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Saint-Barthélemy, often abbreviated as St Barts, St Barths or Saint Barth, is a small, volcanic island located in the northwest Caribbean Sea. Discovered by Columbus in 1493, and named for his brother Bartolomeo, St. Barths was first settled in 1648 by French colonists from the nearby island of St. Kitts.
Today, St Barts is a French-speaking island and its customs and traditions are greatly influenced by the French culture. Over the past 10 years, the island has engaged in a process of political evolution, and in 2007 adopted the status of a French “oversea collectivity,” (collectivité d'outre-mer) a first-order administrative divisions of France.
For over 20 years, St. Barts has grown into a popular tourist destination and is widely considered to be one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean. The Island’s economy relies upon the nearly 200,000 travelers who visit every year, drawn by the island’s tropical climate, clean beaches, and sophisticated lifestyles. The capital city of Gustavia offers all the comforts of urban life, including boutiques, restaurants, and dozens of hotels and villas, while more rural areas of the island offer a beautiful natural landscape for visitors to experience.
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14 Easy Ideas for Families to Help the Earth
You don’t need to go far to protect the environment. You can be Earth’s hero without getting out of home. It’s easy to help improve the future world for our grandsons and granddaughters by simply reducing water and energy consumption in your home and generate less waste. Being a greener family is not complicated. That’s why I want to give you some ideas to start saving Earth and teach the youngest at home how to help environment.
If parents explain to children how to recycle and save energy since they’re really young, and make them participate in the measures we take at home to care for the environment, they will integrate these customs and ecological values as something natural.
So here we go…
14 measures to protect the planet in family
1. Start by buying only what you need and don’t allow yourself being swayed by fads or aggressive companies advertising, be sure many of those things will only become garbage a few months after you get it
2.Use reusable products: cloth napkins and handkerchiefs, glass or ceramic dishes, etc. If you must take the lunch with you to going work or to go to another place, It is preferable to use glass lunch boxes and avoid using food aluminum foil or plastic films.
3. Use recycled and recyclable products. When doing this, you are saving water and other resources besides you help reduce pollution. Let me explain you why. As an example: To produce one ton of virgin paper 115,000 liters of water are needed; in the case of recycled paper 16000 liters, it means 89% less.
So before throwing any object, take a look of it and think if you can take advantage of it. Toys, used clothing or books can be useful to people in need, that way you’ll help environment and people at the same time. What a great human being!.
4. Separate litter at home to facilitate recycling and use the recycling center of your town to deposit oils, car batteries, fluorescents, remains of paintings, films, computer waste, etc.
5. Eat fruits and vegetables according to the season, select those that are organic and produced locally. This will stop promoting intensive productions of orchards that require large amounts of water and use fertilizers and pesticides that pollute the water.
6. Do not thaw food under running water. It’s much greener to get them out of the freezer the day before and place them in the refrigerator.
7. Choose chlorine-free cleaning products and avoid using detergents with phosphates and chemical surfactants.
8. Use ecological bulbs: Here we go with an interesting information that maybe you didn’t know… compact fluorescent bulbs consume only 20% of traditional energy and last eight times longer!
9. Turn off lights and appliances when they’re not in use. Remember that having the devices in standby (with the red light on) also consumes energy.
10. Reduce battery consumption. In addition to have containing toxic substances are inefficient and waste energy.
11. Close taps when water is not needed and be sure to check that there are no dripping faucets in the house. One drop per second means 30 liters of water a day.
12. Shower, better than the bath. When taking a bath you can spend 100 liters of water; when you go shower you only use about 30 liters of it.
13.Do not throw down the drain anything but water. Organic waste, such as oils and other waste, pollute our rivers and hinder the work of the purification systems.
14. If you wash your car at home, do it with a bucket and not with the hose. Washing your car with a bucket of water consumes 60 liters of water, compared to 500 which is hosing down.
So now you know. Earth needs our help, it’s time to start educating our children and ourselves in how to improve with little actions the future world and avoid a bigger disaster for humanity.
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E-commerce stems out as undoubtedly one of the fundamental pillars of the business entity.
It has a bearing on a firm’s sustainability and profitability, each on the short-term and long-term. However, e-commerce programs are dynamic. It is usually imperative which the new crop of leaders is aware of the various aspects of the management, which underlines the necessity of e-commerce enhancement systems. This underlines the point that no solitary e-commerce application would substantially meet the requirements of the provider (Fubelaar, 2013). The development of e-commerce units is actually essential towards the identification of loopholes in a range of corporations, which poses diverse implications, strengths and limitations that spur the business enterprise towards ideal direction.
E-commerce fosters loyalty and cohesion within an business. It helps the business to create customers which have a broad foundation of data with regards to the marketplaces. E-commerce facilitates new interpersonal interactions and therefore the knowledge that are necessary for the business. Still, e-commerce systems contact for huge economical cost around the firm. In essence, it is important that a mix of solutions is applied to ensure that the business can experience through the strengths in the procedures used at the same time canceling out the restrictions (Suddaby, 2014). E-commerce is among essentially the most economical strategies of producing tangible benefits for the return on any financial commitment which was done in schooling. E-commerce boosts the society of the business. It is really enormously instrumental in modifying the corporate lifestyle and making grasping companies. This is in particular considering that a variety of individuals might have assorted routines for resolving equivalent conditions. E-commerce makes certain that companies possess a sizeable pool of skills to pick from, thus making it possible for for that inculcation with the most suitable lifestyle to the organizational society. This technique makes it possible for the longer term professionals to try making use of diversified techniques in resolving diverse troubles and worries (Fubelaar, 2013). E-commerce relies about the recognition for the indisputable fact that people master the most efficient from their ordeals since the method is structured. E-commerce really is a motivational device. It allows to the acclimation of a new employee towards business and job. Mentees would become successful customers at a considerably faster pace as they have got a human being they might communicate to, request issues and even look at eventualities and find out the various components of the business. Moreover, e-commerce will allow for the mentee to acquire a way of achievement that emanates on the assessment and suggestions belonging to the mentor for the mentee’s progress. It’s always vital http://essay-capital.net within the exploration on the expertise of the people, in the process given that the managers (Suddaby, 2014). E-commerce enhances the performance of workers within an group.
E-commerce will allow for professionals to mix distinctive techniques to obtain a certain plan. It underlines the fact that there will be multiple skills which might be used in establishing the potential of up-to-date and foreseeable future crop of managers to successfully operate the businesses. Then again, these e-commerce tips have assorted final results and implications over the performance of the organization. Up to some procedures may have pretty considerably more advantage than many people, their applicability in numerous fields is definitely bound to final result in various criteria. Normally, e-commerce necessitates the exploitation from the desirable aspects of the programs within an entity as eliminating the undesirable types.
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Definition Edit
The Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) is
a term commonly applied to an international military campaign which started as a result of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. This resulted in an international military campaign to eliminate al-Qaeda and other militant organizations. The United Kingdom and many other NATO and non-NATO nations participate in this conflict.
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How To End Sugar Addiction: Solutions That Actually Work
Among the many food cravings we can experience, the most common and detrimental to our health can be the craving for sugar. Most of us know by now that sugar attributes to disease in the body, including cancer, diabetes, and various forms of accelerated aging.
The “Not so Sweet” Side of Sugar
To save you from the complexity of a science lesson, I will break down “the bad” about sugar for you in a few simple bullets.
Why do you even want to give up sugar?
• Sugar feeds yeast and bad bacteria that make us sick, tired and eventually lead to disease.
• Sugar causes very unstable energy; very high highs and low lows.
• Sugar decreases focus.
• Sugar leads to accelerated aging.
How Sugar AGES The Body
When we consume sugar, the dietary sugar molecules bond to protein molecules and create what is called “cross-linked proteins.” This means the proteins in your body that normally create muscle tissue, organs, digestive tissue, skin, hair, nails, and so on are instead bonding to each other.
This is also called glycosylation a theory of aging. The basic theory is that because the proteins bond to each other, they cause old tissues to stiffen instead of creating new, elastic, and healthy tissues. This causes the tissues to dysfunction: digestive problems, arthritis, joint pain, wrinkles, osteoporosis, and clogged arteries.
Sugar essentially weakens the body, which leads to toxic accumulation due to the body’s increased inability to remove toxins and function efficiently. This causes a “brutal sequence” effect in the body that looks like this…
• First, the body starts to becomes stiffened and weakened from sugar consumption. That is because sugar (especially refined or in high-amounts is crystalline acid).
• Next, the endocrine system weakens. When the hormonal system is disrupted from having to constantly balance the blood sugar it has to work extra hard to increase immunity. That’s because sugar feeds yeast and bacteria, which the body reacts to with an immune response. In attempt to ward off bacterial and yeast overgrowth, the hormonal system is ramped up to keep the body alive from the “attack” of sugar.
• The cycling effect occurs. Enough times of throwing the immune system off with sugar, and overcharging the adrenals, the body’s energy becomes so low. This occurs from constantly striving to offset the imbalance. Eventually, weak adrenals and thyroid causes the body to lose its ability to digest, assimilate, and eliminate.
• Toxic overload sets in. When we stop digesting properly, eventually the body becomes constipated with undigested matter. We no longer successfully absorb the nutrition we are taking in, and this is where things get ugly.
• We become malnourished, sick and ugly. Once the body’s hormonal system is tampered with and we are not properly digesting our foods, we enter a vicious cycle. Without proper hormone function, the body doesn’t digest well, leading to malabsorption of the nutrients needed for proper hormone function.
• Finally, the vicious cycle sets in. Sugar is a tricky son of a b%*ch because it makes us crave more sugar. The more we eat, the more we want and the reasoning is beyond hormonal triggers. The bacterial imbalances that occur make us crave more sugar because it’s their food!
Overcoming the Crave
Though the evidence points all fingers at sugar as one of the primary culprits of dis-ease in the body, the problem here is not the sugar itself. In a healthy body, sugar is metabolized effectively and used as energy. Though I do not recommend the consumption of refined sugars, natural sugars in low-glycemic fruits (such as berries), vegetables, and properly prepared grains are life supporting foods.
The real offender is the sweet addiction to sugar. If we were balanced physically, mentally, and emotionally, we would be more capable of moderating our sugar consumption. We have discussed how the ingestion of sugar can lead to a cycling effect that causes us to want to only eat more sugar.
There is hope for breaking this cycle, but knowing where to start is the secret to really succeeding in breaking the sweet addiction. Because of the domino effect sugar can have in throwing the body out of balance, we have to work systematically to bring ourselves back into balance.
3 Step Process to Kick the Craving
1.) Defeat the Desire: Going straight to the root of the sugar craving—healing the digestive system—will fail to remove the craving, as healing is a process. Healing the hormonal system and gut are not an overnight process. Therefore, we have to work step by step to master the craving. Dealing with the situation at hand (the burning desire for sweet and sugary food), we can more effectively handle the problem as a whole later on. For now, we remove the desire for sweet food. There are a few tactics we can use to do this.
• One is to replace sweet foods with sour foods, such as fermented foods like raw kefir and raw cultured vegetables like sauerkraut. Once you start to add these fermented foods into your diet, you will notice the craving vanish. Not only do they provide a sour taste that eliminates our taste for sweets, but these fermented foods provide the body with healthy bacteria to start the process of healing the body holistically.
• Drink lemon and lime juice in water with a dash of stevia is another great way to get your sugary fix without the sugar. Lemon actually improves the availability of water. The sour taste can stimulate the gallbladder to produce clean bile, which can cut sugar cravings.
• Eat sweet vegetables such as carrots, squash varieties, onions, coconut, and gluten-free grains like quinoa, buckwheat, millet, and amaranth. These foods provide the palate of a sweet taste without the damaging effects. They also offer a whole lot of beautifying and healing nutrition! Not to mention, they are very hydrating.
• Eat more healthy fat. This will help leaps in bounds in fighting a sugar craving for good. When we eat fat we are giving our bodies the building blocks of our hormones. This helps heal the hormonal system and removing hormonal cravings by stabilizing the limbic part of the brain that sends us on a sugar hunt out of survival mode. The best fat choices are pastured animal products (meats, eggs, raw butter, ghee, and collagen), along side plant-based options like avocado, coconut oil and MCT oil, which is great for people who have trouble digesting fat because it requires no digestion.
2.) HYDRATE!: One of the most probable causes of sweet cravings is dehydration! Not only can minor dehydration cause serious sweet cravings, but more severe cases of dehydration are usually the cause of the more serious problems of bacterial infection and hormonal induced cravings. This is simple stuff, folks; drink water! You will be amazed by how fast your cravings for sugar vanish just by spending a few minutes sipping on some mineral rich water instead of giving way to your sugar hankering. It’s important to get mineral rich water so you absorb the water more efficiently. Sparkling mineral waters are great, and a surefire way to increase your mineral content in your spring water is to add some minerals to it! My favorites are humic and fulvic blends like Sunwarrior’s Liquid Light. A capful of this in your water with some lemon juice and stevia, and I promise you freedom of sugary cravings. Other great options are sparkling mineral waters like Pellegrino, Gerolsteiner and Mountain Valley. They contain high amounts of sulfates and other dissolved minerals that quench your thirst on a cellular level. Just try and notice the difference.
3.) Heal the Gut: Once you have relinquished your taste for sugar and found ways to replace your craving instead of suppressing it, you are well on your way to healing that sugar craving once and for all. The final step is to work at healing your gut. When your digestive system is not working accurately, you run into nutritional deficiencies. A deficiency in magnesium for example, can attribute greatly to sugar cravings. What your body really wants is the magnesium so it can create neurotransmitters, but your body doesn’t know how to tell you the difference between magnesium and sugar. It just sends the signal that your brain function needs a kick and whatever will get it there the fastest will do. Healing your gut is a step by step process within itself, but here are a few simple things everyone can do to start the process. The first things you want to do are steps one and two in this article. From there, here are four simple things you can do to improve your gut health: Remove gluten and any other un-sprouted grains, dairy, sugar (minimize fruit sugar), and any processed foods. Hands down the best things to do to heal your gut are cut out gut-irritating foods like gluten, pasteurized dairy, processed foods and sugar. From there, implement probiotic foods like coconut kefir and cultured vegetables, sauerkraut, and kimchi. Consume raw coconut products like virgin coconut oil, raw coconut cream, and raw coconut. Supplement glutamine, humic and fulvic minerals, and mineral rich greens powders like Vitality SuperGreens, which has all of these and more mixed in. Lastly, don’t forget to aid the liver as it is the center organ of digestion! My favorite liver supporting foods are fermented foods. Anything bitter helps stimulate the liver too. Two liver cleansing products I use personally with great results are Glutathione Force and Livamend. Also, be sure to sign-up for my free Online Course “Perfect Digestion” at the home page of my blog!
Other Tips
The last thing I will say on the topic of addiction, cravings and sugar is that on the deepest level; spiritually, these highs are about gaining space. Sugar, drugs and sex all give us incredible amounts of space.
When we feel trapped, be it at a job, in a relationship, in our bodies or on this planet, we will reach for the quickest solution to get us out. The downside is most of us reach for the lowest quality fixes because we haven’t been taught any better.
The ultimate highs are found in spiritual escapes. You’ll find them in unconditional love, creative arts like music, drawing, painting and dance. You can also find healthy highs in simply using your imagination.
The real reason people are addicted to sugar isn’t solely in the sugar-laden food industry but within ourselves. We lack the sweetness in our lives that can only be found long lasting in what’s eternal. Otherwise, we will always crave a quick fix. What’s more eternal than knowing your self spiritually? What’s more eternal than the present moment, where all creativity resides?
If you want a real fix, reach for something higher and the lower solutions will vanish. Get outside of your head by actually getting outside into nature, make some music, dance again, draw, and give love.
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Sunday, March 05, 2017
March 6 (A Triple)
1820 - The Missouri Compromise was signed by President James Monroe, providing for the admission of Missouri into the Union as a slave state, but prohibited slavery in the rest of the northern Louisiana Territory.
The illogical-logic of having the unwillingness to confront the problem, yet knowing slavery was terribly wrong...Such was the state of affairs in early-mid 19th Century America.
Democracy is a wonderful thing, but it isn't perfect. One of the inherent weaknesses of free democracies is the perpetual need to appease at least half the populace to remain in power. Which often leads to the continuation of bad policies at the expense of votes.
1857 - The Dred Scott Decision: The U.S. Supreme Court handed down its landmark ruling that black slave Dred Scott could not sue for his freedom in a federal court because he was not a U.S. citizen. The Court also didn't buy it that his white master died in a 'free' state.
Another hideous reality of American history, but not one which dents its greatness...Many Union troops lost their lives in the quest to correct this wrong.
1961 – Executive Order 10925 established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. It was charged with the elimination of race, creed, color, and national origin as barriers to employment in the government as well as in firms employed on government contracts. The order used the term “affirmative action” to refer to measures designed to achieve non-discrimination.
A noble objective, pursued through an ignoble mechanism.
Racism should be ended through equality of condition and opportunity, not through 'Reverse-Racism' or artificial positioning of any race...It isn't good for the nation as a whole, and isn't even positive for those being propped up.
1836 - The Battle of the Alamo ended: Mexican forces captured the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, killing the last of 187 defenders who held out in the fortified mission for 13 days.
This was a battle won by Mexico, but a rallying cry for many Americans to go to war with Mexico...It took a few years, but the Texans got their revenge in the long-run.
1861 - The Confederate Congress called for 100,000 volunteers.
Within a few months they were put to use.
1944 - U.S. heavy bombers staged the first American raid on Berlin: World War II.
We all know the saying: 'Payback is a bitch'...Well, the Krauts had a lot of payback coming their way, and the next year saw the raising of their cities.
1981 - Walter Cronkite said "And that's the way it is" for the final time, as he closed the "CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite."
And then he was followed by an even bigger Liberal turd: Dan Rather.
1990 - The Soviet Parliament approved a property law allowing private citizens the right to own the means of production and other business enterprises for the first time since the early 1920s.
The chains were falling...But their weight was such that they continue to shackle those who wore them.
Oh, and so does the mighty fist of the Russian overlords.
1991 - Following Iraq's capitulation in the Persian Gulf conflict, President GHW Bush told a cheering joint session of Congress that "aggression is defeated. The war is over."
Papa Bush proclaimed “peace in our time,” but just like Neville Chamberlain he did nothing but pass the problem on to another leader...Unfortunately, Bush was succeeded by a man of much less testicular fortitude.
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Enrico Dandolo
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His Serenity
Enrico Dandolo
An engraving of Enrico Dandolo, from the early 19th century.
41st Doge of Venice
In office
21 June 1192 – ? May 1205
Preceded by Orio Mastropiero
Succeeded by Pietro Ziani
Personal details
Born 1107
Republic of Venice
Died 1205 (aged 98)
Constantinople, Latin Empire
Resting place Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey
Spouse(s) Felicita Bembo (d. 1151)
Contessa Minotto (m. in 1151)
Children Ranieri
Profession Patrician, statesman
Dandolo Preaching the Crusade by Gustave Doré
Enrico Dandolo (anglicised as Henry Dandolo and Latinized as Henricus Dandulus; c. 1107 – May 1205) was the 41st Doge of Venice from 1192 until his death. He is remembered for his blindness, piety, longevity, and shrewdness, and is infamous for his role in the Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople in which he, at age ninety and blind, led the Venetian contingent.
Early life and political involvement[edit]
Born in Venice, Enrico Dandolo was the son of the powerful jurist and member of the ducal court, Vitale Dandolo. Dandolo had served the Republic in diplomatic roles (as ambassador to Ferrara and bailus in Constantinople) for many years.
Dandolo was from a socially and politically prominent Venetian family, his father Vitale was a close adviser of Doge Vitale II Michiel, while his uncle, also named Enrico Dandolo, was patriarch of Grado, the highest-ranking churchman in Venice. Both these men lived to be quite old, and the younger Enrico was overshadowed until he was in his sixties.
Dandolo's first important political roles were during the crisis years of 1171 and 1172; in March 1171 the Byzantine government had seized the goods of thousands of Venetians living in the Empire, and then imprisoned them all. Popular demand forced the doge to gather a retaliatory expedition, which however fell apart when struck by the plague early in 1172. Dandolo had accompanied the disastrous expedition against Constantinople led by Doge Vitale Michiel during 1171-1172. Upon returning to Venice, Michiel was killed by an irate mob, but Dandolo escaped blame and was appointed as an ambassador to Constantinople in the following year, as Venice sought unsuccessfully to arrive at a diplomatic settlement of its disputes with Byzantium. Renewed negotiations begun twelve years later finally led to a treaty in 1186, but the earlier episodes seem to have created in Enrico Dandolo a deep and abiding hatred for the Byzantines.
During the following years Dandolo twice travelled as ambassador to King William II of Sicily, and then in 1183 returned to Constantinople to negotiate the restoration of the Venetian quarter in the city.
On 1 June 1192, Dandolo became the forty-first Doge of Venice. Already aged and blind, but deeply ambitious, he displayed tremendous mental and (for his age) physical strength, his remarkable deeds over the next eleven years have led some to hypothesize that he actually may have been in his mid-70s when he became Venice's leader, but Madden demonstrates that he was almost certainly born in or around 1107.[1]
Two years after taking office, in 1194, Enrico enacted reforms to the Venetian currency system, he introduced the large silver grosso worth 26 denari, and the quartarolo worth 1/4 of a denaro. Also he reinstated the Bianco worth 1/2 denaro, which had not been minted for twenty years, he debased the denaro and its fractions, whereas the grosso was kept at 98.5% pure silver to ensure its usefulness for foreign trade. Enrico's revolutionary changes made the grosso the dominant currency for trade in the Mediterranean and contributed to the wealth and prestige of Venice; in later years, the value of the grosso would climb relative to the increasingly debased denaro, until it was itself debased in 1332. Soon after the introduction of the grosso, the denaro began to be referred to as the piccolo. Literally grosso means "large one" and piccolo means "small one".
Fourth Crusade[edit]
In 1202 the knights of the fourth Crusade were stranded in Venice, unable to pay for the ships they had commissioned after far fewer troops arrived than expected. Dandolo developed a plan that allowed the Crusaders' debt to be suspended if they assisted the Venetians in capturing Zadar, which was under Croatian rule, on the eastern Adriatic coast, at an emotional and rousing ceremony in San Marco di Venezia, Dandolo "took the cross" (committed himself to crusading) and was soon joined by thousands of other Venetians. Dandolo became an important leader of the Fourth Crusade.
Venice was the major financial backer of the Fourth Crusade, supplying the Crusaders' ships and lending money to the Crusaders who thus became heavily indebted to Venice, because of the crusaders' continued delays, provisions were also a problem for the enterprise.[2]
The Crusade fleet left Venice during the first week of October 1202 and arrived at Zara in two groups on November 10 and 11. A small number of Crusaders refused to help with the siege but the others realized that the conquest of the town and subsequent wintering there was the only way to hold the faltering Crusade together. While the crusaders marched on the town the townsfolk hung up banners and crosses to signal they were Christian, but Zadar was captured on November 24, 1202. Throughout the conquest the Pope urged the leaders of the Crusade to stop the attack and the sacking of the town but to no avail, he also excommunicated all involved in the attack on Zadar but later changed his mind leaving only the Venetians excommunicated. The Crusaders set up camp in the town for almost a year before finally heading out.
Shortly afterwards, Alexius Angelus, son of the deposed Byzantine Emperor Isaac II, arrived in the city. Dandolo agreed to the Crusade leaders' plan to place Alexius Angelus on the throne of the Byzantine Empire in return for Byzantine support of the Crusade, this ultimately led to the conquest and sack of Constantinople on April 12, 1204, an event at which Dandolo was present and in which he played a directing role. The Catholic Crusaders then took permanent control of the Eastern Orthodox capital of Constantinople and established a Catholic state, the Latin Empire; in the Partitio Romaniae, Venice gained title to three-eighths of the Byzantine Empire as a result of her crucial support to the Crusade. The Byzantine Empire was never again as powerful as it had been prior to the Fourth Crusade and was from this point onwards essentially a hollow state, incapable of defending itself against the Ottomans.
Nineteenth-century grave marker in the Hagia Sophia's East Gallery
Dandolo was active enough to take part in a disastrous expedition against the Bulgarians, but died in May 1205, he was buried in Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, probably in the upper Eastern gallery. In the 19th century an Italian restoration team placed a cenotaph marker near the probable location, which is still visible today, the marker is frequently mistaken by tourists as being a medieval marker of the actual tomb of the doge. The real tomb was destroyed by the Ottomans after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 and subsequent conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque.[3]
It is not known for certain when and how Dandolo became blind. According to the Chronicle of Novgorod he had been blinded by the Byzantines during the 1171 expedition to Byzantium (see Vital II Michele). Supposedly, Emperor Manuel Comnenus "ordered his eyes to be blinded with glass; and his eyes were uninjured, but he saw nothing".[4] According to historian Thomas Madden's study, Dandolo suffered from cortical blindness as a result of a severe blow to the back of the head received sometime between 1174 and 1176. Documents show Dandolo's signature being fully legible in 1174 but sprawling across the paper in 1176, suggesting that his sight deteriorated over time;[5] in an attempt to preserve the linkage between Dandolo's blindness and the Byzantines, Steven Runciman reported that the blow to his head occurred during "a street brawl" in Constantinople.[6] It is alleged by Madden and a co-author, Donald Queller, that the brawl was Runciman's own invention that has been uncritically repeated by many subsequent books.[7]
Dandolo's blindness appears to have been total. Writing thirty years later, Geoffrey de Villehardouin, who had known Dandolo personally, stated, "Although his eyes appeared normal, he could not see a hand in front of his face, having lost his sight after a head wound." In the Middle Ages it was not unusual for an elderly person to become blind as a result of cataracts. However, all sources for Dandolo's blindness remark on the clarity of his eyes.
His son, Raniero, served as vice-doge during Dandolo's absence and was later killed in the war against Genoa for the control of Crete, his granddaughter, Anna Dandolo, was married to the Serbian king Stefan Nemanjić. Although later genealogists attributed a whole brood of distinguished children to the doge, it is unclear if he actually had other children besides Raniero, as the existence of none can be confirmed by contemporary evidences,[8] during his dogeship he was married to a woman named Contessa, who may have been a member of the Minotto clan.[9] Although there were several subsequent doges of the Dandolo family, none were direct descendants of Enrico.
In the nineteenth-century, the Regia Marina (Italian Navy) launched an ironclad battleship named Enrico Dandolo.
Popular culture[edit]
• In the 2005 game Civilization IV, Enrico Dandolo is a Great Merchant, as Venice was known for being mercantile.
• Venice becomes a playable civilization in the May 2013 expansion of the computer strategy game Civilization V called Brave New World, whose leader is Dandolo.
• Dandolo and his tomb play a central role in Dan Brown's 2013 novel Inferno.
1. ^ Madden (2003), p. 92.
2. ^ Thomas F. Madden, "Food and the Fourth Crusade: A New Approach to the Diversion Question," in Logistics of Warfare in the Age of the Crusades (Ashgate Publishing, 2006).
3. ^ Gallo, Rudolfo (1927). "La tomba di Enrico Dandolo in Santa Sofia a Constantinople". Rivista mensile della Citta di Venezia. 6: 270–83.
4. ^ Madden (2003)
5. ^ Madden (2003), pp. 66-67.
6. ^ Runciman, Steven (1952–54). History of the Crusades. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
7. ^ Madden, Thomas, and Donald Queller. The Fourth Crusade: The Conquest of Constantinople. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997. Second edition. page 215 n.11.
8. ^ Madden (2003), pp. 101-104
9. ^ Madden (2003), p. 84-85.
Political offices
Preceded by
Orio Mastropiero
Doge of Venice
Succeeded by
Pietro Ziani
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Designing for Interactivity: Role Models, Guides, and Coaches
by Scott DeLoach
This paper presents three methods of user assistance: role models (simple demonstrations), guides (structured walk-throughs), and coaches (active assistants). After a brief introduction, potential uses, available development tools, and additional information sources are discussed for each method.
Role Models
A role model allows the user to observe and imitate. Role models are linear and only provide one "path" through the information. They cannot evaluate user actions and they cannot actively initiate interactions.
When are Role Models useful?
Role models are often used to demonstrate processes or procedures or to teach "skills" such as foreign languages. Role models are most effective when the user can recognize both the required task and the correct result. For example, a role model could be used to explain how to install a newly-purchased printer. In this situation, the user can identify the task (connecting the printer to the computer) and the correct result (the printer prints a sample page). The role model could be a simple video of someone connecting a printer to their computer. Although the user cannot ask the role model questions, they can replay the video or pause it as they perform each step.
What can I use to create a Role Model?
Role models can be created with inexpensive and easy-to-use video and sound capture programs. Video programs include Microsoft Camcorder, Lotus ScreenCam, Quicktime, and Quicktime VR. Sounds can be recorded with products such as Microsoft Sound Recorder, and RealAudio.
Where can I learn more about Role Models?
Two useful tools that can be used to create role models are Camcorder and ScreenCam. Check out the following web pages for more information about these products:
• Camcorder -
• ScreenCam -
A guide provides a controlled environment in which the user can practice and explore. Guides can support branching paths through information based on user selections. They can evaluate user actions, but they cannot actively initiate interactions.
When are Guides useful?
Guides can be used to introduce new tasks and concepts. They are most effective when the user needs a quick overview of a product. For example, a guide might be used to introduce a new version of a word processor. In this situation, the user is familiar with the current product, so the guide should focus on introducing the new features and how they can be used. The guide could be a CBT that introduces and demonstrates a task, then observes and evaluates as the user performs the task. Although the user can only practice the tasks presented by the guide, they are free to learn and explore in a controlled environment rather than in the actual application.
What can I use to create a Guide?
Guides can be created using CBT applications, wizards, cue cards, or web-based technologies such as JavaScript and Active X. Potential CBT development tools include DemoShield, Director, and Authorware.
Where can I learn more about Guides?
To learn more, check out:
• Wizards - Microsoft Word Developer’s Kit from MS Press
• Cue cards - Designing Windows 95 Help: A Guide to Creating Online Documents by Mary Deaton and Cheryl Lockett Zubak
A coach encourages learning while doing. Coaches can create paths through the information based on the users needs and interests. They can evaluate user actions and they can actively initiate interactions.
When are Coaches useful?
Coaches can be used to provide on-the-job training and to enable productive error recovery. They are most effective when the user and application have a shared understanding of the user's goal. For example, a coach could be used in a retail checkout application. In this situation, the user knows that their goal is to complete the sale, and the system closely monitors their progress. If the clerk selects "credit card" for payment and does not swipe a card, the application could wait three seconds and then automatically display a video of a card being swiped through the card reader.
What can I use to create a Coach?
Coaches can be created using application development tools (such as Visual C++, Visual Basic, and Powerbuilder), CBT applications, web technologies, or Microsoft's Agent technology.
Where can I learn more about Coaches?
To learn more, check out:
• Microsoft Agent -
Some excellent examples of coaching applications can be found in video games. For more information about video game coaches, see:
• "Learning from Games: Seven Principles of Effective Design" by Rob Houser and Scott DeLoach in a forthcoming issue of Technical Communication.
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Eulogizing Gunter Grass: Nobel Winner, ex-SS and Anti-Israeli
Germany's most famous writer died Monday; a look into his past reveals some dark shadows, which led to his ban in Israel.
Contact Editor
Arutz Sheva Staff,
Gunter Grass
Gunter Grass
Germany's most famous writer, Gunter Grass, best known for his 1959 novel "The Tin Drum" but whose reputation was tarnished by his admission he had served in Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's Waffen SS, died Monday aged 87, his publishers said.
The Nobel laureate died in a hospital in the northern city of Luebeck, the Steidl publishing house said on Twitter.
Grass quickly followed his debut and best-known novel "The Tin Drum" with "Cat and Mouse" and "Dog Years," all dealing with the rise of Nazism in his hometown of Danzig, now Gdansk in Poland, reports AFP.
He won a string of international awards, including the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1999 and continued to publish into his 80s.
Later in life, the novelist, poet, playwright and sculptor, often seen chomping on his pipe and sporting a walrus mustache, courted controversy with an offensive poem that painted Israel as the biggest threat to world peace.
In the prose-poem entitled "What Must Be Said," published in 2012, he maintained that an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities could “wipe out” and “annihilate” its people, adding that Iran's nuclear ambitions were “unproven.”
In response to the poem Grass was widely labelled as an anti-Semite, and handed a ban from Israel.
After years of urging Germany to come to terms with its World War II past, the outcry further darkened the shadow cast by his 2006 bombshell admission that he had served in the Nazis' elite Waffen SS after being conscripted into the corps as a teenager.
Grass remained defiant in the face of the backlash over the poem but admitted he found the accusations of anti-Semitism "hurtful."
Allergic to ideologies
Grass' works have a strong political dimension and are considered part of the German literary movement dealing with "coming to terms with the past".
But he was also not averse to commenting on, and stirring, controversy beyond his nation's borders.
He likened the cartoons of the founder of Islam, Mohammed, that appeared in 2005 in a Danish newspaper to Nazi caricatures of Jews, and criticized ex-US president George W. Bush for using religious terms to describe his war on terror.
Grass was born on October 16, 1927 in the Baltic port city of Danzig to parents who had a grocery shop.
A passionate visual artist who also studied sculpture and graphics, Grass' work and psyche were marked by Germany's past.
His first three books, known as the Danzig Trilogy, are set in the ethnically-mixed region of his childhood. Danzig was handed to Poland after the war, when its ethnic German population fled or were expelled.
"The Tin Drum" was adapted into an Oscar-winning film by Volker Schloendorff. His 2002 novel "Crabwalk" also deals with the effect of the past on the present.
Grass defined himself in a 1969 interview as a humanist allergic to ideologies of any kind "to the point of wanting to attack any belief that claims to set absolute objectives."
60-years of SS silence
Equally critical of 1960s consumerism and the revolutionary violence that it spawned among some German youth, Grass was a dedicated pacifist, opposing the installation of nuclear missiles on German soil, and a critical supporter of the Social Democratic Party.
He resigned angrily from the Berlin Academy of Arts in 1989 when it refused to join in a public reading from the work of Salman Rushdie, who was then facing a death threat following the condemnation of his novel "The Satanic Verses" by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini.
He was also critical of what he saw as an unseemly rush to unite the two parts of Germany.
After he wrote an open letter attacking the 1961 building of the Berlin Wall, he was kept under close surveillance by East Germany's Stasi secret police who gave him the code name "Bolzen" ("Bolt"), according to a 2010 book.
Grass claimed that his more than 60-year silence over his Waffen SS conscription was due to wanting to use his memoir to fully explain his past.
"What I accepted with pride in my younger years I wanted to keep quiet about after the war because of my growing shame," he wrote in the 2006 autobiography "Peeling the Onion."
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Who Invented the Piano?
Home » History of the Piano » Who Invented the Piano
We will learn about the inventor of the piano on this page, and how he affected the future to come.
Bartolomeo Cristofori (di Francesco) of Padua is the one who invented the piano
Bartolomeo Cristofori
1709 is a major year in piano history, for it is believed to be the year the "pianoforte" was probably invented. In an article about the "gravicembali col piano e forte", or harpsichords with soft and loud, created by Cristofori, a writer called Scipione Maffei wrote:
"Everyone who enjoys music knows that one of the principle sources from which those skilled in this art derive the secret of especially delighting their listeners is the alternation of soft and loud."
- Who invented the piano? -
Bartolomeo Cristofori was born on May 4 (1655-1732). He became a harpsichord maker and a designer, and by 1688, his reputation brought him to the attention of Prince Ferdinando de Medici of Florence, son of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. The prince owned forty harpsichords and spinets, and hired Cristofori to both curate the collection, and build new ones. Cristofori became the custodian of the instruments in the court in starting from 1690.
Around 1700, he began to work on an instrument on which the player could achieve changes in loudness just by changing the force with which the keys were struck. Instead of the quill jacks used to pluck the string on the harpsichord, Cristoforis' innovation was to devise a way in which the strings were struck from below by individual hammers covered in deer leather. He had created the first two harpsichords with the first real escapement mechanism.
What is that exactly?
- Who invented the piano? -
The Escapement Mechanism
The new thing with this "escapement action" was that strings of the harpsichords were not plucked, nor had a "tangent" action like the clavichord had. Instead, a hammer hit the string, which is why these instruments were also called hammered harpsichords.
By 1726 he seemed to have fitted a stop for the action to make the hammers strike only one of two strings. The hammers were made out of deer leather and the simple escapement enabled the hammer to escape from the string instead of blocking it, and, by that, allowing the string to vibrate smoothly.
In this escapement action, the hammer moves freely, that is, it is not under the direct mechanical control of the performer when it actually strikes the wire, and as a result, it is free to fall back to be stopped by the action, and be ready to strike again.
- Who invented the piano? -
That was a major problem that would bother piano makers in the next century too! If a piano player would like to repeat a note, it took some time, for the hammer had to go all the way back and then to be struck again. Cristofori would later add a padded check to catch the hammer on when it returned from the string. Piano players though, still couldn't control the key from the moment it jumped to the key and back.
Cristofori's hammer mechanism, however, was so well designed, that no other of comparable sensitivity and reliability was devised for another seventy-five years. In fact, the highly complex action of the modern piano may be traced directly to his original conception.
Cristofor's Piano Action
- Who invented the piano? -
Later Life
Cristofori's patron, Ferdinando, died in 1713, but he remained curator under the prince's successor, Cosimo III. In 1716, Cosimo named him curator of all musical instruments in the Florentine royal collection.
Cristofori made about twenty of his pianofortes between 1709 and 1726. His instruments had bi-chords throughout, and all the dampers were wedge-shaped. He is presumed to have gone back to making harpsichords, probably from a lack of interest in his pianos. His pianos were still too big and too close to the harpsichord.
It would only be later on, that the piano would evolve into a more comfortable size, and get its own distinctive identity. During the early 18th century, the prosperity of the Medici princes declined, and like many of the other Medici-employed craftsmen, Cristofori took to selling his work to others. The king of Portugal bought one of his instruments.
- Who invented the piano? -
In 1726, the only known portrait of Cristofori was painted. It portrays the inventor standing proudly next to what is almost certainly a piano. In his left hand is a piece of paper, believed to contain a diagram of the piano action. Unfortunately, the portrait was destroyed in the Second World War, and only photographs of it remain.
Cristofori continued to make pianos until near the end of his life, continually making improvements in his invention. In his senior years, he was assisted by Giovanni Ferrini, who went on to have his own distinguished career, continuing his master's tradition. There is tentative evidence that there was another assistant, P. Domenico Dal Mela, who went on in 1739 to build the first upright piano.
- Who invented the piano? -
In his declining years Cristofori prepared two wills. In the first, dated January 24, 1729, he gave all his tools to Giovanni Ferrini. In the second will, dated March 23 of the same year, he changed his mind, leaving almost all his possessions to the "Dal Mela sisters ... to pay them for their devotion during his illnesses and, and also in the name of charity." This will left the small sum of five scudi to Ferrini. The inventor died on January 27, 1731.
On his death, a theorbo player at the Medici court named Niccola Susier wrote in his diary:
"Bartolomeo Crisofani, called Bartolo Padovano, died, famous instrument maker to the Most Serene Grand Prince Ferdinando of fond memory, and he was a skillful maker of keyboard instruments, and also the inventor of the pianoforte, that is known through all Europe, and who served His Majesty the King of Portugal [João V], who paid two hundred gold louis d'or for the said instruments, and he died, as has been said, at the age of eighty-one years." [trans. Stewart Pollens; Cristofori was actually only 76 at his death]
- Who invented the piano? -
Surviving Instruments
Cristofori's piano
Three of Cristofori's pianos survive: one at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City (1720, 89.4.1219); one at the Museo Strumenti Musicali in Rome (1722); and one at the Musikinstrumenten-Museum of Leipzig University (1726). The Metropolitan's Cristofori, the oldest surviving piano, outwardly resembles a harpsichord. It has a single keyboard and no special stops, in much the same style as Italian harpsichords of the day. It has 54 keys, a nd thinner strings and hammers than today's pianos, giving it a sound closer to a harpsichord than to modern pianos.
- Who invented the piano? -
Gottfried Silberman (1683-1753) also made two pianos similar to Cristofori's but they were too big and heavy. Bach, for instance, didn't like it at all at first, only changing his mind much later. The piano became more popular in the late 17th century, when people were more open- minded to a broader melody. The tendency to be more expressive with an increase or decrease in volume and accents, made it possible for the popularity of the piano to gain momentum.
Proof Reader - Ashwati Franklin
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Ruby's New &.!= Operator
Well, it’s actually two operators. Sue me. The 2.3.0 release of Ruby included the safe navigation operator, &.. It does the same thing as try! in Rails. You can chain method calls together and bail early if you hit a nil.
In Ruby some things you don’t normally think of as method calls are in fact just that. For example, operators like !=.
A Brief Overview of Safe Navigation
Let’s say we have an array of integers. We want to know if the first one is positive. To check we might do something like:
> some_array.first.positive?
# => true
Note: positive? is another new 2.3.0 method.
What happens if some_array is empty?
> [].first.positive?
# => NoMethodError: undefined method `positive?' for nil:NilClass
The call to first returns nil and nil doesn’t have a positive? method. Before 2.3.0 we might have done something like:
(value = some_array.first) && value.positive?
Now we can use &. to solve our problem.
If first returns nil then the entire expression returns nil. If not then we’ll continue down the method chain and call positive?.
Brilliant or Abusive?
I run which helps Ruby developers find quality libraries. Two pieces of data that I record for each library are homepage and source code URLs. On occasion they turn out to be the same link. In that case, to reduce noise, I only show the homepage. In the template I show the source URL if it exists and is different than the homepage.
if lib.source_url && lib.source_url != lib.homepage_url
# display source url
I can use the safe navigation operator to perform the same check.
if lib.source_url &.!= lib.homepage_url
# display source url
I like that I’ve DRYed my code. Less code means less chance for me or future me to muck it up. On the other hand, I value readability. At the moment it just looks odd. Someone who’s not seen it before would have a hard time figuring out what it means. Anyone who’s tried to google code symbols can attest to how frustrating it can be. Still, we use things like !! and eventually everyone gets used to it. I’m going to leave it and see if I get used to it. In the near future, maybe code like &.&, &.<<, and &.+ will be something we’re all used to.
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Posts Tagged ‘brain health’
How to boost your Brain Power
Eat well, think well: It turns out that the Romans were definitely on the right track with their famous saying “mens sana in corpore sano” (a healthy mind in a healthy body).
As your brain ages, important nerve cells are less able to protect themselves against highly reactive rogue compounds called free radicals.
Scientific evidence for the important role that antioxidants play in maintaining brain health is considerable.
What you should eat: As a rule of thumb, to maximize the antioxidants in your diet, you should eat as many different types of fruits and vegetables as possible, especially the lushly colored ones that are rich in compounds called carotenoids and flavonoids.
Fruits with high antioxidant scores include blueberries, at more than 6,552 total ORAC units, blackberries (5,247), red delicious apples with skin (4,275), and sweet cherries (3,365).
Vegetables with high ORAC values include raw ginger root (14,840), raw garlic (5,346), cooked red cabbage (3,145), and cooked broccoli (2,386).
Nuts, including pecans (17,940), walnuts (13,541), and hazelnuts (9,645), are among the highest listed on the USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory’s 2007 ORAC chart.
Whole grains, such as whole wheat, oatmeal, and brown rice, are another excellent source of antioxidants because they contain important compounds that possess antioxidant activity.
You can check ORAC scores for particular foods by going to Nutrient Data Laboratory.
For your memory to function smoothly, brain cells need to be able to communicate quickly and easily with one another. As people age, though, nerve cells shrink, nutrient-rich blood supplies to the brain decline, and inflammation often complicates the situation.
Omega-3 essential fatty acids, especially DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), have been found to promote the efficient electrical signaling between nerve cells, help stabilize cell membranes, and even appear to improve mental concentration and fight memory loss.
In a recent report, the International Food Information Council noted that “emerging evidence suggests that a higher level of omega-3 fatty acid consumption may be associated with reducing the risk of bone loss, certain cancers, and neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease [DHA is the most abundant fatty acid in the gray matter of the brain].”
What you should eat: Because the body cannot manufacture omega-3 fatty acids, it needs to absorb them from food sources, and some of the best sources are oily cold-water fish; once or twice a week you should try to work salmon, sardines, bluefish, herring, mackerel, or tuna into your menu.
Beyond the basic fruits, vegetables, and cold-water fish, scientists believe other food-based compounds can also help protect your memory and cognitive abilities.
B vitamins: Folic acid and niacin in particular have been found to be important in preserving brain function because they help control inflammation and appear to promote the development of new brain cells.
What you should eat: Food sources rich in vitamin B include lean meats, fish, legumes, dairy products, grains, and green leafy vegetables.
Co-enzyme Q-10 According to Shari Lieberman, PhD, CNS, FACN, coauthor of A User’s Guide to Brain Boosting Nutrients, “Not all antioxidants protect the brain because not all of them pass the blood-brain barrier.” One exception to this is coenzyme Q10, also known as CoQ10.
What you should eat:Good choices for foods rich in CoQ10 include beef, chicken, nuts, and oils.
Alpha-lipoc acid: Another powerful antioxidant that is readily absorbed by the brain, says Dr. Lieberman, is alpha-lipoic acid (ALA), which helps to neutralize free radicals and counter nerve damage.
What you should eat: Spinach, broccoli, beef, yeast (particularly brewer’s yeast), and certain organ meats are good sources of ALA.
While no one has found a way to return aging brains to their youthful ability just yet, it is possible to strengthen your brain’s ability to protect important neurons from degeneration or death.
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photoshop creative
Paint digital watercolour (part 1)
Posted in:
Tips & Tutorials, by Mark White
May 16, 2015
Jump right in with the Brush tool and get creative with this watercolour painting technique
1. Draft a rough sketch
Begin by creating a new layer. Draw out the simple shape of the water with a round brush. Get a good feel for the shape of the water. When finished, reduce the layer’s Opacity to 50%.
2. Make a clean sketch
Set the brush’s diameter to a small size. Press Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+N to create a new layer. Using the rough sketch as a guide, sketch out more detailed water with lots of sketchy lines to illustrate the direction and flow. Hide the rough sketch guide when it’s no longer needed.
3. Draw background waves
Add detail to the background using the same technique. Make a new layer and then sketch some waves in the distance begind the main waves we’ve already drawn. Reduce this background sketch layer’s Opacity to 50% to give the impression that they are farther away.
4. Prepare for colour
Change both the foreground and background sketch layers to Multiply mode. This will keep the sketch visible throughout the colouring process. We will also Lock Transparent Pixels on these two layers by selecting the layers individually and pressing the / key.
5. Wash over the Foreground
Make a new layer underneath the sketch layers and set the mode to Multiply. Using a watercolour brush, paint in blue waves without lifting the brush to get a thin coat that covers the entire foreground, except for the wave peaks. These should remain colourless.
6. Add darker colour variations
Press Cmd/Ctrl+J to duplicate the watercolour layer, then press Cmd/Ctrl+E to merge the two layers into one. Next, use the Brush tool to paint in lines flowing in the direction of the waves and underneath the curve of the big wave.
7. Colour the background
Grab a lighter shade of blue and paint in the base coat for the background waves, then follow it up with a few brushstrokes under the wave curls ad along the water flow. We’ve also used a grey-blue colour on the foamy peaks.
8. Paint highlights and spume
Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+J and make sure this new layer is underneath the sketch but above the colour in the stack. With a white colour, paint in short dotted strokes as spume and foam. Strokes along the curvature of the water create the impression of highlights.
Come back tomorrow for part 2!
• These are awesome and likely underrated. How these guys learn these simple things in this post. Great post.
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Pulp therapy for primary teeth
Primary objective of pulp therapy is to maintain the integrity and health of the teeth and their supporting tissues by maintaining the vitality of the pulp of a tooth affected by caries, traumatic injury or any other cause damaging the liveliness of the pulp.
Indication and the type of the pulp therapy depends on the status of the pulp, whether it’s nonvital or vital and the type of the tooth whether its primary, young permanent or permanent. Status of the pulp would be determined by clinically with a proper history and a thorough clinical examination and by accurate special investigations such as vitality testing and radiographs. In this article I would mainly consider on the treatments to the pulp in primary teeth.
Vital pulp therapy for primary teeth diagnosed with a normal pulp or reversible pulpitis
Indirect pulp treatment
A procedure performed in a tooth with a deep carious lesion approximating the pulp but without signs and symptoms of pulp degeneration. The caries surrounding the pulp is left in place to avoid pulp exposure and is covered with a biocompatible material. A radiopaque liner such as a dentin bonding agent, resin modified glass ionomer, calcium hydroxide, zinc oxide-eugenol or glass ionomer cement is placed over the remaining carious dentin to stimulate healing and repair. Then the tooth is restored with a material that seals the tooth from micro leakage.
Direct pulp treatment
When a pinpoint mechanical exposure of the pulp is encountered during cavity preparation or following a traumatic injury a biocompatible radiopaque base such as mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) or calcium hydroxide may be placed in contact with the exposed pulp tissue. Finally the tooth should always be restored with a material that seals the tooth from micro leakage.
A pulpotomy is performed in a primary tooth with extensive caries but without evidence of radicular pathology when caries removal results in a carious or mechanical pulp exposure. The coronal pulpotomy is amputated and the remaining vital radicular pulp tissue surface is treated with a medicament such as Buckley’s solution of formocresol. Gluteraldehyde and calcium hydroxide have been used but with less long term success. MTA is a more recent material with a high rate of success in pulpotomies. The coronal pulp chamber can be filled with zinc-oxide eugenol or other suitable base followed by acoronal restoration to avoid micro leakage and failure of the treatment. The most effective long term restoration has been shown to be a stainless steel crown although other alternatives such as composite resin and amalgam play a role when an adequate amount of enamel is intact.
Nonvital pulp therapy for primary teeth diagnosed with irreversible pulpitis or necrotic pulp
This involves the complete amputation of the pulpal tissue in a tooth that is reversibly infected or necrotic due to caries or trauma. The root canals are debrided mechanically with hand or rotary files and chemically with disinfectants such as sodium hypochlorite or chlorhexidine to ensure optimal bacterial decontamination of the canals. After proper drying of the canals a resorbable material such as non-reinforcedzinc oxide-eugenol, iodoform based paste or a combination paste of iodoform and calcium hydroxide is used to seal the canals.Then the tooth is restored with a material that seals the tooth from micro leakage.
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Railroads versus Highways
In the early days of this country, transportation was more or less based on the individual; you rode your horse or wagon to get where you needed to go, and to move goods from one place to another. Then came the railroads. These traveled along fixed lines, and were able to carry more people and more cargo at a much greater speed and reliability and at lower cost. And businesses and population centers sprang up along these routes, and many of them prospered as a result of their connection to the railroad lines. In time however, our horses and wagons were replaced by vehicles with internal combustion engines, and we were freed from the limits of the railroad lines. And we built a network of roads and highways to encourage the movement of people and goods at even greater speed and efficiency.
Now, here’s the big difference between these two systems. The railroads were closely controlled by their owners (at least initially), and folks like the Vanderbilts and Goulds made fortunes from them. The roads were publicly owned (though there have been exceptions), typically supported by public funds from tolls or taxes. With railroads, you had to go where they took you, and the content that they delivered was controlled by their owners. The highways existed simply to let people and goods move from here to there in a network of points, and the public entities that owned them didn’t much care what was moved or where it went.
I see parallels in the systems we have now. Cable television and the traditional phone service are like the railroads of old; they are purpose-built for a specific service. The service provider maintains both the physical system and the service, all for the profit of the owners. In contrast, the Internet is like our highway network; built and maintained by a range of entities for the sole purpose of facilitating the movement of data from here to there. The difference from the highway system is that the majority of the entities involved in the Internet are also looking to profit from their activity. But neither network cares much where the content comes from or ends up, or what the content is.
And here lies the problem for the cable companies. They are transitioning into becoming the providers of broadband Internet access. For now, they are in a conflicted position where they are trying to protect the access to their content (the TV programming that they provide) while trying to offer their customers high-speed access to all the content that the Internet has to offer. In short, they are trying to run access to a highway system as if it were a railroad. In my opinion, they won’t succeed.
Before long, the content will become completely separated from the delivery medium, and consumers will be free to choose which physical (or wireless) network they want to connect to in order to gain access to the Internet and its content. They will also have even more choices for free (Hulu, YouTube) and fee-based (Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Video on Demand) video and movie content that they can access over this connection. The cable company will become a conduit for information as a utility, just like water or electricity. (And keep in mind that the electric company could also become a competitor to provide broadband connections; after all, they also have a physical infrastructure already in place that reaches almost every home.)
This is not a change that will take place overnight, but I believe that it will happen and that the signs of this shift are already present.
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What GDP really tells us
(What is really scary is that the chart above stops in 2005..)
Written by: Joshua Gayman
Gross Domestic Product(GDP) is the sum of all final goods and services produced within a nation’s borders for a given period(year). GDP is made up of only 4 different factors:
1. Personal Consumption Expenditure: The amount spent by individuals on goods and services.
2. Private Investment: Private investing into things such as factories, equipment, and residential/non-residential buildings.
3. Net Trade: The amount the US exports minus the amount it imports.(This is currently a negative number, hence the term: “Trade Deficit.”)
4. Government Spending: Doesn’t matter if it is buying Barbies, war tanks or investing in medical research. It has the same effect on GDP.
In 2011, the United States’ GDP was $15,000 billion.(NOTE: 1,000 Billion = 1 Trillion. This really puts the $16 Trillion national debt into perspective doesn’t it..) Of that $15,000 Billion, Personal Consumption accounted for 71% of GDP. Private Investment accounted for 13% of GDP. Net Exports is a negative number because we import more than we export. You could say it accounted for -4% of GDP. Finally, Government Spending(federal and state levels) accounted for 20% of GDP.
Let’s take a closer look at these four factors of GDP:
1. Personal Consumption: At 71% of GDP, this factor is by far the most important. The amount that individuals spend is determined by two factors: how much money they earn and how much money they can borrow. These two factors are also the most important factors for 2.Private Investment, because business investment and residential construction both are driven by consumer demand, which is driven by the ability for the consumer to take on more debt.
The expansion of debt owed by the individuals in the United States was the strongest factor driving the economy from the early 1990s up until the economic crisis of 2008. In 1993, the total debt of the household sector first topped $4 Trillion. This number peaked near $14 Trillion in the 3rd quarter of 2008. At that point, the donkey collapsed from too much debt on it’s back when individuals could no longer afford the interest payments on their loans and began to default. (From 2002-2007, the household sector increased its borrowing by an average of $1 Trillion per year.) It was all of this debt that funded personal consumption and therefore GDP.
When loans began to default in 2008, the banks refused to lend the household sector any more money. With credit cards and Home Equity Lines of Credit(HELOCS) getting cut, people were forced to spend less money. With personal consumption contracting, private investment began to contract even more. The result of this was a STEEP decline in US GDP in the 4th quarter of 2008. During the same quarter, unemployment shot up to 10%. At this point, the US Government began to spend much, much more. Had it not done so, the economy would have collapsed into a Greater Depression. It’s just math:
Personal Consumption + Private Investment – Net Trade + Government Spending = GDP
3. Net Exports: This number really comes down to the competitiveness of the country’s goods and services in the global economy. Since this number is negative in the US, it is obvious that we consume more than we produce. We offset this number by holding Reserve Currency status and printing money. Luckily for us, the system will collapse when the world no longer buys American debt, therefore the financial system is doing whatever they have to do to keep the dollar alive. This of course is not a good thing if you are a saver.
4. Government Spending: In the United States, government spending is supposed to be determined by elected officials in response to the demands of the voting public, but the voting public is gaining an increased awareness that government spending is actually determined by the demands of corporate donors.
All of these numbers and stats for me to point out one simple thing: Debt is more important to the United States than production. If it weren’t, we would stop taking on debt, stop paying for unfunded liabilities, and start competing to produce and sell in the global economy(export). it is much easier for us to simply take on more debt, as long as the world will buy our bonds and allow us to print dollars.
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China Pushing to Replace Dollar with Yuan as Reserve Currency of the World
More and more countries are moving away from the dollar and trading using the Yuan, as China continues to make their push to replace the Dollar with their currency as the Reserve Currency of the World
By Joshua Gamen
This post is about a History lesson not taught in schools. For almost a century many things about money have been concealed, it is part of my mission to help spread the truth to as many friends and fellow good people as possible. I dedicate this post to the following people:
First off, my father, Brent Gayman, who with his life showed me that it is critical that anyone who wants to be free, must mind their OWN business. You can not be free working for another man, period. He may not be the wealthiest man on Earth, but he has always stayed free. I have always admired how he could be there at all my sports games, field trips, doctor visits, etc – because he always controlled his own schedule.
Secondly, the NBA great Travis Outlaw – for it was at his condo my senior year of high school, where I first picked up off his coffee table the book “Rich Dad Poor Dad”(written by Robert Kiyosaki), while kicking his butt at Knockout Kings on Playstation. This book opened my eyes to what they do not teach in schools.
Benjamin Ficker, who loaned me a stack of books written by Robert Kiyosaki, including the book “Retire Young, Retire Rich,” before I departed on a vacation to Maui, Hawaii with my friend Sean Stamm, where I read this book – and my mindset forever changed. I went home from that vacation and made over $8,300 that month – at age 21, solely credited to this new mindset.
And Aaron Niehuser, who wrote me an email today, asking me questions which led me to write this blog post, and see more clearly my vision for the future.
My formal education was short. After high school, I went on to play junior college football in Northern California, where I started at fullback. The following year, I transferred to Southern Oregon University, where I redshirted due to bad grades in the classroom from my freshman year in junior college. I lasted one football season and term at SOU, before flunking out of school.
In high school, I got by in the classroom solely so that I could play sports. My parents never rode me very hard about my grades, I was usually a B student, mixed in with some A’s, and some C’s. I really didn’t care much to learn about biology, literature, an obviously manipulated history curriculum, or much else that was taught. I knew I was not going to make my money as a teacher, but rather as a businessman of some kind, owning my own business.
After college, I began my real education: SALES. I enjoyed it from the beginning, and have never looked back. While learning how to sell, I spent many slow afternoons at the car lot reading books on sales, financial literacy, accounting, and economics. I now control my own schedule and my own destiny, owning 50% of a real estate business that operates in both Phoenix, Arizona and Portland, Oregon.(Thanks again to friend and business partner Benjamin Ficker.)
This lesson begins in the year 1903, when the US Education System was taken over by the General Education Board – founded by John D. Rockefeller. That year, the influence of education was taken over by the ultra-rich.(Sound like a good idea to you???!!!)
When I first learned of this, it finally clicked why formal education was never for me. Though passionate about playing football, I was never motivated enough to sit through 8 hour days of lecture about subjects which did not show me a personal benefit, followed by more wasted hours studying textbooks in subjects I would not apply. (I’m not saying I NEVER enjoyed a lecture here or there. And I must give some credit to math in school, and also to my Freshman Economics Teacher Shawn Abbott.) But primarily, what I know I have picked up on my own education venture.
A decade after the rich took over our education system, the Federal Reserve(FED) was born in 1913. Created by a group of ultra rich businessmen and bankers at Jeckyll Island off the coast of Georgia, by names including JP Morgan(JP Morgan Chase…), and to no surprise, John D. Rockefeller. The Federal Reserve was created in a deal struck between bankers and the US Treasury. It is not federal, not American, has no reserves, and is not a bank.
In the year 1929, the United States entered into what is known as the Great Depression. During this depression, many government agencies were born, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation(FDIC), the Federal Housing Administration(FHA), and Social Security. Through this time period, the government took MASSIVE control over our lives via taxes. Many of these agencies are responsible for the mess we are currently in(See: FHA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac). The problems those 3 agencies are responsible for will be DWARFED by the unfunded time bombs of Social Security and Medicare, which are estimated to be $50-$60 TRILLION DOLLAR bombs! The largest demographic in our population is the Baby Boomers(the people born from the World War II generation), and are currently RIGHT NOW beginning their entrance into retirement. Uh oh….
1933 – President FDR(Franklin Delano Roosevelt), asked all Americans to turn in their gold coins. The government paid the people of the United States $20.22 per ounce of gold. Then, FDR immediately raised the price of gold to $35 per ounce. The government cheated Americans out of about $15 for every ounce of gold turned in. What a cash heist! If anyone was caught holding gold coins, the punishment was a $10,000 fine and 10 years in jail. I believe the reasons behind this were: 1) To get the people used to paper money as the only currency of the world, and 2) Because the government was already broke. They had already allowed the FED to print so much paper currency, that they could not back that currency anymore with the amount of gold they had.
