text
stringlengths 247
264k
| id
stringlengths 47
47
| dump
stringclasses 1
value | url
stringlengths 20
294
| date
stringlengths 20
20
| file_path
stringclasses 370
values | language
stringclasses 1
value | language_score
float64 0.65
1
| token_count
int64 62
58.7k
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bamboo is a widely used, versatile plant found in many homes throughout the world. Fast growing and easy to cultivate, bamboo is an attractive addition to the home plant collection. There are no known allergens in bamboo. In fact, bamboo is a plant that increases air quality by taking in pollutants, according to research by NASA.
Bamboo is used in cooking, as canes, for medicinal purposes, decoration and furniture. The uses for bamboo are almost endless, according to the website Green Living Tips, and bamboo has been used to create charcoal, baskets, pens, umbrellas, particle board and roofing.
The cause of indoor allergies is always a concern for allergy sufferers. Although indoor plants that aren't dusted enough may create an allergic reaction, there are no known allergens in the bamboo plant, and the University of Connecticut Home and Garden Education Center deems it safe for indoor use. The All Allergy website states that no allergens in bamboo have been characterized.
The website Bamboo Grove states that bamboo is the least likely natural fiber in clothing to cause an allergic reaction in sensitive adults. Bamboo clothing wicks away moisture, sustains an even temperature and is completely breathable. Bamboo Grove further states that bamboo contains bamboo kun that will kill up to 70 percent of bacteria attempting to grow. Bamboo clothing will also block ultraviolet rays.
Bamboo is considered a low allergen plant, but some sensitive individuals may still have a response to the plant. The response occurs mainly when the plant is touched, causing contact dermatitis, according to All Allergy. If you have bamboo plants in your home, make sure that the leaves are sprayed to avoid collecting dust. Avoid handling the plant if you are sensitive to bamboo.
Bamboo is a renewable resource that may someday replace wood and plastics, according to Green Living Tips. Bamboo is easy to grow, replenishes quickly and has many identified and potential uses.
|
<urn:uuid:8646f09a-72cf-4e4e-a06d-d966b04f544c>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.gardenguides.com/132063-indoor-bamboo-plant-allergic-reaction-information.html
|
2013-05-21T11:09:33Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699899882/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102459-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.949427
| 394
|
- Marginal cost pricingsearch for term
'Marginal cost pricing' expresses the theory that the net benefits of an economic activity are maximised when prices are equal to the marginal cost of production. This is because prices measure consumers’ marginal willingness to pay, and therefore the value, of a commodity or service. The marginal cost is the quantity of resources, which must be employed to produce a single extra unit of the commodity. When price equals marginal cost, it indicates that the cost of the marginal unit of production is just equal to, and therefore justified by, the value of the extra consumption. In the case of water resources, the ‘cost of production’ should be interpreted to include the impact on the environment. Damage to the environment can lower welfare directly (e.g. through reduced amenity), or indirectly, through the need to spend more on water treatment. Also, any current use must reduce the amount of water available for use in future periods. This would apply to any store of water, such as an aquifer or lake, being used in excess of its recharge rate. Continued exploitation must at some time lead to exhaustion. Hence, current use of the resource has an opportunity cost which is the cost of use foregone in the future. Various formulae exist on which marginal cost pricing policies can be based, which take into account the indivisibilities, which are a feature of water resources, investment.
Further information: Pricing of Water Services. OECD, 1987.
- Meteringsearch for term
Systems of metering for calculating water consumption, and thereby charges owed by the customer per unit of water consumed, are needed in cases where charges or tariffs for water are not set at a flat rate per user. However, it is important to recognise that metering is expensive to install and operate efficiently, and that users are likely to reduce their usage, so that it may not be economic – however apparently desirable – to install a metering system. Any decision to install metering will have to take many factors into account: the value and scarcity/abundance of water; the cost of installing meters, maintaining their security, staffing their inspection, billing customers, etc.; possible customer reactions; the desirability and practicalities of introducing a two-tier payment system, whereby above a certain level, price per unit increases, thus helping reduce waste and increase revenues. Most OECD countries, and a growing number of other countries, use metering for urban domestic water consumption. (See also Tariff structures.)
- Monitoring Indicatorssearch for term
Monitoring is the systematic and continuous observation of actual events, and their comparison with the planned situation or outcome. Monitoring is necessary both to check the actual project performance on an ongoing basis, and to measure whether it has achieved the objectives it was designed for. In order for monitoring to be undertaken, indicators are needed about which data can be collected on a regular basis. The selection of useful indicators is critical to the quality of data collected. (See also Chapter 13, Monitoring Indicators.)
|
<urn:uuid:3ec08557-ffd6-45c6-932d-f1e33350e301>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.aquaknow.net/es/euwi-test/glossary/16/letterm
|
2013-06-20T09:09:52Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.935335
| 618
|
Contradicting the common perception that binge eating is typically done in private, a significant amount of bingeing occurs in restaurants according to a recent study published in the November issue of SAGE Publications' Western Journal of Nursing Research (WJNR).
In the United States, large portion sizes, the increased frequency of eating out, fast food consumption, and sedentary lifestyle, all contribute to the development of obesity. But little is known about the restaurant eating habits of those who binge eat, (the uncontrolled consumption of large amounts of food without purging). In an effort to understand how the restaurant environment affects binge eaters, and to improve future interventions, this study looked at the eating behaviors of binge eaters compared to dieters when dining out.
The study, funded by a grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research at the National Institute of Health, asked female binge eaters and dieters to record their daily food intake. The study showed that, not only did both groups consume more calories and fat on days they ate out, it also revealed that about 30% of binges occurred at restaurants. Binge eaters were likely to perceive their restaurant eating as uncontrolled and excessive. This contradicts the perception that binge eating takes place in private.
"Obesity experts continue to search for solutions to the epidemic of obesity," writes WJNR editor, Gayle M. Timmerman, author of the article. "The trend to eat at restaurants continues to rise. This frequent dining out, along with the consumption of additional calories, could contribute to weight gain over time. Restaurants are high-risk food environments that may exacerbate uncontrolled eating and excessive intake."
|
<urn:uuid:ab93e157-4c33-4aa5-a999-fb2479c92d49>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://news.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news-3/Significant-amount-of-binge-eating-occurs-in-restaurants-2606-1/
|
2013-05-27T02:54:38Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.97255
| 335
|
Sponsored Link •
Bill Venners: Could you give an overview of Design by Contract?
Bertrand Meyer: People who have heard a little bit about contracts often think they are simply a way to put the equivalent of assertions in a program: that is to say, to put in a few checks here and there for conditions that are expected to hold at specific points of execution. Such assertions are basically debugging statements. The assertion code is executed during debugging, and if one of the conditions is found not to hold, execution usually stops with a message. That's one of the things you can do with contracts, but it is only a small subset of the purpose of contracts.
The main purpose of contracts is to help us build better software by organizing the communication between software elements through specifying, as precisely as possible, the mutual obligations and benefits that are involved in those communications. The specifications are called contracts. The underlying observation, which is not particularly deep, is that a software system is made of a number of elements that cooperate with each other. In an object-oriented architecture, these elements might be classes and methods, which I prefer to call routines. The elements might be something else in a different programming model, but let's just assume we are working in an object-oriented context. So we have a software system made of a number of classes, and these classes themselves contain among other things routines that are going to be executed and call each other. So both the architecture of the system and its execution rely on a large set of possible communication channels between the software elements. The metaphor of contracts is used to guarantee that these communications occur not on the basis of vague expectations of services rendered, but on the basis of precise specifications of what these services are going to be.
Typically in such a communication between program elements—for example, when one routine calls another routine—it's like a client/supplier relationship. The calling routine, which we will call the client, is performing some computation, probably for the need of its own client. In order to perform that computation, that is to say, to perform its own service, it needs services from some other software element, typically some other routine. So there is a client/supplier relationship, where the client needs a certain service and the supplier provides that service. And in the basic scheme both the client and the supplier are routines.
For the software and software designer to be able to guarantee any kind of correctness and robustness properties, they must know the precise constraints over such communications. This is where the contract metaphor from business applies to software. Say I'm contracting from you to have a certain business operation performed on my behalf . For example, perhaps you have a part that I can use for a product that I'm manufacturing. So I'm your client, and you're my supplier. In business, we're going to organize our collaboration on the basis of a contract: a precise statement of the mutual obligations and benefits that we'll expect. In software, we're going to do exactly the same thing when we write client and supplier routines.
So we're going, for example, to impose on the client certain obligations as to the kind of original program state that is permissible when the client calls the supplier or the kind of arguments that the client routine passes to the supplier. These are pre-conditions, and they're obligations for the client. In the other direction, we are going to express the conditions that the supplier routine must guarantee to the client, on completion of the supplier's task. That's the post-condition of the contract, specifically, the post-condition of that particular routine. And of course, the post-condition is an obligation for the supplier.
Pre- and post-conditions are symmetric. The pre-condition of the routine is an obligation for the client, because the pre-condition says that before calling a particular routine, the client must satisfy a particular property. For the supplier, the pre-condition is a benefit, because it facilitates the supplier's job by restricting the set of cases that the supplier has to handle. The obligation of the client is a benefit for the supplier. The post-condition is of course an obligation for the supplier, because it describes the job that the supplier has to guarantee to perform. But the post-condition is clearly a benefit for the client, because it describes the result that the client is entitled to expect from the execution of the routine for the benefit of its own problem set.
Before moving on I can describe a very simple example of pre- and post-conditions: a routine that computes the square root of a real number. The pre-condition would say that the real number has to be non-negative, because otherwise the result would be undefined. The post-condition may say that the result returned by the routine is the approximation, within a specified precision, of the exact mathematical square root of the routine.
So pre- and post conditions are two fundamental elements of contracts. The third fundamental element—which is really useful mostly in an object-oriented context, where we have not only routines but at the higher level, classes—is invariants. A class invariant is a condition that applies to an entire class. It describes a consistency property that every instance of the class must satisfy whenever it's observable from the outside. That means that this property, the class invariant, must be satisfied whenever an instance of the class is created. And every exported routine, routines that can be called from the outside of the class, must preserve it. That is to say, assuming the class invariant was satisfied before the routine was called, the routine must ensure that class invariant is again going to be satisfied on exit. It's as if the class invariant is added to the pre- and post-condition of every single exported routine of the class. But more fundamentally, a class invariant is a way to characterize the fundamental consistency and integrity properties of the class and its instances.
For example, if you have a bank account class with a field that represents the current balance and a field that contains a list of all deposits and withdrawals since the opening of the account, then you would have a class invariant that states that the value of the balance field is equal to the total of all the deposit values so far minus the total of all the withdrawal values so far. It's typical that class invariants define properties that indicate how the various constituents of the class, such as balance and deposit/withdrawal lists, maintain consistency with each other.
Pre- and post-conditions and class invariants are not the only elements of contracts. There are also loop invariants and a few others, but pre- and post-conditions and class invariants are really the basic fabric of contracts. In my experience, relying on these notions—that is to say, making sure when you write software that don't just write the implementation, but also write the more abstract properties underlying the implementation in the form of contracts—provides a greatly added software development experience in several respects. It helps ensure correctness in the first place, helps debugging, helps testing, helps ensure inheritance is properly handled, helps managers, provides a quite effective form of documentation, and a few others.
|
<urn:uuid:17db6f2a-db43-4114-bc8e-ff6ef549efd0>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.artima.com/intv/contracts2.html
|
2013-06-18T22:26:34Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.957981
| 1,476
|
Physical Sciences Division
Sunlight Changes Aerosols in Clouds
Scientists show how sunlight alters optical, chemical properties of atmospheric particles
Image reproduced by permission of Professor Sergey Nizkorodov and the PCCP Owner Societies from Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2011, 13, 3612-3629, DOI: 10.1039/C0CP02032J. Enlarge Image
Results: Today's climate models regard organic aerosols as static carbon-based molecules, but scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of California, Irvine showed that the particles are very dynamic. Exposure to sunlight transforms the aerosol composition drastically. Changing the composition alters how the particles behave, a topic of interest to scientists and climate modelers. Artwork from this study graced the cover of Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics.
Why It Matters: Current atmospheric computer models do not consider the evolving chemistry of the organic aerosols. However, small changes in the chemical composition of particles can affect the environment. For example, sunlight bleaches the brown particles white, reducing the amount of heat the particles absorb. When considered on a global scale, a change in heat absorption could have major impacts. By considering the chemical changes, scientists can fine tune atmospheric models, allowing them to better simulate the effects of environmental and regulatory changes.
"We are interested in understanding how sunlight affects the chemical composition of organic particles," said Dr. Adam Bateman, who worked on this and other global change studies. Bateman is a recent graduate of UCI and was a Department of Energy Global Change Education Program fellow.
Methods: In a series of experiments, the team synthesized organic aerosols. The carbon-packed constituents are ubiquitous in airborne particulates, coming from sources as diverse as pine trees and diesel trucks.
"Many modeling efforts assume that once the particles are emitted, their properties don't change as a function of time," said Dr. Alexander Laskin, a physical chemist at PNNL. "It is not that people don't realize that particles evolve. You just have to keep it simple."
The team exposed the particles to light that mimics the range of energy found in sunlight. Using high-resolution mass spectrometers at EMSL, the scientists analyzed the samples of particles. They found that the sunlight changes the chemical structure and physical properties of the particles. For example, the light can destroy relatively large organic or carbon-centric molecules, chopping them into smaller pieces. These chemical changes alter light-absorbing properties of the organic material.
"We found that exposing particles to sunlight makes the particles increasingly more oxidized and acidic, which in turn makes it easier for such particles to nucleate water and make cloud droplets," said Professor Sergey Nizkorodov, a physical chemist at UCI who led the study.
The optical properties of the particles also change. Specifically, the light causes the particles to fade and become less light absorbing. When freshly prepared, particles absorb some light, but as the particles fade, they absorb significantly less. This study further highlights the complexity and dynamic nature of atmospheric particles that may have a significant effect on the environment.
What's next? The researchers at PNNL and UCI are continuing to answer questions about the properties of organic aerosols in the atmosphere. They are working to understand how the aerosols change their physical properties when exposed to different environmental conditions and the ensuing chemical reactions.
Acknowledgments: The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, DOE's Global Change Education Program, and intramural research and development program at EMSL.
This research was done by Adam Bateman and Sergey Nizkorodov of University of California, Irvine, and Julia Laskin and Alexander Laskin at PNNL.
The research was done at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a national scientific user facility.
Reference: AP Bateman, SA Nizkorodov, J Laskin, and A Laskin. 2011. "Photolytic processing of secondary organic aerosols dissolved in cloud droplets." Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 13, 12199-12212. DOI: 10.1039/c1cp20526a
|
<urn:uuid:c2893b8b-9b73-4797-95e3-1e37d4af5db1>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.pnl.gov/science/highlights/highlight.asp?groupid=756&id=1055
|
2013-06-19T12:19:56Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.90434
| 855
|
1930s Fashion - A Genteel Fashion Era
Before the arrival of the exaggerated shoulder pads by the 1940s, 1930s fashion appeared to be more genteel.
If you remember the story from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
, where the buttons were replaced by the zippers, it was also the time where zip became popular in 1930s.
It was one of the most substantial developments in the 1930s ladies fashion industry, where a sales campaign for vintage designer dresses started to use zippers on children’s clothing.
In the early 1930s, women were tired of fighting over equality, and decided to get rid of the boyish look.
With more attention at the shoulder, they began to wear more tailored vintage designer dresses with butterfly sleeves, small waistline curves and budding rounded busts to enhance the feminine structure of a lady.
The dresses were long and elegant. Distinctive difference of the clothes could be seen between the daywear and the evening gown.
The day wear was sweet and graceful; the evening wear was often backless, with the gown longer at the back.
These flowy dresses are known as the asymmetrical dresses and are daring, glamour and close fitting which were intended to show their slim figures with the added sequins to shimmer even more under the light.
These 1930s vintage clothing was made from the man-made fibres. It was the time when synthetic nylon was widely used to make stockings; rayon that felt and looked similar like a silk was used for dresses and viscose for linings and lingerie.
Other than the 1930s vintage clothing, which was using new improved fabrics, another interesting trend in this era was the passion for sunbathing.
Travelling to resorts along the Mediterranean for sunbathing was fashionable. They tried to get themselves tanned and show them off with their sexy, backless evening gowns.
Although 1930s was also the great depression era, it did not halt it from being the era of the dancing, big bands and night life.
The fashion industry was started to be determined by the Hollywood actresses as people were becoming more aware of the hairstyles and dresses they had seen on the screen.
It was also the time where hair perm was improved. Thus, the 1930s hairstyles became more appealing, with softer perms. As the 1930s hairstyles were also influenced by the fashion trends and Hollywood actresses, it was starting to be more feminine compared to the boyish hairstyles of the 20s.
The cloche hats were replaced with the small plate shaped hats, revealing their foreheads, often worn tilted to one side.
Other renowned 1930s fashion trends include the handkerchief with pleats, mix matching of skirts and dresses with clutch coats and the halter necklines, backless dresses in the late 1930s.
Many of the design of these flowy dresses are contemporary in fashion design. The fashion in this era could be the inspirations of the designers today.
Click here to return from 1930s Fashion to Women's Fashion Page
Click here to return to Homepage
|
<urn:uuid:3a724a97-b40d-4b93-8d40-7f49358fcc11>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.fashion-tips-and-trends-for-all.com/1930s-fashion.html
|
2013-05-21T17:29:46Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.986779
| 638
|
Does breast screening do more harm than good?
The media reports that breast cancer screening is “harming thousands”, with The Guardian claiming “breast cancer screening causes more damage than previously thought”.
These headlines have been prompted by the findings of an independent panel that reviewed the benefits and harms of breast cancer screening in the UK. The panel was set up to examine the issue, as there has been ongoing debate about the balance of benefits and harms from breast screening, both in the UK and internationally.
The panel was commissioned by the national cancer director for England and Cancer Research UK, and included experts in medical epidemiology (the study of disease patterns and their causes), statistics, breast cancer diagnosis and treatments, as well as a patient advocate. The panel reviewed the published evidence and submissions from experts who have been involved in the debate.
Breast cancer screening programmes are unable to predict the individual outcome (prognosis) if a person is found to have breast cancer. In some cases, the cancerous cells can spread rapidly, posing a significant risk to health. In others, the cancerous cells are much less aggressive, so the cancer has no impact on life expectancy. This uncertainty leads to what the researchers term ‘overdiagnosis’ – where women are given treatment and are exposed to all of its harms, but receive no benefit.
Based on the evidence available, the panel estimated that for every 10,000 women invited to screening from the age of 50 for 20 years:
- 681 breast cancers will be diagnosed
- 129 of these diagnoses will be overdiagnosed
- 43 deaths from breast cancer will be prevented
Therefore, for every death prevented, there are estimated to be three cases of overdiagnosis. This means that, in around 307,000 women aged 50-52 who are invited to screening each year in the UK, about 1,320 deaths from breast cancer will be prevented and about 3,960 women will be overdiagnosed. The panel noted that there is uncertainty around these estimates, and that they should be seen as approximate.
Although the headlines focus on the harms, the panel concluded that, overall the UK breast cancer screening programme provides significant benefit and should continue to be offered.
The decision of whether to attend for breast screening when invited ultimately rests with each individual woman.
The panel emphasised the need for clear communication so that women can make informed decisions. Hopefully, the review’s findings will provide clear and understandable estimates of the potential benefits and harms associated with breast cancer screening that can be used for this purpose.
How did the media report the review?
While the overall reporting on the findings of the review was accurate, most of the headlines focused on the negative findings – the problem of overdiagnosis.
These headlines do not provide balanced coverage of the findings of the panel and seem to undermine the efforts of those involved in breast cancer screening.
What is important is to communicate clearly both the potential benefits and risks to allow women to make informed decisions.
Why was the independent review needed and who carried it out?
There has been ongoing heated debate about the balance of benefits and harms from breast screening, both in the UK and internationally.
In light of this, the Independent UK Panel on Breast Cancer Screening was commissioned to review the benefits and harms of breast screening. The panel included experts in epidemiology, statistics, breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, as well as a patient advocate. Cancer Research UK provided support for the panel and additional funding was provided by the Department of Health.
An article in the peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet summarises their conclusions, and is available free online.
A summary of the research is also available on the Cancer Research UK website.
What did the review involve?
The overall aim of the review was to carry out an up-to-date assessment of the benefits and harms associated with population breast screening programmes. The panel assessed published research, as well as spoken and written evidence from experts who have been contributing to the debate. The process aimed to be a rigorous review of the evidence by an independent panel, but not a formal systematic review.
The panel’s assessment of the quantitative benefits of breast cancer screening on the relative risk of death from breast cancer was based on evidence from systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials (RCTs).
They also reviewed evidence from observational studies.
Using the estimates of relative benefit they obtained and information about the breast screening programme in the UK, they estimated the absolute benefit of breast cancer screening. That is, they worked out how many deaths are prevented for every 10,000 women invited for screening.
They assumed that women would not receive any benefit for the first five years of screening, but that the reduction in mortality risk would continue for 10 years after screening ended.
They also considered the harms of breast cancer screening, mainly overdiagnosis. This is where some women who are diagnosed as having breast cancer by screening and are treated are subsequently found to have cancers that would never have caused symptoms in their lifetime. This means that their treatment turns out to have been unnecessary and they would not have died from breast cancer.
The panel said that the ideal study to identify the rate of overdiagnosis does not exist. This, they say, would be a study comparing the number of breast cancer cases in women screened for 20 years and followed up until death, with the number of cases in a comparable unscreened population.
Therefore, instead they estimated overdiagnosis based on the available evidence from RCTs and observational studies. There are different ways to calculate overdiagnosis, and the panel felt that there was no single best way to do this.
The panel selected what they believed to be the two most useful approaches for their calculations.
What is the effect of breast cancer screening on relative risk of death from breast cancer?
The panel’s main conclusions on the effect of breast cancer screening on risk of death from breast cancer were based on the data from a Cochrane Collaboration’s systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs).
This review found that after 13 years of follow-up, breast cancer screening reduced the risk of death from breast cancer in women invited to screening by 20% compared with the controls (relative risk [RR] 0.80, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.73 to 0.89). The panel noted that other systematic reviews have had different approaches (for example, including different trials) but that they have generally given a similar estimate of the relative risk – ranging from around 0.77 to 0.85.
The panel also looked at estimates of the benefits of breast cancer screening from observational studies, as the RCTs were carried out 20 to 30 years ago, and there have been improvements in breast cancer treatment since then. The panel noted that, although because of the nature of these studies they could overestimate the benefits of screening, their results also suggested a reduction in deaths from breast cancer with screening.
The panel concluded that the best evidence on the benefits of screening comes from the RCTs, and that their estimates of benefit probably still apply, although they do have limitations, and there is statistical uncertainty around the estimates of effect.
What is the absolute benefit of breast cancer screening in terms of deaths from breast cancer?
In the UK, where women are first invited to breast screening at the age of 50, and continue to be invited for 20 years, the panel estimated that 43 breast cancer deaths could be prevented for every 10,000 women invited for screening. This is equivalent to one breast cancer death being prevented for every 235 women invited for screening. Among women who actually attend screening, one breast cancer death is prevented for every 180 women.
What about the harms of breast screening?
The major harm considered by the panel was overdiagnosis – as described above. These women receive treatment, such as the surgical removal of a portion of breast tissue, chemotherapy or radiotherapy and are exposed to the potential side effects, but they do not experience any potential benefits from reduced risk of death from breast cancer.
The panel considered that the best available estimates of overdiagnosis came from three trials in Sweden and Canada where women in the control groups were not invited for screening after the study. Pooling these trials found that in the time period where active screening was taking place, 19% of cancers diagnosed among women invited for cancer screening (95% confidence interval 15 to 23%) were estimated to be overdiagnoses.
The panel noted that these figures were not tailored to the UK screening programme, or a 20-year screening period. However, the evidence from the observational studies supported that overdiagnosis occurs.
On the basis of the 19% overdiagnosis figure, they estimated that for every 10,000 UK women aged 50 years invited to screening for the next 20 years, 129 cases of breast cancer (invasive and non-invasive) would be overdiagnosed.
What were the panel’s overall conclusions?
The panel concluded that breast cancer screening reduces deaths from breast cancer, but that overdiagnosis does occur. Based on their estimates of the absolute benefits and risks of breast cancer screening, they estimated that:
- for each woman with breast cancer whose death is prevented by screening, about three women would be overdiagnosed and treated
- of the 307,000 women aged 50–52 years who are invited to begin screening every year, just over 1% would be overdiagnosed with cancer in the next 20 years
However, the panel said that there is substantial uncertainty in the estimates due to the limitations of the studies available, and that the figures should be seen as an approximate guide.
What were the panel’s recommendations?
The panel recommended that:
- the NHS Breast Screening Programme should continue, as it provides significant benefit – if the estimates of the researchers are correct, the programme saves around 1,320 lives each year
- transparent and objective information should be made available to women invited to screening so that they can make informed decisions about breast cancer screening
What does it all mean?
This review provides an independent assessment of the benefits and harms of breast cancer screening in the UK. It provides estimates of how many women may benefit from the programme, and how many may be harmed by overdiagnosis.
The independent panel acknowledged that there are limitations to these estimates, and as part of their report they made recommendations for additional research that could help to reduce this uncertainty.
The panel emphasised the importance of clear communication of risks and benefits to women, and hopefully the findings and recommendations of the review will lead to improvements in this area, so that women can make better informed decisions about breast screening.
- Independent UK Panel on Breast Cancer Screening. The benefits and harms of breast cancer screening: an independent review. The Lancet. Published online October 30 2012.
|
<urn:uuid:1c940e68-1174-4479-8597-b3e895958d0a>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://m.nursingtimes.net/5051359.article
|
2013-05-22T08:12:44Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701508530/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105148-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.970276
| 2,219
|
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
A neologism (Greek νεολογισμός [neologismos], from νέος [neos] new + λόγος [logos] word, speech, discourse + suffix -ισμός [-ismos] -ism) is a word, term, or phrase which has been recently created ("coined") — often to apply to new concepts, to synthesize pre-existing concepts, or to make older terminology sound more contemporary. Neologisms are especially useful in identifying inventions, new phenomena, or old ideas which have taken on a new cultural context. The term "e-mail", as used today, is an example of a neologism.
Neologisms are by definition "new", and as such are often directly attributable to a specific individual, publication, period or event. The term "neologism" was itself coined around 1800; so for some time in the early 19th Century, the word "neologism" was itself a neologism.
Neologisms can also refer to an existing word or phrase which has been assigned a new meaning.
In psychiatry, the term is used to describe the creation of words which only have meaning to the person who uses them. It is considered normal in children, but a symptom of thought disorder indicative of a psychotic mental illness such as schizophrenia in adults. Usage of neologisms may also be related to aphasia acquired after brain damage resulting from a stroke or head injury.
In theology, a neologism is a relatively new doctrine (for example, rationalism). In this sense, a neologist is an innovator in the area of a doctrine or belief system, and is often considered heretical or subversive by the mainstream clergy or religious institution(s).
|
<urn:uuid:c602e6d4-b60f-4091-8cfe-ea461ab62ad7>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.artandpopularculture.com/Neologism
|
2013-05-24T15:35:55Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.962083
| 386
|
The eye is the organ of sight, a nearly spherical hollow globe filled with fluids (humors). The outer layer or tunic (sclera, or white, and cornea) is fibrous and protective. The middle tunic layer (choroid, ciliary body and the iris) is vascular. The innermost layer (the retina) is nervous or sensory. The fluids in the eye are divided by the lens into the vitreous humor (behind the lens) and the aqueous humor (in front of the lens). The lens itself is flexible and suspended by ligaments which allow it to change shape to focus light on the retina, which is composed of sensory neurons.
- Reviewed last on: 4/13/2009
- Paul B. Griggs, MD, Department of Ophthalmology, Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, WA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the
diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed medical professional should be
consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Call 911 for all
medical emergencies. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not
constitute endorsements of those other sites. © 1997-
A.D.A.M., Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is
© 2011 University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC). All rights reserved.
UMMC is a member of the University of Maryland Medical System,
22 S. Greene Street, Baltimore, MD 21201. TDD: 1-800-735-2258 or 1.866.408.6885
|
<urn:uuid:a946e5d9-146d-463a-820c-a0bcfa037773>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.umm.edu/imagepages/1094.htm
|
2013-05-20T03:14:41Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698222543/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095702-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.897007
| 377
|
Posted on March 11, 2010
By Jose Bravo
Childhood obesity has received a lot of media attention lately, but the solutions in the news focus just on personal responsibility. First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative is a great start, but it only addresses eating healthy food and getting exercise. While personal responsibility is important, there are other underlying issues that contribute to the childhood obesity problem.
Scientific evidence shows that certain chemicals block our hormones and disrupt the body’s normal functions. Known “endocrine-disrupting” chemicals, this class of toxins includes PCBs, DDT, dioxin, some pesticides, and many plasticizers, like BPA. These chemicals play an important role in the global epidemic of obesity. Dr. Bruce Blumberg, professor of developmental and cell biology and pharmaceutical sciences at the University of California in Irvine believes there’s evidence that industrial pollutants are contributing to America’s obesity epidemic. Dr. Blumberg calls those chemicals “obesogens.”
“Despite what we’ve heard, diet and exercise alone are insufficient to explain the obesity epidemic.” —Dr. Bruce Bloomberg, UC Irvine
There is now strong evidence that our bodies mistake certain man-made chemicals used in plastics, food, wrappers, and fragrances, and many more items, for naturally occurring hormones that regulate the production and storage of fat cells.
“Evidence has been steadily accumulating that certain hormone-mimicking pollutants, ubiquitous in the food chain, have two previously unsuspected effects. They act on genes in the developing fetus and newborn to turn more precursor cells into fat cells, which stay with you for life. And they may alter metabolic rate, so that the body hoards calories rather than burning them…” —Retha Newbold of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals that may be linked to obesity include:
You can learn more about chemical obesogens here:
José T. Bravo is Executive Director of the Just Transition Alliance based in Chula Vista, California.
|
<urn:uuid:6bdde088-1d26-4cce-8001-ca6d131c868f>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://safehealthyct.org/2012/01/27/obesity-and-chemicals-a-matter-of-environmental-justice/
|
2013-05-21T11:01:45Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699899882/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102459-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.925593
| 439
|
Skip to main content
More Search Options
A member of our team will call you back within one business day.
It’s normal for children to have fears. They may be afraid of monsters, ghosts, or the dark. At times, they might be frightened by a book or movie. In most cases, these fears fade over time. But children with anxiety disorders are often afraid. Or they may have fears that go away for a while but return again and again. This may cause them great distress and it can prevent them from having a normal life. Children with anxiety disorders can have problems with sleep, appetite, and concentration. No child should have to suffer from constant fear. Talk to your healthcare provider or a mental health professional. He or she can help.
An anxiety disorder causes children to be intensely fearful in situations that would not normally cause fear. They may be afraid of certain objects, such as dogs or snakes. Or, they may fear a situation, such as being alone in the dark. Sometimes they may be too afraid to leave the house.
Some children may have separation anxiety disorder. This causes them to dread being away from a parent or other loved one. They may worry that they’ll be harmed or never see their family again. In some cases, these children refuse to go to school. They also may have physical symptoms, such as nausea or stomachaches.
Fortunately, most anxious children can be helped with behavior therapy. This is done in steps. When your child feels safe with one step, he or she can go on to the next. This helps your child gradually face and cope with his or her fears. At first, your child may be asked to just think about the feared object. When he or she realizes that nothing bad happens as a result, the next step may be looking at a picture of the feared object. Later, he or she may face the feared object in person, with support and encouragement. Over time, your child will be less afraid. Sometimes, certain medications may also help lessen your child’s fears.
A mental health professional can tell if your child has an anxiety disorder. If so, your love and support can help your child overcome his or her fears.
National Institute of Mental Health
Anxiety and Depression Association of America www.adaa.org
|
<urn:uuid:0fed5191-5dd9-460a-adcf-1f17c35d8487>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.einstein.edu/einsteinhealthtopic/?healthTopicId=-1&healthTopicName=HealthSheets&articleId=84903&articleTypeId=3
|
2013-05-18T08:02:17Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.961092
| 473
|
In February 1855, an abolitionist minister in Boston named Leonard Grimes used these two checks to purchase freedom for Anthony Burns, an African American slave whose story had become intimately connected with the city. Burns's quest for freedom, begun in February of the previous year, included a trial and even a riot that comprised major events in the history of mid-19th-century Boston.
Burns was born in Stafford County, Virginia, on the estate of the Suttle family,
around 1829. When still a child, he defied local laws by teaching
himself to read and write, with the help of local white children.
Burns's owner, prosperous businessman Charles F. Suttle, apparently
trusted the young man, frequently sending him to work for
other businesses. On one such trip to Richmond in February
1854, however, Burns stowed away on a northern-bound ship
and escaped to Boston, the home of the abolitionist cause
in America. The state of Massachusetts had outlawed slavery.
Burns still had to overcome a substantial obstacle to his freedom: the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. According to this federal law, runaways to free states in the North could be captured and returned into slavery with only a brief hearing before a court official. When Boston police arrested Burns in May 1854, the law faced its most prominent test.
Within a week after the arrest, Boston abolitionists held
a mass meeting at Faneuil Hall. Even before the meeting was
finished, a group of angry protesters, led by minister Thomas
Wentworth Higginson, marched to the Boston Court House to
break Burns out of prison. The attempt failed, and a federal
marshal died in the fight. Defense lawyer Richard Henry Dana,
Jr., represented Burns in court, but that effort also proved
unsuccessful, and tensions rose in Boston as the authorities
prepared to return the fugitive to Virginia. Anticipating
a large protest, the city arranged for more than 2,000 armed
guards to escort Burns from the Court House to the wharf,
where a ship waited to take him to Richmond.
Upon his return to the South, Burns was punished and sold to David McDaniel, a North Carolina slave trader. When a group of Bostonians learned of Burns's location, they offered to purchase his freedom. Leonard A. Grimes, a minister and abolitionist, managed to raise only $676, barely half of McDaniel's asking price of $1,300. Charles C. Barry, a Boston bank cashier, agreed to lend Grimes the remainder of the money and wrote out two checks. Well aware of the historical significance of these items, Barry wrote to the bank in Baltimore where the checks were cashed and asked for their return. These materials, along with a small collection of Barry's personal papers, were donated to the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1960. The MHS also holds a collection of papers of defense lawyer Richard Henry Dana, Jr., including two letters from Burns.
|
<urn:uuid:21127d96-33ca-4e8e-83c5-01adbe3465a3>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://masshist.org/objects/cabinet/february2002/february2002.html
|
2013-05-26T03:50:08Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706578727/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121618-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.968425
| 621
|
The ideal temperature for the freezer is about 5 degrees (F). The refrigerator should be kept at about 36 degrees (F). The temperature can be adjusted using the controls found inside the freezer or refrigerator.
Measurement of the temperature in the freezer may be inaccurate if you simply place a thermometer inside. To properly Measure the temperature, place a cup of alcohol or cooking oil with a cooking thermometer into the freezer for about 2 hours. The oil or alcohol will not freeze and will make it possible to accurately measure the temperature. If you used water, it would freeze and the thermometer would not display the correct reading. Also, the freezing water may damage a thermometer placed in it.
|
<urn:uuid:c009bdce-8e8a-4d0b-8c9e-6dcd6a31b643>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.acmehowto.com/howto/appliance/icemaker/check/freezertemp.php
|
2013-06-18T22:33:09Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.898504
| 139
|
Cambyses II was the son of Cyrus the Great and King of Persia from 530 BCE to 522 BCE.
It was quite natural that, after Cyrus had conquered the Middle East, Cambyses should undertake the conquest of Egypt, the only remaining independent state in that part of the world. Before he set out on his expedition, he killed his brother Bardiya (Smerdis), whom Cyrus had appointed governor of the eastern provinces.
In the decisive battle at Pelusium the Egyptian army was defeated, and shortly afterwards Memphis was taken. The captive king Psammetichus was executed, having attempted a rebellion. The Egyptian inscriptions show that Cambyses officially adopted the titles and the costume of the Pharaohs.
His forces invaded the Kingdom of Kush without any breakthrough successes. Another expedition against the Siwa Oasis failed likewise. Cambyses II's plan of attacking Carthage was frustrated by the refusal of the Phoenicians to operate against their kindred.
According to Herodotus 3.26, Cambyses sent an army to threaten the Oracle of Amun at the Siwa Oasis. The army of 50,000 men was halfway across the desert when a massive sandstorm sprang up, burying them all.
Meanwhile in Persia a man was trying to steal the throne, he shared the same name as Cambyses' brother, Smerdis, although it was later claimed by Darius, after he had killed him and claimed the throne for himself, that this was not in fact the genuine Smerdis but an impostor, a Magian named Gaumata, Smerdis having been murdered some three years previously. According to his successor Darius, Cambyses felt that victory was impossible and committed suicide. According to Herodotus, he died of an injury while mounting his horse on the way back to Persia.
Donate and help us!
We're a non-profit organisation and we need your help! This website costs money and research material isn't cheap either. We are supported only by our donors. Please consider donating; even small amounts help. Thank you!
Are you qualified to peer review ancient history information? Apply now and help provide quality ancient history information on the web!
Currently there are no illustrations for Cambyses II, but you can help and upload an illustration.
You might also find the following pages interesting...
|
<urn:uuid:6326059f-e635-48c8-b6aa-eabd59c6e0d6>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://ancient.eu.com/Cambyses_II/
|
2013-06-19T19:20:20Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.974207
| 486
|
Science is always evolving. New discoveries shape our current understanding of human evolutionary milestones such as bipedalism, the use of tools, dietary adaptation, changing body shapes and sizes, and life historys.
Join us to reflect on the roots of humanity as we explore key early hominin adaptations and their evolution through time. Speakers include: Zeray Alemseged, Adrienne Zihlman, Tanya Smith and Teresa Steele.
Tanya M. Smith
Assistant Professor, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, and Associated Scientist, Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig, Germany)
Tanya conducted field work in Costa Rica, Madagascar, Nicaragua, and Wyoming, in addition to extensive laboratory and museum work in Europe and Africa. Her current research is focused on the study of ape and human dental development, which provides important insight into evolutionary developmental biology. Teeth -- an often under-appreciated aspect of our anatomy -- preserve permanent records of an organism's daily, near-weekly, and yearly biological rhythms.
Her work has been featured in National Geographic, Science, Smithsonian, Slate, and Discovery magazines, as well as on PBS, History Channel, Voice of America and BBC broadcast media. At Harvard University she offers courses on human evolutionary anatomy, Neanderthals and evolutionary theory, and a hands-on research seminar on primate dental histology.
Evolution of modern human beings from extinct nonhuman and humanlike forms. Genetic evidence points to an evolutionary divergence between the lineages of humans and the great apes on the African continent 85 million years ago (mya). The earliest fossils considered to be remains of hominins (members of the human lineage) date to at least 4 mya in Africa; they include the genus Australopithecus and other forms. The next major evolutionary stage, Homo habilis, inhabited sub-Saharan Africa about 21.5 mya. Homo habilis appears to have been supplanted by a taller and more humanlike species, Homo erectus, which lived from c. 1,700,000 to 200,000 years ago, gradually migrating into Asia and parts of Europe. Between c. 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, Homo heidelbergensis, sometimes called archaic Homo sapiens, lived in Africa, Europe, and perhaps parts of Asia. Having features resembling those of both H. erectus and modern humans, H. heidelbergensis may have been an ancestor of modern humans and also of the Neanderthals (H. neanderthalensis), who inhabited Europe and western Asia from c. 200,000 to 28,000 years ago. Fully modern humans (H. sapiens) seem to have emerged in Africa only c. 150,000 years ago, perhaps having descended directly from H. erectus or from an intermediate species such as H. heidelbergensis.
I would have loved to have watched this lecture for a second time, as the subject is fascinating. However, the speaker's use of the word "Right?" as punctuation at the end of EVERY sentence is incredibly distracting and thoroughly irritating. Surely, someone of this educational level is capable of expressing herself better?
I love how Tanya uses her sense of humour to make the topic of evolutionary anthropology fun for those, like myself, who may not have a thorough enough biology background for what she is sharing in. Valuable and interesting talk on teeth and of their markers of time. Thank you for sharing this talk.
|
<urn:uuid:da9bdd8a-a18e-47b9-9568-b5a42e89e3d2>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://fora.tv/2010/11/06/Tanya_M_Smith_A_Bite_Through_Time/page/2
|
2013-05-21T10:28:00Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.933622
| 721
|
Depicting snow in woodcuts
White inks were not usually employed in printing Japanese woodcuts, so snow was commonly depicted by leaving areas of the paper blank. Snowflakes were usually created by carving nicks out of the surface of the colour blocks, so that flecks of paper appear like flakes of snow.
Here nicks have been carved out of the blocks used to print the man's hair so that it appears as though snowflakes are falling in front of him.
Exceptionally, in special luxury editions or private commissions, white pigment was flicked onto the surface of the paper to create extra snowflakes after the colours had been printed.
The white pigment is whiter than the colour of the paper, so the snowflakes stand out against the snow. This pigment was traditionally made from seashells and known as gofun (calcium carbonate), but lead based whites were also used, as in this example.
The flicked pigment cannot be precisely controlled, so the effect is random in each impression, but in this example the pigment was brushed through holes in a stencil, rather than being flicked, so the snowflakes appear in exactly the same place in each example of the print (some of the snowflakes have darkened over time).
Another way of depicting snow was to emboss the surface of the thick paper using a carved block without any ink. Here this technique has been used to create ridges in the snow behind the women. The ridges are modelled purely by the light falling on the surface of the print.
|
<urn:uuid:747b078d-c88f-4c5a-8d37-5017a8a5b82e>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/gallery/snowcountry/depictingsnow/index.html
|
2013-05-20T02:40:35Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.980566
| 321
|
Charles Edward Stuart’s Flight
Charles Edward Louis Philippe Casimir Stuart was born on 20 December 1720. Supported by Jacobite adherents, he attempted to regain the throne of his father, who, according to Jacobite beliefs, was the legitimate successor of James II, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland. In the end, Charles Edward Stuart’s attempts to reclaim his father’s throne led to devastating losses on the part of the Jacobites who mainly consisted of Scottish clansmen, when the Highlanders encountered the Hanoverian army at Culloden Moor. The Battle of Culloden went down in history as a cruel and brutal strike against the Highland army that destroyed many clans.
From there, he marched towards Edinburgh with the gradually increasing Highland army whose nucleus consisted of Macdonalds of Clanranald and Keppoch, and Lochiel’s Camerons. Panic stricken as it was, Edinburgh offered no resistance, although the castle could not be conquered. After the successful Battle of Prestonpans they reached London marching through Carlisle and Manchester. There he was out of luck as the Highland army refused to encounter the three-thousand men strong Hanoverian army lying at Finchley to defend London. The Highlanders went back to Scotland on behalf of Lord George Murray, the Prince’s lieutenant-general, who overruled the Prince together with others. Nevertheless, after a small victory at Falkirk they advanced to Inverness, followed by the Hanoverian army led by the Duke of Cumberland, who had taken command of it in the north. Put under pressure, and nearly starved to death because of bad supplies, the Jacobites mustered quickly to encounter their enemies at Culloden Moor on 16 April 1746. On account of terrible bodily conditions caused by hunger and strain, they eventually lost the extremely bloody battle, struck by the merciless Hanoverian army. When Bonnie Prince Charlie, that is what he was and still is called among his adherents in present times, realised his failure, he took refuge at the farm of Balvraid near Culloden Moor, from where his long and confusing flight began. Today, several massive gravestones spread over Culloden Moor remain in silent remembrance of hundreds of Scottish clansmen who lost their lives in the dreadful Battle of Culloden.
When the Prince perceived that all hope to win the battle in Culloden Moor had vanished, he left the battlefield together with some companions for the farm of Balvraid from which his long flight began. In the early afternoon after the battle, the Prince and his party headed southwards to the Ford of Faillie, which was near the River Nairn, to reach the house of Lord Lovat, one of his kinsmen, who had sent his son to support the Prince. After some glasses of wine, the Prince had to leave the house as Lord Lovat’s hospitality was rather curt at that time. As the battle was over quicker than expected, nobody knew where to meet and how to reorganise. Thus, the Prince sent message to his men to avoid total confusion and to attain a re-mustering at Fort Augustus.
Early next morning, he reached Invergarry Castle, which unfortunately was already burnt down by the Duke of Cumberland, who had led the Hanoverian army against the Highlanders in the Battle or Culloden. Passing Loch Lochy and Loch Arkaig, the Prince and his fellows arrived at Achnacarry House, which was Cameron of Lochiel’s residence. He was one of the first clansmen to join the Prince in his venture, but now he lay helpless and wounded in the burnt ruins of his house. Still lacking any considerable support, the Prince took a rough path along the north shore to Kinloch Arkaig where Donald Cameron of Glen Pean’s residence was located. Together with only three remaining fellows which were Captain O’Sullivan, Father Allan Macdonald, and Ned Burke, whose occupation it was to carry one end of a sedan chair in Edinburgh, he stayed there overnight to wait for possible messages from his men. And indeed, a letter from Lord George Murray, the Prince’s lieutenant general, arrived in the late afternoon of the 18th April. Having slowed down the Prince’s reckless venture earlier, he was now furious about the devastating result of the battle, which he considered to be on account of Captain O’Sullivan’s incompetence and the Prince’s support of it. As a consequence, Lord George Murray offered the resignation of his commission. This letter is supposed to be the reason for the Prince’s further steps on his flight because the re-mustering at Fort Augustus failed and by then it was clear that Scotland could only be won with help of France.
Heading for the coast to probably charter a ship to France, they had to march through rough Highland areas again, passing the braes of Morar and the small glen of Meoble south of Loch Morar to reach Borradale on the north shore of Loch nan Uamh. There, where the Sound of Arisaig is opened up, the Prince had disembarked his brig Doutelle only nine month ago. At Borradale, many survivors of the battle sought refuge, so he could recover from the exhaustive march through the amazing landscape of the Scottish Highlands as well. Still planning to re-muster his Highland army, he wanted help from the great lairds of the Isle of Skye, MacDonald of Sleat and McLeod of Macleod, but only almost seventy-year-old Donald McLeod, tenant of Gualtergill on Loch Dunvegan in Skye and a seaman, came to help the lost Prince. Supported now by a good seaman who knew the Hebridean seas and a little more save, as Cumberland’s troops headed to St. Kilda where they thought the Prince sought refuge, they left the main land for Benbecula on Long Island in the Outer Hebrides. O’Sullivan, O’Neil, Father Allan MacDonald, Ned Burke, Donald MacLeod, and 7 boatmen were with him and they went against Donald McLeod’s advice to wait for better weather. Luckily, they survived this desperate voyage through the Cuillin Sound and disembarked the ship on 27th April 1746. For his new venture to re-muster the Highland army and to get money, he met several important clansmen amongst them Clanranald, his brother MacDonald of Boisdale, and Donald Campbell, who all offered their help. They indeed chartered a boat for the Prince, but none of their plans prevailed in the end because the islanders were suspicious and there was already a reward of £ 30,000 on Charles’ head.
The ever remaining danger of the Hanoverian army which still searched all possible places for Charles and the terrible hunger convinced him to be more careful. On 28th June, after he rode up and down the islands anxiously and in constant danger of being captured by the English, he crossed to Skye in a very unconvincing disguise and the brave company of Flora MacDonald, the daughter of Ranald MacDonald of Milton in South Uist. He was dressed up as Flora MacDonald’s maid Betty Burke.
When they landed on the shore of Skye, the Prince had to stay near the shore because the local militia was near by. They decided to take the Prince to MacDonald of Kingsburgh’s house where to they had to walk through the heather. This appeared to look odd as the Prince walked like a man and when they reached Kingsburgh’s house, his wife Mrs MacDonald was apparently shocked by the appearance of Betty Burke, whom she described looking “odd muckle trallop of a carlin” (Maine 1972:139). However the Prince had to leave Kingsburgh’s house soon, for it was too dangerous for him to stay too long at one particular place. Although he left in women’s clothes again, he soon changed into a respectable Highland ensemble which he got from Mrs MacDonald’s son-in-law because his disguise was not convincing at all. Passing Raasay, Nicolson’s Rock, Sligachan, and Loch Ainort, they reached Elgol, this time with the Prince in disguise of a servant called Lewie Caw, from where they embarked a ship heading for the main land of Scotland. Now they were about to meet some other clansmen, amongst them Clanranald and Glenaladale, who would hopefully be able to help them.
In the early morning of the 5th of July, when they landed at Mallaig, they couldn’t find shelter for a couple of days, which forced the small group, now consisting of different men than before, to ride up and down, back and forth to finally seek refuge at Meoble where they unfortunately were surrounded by enemies, still not able to get in contact with any supporters. Pursuit by an advancing enemy, they were now forced to find a way to Fort Augustus. Luckily, they met Donald Cameron of Glen Pean for whom they had already searched desperately because he was thought of being able to help them breaking through towards Fort Augustus. And indeed, he knew something about their enemy that would probably help them. Threatening enough, the enemy had established camps from the head of Loch Eil to the top of Loch Hourn at intervals of half a mile and soldiers were regularly patrolling. Always walking up and down the local hills to stay as secure as possible, they passed camp by camp sometimes near enough to hear the redcoats talking to eventually reach Glenshiel in the proximity of Shiel Bridge, which they later crossed to reach Poolewe where the Prince hoped to find a French ship. However, the Prince’s hope was disappointed again and they were guided by Donald MacDonald, who was also on the flight and who took them to Glenmoriston. Although the Prince was in constant danger of being captured by the redcoats (the English), he was not threatened by betrayal as he encountered a group of loyal Scotsmen who, although they could have easily earned the reward of £ 30,000 for Charles Stuart, swore allegiance according to Highland customs. “That their backs should be to God and their faces to Devil; that all the curses the Scriptures did pronounce might come upon them and all their posterity if they did not stand firm to help the Prince in his greatest dangers” (Linklater 1965: 129). Throughout the Scottish history, one thing has always been for sure–a Scotsmen who had sworn an oath stood firmly against any possible threat to answer his duties no matter what that meant for him.
