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The changing world of Bali : religion, society and tourism
The changing world of Bali : religion, society and tourism
Leo Howe
（The modern anthropology of South-East Asia / editors, Victor T. King and William D. Wilder）
Routledge, 2005
• : pbk
大学図書館所蔵 件 / 13
Includes bibliographical references (p. [147]-156) and index
The glossy guide book image of Bali is of a timeless paradise whose people are devoutly religious and artistically gifted. However, a hundred years of colonialism, war and Indonesian independence, and tourism have produced both modernizing changes and created an image of Bali as 'traditional'. Incorporating up-to-date ethnographic field work the book investigates the myriad of ways in which the Balinese has responded to the influx of outside influence. The book focuses on the fascinating interrelationship between tourism, economy, culture and religion in Bali, painting a twenty-first century picture of the Balinese. In documenting these diverse changes Howe critically assesses some of the work of Bali's most famous ethnographer, Clifford Geertz and demonstrates the importance of a historically grounded and broadly contextualized approach to the analysis of a complex society.
Introduction 1. Colonialism, Caste and the Beginnings of Tourism 2. Balinese Character (Assassination?) 3. The Efficacy of Ritual Action and the Transformation of Religion 4. The New Religions of Bali: Agama Hindu and Sathya Sai Baba 5. Controversies over Hierarchy 6. Tourism, Culture and Identity
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§ 613.Herschel's universe, Discovery of Neptune and French Interregnum
19th century:
§613. Herschel's universe (1785), Discovery of Neptune (1846) and French Interregnum (1848): IV-33.
Jupiter joining Venus more closely than the Moon
Appearing in its white plenitude:
Venus hidden, Neptune under the whiteness,
Hit by Mars across the grainy branch.
(Jupiter joint plus Venus qu'à la Lune
Apparoissant de plenitude blanche:
Venus cachée soubs la blancheur Neptune,
De Mars frappé par la granée branche.)
Keys to the reading:
plus Venus: Ellipsis for plus à Venus (Ionescu, 1976, p.697);
de Mars frappé: « According to the language of the astrologers, the words 'being in difficulty' means exclusively 'opposition'.» (Centurio, 1953, p.95);
la granée branche: The French adjective 'grané' may have two senses, «ladre, en parlant d'un porc (suffering from bladder worms, cysticerci)» (Godefroy) or «grainy (Lat. graneus)». And the expression 'la granée branche' can indicate through its double sense: 'the branch outlined like a bladder' and 'the grainy branch' the characteristic image often called 'Herschel's universe', outlined like a bladder or compiled branches and fully containing innumerable small black spots like grains, which represents a section, nearly vertical, of the Galaxy, proposed by Sir William Herschel in 1785 and positively confirmed in its essence 140 years later by Edwin Hubble.
Herschel says, «Hitherto the sidereal heavens have, not inadequately for the purpose designed, been represented by the concave surface of a sphere, in the center of which the eye of an observer might be supposed to be placed. A surface of a globe or map will but ill delineate the interior parts of the heavens.» (Herschel, I, p.157-158)
«A very remarkable circumstance attending the nebulae and clusters of stars is, that they are arranged into strata, which seem to run on to a great length... the milky way, which undoubtedly is nothing but a stratum of fixed stars. It is very probable, that the great stratum, called the milky way, is that in which the sun is placed, though perhaps not in the very center of its thickness.» (id., p.160)
«We may see that our nebula is a very extensive, branching, compound Congeries of many millions of stars.» (id., p.252) Cf. his Figure 4 (id., p.251).
In this context, Ionescu's adoption of a variant with no bibliographic support 'la gravée blanche' (a white gravel) is wrong, though his conclusion of 'the Milky Way' is correct (cf. Ionescu, 1976, p.697f.);
par la granée branche: Across the Milky Way whose axis is from Gemini to Sagitarius. Cf. Ionescu, 1983, p.224: «this axis of Gemini to Sagitarius being cut almost at right angles by the opposition Mars - Neptune».
Summary and Discussion:
This quatrain seems to be essentially lighted by Centurio (1953, p.94-95), followed by Ionescu (1976; 1983) and by Guinard (2000-2011), when he writes: « Before the German astronomer Gall at his Berlin Observatory on the 23rd of September, 1846, had recognized the planet, which had been predicted to him by a French astronomer Leverrier, an Englishman had become aware of it, but he held it to be a Nova, i.e., a new fixed star unknown till then. This discovery, almost by chance, of the planet Neptune, which was seen for the first time by an English astronomer Challis on the 4th and the 12th of August, 1846, Nostradamus describes with its essential or indeed very remarkable circumstances that may indicate the point of time. Challis could not progress without hindrance his first observation of a supposed Nova further, because the full Moon of the 7th of August, 1846, prevented him from doing so. This is what Nostradamus relates with no possibility of misunderstanding; the weak light of the long-distance planet came litterally within the full brightness of the Moon... And it is unthinkable to refill a falling comma before Neptune, because the full Moon cannot cover the planet Venus, which is found always in the vicinity of the Sun.»
Generally speaking, the astronomical conditions roughly described in the quatrain can indicate many possible dates including that of the 7th of August, 1846. And practically, it is recommendable that we should adopt the first of the theoretically possible and predictable conjunctions of Neptune with the full Moon after its discovery and naming, because one cannot refer to any conjunction of a planet named Neptune not yet discovered and identified with the full Moon.
Therefore, the case proposed by Centurio, namely that of the 7th of August, 1846 is invalid and to be excluded, Neptune being not yet discovered and identified by anyone at the moment.
The lucky fact of observation of Neptune by Challis on the 4th and the 12th of August, 1846, was confirmed only in retrospect, and it is on the 23rd, or most precisely at the very beginning (0h 15min) of the 24th of September, 1846, that the German astronomers Galle and D'Arrest at the Berlin Observatory found the planet at last, after having received previous evening a letter from the French mathematician Leverrier communicating his final prediction of the position of the supposed planet.(cf. Kollerstrom, 2011).
Now, there would be no astronomer who dares to survey the night sky near the Full Moon except for a special purpose, and there is no astronomical failure where there is no obserbation of the sky. So, during the full Moon and its surrounding days Challis must have stopped surveying the sky, then it is not due to the full Moon that Challis could not progress his research.
In fact, he seized the object in the sky on the 4th and the 12th of August, 1846, just immediately before and after the full Moon of the 7th of the month.
The recent historical investigations about the event of discovery of Neptune tells us that Challis failed in recognizing the planet because of the lack of precision of the calculated prediction of the position of the supposed planet supplied to him by his colleague Adams, whereas the eminent precision of the prediction calculated by the French mathematician Leverrier made it exceedingly easy for the German staff at Berlin to identify the new planet immediately after their receiving the letter of prediction from Leverrier. And the naming of the new planet as Neptune was made upon the proposal of it by Leverrier himself in his letters dated the 1st of October, 1846, addressed to European observatories. Challis and Adams proposed their idea of the name Oceanus ten days after in vain. (cf. Kollerstrom, 2011).
Thus, the event of discovery and naming of Neptune was especially the French prize and an English remorse.
Why the French prophet Nostradamus needs to take in consideration a scientific failure of the English with Herschel's merit on the Galaxy in this quatrain to the disfavor of his compatriots in neglecting the latter ?
We should prefer an interpretation of this quatrain granting the supreme merit of the French mathematician Leverrier in the event, which is already implied in the verses with the too explicit announcement of the name of the new planet Neptune.
This nominal demonstration does presuppose the truly effected discovery, identification and naming of Neptune, through which we can refer for the first time to a conjunction of Neptune with the full Moon as described in the quatrain; the theme of the quatrain IV-33 is a conjunction of this sort itself, not the failure of the English astronomical team. And the first of these conjunctions immediately after the dates of its discovery and naming would be the most appropiate for the quatrain, recollecting the vivid memory of the event, and the most fascinating to the world, deserving also a predictive mention of Nostradamus.
Then, the first possible and predictable conjunction of Neptune with the full Moon accompanied by the circumstances described in the quatrain after the dates of its discovery and naming is that of the night of the 14th of August, 1848.
Moreover, this date is pregnant with political nuances, especially meaningful to France in the interregnum between the collapse of the July monarchy (February) and the entry of the President Louis-Napoleon (December).
© Koji Nihei Daijyo, 2011. All rights reserved.
Koji Nihei Daijyo
Author:Koji Nihei Daijyo
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Friday, August 27, 2010
Caveman Math
In my last post about our viewing of Walking With Cavemen I forgot to mention something about it that had me thinking.
In, I think, the third episode the narrator pointed to some holes in the ground and commented that how our ancestor viewed those holes marked a huge departure from how every other animal on earth viewed those holes. See, those holes were tracks, prints in the dry soil left by some animal. No other animals sees them as such but we humans sure do. And, he went on, we (then and now) know which clouds for tell rain and understand the turn of the seasons. And why do we?
Before I answer that I'd like to add that to date, most of what I've seen in books in regards to the beginning of math seems to involve a picture of an ancient African stick marked with notches for counting or a story about a shepherd needing to count his goats. The impression being that math began with counting.
But look at these prints in the snow:
Why are those not just holes in the snow?
Maybe it's partly because they're a regular pattern. Maybe we can track the seasons because we understand the pattern.
And if we're talking patterns, aren't we talking math?
Now I'm not saying Homo erectus was capable of multiplication, just that mathematical thinking, if you can divorce math from counting, may have been around longer than Homo sapien and that mathematical thinking may be one of the fundamental things that first defined humans. As much as taming fire. As much as imagination.
Now I realize even as I type this that it's probably FAR from an original thought. It's just one of those personal epiphany things. I also realize Mr. Human Ancestor may have been relying on correlation with the tracks, seeing cat walk and seeing the prints left behind and putting two and two together...But then we're back to mathematical reasoning, aren't we? :D
Anyhow, probably the cough syrup talking but I thought I'd post it anyway.
Walking With Cavemen
A few days ago when we were talking about "cavemen" Harry had the wacky idea that they had cars. Cars? I think he must have caught a few episodes of The Flintstones at some point and it made a greater impression than it should have. Regardless, to give him a better portrait of what those cavemen might have looked like and to help our history studies I thought we'd take a look at BBC's Walking With Cavemen.
Not quite what I'd assumed from the title as it's not a series on Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, the traditional cavemen. It's actually a look at human evolution starting with Australopithecus afarensis and it's pretty darn good. Predictably there's lots of talk about sex and much nudity but given the subject matter that should be expected. None of us were bothered in the least.
It set off yesterday's activity with the cave paintings quite nicely as the last episode concludes with a caveman doing the thing that the narrator maintained was what truly made us human - using his imagination to paint scenes on a cave wall.
We enjoyed it (although since we watched all 4 episodes in one sitting Harry was a little antsy by the end of it) and Catherine has requested Walking With Prehistoric Beasts next. And I'm happy to report that Harry no longer thinks it possible that cavemen had cars.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Cave Paintings Discovered in Basement!
This afternoon we followed up on our latest Story of the World chapters with a reading of the first two chapters of E.H. Gombrich's A Little History of the World (my review here - LOVE this book). Both dealt with prehistoric humans so in keeping with the theme we first looked at cave paintings on the internet and then grabbed some brushes and paint and headed for the basement.
While some parts of the basement walls are finished some are still bare cement. This makes them perfect for cave paintings! I poured out black, red, orange, yellow and white paints (in keeping with the colours we saw in the real cave paintings) and we got to work.
Catherine did an awesome job:
Harry had a whole story to go with his involving cavemen tumbling off waterfalls, mystical artifacts and a Beast God of Doom:
And here's the finished product:
My contributions are in the upper right hand corner: the gamer in red, the orange hand outline and our three pets. Harry's turned out great but I thought his creepy red handprints were fantastic. I LOVE Catherine's scene with the mammoth hunt on the bottom left. The three hunters have it backed up against a cliff while a fourth hunter is ready to drop a boulder on its head.
Tons of fun!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Unschooling Latin?
My daughter has been interested in learning Ancient Greek and Latin since forever. We've approached Greek in fits and starts because I haven't really found anything that seemed to work well. She worked through the Greek Hupogrammon years ago but that's just learning the alphabet. Beyond that there's not a whole lot of interesting Greek homeschooling stuff. Or rather, there's some but her real interest is Attic, not Koine or New Testament and in the homeschooling world that limits the already narrow options even more.
Latin has been easier. There are a ton of interesting programs. Ones that have caught my eye have been Lingua Latina and Cambridge Latin which seem more focused on getting a person reading the language from the get go rather then spending time memorizing stuff. The memorizing stuff is valuable but intimidating for a mom who only speaks English and a desperately tiny amount of French. But those two programs are rather pricey.
I ended up ordering Getting Started with Latin by William Linney. It's under $20 and everything I'd read about it seemed to be good. A gentle and not too rigourous introduction to the language. And it is. It's also great buckets of fun. So much fun that even Harry (now 8) loves to sit in while Catherine and I go through the lessons.
What's fun about GSWL for us is also the thing that would make it great for unschoolers. It's easy to do orally while flopped on the sofa eating nachos. I read a lesson, the kids play around with it, we go off on a tangent...It's in the same vein as the Michael Clay Thompson poetry and grammar materials I touted in an earlier post and Philosophy For Kids. Open the book, read a bit, discuss. Come away looking at things differently then before.
And you will look at things differently. Not just word roots and grammar. Shucks, when I learned that sum meant, I am, I couldn't stop thinking about the weight it seems to have in Latin as opposed to modern English - except when we use sum as a mathematical term. I am in English always seems to have to be followed by something while the mighty sum seems to be a statement in an of itself. Rather like how sum in math is a definitive state of all that came before so that, "I am both a sailor and a farmer," seems to just be a statement about what roles you play while, "Ego sum et nauta et agricola," seems to imply that you're the sum of those two roles.
And no, I have no idea if I've got the right impression on that or not. Probably not but it was still a fun thought and Linney's text inspired it.
For the unschooler it would be a great way to gently introduce Latin, to let them stick a toe in the water to see if there's an interest. If your child has an interest then it's a fantastic and inviting bridge to the more intensive programs.
At the very least, for $20 it makes fantastic strewing material!
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Vinegaroon: Sasorimodoki
by Riku Minei
image01Do you know vinegaroon? They are insects that are like scorpions. They are in Kochi. In night, if you smell vinegar in forest, please look where you are stepping. Probably you can see them.
Description & taxonomy
Its average size is from 20 to 25mm. It is called `scorpion` because of its appearance. Japanese name is Sasorimodoki. But it is close to spider. It lives in tropical area and subtropical area. Vinegaroon has about 100 species. It has two spiecies in Japan. There are Typopeltis stimpsonii in Kyusyu, Typopeltis crucifer is on Yaeyama island. Kochi`s Vinegaroon is thought to be Typopeltis stimpsonii. It`s a range spreads every year and it live in Kobe and Ogasawara island now. We can recognize it by scissors form. Kochi`s vinegaroon is thought that be brought by people.
Range & ecology
It lives under stones and prefer humidity. It`s staple food is insect, a cricket or a grasshopper. It is cannibalistic. It catches insect by using scissors. In winter, it hibernates. It has poison that smell vinegar. `Vinegaroon` cause this poison. If people touch this poison, causes Dermatitis and maybe loss of eyesight. If you touch vinegaroon, you must wash your skin.
Use & conservation
image00 It is specified Endangered species in Kochi. In Kumamoto prefecture, it is specified Natural treasure. It is thought that its numbers are decreasing because it is carniverous and the number of cockroach or cricket which it feeds on is also decreasing.
[Note: images from Wikipedia]
Cissites cephalotas: Hirazugensei
by K. Seo
image00In 1935, an insect like small beans of about 3cm was discovered by Mr. Sasaki, a teacher of Ali junior high school. It is called Cissites cephalotas. The common Japanese name is Hirazugensei. It means Gensei of flat head. But this insect was discovered in Kochi at first, so often it is called Tosahirazugensei and is the Prefectural Representative Insect of Kochi.
Length is about 3 cm. Color of the body is vivid red, six legs and big jaw is black. Male jaw is large and powerful looking, but female jaw is small.
As mentioned above, at 1935 it was first observed in Kochi. Later Dr.Kawano who was professor in Hokkaido university, named the male Sasakihirazugensei, named the female Tosahirazugensei. In other words, he thought that the different sexes were two different species. But at present these two species are one species, this fact is established. Also later there are records in Inoguchi, Kawakita, Ibiki etc. in Aki city.
This is included of family Meloidae. In this family there are more 10 species for example Kirogensei etc･･･. It is certain thing which the rare insect is collected in Aki city. So this insect is a souvenir insect as Kochi.
Hirazugensei live in Honsyu,Shikoku,Kyusyu district of japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia and Indonesia, and it is found in forest mountain (low~middle level) etc. Especially, this insect lives around nests (beats) on the plains.
It is known that Hrazugensei has a relationship with a certain beetle (Kumabachi). Larva of Hirazugensei grows in nest of Kumabachi. Adult comes out from nets of Kumabachia from June to July. But it is unknown how the larva invades the nests, or what food the larva eat to grow. Therefore the appearance in nests is not known. There are unknown points about Hiratagensei. The cause of this is that Hiratagensei is rare insect. (Appointed associate endangered species in Kochi) But a lover of insects in Kochi wish that they understand myself about ecology of Hiratagensei which is recorded at first in Kochi.
Hirazugensei live around the nests of animals in the plains. So searcher should search nest of Kumabachi (it could be found in temples, old house, a house made of wood) at first, next look nests below.
Many Japanese children enjoy collecting insects. However, as they get older, people often lose interest in insects. This interesting discovery can make people interested again at any age. If you are lucky, you can find HIrazugensei.Lets come back to curiosity.
Benkeigani: Chiromanates dehani
by K. Saito
Chiromanates dehaani is one kind of crab in fresh water. They are called “KURO BENKEIGANI” in japan.They live in almost every prefecture excluding Okinawa and Hokkaido. in Kochi, they live in Shimanto river. They are known creature of river cleaner.
They are nocturnal creature living in dark area,like a cave.So they are hided their body in howl in morning. And they are omnivorous that eat small fish, carcasses, and rotten leaves.
Description & Taxonomy
Chiramanates dehaani’s taxonomy is Arthropoda, malacostraca, Decapoda, sesarmidae, sesarmops.
It is just about 35mm. It size like a thumb. The shell is rugged, it looks like ”Musashibo Benkei” from which their Japanese name “Benkei gani” is derived. (By the way, ”Musashibo Benkei” was warrior in the Heian period, 794 to 1185.) Chiramanates dehani`s shell looks his angry face.
Their color is almost black except for claws which are white. It can hunt under cover of darkness hidden from both enemies and prey alike.
Range & Ecology
Chiramanates dehani live in waterside,riverside and shore between Oga peninsula and Boso peninsula in Japan.It shows they can stand salty water.There are many small fishes leaves and carcasses.
They live in ocean in their childhood. it look plankton. It called “zoea larva”. Zoea larva grow up in a shoal and become club’s look, they come to a river and copulate. After copulation, female Chiramanates dehani come to a seashore and spawn. This is the life cycle of Chiramanates dehani.
Use & Conservation
Chiramanates dehani is not eaten by man. It because Chiramanates dehani is not good taste and have smelling of earth.They are not eaten,but they are bred like crawfish. Almost time they bred is man catching them, but sometimes they are sold in pet shop.In online pet shop, they are sold 3000yen by pair.
On the other hand, they are decided general protection creature in Chiba prefecture.It shows they are decreasing in Kanto area. this is because waterside in Kanto become dirty place and introduced species increased.Even Chiramanates dehani is one of the example of be suffering from destroyed.We have to know that and make an effort to save waterside clean.
Chiramanates dehani is index of fertile river. If you want to see them in kochi, go to Shimannto river and thrust a branch into hole. Then, you get many interesting creature, and you can see the crabs that have Benkei’s face.
Black swallowtail（クロアゲハ）
by M. Iwabuchi
Black swallowtail is the most beautiful black butterfly. It is the largest of the swallowtails. It resembles other kinds when it is larva or a pupa, but it differs greatly when it becomes an imago. It is seen most ordinarily in black butterfly. So some people observe.
Black swallowtail is a scientific name Papilio protenor. It is a kind of the butterfly classified into butterfly order and the family of a swallowtail.
It is widely distributed from Taiwan and China to Himalaya. In Japan, it is distributed over Honshu (Akita and south of Iwate), Shikoku, Kyushu and Amami Oshima. There isn’t in Hokkaido. And it is few in the lowlands of the Tohoku Region. It is found in shaded places, such as a place where trees grew thick. But it seen from town to mountain. On a mountain path, it often sees taking on water from the damp ground.
Black swallowtail’s color is blackish. The length of the front wing of the imago is about 45-70 mm. Red points are located on an edge of the back side of a hind wing. Black swallowtail of Japan is a caudate process to a wing. Male’s front edge of the hind wing has a white band. Growing white band changes yellowish. Female’s red points are more beautiful than male’s one.
It opens a wing when it stops between trees. But it closes a wing when it sleeps. This is common behavior in swallowtails.
It generates 2 to 4 times in September from April. There are two types of spring type and summer type. Spring type is smaller, progress red points and deeper-colored black than summer type.
It oviposits usually on the branch or the trunk of a tree. The egg becomes orange color from yellow. Finally the egg becomes light brown. It hatches in about one week.
The larva becomes green from brownish. The green larva resembles swallowtail’s larva. But the brownish larva is different. The color is glossy and the pattern is like the dropping of a bird. Green larva takes off thing like the red horn which gives off a smell if it feels danger. The larva eats the leaf of citrus fruits, such as a trifoliate, a yuzu, a prickly ash and skimmia.
The chrysalis is two patterns with brown or green. The brown chrysalis stays over the winter. The chrysalis becomes black toward hatching. And it breaks a chrysalis and comes out. The flow of these series is observable also in the garden.
Where to see in Kochi
In Kochi, black swallowtail is seen at a roadside in October from May because Kochi is warm. Kochi is the place of production of yuzu. So you will see black swallowtail’s egg or larva or chrysalis if you turn the leaf of a yuzu. It is a familiar butterfly.
Fiddler Crab
by T. Takayama
First fiddler crab is Decapoda class sand crab family Uca arcuata. Fiddler crab`s gap length is from 20mm to 40mm there is a difference between variety sort of fiddler crab, gap width is 35mm. Eyestalk have a compound eye. It is long. Orbit of the eye grow too. Typically from the left and right eye is the center. Shell has an inverted trapezoid. The body color is red but sometimes difficult to determine the mud wearing colors easily.
Fiddler crab look over in over a large area while stand eyestalk in the case of fiddler crab live on the surface of the earth.
Second, fiddler crabs lives in tidal flats and mud hardened area. But human activity become a major threat, has reduced the habitat. Fiddler crab live in the seashore around the mouth of a river in the tropical zone and the subtropics. There is a liking for bottom material by each kind. Fiddler crab live in various place such as a beach at ebb tide, mangrove , a sandy beach and boulder.
Next, Ministry of the Environment published Red date list in 2000, had been semi-endangered species were unique and endangered in 2006 due to revision of the increased risk of extinction.
Given name
Next fiddler crab is named “taucchogane and ganetsukegani, magani” in the coast of Ariake sea.fiddler crab are caught with “ariakegani and yamatoosagani”.
Same group
Finally there is a white line fiddler crab. Gap width is 18mm. White line fiddler crab is smaller than fiddler crab. White line fiddler crab lives in a sandy beach and boulder. White line there are far more White line fiddler crab`s habitat than fiddler crab.
Fiddler Crab
by T. Oda
Class fiddler crab has 10 Japanese types. Fiddler crab and hakusen fiddler crab are distributed in Kyusyu and Western. Nansei island and ogasawara island have many types.
Description, Taxonomy, Range, Ecology & Whatnot
F1ddler crab fiddle Gap length is 20mm,gap width is 35mm.Typically,from the left and right eye is the center. Shell in an inverted trapezoid. The body color is red but sometimes difficult to determine in the mud what the colors are easily.
They live in tidal flats and mud hardened area. However,human activity became a major threat, and has reduced the habitat.Invertebrate Red List published by the Ministry in 2000,had been semi-endangered species,and were unique and endangered in 2006 due to revision of the increased risk of extinction.The breeding season is mid-August from mid-June.During this time,females lay eggs twice.Fiddler’s food is plankton and tiny creatures in the sand.
Hakusen fiddler crab fiddlers fiddling Gap width is 18mm. It inhabits sandy beach near the mouth of mud mixed.Ministry of the environment is Red List has been revised to class Ⅱ as near threatened and endangered fiddler crab,at the beginning of the 21st century,more than the fiddler crab habitat.The food is similar to hakusen crab.
Factors threatening its survival,the development of the rivers,wetlands development,coastal development,water pollution,and limit origin.
Common Jay (Graphium doson)
by M. Yabumoto
Mikadoageha or the Common Jay (Graphium doson) is a special protected butterfly in Japan. Mikadoageha’s subspecies live in the world.
Description & Taxonomy
Mikadoageha is a same genus as Aosuziageha among the butterfly in Japan. Mikadoageha became the Japanese name because L.H.Leech, an entomologist in Britain, offered the name to the Meijitennou.
There are very few differences of color, a spot and so on.The caterpillar eats leaves such as Ogatamanoki.It occurs from the first time to the third time. The imago often visits flowers.
Mikadoageha sucks nectar in the top of the trees and the innerpart of branches. The eggs are produced in the back of young leaves.They pass the winter in the pupal stage.The imago are seen from early summer to early autumn.
Range & Ecology
Mikadoageha live in a variety of places, for example, Okinawa, Yamaguchi, Mie, Kyusyu, and low land of Shikoku.The distribution is limited, and there are a lot of variations of species.
Use & Conservation
Mikadoageha has something to do with human beings. It lives in Ushioetenmangu, Yoho temple and Ushioe junior high school the city of Kochi.
Only a small number of the individuals are special protected animals of Japan, so we cannot collect it. The protected animal of insects which is designated specially is Genzibotaru.
If you want to see Mikadoageha, don’t destroy Mikadoageha’s habitat. If you are careful, we will keep see Mikadoageha forever.
Bata: Orthoptera Caelifera
Locust is a general term for nimalia Arthropoda Insecta Orthoptera Caelifera. In the family along with Pyrgomorphidae Acrididae Tetrigidae and so.
Locusta migratoria
They hop along because their hind legs are well developed and they have ala. The front ala is thin and opaque, while the hind ala is thick and clear. Total length is about 35mm ~ 65mm and body color is protectively colored green and brown. This color matches with their habitat, but, in high population density, it becomes a blackish color.
They live in dry grassy areas in the Tropic and Temperate zones. Like the Katydids and the cricket, it is an Orthoptera and has a similar form but is actually quite different. Compared with the Katydids and the cricket, the locust’s rearing environment is an arid zone, short plants and open ground. Other example, the locust’s body is long in front and behind, ear in the chest, the female’s ovipositor isn’t long, and most of the kinds female is bigger than male.
They are incomplete metamorphosis. (Egg – larva – Imago) Eggs is laid in shallow earth. When larva. they have no ala but as imagoes develop ala, females get an ovipositor. In Japan, imagoes die in winter so, eggs stay over the winter.
Migratory locust often cause severe damage to agricultural areas. The plural locust is called Migratory. They are often locust plague and eat a lot of grass. No grass land cause many disaster. These past few years, it aren’t many examples like this in Japan because of agricultural chemicals and breeding environment’s destruction.
There arre about 5,500 kinds of locust in the world, and about 445 kinds of locust in Japan. Locusta migratoria, length about 40mm ~ 70mm, body color is green or brown and, live in grassland. Gastrimargus marmoratus, length about 40mm ~ 60mm, body color is green or brown and, black markings for its hind leg. The Acrida cinerea, lengths is about 50mm ~ 80mm, there is a difference in female and male. For example, length (females are bigger than males), jump (females can’t jump so far), and male scan chirp.
We can see many locust every day, but don’t know well about them.
Amenbo: Gerridae
Autumn Darter
Typically red dragonfly refers to dragonfly belonging to Libelluidae Sympetrum,
but in the narrow sense it may point only to Akiakane. It is one of the most of popular dragonflies, and the name means of color and is found in fall. Other names of red dragonfly are Akanetonbo, Akane, Akanenba and Akatonbou. It is also called Tougarashitoubo and Kaminaritonbo in Tohoku. Continue reading Autumn Darter
Cabbage butterfly
Cabbage butterfly can be compared to other butterflies such as swallow tail etc. Swallow tail is bigger than cabbage butterfly, length is 80~120mm. Cabbage butterfly is about 55mm. Swallow tail is green, yellow and black spots color while cabbage butterfly is wing color is white but reverse side is thin black color. Front wing point is black and front wing and back wing have two black spots. Their eyes have compound eyes and heads have club feeler. Continue reading Cabbage butterfly
Insects are many many species, for example butterfly, moth, dragonfly etc. Mantises belong to the class insect. We think they evolved from cockroaches. They have scythe and are oviparous. Their head is triangle with compound eyes. Feelers are two and short. Also they have wings– there are front wing and back wing. The back wing is thin and clear. Ground mantises are degenerate and they can not fly. They menace to other animals. Continue reading Mantis
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Numbering and Counting
Methods of historical preservation
There has now been established and described a system for the intended purpose to completely regiment the entirety of natural resources to carrot tops and legumes, to completely reveal the night sky, to track the existing farms and regimented areas according to the stars as they appear in the night sky, and the development of technology to include magnets, incandescance, and possibly digital electronics before Moses walks out of Egypt. That is an enormous and complex system.
It didn't happen all at once, and it was not forgotten along the way. Living life is not designed to cause the destruction and fault of living life. At one time, before the formal beginning of the regimentation of the land, at a time when the first paper pressers were working with only gathered naturally dead leaves and the firepit existed only after thousands of years allowing the fire to go out, allowing the fuel to go out, or failing to restock the kindling to work with the ashes, at that time of little technology and greater life there were enormous political debates and heated arguments and houses set against one another for a vote: to make a witch or not. A witch, an unnecessary log of wood deliberately taken from a living tree for no other purpose than a particular house wants to have the hot water. Every other house on the planet exists tending its firepit, and carefully rationing the hot water, and carefully planning for parties and events and gatherings and ritual observances. A house wishes to claim a witch. That is the beginning of the war to regiment the land.
In the course of the debate, as history turns out, the witches won. Not only did it become acceptable to claim a limb from a tree at will but it became standard policy to cut everything down and make a hoarde out of anything even remotely dietarily useful to any other house which would oppose the creation of the at will on demand witch. The system did not favor the witches. The witches won. The system, for its part, began counting the number of wrong decisions made in favor of the witches. The witches become progressively more ruthless and brutal to ensure that their authority is never challenged but the system continues to count the number of ruthless and brutal mistakes made in favor of the witches.
The numbering and accounting of the sin of life deliberately and frivolously destroying life is kept in the architecture of the world, counted into the design of the languages, preserved in lineages and corporate empires, buried in the coffers of nations and marked as surgical wounding on the very people, both the witches and the oppressed alike. The development of the surgical wounding process, the extreme sequences to count for the hundreds, thousands, and hundreds of thousands of witches attached to any particular lineage, leads to the discovery of the ability of a living human organism to endure abuse and continue to live and, in situations, even continue to perform useful service. The fullness of the surgical wounding process leads to the development of the resurrective process: mummification. All of the templates of numbering and accounting develop side-by-side using the humans themselves as both scorecards and laborers.
The template system recognizes that the methods of accounting were not created deliberately for that purpose. The need for accounting increased as the architecture increased, the ability to perfect the passover process improved as the technologies were made available, the necessary numbers for the financial schemes evolved in a timely manner along with the regimenting of the land down to alegorical quarters, dimes, and eighths of a percent. The practice to allow some overlap and anticipate the need to change the timely order of events augments the necessary understanding of scriptural models; recognizing that bible scripture as it is available today is no where near a linear progression of prose events. The templates coherently model the evolution of bible scripture along with the other progressions of the available lanes of technology.
121229 SAB
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Monday, 14 March 2011
Learning Resources
Finding the Right Language Learning Resources
Approaching a new language can be a daunting task. Though you might already have settled on the particular language you want to learn, the next step is one of the most crucial - finding the right resources to get your started. There's nothing wrong with going out and buying the first course that catches your eye, but wouldn't you say it's better to first have a browse and see what's out there? These days in particular, language learning resources are big business for a lot of companies and as a result there are a considerable number of products on the market. As with anything, these products are of varying quality. It is highly recommended that you research before buying to avoid disappointment later.
What can you buy? And more importantly, what should you buy? Well, one of the first things many people will do is invest in a well-known series of language courses such as the Teach Yourself guides. These commonly come with a number of CD or audio components that accompany the book and as such allow you to listen to the language as you learn it - a crucial component. Although these courses are useful and provide you with an entry point into the language, a dictionary is an invaluable addition that will help dramatically expand your vocabulary. Bilingual dictionaries are available for the majority of languages out there, although for more obscure languages you might need to look further afield.
Grammar books aren't generally the most interesting of reads but they most certainly are essential for the aspiring language learner. Without a solid understanding of grammatical rules, you will never reach your full potential and indeed, will never reach fluency. Once you've got the grammar firmly lodged in your head, however, a great deal of the language suddenly makes a lot more sense. You can begin to apply those rules to what you're learning, working them out for yourself and really getting a feel for the language. It's a satisfying feeling and one that makes the hard work of ploughing through grammar books definitely worth it.
Software is increasingly marketed towards language learners. The idea of having the language student actively participating in games and activities that help their learning has become very popular over the last few years. Rather than sitting down with a book and CD, these programs attempt to engage the student in ways that harness modern technology with a view to making the learning process easier or more comfortable. Some people prefer these methods to sitting down with a book and there's certainly nothing wrong with it. Different methods suit different types of people and it is simply a case of identifying which work best for you.
Finally, one of the most valuable resources for learning a language is....actually going somewhere it is spoken! Some people would argue that this is the most important step in your education. No matter how good your language course, your grammar books, your dictionaries or your software, actually going to a country and experiencing the culture and language first hand is invaluable. Your other language learning resources simply cannot compare. If you are lucky enough to experience that kind of language immersion, your education and subsequently your confidence will get a huge boost.
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You can help Ōkami Wiki by fixing it.
The Iroha is an archaic Japanese poem that was once used to order the kana syllabary. Its first known copy dates to 1079; at the time it was written, it contained each unique kana syllable exactly once. Since then, the language has changed in certain ways-- for example, the ん "syllabic n" kana did not yet exist, some of the older kana are no longer used, and several words have shifted in pronunciation-- and it has become more common in modern times to sort the kana in a more logical order based on the vowels. However, the Iroha order is still used in certain contexts such as notes of the musical scale or theatre seating.
Original syllables Hiragana
i-ro ha ni-ho-he-to いろはにほへと
chi-ri-nu-ru wo ちりぬるを
wa-ka yo ta-re so わかよたれそ
tsu-ne na-ra-mu つねならむ
u-wi no o-ku-ya-ma うゐのおくやま
ke-fu ko-e-te けふこえて
a-sa-ki yu-me mi-shi あさきゆめみし
we-hi mo se-su ゑひもせす
An approximate translation of the poem, with some interpolations, might run as follows: "The color and fragrance of flowers fade away from our world, where nothing lasts forever. Though mortal existence seems to tower over us like a mountain, cross over it now and overcome its temptations and illusions".
The Iroha sequence appears in two different places in Ōkami: the relative power rankings of Imps, and the maze of sliding doors on Oni Island which is labelled with hiragana on the floor of each room.
The initial entrance to the Oni Island maze is via the three rooms of the "i-ro-ha" line at the bottom; thereafter, the rest of the poem is rearranged into rows of five kana each, with the exit through the bombable wall of the "su" (す) room that represents the last syllable of the poem and the "syllabic n" (ん) kana added to fill in the last corner of the grid.
The following grid shows the layout of the maze rooms, although the walls between them are not shown:
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Mechanical Intervention
Posted in Tools
Carl Hornberger, Beads
There is the saying that “Necessity is the mother of invention”. While making precise uniformly-shaped beads from polymer clay isn’t exactly a necessity, it can be challenging to do so. This is particularly the case when you want to make uniform elongated oval beads with two pionted ends.
I first met Carl and Jean Hornberger at the National Polymer Clay Guild’s Annual retreat at Shrinemont in Orkney Springs Virginia. I was fascinated by the notion that they both were artists who used polymer clay, often collaborated on pieces together, had a blended family of thirteen children and complimented each other’s artistic sensibilities. Jean’s pieces were much softer and often incorporated crocheted fibers, glass beads and found objects. Carl’s pieces were bolder, often featured bright vibrant colors and swirling patterns.
At the 1996 retreat, I noticed a large crowd gathering around Carl’s workstation for a demonstration. At first all I could see was a large piece of PVC piping and wondered just what he was going to do with a piece of plastic plumbing pipe. As a retired chemist, Carl loved experimenting in his workshop with mechanical things- especially those that would work with polymer clay.
What he was demonstrating was a bead roller he had made from a half round piece of the plumbing pipe as a trough and a slightly smaller piece of pipe as a paddle with a Plexiglas handle. He indicated that this was a modern version of an ancient ceramic bead making tool. Initially he demonstrated how a solid round ball of polymer clay could easily be paddled into an even foot ball shaped bead by sliding the paddle along the length of the trough. What really got the crowd excited was when he demonstrated just what would happen if the starting ball of clay was covered with striped cane slices. In the rolling, the stripes torqued, forming interesting patterns.
Another year he demonstrated a tool he had devised to help Jean use a small hand held clay “gun” to extrude long lengths of stiffer polymer clay to appliqué onto her pieces. Up until then this was a tedious hand-straining process.
His innovative mechanical inventions provided impetus to many artists working in polymer clay to try new approaches. Since then, both of these devices have been re-tooled, refined and are available as commercially made tools to all polymer clay artists.
Carl Hornberger, Necklace, 1997, 31.5″ long
Jean and Carl are no longer with us but they are both remembered for their generosity of spirit, enthusiasm for life and innovative approaches which inspired artists who followed
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Monday, September 7, 2009
Interesting article about Bacteria
Deep Inside Bacteria, a Germ of Human Personality
Bacteria are the oldest living things on earth, and researchers have long felt that they must lead dull, unfussy lives. New discoveries are starting to show just how wrong that notion is.
For a simple, single-cell creature, a bacterium is surprisingly social. It can communicate in two languages. It can tell self from nonself, friend from foe. It thrives in the company of others. It spies on neighbors, spreads misinformation and even commits fratricide.
"Really, they're just stripped-down versions of us," says Bonnie Bassler, microbial geneticist at Princeton University, who has spent two decades peeking at the inner lives of bacteria. Dr. Bassler and other scientists are using this information to devise new ways to fight infections and reduce antibiotic resistance.
Bacterial society is based on a chemical language called quorum sensing. To detect how many of its own species, or members of another bacterial species, are in the immediate vicinity, each bacterium secretes a certain molecule into the environment. The greater the number of molecules it can sense, the more fellow bacteria it knows are out there.
This is often a trigger to act. Some bacteria will attack a person or any other host only after establishing that there is a quorum -- a large-enough army to overcome the host's immune defenses. The strategy helps explain the virulence of a number of human ailments, including cholera, pneumonia and food poisoning.
Dr. Bassler was the first to identify the molecule that bacteria use to communicate with members of other species. She hopes the finding will lead to a new kind of drug that won't succumb to antibiotic resistance.
Resistance is a serious and growing health risk across the world. It occurs because most antibiotics are designed to kill bacteria. But some bugs survive the attack and pass on their resistant genes to their progeny, strengthening future generations and making the antibiotic less effective.
Instead of killing bacteria, Dr. Bassler wants to simply jam their communication lines -- the quorum-sensing mechanism. She figures that if the bugs can't signal each other, they can't properly assess the size of their growing army and might never attack. Another benefit: Because bacteria aren't killed, the approach could delay the onset of resistance.
To continue reading the article click here
Original article can be found at
1 people had something to say...:
Sara said...
This reminds me of an article I read somewhere, might've even been here.. on oil droplets of some sort being inhaled into the lung. It was a new nano technology they are testing out that was supposed to kill antibiotic resistant bacteria but it confused me because.. just because some bacteria is resistant to one antibiotic doesn't mean it's resistant to all does it? So couldn't that be potentially hurting you more than helping you? I guess I didn't fully understand it, can anyone expand on this?
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The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear four cases involving the issue of same-sex unions. These cases come from the Sixth Circuit where the U.S. Appeals Court had earlier upheld Michigan’s definition of marriage as limited to one man and one woman. That decision (DeBoer v. Snyder) created what is called a “conflict among the Circuits” and forced the Supreme Court to address the issue.
The court will be likely to issue a decision in June 2015 with arguments in April. There are two questions that the court has agreed to take up. Does the 14th Amendment require a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex? Secondly, does that same Amendment “require a state to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-state?”
How should the Supreme Court decide these cases? Specifically, the justices should reject the recent rash of federal court decisions that have, for the time being, forced same-sex marriage on the citizens of 31 states who had democratically chosen to define marriage as between one man and one woman. The court should follow the lead of Justice Clarence Thomas, who recently warned his brethren, in a different but related context, that they should “show the appropriate respect we owe the states as sovereigns and to the people of those states.” This is a call for the court to unapologetically take a stand for federalism—governmental power shared between the national government and the state governments. Federalism is a principle that has been at the very heart of our American government from the beginning. James Madison described it this way in Federalist # 45: “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government, are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the state governments, are numerous and indefinite. … The powers reserved to the several states will extend to … the lives, liberties, properties of the people; and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the state.” This is the federalism endorsed by the Founders, and the court should restore it to its proper place in American polity by allowing states and their citizens to make up their own minds about same-sex unions.
Such a stance does not require the court to do anything more than depend upon its own history in this regard. The federal judiciary has largely left the definition of what constitutes marriage—its contours, moral limits, and rationale—to individual state governments. This “hands-off” approach has not resulted in a stagnant status quo. It has not prevented some states from gradually altering their marriage laws over time. States throughout the nation have dealt with a variety of difficult and highly charged questions having to do with marriage. Legislatures have had to address questions concerning marriage such as what shall be the age of consent to marry (marital consent laws), whether a medical exam or waiting period is required, whether “common law” marriage is recognized, whether blood relatives may marry (consanguinity laws), whether one may be married to more than one person at one time (bigamy laws), how a marriage may be dissolved (divorce laws), as well as the current hot-topic—whether or not marriage partners can be of the same sex. State legislators are experienced at considering the benefits and costs of changes to this important institution. They are used to weighing the sentiments, convictions, and apprehensions of their constituents and responding accordingly. Our Founders wisely left such matters to the individual states acting through their chosen representatives, because those state legislators were closest to the cultural pulse of the people affected. The Supreme Court should do the same.
In addition to a respect for state governments and their citizens, the court should practice self-restraint here if for no other reason than the centrality of traditional marriage to the well-being and stability of American society. The court should not lend its authority to those who are intent upon jettisoning traditional marriage like so much unwanted cargo. The justices should resist those who want to make marriage into an “anything goes” institution guided by unfettered personal preference. In short, they should be apprehensive about sanctioning a fundamental change in one of the longest-standing institutions of Christian Western civilization simply because of a current shrill campaign that falsely claims its origin is in the American tradition of equality.
The justices ought to heed the admonition of Edmund Burke in “Reflections on the Revolution in France.” He writes, “When ancient opinions and rules of life are taken away, the loss cannot possibly be estimated. From that moment we have no compass to govern us; nor can we know distinctly to what port we steer.”
Dr. John A. Sparks is the retired dean of the Calderwood School of Arts & Letters, Grove City College, Grove City, Pa. He is a member of the State Bars of Michigan and Pennsylvania and is a fellow for educational policy for The Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College.
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Mar 172014
Using Hubble to probe the dynamic interaction between the Magellanic Clouds
By Andrew Fox, Astronomer at STScI
Interactions between spiral galaxies and their dwarf satellites are often spectacular, producing extended streams of stripped gas and triggering new generations of star formation. The most striking local example of such an interaction lies in the outer halo of the Milky Way in the form of the Magellanic Stream. Extending for over 140 degrees across the Southern Sky, the Stream is a giant ribbon of gas trailing the orbit of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds as they journey around the Galaxy. Since its discovery over 40 years ago, the Stream has puzzled observers and theorists alike and raised many questions. How was it physically removed from the Magellanic Clouds? Did it originate in the LMC or SMC? And what will its ultimate fate be? New spectroscopic observations with the Hubble Space Telescope and the Very Large Telescope are addressing these questions and finding the origin of the Stream to be surprisingly complex.
Figure 1 : Top: In this combined all-sky radio and visible-light image, the Magellanic Stream is shown in pink. The radio observations, taken from the Leiden-Argentine-Bonn (LAB) Survey, have been combined with a visible-light panorama. The Milky Way is the light blue band in the center of the image. The brown clumps are interstellar dust clouds in our galaxy. The Magellanic Clouds are seen in white at bottom right. Bottom: close-up of the Stream with our HST/COS sightlines marked with crosses. Credit: NASA, ESA, D. Nidever et al., NRAO/AUI/NSF, A. Mellinger, LAB Survey.
Measuring the chemical abundance (metallicity) of interstellar gas clouds requires finding UV-bright background sources, such as quasars. By splitting the quasar light into its constituent colors, the absorption lines imprinted by foreground gas clouds can be measured. These lines encode detailed information on the chemical composition and motion of the foreground clouds. Using observations from the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) installed on Hubble in 2009, we observed eight active galactic nuclei (AGN) lying behind or near the Stream. By comparing the strength of the neutral oxygen (O I) and ionized sulfur (S II) UV absorption lines to the strength of the atomic hydrogen (H I) 21 cm emission measured by radio telescopes, we derived the Stream’s metallicity in each direction. O I and S II were chosen for these measurements since they are largely unaffected by ionization and dust-depletion effects, so their ratios with H I provide robust metallicity indicators.
We found the Stream’s metallicity to be only ≈10% of the solar value in three separate directions sampling most of its length, considerably lower than the current-day average metallicity of the SMC (≈20% solar) and the LMC (≈50% solar). However, the age of the Stream is estimated from tidal models to be around 2 billion years, and information on the metallicity evolution of the Magellanic Clouds indicates that 2 billion years ago, the SMC abundance was ~10% solar, matching the value we measure in the Stream, whereas the LMC abundance was much higher, at ~30-40% solar. Our results thus support a scenario in which most of the Stream was stripped from the SMC (not the LMC). It has not self-enriched since its formation, because there is no evidence for ongoing star formation in the gas. In a sense, we have measured a fossil record of the Stream at the time of its birth in the SMC about 2 billion years ago.
However, a fourth sightline we studied (toward the AGN Fairall 9) tells a very different story. In this direction, which lies close to the Magellanic Clouds on the sky, the sulfur abundance in the Stream is found to be 50% solar, five times higher than the value measured in the other directions, and much higher than expected for gas that has been stripped from the SMC. Furthermore, the Fairall 9 direction intercepts a filament of the Stream that appears to connect kinematically to the LMC. Our measurement of a higher metal abundance supports this claim, and points toward a dual origin for the Stream, with two interwoven strands of material, one pulled out of the SMC about 2 billion years ago, and another pulled out of the LMC more recently.
Ongoing work by our team is investigating the total mass and inflow rate of the Magellanic gas onto the Milky Way, where it will potentially be able to fuel future generations of star formation. However, the gas must first survive the perilous journey through the hot Galactic corona, which can evaporate passing gas clouds. This survivability is being tested with computer simulations.
For more details, see Fox et al. 2013 (ApJ, 772, 110) and Richter et al. 2013 (ApJ, 772, 111), and the NASA press release and Huffington post article
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Fibromyalgia Next Article
Fibromyalgia is a multisystem syndrome, primarily involving widespread muscle pain, or myalgia, which can be debilitating in severity. The pain seems to be caused by tightening and thickening of the myofascia, the thin foam or tissue that holds the muscle together. Fibromyalgia, also called fibrositis, shares many of the same symptoms as chronic fatigue syndrome and 70% of patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia also meet the criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome.
Unlike arthritis, the joints are not directly involved. Associated pain may cause aching and burning, and the nature of the condition is unpredictable. Although there is no known cause of fibromyalgia, its onset may be related to physical or mental stress, inadequate sleep, injury, exposure to cold, dampness, infection such as viral or Lyme, and occasionally rheumatoid arthritis.
An estimated 3 to 6 million Americans suffer from it, and 86% are women, primarily in the age group between 34 and 56. The level of disability is severe enough that 25% of women and 27% of men affected are unable to work. Other symptoms also include widespread muscle pains, generalized fatigue and stiffness, allergies, headaches, sleep disorders, restless legs, irritable bowel, dizziness, exercise intolerance, anxiety, depression, irritability, dry eyes, carpal tunnel, tender skin, cold sensitivity, numbness and tingling, and dysmenorrhea in women. There are also anxiety, depression, and mood swings. It was first diagnosed by a physician in 1816, although it did not receive recognition by the American Medical Association until 1987.
Many possible triggering events or causes have been implicated, including viral, bacterial, Lyme, or even Mycoplasma.
Prior trauma such as an assault or auto accident, chemicals, food sensitivities, chronic stress, hormonal imbalances, mercury toxicity from dental amalgams, breast implants, and irregularities in muscle metabolism are seen.
Researchers have found that those with fibromyalgia have elevated amounts of neurotransmitters involved in pain responses, “substance P as well as depressed levels of a natural painkiller called serotonin.”
There are also low levels of growth hormone and, at times, cortisol. Abnormal sleep patterns, particularly a decrease in slow wave and stage IV sleep is seen. In this stage, the muscles are unable to heal.
In one study, there was a possible connection between flu viruses and fibromyalgia. Nine of ten fibromyalgia patients tested positive for antibodies due to influenza type A. Another possible cause being explored is Mycoplasmal infections. Mycoplasma is a group of microorganisms intermediate between a bacterium and virus. Unlike virus, Mycoplasma can produce outside living cells. Unfortunately, we cannot avoid contamination with Mycoplasma, as it is found in soil, water, and many other locations in nature. Patients with dysfunctional immune systems, whether genetic or suppressed because of stress or other illness, cannot mount an effective defense and therefore may become affected. Testing is done in combination with a direct culture and/or indirect means using blood tests.
At times, fibromyalgia patients have low levels of growth hormone and cortisol.
Human growth hormone is secreted in very brief pulses during the early hours of sleep and remains in circulation for only a few minutes. After the age of twenty, the production of growth hormone decreases progressively, at an average rate of 14% per decade. Recent research indicates that irregularities in growth hormone secretion may be a factor in fibromyalgia.
Cortisol is a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands.
Under conditions of chronic stress, high amounts of cortisol are released and the adrenal glands become exhausted. Imbalances in cortisol secretions are linked to lower energy, muscle dysfunction, thyroid dysfunction, immune system depression, sleep disorders, and decreased growth hormonal uptake. In other words, people who are short on cortisol because of the problems with their adrenal glands experience the same symptoms of fibromyalgia sufferers. Studies have shown that adrenal insufficiency and stress may contribute to many of the neural hormone imbalances seen.
Fibromyalgia patients show abnormal brain waves during the deepest stage of sleep, stage IV. This stage is important for tissue repair, the creation of antibodies, and the formation of growth hormone, which is necessary for muscle and bone health. Instead of experiencing the restorative rest that allows muscle to recover from a day of activity, fibromyalgia sufferers wake up during stage IV sleep. In fact, this lack of restful sleep is considered a major cause of symptoms associated with fibromyalgia.
An extensive History and Physical is performed in every patient.
Substantial symptom overlap exists among chemical sensitivity, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue syndrome, as well as many other degenerative, autoimmune, and viral diseases. There is no current specific diagnosis of laboratory tests to identify fibromyalgia.
The diagnosis is made by ruling out other conditions that may mimic the symptoms of fibromyalgia, including thyroid disease, adrenal disease, lupus, Lyme disease, rheumatoid arthritis, etc. Seventy-five percent of fibromyalgia patients have some degree of hypothyroidism, reported almost thirty years ago. The percentage is higher than that of the general population. Fibromyalgia patients were shown to have either a thyroid hormone deficiency or cellular resistance to thyroid.
Because the list of possible symptoms of fibromyalgia is long, making a differential diagnosis is difficult.
Workup for these patients is extensive, including traditional testing such as ANA, CBC, CMP, C-reactive protein, etc. AS WELL AS CYTOKINES AND AUTOANTOBODY LEVELS.
Extensive hormone levels are checked, as are toxicities such as heavy metals or pesticides. An antioxidant assay is performed and mineral levels checked.
A comprehensive digestive stool analysis is also performed, as well as T cells mediated allergy.
Amino acid analysis of urine as well as antibodies to infection such as Candida, Epstein-Barr,
Cytomegalovirus, herpes virus, Chlamydia, and Helicobacter might be checked. In addition, titers to Mycoplasma should be obtained.
The conventional medical solution for fibromyalgia, painkillers, is a prime example of symptom-driven treatment with little understanding of causes and equally slim chances of therapeutic success.
The symptoms of fibromyalgia are the result of underlying imbalances in the body, produced by multiple simultaneous infections and accompanying physical, mental, and environmental factors. Testing to rule out any of the previous mentioned causes is performed.
Of course, it is important to look for toxicities, nutritional deficiencies, and infections, including yeast, parasites, virus, Lyme, or its associated co-infections. By treating these infections and boosting nutritional intake, with good diet and proper supplementation, a person can reduce the burden on the immune system.
Detoxifying the body is another important component promoting a healthy immune system and addressing other factors that may contribute to fibromyalgia. As our environment and food are increasingly saturated with chemicals, the body’s mechanisms for elimination of toxins cannot keep up with the chemical deluge.
LDN is starting to hold promise in helping millions of people with cancer, autoimmune disease, fibromyalgia, and a host of others. As a pharmacologically active opioid antagonist, LDN works by blocking opioid receptors, which in turn help activate the body’s immune system. The latest research just confirmed that LDN does in fact target the opioid growth factor and receptor pathway to inhibit self-proliferation and regulates the growth of cancer cells. Furthermore, it also works through your body’s immune system by elevating endomorphins, which play a role in relief of pain, fibromyalgia, and your mood.
Typically, LDN is taken at bedtime and a few hours later, in the middle of the night, there is up regulation of the immune system and an increase in your body’s own natural opioids or endomorphins. Low-dose naltrexone has shown promise in the treatment of various other diseases, such as hepatitis C, lupus, ulcerative colitis, chronic fatigue syndrome, irritable bowel, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, and diabetic neuropathies.
I have used it myself for twelve years and have seen good results. This can be compounded by a compounding pharmacist at 4.5 mg. Recent studies performed at multiple universities including Stanford have shown benefit.
The hormone oxytocin is used to induce labor in pregnant women and large amounts are released during the childbirth and the uterus is stimulated to contract. There is now evidence to show that the hormone is invaluable in healing fibromyalgia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and functional dysfunction in both men and women. Oxytocin has also been shown to relieve stress induced by social pressure and I have found it to be very useful in the treatment of fibromyalgia.
A hormone panel is obtained in every patient and the hormones are replaced as necessary. Natural bioidentical hormones are used, such as Armour thyroid and cortisol. Melatonin, DHEA, pregnenolone, testosterone, progesterone, and estrogen are used when levels reveal a deficiency. These hormones are used in a transdermal preparation in order to avoid first-pass liver metabolism.
Other natural substances include phosphatidyl-choline, NADH, essential fatty acids, Q-10, ribose, PQQ, cetyl myristoleate, and, at times, cayenne to deplete substance P. The patient is also counseled on diet, exercise, massage, and other modalities. Neurotransmitters are balanced in every patient. Food allergies, when appropriate, are also tested for and an elimination diet is instituted.
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Antidepressants and Bipolar Depression
The role of antidepressants in treating bipolar depression has been hotly debated in psychiatry for over twenty years. During that time many studies involving bipolar patients have been conducted, thousands of articles written, and hundreds if not thousands of experts in bipolar disorder have expressed their opinion on the matter. The most common view is that antidepressants should be used as little as possible in patients with bipolar disorder, and in those not known to have it but who might have it (based on family history, personal history, response to medications in the past).
The concerns go beyond the possibility of causing a switch from depression into mania. It is commonly stated that antidepressants can cause mixed episodes (a combination of manic and depressive symptoms), cycle acceleration (more episodes in a given period of time than would have occurred without an antidepressant being introduced), treatment resistant depression (a prolonged episode of depression unresponsive to the usual treatment measures), increased risk of suicide, and rapid cycling (four or more distinct episodes of depression or mania in one year). Clinicians have been warned not to use antidepressants, and consequently almost all of us feel bad/guilty to one degree or another because we still use them; they remain the most commonly used treatment in bipolar depression. Their continuing popularity is likely multifactorial. I think part of it is the lack of evidence based alternatives that make intuitive sense. Up until recently the only FDA-approved medications were Symbyax (a combination of olanzapine and fluoxetine that has never caught on in spite of considerable effectiveness and ease of use) and Seroquel (why use a sedating antipsychotic to treat depression?).
Where are we now with over twenty years of study and debate? Which of the many questions about the use of antidepressants in patients with manic-depressive illness can we answer and which guidelines can we confidently follow?
To address this important issue, The International Society for Bipolar Disorders ISBD) Task Force on Antidepressant Use in Bipolar Disorders was convened. These global experts were chosen based upon a search of citations on the specific topic of antidepressant use in bipolar disorder. They represent the big names in bipolar disorder from around the world.
Ten topic areas were researched and the quality of the evidence rated from A (excellent ) to D (poor). Topics covered included the efficacy of antidepressants as monotherapy for bipolar depression, antidepressants used as adjuncts to mood stabilizers such as Lithium and Valproate in bipolar depression, antidepressants used as part of maintenance treatment and risks of antidepressant use including switches into mania or mixed episodes, cycle acceleration and precipitation of suicidal thoughts and behavior.
The interested reader can study the entire article. It is easy to summarize the findings: We know almost nothing about the use of antidepressants in bipolar disorder in general, and in bipolar depression in particular. Do antidepressants work in bipolar depression? We don’t know. Do antidepressants hurt or cause harm in bipolar disorder? This is unknown. Of the ten questions researched, the data base was rated as poor for seven of them; this is the lowest rating that could be given. Only one out of the ten questions asked had a good data base available for answering the question; none had an excellent data base. The only question that could be answered with some confidence is that Symbyax (the combination of the antidepressant fluoxetine and the second generation antipsychotic olanzapine) works for bipolar depression, and that paroxetine and bupropion in combination with a mood stabilizer probably do not work. It is ironic that experts have for many years stated that bupropion is likely the best antidepressant to use in bipolar depression, and now one of the few things we can say with confidence is that bupropion does not help.
What is the take away message? If we are going to use antidepressants in bipolar disorder, and most of us are (the data is very clear about that), we need to be frank with our patients that we don’t know if they are helpful, or harmful. And that there are alternative treatments, such as quetiapine (Seroquel), fluoxetine/olanzapine (Symbyax), and lurasidone (Latuda) that do have evidence to back up their effectiveness in decreasing symptoms of depression in patients with bipolar disorder. These other medications have more potential side effects, some of which are quite serious, but we know they can work.
The International Society for Bipolar Disorders (ISBD) Task Force Report on Antidepressant Use in Bipolar Disorders
Isabella Pacchiarotti, M.D., Ph.D.; David J. Bond, M.D., Ph.D.; Ross J. Baldessarini, M.D.; Willem A. Nolen, M.D., Ph.D.; Heinz Grunze, M.D.; Rasmus W. Licht, M.D., Ph.D.; Robert M. Post, M.D.; Michael Berk, M.D., Ph.D.; Guy M. Goodwin, F.Med.Sci.; Gary S. Sachs, M.D.; Leonardo Tondo, M.D.; Robert L. Findling, M.D.; Eric A. Youngstrom, Psy.D., Ph.D.; Mauricio Tohen, M.D., Dr.P.H.; Juan Undurraga, M.D.; Ana González-Pinto, M.D., Ph.D.; Joseph F. Goldberg, M.D.; Ayşegül Yildiz, M.D.; Lori L. Altshuler, M.D.; Joseph R. Calabrese, M.D.; Philip B. Mitchell, M.B.B.S., M.D.; Michael E. Thase, M.D.; Athanasios Koukopoulos, M.D.; Francesc Colom, Psy.D., Ph.D.; Mark A. Frye, M.D.; Gin S. Malhi, M.D.; Konstantinos N. Fountoulakis, M.D., Ph.D.; Gustavo Vázquez, M.D., Ph.D.; Roy H. Perlis, M.D.; Terence A. Ketter, M.D.; Frederick Cassidy, M.D.; Hagop Akiskal, M.D.; Jean-Michel Azorin, M.D.; Marc Valentí, M.D., Ph.D.; Diego Hidalgo Mazzei, M.D.; Beny Lafer, M.D.; Tadafumi Kato, M.D., Ph.D.; Lorenzo Mazzarini, M.D.; Anabel Martínez-Aran, Psy.D., Ph.D.; Gordon Parker, M.D., Ph.D.; Daniel Souery, M.D., Ph.D.; Ayşegül Özerdem, M.D., Ph.D.; Susan L. McElroy, M.D.; Paolo Girardi, M.D.; Michael Bauer, M.D., Ph.D.; Lakshmi N. Yatham, M.D.; Carlos A. Zarate, M.D.; Andrew A. Nierenberg, M.D.; Boris Birmaher, M.D.; Shigenobu Kanba, M.D., Ph.D.; Rif S. El-Mallakh, M.D.; Alessandro Serretti, M.D., Ph.D.; Zoltan Rihmer, M.D., Ph.D.; Allan H. Young, M.D., Ph.D.; Georgios D. Kotzalidis, M.D.; Glenda M. MacQueen, M.D., Ph.D.N.; Charles L. Bowden, M.D.; S. Nassir Ghaemi, M.D., M.P.H.; Carlos Lopez-Jaramillo, M.D., Ph.D.; Janusz Rybakowski, M.D., Ph.D.; Kyooseob Ha, M.D.; Giulio Perugi, M.D.; Siegfried Kasper, M.D.; Jay D. Amsterdam, M.D.; Robert M. Hirschfeld, M.D.; Flávio Kapczinski, M.D., Ph.D.; Eduard Vieta, M.D., Ph.D.
Am J Psychiatry 2013;170:1249-1262. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2013.13020185
Stop Antidepressants Slowly
People commonly decide to stop taking an antidepressant. Does it matter how this is done? If a patient is pregnant, isn’t it best to stop the medication immediately? If you or your patient is taking one of the antidepressants that is rarely associated with the SSRI withdrawal syndrome, it doesn’t matter whether the medication is stopped quickly or slowly, does it? What about the patient who has been stable for a year, or two years; if they are asymptomatic, happy, and at a good place in their life, surely it doesn’t matter if they stop citalopram 20mg without tapering.
An article published in the American Journal of Psychiatry in 2010 indicates it does matter. Though this article is three years old, its significance leads me to write about it now. It is my impression that many clinicians are unaware of the risk of not tapering antidepressants, or neglect to educate their patients about the importance of going off medication gradually in almost all situations.
It is well known in psychiatry that rapid cessation of mood stabilizers increases the risk of a mood episode. In fact, previous studies of maintenance treatment have been criticized for including a treatment arm randomizing patients to abruptly stopping their medication. This is because it is widely understood that by stopping the drug suddenly, the group randomized to placebo is going to have an increased rate of relapse. This unnecessarily puts patients at higher risk for an episode of their illness and makes the drug being studied look more effective at preventing relapse than it really is. It is no longer considered ethical or valid to stop medication suddenly in trials involving bipolar disorder.
Ross Baldessarini and his colleagues have been publishing studies for many years involving the inhabitants of the island of Sardinia. They have previously documented the risks of rapidly stopping mood stabilizers and antipsychotics. The Sardinian studies have focused on mood, anxiety and psychotic disorders, particularly the longitudinal course of these illnesses, using a naturalistic design. In the current study they looked at the consequences of the abrupt withdrawal of antidepressants in patients with major depression, bipolar 1 and bipolar 2 disorder, and panic disorder.
One of the strengths of this study, and of the other studies from this group, is the comprehensive nature and duration of follow up. Meticulous records have been kept for over forty years. There may not be a comparable database of such a large number of individuals, followed so closely and for so long, anywhere else in the world. The studies published have been of great interest and usefulness to psychiatry.
The principal finding of this study was that “the abrupt or rapid discontinuation of clinically effective antidepressant treatment was associated with a significantly shorter time to a first new episode of major depression or panic.” The patients were clinically well at the time the medication was stopped, without even mild degrees of depression or panic. In other words, there was no evidence that these patients were experiencing a relapse or recurrence prior to going off medication. The decision to stop medication rapidly was made by the patient in a large majority of cases. The increased risk of recurrence was found with both newer and older antidepressants, though the benefits of a slow taper of the medication was more pronounced with older medications.
Based on the findings, the authors made the following recommendations:
1) Gradual dose tapering should be done in all situations unless a patient is experiencing a severe adverse medical effect or a severe manic reaction.
2) Patients should be warned that abrupt discontinuation of an antidepressant can lead to early withdrawal reactions and, over a period of several months, a return of the illness being treated.
3) Primary care clinicians, who prescribe most of the antidepressants in the US, should be aware that it is the rate of dose tapering and discontinuation that plays an important role in determining the risk of stopping medication.
Though they do not say this unequivocally, the authors imply that even in the case of pregnancy the risks of stopping antidepressant medication outweigh any potential benefits. Based on the current data available to clinicians, I agree. There is a very high risk of recurrence of illness if a woman stops medication for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or depression while pregnant. The evidence does not indicate any benefit from suddenly or abruptly stopping medication during pregnancy. The fetus has already been exposed to the medication, and rapidly discontinuing it puts the woman and her baby at the added risk of an episode of the illness she suffers from. The more appropriate course of action is to get an expert in mental illness and an obstetrician involved, so that the risks and benefits of continuing or stopping pharmacological treatment can be examined and discussed with the patient. The knee jerk reaction of stopping the antidepressant right away can create a much more severe situation and cause more harm.
Summing up: Stopping antidepressants suddenly increases the risk that symptoms will return. This applies to depression (both in unipolar and bipolar disorders) and panic disorder. Slowly tapering medication rather than stopping it rapidly is almost always the right thing to do. If treating patients with antidepressants, educate them about this. Many of them will choose to stop medication on their own in the future, and it will decrease the risk of recurrence if they do so slowly.
Illness Risk Following Rapid Versus Gradual Discontinuation of Antidepressants Ross J. Baldessarini, M.D.; Leonardo Tondo, M.D., M.S.; Carmen Ghiani, M.D.; Beatrice Lepri, Psy.D. Am J Psychiatry 2010;167:934-941.
Do antidepressants have any role in treating mild depression?
Folic Acid, Vitamin B12 and Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia
[In Brief: Folic acid and vitamin B12 help a subset of individuals with schizophrenia by decreasing negative symptoms. Side effects are no different than with placebo. Adding folate and vitamin B12 is a low risk strategy for symptoms that are very difficult to treat.]
Negative symptoms play an important role in the disability caused by schizophrenia. Symptoms in schizophrenia are divided into 4 main types: positive, negative, cognitive (impaired concentration, poor planning and problem solving, etc.) and mood. Use of the terms positive and negative has nothing to do with whether the symptoms are good or bad. Positive symptoms refers to hallucinations, delusions and disorganization. Negative symptoms are some of the most disabling, and play a larger role in impaired functioning than positive symptoms. Negative symptoms include loss of interest (apathy), loss of pleasure (anhedonia), decreased motivation (avolition), decreased emotional expression (affective flattening) and decreased speech (alogia). These are sometimes referred to as the 5 A’s.
Negative symptoms are hard to treat. When the newer antipsychotics (Risperdal, Zyprexa, Seroquel, Abilify, and others) became available in the mid-90’s and later, they were promoted as superior to older antipsychotics, in part because of a purported greater ability to decrease negative symptoms. It took quite awhile, but we now know that these second-generation antipsychotics are no better at decreasing negative symptoms than first-generation antipsychotics. It is possible that the older antipsychotics are more likely to increase negative symptoms, particularly when used in high doses.
An article published in the May, 2013 issue of JAMA Psychiatry studied the effect of adding folate and vitamin B12 on negative symptoms, taking into account the role of genetic variation in several genes involved in folate absorption and metabolism. The study was double-blind, placebo controlled and enrolled 140 patients with chronic schizophrenia. Participants were stable but still symptomatic. Doses were 2mg/day of folate and 400micrograms/day of vitamin B12.
The authors were particularly interested in studying folate because of the epidemiological, biochemical and genetic association studies that have identified folate deficiency as a risk factor for schizophrenia. Findings of prior investigations include the following:
* After famines in China and The Netherlands, rates of schizophrenia doubled, presumably as a result of dietary deficiencies.
* Low folate levels in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy are associated with more than a 2 fold increased risk in the development of schizophrenia in offspring.
* Low folate levels have been found in patients with schizophrenia.
* In patients with schizophrenia, low folate levels are associated with more severe negative symptoms, but do not correlate with positive symptoms.
* 2 small studies found that adding a folate supplement benefited patients with schizophrenia, if they had low folate levels.
* In patients with prominent negative symptoms, folate supplements were helpful in the subgroup with a specific genotype.
The author’s hypothesis was that folate and vitamin B12 supplementation would decrease negative symptoms, but only in those patients with hypofunctioning (low functioning) genes involved in the absorption and metabolism of folate. In other words, only some people would have more emotional expression, talk more, and be more motivated, and it would be those with genes that were less effective at absorbing and metabolizing folate.
I should have mentioned earlier that this is a difficult paper. I do not recommend reading the whole thing, unless you like struggling with genotypes, alleles and vague statements, while in search of limited conclusions, of uncertain value.
That being said, the study found (as predicted) that folate and vitamin B12 supplementation did help negative symptoms, but only “modestly”, and only in a subset of patients. Other symptoms of schizophrenia did not benefit. There was no difference in side effects between those taking the vitamins and those taking placebo. When genotype was taken into account, there was a 27% difference in negative symptoms between those receiving folate and B12 and those receiving placebo. Is there any practical significance of this finding?
In the authors words: “Even small effects of folate and vitamin B12 supplementation could be clinically meaningful, though, given the disability associated with negative symptoms, the lack of available treatments,35 and the minimal apparent adverse effects of vitamin supplementation.”
In my slightly optimistic interpretation: negative symptoms interfere with the ability to function, they are hard to treat, these doses of vitamins are safe, and even a small improvement in negative symptoms might mean a lot to the individual and their family. There is little to lose and possibly something small but important to gain. I could not find anything in the article that would allow one to estimate the proportion of patients likely to benefit from supplementation.
For those looking for a punishing read, the full article can be found in the May, 2013 issue of JAMA Psychiatry.
Randomized Multicenter Investigation of Folate Plus Vitamin B12 Supplementation in Schizophrenia
Joshua L. Roffman, MD, MMSc; J. Steven Lamberti, MD; Eric Achtyes, MD, MS; Eric A. Macklin, PhD; Gail C. Galendez, BS; Lisa H. Raeke, MA; Noah J. Silverstein, BA; Jordan W. Smoller, MD, ScD; Michele Hill, MD; Donald C. Goff, MD
JAMA Psychiatry. 2013;70(5):481-489. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.9
Prazosin for Nightmares/PTSD
[ In Brief: Prazosin decreases nightmares, improves quality of sleep and decreases overall PTSD symptoms in active-duty soldiers. It is well tolerated.]
Nightmares related to the trauma are experienced by most people with PTSD. There are no medications approved for treating nightmares, though trazodone, prazosin, clonidine and sedating antipsychotics are frequently prescribed. Of these, prazosin is the best studied and has the most support.
In the September, 2013 issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry, prazosin is compared to placebo in the treatment of nightmares and PTSD in active-duty combat veterans. The trial was double-blind and randomized. Primary outcome measures were severity of nightmares, quality of sleep and overall PTSD symptom levels. Prazosin was superior to placebo on all three measures, to a significant extent. Nightmare severity decreased by about 50% in those taking prazosin, and it was associated with marked or moderate improvement in global illness severity in 64% (versus 27% of those on placebo) an NNT of 3 (Number Needed to Treat). This mean only 3 people needed to be treated for 1 person to have a moderate or marked response, which is pretty good for psychiatric medications (and pharmacotherapy in the rest of medicine). However, only 3 patients on prazosin went into remission, versus 0 on placebo; so most patients were still symptomatic. Prazosin was not an effective treatment for most people in and of itself.
There were no differences overall in the number of patients experiencing side effects, which were generally mild and transient. There was 1 episode of brief syncope (passing out due to insufficient blood supply to the brain). This is a well known side effect of prazosin; if it occurs, it is usually with the first dose or very early in treatment. Other side effects included (with the percentage of those on prazosin listed first): lightheadedness (25% vs 20%), nasal congestion (22% vs 11%), lack of energy (0% vs 3%), drowsiness (3% vs 9%), depression (0% vs 6%). There were no changes in blood pressure. Headaches were significantly less common with prazosin.
I have prescribed prazosin a few times, without much success. After reading this article, I think the most likely reason for that is the much lower dose at which I was prescribing it. In this study, prazosin was given twice a day; For men, final doses were 4 mg mid morning and 15.6 mg at night; for women, final doses were 1.7 mg mid morning and 7 mg at night. The authors point out that women should be treated with lower doses due to greater sensitivity to the medication, and that the drug’s short half-life indicates it is likely to be more effective if taken twice a day. The medication was titrated over the course of 5 weeks to get to the final dose, to decrease the risk of syncope.
Conclusion: prazosin is an effective medication for decreasing nightmares, improving sleep and lessening PTSD symptoms. It is well tolerated when titrated slowly. Most patients still have substantial symptoms after a trial of prazosin, and should also be offered evidence-based treatment, such as exposure therapy. It is unknown how long prazosin should be continued. Side effects are likely to decrease over time, and the medication is generic and relatively inexpensive.
A Trial of Prazosin for Combat Trauma PTSD With Nightmares in Active-Duty Soldiers Returned From Iraq and Afghanistan
Murray A. Raskind, M.D.: et al
Am J Psychiatry 2013;170:1003-1010. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2013.12081133
Can Antipsychotics help Depression?
[Short take: Not first-line for most people with depression. Newer antipsychotics help 1 out of 10 takers achieve remission. They have a number of potentially serious side effects.]
Major depression affects between 10% and 20% of people in the US at some point in their lifetime. Though there are many antidepressants available, from a number of different classes of medication, the majority of people that take an antidepressant do not get a complete response to the first, or even second medication they take. As each new treatment is tried, and fails, the likelihood of a good response decreases. As a result, many with depression are left with no response or only a partial response and are unsure what to do next. Psychotherapy, particularly the evidence based forms (such s Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), Commitment and Acceptance Therapy (ACT), Interpersonal Therapy (IPT), and probably mindfulness based therapies founded on CBT), are successful as first-line treatments and good alternatives to medication. They should also be tried in treatment resistant depression. Finding a well-trained therapist can sometimes be difficult, though perhaps no more difficult than finding someone up to date in psycho-pharmacology. Both medications and psychotherapies have benefits and risks.
In recent years, in an effort to expand the market for their medications, pharmaceutical companies have funded a number of large, well-done studies to assess the usefulness of adding the newer antipsychotics to antidepressants for treating major depression. The FDA has approved 2 of these medications, quetiapine and aripiprazole, for major depression that is not responding adequately to antidepressants (olanzapine has been approved in a fixed-dose combination with fluoxetine, but not as an add-on to any antidepressant). Unlike T3 and Lithium, which have been studied primarily with older antidepressants, the second generation* antipsychotics have been studied as an add-on to SSRI’s (sertaline, fluoxetine, paroxetine, citalopram, escitalopram) and SNRI’s (venlafaxine, duloxetine).
Do the atypical* anti-psychotics help decrease symptoms of depression when added to an antidepressant? Given the size of the studies and their statistical power, it is clear that they do help. When compared to adding a placebo, quetiapine and aripiprazole help more people respond (meaning that the symptoms decrease by at least 50%) and achieve remission. And the experts all agree, remission is what counts. When a person is in remission from depression they are back to normal, or at least almost completely back to their non-depressed baseline. And this is very important, since even mild residual symptoms of depression increase the risk of depression coming back, and each episode of depression increases the risk of another episode and the risk of entering a state of chronic depression.
How well do they work? Simply put, not very well, particularly given the potential side effect burden associated with them. The NNT (number needed to treat) is 10. This means that compared to placebo, the addition of an SGA to an antidepressant will help 1 in 10 people achieve remission. NNT is one of simplest ways of looking at the clinical meaningfulness of a treatment. Studies frequently report results that are statistically significant, but statistically significant is not the same as clinically meaningful. A large study may have a very strong finding in a statistical sense, but the treatment may not help very many people, or not help them very much. An NNT of 2 or 3 indicates a very useful treatment. NNT’s of 4-7 are helpful.
Partial or non-response to antidepressants is a big problem, and reasonable and effective treatment options are badly needed. The SGA’s are effective, but helping only 1 in 10 is on the borderline of usefulness. An NNT of 10 is considered marginal, and though a completely benign treatment might be looked at favorably, these medications are not free of side effects.
What are the side effects of the atypical antipsychotics? The side effects vary somewhat between medications, but can be substantial. Aripiprazole (Abilify) is less likely to cause sedation, weight gain, increased triglycerides and increased blood sugar than quetiapine (Seroquel XR), but more likely to cause restlessness and inability to stay still (akathisia). Long-term side effects have not been systematically studied for either of them, and it is unclear how much risk of tardive dyskinesia (abnormal muscle movements that can be permanent) is associated with their use. Since these medications can cause increased weight, blood sugar and lipids, they likely put people at risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Should SGA’s be used in treating depression? Yes, they definitely have a role. Following the recommendations of Connolly and Thase as stated in Management Of Treatment-Resistant Major Psychiatric Disorders, SGA’s should be considered as first-line add-on options when the antidepressant is well-tolerated enough to be continued, and there is some urgency in decreasing symptoms. The evidence supports them as having a fairly rapid effect, with some improvement seen within 1-2 weeks. The other situation in which they are first-line and clearly indicated is when psychotic symptoms are present along with depression.
To sum up: Lack of a complete response to an antidepressant is the norm. There are many options, but not a lot of information to guide the selection of treatments, or the best sequence to use them in. If a person has taken just one antidepressant and not had a good response, and the situation is not urgent, then adding an antipsychotic is not likely to be the next step. On the other hand, if someone has had several antidepressants, and their depression is not getting better, then an antipsychotic could be a very helpful option. Unanswered is the question of how long the antipsychotic should be taken, and monitoring of side effects is important, particularly weight gain, metabolic and muscular ones.
* Several terms are used in referring to a group of medications that were initially used in treating schizophrenia, and which now are commonly used in treating Bipolar Disorder, Major Depression, and other conditions; these include atypical antipsychotics, second-generation antipsychotics (SGA’s), and newer antipsychotics. This is to distinguish them from the older, or typical, antipsychotics such as Thorazine, Haldol, Stelazine and Prolixin. Though the SGA’s all block dopamine, and hence share the ability to decrease psychotic symptoms, there is a lot of variability among them, and antipsychotic may not be a very good term for them. They are effective at treating manic episodes, preventing recurrence of manic episodes and decreasing depressive symptoms, among other things.
References for Treatment Resistant Depression
1) Connolly,K.R., Thase,M.E. (2012) Systematic Approach to Treatment-Resistant Depression: Psychopharmacology and Psychotherapy. In C.B.Nemereoff, Management Of Treatment-Resistant Major Psychiatric Disorders(pp. 23-48). New York: Oxford University Press.
2)Phillip,S.P.,Pharmacologic Approaches to Treatment Resistant Depression:A re-examination for the Modern Era. Expert Opin Pharmacother. 2010 April;11(5):709-722. doi:1517/1465651003614781.
Chantix (varenicline) for Smoking Cessation
For any psychiatrist, the following is a very common scenario.
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Category Archives: Future
Photon-transistors for the supercomputers of the future
Scientist from the Niels Bohr Institute at University of Copenhagen and from Harvard University have worked out a new theory which describe how the necessary transistors for the quantum computers of the future may be created. The research has just been published in the scientific journal Nature Physics.
Researchers dream of quantum computers. Incredibly fast super computers which can solve such extremely complicated tasks that it will revolutionise the application possibilities. But there are some serious difficulties. One of them is the transistors, which are the systems that process the signals.
Two photons are sent through a nanowire towards an atom where they collide such that one photon (red) transfers its information to the other photon. Credit: Anders Sndberg Srensen associate professor University of Copenhagen Continue reading
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The last days of Arab sail
Alan Villiers arrived at the Yemeni port of Ma’alla in 1938 and found a world that was slipping out of existence. The Australian explorer, seaman and journalist walked along the seafront, arrived at the jetty and inspected the traditional sailing boats laying in the dock.
“Those Arab dhows were a heartening sight in that hot, harsh morning, and I meant to find a berth in one of the before the day was ended,” he wrote.
“I knew that the Arab dhows of today were in the direct line of descent from the ancient vessels of eastern waters in which men probably first sailed; I would have gone to hell to see them.”
Villiers negotiated himself passage aboard one of the boats heading for Zanzibar. He traveled with the boat until it returned, on monsoon winds the following summer, to its home port of Kuwait.
The result of his journey was a unique record of an ancient trading network that has largely disappeared. His book Sons of Sindbad, published in 1940, is probably the only work of western travel literature that focuses on the seafarers of the Arabian Peninsula. Illustrated with dozens of photographs of boats and their crews, it gives a unique insight into the twilight years of sail in the Arab world.
Fishing boats at a port in Kuwait (Photo: Mary Chambers)
Villiers had made a name for himself as a maritime adventurer long before arriving in Yemen. Born in Melbourne, in 1903, by the age of fifteen he was working as an apprentice on a rickety barque taking timber between Australia and New Zealand. After stints on two of the last big sailing vessels plying the intercontinental grain trade between Australia and Europe, he found a job on a whaling boat in the Antarctic.
As he gained experience, Villiers started to publish his writings, first in the Australian press and then in book form. By the mid-1930s, he had gained enough capital to buy a boat capable of a round-the-world trip. He named it after another seafaring man of letters: Joseph Conrad.
By 1937, it was clear that the age of sail was drawing to a close. Across the world, sailing boats were being sold off for scrap as steam and diesel craft took their place. Villiers, aware of the zeitgeist, wanted to record what remained of the pre-industrial world of sail.
So it was that he found himself aboard the Triumph of Righteousness, a craft big enough to hold 2,500 packages of Basra dates.
“I knew this was the kind of vessel in which I wanted to sail,” he wrote. “The atmosphere of true adventure and romance lay heavy on her graceful hull, and the very timbers of her worn decks were impregnated with the spirit of colourful wandering.”
The boat he chose had a truly ancient pedigree. The origins of the dhow, a generic name for the kind of sailing craft traditionally used along the ancient trade routes out of Arabia, are lost to history. Most scholars believe the design originated in China some time around the 7th century BCE, to be adopted by seamen along the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula and the coast of India. Boat makers in Al Hudaydah, on the Red Sea coast of Yemen, were constructing dhows from acacia up until the middle of the 20th century.
Villiers wrote that the big deep-sea dhows in the ports of Arabia were “almost pure survival from the Phoenician days, from the most ancient sailing of which we know.” With their long, thin hulls, they were excellent for carrying heavy loads such as dates, fish and mangrove timber, and for navigating the dangerous sandbanks in the shallow waters of the Gulf. They were rigged with lateens, triangular sails set on long yards mounted at an angle on the mast, a design thought to have originated during the early Roman empire. The lateen proved itself more versatile than the square rigs favoured by the Greeks, and became the dominant form of sail prior to the Arab advance into the Mediterranean.
Maritime trade had been important in the Arabian Peninsula since human civilisation began. The Arabs living on the coasts of the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea had spent millennia plying the routes between Aden, Zanzibar, Madagascar and the Malabar Coast, trading and bartering in incense, gold, pearls, glass and ornaments, perfumes, spices, silk, cotton, diamonds and teakwood.
The city of Jeddah, which recently applied for UNESCO World Heritage status, was founded in about 646 by Caliph Uthman. With the removal of Crusaders from the area towards the end of the 12th century, began to thrive on the trade with India. Arab navigational techniques stayed ahead of those of the Europeans for centuries. Many goods were transported from the Red Sea to Alexandria, where they were sold on to European merchants. Meanwhile in the Arabian Gulf, pearl-divers plucked their precious merchandise from underwater beds that were treacherous to the unwary boatman.
After 1600, with the rise of the British East India Company, European nations began to compete for the lucrative Persian Gulf trade. When Vasco Da Gama navigated around the Cape of Good Hope, it was. Yet it was not until the middle of the 20th century that the rise of steam-powered vessels signaled that the age of the dhow was almost over.
Villiers arrived in Yemen immediately prior to the world-shaking events of World War II and set out to preserve what he could of this fast-disappearing world. He did a magnificent job, but his book has been largely forgotten. It never took its rightful place among the works of Thesiger, Stark and Lawrence. The fact it was published while war ravaged the western world may have something to do with this. But the book also challenges stereotypes previous western explorers had created of Arabs: hospitable but backwards people exclusively linked to the desert, camels and tents.
Villiers breaks this trend. He meets his companions on equal terms and builds a long-lasting friendship with the charismatic Nejdi, captain of the Triumph. The book’s meta-narratives are respect for seamanship and a sadness that the age of sail was passing into history:
“It seemed to me, having looked far and wide over twenty years of a seafaring lifetime, that as pure sailing craft carrying on their unspoiled ways, on the Arab remained. Only the Arab still sailed his wind whips over the free sea, keeping steadfastly to the quieter ways of a kinder past.”
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Ischemia results when narrowed, hardened or blocked blood vessels starve tissue, often resulting in heart attack, stroke, gangrene and other serious conditions. Surgery can correct the problem in large vessels, but treatment is much more complex in vessels that are smaller or damaged by prior treatment. Professor Christopher Chen (BME, MSE) is developing a method using 3D-printed patches infused with cells that offer a promising new approach to growing healthy blood vessels.
Chen - together with clinical partners C. Keith Ozaki, MD, FACS, a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital who has expertise in leg ischemia, and Joseph Woo, MD, the head of cardiothoracic surgery at Stanford University - have developed a patch that fosters the growth of new vessels while avoiding some of the problems of other approaches. Their research is published in the new issue of Nature Biomedical Engineering.
"Therapeutic angiogenesis, when growth factors are injected to encourage new vessels to grow, is a promising experimental method to treat ischemia," says Chen. "But in practice, the new branches that sprout form a disorganized and tortuous network that looks like sort of a hairball and doesn't allow blood to flow efficiently through it. We wanted to see if we could solve this problem by organizing them."
Chen and his colleagues designed two patches with endothelial cells -- one where the cells were pre-organized into a specific architecture, and another where the cells were simply injected without any organizational structure. In vivo results demonstrated the patches with pre-organized structure reflected a marked improvement in reducing the prevalence of ischemia, while the patches with no organization resulted in the "hairball" situation as described by Chen.
"This pre-clinical work presents a novel approach to guide enhanced blood flow to specific areas of the body," says Ozaki. "The augmented blood nourishment provides valuable oxygen to heal and functionally preserve vital organs such as the heart and limbs."
To 3D print vessels on such a small scale---100 microns, small enough for tiny blood vessels--- Chen leveraged his connection to Innolign, a Boston biomedical technology company he helped found. The 3D printing approach allowed researchers at Innolign and Chen's group to quickly change and test their designs, which helped them discern which patterns worked well. In addition, the 3D printing technology allows for scalability, which will be helpful going forward as they move to test their designs in larger, more complex organisms and tissue environments.
"One of the questions we were trying to answer is whether or not architecture of the implant mattered, and this showed us that yes, it does, which is why our unique approach using a 3D printer was important," says Chen. "The pre-organized architecture of the patch helped to guide the formation of new blood vessels that seemed to deliver sufficient blood to the downstream tissue. While it wasn't a full recovery, we observed functional recovery of function in the ischemic tissue."
Chen noted that while the results of this project are promising, this approach is still in early stages. Going forward, his team will continue working on the scalability of the patches, while experimenting with different architectures to see if there is a structure that works even better than what they have tried so far.
"This project has been long in the making, and our clinical collaborators have been indispensable to the success of the project," says Chen. "As a bioengineer, we were focused on how to actually build the patch itself, while the clinical perspective was critical to the design process. We look forward to continuing our partnerships as we move forward."
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Miss Kitty is certainly not the first cat to get herself stuck on a limb. But she may be the first feline whose vertical adventures led to a social media campaign and government intervention.
Bill Backhall doesn't know what caused his cat, Missy Kitty, to climb a 60-foot pole in their hometown of Princeton, British Columbia, but he's guessing she might have been running away from another neighborhood cat. No matter her reasoning, Miss Kitty soon found herself six stories in the air, unable to get down. Backhall called the city for help, but he quickly learned that rescuing his pet would be no simple matter.
According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the pole that Miss Kitty had climbed belonged to BC Hydro, the provincial electricity company. The lines that the pole supported were carrying 138,000 volts of electricity to a nearby mine. BC Hydro was unwilling to shut off the power to those lines, and the local government was unwilling to send its rescuers 60 feet into the air in such close proximity to high-voltage wires.
Neither side was willing to budge. And Miss Kitty grew more and more distressed.
That's when social media stepped in to save the day. When community member and cat lover Natalia Bosley heard about poor Miss Kitty's plight, she organized a social media campaign using the hashtag #savetheprincetonbccat to notify locals and put pressure on both BC Hydro and local government officials to find a solution. Even BC parliament member Dan Albas joined the campaign:
As news of Miss Kitty's situation continued to spread, worried neighbors dragged mattresses under the pole and cats around the world tweeted their support.
It took four long days, but Bosley's campaign worked, and BC Hydro sent a special crew to rescue the frightened feline. A collective sigh of relief could be heard throughout Princeton — and the Twitterverse —as Miss Kitty was safely returned to Earth.
As for Miss Kitty, Backhall says he will be keeping her indoors from here on out.
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New research from Harvard Medical School indicates that yoga may be as effective as conventional exercise in lowering the risk of heart disease. A review of yoga and cardiovascular disease was recently published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology and summarized on the Harvard Health Blog (“More than a stretch: Yoga’s benefits may extend to the heart,” April 2015). People from all age groups participated in the study and various kinds of yoga were reviewed. Overall, those who practiced yoga showed improvements in several factors that affect heart disease risk, such as weight and blood pressure.
Yoga’s combination of physical activity, breathing and meditation make it a winning pastime for retirees who want to improve their health and wellness but don’t want strenuous activity: Gentle stretching of the muscles can make them more sensitive to insulin; deep breathing may help lower blood pressure; meditation, meanwhile, relieves stress and promotes positive mental health and emotional well being. Yoga can even help people recovering from a heart attack with cardiac rehabilitation.
This study joins a growing body of evidence that points to yoga’s health benefits. Last year the Washington Post reported how “Yoga for seniors can help with balance, agility and strength. But injuries do happen” (August 2014). The article stressed the importance of practicing yoga with a skilled, experienced instructor. People with osteoporosis, for example, should work with a specially trained yoga instructor one-on-one rather than in a class. Seniors are more likely than any other age group to have preexisting conditions. Older adults are generally less mobile, less strong and have poorer balance—and need to be mindful of the negative side effects of yoga stretches on muscles and bones. Medicine and gerontology professor Gale A. Greendale led a study at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and found that yoga improved the condition known as hyperkyphosis, or “dowager’s hump.” However, 60% of the participants in the study (all aged over 60) developed musculoskeletal soreness and/or pain as a side effect.
But Greendale concluded that the benefits of yoga for seniors still outweigh the downsides. The key is to start at the right level and progress at a comfortable pace. As one rehabilitation expert puts it: If age and gravity are the “tartar” of our skeletal system, yoga is the postural “dental floss” which we should dedicate at least five minutes to twice a day. Add that to your list of daily health tips!
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Why Multiple Factors Affect the Grades Children Earn in School
Teachers and parents affect academic performance
It's no secret that the marks children earn on classwork, tests and homework affect the grades children earn, but a number of other factors influence how youth perform in the classroom as well. These factors include the educational background of the child's parents and the child's relationship with teachers. Researchers have identified several variables that interact with GPA to some degree. Identify these factors to pinpoint how to raise your child's GPA over time.
How a Parent's Education Affects a Child's GPA
mother and son looking at report card
John Howard/DigitalVision/Getty Images
Research suggests that the higher a parent's level of education, the higher the child's GPA is likely to be. But if you did not go to college, don't fret. There are still many ways you can have a positive influence on your child's learning. Send your child a clear message that you believe his education is important by being involved and supportive. Also, try strategies to develop a positive relationship with your child's school.
Why Attendance Influences Children's Grades
Children sometimes have days when they don't want to go to school. We all have days when we really don't feel motivated to do what we're supposed to do. This is especially true for a child who struggles with learning. But attendance is a critical factor in your child's school performance and ultimately her grade point average. Children should only miss school when medically necessary (if at all possible) to avoid missing important instruction that can impact grades, especially performance on tests.
How Children's Self-Confidence Influences Their Grades
Does a child's self-confidence result in good grades, or do good grades result in self-confidence? Either way, every child needs to have some positive learning experiences in school to stay motivated and to develop self-esteem about their academic abilities. If your child isn't having positive learning experiences, schedule a conference with his teacher, the school counselor or the principal to discuss ways to build success into his day. The payoff can be a boost to his self-confidence, which can increase his motivation and improve the old GPA.
Children Learn Better When Their Interests Apply to Schoolwork
Naturally, children put forth more effort in school and are more motivated when they actually enjoy what they're working on. If your child's GPA is sliding, his teachers may be able to motivate him with activities that incorporate his interests. Varying the types of activities can help too. Hands-on projects and alternative assessments can help.
A Child's Relationships With Teachers Affect Their Academic Performance
Your child's relationship with his teacher matters. If your child's grades are sliding, and she has a poor relationship with her teacher, consider talking with the teacher about ways to improve their interactions. If you're not comfortable having the conversation, consider meeting with the school counselor for assistance.
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jueves, 5 de mayo de 2016
AWARDS Why the Charlemagne Prize goes to the Pope Francis this year
Why the Charlemagne Prize goes to the Pope this year
Pope Francis is to receive the prestigious Charlemagne Prize. DW looks at how the international prize got its name, why the Pope was chosen, and why many residents of Aachen may be headed to Rome this week.
Pope Francis
The International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen has been awarded since 1950 for work done in the service of European unification and peace. Previous recipients include top European politicians, chancellors, a US president, the people of Luxembourg, the euro and a pope. In 2004, John Paul II, already severely ill, received the only "Extraordinary Charlemagne Prize" for his role in the collapse of Eastern Europe's communist regimes. Germany's oldest prize for European policies is very prestigious. The ceremony brings together prominent political leaders and dignitaries every year.
The founder
The idea to create a prize for European unity goes back to Kurt Pfeiffer, an Aachen cloth merchant and one of the western German city's first mayors after WWII. Pfeiffer founded a society, and managed to convince quite a few Aachen politicians to join him. The British allied powers were initially wary as Pfeiffer and a few of his mates were former members of the Nazis' NSDAP party. In the end, Pfeiffer convinced them, and soon enough, the illustrious group of laureates garnered rising interest in the Charlemagne Prize.
The name
The prize is named for Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, the Franconian king - and later Holy Roman Emperor - revered as the "Father of Europe."
Charlemagne created an empire with an efficient administration across what is today western Europe - by means of brutal force and bloody wars like that waged against the pagan Saxons. He built the foundation for a European identity. Aachen was his imperial capital; through the 16th century, this was where German kings were crowned. Naming the award after Charlemagne was an obvious choice for Aachen cloth merchant Pfeiffer: he wanted to build a bridge from the past to the future.
Charlemagne shrine in Aachen Cathedral
Charlemagne is buried in Aachen Cathedral
The laureate
Pope Francis is the recipient of the 2016 Charlemagne Prize. At a time when the European Union is facing the greatest challenge of the 21st century, "it is the pope 'from the end of the world' who orientates millions of Europeans to what the European Union brings together at its core: a valid system of values, respect for human dignity and civil liberties, the uniqueness of human beings whatever their ethnic, religious or cultural background and respect for creation," the prize committee's statement said.
The pope urged Europe to stand together, he held a remarkable speech before the European Parliament telling Europeans to hold on to their values and to avoid falling back into nationalism, and he had important things to say in the refugee crisis, Armin Laschet told DW. "That's why Pope Francis is a fitting recipient," said the former European lawmaker, who is on the committee's board and helped choose this year's prize recipient.
Pilgrimage to Rome, 2016
While the pope is happy to receive the prize, he isn't coming to Aachen for the ceremony, so the committee and a throng of European politicians are headed to the Vatican instead. Another novelty: The Prize is traditionally awarded on Ascension Day, but since Pope Francis is busy on this Catholic holiday, the award ceremony is now scheduled to take place in the Sala Regia at the Apostolic Palace a day later, on Friday. Three former recipients who represent EU institutions will deliver the tribute: European Parliament President Martin Schulz, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, and European Council President Donald Tusk.
Pilgrimage to Rome, a.D. 800
Charlemagne had close, mutually beneficial ties to the Holy See. In Rome on Christmas Day in the year 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Franconian king as the first western European emperor. Just a year earlier, Charles had saved the pope from being toppled by political adversaries. The interdependence between the empire and the papacy was to influence European politics for centuries to come. Today, the pope no longer has a hand in worldly politics; all he rules is the square kilometer of the Vatican, which isn't a member of the European Union, but has open borders to Italy and uses the euro.
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The Royal Commission is undertaking a comprehensive research program to support its work and address the Terms of Reference. There are currently a number of research projects underway and reports will be added to the website when published.
The Royal Commission’s research program includes:
• descriptive research to provide necessary background information
• primary research undertaken to fill crucial evidence gaps and
• research that summarises evidence to explore what is known and what works.
View the Royal Commission’s published research.
Research Themes
Our research program is organised into eight themes:
Why does child sexual abuse occur in institutions?
How can child sexual abuse in institutions be prevented?
How can child sexual abuse be better identified?
Institutional responses
What is best practice for institutional responses where child sexual abuse has occurred?
Government Responses
What is best practice for government and statutory authorities responding to child sexual abuse?
Treatment & Support needs
What are the treatment and support needs of victims/survivors and their families?
Institutions of Interest
What is the history of particular institutions of interest?
Ensuring a positive impact
How do we ensure the Commission's work has a positive impact?
More information
The research program adapts and responds to the needs of the Royal Commission. If you would like further information about any of the research projects you can email us at
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History of Turkish Coffee
A Brief History Of Turkish Coffee
Turkish coffee is a coffee variant which is prepared through boiling the finely powdered and roasted coffee beans using a pot called cezve. It is optionally prepared with sugar and the name is derived from the preparation process of the brew and not the raw materials used. If you are an aficionado of specialty coffees then you will definitely want to learn about the history of Turkish coffee.
Turkish Coffee Advent in Yemen
The coffee plant is actually discovered during the 11th century in Ethiopia and people who first saw this magical fruit with its outstanding aroma first thought of it as a medicinal item. After its popularity in the Ethiopian regions, it instantly spread especially throughout the Arabian Peninsula. During the turn of the 14th century, cultivation of coffee is already blossoming in Yemen. In the next 300 years, it has officially become a great and highly preferred beverage in the area, following the processes and recipes first introduced in Ethiopia. Rich coffee harvests are historically recorded and cultivation of high quality coffee beans is guaranteed. Yemen is featured with the most appropriate climate plus the fertile soil which makes an ideal condition for coffee cultivation and harvest.
Popularity of Coffee in Istanbul
Coffee branched out to Istanbul in 1543 especially during the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. The Ottoman Governor of Yemen is instrumental to the introduction and popularity of coffee in the region. While in Istanbul and the palace of the ottoman, there is a new type of method which is used for coffee preparation. The coffee beans are roasted over fire, grounded and boiled. This method of preparation brought about a new aroma and taste and it has made coffee an even more renowned brew.
Turkish Coffee Spreading to Europe
The rest of the world specifically the Europeans got their first sip of coffee in 1615 with the Venetian merchants who learned to love the drink while they were in Istanbul. The first coffee house was opened in Italy during 1645 and coffeehouses literally sprouted like mushrooms due to the millions of people who cultivated their coffee passion. In 1660, it has reached Marseilles and in 1669 in Paris and Vienna in 1683. London was introduced to coffee drinking during 1637 when the drink was introduced by a Turk in Oxford. In fact, it has become so popular that students in the said university formed their Oxford Coffee Club.
Reaching American Shores
In 1668, coffee has reach North America and the first coffeehouse called The King’s Arms opened in 1696. It was the Dutch who discovered coffee saplings from their Java plantations and planted it in Paris in 1714. However, through the French mariner Gabriel du Clieu, coffee spread through the Caribbean islands and reached Central and South America. It was popularized until Brazil became the number one coffee producer in the world, supplying up to 35% of coffee in the globe.
Turkish coffee is a specialty brew which is one of the most sought after and enjoyed among coffee enthusiasts.
Home | Turkish Coffee Pots | How To Make Turkish Coffee
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At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Russians for the first time took part in voyages round the world, Until that time their explorations had been almost entirely confined to Asia, and their only mariners of note were Behring, Tchirikoff, Spangberg, Laxman, Krenitzin, and Saryscheff. The last-named took an important part in the voyage of the Englishman Billings, a voyage by the way which was far from achieving all that might have been fairly expected from the ten years it occupied and the vast sums it cost.
Adam John von Kruzenstern was the first Russian to whom is due the honour of having made a voyage round the world under government auspices and with a scientific purpose.
Born in 1770, Kruzenstern entered the English navy in 1793. After six years' training in the stern school which then numbered amongst its leaders the most skilful sailors of the world, he returned to his native land with a profound knowledge of his profession, and with his ideas of the part Russia might play in Eastern Asia very considerably widened.
During a stay of two years at Canton, in 1798 and 1799, Kruzenstern had been witness of the extraordinary results achieved by some English fur traders, who brought their merchandise from the northwest coasts of Russian America. This trade had not come into existence until after Cook's third voyage, and the English had already realized immense sums, at the cost of the Russians, who had hitherto sent their furs to the Chinese markets overland.
In 1785, however, a Russian named Chelikoff founded a fur-trading colony on Kodiak Island, at about an equal distance from Kamtchatka and the Aleutian Islands, which rapidly became a flourishing community. The Russian government now recognized the resources of districts it had hitherto considered barren, and reinforcements, provisions, and stores were sent to Kamtchatka via Siberia.
Kruzenstern quickly realized how inadequate to the new state of things was help such as this, the ignorance of the pilots and the errors in the maps leading to the loss of several vessels every year, not to speak of the injury to trade involved in a two years' voyage for the transport of furs, first to Okhotsk, and thence to Kiakhta.
