If you think more carefully how many electrical devices or tools you have bought in the last decade, you might be amazed. If we’re honest, we replace some devices faster than we’d like. There is also a new model for each of these pieces every year.
Who wouldn’t want a new vacuum cleaner with better cleaning results? Or the best electric chainsaw? In general, it can be said that electrical devices and tools are not particularly sustainable if you buy a new model every year or every two years. Most of them want nothing more than a durable device which you can still use in ten years. We have summarized all information on the topic of sustainability in electrical devices and tools.
Electrical Devices Energy Use
Why we regularly replace electrical appliances
The idea of buying a new electrical appliance is usually not without reason. The new purchase happens for a variety of reasons :
- The old device is defective.
- There is a new model with more functions on the market.
- Spare parts to repair the defect are not available.
- The guarantee has expired.
In terms of warranty, consumers usually always have the advantage that they can return their devices and power tools to the store and either receive a free repair or receive a new device. Unfortunately, it is often the case that the brand does not offer any spare parts with which a repair would be very easy to carry out.
In the end, most users decide to buy a new one. Because it is not infrequently suggested by industry that only new devices are excellent.
Problems related to the sustainability of various devices
Unfortunately, there are a few very typical problems on the market that have a negative impact on the sustainability of the devices. We have already mentioned that no spare parts are available. But what other reasons are there for the lack of sustainability?
- Cheap production costs: Many manufacturers mainly focus on quantity, but no longer on quality. A good example of this is the low cost of skilled labor.
- Use of raw materials that pollute the environment: In addition to toxins and heavy metals, there are other substances that are laborious to break down, but which cannot be properly disposed of.
- The deliberate use of inferior materials in order to drastically shorten the shelf life: There are more and more institutions against this handling that demand more sustainability on this point and consider new regulations to be appropriate. This includes, for example, the Federal Environment Agency (UBA).
Caution: A very good example of the lack of sustainability of materials that pollute the environment are ordinary batteries. Admittedly, a power tool with a rechargeable battery is much more popular these days than the variant with a cable. However, the production of the battery is by no means sustainable. They mostly contain lithium and cobalt.
How do you recognize a sustainable electrical device / tool?
Fortunately, these days there are more and more initiatives promoting the production of sustainable devices . Even when buying, it is therefore possible to select according to certain criteria and make the right decision.
These labels, for example, distinguish devices that meet special sustainability criteria:
- Blue Angel: Identifies products that contain only small amounts of harmful substances. Electrical devices that have been awarded this mark are particularly energy-efficient.
European eco-label: Here, the entire life cycle of the electrical device is scrutinized, from manufacture to disposal. The product must meet sustainable requirements and offer good energy efficiency.
- TCO label / Energy Star label: Specially designed for office equipment that meets sustainable requirements and is energy-efficient.
Another tip is that if you have any doubts, you can contact the manufacturer of a particular product at any time to obtain more information about its sustainability.
Advantages and disadvantages of sustainability in electrical devices / tools
Finally, let’s summarize the advantages and disadvantages of sustainable electrical appliances:
- Most sustainable devices can be used for a long time.
- Often they can also be repaired in the event of a defect.
- All conditions during production are also regulated sustainably.
For many people, certain electrical devices or tools are a veritable status symbol, which is why they always buy a new one. You will struggle to be sustainable when buying a new one.


The Global Rivers Environmental Educational Education Network and the Case of the Rouge River in Detroit, Michigan.
The roots of the Interactive Rouge River Water Quality Monitoring Project began on the Huron River and Huron High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In the Spring of 1984, William Stapp and Mark Mitchell approached a science teacher at Huron High School about a river project being developed at the University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources. Huron High School was an ideal site for implementing a pilot water quality monitoring program because it lies near Gallup Park on the Huron River, and because students windsurfed at Gallup Park and jumped from its bridges. There had been reports of windsurfers getting ear infections and diarrhea; at least one individual reported getting hepatitis. All of these illnesses could be linked to the water quality at Gallup Park.
Science classes learned how to safely and accurately run nine water quality tests that constitute the National Sanitation Foundation’s Water Quality Index (NSF,WQI). These nine tests include: dissolved oxygen, fecal coliform, pH, biochemical oxygen demand, temperature, nitrates, total phosphates, turbidity, and total solids. Of these nine tests, fecal coliform was the most revealing in regard to public health concerns of students. Fecal coliform bacteria are found in the intestinal tract of warm-blooded animals, including humans. These bacteria are used as indicators for the probability of contracting waterborne pathogens that cause hepatitis "A", dysentery, and gastroenteritis. Based on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) studies, the government has set a standard of 200 fecal coliform colonies/100 ml of water for total body contact, such as swimming (and for most people, windsurfing).
Through the water quality monitoring program, students measured levels of 1,500-4,500 fecal coliform colonies/100 ml of water many times higher than acceptable levels for total body contact. Students discovered that storm sewers upriver from Gallup Park were implicated as the primary source of fecal coliform bacteria. In response to information-gathering by students and their fecal coliform data, students began to compose letters of concern to the Ann Arbor News, to City Council, to the County Health Department, and to the Arm Arbor Parks and Recreation Department. The result of student efforts, citizen response, and a School of Public Health study was the erection of a sign at Gallup Park warning the public not to windsurf after rains.
In 1985, the project spread downriver to Belleville High School in Belleville, Michigan. Here students in Ecology class were eager to monitor Belleville Lake-a focus of recreation, especially water skiing and fishing. This impoundment of the Huron River had been closed twice to recreation in the previous ten years because of high fecal coliform levels. An important development in the design of the program occurred when a group of Belleville High School students and a group of Huron High School students met to look at water quality data, and try to determine why water quality changed over this 13 mile (21 km) stretch of river.
In 1986, the project grew to include Dexter High School and Middle School in Dexter, Michigan upriver from Huron High School. Students and teachers from these schools, from Huron High School, and from Belleville High School met to share information, to systematically collect benthic macroinvertebrates as indicators of water quality, and to plot their combined data using a computer graphing program. The experiences and insights gained in three years of work with science classes along the Huron River set the stage for work along the Rouge River. Over the past five years, many of our educational colleagues have been involved in an effort to improve education and the environment in the Detroit metropolitan region-and to transfer this model to other national and international regions. This chapter is directed at the planning, development, implementation, and evaluation of a water quality monitoring model that is presently being used and adapted in over 200 rivers in North America, and in over 50 nations on all continents.
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Creating and Logging In to a Windows VM in AWS
Don't be fooled. While it sounds rudimentary, the process of deploying an Amazon EC2 virtual machine can be disorienting if you're coming from a native Windows Server environment.
Logging in to a virtual machine (VM) seems like a simple thing to do. It's so simple, in fact, that I seriously considered skipping this topic in favor of something else.
Even so, when Windows administrators use Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) for the first time, they often find that they are not quite sure how to deploy and log in to a VM.