Guarded and guided by the most loyal men, the Prince took shelter in caves along his way and decided to send men to Poolewe again to finally find a French ship. Meanwhile it was August and he arrived at the most northerly point of his wanderings, Beinn Acharain, which is north-west of Invercannich. There the Prince got message from Poolewe that a French ship had indeed been there, but that it had also already left again. However, two officers of the ship were now about to meet the Prince at Lochiel’s country, which was located in the south. He met the French officers who had nothing of importance to tell amongst other men who joined the Prince on his further way. Amongst them was Cameron of Clunes, also called Cluny, who was “the only person in whom he could repose the greatest confidence” (Linklater 1965: 136). By now, the Duke of Cumberland and the main body of Lord Albemarle’s army had also gone, leaving only some companies to watch the region. The last journey took the Prince through the Ben Alder Forest, Glen Roy, and Achnacarry to Borradale where he eventually embarked the ship L’Heureux to France. Cluny was left in Scotland to prepare for the Prince’s return, but although eight years passed, the Prince did never return to Scotland.
- “Prince Charles and Lochiel” (pp. 135-137), “Skye Boat Song” (p. 137), “Prince Charlie in Flight” (pp. 138-140), and “Prince Charles and Flora Mcdonald”(pp.195-197), in A Book of Scotland by G.F. Maine
- Maine, G. F. A Book of Scotland. Collins Clear-Type Press. London and Glasgow: 1972.
|
<urn:uuid:096aa5ab-7b98-43d7-a895-58a9d663a5d5>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.reference.com/browse/got+message
|
2013-05-24T15:30:02Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.981144
| 2,623
|
Minimization of Load Based Resources in Cloud Computing Systems
Cloud computing is a term, which involves virtualization, distributed computing, networking, software and Web services. The authors' objective is to develop an effective load balancing algorithm using Divisible Load Scheduling Theorem to maximize or minimize different performance parameters (throughput, latency for example) for the clouds of different sizes. Central to these issues lays the establishment of an efficient load balancing algorithm. The load can be CPU load, memory capacity, delay or network load. Load balancing is the process of distributing the load among various nodes of a distributed system to improve both resource utilization and job response time while also avoiding a situation where some of the nodes are heavily loaded while other nodes are idle or doing very little work.
|
<urn:uuid:62b883ea-e99c-4880-bf51-24cf80b1f3d0>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.techrepublic.com/whitepapers/minimization-of-load-based-resources-in-cloud-computing-systems/32534376
|
2013-05-21T17:37:13Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.882961
| 153
|
Dragons are usually shown in modern times with a body like a huge lizard, or a snake with two pairs of lizard-type legs, and able to emit fire from their mouths. The European dragon has bat-type wings growing from its back. A dragon-like creature with no front legs is known as a wyvern. Following discovery of how pterosaurs walked on the ground, some dragons have been portrayed without front legs and using the wings as front legs pterosaur-fashion when on the ground.
Although dragons occur in many legends around the world, different cultures have varying stories about monsters that have been grouped together under the dragon label. Some dragons are said to breathe fire or to be poisonous. They are commonly portrayed as serpentine or reptilian, hatching from eggs and possessing typically scaly or feathered bodies. They are sometimes portrayed as having especially large eyes or watching treasure very diligently, a feature that is the origin of the word dragon (Greek drake
|
<urn:uuid:1999f450-7c86-45b0-95f3-f469d2228955>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.zedge.net/group/The_Dragon_Lords/
|
2013-05-24T08:44:53Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.970061
| 199
|
Beloved Prophet Muhammad, may God send His praises upon him, was born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia circa 570 C.E. He is an example for all of humanity. He was a remarkable man at all times. He excelled in all walks of life by being a prophet, ruler, philosopher, orator, soldier, husband, friend, father, uncle, nephew, and a grandfather. He was a man of love, patience, courage, wisdom, generosity, intelligence and magnitude who inspired millions of lives throughout the world.
God says in the Quran that he was sent as a mercy for the people of the world.
“We sent thee not save as a mercy for the peoples.” (Quran 21:107)
His Prophetic Mission began at the age of forty, circa 610 C.E., and continued until 632 C.E. From the path of ignorance, mankind was lead to the straight path and was blessed with the guidance of God.
Shortly before his death, Prophet Muhammad delivered a sermon during the Hajj, which came to be known as his “Final Sermon”. This final sermon was not only a reminder to his followers, but also an important admonition. The final sermon confirms the end of his Prophetic Mission.
Year 10 A.H. of the Islamic Calendar is considered to be one of the most significant years for three reasons. Firstly, this was the year when the Prophet delivered his Last Sermon during his farewell pilgrimage to Mecca. Secondly, this was the year where number of deputations came to the Prophet to announce their Islam as well as their tribes. Thirdly, it was the golden period of Islam when multitudes of people embraced the faith by accepting the message of the Prophet.
Prophet Muhammad undertook his farewell pilgrimage in the year 10 A.H. His farewell pilgrimage to Mecca is one of the most significant historical events in the minds of Muslims, for it was the first and last pilgrimage made by Prophet Muhammad, as well as being the model for performing the fifth pillar of Islam, the Hajj.
Prophet Muhammad’s final sermon was delivered during the Hajj of the year 632 C.E., the ninth day of Dhul Hijjah, the 12th month of the lunar year, at Arafat, the most blessed day of the year. There were countless Muslims present with the Prophet during his last pilgrimage when he delivered his Last Sermon.
The Final Sermon
After praising, and thanking God, the Prophet, may God send His praises upon him said:
“O People, lend me an attentive ear, for I know not whether after this year, I shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore, listen to what I am saying to you very carefully and take these words to those who could not be present here today.
O People, just as you regard this month, this day, this city as Sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust. Return the goods entrusted to you to their rightful owners. Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you. Remember that you will indeed meet your Lord, and that He will indeed reckon your deeds. God has forbidden you to take usury (interest), therefore all interest obligation shall henceforth be waived. Your capital, however, is yours to keep. You will neither inflict nor suffer any inequity. God has Judged that there shall be no interest, and that all the interest due to Abbas ibn Abd’al Muttalib shall henceforth be waived...
Beware of Satan, for the safety of your religion. He has lost all hope that he will ever be able to lead you astray in big things, so beware of following him in small things.
O People, it is true that you have certain rights with regard to your women, but they also have rights over you. Remember that you have taken them as your wives only under a trust from God and with His permission. If they abide by your right then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed in kindness. Do treat your women well and be kind to them for they are your partners and committed helpers. And it is your right that they do not make friends with any one of whom you do not approve, as well as never to be unchaste.
O People, listen to me in earnest, worship God, perform your five daily prayers, fast during the month of Ramadan, and offer Zakat. Perform Hajj if you have the means.
All mankind is from Adam and Eve. An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor does a non-Arab have any superiority over an Arab; white has no superiority over black, nor does a black have any superiority over white; [none have superiority over another] except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves.
Remember, one day you will appear before God and answer for your deeds. So beware, do not stray from the path of righteousness after I am gone.
O People, no prophet or apostle will come after me, and no new faith will be born. Reason well, therefore, O people, and understand words which I convey to you. I leave behind me two things, the Quran and my example, the Sunnah, and if you follow these you will never go astray.
All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and it may be that the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me directly. Be my witness, O God, that I have conveyed your message to your people.”
Thus the beloved Prophet completed his Final Sermon, and upon it, near the summit of Arafat, the revelation came down:
“…This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My Grace upon you, and have chosen Islam for you as your religion…” (Quran 5:3)
Even today the Last Sermon of Prophet Muhammad is passed to every Muslim in every corner of the word through all possible means of communication. Muslims are reminded about it in mosques and in lectures. Indeed the meanings found in this sermon are indeed astounding, touching upon some of the most important rights God has over humanity, and humanity has over each other. Though the Prophet’s soul has left this world, his words are still living in our hearts.
|
<urn:uuid:ed834a37-ee88-403d-bec6-18fddfaffbaf>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.islamhinduism.com/prophet-muhammad/109-prophet-muhammads-last-sermon
|
2013-06-19T12:53:50Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.974703
| 1,353
|
Native American sovereignty has changed as a result of U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Chief Justice John Marshall in three seminal decisions laid the foundations for the abrogation of Native American sovereignty. In Johnson v. McIntosh (1823), the sovereignty and independence of Native American nations was "diminished." In Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831), the Supreme Court described Native Americans as "domestic dependent nations" that were under the protection of the U.S. government. Furthermore, Native Americans lost the right to interact in international relations but kept their internal sovereignty. In Worcester v. Georgia (1832), the Supreme Court held that the Cherokee possessed self-government, even though it was dependent on the United States. These three cases, known collectively as the Marshall Trilogy, have defined the basic construct of Native American sovereignty, and subsequent cases have limited tribal sovereignty.
The cases that have had a direct effect upon Native American sovereignty include Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe (1978), in which the Court denied that a tribal court has criminal jurisdiction over a non-Native American on a reservation. This was one of the most destructive erosions of tribal sovereignty. In Nevada v. Hicks (2001), the Supreme Court ruled that a tribal court lacked jurisdiction and authority to hear a civil lawsuit against state officials. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor took the view that the unanimous decision of the Court undermined the right of tribal authority to make and be governed by its own laws.
However, contemporary sovereignty of tribal governments includes the authority to define their own citizenship, and to tax, license, and regulate lands and resources. Criminal and civil laws can be established, to be ruled upon by tribal courts. Tribal government can be developed, structured, and controlled. Additionally, Native American nations have sovereign immunity: inherent sovereignty that predates the U.S. Constitution, general exclusion of state law, and extraconstitutional tribal powers (that is, the U.S. Constitution does not bind or restrict tribes). A "trust relationship" also exists, based on treaties with the federal government, which protects land, assets, and treaty rights. Additionally, tribal governments are responsible for a plethora of governmental activities, which include education, health, housing, social services, court services, and natural resources. Intertwined here is the authority of tribes to protect and preserve their culture, heritage, language, history, and traditions.
To Native Americans, sovereignty is a constantly evolving concept that is defined by the U.S. Supreme Court—the federal government, which continues to have the right to extinguish any aspect of tribal sovereignty—and, more importantly, by Native American nations who can directly influence Congress to protect their sovereignty. Many tribes describe themselves as sovereign nations because they assert that the U.S. government has never conquered them. Native American nations are defending their sovereign right to land, water, and hunting rights through treaties and are advancing their claims through the United Nations and in the international arena.
Dewi I. Ball
Pommersheim, Frank. Braid of Feathers: American Indian Law and Contemporary Tribal Life. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995; Anderson, Terry L. Sovereign Nations or Reservations? An Economic History of American Indians. San Francisco: Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, 1995; Wilkins, David E., and K. Tsianina Lomawaima. Uneven Ground: American Indian Sovereignty and Federal Law. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001.
|
<urn:uuid:aeb4c8ff-b604-4083-9568-281e3be7836b>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.historyandtheheadlines.abc-clio.com/ContentPages/ContentPage.aspx?entryId=1678727¤tSection=1678598&productid=43
|
2013-05-23T18:32:07Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.939
| 713
|
The Convection layer makes up the final ~15% of the Sun's radius. The temperature gradient is extremely steep dropping the temperature from 2,000,000 K (~3,600,000 F) to 6,000 K (~10,000 F). Plasma particles closer to the radiative zone are hotter and rise to the surface while cooler particles fall back inward resulting in convection currents. By themselves the particles are still too hot and dense to be expelled from the sun due to gravitational forces. The thermal columns of convection action create granulations on the surface of the sun and create the unique look of the Photosphere.
The Photosphere is the visible surface of the sun with a temperature around 6,000 K and produces most of the visible white light. The photoshpere has darker and lighter regions that pothole the suns surface. These regions are result for the hotter (light regions) plasma rising up from the convection currents and cooler (darker regions) plasma falling back towards the sun's core. This constantly changing convection pattern is known as the solar granulation pattern and produces strong magnetic fields. Above the photoshpere is the Chromosphere.
The Chromosphere is the beginning of the suns atmosphere and is hotter then the photosphere with temperatures rising up to 20,000 K (~35,500 F). Its name is the result of the reddish appearance that it gives off and requires special Hydrogen-Alpha filters to observe except during a full solar eclipse. For many years it was unclear why the chromosphere was hotter then the photosphere. With the help of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and the Transition Region And Coronal Explorer (TRACE), solar physicists have identified patches of magnetic fields covering the surface of the sun and it is believed that these magnetic fields play a major role in the higher temperatures. There are still a lot of unknowns and disagreements among physicist about this increase in temperature which extends beyond the chromosphere and into the Corona.
The Corona is millions of time less bright then the photosphere but reaches temperatures of 2,000,000 F. Like the chromosphere it can only be observed with the naked eye during a total eclipse of the sun. Special instruments called Coronagraph are required to view the corona any other time. A coronagraph artificially blocks the disk of the sun much like an eclipse making observation possible. The corona is divided into two regions. The inner corona extends for millions of kilometers into space and is what we can see with special instrumentation or a total eclipse of the sun. The outer region is known as Solar Winds and it extends beyond the Earth. The solar winds change based on the suns activity and have an impact on our planet.
|
<urn:uuid:595eccf3-4b1a-40ca-911d-fe8ec62cad78>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.hapb.net/Solar/solar.html
|
2013-05-24T23:00:45Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.914328
| 561
|
Global warming has propelled Earth's climate from one of its coldest decades since the last ice age to one of its hottest -- in just one century.
A heat spike like this has never happened before, at least not in the last 11,300 years, said climatologist Shaun Marcott, who worked on a new study on global temperatures going back that far.
"If any period in time had a sustained temperature change similar to what we have today, we would have certainly seen that in our record," he said. It is a good indicator of just how fast man-made climate change has progressed.
A century is a very short period of time for such a spike.
It's supposed to be cold
The Earth was very cold at the turn of the 20th century. The decade from 1900 to 1909 was colder than 95 percent of the last 11,300 years, the study found.
Fast forward to the turn of the 21st century, and the opposite occurs. Between 2000 and 2009, it was hotter than about 75 percent of the last 11,300 years.
If not for man-made influences, the Earth would be in a very cold phase right now and getting even colder, according the joint study by Oregon State University and Harvard University. Marcott was the lead author of the report on its results.
To boot, the range of temperatures from cold to hot produced since the industrial revolution began are about the same as the 11,000 years before it, said Candace Major from the National Science Foundation, "but this change has happened a lot more quickly."
Far from natural warming
|
<urn:uuid:c9618203-b322-4b6c-9f31-8ba4428804b0>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.wptz.com/news/national/Global-warming-is-epic-says-long-term-study/-/8869978/19232592/-/gsxoo2/-/index.html
|
2013-06-19T12:48:42Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.977723
| 327
|
|Matt Lewis||Department of Pathology
University of Liverpool
This method uses a proof-reading polymerase to read all the way around a plasmid and thus incorporate the primer as the new (mutant) sequence. Only a few (say 12) PCR cycles are performed on a relatively large amount of plasmid template to minimise the chance of expanding PCR sequence errors.
Designing the primers
You need two primers, complementary to each other, containing the new (mutant)
sequence flanked by 20 bases on each side. For example, suppose you have the following sequence
in some gene in some plasmid:
And you want to change it to:
One primer will be:
and the other primer will be the exact complement:
In the PCR reaction most of these primers will be annealing to each other (which is one reason to avoid normal Taq, which would extend the 5' ends of these primer dimers) whilst a few will be annealing to your target sequence with a small mismatch in the middle. The primers must be FPLC, HPSF or PAGE gel purified (to avoid annoying n-minus-1 primers). Contrary to popular opinion there is no need to phosphorylate the 5' ends.
Set up a PCR reaction like this one, using a proof-reading polymerase such as Pfu polymerase.
The Pfu polymerase contains a 3'-5' exonuclease and it will start to chew up single-stranded DNA (the primers) from the 3' end making them shorter and less specific. Therefore assemble the reaction on ice and only add the enzyme last thing. Keep on ice until you put it into the PCR machine, already pre-heated to 94°C.
The extension temperature is 68°C to minimize 'breathing' of the 5' end of primer. Then, when the polymerase has read all the way around the plasmid it is less likely to displace the primer and incorporate the 'old' sequence from the plasmid. The extension time is 2 minutes per kb of plasmid.
Cool the PCR reaction to room temperature and add 1 µl of restiction enzyme DpnI.
Incubate at 37°C for 1 hour.
DpnI is a 4-cutter which only cuts dam methylated DNA. The parental plasmid DNA will be cut to pieces whilst the nascent PCR DNA is left intact. All routine E.coli strains have an intact dam methylase system. Check in the back of the NEB catalogue if unsure.
Transform 5 µl and 45 µl of the reaction into competent E.coli.
There is no need to carry out a ligation before the transformation. The PCR product is a 'nicked' circle with the nicks in opposite strands displaced by 42 bp. This is identical to a classical de-phosphorylated vector plus insert transformation (with a 42 bp insert).
Miniprep some colonies, check that they are the expected size and screen two of them by sequencing.
I've done this twice and each time both colonies were the correct thing. I then subclone the gene out of the plasmid back into the vector in the classical way to avoid sequencing the whole vector for any PCR errors.
|No responsibility is assumed by methodbook.net for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. It is the users responsibility to ensure that all procedures are carried out according to appropriate Health and Safety requirements.|
|
<urn:uuid:fb0317a7-31d1-4204-9914-39e173869191>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.methodbook.net/pcr/pcrmut.html
|
2013-05-19T19:38:04Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698017611/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095337-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.887823
| 767
|
Photograph, Beautiful Fatima
Photography was critical to imperialism. The French army (and the British army in India) employed the camera’s lens to chronicle military exploits, first in Algeria during the 1850s, and later in Tunisia and Morocco. With advances in photographic technology, portrait studios were established in Europe and in European empires. Most studio photography in this period produced family portraits that were staged and arranged by the photographer. However, as the demand for images of non-Western exotic peoples, particularly of women, swelled in Europe and elsewhere, postcards illustrated with posed studio photographs were produced by the tens of thousands.
By the late nineteenth century in Algeria and elsewhere, contrived photographic images of the “Arab woman” or “la Mauresque” [The Moorish woman]who was provocatively presented either covered or uncoveredwere widely produced. Many were done in studios in Algiers (or in France or Europe) and employed the same stage “props”—water pipes, oriental carpets, lavish “traditional” costumes, and allegedly “native” women and men. Often, however, the people posing were not even North African. This image of “Beautiful Fatima” was produced in a studio in Algiers and used as a postcard sent home by travelers or tourists to Algeria. This particular pose does not seem especially offensive, although the languid, fey pose assumed by the woman suggests indolence as well as sexual availability. Other postcards, however, were sexually suggestive or explicitly racist, showing men and women—supposedly Algerian—in a demeaning manner. Visually representing “the” Arab or Muslim or Algerian woman in strange, exotic, or erotic ways served to distance the colonized from modern, enlightened, Western societies, and thus to justify their subjugation under the colonial regime. Thus, images and representations of various kinds have always served imperial aims.
Source: “Beautiful Fatima.” Late 19th century photograph. Algiers. The Getty Research Institute.
|
<urn:uuid:118ed295-ac04-4e72-a740-ba9607ce58d3>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://chnm.gmu.edu/wwh/modules/lesson9/lesson9.php?menu=1&s=5
|
2013-06-19T14:37:56Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.97303
| 435
|
The simple design of the ZX
computers made them easy machines to pirate. Within only a
few years of the launch of the ZX81 and ZX Spectrum, a huge
number of illegal clones had been produced around the world.
The map below shows the countries in which cloned Sinclair
computers were produced:
(Based on National Geographic Society mapping)
There were three clusters of
clone-producing countries, each market having developed for
rather different reasons.
Sinclair computers were not
officially distributed in South America, but were available
as expensive "grey imports". However, weak intellectual
property laws allowed Brazilian and Argentinian manufacturers
to produce near-identical copies of the Timex and Sinclair machines.
Hong Kong / China
Sinclair computers were available
officially in Japan, via a distribution agreement with Mitsui
(which specialised in importing British goods into Asia, such
as Jaguar cars and Burberry raincoats). However, as in South
America, a lack of official distribution and weak IP laws
allowed local manufacturers in Hong Kong to produce clones
of Sinclair products. Although they were successful, they
were soon displaced by a wave of cheap Japanese and Korean
home computers based on the now-defunct MSX standard.
far the biggest numbers of clones of Sinclair computers were
produced in countries behind the Iron Curtain, particularly
in the Soviet Union. More types were produced in the USSR
than in the rest of the world combined, but Sinclair clones
also appeared in Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary
During the Cold War, high technology
exports to the communist bloc were strictly controlled by
Western countries, out of fear that Western technology would
be used or reverse-engineered for military purposes. This
made it very difficult and expensive to obtain Sinclair machines
legitimately. In the USSR, at a time when the average monthly
income was just 250 roubles a month, a Spectrum cost 40,000
roubles - equivalent to 13 years' wages. Despite this or perhaps
even because of this, a technologically literate population
wanted access to home computers. A near-complete lack of IP
laws meant that clones proliferated rapidly.
Unlike the more-or-less straight
copies produced in South America and Hong Kong, eastern European
Sinclair clones were often heavily re-engineered. Many included
features which Western Sinclair owners would have given their
back teeth for, such as more memory, faster processors, disk
drives - even hard disks - and proper full-size keyboards.
Remarkably, even though the
Spectrum effectively died out in the West in the early 1990s,
Spectrum clones are still being made in eastern Europe and
a thriving user community is still producing software.
Legal licensed variants of
the Sinclair computers were also produced in a number of countries.
Most obviously, Timex
in the United States produced a number of machines based on
(or rebadged versions of) Sinclair's UK computers. In Britain,
Miles Gordon Technologies produced the Spectrum-compatible
following Amstrad's 1986 buyout of Sinclair. The only other
place in Europe where legal Spectrum clones were produced
was Spain, where Sinclair's partner company, Investronica,
produced a version of the Spectrum+ and Spectrum 128. Semi-legal
variants were produced in Portugal by, ironically, Timex:
the company's local subsidiary survived the US parent's collapse
and produced a number of unauthorised "Timex Computer"
clones of the Timex/Sinclair machines.
The Sinclair QL reappeared
in radically altered form as the ICL One
Per Desk (also marketed as the British Telecom
Merlin Tonto and Australian Telecom Computerphone), an innovative
all-in-one desktop business communications system. After Amstrad
dropped the QL from the Sinclair range, the machine was redeveloped
as the CST Thor. The QL later saw another redevelopment in
the shape of the Q40, produced by Peter Graf.
© Chris Owen 1994-2003
|
<urn:uuid:742fe72e-a357-4bc2-b6c3-28416a9cf737>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.nvg.ntnu.no/sinclair/computers/clones/clones.htm
|
2013-05-18T18:51:01Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382705/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.945923
| 858
|
WASHINGTON — Here are some questions and answers about the science of swine flu — the H1N1 virus that's sweeping the world:
Q. What exactly is a virus?
A. It's a tiny packet of only eight genes wrapped in a cloak of proteins, much smaller than a bacterium. Unlike bacteria, a virus is only half alive. It can't eat or reproduce on its own, but must take over the genetic machinery of a living cell. Most viruses are harmless; some are useful, but others, such as the flu virus, can be deadly.
Q. What makes this swine flu virus special?
A. It's a novel combination of bird, pig and human viral genes never before found in the U.S. or elsewhere, so people have no immunity to it. It's a descendant of the H1N1 virus that killed tens of millions of people worldwide in the pandemic of 1918-1919, mixed in with recent strains of swine and bird flu viruses. The 1918 virus originated in birds and then jumped to humans. This year's virus apparently jumped from a pig to a 5-year-old boy in Veracruz, Mexico, who passed it on to other humans.
Q. What does H1N1 stand for?
A. It's the initials of two sugar proteins (their scientific names are hemagglutinin and neuramidinase) that sit on the surface of the virus and do its dirty work. There are 16 types of the H protein, numbered H1 through H16, and 9 types of the N protein, numbered N1 through N9. That makes 144 possible combinations of the virus, a constantly changing challenge for prevention or treatment. A new combination, H2N2, cause a brief swine flu epidemic in 1957. An H3N2 strain was the source of another epidemic in 1968. The bird flu virus that is began in Southeast Asia a decade ago and has spread throughout the Old World is an H5N1 combination.
Q. How does the H protein work?
A. The H protein looks like a little spike that fits into a notch, called a receptor, on the outside of an animal or human cell and lets the virus enter. Once inside, the virus hijacks the DNA in the cell's nucleus and uses it to make copies of itself.
Q. What does the N protein do?
A. After infection, it opens a passage in the cell wall and releases the new baby viruses, which can now invade other cells. Without the N protein, infection would be limited to the first cell, rarely enough to cause disease.
Q. How do medicines such as Tamiflu and Relenza work?
A. They block the action of the N protein so the virus can't spread. They're not vaccines to prevent an infection, but drugs to limit its impact. They should be taken as soon as possible since the virus reproduces most rapidly between 24 and 72 hours after illness begins.
Q. How does a new virus develop?
A. When the genes that govern the H and N proteins reproduce, random changes — mutations — can occur in their DNA. The changes gradually accumulate, ultimately producing a virus that may be more lethal or may penetrate a target cell more easily. Another possibility is gene-swapping. This can happen when a cell is infected by viruses from different creatures, say a chicken and a pig. The cell becomes a "mixing bowl,'' whipping up a new virus containing some chicken genes and some pig genes. In the new strain of H1N1 virus, pieces of human, bird and pig genes are all scrambled up.
Q. How does this H1N1 virus differ from the H1N1 that caused the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918-1919?
A. That virus developed various changes over the years, so it's similar but not identical to its ancestor — like a grandson who resembles but also differs from his grandfather. So far, H1N1 is not as virulent as the previous strain, but that could change. The earlier pandemic began mildly in 1918, but returned in a devastating second wave six months later. Experts fear that could happen again. Hence they are rushing to develop a vaccine by this fall.
Q. How does H1N1 virus jump from animals to humans?
A. Usually the H protein on a pig or bird virus doesn't fit easily into the receptor of a human cell. So a person exposed to such a virus is unlikely to get infected. However, random changes may occur in the genes that control the shape of the H protein and allow the virus to pass through the cell wall. This gives rise to a new strain of H1N1 that's adapted to humans. Now the virus can pass from person to person, as is happening now. Contact with infected pigs or birds no longer is necessary.
Q. How does one person catch H1N1 from others?
A. The virus can be transmitted through the air — by a cough or a sneeze — or by a handshake or by touching an infected surface, such as a doorknob. The virus can live for up to two hours outside a cell. It can't be passed by eating pork.
Q. Why is this disease seem to be more deadly in Mexico than in the U.S. or other countries?
A. That may be an illusion. The first U.S. death has now occurred in Texas and more fatalities are expected. It's possible that many cases of mild disease in Mexico went undetected, making the mortality rate appear to be higher there than it does here. It's also possible that the virus strain in the U.S. differs slightly from the one in Mexico, making it less virulent.
Q. Why does H1N1 seem to attack healthy young adults more than sick and elderly people, who are most affected by the ordinary seasonal flu?
A. Young adults have a healthy immune system that launches a massive counterattack of antibodies against the flu virus. Unfortunately, the counterattack can cause an overwhelming inflammation that damages other organs, such as the lungs. Elderly people with weaker immune systems are less likely to suffer from such harmful inflammation. Older people who were exposed to earlier flu epidemics might also have some residual immunity in their systems.
MORE FROM MCCLATCHY
|
<urn:uuid:591537d9-4737-404b-864c-21c45094365c>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2009/04/29/67138/qa-the-facts-and-fiction-about.html
|
2013-05-19T02:53:22Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383160/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.965792
| 1,313
|
Teaching Math through Art was designed to be used by artistically inclined students as a supplement to a regular math textbook. Geared for students in grades 3 through 8, Teaching
Math through Art seeks to point out the connections between math and real life. Ms. Jeffus has compiled visual and kinesthetic activities on 22 mathematical topics because she believes children learn more by seeing and doing than they do by simply filling out workbook pages.
Teaching Math through Art covers measurement (including length, area, and volume), mathematical systems (including real numbers, whole numbers, integers, and fractions), geometry, telling time, money, and number theory (including primes, factors, and multiples). Because the text is designed to supplement a math textbook, parents or students may look through the Table of Contents and go directly to any topic of interest.
Ms. Jeffus points out that master artists have used mathematical principals for centuries. Much of the book centers on how math is useful or identifiable in art. For example, Teaching
Math through Art has activities to help the student learn fractions by drawing the face in proportion, recognize and understand the Fibonacci Sequence by looking for it in famous paintings, and learn about parallel lines by observing them in artwork and learning to draw them himself from a one-point perspective. But Teaching
Math through Art is not limited to using art to teach math; it also uses engineering, cooking, architecture, and other real-life connections to teach or reinforce concepts. Among other ideas, Ms. Jeffus suggests designing your own clock face to practice telling time, baking an angel food cake to understand fractions, learning about translations by looking for patterns on sports balls, and measuring household items with a ruler.
Teaching Math through Art is full of great illustrations and photos as well as high-quality reproductions of famous artwork. Although the printing is black and white, the reproductions are surprisingly crisp, clean, and pleasant to behold. Ms. Jeffus has also sprinkled throughout the text website suggestions to help the student further pursue various mathematical concepts. These websites are well chosen and provide even more opportunities for math practice from various approaches. Teaching
Math through Art can be easily modified for different ages.
Not every single entry in the book appealed to our family, and I had trouble understanding a few of the explanations or instructions. But because the book is set up with as a smorgasbord, it was easy to pick and choose what we needed. In fact, this book lends itself to being a servant to the homeschooling family; it will not try to master you!
Unschoolers, art-minded students, and kinesthetic learners would love this book. Art-minded parents would probably also love to play around with art a bit in their math lessons. Traditional textbook homeschoolers may find themselves dismayed by the somewhat cluttered organization of random topics. However, I think Teaching
Math through Art will be especially helpful to any student who is "stuck" on a particular topic. Sometimes simply trying a different approach to a mathematical concept will help a child understand it better.
Teaching Math through Art has been and will continue to be a wonderful addition to our homeschool. Because the text covers a wide range of mathematical concepts, I'm certain we will turn to this book several times over the next few years for hands-on help with math. Periodically, I like to do hands-on activities with the children to make certain they understand the "why" of math and not just the "how." This book provides hours of activities to help us do just that.
|
<urn:uuid:6626b380-e5b5-45bb-9901-7d5bcf3a4e73>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://thehomeschoolmagazine.com/Homeschool_Reviews/3337.php
|
2013-05-21T17:25:02Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.964487
| 731
|
This is the first 1,000 characters of 1930 words (7.72 pages) in the essay titled Voltaires Candide
The beginning of the 17th century marked many changes for Europe. These changes were both physical and philosophical in nature. Common citizens were tired of being abused, mistreated and most of all labeled as peasants and commoners by the aristocracy. They were fed up with the hypocrisy of the church and the abuse of power by its leaders in the name of God. One man stood tall above the rest. Francois Marie Arouet was born November 21, 1694 to a middle class family in Paris. At that time, Louis the XIV was king of France and the overwhelming majority lived in harsh conditions. The aristocracy of France ruled with an iron fist and poverty was widespread throughout the land. Francois attended the College Louis le Grand, where he got his Jesuit education. His deep-rooted satirical views were prevalent even as a child. After college, Francois worked as a secretary for the French Ambassador to Holland, but left that position to pur...
To view the complete essay NOW:
You can view download the complete version of this essay for only $12.00. This is the final price of the essay - there is no extra hidden or fees and no price per page charges. Your purchase is 100% secure. Click on the Paypal icon below and you will have the essay instantaneously.
|
<urn:uuid:dff46161-8719-49a4-9864-1a08f03c1a16>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.eduessays.com/Essays-w11034.htm
|
2013-05-18T05:26:11Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.973405
| 285
|
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has detected a very tenuous atmosphere known as an exosphere, infused with oxygen and carbon dioxide around Saturn's icy moon Rhea. This is the first time a spacecraft has directly captured molecules of an oxygen atmosphere - albeit a very thin one - at a world other than Earth.
The oxygen appears to arise when Saturn's magnetic field rotates over Rhea. Energetic particles trapped in the planet's magnetic field pepper the moon's water-ice surface. They cause chemical reactions that decompose the surface and release oxygen. The source of the carbon dioxide is less certain.
Oxygen at Rhea's surface is estimated to be about 5 trillion times less dense than what we have at Earth. But the new results show that surface decomposition could contribute abundant molecules of oxygen, leading to surface densities roughly 100 times greater than the exospheres of either Earth's moon or Mercury. The formation of oxygen and carbon dioxide could possibly drive complex chemistry on the surfaces of many icy bodies in the universe.
'The new results suggest that active, complex chemistry involving oxygen may be quite common throughout the solar system and even our universe,' said lead author Ben Teolis, a Cassini team scientist based at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. 'Such chemistry could be a prerequisite for life. All evidence from Cassini indicates that Rhea is too cold and devoid of the liquid water necessary for life as we know it.'
Releasing oxygen through surface irradiation could help generate conditions favourable for life at an icy body other than Rhea that has liquid water under the surface, Teolis said. If the oxygen and carbon dioxide from the surface could somehow get transported down to a sub-surface ocean, that would provide a much more hospitable environment for more complex compounds and life to form. Scientists are keen to investigate whether life on icy moons with an ocean is possible, though they have not yet detected it.
The tenuous atmosphere with oxygen and carbon dioxide makes Rhea, Saturn's second largest moon, unique in the Saturnian system. Titan has a thick nitrogen-methane atmosphere, but very little carbon dioxide and oxygen.
'Rhea is turning out to be much more interesting than we had imagined,' said Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 'The Cassini finding highlights the rich diversity of Saturn's moons and gives us clues on how they formed and evolved.'
Scientists had suspected Rhea could have a thin atmosphere with oxygen and carbon dioxide, based on remote observations of Jupiter's icy moons by NASA's Galileo spacecraft and Hubble Space Telescope. Other Cassini observations detected oxygen escaping from icy Saturn ring particles after ultraviolet bombardment. But Cassini was able to detect oxygen and carbon dioxide in the exosphere directly because of how close it flew to Rhea - 101 kilometres, or 63 miles - and its special suite of instruments.
In the new study, scientists combined data from Cassini's ion and neutral mass spectrometer and the Cassini plasma spectrometer during flybys on Nov. 26, 2005, Aug. 30, 2007, and March 2, 2010. The ion and neutral mass spectrometer 'tasted' peak densities of oxygen of around 50 billion molecules per cubic metre (1 billion molecules per cubic foot). It detected peak densities of carbon dioxide of around 20 billion molecules per cubic metre (about 600 million molecules per cubic foot).
The plasma spectrometer saw clear signatures of flowing streams of positive and negative ions, with masses that corresponded to ions of oxygen and carbon dioxide.
'How exactly the carbon dioxide is released is still a puzzle,' said co-author Geraint Jones, a Cassini team scientist based at University College London in the U.K. 'But with Cassini's diverse suite of instruments observing Rhea from afar, as well as sniffing the gas surrounding it, we hope to solve the puzzle.'
The carbon dioxide may be the result of 'dry ice' trapped from the primordial solar nebula, as is the case with comets, or it may be due to similar irradiation processes operating on the organic molecules trapped in the water ice of Rhea. The carbon dioxide could also come from carbon-rich materials deposited by tiny meteors that bombarded Rhea's surface.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The ion and neutral mass spectrometer team and the Cassini plasma spectrometer team are based at Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio.
|
<urn:uuid:a85d5a13-b71f-4537-9eae-fe7bb5e1289c>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://sciencecentric.com/news/10113011-thin-air-cassini-finds-ethereal-atmosphere-at-rhea.html
|
2013-06-20T02:08:35Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.91154
| 987
|
As people return to outdoor activities this spring, caution should be taken in areas of the country that are home to Loxosceles reclusa, also called the brown recluse spider. A new study from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital found that when patients present with acute anemia, but the cause is elusive, a brown recluse spider bite should be part of the differential diagnosis, at least in parts of the nation where the spider is regularly found.
In a recent issue of The Journal of Pediatrics, St. Jude hematologists reported on six previously healthy adolescents hospitalized for treatment of acute, symptomatic anemia. The illnesses were linked to red blood cell destruction known as hemolytic anemia that was eventually traced to brown recluse spider bites. All six patients fully recovered, but four needed blood transfusions and three spent time in the intensive care unit.
Only three of the six patients recalled recent spider bites, and Jenny McDade, D.O., an assistant member in the St. Jude Hematology department, said the other wounds were only found after head-to-toe skin checks. McDade, the study’s lead author, said one bite was hidden by a bra strap and initially went unnoticed.
“The bite is often painless, and it is frequently missed,” she said, which is one reason St. Jude investigators decided to review hospital records to gauge the scope of the problem.
Although most people bitten by brown recluse spiders do not seek medical attention, the researchers noted that the spiders’ venom triggers a widespread reaction in about 30 percent of children. Although the exact mechanism is not completely understood, the most common systemic reaction is hemolytic anemia. Less commonly, kidney failure and clotting problems develop. Children seem to be more likely than adults to develop systemic complications, especially anemia. In rare cases, the researchers reported the bite has been linked to multi-organ failure and death.
Several times a year, St. Jude hematologists are consulted regarding patients who develop sudden, unexplained hemolytic anemia. This study focused on patients hospitalized for severe anemia who required hematology consultation during a one-year period at a general children’s hospital near the St. Jude campus in Memphis, Tenn.
Determining the cause of acute anemia is important to ensure the appropriate treatment, McDade said. For example, steroids may be used to treat some types of anemia, but are unproven when the cause is a brown recluse bite. “In the United States, the standard of care for treatment of brown recluse bites is supportive care and treatment of the wound,” she said.
McDade said most Americans should not worry about this spider, which carries a violin-shaped mark on its head and a preference for a quiet life lived in dry wood piles, under rocks or in corners of dark closets or attics. The spiders are found in parts of the Midwest and southern United States and are a regional problem. Although brown recluse spider bites are not a widespread cause of anemia, McDade said the diagnosis should be considered in patients with unexplained anemia who live in areas that brown recluse spiders regard as home (Newswise).
|
<urn:uuid:33a8668d-8a3a-4d5e-a3b7-6d48cf14c45c>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.wellsphere.com/general-medicine-article/brown-recluse-spider-bite-can-cause-acute-anemia/1012096
|
2013-05-21T10:17:04Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.954765
| 667
|
May 23, 2012
There aren’t any sauropods in the Congo Basin. There’s not a scrap of evidence that long-necked, swamp-wallowing dinosaurs are hiding somewhere in the jungles of Africa, or anywhere else. And I say that as someone who was enthralled when I saw the puppet brontosaurs of 1985′s Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (see the clip above), arguably the best movie dinosaurs before Jurassic Park stomped along. After seeing that movie, I really, really wanted there to be living sauropods, but the evidence simply doesn’t exist.
Rumors that there might be an Apatosaurus-like dinosaur in the Congo Basin have circulated for years. Young earth creationists have been especially enamored with the idea, as they wrongly believe that finding a living, non-avian dinosaur will discredit evolutionary theory. (The existence of a living sauropod wouldn’t be any worse for evolutionary theory than the discovery of modern coelacanths. These archaic fish were thought to be extinct, but once living fish were discovered, they fell perfectly well within what scientists have understood about evolutionary patterns since Darwin’s day.)
Numerous expeditions have been launched in search of the legendary animal. None have come back with evidence that some Cretaceous holdover is hanging out in Lake Tele or anywhere else. You’d think that a population of huge, amphibious dinosaurs would leave plenty of tracks, scat and skeletal remains behind, but—surprise, surprise—apparently not. There is a collection of stories, fuzzy photos, audio recordings and supposed footprint casts, but none of this adds up to anything. The last of the sauropods died more than 65 million years ago. If they had survived beyond that time, we would have certainly picked up the trail of the survivors in the fossil record.
Even modern field ecology argues against the existence of large dinosaurs in the Congo Basin. Zoologists often conduct multiple searches for species that went extinct during recent history. Sometimes a few hold-outs turn up, and the search intensity is key here. In a study tracking the rediscovery of presumably extinct mammals, zoologists Diana Fisher and Simon Blomberg found that still-extant species were often found again after three to six searches were conducted. After that point, the likelihood of success plummets. Given that there have been over a dozen unsuccessful expeditions to the Congo Basin looking for sauropods—immense creatures that would leave plenty of evidence in the landscape if they existed—the conclusion is clear. There are no amphibious dinosaurs to find.
But the facts haven’t discouraged Stephen McCullah. A few months ago various news services reported that the wannabe biologist launched a Kickstarter page to fund a three-month expedition to the Congo Basin in hopes of capturing Mokele-mbembe, the name by which the mythical sauropod is often called. Sure, McCullah mentions that the trip’s goal will be “categorizing plant and animal species in the vastly unexplored Republic of the Congo,” but the focus of his pitch is clearly the search for a dinosaur that doesn’t exist. Not surprisingly, McCullah and his team don’t seem to have any formal qualifications to speak of. (McCullah’s bio says he studied biology at Missouri State University and UMKC, but that’s all.) Passion is great, but the Kickstarter page for the project gives no indication that he and his team are trained in field techniques or are approaching the trip with a scientific attitude. (See this video from Chicago’s Field Museum to see what responsible field biology really looks like.) It just seems like a kid’s bid for fame on someone else’s dime.
McCullah’s expedition recently hit its funding goal. It looks like the expedition is on, and rumor has it that the trip will be turned into another crummy basic cable documentary. If the program is anything like the MonsterQuest episode about Mokele-mbembe, it will be another hyped waste of time.
Throughout all this, many journalists have handled McCullah with kid gloves. The fact that someone says he intends to capture a living sauropod is apparently much more important to some media outlets than the fact that such a creature no longer exists. Some of the worst coverage has come from the Huffington Post, which, as science writer Seth Mnookin has commented, has featured plenty of bad science and facile reasoning. Lee Speigel, a journalist focused on UFO-related stories and a self-professed “truth seeker,” concluded his first article about McCullah’s expedition with: “One thing’s for certain: [McCullah] will have to bring enough equipment. Capturing a living dinosaur may require some very big nets.”
Speigel’s follow-up was even more credulous. After acknowledging that paleontologists have not found any indication of modern or recent sauropods, Speigel cites an ambiguous 5,000-year-old pictograph found in the Amazon as evidence that humans and non-avian dinosaurs overlapped in time. Speigel omits the fact that the two “researchers” who make the grand claims about the ancient art—Vance Nelson and Harry Nibourg—are creationists who have a strong bias in favor of modern dinosaurs because of their fundamentalist beliefs. In another evidence-free portion of the piece, Speigel writes, “Many previous expeditions have attempted to follow up on these reports [of living sauropods] by tracking the dangerous, swampy Likouala region of Congo, which has a climate not much changed since dinosaurs roamed in large numbers millions of years ago.” Never mind that the continents have shifted and the climate has in fact fluctuated widely over the past 66 million years—Speigel is setting up the Congo Basin as a pristine lost world where Cretaceous monsters still lurk.
The coda to the article is even better. Speigel reported that McCullah’s team planned to bring firearms on the trip, with the implication that expedition members might slay any dinosaur they find. McCullah wrote back: “Killing a creature like mokele-mbembe is really not an option as far as the team is concerned. If it were a life-threatening situation, that could change, but our plan for a confrontation with a mokele-like creature as of now is to chemically subdue the animal.” The plan is to bring “mokele-mbembe back alive,” McCullah said. Clearly he hasn’t seen 1925′s Lost World—sauropods and cities don’t mix. But it’s all absolutely absurd. McCullah’s team is carefully planning to use firearms on an imaginary animal. You can’t tranquilize a dinosaur that doesn’t exist.
Reports like Speigels are why I wish ill-informed journalists would just leave dinosaurs alone. It’s so easy to quickly and foolishly regurgitate fantastic claims, and when reality isn’t as wonderful as the claims being made, some writers aren’t above just making stuff up as they see fit. In this case, McCullah’s expedition was really a non-story. “Wannabe-adventurer seeks dinosaur that doesn’t exist” isn’t much of a headline. Some writers bought into fantasy to sell the story, leaving all those inconvenient facts behind.
Sign up for our free email newsletter and receive the best stories from Smithsonian.com each week.
|
<urn:uuid:40dfd0fe-ea29-4556-b079-57f31a30e00b>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2012/05/a-dinosaur-expedition-doomed-from-the-start/?onsite_source=relatedarticles&onsite_medium=internallink&onsite_campaign=SmithMag&onsite_content=A%20Dinosaur%20Expedition%20Doomed%20From%20the%20Start
|
2013-05-19T18:59:02Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.957546
| 1,611
|
What is a computer virus?
Sometimes the term "virus" is misused. Some people tend to use the word "virus" to refer to anything undesirable that can happen to a computer, but this is not completely accurate. Viruses are short programs that are not accidental. Someone, somewhere, has purposely designed them, usually with malicious intent. It is usually copied and passed along many times before it reveals its existence. "A virus is any program that reproduces itself by using the resources of your computer without your knowledge or consent."
A virus just copies itself and spreads. A virus cannot move by itself, it must attach itself to another program. Viruses may be written to multiply, to damage other programs, or to alter data.
There are many different kinds of viruses. Viruses come in a wide variety. They are often small and well hidden, therefore difficult to find. Some are slow while others are fast. Some take days, weeks, months or years before they start damaging a computer. They may be benign and result only in amusement or mere annoyance, or they can be malignant and malicious.
How does a virus work?
The first step of a virus is to initialize the computer. It remains hidden and tries to gain control from the operating system. The next step is for the virus to set up virus processing and modifies the system to support virus control. Then the virus wants to find available hosts. Its job is to seek new receptive hosts and determine if they are available for infection. They want to infect as many systems as possible. They infect the system by attaching themselves to the host. They moderate their infection activities to reduce the risk of being found. This is when a virus officially begins its destruction of a system. A virus wants to determine if it is time to activate. This depends on a number of things. It needs to know the preset number of infections, the elapse time in the system, the preset data or time, and other external events which have occurred. Depending on these factors the virus determines if it should be destructive at this time or if it should wait. At the end the computer is usually unaware of the infection.
Basically all a virus does is live in a host program. Each time the host program is executed, so is the virus. When the virus is executed, it seeks at least one other program to which it can copy itself. This is why a virus is constantly spreading.
Here are some very helpful links to aid you in virus protection on your home, work,
school computer systems.
You can purchase the software from the following links as well as upgrade to new versions from exsisting version you may already own. Just Click the pictures to go to there web sites.
|
<urn:uuid:993f6525-1c3a-423a-8078-c6246766be17>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://library.thinkquest.org/26918/virus.htm
|
2013-06-20T08:50:49Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.966903
| 558
|
|History of China|
|3 Sovereigns and 5 Emperors|
|Xia Dynasty 2100–1600 BC|
|Shang Dynasty 1600–1046 BC|
|Zhou Dynasty 1045–256 BC|
|Spring and Autumn period|
|Warring States period|
|Qin Dynasty 221 BC–206 BC|
|Han Dynasty 206 BC–220 AD|
|Three Kingdoms 220–280|
|Wei, Shu and Wu|
|Jin Dynasty 265–420|
|Western Jin||16 Kingdoms
|Southern and Northern Dynasties
|Sui Dynasty 581–618|
|Tang Dynasty 618–907|
|(Second Zhou 690–705)|
|5 Dynasties and
|Northern Song||W. Xia|
|Yuan Dynasty 1271–1368|
|Ming Dynasty 1368–1644|
|Qing Dynasty 1644–1911|
|Republic of China 1912–1949|
|Three Kingdoms period|
The Three Kingdoms (AD 220–280) were Wei (魏), Shu (蜀), and Wu (吳). The Three Kingdoms period, part of the Six Dynasties period, followed the loss of de facto power of the Han Dynasty emperors. In a strict academic sense, it refers to the period between the foundation of the state of Wei in 220 AD and the conquest of the state of Wu by the Jin Dynasty in 280.
To further distinguish the three states from other historical Chinese states of the same name, historians have added a relevant character: Wei is also known as Cao Wei (曹魏), Shu is also known as Shu Han (蜀漢), and Wu is also known as Eastern Wu (東吳). The term "Three Kingdoms" itself is something of a mistranslation, since each state was eventually headed not by a king, but by an emperor who claimed legitimate succession from the Han Dynasty. Nevertheless, the term "Three Kingdoms" has become standard among sinologists.
The earlier, "unofficial" part of the period, from 184 to 220, was marked by chaotic infighting between warlords in various parts of China. The middle part of the period, from 220 and 263, was marked by a more militarily stable arrangement between three rival states, Wei, Shu, and Wu. The later part of this period was marked by the collapse of the tripartite situation: first the conquest of Shu by Wei (263), then the overthrow of Wei by the Jin Dynasty (265), and the destruction of Wu by Jin (280).
