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The United States Department of War, sometimes also called the War Office, was the department of the United States government's executive branch responsible for the operation and maintenance of land (and later air) forces from 1789 until September 18, 1947, when it became part of the National Military Establishment, renamed on August 10, 1949 the Department of Defense. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the War is an international relations Dispute, characterized by organized Violence between National Military units The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The federal government of the United States is the central United States Governmental body established by the United States Constitution. The federal government of the United States is the central United States Governmental body established by the United States Constitution. The United States Armed Forces are the overall unified military forces of the United States Year 1789 ( MDCCLXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 96 - Nerva is proclaimed Roman Emperor after Domitian is assassinated Year 1947 ( MCMXLVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United States Department of Defense ( DOD or DoD) is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government Events 612 BC - Killing of Sinsharishkun, King of Assyrian Empire Year 1949 ( MCMXLIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United States Department of Defense ( DOD or DoD) is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government The department had responsibility for the young nation's naval affairs until the establishment of the Navy Department in 1798. The United States Department of the Navy was established by an Act of Congress on April 30 1798 to provide administrative and technical support and civilian leadership
The War Department was headed by the Secretary of War, who was also a member of the President's Cabinet. The Secretary of War was a member of the United States President's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington 's administration The President of the United States is the Head of state and Head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in United States by The United States Cabinet (usually simplified as "the Cabinet" is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the Executive branch of the Federal government
Upon becoming a part of the National Military Establishment, the War Department was renamed the Department of the Army and became one of the three military departments of the Federal government. The Department of the Army is one of the three Service departments in the United States Department of Defense. At the same time, the Army Air Forces were separated from the Army and became the U.S. Air Force under the newly-formed Department of the Air Force. The United States Army Air Forces ( USAAF) was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II.
Prior to World War II, many countries had a Ministry of War which was responsible for national defense. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including However, in the aftermath of the carnage of WW II, governments came to the conclusion that the use of the word “war” added, if not assumed, a bellicose attitude towards military preparedness. Thus, the late 1940s and 1950s witnessed the renaming from “War” to “Defense” in most countries around the globe. One vestige of the former nomenclature is War College, where military officers of the United States are still trained in battlefield strategy.
The date "MDCCLXXVIII" and the designation "War Office" are indicative of the origin of the seal. The Department of the Army Seal and the Department of the Army Emblem are respectively the official seal and Emblem of the Headquarters U The date (1778) refers to the year of its adoption. The term "War Office" used during the Revolution, and for many years afterward, was associated with the Headquarters of the Army. In this article the inhabitants of the thirteen colonies that supported the American Revolution are primarily referred to as "Americans" with occasional references to "Patriots"
Description: In the center is a Roman cuirass below a vertical unsheathed sword, point up, the pommel resting on the neck opening of the cuirass and a Phrygian cap supported on the sword point, all between on the right an esponton and on the left a musket with fixed bayonet crossed in saltire behind the cuirass and passing under the sword guard. Cuirass ( French cuirasse, Latin coriaceus, made of leather from corium, the original breastplate being of Leather) the The Phrygian cap is a soft red conical cap with the top pulled forward worn in antiquity by the inhabitants of Phrygia, a region of central Anatolia A musket is a muzzle -loaded Smoothbore Long gun, which is intended to be fired from the shoulder A bayonet (from French baïonnette) is a Knife - Dagger - or spike-shaped Weapon designed to fit on or over the muzzle St Andrew's Cross redirects here For the item of BDSM furniture see Saint Andrew's Cross (BDSM A saltire, Saint Andrew's Cross To the right of the cuirass and spontoon is a flag of unidentified designs with cords and tassels, on a flagstaff with spearhead, above a cannon barrel, the muzzle end slanting upward behind the cuirass, in front of the drum, with two drumsticks and the fly end of the flag draped over the drumhead; below, but partly in front of the cannon barrel, is a pile of three cannon balls. A Spontoon is type of European Lance that came into being after the pike, becoming widely used by the middle of the 17th century | NOTE Throughout this article "cannon" is used as BOTH the || singular and plural The drum is a member of the percussion group technically classified as a Membranophone. To the left of the cuirass and musket is a national color of the Revolutionary War period, with cords and tassels, on a flagstaff with spearhead, similarly arranged above a mortar on a carriage, the mortar facing inward and in front of the lower portion of the color and obscuring the lower part of it; below the mortar are two bomb shells placed side by side. Cuirass ( French cuirasse, Latin coriaceus, made of leather from corium, the original breastplate being of Leather) the In this article the inhabitants of the thirteen colonies that supported the American Revolution are primarily referred to as "Americans" with occasional references to "Patriots" A mortar is a muzzle-loading Indirect fire weapon that fires shells at low velocities short ranges and high-arcing ballistic trajectories Centered above the Phrygian cap is a rattlesnake holding in its mouth a scroll inscribed "This We’ll Defend. " Centered below the cuirass are the Roman numerals "MDCCLXXVIII. Roman numerals are a Numeral system originating in ancient Rome, adapted from Etruscan numerals. "
Symbolism: The central element, the Roman cuirass, is a symbol of strength and defense. The sword, esponton (a type of half-pike formerly used by subordinate officers), musket, bayonet, cannon, cannon balls, mortar, and mortar bombs are representative of Army implements. The drum and drumsticks are symbols of public notification of the Army’s purpose and intent to serve the Nation and its people. The Phrygian cap (often called the Cap of Liberty) supported on the point of an unsheathed sword and the motto "This We’ll Defend" on a scroll held by the rattlesnake is a symbol depicted on some American colonial flags and signifies the Army’s constant readiness to defend and preserve the United States. Rattlesnakes are a group of venomous Snakes, genera Crotalus and Sistrurus.
Current Usage: This "War Office" seal continues to be used to this day when legal certification is necessary to authenticate as "official" documents and records of the Department of the Army. The Department of the Army is one of the three Service departments in the United States Department of Defense. The Army's "emblem" as depicted above, which is based on this seal, is preferred for public display.
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Research with trained pond snails has provided new evidence that flavonoids found in foodstuffs such as cocoa, green tea, and red wine really can boost memory. University of Calgary scientists showed that the flavonoid epicatechin found in dark chocolate improves and strengthens long-term memory in snails through a mechanism that appears to act directly on memory neurons.
Proving the hypothesis that chocolate in some way boosts brain functions such as memory isn’t easy because human and other vertebrate research is set against a background of huge numbers of other external influences that affect how we remember, and for how long. To try and overcome this, the University of Calgary’s Lee Fruson, Ken Lukowiak, Ph.D., and Sarah Dalesman, Ph.D., turned to the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis, an invertebrate that can be trained to carry out simple functions in response to simple cues.
In this case it was a matter of how they breathe. Pond snails normally take in oxygen from water through their skins, but when placed in deoxygenated water the animals extend their breathing tubes above the water surface and open them to take in oxygen via the air. The Calgary team trained snails to keep their breathing tubes closed in deoxygenated water, in response to a tap on the tube itself. The training process takes about half an hour, and normally the snails would remember what to do in response to this cue for up to about three hours, but no longer.
To see how epicatechin might affect this "memory", the investigators added a small dose of the chemical into the snails’ pond water and then a day later moved the animals to deoxygenated water and gave them two training sessions. Incredibly, they found that the animals "remembered" what to do in response to a breathing tube tap for up to several days, rather than just for a few hours. Importantly, the concentration of epicatechin added to the water wasn’t enough to affect other aspects of the snails’ behavior. “We have to make sure that we’re not looking at wired animals,” Dr. Lukowiak points out.
The epicatechin also appeared to strengthen the memory. When the snails' trainers tried to extinguish the "keep tube closed" memory with one where the animals instead opened their breathing tubes, the epicatechin-boosted snails refused to learn the new process, and instead kept their breathing tubes shut. The memory cemented in their neural circuitry by epicatechin couldn’t be extinguished.
Of particular interest was the finding that the mechanism by which epicatechin acts on memory doesn’t rely on sensory cues, such as, for example, memories of predators that are triggered by smell, and rely on a serotonergic (5-HT) signaling pathway. Rather, the epicatechin may act directly on the neurons that store memory.
The investigators report their findings in the Journal of Experimental Biology, in a paper titled “A flavonol present in cocoa [(-) epicatechin] enhances snail memory.”
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2013-05-19T02:47:10Z
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ONE catastrophic event could result in hundreds of mutations, and get cancers started much more quickly than usual. This unexpected discovery challenges the received wisdom that cancers occur only after several mutations have taken place independently over time.
Peter Campbell at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, UK, was studying genes from someone with leukaemia when he spotted that a chromosome had apparently been smashed into hundreds of fragments and stuck back together, Humpty Dumpty-like. The result was a random mosaic of genetic material containing a number of cancer-causing mutations.
"The first patient was a chance finding and we didn't know what to make of it," says Campbell. His team then sequenced genomes from over 700 people with a range of cancers, and found the same pattern of damage in around 2 to 3 per cent of them (Cell, DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2010.11.055).
Rather than committing cell suicide, as would be expected after such serious damage, some cells appear to have stitched the chromosome fragments back together. In some cases there were up to three cancer-causing mutations, suggesting those cells have taken a "significant leap on the road to cancer", says Campbell.
Although there are other known situations in which genetic mutations are linked, what's different here is that the damage is localised, says Ronald DePinho at Harvard Medical School in Boston. "It shows [mutations] can happen in a narrow window."
The team are unsure what causes these chromosomes to become "completely pulverised", but speculate that radiation could be to blame. Campbell now plans to study the history of people with this damage to discover whether there is anything distinctive about their occupation or the number of X-rays they've had.
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Sun Jan 16 14:55:52 GMT 2011 by Michael Dowling
What's the difference if mutations occur in one fell swoop,rather than accumulating over time? The end result,cancer,is the same in each case.
Sun Jan 16 16:49:45 GMT 2011 by Marc
So, it could be possible that events that cause trauma to the body may be potentially responsible for advancing cancer cells, or maybe even damaging existing healthy cells.
I'd bet this may even result in them learning more about how cancer works and how the effects could be lessened or even to treatment against cells corrupting further as it should be easier if you know the potential triggers.
Sorry if that seems a little condescending but it was a silly question lol.
Mon Jan 17 00:13:15 GMT 2011 by Michael Dowling
| still don't see how this is a major discovery,except for the finding that cells try to patch up major chromosomal damage rather than commit suicide.If initiating cancer requires mutations in chromosomes A,B,C,C,D and E,it seems to me that sequential mutations in A,mutations in B,and so on,are equivalent to one massive insult that causes mutations to all the chromosomes at once.
Mon Jan 17 00:53:38 GMT 2011 by insomniac
I think they're saying that a single event can provide sufficient mutations to cause a cancer, whereas before they thought there had to be a number of events, and as such the probability of getting cancer from any one event rises.
All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.
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STONE AGE TECHNOLOGY: More accurate carbon dating proves Clovis points are younger than previously thought and therefore could not have accompanied the first Americans. Image: COURTESY OF THE CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF THE FIRST AMERICANS, TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
The traditional story of the peopling of the New World holds that ancient migrants out of northeast Asia slipped into the Americas bearing finely shaped stone projectiles, so-called "Clovis points," after the town in New Mexico where they were first uncovered. This Clovis culture rapidly spread throughout the empty continents and by 1,000 years after their arrival had reached the southernmost tip of what is now South America, making them the original ancestors of indigenous Americans. A number of controversial archaeological sites have challenged this theory and now, by using more advanced dating techniques, researchers may have killed it, throwing the original population of the Western Hemisphere into question again.
Geoarchaeologist Michael Waters of Texas A&M University and radiocarbon specialist Thomas Stafford of Stafford Research Laboratories reexamined 22 Clovis sites that had previously been dated. Half proved suspect because they lacked direct evidence or had other conflicting data. "Over the years, scientists, if they have a site that dates 11,000 years ago, even if they just found a few flakes and a scraper, they automatically called it Clovis," Waters explains.
That now appears in doubt, as Stafford and Waters have succeeded in dating five of the remaining sites more accurately thanks to improvements in the technology of radiocarbon dating. Using atomic accelerators and collagen purified in molecular sieves, the two found that the Clovis artifacts they dated all occurred within 11,050 radiocarbon years to 10,800 radiocarbon years before present. "Just a duration of about 200 years with a maximum duration of 350," Waters says.
That means Clovis sites are contemporaneous with some undisputed sites in South America and younger than some in North America. It also makes it difficult to understand how an ancient people could have spread so far in such a limited amount of time, let alone how the Clovis point [see image above] people could have spread throughout the U.S. "That raises the question: Is it a people or a technology?" Waters asks. "That kind of rapid spread of technology is almost unprecedented. Metallurgy moved very quickly, gunpowder and things like that, but that was a different time."
"This revives the old concept of a technology spreading across a population base," he continues. New evidence seems to point to humans populating the Americas as far back as 25,000 years ago and it may be that the Clovis points were simply a superior weapon that spread rapidly from people to people. But scientists need to come up with a new explanation for the original American settlers that incorporates this new archaeological data as well as genetic and geologic evidence. "I think we need to stop thinking about the peopling of the Americas as a singular event and start thinking about it as a process," Waters says. "I think there's enough evidence now to say that there were pre-Clovis people in the Americas."
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2013-05-21T17:41:51Z
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Maya — who has type 1 diabetes — started feeling tired and sluggish all the time, but her blood sugar levels were in a healthy range, so her mom thought she was OK. She didn't realize that another problem could be causing the fatigue until medical tests revealed that Maya had a thyroid problem.
Maya's situation isn't uncommon — kids and teens with type 1 diabetes have a greater risk for certain other health problems, many of which also are autoimmune disorders. Although their diabetes health care teams will monitor kids for signs of these problems, parents also should know what to watch for so that they can alert doctors and seek treatment, if necessary.
About Autoimmune Disorders
In autoimmune disorders, the immune system mistakenly attacks the body's healthy tissues as though they were foreign invaders. A severe attack can get interfere with the function of that body part.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the pancreas can't make insulin because the immune system attacks it and destroys the cells that produce insulin. Kids and teens with type 1 diabetes are at risk for other autoimmune problems, but these disorders are not actually caused by the diabetes.
Doctors still aren't exactly sure why autoimmune diseases occur, but genetic factors probably play an important role because relatives of people with type 1 diabetes are more likely to have autoimmune diseases.
Most kids with type 1 diabetes never need treatment for any other autoimmune disorder. But those who do might develop:
These disorders, which aren't caused by problems with blood sugar control, can develop before a child is diagnosed with type 1 diabetes or months or years after the diabetes diagnosis.
Kids and teens with type 1 diabetes are more likely to get disorders affecting the thyroid, a gland located behind the skin and muscles at the front of the neck, just at the spot where a bow tie would rest. The thyroid, which is part of the endocrine system, makes hormones that help control metabolism and growth. These hormones play a role in bone development, puberty, and many other body functions.
Thyroid disease is fairly common in people with type 1 diabetes, affecting 15% to 20% of them.
Thyroid disease can cause the thyroid gland to make too much thyroid hormone (hyperthyroidism) or too little hormone (hypothyroidism). Both hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism can be accompanied by an enlarged thyroid gland, also called a goiter, though it's not always apparent.
Hyperthyroidism can cause nervousness, irritability, increased perspiration, intolerance to heat, fatigue, difficulty sleeping, a fast heartbeat, irregular menstrual periods in girls, and muscle weakness. People with this problem might lose weight even though they're eating more than usual. The eyes may feel irritated or look like they're staring. Sometimes the tissues around the eyes become inflamed and swollen, and the eyes appear to bulge out.
Someone with mild hypothyroidism may feel just fine, and in fact, might have no symptoms at all. However, symptoms can become more obvious if the condition worsens. People with underactive thyroids might feel depressed and sluggish, may gain weight even though they're not eating more or getting less exercise than usual. Kids with hypothyroidism also might have slow growth in height, slow sexual development, irregular menstrual periods in girls, muscle weakness, dry skin, hair loss, poor memory, and difficulty concentrating.
To check for thyroid disorders, the doctor may ask about symptoms and feel your child's neck for an enlargement of the thyroid gland or order blood tests.
Kids with thyroid problems might be prescribed medication to bring their thyroid hormone levels back to normal.
Celiac disease is another autoimmune disorder that's more likely to occur in people with type 1 diabetes, affecting about 1 in 20. It interferes with the intestine's ability to tolerate the protein gluten, which is found in grains like wheat and barley.
When kids with celiac disease eat foods containing gluten, their immune systems react to it, causing gastrointestinal symptoms. Over time, exposure to gluten damages the small intestine and prevents it from properly absorbing nutrients from food.
Some people have no symptoms, but others may have frequent diarrhea, abdominal pain, gas, bloating, weight or appetite loss, or fatigue. Some kids and teens with celiac disease have growth problems because they aren't getting enough nutrients. If not treated, celiac disease can lead to hypoglycemia, osteoporosis (a disease that causes brittle, fragile bones), and certain types of cancer.
If your child has type 1 diabetes, your doctor may do a blood test to check for celiac disease, even if there are no symptoms. If the doctor suspects celiac disease, your child might undergo a small-bowel biopsy (the removal of a piece of tissue from the small intestine for examination) to confirm the diagnosis.
Kids and teens who have celiac disease must follow a gluten-free diet (no wheat, rye, and barley products). They'll still need to eat a balanced diet to stay healthy and maintain good control of blood sugar levels, though, so the doctor may recommend that you meet with a registered dietitian to learn about choosing and preparing gluten-free foods.
Addison's disease, a type of adrenal insufficiency, is an autoimmune disease that affects the adrenal glands of the endocrine system. These glands, located just above the kidneys, produce hormones, including cortisol and aldosterone, that help control many body functions, particularly those related to its response to stress. They affect blood pressure, fluid balance, heart function, the immune system, the body's response to insulin, metabolism, and a person's sense of alertness and well-being. If someone has Addison's disease, the adrenal glands don't produce enough cortisol and also might not produce enough aldosterone.
Signs and symptoms of Addison's disease start slowly. These can include fatigue, muscle weakness, appetite loss, or weight loss. Some people experience nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness and low blood pressure, skin discoloration (especially in skin creases, like the elbows), irritability, depression, or irregular periods.
For about 1 in 4 people with Addison's disease, symptoms don't appear until they're triggered by a stressful event, such as illness or an accident. These symptoms can be more severe and come on suddenly. This is called an addisonian crisis, or acute adrenal insufficiency. If this happens to your child, it's important to get medical help immediately.
When doctors suspect Addison's disease, they'll run tests, including urine and blood tests, to diagnose it. The condition is treated with medication to bring adrenal hormone levels back to normal.
What You Can Do
Although you can't prevent these health problems related to type 1 diabetes, the good news is that thyroid disorders, celiac disease, and Addison's disease can all be treated successfully most of the time.
Knowing which signs and symptoms to watch for and making sure your child gets regular checkups and the tests recommended by your doctor will help reduce or prevent the effects of these disorders.
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by: Be Scofield on January 16th, 2012 | 2 Comments »
There may be periods where segregation may be a temporary waystation to a truly integrated society…We don’t want to be integrated out of power; we want to be integrated into power. – Dr. King
I am inclined to think that they [white moderates] are more of a stumbling block to the Negro’s progress than the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner. – Dr. King
The “Decent White Majority”
The standard narrative regarding Dr. King’s approach to racial issues says that he was simply an integrationist who believed that with persuasion, nonviolence and love the conscience of the white majority could be won over and racial justice would be achieved. Racism, as he understood it was mainly psychological. This popular interpretation – the one the mainstream media loves – fails, however, to embrace a holistic view of his mature thinking on white people, institutional racism and white supremacy culture. While for much of his career he optimistically believed the “great decent majority” of whites could be transformed, he began, in 1965, to understand just how deeply embedded racism was and how unwilling white people were to give up privilege and power for the sake of racial justice. Whereas he had once described America in the highest democratic ideals, he began to see it as “a confused…sick, neurotic nation.”
It is certainly true that Dr. King had believed most Americans were committed to racial justice. Just five months before King’s evolution on the race issue his optimism and idealism about white people and the achievements of the civil rights movement reached its peak. During the Selma to Montgomery march for voting rights in 1965 he believed that victory over racism was close at hand. Speaking to 25,000 people from Alabama’s capital he stated, “segregation is on its deathbed…and the only thing uncertain about it is how costly the segregationists…will make the funeral.” For King, the successful Selma campaign, which had incorporated a large number of whites was a crowning example of the willingness of white people to work for justice. Still optimistic about the role federal legislation could play he believed that with the passage of the voting rights bill of 1965 American democracy would no longer be “turned up side down” and the freedoms of all would be guaranteed. Characteristic of his idealism at the time he described Selma as a fight for America, not a battle against sheriff Jim Clark or segregationist forces in Alabama. But it wasn’t long until King more clearly realized that he was staunchly against something, namely, institutionalized racism, white supremacy and the class structure that maintained a divided society. King’s feelings about white people would take a drastic turn, “I’m sorry to have to say to you that the vast majority of white Americans are racist, either consciously or unconsciously.
From Watts to Black Power
Watts was a rude awakening for King, as he had previously believed the gains of the Southern civil rights struggle would translate to the North. When he visited Watts to try and help, he was booed and told to go home. To his surprise many blacks had never even heard of him. The gains of the civil rights movement had meant little to a population that was forced into ghetto life, barely able to survive and trapped in a cycle of poverty. The issues that characterized the Southern struggle such as separate drinking fountains, segregated restaurants and lack of voting rights weren’t the problem in Watts or the North in general. Rather, racism manifested most seriously in the form of economic and political inequality.
The failure of whites to see the full context of riots such as Watts was one of the reasons King began to lose faith in them. He stated, “The riots are caused by nice, gentle, timid white moderates who are more concerned about order than justice.” King began to see that the maintenance of a permanent underclass was no accident. He placed the riots in the context of larger cultural crimes, “The policy-makers of the white society have caused the darkness: they created discrimination; they created slums; they perpetuate unemployment, ignorance, and poverty. It is incontestable and deplorable that Negroes have committed crimes, but they are derivative crimes. They are born of the greater crimes of white society.”
Even when asked about the more militant methods of Stokely Carmichael and H. Rap Brown on the Mike Douglass show King also placed them in the larger social context, “Neither Rap Brown nor Stokely Carmichael created slavery, they did not create slums, they did not create unemployment or underemployment, they did not create segregated schools and they didn’t start a war in Vietnam.”
King now realized that not only did he need to guarantee the right of black people to sit in a restaurant but also he needed to help them get the money to buy a hamburger. He moved his family into the slums of Chicago in January of 1966 and began organizing there to do just that.
If Chicago taught him anything, it was just how vicious northern white “moderates” could be. In one march through Gage Park King was hit in the head with a brick while a particularly fierce crowd hurled racial epithets against him and the other protesters. King said that in all of his days of work in the South he had never seen such viciousness. Others described women spewing and spitting hatred with their babies and children in arm. He realized that white people didn’t want to give up power.
It seems that our white brothers and sisters don’t want to live next door to us…So…they’re pinning us in central cities…We’re hemmed in. We can’t get out. Now, since they’re just going to keep us in here,…what we’re going to have to do is just control the central city. We got to be the mayors of these big cities. And the minute we get elected mayor, we’ve got to begin taxing everybody who works in the city who lives in the suburbs. I know this sounds mean, but I just want to be realistic.
The Chicago campaign was frustrated by Daley’s political machine and the lack of support from African American religious leadership, black elites and labor unions. However, before he finished in Chicago King traveled south to continue James Meredith’s March Against Fear. It was here, more specifically in Greenwood, Mississippi that Willie Ricks and Stokely Carmichael popularized the Black Power slogan and forced King to come to terms with it.
Given King’s experience as a figurehead in the movement he knew that the white establishment loved distractions and would seize on anything to divert attention from the cause. Thus, he had serious pragmatic concerns with the use of the Black Power slogan. King explained that any term has both a connotative and denotative meaning. He clearly defended the psychological and historical justification for the slogan. However, King was bothered by the “suggested” meanings, which carried a wide range of understandings. His analysis sought to both capture how Black Power was born out of a “cry of disappointment” and explain the possible semantic limitations to the slogan.
King placed the term squarely in the historical reality of the legacy of the white power structure. Citing Kenneth Stampp’s, The Peculiar Institution, King explained the ways in which slaves were physically and psychologically controlled. He saw the term in it’s proper context, “Black Power is a psychological reaction to the psychological indoctrination that led to the creation of the perfect slave…Anyone familiar with the Black Power movement recognizes that defiance of white authority and white power is a constant theme…” As if taking a cue from Malcolm X, King also described how at least 60 synonyms for “blackness” were offensive while all 134 synonyms for “whiteness” were positive. Another factor, which led to a sense of worthlessness, was the lack of acknowledgment of African American’s contributions in history, science, art, music and society. In King’s understanding this was “cultural homicide,” and the Black Power slogan was an effort to correct this imbalance. He also understood that Black Power was a response to the failures in the legal gains of the Civil Rights movement.
There is also great disappointment with the federal government and its timidity in implementing the civil rights laws on its statue books. The gap between promise and fulfillment is distressingly wide. Millions of Negroes are frustrated and angered because extravagant promises made little more than a year ago are a mockery today…As a consequence the old way of life – economic coercion, terrorism, murder and inhuman contempt – has continued unabated. This gulf between the laws and their enforcement is one of the basic reasons why Black Power advocates express contempt for the legislative process.
Legal victories, civil rights bills and boycotts had their limitations and King knew it. Just a year after the historic Brown vs. the Board of Education 15-year old Emmett Till was brutally beaten and killed in Money Mississippi for talking to a white woman. Just a few weeks after King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” – an effort designed to urge Kennedy to support a civil rights act – four girls were killed when the KKK bombed the 16th street Church. Around the same time that the monumental 1964 civil rights act passed, three activists, often referred to as “Schwerner, Goodman and Cheney” were murdered in Mississippi while doing voter registration. And it was the Watts riots of 1965 that awakened King to the harsh realities of structural oppression. However, the riots began just five days after the passage of the Voting rights act of 1965. King’s evolution in thought is evident,
I am appalled that some people feel the civil rights struggle is over because we have a 1964 civil rights bill with ten titles and a voting rights bill. Over and over again people ask, What else do you want? They feel that everything is all right. Well, let them look around at our big cities.
There were a few prominent ways in which the Black Power movement influenced King’s turn toward more radical thinking. First, he began acknowledging and critiquing the white dominated black political structure – a prominent theme within much Black Power discourse. King stated that black politicians were, “still selected by white leadership, elevated to position, supplied the resources, and inevitably subjected to white control.” Secondly, he became less trusting of the state and began claiming that black salvation was dependent upon blacks themselves. He stated, “psychological freedom, a firm sense of self esteem, is the most powerful weapon against the long night of physical slavery.” King also called for increased control of black organizations.
…Negroes must be there own spokesmen…they must be in the primary leadership of their own organizations. White liberals must understand this. It is part of the search for manhood…This means that white liberals must be prepared to accept a transformation of their role. Whereas it was once a primary and spokesman role, it must now become a secondary and supportive role.
Additionally, King embraced the word revolution and employed it more frequently in his writing and speeches. And finally, before the rise of Black Power King described Jesus as white and after he never said that he was black but did say that Jesus was not white.
King sympathized with and understood the driving force behind the Black Power slogan which by 1967-68 had become popular nationwide. He was wise enough to realize that it wasn’t going to disappear and decided that dealing with it in a constructive manner was best. He stated, “Black Power does not represent racism…We must be proud of our race. We must not be ashamed of being black. We must believe with all of our hearts that black is as beautiful any other color.” For both pragmatic and ideological reasons King avoided harsh criticisms of the slogan like calling it fascist or racist as others had. He also didn’t retreat in the face of the debate as others did. Whereas Wilkins and Young dropped out King continued the Meredith march against fear and engaged in dialogue with Stokely and the other Black Power advocates. Furthermore, King refused to sign onto the “Crisis and Commitment” statement endorsed by several key civil rights leaders which condemned Black Power. However, true to his Hegelian influence King also criticized what he felt were the limitations and drawbacks of the term, hoping to find a synthesis between the two positions.
Reinhold Niebuhr, Structural Racism and King’s Critique of Black Power
In many ways, King’s deepening realism in regards to racism, economic exploitation and war was a sort of resurrection of his early educational and formative years. One of the most influential voices from that time was the Christian realist Reinhold Niebuhr. King was first introduced to Niebuhr’s work by professor Kenneth Smith in a course called Christian Social Philosophy II during his fall semester of his senior at Crozer Theological Seminary. While he influenced King in many respects it was his realistic views on the inevitability of human sin that most transformed King. Having fully embraced the liberal tradition, most notably that of the social gospel’s emphasis on reason, progress and the inherent goodness of people, King’s false optimism was radically challenged. His change of heart is evident; “Liberalism failed to show that reason by itself is little more than an instrument to justify man’s defensive ways of thinking.” King thus came to believe that all humans have the capacity for sin, corruption and greed. The seed of skepticism had been planted early on.
As illustrated above, King wasn’t afraid to critique the white dominated black power structure. Nor was he willing to embrace a naïve belief that black power meant human salvation.
Black Power alone is no more insurance against social injustice than white power. Negro politicians can be as opportunistic as their white counterparts if there is not an informed and determined constituency demanding social reform. What is most needed is a coalition of Negroes and liberal whites that will work to make both major parties truly responsive to the needs of the poor. Black Power does not envision or desire such a program.
To the extent that Black Power had meant separation, as popularized in the Civil Rights era by Malcolm X and further advanced through Stokely and others King rejected it. Challenging the calls for a separate nation state King argued that it would actually set back blacks as they had deep investments in the forming of the country. He said, “My grandfather and my great-grandfather did too much to build this nation for me and you to be talking about getting away from it.” Furthermore, King’s theology and vision of the beloved community was strictly at odds with any end goal that would permanently separate brothers and sisters from each other. Thus, even though King grew more skeptical of human nature he still believed that it was our God given creative power to co-exist in diversity. Likewise, despite the flaws within the American political system King still believed in the promise of democracy. Being the Christian pastor that he was, the theme of redemption, both personally and politically was never abandoned.
King, however, did speak about possible benefits of a limited separatism, “There may be periods where segregation may be a temporary waystation to a truly integrated society…We don’t want to be integrated out of power.” This was not his end goal but rather a short-term strategy to gain power and leverage to enact change. He said, “I can point to some cases. I’ve seen this in the South, in schools being integrated, and I’ve seen it with Teachers’ Associations being integrated. Often when they merge, the Negro is integrated without power…there are some situations where separation may serve as a temporary way-station to the ultimate goal which we seek, which I think is the only answer in the final analysis to the problem of a truly integrated society.” We should also remember that the Black Church and the SCLC were predominantly segregated organizations, even if they weren’t popularly thought of in those terms. Both of these groups were crucial to the black freedom struggle in the South.
To the degree that Black Power was viewed as a viable revolutionary option to violently overthrow the state King saw this as a “nihilistic philosophy born out of the conviction that the Negro can’t win.” He furthered cautioned, “Anyone leading a violent rebellion must be willing to make an honest assessment regarding the possible casualties to a minority population confronting a well-armed, wealthy majority with a fanatical right wing that would delight in exterminating thousands of black men, women and children.”
Niebuhr also advanced an astute analysis of structural sin that informed King. Because people cannot escape sin (egoism), the social structures become oppressive and dangerous as sin is manifested within them. Privileged groups then rationalize their positions to preserve power that is reflected within these institutions. Niebuhr called this inescapable fact that reason is tainted with prejudice and ego the “historicity of reason.” That’s why Niebuhr warned of merely using Christian love or education to combat the evils of structural oppression such as racism, sexism or militarism. Niebuhr’s influence on him is evident as King stated it was naive to think “ethical appeals and persuasion alone will bring about justice. This does not mean that ethical appeals must not be made. It simply means that those appeals must be under girded by some form of constructive coercive power.” King warned of the dangers of a sentimental love,
The white liberal must see that the Negro needs not only love but also justice. It is not enough to say, “We love Negroes, we have many Negro friends.” They must demand justice for Negroes. Love that does not satisfy justice is no love at all. It is merely a sentimental affection, little more than what one would have for a pet.
As King began to realize just how deeply embedded racism was in America he became more critical of white liberals’ approach to racial justice and the use of reason to defend their ideas. It produced tokenism and protected established interests.
But this white failure to comprehend the depth and dimension of the Negro problem is far from being peculiar to Government officials…It seems to be a malady even among those whites who like to regard themselves as enlightened…I wonder at [persons] who dare to feel they have some paternalistic right to set the timetable for another [person's] freedom. Over the past several years, I must say, I have been gravely disappointed with such white “moderates.” I am inclined to think that they are more of a stumbling block to the Negro’s progress than the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner.
King referred to white liberals as the innocent “children of light” and more and more saw them as the biggest problem. He thought it strange that those “forces of darkness” i.e. the KKK stated their case with so much more passion and conviction than any white liberals had. King was beginning to realize just how little white people were actually willing to share. He knew that there was never a genuine attempt for equality. He stated, “the fact is that there has never been any single, solid, determined commitment on the part of the vast majority of white Americans…to genuine equality for Negroes.” As his dream turned to a nightmare he adopted a realistic, yet disappointing conclusion: “The American people are infected with racism.”
A Revolutionized State
In a sense, you could say we are engaged in the class struggle. – Dr. King
The Marxist historian C.L.R. James said that King “wanted me to know that he understood and accepted, and in fact agreed with the ideas that I was putting forward-ideas which were fundamentally Marxist-Leninist.” Was King a Marxist? Where does King fit in the ideological spectrum of Black Power? How “revolutionary” was King? What was King’s vision of the state? How did King connect racism, economic exploitation and war?
If James is correct then King’s Marxist leanings would have certainly set him apart from the major thrust that defined the Black Power movement. Harold Cruse described it in 1969.
Black power is nothing but the economic and political philosophy of Booker T. Washington given a 1960′s militant shot in the arm and brought up to date…The Black Power ideology is not at all revolutionary in terms of its economic and political ambitions; it is, in fact, a social reformist ideology. It is not meant to be a criticism of the Black Power movement to call it “reformist”; there is nothing wrong or detrimental about social reforms. But we must not fail to call reformism what it in fact is. The Black Power theorists who believe their slogan is in fact revolutionary are mistaken…What does have a revolutionary implication about Black Power is the “defensive violence” upheld and practiced by its ultra-extremist-nationalist-urban guerrilla wing, which is a revolutionary anarchist tendency.
King argued, at least semi-privately in SCLC meetings and to groups of ministers that the country needed to move toward democratic socialism. Here he also praised Sweden’s socialism, as he believed it addressed the distribution of wealth much more efficiently. Elsewhere he called for a radical redistribution of economic and political power. He proposed a guaranteed annual income of $4,000, guaranteed jobs and guaranteed housing. As early as 1949 he expressed his radical inclinations.
What will the new movement be called in America? I must admit that I don’t know. It might well be called socialism, communism, or socialistic democracy. But what does it matter anyway, “a rose called by a different name smells just as sweet.” The point is that we will have a definite change. Capitalism finds herself like a losing football team in the last quarter trying all types of tactics to survive. We are losing because we failed to check our weaknesses in the beginning of the game.
While there were some in the Black Power movement who called for an end to capitalism, many simply wanted to empower African Americans within the current existing system. That’s why Richard Nixon could get behind the Black Power slogan as a pro-business agenda as he did in 1968. And of course the first Black Power conference was organized by Nathan Wright, a Republican who was an avid support of both Nixon and Reagan. As Robert Allen pointed out in Black Awakening in Capitalist America many of the proponents of Black Power such as Stokley Carmichael, Floyd Mckissick and others were all working within the capitalist structure and didn’t articulate distinct critiques of capitalism. King on the other hand was calling for a radical revolution in economic values and the redistribution of wealth. Certainly he advocated for black ownership of businesses and more control of wealth but he also pushed the economic agenda beyond where many where willing to go. Furthermore, King knew that there were more white poor people than there were black. King’s preference for a slogan like “Power for Poor People” vs. “Black Power” is characteristic of his focus on building a multi-racial coalition of people to resist poverty.
King never lost hope in the state, despite his turn towards more radical positions. He envisioned massive spending to rid the nation of poverty and to promote social uplift. He also wanted true integration and believed it could be accomplished with the help of the state, even if it had to be won through increasingly militant but nonviolent protest. He did not want to integrate into the existing capitalist system, but rather into a massive welfare state. Integration for King meant an authentic sharing of power, not tokenism or mere cultural assimilation.
On the one hand, integration is true intergroup, interpersonal living. On the other hand, it is the mutual sharing of power. I cannot see how the Negro will be totally liberated from the crushing weight of poor education, squalid housing and economic strangulation until he is integrated, with power, into every level of American life.
One of the biggest hurdles to establishing the Beloved Community in King’s view was the Vietnam War and U.S. Imperialism. King saw war, poverty and racism tied together, “The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and evils of racism.” He boldly spoke his conscience on these triple evils. King realized that the war was inherently racist, both to the Vietnamese and African Americans.
In conclusion, King’s more radical views on white people, racism and social justice came out of his work on economic exploitation and from being in relation to the Black Power movement. Through his attempts to address poverty he realized just how racist Americans were and furthermore how embedded racism was within the structures of society. Because of this King developed an analysis that both was anti-racist and in favor of a democratic socialist state. His ideal vision welcomed people of all classes, nations, races and religions. Ideally, people power would dominate and war and poverty would become obsolete. King described this as a “radical restructuring of the architecture of American society.” Whether this was reformist or revolutionary is open to debate but given the profound challenges that America faces, it is an excellent place to start.
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For a version of this article with footnotes please email: email@example.com
Be Scofield is founder of www.godblessthewholeworld.org and Dr. King scholar. He writes for Tikkun Magazine and Alternet.org. Be is studying to be an interfaith minister at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, where he is recently taught a graduate course called “Dr. King and Empire: How MLK Jr. Resisted War, Capitalism and Christian Fundamentalism.”
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Culling and replacement rates are the two numbers that will impact the base cow herd. These numbers are shifted as managers determine how to fit cattle to given resources. The rates are the foundation to expanding and contracting cattle numbers.
Knowing one's culling and replacement rates and relating those numbers to industry numbers is important. The North Dakota Beef Cattle Improvement Association keeps track of many traits for producers through the CHAPS program.
Since 1990, the typical culling rate has been 14.1 percent, while the typical replacement rate has been 17.8 percent.
For more than 20 years of the CHAPS program, producers have encountered many challenges in the beef business. If the word "optimistic" is correct, the most optimistic year resulted in replacing cattle at more than 21 percent of the herd, while more conservative times are reflected in a low replacement rate of just less than 15 percent.
Likewise, the culling rate has been at a low of just more than 10 percent and at a high of just less than 17 percent. Herds are very resilient because they contract and expand as outside forces dictate.
The replacement rate is the number of bred replacement heifers or purchased cows that are kept. The culling rate is the number of cows that are removed from the herd. For more than 20 years, only once has the culling rate exceeded the replacement rate. In other words, through good times and bad times, producers are optimistic and have replaced at a greater percentage than they have culled.
Typically, for CHAPS herds, cull cows and bulls and market heifers make up approximately 50 percent of the annual paycheck, with 30 percent from the value of the heifer calves and 20 percent from the value of the cows and bulls.
What is interesting, at least at today's market values and using the CHAPS benchmarks, is that a 100-cow herd would sell 31 heifers and 14 cows. So, how do producers respond to drought once all the male calves have been sold or moved?
The answer is in the ratio of replacement heifers and cull market cows. Do we need to keep the replacement heifers? Do we need to sell cull cows?
If we assign a value of $750 to market heifers and $1,000 to market cows and use those values to measure the impact of culling and replacement rates, we can calculate some impacts. In a typical year, a producer with 100 cows would sell
14 cows for $14,000 and 31 heifers for $23,250. This gives us a total of $37,250 in female cattle sales.
In a dry year, such as this year, producers minimize the replacement rate.
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This is your resource for exploring various topics in glass: delve deeper with this collection of articles, multimedia, and virtual books all about glass. Content is frequently added to the area, so check back for new items. If you have a topic you'd like to see covered, send us your suggestion. If you have a specific question, Ask a Librarian at our Rakow Research Library.
One traditional way of making flat glass was to open a bubble of molten glass as if to make a bowl. Using centrifugal force, the glassblower would spin the heated bowl and it would open into a flat disk. This piece is featured in the Museum's app, specifically in the kid-friendly version.
Beadwork like this was popular in 17th-century England. A wire frame was formed and decorated with thousands of seed beads. This piece is featured in the Museum's app, specifically in the kid-friendly version. Download the app from iTunes or the Android Marketplace to learn more about objects
Much like today, sports fans throughout history have enjoyed drinking from cups decorated with pictures of their heroes. This cup is decorated with pictures of famous gladiators. This piece is featured in the Museum's app, specifically in the kid-friendly version. Download the app from iTunes
This is a full-scale model of half an Egyptian glass furnace. The original is more than 3500 years old.
Listen as glass artist William Gudenrath, describes the techniques used to create "Untitled (White)" by American artist Josiah McElhany. American artist Josiah McElheny reproduced well-known modern designs in opaque white glass. He pays homage to classic 20th-century design.
The Venetians were clever glassmakers. They could make bowls, goblets, and decorative objects such as these citrus fruits, which were meant to be suspended as ornaments. This piece is featured in the Museum's app, specifically in the kid-friendly version. Download the app from iTunes or the
Traditional glass engravers use copper wheels mounted on a lathe. The wheels come in many shapes and sizes. An abrasive slurry drips onto the wheel as the engraver works on the design.
Listen as glass artist William Gudenrath describes the technique used to create the Corning Ewer, one of the finest pieces of cut glass in the entire Museum! The eggshell-thin colorless glass was covered with a green overlay. After cooling, the green was partly carved away to create the decoration.
Listen as curator Tina Oldknow, describes "Black Cube" by Czech artist Marian Karel. The sculpture Black Cube is not really a cube. Each side slightly bulges as though there is some sort of energy pushing the walls outward.
This unusually large piece of cameo glass is filled with action! The scene of warriors fighting is taken from a medieval Chinese story.
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|Themes > Science > Zoological Sciences > Animal Physiology > Osmoregulation and Excretion|
Osmoregulation is the regulation of water and ion concentrations in the body. Keeping this regulation precise is critical in maintaining life in a cell. Balance of water and ions is partly linked to excretion, the removal of metabolic wastes from the body.
The following information should answer some of your questions relating to this topic area. We have discussed the major components in water/ion regulation, as well as specific examples of animals and their struggle to achieve osmotic balance.
How do animals regulate their water intake in different environments?
There are three main types of osmoregulatory environments in which animals live: freshwater, marine, and terrestrial. Aquatic animals are either euryhaline or stenohaline, depending on their ability to tolerate different salinities. Animals whose internal osmotic concentration is the same as the surrounding environment are considered osmoconformers, whereas those that maintain an osmotic difference between their body fluid and the surrounding environment are osmoregulators. Freshwater animals (all osmoregulators) include invertebrates, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. The freshwater animals are generally hyperosmotic to their environment. The problems that they face because of this are that they are subject to swelling by movement of water into their bodies owing to the osmotic gradient, and they are subject to the continual loss of body salts to the surrounding environment (which has a low salt content). They way these animals deal with these problems is to produce a large volume of dilute urine. The kidney absorbs the salts that are needed, and the rest of the water is excreted. Another way these animals deal with lack of salt is by obtaining it from the food they ingest. A key salt replacement mechanism for freshwater animals is active transport of salt from the external dilute medium across the epithelium into the interstitial fluid and blood. Amphibian’s skin and fish gills are active in this process. Freshwater animals tend to take in water passively and to remove it actively through osmotic work of kidneys (in vertebrates) or kidney-like organs (in invertebrates).
Among marine animals, most invertebrates are osmoconformers whereas most vertebrates are somoregulators. Marine animals do not need to expend much energy in regulating the osmolarity of their body fluids. There is a tendency for mairne fishes to lose water to the environment through the gill epithelium. The net result of combined osmotic work of the gills and kidneys in the marine teleosts is a net retention of water. Marine reptiles (iguanas, sea turtles, crocodiles, and sea snakes) drink seawater to obtain a supply of water but are unable to produce a concentrated urine that is significantly hyperosmotic to their body fluids. They compensate for this by the use of specialized glands for the secretion of salts in a strong hyperosmotic fluid. Salt glands are generally located above the orbit of the eye and nose in lizards. The salt glands of marine reptiles secrete a sufficiently concentrated salt solution to enable them to drink saltwater even though their kidneys are unable to produce urine more concentrated than seawater. Marine animals with these salt glands compensate for the inability of their kidney to produce urine that is strongly hypertonic relative to body fluids. Marine animals lacking salt glands avoid drinking seawater, and obtain water entirely from their food intake and metabolism. These animals depend on their kidneys for maintaining osmotic balance. Sea lions, seals, and a couple of marine mammals that live in saltwater do not have external salt-secreting organs like that of the birds and reptiles, yet they still survive in the ocean. Mammals cannot drink seawater, and would become quickly dehydrate if they did. These mammals face the same problems as the desert animals. Because mammals cannot consume seawater, a different method of hydration needs to be found. They have highly efficient kidneys capable of producing very hypertonic urine. These animals also rely on metabolic water (water produced as an endproduct of cellular metabolism) and water from feeding on fishes and invertebrates.
Air breathing animals are subject to dehydration through their respiratory epithelia. Humans and most other air-breathing animals require a constant source of fresh drinking water to excrete accumulated salts and metabolic waste products.
Water regulation and temperature regulation are closely related. Animals living in harsh heat environments such as deserts have to compensate for the lack of water. The kangaroo rat avoids the daytime heat, and emerges late at night. These rats like other desert mammals have efficient kidneys, and excrete highly concentrated urine. 90% of the water that they use is called metabolic water and is the major source for all desert animals. Metabolic water is derived from cellular oxidation. Camels have a different way of dealing with the unforgiving heat and lack of water in the desert. They are too large to hide in a hole, so when deprived of drinking water they allow their body temperatures to rise. In doing this they limit the amount of water lost by evaporation/perspiration. At night the animals’ body temperature can stay at 35 degrees Celsius and during the day rise to over 41 degrees Celsius. It too produces concentrated urine and dry feces. When water sources are too limited the camel will not produce urine but will store the urea in the tissues. This is particularly unusual because along with tolerating dehydration it can deal with high urea levels in its body. An interesting fact is that when water becomes available they will consume up to 80 liters in 10 minutes.
Fish and insects regulate osmotic balance
Cartilaginous fishes such as sharks, rays, and skates, have plasma that is approximately isosmotic to seawater. This unusually high osmotic concentration (compared to that of other vertebrates) is maintained by high levels of urea and trimethylamine oxide (TMAO) in the blood. In most vertebrates, levels of urea this high would damage proteins, but the presence of the TMAO helps to stabilize these protein molecules against the adverse effects of urea. Excess inorganic electrolytes, such as Na+ and Cl- which diffuse into the blood at the gills, are excreted by way of the kidneys and also by means of a special excretory organ called the rectal gland that is located at the end of the alimentary canal.
The body fluids of marine teleosts, like those of higher vertebrates, are hypotonic to seawater, so there is a tendency for these fishes to lose water to the environment, especially across the gill epithelium. To replace the water, they drink salt water and actively secrete the excess salt ingested with the seawater back into the environment. By absorption, 70% to 80% of the ingested water enters the bloodstream, along with most of the NaCl and KCl. Active transport is responsible for the elimination of Na+, Cl-, and some K+ across the gill epithelium into the seawater, and by secretion of divalent salts by the kidney. The net result of the combined osmotic work of gills and kidneys in the marine teleost is a net retention of water. The kidney nephrons in certain marine teleosts have neither glomeruli nor Bowman’s capsules. The urine is formed entirely by secretion because there is no specialized mechanism for the production of a filtrate.
Freshwater fishes tend to take in water passively and remove it actively through the osmotic work of kidneys. They lose salts to the dilute environment and replace them by actively absorbing ions from the surrounding fluids into their bodies through the gills. Freshwater teleosts’ bodies are hypertonic to the environment and water diffuses into them, so they maintain water balance by producing large volumes of dilute urine.
Ticks, mites, and other terrestrial arthropods have the ability to extract water vapor directly from the air. The way they accomplish this is by producing very concentrated solutions that absorb water from air. This solution is usually found in the rectum, which also removes water from the feces. Ticks, along with this solution, have tissues in the mouth useful in the uptake of water. The salivary gland excretes highly concentrated KCl solution, which absorbs water from air.
The sources of water gain and loss
Animals acquire most of their water in food, drink and a smaller amount by oxidative metabolism. Animals lose water by urinating, defecating, and by evaporative loss due to sweating and breathing. For aquatic animals, evaporation is unimportant, but these animals experience the uptake and loss of water across the body surface by osmosis. Animals that are protected by a covering that stops water loss and gain have specialized epithelia which are not waterproof, that must be exposed to the environment in order to exchange gases. Examples of these epithelia occur in gills, lungs, and tracheae.
The nasal passages of mammals play an important role in reducing water loss through this pathway. Respiratory surfaces are a major avenue for water loss in air-breathing animals. The internalization of the respiratory surfaces in a body cavity such as the lungs reduces evaporative loss in terrestrial vertebrates. Because the body temperature of birds and mammals is generally higher than external temperatures, evaporative loss of water is greater. Warm expired air contains more water than the cooler inspired air, as the water holding capacity of air increases with temperature.
A mechanism, termed a temporal countercurrent system retains most of the respiratory water vapor by condensing it on cooled nasal passages during expiration. The nasal passages of mammals plays an important role in reducing the loss of water and heat from the body. The importance of the nasal passages in cooling expired air can be detected easily by placing your hand in front of your nose when breathing, and comparing this to putting your hand in front of your mouth when breathing.
The major problems that animals face with regard to osmoregulation
In most animals, the majority of cells are not in direct contact with the external environment but are bathed by an internal body fluid. Homeostatic mechanisms hamper changes in an animal’s body fluid, which both gives protection from harmful external environments and impedes quick exchange between intracellular compartments. The cells of the animal cannot survive much additional water gain or loss. Water continuously enters and leaves an animal cell across the plasma membrane, however, uptake and loss must balance. Animal cells swell and burst if there is a net uptake of water or shrivel and die it there is a net loss of water.
Other problems associated with osmoregulation are body and environment temperatures. The enzyme activity in the body function between temperatures of 0o – 40o Celsius. The way animals deal with temperature and regulating it is by way of water loss. So animals in hot environments need to limit the amount of water loss due to evaporation and respiration. The importance of water in temperature regulating leads to conflicts and compromises between physiological adaptations to environmental temperatures and osmotic stresses in terrestrial animals.
The major structures involved in osmoregulation and excretion
Organisms in different environments utilize different structures in osmoregulation and excretion. The major structures involved are the integument, the respiratory surface, the kidney, and the salt gland. All animals use at least one of these structures in their osmoregulatory processes. The common characteristic in structures such as gills, skin, kidneys and the integument are cells called transport epithelia, anatomically and functionally polarized cells which determine the osmoregulatory capabilities of the structure, through properties such as permeability to various solutes.
The integument functions in osmoregulation by acting as a barrier between the extracellular compartment and the environment to regulate water gain and loss, as well as solute flux. The permeablity of the integument to water and solutes varies from animal to animal.
Respiratory surfaces such as the alveoli of the lung, and gills in aquatic animals also serve in osmoregulation and excretion. Respiratory surfaces are the chief avenues for the excretion of carbon dioxide and metabolic water, as well as other gaseous wastes, in animals.
The kidney is the main organ involved in maintaining water balance and excreting harmful substances in mammals.
Elasmobranchs, marine birds, and some reptiles have a structure called a salt gland to secrete NaCl from their bodies. These animals require a lower internal NaCl concentration than the surrounding seawater, which causes a concentration gradient favoring the influx of salt. Therefore, they need a way to secrete it. The solution is provided by glands in the rectum of sharks and the skulls of marine birds and reptiles which produces a concentrated salt solution for secretion. The sodium ions are removed from the blood by these glands not by filtration, but by the sodium-transport mechanism (the sodium-potassium pump). This Na+/ K+ / ATPase activity allows for the movement of NaCl from the blood across the epithelium into the lumen of the salt gland for secretion. Interestingly, the shark rectal gland, bird nasal gland, fish gill, and the thick ascending Loop of Henle in the kidney all contain salt-secreting cells that transport NaCl by the same basic mechanism. Active transport produces an increase in the chloride concentration in the cytoplasm of epithelial cells. This results in the diffusion of chloride ions out of the cell across the apical surface. The build-up of chloride ions at the apical surface attracts sodium ions to diffuse between the cells (the paracellular route).
Insects have a network of Malpighian tubules extending throughout much of the body cavity and attached to the alimentary canal between the midgut and the hindgut. The secretory cells which line the walls of these long, thin tubules secrete KCl, NaCl, and phosphate from the hemolymph (blood) into the lumen of the tubule. Smaller molecules, such as water, amino acids, and sugars diffuse down their concentration gradient and into the lumen. The fluid then flows along the tubule and into the gut. As the fluid passes through the hindgut, water and valuable ions are transported back into the hemolymph, leaving behind a concentrated waste for excretion from the body.
Why and how do organisms excrete metabolic wastes (particularly nitrogenous wastes)?
Waste products generated in metabolic processes are often toxic, and therefore must be eliminated before they can harm the organism. The major metabolic wastes produced by animals include carbon dioxide, metabolic water, and nitrogenous wastes. Small aquatic organisms are able to get rid of wastes by simple diffusion across membranes. More complex animals with circulatory systems rely on kidneys to filter wastes out of the blood and eliminate them from the body.
Carbon dioxide and metabolic water produced in respiration easily diffuse into the environment from respiratory surfaces. Nitrogenous waste excretion is more difficult, yet necessary. Elevated ammonia levels in the body can lead to convulsions, coma, and even death. This is because ammonium ions can substitute for potassium ions in ion-exchange mechanisms. Ammonia can also adversely affect metabolism and amino acid transport. Excessive amounts of ammonia in the system elevates bodily pH, which causes changes in the tertiary structure of proteins, and thus cellular functions can be altered.
There are three main types of nitrogenous wastes: ammonia, urea, and uric acid. The type of waste an animal excretes depends on its living environment, because nitrogenous waste excretion is accompanied by a certain amount of water loss. Ammonotelic (ammonia-excreting) animals generally live only in aquatic habitats, because ammonia is extremely toxic, and a large volume of water is required to maintain the excreted ammonia level lower than the body level. This is needed because ammonia excretion relies on passive diffusion, so a gradient is required between the organism and the environment in order for the ammonia to flow from high concentration to low concentration.
Whereas most excretion of ammonia occurs across the gills of aquatic animals, mammals do excrete some ammonia in the urine. Amino groups are enzymatically transformed into glutamate, and then changed to glutamine in the liver. Glutamine can cross the kidney membranes (whereas amino acids can not). In the kidney tubules, the glutamine is deaminated to ammonia and then excreted in the urine.
Although ammonia excretion is present in some forms in mammals, the major nitrogenous waste excreted is urea. Urea is less toxic than ammonia, and requires less water for elimination. Therefore, ureotelic (urea-excreting) animals are most often (but not exclusively) terrestrial. A downside to urea excretion is that urea synthesis requires energy, in the form of ATP. Vertebrates synthesize urea in the liver using the ornithine-urea cycle. Teleosts and invertebrates produce urea from uric acid via the uricolytic pathway.
Birds, reptiles, and most terrestrial arthropods often are subject to very limited water availability, so even urea excretion is not possible. Therefore, these uricotelic (uric acid-excreting) animals synthesize uric acid, which requires even less water than urea for elimination. The ability to produce uric acid, which is relatively insoluble, is quite important to birds and reptiles prior to hatching. Nitrogenous wastes can be safely stored within the egg in the form of uric acid, whereas a build-up of either ammonia or urea would be deadly.
How does the mammalian kidney produce urine?
The kidney contains numerous functional units, called nephrons, which produce urine through a series of steps: glomerular filtration of the blood, tubular reabsorption of the glomerular filtrate, and tubular secretion of harmful substances .
Blood flows from the afferent arteriole into the glomerulus, a tuft of fenestrated capillaries enclosed in the Bowman’s capsule. Here 15 to 25 percent of the plasma’s water and solutes are filtered through a single-cell layer of the capillary walls, through a basement membrane, and into the lumen of the Bowman’s capsule. The filtrate then flows into the renal tubule, to undergo tubular reabsorption.
The rate of glomerular filtration depends on three factors: the hydrostatic pressure difference between the capillaries and the Bowman’s capsule (due to blood pressure), the colloid osmotic pressure, which opposes filtration, and the hydraulic permeability of the three-layered tissue separating the capillaries and the lumen of the Bowman’s capsule. Overall, blood pressure in the body has a major effect on the glomerular filtration rate, because the amount of blood passing through the glomerulus determines how much and how fast the fluid can be filtered. Among the dangers of very low blood pressure, therefore, is the loss of kidney function. This is a primary reason for the use of inflatable "shock suits" on the lower body in cases of extreme blood loss from trauma. By reducing blood flow to the legs, blood pressure in the trunk is kept higher, in an effort to maintain kidney function.
The glomerular filtration rate can be regulated by the body through endocrine responses. In the case of autoregulation, increased blood pressure stretches walls of the afferent arteriole, which responds by contracting - thereby reducing fluctuation of blood pressure in the glomerulus. A drop in blood pressure brings about a decrease in the glomerular filtration rate, which, in turn, results in a decrease in sodium ions in the filtrate. (The filtrate moves through the nephron more slowly, allowing more sodium to be reabsorbed along the way.). This lower sodium level in the filtrate is detected by the macula densa, modified cells of the wall of the distal convoluted tubule that lie adjacent to the afferent and efferent arterioles of the glomerulus. In response to the low sodium, cells of the juxtaglomerular apparatus (JGA) release renin. This triggers a series of biochemical reactions which bring about an increase of blood pressure, and thereby an increase in GFR. This series of reactions includes an increase in angiotensin II, which helps bring blood pressure back up by (1) causing vasoconstriction in arterioles throughout much of the body, and (2) promoting increased synthesis of antidiiuretic hormone (ADH), which increases resorption of water in the collecting ducts of the kidney, thereby increasing blood volume. Angiotensin II also promotes the release of aldosterone from adrenal cortex, which promotes retention of both sodium and water, thereby helping to bring blood pressure back up.
The glomerular filtration rate can also be regulated by sympathetic nerve responses, which can result in the constriction or dilation of the afferent arterioles in times of great bodily stress. Vasoconstriction increases blood pressure, and therefore GFR, whereas vasodilation decreases blood pressure and GFR.
As the glomerular filtrate moves through the nephron, it changes composition dramatically. About 99% of the water in the original filtrate is reabsorbed, and less than 1% of the original NaCl content appears in the final urine. How does this happen? First, the filtrate moves into the proximal tubule, where about 70% of the sodium ions are reabsorbed through active transport. Water and chloride ions follow passively. Glucose and amino acids are reabsorbed here. Approximately 75% of the glomerular filtrate is reabsorbed in the proximal tubule. This is aided by the so-called "brush border" of microvilli cells which function in increasing the surface area for reabsorption.
