color scheme for this one: Conscientious of California’s drought, we were sure to do it over a planter near some plants that looked like they could use the water. After watching all the ice challenge fail videos of people getting bashed in the head with buckets, Bee Busters boss Dave required us to have two people handling the bucket each time. The Ice Bucket Challenge is of course supposed to support and encourage donations for research to combat the degenerative nerve disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Some people’s interpretation is that you don’t have to donate if you do the ice bucket challenge, or only need to donate a much smaller amount, such as $10. We feel that’s a bit backwards, if you’re getting in on the fun, you should make the full donation. So the company made a donation to ALS, and then Kris, not wanting to be a freeloader himself, donated to help combat ebola in West Africa because that’s an important issue to him. Blog – Bee Busters Guinea! Spare bee busters uniforms given a useful second life! Bee Busters is now represented by ten uniformed beekeepers in the country of Guinea, in West Africa! No we won’t be offering bee removal service in Conakry or neighboring Timbuktu, but Bee Busters beekeeper Kris Fricke was recently in Guinea sharing his beekeeping experience with beekeepers there. Kris also took ten old Bee Busters suits and donated them to local beekeepers in Guinea. This allowed everyone who attended the training sessions to suit up and participate, and local garment makers can use our thoroughly-tested suits as a guide for their own. Kris uses a toothpick to remove an egg to show the trainees The project was part of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Farmer-to-farmer (F2F) program, administered by Winrock International. Kris spent 21 in days working with the Federation of Guinean Beekeepers (FAPI) to train beekeepers and train FAPI trainers who will, in turn, train beekeepers on more modern sustainable methods of beekeeping in developing countries. While Guinea’s lush landscape has a tremendous potential for beekeeping, and there are over 165,000 traditional beehives in use, the number of more advanced Kenyan Topbar Hives is estimated to be only around 3,000 throughout the country, and many of the beekeepers that own them still treat them much the same way as traditional hives, doing little “beekeeping” other than harvesting once a year. A Kenyan Topbar (KTB) hive with the lid removed When people hear “Guinea” the first place they think of is often the polynesian island of “Papua New Guinea,” but the nation just called “Guinea” is actually right beside “Guinea-Bissau” on the western bulge of Africa: This project was based in a village near the town of Labe, which you can see just to the left of the G in Guinea in the below map. It took about eight hours to drive there from Conakry, the capitol. The training covered both proper management and hive construction. Certain distances within a hive are critically important, if the proper “bee space” isn’t given, bees will build combs the wrong direction in a hive, making them impossible to remove, or refuse to occupy the hive box at all. Kris showed them easy ways they can make sure the distances are correct. Proper hive construction should have a significant impact on increasing production. When correctly made, the combs from a KTB hive are very easy to remove The training also involved both lots of hands-on field work and presentations with a projector to show them diagrams and images of things in a more well organized manner than one can hope to encounter things in the field. French is a national language of Guinea, but many of the beekeepers didn’t speak French either, so Kris had to speak through an interpreter who translated to French, and then a second interpreter translated to the local language. Despite this, Kris was able to answer many, many, questions and build a great rapport with the gathered beekeepers. He intends to continue to keep in touch with them and help the beekeepers federation itself build its capacity to assist the Guinean beekeepers. While in the field Kris was housed in a village without running water or electricty. Even after charging his laptop with a portable generator and using a mobile usb modem he was unable to reach the internet, so for the entire time he was in the field he was cut off from the outside world and any modern conveniences! He enjoyed the experience, particularly living directly with the local villagers. When he wasn’t training beekeepers he could often be found kicking a ball around with the local children, there’s some things you don’t need to share a language to do! Little Mamadou (6) tries on the bee gear. Future beekeeping in training! An interesting sidenote to this project is that the “biggest ebola outbreak in history” was occurring in Guinea at this very same time (July, 2014). Kris was undeterred and believed his project was worth the risk, but it was still a concern that could never be completely put out of mind. Kris was confident he hadn’t been exposed to it, but was still very relieved when he saw a doctor on his return and was certified ebola free! Group shot of trainees View the rest of Kris’ photos from the project here
On Monday, May 03, 1999 11:11 PM, Betty Cunningham [SMTP:bettyc@flyinggoat.com] > Whales swim at different depths, so that the pressures of blood and > every other part of the animal increase with depth. > Wouldn't this show as an increase in, among other things, what we're > speaking of as 'blood pressure'? No. Blood pressure is the pressure the heart generates by pumping action. It doesn't relate to the pressure on the organism. > Wouldn't increased pressure at depths be similar to the affect of > changing diameter of the blood vessels? For that wouldn't pressure > changes change the size of blood vessels all by itself? No. Blood is an aqueous solution. Water is, practically speaking, incompressible at physiologically relevant pressures. The volume of the vessels would not change. There are problems with gasses coming out of solution at high pressures, but that's a whole different deal. The problems of depth are problems with gas solubility and gas compression. AFAIK, they are unrelated to the fluid dynamics of the sauropod problem. > Indeed, since whales rise and fall in the ocean depths at speeds > necessary for feeding (bubble netting krill or teh surmise killing of > giant squids at depths by sperm whales) and breathing, they could even > experience this "radical changes in blood pressure to avoid either > passing out from lack of oxygen or suffering an aneurysm from too much > pressure" that you infer that sauropods suffer from. > Yes? No? No. Again, depth, and changes in depth, aren't going to affect the work the heart has to do. Think of it this way: if the heart stops, there is no blood pressure -- on the surface or 20,000 leagues under the sea. Blood pressure is not the pressure on the blood, but the pressure generated by the heart, a linear force exerted on a fluid in one direction. Pressure caused by depth is the same in every direction. It does not create a net force in any direction in the bloodstream. (I will omit my usual whining about all the physiologists having been run off this List, but I do need to repeat the disclaimer that I'm not one myself.) --Toby White
If a treadmill workout leaves you exhausted, try to gradually build up your stamina. First get a checkup from your doctor to make sure there is no medical reason for extreme fatigue. Then develop a plan to gradually increase your endurance so you can do the 30-minute daily walk the American Heart Association recommends for all adults. Start Slowly Build up your workout by cutting back. Reduce your treadmill time to a length you can do comfortably without severe fatigue. Walk with the treadmill level and set the speed control for a pace just slightly faster than you normally walk when going between rooms or to visit a neighbor. Try to start with 10 minutes at a time, but walk at least five days a week. Walk in the morning if possible, which is best for weight control and for successful exercise, according to the Center for Metabolic and Obesity Surgery. Speed controls will vary by type of machine; follow the directions on the device to set a speed that challenges you without fatiguing you. Increase Time Increase your walking by a minute at a time. When you can walk 10 minutes without fatigue, begin walking for 11 minutes. Once you build up to 15 minutes, add intervals of faster walking, which temporarily boosts the intensity to make your body work harder. For example, increase your speed for one minute, then slow back down for two minutes. Lengthen the more intense intervals little by little as your body adapts to the more intense work until you can walk 15 minutes at the faster pace. Increase Intensity Change the level and speed of the treadmill so your intervals are faster and harder. If you set the treadmill on even a slight incline, it will be like walking up a small hill and will make your heart and lungs work a bit harder. Adjust the level and speed according to directions on the machine; some show percentages of grade, others use different indicators. Keep your total workout about the same duration but increase the intensity. Have water handy to sip to keep your fluid level up. Boost your intervals until you can walk 15 minutes at a brisk pace with the treadmill just slightly elevated. Walk 30 Minutes Gradually increase the time you walk, a minute at a time. Back off if you start to get fatigued at the end of a workout or if you have to miss several days because of illness or other reasons. Keep working in intervals, starting with short bursts of a minute or so, gradually increasing until you are able to do a brisk walk for 30 minutes without stopping. Continue to walk daily at that pace or add in jogging intervals to change the intensity of your workout. Walk for 10 minutes, then jog for a minute, for instance, and gradually increase your jogging duration. Photo Credits • Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
How Do UV Lights Fix Furnace Smells? Ultraviolet lights inside furnace ducts can reduce bacteria and mold that create odors. Musty odors from heating registers are often attributed to bacteria and mold inside ductwork. Mold needs a dark environment, moisture and food. A coastal climate offers a steady stream of moist air through the ducts. Household air drawn through the system contains bacterial particulates that serve as mold food. The final ingredient: microscopic mold spores circulating in the airflow. Most are tiny enough to escape standard system air filters. How UV Light Sterilizes The germicidal properties of certain wavelengths of ultraviolet light have been used for a century to sterilize air and surfaces in hospitals and other medical facilities. When exposed to UV light, toxic microorganisms including viruses, bacteria and mold spores are neutralized. UV exposure disrupts the DNA of these pathogens and interferes with reproduction. HVAC Applications A professional HVAC contractor can install UV lamp tubes inside residential ductwork through small access holes. These lamps produce ultraviolet germicidal irradiation. The entire air volume of a home circulates through the ducts multiple times daily. This repeated exposure to germicidal UV light is provides a sustained level sufficient to control airborne mold and bacteria. You can also install ultraviolet lights in your household to reduce bacterial and mold growth and associated odors. However, in-duct UV lamps are most successful when combined with a whole-house source control strategy that also eliminates the origins of mold and bacteria spores throughout the structure. About the Author Photo Credits • Images Suggest a Correction
Grade 6 The Story of Home One day there was a rich family that lived in a small house. Even though they were rich and had enough money to buy a giant house, and they didn’t get a giant house.One day the dad in the family invited his friend to his house when the friend arrived at the family’s house the friend looked at the small house and the friend was surprised he thought the house would be giant because the family was rich. The friend later asked why they had a small house. The dad said that they had peaceful memories and their favorite things and they also would prefer living in the same home than going to a new house. The friend said that a home and a house are the same thing there just different words. Then the dad said “a home and a house were different because you?” know more about a home and it’s different in many different ways like you know more about a home than a house and you also feel more comfortable and you know your way around but you can feel scared in a house but it’s not like that in a home, you have a family to support you and you aren’t scared. A home is also like living in heaven you would sit down and relax and sleep peacefully and also you stretch out. A home is where you’re happy to be at. Finally a home is where you have someone to support you for doing homework and studying”. Then the friend finally understood why they had a small house and said that even though it doesn’t look good for them it is what there home is.
close button अंग्रेजी मे अर्थ[+] Meaning of PARADE in English 1. a visible display 2. an extended (often showy) succession of persons or things 3. a ceremonial procession including people marching 4. walk ostentatiously 5. march in a procession 6. The ground where a military display is held, or where troops are drilled. 7. An assembly and orderly arrangement or display of troops, in full equipments, for inspection or evolutions before some superior officer; a review of troops. parades are general, regimental, or private (troop, battery, or company), according to the force assembled. 8. Pompous show; formal display or exhibition. 10. Posture of defense; guard. 11. A public walk; a promenade. 12. To exhibit in a showy or ostentatious manner; to show off. There are no Thesaurus in our Dictionary. उदाहरण और उपयोग[+] PARADE Sentence, Example and Usage Examples and usage of PARADE in prose and poetry To better understand the meaning of PARADE, certain examples of its usage are presented.Examples from famous English prose on the use of the word PARADE 1. "But one does not parade the fact that one is all- knowing" The word/phrase 'parade' was used by 'J. K. Rowling' in 'Harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban'. 2. "I just don't think it's a good idea if we parade what we're doing" 'J. K. Rowling' has used the parade in the novel Harry potter and the order of the phoenix book. 3. "In mind-composition, however, i realized that i could not parade living lolita" To understand the meaning of parade, please see the following usage by Vladimir Nabokov in Lolita. Usage of "PARADE": Examples from famous English Poetry 1. "See how the flowers, as at parade" - This term parade was used by Andrew Marvell in the Poem A garden: written after the civil wars. 2. "We trod the fools' parade!" - This term parade was used by Oscar Wilde in the Poem The ballad of reading gaol. 3. "He wants to parade you for his friends in the moonlight" - This term parade was used by Harry Boslem in the Poem In the moonlight - poem. Usage of "PARADE" in sentences 1. "The crowd of following cars made the occasion seem like a parade" 2. "A colorless description of the parade" 3. "A parade of strollers on the mall" डिक्शनरी सर्च PARADE की तस्वीरें Images of PARADE PARADE की और तस्वीरें देखें... आज का शब्द English to Hindi Dictionary आज का विचार और भी शब्द रसोई से Cookery Words फोटो गैलरी
RSS Feed Understanding How a Water Filter Deals with Bacteria In the Water Posted by Ty Woods on 18 January 2012 02:06 PM One of the most essential things for the human body is clean water. While we need clean water to rinse the filth from our bodies as well as to remove any bacteria or viruses that may be clinging onto the skin, clean drinking water is even more important than clean washing water. A large majority of people are now realizing how important clean water is to the human body, and are purchasing water filtration systems in order to ensure that they get clean drinking water from their taps. Many are also investing in smaller filtration systems so that they can have clean water to drink no matter where they may be. While it makes sense that a water filtration system can easily remove things like minerals from your water, understanding how this type of filtration system is able to remove bacteria is a bit more complex. For large water treatment centers, the easiest way to remove pesky bacteria is to introduce chemicals into the water that are designed to kill the bacteria. Most homeowners, however, find that they do not want to be responsible for introducing chemicals into their drinking water, which may be the reason why they purchase the filtration systems to begin with. But what types of bacteria may actually be in your drinking water, and how can a common household filtration water system work to move bacteria and viruses from your water? Pesky Bacteria There are actually a number of different types of bacteria that may currently be residing in your household water, unfortunately the only way to know exactly what types of bacteria and viruses are in your water is to have it professionally tested. There are a number of different types of commonly found bacteria that may be lurking in your water, starting with giardia lamplia. This pesky microscopic parasite is easily spread through both animal and human feces. It is most often carried downstream through rivers and streams and can cause such symptoms as abdominal cramps, diarrhea, weight loss, and nausea. Most who are affected by this bacteria retain the symptoms for least a week. Another pesky bacterium is Cryptosporidium. This bacteria is also spread through feces and can also be found in contaminated water. For 2 to 10 days, those who are infected deal with symptoms such as headaches, diarrhea, nausea, low-grade fever, and vomiting. E. coli can also be found in contaminated water and while most people are affected by E. coli only have symptoms for a week or so, there are some people who may be prone to more serious damage from this bacteria. Removing Bacteria From Drinking Water While there are many water filtration systems that promise to remove bacteria from water and yet do not, there are also a number of filtering systems that are perfectly capable of removing these types of bacteria. When you're shopping for a new water filtration system you should learn the difference between a water filter and a water purifier. While both types of systems may remove bacteria from water particles, ultraviolet water filters tend to have a better success rate than your typical water filtration system. You should look for a system that has a pore size of 0.2 microns. This type of system is recognized in the industry as having the smallest filtering capability possible. This means that no bacteria that is larger than 0.2 microns is able to get through the filtration system, and because most common bacteria is larger than this, a filtration system that has a pore size that small should do a more than decent job of removing any pesky bacteria from your household water supply. It is also important, to make sure that you maintain your water filter system properly and regularly in order to ensure that it is working the way that it should be. Comments (0)
Melting ice could bring flood risk HOLYOKE, Mass. (WWLP) - The cold temperatures recently have caused quite a bit of ice to form and a lot of that ice will be melting this weekend when the warmer weather comes. There is ice from small streams up to the Connecticut River, and when it melts, chunks of it can start moving down river; causing ice jams to form. An ice jam is basically a dam on the river that causes the water to back up, and can lead to rapid flooding. “I was more worried when we had the snow banks,” John Holland of Springfield said. “We had street flooding before, and that’s a problem.” If we were to get a lot of rain and temperatures really warmed up like they did a few weeks ago, the flooding threat would be much higher. Right now, there are no flood watches in effect, but we’ll have to see if that changes as we head into the weekend. Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s
How to Draw Learn to Draw and You Will Never Be the Same Drawing Hands by M.C. Escher, lithograph, 1948. Drawing Hands by M.C. Escher, lithograph, 1948. Great artists know that they can never afford to leave behind their drawing techniques if they hope to keep growing and refining their work. This goes for illustrators, architects, painters, sculptors, designers, even tattoo artists! Drawing is the backbone of art, allowing artists to not just see but record what they see in line and shading, contour and gesture. What’s most exciting about learning to draw is that there are so many avenues of pursuit. An artist can join a drawing program that is specifically tailored to drawing from life, doing quick studies and lengthier sessions to capture the movement and gesture of a live model. Or one can pursue drawing as a personal study, taking up paper and pen (or pencil) and going out into the world to simply sketch. It can allow you to learn how to draw with a variety of media as well–graphite or pencil, charcoal, pastel, pen and ink and more. But if an artist hopes to master how to draw realistic objects and figures every time he or she puts pen to paper, there are drawing techniques that one must focus on. First comes observation and hand-eye coordination, so that we train the eye to interpret what we see in ways that make sense when we are drawing, no matter what our subject is. Then an artist can start learning how to draw figures and their actions and poses. Life drawing classes will follow, as well as drawing in a sketchbook on a frequent basis. This is the life of drawing artists–coming back to and utilizing drawing on a day-to-day basis. It is a commitment, but the rewards are learning how to draw anything! How to Draw a Great Painting A five-minute gesture drawing by Jon DeMartin. A five-minute gesture drawing by Jon DeMartin. “One of the biggest reasons painters get into trouble is because their pictures don’t have a solid foundation of accurate and expressive drawings,” says New York artist Jon DeMartin. “Drawing is an integral part of the picture-making process,” DeMartin says. “It provides the opportunity to explore variations of the subject. An artist might get excited about an idea and rush headlong into the painting without adequate preparation only to discover–often much too late–that the idea couldn’t be sustained through the entire process. By taking the time to execute preparatory drawings, an artist can carefully consider and distill the ideas and thereby make better creative decisions.” The best part of DeMartin’s drawing workshops is that they give students a range of approaches to figurative drawing, each of which can help with particular aspects of picture-making. For example, he has students start each day with quick gesture drawings that emphasize the spontaneous, linear aspects of recording an active pose in a line drawing. “Short poses from one to 45 minutes tend to be more about line and gesture, and long ones (one hour or more) are about shape and volume,” he explains. “Because of time constraints, any extensive modeling with values is difficult to do, so the more ways I can make line express volume, the better.” When artists spend hours or days working from the same pose, their drawings become analyses of values related to forms turning from the light to the shadow. “Both of these approaches to drawing the figure can be beneficial to painters, but they can also lead to their own problems,” DeMartin says. “Artists who only make short gesture drawings often produce stylized images that are formulaic rather than honest responses to individual models. Conversely, artists who only make drawings that take months to complete often end up with mechanically accurate observations that lack emotional content. By combining the two approaches, the artist has a better chance of being able to make both quick evaluations of the way figures move in space as well as accurate observations that evoke the essence of the person being drawn.” DeMartin recommends that artists use different drawing materials but the same posture while making these two types of drawings. “Drawing should be done from a standing position with one’s arm extended so the motion comes from the shoulder, not just the wrist,” he indicates. “Artists should be able to see both the drawing surface and the model within their field of vision.” DeMartin explains that there is not just one recommended approach to drawing or painting. The crucial thing for artists to remember is that some amount of drawing will help in selecting the elements of a picture, establishing the composition of lines and values, and resolving potential problems. Source: Adapted from an article by Steve Doherty Drawing Techniques: Line and Shadow DeMartin (figure drawing, above) recommends finding and emphasizing the rhythmic actions in a drawing. Here are a few tips from artist and instructor Jon DeMartin for when learning to draw with line and contour or shadow and tone. Line: The principal objective in making quick sketches is to capture rhythmic actions. Find the action before the contours because without that sense of motion the drawing will lose its rhythmic flow. If time allows, gradually introduce structure by conceptualizing the orientation of the head, rib cage, and pelvis in space using vertical and horizontal median lines. The focus is more on the skeleton of the body than on the muscles. Shadow: Shadows guide the artist in comparing the other values that are in light, so put those in first. Create one flat value for the lights (the white of the paper) and one flat value for the shadows with hatched lines that make a light tone. Value is not a concern, only the graphic interpretation of the shadow pattern. It is important to recognize which forms are in shadow and which aren’t because artists often mistake dark values in the light for shadows. Line: Lines describing the features can cross over the body parts as they emphasize the flow of the forms and the relationship of one shape to another. If an arm crosses over the body, for example, the artist should draw the continuous lines of the body first and then draw the arm over that section of the body. The point is to capture the action and contour and let the subtleties come later. Shadow: Learning to draw or develop the shadows means working in an additive way, building up layers of charcoal. First rub in an even, flat mass of shadows and then use a charcoal stump to melt the shadows into the paper. This serves as a nice juxtaposition to the values in the light, which are more spontaneously drawn with hatching. On longer poses, the drawing’s three-dimensional illusion is expressed primarily through values of light and dark. The planes on the form that turn away from the light source darken as they approach the shadow line. These are the value gradations on the form that convey the illusion of roundness. The rounder the form, the more the gradations spread out. Source: Adapted from an article by Steve Doherty on Jon DeMartin’s drawing techniques. Learn to Draw Edges Men Walking in a Field by Georges Seurat, 1883, Conté, 12 x 91/8. Collection Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland. Men Walking in a Field by Georges Seurat, 1883, drawing, 12 x 9 1/8. Collection Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland. Contour lines are a useful lie a draftsman uses to indicate the edge of a form in a line drawing. In truth, we don’t see a line marking the edge of a face, we merely see where the form curves away from view. Drawing a solid line on the edge of elements suggests shapes, not forms–a draftsman must take care to imply the other planes not visible from the viewer’s vantage point. Plus, simply concentrating on the contour lines can distract an artist from the important task of portraying the gesture of the model, which usually radiates from the interior of a figure. For this and for other practical reasons, an artist’s handling of edges is of great importance if a drawing is to be convincing. Curves are hard to accurately render. Many drawing instructors recommend using only straight lines for edges, softening them into curves where necessary later. If you think this is a beginner’s crutch, consider how Rubens, a master draftsman, used this method. Edges do much of the work in suggesting depth. A thick line brings the shape forward and a light, thin line can indicate a plane receding into the background. But edges aren’t just about lines. In more tonal pieces, a harder edge and a marked contrast between planes create a form that is closer to the viewer than one with a softer, lighter look. This is essential for cast shadows–a shadow is sharpest at the point where it touches the object casting it, and it diffuses as the shadow lengthens away from the object. In his drawing, Men Walking in a Field, Seurat made the closer figure move forward in the picture plane by increasing the contrast between darker planes and lighter planes and by using harder edges on this figure. In his book Mastering Drawing the Human Figure From Life, Memory, Imagination, Jack Faragasso points out that one should always be aware that the most important edges are those that indicate light and dark patterns. He uses as an example the thick ruffled collars that often appear in Rembrandt’s paintings–the important edges in such collars are not the individual twists and folds, but rather the edge of the shadow as the collar moves into the light. Effectively depicting that line will do more to make the ruff convincing than a hundred detailed lines. Where to Position Your Drawing on the Page Nude Male Kneeling, Holding Fabric in Right Hand by Jean-Antoine Watteau, 1715-16. You can always place the subject of your line drawing or contour drawing smack dab in the middle of the page. It makes a strong statement and, in some cases, most clearly expresses how you want the viewer to experience the piece. But placing the subject matter elsewhere in the composition can make the background work for you and create intriguing tensions, suggest narrative, and guide the eye to the focal point in a more subtle way. The French term mise en page (literally translated, “placement on page”) is sometimes used in reference to this concept, but the idea has its roots in much earlier history–artists’ consideration of this aspect of composition is generally thought to have originated in the Renaissance. By the age of Watteau, its significance in an artist’s approach was firmly established, and today it’s nearly inconceivable that a working artist would neglect its careful handling. Our natural tendency may be to place the subject matter in the center of the composition, giving it the attention it deserves in the middle of our “stage,” but this does not accurately reflect how we usually view the world. Unless we are extremely close to our subject, there is a great deal of information reaching us in our peripheral vision. We experience everything in context, and this context impacts how we interpret the focal point. As drawers we must fight what feels automatic and truly observe the entire scene to accurately describe the tableaux. Periklis Pagratis, the chairman of foundation studies at the Savannah College of Art and Design, teaches his students drawing basics and beyond, including the idea that when designing a composition, they should think of the subject as Medusa’s head–don’t look at it directly or you will turn to stone (or your drawing will, at least). The negative space around the subject should play an essential role in your composition. There will be plenty of time to closely pore over the subject itself when the time comes for rendering it. Flip through any art book and you are sure to see wonderful examples of compelling mise en page. Examine any painting or drawing in which the focal point is pointedly placed away from the center of the composition, then imagine how differently the piece would work if the subject matter were dead center on the page. You will readily see how the best artists make mise en page work effectively for them. Source: Adapted from an article by Bob Bahr Related Posts: Courtney Jordan About Courtney Jordan
Forests, Fires & Elk by David Stalling Cutting trees is a sensitive, complex issue, a difficult act to defend. Like hunting elk. And like hunting elk, it can be done well or badly. But what is good logging? Is it logging that makes a profit? Logging that creates forage for elk? Logging that looks nice to people when it's done? To Steve Arno, good logging means working within the bounds of natural systemsemulating natural processes, maintaining all components of a healthy forest, from elk to the grasses and forbs that sustain them. And given the forestry practices of the past 200 years, a little good logging now may actually be necessary to restore and maintain healthy forests. This is especially so in places that evolved with frequent fires, like the ponderosa pine forest around Steve Arno's home. Arno, a researcher with the Forest Service's Intermountain Fire sciences Laboratory in Missoula, Montana, has studied the ecology of forests and fires for more than 30 years. During that time, he's helped hone methods to restore and maintain healthy forests using logging and fire. His own land--60 acres in the foothills of Montana's Bitterroot Mountains--provides a showcase for these ideas. An open stand of ponderosa. pines now towers over a forest floor covered with grass and scattered clumps of willow and Douglas fir. But Arno's land wasn't always that way. When he bought the place in 1971, it looked like some adjacent lands still do--a thick tangle of firs and scrawny pines, with little or no grasses or shrubs poking through a dense blanket of needles and dead branches. "This is a preservationist's Shangri-La," Arno says of the neighboring forest. "It's remained the same for years, nothing's growing. It's preserved, for a while, but in the context of thousands of years of constant change, it's pretty bizarre." The Wisdom of Stumps Rotting stumps of ancient ponderosas stand testament to what this forest once was a grassy savanna of giant pines, where early settlers reported riding two abreast on horseback, and where elk grazed on bunchgrasses and scattered willows. Today, it's difficult to penetrate the thicket, and tough for elk to find food. Why the change? The clues lie in the stumps themselves. Turn-of-the-century high-grading--the practice of cutting only the best, most valuable timber--left these great skeletons to slowly decay back into the earth. These photos document 40 years of unnatural succession in a ponderosa pine stand on Montana's Bitterroot National Forest. In 1909, loggers cut some trees from an open, grassy forest of towering pines. For thousands of years, frequent wildfires swept through such pine savannas, Wing young firs, recycling nutrients and rejuvenating grasses and forbs. The fire-resistant pines survived. But for the last century, people have waged a vigilant campaign against wildfires, By 1927, Douglas fir and grand fir began dominating the forest understory. By 1948, dense clumps of fir were choking out pines, shading out grasses and forbs. With too many trees competing for water, sun and nutrients, these fir thickets have since grown weak, fueling wildfires far larger and more intense than the frequent ground fires that historically occurred. (photos courtesy U.S. Forest Service) About the same time the huge pines were heading for the mills, the government began aggressively fighting wildfires. Meanwhile, settler's cattle and sheep grazed down grasses and forbs that once fueled frequent fires, ignited by lightning and Native Americans. For millennia, these fires licked through the forest in a predictable pattern still documented by thin, black scars which appear along annual growth rings in the old stumps at intervals of five to 20 years. Like predators thinning elk herds, these fires once kept trees in check--killing some, sparing others, recycling nutrients, rejuvenating grasses, shrubs and trees. Without fire, the trees grew dense, overcrowded, more prone to drought, insects and disease--much like an overpopulated elk herd. As competition for water and nutrients increased, so did mortality. The forest grew feeble. Now few 'I healthy pines remain. Douglas firs grow shoulder to shoulder, many dead or dying from mistletoe, bark beetles, root rot and other maladies. Forty-year-old ponderosas that should be 25 to 45 feet tall stand no higher than a person, deformed and crippled by comandra blister rust, a parasitic canker sapping life from the pines. "These trees didn't evolve to defend themselves from this," Arno says. "Historically, fires did not allow large areas of stagnated saplings to develop. Fires thinned the saplings and did not offer a major breeding ground for the disease." In the same way, brucellosis is common in elk that congregate each winter on the feedgrounds of the National Elk Refuge, while it is virtually nonexistent in elk that eat natural forage in the winter and remain more dispersed. Without fire to keep stands open and reduce competition from firs, opening the forest canopy, allowing sunlight to reach the ground and replenish nutrients, pines don't have a chance. Like elk, trees need healthy habitat. Fire is as essential as sun and rain. "Forests are processes, not just trees and plants," Arno says. "And these forests can't survive and remain healthy without processes such as fire." He explains it this way: "Imagine having an old grandfather clock with a glass front exposing the internal gears. You don't like the looks of one of the gears, so you remove it. Of course, you can't remove the gear and expect the clock to work, yet people expect nature to work without fire." It hasn't. Throughout the West, fire exclusion, logging and grazing have converted open ponderosa pine forests to fir thickets, providing elk plenty of hiding cover but little forage. Yet forage becomes increasingly critical to elk as subdivisions and strip malls usurp what was once the rich low-elevation mix of pines, riparian hardwoods and grasslands. As more and more people build homes in these forests, they see the immense stumps of ponderosas that once grew there and shake their heads in wistful disbelief. But most of them intuitively reject the idea that burning and logging could actually help bring back those great pines. When Arno looked at the monolithic old stumps on his place, he saw more than relics of a bygone era. He saw a compelling history--and a guide to the future. Listening to the stumps, Arno began by cutting Douglas firs and sickly pines, leaving the larger, healthier pines, simulating as best he could fire's predation. In the process, he made some income, selling firewood, and pulp and saw logs to local mills. This logging and burning slash in hand-built piles reduced fuels that had accumulated during nearly a century of fire exclusion, fuels that could feed fires far larger and more intense than the frequent surface fires that once occurredthe kind of conflagrations that can damage soils, vegetation and wildlife. Then he brought back fire, torching low clumps of dead willows and stagnant aspen. Now, a year since the last bum, Amo's land is green with pinegrass, bunchgrass, willows, snowbrush and aspen suckers. And elk and deer frequent his land once more. Restoration Logging This is the kind of logging Arno would like to see done throughout the lower-elevation pine forests on private and public lands. Restoration logging, he calls it. "Forests are constantly changing, dependant on periodic disturbances," Arno says. "We can mimic those disturbances with carefully designed harvesting and prescribed fire--not recreating the original forests, but learning from nature, using nature as a guide, maintaining components and processes which these forests evolved with and depend on." The fire scars in this ponderosa pine stump reveal a history of frequent wildfires occurring from 1713 to 1886. Unable to penetrate the trees thick, protective bark, the flames only scared the pine while killing firs and younger, weaker pines competing for water, nutrients and space--helping this tree grow fast and strong. (photo courtesy U.S. Forest Service) When many people think of logging, they envision denuded mountainsides webbed with roads. And they know some logging operations are still managed for short-term profit, not as part of a long-term process to restore and maintain the health and sustainability of the land. Bad logging inflames cynicism and mistrust. In the same way that many people oppose killing elk, many people now protest cutting trees, anywhere, anytime, no matter the reason. Passion and lack of understanding often fuel these debates. But just as the fact that tusk and hide hunters decimated elk herds at the turn of the century doesn't make all hunting bad, massive clearcuts on steep slopes don't make all logging bad. Good forestry and wildlife management rest on this fundamental premise: a surplus can be sustainably used by people. And Americans do use wood products. Lots of them. The typical U.S. citizen consumes wood and paper products equivalent to what can be produced from one 100-foot tree every year. This figure includes 663 pounds of paper per person each year, as well as wood fiber in forms as diverse as insulation, rayon, oils, paints and fuels. Small trees are mulched and glued into particle board, wafer board, laminated lumber ... the list goes on. "We are still hunter-gatherers, we still need to make a living from the land," Arno says. "We can do so and still maintain wildlife and aesthetics." Arno believes that the United States should rely on homegrown trees to meet its needs rather than importing timber. While U.S. timber companies. export 3.3 billion board feet of timber each year, the U.S. imported 17 billion board feet of processed lumber and raw logs last year. Nearly half of all wood products consumed in the United States today come from other countries--mostly Canada--and such places don't necessarily practice enlightened forestry. Amo's vision of "light-on-the-land" loggingrestoring and maintaining healthy forests, employing local people--contrasts sharply with this condition. After logging to reduce fuels accumulated from years of fire suppression, foresters are increasingly using prescribed tire to restore many forests to more natural, healthier conditions. (Randy Davis photo) "We don't need to rob from other societies to support our consumption," he says, "We can, and need to, manage our own forests to improve forest health and reduce the risk of severe wildfires." Forest Health Emergency? Logging for healthy forests strikes many people as an oxymoron. Others cautiously embrace it. But some loggers, foresters and timber companies have jumped aboard a "forest health" bandwagon, claiming logging can reduce fire danger and improve forests just about everywhere. This is akin to suggesting that a spike-only season is the right prescription for hunting in all elk herds. The cones of lodgepole Pines only open and disperse their seeds when exposed to intense heat These high?elevation forests evolved with infrequent, big, hot fires that killed older trees but germinated seedlings. Logging and hot prescribed bums ran help emulate those processes and maintain a mosaic of young and old pine stands, providing habitat for a variety of wildlife. (Bob Bennett photo) In the name of a "forest health emergency," the U.S. Congress enacted legislation last July that denies the public the opportunity to appeal "salvage" logging of dead and dying timber on public lands. Despite broad public criticism, several national forests have invoked the salvage bill to build new roads and cut dead trees--and live trees, too, if a forester deems them unhealthy. Even trees blown down by strong winds are now being quickly salvaged. But dead and decaying trees are as much a part of healthy forests as fire, wind and rain. Simply removing them ignores the complexities of forest health and further alienates people, provoking controversy instead of consensus. Efforts to get people into the woods and show them sites that demonstrate good forestry are far more likely to regain public trust. Forest health problems do, indeed, exist, with serious implications for elk. From the Cascade Mountains of Oregon to the Front Range of Colorado, land from British Columbia to Arizona, fire exclusion, logging, grazing and human development have transformed millions of acres of ponderosa pine savannas. In fact, Wallace Covington, an ecologist at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, calls ponderosa. pine savannas the most endangered forests in the West. Covington studies ponderosa pine forests in Arizona, comparing current conditions to presettlement times. On the Coconino National Forest, where pine and bunchgrass coexisted with fire for 2 to 5 million years, there were once about two dozen trees per acre--a wide open pine stand with a grassy understory. Today, roughly 850 trees choke each acre. Where 1,000 pounds of grasses and forbs once flourished in each acre of land-sustaining great herds of deer and elk--350 pounds per acre now grow. As the profusion of trees compete for moisture, nutrients, sun and space, they become increasingly stressed. Burning won't solve the problems, Covington says. In the absence of fire, a thick, sterile carpet of duff has crept up the bases of trees. A fire now would not be like the periodic, low-intensity ground fires that once thinned forests. It would be a large, intense fire, reaching high into the crowns and deep into the soils, killing mature pines along with the crowded understory. That's precisely what happened in a firsnarled former pine savanna much farther north. On August 19, 1992, a dozen lightning strikes in the foothills east of Boise, Idaho, sparked a blaze. that burned 257,000 acres of forests and rangelands, including large pines. The fire scorched one stream to bedrock, wiping out a population of increasingly rare bull trout. Efforts to protect homes cost more than $24 million. One area, however, didn't burn. When it reached Tiger Creek, the blaze lay low and merely burned off the underbrush in a 2,500-acre stand of ponderosa pines--the only survivors within miles. The Tiger stand had previously been logged to remove the understory of fir and reduce fuels, and prescribed fire had been used to restore and rejuvenate grasses. Like the pine savannas, great stands of aspens grew in What is now Arizona and New Mexico. But in the past century, more than half the aspen forests that existed in pre-settlement times have disappeared. Now, efforts to log tangles of pinon, juniper and fir--combined with prescribed fire--are helping restore the aspens that are synonymous with elk country in the Southwest. And in the moist Sitka spruce and hemlock forests along the West Coast, when conditions were just right every few hundred years, intense fires created expansive openings of grasses and forbs, providing forage for Roosevelt's elk. Here, too, logging and fire may be essential to maintain healthy elk habitat. Toward Common Goals But few logging operations occur without heated debate these days. If nothing else, forest health issues may serve as a catalyst to bring people together. "There hasn't been much effort in the past to explain forestry practices," says Seth Diamond, wildlife program director for the Intermountain Forest Industry Association. "The public has evolved from not being involved, to reacting and criticizing, to where they are now getting out in the woods, learning about forestry and sharing their ideas and concerns. Unfortunately, logging has polarized and alienated a lot of people--but we need those people to help us find solutions to complicated problems. People need to be aware of the consequences and tradeoffs of different options. Yes, there were large fires historically, but is that acceptable today in all places? And if not, what do we want to do? These ecosystems evolved with disturbances like fire, and logging can create similar circumstances." While logging can reduce fuels and allow managers to safely restore fire, Arno is quick to point out that logging alone cannot replicate fire. Tom Atzet, a Forest Service ecologist for southwestern Oregon forests, agrees. By bringing people into the woods to demonstrate and explain forestry issues, foresters and land managers can help folks better understand forest ecology and the role of fire and logging in restoring healthy forests. (photo courtesy Chuck Bartlebaugh C. W L) "Some people say logging is a wholesale substitute for fire," Atzet says. "it isn't. We don't yet understand all of the physical and chemical properties of fire, or the effects fire has on organisms within the environment. Logging can help in some places, by reducing fuels, but as far as nutrient cycling, fire certainly does things that logging doesn't." Biologists have demonstrated over and over the critical link between fire and countless species of birds, mammals and insects. Even some lichens, which cling to trees and rocks and take their sustenance from air and raincoincidentally serving as key indicators of air quality--may require fire to survive. Atzet says recent research suggests lichens may inhale nutrients from wildfire smoke. In the big picture, we still know very little about the millions of intricate relationships between fire and forest organisms, but we do understand this much: fire is essential to healthy forests. For many, though, fire conjures images of charred homes and Bambi fleeing a wall of flames. Some people aren't willing to accept the risk of prescribed fire, or simply don't want to choke on smoke lingering in valleys. Just as many don't want logging occurring near their homes. But there is risk in doing nothing as well. "It's like holding your hand over a dripping hose," Atzet says. "For a while, you can keep the water from coming out. But the pressure builds and builds. Eventually, the water bursts out with far more power and intensity than if you just let it, drip. We've held it back for awhile, but now fuel loads are high, and forests are ready to explode." Unfortunately for elk, land managers tend to meet the most resistance to logging and burning where people are building homes. This also happens to be where ponderosa pine forests are most in need of thinning and burning, where elk spend harsh winters and require grasses and forbs that can only be restored and sustained by burning and logging, and where elk have already lost millions of tons of forage to human sprawl. Only by working together will people solve such dilemmas. Atzet has a disabled son, who has been in and out of hospitals for years. At times, Atzet grows frustrated with doctors who leave him to fidget in waiting rooms, uninformed. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is committed to working with private landowners to promote good forest management to enhance habitat for elk and other wildlife. To learn more about our many conservation partnerships with individuals and corporations, please call 1-800-225-5355, ext. 542. "They have my son's best interest at heart, but treat me like an outsider," he says. "Yet I have more interest in my son than anyone else in the world. It can be that way with forestry. People have a deep interest in forests, and land managers can be like doctors." On one occasion when Atzet took his son in for a spinal tap, doctors parted the heavy curtain of professional medicine and allowed him to join them in the operating room to watch and help. "We were working together toward the same goal," he says. "It can work the same in forest management, by letting people who care join in the process, to watch and help. "It's not the science. We're not lacking the science to do a good job in managing ecosystems. It's the human element--getting people to work together toward common goals." ------ What's Good For The Goose May Kill The Gander ------ The great pitfall of "forest health" lies in people's tendency to overgeneralize. What works in one forest may prove disastrous elsewhere. For example, high-elevation forests like lodgepole pine evolved with less frequent, more intense wildfires. These burns created a patch of grass here, a small stand of young lodgepole there, and some dense old-growth nearby to form a classic mosaic, supporting everything from elk and deer to pine martens and owls. But years of fire exclusion and logging have allowed lodgepoles to grow into larger, more uniform stands with little diversity. Pine beetle epidemics and large wildfires are on the rise. But thinning and burning the understory would be absurd here. Scattered clearcuts and more intense prescribed burns would more closely follow historic natural patterns of fire. In the high country of Idaho's Selway Bitterroot Wilderness, for instance, large hot fires occasionally burn dry, south-facing slopes creating huge brushfields, while sparing the spruce and fir on moist north slopes. Viewed from above, the patchwork of trees and openings is difficult to distinguish from clearcuts in adjacent logged areasexcept for the roads. Foresters prescribe distinct treatments to different forests. Clearcutting ponderosas can be like amputating the leg of a heart attack victim. So can thinning lodgepole. But when economic and social pressures transcend genuine forest health considerations, land managers may prescribe the wrong treatment in the wrong place. That's why clearcuts have a bad name, and why folks think selective cuts are always best. Clearcuts assault people's senses, while a selectively thinned forest seldom draws attention. But aesthetics don't always equate to good forestry. Selective logging has become synonymous with good forestry, yet if only large, valuable trees are selectively cut, it's nothing more than high-grading. Of course, logging plans must account for social and economic factors. Modern technology allows for logging that's lighter on the land than past practices, but not without tradeoffs. Helicopter logging can eliminate the need for roads in some areas, but to make a profit, loggers may have to cut bigger, more valuable trees, like mature ponderosa pines and larches--often the very fire-adapted, fire-dependant species foresters are trying to restore. More traditional equipment like grapple skidders and feller bunchers costs less, but requires roads and skid trails. Some state-of-the-art machinery, like harvesters and forwarders (that together form a "cut-to-length system" that cuts, limbs and loads trees on the spot) can range far from roads, reducing the number of roads required. Equipped with wide, rubber tires, the machines cause less erosion and soil compression than traditional equipment, and they can process small-diameter fir thickets that may be impractical to log otherwise. But together they cost about $700,000. Every technique has benefits, each has faults. Much depends on the types of trees to be cut, when they are cut, the nature of the terrain where they grow, the going price of lumber and pulp, and whether the trees are on public or private land. Logging on private lands tends to have a more singular focus. Expensive, timeconsuming thinnings and prescribed burns don't boost the bottom line of timber company ledgers. And timber companies are in business to make money. If they don't, a lot of elk habitat could be sold and used for other profitmaking ventures--like subdivisions or exclusive hunting resorts. In contrast, agencies charged with stewardship of public lands may view logging to restore and maintain healthy forests as essential, even if they have to do it without making a profit--much like they use controlled burns to maintain healthy elk winter range. Like prescribed fire, logging can be an important way to restore natural vigor to a forest. -- D.S. Idaho Forest Products Commission © All rights reserved.
