eradicating poverty, illiteracy, the unjust distribution of wealth, and other socioeconomic problems rampant in muslim countries. this partnership can be formed only by the creation of free trade zones, customs unions, and common economic areas. most muslim countries have geostrategic importance as well as rich natural resources ( e. g., natural gas and crude oil ). these resources and strategic opportunities, however, are not being used effectively. in the islamic world, 86 % of the population ' s living standards fall below $ 2, 000, 76 % under $ 1, 000, and 67 % under $ 500 per year. when the islamic world ' s total resources are considered, ( 1 ) this is quite a paradox : roughly half of the petrol consumed in the west is exported from the islamic world, as is 40 % of the world ' s agricultural production. ( 2 ) many economists and strategists freely admit that the world economy depends upon the islamic world ' s oil and gas exports, in particular those of the persian gulf. ( 3 ) the persian gulf holds two - thirds of the planet ' s discovered crude oil reserves. data obtained from research concludes that saudi arabia alone holds 25. 4 % of the world ' s oil reserves, or 262 billion barrels. a further 11 % is found in iraq, 9. 6 % in the uae, 9. 2 % in kuwait, 8. 6 % in iran, 13 % in other opec member states. the rest is distributed across the remainder of the world. ( 4 ) research commissioned by the u. s. department of energy shows that between 2000 and 2020, oil exports from the area will increase by 125 %. ( 5 ) this means that the world will continue to meet most of its energy needs by imports from the gulf region. moreover, the middle east has 40 % of the global natural gas reserves ; 35 % of these reserves are in the gulf region. ( 6 ) algeria, libya, and other north african countries have 3. 7 % of the world ' s reserves. the caucasus and central asia are also rich in oil, natural gas, and other natural resources. for instance, kazakhstan has between 10 - 17. 6 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, and its natural gas reserves are estimated at between 53 and 83 trillion cubic feet. turkmenistan hasbetween 98 and 155 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, making it the fourth largest producer. ( 7 ) some other muslim countries have valuable mineral resources. for instance, uzbekistan and kyrgyzstan are two


53 and 83 trillion cubic feet. turkmenistan hasbetween 98 and 155 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, making it the fourth largest producer. ( 7 ) some other muslim countries have valuable mineral resources. for instance, uzbekistan and kyrgyzstan are two of the world ' s leading gold producers. turkey has one of the world ' s richest boron reserves, only recently discovered to be very important, and tajikistan has the world ' s largest aluminum producing facilities. these advantages will become more important in the twenty - first century, which some have already christened the " energy century. " energy is an essential element of modern society in terms of the military, industry, urbanization, and transport. given that economic activity and manufacturing depend primarily upon energy, nations will do their best to achieve control over these energy resources. the islamic world is not using its resources effectively, for many of its members lack the infrastructure and technology to increase the production and use their natural resources to develop their industries. therefore, the resources ' contributions to the country ' s economy are limited to export earnings. these countries do not have the means to process their own crude oil, use it in their industrial complexes, or to develop their industries. worse still, some muslim nations do not even have the necessary means to explore and research their natural resources or to discover and extract them. explorations undertaken by foreign companies reveal that other muslim nations have oil and gas reserves, but they cannot benefit from their resources. naturally, the ineffective use of natural resources is not the islamic world ' s only economic problem. however, solving this problem can begin the process of solving many other problems. the economies of muslim nations contain differences in structure and functioning. some nations ' economies depend upon mineral resources, such as the members of opec, while other nations ' depend upon agriculture. these differences are also reflected, to some extent, in their social structures, such as the widely varying degrees of rural and urban populations. developing complementary relationships and helping each other in their respective areas of expertise can turn these differences into a source of riches. all of this will be possible with the islamic union. joint ventures and project partnerships will be an important step in the right direction, for they will enable countries to benefit from one another ' s experiences and the income earned from investment projects will benefit all of the participating countries. such mutual financial support is compatible with islamic morality, for helping the needy and having a sense of social responsibility are important characteristics that muslims strive to acquire. many verses in the qur ’ an remind muslims to watch over the


benefit all of the participating countries. such mutual financial support is compatible with islamic morality, for helping the needy and having a sense of social responsibility are important characteristics that muslims strive to acquire. many verses in the qur ’ an remind muslims to watch over the needy. society ' s internal cohesion must be extended to international relations. as international cooperation within a partnership cannot be one - sided, employment and income levels will rise in both countries. for example, one country will produce oil and another one will process it, and agriculturally dependent countries will be able to import the food they need from agriculturally developed countries. a manpower - poor country ’ s need will be met by another islamic country, while rich countries will be able to invest in and help out a manpower - rich country that does not have enough jobs for its people. this will be to the benefit of both. sharing know - how and experience will increase prosperity, and all muslims will benefit from technological developments. joint ventures that realize the islamic world ' s unification of opportunities and means will enable muslims to produce hi - tech products. the islamic common market will enable muslim - made products to be marketed in other muslim countries without the hindrance of customs, quotas, and other cross - border obstacles. the marketplace will grow, the market share and exports of all muslim nations will rise, industrialization will speed up, and economic development will bring progress in technology. the living standards and wealth of muslim nations will increase, and their existing inequalities will disappear. some free trade agreements are already in place between countries in the gulf, the pacific rim, and north africa. trade agreements signed by turkey are already operational in the islamic world. bilateral cooperation exists in some regions ; however, their scope must be widened. such cooperation will safeguard the rights and interests of all muslim nations and lead to all of them becoming developed — a result from which all of them will derive a far greater benefit than if they do not cooperate with each other. all of these can be realized only under a central authority ' s leadership and coordination. achieving this will be possible if muslim nations adopt the qur ' an ' s values and the prophet ' s ( may god bless him and grant him peace ) sunnah, or, in other words, if they adopt islamic culture. the islamic union must lead the way to this cultural awakening, as well as the resulting political and economic cooperation. mutual cooperation among muslims, part of the islamic code, must be adhered to by all muslims, for god commands people to refrain from avarice


islamic union must lead the way to this cultural awakening, as well as the resulting political and economic cooperation. mutual cooperation among muslims, part of the islamic code, must be adhered to by all muslims, for god commands people to refrain from avarice and to guard the needy and support one another. in fact, destitute people have a due share of the believers ' wealth ( qur ' an, 51 : 19 ). as the qur ' an proclaims : our lord also reveals that believers are one another ' s guardians ( qur ' an, 9 : 71 ). the word " guardian " conveys such meanings as friend, helper, mentor, and protector. it also expresses the importance of cooperation and solidarity between muslim nations. the cooperation that will arise from this fraternal awareness between muslim nations will bring prosperity and wealth to muslims and eradicate poverty, an important problem of the islamic world. societies that follow the qur ' an ' s values will not experience famine, destitution, and poverty. muslims will develop their nations by following rational and long - term policies, establishing good relations with other nations and people, valuing trade and development, and learning from other cultures ' experiences. this was so in history and, god willing, under the islamic union ' s leadership it will be so once again. 1 - demetrios yiokaris, islamic leage study guide - 1997, united nations : study guides. online at : www. vaxxine. com / cowac / islmclg1. htm. 2 - “ islamic countries have the resources to match the west, scientist ”, arabic news. com, 28 may 2000. online at : www. arabicnews. com / ansub / daily / day / 000628 / 2000062848. html. 3 - anthony h. cordesman and arleigh a. burke, “ the gulf and transition : executive summary and major policy recommendations ” ( october 30, 2000 ). 4 - anthony h. cordesman and arleigh a. burke, “ the us military and the evolving challenges in the middle east ” ( march 9, 2002 ), 3. 5 - anthony h. cordesman and arleigh a. burke, “ the us military and the evolving challenges in the middle east ” ( march 9, 2002 ), 3. 6 - anthony h. cordesman and arleigh a. burke, “ the us military and the evolving challenges in the middle east ” ( march 9,


there could be genetic reasons why some women succumb to pressure to be thin, while others maintain a positive body image, according to us researchers. “ we ’ re all bombarded daily with messages extoling the virtues of being thin, yet intriguingly only some women develop what we term thin ideal internalisation, ” study author jessica suisman from michigan state university said in a press release. “ this suggests that genetic factors may make some women more susceptible to this pressure than others. ” suisman and her colleagues studied more than 300 female twins aged 12 to 22 to see whether genetic factors influenced how vulnerable women are to societal thin ideals. they measured how much the participants wanted to look like people from tv, movies and magazines, then compared identical twins, who share exactly the same genes, with fraternal twins, who share 50 percent of their genes. the researchers found identical twins had closer levels of thin idealisation, which suggested genetics plays a part in determining body image. “ we were surprised to find that shared environmental factors, such as exposure to the same media, did not have as big an impact as expected, ” suisman said. “ instead, non - shared factors that make co - twins different from each other had the greatest impact. the broad cultural risk factors that we thought were most influential in the development of thin - ideal internalisation are not as important as genetic risk and environmental risk factors that are specific and unique to each twin. " megan o ' connor, from eating disorders victoria, told ninemsn that experts are becoming increasingly aware of the potential genetic link. " there are often examples of a mother and two of her daughters having eating disorders – – anecdotally we are hearing of family traits, " she said. o ' connor said families need to be aware of the possible genetic link and put responsible measures in place. " people can certainly modify the sorts of language they use in their family about weight, dieting and body shape, " she said. " there is evidence to suggest that eating family meals together and having a healthy and relaxed relationship with food helps protect against eating disorders. " the study was published in the international journal of eating disorders.