As the best plans are always the simplest they are sure to be the last to be thought of, and Kruzenstern was the first to point out the imperative necessity of going direct by sea from the Aleutian Islands to Canton, the most frequented market.
On his return to Russia, Kruzenstern tried to win over to his views Count Kuscheleff, the Minister of Marine, but the answer he received destroyed all hope. Not until the accession of Alexander I., when Admiral Mordinoff became head of the naval department, did he receive any encouragement.
Acting on Count Romanoff's advice, the Russian Emperor soon commissioned Kruzenstern to carry out the plan he had himself proposed; and on the 7th August, 1802, he was appointed to the command of two vessels for the exploration of the north-west coast of America.
Although the leader of the expedition was named, the officers and seamen were still to be selected, and the vessels to be manned were not to be had in either the Russian empire or at Hamburg. In London alone were Lisianskoï, afterwards second in command to Kruzenstern, and the builder Kasoumoff, able to obtain two vessels at all suitable to the service in which they were to be employed. These two vessels received the names of the Nadiejeda and the Neva.
In the meantime, the Russian government decided to avail itself of this opportunity to send M. de Besanoff to Japan as ambassador, with a numerous suite, and magnificent presents for the sovereign of the country.
On the 4th August, 1803, the two vessels, completely equipped, and carrying 134 persons, left the roadstead of Cronstadt. Flying visits were paid to Copenhagen and Falmouth, with a view to replacing some of the salt provisions bought at Hamburg, and to caulk the Nadiejeda, the seams of which had started in a violent storm encountered in the North Sea.
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Balance of trade
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BALANCE OF TRADE, Com. law. The difference between the exports and importations, between two countries. The balance of trade is against that country which has imported more than it has exported, for which it is debtor to the other country.
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August 19, 2017, Saturday
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MBW:Network Models: Firing Rate, Feedforward and Recurrent Models
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This chapter is a summary of Chapter 7 from a book by Peter Dayan and Laurence F. Abbott called “Theoretical Neuroscience: Computational and Mathematical Modeling of Neural Systems”[1]. The book gives a mathematical basis for understanding what nervous systems do such as learning, memory, vision, neuron function and much more. While the book is divided into 3 parts, this is specifically a summary and explanation of the seventh chapter in the second part of the book.
Context/Biological Phenomenan Under Consideration
While the book covers many different aspects including plasticity, memory ecoding and decoding, this chapter in particular covers the basics of neural networks and neural modeling and has many different applications both in neuroscience research and in computational aspects such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. The summary is specifically considering some of the models that were shown and discussed in chapter 7. While the book went into much deeper length about all of these and included other models, the first three of these are built upon each other while the other model, the stochastic neural model, can be looked at as similar in many regardds but offers a much different way to look at these neural networks.
History Of Neural Network Models
Neural networks have been studdied for quite a long time now but just recently are begining to be looked at from a quanitative perspective. The first attempt at using mathematics as a basis for these models was in the 1940’s and was a simple mathematical model that used electrical circuits. The first multilayer model was made in the 1970s but not much research was done during this time due to computational limitations and various asundry reasons. Bidirectional connections between neurons and multilayered neuron models in the 1980’s sparked much interest in the field and with the increasing availability of computers, people began to research increasingly complex networks which helped push multiple other fields from neuroscience to artificial intelligence.
Types of Models
Firing Rate Models
This firing-rate model consists of two basic parts. The first is that its total synaptic input to a neuron (neuron u) depends on the firing rates of its presynaptic input neurons. The second part of this model is how the firing rate of post synaptic neuron (output v) is affected by the total synaptic input.
Figure 1.
This Figure is an example of feed forward inputs u to the output v with synaptic weights w. Taken from Theoretical Neuroscience by Dayan & Abbott.
• project2_3.gif is the total synaptic current
• project2_5.gif is the number of synaptic inputs (input u)
• Synaptic inputs labeled by b=1, 2, … , project2_5.gif
• Firing rate of input b is project2_6.gif (input vector u)
• Synaptic weight is denoted as project2_7.gif (note that for excitatory synapses project2_8.gif and for inhibitory synapses project2_9.gif)
• synaptic kernel project2_10.gif
• Current in output neuron at time t is project2_11.gif
• the neural response function project2_12.gif
• project2_13.gif is the firing rate function.
• Effects of synaptic spikes sum linearly with large enough sample.
• The synaptic kernel most often used is an exponential:
Derivation of Firing-Rate Model:
Total current at time t with spikes at presynaptic input b at times project2_15.gif is given by:
with no nonlinear interaction between different synaptic currents the equation becomes
We must now replace the neural response function project2_18.gif in equation (3) with, the firing rate of input b, project2_19.gif. Therefore (3) becomes:
Taking the derivative of (4) with respect to t, and rearranging such that we are using the synaptic kernel equation from (1), we get:
with sum of project2_22.gif expressed as a dot product. Since (4) determines the current entering a post synaptic neuron, we must now determine the post synaptic firing rate from project2_23.gif
The firing rate equation is derived from this using, a function F(u·w) where this is a function using a threshold and a half-wave rectification (i.e. the neuron must reach some activation potential for it to go above x-axis) and is the steady state output firing rate, becomes:
using experimental and computational results though, it can be shown that this model (6) does not provide a completely accurate prediction of firing rate for all levels of current input and and thus a more complicated model is needed. An example of a more complicated model would be either a Feedforward Network or a Recurrent Network which is shown graphically by:
Figure 2
Figure A is a feedforward network. Figure B is a recurrent Network. Taken from Theoretical Neuroscience by Dayan & Abbott.
Feedforward Networks
A feedforward network has two layers of neurons and are connected by a matrix W. A feedforward model is only slithly more complicated (in that it is basically built upon the basic firing-rate model) and is arguably one of the most simple neural networks in that it does not include any loops or “backwords” directed synapses. Because of this, it is often not very practical in of itself to model anything but is useful as a basis to build other more complicated models upon that include loops and cycles such as with recurrent networks and excitatory-inhibitory networks. Using the formulation as before but with a matrix W rather than vector w to account for multiple outputs, the feed forward model can be written as:
Now W represents the matrix of synaptic weights and has components project2_27.gif which represent the strength from some input b to some output a.
Recurrent Networks
In a recurrent network, there are two layers of neurons as well but the neurons in the output are interconnected with a matrix M. An output neuron a connected to some other element a’ is denoted as matrix element project2_28.gif.
The model for the recurrent model is:
These recurrent networks are also capable of forming patterns when they receive a complex input which is not as possible with feedforward networks. These patterns can further be interpreted in a number of ways such as memory patterns and memory capacity. These different applications of recurrent neural networks have far reaching implications.
Under Dale’s law, it is stated that a neuron cannot excite some postsynaptic neurons while inhibiting others, which means that the sign of all project2_30.gif must be the same. Because of this, excitatory and inhibitory must be described differently and the book gives a set of equations which are respectively:
project2_31.gif and project2_32.gif
Network Stability
For a network that is experiencing constant input and in a steady state with dv/dt = 0, then the network is said to be exhibiting fixed-point behavior. While this is mostly what we have been dealing with so far, there are many different other physical events such as network oscillations and chaotic networks. Since under most conditions, a steady state will inevitably be met, a Lyapunov Function[2] can be used to prove the stability of an ordinary differential equation. The Lyapunov function is increadily useful and essential to certain aspects of control and stability theory[3].
Stochastic Networks
This section will deal with a Boltzmann machine in which the input-output relationship is stochastic.
Figure 3.
Image of a Boltzmann Machine[4] with some of the edges Labeled. Taken from Wikipedia page for Boltzmann machine.
Neurons are treated as binary for this such that, project2_37.gif when unit a is active at time t and likewise project2_38.gif when unit a is inactive for time t. This binary ability, while it does not account for total synaptic current, it is possible to have incredibly interesting stochastic models that can return patters from somewhat chaotic inputs.
The each discrete time, a unit is randomly chosen to be probabilistically updated to 1 with probability:
Here F has the property that as project2_41.gif gets larger, it is more likely to take the value 1. Because of this, the state of this network becomes a Markov chain, which means that as the network evolves, there will be random sequences of variables that emerge, v(t + Δt) that only rely on v(t). In other words, the previous history of the model is somewhat irrelevant when looking at the model at some precise moment in time.
From equation (11), we can use Glauber dynamics to show that v does not converge to fixed point but can be described using a probability distribution function from an energy function, the energy function being: E(v) = -h·v - project2_42.gifv·M·v. Once this stochastic network has reached its equilibrium state, the probability distribution becomes:
This is called the Boltzmann distribution and the precise derivation can be followed along on wikipedia here[5].
Boltzmann Distribution / Boltzmann Machine
Boltzmann machine is a stochastic recurrent neural network created by G. Hinton and T. Sejnowski and is named after Boltzmann distribution. The counterpart to the Boltzmann distribution is a Hopfield network which is another form of a recurrent neural network. All of these different stochastic neural network models are frequently used in computational applications of machine learning.
Toy Model of a Recurrent Network
Creating a Toy Model of a Neural Network in Matlab is somewhat simple as there a models already set up. Here is an example of a very simple feed forward network and we are already able to see the possibilities that even a simple Neural network:
% tutorial followed from:
% Let the model have three inputs and one output
% 2a + 3b + 6bc
a= rand(1,1000);
% n will be out noise to make it more realistic
%input matrix
I = [a; b; c];
% matrix r will show the minimum of inputs in 1st column and max in 2nd column
% v vector is final transfored vector from some previous layer u
% v = sum(w.*v) + b
S= [5 1];
R=[0 1; 0 1 ; 0 1];
% there is a built in feedforward neural network function in matlab
% this function is called newff
% net = newff(P,T,S) takes
% P - RxQ1 matrix of Q1 representative R-element input vectors.
% T - SNxQ2 matrix of Q2 representative SN-element target vectors.
% Si - Sizes of N-1 hidden layers, S1 to S(N-1), default = [].
% (Output layer size SN is determined from T.)
% and returns an N layer feed-forward backprop network.
net = newff([0 1;0 1 ;0 1],[4 1], 2);
% this will be the training set
subplot 211
subplot 212
% test against training set with a =2, b=2, c=2
y1=sim(net,[2 2 2]')
Output: y1 = 22.9371
References and Further Links
1. Chapter 7: by Peter Dayan, Laurence F. Abbott.
Wikipedia Pages to Recurrent and Feedforward Neural Networks:
Recurrant Neural Network [ Feedforward Nueral Networks|
History of Neural Netoworks:
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Sunday, April 29, 2012
This is coolbert:
From the John Hawks weblog we have this item that caught my attention right away:
"If, as Keegan hypothesizes, the ration was one pound of meat and two of bread (requiring two pounds of firewood) per man per day, an army of 30,000 ate out a location pretty quickly"
Sir John Keegan in this particular instance hypothesizing that an army of 30,000 men during the Black Powder era of warfare, on the march requiring sustenance on a daily basis a significant consideration for a military commander AND THIS ONLY FOR MANPOWER.
As for the feed and watering of horses that were integral to the movement of the baggage train, the cavalry, the horses needed to pull the artillery, that is an entire additional matter of even more consequence, as should be obvious. Military campaigns during the age of Black Powder were generally put on hold during the winter, troops going into quarters, horses not being able to forage for themselves.
NO consideration either given for drink. Armies of the period [Black Powder] as part of the contract with a soldier agreeing to generally provide so much beer [northern Europeans] or wine [southern Europeans] per day ALSO as part of the daily ration! NO beer or wine and you ran the risk of mutiny!
"lieutenants think tactics, generals thing logistics"
Water from wells, rivers and lakes often disease ridden, and of considerable danger to a soldier to drink from, that number of troops dying while on campaign often in magnitudes beyond what ever casualties were sustained in battle.
[water and feet historically have been the two biggest killers of soldiers and not battle! Either not having enough water to drink or consuming dirty and diseased water, and those troops having bad feet falling out on the march and being set upon by marauders!!]
Read this CIC article by Al Nofi from StrategyPage. Even while in quarter, that rather smallish [even for the time] army of William the Conqueror [1066] the logistical requirements immense, the DISPOSAL OF DETRITUS, EXCREMENT OF MEN AND ANIMALS BOTH A MAJOR PROBLEM THE SOLUTION OF WHICH IS UNKNOWN TO THE HISTORIANS!
This is coolbert:
That DDG-1000 "Zumwalt" class destroyer, cost of $7 billion apiece cannot be said to be under-armed.
Will carry a mix of weaponry that does give it a formidable capability.
Designed and as envisioned to be used primarily [?] in littoral [green] waters, close to shore, bombardment of targets far inland the goal.
DDG-1000 equipped with a mix of guns, rockets, and missiles task tailored in the case of the latter.
To include:
* 57 mm guns. Two of them.
* 155 guns. Two of them, the AGS [Advanced Gun System].
* ASROC [anti-submarine rockets].
* Sea Sparrow missile. The enhanced version effective against enemy aircraft and anti-ship missile attack.
* Tactical Harpoon.
Those missiles a mix of which is task tailored for the mission, giving a capability against enemy submarines, aircraft, and anti-ship cruise missiles including the supersonic variety.
Helicopters are also organic to the DDG-1000 class, a chopper able to have a combat capability on demand? This is not clear.
That Advanced Gun System [155 mm] two of them, able to hit targets inland up to extraordinary ranges with great accuracy and lethality. Can fire a mix of conventional and precision-guided rounds but is not able to fire any of the currently available 155 mm artillery ammo as might be found in the arsenals of the army or marines.
It is significant that the U.S. Marines as of 2003 has restored the status of ANGLICO units both active duty and reserve? Those AGS crucial at long range highly reliant on the ANGLICO for target selection, terminal guidance of precision and enhanced munitions, etc.
I guess that the argument with the "Zumwalt" class destroyer is that for the cost so few of them [three] are scheduled to be built? As I have said, given ordinary deployments and re-fittings that will mean that any given moment only ONE of these vessels will be at sea anywhere in the world.
DDG 1000.
This is coolbert:
Right now, as we speak, in the works and under construction, latest and greatest version American naval destroyer class under construction, the DDG 1000 class vessel, a warship that in the final form will cost $7 billion per copy. ONLY a grand total of three to be built.
Thanks to intelhub:
"Navy Spending $21 Billion on Three New Destroyers, Part of Response to China’s Military Buildup"
"The new DDG 1000 Zumwalt class destroyer will focus on attacking land-based targets, leveraging stealth technology to allow the vessel to get close to shore before being detected and letting loose the massive advanced arsenal on the warship."
Weaponry as planned for and as envisioned to include a variety of missiles in task tailored packages and the Advanced Gun System, the latter having LAND-BASED targets in mind.
DDG 1000 a high technology warship requiring only half the crew of previous destroyer incarnations.
COST recognized as a major factor, the entire class so expensive that ONLY three total to be built. Generally speaking, that means at any given moment one DDG 1000 will be at sea, deployments, in port refurbishment and refitting being what it is with modern warships!
"Originally, the Navy wanted 32 of the massive destroyers, but that was quickly cut down to 24, then seven, and now a mere three due to the absurd costs associated with the vessels."
Propulsion, weaponry, a design process and procurement that takes decades etc. NO ONE ever said the military was cheap and DDG 1000 is no exception! Obvious.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
This is coolbert:
"anyone who provokes or hurts the DPRK's dignity would be undoubtedly defeated."
From the headline of Chinese English website xinhuanet:
"DPRK marks army's 80th founding anniversary"
The main points:
• "The DPRK held a national meeting to mark the 80th anniversary of the founding of the KPA."
• "The founding of the KPA ushered in a new history of building the revolutionary armed forces."
• "Kim Jong Un would strengthen the might of the KPA and lead the Korean revolution to a new victory."
"PYONGYANG -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) held a national meeting on Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army (KPA)."
"the founding of the KPA by commander Kim Il Sung 80 years ago ushered in a new history of building the revolutionary armed forces."
NOW, courtesy of Bert we have MORE key points:
* Kim Il-Sung was a Red Army [Soviet] officer who fought at Stalingrad during World War Two!
* Those North Korean People's Army [NKPA] contingents that invaded South Korea in June 1950 were veterans of the Chinese Civil War and again veterans of the Red Army [Soviet] who fought the German at Stalingrad.
[such info as gleaned from the interrogations of NKPA POW as captured by American forces during the Korean War!!]
NOW you know the rest of the story! Nuff' said?
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
This is coolbert:
From that Washington Post article dated 2009:
"The cash-strapped government of Kim Jong Il, which struggles to maintain and buy fuel for its aging tanks and armor, has concluded it cannot win a conventional war, according to U.S. and South Korean military officials." [this of course before the death of Kim Jong Il!]
Decades now from the historians will be asking the question as to WHY the North Korean even when possessing what seems at least on paper an overwhelming military advantage, NEVER did attack the ROK [Republic of Korea], destroy by a blitzkrieg style offensive the South Korean army and those American military units permanently station in the south.
The desire often and most vociferously so expressed by the communist leadership in Pyongyang to unify the Korean peninsula with communist domination and USE MILITARY FORCE TO DO SO!
Again for over a period of three decades now the NKPA [North Korean People's Army] on paper having a demonstrable and frightening advantage over South Korean and American military forces, and yet, NO attack ever came. And WHY?
The answer is perhaps, pure, plain and simple, MALNUTRITION?
Decades of antiquated and antediluvian agricultural policies have created long-term food shortages, MALNUTRITION THE NORM RATHER THAN THE EXCEPTION, at least an entire generation of North Korean youth growing up stunted and almost dwarfish, food shortages and hunger endemic! This is so?
Anecdotal accounts seems to suggest that this is so? NO ONE doubts the ability of the NKPA to START a war, but perhaps there is a definite and realized impossibility to maintain the pace and tempo as required by the blitzkrieg to an ultimate conclusion. Again, plain, pure and simple, the physical wherewithal is LACKING?
"U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday North Korean IQs are feared to be falling due to prolonged malnutrition."
"'There's a concern that their IQs are going down because of malnutrition and insufficient diet,' . . . 'People in the North Korean military...are 4 foot 10 inches (145 centimeters), these are men, and less than 100 pounds (45 kilograms)'." [this according to Rumsfeld]
"It is clear that the all-powerful army - once quarantined from food shortages and famine - is starting to go hungry."
"'Everybody is weak,"'says one young North Korean soldier.'Within my troop of 100 comrades, half of them are malnourished,' he said."
And THERE IS PRECEDENT FOR THIS! German troops and industrial workers in the munitions sector during both World Wars unable to maintain the pace, hunger prolonged creating NOT conducive to operations that require a rapid tempo, advance thwarted!
1. "Erwin Rommel . . . often bemoaned the demands placed upon his poorly fed troops'. The Allied blockade of the German Empire . . . was responsible for food shortages and widespread malnutrition in Germany and allied countries. When inadequate provisioning was combined with the gruelling night marches preceding the battle of Caporetto, a heavy toll was extracted from the German and Austro-Hungarian forces."
2. "On the eve of World War I, in 1914, the annual death rate from accidents among workers at the Krupp Essen plant was 4.1 per thousand employees, a figure that by 1917 had risen to 8.7 per thousand, as the tempo of production increased, while employee health deteriorated from malnutrition and overwork."
3. That German 352nd Infantry Division as defending the Omaha beach head, 6 June 1944, comprised primarily to teenagers who had suffered malnutrition, SOLDIERS FELT TO BE INCAPABLE OF NOTHING FURTHER THAN DEFENSIVE OPERATIONS, PHYSICALLY UNFIT FOR FURTHER AND MORE INTENSIVE DUTY!
"manpower problems . . . The replacements, mostly teenagers, were physically unfit for all but limited military duty, because of food shortages in Germany."
That is all there is to it? That populace of North Korea has been for decades now incapable of military action as would be needed to initiate and more importantly sustain an offensive of major proportions the defeat of ROK and US forces in the south the goal? That is all there is to it? This is just one mans' opinion.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
This is coolbert:
Thanks to the BBC instances of American troops during the Korean War engaging in killings of civilians almost indiscriminate in nature, harsh and brutal!
"Kill 'em All': The American Military in Korea"
"Undertrained and underprepared"
"Things began to go wrong almost immediately for the American troops. Those who were rushed to the front line straight from occupation duty in Tokyo in July 1950 were undertrained and underprepared . . . US commanders were outmanoeuvred by North Korean units using guerrilla methods to target US lines from the rear."
"The surprise attack from the North had generated a very real refugee crisis. Just weeks after the conflict had begun, up to two million refugees were streaming across the battlefield; they clogged the roads and the UN lines."
And mixed in with those refugees the four man teams [many of them] of NKPA guerrilla fighters. Men dressed as civilians and carrying handguns, daggers and hand grenades. Forcing women to sometimes carry weaponry on their person disguised under the long robes of the Korean woman.
The North Korean People's Army [NKPA] always incorporating guerrilla/partisan activity into all military operations!
Four man North Korean guerrilla fighters indistinguishable from civilians during hours of darkness attacking American troops, wreaking havoc.
American commanders taking steps and measures, draconian in nature to deal with the unconventional warfare threat.
Long columns of refugees stopped by American military police and the persons of the Korean unfortunates subjected to intensive body pat-down, search. THE ORDER HAVING BEEN GIVEN TO MACHINE GUN ANYONE DEFYING THE STOP AND SEARCH IN ANY FORM, THOSE FLEEING TO THE RIGHT OR THE LEFT OF THE COLUMN KILLED WITHOUT WARNING!! [Columns of refugees stopped with a rice paddy on either side of the road, clear field of fire available!]
I can easily imagine a goodly number of Korean women modest in nature not wanting to be patted down by an American MP fleeing and being killed NOT EVEN FOR HAVING WEAPONS ON HER PERSON!
Those American troops "undertrained and underprepared" also facing an adversary at that exact instant PERHAPS THE BEST TRAINED AND MOST COMBAT READY HARDENED INFANTRY IN THE WORLD! A sizable percentage of those NKPA troops veterans of the Chinese Civil War and many also having fought at Stalingrad with distinction!!
Hard and cruel both, undeniably so, desperate circumstance calling for desperate measures, egregious and again draconian and regrettable in nature. War was not easy then, not easy now, never will be.
Monday, April 23, 2012
This is coolbert:
1. ONLY today, thanks to we have these headlines - - the newest North Korean leadership, as headed by Kim Jong-Un threatening in the most DIRE manner consequences and using what is described as a "specificity" "unusual".
"N. Korea vows to turn South's leadership to ashes"
"PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea sharply escalated the rhetoric against its southern rival, claiming it will soon conduct 'special actions' that would reduce South Korea's conservative government to ashes within minutes"
"the military message, attributed to the 'special operation action group' of the Korean People's Army's Supreme Command, was unusual in its specificity"
That special operation action group those ranger/commando/special operations units of the North Korean Peoples Army [NKPA} prodigious for their size and rugged training, very dangerous folks no matter what the situation? That is what is being referred to here?
2. As reported in the Washington Post as of 2009 the NKPA INCREASING THE SIZE of what was already the LARGEST contingent of ANY ranger/commando/special operations unit in the world!
A marked increase by re-training existing infantry as special ops troops!
"North Korea Massively Increases Its Special Forces
"SEOUL -- North Korea has massively increased its special operations forces, schooled them in the use of Iraqi-style roadside bombs and equipped them to sneak past the heavily fortified border that divides the two Koreas."
"Their low-tech, low-cost training includes throwing knives, firing poisonous darts and running up steep hills wearing backpacks filled with 60 pounds of rocks and sand, said Ha Tae-jun, a former South Korean commando who has debriefed captured members of the North's special forces. They are also drilled in street warfare, chemical attacks, night fighting, martial arts, car theft and using spoons and forks as weapons"
"North Korean special forces have demonstrated remarkable fighting ability and grit when cornered inside South Korea. In 1968, a 31-member team attacked Blue House, the presidential residence in Seoul. Although they failed to assassinate President Park Chung-hee, they killed 68 South Koreans over the nine days it took to track them down. Several commandos committed suicide to avoid capture, one was unaccounted for and one was taken alive."
It being reputed that the one commando unaccounted for repatriated himself back north, has continued quite successfully with his military career even many decades later still on active duty, now a senior NKPA officer AND ALSO AS ALLEGED A CLOSE ADVISER TO THE NEW LEADER, KIM JUNG-UN!!
In all cases, take the North Korean threats seriously, they mean business and have the physical and mental wherewithal to follow up with their incendiary and ill-considered statements!!
Saturday, April 21, 2012
This is coolbert:
Again from the comment to the blog:
"Your qualifications for stating that this was 'NOT' possible"
My qualifications would include firing U.S. Army range fire way back when [1966], passing the five day course a MUST to graduate from basic training.
Firing the high-power M-14 rifle for score at a various ranges varying from short [110 meters?] to long distance [250 meters maximum].
That M-14 rifle using the NATO round [7.62 X 51] and roughly comparable to the round as fired from the British SMLE rifle [.303 caliber].
The M-14 a semi-automatic weapon, not bolt operated, featuring a twenty round magazine [I don't believe on range fire we ever loaded the mag to more than ten rounds for any specific shoot!]
My particular M-14 fired for training during range fire and qualification NOT ZEROED, A LAPSE BY THE DRILL INSTRUCTORS AND A VERY UNFAIR TEST OF MARKSMANSHIP!!
I barely qualified at the end of the five day course but at least DID qualify.
[it has been suggested that I was either very good or very lucky. Firing an unzeroed weapon IS an unfair test of marksmanship. I might like to think that I am very good but know better!]
Those targets also of the pop-up variety, at longer ranges [175 meters and out] the size of a man from the legs up and appearing for only about five seconds, not giving you much time to shoot, targets at less than 175 meters having the appearance of a man from the shoulders up and only fleetingly appearing.
Range fire I must admit was a challenge and a fair test and was GOOD TRAINING.
That M-14 rifle in 1966 lasted at the standard rifle as carried by the common soldier in the U.S. Army for only about eighteen months and was then replace by the M-16.
Again, with regard to Snoxall, the "Mad Minute" and the record of thirty eight hits on a 12 inch bull at a range of 300 yards [274 meters], operating that BOLT ACTION rifle so fast with RELOADING and achieving such a degree of accuracy at range with a high-power weapon does astound but then I have said I defer to authority.
Once more, just because I cannot run a four minute mile [1500 meters] does not mean someone else can!
This is coolbert:
Thanks to the tip from Mish we have the story of Juliet Marine and their novel and apparently one-of-a-kind naval warship using concepts that modern technology only now make for a feasible and do-able naval vessel.
GHOST! A cross of designs that almost confuses? Is it a plane [wing-in-ground], a ship, a hydrofoil, etc., what exactly is it? And apparently uses the concept of super-cavitation in a way not before seen except for glide bombs [German] and torpedoes [Soviet].
See here a gallery of images of the GHOST!
"We have already developed a surface variant of a super cavitating craft and are planning to apply our unique technology in a UUV prototype."
"While the GHOST is a surface vessel, the hydrodynamics of the twin submerged buoyant tubular foils are also a test bed for Juliet Marine's next planned prototype, a long duration UUV"
"The GHOST is a combination of stealth fighter aircraft and attack helicopter technologies packaged in a marine platform."
"Juliet claims that it can develop systems in one third the time and at one third the cost than achieved through usual military procurement procedures. Juliet has developed 'Ghost' which they claim to be the world’s first supercavitating ship. Reportedly Ghost achieves very high speed through hull friction that is 1/900th of conventional surface ships."
GHOST! Supercavitating warship that resembles a plane, a ship, nothing else like it exists anywhere?
Designed to be used in littoral [green] waters close to shore and not pelagic [deep water]. Appears to be designed to for stealth in mind, radar reflecting surface and coating that makes the vessel hard to detect using conventional technologies.
And is seen as a solution, a cheap and dirty remedy to the scourge or piracy. Also from a cost standpoint has a lot of advantage as a weapons system for sale to foreign navies few of which have a pelagic "overseas" and power projection mission [few navies worldwide have such a mission!].
And GHOST is only the start. This company is designing right now, as we speak "a long duration UUV" [unmanned undersea vehicle?] a submarine I would assume, with super-cavitating technology and NO CREW, able to perform the mission of a much large submersible but without any danger to personnel, remotely controlled from afar and with awesome capability!!
GHOST is not only the future, GHOST is now!
Thursday, April 19, 2012
This is coolbert:
Back to the topic as originally a Military Thoughts blog entry from way back when. The record of English Sergeant Snoxall, firing a "Mad Minute, the "Lord Robert's Shoot", using the British SMLE rifle to fire and hit a 12 inch [4.72 cm.] bulls eyes thirty-eight [38] times at a range of 300 yards [274 meters] USING A BOLT ACTION RIFLE THAT WOULD HAVE TO BEEN RELOADED AT LEAST THREE TIMES WITH TWO FIVE ROUND CLIPS PER RE-LOAD!!
"The Lee-Enfield's superiority as a battle rifle: British Sgt. Snoxall recorded 38 hits on a 12-in. bull at 300 yards in only sixty seconds. Proficiency... the rifle was rapidly loaded in order to fire as many rounds as possible in one minute, dubbed by participants, 'the mad minute'. No other hand-operated bolt action service rifle can claim such a record. Enfields rule!"
This comment to the Military Thoughts blog entry:
"Snoxall's achievement is a well-documented result. Please note that he was a musketry Sergeant Instructor, not an average squaddie (english for 'grunt'). In 1914, he would have been using a Rifle, No 1 or a Rifle, Short, Magazine, Lee Enfield (more commonly known as an SMLE). This rifle is the reason that, early in World War I, German troops were convinced that the British had machineguns. Your qualifications for stating that this was 'NOT' possible', please?
NOT that I doubt this record, but for some time have been trying to find details. The record was at a range of 300 yards, one minute fire, load, fire, etc. And hits that 38 of them on the 12 inch bull in the center of a four by four foot target as I understand it. That is HITS ON THE 12 INCH BULL AND NOT ON THE FOUR BY FOUR FOOT TARGET THEN?? Can this be absolutely confirmed as true?
And the response from an acknowledged authority on the British SMLE rifle who responds:
"Yes, that is hits on the bull. I found this reference in some Musketry Instructions in England when I was there in 1980-81."
Without question an amazing feat! Even for the experienced shootist such as myself I DO find this achievement of Snoxall to be astounding. The contradictions present and faced by the marksman in such a situation are numerous to include:
* Speed.
* Accuracy.
* Distance.
* Power.
I defer to the persons who are authority in this matter. My own expertise and experience with high-power rifle fire [M-14] at long range [maximum of 250 meters] seems to suggest that the rapid repeated reload and ability to engage a target with the bolt-action SMLE in the manner as accomplished by Snoxall is just not possible. It seems however I AM WRONG!! Indeed, even Bert can be wrong!
Just because I cannot run a four minute mile does not mean someone else cannot run a four minute mile. Just because I cannot high jump seven feet does not mean someone else cannot high jump seven feet. Etc.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Cost Efficient?
This is coolbert:
Here from various web sites some comments and statistics regarding the American strategic aerial offensive against North Vietnam [Rolling Thunder, 1965-1968].
A strategic aerial bombardment campaign carried out by tactical aviation, that combination of USAF and naval aviation [Yankee Station] attempting to put the big hurt on the communist North Vietnamese, "persuade" the leaders of North Vietnam to cease and desist, end hostilities, negotiate or face obliteration.
"The air defense system in North Vietnam was almost non-existent in 1965, but by the end of 1967 it became one of the most complete and sophisticated systems in the world. SAM sites increased from 15 in 1965 to 270 by 1968; missiles fired from these sites increase from 200 in 1965 to almost 3,500 in 1967. The number of AAA guns grew from 700 in 1965 to over 7,400 in spring of 1968."
NO, not merely one of the most, was the MOST complete and sophisticated!!
"The flow of men and supplies continued to increase throughout the campaign [Rolling Thunder]: 'In 1965 approximately 12,000 North Vietnamese soldiers had infiltrated South Vietnam, but by 1968 over 300,000 North Vietnamese troops had entered South Vietnam.'"
That North Vietnamese air defense system notwithstanding, A LOT OF "BIG HURT" DONE TO THE INFRASTRUCTURE OF NORTH VIETNAM some targets destroyed repeatedly, undeniably a lot of damage done.
"according to reports the bombing destroyed 77 percent of all ammo depots, 65 percent of fuel storage facilities, 59 percent of all power plants, 55 percent of major bridges, and 39 percent of railroad yards."
"The large North Vietnamese labor force also did much to offset the destruction that Rolling Thunder accomplished. This force (over 300,000) of laborers was able to quickly repair the damage to major targets and almost nullify bombing efforts"
Many of those targets bombed, repaired, bombed, repaired again, over and over!! The communists indeed were VERY determined!
Again, North Vietnamese forces arrayed against the American "Yankee air pirates" formidable in scale, a million man army [in totality] required to defend against the USAF and naval aviation onslaught. TO A DEGREE, THE AERIAL BOMBARDMENT CAMPAIGN FROM THAT STANDPOINT [manpower drain on North Vietnam] COST EFFICIENT?
Air Defense!
This is coolbert:
Moshe Dayan and Martin van Creveld both correct in their pronouncements that the Second Indo-China War was perceived as a case of the strong beating up on the weak. The very strong United States military "seen" by observers both in the U.S. and abroad for that matter as supremely and overwhelmingly so all-powerful, possessing advantages that the adversary [North Vietnamese and Viet Cong] had no valid response to.
One moment Charlie Brown. This perception was not totally valid when it came to North Vietnamese air defense. That air defense guarding North Vietnam from aerial attack by American tactical aviation flying in a strategic bombing mission [Rolling Thunder] very sophisticated and advanced perhaps without equal in the world at that exact moment [1965-1968].
"Supported by communist allies, North Vietnam fielded a potent mixture of sophisticated air-to-air and ground-to-air weapons that created one of the most effective air defenses ever faced by American military aviators."
Homeland air defense of the North Vietnamese heartland, NOT merely one of the most effective, PERHAPS THE MOST EFFECTIVE AND LETHAL!!
The North Vietnamese air defense [AD] consisting of that correct mix of weaponry to include:
* Fighter/interceptors. MiG-17, MiG-19, and MiG-21.
* Surface-to-air-missiles [SAM]. Exclusively so [?] SA-2 Guideline.
* Anti-aircraft-artillery [AAA]. Quad fifty-caliber [12.7 mm], 23 mm, 37 mm, 57 mm, 85 mm, and 100 mm.
Those larger caliber AAA guns some of which were radar guided.
An AD apparatus requiring a force of 700,000 troops to man and employ in combat.
An assemblage of radar, communications, aviation, missiles and guns an apparatus without peer, massive, dangerous.and to a degree unanticipated [?] by American planners.
In addition a 300,000 man quasi-military force dedicated to repairing in an expeditious manner damage as caused by Rolling Thunder air strikes, it reported that a goodly percentage of those laborers Chinese nationals [what percentage is unclear]!
A million man force and impedimenta [taken in totality] strictly in defense of North Vietnamese airspace, that gauntlet having to be run by American tactical aviation en route and homeward bound at all times lethal, North Vietnamese AD roughly in size to those air defense forces of Nazi Germany during World War Two [WW2], the memoirs of Albert Speer remarking that such a force was an enormous drain on manpower and resources.
To what extent the North Vietnamese AD was a mere imitation of the Soviet era PVO Strany or was adapted to local conditions [Vietnam] I cannot say. I think it is safe to say that the AD as encountered by American combat aviators in the skies over North Vietnam was far more advanced and determined than ever anticipated.
Monday, April 16, 2012
This is coolbert:
Well, you can imagine in an instant that this Internet headline would catch my attention right away.
"George Washington voted Britain’s greatest enemy commander"
The 5,000 participants in the survey having five military commanders to choose from. Washington among the select elite few to also include:
* Michael Collins.
* Napoleon Bonaparte.
* Erwin Rommel.
* Mustapha Kemal Ataturk.
* Washington conceded NOT to have been an outstanding battlefield tactician the man surely not an equal in that regard to say a Napoleon or a Rommel.
* Washington AN outstanding leader perhaps without peer? Willing and able to continue when others were not and able to succeed when others were not. The historians are in agreement [??] that without a Washington the American Revolutionary War would have failed. I believe this to be so.
* Washington too having at that exact moment of the American Revolution having the MOST to lose of all participants? Was the third richest man [through inheritance on the side of Martha the wife] in the colonies.
* The courage and physical command presence of Washington on the battlefield again without question, the man undeniably very brave and a leader of the foremost ability.
* His Britannic Majesty George III in response to his being told that Washington had been offered but refused the "kingship" of America saying: "if this indeed be true Washington is the GREATEST MAN ALIVE!!" Indeed he was!!
* Ataturk a divisional commander at Gallipoli BUT NOT the overall commander. Liman von Sanders making the major decisions, issuing the commands for those Turkish units in opposition to British and allied forces.
Anyone disagree with the results of this survey? I for one do not!
Sunday, April 15, 2012
This is coolbert:
"Victory goes to the strongest battalions" - - Napoleon.
Here with the REAL REASON for American and South Vietnamese defeat during the Second-Indo-China War.
Those "reasons" as enunciated by Dayan [thanks to van Creveld] and Truong valid as stated but immaterial as to the REAL REASON?
The REAL REASON the communist forces emerging triumphant in the classical manner of warfare [1975] due to:
* Divisions of tanks. [armor heavy formations]
* Divisions of artillery. [massed units of artillery]
* Massed divisions of tanks and massed divisions of artillery operating in concert.
Those massed and prodigious formations of tanks and artillery operating in concert creating an inexorable force used in a prodigal way, CONCENTRATED AND FOCUSED, almost literally blasting a path for further advance and annihilating those South Vietnamese army combat arms units [ARVN] willing and able to continue the fight, the ARVN not having the physical wherewithal to combat such an adversary in the first place, also in time losing as well all moral and mental capacity to do so unit cohesion disintegrating!
From the time of the communist Easter Offensive [1972] and even more so during the final push on Saigon [1975] those South Vietnamese army units [ARVN] faced with an adversary employing armaments for which the ARVN had NO answer. THAT SOUTH VIETNAMESE ARMY HAVING BEEN ORGANIZED, TRAINED, EQUIPPED TO FIGHT THE SAME ENEMY THE U.S. ARMY FACED IN VIETNAM [light infantry of the North Vietnamese Army], THE ARVN FINDING THEMSELVES AT A DISTINCT AND OVERWHELMING DISADVANTAGE, NO AMELIORATION OR REMEDY TO THE PROBLEM POSSIBLE!!
[it has been suggested that the Tet Offensive of 1968 was a clear indication of American intelligence failure in Vietnam. Perhaps an even greater failure was the additional failure of American intelligence to detect and understand the very MASSIVE armor and artillery build-up that preceded the Easter Offensive of 1972! That those massive formations of tanks and artillery were not observed in some fashion is indeed a mystery not ever fully explained?]
That Republic of Vietnam [RVN] government in Saigon unable to deal with the situation, American air power withheld, the troops on the ground [ARVN] finding themselves vastly outgunned and without support or help on the way, collapse AND ULTIMATE DISINTEGRATION was not only a matter of time but inevitable.
Overwhelming force used in an overwhelming manner "poor intelligence" "hearts and minds", "ineffectual government" [Saigon] and "privileged sanctuaries" small potatoes compared to the REAL REASON for the final outcome.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Vinh Truong.
This is coolbert:
Yet from one more author, a most authoritative figure if there ever was one, as to the REASONS for allied defeat in Vietnam. American and South Vietnamese both unable to prevail over the communists. Vinh Truong a South Vietnamese military officer of some standing and an escapee from a re-education [concentration] camp AFTER THIRTEEN YEARS OF INCARCERATION!
As extracted from the book by Truong:
"Vietnam War: The New Legion, Volume 2 By Vinh Truong"
"When I [Truong] looked into myself, I knew that I would remain faithful to a code of personal honor attached to what I understood as the ideals of my country's form of government rising above the confusions of the political and military leadership. This became explicitly clear to me when I was interviewed by allied-officer in my class Squadron Officer School at Maxwell Air University Alabama. They asked me 'What I thought of the war', and I recall telling them that I thought it make no sense to me to try to defend South Vietnam so long as the border areas of Cambodia and Laos were conceded to the Hanoi . . . But I could see no strategy being applied that had prospects of success . . . 'my patriotism was stronger than my unhappiness about poor US intervention strategic policy!'"
Concerning Truong:
"Vinh-Van-Truong was recruited by U.S. Special Forces in Project Delta 1964-65 and graduated from the U.S. Air University, Maxwell, Alabama, for Squadron Officer School and Academic Instructor School, 1967-68. He was 213th Squadron Commander, 1970-71, 51th Wing Combat Commander, 1972-73, and Chief of Staff of Helicopter branch of VNAF Headquarter 1973 until Saigon fell"
[and in the aftermath of South Vietnamese surrender, thirteen years an inmate of a communist re-education [concentration] camp!!]
"[Truong] discusses the three Axioms in the dominant interpretation of the U.S.-Vietnam War that were established by the invisible permanent government right after the National Security Council meeting on September 21, 1960. They are: - 1. There was never a legitimate non-communist government in Saigon (dissolution GVN) 2. The U.S. had no legitimate reason to be involved in Vietnamese affairs (Tonkin-Gulf-Incident) 3. The U.S. could not have won the war under any circumstances (U.S. troops honorable withdrawal)"
When Truong speaks we all need to listen. Truong and his fellow compatriots now living in the U.S. have a web site dedicated to discussion of the Second Indo-China War. It might be interesting to engage in dialog with them language barriers aside.
Dayan & Creveld.
This is coolbert:
Here according to that most distinguished Israeli military historian as found at TheShalomCenter web site REASONS for American defeat in Vietnam. As posted on the Internet in 2004, only when the low-intensity insurgency in Iraq had initially begun.
Reasons for American defeat in Vietnam as originally observed and enunciated by the great Israeli general officer Moshe Dayan. Dayan in the aftermath of the Six-Day War [1967] traveling to Vietnam in the capacity of a civilian and reporting on the war in a series of articles for the Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv. [that series of articles became a book!]
"that the most important Israeli newspaper of the time, Ma'ariv, proposed that he [Dayan] go to Vietnam as a war correspondent he jumped on the idea. The articles he wrote were published in Ma'ariv as well as the British and French press."
Dayan as a military man with the most illustrious career and with prescience identifying and elaborating on those weaknesses and liabilities that the American military in Vietnam faced. Weaknesses and liabilities that in the opinion of Dayan doomed from the onset the American effort to failure.
Reasons to include:
* "First, according to Dayan, the most important operational problem the US Forces were facing was intelligence, in other words the inability to distinguish the enemy from either the physical surroundings or the civilian population"
* "Second, as Dayan saw clearly enough, the campaign for hearts and minds did not work"
* "The third and most important reason why I [van Creveld] think Vietnam is relevant to the situation in Iraq is because the Americans found themselves in the unfortunate position where they were beating down on the weak"
With regard to that third and most important reason, those thoughts are more or less those of van Creveld and NOT Dayan? The psychological dimension to warfare especially within the realm of a low-intensity anti-insurgency cannot be denied. Vietnam whether right or wrong was perceived as an instance of the most powerful by far nation on earth as beating up a poor and weak nation and doing so without a whole lot of justification.
The war in Vietnam was lost in the streets of New York City and not on the battlefields of South Vietnam? This is largely the consensus of the military historian, Dayan and others at the time seeing the picture clearly much more than most?
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
This is coolbert:
From the web site YNet we have the story of the now released-from-prison Israeli army officer Omar al-Hayeb.
"IDF officer who spied for Hezbollah released from prison"
"Bedouin lieutenant colonel convicted of espionage, drug trafficking, released after less than 10 years in prison"
The one man [Israeli Arab] most entrusted with catching infiltrating terrorists and drug smugglers himself a drug smuggler and also a spy for a terrorist organization [Hezbollah]! Serving ten years of a stiff sentence and only now released for compassionate reasons - - ill health!
Tzahal the Israeli military employing tracking units, Israeli Arabs able to "cut-sign", detect the trail of a hostile infiltrator, follow the spoor of the quarry as would a hunter after prey, in the old fashioned and ancient manner. This is the Desert Reconnaissance Battalion!
"The Natural Detectives: Desert Reconnaissance Battalion"
That type of mortal combat of the mass production, mechanized, industrialized, by-the-numbers variety that has been fought ever since the time of the Great War [1914] not eliminating the need for military tracker units! Persons able to cut-sign, discover the presence of an adversary and follow a trail
Since the end of World War Two [1945] those instances of military tracker units to include:
1. Iban/Dayak. Malaya Emergency.
2. Selous Scouts. Rhodesian Bush War.
3. 31 Battalion. Bushmen trackers.
4. Bedouin Scouts. Israel Arabs.
Read further of those techniques as used by the scouts [Bedouin], age-old and venerable methods an art form almost, but very effective and having an obvious military application within the context of the low-intensity conflict when done by those practitioners small in number.
"The Secret Techniques of IDF Bedouin Scouts"
"Here are five techniques used by our trackers which make them the best of the best":
"3) Avoid twilight:
"The hours of twilight, when the light constantly changes and vision gets poorer, are hardest on the eyes. Either scout during the day, or at nighttime with a flashlight, but don’t try your luck in that transition period."
The Iban/Dayak of the Malaya Emergency in contrast rather PREFERRING and ONLY tracking during those hours of immediate sunrise or sunset. That time with the longest shadows allowing for the best conditions for following a track? So I have read.
For those of you interested, there is a school where you can learn the skills and abilities of the tracker, a science and an art form both. The Tom Brown Tracker School. Good luck and good hunting, whatever your game, the ancient and venerable ways still exist.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Katyn & Smolensk.
This is coolbert:
From the Chicago Tribune almanac today. On this day two years ago now:
In 2010 " Polish President Lech Kaczynski was killed along with 96 others - - including his wife, political leaders and heroes of Poland's resistance to communist rule - - when their airplane crashed outside Smolensk, Russia. The group was on its way to mark the massacre of thousands - - of Polish prisoners of war in a forest glad called Katyn by Soviet Military police in 1940."
Some obvious and instantaneous clarifications needed here:
1. Tens of thousands [22,000?] and not merely thousands.
2. A massacre yes but much more, a carefully planned execution, with malice afore thought of the most diabolical and malevolent variety!
3. NOT merely POW [prisoners of war] but the entire elite of the Polish nation. Priests, intellectuals, political figures, military officers, academics. The gamut of that core nucleus from which the leadership of a nation is found.
4. NOT Soviet military police. The NKVD, the Soviet secret police.
"The Katyn massacre, also known as the Katyn Forest massacre . . . was a mass execution of Polish nationals carried out by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), the Soviet secret police, in April and May 1940 . . . Of the total killed, about 8,000 were officers taken prisoner during the 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland, another 6,000 were police officers, with the rest being Polish intelligentsia arrested for allegedly being "intelligence agents, gendarmes, landowners, saboteurs, factory owners, lawyers, officials and priests."
All pedantics aside, I had planned to blog on this particular event as considered within the wider context which now goes back seventy years now.
From the original headlines as it was two years ago thanks to the BBC:
"Polish President Lech Kaczynski dies in plane crash"
"President Lech Kaczynski and scores of other senior Polish figures have been killed in a plane crash in Russia."
"the plane apparently hit trees as it approached Smolensk airport in thick fog."
That commemorative event as planned those passengers on the crashed aircraft again that very elite of Polish society and culture, INCLUDING FROM WHAT I UNDERSTAND AT LEAST HALF OF THE POLISH GENERAL STAFF ON BOARD!!
"Poland's army chief, central bank governor, MPs and leading historians were among more than 80 passengers."
My instantaneous and intuitive reaction two year ago was this was a deliberate instance of MEACONING! False navigation signals sent deliberately to deceive the pilot, relying upon instruments as he was at that exact moment, all perishing as a result and with deliberate malice on the part of the Russian. Without a shred of evidence that was my "instantaneous and intuitive" reaction! As it was seventy years ago so it remains now too? Kill the Poles!
This tragic incident from two years ago has been deemed after thorough investigation to have been an accident and MY "instantaneous and intuitive reaction" is just plain wrong? So seems to be the consensus BUT speculation and just downright suspicion remains and in some quarters is quite strong, THIS WAS NOT AN ACCIDENT!
From almost seventy years ago now, the death of Polish wartime commander General Sikorski seeming to suggest that there is indeed precedent for this type of event, death by airplane crash at the most inopportune moment ALSO related to events as occurred at Katyn AT THE TIME!!
"In July 1943, a plane carrying Sikorski plunged into the sea immediately after takeoff from Gibraltar, killing all on board except the pilot . . . Investigators later concluded that Sikorski's injuries were consistent with a plane crash."
Sikorski wartime commander-in-chief of all Polish armed forces and de facto leader of the Polish government in exile, ASKING TOO MANY UNCOMFORTABLE QUESTION REGARDING KATYN.
English investigation of the 1943 airplane crash also strongly suggesting that this tragedy too was an accident, nothing more, similar to events as they recently [2010] transpired in Smolensk.
The David Irving book: "Accident: The Death of General Sikorski" [get your own free download] that authoritative work [?] on the subject ruling out conspiracy or other acts of sabotage. Disaster as it was in 1943 and the death of General Sikorski due to an overloaded aircraft the cargo of which was not fastened down or positioned correctly? This seems to be the case.
Devoted readers to the blog will forgive those with fevered imaginations such as myself, the coincidences as occurring being too numerous to not arouse suspicion?
This is coolbert:
"the world's highest battlefield."
From only this weekend a very tragic story, an entire Pakistani army battalion HQ being wiped out, buried by an an avalanche.
Pakistani army unit on the Siachen glacier, that line-of-contact, disputed territory in Kashmir between India and Pakistan, the HQ buried by an immense and very destructive avalanche of snow. That area of the world, the mountainous terrain on the border between Afghan and Pakistan extending northward to the Hindu Kush [Hindu killer] having the worst winter [cold alone?] in fifty to sixty years.
NOW THIS! Troops already living in the "dead zone" in danger of death from the altitude, also in danger from a mountasinside of snow collapsing on them with high speed, being buried alive a cruel and terrible fate. That "dead zone" altitude above 14,000 feet beyond which human habitation and survival impossible, the body slowly but surely deteriorating A SOLDIER NO MATTER HOW FIT PHYSICALLY STRESSED WELL BEYOND THE BREAKING POINT AT ALL TIMES!
"Avalanche buries 124 Pakistani soldiers and 11 civilians"
"ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - An avalanche engulfed a Pakistani army battalion headquarters near the Indian border on Saturday, burying 124 soldiers and 11 civilians, with no sign of survivors 17 hours later, the military said."
"Military experts say the inhospitable climate and avalanche-prone terrain have claimed more lives than gunfire."
MORE troops killed by that combination of altitude and cold than from gunfire and enemy action! Absolutely and undeniable.
Avalanche during the era from one hundred years ago, the Great War [WW1] also a severe problem. That alpine no-man's land between the forces of Italy and the Austro-Hungarians witnessing combat without amelioration during the four years of war, the threat of avalanche and destruction of entire units not only a possible, but a common occurrence! From the web site "Avalanche" by Richard Galli:
"During the three-year war in the Austro-Italian Alps at least 60,000 soldiers died in avalanches . . . Ten thousand died from avalanches in the 'lesser' ranges of the eastern half of the high front -- the Carnic and Julian Alps. In the 'high' Alps to the west, the Ortler and Adamello groups, the Dolomites, avalanches claimed 50,000 lives."
NOT necessarily man-made caused avalanches either. Naturally occurring and a danger to both side. Alpine warfare dangerous even when not in combat with the enemy, snow, cold, fall, avalanche! The forces of nature prevailing over man given enough time, cold in particular that one element the human body least able to withstand.
I was under the distinct impression that the various mountain combatants during WW1 used the avalanche as a DELIBERATE WEAPON OF WAR! Avalanches set off purposefully to bury your adversary alive under a mountainside of snow! This does not seem to be the case, apocrypha prevailing in common lore.
That Tyrol and the Italian Alps, always dangerous regardless of season, much more so during the winter, sunny and warm Italy NOT always so!
Monday, April 9, 2012
This is coolbert:
From a comment to the blog by Anonymous:
"The MMIII (LGM30G) [Minuteman III ICBM] was only ever capable of carrying 3 re-entry vehicles (warheads) never 10 (that was the retired Peacekeeper (MX) and the Navy D5. My understanding is that all landbased missiles have been reduced to one RV in accordance with ongoing nuclear forces negotiations. Most everyone gets facts about ICBMs incorrect, it would be nice if people would do real research"
And Anonymous is 100 % correct and I must admit so ashamedly for not doing my homework, but please keep in mind that most of my blog entries are done off the top-of-my-head, off-the-cuff and with quite often merely a minimum of research. I HAD INDEED THOUGHT THE MINUTEMAN III WAS EQUIPPED WITH TEN WARHEADS!
American strategic forces slowly but surely reducing that inventory of warheads on station and ready to go. This is an ongoing process for some time and will continue. Conventional thought is that about one thousand [1,000] warheads total are sufficient to deter any aggressor under any circumstances?
And all the info you need to know is in the wiki?
1. "Single Reentry Vehicle (SRV)"
2. "Safety Enhanced Reentry Vehicle (SERV)"
That newer warhead on an older missile, but still a very potent combination, the W87 nearly a half-megaton of explosive power, more than enough to do a lot of damage and deter aggression and allow that instantly ready on call force to be more flexible with continued deadliness!!
"Starting in 2007, 200 of the W87 warheads from now-retired MX/Peacekeeper missiles will be retrofitted onto much older Minuteman III missiles, with only one warhead on each missile."
Thank you again anonymous for the heads up!!
This is coolbert:
Thanks to an Israeli web site we have this development of low level technology ordnance being made SAFER!
"Learning from Tragedy, IDF Develops Safer Hand Grenade"
"The new grenade will not explode if struck by a bullet – as happened to [the] grenade that killed Major Eliraz Peretz [2010]."
"The IDF Ground Forces will begin using a new, safer type of hand grenade in the course of the year, reports the IDF Website. The safer grenade will not explode if struck by an enemy bullet."
"The grenade is an upgraded version of the veteran no. 26 grenade. However, the spark that detonates its explosive component will only be lit if the grenade's safety has been removed."
And this actually did occur. Israeli soldier killed when the hand grenade he was wearing prematurely detonated - - struck by a round from an enemy rifle.
Precautions taken but I have to ask if this is not an instance of extreme cases make for bad law and policies? Mandated but how many times does this occur on the battlefield to make a difference? I guess if one soldier is save it is worthwhile. But that enemy bullet would have done some lethal damage anyhow? Of course the damage done when a grenade is in contact with your body and explodes is rather extreme, the doc is not able to patch you up as you are dead more or less instantly.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Grant & the Jews.
This is coolbert:
At this time of Passover and Easter this headline from the New York Times in the book review section creates excitement and consternation in some circles. A review of a book describing how General Grant EXPELLED THE JEWS, ALMOST IT SEEMS IN THE MANNER OF AN EGYPTIAN PHARAOH!
"The Exodus From Paducah, 1862 ‘When General Grant Expelled the Jews,’ by Jonathan D. Sarna"
Thanks to Janet Maslin
"Jonathan D. Sarna’s provocative new book . . . an account of how Gen. Ulysses S. Grant issued an order to expel Jews from their homes in the midst of the Civil War."
"On Dec. 17, 1862, Grant issued the order that read: 'The Jews, as a class violating every regulation of trade established by the Treasury Department and also department orders, are hereby expelled from this department within 24 hours from the receipt of this order.' . . . on Jan. 4, 1863, one week from the day (Dec. 28, 1862) on which Paducah’s Jews were actually expelled, President Abraham Lincoln ordered Grant to revoke the controversial edict."
The context of this general order most important to understand, and as it was too ONLY applicable to those areas under the command of Grant, the Tennessee Department. Grant in the capacity NOT ONLY as a military commander but also as a military governor and as such possessing extraordinary powers.
US Grant finding the presence of war profiteers, speculators and gougers, persons behaving in an unseemly manner during a time of conflict, ordered to leave their homes and depart forthwith!
The Jewish merchant, the trader, the traveling salesman [the smous] found with frequency in America and especially in all parts of the American frontier, relied upon for merchandise, not easily obtainable goods and news from afar and thought of generally in a positive manner.
That situation changing during a time of war, hardship and chaos creating circumstances that some took advantage of much to the anger of Grant, Ulysses reacting in a fit or rage and anger, tempestuous action not well thought out and regrettably so!
How extensive was the degree of profiteering I would have to ask and also that Grant made a poor choice of words that was ill-considered and in the heat of moment undeniable.
More history lessons from the American Civil War that are rarely known or understood by the lay public coming to light this many years after the American Civil War was fought, and good for it too!
Friday, April 6, 2012
This is coolbert:
Warning: This blog entry links to a web site that contains an image of full frontal female nudity. If such material offends you hit escape NOW!
War as has been the topic of previous blog entries must be thought of as consisting of three definite and defined stages, those being:
1. What led up to the war.
2. The fighting of the war itself, the mortal combat.
3. The aftermath and consequences of the war.
From the English Daily Mail web site we have this article with graphic images - - some of those events that occurred AFTER German surrender in World War Two.
To an extent the war continuing even when mortal combat having ended, the movements of tens of millions of persons in a manner that world has not seen since [1945] resulting in millions more additional dead, the various combatants having ceased to fire on one another.
"The year of vengeance: How neighbours turned on each other and anarchy erupted in the aftermath of WWII"
NOT total chaos and a breakdown of all authority, a degree of order imposed by the victors in the war [England, USA, Soviet Union] but in general an upheaval as bad in some circumstances as the war itself!
In particular those movements of tens of millions of persons, POW, ethnic Germans, displaced persons [DP] and impressed forced laborers of all nationalities creating a lot of animosity and hatred, a desire for vengeance manifesting itself in the killing of civilians by other civilians.
Also too a clear demarcation between the western allies [England and the USA] and the forces of communism as led by the Soviet Union. That Cold War began in 1945 and did not end for forty-five years thereafter.
Recall too that this situation was not unique to Europe. A similar set of circumstances existed also in the aftermath of Japanese surrender in the Asian/Pacific theatre. Mass killing, upheaval, movement of persons on a Biblical scale - - and all after what is called VJ day!
And thank you Dominic Sandbrook and his fine article!
Thursday, April 5, 2012
This is coolbert:
"Gettysburg and Waterloo were almost equivalent battles, with
each of the four combatant armies suffering about 23,000 casualties"
American historian using unique and advanced methodology able to calculate more precisely the number of military dead combined from the North and South during the American Civil War. About 20 % more dead [from all sources] that had been previously estimated! Thanks to the New York Times newspaper!
"New Estimate Raises Civil War Death Toll"
"But new research shows that the numbers were far too low."
That population of the United States in 1861 about 40 million persons, northern and southern states total. That three-quarters of a million dead soldiers combined from both sides, men exclusively, from the most youthful, robust and energetic demographic, especially so from those southern states in rebellion, disease and not battlefield death constituting the largest portion of the casualties - - as mentioned farm boys in particular more susceptible to fatality from illness and sickness than city dwellers!!
Historical interpretations of events now much more better understood through the use of statistical methods, a careful gleaning of existing records and computer manipulation techniques hitherto unavailable to researchers from previous periods.
Let me too put that three-quarters of a million dead in the proper context. During the Second World War American deaths military all services in all areas of operation totaled about four hundred thousand [400,000], almost no civilians killed. That from a population in 1940 of around one hundred forty million [140 million persons]!
This is coolbert:
One if by land, two if by sea and three if by air.
Those large-scale combat engagements at the earliest stage of the Second-Indo China War, the American military in a heavy-handed manner with full combat force most regrettably and inauspiciously so not faring as well as might have been desired. Shapes of things to come not fully understood at the time.
1. Gulf of Tonkin incident. The "fog of war" epitomized, American naval units having thought to fought off a night-time naval action against North Vietnamese torpedo boats. An action perhaps only fictional, thought to have occurred but now generally accepted as a "mirage".
2. Flak trap. American combat aviation [USAF and naval combat air both] tactical warplanes not faring so well in the skies over North Vietnam, encountering massive and very lethal assemblages of North Vietnamese surface-to-air-missiles [SAM] and anti-aircraft-artillery [AAA]. That very deadly and unexpected combination again lethal!
3. Ia Drang Valley. American combat infantry in major ground combat with units of the North Vietnamese Army [NVA] for the first time, casualties excessive almost catastrophic!
For the first time ever, the American military prepared in ADVANCE for a war, that level of Cold War preparedness allowing for a rapid deployment of assets in as ready-to-go a state of readiness as was possible.
In the air, at sea, and on the ground the results NOT exactly as anticipated, outcomes to these initial combat actions less than favorable, again, inauspicious and even troubling.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
This is coolbert:
From the previous Ia Drang blog entry:
"Especially at Albany so many in leadership positions INSTANTLY AND MORE OR LESS IN SECONDS CUT DOWN BY SUPER-INTENSE ENEMY FIRE, THOSE HIGHLY VISIBLE AT THE TIME BADGES OF RANK IN PARTICULAR ALLOWING FOR CONCENTRATED NVA FIRE TO BE DIRECTED AT THOSE ATTEMPTING TO CONDUCT AN EFFECTIVE DEFENSE. Albany became a battle with privates in command of whatever unit structure remained or those remnants forming from the survivors of wiped out squads and platoons!!"
American infantry during the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley quite often finding themselves leaderless, their company grade officers either dead or wounded, removed from the action, lower ranking troops having to assume a command position, direct those personnel still effective, junior soldiers unaccustomed to assuming that role of a combat commander!!
Lieutenant Marm, awarded the Medal of Honor [MoH] for his heroics at Ia Drang [LZ X-Ray] having made the proper observations commenting in the aftermath of the battle that each and every non-commissioned officer [NCO] in the U.S. Army given a combat situation needs to be able to do three things [and do them well I would assume!]:
1. Organize a defensive perimeter.
2. Operate a radio in two different nets.
3. Employ indirect fire [artillery and mortars].
Each and every NCO [sergeant] regardless of specialty skill or branch [combat arms, combat support or combat service support] able at a moments notice able to lead troops in combat, even if only defensively A MUST!
With regard to # 3, NOT ONLY employ indirect fire but in the modern context employ ALL supporting fires, indirect and also close-air-support to include helicopter gunships!!
The extreme nature of Ia Drang somewhat negates the lessons learned? Devoted readers to the blog with combat experience can comment?
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
This is coolbert:
NOW thanks to the Army Times the type of story that YOU DO NOT WANT TO READ ABOUT!
Retired U.S Army general officer [his exact rank at the time of retirement not given] a child molester entering a guilty plea. A paedophile [it is not clear if the victim was a boy or a girl] on his way to prison, his once high rank and station notwithstanding!!
"Retired general pleads guilty to sex abuse"
"HILLSBORO, Ore. — A 71-year-old retired Army general has pleaded guilty to sex abuse charges and agreed to a 10-year prison sentence."
"Evidence showed Heldstab abused a young victim for nearly a decade until the victim finally told someone when he was 19"
It is my understanding that general officers even when retired remain on the rolls of the army for the rest of their life until they terminate this existence. General officers are said to possess such a degree of experience, training, and ability that their skills may yet be in demand, if the situation warrants. Recall to active duty for instance in a case of general mobilization.
The retired general began to engage in this sordid form of behavior ONLY upon retirement? I think not! And more is out there and perhaps even worse? I fear so! Let justice be done in any case!
This too reminds me of the strange case of General Edwin Walker. Cashiered from the military decades ago now, retired [?] and TWICE arrested for morals charges, approaching men in the washroom in an untoward manner! Walker a distinguished combat soldier of the highest repute, NO ONE ever at any time suspecting the man had a hidden aspect to his life!
C'est la vie and C'est la guerre!!
This is coolbert:
Here is one of those stories you like to read about. The bad guy getting his comeuppance and in a big way and at the hands of a military veteran.
Thanks to the Military Times for the story:
"Hero vet stops robbery with MMA choke hold"
"He never knew what hit him."
"A 38-year-old who attempted to rob a Grand Rapids party goods store was grabbed with lightning speed and floored by a heroic Iraq vet who happened to be the in shop, a local Fox affiliate reports."
"Zach Thome, a mixed martial arts-trained former soldier, put gunman Brandon Slanger, 38, in a rear naked choke hold and held him until police arrived."
The villain, threatening dire consequences for those that did not cooperate with him, floored and put into a choke hold and subdued by a military veteran from the Iraq Wars [which war it is not clear]! The habitual criminal now facing a stiff and well deserved prison sentence in large measure because of the military man having the physical and mental wherewithal, the knowledge and ability to fight, using martial arts techniques to overpower the gunman [it is not clear if this Brandon did indeed have a firearm but he did claim he had one!].
Again, the ex-military man having the gumption and just plain guts to fight it out when others would not!
Bravo big time and hooray!!
Offhand I am able to think of only two other such similar instances.
1. From decades ago a Frenchman off duty, off base but still in uniform, set upon by three knife wielding men. That Frenchman described as a member of the unit that protects and guards the French nuclear arsenal not only fighting off his assailants, but killing one - - the other two being put to flight. Again - - bravo and hooray.
2. And more rencently a retired American, a senior citizen, part of tour group in Costa Rica, those tourists confronted by armed robbers, the American probably ex-military also [70 years of age], overpowering the bad guys, killing one armed attacker the remainder put to rout. This American presumably at one time a Navy SEAL, an army Ranger, Special Forces or a Marine! Someone prepared and ready to fight and knowing how to do so.
Such events are indeed rare, regrettably occurring only too infrequently. But when they do, once more, bravo and hooray!!
Sunday, April 1, 2012
This is coolbert:
From that account of Jack Smith "Death in the Ia Drang Valley, November 13-18, 1965" courtesy of "The Saturday Evening Post", 28 January 1967 and as seen by the man at Ia Drang LZ X-Ray, American Skyraider USAF aircraft providing close-air-support [CAS] to those American forces on the ground:
"a couple of our Skyraiders came in. One of them dropped a lot of stuff that shimmered in the sun like green confetti. It looked like a ticker-tape parade, but when the things hit the ground, the little pieces exploded. They were antipersonnel charges"
That lot of stuff as dropped [dispensed] by the Skyraiders having very lethal consequences for the North Vietnamese soldiers in contact with the American troops at X-Ray. Sub-munitions not properly identified but reasonably thought to have been of the BLU-3 or BLU-18 variety? Bomblets the "Sandy" dropping by the hundreds from a dispenser over the battlefield, each and every bomblet lethal for a considerable radius!
1. BLU-3. "BLU-3 Pineapple was a cluster bomblet, 360 were deployed from the CBU-2A cluster bomb. It was used extensively in the Vietnam War by American forces. It was named 'Pineapple' because of its appearance. On impact the bomblet explodes scattering 200 steel pellets at high speed."
"The BLU-3/B 'Pineapple' was a fragmentation bomblet for use against personnel and unarmoured targets. After release from the aerial dispenser, the bomblet was stabilized by six pop-out drag vanes. It detonated on impact, and dispersed 250 high-velocity steel pellets."
And NOT large in size, small, and green, resembling confetti, YES!
"Length: 95 mm (3.75 in); with vanes extended: 170 mm (6.7 in), Diameter: 70 mm (2.75 in)"
2. BLU-18. "The BLU-18/B was a dispenser-delivered anti-personnel fragmentation bomblet. It had two spring-loaded arming vanes, which extended after release from the dispenser. The bomblet rebounded after impact, and the impact-armed delay fuze therefore resulted in an air burst slightly above ground"
Similar to a "Bouncing Betty" type of land mine. Also not large, small, tiny even and green also!
"Dimensions (vanes in stored position): 46 mm x 61 mm x 61 mm (1.8 in x 2.4 in x 2.4 in)"
That American military able to bring to the Vietnam battlefield a level of firepower and destructiveness as NEVER POSSESSED BY THE FRENCH DURING THEIR WAR AGAINST THE VIET MINH! Even magnitudes in excess of what was available to the French during the First Indo-China War.
These BLU only two of several types of cluster bombs and bomblets as available to the USAF and of the type dropped [dispensed] at Ia Drang!!
Ia Drang.
This is coolbert:
Ia Drang Valley, Chu Pong Mountain, Vietnam.
Those of you that have read the book by Moore and Galloway: "We Were Soldiers Once...and Young" or seen the Mel Gibson movie of the same name will be more than familiar with the story of LZ X-Ray: "the first major battle of the Vietnam War between the American Army [USA] and the People's Army of Vietnam [NVA/PAVN] - Regulars".
That American air mobile battalion of light infantry airlifted onto a landing zone [LZ X-Ray], unbeknownst to them the LZ located directly on top of a base camp for a NVA divisional sized unit.
That air mobile battalion of Colonel Moore instantly and irrevocably so pinned down, unable to advance beyond the perimeter of the LZ, casualties excessive even catastrophic, annihilation even a possible!
That battalion surviving and only so emerging from three days of the most intense combat by a combination of hard fighting, reinforcement, indirect weapons fire [artillery] and a LOT of close-air-support [CAS].
LZ X-Ray however should be understood to be ONLY HALF THE STORY OF IA DRANG VALLEY, CHU PONG MOUNTAIN!
Further combat as seen at LZ Albany the rest of the story.
One of those reinforcing battalions as having previously been engaged at X-Ray ambushed and also nearly wiped out, decimated to an extent of no longer being a cohesive and combat effective unit, so heavy was the casualties!!
The story of LZ Albany as best told by Jack Smith, American infantryman present at the scene, repeatedly wounded, surviving only barely, and as recounted in: "Death in the Ia Drang Valley, November 13-18, 1965" , thanks to : The Saturday Evening Post, 28 January 1967."
"Sandbag For A Machine Gun: Jack P. Smith on the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley and the Legacy of the Vietnam War".
Jack Smith recently passed away and of course the son of the famous American journalist and TV evening news anchor Howard K. Smith!
That account of Jack Smith an outstanding anecdotal account of combat, worthy of inclusion into any anthology! Read the whole thing for yourself!
Regarding both X-Ray and Albany the word debacle is not used lightly but is almost considered to be appropriate?
That first major and large-scale engagement between American army and NVA forces did not go so well from the American standpoint, admittedly so at the time or not!
In the aftermath of both LZ X-ray and LZ Albany the order was given from the highest command for all leadership ranks serving in Vietnam to WEAR ONLY SUBDUED NAME TAGS AND BADGES OF RANK!! Especially at Albany so many in leadership positions INSTANTLY AND MORE OR LESS IN SECONDS CUT DOWN BY SUPER-INTENSE ENEMY FIRE, THOSE HIGHLY VISIBLE AT THE TIME BADGES OF RANK IN PARTICULAR ALLOWING FOR CONCENTRATED NVA FIRE TO BE DIRECTED AT THOSE ATTEMPTING TO CONDUCT AN EFFECTIVE DEFENSE. Albany became a battle with privates in command of whatever unit structure remained or those remnants forming from the survivors of wiped out squads and platoons!!
* Those American soldiers at Ia Drang each and every one parachute qualified, paratroopers the finest and best and most prepared infantry the American army could deploy to Vietnam!
* Those American officers commanding at all ranks and echelons of command too the finest and best infantry officers the American army could deploy to Vietnam!
* Inexplicably - - twice at Ia Drang, the American infantry was surprised and much to their chagrin nearly annihilated. This cannot have been considered to be anything but an inauspicious and unfavorable start to major ground combat as undertaken by American forces in Vietnam. Even established a trend and tenor that was to last the entire duration of the war?
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Famous U.S. Buildings and Landmarks
Every country has icons that become associated with the land and national identity. As America has grown and expanded over the past several hundred years, different buildings and landmarks important to American culture have been developed. Some are testaments to human engineering and creativity, while others celebrate the history of this relatively new nation. The good news for travelers is that many of America's famous monuments can be seen in a few specific cities.
New York City
For a quick dose of 1920s style and unforgettable views, New York City is the place to go. Many of the buildings still proudly display their original architecture and design, creating a sort of time capsule that can be experienced by simply walking down a street. Whether it's Broadway or the latest business at the Rockefeller Center, there's always something happening in the Big Apple. Tourists can take in a show, browse an art gallery, or take a closer look at some of America's most famous landmarks.
Empire State Building
Few buildings in New York City are as iconic as the Empire State Building. This 103-story skyscraper was built in 1931 on Fifth Avenue. The building is known for its use of Art Deco architecture (a design style developed during the 1920s) and for its 86th-floor observation deck, a popular spot for tourists. It was the first building to have more than 100 stories, and until the construction of the World Trade Center in 1970, it was also the tallest building in the world.
The Chrysler Building
The Empire State Building isn't the only example of Art Deco architecture in New York. The Chrysler Building, built in 1930 in Manhattan, is 77 stories tall and remains a beautiful example of Art Deco. Until the construction of the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building was the tallest in the world. It was specially designed by William Van Alen to look lighter than it was, with corners made out of glass.
The Statue of Liberty
One of America's most beloved monuments sits on Liberty Island in the New York Harbor. The Statue of Liberty, built in France in 1886, is a symbol of freedom recognized around the world. The Statue of Liberty was actually a bit of a "garage project" - after construction was postponed multiple times, due to various civil and national wars, the completed figure had to be shipped overseas in several pieces while the United States worked on a pedestal to display the statue. The Statue was designed and sculpted by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi.
Rockefeller Center
Unlike the previous items on the list, the Rockefeller Center is actually comprised of 19 different buildings. It was built by John D. Rockefeller, Jr, in 1939. The buildings, which were constructed using the popular Art Deco style, were rented out to different tenants. Today, the Rockefeller Center is home to the Radio City Music Hall and NBC Studios.
Washington D.C.
Located on the east coast of the United States, Washington, D.C., is America's figurative heart. This city houses the three main branches of the American government, America's national museums, and many historical monuments. One place in particular, the National Mall, comprises almost every monument of interest. The National Mall is particularly lovely in the spring, when the cherry blossoms bloom along the Mall's walkways, but no matter the time of year, the monuments are always impressive.
The White House
The President of the United States, while in office, is given a special place to live and work. That place, known as the White House, was built in 1800 by James Hoban. The White House has 132 rooms, some of which, like the Oval Office, function as the official workplace of the President and government advisors. The White House has been burned down and rebuilt twice (once in 1814 and once in 1929), but fresh coats of white paint keep it looking as bright and new as ever.
U.S. Capitol
While the President and his advisors work chiefly in the White House, the rest of the American Government meets in the U.S. Capitol Building. The U.S. Capitol was built in 1800 to provide a place for the U.S. Congress to meet and debate. The Capitol sits on the eastern edge of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and stretches over more than 16 acres of land. It was designed by William Thornton, a man who, after a brief career as a doctor, would go on to become one of America's best architects.
The Washington Monument
The National Mall in Washington, D.C., is home to many monuments and memorials, but none quite as visually arresting as the Washington Monument. This tall, thin structure was completed in 1885 as a monument to the contributions and memory of the first United States President, George Washington. It was the world's tallest such structure until the construction of the Eiffel Tower, and is made completely out of stone. The Washington Monument is 555 feet tall, and visitors can ride an elevator up to an observation deck to enjoy the high view.
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is a building shaped like the geometric pentagon, and houses the U.S. Department of Defense. It was built in 1943 in Arlington County, Virginia, in response to World War II and the need for a larger space for the Department of Defense. A full walk around the building would cover a mile and a half, and the U.S. Capitol Building could easily be garaged in any one of the five sides that make up the Pentagon. After the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, the west side of the Pentagon had to be repaired, but the damaged offices were rebuilt and reopened in 2002.
The Lincoln Memorial
Abraham Lincoln is one of the most famous U.S. Presidents, known for his actions during the Civil War of 1861. To honor his memory and his work, the Lincoln Memorial was constructed on the National Mall in 1922, and remains one of the most popular tourist attractions today. Built to resemble a Greek temple, this Memorial has become a common place for speeches and gatherings. In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous "I Have a Dream" speech regarding racial equality on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
The Jefferson Memorial
One of the most important documents in America's history was written by a farmer's son who grew up working in a barn, surrounded by the forests of Virginia. This man, Thomas Jefferson, was honored in 1934 for his work as President and chief author of the Declaration of Independence with the Jefferson Memorial. The Jefferson Memorial, located on the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C., contains a bronze statue of Jefferson. The statue looks directly across the Tidal Basin at the White House, where he used to live and work.
Other Famous Landmarks
Not all national landmarks are grouped in the same large, bustling cities, of course. Sometimes, tourists will have to travel past barns, farmland, and the occasional river in order to reach a building or monument. Most of the landmarks already addressed are located along the eastern coast of the United States. Visitors who spend their time exclusively along the Atlantic may be missing out, however, because some truly remarkable gems of architecture and design wait on the western seaboard and elsewhere in America.
The Sears Tower
On America's northern border, the Willis Tower (formerly and still commonly known as the Sears Tower) stretches 108 stories into the air. It was built in Chicago in 1973, and until 1998, claimed the title of the tallest building in the world. The Willis Tower was constructed by the Sears and Roebuck Company as a headquarters for their business. Today, the tower is occupied by United Airlines and lines of tourists on their way up to the observation deck.
Seattle Space Needle
Occasionally, buildings created for a World's Fair have ended up as one of the world's most distinctive structures. The Eiffel Tower in Paris, France is one example; the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington is another. The Space Needle was built for the 1962 World's Fair by John Graham and Edward Carlson. The Needle's main function, as it was in 1962, is as an observation deck and a rotating, glass-walled restaurant.
Gateway Arch
Visitors to St. Louis, Missouri, will be unable to miss the massive silver arch that sits alongside the Mississippi River. The Gateway Arch was built in 1963 by Eero Saarinen, and still holds fast to the title of the world's tallest arch. The arch was created to celebrate the expansion of the United States to the western edge of the continent, and is highly praised for its careful mathematical design. There is an observation area for visitors at the top of the arch, which is 630 feet high. It's illegal to fly planes under and through the arch, but several daredevils have tried!
Golden Gate Bridge
On the far west side of America, in the heart of San Francisco Bay, the great Golden Gate Bridge connects the city of San Francisco with Marin County to the north. The bridge, built in 1937, has been universally praised for both its beauty and its construction. Until 1964, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. The name of the bridge is derived from a comment made by John C. Fremont, who observed that the then-open strait was a "golden gate" to trade with Asia across the Pacific Ocean.
Mount Rushmore
Many monuments are located in or near large cities. Mount Rushmore doesn't follow this pattern, opting instead for a mountainside in South Dakota. Mount Rushmore is a monument carved directly into the natural mountain. The monument is composed of the faces of four U.S. Presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. While the monument remains a popular tourist attraction, there is controversy over the fact that the land was seized from the Lakota tribe, and the mountain of Mount Rushmore itself was historically sacred to the tribe.
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Reichenbach, Hans (1891–1953)
Hans Reichenbach was a leading philosopher of science and a proponent of logical positivism. He made important contributions to the theory of probability and to the philosophical interpretation of the theory of relativity, quantum mechanics, and thermodynamics.
Reichenbach studied civil engineering, physics, mathematics, and philosophy at Berlin, Göttingen, and Munich in the 1910s. Among his teachers were neo-Kantian philosopher Ernst Cassirer, mathematician David Hilbert, and physicists Max Planck, Max Born, and Arnold Sommerfeld. Reichenbach received his degree in philosophy from the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg in 1915 with a dissertation on the theory of probability titled Der Begriff der Wahrscheinlichkeit für die mathematische Darstellung der Wirklichkeit (The Concept of Probability for the mathematical Representation of Reality), published in 1916. Between 1917 and 1920, while he was working as a physicist and engineer, Reichenbach attended Albert Einstein's lectures on the theory of relativity at Berlin. He was fascinated by the theory of relativity and in a few years published four books about this subject: The Theory of Relativity and A Priori Knowledge (1920), Axiomatization of the Theory of Relativity (1924), From Copernicus to Einstein (1927), and The Philosophy of Space and Time (1928). In 1920 he began teaching at the Technische Hochschule at Stuttgart as private docent.
With the help of Einstein, Planck, and Max von Laue, in 1926 Reichenbach became assistant professor in the physics department of Berlin University. In 1930 he undertook the editorship of the journal Erkenntnis (Knowledge) with Rudolf Carnap. In 1933, soon after Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany, Reichenbach was dismissed from Berlin University because his family had Jewish origin. He emigrated to Turkey, where he was appointed chief of the philosophy department of Istanbul University with a five-year contract. During his stay in Turkey he published The Theory of Probability (1935). In 1938 he moved to the United States, where he became professor at the University of California at Los Angeles. In the following years Reichenbach published Experience and Prediction (1938); Philosophic Foundations of Quantum Mechanics (1944); Elements of Symbolic Logic (1947); "The Philosophical Significance of the Theory of Relativity" in Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist (1949), edited by Paul Arthur Schilpp; and The Rise of Scientific Philosophy (1951). Reichenbach died in 1953 while he was working on the nature of scientific laws and on the philosophy of time. The two books that came from this work, Nomological Statements and Admissible Operations (1954) and The Direction of Time (1956), were published posthumously.
Coordinative Definitions
An important tool introduced by Reichenbach for the philosophical analysis of scientific theories is that of coordinative definitions. According to Reichenbach, a mathematical theory differs from a physical theory because the latter uses a specific type of definition, named coordinative definition, which coordinates (that is associates) some concepts of the theory with physical objects or processes. An example of a coordinative definition is the definition of the standard unit of length in the metric system, which connects the meter with a rod housed in the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Sèvres, or with a well-defined multiple of the wavelength of a determined chemical element. Another example is the definition of the straight line as the path of a ray of light in vacuum. A scientific theory acquires a physical interpretation only by means of coordinative definitions. Without such type of definitions a theory lacks of a physical interpretation and it is not verifiable, but it is an abstract formal system, whose only requirement is axioms' consistency.
Geometry well illustrates the role of coordinative definitions. In Reichenbach's opinion, there are two different kinds of theories concerning geometry, namely mathematical geometry and physical geometry. Mathematical geometry is a formal system that does not deal with the truth of axioms, but with the proof of theoremsthat is, it only searches for the consequences of axioms. Physical geometry is concerned with the real geometry in the physical world; it searches for the truth or falsity of axioms using the methods of the empirical science. The physical geometry derives from the mathematical geometry when appropriate coordinative definitions are added. For example, if the concept of a straight line is coordinated with the path of a ray of light in a vacuum, the theory of relativity shows that the real geometry is a non-Euclidean geometry. Without coordinative definitions, Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry are nothing but formal systems; with coordinative definitions, they are empirically testable. Coordinative definitions are conventions, because it is admissible to choose a different definition for a concept of a theory. In the case of geometry, with a different definition for the straight line, Euclidean geometry is true. In a sense, choosing between Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry is not a matter of facts, but a matter of convention.
Relativity of Geometry
Reichenbach insists on the importance of the coordinative definitions in his philosophical analysis of the theory of relativity, especially in connection with the problem of determining the geometry of this world. In principle, scientists can discriminate between different geometry by means of measurements. For example, on the surface of a sphere, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter is less than π, whereas on the surface of a plane this ratio is equal to π. With a simple measurement of a circumference and of its diameter, we can discover we live on a sphere (the surface of Earth) and not on a plane. In the same way, using more subtle measurements, scientists can discover we live in a non-Euclidean space. However, there is a fundamental question: is measuring a matter of facts or does it depend on definitions? Reichenbach proposes the following problem, discussed in The Philosophy of Space and Time : is the length of a rod altered when the rod is moved from one point of space, say A, to another point, say B? We know many circumstances in which the length is altered. For example, the temperature in A can differ from the temperature in B. However, the temperature acts in a different way on different substances. If the temperature is different in A and in B, then two rods of different material, such as wood and steel, which have the same length in A, will have a different length in B. So we can recognize a difference in temperature and use suitable procedures to eliminate variations in measurement due to variations in temperature. In general, this is also possible for every differential forcethat is, for every force that acts in a different way on different substances. But there is also another type of forces, called universal forces, which produce the same effect on all types of matter.
The best-known universal force is gravity, whose effect is the same on all bodies. What happens if a universal force alters the length of all rods, in the same way, when they are moved from A to B? By the very definition of universal forces, there are no observable effects. If we do not exclude universal forces, we cannot know whether the length of two measuring rods, which are equal when they are in the same point of space, is the same when the two rods are in two different points of space. Excluding universal forces is nothing but a coordinative definition. We can also adopt a different definition, in which the length of a rod depends on the point of space in which the rod stays. So the result of a measurement depends on the coordinative definition we choose. As a consequence, the geometrical form of a body, which depends on the result of measurements, is a matter of definition. The most important philosophical consequence of this analysis concerns the relativity of geometry. If a set of measurements supports a geometry G, we can arbitrarily choose a different geometry G and adopt a different set of coordinative definitions so that the same set of measurements supports G, too. This is the principle of relativity of geometry, which states that all geometrical systems are equivalent. According to Reichenbach, it falsifies the alleged a priori character of Euclidean geometry and thus falsifies the Kantian philosophy of space.
Causal Anomalies
The principle of relativity of geometry is true for metric relationshipsthat is, for geometric properties of bodies depending on the measurement of distances, angles, and areas. The situation seems different when we are concerned about topology, which deals with the order of spacethat is, the way in which the points of space are placed in relation to one another. A typical topological relationship is "point A is between points B and C." The surface of a sphere and the surface of a plane are equivalent with respect to metrics, provided an appropriate choice of the coordinative definitions, but they differ from a topological point of view.
Consider the following example presented by Reichenbach in The Philosophy of Space and Time. Intelligent beings living on the surface of a sphere can adopt coordinative definitions that, from a metric point of view, transform the surface of the sphere into the surface of a plane. However, there is an additional difficulty: Because the surface of a sphere is finite, it is possible to do a round-the-world tour, walking along a straight line from a point A and eventually returning to the point A itself. Of course this is impossible on a plane, and thus it would seem that these intelligent beings have to abandon their original idea that they are living on a plane and instead must recognize they are on a sphere. But this is not true, because another explanation is possible: They can assert that they had walked in a straight line to point B, which is different from point A but, in all other respects, is identical to A. They can also fabricate a fictitious theory of pre-established harmonyaccording to which everything that occurs in A immediately occurs in Bin order to explain the similarity between A and B. This last possibility entails an anomaly in the law of causality. We can reject causal anomalies, but only by means of an arbitrary definition. Thus topology depends on coordinative definitions, and the principle of relativity of geometry also holds for topology. According to Reichenbach, this example is another falsification of Kantian theory of synthetic a priori. In Kantian philosophy, the Euclidean geometry and the law of causality are both a priori, but if Euclidean geometry is an a priori truth, normal causality can be false; if normal causality is an a priori truth, Euclidean geometry can be false. We arbitrarily can choose the geometry, or we arbitrarily can choose the causality, but we cannot choose both.
Quantum Mechanics
Quantum mechanics differs from the other scientific theories because in this theory there is no possibility to introduce normal causality. No set of coordinative definitions can give an exhaustive interpretation of quantum mechanics free from causal anomalies.
It is important to explain some concepts used by Reichenbach in Philosophical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, his main work about quantum mechanics. Using a wider sense of the word "observable," some events occurring in quantum mechanics are observable; they are events consisting in coincidences between particles or between particles and macroscopic material, like the collision of an electron on a screen, signaled by a flash of light. Events between such types of coincidences are unobservable; an example is the path of an electron between the source and the screen on which it collides.
Quantum observable events are called, by Reichenbach, phenomena, whereas unobservable ones are called interphenomena. Reichenbach explains that there are three main interpretations concerning interphenomena: wave interpretation, according to which matter consists of waves; corpuscular interpretation, according to which matter consists of particles; and Bohr-Heisenberg interpretation, according to which statements about interphenomena are meaningless. The first two interpretations are called exhaustive interpretations, because they include a complete description of interphenomena. The last is a restricted interpretation, because it prohibits assertions about interphenomena. A normal system is an interpretation in which the laws of nature are the same for phenomena and interphenomena. This definition of a normal system is modeled on a basic property of classical physics: the laws of nature are the same whether or not the object is observed.
With these definitions, it is possible to formulate Reichenbach's principle of anomaly in quantum mechanics: there is no normal system. Thus causal anomalies cannot be removed from quantum mechanics. However, there is another peculiarity in quantum mechanics: for every experiment there exists an exhaustive interpretationwhich is a wave or a corpuscular interpretationthat provides a normal system, although limited to this experiment. In other words, there does not exist an interpretation free from all causal anomalies, but for every causal anomaly there does exist an interpretation that ruled out this anomaly. For example, if we adopt the corpuscular interpretation, we have to face causal anomalies raising from some experiments, such as the two-slits experiment. In this experiment a beam of electrons is directed toward a diaphragm with two open slits and an interference pattern is produced on a screen behind the diaphragm; the probability that an electron, passing through an open slit, will reach the screen at a given point is depending on whether the other slit is open or closedwith the electron behaving as if it is informed about the state of the other slit.
This causal anomaly is eliminated if we adopt the wave interpretation, according to which the interference patterns are produced by waves in conformity with Huygens's principle. The wave interpretation is in turn affected by other anomalies raising from the so-called reduction of the wave packet: The wave originating from an open slit occupies a hemisphere centered on the slit, but when the wave hits the screen, a flash is produced in a point only and the wave disappears in all other points. Apparently all physical properties transported by the wave, such as momentum and energy, suddenly materialized in a single point, even if they were distant from this point. This situation is explained without anomalies by the corpuscular interpretation. According to Reichenbach, in every experiment about quantum mechanics we can adopt an interpretation free from causal anomalies, but we have to use a different interpretation in a different experiment. Only two interpretations are required: the wave and the corpuscular interpretation. This is the real meaning of the duality of wave and corpuscle in quantum physics. The possibility of eliminating causal anomalies from every quantum experiment is called, by Reichenbach, the principle of eliminability of causal anomalies.
The Bohr-Heisenberg restricted interpretation of interphenomena named after Danish physicist Niels Bohr and German physicist Werner Karl Heisenberg, states that speaking about values of unmeasured physical quantities is meaningless. Reichenbach criticizes the Bohr-Heisenberg interpretation on two points. First, Heisenberg's indeterminacy principle becomes a meta-statement about the semantics of the language of physics; second, this interpretation implies the presence of meaningless statements in the language of physics.
Using a three-valued logic, in which admissible truth values are truth, falsehood, and indeterminacy, Reichenbach constructs another restrictive interpretation in which a statement about an unmeasured physical quantity can be neither true nor false, but indeterminate.
Interpretations of Reichenbach's Philosophy
An open question regards the relation between Reichenbach and conventionalism. His insistence on the major role played by the coordinative definitions, the relativity of geometry, the equivalence between wave and corpuscular interpretation of quantum mechanics has suggested that his philosophy can be ascribed to conventionalism. In Reichenbach's works there are some points corroborating this view. For example, he asserts that the philosophical meaning of the theory of relativity is that this theory proves the necessity of coordinative definitions, which are arbitrary, in situations in which empirical relations had been previously assumed. But there are also some elements against the conventionalist reading of Reichenbach's philosophy, as seen in the last paragraph of The Philosophy of Space and Time, in which Reichenbach affirms that the reality of space and time is an irrefutable consequence of his epistemological analysis; it is an assertion apparently incompatible with conventionalism. As an example of the debate about Reichenbach's attitude toward conventionalism, it is possible to mention the conventionalist interpretation of Reichenbach's philosophy developed by Adolf Grünbaum in Philosophical Problems of Space and Time (1973) and Hilary Putnam's counterarguments offered in "The Refutation of Conventionalism" (1975).
A different explication of Reichenbach's philosophy, based on an analysis of the role of the coordinative definitions in the light of Kantian philosophy, is advanced by Michael Friedman and exposed in Reconsidering Logical Positivism (1999). According to Friedman's interpretation, Reichenbach, in his first published work on the theory of relativity (Theory of Relativity and A Priori Knowledge ), distinguishes two different meanings of synthetic a priori, which are united in Kantian philosophy. In the first meaning, a synthetic a priori judgment is necessary and thus not modifiable; in the second meaning, a synthetic a priori statement is constitutive of the object. The coordinative definitions are not necessary judgments, because we can make use of a different definition. Moreover, all coordinative definitions are subjected to changes with the evolution of knowledge, so they are modifiable. Thus they are not a priori in the first meaning present in Kantian philosophy. But the coordinative definitions are required to give an empirical interpretation to a theory and so they are constitutive of the object of knowledge. Thus they are synthetic a priori in the second meaning present in Kantian philosophy. Friedman calls this type of a priori judgment "constitutive, relativized a priori" (1999, p. 62), because they are a priori in the constitutive sense, relative to a given theory.
Surely Kantian philosophy exerts a great influence on Reichenbach. He professes admiration for Kant in his first works. In the article "Kant und die Naturwissenschaft" (1933, p. 626) he says, "There is no doubt that he [Kant] was one of the few thinkers whose work showed the way on which the contemporary philosophy of natural science continues to proceed." According to Reichenbach, Kantian philosophy of nature is a meaningful theory, although it is superseded by the outcomes of contemporary physics. Later, Reichenbach accentuates his departure from Kant, stressing his criticism of synthetic a priori and developing many arguments against Kantian philosophy.
See also Causation: Philosophy of Science; Philosophy of Statistical Mechanics; Time.
Barone, Francesco. Il neopositivismo logico. Bari, Italy: Laterza, 1986.
Friedman, Michael. Dynamics of Reason. Stanford, CA: Center for the Study of Language and Information, 2001.
Friedman, Michael. Reconsidering Logical Positivism. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Grünbaum, Adolf. Philosophical Problems of Space and Time. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Reidel, 1973.
Putnam, Hilary. "The Logic of Quantum Mechanics." In Mathematics, Matter and Method. Philosophical Papers. Vol. 1. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1975.
Putnam, Hilary. "The Refutation of Conventionalism." In Mind, Language and Reality. Philosophical Papers. Vol. 2. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1975.
Salmon, C. Wesley, and Gereon Wolters, eds. Logic, Language, and the Structure of Scientific Theories: Proceedings of the Carnap-Reichenbach Centennial, University of Konstanz, 2124 May 1991. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1994.
Schilpp, Paul Arthur, ed. Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist. Evanston, IL: Library of Living Philosophers, 1949.
Spohn, Wolfgang, ed. Erkenntnis Orientated: A Centennial Volume for Rudolf Carnap and Hans Reichenbach. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1991.
reichenbach's works
"Kant und die Naturwissenschaft." Die Naturwissenschaften 21 (1933): 601606, 624626.
From Copernicus to Einstein. New York: Alliance Book Corp., 1942.
Philosophic Foundations of Quantum Mechanics. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1944.
Elements of Symbolic Logic. New York: Macmillan, 1947.
The Theory of Probability: An Inquiry into the Logical and Mathematical Foundations of the Calculus of Probability. Translated by Ernest H. Hutten and Maria Reichenbach. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1949.
The Rise of Scientific Philosophy. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1951.
The Direction of Time. Edited by Maria Reichenbach. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1956.
The Philosophy of Space and Time. Translated by Maria Reichenbach and John Freund. New York: Dover Publications, 1957.
Axiomatization of the Theory of Relativity. Translated and edited by Maria Reichenbach. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969.
Laws, Modalities, and Counterfactuals. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976.
Mauro Murzi (2005)
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Reichenbach, Hans
(b. Hamburg, Germany, 26 September 1891; d. Los Angeles, California, 9 April 1953)
philosophy of science, logic.
Reichenbach was one of five children of Bruno Reichenbach, a prosperous wholesale merchant, and the former Selma Menzel. Both parents were members of the Reformed Church; his paternal grandparents were Jewish. The family was cultured, with a lively interest in music, chess, books, and the theater.
From 1910 to 1911 Reichenbach studied engineering in Stuttgart but, dissatisfied, turned to mathematics, physics, and philosophy, attending the universities of Berlin, Munich, and Gottingen. Among his teachers were Planck, Sommerfeld, Hilbert, Born, and Cassirer. He took his doctorate in philosophy at the University of Erlangen in 1915, and another degree by state examination in mathematics and physics at Göttingen in 1916. His doctoral dissertation was on the validity of the laws of probability for physical reality. He wrote it without academic guidance, for he could find no professor interested in the topic. The completed dissertation consisted of an epistemological treatise and a mathematical calculus. After traveling in vain to several universities in search of a sponsor willing and able to read both parts, Reichenbach found at Erlangen a philosopher and a mathematician, each willing to sponsor the part within his competence and together willing to accept the dissertation as a whole. Decades later he would chuckle when he cited their decision as a fallacy of composition, adding: “But I did not point that out to the good professors at that time!”
Reichenbach served for two and a half years in the Signal Corps of the German army, contracting a severe illness at the Russian front. Throughout his life he regarded war as catastrophe and considered it a duty of intellectuals to combat the attitudes from which wars arise. From 1917 to 1920 he worked in the radio industry, continuing his studies in the evening. He was one of the five to attend Einstein’s first seminar in relativity theory at the University of Berlin. From 1920 to 1926 he taught surveying, radio techniques, the theory of relativity, philosophy of science, and history of philosophy at the Technische Hochschule in Stuttgart.
In 1926 Reichenbach obtained a professorial appointment at the University of Berlin. Opposition to his appointment, due in part to his social activism during his student days and in part to his outspoken disrespect for many traditional metaphysical systems, was overcome by Einstein’s persistent and witty pleading. In 1930 Reichenbach and Rudolf Carnap founded and edited the journal Erkenntnis, which for many years was the major organ of the Vienna Circle of logical positivists, of the Berlin Gřoup for Empirical Philosophy, and of the International Committee for the Unity of Science. He also broadcast over the German state radio the lectures published in 1930 as Atom und Kosmos.
Within a few days of Hitler’s election to power in 1933, Reichenbach was dismissed from the University of Berlin and from the state radio. Anticipating this action, he was on his way to Turkey before the dismissal notices were delivered. From 1933 to 1938 he taught philosophy at the University of Istanbul, where he was charged with reorganizing instruction in that subject. He was delighted to find that among his students there were many excellent young teachers, who had been given paid leave of absence by Ataturk’s government so that they might profit from the presence in Turkey of German refugee professors.
In 1938 Reichenbach received his immigration permit to enter the United States, and from then until his death in 1953 was professor of philosophy at the University of California at Los Angeles, frequently lecturing at other universities and at congresses in the United States and Europe. Shortly before his death a volume was planned for the Library of Living Philosophers (edited by P. A. Schilpp) to include both Carnap and Reichenbach, but his death prevented fulfillment of the project.
As a teacher Reichenbach was extraordinarily effective. Carl Hempel, who studied under him at Berlin, stated: “His impact on his students was that of a blast of fresh, invigorating air; he did all he could to bridge the wide gap of inaccessibility and superiority that typically separated the German professor from his students.” His pedagogical technique consisted of deliberately oversimplifying each difficult topic, after warning students that the simple preliminary account would be inaccurate and would later be corrected. Students who pursued advanced work with him found him kindly, witty, morally courageous, and loyal. Those whose interests or convictions differed from his sometimes found him arrogant and intolerant.
Reichenbach never substantially altered his episte-mological stance, which can be briefly characterized as anti-Kantian, antiphenomenalistic empiricism. In his first book, Relativitätstheorie und Erkenntnis apriori (1920), he began his attack upon the Kantian doctrine of synthetic a priori knowledge, although at that time he still regarded the “concept of an object” as a priori. He declared, however, that this concept is a priori only in the sense of being a conceptual construction contributed by the mind to sense data, and not also, as Kant had believed, a priori in the sense of necessarily true for all minds. By 1930 Reichenbach had replaced this view with the thesis that the concept of a physical object results from a projective inductive inference. From that time on, he maintained that there is no synthetic a priori knowledge, defending this thesis by showing that every knowledge claim held by Kant to be a synthetic a priori truth could be classified as analytic a priori, synthetic a posteriori, or decisional. In accord with Helmholtz, Frege, and Russell, Reichenbach regarded the axioms and theorems of arithmetic as analytic a priori. He classified the parallel postulate and the theorems of Euclidean geometry as synthetic a posteriori if, in combination with congruence conventions, they are taken as descriptive of physical spatial relations. The Kantian principle of universal causality was also classified as synthetic a posteriori. In his later work, after reformulating the principle of causality in terms of inductive inference, Reichenbach denied that it applies to the subatomic realm of quantum theory. As for the Kantian moral synthetic a prioris, he regarded them as volitional decisions, neither true nor false.
By 1924 Reichenbach had developed his theory of “equivalent descriptions,” a central tenet of his theory of knowledge. It is formulated in his Axiomatik der relativistischen Raum-Zeit-Lehre (1924), in Philosophie der Raum-Zeit-Lehre (1928), in Atom und Kosmos (1930), in Experience and Prediction (1938), and in the less technical Rise of Scientific Philosophy (1951); and it is developed with new applications in his works on quantum mechanics and time. This theory attributes an indispensable role in physical theory to conventions but rejects the extreme conventionalism of Poincaré and his school. Reichenbach insisted that a completely stated description or physical theory must include conventional elements, in particular such “coordinating definitions” as equal lengths and simultaneous times. These definitions are not bits of knowledge, for such questions as whether or not two rods distant from each other have the same length are not empirically answerable. Hence such coordinations must be regarded as conventions, as definitions, as neither true nor false.
Physical theory contains much more than these conventional elements, however. The truth of a theory, the complete statement of which must include a set of coordinating definitions, is not a matter of convention but of empirical confirmation. Furthermore, one theory using one set of congruence conventions may be empirically equivalent to another theory using another set of conventions. For example, Riemannian geometry combined with the usual coordinating definitions of equal times, equal lengths, and straight lines yields a description of physical space equivalent to Euclidean geometry combined with coordinating definitions which attribute systematic changes to lengths of rigid rods.
This equivalence Reichenbach explicated as follows: When all possible observations confirm to the same degree two descriptions, one of which uses one set of congruence conventions and the other another set, the two descriptions are equivalent, that is, have the same knowledge content or cognitive meaning.
Theories of meaning had long been a focal concern of logical positivists, to whose work Reichenbach acknowledged indebtedness, offering his own theory of meaning as a development and correction of the positivists’ verifiability theory. He disagreed with the positivists on two crucial points. First, their theory made complete verifiability (as true or false) a condition of cognitive meaningfulness. This, Reichenbach pointed out, denies that statements confirmed with probability have cognitive meaning,and hence consigns to the category “meaningless” all generalizations and all predictions of science. The strictness of their limitation on cognitive meaning had forced the positivists into a phenomenalism which equated the conclusions of physical science with statements about sensory data. Reichenbach proposed to give the neglected but all-important concept of probability the central role in theory of meaning which it actually plays in scientific method. He regarded the relation between observational data and physical theory as a probability inference, not a logical equivalence. This permits a “realistic” (as opposed to the positivists’ phenomenalistic) view of the objects of scientific knowledge.