Math Automaticity and the Path to Algebra Readiness • Presenter: Linda A. Hardman • Length: 19 minutes Research has shown that algebra readiness and higher-level math requires automaticity of basic math facts. Math automaticity is the ability to recall basic math facts with both accuracy and speed so that the highest rate of fluency is subconscious and immediate. This webinar discusses: • How math automaticity frees up students’ minds for higher-order mathematical concepts • Why math fluency is so important to later mathematical success • What programs like Big Brainz do for students and teachers Linda Hardman is a former math and technology teacher, curriculum director, writer, editor, and publisher of mathematics and technology content for K–12 schools. She has developed many award-winning math products such as HELP Math, Harcourt’s Summer Studio Math, Prentice-Hall’s Secondary Mathlab Toolkit, and Scholastic’s MATH 180. As a curriculum director for Tomball ISD (Houston, TX), Linda designed and implemented nationally recognized innovative technology solutions that dramatically increased student test scores. Linda is a proven leader in content development strategies and implementations that lead to effective learning environments while engaging and inspiring students.
Lake Erie Bloom August 30, 2014 Algal Growth A Blooming Problem Space Station To Help Monitor Jessica Nimon, International Space Station Program Science Office NASA's Johnson Space Center This instrument, mounted to the exterior of the orbiting laboratory, provides a way for researchers to see 90 wavelengths of light not visible to the human eye. This can help with research on harmful algal blooms (HABs) because they, along with other organic materials, have a “spectral signature.” The biological matter emits a unique wavelength as it absorbs and scatters solar energy, resulting in fluorescence and backscattering. Essentially the light reflects back to HICO, which reads the data like a fingerprint. Researchers can use the information from HICO to “see” what they’re missing with their own senses. With it they study biological and chemical signatures for aquatic and terrestrial materials. This can reveal the presence of microscopic plants, organic compounds, suspended sediments and other factors controlling water quality. To address water quality issues, the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) partnered with the NRL at NASA’s Stennis Space Center (SSC) in Mississippi to enable the study of HABs, including those in Lake Erie. “Historically, blooms have been visually observed by the naked eye due to the discoloration of the water,” said Ruhul Amin, Ph.D., principal investigator for the HICO CASIS-NRL project. “Now optical sensors can detect these changes in the color of the water and quantitatively measure the spectral radiance changes due to algae blooms.” In the Lake Erie area researchers are looking at phytoplankton and algal blooms that occur regularly in summer months, often in the harmful quantities found this year. Of particular concern are blue-green algae Microcystis spp., which can cause health concerns in humans such as nausea, numbness or dizziness—potentially leading to liver damage. Once airborne in sea spray, the brevetoxin producing HAB Karenia brevis—known as red tide—can go beyond irritating the eyes and lungs of coastal visitors, according to Amin, as it is capable of killing fish, birds and marine mammals. No human fatalities are directly attributed to brevetoxins, he goes on to say, though it is possible to reach fatal toxin levels during K. brevis blooms. “Unlike conventional multi-spectral images, the high spatial and spectral resolution afforded by HICO enables us to develop new approaches to more fully utilize hyperspectral data to distinguish HAB species from space,” said Amin. “Conventional multi-spectral ocean color imagery in general does not contain sufficient information to discriminate between bloom species, but HICO’s contiguous bands collect information that can enable us to identify the species.” > Continue Reading...
The Culture, Traditions, and Heritage of Uruguay Uruguay’s literature, arts and music are very diverse considering its small population of three million. Uruguay and Argentina shares the same taste in folk and popular music like the tango and gaucho. One of the most popular tangos in the country is La Cumparsita, written by Gerardo Matos Rodriguez in 1917. Another popular folk dance is the candombe usually performed during the festive seasons of Carnival by Uruguayan dancers of African ancestry. Rock music and Caribbean music also known as tropical music are regularly played by radio stations and performed at musical events. The early classical music are heavily influenced by Spanish and Italian styles but the 20th century composers like Eduardo Fabini, Hector Tosar and Vicente Ascone favors Latin American musical idioms. Uruguay’s notable literary figures include Jose Enrique Rodo (1871-1917) who wrote a book in 1910 titled Ariel in which he stressed that amid the pursuit of materials and progress, spiritual values should be kept. Playwright Florencio Sanchez (1875-1910) recognized as one of the best in his fields in Latin America wrote plays that are still being played today. Writer Juan carols Onetti achieved critical praises for his psychological stories like No Man’s Land and The Shipyard. Abstract painter and sculptor Carlos Páez Vilaró created his best known work yet, Casapueblo, a livable structure that serve as hotel, museum and his home. It is located near Punta del Este and visited each year by thousands of tourists from around world. Marcelo Bertalmio’s film, Los dias con Ana (Days with Ana) achieved international honors.
Skin: Surface Area, Function and Structure \| General Anatomy Read this article to learn about the surface area, function and structure of skin! The skin (or cutis) covers the entire external surface of the body, including the external acoustic meatus and tympanic membrane. It is continuous at the muco-cutaneous junctions with the mucosa of the alimentary, repiratory and genito-urinary tracts; at the margins of the eye-lids it blends with the conjunctiva and at the puncta lacrimalia with the lining epithelium of lacrimal canaliculi. Image Courtesy : The skin consists of a superficial epithelial component, the epidermis and a deep connective tissue component, the dermis. The dermis when tanned is known as leather. The intervening tissue between the dermis and the underlying deep fascia is known as hypodermis which is essentially composed of fibro-areolar and fatty tissue and is traversed by cutaneous blood vessels, lymphatics and nerves. The epidermis, dermis and hypodermis collectively form the integumentary system. The appendages of the skin are developmentally derived from the epidermis and include hairs, sebaceous and sweat glands and nails. Surface area of the skin: The total area of the body surface covered by the skin is about 2m2 in adults, and the skin thickness varies between 0-3 mm and 3mm. The assessment of percentage of skin-covered surface area is important in the treatment of extensive burns. It roughly follows ‘the rule of nines’ and is expressed as follows; Head and neck – 9% Each upper limb – 9% Front of the trunk – 18% Back of the trunk (including buttock) – 18% Each lower limb – 18% Perineum – 1% Types of skin: Broadly speaking, the skin presents two types; (a) Thin hairy skin, which covers most of the body surface; (b) thick glabrous (hairless) skin, which is confined to the palms, soles and flexor surface of the digits. Hairs are also absent on the dorsal surface of the last segment of the digits, nipples, lips, glans penis, prepuce, glans clitoris, labia minora and inner surface of labia majora. The muco-cutaneous junctions around the anal and uro-genital orifices, oral and palpebral fissures may be considered as a special type. Functions of skin: i. The skin, lying at the interface between the body and its environment, acts as a protective barrier against wide range of physical and chemical insults, and microbial invasion. ii. The cornified layer of the epidermis renders the skin water-proof, thereby preventing the loss of body fluid. iii. It is an important thermo-regulatory organ by regulating the blood flow through the capillary bed or by sweating. iv. The skin is the largest sense organ of the body by providing wide varieties of sensory nerve-endings which bring consciousness of touch, pain, heat and cold. At times the skin communicates with external environment by producing odors that attract or repel. i. With the help of melanin pigment the skin protects the body against harmful effects of ultra-violet radiation. ii. It synthesizes vitamin D, when exposed to sunlight. iii. It forms a unique means of individual identification by the study of finger prints and ridge patterns on the palmar and plantar surfaces (Dermatoglyphics.) iv. The skin is a highly vascular organ storing about 4-5% of the total blood volume. Its vasculature aids in regulation of blood pressure. v. Langerhan cells of the epidermis plays a role in integumentary immune system by sensitizing the lymphocytes against antigens. Microscopic structure of skin It is derived from the surface ectoderm and composed of non-vascular keratinized stratified squamous epithelium. The cells are arranged in different layers from deep to superfical (Fig. 12-1): (a) Stratum basale; (b) Stratum spinosum; (c) Stratum granulosum; (d) Stratum lucidum (in some places); (e) Stratum corneum. The first three layers form a germinative zone (stratum Malpighii) where the cells remain alive and undergo mitotic proliferation from stem cells and then differentiate into mature cells. The layers at the surface form a horny zone and consist of closely packed flattened non-nucleated dead cells which are filled with protein filaments of keratin and are subsequently detached from the surface. The replacement of dead cells at the surface by the incoming deeper cells of the germinative zone is a continuous process. The stratified epithelium of the epidermis consists of a heterogeneous population of four different cell Ymes-Keratinocytes, Melanocytes, Langerhans cells and Merkel cells. The keratinocyte family forms the most abundant cell population and is engaged in keratinisation through various stages of morphogenesis; this accounts for the stratification of the epidermis. Startum basale (Fig. 12-2): It consists of a single layer of columnar or cuboidal cells and rests on the basement membrane, to which most of the cells are connected by hemi-desmosomes. The cells are placed perpendicular to basement membrane, possess euchromatic nuclei and cytoplasmic basophilia and serve as stem cells for all new keratinocytes. The stem cells undergo mitosis two or three times and move to the deeper zone of stratum spinosum where mitotic activity ceases. The stratum basale also contains other non-keratinocyte cells. Stratum spinosum: It consists of several layers of fairly large polyhedral cells, which under light microscope present spine-like surface projections to join with the other cells of this layers; hence called prickle-cell layer. The EM, however, shows that the cells are firmly attached to one another by desmosomes. The cells possess cytoplasmic basohilia, contain bundles of keratin filaments and impregnated with melanin granules from epidermal melanocytes. Stratum granulosum: It is composed of several layers of flattened cells with pyknotic nuclei showing signs of degeneration. The cytoplasm is loaded with keratohyalin granules and contains membrane-bound lamellated bodies. The keratohyalin granules surround the bundles of keratin filament and are composed of histidine-rich protein known as filaggrin. The lamellated bodies, rich in neutral lipids, discharge their contents in the intercellular spaces and serve as water -proof layer. Stratum lucidum: It is found only in the thick glabrous skin, such as, sole and palm. It is composed of clear non-nucleated cells. Stratum corneum: It is packed with superimposed layer of fully keratinized flattened and dead cells. The keratin filaments are arranged in parallel arrays and embedded in filaggrin proteins. Both proteins are extensibly cross- linked by disulfide bridges which stabilize the protein complex. The inner surface of plasma membrane of these cells is thickened with a protein envelope and the intercellular spaces are filled with lipid-rich lamellated materials. Desmosmes between the cells of the outermost layers of stratum corneum become weak, and this possibly permit the desquamation of the surface cells. Cell turn-over of the epidermis: It has been estimated by radio-labelled tracers that the minimun transit time for cells to move from the stratum basale to the stratum corneum is about 14 days in the forearm. The mean turn-over time for the entire epidermis is about 45 days. In some diseases of the skin like psoriasis, the turn-over rate is abnormally rapid as low as 8 days, so that the surface cells do not keratinize properly and normal protective barrier is not developed. It has been postulated (from the studies of cell divisions and migration within the epidermis) that the entire epidermis presents numerous prismatic territories with the bases resting on the basement membrane. Each territory is known as the epidermal proliferative unit (EPU). At the base of each prism a group of about 8 cells in the stratum basale undergoes mitosis and surrounds a single primary stem cell. All keratinocytes in the prismatic column are derived from the stem cell, which is closely associated with a single Langerhans cell; perhaps the latter directs local mitotic activity. Other cells of the epidermis (Fig. 12-3): In addition to keratinocytes and their stem cells, the basal zone of the epidermis contains melanocytes, Langerhans cells and Merkel cells. These are derived from the neural crest ectoderm and migrate in the epidermo-dermal junction during 3rd month of gestation as melanoblasts. The melanocytes are dendrite-bearing cells and attached to the basement membrane by the hemidesmosomes. The dendritic processes extend between adjacent keratinocytes without any desmosomal attachment. The melanocytes contain pigment forming membrane bound organelles known as melanosomes which are derived from the Golgi apparatus. The melanosomes contain filaments made of tyrosinase and are filled with granular materials of melanin. With the help of tyrosinase the amino acid tyrosine is oxidised first to dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA), and then into DOPA-quinone; the latter is subsequently polymerized to melanin. The melanosomes and contained melanin are exocytosed and then transferred to the keratinocytes by phagocytosis for pigmentation of the skin. Melanocytes are also present at the bases of hair follicles for hair colour. Melanin exists in two forms-eumelanin and phaeomelanin. Eumelanin makes the colour dark brown, and phaeomelanin produces reddish hair. Epidermal melanin pigmentation is entirely dependent on the interaction between the melanocytes and keratinocyt. The melanocytes number is not altered in sex or racial differences; skin colour of different races is due to the number and size of melanosomes and their distribution in keratinocytes. The number of melanocytes per unit area of epidermis is about 1000/mm2 in the skin of thigh and 2000/mm2 in the skin of scrotum. The ratio of dopa-positive melanocytes to keratinocytes in the stratum basale is constant and is known as epidermal melanin unit. Each melanocyte injects melanosome granules to about 30 keratinocytes. Control of melanin formation: Apart from genetic factors various hormones e.g. melanocyte stimulating hormone of anterior pituitary (MSH), oestrogen and progesterone and exposure to ultra violet radiation can increase melanization. Melanin pigments prevent the damaging effects of ultravilet light on the nuclear DNA of the germinative cells of the epidermis. Applied anatomy— (1) Total depigmentation of the skin is known as albinism. It is an autosomal recessive disorder associated with the congenital agenesis of the enzyme, tyrosinase. (2) Localised depigmentation is known as vitiligo. It takes place when the melanocytes lose their ability to produce melanin or are themselves lost. (3) In some areas of skin the melanocytes are clustered in high densities; these are known as melanocytic naevi (moles). Normally such melanomas are benign; but they may turn to malignant transformation due to chronic irritation. Malignant melanomas should be tackled surgically, otherwise the results are fatal. Langerhans cells: These are dendritic cells and scattered throughout the epidermis. The cell bodies are situated in the base of stratum spinosum and their elaborate dendrites spread between the surrounding cells, without desmosomal attachments. The Langerhans cells are also found in the stratified squamous epithelium of oral mucosa, oesophagus, vagina, cervix, hair follicles and in other places. They are derived from the bone marrow and are continually renewed. Each cell contains characteristic membrane-bound Langerhans bodies the functions of which are yet unknown. Functionally, they resemble, macrophages and are related to primary immune response. The cells are involved in detecting, binding and presenting exogenous antigens to the local T- lymphocytes for clearing offensive allergens like viruses, bacteria and ectoparasites. They also eliminate epidermal cancers. The Langerhan cells are the key elements in Skin Associated Lymphoid Tissue (SALT) and act as peripheral outpost of the immune surveillance system. Misdirected functions of Langerhans cells produce allergic contact dermatitis and graft rejection. Absence of Langerhans cells in cornea results in successful grafting of that tissue, but this is not case for the skin. Prolonged exposure to ultra-violet light inactivates the Langerhans cells and this may lead to epidermal carcinoma. Merkel’s cells: These cells lie at the base of the epidermis and their cytoplasmic processes extend from the apical surface to the neighbouring epidermal cells. Basal surfaces of the cells facing towards the dermis are connected with the mechano-receptors of cutaneous nerve endings. Merkel’s cells are predominantly found in thick glabrous skin. The dermis is an irregular, fairly dense connective tissue underlying the epidermis. The dermo-epidermal junction is represented by the basement membrane of epidermis. It is composed of interlacement of collagen, elastic and reticular fibres embedded in an amorphous ground substance which is rich in glycosaminoglycans-hyaluronic acid, chondroi- tin suphate, dermatan sulphate, and fibronectin. The dermis is permeated by blood vessels, lymphatics and nerves, and contains the appendages of the skin like hair follicles, sebaceous and sweat glands. Smooth muscles of the dermis are associated with the hair follicles as arrectores pili and in the scrotum these are represented by the dartos muscles. The cellular components of the dermis consist of fibroblasts, macrophages, mast cells, fat cells and migratory leucocytes. The dermis is divided into two layers-outer papillary and inner reticular. The papillary layer presents at the surface a series of conical projections, the dermal papillae, which in- terdigitate with the corresponding recesses of the epidermis, and thus strengthen the adhesion between the epidermis and dermis. The dermal papillae are more prominent in glabrous skin of palms and soles which are subjected to frequent mechanical stress. In these situations the papillae form characteristic patterns of curved and parallel lines at the surface (papillary or friction ridges) separated by narrow grooves. Along the ridges sweat glands open at regular intervals. Eventually the straight ducts of sweat glands split the tip of each dermal papilla into two parts. Therefore each epidermal ridge is provided with two longitudinal rows of dermal papillae. Each papilla contains an irregular network of collagen fibres, a loop of blood capillary and in some place nerve endings of Meissner’s corpuscles. The reticular layer is composed of coarse bundles of collagen fibres which are arranged mostly in parallel bundles following the direction of the mechanical forces to which the dermis is subjected locally. These bundles are expressed on the skin surfaces as cleavage lines of Langer. Blood supply-The blood supply and most of the nerve supply of the skin come from the dermis and hypodermis. The epidermis being avascular gets nutrition only by diffusion from the nearest capillary loops of the dermis. A deep network of branches, the rete cutaneum, derived from the main arteries is located deep to the dermis. Some branches from this network project towards the epidermis and form a second rete subpapillary at the junction between the papillary and reticular layers of the dermis. Small arterioles from the rete subpapillary send branches into the dermal papillae to form extensive capillary bed, and establish connections by their collateral branches with the neighbouring venules forming arterio-venous anastomosis (A. V.A.). When the body is overheated the AVA constricts, and blood flow to the capillary plexus of dermal papillae increases, resulting in increased sweating to reduce the body temperature. In contrast when the body becomes chilled, the blood is directed away from the capillary beds by way of arterio-venous shunt, conserving the body heat. Thus the blood supply of the skin provides nutrition to the epidermis and helps thermoregulation. Functions of the dermis: i. It provides resistance to mechanical stress and strain; ii. Acts as a barrier to infection; iii. Participates actively in wound healing and inflammation; iv. Exerts inductive effects on the overlying epidermis and appendages. Appendages of the skin (Fig. 12-4): These include hairs, sebaceous and sweat glands and nails. Hairs are keratinized elogated structures derived from invaginations of epidermis, and project out from most of the body surface. Hairs are, however, absent on the palms, soles lips, nipples, glans penis and clitoris, prepuce, labia minora and inner surface of labria majora. The face has about 600 hairs per cm2, whereas rest of the body has 60 hairs/cm2 They assist thermo-regulation, provide protection of the body surface from external injury, and help in sensory function. Distribution of hairs after puberty possesses distinctive sex differences. Parts of hairs (Fig. 12-5): Each hair consists of a shaft projecting out from the body surface, and a root lying within the hair follicle which is a tubular invagination of the epidermis. The deep end of the follicle is expanded to form the hair bulb which is indented by a conical vascular projection of dermal papilla. The hair bulb is continuous with the epithelium of the hair follicle. Shaft of the hair is composed of heavily keratinized cells which impart high tensile strength. A cross-section of the thick hair presents three concentric zones from outside inwards – cuticle, cortex and medulla. The cuticle is made up of overlapping keratinized squames directed to the hair tip. The cortex consists of elongated closely packed cells which are filled with keratin and melanosomes; in mature hairs nuclei disappear and when air- filled spaces appear between the cells, the hair colour become white. The medulla contains loose aggregations of discontinuous keratin and melanosome-filled round cells; the medulla is absent in thin hairs. The hair follicle extends obliquely from the skin surface to the dermal papilla in the hypo- dermis, where it is enlarged to form the hair bulb. Each hair follicle contains outer root sheath, inner root sheath, and a centrally placed hair shaft. A thick glassy membrane composed of basal lamnia separates the outer root sheath from a perifollicular dermal coat. The apical part of the follicle receives the ducts of sebaceous glands and occasionally apocrine glands. More deeply, dermal coat of the follicle gives attachment to a band of smooth muscle, the arrector pili, Thus each follicle is divided into three segments – from the skin surface to the sebaceous duct is known as the infundibulum, succeeding segment upto the arrector pili is called the isthmus, and the deeper part upto the hair bulb forms the inferior segment. The dermal papilla at the base of the hair bulb contains a capillary network which is vital in sustaining the hair follicle because the loss of blood flow will result in death of the follicle. The epithelial cells covering the dermal papilla form the germinative matrix which is composed of mass of pluripotent polygonal cells; mitotic activity and differentiation of these cells generate the hair and its surrounding inner root sheath, and on approaching the apical zone the cells undergo keratinization. Numerous melanocytes with their dendritic processes are interspersed among the differentiating cells of the hair bulb and are responsible for hair pigmentation. The cells of the central region of hair bulb at the apex of dermal papilla differentiate into moderately keratinized cells and form medulla of the hair. The cells around the central region differentiate into heavily keratinized group of fusiform cells that form the hair cortex, and those as the periphery of the conical hair bulb form the keratinized squames of the cuticle. The inner root sheath is derived from the outer most cells of the hair bulb and extends upto the inferior segment of the hair follicle. It is arranged in three zones from outside in- wards-Henle ’s layer consists of single layer of keratinized cells with flat nuclei; Huxley’s layer is composed of two layers of partially keratinized cells containing trichohyalin granules; cuticle of the inner root sheath possesses single layer of flattened squames with atrophied nuclei. The inner root sheath consists of soft keratin and the cells disintegrate close to the sebaceous ducts. The outer root sheath is an invagination of the epidermis and consists of basal and spiny layers of germinative zone. Growth rate- Growth rate of hairs varies in different regions and also with the thickness of hairs. There are cycles of growth and hair loss. Hair growth is divided into three phases-anagen phase is the fast growing period, catagen phase is the period of involution, and telogen phase is the rest period. The anagen phase of scalp hair may last upto ten years, while the rest periods extend about three months. Thereafter a new hair bulb is formed in the same follicle, and a new hair begins to grow. Hair growth on the scalp, face and pubis is strongly influenced by androgenic hormones, and also assisted by adrenal and thyroid hormones. Types of hairs: Three types of hairs are encountered in the human body: i. Lanugo hairs are fine, pigmented primary hairs which appear in the foetal body by the fifth month. Lanugo hairs are mostly shed before birth. ii. Vellus hairs are secondary hairs and replace the lanugo hairs, except in scalp, eye brows and eye lashes which are replaced by the coarse terminal hairs. iii. Terminal hairs are thick and coarse; in addition to scalp, eye brows and eye lashes, these appear at puberty on the pubis and axillae in both sexes. Under the influence of androgens the terminal hairs grow on the face, trunk, nostrils and external acoustic meatus in males. Reduction of oestrogens in post-menopausal life of females may permit the hair growth on the face and body. Arrector pili muscles: These are small bands of smooth muscles, which extend diagonally from the dermal coat of the isthmus of the hair follicle to the papillary layer of the dermis, and are found on the side of the hair follicle that makes an obtuse angle with the skin surface. Contraction of the arrector pili results in erection of the hair shaft to more upright position and causes a depression of the skin where the muscles are attached to the dermis. This prduces ‘gooseflesh’ appearance on exposure to cold or emotional stimuli. Since the sebaceous glands occupy the interval between the hair follicle and arrector pili, these muscles help expression of sebaceous secretion. Arrectores pili are innervated by the cholinergic fibres of sympathetic nerves. Arrector pili muscles are absent in facial and axillary hairs, eye brows and eye lashes, and in hairs of nostrils and external acoustic meatuses. Sebaceous glands: These are holocrine glands because they secrete an oily fluid by the complete destruction of cell cytoplasm. The sebaceous glands present two Types-those connected with the hair follicle, and those open directly on the skin surface. The glands are absent on the palms, soles and flexure surface of the digits. Most of the sebaceous glands develop as lateral outgrowths of the outer root sheath of the hair follicles. They are located in the dermis in the triangular space intervening between the hair follicles, arrector pili and overlying skin surface. Each gland consists of clusters of several secretory acini connected by a short duct, which opens into the apical portion of the hair follicles. The combination of the hair follicle, arrector pili and the gland forms the pilo-se-baceous apparatus. They are largely inactive before puberty, after which they enlarge and become secretory. The sebaceous glands are abundant on the face, scalp, ears, nostrils, vulva and around the anus. Structually, each acinus is lined by a single layer of undifferentiated flattened cells that rest on a basal lamina. These cells proliferate and differentiate, filling the acini with rounded cells containing abundant fat droplets in the cytoplasm. The nuclei become pyknotic and finally the cells rupture dicharging an oily secretion, the sebum. The sebaceous ducts are lined by keratinized stratified squamous epithelium. The sebum is a complex mixture of lipids that include triglycerides, waxes, squalene, cholesterol and its esters. Triglycerides are partially hydrolysed by the bacterial action into free fatty acids. The function of the secretory products are largely unknown. They may protect the skin and hairs by a coating of lipid and act as water proof of the epidermis. They are weakly antibacterial and antifungal. The secretory activities of the sebaceous glands in post pubertal life of both males and females are mostly controlled by the androgens, and possibly by the growth hormones of the adeno-hypophysis. The flow of sebum is continuous, and excessive amount of secretion may be impacted within hair follicels; this produces acne due to inflammation of the surrounding area. Isolated sebaceous glands: In certain areas of the body, the sebaceous glands do not empty into the hair follicles but open directly on the skin surface. These are the following: i. On the lips and corners of the mouth; ii. On the areola around the nipple of the female breasts as Montgomery’s tubercles; iii. Gians penis and inner surface of the prepuce; iv. Gians clitoridis and labia minora; v. In the eye lids as the Meibomian glands. Sweat (Sudoriferous) Glands: These are of two types: eccrine and apocrine. Eccrine glands are widely distributed in entire body surface, but are particularly numerous on the forehead, scalp, palms and soles. They are, however, absent from the tympanic membrane, margins of the lips, nail bed, nipple, inner surface of prepuce, labia minora, glans penis and glans clitoris. Each gland is a long, unbranched tubular structure, and presents a highly coiled secretory portion known as the body within the dermis and a narrower somewhat straight ductal portion which opens onto the skin surface. In the thick hairless skin (e.g. palm) the ducts open in a regular series of punctae along the lines of friction ridges. The sudoriferous ducts split the apices of dermal papillae and while passing through the keratinocytes undergo light spiralling. Structure-The secretory portion is lined by pseudo-stratified epithelium resting on the basal lamina, and consists of three types of cells- clear, dark and myoepithelial. The clear cells are pyramidal with the base towards the basal lamina, rich in cytoplasmic glycogen and are responsible for most of the secretion. The dark cells are reverse pyramidal with the apices standing on the basal lamina and possess some mucinous granules. The myoepithelial cells are contractile and intervene between the basal lamina and other cells; they help to express the secretion to the surface. The ductal portion in the dermis is lined by two layers of basophilic epithelial cells; within the epidermis the ductal cells undergo keratinization. Eccrine sweat glands secrete clear, colourless, hypotonic fluid which contains sodium, calcium, chloride, bicarbonate ions, and urea, lactate, amino acids immunoglobulins and traces of other proteins. Ductal epithelium reabsorb sodium and chloride along with water, which is influenced by the aldosterones. The sweat secretion exerts surface cooling by evaporation. In response to thermal and emotional stimuli, sweat glands are capable of producing about 8 to 10 litres of sweat per day. The eccrine glands are stimulated by the cholinergic fibres of sympathetic nerves. Apocrine sweat glands: These are found in the following areas of the body: axilla, areola, peri-anal regions, prepuce, scrotum, mons pubis, labia minora, ceruminous glands of external acoustic meatus and ciliary glands of palpebral margins (glands of Mall). The ducts of apocrine glands open in the apical part of hair follicles; the secretory components are located in the dermis and liberate the secretion by the partial destruction of cell cytoplasm. The glands secrete a protein rich, milky fluid which is initially odourless, but acquires a distinctive odour due to bacterial decomposition. In some animals the peculiar odour acts as pheromones which influences hetero-sexual drive. The apocrine glands are stimulated by the adrenergic fibres of sympathetic nerves. Nails (Fig. 12-6): The nails are plates of keratinized epithelial cells on dorsal surface of each distal phalanx. Each nail consists of three parts-proximal part or root, the exposed part known as the body, and a free distal border. The root is implanted into deep curved groove, and the stratum corneum of the over- lying proximal nail fold is prolonged over the body of the nail as the eponychium. The sides of the nail body are separated from a pair of lateral nail folds by lateral nail grooves. The distal border of the nail is connected to the underlying epidermis by a fold known as the hyponychium. Structurally, the body of nail corresponds to the stratum corneum of the skin, and consists, of dead, anucleate keratin filled squames. The body rests on a nail bed, which is composed of stratum basale and stratum spinosum. The root of the nail rests on the germinal matrix where living epidermal cells proliferate and differentiate distally to form the nail plate. The germinal matrix extends beneath the body of nail as an opaque crescentic area known as the lunula. The nail plate glides forward over the rest of the nail bed which does not contribute to the formation of nail and acts as sterile matrix. The nail plate has a high content of sulphur-containing proteins, and it is 10 times more permeable to water than the general epidermis. The undersurface of the nail is firmly attached to the superficial cells of the sterile matrix of the nail bed, and this prevents invasion of micro-organisms. The dermis beneath the nail bed is richly vascular and provided with numerous sensory nerve endings. The amount of oxygen content in the blood of dermal vessels can be assessed by noting the colour through the semitransparent nail plate. The dermis beneath the nail bed is directly attached to the periosteum of the distal phalanx by numerous fibrous threads. It forms a distinct compartment so that infection from the nail bed or accumulation of blood may cause severe pain, which can be relieved by excision of part or entire nail plate. Functionally, nails aid in grasping and manipulating small objects. The growth of nail varies, apart from other factors, with a length of the digit. In the longest middle finger of hand it grows fastest of about 0.1 mm per day. Finger nails grow about 4 times faster than the toe nails, and quicker in summer than in winter. No comments yet. Leave a Reply
This documentation is archived and is not being maintained. Walkthrough: Creating a Simple Windows Form Visual Studio .NET 2003 To create a Windows Form 1. Start Visual Studio. 2. Create a Windows Application called HelloWorld. For details, see Creating a Windows Application Project. 4. Click the button to select it. In the Properties window, set the Text property to "Say Hello". To write the code for your application 1. Double-click the button to add an event handler for the Button1 Click event. The Code Editor will open with the insertion point placed within the event handler. 2. Insert the following code: ' Visual Basic MessageBox.Show ("Hello, World!") // C# MessageBox.Show("Hello, World!"); // C++ To test your application 1. Press F5 to run the application. 3. Close the Windows Form to return to Visual Studio.
