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It is inconceivable the British Parliament would pass such unjust laws and greatly tax their own people! First, Parliament restricts the colonists ability to trade with any countries other than Britain; this makes taxing us more profitable. Then in 1733, they heavily taxed sugar, only to help support the French West Indies that they could be funding themselves! The Molasses Act would expire in 1763, but right after, Parliament renewed it as The Sugar Act in 1764 implementing harsher tactics to ensure the taxes were collected. All because we wouldn’t pay an unjust law! Later in 1751, to protect British merchants interests, which were being repaid with depreciated currency, Parliament issued the Currency Acts. Then in 1765, they force us to feed an provide shelter for the British soldiers, who could very well have been sheltered and fed by Britain! But again, Britain took the opportunity to save money, hence the Intolerable Acts. Soon enough, it was bound to happen; Parliament tried to establish the same authority in the colonies as in Britain. What right did they have to do this? Finally, Parliament crossed the line by taxing our tea, glass, lead and paper! I believe they should give us a voice in Parliament and understand how we feel about these Acts. Until then, we will have to get their attention in other ways.
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Health Information for Specific Groups
- Although anyone exposed to radiation may experience health effects, a developing fetus is the most vulnerable to the effects of radiation exposure.
- Infants, children, the elderly, pregnant women, and people with compromised immune systems are more vulnerable to health effects from radiation exposure than healthy adults.
- It is important for everyone, especially these groups to follow protective action instructions and to seek medical attention after a radiation emergency as soon as it is safe to do so.
Pregnant women should follow the same protective action instructions as everyone else.
If pregnant women are advised to visit a community reception center (CRC) they should let CRC staff know about their pregnancy so that they can receive additional attention.
Contact your doctor for additional information. Your doctor can help you understand more about the risks of radiation exposure to you and to your developing baby.
- In a radiation emergency, it is possible for nursing mothers who are near the affected area to be exposed to radiation or to become internally contaminated with radioactive material.
- Radioactive materials can be passed to babies through breast milk of mothers with internal contamination.
- If possible, nursing mothers should consider temporarily stopping breastfeeding and switch to either breast milk (that was pumped and stored before the exposure) or formula, until they can be seen by a health care professional.
- Formula containers and feeding supplies should be cleaned with a damp cloth or clean towel before use. Put the used cloth or towel in a plastic bag or other sealable container and place the bag in an out-of-the-way place, away from other people and pets.
- If no other source of food is available, continue to breastfeed. Wash the nipple and breast thoroughly with soap and warm water before nursing.
- If nursing mothers are advised to visit a CRC, they should let CRC staff know so that they can receive appropriate attention.
- For additional questions or concerns, contact your healthcare provider.
Important note for women
If you are pregnant (or if you are thinking about getting pregnant) and you have questions about how radiation exposure could affect you or your pregnancy, you should talk with your doctor.
Your doctor can help you better understand the risks of radiation exposure to you and to your developing baby.
To request more information, you may call 1-800-CDC-INFO (800-232-4636) or contact us at www.cdc.gov/info
- Page last reviewed: October 10, 2013
- Page last updated: October 13, 2014
- Content source:
- Maintained By:
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The Mobility Scooter
It's hard to imagine a world without the electric mobility scooter, but this revolutionary device was only invented around 1968. The electric mobility scooter was created by a man named Allen Thieme who evidently decided to create a powered mobility device to help one of his family members who suffered with multiple sclerosis. The powered mobility scooter can be thought of as an evolution of the motorized wheelchair which was developed in tho 1940s to help injured veterans of World War II.
It might be helpful to delve further into history to find out more about the wheelchair. Well, maybe not helpful to understanding the current day scooter, but it is interesting. Let's start with a general definition - A wheelchair is a mobility device upon which someone can sit. The device is then propelled by turning wheels - either by using your hands or by using a motor.
Wheelchairs have been around since at least the 6th century and were possibly invented back then in China! Indeed, it seems pretty obvious to us today to attach wheels to a chair to help move someone who was disabled or immobile around more easily, but it was probably a fair old breakthrough back in it's time. Anyway, we know that the wheelchair was invented in the 6th century because of an iscription on a stone slate.
The next real breakthrough probably came from Harry Jennings who was the first to create a light collapsible wheelchair. This was somewhere around 1933. As with many of these breakthroughs, Jennings worked on the wheelchair helping out a friend who had broken his back in a terrible accident while he was mining. These two guys were pretty astute because they immediately saw the potential in these chairs and decided to mass produce them. Their design is still a time honoured classic and is still in use today. This is the classic x-brace wheelchair.
Anyway, wheelchairs were for a long time propelled either by the person sitting on the chair by pushing on the oversized wheels, or by an attendant pushing from behind using handles, much like one would push a supermarket trolley. The motorised wheelchair once again revolutionised the industry allowing those who were too weak to propell themselves or in fact too disabled. Motorised wheelchairs have a joystick which allows control over the chair.
Now the mobility scooter is in many ways very similar to the motorised wheelchair, but it usually has a longer wheelbase and looks more like a motor scooter obviously. The seat of the scooter is usually sat over the rear wheels and there is an area for the feet and handlebars to steer. If this is starting to conjur up images of crazy old grannies riding round in packs like some aged hells angels gang, you aren't far wrong - when they get out there doing there shopping it can feel like they really are out to get you....just kidding.
The mobility scooter is battery powerd and usually this is recharged every day. Back to the invention of the scooter back in 1968 - the first model was made at home by Mr Thieme and was called The Amigo. Thieme, just like his predecessor Jennings started a company called Amigo Mobility International to manufacture and sell these scooters. Indeed the company is still going today and even supplies a Shabbat module of the scooter for use on the Sabbath.
So why would one use a mobility scooter instead of a wheelchair? Well there are several advantages - most mobility scooters have some good safety features that slow them down when going on a downhill to prevent tipping over. Getting on and off the scooter is done by using a swivelling chair which can be easier to use than trying to lift the feet rests on a wheelchair for people who have mobility difficulties. And of course the scooters are usefull for people who have mobility difficulty but are still able to walk a few steps and sit upright without support for their torso. One of the other advantages is simply cosmetic. A scooter and a wheelchair look very different and this is a great incentive for some people who don't like the idea of using a wheelchair because they think it makes them look old. The greatest disadvantage of the mobility scooter is that they are usually more expensive than their motorised wheelchair cousins.
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Ernie Easter from the New Sweden School presented his integrated unit on the American Civil War at the MAMLE Annual Conference at Point Lookout. Here’s the description of his presentation from the Conference program:
The Civil War, an integrative unit, is taught through History, English Language Arts, Music, and Art. Making extensive use of photographs by Civil War Era photographers as well as resources from the Library of Congress, Maine Memory, and the National Park Service, students spend time analyzing photographs and creating their own photographs in the style of Mathew Brady. Also, students read primary and fictional sources to develop their own role-playing character to help them appreciate what is going on as they keep their own diary and react to the events that lead up to and events during the Civil War. A formal research paper and student presentation round out the unit.
Naturally Joshua Chamberlain plays a role in the unit.
Literature, art, music, research, historical content are all integrated into this engaging unit. Role playing is always a popular activity with middle level students; Ernie’s kids create the persona of a person who might have lived through this catastrophic time in our history and write letters and diary entries that reflect the realities of their lives. Below is an image of the graphic organizer they use to bring to life their “person”.
Ernie put all of the materials for his presentation in a Google Drive document and has very generously allowed MAMLE to publish it here so everyone can access these terrific resources:
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Once again, computers are something I use every single day, but have not the slightest clue about how they operate. I think it’s so cool that some people are able to build their own computers. Most of the people that I know that build their own computers use them for gaming. Building your own PC allows for complete customization. Inside of computers, there are millions of transistors that operate not by your hand, but by electricity. Building a simple computer requires 2 things: something that can store and represent information, and a way to preform calculations and make decisions. First, I’m going to look at how computers store and represent information. Computers use binary (the language that uses 1 and 0). These single ones or zeros are referred to as “bits” and an average laptop can store over two trillion bits. But how are these bits organized? How do you know where one bit sequence begins and another bit sequence ends? Computer scientists group together eight bits to form a “bite.” This binary code can even describe varying levels of red, green, and blue to corm different colors. I had no idea the extent of what Binary code could do. I guess Binary really does make the world go round.
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By Kevin Anyonge
Childhood can be defined as the state of being a child in simple English, but according to UNICEF Childhood is the time for children to be in school and at play, to grow strong and confident with the love and encouragement of their family and an extended community of caring adults. It is a precious time in which children should live free from fear, safe from violence and protected from abuse and exploitation. As such, childhood means much more than just the space between birth and the attainment of adulthood. It refers to the state and condition of a child’s life, to the quality of those years.
Childhood period should be safe time of life for growing, playing and learning. Love, care and protection is what every child desires during childhood to grow to full potential but this has not been the case globally since a quarter of children do not have this experience. Developing countries is where a majority of this disadvantaged children live and have been bypassed by the progress that’s has lifted up many of their peers.
A new report End of Childhood is out and it has outlined so many factors dealing with children during their childhood. At least 700 million children worldwide and possibly hundreds of millions more their childhood has ended too soon. Factors that have caused massive global ended childhood crisis are child labor, poor health, malnutrition, early child marriage, Early Pregnancy, Conflicts, Violence and exclusion from education. The indicators used to measure the end of childhood were;
- Under five mortality
- Malnutrition that stunts growth
- Out-of-school children,
- Child labor
- Early marriage
- Adolescent births
- Displacement by conflict and child homicide.
Highlights from the report;
- 263 million children are out of school.
- 168 million children are involved in child labor. Half (85 million) are doing hazardous work.
- Nearly 28 million children have been forced to flee their homes (11 million are refugees and asylum-seekers; 17 million are internally displaced).
- Around 8 million boys and girls aged0-19 die each year;75% (6 million) are children under age 5 .2
- Roughly 16 million girls between the ages of 15 and 19 – and 1 million girls under age 15 give birth each year.
- 75,000+ boys and girls under the age of 20 were murdered in 2015.
- 156 million children under age 5 have stunted growth.
- About 40 million girls (aged 15-19) are currently married or in union. 15 million are married as children each year (under age 18) and 4 million of those are married under age 15.
The End of Childhood Index focused on a set of life changing events that indicate the disruption of childhood. A total of 172 countries were ranked based on where childhood is most intact and mostly eroded. This report showed countries that are succeeding and failing in provision of conditions to nurture and protect their youngest citizens.
Norway, Slovenia and Finland were top on the ranking in the top ten, this top ten countries attained very high scores for children’s health, education and protection status. While the bottom ten were Mali, Angola and Niger are performing poorly on most indicators. Children from the bottom ten countries are not likely to fully experience childhood hence time that should be dedicated to emotional, social and physical development, as well as play. In these and many other countries around the world, man children are robbed of significant portions of their childhoods.
Kenya was ranked 119 with a score of 750 points out of 1,000. Kenya performed well in universal education, low child rates of child labour and children in conflict, However the areas of concern for Kenya were the under 5 mortality, stunt growth and early pregnancies among adolescent.
In two reports released within a month ranks Kenya above 100, Hence the need for the government to work on the issues highlighted.
The report recommends that in order for childhood to be saved the following actions must be taken with urgency.
1. Investing in children,To achieve the SDGs and ensure that all children have
access to quality basic services, including protection and social protection services, governments (including donors) need to raise the necessary resources.
2. Ensuring all children are treated equally, End discriminatory policies, norms and behaviors such as preventing girls from accessing health services or denying education to a child because of her or his ethnicity or gender.
3. Counting and including all children, regardless of who they are or where they are from Governments need to ensure that all children, especially excluded children, are counted in data that are used to measure progress on the SDGs.
We would love to hear from you on the ranking, follow us on @MtotoNews on twitter
Kevin Anyonge is a journalist with Mtoto News,
Save the Children International Campaigns
Mtoto News is an online platform of news, information and resources that aims at making significant change in the lives of children by making them visible. Read mtotonews.com or follow us on twitter and Facebook @mtotonews
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|Description:||This scanning electron microscopic (SEM) image depicts numbers of Ebola virions.|
Ebola is a severe, often-fatal disease in humans and nonhuman primates (monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees) that has appeared sporadically since its initial recognition in 1976. The disease is caused by infection with Ebola virus, named after a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) in Africa, where it was first recognized. The virus is one of two members of a family of RNA viruses called the Filoviridae. There are four identified subtypes of Ebola virus. Three of the four have caused disease in humans: Ebola-Zaire, Ebola-Sudan, and Ebola-Ivory Coast. The fourth, Ebola-Reston, has caused disease in nonhuman primates, but not in humans.
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Researchers in London have identified a mechanism through which vitamin D can significantly reduce the symptoms of asthma and suggest it may offer a new way to treat the debilitating condition, which in the UK alone affects around 5.4 million people and costs the NHS around £1 billion a year.
Catherine Hawrylowicz of King’s College London, and colleagues, write about their discovery in a paper published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology this month.
Asthma is a long-term condition where the airways narrow from becoming inflamed and swollen, making it hard to breathe.
Currently patients with severe asthma take steroid tablets, which can have harmful side effects.
But some patients have a type of asthma that is resistant to steroids making it almost impossible to treat, so their asthma attacks are often severe and sometimes even life-threatening, leading to repeated hospital admission.
In their paper, Hawrylowicz and colleagues describe how they found a way that vitamin D may be able to reduce the symptoms of asthma.
It concerns the activity of a natural compound called interleukin-17A (IL-17A) which is part of the immune system. IL-17A protects the body against infection but is also known to worsen asthma symptoms and, in large amounts, to decrease the impact of steroids.
For the study, the team examined three groups of people: 18 patients with steroid-resistant asthma, 10 patients with asthma that responded to treatment with steroids, and 10 healthy people without asthma (the controls).
IL-17A is produced by a group of immune cells called TH17 (T helper 17 cells). The researchers examined these cells in each group of patients and looked at how they produced IL-17A and the amounts.
They found that compared to cells from the healthy controls without asthma, cells from both of the asthma groups had higher levels of IL-17A, with the steroid-resistant group showing the highest levels.
And, they found vitamin D significantly lowered production of IL-17A in cells from all three groups, including the two groups with asthma. Steroids, on the other hand, had little effect on IL-17A production in the cells from patients with asthma.
The team concludes that vitamin D inhibited IL-17A production in all the patients they studied, “irrespective of their clinical responsiveness to steroids”, and these results thus identify “novel steroid-enhancing properties of vitamin D in asthmatic patients”.
The findings therefore suggest vitamin D could be a safe and useful add-on treatment.
If vitamin D proves successful in trials, and is shown to reduce the amount of steroids required, it could have enormous impact on the quality of life of asthma sufferers.
As Hawrylowicz explains in a statement:
“These findings are very exciting as they show that vitamin D could one day be used not only to treat people with steroid resistant asthma but also to reduce the doses of steroids in other asthma patients, reducing the risk of harmful side effects.”
She says the findings were “so positive” that they are already starting a clinical trial in steroid resistant asthma patients to find out more about using vitamin D as a treatment for asthma.
Asthma UK helped fund the study, and the research team is part of the King’s Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre.
In another study published recently in the American Journal of Medicine, researchers from Johns Hopkins in the US report that very high blood levels of vitamin D confer no additional benefit, and warn that raising levels of vitamin D in “healthy people” whose levels are normal could do more harm than good.
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Rejendra K. Pachauri, Chairman of the IPCC, in a 2012 photo. CREDIT: flickr/ UN ISDR Delegates from more than 100 governments and many of the world’s top climate scientists are meeting in Copenhagen this week to finalize a report that will be used as a foundation for important upcoming climate summits. The leaked United Nations draft report, due to be published on Nov. 2nd, says climate change may have “serious, pervasive and irreversible” impacts on human society and nature. Hopes are set on a new, post-Kyoto Protocol global climate agreement to be reached at the Paris summit at the end of 2015. There will a major climate meeting in Lima, Peru at the end of this year to help set the framework for the 2015 gathering. “The report will be a guide for us,” Peruvian Environment Minister Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, told Reuters. This final report is a synthesis of three comprehensive IPCC reports published over the course of the last year. Those reports focused on the physical science; impacts, adaptation and vulnerability; and mitigation. This flagship report received over 2,000 comments from government officials relating to changes to be made prior to publication. According to a Reuters analysis, many governments want the draft to be written in a more clear and accessible manner with a focus on extreme weather events such as storms, heat waves, and floods. The U.S. wrote that the report needs to be useful for those without deep technical knowledge of climate issues. “What about drought? Cyclones? Wildfires? Policymakers care deeply about extreme events,” the U.S. team wrote. “After all, in many ways it is how extreme events will change that will determine many of the (near-term, at least) impacts from climate change. As such, the authors should strongly consider saying more about the projected changes in extreme events.” U.S. commenters also wrote that the report should stress impacts on rich countries more, saying “there are very few references to the vulnerability of wealthier countries to climate change.” The E.U. team wrote that “the key messages should contain more substance that can help guide policy makers rather than general overarching statements,” and that “the overall storyline … is sometimes not clear and still looks fragmented.” While the report warns of the dire consequences of the continued rise of GHGs, it also says the worst impacts can still be avoided. It states that a combination of adaptation and substantial, sustained reductions in GHGs can limit climate change risks and reduce the costs and challenges of mitigation. Over the past five years some 2,000 scientists worked on the fifth iteration of the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change’s Assessment Report. With leaders gathering to finalize the report this week, Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, urged world governments not to be overcome by hopelessness as they engage in negotiations. “May I humbly suggest that policymakers avoid being overcome by the seeming hopelessness of addressing climate change,” he said. “Tremendous strides are being made in alternative sources of clean energy. There is much we can do to use energy more efficiently. Reducing and ultimately eliminating deforestation provides additional avenues for action.” In one hopeful indication, last week leaders of the European Union agreed to cut emissions by 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. European leaders hope this will build momentum for when the bloc hosts the critical Paris climate summit next year, and that it will encourage other major emitters yet to make pledges — such as the U.S. and China — to rise to the occasion. Countries have until early next year to announce the targets they intend to negotiate with at the Paris summit. The post Final Draft Of U.N. Climate Report Sets Table For Upcoming Negotiations appeared first on ThinkProgress.
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|시간 제한||메모리 제한||제출||정답||맞은 사람||정답 비율|
|1 초||128 MB||0||0||0||0.000%|
Did you ever wonder what happens to your money when you deposit them to a bank account? All banks hold such deposits in various assets, such as gold, stocks, obligations, deposits in other banks, loans, bonds, and many others. Due to the financial crisis and instability of the stock exchanges, many banks find out that stocks are not very reliable and their possession may be too risky.
Therefore, the banks now prefer other assets, especially gold. The main trouble with gold is that there is only a limited amount of it in the whole world. And it is not enough to cover all money held by all banks. (Wait, isn’t this the real reason of the crisis?)
If there is not enough gold, other commodities must be exploited instead. The International Bank of Monetania (IBM) has recently come up with an idea of using very old and valuable trees as their assets. They bought a piece of land with several such trees and now expect their value to grow. Literally, of course.
Unfortunately, the trees are threatened by wildlife, because animals do not understand their value and nibble them. Moreover, there is a permanent danger of theft. As a result, it is absolutely necessary to build a good solid fence around the trees.
The IBM quickly realized that the only suitable material available to build the fence is the wood from the trees themselves. In other words, it is necessary to cut down some trees in order to build a fence around the remaining ones. Of course, to keep the maximum value, we want to minimize the value of the trees that had to be cut. You are to write a program that solves this problem.
The input contains several test cases, each of which describes one piece of land. Each test case begins with a line containing a single integer N, 2 ≤ N ≤ 16, the total number of trees. Each of the subsequent N lines contains 4 integers Xi, Yi, Vi, Li separated by at least one space.
The four numbers describe a single tree. (Xi, Yi) is the position of the tree in the plane, Vi is its value, and Li is the length of fence that can be built using the wood of the tree. You may assume that 0 ≤ Vi, Li ≤ 10 000 and −10 000 ≤ Xi, Yi ≤ 10 000. No two trees in a test case will grow at the same position.
The input ends with a line containing zero in place of N.
For each test case, compute a subset of the trees such that, using the wood from that subset, the remaining trees can be enclosed in a single continuous fence. Find the subset with the minimal total value. For simplicity, regard the trees as having zero diameter.
Output one line with the sentence “The lost value is T.”, where T is the minimal value of the trees that must be cut.
6 0 0 8 3 1 4 3 2 2 1 7 1 4 1 2 3 3 5 4 6 2 3 9 8 3 3 0 10 3 5 -3 20 25 7 -3 30 32 2 100 0 5 4 0 100 4 5 5 0 0 10 10 0 1 10 10 1 0 10 10 1 1 10 10 50 50 8 4 0
The lost value is 9. The lost value is 20. The lost value is 4. The lost value is 8.
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The president appoints governors to administer each of Ecuador’s provinces. Provinces are divided into cantones (cantons); these in turn are divided into parroquias (parishes). Ecuador’s government has become increasingly decentralized. The mayors (rulers of cantons), elected by local vote, are particularly important for initiating local infrastructure projects and environmental controls.
Ecuador’s judicial system is composed of provincial courts, higher or divisional courts, and a Supreme Court. Despite attempts at reform, the Supreme Court has historically been plagued by inconsistent rulings and is viewed as being susceptible to outside influences.
Voting is required for literate Ecuadorans ages 18 to 64. If a political party fails to garner a minimum of 5 percent of the votes in two elections, it is eliminated from the electoral registry. Citizens not affiliated with a political party may also run for office. After Ecuador’s return to democracy in 1978, closed lists (where voters are only allowed to choose a party, not a candidate) and direct ballots were used. In 1998 a constitutional amendment changed the system of elections to open lists (allowing voters to choose their preferred candidates as well as preferred party) to promote equal representation.
Women were granted suffrage in 1929. By the end of the 20th century, women’s representation in politics increased by nearly 20 percent. Moreover, an amendment introduced in 2000 requires that political parties’ candidate lists for Congress and local and provincial positions must include at least 30 percent women and that in each subsequent election an additional 5 percent of the candidates be women until equality is attained. The law applies to all Ecuadoran women; however, indigenous and black women candidates for Congress have been scant (largely because many black and indigenous women are illiterate and stay confined to their communities).
An array of Ecuadoran political parties draws strength from various regions, classes, ethnic groups, and professions. Moderate democratic parties have shown strength among teachers, government workers, and professionals in the more prosperous parts of the Sierra. The communist parties have shown strength in Quito and Loja, as well as in the poorer northern and central highlands. Centrist coastal political parties are often populist in character, associated with charismatic personalities and grassroots political organizations. Parties that stress the rights of indigenous peoples and their participation in government have also grown in strength among the indigenous population. Because no party is strong throughout the country, alliances must be established to attain victory at the national level.
Ecuador has an army, navy (including naval infantry, naval aviation, and coast guard), and air force. There is a 12-month conscription for male citizens age 20. The National Police are under the authority of the Ministry of Government. Some municipalities, such as Quito and Guayaquil, have their own metropolitan police forces.
Health and welfare
All public and private employees are affiliated with the National Social Security Institute. In return for a monthly deduction from employees’ salaries, the agency provides such services as medical and hospital insurance coverage, state-run clinics and dispensaries, low-interest loans for surgery and mortgages, retirement pensions for civil and state employees, and pensions for widows and child dependents.
The Social Welfare Program, a division of the Ministry of Public Health, maintains public hospitals in all the provincial capitals and in the principal cantons. Little of the national budget is devoted to public health programs, however, and health conditions are generally poor. A number of endemic diseases persist, including typhoid fever, malaria, amebic dysentery, and tuberculosis.
In the Sierra, traditional housing of wattle and daub, thatch, or rammed earthen walls, with thatched roofs, has been giving way to Spanish tile or corrugated metal roofs and cement block or brick walls. On the coast, farmers live in houses on stilts, walled with flattened bamboo and roofed with thatch. Notwithstanding the subdivision of haciendas into smaller farms since the 1960s, some farmers still occupy old rural hacienda buildings, with white walls and Spanish tile roofs; other old-style hacienda structures have been abandoned or converted into hotels. In the Oriente, traditional housing is constructed from palm trees and often consists of open-sided roofed platforms.
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Rocio Daga Portillo
Professor of Islamology at Munich University
icon-calendar 28 mars 2017
It is striking to note that in the Qurʾān and the oldest texts the term Sunna is used more often than the term Šarīʿa in order to mean the law. The word Sunna used to refer to the oral law transmitted by the tradition and the forefathers. For Christian and Muslim authors, Sunna it is part of the non written revelation. Starting with the eleventh century, an epistemological shift happened: Sunna was canonized as a written text and the word Šarīʿa takes the meaning of the Islamic law, along to the expression aḥkām al-islām. Modern authors such as Ḥasan al-Bannā and Sayyid Quṭb progressively used the term Šarīʿa to refer to the corpus of written laws.
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By definition, in order to get a diagnosis of Specific Learning Disability (SLD), a child needs to demonstrate a discrepancy (or gap) between his average-to-above-average qualities and areas that are disproportionately worse. All people with Learning Disabilities have strengths, particularly relative to their weaknesses. The term “Learning Differences” is sometimes employed because it captures the fact that difficulties in some areas are directly tied to strengths in others.
For instance, in “The Dyslexic Advantage,” authors Fernette and Brock Eide list four “MIND” aptitudes common in individuals with dyslexia:
- Material or spatial reasoning: heightened ability to solve problems with navigation, or with the visualization of faces, scenes, and objects. This skill can be useful for designers, engineers, filmmakers (like Steven Spielberg), or photographers, like Ansel Adams.
- Interconnectedness: verbal reasoning capacity to connect seemingly-disconnected ideas (finding analogies, etc.). Paul Orfalea, CEO of Kinko’s, has said that his “learning style helped him see the big picture and not worry about tiny details.”
- Narrative reasoning: great memory for personal experiences. This skill can be helpful for poets (such as Philip Schultz), essayists, memoirists, and other writers (like John Irving).
- Dynamic reasoning: ability to reason in novel situations. This is helpful for the business or scientific field, as exemplified by Jack Horner and likely Albert Einstein.
There is the most evidence to support the “M” (or visual) component. Several studies have suggested that people with dyslexia possess an enhanced ability to process the visual periphery and/or the “visual gist” of images, a skill that can be useful in multiple fields, including architecture and astronomy.