Although relatively short, this historical period has been greatly romanticised in the cultures of China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. It has been celebrated and popularised in operas, folk stories, novels and in more recent times, films, television, and video games. The best known of these is Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a Ming Dynasty historical novel based on events in the Three Kingdoms period. The authoritative historical record of the era is Chen Shou's Records of the Three Kingdoms, along with Pei Songzhi's later annotations of the text.
The Three Kingdoms period was one of the bloodiest in Chinese history. A population census during the late Eastern Han Dynasty reported a population of approximately 50 million, while a population census during the early Western Jin Dynasty reported a population of approximately 16 million.
Technology advanced significantly during this period. Shu chancellor Zhuge Liang invented the wooden ox, suggested to be an early form of the wheelbarrow, and improved on the repeating crossbow. Wei mechanical engineer Ma Jun is considered by many to be the equal of his predecessor Zhang Heng. He invented a hydraulic-powered, mechanical puppet theatre designed for Emperor Ming of Wei, square-pallet chain pumps for irrigation of gardens in Luoyang, and the ingenious design of the South Pointing Chariot, a non-magnetic directional compass operated by differential gears.
There is no set time period for the era, and many arbitrary definitions are given. The strictest rule of dating would be to deem the era to be from the point where all three states coexisted as independent states (229, with the foundation of Eastern Wu) up until the downfall of the Shu-Han Kingdom (at which point, only two kingdoms continued to exist rather than three.) Mao Zonggang, a commentator on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, mentions in his commentary on Chapter 120 of the novel that:
- "The three kingdoms formed when the Han royal house declined. The Han royal house declined when the eunuchs abused the sovereign and officials subverted the government.").
In doing so, he suggests that the historiography of the Three Kingdoms should begin at the rise of the Ten Eunuchs to power. He further argues that the Romance of the Three Kingdoms defines the end of the era as 280, the downfall of Wu, justifying:
- "As the novel focuses on Han, it could have ended with the fall of Han. But Wei usurped Han. To end the tale before Han's enemy had itself met its fate would be to leave the reader unsatisfied. The novel could have ended with the fall of Wei, but Han's ally was Wu. To end the tale before Han's ally had fallen would be to leave the reader with an incomplete picture. So the tale had to end with the fall of Wu."
Many Chinese historians have different views about the starting point of the Three Kingdoms period during the final years of the Han dynasty, such as the Yellow Turban Rebellion in 184; the year after the beginning of the rebellion, 185; Dong Zhuo deposing and murdering Emperor Shao of Han and establishing Emperor Xian of Han in 189; Dong Zhuo sacking Luoyang and moving the capital to Chang'an in 190; or Cao Cao placing the emperor under his control in Xuchang in 196.
Yellow Turban Rebellion
The power of the Eastern Han Dynasty went into depression and steadily declined after the reign of Emperor He from a variety of political and economic problems. A series of Han emperors ascended the throne while still youths, and de facto imperial power often rested with the emperors' older relatives. As these relatives occasionally were loath to give up their influence, emperors would, upon reaching maturity, be forced to rely on political alliances with senior officials and eunuchs to achieve control of the government. Political posturing and infighting between imperial relatives and eunuch officials was a constant problem in Chinese government at the time. During the reigns of Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling, leading officials' dissatisfaction with the eunuchs' usurpations of power reached a peak, and many began to openly protest against them. The first and second protests met with failure, and the court eunuchs persuaded the emperor to execute many of the protesting scholars. Some local rulers seized the opportunity to exert despotic control over their lands and citizens, since many feared to speak out in the oppressive political climate. Emperors Huan and Ling's reigns were recorded as particularly dark periods of Han Dynasty rule. In addition to political oppression and mismanagement, China experienced a number of natural disasters during this period, and local rebellions sprung up throughout the country.
In the third month of 184, Zhang Jiao, leader of the Way of Supreme Peace, a Taoist movement, along with his two brothers Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao, led the movement's followers in a rebellion against the government that was called the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Their movement quickly attracted followers and soon numbered several hundred thousands and received support from many parts of China. They had 36 bases throughout China, with large bases having 10,000 or more followers and minor bases having 6,000 to 7,000, similar to Han armies. Their motto was:
Emperor Ling dispatched generals Huangfu Song, Lu Zhi, and Zhu Jun to lead the Han armies against the rebels, and decreed that local governments had to supply soldiers to assist in their efforts. It is at this point that the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms begins its narrative. The Yellow Turbans were ultimately defeated and its surviving followers dispersed throughout China, but due to the turbulent situation throughout the empire, many were able to survive as bandits in mountainous areas, thus continuing their ability to contribute to the turmoil of the era.
With the widespread increase in bandits across the Chinese nation, the Han army had no way to repel each and every raiding party. In 188, Emperor Ling accepted a memorial from Yi Province[d] governor Liu Yan suggesting he grant direct administrative power over feudal provinces and direct command of regional military to local governors, as well promoting them in rank and filling such positions with members of the Liu family or court officials. This move made provinces (zhou) official administrative units, and although they had power to combat rebellions, the later intra-government chaos allowed these local governors to easily rule independently of the central government. Soon after this move, Liu Yan severed all of his region's ties to the Han imperial court, and several other areas followed suit.
Dong Zhuo in power
In the same year, Emperor Ling died, and another struggle began between the court eunuchs for control of the imperial family. Court eunuch Jian Shuo planned to kill General-in-Chief He Jin, a relative of the imperial family, and to replace the crown prince Liu Bian with his younger brother Liu Xie, the Prince of Chenliu (in present-day Kaifeng), though his plan was unsuccessful. Liu Bian took the Han throne as Emperor Shao, and He Jin plotted with warlord Yuan Shao to assassinate the Ten Attendants, a clique of ten eunuchs led by Zhang Rang who controlled much of the imperial court. He Jin also ordered Dong Zhuo, the frontier general in Liang Province, and Ding Yuan, Inspector of Bing Province,[e] to bring troops to the capital to reinforce his position of authority. The eunuchs learned of He Jin's plot, and had him assassinated before Dong Zhuo reached the capital Luoyang. When Yuan Shao's troops reached Luoyang, they stormed the palace complex, killing the Ten Attendants and 2,000 of the eunuchs' supporters. Though this move effectively ended the century-long feud between the eunuchs and the imperial family, it ushered in the era of warlords and martial law that became the Three Kingdoms era.
This event prompted the invitation of Dong Zhuo to enter Luoyang from the northwest boundary of China. At the time China faced the Qiang tribes in the northwest, and thus Dong Zhuo controlled a large army with elite training. When he brought the army to Luoyang, he was able to easily overpower the existing armies of both sides and took control of the imperial court, ushering in a period of civil war across China.
Dong Zhuo then manipulated the succession so that Liu Xie could take the throne in lieu of Liu Bian. Dong Zhuo, while ambitious, genuinely wished for a more capable emperor. On his way to Luoyang, he encountered a small band of soldiers protecting Liu Bian and Liu Xie fleeing the war zone. In the encounter Dong Zhuo acted arrogantly and threateningly, causing Liu Bian to be paralyzed with fear; Liu Xie, the future Emperor Xian, responded calmly with authority and commanded Dong Zhuo to protect the royal family with his army to return to the imperial court.
While Dong Zhuo originally wanted to re-establish the authority of the Han Dynasty and manage all the political conflict properly, his political capability proved to be much worse than his military leadership. His behaviour grew more and more violent and authoritarian, executing or sending into exile all that opposed him, and showed less and less respect to the emperor. He ignored all royal etiquette and frequently carried open weapons into the imperial court. In 190 a coalition led by Yuan Shao was formed between nearly all the provincial authorities in the eastern provinces of the empire against Dong Zhuo. The mounting pressure from repeated defeat on the southern frontline against Sun Jian's forces drove Emperor Xian and later Dong Zhuo himself west to Chang'an in May 191.
Dong Zhuo once again demonstrated his political shortcomings by forcing millions of residents of Luoyang to migrate to Chang'an. He then set fire to Luoyang, preventing occupation by his enemies and destroying the biggest city in China at that time. In addition, he ordered his army to slaughter a whole village of civilians. The soldiers beheaded the civilians and carried their heads into Chang'an to show off as war trophies, pretending to have had a great victory against his enemies. A year later Dong Zhuo was killed in a coup d'etat by Wang Yun and Lü Bu.
Rise of Cao Cao
In 192, there was some talk among the coalition of appointing Liu Yu, an imperial relative, as emperor, and gradually its members began to fall out. Most of the warlords in the coalition, with a few exceptions, sought the increase of personal military power in the time of instability instead of seriously wishing to restore the Han Dynasty's authority. The Han empire was divided between a number of regional warlords. Yuan Shao occupied the northern area of Ye and extended his power, by taking over his superior Han Fu with trickery and intimidation, north of the Yellow River against Gongsun Zan, who held the northern frontier. Cao Cao, directly to Yuan Shao's south, was engaged in a struggle against Yuan Shu and Liu Biao, who occupied respectively the Huai River basin and middle Yangtze regions. Further south the young warlord Sun Ce, taking over after the untimely death of Sun Jian, was establishing his rule in the lower Yangtze, albeit as a subordinate of Yuan Shu. In the west, Liu Zhang held Yi Province while Hanzhong and the northwest were controlled by a motley collection of smaller warlords such as Ma Teng of Liang Province, the original post of Dong Zhuo.
Dong Zhuo, confident in his success, was slain by his follower Lü Bu, who plotted with minister Wang Yun as a result of Wang Yun tricking the both of them into favor of his adopted daughter, Diao Chan. Lü Bu, in turn, was attacked by Dong Zhuo's subordinates: Li Jue, Guo Si, Zhang Ji and Fan Chou. Wang Yun and his whole family were executed. Lü Bu fled to Zhang Yang, a northern warlord, and remained with him for a time before briefly joining Yuan Shao, but it was clear that Lü Bu was far too independent to serve another.
In August 195, Emperor Xian fled the tyranny of Li Jue at Chang'an and made a year long hazardous journey east in search of supporters. By 196, when he was received by Cao Cao, most of the smaller contenders for power had either been absorbed by larger ones or destroyed. This was an extremely important move for Cao Cao following the suggestion from his primary advisor, Xun Yu, commenting that by supporting the authentic emperor, Cao Cao would have the formal legal authority to control the other warlords and force them to comply in order to restore the Han Dynasty.
Cao Cao, whose zone of control was the precursor to the state of Cao Wei, had raised an army in the winter of 189. In several strategic movements and battles, he controlled Yan Province and defeated several factions of the Yellow Turban rebels. This earned him the aid of other local militaries controlled by Zhang Miao and Chen Gong, who joined his cause to create his first sizable army. He continued the effort and absorbed approximately 300,000 Yellow Turban rebels into his army as well as a number of clan-based military groups from the eastern side of Qing Province. In 196 he established an imperial court at Xuchang and developed military agricultural colonies (tuntian) to support his army. Although the system imposed a heavy tax on hired civilian farmers (40% to 60% of agricultural production), the farmers were more than pleased to be able to work with relative stability and professional military protection in a time of chaos. This was later said to be his second important policy for success.
In 194, Cao Cao went to war with Tao Qian of Xu Province, because Tao's subordinate Zhang Kai had murdered Cao Cao's father Cao Song. Tao Qian received the support of Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan, but even then it seemed as if Cao Cao's superior forces would overrun Xu Province entirely. However, Cao Cao received word that Lü Bu had seized Yan Province in his absence, and accordingly he retreated, putting a halt to hostilities with Tao Qian for the time being. Tao Qian died in the same year, leaving his province to Liu Bei. A year later, in 195, Cao Cao managed to drive Lü Bu out of Yan Province. Lü Bu fled to Xu Province and was received by Liu Bei, and an uneasy alliance began between the two.
In the south, Sun Ce, then an independent general under the service of Yuan Shu, defeated the warlords of Yang Province, including Liu Yao, Wang Lang, and Yan Baihu. In 197, Yuan Shu, who was at odds with Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, and Liu Bei, felt assured of victory with his subordinate's conquests, and thus declared himself emperor of the Cheng Dynasty. The move, however, was a strategic blunder, as it drew the ire of many warlords across the land, including Yuan Shu's own subordinate Sun Ce, who had advised Yuan Shu not to make such a move. Cao Cao issued orders to Sun Ce to attack Yuan Shu. Sun Ce complied, but first convinced Cao Cao to form a coalition against Yuan Shu, of which Liu Bei and Lü Bu were members. Attacked on all sides, Yuan Shu was defeated and fled into hiding.
Afterwards, Lü Bu betrayed Liu Bei and seized Xu Province, forming an alliance with Yuan Shu's remnant forces. Liu Bei, together with his followers Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, fled to Cao Cao, who accepted him. Soon, preparations were made for an attack on Lü Bu, and the combined forces of Cao Cao and Liu Bei invaded Xu Province. Lü Bu's men deserted him, Yuan Shu's forces never arrived as reinforcements, and he was bound by his own subordinates Song Xian and Wei Xu and executed on Cao Cao's order.
In 200, Dong Cheng, an imperial relative, received a secret edict from Emperor Xian to assassinate Cao Cao. He collaborated with Liu Bei on this effort, but Cao Cao soon found out about the plot and had Dong Cheng and his conspirators executed, with only Liu Bei surviving and fleeing to join Yuan Shao in the north.
After settling the nearby provinces, including a rebellion led by former Yellow Turbans, and internal affairs with the court, Cao Cao turned his attention north to Yuan Shao, who himself had eliminated his northern rival Gongsun Zan that same year. Yuan Shao, himself of higher nobility than Cao Cao, amassed a large army and camped along the northern bank of the Yellow River.
In 200, after winning a decisive battle against Liu Biao at Sha County and putting down the rebellions of Xu Gong and others, Sun Ce was struck by an arrow and fatally wounded. On his deathbed, he named his younger brother, Sun Quan, as his heir.
Following months of planning, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao clashed at the Battle of Guandu. Overcoming Yuan Shao's superior numbers, Cao Cao decisively defeated him by setting fire to his supplies, and in doing so crippled the northern army. Liu Bei fled to join Liu Biao in Jing Province, and many of Yuan Shao's forces were destroyed. In 202, Cao Cao took advantage of Yuan Shao's death and the resulting division among his sons to advance north of the Yellow River. He captured Ye in 204 and occupied the provinces of Ji, Bing, Qing and You. By the end of 207, after a lightning campaign against the Wuhuan barbarians, Cao Cao had achieved undisputed dominance of the North China Plain.
Battle of Red Cliffs
In 208, Cao Cao marched south with his army hoping to quickly unify the empire. Liu Biao's son Liu Cong surrendered Jing Province and Cao was able to capture a sizable fleet at Jiangling. Sun Quan, the successor to Sun Ce in the lower Yangtze, continued to resist, however. His advisor Lu Su secured an alliance with Liu Bei, himself a recent refugee from the north, and Zhou Yu was placed in command of Sun Quan's navy, along with a veteran general who served the Sun family, Cheng Pu. Their combined armies of 50,000 met Cao Cao's fleet and 200,000-strong force at Red Cliffs that winter. After an initial skirmish, an attack beginning with a plan to set fire to Cao Cao's fleet was set in motion to lead to the decisive defeat of Cao Cao, forcing him to retreat in disarray back to the north. The allied victory at Red Cliffs ensured the survival of Liu Bei and Sun Quan, and provided the basis for the states of Shu and Wu.
After his return to the north, Cao Cao contented himself with absorbing the northwestern regions in 211 and consolidating his power. He progressively increased his titles and power, eventually becoming the King of Wei in 217, a title bestowed upon him by the puppet Emperor Xian that he controlled. Liu Bei, having defeated the weak Jing Province warlords Han Xuan, Jin Xuan, Zhao Fan, and Liu Du, entered Yi Province and later in 214 displaced Liu Zhang as ruler, leaving Guan Yu in charge of Jing Province. Sun Quan, who had in the intervening years being engaged with defenses against Cao Cao in the southeast at Hefei, now turned his attention to Jing Province and the middle Yangtze. Tensions between the allies were increasingly visible. In 219, after Liu Bei successfully seized Hanzhong from Cao Cao and as Guan Yu was engaged in the siege of Fancheng, Sun Quan's general Lü Meng seized Jing Province in a surprise invasion. Guan Yu was captured and executed on Sun Quan's order.
Emergence of the Three Kingdoms
In the first month of 220, Cao Cao died and in the tenth month his son Cao Pi forced Emperor Xian to abdicate, thus ending the Han Dynasty. He named his state Wei and proclaimed himself emperor in Luoyang. In 221, Liu Bei declared himself emperor, in a bid to restore the fallen Han Dynasty. (His state is known in history as "Shu" or "Shu Han") In the same year, Wei bestowed on Sun Quan the title of King of Wu. A year later, Shu declared war on Wu (this was because Wu had allied with Wei in order to defeat the sworn brother of Liu Bei - Guan Yu - who at that time placed in charge on Jing Province, as it was most strategic location in all of the three kingdoms) and met the Wu armies at the Battle of Xiaoting (also known as Battle of Yiling). At Xiaoting, Liu Bei was disastrously defeated by Sun Quan's commander Lu Xun and forced to retreat back to Shu, where he died soon afterward. After the death of Liu Bei, Shu and Wu resumed friendly relations at the expense of Wei, thus stabilizing the tripartite configuration. In 222, Sun Quan renounced his recognition of Cao Pi's regime and, in 229, he declared himself emperor of Eastern Wu in Wuchang.
Dominion of the north completely belonged to Wei, whilst Shu occupied the southwest and Wu the central south and east. The external borders of the states were generally limited to the extent of Chinese civilization. For example, the political control of Shu on its southern frontier was limited by the tribes of present-day Yunnan and Burma, known collectively as the "Nanman" (southern barbarians).
In 223, Liu Shan rose to the throne of Shu following his father's defeat and death. The defeat of Liu Bei at Xiaoting ended the period of hostility between Wu and Shu and both used the opportunity to concentrate on internal problems and the external enemy of Wei. For Sun Quan, the victory terminated his fears of Shu expansion into Jing Province and he turned to the aborigines of the southeast, whom the Chinese collectively called the "Shanyue". A collection of successes against the rebellious tribesmen culminated in the victory of 224. In that year Zhuge Ke ended a three-year siege of Danyang with the surrender of 100,000 Shanyue. Of these, 40,000 were drafted as auxiliaries into the Wu army. Meanwhile Shu was also experiencing troubles with the indigenous tribes of their south. The southwestern Nanman peoples rose in revolt against Shu authority, captured and looted cities in Yi Province. Zhuge Liang, recognising the importance of stability in the south, ordered the advance of the Shu armies in three columns against the Nanman. He fought a number of engagements against the chieftain Meng Huo, at the end of which Meng Huo submitted. A tribesman was allowed to reside at the Shu capital Chengdu as an official and the Nanman formed their own battalions within the Shu army.
Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions
At the end of Zhuge Liang's Southern Campaign, the Wu-Shu alliance came to fruition and Shu was free to move against the north. In 227, Zhuge Liang transferred his main Shu armies to Hanzhong, and opened up the battle for the northwest with Wei. The next year, he ordered Zhao Yun to attack from Ji Gorge as a diversion while Zhuge himself led the main force to Mount Qi. The vanguard Ma Su, however, suffered a tactical defeat at Jieting and the Shu army was forced to withdraw. In the next six years Zhuge Liang attempted several more offensives, but supply problems limited the capacity for success. In 234 he led his last great northern offensive, reaching the Battle of Wuzhang Plains south of the Wei River. Due to the death of Zhuge Liang (234), however, the Shu army was forced once again to withdraw, but were pursued by Wei. The Shu forces began to withdraw; Sima Yi deduced Zhuge Liang's demise and ordered an attack. Shu struck back almost immediately, causing Sima Yi to second guess and allow Shu to withdraw successfully.
Wu and the South
In the times of Zhuge Liang's northern offensives, the state of Wu had always been on the defensive against invasions from the north. The area around Hefei was the scene of many bitter battles and under constant pressure from Wei after the Battle of Red Cliffs. Warfare had grown so intense that many of the residents chose to migrate and resettle south of the Yangtze River. After Zhuge Liang's death, attacks on the southern Huai River region intensified but nonetheless, Wei could not break through the line of the river defenses erected by Wu, which included the Ruxu fortress.
Sun Quan's long reign is regarded as a time of plenty for his southern state. Migrations from the north and the settlement of the Shanyue increased manpower for agriculture, especially along the lower reaches of the Yangtze and in Kuaiji commandery (present-day Shaoxing). River transport blossomed, with the construction of the Zhedong and Jiangnan canals. Trade with Shu flourished, with a huge influx of Shu cotton and the development of celadon and metal industries. Ocean transport was improved to such an extent that sea journeys were made to Manchuria and the island of Taiwan. In the south, Wu merchants reached Linyi (Southern Vietnam) and Funan Kingdom. As the economy prospered, so too did the arts and culture. In the Yangtze delta, the first Buddhist influences reached the south from Luoyang.
Decline and end of the Three Kingdoms
From the late 230s, tensions began to become visible between the imperial Cao clan and the Sima clan. Following the death of Cao Zhen, factionalism was evident between Cao Shuang and the Grand Tutor Sima Yi. In deliberations, Cao Shuang placed his own supporters in important posts and excluded Sima Yi, whom he regarded as a dangerous threat. The power of the Sima clan, one of the great landowning families of the Han Dynasty, was bolstered by Sima Yi's military victories. Additionally, Sima Yi was an extremely capable strategist and politician. In 238 he crushed the rebellion of Gongsun Yuan and brought the Liaodong region directly under central control. Ultimately, he outmaneuvered Cao Shuang in power play. Taking advantage of an excursion by the imperial clansmen to the Gaoping Tombs, Sima Yi undertook a putsch in Luoyang, forcing Cao Shuang's faction from authority. Many protested against the overwhelming power of the Sima family; notable among these were the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. One of the sages, Xi Kang, was executed as part of the purges after Cao Shuang's downfall.
Fall of Shu
The decreasing strength of the Cao clan was mirrored by the decline of Shu. After Zhuge Liang's death, his position as chancellor fell to Jiang Wan, Fei Yi and Dong Yun, in that order. But after 258, Shu politics became increasingly controlled by the eunuch faction and corruption rose. Despite the energetic efforts of Jiang Wei, Zhuge Liang's protege, Shu was unable to secure any decisive achievement. In 263, Wei launched a three-pronged attack and the Shu army was forced into general retreat from Hanzhong. Jiang Wei hurriedly held a position at Jiange but he was outflanked by the Wei commander Deng Ai, who force-marched his army from Yinping through territory formerly considered impassable. By the winter of the year, the capital Chengdu fell due to the strategic invasion of Wei by Deng Ai who invaded Chengdu personally. The emperor Liu Shan thus surrendered. The state of Shu had come to an end after 43 years. Liu Shan was reinstated to the Wei capital of Luoyang and was given the new title of the "Duke of Anle". Directly translated, it meant the "Duke of Safety and Happiness" and was a trivial position with no actual power.
Fall of Wei
Cao Huan succeeded to the throne in 260 after Cao Mao was killed in a failed coup against Sima Zhao. Soon after, Sima Zhao died and his title as Duke of Jìn was inherited by his son Sima Yan. Sima Yan immediately began plotting to become emperor but faced stiff opposition. However, due to advice from his advisors, Cao Huan decided the best course of action would be to abdicate, unlike his predecessor Cao Mao. Sima Yan seized the throne in 264 after forcing Cao Huan's abdication, effectively overthrowing the Wei Dynasty and establishing the successor Jìn Dynasty. This situation was similar to the deposal of Emperor Xian of Han by Cao Pi 40 years earlier.
Fall of Wu
Following Sun Quan's death and the ascension of the young Sun Liang to the throne in 252, the state of Wu went into a period of steady decline. Successful Wei suppression of rebellions in the southern Huai River region by Sima Zhao and Sima Shi reduced any opportunity of Wu influence. The fall of Shu signalled a change in Wei politics. After Liu Shan surrendered to Wei, Sima Yan (grandson of Sima Yi), overthrew the Wei emperor and proclaimed his own dynasty of Jin in 264, ending 46 years of Cao dominion in the north. After Jin's rise, emperor Sun Xiu of Wu died, and his ministers gave the throne to Sun Hao. Sun Hao was a promising young man, but upon ascension he became a tyrant, killing or exiling all who dared oppose him in the court. In 269 Yang Hu, a Jin commander in the south, started preparing for the invasion of Wu by ordering the construction of a fleet and the training of marines in Sichuan under Wang Jun. Four years later, Lu Kang, the last great general of Wu, died leaving no competent successor. The planned Jin offensive finally came in the winter of 279. Sima Yan launched five simultaneous offensives along the Yangtze River from Jianye (present-day Nanjing) to Jiangling whilst the Sichuan fleet sailed downriver to Jing Province. Under the strain of such an enormous attack, the Wu forces collapsed and Jianye fell in the third month of 280. Sun Hao surrendered and was given a fiefdom on which to live out his days. This marked the end of the Three Kingdoms era, and the beginning of a break in the forthcoming 300 years of chaos.
After the Yellow Turban Rebellion, serious famine followed in the Central Plains of China. After his coming to power, Dong Zhuo gave full swing to his army to plunder and rape women. When the Guandong Coalition was starting the campaign against Dong Zhuo, unexpectedly absurd enough, he ordered that "all the population of Luoyang be forced to move to Chang'an, all the palaces, temples, official residences and homes be burnt, no one should stay within that area of 200 li", (considering the miserable life at that time, it was almost impossible for most people to move to the final destination alive) thus making cries of discontent rise all round and the population there decreased sharply. When Cao Cao was attacking Xu Province, it was said that "hundreds of thousands of men and women were buried alive, even dogs and chickens did not survive. The Si River was blocked. From then on, these five towns never recover." When Li Jue and his army were advancing towards the Guanzhong area, "there remained hundreds of thousands of people, but Li Jue allowed his army to plunder the cities and the people, thus making the people have nothing but eat each other to death."
It can be known from the following table that how serious the decrease of population was during that period. From the late Eastern Han to the Western Jin Dynasty, despite its length about 125 years, the peak number of population only equaled 35.3% of the peak number of the entire Eastern Han Dynasty. From then on to Sui Dynasty, the population never recovered. It also should be noted that the high militarization of the population was common. For example, the population of Shu was 900,000, but the military were more than 100,000, occupying more than 10% of the population. The Records of the Three Kingdoms contains population figures for the Three Kingdoms. As with many Chinese historical population figures, these numbers are likely to be less than the actual populations, since census and tax records went hand in hand, and tax evaders were often not on records.
|Eastern Han Dynasty, 156||10,679,600||56,486,856|
|Shu Han, 221||200,000||900,000|
|Shu Han, 263||280,000||1,082,000||At Shu's demise, the population contained 102,000 armed soldiers and 40,000 various officials.|
|Eastern Wu, 238||520,000||2,567,000|
|Eastern Wu, 280||530,000||2,535,000||At Wu's demise, the population had 32,000 officials, 230,000 soldiers, and 5,000 imperial concubines.|
|Cao Wei, 260||663,423||4,432,881|
|Western Jin Dynasty, 280||2,495,804||16,163,863||After reuniting China, the Jin Dynasty's population was greatest around this time.|
|From Zou Jiwan (Chinese: 鄒紀萬), Zhongguo Tongshi - Weijin Nanbeichao Shi 中國通史·魏晉南北朝史, (1992).|
While it is clear that warfare undoubtedly took many lives during this period, the census figures do not support the idea that millions were wiped out solely from warfare. Other factors such as mass migration out of China must be taken into account.
In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, due to natural disasters and social unrest, the economy was badly depressed, leading to the massive waste of farmland. Some local landlords and aristocracy established their own strongholds to defend themselves and developed agriculture, which gradually evolved into a self-sufficient manorial system. The system of strongholds and manors also had effects on the economical mode of following dynasties. In addition, because of the collapse of the imperial court, those worn copper coins were not melted and reminted and many privately minted coins appeared. In the Three Kingdoms period, newly minted coins never made their way into currency. Due to the collapse of the coinage, Cao Wei officially declared silk cloth and grains as the main currencies in 221.
In economic terms the division of the Three Kingdoms reflected a reality that long endured. Even during the Northern Song Dynasty, 700 years after the Three Kingdoms period, it was possible to think of China as being composed of three great regional markets. (The status of the northwest was slightly ambivalent, as it had links with the northern region and Sichuan). These geographical divisions are underscored by the fact that the main communication routes between the three main regions were all man-made: the Grand Canal linking north and south, the hauling-way through the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River linking southern China with Sichuan and the gallery roads joining Sichuan with the northwest. The break into three separate entities was quite natural and even anticipated by such political foresight as that of Zhuge Liang (see Longzhong Plan).
In popular culture
Numerous people and affairs from the period later became Chinese legends. The most complete and influential example is the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, written by Luo Guanzhong during the Ming Dynasty. Possibly due to the popularity of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the Three Kingdoms era is one of the most well known non-modern Chinese eras in terms of iconic characters, deeds and exploits. This is reflected in the way how fictional accounts of the Three Kingdoms, mostly based on the novel, play a significant role in East Asian popular culture. Books, television dramas, films, cartoons, anime, games, and music on the topic are still regularly produced in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam and Japan.
See also
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms
- Records of the Three Kingdoms
- Personages of the Three Kingdoms
- Timeline of the Three Kingdoms period
- Military history of the Three Kingdoms
- Battle of Hulao Pass
- End of Han Dynasty
- Jian'an poetry
- List of tributaries of Imperial China
- Rafe de Crespigny
- Period of Disunity
- Six Dynasties
- Six Dynasties poetry
- Game of the Three Kingdoms
- Referring to the Han Dynasty government
- Referring to the Yellow Turban Rebellion
- Book of Han - Record of Emperor Xiaoling and the Zizhi Tongjian -Guanghe Year 6 record that Zhang Jiao declared himself Yellow Emperor and took their movement's name from a headscarf worn by followers [yellow signifying the Yellow Emperor and imperial authority].
- Roughly covering the Sichuan Basin
- The area between present-day Baoding and Taiyuan
- de Crespigny, Rafe (November 2003). "The Three Kingdoms and Western Jin: A history of China in the Third Century AD". Australian National University. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
- Roberts, Moss (1991). Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel. California: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-22503-1.
- Guo Jian (郭建) (1999). 千秋興亡 [Rise and Fall over Thousands of Autumns]. Changchun: 長春出版社 (Changchun Press).
- Jiang Lang (姜狼) (2011). 184-280:三國原來這樣 [184-280: It Turns out the Three Kingdoms Were like This]. Beijing: 現代出版社 (Modern Press).
- Han Guopan (韓國磐) (1983). 魏晉南北朝史綱 [Historical Highlights of the Six Dynasties]. Beijing: 人民出版社 (People's Press).
- Zhang Binsheng (張儐生) (1982). 魏晉南北朝政治史 [Administrative History of the Six Dynasties]. Taipei: 中國文化大學 (Chinese Culture University Press).
- Gao Min (高敏), ed. (1998). 中國經濟通史 魏晉南北朝經濟卷 [The Complete Economic History of China: Economy of the Six Dynasties]. Hong Kong: 經濟日報出版社 (Economics Daily Press).
- Luo Kun (羅琨) et al. (1998). 中國軍事通史 三國軍事史 [The Complete Military History of China: Three Kingdoms Military History]. Beijing: 軍事科學出版社 (Military Science Press).
- Zhu Dawei (朱大渭) et al. (1998). 魏晉南北朝社會生活史 [The Social History of the Six Dynasties]. Beijing: 中國社會科學出版社 (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences).
- Zhang Wenqiang (張文強) (1994). 中國魏晉南北朝軍事史 [China's Six Dynasties Military History]. Beijing: 人民出版社 (People's Press).
- Zhang Chengzong (張承宗); Wei Xiangdong (魏向東) (2001). 中國風俗通史 魏晉南北朝卷 [The Complete History of Chinese Customs: Six Dynasties]. Shanghai: 上海藝文出版社 (Shanghai People's Press).
- He Dezhang (何德章) (1994). 中國魏晉南北朝政治史 （百卷本國全史第7） [China's Six Dynasties Administrative History (This Nation's Total History in 100 Volumes, no 7)]. Beijing: 人民出版社 (People's Press).
- Wang Lihua (王利華) et al. (2009). 中國農業通史 魏晉南北朝卷 [The Complete History of Chinese Agriculture: Six Dynasties]. Beijing: 中國農業出版社 (Chinese Agricultural Press).
Further reading
- Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West from the Weilue 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265. University of Washington, Draft annotated English translation.
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Three Kingdoms Period|
- Online Three Kingdoms publications of Dr Rafe de Crespigny, Australian National University
- Early Imperial China: A Working Collection of Resources
- A sampling of references
- List of bibliographical references
- History Orb Bibliography
- Chinese Cultural Studies
|Dynasties in Chinese history
|
<urn:uuid:ff36b73c-ef14-4124-a2fd-314563ab0060>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_kingdoms
|
2013-05-22T15:09:34Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701910820/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105830-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.964559
| 9,252
|
Warts are caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). The three types of warts that are most common are plantar warts, flat warts and common warts. Children are more susceptible to the virus because their immune systems are not fully developed and the areas on their body are more prone to minor injury so often there is a break in the skin that makes it easy for the virus to enter. People also tend to get warts when they are under a lot of stress and the immune systen is weak.
It is extremely rare for warts to become malignant but you should always be aware of the possibility of skin cancer. Seek medical advice if the wart or surrounding skin is: painful; red; bleeding; swollen; or oozing pus.
Never attempt to remove or treat a wart yourself by burning, cutting, tearing or picking. A large number of people read about the potential of removing warts using the duct tape method. However this method can cause long term damage to the skin surrounding the wart, create scarring and intense bleeding (not to mention pain). We recommend natural wart removal products in order to gently address warts.
Educate your children to wash their hands and skin regularly and well, while avoiding direct skin contact with a wart on someone else. If your child cuts or scratches his skin, be careful to use soap and water to thoroughly clean the area because open wounds are more susceptible to the wart virus. Warts on the skin can be transmitted by person to person contact.
- Keep the skin dry since warts thrive on moist surfaces.
- Wear open-toe sandals or shoes that will allow the feet to perspire.
- Always wear shoes, sandals or thongs when walking in a public place, like a gym, swimming pools, locker rooms or beach areas. Plantar warts are especially contagious while walking barefoot in wet areas
- Try not to touch the wart with your hands since warts spread easily by contact.
- Encourage your child not to share towels, wash cloths or socks and shoes with others.
A strong immune system will assist in fighting the wart virus so strengthening the immune system is important if you are prone to warts.
- Get sufficient sleep.
- Drink plenty of water to help flush the toxins out of the body.
- Proper nutrition - eat fresh fruits and vegetables and foods high in protein.
- For an adult who is prone to warts - eliminating alcohol and smoking will greatly improve your body's immune system.
More Warts Information:
Causes of Warts
More on Warts including Symptoms:
Warts and Cryotherapy
Plantar Warts vs. Corns
Warts vs. Acne
Flat Warts vs. Common Warts
Warts & Children:
Warts and Children
See also Skin Tags, Moles
|
<urn:uuid:81baa4b1-6f18-4925-b844-669d3499a2d1>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.amoils.com/treatment/warts-articles.html
|
2013-05-25T06:31:56Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705575935/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115935-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.910002
| 589
|
With the recent debate over the rewriting of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn to remove what some call offensive material still in the news, it was interesting Monday to hear David Gambrel’s invocation on the courthouse steps to begin the county’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration. Gambrel prayed that the actions and words spoken during the annual celebration of the life of the slain civil rights leader would bring “discomfort to the comfortable.” That’s why Twain wrote his most famous book the way he did, including 219 uses of a racial epithet that Auburn University Professor Alan Gribben wants to expunge; it’s supposed to make us uncomfortable.
The world’s most enduring literary works by Shakespeare, Pope, Swift and Twain are still widely read because of the universal truths they expose through their use of satire.
It’s too easy to say “we’ve come a long way” and drop the struggle for true equality, but the words of Twain or the photos and films of the violence used in our country in our lifetimes to suppress those seeking basic civil rights are a constant reminder that we have not come far enough.
If reading Twain or hearing the words of Dr. King makes us uncomfortable, maybe we haven’t done enough to ensure the primacy of the dignity of the individual human regardless of race, creed or color.
|
<urn:uuid:57a2e88b-d285-48fc-be21-1a0cc3c09dbb>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.centralkynews.com/theinteriorjournal/opinion/ij-what-would-dr-king-sa-01202011,0,7410135.story
|
2013-05-20T22:31:47Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.933329
| 293
|
Related Tags: desktop security(15), internet security(29), computer security(26), network security(29), Data Security(17), file security(7), computer security software(3), content security(6), pdf security(4), password security(3), System Security(3), email security(4), security software(18),
"Computer security" Definition:
Computer security is a branch of technology known as information security as applied to computers. The objective of computer security varies and can include protection of information from theft or corruption, or the preservation of availability, as defined in the security policy.
Computer security imposes requirements on computers that are different from most system requirements because they often take the form of constraints on what computers are not supposed to do. This makes computer security particularly challenging because it is hard enough just to make computer programs do everything they are designed to do correctly. Furthermore, negative requirements are deceptively complicated to satisfy and require exhaustive testing to verify, which is impractical for most computer programs. Computer security provides a technical strategy to convert negative requirements to positive enforceable rules. For this reason, computer security is often more technical and mathematical than some computer science fields.
(This definition is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Computer security".)
|Index||Software Name / Developer / Description||Download||Buy Now|
|
<urn:uuid:f2860f53-6201-4294-98b7-f727e780a9d3>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.geardownload.com/tags/laptop-security.html
|
2013-06-19T06:02:56Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.87787
| 280
|
WebMD Medical News
Laura J. Martin, MD
April 6, 2011 -- Even very brief instruction in meditation appears to help people cope with pain, and a newly published brain imaging study may explain why.
After just four, 20-minute instructional sessions in mindfulness meditation, most participants in the small study experienced big reductions in pain intensity and unpleasantness when subjected to painful stimuli.
Prior to learning the meditation technique, brain imaging showed significant activity in a key area of the brain when the participants were subjected to intense heat, but this activity was reduced when they were meditating.
“This is the first study to show that only a little over an hour of meditation training can dramatically reduce both the experience of pain and pain-related brain activation,” said researcher Fadel Zeidan, PhD, who is a postdoctoral fellow at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
The researchers recruited 18 healthy young adults who had never meditated prior to joining the study.
Over the four, 20-minute training sessions, the study participants were taught a meditation technique known as focused attention, which involves paying close attention to breathing patterns while acknowledging and letting go of thoughts that distract from this practice, Zeidan says.
Before and after mindfulness meditation training, brain activity was measured using a special type of magnetic resonance imaging that captures longer-duration brain processes, such as meditation, better than standard MRI.
While the MRIs were being performed, a device was placed on each participant’s right calf that delivered 120 degrees of heat -- a temperature that most people find painful. The heat was kept on the skin for 12 seconds and then taken off the skin for the same amount of time over a total of 5 minutes.
Even though the MRI was very loud, most of the participants were able to successfully block out the noise and the pain from the heat source and focus on their breathing.
Pain intensity ratings were reduced after meditation by an average of 40%, and pain unpleasantness rating were reduced by 57%.
Meditation was shown to reduce activity in key pain-processing regions of the brain.
The study appears in the April 6 issue of the The Journal of Neuroscience.
The study confirms that mindfulness meditation can have a real and measurable impact on the experience of acute pain, even in people with very little formal training, Wake Forest associate professor of neurobiology and anatomy Robert C. Coghill, PhD, tells WebMD.
He says meditation could prove useful for the management of postoperative pain and in other acute pain settings.
It remains to be seen if the brief instruction can help people with chronic pain.
“Meditation has been used to treat chronic pain for a long time, but patients tend to have a lot more training,” he says. “It is not clear if the brief training sessions like the ones used in this study would be useful for these patients.”
Zeidan says meditation distracts the mind and reduces the emotional response to pain.
In the training phase of the study, the participants were instructed to close their eyes and focus on the changing sensations of their breath and they were told to bring their consciousness back to their breathing each time their minds wandered.
“Usually this happens within the first minute when people first start meditating,” he says. “It is perfectly normal.”
He says the goal is to acknowledge these distractions, accept them for what they are and simply let them go by gently bringing the attention back to the breath without any judgment.
“Many people think they are doing something wrong at first because their minds keep wandering,” he says. “But becoming aware of how busy the mind is is part of the process.”
SOURCES:Zeidan, F., The Journal of Neuroscience, April 6, 2011; vol 31.Fadel Zeidan, PhD, postdoctoral fellow, department of neurobiology and anatomy, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, N.C.Robert C. Coghill, PhD, associate professor of neurobiology and anatomy, Wake Forest Baptist, Winston-Salem, N.C.News release, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.
Here are the most recent story comments.View All
The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of FOX16 - Breaking News and Weather to Plan Your Day for Little Rock and Central Arkansas
The Health News section does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See additional information.
|
<urn:uuid:d0e88e1d-cb0e-4a1b-9d79-cc5a2d038182>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.fox16.com/webmd/painmanagement/story/Meditation-May-Reduce-Pain/KVClZcWrOU-rRTbA8X9RxQ.cspx
|
2013-06-19T19:01:01Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.959531
| 913
|
SAMe is a chemical that is found naturally in the body. It can also be made in the laboratory.
SAMe has been available as a dietary supplement in the US since 1999, but it has been used as a prescription drug in Italy since 1979, in Spain since 1985, and in Germany since 1989. Researchers discovered the potential usefulness of SAMe for treating osteoarthritis by accident. They were studying SAMe’s effect on depression when the patients they were following reported an unexpected improvement in their osteoarthritis symptoms.
SAMe is used for depression, anxiety, heart disease, fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, bursitis, tendonitis, chronic lower back pain, dementia, Alzheimer's disease, slowing the aging process, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), improving intellectual performance, liver disease, and Parkinson's disease. It is also used for attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, seizures, migraineheadache, and lead poisoning.
Some women use SAMe for premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and a more severe form of PMS called premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).
How does it work?
The body uses SAMe to make certain chemicals in the body that play a role in pain, depression, liver disease, and other conditions. People who don’t make enough SAMe naturally may be helped by taking SAMe as a supplement.
Likely Effective for:
- Osteoarthritis. Taking SAMe by mouth seems to work about as well as aspirin and similar drugs, but it can take twice as long to start working. Most people with arthritis need to take SAMe for about a month before they feel better.
- Depression. Taking SAMe by mouth or by injection seems to reduce symptoms of depression. Several studies have shown that SAMe can be beneficial and might be as effective as some prescription medications used for depression (tricyclic antidepressants). Some research also shows that taking SAMe might be helpful for people who don’t have a good response to a prescription antidepressant. But keep in mind, SAMe should not be taken in combination with a prescription antidepressant without the monitoring of a health professional.
Possibly Effective for:
- Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Limited research suggests SAMe might lessen ADHD symptoms in adults.
- Alcohol-related liver disease. Research studies to date do not agree on the effectiveness of SAMe for liver disease.
- Heart disease.
- Chronic low back pain.
- Improving intelligence.
- Premenstrual syndrome (PMS).
- Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).
- Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).
- Multiple sclerosis.
- Spinal cord injury.
- Migraine headache.
- Other conditions.
Side Effects & Safety
SAMe is LIKELY SAFE for most people. It can sometimes cause gas, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, dry mouth, headache, mild insomnia, anorexia, sweating, dizziness, and nervousness, especially at higher doses. It can make some people with depression feel anxious.
Special Precautions & Warnings:Pregnancy and breast-feeding: Not enough is known about the safety of using SAMe during pregnancy and breast-feeding. Stay on the safe side and avoid use.
Bipolar disorder: Use of SAMe can cause people with bipolar disorder to convert from depression to mania.
Parkinson’s disease: SAMe might make Parkinson’s symptoms worse.
Surgery: SAMe might affect the central nervous system. This could interfere with surgery. Stop taking SAMe at least 2 weeks before a scheduled surgery.
Major Interaction Do not take this combination
- Medications for depression (Antidepressant drugs) interacts with SAMe
SAMe increases a brain chemical called serotonin. Some medications for depression also increase the brain chemical serotonin. Taking SAMe along with these medications for depression might increase serotonin too much and cause serious side effects including heart problems, shivering, and anxiety. Do not take SAMe if you are taking medications for depression.
Some of these medications for depression include fluoxetine (Prozac), paroxetine (Paxil), sertraline (Zoloft), amitriptyline (Elavil), clomipramine (Anafranil), imipramine (Tofranil), and others.
- Medications for depression (MAOIs) interacts with SAMe
SAMe increases a chemical in the brain. This chemical is called serotonin. Some medications used for depression also increase serotonin. Taking SAMe along with these medications used for depression might cause too much serotonin in the body, and serious side effects including heart problems, shivering, and anxiety. Some of these medications used for depression include phenelzine (Nardil), tranylcypromine (Parnate), and others.
Moderate Interaction Be cautious with this combination
- Dextromethorphan (Robitussin DM, and others) interacts with SAMe
SAMe can affect a brain chemical called serotonin. Dextromethorphan (Robitussin DM, others) can also affect serotonin. Taking SAMe along with dextromethorphan (Robitussin DM, others) might cause too much serotonin in the brain and serious side effects including heart problems, shivering, and anxiety. Do not take SAMe if you are taking dextromethorphan (Robitussin DM, and others).
- Levodopa interacts with SAMe
Levodopa is used for Parkinson's disease. SAMe can chemically change levodopa in the body and decrease the effectiveness of levodopa. Taking SAMe along with levodopa might make Parkinson's disease symptoms worse. Do not take SAMe if you are taking levodopa.
- Meperidine (Demerol) interacts with SAMe
SAMe increases a chemical in the brain called serotonin. Meperidine (Demerol) can also increase serotonin in the brain. Taking SAMe along with meperidine (Demerol) might cause too much serotonin in the brain and serious side effects including heart problems, shivering, and anxiety.
- Pentazocine (Talwin) interacts with SAMe
SAMe increases a brain chemical called serotonin. Pentazocine (Talwin) also increases serotonin. Taking SAMe along with pentazocine (Talwin) might cause serious side effects including heart problems, shivering, and anxiety. Do not take SAMe if you are taking pentazocine (Talwin).
- Tramadol (Ultram) interacts with SAMe
Tramadol (Ultram) can affect a chemical in the brain called serotonin. SAMe can also affect serotonin. Taking SAMe along with tramadol (Ultram) might cause too much serotonin in the brain and side effects including confusion, shivering, stiff muscles, and other side effects.
The following doses have been studied in scientific research:
- For depression: 400-1600 mg per day.
- For osteoarthritis: 200 mg three times daily.
- For fibromyalgia: 800 mg per day.
|
<urn:uuid:21d9ff4d-7336-4734-a624-3780f018fcb3>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-786-.aspx?activeIngredientId=786&activeIngredientName=&source=0
|
2013-05-20T11:29:57Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.897316
| 1,513
|
Master of the Palazzo Venezia Madonna (active c. 1340-60), St. Corona and St. Vittorio of Siena
Legend says that in a vision the 16-year old St. Corona saw an angel descend from the heavens bearing two crowns: a modest one for herself and a more precious version for St. Vittorio, with whom she was to suffer martyrdom for her Christian faith.
The depiction of the two saints
The Master of the Palazzo Venezia Madonna depicted her wearing the small crown while elegantly supporting the large crown with the fingertips of her left hand. Like St. Vittorio, she carries a pair of palm branches – the trophy of martyrdom – in her right hand. St. Vittorio also holds an olive branch, the symbol of Siena’s victory over Montepulciano and Orvieto in 1229 on what was later called St. Vittorio’s Day.
Examples of Siena Gothic
The panels were originally side panels flanking a main panel depicting the adoration of the shepherds painted by Bartolomeo Bulgarini (1300/1310-1378). They are very rare and fine examples of Siena Gothic with its unique linear and colourful decorative style; a contrast to the rival Florentine school which puts greater emphasis on mass and gravity.
A grandiose decoration project
The altarpiece was created in or immediately after the plague year of 1348, which severely decimated the population of Siena. The St. Vittorio altarpiece marked the completion of a grandiose decoration project in the city’s cathedral; a project which also encompassed the altarpiece of which Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s (before 1317 - c. 1384) St. John the Baptist was part.
|
<urn:uuid:9260cf10-1a74-4a3f-997a-4a7baafc34d0>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.smk.dk/en/print/explore-the-art/highlights/master-of-the-palazzo-venezia-madonna-st-corona-and-st-vittorio-of-siena/
|
2013-06-20T08:44:29Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.931533
| 392
|
IT for Radio Engineers
IPv6 is coming
Based on current usage levels, it is anticipated that the current blocks of available addresses under the current system, also called IPv4, will be exhausted in approximately three years. To head this off, a new proposal is in the final stages of approval. Known as IPv6, it will probably provide the most benefit to broadcasters and multicasters, due to enhancements to how IP handles audio and video streams.
The major improvement IPv6 provides is its ability to serve 3.4 × 1038 addresses using 128-bit addressing contrasted to the measly 4 billion currently supported by IPv4 using 32-bit addressing. In theory, IPv6 will provide enough addresses for every person on the planet and still have room to grow almost infinitely. Routing IPv6 data will be made simpler due to the elimination of the NAT protocol since each device will have a unique address and address translation will no longer be necessary. The virtually limitless availability of unique IP addresses opens up the possibility of a wide variety of devices, not just PCs or printers. It is expected that even common items, such as appliances or automobiles, can now have their own IP addresses.
There are interesting possibilities for our industry as well. Imagine transmitters, processing equipment and other peripheral equipment all having IP addresses that could be interconnected from anywhere in the world. Take this a step further and consider a transmitter that takes all of its control and audio streaming information through an Ethernet connection connected to a remote control and audio processor in a different state. Do you see where this could go?