Classroom Edition The Need There is no question that Aboriginal youth need to access information and be exposed to a variety of views on issues that will impact their future. As tomorrow's leaders and decision makers, our youth must be given opportunities to consider different viewpoints, so that they may be better capable of making informed decisions for themselves and their communities. Classroom Edition is now a regular part of Windspeaker now called "Canadian Classroom". Each issue of Windspeaker will dedicate two full pages without advertising to dedicate to exploring some critical issues. The information contained in Canadian Classroom can play an instrumental role in breaking down barriers and increase understanding between individuals, communities and cultures. Various views on a single issue are presented along with thought provoking questions to encourage dialogue and open communication. Editorial cartoons and photos will be utilized to further stimulate thought and dialogue. A New Vision - A New Start Bert Crowfoot CEO AMMSA Classroom Edition"Windspeaker continues its commitment to our youth by providing them with an educational tool that explores issues relevant to our future as Aboriginal people. It is Windspeaker's vision that open dialogue and free exchange of views will empower our youth and secure our future." Bert Crowfoot Windspeaker Publisher and AMMSA CEO Windspeaker, Canada's National Aboriginal News Source is excited to announce that it is continuing its educational initiative specifically designed for use by Canada's youth! Each month Windspeaker will dedicate several pages to explore critical issues in education impacting Aboriginal people. "Windspeaker's commitment to Aboriginal youth has never been greater. Our goal is to provide Canada's schools with access to a unique Aboriginal educational toolbox. Windspeaker's Classroom Edition and its many partners are playing a fundamental role in positively impacting our future as Aboriginal people. It is Windspeaker's belief that open dialogue and free exchange of views will enable greater understanding and sensitivity of Aboriginal issues, culture, and dreams." Bert Crowfoot, Windspeaker publisher. Issue #4 October 1997 Classroom Edition, traditional Conflict resolution: People need to find the middle ground Tradition and addiction: the cost of tobacco on Aboriginal life Saavy leaders learn to communicate through the press The Indian Act - Serious Internal Error: Discontinue use Aboriginal language - When it's gone, that's it. No more Indians Syncrude Canada Ltd. Makivik Corporation Pepsi Cola Canada Ltd. Conflict resolution: People need to find the middle ground By Rob McKinley Windspeaker Staff Writer The New Webster Encyclopedic Dictionary describes the noun dispute as, "strife, or contest in words or by arguments; a difference of opinion; vigorously maintained; controversy in words; a wordy war. . . " In Aboriginal terms a dispute can all to often mean unrest, violence, and turmoil in small, close-knit communities. Disputes can come in many forms, but many stem from the way a chief and council governs a First Nation. Many times disputes come from within the community, others can involve the Aboriginal community and a municipality, province or nation. No matter where the battle lines are drawn, it often takes a variety of measures to quell the unrest. Karen Trace has been dealing with dispute resolution and mediation for the last five years as a partner in the Edmonton law firm McCuaig Desrochers. She has been called into Native communities to ease concerns over government issues, election disputes, band management, land control, environmental issues and third party agreements. Coming into any one of these situations, Trace said a good mediator has to look past the outlying problem and into the heart of the matter, which in most cases is also the heart of the community. "Mediators in this jurisdiction are schooled in the theory of interest-based dispute resolution," she said, explaining "interest-based" as being "focus on the needs, wants, concerns and hopes of a community, to look at what motivates them at the surface." Once you peel the issue back to its roots, "you open up the possibility for creative solutions. . . that truly meet with what is bugging the people." Half of the battle is getting the people to the table to discuss their concerns, said Trace, who also teaches an alternative dispute resolution class at the University of Alberta's Faculty of Law. For Aboriginal communities in particular, the mediation process is desirable, Trace said. Getting together and talking out problems and concerns is a traditional way of life for most Native communities, she said. "It is the best way to heal and to grow and to better the community." She admitted that dispute resolution is not always seen in a positive light. The harsh truth is that some disputes are settled through the mediation process with lawyers only to resurface a year later. Lawyers are then painted as the only ones getting ahead in the process. Trace said it is the attitude and care of the lawyers involved that provide the best results in mediation. The successful mediation results in no winners and no losers, but a satisfied room of people. Trace's firm boasts an impressive 80 per cent success rate in all dispute resolution files they take - Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal. But that number could be higher. It all depends on how you define success, Trace said. "What is success? Is it just settlement or is it successful enough when people get into a room and talk things out." Bill Erasmus, grand chief of the Dene Nation, is another person who often tries to bring disputing parties to some sort of amicable agreement. In most of all the instances where he has mediated, the underlying factor is the same, Erasmus said. "When there is a dispute, it's not because people want one. It's because they just developed. What they do want is to settle the dispute." Erasmus said part of the role of any First Nation chief and council is to be there when the people need assistance. Chiefs and councils have a lot of history of their communities, he said. That background can often help cut to the core of the dispute. "We have to be everything to everyone. We have to have counselling skills, patience, understanding, community history and family history," he said. All too often people get so swept up in the art of disputing, that they lose sight of the initial problem. They also lose sight of their roots. "People have been arguing for so long and don't even realize they are related to each other, so that's when knowing the family history is important," he said. Too many times the issue takes a back seat to personal feelings, Erasmus said. "It's human relations, that is what you are dealing with," he said. To get past that, Erasmus said mediators and go-betweens must realize that one side cannot win a dispute. "You have to be neutral. You can't choose sides," he said. "If only one side wins then the dispute starts over again very quickly." Instead of a victory, the end result should be a compromise. That compromise must be made by the disputing parties, not the mediator. As the person in the middle, "you are not the one to resolve it. They do that. All you are is a go-between or a conduit." After years of experience and countless negotiations, Erasmus said there is no secret to conflict resolution, but at the same time there is no formula either. "You have to go with what you have. There's no book out there that tells you how to do it. You have to go by your instincts." Erasmus said disputes have been taking place since time began, but lately the issues have been getting into the mainstream spotlight. He isn't sure if shedding more light onto disputes can do harm or will benefit First Nations groups in Canada. Jane Woodward with the Native Studies program at Edmonton's Grant MacEwan Community College, said the average Canadian is seeing more and more Native issues in the media these days, and part of that increase is due to disputes and troubles in the Native communities. "We do get a lot of ink, but not a whole lot is positive," she said, adding that bad press can lead to some good exposure. "We've always had media attention because everything we do is new, different and exotic" compared to mainstream society, she said. Recent media coverage in Alberta regarding financial troubles at the Stoney Reserve near Calgary and conflict between the council and band members at the Samson Reserve in Hobbema, along with past disputes like the Oka crisis in Quebec, is an opening that Native communities could use to their advantage, she said. Media attention, because of disputes, could be used to highlight other, more positive aspects of Native communities, she said. "What people are getting now is just the tip of the iceberg," Woodward said. "Little by little we chip away at it and it's an education really." Mel Buffalo, the president of the Indian Association of Alberta said it is either fortunate or unfortunate that Native disputes are now being "caught in the public eye." He said the provincial office of his organization has been fielding calls from First Nation members from across the province about problems on several reserves. Buffalo said the reason why so many disputes are now coming to the surface is not clear, but it might be due to the economy and the lack of money making it to Native communities. Buffalo said disputes are not only taking place in Aboriginal communities, but across the board. "It seems like its happening more," he said. In many cases it is the accountability of leadership that is in question. More people are speaking out about their leaders, he said. In order to work out a dispute, Buffalo said community members need to be brought into the picture. If troubles are taking place at a band level, the band membership must be kept informed, he said. Although there is a tendency to keep band politics and troubles a private matter, the public deserves to know what is going on. Otherwise more problems can arise. "It's an in-house matter, but it also has to be quasi-public," he said. David Newhouse, the chairman and associate professor at Trent University's Department of Native Studies in Peterborough, Ont., believes the best way to settle disputes is to change the system of government used by Aboriginal people on First Nations. He said providing true self government to First Nations would solve many of the problems now being faced. In fact, he said, the issues and concerns now occurring on First Nations across Canada are a positive step. It means that a change is needed. Disputes now, said Newhouse, can be attributed to the inability of many First Nations to work under guidelines created by the Federal government and a European style of democracy. A separate style of government created by Native people and for Native people could alleviate some of the current problem areas, he said. Accountability is one of the areas that needs to be re-addressed, he said. The people have very little say about how their communities are run. "There's very little local input into a local First Nation government," he said. That is not, however, the fault of the leadership in most First Nations, he said. Existing tribal policy, for the most part, does not allow for that kind of input. "There are very few mechanisms in place to help [a chief and council] report to the citizens about what it is doing, so therefore you get a lot of disputes," he said. Off reserves, the mainstream government structure allows for public input. Newhouse said there are planning groups, advocacy groups and citizens councils to help bridge the gap between the leaders and the people. The rights and formation of such groups is included in municipal government acts across Canada. Most Native communities don't have those avenues available to them. In a 1992 report on the status of Aboriginal government, Newhouse indicates that it should be up to the people to set their own policy and provide avenues for appeal of that policy. If it all stays in-house, the Aboriginal people will have a greater sense of self-worth and be better able to deal with their own problems. Even with these new policies in place, Newhouse said disputes would still take place. No matter what a government does, it will not please all of the people all of the time. "There are always going to be disputes between government and policy and the people," he said. "The development of government has never been smooth. It will take a series of steps to get to self government. But with a more open system that brings the people represented in a First Nation closer to the leadership, finding a compromise may come a little easier than holding blockades and sit-ins. What we are seeing in First Nations across the country, he said, with the blockades and sit-ins and calls for band financial audits, is a sign that things are ready for change. They are not negative occurrences, but positive signs that things need to be altered. "We are beginning to see the stress cracks," said Newhouse. "I'm not convinced that things coming apart is a sign of bad things. It's a start to move toward self government and that's a very healthy sign," he said. Tradition and addiction: the cost of tobacco on Aboriginal life All tobacco is a very powerful and dangerous substance. Whether it is gathered in the wild, raised by Native Americans, or purchased in the form of cigarettes, cigars and other commercial products, tobacco has the power to cause very serious illness and death. When used properly and with respect, in small amounts in traditional American Indian ceremonies, tobacco is a positive source of power. When misused, especially in the form of cigarettes, snuff, cigars and other commercial products, tobacco is a deadly killer. - Information from the Traditional Native American Tobacco Seed Bank and Education Program. By Kenneth Williams Windspeaker Staff Writer Numerous health problems plague Aboriginal people: HIV and AIDS, diabetes, alcohol or other substance abuse, and suicide are just a few. The human cost is enormous as these problems do more than just claim the lives of the victims. There is often longer-term secondary damage done as a result of these illnesses. The break-up of families, the strain on health care resources, and the imperceptible cost to communities that lose productive members are all part of the fall-out. As bad as these health problems are, they are recognized and, to a greater or lesser extent, treated. But one of the most damaging health threats is one that is the most preventable, yet plagues Aboriginal people more than any other: tobacco addiction. Aboriginal people in North America have the highest rate of smoking than any other population. A 15-year study in the United States showed that the American Indian and Alaskan Native adult population had about 40 per cent rate of tobacco use. This is the highest percentage when compared to the African-American, Asian, Hispanic and White adult populations. The numbers are worse in Canada. According to a recent Health Canada survey, 57 per cent of Aboriginal adults and 54 per cent of Aboriginal teenagers are smokers. Worse yet, these numbers may indeed be higher. An analysis of the data indicated that Aboriginal people under-report smoking in surveys conducted by non-Aboriginal people. Just for comparison, the national rate of smoking is 31 per cent. The Inuit had the highest percentage of smokers of any group in Canada with 72 per cent of the adult population using the product. Inuit youth (19 years or younger) reported a 71 per cent rate of smoking. "It's a tragedy," said Garfield Mahood, executive director of the Ottawa based Non-Smokers' Rights Association. "It's another indication of the exploitation of another population in this country. Given that one out of every two users will be killed by the product, that means a lot preventable death." Aboriginal people, however, have had a long term relationship with tobacco. It is a plant indigenous to North and South America. The tobacco used in commercial cigarettes today is a descendent from a species that the Spaniards took from the Arawak and Carib Indians of the Caribbean. But the plant today bears little resemblance to its ancestor because it has been altered through 500 years of selective breeding to increase it's nicotine potency and leaf size. Before the arrival of Columbus, Aboriginal people never used tobacco for recreational purposes. It was, and is, a powerful plant that was ingested - smoked or chewed - for strictly religious purposes. That quickly changed after European contact. The Spaniards saw the profitable potential of tobacco and began using the leaves and seeds for trade. Pretty soon newer strains were being created for milder flavor and bigger leaves. This was called 'trade tobacco.' The European nations that settled eastern North America used tobacco for trading. Aboriginal people soon picked up the habit and started smoking trade tobacco recreationally. Tobacco never lost its religious significance, but the original strains used for ceremonies became rarer because they weren't traded. Inevitably, trade tobacco began to be used in religious ceremonies because it was easier to find. It is now common for commercial tobacco to be used at Aboriginal sacred ceremonies without a second thought to its lack of it spiritual significance. The increased nicotine potency of trade tobacco also ensured that addiction the product was much easier. Nicotine can be lethal on its own, but in a commercially produced cigarette, it is but one of 4,700 chemical compounds found in the product, including 43 cancer-causing substances. According to a Health Canada report called Eating Smoke: A Review of Non-Traditional Use of Tobacco Among Aboriginal People , smoking tobacco causes 85 per cent of all lung cancers and is linked to cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, pancreas, stomach, kidney, ureter, bladder and colon. It has also been linked to some cases of leukemia and 30 per cent of cervical cancer cases in women. In total, about 30 per cent of all cancer deaths are related to smoking cigarettes. But that's not all. Smokers are at a higher risk of suffering cardiovascular diseases, such as stroke, sudden death, heart attack, peripheral vascular disease and aortic aneurysm. Smoking is also the leading cause of pulmonary (lung related) illnesses due to respiratory infection, pneumonia, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and influenza. According to Health Canada, Aboriginal men living on reserves have a 40 per cent higher death rate from stroke than other Canadians. Aboriginal women on reserves have a 62 per cent higher rate of heart disease. Lung cancer is a major cause of death among Inuit people, with Inuit women having one of the highest rates in the world. All of these can be traced to smoking. But smokers aren't the only ones who suffer. Environmental tobacco smoke, otherwise known as second-hand smoke, is just as dangerous. The Environmental Protection Agency in the United States has declared environmental tobacco smoke a class "A" carcinogen, which means it causes cancer in humans. Non-smokers who live with smokers have a 30 per cent higher risk of death from heart attack and lung cancer. The longer the non-smoker is exposed to smoke, the higher the risk. A recent study indicated that Aboriginal babies died from sudden infant death syndrome at a rate three-times higher than the Canadian average. The Canadian average of sudden infant death syndrome is 0.7 per 1,000 births, whereas the Aboriginal average is 2.5 per 1,000 births. According to Dr. Michael Moffat, a pediatrician at the University of Manitoba and a researcher working on the study, smoking was a major factor in this statistic. Lead researcher, Dr. Elske Hidles-Ripstein, found that Aboriginal mothers were more than twice as likely as non-Aboriginal mothers to smoke during their pregnancies. Her findings indicated that 53 per cent of Aboriginal mothers smoked while pregnant compared to just 26 per cent of non-Aboriginal mothers. In the April 1996 issue of Pediatrics magazine, a study examined the relationship between women smoking during pregnancy and the rate of mental retardation in their babies. The researchers from Emory University, the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and Battelle Centres for Public Health, Research and Evaluation discovered that women who smoked were 50 per cent more likely to have a child with mental retardation - an IQ of 70 or less - of an unknown medical origin than non-smoking mothers.higher rates of spontaneous abortions, stillbirths, lower birth weight babies and complications during delivery. It has also been discovered that nursing mothers can pass the harmful chemicals from tobacco to the infant even though the baby has not been directly exposed to second-hand smoke. Evidence also shows that second-hand smoke can cause developmental delays and behavioral problems in children. Young women are picking up the smoking habit faster than any other segment of the population. This trend has meant that lung cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death for women, surpassing breast cancer. Part of the reason for young women smoking more is their mistaken belief that it can be used to control their weight. Two studies in Canada and the United States indicated that most smokers start before the age of 20. According to a 1994 Health Canada study, smoking will be responsible for premature death (that is, death before the age of 70) in 55 per cent of young men and 51 per cent of young women now aged 15 if they continue to smoke. "It's the number one preventable cause of morbidity and mortality in the entire population," said Mahood. "There's nothing else out there that is going to kill one out of every two users." There is no data available on why Aboriginal people are more prone to smoking but some studies have shown a correlation between poverty, high unemployment, low income and high rates of smoking. Poverty is definitely a problem on most reserves in Canada, and is a problem for most off-reserve Aboriginal people as well. There are several anti-smoking and non-smoking organizations and health groups that are trying to educate people about the dangers of tobacco. But it's tough convincing Aboriginal people about the dangers of tobacco when they see it as a sacred plant necessary for traditional ceremonies. The Traditional Native American Tobacco Seed Bank and Education Program at the University of New Mexico is making an attempt to maintain the traditional-ceremonial use of tobacco while educating people about the dangers of its misuse. Joseph Winter runs the program, cultivates seeds and plants of traditional tobacco and distributes them free to Aboriginal people, tribes and organizations that need them for sacred ceremonies. He also issues a pamphlet that outlines the proper use of tobacco. It states: Under no circumstances should you smoke, chew, or otherwise ingest tobacco, for non-traditional so-called "pleasure." This applies to Native Americans as well as non-Native Americans. The Pauktuutit Inuit Women's Association started a non-smoking campaign called Breathing Easy. According to statistics the organization has compiled, 30 per cent of Nunavik (northern Quebec) deaths are caused by tobacco use. Health Canada has outlined a 12-point action list to educate Aboriginal people about tobacco use, based on the World Health Organization plan for tobacco control. There is a reason for concern. If 50 per cent of smokers die prematurely, and about 50 per cent of Aboriginal Canadians smoke, then 25 per cent of the total Aboriginal population is destined to die prematurely. But what does that mean in real numbers? The First Nations population in Canada is about 600,000. According to the statistics, about one-quarter of them, or 150,000 First Nations people, will die prematurely because of tobacco-related illnesses. The economic, social, cultural, political and health care consequences are staggering. Saavy leaders learn to communicate through the press By Paul Barnsley Windspeaker Staff Writer If you're a careful reader of the mainstream press, you can stitch together the types of stories that get national front page exposure and from them get an idea of what a typical daily newspaper editor believes are the essential issues in Aboriginal communities. Most people will tell you that those stories should get attention. Why else is it that every time there's a report of a band operating in a deficit or encountering budget problems that Reform Party members or prominent business-oriented think-tanks or other conservative establishment groups immediately pronounce that Aboriginal people are not ready for self government? And, more importantly, why would the mainstream press think nothing of reporting those people saying such things without examining what those comments represent? Any journalist who has ever tried to discover what the Cabinet is doing during their meetings or what transpires when the powerful Bureau of Internal Economy (the all-party committee which sets the working budget for the House of Commons) meets, will agree - some of the most important work done by the people's representatives in Canada is never revealed to the people. That's a lesson that all public servants - Aboriginal or otherwise - will learn as they continue in their careers. If they're smart they'll choose to learn it the easy way. The Indian Act - Serious Internal Error: Discontinue use By Paul Barnsley Windspeaker Staff Writer Compared to timeless works like the Magna Carta, the United States Constitution or the Iroquois Confederacy's Great Law of Peace, the Indian Act isn't much. But for the 600-odd band councils in Canada, it's the alpha and omega of day-to-day life. The original Indian Act was written in the last century at a time when Aboriginal people were still being hunted for sport by colonial powers. That's not news, it's documented fact. European settlers found the Indigenous peoples' presence and claim on the lands and resources of the New World to be a problem that could be treated like a gopher infestation. That attitude is clearly present, especially in the earliest versions of the act. The Indian Act was last given a major overhaul in the 1950s. In those days, Aboriginal people in Canada were risking criminal conviction if they attempted to hire lawyers to represent their interests; Aboriginal veterans were fine enough to serve in the Canadian army during the Second World War, but they couldn't have a drink with their comrades when they returned home because of race barriers that rivaled anything that the southern United States of South Africa had on offer. The act was modernized to reflect an only slightly more benevolent approach than the one of 'Great White Father' paternalism or the ruthless Conquistador mentality of the original framers. Yet the aim of the legislators in the 1950s still appeared to be condescendingly geared toward ending all cultural, legal and political distinctions between themselves and Aboriginal people. If you read between the lines, it's very easy to see that the Indian Act was passed and amended by the Parliament of Canada to serve as an interim law that would deal with the 'Indian problem' for the time it took the government and its bureaucracy to find a permanent solution to that problem - total assimilation. Assimilation has always been on the table. Traditional people say that band councils were established (frequently at the point of a gun) to let Aboriginal people preside over their own destruction. When you look at it from that point of view, it appears to be a chillingly malevolent move for a government to make, especially one for a country with a reputation as a liberal democracy that values human rights. In many First Nation communities there is a serious split between those who have embraced the Indian Act system and those who have not. That is a very painful division that does great harm to these communities. It doesn't get as much attention as the harm done by the residential school system and other attempts by the churches and governments to convert Aboriginal people into Euro-Canadians, but the harm done by the loss of traditional Aboriginal self government systems is every bit as harmful. Bitterness and suspicion poison all dealings between the two sides. The traditional people call the band council supporters sell-outs and traitors. The band council supporters are outraged by such serious attacks. They are frozen between where they'd like to be (serving their people with honor in the traditional way as they believe their pre-contact leaders did) and where they feel they must be (functioning in a modern world in the best possible way.) The average reserve community has a population of a few hundred people. The band council performs a similar function to that of a municipal government for those people but there are crucial differences between the two political systems. Because band councils don't rely on the taxation of their people to pay for services, the money comes from the federal treasury. The tax-exempt status of Aboriginal people has its roots in agreements between the European settlers and the original inhabitants of what is now Canada. Land was made available to the newcomers in exchange for a guarantee that Indigenous people would never have to submit to the Crown's taxation. In most cases, the Aboriginal leaders of the time saw themselves to be representing separate nations; they were allies, not subjects, of the Crown. Somehow, through the course of westward expansion and settlement, the settlers assumed political control over all the lands and people. That control was frequently obtained by force. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 spelled out exactly how land could be acquired from the Indigenous population in British North America. The British king wanted his representatives in North America to uphold the honor of the Crown by dealing fairly and openly with the Indigenous peoples. That high water mark in the behavior of the colonizing powers has left an expensive legacy for modern governments. One of the biggest, if not the most obvious, sub-texts of life in Indian country - especially in the deficit cutting mania of the 1990s - has been the federal government's attempts to minimize the cost of keeping legitimate and legally binding promises made by their predecessors to the ancestors of Aboriginal people. In the federal election of 1994, the soon-to-be-elected Liberal Party of Canada pledged to support the inherent right of Aboriginal people to govern themselves. It looked like a huge stride forward. It appeared that the federal government was prepared to make a radical departure from the assimilation policies of previous administrations. Subsequently, when then-Indian Affairs Minister Ron Irwin introduced his department's plan to implement self government, the plan was not particularly well-received by Aboriginal leaders. The self government plan put forward by the federal government did not recognize the power to govern was inherent. It delegated power from Ottawa to the First Nations and it was a very subordinate power, certainly not a recognition of sovereign First Nation governments. The federal government, even under a minister as progressive as Irwin, showed the world that it had no intention of sharing any of the real power that it possesses. The philisophical problems of the Indian Act are only the beginning of the many problems facing Aboriginal governments. A band council or tribal council with an annual budget of $40 to 50 million dollars (Saskatchewan's Meadow Lake Tribal Council and Ontario's Six Nations are both in that range) has a complex job to do as it goes about providing services for its membership. It's a job that is on the same scale as that faced by a good-sized town council. But unlike in a municipal government's budget, there is no money in the Indian Affairs budget for a full-time planner or legal department or other professional supports. As the population in First Nations grows (and the Aboriginal population is growing at a faster rate than the overall population) the pressures on band councils will grow accordingly. Robert Manuel, a former chief of British Columbia's Neskonlith band who ran unsuccessfully for national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, has seen the pressure and complexity of the job of chief or councillor grow during his quarter-century in politics. He believes the Assembly of First Nations must become a counter-bureaucracy that can handle the complex political manouvering that is required so bands can hold their own when faced with government policies that are contrary to the best interests of band members. That's only because there is no money for each band council government to set up their own collection of skilled help. Aboriginal people in Canada watched closely as the United States handed over authority to American tribes many years ago. The Aboriginal people south of the border took over budgets and authority for many things that the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs had looked after for many years. The mistake that the American tribes made was in not figuring in the cost of legal and professional services that were provided to the bureau by other branches of the government. Those support systems were expensive and were not part of the budgets the tribes took control of. The extra cost soon had the tribal governments in over their heads. In many cases they were forced to sell off their precious land base to survive. This led to the infamous checker-board reservations where land reserved for the tribe was dotted with plots that had been sold off to non-Aboriginal owners in order to raise money. Traditional leaders believe it was yet another attempt to finish them off. First Nations began with the entire North American continent. Within a couple of hundred years, their population decimated by disease and the Indian wars, they were reduced to living on tiny patches of land, land that was almost always the least valuable, least attractive real estate. It seems quite reasonable that some Aboriginal people are suspicious of every move that the non-Aboriginal governments make. History suggests they'd be fools not to be. But the continued growth of the Aboriginal community and its unwavering determination to preserve its culture and traditions, no matter what, suggests that there's going to have to be a major change in the way the game is played. That change will take one of two forms: a mutually acceptable replacement for the Indian Act that includes a reasonable settlement of land claims; or Canada will have to finally give up all pretense of trying to deal fairly with Indigenous people. By Rob McKinley Windspeaker Staff Writer Museums and cultural centres preserve a people's history. The artifacts and memories can be seen through display cases or in photographs, but what about a language? Who preserves a culture's language? Historically, Aboriginal language has been passed down from one generation to the next. It is an oral relay from a community's Elders to the youth. So what happens if the flow is disturbed? What happens if a single generation fails to pass on the wisdom of the Elders? According to a report compiled in 1990 by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Aboriginal People, 43 of Canada's 53 Native languages are "on the verge of extinction." Ten more are described as threatened. Only three: Cree, Ojibway and Inuktitut were believed to be strong enough to survive. Joe Chosa, an Elder with the Lac du Flambeau Ojibway Tribe in Wisconsin, is one of three people taking on the task of teaching the local dialect of the Ojibway language to the people there. Chosa said teaching a language is more than just words. "We are trying to teach them to be proud of who they are and proud of their heritage, proud of the things that we do." He said it is a slow process for several reasons. The Ojibway language is complex, consisting of a number of words that are very similar, but mean very different things. Another reason is that the language has been nearly wiped out after years of attempted assimilation. "The culture was taken away from us during the boarding school days and from. . . religion. We'd like to bring the language back to our people," Chosa said. The language classes are getting a good reception from the community, Chosa said, but more can be done. Local schools are now offering Ojibway language classes. Grade 1 to 8 students in the Lac du Flambeau area are now being taught the language. Gregg Guthrie, the acting director at the George W. Brown Jr. Ojibway Museum and Cultural Centre in Lac du Flambeau is one of the big supporters of the language revitalization. Although the Ojibway language is one of the stronger Aboriginal languages, the local dialect is in danger of disappearing, said Guthrie. He compared the threat to that of endangered animals and birds. "When its gone, its gone for ever." He said the three Elders teaching now are just about the last of the 3,000 tribal members who still know the language and the customs of their people. In order to boost the number of people speaking their language, Guthrie said the Elders have recorded audio tapes. The tapes and classroom lessons are available to anyone who is interested, he said. The tapes will help to spread the teachings on a wider scale. "Before that there were only individuals talking in the homes. Now it's a matter of public access," he said. Aboriginal language classes are becoming more and more of a common site across the continent. In Canada, public school boards are now offering Native language classes in many schools. First Nation schools are also realizing the need to begin traditional language instruction. The Chief Taylor Elementary School in Onion Lake, Sask., is taking the learning a step further. The school is teaching Cree immersion. Songs, books, pictures and lessons are all taught in the Plains Cree dialect. The students stay in the immersion program from nursery school to Grade 3. They then switch to a combination of Cree and English instruction. "If the teachers can talk to them in Cree and the parents reinforce it at home, then the language becomes a natural, living part of their lives," said Brian MacDonald, head of the Cree curriculum development team at Onion Lake's Saskatchewan Learning Centre. Keeping a language alive and useful is paramount to its survival. One language that has survived and is expected to remain strong is Inuktitut. Part of the reason for that is that the language has not been allowed to fade away. It is estimated that there are at least 60,000 Inuktitut speakers in Canada. As Aboriginal immersion schools are not yet common across the country, neither are newspapers written in Native text. Nunatsiaq News is the exception. The paper has been serving the eastern Arctic region of the country for over 20 years and prints stories in both English and Inuktitut. In the mainstream papers, said Nunatsiaq News editor Dwane Wilkin, there are a few more which are bilingual with French and English printing, but none with Aboriginal and English words. "For us it is the ability to reach readers who are uni-lingual - Inuktitut readers who only know Inuktitut." Wilkin said he hopes the paper is helping to keep the language alive. "It's a working language and if people don't use it, then it becomes a dead language." The paper is helping to keep the language "vibrant and useful," he said. Relying on the written words or recorded words instead of direct relay of a language from one generation to the next may be a benefit in the survival of a language. It is also opening up some economic benefits for Aboriginal people. Joe Chalifoux is with the marketing wing of Duval House Publishing Inc. in Edmonton. Duval House has created a First Nation's language learning series made up of books, tapes and now CD's for school-aged children across the country. "The response has been great, phenomenal," said Chalifoux. "We've been getting orders from across the country." Duval House offers starter courses and intermediate courses in Cree, and starter courses in Ojibway, Dene and Swampy Cree, just to name a few. The use of written and recorded teachings is very important in keeping a language alive, said Chalifoux. "It is teaching more and preserving [the languages]," he said. Alberta's Treaty 6, and in particular the Saddle Lake First Nation, helped to get the Cree learning series going, and the Samson Cree are currently working on getting a course ready for the publishing company to market. Chalifoux said it is important for all First Nations to work together to help preserve the language and cultures of all Aboriginal people. "We work with the Elders all the time. We make sure the Elders and the nations are involved." Donna Peskemin is the new Cree language instructor at the University of Alberta Native Studies program. She sees the economic spin-off that the resurgence in the Aboriginal language is producing, and she also sees the need to keep the learning curve growing. "We have to see our language not as a problem any more, but as a resource. I'm making a career out of my language." Peskemin said to relearn your own language is a step toward the future that needs the lessons of the past to succeed. "Now we have to return to the wisdom of our Elders to return to the language," she said. She said all Aboriginal people need to work together to help the cause. "We need to expand. We need to work together to promote our languages. . . We all need to come together and revive it and educate our Native youth." Languages like Cree are moving in the right direction because most of the words are already in written form, she said. "But a lot of other languages are disappearing. Elders who do have the wisdom are passing on so fast. We need to make the commitment and recognize the need now." If nothing is done, it won't take long before even the Cree language will be gone, except for a few people who learned it. "I don't want to be lonely in 15 years," she said. Basil Johnston, a language instructor living in the Chippewas of Nawash [Cape Croker] First Nation, near Wiarton, Ont., said he has been trying to increase the use of Aboriginal language for 30 years. Johnston, who has published several teaching guides on Native languages along with a thesaurus for schools, said teaching an Aboriginal language has to be handled very delicately. "There are all sorts of new things being taught, but they aren't getting down and doing something that will re-kindle the language." He said the language needs to be learned as it was spoken by traditional ancestors of the community. Teaching needs to be more than just linguistics, he said. It has to include the spirit and heart of the words. "Students would learn to speak the language rather than just memorize lists of words and their genders." He recommended that people first get the truth about the heritage and history of the Aboriginal people, then attempt to learn the language. Johnston, who's mother tongue is Anishinabe, said teachers must also learn the language they are teaching, and learn it well. "It is not just the grammar, not just the basic words. You need to know the meaning of words and their history and you need to know all that if you are going to be an effective teacher," he said. After 30 years of teaching and researching, Johnston said he does not feel that he has succeeded and to him, that is a disappointment. Johnston said what is left is hope. "The only thing we can do is to do the best we can and be satisfied with that. We have to hope that there are people out there who will learn the language." It is up to the strength, power and determination of individuals to keep languages alive, he said. "When it's gone, that's it. No more Indians," he said. Plans are being developed If changes are to come, action needs to take place. Relying on the people is one thing, but giving them a way to deal with the situation is another. Heather Blair, an assistant professor at the University of Alberta Faculty of Education, said steps need to be taken on three levels to make sure a language will survive. The community, schools and Elders need to promote the use of the mother language. On a larger scale, more support for Aboriginal languages needs to come from provincial and federal levels. People, including non- Native people, also need to place more value on Aboriginal languages, she said. Blair helped to spearhead a study in Saskatchewan this past May on the importance of keeping language strong. Blair said it is difficult to determine when a language is in danger of being lost. It can sometimes just be in a state of change, but when a language is on the verge of disappearing, it happens all too quickly, she said. It is hoped the study she and a number of researchers conducted will wake up many communities to the importance of preserving their languages, and to show others the importance of Aboriginal languages in any society. The intensive study, Indian Languages Policy and Planning in Saskatchewan: Research Report, looked at language and language education in six northern Saskatchewan communities. Within the 127-page document, there is a quote from the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations which reads: We, the Indian people of Saskatchewan, are determined to retain our languages. We are oral people. The spoken word holds the key to our reality. Our Elders are the trustees, teachers, and interpreters of our complex heritage. We are determined to return to the source of our wisdom and to learn anew. We hear the Elder's words and are striving to understand. We are determined to give our children the opportunity to be involved in our unique world views, histories, legends, stories, humor, social rules, morality, and ways of seeing and describing our worlds. Our languages teach us these things. We cannot afford to lose them. The study, available from Saskatchewan Education, contains action steps and recommendations for communities to follow as a way to preserve their languages. A main goal noted in the study is for communities to organize action plans to keep language and language education strong. People can't just hope for change, we have to provide the means for change to happen. "It is going to take time, effort and money. The task is enormous and urgent, but with comprehensive planning, commitment and serious work, some of these languages can be saved," noted Blair. Issue #5 May 1998 Classroom Edition Issue 5 - May - front cover Windspeaker Reflecting on the past: Pop up residential schools I must apologize for being Indian Recommended readings The Band Administrator The more things change... Interprovincial Pipe Line Inc. Cree School Board Ermineskin Education Authority Makivik Corporation Pepsi Cola Canada Ltd. Royal Bank of Canada Confederacy of Treaty Six Paul Band Education Pop up Residential Schools priest illustration, residential school Four churches were involved in the operation of residential schools for Indian children: the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of England (Anglican), the Methodist (United) Church, and the Presbyterian Church. These organizations were funded by the federal government,whose goal it was to assimilate Indian and Inuit people into mainstream society. The church-government partnership for Aboriginal education lasted from the 1840s to 1969, though the last residential school, Christie Roman Catholic school in Tofino, B.C. didn't close until 1983. It's estimated that 100,000 to150,000 Aboriginal children attended residential schools. The first residential school for Aboriginal children was set up in the 1840s in Alderville, Ont. By 1920, it became mandatory for all Indian children to attend school. the number of schools in operation peaked at 88. Their education [that of Indian children] must consist not merely of the training of the mind, but of a weaning from the habits and feelings of their ancestors and the acquirement of the language, arts and customs of civilized life.