In 1944, the Bretton Woods agreement was made, with the illusion that it was to smooth out the economic conflict resulting of World War II. In effect, this made the US dollar the reserve currency of the world, requiring other nations to peg their currency to the dollar, which was pegged by gold. This international currency agreement created the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund(IMF). This replicated the Federal Reserve system globally. This act lasted through 1971.
In 1971, President Nixon severed the link between the dollar and the gold standard, for good. Nixon realized that the link between gold and the dollar was draining our central banks of their gold reserves, so he cut the ties. With one stoke of his pen(with no permission from Congress), the global economy was forever changed. This led to one of the greatest economic booms(if not the greatest), in the history of the world. Now the Fed could print as much money as they wanted, turning the US dollar into Monopoly money(the bank never goes broke!) The World Banks now had a monopoly on currency, and the economy shifted from operating on money, to operating on debt. After 1971, the US economy could only increase by increasing debt, and that is when the bail outs started.(They were nothing new by 2007!!!) In the 1980s, the bailouts were in the millions. By the 1990s, they were in the billions, and today they are in the trillions and growing. This change in the rules of money, may be the biggest financial event in world history, allowing the United States to print money at will by creating more and more debt, cleverly disguised by what is known as US bonds. Never before this, had the world’s money been backed by one nation’s debt, a giant IOU from United States tax payers.
That year, the dollar stopped being money, and became a currency. The word currency is derived from the word current. A current must keep moving or it loses value. This is why today, savers are losers. To retain any value, a currency must move from one asset to another(IE: Stock market to real estate to precious metals). Thus, people who parked their money in the stock market or a savings bank lost money. Debtors become winners as the US government prints more and more money, increasing debt and inflation.
In theory, if people payed off their debt, modern money would disappear.
Then in 1974, the US Congress passed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act(known as ERISA, or as called today, 401K). Before ’74, a company’s pension plan provided a paycheck for life. After 1974, defined benefit pension plans shifted to defined contribution retirement plans. This means they had to save their money for retirement. Another cash heist was created by millions of people being forced to shove their money into the stock market and savings accounts, for mutual fund managers and bankers to play with until the workers retired. If the pension plan runs out of money or a stock market crash occurs, the people are SOL(out of luck and on their own).
In 2007, when sub-prime borrowers could not pay their mortgages any longer, the expansion of debt stopped and the debt market collapsed. This led to the financial crisis we are in today.
The United States has financed it’s insane debt by selling the debt to Europe, Japan, and China. If these countries lose confidence in our government and currency, another financial crisis will occur. And this is now starting to happen, as there is global talk of China trying to replace the dollar with the Yuan as the reserve currency of the world.(I don’t see this happening, at least anytime soon – but there’s talk about it – google it…) If you and I stop buying homes and using credit cards, the crisis gets worse, and as you probably know, it is very difficult right now to obtain a mortgage or get a new credit card or an increase in your credit limit. If you already have a mortgage, try getting a home equity loan…
All of this does create an oppertunity for ANYONE who is willing to invest in their financial education and benefit from the circumstances. Assets are cheap. It is now more important than ever to invest in a financial education centered around leveraging good debt(debt used to buy assets that put money in your pocket), and cash flow(money that comes to you monthly over and above what you are paying as a price for the debt). I have talked a lot about silver and gold lately, and while they are a great hedge against inflation, it is important to also invest in assets like businesses and real estate, which will put money in your pocket. In the event of hyperinflation(which we will see, just like Germany did pre-World War II), precious metals will have a HUGE dollar amount pegged to them, but remember, dollars will be worthless. You will be able to trade them for other assets like food, real estate, etc, but it is important to have assets that provide you cash flow. Even if the cash is not in the form of US dollars. A good business provides REAL value, so you will always get something in return for what you are providing.
I strongly suggest, encourage, and recommend that you verify everything you see and read. Form your own opinions, but I sincerely hope these facts help shine some light on the truth for you.
Blowing Bubbles
by: Joshua Gamen
Have you seen the price of gold or silver lately? If this is not something you track, change that. Here is why: As gold and silver go up in value, the cash in your wallet goes down in value. Literally speaking, the value is transferring from the paper dollar to precious medals. And FAST!
Gold went up roughly $60 in the month of September. As of today, in the past year gold has gone up $300. In the last 2 years it has gone up roughly $430. PAST 5 YEARS = up $845 dollars, nearly tripling it’s value in dollars.
In October 2005, gold was worth a spot price of $466 dollars. Right now, I am currently looking at the up to minute price of gold at $1,314. Gold has nearly tripled in value. Conversely, the dollar is worth roughly 1/3 of what it used to be worth versus gold.
At first it is a bit tricky to think about the economics of financial value. But let me attempt to break it down for you.
Everything has value. A gallon of milk is worth something, a question answered is worth something, gold is worth something, a stake in something is worth something, clothes, automobiles, paper, everything has a value. Part of the reason we are in the mess we are in right now economically, both nationally and globally, is that the government has manipulated the value of the US dollar so that it had more value than it should.
This started when President Nixon took the dollar off of the Gold standard in 1971, in an attempt to CREATE more money for circulation to make everybody do and have more, and thereby get people doing more and making more happen(a good economy). The US dollar is the reserve currency for the world, and so as it corrects itself to being back to what it was originally worth(about the same as a napkin), the world suffers economically.
Going back to the beginning of time, gold and silver have always been used as money. Every civilization that has ever printed or made some kind of currency, and not had anything tangible backing that currency, has ended up with a worthless currency. Currency is only worth as much as people think it is worth. If people don’t think paper bills will be worth as much as other items in compared to trading(ie: gold, silver, diamonds, oil, clothes), then paper bills will become worth less and less. Google: Hyperinflation, Germany.
Value is always value, and it shifts to things of which men(and ladies 😉 perceive to have it. 5 Years ago real estate was believed to have a lot of value. The thing is, a house is a house just like it was 5 years ago. The difference is 5 years ago people thought that a house had a high amount of financial value strung to it, now people are seeing it for what it is, a shelter from the weather, warmth, etc.
For most of our known lives, we have thought of the US dollar to carry extreme value. I was in my early 20’s before I every grasped the concept of currency as opposed to money.
The dollar is crashing, hard and fast! Since the early 70’s, the government has been printing more and more money, in an attempt to keep everyone engaged in more commerce. As the government prints more money, the money in circulation is worth less. The government is now pumping more US dollars into the economy than ever before, and at a more rapid pace than ever before as well! US trade is down, we export significantly less than we import. So where is our value? It’s leaving fast! The good news is now is the time to position yourself to get as much things that have value to you as possible, with a declining dollar. If you can invest in a few pieces of gold or silver here or there, do it. You will get more and more for your gold and silver in the future.
The population is gradually having a paradigm shift themselves, from value being in the dollar, to value being in precious medals. As the people catch on to the idea that their money(US currency) is becoming worth less and less, they will flock to precious medals in an attempt to keep any tangible belongings they have.
The currency bubble that has been inflated for the past 4 decades is popping fast, while the precious medals bubble is just blowing up. Expect gold and silver to rapidly gain against the dollar in the next couple years, as the value of the slutty dollar shrinks, and the value of real estate continues to fall do to the number of bad mortgages adjusting, and rapidly increasing payments along with foreclosures.
Most importantly, get and stay financially educated. Knowledge is the new money 🙂
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How to Grow Air Plants (Tillandsias)
January 21, 2016
Succulent Gardens
air plants › how to grow air plants › tillandsias ›
Thoroughly wet your tillandsia 2-3 times per week; more often in a hot, dry environment; less often in a cool, humid one. In conditions of extreme drying, and consequent moisture loss, air plants cannot get replacement water from their roots like a terrestrial plant, or draw on internal reserves like a succulent.
The water you use is important. NEVER USED DISTILLED WATER. Softened Water is also a no-go because of the salt content. Filtered water, or tap water that has been sitting long enough for the chlorine to dissipate, bottled water, or RO are all fine. Pond Water and aquarium water works well as long as they aren't over crowded with fish and/or reptiles. They love rainwater!
If you live in a temperate climate with some humidity you may never need to water tillandsias hanging in a tree outdoors. Indoors, the hotter and drier the air, the more often you need to water.
After watering, plants should be given enough light and air circulation to dry in no longer than 4 hours. Wind can be a detriment, as it can make the plant dry too quickly. Remember that window fans can cause the plant to dry quickly as well. If the plant dries within a very short period of time it does not have the chance to re-hydrate at all.
Spray misting is insufficient as the sole means of watering but may be beneficial between regular waterings in dry climates to increase the humidity around the plant.
Under-watering is evidenced by an exaggerating of the natural concave curve of each leaf, or drying at the tips. Overwatering can quickly lead to rot, and the central rosette will become mushy and disintegrate.
Below: Air plants in the steps of Voyage to Tikal at Succulent Gardens
IMPORTANT: After wetting your plants thoroughly, turn them upside down and gently shake them. Water that collects near the base is will cause the plant to rot if left too long.
One last thing about watering your air plant: It is much better to water in the morning than at night. Air plants absorb the carbon dioxide from the air at night instead of during the daytime. If the plant is wet, it does not breath therefore, unless it can dry quickly at night, plan on giving morning baths.
Photo from presentation by Baylor Chapman at the 2015 Succulent Extravaganza
Air Circulation
Do not allow to dry too quickly though. 1-3 hours is optimum.
Optimum temperature range for Tillandsias is 50 - 90 degrees F.
Use bromeliad fertilizer (17-8-22) twice a month. It is GREAT for blooming and reproduction! Because Tillandsia are rather smaller than most Bromeliads, I suggest 1/2 to 1/4 strength. Other water-soluble fertilizers can be used at 1/4 strength (Rapid Grow, Miracle-Grow, etc.) if bromeliad fertilizer is not available.
Succulent Gardens
Succulent Gardens
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As hurricane season tapers down, it leaves behind tragic stories involving preventable deaths from carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning caused by improper use of portable generators.
Despite a 2007 Consumer Product Safety Commission requirement that portable generators include a warning label about the dangers of operating a generator indoors, the number of people accidentally poisoned by carbon monoxide remains high.
About 70 people die every year and many more are sickened, according to the CPSC. In an effort to curtail those numbers and save lives, the CPSC voted 4-1 to publish proposed rules that will drastically limit emissions from multiple classes of spark-ignited engines—those commonly found on portable generators.
"We're glad the CPSC is taking steps to make portable generators safer," says William Wallace, a policy analyst for Consumers Union, the policy and mobilization arm of Consumer Reports. "It's clear that education and warning labels alone aren't enough to protect consumers from carbon monoxide poisoning. Many of these products are simply too dangerous as they're currently designed. We appreciate the CPSC's work and look forward to reviewing the proposed rule in detail to ensure it does everything possible to prevent future tragedies."
What’s Being Proposed
The CPSC proposal requires a significant reduction in the amount of CO that generators can emit per hour—a worthy goal in an appliance that can produce the same hourly emissions as scores of idling cars.
The exact restrictions vary based upon engine size and class, but the resulting shift would mean that when consumers do improperly operate a generator indoors, CO would be released more gradually, potentially giving users a chance to note milder symptoms of CO poisoning—such as headache, nausea, and dizziness—before the gas reaches lethal levels.
According to one test conducted during development of the new rules, the amount of time consumers have to respond to carbon monoxide buildup in a garage with the doors closed (something you should never do) could increase to 96 minutes if manufacturers adopt closed-loop fuel injection and install a small catalyst. In this situation, current models can produce lethal levels of CO in a mere 8 minutes.
How Will New Models Be Affected?
Our product experts anticipate that most manufacturers would meet the new requirement by switching from carburetor systems to fuel injection systems—a transition some have started to make already—which would add about $300 to the cost of a portable generator.
That’s a significant sum considering many of the top-performing models from our most recent generator tests can be had for less than $1,000. But that price is likely to come down as more manufacturers embrace the technology.
In addition to the obvious safety benefits, our experts anticipate that adopting the standard will actually improve performance from many new models featuring fuel injection, most notably easier starts, even with the ethanol-blended fuels found at gas stations, and run-times that could increase by 25 percent while using the same amount of gas. Both are welcome improvements in the aftermath of a storm, when gas station lines can be long and smooth starts are crucial.
Is It Safe to Use an Older Portable Generator?
Unlike most outdoor power equipment, generators are one of those tools you buy and hope never to use. For that reason, our experts anticipate that it will be years before older models go out of rotation. None of the 33 portable models we’ve currently tested are designed to meet the new standard. But most models remain safe—as long as you follow safety guidelines.
That means running the generator at least 15 feet from the house in an unenclosed space, far from doors and windows. Never run a generator in a garage or shed even with the doors open. Don’t let it run in the rain unless it’s covered by a model-specific tent, designed to shield the unit from the elements while still allowing it to vent properly.
Make sure it’s safely connected to a transfer switch on your circuit breaker panel and test that your indoor CO alarms are working. A well-functioning alarm can serve as an early warning system.
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The planets play a key role in the design of who we are. In fact, everything in Human Design is based on the movements and impact of the planetary spheres. Obviously, the effect of the planets on our lives is no new revelation, being the basis of all astrology. However, the revelation of Human Design serves to explain as well as deepen descriptions of many of the patterns that astrologers have glimpsed for millennia in the stars.
The key to understanding the impact of something as distant as a planet on our lives is that tiny, subatomic particle known as the neutrino. Neutrinos are extremely fine matter produced by the nuclear reactions within stars. All stars, including our own Sun, produce neutrinos continuously. Stars in distant reaches of space are constantly beaming these neutrinos toward us, and being made of such fine substance, they pass through our bodies, as well as through the Earth itself. Imagine then, how the movement of the planets around our Sun must refract the neutrino information as it passes into us at the moment of our imprinting.
We have two key moments of imprinting, one at 88 degrees of the Sun before we are born, and the other at the instant of our actual, physical birth. At these two moments in time, the positions of the planets in our solar system codify the neutrino information in very specific ways as it streams through our bodies. Planets vary greatly in density and makeup. Some consist of solid rock while others consist purely of layers of gases. Every planet also has its own mythology as perceived by man. One could almost say that planets are the organs of the solar system, and we, humanity, are the brain that gives them their names. Thus our mythologies are, and always have been, our method of attuning to our greater body.
The planets then, are our local programming agents. This is why down the ages, we have always described them as gods in our mythologies. Every planet, depending where it is in our design, lends its flavor to our nature, at both conscious and unconscious levels. This is something we need to consider whenever we look at a planet, as well as where it is activating a gate/line in our chart.
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Computers have been around us for along time, and even now more electronic devices in the forms of tablets, mobile phones, smart watches, etc are starting to get popular bringing together this new notion that is starting to be defined as the internet of things. More and more, we have more devices are starting to be interconnected between each other through the internet on a large broad of networks which start to produce large amounts of information. This were the concept of Big data processing is also gaining a big momentum.
Most of you will ask, what does this have to do with the title of the post? Well, all this technologies have something in common and is that most of it services are based on software elements which where coded by someone in the end. This is why coding is important in technology as it allows us to create all this cool things. Not even that, one of the most demanding media entertaining markets; videogame are based on software and coding skills to bring virtual worlds to life.
This brief introduction is to clearly state that if you are someone approaching to achieve a major in computer science, information technology or you want to become a software engineer, you will need to code at sometime coding will be your greatest and most valuable tool and you need to become good at it. Why is that? Well lets take for example a carpenter, his role is to build great and elaborate things out from wood by using the tools available to it. What makes the difference of a good from a bad carpenter is that no matter the tools you give him, his art quality is directly related to how good, his carpenter skills are. So In order for this carpenter to become an expert, it mostly depends on how much dedication and effort he focuses on improving his carpenter skills.
This is similar to software, in order to become better at coding; you need to practice along the way. Luckily with the ourburst of the internet, there is a wide range of resources where we can get started ourselves quite easily.
Here I give out some tips:
- Learn a language which you like: Luckily, I learned Java at university which was a good choice to start with and also you get grasp on Object Oriented Programming (OOP). There are other nice options like Python (quite simple also). C++ is also interesting but from my point of view it might be to rough to those who are a bit unsure how to program. The important here is to motivate yourself using a tool that you feel like home. Also now with Massive Online Courses like coursera offers, one can easily pick a language and try it. Even better, have a look at this link and pick your language!
-Follow some tutorials/books: There are many websites with a vast amount of resources, if you take Java; I recommend the oracle Java tutorial which it is quite good. If you go for python, read "learn python the hard way" very good resource.
-Compete in programming competitions: This is one of the best ways to learn programming and in the same way, you learn and develop problem solving skills. There are plenty of puzzles out there that do not need very complex solutions but they do require some previous knowledge in algorithms. Still try to solve the problem and break it up, is hard and there is a reward in the end which is receiving your own satisfaction after been capable of solving extreme challenges you never thought before. There are some sites which allows you to solve problems of this type, I recommend TopCoder, CodeChef and CoderCharts to start with.
-Take an algorithms course: This courses are fun in the end as you learn techniques to solve problems that seem impossible with a couple of lines of code! Also it is key for solving complex problems in programming competitions. Now with coursera, there are many courses in this area and they are of course free to take!
This few tips, will give you a head start on your career path on IT and technology!
Apache Hadoop & Flink automation in OpenStack with Karamel
This is a special post as it remarks my first contribution to a small open-source project and also to my ex-colleagues during my brief ti...… Continue reading
Developing Applications With Docker
Published on August 13, 2015
Welcome to My New Page!
Published on July 22, 2015
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US Census
Maps that look at the US Census at the macro-perspective of all counties in the United States.
Classical Music
Materials and Waste
Public Lands Policy
US Census
Questions? Need an updated map? Email me
Google Maps: Percent Of Houses Lacking Complete Plumbing Facalities
This map shows the number of houses, per US County lacking complete plumbing facilities. This includes both occupied and unoccupied housing units, e.g. seasonal cabins. The US Census defines complete plumbing facilities are houses with hot and cold running water, a flush toilet, a bathtub or shower, a sink with a faucet, a stove or range, and a refrigerator. Rural counties, with a lot of cabins, are most likely to have a large number of housing units without complete plumbing facilities.
Data Source: Complete Plumbing Facilities, 2011-2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.
Google Maps: Median Home Value
The Eastern Seaboard from Washington DC to Boston MA has some of the United States' highest home values, along with Southern California from San Francisco down to Los Angeles. Seattle, Colorado, and parts of Southern Florida are also expensive places to live. Surprisingly, Chicago IL is relatively inexpensive place to buy a home. Areas that are blue and green are less expensive to buy a home, yellows are about average, while oranges and reds are the most expensive places to own a home.
Data Source: Median Home Value, 2011-2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.
Google Maps: Median Age Of County Population
The median age of the population varies from county to county. Typically, rural counties have the oldest median-aged population, especially in Appalachia, Upper Mid-West and the Rocky Mountains. Blue and green counties are the youngest, while yellow is median, while orange and red counties are the oldest median aged population.
Data Source: AGE AND SEX, 2011-2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.
US Population by State
One in four Americans resides in California, Texas or Florida.
More then half of all Americans reside in California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia and North Carolina.
Two out of three Americans reside in the 14 largest states in America.
Data: 2016 US Census Population Estimates.
Google Maps: 2016 Net Migration
This map shows the net migration in the United States during 2016. This is one component of population change -- birth and death rates are another component. It is an interesting map to look at it as it gives you an idea on where people are choosing to locate to in the United States and where people are moving away from. Generally, people are continuing to move out of the salt belt to places with more sun.
The difference between domestic in-migration to an area and domestic out-migration from the same area during a specified time period. Domestic in- and out-migration consist of moves where both the origin and the destination are within the United States (excluding Puerto Rico). The net domestic migration rate expresses net domestic migration during a specified time period as a proportion of an area's population at the midpoint of the time period. Rates are expressed per 1,000 population.
Data Source: County and Metro Area Population Estimates.
For Some Arab Americans, Checking A Census Box Is Complicated
Between 1880 and 1930, Congress and statisticians tried to create standards to mandate that census information couldn't be used for "taxation, regulation or investigation" or to "harm" a people or organizations, as explained by Margo Anderson, a history professor at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, in a related paper.
Circumventing those standards, the U.S. government used census data to locate and deliver more than 100,000 Japanese Americans to incarceration camps. This happened, Anderson pointed out, before the United States was an "equal opportunity, affirmative action, civil rights society" and when Japanese immigrants were considered "aliens ineligible for citizenship." She pointed out in a conversation with NPR that at the time, "nobody disputed the legal foundation for incarcerating" the so-called aliens.
In the case of Japanese Americans, the question was not "who was Japanese, but where did Japanese mainly live," said Kenneth Prewitt, a former director of the U.S. Census Bureau who is now a professor at Columbia University. "Yes, census data can be inappropriately used to target for attention particular neighborhoods where persons of MENA ancestry are concentrated," Prewitt said. But, he said, doing so would not be any more illegal than targeting "places where elderly people live, to know where to send rescue vehicles in case of flooding or power outings or where veterans live in order to place VA hospitals nearby. So the issue is not who clusters where but for what purposes is that information used."
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2 Spatial Concepts in Non-Literate Societies: Language and Practice in Eipo and Dene Chipewyan
Martin Thiering, Wulf Schiefenhövel
2.1 Introduction
This chapter focuses on the linguistic representation of spatial concepts in two little known and unrelated languages with a non-written tradition. It explores the degree to which environmental experience and spatial orientation is reflected in language, i.e., it is in line with anthropological linguistic approaches placing language in its social and cultural context, and its cultural practices.1 As such, spatial knowledge is not only encoded in concepts or categories, but is embodied in the lived histories of human beings, and their cultural and linguistic practices.2
The unrelated cultures under survey present interesting environmental terrains: one is an alpine region (Eipo), the other comprises vast prairies (Dene). The mental and perceptual course-maintaining processes in these cultures rely on cognitive maps.3 We assume very fundamentally that Homo sapiens, like all other animals, is equipped with biological, especially neurobiological dispositions enabling orientation in space and thereby ensuring survival and, ultimately, reproduction. As has been argued in Chapter 1 of this book, the ability of cognitive mapping is part of this biological disposition. Cognitive maps are structures of spatial reasoning; they are processes of unconscious inference.4 We understand cognitive maps as establishing a relation between the ‘real world’ cues (such as objects and places) and their mental equivalents. This will give us the opportunity to relate environmental conditions to structures of spatial cognition as they are reflected in linguistic and enactive presentations.
This chapter deviates from the descriptions of landscape features in the sense that it adopts cognitive maps that are referred to in navigation techniques of orientation, i.e., navigating without instruments. We argue that this kind of navigation is based on dynamic cognitive maps and mental triangulation. This enables the navigators to have a spatial conception of their position at any time. It is argued here that this is of special importance not only for piloting but also for orienting oneself on land. We show this for the alpine regions of the Eipo and the vast prairies extensions of the Dene in Alberta.
We adopt the premise that5
descriptions of space, or allusions to space in language, must rest on two kinds of knowledge. The first appears to be based on models (maps, representations) which people construct to guide spatial behavior. The second appears to consist of a linguistic symbol-system that allows the models to be shared within a community of discourse.
The question is whether there are commonalities between the two unrelated languages, and if differences appear, what form do they take linguistically and conceptually? The following quote summarizes our point of departure.6
Man, in confronting reality, faces a kaleidoscope of phenomena ranging from the natural to the man-made, to the imaginary, to the totally abstract. Comprehension of such a broad inventory of reality and non-reality requires language, the tool that permits man to take verbal stock of objective and subjective experiences alike. In man’s ongoing endeavor to conceptualize and verbalize a world that can never be fully known, language is the vital intermediary.
Our question here concerns the relationship between non-linguistic information and spatial language. One language, Eipo, is spoken in the central mountains of the Indonesian Province of Papua, formerly the province of Irian Jaya, West New Guinea. The other language, Dene Chipewyan, is spoken in Cold Lake, Alberta. The point of departure in our argumentation is that non-linguistic information has its impact upon spatial language and categorization, i.e., with reference to space and its relation to semiotic systems. We present language data indicating the influence of environmental landmarks and cultural heritage in shaping spatial categorization in the two languages. In this chapter landmarks are defined as any kind of environmental reference points. This can be a mountain, a river, a house, or even a tree (see section 2.2).
In accordance with the exposition given in Chapter 1, it is assumed that spatial concepts develop in the course of ontogeny on the basis of cognitive structures resulting from phylogeny. This development depends on the experiences of a speaker and the common concepts in the speaker’s community in a particular culture at a particular time. In the course of our argumentation we present some fundamental spatial concepts and representations based on anthropomorphic spatial knowledge in Eipo and Dene Chipewyan. Knowledge members of both cultures developed on the basis of human phylogenetic adaptations throughout their ontogenesis in a remote area in West New Guinea and Western Canada. The term culture has several meanings and theoretical backgrounds. We adopt the specific idea of culture following Clifford Geertz’s Interpretation of Culture:7
The concept of culture is essentially a semiotic one. Believing that man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun, I take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an experimental science in search of law but an interpretative one in search of meaning.
We show such webs of basic spatial categorization in the two cultures, i.e., we present a snapshot of spatial semantics represented by the two languages. Moreover, this chapter posits its arguments on the basis of species-specific cognitive organization that matures and shapes in the course of ontogenesis during sensorimotor action and sociocultural learning.8 Spatial cognition is externally represented in language as well as in cultural-specific practices.9 Note that language is understood here as an external representation of mental concepts, or, as Boas puts it, human language is one of the most important manifestations of mental life.10
The chapter is structured as follows: we first present some theoretical fundamentals of cognitive linguistics (section 2.2), followed by anthropological outlines of Dene Chipewyan (section 2.3) and Eipo (section 2.4). We then present some selected examples of spatial concepts in Eipo (center and periphery and natural limitations, distance, and orientation in Eipo; section 2.5). Finally, we compare representations of spaces in Dene and Eipo based on a variety of data sets (section 2.6). For the case of the Eipo, data are used from the dictionary of the Eipo language containing actual usages of the recorded utterances as well as published material from Schiefenhövel and Heeschen.11 Additionally, we rely on a collection of myths, songs, and stories from Eipo speakers.12 For the case of Dene, first hand data were elicited by Thiering with Dene Chipewyan speakers, based on various elicitation tools and interviews.13 We conclude the chapter with some general comments (section 2.7).
2.2 Theoretical frame
2.2.1 Cognitive maps
Descriptions of space are based on internal models of knowledge representation of the environment. Such models are defined in cognitive psychology as mental models (or, depending on the authors, using concepts such as scripts, slots, frame-systems, fillers, schemas, idealized cognitive models, mental spaces). More specifically, cognitive maps represent the geometric layout of the differentiated topography of a space (via toponyms). By definition, a cognitive map or survey representation of a spatial layout encodes relations (distances and directions) among behaviorally relevant landmarks within a coordinate reference system centered on the environment. We use the term coordinate system rather loosely, or as an analogy, since, in the context of practical orientation, we do not believe in a mathematical coordinate system represented in the brain. Still, in the case of spatial conceptualization the analogy helps to model and describe the cognitive function of representing environmental frames of reference as a cognitive device.
Cognitive maps function to support navigation, and, in turn, are created by navigation and exploration of large-scale space. During navigation and exploratory spatial behavior, landmarks are experienced sequentially in space and time. The process of constructing a cognitive map can be thought of as a process that places a mental ‘copy’ of each sequentially experienced landmark into a simultaneous system that preserves metric information about the linear distance between landmarks, and their direction relative to one another. An important, emergent property of a simultaneous system is that the spatial relations between landmarks entered in the system, even those relations not directly experienced, are also available.
Cognitive maps express the essential structure of spatial information encoded in our memories through learning processes. Like cartographic maps, cognitive maps can be constructed using many different sources of information and encoding processes. Some cognitive maps may be stored as permanent structures in long-term memory, e.g., a cognitive map of a familiar city, while others may be temporary structures for the current state of a dynamic environment, e.g., parents keeping track of the locations of children as they play in a park. In either case the characteristics of objects are thought to be stored along with their spatial locations. Hence, a cognitive map is, in the simplest terms, the encoding of a structure in our memory of what is where, i.e., such maps are essentially individualized internal representations or models of the worlds in which we live.
The processes used to acquire spatial knowledge appear to have a fundamental impact on the character of a cognitive map. The nature of cognitive maps produced by different encoding processes and the focus on understanding the circumstances that produce cognitive maps with fixed orientations and those that produce orientation-free cognitive maps is at issue here. Cognitive mapping is14
the process composed of a series of psychological transformations by which an individual acquires, stores, recalls, and decodes information about relative locations and attributes of the phenomena in his everyday spatial environment.
The end product of a cognitive mapping process is a cognitive map.15 Cognitive mapping is a recording process in memory of the existence of an object and its known location in space. Within a given visual image, a large number of landmarks are simultaneously visible, so relative distances and directions are easy to judge.16
The next subsection examines the usage of cognitive maps with respect to landmarks serving as anchorage points to navigate and orient oneself in a known and unknown environment.
2.2.2 Landmarks
At focus in the very different environments under review, i.e., alpine vs. prairies, are landmarks as external points of reference. Moreover, in this chapter landmarks are defined as any kind of cultural-specific environmental reference points. This can be the above-mentioned mountains, rivers, houses, rocks, or even a tree. Landmarks are points of reference external to the person. In a city, landmarks may be distant buildings or geographical features that can be seen from many angles and distances, or they may be primarily local such as buildings, signs, trees, storefronts, doorknobs, or other urban details.17 Siegel and White argue that landmarks are unique configurations of perceptual events (patterns). They identify a specific geographical location. A person’s account of his spatial representations generally begins with landmarks, and these landmarks are the strategic foci to and from which the person moves or travels. Landmarks are used as proximate course-maintaining devices. They not only identify beginnings and endings, but also serve to maintain course.18
Arguably, landmarks shape and determine a detailed topographical map of the environment as represented via language. The following quote by Fowler and Turner summarizes the function of landmarks or geographic features in particular. This quote also summarizes our point of departure with respect to the function of environmental knowledge and its reflection in language.19
The naming of geographic features as part of territorial marking and orientation is a common occurrence in all cultures […]. Usually, topographical names reflect specific cultural interests and historical developments within the possibilities given by the morphology of the language.
Fowler and Turner clearly point out that the process of naming geographic and territorial landmarks is crucial in all cultures. More specifically they conclude that topographical names indicate particular cultural interests as represented by the language repertoire, toponyms, or the language-specific affordances. Indeed, data presented here show a rather dense linguistic system of topographical maps represented, e.g., in place names serving as mental maps for orientation. It is furthermore argued that human beings instantiate relations between objects relying on various frames of reference that, as the name implies, serve as reference points to locate participants (see below). These reference points anchor a specific orientation between objects and the viewer.20 These linguistic coordinates are important for the description of topographical spatial relations in Dene and Eipo, as they are for the description of projective relations in general.21
It is believed that travelers locate their current position on the Earth’s surface symbolically within a cognitive map. For orientation in the environment relying on toponyms the traveler must compare the necessary direction of travel toward the destination using the respective cognitive map for orientation. To conduct a survey without instruments, distance and heading are conceptualized as movement, or change of position, within a cognitive map. At any time the traveler can estimate distance from and direction of known points such as the starting point. Hence, the difficult aspect is to retain a sense of direction especially without any visible landmarks, as in dead reckoning navigation.22 As we argue, orientation processes on sea as well as on land are based on some fundamentals in mental triangulation and gestalt theoretic conceptions of spatial relations (figure-ground asymmetries; see below).
A prominent example from orientation on water comes from navigation without instruments.23 More specifically, one method in navigation is dead reckoning. It depends on determining one’s position at any time based on the distance and direction traveled since leaving the last known location.24 The navigator monitors the motion of the boat to determine the displacement from a previous position.25 This mental computing or mental triangulation, i.e., the transformation and propagation of representational states, is arguably also used on land.26 In addition to this method, travelers’ reports, stories, symbols, icons or any other kind of representation are are also examined to reconstruct cognitive maps of spatial orientation based on implicit knowledge systems.
Cognitive maps underly cognitive information-processing systems of spatial perception.27 As is argued here, the specific encoding patterns vary in the orientation reference systems. Moreover, we consider spatial reference frames that construe a complex mental model or gestalt-like representation of knowledge. As such, course-maintaining systems on land and at sea based on different sorts of texts are of specific interest. The rationale behind this is to argue for describing cognitive maps as gestalt-like representations of environmental cues forming a dynamic mental model or cognitive map. What might be common to all cultures and hence be universal is the gestalt-like constructive process of cognitive maps. These cognitive maps function as implicit knowledge systems that enable people to navigate in a specific environment at a given time and space.
With respect to spatial orientation, Fowler and Turner point out:28
If peoples choose to orient themselves to coasts or seas, rivers or mountains, the Sun’s path, or some other feature, some aspect of this will usually show up in their place names.
Adopting Fowler and Turner’s point it will be shown that people in both of the cultures discussed here use place names in their specific environments to construct a linguistically dense topographical reference system for orientation. Hence, environmental experience is also represented via language, and language in turn shapes spatial concepts or mental models.29 We will also present the rich fabric of terms of spatial deixis in both cultures under study. This highlights the importance of the notion of frames of reference here since they profile spatial relationships between the speaker-hearer and the environment.
2.2.3 Frames of reference
It is argued that human beings instantiate relations between objects relying on various frames of reference. Reference points are fundamental in ascribing specific orientations between objects.30 These linguistic coordinates are important for the description of spatial topographical relations such as an, on, and in, in Dene and Eipo, as they are for the description of projective left-right relations in general.31 Following Malotki, the term linguistic coordinate here means the division of a spatial configuration into a speaker, a hearer and a third part (a person or a thing the speaker-hearer refers to). Hence, a linguistic coordinate system is not a geographically or mathematically abstract concept, but a means of spatial categorization in the linguistic encoding.
The encoding of spatial relations depends on certain spatial (and temporal) parameters that set the linguistic coordinate reference system for the speaker-hearer. In general, spatial marking is based on three different reference frames to be selected from. These are assigned to the objects profiled in the situation.32 The three frames of reference can be divided into
1a viewer/ego-centered or relative frame, as in the English example he’s to the left of the house (assuming that from the perspective of the viewer, a person is situated to the left side of the house),
2an object-centered or intrinsic frame, as in he’s in front of the house (assuming that the front is where the main door is located; the object has an inherent front and back side), and
3an environment-centered or absolute frame, as in he’s north of the house.
In (1), the viewpoint depends on the location of the viewer’s vantage point and his/her relation to the figure and ground. The intrinsic frame in (2) is an object-centered reference system determined by natural or culture-specific inherent features of the object. Finally, the absolute frame (3) is a fixed direction provided by, e.g., cardinal direction.33
With respect to the figure-ground asymmetry we follow Talmy’s adaptation of the Gestalt psychologist approach arguing that certain cognitive categories play an important role in attributing the primary and secondary objects of a scene.34 These functions are encoded by the figure and ground of a scene, the variable element or positive space versus the reference element or negative space.35 The former is usually the smaller and moveable object whereas the latter is usually the permanently located, larger object.36 For more details, see the subsection following the next.
The Language and Cognition group at the Max Planck Institute in Nijmegen provides an exception to standard procedures in armchair linguistics. Elicitation tools developed by the researchers of this group facilitate the gathering of data from actual speakers and their usage of a particular language.37 We argue that these ascriptions are determined by cultural, environmental and language-specific affordances.38 These, in turn, depend on speaker-imposed figure-ground asymmetries that are attributed to the respective objects.39 Another important concept for the discussion of spatial concepts is that of ideas of space.
2.2.4 Ideas of space
We argue that ideas of space (Raumbilder),40 i.e., the speaker’s basic delimitation of his/her world of experience, are important in Eipo and Dene, as in any other language and culture. A selection of such ideas of space are, for example, the deictic parsing of space into ‘here’, ‘there’, and ‘over there’ or simply ‘celestial space’ versus the ‘Earth’ as encoded via ‘above’ and ‘down’. We have also ideas of space such as the ‘left’ and ‘right’ asymmetries, ‘in front of’ and ‘behind’, ‘up’ and ‘down’, ‘near’ and ‘far away’, ‘inside’ and ‘outside’, ‘in’ and ‘on’, the cardinal directions ‘North’, ‘South’, ‘West’, and ‘East’, ‘back’ and ‘forward’, man-made places such as a ‘house’ and ‘geographic places’ or ‘surfaces’.41 Note that in contrast to Hopi, the Eipo language does not have true terms for cardinal directions, yet we believe that expressions such as ‘downstream’ and ‘upstream’ have a similar semantic function. Hence, it may be stated that Eipo also evokes a tripartite system of deictic reference. Note that this three way separation is similar to, e.g., German hier ‘here’, da ‘there’, dort ‘over there’ differentiating between proximal and distal distances, taking the speaker as the anchor of her/his perspective.
Malotki’s survey presents various facets of Hopi encoding of spatial relations and demonstrates a ‘degree of specificity’.42 This linguistic phenomenon of the figure’s location with respect to the ground is related to the amount of detailed expressive content with which spatial relations are described in various languages.43 It is claimed that, for example, the English prepositional phrase ‘X is on the table’ has a lower degree of specificity than the corresponding expression in other languages such as ‘X is located at the table’s upper surface’44 as is the case in Ewe, a language spoken in the south-east of Ghana. The latter specification encodes further partitions of the table into smaller regions.45
In Chapter 5 of his analysis, Malotki46 gives a detailed account including various illustrations of the different representations of space and spatial semantics as linguistically summarized in a total of 43 locational morpheme markers specifying space in Hopi;47 the alphabetically ordered spatial morphemes are described in terms of content or semantic fields in Malotki’s concluding remarks.48 He states that Hopi uses a fine-grained linguistic system to encode spatial relations and, we would add, spatial concepts that also differ, to a certain degree, from most other languages.49 This should be of no surprise since every language presents language-specific affordances, i.e., the semantic content hard-wired into specific morphosyntactic devices or morphosyntactic patterns. As such, spatial concepts are linguistically represented in different forms which are based in the respective language system. Malotki concludes that50
owing to its differentiated construction of the locative with its punctive and diffuse subsystems as well as the locative and the destinative with their extreme and non-extreme partitions, respectively, the Hopi language forces its speakers to a sharper observation of certain areas of spatial reality than most other SAE languages.
Thus, Malotki claims that Hopi-speakers are forced by their language, and, as we assume, by the environment, to pay more attention to spatial reality. He does not claim that this necessarily implies radical differences between the Hopi’s ‘Weltbild’ and that of speakers of other languages.51 He points out that the Hopi’s idea of space might contain culture- and language-specific elements. Malotki believes that in particular aspects of spatial relations a difference in focus might lead to differences in thinking about space. This belief may be interpreted as an adherence to a modest form of linguistic relativism.52
Summing up, Malotki concludes that the Hopi language uses a fine-grained linguistic system to encode spatial relations. We would add that this language additionally uses spatial concepts that also differ from most other languages.53 Similarly fine-grained spatial distinctions can be found in languages of other cultures. As an example we point to the spatial deixis terms used by peoples in the Alpine regions of Europe, which reflect a very precise relationship between the environment and language similar to that of Hopi.54 As we demonstrate, Eipo and Dene Chipewyan also present crucial environment-dependent encoding patterns mirrored in the languages. The mountains and rivers as important limitations in Eipo, or lakes, in particular Cold Lake, rocks, trees and rivers in the Dene culture, show their repercussions in the language patterns and the carving-up of spatial concepts on the language level.
2.2.5 Figure-ground asymmetries
As we have seen, one of the major hypotheses in cognitive psychology (which was the precursor to cognitive linguistics) is the idea of mental representations as abstract schemas or mental models.55 We know from gestalt psychological approaches that such schemas are supposedly universal and not language-specific. Moreover, they are non-linguistic mental representations of experience. They are extracted from more specific structures and categorize such structures through relations of full or partial schematicity.
The idea of mental representations leads more specifically to the general claim in cognitive linguistics that all grammatical structures are symbolic. Additionally, the lexicon, morphology, and syntax form a continuum of symbolic units, each residing in the association of a semantic and a phonological structure or pole.56 Moreover, the meanings of linguistic expressions are conceptualizations shaped in accordance with the linguistic system. In addition, all facets of our general knowledge of a conceived entity contribute to the meaning of an expression which designates this entity and, given that, any sharp distinction between semantics and pragmatics is gratuitous.57 Semantics is, in this view, not an autonomous cognitive module, nor is the linguistic system overall.
With respect to semantic structures it is claimed that they are predications that are characterized relative to cognitive domains such as time, space, and color. Most domains of linguistic relevance are non-primitive. That means they are interrelated networks.58 As such, they involve cognitive structures of indefinite complexity, i.e., we have layers of interrelated networks that can be modeled in a connective fashion.59 Any cognitive structure can function as the domain for a predication.60 Moreover, meaning is conceived as cognitive processing, and even expressions used to describe a presumably objective situation may differ in meaning, depending on how the situation is construed. This is known from figure-ground reversals.61An expression imposes a particular image on its domain. Imagery is used as a technical term for the cognitive capacity to construe a cognitive domain in alternate ways.
The cognitive linguist Leonard Talmy introduced the figure-ground asymmetry stating that a physical object is located or moves with respect to another object which serves as a reference point.62 This asymmetry is embedded in schematization. Schematization is the process involving the profiling of specific aspects of a reference point of a scene representing the whole gestalt.63 Talmy defines the basic asymmetry in a schematization process as follows:64
The Figure object is a moving or conceptually movable point whose paths or site is conceived as a variable [...]. The Ground object is a reference-point, having a stationary setting within a reference-frame, with respect to which the figure’s path or site receives characterization.
Talmy presents a list of various characteristics of the figure-ground asymmetry specifying the relationship, such as the figure being of greater concern or relevance (more salient) as opposed to the ground being of lesser concern or relevance (more backgrounded).65 This semantic distribution is clearly different from the gestalt notion, which is perceptually based on geometric coordinates instead.66
Three basic factors determine the contrast between figure and ground: size, movement, and position of the figure in relation to the ground in the shared knowledge of the discourse participants. Talmy states that, e.g., adpositional phrases profile relationships such as the location of the figure in relation to the ground, the time of the unfolding event, the manner in which the event unfolds, and the transition, motion and path of the figure.67
An alternative dichotomy is introduced by Langacker who defines the asymmetry as a trajector (corresponding to the figure) in a relational profile to a landmark (corresponding to the ground).68 He argues furthermore that69
[w]ith a few if any exceptions, relational predications display an inherent asymmetry in the presentation of their participants. This asymmetry is not reducible to semantic roles, i.e. the nature of participants involvement in the profiled relationship. [...] it is observable even for predications that designate symmetrical relationships: X equals Y is not precisely equivalent semantically to Y equals X, nor is X resembles Y equivalent to Y resembles X. [...] In the expression X equals Y [...], X is referred to as a trajector, and Y as a landmark. This terminology reflects the intuitive judgment that Y provides a reference point with respect to which X is evaluated or situated [...].
Clearly, the semantic distinction between the two conceptually based categories reflects the fundamental notion in gestalt psychology of figure and ground.70 It is believed here, however, that the gestalt psychologist’s definition is much more complex and broader than the notions adopted in cognitive semantics. Nevertheless the basic idea of a reference object and an object that needs an anchor is similar. Conceptually, the cognitive semantic notion is very specific in the distribution of meaning components in a sentence. Talmy shows that arguably similar sentences such as (a) ‘The bike is near the house’ and (b) ‘The house is near the bike’ are not the same semantically. They present two different (inverse) forms of a symmetric relation.71 In (a) the house is the reference object, and in (b) it is the bike. This latter profiling seems to be at odds with speakers’ expectations. Depending on the real world situation, however, a speaker might refer to the bike as the reference object for various reasons. Zlatev presents a similar example in support of construed situations. In the expressions (a) ‘The tree is by the car’ and (b) ‘The car is by the tree’ different situations are encoded. These differences indicate different worlds of human experience, i.e., a non-objectivist approach is favored here.72 Hence, the semantic function chosen by the speaker does not necessarily correspond to the world of part-whole partitioning, but constitutes language-specific information. This might be due to pragmatics or culture-specific decisions or biases. This example already reveals that language, or rather, speakers choose to reverse natural figure-ground asymmetries. The selected empirical evidence presented in this chapter supports this observation as well.
With this description of some basic theoretical features at hand we shall now consider the two cultures at focus here. The theoretical notions just outlined are important for the analysis of the following language examples.
2.3 Anthropological and linguistic background: Dene Chipewyan
This section presents anthropological background information of the Dene culture and linguistic knowledge that speakers of Dene relied on in their daily interaction with the environment.73 We provide information on the cultural backgrounds as well as language examples of spatial orientation. The Eipo language and culture is then presented in section .
2.3.1 Contact history and recent acculturation
Dene Chipewyan presents a rather interesting status quo in terms of the actual cultural heritage and the influence of Western culture.74 Dene Chipewyan belongs to the Northern branch of the Athapaskan language family (spoken primarily in northwestern Canada). The Dene territory extends (or rather, extended) from the southern shore of the Great Slave Lake (Northwest Territories) east to Churchill, Manitoba and south to central Alberta/Saskatchewan.75 Perhaps partly due to this geographic isolation similar to Hopi, the Dene dialect of the Cold Lake region is rather conservative with a particularly rich morphology.76 Only about 2,000 speakers are left in Cold Lake, and only 10% at most speak Dene fluently and on a daily basis.
The Cold Lake First Nations Dene Chipewyan people live near Cold Lake, Alberta, approximately 300 kilometers north-east of Edmonton on the Alberta and Saskatchewan border. Genetically, the Dene language is related to Bearlake, Beaver, Carrier, Chilcotin, Dogrib, Eyak,77 Hare, Kutchin, Sarsi, Sekani, Slavey, Tahltan, Tsetsaut, Tutchone, and presumably all the languages found to the north-east of these also belong to the Northern Athapaskan phylum.78 Sapir hypothesized that the Athapaskan language family is part of a larger language phylum which he called Na-Dene.79 The history of First Nation people in North America was highly influenced by the arrival of the white people. It is fair to state that the initial clash between the native people and white people had a devastating, often lethal effect for most of the aboriginal cultures. European colonialists killed about 50 million indigenous people between 1795 to 1945 worldwide.80 Bodley also claims rightfully that the colonial encounter was not only a human but also a cultural disaster:81
Colonialism was the first phase of a dramatic world-wide cultural transformation that produced a single global-scale culture based on the commercial market economy.
Nevertheless, the arrival of Europeans in the subarctic region also brought new technology, schools and economic opportunities. The native First Nation of Canada’s subarctic region were traditionally caribou hunters. The caribou was the most important source for food, clothing etc. The Dene people followed the caribou migration routes. This is exemplified by the term edagha ‘a narrow place or area in the lake where the caribous are accustomed to cross and where people sit a little way above (referring to the current) to wait for them’. Moreover, and importantly, following the caribou determined and structured the seasonal cycle and socioterritorial organization.82 The Dene Chipewyan culture was strongly influenced by the Canadian Hudson Bay company83 and the widespread settlement of white people during the Gold Rush years.
Historically, the Dene people lived in family groups on lands encompassing roughly 150.000 square kilometers. They were apparently a mobile people of hunter-gatherers who maintained both summer (-sine, ziné) and winter (háye) camps, traveling between them on foot or with dog teams. This aspect is important since building a tent (bét’asi ‘outside of the house, tent’) or trap while traveling or following big game (see below) depended on the actual material resources of the particular place.
After the signing of Treaty (or Contract) Six in 1876, many families worked on their reserve farms in summer raising cattle and horses. In winter, they continued to travel north to hunt, trap, and fish. In the early 1950s, the Federal Government turned the traditional Dene Chipewyan territory into an aerial weapons range.84 It is important to note that the people lost access to their lands and hunting and fishing grounds. Moreover, they were relocated to three small reserves near Cold Lake totaling approximately 18.720 hectares in size (as opposed to 150,000 hectares previously).
Although the Dene people live partly in their original habitat (around Cold Lake), the historical hunting grounds are off limits. The Canadian government bases its largest air military base on the former hunting territory of the Dene. This simply means that Dene people can no longer use their old hunting and spiritual grounds, or family locations of the ancestors. A map measuring meters at the Cold Lake reserve (band house) actually shows the degree and dimension of the former grounds.
This map indicates every band member, band family etc. and their origin, i.e., it shows that every place or location in Cold Lake once had a human place holder. This topology of names is similar to the topology of names that the Eipo have in their mountainous environment (see below).
Additionally to the military base, the world’s second largest oil sands is situated around Cold Lake, meaning that the territory is off limits for the Dene people. Not much is visually left in terms of native traditions in Cold Lake and the village is similar to most other West Canadian villages or small cities, i.e., it is dominated by the fast food stores such as ‘Subway’, ‘McDonald’s’, grocery stores, and shopping malls etc. typical of North American villages, towns and cities. Hence, Cold Lake is merely a Western Canadian town located in Alberta far away from the next large city (Edmonton) and dominated by Western culture. Dene people speak primarily English and the younger people in particular strive to simply assimilate to the white Canadians in terms of job opportunities or education. The idea of language, and hence cultural preservation, is of lesser importance for the daily life of the Dene.
A general problem with elder speakers of Dene is that some of them simply refuse to speak Dene even though their language is not officially discriminated against today. This is due to the painful past with respect to their treatment in the boarding schools where speaking Dene was prohibited. This led also to complete reluctance to speak Dene at home. The result is that the next generation (aged 45 to 55) were already crucially affected by language attrition, not to mention the young generation today.85 As such, Dene presents an interesting, but difficult language and culture where one has to dig deep to obtain an idea of the culture and the practices of the speakers in terms of traditional habits and their history. Some of those traditional habits have survived through oral history. In particular older people remember various hunting techniques or the different functions of traps. On a daily basis this knowledge is not important anymore since their traditional way of life has changed so drastically. It should be pointed out that the future of Dene, or rather, the Cold Lake dialect, seems very bleak. In fact, this chapter is an attempt to glimpse into the intricacies of the interplay of culture, rituals, habits, and language in Dene. It is also an attempt to capture some of the spatial knowledge as long as it is available.
2.3.2 Material culture and subsistence techniques
The aboriginal inhabitants of what is now northeast British Columbia are the inheritors of one of the purest forms of hunting economy; purest in the sense that they are peoples who are flexible in the face of every changing circumstance, to whom material possessions are more of a hindrance than a help, and whose skills and mobility secured a life of relative affluence and good health as long as they could hunt successfully.86
The introductory quote indicates the importance of flexibility in the Dene culture in which hunting was the main source of survival. Dene Chipewyan people were mainly Caribou hunters and the most important food animals were the caribou etthén of the northern transitional forest and the tundra. Moose and woodland caribou were also important for survival. Generally, caribou were concentrated during their migrations between winter and summer, and in other times scattered at small groups. These behavioral characteristics often determined the manner in which the animals were hunted. The extent to which the migration of the caribou structured the Dene’s life is indicated by specific expressions in their language. An example is the classificatory verb stem87 for the caribou arriving, i.e., etthén níltah ‘arrive’ as opposed to -tl’ah which is the verb stem used for caribou only, as in The caribou arrived. The semantic difference is in the momentaneous resultative act of arriving as opposed to the telic end result of the arrival indicated by the perfective form. Another specification is the process of the caribou’s return as in etthén nahéltah ‘return’ (only used for caribou) The caribou returned. It is apparent that knowledge of the caribou’s location has been vital for the Dene since the caribou migration structured the Dene people’s seasonal distribution, socioterritorial organization, and technology.88 The caribou are also a key element of religious beliefs and oral literature.
The Dene people used the chute and pound method during the migration phase. A number of people and dogs circularly enclosed an area with a circumference of up to a mile or more containing the caribou herd, using a variety of snares (traps) fastened to poles or tree stumps. The construction of a snare or a deadfall is a highly sophisticated technology. However, it does not require a sound understanding of fundamental principles of physics, but rather the behavioral characteristics of the particular species. Indeed, it is practical knowledge transmitted from one generation to the next that enables such techniques. Their material components are largely comprised of materials which can be found scattered across the boreal forest landscape. Dene deadfalls were used mainly for tha ‘marten’, thachogh ‘fisher’, thelchuzi ‘mink’, nágídhi ‘fox’, sas ‘bear’ (dlézí ‘grizzly bear’, sas delgai ‘polar bear’, sas delzeni ‘black bear’), nábie ‘otter’, dzen ‘muskrat’, tsá ‘beaver’, and nághai ‘wolverine’. Snares were set chiefly for grouse, hare, fox, bear, caribou, and moose. Hence, different techniques were required for different animals. Since caribou were the most important animal, the methods of hunting them will be specified as an example.
Once a caribou herd was detected the caribou were manoeuvered into the mouth of a prepared chute and driven to the pound. Once inside the pound the caribou were entangled by snares or traps. In addition, single caribou were hunted with spears or shot with arrows. Knowing the caribou tracks, another option was simply spearing them while they crossed the rivers and lakes. Hence, it was important to know the specific water conditions or the respective river as linguistically represented in expressions such as des dánét?á ‘the river is full’ or des héli náltthah ‘the river is flowing fast’. Both expressions were important for fishing and for locating caribou. Hunting techniques were adapted with respect to the behavioral characteristics of the animals. Big game use rivers or lakes for their water supply. Of course, since the arrival of white men, rifles were used more frequently. Unlike caribou, moose do not gather in larger herds, but tend to live in isolation. After eating the moose turns back on its trail to the windward to rest. Hunters adapted to this habit. They followed the trail to one side and windward, checking every once in a while whether the animal had returned. When this was the case, the hunter knew the moose’s exact location. Beside caribou and moose, bears were also hunted, but only occasionally. Beaver, on the other hand, were an important food source. Usually they were caught during winter when their homes could easily be located. The ice conditions limited the beaver’s movements. The idea of catching beaver was simple: it was sufficient to block the entrance and then break into their lodge. A variety of traps were used such as tossing-pole, springpole, stationary snare, deadfalls of various sizes and trigger mechanisms, bows and arrows.89 Snares were used to catch hare. Only after European contact began were small mammals hunted or trapped solely for their fur.
The dog was the only domesticated animal used for hunting moose, bear, beaver, and geese. Fishing was an important food source only for some clans. In general, big game like caribou was sufficient. Seasonal climatic conditions in conjunction with the behavioral characteristics of the fish indicated the appropriate seasons of exploitation and the techniques to be employed to hunt them. Trout were taken by hook in open water or through ice holes in late winter. Fish spears were also used. Fishnets were usually made of willow or babiche in prehistoric times, while industrially produced twines and nets were introduced after European contact.
With the approach of fall, people left the summer gathering centers to seek food in preparation for the long and rather cold winter. People carried little with them, because many things could be made relatively quickly with local materials at hand. Although the land required unique skills to survive, these skills did not require a highly specialized manufacturing technology in order to act within the environment (the exception was making traps). This is not to say that indigenous technology was not sophisticated – quite the opposite, it was extremely complex, but its production did not require specialized labour. Most people could make most things used in the society. Indigenous people of the North accommodated to the sense of balanced needs with respect to what was available to them locally within their environment. They did not need many things in order to make a living. Their inventory of plants used for food and other material purposes was extensive.
2.3.3 Social structures
Regional bands ranged in size from about 200 to 300 people. Local bands varied from 30 to 100 people and their movements were again based on the migration of the herds. Shift of families was common and hence the bands became amalgamated and heterogenous. It can be assumed also that dialects changed or intermingled.90 Most families were related to each other. Band membership was known to be fluid, i.e., bilateral kinship and marriage provided avenues for new affiliations.91 Due to European-introduced diseases, substantial social realignments occurred. Smallpox, tuberculosis and influenza affected the Dene people in the 1920s.92
After 1945, most children were sent to Catholic residential schools off the reserve to receive a Euro-Canadian education. The entire community was adversely affected by the almost total separation of the family unit, which persisted except for the few weeks each year when children returned to their families. Elders and children lost the ability to communicate with one another. These schools had an especially devastating effect on the Dene language93 and way of life, not only because children were discouraged from or actively punished for speaking their native tongue in these schools, but also normal linguistic and cultural transmission between the generations was vastly disrupted.
This is quite different from the Eipo situation, as will be outlined below. In Eipo, strong family and community bonds have been maintained and hence a detailed topography of their environment is still known. Parallel to the linguistic loss in Dene went the loss of songs, games, rituals, stories, techniques, e.g., practical knowledge of how to build the highly complicated traps, and ceremonies. All in all this implies an almost complete loss of community life and culture. The last 50 years have seen a steady decline in the numbers of Dene Chipewyan at Cold Lake able to fully communicate in their heritage language.94
A 1998 survey carried out in accordance with the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Registration System identified 285 persons.95 At present the number is down to about 200 speakers; fluent or conversant speakers of Dene Chipewyan out of an official band membership of 1,908. Thus, only about 10% of all band members speak an Aboriginal language to some degree of competency. The 1960s must have been traumatic for the Caribou Eater Chipewyan people since their contact-traditional way of life changed drastically and suddenly. The five bands, which were named after geographic areas, were relocated, e.g., to a subarctic town notorious as one of Canada’s worst slums.96 The result of this relocation had a devastating effect on the people and left them disoriented and demoralized.97 The imposed village life profoundly changed the traditional living habits of the hunter-and-gatherer culture. Men were supposed to leave families behind while hunting, i.e., the former division of labor was disrupted. The distance from the village to the hunting grounds made it difficult to kill a large number of animals simply because only a limited amount of meat could be transported by a dog team.98
2.3.4 Traditional religion
Myths about places, rituals and used objects, powers, spiritual and medical knowledge, stories, dances and music were religious. Hunting and gathering were the most important activities for survival, and spirituality was linked to finding food and was important for survival in the harsh climatic conditions. Hence, spirits were thanked for when finding food. If no food was found the Dene people tried to appease the spirits with offerings. One important spiritual figure was the Kakhani, a supernatural being, half-man and half-monster. It was believed to steal children. Unlike the Eipo, who did not decorate most of their tools, not even objects like the holy digging-stick (see below), Dene people decorated their snowshoes with paint, strings of shells, and amulets woven into the snowshoe to keep the wearer safe from unfriendly spirits.
2.3.5 Physical environment
The environment of the Dene Chipewyan people is made up of tundra, forest (black spruce, white spruce, birch, aspen, also known as the ‘land of the little sticks’), and boreal forest. The seasons are basically bicyclic: long and severe winters, short and moderately warm summers. The severe winters limited activities and required maximal effort for survival. Variation in snow conditions affected the behavior of the fauna (providing food and clothing) and hence affected native techniques for its exploitation. During summer, traveling was on foot, following water courses or by canoe on open water. Around late autumn (September/October) water began to freeze, which limited traveling. In winter, dog sleds and snowshoes were used. Game animals provided most of the raw materials, e.g., bones, antlers, hide (skin) to produce beamers, needles, spear, arrowheads, fishhooks, bowstrings, fishing lines, bags, lodge coverings. The forest (forest-tundra) provided most of the remaining raw materials for bows, arrows and spear shafts, containers, dishes, net gauges, snowshoe, and canoe frames, snow shovels, toboggans, bark for making dishes, boxes, and coverings for lodges and canoes.
Generally, the climate was a dominant and active element in the subarctic environment. This region belongs to the cold snow forest category, a circumstance which profoundly affects the life circle of the Dene people. Rivers and lakes played an important role in transportation and communication. The drainage grids and water surfaces were important movement and communication routes and therefore attracted settlement and other activities during both winter and summer. In addition, knowing the game routes, e.g., along rivers, helped in finding enough food for the band. The richness of fish, lumber, and wood pulp attracted white enterprises, particularly the Hudson Bay Company. This, of course, changed the life habits of the Dene people as well.
2.3.6 Relationships to neighboring groups
The only known enemies were the Cree to the south and the Inuit to the north. The landscape features forming the borders were not crossed by the Dene except for warfare. Regarding contact to the Europeans, at the beginning the marginal location to the transportation and trade routes, the dependence on caribou, and the low interest in European trade goods led to a rather slow and limited sociocultural change.99 Rapid changes only began in the 1960s. Hence, no relationships with Europeans were established until the 1960s.