IPv6 addresses are 128 bits long. There are 64 bits for the network address and 64 bits for the host address. The host address is derived from the unique MAC address given to the network interface device. Optionally, they can also be generated sequentially. In practice, the IPv6 address is written in a hexadecimal formal consisting of eight groups with four hex digits.
IPv6 is ideal for streaming because the protocol defines three specific types of addresses:
Unicast — Basically point-to-point, typical of most applications.
Multicast — One-to-many recipients.
Anycast — A variation of multicast, only delivered to a single node than routed to other nodes until it reaches the recipient(s).
A detailed discussion of IPv6 would fill volumes, but you need to be aware that many governments and large organizations are starting the transition process. Newer equipment might be software upgradeable but some will need to be changed. Start identifying compatibility issues now. Many manufacturers have information on their websites. Be aware that only Windows Vista and Mac OS X 10.3 and above have native support for IPv6.
When it comes to establishing a hard connection between one or more points, IP tunneling is the ultimate tool. Why should you care about tunneling? Consider for example that you are trying to set up a remote broadcast in another county, state or country. Using a dedicated IP address might create problems with latency or possible loss of connection. Utilizing an IP tunnel would establish a dedicated virtual connection between the remote user and host, similar to any local device and typically with improved performance.
The concept of tunneling is based on a process that packages the primary IP packet inside another packet. The purpose of the outer packet is to create a virtual physical connection between two networks that encapsulates the real data packet.
Like everything in the IT world, there is a protocol (or set of protocols) that make implementation possible. There are two primary protocols that can be used to create an IP tunnel:
Point-to-point tunneling protocol (PPTP) may seem familiar from back in the days of dial-up connections. Originally developed by Cisco and later licensed to Microsoft, this became a standard communications protocol to be included standard with later versions of MS Windows and as such, became a popular protocol with dial-up hosting providers.
PPTP requires two separate connections — one connection maintains the data path using another protocol called Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE). GRE manages the encapsulation process and subsequently strips the encapsulation at the other end. The second connection is used to initiate and maintain the GRE session.
Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) is a newer and more feature-packed version created from a combination of PPTP and another old protocol called Layer 2 Forwarding (L2F). The use of Layer 2 here is deceiving in that it actually operates at the application layer (Layer 5). It works by encapsulating the packet, payload (original data) and header within a UDP (Universal Data Protocol) datagram. Datagrams are basically a package containing a short message. For example, a series of datagrams form the basis for streaming audio and video technologies. The current version is L2TPv3 which provides improved performance and compatibly with other transport services.
One more protocol you should know is called IPsec, which is short for IP security. This is typically used in conjunction with a tunneling protocol, particularly L2TP as a means to provide secure authentication and encryption services. When the two protocols are used together the protocol is called L2TP/IPsec.
In practice, the tunneling process begins by establishing the virtual connection between the client and host systems. The implementation of creating the VPN is typically done through software and/or hardware applications. A popular example of IP tunneling is the Virtual Private Network (VPN), which provides remote users the ability to gain access to their internal network (Intranet) and network resources (printers, etc.) as if they were connected in their offices. The remote user initiates a typical VPN session with a software client that requires you log in with your username, password, etc. The host end of the VPN manages the task of accepting requests to establish the connection and verifying the user login and security information. Once the user information has been accepted the tunneled connected is established and remains connected until either the user (or administrator) chooses to stop it or the host system has provisions to drop the connection when not in use for a preset amount of time.
While tunneling provides a better experience for the remote user, it also offers a much higher level of security for the host network since the connection can't be established without going through some level of security check.
Creating a tunneled connection is easy or cheap (even free) with the use of software applications easily downloaded from the Web. Some of the more popular ones include Zebedee, Nest and Barracuda. A Web search for “IP tunneling software” will direct you to these and a host of other solutions you can use to create your own custom IP tunnel. Most of these also have detailed user guides to help you achieve your goal and make a handy addition to your new toolbox.
McNamara is president of Applied Wireless, Cape Coral, FL.
Acceptable Use Policy blog comments powered by Disqus
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
Today in Radio History
The history of radio broadcasting extends beyond the work of a few famous inventors.
EAS Information More on EAS
The feed provides feeds for all US states and territories.
Need a calendar for your computer desktop? Use one of ours.
Information from manufacturers and associations about industry news, products, technology and business announcements.
After 57 years in the same building, CKUA was ready for a move. But it hasn't forgotten its history.
Browse Back Issues[an error occurred while processing this directive]
Also in the June Issue
- The Radio magazine Pick Hits of the 2013 NAB Show
- The Settlement/Amendment Process for FM Translators
- Side by Side: Headphones
- Field Report: iZotope Insight
- Field Report: Rode iXY
- Better Coaxial Cable Runs
- 20 Years of Radio magazine: July 1994
|
<urn:uuid:c7565791-43ce-4aaf-891c-8a9dc4b1e742>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://radiomagonline.com/IT_technology/radio_engineers/index1.html
|
2013-06-19T19:21:26Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.941163
| 1,623
|
Hop right to it and test yourself about how much you know about toads. Answers are on page 30.
1. Which is true about both a toad's (and a frog's) tongue?
A. It is sticky.
B. It is double-forked.
C. It is attached to the front of the toad's mouth.
D. A & C
2. Frogs have teeth on their upper jaw. Toads:
A. Have teeth on their upper jaw.
B. Have teeth on their lower jaw.
A. Have teeth on both jaws.
D. Toads do not have teeth.
3. Toads have shorter legs than frogs. How does this help the toad?
A. Shorter legs make it easier for a toad to hop higher.
B. Shorter legs make it easier for toads to duck under leaves for cover.
C. Shorter legs make it easier for toads to walk on land.
D. Shorter legs make it easier to dig burrows.
4. As a rule, which is true?
A. Toads lay eggs in a chain; frogs in a cluster.
B. Toads lay eggs in a cluster; frogs in a chain.
C. Toads & frogs lay eggs in a chain.
D. Toads & frogs lay eggs in a cluster.
5. Unlike most frogs, which are moist and smooth, most toads are dry and bumpy. What is the purpose of a toad's bumps?
A. They protect a toad by causing warts in any predator or human that tries to eat it or pick it up.
B. They protect a toad by providing
C. They contain poison that will sicken or kill a predator that tries to eat them.
D. They store fat to help the toad survive
during times when food is scarce.
6. The paratoid gland is located behind the eyes on each side of a toad's neck. This gland secretes a milky substance that irritates mucous membranes (eyes, mouth) and can even kill some predators. Which of these other animals sometimes have parotoid gland?
D. A & C
Comments are now closed for this article. Comments are accepted for 60 after publication.
|
<urn:uuid:119e2b9d-4ba3-496b-87df-082e449f2daf>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.bayjournal.com/article/fac_toads
|
2013-05-24T02:38:58Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132729/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.932865
| 484
|
The British House of Commons voted to approve same-sex marriage this week. The issue deeply divides the ruling Conservative Party, as well as the Church of England. The church accepts same-sex civil unions as a legal institution but opposes gay marriage, which church leaders say undermines the sacred place of marriage in society. Was marriage originally a legal or a religious institution?
A legal institution, mostly. Marriage developed independently in hundreds of human civilizations, so it’s difficult to pinpoint history’s first marriage or even the society that first conceived of marriage as an institution. Early Sumerian marriage agreements, which date to the third millennium BC, are among the oldest records relating to marriage. The couples swore an oath to a series of deities in a small number of agreements, but most of the records contain no mention of gods or religion, suggesting that the Sumerians viewed weddings as legal events.
The terms of marriage were decidedly contractual, including specific worldly punishments for cheating. (The penalty for male infidelity was 10 shekels in alimony to the jilted wife. If the wife strayed, she would be strangled and dumped into a river.)
There is no indication that someone who violated the marriage agreement suffered the eternal wrath of Shamash and Marduk, or that those deities took a personal interest in strong marriages.
The ancient Hebraic take on marriage is difficult to ascertain. Scholars have argued for years over whether to translate the Old Testament word describing a marriage agreement as “contract,” which is a simple agreement between two parties, or “covenant,” which includes an additional vow to God.
One of the difficulties is that the Old Testament uses the same word to describe both God’s relationship with the Israelites and a husband’s promise to his wife. Some ancient Hebrew writers explicitly analogized those two commitments, and, of course, the Ten Commandments mention God’s aversion to adultery.
However, like the Sumerian marriage agreements, documents describing ancient Jewish marriages are mostly lists of legal obligations and consequences and rarely contain spiritual language. It’s likely that the idea of marriage as a sacred union involving God developed over time among ancient Jews, but the evidence is open to interpretation.
What about the pre-Christian Greeks, the founders of modern Western society?
Some of Plato’s writings cast marriage in a semi-spiritual light. He wrote that, “Love is born into every human being; it calls back the halves of our original nature together; it tries to make one out of two and heal the wound of human nature.” That romantic sentiment echoes the New Testament notion that “two will become one flesh.”
But Plato’s general philosophy was practical: Marriage was good for Greek society. He even advised young men to choose a partner based on the interests of the polis, not love or other personal desires. Aristotle had a utilitarian and legal view of marriage as well, writing that marriage “combines the useful with the pleasant.” It appears that marriage was a contractual matter in ancient Greece.
The New Testament injected God into marriages like never before, most obviously by physically placing Jesus at the wedding at Cana, where he blessed the union by turning water into wine. Jesus also said of the sanctity of marriage, “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”
A small number of Christians moved in the fifth century to describe marriage as a religious rite on a par with baptism, but it wasn’t until the 1200s that marriage had completed its transition from contractual agreement to Christian sacrament.
Source: John Witte Jr. of Emory University School of Law, author of From Sacrament to Contract: Marriage, Religion, and Law in the Western Tradition.
|
<urn:uuid:34cbdd97-9996-49d9-9654-71259e165153>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.therecord.com/living/faith/article/883145--which-came-first-civil-unions-or-religious-marriage
|
2013-05-18T09:00:08Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381630/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.961776
| 785
|
Taipans are large (up to 3 metres in length), fast, highly venomous Australian snakes, one of which, the Fierce Snake, has the most toxic venom of any land species worldwide although it is not the most deadly. The taipan was named by Donald Thompson after the word used by the Wik-Mungkan Aboriginal people of central Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia.
There exist three species: the common taipan, the less common inland taipan (also known as the Fierce Snake and small-scaled snake) (Oxyuranus microlepidotus) and a recently discovered third species. The common taipan is broken up into two subspecies, the mainland coastal taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus scutellatus) and the Papuan taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus canni) which is native to the southern coast of Papua New Guinea. Their diet consists primarily of small rodents, especially rats, and bandicoots.
The coastal taipan is usually pale to dark brown in colour, fading to a lateral cream, although juveniles are lighter in colour. The Papuan taipan is black or purplish-gray, with a copper-coloured stripe on its back. They are easily found in sugar fields due to an abundance of rats - their main food source.
The inland taipan is often considered to be the most venomous land snake. With an LD50 of 0.025 mg/kg, it is 20 times as venomous as a common cobra. Lethal dose calculations are made on mice, so they have a marine bias. The bias is emphasised in this species of snake, as it is specialized to feed on rodents. Calculated LD50 values might not be applicable to non-mammalian species, and may even be inaccurate for mammals other than mice, or other rodents. The venom from a single bite of the inland taipan might be potent enough to kill about 250,000 mice, or the mouse equivalent of 100 men. This species generally lives in remote and sparsely inhabited areas. Like most snakes, inland taipans are generally shy and will usually not bite unless they feel threatened. No fatalities have been attributed to this species, and all known bites have been to people who keep them in captivity or actively seek them out in the wild.
The common taipan is the third-most venomous snake on Earth and arguably the second-largest venomous snake in Australia (the first arguably being the King Brown, Pseudechis australis). The danger posed by the coastal taipan was brought to Australian public awareness in 1950, when young herpetologist Kevin Budden was fatally bitten in capturing the first specimen available for antivenom research. The common taipan is often considered to be one of the deadliest species in the world. Mortality rate without treatment is second only to the black mamba, nearing 100%. However, antivenom treatment is highly effective. In several aspects of morphology, ecology and behaviour, the common taipan is strongly convergent with an African elapid, Dendroaspis polylepis (the black mamba).
Have you gotten your Hogwarts letter yet?
[quote="geonyzl"]I have a question..... In the Philippines there was a report of a venomous snake.. it has slender long body, and it can lift its body like a cobra(but it is not a cobra), it has a strong venom and sometimes it spits the venom to the prey. Some residents described them as snakes with legs. These snakes were known to be fast crawlers because according to them, it can chase people and other bigger animals.
the only spitting snakes live in Africa and the snake that fits ur discription best is a black momba but it lives in africa as well
I didnt vote actually. i don't mind which--afterall I haven't wished to be bit.
Still--man is the most poisonous--with all the things that he could do in this world. Even some under you know.
---Just one act of random kindness at a time and you can change the world---
the black mamba definitely is the most poisonous snake in the world. a couple drops of its venom has the ability to kill 200 grown men. it is also the worlds fastest snake and it can make
half its body(a little over half)rise off the ground.definitely deadly!!!!!
Might very well be true...
"As a biologist, I firmly believe that when you're dead, you're dead. Except for what you live behind in history. That's the only afterlife" - J. Craig Venter
The Inland Taipan.
The Mamba injects a larger amount almost instantly.
But if you are saying which is a most dangerous it would be the Mamba because of its speed.
For the Venom, its the Inland Taipan.
AND PEOPLE, STOP CONFUSING THE QUESTION!!
ITS THE MOST POISONOUS NOT THE MOST DANGEROUS!!
This is an absurd topic altogether - everybody's got their favourite that they claim to be the most venomous snake in the world, yet there are so many ways to determine this. Just check out all these snakes from, say, Wikipedia, and you notice that about all of them are said to be the most venomous snake in the world
There isn't even an universal measurement: some people use mouse body count, some use LD, others grown up men, some measure the actual venom's potency, whilst others again measure how dangerous one bite is. If you claim, e.g. that "black mamba can kill 200 grown up men with a drop of venom" or something along that, it is plain absurd - are the men 50 kg or 120 kg, or an eurasian "standard" of 70 kg - or was it 75 kg? You get the point. Even mice have different breeds and strains that give highly variable results. (The size of mice between different strains can vary tens of %) - which makes the body count (and LD) vary as well...
Just a quick glance at this thread shows that there seems to be a huge amount of beliefs and unbacked claims, and a tiny bit of knowledge. Just because everybody has their own most venomous snake, it already pretty much sums the truth that nobody knows it for sure. I see that black mamba is a very hot favourite here, yet according to many stats and tables & zoology books I've seen black mamba is lucky if it even makes it to the top 10.
The more assured someone is that his favourite snake is the most venomous in the world, the less I believe he has any real knowledge about snakes at all
If we talk about land snakes then it is inland taipan. But the sea snake is considered the most poisnous snake despite its inability to cause much harm to other creatures since it doesnt inject a very large amount of toxin.
This question is quite controversial, because of the different criterion undertaken for gauaging the potency of the snake venom (like some snakes have short fangs despite having a very toxic venom so its not very effective). But the answer normally varies between inland taipan and sea snake.
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest
|
<urn:uuid:efbceadf-8a83-40f1-96c9-55f374868856>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.biology-online.org/biology-forum/post-101683.html
|
2013-05-25T05:44:36Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.951779
| 1,532
|
During the early 1900s, images of women and children were a favourite subject for traditional and more modern artists alike. In Portrait group (The mother), Lambert contrasted two women: one wearing the kind of billowing dress worn in feminist and artistic circles, and the other standing next to her with her hand placed cavalierly on her shoulder, wearing a fashionable black satin waisted coat and a high-necked dress. In this way he contrasted the supple, rounded form of one woman against the more statuesque figure of the other, and in so doing suggested the difference between a woman’s role as a mother and that as an independent woman. As with his other family groups he used his wife and children as models, together with their artist friend Thea Proctor.
This is one of a number of images of women and children that Lambert painted, to which he gave objective titles such as Equestrian portrait of a boy (cat.26) and Holiday in Essex (cat.44) rather than the subjective ‘The artist’s family’ or ‘Amy, Maurice and Constant’. He intended his wife and children to signify the ‘ideal’ mother and children and not to represent themselves. He sometimes depicted his second son Constant dressed in a frock that was then used for baby boys, as in this work, and generally with his genitalia hidden, so that he could be viewed as any child and not specifically as this particular boy-child.
Lambert’s depiction of the boy in the long coat with his feet firmly planted on the ground looking out of the picture with an expression of roguish defiance resembles Velázquez’s portrait Philip IV of Spain in brown and silver 1632 (National Gallery, London). The stance of this figure also recalls Hans Holbein’s portrait of Henry VIII or Reynolds’s mock-heroic Master Crewe as Henry VIII 1776 (private collection). Lambert appropriated the pose, which through its common usage had become part of the general vocabulary of art. Lambert admitted that ‘the pose and atmosphere are traditional enough; and has actually no more relationship with Spanish art than with anything modern’ (ML MSS A1811 p.70). What is more, the costume came about by accident. Maurice was originally going to be painted in a white shirt, but one day he was fooling around with his father’s coat and Lambert, delighted with this image, incorporated it into the painting.
In this family group Lambert worked in the tradition of prominent society portrait painter Charles Furse. Like Furse, Lambert did not seek to paint a naturalistic outdoor image, particularly in his depiction of the landscape and the placement of the figures in it. Rather, he wanted to create a decorative effect, using the billowing forms of the clouds to enhance the rounded shapes of the figures, and deliberately placing dark shapes against light. In discussing this picture Lambert observed that ‘the dextrous brushwork, the following of the contours, the suave movement of drapery and clouds – are distinctly influenced by Furze’. (Lambert 1924, p.13)
The painting received favourable comment from contemporary London critics. The Times suggested on 4 May 1907 that the painting was ‘full of promise for the future’, while P.G. Konody, who became a staunch supporter of Lambert’s work, noted in the supplement to the Observer on 5 May 1907 that it was ‘painted with such freshness and such musical sense of colour that it is as bracing as a sea-breeze after the studio-made articles that abound all round’. He went on to suggest that Lambert’s ‘chief aim seems to have been the realisation of a decorative effect by rhythmic arrangement of line and balance of masses’.
This work is reported to have been Amy Lambert’s favourite portrait group.
|
<urn:uuid:252bf467-710b-47ba-b79b-7f7cb62c5378>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.nga.gov.au/Exhibition/LAMBERT/Detail.cfm?IRN=162297&BioArtistIRN=16104&mystartrow=25&realstartrow=25
|
2013-05-18T08:02:24Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.97639
| 817
|
A High School Reading/Writing Course (Short Version)
1) Communication, the various modes in which we connect with each other. Body gesture, signs, hidden signs, the face, the tone... etc.
2) What sounds can automatically tell us: Language, country, region in a country, educational level, social mobility pattern... ?
3) The World as a collection of sounds, carrying "meaning". Meaning as THING, as IDEA, as FUNCTION. What is Meaning?
4) The invisible code of language, which we can speak and use. How do we describe the code? Why?
5) Grammar as the code observed in a language (not a formula for construction). Right and wrong. What is "wrong" linguistically, as against socially?
6) Various levels of language use: At home, with other kids, in school, speaking with the Principal, at church, with elders, applying for a job.
7) Spoken language beside written language: What are the points of contact? Differences? Similarities?
8) Let's take a one-minute story, and try to describe what it is made up of. Then let's write our comments down, and look at the page again. Differences?
9 (Listen to a song, then look at a page of musical score. Similar? Different? In comparison to speech as against a page of print?)
10) What is a word? (Easy to decide of paper with white on each side, but hard to distinguish in speech.)
11) Analyze the one-page story in all possible ways, isolating word by word:
12) Go over Sec. 16) above, and note the things which happen again and again. This is the core of something which we can call Structure or Grammar.
13) Words functioning in sequences, how they work, what ideas they carry. English: the Rule of 1-2-3- expressing Function, as against a few "remnant endings" from an earlier period (who/whom, am/are/is).
14) A sample short study of a language which uses endings (Latin, French, or even better an artificial language): What happened to the endings in English?
15) Differences between the way you say things in different languages while meaning the same thing:
Je me porte bien (Fr.) = I feel OK
Je m'appelle... (Fr.) = my name is
Pericolo de morte (Ital.) = Danger!
Imitation de bois (Fr.) = wood grain finish
Does this mean that people think differently?
16) Can you think without words? What things cannot be expressed in words exactly? God? Smells? Tastes?
17) Setting up a grammatical framework for our use in writing good (= clear) English sentences.
NOUN VERB ADJECTIVE SINGULAR PLURAL TENSES AGREEMENT PREPOSITIONS PRONOUNS etc.
FOR THIS SECTION, SEE: SUPPLEMENT ON GRAMMAR
18) Analysis of a page of writing in terms of this framework, optionally using a color stripe for each function.
19) Analysis of a sample page of student writing, finding things which do not "fit" the situation. Are these things "wrong" in terms of communication, in style, in terms of good written English (but OK elsewhere)?
20) The levels of English in a series of readings:
Colloquial (Mark Twain dialog piece)
Vernacular of the workplace (shop or garage man)
Vernacular of a locale (a Damon Runyon story)
Substandard (ain't... ; it don't... nohow.)
"Swears" and such.
High school book-report
Paper on a poem
College paper in sociology or philosophy
Medical prose (on a sheet in a pharmacy notice)
21) A shorthand system of notation for correcting errors in written English, used as a convenience rather than a rule.
22) Practice in finding errors, understanding them, and redoing the paper to make clean and acceptable English copy.
Return to Education index
|
<urn:uuid:6716def5-896c-46a9-8a0e-1142db074b63>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://community.middlebury.edu/~harris/Education/5ShortCurriculum.html
|
2013-06-19T06:29:16Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142617/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.9117
| 870
|
By Matthew Dublin
Researchers at the Texas Advanced Computing Center are using the Ranger supercomputer to streamline software that will better enable computers to draw evolutionary trees.
The group, led by Tandy Warnow, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, developed a novel divided and conquer algorithmic approach called SATé: Simultaneous Alignment and Tree Estimation.
"By dividing a really big data set that's hard to align into small data sets that are closely related, you can get good estimates on each subset and then get an alignment on the full data set," says Warnow.
SATé uses a statistical method to provide a maximum likelihood score and then repeats the process of alignment and tree-building until a tree with the highest likelihood score is reached. In reports published in PLoS Currents and Systematic Biology, SATé has been shown to work as well as other commonly used alignment and tree estimation methods, only faster and with greater accuracy.
Warnow and her colleagues have already employed SATé to aid the ongoing research of evolutionary biologists such as the Smithsonian Institute's Michael Bruan, who is studying the evolutionary history of flightless birds, known as "ratites." Braun discovered through DNA analysis that an ancient family of birds found in South American called "tinamou" was one of the most closely related groups to emus and ostriches, and that they could fly. SATé helped to confirm the evolutionary relationship that Braun identified.
|
<urn:uuid:cbba1a02-2729-4258-bfb7-978c375ef5cb>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.genomeweb.com/blog/supercomputer-aids-phylogenetics-research-tool-development
|
2013-05-22T00:14:50Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.956074
| 297
|
Climate Chaos Is Hammering Your Health
As unusually wicked tornadoes tear through the United States this spring, many people are wondering if Earth's destabilized climate is behind such strong storms. The science community has known for years that the spike in man-made greenhouse gases would lead to more severe weather—more flooding, droughts, and stronger storms—but it's not clear if this season's tornadoes are caused by a drastically changing climate. "There's not a clear picture on tornadoes. But the series several weeks ago were part of a very large storm system, and the numbers and strength are outside norms," explains Paul Epstein, MD, MPH, associate director of the Center for Health and Global Environment at Harvard University. "We have some ideas about why, but this is speculative at this point. Changing land temperatures and pressure gradients, and the pattern of the jet stream—affected by shrinking Arctic ice—may all be playing a role."
While Dr. Epstein notes it's too early to say this spring's tornado activity is part of a long-term trend—that question will take monitoring and analysis for a definitive answer—he is very clear about the effects climate change is already having on human health. In his new book, Changing Planet, Changing Health: How the Climate Crisis Threatens Our Health and What We Can Do about It (University of California Press, 2011), Dr. Epstein connects the dots, explaining how climate change is, and will continue to be, a threat to the general public and our health care system. Ignoring the problem is no longer an option, which is why the author is bringing climate destabilization to a personal level. "We're really sticking our heads in the sand about the impacts of climate change," says Dr. Epstein, who notes that the fossil-fuel-industry-funded doubt campaign has been working over the last several decades. "We need to bring it home so people understand that it's affecting their health, and how it's in their backyard. In the next 10 to 20 years, expect to see a lot of very wild, severe, punishing, disease-promoting, and costly extreme weather events."
Scientists have ascertained that a sharp spike in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is causing stronger storms, including more powerful hurricanes. So how exactly does this work? "Global warming is causing climate change through the ocean," explains Dr. Epstein. Warmer seas mean faster water-evaporation rates, which fuels hurricanes, storms, and severe flooding. The warming leads to increased water vapor in the atmosphere. That, coupled with melting arctic, antarctic, and mountain glaciers, is transforming the water cycle, leading to much more intense precipitation events in the United States and elsewhere, Dr. Epstein says.Eat cleaner food, without cleaning out your pockets: How to be a budget organic
Deserts are also drying out faster, due to a shift in winds. And when it does rain, it pours. Since 1970, Dr. Epstein says there's a 7 percent increase in instances of events producing two inches of rain in a day; four-inches-in-a-day occurrences are up 20 percent, and events dumping half a foot have risen nearly 30 percent. All of these changes are leading to pest infestations in our forests and yards, higher rates of waterborne diseases, and other ailments outlined below.(Story continues after video)
Climate change and health are connected—here's how the changes may be affecting you.
- Allergies: Researchers at Harvard and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have discovered that excess CO2 levels—mainly from burning coal and oil—are creating super-charged ragweed plants brimming with much higher rates of hayfever-inducing pollen. Lewis Ziska, PhD, a veteran research plant physiologist with the USDA, found that jumping from preindustrial atmospheric carbon dioxide levels (280 ppm) to 1999 levels (370 ppm) doubled the amount of pollen ragweed produces. Interestingly, the high CO2 levels also create more potent pollen, which explains why lately it seems every allergy season is the worst ever. (Ziska also discovered that allergy season now lasts two to four weeks longer in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere.)
A warming climate alters growing seasons and could lead to a rise in respiratory allergies. (Do you live in one of the Top 10 Spring Allergy Capitals of the U.S.?) Extreme and more frequent precipitation could increase lung-irritating mold counts, while the same is true for higher dust levels in the air, stemming from droughts.
- Asthma: Allergies account for about half of asthma attack triggers, meaning skyrocketing pollen counts of fast-growing trees in the spring, and ragweed in the fall, are landing more people in the hospital for asthma symptoms. As climate change causes more heat waves, ground-level ozone also increases, priming allergic response.
- Heat-related deaths: Perhaps one of the most blatant occurrences signaling out-of-the-ordinary periods of high temperatures occurred in 2003, when a heat wave of unprecedented proportions killed more than 52,000 people in Europe. That summer, temperatures were a whopping 20 to 30 percent higher than the seasonal average across much of Europe. "The odds of such a heat wave happening by chance, based on climate trends from 1864 to 2002, were about one in 10 million," writes Dr. Epstein.
- Poison ivy outbreaks: Like ragweed, pesky poison ivy also thrives on higher carbon dioxide levels. A 2006 study found that increased carbon dioxide levels stimulate poison ivy to grow stronger and produce more urushiol, the oil that causes skin irritation.
- Dengue fever: A viral infection spread by mosquitoes,dengue fever is making a comeback in the U.S., in part due to more mosquito-friendly conditions brought on by climate-change-charged flooding. While generally not life-threatening the first time a person is infected, life-threatening brain swelling can occur after a person is bitten again by a infectious mosquito. Cases of West Nile virus, also a mosquito-borne disease, are also expected to increase.
- Infections from dirty water: Strong storms often bring major flooding, and create the perfect storm for infections from waterborne E. coli and other pathogens. After Hurricane Katrina, excess water and humidity also created ideal breeding conditions for mold and fungi, which can cause respiratory and even mental problems.
Protect yourself: Check beach water-quality reports before heading to the ocean. If rapid results aren't available, refrain from swimming in the ocean 24 hours after a major rainstorm—it's not uncommon for overrun stormwater systems to create sewage overflow that winds up in the water.
- Blown-out knees and heart attacks: Climate change isn't just about warming trends. Researchers suspect that stronger winter storms are a result of climate destabilization, too, and Dr. Epstein believes doctors are seeing more car accidents and orthopedic injury victims due to more inclement weather. Stronger winter storms could also mean a rise in people suffering cardiac arrest after cleaning up snow and ice.
- Lyme disease: Climate change is expanding the range where Lyme-infected ticks transmit the disease to people. Lyme disease is virtually all over the country now, and by 2080, researchers expect the Lyme disease zone in Canada to double.
- Meningitis: According to Dr. Epstein, shifts in ocean temperature and salinity are accelerating the sweeping of massive dust clouds from Africa to the Caribbean. These dust clouds can harbor bacteria, fungi, viruses, industrial chemicals, heavy metals, and even the bacteria that carries lethal meningitis.
Find More on MSN Health:
- Worst Plants & Trees for Your Allergies, Asthma
- 15 Hypoallergenic Dogs and Cats
- Find Out What Could Be Causing Your Breathing Problem
- 5 Ways to Unwind in 60 Seconds
are you allergic? allergy help
And how you can help when allergies strike
Here's how to look out for the most common allergy-causing plants and trees.
Pets can be your best friends, but if you have allergies or asthma, they can also be your worst enemy.
When was the last time you peered into your fridge, grabbed a container, and gave it a sniff?
Beat itchy eyes, sneezing, and a runny nose with these dawn-to-dusk fixes.
Protect yourself and your family with these little-known allergy facts
Are you inadvertently making your allergies worse?
We know how it goes. The weather starts to warm and you want to be excited—No more freezing toes! No more sleeping under 10 blankets! Bring on the sandals!—-but alas, you know that with spring comes your annual allergy misery.
|
<urn:uuid:891ec967-ddeb-4c82-8da1-20bc76af594f>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://healthyliving.msn.com/diseases/allergies/climate-chaos-is-hammering-your-health-1
|
2013-06-19T14:18:55Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.938501
| 1,807
|
When the phrases “financial crisis” or “economic meltdown” enter a conversation, for most of us, it is tempting to tune out. Resist the urge if you can.
These topics are not abstract or irrelevant to our livelihoods and well-being. This particularly so at a time when our present economic and ecological predicaments are being recognized by some as intricately interlinked.
“The global economy is facing a ‘triple crunch’: a combination of a credit-fueled financial crisis, accelerating climate change and soaring energy prices underpinned by encroaching peak oil,” according to the New Economics Foundation, authors of a proposal for a United Kingdom Green New Deal.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has also recently called for a “ Global Green New Deal” to tackle the “twin challenge of climate change and the financial crises”.
Other think tanks including the Post-Carbon Institute have entered the fray with their call for the Real New Deal to get the United States off its oil addiction. Whereas, in Japan, the Ministry of the Environment is currently collecting ideas on the Japanese version of a New Green Deal (if there are others, let us know).
Not much has been done yet to implement these proposals, but most so-called stimulus plans — including that of the Obama administration — contain some very green proposals.
What’s the big deal?
The Green New Deals are a 21st century version of the original New Deal, which was a broad set of economic and social policies implemented to respond to the Great Depression of the 1930s United States.
These new green versions are innovative in linking, and addressing together, the world’s broken economic system and its rapidly declining natural environment.
Ban Ki-Moon’s appeal is built on the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) “ Green Economy Initiative”. The accompanying report recommends “mobilizing and re-focusing the global economy towards investments in clean technologies and ‘natural’ infrastructure such as forests and soils.”
In theory, the creation of green jobs can reduce our reliance on damaging and finite fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas.
The six key areas of UNEP’s Green Economy Initiative are:
• Clean energy and clean technologies including recycling
• Rural energy, including renewables and sustainable biomass
• Sustainable agriculture, including organic agriculture
• Ecosystem infrastructure (e.g. replenishing water supplies)
• Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD)
• Sustainable cities including planning, transportation and green building
Governments – who needs them?
In the 20th century, through the constant forces of consumption and production, like it or not we have caused great environmental damage. In particular, the way in which extraction of natural resources has been regulated (or unregulated, as they case may be) is having, and will continue to have, severe and long term consequences.
Any future economic path that we choose will determine if this depletion of natural capital continues unabated.
Changing this course will depend on how green any Green New Deal will be.
Enthusiasts want an expanded role for government through massive investments in greener technology, as well as better regulation of finance and taxation.
On the other hand, many economists, business leaders and politicians take a more cautionary approach. Many believe that government can provide incentives for the private sector to invest in cleaner energies, for example, by taxing green house gas emissions. However, they do not support overall rises in taxation, capital controls or a greater state role in industrial development.
These viewpoints represent the latest round in the wrestling match between Keynesians, who see a role for government in the economy, and liberal (or classical) economists who believe the market will solve our problems. If only they could learn to put aside their differences for a while and focus on the problems at hand.
Knowing the past, growing the future
While this ideological battle is old, the challenges we face are new, and the stakes are higher than ever.
Each government, international organization and think-tank claims that its own Green New Deal strategy will deliver the biggest, best economic growth into the future.
Across the spectrum of these approaches, even for those backing a greener economy and more radical change, “economic growth” still seems to be the endgame. Perhaps this thirst for expansion has simply become a habit, given that the world’s GDP doubled between 1981 and 2005.
In the same period however, 60 per cent of the earth’s ecosystem has been degraded while 2.6 billion people still live on less than US$2 per day, to paraphrase Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP.
Sadly, our entrenched inclination towards economic growth may be obscuring alternative ways forward that could enable societies to move beyond anthropocentric and consumerist lifestyles. We are so fixated with exponential growth that it is almost taboo or even naive to think differently.
Positively, the present financial crisis has been reinterpreted by many as an opportunity to drastically reshape our present system.
Unfortunately however, the financial crisis will also tempt political leaders to choose quick fixes to kick-start economies, instead of more farsighted and sustainable policies. We (the public) will share blame for this, because basically we want them to fix things quickly and will soon become impatient when they do not.
Similarly, no doubt as citizens we could become further preoccupied about our financial security at the expense of our environmental footprint.
Topping down bottom up approaches
These bottom-up ideas are inspiring and encourage all of us to make the small difference we can. However, as groundbreaking as they are, these bottom-up initiatives combined cannot solve the world’s problems alone.
Top-down visionary plans like a Green New Deal are an essential umbrella under which nations will need to communicate and cooperate to address common global problems.
There has been a lot of talk about the challenge of getting all the big players, the US and China most notably, to agree at the Copenhagen Conference at the end of this year.
In attempting meaningful global consensus, an even greater challenge may be our collective ability to think outside the “sphere” and beyond our present growth fetish. Do we have what it takes to make a New Green Deal?
|
<urn:uuid:66c133ad-ef16-470c-8565-e26ba387660b>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/deal-or-no-deal/
|
2013-05-19T11:17:32Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697420704/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094340-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.945325
| 1,319
|
Tuesday 21 May
Mulanje cedar (Widdringtonia whytei)
What’s the World’s Favourite Species?Find out here.
Mulanje cedar fact file
- Find out more
- Print factsheet
Mulanje cedar description
The Mulanje cedar, declared the national tree of Malawi by the late Malawi president Hastings Kamazu Banda (3) (5), is considered a very valuable timber, important to socio-economic development (6). It is a tall, impressive, wide-crowned forest tree with a long straight trunk (4), often branchless up to a height of about 21 meters, making it useful for timber (2). Like the other three Widdringtonia species native to Africa, or ‘African cypresses’, this tree is referred to as a ‘cedar’ (7), possibly for the aromatic, cedar-like odour of its wood (2), but is actually completely unrelated to true cedars (7). As with many other species in the cypress family, Widdringtonia species have different juvenile and adult foliage. While seedlings have needle-like leaves arranged spirally around a stem, adults possess scale-like leaves, arranged in opposite pairs at right angles to one another, pressed tightly against the stem (7) (8).
- Also known as
- Mlanje cedar, Mlanje cypress, Mulanje cedarwood. Top
- Mulanje Mountain Conservation Trust:
- Pauw, A.C. and Linder, P.H. (1997) Tropical African cedars (Widdringtonia, Cupressaceae): systematics, ecology and conservation status. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 123(4): 297 – 319.
- Bayliss, J., Makunga, S., Hecht, J., Nangoma, D. and Bruessow, C. (2007) Saving the island in the sky: the plight of the Mount Mulanje cedar Widdringtonia whytei. Oryx, 41(1): 64-69.
- Chapman, J.D. (1995) The Mulanje Cedar – Malawi’s National Tree. Society of Malawi, Blantyre.
- A species or taxonomic group that is only found in one particular country or geographic area.
- IUCN Red List (September, 2007)
- USDA Forest Service (September, 2007)
- Bayliss, J., Makunga, S., Hecht, J., Nangoma, D. and Bruessow, C. (2007) Saving the island in the sky: the plight of the Mount Mulanje cedar Widdringtonia whytei. Oryx, 41(1): 64 - 69.
- Pauw, A.C. and Linder, P.H. (1997) Tropical African cedars (Widdringtonia, Cupressaceae): systematics, ecology and conservation status. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 123(4): 297 - 319.
- Chapman, J.D. (1995) The Mulanje Cedar – Malawi’s National Tree. Society of Malawi, Blantyre.
- UNESCO – MAB Biosphere Reserve Directory (September, 2007)
- Search.com (September, 2007)
- The Gymnosperm Database (September, 2007)
- UNEP-WCMC (September, 2007)
- Burfield, T. (2003) Unethical Use of Rare and Threatened Plant and Animal Products in the Aroma Industry. Endangered Species Update, 20(3): 97 - 106.
- Bayliss, J. (2007) Pers. comm.
- Mulanje Mountain Conservation Trust (September, 2007)
- view the contents of, and Material on, the website;
- download and retain copies of the Material on their personal systems in digital form in low resolution for their own personal use;
- teachers, lecturers and students may incorporate the Material in their educational material (including, but not limited to, their lesson plans, presentations, worksheets and projects) in hard copy and digital format for use within a registered educational establishment, provided that the integrity of the Material is maintained and that copyright ownership and authorship is appropriately acknowledged by the End User.
Mulanje cedar biology
Widdringtonia species are hermaphroditic: having both male and female reproductive organs on the same plant (monoecious) (8). The seeds of most Widdringtonia species may be kept in the female cones for several years, and are usually only dropped after being scorched by a wildfire to grow on the newly cleared burnt ground (9). The Mulanje cedar is a pioneer species, which is unable to regenerate under a closed canopy. Protected from frequent fires saplings can be found growing sporadically on the forest edge (5). Very little else has been documented on the biology of this tree.Top
Mulanje cedar range
The Mulanje cedar is endemic to Mount Mulanje, a Forest Reserve in southern Malawi. Mount Mulanje covers an area of 650 m² and rises over 3,000 metres, making it the second highest mountain in southern Africa (1) (3) (5).Top
Mulanje cedar habitat
Scattered in sub-montane, moist, mixed, open forest between 1,500 and 2,200 meters above sea level (9).Top
Mulanje cedar status
Classified as Endangered (EN) by the IUCN Red List 2007 (1). There has been much debate on whether this species is actually a form or sub-species of Widdringtonia nodiflora, a more common southern African species (3) (4) (5). However, recent DNA research undertaken by the University of Cape Town has revealed that Widdringtonia whytei is indeed a separate species.Top
Mulanje cedar threats
The Mulanje cedar has been heavily exploited in the past (3) (5) (9), with its wood used as timber and its sawdust distilled to obtain oil for local use as an insecticide (3) (5) (10). The wood is considered enormously valuable, being very fragrant and resistant to termites, borers and fungal disease. It is used locally for making carvings, boxes and furniture sold to tourists and is also sold abroad for light construction and flooring. The timber is thought to be particularly good for boat-building, to the point that fishery officials have urged that remaining supplies be reserved for the Lake Malawi fishing industry. The Forestry Department of Malawi have recently agreed to supply Mulanje Cedar to build 450 boats for this purpose (11). The tree’s decline has been somewhat stemmed by a ban on felling, allowing exploitation only of dead trees, but illegal felling and killing of trees continues at an alarming rate. The Mulanje Mountain Forest Reserve is also generally threatened by encroachment and large-scale development, such as the continual threat of bauxite mining. Additionally, there is concern that mature individuals appear to be dying at a high rate, thought possibly to be due to their high sensitivity to forest fires and susceptibility to attacks by a species of aphid (3). Regeneration, on the other hand, seems to depend on fire and is extremely poor. In addition, Pinus patula (originally a commercial plantation species) has invaded a number of areas suitable for Widdringtonia colonisation (5) (9). All these threats have greatly impacted the Mulanje cedar; a 2007 study found that the remaining Mulanje cedar forests had been reduced by 40 percent over the previous 15 years (3). Out of the remaining 845.3 hectares of forest identified, over 32 percent of standing Mulanje cedar was found to be dead (3). As so much dead wood is available for utilisation, there should be no reason to cut live Mulanje cedar (3).Top
Mulanje cedar conservation
All Mulanje cedars are protected within the Mulanje Mountain Forest Reserve and licences are available now only for the exploitation of dead trees from the Forestry Department of Malawi (3) (9). The Mulanje Mountain Conservation Trust has also been set up to provide long-term support for the research and conservation of biological diversity in the Mulanje Mountain Forest Reserve, and the sustainable utilisation of its natural resources. The Trust is working with the Forestry Department of Malawi in bringing in community participation to manage the resources of the forest reserve and maximise the benefits among resource users (12). Not only is the Mulanje cedar a national emblem to Malawi, but it is also of critical financial importance to this relatively poor country and, as such, its protection and sustainable use is a national priority (6).Top
Find out more
For more information on the Mulanje cedarwood see:
Authenticated (24/09/07) by Julian Bayliss (PhD), Ecologist, Mulanje Mountain Conservation Trust, P.O. Box 139, Mulanje, Malawi.
MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.
Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials
Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.
Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:
End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.
Additional use of flagged material
Green flagged material
Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.
Creative commons material
Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.
Any other use
Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.
Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.
|
<urn:uuid:a56b8e17-161c-4d43-87fa-c1e53ac8a24a>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.arkive.org/mulanje-cedar/widdringtonia-whytei/
|
2013-05-22T14:48:04Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.86659
| 2,419
|
Fletcher Allen, a Vermont university hospital and medical center, serves all of
Vermont and the northern New York region. Located in Burlington, Fletcher Allen is a regional, academic healthcare center and teaching hospital in alliance with the University of Vermont.
Is this topic for you?
This topic covers how preterm labor affects the pregnant woman. If you want to know how it affects the baby after he or she is born, see the topic Premature Infant.
What is preterm labor?
Preterm labor is labor that comes too early—between 20 and 37 weeks of pregnancy.
Preterm labor is also called premature labor.
What are the risks of preterm labor and preterm birth?
The earlier a baby is delivered, the higher the chances are that he or she will have serious problems. This is because many of the baby's organs—especially the heart and lungs—aren't fully grown yet.
For infants born before 24 weeks of pregnancy, the chances of survival are extremely slim. Many who do survive have long-term health problems. They may also have trouble with learning and talking and with moving their body (poor motor skills).
What causes preterm labor?
Causes of preterm labor include:
- The placenta separating early from the uterus. This is called placenta abruptio.
- Being pregnant with more than one baby, such as twins or triplets.
- An infection in the mother's uterus that leads to the start of labor.
- Problems with the uterus or cervix.
- Drug or alcohol use during pregnancy.
- The mother's water (amniotic fluid) breaking before contractions start.
Often the cause isn't known.
Sometimes a doctor uses medicine or other methods to start labor early because of pregnancy problems that are dangerous to the mother or her baby.
What are the symptoms?
It can be hard to tell when labor starts, especially when it starts early. So watch for these symptoms:
- Regular contractions for an hour. This means about 4 or more in 20 minutes, or about 8 or more within 1 hour, even after you have had a glass of water and are resting.
- Leaking or gushing of fluid from your vagina. You may notice that it is pink or reddish. This is called a rupture of membranes, also known as your water breaking. When this happens before contractions start, it's called premature rupture of membranes, or PROM. When it happens before 37 weeks of pregnancy, it is called preterm premature rupture of membranes, or pPROM.
- Pain that feels like menstrual cramps, with or without diarrhea.
- A feeling of pressure in your pelvis or lower belly.
- A dull ache in your lower back, pelvic area, lower belly, or thighs that doesn't go away.
- Not feeling well, including having a fever you can't explain and being overly tired. Your belly may hurt when you press on it.
If your contractions stop, they may have been Braxton Hicks contractions. These are a sometimes uncomfortable—but not painful—tightening of the uterus. They are like practice contractions. But sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference.
How is preterm labor diagnosed?
If you think you have symptoms of preterm labor, call your doctor or certified nurse-midwife. He or she can check to see if your water has broken, if you have an infection, or if your cervix is starting to dilate.
You may also have urine and blood tests to check for problems that can cause preterm labor.
Checking the baby's heartbeat and doing an ultrasound can give your doctor or midwife a good picture of how your baby is doing. Amniotic fluid can be tested for signs that your baby's lungs have grown enough for delivery.
You may have a painless swab test for a protein in the vagina called fetal fibronectin. If the test doesn't find the protein, then you are unlikely to deliver soon. But the test can't tell for certain if you are about to have a preterm birth.
How is it treated?
If you are in preterm labor, your doctor or certified nurse-midwife must compare the risks of early delivery with the risks of waiting to deliver. Depending on your situation, your doctor or midwife may:
- Try to delay the birth with medicine. This may or may not work.
- Use antibiotics to treat or prevent infection. If your amniotic sac has broken early, you have a high risk of infection and must be watched closely.
- Give you steroid medicine to help prepare your baby's lungs for birth.
- Treat any other medical problems causing trouble in pregnancy.
- Allow the labor to go on because delivery is safer for the mother and baby than letting the pregnancy go on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Learning about preterm labor:
Preterm labor can be caused by a problem involving the baby, the mother, or both. Often a combination of several factors is responsible. But in about 1 out of 3 preterm births, the cause isn't known.1
Causes of preterm labor include:
- Being pregnant with more than one baby. Women who are pregnant with more than one baby have an increased risk of complications—both for the mother and the babies—and typically deliver early.
- Infection, which can trigger uterine contractions and preterm premature rupture of membranes (pPROM). This may include:
- Placenta abruptio. This is the early separation of the placenta from the uterus.
- The use of drugs such as cocaine or methamphetamine.
- Problems with the uterus or cervix, such as:
Preterm labor often starts without obvious symptoms. But you may notice one or more symptoms, including:
- Menstrual-like cramps, with or without diarrhea.
- A feeling of pressure in your pelvis or lower belly.
- A persistent, dull ache in your lower back, pelvic area, lower belly, or thighs.
- Changes in your vaginal discharge, which may increase in amount or become pink or reddish.
- Regular contractions. This means about 4 or more in 20 minutes, or about 8 or more within 1 hour, even after you have had a glass of water and are resting.
- Not feeling well. This may include:
- Having a fever that you can't explain.
- Feeling unusually tired.
- Feeling pain in your belly when you press on it.
It is sometimes hard to tell the difference between Braxton Hicks contractions and preterm labor contractions.
You may have one or more of these symptoms and not be in preterm labor. But if you are concerned, talk to your doctor or nurse-midwife.
If preterm labor occurs close to your due date (in the 35th or 36th week of pregnancy), you may be allowed to deliver without delay. Preterm birth at this point in a pregnancy doesn't usually cause serious problems.
But preterm labor doesn't always mean that preterm birth will happen. Your doctor may be able to stop your preterm labor.
When preterm labor can't be stopped, most women can deliver vaginally. But if your health or your baby's health is at risk, you may need a cesarean section.
A baby born too early may have complications, such as bleeding in the brain or chronic lung disease. The earlier a baby is born, the higher the risk.
Your doctors can prepare you for what may lie ahead. They can base this on your condition and how many weeks pregnant you will be when you give birth.
Thanks to improved medical care, more premature infants are surviving today than in years past. For more information, see the topic Premature Infant.
What Increases Your Risk
A risk factor is anything that increases your chances of having a problem.
Risk factors related to your pregnancy
- Pregnancy with twins, triplets, or more.
- Infection in the urinary or reproductive tract, including the vagina.
- Shortened cervix or incompetent cervix.
Risk factors related to your medical history
- A past preterm delivery.
- Previous surgery on your cervix, such as a cone biopsy. Having a loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) also may increase preterm labor risk.2 But experts don't know for sure if the increased risk is from the surgery itself or the problems with the cervix that led to surgery.3
Other risk factors
- Being younger than 18 years.
- Cigarette smoking during pregnancy.
- Use of cocaine or methamphetamine.
When To Call a Doctor
Preterm labor can be hard to recognize. Get the earliest possible medical care by calling your doctor or your nurse-midwife about signs of preterm labor.
Anytime during your pregnancy
Call your doctor or your nurse-midwife if:
- Your water breaks.
- You have bleeding or spotting from your vagina.
- You have painful or frequent urination or your urine is cloudy, foul-smelling, or bloody.
Between 20 and 37 weeks of your pregnancy
Call your doctor, your nurse-midwife, or the labor and delivery unit of your local hospital if:
- You have had regular contractions for an hour. This means about 8 or more within 1 hour, even after you have had a glass of water and are resting.
- You have unexplained low back pain or pelvic pressure.