* To accomplish this goal, discipline was the answer in many missions. "Historians suggest that discipline was more harsh at residential schools than at other schools and would not have been accepted in Euro-Canadian institutions at the time. . . These methods included isolation cells, flogging and whipping, and humiliation."** From a federal government report published in 1847. *From Residential School Update, AFN March 1998. Mission Bean A little boy I was, just lost my home So the mission took me in, so I wouldn't roam A hair cut, a bath, new shoes on my feet Plaid shirt & coveralls, that was my beat Up in the morning, fall down on my knees Pray to the Lord the right way I see's Off to school after porridge, lard and bread Trying to pound math and Catechism in my head Never too brilliant was I in school But serving the Altar, I was no fool Our Father which art in Heaven, Amen I could 'cite that backwards - in Latin Yes, a little boy, lost with no mom or dad In the third year there, I became a "Wetbed" They swatted my bum with a big black strap The backside of me should be a horizontal crack Yes, I would jump and jig and howl in pain Then fly in a tub, hoping the Nun had right aim Sometimes the tub's faucets would bang on my head But that was the downfall of being a "Wetbed" Now it's 5:30 a.m. and we're off to pray Three times on Sunday, that was the way The Nun like my mother, the Priest like my dad With guardians like that, who could go bad The mission was army, we walked two and two Discipline was the order, what else could they do Some missions were good, some were bad Those who suffered, I feel real sad I have words for those who dwell in self pity That's not the answer, just say "tough titty" The $350 million we got to cure decades of scars The Vultures will get most of it to buy new cars They'll travel all over, eat up the fund in time The victims of missions will not see a dime For those of us left, not yet in our coffin These wise words, you will hear often Lift your chin high and proudly walk on Keep a smile on your face, like the sun always shone. - The Mad Trapper, (Fred Stevenson) Kinuso, Alta. Lac St Anne, blessing, lake, priest The United Church of Canada was the first of the religious organizations to apologize for its treatment of Aboriginal children in residential schools. The apology was offered in 1986. Many Aboriginal people have found great comfort from the religious teaching they acquired in the residential school system, as the thousands of Aboriginal people who attend the annual Lac Ste. Anne Pilgrimage in Alberta can attest. Not all residential schools were badly run. Some administrators encouraged staff to learn Native languages, allowed visits from parents and fought for more money for food and better shelter for the children. Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against the federal government with settlements ranging from $11,000 to $400,000. The most prominant criminal action was taken against former Port Alberni Residential School supervisor, Arthur Henry Plint. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison after pleading guilty to 16 counts of indecent assault. Despite whatever good intentions the churches initially had, the residential school system as a whole had a tragic effect on Aboriginal people. Loss of language, traditional spirituality and culture was a result. In worse cases, children were physically, mentally or sexually abused. Generation after generation of children were denied parental love and attention during the most formative years of their lives. Canada was not the only country that had residential schools. In Australia, thousands of Aboriginal children were also taken from their families and educated under similar circumstances. The Australian government refuses to apologize for its assimilation policies and has offered only $52 million as its "healing fund." I must apologize for being an Indian First and foremost, I must warn you, my apology will be curt. It will be as straight as an arrow. I must apologize for being an Indian. I feel regret for the years of burden my kind has been to the Canadian public at large. As well, my apology is extended on behalf of my mother. She feels sorry for the years during which she tried to keep her language while attending a government-controlled residential school in northern Manitoba. Words cannot describe the heart-felt regret that she feels; she is also sorry for being an Indian. My mother was very fortunate. While attending residential school, she learned how to be dysfunctional... to a tee. On return to her reserve, she couldn't function. She hated being an Indian. She was surrounded by the people that she was taught to hate. She was surrounded by Indian men. While attending "Residential School 101" (her favorite class), my mother was taught the darndest thing . . . to hate them. Thank God for the fact that my mother was color blind. She might have realized that she was a brown-eyed girl. Wow . . . the wonders of residential school. I must thank the residential school system, you programmed my mother well. She came home, well, in a metaphysical way. Her heart was gone. Luckily she had her body. Did you know that residential schools took one of the most important aspects of anyone's life? It took my mother's sense of family and warped it. The tie that binds, you could say. If it wasn't for the residential school system, my mother might have had a relationship with her parents . . . you know that love thing. Phew, she didn't need that, the touch of a mother, the words of a father, the love of Mushom and Kokum. Poppycock, I say. It's all bullocks. What did she need family for anyways? Did she need them for support? No, she had the memory of all the "Mothers," so to speak, hitting her while she was a child. That's all the support she needed. I am so grateful for those assimilation programs, and let's not forget the religion. If it wasn't for Christianity, my mother might have passed on traditions that were, well, as old as God. It's a fact. The language retains culture. It holds ancient lessons and sayings that were, fortunately, lost, but who needs Indian talk anyways? English will have to do. The "subtlety" of English has replaced the knowledge of many generations. Many heart-felt strikes of a ruler made sure that my mother lost the need to remember her language. For the love of God, my mother gave up everything that made her, that made her family and, ultimately, that made me. So I say again, I must apologize for being an Indian. I should be grateful that the state set up those wondrous situations. Through my mother, I can feel the beatings she endured. One hit for being an Indian. Another for that brown skin. Here's two for that dirty "unwhite" language. And, last but not least, one big stick for remembering that smelly Indian family of yours. I am very sorry for not loving you, my mother, for not respecting you . . . too bad you had such great teachings. My mother, I can promise you this: Your grandchildren will be loved. Your grandchildren will never be sent away. Your grandchildren will be proud of their Anishnawbe heritage. Your grandchildren will not be institutionalized. And finally, mother, I forgive you. - Jarrod Miller Books on residential schools No End of Grief: Indian Residential Schools in Canada Dr. Agnes Grant Pemmican Publications Inc. Book, residential school, no end to grief The book documents with disarming intensity the incredible betrayal of the Aboriginal people in this country, who had trusted the Canadian government to deliver the quality education promised in treaties. The head-on collision between the civilizing forces of Christianity and the natural, holistic and established ways of ancient and complex cultures was to have devastating and long-term effects which are still felt today. The suffering caused by the separation from parents, loss of language and repression of traditional ways and beliefs left several generations of Aboriginal children lost in a land of humiliation, bewilderment and alienation. One of the most poignant and symbolic memories described by some of the survivors was the devastating loss of their long hair and braids, an important part of the ritual imposed by the nuns and priests to strip "the pagan and savage" identities from their little charges. Cutting off hair, explains Grant, is a key part of cross-cultural domination around the world. Grant provides an honest and credible account of an era that many would probably like to forget or see swept under the carpet. But healing, she said, must begin with acknowledgment, not denial. Generations of Aboriginal people still live with painful memories of residential schools. They are trying to deal with these memories and forgive the perpetrators, but are unable to forget. "They ask only," writes Grant, "that justice be done in our time as they seek resources to restore the balance that was forcibly shattered by ruthless domination, human incompetence, Christian over-zealousness and government indifference." Stolen From Our Embrace By Suzanne Fournier and Ernie Crey Douglas & McIntyre Book, residential school, stolen from our embrace Stolen From Our Embrace is a joint effort by journalist Suzanne Fournier and Native activist and Sto:lo Fisheries manager Ernie Crey. Through first-person accounts, they examine how First Nations children were forced into residential schools, foster homes and non-Native adoptions in foreign countries. Fournier examines the causes of some of the most prevalent problems facing today's First Nations children and their communities, tracing drug, alcohol and sexual abuse back to the government imposed systems that led to the loss of culture, family and self. "As a child, I was forcibly removed from Sto:lo culture by social welfare authorities," wrote Ernie Crey. "Our family life was shattered after seven of my eight siblings and I were split apart into separate foster homes. We were never again to be reunited as a family," writes Crey. Crey tells of being bounced around to various non-Native foster homes, many of which were operated by pedophiles and overzealous disciplinarians. "I had seen my father's spirit dimmed by the residential school where his culture was choked out of him, so that all his life he held his Halq'emeylem language and spiritual knowledge in check, depriving us, his children, of our most precious birthright," he said. Stolen From Our Embrace is a eye-opening book for non-Native people who wish to learn more about their government's attempts at cultural genocide, or for Native people who wish to compare their own stories with the stories of others. Shingwauk's Vision: A History of Native Residential Schools By James R. Miller University of Toronto Press Book, residential school, shingwauk's vision Ojibwa Chief Shingwauk of the Garden River community near Sault Ste. Marie sought academic learning and instruction in skills that young people could use to maintain themselves and future generations. Shingwauk traveled to see the King's representative and extended an invitation that would prove to have a profound and unseen effect on Native people for generations to follow. Native people quickly became disillusioned with the teaching practices of the European world. Very quickly, Aboriginal leaders found that residential schools were not what they had sought. Their attempts to stop the oppression of their culture would have little effect for more than a century. Shingwauk's Vision provides a historical overview of the residential schools to which status Indian children were sent. Residential schools, which were authorized by the federal government and operated by several Christian missionary bodies, were designed to Christianize, assimilate and train Native children for economic self sufficiency. Their failure to provide successful academic and vocational training, in addition to their mistreatment of children, provoked opposition that contributed to their ultimate demise in the 1960s. Shingwauk's Vision provides the first comprehensive historical treatment of this exercise in attempted social engineering. James R. Miller's findings are based on more than a decade's research of government, denominational and Native sources. Of particular importance to the book are the interviews and personal testimonies of survivors. The Band administrator: A one person bureaucracy By Paul Barnsley Windspeaker Staff Writer Cartoon, Kew, Band Administration, juggling responsibilities Politicians get a lot of attention in the press. But the task of making a government function after the politicians have made the decisions is left to the bureaucracy. #In Ottawa, as in all seats of federal power, tens of thousands of people conduct the business of government, each performing a carefully defined duty with a carefully defined reporting routine. Each is highly-trained to perform the assigned function. Likewise, provincial and municipal governments are big employers. But in First Nations, where populations range from a couple of hundred people to several thousand, it's different. Cartoon, Kew, Band Administration, how to book There are no budgets, or enabling clauses that would allow the creation of budgets, provided in the federal legislation - the Indian Act - which would pay for an army of administrators and functionaries who could work in support of a First Nation government. You won't see a legal department or a planning department or a public relations department on a reserve, because there is no established annual budget for such fundamentally important parts of a legitimate government's job. Without money to hire trained people to fulfill such difficult but important functions, the complicated task of over-seeing the various programs and departments falls on one person - the band administrator. The band administrator has to be fully fluent in all provincial and federal legislation which affects funding sources for First Nations. He or she has to keep the band council from getting itself into legal or financial hot water. His or her job is to know the pitfalls of several very complicated and varied bureaucratic systems and be able to instantly spot a serious flaw in a council's decision. Whether it be federal housing or provincial social services legislation and policy, or any other of an astonishing number of areas of responsibility, the band administrator must be able to advise the elected council so they can make the right decisions. And, of course, the administrator is the natural scape-goat if things go wrong. Relying on one person to juggle so much important information and to be responsible for so much can create its own set of problems for a chief and band council. Because the administrator is usually more educated than his or her political masters, (they hire an administrator for his or her expertise because they need it) it's not uncommon for the chief to become little more than a figurehead. The bureaucrat, the person with the knowledge, gets the power that was given by the voters to the politician. Although more and more Aboriginal people are getting into the field, it's frequently non-Aboriginal people who end up as band administrators. Bill Wilson, a veteran British Columbia Aboriginal politician and traditional chief, believes it's not good for non-Aboriginal people to be in such powerful positions in First Nations governments, because European and Aboriginal cultures are so foreign to each other. But Wilson also sees it as inevitable because the band council system is a creation of the Indian Act which is a non-Aboriginal creation. "Indian Affairs sets it up for failure," Wilson said. "There's no support system provided and no money to create your own." Wilson believes that the answer is to get back to traditional methods of governance. In the traditional systems, he said, positions of political leadership were seen as an awesome responsibility. Leaders, although their positions were (and are) hereditary, had to spend the first 30 years or more of their lives proving to their community that they were fit to lead. That system is far superior to a democratic vote, Wilson said, because the process of choosing a leader does not degenerate into a popularity contest. In the political system imposed under the Indian Act, (many First Nations people believe) positions of political leadership are seen as positions of power and personal prestige, not necessarily as responsibilities. They see their chiefs and councillors wielding authority without much attempt at - or taste for - accountability. Indian Affairs Minister Jane Stewart recently told reporters she spent a good part of the month of October 1997 telling chiefs that accountability and transparency is now a must. She also revealed that many chiefs vehemently protested her department's new accountability procedures. That suggests accountability and transparency have been sadly lacking in First Nation governments up to now, that in many cases the people who protested against the common practices of their band councils had legitimate grievances. In early April of this year, the Assembly of First Nations seems to have admitted as much by reaching out to the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada for assistance in developing First Nation-specific accounting practices. Reform Party Indian Affairs critic, Mike Scott, says he has 50 files, each involving a First Nation whose members have complaints about their council's accountability, files that he is actively following. He blames the system and the federal government for a lot of the problems. Westbank Indian Band member Ray Derrickson said that the lack of a funded official Opposition in First Nations leads to abuses. He closely follows developments in his own British Columbia interior community, and he bemoans the lack of financial resources available to make his job easier. "There's no opposition that's paid for," he said. "How do I go to work on this and put food on the table for my family when there's no money? That lack of funding within the system effectively controls any opposition." Many people with an intimate knowledge of band politics and operations say the lack of accountability comes as much from fuzzy lines of communication and organization - things that aren't spelled out in any detail in the Indian Act - as it does from any overt act of corruption. Without well defined rules of behavior and universally understood and accepted methods of communication, mistakes are bound to happen. Those mistakes can be costly and embarrassing. The stereotype of the Aboriginal person who is too simple, unsophisticated and lacking in the complex skills needed to run a government is fed by the inadequate system, some band councillors say. But when those mistakes in communication occur, the stereotype is also ina the minds of the councillors involved and the fear of embarrassment often causes cover-ups. Aboriginal people involved might even buy into the stereotype and believe they aren't as capable as white bureaucrats, Bill Wilson said. Former Six Nations of the Grand River band councillor Dave Johns was elected to a two year term in late 1993, despite the fact he is a Mohawk nat- ionalist with no sympathy for the band council system. He immediately became a thorn in the side of elected Chief Steve Williams and his council. Johns insisted on a level of openness and accountability that was unprecedented in his community. His close-up look at the system has left him with the impression that the shallowness and unsophisticated nature of the governments created by the Indian Act was no accident. "I don't think the plan was for us to be around in the 21st century or even the middle of this century," he said. "We were all supposed to be assimilated by then. I've read Indian Affairs documents that talked about the Indian problem in the body politic and what could be done to eliminate it. That Indian Act was supposed to be a temporary thing that would only be around long enough for them to get rid of us." In any band council or tribal council of any size, Saskatchewan's Meadow Lake Tribal Council or the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation in Ontario have total annual budgets that are close to $50 million, the job of the band administrator is immense. In a typical band administration there are between 10 and 20 departments. Unlike a municipal government, which is similar in size and in scope of responsibility, the program dollars are budgeted to cover the program only. Also unlike a municipal government, a band council can't raise its own revenue through taxation. That means control of the cash flow is exercised by the funding sources. That has meant that the administrators who actually do the work may be able to see where it would be wise to deviate from a program, but they don't have the authority to do so. That can be extremely stressful; if you have to tell people that you can't help them when your job is to help them, you can be sure that each workday will be long and unpleasant. Burn-out and other long-term disabilities are not uncommon among band council employees, something that drives up the cost of administering the programs and further erodes the amount of money that actually gets used to help the people the program was intended to help. Once the cash arrives at the First Nation, it makes its way to the department which is responsible for seeing that it is used as the funder intended (In theory, anyway. Councils frequently use money destined for one purpose for another purpose either out of necessity or as a gesture of independence.) Each department head looks after his or her department and then reports to the band administrator, the one person who must monitor the performance of the department heads and make sure they are keeping their staff members in line and providing an acceptable level of productivity in exchange for their wages. One would think the administrator would always be a powerful person able to command the respect and obedience of the senior managers - he or she is their boss, after all. But the reality is the politicians are the bosses and their most important consideration is to get re-elected. They hate saying "no" to anyone because that costs votes. Council jobs and contracts are used as political capital on reserves. Politicians create support by handing out jobs and other favors to those who supported them in the last election. Just as in one common scenario is that the administrator assumes too much power because he or she has control of all the important information, in another scenario, it's not unusual for a capable administrator to be handcuffed by the politicians. Indian Affairs Minister Stewart said she is willing to work in partnership with First Nations, but the federal government is only willing to deal with and recognize band councils. Across Canada, the push for a return to traditional government forms may create problems for the federal government even as it attempts to modify the existing band council system. Recognition of the inherent right to self government and a more respectful approach to First Nations by the federal government may be coming too little, too late to save the Indian Act system. Question 1: Can a nation govern itself without taxation? How? Question 2: Can Canada exist with sovereign First Nations located within its borders? Question 3: Is the Department of Indian Affairs ultimately to blame for corruption on reserves? Question 4: What ideas can you come up with to improve First Nations governments? The more things change. . . According to Canada's most recent statistics, the mean income of Aboriginal people aged 15 and above was just $14,700, or 61 per cent of the non-Aboriginal average. Aboriginal unemployment was 24.6 per cent, as compared to a Canadian average of about 10 per cent. The unemployment gap continues to broaden over time. Aboriginal people 15 years of age and over continue to have much lower levels of schooling than the non-Aboriginal populations, regardless of age group. More than one-half (54 per cent) of the Aboriginal population 15 and over had not received a high school diploma, compared with 35 per cent of the non-Aboriginal population. Beginning in late November 1997, and continuing into early February, 63 Quesnel area children were taken from their families and placed in the care of social services. As many as 23 of those children were Aboriginal. An Aboriginal woman and her eight year old son residing at the Tsuu T'ina First Nation near Calgary were shot dead by RCMP who were assisting a social worker who was trying to take the woman's children. The woman armed herself with a rifle, fired at authorities, and one constable fired back. The bullet went through the woman, killing the son who was standing behind her. People close to the slain woman said a family member should have been called in to intercede. It will be late summer before the Supreme Court of Canada decides if goods purchased off reserve but intended for consumption on reserve are subject to provincial sales tax. The federal government, in a move that law professors all over the country say is a violation of its fiduciary obligation to protect Aboriginal rights, argued that such purchases should be subject to taxation, despite the provisions of Section 87 of the Indian Act. Should the court decide the purchases are taxable, some Aboriginal leaders are contemplating asking the court to rehear the case because the issue of the federal government's fiduciary obligation was not raised during the appeal. Many say political considerations lead the government to ignore its legal obligation.
ورود به حساب کاربری بازگردانی رمز عبور! آمار Esource 150 GB 60 TB Essential Chemistry: Atoms, Molecules, and Compounds عنوان کتاب: Essential Chemistry: Atoms, Molecules, and Compounds مولف: Phillip Manning ناشر: Chelsea House Publications زبان: English سال: 2007 شابک: 0791095347, 9780791095348, 9781438102344 حجم فایل: 4.63 MB نوع فایل: pdf تعداد صفحات: 137 Our world is determined by chemistry. Every object we encounter in our daily lives is a product of a chemical reaction, natural or man-made. This exciting book goes behind the scenes of day-to-day chemistry and digs deeply into the hearts of the atoms that govern chemical processes. It explores the reactions between atoms and shows how the characteristics of the reacting atoms determine the type of molecules produced. The book also probes the fascinating chemistry of simple substances such as salt and water. In clear language, it shows how the interactions between the two molecules are crucial to life on Earth and how those interactions are predestined by the atoms that make up the molecules. نظرات کاربران ارسال نظر
lunes, 21 de marzo de 2011 Typologies in Islamic Architecture (III): Mausoleum Terminology used by Islamic sources to refer to mausoleum typology is very varied. Turbet is the usual descriptive term which is referred to its burial function. Another term is qubba, which emphasizes the dome as most identifiable element, and is often applied to a structure which commemorates Biblical prophets, Prophet Muhammad's companions or notables, whether religious or military. Mausoleum role is not limited exclusively to the burial and commemoration place, but also plays an important role in “popular” religion. They are venerated as local saints tombs and have become pilgrimage places. These buildings are often decorated with Koranic quotes and equipped with a mihrab which converts them in places of worship. In some cases, Mausoleum is part of any adjacent building. Forms of the medieval Islamic mausoleums are varied, but traditional form is square and topped by a cupola. Tomb of Lalla Fátima Zohra en Marrakesh, Morocco (17th century). Lecture taught at Notre Dame School of Architecture in South Bend, Indiana (USA), January 26, 2011. Author: Pablo Álvarez Funes No hay comentarios: Publicar un comentario en la entrada Si desea hacer un comentario que no tenga que ver estrictamente con la entrada en la que comenta, le ruego me escriba a o use el minichat. Muchas gracias por su aportación. No se publicarán comentarios solicitando intercambio de enlaces o sugiriendo visitas a otros blogs de temática no relacionada con este.
You're being transferred to the requested page... header print One Logical and One Emotional Partner Work a Treat! When presented with a situation, it’s almost inevitable that two individuals with different personalities will react to it differently. This is particularly true when the situation is difficult and related to work or our private lives. Some people theorize that couples whose views and behaviors differ significantly from each other actually fare better when facing difficulties together. According to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, there are two distinct types of people, namely Thinkers and Feelers. The former make decisions based upon logic and objective truth, and after weighing up all the options thoroughly, whereas the latter make decisions based on their feelings, intuition and on the basis of how the decision they make would affect them and those around them. Some people believe that an ideal couple consists of a Thinker and a Feeler, because they will try and solve a problem using completely different approaches to each other. Here are 8 reasons to back up this notion: 1. Thinkers count on facts. Feelers take note of emotions. When a relationship is about to commence, a Thinker will take in all the hard facts about the other individual, such as social status, financial clout, their ability to devote free time to the relationship, and so on. Another consideration made by the Thinker is whether there is actually a necessity for a relationship in his or her life at that point in time. On the other hand, a Feeler will just evaluate how he or she feels about the other person. Even if all objective reality serves to work against the relationship, a Feeler will not let such considerations get in the way of the love they’re feeling. It goes without saying that most relationships begin due to Feelers. 2. Thinkers take cues from external signals when something is wrong. Feelers just know that there is. A Thinker needs hard proof of a relationship turning sour, such as a flirty text message to another person. A Feeler will just go on a hunch without any proof whatsoever. He or she will note changes in body language and tone of voice, as well as be the first to state that there is a problem in the relationship. 3. Thinkers see the bad first. Feelers see the good first. A Thinker tends to be the one who gives up and only begins to see what’s wrong. In the event of the above, the Feeler begins seeking out the good things in the relationship as validation for staying together. Because of these different perspectives, the ability to tackle a crisis and come through it in one piece increases. 4. Conflicts are natural for Thinkers. They are disasters for Feelers. A Thinker is the first to admit that there’s a problem that needs solving. A Feeler is mortified about having an argument. They feel fear and will suffer until there is harmony between the two parties once again. In addition, they will strive to restore harmony using all means necessary. As is evident from the above, Thinkers are about conflict resolution, whereas Feelers are all about conflict avoidance! The Thinker is usually the individual who has to be proactive about restoring harmony in the relationship. 5. Thinkers are problem-solvers. Feelers wait for Thinkers to solve a problem. A Feeler doesn’t attempt to do anything until his or her feelings of fear and hurt have subsided. 6. Thinkers need to be in charge. Feelers need to be loved. Couples alert: if your partner is distressed, be sure to give them a big hug whenever you can. 7. Thinkers want to know why something’s happening. Feelers want to know why it’s happening to them. A Thinker always needs to know when and where things took a turn for the worse, whether the physical intimacy became a problem, adultery was committed, and so on. A Feeler will brood at length on what’s wrong with him or her, and seek to understand what they’ve done to warrant the aversions of their partner. For a Feeler, it’s more important to understand the guilt they feel as a result of the conflict occurring. While a Thinker will risk a breakup to clear the air, a Feeler will just sit and thing about what just occurred at length. 8. Thinkers seek the truth. Feelers will let go if they deem it necessary to do so. A Thinker has no hang-ups about being perfectly honest with him or herself, as well as with others. Furthermore, when they realize they’re wrong, they won’t think twice about owning up to it. A Feeler would rather not know the truth in certain instances to avoid the hurt it may cause them. They can also tell sweet lies to keep a relationship going. All of the above is of course subjective, and it really depends on the personalities of the two individuals in a relationship to determine its dynamic. With that being said, two Thinkers have the tendency to decide they’re better off without each other, two Feelers will fight it out ‘til the bitter end, but a Thinker and a Feeler stand a much better chance of coming to a peaceful solution to a conflict, thus maintaining the relationship. Content Source: Brightside Sign Up Free Did you mean: Sign Up Free Did you mean:
[LeetCode] Perfect Number 完美数字 We define the Perfect Number is a positive integer that is equal to the sum of all its positive divisors except itself.Now, [LeetCode] Smallest Good Base 最小的好基数 For an integer n, we call k>=2 a good base of n, if all digits of n base k are 1.Now given a string representing n, you should return the sma [LeetCode] Sliding Window Median 滑动窗口中位数 [LeetCode] Diameter of Binary Tree 二叉树的直径 Given a binary tree, you need to compute the length of the diameter of the tree. The diameter of a binary tree is the length of the longest [LeetCode] 01 Matrix 零一矩阵 Given a matrix consists of 0 and 1, find the distance of the nearest 0 for each cell.The distance between two adjacent cells is 1.Example 1:&nbs [LeetCode] Convert BST to Greater Tree 将二叉搜索树BST转为较大树 Given a Binary Search Tree (BST), convert it to a Greater Tree such that every key of the original BST is changed to the original key plus sum o [LeetCode] Reverse String II 翻转字符串之二 Given a string and an integer k, you need to reverse the first k characters for every 2k characters counting from the start of the string. If th [LeetCode] Minimum Time Difference 最短时间差 Given a list of 24-hour clock time points in "Hour:Minutes" format, find the minimum minutes difference between any two time points in [LeetCode] Encode and Decode TinyURL 编码和解码精简URL地址 Note: This is a companion problem to the System Design problem: Design TinyURL.TinyURL is a URL shortening service where you ente [LeetCode] K-diff Pairs in an Array 数组中差为K的数对 Given an array of integers and an integer k, you need to find the number of unique k-diff pairs in the array. Here a k-diff&
Bob Blum on Brain Mapping and Time Travel Bob Blum, MD, PhD Bob Blum, MD, PhD Bob Blum, MD, PhD, is currently a research affiliate at the Stanford Center for Mind, Brain, and Computation. He completed his MD training at UCSF and completed a PhD in Biostatistics and Computer Science at Stanford University. He also worked as a physician in emergency medicine at Kaiser for many years, and is an advisor for the Brain Preservation Foundation. Andy McKenzie: As I understand your work from your personal website, one of your major current projects is at the intersection between neuroscience and AI. What makes you so excited about this field? Bob Blum: People have asked me for 50 years (since I was an undergrad at MIT) what my academic interest is, and my answer has remained constant: 1) how does the brain work? 2) can it be done in silicon? Why the excitement about these questions? The brain (such as it is in us humans) mediates our entire experience of the world and constrains everything we can know, think, and feel about the world, and everything we can do. Understanding it is utterly essential. Doing it in silicon. Like many kids nowadays, back in the late 1950s in my early teens, I was enthralled by electronics (as a ham radio builder.) Then, I started programming at Cal, Berkeley on an IBM 1620 in 1962. Are brains made of silicon just around the corner? I certainly thought so fifty years ago, as some of my professors at MIT in the 1960s were full of optimism (e.g. my teacher, Prof. Marvin Minsky.) But, I wondered, how could you ever make a computer that feels pain or pleasure or sees the color red? And, if you could make a computer that could duplicate the subjective world of humans, then where would that enterprise ultimately lead? How powerful, intelligent, and creative might future computers become? These questions have propelled my excitement ever since. And, will computers eventually take over entirely from humans? I believe that might happen, but it may take many decades. At that point humans will be as irrelevant as chimpanzees. But, I “welcome our new AI overlords!” Can you imagine that planet Earth, the only known home of sentience is ruled by 7 billion hairy apemen? It’s alarming that we on Earth sit precariously perched on the knife edge of disaster with only human intelligence to guide us. We’ve made a mess of Earth. Earth desperately needs exabyte wisdom. I favor full speed ahead with AI research and with efforts to understand the brain and to build better ones. The transition from human intelligence to machine intelligence is far down on my list of worries. Andy McKenzie: In a 2012 article, you wrote that you have reservations about the potential for large-scale brain mapping and uploading of a human brain, in part because of “the role of local fields and oscillations, the roles of glia and of gap junctions, and unexplained intricacy at synapses.” Do you think that those components are theoretically unmeasurable, or practically not measured by our current techniques? Bob Blum: This boils down to what details of brain anatomy and physiology are crucial to capturing our memories, personality, creativity, intelligence, and skills. And the answer in 2015 is “no one knows.” In my 2012 article for Kurzweil AI, I listed a few reservations summarized in your question. But, I do not believe those are theoretically and forever unmeasurable. These and others are not measured by current technology, and they are definitely not incorporated into current models of neural networks. One way to think of it is “given a set of 10,000 synaptic inputs at time t, will a particular neuron fire or not? No one knows. It may depend on local ionic currents and fields, the state and history of firing in its neighboring neurons and states of astroglia and capillaries, and detailed composition of those 10,000 synapses and receptors. The modeling is not impossible just daunting (and perhaps better-suited for our future, AI-based, theoretician overlords.) And, I’m NOT asserting that all of that is necessary. I don’t know and neither does anyone else. So, how can we tell if we (the humans in 2015) are making progress? Pick your brightest neural theoretician/modeler and see what he or she can do. Here’s one: Demis Hassabis, co-founder of DeepMind(see interview). Demis wowed Googler Larry Page sufficiently that in 2014 Larry bought his company. SeeDeepMind learning to play Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and many other Atari 2600 video games. So, are CNNs (convolutional neural nets) enough to get the whole job done? No! Another (very distant) milestone might be a neural net that designs and undertakes the brain research to build DeepMind and then to write the Nature paper describing that (and then that model describing itself and recursively on up the ladder to superhuman intelligence). Again, how much ultrastructure is necessary to get the job done? No one knows, but there is plenty there in the neuropil. (See my essay Forget AI (for now).) My view reflects the hundreds of brilliant neuroscientists and molecular biologists I’ve listened to at Stanford and elsewhere. Here’s a small sample: Obama Brain Initiative leader Cori Bargmann (302 neurons in C. elegans but oxytocin modulation in a handful of those neurons profoundly affects mating behavior) and … Cori snidely joking to neuroscientists studying human cognition “good luck with that”; Thomas Schwartz (mitochondria dynamically move to where they are needed inside neurons); Nobelist Tom Sudhof (intricate mechanisms in synaptic vesicles in the active zone); Allen Institute leader Stephen Smith (massive intricacy in post-synaptic zones of dendritic spines); UCSD theoretician Terry Sejnowski (intimate conjunction of astroglial processes to synapses); genius/ polymath Eugene Izhikevitch (forget firing rates: every spike and its timing is important). World wide: thousands of labs: tens of thousands of neuroscientists — all making progress toward the holy grail. Andy McKenzie: In that same 2012 article, you also mentioned some of your “head freezer” friends who are planning to have their brains preserved at Alcor. Perhaps drawing off of your experience as a physician (or perhaps not), what would you estimate as their average probability of the success in this endeavor, and why? Bob Blum: My estimate is 100% (for preservation)! But, let me be more specific. I’ll use the term proximal event to refer to the freezing/ preservation event at the beginning of the journey. And, I’ll use the term distal event to refer to the thawing event or reconstruction of the individual in the future. (As I write this, I gaze at a beautiful wedding photo from the early 1940s of my parents, now long dead, in the bloom of youth.) For me your question is WHEN will the proximal event – the freezing/ preservation technology – be sufficient to preserve enough ultrastructure to get the job done at the future, distal end (whenever that is.) I think even for sticklers like me, a few decades should be enough to pull off the proximal event, ie, to develop the tech to capture all the brain’s molecular detail (exactly what is where at the atomic level.) And, while we’re capturing that 1.5 kg organ, let’s also grab the entire 70 kg body just to make sure we’ve got it all. But I must emphasize, here I’m just referring to the proximal event: the data capture at the start of the journey. And at the future, distal end, will they need the original frozen specimen or will just the brain file do? I think the brain/ body file will eventually be enough, but how big is it? Petabytes, exabytes? (Exactly the same question that Henry Markram has to answer at the (European) Human Brain Project. No one knows.) I think that the distal event (resurrection of a conscious person) is apt to be extremely difficult, and, therefore, will only be achieved in the far future, perhaps well after 2100. I’m much less concerned about how they do the reconstruction at the distal end. (If they can’t pull it off, then it’s not a civilization I’m interested in anyway. My view/ hope is that the distal civilization is comprised of god-like beings (composition unknown) with great wisdom and compassion exceeding those of our best paleoanthropologists (like the team studying Otzi, the 5,000 year old frozen iceman.) I’m guessing that technology push and demand pull will accelerate in the coming decades and that will result in a thriving market for tissue preservation services (proximal event.) (And, If it’s really good, I’m sure I won’t want to wait until I’m on death’s door to get frozen. Perhaps the laws then will accommodate that.) But this may require demonstrations of the viability of the resurrection technology: much harder to pull off before the AI Singularity. (This is apt to involve much more than just taking a frozen rabbit out of the deep freeze.) But what could be more thrilling than to time travel to the far future and see a world of inconceivably advanced technology and civilization. I personally would much rather do that than go to the stars. My guess is that my fellow time travelers and I would be honored guests in that far future (just as Otzi, The Iceman, is in our era.) Recent Posts Leave a Comment Contact Us Not readable? Change text. captcha txt Start typing and press Enter to search Thank You for Your Support Donation Options Bitcoin: 1Q9fdbphewr5R2sLq6E98EqZu6GjeAiNys Bitcoin: 1Daz6Euxe5yUDpQTRsTHxWci3vLC5KAzsj Bitcoin: 1HpcXrasVNtVEMyrEiUXWTjiugyKPgq535 Bitcoin: 1AZ8TCSLxDmxrxhEZbif927nHnoWFjNtuF Bitcoin: 1AHR7HezVB7cRCDPE3FGEk8UKXy3ndoAv
What Is In-Kind Income? In-kind income is a type of income in which you receive benefits or payments in a form other than cash. Depending on the type of in-kind income received, you may have to evaluate the tax consequences of receiving the in-kind income. It is important that you understand the classification of in-kind income and its relationship to other types of income. • In-kind income refers to non-cash benefits or payments. You can receive both earned or unearned in-kind income. Earned income is income received for work performed. In-kind income includes any benefit, other than cash, received for an item of need. An item in need can includes utilities, food, shelter and clothing. Additionally, you can receive in-kind income for less than the fair value of the item or for free. Other Types of Income • Your total income includes earned income, unearned income and deemed income. You receive your earned income from wages or from earnings received from self-employment. Unearned income is income received from other, non-employment sources. For example, you would consider pensions, unemployment benefits, Social Security benefits, interest income, state disability or cash from friends and relatives unearned income. Deemed income is the income of your spouse, your sponsor or your parent with whom you live. Examples of In-Kind Income • In-kind income can consist of free rent in exchange for care-taking duties. However, if the caretaker receives a paycheck with a deduction for rent, the gross earnings are not in-kind income, but earned income. You can also receive in-kind income if a friend or relative provides you free room and board. Another example of in-kind income is the exchange of services, such as babysitting or housekeeping services. • In-kind income requires evaluation for tax purposes when a person or an organization gives in-kind income to an assistance unit such as a charity. You should not consider non-need items earned by or provided to the assistance unit in-kind income. Furthermore, you can´t automatically classify income as in-kind income because the recipient did not pay for a need item. Any in-kind income provided by a private, nonprofit organization is exempt from classification as income. Additionally, in-kind income for partial items of need also is exempt from classification as income. A partial item of need is provided in part or for less than a full calendar month. Related Searches Promoted By Zergnet You May Also Like • Do Non-Profit Organizations Need to File Income Tax? Nonprofit organizations are businesses that operate for charitable, philanthropic, educational or religious purposes. These organizations provide services to a variety of individuals,... • Jobs That Hire 15-Year-Olds Many teenagers want a job for various reasons. Some want to contribute to the family income while others want spending money or... Related Searches Check It Out Are You Really Getting A Deal From Discount Stores? Submit Your Work!