There is also an undeniable relationship between people with learning disabilities and success in business. “Psychologists who analyzed the mental makeup of business winners found that learning difficulties are one of the most important precursors of financial success. About 40 percent of the 300 studied had been diagnosed with dyslexia — four times the rate in the general population,” says one Sunday Times article, reporting on research from the Cass Business School. It is unclear whether the cause of this overrepresentation is the “big-picture thinking” often associated with people with LDs, a resilience that people with LDs tend to cultivate, or something else — but the numbers do not lie.
Children with learning disabilities also tend to be more empathetic, due to the hardships they face. Most teachers with learning disabilities view their disabilities as a having a positive effect on their teaching, likely due to the ability to empathize with students and their potential learning struggles.
Need help thinking of strengths specific to your child? Work with your child to complete Understood’s “Know Your Child Strengths” checklist. As you do this, you’ll both see just how many strengths he has. He may not even recognize which traits are considered strengths! It is essential to nurture the strengths he has so that he develops an accurate and positive view of himself.
Eide, B. L., & Eide, F. F. (2011). The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain. New York, NY: Plume.
Flink, D. (2014) Thinking Differently: An Inspiring Guide for Parents of Children with Learning Disabilities. New York, NY: William Morrow Paperbacks.
Headstrong Nation. Learn the Facts. Headstrong Nation.
Horowitz, Sheldon (2013) Strengths of Students with Learning Disabilities and Other Disorders [Video file]. YouTube.
Logan, J. (2009) Dyslexic Entrepreneurs: The Incidence; Their Coping Strategies and Their Business. Dyslexia.
Love, D. (2011). 15 CEOs with Learning Disabilities. Business Insider.
Spear-Swerling, L. (2005) Achieving Good Outcomes in Students with Learning Disabilities. LD Online.
Venton, D. (2011). Q&A: The Unappreciated Benefits of Dyslexia. Wired.
Warren, C. (2008). Coudl This Be teh Sercet to Sussecc? YCDC.
West, T. (2004) The Secret of the Super Successful... They’re Dyslexic. Eye to Eye.
Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity. An Index of Successful Dyslexics. YCDC.
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Interrupt Request (IRQ)
Definition - What does Interrupt Request (IRQ) mean?
An interrupt request (IRQ) is an asynchronous signal sent from a device to a processor indicating that in order to process a request, attention is required. A hardware IRQ is induced by a hardware peripheral or device request, whereas a software IRQ is induced by a software instruction. Both result in processor status savings, and revert to serving the IRQ using an interrupt handler routine.
Techopedia explains Interrupt Request (IRQ)
Interrupts are commonly used to implement computing multitasking and effectively eliminate the requirement for the processor to sample (poll) the lines while waiting for external events.
An IRQ is served to the processor by programmable interrupt controllers (PICs), which prioritize and manage the interrupts to the processor. A well-known device in personal computer (PC) architecture is the Intel 8259A PIC, which was later supplanted by the advanced PICs (APICs) but continues to be used today.
Interrupts can be level-triggered or edge-triggered. Level-triggered interrupts indicate that the line is held by the device at an active level, triggering the interrupt until it is served. Edge-triggered interrupts indicate that the device triggers the line shortly from level 1 to 0 (or vice versa). The PIC is expected to catch this trigger and service the interrupt.
IRQ levels are allocated to devices to indicate their identities. For example, in a PC, IRQ0 through IRQ15 denote the 16 levels associated with the mouse, keyboard, serial port, sound card, floppy disk controller, and the primary/secondary advanced technology attachment (ATA) channels used for hard disk devices.
When two devices use the same level, IRQ conflicts occur. Today, USB plug and play (PnP) devices have virtually eliminated this problem.
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If there's a mathematical idea that applies itself to almost everything in everyday life but is almost unknown outside the scientific world, the Fourier transform has to be the most unsung contender. It pops up wherever scientists need to study complex things that fluctuate in the real world – sound, heat, light, stock prices – and has been used to separate the signal from the noise in data collected for astronomy, medicine, genetics and chemistry. It is also the main equation used in the compression of digital images and sound on the web.
The noted physicist Lord Kelvin wasn't exaggerating when he wrote, in 1867: "Fourier's theorem is not only one of the most beautiful results of modern analysis, but it may be said to furnish an indispensable instrument in the treatment of nearly every recondite question in modern physics."
The equation was developed by the mathematician Baron Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Fourier and appeared in its final form in his 1822 book, The Analytical Theory of Heat. As the title suggests, Fourier was interested mainly in how heat flowed around materials but his mathematical tool turned out to be more fundamental than perhaps he realised.
In essence, it says that any complex wave-like signal you care to measure, that fluctuates over time or space, can be broken down into a sum of the familiar, regular, sine waves – the type that roll across the tops of oceans or vibrate along strings. Think of your complex signal as a cake. It contains flour, sugar, eggs and butter but you don't taste any of these things individually when you take a bite of the finished product. If the cake is the waveform, the recipe is the Fourier transform, a list of ingredients and how to combine them. If you want to adapt the final waveform (cake) somehow, it is much easier to do it by isolating the ingredients first.
Fourier's insight was to isolate the regularity contained in what looks, in the real world, a tangled mess of complexity. The term F(s) is called the transform and gives you the properties of the specific sine-wave component of your signal at the frequency "s". Specifically, it gives the amplitude (the maximum height of the wave above and below zero) and phase (how much of a wave's cycle has been completed relative to a fixed point).
On the right of the equation, f(x) represents how your signal fluctuates over space (x is the co-ordinate of location). This is multiplied by e (a widely used constant in maths, equal to 2.718) raised to the power of x multiplied by s, i (the square root of -1) and pi. This gives the properties of the sine wave at frequency s but, since we want the sum of all the frequencies, the expression on the right is added up across all space for steadily increasing values of s (the adding up is represented by the integration sign, by the elongated "S" on the left and the "dx" on the right).
To get a good visual of the Fourier transform, look at a graphical equaliser on an old hi-fi system. The bouncing lines give you the strengths of individual frequencies in the music at any point in time, as a spectrum. That spectrum is the real-time (albeit crude) Fourier transform of the sound coming out of the speakers.
Indeed, your ear performs Fourier transforms all the time (not mathematically, but you know what I mean). A sound wave is, physically, a collection of pressure waves moving through the air, but it isn't the vibrations they create in your eardrum that you "hear". Instead the components of the inner ear perform a sort of Fourier transform to untangle the composite pressure wave, teasing out each specific frequency and their associated amplitudes in order to covert them into a spectrum of electrical signals which is sent to the brain. Your brain interprets this changing spectrum as sound.
The Fourier transform represents the same information as the original signal, but in a way that makes it simpler for engineers and physicists to work with.
Say you want to compress music or speech files. While vinyl records store analogue sound in surface pits and grooves that mimic the waveform, an MP3 lists frequencies and amplitudes – the Fourier transform – present in every moment in the track. This makes it easy to filter and compress the file – you can delete the information about frequencies outside the range of human hearing. This method is also useful if you want to clean up a recording – if there is a background hum, the Fourier transform information allows you to isolate and delete the main frequencies of that hum and preserve the rest.
The transform can also be applied to clean up pictures which are, in essence, just two-dimensional signals where colour and brightness fluctuate over space. A photograph taken in dim light, for example, might have lots of noise in the form of random spots of light – take the Fourier transform of the image and you can filter them out. This is especially useful in cleaning up astronomical images from space probes, sharpening the focus onto an area of interest.
Some of the most important uses of the Fourier transform have been made in understanding the precise arrangement of atoms in molecules. The science of crystallography works by shining X-rays at a crystal of the substance you want to examine (salt, say, or DNA or a protein). The X-rays come in from one side, are scattered by the molecules within and produce a pattern of spots on the other side. The intensity and position of each spot gives the amplitude and frequency information for the Fourier transform of the crystal's molecular structure. In essence, the scattering of X-rays by the crystal give the Fourier transform of the molecule within. Working the transform backwards, scientists can use the scattering pattern to infer the original 3D molecular structure. This method was used to work out the structure of DNA in the 1950s and has now advanced to giving us insights into the structures of complex proteins and even viruses.
Fourier transforms are also used to process information in medical imaging, including MRI and CAT scans, and to stop buildings falling down in earthquakes. When the ground shakes, a Fourier transform can show you which frequencies of vibration impart the most energy to their surroundings. A building will also have its own natural modes of vibration (a complex version of how a string vibrates at preferred frequencies) and, if the building's natural frequency matches that of an earthquake, it will shake harder and is more likely to fall down. Architects and building engineers can work out their proposed design's preferred vibrational frequency using computer models and, using information from the Fourier transform of local earthquakes, tune the building's preferred frequency so that it has the best possible chance of remaining standing, should disaster strike.
For more on the wonders of the Fourier transform check out Professor Stephen Curry's lecture at the Royal Institution: http://bit.ly/ri-fed
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BERLIN — Is our intelligence determined by our genes? That’s the question driving genetic and psychological research ever since these scientific disciplines were born. But to this day, the question has yet to be answered. Our cognitive skills are determined by our genes, yes, but they are also influenced by the environment around us.
But what we do know now is that genes determining whether we are able to achieve a higher level of education have been in decline for the last 80 years. Scientists speculate this process is part of natural selection.
People who study for more years and those who consider education important tend to have fewer children. Geneticists in Iceland conducted a study that found that people who possess genes that contribute to a higher level of education have fewer children. This means that these hereditary traits are becoming rarer within the genetic pool, with the result that the average IQ declined by 0.04 points per decade. If all genetic factors responsible for educational development are taken into account this decline could reach 0.3 IQ points per decade.
"It is interesting to see that the genetic factors that are connected to spending more time in the education system are becoming rarer within the gene pool," says Kari Stefansson, CEO of the Icelandic genetics company Decode.
Ready to learn — Photo: North Charleston
The study also highlights that genes responsible for education also influence fertility. Those who have more "education genes" tended to have fewer children. This means that people who are genetically predisposed to have a higher level of education are also predisposed to have fewer children.
The study’s researchers analyzed the genetic make-up of more than 100,000 people in Iceland who were born between 1910 and 1990 and noted their level of education.
Are intelligent people on their way to becoming extinct?
Don’t worry, this does not mean that mankind is becoming increasingly stupider. There are mechanisms that compensate for the loss of these genes. After all, more people now have access to education than ever before. Even if less intelligent people have more offspring, non-genetic factors such as schools and other educational establishments can counteract the downward spiral. But if that’s not the case, the decline of these "education genes" could have a dramatic influence on our culture, researchers say.
"If this trend were to continue for centuries, the consequences would be far-reaching," says Stefansson.
The Icelandic study has demonstrated for the first time that genes regarding intelligence are measurable but they have comparatively little influence on our educational level. Despite the fact that our genetic make-up has been proven to follow a trend of declining "education genes," the average IQ in industrialized countries has been rising steadily.
"If we continue to improve the availability and quality of educational institutions, we will probably also improve the levels of education within society as a whole. Only time will tell, if the decline of a genetic tendency for higher levels of education will have a significant impact on human society," Stefansson concludes.
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Alexander Gates, a geology professor at Rutgers-Newark, is co-author of ”The Encyclopedia of Earthquakes and Volcanoes,” which will be published by Facts on File in July. He has been leading a four-year effort to remap an area known as the Sloatsburg Quadrangle, a 5-by-7-mile tract near Mahwah that crosses into New York State. The Ramapo Fault, which runs through it, was responsible for a big earthquake in 1884, and Dr. Gates warns that a recurrence is overdue. He recently talked about his findings.
Q. What have you found?
A. We’re basically looking at a lot more rock, and we’re looking at the fracturing and jointing in the bedrock and putting it on the maps. Any break in the rock is a fracture. If it has movement, then it’s a fault. There are a lot of faults that are offshoots of the Ramapo. Basically when there are faults, it means you had an earthquake that made it. So there was a lot of earthquake activity to produce these features. We are basically not in a period of earthquake activity along the Ramapo Fault now, but we can see that about six or seven times in history, about 250 million years ago, it had major earthquake activity. And because it’s such a fundamental zone of weakness, anytime anything happens, the Ramapo Fault goes.
Q. Where is the Ramapo Fault?
A. The fault line is in western New Jersey and goes through a good chunk of the state, all the way down to Flemington. It goes right along where they put in the new 287. It continues northeast across the Hudson River right under the Indian Point power plant up into Westchester County. There are a lot of earthquakes rumbling around it every year, but not a big one for a while.
Q. Did you find anything that surprised you?
A. I found a lot of faults, splays that offshoot from the Ramapo that go 5 to 10 miles away from the fault. I have looked at the Ramapo Fault in other places too. I have seen splays 5 to 10 miles up into the Hudson Highlands. And you can see them right along the roadsides on 287. There’s been a lot of damage to those rocks, and obviously it was produced by fault activities. All of these faults have earthquake potential.
Q. Describe the 1884 earthquake.
A. It was in the northern part of the state near the Sloatsburg area. They didn’t have precise ways of describing the location then. There was lots of damage. Chimneys toppled over. But in 1884, it was a farming community, and there were not many people to be injured. Nobody appears to have written an account of the numbers who were injured.
Q. What lessons we can learn from previous earthquakes?
A. In 1960, the city of Agadir in Morocco had a 6.2 earthquake that killed 12,000 people, a third of the population, and injured a third more. I think it was because the city was unprepared.There had been an earthquake in the area 200 years before. But people discounted the possibility of a recurrence. Here in New Jersey, we should not make the same mistake. We should not forget that we had a 5.4 earthquake 117 years ago. The recurrence interval for an earthquake of that magnitude is every 50 years, and we are overdue. The Agadir was a 6.2, and a 5.4 to a 6.2 isn’t that big a jump.
Q. What are the dangers of a quake that size?
A. When you’re in a flat area in a wooden house it’s obviously not as dangerous, although it could cut off a gas line that could explode. There’s a real problem with infrastructure that is crumbling, like the bridges with crumbling cement. There’s a real danger we could wind up with our water supplies and electricity cut off if a sizable earthquake goes off. The best thing is to have regular upkeep and keep up new building codes. The new buildings will be O.K. But there is a sense of complacency.
Photo: Alexander Gates, a Rutgers geologist, is mapping a part of the Ramapo Fault, site of previous earthquakes. (John W. Wheeler for The New York Times)
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I found this art and book combination over at Teach Kids Art. “The Dot” book is short and sweet and has a wonderful art message. The simple lesson of just painting lots of dots on a posterboard was good for kinders just learning how to follow directions.
1. I prefolded 28″ x 22″ posterboard almost in half, leaving about 4″ extending on one side. This is saved for the student’s name. (Make sure any shiny surfaces are on the inside as the paint will not stick to it.)
2. Each student received their posterboard face up, along with several spillproof cups of liquid watercolor. “Dip, dip, wipe, wipe” was explained for those new to painting, which helps to keep the brushes from getting overloaded with paint. Students practiced making large, medium and small dots, just like the little girl in “The Dot” book. They were allowed to trade their cups with their neighbors to get a variety of colors.
3. The teachers printed the students names carefully with a fat black Sharpie marker.
4. After the paint was dry, the sides were taped together with either a clear or colorful tape. These portfolios will help keep art safe and organized all year long.
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Right inside the cover is where I put the sound boxes. I slide them into a sheet protector so students can write on them with a dry erase marker. As students progress to higher levels, they will have experiences with 3-4 phoneme words. For Levels A & B students will simply work with 2 phoneme words.
Here is an example of the running record. You will notice we added a table so you can easily determine their accuracy rate without having to do BIG MATH! Ha!
Frequently asked questions
Why do you have a 2 Day lesson plan?
By having a 2 day lesson plan, students are given an opportunity to engage more with the text. On the second day of the lessons, students should demonstrate fluency with the text. Additionally, the second day offers the chance to revisit the sight word from the previous lesson and it allows for guided writing.
EXAMPLE FROM LEVEL A:
DAY 1: The students will unscramble, read, and illustrate the mixed up sentence.
Day 2: The students will use that sentence to write their own. One word will be their a word of their choice. Invented spelling is perfectly acceptable. However, since the words look, at, and her are provided, those should be written conventionally. This also gives you an opportunity to discuss print concepts and build positive writing habits from the start.
How are the books leveled?
These books were written with the Fountas and Pinnell guidelines in mind.
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Most people remember their student years – sleepless nights, piles of notes, the bunch of tasks and presentations. Most students get the most relevant skills at university – ability to be persistent, knowledge how to do simple things like presentations and just work hard to achieve success. Making presentations, in fact, is one of the most important skills that every student must have. However, plenty of students have problems with creating PowerPoint presentations and then presenting their thoughts. How to do master it?
These are just simple tips that might help you improve your skills in creating good PowerPoint presentations and giving them:
• First of all, it is important to remember that presentation is not only about using PowerPoint. It is about good PowerPoint presentation and ability to deliver your thoughts and ideas. You need to do both to get the best result.
• Be well-prepared and know your topic. Most students begin with PowerPoint presentations instead of a short introduction to the central theme. PowerPoint is just a tool to back up information and not on the contrary.
• When preparing the presentation, you need to include only the most relevant information – essential facts or figures. The same basic facts and figures should be repeated later to reinstate the same.
• The PowerPoint presentation must not be huge and it must not contain slides with 50 line of text. The maximum size if around 15 slides in one PowerPoint presentation. Avoid using too much text on one slide. The best way to present information on one slide is to use bullet points.
• Apply the right layout for your slides. The title must be on the top of it. Key points go from left to right. It is recommended to present the most relevant information on the top of each slide.
• What you are telling must be displayed on the screen at the very same moment. Not earlier and not later.
• Colours must be chosen wisely. It is better to use contrasting colours for text and background like black/ blue and white/ beige. Bright colours like orange or red are very hard to read especially in a big room. People sitting in the back will not see anything.
• Do not be afraid to experiment with design. Preparing presentation for university course has its benefits – you can do it with a more creative approach. You can use the picture, photos and non-traditional fonts. When using images from the internet, be careful as copyright might protect some. Download images from reliable sources as http://www.cannypic.com/vectors-photos/design.html to make sure that you are not breaking the law. Moreover, pictures must be of a high quality otherwise, they can be blurred when being displayed.
• Take a particular template to make your PowerPoint presentation look fresh and attractive. The Internet offers a bunch of useful templates for free and for the reasonable price.
• Rehearse your presentation. No matter how well you think you know the subject, rehearse it to make sure you will not get lost by a short question or something distracting.
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At first glance Kyrgyzstan and Ghana appear to have very little in common except for the fact that they are both geographically rather small countries with large lakes. A second glance will show that overall that most people living in both Kyrgyzstan and Ghana are quite poor in comparison to most countries in the world. In 2013 out of 187 independent states the IMF ranked Kyrgyzstan as number 146 in terms of PPP and Ghana as number 138. Other similarities, however, are not immediately apparent. Ghana is clearly a post-colonial country that was one of the early leaders of the various Pan-African and Afro-Asian solidarity movements and later the Non-Aligned Movement that defined the Third World. Kyrgyzstan in contrast was part of the USSR and hence clearly a Second World country at least until independence was forced upon it. The relative poverty of Kyrgyzstan is thus quite new. During the 1960s not only was Kyrgyzstan richer than Ghana it was also richer than Iran (ranked 78 in 2013) and Turkey (ranked 67 in 2013). Its development along socialist lines further meant that it had a much more equal distribution of wealth than Ghana as well as a much higher literacy rate. The building of infrastructure, industry, schools, and hospitals as well as the provision of salaries, wages, services, and benefits in Kyrgyzstan was heavily subsidized from other regions of the USSR prior to 1991. Ghana on the other hand both before and after independence was unable to access the level of capital provided to the Kyrgyz SSR by Moscow. Its economy followed a rather typical colonial and post-colonial model of dependency and poverty despite efforts by its first president, Kwame Nkrumah, to break this cycle from 1957 to 1966.
A closer look, however, reveals that the state formation of both Ghana under colonial rule and Kyrgyzstan as part of the USSR has far more in common than appears at first. In both cases the boundaries of the states were largely created by a single outside power out of territory conquered from the indigenous populations in stages. The state of Ghana granted independence on 6 March 1957 consisted of four separate territories. These were the original Gold Coast Colony along the coast, Asante around Kumasi, the Northern Territory, and finally British Togoland. The territory that became Kyrgyzstan in contrast was annexed by the Russian Empire in two stages. The northern half between 1855 and 1868 and the southern half by 1876. Pishpek was incorporated into the Russian Empire in 1863 and the Ala-Too Cinema on Chui Prospekt was built in 1963 to commemorate the centenary of this event. The creation of borders by outside powers has led to a number of problems for both states following their independence. In particular their small size has led to economic difficulties once severed from the greater markets of the British Empire and USSR respectively. These imposed borders, however, enclosed two very different types of state formations in the cases of Ghana and Kyrgyzstan. In Ghana a multi-ethnic state emerged while the Soviets purposely created Kyrgyzstan like all other national-territorial formations in the union as the homeland of a single essentialized ethnic group.
Another similarity between Kyrgyzstan and Ghana that is not readily apparent without some historical digging is that despite all of its claims to be granting the Kyrgyz and other non-Russian nationalities national self-determination, the Soviet policy of korenizatsiia (indigenization) looks to be nothing more than the logical conclusion of the policy of indirect rule imposed upon the Gold Coast and other West African colonies by Lord Lugard. Whether Soviet rule over Kyrgyzstan constituted colonialism is a contentious issue that revolves around whether one considers the core of colonial rule to be economic or political. In a political sense Kyrgyzstan was just as much subordinated to a Russian dominated Moscow as the Gold Coast colony was to an English dominated London. The local elite in Kyrgyzstan executed political and economic policies formulated in Moscow and had no real autonomy in these spheres. Where Soviet policy towards Kyrgyzstan appeared radically different from British policy towards its colonies has already been described above. There was a net flow from the center to periphery in the case of the USSR with the richer European areas heavily subsidizing the poorer Asian ones. The economic exploitation of the periphery by the metropolis that characterized classic colonialism was missing in the case of Soviet rule of Kyrgyzstan and other Central Asian republics. Instead you had politically subordinated areas ruled by indigenous representatives of the metropolitan power that benefited heavily from a net flow of economic resources from the center to the periphery. Thus Soviet rule over these territories resembled colonial rule in political terms, but not economic ones. Voselensky has described this situation as semi-colonial. In terms of political self rule the non-Russian republics of the USSR had no more real autonomy from Moscow than most European colonies in Africa. Central Asia, however, was free from the economic exploitation that marked the European colonies. Instead of suffering from a net extraction of resources from their political masters, the Central Asians, especially the Kyrgyz benefited from receiving a net influx of capital from other regions of the USSR.
Despite this key economic difference, there were significant similarities between Soviet rule over Kyrgyzstan and the British policy of indirect rule in the Gold Coast in the political and cultural spheres. This is hardly surprising considering that ultimately every colonial venture required some degree of indigenous collaboration to work. What is unusual about the Soviet case is that Central Asia like Algeria had a very large settler population at the time of the Bolshevik Revolution. That the Soviets prudently opted for a strategy that stressed indirect rule through indigenous cadres over direct rule by Russian settlers shows they had a much greater understanding of how to maintain political rule over their non-European territories than did the British or the French in similar situations.
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The mid 1860s saw several powers intervening in the chaos that was Mexico, France, Spain, the United States and Britain, but perhaps one of the most unlikely was Austria-Hungary. The simple reason was that the French candidate for the throne was an Austrian duke, Maximillian, brother of the Emperor. To back him up 6,400 troops were sent with him. These were volunteers, attracted by high pay, and in the case of officers, a rank one above whatever they were in the Austrian army.
Notwithstanding the fact that an army from a cold central European country was campaigning in the tropics, it was actually quite a well balanced and well thought out force, composed of experienced troops and officers with many years experience fighting Italians, and the French. 3 Jager (rifle) battalions, each of 6 companies, Hussar and Uhlan (lancer) regiments (each of 5 squadrons) and 3 mountains artillery batteries armed with 3 pdr guns. This was the Austrian Legion, well suited for counter insurgency work.
The volunteers mustered in Ljubljana and marched to Trieste from where they sailed across the Atlantic. From the French controlled port of Vera Cruz they marched 250 miles inland, their first experiance of Mexican conditions. They were heading to Puebla, to be brigaded with various Mexican units, under the command of the Austrian Major General Thun.
The importance of Puebla was that it lay on the road from Veracruz, traditional site for invading Mexico, to the capital Mexico City. Consequently when the French made clear their desire to annex Mexico it was heavily fortified. On the 5th of May 1862 the French attacked, expecting an easy victory, 6,500 advancing with artillery support against 4,500, but the Republican Mexican troops held out against 3 assault's, and then counter attacked with cavalry earning a crushing victory. May 5th is a holiday in Mexico to this day. Unfortunately, next year almost to the day, the French attacked again with 30,000 men and stormed the city. What was left was given over to the Austrians to garrison.
General Thun had been wounded fighting the French at Solferino just a few years earlier, so it is perhaps not surprising that he resisted coming under French control at Puebla, even indirectly as part of the Imperial army. The Austrian legion was strongly independent. The commander of the artillery, Anton Weinhara, built a self sufficient arsenal in Puebla, with even a carriage workshop and tannery.
In October 1867 a visiting Austrian lady described the barracks in Puebla as very dirty, but the countryside as "charming" with "green maize fields, and between them gigantic cactuses in the full splendour of their gorgeous blossoms and other exotic flowers. all around were high mountains, and amongst them the highest peaks of all America, viz, Popocatepetl, the Sierra Nevada and the peak of Orizaba, all of them of course covered in snow".
Arms & uniforms
Without any tropical experience, the Austrians made it up as they went along. Most cultivated a "wild" appearance, with large shaggy beards and all foot troops wore a simple dark blue loose shirt. Vests and baggy trousers were dark red, and hats were either light grey felt (with grey plumes for the jagers), simple red caps, or even sometimes sombreros. The cavalry were slightly more ornate, the Hussars with dark green attilas with white braid over the ubiquitous blue shirt, small grey felt hats and tight red trousers. The Uhlans wore dark green jackets and baggy trousers, and again sometimes sombreros on campaign. Arms were of Austrian Lorenz make, either short rifles for the Jagers or pistols for the cavalry, who of course also had swords or lances, and officers usually supplied their own side arms. The one weakness was that the cavalry were trained for European warfare, they were good at scouting but very few had carbines and their pistols were single shot. Any fighting, at least initially, was done with the blade. They also had to find horses. Local Mexican horses were good quality, but smaller than those they were used to in Europe.