to learn more about cholesterol, browse any of the cholesterol topics below. about cholesterol cholesterol itself isn ' t bad. we all have and need this wax - like substance in our bodies. learn about the so - called " good " and " bad " cholesterol, where it comes from, and why it ' s important for your health. why cholesterol matters high cholesterol is one of the major risk factors leading to heart disease, heart attack and stroke. discover the reasons to keep your cholesterol controlled. understand your risk for cholesterol high cholesterol levels can run in families, and women generally tend to have higher levels of hdl than men. find out more about who has high cholesterol, and discover why managing cholesterol is important even for children. prevention & treatment of cholesterol you can lower your cholesterol and reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke. take responsibility for managing your cholesterol levels with healthy lifestyle choices and a sound medical treatment plan when prescribed. cholesterol tools & resources learn more with our online tracking resources, downloadable information pages and personal stories from people like you. watch, learn and live our interactive cardiovascular library has informative illustrations and animations to help you learn about conditions, treatments and procedures related to heart disease and stroke.


trees or shrubs ; petiole eglandular ; lamina mostly bearing several – many glands on abaxial surface. inflorescence terminal, unbranched or branched near base, each axis a raceme of short 1 – 7 - flowered cincinni ; lowest bracteole and alternate subsequent bracteoles bearing 1 large eccentric abaxial gland. sepals all biglandular, leaving outermost petal exposed in bud ; petals glabrous or bearing a tuft of hairs abaxially at base of claw ; posterior petal strongly differentiated from the lateral 4, with a thick erect claw and large marginal glands on proximal half of limb or at apex of claw ; receptacle glabrous on both sides of stamens ; stamens all fertile or the posterior ( 1 – ) 3 bearing rudimentary anthers ; pollen radially symmetrical, colporate ; carpels completely connate in ovary ; styles 3, slender and subulate with the stigmas very small, apical or slightly internal. fruit dry, indehiscent, a nut without a bony endocarp, containing only 1 seed. distribution : south america. the mcvaughia clade is strongly supported by both molecular and morphological evidence. the phylogenetic tree shown above, from davis & anderson ( 2010 [ pdf ] ), shows bootstrap values above the branches. especially noteworthy among the morphological characteristics shared by these three genera are the shrubby or arborescent habit, the abaxial leaf glands, the flowers often in several - flowered cincinni, the large abaxial gland on alternate bracteoles, and the dry, indehiscent, one - seeded fruit.


contemporary full brown calf. small paper spine label. boards triple ruled in blind. edges speckled red. boards and joints rubbed and bumped. head and tale of the spine chipped. some toning and browning throughout, but mainly to preliminary and final leaves. leaves a2 and a3 with some chipping along fore - edge, not affecting text. a bit of marginal worming, not affecting text. previous owner ' s old ink signature on title - page and some instances of marginalia and text corrections in the same hand. overall a very good copy. “ bacon ’ s major contribution to the development of science lies in his natural philosophy, his philosophy of scientific method, and in his projects for the practical organization of science. during the last years of his life, he expounded these ideas in a series of works, of which the twoo bookes was the first. the only work bacon ever published in english, it was later expanded and latinized into de augmentis scientiarum ( 1623 ). in the twoo bookes, bacon concerned himself primarily with the classification of philosophy and the sciences and with developing his influential view of the relation between science and theology. while preserving the traditional distinction between knowledge obtained by divine revelation and knowledge acquired through the senses, bacon saw both theoretical and applied science as religious duties, the first for a greater knowledge of god through his creation, and the second for the practice of charity to one ’ s fellows by improving their condition. this view of science as a religious function maintained its authority throughout the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, and was an important factor in the public success of the scientific movement ” ( norman library ). gibson 82. stc 1165. hbs # 65822 $ 850


in the early 1900s, a dispute arose over who controlled greenland — norway or denmark. the case was submitted to the permanent court of international justice in 1933. the court ruled in denmark ’ s favor. after wwii, the united states developed a geopolitical interest in greenland. in 1946, they offered to buy the country from denmark for $ 100 million dollars. denmark refused to sell though. they did, however, allow the us to reopen thule air base in 1950. from 1951 and 1953, the base was greatly expanded as a part of a nato cold war defense strategy. it is still the us air forces ’ northernmost base, located inside the arctic circle. though xerxes did not found the achaemenid persian empire, he ruled it at its greatest size, and made it the global force that it was at the time. his failed invasion of greece has secured him a legendary place in not just asian, but also western culture. if once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing ; and from robbing he next comes to drinking and sabbath - breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination. — thomas de quincey ( 1785 - 1859 ) tritones is a musical interval that spans three whole tones. this interval, the gap between two notes played in succession or simultaneously, was branded diabolus in musica or the devil ’ s interval by medieval musicians. one historian said, on the tritone : “ it apparently was the sound used to call up the beast. there is something very sexual about the tritone. in the middle ages when people were ignorant and scared, when they heard something like that and felt that reaction in their body they thought ‘ uh oh, here come the devil ’. ” the devil ’ s interval came back into vogue under wagner, of all people, who used it in his operas. since then, the tritone has been used for everything from acdc to the simpson ’ s theme song. the first light portrait and first human portrait every taken. from october or november, 1839. it is a self - portrait by robert cornelius. a caricature of europe right before wwi. for a full explanation of the imagery for each country, click on the image. around 300 bce, the maya began adopting a hierarchical system of government with rule by nobles and kings. this civilization developed into highly structured kingdoms during the classic period, around 200 - 900 ce. their society consisted of many independent states, each with a


. around 300 bce, the maya began adopting a hierarchical system of government with rule by nobles and kings. this civilization developed into highly structured kingdoms during the classic period, around 200 - 900 ce. their society consisted of many independent states, each with a rural farming community and large urban sites built around ceremonial centers. it started to decline around 900 ce when - for reasons which are still debated - the southern maya abandoned their cities. when the northern maya were integrated into the toltec society by 1200 ce, the maya civilization finally came to a close, although some peripheral centers continued to thrive until the spanish conquest in the early sixteenth century. even today, many in guatemala and mexico identify first as maya and second as their nationality. fort sumter, in charleston, south carolina, at the time of the american civil war. in 98 ad, the roman historian tacitus wrote a detailed description about the fenni, a people to the north. this is probably the earliest written reference to the finnish people. according to him, these poor, savage fennis lived somewhere in the northeast baltic region — at the time inhabited by many other peoples, and the description also fits the sami, another group still living near the arctic circle today. given the name ’ s closeness to the modern finns, they think it was probably them. historians can never be certain exactly who tacitus was referring to, however. welcome to history class, guys! in the mid - 1950s, sammy davis jr was involved with kim novak, who was a valuable star under contract to columbia studios. the head of the studio, harry cohn, called one of the mob bosses. he paid the mob to threaten sammy into ending the affair. great britain finished repaying the united states ’ lend - lead aid from world war ii in 2006. august 12, 1944 : a band of battle - hardened nurses take a break to get their picture taken in a field close to the front lines in france. successor of the unfortunate pope formosus, pope boniface vi joins the league of forgotten popes. very little is known about him, and what is known, he probably wishes we ’ d forget. pope for just 15 days, boniface died from gout. this nasty disease comes from eating too much red meat and other rich foods. this causes a build - up of uric acid ( gross ) leading to swelled joints and purplish skin. two years after his death, john ix declared boniface vi ’ s election null and void but he is still included in the official


. this causes a build - up of uric acid ( gross ) leading to swelled joints and purplish skin. two years after his death, john ix declared boniface vi ’ s election null and void but he is still included in the official list of popes. this is the remarkable lady malcolm douglas - hamilton. in 1940 she was natalie latham, a former debutante and fixture at new york society balls, now 30, twice divorced with two children and still so beautiful that vogue printed items about her. all this changed when german u - boats began their devastating attacks on the north atlantic convoys supplying britain. although america had not entered the war, natalie latham decided to do something to help, and established bundles for britain, which began as little more than a “ knitting bee ” — albeit one convened by natalie latham and some of the grandest dames of the new york social scene. the group quickly expanded to over 1. 5 million volunteers, with branches all over the country. bundles for britain started shipping over not just clothing but also blankets, children ’ s cots, ambulances, x - ray machines, hospital beds, oxygen tents, surgical instruments, blood transfusion kits, tinned food and children ’ s cots. every item was labelled “ from your american friends. ” in britain, she secured the support of winston churchill ’ s wife, clementine, and of janet murrow, wife of the cbs reporter ed murrow, whose live radio broadcasts to america during the blitz began with the words : “ this is london. ” when bundles for britain held a raffle, queen elizabeth donated items, including a piece of shrapnel that had hit buckingham palace. king george vi later appointed natalie latham an honorary cbe ; she was the first non - british woman thus honored. after her fourth husband ’ s death in 1951, she arrived in london to promote common cause, an anti - communist organization she had founded, and met the third son of the 13th duke of hamilton, lord malcolm douglas - hamilton, mp for inverness - shire and an ardent anti - communist. they eventually moved to the us, and she died on january 14, 2013.