Reichenbach’s second disagreement with the positivists’ theory of knowledge involved the logical status of any criterion of cognitive meaningfulness. The positivists assumed that their theory was itself an item of knowledge, a description of the class of meaningful statements. Reichenbach declared that any definition of “knowledge” or of “cognitive meaning” is a volitional decision without truth character (see Experience and Prediction, ch. 1, esp. pp. 41, 62). He continued to use the label “theory of meaning” because each decision concerning what is to be accepted as cognitively meaningful is connected with two cognitive questions: whether the decision accords with the actual practice of scientists, and what subordinate decisions are logically entailed by the definition of meaning.
Reichenbach formulated his own decision concerning cognitive meaning in two principles: a proposition has meaning if it is possible to determine a degree of probability for it; and two sentences have the same meaning if they obtain the same degree of probability through every possible observation (for complete formulation, see Experience and Prediction, p. 54). The second of these principles he regarded as a modern version of Ockham’s razor, core of the anti-metaphysical attitude of every consistent empiricism. As examples of its application he cited Mach’s criticism of the concept of force and Einstein’s principle of the equivalence of gravitation and acceleration.
Throughout his life Reichenbach maintained that the mathematical or frequency concept of probability suffices and needs no supplementation by a priori equal probabilities or by such concepts as “degree of credibility.” For prediction of individual events the probability was the “best wager,” determined by the frequency of the narrowest class for which there were reliable statistics. He applied the frequency concept of probability to general hypotheses by regarding them as members of classes of hypotheses having known success ratios. These views were opposed by Russell in Human Knowledge, Its Scope and Limits, and were supported by Wesley Salmon in Foundations of Scientific Inference.
Reichenbach’s work on induction was closely connected with his theory of probability, for it introduced the distinction between appraised and unappraised (or “blind”) posits. The former have frequency probabilities attached to them; the latter admit of no probability estimate. One blind posit is involved in every inductive inference: the posit that frequencies of series of events converge toward limits. (Causal or one-to-one regularities are simply one case of statistical regularities.) With this thesis Reichenbach reopened the old question of the justification of induction. He accepted Hume’s argument that inductive inferences admit of neither deductive (demonstrative) justification nor inductive justification (at pain of circularity). Thus there can be no proof of any sort that inductive inferences will ever succeed in the future, let alone succeed more often than they fail.
Nevertheless, Reichenbach offered the following “pragmatic justification” of our use of inductive inferences. He showed that if the world becomes such that inductive inferences usually fail, as would happen if no past regularities were to continue into the future, then no principles of predictive inference could succeed. Hence inductive procedures offer us our only chance of making successful predictions, although we cannot know whether they will succeed or not. If there are series of events with frequencies which converge toward limits, inductive methods will lead to increasingly successful predictions as observed frequencies approach those limits; if this condition does not obtain, no method whatsoever of making predictions will succeed. Since we cannot know that this necessary condition of successful prediction will not obtain, it would be unreasonable to renounce the method which will yield success if it does obtain. The choice is between certain cognitive failure and our only chance of success. Hence, Reichenbach concluded, it is reasonable to make inductive inferences—that is, to adopt and act on the blind posit that frequencies of series of events will converge toward limits (see Experience and Prediction, secs. 38–40).
In “Philosophy: Speculation or Science?” (1947) and in The Rise of Scientific Philosophy (1951) Reichenbach drew the corollaries for ethics of his theory of knowledge. His definition of cognitive meaning precluded any extrascientific kinds of knowledge. Hence moral principles and ethical aims are volitional decisions, not items of knowledge. He condemned traditional Philosophical systems for conflating flating cognition and volition in the mistaken hope of establishing knowledge of ultimate values, and he also rejected John Dewey’s attempt to test moral judgments by scientific methods. “There is no such thing as “the good’ in the sense of an object of knowledge” (“Philosophy: Speculation or Science?” p. 21). In his brief writings on the nature of moral judgments, his style and tone are as dogmatic as the style and tone of other ethical noncognitivists of the era. He does not mention that his classification of moral judgments as volitional decisions is a classification dependent upon his own decisional definition of cognitive meaning.
The Direction of Time, nearly completed before Reichenbach’s death and published posthumously, is the culmination of his epistemological investigations of relativity physics and quantum theory. In it he applied his analyses of conventions, equivalent descriptions, probability inferences, and three-valued logic to subjective (experienced) time, to the time concepts of macrophysics, and to the possibility of establishing time order and time direction among subatomic events. He found that among the equivalent descriptions of the “interphenomena” of quantum theory, every possible description contains causal anomalies, reversals of time direction, or both. He concluded that both time order and time direction are statistical macrocosmic properties which cannot be traced to microcosmic events. To the question “Why is the flow of psychological time identical with the direction of increasing entropy?” his answer was “Man is a part of nature, and his memory is a registering instrument subject to the laws of information theory” (The Direction of Time, p. 269).
I. Original Works. A complete bibliography is in Modem Philosophy of Science (below). Reichenbach’s earlier writings include Der Begriff der Wahrscheinlichkeit für die mathematische Darstelhmg der Wirklichkeit (Leipzig, 1915), his inaugural dissertation, also in Zeitschrift fur Philosophie and philosophische Kritik, 161 (1916), 210–239, and 162 (1917), 98–112, 223–253, and summarized in “Der Begriff der Wahrscheinlichkeit für die mathematische Darstellung der Wirklichkeit,” in Natunwissenschaften, 7 , no. 27 (1919), 482–483: Relativitätstheorie und Erkenntnis apriori (Berlin, 1920), trans. with an intro. by Maria Reichenbach as The Theory of Relativity and A Priori Knowledge (Berkeley-Los Angeles, 1965); Axiomatik der relativistischen Raum-Zeit-Lehre, no. 72 in the series Die Wissenschaft (Brunswick, 1924; repr. Brunswick, 1965), trans. by Maria Reichenbach with an intro. by W. C. Salmon as Axiomatization of the Theory of Relativity (Berkeley-Los Angeles, 1969); Von Kopernikus bis Einstein (Berlin, 1927), trans, by R. B. Winn as From Copernicus to Einstein (New York, 1942; paperback ed., 1957); Philosophie der Raum-Zeit-Lehre (Berlin Lei–pzig, 1928), trans. by Maria Reichenbach and John Freund, with intro. by Rudolf Carnap, as The Philosophy of Space and Time (New York, 1958); Atom und Kosmos. Das physikalische Weltbild der Gegenwart (Berlin, 1930), trans, by E. S. Allen, rev. and updated by Reichenbach, as Atom and Cosmos. The World of Modern Physics (London, 1932; New York, 1933; repr. New York, 1957); and Experience and Prediction. An Analysis of the Foundations and the Structure of Knowledge (Chicago, 1938).
Later works include “On the Justification of Induction,” in Journal of Philosophy, 37 , no. 4 (1940), 97–103, repr. in Herbert Feigl and Wilfried Sellars, eds., Readings in Philosophical Analysis (New York, 1949), 324–329; Philosophic Foundations of Quantum Mechanics (Berkeley-Los Angeles, 1944); “Bertrand Russell’s Logic,” in P. A. Schilpp, ed., The Philosophy of Bertrand Russell, vol. 5 in Library of Living Philosophers (Evanston, III., 1944), 23–54; Elements of Symbolic Logic (New York, 1947); “Philosophy: Speculation or Science?” in The Nation, 164 , no. 1 (4 Jan. 1947), 19–22, repr. as “The Nature of a Question,” in I. J. Lee, ed., The Language of Wisdom and Folly (New York, 1949), 111–113; The Theory of Probability …., trans, by Maria Reichenbach and E. H. Hutten, 2nd ed. (Berkeley-Los Angeles, 1949); “The Philosophical Significance of the Theory of Relativity,” in P. A. Schilpp, ed., Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist, vol. 7 in Library of Living Philosophers (Evanston, Ill., 1949), 287–311, repr. in Herbert Feigl and May Brodbeck, eds., Readings in the Philosophy of Science (New York, 1953), 195–211, and in P. P. Wiener, Readings in Philosophy of Science (New York, 1953), 59–76; “Philosophical Foundations of Probability,” in Proceedings of the Berkeley Symposium on Mathematical Statistics and Probability (Berkeley-Los Angeles, 1949), 1–20; The Rise of Scientific Philosophy (Berkeley-Los Angeles, 1951; 1954; paperback ed., 1956); Nomological Statements and Admissible Operations, in Studies in Logic and the Foundations of Mathematics (Amsterdam, 1954); The Direction of Time, Maria Reichenbach, ed. (Berkeley-Los Angeles, 1956); and Modern Philosophy of Science: Selected Essays, Maria Reichenbach, ed. and trans. (London, 1959).
II. Secondary Literature. See A. Grünbaum, Philosophical Problems of Space and Time (New York, 1963),ch.3; A. Grünbaum, W. C. Salmon, et al., “A Panel Discussion of Simultaneity by Slow Clock Transport in the Special and General Theories of Relativity” in Philosophy of Science, 36 , no. 1 (Mar. 1969), 1–81; Ernest Nagel, “Review of Philosophical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics,” in Journal of Philosophy, 42 (1945), 437–444; and “Probability and the Theory of Knowledge,” in his Sovereign Reason (Glencoe, I11., 1954); Probability in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, V–VI (1945), which contains papers by Reichenbach, D. C. Williams, Ernest Nagel, Rudolf Carnap, Henry Margenau, and others; Hilary Putnam, review of The Direction of Time, in Journal of Philosophy, 59 (1962), 213–216; W. V. Quine, review of Elements of Symbolic Logic ibid., 45 (1948), 161–166; Bertrand Russell, Human Knowledge,Its Scope and Limits (New York, 1948), passim; W. C. Salmon, “Should We Attempt to Justify Induction?” in Philosophical Studies, 8 (1957), 33–48; and Foundations of Scientific Inference (Pittsburgh, 1966), 1–15 and passim.
Cynthia A. Schuster
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Corporate InformationResearch & Development
Video Lecture
chapter 2
AI becomes useful when it is linked to real world data
Kazuo Yano Corporate Chief Scientist, Research & Development Group, Hitachi, Ltd.
Yano: I often hear that American companies are leading the field of AI. However I think this is not a very balanced view as they are only talking about very specific areas of AI. By that I mean, often it is just part of an algorithm for a specific search function or AI designed for a very specific purpose. I say this, because for AI to work, it requires data but that data must be related to actual operations, business or activities in society. What’s happening now, and has been for about the past 15 years, is that business has gone on the Internet or begun providing various services through websites, starting from areas of easy entry such as e-commerce and search function. IT in these areas has progressed quite significantly.
On the other hand, what’s happening in AI now is not just about AI for the Internet, or Internet-related areas. The main conversation now is how to best leverage data and AI in areas that historically appear distant, such as in banks, railways, construction sites and hospitals; in other words, connect with the various issues in the real world at the actual site or in management. When that happens, it will be necessary to re-define the boundaries of what these companies or industries have considered their main area of operation.
Hitachi and the Hitachi Group have a strong background in AI and data, as well as a large IT business of approximately 2 trillion Japanese yen. Not only that, but we also do business in areas such as energy, healthcare, railway, elevator, the industrial and manufacturing sectors which adds up to business of about 10 trillion yen; that is, we are involved in a wide range of businesses and various aspects of society, working with customer and partners on a daily basis. This makes Hitachi a very unique company in the world. IT, or AI and data, are applicable to all these areas. No matter how hard one works to create a program inside of a computer, without this connection to real world, benefit is limited. I am certain that there is no company that can better cover such a wide section of society than Hitachi.
If you look at company overviews of their AI, you will notice immediately Hitachi is way ahead in the number of real use-cases introduced. This is what Hitachi is about. We are fortunate to be able to work with various customers, accessing various types of data daily. This is the reason why Hitachi is able to lead progress in the creation of practical and concrete applications for AI and data. I believe that the advantage Hitachi has is being able to lead the field with AI technology in the real sense of truly useful algorithm, not just an algorithm conceived in the mind or described at an academic conference.
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"Leap learning" surpasses "supervised learning"
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AI becomes useful when it is linked to real world data
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Business is exactly what AI does best
AI is a mechanism for creating diversity
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Kazuo Yano, Dr. Eng.
Joined Hitachi, Ltd. in 1984. In 1993, he achieved the world's first successful operation of single-electron memory at room temperature. Since 2004, he has taken the lead in wearable technology, as well as the collection and utilization of big data. His papers have been cited 2500 times, and he has 350 patent applications. The wearable sensor he developed, known as the "Business Microscope," has been described by the Harvard Business Review as a "historic wearable device." He is known for his specialist breadth and depth from AI to nanotechnology. His literary work, "Invisible Hand of Data: The Rule for People, Organizations, and Society Uncovered by Wearable Sensors" (Soshisha Publishing), was elected one of BookVinegar's 2014 10 Best Business Books. Dr. Yano has a doctorate in engineering, he is an IEEE Fellow, a visiting professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, and a member of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Information Science and Technology Committee. He has been awarded many international awards, including the 2007 MBE Erice Prize, and Best Paper at the 2012 International Conference on Social Informatics.
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Singularity World
Communicating Like Gods
by on Aug.14, 2010, under Communication
Communication augments the individual, it creates communities, it is vital for survival of the majority of species. It shaped and was shaped by the course of evolution. it is impossible to imagine a day in our life without communicating with our family, friends and colleagues.
Is there any pattern in the course of communication paradigms?
What will the next major paradigm shift in communication be like?
Is there any fundamental limit to the rate of information exchange between humans?
The above questions are all intertwined. The evolution of communication is was shaped and limited by inherent physical characteristics of the species. A clear pattern in the communication evolution will allow us to speculate on the next paradigm shift. The evolution of communication between living organisms is tightly tied with the evolution of sensing, processing and emitting organs. Nature has always found many fascinating ways for animals to communicate.
The history of communication goes back 4 billion years ago, to the age of bacteria. Single cell organisms exchange information through chemical signals. Bacteria talk to each other, distinguish between species, and have both common inter-species as well as intra-species language. Some species of bacteria have hundreds of different behaviors, affected by cell community voting mechanism. Cells within our body communicate through variety of chemical, thermal and electrical signals. Chemical communication works for small distances. It is impossible to distinguish the exact source of the information, and the information exchange rate is limited.
Around 600 million years ago, during a burst of rapid evolution, dubbed the “Cambrian explosion”, primitive nerve system and vision started to evolve. A new medium emerged, and shortly it became utilized for communication. Sea creatures developed complex light emitting capabilities, based on symbiotic relations with luminescent bacteria or complex bio-luminescence organs, lenses and color filters. This was a significant paradigm shift, which introduced new dimensions into the language: Fine granularity of the light spectrum, ability to create moving colorful 3 dimensional light shapes. It is an interesting fact that this luminescence capabilities are the dominated by primitive deep-sea creatures. We can only imagine what could be done by covering our skin with LCDs and wiring every pixel to our intellectually and socially evolved brains.
Mammals and birds communicate mostly through sound, due to its ubiquitous nature. No line of sight is required. As far as you are close enough to the origin, you’ll get the message. Due to sexual nature of all mammals and birds, rituals have evolved, whether it’s to impress the female, or to beat another rival male. Primates have developed more complex language structure which involves hoots and gestures.
Humans, during their short period of existence, have reinvented the communication more times and in more ways than ever seen in nature before. This time it wasn’t due to an introduction of a new sense, but rather a very complex processing organ. We have learned and evolved to think metaphorically. Combined with our ability to produce consonants in addition to vowels, we found a completely new way to communicate. Sequences of vowels and consonants were assigned to abstract concepts, feelings, metaphors and everyday objects. From the dawn of humanity, we’ve been a very social creature, for a good evolutionary reason. We always had to collaborate in order to survive, and collaboration is simply impossible without an effective way of communication. Information wasn’t really liberated at this point.
Then, around 30,000 years ago, there came the first human who painted a picture on a cave wall. He projected a metaphor to the visual medium. And change history again. Writing was born. For the first time, one could say something which could be heard over and over again, in different times. Information could finally be saved, perpetuated, persisted. The bandwidth increased dramatically because the producer of the information did not have to repeat the same information over and over again. The wall literally augmented, enhanced and empowered him.
The wall was stationary, and thus required the participants to physically stand against it. This all changed when humans started to write on non-stationary objects, such as clay tablets (3500 BC, Sumer), bones (1400 BC, china), stone tokens, papyrus (2200 BC) and paper. New concepts and metaphors were created all the time. It just wasn’t practical to create corresponding symbols to all new concepts, and spreading their meaning to the people. Pictographs appeared around 3500 BC. The oldest one discovered to date is from Sumar.
Then came the alphabet. it literally liberated language. The alphabet is basically a projection from the auditory to the visual space. Literate people could finally say what they could read, and write what they could say, without the need for constant learning of new symbols.
Once you have an alphabet, it’s much easier to automate the process of writing. A prototype is created, and cloned over and over again. Printing was so inevitable that it was independently invented in China around 200AD (woodblock printing), in the Holy Roman Empire by the German Johannes Gutenberg around 1440, and more times throughout the history. Writing got faster. This is a step forward in the distribution of information, rather than a paradigm shift.
The ability to transmit information without physically moving the matter is extremely powerful. Hundreds of different telegraphs appeared in the last few millennia. The Greek telegraph, used around 500BC, included the use of trumpets, drums, shouting, beacon fires, smoke signals, mirrors and semaphores. When we gained the ability to generate and conduct electric current through wires, it was only a matter of time until ideas start to travel on those wires. Now they were even easier, faster and cheaper ways to spread information.
The next information liberation step is not related to the transfer speed, but rather to the associative nature of our minds. Hypertext was born. The nonlinear reading was used hundreds of years before the invention of hypertext. Dictionaries and encyclopedias included references and interlinking. Books had tables of contents. However, for the first time, the nonlinear reading became practical, simply because hyperlinks illuminated manual paging and lookup.
We’re in the dawn of the next revolution. The Semantic Web revolution, which takes nonlinear reading even further. It makes the interlinking dynamic and automatic. Personalized nonlinear reading flows can be created for the reader, based on his intent, implicit goals, reading history, past knowledge, reading style, time constraints and interests.
Primarily at the same time, another revolution is taking place. Computers learn to understand voice. We talk much more than we type. We can talk when we drive, walk or eat. However, most of verbal information doesn’t leverage the above described technological advances, simply because it is not digitized. There are two major limiting factors: computers are not yet ubiquitous, and speech recognition quality is still relatively low. When those limiting factors disappear, Exabytes of verbal information will be processed, stored, transmitted, shared, indexed, searched, interlinked and consumed.
It’s 2010. We’ve come a long way in developing our communication capabilities. Information is being transmitted at the speed of light, broadcast to billions of people everywhere in the globe, as fast as it is created. It can be instantly found, edited and shared.
Are we done here?
The speculation part starts here. What is the next paradigm shift? No one knows, but we have billions of years of history to try to spot the trends. We’ve created a ridiculous situation where the rate of the information transmission is limited by how fast we move our tongue, and the rate that we can parse and understand human speech. It was found that the average reading, listening, typing and braille reading rate rarely exceeds 400 words per minute. There might be simple reasons for those limitations. We simply never needed to pass information at a rate faster than our lips move, and our hearing and brain never had the need to understand speech at fast rates. These days we’re literally flooded by information, the news industry explodes as users start to share and contribute events and the increasingly connected nature of information creates an infinite stream of juicy information to consume.
EEG based mind-reading headsets are becoming affordable these days. A decent Emotiv EPOC headset can be purchased for $300. That’s just the first generation of the technology, but it gives a clue on the exciting possibilities that are going to be created, once it gets more mature.
What if we could leverage the high-bandwidth optic nerve, to create a direct broadband connection to the brain, bypassing the language 400 words/minute bottleneck? We will need to create an engineered language which could be naturally transmitted through the optic nerve and processed by the visual cortex. We will have to train our brains to understand that language. Probably, some sorts of ideas will be more naturally transmitted this way than others. Some of them would have to be transformed on many levels (e.g semantic abstractions/metaphors, visual transformations, aggregations/summarizations). An efficient communication framework should have a common vocabulary and ontology, an extensible concepts framework, be multi-layered, and impose low information redundancy.
The optic nerve is responsible for transmitting visual information from the eye to the brain. It contains around 1.2 million nerve fibers (compared to 30k of the auditory nerve), capable of transmitting 8.7 megabits per second. The ultra-high bandwidth channel might hold the key to the next paradigm shift in communication. During a typical one hour professional meeting, about 2 thousand words will be exchanged between the participants. This is less than 10 kilobytes of information. Theoretically, direct mental communication via the optic nerves can enable us to complete such a meeting faster than we pronounce a single word verbally. One of
The first adopters are likely to be the military, police, hospitals and other emergency services, where the ability to shorten discussions to fractions of a second could be the difference between life and death. Businesses will highly benefit from the productivity boost. Academy people and students, who deal with information and knowledge transfer most of the time, will adopt the new medium to speed up their learning and research process. It is interesting to ask whether and when we will adopt telepathy to personal talks among friends and family. This paradigm shift will drive further profound changes, which will make us question the purpose of daily concepts such as: business trips, meeting rooms, podcasts, lectures, keyboards, text.
There are still many unanswered questions, regarding the feasibility and implications of such technology.
Will an adoption of telepathy boost the human evolution, and the technological development?
What are the ethical implications?
Are our brains capable of processing such quantities of information? How will it affect our psychology?
Will it require us to rebuild the existing Internet infrastructure?
Will a new language be required for telepathy?
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Page 1
How Thermometers Differ From Thermostats
What do you know about thermometer and thermostat? There are some who have seen these devices but they aren't aware of what these equipment are. This article will give you insights and additional information of what thermostats are, how it differs from thermometers and how users can benefit from its use.
Studies reveal that numerous individuals utilized thermostats in their properties. It was also found that these people used the thermostats more frequently than the thermometers. These pieces of devices are not just popularly utilized in factories and offices but also in residences. Why do these people utilized these devices?
What These Devices Are?
Well, this is one type of laboratory equipment used by lots of men and women to regulate the temperature of spaces like offices, classrooms, houses as well as industrial plants. This specific equipment will be the one to control the temperature in a space once it reaches a specific point. In the previous days, thermostats come in conventional forms but due to the advancement of computers and technology, it is already possible to find online thermostats.
The word "thermostat" comes from the Greek word "thermo" which means heat while "statos" means standing.
Knowing More About Thermometers
Thermometers are laboratory devices used in the measurement of temperature. Nowadays, you can find lots of men and women who used indoor/outdoor thermometer in determining how high or low the temperature of a specific product, item or place. When you observe around, you will see thermometers used inside a place, in cooking as well as in vehicles. Showcased underneath are the diverse types of thermometers utilized in diverse sectors.
The Diverse Kinds of Thermometers
1. Traditional thermometer is one of the diverse kinds of thermometers found in the industry. This device is deemed as the most affordable among the thermometers sold in the marketplace. You can see these thermometers utilized inside closed areas such as your home or your office.
2. You can also see multiple sensor or dual sensor thermometers. As the name implies, this kind of thermometer is utilized in measuring and monitoring the temperature of two places concurrently. You can use this thermometer in comparing and measuring the temperature in indoor and outdoor places.
3. The third type of thermometer is the irreversible thermometer. These are used in processes where users need to achieve and to record certain temperature levels such as sterilization process.
4. Another kind of thermometer is the wired or fixed probe. This is usually used in monitoring the temperature levels of liquids, foods as well as semi-solid samples.
By knowing the different kinds of thermometers like oven thermometer, you can rightfully and effectively decide which one is suitable for your needs.
For further reading/watching, please visit .
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The Sun: Not Just a Good Source of Vitamin D
GPS Tracking: Powered by the Sun
In the early 1900s upper class individuals would take all measures possible to cover and hide their skin under layers of clothing and parasols to avoid the effects of the sun. As time went by, benefits of the sun surfaced and so did vitamin D seakers.
The sun is incredible for all it can do. From supplying warmth on a cold day, to playing a key role in the growth of plants, the sun is one of the most amazing resources of energy we have access to. To think, the same rays that bring life to a beautiful flower can also power heavy machines, cars, and buildings. Having daily access to one of the most valuable energy resources means a penny saved and a penny earned for companies across the globe.
Neglecting this resource does not make good business sense. Thankfully, many businesses are catching on, particularly those using GPS tracking. Those interested in using the energy the sun provides are looking for ways to save money through the continuous power it provides. Through the use of solar farms, which are sections of land which house solar panels used to pull energy from the sun, many companies are reaping tremendous benefits. Solar power is an extremely valuable use of this renewable energy.
Solar farms are growing in popularity, and are often placed in locations where cell phone coverage may be spotty and non-existent. GPS tracking provides an excellent way to get around the common problem that would impair communication and information transfer otherwise. GPS tracking provides companies with valuable information about their remote employees on the job site. Solar farms require top of the line equipment, so being able to keep track those who transport that equipment, is not only vital to business, but also vital to their safety on the job. To understand the role the sun plays in the present and the future of GPS tracking, is to understand the positive impact it will make on the bottom line.
We have come a long way over the past 100 years on our ability to see that the sun is far more valuable than we could have ever imagined. It brings us light, health, life, and now we know its ability to generate power for GPS tracking devices around the world.
To view our GPS Tracking selection Click Here.
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hard and soft water
HideShow resource information
soft water produces lots of lather
hard water produces less lather (difficult to produce)
calcium ions in limestone and magnesium in gypsum make water hard, as the water (H20) runs over the limestone or gypsum the calcium or magnesium dissolves in the water
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limescale and scum
hard water leaves scum in baths and sinks it is formed when the soap reacts with ions in the hard water
• soap reacts with calium and magnesium ions
• unsoluble salts (calcium stearateprecipitate) are formed with appear with scum
• when hard water is heated
• common in kettles and washing macheines
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advantages and disadvantages
• helps reduce heart illness
• calcium in hard water is good for childrens bones
• some brewers like using hard water for making beer
• some people prefer the taste
• difficult to form lather
• dcum forms a reaction and wastes soap
• limescale forms a hard rust on kettles and wastes energy when it is used
• hot water pipes 'fur up' inside. the scale blocks up the pipes
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removing hardness
• boilling removes hardness and makes it soft.
• adding washing soda
ion exchange collum:
often used in dishwashers or plumbed into water systems to continuosly soften water. Resin beads have sodium ios attatched to them. as the hard water passes through the collum, the calcium and magnesium swap places with the sodium ions. The calcium and agnesium ions are left attatched to the resin beads while the water leaving the collum contains ore soium ions
and disadvantage is that the resin beads will have to be changed
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Third law of Motion and Karma Theory
Contributed by M K Subramanian
We have already dealt with first two Laws of Motion and related those to Karma theory. We have also interpreted them with stories from Purana. Now let us turn to the Third Law. The Law states
“To Every action there is equal and opposite reaction”.
At the outset one may shudder at the thought: “Will all ‘good’ actions result in ‘bad’ results?” No. That’s not what it means. ‘Reaction’ is not ‘Result’. ‘Reaction signifies ‘resistance’. So the import of the Law is: One may have to encounter and overcome great deal of ‘resistance before eventual ‘good’ results.
A jet plane has to overcome Velocity of the wind blowing against it for a smooth take off!
Critical Mass is a socio-dynamic term to describe the existence of sufficient momentum in a social system such that the momentum becomes self-sustaining and creates further growth. Illustratively, Mahatma Gandhi must have been mentally prepared for the humiliating experience of being thrown out the train in South Africa in the initial days of protest against the British discrimination against the black. When more people joined him, his movement gained momentum. Once the critical Mass was attained the momentum became self-sustaining, The Britishers were, eventually, thrown out of our country! So there is a great deal of hardship to be confronted/suffered before the attainment of the Critical Mass.
In relation to Karma theory, as applicable to an individual, we have already said ‘Mass’ represents that portion of the past ‘Karma’, which has not fructified. They generate ‘Swabhava’ or innate tendencies. [If a person succumbs to them he would be affected by ‘Fate’.] These tendencies resist change of attitude and prevent a person from taking positive action to overcome ‘Fate’. Two things are required to reach the desired destination. Firstly, the person must be willingness to ‘change’. This we shall call ‘attitudinal change’. Secondly, the person must carry enough force of conviction and make tireless effort to defeat and obliterate all impediments that may come his way. Then that person will overcome ‘Fate’ to realize his ‘Destiny’!
Harishchandra was a well known ruler who is remembered for upholding ‘Truth’. He is not famous because every other person in his country was a liar! He is remembered because he had the courage of conviction to uphold Truth despite dire consequence. As detailed in the story, he lost his kingdom, wife and was not even able to cremate his dead son. A single utterance of falsehood would have saved him from suffering the terrible series of hardships. But he stoically and patiently endured them. Sage Vishwamithra was putting Harishchandra’s conviction to test by deliberately causing terrible encounters in his life. He also allured Harishchandra with tempting offers. He could have regained the kingdom by uttering a lie. But he stuck to truth. It must have been difficult, initially, for Harishchandra also. But when sufficient momentum was gained by his firm resolve to adhere to his stated position on truth, it gave him requisite strength to bear all upheavals. Then the critical mass so attained turned the tides. Vishwamithra was stifled. Vishwamithra gave up his evil design to persecute Harishchandra! [For good order it must be said that Vishvamithra’s action was only to make known the greatness of Harishchandra and not for any personal gains]
Harischandra regained his kingdom, wife and also the son who he thought was dead. All the past agonies suffered looked like mere delusions. By his own actions (Karma) and stoic adherence to Truth Harishchandra trampled over his ‘Fate’ to realize his ‘Destiny’.
This is a series of Articles on Hindu karma Theory by M K Subramanian. Refer [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][UR Here][10]
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Newton (unit)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The newton (symbol: N) is the SI unit of force. It is named after Sir Isaac Newton because of his work on classical mechanics. A newton is how much force is required to make a mass of one kilogram accelerate at a rate of one metre per second squared.
• On the Earth's surface, a mass of 1 kg pushes on its support with an average force of 9.8 N.
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Industrial pollution from Indian pharmaceutical companies is fuelling the creation of deadly superbugs
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism Reports:
The presence of drug residues in the natural environment allows the microbes living there to build up resistance to the ingredients in the medicines that are supposed to kill them, turning them into what we call superbugs. The resistant microbes travel easily and have multiplied in huge numbers all over the world, creating a grave public health emergency that is already thought to kill hundreds of thousands of people a year.
When antimicrobial drugs stop working common infections can become fatal, and scientists and public health leaders say the worsening problem of antibiotic resistance (also known as AMR) could reverse half a century of medical progress if the world does not act fast. Yet while policies are being put into place to counter the overuse and misuse of drugs which has propelled the crisis, international regulators are allowing dirty drug production methods to continue unchecked.
Global authorities like the Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency strictly regulate drug supply chains in terms of drug safety - but environmental standards do not feature in their rulebook. Drug producers must adhere to Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) guidelines - but those guidelines do not cover pollution.
Even the World Health Organisation (WHO) - a global public health body which has repeatedly called for concerted international action to tackle the dangerous threat of antibiotic resistance - buys antibiotics from companies whose drug ingredients are made in Hyderabad without carrying out environmental checks.
The international bodies say the governments of the countries where the drugs are made are the ones responsible for stopping pollution - but domestic legislation is having little impact on the ground, say the study's authors. The lack of international regulation must be addressed, they argue, highlighting the grave public health threat faced by antibiotic resistance as well as the rampant global spread of superbugs from India, which has become an epicentre of the crisis.
“Unprecedented antimicrobial drug contamination”
A group of scientists based at the University of Leipzig worked with German journalists to take an in-depth look at pharmaceutical pollution in Hyderabad, where 50% of India’s drug exports are produced. A fifth of the world’s generic drugs are produced in India, with factories based in Hyderabad supplying Big Pharma and public health authorities like World Health Organisation with millions of tons of antibiotics and antifungals each year.
The researchers tested 28 water samples in and around the Patancheru-Bollaram Industrial zone on the outskirts of the city, where more than than 30 drug manufacturing companies supplying nearly all the world’s major drug companies are based. Thousands of tons of pharmaceutical waste are produced by the factories each day, the paper says.
Almost all the samples contained bacteria and fungi resistant to multiple drugs (known as MDR pathogens, the technical name for superbugs). Researchers then tested 16 of the samples for drug residues and found 13 of them were contaminated with antibiotics and antifungals. Previous studies have shown how exposure to antibiotics and antifungals in the environment causes bacteria and fungi to develop immunity to those drugs.
Environmental pollution and poor management of wastewater in Hyderabad is causing “unprecedented antimicrobial drug contamination” of surrounding water sources, conclude the researchers - contamination which appears to be driving the creation and spread of dangerous superbugs which have spread across the world. Combined with the mass misuse of antibiotics and poor sanitation, superbugs are already having severe consequences in India - an estimated 56,000 newborn babies die from resistant infections there each year.
The densely populated and increasingly prosperous city of Hyderabad in southern India was once an international trading centre for diamonds and pearls. Today, it is a major international hub for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, producing millions of tons of medicines, chemicals and pesticides each year.
Around 170 companies making bulk drugs like antibiotics operate in and around Hyderabad, the majority clustered in sprawling industrial estates along the banks of the Musi river. Companies in Europe and the US, as well as health authorities like WHO and the UK’s NHS are reliant on drugs being produced in these factories.
The area has long been criticised for its pollution, which has continued unabated despite decades of campaigning by Indian NGOs, say the report authors. In 2009 the Patancheru-Bollaram zone was classified as “critically polluted” in India’s national pollution index and construction in the area was banned. But the government relaxed the rules in 2014 and building was allowed to begin again.
Last year India’s Supreme Court ordered the country’s pharmaceutical companies to operate a zero liquid waste policy, but “massive violations” have reportedly occurred, says the Infection report.
As India’s drug production industry has grown, so has the prevalence of superbugs - a national crisis intensified by the widespread overuse and misuse of antibiotics, which are easily bought over the counter, and poor sanitation Alongside the creation of individual superbugs, genes and enzymes have developed which can pass between multiple types of bacteria, making them resistant to drugs.
India has become the epicentre of the global drug resistance crisis, with 56,000 newborn Indian babies estimated to die each year from drug-resistant blood infections, and 70 to 90% of people who travel to India returning home with multi-drug-resistant bacteria in their gut, according to the study.
The bacteria can remain in the gut without causing problems, but if they travel from there into a patient’s bloodstream or urinary tract they can cause serious infections. They can also pass on resistance to other bacteria in the gut - so if a patient gets food poisoning the bacteria that caused it could acquire the resistance and become hard to treat.
The full article can be read here.
This post first appeared on ORGANIZED RAGE, please read the originial post: here
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AP US History help?
posted by .
I know this is really long... but I can't figure it out for the life of me. If you don't want to answer the whole question that is fine. I'm greatful for whatever I can get. Also links to websites with the information is also helpful. Thanks!!
Directions: Read the following five document excerpts, and then write one well-organized paragraph summarizing the reasons many Americans felt pushed toward independence.
Document 1
A colonist cannot make a button, a horseshoe, nor a hobnail, but some snootly ironmonger or respectable buttonmaker of England shall bawl and squall that his honor's worship is most egregiously maltreated, injured, cheated, and robbed by the rascally American republicans.
Boston Gazette, 1765
Document 2
We have called this a burthensome tax, because the duties are so numerous and high...that it would be totally impossible for the people to subsist under it....We further apprehend this tax to be unconstitutional. We have always understood it to be a grand and fundamental principle of the constitution, that no freeman should be subject to any tax to which he has not given his own consent, in person or by proxy....We take it clearly, there fore, to be inconsistent with the spirit of the common law, and of the essential fundamental principle of the British constitution, that we should be represented in that assembly in any sense, unless it be by a fiction of law....
Resolution of the Town of Braintree, Massachusetts, 1765, opposing the Stamp Act
Document 3
Considering the utter impracticability of their ever being fully and equally represented in parliament, and the great expense that must unavoidably attend even a partial representation there, this House thinks that a taxation of their constituents, even without their consent, grievous as it is, would be preferable to any representation that could be admitted for them there.
Circular letter, Massachusetts House of Representatives, 1768
Document 4
If we view the whole of the conduct of the ministry and parliament, I do not see how any one can doubt but that there is a settled fix'd plan for enslaving the colonies, or bringing them under arbitrary government....If the ministry can secure a majority in parliament...they may rule as absolutely as they do in France or Spain, yea as in Turkey or India....
View now the situation of America: loaded with taxes from the British parliament, as heavy as she can possibly support under,--our lands charged with the most exorbitant quit rent,--these taxes collected by foreigners, steeled against any impressions from our groans or complaints...our charters taken away--our assemblies annihilated,--governors and councils, appointed by royal authority without any concurrence of the people, enacting such laws as their sovereign pleasure shall dictate...the lives and property of Americans entirely at the disposal of officers more than three thousand miles removed from any power to control them--armies of the soldiers quartered among the inhabitants, who know the horrid purpose for which they are stationed, in the colonies--to subjugate and beat down the inhabitants....
Reverend Ebenezer Baldwin, 1774
Document 5
I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath flourished under her former connection with Great Britain, that the same connection is necessary toward her future happiness, and will always have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument....
Not one third of the inhabitants, even of this province [Pennsylvania] are of English descent. Wherefore I reprobate the phrase of parent or mother country applied to England only, as being false, selfish, narrow and ungenerous....
The injuries and disadvantages we sustain by that connection are without number; and our duty to mankind at large, as well as to ourselves, instruct us to renounce the alliance: Because, any submission to, or dependence on Great Britain, tends directly to involve this continent in European wars and quarrels; and sets us at variance with nations, who would otherwise seek our friendship, and against whom, we have neither anger nor complaint. As Europe is our market for trade, we ought to form no partial connection with any part of it....
[Continued British rule will lead to] the ruin of the continent. And that for several reasons. First. The powers of governing still remaining in the hands of the king, he will have a negative over the whole legislation of this continent. And as he hath shown himself such an inveterate enemy to liberty, and discovered such a thirst for arbitrary power; is he, or is he not, a proper man to say to these colonies, "You shall make no laws but what I please"....Secondly. That as even the best terms, which we can expect to obtain, can amount to no more than a temporary expedient, or a kind of government by guardianship, which can last no longer than till the colonies come of age, so the general face and state of things, in the interim, will be unsettled and unpromising....
O ye that love mankind! Yet that dare oppose, not only tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression.
Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776
• AP US History help? -
Can you pick out the key argument in each document?
For instance, Document 2 opposes taxes that the people didn't approve -- taxes without representation.
Try to pick out some of the other main ideas.
• AP US History help? -
I will do that. Thank you!
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Saturday, 25 June 2016
The Tragedy of
King Lear
The Tragedy of
William Shakespeare:
His true Chronicle Historie of the life and death of
King Lear and his three daughters.
With the unfortunate life of Edgar, sonne and heire
to the Earle of Gloster, and his sullen and assumed
humor of Tom of Bedlam:
LEAR, King of Britain
EDGAR: Son to Gloucester.
EDMUND: bastard son to Gloucester.
CURAN: a courtier.
Old Man: tenant to Gloucester.
OSWALD: Steward to Goneril.
A Captain employed by Edmund
Gentleman attendant on Cordelia
A Herald
Servants to Cornwall
REGAN: daughters to Lear.
Knights of Lear’s train, Captains, Messengers, Soldiers,
and Attendants
SCENE: Prehistoric Britain.
by William Shakespeare
SCENE I: King Lear’s palace.
KENT: I thought the king had more affected the
Duke of Albany than Cornwall.
GLOUCESTER: It did always seem so to us: but
now, in the division of the kingdom, it appears not
which of the dukes he values most; for equalities
are so weighed, that curiosity in neither can make
choice of either’s moiety.
KENT: Is not this your son, my lord?
GLOUCESTER: His breeding, sir, hath been at my
charge: I have so often blushed to acknowledge
him, that now I am brazed to it.
KENT: I cannot conceive you.
GLOUCESTER: Sir, this young fellow’s mother could:
whereupon she grew round-wombed, and had,
for her bed. Do you smell a fault?
KENT: I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of
it being so proper.
GLOUCESTER: But I have, sir, a son by order of law,
some year elder than this, who yet is no dearer in
my account. Though this knave came something saucily
into the world before he was sent for, yet was his
mother fair; there was good sport at his making, and
the whoreson must be acknowledged. Do you know
this noble gentleman, Edmund?
EDMUND: No, my lord.
GLOUCESTER: My lord of Kent: remember him hereafter
as my honorable friend.
EDMUND: My services to your lordship.
KENT: I must love you, and sue to know you better.
EDMUND: Sir, I shall study deserving.
GLOUCESTER: He hath been out nine years, and away
he shall again. The king is coming.
Sound a sennet. Enter one bearing a coronet; then
REGAN, CORDELIA, and Attendants.
KING LEAR: Attend the lords of France and Burgundy,
GLOUCESTER: I shall, my liege.
KING LEAR: Meantime we shall express our darker
Give me the map there. Know that we have divided
In three our kingdom: and ’tis our fast intent
To shake all cares and business from our age;
Conferring them on younger strengths, while we
Unburthen’d crawl toward death. Our son of
And you, our no less loving son of Albany,
We have this hour a constant will to publish
Our daughters’ several dowers, that future strife
May be prevented now. The princes, France and
Great rivals in our youngest daughter’s love,
Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn,
Since now we will divest us both of rule,
Interest of territory, cares of state,—
Which of you shall we say doth love us most?
That we our largest bounty may extend
Where nature doth with merit challenge. Goneril,
Our eldest-born, speak first.
I love you more than words can wield the matter;
Dearer than eye-sight, space, and liberty;
Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare;
As much as child e’er loved, or father found;
A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable;
Beyond all manner of so much I love you.
CORDELIA: [Aside] What shall Cordelia do? Love,
and be silent.
LEAR: Of all these bounds, even from this line to
With shadowy forests and with champains rich’d,
With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads,
We make thee lady: to thine and Albany’s issue
Be this perpetual. What says our second daughter,
Our dearest Regan, wife to Cornwall? Speak.
REGAN: Sir, I am made of the self-same metal as my
And prize me at her worth. In my true heart
I find she names my very deed of love;
Only she comes too short: that I profess
Myself an enemy to all other joys,
Which the most precious square of sense possesses;
And find I am alone felicitate
In your dear highness’ love.
CORDELIA: [Aside] Then poor Cordelia!
More richer than my tongue.
KING LEAR: To thee and thine, hereditary ever
Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom;
No less in space, validity, and pleasure,
Than that conferr’d on Goneril. Now, our joy,
Although the last, not least; to whose young love
The vines of France and milk of Burgundy
Strive to be interess’d; what can you say to draw
A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak.
CORDELIA: Nothing, my lord.
KING LEAR: Nothing!
CORDELIA: Nothing.
KING LEAR: Nothing will come of nothing: speak again.
CORDELIA: Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave
My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty
According to my bond; nor more nor less.
KING LEAR: How, how, Cordelia! mend your speech
a little,
Lest it may mar your fortunes.
CORDELIA: Good my lord,
You have begot me, bred me, loved me: I
Return those duties back as are right fit,
Obey you, love you, and most honor you.
Why have my sisters husbands, if they say
They love you all? Haply, when I shall wed,
That lord whose hand must take my plight shall
Half my love with him, half my care and duty:
Sure, I shall never marry like my sisters,
To love my father all.
KING LEAR: But goes thy heart with this?
CORDELIA: Ay, good my lord.
KING LEAR: So young, and so untender?
CORDELIA: So young, my lord, and true.
KING LEAR: Let it be so; thy truth, then, be thy dower:
For, by the sacred radiance of the sun,
The mysteries of Hecate, and the night;
By all the operation of the orbs
From whom we do exist, and cease to be;
Here I disclaim all my paternal care,
Propinquity and property of blood,
And as a stranger to my heart and me
Or he that makes his generation messes
To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom
Be as well neighbor’d, pitied, and relieved,
As thou my sometime daughter.
KENT: Good my liege,—
KING LEAR: Peace, Kent!
Come not between the dragon and his wrath.
I loved her most, and thought to set my rest
On her kind nursery. Hence, and avoid my sight!
So be my grave my peace, as here I give
Her father’s heart from her! Call France; who stirs?
Call Burgundy. Cornwall and Albany,
With my two daughters’ dowers digest this third:
Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her.
I do invest you jointly with my power,
Pre-eminence, and all the large effects
That troop with majesty. Ourself, by monthly course,
With reservation of an hundred knights,
By you to be sustain’d, shall our abode
Make with you by due turns. Only we still retain
The name, and all the additions to a king;
The sway, revenue, execution of the rest,
Beloved sons, be yours: which to confirm,
This coronet part betwixt you. [Giving the crown.]
KENT: Royal Lear,
Whom I have ever honor’d as my king,
Loved as my father, as my master follow’d,
As my great patron thought on in my prayers,—
KING LEAR: The bow is bent and drawn, make from
the shaft.
KENT: Let it fall rather, though the fork invade
The region of my heart: be Kent unmannerly,
Think’st thou that duty shall have dread to speak,
When power to flattery bows? To plainness honor’s
When majesty stoops to folly. Reverse thy doom;
And, in thy best consideration, check
This hideous rashness: answer my life my judg
Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least;
Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sound
Reverbs no hollowness.
KING LEAR: Kent, on thy life, no
KENT: My life I never held but as a pawn
To wage against thy enemies; nor fear to lose it,
Thy safety being the motive.
KING LEAR: Out of my sight!
KENT: See better, Lear; and let me still remain
The true blank of thine eye.
KING LEAR: Now, by Apollo,—
KENT: Now, by Apollo, king,
Thou swear’st thy gods in vain.
KING LEAR: O, vassal! miscreant!
[Laying his hand on his sword.]
Kill thy physician, and the fee bestow
Upon thy foul disease. Revoke thy doom;
Or, whilst I can vent clamor from my throat,
I’ll tell thee thou dost evil.
KING LEAR: Hear me, recreant!
On thine allegiance, hear me!
Since thou hast sought to make us break our vow,
Which we durst never yet, and with strain’d pride
To come between our sentence and our power,
Which nor our nature nor our place can bear,
Our potency made good, take thy reward.
Five days we do allot thee, for provision
To shield thee from diseases of the world;
And on the sixth to turn thy hated back
} Dear sir, forbear.
Upon our kingdom: if, on the tenth day following,
Thy banish’d trunk be found in our dominions,
The moment is thy death. Away! by Jupiter,
This shall not be revoked.
KENT: Fare thee well, king: sith thus thou wilt appear,
Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here.
The gods to their dear shelter take thee, maid,
That justly think’st, and hast most rightly said!
And your large speeches may your deeds approve,
That good effects may spring from words of love.
Thus Kent, O princes, bids you all adieu;
He’ll shape his old course in a country new.
[Flourish. Re-enter GLOUCESTER, with KING OF
FRANCE, BURGUNDY, and Attendants.]
GLOUCESTER: Here’s France and Burgundy, my
noble lord.
KING LEAR: My lord of Burgundy.
We first address towards you, who with this king
Hath rivall’d for our daughter: what, in the least,
Will you require in present dower with her,
Or cease your quest of love?
BURGUNDY: Most royal majesty,
I crave no more than what your highness offer’d,
Nor will you tender less.
KING LEAR: Right noble Burgundy,
But now her price is fall’n. Sir, there she stands:
If aught within that little seeming substance,
Or all of it, with our displeasure pieced,
And nothing more, may fitly like your grace,
She’s there, and she is yours.
BURGUNDY: I know no answer.
KING LEAR: Will you, with those infirmities she owes,
Unfriended, new-adopted to our hate,
Dower’d with our curse, and stranger’d with our oath,
Take her, or leave her?
BURGUNDY: Pardon me, royal sir;
Election makes not up on such conditions.
KING LEAR: Then leave her, sir; for, by the power
that made me,
I tell you all her wealth.
For you, great king,
I would not from your love make such a stray,
To match you where I hate; therefore beseech you
To avert your liking a more worthier way
Than on a wretch whom nature is ashamed
Almost to acknowledge hers.
KING OF FRANCE: This is most strange,
That she, that even but now was your best object,
The argument of your praise, balm of your age,
Most best, most dearest, should in this trice of time
Commit a thing so monstrous, to dismantle
So many folds of favor. Sure, her offence
Must be of such unnatural degree,
That monsters it, or your fore-vouch’d affection
Fall’n into taint: which to believe of her,
Must be a faith that reason without miracle
Could never plant in me.
CORDELIA: I yet beseech your majesty,—
If for I want that glib and oily art,
To speak and purpose not; since what I well intend,
I’ll do’t before I speak,—that you make known
It is no vicious blot, murder, or foulness,
No unchaste action, or dishonor’d step,
That hath deprived me of your grace and favor;
But even for want of that for which I am richer,
A still-soliciting eye, and such a tongue
Hath lost me in your liking.
KING LEAR: Better thou
Hadst not been born than not to have pleased me
KING OF FRANCE: Is it but this,—a tardiness in nature
Which often leaves the history unspoke
That it intends to do? My lord of Burgundy,
What say you to the lady? Love’s not love
When it is mingled with regards that stand
Aloof from the entire point. Will you have her?
She is herself a dowry.
BURGUNDY: Royal Lear,
Give but that portion which yourself proposed,
And here I take Cordelia by the hand,
Duchess of Burgundy.
KING LEAR: Nothing: I have sworn; I am firm.
BURGUNDY: I am sorry, then, you have so lost a father
That you must lose a husband.
CORDELIA: Peace be with Burgundy!
Since that respects of fortune are his love,
I shall not be his wife.
KING OF FRANCE: Fairest Cordelia, that art most
rich, being poor;
Most choice, forsaken; and most loved, despised!
Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon:
Be it lawful I take up what’s cast away.
Gods, gods! ’tis strange that from their cold’st neglect
My love should kindle to inflamed respect.
Thy dowerless daughter, king, thrown to my chance,
Not all the dukes of waterish Burgundy
Can buy this unprized precious maid of me.
Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind:
Thou losest here, a better where to find.
KING LEAR: Thou hast her, France: let her be thine; for we
Have no such daughter, nor shall ever see
That face of hers again. Therefore be gone
Without our grace, our love, our benison.
Come, noble Burgundy.
[Flourish. Exeunt all but KING OF FRANCE,
KING OF FRANCE: Bid farewell to your sisters.
CORDELIA: The jewels of our father, with wash’d eyes
Cordelia leaves you: I know you what you are;
And like a sister am most loath to call
Your faults as they are named. Use well our father:
To your professed bosoms I commit him
But yet, alas, stood I within his grace,
I would prefer him to a better place.
So, farewell to you both.
REGAN: Prescribe not us our duties.
GONERIL: Let your study
Be to content your lord, who hath received you
At fortune’s alms. You have obedience scanted,
And well are worth the want that you have wanted.
CORDELIA: Time shall unfold what plaited cunning
Who cover faults, at last shame them derides.
Well may you prosper!
KING OF FRANCE: Come, my fair Cordelia.
GONERIL: Sister, it is not a little I have to say of what
most nearly appertains to us both. I think our father
will hence to-night.
REGAN: That’s most certain, and with you; next month
with us.
GONERIL: You see how full of changes his age is; the
observation we have made of it hath not been little:
he always loved our sister most; and with what poor
judgment he hath now cast her off appears too
REGAN: ’Tis the infirmity of his age: yet he hath ever
but slenderly known himself.
GONERIL: The best and soundest of his time hath
been but rash; then must we look to receive from his
age, not alone the imperfections of longengraffedcondition,
but therewithal the unruly wayardness
that infirm and choleric years bring with them.
REGAN: Such unconstant starts are we like to have
from him as this of Kent’s banishment.
GONERIL: There is further compliment of leavetaking
between France and him. Pray you, let’s hit together:
if our father carry authority with such dispositions as
REGAN: We shall further think on’t.
GONERIL: We must do something, and i’ the heat.
SCENE II: The Earl of Gloucester’s castle.
[Enter EDMUND, with a letter.]
EDMUND: Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law
My services are bound. Wherefore should I
Stand in the plague of custom, and permit
The curiosity of nations to deprive me,
For that I am some twelve or fourteen moon-shines
Lag of a brother? Why bastard? wherefore base?
When my dimensions are as well compact,
My mind as generous, and my shape as true,
As honest madam’s issue? Why brand they us
With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base?
Who, in the lusty stealth of nature, take
More composition and fierce quality
Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed,
Go to the creating a whole tribe of fops,
Got ‘tween asleep and wake? Well, then,
Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land:
Our father’s love is to the bastard Edmund
As to the legitimate: fine word,—legitimate!
Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed,
And my invention thrive, Edmund the base
Shall top the legitimate. I grow; I prosper:
Now, gods, stand up for bastards!
GLOUCESTER: Kent banish’d thus! and France in
choler parted!
And the king gone to-night! subscribed his power!
Confined to exhibition! All this done
Upon the gad! Edmund, how now! what news?
EDMUND: So please your lordship, none.
[Putting up the letter.]
GLOUCESTER: Why so earnestly seek you to put up
that letter?
EDMUND: I know no news, my lord.
GLOUCESTER: What paper were you reading?
EDMUND: Nothing, my lord.
GLOUCESTER: No? What needed, then, that terrible
dispatch of it into your pocket? the quality of nothing
hath not such need to hide itself. Let’s see: come,
if it be nothing, I shall not need spectacles.
EDMUND: I beseech you, sir, pardon me: it is a letter
from my brother, that I have not all o’er-read; and for
GLOUCESTER: Give me the letter, sir.
EDMUND: I shall offend, either to detain or give it.
The contents, as in part I understand them, are to
GLOUCESTER: Let’s see, let’s see.
EDMUND: I hope, for my brother’s justification, he
wrote this but as an essay or taste of my virtue.
GLOUCESTER: [Reads] ‘This policy and reverence of
our fortunes from us till our oldness cannot relish them.
I begin to find an idle and fond bondage in the oppression
you should half his revenue for ever, and live the beloved
of your brother,
—Hum—conspiracy!—’Sleep till I waked him,—you should
enjoy half his revenue,’—My son Edgar! Had he a hand
to write this? a heart and brain to breed it in?—When
came this to you? who brought it?
EDMUND: It was not brought me, my lord; there’s
of my closet.
GLOUCESTER: You know the character to be your
EDMUND: If the matter were good, my lord, I durst
fain think it were not.
GLOUCESTER: It is his.
EDMUND: It is his hand, my lord; but I hope his heart
is not in the contents.
GLOUCESTER: Hath he never heretofore sounded you
in this business?
EDMUND: Never, my lord: but I have heard him oft
fathers declining, the father should be as ward to the
son, and the son manage his revenue.
GLOUCESTER: O villain, villain! His very opinion in
the letter! Abhorred villain! Unnatural, detested, brutish
villain! worse than brutish! Go, sirrah,
seek him; I’ll apprehend him: abominable villain!
Where is he?
EDMUND: I do not well know, my lord. If it shall
please you to suspend your indignation against my
brother till you can derive from him better testimony
you violently proceed against him, mistaking his purpose,
it would make a great gap in your own honor,
and shake in pieces the heart of his obedience. I dare
pawn down my life for him, that he hath wrote this
to feel my affection to your honor, and to no further
pretence of danger.
GLOUCESTER: Think you so?
EDMUND: If your honor judge it meet, I will place
auricular assurance have your satisfaction; and that
without any further delay than this very evening.
GLOUCESTER: He cannot be such a monster—
EDMUND: Nor is not, sure.
GLOUCESTER: To his father, that so tenderly and entirely
loves him. Heaven and earth! Edmund, seek him
out: wind me into him, I pray you: frame the business
after your own wisdom. I would unstate myself,
to be in a due resolution.
EDMUND: I will seek him, sir, presently: convey the
business as I shall find means and acquaint you withal.
GLOUCESTER: These late eclipses in the sun and
moon portend no good to us: though the wisdom of
nature can reason it thus and thus, yet nature finds
itself scourged by the sequent effects: love cools, friendship
falls off, brothers divide: in cities, mutinies; in
countries, discord; in palaces, treason; and the bond
cracked ‘twixt son and father. This villain of mine comes
under the prediction; there’s son against father: the
king falls from bias of nature; there’s father against
hollowness, treachery, and all ruinous disorders,
follow us disquietly to our graves. Find out this
villain, Edmund; it shall lose thee nothing; do it care-
fully. And the noble and true-hearted Kent banished!
his offence, honesty! ’Tis strange.
EDMUND: This is the excellent foppery of the world,
of our own behavior,—we make guilty of our disasters
villains by necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion;
knaves, thieves, and treachers, by spherical predominance;
drunkards, liars, and adulterers, by an enforced
obedience of planetary influence; and all that we are
evil in, by a divine thrusting on: an admirable evasion
of whoremaster man, to lay his goatish disposition
to the charge of a star! My father compounded
with my mother under the dragon’s tail; and my nativity
was under Ursa major; so that it follows, I am
rough and lecherous. Tut, I should have been that I
am, had the maidenliest star in the firmament twinkled
on my bastardizing. Edgar—
[Enter EDGAR.]
And pat he comes like the catastrophe of the old comedy:
my cue is villanous melancholy, with a sigh like
Tom o’ Bedlam. O, these eclipses do portend these
divisions! fa, sol, la, mi.
EDGAR: How now, brother Edmund! what serious
contemplation are you in?
EDMUND: I am thinking, brother, of a prediction I
read this other day, what should follow these eclipses.
EDGAR: Do you busy yourself about that?
EDMUND: I promise you, the effects he writes of
succeed unhappily; as of unnaturalness between the
child and the parent; death, dearth, dissolutions of
ancient amities; divisions in state, menaces and maledictions
against king and nobles; needless diffidences,
banishment of friends, dissipation of cohorts, nuptial
breaches, and I know not what.
EDGAR: How long have you been a sectary astronomical?
EDMUND: Come, come; when saw you my father
EDGAR: Why, the night gone by.
EDMUND: Spake you with him?
EDGAR: Ay, two hours together.
EDMUND: Parted you in good terms? Found you no
displeasure in him by word or countenance?
EDGAR: None at all.
EDMUND: Bethink yourself wherein you may have
offended him: and at my entreaty forbear his presence
till some little time hath qualified the heat of his displeasure;
which at this instant so rageth in him, that with
the mischief of your person it would scarcely allay.
EDGAR: Some villain hath done me wrong.
EDMUND: That’s my fear. I pray you, have a continent
forbearance till the spied of his rage goes
slower; and, as I say, retire with me to my lodging,
from whence I will fitly bring you to hear my lord
speak: pray ye, go; there’s my key: if you do stir abroad,
go armed.
EDGAR: Armed, brother!
EDMUND: Brother, I advise you to the best; go armed:
I am no honest man if there be any good meaning
towards you: I have told you what I have seen and
heard; but faintly, nothing like the image and horror
of it: pray you, away.
EDGAR: Shall I hear from you anon?
EDMUND: I do serve you in this business.
[Exit EDGAR.]
A credulous father! and a brother noble,
Whose nature is so far from doing harms,
That he suspects none: on whose foolish honesty
My practices ride easy! I see the business.
All with me’s meet that I can fashion fit.
SCENE III: The Duke of Albany’s palace.
[Enter GONERIL, and OSWALD, her steward.]
GONERIL: Did my father strike my gentleman for
chiding of his fool?
OSWALD: Yes, madam.
GONERIL: By day and night he wrongs me; every
He flashes into one gross crime or other,
That sets us all at odds: I’ll not endure it:
His knights grow riotous, and himself upbraids us
On every trifle. When he returns from hunting,
I will not speak with him; say I am sick:
If you come slack of former services,
You shall do well; the fault of it I’ll answer.
OSWALD: He’s coming, madam; I hear him.
[Horns within.]
GONERIL: Put on what weary negligence you
You and your fellows; I’ll have it come to question:
If he dislike it, let him to our sister,
Whose mind and mine, I know, in that are one,
Not to be over-ruled. Idle old man,
That still would manage those authorities
That he hath given away! Now, by my life,
Old fools are babes again; and must be used
With checks as flatteries,—when they are seen abused.
Remember what I tell you.
OSWALD: Well, madam.
GONERIL: And let his knights have colder looks
among you;
What grows of it, no matter; advise your fellows so:
I would breed from hence occasions, and I shall,
That I may speak: I’ll write straight to my sister,
To hold my very course. Prepare for dinner.
SCENE IV: A hall in the same.
[Enter KENT, disguised.]
KENT: If but as well I other accents borrow,
That can my speech defuse, my good intent
May carry through itself to that full issue
For which I razed my likeness. Now, banish’d Kent,
If thou canst serve where thou dost stand condemn’d,
So may it come, thy master, whom thou lovest,
Shall find thee full of labors.
[Horns within. Enter KING LEAR, Knights, and
KING LEAR: Let me not stay a jot for dinner; go get
it ready.
[Exit an Attendant.]
How now! what art thou?
KENT: A man, sir.
KING LEAR: What dost thou profess? what wouldst
thou with us?
KENT: I do profess to be no less than I seem; to serve
him truly that will put me in trust: to love him that is
honest; to converse with him that is wise, and says
little; to fear judgment; to fight when I cannot choose;
and to eat no fish.
KING LEAR: What art thou?
KENT: A very honest-hearted fellow, and as poor as
the king.
KING LEAR: If thou be as poor for a subject as he is
for a king, thou art poor enough. What wouldst thou?
KENT: Service.
KING LEAR: Who wouldst thou serve?
KENT: You.
KING LEAR: Dost thou know me, fellow?
KENT: No, sir; but you have that in your countenance
which I would fain call master.
KING LEAR: What’s that?
KENT: Authority.
KING LEAR: What services canst thou do?
KENT: I can keep honest counsel, ride, run, mar a
curious tale in telling it, and deliver a plain message
bluntly: that which ordinary men are fit for, I am qualified
in; and the best of me is diligence.
KING LEAR: How old art thou?
KENT: Not so young, sir, to love a woman for sing-
ing, nor so old to dote on her for any thing: I have
years on my back forty eight.
KING LEAR: Follow me; thou shalt serve me: if I like
thee no worse after dinner, I will not part from thee
yet. Dinner, ho, dinner! Where’s my knave? my fool?
Go you, and call my fool hither.
[Exit an Attendant.]
[Enter OSWALD.]
You, you, sirrah, where’s my daughter?
OSWALD: So please you,—
KING LEAR: What says the fellow there? Call the
clotpoll back.
[Exit a Knight.]
Where’s my fool, ho? I think the world’s asleep.
[Re-enter Knight.]
How now! where’s that mongrel?
Knight: He says, my lord, your daughter is not well.
KING LEAR: Why came not the slave back to me
when I called him.
Knight: Sir, he answered me in the roundest manner,
he would not.
KING LEAR: He would not!
Knight: My lord, I know not what the matter is; but,
to my judgment, your highness is not entertained with
that ceremonious affection as you were wont; there’s
a great abatement of kindness appears as well in the
general dependants as in the duke himself also and
your daughter.
KING LEAR: Ha! sayest thou so?
Knight: I beseech you, pardon me, my lord, if I be
mistaken; for my duty cannot be silent when I think
your highness wronged.
KING LEAR: Thou but rememberest me of mine own
conception: I have perceived a most faint neglect of
late; which I have rather blamed as mine own jealous
curiosity than as a very pretence and purpose of unkindness:
I will look further into’t. But where’s my
fool? I have not seen him this two days.
Knight: Since my young lady’s going into France, sir,
the fool hath much pined away.
KING LEAR: No more of that; I have noted it well. Go
you, and tell my daughter I would speak with her.
[Exit an Attendant.]
Go you, call hither my fool.
[Exit an Attendant.]
[Re-enter OSWALD.]
O, you sir, you, come you hither, sir: who am I, sir?
OSWALD: My lady’s father.
KING LEAR: ‘My lady’s father’! my lord’s knave: your
whoreson dog! you slave! you cur!
OSWALD: I am none of these, my lord; I beseech
your pardon.
KING LEAR: Do you bandy looks with me, you rascal?
[Striking him.]
OSWALD: I’ll not be struck, my lord.
KENT: Nor tripped neither, you base football player.
[Tripping up his heels.]
KING LEAR: I thank thee, fellow; thou servest me,
and I’ll love thee.
KENT: Come, sir, arise, away! I’ll teach you differences:
away, away! if you will measure your lubber’s
length again, tarry: but away! go to; have you wisdom?
[Pushes OSWALD out.]
KING LEAR: Now, my friendly knave, I thank thee:
there’s earnest of thy service.
[Giving KENT money.]
[Enter Fool.]
Fool: Let me hire him too: here’s my coxcomb.
[Offering KENT his cap.]
KING LEAR: How now, my pretty knave! how dost thou?
Fool: Sirrah, you were best take my coxcomb.
KENT: Why, fool?
Fool: Why, for taking one’s part that’s out of favor:
nay, an thou canst not smile as the wind sits, thou’lt
catch cold shortly: there, take my coxcomb: why, this
fellow has banished two on’s daughters, and did the
third a blessing against his will; if thou follow him,
thou must needs wear my coxcomb. How now, nuncle!
Would I had two coxcombs and two daughters!
KING LEAR: Why, my boy?
Fool: If I gave them all my living, I’ld keep my coxcombs
myself. There’s mine; beg another of thy daughters.
KING LEAR: Take heed, sirrah; the whip.
Fool: Truth’s a dog must to kennel; he must be whipped
out, when Lady the brach may stand by the fire and
KING LEAR: A pestilent gall to me!
Fool: Sirrah, I’ll teach thee a speech.
Fool: Mark it, nuncle:
Have more than thou showest,
Speak less than thou knowest,
Lend less than thou owest,
Ride more than thou goest,
Learn more than thou trowest,
Set less than thou throwest;
Leave thy drink and thy whore,
And keep in-a-door,
And thou shalt have more
Than two tens to a score.
KENT: This is nothing, fool.
Fool: Then ’tis like the breath of an unfee’d lawyer;
you gave me nothing for’t. Can you make no use of
nothing, nuncle?
KING LEAR: Why, no, boy; nothing can be made out
of nothing.
Fool: [To KENT] Prithee, tell him, so much the rent of
his land comes to: he will not believe a fool.
KING LEAR: A bitter fool!
Fool: Dost thou know the difference, my boy, between
a bitter fool and a sweet fool?
KING LEAR: No, lad; teach me.
Fool: That lord that counsell’d thee
To give away thy land,
Come place him here by me,
Do thou for him stand:
The sweet and bitter fool
Will presently appear;
The one in motley here,
The other found out there.
KING LEAR: Dost thou call me fool, boy?
Fool: All thy other titles thou hast given away; that
thou wast born with.
KENT: This is not altogether fool, my lord.
Fool: No, faith, lords and great men will not let me; if
I had a monopoly out, they would have part on’t:
and ladies too, they will not let me have all fool to
myself; they’ll be snatching. Give me an egg, nuncle,
and I’ll give thee two crowns.
KING LEAR: What two crowns shall they be?
Fool: Why, after I have cut the egg i’ the middle, and
eat up the meat, the two crowns of the egg. When
thou clovest thy crown i’ the middle, and gavest away
both parts, thou borest thy ass on thy back o’er the
dirt: thou hadst little wit in thy bald crown, when thou
gavest thy golden one away. If I speak like myself in
this, let him be whipped that first finds it so.
Fools had ne’er less wit in a year;
For wise men are grown foppish,
They know not how their wits to wear,
Their manners are so apish.
KING LEAR: When were you wont to be so full of
songs, sirrah?
Fool: I have used it, nuncle, ever since thou madest
thy daughters thy mothers: for when thou gavest
them the rod, and put’st down thine own breeches,
Then they for sudden joy did weep,
And I for sorrow sung,
That such a king should play bo-peep,
And go the fools among.
Prithee, nuncle, keep a schoolmaster that can teach
thy fool to lie: I would fain learn to lie.
KING LEAR: An you lie, sirrah, we’ll have you
Fool: I marvel what kin thou and thy daughters are:
they’ll have me whipped for speaking true, thou’lt
have me whipped for lying; and sometimes I am
whipped for holding my peace. I had rather be any
thee, nuncle; thou hast pared thy wit o’ both sides,
and left nothing i’ the middle: here comes one o’ the
[Enter GONERIL.]
KING LEAR: How now, daughter! what makes that
frontlet on? Methinks you are too much of late i’ the
Fool: Thou wast a pretty fellow when thou hadst no
need to care for her frowning; now thou art an O
without a figure: I am better than thou art now; I am
a fool, thou art nothing.
Yes, forsooth, I will hold my tongue; so your face bids
me, though you say nothing.
Mum, mum,
He that keeps nor crust nor crum,
Weary of all, shall want some.
[Pointing to KING LEAR.]
That’s a shealed peascod.
GONERIL: Not only, sir, this your all-licensed fool,
But other of your insolent retinue
Do hourly carp and quarrel; breaking forth
In rank and not-to-be endured riots.
I had thought, by making this well known unto you,
To have found a safe redress; but now grow fearful,
By what yourself too late have spoke and done.
That you protect this course, and put it on
By your allowance; which if you should, the fault
Would not ‘scape censure, nor the redresses sleep,
Which, in the tender of a wholesome weal,
Might in their working do you that offence,
Which else were shame, that then necessity
Will call discreet proceeding.
Fool: For, you trow, nuncle,
The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long,
That it’s had it head bit off by it young.
KING LEAR: Are you our daughter?
GONERIL: Come, sir, I would you would make use
of that good wisdom,
(Whereof I know you are fraught) and put away
These dispositions, that of late transform you
From what you rightly are.
Fool: May not an ass know when the cart draws the
horse? Whoop, Jug! I love thee.
KING LEAR: Doth any here know me? This is not
Doth Lear walk thus? speak thus? Where are his
Either his notion weakens, his discernings
Are lethargied—Ha! waking? ’tis not so.
Who is it that can tell me who I am?
Fool: Lear’s shadow.
KING LEAR: I would learn that; for, by the marks of
sovereignty, knowledge, and reason, I should be
false persuaded I had daughters.
Fool: Which they will make an obedient father.
KING LEAR: Your name, fair gentlewoman?
GONERIL: This admiration, sir, is much o’ the savor
Of other your new pranks. I do beseech you
To understand my purposes aright:
As you are old and reverend, you should be wise.
Here do you keep a hundred knights and squires;
Men so disorder’d, so debosh’d and bold,
That this our court, infected with their manners,
Shows like a riotous inn: epicurism and lust
Make it more like a tavern or a brothel
Than a graced palace. The shame itself doth speak
For instant remedy: be then desired
By her, that else will take the thing she begs,
A little to disquantity your train;
And the remainder, that shall still depend,
To be such men as may besort your age,
And know themselves and you.
KING LEAR: Darkness and devils!
Saddle my horses; call my train together:
Degenerate bastard! I’ll not trouble thee.
Yet have I left a daughter.
GONERIL: You strike my people; and your
disorder’d rabble
Make servants of their betters.
[Enter ALBANY.]
KING LEAR: Woe, that too late repents,—
O, sir, are you come?
Is it your will? Speak, sir. Prepare my horses.
Ingratitude, thou marble-hearted fiend,
More hideous when thou show’st thee in a child
Than the sea-monster!
ALBANY: Pray, sir, be patient.
KING LEAR: [To GONERIL] Detested kite! thou liest.
My train are men of choice and rarest parts,
That all particulars of duty know,
And in the most exact regard support
The worships of their name. O most small fault,
How ugly didst thou in Cordelia show!
That, like an engine, wrench’d my frame of nature
From the fix’d place; drew from heart all love,
Beat at this gate, that let thy folly in,
[Striking his head.]
ALBANY: My lord, I am guiltless, as I am ignorant
Of what hath moved you.
KING LEAR: It may be so, my lord.
Hear, nature, hear; dear goddess, hear!
Suspend thy purpose, if thou didst intend
To make this creature fruitful!
Into her womb convey sterility!
Dry up in her the organs of increase;
And from her derogate body never spring
A babe to honor her! If she must teem,
Create her child of spleen; that it may live,
And be a thwart disnatured torment to her!
Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth;
With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks;
Turn all her mother’s pains and benefits
To laughter and contempt; that she may feel
How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is
To have a thankless child! Away, away!
ALBANY: Now, gods that we adore, whereof comes this?
GONERIL: Never afflict yourself to know the cause;
But let his disposition have that scope
That dotage gives it.
[Re-enter KING LEAR.]
KING LEAR: What, fifty of my followers at a clap!
Within a fortnight!
ALBANY: What’s the matter, sir?
KING LEAR: I’ll tell thee:
Life and death! I am ashamed
That thou hast power to shake my manhood thus;
That these hot tears, which break from me perforce,
Should make thee worth them. Blasts and fogs
upon thee!
The untented woundings of a father’s curse
Pierce every sense about thee! Old fond eyes,
Beweep this cause again, I’ll pluck ye out,
And cast you, with the waters that you lose,
To temper clay. Yea, it is come to this?
Let is be so: yet have I left a daughter,
Who, I am sure, is kind and comfortable:
When she shall hear this of thee, with her nails
She’ll flay thy wolvish visage. Thou shalt find
That I’ll resume the shape which thou dost think
I have cast off for ever: thou shalt,
I warrant thee.
[Exeunt KING LEAR, KENT, and Attendants.]
GONERIL: Do you mark that, my lord?
ALBANY: I cannot be so partial, Goneril,
To the great love I bear you,—
GONERIL: Pray you, content. What, Oswald, ho!
[To the Fool.]
You, sir, more knave than fool, after your master.
Fool: Nuncle Lear, nuncle Lear, tarry and take the
fool with thee.
A fox, when one has caught her,
And such a daughter,
Should sure to the slaughter,
If my cap would buy a halter:
So the fool follows after.
GONERIL: This man hath had good counsel:—a
hundred knights!
’Tis politic and safe to let him keep
At point a hundred knights: yes, that, on every
Each buzz, each fancy, each complaint, dislike,
He may enguard his dotage with their powers,
And hold our lives in mercy. Oswald, I say!
ALBANY: Well, you may fear too far.
GONERIL: Safer than trust too far:
Let me still take away the harms I fear,
Not fear still to be taken: I know his heart.
What he hath utter’d I have writ my sister
If she sustain him and his hundred knights
When I have show’d the unfitness,—
[Re-enter OSWALD.]
How now, Oswald!
What, have you writ that letter to my sister?
OSWALD: Yes, madam.
GONERIL: Take you some company, and away to
Inform her full of my particular fear;
And thereto add such reasons of your own
As may compact it more. Get you gone;
And hasten your return.
[Exit OSWALD.]
No, no, my lord,
This milky gentleness and course of yours
Though I condemn not, yet, under pardon,
You are much more attask’d for want of wisdom
Than praised for harmful mildness.
ALBANY: How far your eyes may pierce I can not tell:
Striving to better, oft we mar what’s well.
GONERIL: Nay, then—
ALBANY: Well, well; the event.
[Enter EDMUND, and CURAN meets him.]
EDMUND: Save thee, Curan.
CURAN: And you, sir. I have been with your father,
and given him notice that the Duke of Cornwall and
Regan his duchess will be here with him this night.
EDMUND: How comes that?
CURAN: Nay, I know not. You have heard of the
news abroad; I mean the whispered ones, for they
are yet but ear-kissing arguments?
EDMUND: Not I: pray you, what are they?
CURAN: Have you heard of no likely wars toward,
‘twixt the Dukes of Cornwall and Albany?
EDMUND: Not a word.
CURAN: You may do, then, in time. Fare you well, sir.
EDMUND: The duke be here to-night? The better!
This weaves itself perforce into my business.
My father hath set guard to take my brother;
And I have one thing, of a queasy question,
Which I must act: briefness and fortune, work!
Brother, a word; descend: brother, I say!
[Enter EDGAR.]
My father watches: O sir, fly this place;
Intelligence is given where you are hid;
You have now the good advantage of the night:
Have you not spoken ‘gainst the Duke of Cornwall?
He’s coming hither: now, i’ the night, i’ the haste,
And Regan with him: have you nothing said
Upon his party ‘gainst the Duke of Albany?
Advise yourself.
EDGAR: I am sure on’t, not a word.
EDMUND: I hear my father coming: pardon me:
In cunning I must draw my sword upon you
Draw; seem to defend yourself; now quit you well.
Fly, brother. Torches, torches! So, farewell.
[Exit EDGAR.]
Some blood drawn on me would beget opinion.
[Wounds his arm.]
Of my more fierce endeavor: I have seen drunkards
Do more than this in sport. Father, father!
Stop, stop! No help?
[Enter GLOUCESTER, and Servants with torches.]
GLOUCESTER: Now, Edmund, where’s the villain?
EDMUND: Here stood he in the dark, his sharp
sword out,
Mumbling of wicked charms, conjuring the moon
To stand auspicious mistress,—
GLOUCESTER: But where is he?
EDMUND: Look, sir, I bleed.
GLOUCESTER: Where is the villain,
EDMUND: Fled this way, sir. When by no means he
GLOUCESTER: Pursue him, ho! Go after.
[Exeunt some Servants.]
‘By no means’ what?
EDMUND: Persuade me to the murder of your
But that I told him, the revenging gods
‘Gainst parricides did all their thunders bend;
Spoke, with how manifold and strong a bond
Seeing how loathly opposite I stood
To his unnatural purpose, in fell motion,
With his prepared sword, he charges home
My unprovided body, lanced mine arm:
But when he saw my best alarum’d spirits,
Bold in the quarrel’s right, roused to the encounter,
Or whether gasted by the noise I made,
Full suddenly he fled.
GLOUCESTER: Let him fly far:
Not in this land shall he remain uncaught;
And found—dispatch. The noble duke my master,
My worthy arch and patron, comes to-night:
By his authority I will proclaim it,
That he which finds him shall deserve our thanks,
Bringing the murderous coward to the stake;
He that conceals him, death.
EDMUND: When I dissuaded him from his intent,
And found him pight to do it, with curst speech
I threaten’d to discover him: he replied,
‘Thou unpossessing bastard! dost thou think,
If I would stand against thee, would the reposal
Of any trust, virtue, or worth in thee
Make thy words faith’d? No: what I should deny,—
As this I would: ay, though thou didst produce
My very character,—I’ld turn it all
To thy suggestion, plot, and damned practice:
And thou must make a dullard of the world,
If they not thought the profits of my death
Were very pregnant and potential spurs
To make thee seek it.’
GLOUCESTER: Strong and fasten’d villain
Would he deny his letter? I never got him.
[Tucket within.]
Hark, the duke’s trumpets! I know not why he comes.
All ports I’ll bar; the villain shall not ‘scape;
The duke must grant me that: besides, his picture
I will send far and near, that all the kingdom
Loyal and natural boy, I’ll work the means
To make thee capable.
[Enter CORNWALL, REGAN, and Attendants.]
CORNWALL: How now, my noble friend! since I
came hither,
REGAN: If it be true, all vengeance comes too short
Which can pursue the offender. How dost, my lord?
GLOUCESTER: O, madam, my old heart is crack’d,
it’s crack’d!
REGAN: What, did my father’s godson seek your
He whom my father named? your Edgar?
GLOUCESTER: O, lady, lady, shame would have it hid!
REGAN: Was he not companion with the riotous
That tend upon my father?
GLOUCESTER: I know not, madam: ’tis too bad, too bad.
EDMUND: Yes, madam, he was of that consort.
REGAN: No marvel, then, though he were ill af
’Tis they have put him on the old man’s death,
To have the expense and waste of his revenues.
I have this present evening from my sister
Been well inform’d of them; and with such cautions,
That if they come to sojourn at my house,
I’ll not be there.
CORNWALL: Nor I, assure thee, Regan.
Edmund, I hear that you have shown your father
A child-like office.
EDMUND: ’Twas my duty, sir.
GLOUCESTER: He did bewray his practice; and
This hurt you see, striving to apprehend him.
CORNWALL: Is he pursued?
GLOUCESTER: Ay, my good lord.
CORNWALL: If he be taken, he shall never more
Be fear’d of doing harm: make your own purpose,
How in my strength you please. For you, Edmund,
Whose virtue and obedience doth this instant
So much commend itself, you shall be ours:
Natures of such deep trust we shall much need;
You we first seize on.
EDMUND: I shall serve you, sir,
Truly, however else.
GLOUCESTER: For him I thank your grace.
CORNWALL: You know not why we came to visit
REGAN: Thus out of season, threading dark-eyed
Occasions, noble Gloucester, of some poise,
Wherein we must have use of your advice:
Our father he hath writ, so hath our sister,
Of differences, which I least thought it fit
To answer from our home; the several messengers
From hence attend dispatch. Our good old friend,
Lay comforts to your bosom; and bestow
Your needful counsel to our business,
Which craves the instant use.
GLOUCESTER: I serve you, madam:
Your graces are right welcome.
SCENE II: Before Gloucester’s castle.
[Enter KENT and OSWALD, severally.]
OSWALD: Good dawning to thee, friend: art of this
OSWALD: Where may we set our horses?
KENT: I’ the mire.
OSWALD: Prithee, if thou lovest me, tell me.
KENT: I love thee not.
OSWALD: Why, then, I care not for thee.
KENT: If I had thee in Lipsbury pinfold, I would make
thee care for me.
OSWALD: Why dost thou use me thus? I know thee not.
KENT: Fellow, I know thee.
OSWALD: What dost thou know me for?
KENT: A knave; a rascal; an eater of broken meats; a
base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundredpound,
filthy, worsted-stocking knave; a lily-livered,
action-taking knave, a whoreson, glass-gazing, superserviceable
finical rogue; one-trunk-inheriting slave;
and art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar,
coward, pandar, and the son and heir of a mongrel
bitch: one whom I will beat into clamorous whining,
if thou deniest the least syllable of thy addition.
OSWALD: Why, what a monstrous fellow art thou,
thus to rail on one that is neither known of thee nor
knows thee!
KENT: What a brazen-faced varlet art thou, to deny
thou knowest me! Is it two days ago since I tripped
up thy heels, and beat thee before the king? Draw,
you rogue: for, though it be night, yet the moon shines;
I’ll make a sop o’ the moonshine of you:
draw, you whoreson cullionly barber-monger, draw.
[Drawing his sword.]
OSWALD: Away! I have nothing to do with thee.
KENT: Draw, you rascal: you come with letters against
the king; and take vanity the puppet’s part against the
royalty of her father: draw, you rogue, or I’ll so carbonado
your shanks: draw, you rascal; come your ways.
OSWALD: Help, ho! murder! help!
KENT: Strike, you slave; stand, rogue, stand; you neat
slave, strike.
[Beating him.]
OSWALD: Help, ho! murder! murder!
[Enter EDMUND, with his rapier drawn, CORNWALL,
REGAN, GLOUCESTER, and Servants.]
EDMUND: How now! What’s the matter?
KENT: With you, goodman boy, an you please: come,
I’ll flesh ye; come on, young master.
GLOUCESTER: Weapons! arms! What ‘s the matter here?
CORNWALL: Keep peace, upon your lives:
He dies that strikes again. What is the matter?
REGAN: The messengers from our sister and the king.
CORNWALL: What is your difference? speak.
OSWALD: I am scarce in breath, my lord.
KENT: No marvel, you have so bestirred your valor.
You cowardly rascal, nature disclaims in thee: a tailor
made thee.
CORNWALL: Thou art a strange fellow: a tailor make
a man?
KENT: Ay, a tailor, sir: a stone-cutter or painter could
not have made him so ill, though he had been but
two hours at the trade.
CORNWALL: Speak yet, how grew your quarrel?
OSWALD: This ancient ruffian, sir, whose life I have
spared at suit of his gray beard,—
KENT: Thou whoreson zed! thou unnecessary letter!
My lord, if you will give me leave, I will tread this
unbolted villain into mortar, and daub the wall of a
jakes with him. Spare my gray beard, you wagtail?
CORNWALL: Peace, sirrah!
You beastly knave, know you no reverence?
KENT: Yes, sir; but anger hath a privilege.
CORNWALL: Why art thou angry?
KENT: That such a slave as this should wear a
Who wears no honesty. Such smiling rogues as
Like rats, oft bite the holy cords a-twain
Which are too intrinse t’ unloose; smooth every
That in the natures of their lords rebel;
Bring oil to fire, snow to their colder moods;
Renege, affirm, and turn their halcyon beaks
With every gale and vary of their masters,
Knowing nought, like dogs, but following.
A plague upon your epileptic visage!
Smile you my speeches, as I were a fool?
Goose, if I had you upon Sarum plain,
I’ld drive ye cackling home to Camelot.
CORNWALL: Why, art thou mad, old fellow?
GLOUCESTER: How fell you out? say that.
KENT: No contraries hold more antipathy
Than I and such a knave.
CORNWALL: Why dost thou call him a knave?
What’s his offence?
KENT: His countenance likes me not.
CORNWALL: No more, perchance, does mine, nor
his, nor hers.
KENT: Sir, ’tis my occupation to be plain:
I have seen better faces in my time
Than stands on any shoulder that I see
Before me at this instant.
CORNWALL: This is some fellow,
Who, having been praised for bluntness, doth affect
A saucy roughness, and constrains the garb
Quite from his nature: he cannot flatter, he,
An honest mind and plain, he must speak truth!
An they will take it, so; if not, he’s plain.
These kind of knaves I know, which in this plainness
Harbor more craft and more corrupter ends
Than twenty silly ducking observants
That stretch their duties nicely.
KENT: Sir, in good sooth, in sincere verity,
Under the allowance of your great aspect,
Whose influence, like the wreath of radiant fire
On flickering Phoebus’ front,—
CORNWALL: What mean’st by this?
KENT: To go out of my dialect, which you
discommend so much. I know, sir, I am no flatterer:
he that beguiled you in a plain accent was a plain
knave; which for my part I will not be, though I should
win your displeasure to entreat me to ‘t.
CORNWALL: What was the offence you gave him?
OSWALD: I never gave him any:
It pleased the king his master very late
To strike at me, upon his misconstruction;
When he, conjunct and flattering his displeasure,
Tripp’d me behind; being down, insulted, rail’d,
And put upon him such a deal of man,
That worthied him, got praises of the king
For him attempting who was self-subdued;
And, in the fleshment of this dread exploit,
Drew on me here again.
KENT: None of these rogues and cowards
But Ajax is their fool.
CORNWALL: Fetch forth the stocks!
You stubborn ancient knave, you reverend braggart,
We’ll teach you—
KENT: Sir, I am too old to learn:
Call not your stocks for me: I serve the king;
On whose employment I was sent to you:
You shall do small respect, show too bold malice
Against the grace and person of my master,
Stocking his messenger.
CORNWALL: Fetch forth the stocks! As I have life
and honor,
There shall he sit till noon.
REGAN: Till noon! till night, my lord; and all night
KENT: Why, madam, if I were your father’s dog,
You should not use me so.
REGAN: Sir, being his knave, I will.
CORNWALL: This is a fellow of the self-same color
Our sister speaks of. Come, bring away the stocks!
[Stocks brought out.]
GLOUCESTER: Let me beseech your grace not to do
His fault is much, and the good king his master
Will check him for ‘t: your purposed low correction
Is such as basest and contemned’st wretches
For pilferings and most common trespasses
Are punish’d with: the king must take it ill,
That he’s so slightly valued in his messenger,
Should have him thus restrain’d.
CORNWALL: I’ll answer that.
REGAN: My sister may receive it much more worse,
To have her gentleman abused, assaulted,
For following her affairs. Put in his legs.
[KENT is put in the stocks.]
Come, my good lord, away.
[Exeunt all but GLOUCESTER and KENT.]
GLOUCESTER: I am sorry for thee, friend; ’tis the
duke’s pleasure,
Whose disposition, all the world well knows,
Will not be rubb’d nor stopp’d: I’ll entreat for thee.
KENT: Pray, do not, sir: I have watched andtravell’d
Some time I shall sleep out, the rest I’ll whistle.
A good man’s fortune may grow out at heels:
Give you good morrow!
GLOUCESTER: The duke’s to blame in this; ‘twill be
ill taken.
KENT: Good king, that must approve the common
Thou out of heaven’s benediction comest
To the warm sun!
Approach, thou beacon to this under globe,
That by thy comfortable beams I may
Peruse this letter! Nothing almost sees miracles
But misery: I know ’tis from Cordelia,
Who hath most fortunately been inform’d
Of my obscured course;
And shall find time
From this enormous state, seeking to give
Losses their remedies.
All weary and o’erwatch’d,
Take vantage, heavy eyes, not to behold
This shameful lodging.
Fortune, good night: smile once more: turn thy
SCENE IV: Before GLOUCESTER’s castle. KENT in
the stocks.
[Enter KING LEAR, Fool, and Gentleman.]
KING LEAR: ’Tis strange that they should so depart
from home,
And not send back my messenger.
Gentleman: As I learn’d,
The night before there was no purpose in them
Of this remove.
KENT: Hail to thee, noble master!
Makest thou this shame thy pastime?
KENT: No, my lord.
Fool: Ha, ha! he wears cruel garters. Horses are tied
by the heads, dogs and bears by the neck, monkeys
by the loins, and men by the legs: when a man’s
over-lusty at legs, then he wears wooden
KING LEAR: What’s he that hath so much thy place
To set thee here?
KENT: It is both he and she;
Your son and daughter.
KENT: Yes.
KING LEAR: No, I say.
KENT: I say, yea.
KING LEAR: No, no, they would not.
KENT: Yes, they have.
KING LEAR: By Jupiter, I swear, no.
KENT: By Juno, I swear, ay.
KING LEAR: They durst not do ‘t;
They could not, would not do ‘t; ’tis worse than
To do upon respect such violent outrage:
Resolve me, with all modest haste, which way
Thou mightst deserve, or they impose, this usage,
Coming from us.
KENT: My lord, when at their home
I did commend your highness’ letters to them,
Ere I was risen from the place that show’d
My duty kneeling, came there a reeking post,
Stew’d in his haste, half breathless, panting forth
From Goneril his mistress salutations;
Deliver’d letters, spite of intermission,
Which presently they read: on whose contents,
They summon’d up their meiny, straight took horse;
Commanded me to follow, and attend
The leisure of their answer; gave me cold looks:
And meeting here the other messenger,
Whose welcome, I perceived, had poison’d mine,—
Being the very fellow that of late
Display’d so saucily against your highness,—
Having more man than wit about me, drew:
He raised the house with loud and coward cries.
Your son and daughter found this trespass worth
The shame which here it suffers.
Fool: Winter’s not gone yet, if the wild-geese fly that
Fathers that wear rags
Do make their children blind;
But fathers that bear bags
Shall see their children kind.
Fortune, that arrant whore,
Ne’er turns the key to the poor.
But, for all this, thou shalt have as many dolors for
thy daughters as thou canst tell in a year.
KING LEAR: O, how this mother swells up toward
my heart!
Hysterica passio, down, thou climbing sorrow,
Thy element’s below! Where is this daughter?
KENT: With the earl, sir, here within.
KING LEAR [to attendants]: Follow me not;
Stay here.
Gentleman: Made you no more offence but what
you speak of?
KENT: None.
How chance the king comes with so small a train?
Fool: And thou hadst been set i’ the stocks for that
question, thou hadst well deserved it.
KENT: Why, fool?
Fool: We’ll set thee to school to an ant, to teach thee
there’s no laboring i’ the winter. All that follow their
noses are led by their eyes but blind men; and there’s
not a nose among twenty but can smell him that’s
stinking. Let go thy hold when a great wheel
runs down a hill, lest it break thy neck with following
it: but the great one that goes up the hill, let him
draw thee after. When a wise man gives thee better
counsel, give me mine again: I would have none but
knaves follow it, since a fool gives it.
That sir which serves and seeks for gain,
And follows but for form,
Will pack when it begins to rain,
And leave thee in the storm,
But I will tarry; the fool will stay,
And let the wise man fly:
The knave turns fool that runs away;
The fool no knave, perdy.
KENT: Where learned you this, fool?
Fool: Not i’ the stocks, fool.
KING LEAR: Deny to speak with me? They are sick?
they are weary?
They have travell’d all the night? Mere fetches;
The images of revolt and flying off.
Fetch me a better answer.
GLOUCESTER: My dear lord,
You know the fiery quality of the duke;
How unremoveable and fix’d he is
In his own course.
KING LEAR: Vengeance! plague! death! confusion!
Fiery? what quality? Why, Gloucester, Gloucester,
I’ld speak with the Duke of Cornwall and his wife.
GLOUCESTER: Well, my good lord, I have inform’d
them so.
KING LEAR: Inform’d them! Dost thou understand
me, man?
GLOUCESTER: Ay, my good lord.
KING LEAR: The king would speak with Cornwall;
the dear father
Would with his daughter speak, commands her
Are they inform’d of this? My breath and blood!
Fiery? the fiery duke? Tell the hot duke that—
No, but not yet: may be he is not well:
Infirmity doth still neglect all office
Whereto our health is bound; we are not ourselves
When nature, being oppress’d, commands the mind
To suffer with the body: I’ll forbear;
And am fall’n out with my more headier will,
To take the indisposed and sickly fit
For the sound man. Death on my state! wherefore
[Looking on KENT.]
Should he sit here? This act persuades me
That this remotion of the duke and her
Is practice only. Give me my servant forth.
Go tell the duke and ‘s wife I’ld speak with them,
Now, presently: bid them come forth and hear me,
Or at their chamber-door I’ll beat the drum
Till it cry sleep to death.
GLOUCESTER: I would have all well betwixt you.
KING LEAR: O me, my heart, my rising heart! but,
Fool: Cry to it, nuncle, as the cockney did to the eels
when she put ‘em i’ the paste alive; she knapped ‘em
o’ the coxcombs with a stick, and cried ‘Down,
wantons, down!’ ’Twas her brother that, in pure
kindness to his horse, buttered his hay.
[Enter CORNWALL, REGAN, GLOUCESTER, and Servants.]
KING LEAR: Good morrow to you both.
CORNWALL: Hail to your grace!
[KENT is set at liberty.]
REGAN: I am glad to see your highness.
KING LEAR: Regan, I think you are; I know what
I have to think so: if thou shouldst not be glad,
I would divorce me from thy mother’s tomb,
Sepulchring an adultress.
[To KENT.]
O, are you free?
Some other time for that. Beloved Regan,
Thy sister’s naught: O Regan, she hath tied
Sharp-tooth’d unkindness, like a vulture, here:
[Points to his heart.]
I can scarce speak to thee; thou’lt not believe
With how depraved a quality—O Regan!
REGAN: I pray you, sir, take patience: I have hope.
You less know how to value her desert
Than she to scant her duty.
KING LEAR: Say, how is that?
REGAN: I cannot think my sister in the least
Would fail her obligation: if, sir, perchance
She have restrain’d the riots of your followers,
‘Tis on such ground, and to such wholesome end,
As clears her from all blame.
KING LEAR: My curses on her!
REGAN: O, sir, you are old.
Nature in you stands on the very verge
Of her confine: you should be ruled and led
By some discretion, that discerns your state
Better than you yourself. Therefore, I pray you,
That to our sister you do make return;
Say you have wrong’d her, sir.
KING LEAR: Ask her forgiveness?
Do you but mark how this becomes the house:
‘Dear daughter, I confess that I am old;
Age is unnecessary: on my knees I beg
That you’ll vouchsafe me raiment, bed, and food.’
REGAN: Good sir, no more; these are unsightly
Return you to my sister.
KING LEAR: [Rising] Never, Regan:
She hath abated me of half my train;
Look’d black upon me; struck me with her tongue,
Most serpent-like, upon the very heart:
All the stored vengeances of heaven fall
On her ingrateful top! Strike her young bones,
You taking airs, with lameness!
CORNWALL: Fie, sir, fie!
KING LEAR: You nimble lightnings, dart your blinding
Into her scornful eyes! Infect her beauty,
You fen-suck’d fogs, drawn by the powerful sun,
To fall and blast her pride!
REGAN: O the blest gods! so will you wish on me,
When the rash mood is on.
KING LEAR: No, Regan, thou shalt never have my
Thy tender-hefted nature shall not give
Thee o’er to harshness: her eyes are fierce; but
Do comfort and not burn. ’Tis not in thee
To grudge my pleasures, to cut off my train,
To bandy hasty words, to scant my sizes,
And in conclusion to oppose the bolt
Against my coming in: thou better know’st
The offices of nature, bond of childhood,
Effects of courtesy, dues of gratitude;
Thy half o’ the kingdom hast thou not forgot,
Wherein I thee endow’d.
REGAN: Good sir, to the purpose.
KING LEAR: Who put my man i’ the stocks?
[Tucket within.]
CORNWALL: What trumpet’s that?
REGAN: I know’t, my sister’s: this approves her letter,
That she would soon be here.
[Enter OSWALD.]
Is your lady come?
KING LEAR: This is a slave, whose easy-borrow’d
Dwells in the fickle grace of her he follows.
Out, varlet, from my sight!
CORNWALL: What means your grace?
KING LEAR: Who stock’d my servant? Regan, I have
good hope
Thou didst not know on’t.
[Enter GONERIL.]
Who comes here? O heavens,
If you do love old men, if your sweet sway
Allow obedience, if yourselves are old,
Make it your cause; send down, and take my part!
Art not ashamed to look upon this beard?
O Regan, wilt thou take her by the hand?
GONERIL: Why not by the hand, sir? How have I
All’s not offence that indiscretion finds
And dotage terms so.
KING LEAR: O sides, you are too tough;
Will you yet hold? How came my man i’ the stocks?
CORNWALL: I set him there, sir: but his own disorders
Deserved much less advancement.
KING LEAR: You! did you?
REGAN: I pray you, father, being weak, seem so.
If, till the expiration of your month,
You will return and sojourn with my sister,
Dismissing half your train, come then to me:
I am now from home, and out of that provision
Which shall be needful for your entertainment.
KING LEAR: Return to her, and fifty men dismiss’d?
No, rather I abjure all roofs, and choose
To wage against the enmity o’ the air;
To be a comrade with the wolf and owl,—
Necessity’s sharp pinch! Return with her?
Why, the hot-blooded France, that dowerless took
Our youngest born, I could as well be brought
To knee his throne, and, squire-like; pension beg
To keep base life afoot. Return with her?
Persuade me rather to be slave and sumpter
To this detested groom.
[Pointing at OSWALD.]
GONERIL: At your choice, sir.
KING LEAR: I prithee, daughter, do not make me mad:
I will not trouble thee, my child; farewell:
We’ll no more meet, no more see one another:
Or rather a disease that’s in my flesh,
Which I must needs call mine: thou art a boil,
A plague-sore, an embossed carbuncle,
In my corrupted blood. But I’ll not chide thee;
Let shame come when it will, I do not call it:
I do not bid the thunder-bearer shoot,
Nor tell tales of thee to high-judging Jove:
Mend when thou canst; be better at thy leisure:
I can be patient; I can stay with Regan,
I and my hundred knights.
REGAN: Not altogether so:
I look’d not for you yet, nor am provided
For those that mingle reason with your passion
Must be content to think you old, and so—
But she knows what she does.
KING LEAR: Is this well spoken?
REGAN: I dare avouch it, sir: what, fifty followers?
Is it not well? What should you need of more?
Yea, or so many, sith that both charge and danger
Speak ‘gainst so great a number? How, in one house,
Should many people, under two commands,
Hold amity? ’Tis hard; almost impossible.
GONERIL: Why might not you, my lord, receive
From those that she calls servants or from mine?
REGAN: Why not, my lord? If then they chanced to
slack you,
We could control them. If you will come to me,—
For now I spy a danger,—I entreat you
To bring but five and twenty: to no more
Will I give place or notice.
KING LEAR: I gave you all—
REGAN: And in good time you gave it.
KING LEAR: Made you my guardians, my depositaries;
But kept a reservation to be follow’d
With such a number. What, must I come to you
With five and twenty, Regan? said you so?
REGAN: And speak’t again, my lord; no more with me.
KING LEAR: Those wicked creatures yet do look
When others are more wicked: not being the worst
Stands in some rank of praise.
I’ll go with thee:
Thy fifty yet doth double five and twenty,
And thou art twice her love.
GONERIL: Hear me, my lord;
What need you five and twenty, ten, or five,
To follow in a house where twice so many
Have a command to tend you?
REGAN: What need one?
KING LEAR: O, reason not the need: our basest
Are in the poorest thing superfluous:
Allow not nature more than nature needs,
Man’s life’s as cheap as beast’s: thou art a lady;
If only to go warm were gorgeous,
Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear’st,
Which scarcely keeps thee warm. But, for true need,—
You heavens, give me that patience, patience I need!
As full of grief as age; wretched in both!
If it be you that stir these daughters’ hearts
Against their father, fool me not so much
To bear it tamely; touch me with noble anger,
And let not women’s weapons, water-drops,
Stain my man’s cheeks! No, you unnatural hags,
I will have such revenges on you both,
That all the world shall—I will do such things,—
The terrors of the earth. You think I’ll weep
No, I’ll not weep:
I have full cause of weeping; but this heart
Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws,
[Storm and tempest.]
CORNWALL: Let us withdraw; ‘twill be a storm.
REGAN: This house is little: the old man and his
Cannot be well bestow’d.
GONERIL: ’Tis his own blame; hath put himself from
And must needs taste his folly.
REGAN: For his particular, I’ll receive him gladly,
But not one follower.
GONERIL: So am I purposed.
Where is my lord of Gloucester?
CORNWALL: Follow’d the old man forth: he is
[Re-enter GLOUCESTER.]
GLOUCESTER: The king is in high rage.
CORNWALL: Whither is he going?
GLOUCESTER: He calls to horse; but will I know not
CORNWALL: ’Tis best to give him way; he leads
GONERIL: My lord, entreat him by no means to stay.
GLOUCESTER: Alack, the night comes on, and the
bleak winds
Do sorely ruffle; for many miles about
There’s scarce a bush.
REGAN: O, sir, to wilful men,
The injuries that they themselves procure
Must be their schoolmasters. Shut up your doors:
He is attended with a desperate train;
And what they may incense him to, being apt
To have his ear abused, wisdom bids fear.
CORNWALL: Shut up your doors, my lord; ’tis a wild
My Regan counsels well; come out o’ the storm.
SCENE I: A heath.
[Storm still. Enter KENT and a Gentleman, meeting.]
KENT: Who’s there, besides foul weather?
Gentleman: One minded like the weather, most
KENT: I know you. Where’s the king?
Gentleman: Contending with the fretful element:
Bids the winds blow the earth into the sea,
Or swell the curled water ‘bove the main,
That things might change or cease; tears his white
Which the impetuous blasts, with eyeless rage,
Catch in their fury, and make nothing of;
Strives in his little world of man to out-scorn
The to-and-fro-conflicting wind and rain.
This night, wherein the cub-drawn bear would couch,
The lion and the belly-pinched wolf
Keep their fur dry, unbonneted he runs,
And bids what will take all.
KENT: But who is with him?
Gentleman: None but the fool; who labors to outjest
His heart-struck injuries.