This was the Austrian legion, good professional troops, but about to enter a very bitter civil war. As we shall see, they saw plenty of action.
Osprey have a book thats a good source for uniforms, The Mexican Adventure 1861-7
The Austro Hungarian army site has an interesting series of officer biographies (http://www.austro-hungarian-army.co.uk/)
There is another good site (in German) at
There are also several books in Google Books that give the Austrian point of view, with some contempory reports. These are often in German, but can be easily translated into English on the web...
Mexiko oder Republik und Kaiserreich
Patriotism, Politics, and Popular Liberalism in Nineteenth Century Mexico
My diary in Mexico in 1867 including the last days of the Emperor
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It's also big. Its basically a smaller version of Uranus and Neptune -- a small ice giant with an envelope of hydrogen and helium. It's been calculated to be equal to 3.7 Earth radii. The Earth's radius, the distance from the core to the surface, is a little under 4000 miles. That means Planet 9 is almost 30,000 miles across. In other words if you were to drive nonstop, 24 hours a day at 70mph, it would take you nearly 40 days to get back to where you started while only taking about 15 days to circumnavigate the Earth.
For more information:
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It had powered rear wheels for highway use, and all four wheels could be retracted when the vehicle was in flight.
Wing design was unique. Each of the wings extended from a wing-root structure at the rear of the fuselage where a vertical stabilizer and rudder were mounted on each side.
Outboard from that assembly each wing consisted of two panels.
The first step in folding the wings was to unlock the panels and fold the outer one in on top of the inner panel. Next, the two were folded up beside the vertical stabilizer to create a kind of panel sandwich.
One of the removable canards could then be stowed inboard of each of the vertical stabilizers, or if preferred, they could be stowed behind the rear seats in the cabin.
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By the Tene, which rises in 13° W.
Its name is said to be derived from Saxon tene, a beacon or fire (probably from the number of watch-fires existing on this easily ravaged coast), and numerous remains of Saxon occupation have been found, as at Osengal near Ramsgate.
The name, of which the Tene, Tayne and Thane are older forms. is derived from the Icelandic thing, " assembly" or "court."
116) they comprised as many as 112 different tribes, and from the remains discovered in the tombs at Hallstatt, La Tene and other places, they appear to have been fairly civilized.
In art, these tribes possessed a native Late Celtic fashion, descended from far-off Mediterranean antecedents and more directly connected with the La-Tene culture of the continental Celts.
It is not unlikely that, as tradition states, there were incursions of Celts from central Gaul into Ireland during the general Celtic unrest in the 6th century B.C. It is certain that at a later period invaders from the continent, bringing with them the later Iron Age culture, commonly called La Tene, which had succeeded that of Hallstatt, had settled in Ireland.
Not only are relics of La Tene culture found in Ireland, but the oldest Irish epics celebrate tall, fair-haired, grey-eyed heroes, armed and clad in Gallic fashion, who had come from the continent.
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|3 credits. While there are many different approaches to understanding and managing complex environmental problems, most involve several major steps: (1) describing/understanding the nature of the problem and its causes; (2) using technical, policy, social, and other management tools/processes to help address it; while (3) recognizing/making the value judgments embedded in each (what problems/data are "important"? what solutions are "best"?). The purpose of this introductory course is to illustrate how an M.E.M. student might integrate scientific understanding with management choices as part of an effort to address any particular environmental issue over time. Ideally, it should help students choose areas of specialization, as well as improve their ability to engage in integrative problem solving—both in their final term and after they graduate. The class is focused on water issues, but the integrative structure of the course could be used on other problems as well. The class is built around a case-study approach, in which the faculty bring their different perspectives to bear on understanding and addressing the issues raised in a diverse set of cases, including the protection of New York City's drinking water supply; the arsenic problem in Bangladesh's drinking water supplies; and the "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico. Three hours lecture, one hour discussion.
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So, we have to feed an extra 2.5 billion people by 2050. For those of us interested in the future of biodiversity on this planet, this poses an uncomfortable challenge. It is also the topic of a recent paper in Science by Ben Phalan and colleagues at Cambridge University.
Clearly, we need to ramp up food production considerably but how will we do this?
Simply put, there are two options:
1) convert more land for agriculture;
2) increase yields from existing agricultural land.
Of course we will end up doing a bit of both (it will be interesting to see whether we can actually reach our food production target either way – but that is another story).
But is one or the other approach better from the perspective of biodiversity conservation?
Should we be encouraging intensification of agriculture, to get the most out of every farmed hectare, and spare as much “natural” habitat as possible (known as “land sparing”)?
Or should we be encouraging “land sharing”: using “wildlife-friendly” farming, despite such methods generally producing smaller yields? (Of course, smaller yields mean more land conversion is needed to produce the same amount of food.)
The “land sparing vs. land sharing” debate is not new, but Phalan’s study is a neat analysis using data on birds and trees from Ghana and India.
Phalan and colleagues tackled the question: as food production (measured in both energy value and profit) is ramped up, do more species win from land sparing, or from land sharing?
This debate is something we all partake in every time we buy (or choose not to buy) a product such as chocolate from shade-grown plantations.
Many studies have shown that intensive agricultural methods generally result in poorer outcomes for wildlife, compared to less-intensive approaches.
Also, production systems such as shade-grown cacao tend to provide much better habitat than conventional monocultures (agriculture where just one species is grown).
What this research should prompt us to think about, though, is the impact beyond the operation in question.
If yields are lower in such wildlife-friendly systems, then, given rising global demand, such low-yield operations might simply increase pressure to convert more land elsewhere.
Phalan and colleagues estimated the yields from low- and high-intensity farming, and worked out how much more land would need to be cleared to make up for lower yields in low-intensity systems.
They used information on birds and trees in landscapes with different levels of production output to project how different species’ population sizes would respond to different ways of using the land.
While shifting from low- to high-intensity farming is generally bad for wildlife, shifting from forest to even low-intensity farming is generally disastrous.
As agricultural output increases, there are two possible scenarios. If production intensity is ramped up but forest conversion is minimised, far fewer species decline dramatically. If land is shared, species decline more rapidly.
So, for birds and trees in Ghana and India, the answer was clear – there are simply far more species which stand to lose from land sharing than land sparing.
Despite some of the media reaction, there are two things the study does not do. It does not trash organic agriculture, nor does it shed much light on whether agri-environment schemes, such as those mandated by the European Union, are a waste of money.
European agro-ecosystems are fundamentally different from recently converted forests. In Europe, traditional agricultural practices have operated for millennia, and modern conservation goals in Europe are generally entwined with those agroecosystems.
On the other side of the equation, there is far greater potential for increased yields in Ghanaian farming systems than those in Europe (or Australia).
So it seems likely there would be more “winners” from wildlife-friendly farming in Europe than in a region from which most of the forest system has been cleared within the past hundred years.
Nevertheless, it remains important to explore not only the benefits of such schemes for particular species within Europe, but also the possible “land leakage”. Does wildlife-friendly farming in Europe add to pressure for land conversion (and potentially species loss) elsewhere in the world? And which path should we follow in Australia?
Just as conservation action in one place might simply move development pressure to another place, intensification has its own effects on the environment. These were not accounted for by Phalan and colleagues.
Intensive agriculture often relies on significant fertiliser use (especially in Australia), increased fuel use, and chemicals (although some of the “low-intensity” systems they studied involved high chemical use, too).
All of these things affect biodiversity well beyond the tilled field, but their impacts are difficult to quantify.
And what of the long-term sustainability of the production systems themselves?
If we choose intensive farming, will the less-biodiverse system be less resilient and decline in productivity, requiring us to clear more land anyway?
Finally, if we take Australia as an example, there are many species (such as the superb parrot or south-eastern red-tailed black-cockatoo) we could lose entirely if we don’t invest in their conservation on farmed land.
There can never be a single, simple answer to the “land sharing vs. land sparing” debate. In fact, we still have more questions than answers.
But they are important questions – and we need to keep trying to answer them if we are to have our biodiversity and eat, too.
Want to know how land sharing and land sparing plays out in Australia? Read: “A global juggling act”
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If you would like to submit an article for this page, please email Kika Hillstrom, Head of Research, at email@example.com
Republished From Treehugger.com
By Melissa Breyer
A new study says that since 1984, heightened temperatures and aridity have caused fires to spread across twice as much area as they would have otherwise.
Growing up in the foothills of Los Angeles’ San Gabriel Mountains, fires were just part of life. Some days we would wake up and the hills would just be a patchwork of raging flames and the cars would be covered in a layer of ash. But it never seemed as bad as it does now; I figured this was just a matter of adult versus child perspective.
But now a new study from Columbia University says that fires really are worse. And not only that, but that human-induced climate change is to blame. The researchers say that climate change is responsible for doubling the area affected by forest fires in the U.S. West since 1984. Thanks to heightened temperatures and the ensuing aridity, fires have reached across an additional 16,000 square miles than they otherwise would have. The authors warn of a bleak fire future in coming decades that will accompany further warming.
"No matter how hard we try, the fires are going to keep getting bigger, and the reason is really clear," said study coauthor Park Williams, a bioclimatologist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. "Climate is really running the show in terms of what burns. We should be getting ready for bigger fire years than those familiar to previous generations."
In the 1980s fires in the west took an abrupt leap in terms of area burned, the number of large fires, and length of the fire season. These troublesome increases have continued, and recently scientists and public officials have in part blamed human-influenced climate change. The researchers wanted to quantify the problem. "A lot of people are throwing around the words climate change and fire – specifically, last year fire chiefs and the governor of California started calling this the 'new normal,' " says lead author John Abatzoglou, a professor of geography at the University of Idaho. "We wanted to put some numbers on it."
The researchers looked at the overall fire increase since the 80s and used a complex set of models to determine how much of the increase was due to climate change and what was due to other factors, they say. The other factors include a long-term natural climate oscillation over the Pacific Ocean that has pushed storms away from the western part of the country. Another factor is in firefighting itself. “By constantly putting out fires, authorities have allowed areas they "saved" to build up more dry fuel, which later ignites, causing ever more catastrophic blazes,” says Abatzoglou. "We're seeing the consequence of very successful fire suppression, except now it's not that successful anymore."
Williams and Abatzoglou say the study doesn't take into consideration other factors that could be offshoots of climate warming, and so may be understating the effect. Things like millions of trees killed in recent years by beetles that thrive in warmer weather, and declines in spring soil moisture brought on by earlier snowmelt.
This summer saw tremendous fires – around 3 million acres burned across the country, mostly in the West and across to the Dakotas and down into Texas. Some experts predict that the fall could be even worse as it’s a time of dangerous conditions; desert winds meeting fuels that have been drying for many months.
Many scientists believe the expansion of western fires will persist for years. Eventually, Williams and others predict, so many western forests will burn that they will become too broken up for fires to spread easily. But, Williams says, "there's no hint we're even getting close to that yet. I'd expect increases to proceed exponentially for at least the next few decades." In the meantime, he says, "It means getting out of fire's way. I'd definitely be worried about living in a forested area with only one road in and one road out."
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I can hear but I can't understand
Have you had this experience or has a loved one or a friend mentioned that they can hear but not understand what others are saying to them? Most often, hearing loss affects the high frequency sounds a person hears. As a result, patients can have difficulty clearly understanding what other people are saying. Often patients can hear vowels just fine, but consonant sounds of F, S, T, and X are difficult to hear. Additionally, sounds like a woman's or child's voice, or a bird chirping are often lost. Losing hearing in those frequencies means that those sounds are softer and unclear.
Imagine removing all the high keys on a piano and asking someone to play a well-known melody. Even with only six or seven keys missing, the melody might be difficult to recognize. People with hearing loss experience a similar variation of the soundtrack of their lives every day.
Identifying hearing loss can be tricky
Because most cases of hearing loss develop gradually, it’s common for people affected to not recognize it. The sounds of chirping birds or rustling leaves disappear without them noticing. Only after it starts to affect speech recognition and communication do they become aware of the problem. With this delay, it’s important to treat hearing loss as soon as it is recognized.
When hearing loss is left uncorrected, it will begin to impact life in more substantial ways. Studies show that people with hearing loss are more likely to experience sadness, fear, depression and anxiety – all of which can cause them to withdraw from normal personal interaction.
Early intervention is important
The sooner steps are taken to manage hearing loss, the easier it will be to determine a solution. Our ability to hear is centered in the brain, and the longer it is deprived of certain sounds, the harder it will be to retrain the brain to hear these sounds later. Hearing aids can prevent or reduce the impact of this deterioration.
Receiving treatment can improve one’s quality of life dramatically. People who use hearing aids report these benefits: greater self-confidence, closer relationships with loved ones, and improved outlook on life.
Hearing Loss has been linked to:
- Increased irritability and/or anger
- Increased tension and stress
- Reduced alertness and increased risk to personal safety
- Impaired memory
- An inability to learn new tasks
- Reduced job performance and earning power
How You Hear - Ear Anatomy
- The outer ear catches sound waves and directs them into the ear canal.
- The sound waves are amplified by the canal's funnel-like shape.
- When the waves hit the eardrum they create vibrations, which in turn move the tiny ossicles bones (commonly referred to as the hammer, anvil, and stirrup).
- The ossicles convey the vibrations through the middle ear to the "oval window" the membrane between the middle and inner ear.
- The spiral-shaped inner ear is called the cochlea. It's lined with thousands of microscopic hair cells that convert the sound energy into electrical signals. These signals travel on nerve pathways to the brain where they are finally interpreted.
Most hearing loss occurs when the tiny hair cells in the inner ear bend or break. Physicians believe that prolonged exposure to loud noises and heredity are the main factors that contribute to hearing loss over time. Other causes of the damage can be related to: viral infections in the inner ear, medical treatments like chemotherapy and radiation, hear injury or age.
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Horses' sensitive hearing makes them more reactive to loud sounds - like fireworks
Kathy Lundberg | Contributor
The Fourth of July is a time to celebrate our great nation. For many people, this means attending a community fireworks display, or shooting a few off at home.
Hopefully, any fireworks are set off at a safe distance from barns, due to fire hazard. Even when they are far away, fireworks can be loud enough to scare a usually calm horse into a worried frenzy.
Horses have a good sense of hearing. They hear all the sounds we hear, plus about another half octave higher. Their ears can swivel 180 degrees, independently of each other.
The ear is made of stiff cartilage, and is funnel shaped. Its shape channels the sound from one direction, shielding and diminishing the background noise.
Horses’ ears have soft short hairs on the outside, which lie flat, like on the body in general. The hairs inside the ear are longer and stiff, and do not lie flat.
Some horses and ponies get exuberant tufts of hair coming out near the base of their ears reminiscent of an old man in need of a trip to the barber. These hairs help keep insects out, and also act as sensory devices.
The slightest touch on the ear hair generally triggers a reflex whereby the horse flicks its ears or shakes its head, serving to dislodge small, unwelcome intruders. We work with horses to overcome this instinct so that we can get the bridle over their heads, put on fly masks or clean their ears. Some people clip the ear hair for a neater look in the show ring.
The ear canal continues on from where we see it disappear straight down into the head for a couple inches, then changes direction horizontally, as it proceeds toward the brain. The inner workings of the ear are similar in all mammals, even if they look quite different on the outside.
The ear canal ends at the ear drum. Behind this is the middle ear with its three little bones: the hammer, the anvil and the stirrup, named after their shapes. The inner ear has three tiny fluid filled loops oriented in different planes, which help the animal determine up from down. The cochlea is the snail-shaped organ that actually transmits the sound wave into a signal which the brain can understand.
How well an animal hears depends on how well it needs to hear. Horses need to know if a predator is sneaking up on them. Their sensitive hearing makes them averse to loud noises. Horses in competition often use earplugs of to dampen sound so they can stay focused on the matter at hand.
Hearing is one thing, and localizing sound is another. A predator like a cat needs to know exactly what kind of sound is being made and where exactly it is coming from. Kitty patiently waits and gathers the information on volume, source and location so she can pounce on that mouse in the grass and obtain her meal.
Horses have keen hearing, but they have even keener eyesight. When a horse hears a noise, it generally looks to see where the sound came from. They do not need to have as precise knowledge as the cat. They need to know enough to run in the opposite direction, thereby avoiding becoming a meal. Run first, ask questions later.
These facts help us understand why horses may seem easily “spooked” or more concerned about sounds that we do not worry about. Police horses and horses used for gun sports must be taught to overcome their natural reactions to gun shots and other loud stimuli.
Some horses are more reactive than others. Arabians tend to be quite reactive; Shetland ponies much less so. Individual horses worry more than others within the same breed.
1.) Never set off fireworks anywhere close to a barn! Review your farm’s fire safety procedures; be sure you have appropriate fire extinguishers. We are emphasizing hearing in this article, but fire safety is paramount!
2.) Check your fences and facilities to be sure they are in good repair and will hold your horses.
3.) If you have any concerns regarding your neighbor’s holiday activities, share your concerns in a friendly manner BEFORE the fireworks start.
4.) Know where your horses are most comfortable. Some horses get more anxious inside the barn than outside, but outside you may have additional visual stimuli. Horses will generally feel most secure when they are together with their usual companions in a familiar place.
5.) Consider playing some gentle music on the radio in the stable.
6.) If your barn is likely to be loud, consider putting cotton in the ears of horses who get anxious. If you have a horse with a history of panicking at loud noises, consider asking your veterinarian for a sedative. Better yet, work with your horse during the course of the year to desensitize him. Some owners have gone so far as to relocate their horses during the Fourth of July to a more remote and quiet place.
Horses have sensitive ears with excellent hearing but are not as accurate in localizing sound as some other animals. This makes them more reactive to loud noises, of which the Fourth of July usually abounds.
A few simple precautions can help keep your horses safe and calm. Why are we humans so enthralled with startling sights and loud sounds in the first place?
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Appropedia needs your support - Please Donate Today
Almond trees (Prunus dulcis, Prunus amygdalus) are deciduous trees that grow to about 6 metres in height. They produce an edible seed, the almond. They are a reasonably cold hardy tree and as such, can be grown in many parts of the world.
The almond tree is native to the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and North Africa.
Growing almond trees
The almond tree needs about 300 to 500 chill hours to produce almonds, so be sure that will be possible where you're growing the tree(s). In turn, the preferred summer is hot and dry (humid temperatures tend to cause the tree to be susceptible to disease).
The tree can be grown in many soil types, provided the soil drains well as the tree does not tolerate wet feet.
Always plant at least two trees to ensure pollination, as it cannot self-pollinate.
To be expanded.
It takes about 3 to 4 years before the first almond crop appears.
In the southern hemisphere, almonds can be harvested in March to April (late summer to late autumn)
Uses for almonds
A major food crop.
Almonds have many culinary uses, include for baking, confectionery, salads, etc. They can eaten raw or cooked.
Almonds can be turned into oil.
Almond flavouring is commonly used in baking, including bitter almonds.
Sources and citations
|This page is a "stub" - it needs more content.
You are invited to.
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If you belong in that category of people who believe that skipping breakfast may eliminate some calories, then you should think twice before doing so.
That’s because many research suggests that, among other things, a nutritious food consumed in the morning helps to control your weight, increase work mental capacity and decreases the risk of heart disease or diabetes.
That’s why you should give your body a breakfast every day.
More nutrients than lunch or dinner:
Choosing the right food in the morning, you can benefit from more essential nutrients such as fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals than lunch or dinner. For example, if you opt for whole grains (with milk) instead of white flour products you get a consistent amount of fiber that help lower cholesterol, protect the heart and stimulates digestion.
Also a good choice is the oatmeal (indicated would be to have at least five grams of fiber per serving).
In addition, a portion of proteins is also essential, such as a hard-boiled egg or yogurt, and low-fat, which is beneficial to the body – especially the brain. Is indicated vegetable (oil) and not be hydrogenated (found in margarine in particular).
Some foods should be avoided like cereals with added sugar and, in general, all products with added sugar.
You feel full for longer:
Without this meal of the day is increased the risk of obesity, according to several specialists. The most likely explanation is that when the body does not get food in the morning, this triggers cravings for foods high in calories, such as baked goods and fast food.
A key factor is the fact that these products are often reached easier than healthy foods (most institutions and office buildings are near bakeries and fast foods, or opposite, if you prefer so).
So if you eat a healthy breakfast you forget about hunger for several hours, thus avoiding those cravings for highly caloric snacks.
Am indicated breakfast variant can be: one egg (preferably boiled), two slices of whole grain bread and a glass of sweet milk or yogurt.
You have more energy:
Breakfast stimulate metabolism which helps burn calories faster, and provide energy for a big part of the day, especially if you exercise.
When the body does not receive food for 10-12 hours (during evening and night), but is subject to a morning exercise, is consuming the last reserves of carbohydrates (sometimes they are not even sufficient, so many people feel they don’t have the power to exercise in the morning if they do not eat).
Also, some research has suggested that eating more often but less, is the rate at which the body burns calories more quickly.
You are more efficient:
Some foods rich in vitamin B, such as oatmeal, bananas, pineapple and avocado, helps to have more efficiency and energy. Vitamin B improves concentration and helps you think more clearly through the day.
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Homeopathy is an alternative branch of medicine that was invented at the end of the 18th century by Samuel Hahnemann, a man who believed that the dilution of a substance increases its potency. Since 1988, homeopathic medicine has not been regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, allowing it to develop in interesting and unusual ways. But while some patients swear by homeopathic treatments, many health professionals view the unproven alternative medicine as a money-making scheme backed only by pseudoscience.
Homeopathic medicine is made up of a combination of water that dissolves the active ingredient, and a few benign inactive ingredients. These unproven treatments are not usually regarded as dangerous, but as they continue to be marketed as cures for diseases, the FDA has finally decided to put its foot down. Hearings began in Washington in April to determine if manufacturers of homeopathic medicine would have to prove their products are a safe and effective treatment option.
Homeopathy includes a broad range of alternative cures, such as naturopathic medicines, ayurvedic medicines, eastern treatments like acupuncture, and much more. These treatments are sold as cures for issues as manageable as asthma, or even for diseases as serious as ebola. Despite its popularity, researchers worldwide extensively studied the effectiveness of homeopathic medicine and found that it does not work.
The scientific community believes that a positive response to a homeopathic treatment is directly caused by the placebo effect, which is defined as the phenomenon that occurs when a patient is given an inactive substance but sees an improvement in their condition. In summary, the patient believed it would work, so it did.
Health investigators in the United Kingdom and Australia have concluded that homeopathy does not work, urging the United States to follow suit. In Canada, a law called the Ontario Homeopathy Act calls for a new kind of self-regulation. However, critics believe that this new law is not a solid form of regulation. On the other hand, some advocates of homeopathic medicine are in support of the new evaluations, believing that the altered restrictions will weed out the frauds.
It appears likely that the state of homeopathic medicine will change, but the question of how much remains. It’s possible that the new regulations will require more detailed labeling and added consumer warnings. But if the harder route is taken, homeopathic remedies will be held to the same standards, and undergo the same tests, as scientifically proven pharmaceuticals and treatments.
Big Pharma Controversy
There are skeptics saying to “follow the money.” They are saying that the push to regulate homeopathic remedies is backed by Big Pharma funding. The belief is that pharmaceutical companies do not want competition from alternative sources.
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About the speaker:
Garfield Gini-Newman is a senior national consultant with the Vancouver-based Critical Thinking Consortium and a professor with the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. He has worked with thousands of teachers across Canada, the US and the Caribbean to help them frame learning around engaging and provocative activities and authentic assessments. Garfield’s background includes 5 years as a curriculum consultant for the York Region District School and 7 years as a department head in history and contemporary studies. He has authored numerous articles, chapters in books, and textbooks on a range of topics, including critical thinking and Canadian history. He has also taught at York University and the University of British Columbia.
Consider all the learning opportunities that are lost every day when teachers don’t fully engage their students in critical thinking. It is not enough for teachers to engage students in critical thinking some of the time or much of the time. Critical thinking should be embedded in the learning that takes place in the classroom throughout the day. Learn how to build on the ways you already invite your students to engage in active inquiry with lots of ideas, insights and motivation on how to expand the role of critical thinking in your classroom.
- Make critical and creative thinking the foundation and driver of learning rather than its desired outcome
- Create a learning environment that nurtures innovation and risk taking
- Strategies for building content knowledge through invitations to think
- 6 ways to frame activities so that they invite critical inquiry
- The central role of a set of criteria when engaging in critical thinking
- How to nurture the 5 intellectual tools and competencies needed for quality thinking and success in the 21st century
- How to help students incorporate critical thinking in all learning activities, from note-taking and selection of resources, to reading and responding
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Bulbs are reproduced for a number of reasons. Professional gardening companies create more bulbs for commercial sale to home gardeners and professional landscapers. Private gardeners propagate bulbs to increase their stock cheaply, and flower enthusiasts multiply rare specimens for their own collections or to trade with other bulb lovers. There are several ways that bulbs can be propagated: from seed, from bulb offshoots, and from parts of the bulb.
Propagating bulb plants from seed is the easiest method to propagate bulbs. However, this method is best used when propagating a natural variety plant. Seeds of hybrid plants may revert back to one of the natural grandparent plants, rather than emulating the parent species of plant. In winter or early spring, start seeds of hearty bulbs in flats and leave in cold frames. These plants may start growing in the spring, but in some instances may not grow for two springs. Seeds of tender bulbs are best started indoors.
Healthy bulbs naturally increase by forming bulblets at the base, subdividing to form two bulbs, or forming one or more new bulbs to replace an older, dying bulb. As time goes by, a bulb's bed may become crowded. To encourage new flowering and to reduce crowding, dig up the flower bed and divide the bulbs. Move the newer bulbs to new beds as new bulb stock, and replant the older ones. Thinning bulb stock in this way is recommended for tulips and irises. However, bulblets should not be divided until they have completed one full growing season attached to the parent plant. Plant these bulblets in soil where conditions are favorable for the plant to thrive, which may mean planting them in a nursery bed for a season or two.
Bulb Cutting or Scaling
Some bulbs--such as the onion, tulip, daffodil or hyacinth--have fleshy, leaf-like layers. Injuring these bulbs will cause them to produce multiple bulblets from one parent bulb. Some examples of injuring the bulb include scooping out the inside of the bulb, scoring the bottom of the bulb, coring the bulb, or sectioning the bulb in pie-shaped wedges. In countries such as Holland, where bulb production is a major industry, this type of propagation is common. Other bulbs, such as the lily, seem to possess scales. These scales can be separated into individual bulbs that will each produce a new plant.