After moving through the proximal tubule, the filtrate moves on to the descending limb of the Loop of Henle. The cells in this area have no brush border, and there is no active salt transport here. The cells have a low permeability to urea and salt, but are very permeable to water. As the filtrate descends the Loop of Henle, water diffuses out because of the high salt concentration in the surrounding tissue. This is part of the urine-concentrating system of the nephron. The Loop of Henle acts as a countercurrent multiplier. For this reason, mammals living in marine or desert environments have longer loops of Henle and can conserve more water by producing a more concentrated urine.
The filtrate moves along the Loop of Henle to the thin segment of the ascending limb, which is highly permeable to Na+ and Cl-, and impermeable to water and urea. As the filtrate moves up the thin segment, Na+ and Cl- diffuse out because there is a higher concentration in the filtrate than in the surrounding tissues. The filtrate then moves to the medullary thick ascending limb, which is involved in the active transport of Na+ and Cl- outward from the lumen into the interstitial space. This causes the fluid reaching the distal tubule to be hypoosmotic to the interstitial fluid, and allows for the passive transport of water out of the tubule.
The distal tubule functions in transporting K+, H+, and NH3 into the lumen, and Na+, Cl-, and HCO3- out. Transport of salts in this area is under endocrine control and adjusted according to osmotic conditions.
The filtrate then moves into the collecting duct, which carries the fluid to the renal pelvis, to the ureters, and out of the body through the urethra. The epithelium of the collecting duct is permeable to water, but not salt or urea. The permeability o the collecting duct to water is controlled by the hormone ADH from the posterior pituitary gland. This response causes the filtrate, which is hypoosmotic to the interstitial fluid at this point, to lose water by osmosis and therefore increase the concentration of salts and urea in the urine. At the bottom of the collecting duct, the epithelium is permeable to urea. The diffusion of some urea out of the filtrate and into the surrounding tissue helps produce the interstitial concentration gradient necessary for the diffusion of water out of the descending limb of the Loop of Henle. The urea also helps draw water out of the filtrate passing down the collecting duct, thereby enabling the kidney to excrete urine that is hypertonic to the general body fluids, a property that is important in water conservation.
In several places along the nephron, substances that are not part of the initial filtrate (because the molecules are too big to be filtered through the glomerulus) are actively transported from the blood into the filtrate for elimination from the body in the urine. Some substances, such as toxins and drugs, are processed in the liver and conjugated with glucouronic acid. This marks them for removal from blood capillaries in the kidney and transport into the lumen of the nephron to become part of the filtrate.
How do the kidneys regulate pH?
Regulation of pH is governed by the carbon dioxide/bicarbonate buffering system in the body, which consists of three steps:
The excretion of acid by the kidney is one of the two major factors which influence this system (the other being the excretion of carbon dioxide by the lungs). The excretion of hydrogen ions (acid) in the urine is primarily responsible for maintaining the plasma HCO3- concentration. Mammalian urine is mildly acidic, with a pH of about 6, and contains no bicarbonate. However, the initial glomerular filtrate has a high bicarbonate concentration and a low hydrogen ion concentration. Therefore, in the process of urine formation, acid must be added to the filtrate, and bicarbonate must be removed. Therefore, the excretion of H+ and the recovery of HCO3- are both important mechanisms by which the kidneys help the body regulate pH.
This process is accomplished by special cells in the distal tubule and collecting duct, called A-type cells and B-type cells. The A-type cells are acid-secreting cells that have a proton ATPase in the apical membrane and a Cl-/ HCO3- exchange system in the basolateral membrane. The cells also contain carbonic anhydrase, which hydrates carbon dioxide passing through the membrane to form protons and bicarbonate ions. The protons formed are pumped back into the lumen and can react with the bicarbonate in the filtrate to form carbon dioxide and water, which can diffuse back into the cell, and create an uptake of bicarbonate back into the blood.
B-type cells, on the other hand, are base-secreting cells. They have a different form of chloride/bicarbonate exchanger in the apical membrane than the A-type cells, and secrete bicarbonate into the lumen of the tubule in exchange for chloride ions.
Regulation of pH is accomplished then, by altering the activity of A and B-type cells, which determines whether bicarbonate is reabsorbed or secreted.
Another mechanism used in pH regulation is the uptake of H+ by HPO4- and NH3 in the lumen to trap excess H+ in the filtrate. This occurs in order to bind H+ with something so that these protons will not move back into the epithelial cells and the blood, which would lower pH.
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At Bryce Canyon National Park, erosion has shaped colorful Claron limestones, sandstones, and mudstones into thousands of spires, fins, pinnacles, and mazes. Collectively called "hoodoos," these colorful and whimsical formations stand in horseshoe-shaped amphitheaters along the eastern edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau in Southern Utah. Hoodoos formed over thousands of years by the same processes that form the features of surrounding parks. Water, ice (at varying intervals) and gravity are the forces that form Bryce Canyon.
Dolomite, limestone and siltstone are very hard and form the protective caprock on most of the spires. Frost wedging is the erosional force that breaks apart the harder rocks. Mudstone is the softest rock in a hoodoo and is easily identified because it forms the narrowest portion of the pinnacles. As mudstone moistens it erodes easily and will run down the sides forming a stucco or protective coating. Every time it rains the stucco is renewed. Eolian or wind forces erode at slow rates. If wind does not erode the stucco layer fast enough it will renew before eolian erosion affects the rock. For this reason wind has little to no affect on hoodoo formation or destruction.
Bryce Canyon National Park is named for pioneer Ebenezer Bryce who came to the Paria Valley with his family in 1875. He was sent by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints because his skill as a carpenter would be useful in settling this area. Bryce built a road to the plateau top to retrieve firewood and timber. He also built an irrigation canal to raise crops and animals. Local people called the canyon with the strange rock formations near Ebenezer's home "Bryce's Canyon". The Bryces moved to Arizona in 1880, the name remained.
As southern Utah developed, Reuben and Minnie Syrett--who homesteaded just outside the present park boundaries--brought their friends to see the intricately eroded stone formations. By popular demand, they developed sleeping and eating facilities on the canyon rim. They called their establishment, "Tourist's Rest." When the area was set aside as a national monument in 1923, the Union Pacific Railroad bought out the Syrett's interests and began to construct Bryce Canyon Lodge intending to make the Bryce Canyon area part of their new "Loop Tour" of the southwest. The Syrett's then built "Ruby's Inn" on their own land just north of the park.
Click Here for information about the shuttle service for Bryce Canyon National Park
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Out of the Mists Comes Knowledge of Little-Known Endemics
Researchers band together to conserve avian populations
By Pablo Elizondo, Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio); C. John Ralph, U.S. Forest Service; Jared D. Wolfe, School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University.
In the morning mist, high in the mountains at one of Central America’s premier birding sites, three biologists clad in typical field garb chat quietly in Spanglish as they squish along a muddy trail, stopping occasionally to carefully remove birds from mist nets. This scene is increasingly being played out across Costa Rica at the burgeoning bird monitoring stations created by Costa Rica Bird Observatories (CRBO).
The concept of a bird observatory in Costa Rica began in 1994, as a bird monitoring project spanning seven bird banding sites around the quaint Caribbean village of Tortuguero, long considered a focal area for migrant birds. These sites now encompass a variety of habitats, providing insight into the natural history of a wide variety of migrant and resident birds. Linked by canals, the stations are accessed by field crews in the predawn darkness during most months of the year.
Mornings at these banding sites are enthralling: Bicolored Antbirds announce their arrival at ant-swarms, while Western Slaty-Antshrikes solicit neighboring birds to join their foraging flock. Afternoons are spent counting migrating swallows, dipping toes in the Caribbean Sea, and eating coconut-infused rice at the spacious cafeteria of the field station.
At a bird observatory, data goes much deeper than just the names of the species and quantity of birds detected on a census. It includes critical findings on the health of both the Neotropical migrants and the little-known resident birds, each with their own suite of adaptations to ever-changing environments. Such reports include how well and often they are breeding and if they are getting sufficient food for migration and molting.
Studies show that many bird populations are declining at alarming rates. Migrant birds must contend with a host of unknowns, including changing climate, invasive species, and habitat alterations on their temperate breeding, tropical wintering grounds, and migration areas. Because migrants routinely cross political boundaries, they make our global avian community a truly shared commodity. Establishing conservation and monitoring partnerships is a key strategy in the sometimes fractious battle between resource extraction and bird conservation. Given the acute threats of climate change and habitat loss, biologists from North, Central, and South America must transcend political and cultural barriers to promote sustainable bird populations for future generations.
In 2008, joining the U.S Forest Service and Klamath Bird Observatory as partners, CRBO was invited to open its central office at the National Institute of Biodiversity (INBio) headquarters in Santo Domingo de Heredia. INBio is one of the leading research NGOs in the Americas— introducing on average a new species to science every three days.
The information generated through sustained monitoring to support the conservation of avian populations is accessible to government agencies, academics, and citizen organizations. For more information about Costa Rica Bird Observatories, visit: costaricabird.org
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Heart Rhythm Problems: Symptoms
Topic Overview Back to top
Heart rhythm problems, called arrhythmias, can cause a few types of symptoms. These symptoms happen because the heart isn't beating regularly or may not be pumping blood as well as normal.
Some of these symptoms include palpitations, lightheadedness, fainting, and shortness of breath.
Having palpitations means that you are unusually aware of your heartbeat. The experience of palpitations is often described differently by different people. Some people report a vague "fluttering" in their chests or the feeling of a "skipped beat." Others note a "pounding sensation" or feel that the heart is "jumping out of my chest." Palpitations are rarely painful.
What are the different types of palpitations?
The pattern of the palpitations can be very helpful in determining the type of arrhythmia that caused them. If you see a doctor about your palpitations, it is very helpful if you can demonstrate the rhythm and speed of the palpitations by tapping your fingers on a desk or table. This can help your doctor figure out whether the palpitations were the result of an arrhythmia and in some cases may allow a relatively accurate diagnosis as to the specific arrhythmia that caused the palpitations.
Your doctor will likely not diagnose an arrhythmia based on your demonstration. But it can be a very helpful start if you are not experiencing arrhythmia while you are in your doctor's office (which means your doctor will be unable to record the arrhythmia on an EKG during the visit).
How do palpitations cause chest discomfort?
Some people experience rapid heart rates not as palpitations but rather as chest pain. In people who have healthy hearts, palpitations may cause a pounding or thumping sensation that can be painful or uncomfortable, rather than the heavy, tight, or squeezing sensation, called angina, usually associated with heart attacks. In people who have coronary artery disease, a rapid heart rate can cause angina. How you describe your pain may help your doctor figure out whether the chest pain is the result of an abnormal rhythm or angina. In many cases, your doctor may not be sure based strictly on your description. So he or she will probably order an electrocardiogram (EKG, ECG) or further stress testing to evaluate the rhythm or rule out angina.
If you have an arrhythmia that causes your heart to beat too fast or too slow, you may feel lightheaded or dizzy. This happens because your heart cannot pump blood effectively during excessively fast or slow heart rates. The ineffective pumping action decreases your blood pressure, reducing the amount of blood that reaches your brain.
The sensation of lightheadedness is a result of this lack of blood flow to the brain. If your blood pressure drops too low, you may feel that you are about to pass out. This sensation is called presyncope. Syncope is the medical term for a temporary loss of consciousness (passing out).
When is lightheadedness not caused by an arrhythmia?
Dizziness can be caused by conditions other than arrhythmia. For this reason, your doctor will try to find out whether your dizziness is caused by a heart condition, medicine, or other things.
Other causes of lightheadedness include hyperventilation, panic or anxiety attacks, prolonged standing, and excessive fluid loss caused by problems such as vomiting or diarrhea.
Many of the medicines used to treat heart conditions, such as beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, and diuretics, can lower the blood pressure excessively and result in lightheadedness. In general, medicine-induced lightheadedness frequently occurs soon after you stand up because of a drop in blood pressure that happens when you stand (orthostatic hypotension). In contrast, lightheadedness due to an arrhythmia can occur even when you are sitting or reclining.
Syncope (say "SING-kuh-pee") refers to a sudden loss of consciousness that doesn't last long. Syncope may be the first sign that you have an arrhythmia. And it is a very worrisome symptom for several reasons:
- Fainting can result in a serious injury (for example, if you faint while climbing stairs or driving).
- You faint because your brain did not get enough oxygen to function, which may be a warning sign that you have a serious medical condition.
An arrhythmia can cause syncope in the same way that it causes lightheadedness (presyncope). Your heart cannot pump blood effectively during excessively fast or slow heart rates, reducing the amount of blood that reaches your brain. With syncope, though, the arrhythmia causes such a dramatic drop in the blood pressure that the brain doesn't receive enough blood to keep you awake. So you lose consciousness. For an arrhythmia to cause syncope, your heart rate must be extremely fast or extremely slow, or you must also have some other heart condition.
How long does syncope last?
It is important to recognize that syncope is transient, meaning that you wake up soon after fainting. Consciousness may return because the arrhythmia spontaneously stops and a normal heart rhythm and blood pressure return. Even if the arrhythmia persists, you may still regain consciousness. When you have an episode of syncope due to an arrhythmia, it typically happens while you are standing or sitting, and the loss of consciousness causes you to fall to the floor. After you are lying down, blood flow returns to your brain, even though your blood pressure may remain low. When adequate blood flow returns to your brain, you will likely wake up.
What are the risks associated with passing out from an arrhythmia?
Fast or slow arrhythmias may cause you to pass out. Depending on your position and activity at the time of the episode, you may seriously injure yourself. If you are standing up at the time of the arrhythmia, you may pass out and fall. The fall may cause you to injure your head, break an arm or leg, or receive other injuries. If you are driving, you may crash, causing severe injury to yourself and anyone else involved.
Passing out may be a sign that you are at risk for a life-threatening arrhythmia. If you have symptoms of an arrhythmia that may cause you to pass out, do not drive any vehicle until your condition has been evaluated and treated.
Shortness of breath
A feeling of shortness of breath, which doctors call dyspnea, frequently happens during arrhythmias. This symptom can be very difficult for people to describe and may be referred to as:
- Shortness of breath.
- Tightness in the chest.
- Being winded.
- Feeling tired from walking.
What causes shortness of breath?
When an arrhythmia causes the heart to beat too fast, the heart doesn't pump effectively. Specifically, there may not be enough time between heartbeats for the heart to fill with blood, causing blood to back up into the lungs. The increased pressure and fluid in the lungs results in the feeling of shortness of breath.
Related Information Back to top
References Back to top
Other Works Consulted
- Olgin JE, Zipes DP (2012). Specific arrhythmias: Diagnosis and treatment. In RO Bonow et al., ed., Braunwald's Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine, 9th ed., vol. 1, pp. 771–824. Philadelphia: Saunders.
Credits Back to top
|Primary Medical Reviewer||Rakesh K. Pai, MD, FACC - Cardiology, Electrophysiology|
|Specialist Medical Reviewer||John M. Miller, MD, FACC - Cardiology, Electrophysiology|
|Last Revised||August 9, 2012|
Last Revised: August 9, 2012
To learn more visit Healthwise.org
© 1995-2013 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.
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What Is It?
Panic disorder is a type of anxiety disorder. A person with panic disorder has panic attacks. These are repeated, unexpected episodes of intense fear and anxiety accompanied by physical symptoms that are similar to the body's normal response to danger.
If you are truly in danger (for example, if you are confronted by a criminal with a gun), your body readies itself for "fight or flight." Heart rate increases. Blood rushes to arm and leg muscles, causing a trembling or tingling sensation. You may sweat and become flushed. You become intensely fearful, aroused and very alert. For people having a panic attack, these changes occur even though there is no danger. At the height of a panic attack, there may be a frightening feeling that the environment has somehow become unreal or detached. The person may worry about dying, having a heart attack, losing control or "going crazy."
Some people with panic disorder have several panic attacks every day, while others go weeks or months between attacks. Since panic attacks occur without warning -- even during sleep -- people who suffer from panic disorder are usually anxious that an attack may begin at any moment. They worry not only about the psychological pain and physical discomfort of the panic attack, but also that their extreme behavior during a panic episode might embarrass them or frighten others. This unshakable fear and anticipation eventually may lead to avoiding public places where it would be difficult or embarrassing to make a sudden exit.
This fear is called agoraphobia. People who have agoraphobia may, for example, avoid attending a performance in a crowded stadium or movie theater; waiting in line at a store; traveling on a bus, train or plane; or driving on roads that have bridges or tunnels.
Although researchers do not completely understand why some people develop panic disorder, they believe that the illness involves a disturbance in brain pathways that regulate emotion. Also, it is possible that people with panic disorder may have inherited a "fight or flight" response that is either more sensitive than normal or responds more intensely than usual.
Studies of close relatives of people with panic disorder show that this disease has a genetic (inherited) basis. These relatives are four to eight times more likely to develop the illness than people with no family history of the problem. Women are two times more likely than men to have panic disorder, and about three times more likely to develop agoraphobia. On average, symptoms start at around age 25, but panic disorder and agoraphobia can affect people of all ages.
Some people with panic disorder first develop symptoms after a stressful life event, such as divorce, job loss or a death in the family. Scientists still do not understand exactly how panic attacks are triggered, but there is growing evidence that stress early in life makes a person more likely to develop panic symptoms.
People who have panic disorder have a relatively high risk for developing other types of psychiatric problems. In fact, at the time of diagnosis, more than 90% of people with panic disorder also have major depression, another anxiety disorder, a personality disorder or some form of substance abuse.
A panic attack is defined by having at least four of the following symptoms:
Between panic attacks, someone with panic disorder usually has persistent worries that a new attack will occur. These worries may cause the person to dramatically change his or her behavior or lifestyle to avoid the embarrassment of "losing control" while with other people.
If you develop panic disorder, you may consult a primary care doctor first because the physical symptoms often make the person feel like they're having a heart attack, a stroke or a breathing problem. Many medical illnesses can cause symptoms that mimic panic attacks, including heart disease, asthma, cerebrovascular disease, epilepsy, hormone abnormalities, infections and disturbances in levels of certain blood chemicals.
Symptoms of a panic attack can also be triggered by the use of amphetamines, cocaine, marijuana, hallucinogens, alcohol and other drugs, as well as by certain prescription medications.
A doctor may do tests to rule out medical problems, but the results of these tests will usually be normal. The doctor may then ask you questions about your family history; psychiatric history; current anxieties; recent stresses; and daily use of prescription and nonprescription drugs, including caffeine and alcohol. If your doctor suspects that the problem is panic disorder, he or she will refer you to a mental health professional for care.
A mental health professional will do a full evaluation that includes:
Panic disorder can be long-lasting, especially if it is not treated. Fortunately, it is a very treatable illness. With proper care, many people find long-term relief from their symptoms.
There is no way to prevent panic disorder. However, if you have been diagnosed with panic disorder, you may be able to prevent panic attacks by cutting down on caffeine, alcohol or other substances that might be triggering your symptoms. Once a diagnosis is made, treatment often eliminates panic attacks or makes them less intense.
If you have panic attacks, there are several treatment options -- both medications and psychotherapy.
For many patients, the most effective approach is a combination of one or more medications, plus some form of cognitive or behavior therapy.
When To Call a Professional
If you have symptoms of a panic attack, and you have never been diagnosed with panic disorder, seek medical help immediately. Remember, symptoms of a panic attack can mimic those of many life-threatening medical illnesses. For this reason, a doctor should evaluate your problem comprehensively.
With appropriate treatment, the prognosis is good. Between 30% and 40% of patients become symptom-free for extended periods, while another 50% continue to experience only mild symptoms that do not significantly affect daily life.
American Psychiatric Association
1000 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22209-3901
National Institute of Mental Health
Office of Communications
6001 Executive Blvd.
Room 8184, MSC 9663
Bethesda, MD 20892-9663
Anxiety Disorders Association of America
8730 Georgia Ave.
Silver Spring, MD 20910
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The targumim (singular: "targum", Hebrew: תרגםום), were spoken paraphrases, explanations, and expansions of the Jewish scriptures that a Rabbi would give in the common language of the listeners, which during the time of this practice was commonly, but not exclusively, Aramaic. This had become necessary near the end of the last century before the Christian era, as the common language was in transition and Hebrew was used for little more than schooling and worship. Eventually it became necessary to give explanations and paraphrases in the common language after the Hebrew scripture was read. The noun Targum is derived from early semitic quadriliteral root 'trgm', and the term 'Targummanu' refers to "translator". It occurs in the Hebrew Bible in Ezra 4:18 "The document which you sent us has been read in translation (Aramaic - 'mepares') before me". Besides denoting the translations of the bible, the term Targum also denote the oral rendering of Bible lections in synagogue, while the translator of the Bible was simply called as hammeturgem (he who translates). Other than the meaning "translate" the verb Tirgem also means "to explain". The word Targum refers to "translation" and argumentation or "explanation"
Writing down the targum was prohibited, nevertheless some targumatic writings appeared as early as the middle of the first century AD. These were not recognized as authoritative by the religious leaders at that time, however. Some subsequent Jewish traditions (beginning with the Babylonian Jews) did accept the written targumim as authoritative, and eventually this became a matter of debate. Today, only Jews from the republic of Yemen continue to use the targumim liturgically.
As translations, the targumim largely reflect midrashic interpretation of the Tanakh from the time they were written, and are notable for eschewing anthropomorphisms in favor of allegorical readings. (Maimonides, for one, notes this often in The Guide for the Perplexed.) This is true both for those targumim that are fairly literal, as well as for those that contain many midrashic expansions. In 1541, Elia Levita wrote and published Sefer Meturgeman, explaining all the Aramaic words found in the Targum.
Two major genres of Targumim
The two most important targumim for liturgical purposes are:
These two targumim are mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud as targum dilan ("our Targum"), giving them official status. In the synagogues of talmudic times, Targum Onkelos was read alternately with the Torah, verse by verse, and Targum Jonathan was read alternately with the selection from Nevi'im (i.e. the Haftarah). This custom continues today in Yemenite Jewish synagogues. The Yemenite Jews are the only Jewish community to continue the use of Targum as liturgical text, as well as to preserve a living tradition of pronunciation for the Aramaic of the targumim (according to a Babylonian dialect).
Besides its public function in the synagogue, the Babylonian Talmud also mentions targum in the context of a personal study requirement: "A person should always review his portions of scripture along with the community, reading the scripture twice and the targum once" (Berakhot 8a-b). This too refers to Targum Onkelos on the public Torah reading and to Targum Jonathan on the haftarot from Nevi'im.
Medieval biblical manuscripts of the Tiberian mesorah sometimes contain the Hebrew text interpolated, verse-by-verse, with the targumim. This scribal practice has its roots both in the public reading of the Targum and in the private study requirement.
The two "official" targumim are considered eastern (Babylonian). Nevertheless, scholars believe they too originated in the Land of Israel because of a strong linguistic substratum of western Aramaic. Though these targumim were later "easternized", the substratum belying their origins still remains.
In post-talmudic times, when most Jewish communities had ceased speaking Aramaic, the public reading of Targum along with the Torah and Haftarah was abandoned in most communities. In Yemen, however, rather than abandoning the Aramaic targum during the public reading of the Torah, it was supplemented by a third version, namely the translation of the Torah into Arabic by Saadia Gaon (called the Tafsir, though this Gaon was born in prominently Jewish at the time Sura Iraq, Babylon, moved to Egypt, arguably lead those two communities, and died in Jaffa ancestral Israel, he was not known to have ever been to the Jewish villages of Yemen. However his rulings on Mizrachi Jewish study had). Thus, in Yemen each verse was read three times.
The private study requirement to review the Targum was never entirely relaxed, even when Jewish communities had largely ceased speaking Aramaic, and the Targum never ceased to be a major source for Jewish exegesis. For instance, it serves as a major source in the Torah commentary of Shlomo Yitzhaki, "Rashi", and therefor has always been the standard fare for Ashkenaz's (French, central European, and German) Jews.
For these reasons, Jewish editions of the Tanakh which include commentaries still almost always print the Targum alongside the text, in all Jewish communities. Nevertheless, later halakhic authorities argued that the requirement to privately review the targum might also be met by reading a translation in the current vernacular in place of the official Targum, or else by studying an important commentary containing midrashic interpretation (especially that of Rashi).
Targum Ketuvim
The Talmud explicitly states that no official targumim were composed besides these two on Torah and Nevi'im alone, and that there is no official targum to Ketuvim ("The Writings"). An official targum was in fact unnecessary for Ketuvim because its books played no fixed liturgical role. The Talmud (Megilah 3a) states The Targum of the Pentateuch was composed by Onkelos the proselyte under the from the mouths of R. Eleazar and R. Joshua. The Targum of the Prophets was composed by Jonathan ben Uzziel under the guidance of Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi (Jonathan b. Uzziel was a disciple of Hillel, so he had traditions handed down from them-Maharsha), and the land of Israel [thereupon] quaked over an area of four hundred parasangs by four hundred parasangs, and a Bath Kol (heavenly voice) came forth and exclaimed, Who is this that has revealed My secrets to mankind? Jonathan b. Uzziel thereupon arose and said, It is I who have revealed Thy secrets to mankind. It is fully known to Thee that I have not done this for my own honour or for the honour of my father's house, but for Thy honour l have done it, that dissension may not increase in Israel. He further sought to reveal [by] a targum [the inner meaning] of the Hagiographa, but a Bath Kol went forth and said, Enough! What was the reason? Because the date of the Messiah is foretold in it". [A possible reference to the end of the book of Daniel.] But did Onkelos the proselyte compose the targum to the Pentateuch? Has not R. Ika said, in the name of R. Hananel who had it from Rab: What is meant by the text, Neh. VIII,8 "And they read in the book, in the law of God, with an interpretation. and they gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading? And they read in the book, in the law of God: this indicates the [Hebrew] text; with an interpretation: this indicates the targum,..." (which shows that the targum dates back to the time of Ezra).
Nevertheless, most books of Ketuvim (with the exceptions of Daniel and Ezra-Nehemiah, which both contain Aramaic portions) have targumim, whose origin is mostly western (Land of Israel) rather than eastern (Babylonia). But for lack of a fixed place in the liturgy, they were poorly preserved and less well known. From the Land of Israel, the tradition of targum to Ketuvim made its way to Italy, and from there to medieval Ashkenaz and Sepharad. The targumim of Psalms, Proverbs, and Job are generally treated as a unit, as are the targumim of the five scrolls (Esther has a longer "Second Targum" as well.) The targum of Chronicles is quite late, possibly medieval, and is attributed to a Rabbi Joseph.
Other Targumim on the Torah
There are also a variety of western targumim on the Torah, each of which was traditionally called Targum Yerushalmi ("Jerusalem Targum"). An important one of these was mistakenly labeled "Targum Jonathan" in later printed versions (though all medieval authorities refer to it by its correct name). The error crept in because of an abbreviation: the printer interpreted the abbreviation T Y (ת"י) to stand for Targum Yonathan (תרגום יונתן) instead of the correct Targum Yerushalmi (תרגום ירושלמי). Scholars refer to this targum as Targum Pseudo-Jonathan. To attribute this targum to Jonathan ben Uzziel flatly contradicts the talmudic tradition (Megillah 3a), which quite clearly attributes the targum to Nevi'im alone to him, while stating that there is no official targum to Ketuvim. In the same printed versions, a similar fragment targum is correctly labeled as Targum Yerushalmi.
The Western Targumim on the Torah, or Palestinian Targumim as they are also called, consist of three manuscript groups: Targum Neofiti I, Fragment Targums, and Cairo Geniza Fragment Targums.
Of these Targum Neofiti I is by far the largest. It consist of 450 folios covering all books of the Pentateuch, with only a few damaged verses. The history of the manuscript begins 1587 when the censor Andrea de Monte (d.1587) bequeathed it to Ugo Boncompagni — which presents an oddity, since Boncompagni, better known as Pope Gregory XIII, died in 1585. The route of transmission may instead be by a certain "Giovan Paolo Eustachio romano neophito." Before this de Monte had censored it by deleting most references to idolatry. In 1602 Boncompagni's estate gave it to the Collegium Ecclesiasticum Adolescentium Neophytorum (or Pia Domus Neophytorum, a college for converts from Judaism and Islam) until 1886, when the Vatican bought it along with other manuscripts when the Collegium closed (which is the reason for the manuscripts name and its designation). Unfortunately, it was then mistitled as a manuscript of Targum Onkelos until 1949, when Alejandro Díez Macho noticed that it differed significantly from Targum Onkelos. It was translated and published during 1968–79, and has since been considered the most important of the Palestinian Targumim, as it is by far the most complete and, apparently, the earliest as well.
The Fragment Targums (formerly known as Targum Yerushalmi II) consist of a large number of fragments that have been divided into ten manuscripts. Of these P, V and L were first published in 1899 by M Ginsburger, A, B, C, D, F and G in 1930 by P Kahle and E in 1955 by A Díez Macho. Unfortunately, these manuscripts are all too fragmented to confirm what their purpose were, but they seem to be either the remains of a single complete targum or short variant readings of another targum. As a group, they often share theological views and with Targum Neofiti, which has led to the belief that they could be variant readings of that targum.
The Cairo Genizah Fragment Targums originate from the Ben-Ezra Synagogues genizah in Cairo. They share similarities with The Fragment Targums in that they consist of a large number of fragmented manuscripts that have been collected in one targum-group. The manuscripts A and E are the oldest among the Palestinian Targum and have been dated to around the seventh century. Manuscripts C, E, H and Z contain only passages from Genesis, A from Exodus while MS B contain verses from both as well as from Deuteronomium.
The Peshitta is the traditional Bible of Syriac-speaking Christians (who speak several different dialects of Aramaic). Many scholars believe that its Old Testament is based on rabbinic targumim (lightly "corrected" to accord with the Septuagint), and it is generally reckoned to have been translated between 100 B.C. and 100 A.D.
- Schühlein, Franz (1912), Targum, New York: Robert Appleton Company
- Philip S. Alexander, (1992) “Targum, Targumim,” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday), 6:320-31
- Schühlein, Franz (1912), Targum, New York: Robert Appleton Company
- Oesterley, WOE; Box, GH (1920), A Short Survey of the Literature of Rabbinical and Mediæval Judaism, New York: Burt Franklin.
- Jewish Encyclopedia - Levita, Elijah
- Sefer Meturgeman
- Studi di biblioteconomia e storia del libro in onore di Francesco Barberi, ed. Giorgio De Gregori, Maria Valenti – 1976 "(42) Trascrivo una supplica dell'Eustachio al Sirleto : « Giovan Paolo Eustachio romano neophito devotissimo servidor di... (44) « Die 22 mensis augusti 1602. Inventarium factum in domo illustrissimi domini Ugonis Boncompagni posita".
- McNamara, M. (1972) Targum and Testament. Shannon, Irish University Press.
- Sysling, H. (1996) Tehiyyat Ha-Metim. Tübingen, JCB Mohr.
See also
English translations of Targum
- Etheridge, John Wesley, "Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and Targum Onkelos", Newsletter for Targumic and Cognate Studies.
- Cook, Edward M, The Aramaic Targum to Psalms, Targum.info.
- Treat, Jay C, The Aramaic Targum to the Song of Songs (Shir HaShirim), University of Pennsylvania.
- Levey, Samson H, The Aramaic Targum to Ruth, Targum.info.
- Brady, Christian ‘Chris’ MM, Targum Ruth in English, Targuman.
- ————————, The Aramaic Targum to Lamentations, Targum.info.
- Aramaic Targums - The Aramaic text of Targum Onkelos and Samaritan Targum with a new English translation for each version and critical apparatus.
Other sources on Targum
- "Targum", The Jewish Encyclopedia.
- The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon, HUC — contains critical editions of all the targumim along with lexical tools and grammatical analysis.
- "Targum", Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent.
- Faur, Jose, The Targumim and Halakha (article), Derushah, analyzing the status of the Targumim in Jewish law
- "Targum". New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
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News: News Archives
Taming Choas? German Scientists Force Checkerboard Patterns from Turbulence, Suggesting Better Control Strategies
Scientists at Germany's Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society are taming chemical chaos, by transforming turbulent spiral waves into highly uniform patterns.
The research, published in the 18 May issue of the journal, Science, may suggest new strategies for controlling a broad range of complex systems--such as the catalytic reactions that take place in cars, chemical factories, and the atmosphere. Because chemical waves also exist inside living cells, the study may ultimately prove useful for biotechnology, too.
How much control can scientists exert over chaos? Images of the Science experiment show blue and red stripes forming tidy, alternating rows, replacing a jumbled array of random turbulence.
These colorful images demonstrate a fundamental experiment in control: They reveal how the movement of (red) carbon monoxide molecules can be choreographed-during an oxidation reaction that releases carbon dioxide-to form regular patterns with (blue) oxygen atoms.
But, the principles at work in this simple system could someday be applied to far more complex industrial and environmental problems.
In addition to stripes, the Max-Planck team actually forced oxygen and carbon monoxide to form fractal-like designs across a platinum surface, similar to a checkerboard pattern. These "cluster" patterns repeated twice as fast as the random oscillations they replaced-a phenomenon called "period doubling," which demonstrates a high degree of control.
"Repeating cluster patterns have never been seen in this type of system before," said Harm Hinrich Rotermund, a co-author on the Science study, with Gerhard Ertl, Alexander S. Mikhailov and others. "Chemical turbulence can be very effectively controlled by our approach."
In theory, said Ertl, director of the department of physical chemistry at the Fritz Haber Institute: "It may be possible to increase the selectivity of various reactions, to improve the yield of a desired product. There may be other applications, too, from biology to climate studies."
Such findings represent the latest advance in "control theory." A field initially developed for industrial and military applications, control theory has been used for steering physical and chemical systems, for example, and for stabilizing missile trajectories.
"Control theory plays a role in simple problems, like regulating your heater with a thermostat, as well as more complicated issues, such as using a computer to optimize the fuel-air mixture in your car," explained Phillip Szuromi, a Science editor. "The central problem, in control theory, is the amount of time you have to control the system. A child shooting at toy ducks in a barrel faces a problem involving control theory. He's got to anticipate where the duck will be. To make that prediction, he must identify and measure properties that influence what the system can do."
Max-Planck scientists describe their control concept as "global delayed feedback." Using this principle, it's possible to tweak various aspects of a system, depending on information returned at regular time intervals by various components located "globally" throughout the entire system. Feedback can be used to create a control signal, which regulates system performance.
To put their theories to the test, Rotermund, Ertl and Mikhailov--with lead Science author Minseok Kim, as well as Matthias Bertram, Michael Pollmann and Alexander von Oertzen--examined the effect of global delayed feedback on carbon monoxide oxidation.
Inside a vacuum chamber, carbon monoxide (CO) molecules and oxygen (O) atoms adsorbed from the gas phase onto a catalytic, or chemically reactive platinum surface. Once adsorbed, the carbon monoxide molecules began diffusing and reacting with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide (CO2), which desorbed. Similar reactions help eliminate toxic CO from car exhaust.
Throughout this process, various two-dimensional patterns emerged as a result of surface changes induced by the reaction. Scientists manipulated these events by changing carbon monoxide pressures, which changed the reaction across the substrate.
Meanwhile, they captured all this activity using a camera-like device called a PEEM (photoemission electron microscope). High-energy light from the microscope causes photoelectrons to be ejected from the surface species, thus making it possible to identify them. An image of these emissions then revealed each of the system's chemical components, which appeared as brightly colored patterns.
This type of imaging technology can't be used in real-world settings, where high pressures may interfere with electron emissions. But, Rotermund said, another technology, previously developed at Max-Planck, could be coupled with the global delayed feedback strategy to control various systems outside the experimental vacuum chamber. Known as EMSI, for ellipsomicroscopy for surface imaging, the system is impervious to pressure changes. (See Science, 27 October 1995, pages 608-610.)
"The edge between chaos and high organization is very thin," Mikhailov said. "This research allows us to better understand the mechanisms of organization, and the functioning of biological, social and economic systems. Our results might also be used to engineer complex systems."
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Provide protective environment; prevent injury.
Assist with self-care.
Promote interaction with others.
Identify resources available for assistance.
Support family involvement in therapy.
Signs of physical agitation are abating and no physical injury occurs.
Improved sense of self-esteem, lessened depression, and elevated mood are noted.
Approaches and socializes appropriately with others, individually and in group activities.
Adequate nutritional intake is achieved/maintained.
Client/family displays effective coping skills and appropriate use of resources.
Plan in place to meet needs after discharge.
1.Assess client's level of disorientation to determine specific requirements for safety.
Knowledge of client's level of functioning is necessary to formulate appropriate
plan of care.
2. Obtain a drug history, if possible, to determine
a. Type of substance(s) used.
b. Time of last ingestion and amount consumed.
c. Length and frequency of consumption.
d. Amount consumed on a daily basis.
3.Obtain urine sample for laboratory analysis of substance content. Subjective history
is often not accurate. Knowledge regarding substance ingestion is important for
accurate assessment of client condition.
4.Place client in quiet, private room. Excessive stimuli increase client agitation.
5. Institute necessary safety precautions:
a. Observe client behaviors frequently; assign staff on one-to-one basis if
condition is warranted; accompany and assist client when ambulating; use
wheelchair for transporting long distances.
b. Be sure that side rails are up when client is in bed.
c. Pad headboard and side rails of bed with thick towels to protect client in
case of seizure.
d. Use mechanical restraints as necessary to protect client if excessive
hyperactivity accompanies the disorientation.
Client safety is a nursing priority.
6.Ensure that smoking materials and other potentially harmful objects are stored
outside client's access. Client...
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U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and Analysis
Energy & Financial Markets
What Drives Crude Oil Prices?
An analysis of 7 factors that influence oil markets, with chart data updated monthly and quarterly
Crude oil production by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is an important factor that affects oil prices. This organization seeks to actively manage oil production in its member countries by setting production targets. Historically, crude oil prices have seen increases in times when OPEC production targets are reduced.
OPEC member countries produce about 40 percent of the world's crude oil. Equally important to global prices, OPEC's oil exports represent about 60 percent of the total petroleum traded internationally. Because of this market share, OPEC's actions can, and do, influence international oil prices.
The extent to which OPEC member countries utilize their available production capacity is often used as an indicator of the tightness of global oil markets, as well as an indicator of the extent to which OPEC is exerting upward influence on prices. EIA defines spare capacity as the volume of production that can be brought on within 30 days and sustained for at least 90 days. Saudi Arabia, the largest oil producer within OPEC and the world's largest oil exporter, historically has had the greatest spare capacity. Saudi Arabia has usually kept more than 1.5 - 2 million barrels per day of spare capacity on hand for market management.
OPEC spare capacity provides an indicator of the world oil market's ability to respond to potential crises that reduce oil supplies. As a result, oil prices tend to incorporate a rising risk premium when OPEC spare capacity reaches low levels. From 2003 through 2008, OPEC's total spare capacity remained near or below 2 million barrels per day (or less than 3 percent of global supply), which provided very little cushion for fluctuations in supply in a context of rapidly rising demand. Markets are influenced by geopolitical events within and between OPEC countries because they have, historically, resulted in reductions in oil production. Given OPEC's market significance, events that entail an actual or future potential loss of oil supplies can produce strong reactions in oil prices.
Despite OPEC's efforts to manage production and maintain targeted price levels, member countries do not always comply with the production targets adopted by the organization. Oil prices can be affected by member countries' unwillingness to maintain production targets. In addition, natural gas liquids (NGLs) are not included in OPEC production allocations and can provide substantial additional volumes to world liquids supply.
The behavior of oil prices depends not only on current supply and demand, but also on projected future supply and demand. OPEC adjusts member countries' production targets based on current and expectations of future supply and demand. Estimating future supply and demand, however, is especially challenging when market conditions are uncertain and are changing rapidly. There can also be significant lags in OPEC production target adjustments in response to market conditions, which also can impact prices.
We welcome your feedback and insights concerning this report.
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Fifth-Order Stokes WaveThis article highlights developments to be released in FLOW-3D version 9.4.
Generating Non-Linear Waves
The capability to generate linear waves at a mesh boundary has existed in FLOW-3D since version 9.2. It is based on Airy's linear wave theory for waves of infinitesimally small amplitude (Airy, 1845). The surface elevation of a linear wave simply has a sinusoidal shape. Although the linear theory can handle many engineering problems with ease and reasonable accuracy, its prediction of wave motion becomes unacceptable when wave amplitude is no longer negligible compared to wavelength. For example, it cannot account for the phenomena that the wave crest is higher above the mean water surface than the trough is below the mean water surface.
In version 9.4 of FLOW-3D, a non-linear wave boundary condition is implemented so that users can simulate more realistic wave propagation into the computational domain. It uses the fifth-order Stokes wave theory developed by Fenton (1985) for limited-amplitude waves. Compared to the linear wave theory, the fifth-order Stokes wave theory has a higher order of accuracy and can describe larger waves. In mathematics, a linear wave is simply the first-order approximation of the fifth-order Stokes wave.
Propagation of a 5th-Order Stokes Wave
Stokes wave propagation.
Figure 1 shows the surface profiles of a linear wave and a fifth-order Stokes wave. While the linear wave has equally high and equally long crests and troughs, the Stokes wave has shorter and higher crests and longer and shallower troughs. The shape of the fifth-order Stokes wave agrees with observation of real wave motion. The animation above shows the propagation of a fifth-order Stokes wave calculated using FLOW-3D.
Figure 1: Comparison of profiles of the linear wave and the 5th-order Stokes wave.
d: mean water depth; h: wave height; L: wave length.
Velocity Profile of a 5th-Order Stokes Wave
Figure 2 compares the horizontal velocity profiles underneath the wave crest measured by Le Mehaute, et. al. (1968) and calculated using the fifth-order Stokes wave theory. The horizontal and vertical axes represent the normalized horizontal velocity and the vertical distance from domain bottom, respectively. The figure shows a reasonable agreement between the theory and the experiment. There is a small shift between the two results. Fenton claimed that this shift is caused by experimental error (Rienecker and Fenton, 1981, Fenton 1985). In fact, Fenton's fifth-order theory makes better kinetics and pressure predictions than other Stokes wave theories (Fenton, 1985, USACE, 2008).
Figure 2: Comparison of horizontal velocity profiles measured
by Le Méhauté et al (1968) and calculated by Fenton's fifth-order
Stokes wave theory. d: water depth; z: vertical distance from bottom;
u: wave-induced velocity; g: gravitational acceleration.
Figure 3: Applicability ranges of various wave theories (after
Le Méhauté 1976 and USACE 2008). d: mean water depth;
H: wave height; T: wave period; g: gravitational acceleration.
Figure 3 shows the application ranges of various wave theories. It is seen that the linear wave theory is valid only for waves with small amplitude. With increasing wave amplitude or decreasing water depth, Stokes wave theories at higher-order accuracy should be used. Since the linear wave and the low-order Stokes wave (second to fourth orders) are approximations of the fifth-order Stokes wave, the fifth-order Stokes wave theory can also be applied, with better accuracy, to all cases where the linear or low-order Stokes wave theory is valid.
More About the Model
In FLOW-3D, the Stokes wave is generated at mesh boundaries. It also allows a horizontal water current with uniform and constant velocity at a wave boundary. Although the Stokes wave theory cannot describe breaking waves, after entering the computational domain, a Stokes wave can evolve into any type of wave with or without breaking. Water flow inside the computational domain can be inviscid, laminar or turbulent. The fifth-order Stokes wave generator works with most other physical models in FLOW-3D and supports many applications in ocean, coastal and maritime engineering.
- Airy, G. B., 1845, Tides and Waves, Encyc. Metrop. Article 102.
- Fenton, J. D., 1985, A Fifth-Order Stokes Theory for Steady Waves, Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering, Vol. 111, No. 2.
- Le Méhauté, B., 1976, An Introduction to Hydrodynamics and Water Waves, Springer-Verlag.
- Le Méhauté, B., Divoky, D., and Lin, A., 1968, Shallow Water Waves: A Comparison of Theories and Experiments, Proceedings of 11th Conference of Costal Engineering, Vol. 1.
- Rienecker, M., M., and Fenton, J., D., 1981, A Fourier Approximation Method for Steady Water Waves, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 104.
- USACE (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers), 2008, Coastal Engineering Manual EM 1110-2-1100, Part II, Washington, DC.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.flow3d.com/resources/news_09/fifth-order-stokes-wave.html
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2013-05-26T02:34:55Z
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|
en
| 0.861054
| 1,151
|
The process of using a TAPE RECORDER for the storage of sound on MAGNETIC TAPE, or the information stored by this process.
See also: EMULSION, ORAL HISTORY, MUSIQUE CONCRETE, STEREOPHONIC, TAPE MUSIC, TRACK.
Although tape recording became generally used in North America in the late 1940s, the following list outlines some of the first developments previous to that, as well as some recent innovations:
- 1899 - The MAGNETIC WIRE recorder is patented by Poulsen.
- 1932 - BASF develops the first practical form of magnetic tape.
- 1935 - AEG demonstrates the Magnetophon tape machine in Berlin.
- 1936 - Mozart's Symphony No. 39 conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham is recorded on magnetic tape.
- 1945 - Magnetophon tape recorders are introduced to the U.S.A.
- 1948 - The first radio program broadcast from magnetic tape, "The Bing Crosby Show".
- 1958 - RCA introduces a tape cartridge system.
- 1963 - Philips (Holland) introduces the tape cassette system, and establishes the basic format for licensing to other companies.
- 1965 - The Lear 8-track tape cartridge system is introduced.
- 1969 - The Dolby "B" noise-reduction system is introduced allowing an improved SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO in tape recordings.
- 1978 - Originally developed in Japan in the late 1960s, DIGITAL RECORDING is commercially introduced in North America and Europe.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.sfu.ca/sonic-studio/handbook/Tape_Recording.html
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2013-05-24T09:11:25Z
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704433753/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114033-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
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en
| 0.857892
| 329
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- In 1967 American Scientists at the Vermont State Prison carried out an experiment by medical researcher Ethan Sims who wanted to study the hormonal changes in the human body when it becomes seriously overweight. Each inmate was fed as much food as they could physically handle and their exercise was restricted. However, regardless of how much they ate, none of the prisoners (all naturally slim) could not become obese. One ate as much as 10,000 calories a day and still did not become obese. None of them even went outside a normal body weight although each responded differently.*1
- Brittish scientists attempted to recreate the above experiment in 2009 in which they took a group of slim people and fed themas much food as they could handle and restricted their daily movement to less than 5,000 steps a day (about 2 miles). They were not allowed any non walking physical exercise that might skew the results. As above, the patients bodies gained different amounts, but none of them gained enough to even make them overweight. More so, the study showed that their bodies seemed to find ways to burn the extra calories, even without exercise such as small movements like fidgeting or burned off in the form of heat. One participant even gained muscle. Overeating can indeed effect your weight, but only within a range. It can't make the difference between thin and obese. *1
- According to the BBC Documentary "Why are thin people not fat" we all have a predetermined natural body weight which our bodies will always naturally try to return to. According to Dr David Allison, from the University of AL at Birmingham, our adult sizes may even be determined as early as in the womb. For example, he states that older women give birth to fattier babies. The mother's health and diet at the time of pregnancy also appear to effect the future weight of children.*1
- According to Dr. Nikhil Durandhar, researcher at the Pennington Biomedical Research Centre, the human adenovirus AD-36 or 'Adv36', a virus which, in infected chickens, results in a large amount of increased body fat, may contribute greatly to weight in the general population. The virus is not contagious throughout a fat person's life, only after initial infection. This virus can take a naturally lean person and make them fat. Naturally infected people were significantly heavier than their uninfected counterparts. In humans, symptoms of original infection include cold like symptoms, or pink eye, or diarrhea. Obese people are nearly 3X more likely to have the virus and among the non obese group those infected with the virus were still heavier than average. The virus starts in the lungs and spreads through various organs and then fat tissue, causing the tissue to replicate. A person can become infected at any point in their lives. *1 *2
Disease and Health
- "For years, Canadians have heard that obesity, a lack of physical activity and a family history are the top risk factors for developing Type 2 diabetes. But new Canadian research says that, in fact, it is living in poverty that can double or even triple the likelihood of developing the disease." A recent study found that income, not weight, is the largest indicator for diabetes. When comparing groups from low income and higher income backgrounds, the study found that a lower income person of the same weight as a higher income person was 2-3X more likely to have diabetes. *3
- Fatter Patients are more likely to survive heart attacks compared to normal weight patients *7
- "Researchers looked at height, weight, hip, waist, blood pressure, cholesterol and other data from more than 220,000 adults — who had no previous history of heart disease – and tracked them over time to see who had heart attacks. Once they controlled for age, sex, smoking, baseline systolic blood pressure, history of diabetes, and total and HDL cholesterol, they found that BMI or waist-to-hip ratio didn’t add much information." In other words, weight had very little, if anything, to do with risk of heart disease. *10
- Researchers at Monash university conducted a study into fat acceptance and concluded that fat acceptance blogs and being part of a fat acceptance community leads to overall better health *14
- Two new studies published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal and Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism find that BMI is an inaccurate measure of health and that Obese patients who were fat and fit were likely to live as long as people who were slim. More so it notes that obese patients who were healthier dieted less and were more accepting of their bodies as well as consumed more fruits and vegetables and exercised more. *12, *13
- Even short term famine in kids and teens can increase risk of type II diabetes. "Relative to unexposed women, those who were exposed to moderate famine had an age-adjusted hazard ratio of 1.36 for type 2 diabetes, and those exposed to severe famine had an age-adjusted hazard ratio of 1.64." *17 (also under dieting)
- A study which followed over 43,000 participants from 1979 to 2003 found that 46% of obese patients were metabolically healthy. There was no difference in disease risk between metabolically healthy obese patients and metabolically healthy "normal weight" patients. Meaning that fat metabolically healthy people were just as healthy as thin healthy people and more healthy than fat or thin unhealthy people. *18
- At the University of Minnesota, between 1944 and 1945, researchers studied the physiological and psychological effects of semi-starvation. The original intent of the study was to look at how best to help countries ravaged by famine during WWII. This study found that a calorie restrictive diet of 1500 calories a day resulted in increased depression, hysteria and hypochondriasis. Physiological effects included some severe reactions such as self mutilation. Patients experienced a decreased ability to focus or make decisions and exhibited a preoccupation with food. The patients sex drives were reduced drastically and showed signs of social withdraw and isolation and some exhibited swelling in their extremities (edema). The study suggests that low calorie diets are quite unhealthy. *4
- Long-term follow-up studies document that the majority of individuals regain virtually all of the weight that was lost during treatment, regardless of whether they maintain their diet or exercise program [5, 27]. Consider the Women’s Health Initiative, the largest and longest randomized, controlled dietary intervention clinical trial, designed to test the current recommendations. More than 20,000 women maintained a low-fat diet, reportedly reducing their calorie intake by an average of 360 calories per day and significantly increasing their activity . After almost eight years on this diet, there was almost no change in weight from starting point (a loss of 0.1 kg), and average waist circumference, which is a measure of abdominal fat, had increased (0.3 cm) . *6
- Frequent, intentional, weight lost in post menopausal women may have long term negative consequences for the immune system *8
- A 2011 study on twins showed that dieting leads to long term weight gain. The purpose was to find out whether the weight gain associated with dieting was genetic or linked to the dieting itself. This study concludes that it is the dieting itself that leads to long term weight gain and that the weight gain was progressive over the years. *11
- Even short term famine in kids and teens can increase risk of type II diabetes. "Relative to unexposed women, those who were exposed to moderate famine had an age-adjusted hazard ratio of 1.36 for type 2 diabetes, and those exposed to severe famine had an age-adjusted hazard ratio of 1.64." *17 (also under health and disease)
- Have you heard how People have been getting fatter over the past few decades? Well we're not the only ones. Animals that live closely with humans- dogs, cats, rats, mice and lab animals, have also been gaining weight. Lab animals whose diets and environments remain exactly the same and have been bred normally (not for a larger size). "fascinating new research shows that bacteria in our gut affect how many calories we extract from foods" (remember, a calorie is not a physical thing but a unit of energy). which means a thin person shoveling in massive numbers of calories aren't actually getting that many calories. A fat person eating smaller amounts may actually be getting more calories than a thin person eating far more. Other explanations have been attributed to. "Food marketing, more TV, and less phys ed can no more explain these fatter animals than they can the epidemic of obesity in babies under 6 months."*5
- "A study on caloric intake in a large, nationwide population of children and adolescents has revealed the surprising finding that those who are clinically overweight and obese consume fewer calories than their healthy weight counterparts, beginning at around 7 years of age." Of course this is only "surprising" to anyone who didn't grow up fat watching our thin counterparts eat twice as much as we did. *9
- "The study looked at more than 14,000 high school students to determine the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and suicide attempts, as well as the relationship between believing one is overweight — whether true or not —and suicide attempts. “Our findings show that both perceived and actual overweight increase risk for suicide attempt,” said lead study author Monica Swahn, Ph.D. That association was as strong for boys as for girls." *15
*1 BBC Documentary "Why are thin people not fat"
*2 Infectobesity: Obesity of Infectious Origin
*3 Poverty as a leading cause of diabetes
*4 The Minnesota Starvation Experiment
*5 Newsweek covers Obese Animals
*6 Weight Science: Evaluating the Evidence for a Paradigm Shift
*7 Impact of body mass index on cardiac mortality in patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease undergoing myocardial perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography.
*8 Frequent intentional weight loss is associated with lower natural killer cell cytotoxicity in postmenopausal women: possible long-term immune effects.
*9 Fat kids eat less than thin kids
*10 Separate and combined associations of body-mass index and abdominal adiposity with cardiovascular disease: collaborative analysis of 58 prospective studies
*11 International Journal of Obesity: Does dieting make you fat? A twin study.
*12 Edmonton Obesity Staging System: association with weight history and mortality risk
*13 Using the Edmonton Obesity staging system to predict mortality in a population-representative cohort of people with overweight and obesity
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://fatgirlposing.blogspot.com/p/expirements-and-studies.html
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2013-06-19T06:01:56Z
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en
| 0.968611
| 2,172
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Study: Natural Gas is Much-Needed Tool to Slow Global Warming
That is the conclusion of a new study by Lawrence M. Cathles, Cornell professor of earth and atmospheric sciences, published in the most recent edition of the peer-reviewed journal Geochemistry, Geophysics and Geosystems. Cathles reviewed the most recent government and industry data on natural gas "leakage rates" during extraction, as well as recently developed climate models.
He concluded that regardless of the time frame considered, substituting natural gas energy for all coal and some oil production provides about 40 percent of the global warming benefit that a complete switch to low-carbon sources would deliver.
"From a greenhouse point of view, it would be better to replace coal electrical facilities with nuclear plants, wind farms and solar panels, but replacing them with natural gas stations will be faster, cheaper and achieve 40 percent of the low-carbon-fast benefit," Cathles wrote in the study. "Gas is a natural transition fuel that could represent the biggest stabilization wedge available to us."
Cathles' study includes additional findings about expanding the use of natural gas as an energy source, as well as the climate impact of "unconventional" gas drilling methods, including hydraulic fracturing in shale formations. They include the following:
▪ Although a more rapid transition to natural gas from coal and some oil produces a greater overall benefit for climate change, the 40 percent of low-carbon energy benefit remains no matter how quickly the transition is made, and no matter the effect of ocean modulation or other climate regulating forces.
▪ Although some critics of natural gas as a transition fuel have cited leakage rates as high as 8 percent or more of total production during drilling -- particularly hydraulic fracturing extraction -- more recent industry data and a critical examination of Environmental Protection Agency data supports leakage rates closer to 1.5 percent for both conventional and hydrofractured wells.
▪ Even at higher leakage rates, using natural gas as a transition to low-carbon energy sources is still a better policy than "business as usual" with coal and oil, due to the different rates of decay (and hence long-term global warming effect) of carbon dioxide released in greater amounts by burning coal and oil and any methane released during natural gas extraction.
▪ Using natural gas as a transition fuel supports the push to low-carbon sources by providing the "surge capacity" when needed, or a buffer when solar and wind production wanes.
"The most important message of the calculations reported here is that substituting natural gas for coal and oil is a significant way to reduce greenhouse forcing, regardless of how long the substitution takes," Cathles wrote. "A faster transition to low-carbon energy sources would decrease greenhouse warming further, but the substitution of natural gas for other fossil fuels is equally beneficial in percentage terms no matter how fast the transition."
The study can be downloaded at: http://bit.ly/NiAsaG.
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<urn:uuid:5c5a4cdf-a238-45c0-9c78-4791e5f27da3>
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http://www.naturalgasamericas.com/study-natural-gas-is-much-needed-tool-to-slow-global-warming-7383
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2013-06-20T08:50:26Z
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|
en
| 0.945409
| 603
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A calendar stone purportedly recovered from a ruined city of the Saklas.
Forward-thinking scholars understand that if humanity is to survive, humans must find a way to leave the world behind before its destruction comes to pass. While fringe theories exist concerning the notion of habitable parallel universes that could potentially be accessed, the most plausible prospect for human survival is generally considered to be relocation to the moon.
The moon is culturally and spiritually important to most known human societies, and many tribes in the Abraxas region revere it as a god. With the exception of a few little-respected fringe theories, such as those in currency in Heliodor*, the moon is widely understood even by the most rustic tribesmen to be a large sphere that orbits the world at an as yet undetermined distance, whose phases are caused by the shadow of the world falling upon its face.
Though the changing expressions of the moon do seem to support the idea that it is alive, the argument has been made that the facial features of the moon comprise a monumental carving on a titanic scale, and that the changes in its expresison are an optical illusion caused by the movement of lunar clouds. Nonetheless the expressions are usually considered genuine, and the auspiciousness of various ventures are commonly related to the apparent mood of the lunar body.
The practicalities of travel to the moon are widely debated - sages agree that it will be no mean task. Some of the theories in currency follow:
A balloon of ancient design.
The most trivial suggestion is that a good enough balloon, such as advance version of those used by the ancient priests in in the Desert of Red Ruin. Advances in the field of lighter-than-air travel have been made by the Heliodorans, but are unreliable, and still limited in range and scope, but the promise remains.
A balloon launches at Heliodor.
However, even accounting for great leaps in this mode of travel, the question remains of just how far it is to the moon, the temperature and other risks of exposure at such celestial elevations, and even if it is possible to breathe there, extrapolating from the thinness of air in the highest mountain ranges. Furthermore, the conspicuous silence of the moon suggests to some wise men that there is no medium of transfer to sound, though this has also been explained by the great distance to the moon, or merely the innate silence of the moon's periodic laughter or fury. There is speculation, notably in Heliodor, as to whether the sky might translate to the Elemental Plane of Air, but there is little support for this, nor has this Plane been conclusively demonstrated to exist - traditional belief holds the earthly and heavenly realms to transition continuously.
Several minor skycrags.
The moon's apparent defiance of gravity has often called for comparison to the skycrags that drift at various heights above the face of the landscape. The crags drift seemingly at random, but the Abraxan sage Apiaka Seven Silvers, known for his controversial model of the motion of skycrags, has theorized that the elevation of skycrags may be considered as relative both to the earth and to one another, such that by carefully predicting or even altering their drift, the crags could potentially be arranged to chain above one another, so that a balloonist, or even a climber, might traverse moonward from one to the next, forming a kind of "stairway to heaven."