2.3.7 Linguistic overview
It should be noted that for reasons of history and migration, the Dene band is the most southerly of all Dene Chipewyan-speaking communities in Canada and is geographically isolated from other Dene Chipewyan speech communities. Consequently, the dialect spoken at Cold Lake is particularly conservative and rich in phonological and lexical contrasts that have been lost in more northern dialects. Indeed, many Cold Lake Dene speakers regard their dialect with pride as the purest form of Dene Chipewyan (whatever is left of their language).
Dene features a polysynthetic linguistic system, i.e., bound morphemes constitute complex words or even sentences and the syntactic object of the sentence is incorporated into what may be termed the verb cohort. The general encoding pattern in Dene indicates that the language features a predominant and consistent classificatory verb system including directional prefixes as well as a postpositional inventory creating relational predication cohorts or constructions.100 Such verbs have different morphological forms depending on the object to be encoded. Cook argues that Dene has about 36 postpositions that morphologically behave like nouns. They inflect with pronominal prefixes.101 Cook also highlights the fact that the determination of a postposition’s meaning is as notoriously difficult in Dene as in English or any other language, making it often impossible to determine the precise meaning out of context. However, these postpositional prefixes are widely acknowledged as modifying the meaning of the verb stem.102 Their stems change depending on the shape, animacy, and/or physical features of the object being located or handled.103
The general focus of this chapter is on the formation of certain semantic construction types and the encoding of the figure-ground asymmetry as modified by the linguistic construction. The language features a predominant classificatory verb system, as do all of the other languages of the same phylum.
All the Athapaskan languages exhibit an alternation of verb themes that is traditionally called classificatory. The classificatory themes describe the nature of an object handled with respect to parameters such as extension and dimension. The verb theme indicates the nature of the object handled, while the type of activity involved is expressed in the prefixes.104
The choice of a particular verb stem from the appropriate set of verb stems has the effect of assigning to the noun of the sentence certain qualities of number, shape, texture, or purpose. If these qualities are semantically inappropriate to the noun, another verb stem must be used.105
These stems profile existential situations or actions of certain categories of objects.106 Table 2.1 summarizes the four main classificatory verb types used in Dene.107
Posture or locative verbs no movement involved: e.g., ‘sit’, ‘stand’, ‘lie’, ‘be in position/location’
Verbs of handling, manipulation, continuing manual contact e.g., ‘give’, ‘hand’, ‘take’, ‘put’, ‘handle’, ‘bring’, ‘carry’
Verbs of partially controlled action (+ agent) e.g., ‘toss’, ‘throw’, ‘hang up’, ‘set down’, ‘drop’, ‘lose’, ‘push over’
Verbs of free movement, independent of agent e.g., ‘fall/tip over’
2.1 The different classificatory verb types
According to traditional accounts, the Dene verb consists of a verb theme (the basic lexical entry made up of a stem and one or more thematic prefixes; a unit including a verb base plus other morphemes combining to a specific meaning construction); and additional prefixes.108 The Dene verb construction can be described as a composite construction similar to Navajo.109 It is claimed here that the Dene verb system is compiled via a string of distinctive elements fused or agglutinated together to form a lexical unit or word, or a sentence. The verb stem is the basic entry or atom derived from a verbal root. The theme profiles the verb base (classifier plus stem construction), i.e., a skeleton of a meaningful lexical unit.110 The verb stem is assumed to be the content part of the verb, and contains rich semantic information.
The Dene verb shows polysynthetic and fusional characteristics in its morphology and with its rich prefix system.111 Subject and object prefixes are fused within the verb.112 These prefixes encode also five modes, and three aspectual forms, person, and number.113
The neuter verb refers to the state or the position of the figure. The momentaneous profiles a rapid action or transition from one state to another as in ‘to sit down’, ‘to handle a round solid object’ or ‘to lie down’. The continuative verb profiles an activity that lasts in time such as ‘to stay’ or ‘to own’. The customary verb encodes a repeated action and the progressive encodes an ongoing action.114 Themes occur as free and bound lexical units. Free themes profile nouns and modifiers, bound themes are verbs and pronouns.115
To show the verb stem changes according to the figure to be encoded, an example of stem variation is given in table 2.2. It is evident that different objects to be handed over or handled affect and change the verb stem, i.e., the morphology.116
be(3SG.)-gha(to)-n(MOM)-i(1SG.S)-l(CLASS)-ti(STEM) ‘I gave animate being to him/her.’
be-gha-n-i- ?a ‘I gave round/hard object to him/her.’
be-gha-n-i- ta ‘I gave sticklike object to him/her.’
be-gha-n-i-l-chudh ‘I gave flat object to him/her.’
be-gha-n-i-la ‘I gave plural objects to him/her.’
be-gha-n-i-ka ‘I gave open container to him/her.’
be-gha-n-i-chu ‘I gave unspecified object to him/her.’
2.2 Variations on the theme ‘I transferred X to him/her’
The Dene verb stem changes according to the quality of the figure, i.e., differences in shape, size and animacy of the objects to be encoded determine the choice of a verb’s stem.
In the literature on Athapaskan languages it is common to use rather idealized templates as presented above. The number of prefixes varies significantly, e.g., Athna has 23 prefix positions,117 Slavey 14,118 and Navajo 10.119 McDonough divides the verbal complex into a bipartite structure: Positions 1 to 4 are the satellites, and positions 5 to 10 are defined as the pre-stem position.120 The positions (1 to 4) (= disjunctive prefixes) and (5 and 6) (= pronominal subjects/objects) are part of the disjunct or lexical zone and largely have a derivational function, while positions (7 to 10) are called conjunct or grammatical zone and include obligatory inflectional categories such as tense, aspect, modality, subject agreement, or valency.121 Valency classifiers in position 10 indicate the transitivity and voice of the verb, i.e., whether the subject takes a direct object or not. With regard to the data description, the stem plus the positions 8 to 10 as well as 1 are of primary importance.
We have seen some important aspects of the Dene culture and language. The next section presents some background on the anthropological and linguistic aspects in Eipo.
2.4 Anthropological and linguistic background: Eipo
The Eipo language and culture are members of the Mek group of Trans-New-Guinea-Highland Papuan languages and cultures.122 The Eipo live at the northern slope of the central cordillera in the valley of the Eipomek River in the central Mek region. (Mek is the term for water and river in the Eipo dialect of the Mek languages and was therefore chosen as denominator for this ethnolinguistic group,123 other dialects use mak or me.124) The Eipo territory is located approximately at a latitude of 140 degrees east and a latitude of 27 degrees south in what is now called Kabupaten Pegunungan Bintang, the ‘Star Mountains District’ of the Indonesian Province of Papua (formerly Irian Jaya). Thus, Eipo belongs to an estimated number of 760 Papuan languages of about 4 to 5 million speakers divided up into sixty language families.125 Foley presents a comprehensive overview of the Papuan phylum, its location and its historical background.126 An important aspect, as Foley points out, is that according to his analysis, Papuan languages are not genetically related, i.e., they do not trace their origin back to a single ancestral language.127
Quite unlike the Dene, the Eipo preserved most aspects of their way of living until the mid-1970s, when two major earthquakes hit their region and they began to convert to Christianity. The typical Eipo community consisted of hamlets of 35 to 200 people that are settled at around 1,300 to 2,000 m above sea level, but the Eipo hunting area extends up to 4,000 m above sea level. These numbers are compatible with Foley’s account according to which New Guinea societies are based on hamlets between 100 and 300 people.128 His explanation for the small size is that ecological conditions, especially the difficult terrain, prevent people from moving across barriers (see below).
However, Eipo women and men, also children, cross the high mountains frequently and a number of men report having even climbed from their village at 1,700 m to the pass at 3,700 m, i.e. 2,000 m altitude, in darkness. These extraordinary feats usually happened in clear nights with a good moon, but are still a most remarkable performance given that the path is often hardly visible even in bright daylight and that a wrong step could cause death on many of the perilous tracks to be negotiated. These reports and Schiefenhövel’s personal experiences of walking long distances at high altitude with Eipo friends demonstrate that they, like other highland Papuans, are adapted to their environment with a perfection foreigners can hardly fathom.
The Mek share some cultural features with their neighbors in the east and in the west.129 The term mek, as mentioned above, stands for ‘water’, ‘river’, ‘brook’, also for ‘sweat’ and other semantic units, generally for watery liquids (3894).130
Mek was an obvious local word to be used as ethnonym to designate the cultures and languages in the Mek area. The relationships between the groups in this region and their linguistic and cultural unity were unknown to the local people until 1975.131 The Eipo River or Eipomek is the main river of the area where Eipo was spoken by approximately 800 people at the beginning of fieldwork in 1974. The total number of Mek speakers north and south the central range may have been around 15,000 at that time. The number of speakers had risen to at least double this figure in 2009.
Other dialects in the Eipo area were spoken by an additional number of around 700 persons, so that, at the beginning of research in 1974, about 1,500 speakers of Eipo and related dialects lived in the area. As noted above, the villages had between 35 and 200 inhabitants. This figure has also risen greatly due to the dramatic population growth typical of the highlands as well as the other regions in Papua Province and, on the other side of the border, in Papua New Guinea, where the annual percent population surplus is estimated at 1.89% for 2013,132 other estimates derived from studies in the first years of wide-ranging acculturation place this figure between 2.1%–2.6%.133 In the past, village communities and political alliances were rather small, following a pattern which was found in many New Guinea Highland Societies, except where wide valleys had brought about a different settlement pattern, e.g., the Balim Valley in the Province of Papua and the Whagi Valley of Papua New Guinea, where much larger populations lived.
The phrases in table 2.3 present the importance of the rivers and similar features (mek) as landmarks and origin of mental concepts and metaphors in the Eipo language. (Numerous other semantic usages of mek, that do not refer to spatial deixis, have been left out.)
Eipo speakers base their directional system on the river stream system.134 The spatial terms ou ‘down the river’, or ‘across the river on same level or below one’s own position’, ei ‘up the river’, er ‘across the river above one’s own position’, and others are river based. Also, as indicated in the list above, many metaphors use river and water as tertium comperationis, as in mek-arye ‘steam’ and mek kate ‘ice’. In addition, some shape forms are based on the morphem mek, e.g., the bowl-shaped form that results from water washing out a certain spot, or a cavity made by water (mek loktena).
With respect to natural boundaries it has to be mentioned that it is difficult but usually possible to find ways through the rainforest adjacent to the inhabited areas like those in the Mek region, as well in the montane and alpine regions of New Guinea. The swampland present in some lower altitudes poses greater problems for human mobility and has probably contributed to the very marked cultural and linguistic diversity for which New Guinea is known. As Foley states, the terrain thus poses some genuine barriers to human social interactions and would certainly favor linguistic diversity.135 It seems likely that the extraordinary variety of languages and cultures in this part of the world is also the product of an aggressive (warrior-like) attitude of one group toward another, even inhabitants of one valley toward the neighboring one. Intergroup warfare increases intragroup cohesion and is very likely to have led, in a process of character enhancement, to the very fragmented cultural and linguistic scene typical for mainland and island New Guinea.136
mek burwe ‘head water region’
mek youkwetam ‘downstream’ (3894/31), ‘toward the foothills’, ‘north’
mek bongbong ‘(narrow) valley’
mek arum ‘water surface’ (191/1)
mek lu ‘water surface’ (3623/2) (lu = ‘even’, ‘flat’, ‘down’, ‘low’)
mek amwe ‘bed/bottom of a river, a lake’
meke ebrarik ‘water’, ‘rivers split up/join’, ‘river junction’
mek bene ‘stagnant water’, ‘swamp’
sisilya arang mek ‘reddish brown water (e.g. coming from swamps)’
mek kwen ‘lake’, ‘pond’
mek bun ‘bridge’ (936)
mek dala ‘river bank’ (3894)
mek denemna ‘border of a brook’
mek duman ‘the river shore, along the river’: cf. Eipodumanang ‘we are the ones who live at the shore of the Eipo River (the Eipo)’
mek irikna ‘river bank’ or ‘edge of a river’ (2220/1)
mek deya ‘hollowed out river bank’ (3894/6)
mek dorobna ‘small spring’
mek lum ‘waterfall’, lit.: ‘water veil’ (3894/8)
mek ib ‘to dam a water’ (3894/10)
mek kate ‘ice’, lit.: ‘hard water’ (2427/9)
mek loktena ‘hollow/cavity made by the water’ (3575)
mek-arye ‘that which is caused by water’, ‘steam’
mek burbur anmal ‘the river swells up’
moke wik meke bo’lunmak ‘when there is a lot of rain the rivers swell up’
wakna mek ‘actual course of the water’ (3446/2) (as opposed to wakal kwoten mek ‘old river bed’ (5439))
mekin bal ‘(mythological) snake (which created the land by damming and derouting the water’
basam mek ‘water from sacred ponds which pigs should drink to grow faster’
beta mekduman mereklamuk ‘(the ancestor) walked the whole way along the river’
mek aleng ‘the stringbag which people put over their eyes when they commit suicide by jumping into the river’
2.3 Semantic variation of ‘river’ in Eipo
The data suggest that the process of pseudospeciation so typical for New Guinea with its many hundred ethnolinguistic groups set in motion not only by the long history of settlement and the rugged nature of the terrain, but also by the above-mentioned high level of aggression between the groups, thus by a biopsychological factor. Linguistic markers of ethnic identity and the dynamism of languages developing away from a common origin play, of course, an important role in this process as well. Foley’s hypothesis may be true for the inundated or swampy sections of the lowlands, but one can safely say that neither very high mountain ranges of close to 4,000 m altitude nor large rivers (like the Idenburg-Mamberamo system north of the Mek area) have kept people from moving across those ‘borders’. This is in contrast to what Europeans would assume in view of these formidable barriers.
Our species is an extremely mobile one, as proven by the fact that the ancestors of today’s Papuans, after crossing the open ocean at the Wallace line between Bali and Lombok, arrived at the New Guinea coast some 50 to 60,000 years ago137 and settled throughout the interior. Much later, Papuans, probably initially on the islands and coasts of the Bird’s Head area in the westernmost part of New Guinea, mixed with people arriving from Southern China and/or Taiwan (the Protoaustronesians). That Austronesian seafarers made their homes on almost all the islands in Melanesia, Micronesia and in the vast Polynesian Pacific long before James Cook arrived is a truly extraordinary feat of spatial orientation and human expansion across the inhospitable vastness of the Pacific Ocean.
2.4.1 Contact history and recent acculturation
The Eipo were first contacted by members of the heroic crossing of West New Guinea, from the south to the north coast, by members of the expedition of Pierre Gaisseau (1961) in 1959, and in 1969 by a group of Indonesian military personnel including Gaisseau, who parachuted into the southern Eipomek Valley,138 and stayed some weeks in this and the adjacent area in the east. They produced a small amount of good ethnographic and linguistic data and are still remembered by the local people. In the early 1970s a few missionaries of the Unevangelized Fields Mission (UFM) walked through the Tanime, Eipomek and Nalcemak Valleys to check possibilities of building mission stations.
When fieldwork of the interdisciplinary German research team139 began in 1974 the Eipomek Valley did not have an airfield and a mission station. At that time, the Eipo therefore lived in marked isolation. Moreover, very few metal tools (bushknives, axes) and a few new plants (e.g. Zea mays, Sechium edule) had found their way into this area. Schiefenhövel’s fieldwork140 was mainly carried out in the village of Munggona, the cultural and religious center of the southern Eipomek Valley, but also included the neighboring valleys east and west, the Heime Valley south of the central range and regions at the northern fringe of the Mek culture near the Idenburgh River as well as the In Valley around Kosarek (where the westernmost Mek speakers live), and the until then uncontacted area inhabited by the Lauenang north of Kosarek.
In 1979 the inhabitants of the Eipomek Valley accepted Christianity. It is important to note that this acceptance was basically a political, not a religious decision. The Eipo had realized that they had lived separated from the rest of the world with its astonishing superiority in material goods and technologies and wanted to become part of this world. As in other regions of Melanesia the new religion was seen to hold the promise to connect them to the hitherto almost completely unknown way of life. Until 2016 the strategy to accept Christianity as an avenue to the modern world has worked out well for them. Many Eipo go to school and are doing very well, and some of the young people are students of Cenderawasih University in the provincial capital of Jayapura or in other academic institutions of the Indonesian Republic, even in the capital Jakarta. These remarkable changes were all achieved within one generation. This radical change had, and still has, repercussions on the Eipo culture and language. Movements for religious revival, including the classic cargo-cult type millenarian prophecies, have not affected the Eipo yet. They have, indeed, so far opposed such utopian ideas. It seems they have understood that the only way to move forward and to secure their survival as a cultural and political group is to become as well educated as possible.
Many elements of their traditional lives have changed, but others have remained much the same as in 1974, partly because there is no road for any type of vehicle connecting their region with any of the centers of the province. Walking and the airplane will be the only means of transport for a long time to come.
One of the most dramatic changes in the political field concerns the fact that the Eipo and their neighbors have understood that they form a larger single ethnic group with the same Mek language and very similar cultural traditions and that they should cooperate in the arena of provincial politics. They have thus developed a new spatial-political concept, which is paralleled by their new, much widened horizon: quite a few of them travel by plane to Jayapura, the provincial capital on the north coast (about 200 km in a straight line or one and a half hours’ flight time), and other cities, e.g. Wamena, the main hub of the highlands of Papua Province, and some Eipo have visited Germany and other European countries. Walking beyond the formerly rather confined borders of areas where relatives lived is also common now. Quite a number of Eipo, including middle-aged persons, walk to Oksibil, the government center in the east of the Mek region not far from the border with Papua New Guinea, and live there for a while, despite the fact that people in this region speak the Ok language which they do not understand. The lingua franca is Bahasa Indonesia which many Eipo speak quite fluently.141 Most administrational posts are filled by persons of Papuan origin, including the governor of the province and the rector of the University in Jayapura-Abepura. Eipomek, the name of the airfield and the administrative seat of the upper Eipomek Valley, has a number of public service offices, but no one is working there yet.
2.4.2 Material culture and subsistence techniques
Traditional tools were the ya ‘stone adze’, kape ‘stone knife’, fa ‘bamboo knife’, kama ‘wooden digging stick’, yin ‘large bow’, mal ‘arrow’, aleng ‘string bags’ (of various sizes), towar ‘ratan liana’ for binding and fire-sawing and some other, smaller tools plus a range of body decorations.142 Subsistence techniques were a mix between horticulture, hunting and gathering. Highland New Guinea is the homeland of some important domesticated food plants and thereby one of the very few centers of early agriculture worldwide. Some of the main plants are the am ‘taro’ (Colocasia esculenta), kuye ‘sugar cane’ (Saccharum officinarum), bace a related plant eaten as a vegetable (Saccharum edule; pitpit in Neomelanesian Pidgin), some protein-rich leafy greens (mula, Rungia klossii; towa, Abelmoschus manihot) and probably also kwalye ‘banana’ (Musa paradisiaca) belong to these autochthonous foods. Various cultivars of sweet potato (kwaning, Ipomoea batatas), the arrival date of which (either after the conquista or through early Polynesian transpacific contacts) in New Guinea is still debated, provide the bulk of carbohydrate energy and thus comprise the staple diet. Hunting143 is not very efficient, as the local species of marsupials144 are small, yet it played an important role in providing essential amino acids and was held in high esteem by the men. Hunted game is still ritually important (to host special groups of guests, as part of the bride-price etc.). Basam ‘pig’ (Sus scrofa) and kam ‘dog’ (Canis familiaris) are placental, i.e. non-marsupial animals, possibly introduced by the Austronesians, and thus foreign to the ex-Sahul fauna typical for New Guinea and Australia with kangaroos, wallabies and the like. Dogs are not eaten by the Eipo, whereas the pig was, and still is, a very important source of protein and fat. As pigs are not able to find enough food themselves they are fed, usually sweet potato, and thus represent a luxury food reserved for special occasions. They continue to be very important for ceremonial exchange as well.
Horticulture provides the staple foods of the Eipo. Gardens (wa) were usually made in areas which had been cultivated before and allowed to lie fallow for approximately 15 years. This period was determined via a bioindicator: the growth of the urye-tree (Trema tomentosa). When it had reached a certain height and diameter the soil was seen to have recovered and to be ready for a new round of planting and harvesting. Fallow periods have been shortened for several years now due to the marked population increase and the need for more food. The garden land is owned by patrilineal families. Some clans, those said to have come later in the history of settlement, do not formally own land in the Eipomek Valley but are given plots to grow their food. In this way, there was, in normal situations, neither shortage of suitable land nor of garden produce. Everyone who was physically able to work in the garden could and still can do so and was and is able to provide food for him/herself and the family.
Garden land is sacrosanct. The individual plots are clearly identifiable: at the corners or other crucial spots of the garden’s border the sacred yurye (Cordyline terminalis) is planted. This is a small tree with often reddish, lancet-shaped leaves, of which several cultivars are known. It is also planted at other crucial places, e.g. near the sacred men’s house, at meeting places or at the head of the long cane bridges spanning roaring rivers. Interestingly, this particular plant signifies places of religious importance throughout the Pacific, e.g. the entrance of temples in Bali and holy sites in Polynesia.145 The visual line connecting the yurye is the border (wa wiliba, literally: ‘the garden work-stopper’) in Eipo gardens. Failure to respect this border by clandestinely or openly transgressing and planting or harvesting in the land of one’s neighbor leads to serious conflict: verbal aggression and, possibly, physical fights. Everyone knows this law and usually respects it. There is, thus, family-owned, not communally owned garden land. The geometry of the gardens, their general shape, slope, geological condition and suitability for particular crops is common knowledge, as is the closer and wider area around the village which is represented by a complex network of place names.
When one walks on a path leading away from the village toward the periphery one crosses from zone to zone, all with defined borders, specific place names with their specific history of what happened there in mythical, remembered, and recent times. Known space is, thereby, meaningful territory, a carpet of culturally encoded signals, enriched with one’s own experience, with emotionally and cognitively relevant contexts. Arguably, this might have been similar in any rural environment and in daily contact with its spatial and other features. It is at least similar to the Dene Chipewyan tradition.
2.4.3 Social structures
Patrilinear descent and virilocal residence, i.e., the wife moving to the husband’s village, are still in place. The marked division of the society into female and male spheres (with men’s houses and women’s houses, both religiously meaningful, and other cultural institutions), which was present in the Eipo culture, as in that of other Papuan groups in the New Guinea highlands, has been reduced in recent years. Similar to other Papuan societies the leading roles in the public arena were, in the past, taken by the big men (sisinang, literally: ‘the ones who speak’). They got these positions through a mix of personal characteristics, among which intelligence, vitality, rhetoric and social skills were the most important. This meritocratic system without heritable chieftainship controlled all public affairs, including the decision whether to wage war or make peace with the main enemy in the adjacent western Famek Valley. Today, new leading positions have become available, among them those of church leaders and teachers; incipient forms of election are becoming institutionalized. Clan exogamy was, and still is, the guiding principle for marriage. In the past, 12% of all men were, at one time in their lives, married to more than one, usually two, exceptionally three wives; this optional polygyny was largely abandoned with the acceptance of Christianity. Divorce was common; the woman usually took the separated couple’s younger children with her, went back to her own family and usually remarried quickly.
2.4.4 Traditional religion
This section provides some ideas on the former animistic religion of the Eipo. Like that of the other highland New Guinean religions or, in fact, Melanesian religions in general, it was based on the belief that the visible and invisible world is filled with beings, i.e., isa ‘spirits’ of various kinds similar to the Dene Chipewyan tradition. Most important were creator spirits, e.g., the Yaleenye. Similarly powerful were the sacred pig and several female beings like the kwaning fatane kil, the ‘spirit woman who is always hungry for food’. Some of them were thought to be still existent and active, interfering in people’s lives. Yaleenye (literally: ‘the one who comes from the east’) and other ‘creator gods’, as one may call them, shaped the Earth, making its formerly swampy surface inhabitable by wedging stones into it and by planting sacred trees. Thereby, they created the kind of soil in which plants, especially food plants, could grow and on which people could live. They also formed the beds of the large and the small rivers and instructed the early people how to lead a proper life. They showed them how to make stone adzes from rocks in the Heime Valley, how to establish men’s and women’s houses and how to carry out ritual ceremonies.
One mythical account narrates how the first humans dug their way from underground to the surface with their foreheads. Yaleenye taught them how to transform their ugly, dirty faces by cleaning them with leaves and pig fat and decorating them with ochre, and thus how to become real humans with beautiful faces. Other isa were those of the animals (wild and domesticated), of rivers, conspicuous rocks, trees, certain places (like that of the sacred pig kwemdina basam), and of all the dead (ise dib ‘the true spirits’). These agencies dwelling in the different spheres close to or farther from the abode of humans were able to influence their life, the fertility of their gardens and other important aspects of livelihood. Diseases were thought to be caused either by one of these spirits or by harmful black magic (kire). Specific ceremonies (kwetena) to improve the condition of the sick person were carried out by male or female healers (kwetenenang) thought to be able to communicate with the spirit world. Sorcerers believed to have killed somebody were sometimes ‘divined’ by a seer (asing ketenenang, literally: ‘someone whose eyes are sharpened’) and then killed by the family of the deceased person.
Religion and secular life were not distinct, but essentially intertwined. Before dancers of the Heime Valley descended from the mountain pass to the village of their hosts, where they would carry out their rather spectacular dance performance,146 they prayed to Murkonye, one of the powerful creator spirits, to make them shine and radiate with beauty and vitality. Moreover, during everyday actions, religious ceremonies were interconnected with what people did. If one were to chop down a tree with one’s stone adze, one would first carry out a ceremony designed to safeguard this procedure: the adze should not become damaged, one should remain unharmed and the tree should fall quickly into the right direction. When one approached a rock shelter in the high mountains one would address the spirit believed to dwell there to receive the human visitors kindly and to protect them from the harsh and dangerous surroundings.
2.4.5 Physical environment
This section presents some information related to the local topography, and hence spatial coordinates as defined above that are of particular importance in this chapter. The Jayawijaya Mountains, the stretch of the central cordillera separating the northern and southern Mek groups are, like the rest of the Trans-New Guinea mountain chain, a formidable alpine massive. The lowest passes to cross from north to south or vice-versa are at about 3,700 m altitude; the highest summit of the Province, the Puncak Jaya or Carstensz Top, reaches 5,000 m, while the highest peaks in the country of the Eipo (e.g. Abom, Mt. Juliana, Gunung Mandala) are about 4,700 m high. The geological situation is such that the northern slope is much more gradual than the one on the southern side, where often very steep cliffs make human access very difficult. Still, these high ranges with their threatening cold temperatures and lack of food are commonly traversed by the local people. Their survival then depends on finding suitable rock shelters where one can build a fire and a makeshift windshield of branches, grass and bushes in the narrow, rain-protected strip under overhanging rocks. The Eipo and their neighbors undertook, and still make these potentially dangerous trips for a number of reasons, mostly for visiting trade and marriage partners on the other side of the range or for snaring or otherwise hunting the small marsupial rats and mice which live in this altitude. People actually die up there, the most feared form of death, moke baybubuk ‘he/she died out there in the rain without protection’. The loneliness and exposure to the forces of nature is perceived as horrible rather than death as such, which was, and usually is, accepted with a fatalism produced by the normative power of the factual: around each individual there is a lot of dying, plants, animals and humans die and (apart from religious, i.e. psychosomatic forms of medical treatment) there was never a chance to do anything about this. Besides hunting and trapping, the region of the mountain forest above the regularly inhabited areas was utilized to provide building material for the houses and collect wild foods. The most important of these was Pandanus brosimos; the nut-like seeds of the large compound fruits have a high fat content, otherwise very rare in the Eipo diet. Other edible plants, like berries and mushrooms, were also gathered in this region.
The radius of firsthand geographic knowledge of the Eipo (and the other peoples in this part of highland West New Guinea) was about three days (fast) walking. They did not venture any further as there were no relatives on whose assistance they could count for food and protection. Walking was and is the only form of getting from one point to another. Today, a small number of airstrips facilitate travel to some extent, provided one has the money for the ticket. Small children very soon acquire amazing skills in mastering difficult terrain with bare feet. It is impressive to see the relative ease with which everyone, including old persons, walks on slippery narrow logs, wades through deep swamp and finds a footing in stretches of vertical walls. None of the informants ever complained about the necessity of walking to distant gardens, hunting grounds or villages.
2.4.6 Relationship to neighboring groups
The Heime River runs southwards in a kind of mirror image of the Eipomek River which runs northwards. Here, near the village of Langda, are two quarries of Andesit stones, the material from which high quality stone adze blades can be knapped. The next such place is about 150 km away (Balim Valley). The relationship of the Eipo to the Heime was, therefore, of vital importance: without stone adzes, neolithic life was impossible. Apart from this trading relationship (the Eipo paid for the unpolished stone adze blades with stringbags and food stuffs less frequent in the Heime Valley) marriage partners were often found in the two valleys across the dividing range. It is, therefore, not surprising that such trips were regularly made, either in larger groups invited to dance and feast147 or in smaller groups of a few family members, despite the fact that the journey involves climbing from 1,700 m (the altitude of Munggona, the central village of the upper Eipomek Valley) to 3,700 m (the pass) and then approximately 2,000 m down again to Langda and the other villages on the southern side. Sometimes this 4,000 m feat was performed by the locals in a single day. The mountain range was therefore, as mentioned above, not a ‘natural border’ for these Papuan groups.
Relations with the neighbors in the Tanime Valley east of Eipomek were not as close, but good, whereas the neighbors in the Famek Valley to the west were the traditional enemies.
Warfare (ise mal, male fey bin-) was common (11 months during the first fieldwork period from 1974 to 1976) and caused many deaths, as did intragroup fighting (abala) in the village or political alliance: 25% of the men were victims of armed conflict.148 There was no system of conflict resolution through a third party, therefore revenge and the consequent spiraling escalation of aggression were the cause of the high blood toll and, as mentioned above, for the high degree of cultural pseudospeciation so typical for New Guinea. Cannibalism (ninye dina) occurred exclusively in the course of warfare; when an enemy had been killed in a situation where his body could not be defended by his own group, it would be cut up, carried to the village of the enemy and prepared there, in the traditional earth oven, for a ritual meal. It is interesting that some persons declined to participate in these ceremonies which were, as the informants said, designed to destroy the slain enemy completely and utterly with one’s teeth.149 Since 1979 the pax christiana has so far stopped warfare between the Eipomek and the Famek Valley and drastically reduced intragroup homicide.
2.4.7 Linguistic overview
The Eipo language features predominantly a subject-object-verb order.150 Object-subject-verb structures are frequently used as well. Compounding is the main source to denote or construe word meaning. Nouns are generally not inflected and not morphologically marked. They are morphologically simple and case marking is pragmatically handled, i.e., the actual discourse marks the subject and object of a sentence or situation. In transitive propositions the noun is profiled as the direct object, things and living beings are acted upon, they undergo actions, manipulation and creation by human beings. Gender (only for animals) is profiled by ways of compounding and derivation, e.g., using yim for ‘male’ or kil for ‘female’ to classify the noun, if needed for particular reasons. In normal speech, gender is not specified in verb conjugation. Number is expressed either by context or via the verb morphology. Nouns are modified by adjectives. More specifically, adjectives denote dimension, distance, and position in geographical and social space. They also denote color, age, value, and properties of human beings, animals, plants, and objects. The class of adverbs profiles verbs, adjectives, pronouns, adverbs, and sentences. Eipo differentiate between various adverb types such as temporal (‘day’, ‘time’) local (‘down there’, ‘in the middle’, ‘into the direction of’, (see the lists of terms for spatial deixis, tables 2.7 and 2.8), and modal adverbs, degree adverbs (‘very’), and focus or conjunctional adverbs (‘also’, ‘too’). Verbs denote actions and processes.
According to cognitive linguistics, verbs, as opposed to nouns prototypically profiling landmarks and objects located in space, denote motion events between such landmarks, actions, processes, or conditions.151 Verbs designate a process unfolding in conceived time.152 Langacker calls a verb a ‘symbolic expression’ whose semantic pole (a symbolic structure consists of a semantic and a phonological pole) profiles a process.153 The quote below summarizes the idea of a process in connection to the verb as a symbolic expression unfolding in time.154
A process is defined as a sequence of configurations (states) conceived as being distributed over a continuous series of points in time. Usually the separate configurations are distinct, i.e. a verb typically designates a change through time; a normal verbal predication is therefore highly complex, for it incorporates as many separate conceptual situations as there are recognizable different states in the designated process.
Adapting Langacker’s definition, verbs in Eipo profile various processes such as aspect and tense, but also person, number, and mood. The morphemes are suffixed to the verb. Syntactically, verbs profile predicates, and person-number suffixes agree with the subject noun phrase (NP). Note that NPs in Eipo can be constructed out of a noun or a pronoun. The grammatical suffixation of the verb can be parallel to Eipo proper nouns, which can take suffixes for human beings indicating gender. It is also important here to mention that the number of nouns is inferred either from the context or profiled by the verb’s morphology and its respective suffix.
More important for the discussion of spatial language is the lexicalization process of compound verbs. This process of the formation of lexical units (as opposed to grammar) is a characteristic typological feature of Mek languages. With respect to position in space, Heeschen argues that buk- ‘to sit’ and tek- ‘to stand/stay’ are the main lexemes in profiling space.155
As such these verbs behave like posture verbs in most Germanic languages and, more specifically, they are similar to the above described classificatory verbs. It is not argued here that the Eipo language features a classificatory noun/verb system. Nevertheless there is a tendency for classification, albeit a weak one which is not comparable to the other Papuan languages or Dene.156
Foley gives an example from Waris, a Papuan language spoken in Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea, in which morphemes are prefixed to the verbs encoding objects found inside a container (vela), spherical objects (put-), food cooked and distributed in leaf wrappers (ninge-), leaf-like objects with a soft stem or no stem (), leaf-like objects with hard stem (pola-), etc.157
As opposed to the rather limited encoding possibilities of position described above, in Eipo “reference to direction is systematically made more precise […].” in Eipo.158 This implies that the main semantic function of Eipo verbs is the denotation of motion in space.159 Hence, it is not so much a static location of the figure in a certain place but rather the trajectory of the figure with respect to the ground which has a higher degree of specificity.160
With respect to the assumption that Eipo features classificatory verbs, we have seen that in Dene Chipewyan various verbs encode different characteristics of the handled objects. Examples were verbs of handling, manipulation, continuing manual contact, e.g., ‘give’, ‘hand’, ‘take’, ‘put’, ‘handle’, ‘bring’, ‘carry’. We see a system of verbs that encode different aspects of actions. Partially controlled action, for instance, includes an agent (e.g., ‘toss’, ‘throw’, ‘hang up’, ‘set down’, ‘drop’, ‘lose’), while verbs of free movement are independent of an agent (e.g., ‘fall’ or ‘tip over’ in Dene).161 This system enables the language user to profile exactly the semantic features of the object and its manner of motion to be encoded.
Finally, it has been noted that Papuan languages have a complex morphology especially in the verb system. In particular, the morphology features agglutinative patterns. The complexity of the verb makes the languages interesting especially in comparison with First Nation languages of the Americas such as Dene Chipewyan,162 Hopi,163 Navajo164 Slavey,165 all supposedly polysynthetic languages. With respect to polysynthesis Boas indeed claims that166
a large number of distinct ideas are amalgamated by grammatical processes and form a single word, without any morphological distinction between the formal elements in the sentence and the contents of the sentence.
Cook notes that in Dene a verb stem cannot alone constitute a word as opposed to a noun stem.167 He claims that the internal structure of a verb is equivalent to a full sentence in English.168 Arguably, such grammatical amalgamation processes are also found in Eipo to a certain extent.
We conclude this subsection with some comments on tense-aspect marking. The Eipo language possesses six tense-aspect suffixes and six sets of tense-mood-person-number suffixes.169 With respect to tense-aspect the Eipo language distinguishes today’s past (past.i), near past (past.ii) and remote past (past.iii). The same applies to the future aspect, i.e., immediate (fut.i), near (fut.ii), and far future (fut.iii).170 The following example from Eipo presents the fine-grained structure of aspectual marking.171 It is a typical construction using the deictic morpheme a- ‘here’.
aik a-bu-lam-se, bai a-ba-lam-se.
hut here-sit-HAB-1SG.PAST.III outside from/here-go-HAB-1SG.PAST.III
‘I lived in this hut, I was going from here into the forest.’
The speaker of the quoted phrase, first person singular, explains that s/he lived in a specific house that was the point of departure for several trips into the garden land and the forest. The deictic marker relies on the speaker’s intended orientation in which ‘here’ means a close proximity.
The next section presents some fundamental cultural concepts, especially in Eipo, showing some interesting culture-specific practices such as building a house. Additionally, some environment-based topographies will be presented.
2.5 Center, periphery and distance in Eipo
This section presents specific spatial concepts of Eipo only. This is because the data concerning these aspects are much more comprehensive than for Dene.
2.5.1 Building an Eipo house
Building an Eipo house is an interesting example in which an old tradition, an old practice becomes visible. This is a tradition based on joint action rather than orally transmitted knowledge. The community’s center of life was the men’s house (yoek aik), a most important point of reference. Sometimes two or three of these sacred houses existed in a community. All socially meaningful structures were usually situated concentrically around the sacred men’s house, radiating out of that center. Hamlet, garden, and forest created quasi circular rings around the yoek aik and the sacred village ground, asik kata. Every place or location in the garden area is owned by someone, be it a hillside or a knoll. There is a fine grained network of place names represented in mental maps which are already very well developed in children and juveniles, who give accurate accounts of this aspect of local geography.
The mountains above the garden land, used for collecting and hunting, are connected to specific clans, but can be utilized by others as well. Sacred places can be found all around the living space, i.e., there is a sacred matrix or topology of exactly determined locations based on sacred arrays in the area.
One of the major points of departure for orienting oneself in Eipo culture was the house, either the men’s house or the women’s house (bary aik) or one of the family houses (dib aik). The men’s house signified the center, while the women’s house was at the periphery of the village. The house as a general concept of shelter can be understood as a universal place for protecting human beings from the environment, and as a place of safety and comfort, a place in which the family unit functions as a small-scale community in itself. It is interesting to survey more specifically the various usages in which ‘house’ appears as a location, either as a point of departure or as a place of an event in the life of the Eipo (cf. the entries under aik in the dictionary172). The house has crucial locational functions in other cultures as well. This should be of no surprise as it is a shelter and place of ritual habits in Western cultures as well. Moreover, the concept of ‘house’, signifying the place where a family or similar group lives, is primarily psychological, not architectural.
The following summary is based on Koch’s work, specifically the section on building family and men’s houses.173 It introduces not only the technique and the different steps for building a house in the Eipo culture, but also the central significance of houses, including the various sacred objects. Moreover, several semantic structures extracted from the Eipo dictionary will be presented, if possible with their language contexts.
The noun aik encodes ‘house’ and various usages imply its importance or significance for the Eipo community. The entry alphabetically first in the above-mentioned Eipo corpus beside aik itself is ninye aik bun berekilbin ‘people are meeting in the core of the house’. The entry for aik contains a number of related expressions specifying the function and importance of the house. First and foremost aik asin means the ‘fireplace in the house’. Further, aiktam designates ‘in the house’, ‘inside’; note the locational construction N + suffix to encode ‘inside’ based on the interior of the house. The way home or to the house is encoded as aik bisik. The term aik is also used for a sickness caused by a spirit as in aika or aik mek dikmal ‘a sickness caused by a spirit’: a severely sick person does not leave the house any more, often until he or she dies.
The basic form of an Eipo house was round with a cone roof, while less well built houses were either round or rectangular with a ridge roof; today quite a large variety of shapes and sizes are found in the Eipo villages. The average diameter of a family house was between 2 and 3 meters and the height about 2 meters. The average men’s house had a diameter of between 5 and 6 meters with a height of about 4 meters.174 Most of the houses had an elevated ground floor at a height of about 40 cm to 100 cm above the actual ground. The space underneath (ambonga) was sometimes used as a hog house, to store firewood, and to keep the ashes. Hence, it was a kind of a stockyard for all sorts of things in general. In the case of the men’s houses it was also where the spirit houses, isa aik, were placed. The living space measured about 1 to 2 square meters per person.175 These close quarters were not perceived as a disadvantage by the Eipo, but as a welcome means to literally stay in direct contact with each other. Building a house is primarily men’s business and the process of building a house is classic group and assembly work. All the necessary construction material, including the planks for the walls which are hewn where the specific trees grow in the mountain forest, is gathered weeks beforehand, i.e., the actual process of building the house is similar to assembly work on a construction site. Women participated, even in the building of a sacred men’s house, by carrying building material to the storage places or the actual building site. They still do this today. Reusable material from old houses was, and is, incorporated into the new building.176
The Eipo mainly used one universal tool, the adze ya with a blade made of stone. This specific kind of well-made hatchet was used to fell trees, to split up logs and to shape posts and other building material, including rattan for binding. One could say that the stone adze was some kind of ‘leatherman’ or ‘swiss knife’ for the Eipo in terms of a universal tool. The different stages in constructing and building a house will be described below with respect to the former tradition of building a men’s house. This socially, politically and religiously most meaningful building was the most important anchor in the Eipo community. Its continuity was granted by keeping the same location and the same sacred objects and by using parts of the old building material for the new building. Koch and Schiefenhövel (2009) documented the reconstruction of the old men’s house of the village of Munggona, called the Binalgekebnaik. It had a diameter of approximately 6 meters. Planning took place far in advance and some of the sacred rituals were already carried out in the forest. To start off, the men removed the sacred digging stick kwemdina kama (a relic from mythical times, the beginning of creation) and placed it against another men’s house during reconstruction work. Normal digging sticks, kama, were used as tools, e.g., to dig, to harvest, to weed, and to level the ground.177 The kwendina kama was the most important sacred object in the southern Eipomek Valley, a holy grail, so to speak. Then the men took off the cone roof and placed it beside the building site. The ensuing demolition of the old house was accompanied by sorting out usable material; phrases describing this are aik nonge ulobuka dobnab ‘we take away/pull down the house (except the roof)’, aik nonge duk’namab ‘we will take the house apart’, aik kolubrabuk ‘one broke down the house/the house is destroyed’. During this process the spirit houses isa aik became visible. After leveling the ground the men brought ayukumna, long house posts, which provided the main structure of the house. This stage was orchestrated like a procession and performed in an ecstatic, rhythmic dance, accompanied by the typical inspiratory whistling which provides the basic rhythm during Eipo dance feasts. The ayukumna were driven into the ground to a depth of about 40 cm. Rolls of bark from a specific confer were brought into the circle of posts to check whether they fitted the diameter of the house. This was the only type of measurement done; all the other pieces were placed intuitively. The bark would later cover the floor, providing a soft, even top layer (amsona).
The next step was to set the four slim poles ateka to delimit the fire place (ukwe asin ‘fire place in the house’). Two of these are called mem ateka (taboo poles) and have a sacred meaning. They were covered with fern leaves to protect the men’s hands from being burnt by the hot poles. When the men brought them, they again danced and chanted rhythmically. Several layers of circular transverse struts afanya were then carefully bound to the ayukumna. They held the house posts in place and provided a horizontal rim supporting the floor. Later another ring of afanya was fixed at the upper end of the posts to stabilize them and provide support for the roof.
In building a men’s house or other houses the next step was to place, in a criss-cross fashion, long flexible sticks on the horizontal rim provided by the afanya. This created a flexible floor which slightly slanted toward the middle as an interesting feature which helps utilize the heat of the central fireplace more efficiently. To give more stability to the floor layers (30 or more men may be inside the men’s house at a given time), crossbeams wanun yo were squeezed horizontally underneath. For family houses reed (Miscanthus floridulus, fina) was sometimes used instead of wooden sticks as it is easier to come by. Short planks, abelenga, reaching from the ground to the level of the floor, were fixed with rattan, the classic material for all bindings. This first circle of short planks typical for men’s houses blocked the view of the space below the floor where new little spirit houses were placed in the meantime. The planks forming the wall of the men’s house above the floor and reaching to the roof were gradually fixed as well. Even today these planks are still cut from a tree (Galbulimima belgraveana, lue) which easily splits so that flat, even boards can be produced. Today, although Christianity has superseded their belief in spirits, the Eipo still seal the walls of their houses as securely as possible: Little openings, cracks etc. could provide an entrance for spirits or other harmful agents, and in former times also for arrows.
The following language examples reflect the importance of spirits in the old Eipo tradition: aika ‘sickness’ (caused by house spirits); isa kum angnulamak ‘the spirits come up to the neck (i.e. they eat the person, make him/her fall sick)’, aik mek dikmal ‘water is stuck to the house/(metaphorically) the spirits are catching them (the inhabitants)’, isenang ‘the spirits, (met.) the enemies’, kingkin bisik keniklamak ‘they are caulking the clefts (between the boards of the wall of the house as protection against arrows and spirits)’. Especially the last example indicates how important it was to protect the house from the spirits. In the small, roughly built houses underneath the ground floor of the men’s houses they had an official abode and, at the same time, were contained so that they did not come into direct contact with people.
The most devastating events, believed to have been caused by a giant spirit (Memnye) living deep down underground, were the two earthquakes in June and October 1976, both measuring above 7 on the Richter scale. Throughout, the whole ritual connected to building a men’s house and various kinds of sacred ritual practices were thought to be necessary to calm down or appease the ghosts. It should be noted that the Eipo regarded earthquakes as well as sickness, accident or other mishap as punishment for broken taboos or disrespect toward the spirits. The massive earthquakes, in the course of which several Eipo died and which completely destroyed the whole village of Munggona and its sacred men’s houses, including many sacred objects, had a deep impact on the people. This facilitated the transition to Christianity and thereby initiated the very rapid process of acculturation. As a consequence, the transmission of cultural knowledge passed on orally via myths was partly interrupted.178
Returning to the description of the sacred Binalgekebnaik men’s house’s construction, the next step was to construct the support to hold the conical roof, the main weight of which was resting on a short central pole which was attached to the four poles, ateka, delineating the fireplace. The outer rim of the roof was resting on the upper end of the house posts (ayukumna) stabilized by the top ring of afanya. Finally, the old roof was carefully put in place; many men, and sometimes women even, participated in this final climax of sacred actions.
2.5.2 Natural limitations in Eipo
Mountains and the sky mark the limits of the Eipo world. The place where the mountain and the sky meet is called motokwe ime ebrarik ‘mountain (or land) and sky, the two meet’.179 Beside the sky as an obvious visible limitation, the mountainous region has its repercussions on the Eipo culture and language in terms of places, and natural limitations. See the following examples, all indicating the importance of environmental landmarks such as mountains and their function in Eipo culture. Table 2.4 presents various semantic differentiations of the concept ‘mountain’ in Eipo.
Clearly and not surprisingly, the mountainous region has a culture-specific and central meaning for the Eipo, as it has in any other region with such environmental specificities.180 Hence, mountains have several functions in Eipo. Beside the above meanings, some related concepts are discussed below.
The Dakul and the Lyene are particularly important mountains formerly believed to be the ‘mythical abode of Sun and Moon’ (1143, 3732). The direct connection between the Moon and the Eipo region is expressed in the term Yaburye ‘mythical river attributed to Moon and Sun’ (5683). Both the Sun and the Moon have specific cultural values as in ketinge-ton wale-ton Dukuramduweik a-kururak ‘Sun and Moon, the two of them created the Dukuramduweik-men’s house here’ (3038), or im maka ‘secretion of the sky (code for: Sun and Moon)’ (3776/4).
In table 2.5 there are some descriptions of the various stages and some metaphorical expressions relating to the various positions of the Moon, which is also connotated as female: wale are kil ‘the Moon is a woman’ (2641/1). The examples present various metaphors of the Moon in its different stages in Eipo.
motokwe aryuk- ‘(mythologically) to pile up’ or ‘create the mountain’ (194)
motokwe berengne ‘a world of emptiness’ or ‘solitude, i.e., without any plants’ (475)
motokwe akonum bereksingibuk ‘the land lay bare, nothing grew’ (476)
motokwe cange wik ‘mountain is spacious’ or ‘big’ (1050)
motokwe dandoble ‘the mountain’ or ‘the area is uninhabited’ (1176)
motokwe kon dinib’mak ‘they go round the ridge of the mountain (in order to avoid climbing it)’ (1442)
motokwe dok ‘flank of a mountain’ (1502)
motokwe dub ‘top of a mountain’ (1592/2) (bebengdina, bebengdin = mountain top (a mountain range is often the border between two regions, e.g., between the Eipo and the Marikla, who were enemies; the same metaphor is used for the border between the world of man and the world of the spirits)
motokwe seringsarang fabminyak ‘(magically) the empty earth shall bear flowers’ (1797)
motokwe filibable ‘the mountain becomes smooth’ or ‘flat’ (metaphorically for ‘to faint’, ‘to become unconscious’) (1962/1)
motokwe kwakwa lakabdanamle ‘the world (= mountains) will be transformed into a butterfly (when praying to the ancestors it is asked that the leaves of all food plants should move in the wind like the wings of a butterfly)’ (3102/1)
doa motokwe-dam lelelamle ‘the clouds are piling up at the mountain there’ (3425/7)
loun motokwe ‘an area or a mountain not under taboo where everybody is allowed to go’ (3620/1)
marman, motokwe marman ‘transverse (path) under a cliff’ (3867)
motokwe kon ‘mountain top ridge’ (4087/4) (sin ‘mountain top’, ‘high plateau’
motokwe tob-nang ‘those who know about the world are able to explain the world’ (4087/6) (toba = ‘it is there’; ‘is/are present’, ‘continuous’)
motokwe yim ‘mountain (ridge edge)’ (4087/7) (bisik wamumna ‘ridge’)
tarekna motokwe ‘(lit.) cold mountains’ or ‘high mountains’ (4087/9)
motokwe erelamle nun gum ob ‘the mountains arose at a time when we weren’t yet there’ (4448/2)
sik motokwe ‘(this is) their mountain’ or ‘area or hunting ground’ (4708/2)
motokwe tilibak ‘places or areas where the trees grow densely or where there is a lot of growth’ (5181)
motokwe yupa ‘pass’ (5920) (Tekiltakalyan ‘to climb up and meet’, ‘to meet on a mountain top, a pass’ (5103)
2.4 Semantic variation of ‘mountain’ in Eipo
wal su eleklamle ‘the Moon is wrapped in leaves/can no longer be seen’ (5450/6)
wal yulamle ‘the Moon is cooking (in the earth-oven)’, ‘new moon’ (5450/7)
wale yang kelamle ‘the Moon is or becomes like a tusk’, ‘crescent moon’ (5775/2)
2.5 ‘Moon’ in Eipo
As is apparent, the Moon in its different stages is encoded via figurative usages that intuitively make sense to a Western speaker as well. The general importance of the Moon for fertility is evident also in Eipo. The Eipo interpreted the waning and waxing of the Moon as phases of its menstruation. In particular, the New Moon was thought of as residing in a heavenly women’s house, just as women during their menstruation reside in the women’s house for about 3–4 days. The Moon marks, additionally, the connection between a mythical spirit and the bare landscape, in particular the high surrounding mountains.
2.5.3 Distance in Eipo
The data from the dictionary and Heeschen’s grammar, the various ethnographic films, and the myths181 suggest that the Eipo do not possess abstract terms for distance, area, and volume. In one instance, an interesting observation was made. Work at the airstrip, carried out by the local people under supervision of Wulf Schiefenhövel and an assistant from Ilu, a mission station in Dani country west of the Mek area, had been going on for many weeks. The general shape of the landing field was visible. It was delineated by longitudinal ditches which were dug to drain off the substantial amount of daily rain water at the sides. The width was thus determined, as well as the lower and upper end. When it was announced that Wulf and Grete Schiefenhövel would walk to Bime, the nearest mission station which had been opened two years previously and from where the advance group of the German Research Team had started its five-day walk to Eipomek, several men and boys said they would like to come along. As soon as the group had arrived in Bime, some men looked for string, i.e., long sections of bast and other fibres and similar material. They connected many pieces by knots and when the string was long enough, measured the width of Bime airstrip, marking its size before the string was rolled up and stored in one of the men’s bags. Schiefenhövel was quite surprised by this activity and asked what they were doing. They answered: We are comparing (kiklib-) the ‘axillary wing’ (ke fol) of the airplane. We know that the plane can land here and we want to check whether the ke fol of the airstrip we are building with so much effort in Eipomek has the same size so that the plane can also land there. ‘Stone-age’ Eipo were checking the job of the white fieldworkers as they wanted to be sure that the engineering was done according to standard. This is quite a scientific procedure. They were happy when, on return from Bime, they found that the ke fol of their future landing field had the proper width. This measuring was not done by counting steps or feet, but by a quasi holistic act of comparing. This act of comparing reflects the idea that distance and length is preserved regardless of place and direction, a central cognitive structure in the gestalt-like mental model of space.182
boltak-, boltakab- ‘to keep distance from someone or something’ (732)
yanyane faye bin- ‘to leave foot-prints (song and dance texts for) to walk long distances’ (1874)
inib-, enib- ‘(to make see) to search, to invite over a long distance’ (2190)
karen, karin ‘unoccupied, keeping distance’ (2395)
karenkaren balamak ‘they go separately, keep distance’ (2395/2)
aik kwakne bisik ‘the path through / in between the houses’ (3098)
lukfara ban- ‘to look out, to look out into the distance’ (3647)
nisin diberen- ‘to look into the distance’ (4395)
onob- ‘to refuse, to turn down, to keep at a distance’ (4527)
yan onolbin- ‘to make a big step (on the day when the sacred men’s-house is built one is not allowed to walk a long distance. The taboo is apparently nullified by taking a big step over a puddle or a small pond.)’ (4528/1)
tamublabdongob- ‘to gain a greater distance to someone who is following, to keep a distance when walking’ (5000)
tekisib- ‘to keep a distance’ (5107)
tekisibnin balamak ‘the women keep a distance (to the men while walking)’ (5107/1)
usamkila ‘clouds rising in the distance’ (5411)
webrongob- ‘to follow closely, to be attracted’ (5526)
winilkidik- ‘to wander about, to walk big distances (said of the ancestors)’ (5627)
bisik ‘way, path, direction’ (612)
bisik dukuble ‘the path/entrance is just wide enough (to be able to carry s.th. through)’ (612/5)
bisik kwangdanya ‘fork in the road’
bisik lebarikna ‘the circumventing’ or ‘avoiding of a steep part of the path’
2.6 Various expressions of distance in Eipo
A somewhat similar idea in terms of using straight lines, but without comparing lengths, is implied, as already mentioned above, in the practice of delineating garden lands. Wa (usually old gardens reused after approximately 15 years of lying fallow, sometimes newly cleared primary forest) is divided into individual plots without employing fixed units of distance. The borders of the plots are commonly marked by small trees (yurye, Cordyline terminalis, a sacred plant in many regions of the Pacific) in such way that the line connecting the yurye is defining the end of one plot and the beginning of another owned by families and passed on in the patriline. To encroach into the land of another family is considered a serious offense and leads to open conflict.
Some morphemes indirectly represent ideas of distances such as ‘in between’, i.e., a specific distance between two landmarks. They are presented in table 2.6.
The most common word to express distance is fera, fere = ‘distant’, ‘far away’, requiring a long walk. The term fera as well as the various phrases presented above do not, of course, entail a specific, precise measure of distance, as steps, miles or kilometers. But for an adult member of the Eipo society, who knows her or his territory extremely well and has also walked to places further away, this term is sufficient. The problems arise when foreigners, like white researchers, hope they can extract some measurement of distance or time from their informants: fera can be quite close, but also very far away. Hence, it can be stated that there is no technical term for distance in Eipo, but a variety of context-dependent phrases and words, for which one can use the term ‘distance’ as a translation.
Nevertheless, with respect to building houses, traps or bridges the Eipo are able to conceptualize the exact structure and architecture and order of actions necessary to assemble various materials to build the different types of houses, the technically advanced traps (as in Dene Chipewyan) or a bridge. It is apparently not necessary to have an explicit and abstract measurement to construct buildings or even the rather sophisticated cane bridges spanning across wide rivers, examples of neolithic high-tech. Similarly, abstract terms for distance are not necessary for constructing stable buildings and functioning devices whose stability and functioning we would today explain using the principles of physics. It is not necessary to know, e.g., the abstract concept of the number , i.e., it is not important to know and apply the idea of a circle in a strictly geometrical sense. The Eipo and other peoples have developed practices and ritual actions which fulfilled their purpose more effectively than others and thus became part of their culture.
2.6 Representations of spaces in Eipo and Dene Chipewyan
In this section, the two languages under survey are compared with respect to their spatial concepts, ways of spatial categorization, and use of spatial markers of environmental landmarks.183 As stated in the introduction, our interpretation of Eipo and Dene spatial concepts is guided by the fine-grained analysis of Hopi ideas of space (Raumvorstellungen).184 Malotki’s survey seeks to present the various facets of this language in their function of encoding spatial relations in specific detail.185 Eipo and Dene Chipewyan present specific environment-dependent encoding patterns mirrored in the languages.186 The mountains and rivers as important limitations in Eipo and Cold Lake in the Dene culture show their repercussions in the language patterns and the carving-up of spatial concepts on the language level. In the following sections we will present a variety of examples from Eipo and Dene showing various ideas of space.
2.6.1 Orientation in Eipomek
The following summary on Eipo structures presents some firsthand data.187 As we have described above, in the Eipo religious tradition humans appeared on Earth from the underground and gathered in groups. Their most important place became the men’s house. It was a crucial place for securing the life and prosperity of the hamlet. It was hence the center both as a real location and as a spiritual place. From the center to the periphery there was a network of paths and additionally of arrangements and limitations that began inside the men’s house, e.g., with a specific seating arrangement and positioning of the sacred objects. It has to be added that each Eipo village had one or two women’s houses, which were also sacred and taboo for the men. In some respects they are the equivalents of the men’s houses for the women. This social organization following a marked gender dichotomy, and the specific environmental conditions, are well established in the language structure and religion, i.e., many points of orientation are semantically filled with culture-specific entities or landmarks. The following two examples show this specificity.188
a-kame ara lulukene mem.
here-stick THEME shake/make(VN) forbidden
‘As to this sacred digging-stick, it is forbidden to cause it to be shaken.’
am bob-m-ik-ine, ou-Dek bob-ik.
Taro carry-DUR.-3PL./PAST.III-SCENE. down/there-Dek carry-3PL./PAST.III
‘They were carrying the taro, and then they carried them to the Dek River down there.’
The examples present some important and relevant objects in Eipo, e.g., the sacred digging-stick kama, sometimes pronounced kame, which was kept as the most important religious item, and the ritually important ancient food plant am ‘taro’, or specifically meaningful places, e.g., the Dek River, or the Northern lowland area. Moreover, the examples indicate the importance of cultural-specific habits relying on specific practices, e.g., the digging-stick as a sacred object is also responsible for a certain order or ritual as in kama bukwotebnin yanamuk, which can be translated as ‘the primeval digging-stick came putting everything in order and smoothing everything’. As the stick of creation it was kept in a specific place, some kind of shrine in the men’s house.189 Interestingly, in all cases a deictic marker (a) is used to indicate the exact position of the place, the direction or the event.
Eipo speakers orient themselves in their mountainous environment by a finely meshed network of names for mountains, hills, slopes, rivers, and plains.190 Heeschen describes the use of this environmental topology:191
Eipo speakers mainly use the spatial deictics as a condensed and abbreviated structure in face-to-face-communication: here the deictics are accompanied by a pointing gesture.