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Agaves are succulent plants native to the United States and South America. They bloom only once before they die, and this can take as long as 50 years, although most types bloom within 10 years. Yellow, gold or red flowers appear on tall flower spikes beneath large rosettes of thick, fleshy leaves. Popular for planting along property lines and as borders, agave plants need only minimal care to thrive in most areas. They can be grown outdoors year-round only in the warmest climates, but make excellent container plants in other areas.
Plant agaves outdoors in late spring or early summer in zones 10-11 only. Choose a planting location that receives full sun to light shade and has average, well-drained soil. Plant agaves in containers in all other zones, as they are hardy only to 40 degrees F. Use a potting mix formulated specifically for succulents.
Water agave plants thoroughly after planting and continue to apply water once every four days for the first month of growth. Water deeply once every 10 to 14 days after the first month, allowing the soil to dry out between applications. Reduce watering to once per month during winter.
Feed agaves once per year using an all-purpose slow-release fertilizer according to the instructions on the packaging. Water thoroughly before and after application to prevent root burn or injury. Avoid over-fertilization, as this can damage the plants and even prevent flowering.
Remove dead or damaged leaves any time but do not prune living leaves, as this can encourage fungal infections. Remove the entire plant from the garden or container after blooming, once the rosettes have died.
Move container-grown agaves indoors during winter before the temperatures drop below 40 degrees F. Place them in a cool, dark place such as a basement and water sparingly, no more than once per month. Move the container back outdoors in spring after temperatures have risen above 40 degrees F.
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Rhythm is one of the three building blocks of music theory. Without it, timing wouldn’t exist- much like the basic tablature system lacks timing and rhythm. For music theorists who take the time to learn the three building blocks of music theory- rhythm, harmony, and melody; the payout will be enormous in the long run.
To start off, every song is divided into measures. Measures are small segments separated by bar lines, or vertical slashes. Different types of bar lines mean different things. A single vertical slash simply means the measure is complete, while a double bar line indicaes the section of measures is at an end. Lastly, a terminal bar line indicates the end of a piece of music.
Measures are composed of beats, or counts per measure. Right next to the treble clef is a pair of numbers, which looks like a fraction. The most common is 4/4 time, which simply means there are 4 beats per measure, and each quarter note is a whole beat. This is also seen sparingly as the capital C, which means common time, or 4/4 time. Other timing signatures that are less common may be somewhat harder to play. Essentially, the top number determinesthe beats per measure, and the bottom number indicates the type of note receiving each beat. ¾ timing is defined by 3 beats per measure, with Quarter notes receiving each beat. Likewise, a 6/8 time signature means that each measure is 6 beats, and that the Eighth note receives each beat.
A guitar player will notice that each bottom number can indicate a different duration- but do not be discouraged there are only 5 basic durations to remember. A Whole note is 4 beats, a Half note is 2 beats, a Quarter note is 1 beat, an Eighth note is ½ a beat, and a Sixteenth note is ¼ of a beat. Notice that each step, the timing is halved. This makes learning the systm very easy. Practicing each note with a metronome will give a guitar player the skills necessary to play each note’s duration correctly. In 4/4 time, 4 quarter notes will each take a second to play- this is a nice exercise to practice to get perfect timing.
Of course, guitar players won’t always be pumping out notes and sounds- rests are needed too. The common 5 rests are just like the common note durations, only with different symbols. One thing that can complicate things is the dotted note. A dot placed immediately after the note head increases the duration of th note or rest by one half. Why complicate things? The answer lies in accurate timing. If every note was 1, 2, or 4 beats long, there would be nothing in between each note’s duration. A note with a duration of 3 beats may be needed- and to get this, you add a Half note with a dot (2 beats + one half of two beats = 3 beats).
Ever wonder why some groups of notes have big black beams across them? This is to make reading music much more legible. For instance, say that eight ¼ notes were in succession with each other. It would be tough reading each note, while playing, and keeping track of which note you were on, wouldn’t it? Thi is why notes that are alike or similar are grouped together. These same eight ½ notes can be combines into a group of 4 beamed notes. This can also be done with similar notes, such as one Quarter note and two Eighth notes.
At the end of this lesson, it’s time to bust out the metronome and get to work. Practice timing until it comes as second nature to tell the difference between a whole note and half note is. When timing is perfected, a piece of sheet music can be gazed at, and recreating the song’s exact timing should be no trouble at all. If timing isn’t a strong point in a guitar player’s qualities, then a good metronome will do a world of good.
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During Prohibition in the United States, which took effect 93 years ago this week, many doctors boosted their practices by doling out medicinal alcohol prescriptions. Some went so far as to challenge the legality of dosage limits imposed by federal and state authorities. But were all physicians who criticized these restrictions only in it for the money?
This week marks the 93rd anniversary of the ratification of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the related Volstead Act, which banned the manufacture, sale and transport of intoxicating beverages. Over the next 14 years, seasoned alcoholics and recreational dabblers alike famously flocked to speakeasies—but these illegal saloons weren’t the only places where liquor flowed during the 1920s. In fact, some Americans looked no further than their doctors, who could lawfully write prescriptions for whiskey, brandy and even beer that could be filled at drugstores nationwide.
In June 1917, as the 18th Amendment plodded toward ratification, the American Medical Association aligned itself with the country’s influential temperance movement. It adopted a resolution stating that alcohol’s “use in therapeutics as a tonic or stimulant or for food has no scientific value” and that the organization was
“opposed to the use of alcohol as a beverage.” And finally, the AMA concluded, “the use of alcohol as a therapeutic agent should be further discouraged.” Nevertheless, when Congress passed the Volstead Act two years later, the law included an exception for the medicinal use of alcoholic beverages by patients who obtained a prescription from a licensed physician.
Why did Prohibition’s authors keep the provision on the books even though the medical community had formally dismissed the need for medicinal alcohol? In all likelihood, many of the most fervent teetotalers had grown up soothing their toothaches and calming their coughs with trace amounts of whiskey, brandy or rum. Alcohol had been a widely counseled, readily available and relatively cheap remedy for thousands of years. Healers and doctors in ancient China, Egypt, Greece and Rome—to name just a few civilizations—treated everything from chronic illnesses to migraines to infections with fermented beverages, recognized for their antiseptic and analgesic properties. Even during the American Civil War, field medics used whiskey and other spirits to keep injured soldiers’ pain at bay when they ran out of more powerful opiates.
When Prohibition dawned, many doctors continued to prescribe alcohol for anemia, tuberculosis, pneumonia and high blood pressure, among other disorders. The new laws required them to use special prescription pads issued by the U.S. Treasury Department and regulated how much liquor each patient could receive. (Typically, adults were allotted 1 ounce every few hours after shelling out $3—equal to about $40 today—to a local practitioner.) Records show that some physicians defied the AMA’s resolution and doled out alcohol more frequently than ever before, quite likely in a bid to profit from their rare privilege. (Along with doctors, members of the clergy also retained their right to procure and disseminate liquor under Prohibition, and some are thought to have taken similar advantage of their exemption.)
In the years since the 21st Amendment repealed the 18th, a handful of scholars have argued that money wasn’t the only motivation behind certain doctors’ support of medicinal alcohol during Prohibition. In many cases, physicians in favor of temperance objected to state and federal interference with their profession. Some even went to court to challenge the constraints placed on their prescribing practices; even the AMA, in a 1927 statement denouncing limits on how much medicinal alcohol patients could be given, declared that “legislative bodies composed of laymen should not enact restrictive laws regulating the administration of any therapeutic agent by physicians legally qualified to practice medicine.” Whatever the reasons for these doctors’ resentment of Prohibition enforcement authorities, this battle—like the speakeasy’s colorful history—ended in 1933 when liquor once again became legal.
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Great Personalities » Susan Brownell Anthony
Susan B. Anthony, Women's Rights Activist
Women have always been considered inferior to men because a male-dominated society is the harsh reality of our world. However, this notion has changed and women are emerging from these conventional ideas and helping in shaping the present and future of our societies. None of this would have been possible if not for women like Susan Brownell Anthony; who was not only a feminist and civil rights activist, but played a prominent role in the women’s suffrage movement in the United States. This is one of the most important movements in the history, which helped women gain their right to vote.
Susan was born to Daniel Anthony and Lucy Read on February 15, 1820, in Adams, Massachusetts. The urge to serve the society and bring about social reform ran in the family blood. She was the second eldest child and had six siblings. Two of her brothers, Daniel and Merritt supported the anti-slavery movement and for doing this, they went to Kansas. Susan’s sister, Mary, became a public school principal in Rochester and also a woman’s right activist.
At the age of six, Susan’s family moved to Battenville, New York. Her father managed a large cotton mill here. When Susan Anthony turned 17, she was sent to the Quaker Boarding school where she reluctantly endured the harsh atmosphere.
However, in the panic of 1837, when the economy of US faced a jolt, she was forced to end her studies after one term. Her family also became the victim of the economic depression and they had to sell everything. Fortunately, her maternal uncle bought most of the belongings and rescued them from the tough time. To support her father, Anthony started teaching at the Quaker Boarding school to ease off her father’s debts.
In the year 1845, her family moved to a farm on the outskirts of Rochester, New York that was bought partly with her mother’s inheritance. There, they met other Quaker social reformers and together, in 1848, they formed a new organization called Congregational friends. This soon became a regular Sunday gathering for the local activists to discuss important matters. Anthony met Frederick Douglass, who was a former slave and an abolitionist who later became her lifelong friend. Douglass was also a part of the Sunday gathering.
Antony’s family started attending the services at the First Unitarian Church of Rochester, which focused primarily on social reform. Inspired by the Seneca Falls convention, another women’s rights convention was held in the church in 1848.
Away from all this, Anthony was living a different life at Canajoharie. She had moved there to be the headmistress of the women’s department. She started wearing stylish clothes and wanted social reform. She was also upset with the fact that men were paid more than women for the same type of work. In 1849, the academy at which Anthony was teaching was shut down and she moved back to her family. With the support of her family, she devoted her entire life to reform work. It is even said that she would spend the rest of her life with the money she earned by public speaking.
With full grit and determination, her life’s most important journey had begun. She dedicated her time in learning about the reform issues and eventually she was drawn to the more radical ideas of people like William Lloyd Garrison, George Thompson, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She also started wearing the famous Bloomer dress, which were also called the “reform dress” as they gave women more space to move and breathe, compared to the tight corsets that women were forced to wear.
Anthony was introduced to Elizabeth Cady Stanton, in 1851, who became her closest friends and co-worker. Their partnership was not only important for them, but also for the suffrage movement that would be a prominent turning point in the history of the world. Stanton was one of the organizers of the Seneca Fall convention. Later, she moved to New York City, in 1961 along with her family. Anthony and Stanton spent most of their time together. Some biographers have said that Stanton had spent most of her time with Anthony than with any other adult including her own husband.
Temperance was one of the most troublesome issues of that age. Due to this, the law gave husbands complete control of the family and its finances. This often led to the destruction of the family as women could do little when their husbands were drunkards. In 1853, the World's Temperance Convention was held in New York City, but to no avail as women were not allowed to speak there.
Attending many women’s rights conventions from 1848 to 1852, Anthony focused on this movement, but Suffrage was yet to become the important goal of her life.
Apart from the women’s rights movements, Anthony also helped in the anti-slavery movement, which was the highlight of her time.
In 1868, Anthony and Stanton started “The Revolution” which was a weekly newspaper focusing primarily on women’s rights which included the Suffrage movement. Apart from this, they wrote on other topics like politics, the labor movement, and finance. With the motto of “Men, their rights and nothing more: women, their rights and nothing less”, this newspaper became a forum for women to discuss their opinions on the topic that concerned them. By 1880, Anthony’s efforts had paid off and she became a prominent figure in the US.
The Suffrage movement was one of the reasons why women can vote and Anthony and Stanton had a huge role to play in this epic movement. She never got married her whole life.
After serving the society and living a selfless life, Anthony died at the age of 86 in her Rochester home. She died of a heart failure and pneumonia. She was a leader and feminist in her own right who decided to take charge and change things that bothered her. She is one of the inspirational women that history has given us and we have a lot to learn from her.
Image courtesy: wikitree.com
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Genetically modified organisms, GMOs, are designed to combine favorable genetic traits not usually found together in nature into a single, superior organism. GMO corn of various types has been bioengineered to include genes borrowed from other plants in order to produce better quality corn, resist pests and parasites, produce larger yields and to thrive under a wider range of environmental conditions. Cornell University's Dr. Susan McCouch, associate professor of plant breeding, says GMOs may help to alleviate world hunger and malnutrition.
A 2003 report published in the "Public Library of Science-Biology" describes corn modified to include genes borrowed from a soil bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis, Bt. The bacterium produces a crystal, Cry, protein that disrupts the gut of insects that ingest it. GMO corn now possesses the insect-killing ability. Over 50 related Cry genes have been found that destroy different insect pests. Corn can now be grown where infestation previously destroyed harvests or required large doses of toxic pesticides pumped into the environment, often killing beneficial insects in the process. Huge increases, measured in extra bushels per acre, have been recorded. Bt corn starch, along with GMO soy lecithin, were used in 70 percent of processed foods in 2002.
Corn is subject to plant diseases, including fungi and bacteria. While all plants are susceptible to some diseases, some plants can resist diseases that attack others. Another benefit of GMO corn is described in an International Council for Science, ICSU, report cited by the "Public Library of Science-Biology." Corn bioengineered to carry disease resistance genes from naturally resistant plants contain lower levels of mycotoxins, substances produced by fungi growing on insect-infested, non-GMO corn crops. Myxotoxins are potentially carcinogenic to humans.
Every home gardener and farmer knows that soil will grow weeds as readily as cash crops. Unfortunately, weeds have no commercial or nutritive value and they rob soil nutrients and sunlight from your useful crops. Herbicides kill weeds, but few are selective. They can also damage agricultural produce, too. And when crops do resist herbicides, concern remains that some may be taken up and retained until people eat the food. Agronomists reporting for AgBioWorld describe glyphosate, brand named Roundup, as an example of a weed-killing pesticide to which GMO corn has been made resistant. Similar GMO corn benefits have been developed for other pesticides.
Original GMO Corn
Genetic modification can also refer to simple plant breeding and cross-pollination of ordinary corn plants to combine favorable characteristics. Corn was originally domesticated in Mexico 10,000 years ago by cross-pollination, transforming teosinte, a nondescript grass, into full-eared, modern corn. GMO corn is not new, say the agricultural historians reporting for "Public Library of Science-Biology." The benefits of the first GMO species have been growing for 10 millennia.
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I am always writing about how important getting out in nature is if you want your kids to enjoy math (see this post and this post, for example), so today I am writing about some great outdoor math activities for kids! These are all simple and fun ideas – no special tools or advance planning is needed! These are specific guided activities that you and your child can enjoy together, but I want to stress that free time in nature is also a wonderful way for kids to develop critical thinking and observation skills that will help them excel in math.
Running, spinning, and climbing are all great way to get kids thinking mathematically! Here are some fun active outdoor math games for kids:L
- Spin a certain number of times in one direction, and then “unwind” by spinning the same number of times in the opposite direction. Add some simple science in by testing if you they feel more or less dizzy if they spin fewer times in one direction than the other.
- Measure distances, first by carefully placing one foot in front of the other, then by running, and then by leaping. How many small steps are two trees apart? How many running steps? How many leaps?
- If you have a watch handy, time yourself running different distances. Then see how much longer it takes if you are jumping, skipping, hopping, or running backwards.
Make a Collection
Make a nature collection from whatever you can find lying around. Arrange your collection by size, or weight. Count out how many blades of grace it takes to fill the space of one pine cone. How many wood chips? How many pieces of dirt?
Talk about Shapes
What shapes can you find in your yard, park, or neighborhood? I think of spider webs as being made up of a bunch of lines, but with morning dew present there are a lot more spheres to look at than lines!
How often do you stop with your child to really examine plants and flowers? This kind of careful examination will help your child learn to look for and recognize patterns – another valuable mathematical skill!
Find the Beauty!
Mathematicians see their field as a beautiful art. Math and nature are closely intertwined, and I am convinced that learning to see the nature in the world around us makes all of us better mathematicians!
More Fun Learning Activities for Kids
For parents looking for playful activities that are clearly educational, this book is a great resource:
If you are looking for a home preschool curriculum, ABC & 123 is a wonderful place to start! I contributed to the book, along with some of my favorite early education bloggers. The activities provide a tiny bit of structure in a playful environment where children can explore early literacy and numeracy skills.
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Examples of Invented Forms – Easy to Replicate!
BONUS MATERIAL FROM TOWARD THE HANGING TREE: A CONVERSATION WITH GINNY CONNORS
In Toward the Hanging Tree, Mercy’s poems contain questions directed at her by some of the other girls or young women, and Mercy’s responses to these questions. Call and response? That’s one way to think of these poems, although a more traditional way of thinking about Call and Response poems is when one poem instigates others to write poems “in response” to it.
“Mercy Is Afflicted” takes place when Mercy falls gravely ill after a person she accused of witchcraft, Mary Esty, is allowed to go free. Mary Esty’s status as a witch seems doubtful. Even the girls accusing her expressed a bit of doubt (addressed in the poem following it), but Mercy continued to insist that Goody Esty was guilty of witchcraft.
The form I invented for this poem is a two-line question followed by a one-line response from Mercy, with five three-line stanzas or tercets making up the complete poem. The responses consist of very brief phrases. The end word of the question rhymes with the end word of the response. Since Mercy is fevered and somewhat “out of her head” during this time, the responses suggest this—as if spit out with great emotion but not so much sense.
Look at the first stanza for reference:
Mercy, oh Mercy, your teeth do chatter so—
are you cold?
Cold, cold. Should never have told.
An earlier Mercy Lewis poem “Mercy Lewis Sees the Signs” also uses the technique of questions and responses, but the form is a little different. In this part of the narrative, Mercy presents herself as a sort of expert on the signs of witchcraft, and some of the other girls question her anxiously.
In “Mercy Lewis Sees the Signs” I use separate stanzas for the questions and answers, the questions filing two lines and the responses from Mercy taking up three lines. Within each three-line response stanza, the end words rhyme. I also tried to make sure that at least one person’s name was included in each response. Each of the two-line question stanzas contain Mercy’s name, to emphasize that they are addressed to her. You can see how this works in the first two stanzas:
Mercy, what say you about witches?
What has the talk been, and what do you know?
Last week Jeremiah Bray’s cow jumped four feet in the air.
Anne Russell near fell into the fire; pushed by an enchanted chair.
A broom was lodged high in the Parris’s apple tree. Who put it there?
To differentiate the speakers in these poems, I use italics for Mercy’s voice. I do like the use of repetition and rhyme for a subject matter that might be associated with chants and incantations, but this format could be used for a variety of topics.
To try one of these invented forms, think of two people, characters, or groups that might interact. Make one person or group of people question the other. Then try one of the patterns described above, or invent your own form.
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Admiral Chester Nimitz, the commander of the Pacific Fleet during World War II, became a national hero during the pivotal battle for control of Midway 75 years ago this week, nowhere more than in the Bay Area, where he was a presence before and after the war.
The small but strategic Midway atoll was the target of Japanese invasion forces and Nimitz, planning moves and issuing orders from Pearl Harbor, successfully anticipated and defended against the action. A loss in the battle, which unfolded from June 3 to 7, 1942, and was fought almost entirely in the air, could have decimated what was left of the United States naval strength in the Pacific Theatre after the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. It would also have given Japanese forces a strategic location for possible attacks on the United States.
Instead, the decisive victory that sank four Japanese aircraft carriers allowed the U.S. Navy to go on the offensive and made Nimitz a national name.
Nimitz, named commander of the Pacific Fleet on Dec. 30, 1941, had established the Naval ROTC program at UC Berkeley in the 1920s, and he lived on Santa Barbara Road in Berkeley for several years after the war while continuing his naval duties. Nimitz served on the UC Board of Regents for eight years after the war. He later moved to what is now known as the Nimitz House on Yerba Buena Island in San Francisco Bay, then part of the Treasure Island naval facility. Nimitz died at the house in 1966. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
East Bay tributes to Nimitz include the Nimitz Freeway (Interstate 880), dedicated in his honor in 1958, and the Nimitz Way, a trail in Tilden Regional Park named for the admiral in 1955. Nimitz frequently took hikes in Tilden, particularly around the Botanic Garden and the roadway at Inspiration Point that would be named for him, and would scatter lupine seeds along the way of his weekly outings.
On Dec. 7, 1964 Nimitz was given the honor of relighting the 1928 aviation beacon atop Mount Diablo, which “went dark Dec. 8, 1941, as part of a West Coast blackout the day after the Pearl Harbor attack,” the Contra Costa Times reported. The beacon is illuminated annually on Pearl Harbor Day.
UC Berkeley annually in 1983 established the Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Memorial Lectureship, which “annually brings to the University of California at Berkeley a distinguished scholar, professional military person or government official for a series of lectures on specific national security subjects.”
A museum dedicated to Nimitz is part of the Pacific War Museum in his boyhood home of Fredericksburg, Texas.
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The latest news from academia, regulators
research labs and other things of interest
Posted: Jun 30, 2017
Miniature technology, big hope for disease detection
(Nanowerk News) The field of medicine is always on the lookout for better disease diagnostic tools—simpler, faster, and cheaper technologies to enhance patient treatment and outcomes. Currently, microfluidic bioassay devices are the preferred diagnostic tools that allow clinicians to measure the concentration of disease biomarkers within a patient’s biological sample, such as blood. They can indicate the likelihood of a disease based on a comparison of the biomarker concentration in the sample relative to the normal level.
To detect this concentration, the patient’s sample is passed across a surface containing immobilized bioreceptors, or “biomarker-capturing” molecules that have been attached to this surface. A researcher can then record the biomarker abundance, determine whether the level is normal, and reach a diagnosis. Since the efficiency of these devices relies on how intact and functional the attached bioreceptors are, immobilizing these bioreceptors without causing damage has proved daunting.
Over the last two decades, microcontact printing, which uses a rubber stamp to immobilize the bioreceptors, has been established as a robust method to create a variety of assays with multiple applications. Yet this method also has its flaws, particularly when utilized at the nano scale—the scale where proteins and DNA reign.
At this scale, the harsh and elaborate techniques currently used compromise the device’s resolution, whether by deforming the stamp or damaging the bioreceptors, thus yielding data somewhat unmanageable for use in diagnostics or other applications.
For microcontact printing, “you need a stamp, an ink, and a surface, and then you create your pattern on your surface. It’s as simple as that,” explains Shivani Sathish, OIST PhD student in the Micro/Bio/Nanofluidics Unit, and first author on the paper.
The stamp is made of polydimethylsiloxane, which is a flexible solid similar to the rubber used in everyday stamps. The ink is a solution composed of silicon- and oxide-containing molecules called APTES, and the surface is glass. After coating the stamp with the ink, the stamp is pressed onto the glass, and then removed after a short incubation.
The result is a patterned layer of APTES on the glass—a checkerboard of regions with or without APTES (Figure, ii). Next, a microfluidic device, which contains one or more microchannels configured to guide fluid through specified pathways, is sealed over the patterned glass (Figure, iv). Finally, the bioreceptors are chemically linked to the APTES regions within the microfluidic channels. The device as a whole is about the size of a postage stamp.
The system is now ready for use as a diagnostic assay. To carry out the assay, a fluid sample from a patient is delivered through the microfluidic device attached to the glass. If the pertinent disease biomarker is present, the molecule will “stick” to the areas containing the bioreceptors.
First, a flexible stamp is inked with the APTES solution (i). The stamp is then pressed onto the glass surface (ii). A microfluidic channel is placed over the APTES pattern on the glass (iii), and the device is ready to be used to immobilize bioreceptors and, eventually, to help make a diagnosis (iv). (Image: OIST)
What is important about the APTES solution is its convenient chemistry. “Depending on your bioreceptor of interest, you just have to choose the appropriate chemistry to link the molecule with the APTES,” Ms. Sathish explains.
Or in other words, one stamp can be used to prepare an assay with the ability to immobilize a variety of different bioreceptors—one stamp allows for multiple tests and diagnoses on a single surface. This feature would be advantageous for diagnosing complex diseases such as cancer, which relies on tests that can detect multiple markers to improve the diagnosis.
In their research, Ms. Sathish and colleagues developed an improved technique to create the most optimal disease diagnostic device for use at the nanoscale. Here, they first patterned nanoscale features of APTES using an ink made of APTES in water, as opposed to harsh chemicals, which eliminated the stamp-swelling issue. Then, they immobilized the bioreceptors onto the surface as the very last step of the process, after patterning the APTES and attaching the microfluidic device. By attaching the bioreceptors as the final step, the researchers avoided exposing them to extreme and damaging conditions.
They then demonstrated the efficacy of the final device by running an assay to capture the biomarkers interleukin 6 and human c-reactive protein, two substances that are often elevated in the body during inflammation.
“The final goal is to create a point-of-care device,” explains OIST Professor Amy Shen, who headed the research.
“If you get your bioreceptors pre-immobilized within microfluidic devices you can then use them as diagnostic tools as and when required,” Ms. Sathish continues. “[Eventually] instead of having a whole clinical team that processes your sample…we’re hoping that the patients can do it themselves at home.”
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From Pliny to the Egyptians, historical mentions of treating color gemstones to improve their color is prevalent throughout history. As technology advanced, more precise techniques in treatments became available.
An example of a stone benefiting from advancements in treatments is the sapphire. While the sapphire is more commonly known to be heat treated, diffusion has become another method of enhancing the gem.
In current markets, sapphires are routinely heat treated. This practice is performed by baking sapphires anywhere from low to high temperatures until their top color is produced. While intensifying the color is the main purpose of heating sapphires, it can also help remove inclusions and improve their transparency. Heat treatment is beneficial because previously unsellable material, due to either color or clarity, can be improved and sold.
Heat treatment is durable and will maintain the stone’s color as long as the stone is handled with normal care. If tested by a gemological lab, such as GIA or AGL, it will note heat treatment and state it’s common practice for sapphires.
While heating is normal for sapphires, diffusion takes the heat process one step further. There are two types of diffusion: traditional and lattice. The introduction of outside chemical elements separates diffusion from standard heat treatment.
Traditional diffusion uses the addition of titanium and chromium to the heating process. Both of these chemical elements are natural coloring agents found in corundum and introducing them to the process helps enhance the color. Diffusion is a popular use for blue sapphires because of the resulting rich color.