business language learning from apec hrdwg wiki as part of international education week 2010, apec has expanded on several themes of the seminar on " language education : an essential for a global economy, " to provide a guide for students and instructors interested in the critical importance of business language for strengthening business relations in a global context. these themes include business in the 21st century ; cross cultural awareness for 21st century business ; language for 21st century business ; business language learning ; and business language policy. in business language instruction, we learn that different economies use different methodologies by which to teach and learn the subject of business. we find that conflict may arise when these differing methodologies come together in a single classroom. another application of advanced communications technologies may be found in the classroom, where traditional textbooks may be supplemented with electronic media such as video clips, as well as live information from internet newsfeeds, essentially making textbook materials come alive. students today may not learn history, geography, and science as it was taught a few years ago. they may actually view and experience events via the internet as if they were present during the moment in which they took place. video conferencing in the classroom may have other applications, such as providing students access to language teachers in foreign countries and to subject matter experts thousands of miles away, who can appear in the classroom and guest lecture as if they were actually there. these powerful new communications technologies have enhanced business language instruction in schools and universities, as evidenced from the scenario presented below. - technology provides web - based content to expand, complement, and supplement textbooks and teacher instruction. - online educational materials blend face - to - face learning with digital teaching and curricula. - technology such as virtual classroom fosters peer - to - peer and instructor - peer relationship building, collaboration, and social networking. - when designing lesson plans for international students, educators must consider how cultural values affect the way students respond to specific assignments. - technology contributes to a green environment by saving paper and reducing travel. in the fictional scenario below, teaching and learning methodologies from different economies clash as they are brought together into a single classroom, made possible only by advancements in telecommunications technologies. a prestigious university located in collectivist economy a invited a marketing professor from a renowned university in individualistic economy b teach a year - long course on the fundamentals of marketing to first - year business students. the professor had recently published a book on mcburger, the hamburger chain, and its success in economy a. the students in economy a viewed


economy b teach a year - long course on the fundamentals of marketing to first - year business students. the professor had recently published a book on mcburger, the hamburger chain, and its success in economy a. the students in economy a viewed his book as a premier marketing book in the field of international business. conducted virtually over internet video stream, the course was the first [ ed note : for which economy? using a mix of traditional and technology - mediated instruction is not that new. it may be a stretch to say it was the first time for such a mix. ] to integrate traditional methods of teaching with new technologies. the professor would present a traditional lecture from the university ' s video conferencing room in economy b and the students in economy a would view the lecture and participate in discussion as if the professor were in their classroom. students would submit all assignments and exams to the professor through a " digital drop box, " and the professor would return graded materials back to students via this medium. using advanced technology in the classroom allowed students to learn from a renowned professor while enrolling in a " green course, " one in which the professor did not need to travel to the economy and no paper would be used for assignments. to prepare for the course, the professor chose various marketing, advertising, and strategy cases from around the world. on the first day of class, he presented a case study on boca rola, and its advent into economy c. he gave the students 30 minutes to read the case study, and then encouraged the students to share their views about : ( 1 ) boca rola ’ s strategy to enter the market in economy c, ( 2 ) the barriers boca rola faced in entering the market, ( 3 ) perceptions of foreign products previously unavailable in a particular economy, and ( 4 ) consumers ' reaction to the new product. he found the students reluctant to share their individual views in the class. thus, he presented his own views from the perspective of an outsider to economy c, and shared his views about how boca rola ’ s business culture may be different than the culture of economy c in which it was operating. at the end of class, the professor gave the students a list of questions about the case study. he asked the students to form small groups of 3 - 4 students and discuss the answers to the questions. after they discussed the questions, he asked each team to submit a 5 - 6 page summary of the responses in three days. additionally, he assigned another case study for the students to read


of 3 - 4 students and discuss the answers to the questions. after they discussed the questions, he asked each team to submit a 5 - 6 page summary of the responses in three days. additionally, he assigned another case study for the students to read – one that focused on a large multinational company ’ s entry into the beauty care segment in economy d for future discussion. when the professor reviewed the students ’ responses to the boca rola case study, he discovered that the 20 students had submitted 5 separate sets of case study responses, as required. however, each group provided the same responses to the same questions, with no variation. he knew that this could not be a blatant incidence of cheating. when the next class reconvened, he asked the students why they turned in identical sets of answers. the students looked surprised, believing that they had followed his instructions, but had perhaps misinterpreted them. finally, one student raised his hand and stated that the class had formed groups of 3 - 4 students, but that each group tackled one question, and then shared the answers with the other groups. the students believed that it was not time efficient to discuss each question. rather, they decided that each group would respond to just one question, and then share the response with the other groups, who would do the same. the professor smiled in exasperation, and, frustrated by his inability to engage the students in an open discussion, began discussing the beauty company ’ s entry into economy d. points to consider - how has technology enhanced international educational opportunities for both students and instructors? other than the examples cited, what other ways can technology facilitate international educational opportunities? - to what extent did the professor understand the students ’ motivation to learn, the context in which they learn, and their willingness to experiment and use different approaches to demonstrate what they can do and what they know? - why was the strategy of open classroom discussion widely popular in economy b and a widely used strategy to introduce opposing views, and to encourage critical thinking? - to what extent can strategies such as lesson study encourage students in economy a to demonstrate problem solving skills, critical thinking, and creativity? - what could the professor do to model how each group could engage in separate discussions to understand the various perceptions about boca rola ’ s strategy to enter the market in economy c? - individualistic cultures are those cultures in which the opinion of the individual is greatly sought after and deeply valued, even though it may differ from the views of the group. these cultures believe that it is


s strategy to enter the market in economy c? - individualistic cultures are those cultures in which the opinion of the individual is greatly sought after and deeply valued, even though it may differ from the views of the group. these cultures believe that it is a variety of individual opinions that produce the best solutions to problems and that promote success, whether in social relationships or in the workplace. - collectivist cultures, on the other hand, value group consensus and harmony. these cultures believe that an environment conducive for business and personal success can only be created when members of the group align in sync with one another. members of groups will first debate the merits of a question among themselves, and then choose the opinion that they deem most valuable before presenting it to a higher authority. - the professor from economy b was used to receiving individual responses to his case discussion questions, responses that varied greatly from one another. although not all responses he received were correct, he enjoyed reading the individual opinions present in them before discussing the correct answers with the class during the following lecture. economy a students were, however, from a collectivist culture and valued sharing their responses with their group first before reaching a consensus on a particular answer choice. - the professor noticed that, although he had received only one response per question, it was more or less correct, although there was not a way for him to ascertain which of his students had provided the response, how the learning had occurred, and what the viewpoints of those who disagreed might be. - teaching tips for iew 2010 provided by tesol - teaching tips for iew 2009 submitted by teachers throughout the asia - pacific region - videos from the apec - relc international language seminar presentation " creating prosperity : using the internet to revolutionize language learning " - new paths of communication through : - technology providing access to content beyond books - video from the apec - relc international language seminar presentation " changes in our field : where are we going? " - e - language learning for students - a collection of online language learning resources from various apec members - related tips for teaching 21st century workplace skills more content from international education week 2010


flipping the north koreans off not many people visit north korea these days but if you are one of the lucky few, more likely than not you will be led through an official guided tour of uss pueblo – an american intelligence vessel captured in 1968 – which remains the only american vessel currently in captivity. the seizure of uss pueblo is now one of the forgotten episodes of the cold war. the u. s. claimed it was in the international waters, while the d. p. r. k. insisted that it was in the north korean waters. diplomatic and military stand - off that followed was punctuated by a series of photos, films, and letters depicting the crew of the pueblo enjoying their comfortable captivity. in reality, however, the crew was being subjected to psychical and psychological abuse. from behind the bars in one of the most isolated places on the planet, the crew nonetheless delivered a master class in political subversion. to undermine the credibility of the letters written home to suggest that they had willingly defected, the crew wrote about the events that never happened. in their press conferences, they used archaic words the koreans didn ’ t perfectly understand. since none of the koreans knew english well enough to write the confession, the vessel ’ s commander wrote it himself. they checked the meaning of his words with a dictionary, but failed to catch the pun : “ we paean the dprk. we paean the korean people. we paean their great leader kim il sung ”. ( “ paean ” is homophonic with “ pee on ”. ) and almost by accident, they came across the idea behind their greatest coup : in two propaganda movies, the crew noticed people giving the finger were not censored. the crew deduced that the north koreans didn ’ t know what the finger meant. in the subsequent propaganda photos of the crew, their middle fingers were firmly extended to the cameraman. when the north koreans questioned, the crew described it as the “ hawaiian good luck sign. ” the ruse went on unnoticed until october 1968, when time magazine explained the mysterious gesture appearing in many photos as one of “ obscene derisiveness and contempt. ” this revelation infuriated the north korean captors, bringing about a period of severe beatings and torture, and the propaganda letters, photos and videos stopped after this. yet, it would take two more months for the u. s. to offer a perfunctory apology ( retracted afterwards ) to ensure the release of 82 crewmen. diplomatic and morale victory hid the bitter reality that the