- You have symptoms of infection. For example:
- Your belly hurts when you press on it.
- You have a fever that you can't explain.
- You feel unusually tired.
- You have intestinal cramps.
- The baby has stopped moving or is moving much less than normal. Use kick counting to check your baby's activity.
If you are having painless or mild contractions that are irregular or more than 15 minutes apart:
- Stop what you are doing.
- Empty your bladder.
- Drink 2 or 3 glasses of water or juice (having too little body fluid can cause contractions).
- Lie down on your left side for at least an hour, and keep track of how often you have contractions.
If your contractions stop, they were probably Braxton Hicks contractions. These are harmless and normal. Braxton Hicks contractions are often irregularly timed and uncomfortable rather than painful.
Call your doctor or nurse-midwife if you start to have regular contractions.
Who to see
If you are in preterm labor, you may be seen by:
- An obstetrician.
- A perinatologist, also known as a maternal-fetal medicine specialist.
- A family medicine doctor.
To prepare for your appointment, see the topic Making the Most of Your Appointment.
Exams and Tests
If you have symptoms of preterm labor, both you and your baby will be examined and monitored.
Information from these exams and tests can help you and your doctor or nurse-midwife decide whether to treat early labor and delay the birth or let it continue.
For the mother
You will be examined for tenderness in your uterus. Your temperature, pulse, and rate of breathing will be checked. Depending on your symptoms, you may have one or more exams or tests, including:
- Vaginal smear. This test looks for:
- Infection. Having an infection in the vagina can cause infection in your uterus. And that can trigger preterm labor as well as serious infection in the newborn.
- Amniotic fluid. Finding this fluid in the vagina means that your water has broken.
- Fetal fibronectin. When the test is negative, it is unlikely that you are having preterm labor. This test isn't used in all labor and delivery units.
- Vaginal exam. You'll be checked to see if the contractions have begun to open (dilate) or thin (efface) your cervix.
- Ultrasound to check the length of your cervix.
- Other tests for infection, such as a blood test, urine test, and urine culture.
For the baby
Preterm labor isn't always treated. When deciding whether—and how—to treat it, your doctor or nurse-midwife will think about:
- Your baby's weight and age. Ideally, preterm labor is delayed until a baby is mature enough to avoid problems after birth. When a pregnancy is nearing term (about 37 or more weeks), preterm labor is usually allowed to continue until delivery.
- Your health. Very high blood pressure, severe preeclampsia, HELLP syndrome, chronic disease, infection, or heavy bleeding can make it necessary to deliver right away.
- Your baby's health. Signs of fetal distress or illness can make it necessary to deliver right away.
- The stage of your labor and how fast it's moving along. For example, when your cervix is well effaced and dilated, medicine to slow labor is less likely to work.
- The distance to the nearest neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). If there is a good chance that you could be taken to the NICU, your doctor may try to slow labor.
If your water hasn't broken, you will be observed for at least an hour or two to see if your contractions continue and your cervix changes (opens and thins). If your cervix doesn't change, or if your contractions stop or slow down, you may be sent home.
If your cervix changes, you will be admitted to the labor and delivery unit.
In the hospital, your doctor or nurse-midwife may use medicines to:
- Slow or stop contractions.
- Treat infection.
- Help the baby's lungs mature.
- Help protect your baby's brain. If you're less than 32 weeks pregnant, your doctor or nurse-midwife may give you medicine to help prevent some problems that affect your baby's brain, such as cerebral palsy.4
For more information, see Medications.
It's hard to prevent preterm labor, because it usually isn't expected. Also, it's often due to causes that aren't completely understood.
But building some healthy pregnancy habits—such as going to all of your doctor appointments and getting enough folic acid— may help prevent preterm labor and give your baby the best chance to be healthy.
Being pregnant with twins, triplets, or more increases the chances of preterm labor and problems for the babies.
If you had preterm labor in a previous pregnancy, your risk for having it again is high. Your doctor may consider giving you weekly progesterone shots during your second and third trimesters. Research shows that these shots may help lower your risk of preterm labor.3
But if you're pregnant with twins or more, progesterone treatment is generally not used to prevent preterm labor even if you had a previous preterm birth. Research has not shown that progesterone shots prevent preterm birth in women pregnant with more than one baby.4
Symptoms of preterm labor are warning signs. They don't necessarily mean that you'll have a preterm birth.
If you're less than 37 weeks pregnant and you're having more or stronger contractions than usual, try these things:
- Drink 2 or 3 glasses of water or juice. Not having enough liquids can cause contractions.
- Stop what you are doing, and empty your bladder. Then lie down on your left side for at least 1 hour.
- If your contractions get worse during the hour, call your doctor or nurse-midwife, or go to the hospital.
- Try to remember what you were doing when the symptoms started so that you can avoid starting the contractions again later.
Although stress isn't thought to be a direct cause of preterm labor, do what you can to reduce stress in your life. Try to do less, ask for help, and eat well.
Strict bed rest is no longer used to prevent preterm labor. But your doctor may recommend expectant management, which may involve some bed rest.
If your contractions are causing changes in your cervix, or if you have signs of infection or preterm premature rupture of membranes (pPROM), you may be given medicines to help delay delivery.
Delaying labor even for a short time can allow you to be:
- Moved to a medical center that has a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
- Given medicine to speed up lung development, which takes at least 48 hours to fully benefit the baby's lungs. Even 24 hours provides some benefit.
- Antibiotics, to prevent or treat infection.
- Antenatal corticosteroids, to help prepare the fetus's lungs for preterm birth.
- Tocolytic medicines, to stop preterm labor. Examples include:
Certain tocolytic medicines can be dangerous when a fetus is showing signs of distress or for women with certain health conditions (such as heart problems, severe preeclampsia, or poorly controlled diabetes or high blood pressure).
It isn't used to treat preterm labor. But for a woman who has had a preterm birth in the past because her cervix didn't stay closed, cervical cerclage may prevent another preterm birth.1
Other Places To Get Help
|American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)|
|409 12th Street SW|
|P.O. Box 70620|
|Washington, DC 20024-9998|
American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is a nonprofit organization of professionals who provide health care for women, including teens. The ACOG Resource Center publishes manuals and patient education materials. The Web publications section of the site has patient education pamphlets on many women's health topics, including reproductive health, breast-feeding, violence, and quitting smoking.
|American Pregnancy Association|
|1425 Greenway Drive|
|Irving, TX 75038|
The American Pregnancy Association is a national health organization committed to promoting reproductive and pregnancy wellness through education, research, advocacy, and community awareness. You can call a toll-free helpline or use the Web site to request patient education materials.
|March of Dimes|
|1275 Mamaroneck Avenue|
|White Plains, NY 10605|
The March of Dimes tries to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and early death. March of Dimes supports research, community services, education, and advocacy to save babies' lives. The organization's website has information on premature birth, birth defects, birth defects testing, pregnancy, and prenatal care.
- Haas DM (2011). Preterm birth, search date June 2010. BMJ Clinical Evidence. Available online: http://www.clinicalevidence.com.
- Samson SA, et al. (2005). The effect of loop electrosurgical excision procedure on future pregnancy outcomes. Obstetrics and Gynecology, 105(2): 325–332.
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (2012). Prediction and prevention of preterm birth. ACOG Practice Bulletin No. 130. Obstetrics and Gynecology, 120(4): 964–973.
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (2012). Management of preterm labor. ACOG Practice Bulletin No. 127. Obstetrics and Gynecology, 119(6): 1308–1317.
Other Works Consulted
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (2007, reaffirmed 2012). Premature rupture of membranes. ACOG Practice Bulletin No. 80. Obstetrics and Gynecology, 109(4): 1007–1019.
- Iams JD, et al. (2009). Preterm labor and birth. In RK Creasy et al., eds., Creasy and Resnik's Maternal Fetal Medicine, 6th ed., pp. 545–582. Philadelphia: Saunders Elsevier.
- McDonald S, et al. (2005). Perinatal outcomes of in vitro fertilization twins: A systematic review and meta-analyses. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 193: 141–152.
- Murphy KE, et al. (2008). Multiple courses of antenatal corticosteroids for preterm birth (MACS): A randomised controlled trial. Lancet, 372(9656): 2143–2151.
- U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (2008). Screening for Bacterial Vaginosis in Pregnancy to Prevent Preterm Delivery: Recommendation Statement. Available online: http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf08/bv/bvrs.htm.
- Yost NP, et al. (2006). Effect of coitus on recurrent preterm birth. Obstetrics and Gynecology, 107(4): 793–797.
|Primary Medical Reviewer||Sarah Marshall, MD - Family Medicine|
|Specialist Medical Reviewer||William Gilbert, MD - Maternal and Fetal Medicine|
|Last Revised||January 8, 2013|
Last Revised: January 8, 2013
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.
|
<urn:uuid:d430a11f-cccc-47e5-bae2-07b185d4c4dd>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.fletcherallen.org/health_information/?id=hw222237
|
2013-05-25T12:56:06Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.91574
| 4,502
|
AIDS is a taboo and terrifying topic in much of the world. So how do you teach people to prevent or treat the disease? Piya Sorcar (’01) has developed a curriculum that has millions of people watching and learning.
In Rwanda, crowds who gathered outdoors to watch World Cup soccer saw Sorcar’s animated tutorials between periods in the game.
In Tanzania, an activist named Saruni Olodi wanted to show the programs in a village that didn’t have Internet access. Sorcar’s nonprofit, TeachAIDS.org, made the materials available on CD-ROM, but that didn’t work out exactly as planned.
“He told us he didn’t have Internet. He didn’t tell us he didn’t have electricity,” Sorcar said. Olodi managed to find a generator, fuel and a projector and show the tutorials on a sheet tacked over a classroom blackboard.
Sorcar started offering her curriculum in five countries in 2009. It’s now in use in 70 countries. Last year, she was named to MIT Technology Review’s TR 35 list of the top 35 innovators worldwide under the age of 35.
It’s been a relatively quick road from Boulder to TeachAIDS for Sorcar. She graduated from CU with bachelor’s degrees in journalism, economics and business information systems. She went to work as an economic consultant, and then went to Stanford for a doctoral program in education. As she began to plan her research, Sorcar read that India – her parents’ home country – was an international hotspot for AIDS, even though millions of dollars had been spent on education and prevention programs.
“Despite all this money, despite all the expertise, the knowledge level about AIDS was really low,” she said. “I wanted to know what wasn’t working.”
Her first research project involved 200 kids in a part of India where AIDS education programs had been plentiful.
The kids didn’t even know the basics of HIV transmission. “The number one question was whether there was a cure,” Sorcar said. After further research, she learned that the local teachers simply didn’t want to talk about the subject.
“They either thought they didn’t know enough about this health topic or felt embarrassed to teach about HIV, so sometimes they would just give the kids the materials to take home and read. Sometimes, they just wouldn’t talk about it at all.”
The students, in turn, were too embarrassed to ask. AIDS education groups used billboards and other advertising, but it’s harder for people to learn that way because the message isn’t reinforced and questions aren’t answered, Sorcar said.
As she saw how badly the education programs were faring “I started thinking, ‘Is there a way to teach about taboo topics without talking about them?’ ” That question became her dissertation topic, and AIDS her case study.
The result is an interactive software animation package that teaches people about AIDS. The stories are carefully tailored to the cultural mores of each community. If people can’t be shown kissing, for instance, a series of frames shows the human characters standing apart, and then standing closer together before the action moves to a pair of birds kissing on the limb of a tree.
“It’s whatever analogies, metaphors or characters resonate with the culture,” Sorcar said.
Because people are so sensitive about the subject, the stories must be “de-personalized,” she said. The characters are animated rather than portrayed by actors. They aren’t named to avoid discomfort if someone in the crowd has the same name.
The curriculum focuses on prevention and testing, including the key messages that HIV is asymptomatic but people who are tested can get treatment, live longer and even have healthy children.
It took Sorcar and her team two years to create a baseline version of the curriculum and a system to measure what students were learning and whether they were changing their behavior. When early research results became available, she posted them online and drew worldwide attention from teachers, the medical community and private individuals who wanted similar materials in their countries. Then the challenge became making sure the curriculum was culturally appropriate to each location.
Before long, TeachAIDS materials were in use in China and South Africa, and the research, approved by an independent review board and conducted at Stanford, showed the program was working.
“This was meant to be a theoretical dissertation, but the results were so strong that when I graduated (from Stanford) I started a nonprofit,” Sorcar said.
Two-and-a-half years later, the curriculum is in use around the world. It’s available to everyone at no cost, and Stanford continues to support her research, Sorcar said.
Making sure the curriculum works culturally “has everything to do with working with the people working in-country,” Sorcar said. TeachAIDS partners with education and health ministries, NGOs, health-care providers, Peace Corps volunteers and other organizations. When technology doesn’t allow for the use of software, the curriculum is put on CD-ROMs or even printed and distributed.
“I think the most touching part of this is the lengths people go to get this information to their communities,” Sorcar said.
When a power failure prevented the tutorials from being projected in a classroom in one Rwandan village, the people put a laptop on a chair, the chair on a table, and the table in front of the room for everyone to watch together. Sorcar said people often send her photos taken on their mobile phones to show her how they’ve improvised.
Some of the strictest taboos she’s encountered are in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, home to 80 million people. There, children with HIV were being expelled from school. Last year, the government approved the TeachAIDS curriculum and sent 25,000 copies of the software to schools, counseling centers and major TV stations.
While TeachAIDS produces educational materials, Sorcar said much of what she does stems from her training in journalism. “It’s really learning how to communicate with people, learning how to listen and being able to translate that into doing something” that reaches people.
She came to Boulder this spring for an appearance sponsored by JMC’s Certificate in International Media program, under the director of Professor Bella Mody.
Sorcar still helps produce the storyboards for the tutorials. It’s a skill she picked up from her father, an animator who taught Sorcar the craft when she was growing up outside Denver. “This went full circle,” she said.
|
<urn:uuid:68d52d27-2a05-4969-9436-476a42b0778a>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.colorado.edu/news/features/alum%E2%80%99s-teachaids-curriculum-goes-global
|
2013-06-20T01:53:09Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.972133
| 1,421
|
The neutral theory of molecular evolution suggests that most of the genetic variation in populations is the result of mutation and genetic drift and not selection.
Basically, the theory suggests that if a population carries several different versions of a gene, odds are that each of those versions is equally good at performing its job—in other words, that variation is neutral: whether you carry gene version A or gene version B does not affect your fitness.
The neutral theory is easily misinterpreted. It does NOT suggest:
- That organisms are not adapted to their environments
- That all morphological variation is neutral
- That ALL genetic variation is neutral
- That natural selection is unimportant in shaping genomes
The main point of the neutral theory is simply that when we see several versions of a gene in a population, it is likely that their frequencies are simply drifting around. The data supporting and refuting the neutral theory are complicated. Figuring out how widely the neutral theory applies is still the topic of much research.
|
<urn:uuid:a3ec3bc2-7990-4e40-8491-c8e0429e5f23>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.conservapedia.com/Neutral_Evolution
|
2013-05-22T21:58:44Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.946136
| 200
|
News » Books/Manuscript
Great written works from authors such as Shakespeare and Jane Austen that you'll never have a chance to read by Megan Gambino
September 20, 2011
While not directly related to the early music field, some of this information may add to historical facts helping us better understand historical incidents influencing such era in music. Read of 10 authors and mishaps to some of their works. -- EarlyMusicNews.Org editor
Improvisation in Western Music of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
edited by Rudolf Rasch
Pages: 14 + 768
Format: 17 x 24 - bound
From MUZIEKHANDEL SAUL B. GROEN, many new titles available on their catalogues:
MUSIC & LITERATURE July - September 2011
NB: in each section the music has been listed in chronological order
Kerll, J.C. 11 Organ works from the Neresheim organ book, c.1670, wrongly attributed to J.C. Kerll and 2 pieces by by J.B. Moggi and L. Haydt
Fasolo, G.B. "Annuale", 1645: 56 organ works: hymns, masses, magnificats, ricercars,canzonas, fugues; complete edition; set of 5 volumes
Lübeck, V. Complete organ works; ed. Harald Vogel …
(US) Opera Today: "GOEHRING: Three modes of perception in Mozart — the philosophical, pastoral, and comic in Così fan tutte" (Book review by Dr. Brad Eden, University of Nevada, Las Vegas)
“Balbi and his time”
by Alberto Da Ros and Stefano Lorenzetti
with a foreword by Giulio Cattin
Edition: Lucca, LIM, 2011 (Biblioteca Musicale Lim - Saggi)
Pages: 19 + 87
Format: 14 x 21 - Paperback
Paolo Da Col
Ai confini della Serenissima
Ludovico Balbi ‘magister musicae’ nel Veneto del secondo Cinquecento
L’eredità musicale di Costanzo Porta nelle composizioni di Ludovico Balbi
Il manoscritto di Feltre
(DE) "Bach and the “Snake-Fire-Sprayers” - Fire-Fighting Regulations and Equipment During Bach’s Time in Leipzig"
“One might rightfully ask how this topic will enhance our understanding of Bach’s life and music. For this I do not have a reasonable answer. Perhaps this topic was selected out of frustration that other digitized scholarly sources like the 1733 revision of the Schulordnung for the Leipzig Thomasschule are not available online.
(IT) Recently Published at LIM Editrice srl, "Pianoforte, organo e attività musicale in Italia nel XIX e XX secolo"
(Piano, organ and musical activities in Italy in the nineteenth and twentieth century)
Edition: Lucca, LIM, 2011 (Music Library Lim - Wise)
Pages: 20 + 440
Format: 17 x 24 - Paperback
Brought to our attention on the “Society for the Study of Early Modern Women (SSEMW)” mailing list, the following books have been published on the subject of women’s work in the arts:
Labors Lost: Women's Work and the Early Modern English Stage (University of Pennsylvania Press), examines women's unacknowledged contributions to theatrical production in Shakespeare's time.
Working Subjects in Early Modern English Drama (Ashgate Press), is an essay collection co-edited with Michelle M. Dowd, and includes a number of essays that focus on gender and women's work. Ashgate Press offers a 20% discount to SSEMW members.
Not yet published - available from February 2012
Edited by: Kate Flint, Rutgers University, New Jersey
Series: The New Cambridge History of English Literature
“This collaborative History aims to become the standard work on Victorian literature for the twenty-first century. Well-known scholars introduce readers to their particular fields, discuss influential critical debates and offer illuminating contextual detail to situate authors and works in their wider cultural and historical contexts.
Annual periodical of the“Socità Italian di Musicolgia” Marco Gozzi, director
Edition: Lucca, LIM, 2011 (Rivista Italiana di Musicologia, 46)
Pages: 340 +
(Edited by Michael Kassler, Michael Kassler and Associates, Australia)
Published: August 2011
“In contrast to today's music industry, whose principal products are recorded songs sold to customers round the world, the music trade in Georgian England was based upon London firms that published and sold printed music and manufactured and sold instruments on which this music could be played. The destruction of business records and other primary sources has hampered investigation of this trade, but recent research into legal proceedings, apprenticeship registers, surviving correspondence and other archived documentation has enabled aspects of its workings to be reconstructed.
(US) New from Oxford University Press: "Dividing the Spoils The War for Alexander the Great’s Empire" (Author: Robin Waterfield)
A Gripping Account of One of the Great Forgotten Wars of History
Hardback, May 2011, 304 pp.
List Price: $27.95
“Alexander the Great conquered an enormous empire—stretching from Greece to the Indian subcontinent—and his death triggered forty bloody years of world-changing warfare. These were years filled with high adventure, intrigue, passion, assassinations, dynastic marriages, treachery, shifting alliances, and mass slaughter on battlefield after battlefield. And while the men fought on the field, the women, such as Alexander’s mother Olympias, schemed from their palaces and pavilions. …
(US) OXFORD BIBLIOGRAPHIES ONLINE "New Publishing Opportunity for Doctoral Students at the Dissertation Level"
Catalan Organ Music from the XVIIth century from the Trito catalogue.
(AU) "Giovanni Antonio Terzi and the Lute Intabulations of late sixteenth-century Italy" (Doctoral Thesis Author: Suzanne E. Court, 2010)
New additions to the Symétrie catalogue:
“French Society of Musicology: scores of Esther and Athalie”
Penultimate tragedy of Racine, Esther was written for the “Demoiselles” of the royal house of Saint-Cyr, founded at the initiative of Madame de Maintenon, wife of Louis XIV. It opened in this institution a short-lived tradition of theater with musical interludes. The music involves a three-part instrumental ensemble (prelude, overture, interlude), a choir of girls from Esther’s retinue, solos and vocal ensembles. This edition displays for the first time the declaimed text, preserved in old spelling, and the entire music drawn up from sources contemporary with the creation of the work.
Full score (foreword in French and English, 12 fac-siimiles)
From the recently published A-R Editions Spring “Embellishments” newsletter, a list of recent and forthcoming publications.
(FR) New Publication of the French Society of Musicology: "Catalogue du motet imprimé en France (1647-1789)"
(DE) Recently Published: "The Schwerin Lute Book", "Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonata in C and Partita in D" (Tree Edition)
New items published by TREE EDITION July 2011
The Schwerin Lute Book
(Schwerin Ms Mus 641)
This manuscript contains 86 pieces for Baroque lute and is the main source for the music
of the Paris master Germain Pinel of whom we find many unica in this handwritten lute book.
Other composers include Dufaut, Denis & Ennemond Gaultier, Strobel, Dubut, Gumprecht
and Mercure. The edition comes in two volumes and contains a complete reprodution of
the manuscript as well as a large essay (in German) on this source and full index
and concordances by François-Pierre Goy.
2 volumes / French tablature / Baroque tuning
- Graham Pont
Reminiscences of «Rinaldo»: The Keyboard Transcriptions of «Vo’ far guerra»
- Fabrizio Ammetto
Análisis técnico-instrumental y de la praxis ejecutiva en los conciertos para dos violines de Vivaldi
- Renato Ricco
La produzione violinistica di Giuseppe Paolo Ghebart
May be of interest to some. (ed.)
“In October 1998 a rather battered manuscript was put up for auction at Christie’s in New York. It appeared to be a Byzantine prayer-book from the thirteenth century but those taking part in the bidding knew that it contained an important secret.
|
<urn:uuid:926a409d-d592-43eb-a8aa-5141c801e2ec>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.earlymusicnews.org/en/people/Narciso_Yepes/index.php?module=news&type=user&func=view&prop=Main&cat=10030&page=3
|
2013-05-21T10:13:24Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.848456
| 1,963
|
Family: Oleaceae, olive family
Genus species: Fraxinus americana
Leaves are pinnately compound. Each leaf has 7 or more leaflets. All leaflets within one leaf are usually about the same size.
Bark is furrowed with diamond-shaped grooves. Bark is gray or yellowish in color.
Flowers are very small, produced in small clusters. Flowers emerge before leaves in the spring. Male and female flowers are on separate trees (dioecious).
Fruit is 1 to 2 inches long. Fruit is flat, looks like the blade of a canoe paddle. Seed is almost entirely surrounded by the fruit. Fruit hangs in clusters, matures in late summer, wind-dispersed.
Fraxinus is from the Latin for "ash."
Emerald Ash Borer:
The Emerald ash borer is an Asian beetle, discovered in 2002 in Michigan and Ontario. The Emerald Ash Borer infests and kills ash trees. Damage is caused by the larvae, which feed in tunnels just below the bark. The tunnels cut off water and nutrient transport, causing branches and eventually the entire tree to die. Adults are 1/2 inch long with metallic green wing covers and a coppery red or purple abdomen. The adults leave distinctive D-shaped exit holes in the outer bark of branches and the trunk.
The Emerald Ash Borer has not been observed in Putnam County, at least, not yet, but has been observed in Marion County and is more abundant in northeastern Indiana. See map of Indiana for more information about Emerald Ash Borer infestations throughout the state.
|
<urn:uuid:f8ec3a8a-4e3c-47a8-8219-7d4002243a5f>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.depauw.edu/about/campus/naturepark/plants-and-animals/plants/details/30/
|
2013-05-20T11:30:33Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.93546
| 333
|
By Colin Berlyne
Kazakhstan is the land of exploration and explorers. Its vast Asian steppe served for centuries as a hub along the Silk Road on which caravans of traders set out to seek new trade.
Roaming nomadic tribes from the ancient steppe are also now scientifically proven to be the first to domesticate the horse for use by man. The tribes then used the animal to explore previously unknown territories of the vast grassland sea.
So it’s fitting that Kazakhstan isn’t content to simply facilitate the exploration of others, but is training its own explorers to once again head into the great unknown.
Kazakhstan’s relationship with space began years ago with the construction in the 1950s by the Soviet Union of what was then the world’s first space launch facility and what remains today the planet’s largest and most active space launching center. The center is known as the Baikonur Cosmodrome and it was built roughly 125 miles into Kazakhstan’s desert steppe.
The first human being in space, Yuri Gagarin was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in April 1961. He was followed two years later by Valentina Tereshkova who was also launched from Baikonur and became the first woman in space. And today, with the retirement of the Unites States Space Shuttle Program, Baikonur remains the only launch site used to send men and machines to the International Space Station.
With that history, it’s no surprise that Kazakhstan is training its own citizens to head into space, Kazakh Cosmonaut and graduate of Kazakhstan’s cosmonaut training program Aidyn Aimbetov told EdgeKz Magazine.
Aimbetov is among the select few Kazakhs who have been chosen for and who have completed the mentally and physically challenging program. “Our space training is intended to give the cosmonaut candidate knowledge, skills, abilities and qualities that form the basis of becoming a professional astronaut. During this training, would-be astronauts form a deep and lasting knowledge of the sciences that form the basis of space,” he said.
Program participants must also master elements such as the theory of flight, managing control systems, space navigation basics, and the elements of the launch vehicles and facilities themselves. The potential cosmonauts also learn how to train the crews that will accompany them into space. Candidates practice on-land simulations of the various tasks they would perform in space, including emergency situations. They also perform on the ground the scientific experiments they would be carrying out in space.
But, Aimbetov says, the training goes far beyond just how to navigate a craft and eat while floating in a capsule. Astronauts are on their own in space so they must have training across a broad spectrum of subjects, both practical and esoteric. “It starts with space navigation and finishes with medicine. After all, you can’t call an ambulance in space,” he said, adding that it took him roughly six years to complete all of his training.
Physical training is also important and geared toward working in a weightless environment. “For the cosmonauts there are many ways to be physically challenged,” he said. “But the most important (conditioning element necessary) to work in gravity free environments is cardiovascular system conditioning.”
Development of Kazakhstan’s cosmonaut program, Aimbetov says, is key to the country’s future not only in terms of economic development but also scientific advancement. “The flight of a Kazakh cosmonaut and the implementation of a scientific program will produce scientific research… geared toward the development of new equipment and technology at an absolutely new level,” he said, adding that Kazakh space flights could also help spur investment in Kazakhstan’s broader space program.
Kazakhstan sent its first cosmonaut, Tokhtar Aubakirov, into space in 1991, but the country’s established space program remains in its infancy and any graduates of the current cosmonaut program will have to catch rides on other countries’ missions for a long time, the Chairman of the Kazakhstan National Space Agency, Talgat Mussabayev, said in December. Mussabayev, who flew into space himself several times with Russian missions to the ISS, made his comments while meeting with U.S. National Air and Space Association (NASA) officials about getting a Kazakh cosmonaut aboard a U.S. mission.
Kazakhstan has no plans to launch its own manned craft into space and it could be decades before it is ready to do so, Mussabayev said, adding that only Russia, the U.S. and China can currently afford to fund manned spacecraft. But Kazakhstan is taking what steps it can. Also in December, the Kazakhstan government passed legislation making it easier for the government to choose candidates for flights and providing more control over the use of country’s space facilities.
Aimbetov has not yet been on a space mission, but was trained to repair the systems of the International Space Station and of the craft that carry astronauts to and from the station. But, he says, he has wanted to go into space ever since a single night as a child when he saw a shooting star flare across the sky. And though Aimbetov hasn’t gotten there yet, Kazakhstan is working to make it easier for the country’s next generation of adventurers to explore the vast Steppe in the sky.
|
<urn:uuid:20e49e19-f482-4ce0-a780-c57fabda2053>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.edgekz.com/space-bound-kazakhstan-looks-to-the-next-frontier.html
|
2013-05-24T02:47:20Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132729/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.958668
| 1,138
|
This section gives a brief description of modules and related entities. For detailed information, including a description of the module configuration language, see the module chapter.
A module is an isolated namespace, with visibility of bindings controlled by module descriptions written in a special configuration language. A module may be instantiated as a package, which is an environment in which code can be evaluated. Most modules are instantiated only once and so have a unique package. A structure is a subset of the bindings in a package. Only by being included in a structure can a binding be made visible in other packages. A structure has two parts, the package whose bindings are being exported and the set of names that are to be exported. This set of names is called an interface. A module then has three parts:
The following example uses
define-structure to create a module that
implements simple cells as pairs, instantiates this module, and binds the
resulting structure to
(export creates an interface
open clause lists structures whose bindings are visible
within the module.
begin clause contains source code.
(define-structure cells (export make-cell cell-ref cell-set!) (open scheme) (begin (define (make-cell x) (cons 'cell x)) (define cell-ref cdr) (define cell-set! set-cdr!)))
Cells could also have been implemented using the
and available in structure
(define-structure cells (export make-cell cell-ref cell-set!) (open scheme define-record-types) (begin (define-record-type cell :cell (make-cell value) cell? (value cell-ref cell-set!))))
With either definition the resulting structure can be used in other
modules by including
cells in an
The command interpreter is always operating within a particular package.
Initially this is a package in which only the standard Scheme bindings
The bindings of other structures can be made visible by using the
Note that this initial package does not include the configuration language.
Module code needs to be evaluated in the configuration package, which can
be done by using the
> ,config (define-structure cells ...) > ,open cells > (make-cell 4) '(cell . 4) > (define c (make-cell 4)) > (cell-ref c) 4
Previous: Disassembler | Next: Library
|
<urn:uuid:8164957f-4faa-47c4-afa0-0995ae0540e9>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.s48.org/0.57/manual/s48manual_9.html
|
2013-05-25T12:54:49Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.842403
| 499
|
The first thing you need to understand about ad hoc networks is that they are nothing new. I bought my first set of wireless networking hardware back in 2000. Even then, the wireless NIC driver gave users the option of either connecting to a wireless access point or forming an ad hoc network.
Ad hoc risks
Of course ad hoc networks are not without risks. Probably the biggest risk associated with ad hoc networking has always been electronic eavesdropping. Traditionally, ad hoc connections have lacked the various encryption mechanisms that are typically used with wireless access points, such as WEP and WPA.
Another risk of ad hoc networks is that someone could connect to the network without your knowledge or consent and access files off your computer or another network to which your computer is connected.
Wireless security the Windows way
Microsoft has attempted to mitigate these various risks in Windows Vista by standardizing the way that ad hoc networks are formed. Standardizing ad hoc networks accomplishes two things. First, it makes it much easier for users to form ad hoc networks, because there is now an application specifically dedicated to that purpose. Second, security is increased because the ad hoc network is functioning within the confines of an individual application.
In Windows Vista, this application is known as Windows Collaboration. Windows Collaboration has many different built-in security mechanisms. The first layer of defense is the IPv6 protocol. In case you aren't familiar with the IPv6 protocol, it is the successor to the IPv4 protocol that is used for most TCP/IP communications today.
The IPv6 protocol is an absolute requirement for the Windows Collaboration application, owing primarily to the fact that IPv6 overcomes some of the logistical issues involved in forming an ad hoc network. Normally, when a computer accesses another network host (whether on the local network or on the Internet), the computer must resolve the remote host's name to an IP address. To do so, the computer performs a DNS query. The problem with an ad hoc network is that there is no DNS server configured with the names and IP addresses of the network participants.
IPv6 solves these problems by allowing the person who initially established the ad hoc network to transmit a multicast message to everyone on the ad hoc network notifying them of the service's availability. If nobody else has yet connected to the ad hoc network, then nobody will receive this multicast message. That being the case, it is possible for hosts running Windows Vista to run a probe that scans a scope for a set of services. This allows hosts to discover ad hoc networks without the presence of DHCP or DNS servers.
Those are the logistical reasons why Microsoft chose to use the IPv6 protocol for ad hoc networks -- but what about security? The Microsoft implementation of IPv6 is designed to support IPsec encryption and IKE by default.
Microsoft has implemented other security mechanisms with Windows Collaboration as well. For example, the file sharing and Windows firewall exception rules required for using Windows Collaboration are disabled by default. Unless a user specifically chooses to enable file sharing and firewall exception rules, there is no danger of someone establishing a Windows Collaboration session with that PC.
When a user establishes an ad hoc connection, other safeguards are in place as well. The first safeguard is a session password, as shown in Figure A. Nobody can connect to the ad hoc session without the password.
Ad hoc sessions are password protected.
Another safeguard is that you have the option of hiding a session. Normally, when users open Windows Collaboration, they will see a screen similar to the one shown in Figure B. As you can see in the figure, this screen displays all the detected ad hoc sessions. To join an ad hoc network, a user must simply click on the network and enter the session password.
By default, Windows Collaboration displays all of the ad hoc sessions that are currently running.
The problem with this is that ad hoc sessions are typically formed using a Wi-Fi connection in a public area. You may not want other people who are using the Wi-Fi network to know about your ad hoc network. In that type of situation, it is possible to hide the ad hoc session from view, as shown in Figure C.
It is possible to hide an ad hoc session from public view.
You might be wondering how the people in your group can connect to a session if it is hidden from view. Windows Collaboration is designed to detect anybody who has Windows Collaboration open, even if they are not in a session (this is performed using an IPv6 probe such as the one I discussed earlier). This probe compiles a list of the people who are using Windows Collaboration. You can then send invitations to the people you want to include in the session, as shown in Figure D.
You can send an invitation to specific people, allowing them to join an ad hoc session.
Unfortunately, ad hoc networking in Windows Vista is not completely secure. For example, there is nothing stopping someone from configuring Windows Collaboration to use a name other than his own in an effort to trick someone into sending him an invitation that was intended for someone else. Even so, I think that Windows Vista offers a huge improvement over what was previously available, both in terms of security and usability.
About the author:
Brien M. Posey, MCSE, is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with Windows 2000 Server and IIS. Brien has served as CIO for a nationwide chain of hospitals and was once in charge of IT security for Fort Knox. As a freelance technical writer, he has written for Microsoft, CNET, ZDNet, TechTarget, MSD2D, Relevant Technologies and other technology companies. You can visit Brien's personal Web site at www.brienposey.com.
This was first published in November 2006
|
<urn:uuid:b7c29e8a-81c3-4129-95d2-bb06d64d2373>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/tip/Wireless-connections-with-ad-hoc-networks
|
2013-06-20T02:16:01Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.940939
| 1,187
|
In this the Bicentennial year, this Seminar will consider landmark cases in the Maryland State and Federal Courts between 1807 and 1827 – the period before, during, and after the War of 1812. It will focus on the issues of the time that found their day in court in the port city of Baltimore. Among the controversies to be considered are: the taking of prizes, the impressments of sailors, the attacks on civil liberties, the institution of slavery, and the restraints on growth of a free black community.
Special attention will be given to the legal documentation involved in the resolution of these cases (the dockets, transcripts, depositions, exhibits and working papers, etc.). Students will be encouraged to find and use as primary sources for historical study the legal documents found in the Baltimore City, Maryland State and National Archives, and on digital data bases. Each student will be called upon to prepare a case study that puts a court decision in its social, economic l and political context. Selected student papers will be e-published in the Maryland Legal History Collection of the Thurgood Marshall Law Library.
Students may use their papers in satisfaction of the law school’s Advanced Writing Requirement. The Seminar will be conducted at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law at 500 W. Baltimore Street, Baltimore MD 21201.
The Instructors are:
|This course is not currently scheduled.|
|
<urn:uuid:ee898c75-f7ed-4cf8-9780-f8661327da3c>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.law.umaryland.edu/academics/program/curriculum/catalog/course_details.html?coursenum=517S
|
2013-05-26T03:50:52Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706578727/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121618-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.920551
| 289
|
Gardening Articles: Care :: Plant Care Techniques
Plant Greens in Wide Rows
by National Gardening Association Editors
Wide-row planting involves broadcasting seeds in a wide band, thus creating thicker rows with fewer paths in between. Not all vegetables, of course, are meant for wide rows. Squashes, tomatoes, cucumbers and melons are examples of crops that need room to run. But for greens - including head lettuce, collards and kale - wide rows offer many advantages. Most important, you can harvest more than half again as much from wide rows as from single rows using the same space. However, there are other reasons for growing green in wide rows, too:
* Wide rows mean less weeding because after the closely planted greens grow up to shade the ground, they create a "living mulch" or ground cover that blocks out light from weeds, thus checking their growth. Some hand weeding is still necessary, but the living mulch in wide rows take care of most weeding.
* Living mulch shades the soil, keeping it cool and moist, which is very important for crops like lettuce and spinach that get bitter and bolt when the weather warms up. Wide-row growing extends the harvest into summer because the soil in the row stays cooler. The cooler the soil, the better-flavored your crop will taste.
With summer greens like Swiss chard, the moist soil of a wide row helps maintain continuous growth. There's less drying out of the soil, and consequently, less stop-and-go growth.
* Planting is quick and simple. You scatter seed over the wide seedbed with no worry about straight lines or precise spacing.
* Wide rows are proven space-savers. You can do away with long single rows of one variety and plant more varieties of your favorite crops. For example, in a 10-foot-long row, 15 inches wide, you can grow three or four kinds of lettuce.
* Harvesting is fast because you can reach so many more plants from one spot without moving. It sure beats the nonstop stooping and straightening it takes to harvest or weed single rows.
|
<urn:uuid:0ce24eab-8a3d-4b2c-9123-95c5d36acf9f>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.garden.org/subchannels/care/techniques?q=show&id=424
|
2013-05-18T18:24:44Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382705/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.93105
| 441
|
Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 359
Assessment of the Scientific Information for the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program Appendix C Radioactivity in Guam After Nuclear-Weapons Testing in the Pacific RADIOACTIVE FALLOUT IN GUAM Guam is about 1,200 miles west of the Marshall Islands at about 10° north of the equator. The trade winds are predominantly from east to west at that latitude. Atmospheric testing began in the Marshall Islands with Operation Crossroads in July 1946. Operation Ivy began in October 1952. On October 31, 1952, the first thermonuclear device, with the code name Mike, was detonated. It had a total yield of 10.4 Mt of which about half was fission energy. A radiation-fallout monitoring program for Operation Ivy was established in 1952 and coordinated by the New York Operations Office of the Atomic Energy Commission. It consisted of a worldwide network of 111 monitoring stations with at least one in every continent, but it was concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere. One of those monitoring stations was located in Guam. In addition to stationary ground-based monitoring, aerial surveys using low flying aircraft were conducted from several Air Force bases. Instrumentation during aerial surveys included a gamma-ray detector and a recording unit. It was calibrated at the Nevada Proving Ground to measure exposure rate at 1 meter from the ground. It was capable of measuring dose rates in air from external gamma radiation in the range of 0.0001-10 mGy/h. An aerial survey over Guam began on November 1, 1952. The resulting data are shown in Figure C.1 (Eisenbud, 1953). Integrating the dose rate over time produced a total effective dose to persons on the ground of about 0.6 mSv (wr and wT = 1.0) from external gamma rays as a result of fallout from Mike. To put that into perspective, we have compared the
OCR for page 360
Assessment of the Scientific Information for the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program FIGURE C.1 Data from aerial surveys in Guam before and after detonation of nuclear test Mike in Marshall Islands during Operation Ivy. result with the annual effective dose received from natural background radiation today, as shown in Figure C.2. As seen in Figure C.2, the external dose received by residents of Guam from the test was about 20% of the annual effective dose received from natural background radiation in the continental United States and about 50% of the annual effective dose received from current values of natural background in Guam. To gain an appreciation of the fallout received from other tests, we used data from the ground-based monitoring stations. At each station, 24 hour samples of airborne dust were collected on 30 × 30-cm sheets of adhesive (gummed film). All samples were mailed to the Health and Safety Laboratory in New York City for analysis, where they were ashed and counted for gross beta activity. The total activity on the sample at the time of collection was determined; a power function decay with a coefficient of 1.2 was assumed. Operation Castle began in 1954. There were 16 tests in 1954, 17 tests in 1956, and 33 tests in 1958. No tests were conducted in 1955 and 1957. Results from the gummed-film data collected at Guam are shown in Figure C.3. The ordinate is the sum of monthly data reported as the deposition of strontium-90 (90Sr) on the surface of the gummed film (Harley et al., 1960). As mentioned above, there were more than 100 gummed-film stations around the globe. Monthly data from each station have been compiled for the 5-year period of atmospheric testing from 1954 to 1958. The 5 year accumulation of
OCR for page 361
Assessment of the Scientific Information for the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program FIGURE C.2 Annual effective dose rates from natural background radiation in US mainland and Guam and external effective dose in Guam from nuclear test Mike in Marshall Islands during Operation Ivy. FIGURE C.3 Annual deposition of 90Sr based on data collected at gummed-film station in Guam.
OCR for page 362
Assessment of the Scientific Information for the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program 90Sr during that period for several locations, including Guam, is displayed in Figure C.4. Figure C.4 shows that Guam did receive radioactive debris from fallout during the nuclear-weapons testing in the Pacific Ocean. The vertical error bars are used in an attempt to show the uncertainty in the gummed-film measurements. They represent the 95% confidence limits based on a lognormal distribution with a geometric standard deviation of 1.5. Uncertainty in the gummed-film method for measuring fallout was probably much greater. The analysis demonstrates that fallout in Guam during that period was similar to that in other parts of the US and its territories. An extensive radiologic monitoring program was conducted in Micronesia, including Guam. A report was published in 1975 (Nelson, 1975). In general, the data did not indicate that the concentrations of fission-product radioactivity in samples of soil or biota in Guam were greater than the concentration of naturally occurring radionuclides. The pathway that is responsible for the largest collective doses from radioactive fallout is the intake of iodine-131 (131I) through consumption of fresh milk. The risk to persons in Guam during this period will depend on iodine deposition FIGURE C.4 Deposition of 90Sr from 1954 to 1958 based on data collected at gummed-film stations in Pacific and locations in continental United States. Locations are ordered by longitude to provide rough estimate of distance from Guam.
OCR for page 363
Assessment of the Scientific Information for the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program and consumption of fresh milk. A dose-reconstruction effort will be needed to estimate dose and the associated risk of thyroid cancer. CANCER INCIDENCE The petition to Congress to include residents of Guam in RECA claimed that “increased levels of radiation may have led to serious health and environmental problems for life.” Figure C.5 shows the cancer incidence in Guam and the entire United States for various periods between 1990 and 1999. The incidence of cancer is not higher in Guam than in the entire United States. SHIP DECONTAMINATION IN GUAM Operation Crossroads consisted of the first nuclear explosions after the detonations in Hiroshima and Nagasaki near the end of World War II. Their purpose was to examine the effects of nuclear weapons on naval vessels, equipment, and animals. The tests were designed to have a fission yield equivalent to 21 kilotons (21 kT) of TNT, which was similar to the weapons used in Japan. At that time, Crossroads was the largest peacetime military operation ever conducted. It involved more than 45,000 persons, 220 ships, and 160 aircraft. FIGURE C.5 Cancer incidence in Guam and entire United States.
OCR for page 364
Assessment of the Scientific Information for the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program A fleet of more than 90 surplus and captured ships anchored in the lagoon of Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands served as targets. The fleet included Allied and Axis vessels, such as the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga; the battleships USS Nevada, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, and New York; and the Japanese battleship Nagato. In addition to target vessels, there was a fleet of support ships, including large LCI and LCT infantry landing craft, and YMS mine sweepers; these ships were involved with inter-atoll dispatch, mail delivery and passenger transport. On July 1, 1946 (local time), test Abel was dropped from a B-29 and detonated at an altitude of 160 meters. On July 23, 1946 (local time), test Baker was detonated. The bomb was encased in a watertight steel caisson and suspended 30 meters beneath a target ship. Shortly after the detonation, a huge water column containing bomb debris was formed. It expanded to 600 meters in diameter and reached an elevation of 2000 meters, and it held a million tons of water. At 10 seconds after detonation, water started to escape the stem of the water column and fall back toward the surface. A wave more than 30 meters high propagated from the stem. The radioactive fission products created by Abel were atmospherically dispersed, so no extensive deposit of long-lived radioactivity was found on target vessels, and naval personnel could board the surviving targets within a day. After detonation of Baker, most of the radioactive inventory fell into the lagoon. After 2 days, officials recognized that many targets would remain highly radioactive for a long time. The nature and extent of the contamination were unexpected. As nontarget support ships began to navigate the lagoon, they became contaminated with radioactivity below the water line. Conditions were ideal for ion exchange. Within 3 days, some vessels had a dose rate of 1 mGy per day in the hull of the ship near the water line (Operation Crossroads, 1946). In addition, saltwater lines and saltwater systems that continuously circulated lagoon water began to show increased exposure rates from penetrating gamma rays on external surfaces. It was recognized that algae, rust, sediment, and calcareous materials on or in the ship would absorb radioactivity from the contaminated seawater. The US Navy monitored the ships closely. It became apparent that natural decay and normal steaming in uncontaminated water would not reduce the radioactivity to negligible amounts. All support ships that had been in Bikini lagoon from July 25 to August 10 were required to have extensive radiation monitoring before personnel could work on their hulls or interior saltwater systems. On September 9, 1946, commanding officers of all nontarget vessels were notified of precautions, monitoring, and clearance procedures. The commanders were frustrated by the disruption of naval operations caused by the almost universal contamination of nontarget vessels. On September 13, 1946, the chief of naval operations charged the Bureau of Ships with the task of developing methods and equipment for decontamination of radioactive ships. The procedures were to be developed with the assistance of scientists with the Manhattan Project.
OCR for page 365
Assessment of the Scientific Information for the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program Several radioactive ships were dispatched to the San Francisco Naval Shipyard. The Navy conducted experiments at the shipyard with the assistance of scientists from Stanford University and the University of California Radiation Laboratory. The tests resulted in adoption of procedures for decontaminating nontarget vessels. A solution of hydrochloric acid, HCl, (1 normal) was used as a decontaminating agent for all saltwater systems in a ship. Each system was then drained, neutralized, and flushed thoroughly. The material containing the radioactivity was in solution or suspension and was removed from the ship when the acid solution was drained and flushed. Those liquids were released into the harbor, where the dilution factor and settling would reduce concentration of radioactivity to negligible levels. The external hull of each ship was scraped in dry dock to remove all marine growth. The remaining paint and rust from the underwater hull was wet sand-blasted with standard equipment. Sand and all material scraped from the ship’s sides were collected and dumped into the sea. Radiochemical analyses were performed at the University of California on numerous samples of solutions and sediments. They revealed that there was not sufficient long-lived alpha activity to pose a health problem from intake of radioactivity nor was there sufficient residual plutonium to be of concern for security purposes related to fissile materials. Records indicate that about 18 vessels were dispersed to Guam for decontamination (four LCI[L], eight LCT and six YMS). No data indicated that radioactive materials affected sea life or entered the food chain of residents of Guam. SUMMARY An extensive radiologic survey of plants, animals, and soil in Micronesia was initiated after the termination of weapons testing in the Pacific. A report published in 1975 (Nelson, 1975) was reviewed at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (Hamilton, 2001). The conclusion was that the estimated annual effective dose from residual fallout on Guam due to nuclear-weapons tests was only a small fraction of the dose that residents receive from natural sources of radiation, which is less than in many other locations around the world. REFERENCES Eisenbud, M. Radioactive Debris from Operation Ivy, US AEC, Health and Safety Laboratory, New York Operations Office, NYO-4522. 1953. Hamilton, T., Radiation Fallout in Guam, Information Document Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. 2001. Harley, J. H., Hallden, N. A., Ong, L. D. Y. Summary of Gummed Film Results Through December 1959. HASL-93, Health and Safety Laboratory, U.S. AEC, New York Operations Office. 1960.
OCR for page 366
Assessment of the Scientific Information for the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program Nelson V. A. Radiological Survey of Plants, Animals and Soil in Micronesia, University of Seattle, Seattle WA, NVO-269-35, U.S. Department of Commerce. 1975. Operation Crossroads: Radiological Decontamination of Target and Non-Target Vessels, Vol. 3, Technical Report XRD-185-87, NTIS Document No. AD 473 906. Radiological Safety Section to Technical Director, memorandum, September 25, 1946, LANL, App. 7, Sec. E; J. J. Fee. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1946.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
|
<urn:uuid:5fbbb0e4-fa43-40a3-9b8e-5e1c7e10f006>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11279&page=359
|
2013-05-22T14:32:29Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.956764
| 2,905
|
No one is a Keynesian now—at least not among money managers.
And that is a shame.
A new analysis of the investment performance of John Maynard Keynes proves that the famous economist also was one of the greatest investors of the past century. By understanding what made Keynes such a star, investors can get a firmer grasp on why so many of today's money managers seem so dim.
Regardless of how you feel about his theories on the need for governmental intervention in the economy, Keynes (1883–1946) long has had a reputation as an outstanding investor. Until now, however, no one had ever gone to the trouble of reconstructing his investment track record.
David Chambers and Elroy Dimson, finance scholars at the University of Cambridge and the London Business School, respectively, have spent much of the past few years picking apart Keynes's portfolios.
They have found out that Keynes's returns were extraordinary. How he achieved them was even more remarkable. (To read the research paper, click here.)