Diffusion is performed by packing these chemical elements on the stone’s surface and heating the stone. As a result, a thin layer of rich color is developed inside the gemstone. However, the color treatment does not fully penetrate the stone. While the color is stable, even after the use of a jeweler’s torch, if the stone is chipped or scratched it can result in a dead spot of color.
Detection of this treatment can be determined by a few different methods. The most efficient is testing by a trusted gemological lab. However, using a diffused white light or submerging the stone under water, you will notice concentrations of color around the facet junctions.
According to GIA, in 2003 a new type of diffusion treatment began to appear. Since traditional diffusion wasn’t successfully penetrating the entire stone with color, experiments with other elements began. Once again, strong color blue sapphires filled the market. After more research, diffusion was suspected again. However, a new element was used which changed this process altogether.
This new chemical element was beryllium. It transformed diffusion process because of its atomic structure. Since beryllium has a smaller atom than titanium and chromium, it allowed the entire stone to be diffused with color. Large blue sapphires, as well as yellow and orange sapphires, were now successfully undergoing color change, known as lattice diffusion.
Much like traditional diffusion, lattice diffusion is considered permanent and doesn’t require any special care. Detecting it is more difficult because it penetrates the entire stone. Gemological labs are the best source for identification of this testing. While there is still research being done on this treatment, it is important to keep up with industry news in the event new information is developed.
A book I highly recommend for all jewelers is “Working with Gemstones: A bench Jeweler’s Guide” by Arthur Anton Skuratowicz and Julie Nash. This guide provides detailed information of various treatments, the stones they are used on, and how to take care of them. This will help with more in depth information about heat, diffusion, and other treatments used on color gemstones.
Konrad Darling is the sales and marketing director for Darling Imports, a color gemstone wholesaler offering genuine and synthetics as well as lapidary services and stone identification. For more information contact Darling Imports at 800-282-8436 or www.darlingimports.com.
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These slides were used in a projection version of the Phenakistoscope, patented by Thomas Ros in 1869 and 1871. The Phenakistoscope was a simple animation device consisting of a flat disc painted black on one side, with slots cut into the outer edge. On the unpainted side between the slots a series of sketches were drawn with slight changes from one to the next. When the disc was spun and the viewer looked at its reflection through the apertures on the disc's circumference, the drawings appeared to move. In Ros' projection version, a handle turned both a transparent 13-picture disc and a 13-slot counter-rotating shutter disc to give an illusion of movement on a screen, when projected by a magic lantern.
© National Museum of Science & Media / Science & Society Picture Library
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Accurate Breast Cancer Prognosis
Once a woman (and sometimes men) receives a diagnosis of breast cancer, often the first question is “How bad is it?” People want to know their chances of survival and how long they can expect to live. With the commonness of this type of cancer everyone knows a survivor and sadly many people also know of someone who lost the battle or had the cancer spread. Treatment questions are often secondary to the questions about prognosis.
When the lymph nodes are removed and examined the prognosis tends to be more accurate. There is no way to predict the future when it comes to cancer because people who are expected to live sometimes don’t and those who are expected to die sometimes don’t.
Cancer Cells in Breast Cancer Tumors
The cells in the tumor will tell a lot about the type of cancer. For a long time this was thought to be enough yet the following would occur:
- Cancer would reoccur after treatment
- Was more aggressive than originally diagnosed
- Spreads unexpectedly
- Different type of cancer discovered
- Treatment unsuccessful
In a recent study from the Lund University in Sweden showed that the lymph nodes might have more accurate information regarding the breast cancer cells than the tumor. This could be because the nodes filter out and destroy pathogens in the body. Lymph node biopsy can only be done when they are removed.
Lymphadenectomy to Determine Type of Breast Cancer Present
To give a more accurate diagnosis by examining the lymph nodes to determine the type of cancer present and if it has spread, they need to be removed. A biopsy will lead to better treatment and a more accurate prognosis. When the nodes are removed (lymphadenectomy) to do a biopsy, there will be some side effects. There are the ones that are common to any surgery or invasive procedure like soreness and infection but when lymph nodes are missing there are other possible side effects. The following can occur after they are removed:
- Seroma – fluid buildup were it was removed
- Increased infection – the nodes are not available to fight and filter pathogens
- Lymphedema – limb swelling near site of removed nodes
Activity and message can help lymph to move to other lymph nodes and reduce the risk of swelling. The benefits of the knowledge gained needs to be weighed against the possible side affects
Keeping Balance with New Discoveries
The study provides helpful and useful information but it must be kept in perspective.
When additional cancer cells are found in the lymph nodes, it doesn’t instantly means that the nodes need to be removed. Sometimes nothing will be done differently because the nodes have everything under control. It may even be possible that removing them will allow the cancer cells to travel and cause additional problems because the lymph nodes aren’t present to stop them. While they are in place they can do their job and those more aggressive cancer cells may never get any further.
More studies need to be done to prevent over treatment that can cause other health issues. The severity of cancer treatment is not without risks so all information should be partnered up with common sense and trust in that “gut feeling”, which to some is known as God. This way an informed decision can be made.
Looking into preventing breast cancer is easier than treating it. Be aware of the effects of foods, medications, hormone replacement, and other risk factors. A healthy immune system can help keep all pathogens and cancers in check.
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Graphics processing unit (GPU) also known as visual processing unit is a computer chip that performs mathematical calculations rapidly, for the purpose of rendering images. The term GPU was coined by Nvidia Corporation in 1999, which was later also named ‘visual processing unit’ by Advanced Micro Devices Inc. in 2002. It creates lighting effects and supports in transforming objects for a 3D scene. The transformation contains mathematically intensive tasks, thus supports in reducing the strain on central processing unit (CPU). The GPU is composed of hundreds of cores which can handle thousands of threads simultaneously whereas CPU is comprised of few cores with cache memory, limiting its ability to handle multiple threads at the same time. GPUs are located on plug-in cards, in a chipset on the motherboard or in same chip as CPU. The GPUs located in stand-alone cards contain their own RAM whereas in chipset they share main memory with CPU. GPUs use transistors to perform mathematical calculations pertaining to the 3D graphics. Recent GPUs include support for programmable shaders to manipulate vertices and textures, further enhancing high precision color spaces during displaying 3D graphics.
Rising number of heavy graphic games is the major factor driving the growth of the GPU market. These heavy graphic games require high memory graphic cards, thus driving the growth of GPU market. Rising adoption of portable computing devices such as laptops is also supporting the growth of the GPU market across the world. Rise in demand for animation based games such as FIFA and Need for Speed and growth in adoption of virtual reality headsets are anticipated to provide immense opportunities for the GPU market in coming years. Growth of mobile based gaming and declining demand for desktops is expected to restrain the growth of GPU market across the world.
GPU market is broadly segmented on the basis of type, application, end-use, and geography. On the basis of type, the GPU market is segmented into discrete, integrated and Hybrid GPUs whereas on the basis of application, the GPU market is segmented into desktop and laptops. Discrete GPU refers to the GPUs having their own RAM whereas integrated GPUs utilize a portion of computer’s RAM for its operations. Hybrid GPUs share the computer memory and even contain some dedicated cache memory for the operations. Furthermore, on the basis of end use the GPU market is segmented into residential and commercial. Moreover, on the basis of geographies, the global GPU market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (MEA) and South America. North America is expected to lead in terms of adoption of GPUs due to the presence of large sized gaming developers such as Electronic Arts Inc. and Activision in the region. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing region in terms of adoption of GPUs due to rising popularity of gaming and animation amongst the large sized youth population in the region.
The major participants in the global GPU market include NVIDIA Corporation, 3DLabs Inc., Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Inc., Broadcom Corporation, ARM Limited, Imagination Technologies Group Plc, Intel Corporation, Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd., Qualcomm Inc., Vivante Corporation, Silicon Integrated Systems Corporation and VIA Technologies Inc.
Note : All statements of fact, opinion, or analysis expressed in reports are those of the respective analysts. They do not necessarily reflect formal positions or views of Transparency Market Research.
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Our milk is never homogenized and pasteurized at low temperature. Low temperature pasteurization is the process of heating the milk up to the minimum 145 degree temperature required by law. The milk is held at that temperature for 30 minutes.
Low temperature pasteurization is healthier because of the bacteria. You see there are all kinds of healthy bacteria living in milk. When the milk is excessively pasteurized, it kills the bacteria off. The hotter you go the more bacteria that is killed. By only heating to the minimum required temperature, we are preserving as much of the bacteria as possible. Bacteria that our bodies need to stay healthy.
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Neurological problems are those that affect the normal workings of the nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord. Neurological disorders or injury to the brain or spinal cord may cause a person to lose certain ‘normal’ movements, sensations and physical functions which may affect their everyday tasks, social integration and ultimately their independence.
Neurological conditions may be traumatic, acquired, or congenital. They can affect anyone of any age, including newborn babies and children, and may include conditions such as developmental delay, Spina Bifida, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, stroke (CVA / TIA) and Traumatic Brain Injuries. Neurological disruption may be temporary or permanent and affects each individual differently. Some conditions may recover fully, some may cause progressive degeneration whereas others may improve steadily but over much longer periods.
Following an injury to the neurological system, or the onset of a neurological disease, the body’s neural pathways become altered, affecting the nerves that control movement and sensation. Such changes to the nervous system give rise to the many symptoms associated with a neurological disorder. Movements and responses that were once automatic may become abnormal and difficult to produce in the way a person is used to.
Neuroplasticity is the way in which the nervous system adapts and rebuilds following damage to the neural (nerve) pathways, and rehabilitation focuses primarily on influencing the body’s neuroplastic ability in order to re-programme normal movement patterns.
Neurological physiotherapy uses a combination of different evidence-based therapeutic approaches to stimulate the recovery of normal movement in a safe and effective way. Manual (hands-on) therapy techniques and rehabilitation exercises aim to help an individual to re-learn ‘normal’ movement patterns and to interpret sensations appropriately, by stimulating their nervous system in a specific way. Specialist advice and support is an essential part of any rehabilitation programme, for both the individual suffering from a neurological condition and their family, carers and friends.
Physiotherapists who are trained specifically in this area, have an in-depth knowledge of the workings of the neurological system, how it responds to injury and illness, and the effect this can have on a person’s normal functioning. Neurological Physiotherapists can identify both subtle and more complex neurological presentations, and formulate a rehabilitation programme to address the difficulties of each individual person. Through expert handling, appropriate positioning and the facilitation of normal movement patterns (which are reinforced through repetition), an individual’s nervous system is able to respond to the stimulus and has the potential to adapt the way in which it controls movement and reacts to sensations. In other words, by experiencing normal movement, an individual independently learns how to move normally.
Rehabilitation exercises may be directed at re-learning how to sit with trunk control, to reach one arm forwards whilst sitting to pick up an object, to roll over in bed, or may be aimed at restoring higher functional activities such as climbing stairs, being able to garden, run or play sport.
Neuro-rehabilitation may be required regularly, on a short or long-term basis, or at specific intervals in order to provide intense bursts of treatment if there are relapses in a person’s condition. It may be that physiotherapy is only required occasionally in order to review an individual’s progress and adapt their exercise programme appropriately. During each physiotherapy session, your physiotherapist should re-evaluate your progress and your current needs, and modify your rehabilitation goals and exercises appropriately.
Neuro-physiotherapy deals primarily with the symptoms and functional difficulties that present with neurological conditions. However, some neurological disorders occur alongside other health problems and complex medical conditions which must be considered in conjunction with any rehabilitation programmes and care plans. Catastrophic injuries such as Traumatic Brain Injuries which may have associated injuries such as fractures, respiratory problems and cognitive difficulties, require specialist handling by a Neuro Physiotherapist who is experienced in dealing with complex presentations involving the neurological system. Paediatric neurological conditions such as Cerebral Palsy, Spina Bifida and neurodevelopmental delay may present alongside other musculoskeletal problems such as foot and ankle deformities and sensory perceptual difficulties, all of which need addressing by a Specialist Paediatric Physiotherapist as part of the child’s rehabilitation.
It is important therefore that neuro-physiotherapy considers all aspects of a person’s medical presentation, and addresses their individual needs in order to maximise their outcome and quality of life.
At Yorkshire Neuro Physiotherapy, we have a highly-trained team whose knowledge and expertise covers all manner of neurological conditions and their associated problems. We are proud to provide a friendly and specialist physiotherapy service for individuals who are dealing with what can often be life-changing and complex neurological conditions.
If you would like to find out more about neurological physiotherapy and what we can offer you, please do get in touch. We are more than happy to chat directly with you over the telephone about your condition and your needs, or with carers and / or family members should that be more appropriate. There is no obligation to arrange an appointment once you have spoken with us, and we are happy to answer any questions that you may have.
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March 05: The Setting of the Massacre
2016/03/05 § Leave a comment
On this day in 1770, a regiment of British soldiers unloaded their muskets into a crowd on King Street and killed five men.
Known in the US as the Boston Massacre, the event was politely termed “The Incident on King Street” by the British (who also euphemized their weapons as “pip pip kaboomers”). (That is not true. But, it is true that a later pamphleteer, sympathetic to the British solders, entitled his screed on the subject A Fair Account of the Late Unhappy Disturbance in Boston. That is true. No kidding.) Although they fired without orders, the soldiers were under attack of sorts–firing sort of self-defensively–into a crowd that threatened them. With insults and snow balls. Really, can you blame them?
In the famous view drawn by Henry Pelham and engraved for distribution by Paul Revere (yes, that Paul Revere), details were changed or emphasized to stir up emotional reactions, just like the editorials it accompanied. But it is a fairly accurate view of the site in Boston, and reveals the importance the buildings that played important roles in the bloody event. The British soldier who was the focus of the Colonists’ anger was stationed outside of the Customs House; a crowd (ultimately of hundreds) was attracted to the street by the ringing of church bells in cupolas like the one on the horizon (still performing the medieval duty of ringing the tocsin, in addition to calling the faithful to worship); the whole of the site presided by the building now called the Old State House. Originally it was the Town House, built in 1713 to serve a variety of functions. Most important among them were the chambers for the governor and courts, comprised of royally appointed functionaries. Although it was also the seat of the elected colonial Assembly, its royal British pedigree was highlighted by the huge unicorn and lion at the top of the gable end (surprisingly underplayed in the Pelham/Revere engraving, which highlights the red of the “Lobster-backs” uniforms). Under these rampant symbols a greater number of British soldiers amassed in a show of strength after the original event.
The Town House was one of the strongest edges to the open space (as “open” as it gets in Boston) in which the turmoil unfolded. It was prominently featured in most engravings of the event as the principal building on the site, especially as it could be drawn (literally) to suit pro-British or pro-Colonist interests. Such was true not only at the moment, but also across the next years as the building’s symbolism was altered to suit Revolutionary objectives. The unicorn and lion became the goal of vandals who, in a show of anti-British fervor, ripped them from their crest and threw them into a bonfire. (While good for the masses, political revolution is oftentimes really bad for art and architecture, from Paris in 1789 to Baghdad in 2003.) In 1770, the Royal Governor took to the fine balcony to order the mob to disperse; six years later, one of the Sons of Liberty read the Declaration of Independence from the same perch, and probably to a lot of the same people.
In time the building became known as the backdrop to a violent attack that was also understood as contributing to the Revolution. The people who died that day reveal not just an arbitrary sample from the late eighteenth century Boston, but seem now as a mosaic of the country that would be: a ropemaker, mariner, runaway slave, apprentice ivory turner, and an Irish immigrant. The soldiers later went on trial and were defended by John Adams (yes, that John Adams); two went to prison on short sentences and the others were acquitted. Just as an act of violence that unfolded before a symbol of royal oppression was turned to explain the legacy of the Revolution, the building too became a symbol of free American authority, but it took a while. More than a century passed before the unicorn and lion were recreated and returned to the building in a restoration of 1882.
Lots of history on the “Old State House” can be found here.
Image: hand-colored engraving “The Bloody Massacre,” 1770 (from this source–where it’s zoomable, check it out)
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There are a lot of ways to tell stories. These days, a lot of them seem to use speech bubbles. Photo memes are everywhere, from the ever-present talking cats to political commentary. Graphic novels use comic book formats to tell increasingly sophisticated tales. So it occurred to me that adding speech bubbles to photos might be an interesting way to teach story format. Even young children can draw a series of pictures with speech bubbles that that tell a story, developing the understanding that most stories have a beginning, middle and end.
Students who are a bit older may want to add speech bubbles to photos in a similar way—either to tell a story alone, or as illustrations to a more developed piece. I have no experience with speech bubbles or related software on my computer, so I went looking for an option that was 1) on the web 2) easy to use and 3) free. The photos below represent my very first attempt to use the SuperLame system for creating speech bubbles—a system that is not lame in the least. You might need to click on them to read the bubbles, but I didn’t want them any larger here. I also could have added sounds like “Boom!” or “Kapow!” but those didn’t seem right for my poor daffodils (note that these are old photos—no daffodils are on the scene yet this chilly March!) There are lots of other ways to do it, but Superlame provides one easy option for creating speech bubble stories, and without links to online photo galleries that can risk exposing students to inappropriate content.
Think about how you could use speech bubbles to present content across content areas.
- Of course, you can use them to tell original stories.
- In science, students could upload graphics and label parts of an ecosystem, cell, or any other complex system.
- In history, students could upload photographs and either label important events and participants, or create imaginary dialog. Depending on the assignment, the dialog could represent either accurate understanding of point of view, or alternate choices. Alternative options can provide the impetus to explore the consequences of events, and what might have occurred in other circumstances. Flexible thinking, indeed!
- If studying another culture, students can upload photos and label key aspects of the photos, or have their “characters” explain important aspects of their lives.
There are a million other possibilities. If your students create some, we’d love it if you shared them.
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One of the mysteries of the English language finally explained.
A keyboard instrument similar to a harmonium, in which air is drawn upwards past metal reeds.
- ‘So, as I get on in years and maybe have to downgrade the size of my house, I will be donating my reed organs and player pianos to some museum that would like to have them.’
- ‘The accordion was the result of the era of experimentation with the free reed (introduced to Europe from China in the late 18th century) that also produced the reed organ and the harmonica.’
- ‘Waller's lifelong interest in the organ, the notes say, started, when, accompanying his preacher father on Harlem street corners, he played the harmonium, a small reed organ.’
- ‘The expensive clothing and jewelry, the imported carpet, and the melodeon or reed organ indicates the refinement and wealth of this frontier family who shared cultural and social aspirations with its urban counterparts.’
- ‘Penn brought to his meetings a portable reed organ, the use of which enhanced the singing of both the congregation and soloists.’
- ‘One five-part sinfonia is for strings; a seven-part sinfonia is for unspecified instruments; and one for eight parts is for cornetto, trombones and reed organ in keeping with its introduction to the Inferno.’
- ‘As a young boy, he played church songs at mass (‘on the reed organ,’ he recalls, ‘it was good exercise for the legs too’).’
Top tips for CV writingRead more
In this article we explore how to impress employers with a spot-on CV.
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The fear is sneakier. We think we understand hyphens, unlike semicolons, but do we overuse them, do we underuse them; are copyeditors laughing in their sleeves about our hyphen use?
Here’s a professional copyeditor secret: while there is a right and wrong when using semicolons, the use of hyphens are much grayer. Be guided by consistency and clarity.
1) Hyphens are often used in a word, such as anti-mouse or pre-nuptial. The trend is to close up these words. When in doubt, check the dictionary.
2) Hyphens are used to connect modifiers. For example “a middle school social studies class” has four modifiers and they don’t all modify the class directly. And so a few well-placed hyphens will make that word salad much easier to read (please ignore the mixed metaphors, thank you) “a middle-school social-studies class.”
2a) As we have seen above, if you have an adjective that consists of more than one word that modifies a noun, add a hyphen.
2b) Do not use a hyphen with an adverb. “Her barely-there bikini” is just wrong. Wrong. Don’t do it.
2c) To summarize: hyphenating adjectives is usually okay.
3) One tricky thing to remember is that words that are hyphenated before a noun are often set open (unhyphenated) after a noun. “The decision-making committee was full of decision makers” or “The reddish-brown dog was reddish brown.”
What other questions do you have about hyphens? If I get enough encouragement, I may just explain the existence of en dashes and em dashes. Try to contain your enthusiasm.
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I’ll keep rolling along/ Deep in my heart there’s a song/ Here on the range I belong/ Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds
- Bob Nolan “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” (1935)
When this song was sung by the Sons of the Pioneers (featuring Roy Rogers) in the middle of the Depression, the plant to which the name usually refers, Kali tragus or Russian thistle, had been present on this continent for about 60 years. It is generally agreed that it arrived in South Dakota in 1873 mixed with flax seed sent from the Ukraine. It spread across the west rapidly because it thrives on disturbed landscapes such as those that are denuded of other vegetation by overgrazing, farming, and erosion of the topsoil.
Although K. tragus is the most common plant referred to as “tumbleweed,” this word actually refers to a number of unrelated species that use this mode of seed distribution. In all of these plants the branches and leaves die and only the seeds remain alive. The dead plant is detached from its roots by the wind and sent rolling across the land. The seeds—which number 150,000 to 250,00 per plant—are shaken loose by the motion. They germinate when conditions are right for their survival.
This mode of distribution is found among ruderal plants, which are the first to colonize unvegetated surfaces. These “pioneer communities” are generally replaced by the next sere after they manage to trap enough organic matter to allow different plant species to germinate. In some cases where the conditions are extreme, in alkaline soils for example, the pioneer community may persist indefinitely. K. tragus was for formerly included in the genus Salsola, which is derived from the Latin sallere, “to salt.”
The classification of this plant is apparently in flux. The genus Salsola, where it resided for many years (Linnaeus put it there), was subjected to DNA analysis in 2007 and some species, including tragus, were reassigned. These genera were once thought to be part of the Chenopodiaceae, but that family has now been folded into the Amaranthaceae. Some sources call it Salsola kali, but this would seem to be the older name for a coastal species now called Kali turgida and native to the Baltic and North seas and the shores of the Atlantic in northern Europe. Some systematists call the Kali species a “species aggregate,” a group of very closely related species and suggest that the seed mixed in with the Russian flax seed in the 1870s may have been a mix of several subspecies or species.
K. tragus begins life as a bright green, grass-like shoot. It rapidly reaches three feet in height and will continue growing while there is enough moisture for it to do so. The stems turn red or a striped purple and the small whitish flowers appear in the axils between branches. The inflorescences have no petals but broad sepals instead.
Before it flowers K. tragus is succulent and is browsed by many wild animals including bighorn sheep, pronghorn and mule deer. Although it is generally reviled by ranchers and farmers, during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s it was fed to beef cattle when drought caused the hay crops to fail. The seeds are eaten by small mammals and birds.
K. tragus is difficult to get rid of if your land use continually disturbs the soil. Although several websites still recommend various herbicides, there are some that urge against them as not worth the effort and some that admit that herbicide-resistant biotypes exist. In one fascinating account a Forest Service paper declares that it there is still topsoil present at a site, then it is better to let the Russian thistle remain because the mycorrhizal fungi in the soil would stunt or kill the ruderal plant. It then serves as mulch for other plants and even shelter for their seeds. In the absence of topsoil it is better to add it than to try to kill the K. tragus.
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A specific type of T-cell, called gamma delta T-cells, works to prevent other tumor-fighting T-cells from entering the tumors of pancreatic cancer patients, turning a primary immune system defense mechanism “completely useless in pancreatic cancer,” researchers said.
Without interference from gamma delta T-cells, tumor-attacking T-cells like CD4 and CD8 should be able proliferate and go after pancreatic cancer cells, which they now do not.
The study, “γδ T Cells Support Pancreatic Oncogenesis by Restraining αβ T Cell Activation,” recently published in Cell, was developed by researchers at the New York University (NYU) School of Medicine, and suggests that targeting gamma delta T-cells in pancreatic cancers may improve the work of immunotherapies in boosting tumor-fighting T-cells.
“Standard immunotherapy does not work in pancreatic cancer, which is especially deadly. Now we have more information to help us understand why,” George Miller, MD, head of the Immunology Program at Perlmutter, an associate professor in the Department of Cell Biology at NYU Langone, and study’s senior author, said in a press release. “The main anti-tumor defense mechanism is rendered completely useless in pancreatic cancer.”
Miller and his team focused on pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA), a particularly deadly form of pancreatic cancer. Despite the overall increase in cancer survival rates with therapies developed in the last two decades, only about 8 percent of patients with pancreatic cancer survive five years after their diagnosis.
Because PDA tumors have a high number of gamma delta T-cells — they represent nearly 40 percent of all T-cells in these tumors — the researchers hypothesized that these cells could be promoting pancreatic cancer. But their results revealed that gamma delta T-cells alone do not promote tumor growth, rather, they prevent CD4 and CD8 T-cells from working inside these tumors.
These findings underscore, once more, how complex the immune system is and that not all immune cells play the same roles in different cancers. The same gamma delta cells that allow pancreatic cancer cells to grow — without being targeted by tumor-killing T-cells — also fight other types of cancers, including colon cancer, melanoma, and some kidney cancers.
But for pancreatic cancers, they may have important implications in the development of new therapies or prognostic markers. Reducing the numbers or impairing the work of gamma delta T-cell in these patients may improve the way other immunotherapies work.
In fact, the investigators observed that mice with pancreatic cancer that had fewer than normal gamma delta T-cells had better outcomes, surviving on average one year longer than treated mice with normal numbers of such cells.
It might be difficult to move these findings into human settings, however. As Miller noted, there currently are no known drugs or therapeutic agents that blocks the action of gamma delta T-cells in humans.
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An asteroid strike on Earth is very likely, say experts.
An asteroid strike on Earth is just a matter of time, a leading astrophysicist from Queen’s University Belfast has warned, reports said on Tuesday. It is more a case of when an asteroid collision will happen, rather than if it will happen, said Professor Alan Fitzsimmons from the University’s Astrophysics Research Centre.
The warning comes ahead of Asteroid Day, which is on June 30. A small asteroid had exploded over Tunguska in Russia’s Siberia on that day in 1908. The asteroid had levelled trees and burned ground covering over 2,000 square kilometres, the report said.
This year, discussions and presentations will be streamed live from Luxembourg on June 30. Experts including Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart and International Space Station astronaut Nicole Stott will answer questions from people on social media.
“It is important to know that scientists and engineers have made great strides in detecting Near-Earth Asteroids and understanding the threat posed by them. Over 1,800 potentially hazardous objects have been discovered so far, but there are much more waiting to be found,” Professor Fitzsimmons said.