education and health outcomes for social minorities in india : an analysis using sur model abstractthe current study analyzes the health and education outcomes of fifteen year old children in india and investigates the question of inequality of such outcomes for socio - religious categories. to study the effect of health on education, sur estimation has been undertaken. the comparison of sur and ols results shows that sur estimates have smaller standard errors than the ols estimates. of the three categories analyzed in the data, sts have worst outcomes for both education and health and scs lag behind in the health field. the results have important implications for policy regarding education and health of the socio - religious minorities. download infoif you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. in case of further problems read the ideas help page. note that these files are not on the ideas site. please be patient as the files may be large. bibliographic infopaper provided by agricultural and applied economics association in its series 2012 annual meeting, august 12 - 14, 2012, seattle, washington with number 124840. date of creation : 2012 date of revision : contact details of provider : postal : 555 east wells street, suite 1100, milwaukee, wisconsin 53202 phone : ( 414 ) 918 - 3190 fax : ( 414 ) 276 - 3349 web page : http : / / www. aaea. org more information through edirc health economics and policy ; this paper has been announced in the following nep reports : please report citation or reference errors to, or, if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your repec author service profile, click on " citations " and make appropriate adjustments. : - sonalde desai & veena kulkarni, 2008. " changing educational inequalities in india in the context of affirmative action, " demography, springer, vol. 45 ( 2 ), pages 245 - 270, may. - vani borooah & sriya iyer, 2005. " vidya, veda, and varna : the influence of religion and caste on education in rural india, " the journal of development studies, taylor and francis journals, vol. 41 ( 8 ), pages 1369 - 1404. - vani k. borooah & sriya iyer, 2002. " vidya, veda, and varna : the influence of religion and caste on education in rural india, " icer


pages 1369 - 1404. - vani k. borooah & sriya iyer, 2002. " vidya, veda, and varna : the influence of religion and caste on education in rural india, " icer working papers 32 - 2002, icer - international centre for economic research. - behrman, jere r, 1996. " the impact of health and nutrition on education, " world bank research observer, world bank group, vol. 11 ( 1 ), pages 23 - 37, february. - dreze, jean & kingdon, geeta gandhi, 2001. " school participation in rural india, " review of development economics, wiley blackwell, vol. 5 ( 1 ), pages 1 - 24, february. - jean dreze & geeta gandhi kingdon, 1999. " school participation in rural india, " sticerd - development economics papers - from 2008 this series has been superseded by economic organisation and public policy discussion papers 18, suntory and toyota international centres for economics and related disciplines, lse. - jean dreze & geeta gandhi kingdon, 1999. " school participation in rural india, " working papers 69, centre for development economics, delhi school of economics. - ashwini deshpande, 2000. " recasting economic inequality, " review of social economy, taylor and francis journals, vol. 58 ( 3 ), pages 381 - 399. - case, anne & fertig, angela & paxson, christina, 2005. " the lasting impact of childhood health and circumstance, " journal of health economics, elsevier, vol. 24 ( 2 ), pages 365 - 389, march. for technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact : ( agecon search ). if you have authored this item and are not yet registered with repec, we encourage you to do it here. this allows to link your profile to this item. it also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about. if references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form. if the full references list an item that is present in repec, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form. if you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. if


in a countless number of movies and novels set in the british regency and victorian era women are plagued by headaches ; oftentimes as a way to show them as fragile, or as a joke. it is not a trope used with male characters, but if it were would they be taken seriously? probably not. what if it was all viewed from a different angle and headaches were considered as something that legitimately affected their well - being? maybe they were getting out of a carriage earlier in the week and bumped their head on the door frame causing a very mild head injury. what if in present day your head bumped against the driver ’ s side window in a small accident with no other injury? could that genuinely affect anyone ’ s overall health? a new study by dr. sylvia lucas, coming out of the american headache society ‘ s annual meeting, states that those who experience milder head injuries tend to have more post - traumatic headaches as time progresses than those with severe injuries. out of the 598 participants in the study “ about 70 % [ were ] more likely than … their counterparts with moderate or severe injury to develop new headache or have a worsening of preexisting headache over the next year, ” dr lucas was quoted as saying. the majority of headaches were classified as migraines, though a large chunk was unclassifiable using the international classification of headache disorders, second edition. they do not know why this occurs, but dr. lucas thinks it is related to the specific mechanics of the accident that caused the head injury. breaking down the participants : 220 had mild traumatic brain injuries ( tbi ) and began the study the same week of their accident ; the other 378 had moderate to severe traumatic brain injury and were admitted to rehabilitation facilities. they found that migraines and tension headaches were most common, and that cervicogenic headaches were less common. this was unexpected considering most of the incidents that led to the tbi stemmed from motor vehicle accidents. “ study results showed that the mild tbi group and the moderate or severe tbi group had an identical prevalence of headache before injury ( 17 % ). but the former had a higher incidence of new or worsened headache at baseline ( 56 % vs. 40 % ), at 3 months ( 63 % vs. 37 % ), at 6 months ( 69 % vs. 33 % ), and at 12 months ( 58 % vs. 34 % ). ” if you are wondering how this might severely affect somebody ’ s life, about


hospitals across the country are diligently working to reduce infection rates. according to the world health organization, hospital - acquired infections affect as many as 1. 7 million patients in the united states each year. these infections come at an annual cost of $ 6. 5 billion and contribute to more than 90, 000 deaths. proper hand hygiene is essential in helping to prevent hospital - acquired infections. a recent study performed by french researchers examined three types of healthcare workers. the first type spent a large amount of time with a discreet group of patients like a nurse would. the second group saw more patients but spent less time with each one - similar to doctors. group three consisted of healthcare workers who interacted with every patient every day like therapists. the study found that if a healthcare worker in group three failed to wash their hands, the spread of disease was three times worse than if someone from group one or two didn ' t. the study was published online in proceedings of the national academy of sciences. to read more about the study, continue here. to read another take on hand hygiene and about the joint commission ' s national hand hygiene project, click here. photo credit : jessica flavin almost two million patients hospitalized in the u. s. each year develop an infection. these infections occur in as many as one in every 10 patients, result in close to 100, 000 deaths and cost upwards of $ 6 billion. the wall street journal created a top 10 list of infection prevention strategies based on interviews with medical professionals, administrators a non profit company and the association for professionals in infection control and epidemiology. - undercover operations - dr. philip carling, an epidemiologist at caritas carney hospital in dorchester, mass. developed a solution to uncover how well patient rooms are cleaned. his invisible solution contains fluorescent markers which glow in black light. after spraying patient rooms with the solution, cleaning crews were brought in to perform their normal routine. later, rooms were examined with a black light and areas missed by the cleaners glowed fluorescent. sharing results with cleaners helped boost compliance with proper cleaning techniques. - high - tech cleaning systems - when hospital equipment is disinfected by hand, bacteria often remains. for more thorough disinfecting hospitals are utilizing machines such as bioquell which sprays a disinfecting hydrogen - peroxide vapor. - data mining - many hospitals are tracking data to determine how to prevent infections. lee memorial health system in florida tracks infection rates by surgeon and reports on the results. low ranking surgeons


which sprays a disinfecting hydrogen - peroxide vapor. - data mining - many hospitals are tracking data to determine how to prevent infections. lee memorial health system in florida tracks infection rates by surgeon and reports on the results. low ranking surgeons can then make adjustments to lower their infection rates and improve their ranking. - patient hygiene - research suggests a daily wash with mild antibacterial soap can dramatically reduce the rate of bloodstream infections. the recommended cleanser is chlorohexidine glutonate. - reporting crackdown - numerous states have passed laws which require hospitals to report on infection rates. in many cases the reports are publicly available. in addition, medicare is limiting reimbursement for treatment of hospital - acquired infections. - clean hands - hospitals that utilize strategically - placed dispensers of hand sanitizer have noticed an increase in hand hygiene compliance from less than 50 % to more than 80 %. - embracing the checklist - incorporating checklists into bedside medical charts can help reduce rates of infection by requiring shift nurses to answer questions such as : does this patient have a catheter? if so, is it still necessary? - portable kits - utilizing all - inclusive kits for common procedures such as intravenous line insertions or dressing changes can limit the possibility for infection. kits contain all the items needed for procedures and prevent the nurse from running in and out of the patient room during a procedure to find a forgotten item. - mouth maintenance - regularly cleaning patients ' mouths, gums and teeth can help prevent ventilator - associated pneumonia, a common infection found in intensive care units. - infection id - quick diagnostic tests can identify infected patients in a matter of hours rather than days. this allows for a quick response when patients show symptoms, are tested and found to be infected. to read the complete article with expanded descriptions of the top 10, click here. photo credit : presta hospitals in michigan lowered the rate of bloodstream infections in their patients by following a five - step checklist. the study published in the new england journal of medicine found that implementing the checklist reduced the rate of bloodstream infections related to catheter use by 66 %. despite this success, utilization of the checklist remains limited. the checklist itself isn ' t complicated : - wash hands - clean patient ' s skin with chlorohexidine - wear protective cap and gown and use a surgical drape during the procedure - avoid catheter insertion through the groin if possible - remove unnecessary cathet