From 1924 through 1946, while writing numerous books and overhauling the global monetary system, Keynes also found time to run the endowment fund of King's College at Cambridge.
Over that period, according to Messrs. Chambers and Dimson, Keynes outperformed the U.K. stock market by an average of eight percentage points annually, adjusted for risk.
Such great investors as Benjamin Graham, Peter Lynch, John Templeton and Warren Buffett beat the market by an annual average of three to 13 percentage points over their careers. Most of them, however, didn't have to cope with the Great Depression or World War II.
How did Keynes do it?
Flexibility, resilience and independence.
Keynes began as what we would today call a "macro" manager, relying on monetary and economic signals to rotate in and out of stocks, bonds and cash. He traded foreign currencies and commodities. As a director of the Bank of England, Keynes was privy to inside information about interest-rate changes, although there isn't evidence that he traded on it.
But Keynes wasn't a very good macro manager. He lagged behind the British stock market miserably until 1928, and he had 83% of his primary portfolio in stocks going into the fall of 1929.
"It's hard to time the markets," Mr. Chambers says. "Keynes struggled with it, and then he missed the 1929 crash—even with an unrivaled network of information sources."
So Keynes made a series of radical changes: He switched from being a "top down" asset allocator to a "bottom up" stock picker. He tilted sharply toward undervalued small and midsize companies.
Keynes also made titanic bets on industries he thought were cheap; by 1936, he had 66% of his portfolio in mining stocks and not a farthing in bank or energy shares. South African gold companies, he correctly foresaw, would benefit from falling currency values.
Keynes wasn't only a pioneer in owning stocks when most big investors favored bonds. He also relished risk, concentrating as much as half of his assets on his favorite five holdings or, as he called them, his "pets." Keynes clung to his typical stock for more than five years at a time. Only partly in jest, he had proposed making "the purchase of an investment permanent and indissoluble, like marriage." (Today, the average U.S. stock fund has only 19% in its five biggest positions and hangs on to its typical stock for just 15 months.)
The "tracking error" of Keynes's portfolio—the extent to which it behaved differently from the market as a whole—ran nearly four times higher than is typical at institutional funds today, report Messrs. Chambers and Dimson.
Keynes was no mere contrarian. He was the epitome of his own definition of a long-term investor: "eccentric, unconventional and rash in the eyes of average opinion." To emulate Keynes, "you have to be idiosyncratic," Mr. Chambers says. "That's easy to say but much harder to execute."
One of Keynes's biggest advantages, say Messrs. Chambers and Dimson, was that the board of King's College gave him uncontested authority to invest as he wished.
Today, such latitude can be found only in smaller investment boutiques—Fairholme, FPA, Longleaf and Yacktman, to give a few examples—that operate independently and don't kowtow to their clients. That latitude, of course, comes at the risk of horrific returns in the short run and the chance that the best talent might bolt.
At most larger investment firms, meanwhile, portfolio managers must invest in narrow "style boxes" and sheepishly shadow the performance of their peers. The prime directive at today's weak-kneed asset-management companies is to ensure that their portfolios never deviate much from average results. That discourages clients from fleeing and enables firms to keep earning fat fees—maximizing their own returns while minimizing those of the clients.
Even more than in Keynes's day, it is worth hiring an active money manager only if you have the confidence that he or she is a free spirit who will have a completely free hand.
Otherwise, with Keynes no longer available, you might as well buy an index fund.— firstname.lastname@example.org; twitter.com/jasonzweigwsj
|
<urn:uuid:df0bb9dc-cb09-484d-880e-292c213b4ed6>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304177104577313810084976558.html
|
2013-06-19T19:36:19Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709101476/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125821-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.973799
| 1,123
|
Information identified as archived on the Web is for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It has not been altered or updated after the date of archiving. Web pages that are archived on the Web are not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards. As per the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada, you can request alternate formats on the "Contact Us" page.
Year: 1999 – Province: Ontario
Certificate of Achievement Recipients
School: Good Shepherd School
Principal: Paul Fortier
Grades/Subjects Taught: Grade 2, all subjects
- Be flexible, ready to change plans, expand or substitute as moments of readiness are identified.
- Establish a positive atmosphere of love, respect, praise and trust within the classroom, encouraging personal growth, self-confidence and a spirit of sharing and co-operation.
- Encourage children to become self-motivated and independent learners who strive to be the best they can be, and foster good work habits.
Encourages communication, independence:
- children create posters describing lost items, a common occurrence
- students bring favourite objects from home to show classmates, keep daily journals of stories and experiences, read them to each other
- physically and developmentally challenged students encouraged to join all class activities.
Fosters each child's uniqueness:
- celebrates each child's birthday, has an end-of-year birthday party for summer birthdays
- organizes an awards day during which children present awards to each other for talents
- encourages imagination and creativity: children stage puppet shows, drama productions, Remembrance Day ceremonies, and go on field trips to sing at hospitals, nursing homes.
Develops love of learning:
- uses an activity-based mathematics program – "math bags" filled with practical exercises and games to teach abstract math lessons for parent and child to use together
- employs a whole-language reading program: sets all language activity in a meaningful context; both receptive and expressive activities based on classic children's literature.
|
<urn:uuid:51cc7d28-ef58-4d7a-84d2-3ba2d3c039a2>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/pmate-ppmee.nsf/eng/wz00670.html
|
2013-05-23T18:58:35Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.900213
| 413
|
Explore health content from A to Z.
I need information about...
Molybdenum is an essential element and a co-factor for several enzymes. It is stored primarily in the liver, kidneys, spleen, lungs, brain, and muscles.
Molybdenum is a constituent of several enzyme systems. These enzymes are responsible for the breakdown of xanthine, hypoxanthine, and sulfite, and the detoxification of many harmful compounds.
The ability of tissues to store molybdenum varies with intake levels and is affected by the amount of copper and sulfate in the diet.
Please note that this section reports on claims that have NOT yet been substantiated through scientific studies.
Molybdenum has been purported to help treat arthritis.
Ongoing studies are investigating the use of molybdenum to treat certain cancers.
As indicated below, molybdenum is measured in micrograms. The SADI is the Safe and Adequate Dietary Intake. These values are given when a Daily Reference Intake (DRI) has not been established.
Infants (0 to 6 months)
Infants (6 months to 1 year)
Children (1 to 3 years)
Children (4 to 6 years)
Children (7 to 10 years)
Adolescents and adults (11+ years)
Foods containing molybdenum include legumes, cereal products, and leafy vegetables.
Molybdenum levels in plants are highly variable and dependent upon the molybdenum content of the soil in which they were grown.
Molybdenum deficiency is extremely rare and occurs due to a serious, underlying condition.
Problems associated with excessive molybdenum are poorly documented. Too much molybdenum can result in a gout-like syndrome, with increased blood levels of molybdenum, uric acid, and xanthine oxidase.
Do not take molybdenum supplements if you have biliary obstruction (gallstones) or kidney problems.
Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should consult a physician before taking any mineral supplements.
Molybdenum supplements can result in a copper deficiency because molybdenum drives copper from tissue stores.
Click here for a list of reputable websites with general information on nutrition.
Copyright © 2013 Baylor Health Care System All Rights Reserved. | 3500 Gaston Avenue, Dallas, TX 75246-2017 | 1.800.4BAYLOR
Privacy and Patient Rights |
Site Map |
|
<urn:uuid:3315d8f2-03fc-4c30-a1c2-4de82c0da637>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://healthsource.baylorhealth.com/19,Molybdenum
|
2013-05-24T08:45:16Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.912269
| 537
|
This guide was created to give you a quick reference on how to properly use in-text citations, foot/endnotes and format bibliographies, based on different citation styles. Along with examples of citations, are lists of books available at Golda Meir Library and also links to valuable online sources.
The purpose of a bibliography (also called "references" or "works cited") is to list the resources you used to write your paper. In an effort to reduce plagiarism there has been an increased emphasis on citing sources. The main criteria for bibliographic entries are that they:
- Contain enough information for readers to locate the materials.
- Are presented in a consistent format.
Table of Contents
MLA Citation Guide (Modern Language Association) - most commonly used in the arts and humanities, such as English.
APA Citation Guide (American Psychological Association) - most commonly used in the social sciences, such as psychology and education.
Chicago Citation Guide - most commonly used in history.
AMA/CSE Citation Guide (American Medical Association) - used in fields of medicine, nursing and biomedical sciences. CSE (Council of Science Editors) used in the biological sciences and hard sciences.
Special Topics - Business Sources, Archival Documents, ERIC Documents, electronic sources, APSA style, CBE style & ASA style.
|
<urn:uuid:2c757065-a321-457a-a020-119fb0fe4f01>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://guides.library.uwm.edu/content.php?pid=217260
|
2013-06-20T01:58:43Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.878974
| 277
|
Powell, OH – The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium has achieved another significant first with the successful hatching of a North Island brown kiwi (Apteryx mantelli) on Mar. 23, 2011. The Columbus Zoo is only the third zoo in North America to successfully hatch a kiwi chick since the first one hatched at Smithsonian’s National Zoo in 1975 and this chick is only the fifth kiwi to successfully hatch in as many years.
“The fact this egg successfully hatched is a testament to the amazing care and attention given by our staff in consultation with professional colleagues around the world” said Columbus Zoo and Aquarium President and CEO Dale Schmidt. “Like an expectant parent, kiwi expert Kathy Brader from Smithsonian’s National Zoo rushed to Central Ohio to be here and assist our team with the newly hatched chick.”
Kiwis are flightless birds about the size of a domestic chicken and the egg, weighing as much as 20% of the female’s body weight, is the largest egg in relation to body size of any bird. The female kiwi lays one egg at a time in the burrow occupied by the male kiwi. In the wild the male completes the average 86-day incubation process on his own.
At the Zoo eggs are checked to see if they are fertile 30-45 days after they are laid. To maximize the potential of a successful hatching a fertile egg is placed in an incubator where it is monitored for temperature and humidity and turned slightly each day. Once the chick pips the egg it takes about four days for it to completely emerge and it survives on its yolk sac for 6-12 days.
Kiwi chicks are miniature versions of the adult kiwi and are about 1/8 of the size of an adult when they hatch. They are precocial, meaning they are completely on their own after hatching, and must find food and avoid predators without assistance. Most birds locate their food through sight and have a relatively poor sense of smell. Being nocturnal, the kiwi’s senses are just the opposite and they use their long beak to forage through leaf litter sniffing out earthworms and other invertebrates, fruits and berries.
Kiwis have a high mortality rate in the wild mostly due to predation by invasive species; 50% of kiwi eggs fail to hatch, 90% of chicks do not survive to six months of age and only 5% reach adulthood. Kiwi males are sexually mature at two years of age and females are reproductive at about three years old.
The five distinct species of kiwi are only found in New Zealand and zoos outside of New Zealand only manage the North Island brown kiwi. The kiwi is the unofficial mascot of New Zealand and despite having legal protection since 1896 their numbers are declining mostly due to predation by non-native species including dogs and cats.
The Columbus Zoo’s conservation program has supported projects to protect the kiwi including supplying funds to construct predator proof fencing around reserves and fitting kiwis with transmitters to enable regular monitoring.
The sex of the chick is determined through DNA testing and not known at this time. In addition to this chick, which is currently not on display, there are three other kiwi at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. There are now just 20 kiwis in three United States zoos.
Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is open 363 days of the year. General admission is $14.00 for adults, $10.00 for seniors 60+ years of age and $9.00 for children ages 2 to 9. Children under 2 and Columbus Zoo members are free. The Zoo was named the #1 Zoo in America by USA Travel Guide and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA.) For more information and to purchase advance Zoo admission tickets, visit www.columbuszoo.org.
|
<urn:uuid:492acbcc-92d9-4fa2-876a-ee4704c42ffd>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.colszoo.org/news_room/press_releases/wee_kiwi_another_columbus_zoo_first.aspx
|
2013-06-18T22:32:42Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.958297
| 823
|
Simply begin typing or use the editing tools above to add to this article.
Once you are finished and click submit, your modifications will be sent to our editors for review.
...refugees from Nazi Germany led to a change in policy. The British government proposed the partition of Palestine into mutually dependent Arab and Jewish states. When this was rejected by the Arabs, London decided in 1939 to restrict Jewish immigration severely in the hope that it would retain Arab support against Germany and Italy. Palestine was thus largely closed off to Jews fleeing...
No agreement was reached at the London conference held during February and March 1939. In May 1939, however, the British government issued a White Paper, which essentially yielded to Arab demands. It stated that the Jewish national home should be established within an independent Palestinian state. During the next five years 75,000 Jews would be allowed into the country; thereafter Jewish...
What made you want to look up "White Paper"? Please share what surprised you most...
|
<urn:uuid:a7f51ad4-c09c-4585-a798-db18345b0acc>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/642470/White-Paper
|
2013-05-19T19:29:51Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698017611/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095337-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.976852
| 198
|
HISTORY OF THE EARTH & THE GALAXY.
HISTORY OF THE EARTH & THE GALAXY.
The following dates are interesting as reference points. They are not
intended to be more than that as they are somewhat difficult to verify!
Critical dates in the history of man - (History of the galaxy is
shown in italics while the history of the earth is in standard text)
A: Period prior to 500,000 years ago.
Before time: In the beginning, before there was even the thought of
time, there was thought. There was being. There was thought to bring
forth creative energy for energy cannot be contained, not even in the
sphere of time
17,000,000,000/14,000,000,000 y.a. The halo of the Milky Way starts to
4,800,000,000 y.a (years ago). Explosion of a supernova preceding the
4,560,000,000 y.a. Formation of the earth and of the moon. Archean
4,000,000,000 y.a. The First simple DNA cells appeared on earth..
3,460,000,000 y,a,. The first fossils found were dated from this
period. Photosynthesis starts.
2,500,000,000 y.a. Cyanobacteria start forming O2.
2,233,000,000 y.a. . Our spiral galaxy and related globular clusters
were seeded with pre-programmed DNA mechanisms by an unknown race or
1,055,254,400 y.a. Around this period five cultures emerged in widely
separated areas of the galaxy. They all claimed being in contact with
the culture of the Creators.
1,033,112,250/1,019,925,000 y.a. The first truly galactic society, the
Old Galactic Culture (OGC) embracing over 3,000 planets and 150 species
and cultural groupings. The OGC continued to prosper and expand,
exploring the galaxy and searching for the now elusive creators for the
next 13,000,000 years
1,012,862,250 y.a. The foundation of the Federation of Galactic
Cultures. It took about 19 milliom years for this Federation to form.
Its days of glory lasted over 550 million years.
885,200,000 y.a.: The Ssh'h, a renegade "elder
race" appeared, heralding the beginning of the end for the OGC. It
was focused on the physical and the material aspects, making it
aggressive, violent and possessive. Their wars of conquest eroded the
OGC and the stability of the galaxy
657,155,250 y.a.A group of cultures near the galactic core, the
Coalition of Central Core Cultures (C3 Coalition) became the only
civilizing force left in the galaxy, and in 339,828,750 began to
reshape galactic civilization and helped reunify the Archons.
267,671,250 y.a. The age of the Archons which
ended in the Dark Night of Galactic history, exploded into a civil
blood bath which laid waste to much of the galaxy.
1,000,000,000/543,000,000 y.a. Neoproterozoic period on
earth Increased oxygen availability in the air resulted in the starting
off of animal diversification.
660,000,000 y.a. Sponges make their first appearance
580,000,000 y. a. A meteorite 4 km in diameter strikes Australia,
causing a huge 100m high tsunami.
560,000,000 y, a. The Paleozoic/Cambrian period sees the explosion of a
large variety of creatures. The Vetulicolia, the ancestors of the
vertebrates, make their first appearance.
500,000,000 y. a. The Paleozoic/Ordovician period sees the start of
440,000,000. y. a. The end of the Ordovician period sees the first mass
extinction of life.
435,000,000.y. a. In the Paleozoic/Silurian period, the levels of CO2
and CH4 were 360 & 435 PPMV respectively. These values are comparable
with todays rising levels.
370,000,000.y. o. The late Devonian saw the second mass extinction of
286,000,000/250,000,000 y. o. The Paleozoic/Permian period saw the
third dramatic extinction of life. From the 50% of the phyla that
survived, life later bounced back . 250,000,000 y.
a. The Dark Night of Galactic History. A civil blood bath decimated the
Archons. Following the collapse of the Archonic Empire, galactic
civilization revived slowly 215,000,000 /200.000,000 y.a.
The 4th.mass extinction of life resulted in the destruction of 95% of
all species. A new glacial period regresses life on earth. Our solar
system contained 9 planets, Mercury, Mars, Tiamat (a giant planet
between Mars & Jupiter), Jupiter Saturn, Uranus, Unknown, Neptune, and
Pluto, with their moons. Nibiru was a planet orbiting around its sun
Osiris. Following a cosmic catastrophe Nibiru was forced into a new
orbit around our sun. Some of its moons collapsed on Mars causing Mars
to lose its atmosphere and all its life forms. Tiamat was also
affected, it got cut in 2 and lost most of its life forms, including
the dinosaurs. One half remained in its orbit, becoming our planet
Earth, the other part forming the Asteroid Belt between Mars & Jupiter.
As for Nibiru it began an eccentric orbit around the sun of 3600
years. In the history of Mesopotamia, India, Egypt, Greece, and others,
this event is described as "the war of the Gods in heaven »
150,000,000 y. a. The two halves of the Earth's crust meet, forming
the continents. 118,731,000 y. a. Earth was re-discovered and
re-bioformed in 81,475,750
85,000,000 y.a. Human and mice genomes diverge from a common ancestor.
68,000,000/66,000,000y.a.Jesus talks about a planet Maldek where the
human race "played out a most wonderful civilization, and drama,
enjoying a high technology, up to the time when there was an event that
caused the explosion of the planet." What happened was that the
Zetans first colonized the planet, then the Drakars took over and sent
three asteroids. One to Venus, which was protected by its violent
atmosphere, the second to Earth where many species were wiped out and
an ice age resulted, and the third to Mars where two/thirds of the
atmosphere was wiped out. The Galactic Alliance responded and sent
Erran and Scenarian warships and wiped out the planet, which exploded.
Residues of the planet went into the Asteroid Belt, into Jupiter, and
into some of the moons of Jupiter, of Saturn, and into some of its
65,000,000 y.a.:Here we see the fifth extinction of most life forms on
earth. It appears that the human race became also extinct except for
remnants in africa. All humans appearing after this period originated
from the descendants of the african humans.
50,000,000 y.a.. Huge marine mammals and small land mammals dominate
the sea and land life forms.
28,298,250 y.a. A C3 culture from the Canopan system colonized the
earth. A settlement by the Federal Disputes designated it an evolving
sentience preserve under the joint administration of Canopan and Sirian
researchers. The planet itself was used as a recreation and resource
location for local citizens. An orbital station was established for
remote viewing and for biological stimulation to some small groups of
26,000,000 y.a.: It could be that Jesus incarnated on earth as Sananda
at the time of the original civilization on earth. The Elder race of
the Cains and the Abels. However indications are vague.
7,000,000 y.a. Human DNA shows that humans diverged from chimps in this
6.000.000 y.a.:Two species of hominids, the Sahelanthropus, then the
Orrorin have had their skeletons dated back to this period..
5,000,000 y.a.. Most of the animal types known today are already
represented on Earth, including Homo Habilis or its earlier variants.
5,400,000 to 4,400,000 y.a.: A third species of hominid, Ardipithecus
4,500,000 to 3,850,000 y.a.:, The next human race, Austrolipithecus
Aramensis makes its appearance.
3,800,000 to 2,950,000 y.a.: Austrolipithecus Afarensis, a small
brained & big faced species of human appears
3,000,000 y.a.. Austrolipithecus Africanus is dated back to this
2,500,000 to 2,400,000 y.a.. Austrolipithecus Garhi, an intermediate
species between Afarensis & Homo starts appearing.
2,300,000 to 1,200,000 y.a.. Austrolipithecus Boisei. This is the first
Homo to appear. And continues its evolution up to today They are the
makers of the first recognizable stone tools.
2,200,000 to 1,600,000 y. a.: Austrolipithecus Robustus. The next
evolution in the human race also makes its appearance, Homo Habilis
(Lucy), leaving the earliest stone tools in Eastern Africa.
2,000,000 to 1,400,000.y.a. Paranthropus Boisoi. This humanoid is
recognizable by its massive jaws & huge teeth.
2,000,000 y. a: The third human race, Homo Erectus, appeared as
indicated by the standardized stone tools found in France. Brain
capacity was 1185cm3 as compared to modern humans' capacity of
1,900,000 to 1,600,000 y.a. Homo Ergaster. This is the first
essentially modern human body, with a high rounded cranium. He was a
1,800,000 y.a. Homo Rudolfensis. His cranium was 1470cm3. Larger than
Homo Habilis. Characterised by being the maker of sharp flaked stone
1,000,000 y.a.. Homo Erectus was found to have established himself in
Java & China 974,250 y.a. Homo Erectus was developing into a very smart
800,000 y. a.Homo Antecessor was found in Spain
B: Period from 500,000 years ago to the birth of Christ
500,000 to 250,000 y.a.: Neanderthal man appeared and was recognized by
typical stone tools found in UK, in Europe, in Jordan, and in
Australia. In this period there were also highly evolved civilizations
in Antarctica and in the Gobi desert
416,000 y.a. (433,600 according to another source). Gold production on
planet Nibiru falters. As this planet is now on an elliptical orbit
round the sun, its inhabitants, the Annunaki, come to earth to start
mining operations. Enlil is in command of the earth mission, and Enki
is relegated to africa where rich veins of gold were found in 432, 000.
410,000/400,000 y.a. There are now seven important settlements in
southern Mesopotamia: A Spaceport, (Sippar), Mission Control Center,
(Nippur), a metallurgical center (Shurrupak). The gold ores came by
ships from Africa, and were then transferred periodically to the Nibiru
350,000 y.a..A mass of violent, arrogant rebels in our sector of the
galaxy develop destructive weapons and mind control technology
350,000/300,000 y.a. The Annunaki working in the mines mutiny against
the Older Gods. Enki creates Primitive Workers by genetic manipulation
of Ape women, either Homo Habilis or Austrolopithecas. They were called
LU LU slaves. Enlil brings Primitive Workers to Mesopotamia, & enables
them to procreate and multiply into Homo Erectus. According to Zecharia
Sitchin an enigmatic 223 alien genes out of the odd 30,000 of the human
genome were "horizontally transferred" by the Annunaki as described
in detail in the clay tablets of the Sumerians and the Akkadians
300,000 y. a.. Sorcerer scientists on the island continent of Atlantis
open up a rift in hyper-space as an experiment with crystal-based
electromagnetic manipulation, which goes out of control, releasing
"subspace fallout" for thousands of years to come. Many of these
Atlanteans escape by taking refuge in underground caverns below the
east coast of North America and Western Europe
300.000 y. a. Creator gods raided earth, starting modern history. They
fed on chaos and fear, and rearranged the human DNA for their own
purposes into 2 strands instead of the original 12. Archeological
discoveries detected man's presence in Jordan between 450,000 and
272,000 y. a. Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden by Enlil. Enki later
creates Giants with a life span of 100,000 years
271,000 / 206,600 y. a. The first city of the Gods, Eridu. Ruled by
Alulim, then by Alaljar. Adam and Eve were "recreated" by Enki to
enable them to produce children. Cain & Abel are born in this period.
260,000 y.a. A new version of Homo Erectus (Lucy?) is created by Enki
and his wife. He was a Homo Erectus human called Ninhursag
250,000 y.a.: ET Alchemists, using earth as a base, genetically
engineer a race of reptilian humanoids using a reptilian and/or saurian
DNA base. These "reptiloids" rebel and become uncontrollable.
Astral parasites incarnate into these creatures, assimilating their
physical natures into their own beings. These poltergeist, reptilian, &
human beings, superimposed into one entity, develop methods for
blending in with the human population. Some escape to Antartica, at the
time a semi-tropical continent, and develop a powerful empire there.
250,000 y.a.: The 4th. Human race, Homo Sapiens makes its appearance.
Their distinguishing features were: a steep forehead, a delicate brow,
a vertical midface, and a protruding chin Figurines found in the Golan
were dated as 233,000 & Europeen artifacts were dated as being from the
231,750 y.a. The Sirian Federation declared its independance status and
included earth. A federation colony was then established on planet
earth. The Federation later applied for aid from the C3 to complete
their sentient project.
225,000 y.a.: The Pleiadians discovered on earth three groups of
uncivilized people, one of which was of light skinned Lyran descent
like them and living in Bali, Hawaii, Samoa & India. They also
developed the four civilizations of Lemuria, of the Mayans, of the
Incas. and that of Machu Picchu.
206,600 to 98,900 y.a. The second city of the Gods (The Annunaki),
Bad-Tibira, came into being, and was ruled by Enmenluana, then by
Enmengalana, then by Dumuzid.
200,000 y.a. The center of human civilization now moved to a lush
kingdom in the Gobi desert. where blue eyed, blond-haired, humans lived
in alliance with a tall humanoid race known as the "Nepheli". They
waged a war against the reptilian empire in Antarctica, and in a
desperate measure to defend their infiltrated and threatened society,
used an experimental super-weapon (a cobalt warhead?) against the
Antarcticans, and the explosion knocked the planet out of its axial
alignment. As a result of this the reptilian empire in Antarctica
became covered by tons of ice, and the remnants of the population took
refuge underground, mainly in a huge multi level underground system
below Nepal, between Benares, India, and lake Manosarowar in Tibet,
carefully concealing the entrances. As for the Nordics who lived in
what has now become the Gobi desert, they also escaped underground into
a recently discovered cavern system below Mongolia and Central Asia,
again carefully concealing the entrances. The Reptilian and Nordic
cavern systems intersect in some areas, resulting in inevitable
conflicts between the two super-powers.
Other Nordics migrated westward and gave rise to the tribes which
eventually became the Scandinavians. The more fanatical factions become
the "Aryan" invaders of India, taking with them their "Hindu"
traditions of "gods" who were essentially astraunauts utilizing
sophisticated technology. The reptilians and their underground
"snake-world" also appear in Hindu traditions where they are
refered to as the Nagas, a subterranean race of space faring reptilians
who are very menacing to humans. Vedic texts also speak of strange
machines, mercury-powered airships called "viminas", and also
mention nuclear warfare resulting from the technology brought by the
Nordics during their invasion of India.
176,000 y.a.Stone tools indicating advanced life were found in
Australia, and have been dated 176,000y.a., 130,000y.a., & 117,000y.a.
150,000 y.a. The Nordics underneath the Gobi region (within the
"Agharti" kingdom and its capital "Shambala the Lesser") and
the Reptiloids under the region of Nepal (The seven-leveled reptilian
underworld of "Patala" with its capital of "Bhoga-Vita")
continued to wage war against each other, first within the caverns of
Asia, then within the caverns of the Americas and other continents.
Finally their war became for the domination of the air, and they even
took their conflict to the moon and Mars.
150,000 to 30,000 y.a. To Enlil's growing annoyance the Annunaki
marry with humans, bearing Giants, Demons and Half-Gods. He tries to
punish them as the result becomes embarrassing. However many of them
escape to other continents
100,000 y.a. Prehistoric glass tools from this period were found in the
100,000 y.a: Around this period, both the Nordics and the Reptiloids
discover hyperspace travel. (Accessing hyperspace is relatively easy,
the problems being in how to manipulate it without side effects) During
the next 70,000 years a large segment of the galaxy and several
dimensions are colonized thanks to this instantaneous interstellar and
inter-dimensional travel. However most of the planets were kept in
technological darkness and poverty and in eco-political servitude by
the malevolent star-faring groups so as to provide a constant supply of
slaves. Only the more intelligent were initiated and recruited into
secret societies operating underground, off-planet, or in other
dimensions. The malevolent aliens and the Nordic-backed free society
were terrified of each other. A Nazi-Bavaria space force based in
Antarctica was eventually responsible for helping the Draco collective
to enslave several worlds within the immediate 21 star-system sector of
the galaxy. On Earth atrocities were being carried out by a third
faction, the Astart or Ashtar cult (no connection to the Ashtar
command) in caverns below the Egyptian/Giza desert. This cult
collaborated much later with Nazi occult societies, conventional
religiosities, and international bankers, the real controllers of the
planet, to form an interplanetary Masonic style organization.
Grey Aliens: These were developed by fallen elements of the human &
serpent (beast) races to be used by their Luciferian masters to enable
these to operate in the 3rd. dimension as part of Lucifer's rebellion
against the creative plan. The Geys are a frankensteinian combination
of reptiloid, insectoid, humanoid, and even plant-like DNA combined
with sophisticated cybernetics and implant technology which links them
into a group mind controlled and incarnated by fallen verities -
Satanaku's perverted imitation of God's creation. By masquerading
as ascended masters they infiltrated the Ashtar collaboration and
established a large network based on Sirius-B. A faction in Sirius-A
however resists the expansionist philosophy of the main Ashtar
alliance, and becomes known as the Sirius-A alliance. Many of the
Nordics who adhere to strict non-interventionist ethics establish the
core of their civilization near the Ring-Nebula of Lyra. And the
Reptiloids establish the base of their empire in Alpha Draconis. Other
reptilian factions in disagreement with the Draconians establish
independent colonies in other star systems such as Capella. (These
reptilian factions now serve tirelessly with the Cosmic Hierarchy to
end the dis-harmony). The next 1000 years see the Ashtar collective
largely ineffectual due to internal fighting. Over time however the
integrity of the collective was re-established, and they became the
foremost authority in the galaxy on the subversive tactics of the
98,800 / 70,000 y.a.the third city of the Gods, Larak, ruled by
70,000 y.a.. Climate warms again. The Annunaki (The Nefilim of the
bible) marry with a new outgrowth of Man to the annoyance of Enlil.
Regressive types of Man roam the earth, Homo Habilis and Homo Erectus.
A new ice age begins. Cro-Magnon man survives This is their last human
creation. Noah is born with a white skin as a result of a genetic
manipulation by Enki. Cro-Magnon is recognizable by his steep forehead,
in contrast to the previously receding forehead, a delicate browridge,
as against the previous strong browridge, a vertical midface and a
protrotruding chin as against the previous projecting mid-face and
absence of chin.
70,000 to 49,000 y.a.. The fourth city of the Gods, Zimbir (Sippar) is
now ruled by Enmendurana . Enki elevates humans of Annunaki parentage
to rule in Shuruppak. This enrages Enlil who now decides to destroy
mankind. Enki cannot stand in his way and promises to keep the secret
from man so that Enlil can succeed, but only providing Homo Sapiens,
his last creation, should survive. This creation of Homo Sapiens, about
50,000 years ago, happened when Shem, Cham and Japheth were beget by
Enki with the seed of Noah by three different women. And this is how
modern man, Homo Sapiens was created.
49,000 y. a.Mu sank into the ocean.
60,000 y.a. Prehistoric art in Australia was dated by thermoluminecence
to 60,000y.a. Other painted walls in caves in S.Australia were
estimated to be 43,000 and 39,000 years old..
50,000 y.a. Human presence in America was found to be from 50,000 and
47,000y.o. As for Brazil , human presence was found to be from
50,000 y.a.The Alpha Draconian empire destroys in a surprise attack
three Nordic colonial worlds in the Lyra region killing over 50 billion
men, women, and children. The Draco Borg Collective also ravage many
other planets. They did this by infiltrating all stratas of society,
then by using implants, eroding the soul matrix, then assimilating the
population into their group memory complex, turning them into drones.
This is exactly what elements of that collective are attempting to do
here now on this planet. You can see many people who seem oblivious to
the highest good and are seen driven uniquely by selfish ambition. Many
world leaders are totally under the control of the dark forces and
negative ET's, many having actually had surgery to implant cybernetic
control mechanisms. A group who were not affected by this primitive
form of mind control, established an outpost of the Sirian High Command
on Earth, with the objective of education and peace keeping, which they
have been doing ever since. Vega Lyra escapes the destruction and is
able to put up a defense, and receives some of the surviving refugees
from the devastated worlds. Other refugees escape to Rigel Orion, and
to the Pleiades cluster where they terraform several worlds which then
become the base of a large Federation of Worlds. The Hyades and
Andromeda constellations (not necessarily the Andromeda galaxy) are
colonized, as are also several worlds in the anti-matter (DAL)
universe. Much later in this period an elite High Command is formed,
later to be known as the Circle of Sirius. Membership is strictly
limited to monadic groups which due to their unalterable loyalty to the
creater's plan, are immune to the negative ego and mind control
technology of the fallen verities.
49,000 to 30,400 y.a. Ubara-Tutu ruled until the Flood. About
30,400y.a. Nibiru appeared again and this time lost its moon Ingu which
was captured by Earth and became our moon. The resulting tidal waves
and floods were responsible for the death of nearly all life on Earth.
The Annunaki needed time to "heal" Nibiru. Some of them decided to
stay on Earth permanently. Gravity change on Earth resulted in a
shorter lifetime for humans and mammals. 30,378 /1,578y.a. the Nibiru
and their human creations destroyed the pre-diluvium creatures until
eventually the last Giants died out.around 1,000 BCE
37,000 / 21,000 y.a. The mesoamerican civilization flourished.
Then again between 24,000
34,000 y.a. (32,000 BC): The Nordics in Rigel, lose a desperate war
against Reptilian and Grey forces. Survivors are forced out of the
Orion open cluster and take refuge on the Jovian moons of Sol in Sirius
A, and in Procyon. Other humanoids flee to the outer Orionite systems,
but have to capitulate much of their sovereignty over to the Draconian
collective where they have to serve as under a dictator
30,000 y.a. The famous paintings in Grotte Chauvet were dated to this
29,000 y.a. Hand tools were found in numerous locations recently, and
were dated to be between 29,000 and 27,000 y.a.
25,000 y.a. The statue of the king of Hesse was dated to this period.
Also found were Jewels and Preceltic armaments. Skeletons of Homo
Sapiens Sapiens were found in Algeria.
25,000 y.a.The Galactic Republic began as an alliance between the
systems of Coruscan, Corellia, Alderaan, and Chandrila. The development
of faster than light travel by the Corellians made a Galactic
24,900 y.a. Several major armed conflicts arise and the whole system
gets corrupted and inefficient.
24,840 y.a. A new supreme commander of inflexible integrity and honor
is elected. He puts things back on track but later decides that the
situation can not be salvaged by a Republic and only an Empire can put
things back in order. The Galactic Empire embodying the New Order, is
23,000 y.a.: Cro-Magnon man appears in Europe, and Neanderthal man
20,000 y.a..(18,000 BC).The Orion Cluster is now controlled by the
United Worlds of Orion, which serves under the Alpha Draconian empire,
Rigel and Bellatrix being major centers of Orionite power. Six Orionite
star systems are at the core, having succeeded in conquering and
subduing several worlds in this sector of the galaxy, lusting for
conquest, and turning many of these worlds into slave planets where
descendants of humans lived under horrifying conditions. The atrocities
of the Draco-Orion empire have earned them the title of the "Unholy
Six" Devastating battles are waged between the Pleiadians and the
Orionites, devastating whole worlds.The Sirians, descendents of
refugees from Rigel Orion now begin a long interstellar conflict with
the Orionites over a star cluster in the vicinity of Sol containing 21
star systems and 287 inhabited worlds.
17,000 y.a. Wall paintings in grotte de Lascaux are dated to this year.
Amerindians crossed along the glaciated Alaska passage.
14,000 y.a.: The end of the last ice age.The CO2 level was 13,000 and
the CH4 level was 25,000. Giant floods engulfed America and Eurasia.
13,000 y.a. (or 30,000 according to a different version) Enki plans to
use the tidal wave expected as a result of the impending passage of
Nibiru a secret from mankind.
12,000 y.a.(10,000 BC) The collapse of Atlantis. Some accounts place
this at 40,000 y.a. The Lemurian civilization had connections with
Atlantis. They established cultures in India, China, South, Central,
and North America. Not much is known about Lemuria and Atlantis, except
that they both had advanced civilizations.
12,000 y.a.The Galactic networks can now be divided in three: First,
The Draconian collective including Alpha Draconis, Rigel Orion, Epsilon
Bootes, Zeta II Reticuli, with as their main focus material conquest.
Second: The Ashtar Alliance including Sirius B, Arcturus, Aldibaran,
Altair, with as their main focus intellectual advancement and the
development of the ideal of a christed civilization. Thirdly the
United Federation including Taygeta Pleiades, Tau Ceti, Vega Lyra, and
Procyon whose focus is on spiritual development. The main thing for
man to remember is that spirit must dominate over matter, and not the
opposite as advocated by the fallen verities.
11,000 y.a.(or 28,000). Enki instructs Noah to build a submersible
ship. Enlil witnesses the total destruction from his orbiting ship. He
later agrees to supply seeds for agriculture, and Enki helps
domesticate earth animals.
|
<urn:uuid:662d97ee-713f-466b-b366-3eeab9822d5e>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://phorums.com.au/showthread.php?166927-HISTORY-OF-THE-EARTH-amp-THE-GALAXY
|
2013-05-20T02:15:58Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.923103
| 6,873
|
Recurring ear infections
Ear infections are common in kids, but some children are more prone than others and suffer from recurring infections.
One or two ear infections a year is pretty standard, but if your child has three or more ear infections in a six-month period or four ear infections in one year - or has persistent fluid behind the eardrum - you might want to consult your doctor to find out whether a long-term treatment is in order.
Treatment of recurring ear infections
While long-term antibiotic treatment has fallen out of favour in recent years, chronic cases, known as Glue ear, can be treated with a procedure of inserting tubes called grommets through the eardrum to help with drainage of fluid from behind the eardrum; or, in rare cases, the removal of your child's adenoids. As both these porcedures require a general aneasthetic, they are options you would need to discuss with your healthcare provider after all other avenues of treatment have been tried.
Why does my child keep getting ear infections?
Some kids are just more prone to ear infections than others, but as a rule, boys tend get ear infections more often than girls, as do children whose family members have had ear infections. Other factors that increase the chance of ear infections include regular exposure to tobacco smoke or high levels of pollution and frequent exposure to large groups of children (like in large daycare settings).
Related ear infection articles
- Read an overview of ear infection in kids
- Learn more about the causes and symptoms of ear infections
- Discover how ear infections can be prevented
- Read about ear infection treatments and remedies
- Learn about Glue ear
- Discover more on middle ear infections
- Read about Swimmer's ear (Otitis externa)
Last revised: Saturday, 23 January 2010
This article contains general information only and is not intended to replace advice from a qualified health professional.
|
<urn:uuid:07257a64-78b0-4acd-942b-20a3bf8031ef>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.kidspot.com.au/familyhealth/http/www.kidspot.com.au/Infections-and-Diseases-Ear-Recurring-ear-infections+2785+197+article.htm
|
2013-05-26T03:46:12Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706578727/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121618-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.953858
| 397
|
11 lessons in one! This bundle package includes 11 different topics covering the three branches of government. All lectures come with student copy to follow along with.
Intro to Congress
The House of Representatives
The Expressed Powers
Members of Congress
Federal, State, and Local Courts
The Judicial Branch
Growth of Presidential Powers
The Roles of the President
The President's Executive Powers
If you like this lesson, be sure to check out my other lessons where you will find a “Full Unit” for every unit to be used in World History, US History, Economics, and Government!
|
<urn:uuid:dd6c2800-e019-4805-83d8-dc4110232a06>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Legislative-Executive-Judical-Branch-Notes-267863
|
2013-05-18T17:48:53Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.867167
| 124
|
At night we navigate from Espanola to Floreana Island. Floreana, also known as Charles or Santa Maria, is one of the four inhabited islands, and the first one to be officially inhabited by Ecuadorians, when Ecuador took possession of the islands in 1832. Back in those days, the islands were not a National Park, thus, hundreds of animals and plants were introduced to help the first inhabitants survive in such a hard and isolated environment. Nowadays, Floreana holds a small population of about 130 people entirely dedicated to agriculture, fishing and tourism activities.
This small Island has many visitor sites, and today before breakfast, we landed at Punta Cormorant. This site is well known by its green beach, due to the presence of small crystals of olivine that have been eroded from lava rocks. The mineral olivine (or peridot, when of gem-quality) is a common mineral found in the Earth's subsurface.
At Punta Cormorant, we were greeted by a group of four playful young sea lions and once we had enough pictures of them, we continued along the cinder trail, surrounded by typical vegetation from the arid zone, a mixture between endemic and native plants. The trail here, skirts along a large salt pond where we had the chance to observe few flamingos, pintails and other shorebirds.
Flamingos eventually arrived to Galapagos from the Caribbean area and finding good feeding and nesting grounds and very little ground predators; successfully colonized the islands and became an endemic subspecies. Today the islands are home of few hundred Flamingos. By the end of the trail we reached a beautiful white coral sand beach, nesting site of sea turtles that eventually start their nesting season in few more weeks.
Back aboard for breakfast, the ship repositioned to a small offshore volcanic cone named Champion Islet. This is the only island where a small population of the Floreana mockingbird—which was driven to extinction by cats, rats and other introduced predators on the main island—still exists. We explored this tiny islet by zodiac, with a glass bottom boat excursion and by snorkeling.
Following lunch, the National Geographic Endeavour lifted anchor once more to spend the rest of afternoon visiting the famous Post Office Bay, where a barrel is still used for an old mail swap tradition going back to whaling days, probably established in 1793 by a British Captain named James Colnett. Here we went through hundreds of postcards and letters left by previous visitors from over the world, to see if our guests could hand deliver some mail picked up here, and of course they were able to leave their own mail, with the hope that some other visitors will deliver it!
This outing was coupled with an exploration of the bay and neighboring sea lion colony by Zodiac and kayak. Right before sunset, we took off to our next destination, and while we were navigating, we had the chance to spot some tropical whales and a breathtaking sunset.
|
<urn:uuid:839f534f-b7a4-4531-916e-fb2fbe0184fd>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.expeditions.com/daily-expedition-reports/154744
|
2013-05-18T06:24:12Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.972415
| 617
|
Check if wide character is a control character
Checks whether c is a control character.
A control character is a character that does not occupy at least one printing position on a display (this is the opposite of a printable character, checked with iswprint).
This function is the wide-character equivalent of iscntrl (<cctype>): If c translates with wctob to a character for which iscntrl is true, it is always considered a control character by this function too.
In C++, a locale-specific template version of this function (iscntrl) exists in header <locale> for all character types.
- Wide character to be checked, casted to a wint_t, or WEOF.
wint_t is an integral type.
A value different from zero (i.e., true) if indeed c is a control character. Zero (i.e., false) otherwise.
/* iswcntrl example */
int main ()
wchar_t str = L"first line \n second line \n";
- Check if character is a control character (function
- Check if wide character has graphical representation (function
- Check if wide character is punctuation character (function
- iscntrl (locale)
- Check if character is a control character using locale (function template)
|
<urn:uuid:4be7efef-4cd7-4502-b278-2edc468d4626>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/cwctype/iswcntrl/
|
2013-05-24T02:26:22Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132729/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.768629
| 289
|
The Dirty Truth about Canada’s Tar Sands Industry
Canada’s Tar Sands are located in the Northern half of the province of Alberta along with some deposits in neighbouring Saskatchewan. Covering a landmass of 140,200 km2, or 54,132 square miles, the deposits span a region the size of the State of New York or 2.5 times the size of Nova Scotia. The tar sands are located in the heart of Canada’s Boreal Forest, a nearly continuous belt of coniferous trees that extends across the country. Home to a diversity of plant and animal species the region is commonly referred to as “the lungs of the planet,” as it is one of the largest carbon storehouse in the world, second only to the Amazon rainforest. The region contains extensive wetlands, including bogs, peatlands and fens. The tar sands region of the boreal forest is the traditional territory of the Dene, Cree and Métis Indigenous people. At an estimated 170 billion barrels, Canada’s tar sands have put the country on the global oil map, making Canada 2nd only to Saudi Arabia for proven crude oil reserves. Since commencement of oil sands extraction, nearly 40 years ago, extraction of the resource has climbed steadily to the 1.31 million barrels per day in 2008. This figure is expected to nearly triple by 2018. Tar Sands oil is destined for the U.S. In 2008, Alberta exported 1.51 million barrels per day (bbl/d) of crude oil to the U.S., supplying 15% of U.S. crude oil imports, or 8% of U.S. oil demand. As of June 2009, there were approximately 5,012 oil sands (mineral rights) agreements with the Province totaling approximately 82,542 km2 (31,870 square miles). This equates to an area that is nearly the size of the state of South Carolina. Close to 41% of possible tar sands areas are still available for leasing.
It is no exaggeration to call the tar sands one of the most destructive industrial projects in the world. People, animals and the land are dying as we extract the dirty tar sands oil to feed our North American appetite for oil. WE NEED YOUR HELP! CANADIANS MUST NOW, MORE THAN EVER, UNITE TOGETHER AND DEMAND AN END TO TAR SANDS INJUSTICES TODAY! • The Tar Sands must be included in a national cap on greenhouse gas emissions. • The Tar Sands must be subjected to precautionary water quality standards aimed to stop and eliminate elevating levels of Mercury, Arsenic, PAHs and other carcinogenic toxins. • Treaty Rights must be honoured and upheld. First Nations and Métis Communities must be meaningfully consulted and accommodated before any further development decisions are approved. • We are calling for the Canadian and Albertan governments to take the first step and cease new oil sands approvals and lease sales. The time is now to stop the uncontrolled oil sands development and deal with the environmental and social concerns that it has created. • We furthermore urge our Governments to develop an energy policy, which encourages conservation and promotes the use of safe, clean, and renewable energy sources. Together, we can move our Canada beyond the current dirty oil image. It’s time.
|
<urn:uuid:a1df1ef0-4f5e-4b54-9e92-4452c17e913d>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.sierraclub.ca/en/tar-sands?page=88
|
2013-05-20T22:32:39Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.932096
| 679
|
Milestones:First Optical Fiber Laser and Amplifier, 1961-1964
The First Optical Fiber Laser and Amplifier, 1961-1964
In 1961, Elias Snitzer and colleagues constructed and operated the world's first optical fiber laser in the former American Optical complex at 14 Mechanic Street. Three years later this team demonstrated the first optical fiber amplifier. Fiber lasers that can cut and weld steel have since become powerful industrial tools and fiber amplifiers routinely boost signals in the global optical fiber network allowing messages to cross oceans and continents without interruption.
The plaque may be viewed on the Southbridge Massachusetts Town Common on Main Street, Southbridge, MA, U.S.A. directly across from the old American Optical main plant where the work took place, and near the eyeglass sculpture. The Common is public land owned by Southbridge. On 23 January, 2012 the Southbridge Town Council granted permission to place the Milestone plaque in the Common.
Elias Snitzer, and colleagues developed the first working optical fiber laser and amplifier between 1961 and 1964 at the old American Optical plant in Southbridge MA. The development of the fiber laser drew from Snitzer's earlier work culminating in the first solid-state laser made of glass in 1961 plus his work in optical fibers in which he was the first to report the theory and observation of modes in an optical fiber. This ground-breaking combination of these two then-young technologies was many years ahead of its time.
Snitzer is shown here with a Nd-doped glass rod in a photo from the early 1960s. Historical images of the American Optical plant from that period are also shown below.
The advent of optical fiber amplifiers was vital in building the high-speed backbone of the global telecommunications network, which carries our words, pictures and data around the planet. More recently, fiber lasers have become powerful tools in manufacturing, generating multikilowatt beams that can cut and weld materials from plastics to metals.
Other early solid-state lasers, such as the ruby laser demonstrated by Theodore Maiman in 1960, another IEEE Milestone, were made of bulk materials. The fiber laser uniquely transmits the light it generates along a light-guiding core, concentrating its energy in a small area inside the glass, and making it easy to transfer light from a fiber laser into a passive optical fiber for transmission.
Similarly, the optical fiber amplifier acts on light propagating in a fiber’s core. This became particularly important long after Spitzer’s work when fiber-optic communications emerged in the 1970s. Optical signals needed to be amplified after passing through tens of kilometers of glass and initially this required converting the signals into electronic form for amplification. Innovations by Payne and others (see below) led to the development of optical fiber amplifiers which could boost signals in the important 1.5 micron telecommunications wavelength band. The advent of optical fiber amplifiers suitable for communications enabled today’s broad-band fiber networks which carry signals across continents and under oceans and provide the bandwidth necessary to transmit our words, pictures and data around the planet without interruption.
This work is documented in the following articles:
E. Snitzer and J. W. Hicks, "Optical Wave-Guide Modes in Small Glass Fibers, I Theoretical," paper TB36, Program of the 1959 Annual Meeting of the Optical Society of America, Vol 49, p. 1128, November 1959.
H. Osterberg, E. Snitzer, M. Polanyi, R. Hilberg, "Optical Wave-Guide Modes in Small Glass Fibers, II Experimental," paper TB37, Program of the 1959 Annual Meeting of the Optical Society of America, Vol 49, p. 1128, November 1959.
E. Snitzer, "Optial MASER Action of Nd+3 in a barium Crown Glass," Physical Review Letters, Volume 7, Number 12, pp. 444-446, December 15, 1961.
Charles J. Koester and Elias Snitzer, "Amplification in a Fiber Laser," Applied Optics, Volume 3, Number 10, pp. 1182-1186, October, 1964.
The work that led to today’s communications optical fiber amplifiers is documented in a number of publications including the following:
Poole, S. B., Payne, D. N., and Fermann, M. E.: 'Fabrication of low-loss optical fibres containing rare-earth ions', Electron. Lett.,1985, 21, pp. 737-738, August 1985.
