text
stringlengths 199
648k
| id
stringlengths 47
47
| dump
stringclasses 1
value | url
stringlengths 14
419
| file_path
stringlengths 139
140
| language
stringclasses 1
value | language_score
float64 0.65
1
| token_count
int64 50
235k
| score
float64 2.52
5.34
| int_score
int64 3
5
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Forest Supervisor Kristin Bail with the National Forests in North Carolina today announced that the agency plans to restore between 8,000 and 10,000 acres of the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests in 2013 using prescribed burning.
“Fire has been part of Southern Appalachian forests for thousands of years, and we’ve learned that putting out every fire creates a buildup of forest debris, putting communities at risk and threatening forest health,” said Bail. “Using prescribed burns, we can mimic what would occur naturally and restore native trees and plants like table mountain pine and mountain golden heather, which are fire-tolerant.”
All prescribed burns are completed by trained wildand fire professionals in accordance with detailed plans, which include desired weather conditions and other strict safety parameters, as well as modeling to reduce the effects of smoke.
Scientists have found that fire has been a part of western North Carolina’s forests for at least 4,000 years and possibly up to 12,000 years. Lightning strikes ignited many fires, and Native Americans introduced prescribed burning to clear land and for regeneration purposes. European settlers continued the practice. These frequent, low-intensity fires shaped healthy forests in western North Carolina.
The USFS did not provide any information with regards to exact locations or timing concerning the burns.
For more information on prescribed burning in the Nantahala and Pisgah national forests, please click here.
Hiking in the Smokies
|
<urn:uuid:d7a8caec-c120-4cb4-bcb1-21ae22032167>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://hikinginthesmokys.blogspot.com/2013/02/prescribed-burns-in-nantahala-and.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392159.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00075-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.945114 | 305 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Quarks are observable, to those with the tools to measure their effects, as subject to all forces of nature. All the forces of nature have connective properties -- quarks combine to produce hadrons and are never found isolated. So even at the most basic level of physical reality, the quark model recognizes the fundamental principle of connection. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark
. It is when they exhibit the connective property, again common to all, that hadrons combine to become chemical elements.
An atomic nucleus blown up to the size of an baseball sitting on the pitcher's mound of a major league baseball stadium would have its closest electron the size of a pin head orbiting out past the furthest bleacher seat. Matter is mostly empty space. Think of physical reality as 3d projections of pure energy forming a holographic, tactile image that appears solid and "real" to our gross senses and yet is mostly immaterial.
The paradox in quantum physics is that particles also appear as a wave. Imagine fundamental energy radiating from its source, the central core of the big bang; broadcasting, if you will. The interference pattern created by this radiant energy throughout time space continually creates all of what we call physical reality across the entire cosmos through the mechanism of quantum physics.
Within that physicality the known forces of nature become observable by their properties. We start to see differentiations in the way compounds act in accordance with gravity, for example. Fluid mechanics as a subset of gravitational forces demonstrates how the constricted flow of liquid through a fire hose seems to defy gravity and shoots water up many stories to subdue the flames of a burning building. A fire hose hooked up to a 125' water tower will have no problem spraying water that high with gravity as its only propellant, but fill the water tank with sand and the sand won't make it out of the hose.
At the level subatomic particles become atoms, differentiation of gravitational and electromagnetic forces are already observable because those subatomic particles form atoms of cobalt, iron and nickel.
This is the level at which ki (spiritual force) differentiates also, because at the atomic level various elements come together to form molecules of amino acids.
Spiritual energy has not been recognized by the scientific community at large because it has heretofore been unquantifiable. Weight and mass and magnetic fields can be measured, but no one has come up with a way to measure a flow of love between individuals or a quantitative difference between a living being and a corpse.
As for the effects of the properties of ki (spirit force), they are easily observable if not measurable. From a purely biological perspective, that organisms exist and reproduce is the simplest observable fact. On earth the ingredients of our planetary mass acted upon by ki formed chains of the elements carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, but on other planets perhaps the chemical building blocks of life may be specific other elements depending on the various factors of that respective planet.
Ki (spiritual force) is as ordinary and as profound as gravity and the electromagnetic spectrum, but as a force of nature it is found acting, like gravity and electromagnetic radiation, in harmony with all other observable manifestations of fundamental energy, in the creation of living beings in evolving, expanding fractal patterns.
|
<urn:uuid:270b2dc3-93ae-467a-b820-e9e34abba176>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/showpost.php?p=328621&postcount=14
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394605.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00159-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.947439 | 668 | 3.140625 | 3 |
1. (military) Signal to turn the lights out.
5. Resinlike substance secreted by certain lac insects.
8. Aircraft landing in bad weather in which the pilot is talked down by ground control using precision approach radar.
11. A detailed description of design criteria for a piece of work.
12. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.
13. Any of various long-tailed rodents similar to but larger than a mouse.
14. The largest continent with 60% of the earth's population.
15. Being ten more than one hundred eighty.
16. A constellation in the southern hemisphere near Telescopium and Norma.
17. A rare heavy polyvalent metallic element that resembles manganese chemically and is used in some alloys.
18. Date used in reckoning dates before the supposed year Christ was born.
20. A linguistic element added to a word to produce an inflected or derived form v 1.
23. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.
25. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.
26. Minor or subordinate.
27. Tasting sour like a lemon.
30. A radioactive element of the actinide series.
31. A collection of objects laid on top of each other.
32. An intensely radioactive metallic element that occurs in minute amounts in uranium ores.
34. A metrical unit with unstressed-stressed syllables.
36. An official prosecutor for a judicial district.
37. Before noon.
38. A metallic element having four allotropic forms.
40. Being one hundred more than three hundred.
41. Not divisible by two.
44. Of or relating to a member of the Buddhist people inhabiting the Mekong river in Laos and Thailand.
49. A defensive missile designed to shoot down incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles.
50. How long something has existed.
51. In bed.
52. Light informal conversation for social occasions.
53. A decree that prohibits something.
54. Mentally or physically infirm with age.
1. A male monarch or emperor (especially of Russia prior to 1917).
2. A domed or vaulted recess or projection on a building especially the east end of a church.
3. United States architect (born in China in 1917).
4. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.
5. Lacking in rigor or strictness.
6. The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural).
7. West Indian tree having racemes of fragrant white flowers and yielding a durable timber and resinous juice.
8. German tennis player who won seven women's singles titles at Wimbledon (born in 1969).
9. A member of an American Indian peoples of NE South America and the Lesser Antilles.
10. Inability to coordinate voluntary muscle movements.
19. Airtight sealed metal container for food or drink or paint etc..
21. A sheet or band of fibrous connective tissue separating or binding together muscles and organs etc.
22. A benevolent aspect of Devi.
24. Explorer and United States naval officer.
28. The branch of engineering science that studies the uses of electricity and the equipment for power generation and distribution and the control of machines and communication.
29. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.
33. A city in western Germany near the Dutch and Belgian borders.
35. Naked freshwater or marine or parasitic protozoa that form temporary pseudopods for feeding and locomotion.
39. A small cake leavened with yeast.
42. A small amount of residue.
43. An informal term for a father.
45. The executive agency that advises the President on the federal budget.
46. A light touch or stroke.
47. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).
48. An ugly evil-looking old woman.
|
<urn:uuid:2b5abb0d-13bd-4f9b-8cef-ed8b3b568095>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.crosswordpuzzlegames.com/puzzles/gt_781.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397744.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00128-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.892281 | 851 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Mosaicism is a condition in which cells within the same person have a different genetic makeup. This condition can affect any type of cell, including:
Chromosomal mosaicism; Gonadal mosaicism
Mosaicism is caused by an error in cell division very early in the development of the unborn baby.
Examples of mosaicism include:
Symptoms vary from person to person and are very difficult to predict. When a person has both normal and abnormal cells, problems may not be as severe.
Mosaicism can be found through chromosome evaluation or microarray analysis. It is usually described as a percentage of the cells examined. Males normally have the chromosomes 46 XY and females normally have the chromosomes 46 XX.
Tests will likely need to be repeated to confirm the results, and to help determine the type and severity of the mosaicism.
Treatment will depend on the type of genetic disease. Patients with mosaicism may need less intense treatment than those with the typical form of the disease because only some of their cells are abnormal.
The outlook depends on how much the mosaicism has affected the organs and tissues in the body (for example, the brain or heart). It is difficult to predict the effects of having two different cell lines in one person.
In general, patients with a high percentage of abnormal cells have the same outlook as people with the typical form of the disease (those who have all abnormal cells).
Patients with a low percentage of abnormal cells may only be mildly affected. They may not discover that they have mosaicism until they birth to a child who has the typical (non-mosaic) form of the disease.
Complications vary based on the type and percentage of cells affected by the genetic change.
A diagnosis of mosaicism can cause confusion and uncertainty. A genetic counselor may help you with diagnosis and testing questions.
There is currently no known way to prevent mosaicism.
However, there are options for having a child with normal chromosomes. Discuss this information with your doctor.
|
<urn:uuid:66303c97-1e6e-455b-b223-163e8f455db1>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.northside.com/HealthLibrary/?Path=HIE+Multimedia%5C1%5C001317.htm
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396100.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00071-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.958506 | 412 | 3.9375 | 4 |
Influence of Planets on the Sun - StumbleUpon. Carbon Nanotube Coated Fibers Could One Day Lead To Self-Heating Clothing. Liquid Particles - spielzeugz.de canvas experiment - StumbleUpon. Scientist creates lifelike cells out of metal. Scientists trying to create artificial life generally work under the assumption that life must be carbon-based, but what if a living thing could be made from another element?
One British researcher may have proven that theory, potentially rewriting the book of life. Lee Cronin of the University of Glasgow has created lifelike cells from metal — a feat few believed feasible. The Best Science Podcasts for the Enjoyment of Your Ears and Brain. Podcasts are undergoing a minor renaissance lately--every comedian has one, and every news publication has at least one--and, luckily for us, the explosion in quantity has also meant a ton of really amazing, high-quality stuff. In the last few years, writers, scientists, journalists, and all kinds of other interesting folks have taken to the microphone in new record numbers. Podcasts now have sold-out live tapings in front of rapturous audiences. They play at festivals like South by Southwest and Bonnaroo.
|
<urn:uuid:bcc794c8-0ffa-4608-a0aa-43432ae32265>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.pearltrees.com/funnyawesomeme/science-stuff/id4487615
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398869.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00115-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.927495 | 254 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Last week astronomers have discovered a planet with about the mass of the Earth orbiting a star in the Alpha Centauri system — the star system nearest Earth. It is also the lightest exoplanet ever discovered around a star like the Sun. The planet is too hot to be hospitable to life as we know it, but the fact that it exists at all raises hopes of finding another, more human-friendly planet within the same star system. io9 reviews possible ways to get there someday.
There are a few “slow” (in the sense of slower than light) ways to get to Alpha Centauri. We could get there with generation ships, much slower than light, which would take centuries (many generations). To achieve a respectable fraction of light speed, and get there in only a few decades, we would have to develop new and much more efficient propulsion methods. The challenge is huge, but not so huge to make it impossible. If we really wanted to, we could launch a crewed starship to Alpha Centauri well before the end of this century.
Of course, thinking of today’s crisis economy and the political situation, it is difficult to imagine a mission to the stars in this century. But it would have been as difficult in 1929, at the time of the great depression, to imagine a mission to the Moon in 40 years.
It may seem that it makes more sense to wait for the development of mind uploading technology, and then go to the stars. Ultimately, I think space will not be colonized by squishy, frail and short-lived flesh-and-blood humans, but by uploads. Our post-biological mind children, implemented as pure software based on human uploads and AI subsystems, will colonize the universe. As Sir Arthur C. Clarke said, they will not build spaceships, because they will be spaceships. Eventually, post-biological humans will travel between the stars as radiation and light beams.
Similarly, it may seem that it makes more sense to wait for the development of really weird physics and “magic” space transportation technologies before trying to go to the stars. As io9 says, faster than light travel and warp drives “may not be as unrealistic as once thought.”
I guess weird physics and exotic technologies to be developed by future generations may take us to Alpha Centauri at the speed of light or even faster. But this will not happen for a long time, if ever. In the meantime, for our mental health as a species we need to know that there are people en route to the stars. I vote to go as soon as we can, even if we have to swim.
The space program of the 60s has given our generation the motivation and drive that we needed. If we want to have a chance to escape biology and become immortal post-humans roaming the universe as uploads we need to go back to space now, in our squishy human bodies, for our mental health as a species, to inspire younger persons and incite them to study science and engineering.
So, we must support crewed space missions, going back to the Moon, planetary missions, and visionary projects like the 100-year Starship, an independent, non-governmental, long-term initiative which will ensure that the capabilities for human interstellar flight exist as soon as possible, and definitely within the next 100 years.
We need to go to the stars, for the mental health of the zeitgeist. Not everyone can be a space explorer, but we are all partners and stakeholders in the cosmic future of our species and its “manifest destiny” among the stars. This is a powerful meme that could result not only in much more support for space, but also in a more positive and proactive attitude on other pressing issues, at a moment of our history where we need positive thinking, confidence and optimism.
We need to go to the stars because they are there, and they represent our destiny as a species. Hugo de Garis, author of The Artilect War, agrees that our cosmic destiny is to transcend biology and build/become “Artilects”, but thinks that flesh-and-blood humans (the “Terrans”) will resist and wage bloody wars against those who want to move on (the “Cosmists”). De Garis fears that “species dominance” wars may result in billions of deaths, and perhaps he is right. If so, I think we Cosmists should move to the stars and continue there our cosmic journey of self-directed evolution, leaving the Earth and the solar system to the Terrans.
I have the impression that the zeitgeist, our Jungian collective consciousness, is sensing that a big wave of radical change is coming, and is beginning to mobilize its immune system. If so, the first shots cannot be far. In fact, some shots have already been fired: Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber who killed three people and injured 23 others, was the first Terran, and luddites are launching violent attacks on scientists.
Surveying the web, I see a growing wave of verbal attacks from bioluddites, bigoted and hostile to the point of hatred, against the future. Even some smart people, who only a few years ago were positively excited about the future, now seem rabidly protective of the old boring “human condition” (vulnerable squishy bodies, stupid brains, two genders, only a few decades to enjoy life, cancer, Alzheimer, and then death) and react aggressively at the first mention of mind uploading and post-biological life. They don’t simply wish to remain old-style humans with meat bodies (which is, of course, a perfectly legitimate preference), but they want to force everyone else to remain old-style humans with meat bodies. I am afraid that bioluddite Terrans may become violent at some point, and that’s another reason why we should move to the stars.
In a new episode of his clown act against imagination, Dale Carrico replies to the io9 article proclaiming that “Humans Aren’t Going To Alpha Centauri.” The rude, aggressive and self-righteous tone that he uses in the text and the comments (as usual) shows that this is not a prediction but a rabid Thou-Shalt-Not in pure taliban style.
Carrico is especially aggressive against one commenter, one who is always very tolerant of Carrico’s views and tries to engage him in debate (I have given up). Read Carrico’s undeserved and gratuitous insults against Summerspeaker, who tries to calmly argue common sense with a raging bull. As far as I can extract some relevant bits from ad-hominem and non-sequitur noise, Carrico’s point seems to be that “there are literally countless environmental and support problems of actually existing human beings in the actually existing world that would be infinitely better served as the focus of such energies and creativity.”
My answer: Of course there are more pressing issues that should be given higher priority than visionary space colonization dreams, and they are given higher priority. Many more people dedicate their energy, creativity, and resources to environmental and social problems, and only a very little part of public funds is given to visionary exploratory projects. But this does not mean that those who choose to walk other paths have no value. They can still give some useful support to solving today’s problems (for example by voting in democratic elections), and perhaps they will find something useful in their explorations. As far as my own energy and creativity are concerned, sorry to disappoint you Dale but I will do whatever the fuck I want with them.
In history, anarchists like Summerspeaker and socialists like Carrico have often been allied against common enemies, and this continues today. But there is a fundamental tension between anarchists, who want people to be free to do what they (the people) want, and socialists who want people to be free to do what they (the socialists) want. I don’t think this tension will go away anytime soon.
While I respect, and often find value in, opinions different from mine, I think we all need much more elbow room. We will all go crazy if we are always forced to negotiate everything with others whose values are too different. Ultimately, we need to find more living space among the stars.
|
<urn:uuid:ada7d8d1-855a-4770-bcdc-d7c4a19a139f>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://turingchurch.com/2012/10/22/lets-go-to-alpha-centauri-and-leave-some-crap-here/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396875.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00172-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.964537 | 1,748 | 3.59375 | 4 |
The northeastern part of France may be divided into three parts drained by the Seine, the Meuse and the Moselle respectively. The region drained by the Meuse is very narrow. The river itself is like the trimmed Lombardy poplars which grew along the roadsides in France, having a long slim trunk and few branches. Unlike the Meuse the Seine and the Moselle draw their waters from a wide area.
In its upper courses the Seine flows in broadly sweeping curves, and it continues meandering and serpenting until it gets some distance below Paris. In its lower courses it pursues a nearly straight line until it reaches the ocean, where it is tidal. The tide rushes up in a wave which is strong enough to capsize a small boat.
Professor Davis here explained the geological process by which rivers cut their beds and formed their valleys.
The Moselle, like the Seine, meanders through a flat upland. The Moselle offers a good example of a river cutting itself off by drilling through a narrow headland. Its tributaries have eaten their way back and have drawn into the Moselle waters which formerly flowed into the Meuse.
The Meuse is a very narrow stream. The valley is wide and appears to have been eaten out by a much larger stream. The reason that the Meuse is so narrow is that its waters have been robbed by the Moselle. The Meuse winds in and out among steep bluffs, the bluff being always on the outside of the curve. The valley of the Meuse is a great vineyard growing country.
|
<urn:uuid:51441158-b64a-4cd5-b7f9-1741e727df07>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1896/2/27/professor-daviss-lecture-last-evening-in/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397111.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00055-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.973116 | 336 | 3.515625 | 4 |
The Presidency is a lonely job and highly dependent on the advice of experts. Unlike parliamentary democracies, the President is both head of state and head of government. Is this more than anybody can handle? Is anybody ever really prepared for this awesome responsibility?
1 Answer | Add Yours
There are at least three points to be made here.
First, it is somewhat inaccurate to say that the President’s role as head of state makes his (or someday her) job much harder than it would be if he were only the head of government. The job of head of state is a highly symbolic one that does not require a great deal of preparation, effort, or knowledge. It requires a president to look and sound sympathetic to the plight of people in hard times. It involves representing the country at some important ceremonial events (such as funerals or inaugurations) around the world. These are not onerous tasks. Therefore, the added role as head of state is not that much of an added burden.
Second, the US presidency is not all that different from the British parliamentary system in this regard. While the Queen is the head of state, the Prime Minister is still acknowledged by all as the leader of the country. The Prime Minister, in essence, has to act as head of state in many situations since everyone knows that the nominal head of state is only a figurehead.
Third, the presidency may be an awesome responsibility, but it is not much more overwhelming and impossible than many other jobs. The president does have responsibility for promoting the well-being of many people. Of course, the president cannot do the job alone. But there are many jobs like that. The heads of companies have jobs where they cannot possibly attend to all the details on their own. Therefore, they have to delegate tasks and rely on subordinates. The President does this too. The job is hard, but it is not superhuman unless we think that the President is going to micromanage every decision about everything that happens in the country.
We’ve answered 328,077 questions. We can answer yours, too.Ask a question
|
<urn:uuid:008ac498-8e3f-476b-afcd-0df4024613ea>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/presidency-lonely-job-highly-dependent-advice-425132
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398869.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00136-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.983837 | 429 | 2.671875 | 3 |
C++ Programming/Code/Standard C Library/Functions/ferror
From Wikibooks, open books for an open world
#include <cstdio> int ferror( FILE *stream );
The ferror() function looks for errors with stream, returning zero if no errors have occurred, and non-zero if there is an error. In case of an error, use perror() to determine which error has occurred.
|
<urn:uuid:37b8f08e-7020-4b31-8dd1-8b41db42b800>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/C%2B%2B_Programming/Code/Standard_C_Library/Functions/ferror
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00123-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.704436 | 90 | 2.59375 | 3 |
A marketplace on the Mekong River
Last week, the World Health Organization reported that an unknown respiratory disease was killing children in Cambodia at terrifying rates. The latest word is that of the 59 kids admitted to hospitals with the disease since April, 52 have died.
Mara Hvistendahl at ScienceInsider has corresponded with the team of virologists in Phnom Penh who are working to identify the illness, and while the diagnosis isn’t certain, they say that they’ve found signs of Enterovirus 71 in cerebrospinal fluid from 15 patients. Enterovirus 71 is one of the causes of hand, foot, and mouth disease, a usually benign childhood infection that causes a rash, vomiting, and other symptoms. The disease is very common and usually clears up in a week or so, and, as with most viral infections, has no cure to speak of.
A small proportion of patients with hand, foot, and mouth disease (not to be confused, incidentally, with foot and mouth disease, a livestock infection) do develop neurological complications that can put them in the hospital and even kill them. But, as Hvistendahl points out, the statistics in the Cambodian outbreak are a little odd. Cambodia is a small country, about 15 million people, and for this many kids to be developing complications and dying of them, a truly large chunk of the population would have to be infected. To put that in perspective, neighboring Vietnam, which had an outbreak of the disease earlier this year, has more than 86 million people and reported only 20 deaths.
Health officials don’t know how many people in Cambodia have the disease, nor do the virologists know whether there’s anything unusual about this strain of Enterovirus 71. It’s on their list to find out, though, as they culture more samples and prepare to sequence the strain’s genome.
Image courtesy of mendhak / flickr
|
<urn:uuid:1c331f29-f1f8-4f86-9e95-1992d9d5a055>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2012/07/10/mysterious-cambodian-disease-may-have-a-name-but-why-is-it-so-lethal/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399106.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00163-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.962018 | 404 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Human vision and photographic imaging have some significant similarities. The eye and the camera each consist of a lens, an aperture, an image plane, and light sensors. A camera also usually has a mechanical shutter while our vision is simply sampled through the optic nerve. But there are some important differences. The primary objective of this article is simply to explore the similarities, highlight the differences, and correlate the terminology of each to the other. We will start with three key physical image elements; resolution, contrast, and color.
Resolution is the ability to recognize minute details as separate image elements. In the eye, this is limited by the density of rods and cones on the retina and a small central area called the fovea. With film resolution is limited by chemical grains on the film substrate. With digital sensors it is defined by the size of the photo receptor sites or sensors. Within the retina these receptors vary greatly in size and density. The density is much higher in the fovea, the center of the macula and the center of our central vision, than it is in other areas of the retina that make up our peripheral vision. With film, these sensors are somewhat randomly distributed but with a fairly uniform density. With digital sensors they are uniformly distributed in a fixed pattern.
The human eye contains about 120 million rods and 6 million cones, channeled into 1.5 million optic nerve endings. These basic numbers lead to some interesting but misleading pixel counts for the eye. Rods are very sensitive to luminosity but turn off in bright light. Cones are sensitive to color, but only in bright light. There can be as many as 1000 rods or as few as a single cone connected to a single nerve ending (ganglion cell). In some areas, a single rod or cone may connect to as many as five ganglion cells. Multiple rods with different light sensitivities form a single image point. And the color attributes of a single cone contribute to multiple image points. In other words, the relationship between photo sites and image points is not one to one.
Our peripheral vision has a high refresh rate so it responds quickly to motion, but our central vision has higher latency so it is more acute and less responsive to motion. Since the fovea (central vision) does not have rods, it is not sensitive to dim lights. Astronomers know this so to observe a dim star, they use averted vision, looking slightly out of the side of their eyes. Our central vision represents only 2% of the retina, but 50% of the visual cortex region of our brains where images are formed. It is also important to note that there are significant differences within individuals based on age, gender, disease, and other factors. Therefore, rod and cone photo-sensor counts do not correlate directly to resolution. But we will look at some numbers later.
Contrast is a measured distance between tones in an image that allows a viewer to differentiate unique tones. Taken together, resolution and contrast determine the sharpness of an image. The full range between maximum black and white is typically called the dynamic range. The difference between two adjacent tones is usually called local contrast. Measuring these can be tricky because some refer to the contrast range, some to decibels (dB), and some to exposure values (EV).
The eye has an amazing ability to adapt to high or low levels of light. But even the eye cannot adapt to total darkness and direct sunlight at the same time. And, whatever numbers are quoted, the only thing very clear is that the dynamic range of our night vision is as much as 600 times that of our daylight vision. The following table illustrates this (approximately).
|Contrast Ratio||EV Ratio||dB|
By the same token, each film type, each paper type, and each digital sensor has a unique characteristic dynamic range. By manipulating ISO sensitivity we can adapt film or a digital sensor to different levels of light just as with our night vision and daylight vision. We measure these light levels as exposure values (EV) or stops. In nature they vary roughly from -6 EV (black night) to +22 EV (direct sunlight). Reflective surfaces such as paper are typically constrained to a range of 8 EV. Film ranges are typically 8-11 EV. Digital sensor ranges are typically 8-12 EV. For the record, a 12 EV difference equates to about 72 dB or a contrast ratio of 4000:1.
Color is a psychological response to a physical stimulus provided by three different types of cones (RGB). We can measure the physics (spectral response) of various colors but our perception and the names we assign to these colors will always remain subjective. Our visual systems can adapt to the spectral colors in the light source as well as the spectral response of the object’s color. This is possible because the cones in our central vision area are covered by a yellow filter called the macula. Elsewhere in the retina (peripheral vision) they are not. This additional information allows our brains to adapt our perception of colors to various light sources. In digital or photographic imaging we call this white balance.
It is important to note that in human vision these adaptations to color and to light intensity are not instantaneous. Dark to bright can take a minute, bright to dark can take 10 to 30 minutes. Likewise, these adaptations are more computationally intensive in the digital imaging functions.
Another difference is that the image plane on our retina is semi-spherical, not flat as it is with film or digital photography. The small area covered by the macula determines the angle of view of our central vision. Within this an even smaller area, the fovea, determines how we focus. The rest of the retinal area determines the much larger angle of view of our peripheral vision. And we use two eyes to form a single image. In general our peripheral vision is less sharp and less color sensitive. But our brains are very sensitive to distance and motion in this area. We select camera lenses based on their relationship to the angle of view based on our central vision. We call them wide angle, normal, or telephoto based on the angle of view in the captured image. We sometimes stitch or combine multiple digital images together to accomplish impressively wide angle views called panoramas. In a similar fashion, the brain uses information from each eye to expand our peripheral vision, add depth, and fill in the blind spot at the optic nerve of the other.
Precisely measuring the normal angle of view is difficult. It is usually based on the horizontal or diagonal angle of view. For normal central vision, this will be approximately 50 degrees, but our peripheral vision expands this to 120 degrees. The focal area (under the fovea) is less than 2 degrees. For a camera, the angle of view is a function of both the lens focal length and the size of the image plane. So the proper lens will vary with the image format. A simple test is to look at the image in the camera’s viewfinder and again with the unaided eye. The normal lens will produce a similar perspective or field of view. Just for reference, the focal length of the lens and cornea is about 22 mm.
This retina’s spherical image plane also means that our vision is less prone to spatial distortions that can occur with some camera lens systems, particularly wide angle lenses. But the visual cortex has to learn to recognize shapes and details in the first several months of infancy. And, we are not completely immune to optical distortions. Simple evidence of this is found in the design of Roman columns.
Just for fun, here are some more miscellaneous factoids: Rods vary in size from 1 to 5.5 µm in diameter and cones can vary from 1 to 10 µm in diameter. Typical camera photosites vary from 5 to 12 µm in diameter. The retina’s diameter is about 25 mm. The macula area is only about 7 mm wide. At the middle of this the central fovea is a minuscule 1.5 mm. Thus maximum resolution and sharpness is concentrated in a very small area of our central vision. At the fovea’s center all of the photoreceptors are cones, there are no rods. The area of maximum rod density is a ring about 10 mm across surrounding the macula. These densities are shown in the illustration below. But as mentioned already, they do not correlate to image forming pixels.
This figure would imply a peak density of 160,000 mm2 (10,000 PPI). Another way to look at this would be to compare image forming neural sensors to some typical DSLR cameras and a printed image, as shown below.
|Rods||Cones||Image Sensors||Density mm2||Density PPI|
|Nikokn D40 (DX)||6,016,000||16,272||3,240|
|Nikon D300 (DX)||12,169,344||32,498||4,579|
|Nikon D3 (FF)||12,081,312||14,042||3,010|
Of course, unlike our vision, we also want resolution to be uniform in all areas of a photographic image. That is, unless we want to emphasize depth or subject separation for artistic effect. If we want larger prints we can capture with larger image formats, just as with film. Or we can use digital tools to stitch multiple images together in a single print. So pure resolution comparisons can be misleading, not only are the technologies different, the objectives are different.
In the world of digital imaging we can attempt to simulate our visual adaptation with special tools and techniques such as High Dynamic Range (HDR). Basically these expand the contrast in both the shadows and the highlights while compressing contrast in the mid tones. The result is that we can reproduce details in both the shadows and highlights that would be difficult to see with our unaided eyes in a single view. In other words, the image is more aesthetically pleasing than technically accurate.
Advanced spectral imaging for digital images is currently only being used in highly specialized scientific equipment and applications. But it may hold promise for future photographic applications. Obviously, depth and motion are also more advanced photographic imaging topics. Some examples are three dimensional systems such as stereo viewfinders and lenticular prints. And motion can be incorporated through video systems or animation graphics.
This is not an in-depth coverage of either photographic imaging or human vision, but I hope that it helps to illustrate both the similarities and the differences. It is misleading to compare the 1.2 million nerve endings in a typical human eye to a 1.2 MP digital camera. It is just as misleading to compare the 126 million rods and cones to any digital camera metrics. Both are fascinating examples of technological excellence.
I hope you also gained some new insight from this article. If you have any comments, or suggestions, I would welcome your input. Please send me an Email
Rags Int., Inc.
204 Trailwood Drive
Euless, TX 76039
August 1, 2008
This page last updated on: Friday August 01 2008
You are visitor number 33,482 since 08/01/08
|
<urn:uuid:ad74a486-1fe2-4f85-ade0-d76abd24f030>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.rags-int-inc.com/PhotoTechStuff/CameraEye/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397748.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00082-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.929337 | 2,307 | 4.03125 | 4 |
Who Lives in an Alligator Hole?
Who Lives in an Alligator Hole? by Anne Rockwell
Buy at Amazon.com
- Book Summary
Scientists consider alligators a "keystone species"—the most important animal in their habitat. Without the alligator, many animals dependent on the gator would become extinct. Read and find out about how alligators are much more than big jaws and sharp teeth!
|
<urn:uuid:e38bc1d5-049e-4ce4-bf44-7b838bcaa608>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.readworks.org/books/who-lives-alligator-hole
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00179-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.906052 | 84 | 2.859375 | 3 |
In a population showing exponential growth the individuals are not limited by food or disease. However, in most real populations both food and disease become important as conditions become crowded. There is an upper limit to the number of individuals the environment can support. Ecologists refer to this as the "carrying capacity" of the environment. Populations in this kind of environment show what is known as logistic growth.
Click the following button to run an applet you can use to experiment with logistic growth. If you are accessing this lesson over a slower network connection it may take several seconds for the applet to appear.
This applet is similar to the one you used with exponential growth. We assume you have have already worked with the Exponential Growth applet and are familiar with its controls and their functions. The only new field present is the carrying capacity field which is initialized at 1000.
While in the Habitat view, step the population for 25 generations. The population becomes quite crowded, but it levels off near 1000 individuals. Switch to the Graph view and you will see the classic "S" shaped curve that is characteristic of logistic growth. While the population is small it shows exponential growth. However, as the population approaches the carrying capacity the growth slows down and the curve levels off.
One way to think about the carrying capacity is that it modifies the "effective" birth rate. As the population reaches the environment's carrying capacity the effective birth rate declines until it is 1.0 and each individual is just replacing itself in the next generation.
In this experiment and those following you should leave the applet in the Graph view to help interpret the results.
Click Reset All to clear any past data. Make sure the birth rate is set to 1.5. Now do a series of simulations using carrying capacities of 200, 400, 600, 800, and 1000. Step or Run the population for about 30 generations with each value of carrying capacity. Be sure to click the Reset button between each simulation in order to start over but leave the past results in place. Do this now.
Notice that all the curves look similar for the first 10 or 12 generations. It is not until the population begins to near its carrying capacity that the curve deviates from and exponential growth curve.
Click Reset All to clear any past data. Reset the carrying capacity to 1000. Now do a series of simulations using birth rates of 1.2, 1.4, 1.6, 1.8, and 2.0. Step or Run the population for about 30 to 40 generations with each value of birth rate. Be sure to click the Reset button between each simulation in order to start over but leave the past results in place. Do this now.
Changing the birth rate affects how quickly the population reaches its carrying capacity but has no effect on to final population size achieved.
Click Reset All to clear any past data. Make sure the carrying capacity is set to 1000. Set the birth rate to 3.0 and Step or Run the population for 40 generations.
Here we see something new! The population appears to be oscillating around the carrying capacity. What's going on? With birth rates greater than 2.0 the population will overshoot the carrying capacity and have more offspring than the environment can support. The following generation, because of this overcrowding, the effective birth rate will be much less than 1.0 and the population will decline below the carrying capacity. Then it will overshoot again and the cycle will be repeated. You will notice that with time the overshoots get less and less and the population still apears to converge on its carrying capacity.
There is a wide range of interesting behaviors this simple model can show. For birth rates greater than 3.0 the population will appear to oscillate between two or more points. Unlike the situation at 3.0 and below, the population will never converge to one stable population size. Experiment with different birth rates greater than 3.0 and see what happens
Previous section: Exponential Growth
Back to introduction: Population Growth
|
<urn:uuid:f64b382a-160b-416d-8df5-78b458144dc6>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.otherwise.com/population/logistic.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397797.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00073-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.941878 | 824 | 3.84375 | 4 |
By Alexis R. Milan
Belize has ranked 100th out of 142 countries in the Gender Gap Index report, which measures the gender equality gap in health, education, economy and politics, prepared by the World Economic Forum.
Belize scored a 0.6701 out of a possible 1 point maximum equality rating. According to the report, there is still inequality in Belize’s labor force participation with men dominating this aspect. Men also earn a higher income than women in Belize, the report noted.
According to the report, enrollment in primary schools in Belize is, for the most part equal but females have the advantage in enrollment in secondary and tertiary-level education institutions. Females also have a higher life expectancy in Belize than do males.
There is great inequality in politics in Belize, the report indicated. According to the Index, the ratio of men to women in parliament is 97 to 3 and the ratio of men to women in ministerial positions is 87 to 13. The report also noted that Belize has never had a female head of state.
Last year Belize ranked 107th on the Index and the year before Belize was ranked at 102nd.
Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark ranked as the top five respectively on the Gender Gap Index, with the highest score being Iceland’s 0.8594.
|
<urn:uuid:eb231a76-90e6-4afd-8f66-e246ef9655db>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.reporter.bz/general/belize-ranks-100th-on-gender-gap-report/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398209.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00057-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.96122 | 278 | 2.75 | 3 |
On April 18, 1942, 16 B-25B Mitchell bombers attacked cities in Japan, the first retaliatory strike since the Japanese sneak attack at Pearl Harbor four months earlier. Led by Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, the bombing raid provided a major morale boost to Americans during some of the darkest days of World War II.
When the Japanese high command decided to go to war in December 1941 with the United States, a key factor in its decision was that no American bomber had the range to hit the Japanese home islands. This became a frequent propaganda tool that was used in the days after Pearl Harbor to reassure the Japanese people that the war would never be brought to their homes. What is more, it had the virtue of being true. American bombers did indeed lack the range or the forward bases to threaten the home islands.
Nevertheless, in the aftermath of the December sneak attack, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt demanded that the American military find a way to strike back at the Japanese empire. A plan began to develop that called for light bombers to launch from an aircraft carrier. The problem, of course, was that carrier decks tended to be far too short for bombers to successfully take off. Additionally, landing the same bomber on a carrier deck presented even more problems and seemed increasingly unlikely to succeed.
Despite these challenges, the military was keen to follow FDR's directive and hit back. Command for the operation was given to Lt. Col. James “Jimmy” Doolittle, a military and civilian pilot as well as an aeronautical engineer.
In his book “Flyboys: A True Story of Courage,” historian James Bradley describes the then 45-year-old officer, “(Doolittle) was a short, muscular fireplug of a man with a confident grin above his left chin. His nose was a little crooked from having been broken on his road to becoming a boxing champion. He was just five feet four inches tall and never weighed more than 145 pounds, but he was a giant who reached the clouds, a king of the sky.”
Doolittle selected a team of airmen to train for the raid, and tirelessly practiced short takeoffs to simulate carrier conditions. The task of preparing these pilots went to Lt. Hank Miller, who trained them at Eglin Field in Florida and McClellan Field in California.
In their article “Countdown to Tokyo,” historians Ronald H. Bailey and Susan Zimmerman wrote: “To learn how to take off with a 31,000-pound fully loaded bomber from a runway less than 500 feet long, Miller's students had to unlearn old habits. They were accustomed to taking off from runways up to a mile long and achieving plenty of airspeed before liftoff. Miller had to teach them to take off at a speed so slow the engines almost stalled as the plane lifted off in the short space of a carrier deck.”
Weight deemed non-essential for the mission had to be removed from the planes, and in some cases even defensive machine guns were pulled out, to be replaced only with long broom-handles painted black to deter Japanese fighters from attacking.
The plan would be to launch the planes from the deck of the USS Hornet close enough to the Japanese home islands to give the planes maximum range, but far enough away so that the fleet might avoid detection. The bombers would fly to targets in Japan, drop their payload, and then proceed westward toward friendly China. Once over China, the plan was for the pilots to land if possible, ditch and bail out if necessary, and then make their way home via India and the British empire.
Bradley wrote: “When Doolittle's Raiders and the sailors of the USS Hornet task force sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge headed for Tokyo, they still only knew that they were headed for somewhere 'outside the U.S.' When the ships were safely out into the Pacific, the loudspeakers boomed: 'The target of this task force is Tokyo. The army is going to bomb Japan, and we're going to get them as close to the enemy as we can. This is a chance for all of us to give the (Japanese) a dose of their own medicine.'”
In her book “Calculated Risk: The Extraordinary Life of Jimmy Doolittle — Aviation Pioneer and World War II Hero,” the aviator's granddaughter, Jonna Doolittle Hoppes, described the preparations on deck before launch: “Deck crews had repositioned the planes as far back as possible, but the runaway still looked critically short. (Doolittle) opened the hatch to inspect their supplies. Survival equipment included Navy gas masks, .45 automatics, clips of ammunition, hunting knives, flash lights, emergency rations, first aid kits, canteens, compasses, and life jackets — enough for each crew member.”
On April 18, about 200 miles short of the intended launch point, the task force was spotted by civilian Japanese picket ships, who radioed their position to the Japanese fleet. Unwilling to risk a naval engagement, Doolittle and the task force commander agreed the bombers would launch early — even if it meant the pilots not reaching the safety of China. Facing poor weather conditions, Doolittle and the other pilots managed to get their 16 planes in the air, an amazing feat in and of itself, and set course for Japan.
In addition to Tokyo, Doolittle's Raiders bombed Yokohama, Kobe, Yokosuka, and Nagoya. The damage done by this raid was relatively light when compared with the massive bombing campaign against Japan in the years to come. Nevertheless, the action had profound consequences on both Japanese and American morale.
Underestimating American anger, resolve, logistical ability and gift for improvisation, the Japanese high command had completely rejected the possibility of an American bombing campaign against the home islands. Now, the Japanese people suffered from their lack of foresight. Conversely, Americans celebrated at the humbling of an enemy that claimed to be impervious to American weapons.
The next month saw the massive carrier battle at the Coral Sea, the first naval battle in history where surface ships never saw each other — the fighting conducted entirely by planes from opposing carriers. In June, America won the critical Battle of Midway, which destroyed four Japanese fleet carriers and transferred the strategic initiative of the war from Japan to the United States.
Most of the Doolittle Raid pilots had to ditch early, many in Japanese-occupied China. Of the 80 men who participated in the Doolittle Raid, 69 escaped capture and death, largely because of the efforts of the Chinese people to shelter and conduct the pilots to India. A few were killed during the raid, and several more taken prisoner by the Japanese. At least two of the captured pilots were executed by the Japanese.
Doolittle won the Medal of Honor for his part in the mission, as well as a promotion to general. He died at the age of 96 in 1993 at his home in California.
Cody K. Carlson holds a master's degree in history from the University of Utah and teaches at Salt Lake Community College. He is also the co-developer of the History Challenge iPhone/iPad apps. Email: firstname.lastname@example.org
Copyright 2016, Deseret News Publishing Company
|
<urn:uuid:c842e660-dd25-4fd2-a414-daf36211e9ac>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/print/865578486/This-week-in-history-The-Doolittle-Raiders-strike-Japan.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397842.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00113-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.97264 | 1,517 | 3.71875 | 4 |
Twenty-six nations led by Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union that fought against the Axis powers (Nazi Germany, Italy, Japan, and their allies) during World War II.
Hostility towards or prejudice against Jews. Many Jewish partisans faced antisemitism from the local population and fellow partisans.
Armia Krajowa (AK)
Polish words for Home Army. A nationalist partisan group that fought the Nazis. Many intentionally hunted down and killed Jewish partisans because of their fierce antisemitic beliefs.
The largest Nazi death camp, located 37 miles west of Krakow, Poland. Initially intended as a concentration camp when it opened in 1940 it included a killing center and a slave labor camp.
An all Jewish partisan unit and family camp begun by the Tuvia Bielski and his brothers from Stankiewicze, in western Belorussia. Unlike most partisan groups, they were not focused on fighting the Nazis, but freeing as many Jews as possible. Their group eventually saved grew to 1,200 Jews.
Nazi camps built for the mass killing of Jews and others (e.g. Gypsies, Russian prisoners-of-war, ill Allied prisoners). These included Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor, and Treblinka. All were located in occupied Poland.
A canopy under which a Jewish couple stands during the marriage ceremony, symbolizing the home they will build together.
Yiddish word meaning gall, brazenness, audacity, daring. An example often given is: "A boy is on trial for murdering his parents, and he begs of the judge leniency because he is an orphan."
To aid or cooperate with the enemy. During WWII, Nazi-sympathizers aided in the arrest, deportation and murder of Jews.
Prison camps for Jews and other “enemies of the state”, constructed by the Germans in occupied Europe during World War II. Over 100 camps were in operation during the war.
A messenger and smuggler used by partisans and other resistors. Carrying false identity papers, couriers traveled between Jews isolated in ghettos and partisan units, bringing information, money, and arms, and creating a vital communications network.
A prison camp where thousands of Jews died, either from systematic extermination, as at Auschwitz-Berkenau, or from starvation and disease, as at Dachau.