Apiaka Seven Silvers presents an equation demonstrating skycrag dynamics.
Seven Silvers is strongly convinced that the moon is habitable, taking as a given that the moon is alive, and furthermore that the moon's surface is abundant with edible matter. He argues in favor of the traditional wisdom that the noxious levitating beasts known as Mooncrabs are like unto lice who dwell upon the moon, and are occasionally thrown off by the moon's itchy quaking and float down to Alshain.
Armor Class: 5
Hit Dice: 4*
Move: 60' (20')
Flying: 120' (40')
Attacks: 2 Claws/1 Sting
No. Appearing: 1-4(1-4)
Save As: Fighter:4
Treasure Type: V
A mooncrab resembles a large scorpion floating uncannily in the air with a ghastly, skull-like face. Its body is about 5' long with a tail of similar length. They levitate via unknown means up to about 4-5' off the ground, and will fall to that point from greater heights as if Feather Falling. The poison sting of a Mooncrab instantly induces a convulsive hilarity equal to a Hideous Laughter spell. Mooncrabs especially delight in devouring incapacitated foes as the victims continue to laugh, unable to stop even as they are being eaten. Mooncrabs are as intelligent as an average human but speak only Mooncrab.
The ichor of a mooncrab is a good ingredient for a Potion of Levitation, and its venom as ink for a scroll of Hideous Laughter.
A coven of Mushroom Women.
Also believed to have an eventual lunar origin are the reclusive Mushroom Women. A popular folk legend, possibly related to the dogmas of the apocalyptic cult of the Kingdoms of the Sixth Sun is the moon is a form of giant puffball of immense scale, with whose spores the earth is dusted. If the spores of Mushroom Women can float down to Alshain on spores in grace and safety, why not the other way?
Armor Class: 8
Hit Dice: 2***
Attacks: 1 or Spores
Save As: Elf 4
Treasure Type: D
Mushroom Women are colonial fungus creatures with forms suggestive of humanoid women. They are reclusive, but non-aggressive, and on a good reaction result are willing to converse on esoteric topics. If attacked, they will open with a blast of spores that cause targets in a 15' radius to Save vs. Poison of succumb to a mystical Sleep. Against more powerful targets a mushroom woman will attack a single target with a concentrated blast of spores that cause hallucinations - Save vs. Poison or be affected by Confusion, and the effects of a Potion of Delusion mimicing a random potion for an additional 1d4 hours. The DM is encouraged to describe the hallucinatory experience in great psychedelic detail. If pressed into physical combat, their claws may infect wounds with spores that unless a successful Save vs. Poison is made is equivalent to the effects of a Cause Disease spell.
Some human priests and medicine men have developed a rapport with these creatures, and have learned to develop their spores into Potions of Flying, Heroism, or Longevity. However there is always a 10% danger of creating a Potion of Delusion when using these spores as an ingredient.
Fra' Lippo Dellamore
A much more radical theory has been advanced by the strange ascetic Fra' Lippo Dellamore, late of Rhadamanthus. After his years of assiduous study of the secret behavior of cats, he claims to have learned that certain rare felines 'leap' to and from the moon so as to "sup on moon-milk," and that thus human riders might themselves travel to the moon, "given a sufficiently large cat." His studies, however, are admittedly inconclusive as to whether cats must jump only in the "dream realm," which notion itself is in contention with the popular philosophy that all life is but a dream.
While the existence of the Moon-Leaping Cat is speculative at best, the characteristics described in Dellamore's notebooks resemble the following:
Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 4**
Move: 180' (60')
Attacks: 2 claws/1 bite
No. Appearing: 1 (1-3)
Save As: Fighter 4
This lean, spotted cat is similar in size to a cheetah. Dwelling most of the time in some misty conceptual realm, it surprises its prey on a 1-5 on 1d6 as it appears seemingly from nowhere. If it successfully hits with both claw attacks, unless a save vs. Spells is made, it pulls its target into its dreamy otherworldly lair where the prey must fight the Cat alone. If the cat is defeated, the character may make an Intelligence check each round to wend his way back to the material world. The cat's lunar leap may only be accomplished under certain celestial conditions, as determined by the DM; the cat is not capable of carrying a human rider.
A spy's impression, drawn before he succumbed to alchemical poisoning.
Or perhaps...nobody lives on the moon.
* The "Heliodoran Thesis" proposes that the moon is a kind of shuttered window in the firmament, whose phases are controlled by the opening and closing of its aperture.
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<urn:uuid:06690df2-8865-4104-8c61-ae61c9b7388b>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://worldofalshain.blogspot.com/2012_02_01_archive.html
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2013-05-20T12:30:34Z
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698958430/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100918-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
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en
| 0.940854
| 1,838
|
104 pages | 6 x 9
Since 1980, childhood obesity rates have more than tripled in the United States. Recent data show that almost one-third of children over 2 years of age are already overweight or obese. While the prevalence of childhood obesity appears to have plateaued in recent years, the magnitude of the problem remains unsustainably high and represents an enormous public health concern. All options for addressing the childhood obesity epidemic must therefore be explored. In the United States, legal approaches have successfully reduced other threats to public health, such as the lack of passive restraints in automobiles and the use of tobacco. The question then arises of whether laws, regulations, and litigation can likewise be used to change practices and policies that contribute to obesity.
On October 21, 2010, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) held a workshop to bring together stakeholders to discuss the current and future legal strategies aimed at combating childhood obesity. Legal Strategies in Childhood Obesity Prevention summarizes the proceedings of that workshop. The report examines the challenges involved in implementing public health initiatives by using legal strategies to elicit change. It also discusses circumstances in which legal strategies are needed and effective. This workshop was created only to explore the boundaries of potential legal approaches to address childhood obesity, and therefore, does not contain recommendations for the use of such approaches.
National Research Council. Legal Strategies in Childhood Obesity Prevention: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2011.
Please select a format:
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<urn:uuid:7b850515-5aeb-4f67-8e26-66dc51826df4>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13123
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2013-06-19T13:12:54Z
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en
| 0.914908
| 292
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This volume explores the implications of cross-linguistic structures in simultaneous bilingualism. It aims to find cognitive explanations for the presence or absence of cross-linguistic structures that go beyond the debate of 'one system or two'. The contributors present syntactic, morphological and phonological features that are found in bilingual children, but are untypical of monolingual development, and discuss pertinent methodological issues. The orientation of this volume stands out from competing volumes in the field in that the focus is not limited to similarities between monolingual and bilingual first language acquisition. The volume will be of interest to researchers in the field of bilingualism and primary language acquisition, language theorists, and professionals working with bilingual populations.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://linguistlist.org/pubs/books/get-book.cfm?BookID=1683
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2013-05-26T02:42:52Z
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en
| 0.899992
| 144
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Students learned about different animals and their habitats.
Students explored ice cold habitat that polar animals live in.
Students learned about different animals that can be pets such as rabbits, gerbils, and dogs. They learned how to care and treat animals.
Students learned the difference between pet dogs and trained police dogs.
Students learned about the size of the world's largest killer whale, and estimated how many students fit within it.
Students learned about the life cycle of a rooster and hen.
Copyright ©2002-Schoolwires, Inc. All rights reserved.
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<urn:uuid:e0d8cda6-dd49-4c86-bf4b-cea908ec3bda>
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http://www.eisd.net/Page/11265
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2013-05-23T04:41:01Z
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en
| 0.94768
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Learn something new every day More Info... by email
In regards to marketing, experimental techniques are measurements that help economists and companies make determinations on consumer behavior. Prior to fully releasing a product or entering a new market, economists and companies look to measure variables or factors that will affect how consumers purchase goods and services. Purchase laboratories, test markets, and choice modeling are a few common types of experimental techniques in marketing. Large organizations and publicly held companies will often engage in these techniques, as a small change in products offered can result in large changes to profits.
Purchase laboratories are closely controlled situations where a group of consumers is placed into a store and allowed to purchase goods. Marketers use these types of experimental techniques to determine how customers shop, where they look on store shelves, and what types of packaging are most appealing, as well as how a particular company's product fares compared to the competitor products next to it on the shelves. Purchase laboratories allow companies and markets to change the layout of the store and re-conduct the test to determine the effect of the changes.
Test markets are larger and more uncontrolled types of purchase laboratories. Experimental techniques in these markets allow a company to roll out new products in a limited number of cities, towns, or locales. Companies, marketers, and economists can review product sales, consumer comments, and other information to determine the reception of new products. This technique is often viewed as better than purchase laboratories because the company can reach more consumers. Additionally, the company can select cities or locales with specific demographics, such as income, age, race, sex, or other demographics. Companies can also test products at different price points or techniques in each individual market, gathering more information from different factors at one time.
Choice modeling focuses more on the economic side of experimental techniques. This method helps a company determine the benefits and costs of new products and how they impact the market. For example, companies will rarely be able to release a product that does not draw competitors into the market. If no barriers to entry exist in the market, then companies will not have exclusive market power to direct consumer behavior. Companies that release a new type of widget may not be able to draw customers in because the widget is priced too high. Economists help companies to decide if the high price will drive consumers to purchase substitute products. This ultimately helps companies avoid disastrous losses from increasing fixed costs for new products that will ultimately fail in the open market.
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| 0.947498
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|Jmol-3D images||Image 1|
|Molecular formula||HF (aq)|
|Molar mass||not applicable
(see hydrogen fluoride)
|Density||1.15 g/mL (for 48% soln.)|
|Solubility in water||Miscible.|
|Acidity (pKa)||3.17 |
|EU classification||T+ C|
|S-phrases||(S1/2), S7/9, S26, S36/37, S45|
|Other anions||Hydrochloric acid
|Related compounds||Hydrogen fluoride|
| (what is: / ?)
Except where noted otherwise, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C, 100 kPa)
Hydrofluoric acid (HF) is a solution of hydrogen fluoride in water. It is a valued source of fluorine and is a precursor to numerous pharmaceuticals such as fluoxetine (Prozac) and diverse materials such as PTFE (Teflon).
Hydrofluoric acid is a highly corrosive acid, capable of dissolving many materials, especially oxides. Its ability to dissolve glass has been known since the 17th century, even before hydrofluoric acid had been prepared in large quantities by Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1771. Because of its high reactivity toward glass and moderate reactivity toward many metals, hydrofluoric acid is usually stored in plastic containers (although PTFE is slightly permeable to it).
Hydrogen fluoride gas is an acute poison that may immediately and permanently damage lungs and the corneas of the eyes. Aqueous hydrofluoric acid is a contact-poison with the potential for deep, initially painless burns and ensuing tissue death. By interfering with body calcium metabolism, the concentrated acid may also cause systemic toxicity and eventual cardiac arrest and fatality, after contact with as little as 160 cm2 (25 square inches) of skin.
- HF + H2O H3O+ + F−
When the concentration of HF approaches 100%, the acidity increases dramatically because of the following equilibrium:
- 2 HF H+ + FHF−
Hydrofluoric acid is produced by treatment of the mineral fluorite (CaF2) with concentrated sulfuric acid. When combined at 265 °C, these two substances react to produce hydrogen fluoride and calcium sulfate according to the following chemical equation:
- CaF2 + H2SO4 → 2 HF + CaSO4
Although bulk fluorite is a suitable precursor and a major source of world HF production, HF is also produced as a by-product of the production of phosphoric acid, which is derived from the mineral apatite. Apatite sources typically contain a few percent of fluoroapatite, acid digestion of which releases gaseous stream consisting of sulfur dioxide (from the H2SO4), water, and HF, as well as particulates. After separation from the solids, the gases are treated with sulfuric acid and oleum to afford anhydrous HF. Owing to the corrosive nature of HF, its production is accompanied by the dissolution of silicate minerals, and, in this way, significant amounts of fluorosilicic acid is generated.
In a standard oil refinery process known as alkylation, isobutane is alkylated with low-molecular-weight alkenes (primarily a mixture of propylene and butylene) in the presence of the strong acid catalyst derived from hydrofluoric acid. The catalyst protonates the alkenes (propylene, butylene) to produce reactive carbocations, which alkylate isobutane. The reaction is carried out at mild temperatures (0 and 30 °C) in a two-phase reaction.
Production of organofluorine compounds
The principal use of hydrofluoric acid is in organofluorine chemistry. Many organofluorine compounds are prepared using HF as the fluorine source, including Teflon, fluoropolymers, fluorocarbons, and refrigerants such as freon.
Production of fluorides
Most high-volume inorganic fluoride compounds are prepared from hydrofluoric acid. Foremost are Na3AlF6, cryolite, and AlF3, aluminium trifluoride. A molten mixture of these solids serves as a high-temperature solvent for the production of metallic aluminium. Given concerns about fluorides in the environment, alternative technologies are being sought. Other inorganic fluorides prepared from hydrofluoric acid include sodium fluoride and uranium hexafluoride.
Etchant and cleaning agent
The ability of hydrofluoric acid to dissolve metal oxides is the basis of several applications. It removes oxide impurities from stainless steel, a process called pickling, and silicon wafers in the semiconductor industry. In this regard it is also referred to as BHF, (when Buffered with Ammonium Fluoride), and BOE (for Buffered Oxide Etch). It is a significant constituent of Wright Etch and the similar HNA (HF+Nitric+Acetic Acid) etch. In similar manner, it is also used to etch glass. A 5% to 9% hydrofluoric acid gel is also commonly used to etch all ceramic dental restorations to improve bonding. For similar reasons, dilute hydrofluoric acid is a component of household rust stain remover and in car washes in "wheel cleaner" compounds. Hydrofluoric acid attacks glass by reaction with silicon dioxide to form gaseous or water-soluble silicon fluorides. This dissolution process proceeds as follows:
- SiO2 + 4 HF → SiF4 (g) + 2 H2O
- SiO2 + 6 HF → H2SiF6 + 2 H2O
Because of its ability to dissolve iron oxides as well as silica-based contaminants, hydrofluoric acid is used in pre-commissioning boilers that produce high-pressure steam.
Because of its ability to dissolve oxides, hydrofluoric acid is useful for dissolving rock samples (usually powdered) prior to analysis. In similar manner, this acid is used in acid macerations to extract organic fossils from silicate rocks. Fossiliferous rock may be immersed directly into the acid, or a cellulose nitrate film may be applied (dissolved in amyl acetate), which adheres to the organic component and allows the rock to be dissolved around it.
Diluted hydrofluoric acid (1 to 3 %wt.) is used in the petroleum industry in a mixture with other acids (HCl or organic acids) in order to stimulate the production of water, oil, and gas wells specifically where sandstone is involved.
Hydrofluoric acid is also used by some collectors of antique glass bottles to remove so-called 'sickness' from the glass, caused by acids (usually in the soil the bottle was buried in) attacking the soda content of the glass.
Health and safety
Hydrofluoric acid is a highly corrosive liquid and is a contact poison. It should be handled with extreme care, beyond that accorded to other mineral acids. Owing to its low dissociation constant, HF as a neutral lipid-soluble molecule penetrates tissue more rapidly than typical mineral acids. Because of the ability of hydrofluoric acid to penetrate tissue, poisoning can occur readily through exposure of skin or eyes, or when inhaled or swallowed. Symptoms of exposure to hydrofluoric acid may not be immediately evident. HF interferes with nerve function, meaning that burns may not initially be painful. Accidental exposures can go unnoticed, delaying treatment and increasing the extent and seriousness of the injury.
Once absorbed into blood through the skin, it reacts with blood calcium and may cause cardiac arrest. Burns with areas larger than 25 square inches (160 cm2) have the potential to cause serious systemic toxicity from interference with blood and tissue calcium levels. In the body, hydrofluoric acid reacts with the ubiquitous biologically important ions Ca2+ and Mg2+. Formation of insoluble calcium fluoride is proposed as the etiology for both precipitous fall in serum calcium and the severe pain associated with tissue toxicity. In some cases, exposures can lead to hypocalcemia. Thus, hydrofluoric acid exposure is often treated with calcium gluconate, a source of Ca2+ that sequesters the fluoride ions. HF chemical burns can be treated with a water wash and 2.5% calcium gluconate gel. or special rinsing solutions. However, because it is absorbed, medical treatment is necessary; rinsing off is not enough. Intra-arterial infusions of calcium chloride have also shown great effectiveness in treating burns.
- Harris, Daniel C. (2010) Quantitative Chemical Analysis, W. H. Freeman and Company, p.AP14
- Greenwood, Norman N.; Earnshaw, Alan (1984). Chemistry of the Elements. Oxford: Pergamon Press. p. 921. ISBN 0-08-022057-6.
- J. Aigueperse, P. Mollard, D. Devilliers, M. Chemla, R. Faron, R. Romano, J. P. Cuer, “Fluorine Compounds, Inorganic” in Ullmann’s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2005.doi:10.1002/14356007.a11_307
- Ayotte, P; Hébert, M; Marchand, P (Nov 2005). "Why is hydrofluoric acid a weak acid?". J. Chem. Phys. 123 (18): 184501. doi:10.1063/1.2090259. PMID 16292908.
- Powers, John M. Powers. Craig's Restorative Dental Materials, 12th Edition. C.V. Mosby, 022006. 10.5.3
- Strachan, John (January, 1999). "A deadly rinse: The dangers of hydrofluoric acid". Professional Carwashing & Detailing 23 (1).
- Edwards, D. (1982). "Fragmentary non-vascular plant microfossils from the late Silurian of Wales". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 84 (3): 223–256. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1982.tb00536.x.
- Yamashita M, Yamashita M, Suzuki M, Hirai H, Kajigaya H (2001). "Ionophoretic delivery of calcium for experimental hydrofluoric acid burns". Crit. Care Med. 29 (8): 1575–8. doi:10.1097/00003246-200108000-00013. PMID 11505130.
- "Recommended Medical Treatment for Hydrofluoric Acid Exposure" (PDF). Honeywell Specialty Materials. Retrieved 2009-05-06.
- Hoffman, Robert S. et al. (2007) Goldfrank's Manual of Toxicologic Emergencies. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional, p. 1333, ISBN 0071509577.
- el Saadi MS, Hall AH, Hall PK, Riggs BS, Augenstein WL, Rumack BH (1989). "Hydrofluoric acid dermal exposure". Vet Hum Toxicol 31 (3): 243–7. PMID 2741315.
- Roblin I, Urban M, Flicoteau D, Martin C, Pradeau D (2006). "Topical treatment of experimental hydrofluoric acid skin burns by 2.5% calcium gluconate". J Burn Care Res 27 (6): 889–94. doi:10.1097/01.BCR.0000245767.54278.09. PMID 17091088.
- "Calcium Gluconate Gel as an Antidote to HF Acid Burns". Northwestern University. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
- Hultén P, Höjer J, Ludwigs U, Janson A (2004). "Hexafluorine vs. standard decontamination to reduce systemic toxicity after dermal exposure to hydrofluoric acid". J. Toxicol. Clin. Toxicol. 42 (4): 355–61. doi:10.1081/CLT-120039541. PMID 15461243.
- "News & Views". Chemical Health and Safety 12 (5): 35–37. September–October 2005. doi:10.1016/j.chs.2005.07.007.
- "Intra-arterial calcium infusion for hydrofluoric acid burns". NCBI. Retrieved 2010-01-03.
- Koch, Ernst-Christian (2002). "Metal-Fluorocarbon-Pyrolants IV: Thermochemical and Combustion Behaviour of Magnesium/Teflon/Viton (MTV)". Prop., Explos., Pyrotech. 27 (6): 340–351. doi:10.1002/prep.200290004.
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hydrogen fluoride|
- International Chemical Safety Card 0283
- National Pollutant Inventory – Fluoride and compounds fact sheet
- NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards
- CID 14917 from PubChem (HF)
- CID 144681 from PubChem (5HF)
- CID 141165 from PubChem (6HF)
- CID 144682 from PubChem (7HF)
- Hydrofluoric Acid Burn, The New England Journal of Medicine Acid burn case study
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http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrofluoric_acid
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2013-05-19T02:23:11Z
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Public Health and Prevention Strategies
To prevent the spread of infection or reinfection, the following are suggestions from the CDC pinworm fact sheet:
- Bathe when you wake up to help reduce the egg contamination.
- Change and wash your underwear each day. Frequent changing of night clothes are recommended.
- Change underwear, night clothes, and sheets after each treatment. Because the eggs are sensitive to sunlight, open blinds or curtains in bedrooms during the day.
- Personal hygiene should include washing hands after going to the toilet, before eating and after changing diapers.
- Trim fingernails short.
- Discourage nail-biting and scratching bare anal areas. These practices help reduce the risk of continuous self reinfection.
Daily cleaning and vacuuming of households, as well as washing of sheets are not necessary nor effective, and neither are school-wide pinworm screenings. It is also worth noting that children may return to school after bathing, trimming and scrubbing nails, and taking the first dose of treatment.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.stanford.edu/group/parasites/ParaSites2006/Enterobius/prevention.htm
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2013-05-23T11:35:53Z
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A History of Medieval Islam - IX The Turkish Irruption
The entry of the Seljuk Turks into Western Asia in the second half of the eleventh century forms one of the great epochs of world history. It added a third nation, after the Arabs and Persians, to the dominant races of Islam; it prolonged the life of the moribund Cali phate for another two hundred years, it tore Asia Minor away from Christendom and opened the path to the later Ottoman invasion of Europe, it allowed the orthodox Muslims to crush the Ismailian heresy, and provoked in reprisal the murderous activities of the Assassins; it put an end to the political domination of the Arabs in the Near East, it spread the language and culture of Persia over a wide area from Anatolia to Northern India, and by posing a grave threat to the Christian Powers, it impelled the Latin West to undertake the remarkable counter-offensive of the Crusades.
The Turkish family of nations first emerged into the light of history in the mid-sixth century, when they built up a short-lived nomad empire in the heart of Asia, the steppes which have ever since borne the name Turkestan, the land of the Turks. When it broke in pieces, in the manner of such confederacies, fragments of the Turkish race, under a bewildering variety of names, were scattered over a vast area, from the Uighurs, who once dwelt in Mongolia, to the Polovtsians of the Russian steppes, familiar to us from Borodin's opera Pnnce Igor. Despite the wide differences between them -- some came under Chinese, others under Persian influence -- some were pure nomads, others were settled agriculturists -- they all spoke dialects of the same tongue; they possessed common folk memories and legends; in religion they were shamanists, and they reckoned time according to a twelve-year cycle named after animals, events being placed in the Year of the Panther, the Year of the Hare, the Year of the Horse, and so on.
The Oxus was the traditional boundary between civilization and barbarism in Western Asia, between Iran and Turan, and Persian legend, versified in Firdawsi's great epic, the Shah-namah, told of the heroic battles of the Iranians against the Turanian king Afrasi- yab, who was at last hunted down and killed in Azerbaijan. When the Arabs crossed the Oxus after the fall of the Sassanids, they took over the defence of kan against the barbarian nomads and pushed them back beyond the Jaxartes. The Turkish tribes were in political disarray, and were never able to oppose a unified resistance to the Arabs, who carried their advance as far as the Talas river. For nearly three centuries Transoxiana, or as the Arabs called it, Ma Wara al-Nahr, 'that which is beyond the river', was a flourishing land, free from serious nomadic incursions, and cities like Samarkand and Bukhara rose to fame and wealth.
From the ninth century onwards the Turks began to enter the Caliphate, not in mass, but as slaves or adventurers serving as soldiers. They thus infiltrated the world of Islam as the Germans did the Roman Empire. The Caliph Mu'tasim (833-842) was the first Muslim ruler to surround himself with a Turkish guard. Turkish officers rose to high rank, commanding armies, governing provinces, sometimes ruling as independent princes: thus Ahmad b.Tulun seized power in Egypt in 868, and a second Turkish family, that of the Ikhshidids (from an Iranian title ikkshid, meaning 'prince'), ran the same country from 933 until the Fatimid conquest in 969. The disintegration of the Abbasid Empire afforded ample scope for such political adventurism, but so long as Transoxiana was held for civilization, the heart of Islam was safe from a massive barbarian break-through. When the Caliphs ceased to exercise authority on the distant eastern frontier, the task was shouldered by the Samanids, perhaps the most brilliant of the dynasties which took over from the enfeebled Abbasids. In the end it proved too heavy a burden, and the Samanid collapse at the end of the tenth century opened the floodgates to Turkish nomad tribes, who poured across both Jaxartes and Oxus into the lands of the Persians and Arabs.
Despite their brief rule of little more than a hundred years, the Samanids had much to their credit. Of Persian origin, they set up a strong centralized government in Khurasan and Transoxiana, with its capital at Bukhara; they encouraged trade and manufactures; they patronized learning, and they sponsored the spread of Islam by peaceful conversion among the barbarians to the north and east of their realm. It was during their time that the vigorous and commercially-minded Vikings gained possession of Russia, and traded their furs and wax and slaves in the markets of the south in exchange for textiles and metal goods, evidence of this trafflc being provided by the hoards of Arabic coins dug up in Sweden, Finland and North Russia. One of the main international trade routes of the age ran through the territory of the Bulghars, a Turkish race living in the region of the middle Volga, who accepted Islam before 921, in which year a mission from the Caliph Muktadir visited them and reported on life among this most northerly of Muslim peoples. The Bulghars in turn tried to convert the Russians, but Vladimir of Kiev decided in 988 in favour of Christianity, thereby barring Islam's advance into Eastern Europe. Most probably the Bulghars were converted by merchants from the Samanid kingdom, who also brought the faith to the Turks beyond the Jaxartes, nomads who did a brisk trade in sheep and cattle with the frontier towns. About 956 the Seljuks, destined to so glorious a future, embraced Islam, and in 960 the conversion of a Turkish tribe of 200,000 tents is recorded: their precise identity is unspecified. Thus the tenth century witnessed the islamization, under Samanid auspices, of a large section of the Western Turks, an event of great significance.
Notwithstanding the prosperity of their kingdom, the Samanids failed to keep the loyalty of their subjects. Their heavily bureaucratized despotism was expensive to maintain, and the burden of taxation alienated the dihkans, on whose support the regime depended. One of their rulers, Nasr al-Sa'id, who reigned from 914 to 943, favoured the Isma'ilis and corresponded with the Fatimid Caliph Ka'im, thereby forfeiting the sympathy of the orthodox. Following the example of the Abbasids, they surrounded themselves with Turkish guards, whose fidelity was far from assured. In 962 one of their Turkish officers, Alp-tagin ('hero prince'), seized the town and fortress of Ghazna, in what is now Afghanistan, a wealthy co mercial centre whose inhabitants had grown rich on the Indian trade and set up a semi-independent principality. He died in the following year, and after an interval another Turkish general, Sabuk-tagin, won control of Ghazna in 977 and founded a dynasty which gained immortal lustre from his son Mahmud. The Samanid kingdom fell into anarchy; the Kara-Khanids, a Turkish people of unknown antecedents (they may have been the tribe converted to Islam in 960), crossed the Jaxartes and captured Bukhara in 999, while Mahmud of Ghazna, who had succeeded his father Sabuktagin two years earlier, annexed the large and flourishing province of Khurasan. Thus Persian rule disappeared along the eastern marches of Islam, and Turkish princes reigned in Khurasan and Transoxiana. Barbarians though they might be, they found a certain favour with their subjects: they stood for order, they allowed Persian officials to run the government, they protected trade, they were orthodox Sunnite Muslims, and they professed themselves ardent champions of the faith against heretics and unbelievers.
The fame of Mahmud of Ghazna rests upon his expeditions into India. In the thirty years between 1000 and his death in 1030 he led some seventeen massive raids into the Indus valley and the Punjab. Ghazna was an admirable base for such attacks; the vast Indian sub-continent was a mosaic of principalities great and small; no strong state existed capable of throwing back the invader, and there was no trace of national consciousness. Mahmud's motives were a mixture of cupidity and religious zeal: when he was looting Hindu shrines he could claim to be destroying idolatry in the name of God and his Prophet, and he received congratulations and honours from the Caliph for his services to the faith. He fought not only against the unbelievers of Hindustan but against the Isma'ili heretics among them the Muslim ruler of Multan. His most celebrated expioit was the capture of Somnath in Gujarat in 1025, where he stormed the temple of Shiva, one of the most richly endowed in India, and levelled it to the ground amid frightful carnage. Ghazna was flooded with Indian plunder, and the multitude of prisoners was such that they were sold as slaves for two or three dirhams apiece. Some of the wealth was used to promote art and learning, and the court of Mahmud was adorned by such notabilities as Firdawsi, Persia's greatest epic poet, Biruni, the most distinguished scientist of the age, and Utbi, the historian of the reign.
Two consequences of immense importance flowed from Mahmud's repeated incursions into India. First, the collapse of Hindu resistance in the Punjab turned this province into an area of Muslim settlement and exposed the whole Gangetic plain to invasion from the north-west. The early raids up and down the Indus in the days d Muhammad b.Kasim had only touched the fringe of a vast country but Mahmud's expeditions penetrated deep into Hindustan, disoganized its defences, and opened the way to later Muslim invaders, fom the Ghurids to the Moguls, who gradually brought all nortbern and central India within the domain of Islam. Secondly, the preoccupation of Mahmud and his son and successor Mas'ud with their Indian campaigns left them little time or opporunity to observe and check the steadily mounting pressure of Turkish nomads along the Oxus. While their backs were turned, so to speak, the Seljuks rose to prorninence and power in their rear and bcame the masters of all Western Asia.
The pasture-lands to the north of the Caspian and Aral Seas had long been the home of a group of Turkish tribes known as the Ghuzz or Oghuz, later styled Turkomans. About 950 a number of clans withdrew from the Ghuzz confederacy, and settled in and around Jand, along the lower reaches of the Jaxartes, under a chief named Seljuk. A few years later they abandoned their ancestral shamanism for Islam, a change of faith as momentous for the future of Aia as the conversion of Clovis and his Franks to Catholicism in 496 was to Christian Europe. Seljuk is a semi-legendary figure who is said to have lived to the patriarchal age of 107, but he seems to have been an able leader, who welded his people into a first-class fighting force and by adroit diplomacy played off one neighbouring prince against another. He supported the Samanids against the Kara- Khanids; his son Arslan ran into trouble with Mahmud of Ghazna, to whom he boasted that he had 100,000 bowmen under his command, whereupon Mahmud's minister advised his master to have these men's thumbs cut off, so that they could no longer draw the bow ! However, Mahmud contented himself with holding Arslan as a hostage for the good behaviour of his people, some of whom he brought into Khurasan and settled in widely-separated areas in the hope that they could thus be kept under control. The hope was vain: the tribesmen began raiding all over northern Persia and holding towns to ransom. After Mahmud's death in 1030, the rest of the tribe, led by Arslan's nephews Tughril-Beg and Chaghri-Beg, after encamping for a time in Khwarazm, along the lower Oxus, pushed their way into Khurasan and in 1036 seize Merv and Nishapur. Mahmud's son Mas'ud, attempting to bar their path, was routed with heavy loss at Dandankan near Merv in 1040, and retreated on Ghazna. From this battle dates the foundation of the Seljuk Empire.
The Seljuks now moved westwards into the disintegrating realm of the Buyids. Conditions in Persia and Iraq favoured their intervention. Political power had been split up among the various members of the Buyid family. The semi-feudal practice had grown up of paying high officials out of the taxes of certain fiscal districts: hence there was a serious loss of control by the central government. The Fatimid policy of diverting trade with the East from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea had impoverished the Buyid State. Isma'ilian propaganda helped to undermine its authority. It had no outlet to the Mediterranean since the Byzantines and the Fatimids had divided Syria between them. The urban merchant class resented the loss of trade and the arrogance of the military aristocracy. Local dynasties, some Arab, some Kurdish, sprang up and drained the strength of the regime. Orthodox Muslims chafed under the rule of Shi'ites, especially those unable to maintain peace and order. The Abbasids, humiliated by their impotence, yearned for deliverance from their heretic masters, and entered into negotiations with Tughril. One by one the towns of Persia fell into Seljuk hands. In Iraq power was held by the Buyid general Basasiri, who asked for help from Cairo in order to stop the advance of the Seljuks by declaring for the Fatimids. An extraordinary struggle ensued, with Tughril defending the Abbasid Caliph Ka'im and Basasiri striving to get the Fatimid Caliph Mustansir recognized in Baghdad. The Seljuks occupied Baghdad in 1055, but the excesses and indiscipline of the tribesmen provoked a reaction among the populace, and Wasit, Mosul and other places went over to the Fatimids. Tughril recaptured Mosul, and returning to Baghdad in 1058 was solemnly re- ceived by Ka'im and given the title of 'King of the East and West'. Called away by a rebellion of his younger brother Ibrahim, he was unable to prevnt Basasiri recovering control of Iraq and proclaiming the Fatimid Imam in Baghdad itself. For forty Fridays the khutba was recited in the Abbasid capital in the name of Mustansir of Cairo. Finally in 1060 the Seljuks fought their way back into Baghdad; Basasiri was killed, and Tughril replaced the Abbasid on his throne.
Many things were decided by this episode. First, the Fatimids bst their last chance of repeating the success of the Abbasids in 750: the failure of Basasiri's coup in Baghdad meant that the Alid Caliph would be restricted to Egypt and the neighbouring lands and would never acquire universal dominion in Islam. Secondly, the fall of the Buyids and the coming of the Seljuks registered a great triumph for Sunnite orthodoxy: the power of the State could now be employed to put down Shi'ism of all kinds and Isma'ilism in particular. Thirdly, the Abbasid Caliphate was restored to some sort of life and independence, but its character was changed, and a new institution -- the Sultanate -- was created in an endeavour to reestablish the political unity of Islam. For the Caliphate, as a centralized monarchy ruling all Muslim peoples, had woefully failed. It could not even preserve the religious and spiritual unity of the umma: half Islam had fallen to the Fatimids. It never developed into a Papacy, for the interpretation of the law and the faith had long passed to the ulama, the canonists and judges. Yet even in its weakness it was still reverered by the new Turkish converts as the symbol of religious legitimacy: the Vicar of the Prophet alone could confer lawful authority on Muslim kings and princes to whom in theory he delegated his powers. Mahmud of Ghazna had been glad to win recognition from the Caliph, and his court poets had hailed him as 'Sultan', a word meaning originally 'governmental power' but henceforth used as a personal title. The Seljuks were even more anxious to have their rule legitimized: as aliens and barbarians they were unpopular with the civilized townsfolk of Persia and Iraq, and Tughril's investiture by the Caliph in 1058, in a magnificent ceremony during which two crowns were held over his head as symbols of his regal authority over East and West, informed the people that the Commander of the Faithful had delegated his sultanate to his Turkish lieutenant. It was now the Sultan's duty to act as the early Caliphs had done, to defend the umma, to extirpate schism and heresy, and to resume the jihad against the nations who rejected God and his Prophet. Politically, the Seljuks were to play Shoguns to the Caliph's Mikado.
Two enemies were obviously marked out for attack by the new protectors of Sunnite Islam: the Byzantines and the Fatimids. In the previous age the former had thrust deep into the heart of Islam, had conquered a good deal of Syria and annexed Armenia to the Empire. But the Byzantine revival had now spent itself: the vigorous Macedonian dynasty was no more; the central government was in conflict with the great landed families of Asia Minor and in order to reduce their power, had cut down the military establishment, thereby rendering the Empire defensively weak against the new assault from the East. The Turks drove towards the Byzantine frontiers, partly by design, partly by accident. Their coming had produced something of a social crisis in the Persian and Arab lands. In a society where the fundamental distinction was between believer and unbeliever, the fact that the Turks were Muslims counted for much; but even so, the educated city-dweller could scarcely avoid a feeling of disgust at the presence of these coarse and uncouth sons of the steppes. The chroniclers of the time draw a sharp contrast between the Sultans and their people: 'Their princes are warlike, provident, firm, just and distinguished by excellent qualities: the nation is cruel, wild, coarse and ignorant.' To make matters worse, once the barrier of the Oxus was down, the regular Seljuk forces, cavalrymen of slave origin, were followed by swarms of Turkomans', free and undisciplined nomads seeking pasture and plunder, who raided estates, destroyed crops, robbed merchant caravans, and fought other nomads, such as Kurds and Bedouin Arabs, for the possession of wells and grazing-lands. Many of them poured into Azerbaijan, a fertile province of orchards and pastures which in a few generations became mainly Turkish-speaking, and from there began raiding Byzantine territory. When Tughril died childless in 1063, the Sultanate passed to his nephew Alp Arslan ('hero lion'), Chagri's son, who was probably anxious to divert the stream of nomadic violence away from the lands of Islam towards Christendom and at the same time to win glory as a ghazi, or champion of the faith. His armies pushed into the valleys of Armenia and Georgia, while the Turkomans plunged deeper and deeper into Anatolia. An appeal from the enemies of the Fatimids then diverted him into southern Syria, but his plans for an invasion of Egypt were abandoned at the news of an impending massive Byzantine counter-stroke.
The Emperor Romanus Diogenes had resolved on a desperate effort to clear the Turkish raiders out of his dominions, and at the head of a motley army of mercenaries, including Normans from the west and Pechenegs and Uzes (Turkish tribes) from southern Russia, he marched eastwards into Armenia. Alp Arslan, hurriedly returning, met him at Manzikert, near the shores of Lake Van. The Normans started a quarrel and refused to fight for the Emperor; his Turkish mercenaries, perhaps unwilling to face their kinsmen, deserted, and this, combined with Romanus's bad generalship, produced (August 1071) a catastrophic Byzantine defeat. For the first time in history, a Christian Emperor fell a prisoner into Muslim hands.
Alp Arslan stands out a not unattractive figure, his name indissolubly connected with the momentous battle which turned Asia Minor into a Turkish land. We picture him as an impressive soldier in his thirties, his long moustaches tied over his tall Persian cap to prevent them interfering with his shooting. In his humanity and generosity he anticipates Saladin. He treated the captive Emperor with courtesy, and when the ransom money was paid sent him home with a Turkish escort. Perhaps he hardly grasped the significance of his victory. He had no plans to conquer Asia Minor and destroy the Byzantine State; he was soon called away to deal with a Kara-Khanid invasion from Transoxiana, and in 1073, while interrogating a rebel chief, the man suddenly sprang at him and stabbed him dead. In fact, Manzikert struck a fatal blow at Christian and imperial power in Anatolia. With the Byzantine field-army gone, the Turks spread over the central plateau, so well adapted for pastoral settlement; in the struggles for the throne which now ensued, rival pretenders hired Turkish troops, and in this way the nomads got possession of towns and fortresses they could never have taken otherwise. The Greek landlords and offlcials fled; the peasants, deprived of their natural leaders, in time adopted the religion of their new masters, and the faith of Muhammad was taught in the lands where St. Paul had proclaimed the gospel of Christ. With Asia Minor, its principal source of soldiers and revenue, lost, menaced by the aggression of the Normans from Italy and the Pechenegs from across the Danube, the Byzantine Empire faced total ruin, and appeals for help to the Pope and the Latin world went out from Constantinople which produced twenty-five years after Manzikert the preaching of the First Crusade.
On the murder of Alp Arslan, he was succeeded as Sultan by his son Malik-Shah, a youth of eighteen whose twenty years' reign (1073-1092) marked the fullest ezpansion of Seljuk power. Malik-Shah was a more cultivated man than his father and great-uncle, who were essentially rough tribal chiefs, and he wisely entrusted the civil administration to the great Persian minister usually known by his title Nizam al-Mulk, 'order of the kingdom'. A just and humane ruler, he received the praise of Christian and Muslim historians alike. His suzerainty was recognized from Kashgar to the Yemen, but risings and disturbances were not uncommon in his vast dominions, and he was obliged to leave to others the conduct of operations against the Byzantines and the Fatimids. A cadet of the Seljuk family, Sulaiman b.Kutulmish, founded a durable State in Asia Minor, the so-called Sultanate of Rum; he captured Nicaea in 1081 and threatened Constantinople itself. The war on the Fatimids was inaugurated, not by the Seljuks, but by a Turkoman chief named Atsiz, who in 1070 marched into Palestine and drove the Egyptians out of Jerusalem. Malik-Shah could not tolerate this, and gave his brother Tutush charge of the Syrian front. The Fatimids proved tougher opponents than might have been expected: the Seljuks were not destined to heal the schism that had rent the Muslim world for nearly two centuries.
The Fatimid regime had, in fact made a surprising recovery from what had seemed certain ruin. A dreadful six years' famine had paralysed Egypt from 1067 to 1072; the civil government virtually broke down; thousands fled from the country, and the misery of those who remained was heightened by the brutal lawlessness of the Turkish, Berber and Sudanese slave soldiery who killed and robbed in quest of food and plunder. The Fatimid Empire all but vanished. The Maghrib had long been lost; Sicily was conquered by the Normans from South Italy, Atsiz seized Palestine, and the Abbasid Caliph was once more prayed for in the Holy Cities. But in 1073 Mustansir called in the governor of Acre, Badr al-Jamali, a brilliant general of Armenian birth, to restore order; the mutinous troops were disciplined, the defences of Cairo were strengthened, trade revived, the revenues rose, and prosperity returned. The price paid was the creation of a military dictatorship, Badr, with the title of Amir al-Juyush, 'Commander of the Armies,' replacing the civilian wazir, and the Caliph being reduced almost to the level of the Abbasids under Buyid rule. Badr then set out to recover Syria, and though he failed to regain Damascus, which fell to the Seljuks in 1076, he succeeded in checking Tutush's advance to the Egyptian frontier and in re-establishing Fatimid authority along the Levantine coast as far as Tyre and Sidon. The Alid Caliphate, though shorn of much of its glory, was put on its feet again and enabled to survive for another century. When Badr died in 1094, a few months before the aged Caliph, Seljuk hopes of restoring Egypt to orthodoxy had been frustrated, and the rival parties were still struggling for the control of Syria, a situation highly advantageous to the Latin Crusaders who broke into the Levant three or four years later.
The Seljuks rendered notable service to Islam, but their successes were balanced by many failures. They brought a new vigour and unity into Western Asia and put an end to the decadent regime of the Buyids. They dealt a staggering blow to Byzantine power by winning Asia Minor for Islam, a feat the Arabs had never been able to achieve, thereby breaking down the last defences of Christendom on the Asiatic continent, and opening up this ancient land to Turkish colonial settlement. Their vehement orthodoxy checked the spread of Isma'ilism, which was in future able to operate only as an underground terrorist movement whose agents became notorious as the Assassins. Under Seljuk protection the champions of Sunnite Islam launched a strong propaganda drive against heretics and deviators from the true faith: madrasas or 'college-mosques' were founded in the principal cities for the instruction of students in fikh (Islamic jurisprudence), according to the teaching of the four orthodox schools. The best known of these institutions was the Nizamiya Madrasa in Baghdad, named after Nizam al-Mulk and dedicated by him in 1067. Orthodoxy produced at this time its ablest defender in al-Ghazali, who died in 1111, and whose massive and comprehensive system of theology has won him the title of 'the Aquinas of Islam'.
On the other hand, the Seljuks proved unable to create a strong, durable and centralized Empire or to destroy the Fatimid Anti-Caliphate in Egypt. Their conceptions of government were primitive, and despite the efforts of Nizam al-Mulk to instruct them in the principles of ancient Persian despotism, which he regarded as the only satisfactory form of rule, they treated their realm as family property to be divided up among sons and nephews, who if minors were entrusted to the care of atabegs ('father-chiefs'), usually generals of servile origin who governed their appanages until their wards came of age and who often became hereditary princes in their own right. Until the death of Malik-Shah in 1092 some degree of unity was preserved, but under the fourth Seljuk Sultan Berkyaruk (1095-1114) the Empire was changed into a kind of federation of autonomous princes, not all of them Turks, for in certain localities Buyid and Kurdish chiefs held sway while admitting only a vague Seljuk suzerainty. Incessant struggles for the succession further weakened the Empire and gave the Abbasid Caliphs a chance to recover some of their power by playing off one candidate for the Sultanate against another. Political disintegration was hastened by the spread of the ikta system, by which military officers were paid out of the revenues of certain landed estates, ikta meaning literally a 'section' or portion of land 'cut off' for that purpose, and in some respects resembling the knight's fee of Western feudalism. Ikta holding tended to become hereditary and the 'fief thus escaped from the jurisdiction of the central government. By 1100 the best days of the Seljuks were over, and it was precisely at this Juncture that the Franks chose to launch against Islam the strange Christian counter-offensive which we know as the Crusades.
J. J. Saunders. A History of Medieval Islam.
Routledge, London, chpt. 9.
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It’s not exactly brain surgery! It’s a ‘fingerprint’!
Patexia recently covered new NASA-based infrared camera technology that is being tested in operating theaters as a tool to help excise brain tumors with more precision and ease. Now, new research out of Lancaster University, led by Dr. Francis Martin, and published in the journal Analytical Methods, is giving scientists a quantitative way to pinpoint and distinguish tumors, even to the degree that they’ve advanced in stage.
As we previously mentioned, one of the biggest current challenges of neurosurgery are tumor-removal operations. Unfortunately, they are also the most common first-line treatments recommended to patients with brain tumor diagnoses. Currently, ascertaining where the tumor ends and normal brain tissue begins is a tenuous undertaking. The long tentacles of the glioma, one of the most common brain tumors, present a tough challenge--removal of too much tissue could significantly impair the patient, but not removing enough tissue means that the cancer could recur. Current procedures involve slicing into the brain and removing as much tumor tissue slice by slice as they can see by microscopic magnification during the surgery.
“Brain tumor tissue looks the same as healthy tissue on the edges," said Babak Kateb of the Keck School of Medicine, a research fellow and lead scientist of the NASA infrared technology project.
Luckily for scientists, it also appears that this tissue emits a unique chemical, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide hydrogenase (NADH), selectively found in overactive tumor tissue bot NOT healthy tissues. Presence of tumor associated NADH can, therefore, be utilized as a cancer marker through the measurement of fluorescence intensity as a proportion of NADH concentration. This is precisely what the NASA scientists incorporated into brain surgery, a way to utilize UV imaging to create a “metabolic map” of the tumor.
Unfortunately, this recent breakthrough lacked one element -- precision. The surgeons could visualize the tumor apart from their surgery, however they still relied on traditional operating techniques to actually remove the tumor due to an inability to confirm the IR camera’s accuracy. Until now. Dr. Martin and his colleagues have confirmed the biochemical ‘fingerprint’ of tumor tissue, but have taken one step farther, combining Raman and Infrared Spectroscopy to get an even more accurate picture of tumor versus healthy tissue, and then analyzing it with statistical analysis. Their methods were so effective, they were able to differentiate not only tumor versus healthy tissue, but also whether they were secondary cancers arising from a different site or primary malignancies.
The team is hoping to combine their statistical approach with methods already available to surgeons, such as immunohistochemistry, to be able to test tissue inside an operating theatre and remove all traces of a tumor with certainty.
According to Professor Francis Martin: “These are really exciting developments which could lead to significant improvements for individual patients diagnosed with brain tumors. We and other research teams are now working towards a sensor which can be used during brain surgery to give surgeons precise information about the tumor and tissue type that they are operating on.”
It is entirely possible that in the coming years, brain tumor removal surgery could become a mathematically-quantified, robotic endeavor, where a combination of IR/Raman spectroscopy, statistical analysis and a specialized camera to take any and all guesswork out of discriminating between malignant and healthy tissue in real time.
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Exception handling is a language feature present in other modern programming languages. Ada and Java both have exception handling mechanisms. In essence, exception handling is a means of propagating a classified error by unwinding the procedure call stack until the error is caught by a higher procedure in the procedure call chain. A procedure indicates its willingness to handle a kind of error by catching it:
Conversely, a procedure can throw an exception when something goes wrong:
C++ compilers tend to implement exception handling in full, or not at all. If any C++ compiler you may be concerned with does not implement exception handling, you may wish to take the lowest common denominator approach and eliminate such code from your project.
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- copy data to or from a kernel image or running system
cc [ flag… ] file… -lkvm [ library…] #include <kvm.h> ssize_t kvm_read(kvm_t *kd, uintptr_t addr, void *buf, size_t nbytes);
ssize_t kvm_write(kvm_t *kd, uintptr_t addr, void *buf, size_t nbytes);
The kvm_read() function transfers data from the kernel image specified by kd (see kvm_open(3KVM)) to the address space of the process. nbytes bytes of data are copied from the kernel virtual address given by addr to the buffer pointed to by buf.
The kvm_write() function is like kvm_read(), except that the direction of data transfer is reversed. To use this function, the kvm_open(3KVM) call that returned kd must have specified write access. If a user virtual address is given, it is resolved in the address space of the process specified in the most recent kvm_getu(3KVM) call.
The kvm_read() and kvm_write() functions are obsolete and might be removed in a future release. The functions described on the kvm_kread(3KVM) manual page should be used instead.
On success, these functions return the number of bytes actually transferred. On failure, they return -1.
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
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PAKISTAN PLANT DATABASE
The published Flora of Pakistan is a comprehensive inventory of the plants of Pakistan, the first modern flora of more than 6,000 species from a large, relatively poorly known region of South Asia. This Pakistan Plant Database (PPD) includes all information published in the Flora volumes already in print in a searchable web-based format.
To date, this project has produced 217 volumes of the Flora, the last 16 co-published by the Missouri Botanical Garden and the University of Karachi. Many treatments have been authored by world authorities on the taxa involved, often partnered with Pakistani botanists, and the volumes are well-edited and well-received by the botanical community (Schmid 2002). The final volumes awaiting completion include those covering Scrophulariaceae s. l., the remaining tribes of Rosaceae and Asteraceae (parts of both already published), and the pteridophytes (ferns). Altogether, treatments of the remaining families will provide accounts for c. 1,100 species, published in 6—10 volumes and about 2000 pages of text. Information from these volumes will be added to the PPD as it becomes available.
Because the format of the Flora includes such extensive information, the PPD is nearly monographic in detail. Cited specimens are geo-referenced by grid system, and new collections have full GPS data. It is the only comparable database for South Asia, and is fully compatible with the Flora of China database.
Background: Geography and Floristics
Although established as an independent country only in August 1947, Pakistan occupies a position of great biogeographical and geostrategic importance, bordered by Iran on the west, Afghanistan on the northwest, China on the northeast, India on the east, and the Arabian Sea on the south (Fig. 1). Lying between 23°-37° N and 61°-81° E, Pakistan has a total land area of 804,152 square kilometers, somewhat less than twice the size of California. The altitude ranges from sea level to 8,611 m (at K2, the second highest peak on Earth), and temperature varies from well below zero in the high, glacier-clad mountains to 52°C (125°F) at Sibi in the plains. Mean annual precipitation ranges from c. 50 mm at Nok Kundi in Baluchistan to 2032 mm in the monsoonal uplands of Kashmir (Ali 1978). This great variation in elevation, temperature, precipitation, and other physical parameters has resulted in a diversity of biotic communities, and a relatively rich flora of at least 5,700 species of flowering plants (Ali 1978).
Figure 1. Map of Pakistan, showing boundaries of the four provinces (Baluchistan, Sind, Punjab, and North-West Frontier), one territory (Federally Administered Tribal Areas), and the Pakistani-administered portion of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region (Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas). Shading indicates floristic provinces as delineated by Takhtajan (1986).
Pakistan sits astride one of the major disjunctions in the biota of southern Asia, with the line of demarcation running along the western edge of the Indus Basin and the deep dry upper Indus valley of Kohistan (Frodin 1984). This biogeographic disjunction was the mutual boundary between Boissier’s Flora Orientalis (1867-1888) and Hooker’s Flora of British India (1872-1897), the two standard floras of the late nineteenth century for Southwest and South Asia, respectively. One of the modern floras of the region, the Flora Iranica, initiated in 1963 by K. H. Rechinger (Vienna), follows this eastern boundary of Boissier’s work, and so includes Baluchistan and the N.W.F. Provinces of Pakistan. The Flora Iranica does not, however, treat plants of the rest of Pakistan, including the very rich northeastern areas.
The underlying basis of this disjunction has been explored by numerous biogeographical analyses, such as those of Stewart (1972), Zohary (1973), Ali (1978), and Hedge & Wendelbo (1978). Takhtajan (1986), summarizing much of this literature, delineated five distinct floristic provinces that extend into the territory of Pakistan (Fig. 1). Two of these provinces, the Southern Iranian and Sindian Provinces, belong to the Sudano-Zambezian Region (African Subkingdom, Paleotropical Kingdom), which extends west along the southern Arabian Peninsula through the Horn of Africa to eastern tropical Africa and across to the Atlantic coast of Mauritania, Senegal, and Guinea. The other three floristic provinces in Pakistan belong to the Irano-Turanian Region (Tethyan Subkingdom, Holoarctic Kingdom): the Northern Baluchistan and Western Himalayan Provinces in the Western Asiatic Subregion, and the Tibetan Province to the Central Asiatic Subregion. Thus, the source and affinities of the plants of southern and southwestern Pakistan are with central and eastern Africa and the coastal regions along the Arabian Sea, whereas the source and affinities of the flora in northern Pakistan are with Central Asia, from Turkey in the west to the Gobi Desert in the east. In addition, eastern Pakistan has an admixture of elements from the Indomalesian Subkingdom (Paleotropical Kingdom), and in the monsoonal forests in Azad Kashmir, one finds elements of the Eastern Himalayan Province (Eastern Asiatic Region, Boreal Subkingdom, Holarctic Kingdom).
Perhaps the dominant province, and one that includes the highest species diversity and the greatest number of endemics, is the Western Himalayan Province of the Irano-Turanian Region (Fig. 1). Takhtajan (1986) notes “that the flora of this province occupies a kind of transitional position and is a link between the ancient Mediterranean (Tethyan) and eastern Asiatic floras.” Although many genera in families such as Brassicaceae, Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Lamiaceae, and Asteraceae are endemic or subendemic in the Irano-Turanian Region, there have been relatively few recent phylogenetic studies of these groups. The detailed treatments in the Flora of Pakistan for these and other groups will facilitate and encourage phylogenetic studies, making it possible, for example, to examine the historical biogeography of this region (Morrone & Crisci 1995), to define areas of endemism, and perhaps document biogeographic ramifications of the convulsive tectonic history of South Asia. This in turn will facilitate comparisons between evolutionary radiations in the Western Himalaya and those in other mountain systems worldwide (Borgen & Jonsell 1997), or between radiations in Sind and Baluchistan with other arid areas, such as the Madrean region of southwestern North America (Katinas et al., 2004).
The flora of Pakistan includes no endemic families, and only three endemic genera (Douepia in Brassicaceae, Stewartiella in Apiaceae, and Decalepidanthus in Boraginaceae). According to our present knowledge, there are some 203 endemic species, or about 4% of the flora (Ali 1978). Many of these endemic species are found in the montane regions of northern Pakistan, particularly in the Chitral and Kashmir districts, and in northern Baluchistan. However, these regions are particularly poorly known and likely to be sources of considerable numbers of new and possibly endemic species (Chaudhri 1977, Frodin 1984).
Stewart (1972, 1982), Hedge (1991), and others have reviewed the history of botanical exploration in Pakistan fairly extensively. Starting in 1820 with an expedition to Kashmir by William Moorcroft, many European (mainly British) botanists visited Pakistan, eventually collecting plants from most parts of the country. The coverage was modest in the mountainous areas in the north, inhabited by often-hostile tribes and naturally inhospitable as the nexus of the Hindu Kush, Karakoram, and Himalayan ranges. The results of these collecting activities contributed to the two great floras of the region, the Flora Orientalis (Boissier 1867-1888) and the Flora of British India (Hooker 1872-1897). Collecting continued in the early twentieth century, rendering those 19th century floras progressively out-of-date. One important aspect about the collections made in Pakistan prior to the country’s establishment in 1947 is that virtually all of them are housed either in Europe (mainly BM, E, and K) or in India, at Calcutta or Dehra Dun, in all cases relatively inaccessible to botanists in Pakistan (Stewart, 1972). The largest plant collection in Pakistan in 1947 was that developed by Stewart at Gordon College in Rawalpindi.
Background: Flora of Pakistan and the Pakistan Plant Database
Following the establishment of the new nation of Pakistan in 1947, a high priority was given to establishment of universities and a scientific infrastructure. Early in the scientific planning, the production of a Flora was seen as a priority in the area of botany. In 1960, R. R. Stewart retired from active work at Gordon College, and turned his herbarium of some 50,000 specimens over to his collaborator Prof. E. Nasir. The “Stewart Herbarium,” later presented as a gift to the nation to create the nucleus of the National Herbarium of Pakistan (Ali & Ghaffar 1991), was a critical element since most specimens collected earlier in Pakistan were kept in either European or Indian herbaria. This collection, and that established later at the University of Karachi by S.I. Ali, provided the necessary foundation to begin writing the flora. With initial funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Flora of Pakistan project was initiated in 1968, with Nasir and Ali as Joint Editors, and in 1970, the first fascicle of the Flora (Flacourtiaceae) appeared. Stewart (1972) published a preliminary checklist of the plants of the region and a guide to the developing Flora project, listing 5,783 species. Subsequent Flora treatments have not changed that overall estimate of species numbes appreciably (Ali 1991), although new treatments for individual genera/ families differ, often substantially, from those by Stewart.
By 1995 the Flora project had produced 197 treatments (one per family), ranging in size from a few pages to nearly 500 pages (Poaceae). Nasir (replaced after his death by M. Qaiser) and Ali or their colleagues and students wrote many of these treatments, while others have been completed by specialists worldwide working with them. Even though Pakistani herbaria have developed rapidly, authors have had to consult extensively with British and other foreign herbaria since they contain large historical collections and the type specimens of most species from Pakistan.
Following the expiration of USDA funding in 1995 and a period of reduced activity due to lack of funding, the Flora of Pakistan was revived following negotiations between S. I. Ali and Peter H. Raven of the Missouri Botanical Garden. In February 2000, the University of Karachi and the Missouri Botanical Garden signed an agreement to co-publish the remaining volumes of the Flora of Pakistan, According to the agreement, the University would provide edited manuscripts and print the volumes, and the Garden would provide or raise funds in support of the project, and promote and distribute the Flora outside of Pakistan. The Garden supported this proposal for several reasons: 1) it would finish a near-complete Flora of an important and insufficiently known region; 2) it connects geographically and floristically with the Flora of China project headquartered at the Garden (many taxa in common, often requiring a coordinated approach); 3) it provides the best opportunity to develop a database for plants of South Asia, able to interface with databases for China and elsewhere and serve Pakistan as an important biodiversity management tool; 4) the project serves as a focus for botanical research in Pakistan, providing training, research, and employment opportunities for indigenous botanists; and 5) it supports new botanical exploration and collecting in Pakistan, and provides a potential source of new specimens from that region, which is poorly represented in American herbaria.