KENT: Sir, I do know you;
And dare, upon the warrant of my note,
Commend a dear thing to you. There is division,
Although as yet the face of it be cover’d
With mutual cunning, ‘twixt Albany and Cornwall;
Who have—as who have not, that their great stars
Throned and set high?—servants, who seem no less,
Which are to France the spies and speculations
Intelligent of our state; what hath been seen,
Either in snuffs and packings of the dukes,
Or the hard rein which both of them have borne
Against the old kind king; or something deeper,
Whereof perchance these are but furnishings;
But, true it is, from France there comes a power
Into this scatter’d kingdom; who already,
Wise in our negligence, have secret feet
In some of our best ports, and are at point
To show their open banner. Now to you:
If on my credit you dare build so far
To make your speed to Dover, you shall find
Some that will thank you, making just report
Of how unnatural and bemadding sorrow
The king hath cause to plain.
I am a gentleman of blood and breeding;
And, from some knowledge and assurance, offer
This office to you.
Gentleman: I will talk further with you.
KENT: No, do not.
For confirmation that I am much more
Than my out-wall, open this purse, and take
What it contains. If you shall see Cordelia,—
As fear not but you shall,—show her this ring;
And she will tell you who your fellow is
That yet you do not know. Fie on this storm!
I will go seek the king.
Gentleman: Give me your hand: have you no
more to say?
KENT: Few words, but, to effect, more than all yet;
That, when we have found the king,—in which your
That way, I’ll this,—he that first lights on him
Holla the other.
[Exeunt severally.]
SCENE II: Another part of the heath. Storm still.
[Enter KING LEAR and Fool.]
KING LEAR: Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks!
rage! blow!
You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout
Till you have drench’d our steeples, drown’d the cocks!
You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts,
Smite flat the thick rotundity o’ the world!
Crack nature’s moulds, an germens spill at once,
That make ingrateful man!
Fool: O nuncle, court holy-water in a dry house is
better than this rain-water out o’ door. Good nuncle,
in, and ask thy daughters’ blessing: here’s a night
pities neither wise man nor fool.
KING LEAR: Rumble thy bellyful! Spit, fire! spout, rain!
Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters:
I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness;
I never gave you kingdom, call’d you children,
You owe me no subscription: then let fall
Your horrible pleasure: here I stand, your slave,
A poor, infirm, weak, and despised old man:
But yet I call you servile ministers,
That have with two pernicious daughters join’d
Your high engender’d battles ‘gainst a head
So old and white as this. O! O! ’tis foul!
Fool: He that has a house to put’s head in has a
good head-piece.
The cod-piece that will house
Before the head has any,
The head and he shall louse;
So beggars marry many.
The man that makes his toe
What he his heart should make
Shall of a corn cry woe,
And turn his sleep to wake.
For there was never yet fair woman but she made
mouths in a glass.
KING LEAR: No, I will be the pattern of all patience; I
will say nothing.
[Enter KENT.]
KENT: Who’s there?
Fool: Marry, here’s grace and a cod-piece; that’s a
wise man and a fool.
KENT: Alas, sir, are you here? things that love night
Love not such nights as these; the wrathful skies
Gallow the very wanderers of the dark,
And make them keep their caves: since I was man,
Such sheets of fire, such bursts of horrid thunder,
Such groans of roaring wind and rain, I never
Remember to have heard: man’s nature cannot carry
The affliction nor the fear.
KING LEAR: Let the great gods,
That keep this dreadful pother o’er our heads,
Find out their enemies now. Tremble, thou wretch,
That hast within thee undivulged crimes,
Unwhipp’d of justice: hide thee, thou bloody hand;
Thou perjured, and thou simular man of virtue
That art incestuous: caitiff, to pieces shake,
That under covert and convenient seeming
Hast practised on man’s life: close pent-up guilts,
Rive your concealing continents, and cry
These dreadful summoners grace. I am a man
More sinn’d against than sinning.
KENT: Alack, bare-headed!
Gracious my lord, hard by here is a hovel;
Some friendship will it lend you ‘gainst the tempest:
Repose you there; while I to this hard house—
More harder than the stones whereof ’tis raised;
Which even but now, demanding after you,
Denied me to come in—return, and force
Their scanted courtesy.
KING LEAR: My wits begin to turn.
Come on, my boy: how dost, my boy? art cold?
I am cold myself. Where is this straw, my fellow?
The art of our necessities is strange,
That can make vile things precious. Come, your
Poor fool and knave, I have one part in my heart
That’s sorry yet for thee.
Fool: [Singing.]
He that has and a little tiny wit—
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,—
Must make content with his fortunes fit,
For the rain it raineth every day.
KING LEAR: True, my good boy. Come, bring us to
this hovel.
[Exeunt KING LEAR and KENT.]
Fool: This is a brave night to cool a courtezan.
I’ll speak a prophecy ere I go:
When priests are more in word than matter;
When brewers mar their malt with water;
When nobles are their tailors’ tutors;
No heretics burn’d, but wenches’ suitors;
When every case in law is right;
No squire in debt, nor no poor knight;
When slanders do not live in tongues;
Nor cutpurses come not to throngs;
When usurers tell their gold i’ the field;
And bawds and whores do churches build;
Then shall the realm of Albion
Come to great confusion:
Then comes the time, who lives to see’t,
That going shall be used with feet.
This prophecy Merlin shall make; for I live before
his time.
SCENE III: A wood.
[Enter EDGAR.]
EDGAR: I heard myself proclaim’d;
And by the happy hollow of a tree
Escaped the hunt. No port is free; no place,
That guard, and most unusual vigilance,
Does not attend my taking. Whiles I may ‘scape,
I will preserve myself: and am bethought
To take the basest and most poorest shape
That ever penury, in contempt of man,
Brought near to beast: my face I’ll grime with filth;
Blanket my loins: elf all my hair in knots;
And with presented nakedness out-face
The winds and persecutions of the sky.
The country gives me proof and precedent
Of Bedlam beggars, who, with roaring voices,
Strike in their numb’d and mortified bare arms
Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary;
And with this horrible object, from low farms,
Poor pelting villages, sheep-cotes, and mills,
Sometime with lunatic bans, sometime with prayers,
Enforce their charity. Poor Turlygod! poor Tom!
That’s something yet: Edgar I nothing am.
SCENE IV: The heath. Before a hovel.
[Enter KING LEAR, KENT, and Fool.]
KENT: Here is the place, my lord; good my lord,
The tyranny of the open night’s too rough
For nature to endure.
[Storm still.]
KING LEAR: Let me alone.
KENT: Good my lord, enter here.
KING LEAR: Wilt break my heart?
KENT: I had rather break mine own. Good my lord,
KING LEAR: Thou think’st ’tis much that this contentious
Invades us to the skin: so ’tis to thee;
But where the greater malady is fix’d,
The lesser is scarce felt. Thou’ldst shun a bear;
But if thy flight lay toward the raging sea,
Thou’ldst meet the bear i’ the mouth. When the
mind’s free,
The body’s delicate: the tempest in my mind
Doth from my senses take all feeling else
Save what beats there. Filial ingratitude!
Is it not as this mouth should tear this hand
For lifting food to’t? But I will punish home:
No, I will weep no more. In such a night
To shut me out! Pour on; I will endure.
In such a night as this! O Regan, Goneril!
Your old kind father, whose frank heart gave all,—
O, that way madness lies; let me shun that;
No more of that.
KENT: Good my lord, enter here.
KING LEAR: Prithee, go in thyself: seek thine own
This tempest will not give me leave to ponder
On things would hurt me more. But I’ll go in.
[To the Fool.]
In, boy; go first. You houseless poverty,—
Nay, get thee in. I’ll pray, and then I’ll sleep.
[Fool goes in.]
Poor naked wretches, whereso’er you are,
That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,
How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,
Your loop’d and window’d raggedness, defend you
From seasons such as these? O, I have ta’en
Too little care of this! Take physic, pomp;
Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel,
That thou mayst shake the superflux to them,
And show the heavens more just.
EDGAR: [Within] Fathom and half, fathom and half!
Poor Tom!
[The Fool runs out from the hovel.]
Fool: Come not in here, nuncle, here’s a spirit. Help
me, help me!
KENT: Give me thy hand. Who’s there?
Fool: A spirit, a spirit: he says his name’s poor Tom.
KENT: What art thou that dost grumble there i’ the
Come forth.
[Enter EDGAR disguised as a mad man.]
EDGAR: Away! the foul fiend follows me! Through
the sharp hawthorn blows the cold wind. Hum! go to
thy cold bed, and warm thee.
KING LEAR: Hast thou given all to thy two daughters?
And art thou come to this?
EDGAR: Who gives any thing to poor Tom? whom
the foul fiend hath led through fire and through flame,
and through ford and whirlipool e’er bog and quagmire;
that hath laid knives under his pillow, and halters
in his pew; set ratsbane by his porridge; made
film proud of heart, to ride on a bay trotting-horse
over four-inched bridges, to course his own shadow
for a traitor. Bless thy five wits! Tom’s a-cold,—O, do
de, do de, do de. Bless thee from whirlwinds, starblasting,
and taking! Do poor Tom some charity,
whom the foul fiend vexes: there could I have him
now,—and there,—and there again, and there.
[Storm still.]
KING LEAR: What! have his daughters brought him
to this pass?
Couldst thou save nothing? Didst thou give them all?
Fool: Nay, he reserved a blanket, else we had been
all shamed.
KING LEAR: Now, all the plagues that in the pendulous
Hang fated o’er men’s faults light on thy daughters!
KENT: He hath no daughters, sir.
KING LEAR: Death, traitor! nothing could have
subdued nature
To such a lowness but his unkind daughters.
Is it the fashion, that discarded fathers
Should have thus little mercy on their flesh?
Judicious punishment! ’twas this flesh begot
Those pelican daughters.
EDGAR: Pillicock sat on Pillicock-hill:
Halloo, halloo, loo, loo!
Fool: This cold night will turn us all to fools and madmen.
EDGAR: Take heed o’ the foul fiend: obey thy parents;
keep thy word justly; swear not; commit not
with man’s sworn spouse; set not thy sweet heart on
proud array. Tom’s a-cold.
KING LEAR: What hast thou been?
EDGAR: A serving-man, proud in heart and mind;
that curled my hair; wore gloves in my cap; served
the lust of my mistress’ heart, and did the act of darkness
with her; swore as many oaths as I spake words,
and broke them in the sweet face of heaven: one
that slept in the contriving of lust, and waked to do it:
wine loved I deeply, dice dearly: and in woman outparamoured
the Turk: false of heart, light of ear, bloody
of hand; hog in sloth, fox in stealth, wolf in greediness,
dog in madness, lion in prey. Let not the creaking
of shoes nor the rustling of silks betray thy poor
heart to woman: keep thy foot out of brothels, thy
hand out of plackets, thy pen from lenders’ books,
and defy the foul fiend Still through the hawthorn
blows the cold wind: Says suum, mun, ha, no, nonny.
Dolphin my boy, my boy, sessa! let him trot by.
[Storm still.]
KING LEAR: Why, thou wert better in thy grave than
to answer with thy uncovered body this extremity of
the skies. Is man no more than this? Consider him
the sheep no wool, the cat no perfume. Ha! here’s
three on ‘s are sophisticated! Thou art the thing itself:
unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor
come unbutton here.
[Tearing off his clothes.]
Fool: Prithee, nuncle, be contented; ’tis a naughty
night to swim in. Now a little fire in a wild field were
like an old lecher’s heart; a small spark, all the
rest on’s body cold. Look, here comes a walking
[Enter GLOUCESTER, with a torch.]
EDGAR: This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet: he begins
at curfew, and walks till the first cock; he gives
the web and the pin, squints the eye, and makes the
creature of earth.
S. Withold footed thrice the old;
Bid her alight,
And her troth plight,
And, aroint thee, witch, aroint thee!
KENT: How fares your grace?
KING LEAR: What’s he?
KENT: Who’s there? What is’t you seek?
GLOUCESTER: What are you there? Your names?
EDGAR: Poor Tom; that eats the swimming frog, the
toad, the tadpole, the wall-newt and the water; that
in the fury of his heart, when the foul fiend rages,
eats cow-dung for sallets; swallows the old rat and
the ditch-dog; drinks the green mantle of the
standing pool; who is whipped from tithing to
tithing, and stock-punished, and imprisoned; who
hath had three suits to his back, six shirts to his
Horse to ride, and weapon to wear;
But mice and rats, and such small deer,
Have been Tom’s food for seven long year.
Beware my follower. Peace, Smulkin; peace, thou
GLOUCESTER: What, hath your grace no better
EDGAR: The prince of darkness is a gentleman:
Modo he’s call’d, and Mahu.
GLOUCESTER: Our flesh and blood, my lord, is
grown so vile,
That it doth hate what gets it.
EDGAR: Poor Tom’s a-cold.
GLOUCESTER: Go in with me. My duty cannot suffer
To obey in all your daughters’ hard commands:
Though their injunction be to bar my doors,
And let this tyrannous night take hold upon you,
Yet have I ventured to come seek you out,
And bring you where both fire and food is ready.
KING LEAR: First let me talk with this philosopher.
What is the cause of thunder?
KENT: Good my lord,
Take his offer; go into the house.
KING LEAR: I’ll talk a word with this same learned
What is your study?
EDGAR: How to prevent the fiend, and to kill vermin.
KING LEAR: Let me ask you one word in private.
KENT: Importune him once more to go, my lord;
His wits begin to unsettle.
GLOUCESTER: Canst thou blame him?
[Storm still.]
His daughters seek his death: ah, that good Kent!
He said it would be thus, poor banish’d man!
Thou say’st the king grows mad; I’ll tell thee, friend,
I am almost mad myself: I had a son,
Now outlaw’d from my blood; he sought my life,
But lately, very late: I loved him, friend;
No father his son dearer: truth to tell thee,
The grief hath crazed my wits. What a night’s this!
I do beseech your grace,—
KING LEAR: O, cry your mercy, sir.
Noble philosopher, your company.
EDGAR: Tom’s a-cold.
GLOUCESTER: In, fellow, there, into the hovel:
keep thee warm.
KING LEAR: Come let’s in all.
KENT: This way, my lord.
KING LEAR: With him;
I will keep still with my philosopher.
KENT: Good my lord, soothe him; let him take the
GLOUCESTER: Take him you on.
KENT: Sirrah, come on; go along with us.
KING LEAR: Come, good Athenian.
GLOUCESTER: No words, no words: hush.
EDGAR: Child Rowland to the dark tower came,
His word was still,—Fie, foh, and fum,
I smell the blood of a British man.
SCENE V: Gloucester’s castle.
CORNWALL: I will have my revenge ere I depart his
EDMUND: How, my lord, I may be censured, that
nature thus gives way to loyalty, something fears me
to think of.
CORNWALL: I now perceive, it was not altogether
your brother’s evil disposition made him seek his
death; but a provoking merit, set a-work by a
reprovable badness in himself.
EDMUND: How malicious is my fortune, that I must
repent to be just! This is the letter he spoke of, which
approves him an intelligent party to the advantages
of France: O heavens! that this treason were not, or
not I the detector!
CORNWALL: Go with me to the duchess.
EDMUND: If the matter of this paper be certain, you
have mighty business in hand.
CORNWALL: True or false, it hath made thee earl of
Gloucester. Seek out where thy father is, that he may
be ready for our apprehension.
EDMUND: [Aside] If I find him comforting the king, it
will stuff his suspicion more fully.—I will persevere in
my course of loyalty, though the conflict be sore
between that and my blood.
CORNWALL: I will lay trust upon thee; and thou shalt
find a dearer father in my love.
SCENE VI: A chamber in a farmhouse adjoining the
GLOUCESTER: Here is better than the open air; take
it thankfully. I will piece out the comfort with what
addition I can: I will not be long from you.
KENT: All the power of his wits have given way to
his impatience: the gods reward your kindness!
[Enter Lear, Edgar, and Fool.]
EDGAR: Frateretto calls me; and tells me Nero is an
angler in the lake of darkness. Pray, innocent, and
beware the foul fiend.
Fool: Prithee, nuncle, tell me whether a madman be
a gentleman or a yeoman?
KING LEAR: A king, a king!
Fool: No, he’s a yeoman that has a gentleman to his
son; for he’s a mad yeoman that sees his son a gentleman
before him.
KING LEAR: To have a thousand with red burning
Come hissing in upon ‘em,—
EDGAR: The foul fiend bites my back.
Fool: He’s mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf, a
horse’s health, a boy’s love, or a whore’s oath.
KING LEAR: It shall be done; I will arraign them
Come, sit thou here, most learned justicer;
[To the Fool.]
Thou, sapient sir, sit here. Now, you she foxes!
EDGAR: Look, where he stands and glares! Wantest
thou eyes at trial, madam?
Come o’er the bourn, Bessy, to me,—
Fool: Her boat hath a leak,
And she must not speak
Why she dares not come over to thee.
EDGAR: The foul fiend haunts poor Tom in the voice
of a nightingale. Hopdance cries in Tom’s belly for
two white herring. Croak not, black angel; I have no
food for thee.
KENT: How do you, sir? Stand you not so amazed:
Will you lie down and rest upon the cushions?
KING LEAR: I’ll see their trial first. Bring in the
Thou robed man of justice, take thy place;
[To the Fool.]
And thou, his yoke-fellow of equity,
Bench by his side:
[To KENT.]
you are o’ the commission,
Sit you too.
EDGAR: Let us deal justly.
Sleepest or wakest thou, jolly shepherd?
Thy sheep be in the corn;
And for one blast of thy minikin mouth,
Thy sheep shall take no harm.
Pur! the cat is gray.
KING LEAR: Arraign her first; ’tis Goneril. I here take
my oath before this honorable assembly, she kicked
the poor king her father.
Fool: Come hither, mistress. Is your name Goneril?
KING LEAR: She cannot deny it.
Fool: Cry you mercy, I took you for a joint-stool.
KING LEAR: And here’s another, whose warp’d
looks proclaim
What store her heart is made on. Stop her there!
Arms, arms, sword, fire! Corruption in the place!
False justicer, why hast thou let her ‘scape?
EDGAR: Bless thy five wits!
KENT: O pity! Sir, where is the patience now,
That thou so oft have boasted to retain?
EDGAR: [Aside] My tears begin to take his part so
They’ll mar my counterfeiting.
KING LEAR: The little dogs and all,
EDGAR: Tom will throw his head at them. Avaunt,
you curs!
Be thy mouth or black or white,
Tooth that poisons if it bite;
Mastiff, grey-hound, mongrel grim,
Hound or spaniel, brach or lym,
Or bobtail tike or trundle-tail,
Tom will make them weep and wail:
For, with throwing thus my head,
Dogs leap the hatch, and all are fled.
Do de, de, de. Sessa! Come, march to wakes and
fairs and market-towns. Poor Tom, thy horn is dry.
KING LEAR: Then let them anatomize Regan; see
what breeds about her heart. Is there any cause in
nature that makes these hard hearts?
You, sir, I entertain for one of my hundred; only I
do not like the fashion of your garments: you will
say they are Persian attire: but let them be changed.
KENT: Now, good my lord, lie here and rest awhile.
KING LEAR: Make no noise, make no noise; draw
the curtains: so, so, so. We’ll go to supper i’ he morning.
So, so, so.
Fool: And I’ll go to bed at noon.
[Re-enter GLOUCESTER.]
GLOUCESTER: Come hither, friend: where is the king
my master?
KENT: Here, sir; but trouble him not, his wits are
GLOUCESTER: Good friend, I prithee, take him in
thy arms;
I have o’erheard a plot of death upon him:
There is a litter ready; lay him in ‘t,
And drive towards Dover, friend, where thou shalt
Both welcome and protection. Take up thy master:
If thou shouldst dally half an hour, his life,
With thine, and all that offer to defend him,
Stand in assured loss: take up, take up;
And follow me, that will to some provision
Give thee quick conduct.
KENT: Oppressed nature sleeps:
This rest might yet have balm’d thy broken senses,
Which, if convenience will not allow,
Stand in hard cure.
[To the Fool.]
Come, help to bear thy master;
Thou must not stay behind.
GLOUCESTER: Come, come, away.
[Exeunt all but EDGAR.]
EDGAR: When we our betters see bearing our
We scarcely think our miseries our foes.
Who alone suffers suffers most i’ the mind,
Leaving free things and happy shows behind:
But then the mind much sufferance doth o’er skip,
When grief hath mates, and bearing fellowship.
How light and portable my pain seems now,
When that which makes me bend makes the king
He childed as I father’d! Tom, away!
Mark the high noises; and thyself bewray,
When false opinion, whose wrong thought defiles
In thy just proof, repeals and reconciles thee.
What will hap more to-night, safe ‘scape the king!
Lurk, lurk.
SCENE VII: Gloucester’s castle.
and Servants.]
CORNWALL: Post speedily to my lord your husband;
show him this letter: the army of France is landed.
Seek out the villain Gloucester.
[Exeunt some of the Servants.]
REGAN: Hang him instantly.
GONERIL: Pluck out his eyes.
CORNWALL: Leave him to my displeasure. Edmund,
keep you our sister company: the revenges we are
bound to take upon your traitorous father are not fit
for your beholding. Advise the duke, where you are
going, to a most festinate preparation: we are bound
to the like. Our posts shall be swift and intelligent
[Enter OSWALD.]
How now! where’s the king?
OSWALD: My lord of Gloucester hath convey’d him
Some five or six and thirty of his knights,
Hot questrists after him, met him at gate;
Who, with some other of the lords dependants,
Are gone with him towards Dover; where they
To have well-armed friends.
CORNWALL: Get horses for your mistress.
GONERIL: Farewell, sweet lord, and sister.
CORNWALL: Edmund, farewell.
Go seek the traitor Gloucester,
Pinion him like a thief, bring him before us.
[Exeunt other Servants.]
Though well we may not pass upon his life
Without the form of justice, yet our power
Shall do a courtesy to our wrath, which men
[Enter GLOUCESTER, brought in by two or three.]
REGAN: Ingrateful fox! ’tis he.
CORNWALL: Bind fast his corky arms.
GLOUCESTER: What mean your graces? Good my
friends, consider
CORNWALL: Bind him, I say.
[Servants bind him.]
REGAN: Hard, hard. O filthy traitor!
GLOUCESTER: Unmerciful lady as you are, I’m none.
CORNWALL: To this chair bind him. Villain, thou
shalt find—
[REGAN plucks his beard.]
GLOUCESTER: By the kind gods, ’tis most ignobly
To pluck me by the beard.
REGAN: So white, and such a traitor!
GLOUCESTER: Naughty lady,
These hairs, which thou dost ravish from my chin,
Will quicken, and accuse thee: I am your host:
With robbers’ hands my hospitable favors
You should not ruffle thus. What will you do?
CORNWALL: Come, sir, what letters had you late
from France?
REGAN: Be simple answerer, for we know the truth.
CORNWALL: And what confederacy have you with
the traitors
Late footed in the kingdom?
REGAN: To whose hands have you sent the lunatic
GLOUCESTER: I have a letter guessingly set down,
Which came from one that’s of a neutral heart,
And not from one opposed.
CORNWALL: Cunning.
REGAN: And false.
CORNWALL: Where hast thou sent the king?
REGAN: Wherefore to Dover? Wast thou not
charged at peril—
CORNWALL: Wherefore to Dover? Let him first
answer that.
GLOUCESTER: I am tied to the stake, and I must
stand the course.
REGAN: Wherefore to Dover, sir?
GLOUCESTER: Because I would not see thy cruel
Pluck out his poor old eyes; nor thy fierce sister
In his anointed flesh stick boarish fangs.
The sea, with such a storm as his bare head
In hell-black night endured, would have buoy’d up,
And quench’d the stelled fires:
If wolves had at thy gate howl’d that stern time,
Thou shouldst have said ‘Good porter, turn the key,’
All cruels else subscribed: but I shall see
The winged vengeance overtake such children.
CORNWALL: See’t shalt thou never. Fellows, hold
the chair.
Upon these eyes of thine I’ll set my foot.
GLOUCESTER: He that will think to live till he be old,
Give me some help! O cruel! O you gods!
REGAN: One side will mock another; the other too.
CORNWALL: If you see vengeance,—
First Servant: Hold your hand, my lord:
I have served you ever since I was a child;
But better service have I never done you
Than now to bid you hold.
REGAN: How now, you dog!
First Servant: If you did wear a beard upon your
I’d shake it on this quarrel. What do you mean?
CORNWALL: My villain!
[They draw and fight.]
First Servant: Nay, then, come on, and take the
chance of anger.
REGAN: Give me thy sword. A peasant stand up thus!
[Takes a sword, and runs at him behind.]
First Servant: O, I am slain! My lord, you have one
eye left
To see some mischief on him. O!
CORNWALL: Lest it see more, prevent it. Out, vile
Where is thy lustre now?
GLOUCESTER: All dark and comfortless. Where’s
my son Edmund?
Edmund, enkindle all the sparks of nature,
To quit this horrid act.
REGAN: Out, treacherous villain!
Thou call’st on him that hates thee: it was he
That made the overture of thy treasons to us;
Who is too good to pity thee.
GLOUCESTER: O my follies! then Edgar was abused.
Kind gods, forgive me that, and prosper him!
REGAN: Go thrust him out at gates, and let him
His way to Dover.
[Exit one with GLOUCESTER.]
How is’t, my lord? how look you?
CORNWALL: I have received a hurt: follow me,
Turn out that eyeless villain; throw this slave
Upon the dunghill. Regan, I bleed apace:
Untimely comes this hurt: give me your arm.
[Exit CORNWALL, led by REGAN.]
Second Servant: I’ll never care what wickedness I do,
If this man come to good.
Third Servant: If she live long,
And in the end meet the old course of death,
Women will all turn monsters.
Second Servant: Let’s follow the old earl, and get
the Bedlam
To lead him where he would: his roguish madness
Allows itself to any thing.
Third Servant: Go thou: I’ll fetch some flax and
whites of eggs
To apply to his bleeding face. Now, heaven help
[Exeunt severally.]
SCENE I: The heath.
[Enter EDGAR.]
EDGAR: Yet better thus, and known to be
Than still contemn’d and flatter’d. To be worst,
The lowest and most dejected thing of fortune,
Stands still in esperance, lives not in fear:
The lamentable change is from the best;
The worst returns to laughter. Welcome, then,
Thou unsubstantial air that I embrace!
The wretch that thou hast blown unto the worst
Owes nothing to thy blasts. But who comes here?
[Enter GLOUCESTER, led by an Old Man.]
But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee,
Lie would not yield to age.
Old Man: O, my good lord, I have been your tenant,
and your father’s tenant, these fourscore years.
GLOUCESTER: Away, get thee away; good friend,
be gone:
Thy comforts can do me no good at all;
Thee they may hurt.
Old Man: Alack, sir, you cannot see your way.
GLOUCESTER: I have no way, and therefore want
no eyes;
I stumbled when I saw: full oft ’tis seen,
Our means secure us, and our mere defects
Prove our commodities. O dear son Edgar,
The food of thy abused father’s wrath!
Might I but live to see thee in my touch,
I’ld say I had eyes again!
Old Man: How now! Who’s there?
EDGAR: [Aside] O gods! Who is’t can say ‘I am at
the worst’?
I am worse than e’er I was.
Old Man: ’Tis poor mad Tom.
EDGAR: [Aside] And worse I may be yet: the worst
is not
So long as we can say ‘This is the worst.’
Old Man: Fellow, where goest?
GLOUCESTER: Is it a beggar-man?
Old Man: Madman and beggar too.
GLOUCESTER: He has some reason, else he could
not beg.
I’ the last night’s storm I such a fellow saw;
Which made me think a man a worm: my son
Came then into my mind; and yet my mind
Was then scarce friends with him: I have heard
more since.
As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods.
They kill us for their sport.
EDGAR: [Aside] How should this be?
Bad is the trade that must play fool to sorrow,
Angering itself and others.—Bless thee, master!
GLOUCESTER: Is that the naked fellow?
Old Man: Ay, my lord.
GLOUCESTER: Then, prithee, get thee gone: if, for
my sake,
Thou wilt o’ertake us, hence a mile or twain,
I’ the way toward Dover, do it for ancient love;
And bring some covering for this naked soul,
Who I’ll entreat to lead me.
Old Man: Alack, sir, he is mad.
GLOUCESTER: ’Tis the times’ plague, when madmen
lead the blind.
Do as I bid thee, or rather do thy pleasure;
Above the rest, be gone.
Old Man: I’ll bring him the best ‘parel that I have,
Come on’t what will.
GLOUCESTER: Sirrah, naked fellow,—
EDGAR: Poor Tom’s a-cold. [Aside.] I cannot daub it
GLOUCESTER: Come hither, fellow.
EDGAR: [Aside.] And yet I must.—Bless thy sweet
eyes, they bleed.
GLOUCESTER: Know’st thou the way to Dover?
EDGAR: Both stile and gate, horse-way and footpath.
Poor Tom hath been scared out of his good
wits: bless thee, good man’s son, from the foul fiend!
Obidicut; Hobbididence, prince of dumbness; Mahu,
of stealing; Modo, of murder; Flibbertigibbet, of mopping
and mowing, who since possesses chambermaids
and waiting-women. So, bless thee, master!
GLOUCESTER: Here, take this purse, thou whom the
heavens’ plagues
Have humbled to all strokes: that I am wretched
Makes thee the happier: heavens, deal so still!
Let the superfluous and lust-dieted man,
That slaves your ordinance, that will not see
Because he doth not feel, feel your power quickly;
So distribution should undo excess,
And each man have enough. Dost thou know
EDGAR: Ay, master.
GLOUCESTER: There is a cliff, whose high and
bending head
Looks fearfully in the confined deep:
Bring me but to the very brim of it,
And I’ll repair the misery thou dost bear
With something rich about me: from that place
I shall no leading need.
EDGAR: Give me thy arm:
Poor Tom shall lead thee.
SCENE II: Before ALBANY’s palace.
GONERIL: Welcome, my lord: I marvel our mild
Not met us on the way.
[Enter OSWALD.]
Now, where’s your master’?
OSWALD: Madam, within; but never man so
I told him of the army that was landed;
He smiled at it: I told him you were coming:
His answer was ‘The worse:’ of Gloucester’s
And of the loyal service of his son,
When I inform’d him, then he call’d me sot,
And told me I had turn’d the wrong side out:
What most he should dislike seems pleasant to him;
What like, offensive.
GONERIL: [To EDMUND] Then shall you go no
It is the cowish terror of his spirit,
That dares not undertake: he’ll not feel wrongs
Which tie him to an answer. Our wishes on the
May prove effects. Back, Edmund, to my brother;
Hasten his musters and conduct his powers:
I must change arms at home, and give the distaff
Into my husband’s hands. This trusty servant
Shall pass between us. Ere long you are like to
(If you dare venture in your own behalf)
A mistress’s command. Wear this; spare speech;
[Giving a jewel.] Spare speech;
Decline your head: this kiss, if it durst speak,
Would stretch thy spirits up into the air:
Conceive, and fare thee well.
EDMUND: Yours in the ranks of death.
GONERIL: My most dear Gloucester!
[Exit EDMUND.]
O, the difference of man and man!
To thee a woman’s services are due:
My fool usurps my body.
OSWALD: Madam, here comes my lord.
[Enter ALBANY.]
GONERIL: I have been worth the whistle.
ALBANY: O Goneril!
You are not worth the dust which the rude wind
Blows in your face. I fear your disposition:
That nature, which contemns its origin,
Cannot be border’d certain in itself;
She that herself will sliver and disbranch
From her material sap, perforce must wither
And come to deadly use.
GONERIL: No more; the text is foolish.
ALBANY: Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem
Filths savor but themselves. What have you done?
Tigers, not daughters, what have you perform’d?
A father, and a gracious aged man,
Whose reverence even the head-lugg’d bear would
Most barbarous, most degenerate! have you
Could my good brother suffer you to do it?
A man, a prince, by him so benefited!
If that the heavens do not their visible spirits
Send quickly down to tame these vile offences,
It will come,
Humanity must perforce prey on itself,
Like monsters of the deep.
GONERIL: Milk-liver’d man!
That bear’st a cheek for blows, a head for wrongs;
Who hast not in thy brows an eye discerning
Thine honor from thy suffering; that not know’st
Fools do those villains pity who are punish’d
Ere they have done their mischief. Where’s thy drum?
France spreads his banners in our noiseless land;
With plumed helm thy slayer begins threats;
Whiles thou, a moral fool, sit’st still, and criest
‘Alack, why does he so?’
ALBANY: See thyself, devil!
Proper deformity seems not in the fiend
So horrid as in woman.
GONERIL: O vain fool!
ALBANY: Thou changed and self-cover’d thing, for
Be-monster not thy feature. Were’t my fitness
To let these hands obey my blood,
They are apt enough to dislocate and tear
Thy flesh and bones: howe’er thou art a fiend,
A woman’s shape doth shield thee.
GONERIL: Marry, your manhood now—
[Enter a Messenger.]
ALBANY: What news?
Messenger: O, my good lord, the Duke of
Cornwall’s dead:
Slain by his servant, going to put out
The other eye of Gloucester.
ALBANY: Gloucester’s eye!
Messenger: A servant that he bred, thrill’d with
Opposed against the act, bending his sword
To his great master; who, thereat enraged,
Flew on him, and amongst them fell’d him dead;
But not without that harmful stroke, which since
Hath pluck’d him after.
ALBANY: This shows you are above,
You justicers, that these our nether crimes
So speedily can venge! But, O poor Gloucester!
Lost he his other eye?
Messenger: Both, both, my lord.
This letter, madam, craves a speedy answer;
’Tis from your sister.
GONERIL: [Aside.] One way I like this well;
But being widow, and my Gloucester with her,
May all the building in my fancy pluck
Upon my hateful life: another way,
The news is not so tart.—I’ll read, and answer.
ALBANY: Where was his son when they did take
his eyes?
Messenger: Come with my lady hither.
ALBANY: He is not here.
Messenger: No, my good lord; I met him back
ALBANY: Knows he the wickedness?
Messenger: Ay, my good lord; ’twas he inform’d
against him;
And quit the house on purpose, that their punishment
Might have the freer course.
ALBANY: Gloucester, I live
To thank thee for the love thou show’dst the king,
And to revenge thine eyes. Come hither, friend:
Tell me what more thou know’st.
SCENE III: The French camp near Dover.
[Enter KENT and a Gentleman.]
KENT: Why the King of France is so suddenly gone
back know you no reason?
Gentleman: Something he left imperfect in the state,
which since his coming forth is thought of; which imports
to the kingdom so much fear and danger, that
his personal return was most required and necessary.
KENT: Who hath he left behind him general?
Gentleman: The Marshal of France, Monsieur La Far.
KENT: Did your letters pierce the queen to any
demonstration of grief?
Gentleman: Ay, sir; she took them, read them in
my presence;
And now and then an ample tear trill’d down
Her delicate cheek: it seem’d she was a queen
Over her passion; who, most rebel-like,
Sought to be king o’er her.
KENT: O, then it moved her.
Gentleman: Not to a rage: patience and sorrow
Who should express her goodliest. You have seen
Sunshine and rain at once: her smiles and tears
Were like a better way: those happy smilets,
That play’d on her ripe lip, seem’d not to know
What guests were in her eyes; which parted thence,
As pearls from diamonds dropp’d. In brief,
Sorrow would be a rarity most beloved,
If all could so become it.
KENT: Made she no verbal question?
Gentleman: ‘Faith, once or twice she heaved the
name of ‘father’
Pantingly forth, as if it press’d her heart:
Cried ‘Sisters! sisters! Shame of ladies! sisters!
Kent! father! sisters! What, i’ the storm? i’ the night?
Let pity not be believed!’ There she shook
The holy water from her heavenly eyes,
And clamor moisten’d: then away she started
To deal with grief alone.
KENT: It is the stars,
The stars above us, govern our conditions;
Else one self mate and mate could not beget
Such different issues. You spoke not with her since?
Gentleman: No.
KENT: Was this before the king return’d?
Gentleman: No, since.
KENT: Well, sir, the poor distressed Lear’s i’ the town;
Who sometime, in his better tune, remembers
What we are come about, and by no means
Will yield to see his daughter.
Gentleman: Why, good sir?
KENT: A sovereign shame so elbows him: his own
That stripp’d her from his benediction, turn’d her
To foreign casualties, gave her dear rights
To his dog-hearted daughters, these things sting
His mind so venomously, that burning shame
Detains him from Cordelia.
Gentleman: Alack, poor gentleman!
KENT: Of Albany’s and Cornwall’s powers you
heard not?
Gentleman: ’Tis so, they are afoot.
KENT: Well, sir, I’ll bring you to our master Lear,
And leave you to attend him: some dear cause
Will in concealment wrap me up awhile;
When I am known aright, you shall not grieve
Lending me this acquaintance. I pray you, go
Along with me.
SCENE IV: The same. A tent.
[Enter, with drum and colors, CORDELIA, Doctor,
and Soldiers.]
CORDELIA: Alack, ’tis he: why, he was met even
As mad as the vex’d sea; singing aloud;
Crown’d with rank fumiter and furrow-weeds,
With bur-docks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo-flowers,
Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow
In our sustaining corn. A century send forth;
Search every acre in the high-grown field,
And bring him to our eye.
[Exit an Officer.]
What can man’s wisdom
In the restoring his bereaved sense?
He that helps him take all my outward worth.
Doctor: There is means, madam:
Our foster-nurse of nature is repose,
The which he lacks; that to provoke in him,
Are many simples operative, whose power
Will close the eye of anguish.
CORDELIA: All blest secrets,
All you unpublish’d virtues of the earth,
Spring with my tears! be aidant and remediate
In the good man’s distress! Seek, seek for him;
Lest his ungovern’d rage dissolve the life
That wants the means to lead it.
[Enter a Messenger.]
Messenger: News, madam;
The British powers are marching hitherward.
CORDELIA: ’Tis known before; our preparation
In expectation of them. O dear father,
It is thy business that I go about;
Therefore great France
My mourning and important tears hath pitied.
No blown ambition doth our arms incite,
But love, dear love, and our aged father’s right:
Soon may I hear and see him!
SCENE V: Gloucester’s castle.
[Enter REGAN and OSWALD.]
REGAN: But are my brother’s powers set forth?
OSWALD: Ay, madam.
REGAN: Himself in person there?
OSWALD: Madam, with much ado:
Your sister is the better soldier.
REGAN: Lord Edmund spake not with your lord at
OSWALD: No, madam.
REGAN: What might import my sister’s letter to him?
OSWALD: I know not, lady.
REGAN: ‘Faith, he is posted hence on serious matter.
It was great ignorance, Gloucester’s eyes being out,
To let him live: where he arrives he moves
All hearts against us: Edmund, I think, is gone
In pity of his misery, to dispatch
His nighted life: moreover, to descry
The strength o’ the enemy.
OSWALD: I must needs after him, madam, with my
REGAN: Our troops set forth to-morrow: stay with
The ways are dangerous.
OSWALD: I may not, madam:
My lady charged my duty in this business.
REGAN: Why should she write to Edmund? Might
not you
Transport her purposes by word? Belike,
Something—I know not what: I’ll love thee much,
Let me unseal the letter.
OSWALD: Madam, I had rather—
REGAN: I know your lady does not love her husband;
I am sure of that: and at her late being here
She gave strange oeillades and most speaking looks
To noble Edmund. I know you are of her bosom.
OSWALD: I, madam?
REGAN: I speak in understanding; you are; I know’t:
Therefore I do advise you, take this note:
My lord is dead; Edmund and I have talk’d;
And more convenient is he for my hand
Than for your lady’s: you may gather more.
If you do find him, pray you, give him this;
And when your mistress hears thus much from you,
I pray, desire her call her wisdom to her.
So, fare you well.
If you do chance to hear of that blind traitor,
Preferment falls on him that cuts him off.
OSWALD: Would I could meet him, madam! I should
What party I do follow.
REGAN: Fare thee well.
SCENE VI: Fields near Dover.
[Enter GLOUCESTER, and EDGAR dressed like a peasant.]
GLOUCESTER: When shall we come to the top of
that same hill?
GLOUCESTER: Methinks the ground is even.
EDGAR: Horrible steep.
Hark, do you hear the sea?
GLOUCESTER: No, truly.
EDGAR: Why, then, your other senses grow
By your eyes’ anguish.
GLOUCESTER: So may it be, indeed:
Methinks thy voice is alter’d; and thou speak’st
In better phrase and matter than thou didst.
EDGAR: You’re much deceived: in nothing am I
But in my garments.
GLOUCESTER: Methinks you’re better spoken.
EDGAR: Come on, sir; here’s the place. Stand still.
How fearful
And dizzy ’tis, to cast one’s eyes so low!
The crows and choughs that wing the midway air
Show scarce so gross as beetles: half way down
Hangs one that gathers samphire, dreadful trade!
Methinks he seems no bigger than his head:
The fishermen, that walk upon the beach,
Appear like mice; and yond tall anchoring bark,
Diminish’d to her cock; her cock, a buoy
Almost too small for sight: the murmuring surge,
That on the unnumber’d idle pebbles chafes,
Cannot be heard so high. I’ll look no more;
Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight
Topple down headlong.
GLOUCESTER: Set me where you stand.
Of the extreme verge: for all beneath the moon
Would I not leap upright.
GLOUCESTER: Let go my hand.
Here, friend, ‘s another purse; in it a jewel
Well worth a poor man’s taking: fairies and gods
Prosper it with thee! Go thou farther off;
Bid me farewell, and let me hear thee going.
EDGAR: Now fare you well, good sir.
GLOUCESTER: With all my heart.
EDGAR [Aside.]: Why I do trifle thus with his despair
Is done to cure it.
GLOUCESTER: [Kneeling.] O you mighty gods!
This world I do renounce, and, in your sights,
Shake patiently my great affliction off:
If I could bear it longer, and not fall
To quarrel with your great opposeless wills,
My snuff and loathed part of nature should
Now, fellow, fare thee well.
[He falls forward.]
EDGAR: Gone, sir: farewell.
And yet I know not how conceit may rob
The treasury of life, when life itself
Yields to the theft: had he been where he thought,
By this, had thought been past. Alive or dead?
Thus might he pass indeed: yet he revives.
What are you, sir?
GLOUCESTER: Away, and let me die.
EDGAR: Hadst thou been aught but gossamer,
feathers, air,
So many fathom down precipitating,
Thou’dst shiver’d like an egg: but thou dost
Hast heavy substance; bleed’st not; speak’st;
art sound.
Ten masts at each make not the altitude
Which thou hast perpendicularly fell:
Thy life’s a miracle. Speak yet again.
GLOUCESTER: But have I fall’n, or no?
EDGAR: From the dread summit of this chalky
Cannot be seen or heard: do but look up.
GLOUCESTER: Alack, I have no eyes.
Is wretchedness deprived that benefit,
To end itself by death? ’Twas yet some comfort,
When misery could beguile the tyrant’s rage,
And frustrate his proud will.
EDGAR: Give me your arm:
Up: so. How is ‘t? Feel you your legs? You stand.
GLOUCESTER: Too well, too well.
EDGAR: This is above all strangeness.
Upon the crown o’ the cliff, what thing was that
Which parted from you?
GLOUCESTER: A poor unfortunate beggar.
EDGAR: As I stood here below, methought his eyes
Were two full moons; he had a thousand noses,
Horns whelk’d and waved like the enridged sea:
It was some fiend; therefore, thou happy father,
Think that the clearest gods, who make them
Of men’s impossibilities, have preserved thee.
GLOUCESTER: I do remember now: henceforth I’ll bear
Affliction till it do cry out itself
‘Enough, enough,’ and die. That thing you speak of,
I took it for a man; often ’twould say
‘The fiend, the fiend:’ he led me to that place.
EDGAR: Bear free and patient thoughts. But who
comes here?
[Enter KING LEAR, fantastically dressed with wild
The safer sense will ne’er accommodate
His master thus.
KING LEAR: No, they cannot touch me for coining; I
am the king himself.
EDGAR: O thou side-piercing sight!
KING LEAR: Nature’s above art in that respect.
There’s your press-money. That fellow handles his
bow like a crow-keeper: draw me a clothier’s yard.
Look, look, a mouse! Peace, peace; this piece of
toasted cheese will do ‘t. There’s my gauntlet; I’ll
prove it on a giant. Bring up the brown bills.
O, well flown, bird! i’ the clout, i’ the clout: hewgh!
Give the word.
EDGAR: Sweet marjoram.
GLOUCESTER: I know that voice.
flattered me like a dog; and told me I had white
hairs in my beard ere the black ones were there. To
say ‘ay’ and ‘no’ to every thing that I said!—’Ay’ and
‘no’ too was no good divinity. When the rain came
to wet me once, and the wind to make me chatter;
when the thunder would not peace at my bidding;
there I found ‘em, there I smelt ‘em out. Go to, they
are not men o’ their words: they told me I was
every thing; ’tis a lie, I am not ague-proof.
GLOUCESTER: The trick of that voice I do well
Is ‘t not the king?
KING LEAR: Ay, every inch a king:
When I do stare, see how the subject quakes. I pardon
that man’s life. What was thy cause? Adultery?
Thou shalt not die. Die for adultery! No. The wren
goes to ‘t, and the small gilded fly does lecher in my
sight. Let copulation thrive; for Gloucester’s bastard
son was kinder to his father than my daughters got
‘tween the lawful sheets. To ‘t, luxury, pell-mell! for I
lack soldiers. Behold yond simpering dame, whose
face between her forks presages snow; that minces
virtue, and does shake the head to hear of pleasure’s
name; the fitchew, nor the soiled horse, goes to ‘t
with a more riotous appetite. Down from the waist
they are Centaurs, though women all above: but to
the girdle do the gods inherit, beneath is all the fiends’;
there’s hell, there’s darkness, there’s the sulphurous
pit, burning, scalding, stench, consumption. Fie, fie,
fie! Pah, pah! Give me an ounce of civet, good apoth-
ecary, to sweeten my imagination. There’s money
for thee.
GLOUCESTER: O, let me kiss that hand!
GLOUCESTER: O ruin’d piece of nature! This great
Shall so wear out to nought. Dost thou know me?
KING LEAR: I remember thine eyes well enough. Dost
thou squiny at me? No, do thy worst, blind Cupid! I’ll
not love. Read thou this challenge; mark but the penning
of it.
GLOUCESTER: Were all the letters suns, I could not
see one.
And my heart breaks at it.
GLOUCESTER: What, with the case of eyes?
in your head, nor no money in your purse? Your eyes
are in a heavy case, your purse in a light; yet you see
how this world goes.
GLOUCESTER: I see it feelingly.
world goes with no eyes. Look with thine ears: see
how yond justice rails upon yond simple thief. Hark,
in thine ear: change places; and, handy-dandy, which
farmer’s dog bark at a beggar?
KING LEAR: And the creature run from the cur? There
thou mightst behold the great image of authority:
a dog’s obeyed in office.
Thou rascal beadle, hold thy bloody hand!
Why dost thou lash that whore? Strip thine own
Thou hotly lust’st to use her in that kind
For which thou whipp’st her. The usurer hangs the
Through tatter’d clothes small vices do appear;
Robes and furr’d gowns hide all. Plate sin with gold,
And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks:
Arm it in rags, a pigmy’s straw does pierce it.
None does offend, none, I say, none; I’ll able ‘em:
Take that of me, my friend, who have the power
To seal the accuser’s lips. Get thee glass eyes;
And like a scurvy politician, seem
Pull off my boots: harder, harder: so.
EDGAR [Aside.]: O, matter and impertinency mix’d!
Reason in madness!
KING LEAR: If thou wilt weep my fortunes, take my
I know thee well enough; thy name is Gloucester:
Thou must be patient; we came crying hither:
Thou know’st, the first time that we smell the air,
GLOUCESTER: Alack, alack the day!
To this great stage of fools: this a good block;
It were a delicate stratagem, to shoe
A troop of horse with felt: I’ll put ‘t in proof;
[Enter a Gentleman, with Attendants.]
Your most dear daughter—
The natural fool of fortune. Use me well;
You shall have ransom. Let me have surgeons;
I am cut to the brains.
Gentleman: You shall have any thing.
KING LEAR: No seconds? all myself?
Why, this would make a man a man of salt,
To use his eyes for garden water-pots,
Ay, and laying autumn’s dust.
Gentleman: Good sir,—
KING LEAR: I will die bravely, like a bridegroom.
My masters, know you that.
KING LEAR: Then there’s life in’t. Nay, if you get it,
you shall get it with running. Sa, sa, sa, sa.
[Exit running; Attendants follow.]
Gentleman: A sight most pitiful in the meanest
Past speaking of in a king! Thou hast one daughter,
Who redeems nature from the general curse
Which twain have brought her to.
EDGAR: Hail, gentle sir.
Gentleman: Sir, speed you: what’s your will?
Gentleman: Most sure and vulgar: every one hears
Which can distinguish sound.
EDGAR: But, by your favor,
How near’s the other army?
Gentleman: Near and on speedy foot; the main
Stands on the hourly thought.
EDGAR: I thank you, sir: that’s all.
Gentleman: Though that the queen on special
cause is here,
Her army is moved on.
EDGAR: I thank you, sir.
[Exit Gentleman.]
GLOUCESTER: You ever-gentle gods, take my
breath from me:
Let not my worser spirit tempt me again
To die before you please!
EDGAR: Well pray you, father.
GLOUCESTER: Now, good sir, what are you?
EDGAR: A most poor man, made tame to fortune’s
Who, by the art of known and feeling sorrows,
Am pregnant to good pity. Give me your hand,
I’ll lead you to some biding.
GLOUCESTER: Hearty thanks:
The bounty and the benison of heaven
To boot, and boot!
[Enter OSWALD.]
OSWALD: A proclaim’d prize! Most happy!
That eyeless head of thine was first framed flesh
To raise my fortunes. Thou old unhappy traitor,
Briefly thyself remember: the sword is out
That must destroy thee.
GLOUCESTER: Now let thy friendly hand
Put strength enough to’t.
[EDGAR interposes.]
OSWALD: Wherefore, bold peasant,
Darest thou support a publish’d traitor? Hence;
Lest that the infection of his fortune take
Like hold on thee. Let go his arm.
EDGAR: Ch’ill not let go, zir, without vurther ‘casion.
OSWALD: Let go, slave, or thou diest!
EDGAR: Good gentleman, go your gait, and let
poor volk pass. An chud ha’ bin zwaggered out of
my life, ’twould not ha’ bin zo long as ’tis by a
vortnight. Nay, come not near th’ old man; keep
out, che vor ye, or ise try whether your costard or
my ballow be the harder: ch’ill be plain with you.
OSWALD: Out, dunghill!
EDGAR: Ch’ill pick your teeth, zir: come; no matter
vor your foins.
[They fight, and EDGAR knocks him down.]
OSWALD: Slave, thou hast slain me: villain, take
my purse:
If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body;
And give the letters which thou find’st about me
To Edmund earl of Gloucester; seek him out
Upon the British party: O, untimely death!
EDGAR: I know thee well: a serviceable villain;
As duteous to the vices of thy mistress
As badness would desire.
GLOUCESTER: What, is he dead?
EDGAR: Sit you down, father; rest you
Let’s see these pockets: the letters that he
speaks of
May be my friends. He’s dead; I am only sorry
He had no other death’s-man. Let us see:
To know our enemies’ minds, we’ld rip their hearts;
Their papers, is more lawful.
‘Let our reciprocal vows be remembered. You have
many opportunities to cut him off: if your will
want not, time and place will be fruitfully offered.
There is nothing done, if he return the conqueror:
then am I the prisoner, and his bed my goal; from
the loathed warmth whereof deliver me, and supply
the place for your labor.
‘Your—wife, so I would say—
‘Affectionate servant,
O undistinguish’d space of woman’s will!
A plot upon her virtuous husband’s life;
And the exchange my brother! Here, in the sands,
Thee I’ll rake up, the post unsanctified
Of murderous lechers: and in the mature time
With this ungracious paper strike the sight
Of the death practised duke: for him ’tis well
That of thy death and business I can tell.
GLOUCESTER: The king is mad: how stiff is my vile
That I stand up, and have ingenious feeling
Of my huge sorrows! Better I were distract:
So should my thoughts be sever’d from my griefs,
And woes by wrong imaginations lose
The knowledge of themselves.
EDGAR: Give me your hand:
[Drum afar off.]
Far off, methinks, I hear the beaten drum:
Come, father, I’ll bestow you with a friend.
SCENE VII: A tent in the French camp. LEAR on a
bed asleep, soft music playing; Gentleman, and
others attending.
[Enter CORDELIA, KENT, and Doctor.]
CORDELIA: O thou good Kent, how shall I live and
To match thy goodness? My life will be too short,
And every measure fail me.
KENT: To be acknowledged, madam, is o’erpaid.
All my reports go with the modest truth;
Nor more nor clipp’d, but so.
CORDELIA: Be better suited:
These weeds are memories of those worser hours:
I prithee, put them off.
KENT: Pardon me, dear madam;
Yet to be known shortens my made intent:
My boon I make it, that you know me not
Till time and I think meet.
CORDELIA: Then be’t so, my good lord.
[To the Doctor.]
How does the king?
Doctor: Madam, sleeps still.
CORDELIA: O you kind gods,
Cure this great breach in his abused nature!
The untuned and jarring senses, O, wind up
Of this child-changed father!
Doctor: So please your majesty
That we may wake the king: he hath slept long.
CORDELIA: Be govern’d by your knowledge, and
I’ the sway of your own will. Is he array’d?
Gentleman: Ay, madam; in the heaviness of his
We put fresh garments on him.
Doctor: Be by, good madam, when we do awake
I doubt not of his temperance.
CORDELIA: Very well.
Doctor: Please you, draw near. Louder the music
CORDELIA: O my dear father! Restoration hang
Thy medicine on my lips; and let this kiss
Repair those violent harms that my two sisters
Have in thy reverence made!
KENT: Kind and dear princess!
CORDELIA: Had you not been their father, these
white flakes
Had challenged pity of them. Was this a face
To be opposed against the warring winds?
To stand against the deep dread-bolted thunder?
In the most terrible and nimble stroke
Of quick, cross lightning? to watch—poor perdu!—
With this thin helm? Mine enemy’s dog,
Though he had bit me, should have stood that night
Against my fire; and wast thou fain, poor father,
To hovel thee with swine, and rogues forlorn,
In short and musty straw? Alack, alack!
’Tis wonder that thy life and wits at once
Had not concluded all. He wakes; speak to him.
Doctor: Madam, do you; ’tis fittest.
CORDELIA: How does my royal lord? How fares
your majesty?
KING LEAR: You do me wrong to take me out o’ the
Thou art a soul in bliss; but I am bound
Upon a wheel of fire, that mine own tears
Do scald like molten lead.
CORDELIA: Sir, do you know me?
KING LEAR: You are a spirit, I know: when did you
CORDELIA: Still, still, far wide!
Doctor: He’s scarce awake: let him alone awhile.
KING LEAR: Where have I been? Where am I? Fair
I am mightily abused. I should e’en die with pity,
To see another thus. I know not what to say.
I will not swear these are my hands: let’s see;
I feel this pin prick. Would I were assured
Of my condition!
CORDELIA: O, look upon me, sir,
And hold your hands in benediction o’er me:
No, sir, you must not kneel.
KING LEAR: Pray, do not mock me:
I am a very foolish fond old man,
Fourscore and upward, not an hour more nor less;
And, to deal plainly,
I fear I am not in my perfect mind.
Methinks I should know you, and know this man;
Yet I am doubtful for I am mainly ignorant
What place this is; and all the skill I have
Remembers not these garments; nor I know not
For, as I am a man, I think this lady
To be my child Cordelia.
CORDELIA: And so I am, I am.
KING LEAR: Be your tears wet? yes, ‘faith. I pray,
weep not:
If you have poison for me, I will drink it.
I know you do not love me; for your sisters
Have, as I do remember, done me wrong:
You have some cause, they have not.
CORDELIA: No cause, no cause.
KING LEAR: Am I in France?
KENT: In your own kingdom, sir.
KING LEAR: Do not abuse me.
Doctor: Be comforted, good madam: the great
You see, is kill’d in him: and yet it is danger
To make him even o’er the time he has lost.
Desire him to go in; trouble him no more
Till further settling.
CORDELIA: Will’t please your highness walk?
KING LEAR: You must bear with me:
Pray you now, forget and forgive: I am old and
[Exeunt all but KENT and Gentleman.]
Gentleman: Holds it true, sir, that the Duke of
Cornwall was so slain?
KENT: Most certain, sir.
Gentleman: Who is conductor of his people?
KENT: As ’tis said, the bastard son of Gloucester.
Gentleman: They say Edgar, his banished son, is
with the Earl of Kent in Germany.
KENT: Report is changeable. ’Tis time to look about;
the powers of the kingdom approach apace.
Gentleman: The arbitrement is like to be bloody.
Fare you well, sir.
KENT: My point and period will be throughly
Or well or ill, as this day’s battle’s fought.
SCENE I: The British camp, near Dover.
[Enter, with drum and colors, EDMUND, REGAN,
Gentlemen, and Soldiers.]
EDMUND: Know of the duke if his last purpose
Or whether since he is advised by aught
To change the course: he’s full of alteration
And self-reproving: bring his constant pleasure.
[To a Gentleman, who goes out.]
REGAN: Our sister’s man is certainly miscarried.
EDMUND: ’Tis to be doubted, madam.
REGAN: Now, sweet lord,
You know the goodness I intend upon you:
Tell me—but truly—but then speak the truth,
Do you not love my sister?
EDMUND: In honor’d love.
REGAN: But have you never found my brother’s
To the forfended place?
EDMUND: That thought abuses you.
REGAN: I am doubtful that you have been conjunct
And bosom’d with her, as far as we call hers.
EDMUND: No, by mine honor, madam.
REGAN: I never shall endure her: dear my lord,
Be not familiar with her.
EDMUND: Fear me not:
She and the duke her husband!
[Enter, with drum and colors, ALBANY, GONERIL,
and Soldiers.]
GONERIL: [Aside.] I had rather lose the battle than
that sister
Should loosen him and me.
ALBANY: Our very loving sister, well be-met.
With others whom the rigor of our state
Forced to cry out. Where I could not be honest,
I never yet was valiant: for this business,
It toucheth us, as France invades our land,
Most just and heavy causes make oppose.
EDMUND: Sir, you speak nobly.
REGAN: Why is this reason’d?
GONERIL: Combine together ‘gainst the enemy;
For these domestic and particular broils
Are not the question here.
ALBANY: Let’s then determine
With the ancient of war on our proceedings.
EDMUND: I shall attend you presently at your tent.
REGAN: Sister, you’ll go with us?
REGAN: ’Tis most convenient; pray you, go with us.
GONERIL: [Aside.] O, ho, I know the riddle.—I will go.
[As they are going out, enter EDGAR disguised.]
EDGAR: If e’er your grace had speech with man so
Hear me one word.
ALBANY: I’ll overtake you. Speak.
[Exeunt all but ALBANY and EDGAR.]
EDGAR: Before you fight the battle, ope this letter.
If you have victory, let the trumpet sound
For him that brought it: wretched though I seem,
I can produce a champion that will prove
What is avouched there. If you miscarry,
Your business of the world hath so an end,
And machination ceases. Fortune love you.
ALBANY: Stay till I have read the letter.
EDGAR: I was forbid it.
When time shall serve, let but the herald cry,
And I’ll appear again.
ALBANY: Why, fare thee well: I will o’erlook thy
[Exit EDGAR.]
[Re-enter EDMUND.]
EDMUND: The enemy’s in view; draw up your
Here is the guess of their true strength and forces
By diligent discovery; but your haste
Is now urged on you.
ALBANY: We will greet the time.
EDMUND: To both these sisters have I sworn my
Each jealous of the other, as the stung
Are of the adder. Which of them shall I take?
Both? one? or neither? Neither can be enjoy’d,
If both remain alive: to take the widow
Exasperates, makes mad her sister Goneril;
And hardly shall I carry out my side,
Her husband being alive. Now then we’ll use
His countenance for the battle; which being done,
Let her who would be rid of him devise
His speedy taking off. As for the mercy
Which he intends to Lear and to Cordelia,
The battle done, and they within our power,
Shall never see his pardon; for my state
Stands on me to defend, not to debate.
SCENE II: A field between the two camps.
[Alarum within. Enter, with drum and colors,
KING LEAR, CORDELIA, and Soldiers, over the stage;
and exeunt.]
EDGAR: Here, father, take the shadow of this tree
For your good host; pray that the right may thrive:
If ever I return to you again,
I’ll bring you comfort.
GLOUCESTER: Grace go with you, sir!
[Exit EDGAR.]
[Alarum and retreat within. Re-enter EDGAR.]
EDGAR: Away, old man; give me thy hand; away!
King Lear hath lost, he and his daughter ta’en:
Give me thy hand; come on.
GLOUCESTER: No farther, sir; a man may rot even
EDGAR: What, in ill thoughts again? Men must
Their going hence, even as their coming hither;
Ripeness is all: come on.
GLOUCESTER: And that’s true too.
SCENE III: The British camp near Dover.
[Enter, in conquest, with drum and colors, EDMUND,
KING LEAR and CORDELIA, prisoners; Captain,
Soldiers, &c.]
EDMUND: Some officers take them away: good
Until their greater pleasures first be known
That are to censure them.
CORDELIA: We are not the first
Who, with best meaning, have incurr’d the worst.
For thee, oppressed king, am I cast down;
Myself could else out-frown false fortune’s frown.
Shall we not see these daughters and these sisters?
KING LEAR: No, no, no, no! Come, let’s away to
We two alone will sing like birds i’ the cage:
When thou dost ask me blessing, I’ll kneel down,
And ask of thee forgiveness: so we’ll live,
At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues
Talk of court news; and we’ll talk with them too,
Who loses and who wins; who’s in, who’s out;
And take upon’s the mystery of things,
As if we were God’s spies: and we’ll wear out,
In a wall’d prison, packs and sects of great ones,
That ebb and flow by the moon.
EDMUND: Take them away.
KING LEAR: Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia,
The gods themselves throw incense. Have I caught
He that parts us shall bring a brand from heaven,
And fire us hence like foxes. Wipe thine eyes;
The good-years shall devour them, flesh and fell,
Ere they shall make us weep: we’ll see ‘em starve
[Exeunt KING LEAR and CORDELIA, guarded.]
EDMUND: Come hither, captain; hark.
Take thou this note;
[Giving a paper.]
go follow them to prison:
One step I have advanced thee; if thou dost
As this instructs thee, thou dost make thy way
To noble fortunes: know thou this, that men
Are as the time is: to be tender-minded
Does not become a sword: thy great employment
Will not bear question; either say thou’lt do ‘t,
Or thrive by other means.
Captain: I’ll do ‘t, my lord.
EDMUND: About it; and write happy when thou
hast done.
Mark, I say, instantly; and carry it so
As I have set it down.
Captain: I cannot draw a cart, nor eat dried oats;
If it be man’s work, I’ll do ‘t.
[Flourish. Enter ALBANY, GONERIL, REGAN, another
Captain, and Soldiers.]
ALBANY: Sir, you have shown to-day your valiant
And fortune led you well: you have the captives
That were the opposites of this day’s strife:
We do require them of you, so to use them
As we shall find their merits and our safety
May equally determine.
EDMUND: Sir, I thought it fit
To send the old and miserable king
To some retention and appointed guard;
Whose age has charms in it, whose title more,
To pluck the common bosom on his side,
An turn our impress’d lances in our eyes
Which do command them. With him I sent the
My reason all the same; and they are ready
To-morrow, or at further space, to appear
Where you shall hold your session. At this time
We sweat and bleed: the friend hath lost his friend;
And the best quarrels, in the heat, are cursed
By those that feel their sharpness:
The question of Cordelia and her father
Requires a fitter place.
ALBANY: Sir, by your patience,
I hold you but a subject of this war,
Not as a brother.
REGAN: That’s as we list to grace him.
Methinks our pleasure might have been demanded,
Ere you had spoke so far. He led our powers;
Bore the commission of my place and person;
The which immediacy may well stand up,
And call itself your brother.
GONERIL: Not so hot:
In his own grace he doth exalt himself,
More than in your addition.
REGAN: In my rights,
By me invested, he compeers the best.
GONERIL: That were the most, if he should
husband you.
REGAN: Jesters do oft prove prophets.
GONERIL: Holla, holla!
That eye that told you so look’d but a-squint.
REGAN: Lady, I am not well; else I should answer
From a full-flowing stomach. General,
Take thou my soldiers, prisoners, patrimony;
Dispose of them, of me; the walls are thine:
Witness the world, that I create thee here
My lord and master.
GONERIL: Mean you to enjoy him?
ALBANY: The let-alone lies not in your good will.
EDMUND: Nor in thine, lord.
ALBANY: Half-blooded fellow, yes.
REGAN: [To EDMUND] Let the drum strike, and
prove my title thine.
ALBANY: Stay yet; hear reason. Edmund, I arrest
On capital treason; and, in thine attaint,
This gilded serpent
[Pointing to Goneril.]
For your claim, fair sister,
I bar it in the interest of my wife:
’Tis she is sub-contracted to this lord,
And I, her husband, contradict your bans.
If you will marry, make your loves to me,
My lady is bespoke.
GONERIL: An interlude!
ALBANY: Thou art arm’d, Gloucester: let the
trumpet sound:
If none appear to prove upon thy head
Thy heinous, manifest, and many treasons,
There is my pledge;
[Throwing down a glove.]
I’ll prove it on thy heart,
Ere I taste bread, thou art in nothing less
Than I have here proclaim’d thee.
REGAN: Sick, O, sick!
GONERIL: [Aside.] If not, I’ll ne’er trust medicine.
EDMUND: There’s my exchange:
[Throwing down a glove.]
What in the world he is
That names me traitor, villain-like he lies:
Call by thy trumpet: he that dares approach,
On him, on you, who not? I will maintain
My truth and honor firmly.
ALBANY: A herald, ho!
EDMUND: A herald, ho, a herald!
ALBANY: Trust to thy single virtue; for thy soldiers,
All levied in my name, have in my name
Took their discharge.
REGAN: My sickness grows upon me.
ALBANY: She is not well; convey her to my tent.
[Exit Regan, led.]
[Enter a Herald.]
Come hither, herald,—Let the trumpet sound,
And read out this.
Captain: Sound, trumpet!
[A trumpet sounds.]
Herald: [Reads.] ‘If any man of quality or degree
withinthe lists of the army will maintain upon
Edmund, supposed Earl of Gloucester, that he is a
manifold traitor, let him appear by the third sound
of the trumpet: he is bold in his defence.’
EDMUND: Sound!
[First trumpet.]
Herald: Again!
[Second trumpet.]
Herald: Again!
[Third trumpet.]
[Trumpet answers within.]
[Enter EDGAR, at the third sound, armed, with a
trumpet before him.]
ALBANY: Ask him his purposes, why he appears
Upon this call o’ the trumpet.
Herald: What are you?
Your name, your quality? and why you answer
This present summons?
EDGAR: Know, my name is lost;
By treason’s tooth bare-gnawn and canker-bit:
Yet am I noble as the adversary
I come to cope.
ALBANY: Which is that adversary?
EDGAR: What’s he that speaks for Edmund Earl of
EDMUND: Himself: what say’st thou to him?
EDGAR: Draw thy sword,
That, if my speech offend a noble heart,
Thy arm may do thee justice: here is mine.
Behold, it is the privilege of mine honors,
My oath, and my profession: I protest,
Maugre thy strength, youth, place, and eminence,
Despite thy victor sword and fire-new fortune,
Thy valor and thy heart, thou art a traitor;
False to thy gods, thy brother, and thy father;
Conspirant ‘gainst this high-illustrious prince;
And, from the extremest upward of thy head
To the descent and dust below thy foot,
To prove upon thy heart, whereto I speak,
Thou liest.
EDMUND: In wisdom I should ask thy name;
But, since thy outside looks so fair and warlike,
And that thy tongue some say of breeding breathes,
What safe and nicely I might well delay
By rule of knighthood, I disdain and spurn:
Back do I toss these treasons to thy head;
With the hell-hated lie o’erwhelm thy heart;
Which, for they yet glance by and scarcely bruise,
This sword of mine shall give them instant way,
Where they shall rest for ever. Trumpets, speak!
[Alarums. They fight. EDMUND falls.]
ALBANY: Save him, save him!
GONERIL: This is practice, Gloucester:
By the law of arms thou wast not bound to answer
An unknown opposite; thou art not vanquish’d,
But cozen’d and beguiled.
ALBANY: Shut your mouth, dame,
Or with this paper shall I stop it: Hold, sir:
Thou worse than any name, read thine own evil:
No tearing, lady: I perceive you know it.
[Gives the letter to EDMUND.]
GONERIL: Say, if I do, the laws are mine, not thine:
Who can arraign me for’t.
ALBANY: Most monstrous! oh!
Know’st thou this paper?
GONERIL: Ask me not what I know.
ALBANY: Go after her: she’s desperate; govern her.
EDMUND: What you have charged me with, that
have I done;
That hast this fortune on me? If thou’rt noble,
I do forgive thee.
EDGAR: Let’s exchange charity.
I am no less in blood than thou art, Edmund;
If more, the more thou hast wrong’d me.
My name is Edgar, and thy father’s son.
The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to plague us:
The dark and vicious place where thee he got
Cost him his eyes.
EDMUND: Thou hast spoken right, ’tis true;
The wheel is come full circle: I am here.
ALBANY: Methought thy very gait did prophesy
A royal nobleness: I must embrace thee:
Let sorrow split my heart, if ever I
Did hate thee or thy father!
EDGAR: Worthy prince, I know’t.
ALBANY: Where have you hid yourself?
How have you known the miseries of your father?
EDGAR: By nursing them, my lord. List a brief tale;
And when ’tis told, O, that my heart would burst!
The bloody proclamation to escape,
That follow’d me so near,—O, our lives’ sweetness!
That we the pain of death would hourly die
Rather than die at once!—taught me to shift
Into a madman’s rags; to assume a semblance
That very dogs disdain’d: and in this habit
Met I my father with his bleeding rings,
Their precious stones new lost: became his guide,
Led him, begg’d for him, saved him from despair;
Never,—O fault!—reveal’d myself unto him,
Until some half-hour past, when I was arm’d:
Not sure, though hoping, of this good success,
I ask’d his blessing, and from first to last
Told him my pilgrimage: but his flaw’d heart,
Alack, too weak the conflict to support!
‘Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief,
Burst smilingly.
EDMUND: This speech of yours hath moved me,
And shall perchance do good: but speak you on;
You look as you had something more to say.
ALBANY: If there be more, more woeful, hold it in;
For I am almost ready to dissolve,
Hearing of this.
EDGAR: This would have seem’d a period
To such as love not sorrow; but another,
To amplify too much, would make much more,
And top extremity.
Whilst I was big in clamor came there in a man,
Who, having seen me in my worst estate,
Shunn’d my abhorr’d society; but then, finding
Who ’twas that so endured, with his strong arms
He fastened on my neck, and bellow’d out
As he’ld burst heaven; threw him on my father;
Told the most piteous tale of Lear and him
That ever ear received: which in recounting
His grief grew puissant and the strings of life
Began to crack: twice then the trumpets sounded,
And there I left him tranced.
ALBANY: But who was this?
EDGAR: Kent, sir, the banish’d Kent; who in disguise
Follow’d his enemy king, and did him service
Improper for a slave.
[Enter a Gentleman, with a bloody knife.]
Gentleman: Help, help, O, help!
EDGAR: What kind of help?
ALBANY: Speak, man.
EDGAR: What means that bloody knife?
Gentleman: ’Tis hot, it smokes;
It came even from the heart of—O, she’s dead!
ALBANY: Who dead? speak, man.
Gentleman: Your lady, sir, your lady: and her sister
By her is poisoned; she hath confess’d it.
EDMUND: I was contracted to them both: all three
Now marry in an instant.
EDGAR: Here comes Kent.
ALBANY: Produce their bodies, be they alive or dead:
This judgment of the heavens, that makes us tremble,
Touches us not with pity.
[Exit Gentleman.]
[Enter KENT.]
O, is this he?
The time will not allow the compliment
Which very manners urges.
KENT: I am come
To bid my king and master aye good night:
Is he not here?
ALBANY: Great thing of us forgot!
Speak, Edmund, where’s the king? And where’s Cordelia?
See’st thou this object, Kent?
[The bodies of GONERIL and REGAN are brought in.]
KENT: Alack, why thus?
EDMUND: Yet Edmund was beloved:
The one the other poison’d for my sake,
And after slew herself.
ALBANY: Even so. Cover their faces.
EDMUND: I pant for life: some good I mean to do,
Despite of mine own nature. Quickly send,
Be brief in it, to the castle; for my writ
Is on the life of Lear and on Cordelia:
Nay, send in time.
ALBANY: Run, run, O, run!
EDGAR: To who, my lord? Who hath the office?
Thy token of reprieve.
EDMUND: Well thought on: take my sword,
Give it the captain.
ALBANY: Haste thee, for thy life.
[Exit EDGAR.]
EDMUND: He hath commission from thy wife and me
To hang Cordelia in the prison, and
To lay the blame upon her own despair,
That she fordid herself.
ALBANY: The gods defend her! Bear him hence
[EDMUND is borne off.]
[Re-enter KING LEAR, with CORDELIA dead in his arms;
EDGAR, Captain, and others following.]
KING LEAR: Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are
men of stones:
Had I your tongues and eyes, I’ld use them so
That heaven’s vault should crack. She’s gone
for ever!
I know when one is dead, and when one lives;
She’s dead as earth. Lend me a looking-glass;
If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,
Why, then she lives.
KENT: Is this the promised end
EDGAR: Or image of that horror?
ALBANY: Fall, and cease!
KING LEAR: This feather stirs; she lives! if it be so,
It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows
That ever I have felt.
KENT: [Kneeling.] O my good master!
KING LEAR: Prithee, away.
EDGAR: ’Tis noble Kent, your friend.
KING LEAR: A plague upon you, murderers, traitors all!
I might have saved her; now she’s gone for ever!
Cordelia, Cordelia! stay a little. Ha!
What is’t thou say’st? Her voice was ever soft,
Gentle, and low, an excellent thing in woman.
I kill’d the slave that was a-hanging thee.
Captain: ’Tis true, my lords, he did.
KING LEAR: Did I not, fellow?
I have seen the day, with my good biting falchion
I would have made them skip: I am old now,
And these same crosses spoil me. Who are you?
Mine eyes are not o’ the best: I’ll tell you
KENT: If fortune brag of two she loved and hated,
One of them we behold.
KING LEAR: This is a dull sight. Are you not Kent?
KENT: The same,
Your servant Kent: Where is your servant Caius?
KING LEAR: He’s a good fellow, I can tell you that;
He’ll strike, and quickly too: he’s dead and rotten.
KENT: No, my good lord; I am the very man,—
KING LEAR: I’ll see that straight.
KENT: That, from your first of difference and decay,
Have follow’d your sad steps.
KING LEAR: You are welcome hither.
KENT: Nor no man else: all’s cheerless, dark, and deadly.
Your eldest daughters have fordone them selves,
And desperately are dead.
KING LEAR: Ay, so I think.
ALBANY: He knows not what he says: and vain it is
That we present us to him.
EDGAR: Very bootless.
[Enter a Captain.]
Captain: Edmund is dead, my lord.
ALBANY: That’s but a trifle here.
You lords and noble friends, know our intent.
What comfort to this great decay may come
Shall be applied: for us we will resign,
During the life of this old majesty,
To him our absolute power:
[To EDGAR and KENT.]
you, to your rights:
With boot, and such addition as your honors
Have more than merited. All friends shall taste
The wages of their virtue, and all foes
The cup of their deservings. O, see, see!
KING LEAR: And my poor fool is hang’d! No, no,
no life!
And thou no breath at all? Thou’lt come no more,
Never, never, never, never, never!
Pray you, undo this button: thank you, sir.
Look there, look there!
EDGAR: He faints! My lord, my lord!
KENT: Break, heart; I prithee, break!
EDGAR: Look up, my lord.
KENT: Vex not his ghost: O, let him pass! he hates
him much
That would upon the rack of this tough world
Stretch him out longer.
EDGAR: He is gone, indeed.
KENT: The wonder is, he hath endured so long:
He but usurp’d his life.
ALBANY: Bear them from hence. Our present
Is general woe.
[To KENT and EDGAR.]
Friends of my soul, you twain
Rule in this realm, and the gored state sustain.
KENT: I have a journey, sir, shortly to go;
My master calls me, I must not say no.
ALBANY: The weight of this sad time we must
Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.
The oldest hath borne most: we that are young
Shall never see so much, nor live so long.
[Exeunt, with a dead march.]
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Himanshu Shrivastava
Santosh Shrivastava
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GIS: Geography is Sweet!
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Mackenzie and I work diligently on our topography maps.
On Thursday, we met with Tod Chee, a GIS specialist at the San Diego Zoo. When I walked into the room, I had no idea what a GIS specialist was, but I quickly found out through a challenging (but interesting) first-hand experience. GIS stands for Geographic Information Systems. There are many different aspects of this job, including project planning, 3-D markups of terrain, and map topography. Basically, a GIS specialist spends most of his or her time making maps of the Zoo. In order to collect the elevation information, the Zoo owns an airplane equipped with LIDAR (light detection and ranging), which sends a laser to the ground and measures how long it takes for the reflected signal to return. This amazing technology has measured the elevation of all the land owned by the Zoo and the Wild Animal Park, which is very useful to GIS specialists.
Mr. Chee loves his job because he can be very creative when making maps, and he has a lot of freedom to do different projects. He enjoys the advantage of knowing the Zoo much more than other employees. His job comes easily to him and he can make a graph that took us an hour in only ten minutes! However, he must make sure to maintain all data in a cost effective manner as well as make sure the maps are readable so that users can understand what they are looking at. With his degree in Geography, there is a wide range of jobs related to GIS. This includes urban planning, environmental management, and intelligence (working for the FBI or the military). This job might seem like it has nothing to do with animals, but in reality Mr. Chee has designed many animal exhibits including the giraffe exhibit, and he has the privilege to actually go inside a lot of exhibits when working; once he even got to feel a hippopotamus’s big soft tongue!
During our experience, we literally were able to live a day in the life of a GIS specialist. We were handed a topography map and instructed to plot the elevation of a certain area of land on a graph. There was a lot of math involved, and at first it was extremely overwhelming. Luckily, I eventually got the hang of it and was able to produce a pretty decent-looking map. Our goal was to figure out the proper height of a barrier that would prevent someone in the VIP parking area from seeing the planned eight-foot tall fence surrounding a new enclosure. When I was finished, I determined that we would need to build a four-foot high barrier. After we finished making our maps, we actually got the visit the area we were graphing and see the hills we had drawn. We had been able to accurately depict the area without even having to leave the room! Next time you go to the Zoo, look for the enclosure we helped design!
Natalie, Careers Team
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Testing and Diagnosis of Canine Liver Disease
A thorough approach is needed for a correct diagnosis of any liver problem. An organ like the liver that
is so intimately involved with other important organs will exhibit symptoms that mimic disease in these other organs. Also, what initially might appear as a diseased liver is in reality a disease elsewhere in the
body that is involved with the liver secondarily. This is why it is crucial to follow a thorough and methodical approach called the diagnostic process.
Specifically noting signs which may indicate liver disease. Periodic ascites, intolerance of a high protein diet, icterus, chronic weight loss, abnormally colored feces or urine, bleeding disorders, chronic illness, and all that has been mentioned above. Sometimes urinary crystals formed from the improperly metabolized proteins and amino acids may indicate liver disease.
Liver disease can occur in pets of any age. If it occurs in young animals we tend to think more of toxicity, a liver shunt or a viral disease like adenovirus in dogs. In older pets we tend to think more of inflammation and cancer as the cause of the liver problem.
Several canine breeds are prone to getting liver disease:
Bedlington terriers, Skye terriers, Doberman pinschers, and West Highland White terriers get a
problem with excessive copper accumulation that results from failure of normal biliary excretion of copper. Cocker spaniels have an increased incidence of chronic hepatitis
Early signs of liver disease are subtle, and might exhibit as some of the symptoms described above. It is important to remember that some pets do not show any symptoms early in the course of the disease. This is another reason for yearly exams, along with blood and urine samples in dogs and cats 8 years of age or more. Even though many cancers do not show up in a blood sample, we can sometimes get indirect evidence there is a problem, leading to additional diagnostic tests that might find cancer.
The recent use of pesticides, insecticides, and drugs might give us a clue. Some Labradors are sensitive to the use of the arthritis medicine Rimadyl. These dogs should have a blood panel analyzed prior to initiating Rimadyl therapy. Every 6 months this panel should be repeated.
A history of poorly controlled diabetes mellitus might also clue us in to liver problems. Pets with
liver shunts might have stunted growth and become depressed right after eating.
Physical Exam
Routine physical exam findings might include:
Distended abdomen due to enlargement of the liver (hepatomegaly) might be found. This can be palpated in some situations, especially in the smaller animals. an enlarged liver from a disease other than liver disease can cause hepatomegaly. This includes heart disease and Cushing’s Disease.
Enlarged lymph nodes due to secondary bacterial infections or spread of a primary or metastatic
liver tumor.
Bruising (hematoma) might be observed under the skin, or when a blood sample is obtained. This is
due to the liver’s affects on the clotting mechanism
Fever- a rectal temperature of greater than 103 degrees F could accompany liver disease when inflammation or infection is present
Skin infections and wounds that do not heal, or recur after antibiotics are stopped
Yellowish discoloration (icterus or jaundice) of the ears, gums, or hairless areas of the skin
Anemia might be observed by checking the mucous membranes for a normal pink color
Extensive Blood Work and Diagnostic Testing
A complete blood count to check for anemia and blood cell abnormalities. A CBC (complete blood
count) and BCP (biochemistry panel) should be run on every pet 8 years of age or more, especially if they have any of the symptoms of liver disease. The CBC might show a decrease in the number of red blood cells (RBC’s). This decrease in RBC’s is called anemia. The white blood cell count (WBC) might be elevated (leukocytosis), normal, or decreased (leukopenia), mostly depending on the cause of the liver problem and how long it has been present. A change in the WBC’s does not necessarily indicate there is a liver problem.
A complete chemistry screen, including ALT, ALP, AST, bilirubin, glucose, urea, electrolyte levels,
albumin, globulin and bile acid levels. The bile acid levels should be checked on an empty stomach and two hours after feeding. All these values, with the exception of the bile acids, usually are included on
a standard Small Animal Data Base Screen.
Important Liver Enzymes
Traditionally the medical practitioner has measured the relative concentration of several enzymes which may indicate alterations in liver health. The following enzymes typically change values in the face of liver failure
Alanine Aminotransferase: ALT – Liver specific. Cell damage will cause elevations of ALT due to leakage. The elevation of the enzyme correlates with the number of cells damaged. Falling levels of ALT may indicate recovery or may indicate a failing number of functional liver cells. Rapid increases in ALT may indicate an acute process, while slow increases may indicate bile duct obstruction.
Normal Test Range: 10-100 U/L*
Aspartate Aminotransferase: AST - an enzyme seen in the liver, heart, kidney, skeletal muscle and brain. The half life of the AST in the blood stream is much shorter than that of ALT, therefore the values of AST tend to drop more rapidly once liver function is resumed. AST elevations and ALT elevations should parallel each other in liver disease
Normal Test Range: 5-55 U/L*
Alkaline Phosphatase: ALKP/ALP – This enzyme is present in many tissues, therefore it not very specific in liver disease, but it appears very early in the progress of liver disease, therefore it is considered quite sensitive. ALP tends to be slightly more specific in the cat, but not quite as sensitive. A similar enzyme or isoenzyme is secreted as a result of high levels of cortisone, therefore an effort must be made to separate Cortisole induced ALP or CALP and normal ALP. Liver ALP is released from the liver when many anticonvulsant drugs are administered to the dog. This must be taken into account when evaluating ALP levels. ALP levels typically are greatly elevated in the young, growing animal and therefore a veterinarian should not mistake any elevations as disease in a young animal.
Normal Test Range: 23-212 U/L*
Gamma Glutamyltransferase: GGT – This enzyme is has its highest concentration in the kidneys and pancreas, but it is also found in the liver and other organs. The major proportion of GGT in the serum seems to come from the liver. Elevations of GGT in disease seem to stem from new synthesis rather than leakage, therefore the changes seen due to disease are not spectacular. Large elevations of GGT are more commonly associated with pancreatitis and bile duct obstruction.
Bile Acids
These series of organic acids circulate almost entirely in the localized blood flow between the intestines
and the liver (a.k.a. the Portal system). The flow is typically from the liver, into the bile duct system, then excretion into the intestines to aid digestion after a meal, to be re- absorbed into the portal system and recycled by the liver. Very little of the bile acids escape from the portal circulation system into the rest of the body. Leakage is considered abnormal and is a sure sign of a liver abnormality. This is one of the most sensitive tests available to diagnose liver disease. While the liver does actually manufacture this product, it has tremendous reserve capacity and can easily meet the bodies demand for bile acids despite severe disease. As a result of this reserve, the bile acid levels do not typically drop due to liver disease.
Normal Test Range: Pre = Less than 7.0 umol/L, Post = Less than 15.0umol/L*
A complete urine analysis
Check urobilinogen levels, bilirubin levels, glucose levels, protein levels. Again all this is usually on a standard urinalysis panel.
Radiograph the abdomen
X rays can show increased liver size, decreased liver size liver abscesses, abnormal mineralization , and circulatory abnormalities (using special dyes).
Ultrasound the liver
Perfect technique for visualizing the circulation of the liver, the bile duct system, the density of the liver tissue, the size of the liver. Ultrasound is highly beneficial in the diagnosis of liver disease. We recommend ultrasounding a liver when the liver enzymes tests are elevated over time, or the bile acids test is abnormal. The internal structure (called parenchyma) can be analyzed, and post-hepatic liver disease can be differentiated from hepatic liver disease. This can be very important because disease in the liver can often be diagnosed with a biopsy during the ultrasound. Post-hepatic liver disease cannot easily be diagnosed in this matter. Instead it is diagnosed and treated with an exploratory surgery (called a laparotomy).
Biopsy of the liver
While this is a surgical technique, it is the ultimate for diagnosis, since it allows us to directly examine and test liver tissue, give an absolute diagnosis and hopefully a final treatment regime. Biopsies can be taken by full laparotomy, where the surgeon actually looks at the liver and removes a small piece, or they can be done by a biopsy needle guided by ultrasound through the body wall. The liver will regenerate any piece that has been removed, therefore liver biopsy is usually a low risk procedure in capable hands.
*The ranges for the test results listed above are dependent on the lab, the testing done and are relative. Some specialist allow for a much larger range before they diagnose “true” Liver Disease. After receiving your test results, please consult with an internal specialist and have them explain the results to you.
January 4, 2009 by Lisa
Filed under All Info, Testing and Diagnosis
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Experienced utility Notes for October 27
Main points
Kahneman and Krueger seek to revive the nineteenth-century version of utility: actual felt happiness rather than revealed preferences. Specifically, they claim that it is possible to measure what they call “experienced utility” without using inaccurate reports of “remembered utility.”
They also claim to be able to construct a cardinal index of interpersonal utility, the U-index. What that means is that their index has three features:
1. It measures experienced utility, feelings of happiness and unhappiness.
2. It compares the happiness and unhappiness of different people. That’s what makes it an index of interpersonal utility. An index of intrapersonal utility, by contrast, would compare the states of a single person.
3. Its numbers tell you how much happier one person is compared with another. That’s what it means to call it a cardinal index. An ordinal index, by contrast, would just tell you the order in which they are ranked and not what separates one place in the index from the next.
One interesting feature is that the U-index involves an ordinal index of intrapersonal utility but a cardinal index of interpersonal utility. People are asked whether they are in an unhappy state at any given point during the day. That gives an ordinal measure: “are you unhappier than normal?” rather than “how much unhappier than normal are you?” They get a cardinal measurement of interpersonal utility because they compare the amount of time different people spend in an unhappy state: 2 hours is twice as long as 1 hour, e.g..
Daniel said it wasn’t obvious to him that remembered utility is a less accurate measure of someone’s happiness than experienced utility is. A person who runs a marathon, for instance, experiences a lot of pain all day. But, looking back at the end, the runner will typically express elation at having done it (or so I’m told). Why is it obvious that this is a mistake?
Ben and Nina thought the U-index could be misleading. Nina pointed out that the U-index counts someone who is bored 20% of the day as having been twice as unhappy as someone who was in intense pain for 10% of the day. Ben made a similar point in a more mathematical way that I won’t try to summarize. Essentially, it’s that the U-index shouldn’t discard information about how pleasant or unpleasant an experience is for an individual. If you spend all day in a mildly unpleasant state and then have a big burst of happiness at the end, the U-index will count you as having had an unhappy day. But that isn’t always right, as the example of the marathon runner illustrates.
Policy implications
Kahneman and Krueger listed a number of policy implications that, they claim, would follow from using their index in attempts to improve the public welfare. One example, bolstered by the chart Prof. Brown distributed, concerns the trade-off between inflation and unemployment. Unemployment makes people significantly more unhappy than inflation does, so we should prefer fuller employment even at the cost of some inflation insofar as we care about happiness.
They also mentioned that commuting time makes us miserable and that social contacts make us happier than buying stuff does.
I quickly skimmed an article by Richard Layard on the topic of the policy implications of happiness research. One point he made is that a society that sought to promote happiness (or reduce unhappiness) would spend a lot on mental health services. That seemed like a good point to me. The article is very well written to boot.** Richard Layard, “Happiness and Public Policy: a Challenge to the Profession,” The Economic Journal 116 (2006).
This page was written by Michael Green for Freedom, Markets, and Well-being, PPE 160, Fall 2010. It was posted November 15, 2010.
Name of website
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The BMW 315 was a middle sized saloon produced by BMW from 1934 to 1937. It was based on the BMW 303. It differed from the 303 mainly with its larger engine, with increases in both the bore (to 58 mm (2.3 in) from 56 mm (2.2 in)) and the stroke (to 94 mm (3.7 in) from 80 mm (3.1 in)).
A total of 9,765 BMW 315s were built, including two-door saloon cars, touring cars, convertibles, sport convertibles, and 315/1 roadsters.
BMW 315/1
The BMW 315/1 was a sports car based on the 315 saloon. It used the same chassis as the 315 saloon and had an engine of the same displacement. However, with compression ratio increased to 6.8:1 from 5.6:1 in the saloon, and with the use of three Solex carburetors, power increased to 40.6 PS (29.9 kW; 40.0 hp) at 4300 rpm, while the roadster bodywork reduced kerb weight to 750 kg (1,653 lb).
Production of the 315/1 ended in 1936. 242 examples were built.
BMW 319 and 319/1
The BMW 319 and 319/1 were introduced in 1935. They differed from the 315 and 315/1 mainly in that the dimensions of the engines were increased. The new, larger engine had a bore of 65 mm (2.6 in), and a stroke of 96 mm (3.8 in), resulting in a displacement of 1,911 cc (116.6 cu in). This resulted in an increase in power to 45 bhp (33.6 kW) at 3750 rpm in the base 319 and 55 bhp (41.0 kW) at 4000 rpm in the 319/1 roadster The kerb weight of the 319 was 850 kg (1,874 lb), and the fuel capacity was 40 L (11 US gal; 9 imp gal).
A total of 6,646 BMW 319s of all types were built by the end of production in 1937. 102 of these were 319/1 roadsters.
The BMW 329 replaced the BMW 319 in early 1937. The 329 was basically a 319 with the front bodywork and fenders from the BMW 326. The 329 was available only as a convertible, with either two or four doors. The 329 was replaced by the 326-based BMW 320 later in 1937.
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Garden of the Gods has been many things: a tropical haven; an inland sea; a field dinosaur pictureof sand dunes; and, even a vast swampy floodplain. Dinosaurs once grazed on the ferns and other tropical plants. Sea serpents swam in shallow waters and mammoths trudged through deep snow in May. The rocks reveal secrets of ancient environments to those who know their language.
A billion years ago, molten rock cooled to create Pikes Peak granite and the Ancestral Rockies. Approximately 310-270 million years ago, the ancestral Rockies were worn down bit by bit. About 250 million years ago, Garden of the Gods had sandy beaches and an inland sea. The 300 foot orange sandstone rocks in the Garden of the Gods were once sand dunes. They may have looked similar to those at the Great Sand Dunes National Monument in southern Colorado. An inland sea once again covered Colorado about 225 million years ago. Around 155 million years ago (the Jurassic period), dinosaurs roamed the Garden of the Gods.
3 graces 9-10-07 023 -bret tennis-c-About 65 million years ago, there was an intense period of mountain building caused by the old Pacific plate slamming into the North American plate. As the Front Range Mountains rose, the overlying sedimentary rocks were bent upward. Over time, the softer rocks eroded and valleys were created leaving harder rocks standing as the tall ridges in the Park. These distinctive formations draw millions of people annually who come to enjoy the beauty of the Park and learn the secrets of this unique place.
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Could Clinton or Trump Win the Popular Vote but Lose the Electoral College?
Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton at the third presidential debate. (Getty)
The nightmare scenario in any presidential election is that a candidate wins the most votes yet does not actually get elected. This sort of thing leaves millions upon millions of voters across the country feeling bitter and cynical about the democratic process, and that feeling can last throughout the new president’s entire term. Could that happen this year? Might Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump get the most votes but still not become president?
It definitely could happen, though it’s more likely for Clinton to win the popular vote but lose the Electoral College than for Trump to win the popular vote but lose the Electoral College. In the former scenario, what would probably happen is that there would be an extremely high turnout in solidly red states. If, for example, many more voters flooded to the polls in Texas to vote for the Democratic candidate than usually do, this would give Hillary Clinton a huge boost in the popular vote. But because Donald Trump will almost certainly win Texas and its electors anyway, those votes don’t make much of a difference. FiveThirtyEight calculates that there is a 10.5 percent chance of Clinton winning the popular vote but losing the Electoral College, whereas there’s only a 0.5 percent chance of that happening to Trump.
This is just the way that presidential elections work in America, as it’s more of a contest of racking up states rather than earning more votes than your opponent. The most recent time this happened was, famously, in the 2000 election, when Al Gore won about 550,000 more votes than George W. Bush. But it was Bush who became president thanks to Florida, a state where the recount stretched the election into December.
Before 2000, the last time the winner of the election did not receive the most votes was way back in 1888. This was the election between Benjamin Harrison and Grover Cleveland. President Cleveland, running for reelection, received 90,000 more votes than Benjamin Harrison. But Harrison won 20 states to Cleveland’s 18, and so Benjamin Harrison was elected. Part of the reason for this was that Benjamin Harrison was able to very narrowly win New York, which was a swing state at the time. This was especially tough for Grover Cleveland considering he was the former governor of New York.
The 1888 election was actually the third time the winner didn’t get the most votes. It also occurred in the election of 1876, a race so brutal that it makes the 2016 election look like a cakewalk. That year, Rutherford B. Hayes ran against Samuel J. Tilden. It was Tilden, the Democratic candidate, who won over 250,000 more votes than Hayes did. But Hayes won thanks to Florida, Louisiana, Ohio and South Carolina, four states whose outcomes were so heavily in dispute that the Compromise of 1877 had to be struck just to put an end to the whole thing.
And the first instance of this outcome ever occurring was in 1824, another contentious election. During this race, there were four men on the ticket, all of whom were members of the same party: John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William Crawford and Henry Clay. Andrew Jackson got the most votes, 38,000 more than the second place winner, John Quincy Adams. But because the vote was divided between four candidates, nobody got a majority in the Electoral College, and so the House of Representatives had to pick the winner, a power they are given in the 12th Amendment to the Constitution. They picked John Quincy Adams, and Andrew Jackson was extremely bitter, accusing John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay, the Speaker of the House, of striking a “corrupt bargain.” This cast a shadow over Adams’ entire presidency, and Andrew Jackson would have his revenge four years later when he decisively beat Adams in the election of 1828.
After such a heated election cycle, an end result like this is difficult to even imagine, so hopefully history does not repeat itself this evening.
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OK for those who are bitching about the electoral college and popular vote, let me give you a free lesson. The electoral college is in place for good reason, the electoral votes still by the popular vote but do so on a state level rather than a national level. For Instance, the city of New York accounts for around 1/38 people in the U.S, which is more than some states. The people in New York City have different needs, and ideas based on different living situations, jobs, etc, than those in say Alaska or Utah. Would it be fair for The city of New York to really account for 1/38 of the presidential vote ? No and this is why the electoral college is in place.
Luis Arroyo
Correct. Liberals are hypocrites who have no respect for US institutions unless it suits them. In 1992, thanks to Ross Perot, Bill Clinton only got 43% of the popular vote, yet won an Electoral landslide. No liberal complaints!
They hated the college in 2000 when WBUSH won it.
They loved it 2008 & 2012 bc Obama won it.
As recently as Nov 8th,2016, some Democrat “strategists & polling experts” on Cable News channels smugly joked about ignorant racist white Americans breaking for Trump, giving him the popular vote, but Hillary winning the Electoral by a landslide. This would happen thanks to the “College educated”,minorities & Women in CA,NY,TX,FL,NC,GA,IL,MI & PA..
Now once again, they hate the Electoral College!
Robert Sutton
Reported by Washington Post & Huffington Post
Over the weekend Trump, had a disabled kid in a wheelchair thrown out of his rally, for holding a Clinton sign. The kid, who has cerebral palsy, asked his mother to bring him to the rally so he could protest Trump’s disparagement of the disabled. As the kid was wheeled out, people booed at him, kicked his chair & yelled obscenities at him. Trump verbally encouraged the crowd, pointed at the kid, shouting, “Get him out of here!”.
If Trump can’t handle a kid in a wheelchair, who in their right mind thinks he could lead this country?!
This election is too unpredictable & too important to not vote or to waste a vote on a 3rd party. If we don’t vote for Clinton, we risk another election of 2000 scenario. Except Trump is more cruel, more ignorant & more dangerous than Bush ever was, for reasons that have been well documented. Please listen to the experts. Please Vote Clinton/Kaine 2016 if you want sanity rather than chaos to rule our government for the next 4 years.
(Please share this story as a final reminder for why we need to keep Trump away from the Oval office)
I smell HRCs ducks here…. LIES i say LIES i want proof of what you say… Hillary would kill babies ONE DAY BEFORE DUE DATE look your child in the eyes and tell her or him thats who you want for president
Hillary wouldn’t kill any babies, you dunderhead. Or are you suggesting that she would be carrying out every abortion personally? The words you say are so stupid that I can’t believe you can say them without realising.
Hillary supports late term abortion, claiming its the women’s right to terminate their babies 1 day before giving birth. Hillary claims babies still in the womb have no constitutional rights. I am pro choice as long as its done within a certain time frame. To say it’s OK to kill a baby 5 minutes before birth is OK, yet to kill the baby 5 min after birth is murder or a child, and would land you a life sentence.
Forever Trump
Hillary Clinton might as well do it herself, she would allow doctors to perform full term abortions,. Hilary Clinton said babies dont have any rights while in the womb , not even 2 mins before birth. that was one of the reasons why I voted for Mr.Trump , our now President elect Trump.
Oh please. The huffinton Post is liberal bias. I’ve seen so many stories on these liberal bias sites about how Trump rally’s are so violent yet I’ve been to 3 and they were nothing of the sort. It’s funny because I’ve been hearing liberals ranting about how Trump would divide our nation, and promotes violence yet it’s those very same people out rioting, and destroying their home towns lol. I have found liberals to be the violent ones, they preach their beliefs yet lash out and become violent when someone disagrees. Have you seen any stories of Trump supporters damaging personal or public property during the presidential race ? Yeah me either, however I’ve seen numerous stories of liberals driving their car through people’s yards, and threatening them. Hillary and liberal media have made many accusations of Trump being a sexist, racist yet not one person has been able to present HARD FACTS to support the Bogus claims made by hillary in hopes of winning the black vote, Hispanic vote, gay vote, and women’s vote !
In 1973, his company, of which he was president, gave different terms and conditions for apartment rental to blacks. The Justice Dept. sued him. He settled out of court. in 1976, his company this time told black applicants that apartments weren’t available.
In 1992, The New Jersey Casino Control Commission fined the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino $200,000 because managers would remove African-American card dealers at the request of certain big-spenders. Supported by a state appeals court.
In 1989, Trump took out full-page ads condemning the 5 black teenagers who were arrested on rape charges (Central Park Five). After spending years in prison, they were exonerated by DNA evidence in 2002, but as late as 2013 Trump still thought them guilty in a tweet, “@CoachClintSwan Tell me, what were they [the Central Park Five] doing in the Park, playing checkers?” The response? “@realDonaldTrump I don’t know. Neither do you. They weren’t raping that woman; that’s for sure.”
In 1996, Trump was sued in Indiana for reversing on a contract to hire minority workers for a riverboat casino on Lake Michigan.
This year, Trump stated, “He’s a Mexican! We’re building a wall between here and Mexico. The answer is, he is giving us very unfair rulings — rulings that people can’t even believe.” (said about Judge Curiel, who is American. It’s racist to assume that the reason someone is doing something is because of their race. That’s the definition!)
Also this year, in Alabama, Trump supporters physically attacked an black protester for chanting “Black lives matter.” Video showed him getting kicked on the ground. The next day Trump said, “Maybe [he] should have been roughed up. It was absolutely disgusting what he was doing.”
Once again this year, two men were arrested for beating up a homeless Hispanic man and told police, “Donald Trump was right — all these illegals need to be deported.” Trump responded with, “I will say that people who are following me are very passionate. They love this country and they want this country to be great again. They are passionate.”
So you can stop kidding yourself that they are bogus claims. All of these incidents are recorded in court documents, newspaper ads (by Trump himself), Twitter (from Trump himself), and on video.
And I don’t like Clinton, so don’t even use that as an excuse.
@ robert Sutton- Actually, they were Hilary team was in Wikileaks..but nice
Robert Sutton, You’re a typical Hillary supporter who lies just like she does…I’m proud to say I voted for our now President Elect Trump. He will make America Great Again!
Luis Arroyo
This is complete BS. Had this been real, it would have made ALL 5,6,10,11 PM TV NEWS HEADLINES! Not to mention almost 24-7 coverage on CBS,NBC,FOX,ABC,MSNBC,CNN…
It would have trended on twitter,Facebook,YouTube.
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Cognitive Development
There are many disorders of the brain specific to childhood and adolescence, such as ADHD, Schizophrenia, Autism and Dyslexia, which have an impact not just on health but also on the education of our growing population. The influence of diet and exercise on cognitive development and cognitive ageing is also a timely research area considering the unhealthy lifestyle and increasing lifespan of the average Western European. Discovering how our brains build networks and connections during development and how lifestyle and health status affect this will shed light on where the critical vulnerabilities lie in old age. Researchers studying developmental learning and memory processes work alongside clinicians specialising in children's cognitive developmental abnormalities to advise schools and government and inform policy to optimise education for our future.