Through the Looking Glass Writing style and themes The themes and settings of Through the Looking-Glass make it a kind of mirror image of Wonderland: the first book begins outdoors, in the warm month of May (4 May),[a] uses frequent changes in size as a plot device, and draws on the imagery of playing cards; the second opens indoors on a snowy, wintry night exactly six months later, on 4 November (the day before Guy Fawkes Night),[b] uses frequent changes in time and spatial directions as a plot device, and draws on the imagery of chess. In it, there are many mirror themes, including opposites, time running backwards, and so on. The White Queen offers to hire Alice as her lady's maid and to pay her "Twopence a week, and jam every other day." Alice says that she doesn't want any jam today, and the Queen tells her: "You couldn't have it if you did want it. The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday- but never jam to-day." This is a reference to the rule in Latin that the word iam or jam meaning now in the sense of already or at that time cannot be used to describe now in the present, which is nunc in Latin. Jam is therefore never available today.[1] Whereas the first book has the deck of cards as a theme, this book is based on a game of chess, played on a giant chessboard with fields for squares. Most main characters in the story are represented by a chess piece or animals, with Alice herself being a pawn. The looking-glass world is divided into sections by brooks or streams, with the crossing of each brook usually signifying a notable change in the scene and action of the story: the brooks represent the divisions between squares on the chessboard, and Alice's crossing of them signifies advancing of her piece one square. Furthermore, since the brook-crossings do not always correspond to the beginning and ends of chapters, most editions of the book visually represent the crossings by breaking the text with several lines of asterisks ( * * * ). The sequence of moves (white and red) is not always followed. The most extensive treatment of the chess motif in Carroll's novel is provided in Glen Downey's The Truth About Pawn Promotion: The Development of the Chess Motif in Victorian Fiction.[2]
SpaceX Won't Bring You To Mars Is Fomahault-b A Dwarf Exoplanet? Nature: The Original Chemist Five New Charmed Baryons Discovered! A Slow-Motion Particle Collision In Anomaly! Elon Musk says he wants to create a backup of Earth on Mars, and several brilliant people have suggested this should be one of our main objectives for sending humans into space, not only Elon Musk. Perhaps most notably, Stephen Hawking. But being brilliant doesn't mean you are always right in everything you say, or> ECHA, the European Chemicals Agency, has released findings from its Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) which concluded that glyphosate (e.g. Roundup, by the agriculture company Monsanto, though it's been off-patent for 17 years) is not a carcinogen, nor is it a mutagen, nor is it toxic for reproduction.> By using lasers to manipulate a superfluid gas known as a Bose-Einstein condensate, the team was able to coax the condensate into a quantum phase of matter that has a rigid structure — like a solid, and can flow without viscosity, a key characteristic of a superfluid. Basically, they have created a supersolid> This idea dates back to the Russians in the early 1970s. The surface of Venus is far too hot, and the atmosphere too dense, for Earth life. However, our air is a lifting gas on Venus with about half the lifting power of helium on Earth. A habitat filled with normal air will float high in the dense Venus atmosphere> What Color Is An Orange ?A question like that, here at, just has to be a trick question.It is possible, by the application of common sense arguments, to prove to a scientific level of certainty that an orange is absolutely not orange.How don't we see ?Between 41% and 67% of participants, depending on>
Character Sketch of Abigail Williams Essay by kmh15High School, 10th gradeA+, December 2006 download word file, 3 pages 0.0 Downloaded 2078 times Growing up, there is always the kid that everyone is afraid of. No one dares to sit next to them, but when they tell a student to move, that person doesn't hesitate. They are always the first person picked for teams simply because everyone is afraid to play against them. Everyone listens and obeys. They have somewhat of a dictatorship over those who surround them. They may come in different genders, names, sizes, and appearances, but there are there, in every town, playground, street, high school, and workplace. In "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams takes this role in Boston, Massachusetts in the late 1600's. Throughout the entire play she is manipulative, psychotic, and intelligent yet troubled young girl. Abigail is the epitome of what defines manipulation. She uses everyone around her to her advantage. She intimidates the girls into not saying incriminating things in court. Abigail abuses her knowledge of John Proctor's lechery and adultery by declaring, "You are no wintry man, John. I know you." to keep him quiet in the earlier stages of court proceedings. She even goes as far to hit and threaten Betty saying, "'Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you... I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!" to keep her from telling the truth and siding against her. All the girls seem to be under her control because of her somewhat scheming behaviors throughout the entire play. In "The Crucible", Williams has many psychotic traits. She won't accept that John Proctor doesn't truly love her, but was simply caught in the lust of a man's hormones. He claims, "She thinks to dance with me on my wife's grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore's vengeance, and you must see it." All she wanted was to take Elizabeth Proctor's place. She accused many people, and many were hanged because of her insane obsession with John. She says, "I cannot sleep for dreamin'; I cannot dream but I wake and walk about the house as though I'd find you comin' through some door." She pleads with him, and doesn't believe him even when he pushes her to the ground in the deleted scene of act three. She insists that he is doing this for "show" to satisfy his wife. In factuality, he realizes how insane this girl really is, and wants to save his wife and the wives of his friends. Abigail Williams, despite her less appealing traits, is a very intelligent person. She plans ahead and has a majority of the Salem Village believing that people are bewitching her. She faints on cue during trials to further her accusations. Abigail watches Mary Warren make a doll for Elizabeth Proctor and then stick a spare needle into it for safekeeping. She then she concocts "proof" of witchcraft by saying Elizabeth, the "owner" of the doll stuck it into the doll, which was a model of Abigail. She screams of pain when having dinner with the judges of the court. She slyly frames Elizabeth of witchcraft threw her smart thinking. In "The Crucible", Abigail Williams is a manipulative, psychotic, and intelligent kid that has her village wrapped around her finger. She is in control of everything around her. Abigail, the antagonist, in truth is a character of simply bad intentions. Her sole mission is to be with John Proctor at any cost, even the price of the lives of the citizens of the Salem Village.
Responsibility For A Food Allergy Child Responsibility For A Food Allergy Child Throughout childhood, the main burden of responsibility for the safety of an Allergy child falls on the parents. The parents are a child’s main focus. Children rely on their parents to guide them thru the deep waters of childhood and into adulthood. A severe Allergic reaction can sink a person in minutes with dire physical, emotional, and financial consequences. The parents have to teach the child about their condition as soon as possible. Have frequent and in-depth talks about foods. Some foods are nutritious such as fruit and vegetables. Some foods are not nutritious such as junk foods. Some foods will harm some people, such as your child, and the same foods will be fine for other people. The medical assessment comes from the Allergist, who provides a prescription and a set of instructions to follow in case of emergency. The parents need to teach everyone involved in the child’s life about the complications that can arise from eating the wrong food. This includes the other parents, teachers, caregivers, school moms, soccer coaches, principals, lunchroom supervisors, etc. Parents might seek and get better understanding from non-Allergy people with a special awareness of Food Sensitivities. These types of people may be Diabetics, Vegetarians, Lactose Intolerant, sufferers of Celiac Disease and Gluten sensitivities, among a wide variety of other food-induced ailments. Here is a very short list of parental responsibilities. We will cover these subjects in greater depth throughout the later posts in this blog. Be sure to keep checking back for lots of useful information. 1. Learn everything you can about your child’s Allergy. 2. Teach your child about the Allergy. 3. Find able, responsible, and attentive adults to care for your child when you are not there. 4. Teach other adults about the Allergy. 5. Teach other kids about the Allergy. 6. Read Ingredient Labels over and over and …. 7. Trust Issues. 8. Be a BIG part of your child’s life. You need to learn everything you can about your child’s Allergy. Ask your pediatrician or Allergist, talk to other parents, find support groups, write a blog and let me know about it. Learn the symptoms of an Allergic reaction. Learn how to use an epinephrine shot. Is there a nurse at your child’s school? Does the school need a prescription for the epinephrine shot? Does the school need multiple pens for different locations? Look for answers on the internet, like you are doing now. (Great work, by the way!) The internet is a huge wealth of knowledge. You can contact almost anyone thru the internet and find an answer to a specific question. I would recommend asking different people the same question. You might get a variety of answers. Unless you have seen a severe Allergic reaction or had one yourself, it is difficult to grasp the extent of the damage that a small Allergen can inflict on a human body. And yes, it’s very bad. You are your child’s primary resource of information on how to handle the Allergy. You need to keep yourself up to date on any developments. Your child’s life is in our hands. If you know of anyone who would be interested in reading this blog, please copy the URL address and send it to them. This entry was posted in General. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Responses to Responsibility For A Food Allergy Child 1. ahem_mayispeak says: I’m so torn about bans in schools, etc. I think it’s a better long term solution to empower the child to manage the allergy rather than live under the illusion that a safe space will be created. Your thoughts? • linagonzo says: Excellent comment! This topic deserves its own post. You asked the question, and I will answer it, if only briefly. I’ve been on both sides of the fence. I’ve volunteered for my oldest daughter’s second grade after school activities and I have seen how those Moms try to handle the Allergies. They confused me so much that, in essence, I am writing this blog just to clear my head of their complete irresponsibilities. A second grade Peanut Allergy child does not know to how to read an Ingredient Label? and does not know the significance of the word “Peanut” on a food package? This is outrageous. Her parents clobbered the teachers (and me) to create an artificial environment for their child. I will have a lot of posts regarding this topic. I am taking a different approach with my son. As a kindergardener, he can read the words “Sunflower” and “Safflower”. He will soon learn to read “Helianthus Annus”. He knows Ingredient Labels, and he reads them as best he can. He knows that goldfish crackers contain Sunflower Oil, and he avoids those and others. The other Moms know about his extreme condition. However hard they try, I still see projects made with Sunflower Oil containing products, ie gingerbread cookies for the gingerbread house making project. I sincerely appreciate their consideration. Realistically, I can’t expect everyone to be extremely diligent to try to accommmodate my son’s condition. My son has standing instructions to run out of a room if he sees a Sunflower Seed. He can answer questions later. Having said that, if my son takes a trip to the hospital due to an anaphylactic reaction, I know what I would do, but I don’t want to write it. Let’s just say that I will be extremely vocal. The school doesn’t like to see the students leave in ambulances, no one does. However, the Allergy children need to be fully aware of their condition and engaged in keeping themselves safe. As you can probably tell, I haven’t made up my mind either way, but am searching for a middle ground that requires responsibility from both sides. I’ll think more about it and create a post. Thanks for asking! 2. linagonzo says: Ahem, What do you do when one of your Allergens is in the room? Do you leave the room? But then do you explain yourself as to why you are leaving? Do you ask that the Allergen be removed? Or do you just cope wth it, keeping an eye on the Allergen as you circle the room? When you are invited to a dinner party do you name your Allergens and ask the host to avoid using them? What do you do if the host still uses them? Sorry about all the questions, you seem to have the right experience. Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s
Northern Mockingbird Identification Northern Mockingbird General Description: Northern Mockingbird are slender-bodied grey birds apparently pour all their shade into their personalities. They sing nearly endlessly, even generally at night time. they usually flagrantly harass birds that intrude on their territories. flying slowly round them or prancing towards them, legs prolonged, flaunting their vibrant white wing patches. Younger: Each Mockingbird mother and father feed the nestlings. Younger depart the nest about 12 days after hatching. not in a position to fly properly for about one other week. 2-three broods per 12 months. Northern Mockingbird Northern Mockingbird Northern Mockingbird Call or Sound or Mockingbird Song: Conversation :This species was typically captured on the market as a pet from the late Seventeenth Century to the early 1900s. and possibly in consequence it grew to become scarce alongside a lot of the northern fringe of its vary. After the cage bird trade was stopped, the Mockingbird once more turned frequent in lots of areas. Throughout current many years it has expanded its vary north, particularly within the northeast. its success there could have been partly owing to widespread planting of multi flora rose, a supply of favorite berries and good nest sites. Size and Shape: Northern Mockingbird is A medium-sized songbird, a bit extra slender than a thrush and with an extended tail. Mockingbirds have small heads, an extended, skinny bill with a touch of a downward curve, and lengthy legs. Their wings are quick, rounded, and broad. making the tail appear significantly lengthy in flight. Coloration Sample: Mockingbirds are general grey-brown, paler on the breast and belly, with two white wingbars on every wing. A white patch in every wing is usually seen on perched birds, and in flight these develop into massive white flashes. The white outer tail feathers are additionally flashy in flight. Habitat :Look for Northern Mockingbirds in Cities, farms, roadsides, thickets, brushy areas. Favors areas with dense low shrubs and open floor, both quick grass or open soil. thus usually widespread round suburban hedges and lawns. Additionally in lots of sorts of second progress, woodland edges, farmland. In west. usually very quite a few in desert thickets or stream sides in canyons. Behavior: The Northern Mockingbird enjoys making its presence identified. It normally sits conspicuously on excessive vegetation, fences, eaves, or phone wires, or runs and hops alongside the bottom. Discovered alone or in pairs all year long, mockingbirds aggressively chase off intruders on their territory. Feeding: Captures Insects largely whereas strolling and operating on floor. Additionally watches from low perch and flies all the way down to seize gadgets on floor under. Perches in shrubs and timber to eat berries.Northern Mockingbirds eat primarily insects in summer season however change to consuming principally fruit in fall and winter. Amongst their animal prey are beetles, earthworms, moths, butterflies, ants, bees, wasps, grasshoppers, and generally small lizards. They eat all kinds of berries, together with from decorative bushes, in addition to fruits from multi flora rose. They’ve been seen consuming sap from the cuts on lately pruned bushes. Nesting : Mockingbird Nesting begins early, by late winter in southern areas. Male sings to defend territory and attract a mate. usually leaping a number of toes within the air and flapping his wings whereas singing. Early stage of courtship entails female and male chasing one another quickly round territory. Nest: Positioned in a dense shrub or tree, normally three-10′ above the bottom. Generally decrease or increased (hardly ever as much as 60′). Nest has cumbersome basis of twigs supporting open cup of weeds, grass, leaves, lined with high-quality materials comparable to rootlets, moss, animal hair, plant down. Male builds most of basis, feminine provides most of lining. Mockingbird nests encompass useless twigs formed into an open cup, lined with grasses, rootlets, leaves, and trash, typically together with bits of plastic, aluminum foil, and shredded cigarette filters. The male constructs the twig basis whereas the feminine makes a lot of the lining. Leave a Reply
What does the "lord of the flies" symbolize? 1 Answer \| Add Yours e-martin's profile pic Posted on The symbol of the boar's head on a staff functions as a visual metaphor for the descent into bestiality on the part of Jack's group. "When Jack defies Ralph’s authority, the boys follow Jack, degenerating into a savage tribe that kills Simon and Piggy and attempts to kill Ralph, who flees from them" (eNotes). The boar's head is placed on a spear and so works as a simple indicator of the success of a hunt but also as a more complex symbolic device. Jack wants to hunt before the other boys do and his violent temperament only gains prominence as the novel goes on. Thus Jack's violent nature is symbolized, in part, by the bloody head of the boar, which is also referred to as "the lord of the flies." (Historically, the term is drawn from ancient texts and refers to Beelzebub, a Biblical figure). Jack's differences from Ralph are also expressed through the bloody boar's head, especially when we consider how the blood of the boar is used to paint the faces of Jack and his followers. In this way, the savage costumes of Jack's group become vivid signs of allegiance (to Jack and to brute violence as a means of survival and as social hierarchy determinant). Simon encounters the head of the beast in a passage that speaks to the underlying meaning not only of the boar's head on a spear but of the novel on the whole. The novel rather directly engages with the idea of how social structure is possibly the only thing between humans and savagery. Take away the threat of punishment (so that violent behavior is no longer criminal) and murder begins to seem like an inevitability. The bestiality, epitomized by the bleeding head on a spear, is actualized and acted out by Jack's group. "James Stern in a 1955 review for The New York Times Book Review wrote 'Lord of the Flies is an allegory on human society today, the novel's primary implication being that what we have come to call civilization is at best no more than skin deep'" (eNotes). The evil that they feared was lurking on the island is an evil that they brought with them. As the above passage from the novel suggests, the Beast is not an outward evil but an inward one. It is a capacity for violence and cruelty. In interviews, Golding confirms that the novel is an exploration of the human dark side and the human propensity for violence and/or savagery. However, Ralph does survive in the end. The voice of reason and compassion and, above all, civility, is not undone by the pack of blood-painted boys following Jack. While Golding's vision is perhaps bleak, it is not without hope. Interestingly, the novel's central theme when simplified in one way may be that to be civilized when presented with other options is heroic. If rationality and kindness are heroic, we might feel invited to rejoice at how these qualities have been embedded into our cultures of family and of law and order. Against our lesser nature, Golding's novel might suggest, mankind has built up a defense. By and large it seems to work. When that defense is removed, however, that lesser nature may come to dominate. *Of course, these ideas are interpretations of the text intending to be faithful to the idea of what the text and its symbols communicates. Golding's views and the views inherent in the work are presented to us for consideration and can be accepted or rejected, in part or as a whole, according to our individual thinking. We’ve answered 319,653 questions. We can answer yours, too. Ask a question
MGMT Chap 12 Home > Preview The flashcards below were created by user ndumas2 on FreezingBlue Flashcards. 1. Affirmative action 2. Age discrimination treating people differently (e.g., in hiring and firing, promotion, and compensation decisions) because of their age 3. agreeableness the degree to which someone is cooperative, polite, flexible, forgiving, good–natured, tolerant, and trusting 4. Awareness training training that is designed to raise employees’ awareness of diversity issues and to challenge the underlying assumptions or stereotypes they may have about others 5. conscientiousness the degree to which someone is organized, hardworking, responsible, persevering, thorough, and achievement oriented 6. Deep–level diversity differences such as personality and attitudes that are communicated through verbal and nonverbal behaviors and are recognized only through extended interaction with others 7. disability 8. Disability discrimination treating people differently because of their disabilities 9. disposition the tendency to respond to situations and events in a predetermined manner 10. diversity a variety of demographic, cultural, and personal differences among an organization’s employees and customers 11. Diversity audits formal assessments that measure employee and management attitudes, investigate the extent to which people are advantaged or disadvantaged with respect to hiring and promotions, and review companies’ diversity–related policies and procedures 12. Diversity pairing a mentoring program in which people of different cultural backgrounds, sexes, or races/ethnicities are paired so that they can get to know each other and change any stereotypical beliefs and attitudes 13. Emotional stability the degree to which someone is not angry, depressed, anxious, emotional, insecure, and excitable 14. extraversion the degree to which someone is active, assertive, gregarious, sociable, talkative, and energized by others 15. Glass ceiling the invisible barrier that prevents women and minorities from advancing to the top jobs in organizations 16. Openness to experience the degree to which someone is curious, broadminded, and open to new ideas, things, and experiences; is spontaneous; and has a high tolerance for ambiguity 17. Organizational plurality a work environment where (1) all members are empowered to contribute in a way that maximizes the benefits to the organization, customers, and themselves, and (2) the individuality of each member is respected by not segmenting or polarizing people on the basis of their membership in a particular group 18. personality the relatively stable set of behaviors, attitudes, and emotions displayed over time that makes people different from each other 19. Racial or ethnic discrimination treating people differently because of their race or ethnicity 20. Sex discrimination treating people differently because of their sex 21. Skills–based diversity training training that teaches employees the practical skills they need for managing a diverse work force, such as flexibility and adaptability, negotiation, problem solving, and conflict resolution 22. Social integration the degree to which group members are psychologically attracted to working with each other to accomplish a common objective 23. Surface–level diversity differences such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, and physical disabilities that are observable, typically unchangeable, and easy to measure Card Set Information MGMT Chap 12 2012-03-28 00:23:50 Chap 12 terms Show Answers: What would you like to do? Home > Flashcards > Print Preview
Start a 10-Day Free Trial to Unlock the Full Review Why Lesson Planet? Find quality lesson planning resources, fast! Share & remix collections to collaborate. Organize your curriculum with collections. Easy! Have time to be more creative & energetic with your students! Real Math Students explore careers that require math knowledge and solve real life math problems. As a class, they compare and contrast classroom math to real life math and explore the links between algebra, geometry and math skills used in school and in a career. In pairs, students complete worksheets. They play a quick response game where they list five ways a given job uses math. 5 Views 28 Downloads Resource Details 11th - 12th 3 more... Resource Type Lesson Plans 1 hr Instructional Strategy Inquiry-Based Learning Usage Permissions Fine Print Included Materials • Worksheet
Coeur d’Alene Vincent Perdue 9-22-11 Pre-Contact Traditional Diet and Health The Coeur d’Alene tribe, also known as the Schitsu’umsh, live in the region of northern Idaho and surrounding areas. They were hunter-gatherers, as the area they lived in was profuse in game and other food resources (Since 1). They regularly hunted deer and gathered roots, etc. They also entered into marriage partnerships and food exchanges among their Salish neighbors (Since 1). The Coeur d’Alene travelled to Spokane Falls to fish and trade with the Spokane. The Coeur d’Alene brought venison, which was rare in Spokane territory, and trade, for being able to fish below the falls for salmon. They would also entered into direct trade for dried salmon and bitterroot, which was scarce back home (Since 1). They also traded with Pacific Coast peoples for dentalium and abalone shells used in artistic ornaments and jewelry (Since 1). The Spokanes made seasonal rounds, as their landscape was rich in fish, game animals, berries, and roots (Since 3). The land sustained all their necessary needs of food, lodging, tools, and clothing. To access the benefit that the land provided, the Coeur d’Alene had to travel freely within this landscape. Along with their walking trails, they used curved-up and “sturgeon-nosed” pine and cedar bark canoes to navigate the lakes and rivers of this area (Since 3). They had a sophisticated knowledge of the landscape in interacting with the seasons. They knew when and where to move in order to gather roots, berries, or game animals as they became available. This was coordinated with their five seasons (Since 4). The blooming of the sunflower in the spring was the beginning of root season whereupon they would break camp along the shores of the Coeur d’Alene and Hayden Lakes and travel to the prairie country and rolling hills west and south of Hangman Creek and Tekoa Mountain (Since 4). These were the best root areas. Sixteen types of roots were dug with a curved digging stick called a pitse’ (Since 5)This tool was usually made from the wood of the serviceberry bush, with a handle of elk antler and the tip charred to make it hard (Since 5). Of the roots gathered, camas, cous, and bitterroot were the most important (Since 5). They used easily made cedar-bark baskets to gather the roots. Other baskets were made for storage and even used in cooking, by adding hot rocks to the tightly coiled waterproof basket (Since 5). Baskets of dried berries, roots, fish and meat would be placed in earthen pit caches for storage. Use of these caches provided for a diverse and balanced diet and provided sustenance during lean times (Since 6). During the spring and early summer, some families would travel to the lakes to fish for lake trout and whitefish (Since 6). April was the height of the spring fish runs. Various fishing techniques were used. For hooks they used bone or wood. Lines were of Indian hemp, which grew in abundance along the St. Joe and Coeur d’Alene Rivers (Since 6). Three pronged spears, dip nets of hemp twine, and willow constructed traps were extensively used. During the summer and early fall, was the time of the salmon runs. Families would travel to Spokane Falls or even further up the Columbia River. It was a time of trading and social intertribal meetings (Since 10). Late fall was the season of intense hunting of deer, elk, and bear (Since 11). A common method of hunting was driving the deer into a lake where others were waiting (Since 11). From the shore or in canoes, they would spear, club, shoot arrow, and drown their prey. Along with fish, large quantities of meat would be dried and stored in earthen caches for later use. Fish and fresh meat was roasted. If dried it was prepared by boiling (Since 11). Bows for hunting were made with dogwood. The short bows with three foot arrows made of serviceberry wood were extremely powerful. Thought not accurate for long distance, they were very suitable for the forested mountains from where they hunted (Since 12). Late fall was the time for the last digging of roots. Water potatoes were gathered along the waterways and marshes (Since 12). During the winter, families would travel to their winter camps or villages. The processing of foods such as berries, nuts and roots, were done with mortars and pestles made from round river stones (Cordage 1). As can be seen, their life-style was far from sedentary. Plus, the rich diversity of foods, kept the tribe healthy. Post-Contact Health and Diet Today the Coeur d’Alene people’s health is ravaged with food-related illnesses (Hand 1). Diabetes, obesity, high-blood pressure, are, just some of the illnesses due to a diet of highly refined and processed foods. Fried foods, is one of the main contributors to this problem. This problem, though not unique to just Indians, is made more problematic by variables unique to reservations (Hand 2). Many are located where access to large grocery stores and supermarkets are low. Unproductive land pervades where most reservations are located and the arable land, which is available, is leased to non-natives who are involved with large scale mono-culture of commodity agriculture (Hand 2). These tribes usually have limited access to land for traditional gardens. Therefore traditional garden food production is very limited with no control of imported foods into their communities. Food Activist of the Coeur d’Alene tribe are working to remedy this dire situation (Hand 2). The cultural importance of traditional food and its production is being taught to the younger generation, some who have never hunted, or dug for camas roots (Hand 3). According to these activists, losing their food traditions is the same as losing their identity, more damaging culturally than even the health problems associated with highly refined food ingestion. Through recognizing the cultural importance of food and taking control of their diets, the hope is to reactivate agricultural traditions and become more food self-sufficient, to have a connection with the land and the foods they produce (Hand 3). For many Americans, including Indigenous peoples, poor health is a severe problem due to lifestyle choices. Educating ourselves and deprogramming our consuming tendencies, can help bring about a healthy lifestyle without the diseases prevalent by consuming food industry products (Mihesuah introduction). Higher activity levels and nutritious foods, preferably self-grown is the core to the solution. Increased awareness by many Indigenous peoples has led to many, planting, cultivating, and processing their own foods. Our health is dependent on exchanging bad habits for those that provide real sustenance, for mind, body, and spirit. Cordage People-Coeur d’Alene TribeVillages on the Rivers. (accessed September 19, 2011), http:// imnh.isu.edu/Exhibits/Online/CordageDiscoveryBox/SubMenu_3. Hand, Guy. Coeur d’Alene Tribe: Reconnects To Food Traditions. September 16, 2011. http://nwfoodnews.com/2011/09/16/coeur-dalene-tribe-reconnects-with food -traditions. Mihesuah, Devon, A. Recovering Our Ancestors’ Gardens. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005. Since Time Immemorial: Pre-Contact Society. (accessed September 5, 2011). http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~rfrey/PDF/401/CdA%Pre-Contact.pdf.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011 Comparing MOOCs ~ no two alike, about how they evolved and extending the comparison / discussion to large open courses such as MIT’s OpenCourseWare and Stanford’s Massive AI Course, by Michael Atkisson at Ways of Knowing, briefly excerpted with exhortations to click through and read the entire piece + bibliography. Size matters but is not everything, nor, according to some, is it even the most important element, which might (my best guess) be interactive, distributed networks operating according to connectivist principles. I've been told before by mooc-urus that I was wrong so could be again. What is a MOOC? Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are large-scale online courses (in the thousands of participants) where an expert or group of experts from a particular field both 1. create the large draw to the course, and 2. facilitate a multi-week series of interactive lectures and discussion forms on critical issues from that field. Participants are expected to self-organize, to share and discuss the course material, and to create and publish new artifacts that represent their learning. Additionally, MOOC participation is recorded and published openly so that those who come upon it later may follow peripherally. Where did MOOCs Come From? This is best answered in the words of David Cormier and George Siemens, “The term was coined in response to Siemens and Downes’s 2008 “Connectivism and Connective Knowledge” course. An initial group of twenty-five participants registered and paid to take the course for credit. The course was then opened up for other learners to participate: course lectures, discussion forums, and weekly online sessions were made available to nonregistered learners. This second group of learners–those in The Open Course who wanted to participate but weren’t interested in course credit–numbered over 2,300. The addition of these learners significantly enhanced the course experience, since additional conversations and readings extended the contributions of the instructors.” (2010, p. 32). Since 2008, several other MOOCs have developed.... What is a MOOC Experience? The scale of interaction among MOOC participants is like that of massively multiplayer online games, such as World of Warcraft, but where as in the gaming environment large numbers of people come together online to play, self-organize, develop skill, strategize as a group, and execute strategies, MOOCs, on the other hand, facilitate learning about or the development of a particular knowledge domain at a participation scale ripe for diversity....Other ways to experience a MOOC are to lurk or to follow the course after-the-fact.... there were lots of ways to participate... I thought it was remarkable how much I felt that I was there in the class....felt immersed through my after-the-fact peripheral participation. Is MIT’s OpenCourseWare a MOOC? The short answer is no. I again point to Cormier and Siemens: “In an open course, participants engage at different levels of the educator’s practice, whether that be helping to develop a course or participating in the live action of the course itself. This is distinctly different from the idea of open in the open content movement, where open is used in the sense of being free from the intellectual property stipulations that restrict the use and reuse of content” (2010, p. 32). Though MIT’s OpenCourseWare is revolutionary, making content publicly available is not enough because it only focuses on the content.... MOOCs seem to differ from Stanford’s classes in these principle ways (now read the entire piece online, bookmark it, save the bibliography) llane said... We had a long Google Group discussion about this in the EduMOOC, and I disagree precisely because there are so many ways now to connect and turn any major distribution of content into a MOOC with students leading the way. Why should the instructor(s) provide the social setting for collaboratively examining the materials? Couldn't any student do that? Does everything have to center on the instructor? Is the real accusation here that there is no "instruction" if the prof doesn't set up a forum? I thought the idea was that we don't need a central font of knowledge in a connectivist world. Also, if "students" do not take control of this, we will have the expansion of companies (I'm thinking Academic Earth, but there will be more) who simply repackage lectures from places like MIT and offer a virtual space for the students to study. We can do that ourselves. Now, I am partly playing devil's advocate here, because I personally am not at all sure that the instructor shouldn't be central to what we call a course, whether it's a MOOC or something else. But I can certainly see how valuable collaborative experiences could easily be built by others around content. Vanessa said... Hi Lisa ~ my apologies but it's been a long day and mental fatigue may be setting in. Perhaps you can clarify a few points. Who are "we"? I was in EduMOOC too. What was the title of the thread? What does "this" refer to? The article itself or my comments? Both? Just parts of the article? Which part or parts? I picked this particular article not because I agreed with every single point but as a resource because it covered a lot of ground fairly clearly and came with a bibliography. My own guess, "interactive, distributed networks operating according to connectivist principles," references neither instructor/s nor students. btw I'm the one Vance quoted in Jeff's MOOCast (in reference to Stanford course) as saying that if why don't students just take the initiative and create their own networks Occupy the MOOC! llane said... Hi! Yeah, I'm fuzzy too...I found the thread earlier but was afraid to post it because it seems they're taking it down, but it was the discussion that started with needing to redefine what a MOOC is ( By "this" I meant the big issue of whether certain courses are MOOCs, and how they're defined. I remember the discussion at eduMOOC seemed to "end" with the last Google + webcast (, which must be where Vance quoted you? In which case, my reasoning derives from yours, which is pretty cool! Vanessa said... Yes, the gradcast ~ had to go back and double check. Osvaldo (whose background in physics means he's got the math) mentioned taking the Stanford course to study how it worked and observe dynamics. Related: Students becoming curators and Towards Free Learning Opportunities for All Students Worldwide by Wayne MacIntosh. I post occasional links at adj-l (Contingent Academic list) about open and self-paced online learning and how they are going to be higher ed game changers ~ teaching moments and reminders to get them thinking about adapting. The effect is about the same as what I imagine emptying a bag of rats into a sorority slumber party would be. No evolutionary biologists in the bunch. I just responded to latest round of "Eek! Rats destroying higher education" by posting the EDT link about global free learning What's this about the Google group coming down? The other groups set up for moocs were left up. That sounds like another good reason for individuals to create networks and not leave it up to the organizers (or institutions). The Student Retention thread morphed into "What is a MOOC?" past the halfway point (pretty much upon the announcement of the Stanford course. Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Elite Dangerous Wiki 1,286pages on this wiki Add New Page Comments0 Share There are multiple sentient species in the Milky Way galaxy. Of those, only three are currently known: Humans, Guardians, and Thargoids. Life in the Galaxy Edit David Braben said if you look at galactic history and life on Earth, as a percentage of time it has taken hundreds of millions of years to evolve and a small number of million of years to evolve sentient intelligent life. By the 21st century humans are not a space faring race yet. So even by the 34th century it's still a tiny slice of time. You can imagine different populations spotting up and you wonder how long we will last which is slightly depressing, but you know we might go beyond. The point I'm trying to make is the chance of two races that are at the point of being able to interact whilst both are still alive is actually small. This is the basis for the story, because the beauty and interesting thing with things like artifacts and unknown probes is that it creates wonderful speculation and that great feeling of discovery. There's a lot of interesting things in the history of the game such as the Thargoids which are mysterious and very dangerous, that have been in previous games, even interacting with them and then suddenly disappeared. So there are a lot of interesting mysteries such as the alien ships with hyperdiction. In the previous games the Thargoids have been a very powerful race. We don't know whether the sightings are real or manufactured. We don't know how peaceful they are so we have to see how that pans out. This is perhaps the first story where millions people interact with the same story. Where people on all the different platforms are cooperating or competing with each other in the same servers and story. How the story unfolds is determined by how players react and what they do.[1] Known SpeciesEdit Human Male Human Female Humans are the most well known species with a robust physiology. They are bipedal mammals and generally strong, fast and agile. They reach physical maturity at around 18 years old. Then they enter the workforce or continue their education for a profession. The average human lifespan is naturally about 79 years, but advanced biotechnology and cybernetics has substantially increased human lifespans. Humans primarily reside in a colonized region colloquially known as "the Bubble", which contains about 19,000 star systems. They originated from the single-star system Sol and the terrestrial planet Earth in the Orion-Cygnus Arm of the Milky Way. As it has been throughout recorded history, mankind is not very prone to agreement over ethical, political, religious, and economic views. It remains this way today in the 34th Century, with the realm of human-colonized space held by numerous groups under various ideals, some benevolent and others not quite as much. There are three major factions known as galactic superpowers and several Powers in human-colonized space. The Federation is based in Sol and is a representative-electing democracy. The Empire is based from the system of Achenar and is a hereditary monarchy. The Alliance is based from the system of Alioth and is a confederation of independent systems working cooperatively. Powers are powerful individuals or organizations who strive to control inhabited space for their own agendas in Powerplay. Each Power can control a vast amount of systems that is aligned to both major and minor factions. In addition to the three galactic superpowers and the powers, there are also many minor factions. The faction with the highest influence within the system will usually be the controlling faction of that system. System control falls on the faction that owns the controlling station. The government of a system is ruled by a controlling faction and if that faction is an anarchy no laws will apply in the system. Guardians Ancient Ruins Ancient Ruins of the Guardians The Guardians are an alien species that are extinct. David Braben confirmed that 1 to 2 million years ago they went extinct and people are discovering the exact reasons why that happened.[1] Their ruins were first discovered in the Synuefe XR-H D11-102 system on October 27, 3302 by CMDR XDeath. They used artificial intelligence, neural implants and the monolith network as the heart of the Guardians' society. The monolith network was used for practically all of their society's communication. The formal basis for the Guardians' communication behaviors was visual rather than verbal, a distinction that arose very early in their development. The Guardians' written language consisted of glyphs that evolved from a form of sign language that the Guardians developed while hunting to communicate stealthily. The Thargoids are an insectoid alien species who are said to originate outside of known space, perhaps existing in a parallel universe or spacial dimension. They are very hostile and aggressive and have not been interested in diplomatic relations to date. Not much information has been obtained about Thargoid society or culture. The only known fact is that the society is hive based, with no sense of close family. It is thought that the society is divided into colonies, possibly along the lines of ant colonies. On January 5, 3303, Commander DP Sayre reported the first known encounter with an Unknown Ship; these ships are believed to be related to Thargoids, but no connection has been confirmed yet. Gallery Edit References Edit 1. 1.0 1.1 Interview with David Braben - PAX East 2017 - Elite Dangerous Ad blocker interference detected!