The process isn't difficult, but it is significantly different from a native Windows Server environment (especially logging in for the first time). As such, I wanted to take the opportunity to show you how this works.
The first thing that you need to understand about creating and logging in to Amazon Web Services (AWS) virtual machines is that Amazon does not refer to them as virtual machines. In Amazon-speak, "virtual machines" are "instances."
You can access instances by logging in to the AWS console, and going into EC2. You can create a new instance by clicking on the Launch Instance button, shown in Figure 1.
Upon clicking on the Launch Instance button, you will be taken to a screen that asks you to choose an Amazon Machine Image. Amazon Machine Image, or AMI, is another term that you need to be familiar with. An AMI is a template from which you can create a VM. Amazon provides Windows AMIs, as well as AMIs for a variety of Linux builds. At this point, you must simply select the AMI that you want to use, and click Select. For the purposes of this article, I am going to assume that you are creating a Windows VM.
Once you have chosen an AMI, you will be prompted to choose an instance type. The instance type determines the hardware resources that will be allocated to the instance that you are creating. For example, the instance type determines the number of virtual CPUs and the amount of memory that is assigned to the instance. After making your selection, click the Next: Configure Instance Details button, shown in Figure 2.
The next screen that you will see is the Configure Instance Details screen. If you have ever created VMs using Hyper-V or Microsoft Azure, then this screen will be completely intuitive. It asks you which network you want to use, whether you want to join a domain -- that sort of thing. You can see the configuration options shown in Figure 3.
Click Next: Add Storage, and you will be taken to the Add Storage screen. As you would expect, this screen lets you configure the storage type and volume size. You can also create new volumes.
Click Next: Tag Instance, and you will be taken to the Tag Instance screen. You don't really have to do anything on this screen. It exists only for the purpose of applying text tags to the instance. You can use these tags as a way of identifying or categorizing the instance.
Click Next: Configure Security Group and you will be taken to the Configure Security Group screen. Security groups are essentially a collection of instances that share a common set of firewall rules. You can use the Configure Security Group screen to create or join a security group, and to configure the group's firewall rules.
Click the Review and Launch button, and you will be taken to a screen that allows you to review the configuration options that you have chosen. Assuming that everything looks good, click the Launch button. Upon doing so, EC2 will display what is arguably the most important screen used in the entire process.
As you can see in Figure 4, AWS prompts you to create a key pair. This is a crucially important step, because you won't be able to log in to the instance unless you create a key pair. Simply choose the Create a New Key pair option, and then enter a name for the key pair that you want to create. After doing so, click the Download Key Pair button, and save the resulting file to a safe location.
At this point, you can click the Launch Instance button to create your instance. The process takes some time to complete, but your new instance will eventually be ready for use. Go to the AWS home screen, click on EC2, and then click on the Instances link to see your instance.
Once the instance no longer displays an initializing message, you can log in to the VM. To do so, right-click on the instance's checkbox and choose the Get Windows Password option from the shortcut menu, as shown in Figure 5.
Upon doing so, you will see a dialog box prompting you for your key file. Click the Browse button and the select your key file. After doing so, click on the Decrypt Password button, shown in Figure 6. Upon doing so, your user name and password will be displayed, along with a reminder to change your password.
Close the dialog box, click on your instance and click the Connect button. You will now be prompted to download an .RDP file for the instance. Open the file, and you will be prompted to enter your password, as shown in Figure 7. You will now be taken into the instance. Keep in mind, however, that the first time that you log in to an instance, it may take a couple of minutes before the session displays anything other than a black screen. You can see what a Windows instance looks like in Figure 8.
Brien Posey is a 16-time Microsoft MVP with decades of IT experience. As a freelance writer, Posey has written thousands of articles and contributed to several dozen books on a wide variety of IT topics. Prior to going freelance, Posey was a CIO for a national chain of hospitals and health care facilities. He has also served as a network administrator for some of the country's largest insurance companies and for the Department of Defense at Fort Knox. In addition to his continued work in IT, Posey has spent the last several years actively training as a commercial scientist-astronaut candidate in preparation to fly on a mission to study polar mesospheric clouds from space. You can follow his spaceflight training on his Web site.


Integration – A Key Theme
In 2008, the Province released A Guide to Green Choices to provide practical advice and ideas in making land use decisions. This Guide is expected to work in tandem with many other programs and projects already underway, including Living Water Smart and the BC Climate Action Plan.
According to Laura Tate, principal author of the document, “The guide is meant to assist communities of all types: large, small, rural, resort-based, urban, and suburban. It is designed to help maximize both creativity and adaptability to varied scales, specific contexts, and changing on-the-ground conditions.”
“A key theme in A Guide to Green Choices is the notion of integration,” concludes Laura Tate. “It stems from a belief that the solid efforts already being made could be even stronger if they work together in the right direction — not at cross-purposes.”
To Learn More:
To read the complete story posted in October 2008, click on A Guide to Green Choices: Ideas & Practical Advice for Land Use Decisions in Britsh Columbia Communities
To download a copy of the document, click on A Guide to Green Choices
Posted December 2010


Amazon VPC – Introduction to Amazon Virtual Cloud
This article will take you through a brief introduction to Amazon VPC. Amazon VPC or Amazon Virtual Private Cloud is nothing but a service that allows its users to launch their virtual machines in a protected as well as isolated virtual environment defined by them. You have complete control over your VPC, from creation to customization and even deletion. It’s applicable to organizations where the data is scattered and needs to be managed well. In other words, VPC enables us to select the virtual address of our private cloud and we can also define all the sub-constituents of the VPC like subnet, subnet mask, availability zone, etc on our own.
The Architecture of Amazon VPC
The basic architecture of a proper functioning VPC consists of many distinct services such as Gateway, Load Balancer, Subnets, etc. Altogether, these resources are clubbed under a VPC to create an isolated virtual environment. Along with these services, there are also security checks on multiple levels.
It is initially divided into subnets, connected with each other via route tables along with a load balancer. This whole setup is placed under an internet gateway.
Let us look at VPC on the AWS management console.
Login in to your AWS account. Once you are redirected to the AWS management console. Click on “Services”, a list of options will be visible. Under “Networking & Content Delivery” there is an option named VPC, select it. Refer to the images attached ahead for understanding better.
In a while, you will be directed towards the VPC Management Console. On the left of the window, there is the navigation pane, which consists of various services as options. Refer to the image attached ahead for better understanding.
This was a brief introduction to an Amazon VPC.


Climate change, waste pollution, and air pollution – are real problems that require real solutions. And while individual efforts do make a difference, companies across all industries are challenged to put sustainability practices in place.