t complicated : - wash hands - clean patient ' s skin with chlorohexidine - wear protective cap and gown and use a surgical drape during the procedure - avoid catheter insertion through the groin if possible - remove unnecessary catheters peter pronovost, the patient - safety expert who led the study, spoke with the wall street journal to share insights on why more hospitals haven ' t benefited from using the checklist. to read excerpts from his interview, click here. photo credit : adesigna a recent study published in the american journal of infection control examined the levels of bacteria on healthcare workers ' lab coats. the study involved a cross section of medical and surgical grand rounds attendees at a large teaching hospital. participants completed a survey and cultured their lab coat using a moistened swab on the lapels, pocket and cuffs. of the 149 white coats in the study, 34 ( 23 % ) were contaminated with s aureus, of which 6 ( 18 % ) were methicillin - resistant s aureus ( mrsa ). providers working with patients had higher contamination levels and the study suggests that white coats may contribute to patient - to - patient transmission of s aureus. read the entire study in the march 2009 issue of the american journal of infection control, the official journal of the association for professionals in infection control and epidemiology ( apic ). photo credit : estherase central venous catheters ( cvc ) are essential for treating children with cancer. they reduce the need for multiple needlesticks and the associated pain and anxiety. in addition, they can be used to deliver chemotherapy, parenteral fluids, blood products and analgesics. despite the positives, children with cvcs are at increased risk for bloodstream infections. complications associated with cvcs include pneumothorax, air embolism, nerve injury, catheter malposition, infection and occlusion. a recent study had four objectives : 1. to decrease cvc - related bloodstream infection rates in children with cancer through a comprehensive educational intervention. 2. to determine if the frequency of catheter hub colonization of cvcs in children with cancer would decrease following the educational intervention. 3. to evaluate nurses ' knowledge of cvc care. 4. to determine risk factors influencing cvc - related bloodstream infections in children with cancer. the study was conducted in the cancer center of a large children ' s hospital and included patients ranging in age from infancy to 18 years. a 45 minute


. 4. to determine risk factors influencing cvc - related bloodstream infections in children with cancer. the study was conducted in the cancer center of a large children ' s hospital and included patients ranging in age from infancy to 18 years. a 45 minute educational program on cdc guidelines, most frequent guideline violations and information on catheter - related infections was presented to all caregivers. following the educational presentation, catheter - related bloodstream infections were tracked for six months in order to determine the rate of infection. study findings showed that the educational program increased nurses ' knowledge and instances of catheter - related bloodstream infections decreased. you can read the full article in the march 2009 issue of oncology nursing forum or purchase it online here. photo credit : gulf coast regional blood center according to a 2009 study, approximately 5 million central venous catheters are placed each year. implantable ports provide reliable venous, arterial, epidural and peritoneal access and can be used to administer iv fluids, medications and to obtain blood samples. however complications including occlusion, infection, catheter migration and catheter separation from portal body can frequently occur. a recent study conducted in a rural hematology - oncology clinic focused on infection. a port infection can present as local tenderness, pain, erythema, induration or edema at the insertion or exit site or over the port pocket. patients may also have purulent or serous drainage, fever and chills. to prevent infection, aseptic technique should be utilized for dressing changes. in addition, clinicians should follow accessing and deaccessing procedures and keep the exit clear of potential sources of infection. the 62 patients included in the study were receiving a minimum of two complete cycles of chemotherapy after port insertion. ports were accessed and deaccessed following outlined protocol. * steps for accessing ports : - wash hands. assess the port site for erythema, warmth or drainage. - palpate the outline of the portal body. - wash hands. - apply nonsterile gloves. cleanse port site with chlorohexidine swab in a circular motion for 30 seconds. allow to dry for 30 seconds. - spray ethyl chloride. - stabilize portal body with one hand. insert huber needle ( link to ez huber product page ) into septum with other hand. ensure patency by blood return. if no blood return, use interventions to assess port ' s patency. - stabilize port


with one hand. insert huber needle ( link to ez huber product page ) into septum with other hand. ensure patency by blood return. if no blood return, use interventions to assess port ' s patency. - stabilize port with gauze and tape or apply transparent dressing. * steps for deaccessing ports : - wash hands. apply nonsterile gloves. - inspect exit site. - flush device with 20 ml normal saline followed by 5 ml heparin flush ( 100 units / ml ). during final flush, clamp tubing to port. - stabilize port and remove needle. - apply bandage. six of the 62 patients in the study experienced a port infection, with four of the six ports requiring removal. the total number of catheter days for the implanted ports was 7, 277. patient catheter days ranged from 32 - 288. the study concluded that consistent, routine care is the best preventative measure against port complications. the entire study can be found in the october 2009 issue of the clinical journal of oncology nursing. * the port access and de - access protocols are those that were used by the authors for this study. please follow institutional policies and procedures regarding port access and de - access. although many infection headlines are related to hospitals, individual doctor ' s offices are facing similar challenges. almost 30 cases of hepatitis b were recently tied to one doctor ' s office in new jersey. when health inspectors visited the office they found blood on the floor of a room where chemotherapy was administered, blood in a bin where blood vials were stored, unsterile saline and gauze as well as open medication vials. inspectors also noticed cross - contamination of pens, refrigerators and countertops, use of contaminated gloves and misuse of antiseptics. patients were sent a letter from state epidemiologist dr. christina chan urging testing for hepatitis b. " evidence gathered at this time suggests that since 2002, some clinic staff provided care in a manner that puts patients at risk for infection caused by bloodborne viruses, including hepatitis b, " the letter told patients. " the investigation to date suggests that hepatitis b infections identified may be associated with the method by which medications were administered and procedures performed at the practice. " numerous checklists and recommendations have been published around infection control. the american academy of pediatrics committee on infectious diseases and committee on practice and ambulatory medicine offers these infection control musts : - hand washing - barrier precautions to prevent skin and mucous membrane exposure - proper


recommendations have been published around infection control. the american academy of pediatrics committee on infectious diseases and committee on practice and ambulatory medicine offers these infection control musts : - hand washing - barrier precautions to prevent skin and mucous membrane exposure - proper handling of sharps and contaminated waste - appropriate cleaning and disinfecting of surfaces and equipment - aseptic technique for invasive procedures for the full recommendation on infection control in physician ' s offices, click here. to read more about the hepatitis b outbreak in new jersey, continue reading here. photo credit : hollywood pimp the joint commission center for transforming healthcare is working on its first improvement venture : the hand hygiene project. according to the centers for disease control and prevention, an estimated 2 million patients get a hospital - related infection every year and 90, 000 die from their infection. causes of failure to clean hands - ineffective placement of dispensers or sinks - hand hygiene compliance data are not collected or reported accurately or frequently - lack of accountability and just - in - time coaching - safety culture does not stress hand hygiene at all levels - ineffective or insufficient education - hands full - wearing gloves interferes with process - perception that hand hygiene is not needed if wearing gloves - healthcare workers forget early results of the program found on average that caregivers washed their hands less than 50 percent of the time. " demanding that healthcare workers try harder is not the answer. these healthcare organizations have the courage to step forward to tackle the problem of hand washing by digging deep to find out where the breakdowns take place so we can create targeted solutions that will work now and keep working in the future, " said mark r. chassin, m. d., m. p. p, m. p. h., president, the joint commission. by january, 2010, the joint commission center for transforming healthcare plans to have data to demonstrate whether the proposed hand hygiene solutions can be sustained to achieve a 90 + percent compliance rate. eight hospitals are participating in this project : - cedars - sinai health system, los angeles, california - exempla lutheran medical center, wheat ridge, colorado - froedtert hospital, milwaukee, wisconsin - the johns hopkins hospital and health system, baltimore, maryland - memorial hermann health care system, houston, texas - trinity health, novi, michigan - virtua, marlton, new jersey - wake forest university baptist medical center, winston - salem, north carolina to read the full release from the joint commission for transforming healthcare, click here. photo credit :