He said that a major city could be destroyed in a similar unexpected strike in today’s world. A larger asteroid could be far more dangerous, he warned.
“Astronomers find Near-Earth Asteroids every day and most are harmless. But it is still possible the next Tunguska would take us by surprise, and although we are much better at finding larger asteroids, that does us no good if we are not prepared to do something about them,” he said.
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Tell a student they can’t go there and they will. Prepare them for when they get there.
In Losh and Jenkin’s article, Can Public Education Coexist with Participatory Culture they express obligations of institutions to promote responsible citizenship, respect for others, and a willingness to sometimes sacrifice immediate self-interest for the long-term common good. They suggest that laws and regulations that currently exist that act to shield or restrict students from viewing online content based on concerns about predators, bullying or distraction be challenged. They argue access to information and the learning the internet promotes far outweighs the potential risks that can be avoided with explicit teaching in the area of digital citizenship and critical thinking skills.
In many school divisions, this restriction on specific websites has affected the teacher’s also. In many cases teachers are unable to access the content they need. A research project done by Project New Media Literacies (NML) showed that this headache around teachers having to basically “hack” and find ways to show their two minute YouTube clip highly discouraged them from incorporated web-based materials. This block of access to many key platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and twitter where participatory learning takes place takes away from many meaningful learning opportunities. In addition to the list of websites that were blocked to restrict students (and teachers) many divisions utilize software that picks up on certain words that are deemed as inappropriate and blocks sites that are inappropriate. Losh and Jenkin’s shared an example of how this process of restricting information deemed as inappropriate has created a barrier for a meaningful learning experience. A whole school division was blocked access to almost all sites about Herman Melville because the title of his best known novel includes the word “dick”.
Losh and Jenkin stress that, “schools have a central role to play in connecting what takes place outside the classroom with the kinds of assessments and certifications that will create future educational, economic, civic, and creative opportunities for students. These opportunities connecting what students are learning outside of school with what happens within formal education have been described by Mimi Ito and her colleagues as “connected learning.” At their Connected Learning website, they explain how problems occur when there is a strong disconnect between formal education and learning outside school.” Furthermore they explain that, “Each time a teacher tells students that what they care about the most, what makes them curious and passionate outside of school, does not belong in the classroom, that teacher also delivers another message: What teachers care about and what is mandated by educational standards have little or nothing to do with learners’ activities once the they school bell rings.”
Losh and Jenkin offer the following suggestions for schools and educators:
- Use digital media to engage learners.
- Recognize the value of participatory culture/connected learning.
- Teach ethical standards and skills in critical judgment
The Google Play Project ran extensive interviews with youth about their online lives and found that students lack formal mentorship in this area. They pointed out that a newspaper committee has a staff advisor to help them with ethical issues, provides feedback and helps students with editing their writing. They then point out that many of our students are reaching far larger audiences through blogs, vlogs and social media yet receive little guidance from mature mentors on how to navigate their online world. As teachers we need to assist our youth in learning to take part in participatory culture. Web 2.0, educational policy tends to be restrictive. In an effort to ensure student safety it appear to limit student choices rather than provide them with the information required to be a responsible digital citizen. The Good Project was created at Harvard as a result of the Google Play studies. They have developed several tools for educators to teach students skills to navigate our digital world.
Henry Jenkin’s article, Confronting the challenges of participatory culture he discusses the importance of providing access to all students. It presented projects that have been created in areas of poverty to provide low income earners with access to the internet. However, he also explains the importance of not just dropping them off. People need to be taught how to be responsible digital citizens. Additionally he talked about the important of recognizing the shift from viewing the internet as a place for individual expression to all the possibilities for collaboration.
“Instead of focusing on gatekeeping… let’s focus on how school librarians can help young people interact with human mentors and peers as students learn to observe norms and respect boundaries.” Losh and Jenkins, 2012
Katrina Schwartz talks about trust and how it is so important for us to teach students to use the internet properly rather than restrict their access in her article titled Why trust is an important ingredient I agree with this entirely. We need to teach our students in the classroom so they are prepared to deal with issues that may arise later on their own in their own lives. There needs to be a link between home and school. Losh and Jenkin’s would also agree. They stated, “Young people are not rendered safer when schools block access to these sites; instead, blocking ensures that many kids will be forced to confront online risks on their own. Many young people lack opportunities to learn how to use new media tools effectively and appropriately. Reliance on blocking sends the message that sites and tools important to students have little to nothing to contribute to intellectual pursuits.”
Passive learning is not effective. We need to find ways to engage learners by including their own interests. A new term that I came across in my reading was “Affinity spaces,” as James Paul Gee (2005) has labeled them, are critical sites of important kinds of exploration, experimentation, and play, where at least some young people are developing and deploying their own expertise in the service of their own passions and interests. These affinity spaces can be such a powerful thing and we need to use them to our advantage and there is many meaningful skills our students can acquire in these places. Creating a connected culture is crucial.
YOUNG PEOPLE MAY NOT need adults snooping over their shoulders, but they certainly need adults helping to watch their backs. (Losh and Jenkins 2012)
Losh, E., & Jenkins, H. (2012). CAN PUBLIC EDUCATION COEXIST WITH PARTICIPATORY CULTURE? Knowledge Quest, 41(1), 16-21. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1076399985?accountid=13480
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The Mathematics Common Core Standards outline certain mathematical practices that students should develop in class. The first practice is “Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them”; this means that students need to be able to make sense of the information in a problem through different approaches, select a process for solving the problem and explain why it makes sense, as well as use alternative approaches when necessary. This practice moves away from “quickly getting the right answer” to focus on the process through which a solution can be drawn. But how do we teach perseverance to students?
Perseverance, along with grit and tenacity, has been recognized as essential to an individual’s capacity to succeed at long-term goals, and to persist in the face of challenges and obstacles. Researchers have been highlighting for a few years now the impact that these non-cognitive skills can have on students; some of the best-known scholars are Carol Dweck and her research on growth mindset (2006), as well as Angela Duckworth and her work on grit (2007). A recent report (Shechtman et al., 2013) highlights the common findings in research related to perseverance, grit and tenacity, which have direct implications for teaching and learning:
1. Learning environments can be designed to promote grit, tenacity and perseverance. This means that educators provide opportunities for students to take on goals that are challenging, but within students’ range of proximal development (not too easy or too difficult). Educators should help students connect these goals with their values and interests, so students become intrinsically motivated to accomplish these objectives. At the same time, in order for students to pursue these challenging goals, the classroom climate should regard making mistakes and struggling as part of the learning process, and effort should be emphasized over ability. The bottom line is that you want students to feel safe making mistakes and taking risks, and feel supported in this process of struggling with challenging goals.
2. Students can develop psychological resources that promote grit, tenacity and perseverance. Research has shown that social and emotional competencies are malleable and can be learned (and taught!) over time. One of the aspects that often holds students back in their math work is not based on their knowledge of math concepts or procedures, but their academic mindsets. The beliefs, attitudes, dispositions or ways of perceiving oneself can have a powerful impact on performance and how students react in the face of challenge. One of these mindsets is Dweck’s growth mindset: “My ability and competence grow with my effort”. You can actually test your mindset on-line and for free by accessing Dweck’s website Mindset. Exploring your students’ beliefs about their abilities and competencies, and addressing them in the classroom, will help you be more effective and help students learn better and be more motivated. In addition to considering students’ academic mindsets in your instruction, there is a second element that will help students persevere in the face of challenges: having specific strategies to deal with difficulties. You can develop a list of strategies with your students for “what to do when you feel stuck” and post it in your classroom, so students have easy access to this information as they are working on their math problems or other activities. The same process of developing this list with students will highlight that making mistakes is okay and that we often need to use an alternative approach to solve problems.
Developing perseverance in your students is not an easy task or something that will happen right away, but there are things that you can do to help students persist in the face of challenges: First, create a classroom climate that supports students taking on challenging goals where mistakes are seen as normal to the learning process; second, develop a growth mindset in your students by teaching that intelligence is not fixed, and provide with specific strategies that students can use when they feel stuck. By addressing both the learning environment and students’ individual resources you will be helping students develop perseverance and you’ll be providing the foundation for great learning!
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this is a continuation of a discussion started in Illustrator Paths : I, which covered two important facts about drawing vectors. this post will touch on how to anticipate the shape of a curve and drawing economically.
when drawing with the pen tool it can be handy to use a driving analogy — the direction you pull the control point equals the direction of the vehicle (that’s pretty obvious), the distance you pull that control point equals your speed. the three curves below use the same two anchor points and only one control point. the direction of travel is the same for all three, but the speed varies. the first is traveling faster and has to travel further before turning sharply to get to where it’s going. the last one is traveling slower, so can make a more gentle turn :
direction and speed — you are controlling only two things every time you pull out a control point. but what a lot of variation you can get between two anchors with just one control point :
you might prefer the rubber band analogy — direction and stretch — same thing :
now, these are the simplest curves possible — two anchor points and one control point. but any one curve can have two control points — that’s two directions and two speeds interacting with each other — giving us quite complex curves from just two anchors :
join those two anchor points together and you get quite complex shapes :
and that’s the main lesson for this post — you can get quite complex curves and shapes from very few anchor points. and fewer anchors generally means more beautiful curves.
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Researchers and scientists have long been stumped by the complexity of one of the most complicated structures in the universe, the human brain, and how it contributes to prevalent diseases such as Alzheimer's and schizophrenia. Now, with the first ever lab-grown human brain, scientists may have found just what they needed to further advance their efforts in finding a cure for diseases affecting millions of Americans. But this breakthrough doesn't come free of cost to society. The ethical ramifications of such a discovery have the potential to be just as harmful as it is helpful.
Scientists from the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences used human stem cells to produce a neuroectoderm, the part of an embryo that develops into the brain and spinal cord, which they placed into tiny droplets of gel before placing it into a spinning bioreactor, a nutrient bath that supplies nutrients and oxygen, to allow the tissue to grow.
Once the cells starting growing and organizing themselves into the separate regions of the brain, such as the cerebral cortex, the retina, and in rare cases even an early hippocampus, scientists observed that this growth closely resembled brain development in a fetus up to the nine month mark.
After about two months, the mini-tissues grew to about 4mm (0.1in), their maximum size, and after nearly a year are still surviving. However, because there is no blood supply connecting the brain tissue, nutrients and oxygen are unable to enter into the brain-like structure, so the brain merely functions like a human brain but cannot think like a human brain can.
The minibrain was initially used to model microcephaly, a human genetic disorder in which the brain's size is dramatically reduced. But scientists hope to use it in the future to study more common diseases such as Alzheimer's and schizophrenia.
While this breakthrough could save lives, scientific development in this direction can also pose a serious threat to society and basic human rights. Currently, the minibrains do not have the ability to think like human brains, but what if one day scientists develop a brain that can? Researchers have described this breakthrough as extraordinary and mindboggling, but one mindboggling and extraordinary breakthrough can just as easily lead to another, and developing a conscious human brain would certainly be mindboggling.
A clear, ethical line needs to be drawn before scientific experimentation becomes not only unethical but dangerous for society. Scientists didn't think it would be possible to grow a human brain in a laboratory ... and they grew a human brain in a laboratory. They don't believe it would possible to develop a conscious human brain, let alone one that is more powerful than an ordinary human brain. But if limitations are not quickly implemented through federal laws and health guidelines, this line could easily be crossed, and a powerful scientific breakthrough with the potential to save lives could turn into one with eerie ethical implications.
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How much faith do we place in the laws of logic when parsing through our perceptions of the world? One of the foundational laws of logic is “The Law of Identity.” This states, quite simply, that A = A. In other words, a thing is what it is. But is it?
Is the box on the left the same as the box on the right? In a sense, yes, they are exact duplicates. But what is the role of cognition in determining equivalency? Is an appearance understood one way different than an appearance understood another way?
Let me look at the same question in a different context. Is it true that a keyboard in my office is the same as an identical keyboard beside it? As observed at a human spatial scale, the answer seems to be very clearly ‘yes.’ But what about sub-atomically? With the perpetual motion, interaction and indeterminacy of sub-atomic particles, it would seem the answer is quite clearly ‘no.’ The same paradox applies to a single keyboard when compared to itself from one moment to the next. Are they the same? Conditionally, yes. Are the different? Conditionally, yes.
Now back to the boxes.
Is this visual representation something “objective”? Do these boxes “exist” independent of an observer’s understanding? The transparent line boxes above are exact copies of each other, but if I think of them in the manner below (using grey to represent the “front” face of the box), a single image can be understood in different ways. The boxes below illustrate how the same box can be seen in different ways (using the 3-D representation below with the clear boxes above). Are the boxes the same if I understand them as different?
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- Trichome Color - Before Flushing.
Knowing exactly when to start chopping down the plant is also an important skill set to possess. A precision harvest is essential for effective cultivation. Growers must not only be cautious not to chop the plant down that are not yet at the peak of their growth, but also, they must be watchful of chopping plants too late at a time when the plant starts to lose its potency.
There are different methods to determine the ripeness of the flower. The simplest way is to examine the pustules that cover the plant’s buds. At the start of flowering, the pustules look white and pale. Then as it matures, it turns to orange and then again to a dark red or brown. These color changes signify the maturation of the flowers; however, the color and period may be different across the variety of strains of Herb.
Therefore, a better, yet slightly more complicated, approach for determining a method for determining maturity is through trichome examination. The trichomes are the tiny structures on the flower and trim leaves of your plant. Trichomes are the actual glands that contain the potency and other psychoactive chemicals, and they are very delicate and easily ruptured.
As your plant matures the trichomes will go through three observable transformations:
- Trichomes swells up and heads flatten or ‘mushroom’ shape
- Trichomes change in color from clear to cloudy
- Trichomes begin to turn amber or brown
As a general rule, the longer you leave you to plant, the heavier the effects. Herb with clear trichome still does the effect but will be lighter compared to when the trichomes are amber in color. The longer you leave it, the heavier the effects.
- Flushing - Before Chopping.
Many growers and harvesters like to prepare their Herb by “flushing” out unwanted nutrients from the plants to purify the plant. Two weeks before harvesting, flush the plant with a heavy dose of water until the nutrients break down. This will dissolve the salts inside the plant. Add more water after waiting for a few minutes. This will then flush the broken down nutrients from the plant.
In the stage when you flush your plants, you’ll notice that the leaves will transform color, from dark green to light green to yellow. Now, Taste tests your flush by breaking off a leaf from the plant and tasting the juices from the stem. If it tastes harsh and sour, which means there’s still plenty of sugar and nutrients in the plant. If they taste clear, like water, your plant is ready.
- Trimming - After Chopping Down The Plant.
After chopping down the plant, it is time to clean up the plant. By remove all the larger leaves and trim off the leaf tips that are all around the flowers a week before harvesting, as soon as the leaves begin to turn pale in color. Then, start by trimming off the leaves not associated with flowers, followed by the ones that are associated with them. Carefully snip away from the leaves and stem. Be sure to be cautious during this process as not to damage the flower
- Drying - After Trimming
The following step is to gradually and persistently dry out the plant. After the plants are trimmed and harvested, hang them upside down and make sure to allow plenty of air circulation. Hanging time is around 5 to 12 days depending on the density and quantity of the plant. The temperature should also be cool and dry, at around 21°C. Another good indicator is bending the stem. If it snaps rather than folding, then it's ready for curing.
- Curing Final Product
Now is the time to trim your Herb before the final cure. To give your flowers their final touch up, use a sterilized sharp pair of scissors for the removing the remaining leaves that are shielding the flowers. Separate the individual flowers from the stems and store them in a sanitized glass jar, plastic tubs or bags will do. For the first week or two that the flowers are in the jars, open them up twice a day and allow some air circulation for around 15 - 20 minutes. This allows for a full air exchange and removes any remaining moisture that is trapped in the curing container. Your final product is now ready. Different strains of the plant may cure at different rates of time and you figure out that, if correctly reserved, your Herb gets better and more flavorful. A Good curing practice can ensure the quality of your final product and is the finishing touch to all your hard work.
Want to know more? Contact us at firstname.lastname@example.org
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What Do Sunscreen and Toothpaste have in Common?
If you said, “They're both sold in tubes,” you would be right. However, sunscreen and toothpaste share a far more important trait: they both highlight the healthy benefits of preventive care.
Preventive care seeks to protect against threats to your health by taking precautions ahead of time. It's as simple as that. It is better to slather on the sunscreen and prevent skin damage, rather than apply aloe to a painful sunburn after the fact.
Likewise, it makes more sense to establish good oral health behaviors and care for your teeth rather than deal with the complications of cavities and gum disease. In fact, dental disease is nearly 100 percent preventable if you embrace a few basic oral health habits. And while you're likely familiar with most of these, a little reminder of why they're so important never hurts:
Brushing: This removes cavity-causing bacteria from your surface enamel. Try to brush at least twice per day for two to three minutes each time using a pea-size amount of fluoridated toothpaste.
Flossing: This helps remove bacteria and food particles from in between your teeth. Use roughly a foot and a half of floss per session – and devote a clean section to each tooth. Be gentle to avoid gum damage.
Mouthwash: This can help diminish bacteria buildup in the mouth and prevent plaque buildup. However, it's not a substitute for brushing. Be sure to choose an antiseptic rinse, and talk to your dentist to determine which mouthwash is right for you.
Dental Check-ups: Regular visits to the dentist ensure your teeth get a professional cleaning. This also gives your dentist an opportunity to check your mouth for other health indicators. In fact, more than 90 percent of all systemic diseases have oral characteristics that can be spotted during an oral exam.
Here's a fact that might make your jaw drop: preventive dental care – along with early detection and treatment – saves the U.S. nearly $4 billion annually. Prevent dental disease by sticking to these basics and you'll be taking the right steps toward optimal oral health. And hey, if you're stepping outside, don't forget the SPF!
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The notion of nanotechnology escaping into the environment is not only a staple of science fiction, but also a concern raised by the general public. However, reality is far less terrifying than that portrayed in film and literature, as rather than nano-robots wreaking havoc the worst we currently have to contend with are nanoparticles.
Of course there are many types of nanoparticle, some of which can be harmful. Until recently it was known that nanoparticles could be passed up the food chain, from prey to predator; however, it was unclear as to whether these materials could be biomagnified. That is, could the concentration of the particles be increased on moving up the food chain. Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara, have recently demonstrated that such biomagnification can occur within a simple food chain [Werlin et al., Nature Nanotechnol (2010) 6, 65].
The team cultivated Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria in an environment of CdSe quantum dots (QDs), along with a separate control batch and bacteria in a cadmium acetate solution. After allowing the bacteria to internalize the surrounding contaminates, they were then washed and placed with the predatory Tetrahymena thermophilia protozoa. While the initial behavior of the three batches of protozoa was similar, differences soon became apparent. The growth rate of the protozoa feeding on the cadmium acetate fed bacteria dropped to zero after the first doubling, and even after being transferred to a healthy environment they were unable to resume growth. This was apparently due to the toxic effect of the cadmium. The protozoa feeding on the QD fed bacteria fared slightly better, with protozoa remaining mobile for longer, and maintaining some growth once placed in a healthy medium.
Examination of the protozoa revealed that those that had fed on the quantum dots possessed large (approximately 5 micron) food vacuoles that contained undigested bacteria. Thus the QD fed bacteria inhibited their own digestion. As digestion is needed to free the QDs into the vacuole, this inhibition actually helps the protozoa survive longer than the cadmium acetate fed protozoa, as they do not succumb to the toxic effects of cadmium so quickly. This delayed death means that as the protozoa continue to survive, and feed, the QDs are biomagnifed.
Prof. Holden explained that their research into this area continues. “We are interested in the possibility for further trophic transfer, but also are very interested in understanding more about the QD effects observed in this trophic transfer study”. “We are trying to do research to understand better how nanoparticles, including QDs, change in cells over time.”
Figure: A protozoa that has fed on quantum dot treated bacteria. Large numbers of food vacuoles are present. Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature Nanotechnol 6, 65, copyright 2010.
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The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) was established by the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968. The purpose of this Act was to enable flood coverage to be made available on a nationwide basis through the joint effort of the federal government and the private insurance industry.
The NFIP defines covered flooding as a general and temporary condition during which the surface of normally dry land is partially or completely inundated. Two adjacent properties (at least one of which is your property), or two or more acres must be affected.
Flooding can be caused by any one of the following:
You do not need to live near water to be flooded. Floods can result from many events including storms, melting snow and hurricanes. As long as your community participates in the National Flood Insurance Program, you can purchase a flood policy. Whether you live in an area likely to flood or in one that is at low risk, flood insurance is available to you.
Homeowners/renters/dwelling insurance policies do not cover flooding.
Typically, there is a 30-day waiting period from the time of application and payment before a flood policy goes into effect.
Coverage is available separately for residential buildings and contents:
A flood insurance policy also reimburses you for actions you take to prevent flood damage. For example, costs for moving insured contents to a safe location are reimbursed up to $1000 with no deductible. Other costs, such as for sandbags, plastic sheeting and lumber, pumps, fill for temporary levees, and wood to save the building can be reimbursed up to a limit of $1000 with no deductible. There is a policy stipulation that the property needs to be in eminent danger of being flooded.
There is limited coverage in a basement area. The NFIP defines a basement as any area of a building with a floor that is below ground level on all sides. Under building coverage, basements are insured for cleanup and items used to service the building, such as furnaces, hot water heaters, air conditioners in their functioning location, utility connections, circuit breaker boxes, pumps and tanks used in solar energy systems, as well as the repair of structural damage to basement walls. Items in basements insured under contents coverage are limited to clothes washers and dryers, and food freezers and their contents. Improvements to a basement, such as finished walls, floors or ceilings, as well as personal belongings located in a basement are not covered under either NFIP building or contents coverage.
These "FLOOD FACTS" are provided to acquaint you with the National Flood Insurance Program. This document neither provides nor interprets flood coverage.
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Although it is difficult to attribute any form of cancer to a single cause, exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun is a specific risk factor for skin cancer on the nose, states the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The nose is highly susceptible to damaging effects of the sun's rays because it protrudes from the face and receives disproportionate exposure to sunlight. Other risk factors include age, ethnicity, gender, fair skin, immune deficiency and genetic predisposition to cancer.Continue Reading
Sunscreen with a solar protection factor, of SPF, of 15 or greater offers some protection from potentially carcinogenic UV rays, states the Mayo Clinic. It is also wise to avoid exposing the skin to sunlight at peak hours of the day.
Symptoms of skin cancer on the nose include the appearance of a lesion, a pearly or waxy bump, a red nodule or an irregularly-shaped or discolored mole, notes WebMD. Itching and bleeding may also occur.
There are three major types of skin cancer, explains the Skin Cancer Foundation. The vast majority are either basal cell carcinomas or squamous cell carcinomas; these cancers can disfigure the area of the body in which they appear, but tend not to spread to other parts of the anatomy. Melanomas, by contrast, are aggressive skin cancers that are capable of spreading, and can be fatal in the absence of early medical treatment.Learn more about Cancer
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Hard water is treated by a process called softening, in which certain metal ions that are dissolved in the water are reduced, most frequently in home applications by the use of membranes in a process called reverse osmosis or ion exchange. Towns and cities may also soften water for their customers by a process called lime softening.Continue Reading
Water hardness is caused by particular metal ions, most often calcium and magnesium, being dissolved in the water. The ions cause the water to have unappealing properties, such as bad taste, a tendency to form soap scum and a tendency for hot water pipes to build up scale to the point of being blocked.
Ion exchange softening works by having the water flow past a resin that is impregnated with sodium ions; the hardness ions are exchanged with the sodium ions, leaving the water softer. The resin has to be periodically regenerated by soaking it in a salt solution, so more sodium ions are put on the resin. The brine that results is high in calcium and magnesium and has to be disposed.
Reverse osmosis works by flowing the water past a membrane that allows water to pass, but not ions, a process called osmosis. Under natural osmosis, water flows from where there is a low concentration to where there is a high salt concentration so that the high concentration zone becomes more dilute. In reverse osmosis, a high pressure is used to overcome this tendency, leading to it being called "reverse." The result is water with virtually no salt on one side of the membrane and a very concentrated salt solution on the other side to be disposed.Learn more about Plumbing
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The Eucharist, or Holy Communion, is important to all Christians as a representative of the body and blood of the Savior, Jesus Christ. The message and importance of the Eucharist varies between different Christian groups. Differences in doctrine, with concern to the importance of the Eucharist, are debated.Continue Reading
Eucharistic doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church says the bread and wine taken during Holy Communion is converted into the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ through transubstantiation. Eastern Orthodoxy is in agreement with the Catholic Church and views Holy Communion as a sacrament that infers great importance within the church. Only those members spiritually prepared are allowed to partake of Holy Communion in the Catholic Church.
Baptist denominations, Congregationalists and evangelical groups view Eucharist doctrine, or the Doctrine of Holy Communion, as important for symbolism as a reminder of the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ on the cross. The doctrine is important for the unity of the local congregation because only certain people who have been born again through the process of salvation and baptised into the local church as a full member are allowed to participate in the communion ceremony. Unlike the Catholics and other denominations, Baptists do not view Holy Communion as necessary in obtaining grace or in reaching heaven.Learn more about Christianity
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American culture is often described by experts as a kind of "melting pot," bringing together diverse ethnic and cultural groups. According to anthropologist Cristina De Rossi, many cultures within the United States, such as Hispanic Catholic groups, retain their own unique heritage while at the same time participating in American culture more generally. However, the mainstream American culture is not singular and varies considerably between the Northeast, South, Midwest, Southeast and West of the country.Continue Reading
Some experts have divided the United States into even more cultural units than the five regions listed above. Colin Woodward, author of "American Nations," conceives of 11 different cultures in the United States, each covering specific geographical regions. One of these regions, Yankeedom, which comprises the Northeast north of New York City, has a cultural emphasis on education and intellectualism, as well as community participation. New Netherland (New York City and north New Jersey) is materialistic, commercial and highly tolerant of other cultural groups. Greater Appalachia, taking in parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Arkansas, Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Indiana and Illinois, has more of a cultural emphasis on individual liberty than community engagement. The same is true of the Deep South (Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Texas, Georgia and South Carolina).
The region referred to by Woodward as The Left Coast, comprising coastal California, Oregon and Washington, is a mixture of the communal spirit of Yankeedom and the individual liberty and expression prized within the culture of Greater Appalachia.Learn more about Cultures & Traditions
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"Don't Be Negative" is a 4 minute, karaoke style video, that students can sing along with.