The Whys: Why Companies Should Work Towards Sustainability
Every Industry Contributes to Sustainability Issues
One of the most pressing issues relating to sustainability is climate change. This is due to greenhouse gas emissions, mostly carbon dioxide or CO2. All industries contribute to greenhouse gas emissions in some capacity. Even though some industries are contributing larger CO2 emissions than most. Every industry must work together to become carbon-negative or to reduce more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than they add.
Reduced Consumption and Expenses
Simple ways such as switching to energy-efficient lighting or even alternative energy solutions such as solar power can save companies money in the long run. Additionally, turning off heating and lighting in common areas during office break times and end-of-office hours not only saves the company money but also nudges employees to become more effective and achieve a better work-life balance. Reducing energy consumption can benefit the company, its workforce, and most importantly, the earth.
Product and Service Innovation
Setting big sustainability goals will encourage companies across all industries to be more innovative in how they produce, package, market, and sell their products and services. These goals drive continuous quality improvement across the board: from product design to delivery routes. Crafting packaging that minimizes its impact on the climate can potentially lower costs and waste pollution. These savings can either be passed on to consumers or used to invest in other sustainable practices.
Increased Customer Satisfaction and Experience
Consumers are becoming more discerning and their preferences are evolving. Lower pricing is not the only deciding factor in getting into your target consumers’ good graces. There have been studies where customers will switch to or choose a product that supports good causes. On the other hand, there are consumers who say they will boycott brands that go against their values. So, aside from it being a company’s responsibility, sustainable practices are also an expectation from consumers.
Better Employee Acquisition and Retention
Companies who are first to adapt sustainability practices into their daily operations have an advantage in terms of employer branding. While compensation and benefits are still big factors in making career decisions, jobseekers will tend to choose companies whose values are aligned with theirs. Those looking for work also tend to consider a hiring company’s social and environmental commitments. And those who already work in companies that value and practice such commitments are more likely to stay as their work becomes conducive to earning a living while making a difference.
The Hows: Sustainability Opportunities for Industries
Hybrid or Fully Remote Work Arrangements
Seemingly small changes can have a big impact, especially when implemented organization-wide. Consider changing your team’s work arrangement to a hybrid or even fully remote. Switching to remote work for a few days a week reduces the need for travel and can significantly reduce energy costs, as power is required to light and heat your office building.
Part of the strategy to be carbon negative is to reduce CO2 emissions, which can be done through various practices, including switching to renewable energy. The shift to renewable energy is potentially costly but necessary to be truly sustainable. Companies should consider using solar panels to power their buildings, from their offices, warehouses, and even retail establishments. Aside from solar energy, wind energy, hydropower, and biomass energy are some renewable energy options companies can choose from. Thanks to combined efforts and the real pressure of climate change, renewable energy has become more efficient and accessible over the past few years.
Reduce Carbon Emissions and Waste at Every Level
When planning a sustainability strategy, companies should also involve their partners from across their supply chain (from production to distribution). Companies should set sustainability targets with their external partners, especially since some industries’ waste pollution and carbon emissions come from parts of the supply chain that they don’t have complete control over, such as delivery routes from warehouses to various retail establishments and customers or manufacturing waste disposal.
Companies can align with partners across their supply chain to identify critical issues relating to reducing carbon emissions and waste. This may take more work, but companies who are committed to their sustainability goals must be thorough when choosing supply chain partners to work with or discussing sustainable business practices with partners that they currently have. Setting and achieving sustainability goals within the supply chain means contributing to the larger sustainability agenda.
Involve Employees in Sustainability Efforts
A great way for companies to amplify their sustainability efforts is to involve their own workforce. Whether it’s banning single-use plastic across the organization to reduce plastic or participating in company-wide e-waste drives, engaging and involving employees can contribute to achieving sustainability goals. Additionally, sustainability practices that are encouraged at work can trickle down to the employees’ personal lives and even their own circle.
Obtaining sustainability across industries requires a lot of planning and actual follow-through. The consolidated effort and cooperation of companies is critical in managing waste, reducing carbon emissions, curbing harmful practices, and fighting global warming—in short, saving the world.
Mother Nature doesn’t want your
old computers, but we do.


Glycemic Index for Sweeteners
The glycemic index for sweeteners is a function of three things:
For more information on Glycemic Index click here.
The search for a low GI natural sugar based sweetener is somewhat futile as they all contain combinations of the above, or similar sugars.
The University of Sydney publishes a searchable database containing the results of glycemic testing.
Although fructose has a fairly low GI, it has other harmful effects and must be considered unsafe to take in large quantities. Agave Syrup has a low GI because it is mainly fructose. Agave has been delisted and banned by the Glycemic Research Institute of Washington DC because serious side effects were observed in clinical trials.
Coconut Palm Sugar contains mainly sucrose and one would expect a GI of about 65. However it scores well in the glycemic index for sweeteners list. Tests have indicated a GI of only about 35. This may be partly because of other substances in it such as soluble fiber. However, the testing was very limited. More testing may well produce a higher GI.
Yacon Syrup, scores best in the Glycemic Index for Sweeteners that are sugar based. It derives it's sweetness from Fructo-oligosaccharides, a type of sugar with a very low GI. It is probably the only truly raw, organic, natural, low calorie, and low glycemic sweetener available.
Sugar alcohols tend to have very low GIs. In particular Erythritol has a GI of only 1, and it is a safe low calorie sweetener that occurs naturally in some fruits and mushrooms. While many of the other sugar alcohols also have low GIs they can have side effects such as abdominal cramping if taken in even moderate quantities.
Both the natural zero calorie sweeteners such as Stevia, and the artificial ones such as Saccharin have no glycemic index. They do not raise blood sugar at all. This brings up another issue: The human body is programmed to react to the taste of sweet things.
Studies have shown that insulin is secreted by the pancreas soon after the sweet taste is experienced on the tongue, whether the substance contains calories or not. The body is fooled by the zero calorie sweetener. It expects glucose to hit the bloodstream and it gets none. This may result in increased appetite soon after.
Some studies have indicated that zero calorie sweeteners do not help reduce weight, and this may explain the reason. However this does not take into account several useful aspects of zero calorie sweeteners:
Perhaps the best use of zero calorie sweeteners would be to reduce the sugars in food and beverages, not eliminate them. Say a person drinks a bottle of cola each day. This contains about 12.5 spoons of sugar and 200 calories. If they drank a reduced sugar cola made with half stevia or saccharin they would halve the amount of sugar, yet still receive a glucose boost. Indeed the lowering of the sugar intensity could provide a more steady supply of glucose to the bloodstream and dramatically reduce or eliminate the insulin load.
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Brain Tumor Surgery
Brain tumor surgery is conducted to remove growth from the brain. Brain tumors are abnormal growths in the brain, for which the main treatment is often tumor resection.
Patients with brain tumors are best treated at high-volume institutions with experienced neurosurgeons who specialize in brain tumor surgery. At Columbia’s Brain Tumor Center, patients receive specialized and coordinated care from our world-class neurosurgeons who perform, on average, 400 to 500 brain tumor resections each year.