- trinity health, novi, michigan - virtua, marlton, new jersey - wake forest university baptist medical center, winston - salem, north carolina to read the full release from the joint commission for transforming healthcare, click here. photo credit : mag3737 healthcare providers are on alert due to an increase in a new strain of hospital - acquired infections. a recent study released by arlington medical resources ( amr ) and decision resources, found that recurrent clostridium difficile is difficult to treat in a hospital setting. clostridium difficile is a bacterium that can cause symptoms as minor as diarrhea and as life threatening as severe inflammation of the colon. the elderly are most at risk and the centers for medicare and medicaid services is considering adding clostridium difficile to its list of " never events " or preventable hospital - acquired infections. hospitals will receive reduced or no medicare payments for infections on the " never events " list. read more about how the study was conducted as well as more information on clostridium difficile here. photo credit : big grey mare jeanne hahne was working as a nurse in a burn ward when inspiration struck. because the patients were so vulnerable to infection, hahne and other healthcare providers had to wear full protective gear including a cap to cover her hair and a mask that covered the majority of her face. even though she worked with many of the burn patients every day, most couldn ' t recognize her. flash forward almost 30 years and hahne has designed a face mask made of clear plastic so patients can see her smile. hahne believes she can reassure patients with a smile and help decrease their anxiety. the masks also have utility for patients and healthcare providers with hearing loss since they allow for lip reading. in addition, the masks have helped improve communication between healthcare workers which can help decrease the chance for mistakes or misunderstanding. to read more and see pictures of the face mask, click here. photo credit : christiana care


there are many aspects to learning the creation of interactive fiction. here we mostly undertake to explain approaches to using inform, and leave the larger questions of craft and design for elsewhere. the two manuals there are two interlinked manuals built into every copy of the inform application : if you ' ve downloaded inform, you already have them. but they are also available to read or download separately from this website. writing with inform is an overview of the language, beginning with the simplest kinds of construction ( such as building a map of rooms, objects, and doors ) and working its way up to more advanced tasks. it is meant to be read more or less sequentially, since later chapters build on the ideas in earlier ones ; though some of the late chapters ( such as those covering numbers, activities, or advanced text ) might reasonably be read out of order. the recipe book approaches the problem of authorship from a different perspective. instead of trying to teach the language from start to finish, it is organized for the author who wants to accomplish something specific, such as asking the player ' s name at the start of play or implementing a system of measured liquids. it shares the same set of examples that are keyed to writing with inform, but organizes them into a new order and accompanies them with text about design problems in creating interactive fiction, rather than explanation of language features. following requests from partially sighted inform users, we ' ve also made two plain vanilla versions of the manual available - they have as little decoration or web design as possible, which means less clutter for screen - reading software to cope with. we offer a choice of : minimally tagged html provides an archive containing the pages of the manuals and examples as vanilla - flavoured html files. writing with inform in plain text format is just what it claims to be - one single file containing only text, with no marking - up of any kind. this contains all of the examples, following the text in numerical order, but not the recipe book. ( the whole idea of two interleaved manuals can ' t really be achieved in one flat text file. ) we receive occasional questions about publishing a printed form of the manuals. the answer is that we intend to do exactly that, in due course, but that we expect the current text will be revised wholesale once the system is more mature. ( the same thing happened with inform 6, with the appearance of the printed designer ' s manual in 2001 essentially marking the end of its design cycle. )


this is an old lecture by linguist and political activist noam chomsky ( professor at mit ) given at uc berkeley in 2003. for that evening in the charles m. and martha hitchcock lecture series, chomsky examined biolinguistics - the study of relations between physiology and speech. a second video of chomsky is featured below, which is the second half of this talk. fair warning - this is not easy material - chomsky is speaking to people who are well - versed in this field. chomsky has been one the most influential scholars over the last three or four decades - between 1980 and 1992, he was cited as a source more than any other living scholar, and ranked eighth overall. as background for this lecture, wikipedia offers a good summary of his influence in linguistics ( below the video ). chomskyan linguisticschomskyan linguistics, beginning with his syntactic structures, a distillation of his logical structure of linguistic theory ( 1955, 75 ), challenges structural linguistics and introduces transformational grammar. this approach takes utterances ( sequences of words ) to have a syntax characterized by a formal grammar ; in particular, a context - free grammar extended with transformational rules. perhaps his most influential and time - tested contribution to the field, is the claim that modeling knowledge of language using a formal grammar accounts for the " productivity " or " creativity " of language. in other words, a formal grammar of a language can explain the ability of a hearer - speaker to produce and interpret an infinite number of utterances, including novel ones, with a limited set of grammatical rules and a finite set of terms. he has always acknowledged his debt to panini for his modern notion of an explicit generative grammar although it is also related to rationalist ideas of a priori knowledge. it is a popular misconception that chomsky proved that language is entirely innate and discovered a " universal grammar " ( ug ). in fact, chomsky simply observed that while a human baby and a kitten are both capable of inductive reasoning, if they are exposed to exactly the same linguistic data, the human child will always acquire the ability to understand and produce language, while the kitten will never acquire either ability. chomsky labeled whatever the relevant capacity the human has which the cat lacks the " language acquisition device " ( lad ) and suggested that one of the tasks for linguistics should be to figure out what the lad is and what constraints it puts on the range of possible human languages. the


relevant capacity the human has which the cat lacks the " language acquisition device " ( lad ) and suggested that one of the tasks for linguistics should be to figure out what the lad is and what constraints it puts on the range of possible human languages. the universal features that would result from these constraints are often termed " universal grammar " or ug. the principles and parameters approach ( p & p ) — developed in his pisa 1979 lectures, later published as lectures on government and binding ( lgb ) — makes strong claims regarding universal grammar : that the grammatical principles underlying languages are innate and fixed, and the differences among the world ' s languages can be characterized in terms of parameter settings in the brain ( such as the pro - drop parameter, which indicates whether an explicit subject is always required, as in english, or can be optionally dropped, as in spanish ), which are often likened to switches. ( hence the term principles and parameters, often given to this approach. ) in this view, a child learning a language need only acquire the necessary lexical items ( words, grammatical morphemes, and idioms ), and determine the appropriate parameter settings, which can be done based on a few key examples. proponents of this view argue that the pace at which children learn languages is inexplicably rapid, unless children have an innate ability to learn languages. the similar steps followed by children all across the world when learning languages, and the fact that children make certain characteristic errors as they learn their first language, whereas other seemingly logical kinds of errors never occur ( and, according to chomsky, should be attested if a purely general, rather than language - specific, learning mechanism were being employed ), are also pointed to as motivation for innateness. more recently, in his minimalist program ( 1995 ), while retaining the core concept of " principles and parameters, " chomsky attempts a major overhaul of the linguistic machinery involved in the lgb model, stripping from it all but the barest necessary elements, while advocating a general approach to the architecture of the human language faculty that emphasizes principles of economy and optimal design, reverting to a derivational approach to generation, in contrast with the largely representational approach of classic p & p. chomsky ' s ideas have had a strong influence on researchers of the language acquisition in children, though many researchers in this area such as elizabeth bates and michael tomasello argue very strongly against chomsky ' s theories, and instead advocate emergentist or connectionist theories, explaining language


chinese researchers have turned to the light absorbing properties of butterfly wings to significantly increase the efficiency of solar hydrogen cells, using biomimetics to copy the nanostructure that allows for incredible light and heat absorption. butterflies are known to use heat from the sun to warm themselves beyond what their bodies can provide, and this new research takes a page from their evolution to improve hydrogen fuel generation. analyzing the wings of papilio helenus, the researchers found scales that are described as having : [... ] ridges running the length of the scale with very small holes on either side that opened up onto an underlying layer. the steep walls of the ridges help funnel light into the holes. the walls absorb longer wavelengths of light while allowing shorter wavelengths to reach a membrane below the scales. using the images of the scales, the researchers created computer models to confirm this filtering effect. the nano - hole arrays change from wave guides for short wavelengths to barriers and absorbers for longer wavelengths, which act just like a high - pass filtering layer. so, what does this have to do with fuel cells? splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen takes energy, and is a drain on the amount you can get out of a cell. to split the water, the process uses a catalyst, and certain catalysts — say, titanium dioxide — function by exposure to light. the researchers synthesized a titanium dioxide catalyst using the pattern from the butterfly ' s wings, and paired it with platinum nanoparticles to make it more efficient at splitting water. the result? a 230 % uptick in the amount of hydrogen produced. the structure of the butterfly ' s wing means that it ' s better at absorbing light — so who knows, you might also see the same technique on solar panels, too.


early childhood education - the american academy of pediatrics is dedicated to the health of all children and committed to the attainment of optimal physical, mental, and social health and well - being for all infants, children, adolescents, and - the center for early childhood leadership is dedicated to enhancing the management skills, professional orientation and leadership capacity of early - the child & family webguide describes and evaluates web sites that contain research - based information about child development. - an organization of regional child care resource and referral ( ccr & r ) agencies serving communities throughout the state of illinois. - the children ' s book council is dedicated to encouraging literacy and the use and enjoyment of children ' s books. - children ' s literature offers information on authors and illustrators, recommended books by theme, book award winners, etc. - the circle of inclusion web site is for early childhood service providers and families of young children. this web site offers demonstrations of and information about the effective practices of inclusive educational programs for children from birth through age eight. - civitas is a national not - for - profit communication group that works to provide educational tools to all adults who live and work with young children. - the clas early childhood research institute collects and describes early childhood / early intervention resources that have been developed across the united states for children with disabilities and their families and the service providers who work with them. the materials and resources available on this site reflect the intersection of culture and language, disabilities and child development. - the division of early childhood ( dec ) of the council for exceptional children ( cec ) is a nonprofit organization advocating for individuals who work with or on behalf of children with special needs, birth through age eight, and their families. there is also an illinois subdivision for the division of early childhood ( idec ). - the early childhood educators ' and family web corner contains articles, teacher pages, family pages, etc. - edworld. resources covers a variety of areas of early childhood. - eric provides research - based information and articles in the field of early childhood. - i am your child is a national public awareness and engagement campaign to make early childhood development a top priority of our nation. - the illinois department of children and family services web site for information on day care licensing, etc. - the illinois department of human services early intervention site contains information for parents and service providers, including child and family connections contacts.. - the illinois early learning web site provides evidence - based, reliable information for parents, caregivers, and teachers of young children