Hitler’s plan to methodically rid Germany and Nazi occupied Europe of its Jews. Deportation consisted of forcing Jews from their homes, consolidating them in ghettos and transporting them to concentration and death camps.
Same as death camps. Nazi prison camps designed with the express purpose of the systematic, mass murder of Jews through the use of lethal gas. Jews died at six camps, all located in occupied Poland, as did tens of thousands of Poles, Gypsies, Russians and others.
Forged or altered identification documents which Jews and other racial minorities used to avoid arrest and/or deportation by passing as Christians. Couriers also used falsified papers to travel freely within Nazi occupied Europe.
Please see family group
Informal and formal groups comprised of Jewish men, women, and children who fled to the forests of Eastern Europe to escape Nazi persecution. Many in these groups could not join partisan groups because they were too young, old or weak to fight. The main purpose of these groups was to provide refuge to persecuted Jews.
The Nazi plan for systematic annihilation of all European Jews. As a result, approximately six million Jews were murdered – two thirds of all Jews living in Europe in 1939.
The collaborationist French army forces that implemented antisemitic policies in occupied France.
French antisemites who shared the beliefs of the Nazis and fought with them.
A term used to describe a non-Jewish person.
The invasion and forced rule by Nazi Germany of countries during World War II. These countries included: Czechoslovakia, Poland, Northern France, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemborg, and the Soviet Union.
The secret state police of Hitler’s Third Reich. Their tyrannical methods included mass arrests, executions and torture.
Moroccan I.T Ninja Upload3r
The sudden forced removal of Jews from the ghettos, by Nazi troops and their collaborators. The liquidation of a ghetto meant the final, deportation of its remaining Jews to Nazi camps.
Majdanek concentration camp
A concentration and extermination camp located near Lublin, Poland. Originally built as a detention center for prisoners of war, it was converted to a death camp in 1942. At Majdanek, approximately 125,000 Jews were murdered in gas chambers, of which 100,000 are thought to have been Polish.
Member of the French resistance movement located mostly in the mountains of southern France. This group played a major role in the Allied invasion of Normandy by delaying the German mobilization. They were also credited for finding safe havens in many homes for Jewish children and are known to have had considerable Jewish participation.
The common name of the National Socialist German Workers Party, NSDAP a right-wing, nationalistic, antisemitic political party that believed in the natural superiority of the German “race”. Aryans were the master race. Headed by Adolf Hitler, the Nazis came into power in Germany in 1933 and sought to strengthen their empire, known as the Third Reich, by enslaving and annihilating racially "inferior" peoples including Slavs, Gypsies and especially Jews.
Resistance fighters of any country who were not Jewish. Non-Jewish partisan groups did not always welcome Jews because of antisemitic attitudes.
Code name for Germany's invasion of Soviet territories in the summer of 1941.
Partisan and resister activity, such as hit and run guerilla attacks, sabotage, and armed revolts in the camps and ghettos.
Any act of disobedience towards the Nazis, including armed ghetto uprisings, acts of sabotage, or maintaining life and dignity by smuggling food into the ghettos, praying, and lighting Sabbath candles.
Soviet soldiers separated from the Red army, escaped Soviet POWs and Communist party officials who formed partisan units. (See Russian partisan group)
Russian partisan group
Comprised of more than one million individuals, the Soviets had the largest number of partisans in Europe. Many units were located in the dense forests of Eastern Europe.
An ideology that places importance on general welfare rather than on individualism, on co-operation rather than on competition, and on laborers rather than on industrial or political leaders and structures.
Star of David armband
In Poland on November 23, 1939, the Nazis ordered all Jewish men and women aged ten and over to wear a white band displaying a blue Star of David that was at least ten centimeters wide. It was to be worn on the right sleeve of their inner and outer garments.
An often fatal infectious disease carried by lice. Symptoms are headache, fever, chills, exhaustion, and rash. Many partisans died from outbreaks of typhus.
During the 1930s, most Ukrainian nationalists came to support the Nazis as the force most likely to "liberate" the Ukraine from the USSR. When Nazi Germany conquered Poland in September 1939, they set up training camps for Ukrainian nationalists to prepare for the invasion of the Soviet Union. These Nazi supporters were often fiercely antisemitic.
The area of France under the control of the Vichy government after France’s surrender to Germany in 1940.
Slave labor camps where Jews, under extreme and horrible conditions, were forced to work for the German war effort.
In September 1941, German Jews, six and older were required to wear a yellow patch depicting the Star of David on the left side of their chest. The patches were required to be “fist-sized” and to bear the inscription, “Jude”.
A language combining elements of German and Hebrew, spoken by Jews and written in Hebrew characters. Speakers are mostly in Eastern Europe and areas to which Eastern European Jews have emigrated.
|
<urn:uuid:b19f50ff-6e48-418a-b836-cf589ac82671>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://jewishpartisans.org/t_glossary_term_view.php
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00023-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.955615 | 1,675 | 3.875 | 4 |
Today, America marks the 25th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger tragedy. On January 28, 1986, America lost seven brave explorers – Dick Scobee, Michael Smith, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe – when NASA suffered its first-ever in-flight loss.
The loss of the Challenger marked one of those vivid moments in our nation’s history that are unforgettable, including where you watched it, heard of it or how you grieved. For millions of Generation Xers, they were in their school rooms, cafeterias and libraries set to witness the historic flight of Christa McAuliffe, a teacher from Concord, New Hampshire whose flight was scheduled to inspire future generations of explorers, scientists and dreamers.
On the evening of January 28, President Ronald Reagan addressed the nation from the Oval Office. In a moment that helped define the character and compassion of Reagan’s presidency, he spoke directly to those school children, when he said: “I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It’s all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It’s all part of taking a chance and expanding man’s horizons. The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we’ll continue to follow them.”
President Reagan also committed to continuing America’s exploration of space despite the tragedy, and celebrated the openness of our space program despite the challenges our nation faced during the Cold War: “I’ve always had great faith in and respect for our space program, and what happened today does nothing to diminish it. We don’t hide our space program. We don’t keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public. That’s the way freedom is, and we wouldn’t change it for a minute. We’ll continue our quest in space.”
In less than five minutes, President Reagan mourned with a nation, honored its lost heroes and demonstrated our collective resolve. As Reagan told the nation: “The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth’ to ‘touch the face of God.’”
|
<urn:uuid:d90d24e0-6430-486f-9853-000379541428>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://dailysignal.com/2011/01/28/remembering-challenger-25-years-later/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394414.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00090-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.940618 | 533 | 3.15625 | 3 |
November 2, 2010
Study Calls For Government Regulation Of Salt
Forcing food manufacturers to reduce the amount of salt used in their products could be vastly more effective than the voluntary limits currently used in the industry, a team of Australian researchers claims in a new study.
The experts, led by Linda Cobiac of the University of Queensland's School of Population Health, focused much of their research on 'Tick'--an Australian program that allows food producers to reduce salt and purchase a special endorsement logo for use on their packaging, thus promoting their goods as healthier and theoretically increasing sales.According to Cobiac and her colleagues, who published their findings in the British Medical Journal (BMJ)-affiliated publication Heart, simply telling people to reduce their salt intake only reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and heart-related illnesses by less than one-half percent. Under programs such as Tick, that number increases to nearly 1%.
However, in a press release, the BMJ reports that the study authors discovered that "the health benefits across the population could be 20 times greater if the government imposed mandatory limits"¦ amounting to a reduction of 18% in ill health from cardiovascular disease."
Reuters reports that the study also found that 94% of Australian men and 64% of women in the country eat more salt than is recommended. The news agency also cites an unnamed study which reported that 90% of all Americans consume too much salt as well.
"When it's so excessive, it makes sense for the government to step in to take action," Cobiac told Reuters. "It's cost saving to the government in the longer term to reduce salt content in food."
In an interview with BBC News, British Heart Foundation senior dietician Victoria Taylor added, "We're making progress without the need for compulsory limits and as a result we've seen a reduction in salt intake"¦ But as three quarters of the salt we eat is already in the food we buy, we need to build on this work and watch carefully to make sure the food industry doesn't slip back into old habits."
On the Net:
|
<urn:uuid:fd941e36-e0bc-488e-979b-195700ce9881>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1942324/study_calls_for_government_regulation_of_salt/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00192-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.96646 | 424 | 2.875 | 3 |
Florida was almost the original sandlot for baseball . It had the sand, lots of it, and its origins as THE game in Florida go back almost to the beginning of baseball, said Dr. Kevin McCarthy, professor emeritus at the University of Florida, on Tuesday at the Lunch ‘n’ Learn session at the Polk County History Center.
McCarthy, who has authored dozens of books about sports in Florida, told a full house how baseball came to Florida in the 19th century, primarily as entertainment for guests at Henry Flagler’s and Henry Plant’s hotels.
“The land was flat, the weather was good year-round and it was a natural for Florida,” he said.
He walked the roomful of baseball fans through Florida’s baseball history, punctuated with photos from bygone times, including some of staff teams from Flagler’s Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach.
“Flagler organized teams from his staff members to entertain the first real tourists,” said McCarthy.
McCarthy also said baseball helped ease the state’s transition from a Spanish culture-dominated state to more Americanized customs.
“Plus it was ready entertainment that linked communities through baseball games. Towns would put together teams and compete against each other, bringing communities together,” he said.
In the early 20th century, organized leagues from the north recognized that Florida’s moderate climate provided perfect spring training locales and drew national teams that included such stars as Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth to Florida.
“Many came for spring training but wound up returning time and again in the off seasons,” McCarthy said.
“Babe Ruth held clinics in Miami and Tampa and that influenced travel not only by northern visitors and developers, but people from everywhere,” he said.
Florida baseball also blossomed during the Second World War, the professor explained.
“With the military bases, impromptu teams emerged from the soldiers stationed here,” he said. “There even was a women’s baseball league that competed here while the men were off in the war.”
Such greats as Buck O’Neil, John Henry “Pop” Lloyd, Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron all played here.
“And every time they played here, it was reported across the country, keeping Florida in the news,” said McCarthy. “People knew that if the greats played here, it must be a good place to play.”
McCarthy explained that since the early days, baseball has grown into a major industry throughout Florida, with more than a dozen National and American League teams holding spring training in central and south Florida. He said there are presently more than a dozen major league teams playing in Florida.
“There are teams in St. Petersburg, Bradenton, Fort Myers, Charlotte County and, of course, the Detroit Tigers have been in Lakeland for 78 years,” he said. He added that those teams each pump about $300-$500 million into the local economy per season.
As an added surprise for those attending the monthly Lunch ‘n’ Learn program was the appearance of former Detroit Tigers left-fielder, Willie Horton and Florida Operations Director Ron Meyer.
|
<urn:uuid:f15ad4db-b770-4ce2-b3e0-f4237dcb54f3>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://yoursun.com/sunnews/bartow/6575900-699/sunnewspapersbaseballgoesbacktofloridasbeginning.html.csp
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398075.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00092-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.974862 | 687 | 2.859375 | 3 |
The Dean of the School of Social Sciences at Fresno State is Mexican-American but she considers herself brown. She says the biggest misconception is that we're all supposed to look dark complexioned and that is not the case, and it's a blending of Indian and European blood and that we're only 500-plus years old. Another explanation for why many Mexicans consider themselves brown is a result of this country's legacy of segregation, according to this professor. She says like African-Americans, Mexican-Americans were often segregated in public schools, restaurants and bathrooms, so brown then became the context of how they were defined, even though censuses considered themselves white. These protesters against a security wall along the US-Mexico border call themselves the Brown Berets, a youth group that first sprang up in the 1960s, when Mexican-Americans began asserting themselves and also when they embraced the color of �brown,� the color of �other� in the US. this professor says they self-identify as brown as opposed to Hispanic because it reminds people that things aren't ok, and it also reminds people of the growing frustration with current immigration policy in the US. the professor says the identity of Hispanic is a way of grouping all Latinos into one category. Mexican-American resentment over this issue came to a head in 1984 when California approved Proposition 187 which denied basic social services to undocumented immigrants. This lawyer says that's when he began to identify as brown. But the perception of color is different for Mexicans south of the border. This man in Tijuana says he's mystified with Americans' identification with ethnic and racial identity. This shopkeeper says he never hears Mexicans refer to themselves as brown. For this Mexican-American essayist, brown is a euphemism for being in between multiple identities. For him brown represents how this country has changed and its uncertain state at present. He says however Mexicans and Latinos choose to identify themselves is besides the point, and so is the US's policy towards immigration. He says blending is inevitable.
|
<urn:uuid:bdaf0e2c-eb88-48d1-9ea4-71e3897c54bb>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.pri.org/stories/2008-07-14/whats-ethnic-name
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398209.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00138-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.981223 | 419 | 3.453125 | 3 |
There are several factors that determine when
and where deer move during the fall. An understanding of these factors
can explain the reduced sightings of bucks during the hunting season.
These factors fall into seven different categories;
Predatory Behavior (natural predators and hunting)
and Lunar Forces
Fall signals an increase in white-tailed deer
activity, which is brought on by changing food supplies and the rut. In
study by Kammermeyer and Marchinton deer traveled greater average
distances per day during the fall than they did in the summer. Deer
also traveled greater distances per hour during both dawn and dusk in
the fall than they did during the summer. There was also a shift in
daytime deer activity: during the day in the summer the deer were most
active at dusk, from 6 PM to 10 PM; during the day in the fall they
were most active at dawn, from 4 AM to 10 AM, with movement continuing
until noon. Overall, the deer moved more during darkness in the fall
than they did in the summer. This increase in deer movement during
darkness in the fall can be attributed to decreasing hours of daylight
(in some areas from 14 to 8 hours), decreasing foliage as leaves fell
(leaving deer more exposed during daylight hours) and changing food
During the summer deer can feed securely in
wooded areas where there is abundant forage. In the fall deer often
feed more heavily on agricultural crops, and browse in more open areas,
which causes them to feed more at nigh for security reasons. The change
in feeding patterns from summer wooded areas to open fall food sources
forces the deer to travel farther in search of food. I refer to deer
movement from bedding sites to food sources as the "Distance Factor."
In most areas inhabited by whitetails fall
brings significant changes in weather patterns. Barometric pressure and
temperatures fluctuate more, there is more cloud cover, more
precipitation and stronger winds. These changes often combine to create
low temperatures, changes in dewpoints, lower wind-chill factors and
storms. These meteorological changes create a reduction in plant
chlorophyll production, causing some plant food sources to die or
become dormant, leaves to fall, and other food sources to ripen.
As fall approaches and deer begin growing
their heavy winter coats the temperature, precipitation, humidity,
wind, dewpoint, wind-chill, and amount of vegetation and cloud cover
all have the ability to affect the comfort of the deer. I refer to
these meteorological changes as "Comfort Factors." In extreme
conditions meteorological changes may also affect the health of the
deer, and as such they can also be considered as "Security Factors."
Fall Deer Movement Factors
Comfort and Security
During my seven years of research, deer
activity was greatest during the fall in open areas at dawn and dusk,
when the temperature, dewpoint or wind-chill was between 15 and 55
degrees. If the temperature, dewpoint or wind-chill fell below twenty
degrees the deer (including dominant bucks) moved later in the morning
and earlier in the evening than they did in warmer weather; providing
there was cloud cover, fog, or precipitation which reduced the amount
of light during daytime hours. In a Minnesota study Nelson found that
Fall deer migration consistently began after temperatures dropped below
19 degrees Fahrenheit for the first time. Migrations started in each of
14 years when temperatures below 19 degrees Fahrenheit lasted at least
five days. This migration could also account for fewer buck sightings.
Normal daytime deer movement is also
restricted when there are strong winds. During my research the deer
often remained near their bedding areas when there were strong winds.
When they did move they stayed in wooded or low-lying areas and on the
downwind side of hills. Rain or snow in cold weather may be
uncomfortable and cause deer to lose heat; which may cause deer to
restrict their movements. Heavy rain makes it hard for deer to hear and
they restrict their movements. Precipitation of any kind may make it
difficult for deer to see, which may restrict their movements.
Clouds, fog and precipitation all have the
ability to reduce the amount of available light causing daytime
conditions to resemble those at dawn and dusk, when deer feel more
secure. During my studies, precipitation in the form of light rain,
drizzle or snow, and gentle sleet, caused the deer to move earlier in
the evening and stay later in the morning than normal, because of a
lower relative light factor. During heavy rain or snow, and driving
sleet or hail, the deer sought shelter in wooded areas; in coniferous
trees if they were available.
Vegetation, because it also limits visibility,
makes deer feel secure. Abundant vegetation can eliminate enough light
in shaded areas to create the illusion of twilight conditions, when
deer feel secure. But, once the leaves fall, less vegetation allows
deer to see farther, which causes them to feel less secure. I noticed
that after the leaves fell the deer began entering open feeding areas
about a half hour later and leaving them a half hour earlier, than they
had when the leaves where still on. After the leaves were gone there
was more available light in the wooded bedding areas, which caused the
deer to remain in the bedding areas longer. It also caused the deer to
abandon many trails that were now more open to begin using other, more
protected trails along hillsides and gullies, or they moved to trails
that were deeper into cover and offered more security.
High or low temperatures, dewpoints or
wind-chills that make it too hot or too cold; and heavy precipitation
are “Comfort Factors.” Wind speed that affects the ability of the deer
to smell and hear, and to lose heat; heavy precipitation because it can
cause deer to lose heat; and clouds and leaves, because they affect the
ability of the deer to see, are all "Security Factors."
Food and Distance
Deer movement is governed to a great extent by
the availability of food. As food sources become depleted in the fall
deer are forced to travel greater distances to locate new food sources.
They often shift their feeding patterns to take advantage of preferred
foods that ripen or become available during the fall. Depending on how
scattered these available or preferred food sources are, and how close
they are to individual deer core areas, the deer may move more, or
less, than normal. This "Distance Factor" is directly linked to the
"Food Factor" and these two together, because of their importance to
deer survival, can affect how much time is devoted to other fall deer
The availability of preferred food sources may
have a significant affect on dominant buck activity during the rut.
Miller reported less rubbing activity by bucks during a year when there
was low oak mast (acorn) production. The reduction in rubbing activity
may have occurred because the bucks spent more time in search of food
and therefore had less time available for rubbing behavior. This could
lead to fewer buck sightings near traditional rub routes and scrapes
during years of low mast production.
Fewer bucks sightings can also be attributed
to the fact that bucks increase the size of their home ranges during
the fall. This occurs when bucks begin traveling farther from their
Fall core areas as they search for new food sources and does to breed.
During a study by Kammermeyer and Marchinton the average range of bucks
increased from 71 hectares in the summer to 124 hectares in the fall.
In my study in Minnesota the range of bucks increased from 300 acres to
1500 acres. The average daily distance traveled by bucks may also
increase during the rut. Bucks in the boreal forest of eastern Canada
commonly travel 20-25 miles every five to seven days in search of does.
The combination of this "Breeding Factor," and the need to find food
causes increased buck movements, and, depending on the amount of
distance traveled and the time deer spend in specific locations, can
lead to fewer buck sightings.
This article is an excerpt from the Deer Addict's Manual. Volume 3, Fall Deer Movement Influences ($9.95 + $5.00 S&H), by T.R. Michels.
If you are interested in more whitetail hunting tips, or more
whiteatail biology and behavior, click on Trinity Mountain Outdoor News
and T.R.'s Hunting Tips at www.TRMichels.com.
If you have questions about whitetails log on to the T.R.'s Tips
message board. To find out when the rut starts, peaks and ends in your
area click on Whitetail Rut Dates Chart. T.R. Michels is a nationally recognized
game researcher/wildlife behaviorist, outdoor writer and speaker. He is
the author of the Whitetail, Elk, Duck & Goose, and Turkey Addict's
Manuals. His latest products are Hunting the Whitetail Rut Phases, the
Complete Whitetail Addict's Manual, the 2005 Revised Edition of the Elk
Addict's Manual; and the 2005 Revised Edition of the Duck & Goose
|
<urn:uuid:1ad5302b-1f93-48f9-ad37-651f123a4174>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.bowhunting.net/artman/publish/article_364.shtml
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393146.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00117-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.945744 | 1,979 | 4.09375 | 4 |
Flashcards for Kids is the perfect app for bilingual families or ESL students who want to build vocabulary fast. Teaching a second language to children is also breeze with this app... Kids can practice SPANISH, FRENCH, GERMAN, ITALIAN, SWEDISH & BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE (or any 2 combinations of these languages). UK and Australian Language options are also available.
“A great stepping stone for kids” - Erin O’Hearn, 6 ABC NEWS
**** OTHER FEATURES ****
1. More than 400 flashcards including sight words and other commonly used words, in various categories (Animals, Transport, Bodies, Alphabets, Numbers, Shapes, Colors, Weather, Hobbies, Food & Drink and more....
2. All flashcards are illustrated by hand (no boring photos!)
3. Interactive and lovable animal characters
4. Hundreds of audio files, including words, sound effects, and musical themes produced by professional sound engineers, voice over artists and language experts. Each letter is also record with pronunciation or the phonetic sound.
5. Simple Navigation for kids – Powerful settings and controls for parents; select display options, sound effects, languages, volume and more – and then lock the controls.
6.Teaches kids how to pronounce letter sounds and recognize words while having fun at the same time.
*** Learning a second language ***
If you've ever wanted to teach your child a second language from a young age, then Kids Flashcards is the perfect learning tool! The application has support for a number of language and children can learn and practice any 2 languages at the same time.
Learning a new language is proven to be much easier if children have exposure to the language from a young age. If you've ever wanted your child to learn a 2nd language, then this application is perfect for your toddler. It can also be used by adults to who are starting out with a new language to help build vocabulary.
With Kids Flashcards your child won't just learning, they'll also be having fun. This entire application is beautifully illustrated and has entertaining sound effects that little kids love. The interface is clean and easy to use, but it is also a powerful fully featured learning tool.
Kids can play Flashcards by themselves, but you'll find they also like bringing grown ups along with them, telling you what each animal is and practicing the sounds they make!
The variety of options packaged with this application means that you can control and adjust the way your child understands and learns the relationships between letters and words. There is no other Flashcards learning tool like this!
CONTACT US: For technical issues and suggestions or requests to firstname.lastname@example.org
Tags: german flashcards for kids , flashcards and kids games hd , flash cards for kids , hobbies flashcards for kids , flashcards app in kids , flashcards for education , flashcards apps for kids , eyes flashcards for kids , bilingual flashcards for kids
|
<urn:uuid:76f4b58d-c55d-4da5-a96c-954ca76ef648>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.appszoom.com/android_applications/education/flashcards-for-kids_csfnb.html?nav=related
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403825.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00001-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.92553 | 621 | 3.25 | 3 |
Remedies for Common Houseplant Ailments.
Try these houseplant remedies when your plants start to wither and droop.
Houseplant ailments fall into three main categories: Fungal, Viral, and Pests.
Fungal Diseases: Fungal diseases are usually due to mold and mildew growth, and are easy to cure. Symptoms of fungal disease, more commonly referred to as “leaf spot” include leaf loss, stunted growth and soft stems and stem bases. Mold and mildew may or may not be visible on areas of the infected plant. Fungal diseases are usually due to over-watering. If your plant still shows signs of life—such green areas and a sturdy stem and base—there is a good chance that the plant may be brought back to full health. First, remove the plant from it’s current container and loosen the root system. Remove all noticeably dead or dying foliage. Re-pot the plant with fresh potting soil in a container with adequate drainage. Be sure to put the plant in the recommended environment for it’s species. Water only when the soil is dry to the touch. It will take a few weeks for your plant to regain it’s health, so be patient.
Viral Diseases: Unfortunately, plant viruses are not curable. Symptoms of a plant with a virus include: yellow streaking, spotting or mottling on the plant’s foliage, dry brownish leaves, disfigured growth (such as unusually long or “leggy” stems that are also discolored) and lack of growth. If you are not completely sure that your plant has a virus, you may opt to isolate it and give it extra care to rule out any other causes such as over- or under-watering,which can sometimes mimic virus symptoms. If the plant does not show signs of healthy re-growth within a month, disposal is recommend to prevent the virus from spreading. It’s important to dispose of plants with viruses properly: Wrap diseased plants in newspaper and place in a small plastic bag before putting it into the trash.
Composting a plant with a virus is not recommended as the virus may be spread to other unsuspecting plants.
Pests: Damage from pests on houseplants is mainly due to mites. Mites are tiny insects that feed on houseplant foliage and reproduce quickly. Signs of a mite infestation include: rust colored spots or black dots or smudges on leaves, tiny and often times barely visible webbing on foliage, and a sticky or dewy appearance to the underside of the leaves. If you look closely, you may see small white insects moving around the crevices of the plants. To rid plants of mites: Fill a clean spray mist bottle with a mild mixture of ¼ –½tsp. of dish liquid (the type used for hand washing dishes—not automatic dishwasher detergent) to 12 ounces of warm water. Spray thoroughly. Allow to mixture to remain on the plant for five minutes before rinsing. Repeating this procedure once a day for a week has been known to work for some plants, although a sure cure can not be guaranteed. To prevent mites from spreading and infesting other plants, always quarantine any plants suspected of hosting mites before, during and after treatment.
Plant Disease and Pest Prevention Tips
Following the recommended instructions for the proper care of each individual species of plant is a sure way to reduce the chances of health problems in plants. For example, cyclamen plants prefer filtered sunlight. If you have a sunny window with a sheer curtain-this is a spot where a Cyclamen will thrive. If you place your Cyclamen in direct sunlight it will begin to weep and lose leaves due to stress, before ultimately mimicking the signs of a plant disease.
Succulents prefer dry soil and bright light. Allowing your Succulents exposure to these conditions will ensure that it thrives. If your Succulent is over watered or placed in a low light environment it will wither and eventually die.
Typically plants need weekly watering or misting depending on the species. Turning the pots weekly to allow ample sun exposure to all sides of the plant is also recommended. It’s a good idea to look for signs of stress on your plants during your weekly watering and turning.
Shelley Fleming-Wigglesworth is a certified Maine Master Gardener and award winning newspaper columnist from Kennebunk, Maine. She has been writing for the York County Coast Star for more than a decade as a freelance columnist and features writer. In 2010 she began writing her own gardening column “The Master Gardener’s Notebook” for Tourist News. She also teaches gardening classes at local schools and colleges.
|
<urn:uuid:d1c7caab-4ddb-4532-a8d0-5fe13cafffc1>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.yankeemagazine.com/article/gardenblog/houseplant-remedies
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00006-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.945642 | 994 | 3.203125 | 3 |
In a tiny corner of western Poland a forest of about 400 pine trees grow with a 90 degree bend at the base of their trunks – all bent northward. Surrounded by a larger forest of straight growing pine trees this collection of curved trees, or “Crooked Forest,” is a mystery.
The tress are believed to have been planted around 1930. It is also believed that the bending was caused by some form of human intervention, most likely by some tool or machine. But nobody actually knows for sure how it was done and what the motive behind it was.
Location: Outside Nowe Czarnowo, West Pomerania, Poland.
– via Wikipedia.
|
<urn:uuid:6c9d7bfc-74b4-4cef-b8cd-7e7eecb32ad2>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://unusualplaces.org/crooked-forest/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00065-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.970564 | 142 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Introduction: Racism in the Canadian University
Frances Henry and Carol Tator
Our schools, colleges and universities continue to be powerful discursive sites through which race knowledge is produced, organized and regulated. Marginalized bodies are continually silenced and rendered invisible not simply through the failure to take issues of race and social oppression seriously but through the constant negation of multiple lived experiences and alternative knowledges. –G. Dei and A. Calliste, ‘Introduction, Mapping the Terrain: Power, Knowledge and Anti-Racism Education’
In this collection of essays each author analyzes the impact of hegemonic Whiteness and the processes of racialization that continue to function in the Canadian academy. Drawing upon an extensive body of literature and empirical investigations of racism in Canadian academic institutions, the writers explore how access and equity are often denied to both racialized faculty and students through the everyday values and norms, discourses and practices within a dominant White Anglocentric, Eurocentric, and racialized culture. All of the contributors to this book believe that the daily struggle to find a safe and inclusive space for racialized students and faculty within the classroom among peers, colleagues, and administrators contributes to a sometimes hostile, oppressive, unsafe learning and working environment. Each of the scholars in this collection draws attention to how Whiteness as ideology and praxis function in the Canadian academy.
We were drawn to this subject for two main reasons. In the first instance, our past research and writings have often focused on how racism and the culture of Whiteness impacts the major institutions of Canadian society. For example, first we surveyed these major institutions in our book The Colour of Democracy in 1995, including systems of governance, health and social services, mass media, education, justice, policing, and arts and culture. In researching new material for the 3rd edition, published in 2006, we were struck by the increase in the volume of literature on manifestations of racism in the academy, much of it written by often relatively newly hired racialized faculty.
Moreover, Frances Henry spent years in the early seventies struggling to get the right to to teach a course on racism and to conduct research on this ‘tabooed’ and ignored topic; Carol Tator has taught a course for more than a decade related to anti-racism, and through it is exposed to the experiences of racialized students. These experiences have left, and continue to leave, deep impressions on each of us.
Attending and participating in many conferences in almost every province of this country has led both of us to listen to the painful and marginalizing narratives of many Indigenous faculty and faculty of colour. Henry, in writing the report on inequity at Queen’s University, had an opportunity to meet with faculty, staff, and administrators to examine the impact of racism and the role of Whiteness in the culture of the university. In 2005, we launched a pilot study to critically analyze the extent to which racism is present in Canadian universities.
All of these factors have added to our involvement with this subject matter, and eventually to this book. As we are deeply committed to critical race theory and its emphasis on experiential voices, it was only natural to invite noted scholars of colour and a highly respected Indigenous scholar to participate in this venture.
Outline of the Book
In chapter 1 the editors, Frances Henry and Carol Tator, explore some of the common theoretical perspectives that inform the analysis of all the contributors to the book. Drawing from an extensive body of literature, as well as empirical evidence based on data drawn from our interviews and a survey with Canadian academics across the country, we explore how racism is manifested in the academy. In this conceptual framework we map how the contours and processes of Whiteness and racialization intersect in the academy and impact upon racialized and Aboriginal faculty, as well as Aboriginal academics and students of colour. We probe the diverse ways in which both overt and covert forms of racism are manifested in what counts as knowledge and scholarship and how Eurocentric standards impact upon hiring, promotion, and tenure decisions. The narratives of racialized academics and students that are included in this book are characterized by self-doubt, apprehension, frustration, and disappointment. Despite, over two decades of scholarship documenting the problem of racism in our universities, and endless recommendations, there remains huge resistance to change.
Chapter 2, written by Audrey Kobayashi, focuses on how women of colour in Canadian academia are notable for being unseen. Androcentric and Eurocentric values, supported by the power of ‘old white boys’ networks have kept women of colour out of the academy. Even when women of colour are present in the academy, they experience the effects of racism through the practice of Whiteness. A Whiteness lens makes it very difficult for the majority to see or understand the experiences of women of colour. The impacts of Whiteness that define the experiences of women of colour are identified as denigration, deflection, exotification, and guilt. Kobayashi draws upon examples from her own experience to demonstrate that we cannot really understand systemic effects of racism without a recognition that normalized patterns of racialization are acted out through individual bodies. She argues that social institutions, such as the university, need to acknowledge the ‘adverse effects’ of racialization.
Patricia Monture in chapter 3 reflects on the many lessons of survival she has learned since she began her university teaching in 1989. Monture suggests that the collective experience of Aboriginal people in universities is still about lived oppression of indigenous ways of being and knowing. She describes, in some detail, how her positioning as an Indigenous scholar in the university was often seen as problematic. Her analysis indicates how the rules and traditions governing promotion and tenure decisions were used against her in ways that led to a denigration of her experience and her research.
In chapter 4 Camille Hernandez-Ramdwar turns attention to racialized students, in this case, those from the Caribbean, and their experiences in the university. Her interviews with undergraduate and graduate students who have migrated from the Caribbean and those who are second generation (born in Canada to migrants) identify some of the factors that impact on academic performance. She found that graduate students had the most to say on the subject of racism in the academy and identified the lack of mentoring and lack of support as key barriers. Racialized students felt that they had to work harder and continually prove themselves to their professors.
In chapter 5 Carl James focuses on policies designed to create change in the university and the many impediments to their implementation. He argues that in so far as the universities are formed by Western European middle class patriarchal ideologies, expectations, and traditions, the norms, values, and principles by which they operate are not raceless, colour-blind, neutral, or fair and objective, despite claims that they are. Therefore, the assumptions that potential job applicants are able to access positions ‘if they are qualified’ ignores the systemic ways in which identities such as race and ethnicity function in enabling access to university faculty positions. James identifies some of the issues that impact upon racialized applicants for faculty positions and promotions including such factors as cultural differences and race of candidates in the hiring process; and the struggle over terms such as ‘excellence,’ ‘demonstratively superior,’ ‘equally qualified,’ and, ‘a good fit.’
In chapter 6 Enakshi Dua continues the analysis of university policies and praxis in her discussion of the findings of a recent preliminary investigation on the extent to which universities in Canada have developed anti-racist policies and practices. Her analysis is informed by reviewing policies and mission statements of thirty-seven Canadian universities, as well as telephone interviews with a number of directors of human rights and equity offices in these universities. She found that most Canadian universities have developed some form of policies to address racism within the academy, including employment equity, anti-harassment policies and clauses, and anti-racism workshops. Most universities surveyed had structures within the university which validated the need to address racism. However, from the perspectives of human rights and equity officers that she interviewed, these policies and interventions had a limited effect on actually addressing racism. The most powerful barrier is the unwillingness of senior administrators to address systemic and structural racism.
The various perspectives offered by each of the contributors of this book are linked to a strong commitment to the notion that teaching and learning are deeply political practices and that our universities must ensure protection of the rights of all indigenous and racialized students and faculty to find a safe, inclusive, and intellectual home in our universities.
|
<urn:uuid:aa5c201b-605c-45cf-a4d6-43287628f792>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.yorku.ca/fhenry/racismuniversity.htm
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395160.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00184-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.966025 | 1,752 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Effect of Natural Convection on Dendritic Growth
- Geoffrey B. McFadden, ACMD
- Sam R. Coriell, Metallurgy Division
- Robert F. Sekerka, Carnegie Mellon University
- An outstanding problem in solidification theory is to predict
the length scales and time scales that occur during crystal growth.
These scales are crucial in determining the physical properties
of the solidified material; for example, when multicomponent alloys
are produced by directional solidification, instabilities
of the solid-liquid interface can lead to
inhomogeneous solute patterns, or microsegregation, in the solid phase which
are generally undesirable. Predicting the conditions under which
microsegregation occurs, and the associated length scales, is therefore
a problem that receives much attention both experimentally and theoretically.
- Recently M. E. Glicksman, of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and
colleagues have performed fundamental studies of growth of
a single-component material from a supercooled melt. When the liquid phase is maintained at temperatures below
the equilibrium melting point of the material, the solid that forms
spontaneously has a dendritic, or branch-like structure, with primary stems growing
at constant velocity into the melt. The tip velocities,
the radius of curvature of the tip, and other features of the dendrites
are fundamental properties that Glicksman et al. are able to measure
experimentally, and are used to critically assess various theoretical predictions
for these quantities. In the figure below, a multiple-exposure
photograph taken at equal time intervals illustrates the parabolic tip
and constant tip velocity [S.-C. Huang and M. E. Glicksman, Acta Met. 29 (1981)
- An experimental complication is the occurrence of natural convection
in the liquid phase, which is driven by buoyancy forces produced by
the density variations associated with the temperature gradients in the system.
The effect of the convection is to alter the transport of heat away from
the solidifying dendrite, so that the resulting tip velocity and
radius of curvature of the tip are modified.
In order to reduce the effects of this buoyancy-driven convection,
the experiments have been performed in a reduced gravity environment
on board the NASA space shuttle. Examination of typical data for both
terrestrial growth conditions and the microgravity conditions of space
show that in both cases there are significant effects that may be attributed
to natural convection; an example is shown in the figure below.
Here the tip velocity, V, is plotted as a function of
the amount of thermal undercooling, delta T, of the liquid below the
bulk melting point of the material. Data is shown for both
terrestrial conditions (circles) and for microgravity conditions (squares).
- If convection effects were absent, the experimental
data would be expected to fall on
the bottom-most curve shown in the figure, which represents
a theoretical prediction based on a model that includes no convective effects.
Both sets of data show good agreement with the model at large
velocities and large undercoolings, but show systematic deviation from the predicted
behavior at smaller velocities. The agreement is better for the
microgravity data (squares), which can be attributed to the
decreased importance of buoyancy because of the reduced gravity.
Both sets of data eventually deviate from the bottom curve
at low enough undercoolings, implying that even under microgravity conditions
natural convection can play a significant role.
- To help understand the observed behavior, we have developed a simple
model that takes into account effects of buoyancy-driven convection.
The model assumes that because of natural convection the fluid is
well-mixed and isothermal outside of a boundary layer or
stagnant film near the surface of the dendrite, and assumes that
the heat transport within the stagnant film takes place by diffusion alone.
A closed-form solution to the
thermal problem can be found that depends on the assumed thickness of
the stagnant film. The macroscopic flow outside the stagnant film is given by a
large Raleigh number approximate solution in which the region
consisting of the network of growing dendrites is approximated by an
isothermal sphere of radius R. The stagnant film
thickness is then determined self-consistently by a balance of
convective and diffusive heat transfer at the edge of the stagnant film.
- The predictions of the resulting theory are shown as the top curves
in the above figure. The theory depends on a single adjustable parameter,
representing the ratio of the gravitational acceleration, g, and the radius, R.
The top three curves in the figure correspond to the terrestrial value g_e
for g and radii of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 cm, which are
typical of the geometries in the experiments. The bottom three curves
correspond to R = 1 cm and g = 0.0001 g_e, g = 0.00001 g_e, and
g = 0. The theory does a good job of
predicting the values of undercooling for which the effects of convection
- This work has been described in a paper entitled ``Stagnant Film
Model of the Effect of Natural Convection on the Dendrite Operating State,''
by R. F. Sekerka, S. R. Coriell and G. B. McFadden, that has
been submitted for publication in the Journal of Crystal Growth.
|
<urn:uuid:71c8922a-5d96-4f84-9003-d6a531c545fe>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://math.nist.gov/~GMcFadden/dendrite.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397795.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00084-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.892676 | 1,192 | 3.515625 | 4 |
The World Organization of Natural Medicine
The World Organization of Natural Medicine is an international politically and religiously neutral humanitarian non- governmental Organization (NGO).It adopts the WHO Alma Ata declaration_ and is amember of UN Global compact mandate link here_.
To promote traditional medicine healthcare, provide humanitarian services to underserved people and to promote humanitarian values through education.
Doctors of Humanitarian Services and Practitioners of Humanitarian Services
Humanitarianism is based on a view that all human beings deserve respect and dignity and should be treated as such. Therefore, humanitarians work towards advancing the well-being of humanity as a whole.
These fundamental principles serve two essential purposes. They embody humanitarian action’s single-minded purpose of alleviating suffering, unconditionally and without any ulterior motive.The most important principles of humanitarian action are humanity, which posits the conviction that all people have equal dignity by virtue of their membership in humanity, impartiality, which directs that assistance is provided based solely on need, without discrimination among recipients, neutrality,
|
<urn:uuid:5798013b-c04b-4f8b-af3e-2840b2807e7e>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.wonm.org/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00070-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.917793 | 213 | 3.109375 | 3 |
National Geographic: The U.S. has deployed more than 11,000 military drones, up from fewer than 200 in 2002. They carry out a wide variety of missions while saving money and American lives. Within a generation they could replace most manned military aircraft, says John Pike, a defense expert at the think tank GlobalSecurity.org. Pike suspects that the F-35 Lightning II, now under development by Lockheed Martin, might be “the last fighter with an ejector seat, and might get converted into a drone itself.”
At least 50 other countries have drones, and some, notably China, Israel, and Iran, have their own manufacturers. Aviation firms — as well as university and government researchers — are designing a flock of next-generation aircraft, ranging in size from robotic moths and hummingbirds to Boeing’s Phantom Eye, a hydrogen-fueled behemoth with a 150-foot wingspan that can cruise at 65,000 feet for up to four days.
More than a thousand companies, from tiny start-ups like Miser’s [described at the beginning of this article] to major defense contractors, are now in the drone business—and some are trying to steer drones into the civilian world. Predators already help Customs and Border Protection agents spot smugglers and illegal immigrants sneaking into the U.S. NASA-operated Global Hawks record atmospheric data and peer into hurricanes. Drones have helped scientists gather data on volcanoes in Costa Rica, archaeological sites in Russia and Peru, and flooding in North Dakota.
So far only a dozen police departments, including ones in Miami and Seattle, have applied to the FAA for permits to fly drones. But drone advocates — who generally prefer the term UAV, for unmanned aerial vehicle — say all 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the U.S. are potential customers. They hope UAVs will soon become essential too for agriculture (checking and spraying crops, finding lost cattle), journalism (scoping out public events or celebrity backyards), weather forecasting, traffic control. “The sky’s the limit, pun intended,” says Bill Borgia, an engineer at Lockheed Martin. “Once we get UAVs in the hands of potential users, they’ll think of lots of cool applications.”
The biggest obstacle, advocates say, is current FAA rules, which tightly restrict drone flights by private companies and government agencies (though not by individual hobbyists). Even with an FAA permit, operators can’t fly UAVs above 400 feet or near airports or other zones with heavy air traffic, and they must maintain visual contact with the drones. All that may change, though, under the new law, which requires the FAA to allow the “safe integration” of UAVs into U.S. airspace.
If the FAA relaxes its rules, says Mark Brown, the civilian market for drones — and especially small, low-cost, tactical drones — could soon dwarf military sales, which in 2011 totaled more than three billion dollars. [Continue reading…]
The multi-billion dollar drone market
By February 20, 2013,
|
<urn:uuid:183add5f-3263-464b-8726-2ecf68d4720f>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://warincontext.org/2013/02/20/the-multi-billion-dollar-drone-market/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392099.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00128-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.940121 | 640 | 2.71875 | 3 |
The discovery of a new type of plant should not further delay installation of the southern trafficway.
A Kansas University botanist is to be congratulated for his role in the discovery of two new species of plants in Kansas.
Caleb Morse and researchers from the University of Michigan and Taylor University combined in locating two sedges, which though rare are not considered endangered. One of the sedges, Morse points out, can be found in the Baker Wetlands, which is a focal point of discussion and contention about completion of the embattled South Lawrence Trafficway.
Immediately upon revelation of the discoveries, anti-trafficway people rejoiced with the notion that still another "rare" item might help their cause. Meanwhile, pro-trafficway citizens groaned at the prospect of an additional element that could further delay completion of the badly needed road.
It bears repeating that the sedge in the wetlands here is not endangered. It is not even "threatened," as was the case with the northern crawfish frog that was one of the early bones of contention with those trying to block the trafficway. The frog in question had not been seen for a long time in the region, and one of the very rare sightings was a flattened amphibian on a roadway where a truck had won a conflict of space.