The development of the electronic database of all plants in Pakistan was a logical and necessary extension of the project. No other floras in the south Asian region are available electronically, nor are any likely to be available in the near future. A comprehensive and accessible on-line flora of Pakistan is an essential step toward understanding the plants of South Asia generally. Information from Pakistan, especially in an accessible databased form, is particularly useful in relation to other floristic projects such as the Flora of China, the Flora Malesiana, and ongoing work in India and in the central Asian region. Local published floras exist for many parts of Pakistan (Stewart 1982), but the Flora of Pakistan supersedes them. The Flora of Afghanistan (Kitamura 1960) is actually a synoptical checklist of limited scope, covering only the results of expeditions to the Karakoram and Hindu Kush by Japanese botanists in 1955. A later report from the same expedition (Kitamura 1964) enumerated plants from the part of the region in Pakistan. This region where the Western Himalayas meet the Karakorams and the Hindu Kush in northern Pakistan and the northern Baluchistan region are both rich in endemic plants, and many genera of agricultural and horticultural importance occur in Pakistan, yet our knowledge of them and access to information about them is limited at the present time.
In format, the Flora of Pakistan is detailed and informative: for families and genera, it includes full synonymy and descriptions, notes, and keys; for species, full or at least regional synonymy, with usage from all regional floras, substantial descriptions, illustrations of selected species, type information, lists of vouchered specimens examined that are keyed to a 2° x 2° grid system for locating them, geographical and ecological distributions, phenology, and notes regarding unusual features and/or ethnobotanical uses. Duke (1991) noted that Stewart’s (1972) Catalogue includes at least 100 “promising phytomedicinal species,” and discussed ways in which these species, already present, might be developed for commercially viable agriculture in Pakistan.
Nasir (1991) conservatively estimated that 580-650 plant species (c. 12% of the flora) are threatened or endangered, but suggested that this number would increase when work on the Flora is completed. He cited habitat destruction, over-exploitation of economic plants, introduction of alien species, and pollution as the major causes for this threat. Nasir (1991), Sulaiman et al. (1991), and others suggest that awareness of the problems is widespread, but that additional knowledge and information is critical if the problems are to be addressed and solutions found.
In terms of issues related to conservation and environmental threats, Pakistan faces many challenges. Pakistan has a human population of 187,342,721 (July 2011 est., ranked 6th largest in the world), according to The World Factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pk.html). Because some areas of Pakistan, especially the arid Baluchistan plateau in the southwest and the mountainous north, are rather sparsely populated, this large population is heavily concentrated in the Indus Valley. The environmental impact of this huge human population and the very long history of human occupation of the Indus Valley (home to a highly developed urban civilization at least 5,000 years ago) present special challenges. Many of the most pressing environmental issues in Pakistan involve water, i.e., water pollution from raw sewage, industrial wastes, and agricultural runoff, and shortages of potable water for a majority of the populace. Other major environmental problems – deforestation, soil erosion, desertification, and climate change-induced variation in rainfall and snowpack – are also closely tied to water use and availability.
In order to begin to address these problems, Pakistan needs good information about its natural resources. A Flora based on all available plant collections, at least partially georeferenced, and on the most current taxonomy and phylogeny of those plants is an essential first step to understanding, managing, and preserving the biodiversity of any area. Because plants fundamentally define terrestrial communities, a Flora forms the foundation to which inventories of animals, fungi, etc., can be added. Completion of the Flora of Pakistan will provide scientists and government officials with critical information for management of their resources. Because the database resulting from this project includes geographical information, it can be used with data on soil types, precipitation, and other parameters to address questions such as what intact habitats should have highest priority for conservation, what types of plants should be used in restorations for erosion control, reforestation, etc., and other conservation issues.
The Missouri Botanical Garden and the principal investigators on this project gratefully acknowledge the generous support from the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Taylor Family Fund, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Pakistan-US Science and Technology Cooperation Program 2009 (funded through the U.S. Agency for International Development). The PIs also gratefully acknowledge the support of our institutions, the Missouri Botanical Garden and the University of Karachi.
For more information, please contact the coordinator of the Pakistan project at the Missouri Botanical Garden, Peter Hoch (email@example.com).
Ali, S. I. 1978. The Flora of Pakistan: some general and analytical remarks. Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 36: 427-439.
Ali, S. I. 1991. Introductory remarks. Pp. 3-6, in Ali, S. I. & A. Ghaffar (eds.). Plant Life of South Asia. Shamim Press, Karachi.
Ali, S. I. & A. Ghaffar (eds.). 1991. Plant Life of South Asia. Shamim Press, Karachi.
Boissier, P. E. 1867-1888. Flora Orientalis. 6 vols. H. Georg, Geneva.
Borgen, L. & B. Jonsell (eds.). 1997. Variation and evolution in Arctic and Alpine plants. Opera Bot. 132: 1-239.
Chaudhri, M. N. 1977 (1978). The Pakistan herbarium. Pakistan Syst. 1: 100-105.
Duke, J. A. 1991. Medicinal plants of Pakistan. Pp. 195-225, in Ali, S. I. & A. Ghaffar (eds.). Plant Life of South Asia. Shamim Press, Karachi.
Frodin, D. G. 1984. Guide to Standard Floras of the World. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge.
Hedge, I. C. 1991. The genesis and results of some SW Asiatic floras. Pp. 29-38, in Ali, S. I. & A. Ghaffar (eds.). Plant Life of South Asia. Shamim Press, Karachi.
Hedge, I. C. & P. Wendelbo. 1978. Patterns of distribution and endemism in Iran. Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 36: 441-464.
Hooker, J. D. 1872-1897. Flora of British India. 7 vols. Reeve, London.
Katinas, L., J. V. Crisci, W. L. Wagner & P. C. Hoch. 2004. Geographic diversification of tribes Epilobieae, Gongylocarpeae, and Onagreae (Onagraceae) in North America, based on parsimony analysis of endemicity and track compatibility analysis. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 91: 159—185.
Kitamura, S. 1960. Flora of Afghanistan. 486 pp. (ed. Committee Kyoto Univ. Scien. Exped. Karakoram & Hindukush). Kyoto Univ., Japan.
Kitamura, S. 1964. Plants of West Pakistan and Afghanistan. 283 pp. (ed. Committee Kyoto Univ. Scien. Exped. Karakoram & Hindukush). Kyoto Univ, Japan.
Morrone, J. J. & J. V. Crisci. 1995. Historical biogeography: introduction to methods. Annual Rev. Syst. Ecol. 26: 373-401.
Nasir, Y. J. 1991. Threatened plants of Pakistan. Pp. 229-234, in Ali, S. I. & A. Ghaffar (eds.). Plant Life of South Asia. Shamim Press, Karachi.
Rechinger, K. H. 1963-1999. Flora Iranica. Vols. 1-174. Akademische Druck und Verlagsanstalt, Graz.
Schmid, R. 2002. Review of Flora of Pakistan, Vols. 202 –206. Taxon 51: 221—222.
Stewart, R. R. 1972. An annotated catalogue of the vascular plants of West Pakistan and Kashmir. In Nasir, E. & S. I. Ali (eds.), Flora of West Pakistan 1028 pp. Fakhri Press, Karachi.
Stewart, R. R. 1982. History and exploration of plants in Pakistan and adjoining areas. In Nasir, E. & S. I. Ali (eds.), Flora of Pakistan 186 pp. PanGraphics, Ltd., Islamabad.
Sulaiman, I. M., M. K. Pandit & C. R. Babu. 1991. Conservation biology: science for survival. Pp. 235-239, in Ali, S. I. & A. Ghaffar (eds.). Plant Life of South Asia. Shamim Press, Karachi.
Takhtajan, A. 1986. Floristic Regions of the World. (translated by T.J. Crovello & A. Cronquist). Univ. California Press, Berkeley.
Zohary, M. 1973. Geobotanical Foundations of the Middle East. 2 vols. Gustav Fischer Verlag.
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Wikimedia, Algkalv (talk)In the past year, the Arctic has seen the tiniest summertime snowpack in recorded history, the lowest snow accumulation, the most extensive melt of the Greenland Ice Cap, and the highest permafrost temperatures of the North Slope of Alaska, according to a new Arctic assessment report released this week (December 5). The dramatic effects of a warming climate on the far North will likely impact global weather patterns and local animal species, climatology scientists say.
“Conditions in the Arctic are changing in both expected and sometimes surprising ways,” Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told Nature. And “what happens in the Arctic doesn’t always stay in the Arctic,” she added.“We’re seeing Arctic changes that affect weather patterns in the U.S.”
In addition to atmospheric changes, scientists say the altered Arctic will affect native organisms, including the Arctic fox, whose population has already dwindled to 200 animals due to climate-related changes in rodent populations.
Part of the reason climate changes have had such a profound impact on the far north is because the loss of snow and icepack has darkened land and water surface, causing more sunlight to be absorbed, as opposed to reflected. “The Arctic is one of Earth’s mirrors,” Donald Perovich, an Arctic researcher at Dartmouth College, who participated in the report, told Nature. “And that mirror is breaking.”
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The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger globally and by country and region. Calculated each year by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the GHI highlights successes and failures in hunger reduction and provides insights into the drivers of hunger. By raising awareness and understanding of regional and country differences in hunger, the GHI aims to trigger actions to reduce hunger.
To reflect the multidimensional nature of hunger, the GHI combines three equally weighted indicators in one index number:
- Undernourishment: the proportion of undernourished as a percentage of the population (reflecting the share of the population with insufficient calorie intake);
- Child underweight: the proportion of children younger than the age of five who are underweight (low weight for age reflecting wasting, stunted growth, or both), which is one indicator of child undernutrition; and
- Child mortality: the mortality rate of children younger than the age of five (partially reflecting the fatal synergy of inadequate dietary intake and unhealthy environments).
The GHI ranks countries on a 100-point scale. Zero is the best score (no hunger), and 100 is the worst, although neither of these extremes is reached in practice.
This widget was developed by HarvestChoice
(Put this map on your website)
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|This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2009)|
The 'compression ratio' of an internal-combustion engine or external combustion engine is a value that represents the ratio of the volume of its combustion chamber from its largest capacity to its smallest capacity. It is a fundamental specification for many common combustion engines.
In a piston engine it is the ratio between the volume of the cylinder and combustion chamber when the piston is at the bottom of its stroke, and the volume of the combustion chamber when the piston is at the top of its stroke.
Picture a cylinder and its combustion chamber with the piston at the bottom of its stroke containing 1000 cc of air (900 cc in the cylinder plus 100 cc in the combustion chamber). When the piston has moved up to the top of its stroke inside the cylinder, and the remaining volume inside the head or combustion chamber has been reduced to 100 cc, then the compression ratio would be proportionally described as 1000:100, or with fractional reduction, a 10:1 compression ratio.
A high compression ratio is desirable because it allows an engine to extract more mechanical energy from a given mass of air-fuel mixture due to its higher thermal efficiency. This occurs because internal combustion engines are heat engines, and higher efficiency is created because higher compression ratios permit the same combustion temperature to be reached with less fuel, while giving a longer expansion cycle, creating more mechanical power output and lowering the exhaust temperature.
Higher compression ratios will however make gasoline engines subject to engine knocking if lower octane-rated fuel is used, also known as detonation. This can reduce efficiency or damage the engine if knock sensors are not present to retard the timing. However, knock sensors have been a requirement of the OBD-II specification used in 1996 model year vehicles and newer.
The ratio is calculated by the following formula:
- , where
- = cylinder bore (diameter)
- = piston stroke length
- = clearance volume. It is the volume of the combustion chamber (including head gasket). This is the minimum volume of the space at the end of the compression stroke, i.e. when the piston reaches top dead center (TDC). Because of the complex shape of this space, it is usually measured directly rather than calculated.
Typical compression ratiosEdit
Gasoline (Petrol) engineEdit
Due to engine knocking (detonation), the compression ratio in a gasoline or petrol-powered engine will usually not be much higher than 10:1, although some production automotive engines built for high-performance from 1955–1972 had compression ratios as high as 13.0:1, which could run safely on the high-octane leaded gasoline then available.
A technique used to prevent the onset of knock is the high "swirl" engine that forces the intake charge to adopt a very fast circular rotation in the cylinder during compression that provides quicker and more complete combustion. Recently, with the addition of variable valve timing and knock sensors to delay ignition timing, it is possible to manufacture gasoline engines with compression ratios of over 11:1 that can use 87 (MON + RON)/2 (octane rating) fuel.
In engines with a 'ping' or 'knock' sensor and an electronic control unit, the CR can be as high as 13:1 (2005 BMW K1200S). In 1981, Jaguar released a cylinder head that allowed up to 14:1 compression; but settled for 12.5:1 in production cars. The cylinder head design was known as the "May Fireball" head; it was developed by a Swiss engineer Michael May.
Petrol/gasoline engine with pressure-chargingEdit
In a turbocharged or supercharged gasoline engine, the CR is customarily built at 10.5:1 or lower. This is due to the turbocharger/supercharger already having compressed the fuel/air mixture considerably before it enters the cylinders.
Petrol/gasoline engine for racingEdit
Motorcycle racing engines can use compression ratios as high as 14:1, and it is not uncommon to find motorcycles with compression ratios above 12.0:1 designed for 86 or 87 octane fuel. F1 engines come closer to 17:1 (which is very critical for maximizing volumetric/fuel efficiency at around 18000 rpm)
Ethanol and methanol enginesEdit
In an auto-ignition diesel engine, there is no electrical sparking plug; the heat of compression raises the temperature of the mixture to its auto-ignition point. The CR will customarily exceed 14:1 and ratios over 22:1 are common. The appropriate compression ratio depends on the design of the cylinder head. The figure is usually between 14:1 and 16:1 for direct injection engines and between 18:1 and 23:1 for indirect injection engines.
Fault finding and diagnosisEdit
Measuring the compression pressure of an engine, with a pressure gauge connected to the spark plug opening, gives an indication of the engine's state and quality. There is, however, no formula to calculate compression ratio based on cylinder pressure.
If the nominal compression ratio of an engine is given, the pre-ignition cylinder pressure can be estimated using the following relationship:
where is the cylinder pressure at bottom dead center which is usually at 1 atm, is the compression ratio, and is the specific heat ratio for the working fluid, which is about 1.4 for air, and 1.3 for methane-air mixture.
For example, if an engine running on gasoline has a compression ratio of 10:1, the cylinder pressure at top dead center is
This figure, however, will also depend on cam (i.e. valve) timing. Generally, cylinder pressure for common automotive designs should at least equal 10 bar, or, roughly estimated in pounds per square inch (psi) as between 15 and 20 times the compression ratio, or in this case between 150 psi and 200 psi, depending on cam timing. Purpose-built racing engines, stationary engines etc. will return figures outside this range.
Factors including late intake valve closure (relatively speaking for camshaft profiles outside of typical production car range, but not necessarily into the realm of competition engines) can produce a misleadingly low figure from this test. Excessive connecting rod clearance, combined with extremely high oil pump output (rare but not impossible) can sling enough oil to coat the cylinder walls with enough oil to facilitate reasonable piston ring seal artificially give a misleadingly high figure, on engines with compromised ring seal.
This can actually be used to some slight advantage. If a compression test does give a low figure, and it has been determined it is not due to intake valve closure/camshaft characteristics, then one can differentiate between the cause being valve/seat seal issues and ring seal by squirting engine oil into the spark plug orifice, in a quantity sufficient to disperse across the piston crown and the circumference of the top ring land, and thereby effect the mentioned seal. If a second compression test is performed shortly thereafter, and the new reading is much higher, it would be the ring seal that is problematic, whereas if the compression test pressure observed remains low, it is a valve sealing (or more rarely head gasket, or breakthrough piston or rarer still cylinder wall damage) issue.
If there is a significant (greater than 10%) difference between cylinders, that may be an indication that valves or cylinder head gaskets are leaking, piston rings are worn or that the block is cracked.
If a problem is suspected then a more comprehensive test using a leak-down tester can locate the leak.
Variable Compression Ratio (VCR) enginesEdit
Because cylinder bore diameter, piston stroke length and combustion chamber volume are almost always constant, the compression ratio for a given engine is almost always constant, until engine wear takes its toll.
One exception is the experimental Saab Variable Compression engine (SVC). This engine, designed by Saab Automobile, uses a technique that dynamically alters the volume of the combustion chamber (Vc), which, via the above equation, changes the compression ratio (CR).
The Atkinson cycle engine was one of the first attempts at variable compression. Since the compression ratio is the ratio between dynamic and static volumes of the combustion chamber the Atkinson cycle's method of increasing the length of the powerstroke compared to the intake stroke ultimately altered the compression ratio at different stages of the cycle.
Dynamic compression ratioEdit
The calculated compression ratio, as given above, presumes that the cylinder is sealed at the bottom of the stroke, and that the volume compressed is the actual volume.
However: intake valve closure (sealing the cylinder) always takes place after BDC, which may cause some of the intake charge to be compressed backwards out of the cylinder by the rising piston at very low speeds; only the percentage of the stroke after intake valve closure is compressed. Intake port tuning and scavenging may allow a greater mass of charge (at a higher than atmospheric pressure) to be trapped in the cylinder than the static volume would suggest ( This "corrected" compression ratio is commonly called the "dynamic compression ratio".
This ratio is higher with more conservative (i.e., earlier, soon after BDC) intake cam timing, and lower with more radical (i.e., later, long after BDC) intake cam timing, but always lower than the static or "nominal" compression ratio.
The actual position of the piston can be determined by trigonometry, using the stroke length and the connecting rod length (measured between centers). The absolute cylinder pressure is the result of an exponent of the dynamic compression ratio. This exponent is a polytropic value for the ratio of variable heats for air and similar gases at the temperatures present. This compensates for the temperature rise caused by compression, as well as heat lost to the cylinder. Under ideal (adiabatic) conditions, the exponent would be 1.4, but a lower value, generally between 1.2 and 1.3 is used, since the amount of heat lost will vary among engines based on design, size and materials used, but provides useful results for purposes of comparison. For example, if the static compression ratio is 10:1, and the dynamic compression ratio is 7.5:1, a useful value for cylinder pressure would be (7.5)^1.3 × atmospheric pressure, or 13.7 bar. (× 14.7 psi at sea level = 201.8 psi. The pressure shown on a gauge would be the absolute pressure less atmospheric pressure, or 187.1 psi.)
The two corrections for dynamic compression ratio affect cylinder pressure in opposite directions, but not in equal strength. An engine with high static compression ratio and late intake valve closure will have a DCR similar to an engine with lower compression but earlier intake valve closure.
Additionally, the cylinder pressure developed when an engine is running will be higher than that shown in a compression test for several reasons.
- The much higher velocity of a piston when an engine is running versus cranking allows less time for pressure to bleed past the piston rings into the crankcase.
- a running engine is coating the cylinder walls with much more oil than an engine that is being cranked at low RPM, which helps the seal.
- the higher temperature of the cylinder will create higher pressures when running vs. a static test, even a test performed with the engine near operating temperature.
- A running engine does not stop taking air & fuel into the cylinder when the piston reaches BDC; The mixture that is rushing into the cylinder during the downstroke develops momentum and continues briefly after the vacuum ceases (in the same respect that rapidly opening a door will create a draft that continues after movement of the door ceases). This is called scavenging. Intake tuning, cylinder head design, valve timing and exhaust tuning determine how effectively an engine scavenges.
Compression ratio versus overall pressure ratioEdit
Compression ratio and overall pressure ratio are interrelated as follows:
The reason for this difference is that compression ratio is defined via the volume reduction:
while pressure ratio is defined as the pressure increase:
In calculating the pressure ratio, we assume that an adiabatic compression is carried out (i.e. that no heat energy is supplied to the gas being compressed, and that any temperature rise is solely due to the compression). We also assume that air is a perfect gas. With those two assumptions we can define the relationship between change of volume and change of pressure as follows:
where is the ratio of specific heats for air (approximately 1.4). The values in the table above are derived using this formula. Note that in reality the ratio of specific heats changes with temperature and that significant deviations from adiabatic behavior will occur.
- ↑ gSiteLife.Recommend("ExternalResource","110429942"); Tweet (2011-04-22). "2012 Mazda 3 gets 40-mpg SkyActiv engine option; diesel expected in 2014". Autoweek. Retrieved on 2012-05-29.
- ↑ [dead link]
- ↑ August 2010 BY DAVE VANDERWERP. "Mazda Engine News: Mazda Sky Gas and Diesel Details – Car and Driver". Caranddriver.com. Retrieved on 2012-05-29.
- "Here Comes High Compression Engines " 1949 highly detailed article in Popular Science with photos and cutaway drawings
- Variable compression engine
- Cam Timing vs. Compression Ratio Analysis
- Calculating Compression Ratio changes with engine modifications
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Cooperating To Feed America and the World
Mar 11, 2010
By John Reifsteck: Champaign, IL
The next time you’re at a grocery store, let the cashier ring up the sale. Then try to bargain for a better deal. Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? After all, just a handful of retailers sell over half of all the groceries in the United States, and an individual shopper has very little power to negotiate.
That same imbalance of power is a real problem for farmers and ranchers in the United States. Farmers are proud of their independence, but millions of growers bartering separately put them at a real disadvantage in the marketplace. That is why they banded together to form farmer owned cooperatives.
The premise of a cooperative is simple- it is a democratically controlled business that is operated to benefit those that use its services. Farmer cooperatives were first organized in the United States in the early 1800s, and really flourished later in that century as a response to the lack of competitive markets for farmers. Too often farmers were taken advantage of by merchants, and cooperatives offered them an alternative place to buy inputs and sell the production from their farms.
In 1890 the Sherman Antitrust Act was passed as a result of the anti-competitive activities of many of the large companies that dominated the United States economy. The act had the unintended consequence of possibly making the activities of some farmer owned cooperatives illegal. In response, the U.S. Congress passed the Capper-Volstead Act of 1922. Capper-Volstead gave farmers a limited ability to band together to process and market products. Senator Capper was quoted as saying that the bill is designed "to give to the farmer the same right to bargain collectively that is already enjoyed by corporations."
Cooperatives started small to solve local problems - perhaps to help farmers purchase petroleum in bulk, or to construct a processing facility that would not be economical for a single grower to build. Over time the variety of goods and services provided by cooperatives grew, and today many of the best known brands in the United States are products of farmer owned cooperatives. The cooperatives that served our fathers and grandfathers were good, but they could not meet the needs of today’s farmers. As agriculture has changed and grown, so have their cooperatives.
Cooperatives have to be run as businesses, but there are differences. If you listened to the discussion in a cooperative board meeting you would hear many of the same financial terms that would be used in a corporate meeting, but used in a different context. Profit and return on investment are important, but just as relevant is the service cooperatives provide to its members. Income is distributed to the users, or is invested for the future of the co-op.
Farmers aren’t the only beneficiaries. In many small towns, cooperatives are the largest employers, the biggest taxpayers, and even social centers.
There is no question that farmers have a unique partnership with their cooperatives. That is why it is disconcerting to see the Department of Justice questioning the relevance of the Capper-Volstead Act.
When Americans are struggling to keep their jobs and pay their bills, it makes no sense to target areas of the U.S. economy that continue to work well for both producers and consumers. Today, roughly 3,000 farmer cooperatives employ more than 180,000 people. They supply much of America’s food. And they help every sector of the industry, from big-time growers to small organic farmers who need to band together to survive.
With cooperatives possibly under attack from Washington, the people who understand and appreciate their value must rally around them. Throughout 2010, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Agriculture are holding joint workshops on competition in the farm industry. A meeting in Iowa this month will focus on seeds. Future meetings will take place in Alabama (on poultry), Wisconsin (dairy), Colorado (livestock), and Washington, D.C. (consumer prices).
Cooperatives demonstrate the principle of strength in numbers. Saving them from this new threat, however, will require the efforts of individuals. Farmers and ranchers must turn out at these meetings and make sure their voices are heard.
For generations, farmers and ranchers have benefited from cooperatives--and so have all Americans, who enjoy more food security than anybody else in the world. How would agriculture and rural communities fare without cooperatives? And if they vanished, what would replace them?
John Reifsteck is a corn and soybean producer in western Champaign County Illinois. He serves as Vice-Chairman of the GROWMARK Board of Directors – a farm supply and marketing cooperative – and is a Board Member of Truth About Trade & Technology
*This commentary also appears in the Opinion section of the Friday, March 12, 2010 edition of the Washington Times
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The Sumxu is also known as the Chinese Lop-Eared Cat , Droop-eared cat, Drop-eared cat, or Hanging-Ear cat. All the names refer to its main feature - pendulous ears. Nowadays, the breed is considered extinct.
It is thought that the pendulous ears were a result of mutation similar to that occurred in the Scottish Fold.
All descriptions of the breed are based on reports of travellers. In 1976, a German naturalist gave rather a detailed description of the Sumxu, when a droop-eared cat had been brought from China by a traveller. The breed was described as long-haired cats with glossy black, yellow or cream coats and pendulous ears. Most probably, they looked like longhair Scottish Folds.
The Cat by Lady Cust (1870) has this brief description:
Bosman relates that in the province of Pe-chily, in China, there are cats with long hair and drooping ears, which are in great favour with the Chinese ladies; others say this is not a cat but an animal called 'Samxces'.
Georges Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, described the cat in The Natural History of The Cat (Volume 4 of Histoire Naturelle c. 1767, translated by William Smellie, 1781):
Our domestic cats, though they differ in colour, form no distinct races. The climates of Spain and Syria have alone produced permanent varieties: to these may be added the climate of Pe-chi-ly in China, where the cats have long hair and pendulous ears, and are the favourites of the ladies. These domestic cats with pendulous ears, of which we have full descriptions, are still farther removed from the wild and primitive race, than those whose ears are erect.
I formerly remarked, that, in China, there were cats with pendulous ears. This variety is not found any where else, and perhaps it is an animal of a different species; for travellers, when mentioning an animal called Sumxu, which is entirely domestic, say, that they can compare it to nothing but the cat, with which it has a great resemblance. Its colour is black or yellow, and its hair very bright and glittering. The Chinese put silver collars about the necks of these animals, and render them extremely familiar. As they are not common, they give a high price, both on account of their beauty, and because they destroy rats.
Jean Bungartz also described the Chinese Lop-Eared Cat or Hanging-Ear Cat in his book Die Hauskatze, ihre Rassen und Varietäten (Housecats, Their Races and Varieties) from Illustriertes Katzenbuch (An Illustrated Book of Cats) in Berlin in 1896:
The Chinese or Lop-Eared cat is most interesting, because it provides proof that by continual disuse of an organ, the organ withers. With the Chinese cat the hearing and ears have deteriorated. Michel says the Chinese, not only admire the cat in porcelain, but also value it for culinary reasons. The cats are regarded as special morsels and enjoyed particularly with noodles or with rice. This cat is bred particularly for the purpose of meat production, and is a preferred Chinese morsel; this is not unusual if one considers that the Chinese consume much the sight of which revolts the stomachs of Europeans. The poor creature is confined in small bamboo cages and fattened like a goose on plentiful portions. There is extensive trade with other parts of Asia and the canny Chinese allow no tomcats to be exported so there is no interference in this lucrative source of income.
Due to the restrictive conditions that have deprived the cat of its actual use, its hearing has decreased because it is no longer needed for hunting its own food. With no need for watchfulness, it had no need of sharp hearing to listen for hidden things so its hearing became blunted and as a natural consequence its ears lost their upright nature, gradually becoming lower and becoming the hanging ear that is now the characteristic feature of the Chinese cat. At first impression this is a surprising and amusing look, but this impression is lost with closer examination. If one ignores the characteristic of the ears, one sees a beauty similar to the Angora cat: a long, close coat of hair, albeit less rich, covers the body. The hair is silky-soft and shining and the colour is usually isabelline or a dirty white yellow, although some have the usual colouring of the common house-cat. In size it is considerably larger and stronger than a housecat. The ears hang completely, as with our hunting dogs and are large in relation to the cat.
Although the Chinese cat is found in considerable numbers in its homeland, it is rarely found at European animal markets. Only one such cat has reached us in the flesh; we acquired this years ago when a sailor returning from China brought it into Hamburg. The accompanying illustration is based on this cat. In character it is like the Angora cat and somewhat languid. It prefer to live by a warm fire, is rather sensitive to flattery, hears badly and is at its most animated when given milk or food. Apart from its unusual ears, it has no really attractive characteristics and is a curious specimen of housecat.
In Frances Simpson's The Book of the Cat (1903), contributing author H.C. Brooke wrote:
There is said to be a variety of Chinese cat which is remarkable for its pendent ears. We have never been able to ascertain anything definite with regard to this variety. Some years back a class was provided for them at a certain Continental cat show, and we went across in the hope of seeing, and if possible acquiring, some specimens; but alas the class was empty! We have seen a stuffed specimen in a Continental museum, which was a half long-haired cat, the ears being pendent down the sides of the head instead of erect; but do not attach much value to this.
In 1926, H.C. Brooke wrote in the magazine Cat Gossip that for many years Continental cat shows had offered prizes for the Drop-eared Chinese Cat. On each occasion, the cat failed to materialise and Brooke considered it to be mythical. Other writers suggested the folded or crumpled ears were the result of damage or haematomas. Brooke wrote that although no-one ever saw the cat itself, one always met “someone who knows someone whose friends has often seen them”. Brooke himself had been assured by a Chinese gentleman he had met only once that “he knew them well”.
HC Brooke, and several other cat fanciers, contacted the Chinese Embassy and Carl Hagenbeck's animal exchange in Hamburg and also a “certain well known author, who has lived for years in China and knows that country well”, but their enquiries bore no fruit. The search for this cat became so intense in the 1920s that The American Express Company instructed their representatives at Shanghai and Peking to make enquiries with the wild animal dealers who supplied zoos. They also had no success finding a Chinese Lop-Eared cat for western cat fanciers.
Brooke said that in 1882 he had seen a stuffed specimen in a Continental museum. The specimen was “half-coated with yellowish fur” and Brooke admitted it might have been a fake or a cat with its ears deformed by canker. With all avenues of enquiry finally exhausted, Brooke declared the Chinese Drop-eared cat extinct.
The last reported sighting of the Chinese Lop-eared cat was in 1938 when a droop-eared cat was imported from China. On that last occasion the mutation was believed to occur only in white longhaired cats.
People are waiting to help.
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Fight the Heat with Deep Impact's Edible Comet
15 Jul 2003
(Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
Newsletter for the Deep Impact mission
Welcome to the nearly 7,000 of you who have told us you want to know more about the Deep Impact mission. We are currently in Phase C/D. During this 34-month period, the twin spacecraft - the projectile impactor and the observing flyby spacecraft, and their science instruments are being built and the software that will drive them is being designed and tested. All factors will work together to make this the first mission to look deep beneath the surface of a comet. For more about the mission, visit the Deep Impact web site at http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov or http://deepimpact.umd.edu
. MISSION UPDATE WITH PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR DR. MIKE A'HEARN
For the latest on the Deep Impact mission, take a look at the PI's update. Dr. Mike A'Hearn writes to tell us about the current status of the mission, the construction of both spacecraft and our science team's most recent research. Update page: http://deepimpact.umd.edu/mission/update.html
SEND YOUR NAME TO A COMET!
If you haven't joined the over 200,000 people who have registered to have their name put on the side of the impactor that will make a huge crater in Comet Tempel 1, check out http://deepimpact.umd.edu/sendyourname/
Sign up before it's too late. Don't miss the boat - uh, or the impactor.
WHAT A BLAST!
The science team continues to develop tools for visualizing and analyzing the impact. Jim Richardson, a graduate student working with Prof. Jay Melosh, has developed a useful tool that will allow us to vary the orientation of a simulated impact until we can reproduce our observations. Ultimately, these simulations will be used to understand the physical processes that occur in the cometary nucleus based on theories of hypervelocity impacts into solid bodies. We have posted two of these simulations on the web page for your viewing. The animations show the field of view of the two cameras.
HEY KIDS - COOL OFF WITH AN EDIBLE COMET!
Looking for a way to cool down on those hot summer afternoons? Make a Comet Model and Eat it! This is an activity the whole family can do together. Make an ice cream comet and add your own "cometary candy debris." Science never tasted so good!
DID YOU KNOW? COOL FACT!
Did you know that the Deep Impact spacecraft won't be the only "observer" during our encounter with Comet Tempel 1 on July 4th, 2005? While the flyby spacecraft and impactor do their job, an international group of professional and amateur astronomers will watch the "cometary fireworks" from Earth. What are they doing to gear up for this incredible event? Well, they've been watching Comet Tempel 1 since the year 2000. To see some of their images visit our Small Telescope Science Program web site and take a look at http://deepimpact.umd.edu/stsp/.
QUESTIONS FROM YOU: WILL THE IMPACT KNOCK THE COMET OFF ITS PATH AND SEND IT SOMEWHERE ELSE?
No. You can think of the impactor hitting the comet in the same way as a pebble hitting the side of an 18- wheeler. In both cases, there is a small effect in terms of adding energy to the target and subtracting it from the projectile, but again, in both cases, the impacts are not strong enough to knock the truck or the comet off their course.
MISSION BRAIN TWISTER:
The flyby spacecraft has a solar panel to take in the Sun's energy and turn it into power for the spacecraft. The early concept for the solar panel was that it be one piece. During the design phase, the engineers decided they needed a larger panel to provide enough energy for the entire spacecraft. Now the spacecraft has two panels that are hinged. Why was the hinge necessary?
Important to our Deep Impact outreach team are our master educators (Solar System Educator Program) and our ambassadors to the public (Solar System Ambassadors). These people are specially trained in the Deep Impact mission and its activities. If you are interested in having an SSEP educator give a workshop in your area, or you think you might want an Ambassador to speak at a public event, go to: http://deepimpact.umd.edu/disczone/community.html
Contact those organizations directly, or contact us at: http://deepimpact.umd.edu/feedback.html.
CALLING ALL GIRL SCOUTS!
Did you know that Deep Impact is part of a new NASA partnership with the Girl Scouts of the USA? Leader trainers from across the country are excited about the Deep Impact activities to make ice cream comets and comet models out of recyclable materials. For a large event, you can even earn the NASA solar system patch for your Scouts. Ask your council to check into schedules for NASA trainings this year. Or, you can go to our web site activities and try them yourself: http://deepimpact.umd.edu/educ/index.html
Some Scout leaders and troops are already planning to throw community star parties in their area the night of the Deep Impact encounter, July 4th, 2005. You could be one of them. Talk to your local observatory, university or library about a community partnership with your troop or council and contact us to let us know your plans at: http://deepimpact.umd.edu/feedback.html.
Deep News features information about the mission, the Deep Impact web site and our products and special programs. The Deep Impact mission is a partnership among the University of Maryland (UMD), the California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Ball Aerospace & Technology Corp. Deep Impact is a NASA Discovery mission, eighth in a series of low-cost, highly focused space science investigations. Deep Impact offers an extensive outreach program in partnership with other comet and asteroid missions and institutions to benefit the public, educational and scientific communities. http://deepimpact.umd.edu.
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FAWE believes it is important to demonstrate through practical interventions what works in enhancing girls' education in sub-Saharan Africa.
Though great strides have been made in improving the participation of girls in education, challenges persist in terms of their access, retention and performance.
Among the barriers that exist in the majority of African countries are poverty, long-held negative attitudes and practices and their consequences such as early marriage, poor management of sexual maturation, the impact of HIV/AIDS at household level, teenage pregnancy and the disempowerment of girls.
In addition, gender insensitive school environments as well as the lack of gender-responsiveness in education delivery negatively affect girls' participation in education.
This results in high rates of drop-out and repetition as well as poor performance for girls in all subjects and particularly in Mathematics, Science and Technology.
We believe that improving retention and performance for girls demands the transformation of ordinary schools into gender-responsive environments aimed at empowering girls with skills to overcome the various forms of gender discrimination and inequalities they face.
We have developed interventions that aim to provide greater educational opportunities for girls and to positively transform the environment in which girls learn. We also work to achieve the mainstreaming of the best practices emerging from these interventions into national education systems and practices.
FAWE’s interventions include:
- Demonstrative models. Our Centre of Excellence, Tuseme Youth Empowerment, Gender-Responsive Pedagogy and Science, Mathematics and Technology models have been introduced in a number of countries to demonstrate what works in improving girls' access, retention and performance in school.
- Bursaries. We provide bursaries to disadvantaged girls and boys to support access to and completion of a full cycle of primary or secondary education.
- Targeted programmes and projects. We target specific contexts and issues affecting girls’ education through interventions such as Girls’ Clubs, HIV/AIDS programmes, Mothers’ Clubs, technical and vocational education and training, and education in conflict and post-conflict situations.
- Research. FAWE undertakes research on issues related to gender and education in sub-Saharan Africa to buttress its advocacy work and more effectively direct its programme activities.
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Hawaii archipelago is one of those lands suffering not only from human activity, but from alien species as well. For many centuries there were no predators or invasive species that could threat to conventional livelihood of Hawaiian ecosystem.
Long before European settlers, there were only two mammal species distributed over the islands – hoary bats, apparently brought by winds from America, and monk seals. The population of seals declined significantly in the 19th century, as colonists started to hunt them for skin and eat, and to date conservation of monk seals is one of the primary environmental issues on Hawaii.
All in all, the diversity of Hawaiian fauna was enlarged a lot, as numerous species of domestic animals (sheep, feral pigs, wild boars, deer), ants (big-headed and Argentine ants), plants (the Velvet tree) found a perfect place on Hawaii to be dispersed, therefore, signifying about the end of Eden.
Negative Alien Species
One of the recent zoological researches, enclosed by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, featured bees, imported from North-American continent, as invasive and distrustful species on the archipelago.
It is one of the examples of how alien species might modify lifestyle and habits and thereupon cause severe damages for a new habitat. In particular, this research is referred to revived bees’ abilities to consume any variety of food and to form larger colonies.
In normal conditions, Pennsylvania bees gather in small colonies for one season, while on Hawaii they gather in large colonies (about 600 thousand bees) for long-term periods. In this way, bees obstruct essential development of forest areas and sub-alpine vegetation.
Positive Alien Species
However, there some examples of invasive species that promote natural advancement of Hawaiian ecosystem. To be more précise, the biggest achievements are attained by alien terrestrial birds, which include 58 species.
They play an important role in reproduction of many indigenous plants. For instance, birds distribute seeds of Lehua trees (Eugenia plants), known for its reddish wood and bright red flowers.
Unlike native birds, consuming exclusively nectar or invertebrates, alien birds eat fruit of trees and, therefore, disperse plant seeds over the area. This is a nice example of how invasive species cannot just push out the native, but also take on their functions, often coping with them no worse than their predecessors.
Potential Alien Species
For many centuries Hawaiian archipelago was free from reptiles, especially snake species. Notwithstanding in recent years there were some notices about potential threat of snakes’ distribution to the islands, preconditioned by illegal snakes trade and keeping some as pets.
Having no natural enemies, snakes might embed themselves deeply into the Hawaiian ecosystem, if they happen to be out of human control. In this case, the fate of Guam Island is imminent, where imported brown tree snakes ate all the birds and, therefore, caused severe ecological damage.
On Hawaii snakes can eat bird eggs and small chicks, including representatives of 34 species of Hawaiian forest birds at risk of extinction. If birds disappear, there will be more spiders that create webs over the trees and so darken the wood; insect populations may get bigger.
In this case, the list of consequences might be prolonged, eventually ending up in completely new vision of Hawaiian environment.
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About this Base Converter
Base-2 to base-62 are accepted. "A" stands for 10, "Z" for 35, "a" (lower-case) for 36 and "z" (lower-case) for 61. Decimals are supported. This is a custom function because PHP's base_convert() doesn't accept decimals and only goes up to base-36. It's only as precise as PHP is, so don't blindly copy the smallest decimal thinking it will always be correct.
Is there any standard for displaying numbers higher than base-36? I've used lowercase letters to go up to base-62, but I couldn't find if that's what is commonly done. (Then again, I guess nothing is commonly done, since anything beyond base-16 doesn't really have much use, to my knowledge.)
Fun game: Enter your name and supply base-36 (or higher) as the starting base and see what number you get in another base. My first name in base-38 for instance returns EPKCO in base-42.
What's this about?
A base is the system with which numbers are displayed. If we talk about base-n, the system has n characters (including 0) available to display a number. Numbers are represented with digits which are smaller than n. Therefore, 3 in base-3 is 10: because that system doesn't have a "3", it starts over (1, 2, 10, 11, 12, 20, 21, 22, 100, etc.).
The base we usually use is base-10, because we have 10 (when including 0) digits until we start over again (8,9,10). In base-2 (binary), we only have 2 characters, i.e. 0 and 1, until we start over again. Following this example, the binary number 10 is 2 in our (base-10) system.
Does it make sense that a finite fraction ("decimal") is infinite in another base?
It totally does. If you want to convert 645 from base-8 to base-10, you do 6*82 + 4*81 + 5*80 = 421. After the comma you keep on decrementing the exponent, meaning that if you have 21.35 in base-7 you get to its base-10 equivalent by doing 2*71 + 1*70 + 3*7-1 + 5*7-2. 7-1 (= 1/7), however, is 0.142857... in base-10, while it's simply written as 0.1 in base-7.
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North Hempstead, L.I., New York
1870 Federal Census
Queens County / Nassau County since 1899
This database details those persons enumerated in the 1870 United States Federal Census, the Ninth Census of the United States.
Enumerators of the 1870 census were instructed to record the names of every person in the household. Added to this, enumerators were presented with printed instructions, which account for the greater degree of accuracy compared with earlier censuses. Enumerators were asked to include the following categories in the census: name; age at last birthday (if a child was under one year of age, months of age were to be stated as fractions, such as 1/12); sex; color; profession; occupation or trade of every male and female; value of real estate; place of birth; whether mother and father were of foreign birth; whether born or married within the year and the month; those who could not read; those who could not write; whether deaf, dumb, blind, or insane or "idiotic". No relationships were shown between members of a household. The categories allowed Congress to determine persons residing in the United States for collection of taxes and the appropriation of seats in the House of Representatives.
This database is certain to prove useful for those seeking early American ancestors.
The United States was the first country to call for a regularly held census. The Constitution required that a census of all "Persons...excluding Indians not taxed" be performed to determine the collection of taxes and the appropriation of seats in the House of Representatives. The first nine censuses from 1790-1870 were organized under the United States Federal Court system. Each district was assigned a U.S. marshal who hired other marshals to administer the census. Governors were responsible for enumeration in territories.
The official enumeration day of the 1870 census was 1 June 1870. All questions asked were supposed to refer to that date. The 1870 census form called for the dwelling houses to be numbered in the order of visitation; families numbered in order of visitation; and the name of every person whose place of abode on the first day of June 1870 was with the family.
Taken from Chapter 5: Research in Census Records, The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy by Loretto Dennis Szucs; edited by Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking (Salt Lake City, UT: Ancestry Incorporated, 1997).
William Dollarhide, The Census Book: A Genealogist's Guide to Federal Census Facts, Schedules and Indexes, Heritage Quest: Bountiful, UT, 2000.
Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2003. Indexed by Ancestry.com from microfilmed schedules of the 1870 U.S. Federal Decennial Census. Original data: Data imaged from National Archives and Records Administration. Ninth Census of the United States, 1870. M593, 1,761 rolls. Minnesota Census Schedules for 1870. T132, 13 rolls. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D.C.
This page was last updated July 2, 2006.
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Imbolc is traditionally regarded as the first day of Spring.
Life is beginning to stir again. The Celtic festival of Imbolc or Imbolg - pronounced without the ‘b’ sound – is sometimes known as Oimelc, means ‘ewe’s milk’ – named due to the birth of the first lambs at this time, and celebrates the return of fresh milk. Sheep are earlier with their offspring than cattle, because they could crop lower for grass and so thrive on the sparse vegetation in late winter. Cattle would calf around March. Bulbs are beginning to shoot and new lambs are born – the cycle of new life returns to the earth. Imbolc marks the rebirth of nature and fertility. It is the celebration of the gradual dawning of increasing light, bringing nature to life again. Nature is awakening from her winter rest – the long winter darkness begins to break as the daylight hours begin to get longer. Christians celebrate this festival as Candlemas.
“As the light lengthens, so the cold strengthens”
Imbolc focuses on the Goddess, both as Mother – as she gave birth to the Sun God at the Winter solstice, and as the Maiden. Brigit was originally considered a form of the Triple Goddess.
Imbolc is a feast dedicated to the Goddess in her maiden aspect, in her guise as Brigid, Bridget, Bride, Brighid, Brigit or Brig – goddess of learning, poetry, prophesying, craftmanship, agriculture and healing. Imbolc is considered a traditional healing time and it is a good time to consider ways to improve your health.
Brigid is the virgin goddess who brings new life to the earth. She is known as Bride in Scotland – pronounced Breed – which is the origin of the word ‘bride’. Imbolc is also known as Bride’s Day. She was christianised as St. Bridget of Kildare, the patroness of sheep and fertility, and she was also known as the ‘Mother of Ireland’.
Briget’s Cross is woven from corn and consists of four arms that meet to form a square centre – a fire wheel.
Traditionally, on this day candlelit processions were led to St. Bridget’s holy shrines – wells
Imbolc is a ‘fire festival’. particular attention was paid to the hearth fire and keeping it alight.
A celebratory dish used to be made from the new lambs’ docked tails.
Bridie dolls are made out of a sheaf of oats and dressed in women’s clothing, and then ritually buried in the earth as a fertility rite. Another custom was to place the doll in a ‘Bride’s bed’ of woven wheat, like a basket, which was placed near the front door, or sometimes near the hearth. A white candle was burnt nearby all night.
Spring cleaning comes from the habit at Imbolc of getting rid of unwanted clutter and preparing for the new season, physically and mentally.
Now is the time to finish old habits and make a fresh start, and realise the world is full of new opportunities.
Imbolc is a time of optimism and for making new plans for the sunny days ahead. Plant the seeds of your plans now and tend them so they mature into your hopes and dreams. Now is the time to renew your New Year resolutions.
Like many Celtic festivals, the Imbolc celebrations centred around the lighting of fires. Fire was perhaps more important for this festival than others as it was also the holy day of Brigid (also known as Bride, Brigit, Brid), the Goddess of fire, healing and fertility. The lighting of fires celebrated the increasing power of the Sun over the coming months. For the Christian calendar, this holiday was reformed and renamed ‘Candlemas’ when candles are lit to remember the purification of the Virgin Mary.
Imbolc is still a special time for Pagans. As people who are deeply aware of what is going on in the natural world they recognise that there is strength in cold as well as heat, death as well as life. The Horned God reigns over the Autumn and Winter and although the light and warmth of the world may be weak, he is still in his power.
Many feel that human actions are best when they reflect the actions of nature, so as the world slowly springs back into action it is time for the small tasks that are neglected through the busy year. Rituals and activities might include the making of candles, planting spring flowers, reading poetry and telling stories.
Merlin says ”It is called Imbolc in the Druid tradition, or sometimes Oimelc. Although we would think of Imbolc as being in the midst of Winter, it represents in fact the first of a trio of Spring celebrations, since it is the time of the first appearance of the snowdrop, and of the melting of the snows and the clearing of the debris of Winter. It is a time when we sense the first glimmer of Spring, and when the lambs are born. In the Druid tradition it is a gentle, beautiful festival in which the Mother Goddess is honoured with eight candles rising out of the water at the centre of the ceremonial circle.”
Sponsored by ‘The Stonehenge Tour Company’ www.StonehengeTours.com
The Stonehenge Website
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Program animation or Stepping refers to the very common debugging method of executing code one "line" at a time. The programmer may examine the state of the program, machine, and related data before and after execution of a particular line of code. This allows evaluation of the effects of that statement or instruction in isolation and thereby gain insight into the behavior (or misbehavior) of the executing program. Nearly all modern IDEs and debuggers support this mode of execution. Some Testing tools allow programs to be executed step-by-step optionally at either source code level or machine code level depending upon the availability of data collected at compile time.
Instruction stepping or single cycle also referred to the related, more microscopic, but now obsolete[dubious ] method of debugging code by stopping the processor clock and manually advancing it one cycle at a time. For this to be possible, three things are required:
- A control that allows the clock to be stopped (e.g. a "Stop" button).
- A second control that allows the stopped clock to be manually advanced by one cycle (e.g. An "instruction step" switch and a "Start" button).
- Some means of recording the state of the processor after each cycle (e.g. register and memory displays).
Other systems such as the PDP-11 provided similar facilities, again on some models. The precise configuration was also model-dependent. It would not be easy to provide such facilities on LSI processors such as the Intel x86 and Pentium lines, owing to cooling considerations[dubious ][clarification needed].
As multiprocessing became more commonplace, such techniques would have limited practicality, since many independent processes would be stopped simultaneously. This led to the development of proprietary software from several independent vendors that provided similar features but deliberately restricted breakpoints and instruction stepping to particular application programs in particular address spaces and threads. The program state (as applicable to the chosen application/thread) was saved for examination at each step and restored before resumption, giving the impression of a single user environment. This is normally sufficient for diagnosing problems at the application layer.
Instead of using a physical stop button to suspend execution - to then begin stepping through the application program, a breakpoint or "Pause" request must usually be set beforehand, usually at a particular statement/instruction in the program (chosen beforehand or alternatively, by default, at the first instruction).
To provide for full screen "animation" of a program, a suitable I/O device such as a video monitor is normally required that can display a reasonable section of the code (e.g. in dis-assembled machine code or source code format) and provide a pointer (e.g. <==) to the current instruction or line of source code. For this reason, the widespread use of these full screen animators in the mainframe world had to await the arrival of transaction processing systems - such as CICS in the early 1970s and were initially limited to debugging application programs operating within that environment. Later versions of the same products provided cross region monitoring/debugging of batch programs and other operating systems and platforms.
With the much later introduction of Personal computers from around 1980 onwards, integrated debuggers were able to be incorporated more widely into this single user domain and provided similar animation by splitting the user screen and adding a debugging "console" to provide programmer interaction.
Borland Turbo Debugger was a stand-alone product introduced in 1989 that provided full-screen program animation for PC's. Later versions added support for combining the animation with actual source lines extracted at compilation time.
Techniques for program animation
There are at least three distinct software techniques for creating 'animation' during a programs execution.
- instrumentation involves adding additional source code to the program at compile time to call the animator before or after each statement to halt normal execution. If the program to be animated is an interpreted type, such as bytecode or CIL the interpreter (or IDE code) uses its own in-built code to wrap around the target code.
- Induced interrupt This technique involves forcing a breakpoint at certain points in a program at execution time, usually by altering the machine code instruction at that point (this might be an inserted system call or deliberate invalid operation) and waiting for an interrupt. When the interrupt occurs, it is handled by the testing tool to report the status back to the programmer. This method allows program execution at full speed (until the interrupt occurs) but suffers from the disadvantage that most of the instructions leading up to the interrupt are not monitored by the tool.
- Instruction Set Simulator This technique treats the compiled programs machine code as its input 'data' and fully simulates the host machine instructions, monitors the code for conditional or unconditional breakpoints or programmer requested "single cycle" animation requests between every step.
Comparison of methods
The advantage of the last method is that no changes are made to the compiled program to provide the diagnostic and there is almost unlimited scope for extensive diagnostics since the tool can augment the host system diagnostics with additional software tracing features. It is also possible to diagnose (and prevent) many program errors automatically using this technique, including storage violations and buffer overflows. Loop detection is also possible using automatic instruction trace together with instruction count thresholds (e.g. pause after 10,000 instructions; display last n instructions) The second method only alters the instruction that will halt before it is executed and may also then restore it before optional resumption by the programmer. Some animators optionally allow the use of more than one method depending on requirements. For example, using method 2 to execute to a particular point at full speed and then using instruction set simulation thereafter.
Additional features
The animator may, or may not, combine other test/debugging features within it such as program trace, dump, conditional breakpoint and memory alteration, program flow alteration, code coverage analysis, "hot spot" detection or similar.
Examples of program animators
(In date of first release order)
- IBM OLIVER (CICS interactive test/debug) 1978
- SIMON (Batch Interactive test/debug) 1980
- CodeView 1985, Visual Studio Debugger 1995, Visual Studio Express 2005
- Firebug (Firefox extension) January 2006
- Stepping (Visual Studio) Overview of stepping support in Microsoft Corporation's IDE, Visual Studio
- Tarraingim - A Program Animation Environment
- Program Animation as a way to teach and learn about Program Design and Analysis
- Structured information on software testing (such as the History of Software Testing) published by Testing references
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2013-05-23T11:50:43Z
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en
| 0.917552
| 1,364
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contour or contour line, line on a topographic map connecting points of equal elevation above or below mean sea level. It is thus a kind of isopleth, or line of equal quantity. Contour lines are drawn on maps with a uniform interval of vertical distance separating them (usually 10, 20, 50, or 100 ft on American maps) and thus outline the landform configuration, or relief. They may be visualized as representing shorelines if sea level were raised in small increments. Thus the tops of hills, which would appear as separate islands, are shown as a series of closed circular contours; valleys, which would appear as elongate bays, are shown as contour lines converging toward a point at the head of the valley. Since on steep slopes there is little horizontal distance between points greatly different in height, contour lines indicating such terrain are close together; contour lines of gentle slopes are more widely separated. Maps employing contour lines are called contour, or relief, maps although they are popularly called topographic maps (see topography) in the United States. Certain conventions are employed on these maps to assist the user. Contours indicating land elevations are printed in brown with every fifth contour drawn thicker and labeled with its elevation; those indicating depths of bodies of water are printed in blue. Hachure lines, pointing downslope, are attached to contour lines in order to emphasize a depression with a steep gradient. In the past, contour maps were made from ground surveys. Today they are constructed from stereographic aerial photographs and orbiting satellites, which use radar to measure elevations for land or ocean relief maps. In an analogous way, contour lines are also commonly used to map properties other than elevation; meteorologists, for example, employ contour lines, or isobars, to delineate areas of equal barometric pressures.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
More on contour from Fact Monster:
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Maps and Mapping
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http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/world/contour.html
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2013-05-25T19:49:30Z
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en
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Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
- Chorion redirects here. For the entertainment company see Chorion (company)
The amniotic sac is a tough but thin transparent pair of membranes, which hold a developing embryo (and later fetus) until shortly before birth. The inner membrane, the amnion, contains the amniotic fluid and the fetus. The outer membrane, the chorion, contains the amnion and is part of the placenta.
An artificial rupture of membranes (ARM), also known as an amniotomy, may be performed by a midwife or obstetrician. This is usually performed using an amnihook and is intended to induce or accelerate labour.
Amniotic fluid is the watery liquid surrounding and cushioning a growing fetus within the amnion. It allows the fetus to move freely without the walls of the uterus being too tight against its body. Buoyancy is also provided.
The amnion grows and begins to fill, mainly with water, around two weeks after fertilisation. After a further 10 weeks the liquid contains proteins, carbohydrates, lipids and phospholipids, urea and electrolytes. By the second trimester the fetus can breath in the water, allowing normal growth and the development of lungs and the gastrointestinal tract.
The forewaters are released when the amnion ruptures, commonly known as when a woman's "waters break" or "spontaneous rupture of membranes" (SRM). The majority of the hindwaters remain inside the womb until the baby is born.
Complications related to amniotic fluid
Too little amniotic fluid (oligohydramnios) or too much (polyhydramnios or hydramnios) can be a cause or an indicator of problems for the mother and baby. However, in both cases the majority of pregnancies proceed normally and the baby is born healthy. Polyhydramnios is a predisposing risk factor for cord prolapse.
Twins and multiple pregnancies sometimes share the amnion and the chorion. Monoamniotic pregnancy is when each embryo or fetus from one single zygote (monozygotic, commonly known as identical twins) is located within the same amnion which is itself in one chorion (monochorionic). Diamniotic pregnancy is when there are more than one amnions inside one chorion or each having their own chorion (dichorionic). Dizygotic (fraternal, non-identical) twins each have their own amnion and chorion and may or may not share a placenta.
Sharing the same amnion (or the same amnion and placenta) can cause complications in pregnancy. For example, the umbilical cords of monoamniotic twins can become entangled, reducing or interrupting the blood supply to the developing fetus. Monochorionic twins, sharing one placenta, usually also share the placental blood supply. In rare cases, blood passes disproportionately from one twin to the other through connecting blood vessels within their shared placenta, leading to twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome.
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details
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http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com/science_fair_projects_encyclopedia/Amniotic_sac
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2013-05-19T19:36:42Z
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698017611/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095337-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
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en
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Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
One of the most famous pictures of the Holocaust. German stormtroopers force Warsaw ghetto dwellers of all ages to move, hands up, during the Jewish Ghetto Uprising in April-May 1943.
Photo credit: Main Commission for the Investigation of Nazi War Crimes, courtesy of USHMM Photo Archives.
A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust
Produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology,
College of Education, University of South Florida © 1997-2013.
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http://fcit.usf.edu/Holocaust/gallery/46199.htm
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2013-06-18T22:44:59Z
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Section 1: Soil Management
- The Soils of Pennsylvania
- Eastern Lake Shore
- Glaciated Region of the Appalachian Plateau
- Allegheny High Plateau
- Glaciated Low Plateau
- Pittsburgh Plateau
- Allegheny Mountains
- Ridge and Valley Province
- Blue Ridge
- Triassic Lowlands
- Conestoga Valley
- Piedmont Upland
- Coastal Plain
- Soil Health
- Soil Erosion
- Water Erosion
- Tillage Erosion
- Soil Compaction
- Tillage Management
- Table 1.1-1. Selected properties and typical capabilities of major Pennsylvania soils.
- Table 1.1-2. Ideal soil bulk densities and root growth limiting bulk densities for soils of different textures.
- Table 1.1-3. Crop residue production of different crops in rotation.
- Table 1.1-4. Pennsylvania tillage practices by crop, 2007.
- Figure 1.1-1. Soil regions of Pennsylvania.
- Figure 1.1-2. The textural triangle quickly helps to determine the textural classification of a soil from the percentages of sand, silt, and clay it contains.
- Figure 1.1-3. No-till soil profile changes compared to changes in a tilled-soil profile.
- Figure 1.1-4. Three causes of erosion resulting from tilling soils on slopes.
- Figure 1.1-5. Topsoil compaction is caused by contact pressure, whereas lower subsoil compaction is caused by axle load.
- Figure 1.1-6. Development of tillage systems in Pennsylvania, 1990-2004.
S. W. Duiker, associate professor of soil management, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
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James Balfour was an historian and herald whose writings included Annals of the History of Scotland. He was created Lyon King of Arms (a court office that regulated royal ceremony and heraldry) and knighted in 1630. He played a key role in the arrangements for Charles I?s Scottish coronation in 1633. This unusual portrait shows Balfour in his study. His informal appearance was fashionable for images of young men at this time and contemporary audiences would have understood the pose, with Balfour resting his head on his hand, as a representation of melancholy. He points to his family coat of arms with his other hand, and wears his Lyon badge suspended from a sash over his shoulder, showing the status he gained through research into Scottish history.
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http://www.nationalgalleries.org/collection/artists-a-z/U/5600/artist_name/Unknown/record_id/23771
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2013-05-25T06:39:48Z
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WASHINGTON — The first deep sea red-light district — glowing appendages on a newly discovered jellyfish relative — appear to flash their come-hither message to lure prey.
Jellyfish and other types of sea creatures are known to produce light, but this is the first deep ocean invertebrate known to use red fluorescent light, said Steven H. D. Haddock of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing, Calif.