R. J. Mears, L. Reekie, I.M. Jauncey, D. N. Payne, "Low-Noise Erbium-Doped Fibre Amplifier Operating at 1.54um," Electronics Letters, Vol 23, No. 19, September 1987.
E. Desurvire, J. R. Simpson, P. C. Becker, "High-gain erbium-doped traveling-wave fiber amplifier," Optics Letters, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 888-890, November 1987.
Fiber lasers also have proved exceptionally well suited for efficiently generating high-quality beams with powers reaching many kilowatts in strength, greatly expanding the applications of lasers in cutting, welding and other machining of materials.
|
<urn:uuid:9edf9777-9937-4ed4-a454-3d3850b2b329>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php?title=Milestones:First_Optical_Fiber_Laser_and_Amplifier,_1961-1964&oldid=81964
|
2013-05-20T22:06:25Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.918883
| 1,107
|
|Umami: The Fifth Taste - Science Insider
Reported October 2010
HUMAN TASTE TEST: Taste is the ability to respond to dissolved molecules and ions called tastants, which humans detect via taste receptor cells, which are clustered into taste buds. The tongue has about 10,000 taste buds. When these detect food particles, they send signals to the brain carrying information about their "taste." Each taste bud contains 50-100 taste cells, representing the five taste sensations: salty, sour, sweet, bitter and umami (the response to acidic salts like MSG, often used as a flavor enhancer in Asian dishes, processed meats, and processed cheeses).
Each taste cell has receptors that bond to specific molecules and ions in response to the various taste sensations, connected to a sensory neuron leading back to the brain. So taste -- like all sensations -- resides in the brain. That's the reason different people like different things. Although a single cell may have several types of receptors, one may be more active than the others, so that an individual will prefer certain tastes. Also, no single taste cell contains receptors for both bitter and sweet tastants.
ABOUT THE TONGUE: The tongue is a versatile group of muscles anchored in the mouth and throat. It is integral to creating articulate speech and other noises. Its top surface is covered by taste buds able to detect the bitter, salty, sour, sweet, and umami (or savory) qualities of food. The tongue, which acts both as a voluntary and involuntary muscle, filters germs and also moves food around within the mouth before transferring it to the esophagus.
The Biophysical Society contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report. This report has also been produced thanks to a generous grant from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc.
If you would like more information, please contact:
Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:
Leslie J. Stein, Ph.D.
Science Communications, Monell Center
Director of Policy & Communications
ON THE WEB...
|
<urn:uuid:289efd5f-4d97-4640-8005-d6f5a5b04d42>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://ivanhoe.com/science/story/2010/10/775si.html
|
2013-05-25T12:40:56Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.924292
| 432
|
The Resilient Polar Bear?
An interesting tidbit on the evolution of the polar bear, thanks to advances in DNA research:
The stories revealed by ancient DNA are not all dismal. Genetic study of polar bear fossils predicts a better fate for the endangered species.
Before 2007, it was thought that polar bears evolved from the brown bear fairly recently in the planet’s history. But three years ago, a DNA study of polar bear fossils showed that the polar bear originated nearly 130,000 years ago. That means the species survived the last interglacial period of global warming.
The discovery gives MacPhee hope about the polar bear’s fate in the coming decades. “It’s possible they will survive, even though they will suffer,” he said.
|
<urn:uuid:47363c3c-2940-43d8-b7c1-1193f98ff183>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://nationalreview.com/planet-gore/16617/resilient-polar-bear/greg-pollowitz
|
2013-06-20T08:37:52Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.916057
| 162
|
Moon Light World Map
The map below shows where the Moon is visible from the Earth, depending on weather conditions and moon phases.
The white dot symbolizes the position of the Moon, and the yellow sun symbolizes the position of the sun.
View Day and Night Map
- The bright part of the map shows where the moon is over the horizon on Friday, November 2, 2012 at 05:36:00 UTC.
- The Sun's position is marked with this symbol: . At this location, the Sun will be at its zenith (directly overhead) in relation to an observer.
- The Moon's position is marked with this symbol: . At this location, the Moon will be at its zenith in relation to an observer. Note that the symbol is not showing the current phase of the Moon.
Fraction of moon illuminated: 90%
Position of the Moon
On Friday, November 2, 2012 at 05:36:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:
|Latitude: ||20° 55' ||North|
|Longitude: ||49° 56' ||West|
The ground speed of the movement is currently 419.40 meters/second, 1509.9 km/hour, 938.2 miles/hour or 815.3 knots.The table below shows the Moon position compared to the time and date above:
|Time||Longitude difference||Latitude difference||Total|
|1 minute||0° 14' 30.7"||15.64 mi||west||0° 00' 00.3"||0.00 mi||north||15.64 mi|
|1 hour||14° 30' 50.0"||937.92 mi||west||0° 00' 12.5"||0.24 mi||north||937.91 mi|
|24 hours||11° 39' 39.3"||753.65 mi||east||0° 21' 44.5"||24.93 mi||south||754.96 mi|
Locations with the moon near zenith
The following table shows 10 locations with moon near zenith position in the sky.
Related time zone tools
|
<urn:uuid:5bfd17e4-2505-44f4-bdcb-4a866157ac0e>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/light.html?iso=20121102T0536
|
2013-05-24T01:59:58Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.802409
| 465
|
Introduction | Three Step Plan for Preventive Care | How to Perform Breast Self-Examination | Mammography Screening | Myths about Breast Cancer | Breast Anatomy | Benign Breast Conditions | Breast Health Glossary
The thought of having breast cancer is frightening to everyone, and especially devastating to women. But ignoring the possibility that you may get breast cancer, or avoiding the processes to detect cancer, can be dangerous.
Although there are some women who are at higher risk, the fact is that all women are at risk for breast cancer. That is why it is so important to follow this three-step plan for preventive care. Although breast cancer cannot be prevented at the present time, early detection of problems provides the greatest possibility of successful treatment.
What is the three-step plan?
Routine care is the best way to keep you and your breasts healthy. Although detecting breast cancer at its earliest stages is the main goal of routine breast care, other benign conditions, such as fibrocystic breasts, are often discovered through routine care.
|Step 1. Breast Self-Examination (BSE)
A woman should begin practicing breast self-examinations by the age of 20 and continue the practice throughout her life -- even during pregnancy and after menopause. BSE should be done regularly at the same time every month. Regular BSE teaches you to know how your breasts normally feel so that you can more readily detect any changes. Changes may include:
If you notice any of these, see your health care provider as soon as possible for evaluation.
|Step 2. Clinical Examination
A breast examination by a physician or nurse trained to evaluate breast problems should be part of a woman's physical examination.
A physical breast examination by a physician or nurse is very similar to the procedures used for breast self examination. Women who routinely practice BSE will be prepared to ask questions and have their concerns addressed during this time.
|Step 3. Mammography
Mammography is a low-dose x-ray of the breasts to find changes that may occur. It is the most common imaging technique. Mammography can detect cancer, or other problems, before a lump becomes large enough to be felt, it can also assist in the diagnosis of other breast problems. However, a biopsy is required to confirm the presence of cancer.
Because when to begin and how often to have mammograms is controversial, it is best to talk with your physician about a mammography schedule that is appropriate for you -- based on your overall health and medical history, risk factors, and personal opinion or preference.
According to the National Cancer Institute, women in their 40s and older should begin having a screening mammogram on a regular basis, every 1 to 2 years. But, the American Cancer Society recommends (and we concur) that by age 40, women should have a screening mammogram every year. (A diagnostic mammogram may be required when a questionable area is found during a screening mammogram.)
Both organizations suggest that women who may be at increased risk for breast cancer should talk with their physicians about whether to begin having mammograms at an earlier age.
|
<urn:uuid:a640612f-96fe-4625-bff7-b34ca5ef1af7>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.umgcc.org/breast_program/prevention.htm
|
2013-05-22T21:24:00Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.96418
| 640
|
Reprogrammed mouse skin cells have resulted in living mice. Mice that have since reproduced and seen their offspring reproduce as well. "The reprogrammed adult cells, known as induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells" are similar to embryonic stem cells however researchers are unsure if these cells can produce any type of cell like that of embryonic cells or if they can simply reproduce many of the same cells.
The living mice are another step in the test to see if IPC's can be manipulated in the same way as embroyonic stems cells have. "This test is considered a gold standard of pluripotency: Because the original double-chromosomed cells are doomed, the embryo can only become an adult if the added stem cells turn into every necessary cell type. Embryonic stem cells passed this test a decade ago. Now iPS cells have, too."
|
<urn:uuid:0295d0c0-b4cb-4a65-9e16-f95f09a88780>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.microbeworld.org/component/jlibrary/?view=article&id=954
|
2013-05-18T06:00:42Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.927865
| 179
|
The excavation at Spitalfields
The churchyard at St. Mary’s in Spitalfields, London, was the final resting place for more than 10,000 people in medieval times. But among the run-of-the-mill gravesites, archaeologists with the Museum of London Archaeology have found, were 175 mass graves, containing the closely packed bodies of thousands of men, women, and children. What happened to these people? The answer, it turns out, could be decidedly unusual.
The team’s first thought was the obvious: the Black Death, which ravaged England starting in 1347. But once the bodies in the mass graves were carbon dated, it was clear that they had died a hundred years before the first plague-carrying flea came to Britain: around 1250. “As soon as we got the radiocarbon dates back, we knew that couldn’t possibly be the case. There had to be some other event,” says Natasha Powers, the head of osteology at the Museum of London Archaeology.
Geological analysis suggest the current-day continents we know and love will drift together, forming a new supercontinent like ones that existed many millions of years ago. What’s not certain is where that supercontinent will be. The authors of a new Nature study suggest that the next supercontinent, dubbed Amasia, will join together up in the Arctic. Antarctica, though, would stay by its lonesome in the south.
The peripatetic magnetic south pole.
A hundred years after Robert Scott‘s disastrous mission to the South Pole, a pair of Kiwi scientists are traveling to his observation hut today to continue the work he began there: tracking the Earth’s magnetic field. Since 1957, New Zealand has measured the field at Scott’s base every five years, accruing data that, along with measurements from other, more comfortable sites around the world, helps maintain the model used by NATO and nations’ defense departments for navigation.
The planet’s magnetic field needs tracking because it is shifting: the magnetic south pole has been traveling northwestward at a rate of 6 to 9 miles a year for the past century. (The geographic South Pole is somewhere altogether different.) This shift occurs because the mass of molten metal that makes up the Earth’s outer core is in a constant state of turmoil, and the the poles could veer off in another direction at any time. Intriguing, the magnetic field has also been getting weaker since the 1800s. But whether that means the poles will flip at some point in the future—it’s happened before!—or whether it will start getting stronger again very soon is a mystery.
The National Palace in Port-au-Prince
after the 2010 Haiti earthquake
What’s the News: To dampen structural vibrations from earthquakes, engineers often place a flexible layer of rubber bearings in between buildings and the soil. Now, scientists are learning that Mother Nature uses a similar technique. A research team has found that a buried layer of mangrove in the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe absorbs earthquake energy, shielding the above ground from soil liquefaction. This discovery could be exploited to help protect new buildings in the Caribbean islands.
Destruction in L’Aquila, in the seismically active area of Abruzzi.
What’s the News: No one can predict earthquakes. But six seismologists and a government official are being tried for manslaughter in the deaths of more than 300 people in the 2009 tremblor in L’Aquila, Italy. The city’s public prosecutor says the scientists downplayed the possibility of a quake to an extent that townsfolk did not take precautions that could have saved their lives. A judge has just set the trial to begin on September 20.
What’s the News: When residents living on the central coast of Maine experienced nearly 30 small earthquakes in early May, some phoned their local authorities to report gunshots and unexpected blasting. That’s because Maine lies far from any active faults and rarely experiences more than two earthquakes a year. Measuring less than 2 on the Richter scale, these small tremors were actually vestiges of the most recent Ice Age.
As mile-high slabs of ice plowed their way across most of North America 25,000 years ago, they compressed Earth’s crust hundreds of feet, and ever since the ice melted away around 14,000 years ago, the land beneath our feet has been decompressing, much like a (very slow-moving) bed springs back to an equilibrium position when you get up in the morning. “The crust of the Earth is constantly moving,” Maine’s Bureau of Geology director Robert Marvinney told Wired. “We just don’t think about it that way, because it seems stable during our lifetimes.”
A house decimated by the 2010 earthquake in Chile.
What’s the News: Enormous earthquakes are rare; there have been only seven quakes with a magnitude 8.8 or above since the start of the 20th century. Of those seven quakes, three of them have happened in the past seven years: off the coasts of Indonesia in 2004, Chile in 2010, and Japan last month. Some researchers think this earthquake cluster marks the start of a period of megaquakes, while others believe that the earthquake cluster is simply a statistical fluke, with these unusually massive quakes just happening to occur within a short amount of time, according to recent analyses (PDF) of Earth’s earthquake history presented at the Seismological Society of America’s annual meeting last week.
Fiordland National Park in New Zealand, the location of the study
What’s the News: Researchers have mapped out the detailed geological history of a 300-square-mile chunk of New Zealand, from 2.5 million years ago to the present day. The study showed how glaciers carved out the area’s distinctive valleys using a little-known technique called thermochronometry, which involves shooting proton beams onto rocks and making note of what happens—along with some impressive analytical skills.
At least 65 people died in an earthquake that struck New Zealand’s second-largest city, Christchurch, yesterday. As the city digs out from the rubble created by the magnitude 6.3 quake, some there are worried the death toll could climb into the hundreds. And as seismologists unravel the details, it’s becoming clear why this quake was so much deadlier than previous seismic events in New Zealand.
Photographs and video from Christchurch, a metropolitan area of nearly 400,000 residents, showed people running through the streets, landslides pouring rocks and debris into suburban streets and extensive damage to buildings. Witnesses told of watching the spire of the iconic Christchurch Cathedral come crashing down during an aftershock. One witness called it “the most frightening thing of my entire life,” and television footage showed a person clinging to a window in the cathedral’s steeple. [The New York Times]
Antarctica’s Lake Vostok–and its potential scientific findings–remains cut off from the outside world for yet another year. Russian scientists spent the Antarctic summer drilling towards the water in the frozen-over Antarctic lake, but plummeting temperatures forced them to leave earlier this week, as their airplane’s hydraulic fluid was in danger of freezing.
The Russians may have flown off, but they left some controversy behind. To keep the 12,300-foot-deep borehole from filling with ice the researchers loaded it full of kerosene, and some Antarctic experts are worried that the chemicals will contaminate an otherwise pristine place.
The 6,200-square-mile lake is important for scientists because the iced-over waters have been isolated for over 14 million years. Biologists are excited to see whether it holds ancient microbes; climatologists are interested in the record held in its sediments; and geologists want to learn how such an isolated sub-glacial lake forms. And despite this year’s setback, researchers are surprisingly unfazed:
|
<urn:uuid:b9c152ea-8742-49df-aabc-ec445bf8cb45>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/tag/earth-science/
|
2013-05-21T10:49:00Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699899882/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102459-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.953589
| 1,696
|
Hot Air Rises
This is the law of nature that makes the upper floors of a house generally warmer than the bottom floor or basement. It’s called convection, and it’s responsible for much of the heat and cold lost inside our homes. In the winter, you heat the inside of your house, and that heat is constantly trying to escape through convection and other means. It heads right upstairs and sneaks through all the little holes in your ceiling between the top floor and the attic and from there makes its way outside.
As the warm air is leaving the house, it’s also pulling outdoor air into the house through tiny gaps around doors and windows, cracks in the foundation, around pipes entering the house, etc. This cool “makeup” air just makes your furnace work harder to keep you comfortable. In the summer, the same effect leads to inefficiency with air conditioning, because convection is pulling hot outdoor air into the house, making your air conditioner work harder.
Now that we’re done with the science lesson, let’s look at what home energy experts say about cooling your house more efficiently.
|
<urn:uuid:0900dfe6-fd2d-42c8-bd8d-e3c2d05f00c9>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.wxii12.com/Awnings-can-help-with-your-home-s-thermodynamics/-/9678472/17767526/-/item/2/-/a595fx/-/index.html
|
2013-06-19T12:41:58Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.952472
| 239
|
While in grammar school in Lincoln, Illinois, he was designated class poet. Hughes stated in retrospect that this was because of the stereotype that African Americans have rhythm. "I was a victim of a stereotype. There were only two of us Negro kids in the whole class and our English teacher was always stressing the importance of rhythm in poetry. Well, everyone knows — except us — that all Negroes have rhythm, so they elected me as class poet. During high school in Cleveland, Ohio, he wrote for the school newspaper, edited the yearbook, and began to write his first short stories, poetry, and dramatic plays. His first piece of jazz poetry, When Sue Wears Red, was written while he was still in high school. It was during this time that he discovered his love of books. From this early period in his life, Hughes would cite as influences on his poetry the American poets Paul Laurence Dunbar and Carl Sandburg.
Hughes spent a brief period of time with his father in Mexico in 1919. The relationship between Langston and his father was troubled, causing Hughes a degree of dissatisfaction that led him to contemplate suicide at least once. Upon graduating from high school in June 1920, Hughes returned to live with his father, hoping to convince him to provide money to attend Columbia University. Hughes later said that, prior to arriving in Mexico again:
I had been thinking about my father and his strange dislike of his own people. I didn't understand it, because I was a Negro, and I liked Negroes very much.Initially, his father had hoped for Hughes to attend a university abroad, and to study for a career in engineering. On these grounds, he was willing to provide financial assistance to his son. James Hughes did not support his son's desire to be a writer. Eventually, Langston and his father came to a compromise. Langston would study engineering, so long as he could attend Columbia. His tuition provided, Hughes left his father after more than a year of living with him. While at Columbia in 1921, Hughes managed to maintain a B+ grade average. He left in 1922 because of racial prejudice within the institution, and his interests revolved more around the neighborhood of Harlem than his studies, though he continued writing poetry.
Hughes worked various odd jobs, before serving a brief tenure as a crewman aboard the S.S. Malone in 1923, spending six months traveling to West Africa and Europe. In Europe, Hughes left the S.S. Malone for a temporary stay in Paris.
Unlike specific writers of the post-World War I era who became identified as the "Lost Generation", such as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Hughes instead spent time in Paris during the early 1920s, becoming part of the black expatriate community. In November 1924, Hughes returned to the U. S. to live with his mother in Washington, D.C. Hughes again found work doing various odd jobs before gaining white-collar employment in 1925 as a personal assistant to the scholar Carter G. Woodson within the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Not satisfied with the demands of the work and time constraints this position placed on the hours he spent writing, Hughes quit this job for one as a busboy in a hotel. It was while working as a busboy that Hughes would encounter the poet Vachel Lindsay. Impressed with the poems Hughes showed him, Lindsay publicized his discovery of a new black poet, though by this time, Hughes' earlier work had already been published in magazines and was about to be collected into his first book of poetry.
The following year, Hughes enrolled in Lincoln University, an HBCU in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where he became a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, the first black fraternal organization founded at a historically black college and university. Thurgood Marshall, who later became an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, was an alumnus and classmate of Langston Hughes during his undergraduate studies at Lincoln University.
Hughes received a B.A. degree from Lincoln University in 1929 and a Litt.D. in 1943 from Lincoln. A second honorary doctorate would be awarded to him in 1963 by Howard University, another HBCU. Except for travels that included parts of the Caribbean, Harlem was Hughes’s primary home for the remainder of his life.
Academics and biographers today acknowledge that Hughes was a homosexual and included homosexual codes in many of his poems, similar in manner to Walt Whitman, whose work Hughes cited as another influence on his poetry, and most patently in the short story Blessed Assurance which deals with a father's anger over his son's effeminacy and queerness. It has been noted that to retain the respect and support of black churches and organizations and avoid exacerbating his precarious financial situation, Hughes remained closeted. Arnold Rampersad, the primary biographer of Hughes, determined that Hughes exhibited a preference for other African American men in his work and life. This love of black men is evidenced in a number of reported unpublished poems to a black male lover.
On May 22, 1967, Hughes died from complications after abdominal surgery, related to prostate cancer, at the age of 65. His ashes are interred beneath a floor medallion in the middle of the foyer leading to the auditorium named for him within the Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. The design on the floor covering his cremated remains is an African cosmogram titled Rivers. The title is taken from the poem The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Hughes. Within the center of the cosmogram and precisely above the ashes of Hughes are the words My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
Many of Hughes' papers reside at his alma mater in the Langston Hughes Memorial Library on the campus of Lincoln University, as well as at the James Weldon Johnson Collection within the Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. In 1981, Landmark status was given to the Harlem home of Langston Hughes at 20 East 127th Street by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission and 127th St. was renamed Langston Hughes Place. On February 1, 2002, The United States Postal Service added the image of Langston Hughes to its Black Heritage series of postage stamps to commemorate both the centennial of Hughes' birth and the 25th anniversary of the Black Heritage series.
Hughes' life and work were enormously influential during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s alongside those of his contemporaries, Zora Neale Hurston, Wallace Thurman, Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, Richard Bruce Nugent, and Aaron Douglas, who, collectively, (with the exception of McKay), created the short-lived magazine Fire!! Devoted to Younger Negro Artists.
Hughes and his contemporaries were often in conflict with the goals and aspirations of the black middle class, and of those considered to be the midwives of the Harlem Renaissance, W. E. B. Du Bois, Jessie Redmon Fauset, and Alain LeRoy Locke, whom they accused of being overly fulsome in accommodating and assimilating Eurocentric values and culture for social equality. A primary expression of this conflict was the former's depiction of the "low-life", that is, the real lives of blacks in the lower social-economic strata and the superficial divisions and prejudices based on skin color within the black community. Hughes wrote what would be considered the manifesto for him and his contemporaries published in The Nation in 1926, The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain:
Hughes was unashamedly black at a time when blackness was démodé, and he didn’t go much beyond the themes of black is beautiful as he explored the black human condition in a variety of depths. His main concern was the uplift of his people who he judged himself the adequate appreciator of and whose strengths, resiliency, courage, and humor he wanted to record as part of the general American experience. Thus, his poetry and fiction centered generally on insightful views of the working class lives of blacks in America, lives he portrayed as full of struggle, joy, laughter, and music. Permeating his work is pride in the African American identity and its diverse culture. "My seeking has been to explain and illuminate the Negro condition in America and obliquely that of all human kind, Hughes is quoted as saying. Therefore, in his work he confronted racial stereotypes, protested social conditions, and expanded African America’s image of itself; a “people’s poet” who sought to reeducate both audience and artist by lifting the theory of the black aesthetic into reality. An expression of this is the poem My People:
Moreover, Hughes stressed the importance of a racial consciousness and cultural nationalism absent of self-hate that united people of African descent and Africa across the globe and encouraged pride in their own diverse black folk culture and black aesthetic. Langston Hughes was one of the few black writers of any consequence to champion racial consciousness as a source of inspiration for black artists. His African-American race consciousness and cultural nationalism would influence many foreign black writers, such as Jacques Roumain, Nicolás Guillén, Léopold Sédar Senghor, and Aimé Césaire. With Senghor and Césaire and other French-speaking writers of Africa and of African descent from the Caribbean like René Maran from Martinique and Léon Damas from French Guiana in South America, the works of Hughes helped to inspire the concept that became the Négritude movement in France where a radical black self-examination was emphasized in the face of European colonialism. Langston Hughes was not only a role model for his calls for black racial pride instead of assimilation, but the most important technical influence in his emphasis on folk and jazz rhythms as the basis of his poetry of racial pride.
During the mid-1950s and -1960s, Hughes' popularity among the younger generation of black writers varied as his reputation increased worldwide. With the gradual advancement toward racial integration, many black writers considered his writings of black pride and its corresponding subject matter out of date. They considered him a racial chauvinist. He in turn found a number of writers like James Baldwin lacking in this same pride, over intellectualizing in their work, and occasionally vulgar.
Hughes wanted young black writers to be objective about their race, but not scorn or to flee it. He understood the main points of the Black Power movement of the 1960s, but believed that some of the younger black writers who supported it were too angry in their work. Hughes' posthumously published Panther and the Lash in 1967 was intended to show solidarity and understanding with these writers but with more skill and absent of the most virile anger and terse racial chauvinism some showed toward whites. Hughes still continued to have admirers among the larger younger generation of black writers who he often helped by offering advice to and introducing to other influential persons in the literature and publishing communities. This latter group, who happened to include Alice Walker who Hughes discovered, looked upon Hughes as a hero and an example to be emulated in degrees and tones within their own work. One of these young black writers observed of Hughes, "Langston set a tone, a standard of brotherhood and friendship and cooperation, for all of us to follow. You never got from him, 'I am the Negro writer,' but only 'I am a Negro writer.' He never stopped thinking about the rest of us."
In 1932, Hughes became part of a group of disparate blacks who went to the Soviet Union to make a film depicting the plight of most blacks living in the United States at the time. The film was never made, but Hughes was given the opportunity to travel extensively through the Soviet Union and to the Soviet controlled regions in Central Asia, the latter parts usually closed to Westerners. In Turkmenistan, Hughes met and befriended the Hungarian polymath Arthur Koestler. Hughes would also manage to travel to China and Japan before returning home to the States.
Hughes' poetry was frequently published in the CPUSA newspaper and he was involved in initiatives supported by Communist organizations, such as the drive to free the Scottsboro Boys. Partly as a show of support for the Republican faction during the Spanish Civil War, in 1937 Hughes travelled to Spain as a correspondent for the Baltimore Afro-American and other various African American newspapers. Hughes was also involved in other Communist-led organizations like the John Reed Clubs and the League of Struggle for Negro Rights, even though he was more of a sympathizer than an active participant. He signed a statement in 1938 supporting Joseph Stalin's purges and joined the American Peace Mobilization in 1940 working to keep the U.S. from participating in World War II. Hughes initially did not favor black American involvement in the war because of the irony of U.S. Jim Crow laws existing at the same time a war was being fought against Fascism and the Axis powers. He came to support the war effort and black American involvement in it after coming to understand that blacks would also be contributing to their struggle for civil rights at home.
Hughes was accused of being a Communist by many on the political right, but he always denied it. When asked why he never joined the Communist Party, he wrote "it was based on strict discipline and the acceptance of directives that I, as a writer, did not wish to accept." In 1953, he was called before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations led by Senator Joseph McCarthy. Following his appearance, he distanced himself from Communism and was subsequently rebuked by some who had previously supported him on the Radical Left. Over time, Hughes would distance himself from his most radical poems. In 1959 came the publication of his Selected Poems. Absent from this group of poems was his most controversial work.
Hughes was a longtime resident of Westfield, New Jersey.
In the theatrical film Get on the Bus, directed by Spike Lee, a black gay character, played by Isaiah Washington, invokes the name of Hughes and punches a homophobic character while commenting, "This is for James Baldwin and Langston Hughes."
Also in visual media, the diminutive Hughes was portrayed in the 2004 film Brother to Brother by actor Daniel Sunjata. Prior to this film, in 2003, Hughes was portrayed as a teenager by actor Gary LeRoi Gray in the short film Salvation that was based on a portion of his autobiography the Big Sea.
Regarding documentary film, the New York Center for Visual History included Langston Hughes as part of its Voices & Visions series of notable writers. Hughes' Dream Harlem by producer and director Jamal Joseph and distributed through California Newsreel is another such film where Hughes' steadfast racial pride and artistic independence is discussed.
A Tribute To David E. Givens, President Of The East 127th St. Block Association, In Manhattan, And Chair Of Its Langston Hughes Memorial Committee
Sep 11, 2008; The article that you sent to me, "The Ways of Property Owners: A Harlem Cultural Touchstone Like So Many Others, Closes Off Its...
Emails Show Rocky End to Arts Tenure; City Staff Frustrated; Langston Hughes Appears Central to Director's Resignation
Nov 12, 2012; Byline: Emily Heffter; Seattle Times staff reporter In the weeks leading up to his sudden resignation this summer, Vincent Kitch,...
|
<urn:uuid:04604544-dcf7-4345-b1df-f5b91326cf2a>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Langston_Hughes
|
2013-05-22T22:21:09Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702452567/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110732-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.980288
| 3,164
|
A big brother allows the baby sitter to misunderstand his little sister in this Scottish import.
Small Jessie is just learning words, and when she says “please” it sounds just like PEAS. Mum and Dad are off to a ceilidh (Dad's in his kilt and Mum's in her dancing boots), and they tell Rachel, the baby sitter, to give Jessie anything she asks for, as she is just getting over a cold. So when she asks for “Orange juice peas” Rachel gamely finds some leftover cooked peas in the fridge and drops a few in the juice. Jessie is not pleased, and she asks for a “Boon peas!” Ben translates “spoon” but not the other, so Jessie gets a spoon with peas, which she uses to get the peas out of her juice. Alas, though, now the orange juice tastes of peas. “Yack!” says Jessie. This continues. While Ben tries to hold in his giggles, Jessie grows ever more frustrated, and Rachel gets increasingly mystified. There are peas all over the place. Finally, Ben explains that Jessie means “please,” not that she wants peas with everything. The cheerful and individualized characters, bright surroundings and patterned fabric-collage effects make for winning pages, and the use of British/Scots terms are easily understood in context.
This provides both a fairly high cute factor and hard evidence that big brothers tend to be the same everywhere. (Picture book. 4-7)
|
<urn:uuid:35d7cf2b-2914-4df4-acf8-d79e3e322607>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/lari-don/orange-juice-peas/print/
|
2013-05-25T19:55:23Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.955149
| 321
|
Unani is a form of alternative medicine, which is based on the belief that the human body contains four humors (blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile), and that imbalance of these four humors is the cause of disease. This is part of the theory of Four Humours created by the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, which later spread to the Islamic empires of the Near East during the Middle Ages.. While this belief has no scientific basis, contemporary adherents still try to propagate these beliefs as science.
Worryingly, Unani has quite a large infrastructure in south Asian countries such as India and Pakistan, because Avicenna was quite a fan of it. But he lived a thousand years ago and so had an excuse. In the present day, it is taught in government-recognized universities. It also has a limited presence in the Western world.
- The four elements: air, water, fire and earth.
- The four humours: blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. Imbalance of these causes diseases.
- The nine temperaments
- The three faculties: natural, psychic, and vital
- The Arwah/Pneum/Spirit (vital force)
- The organs
- The functions
According to Unani, most diseases are the result of phlegm imbalance. Conditions supposedly resulting from blood humor imbalance include headache, delirium, lethargy, weak limbs, nose itching, poor vision, enlarged tongue, canker sores, swollen palate, trembling lips, loose teeth, tooth spaces, slackness of uvula, diphtheria, coughing, pleurisy, swelling of liver, hemorrhoids, constant erection, swollen testicles, convulsion of penis, and cracked nails.
To determine the humoral balance of the body, Unani diagnosis can include pulse, urine, and stool analysis. Pulse diagnosis is very complex and involves detecting extremely subtle variations of the pulse, including factors such as rhythm, duration of pulse and the pause, moisture, and regularity. Males' pulses are measured on their left hand, while females' are measured on their right hand.
Waste analysis is also quite complicated and requires scrutinizing urine and feces in detail. The color of the urine is very important. For example, viscous and semen-like urine, among other kinds, indicate excess blood and blood humor inflammation, respectively. Feces should ideally be more or less homogenous and somewhat yellow. If the quantity of waste excreted exceeds that of food consumed, that indicates there is too much humor, and if it's less, that means there is too little. Black feces indicates a black bile problem, green feces indicates lessened "innate heat", and yellow feces can be either bad or good depending on whether it's at the beginning or end of a disease (if at the beginning, it means the yellow bile's out of whack.)
Also, tasting may be involved:
|[The urine's] colour, taste, viscosity, whether it has froth on its surface, if the bubbles formed are large, indicating balgham, or small, indicating safra are scrutinised. The stool is also examined in a similar way.|
Standard of care
Some sources say tasting is a part of urine analysis, while others make no mention of it. It's possible that Unani practice varies widely from practitioner to practitioner (much like naturopathy is a hodge-podge made up of the individual naturopath's beliefs).
Unani has a variety of ways to treat supposed humoral imbalances. Treatments are part of one of four groups:
- Regimental therapy
- Pharmacotherapy (meaning herbs and animals, not pure drugs)
Regimental therapy
Unani and Ayurvedic practitioners consider bloodletting (also known as venesection or fasd) to be a valid method of removing "excess" blood and restoring the humoral balance. Some sources also say it purifies the blood by letting "waste" or toxins drain out. (What the "waste" and "toxins" actually are is unclear, but naturally, "[n]aming such things is not so important as removing them.") For serious or acute diseases, specific reflex points are punctured, in order to drain a few drops of blood. (Hey, less is more, right?)
Unani bloodletting is claimed to be good for things like headaches, migraines, eczema, conjunctivitis, cataracts, asthma, angina (!), pneumonia, ulcers, tonsillitis and glaucoma. Oddly enough, hypertension is not on the list. Venesection is also claimed to be useful for preventing disease in those with too much blood (since, you know, having too much blood is bad.)
(To be fair, leeching and bloodletting are used in real medicine and are known to be effective for some things. But in medicine, they're used only in very specific situations, while Unani uses them for irrelevant and completely inappropriate diseases.)
One CAM magazine has this to say:
|Venesection is a general eliminant for humors. It removes excess of humors in the same proportion as is present in blood vessels. Venesection is carried out when there is excess of blood in the body and patient is either exposed to the risk of developing a disease or has actually developed one. In both cases, the idea is to remove the general excess of humors, or the abnormal humor of both.|
Unani has two kinds of cauterization: external and imternal. The first is used for "necrotic and gangrenous tissues, pain management and varicose veins while the internal cauterization is indicated for mouth ulcers [and] anal fissures."
This involves using poultices and herbal plasters which "cause drawing of excess blood and heat the skin's surface, this causes skin rashes or blisters on the skin’s surface and toxins are expelled out of the body."
Cupping is the practice of making a cup stick to the skin by using suction. One Unani resource says this can be done by "burning up an alcohol swab inside the cup or just by manual suction either by mouth or by a suction pump." In Unani, cupping can be done together with bloodletting; this involves puncturing the skin before applying the cup. Cupping with bloodletting is used for "arthritis, skin diseases, pain management, female infertility, chronic migraines and hypertension management." Other indications include liver diseases and malaria.
There are five kinds of massage in Unani:
- Hard massage. For muscle injury.
- Soft massage. For depression and stress management.
- Deobstruent massage. For fat reduction. (Note that fat reduction through massage is a myth.)
- Cloth Massage. For vasodilatation.
- Roller massage. This is just to make the patient feel good.
Pharmacotherapy involves giving the patient some herbal concoctions. These "drugs" are classed into one of four potency types: Hot, cold, wet, and moist. Low-potency herbs are used first, and stronger ones are used as the disease gets worse.
According to Unani, foods are broken down by the body's "heat". When enzymes come into contact with food, the enzymes supposedly release heat that breaks it down. How nutritious a particular food is depends on various factors, including how much of each humor it creates, what season it is, and the person's mood (or "temperament"). Forbidden foods include, but are not limited to, pork, scavengers like dogs, cats, vultures, and snakes, and alcohol. This is probably due to the influence of Islam, since Unani is predominantly a Muslim practice (though the word Unani means "Greek", and has nothing to do with Islam or any other religion.)
- ↑ Unani Medicine - Effective, Inexpensive, Easily Available, Lifepositive.com.
- ↑
- ↑ What schemes have been formulated by Govt. of India for the development of Unani?
- ↑ American Institute of Unani Medicine
- ↑
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 Unani System of Medicine Practice, Globinmed.com.
- ↑ Hot Foods, Unani.com.
- ↑ Unani Faqs
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 The Unani Diagnostic Process, Unani.com.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Unani Pulse Diagnosis, Unani.com.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 The Cycle Completed, Unani.com.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Unani Medicine, UnaniDoctors.com.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 VENESECTION FAQS, HERBAL NIAMATHS.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 VENESECTION - FASD, HERBAL NIAMATHS.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Fasd (venesection): introduction, articlesbase.com.
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 The Unani approach to medicine
- ↑ Unani Therapy (Ilaj-bil-Tadbir) to Cure Diseases
- ↑ Naturopathy Embraces the Four Humors, Jann Bellamy, Science-Based Medicine.
- ↑ Regimental therapy, AYUSH.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Influence of Food, Unani.com.
- ↑ Avicenna Story 3, Unani.com.
- ↑ History of Islamic(Unani) Medicine, Imam Reza (A.S.) Network.
- ↑ Unani Tibb, Science Museum.
- ↑ Unani-Tibbi, Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine.
|
<urn:uuid:e2e4b6e6-5954-4f52-995c-8b4ab25e3ea1>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Unani
|
2013-06-20T02:22:09Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.901113
| 2,115
|
Provinces of Thailand
Thailand is divided into 76 provinces (changwat, singular and plural), which are grouped into 5 groups of provinces - sometimes the East and Central are grouped together. The name of the province is the same as the capital city.
Bangkok is both the province with the highest population and the highest population density. The biggest province by area is Nakhon Ratchasima, the smallest Samut Songkhram. Mae Hong Son has the lowest population density, Ranong the lowest population (numbers according to 2000 census).
Many provinces date back to semi-independent local chiefdoms or kingdoms, which made up the Ayutthaya kingdom. In the end of the 19th century King Chulalongkorn started to create monthon (circles) as an adminstrative level containing several provinces. The monthon were dissolved again when Thailand became a democracy in 1932. Some provinces were created rather recently by splitting them off from bigger provinces. The youngest province are Srakaeo, Nong Bua Lam Phu and Amnat Charoen, which were created in 1993.
The provinces are administrated by a governor, who is appointed by the Ministry of the Interior. The only exception is Bangkok, in which the governor is elected.
|
<urn:uuid:2ffa6c99-e80c-4bda-b3fc-5a0d36fbf99e>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.encyclopedia4u.com/p/provinces-of-thailand.html
|
2013-05-26T03:37:47Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706578727/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121618-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.960589
| 262
|
The passing of intestinal gas is a normal process, but it can become unpleasant, uncomfortable, or embarrassing. Intestinal gas has two primary sources: bacteria in the intestines and air swallowed by mouth (aerophagia). Certain foods greatly increase the production of gas in the intestines by providing nutrients to gas-producing bacteria. Common gas-increasing foods include beans, beer, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, fructose, onions, prunes, red wine, and sorbitol. In general, high-fiber foods cause more gas than low-fiber ones, and, for this reason, people who switch to a whole foods diet frequently experience more gas.
Certain medical conditions can also increase gas-related symptoms, including celiac sprue, colon cancer, Crohn’s disease , fat malabsorption, irritable bowel syndrome , lactose intolerance , and ulcerative colitis . Finally, some people may experience significant gas discomfort without actually producing more gas than other people.
Treatment of excess gas begins with treating the underlying disease, if there is one. Beyond that, general steps include avoiding gas-producing foods and minimizing habits that cause aerophagia (such as gulping of beverages). Medications such as simethicone, metoclopramide, and antibiotics may also help, although the supporting evidence to indicate that they are effective remains incomplete.
Proposed Natural Treatments
There has been little meaningful scientific investigation of natural treatments to reduce gas in people who are otherwise healthy. However, some evidence supports the use of natural treatments for reducing gas production among those with irritable bowel syndrome (a cluster of nonspecific intestinal complaints) or dyspepsia (a cluster of nonspecific stomach-related complaints). It is likely, although not guaranteed, that the benefits seen in these studies would carry over to people without these conditions.
Certain herbs called carminatives are traditionally believed to aid the movement of gas. These include anise, caraway , cardamom, chamomile , coriander, cumin, dill, fennel , garlic , ginger , parsley , and spearmint.
In addition, numerous alternative therapies are said to help improve digestion and reduce gas, including Chinese herbal medicine , intestinal cleansing , and food allergen identification and avoidance. However, there is little supporting evidence for these approaches.
- Reviewer: EBSCO CAM Review Board
- Review Date: 07/2012 -
- Update Date: 07/25/2012 -
|
<urn:uuid:6ada964d-e404-4d79-88ee-05a330a9dc94>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://lewisgale.com/your-health/?/38618/Intestinal-Gas
|
2013-05-22T14:19:49Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.917415
| 516
|
In recent years, many technologies have been put forth as being alternatives to our reliance on oil and gas for transportation and heating.
Unfortunately, nearly all of these alternatives have significant environmental, social and economic impacts, making them undesirable to society at large and specifically to the communities that would host the production facilities.
Three of the most prominent "alternative fuels" technologies being promoted today are cellulosic ethanol, thermal depolymerization (TDP) and Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) gasification/liquefaction.
Cellulosic ethanol is the technology needed to turn a wide array of organic materials into ethanol. Unlike normal ethanol production, it wouldn’t be used on corn or grains. However, it can be used on corn husks, leaves and stalks (known as "stover"), trees and other crop and agricultural wastes. The same technology can be used for more dangerous types of wastes, such as municipal solid waste (household and commercial trash), sewage sludge, scrap tires, construction and demolition wood wastes and other waste streams known to be highly contaminated with toxic chemicals of various sorts.
Several companies have been seeking to build "trash-to-ethanol" plants throughout the nation, targeting at least a dozen states with over 20 proposals. This is just the beginning, but since the technology is experimental and unproven, investors have avoided funding the industry (they all want to be the "first to finance the second proposal," according to one industry leader). Now that the national Energy Bill became law in August 2005, this industry may take off, since the law includes government-subsidized loans that will enable the first plants to be financed. The nation’s leading proposal is a plan for a facility in Middletown, New York that would take trash as well as sewage sludge (possibly from New York City).
This technology has been widely promoted as "anything-to-oil" by a company called Changing World Technologies. They have a pilot test facility in Philadelphia where they have processed a variety of contaminated waste streams, including food wastes, sludges, offal, rubber, animal manures, black liquor (paper mill waste), plastics, coal, PCBs, dioxins, and asphalt. They also have a full-scale facility in Carthage, Missouri where they turn turkey guts into "oil."
Through their extensive public relations outreach, they’ve managed to get some politicians to latch onto this as a solution to dependence on foreign oil. However, many questions remain unanswered about where all of the toxic contaminants end up when their machines magically turn "anything" into "oil."
This technology is named after two German scientists who developed it as a means to turn coal into oil. This was used to fuel the Nazi war machine. It takes a solid fuel and gasifies, then liquefies it. This same "coal-to-oil" technology was later used in South Africa, when the Apartheid regime had a similar problem importing oil, but had large domestic coal supplies. The world’s only remaining facilities are in South Africa and they are major polluters.
An alliance between a Pennsylvania coal baron, Sasol (the South African state oil company), Bechtel and Shell has formed to bring the first coal-to-oil refinery to the U.S. It would be located in Schuylkill County in eastern Pennsylvania’s mining region, adjacent to a state prison, surrounded by three waste coal burning power plants and overshadowing a poor, white community that has a high enough population in poverty that the state classifies it as an environmental justice community. This facility is promoted as one that will turn waste coal (a fuel dirtier than normal coal, with high mercury content) into "ultra clean fuels." They also plan to produce electricity (from burning some of their gas products) and possibly hydrogen. See the company website at www.ultracleanfuels.com and find out the reality at www.ultradirtyfuels.com.
Fischer-Tropsch can be used for a wide variety of wastes. The Pennsylvania project would test process a wide range of municipal and industrial wastes as well as "biomass" (a wide category of often contaminated waste streams).
It has often been promoted as the means to reduce reliance on foreign oil, by increasing the use of coal and waste coals in the U.S. If the eastern PA project goes through, several others are likely to be built – primarily in the coal regions (target states include
AK, CO, IL, IN, KY, MT, OH, western PA, VA, WV and WY). Each of these would be 10-12 times larger than the one planned for eastern PA. If they succeed at building 6-7 full-scale refineries, they would produce 20% of the diesel used in the U.S. (an amount that would more easily be avoided through conservation and efficiency tactics, such as hybrid trucks and increased use of rail for shipping). Proponents state that if all of the oil imported into the U.S. were replaced with coal-based liquid fuels, coal mining in the U.S. would nearly double.
In addition to being supposed "solutions" to our reliance on foreign oil and gas, these technologies are often promoted as alternatives to landfills and incinerators for a variety of waste streams. However, these expensive technologies can't help solve problems that need to be addressed "up-stream."
There's no magic technology that can make toxic metals (or radioactive contaminants) disappear. It's rare that any technology actually makes halogens (chlorine, bromine, fluorine...) into fairly benign chemicals (like salts); most tend to make these chemicals more dangerous (like converting them into dioxins and furans or releasing them as acid gases).
Promoters of these technologies tend to avoid describing the fate of toxic metals, halogens or radioactive compounds that enter their processes, making people think that they can handle contaminated wastes and have the contaminants disappear. This is typical of all who promote magic machines (including incinerators). They pretend that the only elements in waste are carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. If they admit other elements are present, it's usually to describe elements that help them market their solids wastes as soil amendment or fertilizer.
Solid waste byproducts of these processes are likely to contain contaminants from the original feedstock (possibly concentrated levels of them) and may be most appropriately placed in a landfill. However, the high cost of using these technologies demands that these solid wastes be sold as beneficial products rather than paying for their "disposal" in a landfill.
As a solution for municipal solid wastes, any technology that destroys materials necessitates the re-creation of those materials from virgin feedstocks, making the net energy flow highly undesirable. Trash incinerators would be more accurately described as waste-of-energy instead of waste-to-energy facilities.
Like incinerators, these expensive technologies compete with recycling and waste reduction efforts, since they would require long-term contracts with "put-or-pay" clauses which penalize waste reduction and recycling efforts. Incinerator companies typically rely on these types of contracts, requiring local governments to commit a certain volume of waste to the incinerator each year or pay a cash penalty.
These facilities are fairly flexible in the types of fuels/wastes they process, so there are economic incentives to use of the dirtiest possible feedstocks –like trash, tires and sewage sludge – since facilities can get paid to take such wastes, whereas they often have to pay to obtain cleaner fuels – like trees, forestry residues or organically-grown crops. Even these "ideal" fuels have impacts. The impacts on forests can be serious, especially when a constant supply of wood must be supplied from a certain area around the facility. These plants are like hungry mouths needing to be fed on a constant basis for as many decades as they'd operate. No facility is going to pay to obtain organically-grown crops, when they can use herbicide drenched, natural gas-based fertilizer grown, genetically-modified crops which are cheaper to produce. Even facilities that start with such a "clean" feedstock will be tempted over time to accept dirtier waste streams that they can get paid for, like construction and demolition wood waste, which almost always involves significant rates of contamination with toxic treated and painted woods, if not other contaminants like plastics and asbestos.
By posing as "green" solutions to waste problems, these technologies justify continued waste generation.
These technologies don't have the job creation and economic benefits that aggressive source reduction, reuse, recycling and composting programs do. The only real answers on waste lie in the zero waste movement (see www.grrn.org/zerowaste/) and for energy: conservation, efficiency, wind and solar with hydrogen (produced cleanly from water with wind and solar power) used for transportation fuels.
|
<urn:uuid:2b9e5b37-5457-4f8f-8334-c1a23d0ea47f>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.energyjustice.net/fuels
|
2013-05-24T16:39:33Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704752145/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114552-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.963149
| 1,840
|
- published: 13 Jan 2013
- views: 28
- author: infoGarden
With so much information in how to, i started my garden and ill keep you updated in what works or not. In to days episode How to make your own mulch! and a q...
A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer such as pine or fir, traditionally associated with the celebration of Christmas. An artificial Christmas tree is an object made to resemble such a tree, usually made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
The tree was traditionally decorated with edibles such as apples, nuts or dates. In the 18th century, it began to be illuminated by candles, which with electrification could also be replaced by Christmas lights. Today, there is a wide variety of traditional ornaments, such as garland, tinsel, and candy canes. An angel or star may be placed at the top of the tree, to represent the host of angels or the Star of Bethlehem from the Nativity.
The custom of the Christmas tree developed in early modern Germany with predecessors that can be traced to the 16th and possibly the 15th century. It acquired popularity beyond Germany during the second half of the 19th century. The Christmas tree has also been known as the "Yule-tree", especially in discussions of its folkloristic origins.
While it is clear that the Christmas tree originates in Renaissance and early modern Germany, there are a number of speculative theories as to its ultimate origin. Its 16th-century origins are sometimes associated with Martin Luther.
Alternatively, it is identified with the "tree of Paradise" of medieval mystery plays that were given on 24 December, the commemoration and name day of Adam and Eve in various countries. In such plays, a tree decorated with apples (to represent the forbidden fruit) and wafers (to represent the Eucharist and redemption) was used as a setting for the play. Like the Christmas crib, the Paradise tree was later placed in homes. The apples were replaced by round objects such as shiny red balls.
The first evidence of decorated trees associated with Christmas Day are trees in guild halls decorated with sweets to be enjoyed by the apprentices and children. In Livonia (Present day Latvia and Estonia), in 1441, 1442, 1510 and 1514, the Brotherhood of Blackheads erected a tree for the holidays[clarification needed] in their guild houses in Reval (now Tallinn) and Riga. On the last night of the celebrations leading up to the holidays,[clarification needed] the tree was taken to the Town Hall Square where the members of the brotherhood danced around it. A Bremen guild chronicle of 1570 reports that a small tree decorated with "apples, nuts, dates, pretzels and paper flowers" was erected in the guild-house for the benefit of the guild members' children, who collected the dainties on Christmas Day. In 1584, the pastor and chronicler Balthasar Russow in his Chronica der Provinz Lyfflandt (1584) wrote of an established tradition of setting up a decorated spruce at the market square where the young men "went with a flock of maidens and women, first sang and danced there and then set the tree aflame".[clarification needed]
After the Reformation, such trees are seen in the houses of upper-class Protestant families as a counterpart to the Catholic Christmas cribs. This transition from the guild hall to the bourgeois family homes in the Protestant parts of Germany ultimately gives rise to the modern tradition as it developed in the 18th and 19th centuries.