I wrote it as an introduction to the concept of integers. I use it with my 6th graders as a "springboard" to a discussion about integers and their applications. The song uses elevation to show negative and positive integers. It also covers what numbers make up the set of integers. It does not go into any of the integer operations.
Thanks to my 6th grade students for their integer contributions at the end of the song.
The video integrates math, music, reading, and animation. You can use it as daily practice, part of a lesson, review, PE warmup, clean-up song, or just for fun.
Also included in the file, is a 7 page PDF handout with a few activities and ideas to go along with the video.
The mp4 video and PDF file will download in a zipped folder.
The video can be played on an interactive whiteboard, computer monitor, iPod, iPad, etc.
The preview above is at a lower quality than the actual video due to size requirements.
Special note: Windows Media Player needs a free codec pack installed to play mp4 files. I highly recommend the free VLC media player.
I hope you enjoy!
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Australia teems with a lot of native animals. In fact, it is to see these unique animals that many people visit this country. Some of the most popular animals unique to Australia are platypus, dingo, humpback whales and emu.
Although not native to the continent, dingoes are Australia’s wild dogs. They are medium in size and have pointed muzzles, broad heads, bushy tails, erect ears and yellow to red coats. Their canine teeth and muzzles are longer than similarly sized domestic dogs. They generally feed on wallabies, kangaroos, possums and wombats. These wild dogs mainly communicate through whimpering and howling and bark less than the domestic ones.
You can see southern Right whales and humpback whales off the coastline of Australia. Humpback whales may be seen as they migrate north along east coast past Hervey Bay and Byron Bay from the month of May to the month of November. You will marvel at their beautiful acrobatics & listen to the haunting underwater song on hydrophone on one of the many whale watching package tours to Hervey Bay.
You can even watch the southern right whales mate & calve in nursery waters of Warrnambool on Great Ocean Road or at the time of their arrival from the Antarctic waters with the humpback whales in Tasmania’s Great Oyster Bay. These whales usually migrate up the Western Australian coastline from Albany, Dunsborough and Geographe Bay.
Platypus are dark-brown, small, furry mammals that lay egg. They have duck-like beak and webbed paws. These creatures basically live in burrows located in river banks. They are diving mammals and are able to stay in water for a maximum of 15 minutes. Their beaks are flexible and rubbery and have many electroreceptor cells inside, which detect electrical currents, which are caused by its prey swimming through water. They are found along the eastern coastal region of Australia in small streams and rivers. You can see them in Lake Elizabeth, Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve and Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park.
Emus are big, brown, flightless, soft-feathered birds. They are about 2 metres tall, have long legs and three toes, which enables them to run fast – about 50km per hour. Females emus are bigger than males ones and lay up to twenty dark green, big sized eggs. These animals appear on 50 cent coin and alongside red kangaroo on Australian Coat of Arms. They feed on leaves, insects and grass and are usually found in savannah woodlands, grasslands and sclerophyll forests throughout Australia. They avoid populated areas and can be seen in Tower Hill, Victoria, New South Wales and Southern Queensland.
Kangaroos, echidna, koala, wombat and wallaby are also some animals unique to Australia. Don’t forget to see them when you are out there on your tour.
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Any birder, and perhaps some non-birders, should be able to recognize this bird as a Canada Goose. See... you can identify birds in flight!
It may seem like a big transition from the last image, as this is an unclear image of a relatively plain bird. However, this is a common woodland species that can be identified by a number of clearly visible characteristics. First, when this bird was flying, I noted its relative size. It appeared to be larger than a warbler, but smaller than a robin. Second, most of the bird, including the underside and head, is a yellowish color. Finally, the tail and wings are dark, likely black. If you flip through any good field guide, you will see that the only bird that matches this description is the Scarlet Tanager.
Even a really good look at a flying bird can be misleading. This individual may seem unfamiliar at first, but if you look closely, it is one of our most recognizable bird species. The thick beak, pattern on the face, and crest (folded-down) identify this as a Blue Jay. This species also commonly vocalizes while flying.
Here we have a bird that seems to have relatively long wings and tail. The color of the underside looks orange, and the head appears darker. Often times, these characteristics are all that an observer needs to identify the very common American Robin. Robins also frequently vocalize while flying overhead, so it is useful to learn this various calls of this and other species.
Sometimes flying birds have a very distinctive characteristic that is not obvious when that species is seen sitting in a tree. For example, the large, white crescent marks on the wings of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks allow for quick, easy identification of this species in flight; however, this mark is rarely visible on a stationary bird. Grosbeaks are commonly seen flying over on September mornings after a good nocturnal migration, so keep an eye out for this species!
A final thing to look at in flying birds is whether they are in a flock or not. The songbird species mentioned above, like most migratory species, are relatively solitary birds. In this photo, it is clear that this small group of birds is traveling as a flock. This behavior significantly reduces the list of possible candidates. Next, note the fairly pointed wings that can be seen on the birds with wings outstretched. Together, these characteristics leave us with two species, Bobolink or Cedar Waxwing. Fortunately, birds in a flock often vocalize while flying overhead, and this flock was indeed vocalizing. The high-pitched trills identified these as Cedar Waxwings long before the flock was visible.
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The beginning of the new year brought massive amounts of precipitation to the northern half of the Golden State. So much rain, in fact, that some rivers have flooded over their banks, damaging property and endangering lives. And today, the U.S. Drought Monitor estimates that only about 60% of the state remains in drought, with a very small portion of the state experiencing “extreme” drought conditions. Yet, a quarter of the state remains in “severe” drought, which includes some of our largest cities and dying forests. And year after year, we are using more water than we receive, causing long-term groundwater overdraft (we use about 1 million acre-feet more groundwater than is replaced, annually).
Thus, some areas of Southern California may continue to experience water shortages this year, particularly if warm weather melts much of the snow that has accumulated in the Sierras to-date. The risk is real given that scientists recently named 2016 as the hottest year on record (the third record-breaking year in a row). This spells trouble for snow.
Earlier this week, the Union of Concerned Scientists held an informational briefing at the Capitol to discuss how climate change is at the root of more extreme weather – both floods and droughts. And scientists have been warning us about this for years.
Back to the Future
Back in 1988, Discover magazine ran a cover article on “The Greenhouse Effect.” The article examined how California’s water may be affected by climate change, featuring an image depicting more rain, less snow and flooding in the winter paired with hot, dry conditions and empty reservoirs in the summer. Sound familiar?
While snowpack levels look great right now, it’s simply too soon to say whether that snow will stick around through the spring to melt into reservoirs when water demands are the highest in the hotter months. Just last year, we had above-average snowpack at this time of the year. But a warm spring meant that the state’s crucial snowpack melted much faster than in the past, creating a false sense of security before running out. So although snowpack was near normal on April 1, 2016, only six weeks later it was down to just 35 percent of normal. And you know the rest, a hot summer brought continued drought stress and water shortages.
Our reality is changing. We can no longer rely on the type of infrastructure we currently have to deliver reliable water supplies. Global warming is changing our precipitation patterns and we need to change how we store, manage, and consume water if we are to have water security in the future.
It’s Time for Solutions
It’s not all bad news. There are solutions. First, California has been a leader when it comes to reducing heat-trapping emissions that create many of these problems in the first place. Secondly, our underground aquifers have about three times the storage capacity as all of our above-ground reservoirs. These underground reservoirs are located throughout the state and are a great place to put water that comes in the form of rain, rather than snow.
Groundwater is key to adapting to climate change in California since heavy rains can be captured underground and stored for use during drought periods. The only problem is that groundwater has been virtually unregulated in the state. That all changed a few years ago when California passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, which is the first statewide requirement to manage our shared groundwater resources.
The Union of Concerned Scientists has been tracking the implementation of this law and is a part of the new Groundwater Collaborative webinar series all about how you can get involved in better local groundwater management (click here to find out more). We hope you will join us.
Posted in: Global Warming
Support from UCS members make work like this possible. Will you join us? Help UCS advance independent science for a healthy environment and a safer world.
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Recent research released by a team of Cambridge University scientists reveals that persistent vegetative state patients showed signs of conscious awareness in their brain wave activity. Patients who are in persistent vegetative states usually become so as a result of traumatic brain injury and appear unresponsive and unconscious physically to the world around them. But this newest research uncovers that these patients are indeed consciously aware to some degree of surrounding environmental activities, even though they cannot make their physical bodies signal a communicative response to the events going on around them.
Patients who are in a persistent vegetative state may be able to open their eyes and even look around the room. But the rest of their bodies do not respond to brain stimuli that is responsible for creating body movement. Persistent vegetative state patients can remain in this condition for many years, but it does not mean they are unconscious. In this latest research from the Cambridge team, the scientific researchers were able to chart specific areas of brainwave activity that lit up in response to external commands given to patients in a persistent vegetative state.
The Cambridge research team hooked up 32 patients to an electrode cap and recorded brain wave activity using an EEG machine. The researchers then hooked up healthy volunteers and recorded their brain wave activity as well. Persistent vegetative state patients showed similar signs of conscious awareness brain wave activity as the healthy volunteers.
The Cambridge researcher then decided to try an experiment where both healthy and vegetative patients were hooked up to an MRI machine and asked to imagine playing a game of tennis while the scientists recorded the patients’ brainwave patterns. Researchers discovered that the areas of the pre-motor cortex of the brain that plans body movements in the patients who were in the vegetative state lit up similarly to those of healthy patients who were asked to perform the same task. The results of both test studies were detailed in a report published in PLoS Computational Biology.
The preliminary data from these scientific experiments could assist scientific researchers on how to pinpoint exactly which persistent vegetative state patients are consciously aware of their environmental surroundings using EEG technology right next to their bedsides. Persistent vegetative state patients with neural brain networks intact would be show responsive to commands while hooked up to these machines. Those patients with damaged neural networks would prove unresponsive to external commands. Dr.Tristan Bekinschtein, from the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit and the Department of Psychology, stated that a combination of both tests together would help immensely in the patient assessment.
The news of this latest scientific study shows tremendous progress towards improving clinical diagnoses for persistent vegetative state patients who show signs of awareness through their brain activity. It could also improve quality of care for these patients as better information regarding the state of the patients’ health is passed on to caregivers. However, the University of Cambridge research team cautions that more scientific testing and research still needs to be done before any practical application can be applied using this new data.
By Valerie Bordeau
Photo by: Alin S Living with Autism- Flickr
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From the founding of the Virginia Colony in 1607 until the American Revolution 170 years later, there was only one officially recognized religion in the colony. The Anglican Church was the established church. The Colonial Government built the churches, paid the clergy and taxed the citizens accordingly. All other religious groups were discouraged, suppressed, and harassed.
In the late 1730's a powerful religious movement, which became known as the “Great Awakening,” took hold in the middle colonies of America. It was initially energized by the preaching of George Whitefield, the itinerating British Methodist evangelist, and soon followed by a noticeable number of Presbyterian clergy. In 1739 Whitefield preached in Williamsburg. His sermon was published and widely read throughout Virginia.
Shortly thereafter a Hanover County brick mason named Samuel Morris began gathering family and some neighbors into his home regularly on Sunday afternoons to read the Bible and religious tracts, including Whitefield's sermons. This marked the beginning of the dissenter movement in Virginia. By 1743 the Governor's Council in Williamsburg licensed four dissenter “reading houses,” three in Hanover County and one in Henrico. They were all named “Morris Reading Houses.” The reading house built on Samuel Morris' land was named after George Polegreen, a land grant recipient of the previous century.
At the request of the Hanover dissenters, a newly ordained 23-year-old Presbyterian minister from Pennsylvania arrived in 1747 to be pastor of the four congregations which had been licensed by the Colonial government in 1743. He was the first non-Anglican minister licensed to preach in Virginia. Davies remained in Virginia until 1759 and made a remarkable contribution to the religious and political climate of the colony. Among his achievements was his pioneering effort in the education of black slaves.
The classic Negro slave spiritual, “Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart,” originated at Polegreen. Musicologists credit Davies with being the first American-born hymn writer. His poetry was published in Williamsburg in 1752. He had no peer as a pulpit orator in Virginia — or perhaps in all the colonies.
As a young man, Patrick Henry worshipped with his mother, a Hanover dissenter, at Polegreen during the twelve years Davies was in Virginia. Before Henry's death he credited Davies with “teaching me what an orator should be.” During the French and Indian War, Davies distinguished himself as an American patriot prompting Governor Dinwiddie to say, “Davies is the best recruiter in the Colony.”
For more than a century the Polegreen Church stood as a monument to the Hanover Dissenters and Samuel Davies in their struggle for religious liberty in pre-revolutionary America. In 1864, during America's agonizing Civil War, General Grant, trying to take Richmond, attempted to break through General Lee's lines along Totopotomoy Creek. Polegreen Church rested squarely in the center as the two armies faced each other. During an attack the Union forces overran the Confederate outer positions and occupied the church. In an effort to dislodge Union sharpshooters, Confederate artillery fired on the church. According to the diary of William S. White, a gunner with the Richmond Howitzers, his gun fired the shot that set the church ablaze. Ironically, his diary notes that his own father had been baptized in Polegreen Church.
In war-ravaged Hanover County the congregation which had worshipped at Polegreen could not afford to rebuild the destroyed church. Over the years since 1864 all signs of the great center of the struggle for religious liberty vanished.
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Tales to Astonish #13, 1960. © Marvel Comics
A new study of plant physiology reveals how flowering plants, including crops, were able to dominate land by evolving more efficient hydraulics, or 'leaf plumbing', to increase rates of photosynthesis.The reason for the success of this evolutionary step is that under relatively low atmospheric C02 conditions, like those existing at present, water transport efficiency and photosynthetic performance are tightly linked. Therefore adaptations that increase water transport will enhance maximum photosynthesis, exerting substantial evolutionary leverage over competing species.
The evolution of dense leaf venation in flowering plants, around 140-100 million years ago, was an event with profound significance for the continued evolution of flowering plants. This step provided a 'cretaceous productivity stimulus package' which reverberated across the biosphere and led to these plants playing the fundamental role in the biological and atmospheric functions of the earth.
"Without this hydraulic system we predict leaf photosynthesis would be two-fold lower then present," concludes Brodribb. "So it is significant to note that without this evolutionary step land plants would not have the physical capacity to drive the high productivity that underpins modern terrestrial biology and human civilisation." link
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Several weeks (months!) ago I wrote a post titled 'THAT explains a lot!'. In the post I described several common characteristics of gifted learners and some of the possible positive and negative behaviors/attitudes we associate with those characteristics; today, I'll address how we, as parents and teachers, can go about addressing one of those characteristics. We'll take a look at all of them eventually, but today we'll focus on curiosity:
Characteristic: curious, has a variety of interests
Possible Positive Behaviors/Attitudes: asks deep and probing questions; gets excited about ideas; conducts individual research independent of assignments
Possible Negative Behaviors/Attitudes: goes on tangents; no follow-through; has difficulty making academic and social decisions
Teacher: Rather than discouraging creative ideas, work as with students as individually as possible to refine their ideas and help them focus those ideas into channels which accomplish the intent of the assignment. Gifted students may face particular frustration when their ideas don't translate into the product they hoped to see. According to Lovecky (1992), "The child needs to know that there is something to be learned from any idea, and doing something that does not turn out may lead in the future to another idea". If the student is still unhappy with the results of those investigations, validate their feelings but continue to emphasize Lovecky's point. Remember, the intent of grades is to measure mastery of the material, which can still happen even if the intended ends were a complete failure.
Parent: NEVER discourage your child from asking questions, even if those questions are beyond your ability to answer! Instead, validate her/his interests and assist your child in locating the resources needed for the question at hand. Encourage individual investigation, and make sure you familiarize yourself with your child's interest; there's no need to become an expert, but you should know enough to be a sounding board.
When your child has a decision to make, ask her/him about the intended results, and help your child work backward in a logical fashion. For example, "So you want to go to veterinary school? Okay, what are the requirements to get in? What kind of classes will you need to take as an undergraduate? In order to take those particular classes, which college or university do you think would be the best choice? What are the admission requirements, and what classes will you need to take in high school? In order to take those classes, what classes do you need to get right now, in middle school?" and so on...
This goes for all issues related to your child's academic needs: when you are unhappy with your child's teacher or school, speak up! Please understand that teachers and administrators are doing their best with their available resources, but they may not be aware of your child's needs or know how to help. Many states have no requirements for teachers to receive training in gifted education, so it may be helpful to meet your child's teacher with prepared articles or resource lists. Never be afraid to advocate for your child's interests, but remember that concrete suggestions are much better than a list of complaints.
Clark, B. (2004). Tips for parents: Helping parents understand their profoundly gifted children. Davidson Institute for Talent Development. Retrieved from http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10299.aspx
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The “Science Lab” Elementary School Project at Peck Slip questions the concept of the school as an institution for discipline and punishment where students are divided according to age and measured from the established benchmarks etc. As described by Foucault in his book “Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison” that the transition to the industrial
system around 17th-19th century required different type of control over people in order to ensure the efficiency of the new economic system. In the 21st century we are experiencing another systematic change (from industrial to information technology society) and there has to be an adequate change in educational system. By understanding the needs of the society and the developmental peculiarities of children at the early age (they learn better by challenging different senses – sight, touch, smell,
balance, etc. rather than by following text books and that it is important to stimulate their imagination, so that they are able to be creative) “Science Laboratory” project offers an alternative to the 200 years ago established norms still widely used today.
The “Science Lab” project would set grounds for bottom up learning. The usual teacher - student (master - slave) relationship would be substituted
with something like a “smart search engine and curious explorer relationship” that could constantly open up more and more interesting horizons as one gets more involved. The knowledge would not be
taught; instead children would be discovering it themselves with mentors (the smart search engines) only to guide, give direction and to provoke
The “Science Lab” Elementary School Project will capture, keep the children’s attention and provoke learning from the moment they approach the school early in the morning to the time they go home. “Scientific cabinets of curiosity” scattered throughout the school will expose children to different types of information ranging from the most recent discoveries in quantum mechanics to most bizarre fantasies, interpreted for their age-specific learning capacities. Interactive screens in floors, walls and ceilings, digitally produced aggregations, and a variety of wild life including aquariums, terrariums, bug containers and green rooms from different climate zones will serve children as grounds for learning to use all their senses. The unusual placement of things and bizarreness will provoke critical thought on the accepted realities of our everyday life.
The critical view on accepted realities at the “Science Lab” project is also questioned by architectural means. The usual rigid structure of classrooms
along the main corridor is substituted by a continuous space a with variety of special qualities – dark, light, spacious, enclosed, continuous etc. Gym, auditorium, classroom and playground do not exist at the school as single entities with specific borders. The spaces merge from one to another based on adjacent interests.
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Students five years old by September 1st may enter Kindergarten. Guided by two teachers, our curriculum focuses on individual development. Stories, poetry, songs, and class discussions are part of a Language Arts Curriculum that includes the introduction to Writing Centers, Letter Books, Dictation, and Journal Writing.
Small group instruction ensures successful development of math skills such as numeration, patterns and functions, time, money, and measurement. Science is explored through field trips and class projects, including growing vegetables in Saint Hilary’s Secret Garden! Kindergarteners begin Spanish classes, are introduced to computers, and participate in a strong physical education program. The children study rudimentary music with a focus on rhythm and movement, and participate in school concerts and assemblies. This early exposure to performing in front of a supportive school-wide audience is an introduction to the public speaking core curriculum encouraging poise and self-confidence.
Students study religion through prayer, church attendance, and a course study based on God’s love and the development of compassion and respect for self and others.
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Many risk factors contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease. Some people are born with conditions that predispose them to heart disease and stroke, however that is not the norm. Most persons develop cardiovascular disease due to poor lifestyle and dietary choices — choices that we control.
The number of gene-related factors for heart disease is only about 5 percent or less with the burden of activating that risk placed on lifestyle and personal choices.
In the larger population, heart disease is caused by a combination of bad habits such as the wrong foods and lifestyle choices that encourage poor health such as fast foods and high-fat foods, drinking alcohol to excess, smoking and sedentary lifestyle.
The wrong foods damage every part of the body, from the toenails to the hair follicles. Instead of spending money for healthy foods we spend tons of cash trying to fix the problems caused by poor diet with external patches. Patches such as hair treatments and skin creams, mints for fresh breath, eye drops for bright eyes, and diet pills for weight loss, and pharmaceuticals for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart diseases and diabetes.
Along with the poor dietary habits, lack of adequate physical activity, smoking and stress are all contributors to poor heart health and can lead to depression and drinking alcohol, which many times leads to social isolation.
These choices lead to atherosclerosis, the narrowing and thickening of arteries with loss of elasticity. Atherosclerosis develops over years without any apparent symptoms, can develop in any part of the body, and spread throughout.
Atherosclerosis of arteries that feed the heart, is known as coronary artery disease, in the legs it is called peripheral arterial disease.
The narrowing and thickening of the arteries is due to deposits of mainly fatty material in the walls of blood vessels, known as plaques. They can rupture, leading to stroke or heart attack.
An estimated 17.3 million people die of cardiovascular diseases every year. Eighty percent of these deaths occur among low and middle-income persons.
So, what’s diet got to do with it?
Diet plays a very significant role in either protecting or pre-disposing persons to heart disease. Research is conclusive that eating animal fat, with the low consumption of fresh vegetables and fruit, and high intake of alcohol, will increase one’s risk of heart disease.
Likewise, smoking damages the lining of blood vessels, helps to lay down fatty deposits and encourages blood clotting, while nicotine increases heart rate and blood pressure causing additional strain on the heart.
“Dressing up the water” with chemically created flavors, sweeteners, colors and synthetic vitamins is no longer water, and cannot perform the health giving processes the body needs nor can they flush out the toxins. It also adds another layer of toxins to strain the liver, kidneys and blood vessels.
Researchers at Loma Linda University in California found that people who drank at least five glasses of water each day were less likely to die from heart attack than those who drank two or fewer glasses per day.
In contrast, people who drank a lot of other fluids — soda, juice, coffee, tea — were more likely to die from heart attack than those who drank less of these liquids. High levels of non-water drinking women show more than a two-fold increased risk of death. Further, officials at the college found study results published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, which revealed that drinking high amounts of clean pure water is as important as exercise, diet and not smoking in preventing coronary heart disease.
So many people go wrong thinking that a family history of illness means they’ve been cursed by fate and therefore, as a victim, must suffer the destiny. What to do? Go with the pill, and hope for the best. Eat, watch TV and wait. Wrong answer!
A defective gene that could lead to heart disease can easily be turned on by poor lifestyle and dietary habits and turned off by feeding and strengthening the healthy genes. Create a lifestyle that supports health.
Any pre-disposition to heart disease, such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes or being overweight are easily averted by making new lifestyle choices.
Lack of activity is one of the major risk factors for heart disease. Adequate exercise helps improve heart health, and can even reverse many heart disease risk factors and outcomes.
Like all muscles, the heart becomes stronger as a result of exercise, so then, it increases the ease and efficiency of blood flow through the body with every heartbeat. Even the resting heart rate of those who exercise is lower because less effort is needed to pump blood.
A person who exercises regularly and enthusiastically has the lowest risk for heart disease, but studies consistently find that light-to-moderate exercise is beneficial in persons with existing heart disease. Note, seek the approval and advice of your physician before beginning a workout program.
Carolyn Guilford is a nutrition consultant, health and wellness advocate, author and workshop organizer. If you have a question you’d like answered in Toward True Health please send it to firstname.lastname@example.org. ‘Like’ us on Facebook and get new health tips at www.facebook.com/healthrestoration101 or write to Health Restoration Consulting Post Office Box 2814, Savannah, GA 31402.
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In a really astounding discovery, it was confirmed that a 2001 birth by a female Hammerhead shark was achieved in the complete absence of males, in a process called parthenogenesis. While at first it was believed that the female shark mated before being captured, and stored the sperm for three years (ew), testing on the resulting offspring showed that their DNA only matched the mother and showed no evidence of a father. This phenomenon, while seen in some other vertebrates like birds and amphibians, has never been demonstrated in such a major vertebrate line as sharks. Mammals are now the only major vertebrate group that has yet to show evidence of parthenogenesis.
Co-author Dr Mahmood Shivji, who led the Guy Harvey Research Institute team, said: “We may have solved a general mystery about shark reproduction – our findings suggest that parthenogenesis is the likely explanation behind the anecdotal but increasing observations of other species of female sharks reproducing successfully in captivity despite not having contact with males.
“It now appears that at least some female sharks can switch from a sexual to a non-sexual mode of reproduction in the absence of males.”
During parthenogenesis, a female organism’s eggs develop without fertilization. This likely evolved as a mechanism to ensure population persistence in the absence of a fertile male (sharks are often solitary for long stretches, and the sea is a big place.) However, the process does have drawbacks, ie the reduction of genetic diversity in populations.
The study is published in Biology Letters. (Chapman et al. 2007. Virgin birth of a hammerhead shark. Biology Letters. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2007.0189)
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Scientists working in Saudi Arabia have formally identified the first dinosaur fossils ever to have come from the nation.
The find is not only a rarity for Saudi Arabia, but for the entire Arabian Peninsula, where to-date only a handful of bone fragments have been found. Like all other dinosaur bones found in the region, the specimens from Saudi Arabia were fragments as well, excavated in the northwest part of the country along the coast of the Red Sea.
The bones were identified as a string of vertebrae from the tail of a Brontosaurus-like sauropod and teeth from a carnivorous dinosaur, likely a theropod. Scientists dated the fossils to be about 72 million years old, placing them from the Late Cretaceous era. The theropod is thought to be a 6-meter-long bi-pedal meat-eater distantly related to Tyrannosaurus rex, while the sauropod was a plant-eating titanosaur that may have been up to 20 meters in length.
The 72-million-year-old fossils were discovered in the Adaffa formation, a pile of sandstone and conglomerates (pebble-rich rocks) deposited by streams and rivers during the Late Cretaceous Period.
During this time, Arabia had not yet separated from Africa and was bounded on the east by the Tethys Ocean. Parts of Arabia were underwater when the bones were buried in the sand. (On earlier fossil hunts, Kear found Cretaceous marine fossils in Saudi Arabia, such as plesiosaurs and mosasaurs, sharks and turtles.)
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What does this mean?
The Senate (the Red Chamber), is the upper house in Canada's bicameral parliamentary democracy. The original Senate, created in 1867, had 72 seats, but more seats were added as the country grew. The Constitution now directs that the Senate have 105 appointed members.