But the northern crawfish frog became a battle cry and a symbol for the opponents.
It's all well and good for people to be pleased that a KU scientist has been engaged in a plant discovery of note for Kansas. Morse and his comrades are to be commended.
But to add a new, and dubious, element to the list of objections people have about establishment of the trafficway is overkill. It should not be a major consideration in planning any more than a number of the questionable longer-standing issues should be.
The area badly needs the trafficway and the sooner some version of it can be completed, the better off we all will be, including most of those who think the world will be a much worse place because of the trafficway.
|
<urn:uuid:e2892f32-801d-4da4-9f9a-2ec88ddd1324>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2001/sep/06/science_for_hindrance2/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396222.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00080-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.973442 | 422 | 2.5625 | 3 |
April 12, 2011
Lesser-Known Escherichia Coli Types Targeted In Food Safety Research
Almost everyone knows about Escherichia coli O157:H7, the culprit behind many headline-making outbreaks of foodborne illness in the United States. But the lesser-known relatives of this pathogenic microbe are increasingly of concern to food safety scientists.
That's according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) microbiologist and research leader Pina M. Fratamico. Researchers such as Fratamico, along with food safety regulators, public health officials and food producers in the United States and abroad, want to know more about these less-studied pathogens.In the past few years, a half-dozen of these emerging E. coli species, also called "serogroups," have come to be known among food safety specialists as "the Big Six," namely E. coli O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, and O145.
Fratamico and her colleagues are sorting out "who's who" among these related pathogens so that the microbes can be identified and detected quickly and reliably. The researchers are doing that by uncovering telltale clues in the microbes' genetic makeup.
Building upon this work, Fratamico and her Agricultural Research Service (ARS), university, and industry collaborators have developed gene-based PCR (polymerase chain reaction) assays for each of the Big Six. With further work, the assays might be presented as user-friendly test kits for use by regulatory agencies and others. Foodmakers, for example, might be able to use such kits for in-house quality control, while public health agencies might rely on them when processing specimens from patients hospitalized with foodborne illness.
Analyses of test results might help researchers determine whether certain strains of Big Six E. coli species cause more illness than E. coli O157:H7 does, and if so, why.
On the Net:
|
<urn:uuid:bdda2fa0-1f96-4770-b752-7868809c3329>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/2028661/lesserknown_escherichia_coli_types_targeted_in_food_safety_research/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395548.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00024-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.941861 | 412 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Buffalo News special report, Fourth of five parts on the health of Lake Erie
Massive algal blooms covered thousands of square miles on the other end of Lake Erie in 2011. Some warn the next ones could get worse – and closer – unless changes are made.
OREGON, Ohio – They could see it from outer space. When a toxic mat of algae – bright green in color, covering 2,000 square miles – blanketed Lake Erie two summers ago, it stretched from Detroit to Cleveland.
It wasn’t just ugly to look at.
It was dangerous.
In the middle of the algae mass was a “dead zone” stretching some 100 miles, which killed everything below where it floated as the decaying algae sucked oxygen from the water.
Toxins filled the water and those of nearby lakes inland, as well.
Who bore the brunt of this sickness-causing phenomenon?
No humans seem to have died, though some got sick. But birds, aquatic life and other animals – even dogs – died after coming into contact with the poison.
The algal bloom receded at the end of that summer, and last year’s wasn’t as bad. But experts fear that a new toxic algae mass could fill the western end of Lake Erie again this summer, with ripple effects spreading all the way to Buffalo.
That is troubling for everyone – including, it seems, to some of those who may be part of why the toxic episode happens in the first place.
Bill Myers is one of them.
Myers’ day-to-day activities on his farm in northwestern Ohio affect the health of Lake Erie – and, by extension, all of those who live in Western New York. Myers knows the way he farms, including his use of phosphorus fertilizer, fuels the presence of dangerous algae in the lake.
Myers acknowledges that.
But, he also knows the problem is bigger than just one man – or an industry.
“Every time you interact with the environment,” Myers said, “there are going to be trade-offs.”
Not all algae in the lake is bad.
Everyone who has ever walked the shores of Lake Erie remembers seeing sludge – green or brown, slimy or dense – along the edge of the waves.
Usually that is no big deal. Algae can even be a good thing when it provides nutrition for the aquatic life that relies on its presence.
But this toxic algae “bloom” – a name scientists give a proliferation of algae in an area – is different.
Hazards for humans, pets
Created by bacteria, the algal bloom can have seriously adverse effects.
There are thousands of forms of the cynobacteria, of which about 30 are toxic. The predominant form, called “microcystis,” is cloaked in a vividly green swampy substance that now appears annually in the lake on top of the water.
Some years for the bacteria are worse than others. In 2011, the blanket of bright green toxic goop spread more than 100 miles east across the lake, reaching as far as Cleveland.
Besides sucking the oxygen out of the water and creating “dead zones” where fish and other aquatic life struggle to survive, microcystis – and lyngbya, another toxic form of cyanobacteria present in blooms – can be hazardous to humans and their pets.
Microcystis primarily attacks the liver, often resulting in severe damage, but other cynobacteria can cause skin damage, neurological problems and other harmful effects.
People in the Great Lakes region have been sickened, according to published reports, but no deaths linked to the toxins appear to have occurred. Several dogs died after the animals drank toxic water, according to published media reports.
People elsewhere in the world have died after ingesting the toxin, according to the World Health Organization.
However, even to the trained eye, it is impossible to tell if algae in the lake water is the dangerous kind.
Some of the lake’s bright green algae – often 6 inches deep in places – may contain the toxin, while other patches may not.
“If you see green stuff, you shouldn’t be swimming,” said Rachel Lohner, the education program manager at the Lake Erie Center, a research and education center at the University of Toledo dedicated to solving environmental problems in the Great Lakes.
She told of a man who went to rescue his dog from the putrid green sludge and came out of the water with nerve damage in his arm.
Stories like this, and others, are why there are now beachfront signs up and down Ohio’s shoreline warning of the danger.
“Avoid swallowing lake water,” some of the signs read.
Others say this: “Have fun on the water, but know that blue-green algae are in many Ohio lakes. Their toxins may be too.”
No such signs seem to dot the local shores on the eastern end of the lake near Buffalo.
But that does not mean the toxins do not matter, two states away.
“You get your water from here,” pointed out Sandy Bihn, executive director of the Lake Erie Waterkeeper, an advocacy group in Toledo, Ohio. “The water moves from west to east.”
In other words: We all swim in, and drink from, the same lake.
“It’s not going to stay in the western end,” said Gregory L. Boyer, professor at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse. “It’s going to spread throughout the lake.”
Algae comes from simple ingredients.
Sunlight, warmth, stagnancy and phosphorus – a main ingredient in fertilizer, both commercial-grade and manure – accelerate the growth of toxic algae.
The algae-forming brew began simmering in the western end of Lake Erie. Now, it is in the central portion.
Many scientists and environmental activists said dissolved phosphorus is getting into the western end of Lake Erie from the Maumee River, a 137-mile waterway that begins in Fort Wayne, Ind., and winds its way through western Ohio before emptying into Maumee Bay at Toledo on Lake Erie’s westernmost edge.
The area is home to many farms. Some – like Bill Myers’ corn, soybean, wheat and alfalfa operation – have been run by families for generations.
Myers stores his commercial fertilizer – a standard agricultural product – in a 3,000-gallon tank across Cedar Point Road from the beaches of Maumee Bay State Park.
More than a decade before laws required dikes to catch any escaping fertilizer, the Myers farm – a flat, picturesque spread of more than 2,000 acres, with red-painted barns and a simple farmhouse – had them.
“We’ve always been that way because of our proximity,” Myers said. “We’re so close, that you spill something here – we don’t even have time to call the EPA before it gets to the lake.”
Fed by farmland runoff, a lot of problems stem from that one funnel point, the Maumee region,
“The excess phosphorus causes an explosion of algae growth,” said Melinda Koslow, regional program manager for the National Wildlife Federation in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Part of the reason is the scale.
The Maumee is the main tributary that receives stormwater runoff from large Ohio and Indiana farms. With a watershed covering more than 4 million acres from a landscape that is 80 percent farmland, it generates the majority of dissolved phosphorus flowing to the lake, according to statistics from the National Wildlife Federation.
Two years ago, a wet summer in the Maumee River region resulted in the toxic pea-green plume in Lake Erie of more than 2,000 square miles – so big and green it was easily photographed from space by NASA.
A drier 2012 helped tamp down the problem last year.
It remains to be seen what this summer will hold.
“The problem with that algae is it’s persistent,” said Pamela Struffolino, a research technician at the University at Toledo’s Lake Erie Center.
Farms aren’t sole culprit
As for Myers, whose family has been working the land since 1890 and will continue into a fifth generation with his 21-year-old son John, he plans to continue using responsible agricultural practices.
“We have to find a way,” said the Ohio farmer, “we can ecologically exist together.”
More than just farms share the blame for the problem.
Other causes, such as sewage, also lie behind the toxic mixture in the lake. Potentially, even climate change may play a role.
Bihn pointed to Michigan environmental reports that suggest that Detroit’s aged wastewater system may, with the Maumee River, contribute to the amount of phosphorus discharged into Lake Erie.
To a lesser extent, but not to be discounted, she said, are stormwater discharges and runoff from the entire watershed.
That is partly why Bihn and others in northwestern Ohio want the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to update the assessment on “Lake Erie Water Quality,” which identified pollutants and named strategies to clean up the lake.
Bihn likened it to blood tests used to diagnose sick humans.
“That’s the gauge used most often for us,” Bihn said. “If we’re not doing ‘blood work’ on the lake to know what those numbers are, we’re hoping we’re doing all the right things in all the right places, but we don’t really know.”
Stir climate change into the mix – with warmer temperatures and increased annual precipitation – and scientists, environmental activists and lake lovers fear the anxiety-provoking 2011 algal bloom that engulfed Lake Erie from Detroit to Cleveland may be but a sign of things to come.
“There’s nothing that will affect the Great Lakes more in this next century than climate change,” environmentalist Bill McKibben predicted during a recent visit to the University at Buffalo.
McKibben, founder of the climate change group 350.org, quotes French oceanographer Jean-Pierre Gattuso’s forecast that the world’s oceans, if climate change is not arrested, will become “hot, sour and breathless” by the end of the century. The fate of the Great Lakes could be even more dire, he said.
“I imagine in smaller bodies of water,” McKibben said, “that happens more quickly.”
Solutions and the future
Dealing with the factors that contribute to toxic algae may not be a matter of finding a silver bullet.
It may be a case of making many smaller changes.
Take the phosphorus issue.
Scientists and agricultural experts on the lake’s western end are testing methods to mitigate the phosphorous finding its way into the lake. Experts at the Lake Erie Center are developing sediment ponds as a way to grab suspended materials in agricultural and stormwater runoff before it gets to Lake Erie.
The ponds are designed to provide more time for sediment to filter out of the water before runoff drains into the lake waters.
In addition, the center also now conducts daily water testing to determine the safety of the water.
That means state health officials in Ohio can decide whether beaches should be closed to the public with more accuracy.
Farmers in the region, too, are encouraged not to spread manure on frozen fields in the winter, to cut down on runoff during thaws. Others suggest that farmers establish buffers between the edge of their farmland and any creeks or streams.
And they are urged to conserve fertilizer.
Farmers said they already do that. Fertilizer is expensive, and so they try to be savvy about how much to use.
Many farms, including Myers’ farm, regularly sample and test soil with the latest technology, to get the best bang for their buck.
Allen Gahler, manager of the Lucas County Farm Bureau, favors a comprehensive plan for decreasing phosphorus contamination in Lake Erie, one that includes farms but also other suspected sources, such as sewage and stormwater.
“We’re not looking at other sources,” Gahler said. “We’re not doing monitoring. We’re not assigning it to any other sources.”
“It’s part of the puzzle,” Bihn said of agriculture’s role, “but it’s not 100 percent.”
And with fertilizer needed to grow crops, there’s no way around that.
Lucas County covers much of the Maumee River’s last 30 miles before Maumee Bay, including Myers’ farm.
“It’s absolutely vital we have an abundant food supply. It’s got to be safe. It’s got to be affordable,” said Myers, surrounded by the fields where he sowed soybeans on a warm spring afternoon. “You can’t have it cost $20 for a pound of beans because there’s no environmental footprint.”
“We’ve got to be able to come up with something that – 95 percent of the time – everybody’s going to be happy.”
|
<urn:uuid:f44005ea-f6eb-4556-9e69-9fbbf694eee3>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130529/CITYANDREGION/130529193/1115
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00005-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.939011 | 2,850 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Routine Global Ocean Data Assimilation System of the Consortium
for Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO)
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
An ocean data assimilation system producing regular analyses is established so as to monitor global ocean circulation and to better understand processes underlying the ocean's seasonal-to-interannual changes. The effort is part of a consortium for "Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO)." Products of the analysis system are regularly updated and are available via a Live Access Server at http://www.ecco-group.org/las. An overview of this system is presented and some of its applications are described.
The assimilation system is based on a near-global primitive equation model of high resolution (1-deg telescoping to 0.3-deg in the tropics with 10m near surface layers). Measurements from satellite altimetry (TOPEX/POSEIDON) and in situ hydrography (XBTs and climatology) are assimilated. The assimilation separately employs an approximate Kalman filter/smoother and the adjoint method. The former utilizes a novel approximation of partitioning model error estimates into a series of independent reduced rank systems and evaluating them separately. Such approximation dramatically reduces the computational requirements of Kalman filtering and smoothing, rendering high resolution global eddy-resolving data assimilation computationally feasible.
The ECCO analyses are characterized by their physical consistencies. Temporal evolution of data assimilated estimates are physically inconsistent when model state increments are not identified by explicit processes. The smoother can be recognized as such inversion of model state increments. Smoothed state and control estimates satisfy fundamental conservation statements (e.g., closed energy and tracer budgets) that permit mechanisms of ocean circulation to be investigated.
Products from the ECCO system are being employed to study heat balances and seasonal-to-interannual changes in tropical water masses. Results of the assimilation system are also employed in studies of biogeochemical cycles, earth rotation, and crustal deformation. The data assimilated solutions are generally found to be more accurate than those of the unconstrained model, permitting better estimation of the nature and effects of ocean circulation.
|
<urn:uuid:2888e963-49ac-41f9-8af2-62de4c94a20e>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/seminars/old/abstract/Fukumori.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00042-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.909836 | 460 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Aviation's Exhibition Era, the period between 1907 and the end of 1915, was a time of intense public interest in everything aeronautical. During those eight years, there were at least 5,500 aeroplane exhibitions in the U.S. Most of the country's large cities took it as a matter of civic pride to hold at least one aeroplane exhibition, and, indeed, exhibitions were given in every state, territory and possession of the United States. Millions of people were able to see aeroplanes for themselves, and (perhaps surprisingly) most of the aeroplanes they saw were able to fly.
The great aviation meets of the Exhibition Era featured competition between teams of aviators for precision take-offs and landings, altitude records and other events. The national air races of the 1920's and 30's differed considerably from the Exhibition Era's meets. Similarly, the barnstorming period between the two World Wars was quite distinct from the Exhibition Era.
Aeroplanes (as they were then universally called) were something of a mystery for over four-years after the Wright Brothers' first flight on 17 December 1903. Indeed, it was one-person airships, not aeroplanes, which filled the skies between 1903 and August of 1909, when the first exhibition flight was given by Charles Willard, utilizing a machine (another term for aeroplanes which was then in common usage) which was virtually identical to the one in which Glenn H. Curtiss won the speed contest at the famous Reims, France, aviation meet held that year.
Glenn Hammond Curtiss amazed many with his 1909 win at Reims. He was hailed on both sides of the Atlantic as a true hero, the personification of the American Yankee inventor.
The Dominguez Aviation Meet, held near Los Angeles, California, during January 1910, was the first international aviation event held in the U.S. It was the Belmont Meet, however, held in New York during October of 1910, which drew the greatest attention, primarily because of the high-society aspect of that meet. The rival Curtiss and Wright exhibition teams were present at Belmont, as were the Baldwin and Moisant aviators, as well as ten aviators from England and France.
The organization of the Wright and Curtiss exhibition teams, and their public rivalry generated tremendous publicity and, consequently, aviation exhibition and promotion became a sizable business. Fantastic sums were paid for even marginal demonstrations of the aviating arts, and demand for seeing aerial contrivances in flight was high.
The greatest of the Era's aviation meets, the one held in Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois, during August of 1911, was a phenomenal event, as can be seen from this panoramic folder postcard filled with overlaid images of aeroplanes. Some 34 aviators vied for over $70,000 in prizes. By the end of 1911, about 600 aeroplane exhibitions had been given in the U.S.
A number of amateur aviators began to give exhibitions in 1912, notably in the Midwest, and nearly 1,400 exhibitions were given that year. Two aviation meets of note were held during 1912, the third Dominguez Meet and the Boston Meet, at which aviatrix Harriet Quimby lost her life in a tragic accident. The Bennett Cup race, held at Clearing, Illinois, during September, was an embarrassment for U.S. aviators, for not a single U.S. machine was able to fly. As 1912 came to a close, the forefront of aeronautical development was in Europe, not the U.S.
The 1913 exhibition season was anticipated with some dread. It was widely assumed that the peak of such activities had passed, and great concern was expressed over the deaths of aviators which were happening with sad frequency. Even so, some 1,200 real aerial exhibitions were given that year, as well as a significant number of intentional frauds, with phony aviators taking funds and "flying" in an earth-bound sense, often on the next train out of town. Promoters of fake exhibitions also stalked the landscape, arranging fraudulent meets. All in all, 1913 was a difficult year for exhibition aviators.
|
<urn:uuid:54f0ce71-5a51-43a0-864a-378014c22d46>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.lincolnbeachey.com/pstcrd.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402516.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00151-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.989622 | 875 | 3.59375 | 4 |
I have recently become fascinated with an awesome topic in biology and evolution that I feel is rarely covered in biology courses. That is, rates of meiotic recombination, or the the amount that an organism's genome is reshuffled before it is passed on to the next generation, varies across species! And no one really knows why. A recent paper by Segura et al which gathered average recombination rates for males across a dozen or so mammals and showed that there is a trend of increasing recombination rate with mammalian divergence.
Why is recombination increasing through mammalian evolution? Is there any reason to believe that there is something special about placental mammals which would drive increased recombination?
There are some catches to this study such as low sampling of marsupials and monotremes and low power for most of species wide recombination rates, ie the average recombination rate of cells in a single individual. But I can see how getting samples from multiple tigers would be difficult.
|
<urn:uuid:153fbb50-979f-4abe-8720-e8d73c62f621>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/20511/why-are-recombination-rates-increasing-in-mammals
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394937.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00136-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.954138 | 197 | 2.796875 | 3 |
A new fossil discovery captures a previously unseen stage in the evolution of ancient arthropods, providing confirmation of the loss of a limb branch during horseshoe crab evolution.
Horseshoe crabs, including the iconic Limulus we know today, have existed for more than 450 million years. Over that long history, evolutionary change has particularly affected the nature of their legs.
A new fossil discovery in Britain captures a previously unseen stage in the evolution of these ancient arthropods — the transformation of two-branched legs into nearly identical but separately attached limbs, one of which was destined to disappear.
“This fossil provides remarkable confirmation of the loss of a limb branch during horseshoe crab evolution, a change predicted by the common presence of two branches in the arthropods that appeared earlier, during the Cambrian explosion,” said Derek E. G. Briggs, director of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History and lead author of a paper to be published online the week of Sept. 10 in the journal PNAS.
The fossil dates from the Silurian period, about 425 million years ago.
Modern horseshoe crabs (Limulus) have segmented legs at the front, which they use for walking and feeding. Their rear legs form flattened gills for breathing. In their ancestors, scientists believe, these functions were combined in limbs with two branches — one limb for walking and eating, one for breathing.
Scholars have long assumed that modern horseshoe crabs had lost the extra limb branch as its function was assumed by the limbs at the rear, which form book-like gills. The newly discovered fossil, a 23 mm specimen representing a new genus and species called Dibasterium durgae, shows 4 two-branched limbs, with an important distinction: The extra branch is not attached to the primary limb, but instead originates independently on the body like an extra leg. It appears that the branches first separated before the outer one was lost.
Combined with genetic analysis, the new fossil evidence suggests that repression or loss of gene expression might have yielded the modern horseshoe crab’s appendage structure. “This discovery should prompt further investigation of the genes that control limb development in living horseshoe crabs, as the process is not fully understood,” said Briggs.
The name of the new fossil, Dibasterium durgae, refers to the double limbs and to Durga, the Hindu goddess with many arms. It was reconstructed in three dimensions by stacking digital images of physical surfaces exposed by grinding away layers in tiny increments. The fossil was found in the mid-Siluran Lagerstaette, on the English-Welsh border, a site rich in well preserved, soft-bodied fossils.
The other authors of the paper are Derek Siveter (University of Oxford), David Siveter (University of Leicester), Mark Sutton and David Legg (Imperial College, London), and Russell Garwood (University of Manchester).
Support for the research was provided by the Natural Environmental Research Council.
Source: Eric Gershon, Yale News
Image: Yale News
|
<urn:uuid:54307d42-0908-43da-bdef-e0fdd551f7d3>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://scitechdaily.com/fossil-discovery-captures-a-previously-unseen-stage-in-the-evolution-of-ancient-arthropods/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393463.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00056-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.952385 | 644 | 4.03125 | 4 |
The ejecta blanket of this crater does not resemble the blocky, discontinuous ejecta associated with most fresh craters on Mars. Rather, the continuous lobes of material seen around this crater are evidence that the crater ejecta were fluidized upon impact of the meteor that formed this crater. Impact ejecta become fluidized when a meteor strikes a surface that has a considerable volatile content. The volatiles mixed with the ejecta form a flow of material that moves outward from the crater and produces the morphology seen in this THEMIS visible image.
Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
|
<urn:uuid:a3346fcd-2620-4388-a542-c6a977bc365f>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA04025
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391634.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00079-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.924889 | 322 | 2.953125 | 3 |
El Tajín (ĕl tähēnˈ) [key], ruins, Veracruz state, E central Mexico, representing the remains of a pre-Columbian city-state that flourished in A.D. 100–1200. The site was associated with an ethnic group called the Totonac, and its growth was at first tied with the expansion of Teotihuacán in the Valley of Mexico. Following the decline of the latter after A.D. 700, El Tajín grew in importance. The most impressive relic is the spectacular Pyramid of the Niches (c.600–900 A.D.), which contains 365 niches.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
|
<urn:uuid:13422ec5-f8a3-42a5-8510-0c071b96e6af>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/science/el-tajin.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00069-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.924973 | 158 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Nevus sebaceous; Hairy nevus; Nevi; Mole; Cafe-au-lait spots; Congenital nevus
A birthmark is a skin marking that is present at birth. Birthmarks include cafe-au-lait spots, moles, and Mongolian spots. Birthmarks can also be red.
Different types of birthmarks have different causes.
Any type of birthmark is called a nevus. Each type has its own appearance:
Other symptoms of birthmarks are:
Your health care provider will examine your skin to make the diagnosis. You may have a biopsy to look for skin changes that are signs of cancer. Your provider may take pictures of your birthmark to compare changes over time.
The type of treatment you have depends on the type of birthmark and related conditions. Usually no treatment is needed for the birthmark itself.
Large birthmarks that affect your appearance and self-esteem may be covered with special cosmetics.
You may have surgery to remove moles if they affect your appearance or raise your risk for cancer. Talk to your health care provider about how and when any of your moles should be removed.
Nevus Outreach (www.nevus.org) is an organization that offers information and online support for people with large birthmarks.
Large moles that are present at birth are more likely to become melanoma, a type of skin cancer. This is especially true if the mole covers an area larger than the size of a fist. The cancer risk is related to the size, location, shape, and color of the mole.
Complications of birthmarks can include:
Have your health care provider examine any birthmark. Report any changes in the birthmark, such as these, to your provider:
There is no known way to prevent birthmarks. A person with birthmarks should use a strong sunscreen when outdoors (to prevent complications).
Habif TP. Premalignant and malignant nonmelanoma skin tumors. In: Habif TP, ed. Clinical Dermatology. 5th ed. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Mosby; 2009:chap 21.
Morelli JG. Diseases of the neonate. In: Kliegman RM, Behrman RE, Jenson HB, Stanton BF, eds. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics.19th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders; 2011:chap 639.BACK TO TOP
Review Date: 11/12/2014
Reviewed By: Richard J. Moskowitz, MD, dermatologist in private practice, Mineola, NY. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Isla Ogilvie, PhD, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.
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- 2016 A.D.A.M., Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited.
|
<urn:uuid:53c01104-0407-477a-8299-1ca0c157953c>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.leememorial.org/HealthInformation/HIE%20Multimedia-TextOnly/1/000828.htm
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396887.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00152-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.895375 | 685 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Domestic violence is not confined to a nation nor to a specific religion, but is found throughout the world. In a study done for the Egyptian government, CAMPAS, found that nearly half the women in their nation has encountered physical violence from the hands of their husbands. At least 47% of female between the ages of 15 to 49 reported being victims of domestic violence. In theory the use of physical violence against a spouse is illegal under Egyptian law, but it is rare for a man to be prosecuted for hitting a wife. According to Nahmed Abu el-Qumsan of the Center for Women’s Rights, “if a woman complains, it would be considered a crime. But, if she doesn’t, the husband won’t be punished.” Naturally, few women dare risk complaining about their husbands knowing most police will not pay much attention to their complaints.
The results are not unusual for most Muslim nations where men hold power, and will not be punished for using it.
|
<urn:uuid:b9172834-b42f-47cc-a4a4-544d384f95bd>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://theimpudentobserver.com/world-news/domestic-violence-in-egypt/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392099.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00164-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.974456 | 206 | 2.625 | 3 |
RESEARCH UPDATE: BE SURE TO TAKE YOUR CALCIUM
So-called biostimulants have gained increasing attention in recent years for their apparent ability to increase turf's resistance to stresses, including drought stress. One effect of drought stress is an increase in oxidation inside plant tissue. It's thought that plants resist the destructive effects of oxidation with naturally occuring antioxidants. Biostimulants may help boost their activity, thereby protecting plants.
Biostimulants typically consist of mixtures of complex organic compounds, but there may be a simpler alternative. Researchers Yiwei Jiang of Kansas State University and Bingru Huang of Rutgers University studied the effects of calcium on drought-stressed plants and found that calcium provided protective effects that may relate to antioxidant activity.
Using tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass, the researchers treated (with foliar spray) some plants with calcium chloride and others with plain water. The plants were then subjected to drought stress and compared to others that were supplied with ample water throughout the study.
Consistently, the calcium-treated plants showed greater tolerance to drought than plants that only received the foliar water spray, as manifested by better overall quality, higher tissue water content and higher chlorophyll content.
A potential explanation for this might be that calcium directly affects osmotic (water) potential inside leaf tissue. However, the investigators looked at this and found no such effects. Rather, they found that it was increases in antioxidant activity that protected the plants against drought. One specific result of this was a more intact cell membrane, which enables the plant cells to retain tissue water more effectively.
Could calcium sprays become a practical method of protecting against drought? The potential seems to exist.
Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2016 Penton Media Inc.
|
<urn:uuid:aff8f050-4f7a-4830-982e-f9ab2c3e9319>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://grounds-mag.com/mag/grounds_maintenance_research_update_sure/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00032-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.950072 | 372 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2004 May 13
Explanation: A distinctive X-shape and ladder-like rungs appear in this Hubble Space Telescope image of the intriguing Red Rectangle Nebula. The dusty cosmic cloud was originally identified as a strong source of infrared radiation and is now believed to contain icy dust grains and hydrocarbon molecules formed in the cool outflow from an aging central star. So why does it look like a big X? A likely explanation is that the central star - actually a close pair of stars - is surrounded by a thick dust torus which pinches the otherwise spherical outflow into tip-touching cone shapes. Because we view the torus edge-on, the boundary edges of the cone shapes seem to form an X. The distinct rungs suggest the outflow occurs in fits and starts. About 2,300 light-years away toward the fanciful constellation Monoceros, the Red Rectangle nebula should be transformed into a glorious planetary nebula as its cool central star becomes a hot white dwarf over the next few thousand years. This sharp Hubble picture spans only about one third of a light-year at the distance of the Red Rectangle.
Authors & editors:
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
|
<urn:uuid:23faf50a-9e76-4561-8f99-ff50559c88d5>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~apod/apod/ap040513.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403823.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00092-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.901569 | 312 | 3.65625 | 4 |
Parliament is dissolved! By whom? By whom was Parliament elected? By the voters of Great Britain and Ireland. Was it then the voters of Great Britain and Ireland who called upon Parliament to dissolve? No, it was the Prime Minister of England, Lord Salisbury to wit, whom nobody elected and who is incapable under the laws of his country of being a parliamentary representative; it was this gentleman with whom lay the power of putting an end to the deliberations of Parliament and sending its members back to the ordeal of the hustings.
This ridiculous situation is highly illustrative of many anomalies and absurdities with which the English Constitution abounds. Eulogised by its supporters as the most perfect constitution yet evolved it is in reality so full of illogical and apparently impossible provisions and conditions that if presented to the reasoning mind as the basis of a workable constitution for a new country it would be laughed out of court as too ridiculous to consider.
Let us examine a few of its provisions in order that we may the more effectively contrast this parliamentary democracy with the democracy of the revolutionist. Parliament is elected by the voters of Great Britain and Ireland. When elected that party which counts the greatest number of followers is presumed to form the Cabinet as representing a majority of the electorate. But it by no means follows that a majority in the House represents a majority of the people. In many constituencies for instance where there are more than two candidates for a seat it frequently happens that although a candidate polls a larger vote than either of his opponents and so obtains the seat, yet he only represents a minority of the constituents as the vote cast for his two opponents if united would be much greater than his own. The cabinet formed out of the members of the party strongest numerically constitutes the government of the country and as such has full control of our destinies during its term of office. But the Cabinet is not elected by the Parliament, voted for by the people, nor chosen by its own party. The Cabinet is chosen by the gentleman chosen by the Sovereign as the leader of the strongest party. The gentleman so chosen after a consultation with the Queen (who perhaps detests both him and his party) selects certain of his own followers, and invests them with certain positions, and salaries, and so forms the Cabinet.
The Cabinet controls the government and practically dictates the laws, yet the Cabinet itself is unknown to the law and is not recognised by the Constitution. In fact the Cabinet is entirely destitute of any legal right to existence. Yet although outside the law and unknown to the Constitution it possesses the most fearful powers, such as the declaration of war, and can not be prevented by the elected representatives of the people from committing the nation to the perpetration of any crime it chooses. After the crime has been perpetrated Parliament can repudiate when it meets the acts of Cabinet, but in the meanwhile nations have been invaded, governments overturned, and territories devastated with fire and sword.
The powers of Parliament are also somewhat arbitrary and ill-defined. Every general election is fought on one or two main issues, and on these alone. It may be the Franchise, it may be Temperance, it may be Home Rule, or any other question, but when Parliament has received from the electors its mandate on that one question it arrogates to itself the right to rule and decide on every other question without the slightest reference to the wishes of the electorate.
If Parliament, elected to carry out the wishes of the electors on one question, chooses to act in a manner contrary to the wishes of the electors in a dozen other questions, the electors have no redress except to wait for another general election to give them the opportunity to return other gentlemen under similar conditions and with similar opportunities of evil-doing.
The democracy of Parliament is in short the democracy of Capitalism. Capitalism gives to the worker the right to choose his master, but insists that the fact of mastership shall remain unquestioned; Parliamentary Democracy gives to the worker the right to a voice in the selection of his rulers but insists that he shall bend as a subject to be ruled. The fundamental feature of both in their relation to the worker is that they imply his continued subjection to a ruling class once his choice of the personnel of the rulers is made.
But the freedom of the revolutionist will change the choice of rulers which we have to-day into the choice of administrators of laws voted upon directly by the people; and will also substitute for the choice of masters (capitalists) the appointment of reliable public servants under direct public control. That will mean true democracy the industrial democracy of the Socialist Republic.
|
<urn:uuid:e461d99c-3b4c-4e91-a57c-a6809aeb86be>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/E900002-016/index.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00034-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.975293 | 931 | 3.09375 | 3 |
New research claims that exercise can actually delay the aging process. Reuters reports:
Twenty years ago, Dr. R. J. Shephard of the University of Toronto in Ontario and his colleagues proposed that adequate aerobic capacity was a key factor in helping very old people to maintain a high quality of life and live independently. In a review published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Shephard analyzes the latest data on the issue.So, what are you waiting for? Get moving! And why not give these exercises a try:
Regular aerobic exercise improves the body's ability to take in oxygen and use it, but a person's maximal aerobic power falls steady as people age.
According to Shephard, studies of aerobic training response in older people have shown that workouts, especially more intense physical activity maintained for a longer duration, can improve aerobic power. In fact, seven studies of this type of exercise found people's aerobic power increased nearly 25 percent -- equivalent to reversing 12 years' worth of aging-related loss of fitness.
Based on his review, Shephard concludes that elderly people who engage in progressive aerobic training can maintain their independence longer, in effect by turning back the clock on the loss of aerobic fitness that occurs with aging.
|
<urn:uuid:c34ec11a-5b3e-4fda-8638-d1afcf7c9bcb>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/exercise-exercise-fountain-of-youth.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396875.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00145-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.953237 | 252 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Energy is a quantity that is constant, that is it does not change with time, for any closed system.
Energy is a scalar quantity, that is it is independent of direction.
Energy can exist in different forms and can sometimes be exchanged between these forms, examples of types of energy are:
Energy by virtue of being on a force field. for example gravity, electric and magnetic fields have the potential to do work.
Energy by virtue of motion, for a particle it is 0.5 * m * v2
- m = mass (scalar quantity)
- v = velocity (we can use the scalar modulus of velocity or if we use multivectors squaring a velocity vector will give a scalar quantity)
For a solid body it is more complicated because rotating solid objects also have kinetic energy, the kinetic energy of a rotating object can be calculated by summing the linear energy of all its particles. However we cannot get the total kinetic energy of a solid body just add the kinetic energy due to rotation to the kinetic energy due to linear motion. We must add another factor to give this equation:
T = 0.5 m v2 + 0.5 wt [I] w + m(v(w x r))
this is derived here.
At the molecular level this is the kinetic energy of the particles that make up the object, so this is a form of kinetic energy.
Such as sound, light, water waves. This is due to oscillation between other types of energy.
This is a form of potential energy due to the molecular bonds.
The kinetic energy of electrons in an electric field.
Since we are talking about classical mechanics on most of this site then we usually assume that mass is constant. However, if we need to take into account the effects of Einstein's special relativity then energy can be converted into mass and mass into energy given by E=m c2
One definition of energy is the ability to do work, where work is force times distance:
work = force • d displacement
- • = dot product
- d = differential operator
- displacement = change in position vector
- force = force vector
I'm not sure this is a strictly valid definition, the second law of thermodynamics suggests that not all forms of energy can be turned into mechanical work?
Momentum is a quantity that is constant for any closed system (like energy).
Momentum is a vector quantity, that is, it has components in x,y and z dimensions (unlike energy) momentum in one dimension cannot be converted to momentum in another dimension, so momentum is conserved in x dimension and it is separately conserved in y and z dimensions.
Momentum cannot be converted to different forms (unlike energy) although momentum can be exchanged between different masses when they interact by means of forces or collisions. For any closed system the total momentum is always constant.
Angular momentum is constant for any closed system (provided that the angular momentum of every object in the system is measured about the same fixed point).
Angular momentum is a vector quantity, it has components about the x,y and z axes (any mutually perpendicular axes) momentum in one dimension cannot be converted to momentum in another dimension, so momentum is conserved in x dimension and it is separately conserved in y and z dimensions.
Angular Momentum is conserved independently of linear momentum. If a force exists between two objects or the objects collide then both angular momentum and linear momentum may be transferred between the objects but neither the angular momentum or the linear momentum of the total system will change. See these examples.
|
<urn:uuid:cb56d2bd-de68-4215-9827-5bed4a0a9dd1>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.euclideanspace.com/physics/dynamics/energy/index.htm
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391634.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00139-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.923908 | 748 | 3.5625 | 4 |
From a 1914 newspaper, the “Daily Herald,” depicting “Miss Davison.” By Will Dyson.
. . .such as the UK’s Emily Davidson who threw herself in front of the King’s horse. More is coming out about Davison and the details of her life, inlcuding the tale of how Davison hid herself in a crypt so she could use Parliament as her home address as a way to lobby for the vote. The posting comments are as interesting as the researcher’s report.
The film clip of Emily Davison’s dramatic protest is well known, and the clip of her funeral procession in London impacts us as only film can do.
Did you know about the picketing of the White House by suffragists? This is a story we can’t tell often enough. The headquarters of the National Woman’s Party in Washington, DC (aka the Sewall-Belmont House & Museum) has prepared this video using some archival images many people have not seen.
These wonderful and energetic folks at the Sewall-Bemont House & Museum have launched a virtual campaign called “Share Your Story. Save HerStory.” It’s precisely the kind of campaign that builds leadership through stories of the suffrage movement, which is the mission of Suffrage Wagon News Channel.
Contact Elisabeth Crum at 202-546-1210 ext, 17, or send her an email with your answers to the following questions: “Why is woman suffrage important to you? Why will you vote this year? Who are the women (past and present) who inspire you to vote? What do you think women should know about the WNP and how will that move them to vote in 2012?” Stories will be collected as blog posts, video, Facebook, and Twitterview. For more information.
I’ll be participating in the story campaign. What about you? Stay up to date with news and stories of the suffrage movement: suffragewagon.org
Posted in 19th amendment, 60-Second History Lesson, right to vote, suffragist, Votes for Women, White House Picketing, woman's suffrage, women suffrage, Women's Suffrage, women's history
Tagged Alice Paul, suffrage movement, suffragists, Votes for Women, Women's History, women's suffrage
“History Detectives” was a great way to begin the week, along with Louise Bernikow’s article for the Women’s Media Center about this deep dark hole of our history. You can watch the “History Detectives” show online after the fact.
Part of the thrill of doing this work is when my grandmother Edna Kearns speaks to me, when I can hear her voice above the noise and chatter of present day. Above all, she’s saying, “Don’t give up. Lucretia Mott took a lot of flack in her day from people who said she wanted too much too soon. And take Susan B. Anthony as an example. Ridiculed often, she never wavered from her goal.” Hefty advice for the days when we feel overwhelmed, isolated, discouraged. Hang in there, says Grandmother.
Notes pioneer women’s historian Anne Firor Scott: “It is worth trying to understand the past because in the process of doing so one learns so much about the possibilities and mysteries of human existence at the same time one is learning how partial and incomplete is even the most careful reconstruction of lives, events, and social movements. Sometimes I am willing to say, with Leonard Woolf, The Journey Not the Arrival Matters.” (From Making the Invisible Woman Visible.)
Anne Firor Scott’s interview with North Carolina Public Radio commentator Frank Stasio is worth a listen. Scott speaks about her life, women’s history, teaching and her perspective on the current state of affairs in the world. She reminds us that scholars and history buffs aren’t escapists in the sense that we prefer to live in the past instead of the present. Rather, we reach out to bridge the past with the present and extract the lessons meant for us today.
Posted in 19th amendment, 60-Second History Lesson, Edna Buckman Kearns, suffragette, suffragist, Susan B. Anthony, Votes for Women, voting rights, woman's suffrage, Women's Suffrage, women's history
The location of one such fiery debate was identified as the corner of North Ocean Avenue and Main Street in Patchogue, NY as part of the campaigning to open up Long Island to more suffrage organizing. The Votes for Women activists held parades, spoke on street corners and from the back seats of automobiles, as well as horse-drawn wagons. At times their presence in town was heightened with a live band. See entire article from the archives of Edna Buckman Kearns that includes the details of a shouting match between the women and a man on the street. Edna witnessed the event, and it was her job at the Brooklyn Daily Eagle to write about it.
I don’t remember when I first learned about the Canadian suffrage movement at school, but I do remember that politics were often discussed in our home. We lived in a very small farming community and the community hall, where elections were held, was across the street. Not all members of the family had the same voting preferences and should one of the females express a different opinion, teasing would follow about how terrible things were since women had been given the right to vote. But voting was taken seriously, and it was fully expected that each person who could vote would do so. I remember some farmers whose X signatures had to be witnessed because they could not write their names. At school, we had Civil Studies and held class elections. Much of the information I know comes from stories about the lives of these and other pioneer women I read after graduating from college.
On January 27, 1914, Nellie McClung and several hundred supporters filled the Legislative Building in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Nellie delivered the message: “We are not here to ask for a reform or a gift or a favor, but for a right–not for mercy but for justice.”
FOR MORE FROM BARBARA ALLISEN
Posted in 60-Second History Lesson, Canadian suffrage movement, Nellie McClung, right to vote, suffragette, suffragist, Votes for Women, voting rights, woman's suffrage, women suffrage, Women's Suffrage, women's history
It’s all in the telling, and the suffragists are believed to have written their own version of the tale. In March of 1913. U.S. President-elect Woodrow Wilson arrived at the train station in Washington, DC all geared up for his inauguration ceremony. He expected to be the center of attention, but he wasn’t. “Where are the people?” he is alleged to have asked. The response: “On the Avenue watching the suffragists parade.”
Doris Stevens in her book, “Jailed for Freedom,” tells the story as fact. Here’s her story about the parade in a two-minute clip. The reading is brought to us by Librivox.
Barnstorming for Votes for Women on Long Island, my grandmother Edna Buckman Kearns didn’t leave a stone unturned in her campaigning for Votes for Women. This photo is from a New York State suffrage publication, showing her to the right holding an umbrella.
|
<urn:uuid:fd2ef2a6-0ddc-4891-805c-473946d022b2>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
https://suffragewagon.wordpress.com/category/suffragist/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399522.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00196-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.963987 | 1,602 | 3.359375 | 3 |
The mission of the Triangle Fire Coalition is to create a living memorial to remember not only the people who died but the powerful social conscience and action that their deaths inspired. The site features an Open Archive where users can share document, image, audio or video that relates to the Triangle Fire, and information about commemoration events and activities including the official 100th Anniversary Commemoration organized by Workers United.
Housed at the Kheel Center, this archive includes original documents, oral histories, and photographs documenting tragedy. The site also includes audio recordings of first-hand accounts from survivors and a selected bibliography.
Co-organized with by the Education and Labor Collaborative at Adelphi, this year-long commemoration of the Triangle Factory Fire features an exhibition, theater project, and community blog.
Located in the same building complex where the fire took place, this exhibition co-curated by graduate students in NYU's Programs in Museum Studies explores both historic and contemporary efforts to document the tragedy.
Sweatshops and factory fires are not just a tragedy of the past. In recent years a series of fires in factories producing clothing for the U.S. market have killed hundreds of workers in Bangladesh. Visit sweatfree.org/trianglefire to learn about upcoming events with workers from Bangladesh and to take action on urgent action alerts to support the just and humane treatment of workers worldwide.