Basic orientation in space for the Eipo is, as has been mentioned above, provided by five deictic points of reference based on the speaker’s position, ‘here’, ‘there’, ‘up-valley’, ‘down-valley’ ‘across (the valley)’.192 The basic set of deictic markers consists of the following morphemes, taken from the dictionary.193
a- ‘here’
ei- ‘up there’ (see below for further examples)
ou-. u- ‘down there’
or- ‘across here’, ‘across the valley’, ‘on the other side’, ‘the other slope (but not upwards)’ (4536)
or-asik ‘the hamlet over there’ (4536/1)
or-deibsilyam ‘put it there (at the same height)’
ortiba ‘it’s over there’, ‘across the valley, spot across the river’
er- ‘across the valley/the river’, ‘upward of own position’
2.7 ‘Here’ and ‘there’: General deixis in Eipo
These examples exemplify the various usages of the dual distinction between ‘here’ and ‘there’, i.e., the horizontal distance and place of a speaker being ‘here’ and the vertical ‘up’ and ‘down’ distinction. All of the usages are rather unspecific in terms of metrical distance between the speaker and a potential hearer. We also see the importance of orientation depending on the environment, e.g., ‘river’ and ‘valley’. The prefix d- is added to deictic morphemes to form longer distances or sharper contrasts. The above data set presents a more detailed semantics of the basic deictic markers. The added prefix increases the spatial semantic detail in the encoding of proximal, medial and distal distances. In addition, vertical specification or specification of altitude is given in greater detail than in the examples above.194
da- ‘here’ (in a wider area around the speaker and hearer, here and there)
dei- ‘very far up there’ (across the mountains) vs. fera = ‘far way’, as opposed to dam)’; dam = ‘close by’, ‘short (way)’
dam banmarak ‘the two of them are coming closer’, ‘they are approaching’
dou- ‘very far down there’ (‘very far down the valley’)
dor- ‘very far across the ridges in the next valley’; ‘at same level or lower than own position’
der- ‘very far across the ridge in the next valley’; ‘higher than own position’
2.8 ‘Here’, ‘there’ and ‘far across’: Specified deixis in Eipo
These examples indicate that Eipo rely on a topographical system which includes, in these last cases, distances in various metric situations, i.e., proximal, medial and distal. In the example below, the deictic marker refers to a distance between speaker and another group of people.195
Marikle-nang lukenyan or-yan-ma-se-ak, a-mab-ma-lam-buk.
Marikle-people night from/across-come-DUR-us-3PL.PRES, here-sleep-DUR-2SG.PRES- when(DS.)
‘During the night the Marikle people come to us from across (the valley) there.’
Syntactically the deictic markers are bound morphemes that combine with other parts of speech such as verbs, nouns, postpositions, and predicating suffixes.196 Here, the deictic marker encodes the trajectory of the figure (the Marikla people, i.e., the enemy living across the valley, are coming) and their transition from their home location (the unspecific ‘from across the valley’) to an implied speaker or vantage point (‘us’).
An interesting example in terms of an imagined location is given below.197
a-kil ara, a-yanga-lam-lye-ak-da a-tek-am-lul.
Here-woman THEME here-come-HAB-3SG.MED-at-but here-stand-PERF-3SG.HORT
‘As to the woman here, she may have come to the place where he might have been
The deictic marker a- used in the above example encodes, in the first instance, a particular place. In the second and third instance, it encodes an imagined or abstract space that is removed from the speaker to a distance in which ‘here’ (depending on the speaker) is not the location of the speaker in a real context. The locational marker removes the scene from the actual speaker/discourse. Heeschen argues that the Eipo are imagining a place they do not know. From a morphosyntactic point of view it is interesting that the deictic marker is used repeatedly. Every possible location is marked for each location of the figure and the ground, thereby identifying the places at which the actions of the two phrases take place.
The example below gives a flavor of the encoding of imagined things that a speaker describes to a hearer who does not know the spatial landmarks.198
Aike irikna a-ub-ma-le-to-ak, ou-tonun
hut edge here-be-DUR-3SG.PRES-as-at down-as
li-am-ik-ye-ak aik dike ou-deli-lam-ak.
put.into-PERF-3PL.MED-and-at hut food (ritual) down-put-HAB-3PL.PRES
‘They put away the food at one edge of the hut, at a place which is similar to this one
here (the speaker points to something), in a similar way they have put down there
(things into a stringbag).’
It is apparent that this last example can only be understood in its real speech act context since the speaker is actually pointing at some place. As outlined above, another interesting aspect is the delimitation via mountains and thus a seemingly unspecific distance.199
An yuk asik a-ub-na-lyam, nun-da der-motokwe bi-nam-ab.
you alone hamlet here-be-FUT.II-2SG.HORT we-but very/far/across/up/there-mountain go-FUT.III-1PL.
‘You alone should stay in this hamlet here, but we will go to the mountain very far
across there.’
The idea of ‘very far across there’ seems rather unspecific for a speaker unfamiliar with the environment, but for the Eipo speaker the distance to the central range in the south is very well known. Moreover, it seems evident that the future tense marker encodes a distance in space as well. Note that future.iii is used for long-distance journeys, while future.ii is used to designate ‘staying here’. The hortative (mode of the verb specifying an act of collective action) construction lyam encodes the mode of the verb specifying a collective action, i.e., the part of the English translation introduced by ‘You should stay’ and ending with ‘we will go’. Both utterances are related to specific places, the ‘hamlet’ and the ‘mountain’. The opposite of asik ‘village’ or ‘hamlet’ is bay meaning ‘outside’ and thereby carrying the notion of ‘wilderness’, ‘uncontrolled’, ‘dangerous’ (cf. bure, budu ‘outside’; bure ketib- ‘someone who stays outside, comes back to the village late’; bure is purely deictic, i.e., not used metaphorically to signify danger, threat etc.). Motokwe has several additional meanings such as ‘land’, ‘landscape’, ‘region’, ‘place’, and ‘world’ (see table 2.4). The prefixed bound morpheme a- has, as already shown, several meanings depending on the context as summarized in table 2.9.
a- ‘here’, ‘there’ (as opposed to ‘over there’)
a-tam ‘here’, ‘this way’ (indicating direction and place; -tam = ‘side’) (cf. u-tam = ‘down there’, ‘down the valley’ (indicating direction); u-tiba = ‘it is down there’, ‘down the valley/the river’)
a-teba ‘here it is’ (-teba = predicative particle with deictic pronouns)
a-tebuk ‘here’, ‘this here’ (-tebuk = predicative particle with deictic pronouns, pointing to something which is past or which had been mentioned before; what has been mentioned in the past or in the preceding conversation and is thus known to the speaker)
a-binmal ‘here’/‘there he/she/it comes’
a-bisik ‘this way’, ‘along here’
a-motokwe (lit:) ‘this mountain here’, but also: ‘here’, ‘with us’, ‘in our place’
a-nirya ‘all this’
a-yo ‘the wood’/‘the tree here’, ‘this tree’/‘this wood’
2.9 Deictic expressions in Eipo
The prefixed deictic marker a- encodes two possible locations depending on the speaker’s intention to indicate a specific direction, i.e., ‘here’ and ‘there’. Note that the morpheme ortam (or-tam) encodes, as mentioned above, ‘over there’; ‘across the valley’; ‘across the river’ (indicating direction) (4544).
The next section presents some general ideas of space in Dene, in particular concerning delimitations and limits, that are mirrored in the language.
2.6.2 Orientation in Dene Chipewyan
The previous section provided some basic spatial concepts in Eipo based primarily on environmental landmarks. This section presents some data from Dene Chipewyan and neighboring languages. It is based on Thiering’s field work.200 This language has interesting spatial terms such as ‘up above’ (yudaghe ‘above, at a certain place above’); betthiye ‘above it (current, wind)’, ‘down below’, ‘upstream’ or ‘up river’ (north), ‘downstream’ (south), ‘up from shore’, ‘down toward shore’, ‘out to sea or forward’ (into or out to open sea), ‘inside’, ‘outside’. This set of terms are very similar to the corresponding ones in Eipo. Most of the concepts are related to lakes or rivers, more precisely, particularly those around Cold Lake. Related languages such as Carrier, Eyak, Hupa, Koyukon, Navajo, Slavey, and Tlingit also encode spatial concepts based on the immediate environment, such as rivers they traveled to, e.g., for fishing.201 As we shall demonstrate below, Dene behaves similarly to its neighbor cousins. Table 2.10 presents some of the affiliated languages, Tlingit,202 Carrier, Koyukon, and Hupa and some of their spatial concepts that are similar to those in Dene.203
Tlingit Carrier
(all, loc, abl)
(all, areal)
(loc, suf)
‘up above’
-do, -doh, -des
‘up above, over’
-dege, -degu
‘up above’
-dah, -de
ye-, ya-
‘down below’
yo-, -yoh, -yes
‘down, underneath’
-yege, -yegu
‘down below’
-yah, -ya
‘upstream (north-east)’
-nu?, -nud, -nuz
‘upstream, away up (from the outlet of a lake)’
-na’e, -nuye
‘upstream, back behind, to the rear’
-nage, -nah-
‘upstream (south-east)’
‘downstream (south)’
-da?, -dad, -daz
-do’, -duye
-de?, -da-
‘downstream (north-west)’
‘up from shore, interior’
-no, -noh, -nes
-nege, -negu
‘up from shore, up on or above shore (from water), toward back (of house)’
-dage, -dah
‘away from the stream (north-east)’
yeg, ?ig
‘down toward shore’
-cen, -cid, -ciz
‘down toward a body of water’
-ene, -uye
‘down to shore, toward front (of house)’
-ce?ne, -sen-
‘toward the stream, downhill (south-west)’
‘out to sea, out into open’
-nes, -nes
-nela, -nelye
‘ahead, out on open water’
‘across, on the other side (of water)’
-ni?, -nid, -niz
‘behind, in the rear, away from a body of water’
‘across, on the other side (of water)’
-mane, -?an-
‘across the stream (south-west)’
-yan, -yad, -yaz
‘on the opposite side (of the water)’
gán (north)
-?en, -?ad, -?az
‘away, off’
-?ene, -?uye
‘off to the side, away’
-?a, -?a
‘beyond, on the other side’
2.10 Environmental spatial concepts in Tlingit, Carrier, Koyukon, and Hupa
It is not necessary to present a detailed analysis of every spatial morpheme in the different languages here. What is evident, and striking, with respect to the subject of this chapter is that in all these languages, spatial marking is aligned to some environmental landmark, i.e., house (‘toward or back to the house’), water or river (des in Dene; up- or downstream). In addition, the direction of the water is paralleled with cardinal directions as in Hupa. The examples further indicate a striking similarity to the Dene data. Like the affiliated languages, Dene bases its orientation also on environmental landmarks, but additionally uses the cardinal system (sayesi ‘East from under the Sun’; -da, yethda ‘The Great Bear constellation’). For example, the North, yatthé, profiled also ‘up’ (cf. tthi ‘in the north’; yatthi ‘to the north’; ghadhe ‘the West’; dási ‘west’, ‘from down river’, ‘to the west of’). The direction of the wind (betthiye [up current], above it (current, wind)) is also marked by the cardinal direction, i.e., tthísníltsi is ‘wind from the North’ and nasniltsi encodes the ‘wind from the South’. The Dene today even possess the concept of North and South poles (yatthé néné laghil and níl holaghe, respectively).
More precisely, the Dene Chipewyan territory was strictly limited by the water systems, i.e., large streams and numerous lakes, but also by extensive swamps, prairies, barren areas, and forest.204 The main limitations were the water systems as can be seen in the following expressions in Dene delimiting the territory. Kechagha-hotínne ‘down-stream they-dwell’ is placed west and south-west of Great Slave Lake, near the mouth of Hay River along Mackenzie River, and the lower course of Liard River.205 The expression Kaí-theli-ke-hotínne means something like ‘willow flat-country up they-dwell’. This region is centered around the western end of Athabaska lake at Fort Chipewyan and extends northward to Fort Smith on Slave River and southward to Fort McMurray on Athapaskan River.206 Kes-ye-hotínne ‘aspen house they dwell’ encodes a place near the head of the Churchill River system (Lac Isle la Crosse, Portage la Loche, Cold Lake, Heart Lake, Onion Lake). Háthé-hotínne ‘lowland they-dwell’ is the region of Reindeer Lake draining southward into Churchill River. Sa-yísí-dene ‘Sun under (the eastern) people’ is in the barrens between Reindeer lake, Hudson Bay, and Chesterfield Inlet. Tandzán-hotínne is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake along the Yellowknife River (Dení-nu-eke-tówe ‘moose island up lake-on’). The Hli-chá-dene are the ‘dog flank people’ (Dogrib) between Great Slave Lake, Great Bear Lake, and La Martre and Coppermine River.
With respect to deictic information, as seen for Eipo above, Hopi as a very distant cousin language of the Athapaskan language family presents for all three distances ‘here’, ‘there’, ‘over there’ in the example below, but expands the deictic system into a more refined pattern including medial information (which is known from Dene as well).207 Note that the basic space structure in Hopi is based threefold on the following case system: a locative, a destinative, and an ablative determine the place or site, destination, and point of origin.208 Hence, a clear linguistic division via spatial deixis markers and general orientation is encoded as in Eipo and Dene Chipewyan. This is clearly an indication of a high degree of specificity in spatial semantics.209 Hopi separates this deictic space into a four-way matrix such as ya-ng ‘here’ (proximal), a- (medial), e-p/pa- ‘there’ (distal), and ay ‘over there’ (extreme-distal).210 Note that the morpheme da- means something like close to the respective ‘here’, but not as far away as ‘there’, ‘here and there’ (cf. deira, doro, doura in Eipo).211
Central to any analysis of spatial configuration are the linguistic coordinates that dissect the area taken up by the speaker (first person), the hearer (second person), and the persons or things other than the speaker and hearer (third person). English basically structures the terrain occupied by these entities into ‘here’ and ‘there’. Formally adverbs, the semantic thrust of ‘here’ and ‘there’ is deictic, with ‘here’ indicating a point in the immediate vicinity of the speaker and ‘there’ selecting one further removed from him.
A more detailed account of Dene will reveal even more about the interaction between environmental landmarks and its representation in language as we have just shown above in Eipo. The following examples present very basic directional locative markers in Dene.
(ne)ja ‘here’
?eyer ‘there’
yughé ‘over there’
ekozi ‘near there’
hoch’a zi ‘away from there/it (time, place)’
-k’ezi ‘over’; ‘out on’ (lake, hill, prairie, flat surface)
nizi ‘in presence of’ (close proximity)
yuwé nigha ‘go (over there)‘ (verb) ‘You go over there.’
-thethe ‘above‘, ‘over’
nadaghe ‘in front of’
náhésja ‘go’ (start across) ‘I started across’
náhédel ‘go’ (start across) ‘They (plural) started across.’
náhélgé ‘go’ (start across) (animal) ‘He has started across.’
nalé ‘in sight of’ (person, at a distance)
nidhá ‘far’; ‘It is far.’
nidháíle ‘near’, ‘close by’
nu tedhe ‘over us’ (dual and plural)
-thethe ‘above’, ‘over’
ho tedhe ‘unspecified area’
be tedhe ‘person’; ‘thing over a person or something’
se tedhe ‘over me’; ‘above’, ‘over my head’, (metaphorically) ‘I do not understand.’
nu tedhe ‘over us’ (dual and plural)
ni dúe ‘standing close together’
-gáh (literally) ‘close’, ‘near’
hube tedhe ‘over them’ (plural)
t’ázi ‘behind’ (‘going the other way’); ‘leaning against’; ne-t’azi ‘behind your back’
tanizi ‘center’, ‘middle’
tajáhai ‘in the middle of the lake.’
t’abábel ‘near the shore line’
2.11 Basic directional locatives in Dene Chipewyan
These selected examples indicate that Dene Chipewyan (and also Hopi) exhausts a large range of spatial concepts, depending also on environmental landmarks, e.g., lakes in these examples. Additionally, distances are specified, as mentioned before, in a threefold system encoding proximal, medial, and distal relationships between the figure and ground. Those are only approximate distances not relying on exact geometrical or mathematical concepts.
Beside these obvious spatial concepts profiling certain spatial configurations, the next data set presents a case that focuses on truly environmental landmarks. An initial word count in the Elford dictionary of the noun ‘water’ and related constructions presents 199 hits for water alone. The aggregate ‘ice’ yields about 70 hits.212
ten ‘ice’
ten deteni ‘ice’ (thick) (noun/verb) ‘The ice is thick.’
ten déch’el ‘cracked ice’ (verb) ‘The ice is cracked (with one big crack).’
ten dzíré líi ‘ice’ (drifting) (noun)
ten elt’t’aghidzeghi ‘iceberg’ (noun)
ten héltál ‘cracked ice’ (verb) ‘The ice is cracked (with one small crack).’
ten hóeni ‘dangerous’ (verb) ‘The ice is dangerous.’
ten húlár ‘float’ (verb) ‘Ice floated past.’ ten nádhilteni ‘icicle’ (noun)
ten nádénitthel ‘chop ice (to carve a way)’ (verb) ‘He chopped ice away.’
ten nágheltal ‘crack (ice)’ (verb) ‘The ice is cracked (with many small cracks).’
ten náthelá ‘float’ (verb) ‘Ice lifted or floated up.’
ten nithelár ‘float’ (verb) ‘Ice (large pan) floated to shore and out again.’
ten táthedzegh ‘float’ (verb) ‘Ice floated to shore.’
táthela; ten táthelar ‘float’ (verb) ‘Ice (large pan) floated to shore.’
ten táthelár ‘float’ (verb) ‘Ice lifted or floated up.’
ten táthi ‘float’ (verb) ‘Ice is floating (to shore).’
ten ts’et’ani ‘ice (thin)’ (noun) not accessible
ten tsele ‘ice (fall)’ (noun) not accessible
ten ts’íli ‘ice (spring)’ (noun) not accessible
2.12 Variation of ‘ice’ in Dene Chipewyan
The above set of examples of various linguistic constructions encoding different qualities of ‘ice’ neatly complements the Eipo data on ‘river’ as an important landmark. During the fishing season, the Dene needed to know the specific qualities of ice, e.g., its thickness. Ice fishing necessitated the exact knowledge of a location where the ice was thin enough to drill a hole and which was at the same time above the fish grounds. Note that in Dene most of the above-quoted linguistic constructions are, nowadays, used only by a few fluent elders. It can be assumed that in a generation from now, most of the constructions will be gone.213
2.7 Conclusion
This chapter has presented aspects of spatial cognition reflected in two unrelated languages and cultures. The interrelation of culture, environment, and language has been shown for Dene Chipewyan and Eipo. Some aspects of spatial cognition turned out to be culture specific, being shaped, for instance, by practices of spatial orientation and organization. Thus, depending on the practical and environmental contexts, we found differing degrees of specificity in the different cultures.
Arguably, language here plays a double role as an external representation or semiotic system, on the one hand throwing light on structures of cognition and on the other shaping cognition and influencing its structure. On the basis of the study of a sample of two unrelated cultures and utterances in their languages, the chapter attempted to distinguish aspects of spatial cognition. Some might be candidates for universals although they may find different expressions in different languages. It is impossible, of course, to draw inferences from a sample of just two languages, but in the broader context of this book, it appears obvious that certain non-linguistic features of spatial thinking shape spatial language and practice in all societies. An example is the figure-ground asymmetry as a fundamental structure of spatial cognition.214
Aspects of spatial topography have been shown that are truly culture specific in the sense that different cultures develop different cognitive structures. Examples have been provided by deixis and other references to and conceptualizations of space. Moreover, the current chapter presented cultural and language specific ideas of space of Eipo and Dene Chipewyan (and some selected from other languages such as Hopi). Such spatial concepts have been shown to be of crucial importance in the two ethnic groups and related cousin languages. People in both cultures lived in complex environments, traveled long distances into dangerous terrain and usually made their way back safely. Survival in their habitats depended on evolved capacities typical for our species to efficiently manage orientation in space. Moreover, it depended on ontogenetic learning about the geography of the environment with its many specific features and on a culturally transmitted, linguistically encoded spatial reference system sufficiently precise to foster the process of forming mental maps of their land.
We have provided linguistic information about the encoding of such spatial concepts. These concepts are topography-based and related to environmental landmarks. These landmarks can be mountains or rivers and lakes. The concepts are also based on one’s own experience when walking to and returning from various distant places. These individual experiences are made in the context of culture-specific practices and techniques which therefore shape the spatial concepts. Examples of such practices and techniques are the making of gardens, hunting and snaring in high altitude and the partly ritualized process of building a men’s house in the society of the Eipo or hunting in the society of the Dene. These practices embody culturally shared knowledge and, at the same time, reflect the environmental affordances.
As for other cultures, spatial classification in Eipo and Dene involves locating the objects, i.e., defining places is basically deliminating, based on the environment. Speakers parse up their environment into an important and necessary topography or spatial matrix. This is represented in the language via mountain, river, and place names. The description of such components, as Malotki rightfully points out, should include anthropological and cultural aspects of the language.215 One of the main empirical sources we have for Eipo and Dene are the oral traditions as transmitted in their myths. These myths function as a chronological topology of places.
Certain practices, habits, and environmental landmarks clearly have repercussions on language (as shown in some selected linguistic examples). Hence, our research on Amerindian and Mek languages corroborates some insights from early nineteenth and twentieth-century scholars such as Franz Boas, Edward Sapir, and Benjamin Lee Whorf (and contemporary scholars such as Helmut Gipper and Ekkehart Malotki). Those insights were built on Humboldt’s idea of Weltansichten ‘world perspectives’, i.e., the idea that the structure of language influences the thought process. In North America, this concept is known as the linguistic relativity principle or Sapir-Whorf theory. We subscribe to the idea that languages differ in the way they shape our world perspectives, but believe that non-linguistic information has its impact upon spatial language and categorization. Hence, our current research aimed to show the ideas of space (‘Raumbilder’) as a web of intertwined interaction of language, culture, and cognition.
The following quote by Heeschen summarizes the impact of non-linguistic, e.g., environmental, cultural etc., information on language, in this case the Mek language.216
The importance of reference to space, the social context of giving and taking, and references to non-verbal communication shape the content of the vocabulary. The characteristics and peculiarities of everyday interaction and speech follow from the fact that speech is complemented by, and related to, other semiotic systems.
We subscribe to Heeschen’s point of view with respect to the reference to space and its relation to semiotic systems. We have presented language data showing the influence and constructive process of environmental landmarks and cultural heritage on shaping of spatial categorization in the two languages.
Finally, we hope we have shown that spatial knowledge is embedded in cultural and linguistic practices. This was outlined above as our guiding principle, i.e., that spatial knowledge is not only encoded in mental concepts, but also embodied in the lived histories of human beings. These histories are represented by cultural and linguistic practices. Hence, our concept presented at the beginning of this chapter arguing in favor of an influence of non-linguistic information upon spatial language and categorization has been shown to apply. The points taken from the selected empirical data indeed indicate the influence and even constructive process of environmental landmarks and cultural heritage on the shaping of spatial categorization in the two languages.
List of linguistic abbreviations
ADV adverb MOM momentaneous
CLASS classifier PKT punctive
DIF diffusive PL plural
DUR durative PP post position
FUT future PRES present
HAB habitual PRON pronoun
HORT hortative or optative S subject
INCORP incorporation SG singular
ITER iterative VN verbal noun
MED sentence medial verb
2.13 List of linguistic abbreviations used in this chapter
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– (2001). Kampf, Krieg und Versöhnung bei den Eipo im Bergland von West-Neuguinea: Zur Evolutionsbiologie und Kulturanthropologie aggressiven Verhaltens. In: Begegnung und Konflikt eine kulturanthropologische Bestandsaufnahme. Ed. by Wolfgang Fikentscher. Bayrische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philologisch-Historische Klasse, Abhandlungen 120. München: Beck, 169–186.
Schreuder, Robert and Giovanni B. Flores d'Arcais (1989). Psycholinguistic issues in the lexical representation of meaning. In: Lexical Representation and Process. Ed. by William D. Marslen-Wilson. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 409–436.
Senft, Gunter, ed. (2000). Systems of Nominal Classification. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Siegel, Alexander W. and Sheldon H. White (1975). The Development of Spatial Representation of Large-Scale Environments. In: Advances in Child Development and Behavior. Ed. by Hayne W. Reese. New York: Academic Press.
Simon, Franz and Wulf Schiefenhövel (1989). Eipo (West-Neuguinea, Zentrales Hochland). ‘Mote’, ein Besuchsfest in Munggona. DVD. Produktionsjahr: 1976 IWF Bestellnumer/Bandzählung: E 2803.
Sinha, Chris and Tanya Kuteva (1995). Distributed spatial semantics. Nordic Journal of Linguistics 18:167–199.
Smith, James G. E. (1981). Chipewyan. In: Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 6: Subarctic. Ed. by June Helm. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 271–284.
Strube, Gerhard, ed. (1996). Wörterbuch der Kognitionswissenschaft. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta.
Svorou, Soteria (1993). The Grammar of Space. Philadelphia: Benjamins.
Swadling, Pemela (1981). Papua New Guinea's Prehistory. Port Moresby: Gordon & Gotch.
Talmy, Leonard (1978). Figure and Ground in complex sentences. In: Universals of Human Language. Ed. by Joseph Harold Greenberg, Charles A. Ferguson, and Edith A. Moravcsik. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 627–649.
– (1983). How to structure space. In: Spatial Orientation: Theory, Research, and Application. Ed. by Herbert Pick and Linda Acredolo. New York: Plenum Press, 225–282.
– (2000). Towards a Cognitive Semantics, Vols. I and II. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Thiering, Martin (2006). Topological Relations in an Athapaskan Language. Papers in Experimental and Theoretical Linguistics (Department of Linguistics Working Papers) 1. Edmonton: University of Alberta.
– (2009a). Language loss in spatial semantics: Dene Suliné. In: Variation in Indigenous Minority Languages. Ed. by James N. Stanford and Dennis R. Preston. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 485–516.
– (2009b). Linguistic Categorization of Topological Spatial Relations. Preprint 373, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin.
– (2010). Intralingual Variation of Spatial Concepts in an Athapaskan Language. LAUD Paper No. 742, Linguistic Agency University of Duisburg-Essen.
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– (2012). Topographical Coordinates and Spatial Language. LAUD Paper No.770, Linguistic Agency University of Duisburg-Essen.
– (2013). Degrees of specificity in spatial semantics. In: Variation in Language and Language Use. Linguistic, Socio-Cultural and Cognitive Perspectives. Ed. by Monika Reif, Justyna A. Robinson, and Martin Pütz. Frankfurt a. M.: Peter Lang, 367–420.
– (2014). Cognitive Maps of Landmark Orientation. In: Multilingual Cognition and Language Use: Processing and typological perspectives. Ed. by Luna Filipović and Martin Pütz. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 151–182.
Thornton, Thomas F. (2011). Language and Landscape among the Tlingit. In: Landscape in Language: Transdisciplinary Perspectives. Ed. by David M. Mark, Andrew J. Turk, Niclas Burenhult, and David Stea. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Tolman, Edward C. (1948). Cognitive Maps in Rats and Men. The Psychological Review 55(4):189–208.
Watzlawick, Paul (1981). Die erfundene Wirklichkeit: Wie wissen wir, was wir zu wissen glauben? Beiträge zum Konstruktivismus. München: Piper.
Wender, Karl Friedrich (1980). Modelle des menschlichen Gedächtnisses. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.
Wurm, Stephen A. (1982). Papuan Languages of Oceania. Tübingen: Narr.
Wygotski, Lev S. (1964). Denken und Sprechen. Berlin: Akademie Verlag.
Young, Robert and William Morgan (1987). The Navajo Language: A Grammar and Colloquial Dictionary. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
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Zell, Andreas (1994). Simulation neuronaler Netze. Bonn: Addison-Wesley.
Zlatev, Jordan (2003). Holistic spatial semantics of Thai. In: Cognitive Linguistics and Non-Indo-European Languages. Ed. by Eugene H. Cassad and Gary B. Palmer. Berlin: de Gruyter, 305–336.
Foley 1997, Mark, David M., Andrew J. Turk, Niclas Burenhult, and David Stea 2011.
Foley 1997, 177.
Portugali 1996.
Knauff 2013.
Siegel and White 1975, 11.
Malotki 1983, 13.
Geertz 1999, 5.
Piaget and Inhelder 1956.
Foley 1997, 169–178. See also Chapter 1 of this book.
Boas 1977, 68.
Heeschen and Schiefenhövel 1983.
Heeschen 1990; there is also a rich collection of film material on the Eipo’s daily activities and cultural practices; see Blum et.al. 1979–1996.
Thiering 2006, Thiering 2009a, Thiering 2010; field notes by Thiering.
Downs, Roger and David Stea 1973, 7.
Tolman 1948.
Kuipers 1982, 203.
Miller and Johnson-Laird 1976, 378.
Siegel and White 1975, 23.
Fowler and Turner 1999, 424. For a detailed categorization of spatial relations, see Miller and Johnson-Laird 1976, 377.
Carlson-Radvansky 1993, Carlson-Radvansky and Carlson-Radvansky 1996, Carlson and Logan 2001, Carlson 2003, Levinson 2003, Levinson, Stephen C. and David Wilkins 2006.
Malotki 1983, 16.
Gladwin 1974, Hutchins 1996, Sarfert 1911.
Hutchins 1996, 65–93; see also Hutchins 1983 and Chapter 1 in the present book.
Gladwin 1974, 144.
Hutchins 1996, 56.
Hutchins 1996, 49.
Marr 1982.
Fowler and Turner 1999, 424.
Thiering 2012.
Carlson-Radvansky 1993, Carlson-Radvansky and Carlson-Radvansky 1996, Carlson 1999, Carlson and Logan 2001, Carlson 2003, Levinson 2003, Levinson, Stephen C. and David Wilkins 2006.
Malotki 1983, 16.
Carlson-Radvansky 1993, Carlson 1999, Carlson 2000, Carlson and Logan 2001, Carlson 2003, Levinson 2003, Coventry and Garrod 2004.
For an extensive overview, see Levinson 2003.
Talmy 1983, 230.
Talmy 1978, 627, Hofstadter 1980, Talmy 1983, 232, Talmy 2000.
See Talmy’s 20 parameters for the domain of spatial configurations of figure-ground asymmetries; Talmy 1983, 277.
Whorf 1956, Wygotski 1964, Watzlawick 1981, Hunt and Agnoli 1991, Lucy 1992b, Lucy 1992a.
Talmy 1978, Talmy 1983, Talmy 2000.
Malotki 1979.
Malotki 1979, 294‚297.
Svorou 1993, Thiering 2013.
Svorou 1993.
Svorou 1993, 6–8, Langacker 2008, 19, 43, 55–57.
Ameka 2006, 371.
Malotki 1979, 144–261.
Malotki 1979, 145–146.
Malotki 1979, 295‚ 298.
Malotki 1979, 293.
SAE stands for Standard Average European. The German original reads: “die Hopi-Sprache auf Grund ihrer differenzierten Gestaltung des Lokativs mit seinen punktiven und diffusen Subsystemen sowie des Lokativs und Destinativs mit ihren extremen bzw. nicht-extremen Untergliederungen ihre Sprecher zu einer schärferen Beachtung gewisser Bereiche der räumlichen Realität zwingt, als dies die meisten SAE-Sprachen tun.” (Malotki 1979, 299).
Malotki 1979, 301.
Malotki 1979, 301.
Malotki 1979, 293.
Berthele 2006.
Gentner, Dedre and Albert Stevens 1983, Johnson-Laird 1983, Penrose 1991, Ritter et.al. 1991, Schade 1992, Schreuder and Flores d'Arcais 1989, Strube 1996.
Langacker 1987.
Nunberg 1978, Sweetser 1990.
Wender 1980, Zell 1994.
Bechtel and Abrahamsen 1991, Birbaumer, Niels and Robert Schmidt 1993, Edelman 2002, Hillert 1987, Hillert 1992, Kandel and Hawkins 1994, Murre and Goebel 1996.
Langacker 1987, 56.
Thiering 2011.
Talmy 1978, 627.
Talmy 2000, Sinha and Kuteva 1995.
Talmy 1978, 627, see also Talmy 2000, 315.
Talmy 2000, 316.
Lewin 1936.
Talmy 2000.
Langacker 1987, 231.
Langacker 1987, 231.
Koffka 1935, 177–210, Rubin 1921.
Talmy 2000, 314.
Zlatev 2003, 332.
The past tense indicates the drastic change the Dene culture has undergone in the past decades.
Eipo, by contrast, has been very isolated until the 1970s, as we shall explain in section .
Sarsi, Beaver, Slavey, Dogrib and all the languages occurring north-east of these also belong to the Northern Athapaskan phylum.
Malotki 1979, Malotki 1983.
Assumed to be located between Athapaskan and Tlingit; Hoijer 1946, 11.
Hoijer 1946, 11, 11.
Including Tlingit and Haida; Sapir 1915, 12, Hoijer 1946.
Bodley 1999, 465.
Bodley 1999, 465.
Smith 1981, 273.
One of the oldest companies in the world, established in 1670; mainly trading fur in British colonies of North-America; see the Hudson Bay Company Archive for further information; http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/ archives/hbca/.
Named the ‘Canadian Forces Cold Lake’.
Thiering 2009b.
Brody 1982, 85.
For the specific linguistic terminology, see below.
Smith 1981, 273.
Bows were made of birch; strings were of twisted babiche, rawhide, or sinew. Arrows were made of straight-grained spruce or birch.
As in Eipo; see below.
Smith 1981, 276.
Smith 1981, 274.
Smith 1981, 274
Thiering 2009a.
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/ILAC/ILAC_10.pdf; accessed 25 February 2014. For an earlier census, see Smith’s table of Chipewyan population in 1970: Smith 1981, 75.
The five regional bands are: Duck Lake/Churchill band (‘east people’), Barren Lands band (‘flat-area-dwelling people’), Hatchet Lake band (‘hatchet-lake people’), Black Lake band (‘upland or western people’), and Fond du Lac band (‘pine-house people’).
Smith 1981, 282.
Smith 1981, 282.
Smith 1981, 282.
See Li 1946, Kari 1979, Cook 2004b, Rice 1989, McDonough 2000, Rice 2002 on the general structure of the Athapaskan verb stem system.
Cook 2004a, 92.
Rice 1996.
Rice 2002, 69.
Rice 1989, 779. The concept of ‘verb theme’ is explained below.
Carter 1976, 24.
Davidson et.al. 1963; see Senft 2000 on a collection of papers on classification.
Davidson et.al. 1963, Rice 1989, Rice 1997, Rice 2002, Cook 2004a.
Li 1946, Hoijer 1951, Young and Morgan 1987, Rice 1989.
Young and Morgan 1987, Young and Morgan 1992.
Young and Morgan 1987, 99.
Buschmann 1855, Morice 1890, Li 1946, Boas 1977.
Rice 2002, 66 ff., Cook 2004a.
The five modes are: the neuter, momentaneous, continuative, customary, and the progressive mode; the three aspectual forms are: the imperfective, perfective, and future aspect; see Li 1946, 404‚ 409.
Li 1946, 405.
Hoijer 1946, 297.
For the linguistic abbreviations, please consult table 2.13, preceding the Bibliography. Here and in the following, the question mark (?) denotes a glottal stop sound in Dene.
Kari 1979.
Rice 1989.
Young and Morgan 1987, Young and Morgan 1992.
McDonough 2000.
Li 1946, 409.
Wurm 1982.
Schiefenhövel 1976, Schiefenhövel 1979, Heeschen and Schiefenhövel 1983, Heeschen 1990, Eibl-Eibesfeldt et.al. 1991, Schiefenhövel 1991, Heeschen 1998.
See also Louwerse 1978 and Louwerse 1988.
Wurm 1982, Foley 1986, Bußmann 2008.
Wurm 1982, Foley 1986.
Foley 1986, 3; but see Heeschen 1992 who argues for the genetic relatedness of all Highland Papuan languages.
Foley 1986, 14.
The Mountain Ok in the east (cf. Pouwer 1964) and the Yali, a subgroup of the Dani, in the west (Koch 1984).
Arabic numbers in parenthesis refer to the entry in the unpublished File Maker corpus of Eipo held at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. It is based on the dictionary of Eipo which not only contains words and their translations into German and English, but also features quotes of actually spoken phrases, sections of legends, songs etc. (Heeschen and Schiefenhövel 1983). Those entries exemplify the Eipo terms, with the result that the monograph is more an ethnographic wordbook than a mere dictionary. These entries were transformed into the above-mentioned electronic data file. Additionally, examples of Heeschen’s substantial Ethnographic Grammar of the Eipo Language (Heeschen 1998) and field notes of Wulf Schiefenhövel are used in this chapter.
Schiefenhövel 1976.
King and Bathgate s.d..
See Brown 1983.
Foley 1986, 9.
Schiefenhövel 2001.
Swadling 1981.
Komando Daerah Militer XVII “Cenderawasih” 1969.
Funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
First period from 1974 to 1976; follow-up visits in 1979, 1980, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Ok is the term for water and river in this part of the New Guinea highlands.
For a complete inventory of their material culture, see Koch 1984.
With bow and arrow, often assisted by specially trained dogs or with snares and traps.
Mice, rats, opossum-type animals of the Phalangeridae family.
At this point it remains an open question whether the surprisingly wide distribution of this plant as a religious symbol is pure coincidence or the effect of cultural exchange.
See Simon and Schiefenhövel 1989, which is a film on mote ‘visiting feast’.
Simon and Schiefenhövel 1989, Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1995.
Schiefenhövel 2001.
Heeschen 1990.
The following outline is based on Heeschen 1998, 197–287. Note that Heeschen claims also that Eipo is a noun plus verb language with the possibility that further nouns are basically treated as a free units, i.e., associated constituents are freely moved around this basic unit (Heeschen 1998, 286).
Bußmann 2008, 773.
Langacker 1987, 244.
Langacker 1987, 244.
Langacker 1987, 143–144.
Heeschen 1998, 234.
Heeschen argues for such a tendency in Eipo (personal communication); for Papuan languages in general see Heeschen 1998, Wurm 1982.
Foley 1986, 95.
Heeschen 1998, 234.
Heeschen 1998, 231.
Thiering 2013.
Cook 2004a, Thiering 2006, Thiering 2009a.
Thiering 2009b.
Malotki 1979, Malotki 1983.
Young and Morgan 1987.
Rice 1989.
Boas 1977, 74.
Cook 2004a, 85.
Cook 2004a, 86.
Heeschen 1998, 246.
Heeschen 1998, 257, table 47 gives an overview of the tense-mood-person-number suffixes.
Heeschen 1998, 143.
Heeschen and Schiefenhövel 1983.
Koch 1984, 38–56.
This difference in size already indicates the significance of the men’s house.
Röll and Zimmermann 1979.
Usually the roof of an old house is used again, along with planks for the walls and other pieces that are still of good quality.
Michel 1983, 66.
Heeschen 1990, 143.
Which might be translated as the concept of a ‘horizon’ (1692).
Berthele 2006.
Heeschen 1998, Blum et.al. 1979–1996, Heeschen 1990, and Heeschen and Schiefenhövel 1983.
Thiering 2014, see also Chapter 1 of the present book, in particular sections 2 and 3.
Malotki 1979.
Svorou 1993, Thiering 2013.
Thiering 2014.
Heeschen 1990, Koch 1984, Koch and Schiefenhövel 2009. A further source are Schiefenhövel’s recent fieldnotes 2008–2010.
Heeschen 1998, 270.
Heeschen 1998, 270, 85.
Foley 1986; Heeschen 1998, 143.
Heeschen 1998, 143.
Note that the three valley-related orientations function in Eipo just like cardinal directions in Eipo. Hence, the frame of reference is in a transition from a relative to an absolute frame. For a survey of frames of reference, see Levinson 2003, Levinson, Stephen C. and David Wilkins 2006.
Heeschen 1998.
Heeschen 1998, 144.
Heeschen 1998, 143.
Heeschen 1998, 143.
Heeschen 1998, 144.
Heeschen 1998, 144.
Heeschen 1998, 144.
Li 1946, Cook 2004a.
Leer 1989.
See Thornton 2011, 275–289.
Leer 1989, 613‚ 622, see also Kari 2011, 239–260; the following abbreviations are used: all = allative; loc = locative; abl = ablative case, suf = suffix.
Curtis 1976, 3.
Curtis 1976, 5.
Curtis 1976, 3.
Thiering 2006.
Malotki 1979, 23‚84.
Thiering 2013.
Malotki 1979, 27, 59, 145.
Malotki 1983, 16.
See also ‘river’ = 22, ‘lake’ = 31 (as opposed to ‘mountain’ = 3), ‘land’ = 37; ‘shore’ = 6; ‘fish’, ‘fishing’ = 106.
Thiering 2009a, Thiering 2010.
See, however, Thiering 2011.
Malotki 1979, 301.
Heeschen 1998, 381.
Spatial Thinking and External Representation
Table of Contents
1 Towards a Historical Epistemology of Space: An Introduction
Matthias Schemmel
Martin Thiering, Wulf Schiefenhövel
3 The Impact of Notation Systems: From the Practical Knowledge of Surveyors to Babylonian Geometry
Peter Damerow
4 Theoretical Reflections on Elementary Actions and Instrumental Practices: The Example of the Mohist Canon
William G. Boltz, Matthias Schemmel
5 Cosmology and Epistemology: A Comparison between Aristotle’s and Ptolemy’s Approaches to Geocentrism
Pietro Daniel Omodeo, Irina Tupikova
6 Space and Matter in Early Modern Science: The Impenetrability of Matter
Peter Damerow
7 Experience and Representation in Modern Physics: The Reshaping of Space
Alexander Blum, Jürgen Renn, Matthias Schemmel
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sábado, 2 de febrero de 2013
Preparing a DEM and slope layer
In order to have more layers than can be used to create meaningful examples for the processes included in the OpenGeo Suite, I took the task of extending the Medford dataset that currently ships with the Suite and is used for most of the examples and use cases. In particular, I wanted to add a DEM and a slope layer, since the dataset has several vector layers, but lacks useful raster ones. I used quite a few SEXTANTE algorithms to do this, so I have decided to write down the process and publish it here as a case study.
The first thing I did was to look for good elevation data. The National Elevation Dataset was clearly my first choice. As it is divided in tiles, metadata shapefiles are provided, with polygons that represent the extent of each tile.
Data can be dowloaded from the National Map download website, selecting the region you want to download. The process is rather cumbersome (you have to give an email address and a download link is sent to you!!), but I ended up having two raster layers that covered the Medford area, as shown below.
These layers had two problems:
• They covered an area that was too large for what I wanted (I was interested in a smaller region around the Medford city center, shown in brown in the image above)
• They were in two different files. (The Medford limits fall into just one single raster layer, but, as I said, I wanted some extra area around it.
Both of them are easily solvable using SEXTANTE.
First, I create a rectangle defining the area that want. To do it, I create a layer containing the bounding box of the layer with the limits of the Medford area, and then I buffer it, so as to have a raster layer that covers a bit more that the strictly necessary.
To buffer it, we have several alternatives. The GRASS v.buffer.distance algorithm has the option to leave square corners, which in this case it is interesting, since we are then going to use the resulting polygon to crop a raster layer, which has to be rectangular.
Here is the resulting bounding box obtained using the parameters shown above
With this layer that contains the bounding box of the raster layer I want to obtain, I can crop both of the raster layer that I downloaded, using the Clip Grid with Polygons algorithm.
Before clipping, the clipping vector layer and the raster layer to clip must be in the same CRS, since the algorithm assumes that. Originaly, they are not (the bounding box has the same CRS as the Medford limits layer, which is not the same as the downloaded DEM layers), although they appear to match, since QGIS is performing on-the-fly reprojecting before rendering, and also because both CRSs (EPSG 4326 and EPSG 4269) are rather "similar", so even without the on-the-fly reprojection everything would appear more or less "in place".
Reprojecting the clipping polygon can be done with the Reproject layer algorithm.
Now we can crop the raster layers.
Once the layers have been cropped, they can be merged using the Merge Raster Layers algorithm
A cellsize is needed for the merged layer. I used the same one of the input ones. You do not need to know it in advance before calling the algorithm. Just click on the button in the right-hand size of the text field and you will have a dialog to enter small mathematical formulas, and a list of frequently used values, among them the cellsizes and bounding coordinates of all available layers.
Note: You can save time merging first and then cropping, and you will avoid calling the Clip... algorith twice. However, if there are several layers to merge and they have a rather big size, you will end up with a large layer than it can later be difficult to process.
With that, we get the final DEM we want.
A slope layer can be computed with the Slope,Aspect,Curvature algorithm, but the DEM obtained in the last step is not suitable as input, since elevation values are in meters but cellsize is not expressed in meters (the layer uses a CRS with geographic coordinates). A new reprojection is needed. To reproject a raster layer, the GDAL Warp algorithm can be used. We reproject into a CRS with meters as units, so we can then correctly calculate the slope.
Here is the reprojected DEM.
With the new DEM, slope can now be computed.
The slope produced by the SAGA Slope,Aspect,Curvature algorithm is expressed in radians, but degrees are a more practical and common unit. The Metric conversions algorithm will help us to do the conversion.
A similar conversion can be made using the raster calculator (whether the SAGA one or the GRASS one).
Converting to a different unit, such as percentage, can also be done with the calculator.
Reprojecting the converted slope layer back with the GDAL Warp algorithm, we get the final layer we wanted.
The reprojection processes have caused the final layer to contain data outside the bounding box we calculated in one of the first steps. This can be solved by clipping it again.
The process can be automated, as usual, using the modeler.
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Tuesday, November 20, 2012
RE-thinking Thanksgiving
As Unitarian Universalists we are called by our theology and our history to create beloved community. The work of creating community includes deep, deliberate and thoughtful consideration of the traditions and practices we teach and pass on. Re-thinking Thanksgiving, and the stories that are taught along with it, is an opportunity to consider some of these stories.
With Columbus Day and Thanksgiving, we have a strong cultural narrative repeated in many places. It goes something like this: Columbus discovered America. Eventually, white Europeans settled here in what we know as the Northeast, aided by Native Americans, who were acknowledged in the first Thanksgiving celebration.
For children, these stories are often the first stories they learn about encounters between different cultures and races. These stories are, by and large, narratives of “progress” and the “manifest destiny” of white Europeans to inhabit this space. They are full of inaccurate, racial stereotypes that do a great disservice to Native peoples and to the actual stories.
Columbus did not discover a land any more than Romans discovered the lands they conquered. He committed genocide of the entire native population he first came into contact with. Based on the stories by historians and biographers who admired him, Columbus was brutal and cruel. Do we really want to celebrate this story in this way? Around the United States, many communities have begun celebrating Indigenous People's Day instead of Columbus Day.
The stories of European conquest and Native American resistance are far more complex and relevant to our lives today. They are stories of resistance and endurance and connection.
There are stories of the Iroquois League of Nations as one of the first examples of democracy. The peoples who became known as the Iroquois united under a man called the Peacemaker. They continue even today to teach these stories that speak to peace as a way to resolve conflict and support the health of the earth and the next seven generations of humans to come.
We can acknowledge a troubling past as way to move forward. We can also acknowledge that Native peoples are still here, living in towns and cities, as well as some of their ancient ancestral lands.
In upstate New York we have a rich heritage, thanks in part to the Iroquois, of democracy and peacemaking. These are stories full of gratitude for the earth, the air, the water, animals and humans.
2013 marks the 400th anniversary of the first agreement between Europeans and American Indian Nations of Turtle Island (North America.) Recorded on the Two Row Wampum belt, is a covenental agreement that the peoples live in friendship, peace and in parallel, “as long as the grass is green, as long as the rivers flow downhill and as long as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.”
FUSS Religious education will be participating in the Two Row WampumRenewal Campaign: Honoring Native Treaties/ Protecting the Earth. We can learn the stories from this land and be grateful for all that we have here.
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A Job Description for Snowplowing
by Neil Kokemuller
Snowplowing is usually an on-call or contracted position for the public works department of a town, city or municipality. Some snowplowers are contractors who work with private clients such as condominium associations, businesses and malls. As a snowplower, you operate and maintain equipment used to clear public roadways and areas after a snowfall. In many communities, snowplow operators are general public works employees who perform other duties outside of snow removal.
Clear Snow
Equipment Inspection
Snowplow operators are typically responsible for the safety and maintenance of their equipment. If the city or town owns the equipment, it pays for repairs. If you own the equipment, you must pay for your its maintenance. Properly working equipment is important for both efficient snow removal and safety on the roadways. Fluid levels, engine belts, tires, brakes and lights are among the items you need to inspect frequently on a snowplow or truck.
Safety Precautions
Often, snowplow equipment is used to remove other debris and clutter from roadways. Snowplowers are often called upon if trees fall down during a storm and are blocking the roadway. Landslides may require a snowplow for removal as well. In some cases, snowplowing is concentrated in areas like a downtown parking lot, municipal car park, or park-and-rides on highways. In these instances, plowers must often put out cones or barriers to prevent cars from entering the work area and being struck.
Other Duties
For contracted snowplow operators, the only other duty is typically to log hours and activity for record keeping and to receive payment. For public works employees, a number of other duties are commonly assigned when it doesn't snow. Employees may also mow public lawns; repair roads, gutters and shoulders; stripe roadways; and clean up ditches and debris. The municipality job description for full-time snowplow operators normally includes information on other duties. However, city employees often also perform a wide array of tasks in the "other duties as assigned" realm to help out the city.
About the Author
Photo Credits
• Digital Vision./Digital Vision/Getty Images
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Bacteria May Cause Colon Cancer
People who have dense biofilm colonies of bacteria in the right colon (first part) are five times more likely to have malignant colon cancer and pre-malignant colon polyps, compared to those who have no biofilms (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dec. 16, 2014). To diagnose biofilms, the authors developed a fluorescent technique to stain the biopsy specimens. If this research is supported by future studies, doctors will be able to check you for developing colon cancer long before it would normally be detected. Most colon cancers develop over five to ten years, and colon cancer is usually a curable disease if it is diagnosed early enough.
In humans, a bacterial biofilm is a mucilaginous coating that bacteria secrete around themselves to protect them from your immunity so they can live permanently inside your body. Other examples of biofilms include dental plaques in the mouth and the slime that covers stagnant pools or standing water.
The Study
The researchers examined healthy and cancerous tissue from 120 people taken during colonoscopies, where small pieces of tissue are removed to look for malignant changes in the inner linings of the colon. They found biofilms in 89 percent of tumors removed from the right colon (the first part), and in only 12 percent of tumors removed from the left side of the colon (the last part).
Dense bunches of bacterial biofilms are found on most colon polyps and colon cancers. The presence of these biofilms increases the chances of a person developing colon cancer and could offer a new way to predict who will develop colon cancer.
How the Foods You Eat Affect Gut Bacteria
Your diet determines which types of bacteria live in the first part (right side) of the colon. Bacteria that live in the last part (left side) of your colon have already had their food changed by the bacteria that live in the first part of the colon.
The food that you eat must be broken down into its basic building blocks before it can be absorbed into your bloodstream. Carbohydrates must be broken down into single sugars, proteins into amino acids, and fats into fatty acids. Foods that are not broken down and absorbed in the intestines pass along to reach your colon. There, bacteria can break down some of these foods that you could not absorb and use them to supply their energy. Bacteria that cannot break down the food that you eat will not thrive there. That means that bacteria in the first part of your colon are the ones that grow and thrive, “eating” the non-absorbable food that you have eaten. The types of foods that you eat determine which types of bacteria grow in the right side of your colon. Bacteria in the last part your colon get food that has already been changed by bacteria in the first part.
What This Means for You
Many previous studies have shown that increased risk for colon cancer is associated with:
• eating red meat and processed meats,
• eating fried foods,
• smoking,
• drinking alcohol,
• not exercising, or
• being overweight.
This groundbreaking study could lead to understanding how red meat, processed meats and fried foods, and perhaps other types of foods that have not yet been identified, cause biofilm colonies of bacteria to thrive in your colon. Further studies are needed to see whether the biofilm bacteria have a role in causing colon cancer or are just innocent bystanders.
Checked 10/2/15
December 28th, 2014
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About the Author: Gabe Mirkin, MD
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Raku: it's special.
Everything You Never Knew About Raku, and Didn't Know You Didn't Know:
- Raku is a Japanese form of pottery 15 generations old. The name means, "oh man, that's hot!"*
- Raku is made from porous clay that contains a lot of "grog", or pulverized previously-fired pieces. This grog helps the formed piece to withstand thermal shock.
- The clay is hand-shaped, fired in an electric kiln then glazed. Or not glazed -- these pieces are called "naked".
- The piece is set outdoors in a gas kiln. The temperature is quickly raised to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (in an hour). Thermal shock causes cracks in glassy glazes that have been applied.
- While the piece is still glowing molten orange, it is removed from the kiln and then sealed into a "reduction chamber" (aka "pressure cooker") filled with combustible materials like paper or sawdust. The combustibles immediately light, smoking and filling cracks in the glaze with carbon. Metallic glazes reduce, showing randomized colours which depend upon minute atmospheric details at the time of the firing.
* It actually means, "enjoyment", "comfort" or "ease". It's derived from the name Jurakudai, the palace in Kyoto where the art form developed. We think the name caught on so well because the kiln is raised to a relatively low temperature (as pottery goes), or maybe because the pieces were traditionally used in Japanese Tea ceremonies. Nowadays, Raku is a purely ornamental art form.
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Stem-loop sequence bmo-mir-92a
DescriptionBombyx mori miR-92a stem-loop
Gene family MIPF0000013; mir-25
Community annotation
This text is a summary paragraph taken from the Wikipedia entry entitled mir-92_microRNA_precursor_family. miRBase and Rfam are facilitating community annotation of microRNA families and entries in Wikipedia. Read more ...
The miR-92 microRNAs are short single stranded non-protein coding RNA fragments initially discovered incorporated into an RNP complex with a proposed role of processing RNA molecules and further RNP assembly. Mir-92 has been mapped to the human genome as part of a larger cluster at chromosome 13q31.3, where it is 22 nucleotides in length but exists in the genome as part of a longer precursor sequence. There is an exact replica of the mir-92 precursor on the X chromosome. MicroRNAs are endogenous triggers of the RNAi pathway which involves several ribonucleic proteins (RNPs) dedicated to repressing mRNA molecules via translation inhibition and/or induction of mRNA cleavage. miRNAs are themselves matured from their long RNA precursors by ribonucleic proteins as part of a 2 step biogenesis mechanism involving RNA polymerase 2. Most miRNAs are grouped into clusters in the human genome or within families that share functions, expression profiles, promotors, or are incorporated into the same ribonucleic protein. The purpose of having a variety of miRNAs in a single peace of RNA processing machinery is to act as complementary strands to the recognition elements of a variety of target RNA molecules. The recognition elements of target mRNAs are typically within the 3' untranslated regions and with 678 human miRNAs and 472 mouse miRNAs confidently identified so far (miRBASE) there are extensive efforts taking place using bioinformatics tools to scan genomes for potential recognition elements for families of miRNAs in order to identify potential target genes. Mir-92 is no exception and currently identified gene targets have been among those involved in cell cycle regulation and cell signalling, and thus necessary during all stages of mammalian development and essential for the proliferation of cells. miRNAs can be oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes depending on their targets while mir-92 has been implicated as the former in leukaemia forms AML and ALL, Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and several other cancers. The search for non invasive tools for diagnosis and management of cancer is extremely important for reducing the world wide health burden of cancer. miRNAs show potential as biomarkers and can even be found circulating in the serum. Some circulating miRNAs are specific to tumour patients, while miR-92 on the other-hand is present in healthy individuals in the serum but levels are variable and appear to change in response to the onset of some cancers.
Show Wikipedia entry View @ Wikipedia Edit Wikipedia entry
g c a u c c cg c
5' gcccguuugg ugggc g gacugg gc auauu gua g
3' cgggcgagcc auccg c cugacc cg uauag cgu u
- u g c a u -- g
Get sequence
Deep sequencing
81 reads, 35.1 reads per million, 3 experiments
Feedback: Do you believe this miRNA is real?
Genome context
Coordinates (SILKDB2.0) Overlapping transcripts
nscaf2912: 694087-694167 [-]
Clustered miRNAs
< 10kb from bmo-mir-92a
bmo-mir-92anscaf2912: 694087-694167 [-]
bmo-mir-92bnscaf2912: 693914-694001 [-]
Mature sequence bmo-miR-92a
Accession MIMAT0016927
50 -
- 71
Get sequence
Deep sequencing74 reads, 3 experiments
Evidence not experimental
PMID:20199675 "MicroRNAs of Bombyx mori identified by Solexa sequencing" Liu S, Li D, Li Q, Zhao P, Xiang Z, Xia Q BMC Genomics. 11:148(2010).
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Explore BrainMass
Operations Management and the Four Ps of Marketing
What is operations management? What are some industries that might benefit from improved operations management? Discuss one industry and provide two suggestions for improving operations.
Select a consumer item available today and analyze it using the four Ps of marketing. How do these factors affect consumers? What are some things that influence marketers? What influences consumers to buy a product? Discuss two products with which you are familiar. Select one product that is marketed toward you and one product that is marketed toward a different demographic. Have you ever bought a product that was not marketed towards your demographic? For example, Lucky Charms cereal is marketed towards children but you may buy it.
300 words each.
Solution Preview
The response addresses the queries posted in 710 words with references.
//While writing this paper, we will go through different articles and content related to operations management. In this part, firstly, we will discuss the concept and definitions of operation management, and then we will look in to the industries which have introduced operations management in their system.//
With the advancement of science and technology, business is also diversified into different segments and each segment has a major role to play in business as a whole. One such segment is operations management. It is a domain of business related to the manufacturing of products and services offered by an organization. Operations management is accountable for ensuring the efficient use of the scarce resources available with an organization and satisfying the needs of the customers with those resources to the fullest. It is a management process of transforming inputs in to outputs that is application of the factors of production to produce goods and services. It helps in adding value to the production process.
Almost every industry has introduced operations management in its system and there are a myriad of industries that have benefited by the application of better operations management. These industries are the service industry, retail industry, manufacturing industry and agro industries. Most of the organizations under these industries have used operations management to improve their efficiency level and to cater to the needs of the ...
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Talk:Associative property
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WikiProject Mathematics (Rated C-class, High-importance)
WikiProject Mathematics
Mathematics rating:
C Class
High Importance
Field: Basics
The definition should be moved to the introduction as it is in other articles such as commutative operation.
Brianjd 04:27, 2004 Nov 14 (UTC)
Operator or Operation?[edit]
I would prefer operator to operation, but as I've noticed many articles using operation I hesitate to break consistency by changing over.
Herbee 16:09, 2004 Mar 1 (UTC)
For the sense intended here, binary operation is the usual term. For example, binary operation is what the AMS call it in the current version of the MSC. --Zundark 17:11, 1 Mar 2004 (UTC)
Move to Associative operation?[edit]
Right now, associative operation is just a redirect to this article. I think this article should be moved to associative operation to be consistent with other articles such as commutative operation.
Brianjd 04:32, 2004 Nov 14 (UTC)
Disagree. I believe this page should be called Associative property (also a Redirect to here BTW) because Associativity is not a word. A Majority of sources would show Associative property and almost never is the -ity appended in reliable sources. Cliff (talk) 21:24, 1 April 2011 (UTC)
Either name is ok with me but your move rationale is completely bogus. Associativity is used frequently as a word to describe exactly this concept, as even the most cursory of searches in Google books would reveal. —David Eppstein (talk) 04:50, 7 May 2011 (UTC)
run your Google book search again. Primary results for "associativity" occur in books about programming languages. Primary results for "associative property" and other variants occur in books about mathematics. The real place you should be looking, anyhow, is in mathematical journals. I doubt you'll see much use of "associativity" there. Cliff (talk) 05:28, 7 May 2011 (UTC)
Even if this were true, the programming language meaning is exactly the same as the mathematical meaning, so why shouldn't programming language books count? —David Eppstein (talk) 01:43, 8 May 2011 (UTC)
Of course you will. Try a search on Zentralblatt MATH: 216 papers with "associativity" in the title, and only one with "associative property" in the title (and that one is just a bad translation from French — should be "New proof of the...", not "Proof of a new..."). --Zundark (talk) 08:51, 7 May 2011 (UTC)
Try your search again, 215 articles with associativity in the title, 2440 articles with associative in the title. Of course "associative property" won't occur in the title, because it is an elementary concept that doesn't lend itself to research ,not to mention that it leads to crappy titles. Again, i'm not claiming that "associative property" is the best, but simply that "associativity" is likely the worst. Cliff (talk) 20:49, 7 May 2011 (UTC)
Nobody claimed that "associativity" is more common than "associative", only that "associativity" is commonly used in mathematics. That "associative property" leads to "crappy titles", suitable only for Wikipedia, is not a point I feel inclined to argue with. In fact, it probably leads to crappy sentences as well, but I'm past caring. --Zundark (talk) 22:07, 7 May 2011 (UTC)
The article should be called "associativity" as others have suggested. The term is common in mathematics so Cliff's assertion that it is "not a word" is false. The term avoids the current redundancy in the lead of the form, "The associative property is the property that...". I disagree with Cliff. Jason Quinn (talk) 18:01, 4 July 2012 (UTC)
Inconsistency here ?[edit]
There appears to be an inconsistency in this page. If addition is associative, then subtraction is also associative. i.e. (a+b)+c = a+(b+c). Taking a=5, b=-3, c=-2, we have (5-3)-2 = 0 = 5 + (-3-2). If you want to put the parenthesis after the minus sign, as in the example, then you must write 5-(3+2), which is 5-3-2.