Brain tumors can be surgically resected several different ways, and the recommended approach often depends on tumor type, location, and size, in addition to several other factors. The main approaches are described below.
A craniotomy is a procedure in which a section of skull bone is temporarily removed to allow the neurosurgeon access to the brain and the tumor. Although traditionally an open surgery technique, craniotomy can now sometimes be performed using minimally invasive techniques, resulting in a smaller opening in the skull and faster recovery.
Transsphenoidal surgery, a minimally invasive operation, is done either through the inside of the mouth or through the nostrils with the aid of an endoscope. This procedure results in very small incisions that are often not visible.
When is Brain Tumor Surgery performed?
Brain tumor surgery is usually performed after a brain tumor is found on an imaging scan. For certain tumors that are small and asymptomatic, close observation may be recommended without further intervention, but for most brain tumors, including pediatric brain tumors, the first step in treatment is surgery to remove the tumor.
Surgeons resect as much of a tumor as possible while preserving brain tissue and overall function. Complete resection may be the outcome; however, sometimes, only subtotal resection is advisable because otherwise, normal brain tissue could be at risk of harm. Our highly skilled neurosurgeons remove as many tumors as possible while maintaining brain function.
Common brain tumors that may be treated with surgery include gliomas, meningiomas, acoustic neuromas, pituitary tumors, primitive neuroectodermal tumors, medulloblastomas, craniopharyngioma, pineal region tumors, clival tumors, and esthesioneuroblastomas.
How should I prepare for Brain Tumor Surgery?
At Columbia, our neurosurgeons take a multidisciplinary team approach when planning and performing the operation, resulting in the best possible prognosis. In addition to the neurosurgeon, any combination of the following doctors may be involved in the procedure:
- Head and neck surgeon
- Oral and maxillofacial surgeon
- Plastic surgeon
Immediately before surgery, general anesthesia is administered so that the patient does not feel pain during the operation. The surgeon then starts performing one of the two main surgical approaches—craniotomy or transsphenoidal surgery.
For craniotomy, the neurosurgeon starts by making a small incision on the scalp, often behind the hairline, and then carefully reflects the layer of skin and muscle, exposing the skull. In the exposed skull, the neurosurgeon makes a small opening and removes the bone flap, setting it aside so that it can be secured back in place toward the end of the procedure. The size of the opening depends on what is needed to remove a particular tumor, and our experienced neurosurgeons create the smallest opening possible.
With the bone flap removed, the dura mater is exposed; using surgical scissors, the neurosurgeon delicately creates an incision in this membrane, revealing the brain.
Now that the brain is accessible, the neurosurgeon carefully navigates around brain tissue, nerves, and blood vessels to the tumor. To help during navigation, the neurosurgeon uses stereotactic techniques, combining imaging studies such as computed tomography (CT) scan and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with computer technology to create three-dimensional pictures of the brain. Also, to see the structures in the brain, such as nerves and blood vessels, in fine detail, the neurosurgeon uses an operating microscope and other specialized technology.
Upon reaching the brain tumor, the neurosurgeon begins dissecting the tumor away from the normal brain tissue, blood vessels, and nerves to which it may be attached. The neurosurgeon is careful to excise as much of the tumor as possible without harming normal tissue or other structures. A biopsy of the resected tumor is obtained and sent to a pathologist for tissue analysis in order to confirm a diagnosis.
After removing as much tumor as is safely possible, the neurosurgeon sews the cut made in the dura mater and replaces the bone flap, securing it in place with titanium plates and screws. The neurosurgeon then closes the incision on the scalp with stitches. The operation is now complete.
In contrast to craniotomy, transsphenoidal surgery is performed through the nose or mouth and rarely has visible incisions.
The procedure starts with the insertion of the tip of an endoscope through one of the nostrils. If the operation is done through the mouth, an incision is made on the upper gums and then the tip of the endoscope is inserted through the incision.
Next, an opening is made in the sphenoid sinus at the back of the nasal cavity. By using an endoscope or microscope, the surgeon is able to have a well-lit and magnified view of the surgical field deep inside the nose. While navigating to the tumor, the neurosurgeon achieves the highest precision possible by using stereotactic techniques to create a 3-dimensional map of blood vessels, nerves, and other structures.
Upon reaching the tumor, the neurosurgeon uses high-tech instruments meticulously to break up and aspirate small sections of the tumor. The neurosurgeon removes as much tumor as is possible, while also prioritizing the continued function of brain tissue and other structures. During tumor resection, the neurosurgeon also biopsies the tumor and sends it to a pathologist to confirm a diagnosis.
After tumor resection, the space the tumor had previously occupied may need to be filled. If so, the neurosurgeon sometimes takes a tissue graft from the patient’s thigh or abdomen and implants it where the tumor had been. Often, synthetic grafts and biologic glue can be used instead of creating an incision in the thigh or abdomen. If incisions were made, they are closed and stitched. The operation is finished.
How is Brain Tumor Surgery performed?
Inform your doctor of any medications or supplements, such as herbs or vitamins, you take. This is important information for your doctor to have. You may be instructed not to take certain medications or supplements, particularly those that can increase bleeding during surgery, such as Warfarin and aspirin. Also, inform your doctor of any allergies you may have to medications or food.
Because general anesthesia is used during the procedure, you will be asked to stop eating and drinking at midnight the night before surgery. If your doctor has instructed you to continue taking certain medications the day of surgery, do so with a small sip of water.
On the day of surgery, wear clothing that is loose and comfortable. You will be asked to not wear makeup, jewelry, or artificial nails. Instead of contact lenses, wear your glasses.
For your hospital stay, be sure to pack lightly. A few items that patients often like to pack include toiletries, dentures, and additional clothing for when they are released from the hospital.
Be sure to make transportation arrangements for returning home from the hospital because you will not be allowed to drive yourself home after surgery.
What can I expect after Brain Tumor Surgery?
How long will I stay in the hospital?
For patients who undergo transsphenoidal surgery, the hospital stay is usually one or two days. For those who have a craniotomy, the hospital stay is typically about one week.
Will I need to take any special medications?
Medications are often prescribed after brain tumor surgery. Patients who had transsphenoidal surgery typically are prescribed medication for pain and sometimes nausea. After craniotomy, most patients are prescribed medication for pain and in addition may get medication to prevent nausea, brain swelling, seizure, and stomach ulcers.
When can I resume exercise?
Patients who receive transsphenoidal surgery usually return to light forms of exercise, such as swimming or jogging, about two weeks after the operation and return to their regular exercise routine after about four weeks. The day after surgery, patients are usually up and walking around but may tire quickly and need to sit down and rest frequently. Feeling this way is normal and to be expected.