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Close This
Download Now
In computer networks, to download is to receive data from a remote system, typically a server[1] such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar systems. This contrasts with uploading, where data is sent to a remote server.
A download is a file offered for downloading or that has been downloaded, or the process of receiving such a file.
Downloading generally transfers entire files for local storage and later use, as contrasted with streaming, where the data is used nearly immediately, while the transmission is still in progress, and which may not be stored long-term. Increasingly, websites that offer streaming media or media displayed in-browser, such as YouTube, and which place restrictions on the ability of users to save these materials to their computers after they have been received.
Downloading is not the same as data transfer; moving or copying data between two storage devices would be data transfer, but receiving data from the Internet would be downloading.
Downloading media files involves the use of linking and framing Internet material, and relates to copyright law. Streaming and downloading can involve making infringing copies of the works in question; organizations running such websites may become vicariously liable for infringement by actively inducing infringement by others.
Open hosting servers allows people to upload files to a central server, which incurs bandwidth and hard disk space costs due to files generates with each download. Anonymous and open hosting servers make it difficult to hold hosts accountable. Taking legal action against the technologies behind unauthorized "file sharing" has proven successful for centralized networks (such as Napster), and untenable for decentralized networks like (Gnutella, BitTorrent).
Downloading and streaming relates to the more general usage of the Internet to facilitate copyright infringement also known as "software piracy". As overt static hosting to unauthorized copies of works (i.e. centralized networks) is often quickly and uncontroversially rebuffed, legal issues have in recent years tended to deal with the usage of dynamic web technologies (decentralized networks, trackerless BitTorrents) to circumvent the ability of copyright owners to directly engage particular distributors and consumers.
In Europe, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled that it is legal to create temporary or cached copies of works (copyrighted or otherwise) online.[2][3] The ruling relates to the British Meltwater case settled on 5 June 2014.[4][5]
The judgement of the court states that: "Article 5 of Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society must be interpreted as meaning that the copies on the user’s computer screen and the copies in the internet ‘cache’ of that computer’s hard disk, made by an end-user in the course of viewing a website, satisfy the conditions that those copies must be temporary, that they must be transient or incidental in nature and that they must constitute an integral and essential part of a technological process, as well as the conditions laid down in Article 5(5) of that directive, and that they may therefore be made without the authorisation of the copyright holders."[6]
On April 17, 2009, a Swedish court convicted four men operating The Pirate Bay Internet site of criminal copyright infringement.[7] The Pirate Bay was established in 2003 by the Swedish anti-copyright organization Piratbyrån to provide information needed to download film or music files from third parties, many of whom copied the files without permission. The Pirate Bay does not store copies of the files on its own servers, but did provide peer-to-peer links to other servers on which infringing copies were stored. Apparently the theory of the prosecution was that the defendants, by their conduct, actively induced infringement. Under U.S. copyright law, this would be a so-called Grokster theory of infringement liability.[8]
The Swedish district court imposed damages of SEK 30 million ($3,600,000) and one-year prison sentences on the four defendants. "The defendants have furthered the crimes that the file sharers have committed," said district court judge Tomas Norstöm. He added, "They have been helpful to such an extent that they have entered into the field of criminal liability." "We are of course going to appeal," defense lawyer Per Samuelsson said. The Pirate Bay has 25 million users and is considered one of the biggest file-sharing websites in the world. It is conceded that The Pirate Bay does not itself make copies or store files, but the court did not consider that fact dispositive. "By providing a website with ... well-developed search functions, easy uploading and storage possibilities, and with a tracker linked to the website, the accused have incited the crimes that the filesharers have committed," the court said in a statement.[9]
minisportvicky: Cara Menyimpan Gambar/Foto Instagram di Hp Android Tanpa Aplikasi
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Saturday, May 18, 2013
Why do you sit in a chair?
We've started a new fun ritual at the start of our day, wherein the students themselves take turns asking the question of the day on the whiteboard. I've seen this done in older classes but I hadn't tried it at the preschool level. Laura McCarthy (Teaching Resident) decided to give it a try with our class and I have really enjoyed seeing how excited the children are about this daily pastime.
We invite the children to consider what they want to learn from their peers or what they want to know about their peers.
Most of the questions have been fairly predictable..."small" wonderings, such as
Do you have a pet? Yes or No?
What is your favorite food - macaroni and cheese, pizza, spaghetti, other?
What is your favorite - airplanes, helicopters, or trains?
What do you like for breakfast - oatmeal, muffin, cereal, other?
Do you like princesses? Yes or No?
This past week, Harper's question was open-ended:
Why do you sit in a chair?
I was delighted to see how the children answered.
Many were stumped.
"I don't know," being their immediate response.
Others puzzled long enough to reframe the original question, to make their answer fit their needs -
I like that chair! [points to a student chair] (Ferdinand)
That chair! [points to teacher chair] (Nolan)
For many, a chair was for sitting down for meals:
"So, you can eat lunch." (Soren)
"So, you don't spill food." (Sayid)
"That means you have to eat." (Ben)
"Because we eat." (Emma)
"Because we got to sit down eating." (Ellington)
Reia noted another favorite activity for chairs:
"Because we read books."
Dillon's response made me think of "rules" about chairs -
"Because we sit in a chair all the time." (Dillon)
[He is perhaps remembering adult voices, reminding him to sit in the chair.]
Other responses seemed to wrestle philosophically with the purpose of a chair -
"Because I don't want to stand up." (Harper)
"So, if there is something lower, you can reach it." (Sarah Lydia)
"So, we won't fall." (Anya)
"If it disappears, you fall off and hit your bottom." (Jamie)
"If you want to relax, you go to a chair or a bed." (Charlie)
I loved this question! I loved how one simple question gave me a window into children's cognitive they think.
1. I have never heard of having a 'question of the day', Maureen. What fun for the younger ones. I'll ask my primary teachers if they ever do it. I don't think so. The very premise of our school is asking questions, because of their individual topic studies, but to find out "things" as you've described is different. Thanks for telling all about it!
1. Linda, I believe "question of the day" is a Responsive Classroom idea. I have been doing this as a morning arrival ritual for years, where children look for today's question and then place their name (magnetized, to stick to our whiteboard) to the response they choose. It is a simple way to build community - to encourage children's interest in and understanding of one another. Also great for pre-literacy, helping them to spell their names!
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Thursday, January 1, 2015
Animals can tell the coming of a natural calamity
Dr Abe V Rotor
1.When earthworms crawl out of their holes, a flood is coming.
This subterranean annelid has built-in sensors, a biblical Noah’s sense of a coming flood, so to speak. Its small brain is connected to clusters of nerve cells, called ganglia, running down the whole body length. These in turn are connected to numerous hair-like protrusions on the cuticle, which serve as receptor. When rain saturates the soil, ground water rises and before it reaches their burrows, they crawl out to higher grounds where they seek refuge until the flood or the rainy season is over. The more earthworms abandoning their burrows, the more we should take precaution.
Giant earthworm, UST campus. Photo taken
before Typhoon Lupit, October 17, 2009.
The poor creature was crossing a concrete
pavement on its way to higher ground. I
helped it find a safe home.
2. Animals become uneasy before an earthquake occurs.
It is because they are sensitive to the vibrations preceding an earthquake. They perceive the small numerous crackling of the earth before the final break (tectonic), which is the earthquake. As a means of self-preservation they try to escape from stables and pens, seek shelter, run to higher grounds, or simply escape to areas far from the impending earthquake. Snakes come out of their abode, reptiles move away from the water, horses neigh and kick around, elephants seem to defy the command of their masters (like in the case of the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka). We humans can only detect such minute movements on our inventions such as the Richter Scale.
3.Dogs howl in the night at unseen spirits.
Dogs have keen sense of seeing, smelling and hearing, many times more sensitive than ours. Many animals such as members of the cat family - lions, tigers, and the domesticated cat – are equally, if not more sensitive, in the dark. They also have infrared vision that enhances their predatory habits. The limitation of our senses is the mother of many of our beliefs or superstitions.
4. Raining while the sun is out breeds insects.
Now and then we experience simultaneous rain and sunshine, and may find ourselves walking under an arch of rainbow, a romantic scene reminiscent of the movie and song, Singing in the Rain. Old folks would rather grim with a kind of sadness on their faces, for they believe that such condition breeds caterpillars and other vermin that destroy their crops.
What could be the explanation to this belief? Thunderstorm is likely the kind of rain old folks are referring to. Warmth plus moisture is vital to egg incubation, and activation of aestivating insects, fungi, bacteria and the like. In a few days, they come out in search of food and hosts. Armyworms and cutworms (Spodoptera and Prodina), named after their huge numbers and voracious eating habit, are among these uninvited guests
5. When house lizards (butiki) are noisy, there is a guest coming.
My father used to tell me when I was a child, that if house lizards make loud and crispy calls, it’s likely that a visitor is coming.
How do lizards know? Some people attribute this to the house lizard’s habit of “kissing” the ground at dusk. But this has nothing to do with predicting a guest’s arrival. But we know that when a person is anticipating a guest he is extraordinarily keen, and thus become aware of anything happening in his surroundings – including the mating calls of lizards.
House lizards take a drink on the ground and return to their dwellings on top of trees, on ceilings and roofs where water is scarce. By the way lizards are common where there is a lot of insects they can feed on, such as areas around fluorescent lamps and street lights.
6. When jellyfish come to the surface of the sea there is an earthquake or tsunami coming. It is when the epicenter of an earthquake occurs under the sea that tsunami may follow. Marine animals as well as land animals can detect minute tremors preceding an earthquake. Because of this they seek for safe areas usually moving upward shallower waters. (NOTE: Such vibrations are generally imperceptible to humans. They are monitored by his invention, the Seismograph, instead.)
7. When cockroaches are flying about, there are plenty of fish to catch. This is not limited to cockroaches. Other insects do swarm at certain stages or seasons of the year. For example, termites swarm at the onset of the heavy rains (monsoon or habagat); honeybees swarm when the queen bee dies, or when a new queen is produced from an old hive. Gnats or gamu-gamu swarm when their population shoot up due to freedom from predators. Locusts coalesce and migrate if driven by drought that destroys their source of food. Fish are abundant when there are plenty of insects since insects constitute their main food.
8. Numerous leafhoppers (Nepothettix spp., Order Homoptera) smashed on the windshield while driving at night on the highway, means there is population buildup of this pest in the area. Leafhoppers attack rice and other crops in their growing and early maturing periods.
Unusual behavior of a school of fish is a sign of a coming earthquake. Bangkok, Thailand
9· Ants move into the house for shelter of a coming strong rain or a typhoon. They even carry with them their young and eggs. Oftentimes some of the members of the colony bear wings. These are soldiers and workers ants which have grown wings in preparation for swarming.
10. A tree surrounded by fireflies during the night brings good luck.
Fireflies are biological indicators of a pristine environment and good weather. Letizia Constantino once wrote in Issues without Tears, a moving article –You don’t see fireflies anymore. It is reminiscent of Rachel Carson’s winning novel, Silent Spring, a story when the birds did not return one spring. It is all about man’s growing indifference in protecting the environment from pollution and many other abuses. ~
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miércoles, 12 de enero de 2011
1. Visit www.panoramio.com and search Costa Rica. Costa Rica and visit 10 virtual places on the panoramio map. Plot the locations on your Costa Rica map. When you visit a virtual place look through 3-10 pictures
2. Plan an Ecotourism trip in Costa Rica for you and your friend or family.
Research the trip highlights and locations. Research what makes the trip an “Ecotour.”
3. Write an outline of your trip in chronological order for an audience of student travelers.
4. The introduction and conclusion must include information about ecotourism. They should tell the reader what ecotourism is and why your trip qualifies. The introduction and conclusion need to be written out. The body is just an outline.
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Thursday, February 21, 2013
Musical Pillars
Temples often have some pillars portraying human figures playing musical instruments, but seldom do these pillars themselves produce music. At the Nellaiappar temple in Tamil Nadu, gentle taps on a cluster of pillars carved out of a single piece of rock produce the basic notes of Indian classical music, viz. Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni, Sa. Vibrations of these pillars depend on elasticity of the stone used, its density and shape.
Musical pillars are categorised into three types: The first is called the Shruti Pillar, as it can produce the basic notes — the “swaras”. The second type is the Gana Thoongal, which generates the basic tunes that make up the “ragas”. The third variety is the Laya Thoongal pillars that produce “taal” (beats) when tapped. The pillars at the Nellaiappar temple are a combination of the Shruti and Laya types.
Archaeologists date the Nelliappar temple to the 7th century and claim it was built by successive rulers of the Pandyan dynasty.
The musical pillars of Nelliappar and several other temples in southern India like those at Hampi (picture), Kanyakumari, and Thiruvananthapuram are unique to the country and have no parallel in any other part of the world.
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Articles on US education
Displaying 1 - 20 of 27 articles
Ella Russell, a second grade student at Jamestown Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia, works on an e-book during class. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
Textbooks in the digital world
Textbooks were once a major piece of educational infrastructure. But as digital content expands, a new kind of 'textbook' is improving the quality of K-12 instruction.
In 2013, pro-science supporters rallied before a Texas Board of Education public hearing on proposed new science textbooks. AP Photo/Eric Gay
30 years after Edwards v. Aguillard: Why creationism lingers in public schools
Thirty years after the Supreme Court ruled that creationism cannot be required in schools, 'creation science' is still taught in some schools. What are the implications for climate education?
Trump budget would abandon public education for private choice
Too sick to attend school in person, but perfectly able to participate with a robot’s help. AP Photo/David Duprey
How robots could help chronically ill kids attend school
Students with chronic illness often get only a few hours of education a week. Telepresence robots could let them participate fully in classroom and school activities.
Some say coddled kids need to be taught how to persevere through setbacks and disappointments. 'Flower' via
What’s behind America’s insistence on instilling grit in kids?
One of the newest trends in education is teaching students how to develop grit. But what's even meant by 'grit'? And what if grit means something different for everyone?
How universities boost economic growth
The second half of the 20th century saw explosive economic growth and also a huge increase in universities – new research shows the two are related.
Summer camps are popular in the States, so why don’t Aussie kids adopt the practice? Flickr/Camp Pinewood
Should Aussie kids go on US-style summer camps?
Summer camps popular in the US are said to stop the summer "learning slide", which is particularly important for low socio-economic children. But camps can also be quite expensive. So should we adopt the practice here?
How do you measure the value of a charter school? Reuters/Lee Celano
Making sense of the evidence on charter school test scores
Imagine a police officer pulls you over and tickets you for speeding. She tells you she measured you going 50.5 MPH in a 50 MPH zone. No, you reply, my speedometer shows that I was going exactly 49.5…
Better hurry up if you want a place. Reuters/Adrees Latif
New York mayor’s preschool crusade helps better-off families
Rookie New York mayor Bill de Blasio – poster child for America’s insurgent progressives – has promised to rewrite “a tale of two cities” by seeking to narrow gaps between the haves and the have-nots across…
Five trends that jeopardise public education around the world
Private school, public results. Pimnana_01
Markets alone don’t raise standards in private schools
As the coalition government’s free schools continue to stir heated debate, the problem of how to maintain and raise standards and quality is front and centre. To tackle it, MPs have been looking more and…
Don’t mess with my homework, officer. Dominic Lipinski/PA Archive
School metal detectors reduce weapon carrying but not fear
The recent horrifying spectacle of a disturbed student fatally stabbing his teacher in front of his classmates in Leeds has spurred a national dialogue about how schools should address violence. Perhaps…
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Country Profile
Quick Facts on Thailand
Thailand is situated in the heart of the Southeast Asian mainland, covering an area of 513,115 square kilometers and extends about 1,620 kilometers from north to south and 775 kilometers from east to west. Thailand borders the Lao People's Democratic Republic and the Republic of the Union of Myanmar to the North, the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Gulf of Thailand to the East, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and the Indian Ocean to the West, and Malaysia to the south.
Thailand is a warm and rather humid tropical country with monsoonal climate. The average temperature of 28 degree Celsius to 38 degrees Celsius and humidity averaging between 82.8 percent to 73 percent. Temperatures are highest in March and April.
Summer: March to May, Rainy season: June to October, Winter: November to February.
Capital City: Bangkok
Historical Background
There are conflicting opinions as to the origins of the Thais. Three decades ago it could be said with presumed certainty that the Thais originated in Northwestern Szechuan in China about 4,500 years ago and later migrated down to their present homeland. However, this theory has been altered by the discovery of remarkable prehistoric artifacts in the village of Ban Chiang in the Nong Han District of Udon Thani Province in the Northeast. These include evidence of bronze metallurgy going back 3,500 years, as well as other indications of a far more sophisticated culture than any previously suspected by archaeologists. It now appears that the Thais might have originated here in Thailand and later scattered to various parts of Asia, including some parts of China. Siam is the name by which the country was known to the world until 1939 and again between 1945 and 1949. On May 11, 1949, an official proclamation changed the name of the country to "Prathet Thai", or "Thailand", by which it has since been known. The word "Thai" means "free", and therefore "Thailand" means "Land of the Free."
According to statistic collected the Department of Provincial Administration, Ministry of Interior of Thailand in 2014, the population in Thailand is approximately 65 million, of which around 6-7 million live in the capital city, Bangkok.
The national and official language is Thai while English is widely spoken and understood in major cities, particularly in Bangkok and in business circles.
Foreign Currency Declaration:
As from 24 February 2008, under the relevant Thai law, any foreigner who brings or takes an aggregate amount of foreign currency exceeding USD 20,000 or its equivalent into or out of the Kingdom of Thailand shall declare such amount of foreign currency to a Customs Officer. Failure to declare upon bringing foreign currency that exceeds the amount restricted by law or its equivalent out of or into the Kingdom of Thailand or making any false declaration to a Customs Officer is a criminal offence.
The country's central bank is the Bank of Thailand. Major Thai commercial banks include the Bangkok Bank, Siam Commercial Bank, Krung Thai Bank, Thai Farmers Bank and Thai Military Bank. Business hours are 08:30 - 15:30 hours, Monday to Friday. Several international banks also have offices in Thailand.
Currency: The Baht is the standard currency unit.
Bank Notes: 20, 50, 100, 500, 1,000 baht
Coins: 1, 2, 5, and 10 baht
Newspaper & Media
There are over 100 radio stations in Bangkok. All are state-owned but private companies are given air time concessions for their programs. Broadcasting is done in both Thai and English, with news broadcasting every hour. There are over 20 Thai morning dailies in Bangkok. Two major English-language dailies are the Bangkok Post and The Nation. There are numerous English-language magazines and local publications in Japanese, Chinese and other European languages. Many major international newspapers, magazines and books are also widely available.
There are 6 general television stations, Channels 3, 5, 7, 9, and the National Broadcasting Services of Thailand (NBT) broadcast local variety shows, newscasts and live coverage of special events. Cable TV is also available by subscription. In addition, digital TV services is also provided.
Health and Medical Facilities:
Bangkok has numerous clinics and hospitals catering to a variety of needs. Major public and private hospitals are equipped with the latest medical technology and internationally qualified specialists. Almost all pharmaceuticals are widely available.
Regulations for Foreign Visitors to Thailand:
Foreign nationals visiting Thailand must possess valid passports or accepted travel documents and appropriate visas before entering the country. Visitors from several countries are permitted to stay up to 30 days without visas, while visitors from some other countries are entitled to apply for visas on arrival with stay of up to 15 days, provided they possess tickets confirming departure within 15 days at all ports of entry. Transit visas permit stay for up to 30 days and tourist visas for up to 60 days. Non-immigrant, diplomatic and official visas permit stay for up to 90 days.
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Basic Marketing Concepts
• Market-a collection of buyers and sellers.
• Marketspace-electronic marketplaces unbound by time or space.
• Metamarket-a cluster of closely related goods and services that center around a specific consumption activity.
• Metamediary-provides a single access point where buyers can locate and contact many different sellers in the metamarket; Amazon, Expedia, and Priceline.
What is exchange?
Exchange-the process of obtaining something of value from someone by offering something in return; this usually entails obtaining products for money:
1. There must be at least two parties to the exchange.
2. Each party has something of value to offer the other party.
3. Each party must be capable of communication and delivery.
4. Each party must be free to accept or reject the exchange.
5. Each party believes it is desirable to exchange with the other party.
What is a product?
Product-something that can be acquired via exchange to satisfy a need or a want.
• Goods, Services, Ideas, Information, Digital Products, People, Places, Experiences and Events, Real or Financial Property, and Organizations.
• Customers usually seek out exchanges with marketers who offer products that are high in one or more of 5 types of utility:
1. Time Utility-products are available when customers want them; faster transactions.
2. Place Utility-Products are available where customers want them, which is typically wherever the customer happens to be at the moment or where the product needs to be at that moment.
3. Place utility-the closer the better.
4. Possession Utility-the transfer of ownership or title from marketer to customer. These products are more satisfying because marketers make them easy to acquire.
5. Projection utility-example with cars.
6. Psychological Utility-deliver positive experiential or psychological attributes that customers find satisfying Psychological utility: sporting events.
Major Marketing Activities and Decisions
All marketing activities have one thing in common: They aim to give customers a reason to buy the organization’s product.
Strategic Planning
• Strategy-outlines the organization’s game plan for success.
• Tactical planning-concerns itself with specific markets or market segments and the development of marketing programs that will fulfill the needs of customers in those markets
• Marketing Plan-provides the outline for how the organization will combine product, pricing, distribution, and promotion decisions to create an offering that customers will find attractive. Also concerns itself with implementation, control, and refinement of these decisions
Social Responsibility and Ethics
• Social Responsibilityan organization’s obligation to maximize its positive impact on society while minimizing its negative impact.
Research and Analysis
Strategic planning depends heavily on the availability and interpretation of information. Organization must also have access to three other types of information and analysis:
1. Internal Analysis-
involves the objective review of internal information pertaining to the firm’s current strategy and performance, as well as the current and future availability of resources.
2. Competitive intelligence-
involves analyzing the capabilities, vulnerabilities, and intentions of competing businesses.
3. Environmental scanning or External Analysis-
involves the analysis of economic, political, legal, technological, and cultural events and trends that may affect the future of the organization and its marketing effects
Situation analysis-
the overall process of collecting and interpreting internal, competitive, and environmental information
Developing Competitive Advantage-something that the firm does better than its competitors that gives it an edge in serving customers’ needs and/or maintaining mutually satisfying relationships with important shareholders. They set the tone, or strategic focus, of the entire marketing program.
Marketing Strategy Decisions
• Market Segmentation-divide the total market into smaller, relatively homogeneous groups or segments that share similar needs, wants, or characteristics.
• Target Markets-he or she identifies one or more segments of individuals, businesses, or institutions toward which the firm’s marketing efforts will be directed.
Product Decisions
• Product positioning-involves establishing a mental image, or position, of the product offering relative to competing offerings in the minds of the minds of target buyers.
• Pricing decision: First, price is the only element of the marketing mix that leads to revenue and profit. Second, price typically has a direct connection with customer demand. Third, pricing is the easiest element of the marketing program to change. Finally, pricing is a major quality cue for customers. One of these reasons that pricing is so interesting is that price represents a major point in marketing strategy where buyer and seller motivations come into conflict.
Distribution and Supply Chain Decisions
The goal of distribution and supply chain management-to get the product to the right place, at the right time, in the right quantities, at the lowest possible cost. Distribution and supply chain issues are critical for major reasons: product availability and distribution costs.
Promotional Decisions
Integrated Marketing Communication-
the coordination of all promotional activities (media advertising, direct mail, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, packaging, store displays, website design, personnel) to produce a unified, customer-faced message.
Implementation and Control
Marketing implementation-process of executing the marketing strategy is the “how” of marketing planning
Developing and Maintaining Customer Relationships
1. Transactional Marketing-complete a large number of discrete exchanges with individual customers
2. Relationship Marketing-develop and maintain long-term, mutually satisfying arrangements where both buyer and seller focus on the value obtained from the relationship
Taking on the Challenges of Marketing Strategy
One of the greatest frustrations and opportunities in marketing is change-customers change, competitor’s change, and even the marketing organization changes. One of the most basic shifts involves the increasing demands of customers. Decline in satisfaction can be attributed to: customers have become much less brand loyal than in previous generations. Today’s customers are very price sensitive. Product commoditization pushes margins lower and reduces brand loyalty even further
Strategic Marketing Plan
The Strategic Planning Process
An in-depth analysis of the organization’s internal and external environments-sometimes referred to as a situation analysis
Marketing Plan-
a written document that provides the blueprint or outline of the organization’s marketing activities, including the implementation, evaluation, and control of those activities; clearly explains how the organization will achieve its goals and objectives
Organizational Mission Versus Organizational Vision
• Mission/mission statement-seeks to answer the question “What business are we in?”
Elements of the Mission Statement
1. Who are we?
2. Who are our customers?
3. What is our operating philosophy? (basic beliefs, values, ethics, etc)
4. What are our core competencies or competitive advantages?
5. What are our responsibilities with respect to being a good steward of our human, financial, and environmental resources?
One portion of the strategic plan that should not be kept confidential, should be included in annual reports and major press releases, framed on the wall in every office, and personally owned by every employee of the organization. Goals, objectives, strategies, tactics, and budgets are not for public viewing.
Mission Width and Stability
If the mission is too broad, it will be meaningless to those who read and build upon it. Well-designed mission statement should not stifle and organization’s creativity, it must help keep the firm from moving too far from its core competencies. Overly narrow mission statements that constrain the vision of the organization can prove just as costly. The mission should change only when it is no longer in sync with the firm’s capabilities, when competitors drive the firm from certain markets, when new technology changes the delivery of customer benefits, or when the firm identifies a new opportunity that matches its strengths and expertise.
Customer-Focused Mission Statements
Mission statements have become much more customer oriented
Corporate or Business-Unit Strategy
1) Corporate Strategy-
central scheme or means of utilizing and integrating resources in the areas of production, finance, research, and development, human resources, and marketing, to carry out the organization’s mission and achieve the desired goals and objectives
2) Business-unit Strategy-
determines the nature and future direction of each business unit, including its competitive advantages, the allocation of its resources, and the coordination of the functional business areas (marketing, production, finance, human resources, etc.)
Important consideration for a firm determining its corporate or business-unit strategy is the firm’s capabilities. When a firm possesses capabilities that allow it to serve customers’ needs better than the competition, it is said to have a competitive, or differential, advantage. The key issue is the organization’s ability to convince customers that its advantages are superior to those of the competition
Functional Goals and Objectives
Marketing and all their business functions must support the organization’s mission and goals, translating these into objectives with specific quantitative measurements
Marketing objectives:
units of measure might include sales volume (in dollars/units), profitability per unit, percentage gain in market share, sales per square feet, average customer purchase, percentage of customers in the firm’s target market who prefer its products, or some other measurable achievement.
Functional Strategy
In marketing strategy, the process focuses on selecting one or more target markets and developing a marketing program that satisfies the needs and wants of members of the target market.
The strategy must:
(1) Fit the needs and purposes of the functional area with respect to meeting its goals and objectives
(2) Be realistic given the organization’s available resources and environment,
(3) Be consistent with the organization’s mission, goals, and objectives.
Involves activities that actually execute the functional area strategy. All functional plans have at least 2 target markets: an external market and an internal market. In order for a functional strategy to be implemented successfully, the organization must rely on the commitment and knowledge of its employers-its internal target market.
Evaluation and Control
The key to coordination is to ensure that functional areas maintain open lines of communication at all ties. Evaluation and control occur after a strategy has been implemented. The implementation of any strategy would be incomplete without an assessment of its success and the creation of control mechanisms to provide and revise the strategy or its implementation. Evaluation and control serve as the beginning point for the planning process in the next planning cycle.
Chapter 11 Marketing Implementation and Control
Strivastawan, Sherva, and Fahey
PPM-Product Develoment Management (Brand mand management, brand extensions, line extensions, ,
SCM-Supply Chain Management, place but less important
CRM-Customer Relationship Management-customer satisfaction
Strategic Issues in Marketing Implementation
Marketing Implementation is critical to the success of any firm because it is responsible for putting the marketing strategy into action. Implementation refers to the “how” part of the marketing plan. Some of this misunderstanding stems from the fact that marketing strategies almost always turn out differently than expected. In fact, all firms have two strategies: their intended strategy and a realized strategy. Intended marketing strategy is what the firm wants to happen-is is the firm’s planned strategic choices that appear in the marketing plan iteself. The realized marketing strategy, on the other hand, is the strategy that actually takes palce.
The link between Planning and Implementation
Many of the problems of marketing implementation occur because of its relationship to strategic planning. The three most common issues in this relationship are interdependency, evolution, and separation.
The content of the marketing plan determines how it will be implemented, it is also true that how the marketing strategy is to be implemented determines the content of the marketing plan.
Employee training programs
Profit sharing
Employee training, as a tool of implementation, can also dictate the content of the firm’s strategy.
Stock optioins
Important environmental factors constantly change. Because planning and implementation are intertwined, each must constantly evolve to fit the other. Just as strategy often results form trial and erro, so does marketing implementation. These rapid chagnes require that firms be flexible in both marketing strategy and implementatoin.
The ineffective implementation of marketing strategy is often a self-generated problem that stesm from the way tha planning and implementation are carried out in most firms. Believing that frontline managers and employees wil lbe exvited about the marketin strategy and motivated to implemetn iit. Managers and employees often fail to identify with the firms’ goals and objectives, and thus fail to fully understand the marketing strategy.
The elements of Marketing Implementation
Shared Goals and Values
Shared Goals and values among all employees within the firm are the “glue” of successful implementation because they bind the entire organization together as a single, functioning unit. Firms such as FedEx, Google, and ESPN, are well-known for their efforts to ensure that employees share and are committed to corporate goals and values. The primary means of creating shared goals and values is through employee training and socialization programs. Some experts have argued that creating shared gaols and values is the single most important element of implementation because it stimulates organizational commitment so that employees become more motivated to implement the marketing strategy, achieve the frims goals and objectives, and serve more fully the needs of the frim’s customers.
Marketing Strucuture
Organizing a firm’s marketing activities. Marketing structures establishes fromal lines of authority, as well as the divisoijn of labor witin the marketing function. One of the most important decisions that firms make is how to divide and integrate marketing responsibilities. This decision typically comes down to the question of centralization verus decentralization. In a centralized marketing structure, the top of the markting hierarchy coordinates and manages all marketing activities and decisions. The front line of the firm coordinates and manages marketing activities and decisions.
Centralized Structures are very cost-efficient and effective in ensuring standardization within the marketing program. Walmar or Dell.
Decentralized marketing stuctures have the important advantage of placing marketing decisions closer to the front line, where serving customes is the number one priority. By decentralizing marekting decisions, frontline managers can be creative and flexible, allowing them to adapt to changing market conditions. Firms that employ a strategy of customer intimacy, such as Ritz-Carlton or Nordstom. The righ marketing structure will depend on the specific firm, the nature of its internal and external environments, and ts chosen marekting strategy.
Systems and Processes
Organizational systems and processses are collections of work activitis that absorb a variety of inputs to create information and communication outputs that ensure the consistent day-to-day operation of the firm. Examples include information systems, strategic planniong, capital budgeting, procurement, order fulfillment, manufacturing, quality control, and performance mesurement.
Tangible Resources include financial resources, manufacturing capacity, facilities, and equipment. Although not quite as obvious, intangible resources such as marketing expertise, customer loyalty, brand equity, corporate goodwill, and external relationships/strategic alliances are equally important.
A critical and hones evaluation of available resources during the plannin phase can help ensure that th emarketing strategy and marketing implementaiton are within the realm of possibility. This makes the communication aspects of the actual marketing plan document critical ot the success of the strategy.
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Black Beauty
Why does Anna Sewell believe all animals are inherently good
Why does she treat animals like humans
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Last updated by Aslan
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Although many regard it as a novel clearly intended for children, Sewell did not explicitly limit her book to a children audience. Instead she stated that she intended for this book to encourage readers to deal with horses sympathetically and to understand their needs and wants. To that end she has a horse—Black Beauty—narrate the story. This anthropomorphic trait puts the reader directly in a horse’s horse-shoes and forces them to look at the world through the eyes of an often mistreated workhorse. Animal's do not have the greed and hubris that seems natural to humans.
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Chinese Medicine recognizes all the various kinds of symptoms associated with cold and flu viral infections and categorizes them into two distinct patterns of illness. The terms used for these umbrella patterns fall under the rubric of External Pathogens and are categorized as either Wind Cold or Wind Heat. This is an important distinction as their treatment principles and guiding herbal formulas are quite different.
The Mechanism:
In theory, it is Wind that carries the pathogenic factor into our body, whether it be cold or hot in nature. Both are seen as external pathogens, meaning the cold or heat is trapped between the person’s skin and muscle layers hence the guiding treatment principle is to Release the Exterior and Expel Wind. If we do this early enough in the conditions evolution, we may be able to stop the invasion. If the pathogen is due to a bacterial infection, appearing early on as Wind-Heat, we may not however be completely able to stop the pathogen altogether. Chinese medicine will still however be able to alleviate symptoms, shorten the course of the infection and prevent complications.
In Chinese medicine, it is vital to approach these External conditions very seriously, as in this system of medicine, if Wind is allowed to penetrate beyond the muscle layer into the Interior of the body, many diseases may arise.
Why does Wind invade? This is due to either to the body’s Qi being either temporarily and relatively weak or to the pathogenic factor being quite strong. Temporary and relative Qi weakness can be due to lack of sleep, overwork, excess sexual activity, irregular diet, stress or any combination of these factors. A strong pathogenic factor can enter the body no matter how strong the body’s Qi is.
Often, symptoms will begin as wind-cold and then will transform into wind-heat within a couple of days, though it may also begin as wind-heat. If allowed to progress, both of these conditions may transform into another presentation, called phlegm-heat in the lungs, which is characterized by coughing and the copious production of thick yellow sputum. At other times, wind may combine with dampness and affect the stomach, causing a stomach flu with vomiting and diarrhea.
Western Medicine: The Common Cold
Cause: Viral Infections
The common cold is a viral infection of the lining of the nose, sinuses, throat, and large airways Common viral infections such as an upper respiratory infection (URIs) can typically be detected by the following:
Runny nose
Sinus congestion
Low-grade fever
Sore throat
Watery eyes
Difficulty sleeping
Bacterial Infections
In some cases we become more concerned that the infection may be caused by a bacterial infection. Bacterial infections may be the result of "secondary infection" (meaning that the virus initiated the process but a bacteria followed) when the symptoms:
Persist longer than two weeks
High, persistent temperature
Fever gets worse a few days into the illness rather than improving
Chronic cough
Localized redness, heat, swelling and pain
Bacterial infections can be much more severe as bacteria can cause organ damage or other severe complications. This is why in SOME cases, antibiotics are suggested.
Common bacterial infections can be related to the following conditions:
Otitis Media (bacterial inner ear infection)
Conjunctivitis/Pink Eye (bacterial infection of the superficial eye)
Sinusitis (bacterial sinus infection)
Strep throat or pharyngitis (bacterial throat infection)
Cellulitis (bacterial skin infection)
Septic Arthritis (bacterial joint infection)
Pneumonia (bacterial lung infection)
Acute Bronchitis (bacterial infection of the lung passageways)
Acute Cholecystitis (bacterial infection of the gall bladder)
Intra-abdominal Abscess (bacterial collection located in the abdominal cavity)
Abscess general (bacterial collection located anywhere under the skin)
Urinary Tract Infection (bacterial bladder infection)
Urethritis (bacterial infection of the urethra)
Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (bacterial infection of the female reproductive organs)
Chinese Medicine: Wind Cold
Treatment: Pungent Warm Herbs to Release the Exterior and cause sweating
In this system, we sweat to expel the pathogenic cold invasion and circulate Qi to restore balance. We use different formulas depending on what the chief symptoms being experienced are.
Enters through the skin
Aversion to cold and shivering, chills
Occipital headache and/or stiff neck
No sweating (or very little)
Low grade fever
Stuffy or runny nose
For this kind of condition, formulas containing cinnamon twig, ginger root, asarum (which is similar to ginger), kudzu root, and licorice are used.
These are the different basic formulas used depending on the leading symptoms involved.
Formula Ma Huang Tang: strong chills, no sweat, wheezing, stiff neck
Formula Jiu Wei Qiang Huo Tang: fever and chills no sweating, headache & stiff neck,body aches, slight thirst
Formula Xiao Qing Long Tang: fever and chills no sweating, cough, wheezing, copious white sputum, difficult to expect, fullness in chest, body aches, difficulty breathing lying down
Formula Chuan Qiong Cha Tiao (with Green Tea to escort herbs up): headache, nasal congestion
Formula: Ge Gen Tang: fever and chills no sweating, stiff neck and back, cannot move the head
When there is weakness and deficiency in the body resulting in difficulty resolving the pathogen, the guiding formula is:
Formula Gui Zhi Tang: fever and chills not relieved by sweating, sensitivity to wind, stomach qi can be upset resulting in dry heaves.
Chinese Medicine: Wind Heat
Treatment: Pungent Cool Herbs to Release the Exterior and cause sweating.
Enters through the nose and mouth
Sore throat
For wind heat, typically herbal formulas containing chrysanthemum flowers, mulberry leaf, mint, peppermint, honeysuckle, forsythia buds, burdock seed, and licorice are used.
Formula Yin Qiao or Gan Mao Ling: fever, slight or no chills, headache, cough, sore throat
Formula Zhong Gan Ling: high fever
Formula Chuan Xin Lian: bad sore throat
Formula Sang Ju Yin: slight fever, cough, slight thirst
Han’s Honey Loquat Syrup can be used for dry, unproductive cough
Helpful Western Herbal Medicine
The best prevention is to eat well, get plenty of sleep and exercise and leep your throat covered with a scarf. Also, if you are prone to catching colds, Yu Ping Feng Wan, Jade Screen, is an excellent formula for building the defensive Qi of the body. Consider taking this throughout the cold and flu season.
Airmune is an effervescent, unique immune system booster. Airmune is ideal for people who are frequently in high risk areas (crowded spaces like airports and schools, etc.). Airmune contains 17 herbs and nutrients.
Elderberry works as a simple cleanser and as an antioxidant. It is also a diaphoretic, diuretic, and hepatic. Elderberry’s use as a flu remedy dates back to Roman times. Current research shows that Elderberry stimulates antibody protection causing a reduction of flu symptoms. Elderberry disarms the neuraminidase enzyme, which flu viruses use to penetrate healthy organism cells. Lab studies on Elderberry with the HIV, herpes, and Epstein-Barr viruses have all been encouraging.
Cherry Bark
Cherry bark extract is produced after the bark is stripped from the tree and dried. The extract from cherry bark has a long
history of being used to treat persistent coughs. According to the "Essential Book of Herbal Medicine," it is the prussic
acid in cherry bark that helps to loosen and release phlegm that contributes to irritating coughs. Cherry bark has been
especially useful in the treatment of bronchitis and whooping cough.
Marshmallow-a herb that grows in North America and Europe, has been used for centuries as a sore throat remedy. Like slippery elm, marshmallow contains mucilage, which is thought to coat and soothe sore throats. Herbalists recommend marshmallow root tea for sore throats.
LicoriceThe herb licorice is a common ingredient in herbal teas for sore throat.
Slippery ElmFor sore throats, herbalists use the inner bark of the tree. The inner bark contains mucilage, a gel-like substance that swells when it is mixed with water. The mucilage is thought to coat the throat, reduce irritation, and soothe sore throat.
A sacred and indispensable herb to many tribes of Native Americans. Osha has been used for centuries in ways similar to Echinacea. It is antibacterial, antiviral, carminative, diaphoretic, diuretic, a decongestant and immuno-stimulant. It is a specific treatment for viral infections, colds, flu, sore throat, and upper respiratory congestion, even in tuberculosis. Should be taken at the first observation of symptoms.
Echinacea is the purple Kansas cone-flower and was considered the best remedies available for rattlesnake bites, infections, colds and flu by the native American Indians. Pieces of echinacea root have been found in archeological digs from villages that were over 200 years old. Its active constituents have been shown to strongly stimulate various activities of immune function such as increased interferon activity which protects our cells against viral attack, and increased killer T-cell function, which can remove invading organisms.
In the old days, echinacea used to be called a "blood purifier." Now we know that the immune constituents of echinacea stimulate our body's phagocytes (cell-eaters) to engulf bacteria, virus-infected cells and wastes, recycling them and clearing them from the blood. This blood-purifying activity is important, because it can help prevent infections of bacterial, viral and fungal origin. This part of the immune system is the main focus area for echinacea. Echinacea has become the herb of choice for such ailments as candida infections, strep throat, infected wounds, urinary tract infections, bronchitis, and for colds and flu.
Golden Seal
Golden seal is a member of the buttercup family and has a bright yellow horizontal root or "rhizome" which is the part used in medicine. The plant was another favorite herb with the native people of America. According to early accounts from the diary of Lewis and Clark made on their trip to Oregon, Indian doctors used the root for infections and as a wash for any kind of eye irritation or infection. Today, herbalists still widely recommend golden seal for many kinds of infections, inflammations and irritations of the mucous membranes. The mucous membranes are the "slime-producing" coating of our entire digestive tract, upper respiratory tract and urinary tract. They act as a protective barrier against bacteria, viruses and other kinds of mechanical irritation. When we have a urinary tract, upper respiratory tract or bowel inflammation or infection, it is mainly the mucous membranes which are first affected. Golden seal works well with these infections, bringing in more immune energy and increasing the micro-circulation to the "surface" (right beneath the membranes), which can help eliminate wastes and speed up the healing process. In Chinese medicine, golden seal is considered "cooling" because it lowers inflammation and removes heat. Golden seal is also a good bitter tonic, and can help promote strong digestion and increase the production of enzymes and hydrochloric acid.
Sinus infections (sinusitis)
Eye infections or irritations
Mild bowel irritations and inflammations
Hay fever
Upper respiratory tract infections
Urinary tract infections
Colds and flu
Dietary Recommendations for Cold and Flu
For the initial stages of Wind Cold, before the presence of too much heat in the upper body, spicy, circulating foods and drinks can be very helpful.
Here are some ideas:
Miso soup with spring onion and fresh ginger
Chicken soup with garlic, onion, carrot, zucchini, green bean, potato & cayenne
Cabbage soup with garlic, onion, tomato, potato, lemon, cayenne
Ginger tea: 2 inches simmered in 1 quart of water for 10 minutes
Cayenne tea: ½ tsp. cayenne, juice of 1 lemon
Hotty totty: 1 cup black tea, 1 oz brandy or scotch, 2 Tbsp. honey, juice of 1 lemon
For Wind Heat including strong fevers and sore throats:
Pears (steamed or raw)
Broth soups (without the cayenne with daikon, turnip, rutabaga)
Fresh veggie juice: carrot, apple, celery, beet, cucumber, spinach, parsley, lemon
Chlorophyll-rich foods, green tea, sauerkraut
For both conditions: Drink lots of saline water and get plenty of rest.
Avoid: dairy, heavy meats, fried foods, sweets, or stimulants, and no tonic herbs
External Applications for Cold and Flu
• Chest and Neck Rubs: to open bronchial passages and move congestion: oregano, pine, myrrh, cedar, eucalyptus, peppermint
Take a dollop of pure olive oil, about the size of a nickel. Add 3-4 drops of pure essential oil. Mix well and apply to sides of neck and/or chest.
• Mustard Poultice: for tight, cold, chest congestion
1-2 Tbsp. mustard seed powder; 1-2 Tbsp. flour
Enough water to make a paste
Cover a piece of flannel cloth that can be folded over. Place on chest. Caution: This can burn the skin so keep an eye on it. Move when it starts to get too warm.
• Tofu Poultice: for fever
Mix ½ pound tofu with 1 tsp. freshly grated ginger and 1 tsp. flour. Roll up into cheesecloth and place on forehead. Turn as it becomes warm and draws the heat out. Change every two hours.
• Vapor Treatment: to open nasal and bronchial pathways
You can make a vapor to inhale by adding a few drops of eucalyptus oil to boiled water and place your head, covered with a towel, over the mixture for 20 minutes.
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Home Sector experience Governance and democracy
Governance and democracy
MCS understands how mobile, digital and traditional communication networks can provide government information to citizens, increase accountability and improve citizen interaction with government.
Access to information and transparency are central to improved governance and democracy. The use and management of credible information and effective communications can remove barriers when delivering services to citizens. Appropriate communications and information systems can facilitate dialogues and exchanges between and among governments and citizens and can empower people to demand better services from government.
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Aging and Arthritis
Humans are funny. We spend nearly 40 years maturing to our peak of physical and mental ability, and then it all immediately starts going wrong. As we get older all sorts of body parts start to protest about doing their jobs, often quite loudly.
Some of it cant be helped, of course, but other things can. A lot of the problems we suffer as we age are the result of abuse weve inflicted on our bodies when we ere younger. Unfortunately when were younger the consequences arent obvious, but a few years down the line they are. Of course by then its often too late to do much about it.
A common health problem in older people is arthritis. There are several kinds of arthritis, with different causes, but the most frequent is osteoarthritis; its estimated that 30% of women, and nearly as many men, suffer from it by the age of 65.
Osteoarthritis can be caused by an old injury but normally its a result of simple wear and tear on the joints. To a large degree this is normal; during our lifetimes our bodies do an enormous amount of work, which can be anything from typing and sewing to moving heavy furniture, and it all involves movement in our joints.
Its no surprise that after a while the cartilage that lubricates them begins to get a bit worn, and allows the bones themselves to come into contact. Thats when osteoarthritis starts to set in. It can be extremely painful, and prevents sufferers from carrying out many activities.
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Normal wear and tear contributes to osteoarthritis, but its now known that there are aggravating factors that can bring it on earlier or make the effects much more severe. Hard physical work is one of them; applying extra stress to the body wears it out faster.
The other is a group of issues which health professionals class as biomechanical irregularities.
This covers a variety of issues such as bad posture, high arches or overpronation of the feet when walking or running. Any of these conditions forces the joints to move in a way thats slightly different from how theyre meant to.
Think of what happens if you run your car on underinflated tyres. Instead of the tyres wearing slowly and evenly over the full width of the tread, giving good grip and a long tyre life, wear happens much faster at the outside edges of the tread pattern. The result is tyres that dont do their job as well and dont last nearly as long. Well, its just the same with your joints.
Your knee, for example, should be passing directly above your big toe with every step you take, and your body weight will act on the centre of the knee where it can be easily absorbed. If you overpronate, though, your knee passes just inside your foot.
That moves your weight from the centre of the knee to the inside edge of the joint. The first result is that youll feel pain beside the knee as the muscles work harder to stop it buckling; later youll find that the inside edge of the joint, where the cartilage is thinner, has been worn down by the abuse and osteoarthritis is developing. Anything that stops your joints working normally carries the same risk.
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The good news is that by taking a few precautions when youre younger you can help your joints work properly and seriously reduce the wear on them. Not only will this delay of prevent arthritis later in life, itll cut down on pain and muscle tiredness right now.
One of the most important things you can do is improve your posture. If you work at a desk, make sure that you sit with your feet flat on the floor, your wrists supported just in front of your keyboard and your back straight; that will help avoid wrist and spine problems later. If you tend to slouch, learn to keep your shoulders back and your torso upright.
If you overpronate or have high arches its important for you to remedy that with proper foot care. An important aspect of that is the use of orthotic insoles to support your weight properly and encourage your ankles to pronate normally. Custom insoles will also help with posture, which takes some of the load off your spine too.
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The iconic Shanghai skyline was created within 30 years and stands as a testament to what China is capable of if they put their will to it.
China and Artificial Intelligence
While previous platform shifts have historically been driven by the western players, China has earned itself the front-row seat this time as a key player in the leap towards Artificial Intelligence (AI). Mckinsey has acknowledged this transition by naming China as “one of the global leading hubs for AI development”, and a “world leader in AI development” alongside the United States.
And the leading Chinese companies have proven that the excitement in them is more than hype. For instance, Baidu managed to attain the milestone of surpassing human-level language recognition performance in 2015, almost a year before Microsoft’s announcement of a similar feat in October 2016. Baidu’s feat is arguably more impressive given the complicated lingua landscapes in China as a result of Chinese dialect-influenced tonal differences for spoken Mandarin.
Truth of the matter is, this ascension to the forefront of cutting edge technology development is not a fluke. China has been working hard to restore itself to global prominence in Science and Technology, with sustained and committed investment in education, training and research over the last few decades. Seen as the next major technological leap that will have profound implications for the economy and society, AI is naturally the key priority and has received overwhelming support and acceptance in China on all fronts.
Part one of this two-part essay aims to provide an overview to the development of AI in China.
Political Support
Within the political circle, AI has been elevated to the status of strategic importance by the technocratic government. The term “Artificial Intelligence” first entered the lexicon of the government’s external communication in 2016 in President Xi’s address to the G20 delegation at Hangzhou. This was followed by a working report address by Premier Li Keqiang at the “Two Session[1]”, which places AI at the forefront of China’s technological focus areas despite its debut inclusion in the report. This is an important sign post to the leadership’s thinking and China’s policy direction.
[1] The Two Session is a key gathering of political representatives and leaders in China where work achievement is reviewed and objectives/ policies direction are set.
Strategically important emerging industries, including new-generation information technology such as Artificial Intelligence are to account for 15% of GDP by 2020.
— China’s State Council
This policy clarity helps to set in motion the various governmental machinery, in support of AI development as stated by the leadership. The result was a 3-year action plan for AI released in 2016, spelling out tactical responses to research, funding, talent, intellectual property, international cooperation, industry development and standards setting.
A result of this effort was investment by the central government into “Key State Labs” with Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent. Designated state labs will receive resources in return for working on government assigned projects or objectives. Baidu’s lab ( Key State Lab for Artificial Intelligence with Baidu ; 深度学习（AI）国家工程实验室), for instance, will be partly run by academics associated with Chinese military projects in the past.
The local governments, which compete among themselves within China, have not stood still. The front runners have embarked on early industry development efforts and backing up their commitment with resources. Suzhou City, which lies north-west to Shanghai, has reportedly (by New York Times) dangled support of up to US$800,000 for leading AI companies while AI entrepreneurs could look forward to a cool US$1 million support from the Shenzhen government.
Speed of response aside, the action plan was also notable for being jointly issued by NDRC, MIIT, MOS, MOF and CAC[2]. Each of these agencies are known to be powerful and notoriously territorial in China. The successful joint statement was thus also an indication of political will and a strong statement of intent.
[2] National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Science, Ministry of Finance, Cyberspace Administration of China
Economics Prospects
AI is expected to generate significant economic spin-offs for China. Mckinsey Global Institute have projected a gain of 0.8–1.4 percentage points (depending on speed of adoption) to China’s GDP growth. The estimate takes into consideration only impact from AI-led automation.
AI ERA, a China-based technology consultancy, has projected the market size for AI to be at more than RMB 20 billion in 2017 (CAGR of >40% from a base of RMB 6.9 billion in 2015), and market size for related industries at RMB 100 billion. Notably, China’s AI application market is projected to grow 50% annually in the coming years, outstripping the 20% projected compounded annual growth rate in the global market.
Similar to the United States, start-ups contribute significantly to the base of activities in the AI space. RMB 9 billion(~US$1.3 billion) was raised by AI Start-ups in China in the 12 months leading to October 31 of 2016, more than the aggregate investment and deal volume for all previous years. In comparison, CB Insights reported a global funding of US$5 billion into AI-related start-ups globally for the whole of 2016. Further to activating the AI start-up scene in China, Chinese money has also been pouring into US’s AI start-up in search of cutting edge technology, to the extent that it has become a national security concern for the Pentagon.
Given the data-centric nature of the latest dominant AI techniques, hyper-scale computing players are among the most active globally in driving investment and activities in AI. This phenomenon is also observed in China, with Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent (BATs) leading the pack for AI advancement. The 3 companies are among the leading investors into R&D in the Silicon Valley. These have helped the three technology giants to become credible competitors for leading international talent in the AI Space increasingly. The overview of BAT’s venture into AI is illustrated below.
Social Acceptance
China has always been receptive of new technology. We have witnessed this phenomenon previously, with the successful proliferation of mobile computing, 4G and cashless payment. AI has been embraced in the same manner.
Data extracted from public opinion surveys conducted by iiMedia Research 艾媒咨询
The embrace of “new technology as a pathway to progression” is a social narrative that is deeply entwined into the social fabric of Chinese psyche by 70 years of rule under the Chinese Communist Party. Unsurprisingly, public opinion surveys conducted have indicated that most hold favourable opinion of AIs (61%), are concerned about the country’s progress in AI development (67.9%), and support further proliferation on training and education for AI (77.8%).
Note: This receptivity by the general public is perhaps the one factor that stands China out from other countries around the world when it comes to AI. I will talk about this in greater depth in Part Two of this essay.
Academic Strengths and Weaknesses
Notable world-class researchers of Chinese origins have been prominently represented in the AI academia community. Many of them have risen through the Chinese education system, did their post-graduate studies in the United States before achieving prominence globally for their work while based outsides the United States. With the spotlight falling on AI, these researchers have become prime hiring targets for Chinese corporate and universities. The capture of such “superstar researcher” has provided a short-cut to “turbo-charging” the Chinese AI research, its talent development and the overall ecosystem.
Sampling of Notable Chinese Researchers in AI research
International bench-marking competition has also been dominated by Chinese-based teams. The famed ImageNet challenge is known for bringing the public spotlight onto Deep Learning. In the 2016 edition of the challenge, Chinese-based teams dominated the various challenge categories. Winning teams ranges from university research outfits to private companies and even public security agency-affiliated research groups. Similarly, speech recognition company iFlytek has also begun to dominate United States’ National Institute of Standards and Technology bench-marking exercise.
Despite these encouraging signs, the average standard of AI research still lags that of the US (though the situation could be rapidly improving). While China accounts for the largest share of research publication (almost 2x that of US at No. 2), it only ranked at a measly 34 based on Field-Weighted Citation Impact (compared to No. 4 for US). This suggests that the quality of research coming from China have not been strong despite the quantity.
AI being an overwhelmingly talent-reliant industry, China’s biggest challenges could come from the readiness of its own talent ecosystem to produce the required people to sustain the growth of AI in the country. It is interesting to note that almost all of the globally prominent ethnically Chinese AI researchers did their career defining work in the United States.
“弯道超车” (Wan Dao Chao Che) is a common saying in China. Literally, it meant “overtaking at the bend” and is thrown around plenty by CEOs during interviews when asked about transformation and competitions.
In many ways, “over taking at the bend” is an very apt description for what is happening in China. China recognizes it has been a follower in the race for economical and technological dominance. This impending platform shift is going to be the bend that is going to slow everybody down. But it is also going to be an opportunity for China. While she might not have the best car in the circuit at the moment, she is throwing everything she got into preparing herself for the overtaking at this next bend. Watch out!
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Averaging differences
1. Sep 30, 2014 #1
> Average velocity = 60rpm
> Average torque = (10 + 50 + 10 + 50) / 4 = 30TU=
> Power = 60rpm x 30TU = 1,800 power units
> However, if you calculate the power for each time sample (hence account for the different velocity recorded during each sample), then:
> Power = (62x10 + 58x50 + 62x10 + 58x50) / 4 = 1,760 power units
Help me get my head around this. I know the first is correct for power around an axis. The second is incorrect and is 40 power units under. If I do this Power = (58x10 + 62x50 + 58x10 + 62x50)/4 = 1,840 power units or 40 over. So why? It feels like the reason is just at the edge of my brain. Somewhere in school I must have learned the answer.
2. jcsd
3. Sep 30, 2014 #2
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The product of the averages is not, in general, equal to the average of the products.
4. Sep 30, 2014 #3
Staff: Mentor
The calculation just above is not a weighted average. It doesn't take into account the different times for each sample, but instead just divides by the number of time intervals.
Taking the average of a bunch of averages doesn't produce correct results. To see why this is true, there's an old math problem that says it's 1 mile to the top of a hill. If you average 30 mph on the trip up, how fast must you go back down the hill to average 60mph for the entire trip?
The intuitive answer (which is wrong) is that the downhill trip should be 90 mph.
5. Sep 30, 2014 #4
Thanks, I did know that.
I am confused about a larger question that this is part of and I can't figure out which is right. It involves measuring power on a bicycle at the crank and whether elliptical or non round chain rings actually overweight/underweight a power reading when a crank speed is measured only once per revolution or non round chain rings are just an increase/decrease in the lever and well work is work and it is coming from your foot on the pedal which is on a circular radius. I lean to the latter but the counter argument is very good of which the above is part of it.
I guess I should start another thread but which forum physics or mechanical engineering?
6. Sep 30, 2014 #5
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I lean toward mechanical engineering.
7. Oct 3, 2014 #6
Thanks, I started the thread to mechanical engineering as "Bicycle Crank Power Meters and Round and Non-Round Chainrings" in case anyone reading this thread is interested.
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Centripetal Force question
1. Jun 12, 2009 #1
"A 0.400-kg pendulum bob passes through the lowest part of its path at a speed of 3.00 m/s.
What is the tension in the pendulum cable at this point of the pendulum is .8 meters long?"
I would like to ask for some help on understanding centripetal force in this particular situation. I realize gravity is pulling down on the bob, while tension is counteracting gravity, and centripetal force is also counteracting gravity.
I would like someone to explain to me why the sum of the forces here is the total centripetal force, or Tension minus force of gravity.
2. jcsd
3. Jun 12, 2009 #2
Doc Al
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It sounds like you are thinking of centripetal force as if it were a third force on the bob. It's not. The only forces acting on the bob are tension and gravity. "Centripetal force" is just a name for the radial component of the net force.
4. Jun 12, 2009 #3
thank you very much, that's why i was so confused. Centripetal force is just another name for net force, but in angular motion!
5. Jun 12, 2009 #4
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For the radial component, yes. You could have a tangential component of force too, but it's not centripetal.
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Complex roots
1. Jan 31, 2017 #1
Solve for the roots of the following.
(What do you notice about the complex roots?)
b) x3 + x2 + 2x + 1 = 0
2. Relevant equations
To find roots of a polynomial of degree n > 3, look at the constant and take all its factors. Those are possible roots. Then plug them in to see which ones solve the equation.
cubic equations from this link: http://www.mathportal.org/formulas/algebra/solalgebric.php
3. The attempt at a solution
factors of 1: 1, -1
(1)3 + 12 + 2(1) + 1 = 0
1 + 1 + 2 + 1 = 0
5 = 0, so 1 is not a root.
(-1)3 + (-1)2 + 2(-1) + 1 = 0
-1 + 1 -2 + 1 = 0 -> -1 = 0
So -1 is not a root.
I also tried to use cubic formulas and did not find the correct answer. I checked my calculations.
So i think there is some method more simple than cubic equations that I cannot think of/find on the web.
Are there any other ways besides testing the constant term's factors, and using the cubic equations, to find the roots of a 3rd degree polynomial?
2. jcsd
3. Jan 31, 2017 #2
Ray Vickson
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Show us what you got when you used the cubic formulas. Perhaps you made an error, but we cannot tell if you won't show us your work.
4. Jan 31, 2017 #3
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Testing factors of the constant term will almost certainly fail. It's not worth trying unless the problem function has been specially set up for that to work. You should show us how you used the cubic formulas. They should work every time.
5. Feb 1, 2017 #4
Sorry, here is my work:
x3 + x2 + 2x + 1 = 0
So, a1 = 1, a2 = 2, a3 = 1
Then Q = (3a2 - a21)/9
Q = (3(2) - (1)2)/9
Q = (6-1)/9 = 5/9
R = (9a1a2 - 27a3 - 2a13) / 54
R = (9(1)(2) - 27(1) - 2(1)3)/54
R = (18 - 27 - 2) / 54
R = -11/54
S = (R + (Q3 + R2)(1/2))(1/3)
S = ( (-11/54) + ( (125/729) + (121/2916) )(1/2) ) (1/3)
S = about 0.63642
T = ( (R - (Q3 - R2)(1/2) ) (1/3)
T = ( (-11/54) - ( (125/729) - (121/2916) )1/2 ) 1/3
T = about 0.82632i, actually I just checked T = about 0.74690
So for my first root i did this:
x1 = S + T + a1/3 = 0.63642 + 0.82632i - 1/3
x1 = 0.30309 + 0.82632i
So with the new T, x1 = 0.30309 + 0.74690i.. but this is still wrong.
at which point I checked with an online calculator and this was not any of the three roots so I'm wondering if I used this formula incorrectly or just made a calculation error.
Correct answers to online calculator:
x1 = -0.56984
x2 = -0.21508 + 1.30713i
x3 = -0.21508 - 1.30713i
6. Feb 1, 2017 #5
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For T, you should use the negative real third root of (R - (Q3 + R2)(1/2)). That is T=-0.872931847948311.
Your values of Q, R, and S are correct.
With the corrected value of T, you should get the correct roots.
7. Feb 1, 2017 #6
Ray Vickson
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For intermediate result you should keep as many digits as your calculator will hold. If you round intermediate quantities to values like 0.74690, etc., you can introduce significant roundoff errors, perhaps even making the final answer useless. (Of course I realize you may have done this, but it is not clear from what you wrote.)
Before embarking on an equation-solving expedition it is useful to first gain some insight into the nature of the problem. First, since all terms are > 0 for positive x, there is no positive root. Descarte's Rule of signs implies that the number of negative roots x < 0 is either three or one, and plotting the function makes it clear that there is only one. Furthermore, the function is > 0 at x = 0 and is < 0 at x =1, so there is a root between -1 and 0.
Almost nobody I know would ever bother using the cubic solution formula, even they know very well what it is; most people would just solve the equation numerically, which you can do to as many digits of accuracy as you could ever want using modern tools.
8. Feb 2, 2017 #7
So is that a general rule when using these equations? That you leave the " i " out in the T? and yeah i see that this would help me get the real root. Thank you.
I see what you mean. I remember in my physics class they taught us to never round too much in the in between steps and i forgot to use that here.
I feel like i have forgotten something from pre calculus class but what do you mean by "most people would just solve the equation numerically".. is there a method besides the cubic equations and rational roots test?
9. Feb 2, 2017 #8
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If I was writing a program, I would use the formulas. Numerical solutions can have problems converging and can require multiple attempts (with different initial values) to get a solution.
10. Feb 2, 2017 #9
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Yes. They want T to be a real number. There is always one real cube root of any real number. If you include 'i', that is not a cube root of the number.
11. Feb 2, 2017 #10
Ray Vickson
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The issue is not at all straightforward, due in part to the effects of roundoff errors. (Even programming the quadratic solution robustly is not as easy as one might think.)
There seems to be a debate among the experts as to whether iterative methods (Newton, etc.) or algebraic methods are better; both suffer from problems in implementation. However, there are newer iterative methods available that do not require "good" starting points, but they are more sophisticated than straight Newton-Raphson.
The OP might like to consult
Some contributors to the latter recommend solving a cubic by setting up the companion matrix (for which the cubic is the characteristic polynomial) then using modern numerical linear algebra methods to find the eigenvalues of the matrix; they claim that that is how some of the available solvers actually work.
All of this matters only if you want to write your own code for solving the problem; otherwise (under what I call modern methods), just use one of the many, many cubic (or higher) solvers available already. For example, Wolfram Alpha works well and is free.
12. Feb 7, 2017 #11
Thanks for all your thoughtful answers. This is a late response because after reading some of those articles I was felt out of my depth and decided to come back to this problem set after practicing some easier problems.
Funny thing is, the instructor said the problem was a typo...it was supposed to read x3 + x2 + x + 1 = 0..
which I can see x = -1 is a root
so I can factor out x-1 and rewrite the original equation as: (x+1)(x2+1) = 0
then solve x2 + 1 = 0
x2 = -1
x = i, x = -i
So the roots are x = -1, -i, and i...
now i will mark this as solved..just wanted to add the solution incase someone else wanted it.
Have something to add?
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Compton Effect
1. Sep 5, 2009 #1
I have a question regarding the Electron scattering angel Teta in formula in:
http://www.whfreeman.com/MODPHYSICS/PDF/3-2bw.pdf [Broken]
which indicates Compton wavelength shift by:
labda2 - lamda1 = (h/mc)(1 - cos(Teta)). (3.40)
With Teta = 0 we get labda2 = lamda1 (no change of energy by the UV photon!)
Which means, if Photon and Electron are on the same path, there is NO interaction!
If Teta = pi (Photon and Electron moving in the opposite direction) we get the MAX change of photon energy
Can someone please give me an physical interpretation of this?
Last edited by a moderator: May 4, 2017
2. jcsd
3. Sep 5, 2009 #2
Sorry, I found my mistake,
I didn't know how to delete the question!
4. Sep 5, 2009 #3
You are absolutely right. If there is no deflection of the photon (theta = 0), then there is no energy loss. Here is another site:
If theta = 180 degrees, there is maximum energy transfer to the electron.
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B Decoherence thought experiment
1. Oct 21, 2016 #1
Let's say a memory qubit inside a quantum computer is in state
## α \left|1\right>+β\left|0\right> ##
This computer is equipped with a device that emits photons that carry the same qubit as the aforementioned memory location.
Alice and Bob, that are very far from each other, receive and measure those photons.
Let's say Bob measures this sequence of bits:
And Alice measures this sequence of bits:
I tried to make those sequences realistic looking in such case when probability of measuring either 1 or 0 is the same at the beginning.
Now Bob contains a classical bit 1, and Alice contains a classical bit 0.
Who has decohered here? The computer can still send out qubits to Joe and Jill, who can go to opposite classical states, so I guess the computer is not decohered. So it's more like Bob and Alice became decohered by their own measurements. Right?
Last edited: Oct 21, 2016
2. jcsd
3. Oct 21, 2016 #2
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If I understand you right, what you are proposing is not possible.
This violates the no-cloning theorem. You could have a device that would spew out a pair of qubits in a predefined state, but not copy an arbitrary state.
Also, I see no entanglement in what you propose, so why do you need two qubits and two observers?
4. Oct 21, 2016 #3
I want Bob and Alice to measure the state of the memory location. I don't care if the state is predefined. I would also like there to be no collapse to 1 or 0 when Bob and Alice make the first measurement.
So how about if we entangle lot of photons with the memory location, send the photons to Bob and Alice, who are equipped with measuring devices that produce results with lot of uncertainty.
Now I hope that as Bob makes more and more measurements, Bob's state becomes gradually the state "I know the memory location is in state 1". And as Bob is using the not so good measuring device, a good measuring device located nearby changes so that it only measures photons to be in the state that correspond state 1 of the memory location.
5. Oct 21, 2016 #4
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I really think this violates the no-cloning theorem.
6. Oct 21, 2016 #5
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So do I. Thread closed.
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Details of total internal reflection
1. Nov 11, 2013 #1
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Consider snell's law [itex] n_1 \sin{\theta_1}=n_2 \sin{\theta_2} [/itex]([itex] n_1 [/itex] and [itex] n_2[/itex] are real).
We know that if [itex] n_2<n_1 [/itex], there exists an incident angle called critical angle that gives a refraction angle of ninety degrees i.e. [itex] \sin{\theta_c}=\frac{n_2}{n_1} [/itex].
But if the incident angle is greater than the critical angle(i.e. [itex] \sin{\theta_1}>\frac{n_2}{n_1} [/itex]),Then:[itex] \sin{\theta_2}=\frac{n_1}{n_2}\sin{\theta_1}>1[/itex]
But we know that [itex] \sin{\theta}>1 [/itex] can happen for no real [itex] \theta [/itex],so we say that [itex] \theta_2 [/itex] should be complex:
[itex] \theta_2=\alpha+i \beta [/itex] and [itex] \sin{\theta_2}=\sin{(\alpha+i \beta)}=\sin{(\alpha)}\cos{(i \beta)}+\sin{(i \beta)}\cos{(\alpha)}=\sin{(\alpha)}\cosh{(\beta)}+i\cos{(\alpha)}\sinh{(\beta)} [/itex]
But from snell'w law,we know that [itex] \sin{\theta_2}[/itex] should be real and so we should always have [itex] cos{\alpha}=0 \Rightarrow \alpha=\frac{\pi}{2} [/itex] and so [itex] \sin{\theta_2}=\cosh{\beta} [/itex].
This means that the only variable which is capable of giving information about the Total reflected ray,is [itex] \beta [/itex]. But how?
2. jcsd
3. Nov 11, 2013 #2
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You cannot use a law in a parameter range where it does not apply.
What else do you need? The angle is just the same as the incident angle.
4. Nov 11, 2013 #3
No reason to use complex angles here. You simply defined [itex]\beta[/itex] such that [tex]\cosh \beta = \frac{n_1}{n_2}\sin \theta_1[/tex]
5. Nov 11, 2013 #4
Now, what you do get from the treatment of this problem with complex angles is an expression for the evanescent waves [itex]F = A e^{i\vec k_2\cdot \vec x},[/itex] where [itex]\vec k_2 = cos\theta_2\hat i + sin\theta_2\hat j[/itex], and [itex]\vec x = x\hat i + y\hat j[/itex]. Now if you plug in your complex parametrization [itex]\theta_2 = \frac{\pi}{2} + \beta[/itex], than you get [tex]F = A exp [iy\,cosh\beta - x sinh\beta][/tex]
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Water, salt, and fire
Buhaisah Radhiallaho anha has related that when her father asked Rasulullah Sallallaho alaihe wasallam "What is the thing not to be refused (if asked for by someone)?" Rasulullah Sallallaho alaihe wasallam replied, "Water." Her father then asked the same question again, to which Rasulullah Sallallaho alaihe wasallam replied, ‘Salt’. When her father repeated the question once again, the Prophet Sallallaho alaihe wasallam replied, "Whatever good you can do (to someone) is better for you." Note: If the water is meant to be taken from the well and salt from a mine, then, according to Shariah, no one has the right to stop anyone who is in need, even when both the water and the salt are owned by someone. Rasulullah Sallallaho alaihe wasallam admonished never to refuse such simple things to a needy person, as these do not cost the owner much but the receiver’s urgent need is met. As these ordinary things are commonly available in homes, their urgent need and scarcity is not felt. A small quantity of salt given to someone for his curry will make his food tasty, without much loss to you. Similar is the case in respect of giving water to someone. Aishah Radhiallaho anha narrates that Rasulullah Sallallaho alaihe wasallam said, "It is improper to refuse three things to anyone: salt, water and a bit of live fire." She then said that the need for giving water was understood, but the case of salt and fire was not clear? Rasulullah Sallallaho alaihe wasallam replied, "O Humairah! When someone gives a bit of fire to a person in need, it is as if all the things cooked on the fire were given as Sadaqah to the needy; and for the one who gives a bit of salt, all things that become tasty by its use will count as Sadaqah. So the gain to the giver is enormous". In the main Hadith, Rasulullah Sallallaho alaihe wasallam has mentioned two things as examples and then he has stated a principle, ‘to do good as much as you can to someone is good for you". The fact is that when someone does any type of favour to another person, it is indeed a favour to oneself: Allah Ta’ala’s commandments mentioned, says, that whatever you spend in the path of Allah, you will receive a return from Him. It has
been mentioned that two angels permanently pray to Allah Ta’ala for a good return for those who spend for Allah’s sake and ruin for him who holds back his wealth. Under such circumstances, when one does a material favour to another person, he actually saves his wealth from an evil fate and at the same time establishes a right for a handsome return from the treasury of Allah Ta’ala. A serious consideration of the matter will reveal the truth that we are not doing any favour to another person, but it may well be that he has saved your home from plunder, which shows that he has done you a favour and not you to him. Sa’ad Radhiallaho anho enquired from Rasulullah Sallallaho alaihe wasallam that, as his mother was dead, what type of Sadaqah would be best? (for inviting Divine blessings for her soul). Rasulullah Sallallaho alaihe wasallam replied that water was the best of all. On that, Sa’ad had a well dug, so that his mother should receive the blessings. Note: Supplying water was considered to be the best Sadaqah, as there was scarcity of it in Madinah. All hot countries suffer from shortage of water, but there was an acute shortage in Madinah in those days. Besides this, the benefits of water are common, as also its use. One of the Ahadith says that whoever arranges a water-supply system, where from men, jinns and birds drink, will keep on receiving blessings and reward until the Day of Judgement, even after his death. Abdullah Ibne Mubarak Rahmatullah alaihe salam was visited by a person who complained about a wound on his knee, saying that, despite continuous treatment by many physicians for the last seven years, it had not healed at all. Abdullah Ibne Mubarak Rahmatullah alaihe salam advised him to have a well dug at a place where drinking water was scarce and said, ‘I have full trust in Allah Ta’ala that, as soon as the water appears in the well, the wound will heal up.’ The person acted accordingly and his wound was completely cured.
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Thursday, April 19, 2007
There is not another silica based crystal that is more individually unique than the Agate family. Many of the family members, Carnelian, Petrified Wood, Blue Lace Agate, Fire Agate, etc., have their own stories. We’ll look at the Agate family as a whole in this article, and revisit some of the other’s in future (or past) issues.
Agates are named for the Achates River near Sicily. They are found all around the world, in almost any area there has been hydrothermal activity. Highly pressurized hot water rich in silica that filled crevices, vugs and empty bassalt stones.
Unlike other Quartz crystals that form in this manner, Agates, are not left undisturbed. Instead, over hundreds or millions of years, the process repeats itself again and again. Creating concentric or vertical layers inside the stone.
The center of an Agate is usually hollow, but not always. Often containing botryoidal (rounded), terminated or stalactite crystals. It is not uncommon to find Amethyst and Citrine points inside Agate geodes from Brazil. Occasionally, a layer of Quartz will grow over this central formation. The entrapped crystals create a beautiful rainbow effect when struck by light.
The outer covering of an Agate is a perfect disguise for the beauty that waits within. The surface is rough and pitted. Those pits were escape routes for pressure and the steaming silica mixture. These relief valves sometimes cause interruptions and swirls in the forming bands of the Agate. Ensuring that each crystal would have a perfectly unique pattern.
This crust is actually much more fragile than the crystal within. Over the centuries it will weather away, washing the final gemstone into rivers and stream beds. Creeks and shallow streams are wonderful places to find Agates. A friend in West Virginia is constantly picking up Carnelian from a stream near their home.
An Agate geode can be as small as an apple seed; the largest ever mined was a two ton geode in Brazil.
We have been attracted to Agates for as long as we’ve been decorating ourselves. Mithradates, an ancient king of Pontus is famous for a 4000 piece collection of Agate bowls. During the renaissance a revival of Agate bowl collecting financed the rise of hundreds of lapidaries along the Nahe River valley in what we now know as Germany.
Though the mines in the region have long been worked out, many of the cutting houses still remain, importing gems and crystals from around the world.
Agates seem to have been used as power tools since our earliest civilizations. Magicians in Persia used the crystal to divert dangerous storms. In ancient Asia, Agates were used to see the future. Studying the circular patterns helped open the pathway between your conscious and subconscious mind.
Ceremonial Agates were sometimes carved with serpents or men riding snakes. They were used in protective rituals to guard against possession, harmful spells or demons. Romans wore Agate to please gods that brought bountiful harvests. Early Britons used the gem to prevent skin disease. In the middle East, talismans of Agate were worn to keep blood healthy.
Nine of the United States chose an Agate as their state’s gem; Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, Washington, Arizona, Tennessee and Mississippi.
Many of the individual Agates, such as Carnelian, Blue Lace Agate or Fire Agate have their own traditions and histories. In general, this is a very loving crystal. Agates want to be with us. I believe this is why they are so easy to find.
All Agates have excellent protective, and healing energies.
Do you have a hard time coping with crowds? Or bad drivers? Hate going to the mall? Carrying an Agate will help protect you from the negative energies that can rise up when dealing with large crowds of humans.
The wide range of colors, make Agate a wonderful stone for working with your individual Chakras. Use a Carnelian with your base, a Blue Lace Agate with your throat or a finely banded specimen for your crown.
Sucking on an Agate was believed to relief thirst. Minute amounts of water can become trapped inside crystals, giving you a small emergency ration.
Placing an Agate under your pillow may aid with insomnia and can stimulate pleasant dreams. If you have to deal with numbers, a crystal on your desk will help you be more precise. You’ll also be more analytical in your approach to situations.
As Spring approaches, try adding some Agate to your gardens. Many historical traditions believed it brighten flowers and improved the yield of fruits and vegetables.
If you have never worked with stones before, people friendly Agates are a wonderful gem to start with.
1 comment:
tiga rasa said...
Good Articles, thanks for your information.
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Sunday, 25 September 2011
The Weierstrass Snare: On a fundamental flaw in solution chemistry
The Weierstrass Snare: How The Role of
Surface Excess in Solution Chemistry Has
Been Missed.
Federico I. Talens-Alesson © 2011
To the memory of my parents, Almudena and Federico.
Some G, g, and d symbols in the text must be read as Gamma (uppercase), gamma (lowercase) and delta (lowercase). While the blod editor supports many features, it des not seem to support Symbol font characters. The author.
The surface excess of chemicals in solution may be shaping several properties of solutes, like the solubility equilibria of sparingly soluble salts and the optical properties of solutions with significant surface excesses. Activity coefficients can be regarded as a ratio between the actual surface excess and the theoretical surface excess if the ratio excess to bulk concentration was maintained. A model is presented, based on the theoretical proposition by Petersen and Saykally that cationic and anionic components of Ray-Jones salts must form separate subsurface excesses. It regards such surface excesses as charged planes and considers that solubility products and other equilibrium conditions are based of a Bjerrum-like critical distance. If the surface charge density between the charge planes of the subsurface excesses is large enough, electrostatic forces cause the ions to approach and react. The model is consistent with the mathematical form of deviations from ideal behavior in colorimetric methods. It is suggested that non-zero order kinetic equations are also linked to both plane concentrations and surface renewal due to agitation. It is shown how the equations of this model have the same aggregate shape than conventional action mass models and their adjustments for non-ideal behavior, showing why misconceptions on the fundamental chemistry of many processes in solution have been covered by the fact that sufficiently effective predictive models were being developed based on wrong postulates.
1. Introduction
1.1.The Weierstrass Snare.
The Weierstrass Theorem states in one of its forms that any continuous function over an interval can be described by a polynomial function.
Trivially, the result of altering the original function by incorporating another continuous function (e.g. a model refinement) would still be described by another polynomial function. Eventually, a highly refined model could be produced, and it would be possible to replace it by a polynomial series. After all, all physicochemical problems are investigated with the help of computers, and this is how complex equations are ultimately fed to computers.
As a consequence, if the initial function was chosen by making the wrong starting hypothesis, and the corrections are based on a misinterpretation of the problem, this will be disguised by the validity of the results. This may lead to complacency and the belief that a solid scientific knowledge has been attained. We can call this the Weierstrass Snare.
However, the polynomial approximation of the aggregate equation or function obtained will be also be that of the aggregate form of the real model for the system. Therefore, if a new model is proposed that deals with behaviours previously regarded as anomalous, as predictable and mainstream cases of the new model and the overall form of the new model is consistent with either the original or polynomial forms of the “numerically efficient” existing model, then there will be strong evidence to support the idea that the new model deals better with the description of reality.
1.2. On the idea that some of the solution chemistry is controlled by the surface excesses of solutes.
At 25oC it is possible to have 70.1 kg of AgNO3 mixed with 29.9 kg of H2O [3]. The average distance between two ions of opposite charge on the basis of each occupying a cubic cell is 2.9 nm. The amount of water required to have Ag(H2O)2 hydrates in that mixture would account for half of the water. This indicates that such system's solubility is defined in the bulk phase. But only about 50 gram of AgCl can be dissolved in the same 29.9 kg of water[1]. Evidence in favor of the idea that this is the consequence of formation at a singularity (like the surface of the liquid) of a stable, insoluble product will be presented, based on the idea that the behavior of ionic surfactants can be related to that of other ionic solutes.
Ionic surfactants are central to this study because their surface tension-modifying properties makes it easier to quantify their surface excesses. Their precipitation from diluted solutions takes place with the surfactant present as a monomer with a “normal” solubility product like, for example [2,3]
[Ca2+][DDBS-]2 = 2 10-11
[Al3+][DDBS-]3 = 4 10-19
[Ag+][DS-] = 6.3 10-5
[Cu2+][DS-]2 = 7.9 10-19
[La3+][DS-]3 = 6.3 10-14
where DDBS- and DS- are shorthand for anionic surfactants dodecylbenzene sulfonate and dodecyl sulfate. Precipitation may also occur in solutions where supramolecular aggregates known as micelles exist.
Micelles limit the precipitation of ionic surfactants by acting somehow as sequestering agents, and exist in solutions when there is enough surfactant to exceed its characteristic Critical Micellization. They are at the root of the unusual behavior of surfactants in solution, and it will be shown in Supplementary Materials that ionic surfactants are in fact a particular case of the general behavior of sparingly soluble salts by demonstrating that their solubility products can be linked to their surface excess.
It was recently proposed that the CMC is just the bulk phase concentration in equilibrium with a Critical Surface Excess of Micellization (CSEM) [4]. When reaching CSEM, the distance between surfactant ions at the air water interface the matches Bjerrum’s critical distance for ionic pair formation. That the trigger condition for micellization is a form of equilibrium reaction involving the surface excess of an ionic species is at the root of the model to be proposed here. For example [5] N,N′-Phthaloyl-bis(2-aminododecanoic acid) has a CMC of 1.8 10-6M, and a CSEM of 1.71 10-6 mol m-2, whereas NaDS [6] at 33oC has a CMC of 8.1 10-3M but its CSEM is still 3.33 10-6 mol m-2. Surface excess data at the CMC for many anionic, cationic and zwitterionic surfactants gave values consistent within 20% with Bjerrum’s distance, both above and below [4]. Therefore, in the case of surfactants an ionic pair-like assembly like micelles, found across the solution, is linked to a characteristic condition of its surface excess.
That the equilibrium leading to a reaction (like the formation of the complex or product “micelle”) is linked to a surface property and not a bulk phase property does not need to be restricted to surfactant. The solubility product of Fe(OH)3 is 2.79 10-39[1]. That means that precipitation will occur if there are more than 1.38 1014 molecules of Fe(OH)3 per litre of water. Or to put it in other form, if the volume per OH- ion is a cube of less than 1340 nm of edge, then precipitation will occur. It seems more reasonable to assume that the reaction takes place between far higher concentrations at the surface of the liquid and that the precipitate is too persistent to redissolve if it becomes dispersed across the solution.
When Petersen and Saykally [7] confirmed the Jones-Ray effect (the existence of a minimum in the surface tension of dilute solutions of some electrolytes around a concentration 1mM), in their modelling work they predicted the existence of separate anionic and cationic surface and subsurface excesses in a solution. The layers themselves are calculated to be several Å thick, with the cationic layer being thicker than the anionic. The 13 Jones-Ray electrolytes investigated include compounds like MgSO4, KClO3, NaCl, LaCl3 or K3FeCN6 The distribution can be regarded as two planes with average surface charge densities proportional to the surface and subsurface excesses of both the cationic and anionic layer (Figure 1). Such structure is similar to the structure of the surface excess of monofunctional ionic surfactants [8].
Figure 1. (left) Density profiles [1] for the de-coupling of cations and anions near the air water interface of a Ray-Jones electrolyte in water. (right) Surface excess of an ionic surfactant and opposing counter ion layer. Although dispersed as colloids, surfactant micelles are also shrouded by counterions.
1.2. Basics of a planar model for chemical reactions in a single solvent.
Three ideas are central to the model proposed in this paper. First, that saturation of the surface surrounding the volume of liquid may limit the value of the surface excess G and cause a drop in chemical activity when the chemistry of the system depends strongly on G and not on the bulk concentration. Second, that free ions or reactant molecules, together with ionic pairs or product molecules forming at the surface are shuttled by mechanical agitation to and from the bulk phase, where they may remain stable or decompose due to solvation (Figure 2). Third, that products or intermediates shuttled back to the surface may experience ionic exchange reactions when they resume contact with the high concentration surface or subsurface planes.
The basis of the model is that, for the systems for which this model is relevant, irrespective of whether the surface excess is anionic [7] or vice versa [9], the counterion concentrations peak at a certain distance from each other. A likely explanation for the separate planes is that one of the species is only slightly soluble and its excess becomes pushed towards the boundaries of the solution by being excluded from solvent clusters. If the other species is more soluble, it may be dragged behind by the electrostatic attraction of the first. This must be countered by diffusional forces within the solution and its better solvation, which explains why it remains apart of its less soluble counterion.
Figure 2. In a solution of two counterions one of the species may become pushed towards the boundaries of the solution by its sinability to solvate. The other may then be drawn by the first through electrostatic attraction but is also scattered due to turbulence in the solution, hence its more spread distribution (fig 1). Transfer to the bulk of the solution may result in decomposition of products creating the appearance of no reaction. Absence of stirring causes the process to be extremely slow.
As the concentrations build up, the surface and subsurface excesses will raise until the electrostatic forces between planes drag together the ions and allow them to react. There are several possible outcomes of this condition. The salt will always be soluble if the reaction product fails to form due to the characteristics of the solvation spheres of the ions [10-11] or if it dissociates when transferred to the bulk of the solution due to strong tendency to solvate of at least one of the ions.
A salt will also be very soluble when the combined surface excesses of both counterions make it hard to meet the condition for electrostatic attraction. When both counterions have high surface excess to bulk phase concentration ratios and their salt is stable, they will be slightly soluble. Of course, while some salts may precipitate solely at the surface/subsurface of the liquid, more soluble salts may start precipitating there and then seed bulk phase precipitation. Any solid formed anywhere in the solution could become the source of new surface and therefore new surface excess, providing and an additional chance to react. That would be the interpretation of crystal seeding within this model.
A saturation surface excess value for ionic surfactants [7] would be in the order of magnitude of 3mmol m-2 contained in a layer of significantly less than 5 nm. The concentration would therefore be higher than 0.1M. A likely order of magnitude of bulk phase. e.g. surfactant concentrations in equilibrium with such values (e.g. a critical micellization concentration) may be 10-3M to 10-7M. Such surface excesses are very similar to values around 1.25 mmol m-2 found for cations of even highly soluble inorganic salts like NaClO4 as reported by Lopez-Perez et al [9]:. It is clear that reaction (e.g. micellar assembly) in the bulk phase is less likely to happen than reaction in the surface excess region.
Figure 3. Some simple calculations around the volume of a cube. Although the volume occupied by the dilute bulk concentrations more than compensates for the lower reaction rates, can species far apart really react in the bulk of the solution? Or is it just happening in the surface and subsurface excess regions within the peripheral region around the volume?
1.3. Refutation of a preliminary objection: irrelevance due to the low molar ratio surface excess to bulk concentration.
The proportion of chemicals involved in the surface reaction would almost always be small. However, in chemical technology and engineering mixing is used when preparing samples and in many reactors (“stirred tank” type reactors and “plug flow” reactors under turbulent mixing would be two typical cases [12]) and other devices. This renews the contents of the liquid surface [13], and we will show that it can be the surface of the liquid facing the reactor wall, not only the air water interface. In fact, the surface excess is likely to exist against any surface (e.g. a probe dipped into the solution or the submersed outside of an injection or sampling device).
If the relative concentrations in the surface/subsurface layers are substantially higher than in the bulk phase, then the intermediate region between the two peak regions becomes the volume where reaction intermediaries and final products form, because the kinetics will be much faster.
Figure 3 suggests that the distances between species in the bulk phase may simply prevent any reaction to take place there. In such case, most kinetic reactions are likely to include within their frequency factor an element accounting for the rate of transfer between bulk phase and interface under ideal mixing conditions.
2. Model and Discussion
2.1. Activity coefficients as a ratio between actual and expected surface excesses.
For the discussion in this section it is irrelevant whether the ideal behavior of a solute is linear proportionality between surface excess and bulk concentration or adherence to an ideal isotherm like Langmuir's. In section 2.2 it is suggested that linear proportionality should be regarded as the ideal behavior. We are going to illustrate the idea that non ideality is linked to the discrepancy between the actual surface excess and the projected value based on the bulk phase concentration. The expression presented here allows to estimate the evolution of the surface excess G with the increase of the bulk phase concentration C of a species. Its origin is described in detail in Supplementary Materials. The expression relates the surface excess to the total concentration and a threshold concentration at which a transition in the G-C relationship occurs:
where a, b are constants expressing the G-C transition and kC is the theoretical G. The activity coefficient, according to the model presented here, would be:
Note that the value of k is irrelevant for the calculation of g. For AgNO3 in Figure 3 (top), the parameters for the prediction of the activity coefficient are:
C≤ 9 10-4M g=1
C 1.05 10-1M CThreshold = 9 10-4M a=1 b=0.9
C 2.53 10-1M CThreshold = 1.05 10-1M a=0.9 b=0.3
C> 2.53 10-1M g=[2.53 10-1M]/C
The values have been chosen manually, simply to demonstrate that a progressive decrease in the ability of the solute to deploy proportionally at the surface would explain the evolution of the activity coefficient. The visual aid lines show the changes in slope in the activity of AgNO3. The trend is consistent with a final situation where G cannot increase further but there is no change in the structural nature of the surface excess.
For the AgNO3 case, replacing the system above for a Langmuir isotherm yields a smooth functional variation (not plotted), but still gives a consistent trend for the evolution of the activity coefficient. For CaCl2 in Figure 3 (bottom), the parameters for the prediction of the activity coefficient are:
C≤ 9 10-4M g=1
C 1.25 10-1M CThreshold = 9 10-4M a=1 b=0.9
C 2.07 10-1M CThreshold = 1.25 10-1M a=0.9 b=0.3
C> 2.07 10-1M CThreshold = 2.07 10-1M a=0.3 b=50
Figure 4. Mean activity coefficients for AgNO3 and CaCl2, [10] and a prediction based on an estimate of the ratio between effective surface excess and theoretical surface excess.
In the case of CaCl2 the prediction is less accurate, which is to be expected because the model tries to adapt to a change in the nature of the surface of the liquid. The parameters propose a superactive surface excess by means of b = 50 above a certain threshold concentration. This may represent the development of a ionic liquid-like nanolayer or a condition where one of the species is replaced by an intermediate (e.g. an ionic pair) and becomes more reactive. Activity coefficients at concentration of 15 mol kg-1 like 33.8 for Pb(ClO4)2, 43.1 for CaCl2 or 323 for HClO4 [1] may be explained in this way.
2.2. Beer's Law and surface excess across all the liquid surfaces.
We are going to use colorimetric results to propose that the surface excesses appear and must be accounted for against all limiting surfaces including walls, and not the air-water interface or the surface of an adsorbent. It is irrelevant if the surface excesses are identical or not in all cases.
If ideal activity relates to linearity between surface excess across all the surfaces of the liquid and bulk concentration, then the transmittance/concentration plots must actually be describing the transition from linear to non-linear relationship between surface excess and bulk phase concentration, and the region of compliance of Beer's Law must match the region where the surface excess/bulk phase partition is linear. Otherwise the model would be inconsistent with actual observations. Within the region of compliance with Beer's Law [14] and linear proportionality between bulk concentration and surface excess, total and bulk concentrations and surface excess follow:
where S is the surface and V the volume of the cell filled with a sample of concentration C. The bulk concentration would relate to the total concentration following:
As, S/V decreases with an increase in the optical path length, for a given total concentration the bulk phase concentration will increase with the optical path length because less solute is required to provide the surface excess. As a consequence a sufficient increase of the optical path length would increase the surface excess of the liquid until saturation. This is observed in the work by Yu et al [15], where merely by enlarging the cell's optical path a non-Lambert Beer region is reached. If we consider the total contribution to the absorbance as made up by the contributions of the bulk phase and the surface.
where the first right hand term refers to the classically accepted contribution by the bulk of the solution and the second right hand term corresponds to the effect of the surface excess (monomolecular, hence the lack of a thickness) at the entry and exit planes of the cell we can see the relative drop in absorbance as shown in figure 5.
The “no saturation” plot combines equations 5 and 6, assuming CTOTAL =1 and K = 1. The extinction coefficient is irrelevant as the plot is for the ratio between the absorbance at a given optical path length and that at 0.5 mm. The “saturation” plot assumes that at 2.25 mm, the surface excess G=kCBULK becomes constant because the surface-volume ratio has already dropped so much that the surface excess becomes constant. The “Langmuir isotherm” line shows that using an isotherm instead of Equation 3 predicts an earlier drop in surface concentration and absorbance.
Within the scope of this paper, this would confirm that when an adsorption isotherm can be used to predict the dependence of surface excess with bulk concentration the system would already be non-ideal. We should keep in mind that the surface excess may be very dense. Petersen and Saykally [7] proposed in their model that the anions of the Ray-Jones electrolytes may constitute the whole of the solution in the layer where their surface excess peaks, even with the nominal concentration 0.001M relevant to the Ray-Jones behavior.
Therefore, while molecules in the solution may be randomly oriented when hit by a photon, part of the reason for high light absorption may be optimal orientation of the molecules in the surface excess to capture incoming photons, whereby there would be a bulk phase molar extinction coefficient eBULK and a surface excess extinction coefficient eSURFACE, with eBULK eSURFACE. This is illustrated by using equation 6 for a prediction, unadjusted for surface saturation, but for which it is assumed that the eSURFACE = 1.25 eBULK for the surface excesses found above the optical length 1.25 mm. That explains the change in slope at higher path lengths.
Figure 5. Relative absorbances from Yu et al, and from the model. The basic assumption of a contribution due to surface excess is enough to predict what would otherwise seem a drop in the extinction coefficient of the substance. The prediction is enhanced assuming saturation has been reached at the surface and the only increase in absorbance is due to the bulk phase.
However, within the region where Beer's Law holds, it will not be possible to discriminate the impact of the surface excess except through changes of the surface/volume ratio. This would be independent of whether the system's light absorption is controlled by the surface excess, by the bulk phase or a combination, because in all cases it would be a linear function of CBULK. The role of the chemical equilibrium in the solution is obviously important to establish the importance of the surface excess. Buijs and Maurice [16] provide absorbance values for solutions of Pu(IV) in the presence of different concentrations of H2SO4.
At their highest H2SO4 concentration (4M) , for cells of length 1, 2, 5 and 10 cm, the absorbance ratios relative to the 10 cm cell are 0.13, 0.25, 0.58 and 1, which are consistent with the asymptotic increase in S/V to when the optical path length tends to 0. This is consistent with the results by Yu et al. For other samples with lower concentrations of H2SO4, the absorbance ratio is more or less constant, suggesting that the contribution of the surface excess is directly proportional to the bulk phase concentration and that the model where the surface excess plays a role and the classical approach cannot be discriminated.
It should be mentioned that Buijs and Maurice describe some equations for the prediction of deviations from Lambert-Beer 's Law based on relationships between optical length, concentration and absorbance of the form:
where p,q,..,z are constants. Said equations for the deviation from ideal behavior are similar to Taylor series for a Langmuir or similar adsorption isotherm [17]. This is further evidence of the connection between ideality as a consequence of linear dependence of surface excess and concentration.
Having shown that surface excess may have an influence on light absorption, that divergences in absorbance from ideal behaviour may be explained by saturation of the surface excess, and therefore that surface excess should be regarding as playing a major role in the chemistry of all surfaces of a liquid facing any other surface other than air, we are going to discuss the consistency of the proposed plane reaction model with existing equilibrium and kinetic equations.
2.3. Mechanism for precipitation of sparingly soluble salts with formula AB.
Let us consider that sufficiently high surface charge densities sA+ and sB- should generate enough electrostatic attraction to draw together counter ions from their planes and form a precipitate AB. Let us assume that the condition is similar to Bjerrum’s distance for ionic pair association [18], and dependent on the charge densities of the charged planes:
where the bulk phase concentrations [A+] and [B-] would be proportional to the surface excesses GA+ and GB-. Such expression is consistent with the form of a solubility product. The plane structure is shown in Figure 6 (bottom, left). It becomes evident that any deviation from linearity, for example the inability of G to increase with bulk concentration due to surface/subsurface saturation would reflect in activity coefficients different from 1.
Figure 6. The schematics show that it is possible to arrange a reaction path as a sequence of steps caused by migration from the starting planes into a prime intermediate plane where the first intermediate forms. Whether the first intermediate migrates to subprime intermediate planes or reacts with other species in the prime intermediate plane is debatable, but the scheme explains the reaction sequence.
In this particular A + B = AB case, it makes sense to assume that a “prime intermediate” plane physically exist, where species A+ and B- migrate due to electrostatic attraction to reach. With this scheme, it makes sense that if any of the plane charge densities is initially too low to match the critical distance, precipitation will not occur. Precipitation will cease when both the A and B planes are depleted until their inter-plane electrostatic attraction is too low. The model also explains precipitation when two chemicals are present in non-stoichimetric concentrations: the force of the electrostatic attraction depends on the product of both surface charge densities.
2.4. Precipitation of sparingly soluble salts AxBy intermediate species planes.
For a more complex molecule AB2 the precipitation could be explained by an initial drawing together of A2+ and B- to form AB+ in a “prime intermediate” plane. The new plane (Figure 3, center) would be involved in the drawing together of AB+ + B- to form AB2. AB+ will be present in this plane at a concentration (comparable to a surface excess) dependent on the equilibrium GAB+= KeqG* AG*B, where G* denotes the “plane excess” in A2+ and B- in the AB+ “plane”.As a consequence the precipitation step to produce the insoluble salt would require to meet the condition:
Rearranging 9 it can be seen that the product [A2+][B-]2 is equal to a constant value under some conditions: independence of Keq from surface excesses and linearity between surface excess and bulk phase concentration.
This migration between species planes and subsequent species plane generation would explain also any precipitates with more than one cation or anion and multiple precipitation options depending of the temperature and composition of the mixture, like alum (KAl(SO4)2) shown in Figure 3(right) [19]. Depending on the specific conditions of an experiment, either K2SO4, Al2(SO4)3 or alum may be the less soluble species, and precipitate. Although Figure 3 (right) does not show more detail, it is obvious that other competing “plane” paths include KSO4- + K+ to give K2SO4 and SO42- + AlSO4+ to give Al(SO4)2- followed possibly by AlSO4+ + Al(SO4)2- to give Al2(SO4)3.
A multiplanar arrangement (beyond three planes) would be a simplified description of something more complex. If an species of charge intermediate between the two original planes deploys between them, then it will partially shield them and allow them to be more separated from each other. That could allow further planes to exist. Such evolution would conform with the multi-plane idea. Alternatively, the intermediate plane may become the site for all the intermediate species and the locus for all the reactions between the initial species and the final product. The mathematical forms would be anyway equivalent.
Before extending the analysis to other types of reactions, with equilibria involving initial and final product concentrations, we will discuss how the definition of mean activity coefficients fit with this model, and also the way in which the nature of the surface/bulk partition would cause it to be masked by photometric methods is discussed below.
2.5. Consistency between the model and the concept of mean activity coefficient.
If the meaning of the activity coefficient is the deviation between the actual value of surface excess of a species and an ideal value of surface excess linked to the actual bulk phase concentration and following the equations presented in the previous sections we can deduce the form of the mean activity coefficient of a substance as a function of ion activity coefficients [18]
If we consider the activity coefficients of species A+ and B- as
and equal to one for as long as Gamma = k [X], but different of 1 if Gamma becomes constant (for example) then we can see that equation 8 becomes
For equation 13 the inclusion of non-ideality creates the correction factor gA+(gB-) which can be made equal to (gmean)2. It is easy to see the mechanistic justification for the expression of the mean activity coefficient.
It is important to stress the novelty of the concept of surface plane mechanism and how it justifies the exponents for the concentrations. Although action mass models have been used for long time, they do not explain the exponents in the equations, but simply acknowledge them. In fact, if thought is given to the idea of bulk phase reaction, the form of a solubility condition should be a relationship involving concentrations with exponent one, such that the critical value indicated the minimal amount of either of them required to electrostatically atract the other in order to reach the final stage of the reaction sequence, implicitly accounting for availability for any previous intermediate reaction stages.
2.6 Other equilibria.
If we revisit Section 2.2, where we looked at the plane excesses“ at the prime intermediate” plane, the proposition was that the intermediate plane excess was:
for any individual species forming in the “prime intermediate” plane. In the case of precipitation, the end result is a neutral species which does not significantly affect the structure of the plane system from an electrostatic point of view.
Figure 7. Scheme of the various intermediate planes for a sequence where all the intermediates and products remain soluble in their planes.
However, for reactions like complexation, where the product may be a charged species, the equilibrium condition does not need to be depletion until the surface planes do not have enough charge to attract the species. The condition may be simply repulsion between same-sign adjacent planes (E.g. A+2 and AB+) cancelling transfer between them. This would suppress the ability to further reaction between incoming reactants from opposite sign planes and eventually terminate transfer. If we consider the total distance as dA/B = dA/0 + d0/B, and we define the three critical distances for equilibrium (Figure 7, top) in terms of their plane charges s as:
and then rearrange equation 15 we find that for a given salt with 1:1 stoichiometry, we obtain a dissociation equilibrium constant:
From here, in the case of a mixture of salts with common electrolytes, the left hand side of the equation provides the relationship between the common electrolytes, whereas the second term remains a constant that gives the restriction value of KAB. It becomes trivial that a subsequent stage leading from species AB to species AB2 involving distances d0/-, d0/1 and d1/- and characteristic parameters a0/1 and a1/- would result in:
which is easily combined with equation 16 to yield:
the form of the various equilibria and the connection between exponents and stoichiometric factors is therefore justified. If we go back to equation 16 we can see that we can rearrange the equation to have the general form:
This provides the equilibrium constant with a shape similar to an adsorption isotherm. This is a shape consistent with correction factors for non-ideality in solubility products derived from the Debye-Hűckel model [20]. The Debye-Huckel model does not consider surface effects, but nevertheless the isotherm equation form appears in a potential form in the corrective term for non-ideality [21]:
where QS is the concentration-based apparent solubility product, KS is the acitivity based solubility product, a and b are constants, B(T) is a function of temperature, G(T) a series in T to different exponents, and I the ionic strength of the solution. Although equation 18 relates the “isotherm” form to the logarithms of the solubility products, the Taylor series of (1-x)-1 and -log(1+x) are very similar, including consistence in the signs for the terms in X to a given power. This means that non-ideality in the solubility product still will reflect the form of an adsorption isotherm. Nortier et al. [21], further developing on previous models on precipitation in complex systems, stress the fact that the underlying chemical mechanisms are not well known and cause the need for elaborate methods to account for non-ideality.
A recent paper [22] on an accurate model for binding of cations onto anionic micelles by ionic pair formation showed that one obstacle for earlier recognition of the basic chemical process being a complexation-like reaction and not an adsorption is that the equilibrium constant and the adsorption isotherm can be found to have an analog underlying mathematical form. The fact that the approach presented here shows the same mathematical form than existing corrections for bulk-phase models suggests these are implicitly corrected to account for the surface excess factor.