Three of the animals were found by scientists using a remote-controlled research vehicle at depths of between 5,200 feet and 7,500 feet (1,600 to 2,300 meters) and off the coast of California. The discovery is reported in Friday's issue of the journal Science.
The new find is a previously unreported species in the genus Erenna, which is a member of the group that includes coral and jellyfish.
The animal, which has not yet been named, has tentacles with side branches that consist of stinging cells attached to a central stalk.
The researchers said that inside the stalk are spots that produce blue-green light when immature and red light when mature.
And they noted that the two colors are produced by different methods. The blue-green light is produced by a process called bioluminescence, which emits energy as light instead of heat. The red light comes from fluorescence, a process in which short-wavelength light such as blue is re-emitted as long-wavelength red light.
There are not many fish at the depth where the specimens were found, but two of the Erennas had fish inside them.
Based on the shape, size and motion of the tentacles, and the fish found in the stomachs, Haddock said the researchers believe the red lights are being used to attract fish that can then be captured and eaten.
"This is another fascinating case of deep-sea ecology, an event that probably happens millions or billions of times a day, but one that we glimpse for the first time only now," said Cairns, who was not part of Haddock's research team.
Previously, many scientists had thought that most fish living at this depth could not see red light, Haddock said in a telephone interview.
At this depth, the ocean filters out red, leaving only blue-green light, he said, and studies of some fish and shrimp eyes indicated a lack of sensors for red wavelengths.
But, he said, there is evidence that some fish can see red, possibly giving them an advantage in finding certain organisms to eat that are red.
The research was funded by the Packard Foundation and the National Science Foundation.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8500316/ns/technology_and_science-science/
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2013-05-23T11:37:22Z
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Tarangnan is politically subdivided into 41 barangays.
On the earlier part of the 18th century, Tarangnan was the first settlement of the Jesuits missionaries in the island of Samar. Even before the explusion of the Jesuits, Moro raids have already begun as early as 1750. Samar though was not their major target because of its poverty. Most of its coastal settlements were often attack by Moros as they return to their bases in Mindanao and Sulu after raiding affluent places in Luzon, Bicol and West Visayas. Hence, for greater safety, the people settling in Tinago, now Tarangnan, moved to an interior site called Dapdap.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, the island of Samar experienced a commercial boom especially in abaca with imports and exports of said products. Moro raids in the island have declined due to the presence of Spaniards. As the Spaniards settled in Samar, They saw the need of all w eather seaports and easy communications for their commercial activities and political administration. This development paved the way for the convergence of the inhabitants into the old town site of Tarangnan where transport was relatively accessible. The settlement of Tarangnan indeed, was growing at a much faster pace than the pueblo of Dapdap. Taking into consideration of the island’s commercial boom with prospect of Tarangnan as a trading center and its religious vigilance over Dapdap, Gov. Enrique Chacon on June 21, 1881 wrote his superiors recommending the transfer of the Poblacion suggesting that the Poblacion be transferred from Dapdap to Tarangnan due to the former’s poor accessibility, unavailability of land area for expansion and its unsanitary environment. On April 1, 1884, Tarangnan was declared as one of the municipalities of the Province of Samar by means of Royal Decree by the King of Spain, King Alfonso I The Municipality of Tarangnan has forty-one (41) duly constituted barangays with a total land area of approximately 10,417.1435 hectares, having a population of 18,791 based on the 1995 NSO data. The Municipality is geographically situated in the west portion of the island of Samar, bounded on the east by the municipality of Pagsanghan, in the south by the capital city of Catbalogan and on the west by the Samar Sea or Maqueda Bay. Tarangnan is accessible by either land or sea. The distance of the poblacion from the capital city of Catbalogan is about 36 km and 59.75 km away from Calbayog City. It can be reached through an 11-km road from the maharlika highway crossing Brgy. Balugo by a provincial road. A 5th class municipality belonging to the 1st Congressional District of the Samar province, Tarangnan has its own municipal hospital which was inaugurated in 1982. It is a 10-bed capacity which caters primary health services and augmented by Rural Health Unit extension workers. It has daycare centers which also cater the needs of pre-schoolers.
Tarangnan has been estimated some years back to have a low literacy rate, but with the opening of primary education in some barangays and expansion of the secondary education (Tarangnan National High School) in Brgy. Oeste, it dramatically rose-up to 89.95% as recorded in NSO 1995 survey. The Municipality’s energization/electrification program is being undertaken by Samar Electric Cooperative (SAMELCO I) based in Calbayog City. Presently, around 21 barangays or 52% of the total number of barangay are fully energized. Others without such facilities are using power-generator sets to provide electricity to its constituents. Water Supply is predomonantly on Level I and II, and its sources are believed to be potable. Coping along with the reforestation program of the government, the municipality has already started its reforestation activities and is still focusing to achieve its target of 30% reforested area by the year 2005 Aside from implementation of the Fishery Laws and PD 701, Fish Sanctuaries and Marine Reserve Area were installed along the shorelines of some island barangays along the Cambatutay Bay to complement the substantial measures in protecting the marine resources. Majority of these projects were initiated by the WESAMAR (an EU-GOP Funded project by the Department of Agriculture) together with the Community-Based Organizations.
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http://iloveeasternvisayas.com/samar/tarangnan/
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2013-05-23T04:55:47Z
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
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en
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Why wait (), notify () and notifyAll () must be called from synchronized block or method in Java
Most of Java developer knows that wait() ,notify() and notifyAll() method of object class must have to be called inside synchronized method or synchronized block in Java but how many times we thought why ? Recently this questions was asked to in Java interview to one of my friend, he pondered for a moment and replied that if we don't call wait () or notify () method from synchronized context we will receive IllegalMonitorStateException in java. He was right in terms of behavior of language but as per him interviewer was not completely satisfied with the answer and wanted to explain more about it. After the interview he discussed the same questions with me and I thought he might have told about race condition between wait () and notify () in Java that could exists if we don't call them inside synchronized method or block. Let’s see how it could happen:
We use wait () and notify () or notifyAll () method mostly for inter-thread communication. One thread is waiting after checking a condition e.g. In Producer Consumer example Producer Thread is waiting if buffer is full and Consumer thread notify Producer thread after he creates a space in buffer by consuming an element. calling notify() or notifyAll() issues a notification to a single or multiple thread that a condition has changed and once notification thread leaves synchronized block , all the threads which are waiting fight for object lock on which they are waiting and lucky thread returns from wait() method after reacquiring the lock and proceed further. Let’s divide this whole operation in steps to see a possibility of race condition between wait () and notify () method in Java, we will use Produce Consumer thread example to understand the scenario better:
1. The Producer thread tests the condition (buffer is full or not) and confirms that it must wait (after finding buffer is full).
2. The Consumer thread sets the condition after consuming an element from buffer.
3. The Consumer thread calls the notify () method; this goes unheard since the Producer thread is not yet waiting.
4. The Producer thread calls the wait () method and goes into waiting state.
So due to race condition here we potential lost a notification and if we use buffer or just one element Produce thread will be waiting forever and your program will hang.
Now let's think how does this potential race condition get resolved? This race condition is resolved by using synchronized keyword and locking provided by java. In order to call the wait (), notify () or notifyAll () methods in Java, we must have obtained the lock for the object on which we're calling the method. Since the wait () method in Java also releases the lock prior to waiting and reacquires the lock prior to returning from the wait () method, we must use this lock to ensure that checking the condition (buffer is full or not) and setting the condition (taking element from buffer) is atomic which can be achieved by using synchronized method or block in Java.
I am not sure if this is what interviewer was actually expecting but this what I thought would at least make sense, please correct me If I wrong and let us know if there is any other convincing reason of calling wait(), notify() or notifyAll method in Java.
Just to summarize we call wait (), notify () or notifyAll method in Java from synchronized method or synchronized block in Java to avoid:
1) IllegalMonitorStateException in Java which will occur if we don't call wait (), notify () or notifyAll () method from synchronized context.
2) Any potential race condition between wait and notify method in Java.Some of my other favorite interview discussions are Why String is immutable or final in Java, how HashMap works in Java and what are differences between HashMap and hashtable in Java is.
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<urn:uuid:86f8b432-2bb3-48d1-af4d-d4d85a904118>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://javarevisited.blogspot.com/2011/05/wait-notify-and-notifyall-in-java.html?showComment=1322570867930
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2013-05-22T14:17:36Z
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
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Electron Beam Tomography: The Safer Alternative to Angiograms
Picture this scenario: You doctor calls you to discuss the results of the blood tests he ran for you to screen for heart disease. She tells you that your test results indicate that you might be at risk for heart disease and she would like to schedule you for a follow up procedure just to be safe.
Until a few years ago, most cardiologists who had these kinds of conversations with their patients would’ve chosen to schedule their patients for an angiogram. An angiogram is a surgical procedure in which a thin tube (catheter) is inserted into a blood vessel near the groin (either the femoral artery or vein) or just above the elbow (brachial artery or vein). The catheter is then guided through the blood vessel by a surgeon to the area of the body that needs to be observed. At that point, a dye is injected into that area via the catheter to make the area highly visible to X-ray.
An angiogram, which can be used to examine blood vessels anywhere in the body, including the head and neck, is an effective method for observing the health of blood vessels, and for detecting blockages, narrowing of the arteries, and blood vessel bulges (aneurysms). Though normally safe, the procedure is not without risk, requires hospitalization, and in a small number of cases can cause a heart attack or stroke. It is also relatively expensive and, depending on the time of day in which it is performed, can result in an overnight stay in the hospital.
While an angiogram may still be required for some patients, today a growing number of cardiologists prefer to use electron beam tomography (EBT) to screen for heart disease risk. Also known as “ultra-fast CT scans,” EBT scans offer many advantages compared to angiograms. First, unlike angiograms, which require a patient to be anesthetized beforehand and then spend time in a hospital recovery room after the surgery is performed, EBT scans are completely noninvasive and can be performed in as little as 10 minutes. Instead of requiring a visit to a hospital to be performed, EBT scans are usually performed at a doctor’s clinic or radiology facility. In addition, they are much less expensive than angiograms, costing $200 to $300 on average. (Unlike angiograms, however, EBT scans are normally not covered by health insurance.)
The biggest advantage that an EBT scan offers, however, is its ability to rapidly assess the health of a patient’s heart and detect signs of heart disease very early on. For this reason, EBT is the only technology approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the early detection of heart disease. Just as importantly, research has shown that EBT is one of the most effective ways for doctors to determine heart disease risk in patients who present with no symptoms.
The primary benefit of an EBT heart scan lies in the scan’s ability to screen for signs of calcium buildup (calcification) in the arteries. EBT scans enable doctors to accurately determine their patients’ calcium score by measuring both the amount and density of calcium deposits in the arteries. Coronary artery disease usually begins when fatty plaque starts to build up on the walls of blood vessels. As this buildup occurs, calcium deposits start to buildup at the same time, making them a marker for heart disease. For this reason, elevated coronary calcium levels strongly correlate with a higher risk for heart disease, as well as heart disease deaths. In fact, research shows that the presence of calcium deposits in arteries can increase the risk of death from heart disease by as much as 1,200 percent over seven years. Additional research has found that men with no other symptoms of heart disease who also have the highest calcium scores, have more than 10 times the risk of eventually needing heart surgery (angioplasty or bypass surgery) compared to men with low to moderate calcium scores.
EBT heart scans are especially advised for anyone who falls into one or more of the following categories:
- People age 50 and above.
- People who smoke.
- People with a family history of heart disease.
- People with elevated lipid (fat) levels.
- People with high blood pressure.
- People who do not exercise.
- People who are overweight or obese.
- People who suffer from type-II (adult-onset) diabetes.
If you feel that you are at risk for heart disease, even if you don’t have any obvious symptoms, talk with your doctor about scheduling an EBT heart scan. The procedure is not only quick, but very easy. You will simply lie on a table and be instructed to hold your breath for a few moments while the EBT scanner takes images of your heart. These images are then sent to a computer, which creates a 3D view of your heart. A second scan of your carotid arteries that run alongside your neck, delivering oxygen and nutrients to your brain, may also be performed to screen for abnormal thickness within the carotid arteries’ inner layer. No preparation, such as fasting beforehand, for the scan is required, and once it is performed, the results are available to your doctor within minutes.
Note: Despite their effectiveness for helping to prevent heart disease and heart surgery due to early detection, EBT scans cannot determine the degree of arterial narrowing if such narrowing is found. If it is, you may stillneed an angiogram in order for your doctor to assess the severity of such narrowing. In addition, EBT scans, like all forms of CT scans, exposes patients to radiation, although the amount is relatively small.
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<urn:uuid:59d6f123-8290-43ad-9965-f020b41c87e3>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.naturalsolutionsmag.com/heart-disease/electron-beam-tomography-safer-alternative-angiograms
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2013-06-19T19:49:52Z
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en
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New York: The Empire State
Geography and Industry
In the southeast, New York's Long Island is surrounded by three bodies of water: Long Island Sound, the Atlantic Ocean, and New York Harbor. Along its southern border, New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
New York has a little bit of every terrain, except for desert, within its borders. In the southeast, there is the broad floodplain of the Atlantic. Running north from there is the Great Appalachian Valley, which includes the Hudson River and Lake Champlain. The Hudson cuts through the Allegheny Plateau, which rises into the Catskill Mountains.
The northern part of the state is mountainous, with the Adirondack chain running through it. Western New York is very hilly, with a number of lakes, including the Finger Lakes and Lake Oneida.
The falls of the Niagara River are a world-famous attraction that draws millions of people to see them every year. Every hour 5,000,000,000 gallons of water flow over the edge of the Niagara Falls.
Words to Know
A floodplain is a flat piece of land next to a river, stream, or ocean that experiences occasional flooding.
Before European settlement, New York was the home of many different tribes of Native Americans. The most powerful tribes were the Iroquois confederacy in western New York.
The Iroquois were not one tribe — they were actually five tribes! They called themselves the Ho-de-no-sau-nee, which means “People of the Longhouse.” In the minds of the Iroquois, they all lived together, much the same way that a family will live in different parts of a house today. The Seneca lived furthest west, and were called the Keepers of the Western Door. The Mohawks lived furthest east, and were called the Keepers of the Eastern Door. The tribes in the middle were the Cayuga, Oneida, and Onondaga. Many of the descendants of the Iroquois still live in western New York as well as in southern Canada today.
The French and Dutch were the first Europeans to visit New York. They have left their words as place names all over the state — for example, bodies of water like Lake Champlain (pronounced “sham-PLAIN”) and the Schuylkill River (pronounced “SKOOL-kil”).
The Dutch (people from the Netherlands) founded the first permanent settlement in what is now New York when they bought an island at the mouth of the Hudson River in 1626. They paid local Native Americans with trade goods (blankets and colored beads) that would cost us about $25.00 in today's money for what is now Manhattan Island! Imagine buying the area where New York City now stands, and having money left over from your allowance. You'd be the next Donald Trump!
The Dutch called this colony New Netherlands, and called the city they built on Manhattan Island New Amsterdam. The English later fought a war with the Dutch and took New Netherlands away from them. They changed the name of the colony (and its largest city) to New York.
After America became a nation, New York City quickly became more and more important. It was even the national capital city for a brief time! Did you know that when New York became a state, the northern parts of Manhattan Island still had farms on them? It's true! But by the late nineteeth century, with the growth of manufacturing in New York City, the farms were long gone.
One of the major reasons for New York's emergence as the foremost city of the new nation was its harbor, lauded by many as the finest natural harbor in the western hemisphere. This meant a boom in the trade that passed through New York City on its way between the American West and places overseas such as Europe and Asia. On top of the city's harbor, there also was the fact that New York state had built the famous Erie Canal, which made it very easy to get trade goods back and forth across the state between the harbor cities of New York, which was on the Atlantic coast, and Buffalo, which serves as an important port city at the eastern end of the Great Lakes.
ALL ABOUT New York
LARGEST CITY: New York City
POPULATION: 18,976,457 (2000 Census)
STATE BIRD: Bluebird
STATE TREE: Sugar maple
STATE FLOWER: Rose
STATE MOTTO: “Excelsior (Ever Upward)”
STATEHOOD: July 26, 1788
POSTAL ABBREVIATION: NY
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Angiostrongyliasis is infection with larvae of worms of the genus Angiostrongylus; intestinal symptoms or eosinophilic meningitis occurs depending on the infecting species.
Angiostrongylus are parasites of rats. Excreted larvae are taken up by intermediate hosts (snails and slugs) and transport hosts (certain crabs and freshwater shrimp). Human infection is acquired by ingestion of raw or undercooked snails or slugs or transport hosts; it is unclear whether larval contamination of vegetables (eg, in slime from snails or slugs that crawl on the food) can cause infection.
A. cantonensis infection occurs predominantly in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Basin, although infection has been reported elsewhere. The larvae migrate from the GI tract to the meninges, where they cause eosinophilic meningitis, with fever, headache, and meningismus. Occasionally, ocular invasion occurs.
A. costaricensis infection occurs in the Americas. Adult worms reside in arterioles of the ileocecal area, and eggs can be released into the intestinal tissues, resulting in local inflammation with abdominal pain, vomiting, and fever. Abdominal angiostrongyliasis mimics appendicitis; a painful right lower quadrant mass may develop.
Diagnosis is suspected based on a history of ingesting potentially contaminated material. Patients with meningeal findings require lumbar puncture; CSF shows eosinophilia, but parasites are rarely visible. Diagnosis of GI infection is difficult because larvae and eggs are not present in stool; however, if surgery is done (eg, for suspected appendicitis), eggs and larvae can be identified in tissues removed during surgery.
A. cantonensis meningitis is treated with analgesics, corticosteroids, and removal of CSF at frequent intervals to reduce CNS pressure. Most patients have a self-limited course and recover completely.
Treatment of A. costaricensis infection is controversial. Anthelmintics do not appear to be effective and may be harmful because of the inflammatory response provoked by antigen released from dead parasites.
Last full review/revision December 2009 by Richard D. Pearson, MD
Content last modified February 2012
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Even the shortest of catnaps may be enough to improve performance in memory tests, say German scientists.
A catnap may be just as good as a long sleep
Just six minutes "shut-eye" for volunteers was followed by significantly better recall of words, New Scientist magazine reported.
"Ultra-short" sleep could launch memory processing in the brain, they suggested.
One UK researcher disagreed, saying that longer sleep was needed to have an impact on memory.
Dozens of studies have probed the relationship between sleep and memory, with clear evidence that body's natural sleep-wake cycle plays an important role.
The team from the University of Dusseldorf wanted to see just how short a sleep could have any discernable impact.
They used a group of students who were asked to remember a set of words, then given an hour's break before testing.
During that hour, some of the students were allowed to sleep for approximately six minutes, while the rest were kept asleep.
Remarkably, on waking, the napping students performed better in the memory test.
Some theories suggests that the processing of memories takes place in deep sleep, a phase which does not normally start until at least 20 minutes after falling asleep.
Six minute warning
However, the team, led by Dr Olaf Lahl, said that it was possible that the moment of falling asleep triggered a process in the brain that continued regardless of how long the person actually stayed awake.
"To our knowledge, this demonstrates for the first time that an ultra-brief sleep episode provides an effective memory enhancement," he wrote.
Professor Jim Horne, from the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University, said that while the study was "interesting", he was yet to be convinced that the effect was purely one of memory enhancement.
"The idea that memory could be enhanced in just six minutes is a quite unique finding and one has to be rather cautious about it.
"There is quite a bit of evidence that memory processing probably takes place more than six minutes into sleep."
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7254555.stm
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Unless otherwise indicated,
all glossary content is:
(C) Copyright 2008-2013
Dominic John Repici
~ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ~
No part of this Content may be copied without the
express written permision of Dominic John Repici.
Also known as a neurode, or artificial neuron when used in the context of an artificial neural network (ANN). In essence, a neuron's primary function is to receive a multitude of input signals from external sources, or from other neurons in the neural network, and produce an output signal.
A typical neuron in an ANN produces a single output value (called an axon level in Netlab) that roughly represents the weighted combination of the values on its inputs, called synapses. The neuron's axon can be connected to the inputs of other neurons, or to outside processes.
Other neurons (and input devices) are connected through the neuron's input synapses. These synapses modulate, or gate, the input signals connected to them by weight values before combining them together to form the neuron's output. In floating point math, the input values are simply multiplied by the weight values to gate them. Because weight values can be adjusted in response to stimuli, the output represented on the neuron's axon is further modified by changes the weight values undergo during training. In essence, weight-values represent connection strengths between the neuron and the connected axon, which are the primary mechanism for providing memory in neural networks.
Neurons in Netlab also contain adaptive inputs, which are not shown in the above diagram.
. . . . . . .
In biological nervous systems, a neuron is a single cell with exaggerated signaling capabilities. The output values are represented by all-or-nothing pulses, called action potentials. In artificial neural networks a neuron is a process element that mimics some aspects and characteristics of a biological neuron. In essence, a neuron, whether biological or simulated, comprises inputs called synapses which are connection-points that connect signals from other neurons and external sources. Neurons also have outputs called axons, which carry the neuron's output signals to other neurons and external sources.
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It usually surprises people when I say that it’s a great time to be in agriculture. While the number of farmers has declined significantly since our parents’ generation, there’s no denying that food prices are up, as are the prices for farmland. And the pressure is on to feed a world population growing from six billion to nine billion. We all need to eat, and it seems that finally we’re coming to realize how critical agriculture is.
But with the population booming and ever-increasing demands for development being made on our arable land, we’ve reached a dilemma: How do we provide more food to more people using fewer resources?
This question has become so controversial that every interest group seems to have a particular technology that is THE answer to global food issues, at the exclusion of all other systems or technologies. If genetically modified (GM) crops are the answer, say some, then organic production cannot be. Others claim big industrial agriculture can’t be the answer, so small and local farming must be. Organic can feed the world, according to some, but then there is no room for GM crops.
When my big Ag friends fear “local” and “organic” will put them out of business, I laugh. Hardly. I say to them, “Don’t you want consumers to be more connected to their food?” Anything that increases consumers’ connection to food production is a good thing.
Pragmatically, we know that agriculture is not going to change overnight to one system or one technology. For years to come, there will be multiple ways to grow crops, with different systems and technologies co-existing. But you can be sure that any food production system that feeds nine billion people has to be done sustainably–taking into account the triple bottom line: people, planet, and prosperity (or the three E’s, according to others: social equity, environment, and economics).
So sustainable farming has three key challenges:
1) It must be productive–generating more food from finite natural resources;
2) The food should be healthy, clean and marketable, with less waste than the way we farm currently;
3) The way we grow our food must have reduced impact–being safer for workers, neighbors, and consumers, as well as preserving natural resources with less reliance on non-renewable resources (like petroleum).
That’s where biopesticides come in. Unlike synthetic options, biopesticides are naturally occurring products derived from materials like plants and microorganisms (think bacteria and fungi). In most cases, biopesticides are less toxic than conventional pesticides, making the food safer for people who eat it and those who grow it. In fact, products like Regalia–a fungicide from my company, Marrone Bio Innovations–can be applied in the morning, with workers safely returning to the fields by the afternoon.
Biopesticides generally affect only the target pests, compared to broad spectrum, conventional pesticides that may cause harm to birds, insects, mammals, and other organisms. They often decompose quickly, and reduce the likelihood that pests and plant pathogens will develop resistance. Using our products, farmers can grow crops with no synthetic chemical residues, allowing them access to the most profitable export markets in Europe, where regulators have implemented strict laws about chemical use on crops.
Chances are that when you open a bag of lettuce or spinach, they were grown using one of our natural products. So why haven’t you heard of biopesticides?
While they’ve been around for 50 years, biopesticides remain the domain of small companies–typically without the clout of multi-billion dollar global enterprises. As you can imagine, it has been difficult to get the word out and break through all the chatter.
But agriculture is changing. In the past five years, the biopesticide market has grown by more than 15 percent per year. Biopesticides now comprise almost six percent of the $36 billion global pesticide market. At the same time, chemical pesticides have grown more slowly with inflation and commodity prices. Increasingly, Marrone Bio Innovations and other biopesticide companies have demonstrated that biopesticides, when incorporated into pest or plant disease programs, can improve efficacy, enhance yield, and be cost effective. In fact, while biopesticides can be used in organic farming, 90 percent of all biopesticides are used by conventional farmers.
The word is spreading. Consumers are demanding food that’s safe for their children and the environment. Growers know that they face increasing regulations and pest resistance, and are looking for natural alternatives that maintain yields and the health of their plants. Biopesticides are part of a cost-effective, environmentally-responsible solution, and they’re gaining steam.
Winning the Growing Green Business Leader Award from the Natural Resources Defense Council helps a small company like Marrone Bio Innovations break through a crowded pest management market. It’s a huge honor, and increases awareness that biopesticides are viable, effective and sustainable technologies, ready now to meet sustainable food production needs and challenges for a growing population.
Originally published on NRDC’s OnEarth
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October is National Sensory Awareness Month!
Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) is a neurological disorder in which the brain and the senses (all 8 of them!) don't work together as they should. Some examples of this include frequent sensory overload (when the brain is unable to filter out irrelevant sensory input), motor difficulties (when the brain isn't able to coordinate the muscles to respond appropriately to stimuli), and difficulty interpreting sensory input (when the brain doesn't recognize the body's signals, such as hunger).
Individuals with SPD may be under-responsive or over-responsive to sensory input. Some may be sensory avoiders, overly sensitive to certain textures or sounds. This can have major implications for daily living, as they may find only certain types of clothing or food tolerable, and may find some places too overwhelming to be comfortable there. Some may be sensory seekers, crashing into everything, climbing or hanging upside down all the time. Sometimes it depends on the situation, and it's possible to have both sensory-seeking and sensory-avoiding responses depending on the type of sensory input.
Most of the examples I gave are part of our experience with our boys - all three of them have SPD along with autism. It's quite common for people on the autism spectrum to also have sensory issues, although it's possible to have one without the other and there are many people with SPD who are not on the autism spectrum. Sometimes SPD symptoms may be misinterpreted as ADHD, for example when a sensory-seeker is in constant motion, running and crashing, in an attempt to get the sensory input they need, or has difficulty staying on task because they frequently need to be up and moving around.
One of the most helpful books I've read on the topic is "The Out-of-Sync Child" by Carol Kranowitz. I read it soon after our twins were dx'd and it really helped me to get a better idea of what they were going through, which in turn helped me to be more patient with some of their more challenging behavior.
If you're looking for (or want to share with others) some insight into what it's like to have SPD, I highly recommend this article. An excerpt from it quotes Stanley Greenspan:
"Imagine driving a car that isn't working well. When you step on the gas the car sometimes lurches forward and sometimes doesn't respond. When you blow the horn it sounds blaring. The brakes sometimes slow the car, but not always. The blinkers work occasionally, the steering is erratic, and the speedometer is inaccurate. You are engaged in a constant struggle to keep the car on the road, and it is difficult to concentrate on anything else."
I've included some links below, feel free to share additional resources in the comments.
What is SPD?
How does it feel? - a short but very insightful look at what it's like for those who have SPD
SPD Signs and Symptoms
SPD Red flags
Sensory Processing Disorder
The SPD Blogger Network
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GALVESTON ARMY AIRFIELD
GALVESTON ARMY AIRFIELD. Galveston Army Airfield, a World War II military installation on Galveston Island, originated in 1941, when the federal government made plans to expand the Galveston municipal airport to accommodate army aircraft. In 1942 the United States Army Corps of Engineers, using funds made available by Congress through the Civil Aeronautics Authority, constructed three 6,000-foot-long, hard-surface runways at the airport. In January 1943 the field was officially activated, and by March 1943 it was under the command of Maj. Henry C. Coles, one of several commanders during its history. The installation cost $7 million and at its peak had some 2,500 personnel. Early in its history the airfield was used as headquarters for planes flying antisubmarine patrols. Air-crew training was also conducted there. As the war continued, the base gained importance, and a number of heavy bombardment units and fighter planes were stationed there. During 1944 the field was used as an instructors' indoctrination center to train overseas veterans as military instructors. In February of that year more than 2,000 troops were stationed at the base. In 1945 the airfield served as headquarters for a fighter-gunnery base of the Second Army Air Force. Aircrew training continued there until the end of the war. By October 1945, however, most of the aircraft had been transferred to other stations, and deactivation of military activities at the airfield had begun. Galveston Army Airfield was officially deactivated on November 15, 1945. The city of Galveston, which had retained ownership of the property, secured landing rights there, and the Galveston municipal airport has operated at the site since the military base closed.
Galveston Daily News, November 15, 1945. Galveston Tribune, November 15, 1945.
The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.Maury Darst, "GALVESTON ARMY AIRFIELD," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qcg04), accessed May 24, 2013. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
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Herbicide resistant GM corn is grown in the United States. A variation of herbicide resistant GM corn was approved for import into the European Union in 2004. Such imports remain highly controversial (The Independent, 2005).
Expressing the toxin was achieved by inserting a gene from the lepidoptera pathogen microorganism Bacillus thuringiensis into the corn genome. This gene codes for a toxin that causes the formation of pores in the larval digestive tract. These pores allow naturally occurring enteric bacteria such as E. coli and Enterobacter to enter the hemocoel where they multiply and cause sepsis. (Broderick et al, PNAS 2006) This is contrary to the common misconception that Bt toxin kills the larvae by starvation.
In 2001, Bt176 varieties were voluntarily withdrawn from the list of approved varieties by the United States Environmental Protection Agency when it was found to have little or no Bt expression in the ears and was not found to be effective against second generation corn borers. (Current status of Bt Corn Hybrids, 2005)
In 2001 the scientific journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published six comprehensive studies that showed that Bt corn pollen does not pose a risk to monarch populations for the following reasons:
(Sears, et al., 2001)
Monarch populations in the USA during 1999 increased by 30%, despite Bt corn accounting for 30% of all corn grown in the USA that year. The beneficial effects of Bt corn on Monarch populations can be attributed to reduced pesticide use. (Trewavas and Leaver, 2001).
Numerous scientific studies continue to investigate the potential effects of Bt corn on a variety of nontarget invertebrates. A synthesis of data from many such field studies(Marvier et al. 2007) found that the measured effect depends on the standard of comparison. The overall abundance of nontarget invertebrates in Cry1Ab variety Bt corn fields is significantly higher compared to non-GM corn fields treated with insecticides, but significantly lower compared to insecticide-free non-GM corn fields. Abundance in fields of another variety, Cry3Bb corn, is not significantly different compared to non-GM corn fields either with or without insecticides.
Bees have been observed to forage on cracked corn kernels. This has not contributed to Colony Collapse Disorder.
By law, farmers in the United States who plant Bt corn must plant non-Bt corn nearby. These non-modified fields are to provide a location to harbor pests. The theory behind these refuges is to slow the evolution of the pests to the Bt pesticide. Doing so enables an area of the landscape where wild type pests will not be immediately killed.
It is anticipated that resistance to Bt will evolve in the form of a recessive allele in the pest. Because of this, a pest that gains resistance will have an incredibly higher fitness than the wild type pest in the Bt corn fields. If the resistant pest is feeding in the non-Bt corn nearby, the resistance is neutral and offers no advantage to the pest over any non resistant pest. Ensuring that there are at least some breeding pests nearby that are not resistant, increases the chance that resistant pests will choose to mate with a nonresistant one. Since the gene is recessive, all offspring will be heterozygous, and the offspring from that mating will not be resistant to Bt and therefore no longer a threat. Using this method scientists and farmers hope to keep the number of resistant genes very low, and utilize genetic drift to insure that any resistance that does emerge does not spread.
The non-Bt pesticide status of the refuges is being compromised by wind-born pollen drifting into the non-Bt corn fields. Corn harvested from the supposed Bt-free zones has shown traces of Bt toxin. The levels found in the non-Bt corn decreases with distance from the Bt-corn fields indicating that the pollen is wind-borne rather than another method of transfer. The concentrations in the refuge fields were found to be low-to-moderate.
Possible solutions to the cross-pollination problem are to plant a wider refuge field or plant varieties of corn that bloom at different times than the Bt fields do. (Chilcutt & Tabashnik, 2004)
U.S. regulatory authorities permitted the commercial sale of StarLink seed with the stipulation that crops produced must not be used for human consumption. This restriction was based on the possibility that a small number of people might develop an allergic reaction to the Bt protein used in StarLink that is less rapidly digested than the version used in other Bt varieties.
StarLink corn was subsequently found in food destined for consumption by humans. An episode involving Taco Bell taco shells was particularly well publicized . This led to a public relations disaster for Aventis and the biotechnology industry as a whole. Sales of StarLink seed were discontinued. The registration for Starlink varieties was voluntarily withdrawn by Aventis in October 2000.
28 people reported apparent allergic reactions related to eating corn products that may have contained the Starlink protein. However, the US Centers for Disease Control studied the blood of these individuals and concluded there was no evidence that the reactions people experienced were associated with hypersensitivity to the Starlink Bt protein .
Aid sent by the UN and the US to Central African nations also contained some StarLink corn. The nations involved refused to accept the aid.
The southern portion of the U.S. corn belt planted the greatest amount of StarLink corn. It is this portion of the U.S. where corn borer damage creates the greatest economic loss to farmers.
The US corn supply has been monitored for the presence of the Starlink Bt proteins since 2001. No positive samples have been found since 2004, showing that it was possible to withdraw this GM crop without leaving traces in the environment once it has been used in the field
The persistence of nonresistance: nonresistance is a type of pacifism that appreciates the role of the state in punishing evil, says Levi Miller. The following is from a recent article
Apr 07, 2003; Christians from various traditions hold to a type of pacifist Christianity called "nonresistance." Because their opposition to...
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Learning Center | Supreme Court Decisions & Women's Rights - Milestones to Equality
The following essay traces the history of landmark sex discrimination cases that have come before the Supreme Court. It is an excerpt from Supreme Court Decisions and Women's Rights: Milestones to Equality, a textbook on gender law aimed at high school and college students. It is available for sale through the Society's gift shop.
"Sex Discrimination - The Search for a Standard," by Natalie Wexler
The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in the wake of the Civil War, provides in part that "No state shall . . . deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." This simple phrase, known as the Equal Protection Clause, has spawned a complex body of judicial doctrine. But its original purpose was to ensure that the recently defeated Southern states did not infringe on the rights of the newly emancipated slaves.
Initially, it seemed as though the clause might be limited only to claims of racial discrimination. In its first interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause in Slaughter-House Cases (1873), the Supreme Court held that a group of Louisiana butchers could not rely on the clause to challenge a state monopoly. "We doubt very much whether any action of a State not directed by way of discrimination against [African Americans] as a class, or on account of their race, will ever be held to come within the purview of this provision," the Court said.
But in fact the Court soon began to expand the reach of the clause beyond its core requirement of equal treatment of the races, holding that it was essentially a directive that all persons "similarly situated" should be treated alike. The issue then became how to determine which groups were in fact similarly situated. A general "rationality" requirement was read into the provision: in order for legislation to pass muster, any distinction it drew between groups of people-any "classification," in legal parlance-had to be rationally related to the legislation's purpose. In other words, for the law to treat one group of people differently than another its defender simply had to show that there was a reason for the discrepancy that went beyond mere hostility to the targeted group.
A similar requirement was read into another provision of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Due Process Clause: "Nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." From the turn of the century through the 1930s, a conservative Supreme Court frequently used the Due Process Clause-and to a lesser extent the Equal Protection Clause-to strike down economic legislation and social reforms on the ground that they were "unreasonable." In the most groundbreaking of these cases, Lochner v. New York (1905), the Court ruled that a state law setting a daily ten-hour limit on the working hours of bakers was an unreasonable interference with the freedom of workers and employers to enter into contracts.
After 1937, a reaction against the so-called Lochner era set in. The Supreme Court began to apply the rationality requirements of both the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses so leniently as to render them virtually meaningless. "State legislatures are presumed to have acted within their constitutional power despite the fact that, in practice, their laws result in some inequality," the Court said in 1961, in a fairly typical formulation. "A statutory discrimination will not be set aside if any state of facts reasonably may be conceived to justify it."
But while this permissive attitude prevailed in the context of social and economic legislation, the Equal Protection Clause had not been rendered completely powerless. In 1938, a footnote in an otherwise unremarkable case called United States v. Carolene Products Co. laid the groundwork for much of the Supreme Court's later elaboration of the Equal Protection Clause. Justice Harlan Fiske Stone, writing for the Court, observed that a more searching equal protection review might be appropriate when "legislation appears on its face to be within a specific prohibition of the Constitution, such as those of the first ten amendments." Similarly, the Court might want to take a harder look at "statutes directed at particular religious . . . or national . . . or racial minorities." The theory behind this approach was that the Court might need to step in when the ordinary political process was not adequate to ensure justice-either because the legislation interfered with rights that were central to that process, or because it discriminated against "discrete and insular minorities" who were likely to be victims of prejudice and lacked sufficient power to protect their rights in the political arena.
Under the liberal Warren Court of the 1960s, the split approach outlined in Carolene Products solidified into a rigid "two-tier" system of evaluating equal protection claims. The Court reviewed ordinary, run-of-the mill challenges to social and economic legislation under its low-level "rationality" test. Those claims only had to pass the easy, reasonableness standard. But two kinds of claims warranted "strict scrutiny": claims that legislation infringed on a "fundamental right," such as the right to vote, the right to interstate travel, or the right to appeal in a criminal case; and claims that legislation had created a "suspect classification." A classification was "suspect" if it was based on a group's race, ethnicity, or religion-essentially the "discrete and insular minorities" of the Carolene Products footnote. Discrimination premised on these characteristics, the Court said, was so unlikely to be related to a legitimate state objective that it was in effect presumed to be the product of prejudice and hostility. In order to pass the strict scrutiny test, a legislative classification had to be "narrowly tailored" to achieve a "compelling state interest." This standard proved so difficult to meet that the strict scrutiny test was sometimes referred to as "strict in theory and fatal in fact."
After Warren E. Burger succeeded Earl Warren as chief justice in 1969, discontent with the two-tier standard surfaced both on and off the Court. Both Justices John Paul Stevens and Thurgood Marshall criticized the Court's equal protection jurisprudence, with Stevens declaring that there was "only one Equal Protection Clause," and Marshall advocating a "sliding scale" approach. "A principled reading of what this Court has done reveals that it has applied a spectrum of standards in reviewing discrimination allegedly violative of the Equal Protection Clause," Marshall wrote in a 1973 dissent. "This spectrum clearly comprehends variations in the degree of care with which the Court will scrutinize particular classifications, depending, I believe, on the constitutional and societal importance of the interest adversely affected and the recognized invidiousness of the basis upon which the particular classification is drawn."
While the Court failed to embrace either Stevens' or Marshall's views, it did begin to tinker with its two-tier approach so as to render it more flexible. In some cases, the Court applied the rationality test in a relatively rigorous fashion, occasionally using it to strike down legislation as unconstitutional. The justices also expanded the range of closely reviewed classifications beyond race and ethnicity to include illegitimacy and gender. For these last two categories, the Court devised an intermediate equal protection test, falling between rationality and strict scrutiny: legislation that discriminated against women or those of illegitimate birth had to be "substantially related" to achieving "an important governmental objective."
This intermediate standard has been developed primarily in cases of discrimination against women. But women do not fit neatly into the Carolene Products mold of "discrete and insular minorities": they are not discrete or insular, nor are they a minority. In order to justify giving them the benefit of heightened scrutiny, the Court has had to rely on another strand of the equal protection doctrine: the idea that people should not be subjected to discrimination on the basis of characteristics that are "immutable"-distinctions, like gender or race, over which they have no control-and that bear no relation to ability. Women, like racial minorities, have historically been subject to severe restrictions on such activities as voting, attending college, and working as lawyers-restrictions that were based on stereotype rather than on the actual capabilities of individual members of the group.
The four cases listed above are landmarks in the development of the Court's gender discrimination doctrine. As the Court grappled with the appropriate method of evaluating this category of equal protection claim, the justices first tried applying the rationality test in an unusually rigorous way (Reed v. Reed); then came to the brink of adopting gender as a full-fledged suspect classification (Frontiero v. Richardson); and finally settled on an intermediate standard that appeared to represent a workable compromise (Craig v. Boren). In the eyes of some Court watchers, the final case, United States v. Virginia (1996), appeared to raise the standard to the highest level. In any event, the decision has left some questions about the Court's future course in this area.
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Geoarchaeology is a multi-disciplinary approach which uses the techniques and subject matter of geography, geology and other Earth sciences to examine topics which inform archaeological knowledge and thought. Geoarchaeologists study the natural physical processes that affect archaeological sites such as geomorphology, the formation of sites through geological processes and the effects on buried sites and artifacts post-deposition. Geoarchaeologists' work frequently involves studying soil and sediments as well as other geographical concepts to contribute an archaeological study.
Geoarchaeology is a recent field of research that uses the computer cartography, geographic information systems (GIS) and digital elevation models (DEM) in combination with disciplines from human and social sciences and earth sciences.1
Column sampling is a technique of collecting samples from a section for analyzing and detecting the buried processes down the profile of the section. Narrow metal tins are hammered into the section in a series to collect the complete profile for study. If more than one tin is needed they are arranged offset and overlapping to one side so the complete profile can be rebuilt offsite in laboratory conditions.
Loss on ignition testing for soil organic content.- a technique of measuring organic content in soil samples. Samples taken from a known place in the profile collected by column sampling are weighed then placed in a fierce oven which burns off the organic content. The resulting cooked sample is weighed again and the resulting loss in weight is an indicator of organic content in the profile at a certain depth. These readings are often used to detect buried soil horizons. A buried soil's horizons may not be visible in section and this horizon is an indicator of possible occupation levels. Ancient land surfaces especially from the prehistoric era can be difficult to discern so this technique is useful for evaluating an areas potential for prehistoric surfaces and archaeological evidence. Comparative measurements down the profile are made and a sudden rise in organic content at some point in the profile combined with other indicators is strong evidence for buried surfaces.
The magnetic susceptibility of a material is a measure of its ability to become magnetised by an external magnetic field (Dearing, 1999). The magnetic susceptibility of a soil reflects the presence of magnetic iron-oxide minerals such as maghaematite; just because a soil contains a lot of iron does not mean that it will have high magnetic susceptibility. Magnetic forms of iron can be formed by burning and microbial activity such as occurs in top soils and some anaerobic deposits. Magnetic iron compounds can also be found in igneous and metamorphic rocks.
The relationship between iron and burning means that magnetic susceptibility is often used for:
- Site prospection, to identify areas of archaeological potential prior to excavation.
- Identifying hearth areas and the presence of burning residues in deposits.2
- Explaining whether areas of reddening are due to burning or other natural processes such as gleying (waterlogging).
The relationship between soil formation and magnetic susceptibility means that it can also be used to:
- Identify buried soils in depositional sequences.
- Identify redeposited soil materials in peat, lake sediments etc.
|This section requires expansion. (June 2008)|
Phosphate in man-made soils derives from people, their animals, rubbish and bones. 100 people excrete about 62 kg of phosphate annually, with about the same from their rubbish. Their animals excrete even more. A human body contains about 650g of PO4,(500g-80% in the skeleton), which results in elevated levels in burial sites. Most is quickly immobilised on the clay of the soil and ‘fixed’, where it can persist for thousands of years. For a 1 ha site this corresponds to about 150 kg PO4 ha-1yr-1 about 0.5% to 10% of that already present in most soils. Therefore it doesn’t take long for human occupation to make orders of magnitude differences to the phosphate concentration in soil. Phosphorus exist in different ‘pools’ in the soil 1) organic (available), 2) occluded (adsorbed), 3) bound (chemically bound). Each of these pools can be extracted using progressively more aggressive chemicals. Some workers (Eidt especially), think that the ratios between these pools can give information about past land use, and perhaps even dating.
Whatever the method of getting the phosphorus from the soil into solution, the method of detecting it is usually the same. This uses the ‘molybdate blue’ reaction, where the depth of the colour is proportional to phosphorus concentration. In the lab, this is measured using a colorimeter, where light shining through a standard cell produces an electrical current proportional to the light attenuation. In the field, the same reaction is used on detector sticks, which are compared to a colour chart.
Phosphate concentrations can be plotted on archaeological plans to show former activity areas, and is also used to prospect for sites in the wider landscape.
The particle size distribution of a soil sample may indicate the conditions under which the strata or sediment were deposited. Particle sizes are generally separated by means of dry or wet sieving (coarse samples such as till, gravel and sands, sometimes coarser silts) or by measuring the changes of the density of a dispersed solution (in sodiumpyrophosphate, for example))of the sample (finer silts, clays). A rotating clock-glass with a very fine-grained dispersed sample under a heat lamp is useful in separating particles.
The results are plotted on curves which can be analyzed with statistical methods for particle distribution and other parameters.
The fractions received can be further investigated for cultural indicators, macro- and microfossils and other interesting features, so particle size analysis is in fact the first thing to do when handling these samples.
Trace element geochemistry is the study of the abundances of elements in geological materials that do not occur in a large quantity in these materials. Because these trace elements concentration are determined by a large number of particular situations under which a certain geological material is formed, they are usually unique between two locations which contain the same type of rock or other geological material.
Geoarchaeologists use this uniqueness in trace element geochemistry to trace ancient patterns of resource-acquisition and trade. For example, researchers can look at the trace element composition of obsidian artifacts in order to "fingerprint" those artifacts. They can then study the trace element composition of obsidian outcrops in order to determine the original source of the raw material used to make the artifact.
Geoarchaeologists study the mineralogical characteristics of pots through macroscopic and microscopic analyses. They can use these characteristics to understand the various manufacturing techniques used to make the pots, and through this, to know which production centers likely made these pots. They can also use the mineralogy to trace the raw materials used to make the pots to specific clay deposits.3
Naturally occurring Ostracods in freshwater bodies are impacted by changes in salinity and pH due to human activities. Analysis of Ostracod shells in sediment columns show the changes brought about by farming and habitation activities. This record can be correlated with age dating techniques to help identify changes in human habitation patterns and population migrations.4
Over the last decades, archaeologists and historians have faced the necessity to reconstruct ancient settlement history not only through the study of the material excavated, but also with the use of palaeo-environmental parameters.
- Ghilardi, M. and Desruelles, S. (2008) “Geoarchaeology: where human, social and earth sciences meet with technology”. S.A.P.I.EN.S. 1 (2)
- Tite, M.S., and Mullins, C. (1971). "Enhancement of magnetic susceptibility of soils on archaeological sites.". Archaeometry 13: 209–219.
- Druca, I. C. and Q. H. J. Gwynb (1997), From Clay to Pots: A Petrographical Analysis of Ceramic Production in the Callejón de Huaylas, North-Central Andes, Peru, Journal of Archaeological Science, 25, 707-718.
- ^ Manuel R. Palacios-Fest, “Nonmarine ostracode shell chemistry from ancient hohokam irrigation canals in central Arizona: A paleohydrochemical tool for the interpretation of prehistoric human occupation in the North American Southwest” Geoarchaeology, Volume 9 Issue 1, Pages 1 – 29, Published Online: 9 Jan 2007
- Slinger, A., Janse, H.. and Berends, G. 1980 . Natuursteen in monumenten. Zeist / Baarn Rijksdienst voor de Monumentenzorg.
- Kasig, Werner 1980. Zur Geologie des Aachener Unterkarbons (Linksrheinisches Schiefergebirge, Deutschland) — Stratigraphie, Sedimentologie und Palaeogeographie des Aachener Kohlenkalks und seine Bedeutung fuer die Entwicklung der Kulturlandschaft im Aachener Raum Aachen RWTH Fak Bergbau… "zur Erlangung…" =. Aachen RWTH.
- Jonghe, Sabine de -, Tourneur, Francis, Ducarme, Pierre, Groessens, Eric e.a. 1996 . Pierres à bâtir traditionnelles de la Wallonie - manuel de terrain. Jambes / Louvain la Neuve ucl,chab / dgrne / region wallonne
- Dreesen, Roland, Dusar, M. and Doperé, F., 2001 . Atlas Natuursteen in Limburgse monumentenx- 2nd print 320pp. . LIKONA ISBN 90-74605-18-4
- Dearing, J. (1999) Magnetic susceptibility. In, Environmental magnetism: a practical guide Walden, J., Oldfield, F., Smith, J., (Eds). Technical guide, No. 6. Quaternary Research Association, London, pp. 35–62.
- Marine geoarchaeology projects at the Centre for Maritime Archaeology, University of Ulster, Coleraine
- The Laboratory of Geoarchaeology, Kazakhstan Information about Geoarchaeological work in Central Asia
- SASSA (Soil Analysis Support System for Archaeologists)
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September 26, 2011
On the 109th anniversary of Levi Strauss’ death, his chief product—blue jeans—have become a $91 billion per year industry, an icon of American culture, and quite possibly the world’s most popular article of clothing. His name, more than any other, evokes the tough denim fabric and heavy stitching of America’s favorite pair of pants. But the birth of blue jeans came under surprising circumstances—and the ancestral trousers barely resemble the blue jeans of today.
It all started in 1871, when tailor Jacob Davis of Reno, Nevada, had a problem. The pants he was making for miners weren’t tough enough to stand up to the conditions in local mines; among other issues, the pockets and button fly were constantly being torn. “A miner’s wife came up to Davis and asked him to come up with pants that could withstand some abuse,” says curator Nancy Davis (no relation), from the American History Museum. Davis looked at the metal fasteners he used on harnesses and other objects. “At that time, he came up with the riveted trousers.”
As local miners snapped up the overalls he made with rivet-strengthened stress points and durable “duck cloth,” a type of canvas, Davis realized he needed to protect his idea. “He had to rush, due to the fact that these worked really well,” says Nancy Davis. “He realized he had something.” Lacking the money to file documents, he turned to Levi Strauss, a German immigrant who had recently opened a branch of his family’s dry-goods store in San Francisco, and the two took out a patent on a pair of pants strengthened with rivets.
Davis soon moved to San Francisco, and wide scale production of riveted pants started for the first time. Strauss ran the business, while Davis became production manager. “[Davis] actually was the person in charge of making sure that the trousers really did what they said they were going to do,” says Nancy Davis. “He was the person who knew how these pants should work.”
Business for the company boomed as pants flew off the shelves. “Strauss was doing pretty well in terms of bringing in merchandise from the East, but this was great because he didn’t need to bring in everything. He could manufacture it there, and that cut out a lot of cost,” says Davis. “He didn’t make just the jeans, but this was the principal thing he was making, and they were very popular.”
Essential to the Levi’s name was the integrity and ruggedness of the trousers. As seen on the American History Museum’s own pair of antique duck trousers, made sometime between 1873 and 1896, the label clearly proclaims “Patent Riveted Duck & Denim Clothing. . .Every Pair Guaranteed. None Genuine Unless Bearing This Label.”
Even as the patent expired in 1890, Levi Strauss & Co. was already associated with a tremendously popular product and set up for long-term success. But introducing a new, more flexible fabric—blue denim—to go with the rivet idea proved to be the combination that would shape American wardrobes for more than a century and counting. “The brown duck continued to be used as late as 1896, and for a while it was side by side with the blue jeans,” Davis says.
The 1890 creation of the iconic Levi’s 501 style, in particular, led to the denim jeans taking over, eventually moving outside of the working class demographic and into the embrace of everyday casual fashion. “Initially, with Davis, it was the people who really needed serviceable pants, and needed them to last a lot longer than most,” says Nancy Davis. “Then we have record of—as early as the 1930s—people, other than blue-collar workers, wearing jeans. You do have people wearing them who don’t need to wear them, especially young people.”
In the latter half of the 20th century—decades after Strauss’ death in 1902—blue jeans achieved widespread cultural significance. “They really come to their apex in the 60s and 70s,” Davis says. “The interesting thing is that this particular type of pants, the blue jeans, have become international,” she adds. “It’s what people think of. When they think of America, they think of blue jeans.”
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by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
(NaturalNews) New research published in The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) has found that the "Western" diet, typically high in sugar and fat, may be responsible for activating genes that signal the body to become fatter. According to scientists, the body's response to high amounts of energy-dense food is to activate the kappa opioid receptor which triggers increased fat storage.
Researchers arrived at this conclusion by conducting an experiment on two groups of mice. One group had its kappa opioid receptors genetically deactivated while the other remained intact. Both groups were fed diets high in fat and sugar for 16 weeks. At the end of 16 weeks, the group with the deactivated receptor remained lean while the control group gained significant weight.
Besides limiting their bodies' ability to store energy-dense food in their fat stores, the mice whose receptors had been deactivated were noted to also have a limited ability to assimilate and store nutrients from the foods they ingested.
Traci Ann Czyzyk-Morgan, one of the study's researchers, indicated that the findings prove the hypothesis long held by many in the scientific community that the kappa opioid receptor may be responsible for causing widespread obesity in Western countries. She and others continue to encourage people to avoid diets high in fat and sugar.
Now that they better understand the process by which fatty, sugary foods turn to fat, those in the medical community are seeking other options as well, including therapeutic ways of deactivating the receptors in order to help curb obesity.
Comments by Mike Adams, the Health RangerAfter reading this, the first question in the minds of many people is probably, "How do I deactivate my kappa opioid receptor?"
But this is a loaded question, and it represents a very unhealthy approach to personal health. For starters, there's no such thing as a standalone "opioid receptor organ" that can be turned off like a light switch. Opioid receptors are distributed throughout the nervous system, and they have their own important function such as regulating the body's response to stress.
It's a dangerous pursuit to try to modify or disable essential functions of the human body in an effort to cause automatic weight loss. What most patients really want is some magic switch that will cause them to lose weight without them having to change their terrible diets. "Turn off my opioid receptors," they say, "and I can eat all the cake and hamburgers I want!"
I say rather than trying to disable opioid receptors in people, we should all be asking why the decision-making centers of consumers' brains have already been disabled when it comes to their diets. In order to fight obesity today, what our world needs is more brain function, not less. And that comes from eating brain-enhancing foods such as organic, fresh vegetables (or the fresh juice made from them).
The best way to lose weight is to make smart food choices at every meal, then combine that effort with regular physical exercise.
Sources for this story include:
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BETHESDA, MD— Lithium (Li-ion) batteries, used to power plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles, show overall promise to “fuel” these vehicles and reduce greenhouse gas emissions but there are a few areas for improvement to reduce possible environmental and public health impacts, according to a “cradle to grave” study of advanced Li-ion batteries conducted by Abt Associates for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The study, carried out through a partnership with EPA, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the Li-ion battery industry, and academicians, was the first life cycle assessment (LCA) to bring together and use data directly provided by Li-ion battery suppliers, manufacturers, and recyclers. Its purpose was to identify the materials or processes within a Li-ion battery’s life cycle that most contribute to impacts on public health and the environment, so that battery manufacturers could use this information to improve the environmental profile of their products, while the technology is still emerging. It also sought to evaluate the potential impacts of a nanotechnology innovation (i.e., a carbon nanotube anode) that could improve battery performance.
“It is well established that Li-ion batteries for electric vehicles are definitely a step in the right direction from traditional gasoline fueled vehicles and nickel metal-hydride automotive batteries, but some of the materials and methods used to manufacture them could be improved,” said Jay Smith, an Abt senior analyst and co-lead of the LCA. “For example, our study showed that the batteries that use cathodes with nickel and cobalt, as well as solvent-based electrode processing, show the highest potential for environmental impacts, like resource depletion, global warming, and ecological toxicity, and human health impacts–primarily resulting from the production, processing, and use of cobalt and nickel metal compounds, which can cause adverse respiratory, pulmonary, and neurological effects in those exposed.” Smith added that there are viable ways to reduce these impacts, including cathode material substitution, solvent-less electrode processing, and recycling of metals from the batteries.
Among other findings, Shanika Amarakoon, an Abt associate who co-led the LCA with Smith, said global warming and other environmental and health impacts were shown to be influenced by the electricity grids used to charge the batteries when driving the vehicles.
“These impacts are sensitive to local and regional grid mixes,” said Amarakoon. “If the batteries in use are drawing power from the grids in the Midwest or South, much of the electricity will be coming from coal-fired plants. If it’s in New England or California, the grids rely more on renewables and natural gas, which emit less greenhouse gases and other toxic pollutants. Our report identifies the need for cleaner electricity generation, especially in regions where a larger number of electric vehicles are anticipated,” Amarakoon said. “However, impacts from the processing and manufacture of these batteries should not be overlooked.”
In terms of battery performance, Smith said that “the nanotechnology applications that we assessed were single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), which are currently being researched for use as anodes as they show promise for improving the energy density and ultimate performance of the Li-ion batteries in vehicles. What we found, however, is that the energy needed to produce the SWCNT anodes in these early stages of development is prohibitive. Over time, if researchers focus on reducing the energy intensity of the manufacturing process before commercialization, the overall environmental profile of the technology has the potential to improve dramatically.”
The LCA results and methodology are described in detail in the EPA/Abt report, “Lithium-ion Batteries and Nanotechnology for Electric Vehicles: A Life Cycle Assessment
,” The research for the LCA was undertaken through the Lithium-ion Batteries and Nanotechnology for Electric Vehicles Partnership, which was led by EPA’s Design for the Environment Program in the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention and Toxics, and EPA’s National Risk Management Research Laboratory in the Office of Research and Development. The Partnership also included industry partners (i.e., battery manufacturers, recyclers, and suppliers, and other industry groups), the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Lab, Arizona State University, and the Rochester Institute of Technology.
About Abt Associates
Abt Associates is a mission-driven, global leader in research and program implementation in the fields of health, social and environmental policy, and international development. Known for its rigorous approach to solving complex challenges, Abt Associates was ranked as one of the top 20 global research firms in 2011 and also named one of the top 40 international development innovators. The company has multiple offices in the U.S. and program offices in nearly 40 countries. www.abtassociates.com
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Dr. Mae Jemison successfully completed her astronaut training program in August 1998, becoming the fifth African American
astronaut and the first African American female astronaut in NASA history. In August 1992, SPACELAB J was a successful
joint U.S. and Japanese science mission, making Mae Jemison the first African American in space. Mae Jemison is outspoken
about the impact of technical advanteges in the African American population, and encourges African Americans to purse careers
in science and engineering.
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Practice Mathematics Test 1 for the ACT — 60 Questions
If you want a chance to flex your ACT math muscles, you can try this practice test. The test covers algebra, geometry, and trigonometry, and the questions are modeled from questions off the latest ACT test. Complete this test, take it seriously, and you’re sure to be much more at ease on exam day.
In order to best simulate real exam conditions, you should do the following:
Sit where you won’t be interrupted or tempted to pick up the TV remote or your phone.
Use the answer sheet provided to practice filling in the dots.
Set your timer for 60 minutes.
Check your work as you go.
Avoid taking breaks during the test.
Here are links for PDF files that you may download for ACT Practice Test 1:
You should go through the answer explanations to all the questions, not just the ones that you missed, because you’ll find lots of good info that may help you later on.
Time: 60 minutes for 60 questions
Directions: Each question has five answer choices. Choose the best answer for each question, and then shade in the corresponding oval on your answer sheet.