Also visit: Sweatfree communities to learn more.
OSHA's mission is to ensure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance. Many of these present day standards are the result of reforms made in the aftermath of the Triangle Factory Fire. To learn more about some of these reforms, view this infographic from SEIU.
The New York City Triangle Factory Fire by Leigh Benin, Rob Linne, Adrienne Sosin, Joel Sosinsky, HBO Documentary Films, 2011
Triangle: The Fire That Changed America by David von Drehle, 2008
No Sweat: Fashion, Free Trade, and the Rights of Garment Workers, by Andrew Ross, 1997
The Triangle Fire by Leon Stein, 1962
Preliminary Report of the Factory Investigating Commission, State of New York, 1912
Fire: Best American Essays, 2002, page numbers 165 - 186 (October, 2002) by Amy Kolen
Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 - HR 1
This act makes appropriations for departments and agencies of the Government for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2011, and for other purposes. According to the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE), HR 1 will reduce OSHA funding "to Fiscal Year 2004 funding levels."
The main goal of OSHA is ‘to ensure that employers provide employees with an environment free from recognized hazards, such as exposure to toxic chemicals, excessive noise levels, mechanical dangers, heat or cold stress, or unsanitary conditions.'
Fair Labor Standards Act (1938)
This law established ‘minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting employees in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments.'
National Labor Relations Act (1935)
This law established the right of workers to bargain collectively, defined unfair labor practices, and created the National Labor Relations Board to oversee the process of unionizing, and investigate and protect workers from unfair labor practices.
|
<urn:uuid:0c2e573f-af76-4d79-8d39-3b7a9c255ef3>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/triangle-remembering-the-fire/detail/resources.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394605.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00010-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.921182 | 699 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Chris Smith: Words & Music
Instruction: Modes and modal substitutions
Determining modes and modal substitutions
Irish traditional dance melodies are primarily based on a "vocabulary" that takes its distinctive sound from the use of four "modes": collections of pitches which span the octave but have different relationships, and therefore different sounds, then the familiar major/minor scales. This article explains modes, and discusses harmonic implications, especially in the issue of chord substitutions.
Certain modes have certain cultural associations, but that is only because of our own background as listeners: major sounds "happy" to us and minor "sad" because we have a bunch of associations with specific pieces or styles of music which use those connotations. Other cultures have other associations.
However, to the Western ear, the following are some common associations with the various modes. Note that these associations are not necessarily emotional (though medieval theorists loved to argue that these things were objective, not subjective), but rather associations with idioms or geographical styles.
Ionian (the familiar "doh reh mi" scale): 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Western, diatonic, classical music, American folk songs (some)
Dorian: 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7
Medieval music, plainchant, American old-timey music, lots of Irish repertoire (note that Dorian is the commonest "minor mode" employed in these last two)
Phrygian: 1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7
Spanish music and flamenco
Lydian: 1 2 3 #4 5 6 7
Lots of Bulgarian and South European music; new classical music
Mixolydian: 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7
Irish and American old-timey repertoire, Scots music (especially pipe music), medieval music
Aeolian 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7
Euro-American classical music (commonest "minor mode"), some American folksongs, some English folksongs
Locrian 1 b2 b3 4 b5 b6 b7 Highly dissonant, not widely used in anything except new classical music.
Understanding the mode of a given tune by ear or from notation
There are several different factors at play here, and these factors interact differently in different tunes. So you need to use deductive reasoning to figure out how things are interacting in a particular tune.
Also, we need to beware of being too literal or rigid in applying Western Classical terminology and notational tools to ITM. They can provide useful insights and organizing principles, but we need to realize that ITM is only in selective ways related to the Classical tradition; not all of these "foreign" tools and concepts work consistently.
1) Notation: even if the notation you see for a tune has a specific number of sharps or flats indicated in the key signature (say, for E Dorian, 2 sharps), that does _not_ necessarily mean that the tune stays rigidly in E Dorian, or that the tune necessarily conforms to E Dorian in all particulars. Here are 2 scenarios in which you might see a specific key signature (say, 2 sharps) and nevertheless find that "non-diatonic" chords (eg, chords from outside that pitch set) work better.
Look at the melody itself. Using the example of E Dorian, and leaving aside _whatever_ is indicated in they key signature, does the tune actually include a C# or F#? Does it, by contrast, include a C natural or F natural? The person who notated the tune has to make a choice about what key signature is required, but this can be highly subjective. Perhaps the tune actually includes only a C natural? or a C natural in one place and a C sharp in another?
Again, look at the tune. Does it in fact include ANY kind of C (eg, either C# or C natural)? Very often Irish tunes are written in what a Western theorist would call "gapped modes:" modes that contain fewer than 7 notes. Perhaps the tune doesn't use C natural OR C#; hence, the tune could be said to be in either
E Dorian: E-F#-G-A-B-(C#)-D -E 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7 1
E Aeolian: E-F#-G-A-B-(C natural)-D -E 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 1
In this case, you can make a subjective choice: take advantage of the "missing" 6th degree, and use either the chords from E Dorian or those from E Aeolian. Or mix and match them. Or use "E Dorian chords" in one repeat of the tune, and "E Aeolian chords" in another repeat.
Even if the tune unequivocally uses C#'s in the melody, you can still make a C major triad (C-E-G) work as a _substitution_ for the Em triad. This is because C major (C-E-G) shares 2 of 3 notes in common with Em (E-G-B). Generally speaking, any chord which shares 2 notes of 3 with another chord can be used interchangeably with that other chord. Even if you're using A major triads (A-C#-E), drawn from the E Dorian chords, at other points in the tune, the ear can accept the appearance of the C# (in the A triad) in one place, and the C natural (in the C triad) in another. The point is to choose chords which fit the particular phrases they are accompanying. So if you have the melody phrase B-e-e-d where the B and the e are the important, accented notes, you can harmonize that phrase with Em (E-G-B), but you can also get away with substituting the bVI major chord (C-E-G), because both contain the note e, and because Em and C major share 2 of 3 notes.
You can actually discover many other substitutions that function for combinations of the above reasons. In E Dorian, for example, the following substitutions can work--note, however, that just because they CAN work does not necessarily eman that they are especially artful or musical in all circumstances:
Em F#m Gmaj Amaj Bm C#dim Dmaj Em
i min ii min bIII IV v min vi dim bVII i min
i min <-> bIII (Em) (Gmaj)
bIII <-> v min (Gmaj) (Bm)
ii min <-> bVII (F#m) (Dmaj)
ii min <-> IV (F#m) (Amaj)
All modes, and all chords built on those modes, will have similar available substitutions. By figuring out which chords in a given "family" share 2 of 3 notes, you can discover many new combinations of chord progressions and substitutions. These can provide new ideas and new chordal colors, as well as new basslines and harmonization possibilities.
Try figuring out all the chord qualities (I-II-III-IV-V-VI-VII) for each of the four Celtic modes (Ionian, Mixolydian, Dorian, Aeolian), and then figuring out the patterns of substitution in each mode. Realize that the relationships between chords in a particular mode will be the same, even if the tonic note/tonal center change (eg: the I-thru-VII chord qualities, and available substitutions, will be the same in E Dorian, D Dorian, A Dorian, and so on).
Be aware, however, that not all melody players appreciate this kind of chord substitution (which is a prized skill in jazz). So you'll want to be sensitive to the preferences of the melody players who you're accompanying.
|
<urn:uuid:09745484-c025-4419-968c-530c83b22aff>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://coyotebanjo.com/music-38.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00034-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.91791 | 1,667 | 3.578125 | 4 |
Strong, durable materials are hard to recycle—they're designed to stand up to abuse. But research chemists at an IBM laboratory just published their discovery of a never-before-seen family of polymers that's super strong, self-healing, lightweight, and easy to recycle. And it was discovered completely by accident.
Dr. Jeannette Garcia was mixing up a standard recipe for a plastic polymer at an IBM lab when she inadvertently left out an ingredient. When she returned to the beaker later, the liquid mix had turned into a white plastic so strong, it couldn't be removed with a grinder. Dr. Garcia had to smash the beaker with a hammer to get the polymer out.
IBM says Dr. Garcia's plastic is the first distinctly new type of polymer created in decades—most of the new polymers created in recent years are simply variations on materials synthesized many years ago. The new family, code-named "Titan," is a type of thermoset polymer, formed under heat to create a 3D network of bonds that's as rigid as bone.
Unlike other types of thermoset polymers, however, IBM's accidental discovery is utterly recyclable, a huge and unexpected benefit in a class of materials built to be ultra-tough. "Thermosets are designed to be exceptionally stable in terms of temperature and mechanical properties; they are not designed to be reversible," said Dr. Timothy Long, a chemistry professor at Virginia Tech. "To think about materials that have all of these properties, and which are also recyclable, is an advance."
There's still plenty of research to be done, and you won't see Titan-based polymers in consumer products any time soon. But this accidental discovery shows that it's possible to create strong, self-healing materials that are durable when needed, but can be broken down and recycled when the job is done. You just have to make some mistakes along the way. [Science via The New York Times]
Image: Shutterstock / anyaivanova
|
<urn:uuid:920433fc-7348-43c9-b08d-15cc9598f22e>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://gizmodo.com/ibm-lab-accidentally-makes-new-type-of-super-strong-re-1577396689
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408828.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00090-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.966589 | 421 | 3.328125 | 3 |
The parent_type var
Introducing Paths and Types
One of the first big ideas a programmer new to DM has to learn is the difference between the usr and src vars. Both of these variables hold a mob as their value and equal when dealing with verbs attached to mobs. However, understanding the difference between them is an important step toward mastering the language.
DM also has two very similar features in its object tree: types and paths. The two are related, and are the exact same thing in most projects on BYOND, but there is a difference, and understanding that difference gives a developer a set of powerful tools to work with. Before you understand how paths and types are different, though, you first have to understand what each represents.Top
The Object Tree
If you've ever used the Dream Maker program, you're probably already familiar with the path tree; it is represented graphically in the left panel of the code editor (with the "Object" tab selected). If you haven't done so already, select the box "Show all nodes", now the entire path tree is visible. Here we can see various root nodes, like /mob, /obj, or /datum, and everything that we've defined under those nodes (like /mob/player, or /obj/sword). All of these are at the top of their path tree, which branches out underneath the root node (so "mob" would be a root node, which would then branch out to "mob/player" underneath, forming a tree structure).
If you've been using DM for a while, you're probably also familiar with the inheritance tree, which is made up of types (it could also be called the type tree). You're probably already familiar with the fact that objs and mobs both inherit from /atom/movable. You probably also know that /atom/movable, /area, and /turf all inherit from /atom. If you've been using DM for a while, you may also know that all objects inherit from /datum (well, there are some quirky exceptions, such as /world, but that's beyond the scope of this article). The important thing to notice is that, while the path tree had multiple root nodes, the inheritance tree has one root node: /datum.
At any one specific node, the type of an object and its path are equal. So, the type of a /mob is /mob, and its path is /mob. Beyond that, each word has a different meaning. Path refers to how the object is defined in the code file. We can think of an object's path as how DM finds the object in the object tree, its address. Type refers to the entire line of inheritance going all the way back to /datum. So for /mob, its full type is /datum/atom/movable/mob. We can think of an object's type as its family history.Top
The parent_type var
So what is the difference? If our player object has the path /mob/player, and it inherits from /mob, aren't they the same thing? In this example they are, but they don't have to be. Every object in DM has a parent_type variable which determines what the object inherits from. Using the parent_type variable allows us to change the inheritance tree to whatever we want, while the path tree remains the same. Consider the following example.
strength = 3
strength = 5
for(var/mob/target in range(1))
strength = 2
verb/shoot_arrow(mob/target as mob in view())
parent_type = /mob/elf
strength = 3
desc = "pwns all"
shoot_arrow(mob/target as mob in view())
if(rand(1,4) <= 3) // Do the normal thing 3/4s of the time
else // One out of four times, go crazy and bash things.
for(var/mob/target in range(1))
In this example, the path to dark_elf is /mob/dark_elf, but dark_elf's type is /mob/elf/dark_elf (or, more exactly, /datum/atom/movable/mob/elf/dark_elf). dark_elf now inherits directly from /mob/elf, even though its type path is different. What this means is that we can place any object anywhere, and let it inherit from anywhere else. Though I can't think of a reason why you'd ever want to write something like the following example, it's good to show that such a thing can be done.
var/potency = 1
verb/use(mob/target as mob in view())
potency = 10
use(mob/target as mob in view())
// Heal the target 10 hp.
use(mob/target as mob in view())
potency = 3
potency = 1
parent_type = /mob/dark_elf
strength = 300
// What's a /mob doing under /obj?
Here, darkest_elf isn't even an /obj, yet it can reside right there with the swords and knives as if it were a valid weapon. In fact, we can even instantiate it like in the following example.
var/obj/item/weapon/darkest_elf/new_elf = new(loc)
world << new_elf.desc
If you compile and run that verb, you should see the text "pwns all".Top
Type != Path
Though at this point it may seem redundant to state that paths and types are different, it is very important that we understand exactly how DM treats each of them. In many places DM seems like it wants a path, it's actually asking for a type. Consider the locate() proc.
world << locate(/obj/item/weapon) in view()
This test verb will locate /obj/item/weapon, /obj/item/weapon/sword, and /obj/item/weapon/knife, but it will never locate /obj/item/weapon/darkest_elf. Though darkest_elf and the other weapons are all in the same place on the path tree, they are in completely different places on the inheritance tree. So we see that locate(), even though we supply it with a path, deals with types. In fact, most places that use paths in that manner are actually dealing with types:
- locate(), when in the form of "locate(/type) in list", will search for objects which inherit from /type, whether or not they are located under /type in the path tree.
- for() loops, when in the form of "for(var/type/T in list)", will loop through all objects which inherit from /type, whether or not they are located under /type in the path tree.
- ismob(), and the other atomic 'is' procs, all deal with types, not paths.
- istype() deals with types, not paths.
- ispath(), when supplied with a second argument, also deals with types, not paths (even though you'd think otherwise).
These various behaviors won't make much sense until you start working with parent_type on a regular basis, and can be the cause of a great many problems when debugging a project. When in doubt, set up a simple test program to determine exactly how a proc functions.Top
The Benefits of parent_type
Up to this point we have discussed how to use parent_type, the difference between path and type, and some potential problems with procs. What we haven't discussed is why parent_type might be useful in a project.
The largest and most immediate benefit is that we get to define objects the way we want to, putting them where we want in the code, and giving them the line of inheritance our project needs. Beyond this, parent_type can also help to make a project clean, extensible, and modular.Top
The parent_type variable gives us the ability to keep important objects within reach. We've already seen how mobs inherit through datum -> atom -> movable -> mob, but isn't it convenient that we can just type /mob? I would certainly hate to have to type /datum/atom/movable/mob every time I wanted to access a mob. I remember the first project I ever made in DM, Peregrine City. I defined NPCs as /mob/player/special/npc, and was annoyed every time I wanted to deal with them. It was important that NPCs inherit from all those nodes, but I used NPCs enough that they should have been closer. If I were writing Peregrine City today, I would define NPCs like in the following example.
parent_type = /mob/player/special
One of the first things I do in any project now-a-days is to define the base objects I'll be working with, and put those at the root. It's like having my own atomic set close at hand, so I don't have to go digging through the path tree every time I want to use a /unit or a /room. Using parent_type can help to prevent us from becoming confused or lost in our own project.Top
Imagine that you have made a successful RPG, but you woke up today wanting to add a house system. You want players to be able to build houses with furniture and pets in them. So you open up Dream Maker and add the house system. You compile your game and host it. Everything goes fine until a player puts a pet into his house, and suddenly it starts attacking him, causing fatal runtime errors once he dies. What happened? The game worked fine before the house system was added, and there's absolutely nothing in the house system about attacking. Looking back through some of the game's oldest code, you find the following section:
Ever logged into a game and, before the icons have even loaded, you have access to all the social verbs? This is an example of inextensible code.
The first thing this game's programmer ever did was to add a say verb, right there on /mob. This test verb stayed at /mob/verb while the programmer added combat, shops, guilds, etc.. When he wanted to add a new verb, he added it right to /mob/verb with the rest of them.
The only problem is that clients are connected to a mob from the very instant they log into the game. Had the programmer defined these verbs under something like /mob/player right from the start, and kept /mob clean, new players wouldn't be able to spam the world with wsay messages and marriage proposals from right there at the title screen.
That code works fine in a game where all mobs without clients are monsters, but the moment we want to add pet mobs, the entire system is broken. The project wasn't extensible, because new features couldn't be added without breaking old features. I could devote an entire article (or series of books even) just to writing extensible code, but that's beyond the scope of this article. Suffice to say that code should be written so that new features can be added without making any changes to old code. If old features have to be rewritten every time something is added, the project isn't extensible.
Most projects on BYOND are not extensible, because most everyone defines important code right there at /mob (or /turf, or any of the other root nodes). If I define /mob one way, and you define /mob another, our two programs will never work together. Remember where I said that one of the first things I do in any project is to define important objects at the root? One of the main reasons for this is to avoid just such a situation. Even if we decide (when first writing the game) that all mobs will be able to fight, and we define a /combatant object which we use for players, monsters, and everything else, our project is still extensible. Later, when we want to add houses and pets, we can go back and use /mob without having to worry about our combat system. The following example shows our combatants and pets living peacefully.
combatant parent_type = /mob New() .=..() if(!client) find_and_kill_players() pet parent_type = /mob New() .=..() purr_and_be_cuddly()
The atomic types (area, turf, obj, and mob in particular) are the basic building blocks of our worlds, so it's important to keep them clean. Once you break them in one place (for instance, by tying all mobs to a rigid combat system) they're broken in all parts of the code, and can't be used for anything else. Extensible code is code that has a future.Top
All the other points mentioned in this article are good to know for their own sake. Understanding the way DM internally treats types and paths can really shed some light on the language, and writing clean extensible projects is a good practice in and of itself, but the real beauty of using parent_type is in writing modules.
A module is an independent section of code, capable of functioning in a specific way all on its own. Modules, if programmed correctly, can be taken from one project and put into any other, and they will still function (so long as the new project is extensible, as discussed in the previous section). What is more important is that modules can be changed internally, even changed drastically, so long as the input and output remains consistent. Imagine that every day you go to the local diner, and order Waffles and Maple Syrup. One day the diner is sold, and the new owners install all new equipment, and hire new cooks. You walk in order your regular Waffles and Maple Syrup, and they come out to you just like they always have. You don't know, or even care, that the waffle iron is new, or that they're using a different brand of butter; all that you care about is your order (the input) and the waffles you get in return (the output). In this case, the diner is a module, one which can be changed internally without effecting the rest of its environment.
The diner wasn't always this sophisticated, though. Would you believe that at one point, it was just a guy on the street with Waffles in his pocket? Don't believe me? Here's the code:
desc = "Tasty Waffly Goodness"
if("Waffles and Maple Syrup")
return new /obj/waffle()
One day that man decided to open his own shop, but he realized that he would need his own building, a waffle iron, cooks, and wait staff. He didn't want to have to run to the store every time he needed a new waffle, he wanted to have everything right there. At that moment his diner became a module.
parent_type = /area
parent_type = /mob
verb/order(request in list("Waffles and Maple Syrup", "Scrambled Eggs and Coffee"))
var/diner/staff/cook/cook = locate() in view(5,src)
if(request == "Waffles and Maple Syrup")
meal_type = /diner/breakfast/waffles
else if(request == "Scrambled Eggs and Coffee")
meal_type = /diner/breakfast/scrambled_eggs
var/diner/breakfast/meal = cook.make_food(meal_type)
var/diner/breakfast/meal = new request()
parent_type = /obj
meal.raw = FALSE
parent_type = /obj
cooking_time // number
price // number
raw = TRUE
desc = "Tasty Waffly Goodness"
cooking_time = 4
price = 2
desc = "Bland Mushy Yellow stuff"
cooking_time = 6
price = 3
The diner example above is a bit lengthy, and can be hard to decipher at first. I would suggest putting it into Dream Maker and playing with it for a while. The important thing to notice is that the diner object, /diner, resides at the root, and defines all the other objects it will need to operate. It is a module, acting on its own, without relying on other blocks of code, or changing other blocks of code. This module could be picked up and put into any other project without causing problems (provided that the other project is extensible), or, it could be changed internally without effecting the project it is in.
Another important feature of this module is that its input and output didn't change. In both cases, you walk up to a person and use the order verb, and you are then given a meal in return. The internal process changed (perhaps to become more stable, to fix a bug, or because of threats from the health department), and the number of foods available was increased, but old code relying on the old behavior will still execute without any problems.
One last thing to notice about the above example. The /diner object has started to define its own sub-module, the /cook object. The cook module has started to define a class of objects called appliances. Right now these are thinly defined, but may be fleshed out in future incarnations of the diner. The rest of the project doesn't care, though; the only object that will ever use them is the /cook object.
After all, a menu system should never intrude into the diner and start redefining how waffle irons work, and you don't need a waitress defining core aspects of your battle system. Keeping all these systems as self contained modules prevents a small change in one place from destroying complex systems all throughout your project.Top
A Note on Libraries
Perhaps the most important time to program modularly is in the production of libraries: A library's code should intrude as little as possible on any environments which might include it. A library should include as little root nodes as possible, and should only include ones that the user will use directly. Any object your library uses behind the scenes should be subtyped by the main object which uses it.
The same is true for variables and procs. Only variables which the user should have direct access to should be defined at the root, and you should generally keep the number of such global variables close to zero. Libraries also often contain global procs as part of the functionality provided. That being said, any procs used internally by the library shouldn't clutter the global procs list. If users have to dig through a lot of junk they don't understand (and in the worst cases, they don't even know where it came from), then they won't use your library. Remember that your library may be included in other libraries, and any clutter you've failed to clean up will be compounded by the clutter of the other libraries.
As a general rule, you should try and "hide" as much of your library as possible. Think of a microwave oven: Most of us have no clue how a microwave actually produces the waves which cook our food, and that's fine; as long as we know how to use it (put the food in, close the door, press a button) we don't need to know why it works. Your library should function in the same way, and programming it as a module will do just that.Top
An Example: B17
As an example of what programming modularly can do, I've included a game designed to be clean, extensible, and modular. The entire game resides under one root node, /b17, which defines all the other objects and procs it needs to function.
B17: Solo Fortress source
First things first. Open the environment and uncheck the file 'demo.dm', then compile (you may need to upgrade your version of BYOND to the latest beta for features such as winset() and SEE_PIXELS). Note that the entire game resides snugly under the node /b17, and that each node in the project is an actual object which does something important in the game. In other words, /b17 isn't just a container for other objects that make a game, /b17 is a game object which further defines all the other objects it needs to run. Because the game doesn't define anything at /mob, /datum, or any of the other basic types, multiple games made in this way can reside in the same environment without conflicting.
Now, to see if it really works. Re-include the file 'demo.dm', and compile. If you look in the demo file, you'll see that it defines a basic "wrapper" world for the game to exist in; this world provides a simple skin, entry and exit points for the game, and a nice title screen. Run the .dmb and choose Game->Start from the menu (you may also want to adjust your display size). Standard movement keys to move, Center to drop bombs.
Read through demo.dm until you get a feel for how to interact with the /b17 object. Once you've got a feel for it, and maybe have written your own version of demo.dm, try including B17: Solo Fortress as a mini-game in one of your worlds.Top
|
<urn:uuid:30d7cc4d-b3ce-4290-ba0a-3d108efe6655>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.byond.com/forum/?post=36663
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00132-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.941102 | 4,483 | 3.03125 | 3 |
1 Answer | Add Yours
This scene, which features the main courtship of Ferdinand and Miranda, raises many interesting issues that are central to the play as a whole. One of the crucial things it is important to remember is the role of Prospero in this scene. Even though the main action of the scene only concerns his daughter and his future son-in-law, Prospero, as always, is present, cloaked in invisibility, as he stagemanages what occurs on his island and ensures that his will becomes reality. This is a central theme of the play, as Prospero is a figure who is shown to have immense authority and power on his island as he uses his own magic and his control of Ariel to effectively divide the different groups and supervise them, bringing them together according to his will and enacting a resolution as he desires in his timing. Note Prospero's words at the very end of this scene:
So glad of this as they I cannot be,
Who are suprised with all; but my rejoicing
At nothing can be more.
Prospero says that although he cannot share in Ferdinand and Miranda's gladness because it comes from surprise, he is definitely able to rejoice with them. He is not surprised because the union of his daughter and Ferdinand is something he has planned. His total control of the island allows him to bring this plan to fruition, and his invisible presence in this scene is symbolic of his control of the entire island and the action of the play. That this scene concerns the romantic engagement of two characters only serves to emphasise the theme of Prospero's control: their love has been planned and Prospero is the director of this scene, watching his plan develop and become reality.
We’ve answered 327,787 questions. We can answer yours, too.Ask a question
|
<urn:uuid:b6f954c1-8373-469c-8d50-453c4023816e>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/consider-relationship-between-ferdinand-miranda-377164
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396872.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00126-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.987006 | 375 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Rheumatoid arthritis is a devastating disease. Besides crippling joints, it can leave the victim exhausted and in excruciating pain.
Over the last several decades, drug companies have offered patients a Faustian deal: prompt pain relief with serious long-term consequences.
Cortisone Pros & Cons
In the 1950s doctors prescribed cortisone-type drugs to reduce inflammation and alleviate pain. These medications were seen as wonder drugs. Patients came into the office on crutches or in wheel chairs. Within a few weeks on drugs like dexamethasone, prednisolone or prednisone they were walking again.
It took many months or even years before side effects such as cataracts, glaucoma, weight gain, high blood pressure, muscle weakness, ulcers, irregular heart rhythms or diabetes showed up. Osteoporosis is another catastrophic consequence of long-term, high-dose steroid use. We’ll never forget the rheumatologist who told us that corticosteroids “melt bone.”
Many of these arthritis patients felt betrayed when they discovered that their pain relief came at such a high price to their health.
That’s why non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) became so popular. The very name implied that they were not as dangerous as “steroids.” Drugs like diclofenac (Voltaren), etodolac (Lodine), flurbiprofen (Ansaid), ibuprofen (Motrin), indomethacin (Indocin), ketoprofen (Orudis), nabumetone (Relafen), naproxen (Naprosyn), piroxicam (Feldene) and sulindac (Clinoril) each had its moment of glory.
The only problem with NSAIDs is that they too have some serious side effects. They raise blood pressure, increase the risk for heart attacks and strokes, irritate the digestive tract and can result in bleeding ulcers. Other complications can include visual disturbances, irregular heart rhythms, kidney problems and ringing in the ears. It was estimated that over 16,000 people died each year as a result of gastrointestinal bleeding triggered by NSAIDs (New England Journal of Medicine, June 17, 1999).
Disease Modifying Drugs
Fast-forward to the late 1990s and the introduction of “biologic medications.” TNF blockers such as adalimumab (Humira), certolizumab (Cimzia), etanercept (Enbrel), golimumab (Simponi) and infliximab (Remicade) were heralded as miracles against rheumatoid arthritis. (TNF stands for tumor necrosis factor, a natural compound produced in the body.)
By affecting the immune system, such drugs were supposed to eliminate inflammation in the joints, slow or reverse the disease process and prevent joint deformities. Many experts described these drugs as revolutionary, fundamentally altering the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
It should not be surprising that the TNF blockers turn out to have some serious complications. The FDA has issued new warnings that these drugs can increase the risk of certain cancers (lymphoma and leukemia). People who never had psoriasis may develop this skin problem when they stop the medicine. Because these drugs suppress the immune system, both bacterial and fungal infections may become life threatening. Liver damage is another rare but very serious reaction.
This history should lead patients and doctors alike to be cautious in looking for the next miracle cure for rheumatoid arthritis.
|
<urn:uuid:c77bdcdc-9663-466b-bf6b-4d596b91e40a>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2009/09/28/arthritis-drugs-have-hidden-hazards/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00073-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.933497 | 755 | 2.625 | 3 |
Definition of Phocae
1. phoca [n] - See also: phoca
Click the following link to bring up a new window with an automated collection of images related to the term: Phocae Images
Lexicographical Neighbors of Phocae
Literary usage of Phocae
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Researches Into the Physical History of Mankind by James Cowles Prichard (1851)
"In fact, large animals, and the phocae among others, have bounds which they seldom pass. The marine elephant, for example, has never been found in the ..."
2. The Animal Kingdom Arranged in Conformity with Its Organization by Georges Cuvier, Edward Griffith, Charles Hamilton Smith, Edward Pidgeon, John Edward Gray, George Robert Gray (1830)
"The only well-authenticated remains of phocae have been found in the neighbourhood of Angers. They consist in the upper part of a humerus ..."
|
<urn:uuid:1b3d952e-f952-4fb0-8c4d-5db9c01278bb>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.lexic.us/definition-of/phocae
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396459.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00184-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.907785 | 222 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Mysterious circles have been cropping up in the Namib Desert in Africa for as long as man has been around to see them. For decades, scientists debated the cause of the weird and wonderful patterns and now it appears they've found the culprit: termites.
Southwest Africa’s Namib Desert is an arid landscape home to ostriches, leopards and other large animals. But a few of its more petite inhabitants are the makers of these huge desert circles that measure between 6.5 to 40 feet diameter. Biologist Norbert Juergens (University of Hamburg), who had been working to unlock the mystery, noticed that whenever he looked closely at the barren centers of fairy circles, he would also find sand termites (Psammotermes allocerus).
He found that without grass readily available to absorb rainwater and the release it back into the air (evaporation), any available water would collect in the porous, sandy soil. This water supply would keep the termites alive and active, even during the harshest days of the dry season. He also noticed that the root of the local plants had been chewed and that the areas in and around the circles showed traces of underground tunnels—all signs that the sand termites had been inhabiting the area.
Just like we recently witnessed with Japan’s underwater “crop circles”, nature’s tiny creatures are some of the world’s greatest artists.
Photos by Norbert Juergens
|
<urn:uuid:d42dddf9-f9e6-4e8e-9a52-839c2fee9945>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://inhabitat.com/strange-fairy-circles-appear-in-the-middle-of-africas-namib-desert/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399522.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00194-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.966874 | 309 | 3.46875 | 3 |
A microfilm project is sort of like building a house. There are many individual parts that go together to create the finished product. Depending on which parts are used, the cost can vary considerably. In order to make a reasonably accurate estimate of how much a microfilm project will cost, you have to assemble the parts with cost for each part to arrive at the total cost.
There are six to eight major steps to a microfilm project to consider when determining cost. Depending on the final microfilm format the department is to receive, all major steps may not be used. The major steps are indicated below with a brief description of each.
Document preparation is getting the documents ready for filming. Depending on the type of microfilm camera used to film the documents, documents may need to have every staple and paper clip removed, torn documents taped, and small documents (3" x 5" or less) such as cash register receipts may need to be taped to larger sheets of paper. When documents are filmed on a rotary camera, they require the most document preparation. When a planetary camera is used documents stapled in the upper right or left hand corner can be filmed without the staple being removed, but all other staples and paper clips will have to be removed.
When estimating document preparation time, use four (4) hours per records center size box.
If departments decide to do their own document preparation, the hours per box would be the same as if a Vendor did the work.
Number of Images
Determining, as correctly as possible, the number of images involved in a microfilm project is very important as total cost is directly proportional to the number of images in the microfilm project. The number of images governs; (1) the number of rolls of original camera film used, (2) number of hours needed to film documents, (3) number of duplicate rolls to be made, (4) processing charges, and (5) final number of items used to produce the correct microfilm format.
A microfilm image is normally one side of a document containing information. If each document in a project contains information on only ONE SIDE, the number of images in the project would equal the number of images in the project. If documents have information on TWO SIDES, then there would be two images for each document. If documents are mixed with some documents having information on only one side and others having information on two sides, the percentage of two sided documents needs to be determined and the number of images figured.
As a guide to assist in determining the number of images, the following figures can be used. These figures are approximations, since exact numbers are influenced by the number of file folders, guides and how tight the containers are packed, but are close enough to actual to provide reasonably accurate estimates.
|Container||Number of Documents*|
|Standard Records Center Box (12x15x10)||1,500|
|Xerox Box (17x11x12)||1,700|
|File Cabinet Drawer (26" deep)||2,600|
|Four-Drawer File Cabinet||10,400|
|Lateral File Cabinet Drawer (42" wide)||4,200|
|* The rule-of-thumb for determining number of documents in a container is to consider 80-100 sheets of paper per filing inch. The more used the documents, the fewer documents per inch.|
Number of Rolls of Original Camera Microfilm
Almost all source document microfilming done at the University will be records that are normally 8½ by 11 inch in size done on 16mm 100-foot rolls of film. In a few instances, 35mm 100-foot rolls of film will be used. 35mm filming is usually used only for newspapers, engineering drawings, maps, and historical records.
To estimate the number of 16mm rolls of microfilm required for a microfilm project, take the total number of images for the project and divide by 2,400 images. (2,400 is the approximate number of images that can be put on a 100-foot roll of 16mm film at a 24 X reduction ratio.) If the majority of documents are smaller than 8 1/2 x 11, then more images can be put on a roll of film. Example: A project that has 143,000 images would require approximately 60 rolls of 16mm original camera film (143,000 divided by 2,400).
Because there are such differences in document sizes for engineering drawings, maps, etc., it is impossible to generalize how many images can be put on a roll of 35mm film. The best way to make an estimate for 35mm filming is to contact a Vendor; let them look at the type documents and figure the number of images.
Number of Filming Hours
Filming is the process of taking documents and exposing them to create the images on the roll of film. The quality of the documents can influence the filming speed of a camera operator. A lot of worn and torn documents take longer than same size, almost new condition documents.
To estimate the number of hours needed to microfilm a project, multiply the estimated number of rolls of microfilm in the project by the number of hours per roll to find total estimated hours. To make the estimate, use the following figures:
For 16mm microfilm use four (4) hours per roll for filming time
For 35mm microfilm, contact a Vendor and have them make the estimate.
For every roll of original camera film, there will be a duplicate roll of film produced. The duplicate film will be delivered to departments in the format being used.
To determine duplicating cost, multiply the estimated number of rolls of original camera film times the cost of silver duplicates or diazo duplicates, depending on which type of duplicating film is being used. Ask the Vendor if they are going to use silver or diazo duplicating film.
Number of Jackets or Aperture Cards
Jackets come in several different sizes and can be used on both 16mm microfilm and 35mm microfilm. The number of jackets used in a project will vary depending on the type of records being microfilmed. If the records are divided by file folders (such as student records), more jackets will be needed than if the records are reports or other records that may have many pages.
For estimating purposes, use 100 jackets per 16mm roll of microfilm
Inserting Film into Jackets/Aperture Cards
Inserting is the process of cutting microfilm into sections and putting the microfilm into jackets or aperture cards. Special equipment is used to do the cutting and inserting.
For estimating purposes to determine inserting cost, use three (3) hours per roll for jackets and two (2) hours per roll for aperture cards when working with 16mm microfilm.
When dealing with 35mm microfilm, ask the Vendor to make the estimate.
Typing Identifying Information on Jackets and Aperture Cards
Jackets and aperture cards requires identifying information such as student name, student number, project name, etc. be typed on every jacket or aperture card. The more identifying information to be typed, the longer it will take. Departments may do their own typing, or pay the Vendor to do the work.
To estimate typing cost, use two (2) hours per roll of microfilm for jackets or aperture cards.
|
<urn:uuid:084126b1-031b-44f4-983a-baeb08c2bfe8>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
https://www.umsystem.edu/ums/fa/management/records/microfilm-estimating
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393332.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00142-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.880745 | 1,518 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Water ConservationBY:ZHI CHENER ，Eden Ng Jing Wen Lee Zi Yi，Joey Tan
What is Water Conservation• Water conservation is any in water loss, use or waste as well as the and a reduction in water use accomplished by implementation of water conservation or water efficiency measures or improved water management practices that reduce or enhance the beneficial use of water.
Water management• Water management is the activity of planning, developing, distributing and managing the optimum use of water resources. In an ideal world, water management planning has regard to all the competing demands for water and seeks to allocate water on an equitable basis to satisfy all uses and demands.
How to manage water• Water is an essential resource for all life on the planet. Of the water resources on Earth only three per cent of it is not salty and two-thirds of the freshwater is locked up in ice caps and glaciers. Of the remaining one per cent, a fifth is in remote, inaccessible areas and much seasonal rainfall in monsoonal deluges and floods cannot easily be used. At present only about 0.08 per cent of all the world’s fresh water . is exploited by mankind in ever increasing demand for sanitation, drinking, manufacturing, leisure and agriculture
Water management in Singapore• Singapore has increasingly been looked upon by the international community as a role model for water management• The Four National Taps refer to water from four different sources of water: water from local catchment areas, imported water, recycled water (branded as NEWater) and desalinated water.
NEWater• Introduced in 2003, NEWater marked a new era in Singapore’s water history. Produced using state-of-the-art membrane technologies involving microfiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet disinfection, the result is an ultra- clean product that has been vetted by more than 30,000 scientific tests, surpassing even the World Health Organisation standards for drinking water
Use of the NEWater• NEWater is primarily supplied to wafer fabrication, electronics and power generation industries for process use as well as commercial and institutional complexes for air-con cooling purposes. A small amount of NEWater is also put through a "naturalization" process in the raw water reservoirs before processing it in waterworks for potable use.
Imported water in Singapore• Singapore has relied on importation from Johor state in Malaysia to supply half of its water consumption.
These are thepipelines to importwater from othercountries
Local catchment water• As a small island that doesnt have natural aquifers and lakes and with little land to collect rainwater, Singapore needs to maximise whatever it can harvest.• Currently, Singapore uses two separate systems to collect rainwater and used water. Rainwater is collected through a comprehensive network of drains, canals, rivers and stormwater collection ponds before it is channelled to Singapores 17 reservoirs for storage. This makes Singapore one of the few countries in the world to harvest urban stormwater on a large scale for its water supply.
Desalinated water• Desalination, desalinization, or desalinisation refers to any of several processes that remove some amount of salt and other minerals from saline water. More generally, desalination may also refer to the removal of salts and minerals . Salt water is desalinated in order to produce fresh water that is suitable for human consumption or irrigation
|
<urn:uuid:c312488a-2cb6-489e-82a1-5629f122bf2d>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.slideshare.net/zhichener/water-conservation-12053473
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395160.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00132-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.924103 | 697 | 3.1875 | 3 |
PUBLIC Health Wales is reminding people of the importance of personal hygiene following the discovery of cryptosporidium in swimming pools this year.
Anyone who has had diarrhoea should not to go swimming for at least 48 hours after symptoms cease.
Individuals diagnosed with cryptosporidiosis should avoid using swimming pools for 14 days after their symptoms have stopped.
Showering before swimming is also recommended.
Chlorine disinfection kills most germs in swimming pool water but cryptosporidium can survive.
Dr Rachel Chalmers, head of the cryptosporidium reference unit for Public Health Wales, said: “Swimmers’ behaviour is just one of the ways of helping to keep pools clean.”
In 2012 there has been a rise in the number of people diagnosed with cryptosporidium infection across the Wales.
By the end of September the number of cases had exceeded the total for all of 2011.
For more information see wales.nhs.uk
|
<urn:uuid:09d0252a-ee04-44eb-a766-e60b26c4aeb4>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.campaignseries.co.uk/news/9981769.Hygiene_can_help_beat_swimming_pool_bug/?ref=rss
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399385.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00190-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.952753 | 204 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Department of the Army Historical Summary: FY 1985
Early in fiscal year 1985, the Secretary of the Army and the Chief of Staff announced that "Leadership" would be the Army's theme for 1985.
In today's world, leadership remains the key ingredient that enables our Army to meet successfully the challenges we face. Leadership is vital for melding Army members' aspirations, skills and capabilities into an organization able to deter, fight and win in defense of our national interest.
No matter what the leader's rank, or organizational level, each leader has the same obligation. That obligation is to inspire and develop excellence in individuals and organizations; train members towards professional competency; instill members with a spirit to win; see to their needs and well being; and to set standards that will be emulated by those they lead.
The bond between the leaders, the led, and the organization must produce leaders who are grounded in the fundamentals, yet responsive to new ideas. We call on all of you to make this theme of Leadership a reality in the Total Army.
"Leadership" was the latest in a series of yearly themes begun in 1981, which focused attention on matters of Army-wide importance in forging a modern, quality force fit to win. The 1981 theme, "Yorktown," sought to revitalize the spirit of the Army through fostering a keener awareness of the Army's traditions and its heroic past. Subsequent themes dealt with "Physical Fitness" and the revitalization of the body; "Excellence" and the commitment to quality; and the "Army Family," which emphasized a feeling of community within the Army, with special attention given to increasing the sense of partnership that exists between the Army, soldiers and their families, and fostering the well being and quality of life of soldiers and their families.
As with previous themes, all echelons of the Army planned and put into action programs and policies to promote the theme, not only for the current year, but in the years to come.
Initiatives centered on honing leadership skills as they applied to recruitment, assignment, and retention; educating, training, and developing subordinates; utilizing organization practices and procedures which foster innovation and mission accomplishment; achieving decentralization and flexibility in organization and structure to promote creativity and initiative; promoting and awarding fairly and equitably to stimulate performance; strengthening structure and organizations which support the soldier and the family; developing better interpersonal communications; using technology to improve individual performance; imbuing subordinates with the highest professional values and ethics; and meeting the needs and promoting the welfare of those who were led.
Major program objectives for fiscal year 1985 were to staff the total Army; train it; modernize equipment and weapons; and attain the capability to arm, mobilize, and deploy a force of sufficient size to influence the early stages of a conflict.
Moreover, the Army began a concerted effort during 1985 to chart its course to the twenty-first century. Effective planning to ensure that decisions made in 1985 provide capabilities the Army needs to meet the future threat and execute the nation's military strategy is essential. Long-range planning to concentrate effort on high leverage initiatives that will provide significant improvements in warfighting capabilities emerged. The Army has decided to proceed along vectors that will provide direction, focus, and continuity during the remainder of this century. As the Army moves along these vectors, it must attain key operational capabilities that will permit execution of critical tasks necessary to ensure success on the AirLand battlefield.
Total Army Vectors
1. Provide quality soldiers in the active and reserve
2. Fight and sustain as part of joint and combined forces.
3. Field a flexible, sustainable, modernized force across the conflict spectrum.
4. Exploit operational and tactical dimensions of AirLand Battle doctrine.
5. Develop and exploit high technology and productivity enhancements.
6. Improve tactical and strategic deployability.
1. Enhance the performance of individual soldiers and battlefield leaders.
2. Enhance joint and combined operational capabilities.
3. Enhance the productivity of units.
4. Achieve synchronization of the land and air battle.
5. Field a deep attack capability.
6. Field a capability to defeat advanced Soviet armor.
7. Achieve modernized battlefield sustainment capability.
Key Operational Capabilities
The Army must develop many capabilities to accomplish its missions but will concentrate on those key operational capabilities that offer the most potential for translating battlefield operational concepts into combat power. They are:
1. Soldier and Unit Performance Enhancement (SUPE).
2. Command, Control, and Communications (C3).
3. Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Target Acquisition (RSTA).