The Cacique Lempira, Señor de las Montañas biosphere reserve (Honduras) This reserve is located in the western part of the country and covers a total area of 168,634 hectares. The area forms part of the ecological region of pine-oak forests and humid tropical forest and hosts a large number of endangered and endemic species. The high rate of endemism among the wildlife has led Conservation International to designate the eco-region an Endemic Bird Area (EBA). The total population of the biosphere reserve is over 150 000 inhabitants. The predominant economic activity is traditional agriculture (87%), with the main crops being corn and beans, and increasingly coffee. Tourism is promoted in the city of Lempira, which receives local and international tourists in growing numbers. Back to Galleries Tags for photo galleries:
Filters: Your search found 9 results. Earth and space science Resource Type: Instructional Strategies: Problem-based learning/solving real-world problems Sort by: Per page: Now showing results 1-9 of 9 In this problem-based learning activity, learners explore the significance of sunspots on the Earth's climate. Sunspots are temporary phenomena on the photosphere of the Sun that appear visibly as dark spots compared to surrounding regions. During... (View More) Temperature increases associated with global climate change have led to concerns that infectious diseases common in warmer tropical and subtropical climates may become more common in warming middle altitudes. In this problem-based learning module,... (View More)
Wednesday, October 24, 2007 Erick's First Growing Post 3.1/2 + 1/6 OR 1/4 + 7/12 As you can see by my diagrams, 7/12 plus 1/4 is clearly bigger than 1/2 plus 1/6. If you use clocks than 1/2 plus 1/6 = 40 minutes, and if using clocks again, 1/4 plus 7/12 = 50 minutes. 4.Erick's Bike Race 5.This bike race has all of the proper markings and it has all of the kilometers marked.It is also very accurate!! 6.You should really try out this fraction game!!! Heres the link There are a series of levels and questions that you have to answer. Each level gets more and more difficult. There may be only 5 levels but it is a load of fun!!!! Go back to your picture of the bike race. Tell us all about how you calculated the Km positions at a twelfth, sixth and a third. did you see any patterns? For a third, I divided it by 3. For a sixth i divided it by 6 and for a twelfth i divided it by 12. The pattern is that Those numbers are all in common. Because half of 6 is 3. 3 multiplied by 2 is 6. And 6 times 2 is 12. And 12 divided by 2 is 6. 8.What are 2 different ways to find a quarter and 3/4 of a number. Use one of the following 16, 22, or 110? To figure out 1/4 of 16 you must divide 16 by four. That gives you 4. To find out what 3/4's of 16 is you must divide by four than multiply by three because there is a three in 3/4' 9.Is this equal or different..... 35/70 and 1/2 What is 70 Divided by 2? 35!!! And we all know what One Half Is!!!! Those Fractions Are Very EqUaL!!!!! They are the same!!!! Jordan817 said... This comment has been removed by the author. Jordan817 said... I like the way you solved all of the question's. You could have improved on making you pictures better and leaving a little more information on some questions. I give you a 31/35
Wednesday, August 27, 2008 Phase Equilibria Tutorial I created a tutorial which describes phase behavior of a system consisting of three substances: hydrogen, helium, and boron. The main objective of this tutorial is to aid in discovery of how much, if any, boron condenses out of the gaseous phase. The same methods used in this tutorial may also be used to explore the vaporization of boron. Please note that more work may need to be done on Appendix A, and possibly other parts. I value comments and suggestions. The link is here: Hopefully this will be helpful to the open source Polywell. Monday, August 4, 2008 Book list Here are a number of books that I own, and their supposed relation to the Polywell concept. Some of the relations are a stretch. Tadmor, Z., Gogos, C. Principles of Polymer Processing, 2nd Ed. Wiley, NY. 2006 Relevance: Extruders are discussed in this tome, so this knowledge may be useful for transporting Boron. Fogler, Scott. Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering. 4th Ed. Pearson Education, 2006 Relevance: There is an interesting parallel between Chemical Kinetics and Nuclear Reaction Kinetics Abrahamowitz, M. Stegun, I. Handbook of Mathematical Functions. Dover Publications 1965 Relevance: This book is from another era, but it has solutions to a variety of differential equations. Israelvachvili, J. Intermolecular and Surface Forces. 2nd Ed. Academic Press. 1992 Relevance: This book discusses coulombic forces, but a lot of other stuff too. Zubrick, James. The Organic Chem Lab Survival Manual. 6th Ed. Wiley, New York. 2004 Relevance: Basic laboratory skills are a must when generating any sort of feedstock Wooton. Beckenback, Fleming. Modern Analytic Geometry. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1972 Relevance: This is a good place to start to think spatially. Questions related to magnetic field distributions may begin to be answered. Vectors included. Krall, N., Trivelpiece, A. Principles of Plasma Physics. San Francisco Press. San Francisco, 1986 Relevance: This is an excellent reference for the study of Plasma Physics. It is a little advanced however, so a mathematical methods course may be required. Chen, Francis. Introduction to Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Vol: 1, 2nd ed. Plenum Press, New York, NY, 1984 Relevance: This is a commonly used textbook in the plasma physics schools Bittencourt, J.A., Fundamentals of Plasma Physics, 3rd ed., Springer, New York, 2004 Relevance: This a good place to start learning plasma physics. It is not nearly as scary as the text by Krall. Ida, Nathan. Engineering Electromagnetics, 2nd Ed., Springer, New York, 2004 Relevance: This is prerequisite for learning plasma physics. Many of the Maxwell Equations are discussed here. However, for a complete study, one may also want to consult electrodynamics. See the on-line book, Electromagnetic Field Theory by Bo Thide. ( Callister, W. Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction, 6th Ed. Wiley, New York, NY., 2003 Relevance: Every system atrophies. Welty et. al, Fundamentals of Momentum, Heat, and Mass Transfer, 4th Ed. Wiley, New York, NY, 2001 Relevance: This is an elementary and practical understanding of transport phenomena. Seader, J., Henley, E. Separation Process Principles, Wiley, New York, NY, 1998 Relevance: Have you ever wanted to have a chemistry lab on a large scale? This may be useful for purifying boron? Riedel, S., Nilsson, J. Electric Circuits, 6th Ed. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1999 Relevance: This is obvious. We will be dealing with electricity. Tipler, P. Physics: For Scientists and Engineers (Vol 3: Modern Physics: Quantum Mechanics, Relativity, and The Structure of Matter), 4th Ed. W. H. Freeman., New York, NY, 1990 Relevance: Strange things occur at small scales. Tipler, P. Physics: For Scientists and Engineers (Vol 2: Electricity and Magnatism), 4th Ed. W. H. Freeman., New York, NY, 1990 Relevance: This is a good step towards understanding the behaviour in the reactor. Tipler, P. Physics: For Scientists and Engineers (Vol 1: Mechanics, Oscillations and Waves, Thermodynamics), 4th Ed. W. H. Freeman., New York, NY, 1990 Silberberg, M. Chemistry: The Molecular Nature of Matter and Change. 3rd Ed. Mc-Graw Hill., New York, NY, 2003 Relevance: A good source for looking up odd things that are forgotten. Hornback, J. Organic Chemistry. Thomson Learning. Belmont, CA. 1998 Relevance: Boron Chemistry is similar to Carbon Chemistry. Davis, Stephen R. C++ for Dummies. 3rd Ed. IDG Books, Foster City, CA 1998 Relevance: Virtual Polywell, Process Controls Jones, B. Aitken, P. Sams Teach Yourself C in 21 Days, 6th Ed. Sams Publishing, Indianapolis, IN, 2003 Relevance: Virtual Polywell, Process Controls Tester, J. Modell, M. Thermodynamics and Its Applications, 3rd Ed. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1997 Relevance: Boron, Hydrogen, and Helium Phase Equilibria, Electrochemistry – D2O splitting Prausnitz, J., Lichtenthaler, R., Azevedo, E. Molecular Thermodynamics and Fluid Phase Equilibria, 3rd Ed. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1999 Relevance: Boron, Hydrogen, and Helium Phase Equilibria Sandler, S. Chemical, Biochemical, and Engineering Thermodynamics, 4th Ed., Wiley, New York, NY, 2006 Relevance: Boron, Hydrogen, and Helium Phase Equilibria Cengel, Y. Boles, M. Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach, 4th Ed. Mc-Graw Hill, New York, NY, 2002 Relevance: Prometheus Potter, M. Somerton, C. Thermodynamics for Engineers (Schaum’s Outlines), Mc-Graw Hill, New York, NY, 1993 Relevance: Prometheus Winnick, J. Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics, Wiley, New York, NY, 1997 Relevance: Boron, Hydrogen, and Helium Phase Equilibria Laidler, K., Meiser, J., Sanctuary, B. Physical Chemistry, 4th Ed., Hougton Mifflin, Boston, MA, 2003 Relevance: Boron, Hydrogen, and Helium Phase Equilibria Chapra, S., Canale, R. Numerical Methods for Engineers, 4th Ed. Mc-Graw Hill, New York, NY, 2002 Relevance: Virtual Polywell Gerald, Wheatley. Applied Numerical Analysis, 7th Ed. Pearson Education, New York, NY, 2004 Relevance: Virtual Polywell Bird, R., Stewart, W., Lightfoot, E. Transport Phenomena, 2nd Ed, Wiley, New York, NY, 2002 Relevance: This is a slightly more advanced treatment of heat, momentum, and mass transfer. Seborg, D., Edgar, T., Mellichamp, D. Process Dynamics and Control, 2nd Ed, Wiley, New York, NY, 2004 Relevance: for keeping the Polywell reactor running smoothly. Moore, J., Weatherford, L. Decision Modeling: With Microsoft Excel, 6th Ed. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2001 Relevance: what it the best way to get organized when we go big? Peters, M., Timmerhaus, K., West, R. Plant Design and Economics for Chemical Engineers, 5th Ed. Mc-Graw Hill., New York, NY, 2003 Relevance: how much does it cost to pursue this project? Perry, R., Green, D. Perry’s Chemical Engineer’s Handbook, 7th Ed. Mc-Graw Hill, New York, NY, 1997 Relevance: the Polywell reactor setup would be very much like a chemical plant. Axelrod, R., Cooper, C. The St. Martin’s Guide to Writing, 6th Ed. Bedford/St. Martins, Boston, MA, 2001 Relevance: do you want people to believe you? Markel, M. Technical Communication, 7th Ed., Bedford/St. Martins, Boston, MA, 2004 Relevance: do you want people to believe you? Alred, G., Brushaw, C., Oliu, W. Handbook of Technical Writing, 7th Ed. Bedford/St. Martins, Boston, MA, 2003 Relevance: do you want people to believe you? Mankiw, N. Principles of Macroeconomics, 3rd Ed. Thompson-South-Western, Mason, OH, 2003 Relevance: how is the market behaving? How does my project float around it? Peters and Timmerhaus could help compliment this book. Stewart, J. Calculus, 4th Ed. Brooks/Cole, Pacific Grove, CA, 1999 Relevance: So I wanted to do vector Calculus but… Edwards, C., Penney, D. Differential Equations and Boundary Value Problems: Computing and Modeling, 3rd Ed., Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2004 Relevance: Them Equations look funny, are there any analytical solutions? Thompson, S. Gardner, M. Calculus Made Easy, St. Martins Press, New York, NY 1998 Relevance: So I wanted to do vector Calculus but… Saxon, J. Geometry, Trigonometry, Algebra III: An Incremental Development, Saxon Publishers, Norman, OK, 1985 Relevance: This is useful to have in the toolbox, as are all books on this subject Jaeger, L. Cartesian Tensors in Engineering Science, Pergamon Press, London, England, 1966 Relevance: to help with the transport book, and electromagnetics book Hibbeler, R, Engineering Mechanics: Statics, 10th Ed., Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, Relevance: to protect people from dynamics. Oxlade, C., Stockley, C., Wertheim, J. The Usborne Illustrated Dictionary of Physics: The facts you need to know at a glance, Usborne Publishing, London, England, 1986 Relevance: this is handy as a physics reference Chandler, D. Introduction to Modern Statistical Mechanics, Oxford University Press, New York, NY 1987 Relevance: helpful with plasma physics, but mainly the equilibrium case Huang, K. Statistical Mechanics, Wiley, New York, NY, 1965 Relevance: helpful with plasma physics Parker, S. Eyewitness Science: Electricity, Dorling Kindersley, New York, NY, 1992 Relevance: a layman’s introduction to electricity. This is a kids’ book. Rockwell, T. Reactor Shielding Design Manual, Von Nostrand, Princeton, NJ, 1956 Relevance: be safe Epstein, L., Relativity Visualized, Insight Press, San Francisco, CA, 1997 Relevance: A great introduction to relativity Hawking, S. A Brief History of Time, Bantam Books, New York, NY, 1996 Relevance: A curious science book. Farlow, Stanley J., Partial Differential Equations for Scientists and Engineers, Mineola, NY, 1973 Relevance: A differential equation book that is arguably easier to understand than Edward’s and Penny, but it is lacking in computer applications Frenkel, D., Smit, B., Understanding Molecular Simulation: From Algorithms to Applications, 2nd Ed., Academic Press, San Diego, CA, 2002 Relevance: It is curious that modeling molecular interactions or plasma interactions is a similar feat Shilov, Georgi E., Elementary Real and Complex Analysis, Dover, Mineola, NY, 1973 Relevance: So the Calculus Shilov, Georgi E., Linear Algebra, Dover, Mineola, NY, 1977 Relevance: for Plasma Physics Strogatz, Steven H., Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos: With Applications to Physics, Biology, and Engineering, Perseus Books, Cambridge, MA, 1994 Relevance: Questionable Roman, Steven., Advanced Linear Algebra, 3rd Ed. Springer, NY, 2008 Relevance: for Plasma Physics Roman, Steven.,Writing Excel Macros with VBA, 2nd Ed., O’Reilly, 2002 Relevance: for making Excel do things it would not normally do Tenenbaum, M., Pollard, H., Ordinary Differential Equations, Dover, Mineola, NY, 1963 Relevance: Everything changes, hopefully on due to one factor Kubo, R., Toda, M., Hashitsume, N., Statistical Physics II: Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics, 2nd Ed., Springer, Berlin, 1998 Relevance: so the plasma we are dealing with is not at equilibrium. Moui comprende? Wednesday, April 23, 2008 Non-Maxwellian Distribution Apparently I have fallen into the trap of applying the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution to a system that doesn't follow it, due to various constraints that I don't fully understand. That said, the term "ergodic" does not apply to the Polywell concept since it is not in an equilibrium state. Chandler speaks of a quasi-ergodic case where a certain energy barrier prevents every energy state from being reached (p. 162). If every energy state was reached, we would be at equilibrium. According to Chandler, it is possible to apply Non-Boltzmann sampling to get around the problem of lack of ergodicity (p. 169). - A novice just trying to get started Chandler, David; Introduction to Modern Statistical Mechanics, Oxford University Press, 1987 Saturday, March 1, 2008 My Understanding of the Polywell Concept Bussard’s Polywell concept is a theoretically new way of producing power, but that is the only thing alien about it. In a physical sense, it is merely a construct of both mass and energy streams. While the conservation of mass and the conservation of energy is not respected in the Polywell itself, it is respected everywhere else. However, this lack of respect should not be a hindrance since nuclear reactions are understood just as chemical reactions are. In an analogous sense, the Bussard Polywell, and its auxiliary equipment, is just a chemical plant. Raw materials come in, are purified, proceed to a reactor, and through a separation process produce both waste and product streams. The figure below shows a simplified model of the Polywell system. The mass stream containing raw materials can consist either a mixture containing the reactive fuel, or a purified form of the reactive fuel. The choice would depend on economies of scale, and in-house technological advantages. In short, the choice would depend on economics. The reactive fuel itself would be boron, in the ideal case, since it would produce no lasting radioactive byproducts, as Dr. Bussard suggested. Depending on the purity of the raw materials, the priming stage may range anywhere separation equipment to a unit to ensure that the reactor feed is at the correct temperature and pressure. In the latter case, no purification would be needed. In the former case, the separation equipment would need to be combined with equipment to ensure the correct temperature and pressure of the reactor feed. Around the reactor itself, a vacuum pumping system would be necessary. However, it is not shown on the diagram. It is important though that the net mass efflux of air into and out of the reactor be zero. In the ideal case of course, this steady state condition would be maintained at very low concentrations of air to avoid interactions of the reaction within the reactor with the air surrounding the reactor. In the post processing stage, products from the reactor would need to be dealt with. Doing this, would require a second set of separation equipment to extract unreacted portions of the reactor feed from reacted portions. In addition, the waste would need to be conditioned such that it is safe to release to the environment or sell as an end product. In the case of boron as a reactor feed, the waste would be helium. This of course has a wide range of uses ranging from balloon animals to cryogenics. In other cases, when deuterium and tritium are used as a reactor feed neutrons will need to be dealt with. It should be noted that understanding the behavior inside the Polywell is of critical importance to understand the flow rates exhibited in all other stages of the system. In the chemical plant sense, we would need to know the kinetics of the reaction. However, since we are dealing with a nuclear reaction, kinetics is instead called neutronics. That is we need to know how much of the reactor feed is converted during one pass through the reactor by understanding the nuetronics. To do this, we need to predict the number of collisions of the particles if we assume that fusion only occurs during collisions. Therefore, we need to know the dynamics of the system. Rather than running endless experiments, it would be useful to understand mathematically this behavior so to limit the number of experiments needed. Allen and Tildesley suggest the following algorithm for understanding the relation of computer simulations with experimental results. The figure below presents a modification of a flow chart given in chapter one of their book. Here is the reason for the relations in the diagram: When we consider plasma within the Polywell, we can analyze it in two ways. Either we can view it experimentally or we can make some sort of hypothesis about how it will behave and make use of the hypothesis. The hypothesis is normally used in one of two ways: either by simulating the position and movement of each particle within the plasma over time, or by predicting the number of positions that all particles can exist in along with the probability of existence of each position in a time where all positions are realized. Assuming these two methods are equivalent is saying that plasma is ergodic. In the first case, the simulation is a dynamics simulation. It is similar to molecular dynamics. One program that does molecular dynamics is LAMMPS. In the second case, theories are made to describe the behavior. The theory just described for this case is statistical mechanics. One important daughter of statistical mechanics is the Monte Carlo simulation. As the name implies, Monte Carlo is a random simulation that generates possibilities for positions of the particles. One should note that a Monte Carlo simulation is computationally easier than tracking the position of countless particles as in the dynamics simulation. However, due to its removal from the reality of the situation that dynamics simulations more easily entail, the predictions that are produced may not always be needed. What is needed for statistical mechanics to work, and therefore Monte Carlo to work, is the correct partition function describing the number of positions and the probabilities of these positions. Monte Carlo, and its parent statistical mechanics, must therefore be compared to the dynamics simulation. However, the dynamics simulation may not reflect reality either, so it must therefore be compared to experimental data. One must note that the data from the experiment may not reveal everything about the behavior of the system itself. In the case of movement of electrons within the plasma, one cannot measure both the position and the velocity accurately. In measuring one, the other is perturbed by the act of performing the measurement. This lack of ability of measuring both quantities accurately is known as the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. However, if a dynamics simulation can model the velocities and positions of electrons, and these dynamics can be related to a reading from experimental data that is dependent on these dynamics, then some idea of the positions and velocities can be deduced. One should note though that this idea may not be exact since many measurements such as temperature and pressure are based on averages over all particles. From statistics, one realizes that the average can be the same while the distribution of the velocities and positions changes. Statistical mechanics can help with this problem since it can be related to dynamics simulations. However, a statistical mechanics model may be related to a dynamics model and even match the experimental results but still not match the exact positions and velocities of the actual system. I cannot give the solution to the answer this problem. However, it is likely that it does not need to be known. I believe only the probability of collisions of particles needs to be known. M.P Allen and T.J Tildesley; Computer Simulation of Liquids, Oxford University Press, 1989 Inspired by: Chandler, David; Introduction to Modern Statistical Mechanics, Oxford University Press, 1987
Architecture: Will the Earth move anyone? The Earth Centre was supposed to be a Millennium landmark, an ecological glass house to bring the rainforest to Doncaster. But the party spirit may not survive electric rickshaws, airline loos, and lessons in sustainable development. Click to follow The Independent Culture All over Britain, lottery-funded tourist centres and modest museums in the middle of business parks herald the dawning of the New Millennium. But from Earth in Edinburgh, to the Eden Project in Cornwall, from the Deep marine complex in Kingston-upon-Hull to the Centre for Life in Newcastle, the Millennium projects are in trouble. Within a year of opening, all of them have scaled down their original architecturally exciting schemes. With lottery grants dependent on matching funds from commercial sponsors, the dreams often turn into mere pedestrian bricks and mortar. Pity the poor organisers of the Earth Centre, outside Doncaster, who had to kick-start sustainable eco-chic ideas in a closed-down coal mine. They had to reject would-be sponsors who were not squeaky clean enough for the greens, as well as become the environmentally-friendly model for the construction and landscape industry. Even common-or-garden fly-spray in the organic gardens has been replaced by marigold, mint and basil borders. The Earth Centre nestles in the old slag heap left by two closed coal mines, Cadeby and Denaby, outside Doncaster in south Yorkshire. It looks green enough, with 35 acres of expensive top-soil covering the heap, a forest woodland taking root and latticed domes as plant-climbing frames to make the featureless landscape more interesting. There is an organic food restaurant, the Planet Earth visitor centre and a water purification plant for waste water, with aquatic plants growing in it. The 400-acre site measures up to the chief executive Jonathan Smale's definition of sustainability, which he explains as "finding a way to live on this planet, that enables human development but which doesn't irrevocably damage systems, so that the generations coming after us have the same basic rights." Put that together with the Millennium Commission's tough remit to find 50/50 funding and maintain visitor levels without dumbing down, and you will see how hard the Earth Centre has battled to get off the drawing board. And will it attract the projected 500,000 visitors in its first year? Green tourists arriving by train, bike or on foot will be rewarded with a 40 per cent discount on their pounds 4.59 entrance fee. But motorists will pay the full fee, and be whisked from the car park by the bike train - the first electrically assisted, pedal-powered rickshaw in Europe. On launch day this week, it had broken down. The newly installed waterless loos weren't working either. "It's so powerful that it would suck you into the sewage system and blow you away," Mr Smales explained when he refused to let me visit this particular tourist attraction. The waterless lavatories are billed by Earth Centre spin doctors as second only to the "amazing rotating Planet Earth Galleries" and the solar-powered lamps. Throw all the superlatives you like at the Earth Centre attractions - and they did, from "futuristic, surprising, magical and breathtaking in content" - and what visitors are left with is a water purification plant, designed by Will Alsop, which recycles water into ponds to sustain plant life, and a featureless wedge of a limestone building, tucked into the disused colliery, by Richard Feilden and Peter Clegg. These are the amazing rotating Planet Earth Galleries .Inside two exhibition halls, two 20-minute shows are staged. If Stephen Hawking is to be believed, two kilograms of matter hurtling about in the void exploded in a flash of light with a bang big enough to form our little planet Earth, but the sound and light show played out on glass panels in the centre of Planet Earth sounds a trifle subdued. The Earth music is played up from the floor in solemn, E-flat pieces from Bach and Mahler, while the outer fringes have shrill, F-Flat sounds accompanying images of pollution. This is actually a crowd-control device to keep visitors moving into the middle, away from the fringes and on towards the shop. Planet Earth will have a dark, subterranean feel - a bit like being underground in a coal mine - and the acoustics have a nine-second echo like that in a cathedral. The most remarkable feature of the down-to-earth building is a labyrinth floor which regulates the temperature of the building without energy loss by drawing in air through vents, warming - or cooling - it, then recirculating the air. If the system works - and the Romans pioneered the idea - why does this Millennium landmark project open next Easter, only to close six months later for the winter? In The Future Works newsletter, Jonathan Smales explains that the Earth Centre exists to help individuals make decisions, however small, that will make a significant and positive impact on the future. "Our role is to show that people can influence the world around them, and that global environmental problems like climate change and the loss of biological diversity are not abstract concepts but real issues that relate to their lives." So why don't they stay open in the winter and show us how to keep warm and dry without puncturing the ozone layer? What the Earth Centre needed was a big, state-of-the-art green-house with climate controls. Ironic, really, because that is exactly how it started out, with a huge, glazed Ark spreading its butterfly wings of solar-powered cells over the slag heaps. The Ark, by Future Systems, was designed to use sunlight to create an indoor rainforest and replicate different climate zones. One of the first projects to apply successfully for lottery money (pounds 50m), the Earth Centre started off as a swan but ended as an ugly duckling. So far the Millennium Commission have only given them pounds 20m, so now everyone talks about the 66-acre development as Phase One. Phase Two will be Alsop's lopsided, crinkly tower, 28 metres high with a silicone glass skin over steel. Set to open in April 2000, the tower will house the "new Millennium cities show" which raised pounds 4.5m from the EU regional development fund. The Earth Centre is not so much recycled as reinvented. Acid rain couldn't have been more destructive to the Ark than the tinkering about with the original concept. Jonathan Smales still insists that the Ark will be built in Phase Three, but can't say when that will be. The "techno organic architecture" that was to be an ecological masterpiece, will instead house a convention centre servicing the business park office blocks and new hotels also planned. The centre's new MD, Alastair Creamer from London's Chicken Shed theatre company for children, is full of optimism. "This is a must-see attraction," he said. "For me, it has become a `must work for' one." Once, the two coal mines here employed 2,000 people, but since the last pit closure in 1983, seven out of 10 families have stayed out of work in what is one of the most deprived areas of Britain. As Britain turns into a service industry, the unemployed will be trained as shop assistants, minders, greeters and waiters. The Earth Centre is recruiting 120 men and women to train at its Academy. So when it opens, former coal miners and their families will be back down at the old pit, dressed up in Swampy-style fatigues to amuse the kids. Earthonauts, zooming about on mountain bikes, will monitor the crowds. And the locals still ask Jonathan Smales: "What does the Earth Centre make?"