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DEWEESVILLE, TEXAS. Deweesville, on Farm Road 1344 ten miles southwest of Falls City in Karnes County, was named after John O. Dewees, a prominent rancher in the vicinity during traildriving days. In 1936 Deweesville had a school, cotton gin, and store. By 1948 maps show only scattered residences and a business at the site. The population at that time was thirty-six. After the discovery of uranium in Karnes County in 1954, the first uranium ore processing mill in Texas was built by the Susquehanna-Western Corporation in Deweesville in 1961. By 1958–59 the community had three businesses and ninety residents. Uranium mining and milling operations in the area lasted only a few years, and eventually the mill was dismantled. In 1990 extensive reclamation work was being done in the Deweesville area by the United States Department of Energy. In 2000 the population was twelve.
Robert H. Thonhoff, History of Karnes County (M.A. thesis, Southwest Texas State College, 1963).
The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.Robert H. Thonhoff, "DEWEESVILLE, TX," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hrd22), accessed June 20, 2013. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
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Prevention of Cancer
You can take steps today to lower your risk of cancer. What you eat and drink, how you live and where you work all can play a role in cancer prevention. Consider these ways to decrease your risk:
- Do not use tobacco products
- Avoid the sun's harmful rays
- Drink alcohol in moderation, if at all
- Eat a variety of healthful foods, with an emphasis on plant sources
- Adopt a physically active lifestyle
- Maintain a healthful weight throughout life
- Avoid certain chemicals and radiation that can cause cancer
For more information on the prevention of cancer, follow this link to the American Cancer Society's website.
Early detection often is the key to successful treatment of some cancers. Protect your health by learning how to detect cancer in its earliest stages.
The American Cancer Society believes that early detection examinations and tests can help save lives and reduce suffering from cancers of the breast, colon, rectum, cervix, prostate, testis, oral cavity (mouth) and skin. Some of these cancers can be found early by self examinations, physical examinations by a health professional, and by X-ray or laboratory tests.
To learn more about the specific cancer detection guidelines of the American Cancer Society, follow this link to their website.
Source: American Cancer Society
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The Baroque Era In The Arts
Edited By: R. A. Guisepi
Cultural Expressions Of The Age
After 1600, European culture generated a new artisitic style, known as
the Baroque. Taken literally, the term means "irregular" and is applied
generally to the dynamic and undisciplined artistic creativity of the
seventeenth century. At first, the Baroque style grew out of the Catholic pomp
and confidence accompanying the Counter-Reformation. Later, as the style
spread north, it became popular at royal courts, where it symbolized the
emerging power of the new monarchies. Wherever it showed itself, the Baroque approach was likely to exhibit some combination of power, massiveness, or dramatic intensity, embellished with pageantry, color, and theatrical adventure. Without the restraints of the High Renaissance or the subjectiveness of Manneristic painting, the Baroque sought to overawe by its grandeur.
Baroque painting originated in Italy and spread north. One of its Italian
creators was Michelangelo da Caravaggio (1565-1609), whose bold and
light-bathed naturalism impressed many northern artists. The Italian influence
was evident in the works of Peter Paul Rubens (1557-1640), a well-known
Flemish artist who chose themes from pagan and Christian literature,
illustrating them with human figures involved in dramatic physical action.
Ruben also did portraits of Marie de Medicis and Queen Anne, at the French
court of Louis XIII. Another famous Baroque court painter was Diego Velasquez
(1599-1660), whose canvases depict the haughty formality and opulence of the
Spanish royal household. A number of Italian women were successful Baroque
painters, including Livonia Fontana (1552-1614), who produced pictures of
monumental buildings, and Artemesia Gentileschi (1593-1652), a follower of
While the Baroque style profoundly affected the rest of Europe, the Dutch
perfected their own characteristic style, which grew directly from their pride
in political and commerical accomplishments and emphasized the beauty of local
nature and the solidity of middle class life. Dutch painting was sober,
detailed, and warmly soft in the use of colors, particularly yellows and
browns. Almost every town in Holland supported its own school of painters who
helped perpetuate local traditions. Consequently a horde of competent artists
arose to meet the demand for this republican art.
Only a few among hundreds can be cited here. The robust Frans Hals
(1580-1666) employed a vigorous style that enabled him to catch the
spontaneous and fleeting expression of his portrait subjects. He left
posterity a gallery of types - from cavaliers to fishwives and tavern
loungers. His most successful follower, whose works have often been confused
with those of Hals, was Judith Leyster (1609-1660), a member of the Haarlem
painter's guild with pupils of her own. Somewhat in contrast, Jan Vermeer
(1632-1675) exhibited a subtle delicacy. His way of treating the fall of
subdued sunlight upon interior scenes has never been equaled.
Towering above all the Dutch artists - and ranking with the outstanding
painters of all time - was Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669). While reflecting
the common characteristics of his school, he produced works so universally
human that they not only expressed Dutch cultural values but also transcended
them. His canvasses show tremendous sensitivity, depicting almost every human
emotion except pure joy. This omission arose partially from his own troubled
consciousness and partially from his republican, Calvinist environment.
Nevertheless, his work furnished profound insights into the human enigma. He
has been called the "Dutch Baroque version of da Vinci."
Baroque architecture, like painting, was centered in Italy, from whence
it permeated western Europe. The most renowned architect of the school in the
seventeenth century was Giovanni Bernini (1598-1660). He designed the
colonnades outside St. Peter's Basilica, where his plan illustrates the
Baroque style in the use of vast spaces and curving lines. Hundreds of
churches and public buildings all over Europe displayed the elaborate Baroque
decorativeness in colored marble, intricate designs, twisted columns,
scattered cupolas, imposing facades, and unbalanced extensions or bulges.
Stone and mortar were often blended with statuary and painting; indeed it was
difficult to see where one art left off and the other began.
The seventeenth century also brought Baroque innovations in music. New
forms of expression moved away from the exalted calmness of Palestrina and
emphasized melody supported by harmony. Instrumental music - particularly for
organ and violin - gained equal popularity, for the first time, with song.
Outstanding among Baroque innovations was opera, which originated in Italy at
the beginning of the century and quickly conquered Europe. The new form
utilized many arts, integrating literature, drama, music and painting of the
elaborate stage settings.
The literature of the Baroque age before 1650 showed a marked decline
from the exalted heights of the northern Renaissance. Even before 1600,
however, Puritanism and the Counter-Reformation inclined many writers toward
religious subjects. In England, this trend continued in the next century and
was augmented by a flood of political tracts during the civil war. Religious
concerns were typical of the two most prominent English poets, John Donne
(1573-1631) and John Milton (1608-1674). Milton's magnificent poetic epic,
Paradise Lost was planned in his youth but not completed until 1667. French
literature during the early 1600s was much less memorable. The major advance
came in heroic adventure novels, pioneered by Madeleine Scudery (1608-1701).
Most other French writers, influenced by the newly formed French Academy, were
increasingly active in salon discussions but more concerned with form than
A project by History World International
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There are HTML elements and attributes that we use every day. Headings, paragraphs, lists and images are the mainstay of every Web developer’s toolbox. Perhaps the most common tool of all is the anchor. The humble
a element is what joins documents together to create the gloriously chaotic collection we call the World Wide Web.
Anatomy of an Anchor
The power of the anchor element lies in the
href attribute, short for hypertext reference. This creates a one-way link to another resource, usually another page on the Web:
href attribute sits in the opening
a tag and some descriptive text sits between the opening and closing tags:
<a href="http://allinthehead.com/">Drew McLellan</a>
“Whoop-dee-freakin’-doo,” I hear you say, “this is pretty basic stuff” – and you’re quite right. But there’s more to the anchor element than just the
The Theory of
You might be familiar with the
rel attribute from the
link element. I bet you’ve got something like this in the
head of your documents:
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="styles.css" />
rel attribute describes the relationship between the linked document and the current document. In this case, the value of
rel is “stylesheet”. This means that the linked document is the stylesheet for the current document: that’s its relationship.
Here’s another common use of
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="my RSS feed" href="index.xml" />
This describes the relationship of the linked file – an RSS feed – as “alternate”: an alternate view of the current document.
Both of those examples use the
link element but you are free to use the
rel attribute in regular hyperlinks. Suppose you’re linking to your RSS feed in the
body of your page:
Subscribe to <a href="index.xml">my RSS feed</a>.
You can add extra information to this anchor using the
Subscribe to <a href="index.xml" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml">my RSS feed</a>.
There’s no prescribed list of values for the
rel attribute so you can use whatever you decide is semantically meaningful. Let’s say you’ve got a complex e-commerce application that includes a link to a help file. You can explicitly declare the relationship of the linked file as being “help”:
<a href="help.html" rel="help">need help?</a>
Although it’s completely up to you what values you use for the
rel attribute, some consensus is emerging in the form of microformats. Some of the simplest microformats make good use of
rel. For example, if you are linking to a license that covers the current document, use the rel-license microformat:
Licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons attribution license</a>
That describes the relationship of the linked document as “license.”
The rel-tag microformat goes a little further. It uses
rel to describe the final part of the URL of the linked file as a “tag” for the current document:
Learn more about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microformats" rel="tag">semantic markup</a>
This states that the current document is being tagged with the value “Microformats.”
XFN, which stands for XHTML Friends Network, is a way of describing relationships between people:
<a href="http://allinthehead.com/" rel="friend">Drew McLellan</a>
This microformat makes use of a very powerful property of the
rel attribute. Like the
rel can take multiple values, separated by spaces:
<a href="http://allinthehead.com/" rel="friend met colleague">Drew McLellan</a>
Here I’m describing Drew as being a friend, someone I’ve met, and a colleague (because we’re both Web monkies).
You Say You Want a
rel describes the relationship of the linked resource to the current document, the
rev attribute describes the reverse relationship: it describes the relationship of the current document to the linked resource. Here’s an example of a link that might appear on
<a href="shoppingcart.html" rev="help">continue shopping</a>
rev attribute declares that the current document is “help” for the linked file.
The vote-links microformat makes use of the
rev attribute to allow you to qualify your links. By using the value “vote-for” you can describe your document as being an endorsement of the linked resource:
I agree with <a href="http://richarddawkins.net/home" rev="vote-for">Richard Dawkins</a>.
There’s a corresponding
vote-against value. This means that you can link to a document but explicitly state that you don’t agree with it.
I agree with <a href="http://richarddawkins.net/home" rev="vote-for">Richard Dawkins</a> about those <a href="http://www.icr.org/" rev="vote-against">creationists</a>.
Of course there’s nothing to stop you using both
rev on the same hyperlink:
<a href="http://richarddawkins.net/home" rev="vote-for" rel="muse">Richard Dawkins</a>
The Wisdom of Crowds
The simplicity of
rev belies their power. They allow you to easily add extra semantic richness to your hyperlinks. This creates a bounty that can be harvested by search engines, aggregators and browsers. Make it your New Year’s resolution to make friends with these attributes and extend the power of hypertext.
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Individual differences |
Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial | Professional items | World psychology |
Interdisciplinarity is a type of academic collaboration in which specialists drawn from two or more academic disciplines work together in pursuit of common goals.
Interdisciplinary programs sometimes arise from a shared conviction that the traditional disciplines are unable or unwilling to address an important problem. For example, social science disciplines such as anthropology and sociology paid little attention to the social analysis of technology throughout most of the twentieth century. As a result, many social scientists with interests in technology have joined science and technology studies programs, which are typically staffed by scholars drawn from numerous disciplines (including anthropology, history, philosophy, sociology, and women's studies). They may also arise from new research developments, such as nanotechnology, which cannot be addressed without combining the approaches of two or more disciplines. Examples include quantum information processing, which amalgamates elements of quantum physics and computer science, and bioinformatics, which combines molecular biology with computer science.
Many scientists believe that the most pressing problems facing humanity, including the AIDS pandemic, global warming, and the loss of biodiversity, can be solved only by developing interdisciplinary approaches.
There are several types of inquiry that may be referred to as "interdisciplinary." Interdisciplinarity is often used interchangeably with such terms as multidisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity, and crossdisciplinarity.
Multidisciplinarity is the act of joining together two or more disciplines without integration. Each discipline yields discipline specific results while any integration would be left to a third party observer. An example of multidisciplinarity would be a panel presentation on the many facts of the AIDS pandemic (medicine, politics, epidemiology) in which each section is given as a stand-alone presentation.
A multidisciplinary community or project is made up of people from different disciplines and professions who are engaged in working together as equal stakeholders in addressing a common challenge. The key question is how well can the challenge be decomposed into nearly separable subparts, and then addressed via the distributed knowledge in the community or project team. The lack of shared vocabulary between people and communication overhead is an additional challenge in these communities and projects. However, if similar challenges of a particular type need to be repeatedly addressed, and each challenge can be properly decomposed, a multidisciplinary community can be exceptionally efficient and effective. A multidisciplinary person is a person with degrees from two or more academic disciplines, so one person can take the place of two or more people in a multidisciplinary community or project team. Over time, multidisciplinary work does not typically lead to an increase nor a decrease in the number of academic disciplines.
"Interdisciplinarity" in referring to an approach to organizing intellectual inquiry is an evolving field, and stable, consensus definitions are not yet established for some subordinate or closely related fields.
An interdisciplinary community or project is made up of people from multiple disciplines and professions who are engaged in creating and applying new knowledge as they work together as equal stakeholders in addressing a common challenge. The key question is what new knowledge (of an academic discipline nature), which is outside the existing disciplines, is required to address the challenge. Aspects of the challenge cannot be addressed easily with existing distributed knowledge, and new knowledge becomes a primary subgoal of addressing the common challenge. The nature of the challenge, either its scale or complexity, requires that many people have interactional expertise to improve their efficiency working across multiple disciplines as well as within the new interdisciplinary area. An interdisciplinarary person is a person with degrees from one or more academic disciplines with additional interactional expertise in one or more additional academic disciplines, and new knowledge that is claimed by more than one discipline. Over time, interdisciplinary work can lead to an increase or a decrease in the number of academic disciplines.
Transdisciplinary, while the term is frequently used, may not yet have a stable, consensus meaning. Usage suggests that a transdisciplinary approach dissolves boundaries between disciplines. Most uses of the term suggest a deliberate and intentionally scandalous or transgressive violation of disciplinary rules, for the purpose of achieving new insight, or of expanding the discipline's resources.
A less polemic view of transdiciplinarity treats it as the act of taking theories and methods which exist independently of several disciplines and applying them to organize and understand different areas or fields. This is based largely on the idea that "knowledge cannot be singularly claimed as belonging to or originating in any one discipline". An example of transdisciplinarity in this sense would be the application of Marxist philosophies to disciplines such as art history or literature, thus applying philosophies of sociology, economics, politics, et cetera to the study of these areas.
A transdisciplinary community or project is made up of transdisciplinary professionals, which is an ideal that can only be approached and never achieved. A transdisciplinary professional has degrees in all disciplines as well as experience in all professions. In essence, a truly transdisciplinary person contains all the distributed knowledge of the people in the community or project as their individual common knowledge. A transdisciplinary community is one in which common knowledge of individuals and the distributed knowledge of the collective are identical for the purpose of addressing a common challenge.
A postmodernist view of transdisciplinarity sees knowledge production as not confined to academic disciplines, conceived as existing in a horizontal plane. Knowledge is also produced from varieties of organizations and collective entities outside of academia, and these can be conceived of as existing on a vertical plane. Knowledge production outside of academia can range from that generated by complex organized structures through less complex communities, down to that produced spontaneously by groups and individuals. Within any collective entity this knowledge can range from that generated by those in leadership roles to that produced experientially and used by individual members in completing their day-to-day functions. Transdisciplinarity, then, implies the integration or interrelation of disciplinary generated knowledge and non-disciplinary generated knowledge and its application to complex problems and issues.
Crossdisciplinarity is the act of crossing disciplinary boundaries to explain one subject in the terms of another, foreign subject or method. Common examples of crossdisciplinary approaches are studies of the physics of music or the politics of literature.
Because most participants in interdisciplinary ventures were trained in traditional disciplines, they must learn to appreciate differing perspectives and methods. For example, a discipline that places more emphasis on quantitative "rigor" may produce practitioners who think of themselves (and their discipline) as "more scientific" than others; in turn, colleagues in "softer" disciplines may associate quantitative approaches with an inability to grasp the broader dimensions of a problem. An interdisciplinary program may not succeed if its members remain stuck in their disciplines (and in disciplinary attitudes).
From the disciplinary perspective, much interdisciplinary work may be seen as "soft," lacking in rigor, or ideologically motivated; these beliefs place barriers in the career paths of those who choose interdisciplinary work. For example, interdisciplinary grant applications are often refereed by peer reviewers drawn from established disciplines; not surprisingly, interdisciplinary researchers may experience difficulty getting funding for their research. In addition, untenured researchers know that, when they seek promotion and tenure, it is likely that some of the evaluators will lack commitment to interdisciplinarity. They may fear that making a commitment to interdisciplinary research will increase the risk of being denied tenure.
Interdisciplinary programs may fail if they are not given sufficient autonomy. For example, interdisciplinary faculty are usually recruited to a joint appointment, with responsibilities in both an interdisciplinary program (such as women's studies) and a traditional discipline (such as history). If the traditional discipline makes the tenure decisions, new interdisciplinary faculty will be hesitant to commit themselves fully to interdisciplinary work. Other barriers include the generally disciplinary orientation of most scholarly journals, leading to the perception, if not the fact, that interdisciplinary research is hard to publish. In addition, since traditional budgetary practices at most universities channel resources through the disciplines, it becomes difficult to account for a given scholar or teacher's salary and time. During periods of budgetary retraction, the natural tendency to serve the primary constituency (i.e., students majoring in the traditional discipline) makes resources scarce for teaching and research comparatively far from the center of the discipline as traditionally understood. For these same reasons, the introduction of new interdisciplinary programs is often perceived as a competition for diminishing funds, and may for this reason meet resistance.
Due to these and other barriers, interdisciplinary research areas are strongly motivated to become disciplines themselves. If they succeed, they can establish their own research funding programs and make their own tenure and promotion decisions. In so doing, they lower the risk of entry. Examples of former interdisciplinary research areas that have become disciplines include neuroscience, cybernetics, biochemistry and biomedical engineering. These new fields are occasionally referred to as "interdisciplines."
"Interdisciplinary studies" is an academic program or process seeking to synthesize broad perspectives, knowledge, skills, interconnections, and epistemology in an educational setting. Interdisciplinary programs may be founded in order to facilitate the study of subjects which have some coherence, but which cannot be adequately understood from a single disciplinary perspective (for example, women's studies or medieval studies). More rarely, and at a more advanced level, interdisciplinarity may itself become the focus of study, in a critique of institutionalized disciplines' ways of segmenting knowledge.
Perhaps the most common complaint regarding interdisciplinary programs, by supporters and detractors alike, is the lack of synthesis—that is, students are provided with multiple disciplinary perspectives, but are not given effective guidance in resolving the conflicts and achieving a coherent view of the subject. Critics of interdisciplinary programs feel that the ambition is simply unrealistic, given the knowledge and intellectual maturity of all but the exceptional undergraduate; some defenders concede the difficulty, but insist that cultivating interdisciplinarity as a habit of mind, even at that level, is both possible and essential to the education of informed and engaged citizens and leaders capable of analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing information from multiple sources in order to render reasoned decisions.
The Politics of Interdisciplinary Studies
Since 1998 there has been an ascendancy in the value of the concept and practice of interdisciplinary research and teaching and a growth in the number of bachelors degrees awarded at U.S. universities classified as multi- or interdisciplinary studies. The number of interdisciplinary bachelors degrees awarded annually rose from 7,000 in 1973 to 30,000 a year by 2005 according to data from the National Center of Educational Statistics (NECS). In addition, educational leaders from the Boyer Commission to Carnegie's President Vartan Gregorian to Alan Leshner, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science have advocated for interdisciplinary rather than disciplinary approaches to problem solving in the 21st Century. This has been echoed by federal funding agencies, particularly the NIH under the Direction of Elias Zerhouni, who have advocated that grant proposals be framed more as interdisciplinary collaborative projects than single researcher, single discipline ones. At the same time, longstanding bachelors in interdisciplinary studies programs many existing and thriving for 30 or more years, have been closed down, in spite of healthy enrollment. Examples include Arizona International (formerly part of the University of Arizona), The School of Interdisciplinary Studies at Miami University, and the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at Wayne State University; others such as the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at Appalachian State University, and George Mason University's New Century College, have been cut back. Stuart Henry has seen this trend as part of the hegemony of the disciplines in their attempt to recolonize the experimental knowledge production of otherwise marginalized fields of inquiry. This is due to threat perceptions seemingly based on the ascendancy of interdisciplinary studies against traditional academia.
Barriers to interdisciplinarityEdit
Because most participants in interdisciplinary ventures were trained in traditional disciplines, they must learn to appreciate differing perspectives and approaches. For example, a discipline that places more emphasis on quantitative "rigor" may produce practitioners who think of themselves (and their discipline) as "more scientific" than others; in turn, colleagues in "softer" disciplines may associate quantitative approaches with an inability to grasp the broader dimensions of a problem. An interdisciplinary program may not succeed if its members remain stuck in their disciplines (and in disciplinary attitudes).
From the disciplinary perspective, much interdisciplinary work is "soft," lacking in rigor, or ideologically motivated; these beliefs place barriers in the career paths of those who choose interdisciplinary work. For example, interdisciplinary grant applications are often refereed by peer reviewers drawn from established disciplines; not surprisingly, interdisciplinary researchers may experience difficulty getting funding for their research. In addition, untenured researchers know that, when they seek promotion and tenure, it is likely that some of the evaluators will lack commitment to interdisciplinarity. They may fear that making a commitment to interdisciplinary research will increase the risk of being denied tenure.
Interdisciplinary programs may fail if they are not given sufficient autonomy. For example, it is a common practice to recruit new interdisciplinary faculty to a joint appointment, with responsibilities in both an interdisciplinary program (such as women's studies) and a traditional discipline (such as history). If the traditional discipline makes the tenure decisions, new interdisciplinary faculty will be hesitant to commit themselves fully to interdisciplinary work.
Due to the existence of these and other barriers, interdisciplinary research areas are strongly motivated to become disciplines themselves. If they succeed, they can establish their own research funding programs and make their own tenure and promotion decisions. In so doing, they lower the risk of entry. Examples of former interdisciplinary research areas that have become disciplines include neuroscience, biochemistry, and biomedical engineering.
New interdisciplinary programsEdit
Universities worldwide recognize that, in order to address the problems facing humanity today, they must increase their commitment to interdisciplinarity. For example, a grass-roots effort by faculty and students at Stanford University resulted in a new program called Bio-X, which explores the intersections among biology, computer science, medicine, and engineering. The program is housed in the Clark Center, which opened in 2003. Situated along the pathways between the university and the medical center, the Clark Center is designed to both express and facilitate the concept of interdisciplinarity. Each lab is equipped with at least two scientists from each of the participating disciplines, but they are by no means fixed: for example, walls can be moved (or eliminated), and all equipment is on wheels. The entire building is designed to facilitate interdisciplinary communication and to accommodate new, rapid, and unexpected growth as it occurs.
A similar program has recently been instituted at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri. Undergraduate students must apply for acceptance into the program, and in the process design their own major using available courses in disciplinary programs. The major requires students take only two courses: an introductory course to interdisciplinary studies (focusing on the theory of interdisciplinarity) and a senior capstone (focusing on synthesis/praxis). The first class of IDSM majors at the school were: Rhetoric and Power, Philosophy in Literature, and Gender in Politics, though recently Biochemistry, Medieval Studies, and East Asian Studies were proposed.
Relation to holism Edit
Interdisciplinarity is a typical trait of holistic approaches in science. Not all scientists that are committed to interdisciplinarity consider themselves holists, however, as the term "holism" can carry negative connotations.
- Further information: Holism in science
See also Edit
Highly interdisciplinary fields (see also: Category:Interdisciplinary fields)
- Awbrey, S. and Awbrey, J. (1999), "Integrative Universities", 2nd International Conference of the Journal "Organization", UMASS, Amherst, 17-19 September 1999.
- Johnston, R. (2003). Integrating methodologists into teams of substantive experts. Studies in Intelligence 47(1).
- Siskin, L.S. & Little, J.W. (1995). The Subjects in Question. Teachers College Press. about the departmental organization of high schools and efforts to change that.
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Pieter Bruegel the Elder
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
Pieter Bruegel (Brueghel) the Elder (c. 1525 – 9 September 1569) was a Flemish renaissance painter and printmaker known for his landscapes and peasant scenes (so called genre painting). He is sometimes referred to as the "Peasant Bruegel" to distinguish him from other members of the Brueghel dynasty, but he is also the one generally meant when the context does not make clear which Brueghel is being referred to. From 1559 he dropped the 'h' from his name and signed his paintings as Bruegel.
There are records that he was born in Breda, Netherlands, but it is uncertain whether the Dutch town of Breda or the Belgian town of Bree, called Breda in Latin, is meant. He was the son of a peasant residing in the village of Breughel. He was an apprentice of Pieter Coecke van Aelst, whose daughter Mayke he later married. He spent some time in France and Italy, and then went to Antwerp, where in 1551 he was accepted as a master in the painters' guild. He traveled to Italy soon after, and then returned to Antwerp before settling in Brussels permanently 10 years later. He died there on 9 September, 1569. Other accounts give 1590 as the date of his death.
He was the father of Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Elder. Both became painters, but as they were very young children when their father died, neither received any training from him. It is likely that they were instructed by their mother, Mayke.
In Brueghel's later years he painted in a simpler style than the Italianate art that prevailed in his time. The most obvious influence on his art is the older Dutch master Hieronymus Bosch, particularly in Brueghel's early "doom paintings" such as The Triumph of Death and De Dulle Griet (Mad Meg). It was in nature, however, that he found his greatest inspirations as he is identified as being a master of landscapes. It was in these landscapes that Brueghel created a story, with almost several scenes seemingly combined in one painting. Such works can be seen in The Fall of the Rebel Angels and the previously mentioned The Triumph of Death.
Bruegel specialized in genre paintings populated by peasants, often with a large landscape element, but also painted religious works. Making the life and manners of peasants the main focus of a work was rare in painting in Brueghel's time, and he was a pioneer of the Netherlandish genre painting. His earthy, unsentimental but vivid depiction of the rituals of village life—including agriculture, hunts, meals, festivals, dances, and games—are unique windows on a vanished folk culture and a prime source of iconographic evidence about both physical and social aspects of 16th century life. For example, the painting Netherlandish Proverbs illustrates dozens of then-contemporary aphorisms (many of them still in use in current Dutch or Flemish), and Children's Games shows the variety of amusements enjoyed by young people. His winter landscapes of 1565 (e.g. Hunters in the Snow) are taken as corroborative evidence of the severity of winters during the Little Ice Age.
Using abundant spirit and comic power, he created some of the early images of acute social protest in art history. Examples include paintings such as The Fight Between Carnival and Lent (a satire of the conflicts of the Reformation) and engravings like The Ass in the School and Strongboxes Battling Piggybanks. On his deathbed he reportedly ordered his wife to burn the most subversive of his drawings to protect his family from political persecution.
There are about 45 authenticated surviving paintings, one third of which are in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. A number of others are known to have been lost. There are a large number of drawings. Brueghel only etched one plate himself, The Rabbit Hunt, but designed many engravings and etchings, mostly for the Cock publishing house.
- Naval Battle in the Gulf of Naples, 1560, Galleria Doria-Pamphilj, Rome
- The Fall of the Rebel Angels 1562, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels
- The "Little" Tower of Babel, c. 1563, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam
- The Procession to Calvary, 1564, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
- The Adoration of the Kings, 1564, The National Gallery, London
- Massacre of the Innocents, c. 1567, versions at Royal Collection, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, at Brukenthal National Museum, Sibiu, and at Upton House, Banbury
- Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap, 1565, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, inv. 8724
- Landscape with Christ and the Apostles at the Sea of Tiberias, 1553, probably with Maarten de Vos, private collection
- Ass at School, 1556, drawing, Print room, Berlin State Museums
- Parable of the Sower, 1557, Timken Museum of Art, San Diego
- Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, c.1554–55, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels – Note: Now seen as a copy of a lost authentic Bruegel painting
- Netherlandish Proverbs, 1559, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
- The Fight Between Carnival and Lent, 1559, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
- Portrait of an Old Woman, 1560, Alte Pinakothek, Munich
- Children's Games, 1560, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
- Temperance, 1560
- Saul (Battle Against The Philistines On The Gilboa), 1562, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
- Two Small Monkeys, 1562, Staatliche Museen, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
- The Triumph of Death, c. 1562, Museo del Prado, Madrid
- Dulle Griet (Mad Meg), c. 1562, Museum Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp
- The Tower of Babel, 1563, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
- Flight To Egypt, 1563, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London
- The Death of the Virgin, 1564, (grisaille), Upton House, Banbury
- The Months. A cycle of probably 6 paintings of the months or seasons, of which five remain:
- The Hunters in the Snow (Dec.–Jan.), 1565, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
- The Gloomy Day (Feb.–Mar.), 1565, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
- The Hay Harvest (June–July), 1565, Lobkowicz Palace at the Prague Castle Complex, Czech Republic
- The Harvesters (Aug.-Sept.), 1565, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
- The Return of the Herd (Oct.–Nov.), 1565, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
- Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery (1565), Courtauld Institute of Art, London
- The Calumny of Apelles, 1565, drawing, British Museum, London
- The Painter and the Connoisseur, drawing, c. 1565, Albertina, Vienna
- Preaching Of John The Baptist, 1566, Museum of Fine Arts (Budapest)
- Census at Bethlehem, 1566, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels
- The Wedding Dance, c. 1566, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit
- Conversion Of Paul, 1567, Kunsthistorishes Museum, Vienna
- The Land of Cockaigne, 1567, Alte Pinakothek, Munich
- The Magpie on the Gallows, 1568, Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt
- The Misanthrope, 1568, Museo di Capodimonte, Naples
- The Blind Leading the Blind, 1568, Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples
- The Peasant Wedding, 1568, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
- The Peasant Dance, 1568, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
- The Beggars, 1568, Louvre, Paris
- The Peasant and the Nest Robber, 1568, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
- The Three Soldiers, 1568, The Frick Collection, New York City
- The Storm at Sea, an unfinished work, probably Bruegel's last painting.
- The Wine of Saint Martin’s Day, Museo del Prado, Madrid (discovered in 2010)
- Large Fish Eat Small Fish, 1556, a print after a Bruegel design
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15-213 Intro to Computer Systems: Code Style
Just as important as the functionality of your code is your code's readability to others. Therefore, in 15-213 (and other CS courses you will take), we will be paying close attention to your coding style and taking it into consideration when assigning grades.
Each semester the question of "What do you mean by 'good style'?" comes up. The course staff has created this document to try and answer that question. The most basic requirement is a consistent and logical style that makes the purpose of your code clear to the reader. We expect you to pick something that is readable and makes sense, and then stick to that through an entire project. The key points we will be looking for are:
Good code should be mostly self-documenting: your variable names and function calls should generally make it clear what you are doing. Comments should not describe what the code does, but why; what the code does should be self-evident. (Assume the reader knows C better than you do when you consider what is self-evident.)There are several parts of your code that do generally deserve comments:
Good Use of Whitespace
Proper use of whitespace can greatly increase the readability of code. Every time you open a block of code (a function, "if" statement, "for" or "while" loop, etc.), you should indent one additional level.
You are free to use your own indent style, but you must be consistent: if you use four spaces as an indent in some places, you should not use a tab elsewhere. (If you would like help configuring your editor to indent consistently, please feel free to ask the course staff.)
While there are many different standards for line length, we require that your lines be no longer than 80 characters, so we can easily view and print your code. If you indent with tabs please assume a tab size of 4 characters when calculating line lengths. To quickly check that file.c does not exceed 80 characters, run "wc -L file.c" to see its max line length.
Good Variable Names
Variable names should be descriptive of the value stored in them. Local variables whose purpose is self-evident (e.g. loop counters or array indices) can be single letters. Parameters can be one (well-chosen) word. Global variables should probably be two or more words.
Multiple-word variables should be formatted consistently, both within and across variables. For example, "hashtable_array_size" or "hashtableArraySize" are both okay, but "hashtable_arraySize" is not. And if you were to use "hashtable_array_size" in one place, using "hashtableArray" somewhere else would not be okay.
Magic numbers are numbers in your code that have more meaning than simply their own values. For example, if you are reading data into a buffer by doing "fgets(stdin, buf, 256)", 256 is a "magic number" because it represents the length of your buffer. On the other hand, if you were counting by even numbers by doing "for (int i = 0; i < MAX; i += 2)", 2 is not a magic number, because it simply means that you are counting by 2s.
You should use #define to clarify the meaning of magic numbers. In the above example, doing "#define BUFLEN 256" and then using the "BUFLEN" constant in both the declaration of "buf" and the call to "fgets".
No "Dead Code"
"Dead code" is code that is not run when your program runs, either under normal or exceptional circumstances. These include "printf" statements you used for debugging purposes but since commented. Your submission should have no "dead code" in it.
Modularity of Code
You should strive to make your code modular. On a low level, this means that you should not needlessly repeat blocks of code if they can be extracted out into a function, and that long functions that perform several tasks should be split into sub-functions when practical. On a high level, this means that code that performs different functions should be separated into different modules; for example, if your code requires a hashtable, the code to manipulate the hashtable should be separate from the code that uses the hashtable, and should be accessed only through a few well-chosen functions.
Failure Conditions/Error Checking
When writing a program, we usually only consider the success case. It is equally, if not more, important to consider the failure cases. Many things can fail in your program: the user's input might not match your expected format, malloc might return NULL, the filename the user gave you might not exist, the user might not have permission to read the file they specified, the disk might fill up, the network host you were talking to might be down... the list goes on. It is important to think about what your program can do to resolve these errors, or how it should present them to the user if it can't resolve them. For example, if malloc fails in a crucial part of your program, you might have no choice but to print a fatal error message and exit. But if the user specifies an invalid file to open in an interactive program, it would be much nicer if you told them the file was invalid and gave them a chance to correct the name.
In particular, network servers (and, as you will learn if you take 15-410, operating systems) need to be particularly robust. No matter what one client (or process) tries to do, your server (or kernel) should never crash. Error handling is more difficult in such cases, as you need to convert what is a "fatal error" from a client's perspective into something that won't actually kill the server process.
Proper Memory and File Handling
If you allocate memory (malloc, calloc), you should free it after use. Your program should not have memory leaks. If you use open a file, you should close it after use. Closing a file is very important, especially with output files. The reason is that output is often buffered.
This style guide purposefully leaves many choices up to you (for example, where the curly braces go, whether one-line "if" statements need braces, how far to indent each level). It is important that, whatever choices you make, you remain consistent about them. Nothing is more distracting to someone reading your code than random style changes.
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Medical Transcription and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Because they spend so much time keyboarding, medical transcriptionists are at risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), a painful and debilitating hand condition that results from a pinched nerve in the wrist.
When caught early, the symptoms usually can be reversed, but if left untreated, permanent impairment can result. It’s important to understand how CTS occurs so you can avoid it, or at least quickly recognize and react to any symptoms.
The carpal tunnel is a space between your wrist (carpal) bones and the major ligament that binds them together on the palm side of your wrist — right about where your wrists may rest on the edge of your desk or keyboard tray if you let them.
The median nerve, which conveys signals back and forth to your hand, passes through it, along with a bunch of tendons that allow you to flex your fingers. If something causes the tunnel to narrow, most often swelling of the surrounding tissues, the median nerve can get compressed and CTS symptoms start. Typical symptoms include
A vague aching in the wrist
Tingling or numbness in your fingers or hand, especially the index, middle, and ring fingers
Pain radiating to your hand and arm, especially on the palm side
The primary thing you can do to prevent CTS is to follow standard ergonomic guidelines, especially as they relate to keeping your wrists in line with your forearms. Don’t rest your wrists on a hard surface such as the edge of your keyboard tray or desk.
Give your hands and wrists frequent breaks by taking your fingers off the keyboard and gently stretching your hands and wrists. Try not to pound on the keys — just tap on them instead.
Some transcriptions find that wearing light gloves that provide a bit of protection and wrist support helps prevent and alleviate symptoms, although it can be tricky to find gloves that do that without also impeding your typing ability.
If you start to develop CTS symptoms, that doesn’t mean your medical transcription career is doomed. Go see a healthcare provider, who will assess the severity of your CTS, probably recommend that you wear wrist splints at night, and help you determine how to proceed from there.
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PASSAGE OF FAIR PAY ACT COULD MEAN MORE RECORD KEEPING RULES FOR CITIES
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (S. 181) was passed by Congress on January 27, 2009, and signed by President Obama on January 29, 2009. The Act allows individuals to sue for alleged pay discrimination under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The most important change provides that an individual may sue based on each paycheck that was affected by a discriminatory act. Prior law measured the statute of limitations from the date of the actual discriminatory act. This means that current and future employees have almost unlimited time to file certain claims against a city. The text of the bill is available at: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s111-181. The effective date of this Act is backdated to May 28, 2007.
The Act was passed in response to a 2007 Supreme Court opinion. In Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., Inc., the court held that the plaintiff had to file her pay discrimination charge within the statutory time limit based on the discriminatory act, and not on the resulting lowered paychecks.
Each city should review its pay practices to ensure they are not discriminatory. Cities should ensure that every pay decision is documented. Pay decision records should be retained indefinitely to be used as possible evidence.
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Volunteer corn bad for crop ecosystem
Volunteer corn growing in soybean fields that originated from Bt corn the year before may be much more onerous than it looks. One possible negative effect is obvious: soybean yield loss. The other downside is more subtle, but could be just as damaging. It relates to promoting insect resistance.
Fortunately, you can use grass herbicides to remove glyphosate- or glufosinate-resistant corn in soybeans. But if you don’t get a complete kill, there could be consequences.
Bill Johnson, Purdue University weed control specialist, says studies over the past two seasons determined how much volunteer corn could affect yield potential in soybeans. In a 2008 study, yield was significantly lower if two plants were present per square meter. Yield dropped another level of significance at four plants per square meter. In a 2009 study, it took four plants per square meter to produce significantly different yield performance.
Obviously, there’s variability from year to year. But the point is valid — a modest stand of volunteer corn chews up yield potential.
The even tougher problem is in corn after corn, Johnson observes. If the original hybrid that generates volunteer corn happened to be a quad-stack, with resistance to both glyphosate and gluforsinate, then there’s virtually no effective way to remove it.
• Soybean yields can suffer from volunteer corn.
• Volunteer corn expresses sublethal dose of a protein that kills rootworms.
• Killing volunteer corn in corn is a formidable challenge.
Decreased yield due to competition with the growing crop is the short-term effect of volunteer corn. It could dig into your pocketbook this season. Aiding development of rootworm beetles resistant to Bt corn could be the long-term effect.
“Entomologists noted that volunteer corn where Bt rootworm corn was planted the spring before was chewed up by larvae in some cases after rootworms hatched,” says John Obermeyer, a Purdue University entomologist. “So they started checking. They soon discovered that the protein that controls rootworms is not expressed in similar levels in the volunteer corn as in the original crop.”
Christian Krupke, a Purdue Extension entomologist, studied how potent various traits were in volunteer corn. Tolerance to Roundup carries over at about 87% in the volunteer crop. But the Bt trait carries over to about 64% of the volunteer plants.
What that means, Krupke explains, is that volunteer corn contains what may be a sublethal dose of the protein that kills rootworm larvae. It sets up a situation that could speed development of resistant rootworm beetles.
“We don’t want beetles surviving in fields where larvae feed on volunteer corn roots leaving the field later,” Obermeyer stresses. “The bottom line is that you really need to control volunteer corn by mid-June. That’s typically the latest date when you can kill the plant and still prevent rootworm larvae from developing into adults.”
The disturbing question for entomologists is the same as the disturbing question for weed control specialists. How do you kill volunteer corn in continuous corn?
MAKE HIM HOMELESS: John Obermeyer doesn’t want to see this young corn rootworm larva find a home on volunteer corn. That could lead toward resistance someday. Photo provided by Purdue University
This article published in the March, 2010 edition of INDIANA PRAIRIE FARMER.
All rights reserved. Copyright Farm Progress Cos. 2010.
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Bullying and Cyberbullying: What You Need to Know
The New Face of Bullying
We all know that in a “dog eat dog” world, the biggest dog with the loudest bark usually ends up on top. We see this more clearly than ever in the school environment, through what is known as “bullying”. The media, an increase teen suicides, an increase in cyberbullying, and countless PSA’s and anti-bullying campaigns make us painfully aware of this reality. But what really is bullying? Are we as a society guilty of often labeling conflict between peers as “bullying”, and what separates bullying from conflict?
- What is Bullying? Learn to recognize the difference between bullying and conflict >>
What is Cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying, the latest trend in bullying, adds a complex, digital layer to the existing problem. What you need to know about cyberbullying >>
Breaking the Cycle
Once we can properly identify bullying, we need to begin to take actions to prevent it. When bullying happens, it is common for two sides begin to play the “blame and shame” game; teachers and school administration will blame parents for not bringing up better children, and parents will blame the education system for not stopping bullying in schools.
All of us need to realize that placing blame on a situation should not take priority. Instead, we need to work together to take proactive approaches to raising resilient kids, so they may become healthy, caring, well-adjusted adults who will be less prone to engaging in violent or risky behaviors like bullying.
Helping Kids Rise above Bullying
While devising programs and plans to reduce the incidence of bullying is important, these actions can only do so much. All adults need to realize that they play an important role in preventing bullying. The action steps that adults can take start at home, and spread to schools and entire communities. These action steps are called building resilience, and it’s the long-term solution to addressing bullying and other risky childhood behaviors.
Although some kids may have some biological inclination toward resilience, there is research that overwhelmingly points toward the ability for resilience factors to be learned. When we teach resilience, we are able to change the life trajectories of kids from risk to resilience, but it has to be taught to them by the adults in their families, their schools, and their communities.
The Action Steps below will take you to action steps that all adults can take in each of these environments in order to foster positive characteristics that build resilience and promote healthy development and successful learning.
- Alcohol Use
- Drug Use
- Depression and Suicide
- Tobacco Use
- Bullying and Cyberbullying
- Early Sexual Activity
- Eating Disorders
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1874 – 1941
Fania Metman-Cohen, née Brumer, was born in Bialystok. Her father, a well-educated attorney, was a Hibbat Zion adherent and traditional Jew. Fania attended the University of Odessa, where she met her husband Yehuda Leib Metman-Cohen (1869–1939) and became associated with Ahad ha-Am’s circles. These were years of crisis for Hibbat Zion: Anticipation of mass immigration that would change the destiny of the Land of Israel and the Jews was soon followed by disillusionment.
In 1891, as Russia suffered a harsh famine, Jews were expelled from Moscow but allowed to set up a committee to support Jewish emigration to Palestine. Diaspora pressure, coupled with the enchanting dream of Jewish autonomy, was expected to give rise to a vast national movement. Yet it was these very expectations that paved the way for speculators and specious advertising. Land prices soared, the Ottoman authorities restricted immigration and intense and painful differences of opinion surfaced among Zionists. Ahad ha-Am and his associates reached a major turning point and decided to establish an educational movement that would strive for the establishment of an intellectual center in Palestine.
Fania Metman-Cohen set up the first Hebrew kindergarten in Odessa in 1899 and ran a Zionist school in 1902–1903, at which Chaim Nachman Bialik taught. She was active in the local B’not Zion organization for the education of Zionist women and—together with her husband—set up the Army of Rebirth Association that sent educators, physicians and other professionals to Palestine.
In 1904 the Metman-Cohens were invited to Palestine to open a Hebrew school in Rishon Le-Zion. They offered a far-reaching proposal based on innovative educational principles, including the teaching of various subjects in Hebrew. Yehuda had studied philosophy, education, science teaching and Semitic philology in Switzerland and considered himself and his wife amply qualified to institute such reform. They organized the first torchlight parade in honor of Hanukkah, inaugurated science studies, conducted evening Hebrew classes and set up a choir. On the election of a new Village Council, however, some staunch opposition to their activities became evident. The Metman-Cohens’ rejection of the Uganda Plan and their connections with the Teachers’ Union only exacerbated their situation.
In 1905 the young couple moved to Jaffa, joining educator Shalom Mosenson in establishing the country’s the first Hebrew high school, the Herzliya Gymnasia—a difficult mission indeed. The Metman-Cohens lived in poverty and initially only a few students registered. In time, however, the Gymnasia began to flourish.
When the revolution broke out in Turkey, the Metman-Cohens sided with the Ottomans, as did the Gymnasia. Fania not only taught at the Gymnasia and washed its floors but also found time for active participation in local cultural life. She joined the Association of Hebrew Theater Arts and performed on stage, to the dismay of Jaffa’s traditional residents. The Gymnasia became a focus for cultural revolution and revival. Fania Metman-Cohen was also the author of a Hebrew arithmetic textbook.
During World War I most of the Gymnasia’s staff were dismissed and deported and the school itself was forced out of Jaffa. The Metman-Cohens remained with their students, continuing to teach when the Gymnasia moved to Shfeya.
Fania and Yehuda Leib Metman-Cohen always perceived themselves as loyal to the concepts of the Russian revolution of 1905 and socialism but were not always satisfied with their practical implementation. Yehuda represented the shoemaking profession and later became head of the Tel Aviv Workers’ Council, while Fania was a key figure in the Union of Hebrew Women for Equal Rights in Erez Israel, the Legal Defense Office for Women in Domestic Disputes and was active in the Jewish National Fund. She was active in promoting local products and belonged to the [Hebrew] Language Defenders’ Brigade.
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Criteria for Excellence:
Gifted and Talented Program Guidelines
1.0 Identification of Students
2.0 Curriculum and Instruction
3.0 Professionally Qualified Teachers
4.0 Professional Development
5.0 Program Management
All students in Maryland's schools must be provided educational opportunities appropriate to their individual abilities which will enable them to reach their maximum potential. Gifted and talented students are one group which has unique abilities and needs. Gifted and talented students are found in youth from all cultural groups, across all economic strata, and in all areas of human endeavor (Maryland Annotated Code, §8-202). This publication is designed to help educators develop appropriate programs and services to meet these students' needs and to challenge their unique abilities.
The original Criteria for Excellence: Gifted and Talented Program Guidelines (1983) was developed as a collaborative effort by the staff of the Maryland State Department of Education and personnel having responsibilities for gifted and talented programs and services in the local school systems. This document was updated in 2007 by corresponding stakeholder groups.
I trust educators in Maryland will find this document of value in planning, implementing, and evaluating programs and services for gifted and talented students.
Dr. Nancy S. Grasmick
State Superintendent of Schools
The Maryland State Department of Education recognizes the importance of providing all children and youth an educational program which provides all children and youth with opportunities to develop their abilities to the maximum. Gifted and talented students, like other special groups in the school population, possess unique abilities, interests, and needs which can be addressed only through differentiating the regular curriculum and designing specialized programs and services.
This publication sets forth the criteria for excellence in programs and services for gifted and talented students. Six major program components have been addressed:
1. Identification of Students
2. Instructional Program
3. Professionally Qualified Teachers
4. Professional Development
5. Program Management
The criteria which establish optimal practices are listed for each program component. They define "what should be" in excellent programs and services for gifted and talented students. The criteria provide direction to school systems and individual schools as they plan, develop, and implement new programs and services. They are also intended as a tool for schools to use in assessing and improving their current offerings.
The Annotated Code of Maryland §8-201 defines a gifted and talented student as "an elementary or secondary student who is identified by professionally qualified individuals as having outstanding talent and performing, or showing the potential for performing, at remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared with other students of a similar age, experience or environment.” A gifted and talented student is one who
- Exhibits high performance capability in intellectual, creative, or artistic areas;
- Possesses an unusual leadership capacity; or
- Excels in specific academic fields.
A gifted and talented student needs different services beyond those normally provided by the regular school program in order to develop the student’s potential(Annotated Code of Maryland §8-202). By virtue of this definition, Maryland subscribes to the multidimensionality of giftedness, seeking to develop programs and services that serve students who are intellectually gifted or excel in specific academic fields and also those students who excel in creativity, the arts, or leadership.
The goal of gifted education in Maryland is to identify and serve gifted and talented students in youth “from all cultural groups, across all economic strata, and in all areas of human endeavor (§8-202).” While the number of gifted and talented students who need a differentiated program will vary, they exist in every school setting.
1.0 Identification of Students
An identification process should ensure that all gifted and talented students are recognized so they can be appropriately served. It is important that the process identify students performing at remarkably high levels of accomplishment as well as those who are showing the potential for performing at remarkably high levels when compared with other students of a similar age, experience, or environment (§ 8 – 201). Appropriate procedures and criteria for giftedness should be developed for each of the various areas: general intellectual capability, creative, or artistic areas; unusual leadership capacity, and specific academic fields. Information about a student’s specific abilities and program needs obtained through the identification process should serve as a basis for planning the student’s instructional program. In this way, the identification process is an integral part of the overall instructional program and should enhance the responsiveness of the school to the needs of all students.
1.1 The Process of Identification
The process of identifying students with demonstrated or potential giftedness includes:
1.1.1 A broad-based screening of the total school population to ensure that all potentially gifted and talented students have an opportunity to be considered;
1.1.2 An in-depth assessment of those students meeting the initial screening criteria to gather additional information concerning their specific aptitudes and educational needs; and
1.1.3 Provision of appropriate programs and services.
1.2 The identification procedures and criteria are clearly stated and consistently implemented throughout the school system and annually reported to all stakeholders.
1.3 Identification procedures and criteria are specific to the different areas of giftedness being assessed and are directly related to the specific programs and services which are provided.
1.4 A school-based committee consisting of teachers, the principal or assistant principal, and other professional staff members collect and analyze data, maintain appropriate records, and make professional decisions about appropriate programs and services for students.
1.5 The identification process uses multiple indicators of giftedness with information obtained through a balance of valid and reliable qualitative and quantitative assessment methods from a variety of sources.
1.5.1 Procedures for obtaining information about students include quantitative or objective assessment methods such as verbal and nonverbal tests of general intellectual ability, achievement, specific aptitudes, and creativity.
1.5.2 Procedures for obtaining information about students include qualitative or subjective assessment methods such as nominations, observations, student product evaluations, auditions, checklists or rating scales, biographical data, and interviews.
1.5.3 Information about students is obtained from multiple sources who have first-hand knowledge of the student’s performance or potential including teachers, counselors, peers, parents, community members, subject area experts, and the students themselves.
1.5.4 Instruments and procedures used in the identification process are as non-biased as possible with respect to race, cultural, ethnic, socioeconomic background, religion, national origin, gender, or handicapping condition.
1.6 Decisions regarding placement in gifted and talented education programs and services are based upon multiple criteria. A single criterion (i.e. test score or other measurement, teacher recommendation, or nomination) should not determine these decisions. Students should be recommended for programs and services based on demonstrated performance or potential.
1.7 Identification of gifted and talented students is an on-going process extending from school entry through grade 12.
1.7.1 Opportunities are provided for students to be considered for gifted and talented education programs and services throughout their school experience.
1.7.2 The progress of students receiving gifted and talented education programs and services is assessed annually and services are reviewed for appropriateness.
1.8 Implementation of the identification process includes training for school staff in characteristics of gifted and talented students including underserved populations, the identification procedures and criteria, and the instruments and techniques used to identify gifted and talented students.
1.9 Gifted and talented student identification and participation data are collected systemically and disaggregated by subgroup in order to assess the extent to which there is equitable representation.
2.0 Curriculum and Instruction
Curriculum and instruction must challenge the advanced academic needs of gifted and talented students. The regular instructional program must be differentiated to meet the unique learning styles, learning rates, interests, abilities, and needs of gifted and talented students. The differentiated instructional program includes both elements that are different from and elements that are similar to those in the regular program for their chronological peers. While some aspects of the regular curriculum can be adapted, others will need to be added which may be unique to the gifted and talented students.
Appropriate programs and services for gifted and talented students reflect the differentiation of content (what is taught and when it is taught- sequence and pacing), instructional strategies (how content is taught), products (opportunities to demonstrate and apply learning) and the learning environment (the context in which learning occurs).
2.1 The instructional program provides opportunities for gifted and talented students to demonstrate proficiency in the concepts and skills of the regular curriculum.
2.1.1 A pre-assessment is made to determine what students already know, and provisions are made for rapid, efficient learning of concepts and skills not yet acquired.
2.1.2 Extended learning experiences are provided for more in-depth examination of topics present in the regular curriculum and the examination of topics related to, but not included in, the regular curriculum.
2.2 Content of the curriculum focuses on the major concepts and processes central to the given discipline.
2.3 Greater emphasis is placed on development and application of creative and critical thinking skills.
2.4 Curriculum content includes interdisciplinary studies requiring the integration of both concepts and methodology from different disciplines.
2.5 Opportunities are provided for the acquisition of a broad base of knowledge through a study of a wide range of subjects.
2.6 A wide variety of appropriate resources are used, including primary sources, specialized reference materials, technology, and experts in the field.
2.7 A variety of acceleration opportunities are available, including early entrance to school, subject acceleration, grade acceleration, and dual enrollment in college.
2.8 Instructional strategies for gifted and talented students provide greater learner involvement in educational decision making. These include:
- Choice of materials, activities, and/or content;
- Development of criteria for self-assessment;
- Self-evaluation of products and processes;
- Provision of diverse opportunities to create and invent in areas of individual interest;
- Choice of strategies and modalities to approach content; and
- Choice of outcomes and /or forms of products.
2.9 Instructional strategies for gifted and talented students are selected to promote an earlier development of the individual student as an independent learner. These include involving the student in:
- Methodology for primary and secondary research;
- Problem solving;
- The use of predetermined evaluation criteria by student and teacher;
- The use of productivity expectations in the assignment of tasks; and
- The creation of original products that demonstrate and apply understanding at an advanced level.
2.10 Instructional strategies for gifted and talented students are selected to elicit the students' use of higher level critical and creative thinking skills at an earlier age and in greater depth. These strategies include involving the student in:
- Convergent and divergent production;
- Questioning strategies which focus on analysis, synthesis, and evaluation;
- Problem seeking as well as problem solving;
- Predicting, hypothesizing, collecting and verifying data, and forming supportable conclusions; and
- Complex and abstract reasoning.
2.11 Instructional strategies for gifted and talented students require the teacher to become a facilitator of learning and a manager of resources. Teachers should:
- Provide a structure in which students are active participants;
- Use a balance of expository and inquiry approaches;
- Demonstrate a continuing development of their own knowledge base;
- Provide a climate which encourages creativity and appropriate intellectual risk taking.
- Employ and allow students to employ technology as appropriate.
2.12 Instructional strategies selected promote gifted and talented students’ in-depth understanding of self and society. These include:
- Analyzing the self as an individual and as a member of a group;
- Learning how to work constructively and cooperatively with others;
- Learning how to modify personal and group behavior; and
- Learning how to make productive contributions to society.
2.13 A variety of instructional groupings based upon individual program components and their objectives, number and needs of gifted and talented students, and available resources are used to facilitate differentiated instruction. Appropriate groupings may include:
- Homogeneous grouping of identified gifted and talented students for a specific content area;
- Flexible homogeneous grouping based on pre-assessment;
- Homogeneous cluster grouping within heterogeneous classes;
- Cross-grade level grouping; and
- Independent study.
2.14 Various administrative arrangements are used to promote interaction among gifted and talented students and their chronological peers as well as among their intellectual or artistic/creative peers.
2.15 Resources beyond the school setting are used to provide appropriate educational experiences for gifted and talented students. These educational experiences may include collaboration with:
- Community agencies;
- Cultural institutions;
- Colleges and universities; and
- Experts in various fields.
Appropriate services for gifted and talented students may include:
- Community service;
- Summer learning experiences;
- On-line courses; and
- Dual enrollment at a local college.
3.0 Professionally Qualified Teachers
3.1 A process to ensure the selection of professionally qualified teachers for gifted and talented students is established and clearly articulated.
Qualifications may include:
- Evidence of specific training in gifted education;
- Successful teaching experience;
- Genuine interest in and desire to work with gifted and talented students;
- Demonstrated evidence of advanced content competence.
3.2 Criteria for the selection of teachers are based on a set of competencies and characteristics supported by research as being important to effective teaching of gifted and talented students. Included in this set are:
- An awareness of the cognitive and affective needs of gifted and talented students and a desire to teach them;
- Expertise in content and instructional methods;
- Expertise in the use of technology to support instruction;
- Ability to impart intellectual curiosity and enthusiasm for learning to students;
- High level of energy, enthusiasm, confidence, and resourcefulness;
- Ability to organize and manage instruction to provide for a balance of structure and flexibility;
- Openness to innovation and acceptance of divergent, creative thinking;
- Security in dealing with intellectual precocity;
- Ability to facilitate students' independence and development of personal responsibility for their own learning;
- Willingness to pursue training for needed professional understanding and competencies; and
- Expertise in the collection, management, and analysis of student assessment data.
4.0 Professional Development
Rapidly increasing knowledge about the developmental patterns and learning styles of gifted and talented students and about appropriate programs and services necessitate ongoing, high quality professional development as a component of a successful program.
4.1 Professional development in gifted and talented education is provided for all school staff and central office staff involved in the education of gifted and talented students. This includes teachers of gifted and talented students, other teachers, school administrators, student services personnel, supervisors, content specialists, and other central office staff.
4.2 Professional development in gifted and talented education is provided which includes a background of general knowledge about the characteristics of giftedness and implications for curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Specific content includes:
- Characteristics and identification of gifted and talented students;
- Psychology and developmental needs;
- Need for and concept of differentiated services;
- Development of appropriate curriculum;
- Differentiated teaching strategies and assessments for gifted and talented students;
- Strategies for identifying and serving student groups historically underrepresented in gifted and talented education, including students who live in poverty, those who are culturally or linguistically diverse, and students with disabilities;
- Administrative alternatives and program options to support acceleration and enrichment; and
- Program implementation, evaluation, and revision
4.3 Professional development is differentiated based on the participants’ levels of expertise in gifted education, current assignments and professional responsibilities, content area specializations, and system-wide goals.
4.3.1 All teaching staff, school administrators, central office staff, and pupil service personnel should receive training in the characteristics and needs of gifted and talented students, the procedures and criteria used to identify students, the meaning of differentiation, the design of the school system’s program and services, the criteria for professionally qualified teachers of gifted and talented students, and the resources available for professional development in gifted and talented education.
4.3.2 Teachers, school administrators, and supervisory staff with direct responsibility for development and delivery of instructional programs and services for gifted and talented should receive additional training which addresses specific ways to differentiate instruction and to develop and deliver curriculum appropriate for gifted and talented students.
4.3.3 Teachers working directly with gifted and talented students require intensive and ongoing professional development in the educational implications of giftedness and appropriate teaching/learning strategies for gifted and talented students.
4.3.4 School-level administrators and central office staff responsible for the management and administration of gifted and talented programs and services should be prepared to develop goals, objectives, and strategies regarding the performance of gifted and talented students, effective program alternatives and options, and a system for ongoing program evaluation.