4. Battlefield Sustainment.
5. Battlefield Lethality.
Consideration of the concept of lightness is a requirement during the development of each of the key operational capabilities.
Building on the banner years of 1983 and 1984, the Army sought during fiscal year 1985 to carry forward the excellent results obtained from its recruitment and retention programs; attain an active Army end strength of 780,787-up from an authorized end strength of 780,000 in fiscal year 1984; and attain selected reserve strength of 724,029-438,383 in the Army National Guard and 285,646 in the Army Reserve. A revived economy, a decline in civilian unemployment, and less favorable demographic trends would make the task a trying one, but the prospect for meeting end year strength objectives appeared bright as the year began. A more perplexing problem, beefing up Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) strength to meet filler and replacement needs during the early stages of a conflict, continued to loom large. Despite modest gains in IRR strength since fiscal year 1977, the numbers in this critical reservoir of trained personnel remained woefully inadequate to meet wartime needs. General Bernard W. Rogers, North Atlantic Treaty Organization commander and former Army Chief of Staff, addressed the problem in March 1985 before the Senate Armed Services Committee, where he proposed the reinstitution of
the draft to meet individual reinforcement needs that would occur if war broke out in. Europe.
Realism in training received increased emphasis in 1985. Using the latest technology, the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, provided near-combat training experiences to a growing number of active Army and Army National Guard battalions. Range modernization actions, including completion of modifications to the 57,000-acre military reservation at Grafenwohr, Germany, making it suitable for M 1 Abrams tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, and other new weapons streaming into United States Army, Europe (USAREUR), provided realistic targetry for modern weapons systems. Increased employment of advanced technology training aids and simulators enhanced individual and collective skills while conserving costly ammunition and fuel in .a time of constrained resources. A vigorous joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS)-sponsored field exercise program expanded from 10 directed and 32 coordinated exercises in fiscal year 1984 to 12 directed and 37 coordinated exercises this year. Major exercises included the annual REFORGER exercise in Europe; TEAM SPIRIT 85 in Korea; and AHUAS TARA II, a continuation of joint/combined U.S.-Honduran exercises conducted in 1983 and 1984. This year's version, which covered a three-month period, included an anti-armor field training phase which brought tanks into the maneuvers for the first time. Increased emphasis on senior level participation in the JCS-directed command post exercise program provided both senior military and civilian leadership the opportunity to practice the decision-making process regarding major plans, policies, and procedures associated with mobilization, the transition to combat operations, and the conduct of combat operations. Training problems addressed during the year included resolving difficulties encountered in revising the Skill Qualification Test, which were aired at the Four-Star Commander's Conference held in August 1984, and reducing the high trainee failure rates reported by the Department of Defense Inspector General in November 1983. Other training initiatives undertaken during the year included the start of a new fifteen-week, one station unit training (OSUT) program at Fort Benning, Georgia, and a marked increase in Ranger School enrollment-from 2,100 to 3,000 a year-to provide ranger-qualified soldiers for the Army's new light divisions.
Army combat readiness at home, in Europe, and in Korea continued to make gains as a result of good results obtained from a comprehensive program to modernize the active Army
and the reserve components. Particular emphasis was given to meeting the high technology needs for fighting the AirLand Battle as well as providing the. basic, dependable weapons needed for contingency operations on the lower scale of armed conflict; maintaining a proper equipment balance between heavy and light forces, combat and support units, and forward deployed and augmenting forces; and in working with industry to find more cost effective and more efficient ways to develop, procure, and field equipment. Creation of the Office of the Competition Advocate within the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, in January 1985, was a positive step to keep acquisition and research and development costs in line through increased competition.
Significant modernization accomplishments during the year included starting production of the M1A1 tank, an evolutionary advance in the M 1 tank which boasted a 120-mm. smoothbore gun and chemical-biological-nuclear defense features; raising production levels of the Apache attack helicopter and the Bradley fighting vehicles; and improving the Vulcan, Chaparral, and Stinger air defense systems. The continued influx of large quantities of new materiel-more than 400 types of new equipment items, including about fifty weapons systems, are being fielded in USAREUR-has quickened the pace of distribution to reserve component units of first-line, often product-improved, and fully combat ready equipment. New equipment issues to the reserve components have also increased: up from $900 million worth of new equipment in fiscal year 1984 to $1.4 billion in fiscal year 1985. Both factors have brought the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve to a significantly improved readiness posture.
The Army continued to pursue a dynamic research and development program to maintain the momentum of modernization. In addition to developing new weapons systems and improving existing ones, this year's research and development effort stressed achieving technological breakthroughs in distributed command, control, communications, and intelligence (DC31), very intelligent surveillance and target acquisition (VISTA), self-contained munitions (SCM), soldier-machine interface decontamination measures in nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare; and gearing the technology base and its scientific and engineering talents to providing innovations for current and future logistics systems, particularly as they related to lightening the force and the successful waging of the AirLand Battle.
The Army's ability to mobilize, deploy, and sustain itself in combat increased in fiscal year 1985, primarily due to improvements in reserve components management and full-time support, the mobilization base (including the training base), and the industrial base. But serious deficiencies remained. The most pressing concern was the inadequacy of strategic airlift and sealift capabilities to move soldiers and materiel to Europe in a timely manner to support NATO contingency plans. Light infantry initiatives, increased quantities of pre-positioned equipment in Europe, and strong support from Congress, the Air Force, and the Navy to improve strategic lift capabilities were serving to lessen the gap between lift capabilities and requirements, but much remained to be done. Of particular promise was the successful utilization of a new fast sealift ship in the annual REFORGER exercise. The roll-on/roll-off vessel moved much of the equipment used by troops during the exercise, sailing from Beaumont, Texas, and Savannah, Georgia, to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in eleven days.
Fiscal year 1985 force structure changes supported readiness, modernization, sustainability, and deployment priorities; and the goal of developing a balanced force of heavy, light, and special operations forces units, streamlined to execute AirLand Battle doctrine in diverse and distant geographic settings, in response to a wide range of threats, alone or with Allied forces. Programmed improvements in the active Army included conversion of heavy divisions in Europe to refined Division 86 unit designs; conversion of a CONUS infantry division to light infantry division configuration; activation of a new light infantry division and planning the activation of another; increased staffing for tactical support units and special operations forces units; activation of one chemical company in Europe; activation of one area signal company; and, in the combat service support area, activation of two ammunition, one fuel truck, one fuel supply, one LACV-30, and one heavy equipment maintenance companies. In the reserve components, conversion to Division 86 unit designs continued; the Army National Guard progressed in completing the organization of its ninth division and activated a tenth division 30 September 1985; and the Army Reserve expanded its roundout role and organized new combat service support units to improve the Army's capability in the critical areas of conventional ammunition supply, water production and storage, chemical decontamination, and communications and medical support.
Improvements in management to assure maximum effectiveness and efficiency was a major key concern during fiscal year 1985. Special attention was given to four key areas: weapons acquisition processes, force modernization and integration, resource management, and information management.
At the Army staff level the Contracting and Production Directorate, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, was formed to provide much needed guidance, direction, and assistance to more than 240 Army contracting offices and to enable Headquarters, Department of the Army, to develop management information systems, policies, procedures, and methods necessary for effective and efficient contracting operations. Plans were pushed in Congress to upgrade the position of Assistant Chief of Staff for Information Management to deputy chief status, and to fully integrate all information functions, including information resource management, communications, administration, and command and control under the new deputy.
Establishment of the Army Rationalization, Standardization, and Interoperability (RSI) Office within the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans (ODCSOPS) provides a focal point at the Army staff level for RSI matters. The new office will oversee the development of specific RSI policy guidance designed to build a balanced, ready force capable of interoperating with the forces of allies and friendly actions, thereby improving the Army's conventional war-fighting capabilities.
In the field, modernization and integration management was promoted by expanding the role of the U.S. Army Development and Employment Agency, which had largely been confined to evaluating operational concepts, organizations, and materiel requirements for light forces, to heavy and special operations forces and low intensity conflict initiatives. A major reorganization of U.S. Army Forces Command's reserve component management structure was completed. The resulting structure, with five continental armies (including the newly established Fourth Army) and no Army Readiness and Mobilization Regions, eliminated one layer of supervision and provided increased responsibility to the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve.
Details on the year's highlights described above, as well as other important events experienced by the Army in fiscal year 1985, are described in the chapters that follow.
| Next Chapter
Last updated 4 March 2004
|
<urn:uuid:a6b05a99-b3dd-4f93-8107-384ec8f41187>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://history.army.mil/books/DAHSUM/1985/ch01.htm
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395992.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00200-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.944461 | 3,061 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Portland is hosting World Environment Day for all of North America today. The city was chosen by the United Nations Environment Programme because of its leadership in sustainability, according to Elisabeth Guibaud-Cox, deputy director for UNEP in North America.
The main global event is being held in Mongolia, and the theme “Think. Eat. Save. – Reduce Your Foodprint” is focused on reducing food waste.
In Portland, you can see 50 winning paintings from the International Children’s Painting Competition from 8 am-8 pm at the Native American Student and Community Center at Portland State University. The paintings follow the theme: “Water: Where Does It Come From?” and will be on display through October 31.
At 9:30 am, the Portland City Council will vote on a proclamation of World Environment Day.
At 10:30 am, UNEP will release a report on global food waste at Portland City Hall, and a panel of local experts on food sustainability will discuss its implications.
At 11:30 am there will be a sidewalk procession led by a giant salmon and followed by a long blue river starting at the corner of SW Salmon and Naito Parkway. It’s open to anyone who wants to join.
At 2:30 pm there will be a screening of the film “Hotspots to Hopespots” at Roosevelt High School. The 13-minute film is a compilation of data visualizations illustrating human changes to the environment – including the shrinking hole in the ozone layer, the progression of Alberta Tar Sands development, black carbon hotspots from burning diesel and coal, carbon dioxide emissions, forest conservation and solar and wind farm development worldwide.
The screening is part of the “Food, Water and the Environment: What’s the Connection?” interactive workshop for Roosevelt High School students led by Dr. Mae Jemison, the first African-American astronaut. There will be another screening of the film at the World Environment Day closing event Thursday at 6 pm at the World Trade Center, 121 SW Salmon St. You can also check it out here.
From 3:30-6 pm, the Portland Rose Festival RoZone is hosting family-friendly events including a Procession of Species parade of people in animal costumes, mask-making, fly-tying lessons, and storytelling a giant salmon tent at the Salmon Springs Fountain (SW Salmon & Naito).
|
<urn:uuid:c51aa5cc-6d9b-4d84-940e-21691c6d4542>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.opb.org/news/blog/ecotrope/portland-hosts-world-environment-day-for-all-of-north-america/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403826.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00059-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.918788 | 494 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Get ready for Thanksgiving Day by explaining to your child the significance of the harvest. In this crafty activity, your kid will create a harvest decoration to help remember to be thankful for all of the delicious food that will adorn her Thanksgiving table this year.
What You Need:
- Construction paper, yellow and green
- Warm colored beads and buttons
What You Do:
- Help your child to draw out the basic corn shape on the yellow construction paper. Let her cut it out and then set it aside.
- Draw out the corn husk on the green paper and let her cut the husk out.
- Ask her to glue the yellow corn shape in the center of the green husk.
- Now she can glue buttons and beads all over the corn, creating a bumpy texture.
- Hang up her harvest decoration near the Thanksgiving Day table so as to celebrate a bountiful harvest and bring luck for many more in the years to come.
|
<urn:uuid:2f50d876-b8a2-4ea5-bb99-b91dc3b9fcbf>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.education.com/activity/article/harvest-decoration/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396100.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00036-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.894616 | 197 | 3.078125 | 3 |
Arrival of a Number of Canoes of the Northwest Company.—Sale of the Establishment at Astoria to that Company.—Canadian News.—Arrival of the British Sloop-of-War “Raccoon.”—Accident on Board that Vessel.—The Captain takes Formal Possession of Astoria.—Surprise and Discontent of the Officers and Crew.—Departure of the “Raccoon.”
A few days after Mr. M’Kenzie left us, we were greatly surprised by the appearance of two canoes bearing the British flag, with a third between them, carrying the flag of the United States, all rounding Tongue Point. It was no other than Mr. M’Kenzie himself, returning with Messrs. J.G. M’Tavish and Angus Bethune, of the Northwest Company. He had met these gentlemen near the first rapids, and had determined to return with them to the establishment, in consequence of information which they gave him. Those gentlemen were in light canoes (i.e., without any lading), and formed the vanguard to a flotilla of eight, loaded with furs, under the conduct of Messrs. John Stuart and M’Millan.
Mr. M’Tavish came to our quarters at the factory, and showed Mr. M’Dougal a letter which had been addressed to the latter by Mr. Angus Shaw, his uncle, and one of the partners of the Northwest Company. Mr. Shaw informed his nephew that the ship Isaac Todd had sailed from London, with letters of marque, in the month of March, in company with the frigate Phoebe, having orders from the government to seize our establishment, which had been represented to the lords of the admiralty as an important colony founded by the American government. The eight canoes left behind, came up meanwhile, and uniting themselves to the others, they formed a camp of about seventy-five men, at the bottom of a little bay or cove, near our factory. As they were destitute of provisions, we supplied them; but Messrs. M’Dougal and M’Kenzie affecting to dread a surprise from this British force under our guns, we kept strictly on our guard; for we were inferior in point of numbers, although our position was exceedingly advantageous.
As the season advanced, and their ship did not arrive, our new neighbors found themselves in a very disagreeable situation, without food, or merchandise wherewith to procure it from the natives; viewed by the latter with a distrustful and hostile eye, as being our enemies and therefore exposed to attack and plunder on their part with impunity; supplied with good hunters, indeed, but wanting ammunition to render their skill available. Weary, at length, of applying to us incessantly for food (which we furnished them with a sparing hand), unable either to retrace their steps through the wilderness or to remain in their present position, they came to the conclusion of proposing to buy of us the whole establishment.
|
<urn:uuid:40d44cd9-3cd7-4eb4-84ad-83ea56a53432>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.bookrags.com/ebooks/15911/60.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397842.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00061-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.979273 | 634 | 2.6875 | 3 |
This readalike is in response to a patron's book-match request. If you would like personalized reading recommendations, fill out the book-match form and a librarian will email suggested titles to you. Available for adults, teens, and kids. You can browse the book matches here.
A Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks: "This gripping historical novel is based on the true story of Eyam, the "Plague Village", in the rugged mountain spine of England. In 1666, a tainted bolt of cloth from London carries bubonic infection to this isolated settlement of shepherds and lead miners. A visionary young preacher convinces the villagers to seal themselves off in a deadly quarantine to prevent the spread of disease. The story is told through the eyes of eighteen-year-old Anna Frith, the vicar's maid, as she confronts the loss of her family, the disintegration of her community, and the lure of a dangerous and illicit love. As the death toll rises and people turn from prayers and herbal cures to sorcery and murderous witch-hunting, Anna emerges as an unlikely and courageous heroine in the village's desperate fight to save itself."
If you like A Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks, you may like these books as well:
Divining Women by Kaye Gibbons
In this enveloping tale of marital strife and female resilience, Gibbons considers conflicts between blacks and whites and men and women within the context of the First World War and the Spanish influenza epidemic. (Booklist)
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
Kivrin, a history student at Oxford in 2048, travels back in time to a 14th-century English village, despite a host of misgivings on the part of her unofficial tutor. When the technician responsible for the procedure falls prey to a 21st-century epidemic, he accidentally sends Kivrin back not to 1320 but to 1348--right into the path of the Black Death. (Publisher's Weekly)
|
<urn:uuid:00e7b39c-c319-4d9b-a2ef-4cb1f698c4b2>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.librarypoint.org/taxonomy/term/818
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394414.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00160-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.93391 | 406 | 2.8125 | 3 |
The world's population has exploded in the last 50 years with unprecedented growth that will catapult our numbers over the 7 billion mark this fall. But birthrates aren't up, longevity is. With life expectancy rising, a global aging trend — accompanied by social, economic and political consequences — is here to stay.
See also: How long will you live?
Average life expectancy for a human being born today is 67.6 years. In 1950 it was 46.6 years; in 2050 it will be 75.5.
People 60+ will outnumber those under 15 for the first time in 2045.
35.6 million people have dementia today, a number projected to grow to 65.7 million in 2030 and 115.4 million by 2050.
Past & Future
Earth is now home to some 7 billion people — that's almost triple the population of 1950. By 2050, the 60+ population will grow from over 750 million to 2 billion, and rise from 10.7% to 22% of people on the planet.
The ratio of women to men age 60+ is 100 to 83.
That means there are 66 million more women age 60+ than men in the world.
Eighty percent of men age 60+ are married, but only 48% of older women are.
Nineteen percent of older women live alone; just 9% of older men do.
This translates to 33 older men living without a spouse per 100 older women in the same situation.
Today 64% of people 60+ live in less developed countries. By 2050, it will be 80%.
The number of older poor will grow from 342 million today to 1.2 billion in 2050.
People 65+ are more likely to be retired if living in a more developed country rather than a less developed one (women 92% vs. 81% ; men 86% vs. 65%).
The number of people 100+ will increase 900% between now and 2050, from 455,000 to 4.1 million.
Women make up 81% of the world's centenarians.
Among those 60+, the fastest-growing population is the oldest old — that is, those age 80 and older. That group is growing 4% annually.
Sources: United Nations Population Division; U.S. Census; National Geographic, Jan. 2011; World Bank; Alzheimer's Disease International
Also of interest: Oldest Camaro owner enjoying life in fast lane. >>
Discounts & Benefits
Next ArticleRead This
|
<urn:uuid:9e494d68-ecd4-4f05-bd76-35519a7e5bdd>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.aarp.org/politics-society/around-the-globe/info-10-2011/world-population-growth.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00183-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.928973 | 511 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Choosing the right ceiling panel material for a project makes a huge difference in managing the acoustical response of a room. An acoustical design strategy needs to include an adequate balance of both sound absorbency and sound attenuation.
Derived from ASTM C 423, which is the predominant standard for sound absorption in the U.S., noise reduction coefficient or NRC is a scalar representation of the amount of sound energy absorbed by a particular test sample. It is calculated as an arithmetic average to the nearest 0.05 over a limited frequency range (250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1,000 Hz and 2,000 Hz). In a simplification of the concept, an NRC of 0 indicates total reflection, while an NRC of 1.00 indicates total absorption.
Ceiling attenuation class or CAC is the measurement of the ceiling’s ability to block sound in a closed space from passing up into the plenum and transmitting back down into a neighboring closed space under the same plenum. The single number for CAC is derived from ASTM E1414. Ceilings with a CAC less than 25 are rated as lower performance, while those with a CAC greater than or equal to 35 are considered higher performance.
Fiberglass is more effective at quieting a room than is mineral fiber, as it performs well in both high and low frequencies. Mineral fiber tends to excel in high frequencies but lose absorption in lower frequencies. Yet, the low density of fiberglass ceiling panels, which makes them extremely resistant to moisture and sagging, at the same time limits their ability to contain sound. Consequently, fiberglass ceiling panels typically have a very high NRC, but a CAC that is on the low end.
Mineral fiber ceiling panels are denser and heavier than those made from fiberglass. It is that higher level of density that make them reasonably effective sound attenuators (meaning they impede the transmission of sound from room to room). With good sound attenuation and average sound absorption, mineral fiber ceiling panels tend to have a higher CAC and lower NRC than their fiberglass counterparts.
Building and design professionals can maximize acoustic control by combining a sound-absorbing ceiling panel with one that halts the transmission of sound waves; hence the composite ceiling panel. With a composite panel, manufacturers such as CertainTeed laminate a layer of sound- absorbing material [fiberglass]to a layer of sound-attenuating material [mineral fiber]. The resulting product is sold and installed as a single ceiling panel. This greatly simplifies operations for the architect and contractor and provides the end user with the best of both worlds in acoustic control for many years to come.
Individually, fiberglass and mineral fiber ceiling panels have their own ways of controlling excess noise. However, when used together they produce top-notch acoustical results in a space. Whenever acoustics is a design requirement, allowing fiberglass and mineral fiber to work together in the form of a composite panel is an excellent choice.
Robert Marshall is Technical Services Manager, Ceilings for CertainTeed Corporation
|
<urn:uuid:d8c19e63-ccc9-4796-a6ca-0a1454f388fb>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://blog.certainteed.com/2010/12/combine-fiberglass-and-mineral-fiber-ceiling-panels-for-top-notch-acoustic-control/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398628.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00017-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.934711 | 634 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Index of content:
Volume 135, Issue 3, March 2014
- PHYSIOLOGICAL ACOUSTICS
135(2014); http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.4864475View Description Hide Description
Sound energy is conveyed to the inner ear by the diaphanous, cone-shaped tympanic membrane (TM). The TM moves in a complex manner and transmits sound signals to the inner ear with high fidelity, pressure gain, and a short delay. Miniaturized sensors allowing high spatial resolution in small spaces and sensitivity to high frequencies were used to explore how pressure drives the TM. Salient findings are: (1) A substantial pressure drop exists across the TM, and varies in frequency from ∼10 to 30 dB. It thus appears reasonable to approximate the drive to the TM as being defined solely by the pressure in the ear canal (EC) close to the TM. (2) Within the middle ear cavity (MEC), spatial variations in sound pressure could vary by more than 20 dB, and the MEC pressure at certain locations/frequencies was as large as in the EC. (3) Spatial variations in pressure along the TM surface on the EC-side were typically less than 5 dB up to 50 kHz. Larger surface variations were observed on the MEC-side.
|
<urn:uuid:84b28f1c-8bc2-42c2-ab05-f4ea2d3f3d5c>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://scitation.aip.org/content/asa/journal/jasa/135/3/section?heading=PHYSIOLOGICAL+ACOUSTICS+%5B64%5D
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393093.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00084-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.943937 | 276 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Apart from her beauty, a nepalese girl in the Terai region needs a fat dowry to get a suitable bridegroom. And there is no end to the mental and physical torture of those who do not or cannot meet the greed of in-laws for tilak, the Nepalese word for dowry. As in India, there are many cases where families torture or kill a bride when she fails to comply with the demand of the groom or her in-laws for a refrigerator, TV, motorcycle or Maruti car.
Terai is a flat area along the largely unregulated border with the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Accommodating 46 percent of Nepal's population, it is the first area where dowry has become a part of most marriages. One now finds dowry marriages in the capital, Kathmandu, and to a lesser extent in the hill regions.
Formerly in Nepal the main qualification of a girl's winning a good bridegroom was her skill in homemaking, including painting, embroidery, knitting and basketry. Today education of this sort, though important, does not necessarily ensure her a suitable spouse.
A parallel situation has occurred in Sri Lanka, where in the 1950s, after independence, the Tamil communities sought higher education for their sons. Many mortgaged or sold ancestral farm lands to do so, and when the boy married, tried to recoup the money spent on him. The European system of dowry, already prevalent in India, became common.
The old Hindu scriptures talk about gifts sent with a bride to her marriage, but these gifts, called sthridhan ("woman's gift"), were not a dowry in the sense that it is demanded today. The 2,500-year-old Arthashastra of Kautilya, in its summary of the contemporary law, specifically called these gifts "the property of a woman" and provided restrictions on how and when they could be spent (II.152). In Kautilya's summary of the six forms of marriage, the only bargain is for the purchase of a bride by the bridegroom, not the other way around, and this was called the asura (literally, "not divine") form of marriage. It ranked fourth among the six recognized forms, just above marriage by capture and marriage by taking advantage of a drugged maiden. The older Manu Dharma Shastras mentions eight forms of marriage, with the asura rite as sixth (III.31), in which the bridegroom gives money to the bride's family. A subsequent verse (III.51) warns against this form: "No father who knows the law must take even the smallest gratuity for his daughter; for a man who, through avarice, takes a gratuity is a seller of his offspring." Applied generally to children, this verse would appear to prohibit the taking of dowry for a son.
The Mahabharata mentions the gifts sent with a bride in the form of gold, silver, cows and horses. But nowhere in its 100,000 verses does this epic history of India recount incidents of torture inflicted upon women if they failed to bring adequate presents from their parents. While the current-day dowry is a compulsion and thus a curse for women's dignity, dowry in the past was voluntary in nature, remained under her control and insured her personal security in the marriage.
How things have changed! Now in Nepalese society dowry is a means of increased status for family who receives a fat tilak for the marriage of a son. Even the family who pays a hefty dowry to get a daughter married gets a boost in status. It is not unknown for the guardians of the boy and the girl to collude and give inflated public accounts of tilak to bolster the status of both families.
If a girl's guardian is not in a position to pay tilak in cash and kind, he will do so anyway by taking loans or by disposing of his landed property. Many parents become paupers after paying large dowries for their daughters. And if they are unable to make the agreed upon payment, the marriage may well break down.
There are still some people who neither give tilak nor accept it. This is called aadarsh bibah, "ideal marriage." But the number marrying in this way in the Terai region is rather a few, and declining elsewhere. In fact, many parents who claim to have gone in for such marriages of their sons are found to have extorted from the parents of the girls to the worst extent. Such hypocrites gave the impression they have not received any tilak. But they have taken it secretly on top of receiving many valuable items, like jewelry, TV, refrigerators, motorcycles, cars, etc.
Tilak is customary both among the rich and the poor people in the Terai region. The price of the boy, like that of a commodity or an animal, depends largely on his property, educational background and the nature of his job. In poor families with no educational background, the dowry amount might range between us$100 to $200--an average year's salary in Nepal. But the price of a boy with a secondary level education and some parental property is no less than $2,000, even if he is jobless. For an employed graduate or post-graduate, the price increases sharply. An engineer costs from $5,000 to $7,000. A medical doctor costs up to $14,000--over and above the usual car, a TV set and several other items. In our country, the dowry deal is conducted in Indian rupees rather than in Nepalese currency.
Bindu Jha, a girl from Janakpur is so disenchanted with the dowry system that in one of her articles in Rising Nepal she wrote, "I'd rather remain a spinster than marry a man who demands dowry. I regard such a person as a beggar--or, respectfully, 'a high-class beggar.' A man who looks for an educated and beautiful wife but at the same time rapaciously seeks money is not educated in the real sense. Rather such a man is wanting to marry a Maruti car, a TV set and a refrigerator--not an educated woman."
Every year a marriage fair is arranged among the Maithil Brahmins of Nepal and India at a place called Sabhagaachhi, in the Madhubani district of Bihar (India). At the fair the guardians of the girl and boy settle the marriages of their wards. Dowry serves as the primary basis for settling the marriage. Because of the open border between Nepal and India, several Nepalese brahmins also participate in this fair.
People now feel humiliated to attend the fair, as many organizations and even women's groups have protested the dowry system practiced there. In the past, Sabhagaachhi was widely revered among the Maithil Brahmins of Nepal and India. Thousands of boys with a good educational background used to participate in academic debates there. It was then that the guardians of the girls selected suitable boys.
Because of the rise in awareness in recent years, several women of the Terai region of Nepal have protested the dowry system. One, Daulat Pandey, said, "The girls will have to be united in their fight against the dowry system." "Equal legal right in the parental property can alone reduce the dowry system," says Sumitra Jha. "I oppose the dowry system because I am not capable of paying it," stated Bina Devi. Indrakala Devi observes, "Dowry system will be eliminated once the women challenge this cancer-like disease." The Bageshwari Sewa Samiti organization is working against dowry.
Dr. Banshidhar Mishra, M.P. (CPN-UML), states, "The dowry system has been a serious problem in the country, particularly in the Terai region. The girls and women should be given adequate education to get rid of this problem. Experience has shown that those who educated their daughters did not have to pay dowry." Khushilal Mandal, a senior member of Nepal Sadbhabana Party observes, "The dowry should be banished because it is an injustice against women." Parashu Narayan Chaudhary, President of Terai Development Forum and Vice-President of Rastriya Prajatantra Party states, "The dowry is spreading as a cancerous disease in various parts of the country."
In their bid to raise social awareness against dowry, certain groups in the Terai region, including producers Mithilak Byatha and Hansha Chalal Pardesh, have made documentary films in Maithili language. The pathetic life of the Maithil women along with dowry-related problems were shown in these films.
Nepal's "Social Customs and Practices Act" prohibits the dowry system. But there is not a single case in which somebody has been punished. Watch-groups should see that the law is implemented. Students, governmental, nongovernmental and international organizations should launch awareness campaigns against dowry. The participation of the women in the decision-making process at home as well as in the administration, political parties, parliament and government might enable the women to get rid of the dowry system. It is equally important that the anti-dowry campaign be related to personal ethics.
Nepal, the only Hindu country in the world, has a unique opportunity to combat the dowry problem, for the practice has not yet infiltrated the entire country. There are economic and social forces driving the increased practice of dowry that do not yield easily to any one approach. However, a beginning step is to onvince people that the harassment of brides and their families for dowry is contrary to Hindu tradition and law, and an offense to the spirit of nonviolence. It is Nepal's people who will change dowry laws, not the other way around.
Bageshwari Sewa Samiti, Chhinmasta Road, Rajbiraj, Saptari District, Nepal
|
<urn:uuid:8550f85d-75d4-4c8c-a97d-9d51e546c230>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=4226
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00157-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.967045 | 2,098 | 2.625 | 3 |
Everything you need to understand or teach Motel of the Mysteries by David Macaulay.
The Motel of the Mysteries is a satirical look at archeology and history. David Macaulay incorporates his writing and illustration in a look at the convoluted history of twentieth century Americans. It is the year 4022 and all research previously done concerning the North American continent has done little to uncover the secrets of the waste covered overgrown vegetation that is now the USA, Canada and Mexico.
It is guessed that in...
Motel of the Mysteries Lesson Plans contain 91 pages of teaching material, including:
|
<urn:uuid:c36cf7c4-3c34-46a6-b9ff-1146b6c4f0d7>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.bookrags.com/Motel_of_the_Mysteries/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00064-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.93111 | 121 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Wednesday August 21 2013
Dogs may be able to smell changes in sweat and breath
“Dogs could be trained to warn diabetic patients when their blood sugar levels are about to become low,” The Daily Telegraph reports.
The story comes from a study of 17 people with diabetes who had been given a dog trained to sniff out and alert them when their blood sugar (glucose) levels were too low (hypoglycaemia).
Hypoglycaemia is potentially serious and if left untreated could result in coma.
During interviews the owners reported the dogs had improved their lives and helped with their diabetes. Blood test results confirmed the perception that the dogs could detect glucose levels outside of a desired range in many cases, and that having a dog made the owner more likely to remain in a desired range.
These were encouraging results but they were based on a very small sample of people and were not always consistent. So, the results should be interpreted with some caution.
Another practical consideration is that the supply of ‘diabetes-sniffing’ dogs is limited. The UK charity that trains the dogs used in the study – Medical Detection Dogs – has a waiting list of three years for dogs.
If you are living with diabetes and are concerned that your symptoms are poorly controlled there are alternative options, such as going on a diabetes course, which helps you better understand and manage your condition.
Where did the story come from?
The study was carried out by researchers from the University of Bristol and the University of Dundee in collaboration with a charity called Medical Detection Dogs based in Milton Keynes. It was funded by The Company of Animals – a pet accessories company. The funders had no role in the study design.
The study was published in the peer-reviewed Public Library of Science (PLoS) One – a science journal. The journal is open access so the study is free to read or download.
The media reporting of the study was generally accurate.
What kind of research was this?
This was an observational study. The researchers wanted to test whether specially trained dogs were effective at alerting their owners, who had diabetes, when their blood sugar levels fell outside a normal range.
Diabetes is a condition where the body cannot control its blood sugar levels adequately. Too much glucose in the blood (hyperglycaemia) or too little (hypoglycaemia) can cause a range of medical complications in the short and long term.
This research aimed to focus on the dog’s ability to detect hypoglycaemia which is a relatively common state that in more extreme cases can cause unconsciousness, coma and even death.
Consequently, some people with diabetes report significant fear of hypoglycaemia and change their lifestyles to minimise the risk.
Early detection systems may be able to provide reassurance that the risk will be caught early and enable the person to live more independently with fewer worries.
Previous research, the study authors report, suggests pet dogs can spontaneously exhibit certain behaviours when their owner’s blood glucose levels decrease, such as barking, nuzzling, licking, biting or jumping up and staring at their owner. The theory is that they can use their acute sense of smell to sniff out the blood glucose changes through changes in the owner’s sweat or breath. This study aimed to test whether these preliminary reports were accurate.
What did the research involve?
The research involved interviewing 17 people with diabetes (16 had type I, one had type II) about their experiences of glucose management before and after getting the dog trained in detecting glucose levels.
Researchers visited the people’s homes to perform a structured interview with thirty four questions collecting information on:
- clients’ experiences with diabetes
- opinions of the value of their dog
- the frequency with which they recalled hypoglycaemia-related events prior to, and after acquiring the dog
Researchers read 10 statements to each client designed to assess the impact of the dog on their life and they were asked to rate (on a five point scale) the extent to which they agreed with each. (For example “I am more independent since I obtained my dog”).
A second phase of the study involved letting the researchers have access to past blood tests given to the dog charity before they received their detection dogs. This covered blood tests approximately one month before they got their detection dog. Participants were also asked to record their dog’s alerting behaviour to see what they did when they detected a problem.
The main analysis looked to see if the dog’s alert behaviour corresponded to the periods when blood test results showed hypoglycaemia, and whether the owners reported better controlled glucose levels after they were given the detection dog.
What were the basic results?
There was a wide range of participants aged from five to 66 years old who had lived with their detection dogs for anywhere from four months to seven years. Not all 17 participants completed all aspects of the interviews or blood test monitoring, and so responses are not always out of 17.
Main results from the interviews
When asked to recall the occurrence of hypoglycaemia, currently and before having a trained dog, all participants reported a reduction in either frequency of low blood sugar, unconscious episodes or paramedic call outs, six clients believed all three had been reduced.
The majority of clients “totally agreed” that they were more independent post-dog (12/16), whilst two “somewhat agreed” and two clients were “neutral”.
Almost all the clients (15), trusted their dog to alert them when their blood sugars were low and 13 also trusted them to alert when blood sugars were high (six totally, seven somewhat).
Main results from the blood tests
Overall there was statistically significant change after dog acquisition. In eight out of nine cases, there was a shift (an improvement) in the distribution of glucose levels relative to the client’s target range following the placement of their dog. In all cases, except one, there was an increase in the percentage of samples within target range post-dog, but the pattern of change differed between clients.
Blood tests from 8 out of 10 owners (who gave information) indicated the odds of the dogs giving an alert when the blood glucose levels were outside of a target range (that is too high or too low) were statistically significantly different from those taken at random.
That is, the dogs were better than chance at detecting glucose levels outside of the target range.
There was not much information to base the estimate of the accuracy of the dogs on, and it varied a lot. It should also be noted that one of the dogs was alerting its owner at random.
When they measured HbA1C, a commonly used biological indicator of longer-term blood glucose regulation, they found it showed a small but non-statistically significant reduction following dog placement.
How did the researchers interpret the results?
The researchers summed up that the “acquisition of a trained alert dog was greatly valued by the majority of this self-selected sample of medical alert-dog users. They believed their dog to reliably alert to changes in blood sugar and hence described increased independence since obtaining the dog. The population, overall, reported reduced unconscious episodes and paramedic call outs, which if accurate, is of great importance since not only does it represent increased health and safety to the client, but also potentially significant reduced costs in health care”.
This small study on trained blood glucose detection dogs suggests they are highly valued by their owners. The dog’s impact on maintaining blood glucose within a desired range appeared generally positive. However, it was less clear how beneficial this was at improving longer term diabetes control and reducing risk of disease complications. Particularly given that an important measure of longer term glucose regulation (HbA1C) showed no significant improvement.
The study was also quite small and not all of the 17 participants had usable information to analyse. Hence, its results may not be totally reliable and need to be confirmed by studies with more participants.
Another limitation was the interview data which may have been subject to recall bias.
Participants were asked to recall unconscious episodes and paramedic call outs related to blood glucose control before and after the introduction of the dog, which for some people was more than five years in the past. They may not have recalled this information accurately and may have been more inclined to remember more bad episodes before they had the dog because they liked having the dog and perceived it to be beneficial.
Using objective accounts of emergency call outs of hospital visits would have been a more accurate way of assessing benefit.
However, this would still not have been perfect, as people may have had good periods and bad periods of regulating their blood glucose levels (from changes in insulin regimes, doctors, stress, maturation etc.) that may have coincided with the detection dog’s arrival, rather than being caused by it.
The results clearly showed that the majority of the dog owners valued their dog, which is perhaps not surprising as there was presumably some process of applying to get the dog which required some desire to have one in the first place (selection bias).
However, it was less clear exactly how effective the dogs were at detecting wayward glucose levels.
The results, based on only a handful of participants, seemed to suggest there was a beneficial effect overall and for most participants, but it varied from dog to dog so the results may not be wholly reliable.
Furthermore, there was no beneficial effect on the longer term measure of blood glucose regulation (HbA1c) after the owner received the dog. So the study provides no evidence that the dog may improve longer term diabetes control and reduce risk of disease complications, despite the perceived benefit from the owners.
It could be the case that the majority of participants who reported a greater sense of independence were benefiting from the psychological effect of owning a dog (a sense of companionship, security and so on) rather than long-term improvements in their physical symptoms.
A final point is that the current supply for trained dogs cannot meet demand. The UK charity that trains some of the dogs used in the study, Medical Detection Dogs, estimates that there is a three year waiting list for trained dogs.
If you are concerned that your diabetes may be poorly controlled ask your diabetes nurse of GP for advice. There may be a number of lifestyle changes, and in some cases treatments, that could help you. Read more about Living with diabetes.
Analysis by Bazian. Edited by NHS Choices. Follow Behind the Headlines on Twitter.
|
<urn:uuid:57b91b0c-9b3d-45a6-b3fd-cbce3629bce6>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2013/08August/Pages/Dogs-warn-diabetics-after-smelling-low-blood-sugar.aspx
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397562.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00201-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.978612 | 2,168 | 3.421875 | 3 |
By Michael Kolarcik, SJ
Special to Catholic News Service
The stories recounted throughout Genesis are all about relationships: God and humanity, husband and wife, parent and child, and brothers –- many brothers. It’s interesting to notice the movement from the first set of siblings to those at the end of Genesis. We move from the most violent at the beginning to reconciliation at the conclusion.
First, Cain kills his brother Abel. A son of Noah acts with disrespect to his father in front of his brothers. Ishmael and Isaac become permanently separated (but I like the touch where both of them come together to bury their father Abraham, Gen 25:9). Jacob and Esau compete to the point of threatening death, but become almost reconciled.
Finally at the end, covering Chapters 37-50, longer than any other family story in Genesis, the story of Joseph and his eleven brothers is mostly about seeking reconciliation.
All because of a special place that Joseph had in his father’s heart, tremendous jealousy swelled up in the older brothers. Joseph received a special tunic from their father and he did not wear the special status well before his brothers or before his parents. The conflict in this family is one each generation must face. How do you treat those who are your equal but more gifted? How do you treat your equals who are less gifted than you? Joseph at seventeen does not yet know how to use the gifts he is given for the service of others. The brothers do not know how to recognize and foster the gifts in their younger brother.
The conflict reached a breaking point. The brothers stripped Joseph of his special tunic, threw him in a pit, sold him to a caravan heading to Egypt and returned the blood-smeared tunic to their father. “Here is a bloodied tunic, see if it is that of your son!”
Lost to his family, Joseph goes through test after test until he emerges as one who has learned to use his gifts for the benefit of others. For this reason he was placed in charge of Pharaoh’s government.
The story might have ended here except that we want to know how these brothers will act if they have to face each other once again. Sure enough, Jacob sends his 10 sons to Egypt in search of food during a famine while keeping the youngest son Benjamin at home. Joseph, who is not recognized by his brothers, forces them to undergo a trial to see whether they too have learned in their lives to care for those weaker than they.
Just as Joseph had undergone two tests (in the pit at the hands of his brothers and in the dungeon at the hand of Potiphar’s wife) so too do the brothers undergo two tests, first with Simeon then with Benjamin. Judah emerges as the one who offers himself to save the life of his youngest brother.
With this sacrifice, Joseph can contain himself no longer and reveals his identity to his brothers with great weeping and joy. As he sends them off to bring their families and their father Jacob to Egypt, Joseph gives to each brother a set of clothing. He gives to them that which they had long ago stripped from him.
The gift of clothing to each and five sets to his brother Benjamin, points to the concrete way Joseph wants to assure his brothers that they are all reconciled once and for all. But it is not easy. In the end, it will be the brothers who finally clothe Joseph after he dies in the clothing of embalmment with the promise to bring his bones back to the promised land.
|
<urn:uuid:ad134f33-eb64-456c-9565-5eafea92c97f>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
https://cnsblog.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/cns-bible-blog-sibling-rivalry-and-reconciliation/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=1fd78fe65c
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397795.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00110-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.984692 | 734 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Why most coal avoids a bath
Coal washing improves quality, but even when it is cost-effective, who pays for it can determine whether it gets done
15 July 2014
Coal washing removes impurities in the rock, improving quality and price while reducing eventual emissions. So why is most coal not washed?
Coal washing is known as preparation, processing or beneficiation when it is combined with crushing the rock. Different processes exist for cleaning coal, most of them based on the difference in density between coal and other, heavier rock, although finer-size coal can be cleaned by flotation. The most common way to wash coal is by (usually magnetite-based) dense media separation, in which crushed raw coal is introduced into cyclones or a bath, where the heavier rock falls to the bottom while the lighter coal floats and then is removed for drying.
But whichever form is used, coal washing consumes energy and water and adds to the producer’s cost. In China, for instance, washing contributes to the 18% of total national water use that goes to coal, the second-largest source of water consumption after agriculture.
Why wash coal?
Coal is a sedimentary rock made from buried vegetation, transformed through the action of pressure and temperature over tens or hundreds of millions of years. But not just the organic material becomes coal: the vegetation was usually accompanied by inorganic material, impurities in the form of mineral matter, also commonly known as ash, which forms as part of the coal. Other impurities get added during the stripping process while mining. The proportion of ash in coal is very variable, from less than 10% in high-quality coal to more than 40%.
Ash has several negative effects. It raises transportation costs per energy unit because the ash (which has no useful heating value) gets transported as part of the coal; it cuts power plant efficiency by hampering heat transmission; and it complicates plant operation and maintenance because of corrosion, fly and bottom ash removal, etc. Higher ash contents also lead to a greater variety of pollutants, while the lower coal-burning efficiency increases CO2 emissions.
So removing ash through coal washing improves product quality, and hence prices, and it saves money in transportation and end-use at the consumption point.