Patients who receive craniotomy are advised to walk around every day if they have the energy, but should not return to exercise, even light forms until the neurosurgeon approves such activity. Because it is a more invasive procedure than transsphenoidal surgery, craniotomy usually requires a longer recovery period. Upon receiving approval, patients can begin with light exercise and gradually increase to more strenuous forms of exercise. However, when exercising, patients are strongly advised to work with a partner or under supervision until fully recovered.
What follow-up will I receive?
After the operation, patients will be scheduled for several follow-up appointments with the neurosurgeon. Depending on the type of brain tumor and whether any new symptoms develop, appointments may be scheduled with other specialists, such as a neurologist, an endocrinologist, otolaryngologist, or ophthalmologist.
During these appointments, the neurosurgeon will evaluate the patient and record recovery progress. Also, the neurosurgeon usually orders imaging tests to visualize the brain and monitor for tumor recurrence.
It is essential that patients attend all follow-up appointments in order to optimize recovery and long-term outcome. If any new or worsening symptoms occur during recovery, patients should tell their doctors, no matter how minor these symptoms may seem.
Will I need rehabilitation or physical therapy?
The need for rehabilitation or physical therapy largely depends on the location of the excised brain tumor. Some patients have little to no change in physical and cognitive abilities and therefore require no rehabilitation or physical therapy.
However, some patients may notice changes in cognition—such as problems with memory, executing tasks, and attention span—or changes in physical ability, such as reduced motor control or changes in speech. If any of these changes occur, patients will likely need rehabilitation.
The good news is that a change in cognition or physical ability is not necessarily permanent and may go away with time and therapy. If changes are permanent, rehabilitation can help patients learn how to manage these changes.
Will I have any long-term limitations due to brain tumor surgery?
Possible long-term limitations due to brain tumor surgery depend largely on the location of the tumor removed.
For instance, the removal of tumors in the cerebrum can have cognitive effects, such as learning disabilities among children. Also, the removal of a tumor near the pituitary or hypothalamus can lead to endocrine disorders, which can be managed long-term with hormone replacement therapy.
Many patients do not have long-term limitations after surgery.


A peacock displaying its feathers provides one of the most spectacular sights. Do you know the reason behind it? Peacock has a beautiful train of feathers which it displays during the breeding season. It usually attracts several females by such display, but as soon as any of them approaches, it turns its back. The reason for this peculiar behaviour is not clear. But it is certain that this is done to woo the female. In Greek mythology, the pattern of peacock’s tail feathers represents the eyes of Argus — a giant with 100 eyes. Peacock is the national bird of India. It belongs to the family phasianidae. Strictly speaking, the male is a peacock and the female is a peahen. Both are together known as peafowl. There are two species of peafowl. One is found in India and Sri Lanka and is blue in colour. The other species is found in South-East Asia which is green in colour. In fact, peacock is a native of Asia and the East Indies, from where it has been brought to other parts of the world. The male of both species has a 75 centimetres long body and 150 centimetres long tail. The female is smaller than the male. The tail is made up of beautiful feathers. In display, the peacock lifts its tail, brings it forward, enveloping its body as it struts and quivers, audibly rattling the quills and uttering loud screams. Generally, a peacock has a train of up to 150 tail feathers, which are erected by it in display to form a showy fan. The blue peacock’s body is metallic blue- green. The green peacock has a green and bronze body. The hens of both species are green and brown. They do not have the train of feathers or ‘crown’ on them. In the wild, they live in open lowland forests, flocking by day and roosting high in trees. The male usually has a harem of 1-5 hens each of which lays 4-8 buffy or white eggs. Peafowls are omnivorous, i.e. they eat both plants and animals. They can eat young snakes.


Relatively speaking Sikhism is an especially young religion, dating back only to the 15th century; it’s much younger than its more widespread counterpart Christianity, for example.
It was started by Guru Nanak Dev who was the primary and arguably most well-known member of the Ten Gurus of Sikhism. He started the religion as a direct retort to his, and a small but fast-growing faction of like-minded individuals, dissatisfaction with the state and practice of 15th century Hinduism.
Guru Nanak Dev created a religion that cherry-picked from both Hinduism and Islam and introduced the concept of one deity, one God, and pushed forward many of the concepts of Hinduism that Guru Nanak Dev and the Ten Gurus of Sikhism found backward and outdated. The core values of Hinduism were quickly cemented and the religion fast gained followers, taking those followers and teachings from both the Hindu and Islamic religions and scriptures, respectively.
The Concept of One God
The concept of one true God is a core principle of Sikhism. The religion believes in one deity. He is all-knowing, eternal. He created the sun, the moon, the rain and the universe. He is both judge and jury and has the power to create and indeed destroy all. He was never born, he has and always will exist. He is neither good nor bad. He just is and always will be.
This concept of the one true God, as they believe, applies only to God, it does not apply to human beings who, in the teachings of Guru Nanak Dev, and Sikhism, are born inherently good. A contradiction of sorts, but an important distinction between the celestial being and his earth-born creations is made with such a statement.
The Worship of Idols
Followers of Sikhism give gifts and food to inanimate objects and idols in the belief that God resides in them and that praise, prayer, and worship of these objects will result is a direct intermediary to the celestial above. A vessel for direct communication with God, if you like. These objects are treated with the up-most respect and revelry and these practices inform the lives of millions of followers of Sikhism, day-in, day-out.
These actions and protocols are inherently polytheistic in origin, of course. Indeed these actions in Christianity would be considered blasphemous. A modern day example of idol worship in Sikhism is the custom of washing statues with milk, this is a ritual that continues year-in-year-out and is a fitting example of how Sikhs still hold on to these beliefs and teachings from Hinduism.
The core beliefs and principals of Sikhism most definitely define the religion as monotheistic, however, it’s not completely black and white as Sikhs still to this day celebrate many of the major events in the polytheistic calender, such as; Diwali, Hola Mahalla, and Vaisakhi and engage in the aforementioned idol worship. It is accurate to define the religion as monotheistic, but the religion has many, many distinct differences between the other two big monotheistic religions, Islam and Christianity. Enough differences that some find it hard to categorize it as one or the other.


The pinch valve is also known as a clamp valve. It is a linear motion valve. Used to start, regulate, and stop fluid flow. It uses a rubber tube, also known as a pinch tube and pinch mechanism to control the fluid. This valve is the simplest in any valve design.
Pinch tubes are manufactured of natural or synthetic rubbers and sometimes plastics which have good abrasion resistance properties. Most pinch valves are open style in which the pinch tube is exposed. However, another style fully encloses the pinch tube within a metallic body. You can see both the design in the image.
Image – Red Valve
Pinch Valve – Application
It is ideally suited for the handling of slurries, liquids with large amounts of suspended solids, and systems that convey solid material pneumatically.
Pinch Valve – Advantages
- It can be used for application where corrosion or metal contamination of the fluid might be a problem. The flow from the valve is straight without any obstruction.
- There are no internal moving parts in contact with the fluid hence, low maintenance cost.