4.4 Professional development in gifted and talented education provides a variety of learning opportunities. These might include:
- Workshops, institutes or academies;
- University and graduate courses;
- Conferences and professional meetings;
- Job-embedded activities such as study groups, peer coaching, structured observation with feedback and follow-up, and action research; and
- Accredited teacher preparation programs in gifted and talented education.
4.5 Procedures are established for ongoing evaluation and improvement of the professional development program.
4.6 Local school systems should include talent identification, development, and gifted education topics as part of both pre-service and in-service training for all staff.
4.7 Professional development planning should follow the accepted tenets of quality professional development as outlined in the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) standards, the Maryland Teacher Professional Development standards (MTPDS), the Maryland Instructional Leadership Framework, and other relevant standards documents.
5.0 Program Management
5.1 A management structure exists which clearly delineates the roles and responsibilities for gifted and talented programs and services at the system and school levels to ensure the development and maintenance of program excellence. This can be accomplished by:
- Developing a long term action plan outlining identification procedures, professional development efforts, guidelines for program design and delivery, allocation of fiscal and human resources, and evaluation processes for K-12 gifted and talented students in content areas;
- Establishing an advisory council that reflects the diversity of the school system’s population;
- Establishing a full time coordinator for Gifted and Talented Education;
- Providing for a range of educational options for gifted and talented students at each grade level;
- Coordinating the development of challenging curriculum and instruction to meet the unique needs of gifted and talented students;.
- Collecting and analyzing disaggregated enrollment and performance data for gifted and talented students as a special population; and.
5.2 The local school system provides general program direction. This includes:
- A statement of program mission and goals;
- Definition of the target population to include students from cultural groups and across all economic strata;
- Criteria and procedures for student identification;
- Administrative design;
- Guidelines for program implementation in the schools;
- On-going parent communication including the dissemination of policies and practices in gifted education;
- Coordination to ensure continuity of and access to programs and services for gifted students as they progress through school;
- Professional development;
- Development of accurate student data collection procedures; and
- Design for program evaluation.
5.3 Building-level administrators support program implementation within the school system's guidelines. They are responsible for:
- Setting goals and objectives for gifted and talented students in the school improvement plan;
- Coordinating services for gifted and talented students in the school;
- Developing staff expertise;
- Allocating resources; and
- Providing effective communication with staff, students, parents and the community.
6.1 The evaluation process is based on data and provides accurate, timely, and relevant information to decision makers and stakeholders for program improvement.
6.2 A systematic plan for ongoing evaluation is part of program planning and implementation.
6.3 Evaluation should be conducted by persons having expertise in gifted and talented education and should assess processes and products of each component of the gifted and talented program. These include:
- Identification, participation, and retention;
- Instructional program;
- Professional development;
- Teacher qualifications;
- Program management;
- Community outreach; and
- The evaluation process.
6.4 The evaluation process focuses on whether the goals, objectives, and strategies for gifted and talented students have been reached. The quantity, quality, and appropriateness of the programs and services provided for gifted and talented students are assessed and data are disaggregated and made public.
6.5 Attention is given to the assessment of student progress using multiple indicators that measure mastery of content, demonstration of higher level thinking skills, achievement in the specific program area(s), and affective growth.
6.6 Data for evaluation is obtained from a variety of valid and reliable instruments, procedures, and information sources as appropriate.6.7 Evaluation results are communicated in a timely and meaningful way to program decision makers at the system and/or school level and as appropriate, to students, parents, and the public.
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Salting and drying are two of the earliest methods of treating foods to help preserve freshness and improve flavour. Over the years, improved techniques for processing foods have resulted in the expansion of our food supply by prolonging keeping times, preventing spoilage and increasing the variety of food products available. This is the first in a series of articles in which Food Today will look at various technologies used today and the benefits they offer in improving the food supply.
Extrusion - new shapes and textures
Snack foods, breakfast cereals, confectionery and even some pet foods have been produced from a method of food processing known as extrusion. It basically involves compressing food into a semi-solid mass, and then forcing it through a small aperture to increase the variety of texture, shape, and colour obtainable from a basic food ingredient. The technique has given rise to products with hitherto unknown shapes and textures. Extrusion can form and sometimes even cook raw ingredients into finished products.
A typical extruder consists of a power supply to operate the main screw, a feeder to meter in the raw ingredients, and a barrel, which surrounds the screw. The screw conveys the raw material through towards a shaped hole, the die, that shapes the product. Extrusion can take place under high temperatures and pressures or can be simply a non-cooking, forming process.
One of the potential benefits of using extrusion in food production is to help preserve food products. Extrusion can be used to control the water activity of ingredients, which in turn determines microbial growth and hence, spoilage. It is therefore useful in producing, shelf-stable foods and increasingly important in producing a variety of things like some snackfoods, certain breakfast cereals and types of confectionery.
New and creative products
Snacks are one of the fastest-growing segments of the food industry, and extrusion is already established as a means of producing new and creative products. Most cereals can be extruded, and cereal-based products, such as breads, breakfast cereals and cakes can be processed in this way. Extrusion can also be used to make pet foods.
A particularly promising application of extrusion is in the processing of Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP). This is basically soya flour that has been processed and dried to give a substance with a sponge-like texture that may be flavoured to resemble meat. Soya beans are dehulled and their oil extracted before being ground into flour. This flour is then mixed with water to remove soluble carbohydrate and the residue is textured by extrusion. This involves passing heated soya residue from a high-pressure area to a reduced pressure area through the die, resulting in expansion of the soya protein. It is then dehydrated and may either be cut into small chunks or ground into granules. With extrusion techniques good quality meat analogues can be produced from TVP and mycoprotein (protein obtained from fungi). TVP is also being used in the development of some functional foods where the potential health benefits of soy protein are sought.
Extrusion processing has been used in the preparation of camping and military field rations, foods for special dietary needs and for feeding during disaster and famine recovery. It has even been proposed in the design of a food processing system to be stationed on Mars! The use of extrusion to produce new and innovative food products holds much promise for future food production.
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Math has been a part of the life of people since the beginning of time. Some mathematics equations are so simple they can be taught to a child barely learning how to talk. In fact, everything can be defined by numbers and equations. With technology, people have learned to use numbers on a greater scale. It all starts out with simple equations that become complex as we know more about this useful tool.
Learning math can be fascinating. Learning methods may be lacking in terms of teaching math the right way. An algebra calculator can make things easier.
Manually dissecting every algebraic equation can be tedious. The usual calculators are great for simple tasks that require basic math. An ordinary calculator is something you use in the kitchen and home office, not in your math exam. Professionals and students need a better calculator. Math does not have to give you a headache if you have the right tool.
Students that are just learning the concepts would probably use the old models until they get their first algebra calculator. Of course, you need not throw away your old mode. You can still use the old, trusty model for daily use, while you can use your algebra calculator for more complex math problems.
An algebra calculator can do a great deal to help you visualize the mathematical equation on hand. Some people have no difficulty imagining how shapes. But this capability is not shared by everyone. Better tools are needed.
You can save valuable study time with an algebra calculator. Just looking at algebra worksheets can get you tired. You’d also be wasting time and effort if you manually go through the algebra worksheets. Applications like those available in the algebra calculator can speed things up.
Mastering algebra can open up a lot of things in the field of math. Memorizing rules, equations and rules for equations can be hard. While learning the rules should be done without any shortcuts, seeing the application of these rules in an equation can be faster.
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The Olympians were a group of
twelve gods that ruled the world after the Titans. They lived
in a palace
on Mount Olympus, built by the Cyclopes or possibly by Hephaestus. Five of these Olympians were
children of Cronus and Rhea. The rest of the Olympians were mostly offsprings of Zeus. (See geneology
of the Greek Deities)
Zeus was the Supreme ruler of the gods and lord of the sky. Youngest child of the titans,
Cronus and Rhea, he was known to the Roman as Jupiter. He was also god
of rain, thunder and storm. He was the most powerful of gods, because he
wielded the thunderbolts. The eagle was sacred to him and the olive trees
were his sacred trees.
Aided by his brothers, Poseidon
and Hades, he overthrow his father Cronus
as king of the gods, and imprisoned him and the other male Titans who
opposed him in Tartarus. When they decided to divide the world between
themselves to rule, Zeus received the sky, controlling the clouds, rain and
storm. The three ruled the earth and Olympus together, but Zeus was soon
acknowledged as the supreme lord of gods and men.
He had three wives. By his first
wife, the Oceanid, Metis, whom he
swallowed up, after learning from Gaea's warning about a son who would
one day displaced him. Later, when it was time for Metis to deliver a child,
Athena sprang out of his split open head, fully armed. His second wife was
the Titaness Themis, who was the mother of the Seasons and possibly the
Fates (Moerae). By his sister and consort Hera, he was the father of Ares,
Hebe and Eileithyia. Some say he was father of Hephaestus, though most
people accepted the stories that Hera bore Hephaestus by herself, without a
father. The other possible children were Eris, goddess of discord and strife,
and Enyo, the goddess of war.
He had numerous affairs with goddesses,
nymphs and mortal women. By
the Titaness Leto he became father of Apollo and Artemis. The Pleiad,
named Maia, bored him a son called Hermes. According to some writers,
he was the father of Aphrodite by Dione, possibly daughter of Oceanus
and Tethys. He, therefore, became father possibly of all the younger
With his sister Demeter, he was
the father of Persephone. Another
important god was Dionysus, when he seduced the Theban princess, named
Semele, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia.
There are too many affairs and
offspring he had to mention here, but some
of his more famous love affair with mortal and his offspring were: Io,
daughter of the river-god Inachus. He carried Europa away in the form of
a bull, and became the father of Minos, Rhadmanthus and Sarpedon.
Zeus transformed himself into
a shower of gold, to seduced Danaë (Danae),
while her father imprisoned her in a tower. Danaë bore him the hero,
Perseus. Zeus also seduced Alcmene in her husband's form, and became
father of Heracles. While in Sparta, he ravished Leda in the form of a swan,
and became father of Polydeuces and Helen.
He had many epithets: Basileus
(king), Mechaneus (manager and
contriver), Moiragete (guide of the Moirae), Meilichios, Panhellenius, Soter
(saviour), and Terminalis (protector of boundaries). Places of worship were
Arcadia, Crete, Dodona, and Rhodes. His favourite animal was the eagle,
symbolising kingly power; his favorite tree was the oak, symbol of
Poseidon was the Lord of the sea. Poseidon was the god of the sea, of earthquakes, of horses.
Poseidon was the son of the titans, Cronus and Rhea, and was known as the
Roman god of the sea, Neptune.
After aiding his brother Zeus
in overthrowing Cronus and sending the
other Titans to Tartarus, he received the sea as his domain. When he not
residing in Olympus, he lived with his Oceanid wife and queen, Amphitrite,
in his underwater palace, Aegae. Poseidon was the father of the sea god
Triton, and two daughters Rhodes and Benthesicyme.
Poseidon was always depicted as
powerfully muscular, bearded-man,
carrying the mighty trident. One blow from trident could split open rock.
He drove two-horse chariot over the waves.
Like other sea-deities, he has
the abilities to change shape. Poseidon
pursued his sister Demeter. When she changed her shape into mare to hide
from him, Poseidon changed himself into a stallion and mounted her. He
became father of the immortal horse, Arion, and a daughter, Despoina
(goddess of the horses). Poseidon was also called a god of horses, known as
Hippios (or Consus).
His best known epithet was Enosichthon
("Earth-shaker"). His other epithet
was Gaieochus ("earthguarder").
Like his brother Zeus, he had
numerous affairs with nymphs and mortals.
He also had many children by them. Some of his sons were gigantic in
stature, like Antaeus, Otus and Ephialtes, the Cyclops Polyphemus, and
possibly the great hunter Orion. His most famous son was the Athenian
hero Theseus by Aethra, though some say Aegeus was his father.
During the Trojan War, he sided
with the Greeks, though he saved a Trojan
hero, Aeneas, son of the goddess Aphrodite and Anchises. He spirited
Aeneas away from Achilles because Aeneas must survived to rule the
Trojans one day.
His favourite animals were the
horse and bull, and the dolphin, while pine is
his sacred tree. His place of worship was Corinth, Argos, Troezen and
Athens, where he vied for recognition against the other deities. In Argos,
when he lost to Hera, he sometimes dried up the rivers in Argos, and other
times flooding Argos. In Athens, he vied against Athena. Poseidon
demonstrated his power by striking a rock with his trident, causing seawater
to gush from the spring in the Acropolis. Athena caused an olive tree to
grow beside spring. The Athenian decided in favour of Athena. The angry
sea-god flooded the region of Attica. The Athenians, however, wisely
continued to worship Poseidon, thereby appeasing him. Poseidon also
contested against Helius for Corinth. The Corinthians afraid to offend
either god decided to award the Isthmus to Poseidon, while Helius received
the heights of the Acrocorinth.
Hades was the Lord of the Underworld. Hades was the son of the titans, Cronus and Rhea.
Hades was the god of the dead, and ruled his world with more absolute
power and authority than Zeus. His other name Aïdoneus (Aidoneus)
means the "Unseen One". He was a grim god, not an evil one.
After aiding brothers Zeus and
Poseidon, in overthrowing Cronus and
sending the other Titans to Tartarus, he received the world of the dead,
known as Underworld, as his domain.
He rarely leaved the Underworld.
He drove his chariot drawn by black
horses, and abducted Persephone, daughter of Zeus and his sister, Demeter.
He wanted Persephone as his wife and queen of the Underworld. He was
forced to compromise with his sister, Demeter: he allowed Persephone to
lived two-third of the year on earth with her mother and a third with him in
The Underworld was often called
Hades, though Hades was sometimes
referred to palace, House of Hades. The Underworld was divided into two
or more region. Erebus was the upper region, while Tartarus was the lowest
region, where the Titans were imprisoned. Most mortals, who died, their
final resting-place was in the Plain of Asphodel. The shades who dwelled
here have no memories of their former lives. The place was gray and
gloomy, but the shades who populated this region will experience neither
joy, nor sorrow. Others, who led a wicked life, were send down to Tartarus,
and punished for their crime or sin.
Those mortals, who were lucky
to be favoured by the gods, will dwell in the
Elysium, or Elysian Fields. Here the shades were allowed to retain their
memories of past lives. The environment in Elysium, was peaceful and
joyous, able to enjoy the pleasures they experience when alive, such as
hunting, sports and feasts. Rhadamanthys, son of Zeus and Europa, ruled
the Elysian Field. Hesiod called the Elysium the Isle of Blessed. Some
say that Elysium, was not located in the Underworld, but on earth. Most
who wrote about it, says Elysium was situated on the White Island, near the
mouth of the Danube River, in the Black Sea. Among those who lived there
was Achilles, who married to Helen of Troy, in the afterlife.
Hera was the Queen of the heaven. Daughter of the titans, Cronus and Rhea,
she was known as the Roman goddess, Juno. She was the
goddess of woman, marriage and childbirth.
She was sister of Zeus, Poseidon,
Hades, Demeter and Hestia.
She was one of the children swallowed by her father Cronus, to
prevent the younger gods from overthrowing him. During war
between the Titans and her brothers, Hera stayed with her
uncle, Oceanus, who took no part in the war.
After Zeus' marriages with Metis
and Themis, he decided to
marry his sister, but Hera repulsed him. Zeus finally deceived
her by changing himself into a cuckoo. When she allowed the
bird to nest between her bosoms, Zeus returned to his own
form and ravished her. Later she agreed to marry her brother.
She bore Zeus three children, Ares, Hebe and Eileithyia.
When Zeus had Athena without a
mother, the angry goddess
decided to have a child without a father. She bore Hephaestus.
However, Hephaestus was ugly and cripple, some say that Hera
threw her son out of Olympus. (Others say that it was Zeus who
threw Hephaestus out of heaven, when Hephaestus tried to
protect Hera from Zeus' attack.) Hephaestus, who was an artisan
of the gods and master craftsman, got his revenge by binding
his mother to a golden throne. He only released his mother
when the gods promised to marry him to the love goddess,
Hera's marriage was never a happy
one, because of Zeus'
numerous love affairs with both immortal goddesses and
mortal women. Hera was renown for jealousy and temper. She
persecuted Zeus' many offspring as well as his mistresses. Some
of her famous victims included the goddess and Titaness, Leto;
Callisto, whom she changed into a bear, and her son; Io,
daughter of the river-god, Inanchus; Semele and her son
Dionysus, god of wine. She also persecuted Heracles
throughout his life, afflicting him with madness. She only
reconciled with Heracles, when the hero became a god and
lived in Olympus. She allowed Heracles to marry her daughter,
She played a vital role in the
downfall of Pelias. Pelias had
defiled her temple, when the king had murdered his stepmother
(Sidero) before her altar. She supported Jason and the
Argonauts in their quest. After their adventure, Jason brought
back Medea, a sorceress, who tricked Pelias' daughters into
killing their own father.
Throughout the Trojan War, she
sided with Greeks, because
Paris, a Trojan prince. Paris had awarded the golden apple,
inscribed with "To the Fairest", to Aphrodite, instead of herself.
Even after the fall of Troy, she persecuted Aeneas and the
Trojan followers, as they search for a new home in Italy. She
stirred up a war between Aeneas and the Latin tribes.
Her epithet was Argeia (Argive
Hera). Her places of worship
were Argos, Euboea, Samos and Stymphalus. In Argos, she
contested against Poseidon for recognition as a patron deity of
Argos. The contest was judged and decided by three river-gods
of Aroglis. They awarded Argos to Hera. Angry that he lost the
city to his sister, Poseidon caused the water to dry up in one
season, and to flood Argos in another.
The peacock was her sacred bird
and her sacred fruits were
apples and pomegranates.
She was the virgin goddess of the hearth. She was eldest child
of the Titans, Cronus and Rhea. The Romans called her Vesta.
Hestia was one of the children
to be swallowed by her father.
Later, Cronus was tricked into drinking emetic, and vomited
her and her siblings. After the war against the Titans, Hestia
managed to persuade her brothers (Poseidon and Hades) and
her nephew (Apollo) of her wish to remain a virgin.
Athena was the virgin goddess of arts, craft and war. Also
known as Athene, she was also identified as the Roman
goddess, Minerva. She was daughter of Zeus and his first wife
Metis (wisdom), daughter of the titans, Oceanus and Tethys.
After overthrowing his father
Cronus, Gaea warned Zeus that if
Metis had a second child, it would be a son. This son, Zeus was
told, would one day overthrow him, as he had done to his own
father (Cronus). Not wanting to suffer the same fate as his
father, he swallowed Metis, while she was still pregnant. Months
later, Zeus suffered from a great headache. Either Prometheus
or Hephaestus used an axe to split open Zeus' head. Athena
leaped out of Zeus' head, wearing full armour, uttering a war
cry. The gods were astonished, and profoundly alarm at this
prodigy. It was only when she removed her helm, that Athena
revealed herself to be less formidable in aspect. Athena became
Zeus' favourite child.
Triton, son of Poseidon raised
Athenaas she was growing up.
Triton had a daughter named Pallas, who became a playmate
for Athena. The young goddess was playing with her friend,
when Athena accidently killed her. In memory of her
childhood playmate, she put her friend's name before her own.
Thereafter, she was called Pallas Athena. The name Pallas
probably means "girl" or "maiden".
The Greeks saw her as goddess
of severe beauty, with the bluest
eyes. In art she was normally depicted as wearing the
terror-inducing aegis, symbolising the dark storm clouds, and
was armed with the resistless spear (shaft of lightning).
Since her mother was the goddess
of wisdom, Athena inherited
her mother's intellectual abilities. She personified the clear
upper air as well as mental clearness and acuteness, embodying
the spirit of truth and divine wisdom.
But Athena was also the goddess
of war. She participated with
skill and wisdom in wars to defend the state, but does not fight,
like Ares, with uncontrolled ferocity, for the sheer love of strife
and slaughter. She did not participate in war for the love of
killing, rather that her activities in war were to restore order,
and thus goddess of peace. Athena represented the more noble
aspect of war: courage and self control, whereas Ares
symbolised the more brutal aspect of war.
As the goddess of war, she also
became patron goddess of
many heroes, acting more like an ideal elder sister, providing
guidance. She aided Bellerophon in taming the winged horse,
Pegasus. In the war of the Seven against Thebes, Athena would
have saved her favourite warrior Tydeus and make him
immortal, had Tydeus not being duped into swallowing his
killer's brains. She also helped her mortal half-brothers, Perseus
and Heracles. She had acquitted Orestes during a trial in
Athens. In the war against the giants, Athena killed the giant
named Pallas by crushing him under a huge boulder. She used
Pallas' skin as her garment. She was popular among the heroes,
because she was the goddess of victory, and one of her epithet
was Athena Nike.
Athena was one of the goddesses
who wanted the golden apple
during the Judgement of Paris. She promised Paris to make
him a great hero, winning all his wars. Her enmity was incurred
against the Trojans when Paris awarded the apple to Aphrodite.
She sided with Greeks, often aiding her favourites, particularly
Achilles, Diomedes and Odysseus. However, her enmity was
turned towards most of the Greek leaders, when they failed to
punished Ajax the Lesser for raping Cassandra in her temple.
However, she continued to aid Odysseus, and was the main
patron of his family, during the hero's absence.
Athena taught mankind the art
of horsemanship. When she and
her uncle Poseidon wanted to claim Athens as a patron deity of
the city, they awarded the city to Athena, because she caused
olive tree to spring out of the rock on the Acropolis. The city
was named after her.
As goddess of craft, she invented
the flute, but discarded it,
when Hera and Aphrodite laughed at her, whenever she blew
the flute. She helped Argus to build the Argo for Jason and his
Her epithets were Parthenia, Parthenos
Polymetis (resourceful), Promachus (protectress), Mechanitis
(patroness of undertakings), Soteira (savior), and Tritogeneia
Her place of worship was not only
in Athens, but also in Argos,
Sparta and Troy as well. The olive tree was sacred to her, and
the sacred animals were horses, sea eagles, cocks and serpents,
but her most favourite was the owl.
A god of youth, music, prophecy, archery and healing. Twin
brother of the goddess Artemis (Diana), Apollo was the son of
Zeus and the Titaness, Leto, daughter of the titans, Coeüs
(Coeus) and Phoebe.
He was popularly known as Phoebus
Apollo, and therefore
known as the god of light and the sun. He was depicted with
perfect male body, muscular but youthful.
Apollo was the god of music. Hermes
gave him the lyre that he
invented, making the instrument with tortoise shell and sheep
guts for strings. No one, god or mortal could play the lyre
better than he could.
Apollo was also god of medicine
and healing. Though, in
earlier accounts, Paeëon (Paeeon) may have been a god of
healing, the name may have also been one of his epithet.
Perhaps the most famous of his children was Asclepius, by
Coronis, daughter of Phlegyas. While she was still pregnant,
she took a mortal lover, Ischys. When Apollo heard about this,
he killed Coronis, but saved the unborn baby. Asclepius
became the greatest physician, with the ability restore life.
Some would call Asclepius a god of healing. However, his gift
to restore proved to be his undoing. Zeus killed him with his
thunderbolt. Angry that his father had killed his favourite son,
Apollo slew a Cyclop, who make Zeus' deadly weapon the
thunderbolts. Zeus would have thrown his own son to Tartarus,
had Leto not pleaded for their son's life.
Zeus punished Apollo, where he
was to work for one year to a
mortal, named Admetus, king of Pherae. Admetus who was
pious, had treated the god well, during Apollo' service. After
one year, Apollo repaid Admetus' kindness by warning him of
his fate. Admetus could escape his fate if he found someone
willing to die in his place. No one but his wife Alcestis, was
willing to sacrifice her own life. Admetus immediately
regretted allowing his wife to take his place. Only the
intervention of Heracles, restored Alcestis' life for the king.
Apollo and Poseidon was also punished
by Zeus, having to
serve Laomedon, king of Troy, for one year. With the help of
the mortal Aeacus, king of Aegina, they built the wall of Troy.
Both gods had asked for payment at the completion of the wall
construction. However, Laomedon refused to pay the gods.
Poseidon sent a sea monster. Though Apollo was regarded as
god of healing, he punished Laomedon by sending an
outbreak of pestilence in Troy.
During the Trojan War, however,
he favoured the Trojans,
particularly Hector and to some extent, Aeneas. Again, he was
associated as the god of pestilence (for the second time in
Troy. See the Iliad). This time he sent the pestilence to the
Greeks in Troy, because Agamemnon's refusals to return one
of his captives and concubines, Chryseïs (Chryseis), to her
father (Chryses), a priest of Apollo. Apollo punished
Agamemnon by raining his deadly arrows from heaven,
causing an epidemic within the Greek camp.
Because Achilles had killed his
son Tenes, king of Tenedos, in
the first year of the war, Apollo would be responsible for
Achilles' death in the last year of the war. When Achilles
pursued the retreating Trojans, Paris shot an arrow at Achilles;
Apollo guided the arrow to Achilles' weakness, his heel.
Like many of the younger gods,
he was never married, but had
many seduced many girls and women. Among the girls he
ravished were Creüsa (Creusa), daughter of Erechtheus, who
became the mother of Ion. Apollo and Hermes, fell in love
with Chione, daughter of Daedalion. On the same day, Hermes
raped Chione during the day, while Apollo ravished her at
night. She bore twins, a son to each god a son, Autolycus
(thief) to Hermes and Philammon (bard) to Apollo.
The best known of them all, was
also his most unsuccessful.
Apollo told Eros, to leave archery to him. Angry at the
reproach, Eros used one of his gold-tipped arrows and made
Apollo fall in love with a nymph named Daphne, daughter of
the river-god Peneius. But Eros shot Daphne with leaden
arrow-point, which would caused Daphne to reject any love.
Apollo pursued the unfortunate girl. Praying to the
earth-goddess Gaea, she was transformed into the laurel tree.
Apollo broke off a laurel branch, and worn it on his head. In
Greek, Daphne means, "laurel".
Another girl escaped the god was
Marpessa, whom the hero
Idas wanted to marry. When Apollo took the girl, Idas
undaunted by the god, he pursued the fleeing god and his
betrothed. Zeus prevented the two rivals from fighting, and
asked the girl to choose between them. She chose Idas.
In Troy, he gave the gift of prophecy
to Cassandra, daughter
of Priam and Hecuba, in the hope he could win her favour.
When Cassandra rejected him. Apollo made her gift to alway
foresees true, but no one will take heel of prophecy.
Apollo was the god of prophecy
and oracle. The oracle in
Delphi, was the main seat of his power, though it originally
belonged to Gaea, then Themis and Phoebe, before the oracle
was given to him.
He had many epithets: Acersecomes
(healer), Cynthius, Delius, Loxias, Lycius (wolf-god),
Moiragetes (guide of the moirae), Musagetes (patron of the
muses), Paean (healing-god), Phoebus (shining), Smintheus
His sacred places of worship were
Delphi, Delos and Tenedos.
His sacred tree was the laurel, while the animals were wolf,
raven, swan, hawk, snake, mouse and grasshopper.
Virgin goddess of the childbirth and of wild animals. Artemis
was the daughter of Zeus and the Titaness, Leto, offspring of
the Titans, Coeüs (Coeus) and Phoebe. Artemis was the twin
sister of Apollo.
Artemis was the goddess of hunting
and the chase. Artemis
often hunts with her brother. She carried a silver bow made by
the Cyclopes. Maidens often accompanied her during her hunt.
These mortal huntresses tried to remain virgin like the goddess
they worshipped. However, many of the gods, particularly her
father (Zeus), often ravished her beautiful companions.
Artemis was also the guardian of all wild animals of the forest,
but the hind, bear, dog and boar were favourites. Her sacred
tree was the laurel, like her brother.
She was also the goddess of childbirth.
Eileithyia, who was
daughter of Hera, was also goddess of birth. When Leto was
pregnant with the twins, Eileithyia refused to help Leto with
labour, suffered greatly from the pain. Artemis was born first.
Artemis helped her mother to delivered Apollo nine days after
Artemis can be a vengeful goddess.
When Actaeon, a grandson
of Cadmus, probably accidentally, saw her bathing, she
transformed him into a stag. Actaeon's hounds tore him apart.
When Niobe boasted that she given birth to seven strong sons
and seven beautiful daughters more than Leto, Artemis killed
all of Niobe's daughters, while Apollo kill her sons.
When Oeneus, king of Calydon,
forgot to sacrifice to her,
Artemis punished the king by sending a giant wild boar to
ravage the countryside. Similarly, when Agamemnon forgot to
sacrifice to her, Artemis send a strong wind that prevent the
Greek fleet from embarking at Aulis, to Troy, unless
Agamemnon sacrifice one of his daughters (Iphigeneia). In
some accounts, Artemis spirited Iphigeneia away, and replaced
the sacrifice with a deer.
Artemis was also known as the
Roman goddess, Diana. Her
epithets included Auge, Caryatis, Lucina (childbirth, Roman)
and Phoebe (moon-goddess). She was also goddess of the
moon and was sometimes confused with Selene and Hecate,
who were also moon-goddesses.
According to many non-Greek traditions,
she was not the
virgin goddess. Rather, she was the mother goddess. Some
statues depicted her with more than two breasts, suggesting that
she was goddess of fertility. She probably had Asiatic origin,
and she was sometimes identified as Cybele, a Phrgyian
Herald and messenger of the gods. Hermes was son of Zeus
and Maia (a Pleiad), a daughter of Atlas and Pleïone (Pleione).
Identified as the Roman god, Mercury.
Hermes was at a god of thief,
before he was even a day old.
Before the end of his first day, he invented the lyre made of
tortoise's shell, and stole Apollo's cattle. He feigned innocence,
when Apollo caught up with him and accused the infant of
stealing his cattle. Finally Zeus ordered him to return the cattle
When Apollo was deciding on Hermes'
heard Hermes played the lyre. Apollo like the music coming
from the instrument so much, that he decided to give Hermes
his cattle and his shepherd staff in exchanged for the lyre. He
even taught Hermes the art of divining using pebbles.
Hermes often helped and guided
human in their activity. He
gave a "Sickle of Admanate" to Perseus, which the hero used to
use to sever Medusa's head. He killed Argus who was guarding
Io. Hermes gave Odysseus a plant known as moly, that made
the hero immune to Circe's magic.
Argiphontes (slayer of Argus),
Cylleneius, Epimelios (guardian
of flocks), Hodios (patron of traveller and wayfarers), Nomios,
Oneiropompus (conductor of dreams), Psychopompus
(conductor of souls to the Underworld).
God of war. Ares was son of Zeus and Hera, and was known as
the Roman god, Mars. He was the brother of Hebe, Eileithyia
and possibly of Hephaestus, though most writers say that
Hephaestus was son of Hera, alone.
In the battlefield, he was accompanied
by Enyo (called Bellona
by the Romans), goddess of war, who was either his sister or his
daughter, by Aphrodite. Enyalius, Greek god of war, was
probably an epithet of Ares. Otherwise, Enyalius was a
personification of war, and brother of Enyo. Ares was also said
to be brother of Eris (Discord) and was father of son named
As a god of war, many Greek kingdoms
did not worship him,
because Ares personified uncontrolled and murderous killing
in war, engaged in bloody strife for the sheer love of combat
itself. Many Greeks preferred Athena, the goddess of war,
whose judgment is not clouded by the passion of fighting. She
represented disciplined and cool purpose.
Even though he was god of war,
Athena always seemed to be a
better fighter, whenever there was a confrontation between the
two. During the Trojan War, when Ares charged at Athena,
brandishing his sword, the goddess coolly hurled a stone at the
god of war. She left him crumbled to the ground.
He even lost several encounters
to mortals, such as Heracles
(twice), as well as Diomedes, hero in the Trojan War. Both
heroes had seriously wounded the war-god. When he was
wounded by Diomedes, his scream was louder than thousands
of men shouting. The two giant sons (Aloidae) of Poseidon (?)
and Iphimedia Otus and Ephialtes had captured Ares and
put him in bronze vessel. He was held for 13 months, before
Hermes eventually rescued him.
According to the early Roman accounts,
Mars was known more
as a god of agriculture than that of war, but his aspect became
more warlike as the Roman became more powerful.
Ares had many epithets: Gradivus
(leader of armies) and
Alloprosallos. His main places of worship were possibly Sparta
and Thebes (otherwise he had no cities in Greece), and Thrace.
Ares favourite animals were the dog and vulture.
The goddess of love and beauty. She was identified as Roman
goddess, Venus. There are two version of her birth.
According to Homer, Aphrodite
was known as the daughter of
Zeus and the Oceanid Dione. But according to Hesiod, she was
older than the Olympians. When the Titan Cronus severed his
father's (Uranus) genitals and flung into the sea, the blood and
semen caused foams to gathered and floated across the sea to
the island of Cyprus. There, Aphrodite rose out of the sea
from the foam (hence her name came from the word aphros,
which means "foams"). She had experienced no infancy or
childhood. She was a grown, young woman.
Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus
but had numerous
affairs with gods and mortals, the most notorious of these, was
the goddess' long dalliance with Ares. She was said to have
become the mother of Eros, Deimus (Fear), Phobus (Panic)
and Harmonia, wife of Cadmus.
She had several mortal lovers.
The most famous were Adonis,
son of Cinyras and Cinyras' daughter, Myrrha (Smyrna).
Cinyras refused to worship Aphrodite that the goddess made
her daughter fall madly in love with him. Myrrha got her
father drunk several nights and slept with him. When Cinyras
discovered that Myrra was pregnant with his child, Cinyras
tried to kill her. Myrrha prayed to the gods to save her, and the
gods turned her into a myrrha tree. Cinyras killed himself in
After some months later, Adonis
was born, when the tree split
open. Aphrodite found the infant so beautiful that she had
Persephone bring the child up for her. The child grew so
beautiful that both goddesses fell in love him. Aphrodite had
no choice but to share Adonis' love with Persephone. Adonis
became a great hunter, and spent much of his free time with
Aphrodite. Adonis was killed by a wild boar. Some say that the
wild boar was Ares himself. Aphrodite' immortal paramount
became jealous of the youth, whom Aphrodite spends much
time with. Aphrodite grieving for Adonis caused flowers to
bloom from his blood.
One of her mortal sons was the
hero Aeneas, by her lover
Anchises, king of Dardania. Anchises was crippled by
thunderbolt from Zeus, when he revealed that he made love to
the goddess. She supported the Trojans during the war, not
only because Paris awarded the apple to her as the fairest, but
that Aeneas also fought with the Trojans. When she tried to
rescue her wounded son, Diomedes also wounded her and
drove Aphrodite off the battlefield. Apollo saved Aeneas.
Her epithets were Acidalia, Anadyomene
(born to the sea),
Cyprian, Cypris, Cythereia, Eriboea (Periboea), Erycina,
Euploios (fair voyage), Paphia (sexual love), Pelagia, and
Her favourite haunts were Cyprus
and Cythera. Aphrodite's
favourite animals were the dove, sparrow, swallow, swan and
Birth of Venus (Aphrodite)
A god of fire and metalworking. Hephaestus was known to the
Roman as the fire-god, Vulcan, as well as Mulciber (Gentle
Some say that Hephaestus was son
of Zeus and Hera, or more
popularly known that of Hera alone. When Zeus gave birth to
Athena without the mother, Hera was jealous and decided to
give birth to a child without a father.
There are several accounts on how he became lame:
One said he was born lame.
Another account was that Hephaestus tried to protect
his mother, when she angered Zeus, by wrecking
Heracles' ship in Cos. It was Zeus who threw
Hephaestus out of heaven, for aiding Hera. He became
crippled upon impact with the earth.
Another popular version, say that Hera upon giving
birth to Hephaestus without a mate, but finding him
ugly, Hera threw him out of Olympus. Hephaestus in
anger created a golden throne and sends it to Olympus
as gift to his mother. Once Hera sat on the throne, she
was bound to the chair by golden fetter. The other
gods tried to persuade Hephaestus to release his
mother. He either released Hera because Dionysus got
him drunk or he was promised Aphrodite in marriage.
In the Iliad, he is known as husband
of Aglaea, the youngest
of the Graces, but in the Odyssey, his wife was Aphrodite
(Venus), who had numerous affairs, particularly with Ares.
Hephaestus later captured the Aphrodite with war-god in the
golden net, naked on the bed. Hephaestus called upon the
other gods to witness their embarrassing affair, while they were
naked and helpless. Hephaestus refused to release them, until
Poseidon persuaded Hephaestus that he himself would pay for
Hephaestus had once tried to ravish
the virgin goddess Athena.
His attempt failed, his semen fell on the ground (Gaea) at the
Acropolis. From the earth, an earth-born creature was born,
named Erichthonius. Erichthonius was half-man half-serpent
creature, who became one of the earliest kings of Athens.
As the metal-smith of the god,
he made many armour and
weapons for the gods as well as building their beautiful palaces
in Olympus. He also made armour for mortal, such as Heracles,
Peleus and Achilles. Some say that the Cyclops worked under
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For most of us, mid-November brings a reminder that it's time to shift our thinking into winter mode. For food animal veterinarians, it's the time of year when calls about sick calves come in. The changing weather, and the stresses of shipping and weaning, have a lot to do with this.
Bovine respiratory disease (BRD, or calf pneumonia) is the most common cause of sick calves this time of year, and many different viruses (IBR, BRSV, BVD) and bacteria (Mannheimia, Histophilus, or Mycoplasma, for example) are involved in this complex. When vets show up on the farm to aid a producer with sick calves, however, the focus is usually first on getting the calves better instead of determining exactly which germs are involved. Often, the calves are successfully treated without the specific germs being identified at all.
But sometimes it does become necessary to try to figure out just which germs are causing problems in a BRD outbreak. This information is useful when investigating treatment failures or for designing future vaccination and prevention programs.
In the unfortunate case where cattle have died from BRD, samples of lung and other organs can be submitted to the diagnostic lab at SDSU for identification of the bacteria and viruses associated with the outbreak. Diagnostic techniques such as culture or PCR are ever evolving and are becoming more refined all the time. But what if no calves have diet yet from the BRD outbreak?
Samples from live calves can be taken and submitted to the lab, too. These samples are not from tissue, they're from the fluid that coats the lining of the respiratory tract, similar to samples a nurse might take from your sore throat at the doctor's office. How could this be done in calves?
The first sampling site to consider is the nose of the calf - the gateway to the respiratory tract. While probably the easiest to obtain, swabs taken from the nasal passages might be the least useful. The problem is that healthy calves usually have some of these nasty germs hanging around their nose, too. So just because we can identify a germ like Mycoplasma or Pasteurella in the nose, it doesn't necessarily mean that that is the germ causing the problem deep in the lung. On the other hand, finding certain germs like BRSV or IBR, or consistent results across a large number of calves might be significant.
To get the best picture of the germs making a calf sick from pneumonia, veterinarians would prefer a sample from the depths of the lungs. There are techniques that can get us closer to this type of sample, but they are best left to veterinarians to perform as they require skill and special equipment. One technique involves passing a long tube down into the lower airways either through the nose or through a surgical site in the windpipe, and sucking up fluid through the tube with a syringe. Another involves using longer swabs that pass through the nose and into the back of the throat. The bacteria and viruses found back here tend to be more representative of what's going on in the lungs compared to samples obtained from the nose.
Even after the right samples are taken and results obtained, those results still need to be successfully interpreted. This is where an experienced veterinarian with their boots in the feedlot and a good relationship with the diagnostic lab comes in. For example, with viruses like IBR and BRSV, our diagnostic techniques are becoming so sensitive that recent use of certain modified live and intranasal vaccines could cause positive results. And as mentioned, healthy calves can harbor some of these pathogenic germs as well.
Diagnostic techniques for food animals are becoming more sensitive and advanced as time goes on. But they do not diminish the roles of the veterinarian and animal caretaker. In fact, these newer techniques probably beg more than ever for skilled veterinarians that can navigate a lab report in the context of the cattle right there in front of their eyes. Clinical common sense meshed with technology from the lab is a great combination for cattle producers and the animals that depend on them.
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Swine flu – why is a mild pig disease dangerous to humans?
The numbers are rising with every news broadcast, but as I write this, over a hundred people have died in Mexico from Swine Flu. Cases have been confirmed in five states across the USA, in Canada, and in Europe, the first one has been found in Spain. A WHO emergency committee will meet tomorrow, examining the spread of the virus to decide whether to increase the alert for a possible pandemic, or global epidemic, after the UN agency declared the outbreaks in Mexico and the U.S. a "public health emergency of international concern" on Saturday. Countries across the world are increasing border security in an attempt to stem the spread of the virus.
Articles are springing up on the Internet explaining more about this virus, but I'm focusing on the aspect that intrigues me: the fact that a common, mild, pig disease is striking global fear into the human race.
The whole problem with the flu virus lies in its capacity to change. The basic virus blueprint has been around for thousands of years, and although it started off as a bird virus, it has gradually developed into forms that are specific for every species of warm blooded animal on the planet, as well as a few cold blooded ones (even snakes have their own flu virus). The established human flu viruses don't cause too much of a problem to most of us. Many humans have immunity due to previous exposure, and vaccines are available to protect the most vulnerable sectors of society such as elderly people.
Animal flu viruses don't usually present a threat to humans. Most often, the flu virus remains in its host species, and if it does occasionally adapt so that it can infect a human, it isn't able to be passed on from that person to anyone else. A single human infection is the end of the line for that virus. Changes in the flu virus don't happen often enough or fast enough for a virus from one species to cause an epidemic in a different species.
So what's happened that's allowed this pig flu virus to spread so fast amongst humans? It's presumed that it all started with somebody in Mexico who was working closely with pigs. One of the pigs must have had a mild dose of swine flu; coincidentally, the pig worker happened to have a mild human flu at the same time. The pig was then infected with the human flu virus, and the swine flu and the human flu viruses then co-existed in the pig for a short time. The flu viruses did their usual trick – so-called "reassortment"- which is the exchange of genetic material between two different viruses. Usually this just happens between two flu viruses of the same type, making them a little more tricky for the host immune system to tackle. But when two entirely different viruses reassort in one animal, the result is a new hybrid virus with properties of both swine flu and human flu.
In many cases, this "new" virus would just stop there, dwindling away to nothing. In this instance, the new hybrid virus must have been passed back to the pig worker. Again, in other similar scenarios, it could have stopped there, with just one human casualty. But it seems that this particular swine flu virus has the capacity not just to infect one human, but to spread rapidly from human to human. And because it's a new virus, made up of a unique new combination of genetic material, no humans have immunity to it. The health authorities haven't yet had time to prepare a vaccine, so the virus is spreading very rapidly amongst the human population.
The global spread of the virus is happening because we've become such a mobile species – it's reckoned that there are something like 500,000 people airborne around planet Earth at any one time. This means the potential for the virus to spread widely and quickly is very high.
The virus isn't as fearsome as some viruses – like rabies, which kills every human who develop signs of illness. Swine flu has a high morbidity (i.e. if infects a high proportion of the people in an area) but a low mortality (less than 5%). It may only kill one in twenty people who are infected, but as you look around your colleagues and friends, you'll realise that it's a significant mortality rate when the victims are part of your own circle.
Viruses are traditionally much more of a challenge to doctors than bacteria, being unaffected by antibiotics, but in recent years, powerful anti-viral drugs have been developed. The ever-adaptable flu viruses do have the ability to develop resistance to some of these new drugs, but the word is that this latest virus is susceptible to oseltamivir ("Tamiflu") as well as to zanamivir ("Relenza"). These anti-viral drugs act on metabolic pathways to prevent new viral particles being released by infected human cells, so stopping the spread of the virus in its tracks, and preventing it from spreading to other people.
Just three months ago, the UK government put in orders with Roche and Glaxo-Smith-Kline, doubling their stockpile of these antiviral drugs, and it's reported that the UK is amongst the best prepared countries in the world if this does become the pandemic that people fear.
The Swine Flu virus, in its harmless, pig-only form, is seen in all pig producing countries, including the UK. The current episode happened to start in Mexico, but it could have happened in any place where a human with flu was in contact with a pig with flu. This is a good example of the importance of efficient state agencies in a range of areas, from disease monitoring in the animal population (as well as in humans), to the dishing out of anti-viral drugs when they're needed. Without this type of coordinated country-wide (and planet-wide) action, we'd all be in a much worse place.
Post traumatic stress disorder – in dogs!
December 2nd, 2011 16:43
What Northern Ireland could teach us about dog control
November 25th, 2011 17:19
How to stop Benton chasing those deer again
November 22nd, 2011 16:28
Superbugs: stopping vets from using antibiotics won't solve the problem
November 18th, 2011 16:00
Fat cats and paunchy pooches: could your pet be diabetic?
November 14th, 2011 13:24
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2013-05-26T09:41:50Z
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Regret is a powerful and potentially devastating emotion.
In 1995, a Liverpool man who regularly played one set of lottery numbers failed to renew his ticket during the week his numbers came in. Thinking—wrongly as it turned out—hat he'd let a prize worth millions slip away, he committed suicide.
We can't know what he was thinking, but we can imagine that his emotional distress was compounded because he felt personally responsible for the outcome. And that is one definition of regret: Recognizing the difference between how things are and how they might have turned out—if only we had made a different choice.
Since the late 1990s, the study of regret has benefited from the availability of advanced neuroimaging techniques. We have evidence that parts of the brain responsible for reasoning and emotion become active when a person experiences regret. In particular, an area known as the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), located in a region of the brain responsible for reasoning, may carry out the essential task of comparing real outcomes with imagined alternatives. Brain scans demonstrate increased OFC activity when people experience regret. And patients who have suffered injuries to that part of the brain are unable to experience or learn from regret.
Much of the literature on regret discusses its negative impact. It's considered stressful and may lead to physical illness. It may be amplified by depression, or it may be a cause of depression. Exaggerated feelings of regret are associated with a poorer quality of life in later years. If one fails to learn from experiences of regret, the outcome may be misery, self-destructive behavior, or—as in the Liverpool case—a fatal act.
But a study highlights the benefits of regret. Colleen Saffrey at the University of Victoria and colleagues at the University of Illinois, writing in the journal Motivation and Emotion, provide evidence that people actually have a high regard for regret.
In one study, subjects rated regret favorably in a survey, indicating that experiencing this emotion helped them make sense of life events and come up with a remedy for what went wrong. In a second study, the researchers asked subjects to reflect on 11 negative emotions —such as fear, anger, anxiety, and shame—in addition to regret. The subjects rated how much they agreed with statements about the value of the emotions, for example, whether an emotion "helps me know how to act in the future" or "improves my relationships with others." Across the board, regret was the most highly valued of the negative emotions studied.
Regret has an important social context, too. We learn not only from our own mistakes, but from the mistakes of others. We also learn about preferable outcomes by seeing our peers, colleagues, or neighbors make favorable or unfavorable choices. This may engender envy or relief, but—either way—it helps us figure out how to improve our lot.
The literature is persuasive on the importance of regret in decision making. The power of regret may explain why few of us are very good at objectively appraising risks and benefits. Rather than looking forward to figure out what is in our best interests, we typically look backward. We reflect on what has and has not worked out in the past. Then, whether we are deciding about a life partner, a career, a financial investment, or a medical treatment, we choose the option we are least likely to regret.
Managing regret productively may be an essential ingredient for mental health, a good quality of life, and a positive sense of well-being. If that's true, it is worth continuing to make it a focus of research and therapy.
—Michael Craig Miller, M.D. Editor in Chief, Harvard Mental Health Letter
be well, feel better
Get the facts on staying healthy and comfortable when the temperature rises.
Trick your brain into doing what you want it to do.
Which are just gross, and which are truly dangerous?
Plus, tips from experts on ways to drop those excess pounds
How to use color therapy to feel better.
Banish stress and enjoy a greater sense of balance in your life.
No painkillers? No problem.
Bypass these bad habits to avoid looking old beyond your years.
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2013-05-19T02:31:06Z
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|Biosphere Reserve Information|
The Croajingolong Biosphere Reserve and National Park (including Nadgee Nature Reserve) protects some of Victoria’s most spectacular coastal environments as well as a significant representation of southeast Australia. The topography is particularly variable along the coast. Local out cropping of rocks in cliff-faces, often higher than 15 metres, break the long stretches of sandy beaches.
The tidal, brackish inlets of the larger rivers add scenic and habitat diversity. The many freshwater lakes and swamps, which have been shaped behind coastal dunes and the associated complex islands add another dimension to the diversity.
Large stands of warm temperate rainforests are present in the eastern part of Croajingolong. Coastal heathland and species diversity is comparable to that in the South African Heaths, which are regarded as one of the richest vegetation community in the world outside lowland tropical rainforests. Almost, 1,000 native plant species (90 species of orchids) and 315 animal species have been recorded within the biosphere reserve.
The abundance of artefacts and middens within the biosphere reserve indicates a history of occupation by reasonably large populations of Indigenous communities, who most probably concentrated around the inlets, estuaries and wetlands.
Mallacoota township, and smaller settlements known as Tamboon South, Peachtree and Furnell Landing are entirely surrounded by the National Park. With 1,249 inhabitants (2003) the town of Mallacoota is a popular domestic tourist destination generating most of its income from tourism and commercial fishing. The main economic activities adjoining the biosphere reserve are native forest timber harvesting, tourism, pastoral activities and commercial fishing.
Croajingolong Biosphere Reserve is managed not only for conserving biodiversity but also to provide nature based tourism opportunities. Research and monitoring is encouraged and permitted as long as it does not conflict with management objectives.
|Major ecosystem type||Evergreen sclerophyllous forests, scrubs or woodlands|
|Major habitats & land cover types|
|Location||37°27' to 37°47'S; 148°59' to 149°58'E|
|Transition area(s) when given|
|Altitude (metres above sea level)||0 to +492|
|Administrative authorities||State Government; statuary cooperation between NSW National parks and Wildlife Service and Parks Victoria|
Threatened species monitoring (recovery plans have been developed for some threatened species such as the Bristle Bird)
Impact of foxes on small mammals
Introduced carnivore studies (dingos and foxes)
Effects of fire on vegetation
Visitor satisfaction surveys
|Biodiversity||Birds, fires/fire ecology, mammals, methodologies, rare/endangered/threatened species, reintroduction, restoration/rehabilitation/redevelopment, vegetation studies/plant cover.|
|Integrated monitoring||Impact and risk studies/Environmental impact.|
Croajingolong National Park
P.O. Box 179
3892 Mallacoota VIC
|Web site||Parks Victoria|
|Last updated: 3/14/2005|
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.unesco.org/mabdb/br/brdir/directory/biores.asp?mode=all&code=AUL+01
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2013-05-21T10:15:27Z
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Asteroid Re-Named 'Wikipedia'
Wikipedia is loaded with articles on space. And now Wikipedia is in space, too — specifically, as an asteroid newly named "Wikipedia." The Committee for Small Body Nomenclature has renamed a main belt asteroid, previously labeled number 274301, with an official moniker: Henceforth, it's known as Wikipedia.
Astronomers at the Audrushivka Astronomical Observatory in Ukraine first spotted the asteroid in August 2008. Observatories in Caussols-ODAS in France and Mt. Lemmon Survey and Steward Observatory in Arizona also observed the asteroid. The Committee handed down the official name on Jan. 27, based on a suggestion from a member of the Wikimedia Foundation in Ukraine.
Researchers also posted some scientific facts about Wikipedia (the asteroid), including its measurement of one to two kilometers (about a mile) in diameter and its orbit, which takes it around the sun every 3.68 Earth years. And it won't collide with Earth, so no need to call Bruce Willis.
Astronomers around the world, and at NASA, regularly scan the night sky in order to search for near-Earth asteroids and other objects that could potentially pose an impact threat to Earth. (The latest, with the less-elegant name "2012 DA14," is due to pass within 17,200 miles of the Earth on Feb. 15.)
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.technewsdaily.com/16749-asteroid-named-wikipedia.html
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2013-05-26T02:56:09Z
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Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Among Thorndike's most famous contributions were his research on cats escaping from puzzle boxes, and his formulation of the Law of Effect (among other Laws of learning, many now forgotten and some discredited).
The puzzle box experiments were motivated in part by Thorndike's dislike for statements that animals made use of extraordinary factulties such as insight in their problem solving: "In the first place, most of the books do not give us a psychology, but rather a eulogy of animals. They have all been about animal intelligence, never about animal stupidity." (Animal Intelligence, 1911). (This same opinion was applied to human beings by John B. Watson soon after.)
Thorndike meant to distinguish clearly whether or not cats escaping from puzzle boxes were using insight. Thorndike's instruments in answering this question were 'learning curves' revealed by plotting the time it took for an animal to escape the box each time it was in the box. He reasoned that if the animals were showing 'insight,' then their time to escape would suddenly drop to a negligible period, which would also be shown in the learning curve as an abrupt drop; while animals using a more ordinary method of trial and error would show gradual curves. His finding was that cats consistently showed gradual learning.
Thorndike interpreted the findings in terms of associations. He asserted that the connection between the box and the motions the cat used to escape was 'strengthened' by each escape. A similar, though radically reworked idea was taken up by B.F. Skinner in his formulation of "Operant Conditioning," and the associative analysis went on to figure largely in behavioral work through mid-century, now evident in some modern work in behavior as well as modern connectionism.
See also: Halo effect.
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details
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2013-05-24T02:11:31Z
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February 20, 2012 | 3
Octopuses are purportedly colorblind, but they can discern one thing that we can’t: polarized light. This extra visual realm might give them a leg (er, arm) up on some of the competition.
And a team of researchers has created a new way to test just how sensitive cephalopods are to this type of light. Their results were published online Monday in Current Biology.
“We now know that polarization is tuned much more finely than we thought it was,” says Shelby Temple, of the Ecology of Vision Laboratory at the University of Bristol in the U.K., who led the study.
But testing polarized light is tricky, especially since we humans aren’t tuned to see it. As Temple and his co-authors wrote in their paper: “For animals that can see it, the polarization of light adds another dimension to vision, analogous to adding color to a black and white image.” Polarized light is different from what we see in that it comes from a single angle, and animals that can detect it seem to see it in different resolutions based on changes in its angle. (The closest we can get to using it is putting on a pair of polarized lenses to cut down on glare.)
Polarized light perception in the best-tuned animals was assumed to be limited to differences of about 10 to 20 degrees. But in the group’s new experiments, the mourning cuttlefish (Sepia plangon) responded to just 1.05-degrees change of polarized light orientation.
For the experiments, the team used computer screens that had had the polarizing light filter removed (without these front filters on our liquid crystal displays—LCDs—our monitors would project polarized light images that we wouldn’t be able to see).
These modified displays played digital movie versions of “looming stimuli” such as an expanding circle, which would suggest a potential predator approaching. But instead of a color or intensity-based image, the one they created was based on changing polarized light orientation only.
Octopus don’t yet seem to be quite as sensitive as cuttlefish to the fine gradients in polarized light, responding only after about 10 degrees shift. But, says Temple, “it may be the way that we’re testing.” As he points out, cuttlefish’s knee-jerk response to an approaching predator is a quick change of color, which the researchers could use as an indication that they had seen even fine shifts in the polarized light angle.
“Cuttlefish, they wear their emotions on their sleeve, quite literally,” Temple says. “They’re showing everything that they’re doing as a neural response.” In fact, the cuttlefish responded so well, that he and his colleagues thought they were doing something wrong. They were afraid that in the digital renderings they might have accidentally included a non-polarized light clue, such as brightness or intensity. But they went back and checked and found that it was, indeed, just the slight change in polarized light that was frightening the animals.
With octopus, “there’s no comparison,” he says. But, he concedes that it is possible that the octopuses might have seen finer resolutions of polarized light shift but just didn’t have the same simple, speedy reaction as the cuttlefish.
And says Temple, “it could be that some species could do it better than others.” So far, he has found that the blue ringed octopus looks to me more sensitive than the day octopus. He has plans to test different species of octopus soon.
Researchers are still working to get to the bottom of cephalopod vision, which is turning out to be highly complex. And this new work supports the idea that such sensitivity to polarized light emerged precisely because these animals don’t see color well—if at all.
And if octopuses, cuttlefish and squid—and some of their predators and prey—can see polarized light so keenly, are they also using it, as they use color and luminosity, to actively create camouflage?
Other researchers are working on that very question. And Temple and his colleagues have observed that, at least in some cuttlefish, they can create a polarized light-based pattern on their skin. This play in light might “be used as part of a covert communication channel, invisible to animals lacking polarized vision,” they wrote.
But the patterns remain tricky for us to pick up on. For that, Temple and his colleagues have developed a way for us to get a peak into the invisible world of polarized light and dark by modifying a digital single-reflex lens (SLR) camera and creating a computer program to feed false-color into varying degrees of polarized light. These mysterious rainbow-colored ecosystem images make it clear that, “We’re not done with the story yet, for sure,” Temple says.
Illustration courtesy of Ivan Phillipsen
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This glossary of Sanskrit terms is designed primarily to support the
Advanced Yoga Practices lessons. Since the lessons were written with a mind
to simplify things, including minimizing the use of Sanskrit terms, this
glossary should not be considered to be a complete general purpose one for
use in academic studies. Nevertheless, there are over 100 Sanskrit terms
here, which is not too skimpy. Nearly all of them are related in some way to
the conduct of yoga practices.
Advaita – The same as vedanta, the monistic (non-dual) branch of
Indian philosophy discussed mainly in the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and
the Brahma Sutra. Advaita upholds the oneness of God, soul and universe.
Ajna – Means, “command.” The sixth chakra, also known as the
third eye, encompasses the neuro-biology from the center of the brow to the
center of the head, and the medulla oblongata (brain stem). The third eye is
the command center controlling the ecstatic aspects of the enlightenment
process, which is the orderly awakening of kundalini.
Akasha – Means, “space.” Inner, omnipresent space in particular. When
used in samyama, akasha reveals the body to be one and the same as inner
space, allowing it to be effortlessly transported anywhere.
Amaroli – Urine therapy, an ancient spiritual practice described in
the Hatha Yoga Pradipika and the Damar Tantra.
Amrita – Means, “nectar.” In yoga, most often associated
with fragrant secretions coming from the brain, down through the nasal
pharynx and into the GI (gastrointestinal) tract.
Anahata – Means, “unstruck sound.” The fourth chakra located in the
heart area. This is where the yoga practitioner first experiences the
vastness of inner space, which is often filled with celestial sounds and
other inner sensory experiences.
Ananda – Means, “bliss.” One of the three characteristics of
sat-chit-ananda, our blissful inner silence.
Asana – Means, “posture.” The third limb of the eight limbs of yoga
from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Asanas are used to physically loosen and
open the subtle nerves of the body, particularly the sushumna/spinal nerve.
Asanas are generally practiced immediately before pranayama and meditation.
Ashtanga Yoga – Means, “eight limbed yoga.” A system of yoga
practices based on the eight limbs of yoga from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
Asvini Mudra – A dynamic version of mulabandha (root lock), where the
anal sphincter muscle is gently flexed and released periodically. This
happens automatically as ecstatic conductivity rises in the nervous system.
Atman – The immortal soul of a human being. The divine Self that
exists in every person. Upon beginning meditation, it is first experienced
as stillness, peaceful inner silence, and, later, as ecstatic bliss and
outpouring divine love.