The costs and benefits of coal washing
Metallurgical coal, with its higher quality specifications, generally must be washed. But while customers want coal of a certain quality – and consistent quality is as important as quality itself – most thermal coal is not. Why not?
To begin with, coal and ash discrimination is not perfect, so the result is two fractions with higher and lower calorific value than the original raw coal. Unless a nearby power plant can burn the rejected fraction, part of the coal’s energy is lost. While it is difficult to assign a number to that rejection fraction, it tends to range from 5% to 20%. If unburned, this fraction must be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner, which can be problematic. And for economic and energy-related reasons, especially in places (such as India) with a coal shortage, the energy in the rejected fraction is an issue.
For example, raw coal of 4 000 kilocalories per kilogram (kcal/kg) and 38% ash can produce two fractions: fourth-fifths of the raw coal that now has 4 500 kcal/kg and 30% ash, and the remaining one-fifth with 2 000 kcal/kg and 70% ash. If the poorer fraction is not burned, 10% of the raw coal’s energy is lost. Assuming USD 50 per tonne as variable mining costs and USD 5 per tonne as washing costs, the cost of washed coal is 37% higher on a tonnage basis and 22% higher on an energy basis.
Consequently, washing coal that does not need to travel far is a complex issue. A policy or regulatory framework that requires internalisation of externalities (such as emissions) would help promote the use of cleaner coal, with positive impacts on plant efficiencies, emissions and the environment.
This article originally appeared in IEA Energy: The Journal of the International Energy Agency. Through the end of 2014, the IEA regularly produced IEA Energy, but analysis and views contained in the journal are those of individual IEA analysts and not necessarily those of the IEA Secretariat or IEA member countries, and are not to be construed as advice on any specific issue or situation. Click here to view issues of IEA Energy. Carlos Fernández Alvarez, the author of this article, joined the IEA in 2010 with more than 20 years of experience in the energy sector. He is also the lead author of the annual IEA publication Medium-Term Coal Market Report.
Browse IEA news by topic:
- IEA Executive Director travels to Beijing for G20 Energy Ministerial
- IEA Executive Director delivers keynote address at World Nuclear Exhibition
- IEA releases Oil Market Report for June
- IEA brings together energy efficiency experts from across the globe
- Policy support and technology progress helps electric cars worldwide surge past the 1 million milestone
|
<urn:uuid:2159ddb2-ec9e-4a46-b8fb-bd7d9895e13a>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.iea.org/ieaenergy/issue6/why-most-coal-avoids-a-bath.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397795.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00154-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.949041 | 1,057 | 3.5625 | 4 |
- Pride can be a useful emotional tool for speakers and infectious with their audiences, if used appropriately. But make sure your presenter's ego remains within good boundaries that respect the audience.
- Anger also has many faces that speakers should use with care. Sometimes, research shows, we're more generous in negotiations if we believe the other speaker is truly angry. Your audience heckler may be angry, but you can use these tactics instead of getting into an angry debate.
- To convey sadness, your voice is critical: the sound of sadness spoken is identical to the minor third in music, research shows. Sometimes sadness comes with the territory, as when this reader had to deliver her mother's eulogy; read her recommendations for getting through that sad speaking task.
- Empathy's an emotion that helps you connect with your audience, whether you're making small talk during a negotiation or balancing a tough stance with an empathetic view.
- Whether you're angry, happy or concerned, telling a personal story is one of the best and easiest ways to show your emotions and move your speech forward. It's tough to beat the unabashedly emotional "last lecture" of Randy Pausch.
- If it's your topic that sparks emotion in you or in your audience, learn 5 ways to tackle a tough or controversial topic and manage the presentation, and take some lessons from the lawyer tasked with managing reparation funds for the angryand skeptical people affected by the BP oil spill.
- Before you get emotional, consider the double standard women face if they cry in public, and what may lie behind it.
- Are you more analytical or more emotional? Your personality preference can affect how and whether you convey emotion when you speak.
Check out the community on The Eloquent Woman on Facebook, and sign up for Step Up Your Speaking, my free monthly newsletter, here.
|
<urn:uuid:fd86d1ae-b374-42d6-a256-508e93137fc6>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://eloquentwoman.blogspot.com/2010_07_28_archive.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402746.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00112-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.930281 | 381 | 2.578125 | 3 |
On Tuesday, Dr. John Grunsfeld, head of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate told the House Science, Technology and Space Committee that extraterrestrial life is on the verge of being discovered. For many, Grunsfeld’s bold prediction was basically a pitch to the House Committee to increase spending levels for NASA’s space exploration missions, where recent successes by NASA in discovering water on other planets and moons in our solar system justifies more funding. Was his discovery prediction merely a pitch for more funding based on recent scientific discoveries, or is there a deeper ‘exopolitics’ agenda at play concerning the imminent disclosure of extraterrestrial life?
Grunsfeld told the House Committee:
Are we alone? Many, many people on planet Earth want to know…. We are on the cusp of being able to answer that question.
The Huffington Post gave a summary of the recent developments concerning the discovery of water in the solar system:
There’s evidence of an interior ocean on Pluto. One of Jupiter’s moons has a global ocean beneath its crust that could contain more than twice as much water as Earth. There are at least half a dozen of these ocean worlds in our solar system alone — and where there’s water, there may be answers about the potential for life across the universe.
In addition, there was the recent discovery of a rocky exoplanet only 60% larger than earth that rotates around a sun similar to our own, in a comparable orbit of 385 days. Scientists said that the likelihood that Kepler has surface water, and therefore the right conditions for life to evolve is very good.
NASA’s recent scientific discoveries and bold predictions by Grunsfeld and other NASA officials lead to the conclusion that the public is being prepared for the imminent discovery of extraterrestrial life. Is this merely a result of genuine scientific advances in NASA’s ability to better detect the conditions for life in our and other solar system? Or is Grunsfeld’s prediction part of a deeper ‘exopolitics’ agenda driven by developments behind the scenes?
Beginning in early March 2015, there was an alleged meeting on the moon involving up to 70 private individuals along with about 120 officials representing different secret space programs and national governments who heard plans about disclosing the existence of extraterrestrial life. The meeting was addressed by an 8ft tall extraterrestrial called Raw-Teir-Eir who belongs to an alien race called the “Blue Avians” that is part of an alliance called the Sphere Being Alliance. The Sphere Being Alliance is allegedly intent on helping bring about full disclosure of extraterrestrial life.
Two of the individuals that attended that secret moon meeting have revealed themselves to varying extents. Corey Goode, who initially used the pseudonym GoodETxSG when his testimony first emerged in October 2014, publicly revealed himself in early April. The second individual, a military officer who uses the pseudonym Lt Col Gonzales, more recently allowed summaries of two secret space program meetings he attended in June to be released. The summaries were Goode’s notes on the oral briefings Gonzales had given to Goode who did not attend the two meetings. Goode gave video testimony of the secret moon meeting held in March that both he and Gonzales attended which is available for free online at Gaia TV.
Goode’s and Gonzales’ testimonies suggest that public officials at NASA, the European Space Agency and other national space programs have been advised that plans are advancing quickly behind the scenes to disclose to the general public the truth about extraterrestrial life. In order to better prepare the world for the psychological shock of discovering that extraterrestrial life is real and that government institutions have been withholding this for decades, officials such as Grunsfeld are very active in playing up the imminent nature of a discovery of extraterrestrial life. Presentations such as Grunsfeld’s at the House Science Committee are a good opportunity to generate media interest in the implications of such a discovery while making it appear as though the only hidden agenda is a pitch for more NASA funding.
If Goode and Gonzales are correct, then there is a deeper exopolitics agenda behind Grunsfeld’s announcement. This agenda suggests that any NASA announcement about the discovery of extraterrestrial life is preparation for further disclosures about when alien life was first discovered, when it first made contact with humanity, and why this vital information was kept secret from the public for decades.
© Michael E. Salla, Ph.D. Copyright Notice
|
<urn:uuid:d43212db-828e-4714-b690-32123e00964e>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://exopolitics.org/nasa-predicts-imminent-discovery-of-alien-life-the-hidden-exopolitics-agenda/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404826.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00138-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.952527 | 925 | 2.59375 | 3 |
- a person born or living in Elam
- the extinct language of the Elamites: it is not known to be related to any other languagealso Elam·it′ic
of Elam or its people, language, or culture
- A native or inhabitant of Elam.
- The language of the ancient Elamites, of no known linguistic affiliation.
|
<urn:uuid:330d7f2a-cb1b-404d-be44-58d9244cd913>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.yourdictionary.com/elamite
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403823.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00042-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.89341 | 78 | 2.859375 | 3 |
EARTHQUAKE AND VOLCANIC HAZARDS
Environmental Geoscience (GEOL1133), Dave Stahle
Earthquake and volcano distribution
Earthquake focus and epicenter
Measurement of earthquake location and magnitude
USA Seismic Hazard Map
New Madrid Earthquake, Missouri-Arkansas-Tennessee, 1811-1812
Seismic wave amplification
California quake risk
San Andreas fault (transform plate boundary)
Possible global financial repercussions of a giant earthquake in California?
Strategies to mitigate earthquake risk:
1. building codes
3. earthquake prediction??
Pacific Rim of Fire
Composite or stratovolcano vs. Shield Volcanoes
Hawaiian Islands and hot spots in the aesthenosphere
Nuee Ardente (pyroclastic flow or volcanic avalanche)
Great eruptions in world history
Climatic impact of volcanic eruptions
Bryson, B. 2003. A Short History of Nearly Everything. Broadway Books. 544 p.
Keller, E.A., 2000. Environmental Geology, 8th edition. Prentice Hall, U. Saddle R., NJ.
Thompson, G.R., and J. Turk, 2007. Earth Science and the Environment, 4th edition.
Thomson, Brooks/Cole, Belmont, CA.
Earthquakes are the shaking or trembling of the ground due to passage of seismic waves through the solid earth. Seismic waves transmit energy through solid rock and are caused by sudden rupture of the crust, faulting, and swift subsidence, mostly associated with sudden movements of tectonic plates at plate boundaries. Earthquake focus is the subterranean point in the earth where the rupture occurs (the point of energy release). Earthquake epicenter is the point on the earth surface directly above the focus, and is usually the region where the largest seismic waves and greatest damage occur. However, there can be seismic wave amplification, and this is greatest in unconsolidated sediments like mud or sand. So solid rock can carry a seismic wave, but when it enters softer sediments, the seismic wave amplitude can increase and cause greater damage to structures. This was the case in the Marina District of San Francisco, which was badly damaged during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, even though the epicenter was located many miles south of the city.
Seismometers are used to determine the epicenter and magnitude of earthquakes. There are two basic types of seismic waves generated by earthquakes: body waves and surface waves. Surface waves cause the ground surface to heave up and down, and move laterally from side to side. Surface waves move slower than body waves, but cause most of the damage during earthquakes. Body waves include P-waves and S-waves. P-waves are “primary” body waves and are compressional. P-waves are the fastest seismic wave and will travel through solid, liquid, or gas. P-waves travel incredibly fast (about 8 km per second, compared with the fastest jet airplane which only travels about 0.85 km per second). S-waves are the “secondary” body wave, and are shear waves. They only transmit through solids, and move about 4 km per second.
Because P and S waves propagate at different speeds through the solid earth, seismologists can use the difference in arrival time between P and S waves to determine the distance from a seismometer and the earthquake, and with at least three seismometer stations they can also locate the epicenter of an earthquake. Just like we can determine distance to a lightning strike by counting the seconds between a lightning flash and the subsequent thunder, we can also estimate distance to an earthquake focus by counting the seconds between the observation of a P wave and an S wave. Remember that light travels faster than sound. For measuring lightning, the light is essentially instantaneous, but sound moves at only 331 meters per second (1088 feet per second). So if there is only one second between the lightning flash and the sound of thunder, then the bolt was only 331 meters away. If there is three seconds between the flash and the sound, then the lightning strike was 1 km away.
Because P waves travel through solid and liquid, and S waves travel only through solids, seismologists have been able to estimate a great deal about the composition of the Earth interior, including the mantle and core. Thompson and Turk (2007) use the analogy of thumping on a watermelon to ‘sound’ it and determine if it is solid or mushy.
The amplitude of the S-wave on the seismographic trace can also be used to estimate the magnitude of the earthquake. We will use these relationships in lab to study earthquake locations and magnitudes.
The Measurement of Earthquake Magnitude:
Mercalli Scale, based on structural damage.
Richter Scale, expresses the amount of energy released by the earthquake, calculated from the height of the largest body wave on the seismogram, also referred to as the “local magnitude” (Charles Richter and Beno Gutenberg, Caltech, 1935).
Moment Magnitude Scale, expresses the amount of movement and the total surface area of movement. Moment magnitude gives a better estimate of the total energy released during an earthquake, and is now in wide use. The Richter and Moment Magnitude scales are base-10 logarithmic scales. The energy released on both scales is also a log scale, but the base is 32, so the energy released increases by a factor of 32 for each full increment (a magnitude 7 is 32 times more powerful than a magnitude 6, and over 1000 times more powerful than a magnitude 5).
To get an idea for the magnitudes of energy in nature, consider the following energy scale, using ergs. An erg is a standard energy unit:
1 x 100 ergs = 1 erg, which is incredibly tiny.
3 x 1012 ergs = 3 trillion ergs, the energy needed for 100-watt light bulb for one hour.
1 x 1016 ergs = 2.389 x 108 calories, or 238,900,000 calories (a calorie is the amount of
heat needed to raise one gram of water 1 degree C, at standard atmospheric pressure).
5 x 1016 ergs = typical lightning bolt.
1 x 1027 ergs = annual energy consumption in the USA.
1 x 1029 ergs = daily reception of solar energy by Earth (so theoretically at least, solar
energy could ultimately be the solution to the energy needs of society.)
The most powerful earthquakes usually occur at subduction boundaries between the tectonic plates. Having said this, it is true that the most powerful earthquakes ever to strike the lower 48 states are believed to have occurred in SE Missouri and NE Arkansas in 1811-1812, a continental interior region far removed from modern plate boundaries. These were the famous New Madrid Earthquakes, and it is now believed that there is a buried rift zone in the crust below the sediments of the lower Mississippi Valley, and this ancient rift is capable of generating powerful earthquakes.
California is actually located at a transform boundary, the famous San Andreas fault. Transform boundaries are usually not as dangerous as subduction boundaries in terms of quake risk, but they can certainly generate powerful quakes. There is great concern for the possible recurrence of a great earthquake in California, especially were it to happen in Los Angeles or San Francisco. Those of us located in Arkansas may feel a sense of security and perhaps detachment from this quake risk to California. But our economy is tightly integrated across the country and even around the world, and a severe earthquake in California could have a major financial impact here in Arkansas as well. So everyone really shares in earthquake risk, and we all have a stake in trying to minimize the consequences to society. What can be done to lessen earthquake hazard?
1. Building codes. Some beautiful historical structures in California were never built to withstand seismic ground motions. These buildings need to be remodeled to improve their resistance to quake damage. New construction in California must meet strict building codes written with earthquakes in mind. These codes help prevent damage and death in quakes. How might building codes, or construction standards, help mitigate earthquake damage? There are hundreds of possible examples. Consider the water heater in your home. It stands in a closet or under the house full of heated water. A rigid gas line is attached (if it is heated with natural gas). In earthquakes they can easily topple over, ripping the gas line from the heater, and allowing natural gas to vent into the room where it might be ignited to start a fire that burns down your house and perhaps the entire neighborhood. To lessen the likelihood of this disaster, one can strap the water heater to the wood framing with stout metal straps, so the thing will not fall over even in a heavy earthquake. One can also use a flexible hose connection for the gas line that will give but not break in an earthquake. These are simple solutions, and if they are mandated for all structures in an earthquake prone area, then there will be far less death and destruction. It is often said that earthquakes don't kill people, buildings and heavy objects do the killing. So we should build and furnish our houses and offices with this in mind.
2. Zoning laws. Science knows where earthquake damage will be most severe, simply by mapping unconsolidated sediments where seismic waves can be amplified. Zoning laws then dictate that no high rise apartment complexes be built there, for example, because that would put the occupants at undue risk to quake damage.
3. Earthquake prediction. There have been a very few notable successes in earthquake forecasting, but most quakes have not been predicted in advance. The 1975 quake in Haicheng, China was forecast five hours in advance and 6 million people were evacuated. Hundreds were killed, but thousands would have perished without this advance warning. The Haicheng example was a big success, but there are many more failures in quake forecasting than successes. The USGS said there was a 95% chance for a magnitude 6 earthquake between 1987 and 1992 at Parkfield, California, but it has yet to happen.
At present, long lead time prediction of earthquakes is not possible, but there are seismologists who are optimistic that this may be possible in the future, using geophysical monitoring of variables like radon gas releases, magnetic anomalies, electromagnetic radiation anomalies, crustal strain, minor seismic activity, and many others. Even bizarre animal behavior has been observed before some earthquakes. Whether this will bear fruit remains to be seen. However, certain extremely short term earthquake protection schemes may be possible. For example, if a sensor detects a seismic wave it could then trigger an electrical signal to shut down electrical grids, gas pipelines, and other utilities to minimize subsequent earthquake damage. This may be possible because electrical signals travel faster than seismic waves. The Japanese have just installed a system to detect P-waves and then trigger television and radio warnings seconds prior to the arrival of the slower moving but more damaging S-waves. This may save lives, though there is some worry that people might panic and crush each other trying to escape buildings.
Long lead time earthquake prediction is not routinely possible, but there have been some famous examples of bogus earthquake predictions. For Arkansas the most notorious would be Iben Browning, who predicted an earthquake for Dec. 4, 1990 on the New Madrid Seismic Zone in NE Arkansas and SE Missouri. This caused incredible publicity, and expensive school and industrial closings. This occurred in spite of the fact that Browning was a well known crackpot, and was basing his prediction on tidal strain which has been thoroughly investigated for many years and found to be of no value in earthquake forecasting. The predicted earthquake did not happen, of course, and it exposed what can only be described as a massive failure of objective journalism. The major networks and others presented Browning's predictions with little serious criticism, even though 99% of the scientific community disagreed with Browning. They gave him a voice, evidently for sensational reasons. When the quake failed to materialize, the public justifiably became more skeptical of the whole science of quake prediction, even though Browning was not an expert.
Volcanoes are conical or dome-shaped mountains or hills constructed from deposits of lava flows and tephra (i.e., pyroclastic material with solidified magma, ash, and clastics of all sizes, blown out under pressure). There are two broad categories of volcanoes, composite and shield volcanoes. Shield volcanoes are accumulations of basalt lava flows, largely “Mafic” or “Sima” in composition (i.e., rich in iron, Fe, and magnesium, Mg). Sheild volcanoes are often found at spreading boundaries or over hot spots in the aesthenosphere. They are characterized by a low dome-like profile, are low in gas content, and often produce river-like eruptions of flowing lava. The most famous example would probably Kilauea crater in Hawaii. The shield volcanoes of Hawaii are a bit peculiar because the island is located in the middle of the Pacific plate, far from any plate boundaries. But the aesthenosphere is especially hot under the lithosphere of Hawaii, a so-called hot spot, and it has essentially burned holes through the crust to form the shield volcanoes we know as the Hawaiian Islands. In fact, because the Pacific plate is drifting slowly to the northwest over this stationary hot spot, the Big Island of Hawaii (in the southeast) is the youngest island in the archipelago, and the islands increase in age to the northwest.
Composite volcanoes are typically found at subduction boundaries, and are the most dangerous type of volcano because they tend to erupt explosively. Composite volcanoes (also called stratovolcanoes) are built from alternating layers of lava and tephra, and are largely Sial in composition (felsic minerals dominated by Fe and aluminum, Al). Composite volcanoes are cone-like in profile, contain huge quantities of heated water and compressed gasses in the magma chambers, and can explode in violent eruptions. Because subduction boundaries ring much of the Pacific basin, this great arc of subduction zones is often referred to as the Pacific Rim of Fire, referring to the dangerous composite volcanoes also found at these subduction zones. Composite eruptions have killed thousands of people, and famous examples of composite volcanoes include Mt. Fuji, Japan, Mt. St. Helens, USA, Mt. Vesuvius, Italy. The Nuee Ardente, also called a superheated pyroclastic flow, is a real killer in the eruption of composite volcanoes. A Nuee Ardente is a volcanic avalanche of glowing, searing, white-hot ash (1800 degrees F), dust, and poisonous gases which literally explode at high speed downhill, engulfing everything in its path and causing total death and destruction. Pompeii was engulfed in a Nuee Ardente from Vesuvius, as was the town of St. Pierre on the island of Martinique in 1902 where 29,933 people were killed almost instantly, and only four people in the town survived, all terribly burned.
A selected chronological history of great volcanic eruptions (all composite volcanoes):
1. Long Valley Caldera, Mammoth Lakes, California, erupted 700,000 years ago, and as recently as 100,000 years ago. Deposited the Bishop tuff, and is responsible for the largest volcanic eruption known in North America. Deposited ash across the continent, including Maine.
2. Mt. Mazama erupted 6600 years ago and formed Crater Lake, Oregon. Formed the Mazama Ash, which is an important stratigraphic dating horizon across much of North America
3. Santorini on the island of Thera in the Mediterranean (near Cyprus) exploded ca. 1628BC in one of the greatest known eruptions in world history, and may have contributed to the end of the Minoan Civilization. Evidence of the climatic impact of this eruption has been found in frost rings formed in high elevation bristlecone pine of California, suggesting a global scale climatic impact of large magnitude volcanic eruptions. Paradoxically, the climatic impact of these big eruptions is cooling for two or three years following the eruption, because dust and aerosols get lofted into the stratosphere, blown worldwide by stratospheric winds, and the dust then blocks sunlight to cool the surface temperature of earth.
4. Vesuvius, Italy, in AD 79 exploded and buried Pompeii and Herculaneum with pyroclastic flow, killing over 2000 people. Recorded by Roman archivists, this is the most famous volcanic eruption in world history.
5. Mt. Etna, Scicily, erupted in AD 1669, killing 13,000 people.
6. Tambora, Indonesia exploded in 1815 in the largest volcanic eruption during the historic era. 25 cubic miles of rock was ejected into the atmosphere by this epic explosion. Killed 12,000 people and disrupted the weather worldwide. Resulted in the "Year Without a Summer" in 1816 over the northeastern USA. Snowstorms occurred in June over New York, frosts throughout the summer in the Midwest.
7. Krakatoa, Indonesia, exploded in 1883 in the Sunda Straits. Wiped out the island and blew a hole in the ocean floor 1100' deep and 6.5 miles wide! 70 pound boulders (volcanic "bombs") were thrown onto islands 50 miles distant. 130' tsunamis were generated, and over 20,000 people were killed. 17.5 cubic miles of volcanic material was ejected into the atmosphere, again lowering global temperatures for two or three years.
8. Mt. St. Helens, Washington, May 18, 1980. 2.5 cubic miles of rock was atomized and ejected in this explosion, comparable to the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. No nearby cities of any size, and only 74 people were killed. The growing threat of eruption was monitored and most people in the area were evacuated ahead of time. The incredible explosion wiped out the upper 1300' of the mountain, and blasted a crater 2 miles wide by one mile deep on the north side of the mountain. The shock wave of the eruption flattened some of the most beautiful forests in America in a fan shaped area out 30 miles from the volcano. There were 156 square miles of total destruction. Dave Johnston, a USGS volunteer scientist monitoring the volcano way too close was instantly vaporized. Elk, deer, bear, mountain lion, and countless other wildlife perished in the blast and under the scalding hot ash at 800 degrees C. The river water became so hot that salmon left the water to die on the ground. The eruption cloud blew in the westerlies across the USA. The eruption paralyzed air travel in the area, and the Columbia River was shut down by the flood debris from the eruption.
Volcanic impacts on human society include: 1. A source of geothermal energy; 2. A cause of volcanic catastrophes; 3. Volcanic eruptions can change the global climate. Volcanoes can inject fine particulate matter into the stratosphere, veil the planet with these fine suspended ‘aerosols,’ block incoming sunlight and reduce global temperatures (like the ‘Year without a Summer’ following the 1815 eruption of Tambora). Volcanoes can also emit huge quantities of carbon dioxide gas. Carbon dioxide is a heat trapping gas and can warm the planet. So massive volcanic eruptions over Earth history have also been implicated in long term temperature changes. The mid-Cretaceous superplume 120 million years ago, which included massive basaltic flows rich in carbon dioxide emissions, may have contributed to global warming of the Cretaceous that reached several degrees higher than the current global average temperature. Violent composite eruptions which inject aerosols into the stratosphere tend to be associated with global cooling episodes (typically short term, maybe 2 to 4 years). Massive and long-lasting shield eruptions rich in carbon dioxide tend to be associated with global warming episodes. However, significant global volcanic warming is known only from the ancient geological record, while volcanic cooling has been witnessed during modern times.
|
<urn:uuid:5ae8cbcd-ce34-4141-a748-74d8bb8d9a62>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://comp.uark.edu/~dstahle/quakes_volcanoes.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392099.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00050-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.944537 | 4,188 | 3.578125 | 4 |
Interesting tips about water and the care of your water well.
Eight Interesting Water Facts
- 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. This likely applies to half the world's population.
- In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger.
- Even MILD dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as much as 3%
- One glass of water shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of dieters studied in a University of Washington study.
- Lack of water is the number one trigger of daytime fatigue.
- Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.
- A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or printed page.
- Drinking five glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer.
Georgia Water Statistics
- 51% of Georgia's population depends upon ground water for its drinking water supply.
- Over 450,000 Georgia households served by privately owned individual wells.
- Over 1,000,000 Georgia residents served by privately owned individual wells.
- Over 4000 public supply wells serving Georgia.
- Over 2,000,000 Georgia residents served by ground water influenced public water systems.
The Water Cycle
Back to Top
Types of Water Wells
- Dug Wells - pose the highest risk of allowing drinking water supply contamination because they are shallow and often poorly protected from surface water. A dug well is a large diameter hole (usually more than 2 feet wide), which is often built by hand.
- Bored Wells - are constructed using an earth auger, usually up to 2 feet in diameter. Concrete is the most common casing material. These wells are typically hallow (less than 60 feet) and thus tend to be susceptible to surface contamination. These wells pose a moderate to high risk of contamination and are the first to go dry in a drought.
- Driven point (sand point) wells - which pose a moderate to high risk, are constructed by driving assembled lengths of pipe into the ground. These wells are normally smaller in diameter (2 inches or less) and less than 50 feet deep. They can only be installed in areas of relativity loose soils, such as sand.
- Drilled Wells - cover all other types of wells, including those constructed by a combination of jetting and driving. Drilled wells fro farm use are commonly 4 to 8 inches in diameter and when properly constructed pose a relatively low risk of contamination.
|
<urn:uuid:da2aae79-9a22-4b14-994f-fab3808f3b3a>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.greeneswaterwells.com/Tips_Facts.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399106.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00178-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.947225 | 562 | 2.875 | 3 |
During recent thunderstorms in Camp Blanding, Florida, the camera's electronic shutter "froze" a lightning bolt—artificially triggered by rockets and wires—as it sped toward the ground at one-sixth the speed of light. "Something moving this fast would go from the Earth to the moon in less than ten seconds," said Joseph Dwyer, a lightning researcher at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne. Scientists have known for several years that lightning emits radiation, said Dwyer, who revealed the photos at an annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco earlier this month. But until now scientists didn't have the technology to take x-ray images quickly enough to see where the radiation comes from, he said.
Lightning Imaged by 1,500-Pound Camera
Making a camera capable of taking such quick images was an achievement in and of itself, Dwyer emphasized. "You can't just go buy a camera and point it at lightning," he said. "We had to make it." The resulting 1,500-pound (680-kilogram) camera—created by Dwyer's graduate student Meagan Schaal—consists of an x-ray detector housed in a box about the size and shape of a refrigerator. The box is lined with lead to shield the x-ray detector from stray radiation. X-rays enter the box through a small hole that in turn focuses them, like an old-fashioned pinhole camera.
Speedy Trade-Off: Less Data Space
Because lightning moves blindingly fast, the camera was required to take ten million images per second. One challenge in taking such fast pictures is storing the data. To do so, the x-ray detector had to take pictures at a relatively low resolution of 30 pixels, which produced images on a crude, hexagonal grid—as shown in the chart below.
A chart shows x-ray observations of a lightning discharge.
Diagram courtesy Joseph Dwyer
Even so, the resolution was sharp enough to reveal a bright ball of x-rays at the head of the bolt, with almost no lingering radiation along the bolt's trail. "Almost all the x-rays are from the tip," Dwyer said. "We see the x-ray source descending with the lightning at up to one-sixth the speed of light."
Triggered Lightning Effective
The lightning bolts were triggered by launching small rockets into the thunderstorms. The rockets trailed wires behind them to direct the lightning through the camera's field of view. Artificially triggering the lightning strike likely didn't alter the natural workings of the thunderstorm, Dwyer noted. And, he said, "the advantage of triggered lightning is that we can repeat it."
Source/Words/Images: National Geographic
|
<urn:uuid:024382ed-a1d6-4e12-a8d2-7e372376d419>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.alexandrosmaragos.com/2010/12/lightning-captured-by-x-ray-camera.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396147.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00017-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.95736 | 567 | 3.9375 | 4 |
In the closing hours of Wild Wonderland on the eve of Christmas Eve, a wondrous event occurred at Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo. A female African Elephant named Mbali, one of 11 elephants rescued from culling in Swaziland, Africa, and brought to the U.S. nearly a decade ago, became a mother. Mbali gave birth to her first calf, a female, on Sunday, Dec. 23 at approximately 9 p.m.
The African Elephant birth is the second in the zoo’s history, and the first born in Tampa from the rescued herd. The newborn, sired by Sdudla, a Swaziland bull, is significant to the population because the calf introduces new DNA into the gene pool of elephants managed in North America, which averages three or four births each year.
Photo credit: Dave Parkinson / Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo
“The birth of this calf demonstrates the maturity of our African elephant care and conservation program,” said Dr. Larry Killmar, VP and director of animal science and conservation. “Our elephant facilities and experienced staff allow the Zoo to contribute to sustainability strategies for this species, furthering elephant conservation worldwide.”
An elephant’s gestation is as long as 23 months. Although the newborn has yet to be weighed, calves are normally 200 or more pounds at birth, and stand just hours after being born. If all goes well with mother and calf, it is the Zoo’s goal to keep the herd together in their natural social structure, with access to the main outdoor yards in the near term.
The newborn calf has not yet been named, but the Zoo has extended an invitation to the Reilly family in Swaziland, to select an appropriate name, in honor of their leadership in establishing three national parks for wildlife conservation in that country.
“The elephant care program here at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo focuses on each animal’s well-being, in addition to health and nutrition, so that future generations know what to do to raise families that thrive,” said Craig Pugh, CEO/executive director. “Successful elephant families are the building blocks for species survival.”
In 2003, Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo, together with San Diego Zoo Global, rescued 11 elephants from Swaziland, Africa, where they were scheduled to be culled (killed) due to park overpopulation. Four of those elephants arrived at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo and seven went to San Diego. Although three of the original four currently reside in Tampa, the fourth, a bull named Msholo, relocated to San Diego Zoo Global on breeding loan in 2009.
Mbali, pronounced (um-bal-ee), is approximately 19 years old (wild born in 1993). She is the smallest of the adults, however still weighs 6,500 pounds. The Zoo’s herd also includes Sdudla (Swazi bull), Matjeka (Swazi cow) and Ellie (the herd’s first matriarch). The Zoo’s first born elephant, a male named Tamani (born to Ellie in 2005 through artificial insemination), relocated earlier this year to Birmingham Zoo on at the recommendation of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Species Survival Program (SSP).
Although the elephant population in some areas of Africa is abundant, populations are under threat from human-elephant conflict, poaching, disease and loss of habitat. In addition to conservation efforts with this species here at home, Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo has supported acquiring additional land, anti-poaching programs and public education in Swaziland. Results to date include expansion of the Mkhaya Game Reserve by 10 percent, to promote survival of thousands of animals protected there.
Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo is among a group of 41 wildlife institutions accredited by the AZA that manage African Elephants. The Species Survival Plan is designed to carefully maintain a healthy, self-sustaining population that is genetically diverse and demographically stable.
|
<urn:uuid:430d6a64-7762-43fe-a814-4e27d7fd9ff4>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.zooborns.com/zooborns/2012/12/elephantastic-news-african-elephant-born-at-tampa-zoo.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396222.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00151-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.953449 | 838 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Fluorescent tubes are the principal source of lighting at our university. Every year we change thousands of burned tubes and replace them with new ones. On average the University buys 82 000 linear feet of tubes per year (according to stats from 2006). We can assume that the same amount is going for disposal.
Each lamp contains around 17 mg of mercury per kg, which is well above the Quebec regulation of 0.1 mg/kg. As of now the burned tubes are going to landfill. We think that now is the time to start recycling those lamps and divert them from landfill. In order to do that we propose to set up storage rooms for building services employees to store the intact tubes. The recycling company can provide fibre drums to safely store the tubes. Once every two weeks (or as needed), a Waste Management employee would go get the lamps from the storage rooms and bring them back to our warehouse where they will be stored until the recycling company come and get them. If needed, the recycling company agreed to go get the lamps directly at the storage room. After transport to the recycling facility, the lamps will then be crushed and separated into glass, metal and mercury powder. All components will be recycled.
For further information conerning this project, or to get in touch with its members, please contact the krista [dot] houser [at] mcgill [dot] ca (SPF Administration Team).
|
<urn:uuid:c0006572-67fa-49ed-b1b4-cf7f329c3003>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
https://www.mcgill.ca/sustainability/fluorescent-lamps-disposal-sp0024
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395346.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00006-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.942939 | 287 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Elbit Launches National Lab to Develop Space Cameras
The new center, named “Daniel,” is located in the Science Park in Nes Tziona, next to Rehovot and part of the greater metropolitan Tel Aviv region.
The Defense Ministry and Elbit, an international company based in Israel, invested tens of millions of dollars over the past three years in the elaborate lab, which is intended to serve Israel’s space program for decades.
Among Elbit’s products and accomplishments is the most advanced space photography in the world, and the new lab is designed to meet the growing demand for high-quality photo products for telescopes and cameras in space.
The high-resolution Jupiter camera, unveiled in Israel last year at the Ilan Ramon International Space Conference, can be used in different kinds of satellites. The camera is able to observe objects that are 50 centimeters (20 inches) long, cruising at an altitude of 600 kilometers (approximately 373 miles).
"We pride ourselves on the establishment of the new lab, the most advanced of its kind in the world. We hope that the Israeli government will leverage the groundbreaking unique capabilities that exist here and promote new projects as part of a national space program,” said Elbit president Ackerman.
|
<urn:uuid:1c9a903d-53a4-448a-8c7a-68169281854d>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/143184
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395346.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00178-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.927575 | 260 | 2.75 | 3 |
A team of researchers from Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School have discovered a protein complex that disrupts the process known as dedifferentiation, known to promote tumor development.
Dedifferentiation (reversion) is a process that leads progenitor or mature cells to become 'ectopic neural stem cells' which causes tumors. By detecting this protein complex, Duke-NUS researchers have shed light on a process that inhibits tumor development and gives hope for the discovery of therapies and treatments that target tumor prevention through this pathway.
Researchers study neural stem cells (NSC) or 'neuroblasts' in the larval brains of fruit flies in order to better understand stem cell behavior in the lab. NSCs are multi-potent cells key to the function of the body's brain and nervous system. In the Neuroscience and Behavioral Disorders Program laboratory at Duke-NUS, 'type II' neuroblasts, found in fruit flies that are especially similar to human NSCs, are studied.
Type II neuroblasts, like stem cells, divide to generate another neuroblast and a second cell which are the progenitor cells. These cells can then undergo differentiation - the process they undergo to become specific types of cells. However, progenitor cells are prone to dedifferentiate into NSCs and become 'ectopic NSCs'. When this happens, 'ectopic NSCs' can undergo uncontrolled growth, leading to brain tumor development.
Asst Professor Hongyan Wang led her team, using the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) model, to uncover how a protein complex, composed of Brahma, HDAC3 and Earmuff, plays an important role in preventing the progenitor cells from undergoing dedifferentiation. These findings have provided a critical and novel insight into a process that was previously poorly understood, and have implications for the overall understanding of NSCs and for the development of future cancer therapies.
The research is published online in eLIFE on March 11, 2014.
Explore further: Identification of a novel neural stem cell type
|
<urn:uuid:cd9acb80-d2dc-47d4-81f4-0a19bcafc60c>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://phys.org/news/2014-03-fruit-flies-uncover-tumor-preventing-protein.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395992.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00055-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.947687 | 427 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Electric System Management
904. Electric System Management
Effective management and installing upgrades to electrical systems and devices can reduce demand and operating costs.
- When repairs are made, consider direct replacement with energy efficient devices.
- Consult manufacturer’s product guide to identify products that incorporate “green” technology.
- Wastes generated from system upgrades should be recycled where possible or disposed of properly.
- In larger buildings using multiple motor driven devices, consideration should be given to staggering the start time of these devices to diminish peak electrical demand loads.
- Consideration should be given to upgrades of variable frequency drives and associated controls on motors to increase efficiency and diminish power usage.
- Purchase high efficiency motors to replace failed units and existing old motors.
- Implement scheduled maintenance programs to ensure proper operation of motors and associated components.
- When considering replacement or new lighting needs, an experienced lighting “technician” should be consulted to advise proper fixture, location, and wattage requirements. Specifications from expert to include life cycle costs, such as purchase price, energy use, and disposal.
- Use low mercury fluorescent bulbs when replacements are needed.
- Verify that light bulb recyclers and handlers can provide documentation of proper bulb disposal and recycling.
- A campus bulb collection, storage and disposal procedure should be established and utilized.
- Establish a segregated storage area for waste bulbs.
- Use occupancy sensors in low or occasional use areas.
- Replace or retrofit old lighting fixtures with newer, more efficient bulbs and ballast technologies.
- Fluorescent lighting should be considered to replace incandescent lighting. This can be done in almost all applications.
- Replace old exit signs using incandescent bulbs with more efficient technology, such as LED.
- Use smaller diameter fluorescent bulbs (T-5, T-8) to replace older larger bulbs (T-12, T-10). In order to accomplish this, the use of new electronic ballasts is required.
- Ensure proper management and disposal of capacitors, ballasts and transformers that contain PCB. Documentation of proper disposal should be on file and readily accessible.
|
<urn:uuid:9edd8a3d-d580-4588-a5a2-3f1b9a516b92>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.uta.edu/campus-ops/ehs/EMS/bmp/electric-mgmt.php
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402746.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00114-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.851428 | 439 | 2.75 | 3 |
As far as hypothesis are concerned, let no one expect anything certain from astronomy, which cannot furnish it, lest he accept as the truth ideas conceived for another purpose, and depart from this study a greater fool than when he entered it. Andreas Osiander's (editor) preface to De Revolutionbus, Copernicus, in To Explain the World: The Discovery of Modern Science, Steven Weinberg
In the realm of project, product, and business management we come across nearly endless ideas conjecturing to solve some problem or another.
Replace the word Astronomy with what ever word those conjecturing a solution will fix some unnamed problem.
From removing the smell of dysfunction, to increasing productivity by 10 times, to removing the need to have any governance frameworks, to making decisions in the presence of uncertainty without the need to know the impacts of those decisions.
In the absence of any hypothesis by which to test those conjectures, leaving a greater fool than when entering is the likely result. In the absence of a testable hypothesis, any conjecture is an unsubstantiated anecdotal opinion.
An anecdote is a sample of one from an unknown population
And that makes those conjectures doubly useless, because they can not only not be tested, they are likely applicable only the those making the conjectures.
If we are ever to discover new and innovative ways to increase the probability of success for our project work, we need to move far away from conjecture, anecdote, and untestable ideas and toward evidence based assessment of the problem, the proposed solutions and the evidence that the propsed correction will in fact result in improvement.
One Final Note
As a first year Grad student in Physics I learned a critical concept that is missing from much of the conversation around process improvement. When an idea is put forward in the science and engineering world, the very first thing is to do a literature search.
- Is this idea recognized by others as being credible. Are there supporting studies that confirm the effectiveness and applicability of the idea outside the authors own experience?
- Are those supporting the idea, themselves credible, or just following the herd?
- Are there references to the idea that have been tested outside the authors own experience?
- Are there criticisms of the idea in the literature? Seeking critics is itself a critical success factor in testing any ideas. There would be knock down drag out shouting matches in the halls of the physics building about an idea. Nobel Laureates would be waving arms and speaking in loud voices. In the end it was a test of new and emergent ideas. And anyone who takes offense to being criticized, has no basis to stand on for defending his idea.
- Is the idea the basis of a business, e.g. is the author selling something. A book, a seminar, consulting services?
- Has this idea been tested by someone else. We'd tear down our experiment, have someone across the country rebuild it, run the data and see if they got the same results.