I suggest that subtraction as an example of non-associativity be removed. It could be replaced by some other example: e.g. suppose we are in New York and I tell you that you can find a buried treasure by walking 600 km north, 1000 km west and then 600 km south. You will not find the treasure if you walk 1000 km west, 600 km north and then 600 km south!
User:Philip J Kuntz 00:10 2005 Apr 17
yes you will, and you'll have walked 1200 km too much
• I'm afraid the page is correct. Adding -3 *gives the same result* as subtracting 3, but it is not the same operation. Your example uses addition, not subtraction. The example you give, with a=5, b=-3, and c=-2, should read (5 + -3) + -2 = 0 = 5 + (-3 + -2) . This is very different from (5 - 3) - 2 = 0 but 5 - (3 - 2) = 4 .
I'm not sure how well I'm explaining this. Feel free to leave a note on my talk page, and I'd be happy to talk about this. -- Creidieki 19:26, 17 July 2005 (UTC)
Added reference to CPU cache which discusses associativity as it relates to computer processor architecture.
Intuitive meaning of associativity[edit]
I hate to ask such a general question, but could anyone tell me anything about how I should intuitively think about associative versus nonassociative operations? I've been staring at Category Theory for a while now, and the definition of a category requires arrows to be associative. Why? How are associative operations different from nonassociative operations? The article mentions that "order of operations is immaterial", but I don't know that I have a very good intuition for what that means, or why it's important. How do other people think about associativity? -- Creidieki 19:29, 17 July 2005 (UTC)
It is the order of the operations that is immaterial, not the order the symbols occur. I reworded the explanation of associativity to make that clearer. Wellsoberlin (talk) 22:39, 22 November 2008 (UTC)
Definitions are intended to be useful. Is it useful to allow composition of arrows in a category to be non-associative? Probably not, because you can't really prove much about categories without using the associativity, and in any case arrows are intended to behave like functions, and composition of functions is associative. --Zundark 20:11, 17 July 2005 (UTC)
Assignment operator[edit]
I've just removed the text
x = y = z; means x = (y = z); and not (x = y) = z;
In other words, the statement would assign the value of z to both x and y.
The assignment operator is more than a binary operation, and it is beyond the scope of this article. In fact, in the C language the expression x=y does return a value, which is the value of y. In this sense = is associative after all, since "(x=y)=z" = "x=(y=z)" = z! 00:30, 23 September 2005 (UTC)
Associativity confusion[edit]
This is now a complicated issue. All I would like, is for some one to write down in plain English the meaning of: "\left. \begin{matrix} (x+y)+z=x+(y+z)=x+y+z\quad \\ (x\,y)z=x(y\,z)=x\,y\,z\qquad\qquad\qquad\quad\ \ \, \end{matrix} \right\} \mbox{for all }x,y,z\in\mathbb{R}." and other such incantations on these pages. Although I have done maths beyond secondary level, I have never seen this type of phaseology. I would be most pleased if this type of explanation could be simplified for us plain folk. I am very interested and would be most grateful.
-- 07:52, 6 August 2006 (UTC) Regards BobC
It sounds like you're not seeing the images, and are therefore seeing the raw TeX from the 'alt' attributes. What web browser are you using? --Zundark 08:30, 6 August 2006 (UTC)
Thanks Zundark. I was using Firefox I will tell Mozilla about the problem. I tried Internet Explorer 5 and now I see the light.
Well, I'm using Firefox 1.5 too, and I don't have a problem. I suspect you have Wikipedia images blocked in Firefox for some reason. Try looking at Tools / Options / Content and make sure that "Load Images" is ticked and "for the originating web site only" isn't ticked, and that isn't listed as blocked under Exceptions. --Zundark 07:33, 7 August 2006 (UTC)
Infix notation is confusing[edit]
For some time I'm quite against infix notation in both programming languages and in mathematics, since it makes many-many confusions. Almost every time I encounter descriptions of associativity and commutativity I see explanations like here.
Here is an example of what I'm talking of, when we use the prefix notation "add(x,y)" instead of infix "x+y".
commutativity is then:
add(x,y) = add(y,x)
but associativity is:
add(add(x,y),z) = add(add(x,z),y) = add(add(y,z),x)
another bonus example of commutativity after this, with 3 variables this time:
sub(add(x,y),z) = sub(z,add(x,y))
This can be rather confusing with the infix notations. These are the same three lines as above:
x + y = y + x
(x + y) + z = (x + z) + y = (y + z) + x
(x+y)-z = z-(x+y)
I think if someone does not know what associativity is, will not understand it from the above examples as clearly as by prefix notation. Please consider my proposal.
No, associativity is add(add(x,y),z) = add(x, add(y,z)). Ralphmerridew (talk) 12:14, 18 August 2008 (UTC)
Series example[edit]
I find this example questionable, because it plays fast and loose with the definitions of the partial sums. The series Sum(0, infinity, pow(-1, n)) is not convergent at all, because the limit of the sequence Sn = Sum(0, n, pow(-1,n)) does not exist. The series Sum(0, infinity, (1-1)) is trivially convergent to zero. The second "series" appears to be the expression 1 - Sum(0, infinity, (1-1)) which is not the same expression as the first series. Yaush (talk) 15:15, 12 May 2010 (UTC)
Not sure the linear transformation reasoning is complete[edit]
Seeing the following,
Because linear transformations are functions that can be represented by matrices with matrix multiplication being the representation of functional composition, one can immediately conclude that matrix multiplication is associative
either I am quite dense or this little prooflet is incomplete -- or both. I'm not suggesting it's wrong, only that the demonstration is too concise. Dratman (talk) 01:51, 4 July 2011 (UTC)
N-ary associativity[edit]
The paragraph of the previous versions of the article about this topic is much too technical for this article. I have removed it for this reason, but I have been reverted. I am not convinced that this topic is notable enough for WP. Nevertheless, I have moved it to N-ary associativity (a stub) and I have linked it in the "see also" section. I leave to other editors to rename it, if I have not chosen the right name, to open an WP:AFD if the topic is not notable enough, and to expand the stub. D.Lazard (talk) 22:23, 17 February 2013 (UTC)
It's only a short paragraph, and wasn't doing much harm. I don't think it's too technical at all; it's a very natural generalization of regular associativity. As you say, the new article is very stubby indeed and perhaps fails Notability. But OTOH, an AFD discussion is likely to conclude "merge with associativity". I'll dig around and see if I can improve the stub. Best wishes, Robinh (talk) 19:44, 19 February 2013 (UTC)
I agree that a merge is a possibility. But the first sections of the article are written for readers of very low mathematical level (high school or lower). This generalization is not at all of the same level (recent research article). Thus it must not be in the elementary sections (see manuals of style and, in particular MOS:MATH). A possibility for a merge is to add, just before the section "See also", a section about the generalizations. But WP:NPOV implies to include also paragraphs about the two other generalizations linked to in section "See also". I am not willing to do this work. This is the reason for having chosen the easier way of a stub. But you may go on, if it is not in the elementary sections. D.Lazard (talk) 21:03, 19 February 2013 (UTC)
Right associativity of exponentiation[edit]
Is it even meaningful to define operator associativity for an operation denoted by text position? It only makes sense when exponentiation is a symbol operator such as . To interpret as would be as absurd as interpreting as or as AkariAkaori (talk) 22:14, 23 April 2017 (UTC)
Remove Notation for non-associative operations[edit]
The section Notation for non-associative operations should be removed from this page. The notions of right and left associativity relate to programming convention and not to math. There is a clean distinction between this article (the associative property in math) and Operator associativity (operator associativity in programming). The programming article is cited as the main article for this section, which seems to blur the separation. Also, the convention of treating as right associative has been marked as citation needed here since March 2016. Rcanand (talk) 17:19, 30 July 2017 (UTC)
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1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Vollmar, Georg Heinrich von
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VOLLMAR, GEORG HEINRICH VON (1850- ), German Socialist, was born at Munich in 1850. He was educated in a school attached to a Benedictine monastery at Augsburg, and in 1865 entered the Bavarian army as a lieutenant in a cavalry regiment. He served in the campaign of 1866, and then entered the papal army as a volunteer. In 1869 he returned to Germany, and during the war with France served in the army railway department. He was severely wounded at Blois and pensioned. Permanently crippled by his wounds, he devoted himself to political and social studies. In 1872 he was converted to the principles of Social Democracy, and threw himself with great energy into political agitation. In 1877 he became editor of the party organ at Dresden, and under the Socialist law was repeatedly condemned to various terms of imprisonment, and was also expelled from that city. From 1879 to 1882 he lived at Zürich, then the headquarters of Social Democracy, when, besides attending the university, he took part in editing the Social Demokrat. In 1881 he was elected member of the Reichstag, and from 1883 to 1889 was a member of the Saxon diet. After 1885 he resided in Bavaria, and it was to him that was chiefly due the great success of the Socialists in the older Bavarian provinces. He identified himself with the more moderate and opportunist section of the Socialist party, decisively dissociating himself from the doctrine of a sudden and violent overthrow of society, and urging his associates to co-operate in bringing about a gradual development towards the Socialistic state. He refused to identify Social Democracy with the extreme views as to religion and the family advocated by Bebel, and successfully resisted attempts made in 1891 to expel him from the party in consequence of his opinions. He became a member of the Bavarian Diet in 1893.
In addition to a couple of books on the preservation of forests, he published Der isolierte Soziale Staat (Zürich, 1880).
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Thursday, April 24, 2014
Thoughts, Not Environmental Conditions, Cause Criminal Behavior
For over forty years, clinical psychologist Stanton Samenow has been interviewing criminal offenders for the courts (1, 2, 3). His conclusion is that criminals are not criminals because of their upbringing or environment, or because of what they see on television or in movies.
Criminals are who they are because of the thoughts they hold, and have held, in their minds from an early age.
When many people walk into a crowded room, they think about who they would enjoy talking to. The criminal first checks escape routes, then looks for items to steal or weak targets to intimidate, swindle, or rob (i.e., pick their pockets). Criminals go to great lengths, sometimes using a considerable intelligence, to plan their crimes.
The criminal mind enjoys, or gets a jolt of excitement, as Samenow puts it, by doing what is wrong and getting away with it. “If rape were legalized today,” said one offender, “I wouldn’t rape. But I would do something else.” The criminal act has to be illegal, otherwise the criminal would not experience the excitement.
When criminals get caught, they blame themselves for being stupid and careless. When interviewed by the courts and Samenow, they either never admit to their wrongdoing or blame their behavior on external circumstances, such as upbringing or environment. They insist that they are good human beings and find no contradiction in “praying at ten and robbing at noon.”
Some even express disgust at child abusers, then find no difficulty robbing and murdering someone else who, according to their way of thinking, “deserved it.”
Samenow repeatedly insists, and demonstrates with many examples, that criminals are not victims of family abuse or unpleasant surroundings. Criminals come from all walks of life and include the highly educated and intelligent. They all have siblings and other relatives who grow up in the same family cultures and situations and do not turn out the way they did.
What they have in common is lying as a way of life, and it starts young. A child of five or six may lift a friend’s or sibling’s toy and get a thrill out of it. Denying guilt or blaming someone else—and getting away with the theft—provides another thrill and encourages further, more daring behavior.
People who follow the rules, according to such a young child, or adult thief, are suckers. Their lives are boring. “My life of crime,” thinks the criminal, “is exciting.” It is these thoughts that drive the criminal mind to plan the next “exciting” caper.
Criminals do not have friends, because they trust no one; they see other people as targets to manipulate. They do nonetheless gravitate to each other so they can share illegal adventures and plan bigger and bigger payoffs. They have nothing in common with the child or adult who lives a quiet, law-abiding life. Criminals envy the nice things in life, such as a home, car, or expensive computer, but they cannot conceive of working to attain these values. They would just rather take them.
Can criminals change? Not easily. Those who try to settle down in a job to make money for a car or home often succumb to their urges for the excitement of crime. Samenow does describe two success stories of criminals who changed, but they both went through long processes of catching the criminal thoughts midstream, challenging them, and struggling to substitute better ones. The process required is not unlike the will power of recovering alcoholics who must repeatedly check their desires for a drink.
In addition to dispelling the myth of environmental determinism as cause of criminal behavior, Samenow demonstrates that there is no such thing as a “crime of passion,” the so-called out-of-character crime.
The reason, again, is the thoughts the criminal holds. A sudden and gruesome knifing, Samenow reveals, is not so surprising and out of character when one discovers the hostile thoughts, resentments, and perhaps even fantasies of stabbing or killing the target that the criminal has experienced for many months or years.
Samenow (pp. 6-7) states, “ I have found that thinking errors are causal in every case of criminal conduct. . . .The error is a flaw in the thought process that results in behavior that injures others. The harm done may be minor or extremely serious” (emphasis in original).
Humans are rational beings, which means thought causes behavior, both good and bad.
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15 May 2015
The “cup of Pythagoras” or “fair cup” or “cup of freedom” is perhaps the most famous “ceramic” of Samos, a clay cup, which empties in a “magical” way, when the one who is using it acts with greed and wants to drink more than he should…. Many names, a legend, a mystery…
According to the tradition, Pythagoras was the one who made himself the cup and he was using it offering wine to his disciples. So if someone was above measure, the cup emptied! However, beyond the myth there is always the reality and, of course, the interpretations of physics, which are solving the mystery.
In the cup there is a graven limit, a line. If the contained fluid doesn’t exceed this line, the drinker enjoys his wine/water. If, however, it goes beyond the line of the limit, then the cup empties and the wine flows from the base. The whole cup empties, not only the additional amount. How does this take place?
The construction of Pythagoras follows the theory, developed by Pascal some centuries later, concerning the communicating vessels. In the center of the cup there is a column situated directly on a pipe, which leads to the bottom of the cup. While the cup is filled, the fluid level rises even in this inner central column, following the law of Pascal. As the level of the fluid does not exceed the engraved line inside the cup, there is no problem. As soon as the liquid exceeds the line, then it begins to flow through the inner tube from the bottom of the cup.
Samos has a lot of traditional potteries, which you definitely have to visit! In addition to the traditional fair cup of Pythagoras, you will find a huge variety of beautiful handmade traditional pottery! You will find potteries in the villages Mavratzei, Myloi and Koumaradaioi.
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What are keifir grains?
Quick Answer
Kefir grains are fermented cultures of yeast and bacteria that clump together with milk protein and complex sugar. They look like small clumps of cauliflower and are added to various kinds of milk to make kefir, a yogurt-like drink.
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Full Answer
Kefir grains can be added to cow's milk, goat's milk, soy milk or almond milk to make kefir. It is consumed as a drink or used to make bread, salad dressing or ice cream. Because the cultures in the grain consume lactose, those who are lactose intolerant can consume any form of kefir. The drink itself is said to introduce helpful bacteria cultures to the digestive tract and provide a source of complete protein.
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A Discourse of a Method for the Well Guiding of Reason ... »
By Ren*escartes
Thence I came to speak particularly of the Earth; how, although I had expresly supposed, that God had placed no weight in the Matter whereof it was composed; yet all its parts exactly tended towards its center: How that there being water and air upon its superficies, the disposition of the Heavens, and of the Starrs, and chiefly of the Moon, ought to cause a floud and an ebb, which in all circumstances was like to that which we observe in our Seas; And besides, a certain course aswel of the water, as of the air, from East to West, as is also observed between the Tropicks: How the Mountains, the Seas, the Springs and Rivers might naturally be form’d therein, and Metals run in the mines, and Plants grow in the Fields, and generally all bodies be therein engendered which are call’d mixt or composed.
And amongst other things, because that next the Stars, I know nothing in the world but Fire, which produceth light, I studied to make all clearly understood which belongs to its nature; how it’s made, how it’s fed, how sometimes it hath heat onely without light, and sometimes onely light without heat; how it can introduce several colours into several bodies, and divers other qualities; how it dissolves some, and hardens others; how it can consume almost all, or convert them into ashes and smoak: and last of all, how of those ashes, by the only violence of its action, it forms glass. For this transmutation of ashes into glass, seeming to me to be as admirable as any other operation in Nature, I particularly took pleasure to describe it.
Yet would I not inferre from all these things, that this World was created after the manner I had proposed. For it is more probable that God made it such as it was to be, from the beginning. But it’s certain, and ’tis an opinion commonly received amongst the Divines, That the action whereby he now preserveth it, is the same with that by which he created it. So that, although at the beginning he had given it no other form but that of a Chaos (provided, that having established the Laws of Nature, he had afforded his concurrence to it, to work as it used to do) we may beleeve (without doing wrong to the miracle of the Creation) that by that alone all things which are purely material might in time have rendred themselves such as we now see them: and their nature is far easier to conceive, when by little and little we see them brought forth so, then when we consider them quite form’d all at once.
From the description of inanimate Bodies and Plants, I pass’d to that of Animals, and particularly to that of Men. But because I had not yet knowledge enough to speak of them in the same stile as of the others; to wit, in demonstrating effects by their causes, and shewing from what seeds, and in what manner Nature ought to produce them; I contented my self to suppose, That God form’d the body of a Man altogether like one of ours; aswel the exteriour figure of its members, as in the interiour conformity of its organs; without framing it of other matter then of that which I had described; and without putting in it at the beginning any reasonable soul, or any other thing to serve therein for a vegetative or sensitive soul; unless he stirr’d up in his heart one of those fires without light which I had already discovered; and that I conceiv’d of no other nature but that which heats hay when its housed before it be dry, or which causes new Wines to boyl when it works upon the grape: For examining the functions which might be consequently in this body, I exactly found all those which may be in us, without our thinking of them; and to which our soul (that is to say, that distinct part from our bodies, whose nature (as hath been said before) is onely to think) consequently doth not contribute, and which are all the same wherein we may say unreasonable creatures resemble us. Yet could I not finde any, of those which depending from the thought, are the onely ones which belong unto us as Men; whereas I found them all afterwards, having supposed that God created a reasonable soul, and that he joyn’d it to this body, after a certain manner which I describ’d.
But that you might see how I treated this matter, I shall here present you with the explication of the motion of the heart, and of the arteries, which being the first and most general (which is observed in animals) we may thereby easily judge what we ought to think of all the rest. And that we may have the less difficulty to understand what I shall say thereof, I wish those who are not versed in Anatomy, would take the pains, before they read this, to cause the heart of some great animal which hath lungs, to be dissected; for in all of them its very like that of a Man: and that they may have shewn them the two cels or concavities which are there: First that on the right side, whereto two large conduits answer, to wit, the vena cava, which is the principal receptacle of bloud, and as the body of a tree, whereof all the other veins of the body are branches; and the arterious vein, which was so mis—call’d, because that in effect its an artery, which taking its origine from the heart, divides it self after being come forth, into divers branches, which every way spred themselves through the lungs. Then the other which is on the left side, whereunto in the same manner two pipes answer, which are as large, or larger then the former; to wit, the veinous artery, which was also il named, forasmuch as its nothing else but a vein which comes from the lungs, where its divided into several branches interlaid with those of the arterious vein, and those of that pipe which is called the Whistle, by which the breath enters. And the great artery, which proceeding from the heart, disperseth its branches thorow all the body. I would also that they would carefully observe the eleven little skins, which, as so many little doors, open and shut the four openings which are in these two concavities; to wit, three at the entry of the vena cava, where they are so disposed, that they can no wayes hinder the bloud which it contains from running into the right concavity of the heart; and yet altogether hinder it from coming out. Three at the entry of the arterious vein; which being disposed quite contrary, permit only the bloud which is in that concavity to pass to the lungs; but not that which is in the lungs to return thither. And then two others at the entry of the veinous artery, which permits the bloud to run to the left concavity of the heart, but opposeth its return. And three at the entry of the great artery, which permit it to go from the heart, but hinder its return thither. Neither need we seek any other reason for the number of these skins, save only that the opening of the veinous artery, being oval—wise, by reason of its situation, may be fitly shut with two; whereas the other, being round, may the better be clos’d with three. Besides, I would have them consider, that the great artery and the arterious vein are of a composition much stronger then the veinous artery or the vena cava. And that these two later grow larger before they enter into the heart, and make (as it were) two purses, call’d the ears of the heart, which are composed of a flesh like it; and that there is always more heat in the heart then in any other part of the body. And in fine, that if any drop of bloud enter into these concavities, this heat is able to make it presently swell and dilate it self, as generally all liquors do, when drop by drop we let them fall into a very hot vessel.
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TMJ Pain? Chiropractic for Temporomandibular Joint Disorder
Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is the term for the paired joints between the upper and lower jaws, as well as the term generally used to describe pain or other dysfunction of these same joints.
Initial treatment for a temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD) can include applying heat or cold to the jaw area, eating mostly soft foods, taking anti-inflammatory drugs, or wearing a bite guard in the mouth at night. If these methods are unsuccessful, many patients resort to dental treatments to modify the bite or even surgery of the jaw. For those with TMJ symptoms, chiropractic is available as an alternative to those more invasive treatments.
How Can Chiropractic Help the Temporomandibular joint (TMJ)?
Chiropractic care for the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) can ease pain by correcting the misalignment between the spine and nervous system. Chiropractic can be effective at reducing the pain associated with TMJ, either when used alone or as a complement to other treatments. This is because, rather than change the diet or modify the teeth, it relaxes the muscles, adjusts the joint and uses specific trigger points to accurately re-position the jaw. When done successfully, this will not only relieve pain in the short run (as would medications or eating soft foods), but it will help prevent TMJ pain from returning.
Chiropractic treatment of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) focuses on relieving tension in the muscles around the joints themselves—working both outside and inside the mouth, using massage and trigger point therapy. A trigger point is a very sensitive area made of muscle fibers. Trigg er points feel like knots and may cause pain or even a twitching response when pressure is applied to them. A chiropractor can manipulate trigger points in such a way to alleviate the pain associated with them.
Adjustments to the joints can also be done by hand, using a technique that causes a tiny stretch inside the joint to release any fibrous attachments made by the body due to previous trauma. The chiropractor may also give the patient home exercises to help strengthen the joint and loosen the tight muscles.
In some cases, misalignment of the jaw that results from improper posture or a back problem can cause temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder. An approach to treating TMJ caused by misalignment in the neck and upper back is to perform chiropractic adjustments on the spinal joint in these areas. In addition, a chiropractor may use massage to relieve tight muscles in the back around the spine. This reduces the amount of stress put on the jaw so that other treatments to adjust the jaw will be more effective. When these treatments are employed, motion of the jaw joint can improve and symptoms such as ear pain, jaw locking, headaches, and neck pain can be reduced.
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Week 1 (Aug 22, 24, 26):
Monday: Visualization, and What Does It Do for the Humanists?
Study Guide:
• What are the basic types of visualizations? What can visualizations do in the humanities?
• What criteria should we use to evaluate a visualization? Choose your favorite visualization from Vintage Visualizations to share in class. Write down one or two things it tells you a good visualization should have or should avoid.
Wednesday: Voyant 2.0, Lab and Practice
Friday: How to Read Texts from a Distance (“Distant Reading”)
Study Guide:
• Read the blog posts of Ted Underwood and Jacob Harris: Who has persuaded you?
• Explore “Inaugural Words: 1789 to the Present”, which graphs the most-used words in each inaugural address from U.S. history, sized by number of uses. Pick two or three addresses for a close comparison. By looking carefully at these graphs (and without reading the full texts of the addresses), what can you infer about the addresses (such as changing concerns and rhetorical strategies)?
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Moyamoya Disease: Symptoms, Risk, Diagnosis & Treatment
What is Moyamoya Disease?
Moyamoya is a disease that involves the cerebral vasculature (arteries in the brain). It is progressive and results in occlusion (blockage) of the major arteries within the brain. These arteries form a structure known as the Circle of Willis.
A common presenting symptom that leads to the investigation and diagnosing of Moyamoya disease is a stroke or a transient ischemic attack (TIA). There are 2 types of stroke, hemorrhagic and ischemic.
What are the symptoms of Moyamoya disease?
“Moyamoya” is a Japanese word that means "puff of smoke". This description refers to the appearance that is seen in the abnormal vasculature and networks of collateral vessels next to the stenotic or occluded vessel during a cerebral angiogram. This appearance usually occurs on both sides of the brain but occasionally is only seen on one side.
“Moyamoya” affects the innermost wall of the blood vessels in the brain. This layer is known as the intima. The other layers within the blood vessels include the middle muscular layer known as the media and the outermost layer which is called the adventitia. Moyamoya disease has a characteristic pathological appearance when the affected vessels are examined under the microscope. The intima of the terminal portions of the internal carotid arteries is thickened. There is a wavy appearance of the internal elastic lamina. There is a thinning of the muscular media player. The proliferating intima layer may have deposits of lipids within it. The arteries coming off of the Circle of Willis may have varying degrees of involvement.
The Circle of Willis may have numerous small channels of vasculature around it. The pia mater layer covering the brain may also have small collections of blood vessels within it.
Circle of Willis (WikiCommons)
Is Moyamoya disease fatal?
If not treated, usually with surgery, most people who have this disease will eventually have multiple strokes due to the continued occlusion of the arteries. This usually leads to a deterioration in mental status and physical function. Eventually, intracerebral bleeding can result in a hemorrhage and death. This is the reason that early diagnosis and surgical correction is crucial.
Is Moyamoya disease hereditary?
The genetics of Moyamoya disease are not fully understood. There is some suggestion that the disease is hereditary. Genetic research has found that in some families a gene called RNF213 has been associated with this disease. While the role of this gene is not fully understood, research has suggested that the protein the RNF213 gene codes for is involved in the development of blood vessels.
Although a specific genetic link has not been identified, individuals with Moyamoya disease have higher than normal levels of proteins that code for angiogenesis (proliferation of blood vessels) and tissue cell growth. The presence of these elevated levels of proteins may account for the thickening and proliferation of blood vessels characteristic of the disease.
Population studies on Moyamoya disease in Japan have found that approximately 15% of Japanese patients with this condition have family members that also have the disease. This indicates that there is likely some degree of genetic involvement. Genetic research indicates that the disease is likely autosomal dominant meaning that only one copy of the gene is required for a person to contract the disease. There is also an element of variable penetrance meaning that all individuals that have this condition are not affected with equal severity.
How is Moyamoya Disease Treated?
The medical treatment of Moyamoya disease has not been very effective. Medication is used primarily to decrease the risk of stroke and to treat the complications of stroke. antihypertensives are used to to maintain optimal blood pressure in order to prevent hemorrhagic stroke. If ischemic stroke is occurred, anticoagulants are used to prevent repeat ischemic events.
Therapy for Moyamoya Disease (Following a Stroke)
If someone has had a stroke, various forms of therapy including physical therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy may be used. The needs of the patient will vary depending on the severity of the stroke.
Anticoagulation and Antiplatelet Therapy in Moyamoya Disease
Anticoagulation such as heparin, warfarin, and anti-platelet medications may be used depending on the severity of findings and the severity of the stroke. The physicians caring for the stroke patient will decide which is the best medication based on a risk-benefit analysis of multiple factors. However, these medications are not FDA approved specifically for the treatment of Moyamoya disease. The decision as to which medications to use, particularly in regard to the antiplatelet and anticoagulation therapy is best managed by a neurologist experienced in stroke prevention.
Prior to starting anticoagulation therapy, a CT is required to rule out a pre-existing intracranial hemorrhage.
Surgical Treatment for Moyamoya Disease:
It is preferable for person with Moyamoya disease to be treated before a stroke occurs. These individuals have a much better prognosis than those who have already had a stroke. The surgical treatments described below are preventative in that they are aimed at preventing a patient with Moyamoya disease from having a stroke in the first place.
Various surgical procedures have been used in the treatment of moyamoya disease, with the goal of revascularizing the ischemic hemisphere, including the following :
Several surgical procedures have been developed to treat Moyamoya disease. The surgical procedures are described as "direct anastomosis" or "indirect anastomosis". The direct anastomosis procedures directly revascularize a vessel while the indirect anastomosis procedures depend on the formation of collateral circulation to develop around the stenosis. Which procedures provides the best result has not been determined. There is, however sufficient evidence to conclude that the surgical revascularization does provide improved blood flow and clinically significant benefits.
In the direct anastomosis procedures, a branch from one of the arteries in the scalp is connected to one of the arteries on the outer surface of the brain. This provides immediate revascularization which improves blood flow to the brain.
Direct Anastomosis
Indirect Anastomosis
• Omental transplantation: - This is an indirect anastomosis procedure where part of the omentum (lining covering abdominal organs) is placed on the surface of the brain. The omentum is very rich and blood vessels. These vessels lead to new vessel growth that proliferates into the brain, improving blood supply to the brain.
• Encephalo-myo-synangiosis (EMS): In this indirect anastomosis procedure, the temporalis muscle is removed with its blood supply intact. The muscle is then placed (transposed) onto the surface of the brain in order to grow a new blood supply.
• Encephaloduroarteriomyosynangiosis (EDAMS): This is an indirect anastomosis procedure that uses a branch of the temporal artery. In this procedure, the branch off of the temporal artery is laid across the surface of the brain. It is then able to grow new blood vessels and form a new blood supply.
The STA-MCA anastomosis procedure may not be well suited for children under two years old because of the small diameter of their vessels. In these very young patients, one of the other techniques may be more appropriate.
Post-Op Care:
Patients undergoing one of the above surgical procedures will require approximately 3 days of postoperative hospitalization. After the normal minor scalp pain and occasional headaches, most patients have minimal pain. Following recovery from these surgeries, restrictions or minimal.
Early consultation with a neurologist is very important to document existing neurological deficits, address other medical issues, consider alternate diagnoses, and conduct appropriate testing to confirm the diagnosis of Moyamoya disease.
The neurologist will likely use multiple radiographic tests to evaluate and confirm the disease. A neuroradiologist can help recommend which test for most appropriate. Some of the test available include cerebral angiography and/or MR angiography.
Consultation with a neurosurgeon experienced in the surgical procedures described above can help plan the best surgical approach for a particular patient.
Radiology Findings with Moyamoya disease
MRA of brain in Moyamoya Disease
MRA Moyamoya Disease (WikiCommons)
Moyamoya Disease MRI Findings
T1-weighted MR image of moyamoya disease. Flow void in the basal ganglia is indicated by the arrow. (WikiCommons)
As described above, Moyamoya disease is a condition that usually affects the distal portions of both internal carotid arteries (bilateral) as well as the Circle of Willis which is the collection of intracerebral arteries supplying blood supply to the brain. However, in approximately 18% of patients, changes can only be seen on one side (unilateral findings). Over 50% of patients have radiologic findings in the posterior cerebral arteries as well as the internal carotid arteries.
The classic finding in Moyamoya disease is the "puff of smoke" appearance seen on cerebral angiography. This finding is due to the proliferation of abnormal small vessels which form a net-like network. When these fill with contrast dye during the angiography procedure, the "puff of smoke" appearance results. CT angiography and MR angiography is not always able to visualize this appearance due to the physics and flow rate of these radiologic methods.
Other findings that are common in Moyamoya disease include a generalized cerebral atrophy, collateral blood flow to the pia mater, prominent the medullary veins, multiple areas of micro-bleeds, and branches from the middle meningeal artery as well as other arteries supplying the dura crossing the dura mater.
There are six stages of severity in Moyamoya disease. These stages were first described by Suzuki and Takaku 1969. The progression proceeds from a narrowing of the "carotid fork" all the way to complete occlusion of the internal carotid artery. At that point, the blood supply to the brain is supplied by the external carotid artery. As the disease progresses, the "puff of smoke"appearance develops, intensifies, minimizes, decreases further, and then completely disappears. Once the internal carotid artery is completely occluded, the collateral blood flow causing the "puff of smoke" appearance disappears as well.
Moyamoya Disease Life Expectancy
The key to effective treatment of Moyamoya disease is early diagnosis. If this disease is diagnosed early and effective surgical treatment implemented, patients with Moyamoya disease can have normal lifespans. The lifespan of patients that are diagnosed after having a stroke is largely dependent on the severity and number of strokes occurring prior to proper medical and surgical treatment. For those who have had strokes, significant mental deficits, physical deficits, and seizures are common.
In Moyamoya disease, establishing an early diagnosis and early surgical treatmentoffers the greatest chance to reduce the risk of ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke, and neurological decline.
Moyamoya Disease: Dr. Fredric Meyer, a Mayo Clinic neurosurgeon discusses Moyamoya disease and what to look for when seeking care for Moyamoya disease
Moyamoya Disease Overview: Dr. John E. Wanebo
Moyamoya Disease- Medscape
Moyamoya Disease: Mayfield Brain and Spine
Moyamoya Disease Information Page- NIH
Moyamoya Disease: Health Conditions- Moyamoya Disease
Moyamoya Disease Treatment & Management- Medscape
Superficial Temporal Artery to Middle Cerebral Artery Bypass: Skull Base. 2005 May; 15(2): 133–141.
Surgical Management of Moyamoya Disease: Steven D. Chang, M.D., and Gary K. Steinberg, M.D., Ph.D.
Revascularization:Skull Base. 2005 Feb; 15(1): 27–41.
Moyamoya Disease - Mayo Clinic Treatment -
Moyamoya Disease: Background, Etiology, Epidemiology
Moyamoya Disease Information Page: NIH
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Sunday, February 22, 2015
V.I. Lenin: The Compulsive Revolutionary
"There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen"--
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D.
Lenin was born Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov on April 22, 1870, in Simbirsk, Russia. Until 1901, he was known as. Volodya or Vladimir Ulyanov. In 1910 he took the political alias of Lenin. He was a political genius and also the main architect of the Soviet Union. Lenin’s theories became a major part of the Communist worldview. He transformed the Russian Empire in to a Marxists state.
According to the newly revealed actualities Lenin’s childhood has been scrutinized. These reports indicate that he was a problem child. He displayed a number of childhood neurotic behavior. Little. Volodya used to go in to hyperactive and hysterical behavior and sometimes used to bang his head on the floor. He was a neurotic child with tantrums. He experienced more psychological distress than other Ulyanov children probably due to insecurity. Constantly Volodya needed his mother’s attention and his father’s approval.
However he was not his parent’s favorite child. Lenin’s elder brother Aleksandr Ilyich Ulyanov became the central attraction in the family. He was an eloquent intelligent and a gentle child. Everyone adored him. From the early days Volodiya (Lenin) had a resentment and jealousy towards Aleksandr or Sacha. However things changed dramatically when Aleksandr Ulyanov was arrested by the Police for an assassination attempt on the life of Alexander III of Russia. Later He was hanged.
Young Volodiya (Lenin) experienced two family tragedies which changed his life drastically. One was the death of his father Ilya Nikolayevich Ulyanov (1886) and the second - execution of his brother Aleksandr in 1887. Both events transformed him to an emotionally numbed radical character. Sacha was his competitor as well as his role model. Sacha‘s departure created a deep void in him. Until Sacha’s death he was not interested in politics. He was mostly reading the works of Mikhail Lermontov and Alexander Pushkin. But after Sacha’s death he entered in to underground politics. He began his active revolutionary work in 1892.
Sasha’s death haunted Volodiya relentlessly. He began to study Marxism and became an orthodox Marxist He became a Compulsive Revolutionary. Revolution became an obsession for him. Lenin once said Revolutions are the locomotive of history. Bolton (2012) states that traumas in Lenin’s youth did provide the catalyst for his life’s course.
Lenin was an excellent orator and a propagandist. His writings were incomparable. He had the ability of analyzing political events radiantly. He was charming and a charismatic person. He had outstanding organizational skills. He was becoming popular among other revolutionaries. His slogans attracted a large number of followers home and abroad.
While working as a revolutionist and living in exile Lenin published his philosophical work titled Materialism and Empiriocriticism in which he argued the human perceptions and the objective external world. In his 1901 political pamphlet What Is to Be Done? Lenin insisted that Marxists should form a political party, or "vanguard," of dedicated revolutionaries to spread Marxist political ideas among the workers (Martin, 1994). Lenin believed that capitalism was doomed by its inherent contradictions, and would inevitably collapse.
In January 1905, the massacre of protesters that came to be known as Bloody Sunday took place in St. Petersburg, sparking the civil unrest known as the Revolution of 1905 (Rice, 1990). Condemning this bloody event Lenin used Bolsheviks to cause violent unrests against the Tsarist establishment. Furthermore Lenin attacked Chornaya Sotnya or the Black Hundreds - an ultra-nationalist movement in Russia.
When the First World War broke out Lenin remarked that it was an annexationist, predatory, plunderous war. In 1917 he wrote: Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism. He was against the war. Lenin and his supporters encouraged the retreating Russian army soldiers to cause unrest in Russia. In his "Aprelskiye Tezisy", (April Theses) written in 1917 Lenin called for Soviet control of the state.
On March 15, 1917 the Czar Tsar Nicholas II abdicated the throne. When this event occurred Lenin was in Switzerland. Much of the revolutionary activity were organized by Leon Trotsky (Lev Davidovich Bronshtein). He was the guiding force behind the October Revolution. When radical changes were happening in his home country the German authorities helped Lenin return to St Petersburg. Lenin led the Bolsheviks in the overthrow of the provisional government of Alexander Kerensky. Although Kerensky was his childhood friend Lenin wanted to arrest him. Kerensky narrowly escaped from Bolsheviks and escaped to Paris. Lenin became the chief commissar of Russia. He signed an armistice with Germany and ended the Russia’s involvement in World War I which infuriated England and France.
Allied Intervention and the Russian Civil War occurred during 1917 to 1922. Allied military assistance intensified the civil war. The Civil War had wreak havoc on the country. In 1917 the Russian Empire disintegrated. The Soviet Union was formed in 1922 from the Empire’s rubble, without Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and parts of the Ukraine and Belorussia. The Central Asian territories of Khiva and Bukhara were formally incorporated in 1925 (Markevich & Harrison, 2011).
In September 1917 Vladimir Lenin wrote: "There is only one way to prevent the restoration of the police, and that is to create a people's militia and to fuse it with the army. Lenin's militarization of Marxism involved a substantial shift in the place of war in socialist ideology. War, while previously seen as a social evil imposed upon the working class, had never stood at the center of Marxist analysis of capitalism. Lenin put it there. He emphasized the inevitability of wars among capitalist states in the age of imperialism and presented the armed struggle of the working class as the only path towards the eventual elimination of war (Kipp, 1985).
The State and Revolution (1917) by Vladimir Lenin, described the role of the State in society, the necessity of proletarian revolution. Suny (1983) indicates that the Bolsheviks came to power not because they were superior manipulators or cynical opportunists but because their policies as formulated by Lenin in April and shaped by the events of the following months placed them at the head of a genuinely popular movement. Lenin believed that mass terror as a necessary weapon during the dictatorship of proletariat and the resulting class struggle.
According to Dr. James Ryan Lenin used terror against classes soon after the October Revolution. He considered mass terror a strategic and efficient method for advancing revolutionary goals (Chaliand & Arnaud, 2007). Lenin projected the responsibility of his brother’s execution onto entire social classes (Bolton, 2012). Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) was of the view that the Russian Revolution was an invasion and conquest over the Russian people. He used the term revolutionary genocide and claimed that it swallowed up some 60 million of human lives. One of the gruesome acts of the 1917 Revolution denoted as the killing of the Russian Imperial Romanov family. On the 17th of July 1918 the family of Russia's last Emperor, Nicolas II and his family were killed in Ekateringburg in the Urals. The Emperor Nicholas II, his family members, and persons in their attendance and the Prince Alexey’s pet dog were brutally murdered by Yaakov Yurovsky and his firing squad.
Although it was is claimed that a telegram giving the order to execute the prisoners on behalf of the Supreme Soviet in Moscow was signed by Yakov Sverdlov - chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Lenin knew and approved the deaths of Romanovs. The murder may have taken place in order to prevent the royals from being liberated by approaching White forces as well as It may have been to avenge what the tsarist regime had done to his brother.
After killing of the Romanov family Trotsky wrote: the decision [to kill the imperial family] was not only expedient but necessary. The severity of this punishment showed everyone that we would continue to fight on mercilessly, stopping at nothing. The execution of the Tsar's family was needed not only in order to frighten, horrify, and instill a sense of hopelessness in the enemy but also to shake up our own ranks, to show that there was no turning back, that ahead lay either total victory or total doom (Pipes, 1990).
Lenin was against the class system. In 1901 he stated: If democracy, in essence, means the abolition of class domination, then why should not a socialist minister charm the whole bourgeois world by orations on class collaboration? (Lenin, What Is To Be Done? “Dogmatism and ‘Freedom of Criticism’”) Lenin approved terror tactics against classes. In 1918 Yakov Sverdlovsk - officially announced Red Terror. Sverdlovsk always took orders from Lenin. After the October Revolution mass executions of people took place and killings were based not upon their actions but their class origins and beliefs. According to Stewart-Smith (1964) estimates that the total number of people killed in the Red Terror range from 50,000 to over a million.
Pipes (2014) points out that although pre-Stalin gulags have been ignored by historians the Soviet concentration camps first came into existence under Lenin and Trotsky. Nonetheless when Stalin came to power the slave labor camps reached their pinnacle. Many leading Bolsheviks were of the view that human lives are expendable in the cause of building Communism. In 1918 Grigory Zinoviev said: To overcome our enemies we must have our own socialist militarism. We must carry along with us 90 million out of the 100 million of Soviet Russia's population. As for the rest, we have nothing to say to them. They must be annihilated (Leggett, 1986).
Cheka (the Extraordinary Commission against counter-revolution, sabotage and speculation) or the Soviet state security organization was created on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin. Cheka was headed by Felix Dzerzhinsky who had a tormented childhood and probably suffered from Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Dzerzhinsky conducted a large number of summary executions. Dzerzhinsky declared: We stand for organized terror - this should be frankly admitted. Terror is an absolute necessity during times of revolution.
The Cheka published an article on the 18th of August 1919 in Krasnyi Mech (the Red Sword) newspaper: "We reject the old morality and ‘humanity’ invented by the bourgeoisie in order to oppress and exploit the lower classes. Our morality does not have a precedent, our humanity is absolute because it rests on a new ideal: to destroy any form of oppression and violence. To us, everything is permitted because we are the very first to raise our swords not to oppress and enslave, but to release humanity from its chains... Blood? Let blood be shed! Only blood can dye the black flag of the pirate bourgeoisie, turning it once and for all into a red banner, flag of the Revolution. Only the old world’s final demise will free us forever from the return of the jackals."
The Cheka was intended to inherit the security responsibilities of the dissolved Military Revolutionary Committee (MRC). The Bolshevik-controlled Sovnarkom charged the Cheka to investigate and liquidate all attempts or actions connected with counter-revolution or sabotage, whether they were domestic or foreign in origin, and were expected to deliver the ‘criminals’ to Revolutionary Tribunals to face trial (Lewis, 2007). According to the Russian historian Sergei Petrovich Melgunov Cheka's executions estimated at between 100,000 and 500,000. Felix Dzerzhinsky;s methods were never questioned and Lenin always defended the work of Dzerzhinsky.
At times Lenin was uncaring. Richard Pipes an emeritus professor of Russian history at Harvard University highlights that during 1891 Volga famine Lenin opposed raising aid for the starving masses. His argument being the death of the poor would destroy the old peasant economy and pave the way for the Marxist revolution that was imminent.
In the early years Lenin used Stalin to full fill hard tasks for the Revolution. Stalin was involved in the 1907 Tiflis bank robbery. Some of the stolen money was delivered to Lenin when he was living in Finland. This money was used to fund revolutionary activities. Lenin had little regard for Trotsky's judgment on important matters and relied heavily on Stalin (Pipes, 1999). Leon Trotsky never trusted Stalin and he was called by the nickname of Mountaineer.
After the Bolshevik Revolution Stalin detained a group of Red Army officers who were loyal to Trotsky and they were kept in a barge. However the barge snaked killing all the officers. Trotsky suspected a sabotage that was planned by Stalin. Although Trotsky urged Lenin to take stern actions against Stalin the matter was dropped. Lenin was soft on Stalin. However gradually Lenin grew to distrust him and criticized Stalin’s crude nature.
On May 25, 1922, Lenin suffered a stroke and his health started to deteriorate. He had to go for semi-retirement and Stalin gradually started strengthening his possession as Lenin’s successor. However after Stalin verbally swore at Lenin's wife Nadezhda Krupskaya Lenin demanded an apology. In addition in his testament Lenin recommended that Stalin be removed from his position as secretary-general of the party.
After Lenin's third stroke in March 1923 left him paralyzed and unable to speak. According to the official version, Lenin’s illness began in 1922, although the first signs and symptoms were probably manifested many years earlier (Learner et al., 2004). Lenin died in January 1924, aged 53. Lenin’s autopsy revealed cerebral calcification. The reason for his premature atherosclerosis has yet to be explained. He had a family history of cardiovascular disease and, therefore, is suspected of having had an inherited lipid disorder. Stress too might have had a role in the progression of his atherosclerosis (Vinters, Lurie & Mackowiak, 2013). The left brain hemisphere was seriously suffered as a result of the vessels damage of atherosclerosis origin ( Adrianov et al.,1993 ).
After Lenin's death Stalin elevated Lenin as a demi god creating a cult of worship of the deceased leader. Against Lenin's wishes, he was given a lavish funeral and his body was embalmed and put on display. Stalin promoted Lenin in quasi-religious fashion (Cawthorne, 2011). But he abolished Lenin’s New Economic Policy which granted more economic freedom for the peasants and promoted agriculture.
Lenin stands out as one of the revolutionary thinkers of 20th century. He brought a highly influential ideology. Lenin considered "moral questions" to be "an irrelevance", rejecting the concept of moral absolutism; instead he judged whether an action was justifiable based upon its chances of success for the revolutionary cause (Service, 2000). Indeed he was a dedicated revolutionist. As Bolton (2012) states that the rest of the life of the once apolitical youth who became Lenin was fanatically devoted to avenging his brother’s death, and ‘Lenin’ was the persona that was adopted for the purpose. He became a compulsive revolutionary.
1) Dr. James Ryan Lecturer in Modern European (Russian) History School of History, Archaeology and Religion Cardiff University
2) Dr. Richard Pipes, Baird Professor Emeritus of History at Harvard University
3) Professor Ignacio Sánchez-Cuenca- Associate Professor in the Political Science Department at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona.
Bolton, K.R. (2012). Vladimir Lenin: Syphilitic Mattoid Motivated by PTED. Retrieved from
Cawthorne , N.(2012). Stalin: The Murderous Career of the Red Tsar.Arcturus Publishing Limited.
Chaliand,G., , Arnaud,B. (2007). The history of terrorism: from antiquity to al Qaeda. University of California Press.
Kipp, J. W. (1985). "Lenin and Clausewitz - the Militarization of Marxism, 1914-1921." Military. Affairs 49(4): 184-191.
Leggett, G. (1986).The Cheka: Lenin's Political PoliceOxford University Press.
Lerner, V., Y. Finkelstein, and E. Witztum. “The Enigma of Lenin's (1870–1924) Malady. (2004). European Journal of Neurology. Vol. 11. pp. 371-6.
Lewis, O. (2007). How much did the Bolsheviks need the Cheka and how well did they make use of it? Retrieved from
Markevich, A.,Harrison, M .(2011). Great War, Civil War, and Recovery: Russia’s National Income, 1913 to 1928. Retrieved from
Martin, M (1994). The Soviet Tragedy: A History of Socialism in Russia, 1917–1991. New York.
Pipes, R (1990). The Russian Revolution .Vintage.
Pipes, R. (1999). Unknown Lenin.Yale University Press.
Pipes, R. (2014). Lenin's Gulag. Academic Research Journals.Vol. 2(6), pp. 140-146.
Rice, C. (1990). Lenin: Portrait of a Professional Revolutionary. London: Cassell.
Ryan,J .(2012). Lenin's Terror. The Ideological Origins of Early Soviet State Violence, London and New York: Routledge.
Service, R. (2000). Lenin: A Biography. Harvard University Press.
Stewart-Smith, D. G. (1964).The Defeat Of Communism. London: Ludgate Press Limited.
Suny , R.G.(1983).Toward a Social History of the October Revolution .The American Historical Review, Vol. 88, No. 1, pp. 31-52.
Vinters H, Lurie L, Mackowiak, P.A. (2013). Vessels of Stone: Lenin's "circulatory disturbance of the brain". Hum Pathol. 44(10):1967-72.
1. VI Lenin.. this article is somewhat a perception changer. Many factors to be studied more and more. Thanks for sharing these invaluable thoughts!
2. //Lenin believed that mass terror as a necessary weapon during the dictatorship of proletariat and the resulting class struggle. // there is no evidence for this except what westerners say.
3. Ajith : Soviet historians concur that there were mass terror and summary executions . In addition newly released Soviet documents indicate Lenin's initiative.
4. Your article sheds lights on an area hidden from many. I believe Lenin and others had no other alternative but to unleash terror on his enemies as well as on dissidents because the internal enemies and foreign countries joined hands to overthrow the Lenin's state.Had it succeeded millions would have been massacred . Hence it was a life and death struggle for Lenin and his revolution.
Anyhow please do not misunderstand that I agree with red terror.
Appreciate your constructive and meaningful comments
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A World Full of Free Riders?
Coalitions are important to the United States because they add political legitimacy at home and abroad to interventions that often have risks of substantial casualties and long term costs for America and other nations. The American public sees the participation of other nations in the intervention as an endorsement of its own leaders’ wisdom in deciding to intervene. Senior officials, most particularly military chiefs, hope that coalitions will provide needed manpower if the interventions are likely to involve long term occupations. The United States often seeks support and reassurance from coalitions, not the establishment of a precedent—a norm – for international permission for its interventions or partners in operational planning or actual combat. As Afghanistan and Iraq demonstrates in their initial phases, it is perfectly willing to act on its own when it feels there are serious threats to its own security and complications in gaining international approval and assistance. Rarely does the United States allow its troops to serve under foreign commanders. And the assistance it gets in most coalitions is not combat focused. The United States does most flying and fighting.
American politicians complain occasionally about the burdens the United States carries, but not often and not with conviction. NATO has expanded greatly since the end of the Cold War, absorbing many former members of the Warsaw Pact and former republics of the Soviet Union. It has become the vehicle for American managed wars in Libya and Afghanistan, places far from the North Atlantic. But few of the new or old members of NATO meet the alliance’s goal of allocating two percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to defense, safe in the knowledge that the United States, which does nearly twice that, will be there to do any of the serious work back in Europe or anywhere else if it is needed (Rynning, 2012).
In some American eyes, the rich of the world appear to find excuses to do little for global security or even their own defense. Japan and Germany, owners of the world’s third and fourth biggest economies, seem to prefer to be on what is now mostly a voluntary parole for their Second World War crimes. Japan provides financial aid rather than peacekeeping/peacemaking troops in crisis areas. It spends about one percent of its GDP on defense and has been reluctant to provide even operational support for American forces that guard its boundaries. Germany does participate in some UN and NATO sponsored operations, but largely avoids a combat role. Both nations are shielded from nuclear threats by American extended deterrence policy which promises them American protection from challenges by other nuclear powers.
The UK and France, possessing the fifth and sixth largest global economies, do contribute to global security somewhat in proportion to their wealth. Both, however, have been cutting back on their militaries as they feel the stress of economic competition against less encumbered rivals. Domestic politics often complicates their willingness to coordinate with the United States in its frequent interventions. South Korea has the world’s 12th or 13th largest economy, depending on who is counting, is at least 25 times richer than North Korea on a per capita basis, and has twice the population of the North, but leaves the task of defending itself against a now nuclear armed North Korea primarily to the United States. South Korea rarely participates in coalitions to help others and when it does, as in the case of Afghanistan, it sends non-combat troops. Spain, Italy, and a half dozen other rich countries opt out from most of the hard work in international coalitions in a similar manner. The Scandinavian countries, particularly Demark and Sweden, are exceptions, but they are too small to matter in most cases.
China and India are big in many dimensions, but are absorbed with their own security interests. China has the world’s second largest economy and India the ninth. Both are expanding their military power, but limit their participation in international peacekeeping efforts. India has intervened in conflicts in neighboring nations, but worries greatly about its own boundary disputes and its several internal insurrections. China’s recent focus has been on asserting itself as Asia’s dominant power, causing unease among its neighbors who grew accustomed to a more a more inwardly drawn China, one absorbed by minority population issues and the power of the Communist Party to rule.
Without the ability to free-ride on the military of the United States, the big and rich nations of the world may find collectively the need and will to create yet another form of order, one in which they share the decision-making and pay the costs of doing what good can be done. The combined North Africa and the Middle East region lacks a plausible candidate for this role and will likely remain in turmoil until one steps forward. Worse, there could be a struggle among potential contenders there and in some other regions. Thus a large part of the world will likely continue to be torn by instability with few voluntary interveners for the foreseeable future. The question many will have is can more stable regions isolate themselves from this instability or does their peace require, as those in the United States who favor American intervention abroad claim a deep, constant, and, in their minds at least, benevolent foreign military involvement?
Further Reading on E-International Relations
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Learning Mandarin: Reading, Writing and Characters
If you are learning Mandarin with the intent on reaching fluency, then you will need to begin learning to read at some time or another. In this section, we will look at reading, writing and Chinese characters.
Origin of characters
When historians refer to the age of “Chinese civilization”, they are, in fact, referring to China’s writing system, or characters. Characters begin as ideographs, much like ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, and slowly over time evolved into what you see today. The first characters were found engraved on turtle shells and the shoulder blades of oxen–these are called oracle bones. Oracle bones were used by the ruling elite class of China’s ancient dynasties as a mode of divination; a way of speaking with their dead ancestors. Shamans would transcribe a question onto a bone and then heat the bone over a fire. Once the bone reached a certain temperature, it would crack. The direction of the crack would answer the shaman’s question.
Traditional versus simplified
Today there are two forms of characters: traditional and simplified. Simplified characters are used throughout most of mainland China, whereas traditional are used mostly in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Which type of characters you choose to learn is a personal choice. However, serious learners of Chinese will likely want to be able to read both. For example, someone who knew only how to read simplified characters would be unable to appreciate the wealth of literature, history, etc. that comes out of Hong Kong and Taiwan, as most of those books are written in traditional characters. Also, those interested in learning classical Chinese will find knowing traditional characters beneficial. Most Chinese seem to be able to read both scripts.
The best way to learn characters
There is no easy way to learn Chinese characters. Mnemonics seem to stretch too far, and learning radicals with their meaning and pronunciation components will only help you understand a handful of exceptions. The best, and only proven, method of learning Chinese characters is via brute force–rote memorization.
There are two software programs which you can download to help you A) memorize a given character (or word), and B) keep it in your memory. The first is Zhongwen Development Tool (ZDT). The other is Anki.
ZDT is a flashcard program and dictionary. You can create new decks based on whatever you are learning. Study and review a deck until you can go through it in its entirety without making a mistake. Review the deck once a day for three to five days. Then import the deck into Anki.
Anki is a spaced repetition program. Essentially, the best time to review material is right before you forget it. Anki figures this out through a logarithm and then reminds you when it’s time to review. This helps new material stay in your head for longer.
Through these two programs, it will not be difficult for you to memorize characters. Of course, it is still important that you practice reading frequently. You can start with textbooks and gradually work your way up to news websites, blogs, etc.
Writing characters
Just as with reading, there is no secret to learning to write Chinese characters. The only time-tested method is brute force, rote memorization, and a lot of practice. Thankfully, writing practices the recall aspect of your brain, which we are going to talk about right now.
Recognizing and recalling
Imagine you are at the movie theater and you are looking at a movie poster for the movie “Terminator”. Who is one of the lead characters? Do you remember his name? You know, that body builder from Austria who used to be the governor of California? Can you spell his name? Probably not. However, if I showed you his name, you could likely read it without any problems.
The reason you can recognize Arnold Schwarzenegger’s name but not spell it (without spell check as I just did) is because you have probably had adequate opportunities to read his name, in films, headlines, movie posters, etc., but have never had any occasion in the past to spell his name. Your ability to read his name and identify it with a person is the ability to recognize. Your ability (or inability) to dig into your brain and produce something from memory is the ability to recall.
When learning Mandarin, it is important that you train your memory to both be able to recognize and recall new vocabulary words and characters. When you are learning to read, you are practicing the ability to recognize. When you write a character, you are practicing the ability to both recall and recognize. As such, learning to write a character will make a much stronger impression than simply just learning to read it.
You should also do the same with choice vocabulary. We say “choice” because you may not be interested in recalling the Mandarin rendition of every Hollywood actor and actress. Merely being able to recognize important names when hearing or reading them may be enough. The same applies to learning synonyms. Unless you are planning on studying for the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK) there is no reason why you need to be able to recall a dozen different ways to express “happiness”.
Handwriting and the HSK
Two brief notes. First, if you want to develop perfect, native-looking handwriting, it is best to have a native Chinese speaker check and correct your form. Learning to write Chinese characters is probably the most tedious aspect of learning Mandarin, and takes a long time. In the digital age, it is not always necessary to be able to write by hand, though it is certainly convenient for filling out forms and impressing locals.
Lastly, we mentioned the HSK above. I want to take a moment to explain what this is. The HSK is the Chinese government’s standardized test for non-Chinese and Chinese minorities. Non-Chinese people seeking a non-language degree (e.g. history, engineering, etc.) need to pass a certain level in order to gain admission to Chinese universities. Depending on the level, the exam tests one’s reading, writing, speaking, listening and grammar. The lower level tests only require a small amount of reading, grammar and listening, but no speaking or writing. The higher-level tests require a bit of each.
At the time of this book’s publication, two versions of the HSK exist: old and new. The government is supposed to be phasing out the old version, which has eleven levels, and gradually phase in the new version, which only has six. You can learn more about the HSK here: http://hsk.org.cn/index.aspx
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Thursday, September 11, 2014
Mindset: Fixed vs Growth
Dr. Carol Dweck of Stanford University has been studying people’s mindsets towards learning for decades. She has found that most people adhere to one of two mindsets: fixed or growth. Fixed mindsets mistakenly believe that people are either smart or not, that intelligence is fixed by genes. People with growth mindsets correctly believe that capability and intelligence can be grown through effort, struggle and failure.
For instance, praising someone’s process (“I really like how you struggled with that problem”) versus praising an innate trait or talent (“You’re so clever!”) is one way to reinforce a growth mindset with someone.
The Learning Myth: Why I'll Never Tell My Son He's Smart
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The Correct Handling of a Revolution
The Black masses are handling the resistance incorrectly. When the brothers…amassed the people in the streets, threw bricks and Molotov cocktails to destroy property and create disruption, they were herded into a small area by the Gestapo police and immediately contained by the brutal violence of the oppressor’s storm troops. Although this manner of resistance is sporadic, short-lived, and costly, it has been transmitted across the country to all the ghettos of the Black nation…Huey and Bobby
When the people learn that it is no longer advantageous for them to resist by going into the streets in large numbers, and when they see the advantage in the activities of the guerrilla warfare method, they will quickly follow this example…When the vanguard group destroys the machinery of the oppressor by dealing with him in small groups of three and four, and then escapes the might of the oppressor, the masses will be impressed and more likely to adhere to this correct strategy. When the masses hear that a Gestapo policeman has been executed while sipping coffee at a counter, and the revolutionary executioners fled without being traced, the masses will see the validity of this kind of resistance.
It is…important…to show the people how to stage a revolution.
There are three ways one can learn: through study, observation, and experience. Since the Black community is composed basically of activists, observation of or participation in activity are the principle ways the community learns. To learn by studying is good, but to learn by experience is better…Without this knowledge of the Black community a Black revolution in racist America is impossible.
HueyThe main function of the party is to awaken the people and teach them the strategic method of resisting a power structure which is prepared not only to combat with massive brutality the people’s resistance but to annihilate totally the Black population. If it is learned by the power structure that Black people have “X” number of guns in their possession, that information will not stimulate the power structure to prepare itself with guns; it is already prepared.
The end result of this revolutionary education will be positive for Black people in their resistance, and negative for the power structure in its oppression because the party always exemplifies revolutionary defiance.
Many would-be revolutionaries work under the fallacious notion that the vanguard party should be a secret organization…These so-called revolutionaries want the people to say what they themselves are afraid to say, to do what they themselves are afraid to do. That kind of revolutionary is a coward and a hypocrite. A true revolutionary realizes that if he is sincere death is imminent…Without this realization it is pointless to proceed as a revolutionary.Eldridge
Millions and millions of oppressed people…will learn of its activities and its proper strategy for liberation through an indirect acquaintance provided by the mass media. But it is not enough to rely on the media of the power structure; it is of prime importance that (we develop our) own communications organ, such as a newspaper, and at the same time provide strategic revolutionary art, and destruction of the oppressor’s machinery.