Avatar – Means, “incarnation of God in human form.” Also is regarded
to mean a spiritual savior of humankind. The birth of an avatar is sometimes
foretold beforehand, and he or she typically undergoes the trials of
achieving final enlightenment, and then takes on a mission to help many
others advance spiritually. Well known avatars in the East include Krishna
and Buddha, and in the West, Jesus. Many avatars have come to earth, and
most are little known. Everyone has the inherent ability to become an avatar
because everyone contains the same divine potential. The primary mission of
an avatar is to show us that this is so.
Ayurveda – The ancient yoga-based system of medicine that focuses on
balancing the doshas (constitutional elements) and pranas (energies) in the
body. The great strength in this system is in the application of natural
modalities and preventive measures that pre-empt illnesses, or resolve them
before they can become chronic. Ayurveda can aid in resolving imbalances and
internal energy excesses that can crop up on the path of yoga.
Bandha – Means, “lock.” A fixed muscular position that is applied in
the course of yoga practices. Examples: mulabandha (root lock) and uddiyana
bandha (abdominal lock).
Basti – Cleansing of the large
intestine (colon) with enema using a mild saline solution. This facilitates
the flow of ecstatic energy throughout the neurobiology, once ecstatic
conductivity (kundalini) has become active as a result of other practices.
Prior to that, basti may be used on occasion a health aid, since many
diseases originate in the colon. Obviously, diet plays a role in this also.
Bastrika Pranayama (also spelled Bhastrika) – Means, “bellows
breathing.” A rapid (panting) breathing technique used in advanced stages of
yoga practice. In the AYP lessons it is used while tracing up and down
the spine with the attention, and is called spinal bastrika pranayama.
Bhagavad Gita – Means, “song of God.” The most widely read scripture
in India, sometimes referred to as “the Hindu Bible.” It is part of the much
longer epic, the Mahabharata, and details a dialog between Krishna and the
great warrior, Arjuna. In the Bhagavad Gita the path to enlightenment is
described, including many of the methods found in the AYP lessons.
Bhakti Yoga – Bhakti means, “love of God” or “love of Truth.” The
first manifestation of this is desire for something more in life, for an
ideal (ishta). Bhakti yoga practice systematically channels desire and
emotion toward the practitioner’s highest ideal, beginning with the
question, “Why am I here?” and ending with ecstatic union with the divine
Brahma Sutra – A primary scripture of vedanta’s non-dual philosophy.
The others are the Bhagavad Gita and the 108 Upanishads.
Brahmacharya – Means, “walking in Brahma” or “walking in the creative
force of God.” Commonly interpreted to mean celibacy, but it means more that
that. It means preservation and cultivation of the vital force (sexual
energy) in the yoga practitioner, which can be accomplished by both
celibates and non-celibates through yogic methods.
Brahmari Pranayama – Means, “bee sound.” A supplemental pranayama
that involves using the larynx (voice box, located below the epiglottis) to
restrict the exit of air on exhalation while making a sound deep in the
throat like the high pitched hum of a bee. This is a powerful stimulator of
the OM vibration emanating from the medulla oblongata (brain stem), and is
most effective once ecstatic conductivity has arisen in the nervous system.
In AYP, Brahmari optionally can be used instead of ujjayi during spinal
Chakra – Means, “wheel.” Chakras are neuro-biological/spiritual
energy centers in the human body, connected together by thousands of subtle
nerves/nadis. There are seven major chakras and numerous minor ones. The
seven major chakras are muladhara (perineum), svadhisthana (inner
reproductive organs), manipura (naval/solar plexus), anahata (heart),
vishuddhi (throat), ajna (brow to medulla) and sahasrar (crown).
Chit – Means “consciousness.” One of the three characteristics of
sat-chit-ananda, our blissful inner silence.
Darshan – Means, “to see or experience.” To see or experience the
presence of one’s chosen ideal. It also means, generally, to be in the
presence of and receive spiritual energy from an enlightened person.
Dharana – Means, “focused attention.” The sixth limb of the eight
limbs of yoga from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Dharana is the first stage
of meditation, and also of samyama, when the attention is focused in a
particular way on either a mantra or a sutra.
Dharma – Means, “that which sustains.” In yoga, this refers to
activity one does in the world that is naturally supportive their spiritual
evolution – one’s dharma. In Buddhism, this refers to the entire teaching of
the Buddha – the dharma.
Dhauti – Cleansing of the entire
intestinal tract by ingesting a substantial measured quantity of saline
water, and expelling it through bowel movement. Like basti, this facilities
the advance of active ecstatic conductivity (kundalini) within the GI tract.
Dhauti taxes the neurobiology much more than basti, and therefore should be
used sparingly to achieve a positive effect.
Dhyana – Means, “meditation.” The seventh limb of the eight limbs of
yoga from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Meditation is the process of
attention expanding from focus on an object (like a mantra) to an unbounded
undifferentiated state of blissful awareness called samadhi. The process of
meditation, correctly practiced, leads to profound
stillness and purification in the human nervous system.
Doshas – The three basic types of biological humors in Ayurvedic
medicine, which determine an individual’s constitution:
vata (movement), pitta (heat) and kapha (structure). The therapies of
Ayurveda promote balance of the doshas, which provides the foundation for
good physical and spiritual health.
Guru – Means, “dispeller of darkness.” The guru is that within us,
and also reflected outside us, that leads us gradually toward the experience
of enlightenment. Our innate desire for Truth and God (bhakti) is the most
fundamental manifestation of the guru. There is a common belief that the
guru can only be found in the form of another person. In fact, it is the
inner guru that leads us to all other forms of the guru. We are never more
than a heartbeat away from the illuminating power of the guru.
Hatha Yoga – Means, “joining of the sun and moon.” A system of yoga
practice focusing on purifying the nervous system through physical postures
(asanas), breath control (pranayama) and related means.
Hatha Yoga Pradipika – A five hundred year old scripture by
Svatmarama, detailing many of the practices of Hatha Yoga.
Ida and Pingala – Two of the primary spiritual nerves (nadis) in the
body. Second in importance only to the spinal nerve (sushumna).
Ishta – Means, “chosen ideal.” Ishta is at the heart of bhakti yoga,
and is that which each person chooses as the ideal to inspire active
engagement on the spiritual path. The ishta can be as simple as the constant
question, “Who am I?” and its gradually unfolding answer. Or as complex as a
guru in human form. Any object or idea can serve as the touchstone for a
person’s ishta – statues, philosophical concepts, the beauty of nature, etc.
What all ishtas have in common is their ability to inspire the aspirant to
diligently pursue spiritual practices.
Jalandhara Bandha – Means, “chin lock.” Practiced during certain
stages of kumbhaka (breath retention).
A more advanced version in the AYP lessons is called dynamic jalandhara, or
Jala Neti – Nasal wash, which is passing a saline solution through the
nasal passages, using either a "neti pot," or by drawing the water directly
up from a bowl through the nasal passages and releasing out through the
mouth. Jala neti aids in promoting the function of ecstatic conductivity
(kundalini) in the delicate nasal passages and sinuses, and has a
relationship with sambhavi mudra, kechari mudra, and other methods designed
to purify and open the upper energy channels. Jala neti is also good for
health, particularly for sinus allergies, and may be used at any time with
little risk of undesirable side effects.
Jiva – The individual soul. Body and ego-bound consciousness. An
unenlightened human being.
Jivan Mukti – A liberated soul, merged with the infinite. An
enlightened, living human being. One who has attained Christ consciousness.
Jnana (or Chin) Mudra – The well-known hand mudra where the thumbs
and index fingers of both hands are joined to form circles with hands
resting, palms upward or downward, on the knees during sitting practices.
This mudra is more effect than cause, since it arises automatically with the
awakening of kundalini energy in the nervous system.
Jnana Yoga – Path of knowledge. A system of
yoga practice based on inquiry and intuitive reasoning. Jnana yoga is
commonly misunderstood to be the collection of intellectual knowledge about
spiritual matters. In reality, it is a close cousin of bhakti yoga, where
the mind and heart both melt in the tapas (heat) of the ever-penetrating
inquiry, “Who am I?”
Jyotish – The Indian system of astrology.
Kama Sutra – An ancient guidebook on social and sexual relations
between men and women. While it is commonly believed in the West to be a
tantric scripture, the Kama Sutra does not contain the core principles or
sexual techniques of tantra yoga, which are embodied in brahmacharya – the
preservation and cultivation of sexual energy by celibate or non-celibate
Kapalbhati – Means "shining
forehead" or "luminous face." Kapalbhati is a traditional shatkarma. It is a
pranayama technique, where the breath is taken in normally and suddenly
expelled through the nose or mouth (with pursed lips). This practice
increases air pressure in the nasal pharynx and sinuses in short bursts,
providing a cleansing of the brain and upper body. The effects of kapalbhati
are similar to bastrika pranayama.
Karma – Means, “action and its effects.” This is the idea that our
past actions have created current tendencies, limitations and opportunities
in the present. This is sometimes referred to as “the law of karma.” In
Christian theology, it is contained in the phrase, “As you sow, so shall you
reap.” Karma is the basis for the doctrine of reincarnation, and the idea
that dissolving stored karma (samskaras) in the nervous system through yoga
practices will unfold more happiness in this life, the next life, and
eventually lead the soul to eternal life in the higher realms, freed from
the necessity of taking human birth.
Karma Yoga – The path of action. This is the spiritual method of
acting in the world in a spirit of service (seva), while systematically
letting go of the expectation to receive anything in return, thereby
promoting a positive cycle of causes and effects. Living a lifestyle of
karma yoga emerges naturally as yoga practices have been engaged in over a
period of time. Some are born with the gift of karma yoga, and spend their
lives lifting up all of humanity (and themselves) through their good works.
Kechari Mudra – Means, “to fly through (inner) space.” Kechari is the
practice of raising the tongue to the soft palate, and eventually above it
into the spiritually erogenous nasal pharynx. This closes a neurological
circuit in the body, enabling ecstatic energy to flow between the pelvic
region and the head. Kechari, practiced in coordination with sambhavi and
other yoga methods, leads to opening of the ecstatic celestial realms within
the heart, and throughout the subtle levels of the nervous system.
Kirtan – Devotional chanting.
Through a combination of bhakti (devotion), mantra repetition, and
pranayama, the practice of kirtan can significantly enhance ecstatic
conductivity and inner silence. Chanting kirtans in groups can also
strengthen the beneficial effects and power of group spiritual
Kriya Yoga – Means, “the yoga of
techniques.” It comes in many forms through the various traditional lines of
teaching. The main teachings of kriya yoga focus on pranayama, with spinal
breathing being the core practice. Kriya yoga also utilizes many of the
methods of hatha yoga.
Kumbhaka – Means, “suspension of breath.” The breath is held in
(internal kumbhaka) and out (external kumbhaka) at different times during
yoga practices. When practiced in conjunction with other yogic methods, such
as mudras and bandhas, kumbhaka plays an important role in awakening the
kundalini energy located in the pelvic region. Kumbhaka also occurs
spontaneously at times during yoga practices, especially during deep
meditation when the metabolism comes to a near standstill.
Kundalini – Means, “coiled serpent.” A metaphorical word and concept
used to describe the latent and active states of sexual energy in the
overall process of human spiritual transformation. When kundalini is
“awakened,” it is the activation of sexual energy in the pelvic region in an
upward flowing direction, permeating the entire nervous system with great
transforming power. The feminine name, Shakti, is often used interchangeably
with kundalini once the energy becomes dynamic. In the Christian tradition,
it is called the Holy Spirit.
Kundalini Yoga – A system of practices designed primarily to awaken
kundalini energy throughout the body. Techniques used are taken mainly from
hatha yoga, focusing more on the use of pranayama, kumbhaka, and mudras and
bandhas, and less on asanas.
Lingam – The male sexual organ, both literally and energetically as
the Shiva power in the yogic merging of Shiva and Shakti energies throughout
the nervous system.
Maha Mudra – Means, “great seal.” An advanced yoga asana designed to
purify and open the sushumna (spinal nerve).
Mahabharata – The great epic poem of India covering the life of
Krishna and a war between two rival families, the Pandavas and the Kauravas.
The Bhagavad Gita is part of the Mahabharata.
Mala – A string of beads (like a rosary) containing 108 beads, used
for counting repetitions of spiritual practice. Also sometimes worn for
ceremonial and devotional purposes.
Manipura – Meaning, “city of gems.” The third chakra, located in the
naval/solar plexus area, associated with digestion, including the higher
metabolism associated with the production of enlightenment-promoting organic
compounds in the GI (gastrointestinal) tract that radiate sparkling energy.
Hence the reference to gems.
Mantra – A specially chosen syllable or series of syllables that is
used in the practice of deep meditation.
Mantra Yoga – A system of yoga practice based on mental techniques
that utilize mantras and sutras.
Maya – Means, “illusion.” Refers to the illusory nature of the world
experienced by an unenlightened person. Acts of ignorance and death are
regarded as part of maya. An enlightened person has a different experience,
seeing maya as a play (lila) on the infinite, immortal field of pure bliss
consciousness, which is known to be one’s Self. Though an enlightened person
is affected by acts of ignorance and death on the earth plane, he or she
lives a radiant reality that is forever untouched by maya. That is the
outcome of yoga – a purified nervous system that has been opened to the
infinite within – pure bliss consciousness and outpouring divine love.
Moksha – Enlightenment. Liberation in this life in the form of
ongoing ecstatic bliss and outpouring divine love. Freedom from the wheel of
birth and death.
Mudra – Means, “seal.” Various physical postures and maneuvers that
direct ecstatic energy toward higher levels of manifestation in the nervous
Mulabandha (also spelled Mula Bandha) – Means, “root lock.”
Systematic stimulation of sexual energy upward in the nervous system during
yoga practices through gentle compression of the anal sphincter muscle.
Muladhara – Means, “root or foundation.” The first chakra, located at
the perineum, where kundalini energy is
Nada Yoga – A path of yoga
utilizing naturally occurring inner sound (such as OM) as the object
of meditation. Since the natural occurrence of inner sound may not be
consistent at any particular time in a practitioner, or among any number of
practitioners, the consistency and effectiveness of nada yoga will also vary
widely. In the AYP approach, nada may be heard in the form of inner sounds
and vibrations (particularly OM), often accompanied by blissful
ecstatic energy flow. The advice in such cases is to favor the procedure of
the practice we may be doing at the time, since it is the practice that is
producing the experience. In the case of AYP, nada (inner sound) is effect
rather than cause.
Nadi – Means, “channel.” Nadis are
the subtle (spiritual) nerves corresponding with the physical nerves. There
are thousands of nadis in the body, but only a few are deliberately purified
and opened to achieve the broad effects of yoga throughout the entire
Nadi Shodana – A simple and relaxing form of pranayama involving use
of the fingers to achieve alternate nostril breathing.
Nauli – Means, “to churn.” A yoga practice involving the twirling of
the abdominal muscles first in one direction, and then the other. This
practice stimulates the higher functioning of the digestive system and
Niyama – Means, “observance.” The second limb of the eight limbs of
yoga from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The niyamas are aspects of conduct
that support the process of human spiritual transformation. They are saucha
(purity and cleanliness), samtosa (contentment), tapas
(heat/focus/austerity), svadhyaya (study of spiritual writings and self) and
isvara pranidhana (surrender to the divine).
Ojas – A luminous substance/energy that ecstatically permeates the
human body as sexual energy is cultivated and refined to a higher spiritual
OM (also spelled AUM) – The most sacred mantra syllable in India, and
found in other cultures as well. The primordial vibration of God in human
beings. OM is used alone and with other syllables for meditation. As yoga
practices advance, OM can be heard as a natural spiritual vibration
emanating ecstatically from the medulla oblongata (brain stem). The medulla,
which is part of the ajna/third eye, is also called, “the mouth of God.”
Padmasana – Means “lotus posture.” A way of sitting for pranayama and
meditation that involves crossing the legs and resting both feet on top of
the opposite thighs.
Prana – Means, “first unit.” Prana is the first manifestation of
consciousness in the nervous system. It is experienced as moving energy, and
it is moved in yoga practices to advance the process of human spiritual
Pranayama – Means, “restraint of prana.” Prana is the first
manifestation of consciousness in the body, and can be encouraged toward
higher spiritual expression. This is accomplished with the breath through a
variety of pranayama (breathing) practices to stimulate the flow of prana in
the body. Pranayama cultivates the subtle nerves (nadis), making the nervous
system a much more receptive vehicle for meditation.
Prasad – A spiritual offering or gift offered to one’s ishta, guru,
or teacher, which is returned bearing a spiritual blessing.
Pratyahara – Means, “withdrawal.” Withdrawal of the primary focus of
attention on the external senses. This is caused by the expansion of inner
sensuality due to yoga practices and the awakening of ecstatic conductivity.
The attention is naturally drawn inward to more enjoyable levels of inner
experience. Over time, inner sensuality expands back out into sensory
perception of the everyday world. Pratyahara (the withdrawal) is the first
step on the journey of attention going inward toward divine perception, and
then back outward again to divine perception everywhere.
Raja Yoga – Means, “royal yoga.” A name given to the systematic
application of the practices contained in the eight limbs of yoga described
in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
Rishi – Means, “seer.” One who has raised ecstatic conductivity
(kundalini) in the nervous system and experiences refined sensory perception
inside and outside the body. Then the relationship of consciousness and
prana (refined energy) can be observed directly. Hence the term “seer.”
Rishi is also a general term that is used describe a sage, sadhu, hermit, or
Ramayama – A great epic poem of India, telling the story of Rama and
the path of right action – the Dharma.
Sadhana – The regular practice of spiritual disciplines.
Sadhu – An ascetic practitioner of yoga. A mendicant. A holy person.
Sahasrar – Means, “thousand-petaled lotus.” The seventh chakra,
located at the crown of the head (corona radiata). Awakening and entering it
leads to the merging of individual consciousness with infinite divine
consciousness. Awakening the sahasrar prematurely leads to many troubles in
a nervous system that has not been sufficiently purified beforehand.
Awakening the ajna (third eye) first prepares the nervous system, while at
the same time slowly and indirectly opening the sahasrar with much greater
Samadhi – Absorption in the inner silence of pure bliss
consciousness. The repeated destination of meditation, and, ultimately, a
state which is sustained throughout daily living. This is the eighth limb of
the eight limbs of yoga described in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
Sambhavi Mudra – The practice of lifting the eyes to the point
between the eyebrows while slightly furrowing the brow, producing physical
stimulation back through the brain to the medulla oblongata (brain stem).
When used in coordination with other yoga practices, sambhavi is a primary
means for purifying and opening the ajna (third eye). This is first
experienced as an ecstatic connection between the head and the pelvic
Samkhya – The dualistic branch of Indian philosophy which is closely
integrated with yoga. In it, unmanifest pure bliss consciousness and the
manifest universe are seen as two sides of the whole of life, and can be
experienced as one by the yogi and yogini. This “two becoming one” is the
intersection of the dual (samkhya/yoga) and non-dual (vedanta/advaita)
philosophies if India. It is through yoga practice and direct experience
that the apparent inconsistency is resolved.
Samyama – A practice which utilizes the characteristics of the last
three limbs of the eight limbs of yoga in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali –
dharana (focus), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (absorption in inner
silence). Through the initiation of sutras (particular words and phrases
with meaning), in the quietest levels of awareness, consciousness is moved
through the nervous system with great purifying effects. Samyama is the
source of miraculous powers exhibited by human beings. These are called
siddhis, and are effects rather than causes of rising enlightenment, and are
best regarded as such.
Sanskrit – The ancient language of Indian spiritual culture (the
vedas) and of the great scriptures that have emanated from it.
Sat – Means “eternal existence.” One of the three characteristics of
Sat-chit-ananda, our blissful inner silence. It is that in us which never
Sat-Chit-Ananda – Means, “eternal bliss consciousness.” Inner
silence. Immortal Self. Pure bliss consciousness. The witness. the Tao. God
the Father. It is that in us which is our self-awareness in every moment.
Through yoga practices, our nervous system is cultivated toward its natural
evolutionary transformation to provide the direct, permanent experience of
this, our essential nature.
Satsang – Means, “association with truth.” Keeping company with those
of high spiritual aspiration. Also, association with enlightened persons.
Bible: “If two or more are gathered in my name I will be there in their
midst.” Any contact or communication with others on matters pertaining to
human spiritual evolution will stimulate the inner energies of bhakti.
Reading spiritual writings can be a form of satsang also.
Shakti – The dynamic, feminine creative force in the human body and
in nature. Shakti is awakened kundalini. In order to create, Shakti must
merge with her counterpart, Shiva, who is the silent seed behind all
manifestation. The movement of kundalini/Shakti in the human nervous system
is toward that end, and yoga practices are designed to facilitate the union
of Shiva and Shakti everywhere in the body, leading ultimately to an
ecstatic overflowing from the head down to the melting heart. The Christian
name for Shakti energy is the Holy Spirit.
Shaktipat – The awakening of the kundalini/Shakti power in an
aspirant by a guru or spiritual teacher. While this may have benefit, the
ultimate responsibility for spiritual progress remains with the aspirant,
who can carry the process forward through the conduct of daily yoga
Shiva – In yoga, Shiva is analogous with inner silence, the silent,
blissful aspect of experience gained through meditation and other yoga
practices. Shiva is the silent seed from which all is manifested, and to
which all must return. It is the blending of inner silence (Shiva) and the
dynamic ecstatic energy (kundalini/Shakti) in the body that produces
enlightenment in the human nervous system. In Hinduism, Shiva is personified
in the trinity of Brahma (creator), Vishnu (sustainer) and Shiva
(dissolver/destroyer), and plays a major role in the religious heritage and
customs of the culture. The Christian equivalent of Shiva is God the Father.
Siddhasana – Means “posture of the perfected ones” or “perfect
posture.” A way of sitting for pranayama and meditation that involves
crossing the legs and sitting with the perineum firmly on the heel of one
foot. This seat provides stimulation of sexual energy upward through the
nervous system, ultimately creating a constant fountain of ecstasy
throughout practices. Over time, siddhasana, practiced in coordination with
other yoga methods, will lead to ecstasy naturally being experienced
throughout daily life. This is so because the nervous system can be
cultivated to naturally sustain a condition of ecstatic conductivity. This
is one of the primary prerequisites for enlightenment.
Siddhi – Means, “perfection.” Siddhis refer to powers, which result
as a by-product of yogic purification occurring in the nervous system on the
path to enlightenment. This is especially so in Samyama practice, which
cultivates the movement of consciousness in the nervous system in particular
ways for the purpose of enhanced purification and opening to the divine
Soma – A substance produced in the GI (gastrointestinal) tract that
greatly enhances the processes of yoga. Soma arises from the alchemy of
food, air and sexual essences blending naturally in the digestive tract,
giving rise to a luminosity that begins in the belly and travels throughout
the body. The production of soma is stimulated by kumbhaka (suspended
breath) and mudras and bandhas, and is closely related to the raising of
kundalini energy. Soma is also a hallucinogenic plant in India, which is
referred to in the ancient Vedas.
Sri Vidya – Means, “glorious knowledge.” In tantra it is the
scriptural and experiential fruition of human evolution. Sri vidya is
ecstatic bliss and outpouring divine love, expressed through the enlightened
nervous system, and in the mathematical precision of the ancient Sri Yantra
Sri Yantra (or Sri Chakra)– Means, “glorious diagram” or “glorious
wheel.” Represents the spiritual structure of the human nervous system and
the universe. Mathematically, the Sri Yantra recreates the wave pattern
formed by the vibration of OM, the sacred sound that resonates naturally
within the human nervous system as purification and opening occur.
Sushumna – The spinal nerve that extends from the perineum to the
head. It is the most important spiritual nerve (nadi) in the body. By
purifying and opening the sushumna, the entire nervous system is transformed
to higher spiritual functioning. All of the practices in yoga are designed
to cultivate, in one way or another, the purification and opening of the
Sutra – Means, “stitch.” A short verse containing potent spiritual
knowledge. When a group of such short verses are brought together, they
“stitch” together the whole of knowledge. Particular sutras can be used for
the purpose of structured samyama practice, as described in the Yoga Sutras
of Patanjali. The use of sutras in samyama can have dramatic effects on the
course of the enlightenment process in the nervous system, and can also lead
to the manifestation of siddhis (powers).
Svadisthana – Means, “dwelling place.” This is the second chakra,
located in the area of the internal reproductive organs. It is the dwelling
place of the great storehouse of pranic energy, the sexual vitality. Once
activated, vast energy flows up from there and spiritually illuminates the
entire nervous system.
Swami – Means, “master or owner.” A title given to indicate a teacher
who is enlightened. More commonly, it is a title given to indicate rank in
the religious hierarchy, like the title of priest, rabbi, or mullah.
Tantra Yoga – Tantra means, “two woven together.” The meaning is
similar to that of yoga, “to join.” Tantra is the broadest known system of
yoga, encompassing the methods of all other systems. While tantra includes
the eight limbs of yoga from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, it goes beyond
them by addressing sexual practices that have been controversial for
hundreds of years. Hence, tantra has been known as the yoga of sex. But sex
is only an aspect of the whole of tantra, so the label is misleading. Tantra
is concerned with meditation, pranayama, mudras, bandhas, asanas and every
other useful practice in yoga, including methods that promote the expansion
of sexual energy upward to facilitate the enlightenment process.
Tapas – Means, “heat or intensity.” This is an aspect of bhakti
(devotional desire), which determines the spiritual force behind the desire
for union with the divine, and
enlightenment. Tapas is commonly associated with austerity and
self-sacrifice (sometimes extreme) in spiritual practices. There is no
standard to meet for tapas. Each aspirant will experience and apply tapas in
their own way.
Trataka – Means "steady gazing,"
and involves fixing the gaze on an object and continuing this for a period
of time. This aids in purifying the inner machinery of attention.
Traditionally, trataka is done with the eyes on an external object, such as
a candle, wall (common in Buddhism), or other object. In the AYP approach,
inner objects such as mantra and spinal nerve are used with enhanced
effects. In this ways all external objects naturally become objects of
trataka, as they come to be seen with the unblinking eye of abiding inner
silence (the witness).
Turiya – means, “the fourth state.” This is the experience of inner
silence cultivated in meditation. It is called turiya because it is distinct
from the first three states of consciousness – waking, dreaming
and deep dreamless sleep. As yoga practices advance, turiya gradually comes
to coexist as a constant condition during the other three states of
consciousness. It is the beginning stage of enlightenment. In that
situation, one is never unconscious, whether awake, dreaming, or in deep
sleep. That is called witnessing.
Uddiyana – Means, “to fly up.” A yoga practice involving the lifting
of the abdomen with the diaphragm while the lungs are empty. This practice
stimulates the higher functioning of the digestive system and raises
kundalini. It is also a preparation for Nauli practice.
Ujjayi Pranayama – This is an additional practice that is done during
spinal breathing and other pranayamas. It involves partially closing the
epiglottis (the windpipe door we hold our breath with) while exhaling during
pranayama, making a fine hissing sound deep in the throat. This creates
additional air pressure in the lungs and pranic pressure throughout the
nervous system. It also creates a fine vibration deep in the throat that
assists in purifying and opening the neuro-biology in the chest, throat and
Upanishads – Commentaries on the Vedas, written in dialog form,
forming the basis for vedanta’s non-dual philosophy. There are 108
Vajroli Mudra – A practice enabling a man or woman to draw
ejaculative or pre-ejaculative sexual emissions up the urethra and into the
bladder. It is performed using uddiyana/nauli and mulabandha/asvini,
sometimes combined with conscious control of the ejaculation process. The
vajroli effect can also be accomplished by physically blocking ejaculations
with the finger pressing on the urethra behind the pelvic bone. In ongoing
yoga practice, vajroli has the greatest significance as it evolves naturally
to become an automatic biological function in connection with an awakened
kundalini. In this case, vajroli is preorgasmic, and provides a constant
drawing up of sexual essences into the bladder, GI (gastrointestinal) tract,
spinal nerve and other components of the spiritual biology. As the nervous
system evolves to become constantly ecstatic, vajroli becomes a constant
natural function. The rise of natural vajroli is an important part of the
fulfillment of the role of brahmacharya – the preservation and cultivation
of sexual energy.
Veda – Means, “knowledge.” The Vedas are the most ancient scriptures
of India, preserved through oral and written tradition for 5000 years. There
are four Vedas: Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva.
Vedanta – Means, “the end of the Veda.” The monistic (non-dual)
branch of Indian philosophy discussed mainly in the Upanishads, the Bhagavad
Gita and the Brahma Sutra.
Vigyan Bhairav Tantra – An ancient tantric scripture that identifies
many of the methods of yoga practice, including the essential principle
involved in tantric sex – the preservation and cultivation of sexual energy.
Vishuddhi – Means, “purity.” The fifth chakra, located at the throat.
This is a gateway for pranic energy to rise into the head. It is also a key
center for speech and communications. With daily yoga practices,
purification and opening occur naturally in the throat. The internal and
external expressions of energy open up simultaneously.
Yama – Means, “restraint.” The first limb of the eight limbs of yoga
from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The yamas are aspects of conduct that
support the process of human spiritual transformation. They are ahimsa
(non-violence), satya (truthfulness), asteya (non-stealing), brahmacharya
(preservation and cultivation of sexual energy) and aparigraha
Yoga – Means, “to join, or union.” The vast field of knowledge and
practices concerned with promoting the evolutionary process of human
spiritual transformation. The methods of yoga are many and diverse. Yet, all
are connected by virtue of their common denominator, the human nervous
system. All of yoga is derived from the innate ability for divine unfoldment
contained within every person.
Yoga Nidra – Means, “yogic sleep.” It is the state of remaining
conscious during deep sleep. It can be cultivated by specific techniques. It
also arises naturally as one advances in daily yoga practices. In that case
it is called “turiya" (the fourth state), or the witness.
Yoga Sutras – Means, “stitches of union.” The most famous scripture
on yoga, written by Patanjali about 500 years ago. The Yoga Sutras contain
the main elements of yoga practice (the eight-limbed path, plus samyama),
and detailed descriptions of the experiences that are encountered on the
road to enlightenment, and at the destination. The Yoga Sutras are a
measuring rod by which all spiritual paths can be measured for completeness.
Yogi – A male practitioner of yoga.
Yogini – A female practitioner of yoga.
Yoni – Means, “womb or origin.” It is the female sexual organ, both
literally and energetically as the Shakti power in the yogic merging of
Shiva and Shakti energies throughout the nervous system.
Yoni Mudra – A yoga practice that purifies and opens the ajna (third
eye), and stimulates kundalini/Shakti energy to rise from the pelvic region,
up the sushumna (spinal nerve) to the ajna, and permeate the entire nervous
Yuga – An age, or era, determined through astronomical calculations
of the earth’s position over time in relation the sun, planets and
constellations. The concept of a yuga is from jyotish (Indian astrology).
The concept of ages also exists in Western astrology. Yugas depict rising
and falling human spiritual sensitivities over long periods of time, in a
repeating cycle that goes round and round over thousands (or millions) of
years. Astrologers utilizing various mathematical approaches do not agree on
the length of the overall cycle, on the length of the yugas/ages, or on what
yuga/age we are in right now. It is a subject of debate. Suffice to say,
history records that spiritual sensitivities and knowledge have been slowly
on the rise over at least the past 100 years, so perhaps those who say we
are entering (or have entered) an age of enlightenment are right. There is
still much darkness in the world, but the light of yoga and rising human
enlightenment are becoming stronger every day.
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CPD 2011 module 12: Integrated solar metal roofing
This module explores the use of solar photovoltaic technology to create on-site renewable energy. It is sponsored by Kalzip
Click here to take the CPD module.
How to use this module: BD Reviews’ free continuing professional development distance learning programme is open to everyone who wants to develop and improve their professional knowledge and skills. These modules can contribute to your annual programme of CPD activity to help you maintain membership of professional institutions and bodies. All you have to do is read this module then take the questions via the link above or at the bottom of the page.
Module 12 deadline: December 16 2011
There are many reasons why governments, developers and building owners are becoming increasingly interested in renewable forms of energy.
The drivers for renewable energy include:
Rising energy prices: Renewable technologies such as solar photovoltaics (PV) can help to mitigate the volatility of oil prices of recent years.
Climate change: It is widely accepted that reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels is a matter of international priority. There seems to be growing evidence of more severe weather events caused by global warming, all of which have a severe economic and social impact.
Compliance with EU law: The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, which became law in 2006, requires member states to consider renewable sources of energy in the design of all buildings with a useful floor area of 1000sq m or above.
Local planning strategy: The benchmark target for renewables is set at 10% of the building’s energy consumption requirements, as in the Merton Rule pioneered by Merton council in south London.
This states that in public and commercial developments of over 1,000sq m or in residential developments of 10 dwellings or more, 10% of the project’s energy requirements should be provided by on-site renewable sources, where economically and technically feasible. This rule has now been adopted by more than 40 local authorities in the UK.
Introduction to PV technology
PV technology is a renewable energy technology that converts the sun’s radiation into electrical power. Since its discovery in the US in the 1950s, PV has been used in a number of applications, such as providing power for remote telephones and temporary military facilities, as well as large-scale land-based solar plants, usually in hot, arid climates.
When used on the roofs of buildings, PV technology provides an additional income stream for the building owner and clean electricity for the occupants.
- Roof-mounted panels: Retrofitting PV by bolting panels to an existing metal roof.
- Integrated solar metal roofing: Laminated solar metal roofing is completely integrated with the roof covering, as with Kalzip’s AluPlusSolar.
- Overcladding PV laminates are bonded to fabricated aluminium panels. The panels can be bolted to an existing standing seam roof and angled to the optimum pitch to maximise their solar annual yield, as with Kalzip’s SolarClad.
Two main types of PVs used in roofing products
- Crystalline cells
Crystalline silicon is produced in an energy-intensive process where cells are cut from melted and recrystallised silicon. The cells have a marble-like appearance and are normally bound into a panel with a glass top and an aluminium frame. This type of PV panel is usually fixed to a roof or facade or mounted on the ground in solar farm developments.
- Amorphous silicon:
Amorphous silicon cells take the form of a flexible 4mm-thick PV laminate. An ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) weatherproof coating makes the laminate both flexible and durable. For these reasons, the PV laminate can be bonded to an aluminium standing seam roof cladding. PV laminate technology has a lower embodied energy than crystalline cells because the manufacturing process used to make amorphous silicon products is not as energy intensive.
Amorphous silicon also absorbs light more effectively than crystalline, so the cells can be thinner, and so require less material to be used in supporting structures.
The triple-junction cell consists of three separate layers of amorphous silicon optimised for the red, green and blue portions of the light spectrum. The thickness of the complete triple-junction cell is less than 1 micron and is bonded to a flexible stainless-steel substrate.
This is the technology used in Kalzip’s integrated solar metal roofing systems. The spectrum-splitting triple junction amorphous silicon technology makes the cell more efficient in overcast conditions and gives a higher overall annual yield in northern European climates than crystalline modules.
In an integrated solar metal roofing system, each laminate cell is fitted with bypass diodes. This means that if, for example, a bird perches on one cell, the others remain operational.
The manufacturer of the PV laminate also provides a performance warranty that guarantees the electrical output to be at least 92% of the nominal rated power after 10 years, 84% after 20 years and 80% after 25 years.
Design considerations for integrated solar metal roofing projects
There are a number of design considerations to take into account when planning an integrated solar metal roofing project:
- The allowable roof pitch is between 3° and 60°.
- Standing seam panels can be mechanically smooth-curved to a minimum radius of 15m.
- Different combinations of PV laminates can be bonded to aluminium roof sheets up to a length of 25m.
- The minimum system size is 2kWp (kilowatt peak). This equates to 14 136W modules with a gross roof area of about 50sq m.
- High-density insulationis recommended for roof walkability.
Operation of triple-junction silicon cells
During daylight hours the triple-junction silicon cells, encapsulated within the PV laminate, convert the sun’s energy into a direct current (DC). This electricity is fed from the roof into one or a number of inverters that convert the DC into an alternating current, which can then be used to power electrical appliances.
The building’s distribution system monitors local demand for electricity, and the clean solar energy is used within the building first.
If demand is high, electricity from the grid is imported to top this up. If the demand is low or zero, surplus electricity is exported to the grid and the owner (or whoever pays the bills) is credited per kilowatt hour (kWh) under the government’s Feed-in Tariff scheme. More information about the tariff can be found at www.carbontrust.co.uk
Using solar design software
There are many commercially available design applications for PCs, which can aid in the design of solar power systems and carbon emissions calculations. They all operate using similar mathematical algorithms and the basic principle is fairly straightforward. One example is Kalzip SolarDesigner, developed by Valentin Software, which can be downloaded at www.kalzip.com
The first step is to select a climate data file based on historical averages of meteorological data recorded at various weather stations around the UK that give the total annual solar irradiation received on a horizontal plane on the Earth’s surface. This irradiation becomes generally weaker moving north, ranging from over 1,100 kWh/m2 in the Channel Islands to just under 800 kWh/m2 in the Shetland Islands.
PV module selection
The next step is to select the type of module and the solar power system size. The orientation and pitch of the roof must also be specified. Note that the sign convention in solar design is to measure clockwise angles positively from 0° (due south) to 180° (due north), and anti-clockwise angles negatively, so due west is +90° and due east is -90°.
The scale ranges from 100% for south-facing panels oriented at 40° pitch to around 60% for an east- or west-facing vertical facade.
The application then produces a project report, which can be printed to PDF and sent to the customer. This gives an over-view of the system size, the type of module selected, roof pitch and orientation, and the peak power output based on the selected climate data file. It also gives the annual electrical yield from the PV generator array, which is expressed in kilowatt hours per annum (kWh/a).
Carbon savings calculation
Carbon dioxide emissions ratings for various sources of energy are given in SAP 2009 (March 2010), which is cited in Part L2 of the Building Regulations for England and Wales. This gives the emissions ratings for various sources of energy. Grid-displaced electricity, such as that generated by PV systems, has a value of 0.529kgCO2/kWh. In order to calculate the reduction in carbon emissions, simply multiply the total annual yield from the PV generator array by the emissions rating value.
To complete this CPD, read the module and click here to take the test online. If you experience any problems viewing the test online, contact email@example.com
MODULE 12 DEADLINE: December 16 2011
Information you supply to UBM Information Ltd may be used for publication and also to provide you with information about our products or services in the form of direct marketing by email, telephone, fax or post. Information may also be made available to third parties.
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For more information, go to www.kalzip.com
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A titular see of Asia Minor. It was one of the twelve Ionian cities, between Lebedos (ruins near Hypsili-Hissar) and Ephesus (Aya-Solouk). In Greek antiquity two sons of Codrus, King of Athens, established a colony there. It was the birthplace of the philosopher Xenophanes and the poet Mimnermus. It was destroyed by Lysimachus, one of the successors of Alexander. Notium served as the port, and in the neighbourhood was the village of Clarus, with its famous temple and oracle of Apollo Clarius, where Calchas vied with Mopsus in divinatory science. The cavalry of Colophon was renowned. Its pine-trees supplied a rosin or colophony highly valued for the strings of musical instruments. In Roman times Colophon lost its importance; the name was transferred to the site of Notium, and the latter name disappeared between the Peloponnesian War and the time of Cicero. The "Notitiæ episcopatuum" mentions Colophon or Colophone, as late as the twelfth or thirteenth century, as a suffragan of Ephesus. Lequien (I, 723) gives the names of only four Bishops : St. Sosthenes ( 1 Corinthians 1:1 ) and St. Tychicus (Tit., iii, 12) are merely legendary; Euthalius was present at the Council of Ephesus in 431, and Alexander was alive in 451. The ruins of the city are at the Castro of Ghiaour-Keui, an insignificant village in the vilayet or Smyrna, caza of Koush-Adasi.
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Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912
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The shoulder-joint is an enarthrodial or ball-and-socket joint. The bones entering into its formation are the hemispherical head of the humerus and the shallow glenoid cavity of the scapula, an arrangement which permits of very considerable movement, while the joint itself is protected against displacement by the tendons which surround it. The ligaments do not maintain the joint surfaces in apposition, because when they alone remain the humerus can be separated to a considerable extent from the glenoid cavity; their use, therefore, is to limit the amount of movement. The joint is protected above by an arch, formed by the coracoid process, the acromion, and the coracoacromial ligament. The articular cartilage on the head of the humerus is thicker at the center than at the circumference, the reverse being the case with the articular cartilage of the glenoid cavity. The ligaments of the shoulder are:
The Articular Capsule (capsula articularis; capsular ligament) (Fig. 327).The articular capsule completely encircles the joint, being attached, above, to the circumference of the glenoid cavity beyond the glenoidal labrum; below, to the anatomical neck of the humerus, approaching nearer to the articular cartilage above than in the rest of its extent. It is thicker above and below than elsewhere, and is so remarkably loose and lax, that it has no action in keeping the bones in contact, but allows them to be separated from each other more than 2.5 cm., an evident provision for that extreme freedom of movement which is peculiar to this articulation. It is strengthened, above, by the Supraspinatus; below, by the long head of the Triceps brachii; behind, by the tendons of the Infraspinatus and Teres minor; and in front, by the tendon of the Subscapularis. There are usually three openings in the capsule. One anteriorly, below the coracoid process, establishes a communication between the joint and a bursa beneath the tendon of the Subscapularis. The second, which is not constant, is at the posterior part, where an opening sometimes exists between the joint and a bursal sac under the tendon of the Infraspinatus. The third is between the tubercles of the humerus, for the passage of the long tendon of the Biceps brachii.
The Coracohumeral Ligament (ligamentum coracohumerale).This ligament is a broad band which strengthens the upper part of the capsule. It arises from the lateral border of the coracoid process, and passes obliquely downward and lateralward to the front of the greater tubercle of the humerus, blending with the tendon of the Supraspinatus. This ligament is intimately united to the capsule by its hinder and lower border; but its anterior and upper border presents a free edge, which overlaps the capsule.
Glenohumeral Ligaments.In addition to the coracohumeral ligament, three supplemental bands, which are named the glenohumeral ligaments, strengthen the capsule. These may be best seen by opening the capsule at the back of the joint and removing the head of the humerus. One on the medial side of the joint passes from the medial edge of the glenoid cavity to the lower part of the lesser tubercle of the humerus. A second at the lower part of the joint extends from the under edge of the glenoid cavity to the under part of the anatomical neck of the humerus. A third at the upper part of the joint is fixed above to the apex of the glenoid cavity close to the root of the coracoid process, and passing downward along the medial edge of the tendon of the Biceps brachii, is attached below to a small depression above the lesser tubercle of the humerus. In addition to these, the capsule is strengthened in front by two bands derived from the tendons of the Pectoralis major and Teres major respectively.
The Transverse Humeral Ligament(Fig. 327) is a broad band passing from the lesser to the greater tubercle of the humerus, and always limited to that portion of the bone which lies above the epiphysial line. It converts the intertubercular groove into a canal, and is the homologue of the strong process of bone which connects the summits of the two tubercles in the musk ox.
The Glenoidal Labrum (labrium glenoidale; glenoid ligament) is a fibrocartilaginous rim attached around the margin of the glenoid cavity. It is triangular on section, the base being fixed to the circumference of the cavity, while the free edge is thin and sharp. It is continuous above with the tendon of the long head of the Biceps brachii, which gives off two fasciculi to blend with the fibrous tissue of the labrum. It deepens the articular cavity, and protects the edges of the bone.
Synovial Membrane.The synovial membrane is reflected from the margin of the glenoid cavity over the labrum; it is then reflected over the inner surface of the capsule, and covers the lower part and sides of the anatomical neck of the humerus as far as the articular cartilage on the head of the bone. The tendon of the long head of the Biceps brachii passes through the capsule and is enclosed in a tubular sheath of synovial membrane, which is reflected upon it from the summit of the glenoid cavity and is continued around the tendon into the intertubercular groove as far as the surgical neck of the humerus (Fig. 327). The tendon thus traverses the articulation, but it is not contained within the synovial cavity.
Bursæ.The bursæ in the neighborhood of the shoulder-joint are the following: (1) A constant bursa is situated between the tendon of the Subscapularis muscle and the capsule; it communicates with the synovial cavity through an opening in the front of the capsule; (2) a bursa which occasionally communicates with the joint is sometimes found between the tendon of the Infraspinatus and the capsule; (3) a large bursa exists between the under surface of the Deltoideus and the capsule, but does not communicate with the joint; this bursa is prolonged under the acromion and coraco-acromial ligament, and intervenes between these structures and the capsule; (4) a large bursa is situated on the summit of the acromion; (5) a bursa is frequently found between the coracoid process and the capsule; (6) a bursa exists beneath the Coracobrachialis; (7) one lies between the Teres major and the long head of the Triceps brachii; (8) one is placed in front of, and another behind, the tendon of the Latissimus dorsi.
The muscles in relation with the joint are, above, the Supraspinatus; below, the long head of the Triceps brachii; in front, the Subscapularis; behind, the Infraspinatus and Teres minor; within, the tendon of the long head of the Biceps brachii. The Deltoideus covers the articulation in front, behind, and laterally.
Movements.The shoulder-joint is capable of every variety of movement, flexion, extension, abduction, adduction, circumduction, and rotation. The humerus is flexed (drawn forward) by the Pectoralis major, anterior fibers of the Deltoideus, Coracobrachialis, and when the forearm is flexed, by the Biceps brachii; extended (drawn backward) by the Latissimus dorsi, Teres major, posterior fibers of the Deltoideus, and, when the forearm is extended, by the Triceps brachii; it is abducted by the Deltoideus and Supraspinatus; it is adducted by the Subscapularis, Pectoralis major, Latissimus dorsi, and Teres major, and by the weight of the limb; it is rotated outward by the Infraspinatus and Teres minor; and it is rotated inward by the Subscapularis, Latissimus dorsi, Teres major, Pectoralis major, and the anterior fibers of the Deltoideus.
The most striking peculiarities in this joint are: (1) The large size of the head of the humerus in comparison with the depth of the glenoid cavity, even when this latter is supplemented by the glenoidal labrum. (2) The looseness of the capsule of the joint. (3) The intimate connection of the capsule with the muscles attached to the head of the humerus. (4) The peculiar relation of the tendon of the long head of the Biceps brachii to the joint.
It is in consequence of the relative sizes of the two articular surfaces, and the looseness of the articular capsule, that the joint enjoys such free movement in all directions. When these movements of the arm are arrested in the shoulder-joint by the contact of the bony surfaces, and by the tension of the fibers of the capsule, together with that of the muscles acting as accessory ligaments, the arm can be carried considerably farther by the movements of the scapula, involving, of course, motion at the acromio- and sternoclavicular joints. These joints are therefore to be regarded as accessory structures to the shoulder-joint (see pages 314 and 316). The extent of the scapular movements is very considerable, especially in extreme elevation of the arm, a movement best accomplished when the arm is thrown somewhat forward and outward, because the margin of the head of the humerus is by no means a true circle; its greatest diameter is from the intertubercular groove, downward, medialward, and backward, and the greatest elevation of the arm can be obtained by rolling its articular surface in the direction of this measurement. The great width of the central portion of the humeral head also allows of very free horizontal movement when the arm is raised to a right angle, in which movement the arch formed by the acromion, the coracoid process and the coracoacromial ligament, constitutes a sort of supplemental articular cavity for the head of the bone.
The looseness of the capsule is so great that the arm will fall about 2.5 cm. from the scapula when the muscles are dissected from the capsule, and an opening made in it to counteract the atmospheric pressure. The movements of the joint, therefore, are not regulated by the capsule so much as by the surrounding muscles and by the pressure of the atmosphere, an arrangement which renders the movements of the joint much more easy than they would otherwise have been, and permits a swinging, pendulum-like vibration of the limb when the muscles are at rest (Humphry). The fact, also, that in all ordinary positions of the joint the capsule is not put on the stretch, enables the arm to move freely in all directions. Extreme movements are checked by the tension of appropriate portions of the capsule, as well as by the interlooking of the bones. Thus it is said that abduction is checked by the contact of the great tuberosity with the upper edge of the glenoid cavity; adduction by the tension of the coracohumeral ligament (Beaunis et Bouchard). Cleland 71 maintains that the limitations of movement at the shoulder-joint are due to the structure of the joint itself, the glenoidal labrum fitting, in different positions of the elevated arm, into the anatomical neck of the humerus.
The scapula is capable of being moved upward and downward, forward and backward, or, by a combination of these movements, circumducted on the wall of the chest. The muscles which raise the scapula are the upper fibers of the Trapezius, the Levator scapulæ, and the Rhomboidei; those which depress it are the lower fibers of the Trapezius, the Pectoralis minor, and, through the elavicle, the Subclavius. The scapula is drawn backward by the Rhomboidei and the middle and lower fibers of the Trapezius, and forward by the Serratus anterior and Pectoralis minor, assisted, when the arm is fixed, by the Pectoralis major. The mobility of the scapula is very considerable, and greatly assists the movements of the arm at the shoulder-joint. Thus, in raising the arm from the side, the Deltoideus and Supraspinatus can only lift it to a right angle with the trunk, the further elevation of the limb being effected by the Trapezius and Serratus anterior moving the scapula on the wall of the chest. This mobility is of special importance in ankylosis of the shoulder-joint, the movements of this bone compensating to a very great extent for the immobility of the joint.
Cathcart 72 has pointed out that in abducting the arm and raising it above the head, the scapula rotates throughout the whole movement with the exception of a short space at the beginning and at the end; that the humerus moves on the scapula not only while passing from the hanging to the horizontal position, but also in travelling upward as it approaches the vertical above; that the clavicle moves not only during the second half of the movement but in the first as well, though to a less extenti. e., the scapula and clavicle are concerned in the first stage as well as in the second; and that the humerus is partly involved in the second as well as chiefly in the first.
The intimate union of the tendons of the Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus, Teres minor and Subscapularis with the capsule, converts these muscles into elastic and spontaneously acting ligaments of the joint.
The peculiar relations of the tendon of the long head of the Biceps branchii to the shoulder-joint appear to subserve various purposes. In the first place, by its connection with both the shoulder and elbow the muscle harmonizes the action of the two joints, and acts as an elastic ligament in all positions, in the manner previously discussed (see page 287). It strengthens the upper part of the articular cavity, and prevents the head of the humerus from being pressed up against the acromion, when the Deltoideus contracts; it thus fixes the head of the humerus as the center of motion in the glenoid cavity. By its passage along the intertubercular groove it assists in steadying the head of the humerus in the various movements of the arm. When the arm is raised from the side it assists the Supraspinatus and Infraspinatus in rotating the head of the humerus in the glenoid cavity. It also holds the head of the bone firmly in contact with the glenoid cavity, and prevents its slipping over its lower edge, or being displaced by the action of the Latissimus dorsi and Pectoralis major, as in climbing and many other movements.
Note 70. The long tendon of origin of the biceps brachii also acts as one of the ligaments of this joint. See the observations on page 287, on the function of the muscles passing over more than one joint. [back]
Note 71. Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, 1867, i. 85. [back]
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Cool Fuel Cells|
Astronauts have been using them for power aboard spacecraft since the 1960s. Soon, perhaps, they'll be just as common on Earth--powering cars, trucks, laptop computers and cell phones. They're called fuel cells. By combining hydrogen fuel with oxygen, fuel cells can produce plenty of electric power while emitting only pure water as exhaust. They're so clean that astronauts actually drink the water produced by fuel cells on the space shuttle. In recent years, the interest in bringing this environmentally friendly technology to market has become intense. But there are problems: You can't 'fill 'er up' with hydrogen at most corner gas stations. And fuel cell-based cars and computers are still relatively expensive. These obstacles have relegated fuel cells to a small number of demo vehicles and some specialty uses, such as power aboard the space shuttle and back-up power for hospitals and airports.
Now NASA-sponsored research is helping to tackle some of these obstacles. By finding a way to build 'solid oxide' fuel cells that operate at half the temperature of current designs--500C instead of a blistering 1,000C--researchers at the Texas Center for Superconductivity and Advanced Materials (TcSAM) at the University of Houston hope to make this kind of fuel cell both cheaper to manufacture and easier to fuel. Squeezing out the same power at half the temperature creates a domino effect of cost savings. For one, cheaper materials can be used to build them, rather than the expensive heat-tolerant ceramics and high-strength steels demanded by 1,000-degree fuel cells. And the automobiles and personal electronics that could use these fuel cells can also forgo exotic materials and elaborate heat-dissipation systems, lowering manufacturing costs. All of this tips the scales of economic feasibility in the right direction.
Support for fuel cells as the successor to the internal combustion engine is widespread. All of the major automobile manufacturers are busily developing fuel-cell vehicles, and President Bush recently proposed spending US$1.2 billion to help bring the technology to market. The portable electronics industry is also exploring miniature fuel cells as a more powerful, longer lasting replacement for batteries. There's still much work to be done. If all goes well, though, these thin films could pave the way to clean-running SUVs and other wonders of a hydrogen-based economy.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Goddard Space Flight Center Web Site
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These are links to other great web sites about Saturn. But beware: you don't want to get caught in Saturn's Web! Don't stay away from Windows to the Universe for long!
Cassini Mission Home Page
NASA's Saturn Page
Nine Planets: Saturn
Saturn Photo Gallery
Saturn's Ring System
Scale Model Saturn A great activity for the classroom or home!
The Sixth Planet from the Sun: Saturn Tons of general information about Saturn
Voyager Home Page
Shop Windows to the Universe Science Store!
Our online store
on science education, classroom activities in The Earth Scientist
specimens, and educational games
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The dramatic appearance of Saturn stems mainly from the spectacular rings. What is visible of the atmosphere is much less dramatic. The clouds of Saturn are much less colorful than those of Jupiter. This...more
The Giant planets do not have the same layered structure that the terrestrial planets do. Their evolution was quite different than that of the terrestrial planets, and they have less solid material inside....more
Many people are fascinated by Saturn's rings. Although Saturn isn't the only planet with rings, it is the only planet famous for them. Almost every image or drawing of the planet has the rings included....more
Saturn's magnetosphere is not as big as Jupiter's, but is very large nonetheless. It extends well beyond the orbits of Saturn's moons. It is probably generated in the same manner as is Jupiter's, which...more
There's a lot of strange and interesting stuff going on at both the North and South Poles of Saturn. Features at the poles of two of Saturn's moons, Titan and Enceladus, have also grabbed the attention...more
The Phoebe Ring is much larger than Saturn's other rings. Saturn's main ring system starts a few thousand kilometers above the top of Saturn's atmosphere and extends outward a few hundred thousand kilometers....more
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The last two weeks my year 10 ICT students have designed a booking sheet for cinemas. The client (me) had these requirements:
1. Simple to use and learn.
2. Should show all seats for a given performance (rows=23, seats in a row=20, you decide where the passageways are).
3. Use colour code to show seats taken (vacant or free, reserved, taken, price, backup seats)
a. # seats taken (total number and in %)
b. total income
1. The price of a seat depends on the location in the cinema and if the customer is a child or an adult.
2. Please protect the cells where one is not supposed to enter information so they will not be overwritten by mistake.
3. Add pie charts to show the various incomes.
4. The prices may change often so make it easy to change them.
5. The program should calculate the cost for each customer and the change they should receive.
Today each student or student pair demonstrated (defended) their solution for their peers using the projector on the front computer. Many solutions were excellent, but I could see how macros could make them even more useful.
Macros and programming are not part of the syllabus, but even so on Monday I will tempt their intellectual taste buds with the following.
Sheet = thisComponent.Sheets(“Sheet1″)
income = Sheet.getCellRangeByName(“D4″)
oldincome = Sheet.getCellRangeByName(“D5″)
cost = income.value – oldincome.value
received = InputBox (chr(13)+ “The cost is ” + cost + “.” + chr(13) + chr(13)+ “Received:”,”Cinema”)
moneychange = val(received) – val(cost)
msgbox “Change = ” + received + ” – ” + cost + ” = ” + moneychange,,”Cinema”
oldincome.value = income.value
The user enters a and c for adults and children and with countif() functions the total income is calculated in D4.
What happens when a new customer buys some tickets? Without a macro you have to type a and c in the cells/seats where they will sit and then type the number of as and cs to find the total cost and later the change they should receive.
With the macro above it is enough to mark the sheet with as and cs. The trick consists in having the total income in both D4 and D5. When as and cs are entered D4 changes, but D5 does not. D4-D5 gives therefore the total cost for the customer.
I found the code tips I needed here.
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Hackers and new computer viruses seem to be in the news more frequently, along with regular warnings to update your virus protection and protect your privacy. The task of keeping your computer safe can seem overwhelming. So, what can you do to safeguard access to your computer and to protect yourself and your family from cyber intrusion?
Know the terminology
The first step is to recognize the risks and become familiar with some terminology. Hackers, attackers or intruders are terms applied to the people who seek to exploit weaknesses in software and computer systems for their own gain. Their actions can range from mischief (creating a virus with no intentionally negative impact) to malicious (stealing or altering information).
Malicious code includes code such as viruses, worms and Trojan horses. Although some people use these terms interchangeably, they have unique characteristics:
- Viruses — This type of malicious code requires you to actually do something before it infects your computer. This action could be opening an e-mail attachment or going to a particular Web page.
- Worms — Worms propagate without you doing anything. They typically start by exploiting a software vulnerability (a flaw that allows the software's intended security policy to be violated). Then once the victim computer has been infected, the worm will attempt to find and infect other computers. Similar to viruses, worms can propagate via e-mail, websites or network-based software. The automated self-propagation of worms distinguishes them from viruses.
- Trojan horses — A Trojan horse program is software that claims to do one thing while, in fact, doing something different behind the scenes. For example, a program that claims it will speed up your computer may actually be sending your confidential information to an intruder.
- Spyware — This sneaky software rides its way onto computers when you download screensavers, games, music and other applications. Spyware sends information about what you're doing on the Internet to a third-party, usually to target you with pop-up ads.
Minimize access to your information
As long as you have a computer and connect it to a network or the Internet, you are vulnerable to someone or something else remotely accessing or corrupting your information. Here are some tips to make it more difficult for someone to do this:
- Lock or log-off your computer when you are away from it. This prevents another person from then sitting down at your computer and accessing all of your information.
- To be really secure, disconnect your computer from the Internet when you aren't using it. The likelihood that attackers or viruses scanning the network for available computers will target your computer becomes much higher if your computer is always connected.
- Evaluate your security settings. Many, but not all Internet providers offer free security software. If you don't receive free software, you should consider buying a commercial product that includes virus scan, firewall and pop-up blockers. You should also be aware of your Internet cookies setting. Cookies are short pieces of data used by Web servers to identify users. Some cookies are useful for storing images and data from websites that you frequent, but others are malicious and collect information about you. You'll have to decide how much risk from cookies you can accept.
- Browsers enable you to block pop-up ads. You can also install anti-spyware to block them.
- Look for signals that you are using a secure web page. A secure site encrypts or scrambles personal information so it cannot be easily intercepted. Signals include a screen notice that says you are on a secure site, a closed lock or unbroken key in the bottom corner of your screen, or having the first letters of the Internet address you are viewing change from "http" to "https."
|
<urn:uuid:8e586e76-0bc4-4648-a54c-2dfbfc2e2da7>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.carolinacountry.com/index.php/carolina-stories/item/cyber-security
|
2013-05-18T17:48:57Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.93596
| 759
|
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