- Inexpensive due to simple construction
Pinch Valve – Disadvantages
- It cannot be used in high temperature-pressure applications and gas media.


Retinitis pigmentosa 2
A retinal dystrophy belonging to the group of pigmentary retinopathies. Retinitis pigmentosa is characterized by retinal pigment deposits visible on fundus examination and primary loss of rod photoreceptor cells followed by secondary loss of cone photoreceptors. Patients typically have night vision blindness and loss of midperipheral visual field. As their condition progresses, they lose their far peripheral visual field and eventually central vision as well.
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I’ve already written a post about the history of piano. This is an update to it.
First of all, the keyboard instrument that we all call “the piano” isn’t actually called “the piano”. Its full name is “the pianoforte” and we just call it the piano for short.
Italy – birthplace of the pianoforte
The word “piano” is Italian and one of its several meanings is “quiet”. The word “forte” in Italian means “loud”. So the instrument most people think of as the piano is really named the “soft-loud”. In its early days, the name was switched around – “fortepiano” and then somehow the words got switched around and the name stuck.
It was named the soft-loud because it was the first keyboard instrument that could properly vary its dynamics – from delicately quiet to extremely loud.
What came before the pianoforte?
Up until the piano was invented musicians played harpsichords, spinets and the clavichord which all had one level of dynamic.
Harpsichords had quills that plucked the strings and it was quite a harsh sound. Keyboards were between four and five octaves and so quite limited in range as well as dynamic.
The beginning of the piano
The piano was invented in Italy around 1700 by Bartolomeo Christofori. He was frustrated that keyboard instruments only had one dynamic – medium. Christofori wanted scope to inject more emotion and variety of sound into music. Loud, quiet, tender, dramatic. He experimented with hammers that hit the strings rather than plucked. At first they were covered with leather. This was an improvement in sound, but eventually the material of choice became felt, which we use to this day.
A percussion instrument?
Because the hammers strike the strings, the piano technically falls into the “percussion family” of instruments, although with 220 strings inside, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a stringed instrument. Also, the piano is not officially part of an orchestra. You will, of course, see a piano with an orchestra from time to time, but it’s usually the star of the show on these occasions, as a pianist shows of the brilliance of the instrument while the orchestra accompanies it.
The development of the piano
Since its invention the piano has been expanded in the range of notes to seven and a quarter octaves (88 notes on a full size piano). Although the mechanism has become more precise over the years, Christofori’s invention remains largely unchanged.
The future of the piano
Pianos do continue to develop though, as any quick browse of electronic pianos will show. New models of electronic pianos even have hammers inside that mimic hitting strings, even though there are none. This is so that the player gets a realistic experience of playing an acoustic piano. The sound is often generated from sampled sounds of high-end pianos so that what you hear is as close to the real thing as you can get without actually playing an acoustic piano. This technology is used in top Yamaha and Casio models for example.
But acoustic pianos are here to stay and they are still designed to be works of art in themselves, quite apart from the beautiful sound they create. Visit Bluthner’s gallery for a mind-blowing experience of what modern pianos can do for a room. And next time you find yourself talking about the piano, remember, it’s the pianoforte 😉
Thank you, this was a good read!


Dear parents and carers,
In our English lessons this week, the children have enjoyed starting to explore "Cosmic". In our writing, we've been particularly concentrating on writing complex sentences. We'll be continuing with this next week.
In maths we've started looking at some statistics work, concentrating on line graphs. This has been going quite well so far, with lots of good work on recapping some elements from year 4. Next week we'll be moving this on to cover some new ground, including drawing line graphs accurately.
In Science this week we started a new topic on forces. This week we concentrated on gravity, thinking about what gravity is and how it works, and we measured the mass and weight of different objects. This unit is really practical and hands on, so I'm really looking forward to the experiments that we'll be doing over the next few weeks.
Three things to ask your child this week:
Please use the categories below to narrow down our news stories.


The Bloomsbury Group was a small, informal association of artists and intellectuals who lived and worked in the Bloomsbury area of central London. Most prominent of these was novelist and essayist Virginia Woolf. In all, only about a dozen people at any one time could have called themselves members of the group. Beginning shortly before 1910, the Bloomsbury Group gathered at irregular intervals for conversation, companionship, and the refueling of creative energy. The members of Bloomsbury, or “Bloomsberries,” would more or less maintain allegiance to their mutual philosophy of an ideal society, even through a World War and three decades of tectonic shifts in the political climate. They had no codified agenda or mission. They were not political in the ordinary sense of the word. Most importantly, there was no application or initiation required to become a member. Bloomsbury was an informal hodgepodge of intellectual friends, and one either merited inclusion to that circle or one did not. No rules of order, as in a committee, governed the way in which Bloomsbury managed their interactions. Instead, they held impromptu dinners and gatherings where any number of topics was the subject of serious discussion and contemplation. These intellectual exchanges served as the main influence on later work by individual members. By no means were all members in full agreement on all subjects. Some of Bloomsbury’s most stimulating ideas and writings were borne out of internal disagreement and strife. One can safely say that each member of Bloomsbury was leftist in his or her politics, although as individuals they expressed their politics in very different ways.
If there is a founding document for the Bloomsbury Group, it is likely George Edward Moore’s Principia Ethica. Moore was a contemporary of the Bloomsberries, and one of the most influential English philosophers of the early twentieth century. He railed against any school of thought which could not in some manner produce practical advances for human society. He was dismayed that the natural sciences had seen such rapid progress, while philosophical inquiry languished far behind. Of all his contributions, his ethical formulations were possibly the most resonant then and now. In brief, Moore explained that “good” is not a thing that can be described or defined with other words. It is simply known for what it is by all rational beings. Tied to this was the idea that there was an “intrinsic worth” to things and ideas that superseded utilitarian ends. In other words, an idea or feeling can be right and good without having to prove itself so, or needing to produce good for others. The Bloomsbury Group took the idea of intrinsic worth to heart, basing much of their political activism on the belief that their ideas were innately good.
A significant fact about the Bloomsbury Group is that the members, for the most part, did not achieve their greatest fame until later in life. The Group held its discussions and parties while all the participants were still virtually unknown. The men of Bloomsbury were students at King’s College and Trinity College, constituents of Cambridge University. They were almost all high achievers and active in student life, yet one must imagine that they didn’t quite fit in as well as other students. Many of the Bloomsberries held particular ideas on human society which at the time seemed beyond radical. For example, the noncritical assessment of homosexuality, however appropriate today, was considered a serious moral error in the early twentieth century. Indeed, many of the Bloomsberries called into question the idea of traditional monogamous marriage. Several advocated for and practiced polyamory – multiple, consensual romantic partners. The idea of this level of sexual liberation in Edwardian England was unspeakable. In a sense, they made it very easy for their generation to dismiss them as quacks and deviants. However, none could deny that the Bloomsbury Group brought a great deal of intellectual clout to bear on any issue of the day.