Did this document solve your problem? How helpful was this document Document was rated 2 times. Average rating is Somewhat helpful What is Tango? Tango is a messaging application for smartphones that allows user to place voice calls, text, share photos and play games. There are over 200 million users of Tango across the world. As with any voice/text/video messaging application, children need to be mindful of who receives their messages, what those messages contain and how it could be used to hurt them. Communicating with someone not known to a child in real life, sharing personal information and/or putting an image of a child on any site could put them at risk for victimization. This application poses risks for children because of the instant access they would have for communication with people they don’t know and trust in real life. In addition, the portability of these devices means children may have more unsupervised use than if they were at a computer. Parents and guardians should always be aware of what applications children are downloading and using on their phones just as you would know which websites they are accessing on the computer. The rules we tell children to follow when posting pictures online is to think before posting photos. The same goes for sharing photos via messaging services. Personal photos should not have revealing information, such as school names or locations. Look at the backgrounds of the pictures to make sure you are not giving out any identifying information without realizing it. The name of a mall, the license plate of your car, signs, or the name of your sports team on your jersey or clothing all contain information that can give your family's location away. Once and image or video is online it is very difficult to remove it completely. NetSmartz411 recommends that parents and guardians always know who their children are communicating with, especially on cell phones and what images or text messages they may be sending or receiving. Cell phones may allow for more unsupervised communication with adults. Consider confiscating cell phones from children at bedtime to prevent late night and unsupervised communication. Talk to children about the potential risks of communicating with adults they do not know and trust in real life. If you ever feel that your child is being exploited, make a report at www.cybertipline.com.
Black Hole Blows Powerful Streams September 6, 2013 Black Hole Jets Expelling Gas From Host Galaxy April Flowers for - Your Universe Online A worldwide network of radio telescopes has allowed astronomers to find strong evidence that a powerful jet of material, propelled to nearly light speed by the central black hole of a galaxy, is blowing massive amounts of gas out of the host galaxy. The scientists say the process is limiting the growth of the black hole and the rate of star formation in the galaxy. That makes the process a key to understanding how galaxies develop. According to prevailing theories, galaxies should be more massive and have more stars than is actually the case. Two major mechanisms have been proposed that would slow or halt the process of mass growth and star formation: pushback from the jets powered by the galaxy’s central, massive blackhole, and violent stellar winds from bursts of star formation. "With the finely-detailed images provided by an intercontinental combination of radio telescopes, we have been able to see massive clumps of cold gas being pushed away from the galaxy's center by the black-hole-powered jets," said Raffaella Morganti, of the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy and the University of Groningen. Galaxy 4C12.50, nearly 1.5 billion light-years from Earth, was chosen for study because it is at a stage where the black hole "engine" that produces the jets is just turning on. The concentration of mass in a black hole is so dense that not even light can escape, and material is pulled in towards it, forming a swirling disk surrounding the black hole. The tremendous gravitational energy of the black hole is tapped by processes in the disk to propel material outward from the disk's poles. The team's findings were published in a recent issue of Science. The scientists found clumps of hydrogen gas moving outward from the galaxy at just over 600 miles a second at the ends of both jets. The clouds are massive: one is approximately 16,000 times the mass of our Sun, while the other is 140,000 times the mass. According to the scientists, the larger cloud is roughly 160 by 190 light-years in size. "This is the most definitive evidence yet for an interaction between the swift-moving jet of such a galaxy and a dense interstellar gas cloud," Morganti said. "We believe we are seeing in action the process by which an active, central engine can remove gas - the raw material for star formation - from a young galaxy," she added. According to observations, the jets from the galaxy's core can stretch and deform clouds of interstellar gas to expand their "pushing" effect beyond the narrow width of the jets themselves. At the current stage of development for 4C12.50, the jets may turn on and off, and thus periodically repeat the process of removing gas from the galaxy. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), another team of scientists announced in July that they had found gas being blown from a more nearby galaxy, called NGC 253, by an intense burst of star formation. "Both processes are thought to be at work, often simultaneously, in young galaxies to regulate the growth of their central black holes as well as the rate at which they can form new stars," Morganti said. The current team combined the signals from radio telescopes in Europe and the US to essentially make one giant, intercontinental telescope. The US telescopes included the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) - a continent-wide system of radio telescopes ranging from Hawaii, across the U.S. mainland, to St. Croix in the Virgin Islands - and one antenna from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico. In Europe, they used telescopes in Effelsberg, Germany; Westerbork, the Netherlands; and Onsala, Sweden. Such a far-flung system created extremely high resolving power – the ability to see fine detail – and was essential to pinpointing the location of the gas clouds affected by the galaxy's jets.
Millennium Declaration – obiettivi generali 1 comment Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Goals and Targets (from the Millennium Declaration) Indicators for monitoring progress Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Target 1: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day 1. Proportion of population below $1 (PPP) per daya 2. Poverty gap ratio [incidence x depth of poverty] 3. Share of poorest quintile in national consumption Target 2: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger 4. Prevalence of underweight children under-five years of age 5. Proportion of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education Target 3: Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling 6. Net enrolment ratio in primary education 7. Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who reach grade 5b 8. Literacy rate of 15-24 year-olds Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women Target 4: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, 9. Ratios of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education 10. Ratio of literate women to men, 15-24 years old 11. Share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector 12. Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament Goal 4: Reduce child mortality Target 5: Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate 13. Under-five mortality rate 14. Infant mortality rate 15. Proportion of 1 year-old children immunised against measles Goal 5: Improve maternal health Target 6: Reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio 16. Maternal mortality ratio 17. Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases Target 7: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS 18. HIV prevalence among pregnant women aged 15-24 years 19. Condom use rate of the contraceptive prevalence ratec 19a. Condom use at last high-risk sex 19b. Percentage of population aged 15-24 years with comprehensive correct knowledge of HIV/AIDSd 19c. Contraceptive prevalence rate 20. Ratio of school attendance of orphans to school attendance of nonorphans aged 10-14 years Target 8: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases 21. Prevalence and death rates associated with malaria 22. Proportion of population in malaria-risk areas using effective malaria prevention and treatment measurese 23. Prevalence and death rates associated with tuberculosis 24. Proportion of tuberculosis cases detected and cured under directly observed treatment short course DOTS (Internationally recommended TB control strategy) Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability Target 9: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources 25. Proportion of land area covered by forest 26. Ratio of area protected to maintain biological diversity to surface area 27. Energy use (kg oil equivalent) per $1 GDP (PPP) 28. Carbon dioxide emissions per capita and consumption of ozonedepleting CFCs (ODP tons) 29. Proportion of population using solid fuels Target 10: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation 30. Proportion of population with sustainable access to an improved water source, urban and rural 31. Proportion of population with access to improved sanitation, urban and rural Target 11: By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers 32. Proportion of households with access to secure tenure Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development Target 12: Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, nondiscriminatory trading and financial system Includes a commitment to good governance, development and poverty reduction – both nationally and internationally Target 13: Address the special needs of the least developed countries Includes: tariff and quota free access for the least developed countries’ exports; enhanced programme of debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) and cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous ODA for countries committed to poverty reduction Target 14: Address the special needs of landlocked developing countries and small island developing States (through the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States and the outcome of the twenty-second special session of the General Assembly) Target 15: Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term Some of the indicators listed below are monitored separately for the least developed countries (LDCs), Africa, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States. Official development assistance (ODA) 33. Net ODA, total and to the least developed countries, as percentage of OECD/DAC donors’ gross national income 34. Proportion of total bilateral, sector-allocable ODA of OECD/DAC donors to basic social services (basic education, primary health care, nutrition, safe water and sanitation) 35. Proportion of bilateral official development assistance of OECD/DAC donors that is untied 36. ODA received in landlocked developing countries as a proportion of their gross national incomes 37. ODA received in small island developing States as a proportion of their gross national incomes Market access 38. Proportion of total developed country imports (by value and excluding arms) from developing countries and least developed countries, admitted free of duty 39. Average tariffs imposed by developed countries on agricultural products and textiles and clothing from developing countries 40. Agricultural support estimate for OECD countries as a percentage of their gross domestic product 41. Proportion of ODA provided to help build trade capacity Debt sustainability 42. Total number of countries that have reached their HIPC decision points and number that have reached their HIPC completion points (cumulative) 43. Debt relief committed under HIPC Initiative 44. Debt service as a percentage of exports of goods and services Target 16: In cooperation with developing countries, develop and implement strategies for decent and productive work for youth 45. Unemployment rate of young people aged 15-24 years, each sex and totalf Target 17: In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries 46. Proportion of population with access to affordable essential drugs on a sustainable basis Target 18: In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications 47. Telephone lines and cellular subscribers per 100 population 48. Personal computers in use per 100 population Internet users per 100 population The Millennium Development Goals and targets come from the Millennium Declaration, signed by 189 countries, including 147 heads of State and Government, in September 2000 ( The goals and targets are interrelated and should be seen as a whole. They represent a partnership between the developed countries and the developing countries “to create an environment – at the national and global levels alike – which is conducive to development and the elimination of poverty”. Note: Goals, targets and indicators effective 8 September 2003. a For monitoring country poverty trends, indicators based on national poverty lines should be used, where available. b An alternative indicator under development is “primary completion rate”. c Amongst contraceptive methods, only condoms are effective in preventing HIV transmission. Since the condom use rate is only measured among women in union, it is supplemented by an indicator on condom use in high-risk situations (indicator 19a) and an indicator on HIV/AIDS knowledge (indicator 19b). Indicator 19c (contraceptive prevalence rate) is also useful in tracking progress in other health, gender and poverty goals. d This indicator is defined as the percentage of population aged 15-24 who correctly identify the two major ways of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV (using condoms and limiting sex to one faithful, uninfected partner), who reject the two most common local misconceptions about HIV transmission, and who know that a healthy-looking person can transmit HIV. However, since there are currently not a sufficient number of surveys to be able to calculate the indicator as defined above, UNICEF, in collaboration with UNAIDS and WHO, produced two proxy indicators that represent two components of the actual indicator. They are the following: a) percentage of women and men 15-24 who know that a person can protect herself/herself from HIV infection by “consistent use of condom”; b) percentage of women and men 15-24 who know a healthy-looking person can transmit HIV. e Prevention to be measured by the percentage of children under 5 sleeping under insecticide- treated bednets; treatment to be measured by percentage of children under 5 who are appropriately treated. f An improved measure of the target for future years is under development by the International Labour Organization. pubblicato gennaio 18, 2008 da antennaeurope Una risposta a “Millennium Declaration – obiettivi generali Iscriviti ai commenti con RSS . 1. Asking questions are really fastidious thing if you are not understanding something completely, except this paragraph offers good understanding even. 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Call Us! 704-947-1917. M-F . 8-4 EST Nickel Allergy What is nickel allergy? Nickel allergy is a very common form of dermatitis called allergic contact dermatitis or ACD. An allergic reaction occurs when your body responds to an otherwise harmless agent by releasing the chemical histamine and thus causing a number of uncomfortable symptoms. How did I develop an allergy to nickel? Prolonged contact with metal containing nickel, such as the introduction of nickel to the body through piercings, is a common cause of the development of nickel allergy in an individual. Sensitization can take days, months or even years but once a person has become sensitive to nickel it typically lasts for a lifetime. What are the symptoms of nickel allergy? Common symptoms include a red rash which may be moderately to intensely itchy, raised bumps, blisters or swelling, welts or fissures on the skin.Left untreated, the skin may become dry, leathery, and cracked. How is nickel allergy diagnosed? Only a physician can definitively diagnose nickel allergy. Seeking the counsel of a dermatologist or allergist is advised for anyone with symptoms of dermatitis. Patch testing for allergies will offer a conclusive diagnosis. What treatment is advised for nickel allergy? For temporary relief of nickel allergy symptoms, your doctor may write a prescription or offer recommendations for over-the-counter products. There is no cure for nickel allergy. Only avoiding nickel will successfully eliminate the symptoms of nickel allergy. Copyright © 2003-2017 Athena Allergy Inc. All rights reserved Scroll to top
Proposal To Generate Electricity Via A Electro-Kinetic Road Ramp The video below shows an idea for generating electricity by cars passing over a special ramp. The energy could be used for powering street lights, traffic lights and other road signs. Some comments seem to think it would be wasteful if used anywhere but on a downward slope where it would also help the car slow down a little. Visit Boing Boing or sugiero for further details. [Via Gary from Mandyleigh Storm – see Mandyleigh on Sellaband] 4 thoughts on “Proposal To Generate Electricity Via A Electro-Kinetic Road Ramp 1. Ocean wave powered electrical generators produce an uninterupted supply of energy and they are often designed around the bending of hinges to pump hydraulic fluid to drive generators. The Electro-Kinetic Road Ramp depends on the irregular action of vehicles driving over it instead. Creating â€œFreeâ€ Electricity is not the problem, keeping it free is. Trying to watch football on a TV powered by intermittent bursts of 10Kw takes all the fun out of it. To provide a constant supply electrical energy storage batteries would be needed for the Electro-Kinetic Road Ramp and thats where the idea fails. Once you put all that â€œfreeâ€ electricity into an L16 rechargable lead acid battery itâ€™ll cost 4-6 times as much per Kwh to get it back than it would if you paid for it directly from the grid. For example; a $60.00 33AH lead acid battery provides 400 watts per discharge multiplied by 250 battery life cycles equals 60 cents per Kwh verses 10 cents per Kwh from the grid. The idea will be worth what they purport when batteries cost less than 1/6th their current price. Until then all we’re doing is re-inventing stupidity. 2. It’s a good point Jeff, sometimes we make things harder for ourselves. But it’s going to be an idea like this that takes off and gets us the energy we need without relying on fossil fuels. 3. Caling someone or something stupid is wrong. There is merit in this idea based on scientic study. I have seen studies and working models of thisidea that are superior to the example discussed here. I suspect that a superior design and proper placement in specific roads will make this idea a financial and economic winner. In a face to face discussion, would you call someone stupid to their face because you disagree with their solution to a physics problem? Would you tell someone what they are thinking is stupid becaise you disagree with them? i hope not, because we should be able to disagree without insulting someone —— you idiot! ( OK, OK – the —– you idiot —– is meant to be humorous, sorry) Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s
Could You Stomach the Horrors of ‘Halftime’ in Ancient Rome?by Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz, The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer by Gérôme “The Christian Martyrs Last Prayer” by Jean-Leon Gerome (1824 – 1904). Credit: Courtesy of Walters Art Museum, Wikimedia Commons The enormous arena was empty, save for the seesaws and the dozens of condemned criminals who sat naked upon them, hands tied behind their backs. Unfamiliar with the recently invented contraptions known aspetaurua, the men tested the seesaws uneasily. One criminal would push off the ground and suddenly find himself 15 feet in the air while his partner on the other side of the seesaw descended swiftly to the ground. How strange. In the stands, tens of thousands of Roman citizens waited with half-bored curiosity to see what would happen next and whether it would be interesting enough to keep them in their seats until the next part of the “big show” began. With a flourish, trapdoors in the floor of the arena were opened, and lions, bears, wild boars and leopards rushed into the arena. The starved animals bounded toward the terrified criminals, who attempted to leap away from the beasts’ snapping jaws. But as one helpless man flung himself upward and out of harm’s way, his partner on the other side of the seesaw was sent crashing down into the seething mass of claws, teeth and fur. The crowd of Romans began to laugh at the dark antics before them. Soon, they were clapping and yelling, placing bets on which criminal would die first, which one would last longest and which one would ultimately be chosen by the largest lion, who was still prowling the outskirts of the arena’s pure white sand. And with that, another “halftime show” of damnatio ad bestiassucceeded in serving its purpose: to keep the jaded Roman population glued to their seats, to the delight of the event’s scheming organizer. The Story of our Christianity by Bird and Harrison The Story of Our Christianity” by Frederic Mayer Bird (1838-1908) and Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901) Credit: The Library of Congress, Wikimedia Commons Welcome to the show The Roman Games were the Super Bowl Sundays of their time. They gave their ever-changing sponsors and organizers (known as editors) an enormously powerful platform to promote their views and philosophies to the widest spectrum of Romans. All of Rome came to the Games: rich and poor, men and women, children and the noble elite alike. They were all eager to witness the unique spectacles each new game promised its audience. To the editors, the Games represented power, money and opportunity. Politicians and aspiring noblemen spent unthinkable sums on the Games they sponsored in the hopes of swaying public opinion in their favor, courting votes, and/or disposing of any person or warring faction they wanted out of the way. The more extreme and fantastic the spectacles, the more popular the Games with the general public, and the more popular the Games, the more influence the editor could have. Because the Games could make or break the reputation of their organizers, editors planned every last detail meticulously. Thanks to films like “Ben-Hur” and “Gladiator,” the two most popular elements of the Roman Games are well known even to this day: the chariot races and the gladiator fights. Other elements of the Roman Games have also translated into modern times without much change: theatrical plays put on by costumed actors, concerts with trained musicians, and parades of much-cared-for exotic animals from the city’s private zoos. But much less discussed, and indeed largely forgotten, is the spectacle that kept the Roman audiences in their seats through the sweltering midafternoon heat: the blood-spattered halftime show known asdamnatio ad bestias — literally “condemnation by beasts” — orchestrated by men known as the bestiarii. Super Bowl 242 B.C: How the Games Became So Brutal The cultural juggernaut known as the Roman Games began in 242 B.C., when two sons decided to celebrate their father’s life by ordering slaves to battle each other to the death at his funeral. This new variation of ancient munera (a tribute to the dead) struck a chord within the developing republic. Soon, other members of the wealthy classes began to incorporate this type of slave fighting into their own munera. The practice evolved over time — with new formats, rules, specialized weapons, etc. — until the Roman Games as we now know them were born. In 189 B.C., a consul named M. Fulvius Nobilior decided to do something different. In addition to the gladiator duels that had become common, he introduced an animal act that would see humans fight both lions and panthers to the death. Big-game hunting was not a part of Roman culture; Romans only attacked large animals to protect themselves, their families or their crops. Nobilior realized that the spectacle of animals fighting humans would add a cheap and unique flourish to this fantastic new pastime. Nobilior aimed to make an impression, and he succeeded. [Photos: Gladiators of the Roman Empire] With the birth of the first “animal program,” an uneasy milestone was achieved in the evolution of the Roman Games: the point at which a human being faced a snarling pack of starved beasts, and every laughing spectator in the crowd chanted for the big cats to win, the point at which the republic’s obligation to make a man’s death a fair or honorable one began to be outweighed by the entertainment value of watching him die. Twenty-two years later, in 167 B.C., Aemlilus Paullus would give Rome its first damnatio ad bestias when he rounded up army deserters and had them crushed, one by one, under the heavy feet of elephants. “The act was done publicly,” historian Alison Futrell noted in her book “Blood in the Arena,” “a harsh object lesson for those challenging Roman authority.” The “satisfaction and relief” Romans would feel watching someone considered lower than themselves be thrown to the beasts would become, as historian Garrett G. Fagan noted in his book “The Lure of the Arena,” a “central … facet of the experience [of the Roman Games. … a feeling of shared empowerment and validation … ” In those moments, Rome began the transition into the self-indulgent decadence that would come to define all that we associate with the great society’s demise. Christian martyrs of the world by John Foxe Foxe’s Christian Martyrs of the World” by John Foxe (1516-1587) Credit: The Library of Congress, Wikimedia Commons Full story and images at Storigami History section
Jim Mohr's SCO Companion Introduction to Operating Systems Operating System Layers Previous: Files and Directories Because it needs to access the hardware directly, this part of the operating system is the most powerful as well as the most dangerous. What accesses the hardware is a set of functions within the operating system itself (the kernel) called device drivers. If it does not behave correctly, a device driver has the potential for wiping out data on your hard disk or "crashing” your system. Since a device driver needs to be sure that it has properly completed its task (such as accurately writing or reading from the hard disk), it cannot quit until it has finished. For this reason, once a driver has started, very little can get it to stop. We'll talk about what can stop it in the section on the kernel. Above the device driver level is what is commonly thought of when talking about the operating system. Here are the management functions. This is where the decision is made about what gets run and when, what resources are given to what process and so on. In our previous discussion on processes, we talked about having several different processes all in memory at the same time. Each gets a turn to run and may or may not get to use up its time-slice. It is at this level that the operating system determines who gets to run next when your time-slice runs out, what should be done when an interrupt comes in and where it keeps track of the events that a sleeping process may be waiting on. It's even the alarm clock to wake you up when you're sleeping. Under SCO UNIX, there are many sets of programs that serve common functions. This includes things like mail or printing. These groups of related programs are referred to as "System Services." Whereas individual programs such as vi, custom or fdisk are referred to as utilities. Programs that perform a single function such as ls or date are referred to as commands. Figure 0-6 Operating System Layers Moving On Okay. So, you now have an understand of the basics of how SCO UNIX works. We talked about the different functions that the operating system is responsible for, what it manages and a little about how everything fits together. As we move on through the book, we'll build on these ideas and concepts to give you a understand of a complete SCO UNIX system. I do need to make one general comment about UNIX before I let you move on. Always remember that UNIX is not DOS. Nor is it any other operating system for that matter. UNIX is UNIX and SCO UNIX is SCO UNIX. As you go through this book, keep that it mind. I came from the DOS world before I started on UNIX. I had many preconceptions about the way an operating system "should" behave and react. The way DOS did thing was the "right" way. As I learned SCO UNIX I began to see a completely different world. The hardest part was not that I had to learn a whole new set of commands, but rather I was fighting myself since I was so used to DOS. For example, I believed that the way command were given arguments or options was better in DOS. Every time I used a UNIX command, I would grumbled about how wrong it was to do things like that. As I learned more about UNIX, I came to realize that many of the decision on how things work or appear is completely arbitrary. There is no right way of doing many things. There is a DOS way and a UNIX way. Neither is right. You might be used to the DOS way or whatever system you use. However, that does not make it right. If you are fairly new to UNIX, while you are reading this book you should keep in mind that there are many differences. The way UNIX does them is not the same DOS does them. If you are new to SCO, also keep in mind that there are going to be differences. If you keep this in mind, you will have a much more enjoyable time learning about the SCO way. Next: Basics of SCO UNIX
Land Mine March 30, 1986 They're doing it in Hillsborough County, in Dade, in Palm Beach, and they may be going do it in Lake County in several years. But there's no serious talk of doing it in Seminole. It's getting rid of garbage in a relatively non-polluting method -- burning it. Yet public officials in Seminole and most other counties aren't open to this idea. They argue that incinerators are not technically advanced enough yet to replace conventional systems. They argue that burning garbage is much more expensive than burying it. Let others work out the bugs, they say. Yes, there's truth in both objections; but ignoring the potential problem while waiting for a pixie-dust solution is wrong. If technology is that big a problem, local government should attack it in a reasonable way: Pool resources and get some research and development going. The pollution threat to Florida's underground water sources is too great to wait for others to take the lead. Each week, almost every household sends to the dump dabs of drain cleaner, solvents, paints or swimming pool chemicals. Shade tree mechanics find it more convenient to toss out a milk jug of used crankcase oil than take it to a collection center. A practical way to safely dispose of many of these dangerous substances is to burn them. To avoid more horror stories of multimillion-dollar incinerators junked because they didn't work, some central agency -- say the state's Department of Environmental Regulation -- must take the lead to develop workable plants. Local governments should be willing to pay a share of the cost. DER says that most existing landfills in Florida would not be permitted today because they are substandard. That includes Seminole's. In the words of one DER engineer, these dumps are ''time bombs that are out of sight and out of mind.'' It's past time to defuse them. And local governments, such as Seminole County, should take the lead. Orlando Sentinel Articles
Friday, June 28, 2013 MacArthur's words still resonate 40 years on --Robert MacArthur Wednesday, June 26, 2013 Evidence for the evolution of limiting similarity in diving beetle communities In 2006, Marten Scheffer and Egbert van Nes published a very nice paper showing the outcome of simulated evolution of competing species. Their results showed how patterns of evenly-spaced clusters of species along a niche axis could evolve to minimize competition via limiting similarity. From Scheffer and van Nes (2006): Evenly spaced clusters of species along a niche axis (x-axis) evolved in response to competition. Within any cluster along the niche axis, species tended to be more similar than expected. The results suggested that complex self-organizing clustered patterns might result from simple competitive limitations. Interestingly, although the original paper suggested that clustered patterns in size distributions are common, only now are these theoretical expectations about the evolution of limiting similarity being tested with data. In fact, though theory has long suggested that patterns of limiting similarity should evolve to allow coexistence between competing species, empirical evidence is rather lacking. Despite this, limiting similarity and competition are staples of ecological thought: for example, patterns of overdispersion in traits or relatedness are often used as evidence for the importance of competition. The follow-up paper -Vergnon et al. (2013)- tests for the pattern predicted in Scheffer and van Nes (2006) using communities of subterranean diving beetles (Coleoptera, Dytiscidae) in Australia. These species have evolved for over 5 million years in isolated aquifers. If limiting similarity structured beetle communities, the authors predicted that there should be regularity in the spacing of species along a niche axis. If competitive interactions determine species' positions on the niche axis, then their absolute positions on the niche axis could vary between communities so long as their relative positions are evenly spaced. If, in contrast, niches are driven by environmental conditions, species in different communities/aquifers should have similar absolute positions along the niche axis. The authors used a nice combination of statistics, modelling and observational data (34 communities of beetles representing 75 total species) to test for these predicted patterns. They used beetle size as the measure of niche position, since size is often an indicator of niche position and food availability and identity. For almost all aquifers, co-occurring beetles were significantly different in size. Further, species in different aquifers classified as occurring in the same size classes (small, medium, large), had different absolute sizes (i.e. the largest beetle in one 2-species aquifer was not similar in size to the largest beetle in another 2-species aquifer). From Vergnon et al. (2013): Absolute sizes of diving beetles in aquifers with 3 species present. The absolute size in a size class (large - black; medium - white; small - grey) varies between aquifers. Although the absolute size of species differed between aquifers, the ratio of sizes (regularity of spacing on the niche axis) was highly consistent. Further, simulations of evolution of body size due to competition were capable of reproducing the observed size structure of the diving beetles. From Vergnon et al. (2013): regularity of spacing between competing diving beetles (measured as the body size ratio). This paper does a nice job of integrating theory and data, and combining pattern and process. The focus is on testing contrasting predictions, and the authors use complementary approaches to test statistically for the presence of patterns and to demonstrate with simulations the relationship between the evolution of limiting similarity and the observed pattern. The evidence is suggestive that limiting similarity and not pre-existing environmental niches explains the size structure of communities of competing diving beetles. There are still questions about how far these inferences can be extended. For example, do we expect that predefined environmental niches are really the same across aquifers? How important is competition in these communities - at the moment, the authors only have minimal evidence of gut content overlap from a single aquifer. Further the low diversity of aquifer communities (~1-5 diving beetle species) means that the prediction of clusters of multiple similar species made in the original Scheffer and van Nes paper can't be tested. But the fact that aquifer diving beetle communities have low diversity and are very simplistic is beneficial for the authors. Patterns in diverse communities where multiple processes (predation, migration, etc) are important may be too complex to show clear evidence in observational data. Simple systems (including microcosms) are a good place to find evidence that a process of interest actually occurs. Whether or not that process is important across many systems is of course a more difficult question to answer. Friday, June 21, 2013 Movement patterns in populations of early academics Sometimes of the perks of academic life are also the most difficult parts – frequent travel opportunities mean you are also frequently away from friends and family (and spend too much time in airports). The nature of the university job market provides global opportunities for work, but also means that in reality opportunities and circumstances can constrain you to places you wouldn't have chosen otherwise. Your friends will cover the world, but you will rarely be in the same room together. The apprenticeship-like nature of early academic positions means that you will move, probably many times, before you find a permanent position (if you do). I have a friend who grew up with diplomat parents, which meant her family moved to a new place in the world every few years. The result was that she often felt like she didn’t have a strong connection to any one place or group of people. Academia isn’t quite so extreme, but you can understand why after moving to one place for undergrad, another for a Masters and/or PhD, one or two more for postdocs, your interactions and place in the world can feel rather impermanent. It also means that, for better or worse, your social circle includes other academics, and they are also shifting from place to place. When I tell non-academic friends and family (who mostly have settled in a single place) about upcoming moves, they are often more excited than I am about the opportunity to pick up and go. No doubt this is a grass-is-always-greener situation, but I often think that the most notable and difficult aspect of academic mobility is that you end up saying goodbye a lot. I wonder whether some of the academic ambivalence expressed is aggravated by this early, necessary transience. Certainly there is lots of evidence that residential mobility (i.e. moving) relates to higher mortality and lowered health indicators, though some studies suggest that this effect may be more true for introverts than extroverts (presumably because extroverts form new friendships more easily). Academics share this phenomenon with groups like military families and third culture kids. The commonality is that, with every move it becomes harder to define home as a particular place – it is more like an intangible connection to multiple places and people. And maybe that's not so terrible - a good friend who was raised by an academic suggested that the key is to redefine your life and friendships as being global rather than local. And eventually professors settle down (I can think of a few people who have been at one university for 30+ years). But in the interim there is always the not-insignificant tension between the costs and benefits of uprooting yourself every few years, and the slow loss of individuals who are not capable of this mobility, from the academic pipeline. Felsenstein for SMBE president :) A highly entertaining, somewhat relevant update to my post about Joe Felsenstein's 'dishonour roll'. Felsenstein is running for President of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution, and his personal statement is a must-read career retrospective. If you don't at least crack a smile, you might be taking science a bit too seriously... For example: "[Felsenstein] has been President of the Society for the Study of Evolution, and imagines that he could be President of the SMBE, even though he has not yet learned the names of all 20 amino acids." Honestly, I think it gives more insight than most bios into the person and their work. Monday, June 17, 2013 Monday, June 10, 2013 The slippery slope of novelty Coming up with a novel idea in science is actually very difficult. The many years during which smart people have, thought, researched, and written about ecology and evolution means that there aren’t necessarily many easy openings remaining. If you are lucky (or unlucky) enough to know someone with an encyclopedic knowledge of the literature, it becomes quickly apparent that only rarely has an idea not been suggested anywhere in the history of the discipline. Mostly science results from careful steps, not novel leaps and bounds. The irony is that to publish in a top journal, a researcher must convince the editor and reviewers that they are making a novel contribution. There are several ways of thinking about the role of the novelty criterion - first, the effect it has had on research and publishing, but also more fundamentally, how difficult it is to even define scientific novelty in practice. Almost every new student spends considerable effort attempting to come up with a completely "novel" idea, but a strict definition of novelty – research that is completely different than anything published in the field in the past - is nearly impossible. Science is incrementally built on a foundation of existing knowledge, so new research mostly differs from past research in terms of scale and extent. Let's say that extent characterizes how different an idea must be from a previous one to be novel. Is neutral theory different enough from island biogeography (another, earlier, explanation for diversity which doesn’t rely on species-differences) to be considered novel? Most people would suggest that it is distinct enough as to be novel, but clearly it is not unrelated to works that came before it. What about biodiversity and ecosystem functioning? Is the fact that its results are converging with expectations from niche theory (ecological diversity yields greater productivity, etc) take away from its original, apparent novelty Then there is the question of scale, which considers the relation of an new idea to those found in other disciplines or at previous points in time. For example, when applying ideas that originate in other disciplines, the similarity of the application or the relatedness of the other discipline alters our conclusions about its novelty. Applying fractals to ecology might be considered more novel than introducing particular statistical methods, for example. Priority (were you first?) is probably the first thing considered when evaluating scientific novelty. But ideas are so rarely unconnected to the work that came before them, so then we evaluate novelty as a matter of degree. The most common value judgment seems to be that re-inventing an obscure concept first describe many years ago is more novel than re-inventing an obscure concept that was recently described. In practice, then, the working definition of novelty may be that something like ‘an idea or finding doesn't exist the average body of knowledge in the field’. The problem with this is that not everyone has an average body of knowledge – some will be aware of every obscure paper written 50 years ago, and for them nothing is novel. Others have a lesser knowledge or more generous judgement of novelty and for them, many things seems important and new. A great deal of inconsistency in the judgement of papers for a journal with a novelty criterion results simply from the inconsistent judgement of novelty. This is one of the points that Goran Arnqvist makes in his critique of the use of novelty as a criterion for publishing (also, best paper title in recent memory). Novelty is a slippery slope. It forces papers to be “sold” and so overvalues flashy and/or controversial conclusions and undervalues careful replication and modest advances. And worse, it ignores the truth about science, which is that science is built on tiny steps founded in the existing knowledge from hundreds of labs and thousands of papers. And that we've never really come up with a consistent way to evaluate novelty. (Thanks Steve Walker for the bringing up the original idea) Thursday, June 6, 2013 Speaking the language: is jargon always bad? You hear mostly about the evils of jargon in science. Undeniably jargon is a huge barrier between scientific ideas and discoveries and non-scientists. Translating a complex, nuanced result into a sound bite or recommendation suitable for consumption by policymakers or the public can be the most difficult aspect of a project (something Alan Alda, as part of his Center for Communicating Science, is attempting to assist scientists with). But sometimes the implication in general seems to be that scientific jargon is always undesirable. Is jargon really always a bad thing? Even between scientists, you hear criticism about the amount of jargon in talks and papers. I have heard several times that community ecology is a frequent offender when it comes to over-reliance on jargon (defn: “words or expressions that are used by a particular profession or group and are difficult for others to understand”). It is fun to come up with a list of jargon frequently seen in community ecology, because examples are endless: microcosm, mesocosm, niche, extinction debt, stochastic, trophic cascades, paradigm shift, priority effects, alternate stable states, or any phrase ending in ‘dynamics’ (i.e. eco-evolutionary, neutral, deterministic). Special annoyance from me at the usage of multidisciplinary, trans-disciplinary, and inter-disciplinary to all express the exact same thing. I don’t think, despite this list, that jargon is necessarily problematic. If the meaning implied by the word or phrase is more than the sum of its parts it is probably jargon. Ideally, jargon is a shared, accurate shorthand for communicating with colleagues. A paper published without any jargon at all would be much longer and not necessarily clearer. Instead of saying, “we used protist microcosms”, it would have to say, “we used a community of protist species meant to encapsulate in miniature the characteristic features of a larger community”. (And arguably ecology is still relatively understandable for a newcomer, compared to disciplines like cell and systems biology, where an abstract might seem impenetrable: “Here, we report that, during mouse somatic cell reprogramming, pluripotency can be induced with lineage specifiers that are pluripotency rivals to suppress ESC identity, most of which are not enriched in ESCs.”) Jargon is useful as a unifying tool: if everyone is using the same nicely defined label for a phenomenon, it is easier to generalize, contrast and compare across research. Jargon is many pieces of information captured in a single phrase: for example, using the term 'ecophylogenetics' may imply not only the application of phylogenetic methods and evolutionary biology to community ecology, but also the accompanying subtext about methodology, criticism, and research history. At its best, jargon can actually stimulate and unify research activities – you could argue that introducing a new term (‘neutral dynamics’) for an old idea stimulated research into the effects of stochasticity and dispersal limitation on community structure. That’s the best case scenario for jargon. There are also consequences to developing a meaning-laden dialect unique to a subdiscipline. It is very difficult to enter a subdiscipline or move between subdisciplines if you don’t speak the language. New students often find papers difficult to penetrate because of the heavy reliance on jargon-y descriptions: obtaining new knowledge requires you already have a foundation of knowledge. Moving between subdisciplines is hard too – a word in one area may have completely different meaning in another. In a paper on conservation and reserve selection, complementarity might refer to the selection of regions with dissimilar species or habitats. In a biodiversity and ecosystem functioning paper, a not-very distant discipline, complementarity might refer to functional or niche differences among co-occurring species. Giving a talk to anyone but the most specialist audience is hampered by concerns about how much jargon is acceptable or understandable. Jargon also leads to confusion. When using jargon, you can rely on understood meaning to delimit the boundaries of your meaning, but you may never specify anything beyond those boundaries. Everyone has heard a 30-second spiel so entirely made of jargon that you never develop a clear idea of what the person does. The other issue is that jargon can quickly become inaccurate, so laden with various meanings as to be not useful. The phrase ‘priority effect’, for example, has had so many particular mechanisms associated with it that it can be uninformative on its own. And I think most ecologists are well aware that jargon can be inaccurate, but it’s a difficult trap to get out of. The word “community”, essential to studying community ecology, is so broadly and inconsistently defined as to be meaningless. Multiple people have pointed this out (1, 2, 3) and even suggested solutions or precise definitions, but without lasting impact. One of the questions in my PhD defense was “how did I define an ecological community and why?”, because there is still no universal answer. How do we rescue words from becoming meaningless? Something interesting, that you rarely see expressed about jargon is that linguists tells us that language is knowledge: how we understand something is not independent of the language we use to describe it. The particular language we think in shapes and limits what we think about: perhaps if you have many ways of finely delineating a concept you will think about it as a complex and subtle idea (the 100-words-for-snow idea). On the other hand, what if you have to rely on vague catch-alls to describe an idea? For example, a phrase like ‘temporal heterogeneity’ incorporates many types of differences that occur through time: is that why most researchers continue to think about differences through time in a vague, imprecise manner? Hard to say. It is hard to imagine where community ecology would be without jargon, and even harder to figure out how to fix all the issues jargon creates.