2.7. Kinetics.
While the above mathematical developments suggest that the plane model would explain the form of many equilibrium equations in solution, it seems possible to justify kinetic equations in the same way. Let us start by postulating that equilibrium in a solution is achieved because the surface behaves as a reactor while the bulk phase behaves as a storage area and feed tank. The equilibrium between the species would be achieved in the surface, and they would remain stable for as long as they remain in the bulk. Once they re-enter the surface-subsurface, high local concentrations may cause exchange of product fragments and free fragments. That would explain equilibria which are not completely displaced to products or reactants, as well as recombination when adding a further reagent or for example, an isotopic marker. Equilibrium in the context of this section refers to the final state of the reaction, whether a balance between direct and reverse reactions or full conversion.
If we consider the total volume of the solution V equal to ndA, where d is the thickness of the surface-subsurface layer, A the surface of the fluid phase and n the geometrical proportionality factor with the volume, we can define the bulk phase concentrations of the various species Ci once equilibrium has been reached as:
The overall or macroscopically perceived rate of such reactions could depend on two factors. First, the rate of replacement of the liquid at the surface-subsurface layer may equal the rate of reaction if the actual reaction rate within the surface-subsurface layer is instantaneous. The rate of reaction would be affected by the stoichiometry of the equilibrium within the surface-subsurface layer in the same way that the equilibrium constant:
We can relate the frequency factor in the kinetic equation to the renewal term A/(VtR) based on Higbie's surface renewal model [13], where tR would be the time required to replace the fraction of liquid within the surface layer and the k constants can be related to the activation energy in Arrhenius constant.
The overall rate of reaction may also depend on the rate of the reaction within the plane, if tR is shorter than the time required for the reaction to reach equilibrium. In such cases, there will be a progressive increase in the concentration of products as successive re-entries of chemicals take place. In all those cases, it is proposed that the products do not dissociate in the bulk of the liquid: dissociation in the bulk would be related to processes where the product is unstable and overall the process would be considered as no-reaction.
In chemical reactor engineering poor mixing areas are accounted for as “dead regions”[12] in compartmented reactor models, where part of the reactor volume is supposed to behave ideally, part of it is supposed to be stagnant (“dead”) and some is assumed to be a recirculating volume: reinterpreting “dead” regions as regions that are disconnected from surface renewal and thus denied access to a reactive surface region maintains consistency between the viewpoint of the model and experimental observation.
A fundamental flaw in science is the belief that succesive approximations to a numerically congruent solution/prediction to a problem are mechanistically approaching the real behaviour of the system. Succesive patches on an erroneous initial hypothesis, like bulk phase reaction vs surface reaction in a fully stirred solution, will correct the predicted value and will be pseudo-justified a posteriori by yield a final equation that provides an accurate numerical solution by amalgamanting a number of equations which, individually, do not predict the real behaviour of any of the steps or sub-processes of the system investigated. However, they will return the same numerical value than the correct and unkonw aggregate of functions. As a consequence, the real mechanims may be hidden until a sufficient range of contradicting experimental systems are found. However, the fundamental form of the real process may be found by careful analysis of the empirically aproximated forms, providing alternative sets of equations and asking what their physicochemical meaining could be. In the final analysis, this paper shows that a sustained preconception, even when it affects a system which can be easily controlled, may affect the understanding of a physical phenomenon. As a consequence, it hints at an even greater chance for error in the understanding of systems which are not controlled or contained, as those dealt with by high energy physicists or astrophysicists.
Supporting Materials. Precipitation of Ionic Surfactants: a surface reaction.
In this Supplement we are going to show that the decrease of the chemical activity of ionic surfactants as their surface excess increases can be linked to a progression of their aggregation from true monomers to two or three ion aggregates. This impacts on the solubility of the surfactants. The form of equations 1 and 2 is justified in this way.
Resistance of the surfactant to precipitation beings before micelles form. Figure 7 (bottom), closely inspired on work by Somasundaran et al [23], shows a generic logarithmic plot counterion concentration-surfactant concentration showing the precipitation phase boundary. On this figure, already below the CMC there is a region where the concentration of counterion required for precipitation increases from the linear precipitation region, and therefore resistance to precipitation is already increasing. The surface area of surfactants can be estimated from their surface excess at a saturated interface (CMC or CSEM).
Any transitions in aggregation below saturation would be unobservable for a pure surfactant, and in mixed surfactant systems the norm is to estimate an average surface area per surfactant head, as it is hard to elucidate interaction between surfactant molecules and ions. However, occasionally there are some systems which can provide more information. We will show that there is a change in activity linked to ionic surfactant pair formation at the surface of the liquid which can be linked with increased resistance to precipitation. The resulting expression is then used in the main text to justify that chemical activity is linked to surface excess generally, and not only in the case of surfactants.
Figure 9 shows two datasets by Gosh and Moulik [24], plus some visual aid lines and correlation results. A series designated as Tween/DS corresponds to a mixture of an anionic monovalent surfactant sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) present in solution as DS (dodecylsulfate) ions and a nonionic surfactant molecule. The peculiarity of the data is that it agrees with a linear relationship:
0.58 + 3.91 XDS with R2 = 0.9594. (23)
Figure 8. Schematic views of solubility contours of ionic surfactants. (top) Residual surfactant concentration v total surfactant concentration for a given counterion concentration. (bottom) Solubility boundary.
The value 0.58 is the area of the head of the non-ionic surfactant Tween, in nm2. 3.91 is the area of the head of ionic surfactant DS, which is odd because for pure DS in a saturated surface excess the same authors find the value 1.07. That is, DS is more compact when found at the condition where Bjerrum critical distance is reached (and therefore where it is found forming ionic pairs) than when it is very diluted in a nonionic surfactant which does not interact with it (hence the linear relationship).Figure 9 shows equation 21 as a dashed line and the data for Tween. It also shows a line broken in four segments corresponding to the calculation of average head surface for the Brij/SDS system. The leftmost is related to:
Molecular Surface area = 0.79XBrij+3.93XSDS (24)
for XSDS < 0.045
where 0.79 nm2 is the area of a head of surfactant Brij, 3.93 nm2 is the estimate for truly monomeric SDS ions at the surface of the liquid when highly diluted in a non-interacting nonionic compound, and 0.045 is a value of XSDS for which the intersection with the lowest visual aid curve is found.
Figure 9. Experimentally estimated and calculated average head surface area of mixtures of ionic surfactant SDS and nonionic surfactants Tween and Brij. The two straight lines linking the series of two and three open square points are visual aids.
The equation therefore describes the region where the surface area of ionic SDS per head of ion is constant. The small segment of the Brij/DS broken line, second from the right, that connects the two visual aid lines corresponds to:
Molecular Surface area = 00.79XBrij+1.9XSDS (25)
for 0.146<XSDS < 0.164
where 1.9 is a value attributed to an intermediate state, which is assumed to be M+n(DS)2, between truly monomeric DS and DS forming ionic pairs M+n(DS)3 or M+n(DS)4 as found in previous work on binding of counterions onto DS micelles.
The segments discussed can be explained away has being the consequence of a critical condition having been met which causes DS ions to be in a given state, and incidentally with a certain activity, which is uniform over a range of concentrations. However, the segments second from the left and rightmost require to be explained the respective expressions
In equation 24 the contribution of the ionic surfactant in its true monomeric form with surface area 3.9 and of the first intermediate ionic pair with surface area 1.9 are weighed liearly over the range XDS 0.045 (the pair 1.9 appears) and 0.146 (the pair 1.9 is the only form).
In equation 25, we consider the range XDS to be from 0.164 to 0.3 and the surface 1.33. There are no further data to the right except for XDS = 1 where the surface area per head of DS is 1.07 nm2, but the XDS = 0.3 provides a reasonable fit with the surface area 1.33. The value 1.33 nm2 is picked as the area per head of a M+n(DS)3 because it seems a reasonable progression from about 4 nm2 for a truly free monomer to about 2 for each of the supposed 2 monomers more closely packed in a M+n(DS)2 group and on to about 1 (1.07 nm2) for the highest stoichiometry M+n(DS)4.
Having shown that the average surface per head of surfactant can be calculated on the basis of a constant contribution of the nonionic surfactant and a contribution of the ionic surfactant that varies as its partial surface excess raises, we plot the partial surface excess of the ionic surfactant (triangles) together with the solubility curve for its insoluble calcium salt [25] in Figure 9. The open triangles correspond to the partial surface excesses of DS at the transition points of its various surface areas. The plot has a similar shape to Figure 8 (bottom). Four arrows are depicted to show there is a change in slope in the solubility curve, which can be linked to the transition surface excesses. The surface excess which would correspond to the transition from 1.33 to 1.07 falls short, but it is an speculative value, and also at higher molar fractions of DS the difference between micellar molar fraction and surface excess molar fraction would increase. The conclusion is that the evolution of the resistance to precipitation and therefore of chemical acitivity is linked with a change in ionic structure at the surface.
Figure 10. Plotting surface excesses and solubilities of Ca(DS)2 against bulk phase concentration of DS. Particularly at low concentrations there is a surprising consistency between predicted transition points in ionic pairing and transitions in solubility. The vertical dotted line indicates the onset of micellization and of more complex colloidal interactions.
We will demonstrate now the physiochemical foundation for the equation system used in the main text. With the three leftmost points, we obtain an empirical correlation:
[Ca2+][DS]3.0604=2.0811 10-13 R2=1 (28)
The equation is peculiar because the insoluble compound is obviously CaDS2. The result has been carefully double checked having extracted the data from the original figure and used the pixel scale of a graphic package to obtain from the lengths of the X,Y scales and the positions of the points the actual values with high precision. A possible explanation is that the precipitation of CaDS2 requires to go through an intermediate ionic group like Na+[Ca2+(DS-)3]- which would form at the interface, where the local concentrations will always be higher, and decompose in the bulk phase due to the lower local ionic strength. The slight difference between the exponent and 3 can be just accumulated experimental error. Irrespective of the reason for the form of the correlation, if we attribute to Ca2+ a constant g = 1 through the range of concentrations and to DS a value of g = 1 only in this first series, we can estimate the activity coefficient for DS in the other points of the plot as:
gDS = (2.0811 10-13/[Ca2+])1/3.0605 (29)
For the three series considered non ideal (the three rightmost arrows in Figure 10), we proceed to calculate an estimated activity coefficient based on the following scheme:
• gTB = 1 is chosen from the last ideal point as Threshold Base activity coefficient. The corresponding concentration is chosen as Threshold Concentration CThreshold.
• A seed gGG value is chosen for the last point of a linear segment as Goal activity coefficient, with the concentration there becoming the Goal concentration CG. It will be iterated to find the actual value of gGG in the equation
• gC = gTB Cthreshold/CG + gG (CG - Cthreshold)/CG, (30)
which will provide the values for all the concentrations between the Threshold and the Goal points, assuming that those two values are the activity coefficients of the only co-existing ionic states in the segment.
• For the next segment gTB = gG, and the process re-starts.
Figure 11 shows the comparison between the estimates obtained from Equation 27 and the predictive calculations. The increasing divergency for lower activities reflects formation of surfactant micelles and further non-ideality inducing factors. Therefore, the concept of critical conditions causing a fundamental change in the characteristics of an ionic species (ionic pairs, ionic liquid layers) pre-existing condition and an emerging condition which will become predominant provides results that are consistent with observation.
Figure 11.Model activity coefficients compared with activity coefficients estimated from the experimental solubility curves. The results confirm the model proposed in equations 1 and 2.
Keywords: ((surface excess · chemical activity · equilibrium constant · concentration plane · Lambert-Beer's Law))
[1] Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, Lide, D.R., Editor, 86th Edition, CRC, 2005 Boca Raton (USA)
[2] Somasundaran, P.; Celik, M.; Goyal, A.; Manev, E. Soc. Petrol. Eng. J. 1984, April, 233-239
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[8] Zhao,J.; Liu, J.; Jiang. R. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 2009, 350, 141–146
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[10] Collins, K.D.; Methods 2004, 34, 4300-311
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[14] Brown, C.W. Ultraviolet, Visible, Near Infrared Spectrophotometers, in Ewing's Analytical Instrumentation Handbook, CRC 2005, 127-139 Boca Raton (USA)
[15] Haiyan, Y.; Xiaoying. N.; Bobin, L.; Yibin, Y. Effect of Optical Path Length on Prediction Precision of Calibration Models Developed for Enological Parameters of Rice Wine, ASABE Annual International Meeting, Rhode Island Convention Center, Providence, Rhode Island, June 29 – July 2, 2008
[16] Buijs, K.; Maurice, M.J. Analytica Chimica Acta 1969, 47, 469-474
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Mukerjee, P.; Mysels, K.J. Critical Micelle Concentration of aqueous surfactant systems. National Bureau for Standards: Washington (USA), 1971
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[23] Somasundaran, S.; Ananthapadmanabhan, K.P.; Celik, M.S.; Manve, E.D. Soc Petrol Engineers J 1984, December, 667-675
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How Do Wireless Microphones Work?
by Laura Stuart
How Wireless Microphones Work
Wireless microphones work by sending signals between a transmitter inside the microphone and receiver on the output device. The wireless microphone can be built into a wireless headset, but it can also be a seperate piece, such as a clip on. The microphone has an antenna built into the frame that sends the signal from the wireless transmitter in the microphone to the wireless receiver on the other end through electromagnetic waves or digital pulses. The wireless receiver collects the wave frequency or digital codes of 1s and 0s to translate them for the output source.
Advantages and Disadvantages
The biggest advantage of wireless microphones is the increased range of mobility they give users. With a wireless microphone, a person can move without cables or boxes or bulky audio equipment. Wireless microphones usually are more expensive than other types, but the elevated price tag is usually overshadowed by the range of movement. Another slight disadvantage of wireless microphones is that they require batteries because they are not hooked into a power source like cable microphones. Most use 9-volt or AAA batteries.
There are two main types of wireless microphones: UHF and VHF. Ultra high frequency microphones transmit at a range of 470 MHz and 806 MHz. The U.S. government has sectioned this part of the frequency spectrum specifically for the use of wireless transmitters. At almost eight times greater than the very high frequency spectrum, the waves transmitted by ultra high frequency transmitters in wireless microphones cut through static and interference. Very high frequency wireless microphones transmit a frequency between 49MHz and 216MHz. This frequency range is subdivided into a low band and high band range. The low band range transmits between 49 MHz and 108 MHz. The high band range transmits between 169 MHz and 216 MHz. VHF wireless microphones are less expensive than UHF microphones because they use the same frequency as cordless phones and walkie-talkies.
About the Author
Laura N. Stuart is a writer. She has served as a newspaper reporter, photographer, copy editor, feature reporter, editor, entertainment reporter and freelance writer for multiple community and regional publications. She holds a Bachelor of Mass Communications degree in journalism from Louisiana State University.
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Navigation – Plan du site
Psychology and Economics in Historical Perspective (Part 2)
From Homo Economicus to Homo Psychologicus: the Paretian Foundations of Behavioural Paternalism
De l’Homo economicus à l’Homo psychologicus : les fondements parétiens du paternalisme comportemental
Guilhem Lecouteux
p. 175-200
Le paternalisme comportemental vise à définir des politiques publiques dans le but d'aider les individus avec une rationalité limitée à satisfaire leurs propres préférences. Il est supposé que (i) les individus sont définis par de vraies préférences qu'ils révéleraient s'ils étaient capables de raisonner correctement, (ii) la satisfaction de ces vraies préférences constitue le critère normatif, et (iii) il est possible pour le planificateur d'identifier ces vraies préférences. Je montre que le paternalisme comportemental repose implicitement sur le modèle de l'Homo economicus de Pareto, et met en avant les difficultés méthodologiques de ces trois points. Mon principal argument est que les paternalistes comportementaux ne peuvent pas définir de façon certaine ce que seraient les préférences d'un agent idéalement rationnel.
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Texte intégral
1Rational choice theory assumes that individuals have complete and transitive preferences, and models the individuals as acting in an instrumentally rational way to satisfy their preferences. Many experimental works however highlighted that the preferences revealed by the individuals through their choices significantly deviate from the prediction of rational choice theory (see e.g. Kahneman and Tversky (2000) on framing effects, Frederick, Loewenstein, and O’Donoghue (2002) on time inconsistencies, Camerer (2003) and Crawford, Costa-Gomes, and Iriberri (2013) on strategic thinking). The common interpretation of those results is that real humans—unlike the rational Homo economicus populating neoclassical economic modelsoften make mistakes, and therefore fail to behave in their own best interests (see e.g. O’Donoghue and Rabin, 2003, 186; Thaler and Sunstein, 2008, 9; Ariely, 2008, 239).
2Those findings gave rise to a vast literature advocating new forms of paternalism, such as “libertarian paternalism” (Sunstein and Thaler, 2003), “asymmetric paternalism” (Camerer, Issacharoff, Loewenstein, O’Donoghue, and Rabin, 2003), “light paternalism” (Loewenstein and Haisley, 2008), or “means paternalism” (Sunstein, 2014). The common feature of those approaches is the postulate that non-rational individuals should be helped so as to satisfy their preferences. Sunstein (2014) for instance justifies means paternalism as follows:
More particularly, I have urged that accumulating evidence suggests, more concretely than ever before, that in identifiable cases, people’s mistaken choices can produce serious harm, even when there is no risk to others. The result is a series of behavioral market failures that provide a plausible basis for some kind of official remedy. Behaviorally informed responses need not, and generally should not, attempt to revisit people’s ends. They are focused on correcting mistakes that people make in choosing the means to satisfy their own ends. (Sunstein, 2014, 163-164)
3Following the terminology of Salvat (2014), I will call this new approach to paternalism “behavioural paternalism” (henceforth BP). BP aims at helping boundedly rational individuals to satisfy their own ends, and therefore encompasses both “soft” and “hard” forms of paternalism, such as Sunstein and Thaler’s nudges, and the “coercive paternalism” advocated by Conly (2013). Since Sunstein and Thaler’s libertarian paternalism (henceforth LP) has been the most successful approach so far, this paper will be primarily concerned with LP, although the argument would be exactly the same for all the other approaches mentioned above.
4The object of this paper is to characterise the set of hypotheses about preferences and welfare supporting BP as a new form of paternalism, and then to question the soundness of those hypotheses. My main argument is that BP implicitly endorses Pareto’s model of the Homo economicus (as the “part” of the individual that deals with economic actions), and therefore presents the exact same methodological shortcomings. First I present the three main hypotheses underlying BP: that (i) people have true preferences, (ii) the satisfaction of true preferences is the proper normative criterion (i.e. the supreme goal of normative economics is the satisfaction of those preferences), and finally (iii) it is possible to objectively elicit the true preferences of the individuals (section 1). The following three sections respectively deal with those three hypotheses: I show that the existence of true preferences can be postulated if and only if we accept Pareto’s reductionist account of decision-making (section 2), that the normativity of the satisfaction of one’s true preferences is neither a consequence of Pareto’s theory nor properly justified (section 3), and that economists do not have at their disposal an impartial mechanism that would allow them to elicit the individuals’ true preferences, if such preferences exist at all (section 4).
1. Preferences, Welfare, and Mistakes
5Imagine Luke, who just opened an account in a bank that offers a bonus to its new customers. The bank manager, Carla, can either credit €200 on his account, or offer him an asset worth €600, but which is likely to be devaluated with probability 2/3 (its value would then be null). Carla can for instance directly asks Luke to choose between (A) getting the €200 and (B) getting the risky asset. She can also give him the risky asset, and then ask him to choose between (C) reselling the asset at one third of its value (€200) and (D) keeping the asset.
6Suppose that Luke chooses (A) in the first case and (D) in the second (in line with experimental results on loss aversion, Tversky and Kahneman, 1981): since (A) and (C) (as well as (B) and (D)) are identical in terms of monetary payoff (which constitutes the only relevant element of the choice problem from a consequentialist perspective), this set of choices shows that Luke’s preferences changed when the framing of the problem changed. The common interpretation of this preference reversal is that—unlike the standard neoclassical agent—Luke’s choices reveal a loss aversion. Luke is indeed risk averse when facing lotteries involving gains, but risk-seeking when facing lotteries with losses (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979). In the first situation, he prefers the sure gain to the risky one, while in the second situation—when given an initial endowment of €600—Luke prefers the risky option (he is indeed comparing a sure loss of €400 with the possibility of avoiding a €600 loss with probability 1/3). The common interpretation of this kind of situation is that Luke truly prefers one option over the other (either (A) and (C) over (B) and (D), or (B) and (D) over (A) and (C)), but that his actual choice is influenced by the framing of the decision problem: his preferences are therefore context-dependent, i.e. “his preferences depend (irrationally) on factors that ought to be irrelevant” (Hausman, 2012, 20).
7Consider now the choice problem faced by Carla. Suppose that Carla noticed that the way she frames the offer has a significant influence on the final decision of her clients. She therefore knows that framing the problem as a choice between (A) and (B) will induce Luke to choose the safe asset, while he will probably choose the risky one if he must choose between (C) and (D). Thaler and Sunstein (2008, 3) would describe Carla as a choice architect, i.e. an individual who “has the responsibility for organizing the context in which people make decisions”. If Carla is benevolent, then she will choose the choice architecture of the problem such that Luke will be better off, from his own point of view. Carla’s objective is therefore not to propose to Luke what she thinks is good for him, but to help him get what he truly wants. Suppose for instance that, based on Luke’s past financial decisions, Carla can reasonably assume that Luke is actually a risk-lover, and tends to make risky choices. Although she may believe that it would be better for Luke to take more cautious decisions, her benevolence implies that she will respect Luke’s underlying true preferences. She will therefore choose to frame the decision problem as a choice between (C) and (D), since it is more likely that Luke will take the risky asset.
8If we accept the assumption that Luke truly prefers one asset over the other—independently of the way Carla framed the choice problem—and that his actual choices may be influenced by elements he would consider to be irrelevant if he were aware of them (e.g. the choice architecture), then an intuitive normative criterion would be the satisfaction of Luke’s true preferences. The core argument of BP is that people have true preferences they wish to act on, but that most of their decisions are influenced by cues that should be irrelevant, such as the desire of avoiding losses or the greater salience of an alternative (in Sunstein and Thaler’s example of the cafeteria, the individuals tend to choose more prominently-displayed items, independently of their nature). BP therefore distinguishes between the individual’s true preferences (which determines her welfare, a normatively desirable objective) and her distorted preferences (which are revealed through her choices). Thaler and Sunstein (2003) indeed claim that:
We clearly do not always equate revealed preferences with welfare. That is, we emphasize the possibility that in some cases individuals make inferior choices, choices that they would change if they had complete information, unlimited cognitive abilities, and no lack of willpower (Thaler and Sunstein, 2003, 175).
9According to this distinction, the individuals intend to satisfy their true preferences, but are unable to take the appropriate decisions due to psychological biases. They are therefore, in some sense, maximising the “wrong” utility function. Köszegi and Rabin (2007; 2008) suggest for instance understanding individual behaviour as a combination of preference satisfaction and mistakes, and then argue that “preferences often can be revealed by behavior, even when they are not implemented by behaviour” (2007, 479, emphasis in original). Many dual-selves models have then been developed to represent this duality between an “optimising” self and a “psychological” self, but without necessarily stating that the satisfaction of the preferences of the optimising self constitutes the normative criterion (see Davis, 2011, 63-64 for a discussion on the normative or descriptive value of multiple selves models). Individual behaviour is for instance explained as the result of the interaction of two conflicting selves, which are “cold” and “hot” (Bernheim and Rangel, 2004), “deliberative” and “affective” (Loewenstein and O’Donoghue, 2004), “controlled” and “automatic” (Benhabib and Bisin, 2005), a “long run planner” and a “myopic and short run doer” (Fudenberg and Levine, 2006).
10In a situation of choice, individuals are therefore likely to be influenced by elements of the context that would be ignored by a rational agent. Thaler and Sunstein (2008, 8) for instance define a nudge as “any factor that significantly alters the behavior of Humans, even though it would be ignored by Econs”. Bernheim and Rangel (2007; 2009) develop a theoretical framework for behavioural welfare economics (henceforth BWE) that explicitly relies on this duality between a “welfare-relevant domain” and “ancillary conditions”, defined as “[features] of the choice environment that may affect behaviour, but [that are] not taken as relevant to a social planner’s evaluation” (Bernheim and Rangel, 2009, 55). Similarly to Sunstein and Thaler who argue that the choice architecture should be ignored by rational agents, Bernheim and Rangel (2007) claim that “standard economics proceeds from the assumption that choice is invariant with respect to ancillary conditions” and that “[p]ositive behavioral economics challenges this basic premise” (Bernheim and Rangel, 2007, 464-465). The exact same duality is endorsed by Salant and Rubinstein (2008) and Rubinstein and Salant (2012) who assume that “the observed preference ordering is the outcome of some cognitive process that distorts the underlying preferences of the individual” (Rubinstein and Salant, 2012, 375): this distortion results from a “frame”, defined as “a description of details that influence choice behaviour, though it is clear to an observer that they do not affect the individual’s welfare” (ibid., 376). Note however that Bernheim and Rangel (2007; 2009) and Rubinstein and Salant (2008; 2012) do not endorse BP: they develop a theoretical framework for welfare economics based on the postulate that there exist “welfare-irrelevant” events that influence our choices, and therefore that the preferences revealed through our choices are different from welfare (our true preferences). BP could then easily be justified within this framework, but they do not advocate it. On the other hand, the behavioural paternalists mentioned above must endorse BWE’s framework to justify BP.
11It seems therefore that the “anomalies” highlighted by behavioural findings have been understood by behavioural paternalists as “anomalies of behaviour” rather than “anomalies of the theory”: it is not the theory according to which individuals have coherent preferences that is wrong, but the individuals who make mistakes, i.e. whose behaviour is “wrong” with respect to a norm of behaviour. Rational choice theory is therefore normatively correct while actual behaviours are deviations from rationality. This is for instance the case in Kahneman and Tversky’s work on prospect theory: they are indeed talking about anomalies of preferences (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979, 275, 277), suggesting implicitly that “normal” preferences should respect the axioms of rational choice theory (see Hands (2015) on the normativity of rational choice theory, and Heukelom (2014) for a detailed account of Kahneman and Tversky’s position on this question).
12In a discussion in the Journal of Economic Literature with Harstad and Selten (2013) and Crawford (2013), Rabin (2013) explicitly defends this “optimisation approach” (in contrast to a bounded rationality approach, see Harstad and Selten (2013) for a review). He argues the objective is to make:
(imperfect and incremental) improvements over previous economic theory by incorporating greater realism while attempting to maintain the breadth of application, the precision of predictions, and the insights of the neoclassical theory (Rabin, 2013, 528).
13This argues that behavioural economists should take the neoclassical model of behaviour as a benchmark, and progressively integrate new parameters expressing specific psychological inclinations of the decision maker into individual utility functions to improve the predictive power of the theory. The normative standard therefore remains the neoclassical model. I have argued with Infante and Sugden (2016) that BWE (and therefore BP) “uses a dualistic model of the human being, in which an inner rational agent is trapped inside a psychological shell” and that “the inner agent is pictured as the locus of the identity of the human being and as the source of normative authority about its interests and goals” (Infante et al., 2016, 1). Incoherent preferences are seen as an anomaly that should be corrected so as to reveal the underlying “true”, coherent, preferences.
• 1 The main difference with BWE is that Bernheim and Rangel only state that welfare assessments should (...)
14We can now precisely state the hypotheses about preferences and welfare underlying BP. BWE assumes that individuals have true preferences (like the ones we found in neoclassical economics) and treats deviations from the satisfaction of those preferences as mistakes (see Infante et al. (2016) for a detailed account). Most of behavioural welfare economists (a notable exception is Loewenstein and O’Donoghue (2004), for reasons I will expose in section 3) then endorse the satisfaction of the true preferences as the normative criterion. Behavioural paternalists go a step further by stating that the social planner (or the choice architect for LP) should actively1 seek the satisfaction of individual true preferences. Indeed, since the individuals are likely to fail to satisfy their true preferences, paternalism seems to be “unavoidable” (Sunstein and Thaler, 2003, 1175). Behavioural paternalists thus state three relatively explicit hypotheses (which are actually standard hypotheses in conventional welfare economics):
1. the individual has true preferences (a unique complete, transitive, and context-independent preference ordering which would determine her choices, were she able to reason correctly);
2. the satisfaction of those true preferences is the normative criterion;
3. it is possible to identify this preference relation from the choice architect’s standpoint (although various different approaches have been suggested).
15If hypothesis (i) is not true, then we cannot argue that incoherent preferences reveal a mistake, and therefore that real individuals do not act in their own best interests. If hypothesis (i) is true but not hypothesis (ii), then nudging the individuals such that they satisfy their true preferences cannot be considered as normatively desirable. Lastly, if (i) and (ii) are true but not (iii), then it means that, although it would be desirable to nudge the individuals to satisfy their true preferences, the choice architect cannot do this successfully because she cannot elicit what those true preferences are. Therefore, if at least one of these assumptions is not verified, BP is a dead-end and should be rejected.
16In the following sections, I will successively question each one of those hypotheses. My main argument is that BP implicitly endorses Pareto’s methodology of analysis and synthesis and his definition of the Homo economicus, and therefore shares many methodological difficulties with Pareto regarding the definition of one’s true preferences. I will also highlight that, unlike Pareto, BP confers a normative value to preference satisfaction that cannot be justified within Pareto’s approach.
17I will illustrate my argument with the case of Petula’s choice of train: Petula, a pessimistic individual, must take the train to go to work, and has a correspondence halfway (the second train leaves at 8h40). She knows that the first journey takes 30 minutes in normal conditions, but also that delays may happen (incidents actually occur on 1% of the journeys). She has the choice between taking the first train at 7h or a later train at 8h. If she takes the 7h train, then she is almost certain not to miss her correspondence, even if an incident occurs. If there is no incident, she will however arrive too early at the second station, and is likely to regret not having slept an additional hour. If she takes the 8h train, then she will arrive on time for the second train if there is no incident, but she is likely to miss it in case of an incident. Her pessimism inclines Petula to systematically take the 7h train. In addition, suppose also that Norbert, the neoclassical agent, faces the exact same problem than Petula, but after having carefully thought about the pros and cons of taking the 8h train, Norbert decides to systematically take the 8h train. Although he sometimes misses his correspondence, this is compensated by the additional sleeping hour he gets all the other days. From the social planner’s perspective, it seems that Petula is making a mistake when taking the early train (she may believe that the probability of an incident is much higher for instance), since Norbert—Petula’s neoclassical alter ego—takes the later train. The social planner could therefore nudge Petula to take the 8h train; this is possible by informing more explicitly that incidents are relatively rare events, or by offering in a single package the ticket of the 8h train with the ticket of the second train. This kind of policy could induce Petula to take the 8h train, and therefore to better satisfy her true preferences. Solving the Petula case therefore required to assume that: (i) Petula’s preferences can be purified from her pessimism, revealing her true preferences,(ii) the choice architect should help Petula to satisfy her true preferences, (iii) the choice architect can elicit Petula’s true preferences (and therefore identify what Norbert would do).
2. Logical Actions and the Homo psychologicus
18In this section, I highlight the similarities between BP’s notion of true preferences (as the preferences we would satisfy if we were rational) and Pareto’s Homo economicus (as the “part” of the individual that chooses in an instrumentally rational way). I argue that defining the true preferences consists in isolating the Homo economicus within the individual, and that this operation requires a reason-based understanding of the true preferences: nothing however guarantees that such true preferences should be context-independent. This could seriously undermine hypothesis (i), according to which individuals have underlying context-independent preferences.
19By opposition to the works of the early neoclassical authors such as Jevons, Edgeworth and Pantaleoni, Pareto ([1909] 1971; [1916] 1936) wished to minimize the psychological assumptions used in economics by basing economic theory on principles of rational choice (Bruni and Sugden, 2007, 154). Pareto considered that “[c]learly psychology is fundamental to political economy and all the social sciences in general” (Pareto [1909] 1971, Ch.2, §1), and therefore that—in the future—all social phenomena may be deduced from principles of psychology. He however claimed that “natural sciences have progressed only when they have taken secondary principles as their point of departure, instead of trying to discover the essence of things” (letter to Adrien Naville, quoted in Busino, 1964, xxiv). Psychology is probably more fundamental than economics (since the behaviours studied in economics could be explained by psychology), but a scientific theory of economic behaviour “should be deduced from firmly-established empirical propositions about choice rather than sensation” (Bruni and Sugden, 2007, 155; see also Lenfant, 2012, 118-120, on indifference curves as a theoretical rather than empirical construction).
20The foundation of Pareto’s methodology is the method of analysis and synthesis (Bruni and Guala, 2001, 37; Bruni, 2010, 95-96): the investigation of complex social phenomena requires decomposing them into parts, investigating each part separately, and then re-assembling those parts. While science is mainly analytical, practice is a matter of synthesis. Pareto’s criterion for studying human actions (i.e. for decomposing them into parts) is their logic, i.e. (1) whether the action is undertaken (subjectively) in order to satisfy a given purpose, and (2) whether this action is objectively appropriate towards the subjective purpose. Pareto defined “logical” actions as the set of actions for which both criteria are met, i.e. the means are appropriate to the ends both in the mind of the individual and in objective reality. When the objective purpose (what the individual will actually achieve) differs from the subjective purpose (what the individual intends to achieve) the actions are “non-logical”. These non-logical actions can be classified into different categories according to the nature of the difference between the objective and the subjective purpose (Pareto, [1916] 1936, §151; see also McLure, 2002, 50-51). Thus logical actions “logically conjoin means to ends not only from the standpoint of the subject performing them, but from the standpoint of other persons who have a more extensive knowledge” (Pareto, [1916] 1936, §150).
21Pareto then defined economic actions as those logical actions for which the individual objective is the satisfaction of preferences through the purchase of goods:
We will study the many logical, repeated actions which men perform in order procure the things which satisfy their tastes. [...] Moreover, we will simplify the problem still more by assuming that the subjective fact conforms perfectly to the objective fact. This can be done because we will consider only repeated actions to be a basis for claiming that there is a logical connection uniting such actions. A man who buys a certain food for the first time may buy more of it than is necessary to satisfy his tastes, price taken into account. But in a second purchase he will correct his error, in part at least, and thus, little by little, will end up by procuring exactly what he needs. We will examine this action at the time when he has reached this state. (Pareto, [1909] 1971, Ch.3, §1)
22Given this, he also recognized the possibility of producing economic theories without this specific restriction of motives (Pareto [1909] 1971, Ch.3, §11), suggesting therefore that economics is the science of logical actions in general, i.e. of the class of actions for which individuals choose in an instrumentally rational way given their preferences. Preferences are however distinct from mere “sensations”, since “it is not an essential characteristic of [economic theories] that a man choosing between two sensations chooses the most agreeable; he could choose a different one, following a rule which could be fixed arbitrarily” (Pareto [1909] 1971, Ch.3, §11; see McLure, 2002, 46 on this point).
23As a science, pure economics is only interested in the “economic part” of action, while applied economics should make a synthesis of all the parts (economic, moral, psychological, sociological, etc.). Pure economics should therefore study the individual as a Homo economicus, while applied economics should make the synthesis of the Homo economicus, the Homo religiosus, the Homo ethicus… An actual man is an aggregate of all these different Homines, and apart from a few specific contexts, his behaviour is generally different from the behaviour of the Homo economicus:
For certain concrete phenomena the economic side matters more than all the others. In such a case, one can, without serious errors, restrict himself to the results of economic science alone. There are other concrete phenomena in which the economic side is insignificant, and there it would be absurd to restrict oneself to the results of economic science alone. Quite the contrary, they should be disregarded. There are intermediate phenomena between those two types; and economic science will reveal a more or less important aspect of them. In all cases, it is a question of degree, more or less. (Pareto, [1909] 1971, Ch.1, §27)
24Pure economics does not have the ambition of explaining all social phenomena, but only the part in which individuals perform logical actions. Since pure economics only needs a theory of logical actions and not of human actions in general, psychology has no place in pure economics. However, when it comes to practice, the Homo economicus cannot properly describe the behaviour of a real individual, which is conditioned by psychological, sociological, and other factors.
25We can now interpret BP as an attempt of synthesis of the Homo economicus and a Homo psychologicus. BP indeed assumes that individuals want to improve their well-being, as judged by themselves: we find here the first criterion of a logical action, the intention of satisfying a subjective purpose. It is then suggested that since individuals often make bad decisions (either due to incomplete information, limited cognitive abilities, or to a lack of willpower), the choice architect can help them to achieve their true purpose. Reusing the definition of Pareto, we can say that individuals often take actions which logically conjoin means to ends from their own standpoint, but not from the standpoint of the choice architect who is supposed to have a more extensive knowledge (i.e. complete information, unlimited cognitive abilities, and no lack of willpower). In the case of Luke and Carla, we assumed that Carla knew how the choice architecture could influence Luke’s choice, based on the fact that she had already offered similar contracts to other individuals and therefore noticed the behavioural pattern induced by a specific choice architecture, and also that she knew that Luke was actually a risk-lover. Libertarian paternalism is therefore grounded on the will of creating a choice architecture such that the individuals behave as if they were performing logical actions.
26As highlighted in section 1, BP relies on a dualistic model of the human being, by assuming the existence of true preferences (whose satisfaction determines the behaviour of a rational agent) and of “welfare-irrelevant” features of the choice environment, such as “frames” or “ancillary conditions” (which significantly affect the behaviour of real individuals). Similarly to Pareto who considered that the human is an aggregate of different kind of Homines, BP pictures the individual as the aggregation of a Homo economicus and a Homo psychologicus. The Homo economicus is the “neoclassical part” of the individual, and describes the behaviour of an individual when she satisfies her true preferences (she acts in an instrumentally rational way and performs a logical action), while the Homo psychologicus is the “behavioural part” of the individual, describing a non-optimising behaviour (such as following a heuristic or making errors of calculation). BP’s central claim is that individual choice is more accurately described by the Homo psychologicus, while individuals would be better off if they chose as the Homo economicus would choose (and these choices are the ones that are normatively relevant). Proponents of LP for instance argue that choice architects should design the choice architecture so that individuals choose as Homo psychologicus (which are typically not cognitively demanding), and still ensure the resulting choices coincide with what the Homo economicus would have done (Davis, 2011, 62).
27There is however a fundamental ambiguity within this reductionist approach, namely whether the different Homines are substitute or complementary parts of the individual. Pareto indeed did not precisely explain whether the different Homines of the individual simply complete or compete with the behaviour of the Homo economicus. Demeulenaere (1996, 175-177) gives the following example: consider a Muslim who wants to buy a prayer mat; the religious dimension of the transaction does not modify the economic interest for the individual to purchase her good at the lowest price. The Homo religiosus simply completes the Homo economicus by defining her ends. Now consider the same Muslim: the respect of her religious principles does not allow her to lend her money in order to get an interest. There is in this second situation a clear opposition between the behaviour of the Homo economicus and the one of the Homo religiosus. There are therefore two incompatible readings of Pareto’s framework: we can either consider the different parts of the individual as aggregated into the true preferences of the individual—that will give an objective to the instrumental Homo economicus—or as the addition of constraints which may enter in contradiction with the objective of the Homo economicus.
• 2 This issue is particularly striking in the case of intertemporal choices: although it is commonly a (...)
28Of course the very same problem arises with BP: although behavioural paternalists usually see the Homo psychologicus as inducing choices that do not satisfy the true preferences of the Homo economicus, the question of whether the Homo psychologicus may also complement Homo economicus is not tackled. Consider Petula’s choice of train. Being pessimistic may induce her to hold false beliefs about the likelihood of an incident. Her pessimism may also make her strongly averse to risky situations in general (since she is convinced that bad events are very likely to occur). Unlike Petula, Norbert is not pessimistic and objectively assumes the probability that bad events occur. But is Norbert still risk averse? A difficulty arises because Petula’s risk aversion is linked to her psychological perception of risky choices: removing pessimism from Petula’s preferences may also change her true preferences (i.e. what she would have done if she did not have a false belief about the probability of an incident). Defining Norbert as Petula’s neoclassical alter ego has two different interpretations: we could either i) consider that Norbert is just like Petula but without false beliefs, or ii) that Petula’s extreme risk aversion is due to her pessimism and is therefore not relevant for Norbert’s evaluation of the different alternatives. In this second situation, Norbert is not risk averse any more. Being pessimistic can indeed mean that people tend to perceive bad outcomes as more salient: but nothing is said whether there is a “rational” level of risk aversion or not.2
• 3 We can indeed justify the choice of riskless prospects as the expression of loss aversion when the (...)
29We could for instance argue that rational agents are rationally required to be risk neutral: being risk averse can indeed be the result of the tendency to frame choice problems in terms of gains, and therefore be a direct consequence of loss aversion3. In this situation, considering the behaviour of the Homo economicus independently of the behaviour of the Homo psychologicus is problematic; the preferences on which the Homo economicus would act are partially defined by the psychological biases that prevent this same Homo economicus from satisfying them. Assuming the existence of true preferences therefore requires that the different Homines constitutive of the individual—in a reductionist perspective—are substitute rather than complementary.
30The first methodological issue of BP is the implicit assumption that the individual is nothing else than an instrumental entity, whose nature is comparable to a computer. The individual is indeed programmed to act in a predetermined way (satisfying her true preferences), and is sometimes “defective”, in the sense that the action is not undertaken by the instrumentally rational Homo economicus, but by the psychological Homo psychologicus. As underlined by Georgescu Roegen (1971), this computational perspective of the economic agent was already present in Pareto’s analysis:
As Pareto overtly claimed, once we have determined the means at the disposal of the individual and obtained a “photograph of his tastes ... the individual may disappear.” The individual is thus reduced to a mere subscript of the ophelimity function φi(X). The logic is perfect: man is not an economic agent simply because there is no economic process. There is only a jigsaw puzzle of fitting given means to given ends, which requires a computer not an agent (Georgescu Roegen, 1971, 343).
• 4 See Sugden, 1991, 762-763, on the differences between Hume’s instrumental rationality based on pass (...)
31It can be argued that BP is more descriptively accurate than rational choice theory since the Homo psychologicus offers a more realistic description of actual behaviour than the Homo economicus. However, the individual is still reduced to a computer, programmed to satisfy her true preferences (her “tastes” for Pareto). The difficulty of BP is that nothing is said about the content of such true preferences: the true preferences are indeed defined as the preferences that the individual would reveal if she were free of reasoning imperfections, i.e. that the individual would reveal if she behaved as the Homo economicus rather than the Homo psychologicus. The issue is that providing a psychological foundation for the true preferences in terms of desires (i.e. considering that the Homo psychologicus also defines the ends that the Homo economicus tries to satisfy) cannot guarantee that those true preferences are coherent and context-independent: although the Homo economicus is instrumentally rational, the preferences it reveals are coherent and context-independent only if it is also the case of the ends it wants to satisfy. An instrumental account of rationality has however nothing to say about the rationality of the ends of the individual4: this means that the coherence of the true preferences can be postulated only if we accept a reason-based account of preferences, i.e. if we explain the true preferences as the product of the error-free reasoning of the Homo economicus (Infante et al., 2016, 10). When purifying individual preferences from psychological “biases”, we are therefore also emptying the true preferences from their psychological content.
• 5 Infante et al., 2016, 16-17, develop this point in the context of Sunstein and Thaler’s cafeteria e (...)
32However, Infante et al. (2016) argue that—in addition to its lack of psychological explanation—the latent mode of reasoning of the inner rational agent (the Homo economicus) cannot guarantee the completeness and context-independence of the true preferences, even under Sunstein and Thaler’s conditions of “complete information, unlimited cognitive abilities, and no lack of self-control” (Sunstein and Thaler, 2003, 1162). Even if we could define the counterfactual preferences of an ideally rational agent, there are probably choice problems that lack determinate rational solutions (the true preferences would not be complete), and it does not seem that choosing a salient option in this context (and therefore revealing context-dependent preferences) would contravene any principle of sound reasoning5.
33Returning to hypotheses (i), (ii), and (iii) in section 1, it seems therefore that the existence itself of coherent and context-independent true preferences can be seriously questioned. Explaining the true preferences as desires (i.e. considering the Homo psychologicus as the content of the preferences the Homo economicus wants to satisfy) cannot indeed support their coherence, while a reason-based account of the true preferences (considering the Homo psychologicus as a set of forces preventing the Homo economicus from satisfying its preferences) cannot guarantee the completeness of the true preferences.
3. Should I Be Rational?
34Suppose that hypothesis (i) is true: human psychology is therefore reduced to reasoning imperfections without impact on the ends of Homo economicus, and individuals have underlying coherent and context-independent true preferences. The question that follows is whether the satisfaction of those true preferences constitutes a valid normative criterion. It is worth noticing that Pareto only considered the Homo economicus as a descriptive model of human behaviour and a useful abstraction for the study of markets (Pareto, 1971[1909], chap. 3, §65-66, and §87). There is in particular no value judgment about the normativity of coherent preferences. In his attempt to study human actions, Pareto only suggested that there exists a specific set of actions (that occur for instance in repeated markets) for which the individuals tend to be instrumentally rational. Behavioural economics does not particularly contradict this statement, since it only shows that in many situations within the field of study of economics people are usually not rational, in the sense that the preferences they reveal are incoherent; Pareto would probably have agreed with this observation since a huge part of his work consisted of the study of non-logical actions.
35The assumption that individuals should hold coherent true preferences, although central in BP, is however never properly justified. It is certainly clear that in many settings the satisfaction of one’s true preferences is uncontroversially the right normative criterion, for instance when individuals must choose an option among identical offers with complex pricing systems. In this case the true interest of the individual is to choose the option with the lowest price, although her bounded rationality may induce her to choose a costly option (there is in those situations an objective scale allowing the external observer to measure the true preferences of the individual). Several arguments may however seriously undermine the claim that the individuals always benefit from conforming to rational choice theory: (a) non-logical actions are not necessarily mistakes, (b) Homo economicus’s behaviour can be self-defeating, and (c) in a welfarist perspective, we can argue that the feelings expressed by the Homo psychologicus, although not rationally grounded, do actually matter.
36Imagine for instance Sarah, a supporter of the local soccer team. While she enjoys seeing her team win, she is also likely to feel sad when her team loses. Gambling can here be seen as a form of insurance: by betting against her own team, Sarah will obtain a financial compensation when the team loses, i.e. the emotional damage she will endure will be partially compensated by a strictly positive amount of money. In order to satisfy her true preferences (which are affected by the results of her team but also by her monetary gains), we should therefore incite Sarah to bet against her own team.
37Sports gambling is typically a situation in which an individual may become addicted and lose large amounts of money—justifying then paternalistic interventions so as to protect the individual against her addiction. In the above example, gambling seems however to be in Sarah’s own interest (as a form of insurance). It seems nevertheless quite implausible that sports fans would accept a policy inducing them to bet against their own team (they are indeed more likely to bet for their own team, although it is probably not rational). This is a serious argument against the legitimacy of BP: Sunstein and Thaler indeed emphasise that the acceptance of the policy is essential for a policy to be qualified as a form of means rather than ends paternalism (Hausman and Welch, 2010, 126). But if we assume that the only objective of any individual is to act in an instrumentally rational way based on predetermined preferences, then we cannot conceive that some individuals could simply claim the right to act irrationally—and therefore that deviations from rational choice theory are not necessarily mistakes. Sport fans’ preferences are probably incoherent, but if they are perfectly fine with them, we should not interpret this incoherence as a mistake.
• 6 In game situations, the idea that players can benefit from strategic commitmentsi.e. voluntary dev (...)
38Another argument against the satisfaction of one’s true preferences as a proper normative standard is that Homo economicus’s behaviour can be indirectly self-defeating (Parfit, 1984). This is typically the case in coordination games (such as the Hi-Lo game; see Sugden, 1991) and games of commitment (such as the Toxin Puzzle; see Kavka, 1983). The counter-intuitive implication of such games is that if an individual wants to satisfy her true preferences, then it is necessary to adopt an apparently non-rational behaviour: being irrational can therefore be rational in those games6, since the individual could be better off by acting in a non-optimising way rather than by following the recommendations of rational choice theory.
39Berg and Gigerenzer (2010, 149) advance a related idea, by advocating a substantive rather than axiomatic form of rationality: rather than explaining behaviour as the satisfaction of given individual preferences, we should investigate whether our heuristics or decision processes are well adapted to the environments in which they are used—ecological rationality would be achieved if this is the case. This suggests that some of the actions we undertake in a social context could for instance be collectively, but not individually, rational (in the sense of rational choice theory).Consider for instance the common claim that individuals do not save enough for their retirement, and therefore that they should be nudged to increase their savings (Thaler and Benartzi, 2004). Although the true interest of the individual would be to unilaterally increase her savings, it is not certain that simultaneously increasing the savings of all the individuals is desirable since this may lead to a low level of aggregate consumption leading to a macroeconomic crisis (Keynes’s “paradox of thrift”). A reason why Americans do not adequately save for their retirement may be that it is collectively rational to do so since this ensures a high level of consumption and then of economic activity. The satisfaction of one’s true preferences also crucially depends on the behaviour of the other individuals; although it is in my interest to choose an option that better satisfies my preferences ceteris paribus, this does not mean that this is still true if we have to nudge simultaneously all the individuals. Correcting individual mistakes is therefore not necessarily a desirable objective, since those apparent mistakes could be the basis of collectively rational behaviours.
40The last argument against true preferences as a valid normative criterion has been exposed by Loewenstein and O’Donoghue’s (2004) discussion of the normative implications of their dual-self model. Although they suggest that satisfying the deliberative self’s preferences (Homo economicus) is a defensible criterion, they also argue that individual welfare depends on our affective self (i.e. Homo psychologicus’s preferences). They illustrate their argument with the choice between driving and flying. Although we know that flying is safer than driving, we are also likely to experience a higher fear when flying. While this fear may not be rationally grounded, we still actually feel it, and this should be taken into account in welfare analysis. This argument is applicable to Petula’s choice (the two others arguments are indeed less relevant for Petula): suppose that Petula has been successfully nudged, and takes the 8h train. Although it was in her best interest to take this train, she is likely to be worried during the whole journey, which makes her travel uncomfortable and should therefore be considered as an additional cost.
• 7 Qizilbash (2012, 649) presents three potential objections to this criterion, the “human limitations (...)
41The second issue of BP is that hypothesis (ii), according to which the satisfaction of the true preferences constitutes the normative criterion, is not properly justified. BP indeed implicitly defends an informed desire account of welfare (Sugden, 2008, 232; Qizilbash, 2012), but seems to take for granted that this criterion is unproblematic7. This is probably due to the progressive recognition of Pareto’s Homo economicus as a normative model of behaviour: economics was indeed defined as the science of logical actions, for which the individuals are rational and manage to satisfy their true preferences. If an individual is not rational in a situation studied by economics, for which she is supposed to be rational, then her behaviour is an anomaly. The progressive extension of the scope of economic analysis to situations in which the individuals do not perform logical actions led economists to the conclusion that the wedge between theoretical predictions and empirical observations is the result of anomalies of behaviour rather than anomalies of the theory.
4. Eliciting one’s True Preferences
42Suppose that hypotheses (i) and (ii) are true. I now question the third hypothesis of BP: that it is possible to elicit the true preferences of the individual when they exist. My main argument against the plausibility of this hypothesis is that true preferences are subjective, and that the only criterion to distinguish between true and distorted preferences from the perspective of an external observer is the internal coherence of the preferences (whether they respect the standard axioms of rational choice theory). This implies that an external observer cannot impartially identify the true preferences of the individual when several coherent preference orderings are compatible with the distorted preferences of the individual.
43We know that the preferences displayed by an individual may not correspond to her true preferences due to the influence of “welfare-irrelevant events” on her behaviour. The first possible approach to elicit the true preferences of the individual would be to directly deduce them from the set of actual choices. This approach is for instance endorsed by Bleichrodt, Pinto-Padres and Wakker (2001), who assume that the subjects of their experiment are loss averse and try then to deduce the true and unbiased preferences of the individuals from their stated preferences. Rubinstein and Salant (2012) adopt a similar approach and try to deduce from “behavioural data sets” the true preferences of the individual. However, we cannot know a priori the list of the different biases that influence individuals’ decisions. In the case of Bleichrodt et al., it can for instance be doubtful to assume that individual preferences are only biased by a loss aversion (there is indeed no reason a priori to assume that loss aversion is the only bias, and also that the individuals actually suffer from loss aversion).
44Knowing such preferences is therefore probably insufficient to obtain the true preferences, since there is an issue of identification within the determinants of behaviour between the true preferences and the possible decision flaws that affect the choices of the individual. Although we can identify coherent preferences after removing some biases, we cannot be sure that those preferences are not the conjunction of the true underlying preferences and another bias. Although BP explains individual choice as a combination of preference satisfaction and mistake, the theoretical status of those “mistakes” is not well-identified. They are indeed understood as the deviation from the satisfaction of one’s true preferences, but those true preferences can only be discovered once we have eliminated mistakes and biases.
45Since it seems difficult to directly elicit the true preferences from an external standpoint, an alternative solution would be to help the individuals to discover their own true preferences. After such discussion it would then be possible to extrapolate the preferences observed in this specific setting to other situations, since hypothesis (i) implies that the true preferences are context independent. If (i) is true, then we only need to design a framework in which the individuals tend to perform logical actions in order to be able to discover their true preferences. This assumption is for instance implicit in much experimental work, when individual risk aversion is controlled by a questionnaire (it is assumed that the risk aversion revealed in the questionnaire remains stable when the individual participates in the experiment).
46Several authors—even going back to Pareto (1909, chap. 3, §1)—have suggested that the discovery of the true preferences is the product of learning thanks to the repetition of the situation of choice. A choice architect could therefore perform repeated experiments in order to elicit the true preferences of the individuals. However, since the true preferences of the individual are defined subjectively, there is still an issue of identification since it may not be possible to distinguish between the true preferences and a systematic flaw in the decision-making process. There is therefore the temptation to define a priori the ends of the individual (for instance as selfish ones), and to view the individual as rational and performing logical actions if and only if she is satisfying the preferences expected by the experimenter. This seems for instance to be the case of Binmore’s analysis of the ultimatum game:
Novices offer a fair amount because this is what their currently operative social norm recommends. Novices who are offered unfairly small amounts are programmed to feel resentful and so want to punish the proposer by refusing. But this behaviour changes over time as people dimly perceive that the norm they are using is not adapted to the problem with which they are faced. In the Ultimatum Game, people learn that it does not make much sense to get angry if offered too little, but the mavericks who initially make small offers learn much faster that it does not make sense to demand too much if one is nearly always refused. (Binmore, 1999, F22)
• 8 In the case of experimental economics, we can typically notice that many participants are students (...)
47Binmore considers that the individuals tend to a payoff maximising behaviour in a repeated ultimatum game (since “people learn that it does not make much sense to get angry if offered too little”) even though it is not directly observable since “the mavericks who initially make small offers learn much faster that it does not make sense to demand too much if one is nearly always refused” (the individuals therefore do not converge to the Nash equilibrium). There is therefore the implicit assumption that the individuals respect a social norm because they want to maximise their payoff, although we cannot know what the true motives of the individuals actually are. We can for instance view an individual as respecting a specific norm by conformism (see for instance Asch’s (1955) famous experiment), or—as suggested by Binmore himself (Binmore, 1999, F19)—that the subjects want to achieve what they perceive as the experimenter’s objective8, since this one can be seen as an authoritative figure (Milgram, 1975).
48Since we cannot make a clear distinction between the ends of the individual and the different factors that can influence her decision, it seems quite difficult to design an experiment for which “the time allowed for trial-and-error adjustment is ‘sufficient’ ” (Binmore, 1999, F17). An apparent stable behaviour can indeed correspond to the pursuit of a specific end plus a systematic flaw in decision-making. For instance, in the previous example we can assume that the true objective of an individual is to offer and accept only equal shares, but that she prefers to follow an unfair rule that was implemented during the experiment by conformism. Although the actual behaviour of the individual is accurately predicted by the theory that the individuals want to maximise their payoff, the underlying reasons of her choice are more complex. Furthermore, she is unable to satisfy her true preferences.
49Recall the situation of Carla and Luke: based on Luke’s past financial decisions, Carla believes that Luke truly prefers risky assets. Under the assumption that Luke’s true preferences remained stable over time (and therefore that Luke’s past behaviours can give to Carla some meaningful indications on Luke’s current true preferences), Carla cannot however be certain that Luke is truly a risk-lover. Suppose for instance that the satisfaction of Luke’s true preferences would imply a risk neutral behaviour, but also that, for an unspecified psychological reason, he systematically slightly underestimates his potential losses. In this situation, although his preferences revealed in actions tend to highlight underlying risk-seeking preferences (although he is still subject to framing effects, and therefore chooses riskless options when the choice problem is framed in terms of gains), Carla is unable to distinguish between this systematic mistake and Luke’s underlying true preferences.
50The risk is then that behavioural paternalists impose their own normative views about the true preferences of the individual. Indeed, it is striking that—although BP’s central claim is that people should be helped so as to satisfy their (subjective) true preferences—most of behavioural paternalists claim that we should not have a “too high” body mass index, we should not smoke, we should save a relatively large amount of our incomes, and more generally that we should give a high weight to the long term consequences of our actions. Although those positions seem reasonable, and it can be argued that the reason why many individuals are actually obese or overburden with debt is their lack of self-control, we cannot be certain that an individual cannot truly privilege the short-term benefits of her actions to the long-term costs. If we accept that what fundamentally matters for our own well-being is the long-term consequences of our actions, then we could also argue that individual’s true preferences should induce a vegetarian diet (since livestock farming is very costly in terms of natural resources, and therefore is against our interest in the long term), that individuals should use a bike instead of a car to go to their workplace etc. and it would make sense to argue that the reason why actual people are still eating meat or use their cars is that they have a bias towards the present, and neglect the future costs of their actions. Although those preferences are perfectly defensible and reasonable, it seems dubious to argue that this is necessarily what we truly prefer. The risk is that behavioural paternalists impose in fine as our true preferences what they think it is rational to wish. Since the object of BP is to incite the individuals to follow the choices that would have been done by their Homo economicus, BP implies a standard form of ends paternalism: the ends of the actual individual are indeed replaced by the ends of a counterfactual individual, the Homo economicus.
51To avoid misunderstanding, I must however make clear that my criticism is not about whether ends paternalism is ethically justifiable or not: I am criticising here BP’s claim that we can justify paternalistic policies on the basis that it is what people would want, were they perfectly rational on the basis of their true preferences. What I am questioning here is the democratic legitimacy of behavioural paternalists to decide what we should consider as the true preferences of the individuals, and therefore what should be the objective of a wide range of public policies (such as the level of savings for our retirement). There are many good reasons to argue in favour of paternalistic policies against obesity, the use of polluting vehicles for short distances, etc., but it is not certain that the reason according to which it is what we would do if we were rational is a good one.
52The third difficulty of BP is that, although we assumed that the individual has a unique underlying coherent preference ordering, it does not seem possible to distinguish between those true preferences and a systematic decision flaw. The crucial issue is that the social planner should be able to clearly define what would be the choice of the individuals if they were able to perform logical actions. Logical actions are however defined by conditions such that “sufficient” repetitions and “adequate” incentives: the qualification of “logical” for a specific action is therefore subject to the personal interpretation of the observer. It seems therefore implausible to implement an impartial procedure that could isolate the true preferences from the actual preferences of the individual.
5. Conclusion
53I have argued that the three hypotheses underlying BP are quite fragile. The existence of true preferences indeed requires accepting a quite implausible theory of human behaviour that is grounded on principles of rational choice and free from any explicit psychology. It also forces us to accept a reductionist account of human beings as a rational agent trapped in a psychological shell, and to treat psychological characteristics as alien elements to our true self. Furthermore, BP imposes the satisfaction of those true preferences as the normative criterion without proper justification. Lastly, it does not seem possible to elicit such true preferences from the behaviour of the individual, since disentangling between true preferences and mistakes at some point depends on the subjective interpretation of the observer. I suggested that these different issues are related to BP’s implicit endorsement of Pareto’s methodology.
54The challenge of behavioural economics probably consists more in questioning the assumptions underlying BP rather than merely questioning the “efficiency” of the individual in satisfying those true preferences. Considering the neoclassical framework as a benchmark for modelling individual behaviour, and progressively integrating psychological factors into the model, may not be the best approach for normative analysis. This approach indeed presupposes that an individual Petula is merely a preference relation, and that her life simply consists in the more or less successful satisfaction of these preferences. These true preferences are necessarily exogenous and remain stable over time: BP models Petula as if she was simply a computer (with some programming imperfections), programmed to satisfy a certain number of predetermined objectives given by her true preferences. This model does not seem to provide a realistic account of personal identity, since it results from the model of the Paretian Homo economicus, which was defined as a representative agent for investigation purposes and the study of market equilibrium (Boianovsky 2013, Lecouteux 2013). In particular, it was explicitly designed so as to avoid integrating within economic models the complexity of individual behaviours. It can here seem a bit ironic that, as behavioural economists, behavioural paternalists implicitly accept the model of the inner rational agent, for which there is no known psychological foundation (Infante et al., 2016, 22)—defining a psychology-free entity was precisely the objective of Pareto, but he knew that this model could not offer a precise comprehension of individual behaviour (Pareto, 1916, §36).
55An implicit assumption supporting the optimisation-based approach for modelling boundedly rational individuals is that, by progressively introducing psychological factors into the model, we will reach in fine an accurate description of how people actually behave. This means that the only difference that exists between a computer and a Human is their power of calculus: the computer is taken as the model of efficiency the Human should tend to. Although this kind of approach can be quite relevant for descriptive purposes, such models run into problems when used to make normative prescriptions on individual welfare. Perhaps behavioural economics does not tell us that Humans are defective computers, but rather that Humans are not computers.
This paper is the third chapter of my PhD thesis. I am grateful to Robert Sugden, Guillaume Hollard, and participants to the conference Economics and Psychology in Historical Perspective (Paris, December 2014) and the 19th Conference of the European Society for the History of Economic Thought (Rome, May 2015). I also thank the editors for their comments and Wade Hands for his detailed comments and suggestions that substantially improved this paper.
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1 The main difference with BWE is that Bernheim and Rangel only state that welfare assessments should be based on true preferences rather than revealed preferences: they do not explicitly call for interventions helping the individuals make better choices for themselves.
2 This issue is particularly striking in the case of intertemporal choices: although it is commonly argued that dynamic inconsistency is not rational, nothing is said about the existence of a rational level of discounting. I argued elsewhere (Lecouteux 2015) that accepting the argument that dynamic inconsistency is necessarily the sign of an irrational behaviour implies that nothing rationally requires the individuals to discount their future utilities: we should therefore accept that our true preferences is to be temporally neutral.
3 We can indeed justify the choice of riskless prospects as the expression of loss aversion when the prospects are framed in terms of gains: when Luke must choose between €200 and €600 with probability 1/3, his reference point can be €200 rather than €0. Luke therefore chooses the riskless prospect not because he is truly risk averse, but because he wants to avoid the possibility of losing €200 with probability 2/3.
4 See Sugden, 1991, 762-763, on the differences between Hume’s instrumental rationality based on passions (suggesting that instrumentally rational individuals could still reveal incoherent preferences) and rational choice theory.
6 In game situations, the idea that players can benefit from strategic commitmentsi.e. voluntary deviations from the rational behaviourhas been for instance studied by Schelling (1960) and Franck (1987; 1988).
7 Qizilbash (2012, 649) presents three potential objections to this criterion, the “human limitations”, “adaptation”, and “paternalism” objections: our first critique of the interpretation of incoherent preferences as mistakes is similar to the paternalism objection, while the last point about “irrational feelings” could be related to the human limitations objection.
8 In the case of experimental economics, we can typically notice that many participants are students in economics, who can therefore be aware of the phenomenon the experimenter wants to study. It is for instance relatively easy to recognise a repeated prisoner’s dilemma, an auction game, a game with a specific information structure, etc., for which students in economics may be aware of the expected theoretical results.
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Guilhem Lecouteux, « From Homo Economicus to Homo Psychologicus: the Paretian Foundations of Behavioural Paternalism », Œconomia, 6-2 | 2016, 175-200.
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Guilhem Lecouteux, « From Homo Economicus to Homo Psychologicus: the Paretian Foundations of Behavioural Paternalism », Œconomia [En ligne], 6-2 | 2016, mis en ligne le 01 juin 2016, consulté le 19 août 2017. URL : ; DOI : 10.4000/oeconomia.2324
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Science 29 Jul 2011:
Vol. 333, Issue 6042, pp. 544-546
DOI: 10.1126/science.333.6042.544
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The Machakos Reserve, a hilly, drought-prone farming region 50 kilometers south of Nairobi, is home to more than 1.5 million people. Rather than a cautionary example of the perils of overpopulation, however, for some experts Machakos has become a symbol of the idea that rapid human population growth, even in some of Earth's driest, most challenging environments, is not necessarily a recipe for disaster—and can even bring benefits. They argue that, over the past 75 years, population growth in Machakos and nearby Nairobi has triggered social and economic shifts that have made it possible for residents to regreen once-barren hillsides, reinvigorate failing soils, reduce birth rates, and increase crop production and incomes. Along with this cautious optimism, however, come profound doubts.
• * David Malakoff is a writer living in Alexandria, Virginia.
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In general, midrange refers to computers that are more powerful and capable than personal computers but less powerful and capable than mainframe computers. (Computer power is sometimes measured in terms of millions-of-instructions-per-second - MIPS. Capability includes, for example, how many devices can be connected to and interact with the computer at the same time.) The computer industry does not define exactly what characteristics constitute "midrange."
Historically, midrange computers have been sold to small to medium-sized businesses as their main computer and to larger enterprises for branch or department-level operations. Makers of popular midrange computer lines include Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Sun Microsystems. Today's computers are almost universally known as servers to recognize that they often "serve" applications to end users at "client" computers, that they use a client/server computing model, and, by inference (since the client/server model developed in UNIX-based operating systems), that they support standard rather than proprietary programming interfaces.
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Presentation on theme: "By By By By Dr: HODA ASAAD EARLY DIAGNOSIS OF LUNG CANCER"— Presentation transcript:
Lecturer of Chest diseases Al-Azhar University forGirls
3 Lung cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide.
5-year survival for lung cancer has remained relatively poor ( only 15%) despite many advances in imaging techniques and oncological care over because by the time a diagnosis is made, lung cancer is often well advanced and treatment options are limited.
4 Globally, lung cancer has been the most common cancer diagnosed each year since 1985.
Lung cancer had a higher incidence among males worldwide than any other cancer, followed by prostate cancer (more common in developed countries) and stomach cancer (particularly in developing countries). Among females, lung cancer was the fourth most diagnosed cancer, behind breast cancer, cervical cancer (mostly in developing countries), and colorectal cancer.
5 only 19% of lung cancers are localized at the time of diagnosis
The However, only 19% of lung cancers are localised at the time of diagnosis 2. The largest gain in life expectancy in lung cancer patients has been among those with localized disease versus those with regional or distant metastasis. only 19% of lung cancers are localized at the time of diagnosis
6 Early Detection/Screening
Screening for cancer means looking for cancer BEFORE there are symptoms Screening may identify early cases of cancer that never have become clinically apparent.
7 Goals early diagnosis of the disease or identification of truly high-risk populations may provide us opportunity to successfully cure or prevent the disease
8 Early Symptoms of Lung Cancer
What are the early symptoms of lung cancer that you should be on the lookout for? Early Symptoms of Lung Cancer What are the early symptoms of lung cancer that you should be on the lookout for? Symptoms
9 Keep in mind that understanding the early symptoms of lung cancer is important for non-smokers as well as smokers. At present, 50% of people who develop lung cancer are former smokers, and 15% have never smoked The 60% to 80% 5-year survival rate with stage 1 lung cancer drops to 10% with stage 4 disease nearly half of people have progressed to this advanced stage at the time of diagnosis Guide Updated February 17, 2012
10 Early Symptoms of Lung Cancer
A) Cough That Doesn’t Go Away Many people dismiss or adapt to a chronic cough, . But a cough that lasts more than a few weeks can be a sign of something else. If you experience a persistent cough, check with your doctor, and ask for a second opinion if you don’t get a clear answer If you experience a persistent cough check with your doctor, and ask for a second opinion if you don’t get a clear answer If you experience a persistent cough check with your doctor, and ask for a second opinion if you don’t get a clear answer
11 Early Symptoms of Lung Cancer con,t
Wheezing chest People should pay attention to wheezing if it occurs with persistent coughing and other symptoms
12 Early Symptoms of Lung Cancer
Shortness of Breath With Activity Repeated Infections Such as Bronchitis and Pneumonia Pain or Aching in Shoulder, Back, Chest, or Arm Up to 50% of people with lung cancer have some chest or shoulder pain at the time of diagnosis, especially pain that increases with coughing and breathing. shoulder pain is sometimes the first symptom of lung cancer
13 Non Invasive early diagnosis of Lung Cancer
14 Sputum cytology Sputum cytology
Sputum contains exfoliated airway epithelial cells and morphological analysis of sputum by cytology has been used for the early diagnosis of lung cancer, particularly central airway tumor Induced sputum has found to be better than spontaneous sputum
15 Limitation of sputum cytology
As the structure of the airway each sputum sample may contain only cells derived from part of the airway and therefore is not representative. the association was stronger for samples collected within 5 months of the diagnosis of lung cancer the skill required for identifying subtle morphological abnormalities in cells this results in significant variation in intra- and inter observer agreement in determining cancer cells
16 Sputum cytometry Sputum cytometry
Malignancy-associated change (MAC) is the change in the distribution of DNA in the nuclei of cytologically normal cells Sputum cytometry Computer-assisted sputum DNA analysis is the method used to detect (MAC) in exfoliated cells in sputum It is a powerful alternate to conventional cytology.
17 Sputum cytometry (con)
. Lung Sign is an image cytometry system analysis of sputum slides The system automatically scans slides and images thousands of cell nuclei per slide . It measures cell nuclear features and generates a single score for each specimen.
18 Sputum cytometry measuring the DNA content of cells (ploidy), detects large-scale chromosomal abnormalities associated with malignancy. Normal epithelial cells in sputum consist mostly of resting (diploid) cells. The observation of a significant fraction of hyper diploid cells in sputum is atypical and may represent the presence of a DNA aneuploid cell line. The detection of DNA aneuploidy has diagnostic and prognostic significance in lung cancer
19 the molecular diagnosis of lung cancer
20 the molecular diagnosis of lung cancer
Development of lung cancer requires repeated insult of carcinogens, mainly from tobacco smoke over a long period of time. The process so called carcinogenesis takes a few decades and results in accumulation of multiple molecular abnormalities in cells, which is the basis of malignant transformation and tumor progression .
21 the molecular diagnosis of lung cancer
Recent advances in understanding biological basis of lung tumor genesis provide new tools for detecting malignant cells or the process of malignant transformation and progression. Along with identification of molecular abnormalities in the early lung tumor genesis, advanced molecular analytic technologies have been emerged, which may facilitate development of rapid and effective methods for early diagnosis and risk assessment
22 the molecular diagnosis(con)
Some genetic abnormalities occur in the early carcinogenic process in lungs of chronic smokers and certain abnormalities may persist for many years after smoking cessation . such as mutations in the p53 tumor suppressor gene and K-ras proto-oncogene hypermethylation of the p16 tumor suppressor gene loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in multiple critical chromosome regions.
23 The Cell Cycle and Cancer
24 There are several factors that regulate the cell cycle and assure a cell divides correctly.
Before a cell divides, the DNA is checked to make sure it has replicated correctly. (If DNA does not copy itself correctly, a gene mutation occurs. DNA replication animation:click on DNA picture
25 p53 The p53 gene involved in the cell cycle control DNA repair, cell differentiation, genomic stability and programmed cell death) This protein is rapidly degraded in normal cells so its concentration is very low. In response to DNA damage in G1, the protein level of p53 rises dramatically due to the activation of a checkpoint protein kinase (chk2) that phosphorylate p53 and make it less susceptible to degradation
26 (bronchial metaplasia, dysplasia, and carcinoma in-sit
Frequent accumulation of p53 protein has been found in preneoplastic bronchial lesions, such as (bronchial metaplasia, dysplasia, and carcinoma in-sit Mutations of the p53 tumor suppressor gene play an important role in lung tumor genesis and occur in about (50% of NSCLC and more than 70% of SCLC)
27 K-ras proto-oncogene K-ras proto-oncogene .
Mutations of K-ras proto-oncogene is the most commonly mutated gene in the ras gene family, representing approximately 90% of the mutations identified. In lung cancer, mutations in K-ras gene are found in about 20% of the tumors. . Common in lung adenocarcinomas, accounting for about 30% of these tumors, but rare in other subtypes mutations in K-ras may be important in development of adenocarcinoma of the lungs and early progression.
28 Abnormal protein expression
Both epidermal growth factor (EGF) and its receptor (EGFR) over express in more than 60% of NSCLC Abnormal expression of Cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK4) was found expressed in about 90% of NSCLC and the expression associated with poor differentiation
29 The (p16) tumor suppressor gene
(p16) is inactivated by hypermethylation in many tumor types including lung cancer Ethylated p16 could represent a critical step in the genesis of NSCLC by allowing the uncontrolled clonal expansion of some of these premalignant lesions to cancer . %) lesions. detecting aberrant methylation of p16 in the shedding cells from airway after sputum induction from radio graphically cancer-free persons could be a biomarker for impending disease.
30 Methylated (p16) Aberrant methylation of the p16 and/or 6-methyl-guanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) can be detected by PCR in 100% of patients with squamous cell lung carcinoma up to 3 years before clinical diagnosis. About 10% of sputum from cancer-free, high-risk subjects also contained the methylated DNA sequence
31 the frequency of p16 methylation increased during disease progression
(p16) tumor suppressor gene (con) the frequency of p16 methylation increased during disease progression basal cell hyperplasia (17%) squamous metaplasia (24%) carcinoma in situ (50%). . January 9, 1998; Accepted July 29, 1998
32 Summary of the frequency for p16 methylation in premalignant lesions,
33 Telomerase Telomeres don’t determine whether or not we live,but whether or not we age, which ultimately affects how long we live. Telomeres are often described as “clocks” that regulate aging . Telomere shortening leads to decreased ability of stem cells to leave the stem cell niche and to regenerate tissues
34 Telomerase Telomerase is a ribonucleo protein enzyme complex that maintains the length of telomeres It actually is not found in normal somatic cells, but it is found in 'immortal' cells, or cells which divide rapidly, including germ cells, inflammatory cells, and tumor cells. the telomeres being the caps on DNA ends. If the telomeres are shortened, cells age. Conversely, if telomerase activity is high, telomere length is maintained, and cell longevity is increased
36 Telomerase in Action
37 Telomerase Although activation of telomerase alone may not
transform a normal cell to a cancer cell, it can substantially prolong the lifespan of cells and therefore permit time for accumulation of molecular damages under insult of carcinogens .
38 Telomerase . Telomerase activation can be detected in almost all SCLC and 80-85% of NSCLC indicating telomerase reactivation is important in lung tumor genesis and the major cause of cell immortality in primary NSCLC Telomerase activity may also be detected in precancerous lesions in lungs reflecting the early involvement of the molecule in lung tumor genesis
39 Volatile biomarkers Among totally non-invasive tests, the analysis of exhaled air for volatile organic compounds (VOCs)seems to be very promising for early diagnosis of lung cancer: exhaled breath contains a pattern of VOCs which distinguishes patients with and without lung cancer lung cancer patients metabolism is different than the metabolism of healthy people. And so the molecules that make up cancer patients' exhaled breath are different too . In 1999 Phillips et al. used, for the first time in medicine, the term “breathalyzer” for lung cancer.
40 Volatile biomarkers gaseous chemical sensing devices have been developed. The premise of these sensors is absorption of gases causing a change in conductivity, mass vibration or color of the sensor, thus altering the output ScienceDaily (Nov. 17, 2011) —
41 New Device Uses Gold Nanoparticles to Test for Lung Cancer
A new device uses gold nanoparticles to trap and define these molecules in exhaled breath. Like the human nose, its electronic counterpart responds in concert to a given odor to generate a pattern or 'smellprint,' which is analyzed, compared with stored patterns and recognized By comparing these molecular signatures to control groups, the device can tell not only if a lung is cancerous, but if the cancer is small-cell or non-small-cell, and adenocarcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma
43 Nanotechnology is an emerging field that may have potentials to make advanced changes in the detection, treatment, and prevention of cancer . The development of biocompatible nanoparticles for molecular targeted diagnosis and treatment is an area of considerable interest. One nanometer (nm) is equal to one-billionth of a meter .A human hair is approximately 80,000 nm wide
44 QUANTUM DOTS QUANTUM DOTS Quantum dots are semiconducting nanocrystals, which range in size from 2 nm to 10 nm. They can be used for both diagnosis and drug delivery, especially for cancer treatments. QD is made ready for injection. The QD enters the bloodstream and attaches itself to a cancer cell using the antibodies. The cancer cell takes in the QD, and the location is radiated with infrared light. This causes the QD to emit photons, allowing the site of the tumor to be located, and release the anti-cancer drug directly into the cancer cell.
45 QUANTUM DOTS QD based detection is rapid, easy and economical enabling quick point-of-care screening of cancer markers. QDs have got properties which make them ideal for detecting tumors. These include intense and stable fluorescence for a longer time; resistance to photo bleaching , large molar extinction coefficients, and highly sensitive detection due to their ability to absorb and emit light very efficiently. Various types of biomarkers such as proteins, specific DNA or mRNA sequences and circulating tumor cells have been identified for cancer diagnosis from serum samples. Therefore, QD based identification of many biomarkers would lead to more effective diagnosis of cancer.
46 In this illustration, quantum dots are depicted as gold spheres that attract DNA strands linked to cancer risks. When the quantum dots are exposed to certain types of light, they transfer the energy to fluorescent molecules, shown as pink globes, that emit a glow. This helps researchers to detect and count the DNA strands linked to cancer.
47 Applications of Nanotechnology in early diagnosis of lung cancer
Nanoprobes (miniature machines) can attach themselves to particles in the body (e.g., antibodies) and emit a magnetic field. Probes that aren’t attached to anything don’t create a detectable magnetic Nano-tracking may be able to detect tumors that are a few cells in size. (Alivisatos, 2001)
49 bronchoscopy
50 1.autofluorescence bronchoscopy
Recent endoscopic techniques have been developed to more effectively detect and localize critical, early pathologic changes occurring in the bronchial epithelial and subepithelial regions in vivo . This includes 1.autofluorescence bronchoscopy 2.optical fluorescence and reflectance spectroscopy 3. high-magnification bronchovideoscopy 4.high-frequency endobronchial ultrasound 5.more recently, optical coherence tomography. ), high-amgnification bronchovideoscopy (), hi
51 Autofluorescence-reflectance
52 1.autofluorescence bronchoscopy
AFB was first developed at the British Columbia Cancer Research Centre and became commercially available in 1998 The original system, used a helium–cadmium laser for illumination and detected the emitted red and green autofluorescent light with two image-intensified charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras. Normal areas appear green and abnormal areas appear reddish brown,
53 AFB (con) Fluorescence bronchoscopy is based on observation that premalignant and malignant bronchial mucosa fluoresce less than normal tissue, SO allow detection of lesions (e.g., CIS) that may have a normal appearance during conventional white-light BRONCHPSCOPY AFB also have an important impact on the staging of potentially curable central lung cancers prior to endobronchial therapy, through more accurate assessment of the lesion size and margins
54 Right main bronchus carcinoma in situ under a) white light imaging
b) autofluorescence imaging
57 and reflectance spectroscopy
2.optical fluorescence and reflectance spectroscopy AFB Subsequent technological improvements includ the combination of fluorescence and reflectance imaging in order to enhance contrast between normal and abnormal tissues. A red reflectance image is captured in combination with the green autofluorescence image.
58 3-Optical coherence tomography (oct)
Is a promising endoscopic imaging method that enables micron-scale resolution of the bronchial epithelium It may become an imaging modality that helps address the relatively high false-positive rate of autofluorescence imaging. OCT is a noncontact method that delivers near-infrared light to the endobronchial tissue via a small probe via a bronchoscope. It allows imaging of cellular and extracellular structures from analysis of the back-scattered light depth penetration of ∼2 mm to provide near-histological images in the bronchial wall
59 (oct) OCT technology could prove useful for structural and functional assessment of suspicious lesions, staging (invasion of basement membrane) and feedback during endobronchial therapy Early studies have shown that dysplasia can be differentiated from metaplasia, hyperplasia or normal tissue and that carcinoma in situ can be differentiated from invasive cancer
60 Severity of the histopathology grade was associated with a progressive increase in the epithelial thickness and the nuclei of the cells also became darker and less light was scattered. The basement membrane became disrupted or disappeared with invasive carcinoma .
61 (oct) Optical coherence tomography image of early hilar-type lung cancer. Arrow symbols show a border of early cancer.
62 (oct) a–c) Representative optical coherence tomography (OCT) images and d–f) corresponding (H&E)-stained histological sections (a, d) mild dysplasia, b, e) moderate dysplasia and c, f) severe dysplasia. The nuclei in the epithelium become recognisable as darker dots with either moderate dysplasia or worse. The arrow in the OCT image of the area with severe dysplasia (c) points to the corresponding elevated area in the H&E section (f). e: epithelium; bm: basement membrane..
63 High-magnification video bronchoscopy
High-magnification bronchoscopy, combines both fibrotic and video bronchoscope technologies to produce 100–110× better magnification of the bronchial wall compared with standard video bronchoscopes Help in the visualization of micro vascular networks in the bronchial mucosa. Increase Increased vessel density in the bronchial submucosa is often present in squamous dysplasia and may play an early role in cancer pathogenesis Increase in microvascular density can be seen under high magnification in the majority of areas of abnormal autofluorescence
65 Narrow band imaging Narrow band imaging is a novel system that also utilizes the changes seen in the microvascular network Use narrowband Blue light, which has a shorter wavelength than visible light, reaches into shallow surfaces which is helpful for detecting the submucosal vessels and patterns of vascularisation NBI uses three narrow bands: 400–430 nm (blue; covers haemoglobin absorption at 410 nm), 420–470 nm (blue) and 560–590 nm (green). Blue light has a short wavelength, reaches into the bronchial submucosa and is absorbed by hemoglobin Blue
66 Narrow band imaging this technique provided more accurate images of microvessels compared to high-magnification video bronchoscopy NBI, seemed to improve the detection dysplasia/malignancy when used as an adjunct to white light
67 EBUS Endobronchial ultrasound
introduced into clinical hospital practice i2000, as a new diagnostic procedure visualizing bronchial and peribronchial tumors, mediastinal lymph nodes and adjacent vascular structures, with the aim of assessing bronchial wall and extraluminal pathology
68 Endobronchial ultrasound probes have been developed for evaluation
The depth of invasion of malignant tumours in the central and peripheral bronchi Evaluation of lymph nodes located in the mediastinum in patients with lung cancer.
69 Primary Tumor Early Carcinoma
Alteration of the mucosa is concomitant with alteration in the sonographic structure.(either very low to very high echodensity). Sometimes submucosal tumor spreading was noticed by endobronchial ultrasound in spite of presence of intact mucosa.
70 Layers of the bronchial wall by EBUS
# (Kurimoto et al., 1999: Chest 115, ) # (Miyazu et al., 2002: Am J Respir Crit Care Med 165, 832–837)
71 Sq C C at the spure of B1+2&B3 of LtUL
72 The depth of tumor invasion EBUS vs Histopathology.
74 Spiral computed tomography (CT or CAT
scans are being tested as a new way to find early lung cancer in smokers and former smokers. At present, however, questions remain about the technology’s risks and benefits as a screening tool. Promising evidence from several studies shows that the scans can detect small lung cancers. But detecting these early tumors has not been proven to reduce the likelihood of dying from lung cancer, the gold standard for any cancer screening test
75 Positron emission tomography (PET)
76 resonance imaging (MRI) scans
PET scan is nuclear medicine imaging, to produce 3-dimensional, color images of the functional processes within the human body PET is now an important cancer imaging tool both for diagnosis and staging, as well as forprognostic information It is give information about the body's chemistry that is not available with other imaging techniques resonance imaging (MRI) scans A PET scan demonstrates the biological function of the body before anatomical changes take place
77 How PET Works injection of a glucose-based radiopharmaceutical (FDG), which travels through the body, eventually collecting in the organs and tissue .. . FDG undergoes the same uptake as glucose but is metabolically trapped and accumulated in the cancer cell after phosphorylation by hexokinase. which are assembled by the computer into a 3-D image of the patient's body. If an area is cancerous, the signals will be stronger there than in surrounding tissue, since more (FDG) will be absorbed in those areas
79 Combination of PET with CT or MRI
the combination ("co-registration") of PET /CT Or MRI giving both anatomic and metabolic information (i.e., what the structure is, and what it is doing biochemically). PET scanners are now available with integrated high multidetector-row CT scanners. PET
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Thursday, January 21, 2010
Tomatoes: how?
It's not hard to grow some tomatoes. It really isn't. But if you want loads of sweet shiny bug-free tomatoes that go on for months then you need to know a few basics about what tomato plants like, and what likes tomato plants. Hopefully by keeping things general here, what worked for me will work for you, but you never know given all the possible combinations of soil, climate and location. My aim here is to get you started, for more info grab some locally written vegie gardening books and talk to some other gardeners in your area.
Tomatoes, like most vegies, don't like wet feet. They need a well drained soil or they're just not going to grow too well. Tomato plants are nutrient hungry, so FEED THEM. Composted animal manure is ideal, pelletised chicken manure is fine too. They also appreciate the occasional dose of potash (potassium sulfate) and fish emulsion or seaweed extract as a liquid fertiliser to keep things kicking along.
Generally, unless you live in a very hot, dry location, full sun is the way to go. I've grown them in partial shade (maybe with 7 or 8 hours of direct sun a day) and they did just fine. If you stick them under a big tree they will hate you.
Tomatoes need a reasonably warm climate to fruit. Frost will make them dead. Most sources say germination and transplanting require a soil temperature of at least 15C. I've tried to get seedlings going at this sort of temperature and it takes a long time. A little greenhouse or heated propagator would no doubt help. I have neither so just wait until it's warm enough. Of course you could just buy the seedlings to get a head start, but that does limit you to the more common varieties. Warmer weather still is needed for fruit production. One trick in cooler areas is to grow them against a wall which faces the sun and retains the heat.
You won't be the only one in your garden who likes tomatoes. I have two main competitors where I am; caterpillars and fruit fly. Caterpillars hatch from eggs laid on the underside of leaves and quickly begin chewing holes in them. It's no problem losing a few leaves but they very quickly tire of foliage and take the express train to fruit city. Diligence is your first defense. Whenever you're in the garden look closely for holes in leaves and caterpillar poo. Check the underside of the leaves nearby and you'll most likely find the culprit there, trying very hard to look all green and tomato planty. The other pest I get is fruit fly, which appears here late in the summer when it's more humid. These are little fly things that inject their eggs into the fruit, where they hatch into yucky maggoty looking things that eat the fruit from the inside. The only evidence of this is tiny black spots on the skin, but when you cut open the fruit you find a whole load of wiggling nastiness. Rather than setting off some kind of toxic bomb I use fabric drawstring bags to prevent the fly getting to the fruit.
A few years ago we made a big batch of these bags, made from pale green organza fabric and they've lasted well with only a few needing repairs. I've also seen them commercially available if you don't have a sewing machine. They allow light and ventilation, but so long as the fabric is not stretched tight against the fruit they are effective in foiling the evil plans of both fruit fly and caterpillars. It's best to bag the fruit as soon as they start to form, or even when they're still flowers. Tomatoes self pollinate so do not need insects to pollinate the flowers.
Good luck and good eating.
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Economic Growth
Economic Growth
I. OverviewRichard A. Easterlin
II. TheoryGustav Ranis
III. Mathematical TheoryMichio Morishima
IV. Noneconomic AspectsBert F. Hoselitz
The articles under this heading give several views of the process of economic growth as a whole. For the role of specific factors in economic growth, seeCapital; Capital, Human; Capital, social overhead; andInnovation. On the role of productivity in economic growth, seeProductivityandAgriculture, article onProductivity and Technology. Related material may be found underDevelopment Banks; Economy, Dual; Foreign aid, article oneconomic aspects; Industrialization; Industry, small; Modernization; andPlanning, economic, article ondevelopment planning.
As a distinctive epoch in economic organization, modern economic growth, or development, dates from the eighteenth century, when its beginnings in western Europe can first clearly be discerned. It may be defined as a rapid and sustained rise in real output per head and attendant shifts in the technological, economic, and demographic characteristics of a society. Together with the more recent concepts of social development and political development, it forms the phenomenon historians designate “modernization,” which embraces innovation in numerous aspects of individual behavior and social organization. Although not a revolution in the literal sense of the word, modern economic growth merits recognition as a distinctive epoch by virtue of the scope of the changes associated with it, the irreversible nature of many of them, and the unprecedented rate at which they have occurred. It seems safe to say that in those economies now characterized as “developed,” most of the population has experienced in the last one hundred years a greater advance in material well-being and a more sweeping change in way of life than occurred in any previous century of human history.
This transformation encompasses wide-ranging changes in techniques of producing, transporting, and distributing goods, in the scale and organization of productive activities, and in types of outputs and inputs. It embraces major shifts in the industrial, occupational, and spatial distribution of productive resources and in the degree of exchange basis and monetization of the economy. On the social and demographic side it involves significant alterations in fertility, mortality, and migration, in place of residence, in family size and structure, in the educational system, and in provision for public health. Its influence extends into the areas of income distribution, class structure, government organization, and political structure.
Compared with previous epochs, modern economic growth has involved marked acceleration in the rate of social change generally—so great that it frequently creates a significant difference in the experience of only two successive generations. The rate of growth has varied substantially, however, among different economies undergoing development at a given time and within a given economy over time. Attempts to distinguish phases of modern economic growth, to classify types, and to identify sequences between economic and non-economic characteristics or among different economic aspects are still at at an early stage, but some suggestive generalizations have been advanced.
From the viewpoint of the world as a whole, the international spread of modern economic growth has so far been limited, although few parts of the world have remained untouched. While the pattern of diffusion in time and space has yet to be established with quantitative precision and partly depends on how widely the process is conceived, the picture in broad outline is as follows. Elements of the transformation become increasingly apparent when one examines parts of northwestern Europe in the eighteenth century, especially, on a fairly extensive scale, in Great Britain. In the course of the nineteenth century, as the process gathered increasing headway in the area of origin, its gradual diffusion southward and eastward throughout Europe occurred. By the end of the century, aspects of its beginnings could be identified in easternmost Europe, including Russia, and also in Japan. A somewhat similar development had been taking place concurrently in overseas areas settled by Europeans, mirroring to some extent the diffusion pattern within Europe. It was apparent first in areas initially settled chiefly by migrants from northwestern Europe—the United States in the first part of the nineteenth century, followed by Canada, Australia, and New Zealand—and subsequently in parts of Latin America, where migration from southern and eastern Europe was especially important. In the twentieth century, and increasingly since World War ii, the initial signs have become more widespread in parts of Asia and, to a smaller extent, Africa—perhaps most noticeably in areas with the longest and fullest contact with some of the original centers. However, by the middle of the twentieth century, for only about a fourth of the world’s population has the transformation proceeded far enough for them to qualify as “developed” by most of the usual indicators.
The appearance and spread of modern economic development sharply accelerated the trend toward wider international contacts, which had been set in motion several centuries earlier by the great voyages of discovery. The peoples of the world have come increasingly to be linked together in a mutually interdependent system of economic and political relations and through new communications networks furthering the flow of information. At the same time, the piecemeal character of the diffusion process has sharply aggravated international differences in economic, social, and political conditions, has repeatedly disturbed the balance of political power both between developing and underdeveloped areas and within the developing group, and has become a major factor in modern wars. In a fundamental sense, modern economic growth is a creature of the scientific revolution, for it reflects man’s growing knowledge of natural phenomena and the power thereby attained to mold his environment to his needs. Whether it will prove possible to contain the disruptive effects of its spread within a framework of nation-states would seem ultimately to depend on whether progress in social science can match that in natural science.
Characteristics of modern economic growth
It is possible to identify a number of recurrent features of modern economic growth if one draws on both the historical experience of now-developed nations and comparisons of countries at different levels of development at a given time. However, the latter comparisons, which are frequently resorted to in lieu of sufficient historical data or research, are not always trustworthy guides to changes over time. The “nation” is adopted here as the unit of economic growth because although there are significant growth differentials among regions within a nation, they are substantially less than those among nations. Moreover, the central government plays an important role in decisions affecting secular growth. The present summary emphasizes similarities, both between countries with different institutional conditions, such as the degree of central planning, and between the current experience of today’s less-developed nations and the earlier experience of the now-developed countries. It emphasizes further the contrast between pre-modern conditions and those characterizing modern economic growth. Only brief reference will be possible to differences in the experience of individual nations and variations in trends from one period to another within a given country, although such differences are sometimes substantial.
From the viewpoint of the economic system as a whole, the central feature of modern economic growth is an immense and continuous rise in the yield from human economic activity. This is reflected in the long-term growth rates of output per head of the total population shown in Table 1. For most of the countries listed, the rate has averaged from 13 to 19 per cent per decade. Such rates, continued throughout a century, imply an expansion of product per capita between 3.4-fold and 5.7-fold. For Sweden, Japan, and the Soviet Union, which have sustained average rates on the order of 26 to 28 per cent per decade for five decades or more, the multiplication in a century would exceed 10-fold.
Table 1–Average rate of growth of real product per capita in developed countries for long periods up to about 1960
(in years)*
Percent change in real roduct per capita per decade
* Calculated from midpoints.
Source: Kuznets 1966.
England and Wales (later U.K.)
1780 to 188110113.4
1855–1859 to 1957–195910114.1
1841–1850 to 1960–1962105.517.9
Germany (later F.R.G.)
1871–1875 to 1960–19628817.9
1900–1904 to 1960–19625913.5
1880 to 1960–19628114.8
1890–1899 to 1957–195963.516.1
1870–1874 to 1960–19628919.4
1865–1874 to 1960–196291.519.0
Sweden 1861–1865 to 1960–19629828.3
1898–1902 to 1960–19626118.7
United States 1839 to 1960–196212217.2
1870–1874 to 1960–19628918.1
1861–1865 to 1959/1960–1961/196297.58.0
1879–1881 to 1959–19618026.4
European Russia (later U.S.S.R.)
1913–19584 527.4
It should be recognized that any summary measure, such as real national product per capita, reflects certain value judgments and that, consequently, levels or rates of development cannot be measured with the scientific precision of, say, steel output. For example, centrally planned economies would confine such a measure of aggregate output to material production. The concept of economic growth is itself a subjective one to some extent. However, almost any reasonably comprehensive measure would show comparably immense productivity growth, largely because requirements for such elementary goods as food, clothing, and shelter continue to take up such a large proportion of economic endeavor.
The rates shown are averages for half a century or more. For shorter periods much higher and also much lower rates have prevailed; this reflects a second characteristic of modern economic growth, significant variability in the growth rate over time. Wide fluctuations in output growth also occur in premodern economies, primarily in connection with the vagaries of agricultural conditions. In developing economies, however, the nonagricultural sector becomes increasingly responsible for fluctuations. The movements in centrally planned economies have so far received relatively little study. In non-centrally planned economies the most fully analyzed movement is the “business cycle,” which has typically averaged 3 to 4 years in duration. Longer-term movements for which some regularity is said to exist are “major cycles” (Juglar cycles), of approximately 7 years’ duration; “long swings” (Kuznets cycles), ranging from approximately 10 to 30 years in duration; and “long waves” (Kondratieff cycles), of approximately 50 years in duration. Although these longer-term movements have not found general acceptance among economists, they serve to emphasize the high variability that has been observed in growth rates over periods of a decade or two, making inferences regarding secular trends from data confined to such limited periods quite hazardous.
The trend in output per head cannot be attributed to a corresponding rise in labor input per head of the population. It is generally true that in now-developed nations the proportion of the population in the labor force is higher than in the premodern period, chiefly because the proportion of the population of working age has risen as fertility has declined. But this has been more than offset by a decline in the average hours worked per year, so that, on balance, the man-hour input per head of the total population has usually declined somewhat.
More plausible factors in the rise of output per head are capital input and average education per worker. Certainly the rises in these are among the most striking trends in modern economic growth. Although precise evidence is lacking, the expansion in the per-worker stock of reproducible capital (primarily structures and equipment) has involved orders of magnitude comparable to that of expansion in output per worker. With regard to education, modern economic growth has been accompanied by the virtual elimination of illiteracy, a trend toward universal primary and, subsequently, secondary school education, and a rise in college enrollments. The quality of the labor input has been further enhanced by substantial advances in the nutrition and health of the labor force.
Nevertheless, when one considers the nature of premodern methods of production, it seems doubtful that greater capital, education, and other quality inputs per worker, within the framework of that rudimentary technology, would have yielded the immense and continuing rates of productivity improvement characterizing modern growth.
Technological innovation
The fundamental basis for this productivity growth has been technological innovation on a widespread and continuous scale. Indeed, the concrete nature of the technological developments helps explain the changing nature of the economic inputs, as well as a number of other trends accompanying modern economic growth.
Although the great variety of these innovations makes a summary description difficult, it is possible, nevertheless, to identify a few general features that usually distinguish modern from premodern methods. Specifically, the use of methods involving mechanization and high-energy inputs per worker and the associated shift toward a mineral-based economy especially set off many modern techniques. Large and carefully controlled volumes of energy are applied to productive processes, drawing on mineral sources such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas; in contrast, premodern energy inputs, deriving largely from human, animal, wood, wind, and water sources, are much smaller and more erratic. Intimately associated with the energy changes are the shift from hand tools to machine processes and wider use of physical-structure materials derived from ferrous and nonferrous minerals rather than forests or agriculture. With the resort to machine production, final products become more standardized; labor becomes much more specialized, both by industry and, within enterprises in an industry, by process. A corresponding proliferation of detailed industrial and occupational classifications occurs.
Effective use of modern techniques entails a number of corollaries. Because of technological indivisibilities, optimum scales of production become greater. In manufacturing, this means that production tends to be organized in factory establishments, employing large numbers of workers and producing far in excess of local requirements, rather than in small shops involving few hands and producing largely for local consumption.
Optimal locations too are affected by the more advanced techniques. With regard to raw materials, minerals are substantially less ubiquitously distributed than forest and agricultural materials, and differentials with regard to the efficiency of different locations, particularly with regard to energy materials, are thereby heightened. On the side of markets, because production so greatly exceeds the needs of those immediately engaged, existing population centers offering concentrated markets become increasingly attractive. Transport junctions providing ready access to markets and/or materials also become more advantageous. The resulting differential advantage of certain locations, where one or more such factors is particularly favorable, leads to geographic concentration of production and urbanization. This tendency is reinforced up to a point by external, or “agglomeration,” economies.
Even these limited observations clarify some of the trends in the industrial and occupational characteristics of the labor force during modern economic growth. Associated with the growth in specialization of labor by industry, task, and location in the production of commodities is an increasing need for transportation of these commodities and for internal trade generally—and, in turn, for increasing monetization of the economy to facilitate the manifold growth of transactions. A rise is observed in the proportion of the labor force specialized, not in the direct production of tangible commodities or final services but in ancillary activities, such as moving, storing, and distributing goods. Associated with the growth of scale is a growing need for labor in control functions—in administrative and clerical jobs—as problems of coordination of processes and of plant layout multiply. (Even in direct production itself, the worker’s function increasingly becomes one of control, the tending of a machine.) A premodern economy could not spare such a large proportion of specialized workers for continuous employment outside direct production; a developing economy not only can, but apparently must, at least to a substantial extent. Thus the trends in industrial and occupational structure of a developing economy testify both to the distinctiveness and immense productivity of the underlying technological innovations, for they show that the methods employed both require and permit a substantial proportion of labor to be engaged in activities other than direct production. [SeeIndustrialization.]
The nature of the underlying technological developments also helps explain the previously mentioned trends in economic inputs. The growth of machine production and scale calls for much more capital investment per worker, both in equipment and (particularly) structures to house production. Transportation and power needs have major capital requirements, as does the need for workers’ accommodations where new locations are developed. Similarly, the much greater complexity of production requires a better educated labor force to learn and execute the new techniques. The continuous change characterizing modern economic growth (in techniques, locations, types of goods and jobs) calls for qualities of adaptability and adjustment on the part of labor which education facilitates.
These brief remarks on energy and mechanization as leading technological features of a developed economy do not do justice to the immense number of detailed changes implied by such characteristics or to the variety of other technological advances that have taken place, such as scientific hybridization, chemicals and plastics, electronic communications and controls, scientific management, and the supermarket, to mention only a few. Nevertheless, they do suggest the underlying logic of some of the principal trends in economic organization characterizing modern economic development.
The rise in output per man-hour implies a similar trend in real income per member of the population, although in part, as was noted, the benefits of higher productivity are taken in the form of more leisure per worker. The specific implications of this rise in real income for the condition of the population would best be revealed by level of living indicators, if they were available, such as per capita calorie consumption, the starchy-staple ratio, persons per room, per cent of dwellings with piped water and flush toilets, various household electrical appliances per capita, physicians and hospital beds per capita, school enrollment ratios, and newspaper circulation and cinema attendance per capita. Suffice it to say that modern economic development in general has meant an unprecedented advance for most of the population in food, clothing, shelter, household furnishings, and health, education, and recreational services— to the extent that dire conditions such as malnutrition have virtually been eliminated.
The foregoing statement refers to absolute levels. When one turns to relative magnitudes, to the proportionate distribution of the end product of the economy, the trends are less clear-cut. This is partly because variations among countries in the institutional conditions governing resource allocation cause differences in the uses to which the higher productivity accompanying modern economic growth is put. One well-established allocative trend is a rise in the share of the gross national product devoted to gross capital formation, attributable to the capital requirements of modern growth. A second is a decline in the proportion of consumption expenditure devoted to food. This development, rooted in the structure of consumer preferences, plays an important part in the decline in the relative importance of agriculture during economic growth, one of the most characteristic and pervasive trends. A third is a rise in the proportionate importance of new or modern goods relative to that of traditional items of consumption, reflecting the impact of technological progress in the consumption sphere. It is an interesting speculation that whereas much of the substantive increase in the early phases of modern economic growth takes the form of food, clothing, and shelter, at a more advanced phase much of the change is connected with the automobile and the way of life associated with it.