illinois department of human services early intervention site contains information for parents and service providers, including child and family connections contacts.. - the illinois early learning web site provides evidence - based, reliable information for parents, caregivers, and teachers of young children in the state of illinois. - illinois head start association information. - lists of recommended children ' s books for birth to five and early childhood block grant professional development opportunities are available on the early childhood portion of the illinois resource center ' s web site. - the illinois secretary of state ' s literacy program site includes grant applications and literacy resources. - meld offers education and support for parents, trains family service providers to apply best practices in their work with families and publishes a broad range of resource materials for parents and the people who work with them. - the national association for the education of young children has for its purpose, “ leading and consolidating the efforts of individuals and groups working to achieve healthy development and constructive education for all young children. ” - the national clearinghouse on child abuse and neglect is a resource for professionals and others seeking information on abuse and neglect and child welfare. - the national early childhood technical assistance center supports the implementation of the early childhood provisions of the individuals with disabilities education act ( idea ). their mission is to strengthen service systems to ensure that children with disabilities ( birth through five ) and their families receive and benefit from high quality, culturally appropriate, and family - centered supports and services. - the national head start association is a private not - for - profit membership organization that provides a national forum for the continued enhancement of head start services for children ages 0 to 5 and their families. - the national institute for early education research supports early childhood education initiatives by providing objective, nonpartisan information based on research. - ongoing update about the national institute of child health and human development ( nichid ) study of early child care and youth development. - the ounce of prevention was established to promote the well - being of children and adolescents by working with families, communities, and policy - makers. - the parents as teachers national center is committed to seeing that “ all children will learn, grow, and develop to realize their full potential. " the information is geared to parents but helpful to all programs in early childhood. - the partnership for reading continually creates resources and shares information about how scientifically based research can inform the acquisition of reading skills across the lifespan, from birth to adulthood. visit the early - prevent child abuse america provides leadership to promote the prevention of child abuse and neglect at both the national


world ’ s poorest on front line in climate change fight 24 july 2008 | news story climate change is already happening – and it hits poor people most. the effect of more frequent hurricanes, floods and droughts on developing countries is devastating, as this year ’ s cyclone nagris proved again in southern myanmar, leaving over 130, 000 people dead or missing. to protect the world ’ s poor against today ’ s more frequent extreme weather events, some us $ 2 billion is required according to the internacional relief agency oxfam. however, commitments so far only total us $ 173. the need for innovative means to mitigate climate change impacts and help poor countries adapt is high on the agenda of the world conservation congress, held by iucn, the international union for conservation of nature from 5 - 14 october in barcelona. - in 2007, there were 950 natural catastrophes in 2007 compared with 850 in 2006, according to munich re, one of the world ’ s largest insurance companies. this is the highest number recorded since the company started compiling annual disaster reports in 1974. - the burden of the disasters fall on the poor who are least to blame for climate change. benin, and bangladesh, for example, are at particularly high risk from rising sea - levels and storm surges, yet their per capita contribution to greenhouse gas output is one eightieth that of the united states, according to the british institute of development studies. - “ what worries us the most is the impact on the poorest countries which have the least capacity to respond to the challenge, ” said yvo de boer, secretary of the convention on climate change. - a healthy environment can help people survive. healthy mangrove forests and coral reefs, for example, can serve as barriers and prevent coastal erosion ; a solid forest cover prevents flooding in times of heavy rainfall. - “ there are positive examples of local level adaptation to the impacts of climate change, such as replanting mangrove forests that can serve as buffers against more frequent storms. but to implement these solutions on a larger scale, substantial financial support is required, ” says ninni ikkala, climate change officer at iucn. upcoming media products : 6 august – international press release – primates red list update 12 august – international press release – cetacean red list update julia marton - lefevre, iucn ’ s director general. ninni ikkala, iucn climate change programme brian thomson, iucn global communications, m + 417972182326, e email @ example. com. carolin wahnbae


link back to index. html the death and dying process death and dying as caregivers, one either becomes a better person through compassion, patience, and humor, or they become embittered and angry. wendy lustbader is an author who has written a moving book entitled " counting on kindness : the dilemmas of dependency. " 1991. the free press, new york, new york. in the book she describes the importance of receiving gratitude when we help others ; because giving help without recognition can embitter us as individuals. we need to be kind, in order to count on kindness as we age. the person who has dementia cannot always provide gratitude for their caregiver. gratitude must be looked for in gentle ways and unassuming ways. perhaps it is a smile, or a gesture, or an expression of love such as placing the head on the caregiver ' s shoulder. if gratitude is not felt even on an occasional basis, it is difficult to cope with death and dying. death and dying as dr. kubler - ross indicates, is the " final stage of growth ". death and dying during the final stages of dementia due to alzheimer ' s disease, an individual may lose his / her ability to ambulate, verbally communicate, swallow, or may become totally incontinent and continue to lose weight despite nutritional supplements. usually people with alzheimer ' s die of another problem - - - perhaps a stroke, or pneumonia due to aspiration. at this point, the caregiver must be aware that the only way a person can stay alive is by inserting a stomach tube that provides artificial nutritional sustenance. caregivers may have different feelings about this intervention for religious or personal reasons. at the end stage of alzheimer ' s the use of invasive procedures such as a stomach tube, can keep the persons alive from months to years. this important decision must be made by the family member and can create an " ethical dilemma ". families, should in no way feel pressured by a medical professional to insert life sustaining interventions. when family members are prepared with regard to the physical process of death and dying they are more able to accept death as an inevitable and peaceful process. the recent expansion of hospice services has done much to promote discussions about death and acceptance of withholding end - of - life medical interventions. once a person is terminal, as determined by a physician who understands the disease process, a caregiver may decide to engage hospice services. the physician must be willing to certify that a


of withholding end - of - life medical interventions. once a person is terminal, as determined by a physician who understands the disease process, a caregiver may decide to engage hospice services. the physician must be willing to certify that a person will die within six months. if the person does not die within six months, they are not disqualified from the program. hospice services are usually provided by a local home health agency. hospice services can be provided in the home, assisted living facility as well as a skilled nursing facility. when a family signs up for hospice benefits they agree to forgo extreme invasive procedures and agree to support procedures that alleviate pain for the person with dementia. this is known as " palliative care " or comfort measures. at the final stage of death, water and food are withheld as the individual no longer desires this. this is a part of the natural process of dying. families can anticipate the final stages of death by the various physical stages a person may be going through. barbara karne, a hospice r. n. developed a very comprehensive booklet entitled " gone from my sight : the dying experience " which delineates the various physical stages of death and dying. to obtain a booklet, contact her at the following address : barbara karnes, r. n., p. o. box 335, stillwell, kansas, 60085, 1995. in karnes ' booklet she describes what occurs, one - three months prior to death, one to two weeks before death, days or hours before death, and then the final minutes. this information has been extremely helpful to families and can be summarized as follows : one to three months prior to death · withdrawal from world and people · decreased food intake · increased sleep · going inside self · less communication one to two weeks prior to death · talking with unseen · picking at clothes · physical changes o decreased blood pressure o pulse increase or decrease o color changes ; pale, bluish o increased perspiration o respiration irregularities o sleeping but responding o complaints of body tired and heavy o not eating, taking little fluids o body temperature hot / cold days or hours · intensification of 1 - 2 week signs · surge of energy · decrease in blood pressure · eyes glassy, tearing, half open · irregular breathing, stop / start · restlessness or no activity · purplish knees, feet, hands, blotchy · pulse weak and hard to fine · decreased urine output · may wet or stool the bed · fish out of water


open · irregular breathing, stop / start · restlessness or no activity · purplish knees, feet, hands, blotchy · pulse weak and hard to fine · decreased urine output · may wet or stool the bed · fish out of water breathing · cannot be awakened it is important that individuals be aware of their wishes and that the wishes be formally documented in a legal document that is known as an " advance directive ". each state has different instruments for these directives and the caregiver should contact the local medical facility to determine the appropriate document to be used. the advance directive delineates one ' s wishes regarding medical treatment and appoints a surrogate decision - maker on a person ' s behalf. of course, the important aspect of the advance directive is to discuss end - of - life care before one becomes diagnosed with dementia or has an another debilitating illness. pp. 309 - 311. beckerman, anita g. and tappen, ruth. m. 2000. it takes more than love. health professions press : baltimore, md. 1. review the video clip on death and dying narrated by dixie merrill. dixie merrill is a caregiver who is also taking care of three sets of parents - - in laws, step parents, as well as parents. dixie has been part of a support group and has indicated how information learned in the group has helped her cope with the death and dying. note how she describes the process of death and dying as peaceful and calming. she indicates talking about death and dying has made it less fearful and she also emphasizes the importance of advance directives. 2. consider the following questions for reflection when watching the video : · what strategies helped the merrill family cope with their mother ' s death and dying process? · how can " advance directives " help individuals cope with the dying process? link back to index. html