It is believed by some hypocrites that when the people are taught…to prepare for resistance, this only brings ‘the man’ down on them with increasing violence and brutality; but the fact is that when the man becomes more oppressive he only heightens the revolutionary fervor. So if things get worse for oppressed people they will feel the need for revolution and resistance. The people make revolution; the oppressors, by their brutal actions, cause resistance by the people…
By their rebellions in the Black communities across the country the people have proved that they will not tolerate any more oppression by the racist dog police. They are looking now for guidance to extend and strengthen their resistance struggle.Assata
Huey P. Newton (Black Panther Party)
6 thoughts on “The Correct Handling of a Revolution”
1. I agree with much of this, but our problem first and foremost as a people is we are still too dependent upon our enemy to provide for us and our families. We’ve got to own and control our economies in black dominated communities, and we must own and control resources.
And we must also redirect that 1 trillion in purchasing dollars back into black businesses and black dominated communities. Strengthening our socioeconomic capabilities, in and of itself would significantly reduce the oppressor’s stranglehold on the black community as a whole.
1. Prophet, I agree with you 100 & 10%. All of our energies should be focused on building black dominated communities. Dr. Claude Anderson: “Make It Black” lecture is to be heard and shared.
1. There was a black wall street, what make you think blacks will out econ the state with no resistance! The panthers couldn’t even serve pancakes without being repressed .this is the nature of fascism . We have to seize the actual means of production not dollars .and this will not happen without a fight .literally !!!!!
2. You can not obtain economic power without armed struggle nor can you maintain it with out a military first .what weapons and econ the state has can be taken.everybody wants to talk about building institutions but no one wants to do the killing that is necessary to do so.if blacks build institutions they will still exist in a capitalist Amerikkk .and will ultimately still be reliant on the state. We must destroy in order to rebuild! But Huey is talking about protest v.s. armed asymmetrical warfare in this article from 67 black panther newspaper hit the books not what you wanna read but what we need to read!
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Why invest in Space Education
Astronomy has been shown to be a topic that engages students in STEM concepts that encourages them to follow education and careers in STEM fields, which in turn produces a scientifically literate population and a knowledge based economy. Project Tara will provide students with an introduction to critical skills that they will use to succeed in business, science or any knowledge-based career. Not least of these will be an introduction to new communication skills required to build relationships with cultures and countries beyond their own, arming them with skills that will benefit them throughout their lives and careers
TARA is running sustainable outreach activities which can act as catalysts, motivating students of different ages and education levels. Endorsed by the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Mr. Enda Kenny, and launched by the San Francisco Mayor, Mr. Edwin Lee, TARA will also inspire Smart STEM education through the use of an array of live-control remote telescopes to engage students in the concepts of Science, Technology, Engineering (Art) and Mathematics (STE(A)M) at an early age – All students under one sky.
Teachers who wish to participate in Tara will be paired with a partnering teacher in the other country. In order to most effectively reach our goals of education equality, we would like to see each partnership have access to their own telescopes, either purchased by the school directly, or co-funded by Project Tara sponsors. The Project Tara team will provide continuous support of the teacher partners and will facilitate a number of “Space Pals” video chats between the partnered class groups and individual student-to-student communications.
Each participating class group will be invited to visit Blackrock Castle Observatory (for Irish schools) and Lick Observatory (for California schools) as a culmination to their participation in Project Tara. At the observatories, they will have an immersive experience into the world of astronomy, and get to “be a scientist” for a day.
The pilot telescope has been successfully installed in Ormondale Elementary school in the outskirts of San Francisco, provided the team the opportunity to identify the best plans for the telescope, conduct ample debugging of the hardware and develop a user interface that can be used from both the USA and Ireland.
We are endeavoring to change lives with Project Tara by catalyzing cultural connections and enhance STEM education across the world. The program bridges connections between continents and amongst communities through inspirational, real-world learning opportunities from a multicultural perspective. It does this by providing live access to a global array of telescopes, acknowledging that we all exist under the one same sky.
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Return to Class Topical Index
The Holy Days
Under the Law of Moses
1. The Feast of Passover
A. This feast was enacted in Egypt to be kept on the night of the 14th day of the first month.
B. Ex. 12:14, 20; 12:28, 43-51; 13:3-10
C. It is called the feast of unleavened bread in Exodus 23:14-15
D. A sheaf of firstfruits was to be brought. Lev. 23:4-15
E. For the unclean and travelers, it was to be kept on the 14th day and the second month. However, this was used only in case of necessity. Num. 9:1-12
F. Additional offerings. Num. 28:16-24
1. Two young bullocks, one ram and 7 he lambss on each of the 7 days in addition to the regular burnt offerings.
G. Deuteronomy adds that the Passover is to be kept in one place. Deut. 16:108
2. Feast of Weeks or Feast of Harvest or Pentecost.
A. First mentioned in Exodus 23:15-17.
B. Fifty days from Passover. Lev. 23:15-21
C. Offerings made:
1. Two loaves of 1/10 of an ephah of fine flour for the firstfruits.
2. Burnt offerings of one young bullock, two rams, 7 he lambs with their meal offerings. One he goat for a sin offering and two he lambs a year old for a sin offering. A holy convocation on that day.
3. The Day of Trumpets.
A. When and how observed. Lev. 23:23-25
1. On the first day of the 7th month, a holy day celebrated by the blowing of trumpets.
2. A burnt offering to Jehovah of one young bullock, one ram, seven he lambs with their meal and drink offerings. One he goat for sin offering.
3. The holy convocation was to be held in each town as an expression of joy.
4. Annual Day of Atonement. Lev. 16:1-34; Numbers 29:7-11
A. Offerings on the occasion.
1. One bullock for sin offering and a ram for the burnt offering for himself and his family.
2. For the congregation, two he goats for a sin offering and one lamb offering for a burnt offering.
B. The atonelment for his family
1. He shall kill the bullock of the sin offering for himself and taking the censer full of live coals, the High Priest shall go inside of the veil and covering the mercy seat with a cloud of incense he shall sprinkle the blood of the bullock seven times.
C. Atonement for the people.
1. The goat of the sin offering shall be killed and its blood sprinkled upon the mercy seat for the sins of the people.
2. No man shall be in the tent of Aaron.
D. The disposal of the other goat.
1. The sins were put upon the scapegoat led away into the wilderness.
E. Time and design.
1. Time was the tenth day of the seventh month.
2. Design was to cleanse from sin. It rolled forward their sins for a year. cf. Heb. 10:1-3
F. The extra burnt offering. Num. 29:7-11
1. One young bullock, one ram, seven he lambs.
5. The Feast of Tabernacles.
A. First mentioned. Ex. 23:14-17
B. Called here Feast of Ingathering because all the crops were gathered in by this time.
C. The mode of celebration. Lev. 23:33-36, 39-44
1. Time began on the 15th day of the 7th month and lasted 7 days. The first and eighth days were the days of holy convocation.
2. Works of mercy, works of necessity, and works of religion could be done on holy days.
3. They dwelt in booths on the housetops outside the gate or in vacant spaces.
4. Its purpose was to preserve the memory of their deliverance from Egypt and cultivate their gratitude and reverence. This corresponds to our Thanksgiving.
D. Offerings to be made. Num. 29:12-40
1. Thirteen, twelve, ten, nine, eight, seven, young bullocks were offered (dropped off one each day), two rams and fourteen he lambs was the daily sacrifice. One male goat as a sin offering.
6. The Sabbath.
A. Ex. 16:23; 28:11; Deut. 5:12-15
B. How observed - No work done; day of rest and holy meditation.
C. Its design - That the people might remember that God has brought them out of the land of Egypt.
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Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Another reason Virtual Machines are amazing
The details aren't important, but basically:
1. Clojure is a Lisp-like language which runs on the JVM, Scala a more C/Java style language which also runs on the JVM.
2. Clojure writes high performance immutable data structures which can handle small updates w/o copying the entire structure.
3. Clever Scala programmer just wraps the Clojure collection in a thin Scala wrapper.
I know language interop on the JVM has been evolving for some time, but it's especially neat to see when neither of the languages are Java! We're entering an era where you will not know or care what language your libraries are written in.
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Useful Garden Ideas
Ideas and resources for a great garden
Growing A Garden For The Whole Family To Enjoy
Gardening not only benefits you physically and emotionally, it can also feed your family and drive a business. By using these tips, you will be able to better understand the basics so that you do not purchase unnecessary items, or plants that will not grow in your climate.
When boiling or steaming vegetables, keep the water that the vegetables were cooked in and let it cool. Use the water to water the garden with. It is packed with all the vitamins and minerals that were in the vegetables when they were cooked and will help the plants grow as a natural plant food.
Don’t assume that insects are to blame for all plants ailments. There are many things that can affect the health of a plant. The PH of the water you are using, the location of the plant (under shade vs direct sun), the amount of soil in the pot and several other reasons can be a determining factor.
When growing potatoes, make sure you choose a variety with a starch content that corresponds with the way you’ll be cooking them. The more starch there is in a potato, the drier and flakier it will be when cooked. Potatoes that are good for mashing have approximately 7% starch. These potatoes cook quickly and retain a high moisture content, so they’re easy to mash. Baking potatoes have a starch content between 15% and 18%, and frying potatoes have the highest level at 22%.
It only requires some research, lots of outside work, and a large amount of patience. This work will ultimately pay off for you once you figure out how to make an item grow.
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Unity & Division in the Restoration Movement
In 1906 David Lipscomb agreed with the Director of the US Census that the Church of Christ was a group of churches distinct from the Disciples of Christ, and they were listed separately by the government for the first time. This is the best we come up with as an official date for the separation, but in reality the two groups had been moving in different directions for over 50 years.
The establishment of the American Christian Missionary Society in 1849 proved to be a controversial development. Some churches felt that since Scripture does not “authorise” non-congregational organizations then they are unbiblical. The alternative view simply saw the Society as a practical way to conduct world evangelism using resources that no individual congregation had at its disposal. However, this did not result in widespread division within the Restoration Movement. Even those opposed to the establishment of the Missionary Society were known to speak at its annual meetings. Unity remained a compelling value.
The debate concerning the missionary revealed a more significant disagreement regarding the reading and interpretation of the Bible. The above discussion demonstrates that one side of the debate sought biblical “authorisation” for everything they wanted to do, while the other side implemented what the Bible commanded but felt free to make practical additions in other areas. This fundamental hermeneutical debate that proved to be closer to the core of the subsequent division than the individual disagreements over musical instruments in worship and missionary societies. Richard Hughes (p48) quotes David Edwin Harrell Jr. as aptly observing that if the churches “had not disagreed over instrumental music and missionary society, they would have divided over something else.”
In the end, however, its seems more human motivations precipitated the division. During the civil war the American Christian Missionary Society, which was based in the north, passed a resolution that said in part,
Resolved, that we unqualifiedly declare our allegiance to [the United States] government, and repudiate as false and slanderous any statements to the contrary. That we tender our sympathies to our brave and noble soldiers in the field who are defending us from the attempts of armed traitors to overthrow our government….
In the tit-for-tat that followed the ACMS was criticised by the southern churches, and the issue of biblical authorisation became the primary rationale for that criticism. More importantly, the tolerance of differences that had existed prior to the civil war evaporated. Support for a missionary society now became grounds for breaking fellowship. The debate regarding instrumental music in worship followed a similar path that became grounds for breaking fellowship after the Civil War.
This is not to take sides on the biblical discussion of either of these issues, but to point out that one of the major changes was not the teaching on the issues, but the importance attributed to the issues. The attitude of tolerance and love was replaced by one emphasising doctrinal uniformity.
Considering the church structure and teachings of the Disciples of Christ today and comparing them to the Churches of Christ, division would eventually have occurred no matter how committed each side was to unity. The original plea of the Restoration Movement contained the seeds of conflicting values and over time this conflict became more obvious. But I’ll write more about that next week.
The issue of who we fellowship with is a big one. Most Christians would have problems joining in worship with a Buddhist. But how about a Catholic or someone from another denomination? Should members of the Church of Christ fellowship with all other churches that have the same heritage and name? If you were on holiday in a town with a broad choice of churches, but no Church of Christ, who would you worship with? What guidelines do you use in deciding who you will fellowship with? How does the Bible help you with this choice?
One comment
1. benoverby
Excellent questions. How does the bible help us decide who we’ll worship/fellowship with? I believe you’ve highlighted another issue, one that’s more fundamental, namely how do we approach the text, and do we read our own conclusions into the text. Lots of people (i.e., all of us) have prejudices built into their system and use the bible to validate their choices about who to worship with. If someone has been brought up thinking the instrument is sinful, then often that person will cobble a couple of passages together to support the preconception—actually, they’ll typically just accept the the cobbling of another cobbler.
Churches of Christ should fellowship with all who trust in King Jesus and stop attempting to manage the kingdom with a handful of sectarian boarder markers. But this inevitably circles back around to what the bible describes as trust. Reading God’s word with an awareness of our own blind spots (yes, it’s possible) becomes one of the most important tasks of any congregation; and especially its leaders.
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Category Archives: The River Captian Legend
Louisville and Portland Canal
In 1830 the Louisville and Portland Canal opened for business. Until then the only way down the Ohio River was through the Falls of the Ohio. These were a series of rapids that had to navigated by experienced river men. During the course of the rapids the river dropped 26 feet and was a very dangerous trip.
Many boat that carried goods had to unloaded at the 4th Street Wharf in downtown Louisville and taken to the Portland Wharf that was pass the Falls of the Ohio. This took time and as time changed a new way to navigate the river was needed.
The canal had to be dug through rock and cost more than first estimated. It was plagued with finical difficulties all the way through the project until Congress had to invest money for it to be finished. When finished the canal was only 50 feet wide.
Finical difficulties continued for many years after the canal was built and the government ended up owning the canal. In 1960 the Louisville and Portland Canal became the McAlpine Locks and Dam. Since there has been many improvements to the canal has been made. The canal is taken care of by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
To read more about the exciting things happening at McAlpine Locks and Dam today visit:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
The changing views of the canal
Shippingport, Kentucky
Shippingport, Kentucky was given to John Campbell in 1785 for his service in the French and Indian War. At that time it became known as Campbell Town. It was sold in 1803 and renamed Shippingport.
The population grew from 98 to over 500 and at one time challenged the 4th Street Wharf in downtown Louisville. At that time a warehouse and mill was built on Shippingport and soon began to export their goods. Elm Tree Garden became a popular spot for horse-racing and was well known. In 1817 a six-story flour mill built because how successful Shippingport had become.
In 1825 the building of the Louisville and Portland Canal and made Shippingport into an island. It soon became known as Shippingport Island and is locally known by that name today.
Over the years the Louisville and Portland Canal was gradually widened to keep up with the steamboats and later barges that carried products from one end of the country to another. A hydroelectric plant was also built on the island as time changed. Slowly residents and businesses began to close and leave.
The area was devastated by the flood of 1937 when most of Louisville was under water. It forced the island to evacuate until the river returned to it’s banks. Many people never returned because their homes were completely destroyed.
In 1958 the government acquired the property by eminent domain to widen the canal. They evicted many families that had lived there for over a 100 years.
The River Captain
Author Unknown
As for legends along our waterways
Here is one that still persists
The Ohio has a riverman
Long dead who can’t resist
watching as the boats go by
up and down the river
“Beneath the knobs in Indiana
Where the sunset splendors wane
Stares a captain through the porthole
Of his grave say rivermen
Watching as the boats go by
Up and down the river”
Through sunshine, rain, and snowstorm
‘Tis said he’s standing there
Staring through the porthole
Of his grave and taking care
Watching as the boats go by
Up and down the river
Sixty years he plowed the waters
Having died long long ago
Buried standing at Beeler’s landing
Above the water far below
Watching as the boats go by
Up and down the river
Down from Pittsburgh to New Orleans
Every captain, every hand
They watch they know he’s watching
Watching as the boats go by
Up and down the river
Offshore buoys guiding
Boat and barges passing ‘tween
A treacherous stretch of shallows
Here ’tis said he can be seen
Watching as the boats go by
Up and down the river
As the boat and barge
com ’round the bend
The boatmen hear him Yell
“Woooh, you’ll turn ’em up on ends
Move out where the currents swell
Watching as the boats go by
Up and down the river
Every time you hear the whistle
Of a boat sound o’er the wave
You can know the pilot’s answering
The Captain standing in his grave
Watching as the boats go by
Up and down the river
Mr. Hulme was the first superintendent of the canal (what is now the McAlpine Locks and Damn) and Frank McHarry took the tonnage. Upon the death of Mr. Hulme, Frank McHarry was appointed superintendent. In the beginning the receipts of the tonnage were turned into the treasury once a year. A settlement was made every six months and then it was demanded every Monday morning.
McHarry refused to the added pressure and work that this added. He resigned and became very bitter.
He made a request that he would be buried in the Indiana knobs overlooking the Ohio River where his ghost would roam. He had a vault carved in solid stone on a hillside with a porthole in the top. Rumor has it that he was buried standing up to look out of the porthole onto the boats that would pass.
He was to have put a curse on all the boats that passed his burial site.
He was later moved to Cave Hill Cemetery. Superstition has it that on dark nights you are able to see a silver trail in the sky as his ghost returns to visit his vault. Sulphrous fumes also are said to fill the air as his ghost travels back to Cave Hill Cemetery before dawn. Registered & Protected
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Why do dogs salivate around other dogs?
Quick Answer
Dogs may salivate more often around other dogs because they are anxious or excited. Excess salivation in dogs can be stress-related, which can often be triggered by excitement or fear in response to outside stimuli. A higher level of salivation corresponds to a higher level of anxiety.
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Full Answer
Anxiety in dogs is common. Socialization can help reduce fear and anxiety and increase confidence. Exposure to various sights and sounds can lower a dog's anxiety significantly. If anxiety is severe or persistent, a veterinarian may prescribe medication to treat it.
Ptyalism is also a condition in dogs that is characterized by excessive drooling. While anxiety is one cause, ptyalism can indicate serious health problems, such as oral and pharyngeal diseases, salivary diseases, metabolic disorders and neurological disorders. It may also indicate exposure to drugs or toxins. In order to determine whether or not a dog's excessive salivation is a medical concern, an evaluation by a veterinarian is recommended.
Some breeds, such as the Mastiff and Saint Bernard, are known for excessive drooling. This is not necessarily because these breeds salivate more than other breeds, but that their loose jowls allow the drool to leak out more and their large stature makes the drool more noticeable.
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Dictionary Results for names
1. names - noun
· verbal abuse; a crude substitute for argument; "sticks and stones may break my bones but names can never hurt me"
Synonym(s): name_calling
Hypernym(s): defamation, calumny, calumniation, obloquy, traducement, hatchet_job
2. name - noun
· a language unit by which a person or thing is known; "his name really is George Washington"; "those are two names for the same thing"
Hypernym(s): language_unit, linguistic_unit
3. name - noun
· a person's reputation; "he wanted to protect his good name"
Hypernym(s): repute, reputation
4. name - noun
· family based on male descent; "he had no sons and there was no one to carry on his name"
Synonym(s): gens
Hypernym(s): family, family_line, folk, kinfolk, kinsfolk, sept, phratry
5. name - noun
· a well-known or notable person; "they studied all the great names in the history of France"; "she is an important figure in modern music"
Synonym(s): figure, public_figure
Hypernym(s): important_person, influential_person, personage
6. name - noun
· by the sanction or authority of; "halt in the name of the law"
Hypernym(s): sanction
7. name - noun
· a defamatory or abusive word or phrase
Synonym(s): epithet
8. name - verb
· assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to; "They named their son David"; "The new school was named after the famous Civil Rights leader"
Synonym(s): call, know_as, be_known_as
Hypernym(s): label
9. name - verb
· give the name or identifying characteristics of; refer to by name or some other identifying characteristic property; "Many senators were named in connection with the scandal"; "The almanac identifies the auspicious months"
Synonym(s): identify
Hypernym(s): denote, refer
10. name - verb
· charge with a function; charge to be; "She was named Head of the Committee"; "She was made president of the club"
Synonym(s): nominate, make
Hypernym(s): appoint, charge
11. name - verb
· create and charge with a task or function; "nominate a committee"
Synonym(s): appoint, nominate, constitute
Hypernym(s): establish, found, plant, constitute, institute
12. name - verb
· mention and identify by name; "name your accomplices!"
Hypernym(s): specify, set, determine, define, fix, limit
13. name - verb
Synonym(s): mention, advert, bring_up, cite, refer
Hypernym(s): think_of, have_in_mind, mean
14. name - verb
· identify as in botany or biology, for example
Synonym(s): identify, discover, key, key_out, distinguish, describe
15. name - verb
· give or make a list of; name individually; give the names of; "List the states west of the Mississippi"
Synonym(s): list
Hypernym(s): enumerate, recite, itemize, itemise
16. name - verb
· determine or distinguish the nature of a problem or an illness through a diagnostic analysis
Synonym(s): diagnose
Hypernym(s): analyze, analyse, study, examine, canvass
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What is an Ophthalmologist?
Educational Requirements and Salary
Optician examining patient's vision
Blend Images/DreamPictures/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images
An ophthalmologist is an eye doctor, a physician with an M.D. or D.O. degree from an accredited medical school. Like all physicians, an ophthalmologist completes extensive post-graduate residency clinical training after graduating from medical school. An ophthalmologist specializes in medical treatment or surgery of the eyes. Ophthalmologists can diagnose and treat any and all eye problems with a variety of remedies including prescribing drugs, performing surgery, or prescribing visual correction devices such as contacts or eye glasses.
Ophthalmologists treat a wide variety of eye problems from common vision deficiencies to more serious conditions such as glaucoma, cataracts, or cancers of the eyes.
Optometrist vs. Ophthalmologist vs. Optician
An optometrist is an eye doctor who has earned the Doctor of Optometry (OD) degree. Optometrists examine eyes for both vision and health problems, and correct refractive errors by prescribing eyeglasses and contact lenses. Some optometrists also provide low vision care and vision therapy.
Optometrists in the United States also are licensed to prescribe medications to treat certain eye problems and diseases. The scope of medical care that can be provided by optometrists is determined by state law. Optometrists also may participate in your pre- and post-operative care if you have eye surgery performed by an ophthalmologist.
An ophthalmologist is a medical doctor (MD) or an osteopathic doctor (DO) who specializes in eye and vision care.
Ophthalmologists are trained to perform eye exams, diagnose and treat disease, prescribe medications and perform eye surgery. They also write prescriptions for eyeglasses and contact lenses.
Whereas the education of an optometrist is similar to that of a general dentist, the education and training of an ophthalmologist are more similar to that of an oral surgeon.
An optician is not an eye doctor, but opticians are an important part of the eye care team. Opticians use prescriptions written by an optometrist or an ophthalmologist to fit and sell eyeglasses and other eyewear.
In some states, opticians must complete an optician training program and be licensed. Other states don't require opticians to obtain formal training or licensure. Some states allow opticians to fit contact lenses, usually after completing a certification program.
Average Salary of an Ophthalmologist
Like other physicians, ophthalmologists can open their own private practice as a solo practitioner or with other physician partners. They can also work as an employee of a clinic, hospital or group practice.
According to the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), the average annual income for an ophthalmologist is $349,766.
Ophthalmologist Educational Requirements
As with all medical doctors, being an ophthalmologist requires:
• 4 years of undergraduate college for a bachelor's degree
• 4 years of medical school for a medical degree (MD or DO)
• 3 years of medical residency training in ophthalmology
Additionally, one may also complete additional fellowship training in oncology, surgery, or retina surgery, among other options.
Job Duties and Responsibilities of an Ophthalmologist
Ophthalmology is one of many different medical specialties for physicians. Therefore, like other physicians, ophthalmologists can expect to spend part of their work hours in an office setting examining and treating patients with procedures and medication, and some time may be spent in an operating room or surgicenter performing eye surgery.
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The Miracle Antioxidant: How Glutathione Can Slow Aging and Prevent Cancer
These days, it seems like every single choice we make has some bearing on our health, and it can be hard to tell what choices will have major benefits, and which are less important. As a general rule, paying attention to diet and exercise is a great way to give your body the tools it needs to naturally regulate your health and keep your mind and body running smoothly. Nutritional supplements are very popular but don’t always provide the same benefits as naturally sourced substances, like antioxidants, which are incredibly important to your body’s health both in the short, and long term. Talking to a doctor about how you can incorporate antioxidant-friendly foods and activities into your lifestyle will help you take control of your health, and reduce the need for expensive medical care in the future!
What is an Antioxidant?
Cells in the human body can suffer something called oxidative stress, when ‘free radicals’ come into contact with these cells and damage them. Antioxidants bind to the free radicals and prevent them from damaging cells, reducing oxidative stress, and thus all of the negative side effects oxidative stress can have on the body. These side effects can include inflammation, allergy, and other even more dangerous issues. Sometimes, free radicals can completely enter a cell’s nucleus and damage the DNA, which can cause cancerous cell replication. Antioxidants are the body’s first line of defense against this kind of damage and are an incredibly important part of any diet.
What is Glutathione?
Glutathione is an antioxidant, often called the ‘master antioxidant’, which is proven to help reduce the effects of oxidative stress. Glutathione is a chemical that is actually made by the body, and isn’t readily bioavailable or found in nature. However, certain lifestyle and dietary choices can improve your body’s ability to synthesize glutathione by giving it the ingredients it needs to create it and reduce the habits that can damage glutathione levels. Research shows that meat, dairy, and eggs all improve your glutathione levels because they contain glycine, a hard to find the component of glutathione production. For those who avoid animal products, leafy greens, pumpkin, soybeans, and cauliflower also contain glycine. Many of the chemicals that make up glutathione can’t be ingested or injected as supplements because they are toxic when taken alone, and are destroyed by the digestive system before they can be converted to glutathione.
Health Benefits of Glutathione
The advantages of antioxidants, in general, are well documented, but in particular, glutathione has numerous health benefits. Glutathione can reduce exhaustion and keep energy levels up, and improve immune health to prevent vulnerability to colds and the flu. It also cleans the body of toxins like free radicals, and makes it easier for cells to repair themselves. When cellular repair rates are improved, it can lead to reduced fatigue, slower aging, and improved brain function and mood. Also, because glutathione is ‘the master antioxidant’, it affects many of the organs and can improve functioning in the liver, lungs, brain, heart, as well as several others. Glutathione can reduce cancer risk by limiting cellular damage, and promote recovery by increasing cellular repair rates. This increased cellular repair can help with everything from acne to HIV/AIDS.
How to Improve Your Glutathione Levels
Glutathione is created endogenously, or inside the body, but levels can be affected by numerous external factors. To keep your glutathione levels high, make sure you eat plenty of glycine-rich foods, like meat and leafy greens. Also, make sure you reduce behaviors that have been shown to damage glutathione levels, like smoking, heavy drinking, prolonged stress, and exposure to unsafe household plastics.
It might seem too good to be true, but glutathione has been shown to have numerous health benefits, both treating and preventing disease and discomfort. Because high levels of glutathione are associated with healthy eating, and reduced exposure to toxins from alcohol, tobacco, and plastics, it can be used as an indicator of good health, as well as a tool to help improve health even further! Taking steps each day towards improving your glutathione levels can help you feel and look younger and healthier in no time at all. Talk to a doctor to learn how you can improve your glutathione levels in ways that are right for you!
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Chinese Medical Diagnosis
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, examination of the tongue, including the colour, shape and type of coating, is one of the primary methods of determining your state of health. The practitioner will also take your pulse in three positions at the wrist of each hand. There are 28 different shapes of pulses and, together with the tongue, they provide a window into the condition of the organs of the body. The practitioner will also ask many specific questions about the quality of your sleep, level of appetite, and frequency of bowel movements, which also help to make an accurate diagnosis.
There are 14 main meridians that run throughout the body like a miniature system of railways. They work together to govern the flow of bodily energy (Qi), passing through organs and connecting the senses. Along the meridians lie hundreds of acupuncture points, like subway stops where energy can be added or released. Where there is pain along these meridians, there is energy blockage. Over time, the blockage can affect the flow of energy along the other meridians, adversely affecting other seemingly unrelated regions of the body and the internal organs. As a result, the discomfort felt from relatively minor symptoms can be the outward indication of disease or imbalance inside the body. Acupuncture needles act like switches on the railway to redirect energy to different meridians, or to slow down or increase the flow.
Only sterile, individually sealed, one-time use disposable needles are used at the Eastern Healing Center. These needles are much thinner than the needles used to draw blood for a blood test and so insertion is generally painless. Light electrical current may be applied to the needles in order to increase the stimulus to the needle and to the tissue.
Herbal Medicine
Traditional Chinese herbs work in conjunction with acupuncture to affect the flow of energy through the body. Herbs are usually ingested by drinking tea or are taken in pill form or, in certain cases, may be applied directly to the skin. The herbs are a combination of dried roots, twigs, bark, leaves, seeds, fruit and flowers. Most come from plants indigenous to China, though some can also be found in North America. Many are specially prepared to enhance their properties or to have greater affect on a specific organ.
Remedial Massage Therapy
Used for both relaxation and treatment for pain, also helpful for fertility issues and more.
Iontophoresis is a method for delivering herbal medicine trans dermal. Can be used for a wide variety of musculoskeletal disorders, as well as reducing inflation, for planter falsities, bursts, tendentious, arthritis, as well as patients who have had joint replacement to help with circulation, and prevent of scar tissue. It is also good for women who have chronic yeast infections and female health problems.
Fire Dagon Therapy with Herbal Paste
Fire Dagon Therapy with Herbal Paste is good for those who are always cold, have chronic, stress related illness, joint inflammation and pain, arthritis, female health issues such as menstrual cramps, irregular periods, and infertility. Fire Dagon Therapy is also used for people suffering from severe diarrhea.
Asthma/Immunity/Breathing Issues
Know of someone who is always cold, even in the summer time? Or know someone who has a constant runny nose, sinus issues or gets sick quite often? Know of someone (even children) who have breathing issue or asthma? People who have lowered immunity those who need help with bronchitis or sinus. While anytime during the year is good to start to tackle these issues, the summer time is the best. Dr. Lin Liu has a herbal paste treatment that can help, administered during the three of four hottest days during the summer (dates and prices vary each year). Call our office and we can answer any questions you may have.
Chinese Massage (Tui Na)
Tui Na is probably the oldest system of bodywork still practiced and yet its popularity continues to grow. It is the most tried and tested hands-on therapy in the world. It is a very vigorous massage; every technique involves both movement and pressure. Besides just working the soft tissues and joints, the practitioner focuses on the meridians and Qi (energy) points to remove blockages to the flow of Qi. Tui Na not only treats chronic pain (especially that which is caused by muscle-skeletal conditions and injuries) but improves the overall Qi status of the body, helping to relieve other conditions like headaches, migraines, IBS, constipation, PMS and a whole range of emotional problems.
CranioSacral Therapy
CranioSacral Therapy uses a light, focused touch to optimize the body’s “cranial wave”, the wave-like motion of cerebral-spinal fluid which circulates inside the dural membrane containing the brain and spinal cord. Distorted cranial wave motion can consume or divert energy leading to many problems. CranioSacral Therapy can effectively treat headache, migraine, neck and lower back pain, ADD/ADHD, whiplash, vertigo, tinnitus and recurrent middle ear infections, TMJ dysfunction and mental disturbances such as depression and anxiety.
Acupressure is one of the manipulations used in Chinese massage which works the acupoints, following the same principles as acupuncture but using the hands to work the points as opposed to needles.
The health of the body is reflected in the face; many of the acupuncture meridians run through the face and head. Acufacials can help with acne, freckles and wrinkles, as well as improving skin tone and circulation to the face. First, Helen cleans the face with a cream. Next, she massages the face. She then does Gua Sha on the face, a technique very popular in China right now. She finishes with a special mask she prepares using all natural ingredients like green tea.
Facelift Acupuncture
Best when used in combination with our regular acufacial treatment, needles are placed on the face and head to increase the circulation of blood and energy to the face. Facelift acupuncture improves the luster and tone of the skin and reduces the prominence of wrinkles. Not only will you get the glow back in your face but you will also be improving your overall health.
Ear Candling
Ear candling is an ancient technique for safely cleaning the ear. The base of a special hollow beeswax candle is inserted into the ear. The opposite end of the candle is lit, creating a gentle vacuum, which pulls built-up earwax into the shaft of the candle. It can provide great relief for people who suffer from chronic ear infections, balance problems, sinus congestion and headaches, or for people who have difficulty with their ears during air travel. Ear candling can easily be done on children as well.
In use for nearly 3000 years, cupping can treat everything from chronic back pain to asthma or the common cold. The traditional and most effective technique is that of fire cupping. Suction is created in the cups by quickly placing fire inside before they are applied to the skin. The suction stimulates the flow of blood and qi, draws out impurities, alleviates pain and reduces swelling and illness.
Gua Sha
This ancient treatment is commonly used to treat pain and acute or chronic disorders but can also treat and prevent the common cold, flu, bronchitis, asthma and congestion of Qi (energy) and blood. Oil is applied to lubricate the skin and then it is rubbed with a rounded piece of horn. If there is blood stasis, marks will appear on the skin which usually fade in two to four days. Gua sha is usually applied to the back, neck, shoulders and limbs. It improves circulation and normalizes metabolic processes. When applied to the face as part of our acufacial treatment, the gentle pressure causes no marks to appear. It improves circulation and the appearance of wrinkles and freckles, and also reduces blood vessel obstruction and extracts toxins.
Reiki is a Japnese energy healing technique that promotes relaxation and stress reduction. Reiki is a non-manipulative, “hands-on” technique that maximizes on individual’s innate healing potential.
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Date of Graduation
Spring 2016
Document Type
Honors Research Project
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Biomedical Engineering - Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering
Research Sponsor
Dr. James Keszenheimer
First Reader
Dr. Lawrence Noble
Second Reader
Dr. Mary Verstraete
Computerized tomography (CT) scans are a common clinical imaging procedure used worldwide. Operating in the X-Ray spectrum, these machines rotate scanners around a stationary body in order to compile two-dimensional images into a unified three-dimensional image. With adjustment to scan frequency and intensity, internal features such as muscles, organs, and tendons can easily be viewed. However, the heart has long evaded CT use due to its near-constant motion. Recently, cardiac-gated scans have entered the market as a technique to image the heart at a specific moment in time when it is nearly still - the quiescent period. Occurring during rapid depolarization of the ventricles, the stationary heart is briefly imaged until the next cycle occurs and quiescence re-emerges. Cardiac-gated imaging requires an electrogardiography (ECG) input from the heart in order to coordinate with the movements of the CT scanner. A software application was developed for FMI Medical Systems to integrate a pre-existing CT scanner with an ECG. The software was responsible for reading a raw ECG input from a system network port, analyzing the signal, and triggering the CT to scan during the quiescent period of the heart. This required the code to interface with the ECG and the CT, which were both simulated for testing and demonstration purposes. The complexity of software design was approached by an iterative process, where portions of code were developed to meet specific customer and engineering requirements. The final code will be used by FMI to bring cardiac-gated functionality to their CT scanners.
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Exercise and Osteoarthritis
If there is pain, don’t do it right? Well yes and no. It’s not ideal to push through the pain, you are likely to cause more damage and further degeneration. However, becoming suddenly sedentary isn’t the best idea either. Exercise is really important to improve joint range of motion and to strengthen the muscles around the joints. Think about it, if you have little of no cartilage, the shock absorption is no longer there. You also likely have a lot of pain and inflammation.
Strengthening the muscles around the knee, will in effect help to pull the two surfaces away from each other, supporting the joint more and significantly reducing pain. Exercise that strengthen the quadriceps are ideal for this. Gentle exercise such as walking and swimming are great for joint range of motion, but don’t go out for a jog or some high impact aerobics. It’s likely to cause you a lot of pain! Anything where you are putting a lot of repetitive stress through the affected joint is only going to make things worse.
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How to Prevent a Cold by Brushing
Prevent a Cold by Brushing
Everyone knows that practicing good hygiene is crucial to staying healthy. Simple acts like washing your hands frequently can prevent the spread of bacteria, which is especially important during flu season. Oral health is the same. By simply making sure to brush your teeth and floss every day, you can have an overall healthier lifestyle.
Cleaning the Mouth
The mouth is one of the most contaminated parts of the body, housing hundreds of types of bacteria. Most are harmless, and some might even be beneficial, but the occasional malicious cold-causing bugs that wreak havoc on your immune system can most easily enter your bloodstream through the mouth. This is why brushing your teeth can be so important. It means that not only are your teeth protected from cavities, but also that you’re safe from any potential disease-causing bacteria.
Brushing Away Sickness
Brushing your teeth can be an effective way to get rid of some of the more irritating parts of recovering from a cold. Some medicinal syrups and cough drops can make your mouth feel sticky or leave a particularly pervasive bad breath. Constant brushing can get rid of these annoyances while protecting our teeth from the sugary tastes added to medicines to make them taste better.
Additionally, the stuffy noses that commonly accompany colds can cause your teeth and gums to dry out as a result of mouth breathing. Just like staying hydrated is key to replenish all the lost moisture, brushing makes sure that all the bacteria that might be sticking as a result of mouth breathing is fully gone.
Even if you don’t experience these symptoms, however, remembering to brush while sick is still important, if only to make sure your teeth stay healthy while you recuperate. Illness is not an excuse to stop brushing. If anything, it’s a reason to continue doggedly to make sure you don’t have oral problems in the future.
Having a consistent schedule for brushing and flossing also helps you set good practices for maintaining overall health. Knowing how to be stringent when it comes to your teeth means that it would be easier to have healthy guidelines for other aspects of your life (for example in setting nutritional goals).
Of course, consistently visiting a dentist also helps make sure that your teeth stay clean and healthy. During regular check-ups, dentists can make sure your teeth have no underlying issues while their assistants thoroughly get rid of any plaque that brushing couldn’t get rid of. Call Dr. Karen Gordon at (954) 983-9004 to set up an appointment to talk about our teeth today!
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Small animal tracking
The Institute of Zoology and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species [PTES] are looking for partners to help them track dormice, poolfrogs and other small animals that they are reintroducing into the wild. The aim is to establish their habits and health to ensure that these conservation programs are successful. This is technologically challenging, particularly due to the weight restrictions (0.5-2g) and size restrictions on tags used, and the longevity of the study (several years). If you think you can contribute please contact us.
The hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) is a small nocturnal rodent that lives in mixed broad-leaved woodland, hedgerows and orchids. Although the global conservation status of dormice is of least concern (IUCN 3.1), in Britain, they are declining in population and are at risk of extinction. Consequently, the hazel dormouse has been made a priority species under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, and so steps are being taken to preserve their habitats and safeguard their survival.
Dormice thrive in older woodlands with an understory linked by hedgerows. Maintaining and managing these habitats will be essential. However, other work will need to be done to ensure the survival of dormouse populations.
As dormice are slow breeders and poor dispersers, captive breeding programmes for reintroduction and supplementation of wild populations will be necessary to help the dormouse rebound. However, reintroduction efforts must be tested and monitored. But how can this be done? Dormice are cryptic creatures. They are nocturnal, good at hiding, and hard to capture. How can we know whether released animals are surviving and breeding?
Tracking animals is not a new thing. Indeed GPS and radio tracker collars have been around for some time, however these cumbersome devices require big battery packs, and so can only be used on larger animals. Designing a tracking system for a 20g critter presents a whole range of problems. The requirements relating to tracker size, power duration and weight make this a very challenging project requiring new innovation and cutting-edge technology.
DEFRA Dormouse Report
Dormice breed successfully in the wild
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9 Cards in this Set
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How many years was Dr. Manette imprisoned?
almost 18 years
The Mender of the Roads later becam known as who?
The Wood Sawyer
Who were the "Hundreds of People" Miss Pross was referring to?
The men that liked Lucie bt who she thought were not good enough for her. Although the only people that came to the house were Carton and Darnay.
Why did Madame Defarge hate the Evremondes so much?
Because it was the Evremondes who had raped her sister sister and killed her brother and she was the only one of her family left.
Why did Dickens start the novel with "The Period"?
to introduce the setting and the problems that were going on in England and France at the time and to foreshadow the revolution.
What did Carton promise Lucie? What did this foreshadow?
Carton promised Lucie that he would sacrifice his life for Lucie and anyone dear to her. This foreshadowed that something was going to happen to Darnay when he left for Frnace.
Why did Mr. Lorry ask Dr. Manette's opinion as to why "someone" would have a relapse?
He didn't want to surprise Dr. Manette, or get him upset and since he was a doctor, he thought he could explain it. It was in indirect way of telling Dr. Manette that he had relapsed.
What Character is compared to a jackel and why?
Carton because he works with Stryver and although Carton does all the work, Stryver gets all the credit like a jackel who kills its prey but has to wait for another animal to eat it first.
Explain the symbolism of the footsteps Lucie tends to hear sometimes.
She imagines these footsteps as a foreshadow of people that will soon enter their lives.
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Самые маленькие в мире «автономные автомобили»
Tech today 37 views 0
Самые маленькие в мире «автономные автомобили»
The smallest in the world "autonomous cars" – science news on Hi-News.ru
Self-governing cars are becoming increasingly denser in our lives, but scientists from the Harbin Institute of Technology (China) and the University of California (USA) apply developments in the automotive field to create autonomous nanorobots that will be able to "travel" by themselves, relying on analogues of technologies that already exist in the automotive industry.
The new "micromachines" have spherical micromotors measuring 5 micrometers, and when making short movements, they can independently pass a labyrinth of any shape. In fact, such "cars" have a great future in the field of biomedicine, where they can be used as capsules for targeted delivery of medicines, fight against tumor processes, act as diagnostic tools, and so on. According to lead specialist Longhue Lee,
"We connected the AI technology to the microbots. Due to this, the vehicle is able to navigate and maneuver in a complex and dynamically changing environment. Our tiny "robot cars" are able to move independently, avoiding collisions with obstacles and with each other. Previously, closed-loop systems were used to control microscopic vehicles. Our system allows us to conduct a micromachine through an environment that can change at any time and in which other microbots may appear. "
At the moment, the navigation is carried out as follows: the data of the main camera of the microscope comes in a kind of "navigational processor" that calculates the "displacement map". This card enters the scheduler program based on artificial intelligence, and it already compiles a list of possible ways of moving. After this, the choice of the optimal and shortest path is made, and the generator of the magnetic field forms a sequence of commands that cause motion.
"We plan to apply our technologies in the field of creating microbots for medical purposes and for manipulating nanoscale objects. Now we need to develop more sophisticated robot micro machines and a more sophisticated control system that will allow us to implement such functions as emergency braking, cruise control and a number of other important elements. "
The smallest "autonomous cars" in the world
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Terrorist Attack on World Trade Center
A tremendous number of lives is lost as the Twin Towers collapse. Terrorists had hijacked airplanes and steered them into the towers.
The second plane crashes into the World Trade Center. (picture taken from television)
The twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York collapsed after a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. Two hijacked planes crashed into the twin towers early Tuesday morning.
One hour and fifteen minutes after the initial impact, one of the towers fell in a huge cloud of smoke and fire. Only half an hour later later, the other one also caved in. According to New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, a "tremendous number of lives" were lost.
The two 110-story towers were part of the largest commercial complex in the world. Thousands of people had already begun work in the many offices housed in World Trade Center when the first plane hit the south tower at about 8:45 a.m. local time. The second plane flew into the other tower some 18 minutes later.
The crashes caused huge explosions and opened a gaping hole near the top of the south tower. Fire broke out in the upper parts of both towers. Billowing clouds of black smoke could be seen over Manhattan.
One plane belonged to the US carrier American Airlines, the other to United Airlines. They both had been hijacked and were deliberately flown into the World Trade Center. Both planes had departed in Boston with destination Los Angeles. 148 people died in these two airplanes alone.
After the planes hit the buildings, people were desperately trying to escape from the towers. Some jumped to the street from shattered office windows. A fleet of ambulances carried injured people away from the scene. Local hospitals made urgent appeals for blood.
Horrendous Losses
When the first tower collapsed, a reporter on the scene observed: "People were hysterical, saying 'We're going to die.' A huge cloud of smoke and dust came up the avenue, looking like it was going to engulf everybody..."
After the second tower had also fallen, the whole of lower Manhattan was coated with half an inch (one centimeter) of dust.
After the attack, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani ordered an evacuation of the lower part of Manhattan. "I would like to take this opportunity to tell everyone to remain calm and to the extent that they can, evacuate Lower Manhattan," Giuliani told a local broadcaster. He said that there had been no warning for the attacks.
The World Trade Center had once before been the scene of a terrorist attack: in February 1993, a car bomb attack killed six people, injured hundreds and caused $300 million in damage. Twelve people were tried for conspiracy that also involved a plot to bomb other high profile structures in New York. Among them were the United Nations, the FBI Building and the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels leading into Manhattan from New Jersey under the Hudson River.
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Graphic Design in the Big Apple
Yale University School
This situation It began to change in 1963. Gerhard Baule and Richard McFee, Department of electrical engineering, Syracuse University, Syracuse NY, detected the field biomagnetic projected by the human heart using two electromagnets turns of thread 2 million each, connected to a very sensitive amplifier. In 1970, David Cohen of MIT, using SQUID magnetometer, confirmed the results concerning heart. In 1972, Cohen, had improved the sensitivity of his apparatus, allowing him to measure the magnetic fields produced by the activity of the brain, around the head. Then it was discovered that all tissues and organs produce specific magnetic pulses, which are now known under the name of biomagneticos fields. Traditional ones such as the electrocardiogram and electroencephalogram tests, are now completed by exams biomagneticos named mcg and magnetoencephalography.
For various reasons, the study of the magnetic field around the body, gives indications more accurate about the physiology and pathology than the study of the electric field. In their brief added us, that in 20-30 years, Harold Saxon Burr, an eminent researcher of the Yale University School of medicine, suggested that the diseases in the energy body can be detected until symptoms appeared. He was also convinced that could prevent diseases by altering the energy field. These concepts, which then seemed too premature, are today confirmed by laboratories of medical research around the world. Scientists using appliances SQUID to make letters of disturbances of the magnetic field around the body due to diseases. Others, applied pulsed magnetic fields to stimulate healing. We are also reminded about another aspect in which we have investigated long ago in relation to the magnetic fields emanating from the body, fields that we perceive through Kirlian photography in order to determine and understand what has been called as the aura of people. Called Kirlian electrophotography system uses an electronic system to produce a high potential in high-frequency, but low-intensity, so the patient won’t feel rather than cosquilla a slight in the fingertips and in some cases absolutely nothing.
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Patterns of Dissimilarities Among Instrument Models in Measuring Po2, Pco2, and pH in Blood Gas Laboratories: Usefulness of Graphic Displays
24 Apr
Our initial analysis strategy involved seeking differences in the mean values produced by a number of instruments of a given model across a range of analyte values utilizing ANOVA. However, we found this strategy failed to detect many appreciable differences. Specifically, when two models exhibit a “crossover” pattern of mean model values as a function of the analyte values, ANOVA may fail to detect a significant difference, because consistently positive differences over half of the analyte range cancel out consistently negative differences over the other half. Therefore, we supplemented our statistical analyses with graphic analyses.
When a crossover pattern was visualized graphically, the portion of the data sets where the divergences were seen eg, the upper or lower portion) was used for a second ANOVA. This often statistically confirmed the visually apparent differences between models. This analysis strategy increased the incidence of statistically significant model differences from 65% (100/153) to 75% (115/153). Although we have presented mean differences from the full range of values in the “Results” section, it is clear that such comparisons may sometimes minimize real model differences in one portion of the analyte range, as noted in Table 3 and seen in Figs 4-6.
Limitations and Advantages
Do data analyses based on FCE ampules measured in a proficiency testing survey validly reflect model differences for blood that might be reflected in clinical practice? Currently no proficiency testing material available for shipment is equivalent to freshly tonometered fresh human blood (see below). Another possible disadvantage is that the measurements are made by hundreds of technicians with differing experience and training using hundreds of different instruments. As previously noted/ laboratories with better quality control, more equipment, more frequent analyses, and dedicated personnel are likely to have less imprecision and less inaccuracy in their analyses. Advantages of using this database are as follows: it is unlikely that the distribution of any one model of analyzer is concentrated at high or low altitudes or “better” or poorer” laboratories; the differences between technician practices tend to cancel out when a large number of technicians are used; a large amount of data can be collected and analyzed uniformly; the inherent differences between models tend to be more evident when large numbers of analyses are made; ; it is unlikely that any single site would have this diversity of operating analyzer models available at any one time; and the infectious problems associated with the handling of large quantities of blood are avoided. Certainly, the finding of consistent deviations between models using any single type of proficiency testing material is strong evidence that the models actually differ in some way from each other.
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What are the Risk Factors for Childhood and Adolescent Depression?
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What are the Risk Factors for Childhood and Adolescent Depression? PS51010a Extended Essay Name: Jackie Tilston Date: 30 March 2001 Popular psychology tends to blame childhood and adolescent depression on factors such as experience of divorce. In reality however the risk factors for depression across these ages are much more complicated. There are many perspectives that have been used to address childhood and adolescent depression, including developmental, psychobiological, and psychodynamic approaches. There are therefore a number of different levels of explanation and many specific explanations within each level. Although not all explanations can be discussed here, it is the aim of this essay to extract as many of the risk factors as possible that overlap at least one of these levels. To arrive at as full a description as possible it is necessary to ask why it is useful to analyse what causes depression in children and adolescents, both theoretically and practically. It is then necessary to, firstly, examine what is meant by depression generally and, secondly, to briefly analyse what the differences are between adult depression and depression in young people, before providing a short description of the parameters of childhood and adolescence. The risk factors or causes of depression within these parameters will then be described, including gender, hormones, genetic contributions, stress, attachment issues and maternal depression. It should be noted that space does not permit an exhaustive analysis of all risk factors, rather the most salient causes have been extracted. Finally, an attempt will be made to answer the question of whether there are any implications of risk factors for treatment. One theoretical reason why it is useful to analyse what causes depression is because up until recently it was not uncommon for papers on childhood and adolescent depression to come from only one perspective of psychology and for this to have detrimental implications. For example, the orthodox psychoanalytic perspective was taken and then that theory applied to the likelihood and characteristics of depression in children of different ages (Cicchetti & Schneider-Rosen, 1986). ...read more.
The general pattern of adult hormone hypersecretion does however appear to be generally to mirrored in adolescents (e.g. Robins et al., 1982; in Puig-Antich, 1986) as the Goodyer et al. (2000) study replicates. Prepubertal children on the other hand show very low levels of cortisol hypersecretion related to depression (Puig-Antich et al., unpublished data, 1979; in Puig-Antich, 1986). Although there is not enough evidence to suggest that hypersecretion of hormones actually causes depression, the evidence does suggest that the cortisol secretion may predict onset of major depression in adolescents. Neurobiology is another perspective from which studies looking at childhood depression are beginning to emanate from. It has been suggested that stress in early childhood might produce changes in the brain (Kaufman et al., 2000). Kaufman et al. (2000) have reviewed the connections between stress and changes in neurobiology, finding that preclinical studies have shown that early stress can alter the development of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, hypothalamic and extrahypothalamic corticotrophin releasing hormone, monoaminergic, and gamma-aminobutyric acid / benzodiazepine systems (these systems relate to the previous point made about hormone hypersecretion in relation to childhood depression). Forms of stress will be discussed below, however one source of stress, child abuse, is associated with higher rates of depression - this association seems like soon having a concrete biological basis. As Kaufman et al. (2000; p. 778) suggests: "More research is needed to understand how inherent factors interact with experiences of abuse and other psychosocial factors to confer vulnerability to develop depression". Methods of genetic research into the etiology of depression include family studies, twin studies, adoption studies and more recently molecular genetics. Family studies involve studying a proband and his or her family to identify heritability of a disorder. One such study found depression in first-degree relatives of between 7 and 30% - much higher than in the general population (Gherson, 1990; in Hammen, 1997). Another study, consisting of 900 patients and controls, found major depression in 10.4% of first-degree relatives of depressed patients, compared with 4.9% for controls (Winokur et al., 1995; in Hammen, 1997). ...read more.
stated that in practice, many services contribute to child mental health "by direct support or by alleviating risk factors". This is a clear statement regarding the connection between risk factors and treatment: clearly risk factors need to be identified before any form of prevention (for example, child and parent befriending schemes) can be undertaken. It is easy to see how stressors, as described above, could be identified. Puig-Antich (1986, p.347) takes this connection further to suggest: "... it is conceivable that onset in childhood rather than in adult life of depressive illness may have serious implications for etiology, pathogenesis, course, and treatment". Throughout the literature on childhood and adolescent depression connections have been made between etiology, identification of symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment (e.g. the Weinberg et al. [1978; in Poznanski, 1979] study - diagnostic criteria for identifying childhood depression - was in fact used to describe the efficacy of treatment). It is imperative that an interdisciplinary study is done with the specific aim of establishing links between risk factors and treatment for depression in children and adolescents. One of the main themes throughout this essay is well-summed up by the following quote: "Some of the most interesting connections between early risk factors and later psychological adjustment, connections of prime importance to prevention, cross domains" (Reiss & Neiderhiser, 2000, p. 357). Perhaps the most important conclusion to be made from a study of the risk factors for depression in children and adolescents is that these risk factors interact and it would be a rare occurrence where a cause could be identified as a sole, discrete reason for a young person becoming depressed. Interactions exist, for example, between gender and social class and between genetics and maternal depression. Despite an overlapping etiology for depression, some extent of identification of cause should be helpful for deciding on which prevention measures or treatments or combinations of treatment would best benefit the at-risk child or teenager, and for developing more appropriate diagnostic tools for children and adolescents specifically. ...read more.
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Dante Club
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The novel The Dante Club, written by Matthew Pearl, begins with John Kurtz, Chief of the Boston police, investigating a murder that occurred in 1865. The man murdered was Artemus Prescott Healey, who was the highest official of the Massachusetts courts. Healey's body was found naked and covered with insects and maggots on a sandy beach next to his property. His chambermaid insisted that he was still alive when she found him days later, and that he cried out before dying. Then Pearl introduces us to James T. Fields who is the publisher of poets and the head of Ticknor and Fields Co. He is the most successful publisher in America. Henry Longfellow, James Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, George Washington Greene, are authors and poets, who work for James T. Fields and they are all part of the Dante Club. They are in the process of completing the first American translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy. This is an epic poem that tells a story by Dante Alighieri in the early 1300s. It is known to be one of the greatest works in the world. The project of translating the Divine Comedy from Italian to English is not accepted by Augustus Manning, treasurer of the Harvard Cooperation, who came to see Fields and told him that he doesn’t want him to publish the translation. He informs him that if he did go ahead and publish the poem, the university would cancel all contracts with his publishing company. According to Fields, the university fears that the poem might ruin the reputation of the university. A week later, Reverand Talbot was found dead. The body had been buried upside down in the ground and the victim’s feet were lit on fire. Dr. Holmes recognized that the way the victim was killed was similar to the way preachers were punished in Dante’s poem. Later, Phinneas Jennison, a wealthy contributor to the Harvard Corporation and a friend of the Dante Club was found sliced open exactly down the middle and killed in the same way as people in Dante's Inferno. The...
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Treasures from Ethiopia
The collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum include a number of Ethiopian objects and images. Many of these are associated with a British military expedition undertaken to Ethiopia (then known as Abyssinia) in 1867-68, which ended with the ransacking of the Ethiopian Emperor's fortress at Magdala. Not all of the objects, however, are straightforward products of plunder. Indeed, the stories behind the acquisition of the photographs, textiles, jewellery, religious and other artefacts held by the V&A reveal a complex web of people, places and politics brought together by conflict. This article presents the stories which lie behind some of these objects and contrasts the personal experiences of those caught up in the conflict with the way in which the 'Abyssinian Expedition' was presented to the British public. This article highlights just some of the objects and images associated with the Expedition which can be found in the V&A's collections.
Julia Margaret Cameron, 'Dejatch Alamayou', photograph of Prince Alamayou, 1868. Museum no. 24-1939
Personal histories
The Ethiopian Prince Alamayou was one of the casualties of the conflict. He is pictured (on the right), aged seven, in a photograph taken by Julia Margaret Cameron after he had been brought to England following the death of his parents. Alamayou's sad story was reported in the British press and attracted the sympathy of many, including Queen Victoria who arranged for the state funding of his education. He was popularly cast as a romantic and melancholy figure, as is apparent in Cameron's photograph. Alamayou's death of pleurisy at the age of 18 was described by the Queen as 'too sad'. His image appears in four places in the V&A's collections; in the Cameron photograph, on two cartes de visite and in a photograph pasted into a family album.
Alamayou's guardian in England was a British army officer and colonial official, Captain Tristram Charles Sawyer Speedy. Speedy was well-acquainted with the Prince's homeland having travelled to Ethiopia in 1860 to assist his father, the Emperor Tewodros II (Theodore), with military training. Whilst there Speedy developed a strong affinity with the Ethiopian people; he learned to speak Amharic and adopted native dress. In 1868 he returned to serve as civilian interpreter to the British expedition. Back in England, the six foot five, red haired and bearded Captain made an unlikely but affectionate guardian figure to the slight Prince.
Julia Margaret Cameron, 'Spear or spare', Báshá Félíka, photograph of Captain Speedy, 1868. Museum no. 19-1939
Speedy appears in a photograph by Cameron in the V&A's collections. Wearing Ethiopian dress, he stands over a reclined unidentified African man, with a spear in his hand, apparently playing out a fantasy of conquest (the photograph has been titled 'Spear or spare'). The mount carries the handwritten caption 'Báshá Félíka' meaning 'speedy'; the Amharic name given to Speedy by Tewodros. Speedy's relationship with the Ethiopian people is also reflected in a small collection of objects given to the Museum by his goddaughter in 1936. Unfortunately the stories behind how he acquired the engraved silver and iron handcrosses, silver anklets, hairpin and ornament have not been recorded although it is possible the objects may have royal connections. Further items formerly in the collection of Speedy are held by the British Museum.
Speedy was not the only European to make the acquaintance of the Ethiopian Emperor. In the years before the Expedition Tewodros had been an admirer of Europe and its technologies, particularly those used in the manufacture of arms. He had formed close associations with the British traveller John Bell, who visited Ethiopia in the early 1840s, and Walter Plowden, the first British consul to Ethiopia, who arrived in 1848. However, by the 1860s Tewodros had become frustrated by a lack of support from Europe for his campaigns against Turkish expansion on the Red Coast. In 1864, in an attempt to prompt the British and French governments into action, he took a number of Europeans hostage including the second British consul, Captain Cameron. Queen Victoria sent a letter to Tewodros seeking their release but her envoy, the civil servant Hormuzd Rassam, was also captured. Following parliamentary debate, Britain began to plan a punitive military expedition. Under the leadership of General Sir Robert Napier, in 1868 the expedition marched to Tewodros's fortress at Maqdala and a brief battle took place nearby. Britain won the conflict, but not before the captives were released and Tewodros himself had committed suicide.
Woman's dress formerly in the possession of Queen Woyzaro Terunesh, 1860s. Museum no. 399-1869
Tewodros's suicide on the eve of the storming of his fortress left a widow, Queen Woyzaro Terunesh. She requested that her son, Prince Alamayou, and she be escorted by British forces to her native province of Semyen, in northwest Tigray. However, as the party reached Haiq Hallet on 15 May 1868, the Queen died, apparently of lung disease. A report in the British press described 'Her funeral [which] took place next morning in the great church at Chelicut … The women of her household, showing her robe, her ornaments, her slippers and her drinking cup, beat their breasts, tore their hair, and scratched their cheeks, shedding tears of real grief as they bewailed her death' (Illustrated London News, 1868). The Queen's possessions, which were listed by the British political agent at Aden (Yemen), were sent on by ship to the Secretary of State for India at the India Office, London. They were given to the South Kensington Museum (later V&A) in 1869 and included two cotton robes lavishly embellished with silk embroidery; a shawl; silver bracelets, anklets and rings; two 'amulet' necklaces of leather, silver and amber and a silver hair pin with decorative finial.
The Queen's possessions, the collection of Ethiopian objects formed by Captain Speedy and the photographs of Speedy and Prince Alamayou, provide a tangible link to people whose experiences of the conflict in Ethiopia strayed from the official narrative. In the British public sphere, however, these disparate experiences were written over by a unified and triumphant tale of conquest. The second part of this article reflects on the public presentation of the Abyssinian Expedition.