Income distribution
It is obvious that such massive changes in industrial, occupational, and spatial distribution, and in the relative proportions of factor inputs must leave their imprint on the income distribution of a society, for not all segments of the population would be equally motivated or equipped to pursue the new opportunities. Generalizations about trends, however, are frustrated by a serious lack of data and the fact that institutional differences intervene in this area to such an extent that even the concept of income shares sometimes differs among countries. Two statements, based almost entirely on fragmentary data for a few noncentrally planned economies in this century, may be ventured. One is that the return per unit of labor has risen relative to that of capital, off setting a contrary movement in the relative factor quantities. As a result, changes in the relative income shares of labor and property have been confined within fairly small limits. The second is that income inequality has on balance tended to lessen. This is suggested both by direct observations on the size distribution of income and by scattered data on income-per-worker differences by industry, occupation, and/or region. There is some indication that this trend has chiefly involved an increase in the share of middle-income groups at the expense of upper and thus is partly bound up with the growing importance of a “middle class” during modern economic growth. [SeeIncome Distribution.]
External trade
Modern economic growth has brought with it a vast expansion in the absolute volume of a nation’s international trade. Indeed, for most developed nations it has involved a greater relative rise in international trade than of GNP, despite the unprecedented growth rate of the latter (although this trend has been somewhat reversed in the twentieth century). Economies not experiencing a relative rise in international trade are those centrally planned economies which have sharply restricted participation in international trade through autarkic policies and some of the overseas countries settled by Europe where trade played a major role even in the premodern period.
Social and political changes
The movement from relatively high to low levels in mortality and fertility associated with modern economic growth has been so pronounced that it merits the distinctive title “demographic transition.” The mortality decline, which typically precedes that in fertility, has been most marked among (although not confined to) younger age groups, particularly infants. Life expectancy at birth in developed nations is now in the vicinity of seventy years, compared with a premodern figure of thirty to forty years. The major pestilential diseases (smallpox, the plague, cholera, yellow fever, typhoid, and typhus) have largely been eliminated, and, more recently, mortality from infectious and parasitic diseases, such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, and dysentery, has been drastically reduced. The principal causes of death in developed economies today are chronic and degenerative illnesses (heart disease, cancer, accidents, and so on). The mortality movement is bound up in part with the improved living levels of the population, for example, improved nutrition, which strengthens resistance to disease. It is due also and increasingly, however, to important advances in medical knowledge and significant innovations in the sphere of public health.
In a developed economy women usually marry later and bear fewer children—typically those surviving to the end of childbearing age will have averaged two to three births versus four to six for women in the premodern period. The reduction in the birth rate appears partly attributable to the decline in infant mortality, since to achieve a given number of surviving children, a smaller number of births is needed. From the viewpoint of females’ time required in childbearing and care, reproduction, in the significant sense of surviving descendants, becomes, like economic production, a more efficient process during modern economic growth.
The “dependency burden,” the ratio of dependent children and elderly persons to those in prime working ages (say, from 15 to 59 years) usually declines in the course of development. This is due to a reduction in the proportion of children in the population as fertility declines; the proportion of elderly persons actually rises somewhat. The number of persons per household also declines. In part this reflects the lower ratio of children to adults; in part it is due to the progressive decline of two-generation or three-generation family units during economic growth.
As has already been noted, economic growth is marked by a progressive shift of population from rural to urban areas. The basic impetus for this arises from the impact of technological change on the spatial distribution of given industries, but it is significantly reinforced by the shift in final consumption patterns which favors the growth of non-agricultural industry relative to agriculture. The growth of urban centers necessitates a substantial redistribution of population through internal migration. [SeeLabor force, article onmarkets and mobility.]
These changes in population characteristics have, in turn, influenced the trends in final products. The reduction in household size and the aging of the population have altered final demands. The effect of the shift to urban locations is apparent in the upward trend in consumer expenditures on a number of predominantly urban services—transportation, communication, personal services, and recreation.
In addition, the trend toward urbanization, and the consequent need for public municipal services, is one of the factors responsible for an increase in the relative size of government during modern economic growth, even in noncentrally planned economies. More generally, in these economies an expansion tends to occur in public expenditure on “social” purposes (education, health, social security, housing, recreation) and “economic” purposes (agriculture, mineral resources, fuel and power, transport, roads, and so on). The size of the central government usually tends to rise relative to that of local governments, partly because of the growing complexity and integration of the economy. With regard to revenue sources, direct taxes, particularly individual income taxes, usually grow in importance relative to indirect levies, such as excise taxes and foreign trade duties. [SeeTaxation.]
The trends characterizing modern economic growth significantly alter the economic bases of class differences and political power. In noncentrally planned economies, for example, there has been a marked rise in the proportion of employees in the labor force and a diminution of self-employed workers. In part this is associated with the shift in the industrial structure of the labor force toward nonagricultural activity, since the latter is characterized by a substantially higher proportion of employees to self-employed workers than is agri-r, it reflects a trend within the nonagricultural sector in favor of employees, due to the growth of factory relative to handicraft operations. Another pertinent change has been the rise in white-collar employment relative to manual labor, an influence strengthening “middle class” tendencies. Still another has been the drastic decline in the relative economic importance of agriculture, which has weakened the political importance of this sector. Such “noneconomic” repercussions of modern economic growth have, in turn, had feedback effects on the growth process through the types of social attitudes and political measures that have ensued.
Patterns and types of economic growth
The time shape of these various trends is by no means uniform among the different characteristics. Moregover, shorter-run changes through time may show significant departures from the underlying trend over lengthy intervals, because of fluctuations such as those mentioned earlier or other factors.
A number of the changes are, however, subject to a distinct upper or lower limit, such as the rise in urbanization, literacy, and nonagricultural activity. As might be expected, for such characteristics the basic secular trend exhibits a logistic pattern, that is, initially change occurs at a slow rate, then at an accelerating one, and finally, as it approaches the limit more closely, at a decelerating one. Even with regard to narrowly defined categories of commodities or industries, where no comparable logical limit exists, evidence has been advanced to show the existence of a secular pattern of acceleration followed by retardation. Among other factors, the nature of technological change has been accorded an important role in accounting for this—in part because technological progress within a narrowly defined industry appears to slow down after a time, in part because technological developments in new commodities and industries create opportunities competing with the older ones. The latter point helps to reconcile the seemingly contradictory observation that growth in the economy-wide level of output per man-hour does not show retardation.
It has already been suggested that noticeable differences between countries sometimes exist in the pattern for a given variable or in the relationships among two or more variables. This may be illustrated by reference to demographic phenomena, where the currently available documentation is in some respects fullest, especially for the premodern period. A shift from early to late marriage occurred in many western European areas well before the eighteenth century, and in a number of these a mild reversal, a decline in age at marriage, occurred in conjunction with economic advance in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In eastern Europe, on the other hand, early marriage persisted in many areas through the 1930s despite other developmental changes. With reference to the demographic transition, it appears that fertility began to decline in some European areas prior to or simultaneously with the mortality decline. Recent declines in mortality appear typically to be sharper and more rapid than earlier ones. An important issue, which can only be noted here, is to what extent differences such as these tend to vary systematically between early comers and late comers to the growth process.
To turn from individual aspects of modern economic growth to the process viewed as a whole, we must examine whether it is possible to distinguish regular phases or periods in the process and whether the experience of various countries can be classified in terms of different growth “types.” For example, one stage-scheme that has been proposed identifies five phases: traditional society, preconditions for take-off, take-off, drive to maturity, and age of high mass consumption (Rostow 1963). Another recent typology, proposed by Hoselitz, employs a threefold classification of growth: (1) expansionist versus intrinsic, depending on the degree to which unused land and other resources are available; (2) dominant versus satellitic, depending on the importance of foreign trade in the economy; and (3) autonomous versus induced, based on the degree of central planning (Conference … 1959). One advantage of the proposed stage conception is that it highlights the fact that modern economic growth is characterized by a substantial acceleration in the pace of social change. Moreover, its emphasis on the take-off as a point of transition to “self-sustaining” growth underscores a fundamental aspect of some of the changes, namely, that they are largely irreversible. Similarly, the suggested typology brings to the fore certain factors— the absolute size of the economy, the nature of the decision-making processes—influencing the growth process. On the other hand, attempts to apply such schemes in their specific form to interpretation of actual experience have encountered important difficulties. Although they are suggestive with regard to some of the causal mechanisms or factors underlying modern economic growth, the use of such concepts as valid generalizations about stages or types of growth seems premature in view of the
Table 2 – Crude death rate per thousand of total population, selected areas, since 1750 or earliest known date thereafter
England and WalesUnited StatesGermany (later F.R.G.)ItalyRussia (later U.S.S.R)JapanChileIndiaAfrica
a. 1870–1880.
b. 1861–1870.
c. 1937.
d. 1905–1909; probably on underestimate.
Principal sources: Demographic Yearbook; Population Bulletin of the United Nations; Kuznets 1966.
About 175032
About 18002525
About 18502323a2731b40 35
limited extent to which the facts of growth have so far been established and runs the danger of tending to strait-jacket thinking on the subject.
International spread of economic growth
Ideally, a description of the world-wide diffusion process would be built on a number of time series of growth characteristics for each of the countries of the world since around 1750. Lacking this, principal reliance is placed here on a few characteristics of what are taken as fairly representative situations in different parts of the world—although availability of data has played a part too in the choice of series and areas. In keeping with the approach adopted here, economic growth is viewed as one facet of modernization more generally conceived. Two indicators of social development are used, the crude death rate and school enrollment rate, and two of economic development, nonagricultural share of the labor force and the growth rate of GNP per capita. Although the measures are crude—for example, variations in the age distribution of population in time and space impair the comparability of death or school enrollment rates— as a whole they produce a reasonably consistent picture.
Typically, economic historians trace the origin of modern economic development to eighteenth-century England, and in particular to the industrial revolution. By the latter is meant, in part, the commercial application of Watt’s steam engine and certain innovations in the iron and textile industries over the period from around 1730 to 1820, especially the latter half. From England, the industrial revolution is viewed as having diffused gradually, first to neighboring European nations and England’s overseas descendants and then to some further nations, although the latter aspect of the picture becomes increasingly blurred. The description presented is qualitative in nature, although approximate periods of an industrial revolution are identified for some of the now-developed nations.
Indicators of modernization provide a broader picture, of which the economic forms a reasonably consistent part. Tables 2, 3, and 4 reflect, respectively, the diffusion of modern mortality conditions, education, and industrialization; each tells a fairly similar story. For this purpose, a useful way of forming impressions is to compare the dates at which countries reach a crude death rate of 30 per thousand, a school enrollment rate of 10 per cent
Table 3 — Estimated percentage of total population of all ages enrolled in school, selected areas, since 1818 or earliest known date thereafter
England and WalesUnited StatesGermany (later F.R.G.)ItalyRussia (later U.S.S.S.R)JapanChileIndiaAfrica
a. Values for 1954 (and, to some extent, for 1928) for the most-developed countries are biased downward relative to those for other times and places, because of decline in ratio of school age to total population.
b. Not available.
c. Around 1870.
d. 1938.
Source; Easterlin 1965.
Table 4 — Percentage of labor force in nonagricultural activity, selected areas, since 1700 or earliest known date thereafter
a. Share of nonagricultural activity in national product.
b. 1820.
c. Not available.
Principal sources: Kuznets 1957; 1966.
About 1870–188085505838 17
About 1900916365412530 28
About 19259376704829496125
About 1950–1960959177596067702726
of the population, and a percentage of labor force in nonagricultural industry of around 30. England tended to be the leader, with major changes usually discernible in the eighteenth century. Within Europe, Germany, a representative of northern and western Europe, was well on the road by the middle of the nineteenth century, followed with some lag by Italy, a representative of southern Europe, and, somewhat later still, Russia, a representative of eastern Europe.
In the overseas areas settled by Europe, modernization was well under way in the United States in the first half of the nineteenth century. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, if data were shown, would probably lag somewhat, although not a great deal. The series for Chile show signs of modernization in the early twentieth century. As a representative of Latin America, Chile has been in the vanguard, rather than near the average, and has been at least several decades ahead of Latin American nations with substantial Indian populations. (Also, Chile’s position with regard to the share of the labor force in nonagricultural activity has been disproportionately high compared to most countries in this area.) In general, modernization in overseas countries populated chiefly by settlers from northern and western Europe preceded that in Latin America, whose settlers originated primarily in southern Europe. Thus the New World pattern reflects to some extent the diffusion pattern within Europe itself.
In Asia and Africa, indications of modernization were apparent in Japan in the latter part of the nineteenth century and in the Union of South Africa in the early twentieth; but these are noticeable exceptions, at least as far as indexes of economic development are concerned. Typically, these indexes show relatively little evidence of modern economic growth in these continents. With regard to social development, however, the indicators for India, a country reasonably representative of changes in Asia, do suggest that elements of modernization have been occurring in the course of the twentieth century, and even the fragmentary data for Africa show some signs of this since the 1930s. Nations of northern Africa would probably tend to be somewhat ahead of the sub-Saharan countries and more like India in timing.
A table in a form comparable to the preceding ones, showing levels of real product per capita at various dates, would shed valuable light on trends in the relative standing of nations and the extent
Table 5 — Per cent per decade growth rate of real gross national product per capita, selected areas, since 1700 or earliest known period thereafter
England and WalesUnited StatesGermany (later F.R.G.)ItalyRussia (later U.S.S.S.R)JapanLatin AmericaIndiae
a. Periods are, in order, 1857–1863 to 1896–1904, 1896–1904 to 1946–1954, and 1937–1940 to 1959–1962.
b. 1851–1855 to 1871–1875.
c. 1862–1868 to 1874–1883.
d. 1860 to 1913.
e. Not available.
Principal sources: Kuznets 1964a; 1966.
1881–191317.416.918.19.114.4 d24.3 4
1913–196015.518.017.417.427.427.9 5
of the gaps between them. Although sufficient data are not presently available for this, enough information can be secured on rates of growth to at least check some of the impressions so far obtained (Table 5 ). For those developed nations where rates are available over a long enough period, a noticeable rise to modern growth-rate levels is usually apparent at a time consistent with the previous tables. On the other hand, for India, the one lessdeveloped area shown here with a reasonably long time series, the growth rate remains at a relatively low level, a picture consistent with that relating to the nonagricultural share of the labor force.
Since the social development indicators do suggest the gradual spread in the twentieth century of elements of modernization to less-developed areas in Asia and Africa, it is of interest to look at their most recent experience. Estimates of the rates of change, converted to a per decade basis, of product per capita in these areas (available only for noncommunist countries) for 1957/1958 to 1963/ 1964 are given in Table 6. There is perhaps a suggestion here of an increase in the rates for these areas compared to experience prior to World War ii, although the earlier observation regarding variability of growth rates over time cautions against placing excessive confidence in interpretation of such rates as secular ones. Some support for this inference, however, is provided by data on capital formation, which show a noticeable rise since the pre-World War ii period in the proportion of re-sources devoted to this purpose in underdeveloped countries.
Table 6
Per cent
* Not including Algeria, Congo (Leopoldville), and Republic of South Africa.
Source: U.S. Agency for International Development.
All noncommunist countries25
Less-developed areas only23
Effect on international disparities
One consequence of the uneven spread of modernization has been the creation of wide differences in various economic and social conditions among nations at any given time. Tables 2 through 5 shed light on the size and trend of such differences. The pattern for mortality and school enrollment rates is rather similar. In the century or so up to, say, World War I, international differences widened markedly as rapid improvement occurred in Europe, northern America, and Oceania, and relatively little in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Since then, and particularly after World War ii, as advances in the former group slowed down and those in the latter accelerated, differences have narrowed noticeably, most markedly in mortality conditions.
There is little indication in the economic development indicators, however, of a lessening of differences. On the contrary, Table 4 suggests that the gap in the percentage of labor force in non agricultural activity has continued to widen. With regard to GNP per capita, it can also be inferred, despite the limited data, that relative levels have continued to diverge. Today’s developed countries, considered as a bloc, account for approximately one-quarter of the world’s population; four less-developed nations (mainland China, India, Indonesia, and Pakistan) account for about four-tenths. To judge from the indicators for the latter part of the nineteenth century, the developed group was well ahead of these four less-developed countries at that time. Since then, the developed group grew at a rate on the order of 15 per cent per decade, enough to double income in five decades. On the other hand, the four less-developed countries had such low income levels as of 1950 that to assume a growth rate over this preceding period of even the same magnitude would imply improbably low income levels for them in the late nineteenth century. This is supported by the figures for the only one of the four for which an estimate is available, India, where the estimated growth rate averaged only around 5 per cent per decade.
Table 7 provides a summary view of the current state of international differences in GNP per capita produced by these historical trends. Although defects of the measure tend on balance to exaggerate differences, there is little question that to date the spread of modern economic development has created an unprecedented disparity in economic condition between, on the one hand, a small though sizable segment of the world’s population, chiefly resident in Europe and its overseas descendants, and, on the other, the vast majority, primarily concentrated in Asia and Africa. (Table 7, in which populations are classified according to the national average GNP per capita, may exaggerate somewhat the relative position of the mass of the people in Latin America, since there is some evidence that income inequality there may be disproportionately high.) The disparity portrayed, which reinforces (and in part has arisen from) an already existing cultural division, itself becomes, via its political and other repercussions, a factor bearing on the prospect for continued long-term growth of now-developed nations and the further spread of modern economic growth to less-developed ones.
Table 7 — Per cent of world population distributed by national average GNP per capita and geographic area, about 1958
GNP per capita (1958 U.S. dollars)World totalNorthwestern Europe*Southern and eastern Europe*Northern America and OceaniaLatin AmericaAsiaAfrica
* Northwestern Europe comprises the U.K., France, F.R.G., Eire, the Low Countries, Scandinavia, and Switzerland; southern and eastern Europe, all the rest of Europe including all of Russia.
Sources: Demographic yearbook for 1963; United Nations 1952–1963; Kuznets 1964b.
1,000 and over13.36.207.1000
Below 10051.70000.147.44.1
Consequences for world population
The spread of modernization has brought major consequences for the size, distribution, and condition of the population of the world, viewed as a whole. The progressive diffusion of improved mortality conditions has led to a noticeable rise in the rate of increase of the world’s population. Between 1000 and 1750 A.D. growth occurred at a rate that on the average would not quite have doubled population every 500 years. (This is, of course, an average; there were wide variations over time and in space.) In the modern period world population doubled between 1750 and 1900, and in the twentieth century it has almost doubled again in the first 60 years.
The uneven spread of modern mortality conditions has noticeably altered the international distribution of population, particularly between Europe, northern America, and Oceania, on the one hand, and Asia (excluding Asiatic Russia) and Africa, on the other. The lead of the former area in the mortality decline raised population growth rates there relative to Asia and Africa, so that by 1930 its share in the world total had risen from a fifth to a third. Since then, with the spread of reduced mortality conditions to Asia and Africa and with the continued transition to lower fertility in the West, this trend has been some what reversed. The share in the world total of Latin America, although small, has risen, at first gradually and then in the twentieth century with increasing rapidity as mortality declined sharply. The first line of Table 7 shows the approximate distribution of world population by region in the late 1950s.
By 1960 the world population exceeded three billion—more than four times the 1750 level. Despite this great and accelerating growth, it is probably true that if one considers absolute rather than relative levels, most persons throughout the world at that date were better off with regard to health conditions and formal education than was true in the past, although much of this change has been fairly recent. Whether economic conditions, in absolute terms, have generally improved is more debatable. Recent estimates of world per capita food production by region show, in general, fairly little difference for better or worse in the situation of those in less-developed areas between the late 1930s and early 1960s.
Effect on international relations
In 1750 the fortunes of those in any one area of the world were usually but tenuously connected with those of persons in other parts; in many respects individuals and nations were isolated from one another. A major consequence of the appearance and spread of modern economic growth has been a vast expansion in international contacts and an increasing degree of interdependence among the peoples of the world. The obstacles imposed by physical distance have been drastically reduced by technological developments in transport and communication. The speed of international travel has been cut to less than one per cent of what it was at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and the international transmission of messages is virtually instantaneous. At the same time, the uneven spread of economic development has altered the international configuration of economic costs and political power in a way that contributes to the rapid expansion of contacts.
Economic relations. In the area of economic relations, the physical volume of international trade rose almost sixfold from 1750 to 1850 and more than twentyfold in the next hundred years. This meant a growth in trade per capita of almost fourfold in the first period and tenfold in the second. Even though world GNP per capita rose over this period it was in a substantially smaller proportion; hence it is clear that world trade rose greatly relative to world production. Moreover, all major areas of the world participated. A rough estimate for the share in world trade of Asia, Africa, and Latin America would run on the order of a fifth to a quarter both in the early nineteenth century and in the middle of the twentieth century. External indebtedness and international migration rose too at an unprecedented rate. At the peak of their growth, roughly between 1870 and 1914, the constant-price volume of foreign debts outstanding expanded around sevenfold and the volume of intercontinental migration was three times that in the preceding half-century. The international distribution of investment and migration differed noticeably, however. In 1914, Asia and Africa accounted for perhaps one-quarter of the debt outstanding, but almost all intercontinental migration was confined to the European culture area and involved the settlement of overseas areas. The expansion of all three economic flows—trade, investment, and migration—was sharply curtailed in the interwar period, but since World War ii it has resumed, although at a more moderate rate than before World War I.
The international flow of information, partly abetted by development of the international economy, has expanded immensely too. Indications of this would be provided by such data as international mail flows per capita, exports and imports of foreign publications, and the number of international periodicals and scholarly organizations.
Political relations. Measures relating to international political relations are scarce, but again there can be no doubt that the trend has been toward vastly expanded contacts—simple series on the number of personnel in consulates and diplomatic organizations would reflect this.
Since productive capacity is more closely related to military potential than is population, the spread of modern economic development has had major implications for the distribution of political power. The impression created by the population distribution as to the relative power of areas is virtually reversed when one looks at production. Although Asia, Africa, and Latin America outnumber the rest of the world by almost three to one, the rest of the world outproduces the former areas by more than three to one. Such differences are obviously pertinent to understanding why in 1914 Great Britain, France, and Germany, which together accounted for only about one-twelfth of the world’s population, counted as political dependencies areas embracing another one-quarter. But the spread of modern economic development altered the power balance not only between developed and less-developed areas but also among the various developed nations themselves. The hegemony of Great Britain in much of the nineteenth century and the subsequent appearance of rivals such as Germany, the United States, Japan, and the Soviet Union show a timing pattern corresponding closely to the spread of modern economic development. The eruption in the twentieth century of the deadliest wars in the history of mankind, in which the developed nations were the leading antagonists, is also clearly related. Rough estimates of the world-wide total of deaths from all wars involving 500 or more deaths show the following trend: 1820-2013;1863, 1.5 million; 1863-2013;1907, 4.0 million; 1907-2013;1950, 41.0 million.
In the international political realm, then, as in the case of economic relations, the long-term record, broadly conceived, shows an immense expansion of contacts, marred by serious disruption in this century. As this has occurred, so too have efforts at international cooperation on economic and political matters, as might be shown by data on the growing number of international conferences, administrative agencies, and arbitral tribunals. The establishment of world economic and political organizations can itself be conceived in part as a response to the pressing problems caused by the international diffusion of modern economic development within a world political framework of nation-states.
Origins of modern economic development
The reasons for treating modern economic development as a distinctive epoch should be clear. In those nations now most developed there has occurred a radical change in the way of life of the average individual. At the same time, the diffusion of this new form of economic organization throughout the world has drastically altered international relations and created interdependence on an unprecedented scale. Although it is true that the majority of the world’s population has so far only begun to be touched, the rate of diffusion, compared with previous epochs, such as that of settled agriculture, has been very rapid.
How can one account for the appearance on the world scene of this phenomenon? The answer would appear to lie in the virtual explosion in the stock of knowledge, and particularly in scientifically established knowledge, which has occurred in the past three centuries. Efforts to conceptualize this development in quantitative terms are only now in their beginning stages. One indication (but no more than that) is provided by the number of scientific periodicals at various dates: 1 in 1665; 10 in 1750; 1,000 in 1850; and 80,000 in 1950. These figures, which represent only approximate orders of magnitude, suggest around a tenfold expansion in each of the two successive centuries after 1650 and only a slightly lower expansion in the most recent century.
In the developments of the seventeenth century now described as the scientific revolution, the dividing line between “pure” science and technology was vague. As man mastered procedures for establishing the “laws of nature,” it is understandable that among the problems which both stimulated such inquiry and attracted applications of the new knowledge, those of production of commodities and services should rank high. Thus, progress in the scientific comprehension of natural phenomena went hand in hand with the use of such knowledge to direct and control man’s physical environment in line with material needs. [SeeScience, article onthe history of science.]
The scientific revolution helps account not only for the appearance of modern economic development as a distinctive epoch but also for the broad geographic pattern of its spread. Modern economic development makes its appearance in the Western world where the scientific revolution is occurring and spreads most rapidly to those areas where educational development has made the transfer of new knowledge most feasible. The gains to be had from modern technology are not costless, however. As has been shown, major changes are involved which often require painful adjustments on the part of individuals or groups—in family life, economic activity, social status, or political power—and, therefore, call forth resistances to adoption of modern technology and more generally to change. It is understandable that typically the societies having so far found such adjustments most feasible (although nevertheless difficult) are those in which the same intellectual movement that had fomented the scientific revolution was promoting rational examination and discussion of social institutions as well. [SeeTechnology.]
Viewed in these terms, modern economic growth is the manifestation in production of the growth and diffusion of the stock of knowledge stemming from the scientific revolution or, more generally, from the intellectual revolution, which began with the Renaissance. The increasingly urgent problems to which the spread of modern economic development has given rise are, at a remove, a reflection of the uneven development of this knowledge itself. However slow the diffusion of modern economic growth may appear to those interested in the welfare of mankind as a whole, it has been rapid enough to produce serious social disruption within countries and major crises in international affairs. The capacity to cope with these problems has been limited by man’s inadequate grasp of social phenomena—indeed, by the limited awareness that such phenomena are even subject to scientific study and generalization. Moreover, the spread of economic development within a framework of nation-states may itself have impeded the growth of social science by promoting national ideologies that pose as science. If, therefore, one turns from the question of the origins of modern economic development, which lie in the growth of natural science, to that of the future outlook, much would seem to turn on the prospect for comparable progress in social science.
Richard A. Easterlin
Valuable surveys and bibliographies are provided by Ash-worth 1962; The Cambridge Economic History … 1965; Kuznets 1966; Woytinsky & Woytinsky 1953 and 1955, with the first two emphasizing economic history, the others, quantitative material. For current developments, United Nations … 1952–1963 and United Nations … 1945— are good starting points. Quantitative international comparisons are stressed in Clark 1957; Ginsburg 1961; Kuznets 1966; Woytinsky & Woytinsky 1953 and 1955. Of particular interest for noneconomic aspects are Banks & Textor 1963 and Russett et al. 1964 as well as the annual lists of publications in Social Science Research Council. Dewhurst et al. 1961; Kirk 1946; Maddison 1964; Svennilson 1954 are major sources on particular aspects or periods of Western experience. Recent discussions of typologies and periodization are Conference on the State … 1959 and Rostow 1963.
Ashworth, William 1962 A Short History of the International Economy Since 1850. 2d ed. London: Long-mans. → First published in 1952.
Banks, Arthur; and Textor, Robert 1963 A Cross-polity Survey. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press.
The Cambridge Economic History of Europe From the Decline of the Roman Empire. Volume 6: The Industrial Revolutions and After: Incomes, Population and Technological Change. Edited by H. J. Habakkuk and M. Postan. 1965 Cambridge Univ. Press.
Clark, Colin 1957 The Conditions of Economic Progress. 3d ed. London: Macmillan. → First published in 1940.
Conference on the state and economic growth, new york, 1956 1959 The State and Economic Growth. Edited by Hugh G. J. Aitken. New York: Social Science Research Council.
Demographic Yearbook. → Published annually by the United Nations since 1948. Data in tables, copyright United Nations 1963. Reproduced by permission.
Dewhurst, J. Frederic et al. 1961 Europe’s Needs and Resources: Trends and Prospects in Eighteen Countries. New York: Twentieth Century Fund.
Easterlin, Richard A. 1965 A Note on the Evidence of History. Pages 422-2013;429 in C. Arnold Anderson and Mary J. Bowman (editors), Educational and Economic Development. Chicago: Aldine.
Kirk, Dudley 1946 Europe’s Population in the Interwar Years. Geneva: League of Nations.
Kuznets, Simon 1957 Quantitative Aspects of the Economic Growth of Nations: 2. Industrial Distribution of National Product and Labor Force. Economic Development and Cultural Change 5, no. 4, part 2.
Kuznets, Simon 1964a Postwar Economic Growth: Four Lectures. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap.
Kuznets, Simon 1964b Quantitative Aspects of the Economic Growth of Nations. 9. Level and Structure of Foreign Trade: Comparisons for Recent Years. Economic Development and Cultural Change 13, no. 1, part 2.
Kuznets, Simon 1966 Modern Economic Growth: Rate, Structure, and Spread. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.
Maddison, Angus 1964 Economic Growth in the West: Comparative Experience in Europe and North America. New York: Twentieth Century Fund.
Population Bulletin of the United Nations. [1962] No. 6.
Rostow, Walt W. (editor) 1963 The Economics of Take-off Into Sustained Growth: Proceedings of a Conference Held by the International Economic Association. London: Macmillan; New York: St. Martins.
Russett, Bruce et al. 1964 World Handbook of Political and Social Indicators. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.
Social Science Research CouncilAnnual Report. → Published by the Council since 1926/1927.
Svennilson, Ingvar 1954 Growth and Stagnation in the European Economy. Geneva: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.
United Nations, Bureau of Economic Affairs 1945— World Economic Survey. New York: United Nations.
United Nations, Bureau of social affairs 1952–1963 Report on the World Social Situation. New York: United Nations.
U.S. Agency for International Development, Statistics and Reports Division 1966 Estimated Annual Growth Rates of Developed and Less Developed Countries. R. C. W-138. Unpublished manuscript.
Woytinsky, Wladimir S.; and Woytinsky, Emma S. 1953 World Population and Production: Trends and Outlook. New York: Twentieth Century Fund.
Woytinsky, Wladimir S.; and Woytinsky, Emma S. 1955 World Commerce and Governments: Trends and Outlook. New York: Twentieth Century Fund.
Perhaps no subject has more fully engaged the minds and energies of economists from the very beginning than the search for a satisfactory explanation of economic growth. This was, in fact, the main focus of the work of Adam Smith and the classicists endeavoring to explain industrialization in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century England, of Marx and Schumpeter in the long neo-classical eclipse of interest, and, most recently, of the post-World War ii revival by those concerned with growth both in the mature industrial and in the less developed nonindustrial societies.
While there is by no means unanimity on how to define growth, it is convenient to adhere to the convention that real per capita national income or output represents the most reliable indicator of a system’s economic achievement at any point in time and that any change in real per capita income over time connotes economic growth. Statesmen and philosophers have joined economists in recognizing that economic growth defined in this way represents the most objective indicator of a society’s welfare. It reflects changes in its ability to attain any socially agreed-upon set of goals, whether consumption, capital formation, national defense or, for that matter, leisure.
Any viable theory of economic growth must thus be able to explain both the level of per capita income of a given economic system at a point in time and the determinants of changes in that per capita income from one period to the next. With respect to the former task, it is generally agreed that the determination of the level of per capita income at any particular historical moment depends in part on the quantity and quality of the economy’s human resources; in part on the available stock of material resources; in part on how efficiently people organize themselves for productive activity; and, finally, in part on the institutional environment in which the society finds itself. Similarly, changes in income per head from one period to the next must be explained in terms of changes in the above four dimensions. All growth theories must thus take into account, in one fashion or another, at least the following: the initial characteristics of and changes in the stock of material agents, i.e., the capital stock and changes in it; the initial characteristics of and changes in the society’s stock of human agents, i.e., population or labor force and population growth; the initial characteristics of and changes in the quality or efficiency of the production process, i.e., technological change; and, finally, the evolution of the society’s organizational or institutional milieu.
The first of the above dimensions relates to the initial material wealth or capital stock per head and to the size of the economy’s saving, i.e., that portion of output not consumed in the current period. Under the standard full employment assumptions we shall adhere to, all such savings are automatically invested and thus come to represent additions to the economy’s capital stock in the next period. Since the size of the capital stock per head of the population is a principal determinant of output per head (or per capita income), the annual magnitude of the surplus per head is of the greatest importance. The second dimension, population and population growth, must be viewed as a two-edged sword. On the one side it provides the economy with the labor force necessary for pro ductive activity, but on the other it requires consumption for its maintenance, thus diminishing the surplus available to enhance the per capita capital stock in the next period. The third dimension, technological change, really is a shorthand way of referring to changes in the quality of the economy’s human agents, in the quality of the economy’s material agents, and in the over-all efficiency with which these factors are combined to produce output. Finally, changes in the way a society organizes itself with respect to its dominant social and political institutions, e.g., between markets and direct controls as organizational devices, may have a profound impact on the more narrowly conceived economic performance of the society in question.
Virtually all growth theory may thus be viewed as an elaboration of one or another of the above four essential facets, with each particular theory emphasizing what is considered most essential given the inductive evidence under consideration and the deductive reasoning being employed. Keeping this in mind, we shall first present the basic outlines of some of the more relevant growth theories of an earlier day and then examine, again in necessarily broad terms, the status of the presentday theory of growth.
The classical theory. The classicists—though there exist considerable differences as between Smith, Ricardo, Malthus, and Mill—thought in terms of the three factors of production—land, labor, and capital—cooperating to produce national output; and growth, consequently, was seen as determined by what happens to land, labor, and capital over time. While in the classical theory land is viewed as fixed in supply, the population, following Malthusian notions, is seen to be a function of the real wage (more exactly, of the gap between the market wage and a long-run subsistence norm). Capital formation, made possible by the society’s saving, provides the main engine of growth. More precisely, the total output generated at any given time is distributed to the various agents who exercise control over the three factors, i.e., the society’s workers, landlords, and capitalists, according to certain rules. Each class of owners then makes its own decision as to what proportion of income to consume and what proportion to save. To understand what happens to the stock of material wealth available for production in the next period, we must thus first under-stand the underlying classical theory of distribution and the classical theory of saving.
The classical theory of distribution is inextricably intertwined with the concept of diminishing returns to increased dosages of labor (and capital) on the fixed land. As acreage that is less and less productive is brought under cultivation, the incremental output declines and the incremental return on the least productive land determines the return to land, or rent. The portion of total output left after rents have been paid is then distributed between workers and capitalists, with workers paid at or near the institutionally determined subsistence wage level. Over time, as more and more labor (and associated capital) is expended on the land and diminishing returns become more pronounced, the landlord’s return (rent) increases and the capitalist’s return (profit) declines, with the worker’s wage retaining its long-run constancy (as population growth erases any temporary gaps between the market wage and the subsistence wage). Since the classicists assume that workers, being inherently poor, are not able to save and that landlords, being inherently wastrel, do not choose to save, the entire burden of saving and investing falls on capitalists and their profits. With declining profits, capital accumulation is increasingly squeezed, finally culminating in the cessation of further growth. Implicitly, if not explicitly, this prediction is based on the assumption that diminishing returns in the preponderant agricultural sector will swamp constant or possibly even increasing returns in industry—and that improvements in the quality of the factors of production, or in the efficiency with which they can be organized, are unlikely to be sufficiently important to change the outcome. [See the biographies ofMalthus; Mill; Ricardo; Smith, Adam.]
Marx’s theory. Marx, in Capital: A Critique of Political Economy (1867-2013;1879), sees capital and labor combining in fixed proportions to produce output, with the accumulation of new capital resulting from the economy’s surplus over consumption requirements in one period providing the motive force for carrying the system forward to higher levels of per capita output in the next. The size of the saving fund automatically converted into investment is once again determined by a distribution theory and a saving theory. Marx’s distribution theory is based on the inequality of bargaining power between capitalists and laborers in the market place, forcing wages down near subsistence levels. In his world, as in the classical, workers do not save and capitalists do not consume; thus, once again, investment is equal to total profits.
Unlike his predecessors, however, Marx is much concerned with changes in technology altering the proportions in which capital and labor are combined to produce output. It is his view that all innovations are by nature very laborsaving, in the sense that they raise the capital-labor ratio and displace employed labor. It is this, plus exogenously determined population growth (Marx rejected Malthusian population theory), which contributes to the creation of the “reserve army of the unemployed,” which, in turn, deprives workers of all bargaining power. Meanwhile, as the capital stock per employed worker continues to increase, capital begins to lose its scarcity value, and its rate of return begins to fall. Capitalists will try to rescue the profit rate by using their dominant bargaining strength in the labor market to make employees work harder and further to reduce the wage, but the drive for capital accumulation finally reduces the rate of profit to a level which brings the capitalist system to a halt. [See the guide to related articles underMarxism.]
Schumpeter’s theory. Perhaps Marx’s greatest contribution to growth theory was his emphasis on the importance of technological change in the production process. This emphasis was carried for-ward by Joseph Schumpeter in The Theory of Economic Development (1912). Schumpeter expanded the concept of innovation to include not only changes in technique but also changes in quality, in markets, and in supply sources. He was, more-over, the first really to focus on the human agent, the entrepreneur, who was capable of perceiving the potentiality of such changes and of doing something about them.
Schumpeter’s theory attempted to analyze the economy’s long-run progress by way of an explanation of its cyclical behavior as the system continuously departs from various quasi-equilibrium stationary states, only to return to others at ever higher levels of per capita income. A Schumpeterian stationary state is characterized by the fact that only enough net investment is being made to equip additions to the labor force at the capital-labor ratio applying to the already existing labor force. The economy is thus moving sideways: labor, capital, and output are all growing at the same rate and per capita income remains constant. This quasi-equilibrium state is then upset by the appearance—for reasons unclear but related to changes in the “climate”—of numbers of gifted individuals capable of perceiving additional attractive investment opportunities. These entrepreneurs appeal to the banking system for the creation of credit, which forces additional savings out of the public’s hands (through inflation) and into their own. Subsequently, pioneering entrepreneurs are followed by large numbers of less gifted imitators who tend to excess, and the system experiences overproduction and recession. But the new Schumpeterian stationary state is reached at a higher level of material wealth per person and a consequently higher level of per capita income. The growth process thus occurs as the consequence of discontinuous bursts of creative entrepreneurial activity. It finally comes to a halt only because of a change in the institutional setting as the “climate” for entrepreneurship deteriorates secularly with the increasing bureaucratization of corporate enterprise. [See the biography ofSchumpeter.]
Modern theory
Where contemporary growth theory also is concerned with the performance of the mature industrial society, it differs from the earlier attempts in that it is both less ambitious and more precise. Postwar growth theorists have been content to relegate theories of population growth, of changes in the organizational or institutional framework, sometimes even of technological change, to other disciplines or to accept changes in these rather crucial dimensions as given, rather than to be explained within the framework of the growth theory itself. At the same time there is a conscious attempt to be more rigorous, to lean more heavily on modern methods of model construction, i.e., structural relationships supplemented by behavioristic relationships.
Harrod-Domar model
Modern growth theory, moreover, is not content to hypothesize certain reasonable behavioristic relationships based on casual observation but insists increasingly on statistical verification, including the estimation of the key parameters involved. It is thus greatly indebted both to the development of the national income accounting system during the 1930s and to Keynes (1936), who, while himself primarily concerned with other, short-run stability matters, employed this system for more general theory construction and statistical implementation. [SeeNational income and product accounts.] This Can perhaps best be demonstrated by examining a particular view of growth, the so-called Harrod-Domar model (Harrod 1939; Domar 1946), as a prototype of post-Keynesian growth theory. While it represents a rather early and relatively simple formulation of the problem, much of contemporary growth theory which follows can be said to represent departures from the basic theme presented here, e.g., using more realistic behavioristic assumptions.
The basic ingredients of the Harrod-Domar view of long-run growth are as follows:
(1) A production function which relates the generation of total output, Q, to the available capital stock, K, via the capital-output ratio, v, that is, Q = K/v. The theory assumes the constancy of the capital—output ratio, i.e., the number of units of capital it takes to produce a unit of output.
(2) A theory of saving based on the Keynesian propensity to save, which stipulates that total savings, S, in any one period is a given fraction, s, of total income or output, Q, of that period: S = sQ.
(3) Adherence to the full employment of capital hypothesis, i.e., all savings are automatically invested and become additions to the capital stock: S = 1 = Δ K.
Capital is the only factor of production explicitly considered in the Harrod-Domar system. Labor combines with capital in fixed proportions, but there is no attempt to reconcile exogenously determined increases in the population or labor force with changes in the derived demand for labor as a factor input as capital accumulation proceeds.
Table 1Harrod-Domar growth model
Table 1 may help give a clearer picture of how the Harrod-Domar system operates. Let us assume that it requires 3 units of capital to produce each unit of output, i.e., the capital–output ratio is 3, and that the economy’s saving propensity is .2, i.e., the various income recipients decide to consume 80 per cent of their income in each period and to put away 20 per cent in the form of savings. If such an economy starts with, say, a capital stock (K) of 30 in period (t) 1, it produces an output (Q) of 10. Out of this income 8 units are consumed (C) and 2 are saved (S = 1), leading to an increase of 2 in the capital stock of the next period. The new capital stock of 32 units is capable of producing 10.67 units of output in period 2. This new and higher level of income is once again allocated in proportions of 80 and 20 between consumption and savings; the latter yields a further increment in the capital stock, and thus the economy continues to grow from one period to the next. The exogenous growth of the population or labor force (L), say at the rate of approximately 2 per cent a year, has no consequence for the productive capacity of the system, but affects its measured performance only in terms of per capita income growth as indicated in the last column of the table (Q/L).
The rate of growth of capital can then be quickly determined by dividing each year’s increment, or the investment during that period, I = S = sQ, by the already existing capital stock: I/K = sQ/K = s/v. In our example with s = .2 and v = 3, capital will be growing at an annual rate of 6.7 per cent. Moreover, since v = K/Q (the capital–output ratio) is a constant, the rate of growth of output or income over time must equal the rate of growth of capital. Whether or not per capita income increases or decreases in the course of the growth process will then depend on the relative speed with which the population is growing. If the rate of growth of population, g, is less than the rate of growth of in-come, s/v, per capita income will be rising at the rate (s/v ) − g, etc. In the example, in other words, with population growing at a rate of approximately 2 per cent, per capita income is rising, i.e., growth is occurring, at a rate of about 4.7 per cent annually.
While we may raise a series of questions about its realism, this Harrod-Domar view of the world serves as a point of departure for much modern growth theory, not only as applied to the developed but also to the less developed world. The departures take the form of a series of modifications—sometimes quite sweeping—of the stipulated rules governing the way in which factors are combined to produce output, of how output is distributed, and of how technological and institutional change occurs. What follows will first trace some of the major modifications in modern growth theory as applied to the mature economy and then summarize the state of contemporary growth theory as applied to the underdeveloped world.
Substitutable inputs models
A first and major modification of the Harrod-Domar world results from the explicit recognition (or better, a return to the recognition) that there exists more than one factor of production and that there is a strong possibility not only of joint inputs of labor and capital but of their substitutability in producing a given output. This is the view typical of the so-called neoclassical growth theory represented by Solow (1956) and Swan (1956). Like Harrod-Domar, Solow accepts a proportional saving function, S = sQ, but unlike his predecessors, he conceives of a production process in which both capital and labor appear as substitutable inputs. The production function meets the usual conditions of constant returns to scale, i.e., if we double the amount of both labor and capital inputs, we double output. With the growth of the capital stock determined by the constant saving propensity and the now variable capital-output ratio [ΔK/X = (I/Q)/(K/Q)— s/v] and with the growth of the other input, labor, determined exogenously at the rate g [ΔL/L = g] we have all the necessary ingredients to trace the performance of the system as a whole from one period to the next.
If, for example, the rate of growth of capital, s/v, exceeds the rate of growth of population or labor, g, the economy’s capital-labor ratio rises, i.e., each worker is equipped with a larger stock of material resources. According to the law of diminishing returns, as each worker cooperates with more and more capital, the extra output due to each unit of capital declines, i.e., the capital-output ratio rises. As the capital—output ratio, v, rises, the rate of growth of capital, s/v, declines, and this process will continue in the long run until the rate of growth of capital falls to the level g, the rate of growth of labor. At this point the rate of growth of human and material resources is the same, and no further increases in the capital–labor ratio result. Consequently, the capital—output ratio also ceases to rise, and so we have arrived at a so-called “steady state” growth, in which capital, labor, and output are all growing at the same rate. Alternatively, if initially the rate of growth of labor, g, exceeds the rate of growth of capital, s/v, as the capital-labor ratio falls, the economy reaps more and more extra output per unit of extra capital: the capital–output ratio falls, and, by an argument entirely symmetrical, the rate of growth of capital rises until it reaches the level of the rate of growth of population. We again achieve a steady state, if now from the opposite “direction.” Output per person, our index of growth, is, of course, constant in the steady state; but it will have reached that particular level by increasing toward it continuously in the case of the increasing capital–labor ratio regime and by falling toward it continuously in the case of the decreasing capital–labor ratio regime. Moreover, the permanently maintainable level of per capita income toward which the economy is tending in this very long run will differ, depending on the production function, the saving rate, and the rate of population growth.
Prevalence of distribution theories
A second major modification of the Harrod-Domar world questions the implied irrelevance for aggregate savings of how income is distributed among the various economic agents. Robinson (1956) and Kaldor (1961), for example, point out that profit recipients and wage earners are likely to save different proportions of their income, and since their relative shares in the total are bound to change over time, they challenge the constancy of the aggregate savings ratio, s, in the course of the growth process. In the extreme case they assume, like Marx and the classicists, that workers do not save and that profit recipients do not consume. In that case the savings rate,s, is equal to the profit share, πK/Q, and the rate of growth of capital, I/K = sQ/K, is equal to the profit rate, π.
In this general context two major types of distribution theory have been advanced. One—often called the neoclassical theory of distribution, since it depends on the possibility of continuous factor substitution—stipulates that market forces ensure that all human and material agents participating in the production process are compensated according to their marginal contribution to output. The smooth neoclassical production function, with constant returns to scale, permits us to “attribute” the total output of the economy, Q, to the quantities of the factors of production, say K and L, weighted by their productive contribution at the margin, i.e., their marginal productivities, MPPK and MPPL, respectively. Thus Q = MPPK + MPPL, with MPPKL/Q representing the portion of total output attributable to capital and MPPJLL/Q the portion of total output attributable to labor. Alternatively put, a given percentage rate of growth of output between any two periods can be decomposed into two portions: (1) a “capital contribution,” which is the percentage increase in the capital stock multiplied by the capital elasticity of output (i.e., the measure of how much output increased due to each percentage point increase in the capital stock), and (2) a “labor contribution,” which is the percentage rate of growth of the labor force multiplied by the labor elasticity of output (i.e., the measure of how much output increased due to each percentage point increase in the labor force). Hence ΔAQ/Q = (ΔK/K)(MPPKK/Q) + (ΔL/L)(MPPLL/Q). The neo-classical theory of income distribution then states that competitive market conditions force the wage rate, w, to equality with the marginal product of labor, MPPL, and the profit rate, π, into equality with the marginal product of capital, MPPK. Consequently labor’s relative share in total income, wL/Q, is equal to its relative contribution to total output, MPPLL/Q; and similarly for the equality between πK/Q and MPPKK/Q.
A second theory, sometimes called the Marxian theory of distribution, insists, on the other hand, on the noncompetitive nature of markets and shifts from a functional or impersonal determination of rates of return to labor and capital to a determination through the interplay of personal forces related to the relative bargaining strengths of contending groups. Since there is no need to assume equality between various factors’ contributions and their income shares, this view is perfectly consistent with a belief in smooth neoclassical production functions. It is, however, true that many of its modern adherents, e.g., Kaldor and Robinson, view production in terms of fixed proportion processes and thus have no choice but to abandon marginal productivity. Unless the extreme case of subsistence wages is accepted, the distribution of income —and thus the aggregate savings ratio—in such models can be determined only in the sense that they must somehow be brought into line with an otherwise determined investment demand. We shall not, however, concern ourselves here with views of growth which abandon the notion that the system is “pushed forward” by the automatic investment of full employment savings and is instead “pulled ahead” by investment opportunities, animal spirits, and the like.
Technological change theories
The discussion of contemporary growth theory has thus far been concerned only with the consequences of larger quantities of inputs participating, perhaps in different combinations, in the production process. As was pointed out earlier, however, it is not merely the stock of material agents per capita but also changes in the efficiency with which they are deployed which may matter a great deal—not to speak of changes in the quality of the inputs or in the institutional framework within which the system is operating. Thus, a third and major modification of the simple Harrod-Domar formulation must be the reintroduction of technological change. Kaldor (1957), for example, has introduced a so-called technical progress function intended to summarize the twin impact of a larger stock of capital per capita (capital deepening) and favorable changes in productive techniques (technological change) on the index of growth, per capita income. In the same year, Solow (1957), using a three-factor production function with constant returns to scale, the third factor being “time” or technological change, found that only 15 per cent of recent per capita output growth in the United States can be explained by increases in the capital stock; 85 per cent must be ascribed to technological change. Whether or not we accept these statistical findings matters less than the growing realization that growth cannot be explained simply in terms of larger quantities of constant quality inputs combining in known ways to produce output. Economists are reaching a real consensus that the as yet unexplained residual which Abramovitz has aptly labeled “a measure of our ignorance” (1956) is large; consequently, much recent growth-theoretic effort has been directed at this problem. This effort has been twofold: on the one hand, to define more rigorously what is really meant by technological change, and, on the other, to work toward meaningful behavioristic relationships which may tell how and why such changes in production functions occur. [SeeAgriculture, article onproductivity and technology; Productivity.]
As has been noted, the growth performance of any system in terms of the rate of increase of its per capita income invariably depends on the amount of material agents that collaborate with labor, i.e., the capital stock per capita, and on the quality of the economic agents and the efficiency with which they are used in the production process. “Technological change” is a semantic umbrella extended over all the latter; that is to say, all increases in output while the quantity of capital and labor is kept constant. At any point in time, then, technological change will raise the productivity of the existing quantities of capital and labor. Just how the introduction of a particular new method affects the productivity of the existing human and material agents provides the basis for Hicks’s attempt to classify innovations (1932). Hicks defines neutral technological change as one which raises the marginal productivity of labor and of capital at the same rate; a labor-saving technological change as one which increases the marginal productivity of capital more than that of labor; and symmetrically for a capital-saving technological change. Harrod (1948) provides a somewhat different definition of technological change. Here there is neutrality if, after the innovation has occurred, the capital-output ratio remains unchanged at a constant rate of profit. If the capital-output ratio rises, it is a labor-saving innovation; if it falls, capital-saving. For reasons that cannot be dwelt on here, a Harrod-neutral innovation is equivalent to a labor-augmenting innovation, i.e., one which converts natural units of labor into better or more efficient units over time. It is the only type of technological change which still permits the system to move toward steady-state growth in the long run. Finally, and quite symmetrically to Harrod, Solow (1963) and Fei and Ranis (1965) propose a third definition of neutrality: constancy of the labor-output ratio, or per capita income, in the presence of a constant wage rate. Such an innovation may also be called capital-augmenting.
An equally important classification of technical change for purposes of advancing growth theory proper is the differentiation between “embodied” and “disembodied” technological change—between innovations which have to be incorporated or embedded in new capital goods or in the labor force and those which do not and can, rather, be viewed as an independent or third factor of production. Another question revolves around whether innovations should be viewed as exogenous and costless, falling in unpredictable quantity, like manna, from heaven, or endogenously related, perhaps to some specific economic activity, e.g., expenditures on education or on research and development, in the past.
The early Solow and Abramovitz view of innovations as an unexplained residual really implies that technological change is disembodied and exogenous. But this must be viewed as only a first step on the road to probing deeper into the nature of the changes which actually occur in the real world and into how they are produced. His prima facie implausible statistical results led Solow him-self, as well as others, to search for a so-called new view of investment (1960), in which technological change is embodied in the latest vintage of capital, i.e., the current year’s investment. One model is essentially neoclassical, with labor allocated to the various heterogeneous qualities of capital stock (the younger the vintage, the more productive) according to the usual competitive assumptions. Other so-called putty-to-clay models (Johansen 1959; Phelps 1963) accept the neoclassical smooth production assumptions for the latest vintage of capital but assume it becomes “frozen” thereafter, i.e., it is transformed into a Harrod-Domar fixed-proportions type of production process. Arrow (1962) uses a somewhat different version of the vintage approach by linking a continuous reduction in the labor requirements per unit of output on new machines to “experience,” which is in turn related to cumulative past investment activity in the economy.
Finally, other models focus attention on changes in the quality of the labor force affecting either all vintages or only the latest entrants. Denison (1962) includes elements of both approaches. Moreover, there remains the question whether technological change, embodied or disembodied, is to be treated exogenously—perhaps as a free good—or endogenously, i.e., springing from some action of the system in the previous period. Improvements in the quality of machinery and of the labor force can, for example, be attributed either to the sheer passage of time or experience, or to previous expenditures, e.g., on research and development and on health and education. Emphasis on the latter type of theory has been growing of late [see, for example,Capital, humanand Schultz 1961].
It should be noted that there exists a large range for choice among the various innovation-theoretic hypotheses sketched in here. It is possible, for example, that all kinds of technological change are occurring simultaneously, from fully embodied (or factor quality-enhancing) innovations to fully disembodied (or organizational efficiency-raising) technological change, in one dimension; and from fully endogenous to fully exogenous, in the other. Unfortunately, the ability to advance reasonable hypotheses has run considerably ahead of the ability to test them rigorously in a statistical or econometric sense. Moreover, even if we could precisely relate improvements in physical capital to research and development expenditures, and improvements in human capital to educational expenditures, a really satisfactory theory of innovations must also be able to incorporate a plausible inducement or motivational mechanism at the level of the individual entrepreneur. In spite of some attempts in this direction (Fellner 1961), we still do not have a satisfactory explanation of just how the profit-maximizing entrepreneur is motivated to select one available type of innovation over another. In summary, the as yet inadequate understanding of the manifold possible interactions between the economy’s surplus over consumption, technological change, and the passage of time provides the biggest obstacle at this time to a really satisfactory theory of economic growth, i.e., one which is not only sufficient to explain the historical record but is also necessary, and thus is ready for the ultimate predictive test.
But if contemporary growth theory as applied to the mature economy has not yet given a completely satisfactory understanding of the sources of economic growth, a consensus seems to be emerging to the effect that conventional growth in the quantity of human and physical resources is of less importance than changes in the quality of the inputs and in the efficiency with which they are combined in the production process. By experimenting with different types of production functions and applying theoretical as well as econometric ingenuity to the problem of “explaining” the residual growth in productivity, we are making steady, if slow, progress in the attempt to recapture some of the magnificence of the explanatory apparatus of an earlier day—while keeping our feet on firm, i.e., empirically testable, ground.
Underdeveloped economies
Thus far we have dealt mainly with the theory of growth in the mature or industrial economy. A second, and no less important, component of the post-World War ii revival of interest in growth is the concern with economic progress, or the absence of such progress, in the so-called underdeveloped or nonindustrial economies. The attempt to formulate a theory of growth applicable to such countries essentially may be viewed as another strand from the same basic framework of inquiry identified here as the post-Keynesian theory of growth. Patently there must exist a large measure of transferability in the way economic progress is viewed among contexts. Everywhere it requires, at a minimum, abstention from consumption, i.e., capital accumulation; and everywhere it is governed by certain technological constraints, i.e., the state of the arts. Thus the basic Harrod-Domar formulation can again be viewed as a point of departure; but now in modifying the simplified view of how the world operates, we must take into account not only more realistic notions of the role of labor, factor substitutability, and technological change but also of the heretofore neglected changes in the institutional milieu within which an economy operates. No longer is it possible to view organizational change as de minimis and to be neglected; in fact, changes in the environment and in the way a society chooses to organize itself in various markets may have a major impact on the growth performance of the system as a whole. For example, an understanding of the changing legal framework required to initiate and sustain growth, of the changing role of markets and administrative controls as allocative devices, and of the transition from extended to nuclear family concepts may be required along with an understanding of the more narrowly conceived interactions between the society’s human and material resources. Any approach to a really useful theory of economic growth is thus likely to require a broadening of the customary analytical framework.
The typical less-developed economy is characterized by an extremely low ratio of material to human resources and a backward technology, together yielding extremely low levels of per capita income, frequently barely above subsistence. Often a substantial proportion of the labor force is openly or disguisedly unemployed. Substantial growth is likely to be ruled out by the low level of saving possible at extremely low levels of per capita income, plus the customary stagnant levels of domestic entrepreneurship and technology. Often even the most elementary preconditions for sustained growth, e.g., geographic or political cohesiveness, absence of internal market barriers, a unified currency and postal system—all essential for welding a conglomeration of resources into a national economy in the first place—are absent. And even where the environment is more conducive, attempts to move such an economy off dead center must overcome the formidable gravitational pull of accelerating population growth.
One difficulty standing in the way of a viable theory of growth for the less developed world is that most of the considerable post-World War ii efforts—by practitioner and academic economist alike—have been directed toward meeting the pressing problems of improved decision making in the immediate present and heavily tinged with the flavor of a country’s, or a region’s, particular economic and institutional characteristics. Few attempts to generalize from such specific country experience have been forthcoming. One of the notable exceptions is Rostow’s stages theory (1960), which moves directly from an interpretation of the history of the now advanced countries to a general theory of growth in terms of sequential stages, including the famous “take-off” into self-sustained growth. While it may provide insights and direct the attention of others to more analytical inquiry, it also does some disservice in terms of its casual marshaling of evidence and its disregard of the need to isolate key behavioristic relationships which determine the path of the system. However, most of the body of what may be called the theory of development evolving over the past several decades is of a more modest character and may, in fact, be characterized as a series of useful theoretical insights, as yet falling short of being fitted together into any more general theoretical framework.
Most of these insights start with the premise that the underdeveloped system initially finds itself in some sort of “trap,” escape from which requires a major effort or considerable structural change. Rosenstein-Rodan (1961), for instance, emphasizes the importance of externalities and economies of scale, and thus the need for a large nonincremental development effort where only a small industrial base exists. Leibenstein (1957) points to the need to overcome the gravitational pull of stagnation, mainly the forces of accelerated population growth, as the system departs from quasi equilibrium. Nurkse (1953) sees the need for balanced growth between industries and sectors to ensure the simultaneous creation of markets and sources of supply for a sufficient number of hesitant entrepreneurs to move forward together. Hirschman (1958), on the other hand, hopes to solve the same decision-making bottleneck via imbalance between direct private and social over-head activity, a strategy which forces expansion on the system.
While such ideas are essentially policy-focused, they patently cannot be divorced from some underlying view of how the typical underdeveloped system behaves. Formulations which recognize, implicitly or explicitly, the prevalence of a struc tural condition called dualism in many of these economies are especially helpful in this respect. Dualism in this context means that the economy is composed of at least two sectors: one relatively small, capitalistic, and mainly industrial, behaving like the mature competitive economy; the other relatively large, traditional, and mainly agricultural, in which the material resources available, land in particular, are insufficient to employ productively the existing supply of labor at prevailing rates of remuneration, i.e., in which there exists substantial overt and disguised unemployment. [SeeEconomy, dual.]
Quite early Rosenstein-Rodan (1943) and Nurkse (1953) recognized that the disguised unemployed in the subsistence or agricultural sector, sharing equally in the extended family’s produce but contributing little or nothing to it, represent a form of “hidden saving’ or surplus, which can be mobilized through its reallocation to productive activity elsewhere. W. Arthur Lewis (1954) advances the notion that growth in this sort of dualistic economy is a function of the rate at which the “unlimited supply” of low (or zero) productivity agricultural workers in one sector can be reallocated to higher productivity, commercialized activities in the other. With real wages in agriculture institutionally anchored, Lewis’ attention is focused largely on the creation of employment opportunities in the industrial sector, which would exercise a demand for the released agricultural workers at the same (or a slightly higher) constant level of real wages. Jorgenson (1961) and Fei and Ranis (1964) follow this up by examining the developmental process in terms of the interaction between the two sectors over time. The latter, for example, emphasize the requirements for balanced intersectoral growth as increases in agricultural labor productivity—a function mainly of technological improvements—release agricultural workers and generate agricultural surpluses. These surpluses, together with the reinvestment of industrial profits, increase the quantity and quality of the industrial sector’s capital stock and thus its demand for the simultaneous absorption of such workers. As long as this balanced reallocation process pulls people out of the noncommercialized and into the commercialized sector at a rate in excess of population growth (population growth may be viewed as simultaneously adding to the pool of the underemployed) the economy is gradually divesting itself of its labor surplus characteristics. Once the twin forces of capital accumulation and technological change, raising productivity in both sectors in a balanced fashion, have achieved this objective, labor, like capital, becomes a scarce factor, bid for by landlords and industrial entrepreneurs alike, and the entire economy has become commercialized. The economic calculus in the familiar one-sector world context then comes into operation, participation of all economic agents in the system’s productive and innovative processes becomes possible, and the transition to the mature economy is achieved.
It should, of course, be recognized that the labor surplus economy, while representing a common species of underdevelopment, is by no means typical of all such systems. Some underdeveloped economies, for instance, still have exploitable free land and experience year-round labor shortages. Others have no large traditional sectors but suffer from a colonial pattern of trade. There can, in short, be little doubt that the search for any really general theory of development has been severely handicapped by the heterogeneity in initial resource endowment, in the rules of behavior, and in the institutional framework among the countries loosely bearing the underdeveloped label. In the face of this, economists presumably will continue to seek elements of transferability in the experience of particular types of economic systems. The evolution of a meaningful typology of less-developed economies may thus constitute a first step in the direction of a more generally applicable theory of development.
Gustav Ranis
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Harrod, Roy F. 1939 An Essay in Dynamic Theory. Economic Journal 49:14-33.
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Keynes, John Maynard 1936 The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. London: Macmillan. → A paperback edition was published in 1965 by Harcourt.
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Lewis, W. Arthur 1954 Economic Development With Unlimited Supplies of Labour. Manchester School of Economics and Social Studies 22:139-191.
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Rosenstein-Rodan, Paul N. 1943 Problems of Industrialization of Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Economic Journal 53:202-211.
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Schultz, Theodore W. 1961 Investment in Human Capital. American Economic Review 51:1-17.
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Solow, Robert M. 1957 Technical Change and the Aggregate Production Function. Review of Economics and Statistics 39:312-320.
Solow, Robert M. 1960 Investment and Technical Progress. Pages 89-104 in Stanford Symposium on Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences, Stanford University, 1959, Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences, 1959: Proceedings. Edited by Kenneth J. Arrow, Samuel Karlin, and Patrick Suppes. Stanford Univ. Press.
Solow, Robert M. 1963 Capital Theory and the Rate of Return. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing.
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Long-run economic growth, like short-run economic equilibrium, is studied from both the micro-economic and macroeconomic points of view. The microeconomic or multisector theory of growth, which can be thought of as a dynamic extension of the general equilibrium theory of exchange and production, has received considerable mathematical attention in recent decades. Golden equilibrium growth (defined below) is the theory’s central concept, and the mathematical analyses deal with the existence, optimality, and stability of golden equilibrium growth paths.
The roles of monetary phenomena, international trade, and technological change have so far received little attention in the analyses. These factors may have important influences on actual processes of economic growth, and neglect of them may be the source of serious shortcomings in the micro-theory. But the microtheory is still in its early stages of development, and the study of these factors must as yet be left to macroeconomic analysis.
The Walrasian model. The prototype of con-temporary growth models was formulated by Walras (1874–1877). A description of the Walrasian model in its simplest form follows.
It is assumed that there are two groups of citizens—workers and capitalists—and two industries —one producing a consumption good and the other producing a capital good. Assume for the moment that the capital good is not subject to depreciation. A number of basic manufacturing processes are available to firms in both industries, and the capital-input and labor-input coefficients of each process are assumed constant. If perfect competition prevails among firms, no firm will gain supernormal profits. Thus, in an equilibrium state,
(1) the price of the consumption good is less than or equal to the cost per unit of output of any process of the consumption good industry,
(2) the price of the capital good is less than or equal to the cost per unit of output of any process of the capital good industry.
Cost per unit of output is the sum of the capital-input coefficient multiplied by the price of the capital service and the labor-input coefficient multiplied by the wage rate. Conditions (1) and (2) must hold with equality for some processes, and those processes for which the conditions hold with strict inequality are not used in equilibrium.
Demand for the consumption good is assumed to depend on the price of the consumption good, the price of the capital good, and total money in-come. If prices and money income change by the same proportion, demand is assumed to remain unchanged. Furthermore, the elasticity of demand with respect to total money income is assumed to be unity. In view of the definition of savings as the excess of income over consumption,
(3) total income is identically equal to consumption plus savings.
The amount of capital used in the economy is the sum over all processes of the output produced by each process multiplied by the corresponding capital-input coefficient. The range of summation covers the entire economy, that is, the consumption good industry as well as the capital good industry. Since the amount of capital utilized at any point of time cannot exceed the amount available,
(4) the amount of capital utilized must be less than or equal to the amount of capital in existence.
Similar conditions must hold for labor, the consumption good, and the capital good, namely,
(5) the amount of labor utilized must be less than or equal to the amount of labor available,
(6) demand for the consumption good must be less than or equal to total output of the consumption good,
(7) demand for the capital good must be less than or equal to total output of the capital good.
The rule of free goods prevails in the markets, so that if one of the conditions (4) to (7) holds with strict inequality, then the corresponding price, say the price of the capital service in the case of (4), is set at zero. Conditions (1) to (7) are then found to imply the equality of savings and investment.
Existence of a golden growth equilibrium. We now examine the Walrasian model for the existence of a golden growth equilibrium, defined as a state in which outputs of all goods grow at a rate equal to the rate of growth of the labor force and in which all prices remain unchanged forever. The argument proceeds in terms of the warranted and natural rates of growth, the most fundamental concepts of growth economics originally due to Harrod (1948).
Harrod defined the warranted rate of growth as “that over-all rate of advance which, if executed, will leave entrepreneurs in a state of mind in which they are prepared to carry on a similar advance” (1948, p. 82). Some preliminary analysis is required to establish the warranted rate, for it is a concept that results from a combination of the so-called factor-price frontiers (Morishima 1964, pp. 76-83; Samuelson 1962) and Kahn’s interindus-trial multiplier (Kahn 1931).
Suppose that prices are normalized so that the price of the consumption good is unity. Then the normalized wage rate gives the real wage. Conditions (1) and (2) now contain three variables— the price of the capital good, the price of the capital service, and the real wage rate. Therefore, two of these prices, say the first two, can be expressed as functions of the third. We can then obtain a relation between the rate of return on capital, that is, the ratio of the price of the capital service to the price of the capital good, and the real wage rate. This relation is referred to as the envelope of the factor-price frontiers, or simply the factor-price frontier. The rate of return on capital can be shown to decrease when the real wage rate increases in an interval permitted by technology.
It follows from (1) and (2) that there exist positive prices corresponding to any preassigned nonnegative value of the real wage rate, provided the value of the real wage does not exceed the maximum permitted by technology. This implies that (4), (6), and (7) hold as equalities. Since demand for the consumption good equals total in-come multiplied by the average propensity to consume (denoted by c),
(8) consumption equals c times the sum of consumption and savings.
If ξ denotes the output of the consumption good, x the output of the capital good, and p the price of the capital good in terms of the consumption good, then conditions (6) and (7), together with other equilibrium conditions, imply that consumption equals ξ and that savings equals px. Substituting (6) and (7) into (8), we obtain the Kahn multiplier,
From the factor-price frontier, prices depend on the real wage rate. Since c is assumed to depend only on prices, it is seen that the real wage rate is the ultimate determinant of the relative outputs of the two industries.
The warranted rate of growth can easily be established now. Dividing condition (4) by the output of the capital good, we obtain to the right of the equality the reciprocal of the rate of growth of the capital stock. Since the processes for which (1) or (2) hold with strict inequality are not adopted, and since the choice of other processes is subject to (9), the rate of growth of the capital stock depends on the real wage rate. Hence, there is a relation between the growth rate of the capital stock and the real wage rate in the entire interval permitted by technology. This relation is called the warranted growth rate curve. Suppose w is the real wage rate arbitrarily set in the technologically permitted interval. Entrepreneurs will increase the stock of capital at the rate corresponding to the given value of w, and all the equilibrium conditions except (5) will be fulfilled. Entrepreneurs will wish to maintain this growth rate, and it will persist if the supply of labor adapts itself to the demand for labor.
In the absence of technological change, the natural rate of growth is equal to the rate of growth of the labor force. The rate of growth of the labor force is often assumed to be constant (independent of the values of economic variables) but may more realistically be considered a function of the real wage rate. Suppose that the growth rate of the labor force is positive, zero, or negative depending on whether the real wage is above, equal to, or below the subsistence level. This relation between the natural growth rate (the growth rate of the labor force) and the real wage rate is called the natural growth rate curve.
The warranted and natural growth rate curves will generally have at least one point of intersection, and at that point the stock of capital and the labor force grow at a common rate. Suppose w is a real wage rate at which the stock of capital, K, and the labor force, L, increase at the same rate g. Let the values of the other variables that satisfy the equilibrium conditions (1) to (7) be denoted by corresponding letters with bars above them. A proportional increase in K and L gives rise to an increase of the same proportion in total income, provided prices remain constant. Since the income elasticity of demand for the consumption good is unity, the increase in total income gives rise to an increase of the same proportion in the demand for the consumption good. Therefore, if prices remain constant over time, equilibrium at any point of time t is established when
where subscripts indicate time; that is to say, when the real wage rate w prevails, the stock of capital, the labor force, and the outputs of the two industries grow forever at the common rate g, and prices remain unchanged. Such a state is called a state of golden growth equilibrium (Robinson 1956, p. 9; Morishima 1964, p. 78).
The von Neumann model. The two-sector model examined so far assumes, among other things, (a) that firms can be classified into two industries producing distinct outputs, (b) that factors of production are instantaneously transformed into products, (coma) that the capital good does not suffer wear and tear, and (d) that the capital stock and the supply of labor are freely transferable from one firm to another. All these assumptions are unrealistic, and they crucially affect the analytical properties of the model.
First, it is clear from actual input-output tables of various countries that many goods are both consumed and used as inputs in many industries in the economy; there is no clear demarcation between consumption goods and capital goods. Second, a certain length of time generally must elapse between the original input of factors and the final output of a product. The period of production usually differs from one good to another, but we may justify the assumption of uniform production lags by introducing as many fictitious intermediate products at each point of time as required.
Third, according to the neoclassical treatment of depreciation, capital goods that were produced several years ago and have been subject to wear and tear are considered to be physically equivalent to some smaller amounts of new capital goods of the same kind. But it is generally impossible to find quantitative equivalents, in terms of new capital goods, of capital goods damaged in various degrees from past use. In fact, if an entrepreneur has a certain amount of a capital good that is in its final stage of wear and tear, he will have no capital equipment at the beginning of the next year; while if he has a certain amount, however small, of a new capital good, he may use it for production throughout its whole lifetime. Only by treating capital goods at different stages of depreciation as qualitatively different goods can we adequately deal with the age structure of the capital stock. Von Neumann (1937) suggested that used capital goods appearing simultaneously with products at the end of the production period be treated as by-products of the manufacturing process. A process that uses capital equipment is regarded as a process that converts a bundle of “inputs” into a bundle of “outputs,” where inputs are defined to include capital goods left over from the preceding period and outputs are defined to include qualitatively different capital goods left over at the end of the current period.
This treatment of capital goods enables us to discard the final assumption of perfect transferability of capital equipment. In addition to being more productive, a new capital good is generally more transferable than a used one. A new machine will be sold to any factory that demands it, while a machine that has already been set up in a factory usually will not be transferred to another factory, even if the factory that owns the machine is overequipped and some other factory is under-equipped. This asymmetry in the transfer ability of capital goods can readily be incorporated in the growth model if we permit joint production in the sense von Neumann suggested and treat capital goods at different dates as different goods.
From these considerations, it is clear that the growth model, if it is not to be trivial, must not only be multisectoral but must also be capable of dealing successfully with joint production. A model fulfilling these requirements was first proposed by von Neumann. He assumed the following: (a) there are constant returns to scale in production of all goods; (b) the supply of labor can be expanded indefinitely; (c) the wage rate is fixed at a level at which workers can only purchase the minimum amounts of goods biologically required to subsist; and (d) the whole of capitalists’ income is invested in new capital goods. It is evident that the model ignores the role played by consumers’ choice in the determination of the rate of growth; workers are like farm animals, and capitalists are simply self-service stands of capital.
Consumers’ choice has been introduced into the model by relaxing the classical assumption that workers only consume and capitalists only save. Morishima (1964) studied models where (1) Although workers still consume their entire income, their demand for consumption goods allows substitution in response to price changes, and (2) capitalists spend a portion of their income on consumption goods in such a way that their demand for each good depends not only on relative prices but also on their income—the income elasticity of demand being unity. Morishima also replaced von Neumann’s unrealistic assumption of an indefinitely expandable labor force with a more plausible assumption of a labor force growing at a rate that depends on the real wage rate.
Perfect transferability of capital goods is not a necessary condition for the existence of golden growth equilibrium; but the assumption of unitary income elasticities of demand, which is very stringent and unrealistic, is an indispensable condition. Aside from uneven effects of technological change on various industries, the only obstacle to golden growth is the existence of different income elasticities of demand for different consumption goods.
In an economy where wages are paid at the end of each period, the golden equilibrium growth rate equals the product of the capitalists’ average propensity to save and the rate of profit on fixed capital. On the other hand, if wages are advanced at the beginning of each period, they earn profit during the period, and the golden equilibrium growth rate equals the capitalists’ propensity to save multiplied by the rate of profit on total capital, which is the sum of fixed capital and the wages fund (Morishima 1964, pp. 145-151).
Stability of a golden growth equilibrium. In examining the stability of a golden growth equilibrium, a problem posed is whether the maintenance of full employment of labor and capital along a path starting from arbitrarily or historically given endowments of capital and labor will eventually lead to a state of golden equilibrium growth. Various writers have studied this problem and have found that a large class of two-sector models have a stable golden equilibrium if certain plausible restrictions are imposed on technology or on the consumption function. For example, in the case of the Walrasian two-sector model, stability is ensured if a constant proportion of income is devoted to consumption.
However, in more realistic multisector models, the tendencies toward a golden growth equilibrium may not exist. It has been argued that the stability of outputs in a multisector model implies the instability of prices, and vice versa. Jorgenson (1960) proved that this is the case for a closed dynamic Leontief input-output system. However, for an open system, he showed that stability of outputs implies stability of prices, except under rather implausible circumstances. Since examples of both stability and instability of golden equilibrium growth can be found, the maintenance of full employment of labor and capital is not a sufficient condition for the attainment of a golden growth state.
A growth path is called efficient if there is no other path along which more of some goods can be produced without reducing the output of another good. A growth path is called optimal if there is no other path that can make the society better off. Full employment of labor and capital is a characteristic of an efficient or optimal growth path if labor and capital are always scarce. Whether or not these factors are scarce, however, depends on the amounts of goods to be produced. In a planned economy, a certain amount of the capital stock may not be used at some point of time if the existing capital stock exceeds the amount required by a long-run growth plan designed to attain either efficiency in production or maximum satisfaction of the citizenry. Similarly, a portion of the labor force may not be used. Hence, rather than examining the convergence of a full employment growth path to the golden equilibrium path, we might examine the convergence of efficient growth paths to the golden equilibrium path.
The turnpike theorems. The turnpike growth path (or, more briefly, the turnpike) is defined as the golden equilibrium growth path (there may be many such paths) that gives the maximum rate of growth. The study of convergence of efficient growth paths to the turnpike has produced the so-called turnpike theorems.
Adopting von Neumann’s assumptions presented above, the basic turnpike theorem may be stated as follows: Let the stocks of goods that the economy intends to have at the end of a planning period be specified in their proportions (but not in their absolute values) by the planning authorities. Consider efficient paths in the set of all feasible growth paths. In this instance, a feasible growth path is one leading from the historically given present state to the prescribed end. There is a long-run tendency for such efficient paths to approximate the turnpike as the planning period becomes longer and longer. In other words, the long-run efficient paths run along the turnpike for most of the planning period, although they will have to leave the turnpike in the final part of the planning period in order to reach the objective (Dorfman et al. 1958, pp. 326-345).
This theorem would be especially useful in formulating a seven-year or ten-year growth plan for underdeveloped or socialist economies. Mathematical economists have provided rigorous statements and proofs of the theorem (Radner 1961; McKenzie 1963) and have found that there are exceptions to the theorem. Unless the technology available to the economy satisfies some special conditions, efficient paths will trace out undamped oscillations around the turnpike (Morishim a 1964, pp. 171-173; Hicks 1965, pp. 224-225, 327-331).
The theorem can be modified or extended in several directions. For example, it has been shown that the stocks of goods discounted by one plus the turnpike rate of growth and averaged along efficient paths over the whole planning period are very close to the turnpike stock vector if the length of the planning period is sufficiently long. Such a convergence theorem may be termed the mean turnpike theorem. There is no cyclic exception to the mean turnpike theorem; even though efficient paths may fluctuate around the turnpike regularly or irregularly, the average of the discounted values of deviations from the turnpike always approaches zero in the limit (Morishima 1965).
The turnpike theorems discussed so far are based on the assumption that the labor force can be expanded at any rate. This assumption can be replaced by the more general assumption that the production and reproduction of workers is part of the over-all process of production. Workers cannot choose goods according to their own tastes but are fed by the dictator or planning authorities just as farm animals are. When there is a shortage of workers, they will be fed well to increase the birth rate; in a period of excess supply of workers, they will be underfed. Obviously, the model describes a shameless society such as a slave economy, although this is not very far from the state of affairs in some countries. The turnpike (mean turnpike) theorem for such an economy asserts that all efficient paths converge to the turnpike in the sense that output of each good per worker (the average discounted output per worker) approximates the turnpike output per worker when the planning period is very long.
In the models just described, the planning authorities specified only terminal stocks of goods. Outputs of goods at any intermediate date were simply inputs for the immediately succeeding date, and there was no consumption at intermediate dates. (Feeding the workers was necessary to produce workers; the food they ate was an input for the process that produced workers who, in turn, were inputs for other production processes.) Hence, a growth path was feasible if it merely satisfied the final-state conditions, and the turnpike theorems stated may be called final-state turnpike theorems. They hold when the sole objective is to bequeath certain stocks of goods to a remote future generation, for example, to our great-grandchildren. But if the welfare of children and grandchildren is to be taken into account, their consumption should also be part of the desiderata in the growth plan. Intermediate states as well as the final state must be evaluated according to some measure of welfare.
This can be accomplished by introducing a utility function that depicts the preference orderings (by the workers or by the ministry of welfare) of different streams of consumption and of amounts of work over the planning period. In particular, suppose we discount consumption and the amount of work at each future date by a subjective time-preference factor that does not exceed the turnpike growth rate. It is assumed that utility depends on the averages over all dates in the planning period of these discounted values. An optimal growth path is one that maximizes this utility function.
With the aid of some additional assumptions, we can establish the following consumption turnpike theorem: As the length of the planning period tends to infinity, any optimal path converges to the turnpike. As in the case of the final-state turnpike theorem, there will be cyclic exceptions to this consumption turnpike theorem if technology does not satisfy some restrictive conditions. Optimal paths may oscillate around the turnpike forever. However, a consumption mean turnpike theorem that is similar to the final-state mean turnpike theorem discussed above can be established, and there is no cyclic exception to the mean theorem.
The consumption turnpike theorem, unlike the final-state turnpike theorems, could avoid cyclic exceptions if it were assumed that society has an aversion to fluctuations. Of two consumption streams having the same average discounted values but having different fluctuations over the planning period, society may prefer the stream with the lesser fluctuations. An optimal growth path would then be one that maximizes a utility function that depends upon the average discounted values of consumption and of amounts of work and upon some measure of the variances of these streams. When the society’s aversion to fluctuations is very strong, its optimal growth path will be a feasible path that has no fluctuations in consumption per capita, so that the convergence of consumption per capita to the turnpike is secured.
Even in this case, however, it is still possible to have fluctuations of outputs around the turnpike; in fact, people would be prepared to accept fluctuations of outputs if fluctuations are required for an optimum steady stream of consumption. Hence, the introduction of very strong aversion to fluctuations will eliminate cycles in the per capita consumption of goods but not in per capita outputs.
Michio Morishima
[See alsoEconomic equilibrium; Interest; Statics and dynamics in economics; and the biographies ofvon Neumann; Walras.]
Hahn, F. H.; and Matthews, R. C. O. 1964 The Theory of Economic Growth: A Survey. Economic Journal 74:779-902.
Hicks, John R. 1965 Capital and Growth. New York: Oxford Univ. Press; Oxford: Clarendon.
Jorgenson, Dale W. 1960 A Dual Stability Theorem. Econometrica 28:892-899.
Kahn, R. F. 1931 The Relation of Home Investment to Unemployment. Economic Journal 41:173-198.
Mckenzie, Lionel W. 1963 Turnpike Theorems for a Generalized Leontief Model. Econometrica 31:165-180.
Morishima, Michio 1964 Equilibrium, Stability and Growth: A Multi-sectoral Analysis. Oxford: Clarendon.
Morishima, Michio 1965 On the Two Theorems of Growth Economics: A Mathematical Exercise. Econometrica 33:829-840.
Radner, Roy 1961 Paths of Economic Growth That Are Optimal With Regard Only to Final States: A Turnpike Theorem. Review of Economic Studies 28:98-104.
Samuelson, Paul A. 1962 Parable and Realism in Capital Theory: The Surrogate Production Function. Review of Economic Studies 29:193-206.
von Neumann, John (1937) 1945 A Model of General Economic Equilibrium. Review of Economic Studies 13:1-9. → First published in German in Volume 8 of Ergebnisse eines mathematischen Kolloquiums.
Walras, LÉon (1874–1877) 1954 Elements of Pure Economics: Or, the Theory of Social Wealth. Translated by William Jaffe. Homewood, III.: Irwin; London: Allen & Unwin. → First published in French as Elements d’economie politique pure.
The concept of underdevelopment which has become quite popular since the end of World War ii applies primarily to societies which are inferior to the principal Western nations in terms of economic performance and technological sophistication. In previous periods these societies were customarily referred to as “backward” or “arrested,” but these terms have fallen into disuse, and in their stead “underdeveloped” or “developing” is used. In even more recent times, and with special regard to countries emerging from colonialism, the concept of “new nations” is being employed.
Although the condition of “underdevelopment” therefore is primarily an economic and technological feature of certain societies, it appears to have important sociological concomitants, and it is these social and cultural aspects of the condition of underdevelopment, as well as the variables which appear important in analyzing the gradual emergence of these societies from a condition of economic and technological underdevelopment to a level of higher economic and technical performance, which will be stressed in the subsequent paragraphs.
The description of underdevelopment and the identification of processes and policies which will lead out of it to higher levels of performance is primarily undertaken by economists. But economists realize that in performing this task they have to take account of noneconomic, i.e., primarily social and cultural, factors which strongly influence patterns of development. In fact, it may be argued that on the purely analytical level the economic problems of economic development are relatively simple, whereas the social and political aspects of the process are much more complex and elusive.
It is generally acknowledged that the main path to higher levels of economic performance is through the rational organization of production, and this rational organization in turn depends primarily on the introduction of industry. Thus, in terms of occupational structure, underdevelopment is characterized by the absolute prevalence of agriculture as the main source of livelihood; and economically more advanced societies usually show an increasing proportion of their labor force in secondary (manufacturing and mining) and tertiary (service) occupations. All societies which are in a state of underdevelopment, therefore, are non-industrialized or little industrialized, and the process of economic development may in a rough way be equated with the progress of industry and associated forms of economic activity.
Classical approaches. We do not lack descriptions of nonindustrial societies, beginning with the ethnographic reports of “savages,” “barbarians,” or “exotic peoples.” But these accounts are of little analytical value. The first useful attempts to come to grips with the analysis of the social system of nonindustrial societies begin with the work of scholars who sought to describe entire social systems associated with different levels of economic performance. Among the most famous attempts at holistic descriptions of differentiated social systems are the well-known dichotomies of Ferdinand Tönnies (1887) between Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, of Robert Redfield (1941; 1950) between folk and urban society, and of authors following Max Weber (1919–1920) between traditional and rational patterns of social action. This last contrast has received a great deal of attention, and we find not infrequently that action and behavior patterns in technologically and economically little developed societies are described as “traditional” and that this concept implies that these action patterns are in-efficient, technologically noncomplex, and strongly resistant to innovation.
Redfield’s “folk society’ Before entering into a more detailed analysis of the concept of tradition-oriented behavior, it would be useful to draw attention to two features of nonindustrialized societies which have received extensive treatment in the work of Redfield and Tonnies and their followers. One point often reiterated by Redfield is the fact that social acts in a folk society typically are not “single-interest” but “multiple-interest” actions. Productive activity, for example, not only has an economic purpose but also is conceived by the members of folk societies as containing ritual elements, elements pertaining to social cohesion or structure, “political goals,” and others. This very “multidimensionality” of all social behavior in folk societies is at the bottom of some of the difficulties in bringing about changes in behavior. If social behavior were unidimensional, change would be relatively easy. Since in addition to meeting one specific objective, a given action is conceived of as simultaneously meeting other objectives, change is possible only if the new way of acting can be interpreted as comprising all these associated objectives also. In brief, some such behavior as planting, or harvesting, or engaging in exchange is conceived of not merely as productive activity but also as behavior maintaining the stability and relational adequacy of a person’s position in his culture. Hence, if different forms of productive activity are proposed, they will prove acceptable (without strong external compulsion) only if they also meet in some form or another all or most of the other objectives which were met by the activity to be replaced.
Tönnies’ “small community” The emphasis placed by Tonnies and his disciples on the significance of community also has played an important role in the study of conditions surrounding technological change and economic innovation. The point to be emphasized in this context is that for many nonindustrialized societies, the small group is the relevant unit of social cohesion. This small community often has its origin in tribal or kinship relations, but what is important about it is that its membership is usually strictly circumscribed, limited to persons who have either long-standing faceto-face relationships or some other form of close common identification. All outsiders, i.e., all persons who do not belong to the small community, are strangers and are often regarded with suspicion.
In many underdeveloped societies these highly particularistic groups still exist, and in some instances they have considerable strength. They often appear as tribal groups, but also may constitute village communities, castes, or other associations based on kinship or quasi-kinship ties or joint occupancy of a small area. Usually the group lives in a compact area. Geography and familiarity thus rein-force one another, and the small community may be considered in some cultural contexts as a hard-shelled unit whose main forms of social interaction occur only within the community and whose relations to the outside are tenuous and often associated with suspicion and fear. In the development process, strong tendencies are set in motion to break up this isolation of the community and to enmesh its members in different forms of social relations with the outside. Moreover, it is often those persons who have low status within the community who most easily penetrate the wall built around it and who tend to interact most frequently with the remainder of the society.
Thus the significance of the small community is its resistance against absorption into the “great society” and the conflicts which arise on the social and personal level in the absorption process, in which primary loyalties to the small group gradually tend to be replaced by loyalties to the larger society. Moreover, many of the institutions which have meaning within the context of the small community lose this meaning in the framework of the larger society. The family as a productive unit that yields economic security loses its place in a society in which industrialization has occurred and in which the economic ties are with persons outside the kinship group and economic security is obtained through governmental or other insurance schemes. Similarly, the intimate relation with tribal or village deities loses its full significance for those who enter the larger society, and the patterns of deference and authority within the small community have no force outside it. All this tends to produce conflicts within and beyond the small community. One may notice them in India, where they manifest themselves in conflicts within and between castes; in Africa, where they appear as struggles between centralized authorities and tribal chieftains; and elsewhere, where they take on still different forms.
The strong nationalism which permeates many industrializing countries is the chief ideological underpinning for a process of social change which leads from the ubiquity of small, particularistic communities to a more uniform, structurally diversified but more highly interdependent society. Other processes associated with industrial development and less subject to manipulation by agitators and intellectuals support this trend. Among these are urbanization and bureaucratization of govern-mental and productive procedures. The onslaught on the small community thus comes from all sides, and it is not likely that it can withstand the combined impact of these forces.
From the description of the small community and the folk society, with its multifaceted features of social interaction, we can see that these two concepts are mainly different descriptions of the same social type. A third, and on the whole more popular, way of describing this type of society is to point to its traditionalism or, perhaps more correctly, to describe it as a society in which traditional forms of action predominate. As we have seen, the concept of traditional social action ultimately goes back to Max Weber (1922), who juxtaposed it to different forms of rational action. Since the concept of traditional or tradition-oriented action has gained such wide popularity, it must be considered in somewhat more detail.
Weber’s “traditional behavior” Although Max Weber did not explicitly make the important distinction between traditional action and traditionalistic action, it is implicit in his work. Traditional or tradition-oriented social action is found in all societies. Weber described it as action based upon the psychic attitude set for the habitual workaday and the belief in the everyday routine as an inviolable norm of conduct (1922). But beyond this, the concept of traditional action may be widened by including forms of social behavior which have been taken over from ancestors and forebears, because all populations have a sense of their historical past and a need for continuity of behavioral norms and because these forms of social action can appropriately be fitted into the action schema of a society. This does not mean that traditional action excludes change. Many practices in modern, highly industrial societies are based on tradition and traditional norms. This is true of such everyday behavior patterns as forms of greeting and rules of personal conduct, but it is also true of more complex behavior in the political and economic spheres. It would be difficult to separate societies at different levels of economic performance by the relative “quantity” of tradition-oriented behavior that their members show.
Traditionalistic action, on the other hand, may be defined as action based upon the self-conscious, deliberate affirmation of traditional norms in full awareness of their traditional nature and alleging that their merit derives from that traditional transmission from a sacred orientation (Weber 1919-1920). In other words, traditionalistic action is a conscious revival of a past glorious age or past sacred lore, an ideology which looks to the past as providing a set of norms whose revival would again lead to splendor and greatness. In the nationalisms of many industrializing countries, especially those whose roots go deep into a great past—such as India and the Islamic countries—we can find strong traditionalistic admixtures. These ideologies consist not merely in the rejection of Western values; the revival and revitalization of old values, often long dead, is demanded, and external behavior is ap-proved which is thought to be in conformance with these norms.
Traditional action, though it may sometimes conflict with the demands of modernization and technological change, usually is an important reinforcing element in the preservation of stability in a period of rapid change. On the whole, the permanence of manifold traditions in social behavior may be an important factor mitigating the many dislocations and disorganizations which tend to accompany rapid industrialization and technical change. Traditionalistic action, on the other hand, since it tries to elevate outdated practices and values to the level of current behavioral norms, usually has a reactionary character and tends to retard economic change. [See the biographies ofRedfield; TÖnnies; and Weber, Max.]
Parsons’ pattern variables approach. One attempt to elaborate further the characteristics of tradition-oriented societies and, in fact, to break into its components the rationalism-tradition dichotomy, is the description of societies at different levels of economic performance by means of the pattern variables developed by Talcott Parsons (1951).
Of the five pairs of pattern alternatives stated by Parsons, three are immediately applicable: the choice between modalities of the social object (achievement versus ascription), the choice between types of value orientation (universalism versus particularism), and the definition of scope of interest in the object (specificity versus diffuseness). In applying these three pattern variables to the distinctions between industrialized and predominantly nonindustrial societies, we find that industrialized societies are characterized by the predominance of achievement standards in the distribution of economic roles and objects, that they employ universalistic criteria in this distribution process, and that economic roles in these societies are typically functionally specific. Underdeveloped societies, on the other hand, predominantly exhibit features of ascription, particularism, and functional diffuseness in the corresponding fields of social action. It should be emphasized that we are considering norms of social behavior. In other words, the complex of pattern variables present in any society constitutes an ideal type.
Achievement—ascription. The achievement—ascription dichotomy is closely related to, though not identical with, the contrast between status-oriented and contract-oriented societies first stressed by Henry Sumner Maine (1861). If we apply this dichotomy to economic objects, we find that in a society in which ascription is the norm, economic roles are distributed ideally on the basis of who a person is rather than what he can do. A practical example of a society based on ascription would be an “ideal” caste system, in which each caste is associated with a certain occupation and in which only members of a given caste are admitted to that occupation. The caste system, however, although it may have come close to this ideal in some localities at certain times, never, as a whole, exhibited fully ascriptive features [seeCaste]. But it is quite clear, from the example given, that in a society in which economic roles are assigned on the basis of status or ascription, social mobility is made difficult and social change, to the extent to which it depends upon mobility, is severely impeded.
In contrast, the predominance of an achievement norm with respect to the distribution of economic roles means that the primary criterion for attaining a certain occupation is based on a person’s capacity to perform the required tasks. In practice, an actual test may be involved in the process of allocating economic roles, or, lacking this, certain objective criteria, such as successful completion of a certain number of years of school, or the obtaining of a degree, may be prescribed. Again, it is well known that pure performance criteria are not applied everywhere in industrialized countries, but the ideal of an achievement norm is strong enough so that even where economic roles are actually allocated on the basis of ascription, the pretense is made that the performance requirement has been met.
Universalism-particularism. The next pair of pattern alternatives, universalism-particularism, is related to the first pair. They do not prescribe norms concerning who is to perform a given role but stipulate whether the same rules apply to everyone. A good example of the application of particularistic norms with respect to economic action is the case of European medieval society, in which specific rules applied to peasants and burghers, to nobles and commoners. In many underdeveloped societies, certain markets and certain transactions are reserved to certain groups, and only the admission of an outsider to an otherwise closed group permits him to perform the functions reserved for this group. The principle of universalism, on the contrary, makes no such distinctions. The same rules apply to all, the principle of formal equality being elevated to a general norm of social behavior.
Speciftcity–diffuseness. It almost follows logically that in a society in which economic roles are distributed on the basis of universalistic performance criteria, the roles themselves are functionally highly specific. This requirement is an outflow of the rigorous application of the principle of achievement, which is of little value unless a role can be clearly defined and circumscribed. Functional specificity is, moreover, an outflow of the increasing division of labor. Adam Smith, in his famous example of the manufacture of pins, clearly demonstrates its economic advantage. For, as he points out, “the improvement of the dexterity of the workman necessarily increases the quantity of work he can perform; and the division of labour, by reducing every man’s business to some one simple operation, and by making this operation the sole employment of his life, necessarily increases very much the dexterity of the workman” (Smith [1776] 1937, p. 7). There are other advantages, in Adam Smith’s view, to the division of labor, but he quite accurately places the development of a high degree of functional specificity first.
Functional diffuseness stands in direct contrast with specificity. The simple peasant in a nonindustrial society is a characteristic representative of the functionally diffuse. He not only performs all work connected with producing a crop but he also builds his house, makes his implements, and often produces his own clothes and other final consumption goods. As in the cases of the ascription-achievement duality and the particularism-universalism duality, we find noncharacteristic cases which seem to contradict the generalization that diffuseness is normally associated with underdeveloped societies. For example, in India the system of social division of labor under the predominance of caste has led, even in a nonindustrial society, to a high degree of functional specificity. On the other hand, certain occupations, especially on the highest managerial level, are functionally diffuse, even in highly industrialized societies. In general, functional specificity has been instituted more widely for the simpler and less complex tasks, but the progressive specialization in business management, and even in scientific pursuits, is a sign that this process of occupational differentiation is ubiquitous and strong in modern advanced societies.
The use of pattern variables has the advantage of bringing into sharper focus some of the strategic mechanisms of social change associated with industrialization and technical progress. Although universalistic norms need not generally replace particularistic ones, the transition from a system of ascription to one based on achievement in the allocation of economic roles and the replacement of functionally diffuse by functionally specific norms for the definition of economic tasks appear to have taken place in all cases of successful economic development. It is, therefore, useful to relate the description of industrial and nonindustrial societies which uses the pattern variables to the earlier descriptions which used the folk-urban continuum and the community-society dichotomy.
Integration of approaches. We have seen earlier that the folk society is characterized by a multi-dimensional meaning of economic acts, i.e., their relevance not merely as acts of production or exchange but also as acts of ritual, assertion of associative values, and so on. Alternatively, this fact can be described by pointing to the high degree of functional diffuseness of economic acts in the folk society. If a particular form of social behavior has meaning in several spheres of social action, it must, by necessity, be diffuse. It has many meanings, and although the actual manipulations demanded in its performance may be rigidly prescribed, its “multidimensionality” gives it the character of functional diffuseness, which, incidentally, also makes it so resistant to change.
Similarly, we may conceive of the small community as a set of institutionalized interpersonal relationships based primarily on ascriptive characteristics. The cohesion and compactness of the small community are enhanced because economic roles are tied to ascriptive status and because even where there is a considerable degree of specificity in different economic roles, as in the Indian village, ascriptive norms provide a stability and internal rigidity which makes change from within exceedingly difficult. It is only the breakup of the small community or its infiltration from the outside which tends to reduce the significance of ascription in the distribution of economic (and other, e.g., political or deference) roles.
The gradual destruction of the traditional folk-like small community thus is accompanied in the economic and technological spheres by a process of differentiation of economic roles and a relaxation of the rules assigning those roles to particular actors. But the process is not a smooth one; it proceeds in spurts and jolts. In this process new institutions develop, and as each new institution becomes established, it provides a pivotal point around which further changes gather momentum. If the juxtaposition of societies on different levels of economic modernization provides a classic case of the comparative analysis of social institutions, the analysis of the transformation from one to the next level of economic performance may be regarded as a study of the dynamics of institutional change.
Social deviance. This is not the place to discuss in an exhaustive manner the process of institutional change, which is a much broader process than merely overcoming a state of economic underdevelopment. But it may be useful to discuss the phenomena of social deviance and social marginality, because they have been applied quite commonly in the analysis of the social concomitants of industrialization and economic development.
Deviance. Let us first turn to a brief consideration of social deviance. As already stated, we are concerned here primarily with those forms of deviant behavior which are relevant for economic activity and organization. If the concept of deviance is to have operational meaning, it cannot be interpreted simply as signifying behavior which is new; it must imply that this set of innovating acts is opposed in some way to existing social norms or approved forms of behavior. In other words, a deviant always engages in behavior which constitutes a breach of the existing order and which is either contrary to, or at least not positively weighted in, the hierarchy of existing social values. If we apply this concept to the behavior displayed by businessmen and merchants in the course of the economic history of western Europe, we find that we can speak of genuine deviance in those periods and societies in which entrepreneurial behavior did not belong to the category of social actions which were considered as constituting the “good life.” As late as the fifteenth century, this was true of certain kinds of financial entrepreneurship, which was always tainted by the official opposition of the church against usury. And later, when financial entrepreneurship became fully respectable, industrial entrepreneurship came to be regarded with some disdain because it “dirtied one’s hands.” These sentiments toward business or industrial activity as not quite proper for a gentleman are familiar in many underdeveloped countries today.
If deviance implies some breach with existing social norms, it is interesting to investigate further from what social classes or groups persons come who engage in various forms of deviant behavior. Clearly, the expected rewards of this behavior must be attractive, and persons engaged in this behavior are likely to feel a strong urge to rise in the social scale (perhaps a strong motivation for achievement) or to have resentments against some aspects of the existing order. It is in these terms that the rise of the western European bourgeoisie or even of the lower samurai groups in Japan have been explained. In the view of some, this reshuffling of social positions is the result of class struggles; in the view of others, it is a gradual evolutionary process.
Marginality. An alternative hypothesis is that persons engaging in deviant behavior are at the margin of a given culture or are in a social or cultural position in which they straddle more than one culture. We may identify cases in which deviance coincides with social marginality. For example, in medieval Europe the earliest money-lenders were often foreigners. In Italy at the time of Gothic and Langobard rule, they were Syrians, Byzantines, and Jews. Later, when Italians turned to financial entrepreneurship on a large scale, the Genoese and Pisans, Sienese and Florentines, who were all lumped together under the name “Lombards,” became the financial entrepreneurs north of the Alps.
The role of marginal individuals in various economic pursuits in many economically under-developed countries is eminently manifest today. One could cite the Chinese in various southeast Asian countries, the Indians in east Africa, and the widely scattered Lebanese and Syrians who make their appearance as businessmen in west Africa, Latin America, and elsewhere in poor societies.
What is the mechanism which allows marginal individuals to perform the roles they apparently have so widely accepted? As Robert E. Park (1913–1944), the inventor of the concept and of the significance of social marginality, has stressed, marginal men are—precisely because of their ambiguous position from a cultural, ethnic, linguistic, or sociostructural standpoint—strongly motivated to make creative adjustments in situations of change and, in the course of this adjustment process, to develop innovations in social behavior. Although many of Park’s very general propositions have been refined by subsequent researchers, the theory of social marginality has not advanced sufficiently to supply convincing evidence for the role marginal individuals may play in all episodes of social change. Even if it is admitted that marginal persons tend to make creative adjustments more often than to relapse into old orthodoxies or to embrace new ones, the record is not at all clear, and there are some students who warn us that marginal individuals may be more prone than others to succumb to anomie and thus to become carriers of trends leading toward social disorganization rather than to creative innovations. [See the biography ofPark.]
Institutionalization of deviance. In circumstances in which a certain amount of deviant behavior has been displayed, the anchoring of this behavior in a new institution is of strategic significance. Originally a form of deviance, it becomes routinized and may display all the characteristics of some highly approved form of social behavior. Thus the institutions in which deviant action is anchored form an advance post from which further deviance becomes possible. For example, the institutions which arose in western Europe before the industrial revolution and in Japan before the Meiji period were already the end products of a process of social change which had begun with deviant behavior; these institutions, in turn, by their very existence made possible further economic and technological change.
Sanctions. Whether or not any given form of deviance will lead to the elaboration of new social institutions and ultimate routinization of this pattern of social action will depend upon several factors, among which the system of sanctions existing in a society may be the most important. These sanctions may be internalized, i.e., they may reside in the values and beliefs of a population; or they may be externalized, i.e., they may be imposed by persons in power, by the elite, against actual or would-be deviants. It appears that in some societies, e.g., imperial China, both these types of sanctions were very strong. In pre-Meiji Japan, internal sanctions had partially broken down, and the power of the shogunate had become increasingly weak, so as to soften external sanctions to a point at which they were inadequate to prevent the formation of new institutions, or at least the beginnings of these innovations.
Strategic groups. Thus the analysis of social change may be couched largely in terms of considering the impact of deviance, whether exercised by marginal men or not, the gradual institutionalization and routinization of deviance, and the range of sanctions opposed to deviant behavior. This analysis may be carried out, initially, on the “aggregate level,” i.e., it may take into account an entire society at once. But our insights into social change may be sharpened if we disaggregate the variables in our analysis, i.e., if in a complex society, we take account not of changes affecting the society as a whole but of those affecting specialized sections or classes in the society. For deviance, sanctions, and the process of institutionalization have a different place and impact among different groups. Take sanctions as an example. Clearly, in societies in which ascriptive norms are strong, different individuals, depending upon their status positions, will be subject to different internalized sanctions; and in a society with extensive particularism, even external sanctions will be imposed and enforced to a very different degree on persons belonging to different groups or classes.