friday, 11 december 2009 mental ray _ adding glow to the window glass the above image was produced whilst at gmj design ltd in our latest book, we have covered a number of ways of emulating light without the need of creating a physical light. production companies often adopt similar methods to reduce the rendering times and retain the overall quality. it is worth pointing out that the usage of ambient occlusion ( i. e. ao ) as a separate pass or / and directly from max is utterly imperative for the final shot. the following exercise will take you through another unique methodology of achieving similar results with reduced rendering times : another quick way of emulating “ glow ” / " light " on windows, is to in fact enable the glow function on the glass panes themselves. to do this, simply go to the main material parameters, under the " refraction " group. 1 - reduce the transparency to about 0. 9 to prevent the surface from being fully transparent. 2 - to add a bit of blur to the transparency, decrease the glossiness to about 0. 78. note that, these values may vary depending on one ’ s camera angle... and the level of transparency / blurriness intended. 3 - next, change the colour swatch from white to a warm yellow. also, the " fast ( interpolate ) " function, can be enabled for quick and fast results, as the glossiness and its samples can often slow down the renders. however, it may create artifacts. 4 - pan down to the " self illumination ( glow ) " parameters and enable the " self illumination ( glow ) " function. 5 - under the " luminance " group, change it from " unitless " to " physical units : cd / m2 ) ". also, pick and choose any relevant bitmap ( i. e. photo ) that has a prominent light source. note : the " unitless " function often creates artifacts on glossy reflections, therefore, to be avoided at all costs. depending on time in hand, one can set the glow to generate light, or not, through the fg, by checking the " illuminates the scene ( when using fg ) " function.... and... “... let there be light... ”!!! the final rendered image below was achieved using this technique. i hope you like it. i hope you have found this post interesting. also check this new article in this blog : 3d realism : practical & easy


the most illustrious czars and mighty princes, john and peter alexewitz, my most gracious lords, having in their wise council of state resolved to send a splendid embassy, on some important affairs, to the great bogdaichan, or sovereign of the famous kingdom of kitai, by us europeans commonly called china : this obliged me with a welcoming opportunity of traveling through part of the famous, but hitherto unknown, siberian and kitaian countries, ( never before visited by any german ) and informing my self by credible witnesses of the remainder of those lands, as well as obtaining a certain knowledge of several things with which the world hath not been hitherto acquainted. evert ysbrants ides was the first educated european to travel in siberia and gather firsthand information about the collection of fossil ivory. ides ' opportunity to travel across siberia was the direct result of the satisfactory settlement of a small war on the chinese border. the speed with which the first wave of russian fur traders, called promyshleniki, crossed siberia created serious supply problems for them. men carrying small loads of goods and supplies could easily cross siberia using a network of rivers and short portages by boat in the summer and sled in the winter. bringing large loads of bulky goods, specifically enough grain to feed a small settlement, was a much more difficult and expensive proposition. it could take three or four years for a shipment of grain to reach a remote place like yakutsk and, by then, the majority of the load would be inedible. because of this, the promyshleniki were relieved and excited when they began to hear rumors of the amur, a valley in the south filled with grain, cattle, and silver. the first expedition to reach the amur was a group of 132 cossacks under vassily poiarkov in 1643 - 46. the amur natives, whom the russians called daurians, greeted poiarkov with hospitality but the relationship turned sour as the russians resorted to kidnapping, plunder, and, it is reputed, cannibalism to get what they wanted. this kind of behavior went over with the locals about as well as you might expect. poiarkov had to fight his way out of the country and lost half of his command to native attacks and starvation. however, because he confirmed that the amur was a land of cattle and grain ( he didn ' t find any silver ), the expedition was proclaimed a success. several


out of the country and lost half of his command to native attacks and starvation. however, because he confirmed that the amur was a land of cattle and grain ( he didn ' t find any silver ), the expedition was proclaimed a success. several other russians tried to map out a better route into the amur valley. in 1651, yerofey khabarov fought his way down the river with even more brutality than poiarkov had and built a fort near the site of the city that now bears his name. this is when things began to go to hell. khabarov knew, but chose to ignore, that the amur was within the chinese sphere of influence. what he might not have known was that it was also part of the homeland of the new qing dynasty of china. the only reason he was able to occupy as much land as he did was that most of the armed manchu horsemen were still busy conquering china. a year after khabarov built achansk, a chinese military expedition arrived to drive him out of the valley. this was the beginning of more than thirty years of seesawing occupation of the amur country. by the early eighties, with most of china finally pacified, the kangxi emperor was ready to deal with the russians once and for all. now it was the turn of moscow to get alarmed. moscow, in the 1680s, was infected with a bad case of " who ' s in charge here? " in april 1682, tsar fedor iii died at the tender age of twenty one without leaving an heir. the succession fell on his brothers ivan and peter. the elder of the two, ivan, was severely epileptic, nearly blind, and may have suffered from a variety of other problems ( diagnosing the physical and mental health of historical figures is more of a parlor game than a science among historians ). peter was strong as an ox, but only ten years old. to further complicate matters, the two boys had different mothers and the two sets of in - laws formed powerful and antagonistic factions at court. fedor ' s death was followed by a week of riot and rebellion ( not all of which was related to the succession ). when the dust cleared, ivan and peter had been declared co - tsars and their sister sophia was the de facto regent ruling in their names. except for a few years during the reign of catherine the great, historians have not been kind to sophia. she has been reduced to cartoonish stereotype of


declared co - tsars and their sister sophia was the de facto regent ruling in their names. except for a few years during the reign of catherine the great, historians have not been kind to sophia. she has been reduced to cartoonish stereotype of a scheming woman ( which is bad ) who was finally put back in her place by a strong male ( which is good ). in fact, sophia alexeevna romanov was an extraordinary woman. she was intelligent, well informed, and literate in three languages. she was comfortable giving orders and appearing in public at a time when most upper - class russian women were kept in harem - like seclusion for their entire lives. during the seven years that she served as regent for the two tsars, sophia had successes and failures no different than any other rulers ’. for the advance of mammoth knowledge, her most important achievement was settling the amur conflict. since the beginning of the century, the tsars had recognized the potential for siberia to become a private trade route to china, but every attempt at making official contact with the chinese court had failed due to cultural misunderstandings. despite that, the kangxi emperor wanted to open trade with the russians and hoped that a show of strength would be enough to drive the promyshleniki and cossacks out of the amur valley. in 1684 a large and well supplied chinese army arrived on the lower amur and began to move west driving the russians before them. at albazin, on the northern bend of the amur, the russians attempted to make a stand, but were soon defeated. the chinese allowed the survivors to retreat, razed their fort, and moved down river to their base of operations. when word of the defeat on the amur reached sophia and her advisors, they quickly dispatched an envoy to make peace with the chinese. this should have been the end of the crisis, but, before the envoy could arrive, the siberian russians returned to albazin and built a new fort provoking the chinese army to return and start a new siege. they were only saved by the arrival in beijing of advance messengers from the embassy. the kangxi emperor ordered his army to lift the siege and prepared his own diplomatic mission to meet the russians. further complications - - and there are always further complications in diplomacy - - delayed the meeting of the two missions until the summer of 1689. the negotiation took place at the russian outpost of nerchinsk on a tributary of the amur almost 300 miles west of albazin. amid


are always further complications in diplomacy - - delayed the meeting of the two missions until the summer of 1689. the negotiation took place at the russian outpost of nerchinsk on a tributary of the amur almost 300 miles west of albazin. amid elaborate ceremonies by the official heads of the missions, the real negotiations were carried out in latin by a polish cavalry officer ( for the russians ) and a french jesuit ( for the chinese ). the agreement, signed on august 27, the first formal treaty signed between china and a western power, required the russians to evacuate the entire amur valley, but established formal trade through nerchinsk. sophia did not get to celebrate the treaty of nerchinsk. at the same time that the negotiations were wrapping up in the east, sophia ' s regency was coming to an abrupt and unanticipated end in moscow. sophia ' s position had been dramatically weakened by two disastrous campaigns in the crimea and by her half brother peter turning seventeen in june. amid rumors that sophia was planning to murder peter and rule in her own name, supporters of the two romanovs engaged in a month of dramatic maneuvers that resulted in peter taking control and sophia retiring to a convent. peter ' s half brother ivan stayed on as co - tsar until his natural death seven years later. when word of the treaty reached peter, he accepted the terms and began planning a trade mission to beijing. russia had a severe shortage of literate agents who were competent to make their way through foreign cultures, which explains the necessity of hiring latin speaking polish cavalry officers to conduct delicate diplomatic negotiations. for his first official trade mission to china, peter hired a german, dutch, or possibly danish merchant named evert ysbrants ides *. ides had been in russia since 1677, operating his own merchant house, first in archangel and later in moscow. in the spring of 1692, ides left moscow at the head of a 400 man caravan with instructions to exchange ratifications of the treaty, determine the best items for trade, feel out official attitudes toward the treaty, and request that a chinese envoy be sent to moscow. the most direct route from moscow to china is the same one that the trans - siberian railway follows today, around the southern end of the ural mountains, across the steppe lands at the center of eurasia, across lake baikal, and on to the amur. unfortunately, the steppe lands were controlled by kirghiz nomads and unsafe for russian merchants. for this reason, ides '