Public narratives
Given the great complexity and expense of the Abyssinian Expedition, which involved more than 13,000 men, 30,000 animals and a journey of some 400 miles, it was necessary to engage the support of the British public. This was largely achieved through recounting a patriotic tale of a great imperial power overcoming a hostile territory and 'barbarian potentate'. Significantly, the expedition was one of Britain's earliest military operations to be captured via the relatively new science of photography. Two sets of photographic stores and equipment were sent from England by the Royal Engineers' Establishment and used to record the landscapes, camp scenes and leading individuals associated with the expedition.
The V&A's collections include at least seven photographs taken by the Royal Engineers from a series of 78. Three of these are panoramas, painstakingly formed by pasting together three photographs. One records the expedition camp at Zoola (Zula). Taken from a high vantage point, it captures the huge amount of equipment and technology required for such an expedition. Feats of engineering were a particular focus for visual record and the Zoola image includes part of a British-built railway line which ran ten and a half miles inland. Another photograph in the series presents a view up the Sooroo Pass, or 'Devil's Staircase' as the Assistant Field Engineer charged with forging a path through it, is said to have called it. It took four companies three months to construct a ten-foot-wide cart road up the pass.
Images such as these were disseminated through official and unofficial reports, museum displays and the British press as evidence of Britain's military and technological powers. The Illustrated London News published numerous engravings of the Expedition. Some were based on the Royal Engineers' photographs, others on sketches made by the newspaper's Special Artist in the field, William Simpson. The V&A holds two Ethiopian handcrosses which were donated to the Museum by Simpson's wife following his death. Both carry the inscription 'Abyssinian Cross 1868 William Simpson' and presumably fulfilled a function somewhere between medal and souvenir.
Military personnel involved in the Expedition were encouraged to make drawings and reports. On the orders of the Secretary of State for War, Major Trevenen James Holland wrote the only official account of the expedition with a military colleague, Sir Henry Montague Hozier. Record of the Expedition to Abyssinia was published in two volumes in 1870. Holland may be the vendor of several Ethiopian items to the South Kensington Museum in April 1869 including a pair of silver anklets, a 'Galla' (Oromo) necklace, a pair of earrings and two processional crosses.
Crown, Ethiopia, 1740. Museum no. M.27-2005
Crown, Ethiopia, 1740. Museum no. M.27-2005. Gold alloyed with silver and copper with filigree work, glass beads, pigment and gilded copper.
Following the defeat of Abyssinian troops, British forces entered the Magdala fortress with the aim of collecting anything of value to be later auctioned off to raise money for the troops. They were accompanied by Richard Holmes, an assistant in the department of manuscripts at the British Museum, who removed a number of objects - manuscripts, regalia, religious antiquities and other material - from the imperial treasury and from the Church of the Saviour of the World. Holmes also made a sketch of the face of the dead Ethiopian emperor, which was reproduced in the British press and in popular print formats such as carte de visite. A golden crown and chalice initially acquired by Holmes from a soldier were deposited with the South Kensington Museum by H.M. Treasury in 1872. Recent scholarship has suggested that they were commissioned by Empress Mentewwab for a church she founded in Gondar in 1740. Today these items can be seen on display at the Museum, in a gallery which highlights the role of precious vessels of gold and silver in religious rites and ceremonies.
Today, the Abyssinian items are valued for their beauty, craft and religious significance but an 1868 display at the South Kensington Museum entitled 'Abyssinian objects from the Emperor Theodore, Lent by the Queen, the Admiralty and others' was clearly intended to celebrate an imperial conquest. No list of exhibits survives but an essayist in the Gentleman's Magazine described the display as a 'show-case full of victorious trophies, "spolia opima" of our late enemy, his Majesty King Theodore'. Another noted the inclusion of a portrait of the dead Emperor's head, presumably based on Holmes' sketch. Even 20 years later a Guide to the South Kensington Museum noted that 'vestments and garments' on display had been 'captured during the Abyssinian campaign under Lord Napier of Magdala'.
The objects and images described in this article, then, have fulfilled many different functions - religious, ceremonial, decorative, documentary and political - and their current home at the V&A represents one stopping-off point on a turbulent historical journey. In the 21st century, as in the 19th, they make a conflict distant to us in time and place more tangible and immediate. The material also challenges the idea that the 'Abyssinian Expedition' was a clear-cut clash between 'them' and 'us' and provides an unsettling reminder of the imperial processes which enabled British museums to acquire the cultural assets of others.
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UW News
November 14, 2002
Understanding hormones that regulate body weight
A baseball pitcher warming up in the bullpen, an actress’ understudy and an airplane copilot, are all back-ups capable of performing an essential function when needed. In human physiology, many of the body’s vital functions have at least one back-up system.
Dr. Michael Schwartz, professor of medicine and head of the Section of Clinical Nutrition in the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition, and his colleagues are working to identify brain pathways that respond to two different hormones — leptin and insulin — that inform the brain biochemically about how much fat is in the body.
“Both leptin and insulin are produced in proportion to body fat mass,” says Schwartz. “Leptin is produced by fat cells and insulin by the pancreas. Although insulin is better known for its role in the control of blood sugar, both hormones signal the brain regarding the sufficiency of body fat content. When people lose weight, falling levels of these hormones stimulate appetite and promote the recovery of lost weight.”
Because of these adaptive responses, it is difficult for people to stick to a diet and keep weight off. The feelings of hunger dieters experience are likely due, at least in part, to reduced insulin and leptin signals. Conversely, when normal people overeat, an increase of leptin and insulin signaling in the brain helps them to eat less and lose the excess weight.
“Leptin sends a signal into brain cells that modifies their function,” says Schwartz. “Over the past couple of years, we have begun to focus on the nature of that cellular signal and its relationship to how these brain cells respond to insulin. Although receptors for leptin and insulin are quite different, we think that both hormones activate the same biochemical pathway in specific subsets of neurons that control food intake.”
In obese people, more leptin and insulin are produced and yet food consumption is typically normal or increased, suggesting that they may be leptin-resistant. The leptin-sensing regions of the brain are not responding appropriately to the leptin signal and this allows for an elevated level of body fat to be maintained and defended.
“We need to clearly understand exactly what these hormones are doing in the brain if we are to understand how this signaling system becomes deranged and leads to weight gain. This might ultimately lead to the development of drugs to maintain normal body weight.”
Schwartz presents the Nov. 21 Science in Medicine lecture, “Insulin, Leptin and the Hypothalamus: Key Components of the System Controlling Food Intake and Body Weight,” from noon to 1 p.m. in room D-209,Turner Auditorium, Health Sciences Center.
Schwartz earned a M.D. in 1983 from Rush Medical College in Chicago, where he received the Nathan M. Freer Award as the Outstanding Student of the Graduating Class. He first came to the UW in 1983 as a resident in medicine, completing a fellowship in endocrinology from 1987 to 1990. Schwartz was an acting instructor at the UW and then joined the faculty as assistant professor in 1993.
Among his numerous awards he received the Young Investigator Award of the American Federation for Medical Research in 1994, the Young Faculty Award of the Western Society for Clinical Investigation in 1995 and was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 1999.
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Yoga Therapy for Eating Disorders
In the United States, anorexia nervosa and bulimia affect nearly 10 million women and one million men, primarily teens and young adults, according to conservative estimates. Often thought only as a mental disease, new research is finding that eating disorders have a physical component as well. Eating disorders are complex and potentially life-threatening conditions that arise from a combination of behavioral, emotional, psychological, interpersonal, biological, and social factors. People with eating disorders often use food and the control of food in an attempt to numb or avoid feelings and emotions that are over-whelming.
Yoga can be an effective tool to restore the imbalances in both the body and the mind that occur with eating disorders. Yoga has a profound ability to balance the emotions and has been shown to help relieve depression, anger and anxiety and to promote equanimity: a calm, clear focused mind. Yoga can also promote self-esteem and a positive body image, which play primary roles in eating disorders, through the cultivation of non-judgment, confidence, self-acceptance, openness and inner strength. Physically, a regular yoga practice can help rebuild the strength, energy and bone density that is damaged and lost with Anorexia.
Eating disorders are viewed as a dysfunction of the first chakra in the yogic energetic system. To balance this chakra, use poses that target the area of the base of the spine, such as: staff posture, bound angle, crab, full wind relieving pose, pigeon and locust. Use grounding postures such as Warrior 1 and 2, mountain, goddess, standing squat, child, and prayer squat to connect with the body, to become rooted to the earth and to build strength and courage. If depression is a strong contributing factor, backbending poses will be beneficial for their energizing, tonifying and heart opening qualities. If anxiety is a primary contributing factor, forward bends can be utilized for their calming and nurturing aspects.
When practicing yoga postures, the use of Pratyahara (inner focus) should be applied. The exterior alignment should be de-emphasized and the focus should be drawn deeply inwards to experience and explore the feeling and sensations that arise in the poses. By withdrawing attention from the external environment and by focusing inwards on the breath and sensations, the mind can be stilled and the awareness of the body increases. With this awareness and focus it is possible to move deeper into the practice of yoga and increases the ability for one to move through any limitations, fears and expectations.
Pranayama (yogic breathing exercises) are also helpful to calm the body and mind and to balance the energy in the body during the recovery stage of the disease. Nadi Sodhana Pranayama (alternate nostril breathing) is balancing, calming and reduces anxiety. Dirga Pranayama (three part breath) is calming, grounding and nurturing.
As eating disorders have a large mental component to them, the practice of meditation is very beneficial to cultivate a sense of control over life’s events and to reduce obsessive thoughts. A general meditation practice will be beneficial, but using an active and targeted meditation would be more effective. Practice any or all of the following based upon what calls you to be invoked within yourself: Inner Peace Meditation, Third Eye Meditation, Root Chakra Meditation or Prana Healing Meditation. If it becomes uncomfortable to practice with the eyes closed, have them slightly open with a soft downward gaze.
The most important aspect of healing from an eating disorder is the individual’s awareness and acceptance that there is a problem and the genuine desire for change. Unfortunately, the denial that there is a problem often does not change until the late stages of the disease when serious complications arise. Yoga’s inherent ability to promote self-awareness and self-acceptance can play a role in realizing the problem is within, although yoga is usually more readily embraced in the recovery stages of the disease.
Yoga is not a substitute for conventional medical treatment; please consult your medical professional before starting a yoga practice.
On our Membership Site: A complete list of yoga poses for Eating Disorders and a yoga therapy resource guide for Eating Disorders.
Comments 2
1. You could also start in table position on your hands and knees. Tuck the toes under and walk your hands back pressing into a squatting position with the hips on the heels. Keep the hands on the floor for balance and then work up to the other hand positions.
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key ingredient in aspirin blocks cell death from Parkinson's disease
The researchers discovered that when neurons in the brain experience oxidative stress - when the balance between the production of reactive oxygen species (free radicals) and antioxidant defences is thrown out of whack - GAPDH moves into the nucleus to increase protein turnover, and this then leads to cell death.
But when they tested the effects of salicylic acid on GAPDH, they watched as the two became bound together. This meant GAPDH could no longer pass into the nucleus of brain's neurons.
"The enzyme GAPDH, long thought to function solely in glucose metabolism, is now known to participate in intracellular signalling," said one of the team, Solomon Snyder from Johns Hopkins University. "The new study establishes that GAPDH is a target for salicylate drugs related to aspirin, and hence may be relevant to the therapeutic actions of such drugs."
The team is now continuing their investigation into the potential of salicylic acid as a wide-ranging treatment option.
Potentially therapeutic levels of SA for suppression of cell death are readily attainable since SA concentrations reaches ~140 μM (~20 mg/L) within 1 h following intake of 500 mg of aspirin [3]. Furthermore, the discovery of SA derivatives, which are 3–30 times more efficacious than SA, further supports the possibility that salicylates may be of therapeutic value in the treatment or even prevention of several widespread and devastating neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
4 Replies
• "People have this skewed impression that over-the-counter medicines are harmless," says Curtis Barr, PharmD, associate professor of pharmacy practice at the Creighton University School of Pharmacy and Health Professions in Omaha, Neb.
That goes double for daily aspirin. "People think, 'It's just baby aspirin after all,'" says Byron Cryer, MD, a spokesman for the American Gastroenterological Association. "'So how bad could it be?'"
Yet it's a potent drug, and every year low-dose aspirin helps send tens of thousands to the hospital with bleeding.
What happens if you stop taking aspirin every day?
• Low does of ibuprofen or large doses of Vitamin C (3 grams per day) have been at times recommended on the assumption PD involved some inflammatory process.
• You can get salicylic acid naturally from eating Red Grapes, Strawberries, Cucumbers, Raspberries, Tomatoes and several other natural sources. Taking 500mg of Aspirin a day would have very negative effects on your liver.
There's a product by Purity Products called "37 Strawberries", you can find it on Amazon. It gives you the equivalent salicylic acid of eating 37 strawberries, plus about 30 other fruit and vegetable concentrates, all in one pill.
• I've been looking into salvestrols and resveratrol oligmers.
The are near to patenting a synthetic version of resveratrol oligmers for cancer treatment. In the meantime you can buy it pure online.
It's the pre branch above the bunch of grapes that has concentrated lvls.
I'll be adding these to my list of antioxidants.
Glutathione, COQ10, alpha lipoid acid, bicarbonate soda, astaxanthin, Spirulina, edible clay, selenium, SAMe.
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The "Don't Swim After Eating" Rule Is A Big Fat Lie
Moms lie.
Posted on
The reasoning your Mom probably used was something to the effect of:
After eating, most of the blood in your body flows straight to your digestive system, so physical activity could result in a full body cramp that would render you incapable of staying afloat.
Sure, drowning is a leading cause of unintentional injury death worldwide.
Almost 4,000 people die from drowning annually, says the Center for Disease Control, with the highest rates seen in children under 14 (20%), men (nearly 80%), and ethnic minorities. The biggest risks for children are lack of swimming ability, lack of barriers surrounding the pool, and lack of supervision, according to the CDC.
However, an instance of drowning caused by swimming on a full stomach has never been documented, The Washington Post reports.
"In my knowledge, there is no evidence or research that looks specifically at swimming that suggests that eating before swimming is dangerous," said Dr. Kelly Pritchett, spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and former collegiate swimmer at The University of Alabama.
Pritchett drew on her own experience as a competitive swimmer, saying that she frequently ate just before events because healthy snacks and carbohydrates helped give her fuel.
Yes, exercise does divert bloodflow from the digestive system.
There is a risk of stomach cramping associated with eating before vigorous swimming because blood and oxygen are redirected to the muscles from the digestive process. Pritchett advised that less-experienced swimmers be wary of eating "too close to going into the water" because cramping could develop if the swimmer were "working at a high intensity or working hard to stay afloat."
But with regard to recreational swimming, the medical community resoundingly affirms that not nearly enough blood is redirected to compromise muscular activity.
Alcohol, on the other hand, is a huge cause of drowning, involved in up to 70% of water recreation deaths in adolescents and adults.
Flickr Creative Commons / Via Flickr: joeshlabotnik
"The two don't mix," said Pritchett, referring to the danger that alcohol-impaired judgement creates while swimming or boating.
So maybe mom's rule should be rewritten: If you don't wait 30 minutes to get into the pool after each beer, you will get a cramp ...
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How should we explain hospital statistics to the parents of potential patients? Christina Pagel and David Spiegelhalter’s website helps make sense of them
Surgeons at Great Ormond Street Hospital perform an operation.
Surgeons at Great Ormond Street Hospital perform an operation. Photograph: Antonio Olmos for the Observer
Knowing your child needs heart surgery is daunting for any parent. Being able to reassure yourself that survival rates at your child’s hospital are in line with UK’s very high standards could help ease at least some of the anxiety. But would parents know where to look and if they did find them, how easy are the statistics to understand?
But making data public can only drive accountability and improvement if it is also understandable. There are many ways to present surgical results that may make perfect sense to statisticians but are far from easy for anyone else to understand or interpret. For instance, how many people could tell you what a “Standardised Mortality Ratio” is, let alone what its (many) pitfalls and advantages are? Yet this is a key measure used to assess hospitals in the UK.
Over the past year, encouraged and funded by the National Institute of Health Research, we have both worked with the charity Sense about Science and psychologists at King’s College London and Mike Pearson, University of Cambridge, to develop a website that aims to make the information about survival statistics after children’s heart surgery available and accessible to everyone from parents to professionals and the media.
Children’s heart surgery
Children’s heart surgery is one of the most complex specialties: there is a wide range of potential problems with the heart at birth, and children with more severe heart conditions often need an operation in the very first weeks or months of life. Families of children diagnosed with a heart condition face a stressful and emotional experience.
There have been regular high-profile events involving hospitals carrying out children’s heart surgery, beginning with the Bristol Inquiry in the late 1990s, and these have been driven by data about children’s survival. But understanding survival data is not straightforward. Because children and their heart conditions are so different, one hospital could easily treat many more children with particularly complex problems in any one year compared to another hospital. This means that it is not appropriate to simply compare the percentage of children who survive at each hospital.
So what to do? We need to take into account how ill the children were that each hospital treated. Statisticians consider the percentage of children who survive to 30 days, known as the raw survival rate,. Factors that affect a child’s chance of survival include:
• the age and weight of the child (other things being equal, the bigger and stronger a child is, the safer the surgery is);
• what problem in the heart the surgery is trying to fix (some hearts have more complex problems than others);
• other health problems a child might have (e.g. a genetic syndrome);
• the complexity of the surgical procedure.
Knowing these factors for each child allows us to predict the percentage of children within a group that will survive, even though we cannot predict exactly whether individual children will survive.
Making data public can only drive accountability and improvement if it is also easy to understand.
Making data public can only drive accountability and improvement if it is also easy to understand. Photograph: Christina Pagel and David Spiegelhalter
The NHS uses a statistical formula known as PRAiS (Partial Risk Adjustment in Surgery) to combine data on these risk factors for all the children a hospital has treated over the previous three years, to give a predicted range for the overall proportion of survivors. The NHS then compares the survival rate achieved by a hospital with its own predicted range, as calculated by the formula, and acts if there is good evidence the survival rate is lower than predicted. However, although this statistical interpretation of the previous three years’ survival data is published every year by the National Congenital Heart Disease Audit, these reports are hard to find, and not necessarily accessible or understandable for everyone.
What we learned
I (Christina) was part of the team that developed the statistical formula used by the NHS and I believe that my responsibility as an academic doesn’t end with “handing over the formula”. I also have a responsibility to communicate how it works and what it can and can’t do — which is why I started a project to build a website to do just that.
Listening to parents, professionals and the media
We both wanted to do more than just explain that we cannot simply rank hospitals by their raw survival rates – we also wanted to explain how we can learn from hospital survival rates and to make it easy for people to explore the statistics in an intuitive way.
With Sense about Science’s help, we listened to parents and other users from the very start of the development process, before we put a single thing online, and this continued right up until we finalised the website. From listening and talking to users, we continually updated the content, navigation, language and look of the website. Our web expert Mike Pearson observed the workshops and was on hand to offer potential solutions to layout and navigation problems. The psychologists at King’s College London, led by Dr Tim Rakow, tested different versions of the language and layout on large groups of volunteers in a formal way to help us decide between options where there were different suggestions.
These statistics were not just numbers. They represented the fears and worries of parents whose children have had to undergo heart surgery. Parents’ stories were very moving and how they approached the statistics was very different to how professionals or the media would look at the numbers. The impact of the feedback from the workshops cannot be underestimated; it was meaningful, real and important. It resulted in a complete overhaul of the content and wording.
For example, all mentions of percentages in the site were carefully edited to become framed in terms of the proportion of children surviving, rather than dying. It also showed the necessity to highlight that the UK has extremely high survival rates after children’s heart surgery (over 97%) – among the highest in the world. Parents also told us we needed to emphasise key messages, which we then developed from their suggestions and that we needed to be clear about what the website cannot do and signpost to charity and support networks for further family resources.
A final word from Christina
I started off trying to build a website because I felt it was my responsibility, but I didn’t really know what I was doing. I still think it was my responsibility and it turns out I really didn’t know what I was doing! But, for the first time in a website like this, we’ve managed to integrate the maths (me and David) with the psychology of how people interpret charts and explanations (the King’s College team) and, most importantly through Sense about Science, with the thoughts and worries of real people.
The enthusiastic and committed response of parents and other users also confirmed the core reason for doing this - an accountable NHS is one where we can all understand how it is performing.
A final word from David
This has been a humbling and invaluable experience. I thought I knew something about communicating statistics, but sitting listening to enthusiastic users struggling to understand concepts made me realise my inadequacy. For example, we spent months trying to choose a term to describe the unavoidable unpredictability of the number of survivors in a group of children experiencing surgery: standard technical terms such as ‘random variation’ are clearly unacceptable in this context. We finally arrived at the phrase ‘unforeseeable factors’, and after appropriate testing this has been adopted.
If we want to genuinely communicate statistical evidence, I am now utterly convinced that users have to be involved from the very start. And there are so many other areas that could benefit from this approach, which might help dislodge the obsession with simplistic league tables.
The new website can be found here.
Christina Pagel is a Reader in Operational Research at University College London. She uses maths to help the NHS make the most out of the data it collects, particularly in children’s intensive care services. Christina has been working with several UK hospitals and National Audit to understand data about survival and complications after children’s heart surgery since 2010. Find her on twitter @chrischirp.
David Spiegelhalter is Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk at the University of Cambridge. He works on risk and evidence communication, and led the statistical team at the Bristol Royal Infirmary Inquiry. Find him on Twitter @d_spiegel.
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Natural Energy Foods
As power smart people we are always looking for sustainable energy sources, but do we think enough about what sustains us? We need fuel, too.
Forget power bars and electrolyte replacement drinks. Check out these three nutrient dense foods that will keep your own energy at a steady and renewable pace. And they come in their own completely natural packaging, too.
Bananas are one of the more popular fruits and are a staple in many households. They are known for their high potassium and manganese levels, and are also high in vitamins B6 and C. Bananas that appear greener contain compounds that aid in intestinal function and yellower ones have tons of vitamin A. They are also a great way to get natural fiber.
Bananas contain high antioxidant properties and help fight some diseases, like macular deterioration as well as diabetes. They also provide possible cancer protection due to their high nutritive factors. They have long been known to relieve stomachaches and other stomach issues. This is related to a compound in bananas called protease, which protects against things like bacteria that can produce ulcers. They also naturally control blood sugar levels and have a low glycemic index, thus providing a stable source of energy.
Avocados are another wholesome food. Like bananas, they also may reduce certain types of cancers and are also high in vitamins A, C and B6, which helps create antibodies. They also contain vitamins E and K, which are essential for blood clotting. High in fiber and folates which aid in cell and tissue growth, the green, buttery food also contains phytochemicals.
Further, avocados are loaded with the antioxidant lutein. They can also improve cardiovascular health and are a source of monounsaturated fats which lowers cholesterol. Like bananas, they can help in lowering the risk for macular degenerative diseases. Avocados are high in magnesium which helps produce energy, aids in metabolism and contains the mineral potassium which is a natural electrolyte.
Though a bit more challenging to open, the coconut is also a wide-ranging source of nutrition. It is also high in fiber and its oil has restorative benefits. The milk is a moisture drink for the skin, and like the other two beneficial foods it is a natural electrolyte that has high rehydrating capabilities.
The fatty acids in coconut milk contain triacylglycerol, which provides energy. Also, they are half composed of lauric acid, which inhibits microbial growth and helps fight sicknesses. Although they are high in saturated fats, the types of fats found in coconuts are actually burned quickly, and are a healthy way to get energy.
In addition to being natural energy boosters, these three foods have medicinal properties, too. They have multifaceted uses, from everything to topical applications to even being used for facial, hair and skin treatments. The peels and outer layers also make great additions to a compost pile. Sponsored and prepackaged by Mother Nature, these superfoods are super useful.
Health-benefits-of.org: Health Benefits of Bananas
Johnson, D. Coconut Milk.NaturalNews.com
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Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI)
The Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI) is a widely used self-report measure designed to detect the principal personality traits of psychopathy. Revised in 2005 as the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R), it consists of 154 items arrayed in a 4-point Likert-type format. The PPI-R, like the original PPI, yields a Total score reflecting global psychopathy as well as eight-factor analytically derived content scales reflecting specific facets of psychopathy: Machiavellian Egocentricity, Rebellious Nonconformity (formerly Impulsive Noncomformity), Blame Externalization (formerly Alienation), Carefree Nonplanfulness, Social Influence (formerly Social Potency), Fearlessness, Stress Immunity, and Coldheartedness. The PPI-R also contains three validity scales designed to detect aberrant response styles that are potentially problematic among psychopathic individuals: Virtuous Responding (formerly Unlikely Virtues), Deviant Responding, and Inconsistent Responding (formerly Variable Response Inconsistency).
Construction of the PPI and PPI-R
The PPI, consisting of 187 items, was developed over the span of several years in the late 1980s. It was constructed largely in response to a perceived need for an easily administered questionnaire measure of psychopathy that would facilitate research on, and the clinical assessment of, psychopathy. In contrast to most previous measures of psychopathy, it was developed to be applicable to nonclinical (e.g., student, community) as well as clinical (e.g., offender, substance abuse) samples. Prior to the construction of self-report measures of psychopathy, most of the research on this condition was limited to offenders, primarily because extant measures of psychopathy required access to detailed file information. The development of the PPI and other self-report measures of psychopathy has facilitated research concerning the manifestations of this condition in community and student settings, permitting investigators to examine the characteristics of “successful” or “adaptive” individuals with high levels of psychopathic traits.
The PPI was designed to detect the key personality traits of psychopathy, such as superficial charm, dishonesty, manipulativeness, guiltlessness, callousness, fearlessness, self-centeredness, externalization of blame, and poor impulse control. The initial constructs targeted for inclusion in the PPI were derived from a comprehensive review of the clinical and research literatures on psychopathy, including the seminal writings of Hervey Cleckley, Benjamin Karpman, David Lykken, Robert Hare, and Herbert Quay. In an effort to distinguish psychopathy from cognate but separable constructs (e.g., antisocial personality disorder, crime proneness), items explicitly assessing antisocial and criminal behaviors were not included in the prospective item pool. To enhance the likelihood that the psychopathic respondents would be willing to endorse trait-relevant items, most PPI items were phrased to be socially normative.
The PPI items and constructs were progressively refined by means of factor analyses on three successive undergraduate samples, with a total sample size of 1,156 participants. The eight lower-order factors that make up the PPI emerged across all three rounds of test development and appeared to assess the core affective and interpersonal traits of psychopathy. The three validity scales of the PPI assist with detection of socially desirable responding and malingering, which may be particular causes for concern in forensic settings.
The PPI was revised in 2005 to reduce its length, decrease its reading level, eliminate psychometrically suboptimal and culturally specific items, and develop norms for general population and offender samples. Based on factor analyses of large student, community, and offender samples, a number of inadequately functioning PPI items were eliminated or rewritten. The revised version of the test, the PPI-R, consists of 154 items divided into the same eight content scales and three validity scales as the PPI.
Higher-Order Factor Structure
Higher-order-factor analyses of the PPI-R content scales have generally yielded a two-factor structure. One factor, called “Fearless Dominance,” consists of the Social Influence, Fearlessness, and Stress Immunity content scales. The other factor, called “Self-Centered Impulsivity,” consists of the Machiavellian Egocentricity, Rebellious Nonconformity, Blame Externalization, and Carefree Nonplanfulness content scales. The eighth PPI-R content scale, Coldheartedness, does not load substantially on either higher-order factor. The analyses indicate that the two PPI-R higher-order factors display markedly divergent corre-lates. For example, Fearless Dominance correlates negatively with indices of depression, anxiety, and suicidality, whereas Self-Centered Impulsivity correlates positively with these indices.
Reliability of the PPI-R
The test-retest reliability of the PPI-R Total score (average 20-day retest interval) in a general population sample is .93, with the test-retest reliabilities of the PPI-R content scales ranging from .82 to .95. The internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) of the PPI-R Total score in a general population sample is .92, with internal consistencies of the PPI-R content scales ranging from .78 to .87. These test-retest and internal consistency figures are comparable with, and slightly higher than, those generally reported for the PPI. The internal consistency of the PPI-R Total score in an offender sample is somewhat lower (.84), with the internal consistencies of the PPI-R content scales ranging from .71 to .83.
Validity of the PPI-R
Numerous studies in college and offender samples provide support for the construct validity of the PPI and PPI-R. The Total scores on these measures correlate moderately to highly with other self-report, interview-based, and observer measures of psychopathy. The PPI Total score correlates moderately with measures of personality disorders known to overlap with psychopathy, such as narcissistic, histrionic, and borderline personality disorders, but weakly with measures of most other (e.g., schizoid) personality disorders. Moreover, the PPI and PPI-R Total scores display adequate discriminant validity from measures of constructs that are theoretically distinct from psychopathy (e.g., depression, schizotypy, psychosis proneness, social desirability).
In addition, the PPI and PPI-R Total scores correlate negatively with several traits of the well-known “five-factor model” of personality, especially Conscientiousness and Agreeableness, and positively with measures of sensation seeking and Machiavellianism. Finally, the PPI Total score demonstrates positive correlations with measures of delinquent behaviors and substance abuse, laboratory measures of poor impulse control and planning, and offender disciplinary infractions. Future research should help determine whether (a) the PPI-R exhibits incremental validity above and beyond other well-validated measures of psychopathy (e.g., the largely interview-based Psychopathy Checklist-Revised), (b) observer reports of psychopathy can supplement the PPI-R by filling in some of the “blind spots” generated by psychopathic individuals’ lack of insight regarding the nature of their symptoms, and (c) the PPI-R can help identify potentially adaptive expressions of psychopathy, such as charismatic leadership and heroic forms of altruism.
1. Cleckley, H. (1988). The mask of sanity: An attempt to clarify some issues about the so-called psychopathic personality (5th ed.). Augusta, GA: Emily S. Cleckley.
3. Lilienfeld, S. O., & Widows, M. R. (2005). Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R) professional manual. Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
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Online Learning and Energy Consumption
Great Thavapatikom
November 19, 2012
Submitted as coursework for PH240, Stanford University, Fall 2012
Online Education
Fig. 1: What if there are no school buses on the road during rush hours? (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
For the past couple of years, the most debated topic in education has been about online learning. With the rise of innovative online educational organizations like Khan Academy, Coursera and EdX, people have begun to see the promising future of the integration of online technologies into formal schooling. Even though more scientific evidences are still needed to see whether students will learn more in the online environment as compared to conventional "contained classroom," as Stanford University President John Hennessy asserted, the benefit of scalability online learning can provide with very low cost makes its mass adoption an irresistible choice. [1,2] It has been reported that the number of K-12 students enrolling in online classes is growing fast, and more states and school districts are now requiring online courses for high school graduation. [3] In this report, though, I will not be talking about how scalable online education can be. Instead, I will consider an anomalous but interesting question: "How much the adoption of online learning in K-12 formal education can save fuel energy?" The motivation is that most students (aged under 18) have to travel between home and school every school day and that these students amount to nearly a quarter of the US population. [4] Particularly, I will focus on public school transport system and approximate the corresponding fuel consumption to see its significance.
Fuel Saved Each Day
According to the National Household Travel Survey, more than 80 percent of students travel between home and school by bus or by personal car by the year of 2001. [5] The average fuel economy of an ordinary bus or a car is about 25 miles per gallon, which means that the car consumes 1/25 gallon of gasoline to traverse a mile. [6] If we know the total distance that all the students travel to and from school, we can calculate the total amount of fuel used up by the transportation. As it is impossible to find such total distance directly, I instead estimate the average distance from home to school for each student and will multiply that number by the total number of students to obtain the total distance. From the National Household Travel Survey mentioned earlier, about 60 percent of students travel 2 miles or over to school, and from this data I approximate the average distance between home and school to be roughly 5 miles. [5] This means that the round-trip distance would be 10 miles per day per student. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are around 55 million public school students (both elementary and secondary) at present. [7] If we assume that half of the population or roughly 30 million students go online at some point in the near future, we can then estimate the total fuel energy saved in a school day:
Fuel saved in a school day = (1/25 gal/mi) × (10 mi/day/student) × (30 million students)
= 12 million gal/day (= 0.286 million bbl/day)
This amounts to 1.5% of the oil consumption rate of the US, which "seems" to be not very significant. [8]
Significance of Energy Savings
From the previous calculation, one could say that the amount of fuel saved is not of importance. But remember, we have actually just calculated the amount of energy saved in only one day and compared it to the figure of the country that consumes fuel energy at the highest rate! [8] What if we compare the figure to the average rate of all countries? According to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2012, the world's total oil consumption rate is 88 million barrels per day. [8] There are currently 192 countries that are the members of the UN. [9] Thus, the mean consumption rate would be 0.458 million barrels a day. This means that the amount of fuel saved in each day in the US alone could run an average country for more than half a day! If we extrapolate the calculation by saying that an academic year equals 9 months and students stay at home taking online classes 3 days a week (not including Saturday and Sunday, of course), it follows that in the next 25 years we will save the total fuel energy by:
Fuel saved in 25 years = (25 yr × 9 m/yr × 4 wk/m × 3 days/w) × (0.286 million bbl/day)
= 772 million bbl.
Fig. 2: An indirect cure for traffic jam? (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
This amount of fuel can compensate the US fuel usage for only less than 2 months. However, it can extend the "life with gasoline" of an average country for 5 more years!
As we can see, adopting online classes in formal education can have a quite subtle but significant impact on the conservation of fuel energy. If other countries in the world like India, China and those in Europe whose daily school transport is omnipresent also begin to adopt formal online learning, the total amount of fuel energy saved will have even more significance. What's more, less school transport in the morning and after school means less traffic during rush hours in general, i.e. commuters will visit gas stations less often. Still, we have to keep in mind that going online means increasing demand for electricity. We are, nonetheless, fortunate enough that electricity - unlike oil - can be produced by using renewable energy such as wind, tides, waves and geothermal heat. Generating more eletricity to consume less gasoline with very low cost sounds like a good trade-off, right?
[1] A. Lashinsky, "Will the World's Start-Up Machine Ever Stall?," CNN Money, 20 Jun 12.
[2] J. Sener, "Why Online Education will Attain Full Scale," J. Asynchronous Learning Networks 14, No. 4, 3 (2010).
[3] K. Sheehy, "States, Districts Require Online Ed for High School Graduation," US News and World Report, 24 Oct 12.
[4] L. M. Holden and J. A. Meyer, "Age and Sex Composition in the United States," U. S. Census Bureau, C2010BR-03, May 2011.
[5] "Travel to School: The Distance Factor," U.S. Department of Transportation, January 2008.
[6] "Fuel Economy Guide," U.S. Department of Energy, DOE/EE-0603, November 2012.
[7] "Digest of Education Statistics 2011," U.S. Department of Education, NCES 2012-001, June 2012, pp. 17-18.
[8] "BP Statistical Review of World Energy June 2012," British Petroleum, June 2012.
[9] "Permanent Missions to the United Nations," United Nations, ST/SG/SER.A/301, March 2011.
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Meaning of Farewell
English: Farewell
Bangla: বিদায়কালীন, শেষ
Hindi: अलविदा
Type: Noun / বিশেষ্য / संज्ञा
Synonym: Adieu , Good-by , Parting salutation , Valedictory , Congé , Leave-taking , Valediction
Previous: fancy Next: niggardly
Bangla Academy Dictionary:
Definition: 1
Definition: 2
Definition: 3
leave-taking; departure: a fond farewell.
Definition: 4
a party given to a person who is about to embark on a long journey, retire, leave an organization, etc.
Definition: 5
parting; valedictory; final: a farewell performance.
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Towards a Socially Responsible Economy: The Role of Information Technology
Roderick Mendoza Rupido
This paper explores the dynamics of information technology (IT) towards achieving a socially responsible economy and their roles and implications to growth and development. It presents evidences to show that economic growth is strongly related to the extent of an economy’s initial social development.
Society is changing rapidly under the impact of information technologies although we are not sure how if it is for better. Increase in information and innovation brings about benefits coupled with big challenges. The major challenge is how to manage this valuable resource in a responsible manner. The information revolution is changing the nature of information from a physical and tangible entity to its digital counterpart. Networks have expedited the movement of information so that users can be informed more quickly and efficiently. Control of information resources is a critical source of competitive opportunity. However, an even larger challenge arises in managing and implementing technological changes towards social transformation.
The Internet, for example is beginning to transform the way we do things. It seems to engulf the whole world and has certainly transformed our lives and dramatically reshaped the way we live. Its influence has been pervasive and profound. But this rapid diffusion has also created some notable ethical and social challenges.
With the increased access to information and the redefinition of information as a commodity, the potential for misappropriation and/or misuse of information may likewise pose some threats. Thus, while some challenges deal with the management of information, others deal with the development of technologies that create, process, store and retrieve such information.
In tandem with access and speed, advanced hardware and software systems enable users to enhance the quality and relevance of information. Through sophisticated search engines, research can be conducted in a relational manner, delving deeper into topics and associated themes. However, the qualities of information acquired are crucial and are deemed instrumental to the individual’s social and moral development.
The nature and focus of information technology needs to map balanced views for monetary and non-monetary benefits. Taking this seriously will provide key to understanding and learning social development through proper utilization of information and communication technologies.
The nature of IT has to change in order to reflect its new roles to meet the need for a more holistic approach towards social development. Evaluation needs to be more wide-ranging to incorporate the richness of the intangible and unexpected costs, benefits and risks of modern IT projects. Sensible evaluation decisions should be made by the careful analysis and fair judgment, with social responsibility as the core basis.
Information Technology transformation should be regarded as a process and as a continuous opportunity for learning. This will promote a deeper understanding of its content, context and process. It is through this richness of understanding that situations will be dealt with more accurately. Evaluation research and practice therefore, needs to be used to meet the demands of the dynamic changes since new information and communication technologies have the potential to make significant impacts.
Advances in information technology have generated some unique and difficult problems. The increased availability, mobility, and value of information create a special responsibility to maximize benefits and prevent its misuse. Specific concerns should be geared towards morally upright utilization of information and communications facilities, which calls for setting up of ethical and social management systems to benefit the society.
The study attempts to answer the following specific questions: What are the effects of IT transformations to an economy? What is the role of IT in achieving socially responsible economy? Assuming that the forces that encourage IT transformation will remain and become much stronger in the future, how can the government manage their significant effects without necessarily impeding progress of economic growth?
IT requires sound management for sustained and continued growth, improving the social capabilities and upholding the ethical and moral standards of the society. Its development has to be managed effectively to achieve a socially responsible economy. Policies, processes and systems must be developed, implemented, maintained and updated to ensure that information acquired and/or used really contribute to the demands of the society.
Institutions must strive to ensure that IT utilization is judiciously made in decision-making and priorities are set to develop a morally endowed economy. This challenge must be addressed not only by the individuals, but also by the entire global community.
This paper is conducted at Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University, Japan under the International Doctoral Program in Economics funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The author acknowledges the invaluable support of Professor Takashi Hikino of Department of Economics, Kyoto University for his support, comments and suggestions.
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Art History Short Paper
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Below is a free excerpt of "Art History Short Paper" from Anti Essays, your source for free research papers, essays, and term paper examples.
Art History Short Paper
Anthony Tunison
Art has different meanings to different people, which makes it difficult to explain the true meaning of the subject. Differing opinions and upbringings may alter the viewer's interpretation of a work of art. So how would one explain works of art to someone who is unable to see them? The most intricate, yet simplistic way is to use the senses other than sight. The artists in the following pieces have given beautiful pieces to incite feelings and emotions to an unseeing audience.
The Village Tavern, by John Lewis Krimmel, paints more then just another bar scene. Through the many different facial expressions and what seems to be differing opinions, he shows how these taverns were for more than just drinking and debauchery. This is a place where people from all ages and backgrounds would come together to share time and company. At first glance at the central point of the paining, a group of men, and a small family unit with a child are gathered around a rectangular wooden table. On the right end of the table is a man very intently reading a newspaper, almost completely disregarding the others in the tavern, while the man standing to his right side appears to be expressing and questioning political opinions on an article from said newspaper. There are two men in the background to the left, who have joined in this conversation, one of which wants no part in it, while the man coming through the door seems eager to speak on the topic. There is a bar in the center background, which is calmly occupied by the bartender who seems to be conversing with the delivery man who is coming through a door to the left, which lends a great deal of light to the painting. Although there is a lot going on in this painting, it is very simplistic in the sense that the clothes the people are wearing seem to be somewhat delicate and soft to the touch. From the soft cottons to smooth leathers, there is an extensive array of textures in this...
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"Art History Short Paper". Anti Essays. 24 Sep. 2017
APA Citation
Art History Short Paper. Anti Essays. Retrieved September 24, 2017, from the World Wide Web: http://www.antiessays.com/free-essays/Art-History-Short-Paper-555972.html
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The Seducer's Diary Essay Topics & Writing Assignments
Buy The Seducer's Diary Lesson Plans
Essay Topic 1
Kierkegaard is the author writing from the perspective of a man who has come upon the letters of a man named Johannes, who Kierkegaard intends to represent himself.
Part 1) Why does Kierkegaard want to write as if he is Johannes? What can be learned regarding this book from reading the introductory?
Part 2) What can be learned about the author from this story? How is he like Johannes? How might the real Cordelia feel about this story? Is she much like the Cordelia in the story? If so, how? If not, why not?
Part 3) What is your opinion of Johannes? Do you have the same opinion of the author? Should the author have written this book about his life? Why or why not?
Essay Topic 2
The introduction ends with three stories from Cordelia.
Part 1) Why does she write these letters? What can you learn about her from...
(read more Essay Topics)
This section contains 1,558 words
(approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page)
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The Seducer's Diary from BookRags. (c)2017 BookRags, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Thursday, February 11, 2016
Guest Post: Is Nuclear Energy Crucial for Clean Air?
[Clean Air Watch periodically publishes guest posts that we think are of general interest. Today's post on nuclear power by guest blogger Beth Laurel is controversial, to say the least. Even though the Clean Power Plan has been stalled by the U.S. Supreme Court, the issue remains relevant. Clean Air Watch would entertain contrary views on this volatile subject.]
Nuclear Energy: Crucial for Clean Air
As greenhouse gas emissions further accelerate the effects of global climate change, our continued reliance on fossil fuels becomes increasingly problematic.
Discussion of clean and sustainable energy sources generally focuses on the utility of solar and wind, such as with media coverage of Elon Musk’s SolarCity and Google’s investment in wind farms in Africa. Often notably absent, however, is a mention of nuclear power - a reliable, clean source of energy that already contributes nearly 20 percent annually to US energy consumption.
The new Clean Power Plan -- stalled this week by the Supreme Court, but still on the books -- sets goals for reducing US dependence on fossil fuels and increasing research and funding for developing a low or zero carbon grid based entirely on renewable energy sources. But any credible effort to reduce carbon emissions must include nuclear power – a controversial but consistent and renewable source of clean energy.
What Is Nuclear Power?
In a nuclear power plant, heat generated by the fission, or splitting of uranium atoms, converts water into steam which powers turbines to generate electricity. Nuclear reactors work around the clock, and the power they produce is carbon free and renewable.
However, well publicized disasters at nuclear power plants such as Chernobyl and Fukushima point up the hazards of producing energy from highly radioactive materials with a long half-life in soil, water and air. Older reactors and those in areas vulnerable to earthquakes and other disasters can pose a very real threat to the very environment that clean energy efforts are trying to protect.
Still, proponents of nuclear energy as part of the mix of renewable resources point out that properly maintained nuclear power plants are cleaner and pose less of a threat to biodiversity than wind and solar energy production.
Solar and Wind Have Limitations
Solar and wind are the darlings of the clean energy movement, and with some good reasons. These natural sources of power are renewable, pose no threat to the environment and are available everywhere on the planet. But they have their limitations.
Currently, wind power contributes 4 to 5 percent to US annual energy production, while solar contributes less than one percent. But for a zero carbon grid, those numbers would have to rise considerably, and that requires the production and installation of many solar panel arrays and turbine fields, as well as storage units.
That construction in itself could mean more carbon emissions, and claim large amounts of land and water. The destruction of marine and land habitats could pose a real threat to biodiversity and place many species at risk.
Though solar and wind power may be renewable, they aren’t always predictable. On overcast or calm days, power generation drops, which calls for reserve storage. But nuclear power is reliably available no matter what conditions prevail, with a smaller land requirement and less threat to vulnerable habitats. However, this isn’t to say that wind and solar aren’t useful. They still produce less greenhouse gas emissions than traditional coal and oil and are a major component in our clean energy efforts. Thankfully we are seeing a rise in these renewables with about 13 percent of the United State’s electricity generated from these sustainable resources, according to Alberta Energy.
Build New Plants – or Keep Old Ones?
Many existing nuclear power plants have been in operation for 30 years or more. These older plants may be vulnerable to accidents, or simply not up to the task of producing power in quantities needed for a full zero carbon grid. Upgrading them, or building new ones, could create new, though likely temporary, sources of carbon emissions as well.
But owners of existing nuclear power plants claim that these venerable producers can remain viable for 80 years or more - capable of making a major contribution to clean energy plans and reducing the demand for new plant construction. Closing down existing plants in favor of new construction could also deprive some areas of a major source of power.
Currently, the majority of US energy is derived from nonrenewable fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas. Making the switch to clean, environmentally friendly renewable energy sources requires a mix of solar, wind, and the forgotten workhorse of carbon free energy – nuclear power.
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BCJ 2000: Introduction to Criminal Justice
1. Summarize the core segments of the U.S. criminal justice system and the interactions between each segment.
2. Explain the evolution of the modern-day law enforcement system.
3. Compare the sentencing and court structures of the American court system.
4. Examine the role of the American correctional system to include probation, parole, and community corrections supervision models.
5. Assess the role of homeland security in the 21st century American criminal justice system.
6. Examine the use of technology in modern day criminal justice agencies.
7. Compare the crime control model and due process model within the law enforcement system.
Criminal justice: A brief introduction (Rev: 11th ed.)
Publisher: Pearson (2016)
Author: Schmalleger, F.
ISBN: 978-0-13-359131-6
Price: $112.52
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Saturday, May 31, 2014
Jamaican Fragment - Vocabulary
I. Tick (..........) the correct meaning of the words underlined below.
1. The game, if it could be called a game was not elaborate.
a. simple b) detailed c) brief d) mysterious
1. The little boy strode imperiously up and down.
a. politely b) respectfully c) humbly d) proudly
1. This man, I said to myself, will puzzle all day on whether the blacks will eventually rise and rule the world.
a. Gradually b) finally c) immediately d) temporarily
1. Could it be that the little dark boy was the son of a servant in the home and therefore had to do the white boy's bidding?
a. Advice b) instruction c) order d) suggestion
1. The white youngster walked abjectly behind him.
a. submissively b) unhappily c) miserably d) secretly
II The following words/phrases describe the two boys in the story Jamaican Fragment.
four-year-old coarse hair five -year-old hazel eyes
1) Now look for the other words in the lesson that describe the two boys. Write your words in the appropriate column.
The White Boy
The Black Boy
2) Think of other words that may be used to describe the characters of the white boy and the black boy.
III Read the following sentence.
The bigger of the two was a sturdy youngster, very dark, with a mat of coarse hair on his head and coal black eyes.
In the above sentence , the narrator described the hair and eyes of the boy in an effective way.
The expression 'a mat of coarse hair' is a metaphor.
A metaphor is a word / phrase used in an imaginative way to describe something or somebody in order to show that the two things have the same qualities and make the descriptions more effective.
Now the hair of the boy can also be described as the hair of the boy is like a mat.
A simile is a figure of speech that expresses the resemblance of one thing to another of a different category usually introduced by like, as… as .
A simile, like a metaphor, is also a comparison.The primary difference is that a simile contains the words like, as, as….as to compare two things while a metaphor simply suggests different (dissimilar) things as the same(similar)
Read the following paragraph and identify the similes and metaphors in it.
Sunitha was an exceptional student. She was good at sports and other co-curricular activities too. One day the teachers were talking about her. The maths teacher said fondly, "My Sunitha is the Shakuntala of our school." The science teacher said, "She is as clever as Kalpana Chawla and as hard working as Marie Curie. One day she will bring Nobel prize to our country." The physical education teacher started singing the praises of Sunitha saying, "You know, she runs like a hare and swims like a fish. And in the boxing ring? She is a leopard. I must say she is the Mary Kom of our state." Unlike other teachers, the social studies teacher hated this girl as Sunitha belonged to the so called 'lower caste'. She said, "Sunitha... a hare, a fish and …what is that? … a leopard. She is more an animal than a girl, I suppose." All other teachers said in unison, "Yes, she is an animal for animals that cannot understand the metaphor in language."
IV. Prefixes and suffixes
Every language contains an enormous and ever-growing number of words. Enhancing your vocabulary by learning new words can be overwhelming, but if you know the common prefixes and suffixes of the language, you will understand many more words.
Mastering common prefixes and suffixes is like learning a code. Once you crack the code, you can not only spell words more correctly but also recognize and perhaps even define unfamiliar words.
Read the following sentences.
1. Was there an indefinable quality in the white man that enabled his baby…
2. The little boy ran into the house and reappeared shortly with a banana.
In the underlined words in the above sentences, ‘in -’ and ‘re’- are prefixes, and ‘- able’ is a suffix.
List of prefixes and suffixes
Prefixes : dis -----, mis-----, un-----, re-----, inter-----, pre-----,
Suffixes : ----ness, ----able, -----ly, ----ous, ----ful, -----ment, -----ism, ----er, ---ing,
Look at the following table and notice the example words formes with prefixes.
not, opposite of
dis + satisfied = dissatisfied
mis + spell = misspell
un + acceptable = unacceptable
re + election = reelection
inter + related = interrelated
pre + pay = prepay
non + sense = nonsense
super + script = superscript
sub + merge = submerge
against, opposing
anti + bacterial = antibacterial
A few prefixes that give the meaning "no" or "not." are ..
Prefix Examples
il- denotes negative; not illegal, illegitimate
im- denotes negative; not immoral, impossible
in- denotes negative; not inexpensive, incapable
ir- denotes negative; not irresponsible, irrelevant
un- denotes negative; not unhappy, unconditional
no- denotes negative; not nobody, nowhere
.. Prefixes change the meaning of words .
.. Some of the suffixes change the word class also , as in
beautiful ____ beautifully
( adjective) (adverb)
(a) Identify prefixes and suffixes in the lesson.
(b) Read the following passage and underline the words with prefixes and suffixes.
Improper garbage disposal can cause contamination of subterranean water sources. Relocating garbage dumps doesn't necessarily solve this unhealthful problem. Laws preceding the discovery of this problem were relaxed in terms of garbage disposal. Since the discovery, authorities have proceeded to toughen these laws and have injected funds into reevaluating ongoing practices. Environmental organizations have helped to convince the public of the depth of the problem and the need to recycle. Some garbage dumps have receded in size, but most have increased as the unbelievable amount of garbage produced continues to multiply .
(c) Insert the words in blanks with the appropriate prefixes and suffixes.
1. The rate of __________________ in Brazil has been rising steadily. (employ)
2. Lenny looked funny in his _____________shirt and pants (matched)
3. When my sister first saw the meteor, she thought it was a ________ phenomenon. (natural)
4. He was sitting __________________ in his seat on the train. (comfort)
5. With a small class size, the students get to ________ with the teacher more frequently. ( act )
6. I slipped on the ice because I did not heed the ________ about watching my step. (cautions )
7. The team that he supported were able to win the__________________ . (champion)
8. He decided to study __________________ at university. (journal)
9. I wanted to ease my stomach ________ so I drank some ginger root tea. (comfort )
10. She had no __________________ of going to see him. (intend)
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Introduction: Build a Microwave Transformer Homemade Stick/Arc Welder
Picture of Build a Microwave Transformer Homemade Stick/Arc Welder
So here's what you need to build a welder:
- Two beat up old microwaves
- Some 10 gauge wire
- Wire nuts
Stuff you need for welding:
- Welding helmet ($16 and up)
- Welding rods ($6)
- C clamp for grounding clamp
- Gloves
- Thick nonflammable (leather) clothing that will cover your arms
That said, try this at home!
See this for a lot of welding safety tips
build a 70 amp welder
the tiny tim welder by tim williams
home made welding machine (via afrigadget)
Dan Hartman's how-to is good for reference, too.
Step 1: Dissect the Microwaves
Picture of Dissect the Microwaves
Good safety tip:
Step 2: Prepare the Transformers
Picture of Prepare the Transformers
Chop and and knock out the secondary (thin wire) windings.
Don't nick or damage the primary windings in any way.
If you do, you could create shorts where two windings conduct to each other, allowing electricity to bypass certain parts of the coil, making effectively a smaller coil, and creating something different than what you expect at the output. Or, you might chop the connection entirely, ruining the primary. So do your best to keep it intact.
Step 3: Get Some 24 Foot Chunks of Ten-guage Wire
Picture of Get Some 24 Foot Chunks of Ten-guage Wire
We scavenged some heavy wire from an old powerboat the owner was scuttling.
We stripped the outer jacket off and separated the inner conductors to wind new secondaries
on our transformers.
Step 4: Wind the New Transformer Secondaries
Picture of Wind the New Transformer Secondaries
How does a transformer work?
The primary winding is an electromagnet connected to alternating current.
That's the cartoon version with play numbers anyway.
Step 5: Schematic
Picture of Schematic
It's a pretty simple circuit.
In fact there's nothing in it except wire!
We'll plug the primaries into the wall.
Step 6: Wire Your Two Transformers Together
Picture of Wire Your Two Transformers Together
Why do we use two transformers?
Just one of these isn't big enough to make a really juicy welder.
If you happen to find a big enough transformer somewhere, feel free to use that.
Here's how to hook up two transformers.
First we wire both primary windings in parallel to the wall cord.
Then we wire the thick secondaries in series so they both"Push and pull" in the same direction.
Step 7: Test
Picture of Test
Get out yer voltmeter:
Here's the test to make sure the secondaries are both pushing the same direction.
Our two secondaries in series produce 38volts AC with no load. That seems about right.
If they'd phased wrong it could have been fixed by reversing the wiring to any winding.
Where Tim says "out of phase" in the video, he means "in phase". That is, the center tap should be less than the outer two leads, and if things weren't that way, the transformers would be fighting each other, or phased wrong.
Step 8: Weld
Picture of Weld
holy cow, it works!
We wanted to add a series inductor to give the unit more "inertia", but it didn't matter!
Here's Tim welding with some of those.
Built your welder, but not sure how to weld? Check out the instructional videos on youtube - search "how to arc weld". They're very good.
Here's Star striking an arc.
It welds great with these thin 1/16" 6013 rods. Even better with 3/32" 6013 rods.
Step 9: Thick Rod Test
Picture of Thick Rod Test
Those skinny 1/16" electrodes cost about twice as much as thicker ones.
We wanted to see how our welder works with thicker electrodes.
The next size up is 3/32", but we got a box of 1/8" 6011 electrodes.
When we pulled one out of the box we both said "wow, that's thick".
We fired up our welder and I welded this bead across the diamond plate with 1/8" rod.
The arc was pretty short but it burned in well and felt pretty good once I got used to it.
I had to shove it in a bit more than I'm used to to keep the arc going, but sticking wasn't a problem. I welded a long bead and used up more than half the rod without stopping.
That's the long weld in this photo.
Then I set the "torch" in this plastic tub so it wouldn't short out to anything.
I checked the transformers, and they didn't even get warm!
3/32" rods are less likeley than 1/8" to blow a circuitbreaker though. For your first welds get 3/32" 6013 rods.
6011 rods have thinner flux and make it easier to see what the metal of your weld is doing, but tend to spatter a bit more.
The next picture is for reference, from
Udate 4/16/2008:
This is now my favorite welder. I made new leads for it from a pair of jumper cables. I left one alligator clamp on for a ground clamp, and added a $6 electrode holder. I've taught a bunch of people to weld using it.
The next photo is Ita welding for the first time, making an awning frame. That project was welded with this welder by total beginners using 3/32" 6013 rods. As you can see we have every other kind of welder, but the homemade ones are more fun.
Step 10: Welding Stainless Steel
Picture of Welding Stainless Steel
We needed some brackets for Solara's mizzen mast.
So we went to the welding store and bought some 3/32" "Hobart Smootharc+ 316L - 16" stainless welding rods. They're only 12" long because stainless has high electrical resistance and they get really hot.
After much designing and sketching Victor, Kenny, and I cut, drilled, bent and welded these brackets. Very easy. When it cooled the flux went "tik" and fell off the weld. The dark area around the weld is soot from the flux.The welder could have handled much thicker rods due to stainless' high resistance and low thermal conductivity.
Use a fresh grinding wheel on stainless, or one that you only use on stainless.
You'll get rust if you use any abrasives that have been used on non-stainless steel. Same for the wrong wire brush. It will smear rustable iron on the stainless, and due to galvanic effects it'll rust quick if it gets damp.
Hooray! Where did I get the idea you needed TIG for stainless? Stick welds on stainless are just great!
Step 11: Dimmer Control and Welding Thin Wall Tubing
Picture of Dimmer Control and Welding Thin Wall Tubing
The welder was too hot for thin-walled tubing frames, I kept melting holes even with the 1/16" 6013 rods. So I plugged the welder into a variac dimmer and turned the power down about 30%.
That gave me very fine control over power. Marc Lander and I did some very nice welds as seen here. After a few we got good enough to do the same welds with 3/32" 6013 rods and no dimmer and not burn holes.
More tricks - I used my left hand to feed a piece of mig welding wire into the weld to add more metal in and soak up the heat. Here's Marc doing that. Any wire is fine for this, coathangers are traditional for muffler work. Sand off the paint first if you don't like fumes.
Stopping to eat lunch helped a lot also. Your welds won't be good when you're shaky and tired.
I got my variac for free, don't buy one for this, they cost as much as a welder.
If you're feeling particularly fancy, you can add in your own scr-based switching circuitry to vary the power, like this guy did.
Step 12: Other Welders
Picture of Other Welders
Folks have sent me a few photos and videos of welders they've built off of this instructable. I want you to be able to see them too, so here they are!
Here's a video I got from Paul du Buf, of the Netherlands (nice case, Paul!)
Cheyyne said:
Hey there, here's my welder based on your instructabletion. It outputs 35.5v, because the transformers were a little smaller than yours I think (couldn't wind a single more turn). So far I have managed to lay down gobs of metal on various steel objects in my garage, but I still suckat welding. Luckily I rented a nice welding video from Smartflix that had good reviews, hopefully that'll give me some insight into the process. I did manage to lay down a 1" bead though! The whole thing is going into a tacklebox housing.Props for a great instructable. Thanks for it!
llamafur followed with:
Heres another one, same basic welder, but its housed in a .50 cal ammo can. Looks pretty sweet. Its relay controlled ( two 15 amp HVAC control board relays wired in parallel) , I measured 24 volts ac across the output wires.its also sorta heavy, 30 pounds.
AhsanB7 made it! (author)2016-10-09
I made these transformer with 1 having 25 turns and other having 20 turns but i can only get 17.68 volts max, i had check series and all connections but still unable to get 38 or above volts, can any one help?
SantoshG12 (author)AhsanB72017-08-06
change ac input conection for any one transformer
timmg08 (author)AhsanB72016-12-18
it kinda looks like you kept the secondary coils instead of the primaries. i dont know if this would make problems for you. should give you a lower voltage though and probably cant handle the amperage your putting through it. the coils you need to be using are the ones with thicker wire and less windings. idk if thats the problem but seems plausible.
JaredD23 (author)AhsanB72016-10-15
Where N is the number of turns on transformer “x” or “y”
respectively, you can create two equations and two unknowns and solve for the
number of turns that you made and then check to see if the voltages 120V X Nx…out
of transformer X is what it theoretically should be (or close to it)…if not,
then think about why…
25/Nx (240)+20/Ny (240)=17.68 volts and
Nx(120) + Ny(120) =240 volt
6000/(Nx)+ 4800/(Ny) = 17.68 volt
120(Nx) + 120(Ny) = 240 Volt
Divide the 2 equations gives -à
((120(Nx)^2)/6000) + ((120(Ny)^2)/4800) = (240 Volt/17.68 Volt)
(3(Nx)^2/150) + (3(Ny)^2/120) = 13.575Volt/Volt….-->
Then solve for nx or ny and plug it back into one or the
other equation to get the other then check the voltage in each transformer to
make sure that it is somewhat close to the values you got (it wont be exact
because of impedance and nothing is theoretically perfect (resistence and
losses will make sure of that…., but it should be near the values….
twilliams jr. (author)AhsanB72016-10-11
I wired in series and used 220vac and it works great...before i had it wired 110vac and had them wired in parallel and it worked but kept tripping the breaker but, it worked.