Without some way to assess the credibility of any idea, either through replication, assessment against a baseline (governance framework, accounting rules, regulations), the idea is just an opinion. And like Daniel Moynihan says:
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.
and of course my favorite
Again and again and again — what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what "the stars foretell," avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable "verdict of history" — what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your single clue. Get the facts! - Robert Heinlein (1978)
|
<urn:uuid:4384febc-444c-48a5-b6b8-b3982f725245>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://herdingcats.typepad.com/my_weblog/theory/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00124-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.941347 | 767 | 2.796875 | 3 |
|Act I, Scene 1 (A desert place)|
The witches plan to meet after the battle, which we find is a rebellion in Scotland. They are summoned by their familiars and end with the theme of the play.
|Act I, Scene 2 (A camp near Forres)|
The king and his thanes are at a camp and hear word of the battle from the bleeding sergeant. The sergeant had saved Malcolm earlier. He says that the battle was doubtful, with the rebel Macdonwald receiving reinforcements and luck. However, Macbeth managed to fight well, and killed the slave Macdonwald. A second attack by the Norweyan lord angered Macbeth and he met their attacks so the Norwegians got their butts kicked. The sergeant goes to get some medical attention, and then Ross tells the rest of the story. Norway and the rebel Thane of Cawdor were met by Macbeth and were defeated. The Norwegian king Sweno was forced to pay ten thousand dollars. Macbeth is given the rebel Cawdor's title.
|Act I, Scene 3 (A camp near Forres)|
The witches meet again, as planned. One has been killing pigs. Another witch is getting revenge on the captain of the Tiger, who's wife has not given her a chestnut. Winds summoned by her will blow in every direction, making the sailor throw up and never sleep, though the ship will never be lost. The witch has the pilot's thumb. Then Macbeth comes. The witches sing a little song. Macbeth comments on the good and bad day, then Banquo sees the witches. They look human in some ways, but don't in others. The witches hail Macbeth as Thane of Glamis, his current title, as well as Cawdor, which he doesn't know he is to receive, and King, which is a complete shock. Banquo is suprised that Macbeth isn't ecstatic at the prophecy, and asks the witches why they have no prophecy for him. The witches make important predictions to Banquo, as lesser but greater, less happy but happier than Macbeth. They also say his children will become Kings. Macbeth wants to know more. The witches vanish, and the two puzzle over the disapperance. Ross and Angus come. Ross tells them the kind heard of his victory in battle. They tell him the King will honor him in person, but that he has also received the title of Cawdor. Macbeth asks why he is given someone else's title and is told of the treason. Now Macbeth starts thinking the prophecy might come true. Banquo is still worried. Macbeth is scared as he considers killing the king to complete the prophecy. Banquo says he is getting used to his new title. Macbeth comes out of his thinking and thanks the men. He tells Banquo they will talk later.
|Act I, Scene 4 (Forres, The Palace)|
The king asks if Cawdor is executed yet and if the people who did it are back yet. Malcolm says the aren't back but someone who saw it said Cawdor confessed and apologized, at peace with himself so that death was not a problem, and the way he left was be tter than the way he lived. Duncan makes a comment important to theme, saying he trusted Cawdor, because he was deceptive in the way he acted. When Macbeth arrives, Duncan thanks him for what he did, saying he can never repay him. Macbeth says he was just doing his duty. Duncan says Macbeth will grow, and Banquo will be close to his heart. Banquo also expresses his loyalty, saying the benefit would be for Duncan. Duncan says he is happy despite troubles, and declares his son Malcolm his successor, making Malcolm a problem in Macbeth's getting the throne. Duncan decides to go to Macbeth's castle, and Macbeth goes to tell his wife. Macbeth talks of how he is having dark thoughts about trying to become king. Duncan comments on how great Banquo is and then follows him.
|Act I, Scene 5 (Inverness, Macbeth's Castle)|
Lady Macbeth is reading a letter from Macbeth, which tells about the witches prophecy. Lady Macbeth says that her husband is too nice to get the greatness he is promised. She decides to help him gain the crown. A messenger tells her the King is coming. Lady Macbeth decides that Duncan will be killed while staying there. She tries to get rid of all kind thoughts so that she can do the deed. She tells her husband to appear normal, even while he plans to kill the King.
|Act I, Scene 6 (Before Macbeth's Castle)|
Duncan talks about how pleasant the castle is. Banquo notes how the birds are abundant, marking it for a nice place. Duncan greets Lady Macbeth, who returns the formality and assures her loyalty. She leads them into the castle.
|Act I, Scene 7 (Macbeth's Castle)|
Macbeth contemplates the crime and says he should do it soon if he does it. If this was all there was to it, and all he had to worry about was the afterlife, he would do it. But he is also judged here, and murdering may lead to his own death. He is supposed to be loyal to Duncan as a relative and subject and host. And Duncan is such a nice, great leader that whoever kills him will be damned. Everyone will be sad. There is nothing to make him do it except ambition, which is like a spur but also like a rider who jumps on a horse but falls off the other side. Lady Macbeth says Duncan almost finished dinner. Macbeth doesn't want to kill someone who has done him so well. Lady Macbeth asks what happened to his hope that he had so much. She will not love him if he doesn't do this, what he wants. Macbeth doesn't want to do it, and Lady Macbeth asks what happened since he was so willing to do it before. She says that if she had sworn to, she would kill a baby suckling at her breast. Lady Macbeth says they won't fail because they will get the King's attendants drunk and make it look like they did it. Macbeth comments on his wife's mannly mettle, and starts to believe his wife. She says it will look like the servants did it, so Macbeth agrees to do it, while hiding what he did from his face, a refernce to the theme.
|Act II, Scene 1 (Court of Macbeth's Castle)|
Banquo and Fleance are walking around and wondering at the time. Banquo is worried about the dark thoughts in his head. Macbeth comes up and Banquo asks why he isn't sleeping when Duncan went to bed happy and sent them gifts. Macbeth responds that he wasn't as good a host because he was unprepared. Banquo dreamt of the witches and Macbeth says they should talk about that later. Banquo wants to maintain his loyalty to the king. Macbeth dismisses his servant and then imagines a dagger before him, but he isn't sure if it is real. He says it encourages to do the deed, showing him how. In the night, he dreams of Hecate and the witches, of a wolf howling the time for murder, and compares his stealthy approach to that of Tarquin. In horror, he resolves to do the deed.
|Act II, Scene 2 (Court of Macbeth's Castle)|
Lady Macbeth says that the alcohol that made the attendants drunk has given her courage. Omens of death wish the king good night, and Macbeth is going to kill him as the drunk attendants are unconscious. When Macbeth shows up she is afraid they woke up and it didn't work. She would have done it if Duncan didn't look like her father. But he did it, after some trouble. One attendant woke up and said "Murder" but then they went back to sleep. Donalbain either said "God bless us" or "Amen" in response to Duncan saying it. Macbeth is troubled because he could not say "Amen". Lady Macbeth says not to think that way. Macbeth says he heard a voice saying he murdered sleep, which is described as such a sweet and pleasant thing. She tells him not to think of such sickly things and to wash his hands. She then agrees to put the daggers back, because Macbeth doesn't want to. She says only kids fear death and sleep. She will get some blood on the attendants to make them look guilty. Macbeth is troubled by knocking and says that nothing can wash his hands clean, and the blood will make the seas red. Lady Macbeth feels bad to have red hands but to be innocent of the crime itself. She tells him to wash his hands and retire and put on his nightgown so that they will not be suspicious to the watchers. Macbeth wishes he did not know what he had done.
|Act II, Scene 3 (Court of Macbeth's Castle)|
The porter hears knocking and says that a porter at hell would have a busy job. He pretends to be the porter of hell, and imagines the sort of people who would come, such as a farmer who didn't get the high prices wanted, a traitor, and a tailor who tried to overprice his garments. Finally he lets Macduff and Lennox in, and they have a discussion about drinking. The porter tells how drink causes red noses, sleep, and urine. He also says it causes lechery, though it takes away the performance. Macbeth comes and greets Lennox and Macduff. Macbeth leads Macduff to the king. Lennox comments on weird things that happened during the night. Macduff returns, having discovered the murder. He is in hysterics, telling them of the horror of horrors and calling for an alarm. He compares the events transpiring to Judgement Day, when the dead rise up to a trumpet. Lady Macbeth comes and asks what is going on. And Macduff tells Banquo when he enters. Macbeth reenters commenting on how awful life is with the death of his king. Malcolm and Donalbain are then informed what happened. Lennox says it looked like the chamber attendants had done it. Macbeth says that in his fury, he killed the attendants. Malcolm and Donalbain are afraid and agree to leave. Banquo says they should reassemble to investigate the matter. Malcolm, in a comment relevant to the theme, says it is easy to show a false sorrow. They both agree it is not safe there and depart.
|Act II, Scene 4 (Outside Macbeth's Castle)|
The old man says this is the worst night he has ever seen. Ross speaks metaphorically of the battle between light and dark. The old man compares it to an owl killing a great falcon. Ross then talks of the mysterious event with the horses of Duncan getting loose and eating each other. Macduff says it is thought the attendants did the murder. He thinks they were paid by Malcolm and Donalbain. Macbeth is said to have gone to Scone to get the crown. Duncan's body is said to be buried. Macduff and Ross bid each other farewell. The old man bids them farewell with a comment alluding again to the theme.
|Act III, Scene 1 (Forres, the Palace)|
Banquo comments on how Macbeth has everything he was promised, but he thinks Macbeth gained it through evil. But Banquo hopes now that his prophecies will come true and his kids will be kings. Macbeth invites Banquo, his chief guest, to a feast. Banquo and Fleance are riding that afternoon, but can be back by supper. Macbeth says that Malcolm and Donalbain, their cousins whom guilt rests upon, are in England and Ireland but don't admit to the crime. Macbeth bids them farewell then tells the servant to fetch the murderers. While waiting, he deliver a soliloquy about how it is insufficient to be king, unless he is secure. He fears Banquo, with his wisdom and temper, will try to unseat him, as the prophecies said his children would be kings. Macbeth fears he has given up his soul and committed an evil act, just to put Banquo's descendants on the throne. He tells fate to fight him to the death. Macbeth has been convincing the murderers that Banquo is a bad person over the course of two earlier meetings. Macbeth tells the murderers they have a special role as men, and the murderers say they have had a rough life and would do anything. Macbeth tells them to kill Banquo, their mutual enemy. He compares his battle with Banquo to fencing, but says he can't kill him himself. He tells them to do it carefully, and to kill Banquo's son Fleance as well.
|Act III, Scene 2 (The Palace)|
Lady Macbeth sends a servant for Macbeth, then says something that reminds of Macbeth's earlier soliloquy. It is no good to be insecure in what you have, and you might as well be destroyed. She asks Macbeth why he is keeping to himself and acting worried when he can't change what he has done. Macbeth says there is still a threat, and he wishes he were one of the dead who are in peace, than have such constant worries. Lady Macbeth tells him to act happy. Macbeth says his wife needs to remember that, too, and that they need to flatter Banquo to cover up for their dark plans. Lady Macbeth says not to kill Banquo and that they won't live forever. Macbeth says they can be happy after Banquo and Fleance are dead, which will happen that night. Macbeth doesn't want to tell his wife of his plans so that she can be innocent. He says this evil deed will help what was badly begun.
|Act III, Scene 3 (A Park Near the Palace)|
A new murderer appears, claiming to be sent by Macbeth. Banquo approaches and they kill him, but Fleance escapes. They go to tell Macbeth.
|Act III, Scene 4 (A Park Near the Palace, Hall in the Palace)|
At the banquet, they seat themselves according to rank. Lady Macbeth goes to play hostess, while Macbeth meets with the Murderer. He learns Fleance escaped and says he is now surrounded by fears instead of being calm and safe. Macbeth is grateful that at least the snake is gone, thought the worm Fleance will likely return. He tells the murderer they will meet again. Lady Macbeth tells him to be a good host, otherwise the guests might as well be eating at home or paying for the meal. Macbeth then sees a ghost of Banquo sit in his chair, but Ross and Lennox tell him to sit since they don't see the ghost. Lady Macbeth tells the guests to wait, that this is just a temporary fit. She tells Macbeth that it is just his imagining from fear. Macbeth says he is just ill and drinks wine to Banquo. He tells the ghost to go away, that it is not real. Lady Macbeth tells the lords to leave after Macbeth continues to act strangely. He wonders then where Macduff is. He says he will go to see the witches again.
|Act III, Scene 5 (A Heath)|
Hecate is angry because the witches have been dealing with Macbeth without consulting her. She says he will be told his destiny at the cave the next day. The various spells she contrives will lure him into a false sense of security. The witches prepare for her return.
|Act III, Scene 6 (Forres, The Palace)|
Lennox thinks it is suspicious how Macbeth has been acting and how two people killed their fathers. Macduff is reported to be in the English court, rallying forces to remove Macbeth.
|
<urn:uuid:34ecea83-2b74-4433-8ea5-0017716dc368>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~maggieoh/Macbeth/summary.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395992.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00114-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.984407 | 3,464 | 2.578125 | 3 |
This animation presents the characteristics of wind power as a source of clean energy. The force of moving air generates electricity, by rotating blades around a rotor. The motion of the rotor turns a driveshaft that drives an electric generator.
The viewer may examine how a wind turbine works by pausing and clicking on its components. They include a gear box, rotor, high-speed shaft, generator, wind vane, yaw drive, yaw motor, anemometer, controller, tower, and brake.
Wind power is a feasible source of electricity in a variety of settings, and wind farms can operate on or off the electrical grid.
|
<urn:uuid:4f1448ec-af4b-4767-9887-aece24fd8490>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://knpb.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/psu06-e21.sci.windstory/wind-story/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395548.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00158-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.924987 | 130 | 3.9375 | 4 |
Cherokee War 1838
John Holdridge served as a private in the Georgia Militia during the Cherokee removals in 1838. Men were required to enlist for three months in the militia to assist with the removals, the beginning of the "Trail of Tears". He joined for duty and enrolled May 14, 1838. John mustered in on May 19, 1838, at New Echota, Georgia, serving in Capt. McMullen's Company, 2nd Regiment (Turk's).
He appears on the Muster-out roll at New Echota, Georgia dated June 24, 1838. Although the enlistment period was for three months it appears that he was not required to serve that amount.
In the treaty of New Echota, a date of May 23, 1838 was set for the Cherokee Indians to be removed from Georgia to land set aside for them in Oklahoma Indian Territory. The removals proceeded very slowly under the man in charge, General Wool. His replacement, Colonel William Lindsay, determined to speed up the process to enforce the May 23 deadline for removal of the entire tribe. It is in this short time frame in spring to summer of 1838 that men of Georgia, including John Holdridge, were enlisted to help round up the Cherokees and place them in stockades, awaiting escorts by federal troops out of Georgia. Fort New Echota, where John enlisted, was built to house the Cherokee before moving west. Local operations began on May 18, 1838, mostly carried out by Georgia Guard under the command of Colonel William Lindsey.
The process is described by Charles Russell Logan in The Promised Land: The Cherokees, Arkansas, and Removal, 1794-1839. "Colonel William Lindsay, in nine months of frenetic activity made up for much of Wool's ambivalence, creating a militia force of 31 companies, building 23 forts and collecting vast subsistence stores. The government's apparent determination to enforce the Treaty of New Echota drew criticism from several Congressmen and many newspapers, which deplored the treaty as an "improper instrument". Even foreign observers commented cynically about "a government founded upon such lofty principles" having its "deviations exposed to public scrutiny." Despite the protests...on April 6 the War Department ordered General Winfield Scott to report to the Cherokee agency on the Hiwassee River to "ensure compliance" with the treaty. Scott arrived at the agency May 10. He had at his command about 2,200 regular troops, officially called the Army of the Cherokee Nation, as well state militia and volunteer troops from Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama, which brought his force to more than 7,000 men. Scott, like Wool, felt sympathy for the Cherokees, but he did not allow this sentiment to interfere with the execution of his duties. On May 10, two days after he arrived in Cherokee country, Scott gathered some 60 chiefs and other important tribesmen at the agency and explained that he had come to the Cherokee Nation to enforce the Treaty of New Echota. "The emigration must be commenced in haste ...," he said. "The full moon of May is already on the wane, and before another shall have passed away, every Cherokee man, woman and child must be in motion to join their brethren in the far West.. ." Scott sent copies of his address to newspapers and ordered it printed on handbills and circulated throughout the Cherokee Nation. On May 17, Scott issued orders to his troops concerning a roundup of the Cherokees and he commanded them to treat the Cherokees humanely and mercifully. Finally, on May 23, 1838, the date set by the treaty for the Indians" removal, came and passed without incident. Three days later, soldiers in Georgia left their posts in squads with orders to collect all Cherokees and return with them to the stockades."
"Unfortunately, a few of the troops under Scott's command did not obey his orders for mercy toward the Cherokees. According to interviews with Cherokees participants conducted late in the nineteenth century by James Mooney and published in 1900 by the Bureau of Ethnology, "Families at dinner were startled by the sudden gleam of bayonets in the doorway ... Men were seized in their fields or going along the road, women were taken from their wheels and children from their play ... they saw their homes in flames, fired by the lawless rabble that followed on the heels of the soldiers to loot and pillage ... hunts were made by the same men for Indian graves, to rob them of the silver pendants and other valuables deposited with the dead." A Georgia volunteer, afterward a colonel in the Confederate service, said of the roundup: "I fought through the Civil War and have seen men shot to pieces and slaughtered by the thousands, but the Cherokee removal was the cruelest work I ever knew." Treaty Party members had prepared for removal and therefore saved much of their property, but those caught in the roundup often had no more than the clothes they wore when captured. In the stockades, the soldiers had built almost no shelters inside the 16-foot-high walls, and thus most Cherokees slept exposed to the elements. Also, because they had no implements with which to cook, the Cherokees often ate their daily ration of salt pork raw. Eventually, Scott ordered his officers to allow a few women outside the walls to hunt for fruit and edible plants. A few men also received permission to return to their homes to retrieve property, but usually they found the abodes had been stripped bare by roving hordes of whites who followed the soldiers as they collected the Cherokees."
Many of the settlers in this area of Georgia had lived in peace with the Cherokee. White settlers were easily accepted into Cherokee society. There was intermarriage between Cherokee and white settlers. When the removals began some of these helped the Cherokee by hiding them and providing shelter. Since we know from family stories that John's future wife Edy Coley was part Cherokee, it is interesting to speculate what might have happened when he participated in the removals. Did he know her before he had to serve in the militia? Or did he meet her during the removals? They married within a year after he ended his service, on July 21, 1839.
Captain McMullan's 2nd Georgia Militia, Henry County, Georgia
Captain John S McMullan Lieutenant William M Wallace Ensign Joseph T Albert Sergeant James Alexander Sergeant Memory Turner Corporal Eli Copeland Corporal William Henry Corporal Isaac Joiner Privates: Ashley, Jackson Lackey, Early Bluford, Thomas Lambert, Seth H Brown, Mathew Lowe, James P Brown, William McCormick, Hugh Cagle, David M McDaniel, William Camp, John L Millions, Leonard Carter, Andrew Miller, James Carter, Shadrick Mills, John Cates, William Mitchell, William Chapman, Nathan Morgan, Eldridge Cleveland, Alexander Pickett, Bright Cobb, William Pool, Hiram Connelly, James Rape, Peter Conglar, Jesse Ray, S.B [Solomon] Copeland, Joseph Reeves, Anderson Crawford, Milton N Reynolds, Berry Crawford, William Simonton, Thomas H Davis, Chesley Sims, Hiram Dingler, John T Sims, Sterling T Downing, Charles Smith, Joshua B Dye, Elijah Smith, Parnell L Easter, David Stephens, Merriman Fletcher, James M Stephens, William D Gaines, William Toller, Joel Garrett, Charles M Wallace, Richard Garrett, Wesley Warren, James D Goldman, Thomas S Wells, Hezekiah Hill, James M West, John W Holdridge, John H Whitley, William Holland, Mathew Wright, William F Johnson, Jeremiah F Wright, Wilson Johnson, John Yarbrough, Silas
- John Holdridge, Cherokee War, Service Record #397, National Archives
- Charles Russell Logan, The Promised Land: The Cherokees, Arkansas, and Removal, 1794-1839
- McMullan's 2nd Georgia Militia Cherokee War, compiled by Linda Ayers, online at http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/military/indian/mcmullan.txt, accessed March 14, 2012
|
<urn:uuid:6a170a86-d466-446c-93ed-8bbb6e7139ea>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~holdridge/military/holdridgejohncherokee.htm
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403508.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00161-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.965714 | 1,691 | 3.9375 | 4 |
|Part of a series on|
|Part of a series on|
Eastern philosophy includes the various philosophies of South and East Asia, including Chinese philosophy, Indian philosophy, Korean philosophy, and Japanese philosophy. Broadly speaking the term can also sometimes include Babylonian philosophy, Jewish philosophy, Iranian/Persian philosophy, and Islamic philosophy, though these may also be considered Western philosophies.
- 1 Controversy
- 2 Supreme God and the demigods
- 3 East Asian philosophies
- 4 Indian philosophies
- 5 Iranian philosophy
- 6 Hebrew and diaspora Jewish philosophy
- 7 Babylonian philosophy
- 8 Islamic philosophy
- 9 See also
- 10 Notes
- 11 References
- 12 Sources
- 13 External links
Some Western thinkers claim that philosophy as such is only characteristic of Western cultures. Martin Heidegger is even reported to have said that only Greek and German languages are suitable for philosophizing. On the other hand, Arab and Jewish philosophy, which have been in dialogue with the Greek tradition and, in the case of leading Islamic philosophers such as Ibn Sina or Ibn Rushd, rely heavily on it, are not specifically Eastern philosophies at all. It is still commonplace in Western universities to teach only Western philosophy and to ignore Asian philosophy altogether, or consider only newer Western-influenced Asian thought properly "philosophy". Carine Defoort, herself a specialist in Chinese thought, has offered support for such a "family" view of philosophy, while Rein Raud has presented an argument against it and offered a more flexible definition of philosophy that would include both Western and Asian thought on equal terms. In response, OuYang Min argues that philosophy proper is a Western cultural practice and essentially different from zhexue, which is what the Chinese have, even though zhexue (originally tetsugaku) is actually a neologism coined in 1873 by Nishi Amane for describing Western philosophy as opposed to traditional Asian thought.
Supreme God and the demigods
|Conceptions of God|
Some Eastern philosophies have formulated questions on the nature of God and its relationship to the universe based on Monotheistic framework within which it emerged. This has created a dichotomy among some Western philosophies, between secular philosophies and religious philosophies developed within the context of a particular monotheistic religion's dogma—especially some creeds of Protestant Christianity, regarding the nature of God and the universe.
Eastern religions have been as concerned by questions relating to the nature of a single God as the universe's sole creator and ruler. The distinction between the religious and the secular tends to be much less sharp in Eastern philosophy, and the same philosophical school often contains both religious and philosophical elements. Thus, some people accept the so-called metaphysical tenets of Buddhism without going to a temple and worshipping. Some have worshipped the Taoist deities religiously without bothering to delve into the theological underpinnings, while others embrace the Taoist religion while ignoring the mythological aspects.
This arrangement stands in marked contrast to some recent philosophy in the West, which has traditionally enforced either a completely unified philosophic/religious belief system (for example, the various sects and associated philosophies of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam), or a sharp and total repudiation of some forms of religion by philosophy (for example, Nietzsche, Marx, Voltaire, etc.).
|This section does not cite any sources. (June 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)|
||This article possibly contains original research. (March 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)|
A common thread that often differentiates Eastern philosophy from Western is the relationship [clarification needed]between the gods (or God) and the universe. Some Western schools of thought were animistic or pantheistic, such as the classical Greek tradition, while later religious beliefs, influenced by the monotheism of the Abrahamic religions, portrayed divinity as more transcendent.
Much like the classical Greek philosophies, many Eastern schools of thought were more interested in explaining the natural world via universal patterns; without recourse to capricious agencies like gods (or God). Syncretism allowed various schools of thought such as Yi, Yin yang, Wu xing and Ren to mutually complement one another without threatening traditional religious practice or new religious movements.
Syntheses of Eastern and Western philosophy
There have been many modern attempts to integrate Western and Eastern philosophical traditions.
Arthur Schopenhauer developed a philosophy that was essentially a synthesis of Hinduism with Western thought. He anticipated that the Upanishads (primary Hindu scriptures) would have a much greater influence in the West than they have had. However, Schopenhauer was working with heavily flawed early translations (and sometimes second-degree translations), and many feel that he may not necessarily have accurately grasped the Eastern philosophies which interested him.
Recent attempts to incorporate Western philosophy into Eastern thought include the Kyoto School of philosophers, who combined the phenomenology of Husserl with the insights of Zen Buddhism. Watsuji Tetsurô, a 20th-century Japanese philosopher attempted to combine the works of Søren Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Heidegger with Eastern philosophies. Some have claimed that there is also a definite eastern element within Heidegger's philosophy. For the most part this is not made explicit within Heidegger's philosophy, apart from in the dialogue between a Japanese and inquirer. Heidegger did spend time attempting to translate the Tao Te Ching into German, working with his Chinese student Paul Hsaio. It has also been claimed that much of Heidegger's later philosophy, particularly the sacredness of Being, bears a distinct similarity to Taoist ideas. There are clear parallels between Heidegger and the work of Kyoto School, and ultimately, it may be read that Heidegger's philosophy is an attempt to 'turn eastwards' in response to the crisis in Western civilization. However, this is only an interpretation.
The 20th century Hindu guru Sri Aurobindo was influenced by German Idealism and his integral yoga is regarded as a synthesis of Eastern and Western thought. The German phenomenologist Jean Gebser's writings on the history of consciousness referred to a new planetary consciousness that would bridge this gap. Followers of these two authors are often grouped together under the term Integral thought.
Swiss psychologist Carl Jung was deeply influenced by the I Ching. The I Ching (Book of Changes) is an ancient Chinese text from the Shang Dynasty (Bronze Age 1700BC-1050BC), and uses a system of Yin and Yang, which it places into hexagrams for the purposes of divination. Carl Jung's idea of synchronicity moves towards an Oriental view of causality, as he states in the foreword to Richard Wilhelm's translation of the I Ching (Book of Changes). He explains that this Chinese view of the world is based not on science as the West knows it, but on chance.
East Asian philosophies
Neo-Confucianism is a later further development of Confucianism but also went much more differently from the origin of Confucianism. It started developing from the Song Dynasty and was nearly completed in late Ming Dynasty. Its root can be found as early as Tang Dynasty, often attributed to scholar Tang Xie Tian. It has a great influence on the countries of East Asia including China, Japan and Korea as well as Vietnam. Zhu Xi is considered as the biggest master of Song where Neo-Confucianism and Wang Yangming is the one of Ming's. But there are conflicts between Zhu's school and Wang's.
Taoism (or Daoism) is traditionally contrasted with Confucianism in China. Taoism's central books are the Dao De Jing (Tao-Te-Ching), traditionally attributed to Laozi (Lao Tzu), and the Nan Hua Jing (Zhuang Zi/Chuang Tzu).
Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan. It is a sophisticated form of animism that holds that spirits called kami inhabit all things. Worship is at public shrines or in small shrines constructed in one's home. According to Shinto practice, relationship with the kami that inhabit this world is foremost in a person's duties; the kami are to be respected so that they may return our respect. Shinto further holds that the "spirit" and "mundane" worlds are one and the same. Of all of the tenets of this philosophy, purity is the most highly stressed. Pure acts are those that promote or contribute to the harmony of the universe, and impure acts are those that are deleterious in this regard. As a faith, Shinto is heavily influenced by Chinese religions, notably Taoism and Buddhism.
Legalism advocated a strict interpretation of the law in every respect. No judgment calls. Morality was not important; adherence to the letter of the law was paramount.
Maoism is a Communist philosophy based on the teachings of 20th century Communist Party of China revolutionary leader Mao Zedong. It is based partially on earlier theories by Marx and Lenin, but rejects the urban proletariat and Leninist emphasis on heavy industrialization in favor of a revolution supported by the peasantry, and a decentralized agrarian economy based on many collectively worked farms.
Juche, usually translated as "self-reliance", is the official political ideology of North Korea, described by the regime as Kim Il-Sung's "original, brilliant and revolutionary contribution to national and international thought". The idea states that an individual is "the master of his destiny" and that the North Korean masses are to act as the "masters of the revolution and construction".
Hinduism is the dominant religion, or way of life,[note 1] in South Asia. It includes Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism among numerous other traditions, and a wide spectrum of laws and prescriptions of "daily morality" based on karma, dharma, and societal norms. Hinduism is a categorisation of distinct intellectual or philosophical points of view, rather than a rigid, common set of beliefs. Hinduism, with about one billion followers is the world's third largest religion, after Christianity and Islam.
Hinduism has been called the "oldest religion" in the world, and some practitioners refer to it as Sanātana Dharma, "the eternal law" or the "eternal way"; beyond human origins. Western scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion[note 2] or synthesis[note 3] of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots[note 4] and no single founder. It prescribes the eternal duties, such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings (ahimsa), patience, forbearance, self-restraint, compassion, among others.[web 1]
In the early medieval times, after the rise of Muslim powers, Hindu philosophy was classified by Hindu tradition into six āstika (Sanskrit: आस्तिक "orthodox") schools of thought, or darśanam (दर्शनम्, "view"), which accept the Vedas as authoritative texts, and four nāstika (नास्तिक "heterodox") schools which don't draw upon the Vedas as authoritative texts, and developed independent traditions of thought. Nevertheless, the various schools are in many ways related, and share various strands of though. The āstika schools are:
- Samkhya, an atheistic and strongly dualist theoretical exposition of consciousness and matter.
- Yoga, a school emphasising meditation, contemplation and liberation.
- Nyaya or logic, explores sources of knowledge. Nyāya Sūtras.
- Vaisheshika, an empiricist school of atomism
- Mīmāṃsā, an anti-ascetic and anti-mysticist school of orthopraxy
- Vedānta, the last segment of knowledge in the Vedas, or the 'Jnan' (knowledge) 'Kanda' (section). Vedanta came to be the dominant current of Hinduism in the post-medieval period.
The nāstika schools are (in chronological order):
- Cārvāka, a materialism school that accepted free will exists
- Ājīvika, a materialism school that denied free will exists
- Buddhism, based on the teachings and enlightenment of Siddhartha Gautama
- Jainism, based on the belief in ahimsa or non-violence towards all living beings
In Hindu history, the distinction of the six orthodox schools was current in the Gupta period "golden age" of Hinduism. With the disappearance of Vaisheshika and Mīmāṃsā, it became obsolete by the later Middle Ages, when the various sub-schools of Vedanta (Dvaita "dualism", Advaita Vedanta "non-dualism" and others) began to rise to prominence as the main divisions of religious philosophy. Nyaya survived into the 17th century as Navya Nyaya "Neo-Nyaya", while Samkhya gradually lost its status as an independent school, its tenets absorbed into Yoga and Vedanta.
Buddhism is a system of religious beliefs based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. Buddhism is a non-theistic religion, one whose tenets are not especially concerned with the existence or non-existence of a God or gods. The Buddha himself expressly disavowed any special divine status or inspiration, and said that anyone, anywhere could achieve all the insight that he had. The question of God is largely irrelevant in Buddhism, though some sects (notably Tibetan Buddhism) do venerate a number of gods drawn in from local indigenous belief systems yet this practice has taken on different meanings and has become a skillful mean within the Tibetan Buddhist practice.
Buddhist philosophy has its foundations in the doctrines of:
- Anatta, which specifies that all is without substantial metaphysical identity
- Pratitya-samutpada, which delineates the Buddhist concept of causality
- Buddhist phenomenological analysis of dharmas, or phenomenological constituents
Most Buddhist sects believe in karma, a cause-and-effect relationship between all that has been done and all that will be done. Events that occur are held to be the direct result of previous events. One effect of karma is rebirth. At death, the karma from a given life determines the nature of the next life's existence. The ultimate goal of a Buddhist practitioner is to eliminate karma (both good and bad), end the cycle of rebirth and suffering, and attain Nirvana, usually translated as awakening or enlightenment.
- Simran and Sewa - These are the Foundation of Sikhism. It is the duty of every Sikh to practise Naam Simran (meditation on the Lord's name) daily and engage in Sewa (Selfless Service) whenever there is a possibility, in Gurdwara (Sikh place of worship), in community centres, old people's homes, care centres, major world disasters, etc. "Ek ong kar Satanam" and "Waheguru" are some mantras used for this purpose. "Ek ong kar Satanam" roughly translates to "there is one God un-separate from nature and truth is its name". "Waheguru" is used as a meditative practice on the Lord's name.
- The Three Pillars of Sikhism - Guru Nanak formalised these three important pillars of Sikhism.
- Naam Japna – A Sikh is to engage in a daily practise of meditation and Nitnem (a daily prayer routine) by reciting and chanting of God’s Name.
- Kirat Karni - To live honestly and earn by ones physical and mental effort while accepting Gods gifts and blessings. A Sikh has to live as a householders carrying out his or her duties and responsibilities to the full.
- Vand Chakna - Sikhs are asked to share their wealth within the community and outside by giving Dasvand and practising charity (Daan). To "Share and consume together".
- Kill the Five Thieves - The Sikh Gurus tell us that our mind and spirit are constantly being attacked by the Five Evils – Kam (Lust), Krodh (Rage), Lobh (Greed), Moh (Attachment) and Ahankar (Ego). A Sikh needs to constantly attack and overcome these five vices; be always vigilant and on guard to tackle these five thieves all the time.
- Positive Human Qualities - The Sikh Gurus taught the Sikhs to develop and harness positive human qualities that lead the soul closer to God and away from evil. These are Sat (Truth), Daya (Compassion), Santokh (Contentment), Nimrata (Humility) and Pyare (Love).
Jain philosophy deals extensively with the problems of metaphysics, reality, cosmology, ontology, epistemology and divinity. Jainism is essentially a transtheistic religion of ancient India. It continues the ancient Śramaṇa tradition, which co-existed with the Vedic tradition since ancient times. The distinguishing features of Jain philosophy are its belief on independent existence of soul and matter, denial of creative and omnipotent God, potency of karma, eternal and uncreated universe, a strong emphasis on non-violence, accent on relativity and multiple facets of truth, and morality and ethics based on liberation of soul. Jain philosophy attempts to explain the rationale of being and existence, the nature of the Universe and its constituents, the nature of bondage and the means to achieve liberation. It has often been described as an ascetic movement for its strong emphasis on self-control, austerities and renunciation. It has also been called a model of philosophical liberalism for its insistence that truth is relative and multifaceted and for its willingness to accommodate all possible view-points of the rival philosophies. Jainism strongly upholds the individualistic nature of soul and personal responsibility for one's decisions; and that self-reliance and individual efforts alone are responsible for one's liberation.
Throughout its history, the Jain philosophy remained unified and single, although as a religion, Jainism was divided into various sects and traditions. The contribution of Jain philosophy in developing the Indian philosophy has been significant. Jain philosophical concepts like Ahimsa, Karma, Moksa, Samsara and the like are common with other Indian religions like Hinduism and Buddhism in various forms. While Jainism traces its philosophy from teachings of Mahavira and other Tirthankaras, various Jain philosophers from Kundakunda and Umasvati in ancient times to Yaśovijaya Gaṇi in recent times have contributed greatly in developing and refining the Jain and Indian philosophical concepts.
Cārvāka, also frequently transliterated as Charvaka or Cārvāka, and also known as Lokayata or Lokyāta, was a materialist and atheist school of thought with ancient roots in India. It proposed a system of ethics based on rational thought. However, this school has been dead for more than a thousand years.
See also Ancient Iranian Philosophy
Zoroastrianism is a monotheistic religion, which originated in Iran. It has a dualistic nature (Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu), with an additional series of six important divine entities called the Amesha Spentas. In modern Zoroastrianism they are interpreted as aspects or emanations of Ahura Mazda (the Supreme Being), who form a heptad that is good and constructive. They are opposed to another group of seven who are evil and destructive. It is this persistent conflict between good and evil that distinguishes Zoroastrianism from monotheistic frameworks that have only one power as supreme. By requiring its adherents to have faith and belief in equally opposing powers Zoroastrianism characterizes itself as dualistic.
The teachings of Zarathustra (Zoroaster) appeared in Persia at some point during the period 1700-1800 BCE. His wisdom became the basis of the religion Zoroastrianism, and generally influenced the development of the Iranian branch of Indo-Iranian philosophy. Zarathustra was the first who treated the problem of evil in philosophical terms. He is also believed to be one of the oldest monotheists in the history of religion. He espoused an ethical philosophy based on the primacy of good thoughts (pendar-e-nik), good words (goftar-e-nik), and good deeds (kerdar-e-nik).
The works of Zoroaster and Zoroastrianism had a significant influence on Greek philosophy and Roman philosophy. Several ancient Greek writers such as Eudoxus of Cnidus and Latin writers such as Pliny the Elder praised Zoroastrian philosophy as "the most famous and most useful". Plato learnt of Zoroastrian philosophy through Eudoxus and incorporated much of it into his own Platonic realism. In the 3rd century BC, however, Colotes accused Plato's The Republic of plagiarizing parts of Zoroaster's On Nature, such as the Myth of Er.
Manichaeism, founded by Mani, was influential from North Africa in the West, to China in the East. Its influence subtly continues in Western Christian thought via Saint Augustine of Hippo, who converted to Christianity from Manichaeism, which he passionately denounced in his writings, and whose writings continue to be influential among Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox theologians. An important principle of Manichaeism was its dualistic nature.
The religious and philosophical teaching called Mazdakism, which its founder, Mazdak, regarded as a reformed and purified version of Zoroastrianism displays remarkable influences from Manichaeism as well.
Zurvanism is characterized by the element of its first principle, which is time (Zurvan), as a primordial creator. According to Zaehner, Zurvanism appears to have three schools of thought, all with classical Zurvanism as a foundation: aesthetic, materialist, and fatalistic.
Aesthetic Zurvanism—apparently not as popular as the materialistic kind—viewed Zurvan as undifferentiated time, which, under the influence of desire, divided reason (a male principle) and concupiscence (a female principle).
Fatalistic Zurvanism resulted from the doctrine of limited time with the implication that nothing could change this preordained course of the material universe and that the path of the astral bodies of the 'heavenly sphere' was representative of this preordained course. According to the Middle Persian work Menog-i Khrad: "Ohrmazd allotted happiness to man, but if man did not receive it, it was owing to the extortion of these planets."
The Philosophy of Illumination founded by Sohrevardi argued that light operates at all levels and hierarchies of reality. Light produces immaterial and substantial lights, including immaterial intellects, human and animal souls and even 'dusky substances', such as bodies. Sohrevardi's works display extensive developments on the basis of Zoroastrian ideas and ancient Iranian thought.
Hebrew and diaspora Jewish philosophy
- Further information: Babylonian literature: Philosophy
The origins of Babylonian philosophy, in the popular sense of the word, can be traced back to the wisdom of early Mesopotamia, which embodied certain philosophies of life, particularly ethics, in the forms of dialectic, dialogs, epic poetry, folklore, hymns, lyrics, prose, and proverbs. The reasoning and rationality of the Babylonians developed beyond empirical observation.
It is possible that Babylonian philosophy had an influence on Greek philosophy, and later Hellenistic philosophy, however the textual evidence is lacking. The undated Babylonian text Dialog of Pessimism contains similarities to the agnostic thought of the sophists, the Heraclitean doctrine of contrasts, and the dialogs of Plato, as well as a precursor to the maieutic Socratic method of Socrates and Plato. The Milesian philosopher Thales is also said to have studied philosophy in Mesopotamia.
The rise of Islam and the influence of classical Greek thought, especially Aristotle, led to the emergence of various philosophical schools of thought. Amongst them Sufism established esoteric philosophy, Mu'tazili (partly influenced by Hellenistic philosophy) reconstructed rationalism, while Ash'ari reshaped logical and rational interpretation of God, justice, destiny and the universe.
Early Islamic philosophy was influenced by (ancient) Greek philosophy, Hellenistic philosophy, Iranian philosophy, Judaism, Christianity and Indian philosophy, and in turn, Islamic philosophy had a strong influence on (medieval) Jewish philosophy, Christian philosophy/Western philosophy, Iranian philosophy and Indian philosophy, hence many consider Islamic philosophy to be both an Eastern philosophy and a Western philosophy.
Al-Mu'tazilah (المعتزلة) or Mu'tazilite is a popular theological school of philosophy during early Islam. They called themselves Ahl al-'Adl wa al-Tawhid ("People of Justice and Monotheism"). They ascended dramatically during 8th and 9th century due to the support of intellectuals and elites. Later in the 13th century, they lost official support in favour of the rising Ash'ari school. Most of their valuable works were destroyed during the Crusades and Mongol invasion.
It is said that other influential Muslim philosophers include al-Jahiz, a pioneer of evolutionary thought and natural selection; Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen), a pioneer of phenomenology and the philosophy of science and a critic of Aristotelian natural philosophy and Aristotle's concept of place (topos); Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī, a critic of Aristotelian natural philosophy; Avicenna, a critic of Aristotelian logic; Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, a critic of Aristotelian logic and a pioneer of inductive logic; and Ibn Khaldun, considered the father of the philosophy of history and sociology and a pioneer of social philosophy. However, not very much credible evidence to support such claims is forthcoming, at least in the field of Arabic-English translation methodology, with regards to the exact sciences of semantics and hermeneutics.
Sufism (تصوف taṣawwuf) is a school of esoteric philosophy in Islam, which is based on the pursuit of spiritual truth as a definite goal to attain. To attain this supreme truth, Sufism has marked Lataif-e-Sitta (the six subtleties), Nafs, Qalb, Sirr, Ruh (spirit), Khafi and Akhfa. Apart from conventional religious practices, they also perform Muraqaba (meditation), Dhikr (Zikr or recitation), Chillakashi (asceticism) and Sama (esoteric music and dance).
- Babylonian literature: Philosophy
- Indian philosophy
- Chinese philosophy
- Iranian philosophy
- Jewish philosophy
- Islamic philosophy
- Japanese philosophy
- Korean philosophy
- Hinduism is variously defined as a "religion", "set of religious beliefs and practices", "religious tradition", "a way of life" () etc. For a discussion on the topic, see: "Establishing the boundaries" in
- Lockard 2007, p. 50: "The encounters that resulted from Aryan migration brought together several very different peoples and cultures, reconfiguring Indian society. Over many centuries a fusion of Aryan and Dravidian occurred, a complex process that historians have labeled the Indo-Aryan synthesis." Lockard 2007, p. 52: "Hinduism can be seen historically as a synthesis of Aryan beliefs with Harappan and other Dravidian traditions that developed over many centuries."
- Hiltebeitel 2007, p. 12: "A period of consolidation, sometimes identified as one of "Hindu synthesis," Brahmanic synthesis," or "orthodox synthesis," takes place between the time of the late Vedic Upanishads (c. 500 BCE) and the period of Gupta imperial ascendency" (c. 320-467 CE)."
- Among its roots are the Vedic religion of the late Vedic period (Flood 1996, p. 16) and its emphasis on the status of Brahmans (Samuel 2010, pp. 48–53), but also the religions of the Indus Valley Civilisation (; Lockard 2007, p. 52; ; ) the Sramana or renouncer traditions of north-east India (; ) and "popular or local traditions" ().
- Augstein, Rudolf; Wolff, Georg; Heidegger, Martin (31 May 1976). "Nur noch ein Gott kann uns retten". Der Spiegel. pp. 193–219. Retrieved 14 June 2013. English translation by William J. Richardson in Sheehan, Thomas, ed. (1st edition: 1981; reprint: 2010). Heidegger: the Man and the Thinker. Piscataway, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. pp. 45–67. ISBN 1-412-81537-1; ISBN 978-14-1281-537-6. Check date values in:
- Defoort, Carine. (2001). "Is There Such a Thing as Chinese Philosophy? Arguments of an Implicit Debate", Philosophy East and West 51 (3) 393–413.
- Raud, Rein. (2006) "Philosophies versus Philosophy: In Defense of a Flexible Definition". Philosophy East & West 56 (4) 618–625.
- OuYang Min. (2012). "There is No Need for Zhongguo Zhexue to be Philosophy" Asian Philosophy 22 (3) 199-223.
- Havens, Thomas R.H. (1970).Nishi Amane and Modern Japanese Thought Princeton: Princeton University Press, p.50.
- Paul French (2014). North Korea: State of Paranoia. Zed Books. ISBN 978-1-78032-947-5.[page needed]
- North Korean Government (2014). Juche Idea: Answers to Hundred Questions. Foreign Languages Publishing House, Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
- Sharma 2003, pp. 12–13.
- Flood 2008, pp. 1–17.
- Nath 2001, p. 31.
- Georgis 2010, p. 62.
- "The Global Religious Landscape - Hinduism". A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Major Religious Groups as of 2010. The pew foundation. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
- Bowker 2000.
- Harvey 2001, p. xiii.
- Knott 1998, p. 5.
- Samuel 2010, p. 193.