Elites. Thus, we are likely to discover in any society certain strategic groups which become the carriers of innovations. In some instances these groups may be composed of marginal individuals, especially if the innovations are transmitted from the outside. The role of marginal individuals in the acculturation or culture contact process has as yet been insufficiently explored, but their prominent participation in this process follows almost as a matter of definition. Another group which often plays a strategic role is the elite of a society. Although considerable attention has been given to the role of the elite in preserving a status quo, its impact on the introduction of organizational and technological innovations has perhaps been under-estimated. In general, social change has been seen as being accompanied by a “circulation of elites,” rather than as a process in which existing elites are capable of reorienting the systemic goals which they attempt to implement. Yet in the present economically underdeveloped countries, in which so much economic change is managed by the holders of political power, the role of the existing elites as innovators must be acknowledged. The entrepreneurial functions, which in Western countries were displayed predominantly by independent businessmen often belonging to a not fully enfranchised and politically impotent bourgeoisie, have been taken over by bureaucrats who operate with the blessing and under the protection of the political power apparatus. [SeeElites; entrepreneurship.]
Role of the state. In part, the intervention of the state in the industrialization process is certainly an outcome of the greater pressures, of the greater distance between reality and aspirations, which exist in the present. We may list several general factors which tend to enhance the role of the state in the process of economic growth. The urge for massive state intervention in the process of economic and industrial growth will be the stronger: (1) the greater the range of ends and the higher the level of attainment sought; (2) the shorter the time horizon within which the ends are to be attained, that is, the more rapid the rate of economic growth desired; (3) the more unfavorable the factor and resource endowments; (4) the greater the institutional barriers to economic change and industrialization; and (5) the more backward the economy in relative terms. As time progresses without development, the fifth condition is bound to obtain, simply because the later the onset of industrialization, the more backward a country will be in relative terms. But if this condition holds, it is also likely that the first, second, and fourth conditions will obtain, and thus we may conclude from this empirically derived set of conditions that in the course of time incentives and urges for state intervention in the industrialization process are constantly on the increase. But this means that industrialization as a goal progressively becomes an objective of over-all social policy and that existing elites, whatever their primary ends may have been in the past, have reoriented the hierarchy of the systemic goals by assigning an increasingly important place to economic development. But the increased interest of governments in economic growth and industrialization means not merely that they are capable of exercising control over the total resources of a society to be applied to its economic buildup, but also that, more effectively than any other agency, they can influence the forms of social behavior by altering patterns of rewards and sanctions and otherwise intervening in the social structure. This shows again that, in spite of the strong impact of ideological considerations in present-day developing nations, the conditions of social structure and the state of relative retardation and underdevelopment exert, in turn, an important influence upon the ideological forms as well as the socioeconomic relations under which the development process takes place.
Bert F. Hoselitz
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Economic Growth
Economic Growth
The improvement of a societys living conditions is a complex process whose study has been at the very origins of economics. This process is called economic growth. In Western civilization, the first attempts to comprehend the mechanism of growth are recent, dating back to the end of the Renaissance only. We owe them to Giovanni Botero (15401617), Maximilien de Béthune, Duc de Sully (15601641), and Josiah Child (16301699). Why not earlier? Because the Middle Ages were doomed by endless conflicts and plagues; in the fourteenth century alone, more than one-third of the European population was wiped out by the great plague. It would have taken a bold thinker to even entertain the idea of development. As the French historian Pierre Gaxotte (18951982) wrote: The man of the Middle Ages does not know of time and numbers (1951, p. 237).
It is not surprising therefore that we owe to Arab civilization the first known comprehensive explanation of the fundamental causes of economic growth. They were given in a masterly way by Ibn Khaldūn (13321406) in his Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History (1377). Ibn Khaldūns objectives went beyond explaining economic growth; he gave himself the formidable task to unveil the causes of the rise and decline of civilizations. The British historian Arnold Toynbee (18891975) commented about Ibn Khaldūns magnum opus that in the Prolegomena to his Universal History he has conceived and formulated a philosophy of history which is undoubtedly the greatest work of its kind that has even been created by any mind in any time or place (Toynbee 1935, Vol. III, p. 322).
Western civilization would have to wait four centuries to see the independent blossoming of very similar ideas in Adam Smiths (17231790) Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). Today, economic theory has vindicated the conjectures made by these major thinkers, as will be discussed in the last section of this entry. Before that, the entry will explain how growth is measured, what the process of economic growth is, and how optimal growth can be achieved.
The standard, international measure of economic growth is the increase in real income per person (the increase is a percentage rate per year). By income is meant national income ; this concept is derived from the gross domestic product (GDP), which is closely related to the measure of economic activity.
There are three conceivable approaches to measuring societys economic activity. The result of this activity can be considered in terms of the amount of goods and services that society manages to put at its disposal within a given time span (e.g., one year). Broadly speaking, it is customary to distinguish consumption goods and services (produced for their own sake, these will not be transformed at a later stage, and are not used for manufacturing other goods or services) from investment goods. Examples of the latter are equipment, factories, and transportation infrastructure, which will be used for production in coming years. The investment goods will be added to the capital stock in existence; along with technological progress, they will play a major role in the growth process. Exports are added to consumption and investment, since they also reflect societys activity. Naturally, consumption, investment, and even some exports include various amounts of imports; these are finally deducted in order to achieve a first measure of GDP from an expenditure point of view.
A second, equivalent, way to measure economic activity is to count the contribution of each sector of the economy (e.g., agriculture, industry, and services). Since the production of one sector (e.g., aluminum) may be used in another sector (automobiles), double counting must be avoided. For that purpose, only the net production of each sector is taken into consideration, in the form of its added value, equal to its total production less all purchases to other sectors. The sum of the added values of all sectors is then equal to GDP viewed from the production perspective.
Finally, it is clear that the only source that can be used to remunerate the production factors (labor and capital) is the value-added of each sector. In the third approach to measuring GDP, all categories of income are counted: labor income, capital income (interest and rentals paid by firms), and profits. Income used in measuring the growth of an economy is real net national income, determined as follows. First, the yearly depreciation of capital is deducted from the gross domestic product to obtain the net domestic product. We then add all capital and labor income received from abroad by residents, and deduce payments of capital and labor income made abroad to nonresidents. We thus obtain the net national product.
Two further corrections are needed to obtain the income distributed to society: First, we deduct all indirect taxes (paid by firms) and add subsidies (received by individuals and firms). The result is called national income. Finally, we are less interested in national income than in its purchasing power. To that effect, statisticians attempt to measure the average relative price increase of the various pieces of GDP from the expenditure side, and they deflate the yearly national income by that amount. For instance, supposing they estimate that prices have increased from year t to t + 1 by 10 percent; they will divide the years (t + 1) national income by 1.1 to obtain real national income with reference to year t as a base.
How much can we rely on income per person to gauge a societys standard of living and its progress? This type of measure shows defects that may be detrimental to its significance. Indeed, many expenses are counted in GDP (as well as in national income), although they should not be if we are interested in measuring societys welfare. For example, all expenditures forced upon individuals should be excluded from the measure. These include all public expenses made by authoritarian regimes that would not have received the populations approval through parliamentarian representation. Also included in this category are public expenditures made in countries where democracy is weak. In such countries, for example, the level of military expenditure is often far above what the country would require for pure defense purposes. These unwanted public expenses replace those that the population would have chosen, namely, expenditure for health and education.
We also count in GDP and national income a number of expenses that individuals may choose of their own free will, but which are also sometimes forced upon them by unwanted circumstances. Security expenses security taken in its largest meaningis an example. Those expenses are considerably higher today than they were decades ago, and of course have nothing to do with well-being. Think also of expenses resulting from accidents, disease, or epidemics. Each of the above has two negative effects upon societys welfare. First, society suffers directly from these circumstances and events. Second, those expenditures replace the goods and services that society could have enjoyed instead. No account is taken of working conditions in the measurement of national income. In particular, no account is taken of forced labor, particularly the labor forced upon women and children.
Furthermore, no equity measure appears in national accounts. This entry defines equity as the ability for society to reward each individual according to his or her own qualities and effort, and at the same time protect those hurt by fate.
Finally, national income does not account for damage done to the environment, and more generally to the biosphere. Inasmuch as depreciation of capital is deducted from GDP to obtain, after other adjustments, national income, we should also deduct the cost of the damage to the biosphere due to economic activity.
Despite these reservations, income per person remains a reliable gauge of societys welfare. If not an absolute measure, it is an adequate relative measure, since one can still make international comparisons based upon it. The fundamental reason is that the level of income in any country is intimately linked to its level of democracy. If one establishes a list of countries ranked according to their level of democracy, and set it beside another list on the basis of real income per person, there would be a great similarity in both lists. Economic growth has steadily accompanied societies that havehowever slowlymanaged to protect the individual and have abided by the principle of equality of opportunity. A third ranking of countries according to their welfare would be very similar because democracy is highly correlated to welfare. This is the reason why it is reasonable to measure welfare by income per person, imperfect as that index may be.
The growth process has been well understood for at least two centuries, and can be described as follows. At the beginning of some time periodfor instance, year t any given country has a capital stock Kt at its disposal, and a workforce Lt, which may be proportional to the population. This workforce enjoys a degree of technological knowledge inherited from the past, just as the stock of capital has been accumulated in the past. During year t, society makes use of those resources to turn out a product referred to earlier as the GDP. Part of the GDP is used to replace the capital stock Kt, inherited at time t, which has depreciated during that year. Subtracting depreciation gives the net domestic product, which can be divided into two parts: By far the largest is consumption (perhaps 85%); the rest is net investment, which is equipment that will be added to increase the capital stock at the beginning of year t + 1. In the same time span, the labor force may have increased from Lt to Lt+1, and technological advances may have been made, carrying the technological capabilities to a new level. This enables society to acquire a higher net domestic product in period t + 1.
It is clear that the resulting increase in income will depend both on the size of net investment made in year t and on the possible technological advances that the labor force may have made. Two fundamental questions now may be asked. Under what conditions will income per person increase? In other words, under what conditions will the economy grow? And if growth is to be observed, can we expect growth to continue indefinitely? The answers to these questions require a quantitative description of the economy and the building of a model of the growth process. This requires making hypotheses on the functioning of the economy, on societys behavior, and on population growth.
First, the functioning is described by a production function linking capital Kt, labor Lt, and technological progress to production Yt (which is considered equal to income) at any time t. This relationship can be written as the three-variable production function Y = F(K, L, t), where F is homogeneous of degree one in K and L. This hypothesis means that if at any point in time t, K and L are multiplied by λ, then Y is also multiplied by λ : We have λY = F (λK, λL, t ). For instance, if λ = 1.1, it means that if K and L both increase by 10 percent, then Y also increases by 10 percent. A common, simple example of such a function is the Wicksell-Cobb-Douglas function proposed by the Swedish economist Knut Wicksell (1851-1926) at the turn of the nineteenth century: Y = KαL1 α egt. The function is homogenous of degree one, and technological progress is taken into account in the exponential term egt, where g is (1/Y)Y/t, the rate of growth of income when K and L are constant (e.g., g= 1.5 percent per year).
A second hypothesis reflects the behavior of society with regard to saving and investment; one possibility is to posit that society saves and invests a fraction s of its income (e.g., s = 0.1 or 10 percent). Investment I being the rate of increase of capital, we then have I = dK/dt= sY = sF(K, L, t).
Finally, the last hypothesis is about the growth of the population (considered as the labor force). The growth rate of the population is supposed to be constant and equal to n (e.g., n = 1% per year). Equivalently, it means that Lt = L0ent.
With these three hypotheses, we have a complete, albeit simple, model of the growth process. Observe that the rate of increase of capital, I = dK/dt, is a linear function of income, Yt = F (Kt, Lt, t), and the stock of capital Kt is driven by the differential equation,
In the example above, we would have
Equation (2) is a Bernoulli equation that can be easily solved, leading to a trajectory of capital K(K 0 , t) which depends on the initial value of capital K 0 at some point of time t = t 0. In turn, this capital time path can be plugged into the production function Y = F(K, L, t) to yield the time path of Y, as well as the evolution of income per person, y = Y/L, our variable of foremost importance.
In fact, a general, qualitative picture of the evolution of the economy can be drawn by making clever use of a fundamental property of the production function, as Robert Solow did in A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth (1956). Observe that if λ is replaced by 1/L in λY = F(λK, λL, t), then y = Y/L = F(K/L, 1, t), which depends now solely upon the capital-labor ratio r and time. Suppose for the time being that there is no technological progress; then y = f(r), and income per person is simply a function of r. This function is always increasing, if Y = F(K, L) and Y/L = f(r), Y= Lf(r) = Lf (K/L), Y/K= Lf'(r) (1/L) = f'(r). Assuming that the marginal productivity of capital Y/K is positive leads to f'(r) > 0. This result is of central importance, because it means that the evolution of income per person is driven by the evolution of the capital labor ratio. Thus, the qualitative evolution of r = K/L will enable us to reach conclusions as to the evolution of income per person, and to answer the second question we asked at the beginning of this section. This can be achieved for very broad families of the production functions, without resolving the differential equation (1), nor knowing the exact mathematical specification of F(K, L, t).
Consider the rate of increase of r(t). Denoting K̇=dK/dt and L̇=dL/dt, it is
Since K̇ = I = sY, we have finally,
which is the fundamental equation of positive economic growth. It has an immediate economic interpretation: The rate of increase of the capital-labor ratio is the difference between investment per person (sY/L = sy) and the investment per person that is necessary to maintain the capital-labor ratio constant (nr); indeed, if L grows at rate n, and if K is to grow at the same rate K̇/K = n, then K̇ (= I ) must be nK, and investment per person K/L must be nK̇/L = nr. It is obvious that r will increase (ṙ> 0) if and only if investment per person (sy) is higher than the investment per person necessary to maintain r constant (nr). Now equation (3) is a differential equation in r, but it does not need to be solved in order to infer the evolution of the economy and its ultimate outcome. Only a picturea phase diagramis required. We can simply draw the curve sy = sf(r) and the ray nr, and consider the difference, ṙ = sy nr, which will be the rate of increase of ṙ. This is done in Figure 1.
Suppose that, initially, the capital-labor ratio is r0. We can immediately see that ṙ is positive at that point; therefore r will increase, and income per person will increase as well. This process will drive r toward its equilibrium value r* where ṙ = 0, and therefore r stays constant. (Whether r* will be reached or not cannot be inferred from the simple reading of the phase diagram. Solving the corresponding differential equation is required; it can then be shown that r * is reached asymptotically onlythat is, when t tends to infinity.) On the other hand, if the initial value r0 is above r*, then ṙ < 0; r will decrease toward r*. If the marginal productivity of capital F/F = f'(r) diminishes in such a way that the curve sf(r) intersects the ray nr, then the economy will tend toward a fixed, equilibrium point (r*, f(r*)) = (r* y* ). Therefore, income per person is bound to tend toward the limit y*.
Two circumstances, however, may arise in which this phenomenon will not occur and income per person is not bounded. The first possibility is that the curve sf(r), concave as it may be, will not intersect the ray nr. Such a possibility may arise if the elasticity of substitution between capital and labor is sufficiently high (the elasticity of substitution measures the ease by which capital may be substituted with labor to achieve a given level of output when the price of labor increases relative to the rental rate of capital (on this concept, see La Grandville 2007b). Then, the curve sf(r) tends asymptotically toward a ray with a slope equal to or larger than n. If that is so, there will be no intersection between sf(r) and nr; ḟ will always be positive, and r will always grow.
The second circumstance that may lead to permanent growth is the very existence of technological progress. Indeed, suppose that f (r ) is multiplied, as in our previous example, by egt. It means that in Figure 1 the curve f (r ) is constantly shifted upward by the mere force of technological progress. It implies that even if, in a first phase, capital labor is decreasing, it will ultimately increase, carrying with it an increase in income per person.
From a methodological point of view, economic growth is first described by a dynamic model that captures the motion of the economy; such models typically generate one, or a set, of differential equation(s). The next fundamental questions are: If we are confident in the validity of such models, can we determine a trajectory of the economy that would be optimal compared to other possible time paths? And how is optimality to be defined?
Suppose that we are able to infer the future trajectory of an economy from the solution of the model described above. An infinity of choices are offered to society, in the sense that society can choose an infinitely large number of savings investment ratios s, and to each of those corresponds a given future time path for the economy. Which is to be chosen? What would be an optimality criterion for society? A natural answer could come from what was discussed above: Society does not accumulate capital for its own sake, but it does care for the consumption goods and services that capital can provide in the future. So a logical aim for society would be to determine a time path K that would maximize the sum of consumption flows to be received in the future, with an important proviso: A consumption flow received in thirty years is to be valued less than the same flow received much sooner. Accordingly, such future consumption flows have to be discounted, and a discount rate that would reflect societys rate of preference for the present must be defined. Furthermore, following Frank Ramseys (19031930) opening treatment of the subject in 1928, it was proposed that consumption flows Ct should be transformed into utility flows through some concave, increasing, utility function U(Ct). Thus, for about three-quarters of a century, the problem of optimal growth was defined as follows: find a trajectory Kt that would maximize the integral
subject to the constraint
Ct = F(Kt, Lt, t ) K̇t
which is equivalent to maximize
This fundamental problem of optimal growth belongs to the calculus of variations, an extension of differential and integral calculus. Differential calculus deals, among many other things, with the optimization of functions, that is, relations between one or several variables and a number. The integral in (4) does not have that characteristic; rather, (4) is a relation between a whole function (Kt, for t between 0 and ) and a number (I ). Such a relationship has been given a special name: a functional. The calculus dealing with functionals is the calculus of variations because the increase of a variable in differential calculus is now replaced by the variation of a whole function. This branch of mathematics was born when Johan Bernoulli (16671748) submitted in 1698 to his fellow mathematicians the problem of finding the curve joining points A to B such that a bead sliding along the curve would reach Bin minimum time. The problem was solved by Bernoulli himself, his brother Jacob (16541705), and also by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (16461716), Isaac Newton (16421727), and Guillaume de lHôspital (16611704), each using different methods. A general method of solving variational problems however had to wait for the genius of Leonhard Euler (17071783), who in 1744 showed that if a functional dt is to be maximized, a first-order condition is that it satisfies the differential equation
Equation (5) is generally a second-order, nonlinear differential equation. Its second-order character comes from the fact that the second term on the left-hand side of (5) is the total derivative of Gk̇(K, K̇, t) with respect to t, which will generate a term depending on K, K̇, and t, GK̇K̇, multiplying K̈t.
Applied to the problem of optimal growth, the Euler equation yields,
The Euler equation (6) unfortunately is seldom solvable analytically, and this is precisely the case here. Only numerical analysis is available to determine the optimal trajectory K*t, from which optimal investment I*t = K*t, income Y* = F(K*t, Lt, t), and finally savings rate s*t = I*t/Y*t can be deduced. The difficulty of solving the problem numerically led economists to keep it in the realm of theory. The problem with this situation is that short shrift was given to the fact that each time some numbers were obtained, the strangest results appeared in the form of an exceedingly high optimal initial savings rate, often on the order of 40 percent.
With the invention of efficient computing software, it became possible to undertake a much more systematic examination of the problem of optimal growth. It was found that the culprit was the introduction of an arbitrary utility function, U(C) (La Grandville 2007a). When the objective functional is more simply the sum (the integral) of the discounted consumption flows, then two remarkable consequences emerge: First, the Euler equation is no longer a differential equation solvable only by numerical methods, but an algebraic equation from which the optimal trajectories K*t, I*t, and s*t can be derived in analytic form. Secondand more importantlythe optimal savings rate now has reasonable, reachable values.
As mentioned above, Ibn Khaldūn provided the fundamental factors of economic growth. These are not set at random, but follow a logical order, one implying the other.
Demographic Growth and Technological Progress Ibn Khaldūns idea is that a larger population enhances the division of labor. This view of demographic growth was rediscovered four centuries later by Adam Smith in his Wealth of Nations. In addition, the enhancement of division of labor that accompanies technological progress improves the chances that an individual, by concentrating on a specific task, will find ways to innovate.
The Search for Individual Profit The search for individual profit is a factor of growth that is far from obvious. According to Ibn Khaldún: Civilization and its well-being as well as business prosperity depend on productivity and peoples efforts in all direction in their own interest and profit (Ibn Khaldūn [1377] 1958, p. 104). Those words were later echoed by Smith:
It is of fundamental importance that neither Ibn Khaldūn nor Smith defended the idea of using any means to make a profit. Quite on the contrary, both sternly condemned the abuse of dominant positions and monopoly power. But if profits can be made by inventing new processes or new products, how is it possible that such profits might be to the advantage of society as a whole? In addition, a further step was taken by Smith, for whom the optimum employment of capital by an individual would result in a maximum advantage for society.
Ibn Khaldūns and Smiths conjecture can be illustrated and formally demonstrated. A first illustration is based upon the outcome of introducing technological progress. It can be shown that if innovations reduce marginal production costs, societys surplus will always increase, although ultimately some firms may see their profit diminish. Enhanced productivity (to quote Ibn Khaldūn) will induce firms to produce more, thereby increasing competition among them and forcing prices down. The lower prices and increased quantity will benefit consumers. Consumer surplus will increase in such a way that it will always more than compensate for any reduction in surplus suffered by producers. A striking example is the spectacular growth of China since the late 1970s, a growth process never witnessed at any other place or time. Its origin can be pinpointed to the suppression of the popular communes by Deng Xiaoping (19041997) in 1978. When farmers were allowed to increase production on private lots beyond the quota they were required to remit to cooperatives, they generated enormous surpluses for consumers and for themselves alike. Savings and investments increased on a large scale, setting in motion the growth process described in the beginning of this article. Clearly, the aim of farmers was to make a profit, but this benefited the entire Chinese economy, even though such a result had not been their intention (on this and for a formal proof of Smiths conjecture, see La Grandville 2007b).
Private Property The fourth factor of economic growth enunciated by Ibn Khaldūn is the principle of private property. Ibn Khaldūn lists three major transgressions to that principle. The first is slavery, condemned by Ibn Khaldūn who, to the best of our knowledge, was the first thinker to denounce what he considered one of the greatest injustices and one which contributes most to the destruction of civilization (Ibn Khaldūn [1377] 1958, pp. 108109).
The second transgression against private property is private and public monopolies and, more generally, the infringement of competitive markets. (It is striking that Ibn Khaldūn also described the very system that would be implemented in many countries in the coming centuries, whereby farmers would be compelled to sell their product to a central authority that would market it at monopoly prices.)
The third transgression is excessive taxation, which destroys the desire to set up firms, and ultimately the very income that is supposed to be taxed.
The Soundness of Political and Legal Institutions In his Introduction to History, Ibn Khaldūn stressed the fundamental, necessary role that institutions play in the growth process. One of his aims was to warn his contemporaries of the dangers that lurked for their civilization if they did not manage to maintain a political system that would protect the individual. He tells us that he was not able to elaborate a better system of government than that embodied in a famous letter sent in 822 by Tahir, one of the generals of the king of Egypt, to his son Abdallah, which Ibn Khaldūn quotes in full. Here is one of its most significant messages:
Consider it your most important task to take personal charge of the affairs of [your] officials and to protect your subjects by looking after their needs and providing for their requirements. Do not be greedy. Let the treasures and riches you gather and hoard up be piety, the fear of God, justice, the improvement of your subjects, the cultivation of their country, the supervision of their affairs, the protection of the mass of them, and support of the unfortunates. You should know that property, once it is gathered and stored in treasuries, does not bear fruit, but if it is invested in the welfare of the subjects and used for giving them what is due to them and to prevent them from need, then it grows and thrives. The common people prosper. Devote yourself to looking after the affairs of the poor and indigent, those who are not able to bring before you complaints about injustices they have suffered, and other lowly persons who do not know that they may ask for their rights. Inquire about these people in all secrecy, and put good men from among your subjects in charge of them. Command them to report to you their needs and conditions, so that you will be able to look into the measures through which God might improve their affairs. Have regard also for people who have suffered accidents, and for their widows and orphans. Give them stipends from the treasury, following the example of the Commander of the Faithful. Set up houses for muslims who are ill, shelter them, [appoint] attendants in these houses who will handle them kindly, and [appoint] physicians who will treat their diseases. Comply with their desires so long as it does not lead to waste in the treasury. (Ibn Khaldūn [1377] 1958, pp. 143153)
Prosperity, for Ibn KhaldŪn, thus implies as a necessary condition the protection of the individual and at the same time a social policy that corresponds very closely to the equity principle defined above.
William Letwin, in his introduction to the Wealth of Nations, described Adam Smiths message thus: Far from being a hymn in praise of anarchic greed, the Wealth of Nations is a reasoned argument for justice, order, liberty and prudent plenty (Smith [1776] 1977, p. xxii). One could not better characterize the Muqaddimah by Ibn Khaldūn. The similarity of those two messages, from different civilizations and four centuries apart, prompts us to beg the question of the convergence of ideas and values among civilizations. Economic growth does require the factors enunciated by Ibn Khaldūn; it also requires peace. Ibn Khaldūn spent a good part of his life trying to negotiate peace treaties on all shores of the Mediterranean. For his part, Smith denounced wars and the financing of wars as the greatest deterrent of economic growth. In Western civilization, one of the most fundamental values is the principle of defensive war, which probably originated in the writings of Augustine of Hippo (354430 CE). Shared by Ibn Khaldūn and Smith, did this idea appear elsewhere? Indeed, they were preceded by the Chinese philosopher Mo-Tzu (c. 470-391 BCE) (Watson 1967).
Mo-Tzu triedin vainto advocate this idea, which he based upon another fundamental principle: that of equality of individuals and states. This latter principle would take more than two thousand years to be slowly implemented in state constitutions, and even longer in social behavior.
Nevertheless, the last millennia definitely witnessed a convergence of ideas and values among civilizations, and such is the reason why we may hope that societies will ultimately achieve economic growth for all.
SEE ALSO Business Cycles, Real; Business Cycles, Theories; Democratization; Development; Development Economics; Golden Rule in Growth Models; Ibn KhaldŪn; Immiserizing Growth; Neoclassical Growth Model; Optimal Growth; Productivity; Property, Private; Saving Rate; Slavery; Smith, Adam; Solow Residual, The; Solow, Robert M.
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Economic Growth Resources. Maintained by Jonathan Temple; hosted by the University of Bristol.
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La Grandville, Olivier de. 2007a. The 1956 Contribution to Economic Growth Theory by Robert Solow: a Major Landmark and Some of its Undiscovered Riches. Oxford Review of Economic Policy 23 (Spring 2007): 1524.
La Grandville, Olivier de. 2007b. Economic Growth: A Unified Approach. With two special contributions by Robert M. Solow. Cambridge University Press, forthcoming.
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Solow, Robert M. 1956. A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth. Quarterly Journal of Economics 70 (1): 6594.
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Toynbee, Arnold J. 1935. A Study of History. Vol. III. 2nd ed. London and New York: Oxford University Press.
Watson, Burton, trans. and ed. 1967. Basic Writings of Mo Tzu, Hsün Tzu, and Han Fei Tzu. New York: Columbia University Press.
Olivier de La Grandville
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Economic Growth
Economic growth is the increase in an economy's output of goods and services over an extended period of time. The term economic growth refers to a much broader period of prosperity than the narrow expansion phase of the traditional business cycle since an economy can still be in a period of long-term economic growth while undergoing a recession. Periods of economic growth are marked by rising standards of living, increases in the variety and number of goods and services, and improving rates of productivity. The first analysis of economic growth was provided by the Scottish economist Adam Smith (17231790). In The Wealth of Nations Smith argued that an economy's growth depended on its ability to engage in large-scale production, which depended in turn on the adoption of refined manufacturing methods and the division of labor into highly specialized craftsmen. Perhaps the greatest economist of economic growth in the twentieth century was Joseph Schumpeter (18831950), who argued that the real sources of growth are the technological innovations of entrepreneurs. In his theory of "creative destruction," successful entrepreneurs create an economy of copycats who strive to duplicate the entrepreneurs' success but eventually wind up causing a depression by overinvesting. Economic growth continues again after these depressions, however, when the entrepreneurs' new technologies make possible new phases of ever higher productivity.
Several factors combined to make the economic history of the United States perhaps the greatest historical example of economic growth. From the start, U.S. businesses benefited from the English work ethic, technological ingenuity, and principles of economic and political freedom. Fueled by a steady stream of enterprising immigrants, the U.S. labor force grew faster than in most other developed countries. Americans benefited from a large geographical territory with superior natural resources, and the country's founding fathers put in place a system that encouraged the development of public infrastructure, education, technological innovation, and capital accumulation. Within half a century of its independence, the United States had already one of the richest and biggest economies in the world, and between 1840 and 1960 the United States maintained a 3.6 percent annual growth rate, which economist Robert E. Gallman has described as "extraordinarily high" by historical standards. More recently, between 1950 and 1990 the United States remained a model of strong economic growth, with its gross national product (GNP ) growing at a very healthy 3.1 percent annual rate.
See also: Joseph Schumpeter, Adam Smith, Work Ethic
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"Economic Growth." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. . 19 Aug. 2017 <>.
"Economic Growth." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. . (August 19, 2017).
"Economic Growth." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. . Retrieved August 19, 2017 from
economic growth
economic growth The growth of national income, or the output of goods and services per head of population, with output conventionally measured by the Gross National Product (GNP). The alternative term economic development is often used in relation to Third World societies. Economic growth does not necessarily lead to growth in consumption and improved distribution of wealth and public welfare; it depends on how the increased output is used, and by whom.
Economists have devoted much effort to producing theories of economic growth which might guide policy-making in developing countries and in industrial societies. Theories place varying degrees of emphasis on capital investment, the economic infrastructure, manpower planning and education, and the relative roles of government and the private sector. See also ENTREPRENEUR; SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.
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"economic growth." A Dictionary of Sociology. . 19 Aug. 2017 <>.
"economic growth." A Dictionary of Sociology. . (August 19, 2017).
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Book to Movie Discussion Guide
Some movies that originated from books include a back-story (more information about the characters and plot than were included in the book), such as "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs".
Other movies include expanded elements within the original story, such as the "Polar Express", where the movie producer is able to add additional characters or themes within the original book’s plot or story.
And, most commonly, many movies that are produced from books are not able to include all the elements of the story that were originally published. Some of the most popular of these types would be the "Harry Potter" series, where key elements of the book can’t be included in the movies because it would make the films too long for viewing at the theaters.
No matter what type of movie you decide to see, here’s a discussion guide that will fit them all.
Discussion Questions:
1. What are some parts of the book that were not included in the movie?
Why do you think the director or producer (the person/people who made the movie) decided to leave these parts out?
2. Were there any parts of the movie that weren’t included in the original (book) story? Why do you think they were added to the movie?
Did you like that these were added – how did they enhance the story?
3. What parts of the book could have been expanded on in the movie but were not?
Why do you think they should have been included?
4. What was your favorite part of the book?
When you were reading that part of the book, did you imagine it would look like it did in the movie?
5Did the movie end the same way as the book? Some do and others don’t – why do you think this happens?
Do you think the producer wants to continue the story in another movie (a sequel)?
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Setting the record straight on five common green car misconceptions
Fact: Consumer Reports and others have tested older Toyota Prius hybrids, some with well over 200,000 miles on the odometer, and found very little degradation in the batteries. Regardless, California requires a 10-year/150,000-mile warranty on hybrid batteries.
Myth: A hybrid always saves you money.
Fact: That really depends what how many you miles drive annually. Factoring tax and registration fees, a Honda Accord EX-L hybrid will cost about $3,800 more the same trim level regular Accord, according to Based on driving 14,000 miles annually at current California gas prices, that will take more than six years to make back. But if you drove 10,000 miles a year, it would take almost 10 years of gas savings to cover the hybrid's higher price.
Myth: Electric cars have too short a range for my daily driving needs.
Fact: Most electric cars get 75 to 85 miles per charge. Working age adults in the U.S. drive an average 14,120 miles annually, or less than 37 miles a day. Even if you figure all those miles are just for commuting, with only weekends off, the average is still only 54 miles, well within an EVs range.
Myth: Generating electricity to power cars causes just as much pollution as gasoline.
Fact: A battery electric car, powered by the California grid, creates about 40% of the carbon emissions of a gasoline vehicle that gets 25 miles per gallon, according to a UC Irvine transportation study. That includes carbon emissions from the manufacture of the vehicles.
Myth: Hydrogen refining causes too much pollution to make fuel cell cars worthwhile.
Fact: California requires that 33% of the hydrogen used for fuel cell vehicles in state be generated through the use of renewable energy. That means that fuel cell cars are dirtier than battery electric cars but cleaner than gasoline, diesel and compressed natural gas vehicles. Future increases in hydrogen generation from renewable energy sources are expected to make the technology cleaner.
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Benefite of English
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• Published : February 22, 2013
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You need to learn English language to improve your understanding. Many experts believe the language to be an easy access to knowledge. Once you understand and speak English you can easily get hold of valuable information.
The fact that most online references and textbooks are written in the English language imply that it can improve your life. In addition, major percentage of the world's population speak English. So if you don't know to speak English you'll be considered out of the league.
There has been a language called ‘English’ for at least 1300 years. It descends from a form of Germanic brought to Britain by the Anglo-Saxons, whose homelands lay along the eastern shores of the North Sea. English is a practical language, with a long history of richness and vigour of the English vocabulary arise and expanded globally and become the mother tongue of more than 360 million people around the globe. And about the same number again have at least a working knowledge of English.
The position of English on the international scene now seems unassailable. The political and economic power of Britain in the century and of the USA in this makes English a necessity for people looking beyond their immediate environments.
IN DEPTH: The Benefits of Speaking Effectively in English
Like Latin before it, English has become, in the 20th century, the usual means of communication between people with no other language in common. English is, for example, the chief language of science and technology. It is estimated that nowadays some two-thirds of scientific paper are written in English. By an agreement made after the Second World War, aircraft pilots and ships’ captains on international routes have to have proficiency in radio English. Similarly in international scenes of diplomacy, English also the official language used. For example English used in Commonwealth and the International Olympic Committee, and one of the United Nations’s working languages besides French.
Therefore, to achieve big leaps in your career you must know how to speak English fluently. Here are some of the common benefits of learning English: • Travel – As we know that English is an international language, which is spoken by a majority of population in the world. So you do not have to worry about being totally misunderstood when you visit a new place or country. • Study – Most of the books and instructions are written in English. Almost every subject such as Science, Math, History, Geography and others are all taught in English. Learning will be much easier if you know how to speak it. Information – Most information provided through printed materials or from the internet are mainly written in English. If you're able to master the language you have higher opportunity to learn more. Studies indicate that more than 80% of the webpages are written in English. Imagine the loss of valuable information you will be missing if you don't know to speak or write English. • Communication – More than a billion people around the world speak English language. Most of the international conferences, seminars and trainings are in English. The language is considered to be an international medium of communication. • Entertainment - Most of the time, good movies and theater plays use the English language. So if you know the language you'll be able to appreciate them even more. In simple words, learning the English language has several benefits.
Benefits of Learning English
• • English is the most spoken language in the world, with French coming in a close second. In fact, international communications use mostly English. In the E.U., many of the emissaries speak English as a foreign language. The number of English learners in the world is huge. It currently stands at slightly more than a billion. If you...
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Collaborative Nursing Practice
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• Published : May 9, 2012
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Inter-professional collaborations are invaluable relationships between healthcare professionals that are formed with the sole purpose of providing optimum help for a service user (Hornby and Atkins, 2000). Goodman and Clemow (2010) explain that collaborative practice is actually based around two ideas. The first is that nurses need to be able to work with other professionals, and the second is that they need to be able to work with ‘people’. They go on to explain that the concept of collaborative practice is based on the idea that excellent patient care relies on the expertise of a number of care providers. Day (2006) points out that actually defining what collaborative working is, is very complex, and that in order to understand what exactly collaborative working means within the context of nursing, an understanding of what collaboration is, is required, along with the ability to apply this understanding to a number of other terms which are often used both interchangeably and synonymously with this one in literature. According to Day, collaboration can be defined as individuals or agencies working together in order to achieve something that neither can achieve alone. This, however, is not to be confused with the meaning of inter-professional working, which is defined as professionals from different disciplines working between and among each other for the mutual benefit of those involved. Understanding that the two phrases are in fact different in nature allows us to have a more comprehensive understanding of what it means to use the term inter-professional collaborative practice, and this can be defined as professionals from different disciplines working together towards a common goal in order to achieve something that neither can achieve alone.
Day suggests that the idea of inter-professional collaboration is an integral part of effective, holistic healthcare delivery, but also that this idea is not a new one. In fact she goes on to say that its importance was recognised as far back as the Beveridge Report in 1942 (cited in Day, 2006) before the formation of the National Health Service (NHS), and states that over the last ten years, significant progress has been made towards creating an environment within which inter-professional working can flourish. McCray (2009) and Goodman and Clemow (2010) explain that new and existing government policies and how the government allocate funding in order to implement these policies is a significant factor in this recent trend towards inter-professional collaborative working. Cooperation with others within the collaborative care team is one of the central pillars of the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s Code of Professional Practice (NMC, 2004), and, as stated by McCray, nurses must engage and communicate with a wide range of professionals to ensure that the patient receives full and ethical care. She goes on to say that communication is an essential part of health care planning and delivery, no matter which area or discipline one happens to be in, as primarily, healthcare delivery involves working with people. Tummey (2005) states that effective communication is the foundation of the nurse-patient relationship, and it could be argued that the quality of care is in fact determined by the effectiveness of communication. The ability to communicate allows the building of trusting and mutually respective relationships between health care professionals and between professionals and those receiving care.
Carson (2000) explains that as nurses, recognising and meeting the needs of a patient in their entirety is of utmost importance in health promotion and recovery, but that equally important, is recognising that without the input of other healthcare professionals, all patient needs may not be being met. He states that a fully effective, collaborative care team should comprise of representatives from all disciplines relative to the patient, and should involve both clinical and non-clinical...
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Why do people feed their horses oil?
Despite a more widespread use of oil as an energy source in recent years many horse owners still don’t really understand what it does. Here we explain all you need to know about feeding your horse oil.
oil on water
Carbohydrates from cereals are traditionally the major source of energy fed to horses in training. The starch they contain consists of chains of glucose molecules tightly packed together. These chains are broken down during metabolism to provide a readily available supply of glucose. This glucose can be used directly as an energy source or stored in the muscles and liver as glycogen for later use. Glucose can be used at all levels of work intensity but is the only energy source that can be used for high intensity work.
Feeding your horse oil
Oil provides 2 ¼ times as much energy as carbohydrates from cereals. However, this energy can only be used when your horse is working at low intensities when the required oxygen is available to break down the oil during aerobic respiration. Once your horse is working hard he can’t supply the oxygen quickly enough to maintain aerobic respiration, so he moves into anaerobic respiration which can only utilise glucose or glycogen as energy.
Your horse can use energy from oil when:
• Walking
• Trotting
• Cantering (up to a heart rate of around 150 beats per minute)
Research suggests that by providing oil in the diet, your horse’s stores of glycogen are spared. When he starts to gallop he has a full tank of fuel to use resulting, in effect, in improved stamina. Also, because your horse is able to start with a full tank, he won’t deplete his energy stores completely, making recovery from intense work quicker.
Why feed your horse oil?
Because oil so energy dense, it can help to increase the overall energy content of your horse's diet without significantly increasing the volume of feed he gets. This is useful for horses at peak fitness, being fed large volumes of concentrates, whose appetites may be limited.
Also, although the horses’ natural diet doesn’t contain much oil, they can utilise it relatively well provided it’s introduced gradually to allow their bodies to adjust.
More pros of feeding your horse oil
• It's an essential component of soft tissue structure
• It has a key role in hormone activity
• It is an excellent source of concentrated energy
• It aids the physical insulation and protection of body organs
• It helps to combats excessive heat loss
• Most oils are generally inexpensive
The cons of feeding your horse oil
• It's not too tasty and for some horses, oil can take a bit of getting used to. If you choose to feed straight oil - soya or corn (maize) oil tend to be the most palatable.
Avoid over feeding oil
As with any nutrient, it is possible to feed too much! A daily intake of 2-5% of feed as oil is sufficient for most situations. You can increase it slightly for the onset of winter or when moderate to heavy work is anticipated.
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Explore BrainMass
Statistics - Correlation & Regression
The owner of Maumee Ford-Mercury wants to study the relationship between the age of a car and its selling price. Listed below is a random sample of 12 used cars sold at Maumee Motors during the last year.
Age (Years) SELLING PRICE ($000)
9 8.10
7 6.00
11 3.60
12 4.00
8 5.00
7 10.00
8 7.60
11 8.00
10 8.00
12 6.00
6 8.60
6 8.00
a. If we want to estimate selling price based on the age of the car, which variable is the dependent variable and which is the independent variable?
b. Draw a scatter diagram. [First, enter age and selling price data in Excel. Use Megastat Excel, correlation/regression, scatterplot function or use Excel, Tools, Data Analysis, Regression function].
c. Determine the coefficient of correlation (r). Interpret the result. [use Megastat Excel, correlation/regression, correlation matrix].
d. Determine the coefficient of determination (r2). Interpret the result.
e. Using regression coefficients table or scatterplot, write the simple linear regression equation that represents the relationship between age of car and its selling price.
f. Based on the regression equation, what will be the values of cars owned for the next 10 years?
Solution Summary
A complete, neat and step-by-step solution is provided in the attached Excel file, including the scatter graph and calculations.
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Build Systems
Almost all applications, after development, need to go through a step called “build” before they are deployed. In some languages, it involves compiling the code. Some environments need to establish library dependencies or binary optimizations. In any case, there is often this step to take your code, process it and get the final distributable ready for deployment.
Depending on the application, the build process might vary in complexity from a single command to complex logic and scripting. Thankfully, there are tools to streamline, automate and optimize this step. Here you’ll find courses to help you learn about such tools.
Introduction to Maven
Build Systems
This course is an introduction to the basic features of Apache Maven. You will learn what Maven is and how it helps managing dependencies in your Java project. You will understand POM configuration, build phases and use plugins.
Java Maven
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Allopathic, alternative and integrative health care
integrative medicine
Integrative medicine is the usage of both conventional western medicine and alternative medicine methods. It’s about caring for the ‘whole person’.
One systemic problem I see in western society healthcare is when medical professionals only use allopathic (drugs and surgery) or ‘conventional western’ methods. But in fairness to our western-trained medical professionals, I understand the dilemma that they often do not have enough time to consider the ‘whole person’.
When faced with a health issue, some people have a mindset of ‘just give me a pill and I’ll be on my way’. The problem with drugs and surgery is that they just address the symptom, not the underlying reason that the issue developed in the first place.
There is still a stigma around the terms alternative or complementary methods. Partaking in things like acupuncture, herbs, massage therapy, nutrition, yoga, meditation, etc, is sometimes looked upon by skeptics as ‘oh, you like those alternative methods’. Anyone who says that is ignorant about whole person care (I say ‘ignorant’ in a respectful way; meaning they just are not well-informed). Many of these methods were developed hundreds and thousands of years ago and were largely lost by western society in recent years.
A newer term is blossoming in the western world today. It’s called integrative medicine or health care. Here is what integrative medicine is:
• A practical strategy, integrative medicine puts the patient at the center and addresses the full range of physical, emotional, mental, social, spiritual and environmental influences that affect a person’s health.
• The patient is an informed and empowered partner and the medical professionals personalize their care to best address the individual’s unique conditions, needs and circumstances.
• Emphasizes regaining health, prevention, health maintenance and early intervention, and utilizes all appropriate, evidenced-based and personalized therapeutic approaches.
One very important thing to understand is the integrative medicine does not dismiss conventional western medicine (ie, drugs and surgery), it works in conjunction with them.
I personally feel that conventional methods alone are a narrow-minded approach. However, it does take time assemble various professionals who can provide services whose approaches work well together. What I’m noticing here in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, is that ‘integrative clinics’ are popping up all over town. This is a good thing, but there is no standard for what such a clinic would provide, so the patient needs to take control of their own approach to health care.
There is a wonderful integrative cancer care center in Vancouver, British Columbia, called Connect Health. They treat the whole person from a root cause viewpoint. A truly inspirational and amazing organization.
If you or a loved one is facing a health issue, do consider an integrative approach.
The reason I decided to write this post is in the hope that if you or a loved one is ever faced with a health issue or simply want to cultivate optimal health, you will consider an integrative approach rather than automatically succumbing to only western medicine drugs and surgery.
Related articles:
8 thoughts on “Allopathic, alternative and integrative health care
1. Pingback: Anticancer world » Blog Archive » Intergrative Health Care
2. Saw the people from Inspire Health speak at the Dr. Rogers awards and they said they encouraged the patients to take charge and be very involved in their recovery, they said one of the biggest hurdles was to get people to be responsible for their recovery, surprising in a way.
• Yes, that is what InspireHealth and integrative medicine is about. People having responsibility and fully participating in their health and recovery, as opposed to being told what to do and feeling helpless. It makes sense – who better than ourselves should be the ones to make decisions about our health and well-being. Taking suggestions from practitioners and making our own decisions.
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Exposing The World’s Superrich: GDP, Gender, And Political Ties
The Peterson Institute for International Economics compiled one of the most extensive datasets yet on over 2000 billionaires from all over the world. Using the Forbes World’s Billionaires List and additional research, PIIE researchers Caroline Freund and Sarah Oliver created their Billionaires Characteristics Database (available for download here).
We found this dataset to be a treasure trove for analysis. By looking at data for each billionaires’ net worth at different times in the past 20 years, possible political connections and details on the origins of all that wealth can be explored.
The sum net worth of the world’s superrich in 2014: use the filter to compare within regions:
What amount of riches are we talking about?
The 2073 billionaires covered in the database had, in 2014, a combined net worth of US$6.45 trillion (to be clear, that is 6.45 million million dollars!). Compared to that same years’ global GDP, the superrich, constituting 0.00003% of the world’s population, held assets equivalent to 8.29% of the global value produced. Top of the list is Bill Gates with a personal net worth of US$76 billion, closely followed by the Mexican telecom-mogul Carlos Slim with US$72 billion.
Billionaires are most abundant in the United States (about 1 in 3 billionaires is a US citizen), where together they account for US$2.3 trillion. But taking total population numbers into account shows that some other countries have a higher number of billionaires per capita: in particular Hong Kong, Switzerland and Singapore stand out with relatively high billionaires-to-citizens ratios (8 billionaires for every million citizens in Hong Kong).
Data available for the years 1996, 2001 and 2014 allows us to take a look at how the billionaires’ fortunes have fared over the past two decades. The net worth of 406 billionaires in the dataset could be tracked between either 1996 and 2014 or 2001 and 2014. These values were then compared to provide an average growth rate of each billionaire’s wealth. 80% of this group saw their fortune grow over the years, while less than 100 billionaires took some losses.
No one took a bigger hit than Nobutada Saji, who saw over US$6 billion of worth disappear in recent years. But overall, it has been profitable times for the world’s billionaires. The biggest winners, like Sheldon Adelson and Michael Bloomberg, had their net worth increase over thirty-fold between 1996 and 2014.
One other way of looking at an individual’s wealth — when we’re talking about billions — is comparing it to the GDP of the country they reside in. While the Bill Gates and Carlos Slims of the world can boast the highest total amounts of dollars, they live in countries where their wealth is still only a drop in the bucket. In some other smaller economies, being a billionaire can mean your wealth equals a considerable portion of your country’s GDP — like Bidzina Ivanishvili matching 31% of Georgia’s GDP, or Nathan Kirsh matching 84% of Swaziland’s. There’s one billionaire however, whose wealth is actually larger than the entire economy of his home country: the tiny island-nation St. Kitts and Nevis’ US$850 million economy is dwarfed by Jacky Xu’s US$1.2 billion of net worth.
Top 20 billionaires in net worth relative their country’s GDP:
Who are we talking about?
With 552 self-made billionaires — 66% of its total stock — the American continent shows itself to be a place with relative economic mobility for the superrich. Europe, comparatively, has a lot of Old Money: 42% of European billionaires inherited their money. The highest percentage of self-made billionaires can be found in Asia though: over 3 quarters of Asian billionaires made their own fortune.
The Gender Divide
Probably unsurprisingly, men make up the vast majority of the world’s superrich: 89.7%, or 1828 billionaires in the database are men while 10.3%, or 209 are women. This balance is even worse, from a gender-equality point of view, when we look at self-made billionaires. From a total of 1354 self-made billionaires, only 41, or 3% are women.
There are also some big regional differences in the billionaires’ gender distribution. The American continent has the highest percentage of female billionaires: Latin America, with 19% women, has by far the highest score in this respect. The gender distribution is most skewed in Asia: 500 billionaires but only 5% are women.
Political Ties
The PIIE found evidence for political connections for 68 billionaires, of which 21 are Russian. Almost all of the politically-connected superrich have self-made fortunes and are from emerging markets. Bigger riches does not seem to correlate with a higher chance of political connections, as most in this group are ‘mere’ single-digit billionaires. Having political ties also doesn’t seem to be correlated to the billionaires’ wealth, relative to the GDP of its home country. When your worth rivals your country’s entire economy, it’s not hard to imagine how much weight your political positions would carry —however most of the billionaires with a high relative wealth have not been identified to have political ties.
The top 10 superrich with political ties, sorted by their relative wealth are mostly self-made billionaires from Eastern Europe or the Middle East:
What are the sources of all that wealth?
First off, while there’s a vast number of different (business) sectors spawning billionaires over the world , over 90% of these sectors can be linked to only one or a handful of billionaires — only some 30 different sectors have been at the base of the wealth of many. Real estate tops this list of fruitful sectors: at least 145 billionaires accrued their wealth in the real estate business.
Top 12 sectors in which billionaires made their riches. The count shows the number of billionaires by sector:
The regional differences are considerable however:
When comparing self-made billionaires with the ones that came from money some more stark differences appear. Most inherited money has originally been made in construction, retail, media, banking and real estate (with each of these sectors accounting for a comparable number of billionaires). The group of self-mades is far more concentrated in just one sector: real estate (accounting for more than double the amount of billionaires than the next sector, retail).
So much more to dig into
As the data published by the PIIE is part of a working paper, it’s certain there is more to come. But the dataset in its current form already has so much more to dig into. As an ongoing analysis, additional findings and charts will be added to this online database — feel free to explore and visualize the data yourselves.
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Study Guide: AP Calculus AB
AP Calculus is a hard class, and it relies on a firm basis in, pretty much, all math prior to calculus if you want a chance in hell of passing.
So, before even taking the class, check out some of this:
Math Review: Arithmetic through Data Analysis
Its a GRE Math guide, but its helpful, giving a pretty basic overview on algebra through pre-calc.
Special Angles Chart – Trig is, sadly, a part of calculus, knowing this will make life SO MUCH EASIER.
Now we can start on Calculus.
WolframAlpha – Calculator Tool
SOS Math
The two tools above are online calculator and help sites for when a problem has you stumped. Figuring out what your doing wrong until it whats right clicks in your brain is like, 90% of this class.
Assuming you survived the class, you need to study for the AP test. The two links below are a pretty comprehensive overview.
Calculus Formula Cheat Sheet – MEMORIZE THIS
AP Calculus Study Guide
Sorry this guide is so short. calculus isn’t really something you can learn or cram in a month, and not really something that can be studied online.
But hopefully this helps a little.
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The Method
The Meerkat method has three basic concepts.
Learner: If you are learning a new technology, finding a Mentor is the fastest way to improve. Anybody can be a Mentor and a Learner at different times. On some technologies you can lead, and on others you can follow.
Mentor: You need to find a scorpion. A scorpion is a task you will give to the Learner, that is valuable/demanding for you; and more so to the Learner. You will gauge the difficulty of the task, and the skill of the Learner. The goal is to first give a task that is at the very end of his capabilities.
Both: Iterate till the task is solved.
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"This is a war to end all wars and to make the world safe for democracy." - Woodrow Wilson
"Only the dead have seen the end of war" - George Santayana _________________________________________________
Hello, gentlemen. Welcome to "Against the Dying of the Light", a timeline about an earlier WWI and the implications it has for the present-day. This timeline has multiple points of divergence, the earliest being Venezuela, before following with the Fashoda Incident and a fictional naval incident just off the coast of Sudan. For the uninitiated, the title is derived from line in Dylan Thomas' poem "Do not go gentle into that good night", and it reflects all the troubles the world will now endure and how we will rage against the dying of the light. Welcome to war...
War of 1895
Modern historians have no doubt that the Venezuelan Crisis of 1895 served as the trigger for the War of 1895 between the States, its Venezuelan ally and Britain, especially after the HMS Calypso, the HMS Sparta, the HMS Rocket, the HMS Surly, the HMS Magnificent and the HMS Repulse began to engage the USS Maine, the USS Texas, the USS New York, the USS Charleston and the USS Vesuvius, began a skirmish just a kilometer northwest of Georgetown at around 13:43 local time on the 24th of December of 1895. The battle lasted until 15:27 local time, with the HMS Calypso, the HMS Rocket, the HMS Surly, the USS New York and the USS Charleston sunk, the HMS Magnificent, USS Texas and USS Vesuvius taking heavy damage and the Royal Navy being forced to leave the area. After the skirmish, Venezula followed by an invasion of British Guiana via a notification by President Cleveland, while the Americans (with reinforcements) blockaded British Guiana. Of course, the Americans were not done there. Americans crossed the border into Canada, and heavy fighting began between the Royal Army and the US Army. By mid-1896, most of Canada fell to the Americans, while the Royal Army and Navy made a final stand in Newfoundland. Eventually, on the 3rd of August of 1896, the Treaty of Caracas was signed by the Venezuelan government, the States and Britain, which made Britain concede Canada to the States and British Guiana to be conceded to Venezuela. With this in consideration, it gave rise to not only a world power, but one that could challenge the British Empire.
The Outbreak of War
While Britain lost Canada and British Guiana, it had other problems, one of them being France. Though the two nations have sought to better diplomatic relations for decades, the Fashoda and Suez Incidents destroyed any hopes of an alliance between France and Britain, and eventually triggered the First Great War, back then called simply as the Great War. The Fashoda Incident was the incident that brought them both to the brink, but it was the Suez Incident that pushed them over. The French battleship Gaulois and the HMS Royal Sovereign exchanged shots, and the Iéna sunk to the bottom of the Red Sea, with no survivors. When news reached the two sides, the peace died and war began. It did not take long for the war to spread out of control and soon, the world unraveled. The Royal Navy won that skirmish, but the First Great War had begun....
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Friday, February 7, 2014
If You're Old Enough To Remember Seeing The Beatles Arrive In America in '64, It's Time To Have Your Yearly Prostate Exam
The Beatles arrived on Pan Am Flight 101 at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport. on February 7, 1964.They didn’t really know what to expect. Even though they had a No. 1 hit with "I Want to Hold Your Hand," they’d heard enough stories about other British musicians who failed to connect in America.
An emotional crowd of somewhere between three and five thousand greeted the Beatles at the airport and "Beatlemania" had arrived. It was the first visit to the United States by the Beatles who had just scored their first Number One U.S. hit six days before with "I Want to Hold Your Hand."
At Kennedy, the "Fab Four" dressed in mod suits and sporting their trademark pudding bowl haircuts nearly caused a riot when the boys stepped off their plane and onto American soil. Two days later, Paul McCartney, age 21, Ringo Starr, 23, John Lennon, 23, and George Harrison, 20, made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.
The rest, as they say, is history. The Beatles went on to become one of the most influential sounds in music and the number one band in sales. It was the best of times, back in the day, and I can say I was there to enjoy it......
The News As I See It: The Olympics start today and Russia's implementing the most intensive security in Olympics history. The government will monitor every email. They will monitor every social media message and they will listen in on every phone call. In fact, it's so bad, people are now comparing Russia to the United States.
This week on board Justin Bieber's private jet, the pilots had to wear oxygen masks because of all of the pot smoke. They also had to wear ear plugs because Bieber was blasting his own music.
This Date In History: 1795; The 11th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. 1904; Disastrous fire destroyed more than 1,500 buildings in downtown Baltimore. 1926; Carter G. Woodson founded Negro History Week, which later evolved into Black History Month.
1964; The Beatles arrived in the U.S. for the first time. 1971; Women in Switzerland were finally granted suffrage. 1974; The island of Grenada won its independence from Britain 1986; President Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier fled Haiti.
1990; The Communist Party of the Soviet Union allowed other parties to compete for power. 1991; Jean-Bertrand Aristide sworn in as first democratically-elected president of Haiti.
Picture Of The Day: The Ed Sullivan Show gave the Beatles their first national exposure.
Printable Things I Never Told You: 1) The woman in the Superman underwear next to me does not quite understand how white pants work. 2) I'm not getting married again until Pizza Hut allows gift registry. 3) (Judge): "Members of the jury, how do you find the defendant?" (Jury Foreman): "We can't find him at all." (Judge): "Dammit, this is the third murder Waldo has gotten away with!" 4) I can't personally remember an Olympics with better toilet reporting. 5) Whenever I hear about a man jumping off a bridge I can't help but wonder how long he was dating my ex.....and that's five !
Birthdays: Sir Thomas More, statesman 1478, John Deere, industrialist and manufacturer 1804, Charles Dickens, novelist 1812, Frederick Douglass, American Abolitionist 1817, Laura Ingalls Wilder, author 1867, Eubie Blake, pianist and composer 1883, Sinclair Lewis, novelist 1885, An Wang, computer entrepreneur 1920, James Spader, actor 1960, Chris Rock, comedian 1966, Ashton Kutcher, actor 1978.
The AREA 51 Retirement Home Bar And Grill: Susan reported for jury duty as ordered and promptly asks to be excused because she believed that she was prejudiced.
Susan said, "I took one look at those shifty eyes and that cheap polyester suit and I immediately knew that he was guilty as sin." The judge says "Sit down, That's the prosecuting attorney."
The priest replied: "That was a wonderful thing you did, and you have no need to confess that." The old man said, "There is more to tell, Father. She started to repay me with sexual favours. This happened several times a week and sometimes twice on Sundays."
The Old Italian said, "Thank you, Father. That's a great load off my mind. I do have one more question." The priest relied, "And what is that?" The old man said, "Should I tell her the war is over?"
The Hits Just Keep On Coming: The teenage granddaughter comes downstairs for her date with this see-through blouse on and no bra. Her grandmother pitched a fit, telling her not to dare go out like that!
Barack and Michelle are at the Yankee's World Series Game 6, sitting in the first row, with the Secret Service people directly behind them. One of the Secret Service guys leans forward and whispers something to Barack. First, Obama stares at the guy, looks at Michelle, looks back at the agent, and shakes his head violently.
The agent said, "Sir, it was a request from the home team, everybody from the owner down to the bat boy." Obama really gets going when the agent tells him the fans would love it! So Obama just shrugs his shoulders and says, "If that's what the people want."
Then Obama gets up, grabs Michelle by her collar and the seat of her pants, hoists her over the wall and drops her onto the playing field. She scrambles up kicking, swearing, screaming and the crowd goes wild. They're cheering, applauding and high-fiving.
Obama, bowing and smiling, leans over to the agent and says, "Hey, you were right, I would have never believed that!" Then noticing the agent had gone totally ashen, Obama asked the agent, "What's wrong?" As soon as he could speak, the stricken agent stammered, "Sir, I said, "They want you to throw out the first pitch'."
That's it for today, my little rock stars. Remember, alcohol doesn't cause hangovers, waking up does. I'm off to AREA 51 for happy hour.
Have a great weekend and more on Monday.
Stay Tuned !
jack69 said...
Beatles, I didn’t like ‘em. I didn’t like Elvis either. I didn’t like anyone that had all the GIRLS! LOL It was like they wasn’t even gonna leave me one!!!
I still laugh at the statements about that long hair, "that will never catch on and they will be cutting that soon". LOL
Yes, Jimmy you are right it was nice to be around when history was being made. We were an old married couple by then, but still smooched to their music.
All the printables and the news is good.
That P and B will get you every time if you don’t watch it. But Pitch is close…….
Good read . Careful!!! Enjoy the weekend, but wake up slowly!
Paula said...
I didn't care for the Beatles either but I had daughters that did so you know I listened to them.
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Monday, July 18, 2011
Some Helps in Reading Proverbs
A few questions to ask as you read Proverbs:
• What is this proverb urging me to avoid?
• What is this proverb calling me to pursue?
• What consequence of obedience or disobedience does this proverb alert me to?
• How can I apply this proverb to my life today?
• How does this proverb reveal the character and will of God?
• How is Jesus the fulfillment or example of this proverb?
Some Helpful Principles to Keep in Mind When Reading Proverbs:
Context: Always interpret Proverbs in light of the rest of Scripture.
Meaning: Always interpret Proverbs as the original author intended. For example, many Proverbs are not meant to be taken literally (i.e. 22:29).
Application: Always remember that the goal of Proverbs is to change our lives, not simply to fill our minds.
Jesus: Always look for how the Savior is revealed through the wisdom of Proverbs (Luke 24:27). In Jesus are hidden all the treasures of wisdom (Col. 2:3).
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom…” -Prov. 1:7
1 comment:
Pumice said...
On context, you are spot on about aligning with the rest of scripture but in Proverbs the immediate context is usually not key. It seems to be mostly a series of two liners.
Grace and peace.
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Frequently Bathroom cause Dry Skin
Everyone must bathe to clean the skin from the dust-dust and attached to lift dead skin cells. But remember do not bathe too often because it can cause skin to become dry.
Not mean that people rarely have to bathe, because if the bath is also not uncommon for the body. In addition can cause odor, also can invite the growth of bacteria and make the body become dirty. However, if too frequent bathing can make the body's natural skin layer akan terkikis, so that the body will be dry and no more layers can protect the skin.
Many types of skin disease multiformity and one of them if the situation is serious enough with ichthyosis vulgaris. This situation developed when skin cells fail to merontokkan and establish a more thick, this condition is usually called fish scale disease. This can be inherited or may occur as a result of medical conditions such as AIDS or hypothyroidism, which can make skin become someone ugly, as quoted from Health24, Friday (21/8/2009).
There are some things that most commonly causes skin to become dry bath frequency than they are:
1. Weather, generally during the winter because it has a low humidity. In addition, wind and heat that is too extreme can also make the skin that causes dehydration become dry.
2. Hard soap, a moisturizer berparfum and detergents can make the skin dry.
3. Refrigerator and penghangat room.
4. Metabolic changes that can occur because of factors due to age or condition of a particular treatment.
Symptoms usually incurred depending on the age, health, environmental factors mempengaruhinya and what the main causes. However, it is usually marked with a skin rough and uncomfortable, and sometimes redness relief.
Dry skin problem can be prevented or treated if not too severe, follow these steps:
1. Do not bathe too often in a day, Wash face once a day.
2. Do not use a hard soap, soap which contains moisturizer is best used. Avoid products that contain high Alkaline or contain alcohol.
3. Use warm water not hot.
4. Application of oil or moisturizer for a bath on the skin, moisturizer contains oil that is more effective.
5. Use moisturizer air if the air is being dried.
6. Konsumsilah enough water each day.
7. Use a moisturizer with at least SPF 15 to keep the skin moisture.
By following these steps and avoid all that can be triggered menimbulkanya, then dry skin is not a problem for you. And remember do not bathe too often during the day, Shower by rights as much as 2 times a day in the morning and evening and use soap that contains moisturizer.
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Plasma-Cutter Technology
Faction EmpireLogoThumb Empire of the Rising Sun
Function Weaponry
Brief Light from the heavens,
Soldiers Use It In Battle,
Tanks Will Become Slag
Few anti-tank weapons have been more feared than the plasma-cutter cannon. Allied and Soviet tank divisions have fallen alike to these powerful weapons, capable of slicing through thick steel with horrific ease. It is therefore ironic that one of the technologies used by the plasma-cutter originated from the Allied Nations.
The Empire’s alliance with the Allied Nations during the Second World War proved beneficial to the Japanese in ways other than the Japanese acquisition of Hawaii. For some years, even after the war had ended, Japan was able to tap into the knowledge base of the Allied Nations, while zealously safeguarding its own, greatest advances.
While the Japanese for the most part ignored a large part of what the Allies had to offer, considering the Allies’ technology and sciences as inferior to their own, they were nevertheless quick to exploit the opportunity to analyse Allied technology as well as their military (and thus figure out how to beat it). Still, there were a few areas that the Japanese took an interest in, particularly in the field of optics
With Allied technology and know-how, the Japanese were able to advance their understanding of optics, eventually learning how to create their own version of a spectrum beam generator, though the Japanese version was different from the Allies’ own.
An Unorthodox ApproachEdit
The Japanese soon ran into a problem the Allies themselves had encountered; thermal blooming. A high energy spectrum beam would lose some of its energy to the surrounding air, heating it. Allied scientists thought the effect a nuisance and a damper to efficiency, trying to minimize it. Japanese scientists, however, realised that it might be possible to exploit this effect.
Instead of trying to minimize thermal bloom, the Japanese attempted to maximize it, using the effect to rapidly heat up and ionize air, resulting in superheated plasma capable of easily melting through the toughest of metals. The process was initially applied to industrial production, with industrial robots using the new plasma-cutters (as they soon came to be known) to cut metal with extreme precision. Plasma-cutters soon became widespread throughout Japanese industry, and research continued to lower power consumption and increase plasma-cutter efficiency.
The Imperial military eventually caught on to the military uses of plasma-cutting. Seeing the ease with which industrial plasma-cutters could slice up metal, the Imperial military realised the potential utility of plasma-cutters as a weapon, and Prince Tatsu, fascinated by the idea of plasma-cutter weaponry, authorising a military R&D project to research and develop a practical plasma-cutter weapon. Of course, any practical plasma-cutter cannon would have to be significantly more powerful than industrial plasma-cutters, yet more compact, if they were to have any value as military weapons.
After several months, the team working on the project managed to produce a working model that was small enough to be mounted on a tank; the MX-2 plasma-cutter cannon. While the number of shots was severely limited due to the extreme power consumption and limited power source, it was nevertheless a success, and funding for the project continued to flow.
Miniaturisation and relentless advances eventually allowed the Japanese to develop a model small enough that it could be carried by a single man and powerful enough to cut tank grade armour; the MX-18 plasma-cutter cannon. With further advances, the MX-19 “Muramasa” plasma-cutter cannon was born, and the Tankbusters formed to take advantage of its amazing anti-tank power. Within a matter of months, these soldiers would carve fear into the hearts of Soviet and Allied tank divisions alike, as tank crews learnt that there was no metal that the plasma-cutters could not melt.
Empire of the Rising Sun Defence Forces
Italics designate Paradox-Exclusive units and structures.
Infantry Burst DroneImperial WarriorTankbusterMasamuneEngineerHolotree SniperShinobiAshigaru BombardierRocket AngelTsukumogami Proto-SuitBattle PsychicYuriko Omega
Dedicated Aircraft Raijin X Ground StrikerFujin Variable StrikerHachiman Aerial TransportMasakari Drone Command
Construction Nanocore
Protocols Imperial Protocols
Lore Units Archer MaidenSteel RoninGiga FortressShogun ExecutionerFloating Fortress
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Friday, April 30, 2010
Oil Spill in the Gulf
An oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is endangering wildlife and habitats along the gulf, and sources say that the oil has begun to reach coastal waters of Louisiana, home to nearly half of the country's wetlands. The first article points out that the way we have been cleaning up oil spills has remained largely the same since the 1960s. These methods include simply burning the oil off the surface of the water, a direct source of pollution.
The second article listed below makes an interesting point regarding the primarily Republican campaign to "drill baby, drill," in the article circle waters surrounding Alaska.
Congressman Jim Moran had this to say about the potential for disaster:
What do you see as being a potential solution? Personally, I think that disasters like this happen infrequently, and that offshore drilling in Alaska is a feasible and profitable option for the United States. However, I also see the importance of preserving some of the last unscathed habitats we have in the United States. Can more be done regarding prevention for these oil spills?
1. This latest indecent provides insight into some of the potential problems of offshore drilling, in many ways this provides us with good information on what precautions might need to be taken in the future construction of oil platforms specifically platforms that are designed for operation in the harsh environment of the North Pacific.
2. I read they recently set fire to the spill as a sort of last attempt to stop it from reaching the wetlands, it will be interesting to see if this technique will work or devastate the wetlands even more.
3. Even though these accidents might happen infrequently, the impact they have devastates wildlife and causes pollution that is extremely detrimental to the environment. The cost of cleaning up this Gulf of Mexico oil spill is estimated to be over 3 billion for BP; so yes, I absolutely think more can be invested into prevention efforts. It may cost more to upgrade the technology, but monetary value cannot be placed on the wildlife lost when oil spills occur.
4. It is amazing that we have come so far with technology and yet the only way we know to fix an oil spill is to burn the oil off the water. Oil spill may be infrequent but when they happen the effects on ecosystems are extremely damaging.
5. These accidents are the main reason we cannot surround our coastlines with oil platforms. The environmental degredation and the amount of pollution and species loss to a spill would be disasterous for all or any coastal economy. It is impossible to completely eliminate human or technological error so these tragedies will not become a thing of the past.
6. I agree that offshore drilling is a practical idea and that it can be done safely however the current methods of drilling to not have enough safety mechanisms to ensure the safety of the environment. In the case of the oil spill in the gulf the main line of oil to the tanker ruptured and then detached. There is a emergency valve near the source of the oil but for some reason they cannot get it turned off. If drilling companies were able to make a few simple changes like adding more emergency shutoff valves and putting a safety pipe around the drilling pipe they could prevent huge spills that have a large effect on the environment.
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Feel free to have that one can of Diet Pepsi
How Does a Water Brake Dynamometer Work?
The purpose of utilizing a dynamometer would be to test the burden capacity for a train locomotive prior to putting it in service. It enables for that break-in of a new or newly rebuilt engine in the controllable environment. Engine manufacturers, rebuilders and several fleets have proven this sort of break-in procedure through years of experience. Properly run-in engines go longer, run better and cost less to maintain. This article highlights the operation of the water brake engine dynamometer.
An electric train engine without a load is only able to produce speed. Maintaining a given rate of revolutions each minute (RPM) takes a tiny amount of engine horsepower. The wann (More Signup bonuses) dyno can be a means by that any controlled load could be added and monitored. Using a water brake dynamometer, the horsepower of the prime mover is converted into heat with the dynamometer water. The stators and rotors successfully accomplish that transfer of energy. Both the stators and rotors have pockets built within them. As water is brought into the engine dyno or chassis dyno by passages inside the stator, it's discharged to the dyno close to the center of rotation of the rotor assembly. This water entering the dyno will flow in to the pockets of the rotor. The lake is then accelerated from the rotation from the rotor assembly, which is coupled to the output shaft from the engine. As it increases (or accelerates), the lake will fly out as a result of centrifugal force. And as the water flies out, it ends up in pockets within the stator plates. The lake in these similar pockets inside the stator plates has a tendency to go out and is also once more met through the rotating rotor assembly. The lake is hasten (or accelerated) again, and also the constant acceleration and deceleration with the water, power is required that is converted into frictional heating of the water. The thermal conversion of engine chance to frictional heating of the water is supported by pure laws of physics.
Horsepower could be defined when it comes to heat. Heat loads are measured in terms of "BTUs" or British Thermal Units. A BTU of heat may be the amount of heat it would take to improve the temperature of 1 pound of pure water by one degree Fahrenheit. When dealing with water brake dynamometers, the heat loads in terms of BTUs are essential.
Because we are raising the temperature of just one pound water by one degree Fahrenheit, we are going to need to know a few more definitions. You can find 62.4 pounds of pure water in a cubic foot. There are 231 cubic inches in a gallon of pure water. Therefore, one gallon of pure water would weigh 8-⅓ pounds. One horsepower is equal to 2,545 BTUs hourly or about 45.5 BTUs for each minute. With this particular information, we could now determine the quantity of water which is required to absorb confirmed level of horsepower. The amount of water within the dyno at any given instant determines how much horsepower that it may absorb. The more water which is inside the dynamometer, the harder the dyno can absorb. You can not put more water in to the dyno than the amount for the degree of horsepower that you plan to test.
The dynamometer does not hold water. It is simply something for converting the horsepower into heat from the water. Because of this, you'll need a given flow with the dyno in a given horsepower rating. The amount of flow varies with the amount of horsepower being absorbed and is also directly proportional. The better the quantity of load required, the larger the quantity of water will need to be supplied.
The amount of water supplied for the dynamometer is controlled externally towards the dynamometer. This can be done either by a set of manual turn off valves mounted within the water supply line, from the electric remote load control valve or by the servo-operated inlet manifold option. Whether the manual or electric valves are used, they both accomplish exactly the same task. The broader the valve is opened, the greater water it allows to circulate towards the dynamometer. This flow for the dyno is directly proportional to the amount of horsepower being absorbed.
An exhaust or outlet valve is also installed on the dynamometer. The purpose of this valve is always to conserve water while allowing the dynamometer to run on various temperatures of inlet water. Once we are converting horsepower into heat with the water, the connection with the inlet and outlet water temperatures becomes a crucial consideration. The exhaust valve is a controlled orifice. The farther it really is opened, the higher the water consumption is going to be.
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Let Them Eat Cake
Previous Page
Let Them Eat Cake : Phrases
Those in a disadvantaged position should eat the worst of the food.
Marie Antoinette told the Paris proletariat that
they should eat cake when they pleaded for bread in 1770.
This phrase originated prior to Marie Antionette's usage - Rousseau's Confessions, written 3 years before her remark, told of a
great princess who said the same thing to her peasants at least 15 years before Marie Antoinette's birth. Some claim that the thoughtless remark was circulated to discredit Marie, while others say she repeated it herself as a little joke.
The French phrase is Qu'ils mangent de la brioche and may mean
they should eat the outer crust (brioche) of the bread - the stale part - as opposed to the soft inside part.
Phrases Index
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There is a very poignant moment in the Marathi movie ‘Fandry’ where the only untouchable family in the village is trying to catch the pigs and just at the moment when it seems that the father of the family would catch them, the school nearby starts reciting the Indian National Anthem. Needless to say, the father (along with his entire family) are required to leave whatever they are doing and stand upright, in a savdhaan position (standing in attention) to pay their respect. Meanwhile the pig runs away and the moment the National Anthem stops, the family continues to run behind the pigs…the family continues to suffer the humiliation and continues complete the task of touching (and capturing) the ‘impure’ animal simply because of the caste they belong to.
As we reach our country’s 69th Independence Day, one wonders, what kind of nationalism are we really instilling in ourselves and the coming generations? Is therea sense of equality in its true form? Does it really exist among each and every one of us? The ‘Indian nationality’ as Michael argues while being conceptualized was based on the culture of upper castes and mostly northern groups.[1]Gandhi while talking about attaining Swaraj (autonomy) spoke of it not just in terms of emancipation from the British rule, but attaining self-truth, self-purification and self-reliance.[2] For Tagore, this idea of Swaraj, included an inward experience of pride and glory coupled with co-operative self-determination.[3]
The infinite problems that emerge with a certain idea of nationalism (mostly a Brahminical form of nationalism) have been well documented in the Dalit literature and otherwise since decades. As Ambedkar points out that achieving Swaraj would never be enough because one needs to ask, in whose hands that Swaraj would be.[4]So important is Ambedkar to the idea of Dalit nationalism that Kancha Ilaiah documents Telugu poet Gaddar’s emotional attachment to Ambedkar. He points out how one should understand the meaning of nationalism in the context of the bond between Dalits and Ambedkar.[5]Hebden argues that the language of nationalism within the folds of Hinduism or any other religion is quite oppressive and politically stagnating. He furthers says, that among Dalits, there ought to be a subversion of this language of nationalism which involves developing ‘liberative themes of subversive foreignness.’[6]The nationalism associated with Dalits expresses not just the desire to be a process of nation building but an aspiration to emerge as an active participative group in social modernization.[7]
Once again, I take the reader back to the movie Fandry. Another moment(s) in the movie are when Jabya (the main character and from the lower caste) falls for an upper caste girl, there is perpetual moral policing by his male class mate who belongs to the upper caste. Besides there being obvious restrictions on inter-caste interactions, this policing also exudes a certain sense of masculinity by the class mate. This brings me back the same question I asked before. What kind of nationalism in a particular masculine form are we instilling?
It becomes a little hard to see Gandhi or Tagore talking about Swaraj in isolation from their other writings. For instance, as Gandhi explains how historical instances of terror before the English advent weren’t a mighty thing and how the British rule hasn’t really established peace from the age old ‘terror’, he exclaims that he would rather suffer the ‘Pindari peril’ than seek protection from someone rendering us (Indians) emasculated and effeminate.[8] Similarly Tagore argues that Indian (before taken over by the British rule) was once a marvellous universe, an action-loving ‘masculine’ power and has been reduced to an effeminate and feminine village.[9] Therefore, as Dutta argues, the nationalist ideology of masculinity routed common patriarchal anxieties about failed or degenerated masculinity.[10] Thus, the idea of nationalism was placed in opposition to a sense of failed masculinity or effeminacy. Talking about the changing notions of power, property, public and private changes as one moves up the caste hierarchy, Kancha Ilaiah notes how in neo-Kshatriya homes, there is a strange sense of ‘aggrandized masculine power’ which associates perfectly with Brahminism and fits perfectly with the philosophy of casteism.[11]
The Dalit subversion of mainstream Brahminical nationalism also presents avenues of challenging the image of an ideal Indian who should be running away from effeminacy and femininity. As Guru notes that the Dalit response to Indian nationalism is articulated from the standpoint of pride and humiliation; that the Dalit response puts Swabhiman (self-respect) before Abhiman (pride).[12] This sense of self-respect becomes significant in stepping away from a particular form of nationalism (not just in terms of caste but beyond) which rejects anything that does not match the masculine nature of country worship. Thus, respecting one’s own sense of masculinity or femininity before situating it in the bigger discourse of nationalism becomes important.
Now, let’s ask ourselves the same question again. Are we really celebrating a particular form of nationalism? Or are we just living in an illusion that all of us stand tall while singing “Jana GanaMana”?
[1] S.M. Michael, Dalit Vision of a Just Society in India in, Dalits in Modern India: Vision and Values 118 (2nd ed. 2007)
[2] M.K. Gandhi, Young India, 28 June 1928 (772)
[3] Rabindranath Tagore, Towards Universal Man 283 (1961)
[4] Dhananjay Keer, Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission 360 (1995)
[5] Kancha Ilaiah, Buffalo Nationalism: A Critique of Spiritual Fascism 43 (2004)
[6] Revd.Dr. Keith Hebden, Dalit Theology and Christian Anarchism 157 (2013)
[7] Badri Narayan, Women Heroes and Dalit Assertion in North India: Culture, Identity and Politics, Cultural Subordination and Dalit Challenge 94 (Vol. 5, 2006)
[8] Anthony J. Parel (ed.), M.K. Gandhi: Hind Swaraj and other Writings 44 (1997)
[9] Rabindranath Tagore, Swadeshi Samaj, in, The Sky of Indian History: Themes and Thought of Rabindranath Tagore 407 (2010).
[10] Aniruddha Dutta, Section 377 and the Retroactive Consolidation of ‘Homophobia’, in,ArvindNarrain & Alok Gupta (eds.), Law like Love: Queer Perspectives on Law 170 (2011)
[11] Kancha Ilaiah, Why I am Not a Hindu: A Sudra Critique of Hindutva Philosophy, Culture and Political Economy, 42 (1996)
[12] Gopal Guru, Liberal Democracy in India and the Dalit Critique 78(1) Social Research 99, 100 (2011)
Akhil Kang is a law graduate from NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad and is currently working with Partners for Law in Development on issues related to gender and sexuality
(AMBEDKAR READING GROUP: A Dalit Adivasi Bahujan Minorities Collective, Delhi University)
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A Passage to India: Book Review
Updated on July 10, 2015
A passage to India by Forsters E.M focuses on the interaction between the English and the native Indian population during the period when Britain colonized India. The novel’s context is at Chandrapore, an urban center along river Ganges that is quite popular for its Marabar caves. Dr. Aziz is the key character in this novel who is a widower and a Muslim. Alongside Dr. Aziz are four other characters, Mrs., Mooer, Cyril Fieldig, and Miss Adela. These characters decide to set a trip to Marabar caves where Adela finds herself with Dr. Aziz in one of the Marabar caves. It is argued that Dr. Aziz had practically attempted to assault her and with great panic, she fled. Consequently, the trial of Aziz and its aftermath brings out the prejudices and racial tensions that had existed between the indigenous local Indians and the Britons who ruled India at that time. In essence, this book vividly offers a critique on the style of British colonialism in India, which led to lack of support among the indigenous people.
The book is created against the milieu of the Indian independence euphoria of the 1920s and the British Raj. The book is among the top 100 works in the English literature of the 20th century by the Modern Library. In addition, it has won many prices for fiction books. The book centers on the experience of Forster while working in India.
From his experiences in India during the British colonization, Forster labels them as caricatures. He went on to argue that he could not give any balanced view of his experiences. Forster went on to suggest that the friendship or effective integration between the British and the India was near impossible as even the cultures of the two nations were totally incompatible in securing appreciation and mutual respect. This implies that Forster was highly critical of British colonialism in India.
The Perception of Forster on British Colonialism
In this work, Forster presents a strong critique of British colonialism in India. His chief argument is that colonialism tended to prevent personal relationships. In this endeavor, he posses the central question in the very beginning of the novel when Hamidullah and Mahmud Ali ponders on whether it was possible to befriend Englishmen. The response presented by Foster himself at the final pages is
“No, no yet … No, not there” (p. 322).Friendship like that is not possible, on a political level, due to the existence of British Raj”. The most obvious target for Foster is the unfriendly chauvinism of the Englishmen, (Anglo-Indians) in India. He sometimes tries to score them for the pure spite they portrayed, as when Mrs. Calendar plainly states, “The kindest thing to be done to a native is letting them die in their situations” (27).
Anglo-Indians, as Foster named them, usually acted on emotional prejudice rather than open-minded and rational examination of facts. Therefore, they fall into coherent inconsistencies which Foster exposes using his best weapon: irony. This is best portrayed in the arrest of Dr. Aziz at the frantic Club meeting for supposedly molesting Adela Quested. An anonymous native who he had played polo with the previous month was defended. He states that any native playing Polo is regarded as being one of them and therefore he is strongly defended.
Further, Foster effectively presents different relationships and scenarios with use of imagery and symbolism. This is meant for the audience to determine or imagine the path it may lead and how it criticizes colonialism. The narrative tends to play host to a range of consequences and themes present for all the parties. In addition, Foster captures the colonialist ideology against the scenery of an astounding India and its population in a way that gives the reader an unbiased focal on themes while at the same time, creating a permanent curiosity to how the back-story affects the current interaction.
Cultural Differences between Indians and the Britain
In this novel, the author vividly indicates some elements in the culture of India and Britain, which were never compatible with one another. Among these elements, include cleanness, punctuality, reservation and moral perspectives. Being a colony of Britain, India was embodied with three distinct cultures, Islam, Hinduism, and English. According to Forster, these cultures were so distinct to the extent that they could not be compatible with one another. He employs his characters to portray these cultural differences among the British and Indians.
Ethics and Moral Perspectives
In the second chapter, Dr. Aziz attends dinner at Hamidullah’s home and while taking dinner, they engage in a discussion regarding the cultural differences between Anglo- Indians. Mrs. Turton, a British official who works as an inspector for the canal scheme accepts bribes from Raja to connect water through the estates. In actual sense, any form of bribery was considered as a social crime in Indian culture and was regarded as a source of social problems. Though the Britons seemingly embraced this, it was unlawful in Islamic perspective. In the discussion with Hamidullah, Dr. Aziz wonders how the act of bribery was so acceptable by the Christians.
Forsters strongly criticizes the way the British colonialists handled and approached this social evil. Interestingly, if the indigenous or black people were found to have engaged in bribery, they were harshly charged. On the other hand, if the Britons engaged in bribery, they were left scot-free with no charge labeled against them.
The culture of India is best identified through the people’s believes, customs and values. Most of Indians would like to spend their leisure time taking pan and hookah. They could even sacrifice cleanness to engage in these sources of gossip (Chanda, 2003, 78). In the Passage to India, we are also informed that unlike the British, Indians do not take cleanness so seriously. In the second chapter, Dr. Aziz says,
“If I have to clean my teeth, I may not go at all (to take hookah or pan). I am an Indian and in this culture, we have to take pan” (Forster 1924: 38).
This implies that they had to sacrifice cleanness in order to take some leisure activities. Further, the aspect of little emphasis in cleanness could be connected with another element in the Indian culture that of punctuality and which is discussed in the subsequent part.
Hamidullah and Dr. Aziz were about to start taking their dinner when they are interrupted by some peculiar letter from Callendar Major. In actual sense, it was the character of Aziz to be punctual. In the beginning, Dr. Aziz is advised to visit the surgeon, but he is hesitating to do so. In these lines, two things come out clear, that if Dr. Aziz undertakes the cleaning of his teeth, he might be late. This implies that Dr. Aziz was notable for punctuality in his responsibilities and duties. The second thing is that he was proud of being an Indian and the Indian culture. Further, Hamidullah notes the character of punctuality in Dr. Aziz in their regular discussions. In the subsequent lines, Forster highlights some differences between the Indian and British culture.
“In one of the nights in the club, there was an amateur orchestra contributed by the English community. In other places, there were some drumming by the Hindus; I knew that they were Hindus since the rhythm was uncongenial and that it was accompanied by wailing (Forster 1924: 41).
In this novel, many lines present some reservations on the acceptance of the British culture by the Indians. When major Callendar summons Dr. Aziz, he did not find any important message to give him and he decides to go to the Mosque. Most of the English classes were working on a play ‘Cousin Kate’ in the club. Dr. Aziz manages to hear some form of artistic music from the other side of the club. She notes that these presentations had some elements from the Western culture. Music was acceptable and fair in the perspective of Christianity and some of them regard music as the diet of the soul. However, Dr Aziz did not like how the music was played because the drumming, rhythm and sounds and were not acceptable among the indigenous culture. In short, there were some reservations in some of the practices and cultural activities of the British people.
From this novel, we also learn on a religious dispute between Muslims and Hindus in India. While the mosque was considered a place of worship, some people especially Indians were busy bewailing in the mosque. Bewailing in a place of worship was a symbol of the Hindu culture, which greatly deviated from the Moslem practices. In short, the wide cultural differences between the indigenous and foreign cultures made the locals to have reservations on embracing these cultures.
With the thought of colonialism, Foster has in a “passage to India” directed his focus on people, development of characters and relationships rather than taking the novel on a digression of absolute political movement. With this liberal approach, the reader is able to delve into the matter with a more open mind and develop own comments and opinions on colonialism rather than rely on Foster’s critique.
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Twitter Hacked - Denial of Service Attack - What does that Mean?
Updated on August 6, 2009
Recently the wildly popular web site Twitter was hacked. The site went offline for a short period, causing minor panics throughout the population of the free world with too much free time.
What happened? Did evil ninja scientists sneak into Twitter headquarters and bog down the server by playing numerous games of Solitaire or Exteel or Evony? Nope. The unpleasant truth is that your computer or the computer of someone you know may have played a part in this international event.
What is Denial Of Service?
A Denial of Service, or DOS, (also called a distributed denial of service, or ddos) attack is a relatively common occurrence on the Internet. Most denial of service attacks go unnoticed by Internet patrons. Modern web servers and web server software are designed to detect and circumvent DOS intrusions without major disruptions in service. Ddos protection is the standard, not the exception. Rarely do DOS attacks even make the news any more.
Twittering birds did not cause the Twitter Denial of Service Attack.
Twittering birds did not cause the Twitter Denial of Service Attack.
Visualize a DOS attack this way; you are strolling down the street in your hometown. Periodically you recognize a friend from high school who greets you and asks "What are you doing, Bob?" (for the sake of this discussion, play along and act like your name is Bob ... Roberta is also acceptable). You are happy to see your old friend and you pleasantly respond with a few words to bring them up to date on your recent activities. Your friend moves on, satisfied with your summary. Now imagine that every person from your graduating class and every person you've ever met since then simultaneously taps you on the shoulder and wants to know what you're up to. You have thousands, or even millions, of people all waiting for a personalized response from you. Along with a very sore shoulder from all that tapping, you quickly realize that you will never be able to even begin to recognize and respond to all huge crowd forming around you. Panic sets in. You rush back into Wal Mart, where no one knows your name. If you are offended by Wal Mart, just imagine yourself curled into a ball on the sidewalk. Same difference.
A DOS condition is somewhat like that, except you are a Twitter web server and your friends are browsers all over the Internet. The Wal Mart is still a Wal Mart. The Twitter server becomes so overwhelmed by requests that it simply shuts down, refusing to respond to anyone. A well designed server, actually an array of servers referred to as a "server farm", can politely deal with DOS intrusions through highly technical means such as ignoring them or asking other computers on the Internet to stop relaying their requests. The Twitter servers just need a little upgrading; the Twitter craze exploded so quickly that they probably outgrew their hardware.
How Does This Happen?
How could such a thing happen? Imagine a disgruntled Twitter user sitting at his computer clicking incessantly, creating Tweets with the sole intent of overloading the Twitter server.Now imagine hundreds or even hundreds of thousands of coordinated computers generating Tweets at the same time. That's a Denial of Service Attack. Twitter didn't break, it just overheated and needed a time out. It's very unlikely that any data was lost, save for the attempted tweets that may have been ignored when the DOS was in force.
Anyway, how in the world did the Forces of Evil manage to coordinate so many computers all over the world. Well, that's probably your fault. One of the primary purposes of computer viruses these days is to control infected systems and use them for nefarious purposes. Should you get a virus that merely insists on serving you pop-up ads, consider yourself fortunate. A really devious virus take over your machine and allows someone on the other side of the world to control what it does. Your computer, or a computer in your neighborhood may have participated in the Twitter DOS attack.
There are viruses floating around that take over computers and sell your computer time to the highest bidder. A typical computer is idle about 95 per cent of the time anyway. You can't press keys and click the mouse fast enough to make a modern computer work very hard. The Central Processing Unit, or CPU, spends the vast amount of its' time doing nothing. When you do need it to do something, that something happens very quickly, then the CPU goes back to waiting. Hackers who write viruses take advantage of the horsepower of modern CPUs to install subtle programs that leverage idle CPUs to perform nasty tasks like coordinated DOS attacks. A 'good' or well-written virus will stay our of your way; you'll never know it's there. Of course, make sure your anti-virus programs are current if the FBI knocks on your door.
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nicomp really 8 years ago from Ohio, USA
@emohealer Thanks!
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Sioux Ramos 8 years ago from South Carolina
Hey, I really learned something today. You rock, I now know the terms and get it. Much needed information actually, thank you so much for not only knowing, but also knowing how to help others (me) know!
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Journalism & Democracy
Is Journalism Democratic?
In this new age of media, journalism exists in many different ways. Traditional methods are becoming outdated and modern approaches are fast becoming the way people consume their daily intake of news, views and gossip.
Traditionally newspapers were the main way for people to get their daily news and this tradition has carried on with millions of people reading papers each day. However, ever paper has its own political slant and news featured and the style it is wrote in is decided by the editor and the newspapers owner. This in one sense is highly undemocratic as it does not offer unbiased views of the days happenings. The news must be factually correct as stipulated by the editors hand book and enforced by the PCC (Press Complaints Commission). As a regulatory body it does not have much power and therefore has no authority over the papers meaning editors will often run a story knowing consequences are not likely to be sevre if it is not factually accurate.
From the other perspective it is democratic that in theory (and money permitting) anyone can buy, or set up their own newspaper and publish news and stories which they feel relevant and may have a tie to.
The world of television journalism is slightly more clear than that of newspapers, especially with the BBC. The organisation is governed by a very strict set of guidelines that ensure fairness and an unbiased telling of the news. Most other networks follow suit but do not have to stick to the rigidity that the BBC does. Ofcom is the regulator for this sector and has far more influence than its equivalent for the press.
Online journalism is clouding the water so to speak, there is no real regulation giving bloggers (more so than traditional journalists publishing on newspaper websites) the freedom to say what ever they please, regardless of bias, discrimination and even actual fact. However this has opened up journalism to the masses and made the whole concept a lot more democratic and led to the rise of the citizen journalist and many millions of bloggers.
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The Sand Hill fault is a steeply dipping, large-displacement normal fault that cuts poorly lithified Tertiary sediments of the Albuquerque basin, New Mexico, United States. The fault zone does not contain macroscopic fractures; the basic structural element is the deformation band. The fault core is composed of foliated clay flanked by structurally and lithologically heterogeneous mixed zones, in turn flanked by damage zones. Structures present within these fault-zone architectural elements are different from those in brittle faults formed in lithified sedimentary and crystalline rocks that do contain fractures. These differences are reflected in the permeability structure of the Sand Hill fault. Equivalent permeability calculations indicate that large-displacement faults in poorly lithified sediments have little potential to act as vertical-flow conduits and have a much greater effect on horizontal flow than faults with fractures.
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Feds, ranchers aren’t always at odds: how they’re finding common ground
Although you wouldn't know it by the recent standoff in Oregon, some tensions between ranchers and the government have actually lessened in recent years. Government agencies are increasingly courting ranchers as conservation partners.
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Ranchers Jim and Sue Chilton stand next to the refugium on their property in Arivaca, Ariz. The refugium harbors a threatened amphibian called the Chiricahua leopard frog. The couple has entered a Safe Harbor Agreement with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which gives them protection against some government restrictions on how they use their land in exchange for helping with the recovery of a threatened species.
Tim Vanderpool
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When Jim and Sue Chilton gaze west on their 50,000-acre, southern Arizona ranch, they see the classic cowboy panorama: grassy hills, grazing horses, and a skittish herd of newly weaned calves. But when they look east, the scene isn't so typical: A shallow, concrete pond stretches beneath a wire-mesh canopy, its murky waters designed to harbor a threatened amphibian called the Chiricahua leopard frog.
For many ranchers like the Chiltons, who have traditionally viewed the federal Endangered Species Act with trepidation and disdain, hosting an imperiled frog would once have been unthinkable. Out here, after all, it's well known that finding an endangered plant or animal on your range can lead to an invasion of government biologists and hobbling restrictions. Folks might suddenly find their cattle locked out of prime pastureland, or see fences go up around streams and ponds.
But although you wouldn't know it by the recent standoff at Oregon's Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, some long-simmering tensions between ranchers and the government have actually cooled in recent years. Instead of seeing ranchers as trenchant adversaries, government agencies are increasingly courting them as conservation partners. And in some cases at least, landowners are agreeable to such arrangements, finding that the partnerships can benefit them as well.
Consider these government programs:
• The Conservation Stewardship Program, administered by the US Natural Resources Conservation Service, provides technical guidance on managing cattle herds to improve native grasslands, wildlife habitat, and soil quality.
• The Conservation Service also oversees the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, which helps fund the transition to organic agriculture by ranchers and farmers.
• Some states offer their own programs geared toward helping ranchers improve their property. Rancher Jim Crosswhite, for one, received grant funding through the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to restore crucial stream habitat for a threatened native fish.
What the Chiltons are participating in is a Safe Harbor Agreement with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). In exchange for helping with the recovery of endangered or threatened species, participants in these agreements receive protection against additional FWS restrictions on how they use their land. The agreements can last for a decade or be in perpetuity, and they often include enticements such as easements and grant-funded habitat improvements.
First introduced in 1995 to protect the red-cockaded woodpecker in North Carolina, Safe Harbor has grown to include more than 600 landowners across 26 states. Collectively, they have devoted more than 5.2 million acres to the protection of nearly 100 species, from black-footed ferrets to golden-cheeked warblers.
The numbers have reached a point where the government and ranchers can say they’ve found some significant common ground. A key factor in the trend? Some point to a more collaborative approach by the government.
Programs such as Safe Harbor mark a "realization by government agencies that top-down programs by elite scientists and federal agencies weren't always attuned to people on the ground or to local communities," says Nancy Langston, a professor of environmental history at Michigan Technological University in Houghton.
The Chiltons have in fact opposed many endangered-species listings that might threaten rural agriculture. And as a past state game and fish commissioner, Ms. Chilton ardently fought reintroduction of the Mexican gray wolf and species protections that impinged on ranchers, characterizing them as "biologically fruitless efforts."
But in 2008, convinced that the Chiricahua leopard frog deserved protection and that they could help without compromising their ranch, the Chiltons signed a Safe Harbor Agreement. The result is the $20,000 frog pond, or refugium, which they paid to build.
"Sue and I recognized that this was a species that was truly endangered," Mr. Chilton says. "Everybody likes animals. No one wants to harm them or eliminate them. If ranchers have positive things they can do without risking their livelihood, then they love to do it."
FWS seems eager to tap such goodwill. "Ranchers are inherently stewards of the land," says Steve Spangle, the agency's Arizona wildlife field supervisor. "I think most of them are proud to have endangered species on their ranches, as long as they're not going to get hammered for it."
But not everyone is on board. Kierán Suckling is executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, a group based in Tucson, Ariz., that is best known for going to court to enforce the Endangered Species Act. Mr. Suckling says that government agencies claim success with Safe Harbor by pointing to the number of private landowners enrolled in the program. "What you want to hear is that the number of species has gone up 75 percent," he says, "not that the number of ranchers has gone up 75 percent."
In 2003, Mr. Crosswhite signed Arizona's first Safe Harbor Agreement, to protect the threatened Little Colorado spinedace in three miles of stream running through his EC Bar Ranch in Nutrioso. He praises the program for helping restore the creek and the tiny fish. Subsequent grants helped him plant thousands of willows and build an eight-foot fence to keep out abundant, stream-trampling elk.
Still, he concedes that some of his rural neighbors remain skeptical of government involvement. "If I've heard any complaints," says Crosswhite, "it's from people who complain that I'm getting public funding, and that doesn't seem right to them. They actually resent the fact that you participate in the programs."
But he sees it differently: "If you have a species that's threatened with extinction, you have the responsibility to do something about it."
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Center Cut
A magician performing the Sawing in Thirds.
The Sawing in Thirds or Center Cut is a type of division illusion in which someone, usually a female assistant, is sawed or otherwise divided into three and has their middle removed.
The illusion begins with the magician presenting a low table, on which sits a low box that is slightly shorter than the table, leaving a section of the table uncovered at each end. The box has one arched opening in one end, two in the opposite end, and a removable section around one Foot (30cms) wide in the center. Removing the box, the magician shows that the top of the table is solid and only around an inch thick. The principal assistant then enters and, having removed their shoes, sits on the edge of the table. Turning, they recline and lay down on the table with their head at one end and their bare feet at the other. The magician then places the box over them, with their head projecting from the arched opening in one end, and their feet from the twin openings in the other end. With the assistant covered by the box, the magician takes a narrow metal plate and slides it into a horizontal slot in the lower edge of the box, at the base of the removable center section, so that it passes below the assistant, between their back and the top of the table. The magician then opens small doors on the side of each of the three sections of the box to show the assistant within.
Having shown the assistant within the box, the magician then closes the side doors again. Taking a small handsaw, they then begin to saw down through the slots between the sections of the box, dividing it, and the assistant within, into three. Having sawn through the box, the magician then inserts pairs of blades into the slots between the box sections, completing the division of the assistant. The magician then reopens the side doors to show that the assistant is still within the box. Taking hold of a handle attached to the top of the center section of the box, he lifts it up, removing it from between the other two parts. As the assistant's head and feet have been in full view of the audience at all times, this clearly shows that the assistant has indeed been divided into three.
Having shown the assistant in three pieces, the magician inserts the center section back into the middle of the box. He then removes the divider blades from between the sections, and then the metal plate from the base of the removable section. The box is then lifted off the table, showing the assistant safely back in one piece. The assistant then sits up, turns to swing their legs down, and climbs down off the table to take their bow with the magician.
In some performances, the magician omits the sawing and simply divides the assistant by inserting the divider blades.
Some versions of the illusion have holes in the upper part of the box to allow the assistant's arms to project out of the box. This allows them to reach down and feel the gap in the box.
Transparent box version
Clear Center Cut1
A magician performing the clear box version of the Sawing in Thirds.
Recently, some magicians have started to perform an improved version of the Sawing in Thirds in which the traditional opaque wooden box is replaced by a transparent plastic one. This allows the audience to see the whole of the assistant's body within the box, clearly showing that they stay stretched out full-length within it all through the performance. This helps confirm to the audience that the assistant is indeed being cut into three pieces and that their middle section is indeed being removed. In some performances, the box is initially covered by a sheet, and only revealed as being transparent after having been placed over the assistant, while in other performances, it is left uncovered at all times. Due to its excellent visual impact, low demands on the assistant, and the fact that the audience can clearly see that the assistant's midsection really has been removed, this version has become a popular choice for magicians performing with untrained celebrity assistants.
Boxless versions
Boxless Center Cut
The center box only Sawing in Thirds.
Another variation on the traditional illusion dispenses with the box altogether, and the assistant is left completely uncovered all through the illusion. When performing this version, the magician simply pushes the blades down through the assistant's body and then removes their middle section in full view of the audience. This version is rarely performed by Western magicians, but is fairly popular in the Far East and Japan.
A third variation combines the transparent and box-less versions, with just a small clear box over the assistant's midsection, leaving the rest of their body exposed. When the assistant is divided, the blades are inserted into guides on either end of this clear box section, which is then removed to complete the assistant's division.
Notable performances
Due to the low demands it places on the assistant, who simply has to lay there and allow themselves to be divided, this illusion is a popular choice for magicians when working with untrained celebrity assistants.
Italian magician Silvan has often performed the original version this illusion with a range of guest celebrities, including TV presenter and politician Gabriella Carlucci. In his performances, he uses an electric saw to cut through the box before inserting the divider blades.
• During an unknown episode of the children's Saturday morning TV show Tiswas, presenter Sally James was sawed in three in this illusion. A brief clip of this sawing later appeared in the show's opening credits.
• On one episode of his 1980s Saturday night TV show, magician Paul Daniels performed the illusion on singer Eartha Kitt.
• While presenting her TV show How Dare You, former Bucks Fizz singer Cheryl Baker was sawed in three in the original version of this illusion by magician Clive Webb.
• Michelle Beadle Cut in Half (in HD!)02:49
Michelle Beadle Cut in Half (in HD!)
Clear sawing in thirds with Michelle Beadle.
In January 2012, ESPN SportsNation reporter Michelle Beadle was sawed in three in the clear box version of the illusion by magician Shimshi. The performance was shot and shown in 3D.
• Columbian model and TV presenter Andrea Serna took part in this illusion while hosting one of her shows, being divided by magician Gustavo Lorgia.
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