By the early 18th century, the custom had become common in towns of the upper Rhineland, but it had not yet spread to rural areas. Wax candles are attested[clarification needed] from the late 18th century, at the time expensive items.
The Christmas tree remained confined to the upper Rhineland for a relatively long time. It was regarded as a Protestant custom by the Roman Catholic majority along the lower Rhine, and was spread there only by Prussian officials who were moved there in the wake of the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
A decisive factor in winning general popularity was the German army's decision to place Christmas trees in its barracks and military hospitals during the 1870-1871 war. Only at the turn of the century did Christmas trees appear inside churches, this time in a new brightly lit form.
In the early 19th century, the custom became popular among the nobility and spread to royal courts as far as Russia. Princess Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg introduced the Christmas tree to Vienna in 1816, and the custom spread across Austria in the following years. In France, the first Christmas tree was introduced in 1840 by the duchesse d'Orléans. In Denmark a Danish newspaper claims that the first attested Christmas tree was lit in 1808 by countess Wilhemine of Holsteinborg. It was the aging countess who told the story of the first Danish Christmas tree to the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen in 1865. He had published a fairy-tale called The Fir-Tree in 1844, recounting the fate of a fir-tree being used as a Christmas tree.
In Britain, the Christmas tree was introduced in the time of the personal union with Hanover, by George III's Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in early 19th century, but the custom hadn't yet spread much beyond the royal family. Queen Victoria as a child was familiar with the custom and a tree was placed in her room every Christmas. In her journal for Christmas Eve 1832, the delighted 13-year-old princess wrote, "After dinner… we then went into the drawing-room near the dining-room… There were two large round tables on which were placed two trees hung with lights and sugar ornaments. All the presents being placed round the trees…" After her marriage to her German cousin Prince Albert, by 1841 the custom became even more widespread throughout Britain. In 1847, Prince Albert wrote: "I must now seek in the children an echo of what Ernest [his brother] and I were in the old time, of what we felt and thought; and their delight in the Christmas-trees is not less than ours used to be".
The tradition was introduced to Canada in the winter of 1781 by Brunswick soldiers stationed in the Province of Quebec to garrison the colony against American attack. General Friedrich Adolf Riedesel and his wife, the Baroness von Riedesel, held a Christmas party at Sorel, delighting their guests with a fir tree decorated with candles and fruits.
A woodcut of the British Royal family with their Christmas tree at Windsor Castle, initially published in the Illustrated London News December 1848, was copied in the United States at Christmas 1850, in Godey's Lady's Book. Godey's copied it exactly, except for the removal of the Queen's tiara and Prince Albert's mustache, to remake the engraving into an American scene. The republished Godey's image became the first widely circulated picture of a decorated evergreen Christmas tree in America. Art historian Karal Ann Marling called Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, shorn of their royal trappings, "the first influential American Christmas tree". Folk-culture historian Alfred Lewis Shoemaker states, "In all of America there was no more important medium in spreading the Christmas tree in the decade 1850-60 than Godey's Lady's Book". The image was reprinted in 1860, and by the 1870s, putting up a Christmas tree had become common in America.
Several cities in the United States with German connections lay claim to that country's first Christmas tree: Windsor Locks, Connecticut, claims that a Hessian soldier put up a Christmas tree in 1777 while imprisoned at the Noden-Reed House, while the "First Christmas Tree in America" is also claimed by Easton, Pennsylvania, where German settlers purportedly erected a Christmas tree in 1816. In his diary, Matthew Zahm of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, recorded the use of a Christmas tree in 1821, leading Lancaster to also lay claim to the first Christmas tree in America. Other accounts credit Charles Follen, a German immigrant to Boston, for being the first to introduce to America the custom of decorating a Christmas tree. August Imgard, a German immigrant living in Wooster, Ohio, is the first to popularise the practice of decorating a tree with candy canes. In 1847, Imgard cut a blue spruce tree from a woods outside town, had the Wooster village tinsmith construct a star, and placed the tree in his house, decorating it with paper ornaments and candy canes. The National Confectioners Association officially recognises Imgard as the first ever to put candy canes on a Christmas tree; the canes were all-white, with no red stripes. Imgard is buried in the Wooster Cemetery, and every year, a large pine tree above his grave is lit with Christmas lights. German immigrant Charles Minnegerode accepted a position as a professor of humanities at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg in 1842, where he taught Latin and Greek. Entering into the social life of the Virginia Tidewater, Minnigerode introduced the German custom of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas at the home of law professor St. George Tucker, thereby becoming another of many influences that prompted Americans to adopt the practice at about that time.
The lyrics sung in the United States to the German tune O Tannenbaum begin "O Christmas tree", giving rise to the mistaken idea that the German word "Tannenbaum" (fir tree) means "Christmas tree", the German word for which is instead "Weihnachtsbaum".
||This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this section if you can; the talk page may contain suggestions. (January 2012)|
In Russia, the Christmas tree was banned shortly after the October Revolution but then reinstated as a New-year fir-tree (Новогодняя ёлка) in 1935. It became a fully secular icon of the New Year holiday, for example, the crowning star was regarded not as a symbol of Bethlehem Star, but as the Red Star. Decorations, such as figurines of airplanes, bicycles, space rockets, cosmonauts, and characters of Russian fairy tales, were produced. This tradition persists after the fall of the USSR, with the New Year holiday outweighing the Christmas (7 January) for a wide majority of Russian people.
The TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) was influential on the pop culture surrounding the Christmas tree. Aluminum Christmas trees were popular during the early 1960s in the US. They were satirized in the Charlie Brown show and came to be seen as symbolizing the commercialization of Christmas. The term Charlie Brown Christmas tree, describing any poor-looking or malformed little tree, also derives from the 1965 TV special, based on the appearance of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree.
An unsheared Christmas tree from 1951, in a home in New York State.
A Soviet-era (1960s) New Year tree decoration depicting a cosmonaut
A makeshift cardboard Christmas tree in Kabul, Afghanistan (2010)
A "globalized" Christmas tree in Hong Kong (Kelly Chen 2010)
Since the early 20th century, it has become common in many cities, towns, and department stores to put up public Christmas trees outdoors, such as the Rich's Great Tree in Atlanta (since 1948), the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York City, and the large Christmas tree at Victoria Square in Adelaide.
The United States' National Christmas Tree has been lit each year since 1923 on the South Lawn of the White House. Today,[clarification needed] the lighting of the National Christmas Tree is part of what has become a major holiday event at the White House. President Jimmy Carter lit only the crowning star atop the tree in 1979 in honour of the Americans being held hostage in Iran. The same was true in 1980, except that the tree was fully lit for 417 seconds, one second for each day the hostages had been in captivity.
During most of the 1970s and 1980s, the largest decorated Christmas tree in the world was put up every year on the property of The National Enquirer in Lantana, Florida. This tradition grew into one of the most spectacular and celebrated events in the history of southern Florida, but was discontinued on the death of the paper's founder in the late 1980s.
In some cities, a Festival of Trees is organized around the decoration and display of multiple trees as charity events. In some cases the trees represent special commemorative gifts, such as in Trafalgar Square in London, where the City of Oslo, Norway presents a tree to the people of London as a token of appreciation for the British support of Norwegian resistance during the Second World War; in Boston, where the tree is a gift from the province of Nova Scotia, in thanks for rapid deployment of supplies and rescuers to the 1917 ammunition ship explosion that levelled the city of Halifax; and in Newcastle upon Tyne, where the main civic Christmas tree is an annual gift from the city of Bergen, Norway, in thanks for the part played by soldiers from Newcastle in liberating Bergen from Nazi occupation. Norway also annually gifts a Christmas tree to Washington D.C. as a symbol of friendship between Norway and the US and as an expression of gratitude from Norway for the help received from the US during World War II.
View of the Christmas tree in Madison Square Park in New York City (circa 1910)
The monumental Árvore de Natal Milennium BCP/SIC at the Praça do Comércio in Lisbon (2006), at 75 metres the tallest Christmas tree in Europe.
Christmas tree in St Peter's Square, Vatican City in 2007
Christmas Lights near Kryvyy Rih City Hall, 2011
Both setting up and taking down a Christmas tree are associated with specific dates. Traditionally, Christmas trees were not brought in and decorated until Christmas Eve (24 December) or, in the traditions celebrating Christmas Eve rather than on the first of day of Christmas, 23 December, and then removed the day after twelfth night (5 January); to have a tree up before or after these dates was even considered bad luck.
Many families in the U.S. and Canada will put up a Christmas tree soon after Thanksgiving (the 4th Thursday of November in the U.S.), and Christmas decorations can show up even earlier in retail stores, often the day after Halloween (31 October). Some households do not put up the tree until the second week of December, and leave it up until 6 January (Epiphany). In Germany, traditionally the tree is put up on 24 December and taken down on 7 January, though many start one or two weeks earlier, and in Roman Catholic homes the tree may be kept until late January.
In Italy the Christmas tree is put up on 8 December (Immaculate Conception day) and left up until 6 January. In Australia, the Christmas tree is usually put up on 1 December, which occurs about a week before the school summer holidays; except for South Australia, where most people put up their tree after the Adelaide Christmas Pageant in late November. Some traditions suggest that Christmas trees may be kept up until no later than 2 February, the feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (Candlemas), when the Christmas season effectively closes. Superstitions say that it is a bad sign if Christmas greenery is not removed by Candlemas Eve.
|This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.|
Tinsel and several types of garland or ribbon are commonly used to decorate a Christmas tree. Silvered saran based tinsel was introduced later.
Delicate mould-blown and painted coloured glass Christmas ornaments were a speciality of the glass factories in the Thuringian Forest especially in Lauscha in the late 19th century, and have since become a large industry, complete with famous-name designers. Baubles are another common decoration, consisting of small hollow glass or plastic spheres coated with a thin metallic layer to make them reflective, with a further coating of a thin pigmented polymer in order to provide colouration.
Individuals' decorations typically include a mix of family traditions and personal tastes; even a small unattractive ornament, if passed down from a parent or grandparent, may come to carry considerable emotional value and be given a place of pride on the tree. Conversely, trees decorated by professional designers for department stores and other institutions will usually have a "theme"; a set of predominant colours, multiple instances of each type of ornament, and larger decorations that may be more complicated to set up correctly. Some churches decorate with Chrismon trees, which use handmade ornaments depicting various Chrismon symbols.
Many people also decorate outdoor trees with food that birds and other wildlife will enjoy, such as garlands made from unsalted popcorn or cranberries, orange halves, and seed-covered suet cakes.
Because candles were used to light trees until electric bulbs came about, a mat (UK) or skirt (US) was often placed on the floor below the tree to protect it by catching the dripping candle wax, and also to collect any needles that fell. Even when dripless candles, electric lights and artificial trees have been used, a skirt is still usually used as a decorative feature: among other things, it hides the Christmas tree stand, which may be unsightly but which is an important safety feature of home trees. What began as ordinary cloth has now often become much more ornate, some having embroidery or being put together like a quilt.
A nativity scene, model train, or Christmas village may be placed on the mat or skirt. As Christmas presents arrive, they are generally placed underneath the tree on the tree skirt (depending on tradition, all Christmas gifts, or those too large to be hung on the tree, as in "presents on the tree" of the song "I'll Be Home for Christmas").
Generally, the difference between a mat and skirt is simply that a mat is placed under the Christmas tree stand, while a skirt is placed over it, having a hole in the middle for the trunk, with a slot cut to the outside edge so that it can be placed around the tree (beneath the branches) easily. A plain mat of fabric or plastic may also be placed under the stand and skirt to protect the floor from scratches or water.
A Christmas tree stand is an object designed to support a cut, natural Christmas tree or an artificial Christmas tree. Christmas tree stands appeared as early as 1876 and have had various designs over the years. Those stands designed for natural trees have a water reservoir to hydrate the live tree. Artificial Christmas trees usually have a plastic or metal stand, with 3 legs shaping like a Y.
In the 1940s and 1950s flocking was very popular on the west coast of the United States. There were home flocking kits that could be used with vacuum cleaners. In the 1980s some trees were sprayed with fluffy white flocking to simulate snow. Typically it would be sprayed all over the tree from the sides, which produced a look different from real snow, which settles in clumps atop branches. Flocking can be done with a professional sprayer at a tree lot (or an artificial tree's manufacturer), or at home from a spray can. This tradition seems to be most popular on the west coast and southern parts of the United States. Because flock contains flame retardants, a flocked tree can be placed in a public building in accordance with local fire codes.
In the late 1800s and, most probably, long before, home-made white Christmas trees were made by wrapping strips of cotton batting around leafless branches creating the appearance of a snow-laden tree. This family tradition eliminated killing and care of a live tree and needle drop in the house while providing a beautiful way of displaying ornaments. After Christmas, the cotton batting was unwrapped and stored with the Christmas presents and the branches were burnt or discarded. It is thought these home-made white trees at least, in part, inspired flocking popularized by Hollywood films in the late 1930s.
Each year, 33 to 36 million Christmas trees are produced in America, and 50 to 60 million are produced in Europe. In 1998, there were about 15,000 growers in America (a third of them "choose and cut" farms). In that same year, it was estimated that Americans spent $1.5 billion on Christmas trees.
The most commonly used species are fir (Abies), which have the benefit of not shedding their needles when they dry out, as well as retaining good foliage colour and scent; but species in other genera are also used.
In northern Europe most commonly used are:
Several other species are used to a lesser extent. Less-traditional conifers are sometimes used, such as Giant Sequoia, Leyland Cypress, Monterey Cypress and Eastern Juniper. Various types of spruce tree are also used for Christmas trees (including the Blue Spruce and, less commonly, the White Spruce); but spruces (unlike firs) begin to lose their needles rapidly upon being cut, and spruce needles are often sharp, making decorating uncomfortable. Virginia Pine is still available on some tree farms in the southeastern United States, however its winter colour is faded. The long-needled Eastern White Pine is also used there, though it is an unpopular Christmas tree in most parts of the country, owing also to its faded winter coloration and limp branches, making decorating difficult with all but the lightest ornaments. Norfolk Island Pine is sometimes used, particularly in Oceania, and in Australia, some species of the genera Casuarina and Allocasuarina are also occasionally used as Christmas trees. But, by far, the most common tree is the Monterey Pine. Adenanthos sericeus or Albany Woolly Bush is commonly sold in southern Australia as a potted living Christmas tree. Hemlock species are generally considered unsuitable as Christmas trees due to their poor needle retention and inability to support the weight of lights and ornaments.
Some trees, frequently referred to as "living Christmas trees", are sold live with roots and soil, often from a nursery, to be stored at nurseries in planters or planted later outdoors and enjoyed (and often decorated) for years or decades. Others are produced in a container and sometimes as topiary for a porch or patio. However, when done improperly, the combination of root loss caused by digging, and the indoor environment of high temperature and low humidity is very detrimental to the tree's health; additionally, the warmth of an indoor climate will bring the tree out of its natural winter dormancy, leaving it little protection when put back outside into a cold outdoor climate. Often Christmas trees are a large attraction for living animals, including mice and spiders. Thus, the survival rate of these trees is low. However when done properly, replanting provides higher survival rates.
European tradition prefers the open aspect of naturally-grown, unsheared trees, while in North America (outside western areas where trees are often wild-harvested on public lands) there is a preference for close-sheared trees with denser foliage, but less space to hang decorations.
In the past, Christmas trees were often harvested from wild forests, but now almost all are commercially grown on tree farms. Almost all Christmas trees in the United States are grown on Christmas tree farms where they are cut after about ten years of growth and new trees planted. According to the United States Department of Agriculture' agriculture census for 2002, 21,904 farms were producing conifers for the cut Christmas tree market in America, 180,897 hectares (447,006 acres) were planted in Christmas trees, and 13,849 farms harvested cut trees.
The life cycle of a Christmas tree from the seed to a 2-metre (7 ft) tree takes, depending on species and treatment in cultivation, between 8 and 12 years. First, the seed is extracted from cones harvested from older trees. These seeds are then usually grown in nurseries and then sold to Christmas tree farms at an age of 3–4 years. The remaining development of the tree greatly depends on the climate, soil quality, as well as the cultivation and tendance by the Christmas tree farmer.
The first artificial Christmas trees were developed in Germany during the 19th century, though earlier examples exist. These "trees" were made using goose feathers that were dyed green. The German feather trees were one response by Germans to continued deforestation in Germany. Feather Christmas trees ranged widely in size, from a small 2-inch (51 mm) tree to a large 98-inch (2,500 mm) tree sold in department stores during the 1920s. Often, the tree branches were tipped with artificial red berries which acted as candle holders.
Over the years, other styles of artificial Christmas trees have evolved and become popular. In 1930, the U.S.-based Addis Brush Company created the first artificial Christmas tree made from brush bristles. Another type of artificial tree is the aluminum Christmas tree. The trees were manufactured in the United States, first in Chicago in 1958, and later in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where the majority of the trees were produced. Most modern artificial Christmas trees are made from plastic recycled from used packaging materials, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or other plastics. Approximately 10% of artificial Christmas trees are using virgin suspension PVC resin; despite being plastic most artificial trees are not recyclable or biodegradable.
Other gimmicks have developed as well. Fiber optic Christmas trees come in two major varieties; one resembles a traditional Christmas tree. One Dallas-based company offers "holographic mylar" trees in many hues. Tree-shaped objects made from such materials as cardboard, glass, ceramic or other materials can be found in use as tabletop decorations. Upside-down artificial Christmas trees became popular for a short time and were originally introduced as a marketing gimmick; they allowed consumers to get closer to ornaments for sale in retail stores and opened up floor space for more products.
Artificial trees became increasingly popular during the late 20th century. Users of artificial Christmas trees assert that they are more convenient, and, because they are reusable, much cheaper than their natural alternative. They are also considered much safer as natural trees can be a significant fire hazard. Between 2001 and 2007 artificial Christmas tree sales in the U.S. jumped from 7.3 million to 17.4 million.
The debate about the environmental impact of artificial trees is ongoing. Generally, natural tree growers contend that artificial trees are more environmentally harmful than their natural counterparts. However, trade groups such as the American Christmas Tree Association, continue to refute that artificial trees are more harmful to the environment, and maintain that the PVC used in Christmas trees has excellent recyclable properties.
Live trees are typically grown as a crop and replanted in rotation after cutting, often providing suitable habitat for wildlife. In some cases management of Christmas tree crops can result in poor habitat since it sometimes involves heavy input of pesticides. Concerns have been raised about people cutting down old and rare conifers, such as the Keteleeria evelyniana, for Christmas trees. Real or cut trees are used only for a short time, but can be recycled and used as mulch or used to prevent erosion. Real trees are carbon-neutral, they emit no more carbon dioxide by being cut down and disposed of than they absorb while growing. An independent life-cycle assessment study, conducted by a firm of experts in sustainable development, states that a natural tree will generate 3.1 kg of greenhouse gases every year (based on purchasing 5 km from home) whereas the artificial tree will produce 48.3 kg over its lifetime. Some people use living Christmas or potted trees for several seasons, providing a longer life cycle for each tree. Living Christmas trees can be purchased or rented from local market growers. Rentals are picked up after the holidays, while purchased trees can be planted by the owner after use or donated to local tree adoption or urban reforestation services.
Most artificial trees are made of recycled PVC rigid sheets using tin stabilizer in the recent years. In the past, lead was often used as a stabilizer in PVC, but is now banned by Chinese laws. The use of lead stabilizer in Chinese imported trees has been an issue of concern among politicians and scientists over recent years. A 2004 study found that while in general artificial trees pose little health risk from lead contamination, there do exist "worst-case scenarios" where major health risks to young children exist. A 2008 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report found that as the PVC in artificial Christmas trees aged it began to degrade. The report determined that of the 50 million artificial trees in the United States approximately 20 million were 9 or more years old, the point where dangerous lead contamination levels are reached. A professional study on the life-cycle assessment of both real and artificial Christmas trees revealed that one must use an artificial Christmas tree at least during 20 years to leave an environmental footprint as small as the natural Christmas tree. A small amount of real-tree material is used in some artificial trees. For instance, the bark of a real tree can be used to surface an artificial trunk.
The Christmas tree's origins are secular, but it is associated with the celebration of the Christmas holidays, so there has been some amount of debate as to whether it should be considered a secular or a religious custom.[clarification needed]
Pope John Paul II introduced the Christmas tree custom to the Vatican in 1982. Although at first disapproved of by some as out of place at the centre of the Roman Catholic Church, the Christmas tree has become an integral part of the Vatican Christmas celebrations, and in 2005 Pope Benedict XVI spoke of it as part of the normal Christmas decorations in Catholic homes. In 2004, Pope John Paul called the Christmas tree a symbol of Christ. This very ancient custom, he said, exalts the value of life, as in winter what is evergreen becomes a sign of undying life, and it reminds Christians of the "tree of life" of Genesis 2:9, an image of Christ, the supreme gift of God to humanity. In the previous year he said: "Beside the crib, the Christmas tree, with its twinkling lights, reminds us that with the birth of Jesus the tree of life has blossomed anew in the desert of humanity. The crib and the tree: precious symbols, which hand down in time the true meaning of Christmas." The Catholic Church's official Book of Blessings has a service for the blessing of the Christmas tree in a home.
In 2005, the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport removed all of its Christmas trees in the middle of the night rather than allow a rabbi to put up a menorah near the largest tree display. Officials feared that one display would open the door for other religious displays, and, in 2006, they opted to display a grove of birches in polyethylene terephthalate snow rather than religious symbols or Christmas trees. In 2005, the city of Boston renamed the spruce tree used to decorate the Boston Common a "Holiday Tree" rather than a "Christmas Tree". The name change drew a poor response from the public and it was reversed after the city was threatened with several lawsuits.
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Christmas tree|
|Wikisource has the text of the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia article Christmas.|
The World News (WN) Network, has created this privacy statement in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to user privacy. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for wn.com, as well as e-mail newsletters.
We do not collect personally identifiable information about you, except when you provide it to us. For example, if you submit an inquiry to us or sign up for our newsletter, you may be asked to provide certain information such as your contact details (name, e-mail address, mailing address, etc.).
We may retain other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Such third parties may be provided with access to personally identifiable information needed to perform their functions, but may not use such information for any other purpose.
In addition, we may disclose any information, including personally identifiable information, we deem necessary, in our sole discretion, to comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal proceeding or governmental request.
We do not want you to receive unwanted e-mail from us. We try to make it easy to opt-out of any service you have asked to receive. If you sign-up to our e-mail newsletters we do not sell, exchange or give your e-mail address to a third party.
E-mail addresses are collected via the wn.com web site. Users have to physically opt-in to receive the wn.com newsletter and a verification e-mail is sent. wn.com is clearly and conspicuously named at the point ofcollection.
If you no longer wish to receive our newsletter and promotional communications, you may opt-out of receiving them by following the instructions included in each newsletter or communication or by e-mailing us at michaelw(at)wn.com
The security of your personal information is important to us. We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during registration and once we receive it. No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100 percent secure, however. Therefore, though we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
If we decide to change our e-mail practices, we will post those changes to this privacy statement, the homepage, and other places we think appropriate so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.
If we make material changes to our e-mail practices, we will notify you here, by e-mail, and by means of a notice on our home page.
The advertising banners and other forms of advertising appearing on this Web site are sometimes delivered to you, on our behalf, by a third party. In the course of serving advertisements to this site, the third party may place or recognize a unique cookie on your browser. For more information on cookies, you can visit www.cookiecentral.com.
As we continue to develop our business, we might sell certain aspects of our entities or assets. In such transactions, user information, including personally identifiable information, generally is one of the transferred business assets, and by submitting your personal information on Wn.com you agree that your data may be transferred to such parties in these circumstances.
|
<urn:uuid:12283443-5120-4aca-b735-4eef352e5b50>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://article.wn.com/view/2013/01/03/Watch_your_Christmas_tree_be_mulched/
|
2013-06-20T01:45:08Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.9595
| 7,255
|
A foreign language is a Langue which is not the Native tongue of a person. She thus requires a training by this person to be controlled. The secondary education is one of the modes of training, the method Assimil is another.
Certain children learn the languages from their two parents, if those do not have the same native language: these children are bilingual. None of the two languages is then foreign for this child, even if one of both is foreign in the country of birth.
The level in foreign languages is one of the criteria of recruitment in the companies in particular with international vocation, where a Multilinguisme of the employees is necessary.
|Random links:||Australis de corona | Cell gliale | Dornier C 17 | Saint-Denis-of-Palin | Jetpod | ECW Wrestlepalooza | 1920_au_Canada|
|
<urn:uuid:04ba46a2-aced-465c-a618-47169aa39427>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.speedylook.com/Foreign_language.html
|
2013-06-19T14:39:00Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.91188
| 183
|
|In 1897, America was suffering through
a grim depression triggered by the Panic of 1893. Money was tight and gold
was scarce when a group of miners walked off the ship Excelsior
in San Francisco harbor on July 15 with almost $200,000 of gold in their
luggage. Two days later, a second ship, the Portland, docked at
Seattle carrying more newly-rich miners and over $1.5 million in gold dust
and nuggets. Word of the strike spread quickly, igniting a gold rush stampede.
Most of the gold brought out in the summer of 1897 came from the Klondike region of northern Canada, where Skookum Jim, a Native American of the Dakhl'wedi clan, found a gold nugget in Rabbit Creek on August 17, 1896. For many years, the credit for the discovery of the gold at Bonanza Creek had been given to George Carmack, Skookum Jim's brother-in-law and partner who had made the legal register of the claim. The pair, working with their partner, Dawson Charlie, and Carmack's common-law wife, Kate, brought hundreds of thousands of dollars out of the discovery claim.
George Carmack's map of his camping places along the upper Yukon Valley in 1885.
Photograph courtesy of Yukon Archives
|In early August 1896, while they were prospecting
and hunting, the group met up with another prospector, Robert Henderson,
who shared news of some promising diggings along a creek leading off of
the Klondike River.
After making their great gold discovery at Rabbit Creek, George and Charlie left to register the claim at the nearest mining town, Forty Mile, just north on the Yukon River. They reached the town on August 20, flush with the excitement of their discovery. By the next morning, Forty Mile was deserted, and the miners soon camped out along Rabbit Creek. On August 22, the growing crowd of miners renamed the Creek "Bonanza" and set to work measuring off claims both below and above the discovery claim.
|
<urn:uuid:56f49bcb-0fec-44b1-8092-6bab0602333f>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/gold/discovery.html
|
2013-05-22T22:26:16Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702452567/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110732-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.944737
| 433
|
Have you ever needed to use exponents in an MS Excel formula, but you didn’t know how?
I mean, maybe you need to square the value of a cell or something similar.
Either way, wouldn’t it be nice to know how to enter the power properly? You know, so you can avoid the whole multiplying the same number over and over in your formula kind of thing.
Well, to tell you the truth, there are a couple of ways to accomplish your goal.
Let’s say you need to enter six to the third power.
The first way you can enter the power is:
The first number is the base and the second is the exponent.
The second option would be the formula of:
Again, the first number is the base and the second is the exponent.
The numbers could also be replaced by cell references, which really gives you a flexible formula.
Here’s to “Excel-ing” in flexibility!
|
<urn:uuid:a8762c97-43fc-4f6a-8e29-33a445f0b86a>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.worldstart.com/exponents-in-excel/
|
2013-05-19T10:24:10Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.926778
| 207
|
Megaloblastic anemia is a decrease in the amount of oxygen-carrying
substance (hemoglobin) found in red blood cells. A person with this condition
has low numbers of abnormally large, immature red blood cells that do not
Megaloblastic anemia can be caused by a folic acid deficiency or
vitamin B12 deficiency.
Medical care for megaloblastic anemia is based on identifying and
treating the cause of the anemia.
How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.
|
<urn:uuid:7769919f-9ae3-49e8-8e12-2a5191f9df0d>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.peacehealth.org/xhtml/content/definition/stm159359.html
|
2013-05-22T00:35:44Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.886858
| 115
|
At times water can appear to be a different color than normal. Here is some information to help you problem solve should your drinking water just not look right.
My water is colored, what causes it?
Brown or orange particles
Brown or orange particles are usually small pieces of rusted steel that have broken off the inside of your water pipes or the City of Lake Oswego water mains. These particles are very hard, irregular in size and shape, and can be several different colors (including black).
They consist of mostly iron and are not a health hazard, but they can be a nuisance if they clog your washing machine screens, shower heads, and/or the screens at the ends of your faucets (called aerators). If the water is clear with these particles in it, they probably came from the inside of your pipes. If the particles come from the City of Lake Oswego water mains, the water will usually be discolored for a few hours as well.
Another common cause of brown or orange particles in the water is a broken water softener. Inside a water softener are many small, round beads. The mechanism that keeps these beads in the tank can break, releasing them into your water. These beads vary in size and color, depending on the manufacturer; however, some commonly used beads are about the size of fish eggs and are brown or orange in color. If you see that these particles are uniform in size, shape, and color and you have a water softener, call your service agent for repairs.
Black particles can come from four common sources: the inside of a steel pipe, a broken water filter, a degrading faucet washer or gasket, or a disintegrating black rubber flexible supply line hose. (These same hoses are also made as flexible water heater connectors.)
Particles from the inside of a steel pipe
Are discussed in more detail under the brown or orange particles section of this question.
If the particles are very hard, similar in size and shape, and might be described as large coffee grounds, they are probably granular activated carbon (GAC) from the inside of a GAC water filter. To stop this problem, replace the filter cartridge or consult with the manufacturer of the unit or the salesperson who sold it to you.
If the particles are solid but rubbery in texture, they could be pieces of an old disintegrating faucet washer or gasket. If this is the problem, the particles would likely be present only at one faucet and that faucet might leak. To fix this problem, replace the faucet washers and the packing at the ends of the supply lines.
If the particles are small black specks that might be described as being oily or sooty in texture, they are probably from the inside of a flexible hose. These hoses are made of black rubber, but they are covered with a braided stainless steel mesh. Over time, the chlorine in the water causes the rubber to break down. These hoses are located under the sink connecting the water supply to the faucet, or at the water heater connecting it to the water supply.
To stop this problem, replace the hose with one of the new styles that have a water disinfection resistant lining (clearly advertised on the label), or change to a different style of hose that is not made of black rubber.
White or tan particles
White or tan particles in the water usually come from one of three places: the inside of your pipes, your water heater, or your water softener.
White or tan particles can be a combination of calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate. This material is often referred to as pipe scale. Calcium and magnesium carbonates are naturally occurring minerals and are found in varying concentrations in most waters around the world. These minerals are not a health threat; in fact, they are beneficial to human health.
The amount of these minerals in the water determines the hardness of the water; higher mineral concentrations make the water harder. In Lake Oswego we have soft water, but the water still contains these minerals. Over time, these minerals can deposit on the inside of your pipes and then begin to flake off.
Although this process usually occurs slowly over a long period of time, there are a couple circumstances that can cause it to happen rapidly.
- If your water was turned off for repair work (either by you or by the City), the pressure and turbulence created when it is turned back on can dislodge the minerals from the pipes.
- If the water supplied by the City becomes softer or if you add a water softener to your plumbing system, this softer water can begin to dissolve the minerals from the pipes and pieces may begin to break loose.
If you have galvanized steel pipes, they will corrode slowly over time. As they corrode, they swell up on the inside, which causes the minerals to flake off. These are all common causes of pipe scale in the water and account for many of our customer complaints about white or tan particles.
Although pipe scale is not a health hazard, it can be a nuisance by clogging inlet screens to washing machines, shower heads, and faucet aerators (the screen that screws on to the end of the water faucet). There is no practical way to remove pipe scale from the inside of your pipes; if the problem is severe, you may want to consider replacing your plumbing.
Another way these minerals can form white or tan particles is in the water heater. As the water is heated, the minerals begin to precipitate out of the water, forming white or tan sand-like deposits. As you use the hot water, these minerals can be carried along again to clog inlet screens to washing machines, shower heads, and faucet aerators.
To keep mineral deposits from accumulating in the water heater, flush it at least once a year. Flushing the water heater regularly also extends the life of the heater and makes it operate more fuel efficiently. Contact the water heater manufacturer for more information.
The water heater can also put floating white particles into the water. Many water heaters contain a plastic dip tube. The dip tube is an extension to the inlet of the water supply. The tube is on the inside of the heater and allows the cold incoming water to enter the tank at the bottom. As the tube gets old, it can begin to disintegrate and show up as white particles in the hot water.
These particles vary in size and will break apart fairly easily. They can have a faint bluish-green tint to them, but they are mostly white. To correct this problem, contact the manufacturer for advice. Replacing the dip tube is not a typical do-it-yourself project. Contact a licensed plumber for more information.
White or tan particles can also be water softener resin beads. Since the City of Lake Oswego has soft water this is a very rare occurrence, but some customers do install water softeners. Inside a water softener are many small, round beads. The mechanism that keeps the beads in the tank can break, releasing them into your water. These beads vary in size and color depending on the manufacturer; however, two commonly used beads are very small and are white or tan in color. If you see that the particles are uniform in size, shape, and color and you have a water softener, call your service agent for repairs.
If you have colored water and would like to set up an appointment with the Water Department please call the Operations Division at (503) 635-0280. Appointments can be made Monday through Friday from 8:00am - 2:30pm.
|
<urn:uuid:6602edaf-bbb6-406d-8cd5-5a5f5fde3710>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.ci.oswego.or.us/publicworks/colored-water
|
2013-05-18T08:48:51Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381630/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.947923
| 1,587
|
Poorly controlled diabetes can lead to significantly increased risk of heart disease (CVD), peripheral neuropathy , amputations , retinopathy, and kidney disease. The A1c blood test is considered a good indicator of overall blood glucose control. The current recommendation to decrease complications of diabetes is an A1c level less than 7%. Some medical professionals have looked into the benefit of aiming for A1c’s even lower, below 6%, commonly called intensive blood glucose control. There is conflicting information as to whether the lower rate is beneficial.
Two studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine looked at the benefits and risk of intensive blood glucose control therapy. The results of both studies suggest it may be more harmful than beneficial to target the A1c less than 6.5%.
A group called the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD), investigated intensive therapies ability to decrease CVD risk. The study was stopped early because of higher rates of death in the intensive treatment group. The second study was conducted by the Action in Diabetes and Vascular Disease group (ADVANCE). Their study followed intensive therapy with drug interventions and found an increase in hospitalization and low blood sugar with intensive blood sugar lowering.
About the Studies
The ACCORD trial was a randomized control study that followed 10,251 patients with type 2 diabetes. Patients were assigned to a standard therapy group or an intensive therapy group. The patients were tracked for any significant cardiovascular event including death.
The study was halted at 3.5 years when the intensive therapy group was found to have a higher mortality rate. Also, at 3.5 years there were no significant reductions in cardiovascular events for the intensive therapy group.
The ADVANCE study followed 11,140 patients with type 2 diabetes. Participants were assigned to standard glucose control or intensive glucose control. The intensive glucose control used gliclazide and other drugs to reach an A1c level of 6.5% or less. While there was no difference is mortality between the groups, there was a significantly increased rate of hospitalization and hypoglycemia (dangerously low blood sugar), in the intensive glucose control group. The intensive glucose control group did benefit from slower progression of diabetic kidney disease but the long-term benefits of this are not known.
How Does This Affect You?
Lowering blood sugar is an important part of controlling diabetes along with exercise and diet. Work with your doctor to decide what level is safe and beneficial for you. Do not try to lower your blood sugar or change your medications without consulting your doctor. Low blood sugar can be very dangerous.
- Reviewer: Larissa J. Lucas, MD
- Review Date: 07/2008 -
- Update Date: 07/11/2008 -
|
<urn:uuid:18569206-b31c-4c0d-b660-26f629498e91>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://medtropolis.com/your-health/?/330430/ADVANCE-study
|
2013-05-19T09:48:18Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.943911
| 561
|
Desert? No, It is a thirstland!
The Kalahari Desert is a large arid to semi-arid sandy area in southern Kgalagadi Africa extending 900,000 km² (362,500 sq. mi.). The name Kalahari is derived from the Tswana word Keir, meaning ‘the great thirst’, or the tribal word Kalagare that means ‘a waterless place’.
The Kalahari is mostly flat, with an average elevation of about 1,000 m (3,000 ft) above sea level. The sands of the Kalahari are red, brown, or white in places. The only permanent surface water in or around the Kalahari is the Boteti River.
The Kalahari has a number of game reserves - the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (world's 2nd largest protected area), Khutse Game Reserve and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. Animals that live in the region include brown hyenas, lions, meerkats, antelope (including the oryx or gemsbok), and many species of birds and reptiles. Vegetation in the Kalahari consists mainly of grasses and acacias but there are over 400 identified plant species present.
Although called a desert, the Kalahari Desert is not in fact a desert at all! At least not by the normal standards for classifying a desert. A more correct term would be a 'thirstland', as no-where in the Kalahari Desert sands is the rainfall less than 150mm a year. At times, it has been also called a ‘Fossil desert”.
|
<urn:uuid:4dd5bfb6-7df3-4ed0-916f-b5c90d47b399>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/teacher_resources/best_place_species/current_top_10/kalahari_desert_.cfm
|
2013-06-20T09:37:02Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711240143/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133400-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.921378
| 349
|
The Pangea problem
A recent study describes
the problem plate tectonics theory has with itself in assembling
the supercontinent Pangea. Here are excerpts.
existence of Pangea is one of the cornerstones of geology, the mechanisms
responsible for its amalgamation are poorly understood."
of Pangea is primarly recorded in the origin and evolution of the
Paleozoic oceans (Iapetus, Rheic, Prototethys) between Laurentia
(ancestral North America), Baltica (northwestern Europe), and northern
Gondwana (South America-West Africa)." These oceans had
to close for the various parts to come together to make Pangea.
"There is a broad
consensus that sinking of cold lithosphere (slab pull) provides
90% of the force needed to drive plate tectonics and is indirectly
responsible for upwelling beneath mid-ocean ridges." "However,
if these geodynamic arguments are applied to the early Paleozoic,
they fail to predict the formation of Pangea in the correct configuration."
Subduction in the
"By the early Paleozoic, Laurentia,
Baltica, and Gondwana had separated, resulting in the opening of
the Iapetus and Rheic Oceans." "However,... the
dispersing continents should have migrated toward the subduction
zones in the exterior paleo-Pacific Ocean [Panthalassa], and it
is this ocean that should have closed. Instead, a wealth of
geologic evidence indicates that subduction commenced in the relatively
newly formed interior (Iapetus and Rheic) oceans located between
Laurentia, Baltica, and Gondwana, and that Pangea assembled as the
interior ocean closed."
the paleo-Pacific Ocean [Panthalassa] was clearly well established
~80 million years before subduction commenced in the Iapetus Ocean
and before the Rheic Ocean opened." "Slab pull forces
associated with this subduction should have resulted in the migration
of the dispersing continents toward the paleo-Pacific subduction
zones." "However, this motion reversed itself when
subduction commenced in the relatively newly formed Iapetus and
Rheic Oceans between Laurentia, Baltica, and Gondwana." "Therefore,
subduction was not only initiated within the new interior oceans,
but the rates of subduction of this relatively young Paleozoic lithosphere
must also have overpowered those of the already well-established
subduction zones within the exterior (paleo-Pacific) [Panthalassa]
Next problem: initiating
"A key problem that needs to be addressed
in resolving this conundrum is the geodynamic scenario that facilitated
the initiation of subduction in the Iapetus and Rheic Oceans and
generated sufficient slab pull to drive the dispersing continental
fragments toward the Pangea configuration. Subduction initiation
is controversial, although it is generally accepted that initiation
at passive margins is mechanically difficult because of the flexural
rigidity of the oceanic lithosphere. No simple modern analogues
for such a process have been documented." They speculate
that compression across old transform faults started subduction,
although the source of compression and why these and not other transform
faults subducted is not addressed.
But the new subduction
is too weak
Even so, "subduction zones initiated in
this manner cannot pull the large overriding plates toward them,
and so cannot be considered a mechanism that began the assembly
They are forced
to resort to mantle plumes.
"This conundrum suggests
that top-down [plate tectonic] geodynamic forces can be overridden
by other forces. Assuming that continents migrate from geoid
highs to geoid lows, the reversal of their movement in the middle
Paleozoic implies that the geoid lows became geoid highs. The
mechanisms for this are unclear. However, one possibility
is that the descent of subducted slabs in the paleo-Pacific [Panthalassa]
Ocean to the core-mantle boundary thermally insulated that boundary,
leading to the ponding of hot mantle material that built up and
rose toward the surface as a superplume." "Such
an event would result in a geoid high and enhanced seafloor spreading
in the paleo-Pacific [Panthalassa] Ocean that could have been responsible
for the reversal in the direction of motion of the continents."
"An Ordovician superplume has been proposed... to account
for the period's high sea levels, high paleotemperatures, abundant
black shales, and strong biological activity."
The idea of mantle
plumes, once almost universally accepted, has become highly controversial.
Murphy, J. Brendan,
R. Damian Nance. September 2008. The Pangea conundrum. Geology,
Vol. 36, No. 9, pp. 703-706.
John Michael Fischer, 2008
|
<urn:uuid:7f02e18b-5b21-449d-9dfd-f99192d23cd2>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.newgeology.us/presentation43.html
|
2013-05-19T02:32:16Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.904958
| 1,083
|
Hemorrhage - subarachnoid
Subarachnoid hemorrhage is bleeding in the area between the brain and the thin tissues that cover the brain. This area is called the subarachnoid space.
Subarachnoid hemorrhage can be caused by:
Injury-related subarachnoid hemorrhage is often seen in the elderly who have fallen and hit their head. Among the young, the most common injury leading to subarachnoid hemorrhage is motor vehicle crashes.
Subarachnoid hemorrhage caused by a cerebral aneurysm that breaks open (ruptures) occurs in about 40 - 50 out of 100,000 people over age 30. Subarachnoid hemorrhage due to rupture of a cerebral aneurysm is most common in persons ages 20 to 60. It is slightly more common in women than men.
A strong family history of aneurysms may also increase your risk.
Selman WR, Hsu D, Tarr RW, Ratcheson RA. Vascular diseases of the nervous system: intracranial aneurysms and subarachnoid hemorrhage. In: Bradley WG, Daroff RB, Fenichel GM, Jankovic J, eds. Neurology in Clinical Practice. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Butterworth-Heinemann Elsevier; 2008:chap 55C.
Zivin J. Hemorrhagic cerebrovascular disease. In: Goldman L, Ausiello D, eds. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 432.
Reinhardt MR. Subarachnoid hemorrhoid. J Emerg Nurs. 2010;36(4):327-329.
Rabinstein AA, Lanzino G, Wijdicks EF. Multidisciplinary management and emerging therapeutic strategies in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Lancet Neurol. 2010;9(4):504-519.
© 2011 University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC). All rights reserved.
UMMC is a member of the University of Maryland Medical System,
22 S. Greene Street, Baltimore, MD 21201. TDD: 1-800-735-2258 or 1.866.408.6885
|
<urn:uuid:3dbd1b54-c5fb-4001-8e9b-f3e2e6bbe803>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.umm.edu/ency/article/000701.htm
|
2013-05-25T12:40:53Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.803786
| 492
|
Loneliness is an emotion that you feel deep in your soul. Loneliness is something that’s always there, always taunting you, never subsiding for even a moment. The reasons for being lonely vary from person to person as well as the way people deal with it. The only thing that stays the same is the emptiness.
George is lonely because while he has a companion he doesn’t have somebody who he can actually talk to. He feels more like a babysitter, “God a’ mighty, an’ work, an’ no trouble.” pg 50. George often gets frustrated with Lennie because he constantly has to keep him out of trouble. In the sense of George having somebody to really relate to, he has no one, but he appreciates having the company he has more then he would if he was alone. He is not the loneliest character in this book.
Lennie is a big man with a small mind. A man like that can be easily lost in the confusing world of the Great Depression. Lennie is often misunderstood and scared easily. His mind never progressed passed a child’s while his body seemed to grow without end. The only person Lennie has is George and without him he wouldn’t be able to survive. Lennie has never been able to relate to people the same way George has and his life has been incredibly lonely. I think that is part of the reason he cares for animals so much because he wants to feel important and show George he’s responsible and can be like him. “If you don’ want me I can off in the hills an’ find a cave. I can go away anytime.” pg 12. This shows he doesn’t have anywhere to go, he is entirely alone without George.
The loneliest character in the book is Crooks, the stable buck. He lives by himself in a small room on the side of a stable with close to no company. Crooks finds comfort in reading by his small lamp but other then that doesn’t really have much to do. The only time he really associates with other people is when he’s playing horseshoes, but he’s usually too busy to play for a long time. “You got no right to come in my room. This here’s my room. Nobody got any right in here but me.” This quote seems to show that crooks is a lonely man who tries to protect what little he has because he’s afraid it will be taken away.
These paragraphs don’t come close to describing how lonely these characters really are. Living in the great depression and being alone with no permanent place to live seals your fate of how your life will be. Being alone for so long can drive anyone crazy. Getting through all of this alone shows the mentality that these men really have. Crooks and George might be a little hostile, but for good reason. They want to protect what’s theirs. Lennie never gave up trying to find a friend, unfortunately his quest for companionship was eventually his downfall. Everybody can relate to these characters and hopefully learn from them too.
|
<urn:uuid:07198072-a09b-4989-b8d6-9b44c03ccff7>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://writinghood.com/literature/topical/loneliness-in-of-mice-and-men/
|
2013-06-18T22:37:21Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.982832
| 663
|
Battles - The Second Battle of the Aisne, 1917
The Second Battle of the Aisne, which comprised the main action of the Nivelle Offensive, was a virtually unmitigated disaster for the French Army. A hugely costly attack, ultimately involving 1.2 million troops and 7,000 guns, it achieved little in the way of territorial gain - certainly not the 48 hour breakthrough envisaged - and also brought to an end the career of its instigator, the French Commander-in-Chief Robert Nivelle, and sparked widespread mutiny in the army.
Devised upon his appointment as Commander-in-Chief in December 1916, replacing Joseph Joffre, Nivelle's plan, which he confidently assured the French government would bring about an end to the war within two days, was beset by delays and leaks. By the time of its main launch on 16 April 1917, the plans were well-known to the German Army, who accordingly took appropriate defensive steps.
Nivelle's strategy by no means received unanimous support among influential French politicians. Whilst Prime Minister Briand's support effectively sanctioned the plan, it led to the resignation of war minister Hubert Lyautey. The British Commander-in-Chief, Sir Douglas Haig, expressed his opposition, as did Nivelle's successor as Commander-in-Chief, Henri-Philippe Petain. Even Nivelle's Reserve Army Group commander, General Micheler, was opposed.
19 divisions of the French Fifth and Sixth Armies - under Mazel and Mangin - went into battle on 16 April 1917, along an 80 km front from Soissons to Reims, after a week of diversionary attacks by the British in Arras.
Opposite the French on high ground, heavily defended and fortified, was von Boehm's German Seventh Army, who conducted an efficient defence. On 16 April the French suffered 40,000 casualties alone, a similar disaster to that suffered by the British on the first day of the Somme a year earlier on 1 July 1916. The mass use of French Char Schneider tanks brought little advantage, with 150 lost on the first day.
Ironically, in the attacks of 16 and 17 April Nivelle's own innovation - the creeping barrage - was incorrectly deployed, leading to increased French casualties as the infantry advanced without protection.
Despite evidence to the contrary, Nivelle believed his offensive would ultimately prove successful, continuing French attacks until 20 April. Some gains were made, by Mangin west of Soissons, but progress was slow. The offensive was scaled back over the next two weeks, although by 5 May a 4 km stretch of the Chemin des Dames Ridge - part of the Hindenburg Line - had been captured. The offensive was finally abandoned in disarray on 9 May following a final ineffective four day assault.
French losses were significant, with 187,000 casualties. The Germans suffered an estimated 168,000 losses.
At home, disillusion among French public and politicians alike led to Nivelle's prompt removal, replaced on 25 April by the considerably more cautious Henri-Philippe Petain. Petain was only able to restore order within the French Army by improving trench conditions and, more importantly, by refraining from committing his forces to offensive operations.
Photographs courtesy of Photos of the Great War website
Click here to read the reaction of Kaiser Wilhelm II to news of German success; click here to read Erich Ludendorff's view; click here to read the account given by the French War Minister Paul Painleve.
Bulgaria mobilised a quarter of its male population during WW1, 650,000 troops in total.
- Did you know?
|
<urn:uuid:e9f4f47c-e256-4936-a440-630e401d187e>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://firstworldwar.com/battles/aisne2.htm
|
2013-05-24T02:46:23Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132729/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.974069
| 768
|
Chlorine, element number 17, was first isolated by German-Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1774, and he is generally credited with its discovery. Scheele, however, did not recognize chlorine as an element, mistaking it for a compound, an oxide from the hydrochloric acid he used as a source. British chemist Humphry Davy repeated Scheele’s experiment in 1810 and determined that it was indeed an element. Davy named it chlorine because of the yellow-greenish color of the gas, from the Greek χλωρός (chloros, green) + –ινη (–ine). Davy wrote in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in that year:
It has been judged most proper [...] to call it Chlorine, or Chloric gas.1
The chemical symbol for chlorine is Cl, taken from two of the first letters of its name.
Copyright 1997-2013, by David Wilton
|
<urn:uuid:97ec916e-f762-4aad-ab4e-0ed1dda254d7>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/comments/chlorine/
|
2013-06-20T09:31:42Z
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711240143/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133400-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.955249
| 206
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.