The Senate was created to counterbalance representation by population in the House of Commons. In recent years, the Senate has come to bolster representation of groups often underrepresented in Parliament, such as Aboriginal peoples, visible minorities, and women. The Senate was also intended to provide Parliament with a second chance to consider bills before they are passed. Senators may pass bills, propose amendments to them or vote to defeat them.
Decorated in royal red, the Senate Chamber is also where the Queen of Canada, or her representative the Governor General, addresses Parliament and gives Royal Assent to bills destined to become law. It is the venue for historic state ceremonies, including the Opening of Parliament or of a new session of Parliament (where the Queen or Governor General gives the Speech from the Throne) and the installation of a new Governor General
Senate proceedings are open to the public. The second-floor galleries at the north and south ends of the Chamber can accommodate 350 people.
The Senate Chamber is adorned with artistic expressions of Canada’s history and heritage. These serve to remind senators of the people and country they serve.
Women in the Senate
On February 15, 1930, Canada’s first female senator, Cairine Wilson, was sworn in. Women senators present and past represent a variety of professional backgrounds: Aboriginal leader, athlete, physician, artist, business person, public servant, journalist, lawyer, politician, social activist, and teacher, among many others. These women have brought and continue to bring their knowledge and experience to their work as senators.
Women in Canada's Senate have continued to break barriers, coming to act in such key roles as Speaker, Leader of the Government, Leader of the Opposition, and Whip. In 1972, Senator Muriel McQueen Fergusson, the first female Speaker of the Senate and the first female Speaker in Canada’s Parliament, succeeded in her campaign to open the Senate Page Program to female students. The positions of Usher of the Black Rod and Mace Bearer, traditionally held by men, have also been filled by women.
Women of Colour in the Senate
Anne Clare Cools (born August 12, 1943) is a member of the Canadian Senate. Born in Barbados, she became with her appointment the first Black Canadian to be appointed to Canada's upper house. She was appointed in 1984 and the first Black Woman to be appointed to the Senate in North America.
We also wish to acknowledge Daniel (Dan) Christmas for his appointment as an Aboriginal from the Membertou Community in Sydney, Nova Scotia.
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Frida Kahlo - The Two Fridas (1939)
This painting was completed shortly after her divorce with Diego Rivera. This portrait shows Frida's two different personalities. One is the traditional Frida in Tehuana costume, with a broken heart, sitting next to an independent, modern dressed Frida. In Frida's diary, she wrote about this painting and said it is originated from her memory of an imaginary childhood friend. Later she admitted it expressed her desperation and loneliness with the separation from Diego.
Completion Date: 1939
Original size: 173.5 x 173 cm
Art movement: Naive art (primitivism)
Where was it painted: Mexico City, Mexico
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Where can I see it: Museum of Modern Art Mexico City, Mexico
Look out for.. In this painting, the two Fridas are holding hands. They both have visible hearts and the heart of the traditional Frida is cut and torn open. The main artery, which comes from the torn heart down to the right hand of the traditional Frida, is cut off by the surgical pincers held in the lap of the traditional Frida. The blood keeps dripping on her white dress and she is in danger of bleeding to death. The stormy sky filled with agitated clouds may reflect Frida's inner turmoil.
Did you know? Created at the same time as her to divorce to Diego Rivera, The Two Fridas is Kahlo’s largest painting. It is believed to be a painting depicting her deep hurt at losing her husband.
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In space, health issues and even accidents that would be minor on Earth can become medical emergencies — that's one reason there's an escape capsule built into the International Space Station.
Surgery in space is basically impossible. But the designers of a nimble little robot are trying to change that.
Researchers at a company called Virtual Incision are working on a "fist-sized" robot that could perform emergency surgeries to fix urgent problems without the need for a quick getaway, New Scientist reports. Such an innovation would be essential as we contemplate longer missions and those in which humans stray further from Earth, say to an asteroid or Mars.
"While this work is in an early phase, the minimal invasiveness of this approach could enable its use in remote locations such as on a moon or Mars colony," researchers wrote in a technical paper on the prototype.
How exactly would it work? "The miniature surgeon slides into the body through an incision in the belly button," Aviva Rutkin writes in New Scientist. "Once inside the abdominal cavity — which has been filled with inert gas to make room for it to work — the robot can remove an ailing appendix, cut pieces from a diseased colon or perforate a gastric ulcer."
The robot is designed to be light — the latest version is less than a pound — and that's a crucial feature in anything that's headed to space.
But in that light package, there's a lot packed in, Rutkin writes: "It has two arms loaded with tools to grab, cauterize and suture tissue, and its head is a small video camera."
The robot would be remote-controlled, although controlling it from as far away as Earth would probably be impractical. The further away the robot gets from the controller, the greater the potential communication delays.
Instead, Virtual Incision says, the short-term plan would be to train astronauts to use the robot to perform select surgeries on each other. The longer-term goal is to imbue the tiny robot with medical knowledge and give it the ability to perform operations somewhat autonomously.
Still, the technology has a long way to go. It will soon be tested on human cadavers, but so far, it's only been used to perform procedures on pigs. Before it can actually be sent to space, the researchers will have to prove the robot's skills using living humans here on Earth.
In space, where even a routine task like eating can be a technical challenge, the potential complications involved in performing surgery are immense.
"Everything that we take for granted, even something as simple as putting a Band Aid down on a table, is difficult in space," one of Virtual Incision's co-founders, Dmitry Oleynikov, told New Scientist. "That difficulty increases logarithmically when you're trying to do complex procedures such as an operation."
Later this year, the tiny surgery robot's basic functions will be tested on a zero-gravity flight.
Here's a video of an early prototype:
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An indigenously developed S-band doppler weather radar (DWR) of India Meteorological Department (IMD) was commissioned at Palluruthy in West Kochi, Kerala.
It has been manufactured by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) based on the indigenous technology provided by ISRO.
It joins the latest in a chain of 27 such advanced radars already installed in various parts of the country.
The S-band DWR is capable of predicting weather events such as storms and cyclones, other severe weather conditions occurring in 500-km radius from Kochi with increased accuracy.
Doppler weather radar is an observational tool for monitoring and predicting severe weather events such as hailstorms, thunder storms, cyclones and tornados.
It uses the Doppler effect by bouncing a microwave signal off a desired target to produce velocity data. This data helps in analyzing object’s motion by altered the frequency of the returned signal.
It mainly gives information about wind velocity and also about precipitation.
DWR can provide area specific rain and storm warnings which are beneficial for disaster management and emergency response, aviation and related services.
It can be used for wind speed measurements during cyclones and thunderstorms which is not possible in conventional weather radar.
Thus, it helps in providing improved warning and better weather forecasts.
Doppler effect is an increase (or decrease) in the frequency of sound, light, or other waves as the source and observer move towards (or away from) each other.
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(CNN) -- The mayors of New York and Atlanta, Georgia, suffered stinging criticism for their handling of recent winter storms, but in the near future, technology could clear city streets of ice and snow -- by simply melting it away.
America's harsh winters cost the nation's economy billions of dollars each year in snow removal equipment, weather damage to streets and vehicles, extra days of school and revenue lost to closed businesses.
Scott Brusaw, a 53-year-old electrical engineer in tiny Sagle, Idaho, thinks he has a solution. So far, he's generated interest from the federal government and General Electric in his idea for a solar-powered roadway made from super-strong glass, instead of conventional asphalt or concrete.
"I'm looking out the window now at about a foot of snow, so if we can make it work here, we can make it work anywhere in the country," Brusaw said. "I'm hoping this spring we'll start laying the foundation for it right outside our building here."
Solar cells inside its glass surface would allow the roadway to act as a giant solar power generator, fueling embedded heating elements and making plows and other snow removal equipment unnecessary.
The heating elements would work "like in the rear window of your car," said the inventor, who intends to experiment with temperature settings during the next stages of the development process.
Electricity generated by the highway could be used to recharge electric vehicles and to power lights and LED warning signs along the road itself.
In fact, Brusaw believes that solar roadways -- if widely accepted -- could eventually generate clean electricity around the world, eliminating the need for fossil fuels and saving the planet from global climate change.
Marrying pavements with buildings
Brusaw is not alone in his quest to build a smarter road surface. On the other side of the country, at Massachusetts' Worcester Polytechnic Institute, civil engineer Rajib Mallick has a vision of his own.
With help from a grant from the National Science Foundation and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, he and a group of colleagues are working to develop stronger, heat-absorbing pavements.
One idea is to embed the pavement with half-inch pipes filled with a fluid that resists freezing. In warmer weather, sun-heated fluid is stored in an insulated chamber, where it stays hot. Then, in cold weather when it's needed, that hot fluid is sent through the pipes to melt ice and snow.
"Think about it, we have more than 3 million miles of highways exposed to sunlight, so if we can harness this energy, it's free, and you don't need photovoltaic solar cells," said Mallick.
In the summer, the system could link parking lots to adjacent buildings, Mallick said, transferring heat from the asphalt to water tanks in adjacent buildings, which would save electricity.
"We have to stop thinking of pavements as separate from buildings," he said. "They can depend on each other as parts of a efficient system to cut energy use and costs and move toward construction of environmentally sustainable buildings and pavement."
Even a warm weather city like Miami, Florida, could benefit from temperature-regulated pavements. The Worcester project estimates that every 50 meters of pipe embedded in Miami pavement would cost $12,500 to construct, $1,000 a year to maintain and would yield enough annual energy from its heat to power 55 homes for a month.
In six years, the smart pavement would pay for itself in energy production and savings, according to research by Mallick and his colleagues.
Smart pavements offer potentially impressive savings in other ways. Alaska spends an estimated $1,600 per mile on annual repairs to ruts in roadways. Controlling the pavement temperature can prevent much of this rutting damage, Mallick said.
Three FAQs that Brusaw gets
For Brusaw, the biggest opposition so far can be summed up in a word: "Change," he said. "It scares people, I think."
-- How can glass provide enough traction while supporting the weight, wear and tear of a conventional concrete or asphalt highway? Glass, especially when fused together in layers, is stronger than most people think, said Brusaw. He said he's joined forces with top glass researchers at University of Dayton and Penn State who can develop super-strong glass that would offer vehicles the traction they need.
-- How much would the solar highway cost? Brusaw calculates an estimated cost -- in great detail -- on his website. Short answer: each mile would cost $4.4 million. Payoff? A cleaner, self-sustaining highway that would eventually pay for itself in energy production and in other ways, he said.
-- Can the solar highway's surface collect enough sunlight when it's filled with bumper-to-bumper traffic? Yes, he says. Even when roadways are filled with bumper-to-bumper traffic, solar collection would be at 50 percent, he estimates.
Federal, state support
Building and maintaining "better, faster and smarter" roads to improve safety, increase taxpayer value and to remain competitive in the global economy are some of the reasons behind the Federal Highway Administration's commitment to innovation, said agency Administrator Victor Mendez.
The FHWA gave Brusaw a $100,000 contract and the agency is supporting other smart road research across the nation. Virginia Tech is looking at using machines called piezoelectric generators to convert the weight of truck traffic on pavements into energy that powers nearby lighting signals.
Another FHWA program at the University of Nebraska Lincoln will research how hybrid solar- and wind-based generators positioned along roadsides can power highway infrastructure -- and even send extra electricity to nearby communities.
However -- after ideas like these are perfected in laboratories -- the financial and political pathway to the real world will be tricky when state and federal budgets are severely limited, said Robert E. Lang, director of University of Nevada Las Vegas' Brookings Mountain West think tank.
"There aren't a lot of revenue sources to pay for this," said Lang. Justifying the cost of installing anti-snow smart roads would be easiest in areas of high population density, Lang said, where vehicles could be charged fees for the right to use them.
As for Brusaw, he hopes to win more private and federal support by demonstrating a new prototype smart-road parking lot to be finished in the spring.
His goal would be to partner with a high-profile national chain like McDonald's or Walmart to turn their conventional parking lots into solar-powered, interactive, temperature-controlled spaces where electric-vehicle owners can recharge their cars while they shop or drive across the country.
"The Federal Highway Administration told us they're not going to let us go out on the highway to start this," said Brusaw. "They told us to go into the parking lot first, prove your technology, perfect it and learn your lessons there -- which makes sense."
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- Scientist Raphael Mechoulam has made studying marijuana his life's work
- There are more than 480 natural components in the cannabis plant
- "The entourage effect" means those components may work best together
In the early 1960s, a young postdoctoral student stumbled onto something that puzzled him.
After reading the literature on cannabis, he was surprised to see that while the active compound in morphine had been isolated from opium poppies 100 years before and cocaine isolated from coca leaves around the same time, the active component of marijuana was still unknown.
This simple observation launched his life's work.
That young Israeli researcher, Raphael Mechoulam, is now a heavily decorated scientist, recently nominated for the prestigious Rothschild Prize. More than 50 years ago, however, he had trouble starting his scientific journey.
For starters, he needed cannabis to study and didn't know how to obtain it. Eventually, he obtained his research supply from friends in the police department. The young scientist was in a hurry, and didn't want to wait to cut through the red tape required by Israel's Health Ministry.
"Yes, I broke the law," he told me when I met with him in Tel Aviv last year, "but I apologized and explained what I was trying to do."
It's a good thing the Israeli government didn't stall his progress, because Mechoulam was moving at breakneck speed.
By 1963, he determined the structure of cannabidiol (CBD), an important component of marijuana. A year later, he became the first person to isolate delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Over the ensuing decades, Mechoulam and his team continued to isolate numerous compounds from the cannabis plant.
Their work also went a long way toward illuminating how the drug works in the brain. When Mechoulam's team identified the first known endogenous cannabinoid, a chemical actually made by the brain itself, he named it "anandamide." In the Sanskrit language, ananda means "supreme bliss," which gives us some insight into what Mechoulam thinks of cannabinoids overall.
It was halfway through our long afternoon discussion that Mechoulam, now 83, pulled out a paper he had written in 1999, describing something known as "the entourage effect."
Think of it like this: There are more than 480 natural components found within the cannabis plant, of which 66 have been classified as "cannabinoids." Those are chemicals unique to the plant, including delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiols. There are, however, many more, including:
-- Cannabigerols (CBG);
-- Cannabichromenes (CBC);
-- other Cannabidiols (CBD);
-- other Tetrahydrocannabinols (THC);
-- Cannabinol (CBN) and cannabinodiol (CBDL);
-- other cannabinoids (such as cannabicyclol (CBL), cannabielsoin (CBE), cannabitriol (CBT) and other miscellaneous types).
Other constituents of the cannabis plant are: nitrogenous compounds (27 known), amino acids (18), proteins (3), glycoproteins (6), enzymes (2), sugars and related compounds (34), hydrocarbons (50), simple alcohols (7), aldehydes (13), ketones (13), simple acids (21), fatty acids (22), simple esters (12), lactones (1), steroids (11), terpenes (120), non-cannabinoid phenols (25), flavonoids (21), vitamins (1), pigments (2), and other elements (9).
Here is the important point. Mechoulam, along with many others, said he believes all these components of the cannabis plant likely exert some therapeutic effect, more than any single compound alone.
While science has not yet shown the exact role or mechanism for all these various compounds, evidence is mounting that these compounds work better together than in isolation: That is the "entourage effect."
Take the case of Marinol, which is pure, synthetic THC. When the drug became available in the mid-1980s, scientists thought it would have the same effect as the whole cannabis plant. But it soon became clear that most patients preferred using the whole plant to taking Marinol.
Researchers began to realize that other components, such as CBD, might have a larger role than previously realized.
To better understand the concept of the entourage effect, I traveled to the secret labs of GW Pharmaceuticals, outside London. In developing Sativex, a cannabis-based drug to treat multiple sclerosis, the company's chairman, Dr. Geoffrey Guy, told me the company ran into some of the same obstacles that Marinol faced.
More than a decade of experiments revealed that a whole plant extract, bred to contain roughly the same amounts of THC and CBD in addition to the other components in the plant, was more effective in reducing the pain and spasms of MS than a medication made of a single compound.
It could be that multiple individual compounds play a role, or it could be due to their interaction in the body; it could also be combination of both, Guy said.
Now, maybe this all sounds obvious. After all, eating real fruits, vegetables and other plants provides better nutrition than just taking vitamin pills with one nutrient or mineral in each. Science is showing us that we can likely say the same about cannabis.
As we move forward with creating medicines, like Charlotte's Web, for the patients who can benefit from cannabis -- this is an important point to keep in mind.
Unlike other drugs that may work well as single compounds, synthesized in a lab, cannabis may offer its most profound benefit as a whole plant, if we let the entourage effect flower, as Mechoulam suggested more than a decade ago.
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February smashed the previous record for the warmest February
and even became the warmest month ever compared to average, according to NOAA, which released the data Thursday.
February temperatures over land and ocean averaged a scorching 2.18 F/1.21 C above the 20th century average. With records going back to 1880, that makes 1,646 months of data, and February tops them all. But what's even more remarkable is that the top three months in terms of heat are the past three, going back to December 2015, and they all top 1 C warmer than the 20th century average.
The planet is rapidly on its way to that 2 degree
mark, possibly faster than anyone imagined. In fact, average temperatures over land in February were a mind-boggling 4.16 F/2.31 C above normal, the first time the significant and symbolic 2 degree Celsius bar has been topped.
During the climate talks of COP21, world leaders pledged to make efforts to keep global warming at an ambitious 1.5 C, which is seen as "dangerous climate change that they want to prevent," according to Imperial College London climate scientist Heather Graven. The fact that these recent monthly deviations are of that scale suggest to Graven that "we're very near that dangerous level of climate change."
February also marks the 10th consecutive month that ranks as the hottest one of that particular month in the 135-year record -- so for the past 10 months, we've had the hottest January on record, the hottest December ever, the hottest November, etc. This means by May we may have completed the 12-month sweep. That's like a boxer holding all of the championship belts in all of the different weight classes at once!
What's causing all the heat?
El Niño is a major driver of the recent uptick in global temperatures. The cycle brings warmer ocean temperatures to large portions of the Pacific Ocean, which provide extra heat to warm the planet. So El Niño years tend to be hotter than neutral or La Niña years. But El Niño alone cannot account for all the extra heat the planet has seen recently.
More recent El Niño years are rapidly outpacing El Niño years of the past, and while a switch to La Niña will likely bring global temperatures down a bit, they will still probably be hotter than even past El Niños.
Many scientists say climate change due to manmade issues is also to blame.
"We know that atmospheric CO2 and other greenhouse gases are continuing to increase, so that's contributing to climate change and the rising temperatures overall," said Graven.
Another clue that is it not simply El Niño causing the recent high temps: studying the map of temperatures from February shows that some of the warmest temperatures compared to average were found in the far northern latitudes. This is not a signal from El Niño -- which primarily impacts tropical and mid-latitude regions. Arctic sea ice, as a result, set a record for the lowest February extent on record -- making another record low Arctic sea ice minimum a real possibility this summer
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How can I help my colicky infant?
The word colic comes from a Greek word meaning “suffering in the colon”. It is generally thought that colic stems from the immaturity of the baby’s digestive tract. Now that he or she is on the outside of the womb, their digestive tract is learning to deal with food for the first time. In the womb, they only had to deal with the amniotic fluid. Sometimes gastroesophageal reflux (heartburn) can be a contributing cause.
All babies cry. It’s part of their way of communicating. But some babies cry excessively because they are hurting. Let’s look at some different possibilities:
“The Rule of Threes”
Inconsolable crying is considered colic if:
• It begins in the 1st 3 weeks of life
• Goes on for 3 hours a day
• At least 3 days a week
• Lasts for 3 weeks or more
• Often resolves by 3 months of age
Many times there are not obvious findings on a traditional pediatric physical exam. However, in the trained hands of a Cranial Osteopathic Physician, subtle changes and restrictions of the spine, tailbone and head caused from birth trauma or the tight space in utero can be felt. These restrictions can affect nerves related to the digestive system.
Gastroesophageal reflux is often a contributing factor to colic pain. This issue also has a root in structure. Pediatric textbooks discuss the receptor sites in the GI tract that drugs can affect for reflux, although a more common cause is irritation of the vagus nerve (Cranial nerve X). This nerve stimulates many organs including the stomach. It passes through a canal between 2 bones in the back of the skull-the most common presenting part during the birthing process. Gentle Osteopathic manipulation can help relieve pressure causing the irritation and improve the functioning of baby’s digestive tract.
The number of gentle osteopathic treatments needed varies depending on the severity of birth trauma. This is another illustration of the intimate relationship between structure and function. Babies like gentle osteopathic manipulation and will often “quiet” when their body releases a restriction or finds a balance point.
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It might be a good idea to avoid pointed objects while learning how to draw a porcupine using this tutorial! Seriously, this illustration is so easy to draw that even beginners can achieve this character in just a few minutes. I'll show you how to transform a few basic lines into a marvelous cartoon character.
Below is a colored version of the porcupine you are about to draw. To make this lesson even easier, I have decided to create a front version. Indeed, a side version would be more challenging and difficult to duplicate.
Great! Let's start this lesson with the creation of the head using a large oval shape. Notice how the top of the shape is narrower, a little bit similar to the shape of an egg. Next, add a long curved line below the head to illustrate the body.
Nice! The feet and legs of the porcupine are represented by the top part of small circles. The back legs are a little bit more complex since, unlike the front ones, the legs and the feet are visible.
The spines are illustrated with numerous curved lines. These lines are wider at the bottom of the illustration and pointed on top. No need to sketch tons of line. Only a few a needed.
Time to work on the head of this cute cartoon porcupine. The nose is drawn using a small oval shape. The eyes and the pupils are made from circles. Large eyes and pupils are necessary to express all the cuteness of this character (yes, that's the secret!).
You can complete this tutorial by adding two small oval shapes inside the pupils. You can also draw the mouth using a long curved line like shown in the illustration available below.
Nice work! As you can see, sketching this cartoon animal is not too difficult once you are familiar with all five steps required to complete this drawing.
I hope you had fun creating this character. Don't hesitate to try more cartoon animals from the same series. Have fun! :)
Need beautiful cartoon illustrations to enhance your work or fun printable e-books to learn how to draw adorable characters? Good news! You can find everything you need here! All you need to succeed is included!
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Finding Ways to Detect and Treat Alzheimer's Disease
Canadian Researchers Are Unraveling the Mysteries of the Amyloid Beta Peptides, Implicated in Alzheimer's Disease, which they Describe at Biophysical Society Meeting
Article ID: 613495
Released: 7-Feb-2014 9:05 AM EST
Source Newsroom: Biophysical Society
Newswise — WASHINGTON D.C. Feb. 17, 2014 -- Alzheimer's disease has long been marked by progress -- but not the kind of progress the medical community seeks. It is the most common form of dementia among older Americans, and its risk increases with increasing age; for those living with the disease, its ravages get worse over time; and as we move into the 21st century, it will place a greater and greater burden on society. The number of Americans living with Alzheimer's has doubled since 1980 and is expected to triple again by 2050.
Sadly, Alzheimer's disease has been the least prone to progress in the one area where we'd like to find change the most -- in our ability to fight it. There is still no way to prevent, reverse or definitively diagnose Alzheimer's disease using molecular markers or imaging.
Many research groups are working to change that, and at the 58th Annual Biophysical Society Meeting, which is taking place in San Francisco from Feb. 15-19, Giuseppe Melacini of McMaster University in Ontario, Canada will describe the progress his team is making at unraveling the mystery of the amyloid beta ("Abeta") peptide, a tangling molecule found in the brain plaques associated with the disease.
"By focusing on one of the main components that impairs proper brain function, called Abeta peptide, we are trying to understand what properties of Abeta lead to toxic aggregates implicated in brain impairment," explained Giuseppe Melacini. This work is significant, he added, because without a molecular understanding of Alzheimer's disease, it will be difficult if not impossible to begin to find a cure.
Melacini and his team used a unique method originally developed to study long-range communication in folded proteins. This is a new approach never used before for unfolded peptides, such as the Abeta molecule, and it could reveal transient elusive states of Abeta that have escaped detection so far but that could be implicated in toxic aggregate formation. The research team dealt with challenges unique to the Abeta molecule. This system is difficult to work with because it is very aggregation prone and very sensitive to even the smallest differences in sample preparation protocols, says Melacini. "The Abeta molecule is also highly dynamic and it is therefore hard to pinpoint which structures out of this complex ensemble are functionally relevant."
While this research is still in its early stages, the team is taking the next steps to identify Abeta structures that either form or inhibit the formation of toxic aggregates, which in turn can cause brain impairment. Once that is done, the goal will be to trap these structures and use them for screening.
"If we can identify the structures of the Abeta peptide that lead to toxic aggregates, we can then begin the development of inhibitors to suppress that process and have a chance to find treatments for Alzheimer's disease," Melacini said.
The presentation "Finding Order in Disorder: Probing Transient Functional States in the Amyloidogenic Alzheimer's Aβ Peptide Using the NMR Chemical Shift Covariance Analysis (CHESCA)" by Moustafa Algamal, Julijana Milojevic, Naeimeh Jafari, Shiyuan Zhang, Rajeevan Selvaratnam and Giuseppe Melacini will be at 11:45 a.m. on Monday, February 17, 2014 in Room 304 in San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center. ABSTRACT: http://tinyurl.com/nljg2o3
ABOUT THE MEETINGEach year, the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting brings together more than 7,000 researchers working in the multidisciplinary fields representing biophysics. With more than 4,200 poster presentations, over 200 exhibits, and more than 20 symposia, the BPS Annual Meeting is the largest meeting of biophysicists in the world. Despite its size, the meeting retains its small-meeting flavor through its subgroup symposia, platform sessions, social activities, and committee programs.
The 58th Annual Meeting will be held at the Moscone Convention Center, 747 Howard Street, San Francisco, California.
PRESS REGISTRATIONThe Biophysical Society invites professional journalists, freelance science writers and public information officers to attend its Annual Meeting free of charge. For press registration, contact Alisha Yocum at email@example.com or Jason Bardi at 240-535-4954.
ABOUT THE SOCIETYThe Biophysical Society, founded in 1958, is a professional, scientific Society established to encourage development and dissemination of knowledge in biophysics. The Society promotes growth in this expanding field through its annual meeting, monthly journal, and committee and outreach activities. Its 9000 members are located throughout the U.S. and the world, where they teach and conduct research in colleges, universities, laboratories, government agencies, and industry. For more information on the Society, or the 2014 Annual Meeting, visit www.biophysics.org
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