MIL (Multithreaded Intermediate Language) is an assembly language targeted at an abstract multi-processor equipped with a shared main memory. Each processor consists of a series of registers and of a local memory for instructions and for local data. The main memory is divided into a heap and a run pool. The heap stores data and code blocks. Data blocks are represented by tuples and may be local to the processor for its exclusive use, or stored in the heap and shared amongst processors. A code block declares the registers it expects (including the type for each register), the required locks, and an instruction set. The run pool contains suspended threads waiting for a free processor. Lock Discipline We provide two distinct access privileges to shared tuples: read-only and read-write, the latter mediated by locks. A get and set lock instruction is used to obtain a lock, thus allowing a thread to enter a critical region. Threads read and write from the shared heap via conventional load and store instructions. The policy for the usage of locks (enforced by the type system) is depicted in the following figure, where λ denotes a lock singleton type and Λ the set of locks held by the thread (the thread's permission). Specifically, the lock discipline enforces that: • (i) before lock creation, λ is not a known lock; • (ii) before test and set lock, the thread does not hold the lock; • (iii) before accessing the heap, the thread holds the lock; • (iv) unlocking only in possession of the lock; • (v) thread termination only without held locks. • Type System The type system guarantees that well-typed programs are free from race conditions and deadlock states. The first property is achieved by imposing a discipline on the use of locks (through singleton types); the second property is achieved through polymorphic annotations dictating the order by which locks are closed. The type system refuses programs whose threads depend on each other, while acquiring locks cyclically. Since locks order annotation can cause unnecessary complexity in the process of code generation we have made these optional in MIL. The MIL interpreter infers, at loading time, polymorphic lock-order annotations. The inference collects local restrictions that are passed to an SMT solver that ascertains its consistency. • Vasco Vasconcelos (FCUL) • Francisco Martins (FCUL) • Tiago Cogumbreiro (PhD, Fcul) • Roberto Silva (MsC, Fcul)
Wednesday, July 29, 2015 Poisonous invasive plants from the Parsley family Conium maculatum (hemlock or poison hemlock) native to Europe and North Africa. Water Hemlock (Cicuta douglasii) snakeweed, spotted hemlock, poison hemlock. This plant is extremely poisonous to people and livestock. The most poisonous parts are the roots and stem bases. Giant Hogweed This invasive noxious weed that has been declared a public health hazard because it is dangerous to both people and pets. I have seen the Giant Hogweed - a very impressive, very tall plant with very large white flowers resembling Queen Anne's lace but much larger. See picture below... Please do not touch the plant. The sap of of the Giant Hogweed plant is photo-reactive, so it does react with the sunlight. It can cause an intense burn right away or an intense blistering. Also, if you get it in your eyes, it can cause blindness temporarily or permanent." More information can be found here: Angelica archangelica (angelica) Angelica atropurpurea (American angelica, Purple angelica, Alexanders) Angelica polymorpha var. sinensis (Chinese angelica, dong quai) Angelica gigas (Korean angelica) To compare the different plants ... Angelica resembles the poisonous cow parsnip but the stem is green - purple, waxy with no fine hair. This summer-blooming wildflower of the carrot family apiaceae, is not poisonous, closely related to the garden plant Angelica archangelica that is used for culinary purposes, indeed, until the 20th century Wild Angelica was widely used as a vegetable and herbal medicine. Used information and pictures from various sources - including Wikipedia Wildflowers....along Walter Bean Trail - Rim Park Waterloo
• History of doilies Studying the history of doilies is very interesting. Wikipedia credits a London draper (cloth maker) named “Doiley” for the name “doilies” or even it’s invention. It is understood that the NAME doily in English came from this gentleman, however the “invention” of doilies was much earlier in my humble opinion. They might have been called napkins, protectors or whatever else in any language. German castles – even the ones from medieval times – had clothes in various shapes, materials and sizes to protect valued thrones, furnishings, such as dressing tables. Many were round, made out of fine woven linens, some of tapestry or silk. They were simply called LACE. Lace-making is an ancient art. As with all folk art the origins are sometimes obscure, because back than women were not credited with anything they contributed to smart daily living, making ends meet and society in general. I am not an historian and I was not living than so I do not want to “alter” history or discredit anybody. But this is my theory about doilies: Once cotton was ” invented” in the 1700 ( I think by the American indians). The woven threads , which was conducive to making doilies in various shapes to protect and beautify furnishings. The French promoted crochet ( to hook) and the winning combination between cotton thread and lacy hooking is what developed into creating doilies. With the fashions of powdered wigs and later hair oils, probably one smart maid must have suggested to make doilies to protect the velvet stuffed chair of their time. The reason I say that: From medieval times it were the peasants, who MADE things for their lords. Only in the Renaissance the wealthy discovered the fun of embroidery and other handiwork and very few totally engaged in it until much later in the Victorian era. Economics played a part in doily making, because cotton was much easier to come by than silk. Linen was also expensive and had the tendency to break with the hooking technique (crochet). Cotton was just perfect, especially being mercerized, it was durable, washable and had good “wearability”. Than in the 1900 century, where also home furnishings were made to perfection, doilies were especially popular. They were practical to protect the furniture from scratches and wear, were conversation pieces and of course showed the talent and taste of the lady of the house. Doilies even look cozy and create a sense of “home” on an auntie_doily (Photo credit: Stitch Stud) orange crate as end table ( That is were I used them a teenager in my first apartment) I apologize not giving Mr. Doiley the credit and surely do not mean to contradict Wikipedia, but if their theory was correct than doilies would be called doilies all over the world,with a capital D. Like Cornflakes are called Cornflakes according to their inventor Mr. Kellog, Fords are called Fords, Singer sewingmaschines are called Singers and so on all over the world, because that is what the inventors named their inventions. Doilies are called doilies in English, but Deckchen in German, TALLRIKSUNDERLÄGG in Swedish, ドイリー in Japanese, Napperon in French. That is why I think Mr. Doiley was just en entrepreneur selling doilies. Sorry Wikki, and of course I would like to hear your opinion on the subject
from North American Bird Folknames and Names by James K. Sayre Copyright 1996. All Rights Reserved. British Bird Name Origins Bird names that were brought over to North America by the colonial immigrants from England had linguistic roots that stretched back into Middle English, Old English, Old French, Old German, Old Norse, Spanish, Portuguese, Latin, Greek, Egyptian, Sanskrit, and Hindi. The following is a listing of many common British bird names, with etymology enclosed within brackets. When possible, individual species referred to by the generic name are listed. If many birds have the same root name, then an example is selected. The scientific names, root words, word of the same meaning in other languages and cognates are all shown in italics. All spelling variations for the italicized root words are listed. With the exception of Scandinavian words with umlauts, diacritical marks for pronunciation have been omitted for ease of reading. Alternative etymologies are listed within parentheses. chaffinch - refers to Chaffinch, Fringilla coelebs. [chaffinch Middle English chaffinche, Old English ceaffinc, from ceaf, chaff, husk + Middle English finch, fynch, fincq, Old English finc, finch, compare: Dutch vink, Old High German fincho, finco, Middle High German vinke, German fink;]. dotterel - refers to Dotterel, Eudromias morinellus. [dotterel Middle English doterel, dotterel, dote Middle English dotien, doten, to be foolish, Middle Dutch doten, to be silly or crazy, to dote, Old Dutch doten, to be silly, compare: Dutch dutten, doze, dote, Icelandic dotta, to nod from sleep; + diminitive suffix -erel, bird named for its supposed stupidity in being easily captured]. gyr falcon - refers to Gyr Falcon, Falco rusticolus. [Middle English gerfaucoun, gerfaucon, girfaucoun, Old French gerfaucon, girfaucon, gerfauc, Old Norse geirfalki, falcon, spear, Late Latin gyrofalco, from gyros, a circle, so called from its flight, compare: Old High German gir, vulture; + falcon Middle English faucon, facon, Old French faucon, falcun, faulcon, falcon, Late Latin falconem, Latin falco]. lapwing - refers to Lapwing, Vanellus vanellus. [Middle English lappewinke, lapwinge, lap wynke, leepwynke, lapwink, Old English læpwince, hlæpewince, hleapewince, hleapan, hledpewince, lapwing, one who turns about in flight or running, literally, 'a wavering leap,' Old English hleapan, to leap, jump, + Old English wincian, to wink, compare: wancol, wavering; present form uses: + wing Middle English winge, wenge, weng, Old Norse vænht, vængr, vængr, bird's wing, compare: Swedish vinge; refers to bird's slow irregular flapping flight]. rook - refers to Rook, Corvus frugilegus. [Middle English rok, roc, rook, Old English roc, hroc, compare: Middle Dutch roec, roek, rook, Old Norse hrokr, rook, Old High German hruoh, crow, Danish raage, Latin cornix, crow, Greek krozeir, to croak, to caw; name reflective of bird's call]. skua - refers to Great Skua, Stercorarius skua. [Modern Latin, Faeroese skugvur, skugver, Old Norse skufr, skumr, the skua or brown gull, compare: Icelandic skumi, dusk, Swedish skum, dusky, Old Norse skufr, tassel, tuft; unknown origin, possibly named for color]. starling - refers to Starling, Sturnus vulgaris. [Early Modern English sterlyng, proper surname Starling, Middle English sterling, sterlyng, Old English stærling, stæline, a diminutive of stær, starling, sterlyng, Latin sturnus, starling, star, compare: Old Norse stari, Danish stær, Swedish stare, Old High German stard, Middle High German star; + -ling Old English -ling, Old Norse -lingr, small]. stork - refers to White Stork, Ciconia ciconia. [Middle English, Old English storc, compare: Old Norse storkr, Old Saxon stork; Dutch stork, Danish stork, Swedish stork, Old High German storah, German storch, Middle High German storch, stork; according to an old legend, a stork passes over a house where a baby is about to be born, hence, the stork's connection to the bringing of a child into the world, refers to bird's stiff-legged walk or its stiff stance]. swan - example: Mute Swan, Cygnus olor. [Middle English swan, Old English swan, compare: Dutch zwaan, Icelandic svanr, Old Saxon swan, suan, Old High German swan, swan(a), swon, German schwan, Swedish svan, Danish svane, Latin sonare, to sound, Sanskrit svan, to resound, to sound, to sing; possibly echoic from sounds of singing swan]. tit - example: Great Tit, Parus major. [shortened form of titmouse, Middle English tit, Icelandic tittr, titmouse, a bird, a small plug or pin, literally, anything small, Old Norse titlingr, little bird]. weaver finch - a genus of Old World birds, example: House Sparrow, Passer domesticus. [weaver, weave, Middle English weuen, weven, Old English wefan, to weave, compare: Old High German weban, Old Norse vefa, Dutch weven, German weben, Danish væve; + finch Middle English fincq, finch, fynch, Old English finc, so called for their elaborate woven nests]. wheatear - refers to Wheatear, Oenathe oenanthe. - [Early Modern English wheatear, wheatears, wheat, whiteass, white rump, whitetail, wheat, white + ers, eeres, arse, Old English hwit, white + ærs, rump, in reference to its white rump]. This web page was recently created by James Sayre. Contact author James K. Sayre at Author's Email: Copyright 2003 by Bottlebrush Press. All Rights Reserved. Web page last updated on 8 June 2003.
Chamber furnace, graphite insulation - HTK GR Application Reports (1) • Graphitisation up to 3000 °C - What is it good for? Graphite is a soft, slippery, greyish-black substance. It has a metallic luster and is opaque to light. Graphite is a good conductor of heat and electricity. Often graphite is simply named carbon. Under inert gas or vacuum graphite is extremely temperature-resistant which makes it an interesting material for high temperature applications. Content may be subject to modifications or corrections
What does Housing mean? Definitions for Housingˈhaʊ zɪŋ Here are all the possible meanings and translations of the word Housing. Princeton's WordNet 1. housing, lodging, living accommodations(noun) structures collectively in which people are housed 2. housing(noun) a protective cover designed to contain or support a mechanical component 3. caparison, trapping, housing(noun) 1. housing(Noun) The activity of enclosing something or providing a residence for someone. 2. housing(Noun) Residences, collectively. She lives in low-income housing. 3. housing(Noun) A mechanical component's container or covering. The gears were grinding against their housing. 4. housing(Noun) 5. housing(Noun) An appendage to the hames or collar of a harness. Webster Dictionary 1. Housing of House 2. Housing(noun) the act of putting or receiving under shelter; the state of dwelling in a habitation 3. Housing(noun) that which shelters or covers; houses, taken collectively 4. Housing(noun) 5. Housing(noun) a niche for a statue 6. Housing(noun) a frame or support for holding something in place, as journal boxes, etc 7. Housing(noun) that portion of a mast or bowsprit which is beneath the deck or within the vessel 8. Housing(noun) a covering or protection, as an awning over the deck of a ship when laid up 9. Housing(noun) a houseline. See Houseline 10. Housing(noun) 11. Housing(noun) an appendage to the hames or collar of a harness 12. Origin: [From Houss.] 1. Housing Chambers 20th Century Dictionary 1. Housing howz′ing, n. an ornamental covering for a horse: a saddle-cloth: (pl.) the trappings of a horse. [O. Fr. housse, a mantle, of Teut. origin.] U.S. National Library of Medicine 1. Housing Living facilities for humans. British National Corpus 1. Spoken Corpus Frequency Rank popularity for the word 'Housing' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1703 2. Written Corpus Frequency Rank popularity for the word 'Housing' in Written Corpus Frequency: #989 3. Nouns Frequency Rank popularity for the word 'Housing' in Nouns Frequency: #711 1. Chaldean Numerology The numerical value of Housing in Chaldean Numerology is: 3 2. Pythagorean Numerology The numerical value of Housing in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3 Sample Sentences & Example Usage 1. Blerina Uruci: Housing activity continues to recover, although the pace of the recovery remains slower than in the previous couple of years, owing to the decline in housing affordability. 2. Mike Reynolds: If all of the soldiers in all of the armies in all of the world, were to put down their weapons and pick up tools and start making sustainable housing for all the people in the world, life would just begin on this planet 3. Yair Lapid: I hope to change things for the better, For 30 years this country has been about left versus right. Now we want to change things on the inside: national service, education, housing, a middle class that cannot finish the month. 4. Danya Keene: Even though the conditions in many public housing developments are in dramatic need of improvement, we do know that public housing provides an important source of stable and affordable housing, particularly for the poorest of the poor. 5. Nancy Adler: The study really shows a direct link between kids’ health, the use of emergency rooms and the type of housing they’re in, investments in better quality public housing may help kids be healthier and also may be good for the economic bottom line. Images & Illustrations of Housing Translations for Housing From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary Get even more translations for Housing » Find a translation for the Housing definition in other languages: Select another language: Discuss these Housing definitions with the community: Word of the Day Please enter your email address: Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography: "Housing." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2017. Web. 29 Mar. 2017. <http://www.definitions.net/definition/Housing>. Are we missing a good definition for Housing? Don't keep it to yourself... Nearby & related entries: Alternative searches for Housing: Thanks for your vote! We truly appreciate your support.
Kangroo rat, Biology Kangroo Rat Kangroo rat Dipodornys merriami, a native of South-West America is a classical example of how small mammals survive in desert. It exhibits all the osmoregulatoryadaptations for desert life. It survives in arid conditions without ingesting any free water by the followi.ng adaptations: 1. It avoids much of the daytime heat through nocturnal life-style, keeping cool, during daylight hours by remaining in a burrow. This conserves water loss through evaporative cooling. 2. It conserves respiratory moisture by an efficient nasal countercurrent mechanism. 3. It secretes highly concentrated urine. 4. The rectum absorbs water from the faeces resulting in dry faecal pellets. Kangroo rat is not known to drink water. It gets only a trace of free water from the dry seeds it eats. Primarily it depends upon the metabolic water for its survival. Posted Date: 1/16/2013 2:50:24 AM \| Location : United States Related Discussions:- Kangroo rat, Assignment Help, Ask Question on Kangroo rat, Get Answer, Expert's Help, Kangroo rat Discussions Write discussion on Kangroo rat Your posts are moderated Related Questions Explain about the Cancer? The word 'cancer' comes from the Latin for crab. It refers 90 any malignant growth or tumor caused by abnormal and uncontrolled cell division. Body ce Tetanus and Diphtheria Everyone who has had a primary series as a child should receive a tetanus-diphtheria toxoid (Td) booster injection once every 10 years. Before traveling how does autophagy help in converting a tadpole larva into an adult amphibian Define Nutritional Management of Paediatric and Geriatric Problems? This unit focused on the paediatric and geriatric problems and their nutritional management.Initially, the c
NEWBURYPORT, Mass. (AP) — Amesbury's Cynthia Wigren is on a mission. Based on Cape Cod, where Wigren's colleagues live and Wigren resides part-time, the goal of the conservancy is to educate the public about the role of the animal, to inspire conservation efforts and to support scientific research on the great white shark. An "apex predator," the great white shark is critical to keeping the ocean healthy, Wigren said. As the great white and other shark species disappear, the ocean's predator-prey balance becomes disrupted, compromising the health of the world's oceans and the survival of other marine species, she added. As the majority of the oxygen humans breathe comes from the oceans, that survival becomes imperiled when our oceans are unhealthy, Wigren said. Still more than 100 million sharks are killed globally each year by humans. Overfishing, habitat destruction and trophy hunting all contribute to the shark's demise. But a culinary preference is also behind a stunning number of deaths, according to Wigren. "Finning is the gruesome practice of slicing off the fins of a live shark, then allowing the shark to drop to the ocean's depths to suffocate, bleed out, and die" for the purpose of making shark fin soup, she said. "When you see something that is so feared in an incredibly vulnerable position ... your perception changes from fearing the potential harm they are capable of causing us, to acknowledging the harm we are inflicting upon them," she added. That's where the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy comes in. By educating the public and working to dispel myths and fears about the species, the group seeks to grow respect for the shark that other predators receive, such as lions and tigers, and stop the idea that sharks are "monsters." Humans must be aware of how their water activities and recreation affect the animals that live in the ocean, they say. Learning about the behavior of great white sharks can help to protect humans — and the sharks, Wigren said. "Great white sharks are not man-eaters," Wigren said, which she calls one of the biggest misconceptions about the species. Great whites do not target humans as their prey, she added, and they typically bite due to a case of mistaken identity. A shark will bite, then release once he realizes his unintended prey, she added, but because humans are so fragile, the encounters can be fatal. Fortunately, shark attacks are relatively rare. A 2011 study reveals that 12 people were killed worldwide by sharks. But in that same year, 11,417 sharks were killed by humans — each hour. But Wigren does not downplay tragic human-shark encounters. Preventing such tragedies from occurring is of paramount importance to AWSC. They have cultivated relationships with researchers throughout the world. Much of the information gained about great white sharks, including their breeding habits and nursing sites, is through the scientific practice of tagging. In this "tag-team" effort, expert fishermen and scientists working together — from a small boat — use a modified harpoon gun to insert a satellite or acoustic tag beneath the animal's dorsal fin. These tags lasts last between one and four years and allow scientists to track the shark's migration patterns. With a goal of inspiring future generations to care about our ocean ecosystem's "keystone species," AWSC has developed a Shark Activity Book, geared to youth, ages 4 through 15, which can be used as part of a classroom lesson. A part-time resident of Orleans, Wigren has a background in wildlife management. The AWSC has paired with Massachusetts Audubon of Wellfleet and the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History to offer summer camp scholarship programs at Cape locations. One of the group's goals is to establish a protected area for great white sharks in the deep waters off the Lower Cape. Sharks have been citizens of the world's oceans for more than 400 million years, Wigren said. "They have perfectly evolved and adapted to their environment. The only threat to their existence is us."
Do You Agree with the View That Party Politics Was the Main Reason That the Suffrage Campaign Failed 1860-1914 Only available on StudyMode • Download(s) : 114 • Published : January 14, 2013 Open Document Text Preview Do you agree with the view that Party Politics was the main reason that the suffrage campaign failed 1860-1914 Sources: I (pg.49), J (article) Despite many years of campaigning, by 1914 the suffrage women had not achieved the vote. There were many things holding back suffrage progression from 1860-1914 and came most significantly in the form of the Prime Minister W.E Gladstone. But how much party politics had to do with the liberals position against suffrage is not a certainty. The liberals saw giving women the vote as a threat to their future power. As the law would mean that since the 1870 women could own their own property, these women would likely to be wealthy and therefore more inclined to vote for the Liberal’s main threat, the party that supported the rich more, the Conservatives. This meant that Prime Minister Gladstone did everything he could to stay away from female suffrage and stall the issue. Source I, is a letter from Gladstone to one of his MPs about why he was not actively supporting women’s suffrage. He explains his views of still believing in separate spheres and his worries about the impact it would have on families. However at the end of the letter he mentions that he is not completely against the idea of a female vote but he is not yet convinced by it. Because it is a private letter, there is reason to believe that Gladstone would be entirely truthful, and felt like he needed to explain his reasoning behind his anti-suffragism, however this might not necessarily be the case as Gladstone may not want party politics his reason to not give the vote as this would cause an outrage. This is cross referenced by source J which says that women were consistently more supportive of the Conservatives. The provence of his last statement of taking “no step in advance” may well be a politically correct way of saying that it will be a very long time until he will support the vote for women. However the View of Gladstone might not necessarily be the... tracking img
Edit Article wikiHow to Make a Short Film Three Methods:Forming the Film IdeasGetting the Equipment TogetherMaking the Short FilmCommunity Q&A This wikiHow will teach you how to make a short film. 10 Second Summary 1. Choose a genre, outline your idea, then write your script. 2. Storyboard each shot and determine the setting. 3. Figure out what you need: cast, props, costumes, and equipment. 4. Hire your cast and crew, and rehearse. 5. Start filming. 6. Review and edit your film. Forming the Film Ideas 1. 1 Determine the genre. Are you making a narrative or documentary? Comedy or action? That is something you need to think about when starting your short film's script. A good screenwriting website is Celtx.com • If you are planning to make a fiction film, then it's narrative. Think of a basic story idea. You can get ideas for films from things you read in daily life, short stories, newspapers, etc. 2. 2 Outline your idea. Write out your script, using Celtx; if you have never written a script before, pick up a book that explains script writing and character development, and that—along with the Celtx program—will be all you will need. 3. 3 Write out your script. Begin this by thinking of the names of the characters, the time of the story (Is it 10 years from now? Is it a hundred years before our time?), think of it how the story starts. 4. 4 Consider the following points when writing your script: • Character development • Plot development • Inciting incident • Character arc. 5. 5 Story-board each shot in the film. Decide what each shot in the movie is going to be. For example, wide shot, over the shoulder, tracking shot, close up, extreme close up, medium wide shot. crane shot, dolly shot, etc. 6. 6 Decide what you need for each scene. This is called a breakdown sheet. 7. 7 Determine the setting of the scene. Is it external (EXT) or internal (INT)? 8. 8 Determine the equipment you are going to need. 9. 9 Determine the actors and crew. 10. 10 Determine what props, make-up costumes, etc., will be used. 11. 11 Start casting for cast and crew for the movie. Look for actors. Try looking for actors in your neighborhood, your school, anywhere. Your actors could be your friends, your family members, your classmates. Hold auditions for your actors. Make sure when you audition your them, they are right for the character, they should have similar attitudes, they should pretend they are the character they are portraying. That way, you could have the right person for the job and won't be able to mess their character during your production filming. For crew you are going to need as many people as possible, but at least the following: 12. 12 Create a script. Getting the Equipment Together 1. 1 Ask around and see if any friends or family have some of the equipment below and see if you can borrow or rent it, otherwise you will be reaching deeper into you're pocket for equipment costs. Also, it might be worth it to ask them to help out in you're new project. 2. 2 3. 3 Get yourself a copy of the Filmmaker’s Handbook by Steven Ascher and Edward Pincus. Read it. They explain everything you will need to know about making your new film. Making the Short Film 1. 1 Rehearse the short film. Actors should practice their lines. If you want to avoid getting many takes in your film, make them practice the lines and action combined. 2. 2 Remember to provide food, a copy of the film, and, if your budget allows, expense money. 3. 3 Do not trust what you see in the view finder. It is not always accurate, so remember to look with your own eyes, and review the film you take after each shot. • Remember: Anyone can record an image, but that is not making a film. 4. 4 Complete the principal photography. 5. 5 Edit the film. You do not need to use an expensive program at all. With the right skills, a free program that came with the computer can make stunning films. Do not think you need to use the most expensive program out there! 6. 6 Show the film to friends and family and/or post it to YouTube. If you are serious about film-making, submit it to film festivals and send it to film agencies. Remember, the more publicity you get, the better short films you will be able to make in the future. And remember, everyone had to start somewhere! 7. 7 Remember the most important rule of film-making–––have a good time! Community Q&A Add New Question • I have a short film idea but don't want to go through the process of making it. What should I do? wikiHow Contributor Consider sending your idea it to a director or producer if you think it's unique, interesting and likely to be of interest. Talk to friends first, to gauge their thoughts on its worth. • Do I need any permission to make short film? I don't have a license. wikiHow Contributor As there is no set film making license, no license is needed. However, you do need written permission to use the locations you use, as well as from the people who will be in your film (even the ones in the background). You will also need to obtain permission to use any material that has a copyright. • My ambition is to become a director. I want to fulfill my dream by making short films. I made a good script but I don't know what's next? wikiHow Contributor Get the equipment(camera,lighting etc.) and get your crew and cast and location. Then you are good to go. • What are the main needs for making a short film? wikiHow Contributor For filming: A simple script; local and easily accessible locations; actors and basic camera and audio recording gear. For editing: Simple movie and audio editing software and royalty-free sound effects and music. Royalty free generally means copyright free, so you can freely upload your short film to social media sites without being slammed for copyright. Depending on the file sizes of footage, you may need reliable external storage device to free up your computer's hard drive. It's also suggested you read this article. • Is there a free tool available to edit movies? wikiHow Contributor There is a lot of free editing software out there. Start on Windows Movie Maker or Mac's iMovie to get the feel of editing. However, these tend to be very limited and will not give you good results. Hitfilm 3 Express is a great editing software with lots of options so you'll be able to do what you want and it's free! • I am entering a film festival at school, but that means I will have to film it with a tablet, not a camera. Is that okay? wikiHow Contributor Yes, that's okay. You do not need a camera to film; you can use whatever you want tablet, iPhone, etc. The key is to know how to use the device to the best advantage possible, so read the instructions relevant to the device you're using. • Can I make a short film using a smart phone? Yes. This can help you learn the basics of cinematography before investing in more expensive cameras. • How do I write a script? wikiHow Contributor Base the script on things you would say in real life during the time period the film is in. Figure out how many characters there are and write lines per scene. See further: How to Write an Effective Screenplay for a Short Film. • How do I get sponsors like small local businesses? wikiHow Contributor Ask your them to sponsor you. Maybe you could strike a deal and use one of their products for a sponsorship. • What do I do if I have a script, but no crew? wikiHow Contributor Start with asking your friends, or find a local community/club where people are interested in acting. Show more answers Unanswered Questions Show more unanswered questions Ask a Question 200 characters left • Make sure you don't get any unwanted sound in it. It sounds bad and unprofessional. • Make sure the people you are working with are people you get along with to make your film-making experience super fun! • To make a film, you will need to be creative. • If you are filming in a public place, always, always make sure you have signed releases from all random faces that may appear in your movie. • Before your shoot make sure you have all your equipment with you. It is best to plan these things before production. • Have fun with it! • Make sure that your actors agree with the script or their character. • Remember your overall vision as you record your footage. Don't forget to record voice-overs (talking) and other sounds as part of you regular footage. You can always use the video or audio independently. • Make your production choices based on necessities. If you're low budget, choose something that happens around you every day as your subject. Don't forget that you can use pictures and still shots for video, too. • Write a short idea of what you want to accomplish. It can be anything from a paragraph to a full essay. • If it is your passion, achieve it until is done. No matter what others say because people can demotivate you due to jealousy or hatred. • You don't $60,000 dollars of equipment to make a good short film! As long as you have the essentials such as a camera, you'd be good to go. • Go with a skilled cameraman. Nobody likes a shaky camera! • Be careful to check each setting on your recording device as you operate or you might miss the best shot. It's a good idea to review your footage after each take. • Be aware that posting it to Youtube may hamper your success in 'film festivals' or 'film funding competitions', because if it's online, then it won't be accepted. • Always check your camera before shooting just in case you have forgotten to press record. This is to avoid losing precious footage! • There are laws against using videos of people and certain places without permission. Always ask the subject or the owner/operator of a building if it's okay to record them and be sure to tell them what it's for. For added protection, have them write it on paper when they give permission. You can find standard release forms online. Things You'll Need • Video camera and audio recorder • Memory cards (video takes up lots of space) • Eager actors and actresses • Editing software and computer • Permission from your subjects/actors/background players • An idea for your story • Pen or pencil • Make-up and costumes • Tripod/dolly • External microphone/shotgun mic • Boom pole • Wind screen • 3 professional-grade lights • Field monitor • Good lighting Article Info Categories: Making Movies In other languages: Français: réaliser un court métrage, Italiano: Creare un Cortometraggio, Español: hacer una película corta, Deutsch: Einen Kurzfilm machen, Português: Fazer um Curta Metragem, Русский: снять короткометражный фильм Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 921,564 times. Did this article help you?
Share this story Close X Switch to Desktop Site How we built a bridge using watermelon seeds Even though I have lived in the same house for 19 years, I'm a newcomer here. In this small New England town, it's not years that matter but generations. Like countless towns, it has changed from being a community of farmers to a bedroom community of people who work elsewhere. My friends in town are other newcomers, many of whom I know from the world outside the town. I don't know many of the "old-timers," people who grew up here and still live on the land that their great-grandparents farmed. About these ads One place where the differences between old and new stand out is at our town meetings. Over the past few years we have wrangled with divisive issues such as increased development versus preserving open space, and this rift between new and old has grown wider. Last spring, several other newcomers and I lamented the split in the community and wondered how to build bridges between the different factions in town. Recognizing that many of the old-timers were already doing "community building" things, we realized we needed to encourage other newcomers to join in. Someone brought up the traditional Fourth of July parade. The parade consists of the police car, fire engine, ambulance, a bunch of kids on decorated bikes, and several antique cars. It lasts exactly five minutes, the time it takes to drive very slowly along Main Street from the post office to the library. Afterward, everyone sings patriotic songs on the library steps for about 15 minutes and then goes home. Someone said, "Let's organize a picnic after the songs. I have a map of the old neighborhoods in town based on where the old schools were. Maybe we could post the map and have name tags so people could meet their neighbors." By the end of the conversation, we'd planned a picnic with the neighborhood map and a watermelon-seed-spitting contest. The Fourth of July was hot and sunny, the parade lasted five minutes, and we sang on the library steps. We set up the map, name tags, and watermelon in a shady area next to the library. The map was a great hit. People connected over shared history they didn't know they had. But it was the watermelon that made the day. Everyone from the oldest grandmother to the littlest kid ate watermelon, and more than 30 people competed in the seed-spitting contest. It didn't matter whether you were a newcomer or an old-timer, it just mattered how far you could spit a seed. The woman who won spat her seed an impressive 30 feet. She laughed and said growing up with older brothers sure helped. About these ads After most people had left, a little group sat talking about this small success and what we could do next year. I smiled as I looked around. Some of us had lived in town for a few years, and some were 13th generation residents. Our plan had worked. The rift didn't feel as wide, and I could see the beginnings of a bridge - a bridge built partly with watermelon seeds. Follow Stories Like This Get the Monitor stories you care about delivered to your inbox.

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