SantoshG12 (author)2017-08-06
I made it but transformer verry hot outout voltage is 35.5v please solve my problem only hot transformer
ScottieDigital (author)2015-11-29
matt4x4 (author)ScottieDigital2016-02-19
protection I'd recommend buying one for only $100 from Harbor Freight."
JacobD89 (author)matt4x42017-06-02
I agree. The innovation is using two transformers. With patientience, and some innovation a poor person could make a safe welder, or what I need a cheap spot welder. (A novice should watch at least ten videos. I would also throw on a GFCI recepatcle, and know how to use a DVOM. The price of spot welders is way too high. We are seeing they are basically just a transformer.)
Freekonwheelz1 (author)2016-06-19
In the process of removing my secondaries i bent the primaries on one of my transformers. Should i keep going with it or scrap it and find another junk microwave? They look to be fine and dont look like they will short out but looks can be deceaving. Is there any way to test the primary coils to see if they are junk?
JacobD89 (author)Freekonwheelz12017-06-02
check the resistance with a DVOM. if no shorts--good.
I actually dropped my core and it did slightly damage my primary. but it was still usable. I say keep going and if it doesn't work then use another one
Tomas Meyer (author)2017-03-01
Could one use a bridge rectifier to solve the issue?
CodyH50 (author)2017-03-05
I have some old transformers in my junk drawer but I don't know the wattage of the microwaves they were originally scavenged from. How do I determine the number of windings present such that I can determine the number of windings necessary for a proper secondary coil suitable for a M.O.T. welder?
yaipha (author)2017-02-01
I have this 24vdc batter charger inverter
yaipha (author)2017-01-31
Can i use other transformer instead of MOT beacuse in our place MO are not much often used. But we have to many 12v or 24 batter charger inverter are available. Please give some suggestion
yaipha (author)2017-01-31
Their respected members i have a 24vdc batter charger inverter can done welding work with it without any modification. Plize reply comment
arcano005 (author)2017-01-11
hello, i have done my welder according to the instructable. now i wish to add a dimmer, push breaker and on/off switch. id this schematic good?
RobotsMaking (author)2017-01-07
Why do you need to make a new secondary coil?
JaredD23 (author)2016-10-20
Ahsan...sorry that you ran into so much trouble...I wish they were as wasteful over there as they are here (I have 8 transformers that I pulled from microwaves thrown to the but true.
Anyhow you have to limit the current...a 5 pound transformer can only handle about 5 amps for a minute or so before the wire insulating the loops in the coil melts and shorts out... the problem is also that as it gets hotter it becomes easier for the insulation to melt (in the coils of the transformer especially....), so you need more experience then this to make a properly grounded setup before you do this, (and it isn't even safe WITH such a setup....but one way that I have sloppily thrown together a cooler is by putting the transformer inside acontainer and then putting that container into something shallow like a cookie pan or maybe just put mesh in the bottom of a bigger container to allow water to contact the bottom of the container that the transformer is in (metal is good for conduction of heat...but it makes it more dangerous)....then the outside of the transformer will not get much hotter than 100 Celsius (that is the boiling point of water.....assuming you keep it with water in it contacting the whole bottom surface....that will help the overall heat to disipate faster...but at a cost of safety more or less....sorry I cant be of more help....not too much time these days.
bmiller91 (author)JaredD232016-11-25
What about putting transformer in large container filled with mineral oil?
JaredD23 (author)bmiller912016-11-29
good thinking...oil is used as a coolant...but it might be harder to get then water and also the fact that oil has higher viscosity (oil is more has more stickiness than say, 'water', it doesn't transport the heat away as well as something that is 'less viscous' (like water) it will end up cooling it...but won't dump the heat as easily as something that is thin like water...still you could use it if you had it....(more is better (MOST OF THE TIME)....overdesigned things NEVER BREAK....anyone who tells you different is a moron
;) good luck man.
I DO agree, over design is much better then under. Failures happen much more frequently with 'lightweight' components....
I like the OIL idea, water, unless it's PURE, as in distilled, is a vry good condutor of electricity and a real safety hazard.
John T MacF Mood (author)2017-01-01
Quite nicely done! I may try this before shelling out for one of those off the shelf models. I am only interested in welding layers to make billets for forge welding (another arena) for making blades and doing reproduction work on old style knives (Damascus steel). Once I get some practice, I might want to try other types of welds, but for now this would really do the trick.Good work!
Rupesh1998 (author)2016-12-16
what gauge wire is used in primary side?
emoravek made it! (author)2016-12-07
Made it, works great but still need to practice because im horrible at welding right now.
AhsanB7 (author)2016-10-09
I made two transformers 1 with 28 turns other with 20 turms then center tap both of them, have check series several times, still i can only get 17.89 volts, can any one help?
JaredD23 (author)AhsanB72016-10-15
In general, if you add the two sources in series then you add the voltage....BUT...also you have to take into account that IF the transformers are different sizes and or different number of turns, or different size wiring, then the impedances of the individuals dont add together like 1volt + 1 volt = 2 volts...but rather 1 + 1 = 1.3 volts (a made up example).
Can you do anything about it....well if you want more voltage, more turns of wire and perhaps smaller wire if needed...or....if you want and can get another transformer of the same size and make them identical in design, then the theoretical voltage should add up like the 1 volt + 1 volt = 2 Volt example another words, to simplify things you should have the same transformers because the impedance will be the same in each respectively.
I am not an electrical engineer (I am a mechanical engineer), but I think that is the information you need. Hope it helps.
AhsanB7 (author)JaredD232016-10-15
thanks brother for your help it is very useful information for me but i already have bought 3 old transformers and waisted almost 30 meters of wire. here we already have 220 voltage so i think i don't to make two sources.
But as i was trying to resolve it I gave both primary coils 220, 220 volts from different sources and centre tap the secondary coils and it actually worked, but soon after 10 seconds secondary coils were smoked, i used insulated 8 gauge stranded copper wire. Then i did same with three transformers together and power was enormous but they could only survive 15 max.
kemikali (author)2016-08-11
in uganda we use 240v instead of 110v power mains, would i still need to connect the transformers in series
JaredD23 (author)kemikali2016-10-15
It depends on the breakers for the circuits...I assume that with a 240 volt mains, it would be be connected to a 50 amp that means that the mains will dump 240 Volts at 50 240*50 Volt Amps....or 1200 Volt 1.2KVa....if the breaker was a 30 amp breaker off your mains then it would be 240 Volts times 30 Amps to equal 720Volt Amps or 0.72KVa.....
That means that with the same voltage ...bigger breaker is 50 amp would be better than 30 comes the safety part...
In order for the TRANSFORMERS to handle MORE AMPS they have to be bigger (the weight of the metal has to be bigger ....that way it doesn't over heat (the metal in the transformer can distribute the heat better if it is more massive...more surface area to get rid of the heat faster and more volume to take up the created electric flux field....
Also the wires need to be bigger to handle more amps....there are rules of thumb, but if you get 10 gauge wire...and just make sure that it doesnt get much hotter than will burn you, then you should be just make sure to turn it off before it gets that hot....(also remember that just because the surface is not hot enough to burn you doesnt mean that the wires in the inside of the transformer (the ones you cant touch) are not getting hot enough to burn you.
The heat burns through the insulation creating a short so dont destroy your transformer by letting it get to hot...
there is much more too it, but hopefully that helps....
more transformers are better than less....and also if your stick wont start an arc, then it is likely too low of a voltage (so add another transformer in series....and if
the welder sounds more like it is cooking bacon in grease, then that means that your amperage is too low for what you are increase it...(one way to increase it would be by using less wraps of thicker wire...
good luck man.
vesousa (author)2016-08-23
hey, do you think 4 (or less, it's just the amount of them that i have) beat up CRT televisions would be any good as to do something as this? Great Instructable :)
stolie32 (author)2016-08-16
How would you lower current to weld thinner material like a bought one. Is there a circuit to reduce it
Yonatan24 (author)2016-08-11
Hi, I've added your project to "The Ultimate Collection of DIY Workshop Tools" Collection
Here is the link If you are interested:
NicholasW46 (author)2016-08-10
Is it possible to use amplifier power cable (8 AWG) with this project?
Also if i put a light switch dimmer on the 240v input would this be able to control the power?
mitchman029 (author)2016-08-05
Just curious, how did the 10 AWG wire work for you? I've got some 8 AWG and some 1 AWG, might test both out
tom1933 (author)2016-08-02
I really like the information. I have started my own project and have the transformers both wound with 20 turns of 10 awg insulated wire. I have 23 vac out one transformer and 22 ac v out the other. Will these voltages be ok?
DJchmiel (author)2016-04-28
AdamT111 (author)DJchmiel2016-07-22
Leave it insulated, transformers work off of the magnetic flux running through the windings; if they are not insulated the path is much shorter, and not wound at all.
Evol777 (author)DJchmiel2016-05-08
I left it on and it works alright
snerual2010 (author)2015-10-03
xombie_owo (author)snerual20102016-06-03
to be fair, people have been making these for ages. Also its includes her experiences with the project so it is not the same thing.
twtechnical (author)snerual20102016-05-24
Please send us a link to the stolen one.
twtechnical (author)2016-05-24
Wow, what a harsh accusation with little or no effort to research on your part!
Internet research hint: date and name supplied by Sandra.
I bet you won't give Sandra an apology either.
I am amazed that this irresponsible instructable is still online.
Sandra, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.
ZackL15 (author)2016-05-21
Evol777 (author)2016-05-07
Joh42 (author)Evol7772016-05-21
jchavis2 (author)2016-03-01
About This Instructable
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Tilt-rotor systems
Tilt rotors (e.g. Boeing V22 Osprey) and thrust vectoring system (e.g. the Harrier Jet) use the same rotors/jets for vertical take off as for forward flight, tilting or re-orienting them from a vertical position for hover to a horizontal position for forward flight.
However, similar to a car, efficient vertical take off and hover is best achieved in first gear, which means large, slowly spinning rotors (more torque, less speed), while efficient and fast forward flight is best achieved in seventh gear, i.e. small, fast spinning rotors (less torque, more speed). Large and slowly spinning rotors translate into more efficiency, less fuel consumption and importantly, much gentler down-wash and less noise during hover. For forward flight however, large rotors are a problem as they create a lot of drag standing in the wind. Small, fast spinning propellers (or jet engines) are more efficient and effective for fast forward flight.
Tilt-rotor systems are a compromise. Their rotors are too small for efficient hover, and too large for efficient forward flight. Although they can do both, they can do neither that well. This translates into slower forward cruise speed, larger fuel consumption and very large down wash as well as noise during VTOL. As such tilt-rotor systems can very likely at most utilize airports and perhaps helipads, not however the vast number of other potential take-off and landing sites available in commercial and residential areas, somewhat defeating one of the main purposes of civilian VTOL systems.
A transformer system using large rotors for vertical take off and hover, and small rotors for forward flight can do both, hover and forward flight, better than a tilt-rotor system.
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One Question: How Can We Talk to Kids About Race?
Early childhood education professor Fabienne Doucet answers in 90 seconds.
“The important thing is not to stop questioning,” Albert Einstein once said. “Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” In this series, we turn to NYU faculty—specialists in their fields—to address the general questions that we all encounter as we move through the world. Here, Fabienne Doucet, associate professor of early childhood education, tackles the question: How can we talk to kids about race?
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What Is Raccoon Roundworm
Raccoon roundworm is the common large roundworm or ascarid found in the small intestinal tract of raccoons. Adult worms measure six to eight inches in length and about 0.4 inch in width. They are tan-white in color, cylindrical and taper at both ends.
Raccoon roundworm is common in raccoons in the Northeast and Midwest. Forty to sixty percent of raccoon may carry this parasite.
Roundworm causes the potentially life threatening condition "larval migrans" in a variety of species. Human infections are rare, but can be severe if the parasites invade the eye (ocular larva migrans), organs (visceral larva migrans) or the brain (neural larva migrans).
How Is Raccoon Roundworm Transmitted?
Transmission can occur either directly or through an intermediate host. Raccoons, especially young ones, become infected directly by accidental ingesting microscopic roundworm eggs shed in the feces. Intermediate hosts are also infected by ingesting eggs. If the intermediate host is eaten by a raccoon, the raccoon becomes infected.
Transmission to humans occurs when roundworm eggs are accidentally ingested. Roundworm eggs can remain infective for years, and raccoon feces should be avoided.
What Are the Symptoms of Raccoon Roundworm?
Infected raccoons are normal in appearance and behavior, but in intermediate hosts (mice, woodchucks, squirrels, rabbits and birds) the clinical signs of this may resemble those of rabies. The animal may lose its fear of humans and become aggressive. Eventually the animal becomes comatose and dies.
In humans, pathological lesions observed consist of skin irritations and eye and brain tissue damage due to the random migration of the roundworm larvae. The affected individuals may experience nausea, a lethargic feeling, incoordination and loss of eyesight.
What Is the Treatment for Raccoon Roundworm?
How Can I Avoid Raccoon Roundworm?
• Minimizing contact with areas inhabited by raccoons as well as contact with raccoon feces.
• If cleaning up raccoon feces, be sure to wear a mask and use bleach on any tools used. Keep in mind that burning is the only effective way to kill roundworm eggs.
• For trappers, practice normal safety precautions such as using surgical gloves and washing your hands and surfaces used for skinning.
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What is Net Weight?
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• Written By: M.L. Browne
• Edited By: J.T. Gale
• Last Modified Date: 14 September 2017
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Net weight is a term that describes the weight of an item, minus the weight of any container or packaging in which it sits and the weight of any additional items that contribute to its total, or gross, weight. While the term is normally associated with commercially produced and packaged items, such as cereal, apples or detergent, it can also apply to people, live chickens, or any weighable item. The requirement for commercial vendors to measure net weight ensures that consumers can judge for themselves whether they are receiving good value for the money they spend on products.
To calculate an item's net weight, it is necessary to know two measurements: the total weight and the tare weight. The simplest calculation is total weight minus tare weight. Total weight is the mass displacement in pounds or kilograms of the entire item, including its packaging and anything else attached to it. Tare weight is the combined mass displacement of the container, packaging, or other included elements that are not considered the actual product. Subtracting the tare weight from the total weight always yields the net weight.
An example of a product where it is necessary to know net weight is boxed breakfast cereal. When a consumer purchases a box of cereal, simply looking at a large container might lead him to believe he is purchasing more cereal than if he buys a smaller container. If the net cereal weight in both containers is the same, the consumer can then make an informed decision on the value of the cereal purchase price. Generally, if the net differs, the consumer must divide the price by the weight units to determine which product has more value for the money.
If a consumer purchases 11 pounds (about 5 kg) of oranges in a crate, the total weight of the purchase including the crate might be 15 pounds (about 6.8 kg). The consumer should pay only for the 11 pounds (about 5 kg) of oranges in his purchase price, rather than for the tare weight of the crate in which they are packed. Similarly, items that are stored on pallets or plastic sheeting should be weighed separately from those materials to determine their net weight.
A body's net weight is discoverable if a person removes all clothing and accessories before stepping completely naked onto a scale. If modesty precludes such an action, it is also possible to arrive at the same conclusion through a different approach. Measuring the weight of clothing and accessories first provides the tare, or container, weight. Wearing the previously weighed items and then stepping onto the scale will provide the total weight. Subtracting the tare weight from the total weight reveals the net body weight.
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Post 1
When I worked for a cafeteria-style restaurant chain, I had to measure out all the items in master recipes. One thing I had to learn was what we called "clean weight", the equivalent of net weight. If a recipe called for 10 pounds of onions, for instance, I'd have to weigh out 12 pounds of onions to account for the outer layers the cooks couldn't use. It would be the same for other foods, like the weight of fruit peels or the amount of fat on a cut of meat. The recipe called for clean weight or net weight, not the actual weight straight out of the container.
At closing time, I'd have to weigh all of the unsold
food items and record that weight on a credit sheet. I had to know all of the tare weights of the pans and containers the cooks brought back, so I could subtract it from the actual net weight of the food. One kind of flat pan weighed 2 pounds, for instance, so if a leftover piece of roast beef weighed 14 pounds on the scale, I'd record it as 12 pounds on the credit sheet.
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Monday, September 5, 2011
There Is No 360 Day Calendar in Genesis and The Flood
Noah’s Flood: A Lunar Event Occurring in Solar Time
In the 601st year… on the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth dried. Genesis 7:10-11; ibid. 8:13-14
The discrepancy between these two dates] represents the eleven days which the solar year is greater than the lunar year; hence the Flood lasted a complete year.
Noah’s Flood commenced on the 17th of Cheshvan, and ended on Cheshvan 27 of the following year.
The biblical commentaries explain that the Flood lasted exactly one year, and that the 11-day discrepancy in the dates represents the 11-day difference between the solar and lunar years.
This reflects the fact that different components of the calendar are based on a variety of natural cycles which do not easily lend themselves to synchronization. The month derives from the moon’s 29.5 day orbit of the earth; the year, from the 365-day solar cycle. The problem is that 12 lunar months add up to 354 days—eleven days short of the solar year.
Most calendars deal with this discrepancy by simply ignoring one or the other celestial timekeepers. For example, the Gregorian Calendar (which has attained near-universal status) is completely solar based. Its 365 days are divided into 12 segments of 30 or 31 days, but these “months” have lost all connection with their original association with the moon. There are also calendars (such as the Moslem Calendar) which are exclusively lunar-based, with months that are faithfully attuned to the phases of the moon. Twelve such months are regarded as a year, but these “years” bear no relation to the solar cycle (a given date in such a calendar will, in certain years, fall in the midst of summer and, in other years, in the dead of winter).
The Jewish calendar is unique in that it reconciles the solar and lunar time-streams. By employing a complex 19-year cycle in which months alternate between 29 and 30 days and years alternate between 12 and 13 months, the Jewish calendar sets its months by the moon, and its years by the sun, combining lunar time and solar time into a single system while preserving the integrity of each.
1 comment:
1. This makes no sense. From the 17th day of the second month to the 27th day of the second month is a year and ten days, not a year and 11 days. And scripture never says the Flood lasted for a year so I have no idea where you're getting that.
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[ahy-suh-bath-ik] /ˌaɪ səˈbæθ ɪk/
having the same depth.
of or relating to an isobath.
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Illustrating Functions
Function definitions aren’t usually tested on either the SAT or the ACT and since I never worked professionally with math, functions were something I’d barely considered in algebra a billion years ago. So for the first few years of teaching, I kind of went through the motions on functions: unique output for each input, vertical line test, blah blah. I didn’t ignore them or rush through them. But I taught them in straight lecture mode.
Once I got out of the algebra I ghetto (which really does warp your brain if that’s all you do), I accepted that a lot of the concepts I originally thought boring or unimportant show up later. So it’s worth my time to come up with the same third way activities and lessons for things like functions or absolute value or inverses that I do for binomial multiplication and modeling linear equations and inequalities.
So every year I pick concepts to transfer from pure lecture/explanation to illustration. Sometimes it’s spur of the moment, other times I plan a formal curriculum change. In the case of functions, the former.
Last year I was teaching algebra II/trig and–entirely in passing–noted a problem in the Holt book that looked something like this:
and had two simultaneous thoughts: what a boring question and hey, I could really do something with that.
So the next day, I tossed this up on the board without comment.
I’ve given these instructions three times now–a2/trig, trigonometry, algetbra 2–and the kids are always mystified, but what the heck, the activity seems simple enough. No student ever reads through the entire list of instructions first. They spend a lot of time picking the message, with many snickers, then have fun translating the code twice.
But then, as they all try to translate someone else’s message using the cell phone code, bam. They realize intuitively that translating the whole-alphabet code would be an easy task. And with a few moments of thought, they realize why the cell phone code doesn’t offer the same simple path. They don’t know what it means, exactly. But the students all realize that I’ve demonstrated a difference that they’d never considered.
From there, I graph the processes, which is usually a surprise as well. The translation process can be graphed?
At this point, I can usually convince kids to remember the Vertical Line Test, which they were taught in algebra I. At that point, I go through the definitions for relation, function, and one-to-one function, using a Venn diagram (something like this with an addition inner circle for one to ones). Then I go back through what the students vaguely remember about functions and link it to the correct code example.
Thus the students realize that translating the message into code is a function in either code key. I hammer this point home, because the most common misconception kids get from this is that all functions must be one to one. Both are functions. Each letter has one and only one number assigned, and the fact that one translation key puts several letters to the same number is irrelevant for its determination as a function. Reversing the process, going from numbers to letters, only one of them is a function.
Then I sketch parabolas and circles. Are they both functions? Are either of them one-to-one functions?
In Algebra 2, I do this long before the inverse unit. In Trig, I introduce it right before graphing the individual functions as part of an overview. In both classes, the early intro gives them time to recognize the significance of the difference between a function and the more limited case of the one-to-one function–particularly in trig, since the inverse functions are very limited graphs for exactly the reason. In algebra II, the graphs reinforce the meaning of the Horizontal Line Test.
I haven’t taught algebra I recently, but I’d change the lesson by giving them a coded message and ask them to translate with the cell phone code first.
This leads right into function and not-function, which is all they need in algebra I.
I have periodically mentioned my mixed feelings about CPM. Here’s a classic example. The CPM book introduces functions with the following example.
Okay. This is a terrible example. And really boring. Worst of all, as far as this non-mathie can tell, towards the end it’s flat out wrong. A relation can be predictable without being a function (isn’t that what a circle is?). But just looking at it, I got an idea for a great test question (click to enlarge):
And I could certainly see some great Algebra I activities using the same concept. But CPM just sucks the joy and interest out of the great starting ideas it has.
Anyway. I wanted to finish up with a push for illustrations. What, exactly, do the students understand at the moment of discovery in this little activity? I’ve never seen anyone make the intuitive leap to functions. However, they do all grasp that two tasks that until that moment seemed identical…aren’t. They all realize that translating the message in the whole-alphabet code would be a simple task. They all understand why the cell phone code translation doesn’t lend itself to the same easy translation.
I look for illustrative tasks that convince kids to think about concepts. As I’ve said before, the tasks might kick off a unit, or they might show up in the middle. They may demonstrate a phenomenon in math, or they might be problems designed to lead the students to the next step.
The most common pushback I get from math teachers when I talk about this method is “I love the idea, but I don’t have enough time.” To which I respond that pushing on through just means they’ll forget. Well, they’ll probably forget my lessons, too, but–maybe not so much. Maybe they’ll have more of a memory of the experience, a recollection of the “aha” that got them there. That’s my theory, anyway.
There’s no question that telling is quicker than illustrating or letting them figure it out for themselves. Certainly, the illustration should be followed by a clear explanation with much telling. I love explaining. But I’ve stopped kidding myself that a clear explanation is sufficient for most kids.
That said, let me restate what I said in my retrospective: The tasks must either be quick or achievable. They must illustrate something important. And they must be designed to lead the student directly to the observations or principles you want them to learn. It’s not a do it yourself walk in the park. Compare my lesson on exploring triangles with this more typical reform math example. I resist structure in many aspects of my life, but not curriculum.
In researching this piece, I stumbled across this really excellent essay Why Illustrations Aid Understanding by David Kirsh. I strongly recommend giving it a read. He is only discussing the importance of visual illustrations, whereas I’m using the word more broadly. Kirsh comes up with so many wonderful examples (math and otherwise) that categorize many different purposes of these illustrations. Truly great mind food. In the appendix, he discusses the limitations of visually representing uncertainty.
On reading this, I felt like my students did when they realized the cell phone message was much harder to translate: I have observed something important, something that I realize immediately is true and relevant to my work–even if I don’t yet know why or how.
About educationrealist
37 responses to “Illustrating Functions
• anonymousskimmer
I like reading these posts too, even though they’re irrelevant to my life as I’m not a teacher.
The problem is trying to remember the nomenclature of years past.
“A graph mapping selection to delivery” I *think* this means that, in the form “F(x)=y” that selection (button) is the x-axis, and delivery (soda type) is the y-axis. And that therefore this does pass the vertical line test?
And I’m relatively good at math. It’s no wonder if many parents have difficulty helping their students with their school work, and yet another argument for an inverted classroom.
• anonymousskimmer
So: A & B are true?
• educationrealist
Full disclosure. I whipped this together just for fun, so the wording is probably ambiguous. That’s another problem with my early tests.
a is ambiguous, looking at it again. A necessary criteria for function is not one-to-one input to output, but only one output for each input. However, a student could argue that it is a function because all one to one functions are, by definition, functions.
b, d, and e are true. I’d intended a to be false, but I’ll have to mull the wording. Glad you like the posts!
• anonymousskimmer
Thanks. I understand how D is true now (forgotten nomenclature). I thought E incorrect because there is no way the student can know the first sentence is true (that the vending machine attendent mixed up the sodas), and I recall word problems which would make unsupported statements and ask if the student can know if they are true or not.
• educationrealist
I took that from the CPM problem (above). Basically, if pressing Coke always gives Sprite, then it’s a function. It’s not a function if sometimes you get Sprite, sometimes Coke. But I see you’re looking at the big picture. Fair enough.
• anonymousskimmer
404 Not found on the link ” Why Illustrations Aid Understanding”
But here’s one that seems to work:
And the corollary is that not everything that can be expressed in an illustration can be adequately described in writing. Which is why naturalists drew too. 🙂
• anon
This probably wouldn’t be much help to your students, but it’s fun for me:
Consider the function from the elements (x,y) of R^2 to the color space {black, white}, defined so: if x^2 + y^2 = 4, black; otherwise, white. This function can be perfectly represented by drawing with a black pen (or marker) on a white two-dimensional surface, and is impeccably deterministic: every coordinate pair maps to a single color.
When graphed, this will appear oddly similar to the non-function y = plus or minus sqrt(4-x^2). Is it different in any important way?
• educationrealist
Is a circle a function, though?
• anonymousskimmer
But is anon saying that the vector space itself is R^2, thus making this a graph of an arc between (0,2) and (2,0)?
Otherwise I agree, I thought this was the definition of a circle?
• Mark Roulo
“A relation can be predictable without being a function (isn’t that what a circle is?)”
“Is a circle a function, though? ”
In cartesian coordinates, no a circle is not a function (because each input can map to two ouputs).
In radial (is that the correct term?), a circle can be a function. The unit circle function, for example, looks like this:
f(r) = 1
This is a bit like the up/down facing parabolas are functions in x (e.g. f(x) = y^2), but the sideways parabolas are not … *HOWEVER* the sideways parabolas are functions in y (e.g. f(y) = y^2).
[I really like your encoding example, BTW!]
• educationrealist
Right. That’s my understanding–a circle is not a function because it doesn’t pass the vertical line test. But a circle is predictable. I was quibbling with the CPM terminology.
My cell phone code, you mean? Thanks!
• Mark Roulo
“That’s my understanding–a circle is not a function because it doesn’t pass the vertical line test.”
No, no, no! No.
A circle is not a function “in cartesian space.”
Saying “a circle is not a function” with no qualifiers is like saying that you cannot subtract a larger number from a smaller number (e.g. 3 – 8). You *CAN* subtract a larger number from a smaller number, you just need to be using Integers (or Rationals or Reals or …) as your number type rather than Natural numbers. Circles are functions (or can be …), just not in cartesian space.
Now … for your Algebra I class the right thing may well be to tell them that circles aren’t functions (because cartesian space is assumed). But you (as the teacher) are better off clear on the distinction.
To be clear … I’m not harping on what you should present. Lots of things get simplified in math class (negative number don’t have square roots … oh, really? What about complex numbers? Well, we don’t want to introduce those, yet. Ah … fine). This might be one of them. I wouldn’t introduce the unit circle in Algebra I, either. But it still exists 🙂
• educationrealist
No, I appreciate the correction. Would it be accurate to say that the definition of a function is for Cartesian space?
• Mark Roulo
“Would it be accurate to say that the definition of a function is for Cartesian space?”
We are rapidly heading above my pay grade 🙂
*The* definition of a function (in the math sense) is a mapping between sets (good old “domain” and “range”) where the rule is that each member in the domain maps to only one member in the range (though, as with your example in this post, multiple domain values can map to the same range value). It doesn’t have anything to do with graphs at all. And doesn’t even have to be about numbers 🙂
Now, by STRANGE COINCIDENCE the common sets that we get for domain and range in Algebra I happen to be the sets of Real numbers and if those are our domain and range then using a cartesian plane and having ‘x’ be our domain and ‘y’ be our range gets what you (and your class) want.
But consider a ‘straight line’ like this:
f(x) = y = x.
A nice straight line at a 45 degree angle. This is a function.
But what if we change our labels a bit and write this:
f(t) = r = t.
Same mapping, but now in polar coordinates (where, Wikipedia tells me ‘t’ is the angle [‘t’ for theta] and ‘r’ is the distance from the origin [‘r’ for radius]). Same function, same mapping, but now we get a spiral [the ‘Spiral of Archimedes’ if I understand correctly]. Still a function … in fact the same function … but now the vertical line rule doesn’t work because we are in polar coordinates.
I don’t know where this typically gets taught. It isn’t in my Algebra I Dolciani book, but I’m pretty sure that polar coordinates showed up before Calculus (maybe Algebra II?).
The mapping matters, too, for Cartesian.
Lets start with a polar coordinate unit circle:
f(t) = r = 1
Basically, a nice circle around (0,0) with a radius of 1. Now we want to map this *function* [not the shape!] to a cartesian view. We can get one of two mappings [remember, we’re mapping the function]:
A) f(x) = y = 1
B) f(y) = x = 1
The first is a nice straight line at y = 1, and the ‘vertical line’ rule works. The second is a nice straight line a x = 1 and the vertical line rule doesn’t work … because this is a function in ‘x’ but not in ‘y’.
Moving the *graph* of the unit circle function to cartesian coordinates gets us non=functions involving sines and/or cosines because we’ll need two outputs for most inputs.
[I think I’m probably creating more confusion here … the real key ideas are that functions don’t have to be about numbers and graphing functions is only one way to look at them]
• anonymousskimmer
Back in the early/mid 90s there might have been a very brief mention in Trig or Geometry, but I believe Calc I was the first real exposure I got to it.
Here they seem to be aligning it (Common Core) to Geometry, “Integrated Mathematics 4” (Senior year?) or Pre-Calc:
And here it’s 10th and 11th grade honors math:
• anon
The circle certainly is a function, and in fact in a mathematical sense “A relation can be predictable without being a function” is not true. If given the input you can determine the output, then the relation is a function.
The circle x^2 + y^2 = 4 is not a function of x, but it is a function.
• anon
All right, I’ve got more time now and can explain my original comment at greater length for those interested.
A circle is not a function “in cartesian space.”
This isn’t correct; if you use the third dimension to spin the parabola z = x^2 – 25 around the z-axis, you’ll get the paraboloid z = x^2 + y^2 – 25. The zeroes of that function form a circle of radius 5 in the x,y plane, but the space the paraboloid exists in, R^3, is as Cartesian as can be, and the paraboloid is a function by any standard. It will pass the vertical line test, where a vertical line is defined as a line parallel to the z-axis (we use a line parallel to the z-axis because we defined the function as z = x^2 + y^2 – 25, that is, you put in x and y and you get z out). Restricting the domain to only part of the x,y plane doesn’t make the result, a circle, any less of a function, in the same way that, since “f(x) = 2x” is a function of x, “f(x) = 6 when x = 3; undefined otherwise” is still a function of x.
*A* definition of a function, in the math sense, is that it’s a set of ordered pairs (a, b), with the constraint that if (a,b) and (c,d) are both pairs belonging to the function, and a = c, then b must equal d. (There are other ways to define a function, but this is mathematically equivalent. Speaking of “*the* definition of a function” is misleading.) a and b could themselves be multidimensional values, so it’s more common to think of a function as a set of ordered n-tuples, with an invisible line dividing the dimensions in the domain from the dimensions in the range. The illegitimate circle you’re thinking of is conceived of as a defective function from R to R, a two-dimensional function that accepts a single real number as input and produces a single real number as output. For the defective function x^2 + y^2 = 25, we can immediately see that (3,4) and (3,-4) both belong to the “function”, which violates the definitional constraint. But the circle I mentioned originally isn’t a two-dimensional function, it’s a three-dimensional function. It accepts a point (x,y) from R^2, and produces a color value. Like the paraboloid I mentioned earlier, it is defined at all points in R^2; some example pairs belonging to this function are ((3,4), black), ((3,-4), black), ((0,5), black), and ((2,8), white).
It happens, though, that if you graph this function, it will look like a circle of radius 5. Fundamentally, that’s what it is. All we’ve really done is added a third dimension to the original non-function so that we can satisfy a definition we imposed on ourselves; that third dimension is of no particular interest in itself.
• anonymousskimmer
That is a really neat explanation.
It reminds me of a personal homepage of an RPI (I think) student in the late 90s who described how to mentally visualize higher-dimensional shapes via the use of colors and textures overlaid onto 3-D shapes.
• Mark Roulo
“f(x) = y^2” —-> “f(x) = x^2”
• NewarkTFA
I am an English teacher today, but I liked math in high school. I just wanted to tell you that I enjoy reading this blog generally, and that posts such as this one make me think you must be a wonderful high school math teacher. So many high school students–even students with decent skills and grades–don’t experience math as a potentially fun and intriguing opportunity for intellectual play. I think you make that experience possible for at least some students who might otherwise miss out on it altogether.
• Michael
I kicked off functions using pop culture with the rule that assigns each man to his gf.. i.e, is it a function if Justin Bieber is assigned to two of his gf’s? It certainly held their attention, but I like your approach better. Nicely done!
• educationrealist
When I go through relation to function, after the explanation, dating is always the analogy. First they just know each other, then they date, then they get all exclusive…
• Michael
Also, some more questions. What if one of the coke buttons stopped working, would it be a function then? No, because it doesn’t have an output (unless you consider do nothing an output)… or one of the coke buttons only returns your change, is it a function (yes, now it has a unique output from the other coke).
Can you expand a bit upon your sentiments with CPM. I’m tempted to get online versions of the book to see how they introduce topics, which I give them credit for based on comparison to other texts.
• educationrealist
I think do nothing is an output, since it would do that as consistently as return change. Either way it’s a consistent output.
You’ve hit on exactly what I like about CPM–they introduce stuff well. They also come up with great analogies that they ruin with cheese.
• Michael
Yeah I was writing quickly before my professional ended, in fact, neither of my examples would be functions. I was trying to think of an example that would be in the domain, but not get mapped to an output (to test every input has a unique output). Likewise, it would be interesting to have something like “You notice that there is some other drink available but no button to select it (its okay if something in the range isn’t used). Either way, good stuff. Keep the curriculum stuff coming.
• Jim
Mark Roulo – Your remarks demonstrate the utter futility of centuries of effort to clear up the conceptual foundations of mathematics.
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During a rather blasé search for new material concerning German history on the blogosphere, I came upon an unusual new blog: one written by Ludwig Windthorst, one of the founders of the Zentrum and a towering figure in Catholic democracy, called Der Vasall!
I doubt that it is the historical Windthorst, or even a coincidental appellation, but the blog takes on an interesting subject: the theological basis for monarchy in Catholicism. Well, it’s more of a Catholic perspective on politics, an interesting “thought experiment”, but apparently German bloggers seem to pine for monarchy with some frequency (if the links are any indication).
Anyway, blogger Windthorst raises an interesting question: is monarchy a “right” form of state? is it necessarily conservative? On the surface, his claim that it could be both holds water. The alliance of European kings and queens with more conservative parties, especially nationalist parties, is inseparable from historical development. Who would join the radicals who called into question the legitimacy of monarchy? Even talk of “nation” from the right could be uncomfortable for the monarch trying to fit into the modern world.
This leads to another question: how did religion, particularly Catholicism, affect the political orientation of monarchy? Was there a swing to the right?
The question only makes sense, of course, in terms of modern partisan politics in an era of popular participation. Party platforms articulated the relationship between head of state, legislature, and administration. Religious voters, who reluctantly came into the system, tended to see the monarch as a guarantor of religion in public life. On paper, it would seem that religious voters would carry the monarch with them.
However, it was never so neat. In France, Bourbonists and Catholics seemed to make common cause against godless republic. Germany was a more complicated story. Protestants seemed strongly to support the Hohenzollern dynasty, but Catholics and Jews were a different story. In the wake of anticlerical repression, German Catholics demanded rights of self-governance even as they trumpeted the principle of monarchy. On the other hand, German Jews seemed to tolerate the Protestant aura of German culture while asking for the deconfessionalization of public life.
Religious voters were, however, only one aspect of the Church. Clergy also affected political life (even though they claimed neutrality). Yet still, there is ambiguity. Missionaries on the frontier of Spanish America generally restrained Spaniards from overtly abusing and exploiting native subjects, especially converts (even as they profited from them). In early 20th-century Africa, missions were safe havens from the plantation economy and a place from which Africans could reconstruct their lives. More importantly, the Rhenish Mission in South-West Africa protected natives from the physical manifestations of aggressive, nationalistic rhetoric. In many nations, clergy encouraged the state to undertake more social programs, both as a reflection of religious conscience and to dampen the growth of socialism. Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum attempts to balance the two impulses of the Church, supporting patriarchy (by extension, monarchy) and the cultivation of social services.
Assessing the effects of the Church is difficult because after the Reformation, the Church cannot be isolated. In general, religion became more reliant on the state. Efforts to restore the universal church and promote the authority of the Papacy succeeded only ideologically.
Doctrines, such as Papal Infallibility, negatively effected religious voters of many nations, forcing clergy and voters alike to qualify their intent and reach into public life.
The Septennat Crisis in Germany provides an important example of the relationship between Catholicism and the state. In its platforms, the Zentrum consistently argued for the restraint of the military budget. Their opposition to military spending further cast Catholics into the category of “enemies of the state.” In the 1880s, Bismarck concluded a treaty with the Papacy which included issues related to the military budget. Accordingly, the Pope instructed the deputies of the Zentrum to approve the Septennat. Rather than falling in line, the deputies refused, and the historical Windthorst declared that the party was not an organ of the Church. Twenty years later Catholic politicians would not hesitate to vote for more military spending, but the crisis marked the divergence of the Catholic public in Germany and Rome. If one of them asserted more influence on the Hohenzollern monarchy, it was the former.
Catholicism could push monarchy in either direction. But, if the Church encourages the monarchy to move to the left, it is usually only on two grounds: first, caring for the needs of the people and second, supporting the rights of individuals and minorities (subject to qualification). Social programs were among the most important areas of state growth in the twentieth century and must be taken seriously as evidence of a liberal redirection of monarchy. What we could not expect is that Catholicism would encourage monarchs radically to reconstruct the state and authority.
Crossposted at Cliopatria
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Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation
According to Greenpeace:
[...] the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO) will force fuel companies to include biofuels as part of their fuel mix. [...] 2.5 per cent of all petrol and diesel sold in the UK will come from crops such as palm oil and maize.
Here's why RTFO is a bad idea:
Say I take a (diesel) train to work, but I've adapted my house so that it is zero carbon. My neighbour cycles to work but lives in a draughty house. Even if our carbon emissions are the same, our penalties aren't the same. There's a higher price for emitting carbon by burning diesel than for the same emissions from burning gas to heat a house.
Okay, you may concede that the penalties for CO2 emissions aren't the same, but why is that so bad?
In the above example, you could say that I should live like my neighbour (I shouldn't have insulated my house and I should cycle to work) and then I wouldn't be paying a higher CO2 penalty. This would have a detrimental effect on my finances because a local job would be less well paid, and so would be detrimental effect to the economy.
In summary, having unequal penalties for different ways of emitting CO2 is worse for the economy than having single penalty rate for all types of CO2 emissions. Such a single rate system is CO2 TaxBack.
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Re: Dinosaurs and Water
My impression is that the average dinosaur would be markedly less
dependent on lakes and rivers than the average mammal what with
excreting their equivalent of urine as a whitish paste along with
their faeces and an impermeable scaly/feathery skin substantially
decreasing water losses. According to discussions elsewhere with David
Marjanovic (adult?) sauropods would be impervious to drought in the
"lack of water" sense though I'm not so sure in the "lack of food"
That is not to say an animal that had permanent water sources in its
territory wouldn't schedule a daily drink at the local waterhole but
dinosaurs could go farther and wider than mammals from them.
Drinking water could be a thermoregulatory mechanism as wallowing in
it could, but I'm not sure how that jells with the fact that all
dinosaurs had parabronchi which at first blush seem to be a good way
to get rid of excess body heat with their flow-through setup.
My two cents,
Renato Santos
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MarinOsion45 0 1,510 01.24 16:05
Sudariophora Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Lepidoptera Family: Noctuidae Genus: Sudariophora Sudariophora is a genus of moths of the Noctuidae family. References[edit] Natural History Museum Lepidoptera genus database This Erebinae-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e 밤헌터
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Friday, 24 April 2015
During my recent wanderings, I faced a mathematical problem which had to be solved by a Java program. The problem is:
You are given a number n. Find the smallest number N, which is divided by n, with the condition that N should have only 0s and 1s.
So what does one do? Attack it with the obvious, non-smart, longish way a.k.a brute-force method. Which is: Start multiplying n by 1 and see if the product n*1 has any digit other than 0 or 1 and if yes, reject it. Then multiply n with 2 and do the check again. Keep doing this until you find a number that has only zeros or ones.
See the brute force solution below, I have put all programs of this blog post together. This seems to work fine. But then you realize that the program puffs and heaves and puffs, in other words, very slow for 9. This makes the brute force solution unacceptable for 9 and multiples of 9. It's very slow.
At which point, one realizes that perhaps it is better to understand the mathematics behind the solution. So I googled. On math.stackexchange question 388165, the mathematical solution is available:
If you understood the above in one go, you are a mathematician already. Normally people don't understand it in one go. We are programmers. How much mathematics does a programmer have to know? This is an interesting topic, so let me take a digression here.
Mathematics and Programming
In the online book A Programmer's Guide To Data Mining, Ron Zacharski writes in the section on Minkowski Distance: "Arghhhh Math! When you see formulas like this in a book you have several options. One option is to see the formula -- brain neurons fire that say math formula -- and then you quickly skip over it to the next English bit. I have to admit that I was once a skipper. The other option is to see the formula, pause, and dissect it. I think this holds true to a lot of us -- once we are out of college, we forget the math that was taught and we all become math skippers."
Sarah Mei deals with the subject of math and programming in her blog post, Programming Is Not Math A lot of important points are made in that article, and I will summarize the key ones for you.
The vast majority of developer jobs only required middle-school math at the most.
People with a math background did fine, of course, but people with a heavy language background often did better. Bilingual kids often took to programming more easily than monolingual kids.
Generally, they fall into three categories:
* 1A. …because computer science comes from math.
-- This is true. Academically speaking, most computer science departments trace their lineage to the mathematics department.
-- So while math is one way to learn to think about abstraction, it is not the only way.
* 2B. …because programming based on the mathematical concepts of logic.
3. “Plenty of programming is still math!”
Why does the idea that “if you’re good at math, you’ll be good at programming” persist so strongly? It makes sense that slow-moving academia hasn’t caught up yet. And the programmers who today are the senior developers, the old guard, came of age when this wasn’t yet true. So of course they think the path to success looks like theirs.
There are very interesting comments on the above article, and further links to explore this topic, but the one line that interested me most is :
Math is a language.
If this whetted your apetite, further ideas and information to explore are at programmers.stackexchange question 136987 -- What does mathematics have to do with programming?
Enough of digression
Coming back to our problem, even if you didn't understand the mathematical solution, you don't stop - you got to get the code working. You google more. Programmers are blessed with a variety of wonderful options such as forums, open source and stack overflow / exchange. And then you land on a C solution to our problem.
So I want to understand what it tries to do and want to convert it to Java, and mention it to a techie (Tamjeed), who promptly sends the Java version back the next morning itself. Code is available below.
No issues, one can still get a crack at it. My usual method: convert the program to one's favourite language, which in my case is Ruby. Scripting languages like Ruby and Python often read like pseudo-code, so they help in easier understanding of algorithms. Ruby version is also given below.
I ran the programs for all integers from 2 to 2000. On my 6-year old Compaq laptop running Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, I timed them with the time command. Here's how the three versions (C, Java, and Ruby) fared:
C Java Ruby
real 0m0.547s 0m2.790s 0m9.924s
user 0m0.445s 0m2.445s 0m9.409s
sys 0m0.041s 0m0.294s 0m0.296s
C took about half a second, Java about 3 seconds, and Ruby nearly 10 seconds. Ruby is beautiful but awfully slow.
Brute force in java
C solution from
Java version
Ruby version
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Wednesday, October 26, 2016
English 810, PAB 7-8 (Common Theories in Travel Writing)
There are two aspects of Said’s Orientalism that I find most helpful to my work with travel diaries: (1) Said sees little to no difference between archival, historical works and fiction works, such as novels (87,89). (2) Said sees all work as imprinted with cultural residue, culture that has been shaped by discourse that weaves and overlaps across disciplines through “intertextuality” (79); this perhaps allows him such a wide range of objects of study.
While Said’s focus is obviously geographically limited, his perspective provides travel writing scholars food for thought, especially how discourses predetermine travelers experiences and expectations during their journeys.
A time of particular interest in travel writing is the 19th-century American West. The discourse of the frontier often centers on the wild exploits of the male traveler; however, there is also a plethora of first person narratives written by females, and this vast amount of literature has captivated feminist historians. In their book, The Women’s West, Susan Armitage and Elizabeth Jameson discuss the 19th century as time of great mobility, cultural exchange, warfare and political and global restructuring, all through the context of the female diarists writing the west.
Despite the overwhelming amount of American frontier female travel literature available, it is often excluded from the frontier travel narrative discussion, while male literature of the frontier is often celebrated, is well circulated, and forms the basis of many beliefs about the true happenings, opinions and desires of all Americans—even women—during that time. Feminist historians agree that what men’s frontier literature does best is solidify mythological perspectives of American male heroic caricatures because it centers on hunting, claiming and action.
Armitage and Jameson remind readers of the mythic western protagonist of “Hisland”: “Occupationally, these heroes are diverse: they are mountain men, cowboys, Indians, soldiers, farmers, miners, and desperadoes, but they share one distinguishing characteristic—they are all men” (9). This mythic “Hisland” is often understood as unmitigated history, but it is incomplete; it lacks the contributions of real women who forged the everyday life for everyone around them.
This roughly 9 minute video produced by Timelines.TV provides a small sample of female travel writing from the time of "Manifest Destiny".
The male frontier travel narrative is often centered on action without relation. In contrast, Riley attributes white and native women’s often positive relationships with one another to their feminine roles: “women, like men, were dedicated to protecting themselves and their families from harm, but they were also constantly concerned with extracting vital resources for their families from the environment and its inhabitants” (169). The female frontier diaries center on homemaking, details and dailiness, and this focus on the private sphere of home is the reason most women’s travel diaries of the American 1800s did not receive much attention until the 1970s.
For travel writing scholars, the work of feminist historians is invaluable; Armitage and Jameson's work concludes that despite the dailiness that overwhelms female frontier diaries, they are still relevant and perhaps can divulge more authentic information about life on the frontier, exchange with natives and non-white peoples, allowing, at times, rare insights. Actually, this kind of critical theory is what coaxed me into studying travel writing as a sub-discipline, so it is easy for me to see the benefits of these kinds of conversations- shedding a feminist light on a traditionally male-dominated writing space allows readers with cliché assumptions, like myself, to become curious and ask questions which overlap across disciplines.
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After eight years of study of the second planet in our Solar System, ESA’s Venus Express orbiter is winding up its science program in anticipation of a plunge into the Venusian atmosphere sometime in the next two months. The space agency says that the unmanned orbiter’s service life is coming to an end because its propellant is running low, so ESA is sending the probe to take a very close look at the Venusian atmosphere by flying straight through it.
Venus Express carries seven instruments for a full study of the ionosphere, atmosphere and surface of Venus. It was launched on November 9, 2005 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan atop a Soyuz–Fregat rocket and arrived at Venus on April 11 the next year, where it was placed in a 24-hour polar elliptical orbit that took it out to 66,000 km (41,000 mi) over the Venusian south pole and 250 km (155 mi) over the north pole.
During its career, Venus Express provided new insights into the nature of the Venusian atmosphere, the planet’s rotation, what there is of its magnetic field, and the possibility of tectonic activity on what many scientist have thought a geologically dead planet. Now that the propellant needed to maintain Venus Express’ atmosphere-skimming orbit is running low, ESA is throwing in its hand and sending the probe deeper into the atmosphere than it’s ever attempted before.
“We have performed previous short ‘aerodrag’ campaigns where we've skimmed the thin upper layers of the atmosphere at about 165 km, but we want to go deeper, perhaps as deep as 130 km, maybe even lower,” says Patrick Martin, Venus Express mission manager. “It is only by carrying out daring operations like these that we can gain new insights, not only about usually inaccessible regions of the planet’s atmosphere, but also how the spacecraft and its components respond to such a hostile environment.
The purpose of the maneuver is to gain experience in aerobraking as a technique that might be used on later missions. ESA sees aerobraking as a way of slowing down arriving spacecraft without heavy and expensive retro rockets and propellants.
According to ESA, the aerobraking experiment will take place some time between June 18 and July 11, during which the spacecraft’s instruments will continue to take readings of the atmosphere and surrounding conditions. The agency is not certain if the Venus Express will survive the experience, but if it does, its condition will be assessed before the decision is made whether or not to extend the mission for a few more months. Either way, Venus Express’ ultimate fate will be a final plunge into the atmosphere, where it will burn up.
Southern hemisphere of Venus (Image: ESA)
The video below shows how the air braking maneuver will work.
Source: ESA
View gallery - 14 images
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Introduction to mycorrhizal symbioses
What is the relationship between mycorrhizal fungi and plant roots?
Mycorrhizal fungi live in plant roots and provide plants with water and nutrients extracted from the soil. In exchange, plants give their fungal partners sugar they have produced from sunlight. This relationship is called a mutualistic symbiosis and is of great benefit to plants and fungi. Without this partnership, most plants and mycorrhizal fungi would not be able to survive in nature.12
diagram of mycorrhiza
Overview of the mycorrhizal symbiosis.
Overview of mycorrhizal symbiosis by Sabrina Setaro is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.
What do mycorrhizal fungi look like?
There are many types of mycorrhizal fungi and some such as fly agarics, porcini mushrooms and truffles may already be familiar to you. Others are only visible with the aid of a microscope and are more difficult to identify. Four of the most prevalent mycorrhizal types that can be distinguished are: arbuscular mycorrhiza, ectomycorrhiza, orchid mycorrhiza and ericoid mycorrhiza2. Other mycorrhizal types do occur but have only been found in relatively few plant species.
Arbuscular mycorrhiza
Arbuscular mycorrhiza is the most common mycorrhizal type. Trees, shrubs, herbs, ferns and liverworts all form arbuscular mycorrhiza. Some plants though have associations with other mycorrhizal fungi or none at all 3. Arbuscular mycorrhiza is also the oldest mycorrhizal type and this relationship had already been formed by the earliest land plants 4.
Fungi forming this type of mycorrhiza belong to the same kinship group 5, which means they can be grouped together based on their phylogenetic relationships. The kinship group of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi is the fungal phylum Glomeromycota. These fungi do not form fruiting bodies such as e.g. fly agarics and can mainly only be observed in roots or in the soil.
Images of arbuscular mycorrhiza or plants with arbuscular mycorrhizae
1) Arbuscular mycorrhiza. Arrow points to an arbuscle (a characteristic structure of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi). Scale bar: 100ɥm. 2 - 4) Selected plants and vegetation types where arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi occur: 2. Plants in the savanna. 3. Understory plants and trees in temperate and tropical forests. 4. Liverworts.
1) by Sabrina Setaro is licensed under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license. Permission beyond the scope of this license may be available upon request.
2) by Woodlouse is licensed under a CC BY-SA 2.0 license.
3) by Sabrina Setaro is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.
4) by Bushman.K is licensed under a CC BY-NC 2.0 license.
This mycorrhizal type is the most conspicuous one as it can be easily distinguished from non-mycorrhizal roots. Ectomycorrhizae can be observed with the naked eye or with the help of a magnifying glass. Many trees of temperate forests such as oaks, pine, spruce and beech form ectomycorrhizae. Also, many edible mushrooms (e.g. porcini mushroom and truffles) are ectomycorrhizal fungi. The reason why these fungi are relatively expensive is because they can only grow in association with their host plants and therefore cannot be cultivated in mushroom farms. Fungi forming ectomycorrhiza do not form a kinship group, instead they belong to different fungal phyla (mainly Basidiomycota and Ascomycota) 2. The term ectomycorrhizal fungi only describes a form group including all fungi that form ectomycorrhizae with plants, but this is not a phylogenetic group.
Pictures of ectomycorrhiza and plants, fungi or vegetation types dominated by ectomycorrhizae
1) Fly agaric is a fungus that forms ectomycorrhizae. 2) Ectomycorrhiza formed by a fly agaric. Notice that roots are interwoven with hyphae (whitish hair-like structures). 3) Pine trees form ectomycorrhizae and deer eat the fungal fruiting bodies. 4) Beech trees form ectomycorrhizae and are the dominant trees of many central European forests.
1) by R Henrik Nilsson et al. is licensed under a CC BY 2.0 license.
3) by Sabrina Setaro is licensed under a CC BY 2.0 license.
4) by Martin Liebermann is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license.
• This wikipedia page (accessed Dec. 2013) also gives good information about ectomycorrhizae.
Orchid mycorrhiza
Orchids have a special association with mycorrhizal fungi and are completely dependent on their fungi for germination and early growth. This allows the plants to have seeds without nutrients, which is why orchid have the smallest seeds found among plants. Mycorrhizal fungi feed the orchid embryo until it becomes photosynthetic and able to produce its own nutrients. As soon as the orchid develops green leaves, the symbiosis becomes mutualistic and the fungi get paid back by receiving nutritious sugars 2. Orchid mycorrhizal fungi are a form group - not a kinship group, because they belong to different fungal phyla (Ascomycota and Basidiomycota). The opposite is true for their host plants - only plants of the family Orchidaceae form orchid mycorrhiza, which suggests that this mycorrhizal symbiosis evolved only once in the evolutionary history of plants.
Pictures of orchid and orchid seeds
1) Flowers of an orchid 2) Orchid seeds (arrows) emerging from orchid seed capsule.
1) by Sabrina Setaro is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.
2) by douneika is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license.
Ericoid mycorrhiza
Ericoid mycorrhiza are only found in plants belonging to the heather family (Ericaceae) and in some ferns2. Fungi forming ericoid mycorrhiza belong to the phyla Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. Some of these fungi have extraordinary capabilities of breaking down organic materials and releasing these to their plant hosts 6. Because of their mycorrhizal fungi, Ericaceae are able to grow in harsh environmental conditions with high pH and low nutrients - such as occur in heathlands 7. Ericoid mycorrhizal fungi can even protect their host plants from accumulating toxic substances (heavy metals) that can occurr in soils 8.
Images of Ericaceae and ericoid mycorrhizae
1) Ericoid mycorrhiza characterized by hyphae (arrows) forming coils in the outer root cells. 2) Flowers of Vaccinium gracilis, a blueberry of the heather family.
1) by Sabrina Setaro. With kind permission from Springer Science+Business Media: Mycological Progress, Anatomy and ultrastructure of mycorrhizal associations of neotropical Ericaceae, 5, 2006, 249, Sabrina Setaro, Ingrid Kottke, Franz Oberwinkler, 2b, copyright by German Mycological Society and Springer-Verlag 2006
2) by Sabrina Setaro is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.
1. Moore, D., G. D. Robson, and A. P. J. Trinci. 21st Century Guidebook to Fungi. Cambridge University Press, 2011. http://books.google.com/books?id=oEmKmLkFaWwC.
2. Smith, S. E, and D. J Read. Mycorrhizal Symbiosis. Amsterdam; Boston: Academic Press, 2008.
3. Wang, B., and Y.-L. Qiu. “Phylogenetic Distribution and Evolution of Mycorrhizas in Land Plants.” Mycorrhiza 16, no. 5 (May 6, 2006): 299–363. doi:10.1007/s00572-005-0033-6.
4. Redecker, D. “Glomalean Fungi from the Ordovician.” Science 289, no. 5486 (September 15, 2000): 1920–1921. doi:10.1126/science.289.5486.1920.
5. Schüβler, Arthur, Daniel Schwarzott, and Christopher Walker. “A New Fungal Phylum, the Glomeromycota: Phylogeny and Evolution.” Mycological Research 105, no. 12 (2001): 1413–1421. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0953756208620262.
6. Stribley, D. P., and D. J. Read. “The Biology of Mycorrhiza in the Ericaceae.” New Phytologist 86, no. 4 (1980): 365–371. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8137.1980.tb01677.x/abstract.
7. Cairney, J. W. G., and A. A. Meharg. “Ericoid Mycorrhiza: a Partnership That Exploits Harsh Edaphic Conditions.” European Journal of Soil Science 54, no. 4 (2003): 735–740. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1351-0754.2003.0555.x/full.
8. Bradley, R., A. J. Burt, and D. J. Read. “The Biology of Mycorrhiza in the Ericaceae.” New Phytologist 91, no. 2 (1982): 197–209. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8137.1982.tb03306.x/abstract.
Creative Commons License
This text by Sabrina Setaro is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Please note: Images have individual licenses. For credit and use see information below each image.
Created by ssetaro. Last Modification: Friday 30 of May, 2014 19:47:11 EDT by ssetaro.
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Is Biomass Really a Clean Energy Resource?
As we strive to find alternative energy resources, many potential solutions are on the table. Biomass energy is one such solution or is it?
It is undisputable biomass has its problems. It is a better alternative than fossil fuels, but how much so?
The Future of Solar Energy
Durham University in the UK, ever photovoltaic solar research project, with more than $12M to be spent in the next four years, starting in April. The principal investigator, Professor Ken Durose, has committed to "make a major contribution to achieving competitive photovoltaic solar energy". Nine industrial partners and eight institutions will be involved in the project, which is aimed at reducing the thickness, and thus cost, of solar cells.
Lieutenant Colonel Paul Damphousse of the Pentagon has spoken of the need for "hundreds of sorties every week" in order to move the tons of material that would be required. A recent study by the Pentagon concluded that such a project was nearly technologically possible right now, and that robots could be used to facilitate the construction in space. More realistically, perhaps, Leopold Summerer of the European Space Agency has projected that the generation of power in space may be about 20 years away, but the concept is being actively pursued.
The technologies used include some originally developed for industrial lasers, stated Dr. Alexander Kornaraki, the COO. "The quantum pump separates the heat and the electrical photons of the incident solar light", giving the most efficient spectra to the photovoltaic process. The modules produce up to 28 Watts of electricity and 93 Watts of heat per square foot. The projected payback period is no more than five years.
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Negatives of Solar Energy
These days green is the new black! That's right everyone across the United States are discovering new ways to save the planet by creating cars that release less toxic fumes, making new things from recycled materials, and by powering our homes in new ways. One of the more popular methods to living 'green' is through the use of solar power.
Solar energy has the ability to give us cheaper if not free electricity to our homes through the use of solar panels. However, before you jump on the band wagon and go out and try to start this new power trip there are a few things you should know. There are some people who believe there are many negatives to solar power.
Majority of solar water heaters were built to do three things. Give people hot water, obtain sunlight and convert it into heat energy, and to circulate the fluids that can transport heat energy to the storage system as well as store hot water till someone needs it.
If it is unable to store the water properly it can cause fungus and molds to grow making anyone who drinks or uses the water sick. To make sure that this does not happen you can make sure that the units used to store the water have been built from materials that are made to prevent this.
PV solar energy also as health risks that you need to be careful of. PV (photo-voltaic) panels require millions of silicon dioxide in order to be used. That number is lowered when they are exposed to heat. The materials that are released during the refining process will increase the rate of toxicity and can affect your health. This is one of the more serious negatives of solar energy that is responsible for eleven to twenty one deaths per each quadrillion joules of energy that are created.
But do not let this deter you completely. Study up on the different types of solar panels and the negatives as well as the positives. You might find that they are worth it in the end.
There are Solar Energy Benefits and Solar Energy Negatives that people will consider before they make a decision to install it. Learning how Solar Energy is Harnessed will help you to understand how it works.
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