The de facto leader of the Bloomsbury Group was Virginia Woolf, born Adeline Virginia Stephen, who descended from an eminently Victorian and moneyed household. Her father, Sir Leslie Stephen, was an accomplished writer, and most certainly a powerful influence on his daughter’s intellectual development. Upon his death in 1904, Woolf and her two brothers, Thoby and Adrian, moved into a dwelling in the Bloomsbury neighborhood of London, and thus the foundation of the Group was firmly in place. Woolf was a gifted writer from her earliest years. Her essays, such as A Room of One’s Own, are cornerstone pieces in the history of feminist literature. She also wrote extensively on more strictly literary topics, and her theories on fiction have continued to draw the attention of critics. The novel, though, is where Virginia Woolf found her truest and most natural form of expression. Mrs. Dalloway, published in 1925, showcases the full range of her talents, as well as demonstrating the effervescent stream of consciousness style for which she was famous. Without a doubt, the writings of Sigmund Freud made a profound influence on the artist Virginia Woolf, but she gave her creative outputs a vitality entirely her own. There is poignancy to Woolf’s characterizations that raw psychoanalysis does not achieve.
Virginia and Leonard Woolf married in 1912, and their partnership would be both intimate and professional. As she was born into wealth, Virginia was fortunate in not feeling the need to marry for financial security. Indeed, Leonard Woolf was not well-off by any measure, but he was an excellent writer with a razor-sharp intellect, qualities which Virginia would certainly have admired. They shared a great deal in terms of political views, even when such views threatened their marriage. In 1917 they founded the Hogarth Press, which published some of the most important literature and non-fiction of the day, including Eliot’s Poems and recent translations of Sigmund Freud. Their work in bringing attention to up and coming writers was pivotal in the careers of many talented artists.
Another founding member of Bloomsbury was critic and biographer Giles Lytton Stratchey. For the early part of his adult life, Strachey was concerned merely with generating enough capital to support himself. He therefore relied a great deal on the kindness of friends and his mother in order to have a place to live and the leisure to write. His health was never excellent, and he was given to long bouts of illness and depressive episodes. Strachey’s first great achievement was the publication of Landmarks of French Literature. Though financially not a windfall, Landmarks established him as one of the best critics of his generation. Ironically, Strachey was not considered one of the brightest students when he took his scholarship examinations – he was denied entrance to Balliol College, and had to settle on Trinity College instead. Landmarks of French Literature also set a cosmopolitan tone that would be shared by most of Bloomsbury. Indeed, Stratchey traveled as much as his health and money would allow, and his various sojourns would provide inspiration for much of his writing. One of his most important experiences undoubtedly was the friendships he made at Cambridge, and the rich conversations fostered by the Bloomsbury Group.
While working on a thesis at Cambridge, Lytton Strachey became close friends with Thoby Stephen and Clive Bell. Together with Thoby’s sisters Virginia and Vanessa, these five formed the core, original members of the Bloomsbury Group. Though they certainly recognized his talents, it was not until nearly ten years later that Stratchey would begin crafting Eminent Victorians, the work that cemented his reputation as one of the great modern biographers. His mission was to tear down the myth structure that had erected itself around the Victorian era, in both English and American imaginations. He accomplished this chiefly through his sense of humor and an irreverence that until then had been absent from the biographical genre. Eminent Victorians is a study of four prominent figures from nineteenth century British history. Strachey deconstructs and thereby humanizes these archetypal figures. He does away with the notion that the Victorian Period was one of high moral standards, instead bringing it down to the modern level of decadence. In doing all of these things, Stratchey effectively redefines the biography and what it can do. The critical reception of Eminent Victorians was overwhelmingly positive. If anyone doubted that the western world had moved on to another period in its cultural history, Strachey dispelled those doubts.
One of the most accomplished members of the Bloomsbury Group was the celebrated novelist E. M. Forster. Be some accounts, he was only a peripheral member, but his influence on the Group, and their influence on him, is readily apparent. What makes Forster unusual is that he came to the group at a later point in his life, having already established a reputation as a writer of the first order. His novels are exquisitely detailed and critical observations on the state of British Edwardian society, that is to say the end of the Victorian era, but not quite the beginning of the Modern era. He keenly felt the uncertainty and worry that was plaguing all strata of British society. As a contrast to the stuffiness and routine of the British middle class, Forster held Greek and Italian peasant life in high regard. A world traveler, Forster was truly a man of the Empire, yet he was quick to turn his critical gaze on the unsavory aspects of imperialism. His last novel, A Passage to India, highlights the vast cultural gulf that lay between England and her most prized colony.
Novelists, journalists, painters, philosophers, and critics: All these and more comprised the membership of the Bloomsbury Group. Even the noted economist John Maynard Keynes was a central member of the Group. This mosaic of professions and intellectual pursuits made Bloomsbury unique and influential well beyond its small membership. On the one hand, the radical politics of Bloomsbury made them ripe for mockery in the media. Their private lives became not so private, as gossip about extramarital and polyamorous relationships became tabloid fodder. Their unconventional modes of living made it far too easy for their contemporaries to dismiss them, as they frequently did. Noted poet Roy Campbell satirized the Bloomsberries in “The Georgiad,” and referred to its members as “intellectuals without intellect.” They were also widely criticized as elitist, atheist, and unpatriotic. By and large, such criticisms were over the top and unwarranted.
The Bloomsbury Group was many things to many people. One can reasonably assert that the members reveled in the controversy they sparked and the ire that they drew from the conservative establishment. Many of them were leaders of anti-war movements and outspoken on social issues of the day. Virginia Woolf has become a cultural icon well beyond her feminist associations. Much of the literature produced by the Bloomsbury Group was revolutionary, in both form and subject matter. Lytton Stratchey, as much as anyone, destroyed the notion of Victorian moral rectitude. E. M. Forster, a thoroughly English novelist by any measure, revealed the flaws of imperialism, while also warning against the stifling of human nature by a too-rigid society. If one element can be said to unite all the disparate parts of Bloomsbury, it was their universal criticism of the establishment. Each voiced that criticism differently and in different media, though the roots of their sentiments were the same.
One way of thinking about the Bloomsbury Group is that they formed a bridge between the Victorians and the Moderns. Originating in London in the first decade of the twentieth century, the founding members of Bloomsbury saw the passing of the Victorian state of mind, and the Victorian way of doing things. No one at the time was sure what sort of world would fill this void. For Virginia Stephen and her brothers, as well as Cambridge friends Clive Bell and Lytton Stratchey, it was an invigorating time to be young and passionate. They probably imagined that the world could be molded to their way of thinking. Their overarching agenda, an agenda that included world peace and human progress, was a profoundly ethical statement. And yet, the Bloomsberries were out of step with mainstream English society. Much of their ambition was thwarted by the conservative establishment. However, their ideas and their writings were revelatory, and continue to be influential for creative artists in nearly every medium and genre.
This article is copyrighted © 2011 by Jalic Inc. Do not reprint it without permission. Written by Josh Rahn. Josh holds a Masters degree in English Literature from Morehead State University, and a Masters degree in Library Science from the University of Kentucky.
Members of the Bloomsbury Group
- Woolf, Virginia (1882-1941)
- Forster, E. M. (1879-1970)
- Strachey, Giles Lytton (1880-1932)
- Bell, Clive (1881-1964)
- Keynes, John Maynard (1883-1946)
- Fry, Roger (1866-1934)
- Grant, Duncan (1885-1978)
- MacCarthy, Desmond (1877-1952)
- Bell, Vanessa Stephen (1879-1961)
- Woolf, Leonard (1880-1969)
- MacCarthy, Mary (1882-1953)
- Stephen, Thoby (1880-1906)
- Stephen, Adrian (1883-1948)
- Carrington, Dora (1893-1932)
- Sydney-Turney, Saxon (1880-1962)


The Golden Rules of Digital Typography (Part One)
These are the golden rules of typography every graphic designer should know.
Words are just words right? Yet much like an illegible doctor’s scrawl on a medical chart, reading poorly laid out text on a screen is downright frustrating. Many digital designers understand that no matter how many bells and whistles are built into a website, every user relies on text to accomplish whatever they’re visiting the website to do.
For this reason alone, typography – the art of arranging type to make written language legible, readable, and appealing when displayed – should be made a priority for any graphic designer. Regardless of whether you’re a beginner to the field or have been designing websites since the dawn of the internet, it’s always helpful to refresh your mind about the principles of typography. In part one in our instalment on typography we dissect eight out of the sixteen golden rules.
1. Typeface in a nutshell
Before computers, typeface referred to the design, while font was the size and weight. Nowadays, these terms are used interchangeably. There are four categories of typefaces that graphic designers use most often:
- Sans Serif
2. Take note of font communication for your audience
Much like colours, each font you use for your digital communications will evoke a different combination of emotions, feelings and associations. Fonts such from the Serif family such as Times New Roman and Baskerville is seen as traditional, respectable, and reliable whereas fonts from the Modern typeface family such as Century Gothic, Didot Italic, and Futura are represented as strong, chic, progressive and stylish.
3. Kern the word
Bad kerning is one of the cardinal sins of the design world, so it’s an important skill to nail down early on. Kerning is the adjustment of space between characters, so that each character is visually even to make for a clean and orderly piece of text. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but a bad kern job has been known to easily turn an innocent word into an offensive one.
4. Allow your words to breathe
Not every space needs to be filled with text or imagery. White space is a powerful, yet underrated, tool that allows your design to breathe, giving a clearer direction to what you’d like the user to focus on.
5. Show a clear visual hierarchy
If the words on a webpage were all the same size, it would be difficult to know which the most important information on the page was. Part of User Experience Design is guiding the user where you want them to look through heading and sub-headings, colour, spacing and weight.
6. Limit your fonts
Want to avoid stressing out your website designer? Don’t make a promotional flyer with twenty fonts. If you need more than one font (and most businesses do), try to limit it to just two or three typefaces and align their purpose. Ideally, there should be one font and size for body copy, headers and sub headers.
7. Choose the right font palette
Colour is a powerful tool for both website imagery and fonts. When deciding on your brands font palette, research into the philosophies of colour theory to pinpoint the right colours for your design.
8. Practice correct alignment
Alignment is essential to providing the reader with visual relief. There are five ways to align text: left aligned, right aligned, centered, justified and asymmetrical. All alignments have their pros and cons, but right aligned, centred and asymmetrical text is more difficult to read and should only be reserved for captions, pull quotes and headings.
We hope you’ve found part one in our series on digital typography valuable. Stay tuned for part two. And if you liked this article, you might also enjoy
- Is it a font or a typeface?
- Serif or sans serif: which font is right for you?
- Famous Typographers of Famous Fonts (4 part blog series)
- Free fonts versus paid fonts
- Google Fonts (3 part blog series)
- Five places to find free commercial use fonts
- 7 influential women type designers
iFactory is an established Brisbane digital and creative agency. We’re here to help your business thrive through website design, digital strategy and digital marketing. Contact iFactory today to discuss your creative digital needs.
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The Financial Services Authority, for its acronym, FSA, was an independent body that supervised and regulated the financial services industry in the United Kingdom during the years 2001 and 2013.
The Financial Services Authority, also known as the Financial Services Authority or FSA, for its acronym in English, was a body that was born under the name “SIB”. That is, Securities and Investments Board. An independent body, fully funded by the finance industry, that oversaw and regulated the industry.
Subsequently, it changed its name and began to be called FSA, as we define it in this article and as it is called until its extinction.
Its main objective was to regulate and supervise the financial services industry in the UK.
Although it was independent, the governing board of this body was appointed by the British Treasury, while the organization was born promoted by the Government in Parliament.
Origin of the Financial Services Authority or FSA
The Financial Services Authority or FSA was born with the Financial Markets and Services Act of 2000, approved in the year cited by the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Among other things, this law set in motion the creation of a new regulatory body, the FSA, whose purpose was to regulate the financial services industry, as well as to protect the people from disputes arising from the interaction between this industry and the financial services industry. consumers.
This organization was born as an independent body, but the governing board is reserved to be appointed by the British Treasury.
In short, this organization was born to replace the SIB, after the scandals that the industry experienced in the 1990s.
Functions of the Financial Services Authority or FSA
There were many functions that the FSA carried out during its years of activity.
All of them are included in the Financial Markets and Services Law, or the Financial Services Law.
However, we can summarize all these functions in two mainly, which were precisely those that gave meaning to the existence of this organism.
These were the role of the FSA as the main regulator of insurance, investment businesses and banking, among other financial services. And the Financial Ombudsman Service, which was offered by the FSA to resolve disputes, this being a free alternative to court.
But in addition to these functions, in 2010, the Financial Services Law establishes a new function. A function based on contributing to the protection and improvement of the stability of the UK financial system.
Until its abolition in 2013, these were the functions performed by the body.
When does the FSA disappear?
The functions carried out by the FSA are now carried out by two newly created bodies, which are the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority of the Bank of England.
Since 2013, the FSA does not exist, so now it is these two bodies that carry out the functions that we mentioned above.
In 2010, the British Government commented on the desire to want to abolish the FSA. But it was not until 2012 when, with the passage of the Financial Services Act of 2012, the FSA disappeared. In this way, also dissolving its functions between the two mentioned organizations, to which we must add the Financial Policy Committee of the Bank of England.
These three new bodies made up the new regulatory structure for the UK financial services industry. And the FSA, chaired by British businessman Lord Turner of Ecchhinswell, was gone forever.