- Hiltebeitel 2007, p. 12.
- Flood 1996, p. 16.
- Lockard 2007, p. 50.
- Narayanan 2009, p. 11.
- Hiltebeitel 2007, p. 3.
- Jones & Ryan 2006, p. xviii.
- Gomez 2013, p. 42.
- Osborne 2005, p. 9.
- PV Kane, Samanya Dharma, History of Dharmasastra, Vol. 2, Part 1, pages 4-5;
Alban Widgery, The Principles of Hindu Ethics, International Journal of Ethics, Vol. 40, No. 2, pages 232-245
- For an overview of the six orthodox schools, with detail on the grouping of schools, see: Radhakrishnan and Moore, "Contents", and pp. 453–487.
- Klaus Klostermaier (2007), Hinduism: A Beginner's Guide, ISBN 978-1851685387, Chapter 2, page 26
- Karl Potter (2002), Presuppositions of India's Philosophies, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-0779-0, pages 25-26
- P Bilimoria (1993), Pramāṇa epistemology: Some recent developments, in Asian philosophy - Volume 7 (Editor: G Floistad), Springer, ISBN 978-94-010-5107-1, pages 137-154
- Zimmer, Heinrich (1969). (ed.) Joseph Campbell, ed. Philosophies of India. New York: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01758-1. , p.182
- Sangave, Dr. Vilas A. (2001). Facets of Jainology: Selected Research Papers on Jain Society, Religion, and Culture. Mumbai: Popular Prakashan. ISBN 81-7154-839-3., p. 14
- Oldmeadow, Harry (2007). Light from the East: Eastern Wisdom for the Modern West. Indiana: World Wisdom Inc. ISBN 1-933316-22-5.,p. 141
- Warren, Herbert (2001). Jainism. Delhi: Crest Publishing House. ISBN 81-242-0037-8.
- Brodd, Jeffery; Gregory Sobolewski (2003). World Religions: A Voyage of Discovery. Saint Mary's Press. ISBN 0-88489-725-7. pp.95-96
- Mohanty, Jitendranath (2000). Classical Indian Philosophy. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0-8476-8933-6.
- Carrithers, Michael (June 1989). "Naked Ascetics in Southern Digambar Jainism". Man, New Series (UK: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland) 24 (2): 219–235. JSTOR 2803303.p.220
- Zydenbos, Robert J. (2006). Jainism Today and Its Future. München: Manya Verlag.
- Mary Boyce: "The Origins of Zoroastrian Philosophy" in "Persian Philosophy". Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy: Brian Carr and Indira Mahalingam. Routledge, 2009.
- Jalal-e-din Ashtiyani. "Zarathushtra, Mazdayasna and Governance".
- Whitley, C.F. (Sep 1957). "The Date and Teaching of Zarathustra". Numen 4 (3): 219–223. doi:10.2307/3269345.
- Alan Williams: "Later Zoroastrianism" in "Persian Philosophy". Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy: Brian Carr and Indira Mahalingam. Routledge, 2009.
- Philip G. Kreyenbroek: "Morals and Society in Zoroastrian Philosophy" in "Persian Philosophy". Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy: Brian Carr and Indira Mahalingam. Routledge, 2009.
- A. D. Nock (1929), "Studien zum antiken Synkretismus aus Iran und Griechenland by R. Reitzenstein, H. H. Schaeder, Fr. Saxl", The Journal of Hellenic Studies 49 (1), p. 111-116 .
- David N. Livingstone (2002), The Dying God: The Hidden History of Western Civilization, p. 144-145, iUniverse, ISBN 0-595-23199-3.
- A. D. Nock (1929), "Studien zum antiken Synkretismus aus Iran und Griechenland by R. Reitzenstein, H. H. Schaeder, Fr. Saxl", The Journal of Hellenic Studies 49 (1), p. 111-116.
- Yarshater, Ehsan. 1983. The Cambridge history of Iran, volume 2. p.995-997
- Shaki, Mansour. 1985. The cosmogonical and cosmological teachings of Mazdak. Papers in Honour of Professor Mary Boyce, Acta Iranica 25, Leiden, 1985, pp. 527-43.
- Kluge, Ian (2009). Some Answered Questions: A Philosophical Perspective, in Lights of Irfan, Volume 10.
- Giorgio Buccellati (1981), "Wisdom and Not: The Case of Mesopotamia", Journal of the American Oriental Society 101 (1), p. 35-47.
- Giorgio Buccellati (1981), "Wisdom and Not: The Case of Mesopotamia", Journal of the American Oriental Society 101 (1), p. 35-47 .
- Majid Fakhry (2001). Averroes: His Life, Works and Influence. Oneworld Publications. ISBN 1-85168-269-4.
- Printed sources
- Bowker, John (2000), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, Oxford University Press
- Flood, Gavin D. (1996), An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University Press
- Georgis, Faris (2010), Alone in Unity: Torments of an Iraqi God-Seeker in North America, Dorrance Publishing, ISBN 1-4349-0951-4
- Gomez, Luis O. (2013), Buddhism in India. In: Joseph Kitagawa, "The Religious Traditions of Asia: Religion, History, and Culture", Routledge
- Harvey, Andrew (2001), Teachings of the Hindu Mystics, Shambhala, ISBN 1-57062-449-6
- Hiltebeitel, Alf (2002), Hinduism. In: Joseph Kitagawa, "The Religious Traditions of Asia: Religion, History, and Culture", Routledge
- Hiltebeitel, Alf (2007), Hinduism. In: Joseph Kitagawa, "The Religious Traditions of Asia: Religion, History, and Culture". Digital printing 2007, Routledge
- Jones, Constance; Ryan, James D. (2006), Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Infobase Publishing
- Lockard, Craig A. (2007), Societies, Networks, and Transitions. Volume I: to 1500, Cengage Learning
- Narayanan, Vasudha (2009), Hinduism, The Rosen Publishing Group
- Nath, Vijay (2001), "From 'Brahmanism' to 'Hinduism': Negotiating the Myth of the Great Tradition", Social Scientist 2001, pp. 19-50
- Osborne, E (2005), Accessing R.E. Founders & Leaders, Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism Teacher's Book Mainstream, Folens Limited
- Samuel, Geoffrey (2010), The Origins of Yoga and Tantra. Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century, Cambridge University Press
- Jim Fieser: Intro to Eastern Philosophy
- atmajyoti.org Articles and commentaries on a wide range of topics related to practical Eastern Philosophy
- Kheper Website: Eastern Philosophy
|
<urn:uuid:9d519d6c-c251-4d6b-854c-569d478079c7>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_philosophy
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402699.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00044-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.898045 | 8,180 | 2.9375 | 3 |
I do enjoy a spot of quinoa now and then. The grain-like seed from the Andes makes a nice backdrop to lamb or fish, and can form a pleasant, if very rich, salad if you augment it with bacon and warm greens.
I am far from alone. Twenty years ago, quinoa was pretty much unknown. Now, it’s in everyone’s cafeteria. Its price is going through the roof.
And that, in the confused minds of Western foodies, is somehow a bad thing. This week saw a flurry of headlines suggesting that the quinoa boom, unlike any other commodity boom, must somehow be bad for the people on the producing end. “The more you love quinoa,” The Globe and Mail headline read, “the more you hurt Peruvians and Bolivians.” A report in the Guardian chronicled “the unpalatable truth about quinoa,” which is that “poor Bolivians can no longer afford their staple grain.”
There is nothing quite like food to make us lose all sense of perspective and reason. Behind the killer-quinoa meme you’ll find three modern fallacies of food.
First is the idea that success must be bad for the poor. Surely, we think, the quinoa-eating people of the Andes are going to be hurt if they can no longer afford their own crop.
The people of the Altiplano are indeed among the poorest in the Americas. But their economy is almost entirely agrarian. They are sellers – farmers or farm workers seeking the highest price and wage. The quinoa price rise is the greatest thing that has happened to them. And it is a deliberate strategy: Quinoa had all but died out as a staple in Bolivia, replaced by beans and potatoes, until farmers began planting it in the 1980s with exports to North America in mind.
Starting in 1987, they tapped an export crop that raised living standards, lowered poverty and allowed farmers to move away from the region’s other profitable export crop, cocaine.
“Quinoa fetches a guaranteed high price affording farmers economic stability,” Emma Banks of the Andean Information Network observes. This has given the Andean farmers – formerly one of the most exploited groups in Latin America – new political power, allowing them to win land rights and ecological protection. So when one ecological blog argues that quinoa’s “increase in popularity could have negative long-term effects for the farmers that grow it,” what could it mean?
There is the second fallacy: That people are better off consuming food grown near them. The “locavore” ideology holds that Montrealers should eat Quebec potatoes and people in La Paz should consume quinoa – and that if they don’t, because their success has made it expensive, they should be forced to eat some other local crop.
But why wouldn’t they use the rising incomes to purchase imported beans, rice, cheese and chicken? In fact, this is exactly what they do. Food is expensive everywhere this year; Peruvians and Bolivians are economizing.
Imported food is often nutritionally better, more affordable, better for the economic development of its producing regions, and less ecologically damaging (because growing in cold countries requires carbon-heavy storage and heating). Peruvians and Bolivians were not better off in the days when they were consuming their own produce – in fact, the Andes region had alarmingly high rates of stunted growth among children, a key indicator of undernourishment. Food protectionism was bad for the poor. So why would we relegate them to a life that was hurting them and that they didn’t enjoy?
That leads to the third fallacy of food: Authenticity. The Incas ate quinoa centuries ago, so their descendants should. Now the whole world wants to eat their healthy crop, and they’re turning to chicken. Doesn’t that somehow make them less authentically Andean?
I have relatives on the Nova Scotian side of my family who can remember when lobster was strictly for the dirt-poor – in the eyes of better-off maritimers, it was akin to eating insects. Then the postwar explosion of surf-n-turf dining priced this high-protein food out of their reach. They ate lasagna, pork chops, and macaroni and cheese instead, because the lobster boom had made them less poor. Does anyone think this made them worse off, or less authentically Nova Scotian?
Today they’re eating quinoa – which tastes pretty good with lobster, as it happens. Being poor may be authentic, but success feels better.Report Typo/Error
|
<urn:uuid:1b259cb0-df53-4d1c-ae57-c695b821b1d4>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/killer-quinoa-time-to-debunk-these-urban-food-myths/article7536845/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404405.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00030-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.963552 | 991 | 2.546875 | 3 |
According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer is now the second leading cause of cancer death among American men and the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Colorado today.
Provenge, a new cell-based immune therapy for patients with metastatic, castration-resistant, hormone-therapy-resistant prostate cancer, was approved last Thursday by the FDA. It is considered a landmark when it comes to cancer treatment as it employs the human body's own white blood cells to fight the disease, rather than exogenous chemicals such as those used in chemotherapy.
Traditionally, cancer is fought by either surgically removing the tumor, chemotherapy, radiation therapy or a combination of these treatments. Surgery can be invasive and dangerous, and chemotherapy and radiation therapy can have very unpleasant side effects, such as hair loss, weight loss and severe nausea and vomiting. But the Provenge process involves merely harvesting some of the patient's own white blood cells (which are responsible for fighting infection and foreign bodies) and "activating" them using Provenge, then re-introducing them into the patient's body in their more active (and therefore more aggressive against cancer) form. It is much less invasive than surgery and has far milder side effects (in clinical trials most patients on Provenge reported flu-like symptoms that lasted only a few days). Provenge has been classified as a vaccine, but it is meant as treatment for patients who already have the disease rather than a preventative measure against developing prostate cancer in healthy individuals.
It remains to be seen whether insurance company will cover the cost of this rather expensive new drug (Investment firm J.P. Morgan estimates a full course of Provenge will cost $65,000; estimates by other investors put it between $50,000 and $100,000, making it unobtainable by many).
For more information visit CNN's article regarding Provenge.
|
<urn:uuid:9c8f277f-5bf2-4dbf-b51c-66a53085662f>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.examiner.com/article/new-landmark-vaccine-approved-by-fda-for-prostate-cancer
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00137-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.961269 | 381 | 2.625 | 3 |
Posted by Momo on Saturday, February 6, 2010 at 6:46pm.
Graph the solution:
This is my thought process in this:
The first equation I can solve for y since we don't have to worry what x is. And I get y>3x-7.
The second one, however, y is being multiplied by 5, so I can't just divide by 5 on both sides because I don't know if the value of y will be positive or negative (and then I'll have to switch the sign).
...So I don't know about the second equation. Help please?
- Math - Damon, Saturday, February 6, 2010 at 6:52pm
5 y > -x -3
y > -x/5 -3/5
You divided by a positive number, so there is no reason to reverse the direction of the arrow. Now graph that line and shade above it.
- Math - Reiny, Saturday, February 6, 2010 at 6:55pm
5y ≥ -x - 3
but you are dividing by 5, so you don't have to worry about the inequality sign.
y ≥ -x/5 - 3/5
Now in each case, the equation becomes the boundary.
So for the first one, draw a dotted line, and shade in everything above that line.
For the second, draw a dotted line and shade in everything above that line.
Answer This Question
More Related Questions
- Geometry&trigonometry - consider the polar graph §æ =(2/3)¦Ð. (¦Ð=pie) find the ...
- MATH - Useing substitution/elimination method what is the solution set to x^2+y^...
- compound inequality - olve. State the solution set using interval notation and ...
- Algebra 1 (Reiny or Kuai) - Solve each equation. 1. p(1 + 4) - 2(p + 6) = 6 A: p...
- math - What is the line of thought or sequence of thought for solving simple ...
- Math - 1)Solve 3+2(1-x)>6 or 2x+14<=8. Graph the solution set on a number ...
- Math - ( / means absolute value) Solve: 3+/2y-1/>=1. Graph the solution set ...
- Algebra - Directions say that I have to solve and graph the equation using words...
- Math - The graph of the equation y=4-x consists of all the points in the ...
- Algebra - Question 1 Solve using the multiplication principle then graph. -15>...
|
<urn:uuid:89e92cb0-67e7-49a0-8351-83f6b5f47ec1>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.jiskha.com/display.cgi?id=1265499966
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396872.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00059-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.89827 | 569 | 3.203125 | 3 |
It's interesting that 53 years after the United States put its first citizen in space, a Russian official is using our tattered space program to belittle us.
In response to stricter U.S. sanctions on Russia because of its actions in the Ukraine, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Twitter:
"After analyzing the sanctions against our space industry, I suggest to the USA to bring their astronauts to the International Space Station using a trampoline."
The gibe was a reference to the U.S. hitching rides on Russian Soyuz rockets to deliver and return our astronauts to the space station. The U.S. has not had that capability since the last space shuttle was retired in 2011.
According to Businessweek.com, the U.S. pays Russia about $71 million per seat for the rides to and from the space station. There are two Americans on the current crew of the ISS.
Entrepreneur Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, says he has a new spaceship, the Dragon MK2, that could accomplish the task. Other Dragon space ships have acted as freighters to the station.
SpaceX, though, has a rather contentious relationship with our government. Just last week it filed a protest saying that it had been shut out of a bidding process for space satellite launches.
We think government should inspire its citizens. The heroics of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration when we were growing up not only inspired but also led to discoveries that revolutionized medicine, the sciences and life in general.
Monday marks the 53rd anniversary of astronaut Alan Shephard's first U.S. space flight. It was a modest 15-minute flight on May 5, 1961, but it kicked off dreams and was a symbol of high aspirations.
Now our space program depends on the kindness of Russia. How sad.
* Editorials reflect the opinion of the publisher.
|
<urn:uuid:cd01fb59-67bd-47e4-9d77-9b6c2a579065>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/585162/How-far-we-have-fallen.html?nav=9
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399385.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00132-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.960397 | 391 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Most college and university applications have a uniform application system for prospective students. It is important to address college recommendation letters within a format consistent with the application. Being asked to write a letter of recommendation is an important honor. Make sure to help the person who is being recommended to get accepted to the school of their choice by paying attention to the how the letter is addressed.
1Write a return address. Place the return address at the top of the paper, flush with the left margins. If the recommender is a teacher, the address of the high school should be included. If the recommendation letter is coming from a personal reference, the home address is fine. If the letter is being written on letterhead, a return address is not necessary.
2Date the letter. Leave 2 or 3 spaces between the return address and the date. Write the date using the month, day and year, with a comma separating the day and the year.
3Put the name and address of the college on the top left part of the page. Writing a college recommendation letter is like writing any business correspondence. It should be formal and professional. Include a name, a title or a department so the letter, once mailed, will get to the right person's attention.
4Use a name in the salutation, if one is provided. Many colleges do not have a specific name the recommendation letter should address. However, if there is a name, address him or her professionally. Write Dear Mr. or Dear Ms. followed by the individual's last name.
- If a name is not provided, address the college recommendation letter to the admissions team at the school, since they will likely be the people reading the letter. Write Dear Admissions Committee, Dear Director of Admissions, or Dear Admissions Department.
5Use correct punctuation after the salutation. Once the individual or department has been addressed, use a colon before moving to the next paragraph.
6Write the body of the letter. After addressing the college recommendation letter, write the letter in support of the individual applying to college.
- Remember not to assume the gender of the person reading the letter. "Dear Sir" is a generic salutation that has been used in the past to address letters when the name of the individual receiving the letter was not known. College applications are received and read by men and women, so "Dear Sir" should not be used.
- Make sure the margins are consistent, and the spacing is even. The beginning of each line should be flush to the left margin, and 2 or 3 spaces should separate the return address, date, college address, and salutation.
- Before writing and printing a letter on regular paper, check to see if there is a specific form that must be used. Some college applications require recommendation letters to be submitted on a provided page.
|
<urn:uuid:ab45966d-0665-4102-aae0-e3affd022439>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.wikihow.com/Address-College-Recommendation-Letters
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00044-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.924025 | 576 | 2.671875 | 3 |
July 28, 2012
Human Evolution And Neanderthals – Did Interbreeding Play A Role?
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online
A recent genetics study has shown evidence that another branch of the human evolutionary tree may have existed alongside Neanderthals, fueling the ongoing feud between paleontologists and geneticists.According to the study published this week in the journal Cell, a team of geneticists led by Joseph Lachance and Sarah A. Tishkoff of the University of Pennsylvania found DNA evidence of an interbreeding with an unknown archaic species of human in blood samples taken from modern day African tribes.
However, all known African fossils are of modern humans and Richard Klein, a paleoanthropologist at Stanford University, told the New York Times that the new claim “is a further example of the tendency for geneticists to ignore fossil and archaeological evidence, perhaps because they think it can always be molded to fit the genetics after the fact.”
In the latest study, which started a decade ago, the geneticists decoded the entire genome of three isolated hunter-gatherer peoples in Africa: the Hadza and Sandawe of Tanzania and a group of the forest-dwelling pygmies living in Cameroon. At a cost of $10,000 per genome, the researchers completely sequenced DNA of five men from each group, who had all submitted blood samples.
The genomes of all three groups were found to contain small stretches of DNA with very unusual sequences. While mutations over the years had left their mark on these particular genetic fragments, these extremely isolated men all appeared to have diverged from a common ancient ancestor that was neither a modern human predecessor nor a Neanderthal.
Tishkoff´s team interpreted these divergent genomic sequences as the remnants of an interbreeding with an unidentified archaic species. They calculated that the interbreeding would have taken place between 20,000 and 80,000 years ago.
Sequencing of the genomes also revealed a variant in the pygmies´ gene responsible for the development of the pituitary gland, which controls reproduction and growth functions. Researchers cited this anomaly as the possible cause for the pygmies´ famously short stature and as well as their early reproduction window.
In addition to calculating a date range for species interbreeding, the geneticists estimated that the archaic species diverged from modern human´s ancestors around 1.2 million years ago, about the same Neanderthals also split from modern human lineages.
Although they existed at the same time, this ℠sister species´ to the Neanderthals had a much different genome, according to the study´s authors.
"We're calling this a Neanderthal sibling species in Africa," said co-author Joshua Akey of the University of Washington in Seattle.
Akey added that modern Europeans show no evidence of these unique DNA sequences, leading his team to believe this ℠sister species´ was confined to Africa.
Meanwhile, paleontologists like Klein claimed that the geneticists´ methods could be flawed and even Tishkoff, while appearing confident in her team´s findings, admitted there could be other genetic factors at play in the African tribal genomes besides species interbreeding.
Klein posited that any flaws in the geneticists´ work will come to light if subsequent research leads to inconsistent claims.
“Meanwhile, I think it´s important to regard such claims skeptically when they are so clearly at odds with the fossil and archaeological records,” he said.
|
<urn:uuid:c9042fc3-ec02-4953-acc4-c7a4f08472c5>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112665284/human-evolution-interbreeding-neanderthals/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397696.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00094-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.945583 | 725 | 3.28125 | 3 |
- Historic Sites
Cape Henry Memorial
According to George Percy, one of the early settlers, "The nine and twentieth day we set up a cross at Chesupioc Bay, and named the place Cape Henry." Here, on the windswept sands, led by Reverend Robert Hunt, the colonists must have knelt in prayer giving thanks for this new land and their safe arrival.
Just off the shores here at Cape Henry, on September 5, 1781, two mighty war fleets exchanged cannon shot for about 2 1/2 hours. It is only because of Admiral deGrasse, commander of the French fleet sent to support General George Washington, that the British were unable to relieve Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. This sea battle helped secure America's independence by assuring Cornwallis was trapped at Yorktown.
|
<urn:uuid:d8bdda63-5178-45b5-9ce0-874ab1469f65>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.americanheritage.com/content/cape-henry-memorial
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392069.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00072-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.944368 | 166 | 3.59375 | 4 |
Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes) are found across a central band of the continent of Africa in the following countries: Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Cameroon, Angola, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Congo, Gabon, Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Democratic Republic of Congo.
"For hundreds of years the apes have served as funhouse mirrors for what the human species once was, or perhaps might have been had evolution taken a different course. Among the four species of great apes, the chimpanzees have received the lion's share of attention as models of early humanity. Until the 1960s, however, when Jane Goodall first set out for Tanzania, we didn't know much about wild chimpanzees. What Goodall found shocked us: Chimpanzees were not only extremely clever, they also had complex societies and adept tool-using abilities, and they loved raw meat. In the decades that followed, field researchers observed other "human qualities" in wild chimpanzees: intercommunity warfare and lethal territorial aggression, cooperative hunting for other mammals (with the spoils of the hunt ritually shared and used as the bargaining chips of political and sexual barter), and the manufacture and use of tools made of plant products and, at some sites, of stone! These studies turned our view of chimpanzees (and of ourselves) on its head."
|
<urn:uuid:6d487a13-388d-4a10-be8c-980a13172bd8>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.alisonruttan.com/snippets/chimpanzees.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397567.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00091-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.954056 | 312 | 3.4375 | 3 |
- Psychology & the public
- What we do
- Member networks
- Careers, education & training
The unconscious and romantic attraction
Unconscious preferences play an important role when it comes to romantic attraction. This is the suggestion of new research from investigators at Northwestern University and Texas A&M University, which found there is a difference between what people say they want and what they actually desire with regard to finding a mate.
According to the team, preferences fail to predict who individuals are attracted to when it comes to meeting them in person.
Alice Eagly, Professor of Psychology and Faculty Fellow in the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern - which was founded in 1851 to serve the Northwest Territory - noted that while consciously stated attitudes tend to predict behaviour reasonably well, "in the case of attraction, people's implicit, unconscious preferences seem to do a better job".
The authors explained, however, that just because reasons why people say they like others may not be totally accurate, this does not necessarily suggest romantic desire is simply random.
Dr Simon Moore of the London Metropolitan University, commented: "There are many layers that influence the shape, look and taste of a trifle. You can see the cream and custard on top, but if you dig down you'll find other things that contribute to the nature of the trifle - jelly, sponge and fruit for example.
"Human attraction is just like that. What you first see is not necessary what you'll get. The complexity lies in all the factors that combine to influence what we find to be attractive. If you ask someone what they are attracted to you are not necessarily going to get an accurate answer. The reason for this is two fold: Social Pressure and underlying unconscious evolutionary principles.
"As we are social creatures, many of our behaviours and actions reflect the norms of the groups we belong to. Social conformity plays a role in all aspects of our lives, what we wear, what we watch and who we should like.
"So if you ask someone what they find attractive they might just be telling you what they think they should be saying, rather than what they actually believe.
"The other problem lies in evolutionary psychology. Three years running I asked my psychology students through a show of hands what things they found to be attractive. This has involved around 400 students. Counting up the hands there seemed to be no difference in preferences between the males and females in what they deemed to be attractive.
"In fact, when I mentioned resources such as status and money for example, many of the females protested that those things certainly weren't attractive to them. Similarly the males contested that they found physical appearance not to be a major factor in wanting to date someone.
"Yet when I subsequently asked the class to privately rank in order a number of characteristics that would attract them to someone I saw different results.
"Females consistently ranked status, wealth, resourcefulness, intelligence and competition as the characteristics they found to be most attractive. All of these relate to some kind of resource provision.
"Males on the other hand rated beauty, health, youth [and] physical fitness as characteristics they were most attracted to. Grouped together, these relate to physical wellbeing and healthiness.
"Such responses support the claims of David Buss who suggest no matter what we protest consciously we are still very much influenced by our unconscious survival needs.
"In relation to attraction we are looking for someone who we might potentially pass on our genes with - for women that is someone who can provide support and invest resources in the baby (intelligence etc) and for men, a female who will safely provide a healthy baby.
"Even smell plays an unconscious role as there is research suggesting that the more genetically similar we are to someone the less we will like the way they smell.
"Perhaps this is a biological safety mechanism to dissuade forming such close romantic bonds with relatives. This is of course all age dependent and I would imagine attraction and things we find attractive would change over the lifespan - I wouldn't expect underlying evolutionary principles to be so influential later in life."
|
<urn:uuid:707008bb-39e2-47de-8048-90f138515d32>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.bps.org.uk/news/unconscious-and-romantic-attraction
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395166.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00115-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.964282 | 833 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Social Justice and Engagement
Social justice is the concept of attempting to achieve justice at every societal level. Good leaders should be concerned with the dignity and rights of those on their team as well as those they serve. As you become more aware of our global society and the many varied communities, you may become more aware of the injustices others experience. The following links offer information about social justice and contain suggestions about what you can do to help justice be achieved for all.
Navigate your CareerPlan by referencing the checklist below.
- Assessed your values, interests, and skills?
- Researched possible career choices?
- Created a resume and cover letter?
- Activated your eFolio account?
- Started the job search process?
Navigate your EducationPlan by referencing the checklist below.
- Developed SMART goals?
- Decided on a major or program of study?
- Assessed your learning style?
- Researched study skills and strategies?
- Arranged a meeting with an advising professional to select appropriate courses?
Navigate your FinancePlan by referencing the checklist below.
- Established your short and long-term financial goals?
- Created a budget?
- Explored resources to help you pay for college?
- Assessed your debt situation?
- Developed a savings plan for the future?
Navigate your LeadershipPlan by referencing the checklist below.
- Assessed your leadership style?
- Completed a personality inventory?
- Formed your personal mission and vision statement?
- Explored the leadership resources?
- Participated in a campus or community activity to help build your leadership skills?
- Determined your Carbon Footprint?
Navigate your PersonalPlan by referencing the checklist below.
- Explored the transition to college resources?
- Assessed your resiliency and ability to adapt to change?
- Established personal fitness goals?
- Examined the physical and mental wellness resources?
- Researched how to manage healthy relationships?
|
<urn:uuid:fc325ea3-d573-47b8-afdb-9ce45fdcabfe>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.gpslifeplan.org/century/leadership/index.php?link=global-social-justice
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00194-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.914752 | 421 | 2.765625 | 3 |
The Constitutional Life of Legislative Instructions in America
New York University School of Law
May 12, 2009
New York University Law Review, Vol. 84, p. 1331, 2009
In America's early history, state legislatures often formally instructed their federal representatives on particular votes. This practice flourished for a century, but then died out - a change that many scholars attribute to the Seventeenth Amendment. This Note argues that previous scholars have ignored other, more important reasons for the demise of instructions.
The six-year term length for United States senators, combined with the increasingly rapid turnover in state legislatures, prevented binding instructions from becoming entrenched. Instructions were held in place only by constitutional culture, but even this did not last. After Southern Democrats vigorously used the practice to purge Whigs from the Senate, instructions were indelibly linked to the South. Not surprisingly, the doctrine of instructions was one of the casualties of the Civil War. The roles had been reversed: Now the states - especially the Southern states - were taking instructions from the federal government. Today, instructions still exist, but as nonbinding "requests" for action. This new conception of instructions returns us full circle, to James Madison's conception of the proper role of instructions: A right of "the people . . . to express and communicate their wishes" to their representatives.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 44
Keywords: constitution, history, representation, Senate, instructions, Seventeenth Amendment, political safeguards of federalism
Date posted: May 18, 2009 ; Last revised: November 16, 2009
© 2016 Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This page was processed by apollobot1 in 0.172 seconds
|
<urn:uuid:3fb8e104-29bd-4566-9589-764004e79b1f>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1403685
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404405.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00106-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.933303 | 347 | 3.71875 | 4 |
So how can Burkina’s poor producers break out of this cycle when they lack the means to purchase high yielding drought resistant agricultural inputs, or vaccinations for their poultry?
One of the solutions is a matching grant system implemented by the World Bank’s Agricultural Productivity and Food Security Project (better known by the French name Projet d’amélioration de la productivité agricole et de la sécurité alimentaire or PAPSA) that helps smallholder farmers share the cost with the project. Under the supervision of the regional Chamber of Agriculture, local community leaders, and local authorities, male and female farmers are invited to contribute their share of the costs through community works such as the preparation of lowlands for rice farming. This includes clearing the land of rocks, turning over the soil, organizing the plots, and constructing water retention systems. Those who have contributed the most to community works are provided cleared plots of land, technical expertise, training, improved seed varieties, and fertilizer for their rice crops.
The project observed that female farmers were the group that participated the most in these community works, thus more than 45% of the prepared lowlands have been distributed to women. For these female farmers, this system has completely changed their lives.
“In our culture, it is difficult for women to possess land. Thanks to the project, I now have my own plot of land from which last year I produced four bags of paddy rice. I distributed one bag to my neighbors, I sold the second bag to pay the school fees of my children, and the other two bags are to feed my family and contribute our share to the community savings to purchase inputs for the next planting season,” explains Alizèta Kabore, a smallholder farmer from Bissiga, in Burkina’s Central Plateau region.
Financed by the World Bank, the Agricultural Productivity and Food Security Project is giving hope back to farmers and increasing productivity. Men and women are going back to tending their fields, and have begun to reap the benefits of this new system. Project support for rain fed lowland rice production has helped clear 7,820 hectares of land for rice production providing 30,000 producers with income, 45% of which are women. In 2014, rice production in Burkina Faso saw a significant boost in the form of an additional 15,000 tons of rice. Thanks to new techniques and better inputs, farmers are learning how to retain more water in their fields and how to fertilize them.
Similar results were observed in poultry, cattle, and pork farms. Techniques such as artificial inseminations are boosting cattle reproduction rates, and the construction of 459 modern chicken coops is reducing poultry mortality. In addition, 54% of local poultry are now vaccinated again Newcastle disease. While poultry and beef makeup Burkina’s main meat staples, pork production this past year brought in an estimated 26 million FCFA.
However an increase in food production is only half the battle. Solutions are also needed to address farmers’ access to credit, surplus storage, and market distribution. Access to credit remains a big challenge for rural farmers as financial institutions are usually reluctant to finance smallholders farmers due to the lack of collateral and the high risk related to agricultural production.
To improve smallholders’ farmers’ access to rural credit, the project has promoted the warehouse receipt system also known as warrantage. An inventory credit system, warrantage allows farmers to use their harvests as collateral to obtain credit.
“Under the project, a farmer will generally deliver his or her harvest to a local warehouse, whose access is held jointly by a microfinance institution and a farmer’s association, usually in the form of two pad locks. Upon delivery of the harvest, the farmer receives credit which he or she uses to buy essential inputs for the next planting season, pay children’s school fees, or invest in other revenue generating activities,” explains Elisée Ouedraogo, Senior Agricultural Economist at the World Bank Office in Burkina Faso.
The credit advance generally covers a period of several months and allows the farmer to stock their harvest until food stocks run low and they can ask for higher prices. At the end of the credit period, farmers can sell their harvests, repay their credit and use the difference to buy seeds, fertilizer, small pumps and other inputs which help to increase yield and production. Part of the harvest may also be kept by farmers for his or her own consumption. Under the project, 222 warrantage schemes have been promoted and 4,700 tons of grain stored, allowing smallholders farmers to mobilize the equivalent of $700,000 in credit from microfinance institutions.
The Agricultural Productivity and Food Security Project will close in 2018, signaling its long term support for reinforcing Burkina’s agricultural and livestock value chains. With more food products available in rural markets, Burkina Faso can significantly reduce risks of food insecurity and improve its economy. Given that the country’s economy is primarily based on the rural sector, which employs 86% of the labor force (National Population Census, 2006), a productivity-led growth in the agricultural sector is the key to new employment opportunities, higher incomes, and a brighter future.
|
<urn:uuid:91525965-0963-41b1-b8d6-33831800525b>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2016/02/10/improving-food-security-and-agricultural-productivity-a-priority-for-burkina-faso
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393518.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00197-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.950972 | 1,083 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Recent research in demographic economics supports the hypothesis that smaller family size (i.e. lower fertility) can spur economic development and help reduce poverty, both at the household and at the aggregate level. Smaller families are more likely to exit poverty traps and help reduce intergenerational transmission of poverty due to upward income mobility, as household resources are shared among fewer members. One of the important ways in which high fertility affects economic development is through educational attainment of children. Children from larger families have less education and poor health because parents are financially constrained by having to invest in the education and health of each child. For the financially constrained households, it is more difficult to send children to school since children in these households very often contribute to the family’s income. In economic terms, the cost of school attendance, both direct and indirect (i.e. opportunity cost), increases as the size of the family increases, thereby resulting in lower educational attainment for children in larger families than children in smaller families. This negative relationship between family size and children’s education is known in economics as the ‘quantity-quality trade-off’ and was first modelled by Nobel Laureate Gary Becker (Becker and Lewis in 1973).
The quantity-quality trade off: New evidence from India
In a recent paper using the District Level Household Survey of 2007-08, we explore the empirical relevance of the quantity-quality trade-off in India (Kugler and Kumar 2015). The main challenge in identifying the causal effect of family size on children’s education is that parents may simultaneously decide about the number of children they want to have and also how much they can afford to spend on education and health of the children. It is likely that those parents who prefer to have fewer children also place more value on the education of their children. If this is true, then simply looking at the correlation between family size and education of the children may not reflect the true relationship between these two variables. To resolve the problem that both family size and education may be affected by third factors, we rely on external variation across households.
Figure 1. Effect of sibling sex composition on family size
We exploit the cultural phenomenon of ‘son preference’ in India and use gender of the first child as the external source of variation that affects family size but not education. There is a large literature that documents that Indian parents, especially in rural areas, prefer sons to daughters due to dowries and old-age security. This has important implications for the household’s fertility decisions because, in order to have the desired number of sons, parents continue to bear additional children in the family. To fix ideas, consider a household having a desire to have two sons. If the first two children are boys, then this household will stop child bearing. In contrast, if the first two children are girls or even if one child is a girl, then the parents will decide to have the third child, which will increase the family’s size. In Figure 1 we show that family size is larger if the first child born is a girl rather than a boy. In households where the first child born is a girl, the number of children is 0.22 higher than in households where the first born is a boy. The increase in family size is 100% more when the first two children born are girls. Our estimation is conditional on the assumption that gender of the first child is truly exogenous and it does not affect educational outcomes directly. In our paper, we address this concern more formally.
We find that Indian parents do make trade-offs between quantity and quality of children (i.e. family size has a negative impact on schooling of the children).
- After controlling for birth order and the share of boys in the household, we find that an additional child born to the family reduces both years of schooling by one-fifth and the probability of being currently enrolled by 5 percentage points (Figure 2).
Since quantity-quality trade-offs operate because households are financially constrained, the negative impact of family size may be more pronounced for households which are poor and belong to socially disadvantaged groups.
Figure 2. Effect of family size on education
We check for the heterogeneity in the trade-offs and find that the detrimental effect of an additional child on education is more severe for children from low-caste and rural households. The magnitude of the trade-offs is also higher for children belonging to illiterate mothers and poor households. In contrast, we do not find a significant effect of family size on children’s education in urban areas or children belonging to wealthier households precisely because these households are less likely to be financially constrained.
At the current fertility rate of 2.5 children per woman, India is expected to reach the replacement level of fertility by 2025. However, given the current state of the educational status of children, it seems unlikely that India will be able to reap demographic dividends.
Our research shows that the high fertility rate within households may have caused the low level of human capital accumulation in India. Most of the policy discussions on how to increase per capita income emphasise the role of reducing population growth. Our findings indicate that diluting the culture of son preference may help reduce family size, which in turn may spur economic growth. The recent amendment in the inheritance law that provides equal rights to women has the potential to weaken son preference too, which represents a policy change in the right direction. Finally, establishing a welfare system that provides financial support in older ages may reduce the need for parents to have larger families.
Becker, G S and H G Lewis (1973), “On the Interaction Between the Quantity and Quality of Children”, Journal of Political Economy 81(2), S279- S288.
Kugler, A D and S Kumar (2015), “Preference for Boys, Family Size, and Educational Attainment in India”, NBER Working Paper No. 21138.
|
<urn:uuid:6f10316b-e25a-4f27-aecf-84db5ebf6a00>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.voxeu.org/article/family-size-and-education-india
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397428.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00140-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.959646 | 1,209 | 3.46875 | 3 |
Pampa is a famous Kannada poet of 10th century AD. He was born in Vemulavada of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. He is contemporary of another two famous poet namely Ranna and Ponnna. There were together known as ''Ratna-Traya', which means three gems. He is regarded as one of the greatest poets of Kannada literature and is proudly remembered even today. Pampa was writing his works in Kannada when the Chalukyas of Badami were ruling in that area. Pampa is also popularly known as 'Adi Pampa'. It is believed that he was born in 902 AD.
(Last Updated on : 06/01/2009)
Pampa was the poet in the court of the ruler named Arikesarin of Rashtrakuta factory. The two great compositions of Pampa are 'Adi Purana' and 'Vikramarjana-Vijaya', which is well known as 'Pampa Bharata' in 942 A.D. He wrote them when he was only thirty-nine years old. Pampa's father 'Abhiramaradevaraya' converted to Jainism from originally being a Brahman and thus Pampa continued to be a staunch follower of Jainism all through his life. According to his younger brother Jinavallabha's 'Gangadharam' inscription, his father was also known as 'Bheemappayya' and his mother's name was Abbanabbe, who hailed from Annigeri, a part of the Kannada country.
'Adi Purana' is a composition of Pampa, which describes about the history of the first of the twenty-four Jaina Tirthankaras named Rishabha (or Vrishabha). He is considered as the 'Adi Kavi' or 'first poet' of Kannada. The 'Pampa Bharata' is the composition by the poet Pampa, which got him the great recognition as a poet. This was a writing, which was based on the reduced version of the Vysa 'Mahabharata'. This writing of Pampa brought 'Mahabharata' within the reach of all people of ancient Karnataka area. Pampa also tried to immortalise his king Arikesarin in this work by identifying him with the hero of the epic 'Arjuna'. In this reduced form of 'Mahabharata', Pampa has not left out any major incident and has also brought the essential traits of all the characters of the epic in it. His 'Pampa Bharata' is not a mere translation but has much originality in it, which shows the imagination and talent of this versatile poet. In all his writing, the love for his homeland, the ancient Karnataka is quite visible. Pampa was also well enough in Sanskrit writings.
|
<urn:uuid:9b8f9cf6-ed2d-48c5-b198-d31b10727d51>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.indianetzone.com/23/pampa_kannada_poet.htm
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00068-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.990925 | 601 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Essay: S. T. Coleridge as a Supernatural PoetColeridge as the Poet of the Supernatural Depicted in "The Ancient Mariner"
By: Purwarno Hadinata
The Ancient Mariner is a tale of a curse which the narrator, the Mariner himself, brings upon himself and his companions by killing an Albatross without reason. Coleridge’s power of handling the supernatural is like the pure music of his verse. The moral of the poem is one of all-embracing love. This poem is full of moral teachings for human beings. Humphry House expresses his agreement with three great critics, Dr. Tillyard, Dr. Bowra, and Robert Penn Warren, that the poem has a very serious moral and spiritual on human life. The moral of the ancient Mariner’s story is that one should love all God’s creatures.
Coleridge is regarded as the greatest poet of the supernatural in English literature and The Ancient Mariner is regarded as a masterpiece of supernatural poetry. His supernatural is controlled by thought and study. Cazamian says, ”The very center of Coleridge art lies in his faculty of evoking the mystery of things, and making it actual, widespread, and obsessing. Even better than Wordsworth, he knows how to handle that species of the supernatural whose essence (spirit) is entirely psychological…. The supernatural element in The Ancient Mariner is a hallucination, the outcome of remorse; by the most sober of method.” His skill in dealing with the supernatural in this poem is two-fold: first, he has fully achieved his aim of making the supernatural appear to be natural; and, second, he has employed suggestive, psychological, and refined (sophisticated) methods of producing the feelings of mystery and horror in the poem, not crude and sensational like that of the writers before him, i.e. Horace, Walpole, Mrs. Radcliffe, and Monk Lewis. The greatness of The Ancient Mariner lies chiefly in the technique by which the supernatural has been made believable and convincing. There are, no doubt, a number of impossible, incredible, and fantastic situation in the poem, such as: the mesmeric (magnetic) power in the mariner’s gaze, the sudden appearance of the mysterious skeleton ship, the spectre woman and her mate, the coming back to life of the dead crew, the seraph-band making signals to the land, the sudden sinking of the ship, and the polar spirit commenting on or influencing the course of events. But this supernatural phenomena are so skillfully blended with the perfectly believable and natural phenomena that the whole looks real. The sun shinning brightly at the outset, the mist and snow, the freezing cold of the polar regions, the floating ice bergs floating in the water, the torrid (very hot) fierceness of stagnant water, the slimy things crawling on the sea, the moon going up the sky, the roaring wind, the rainfall—such are the natural phenomena in the poem. The realistic effect is enhanced by a description of the state of mind of the ancient mariner; that is how he tried to pray but he could not, how lonely he felt on a wide, wide sea, how he wanted to die but in vain (useless), how he suffered mental and spiritual anguish (torture). This psychological study of the mariner adds to the realistic effect because we are made to feel that any man would suffer in the same way under similar circumstances.. Again, the details of the ship’s voyage have such a diary-like air that we accept them as a faithful recording of facts. There is, too, the logic of cause and effect in the poem. The punishment and torture have a convincing cause behind them.
The realistic effect achieved by Coleridge in The Ancient Mariner is one his great achievements which makes the poem not only convincing and exciting but also in some sense a criticism of life. There are a large number of situations and episodes in The Ancient Mariner, which fill us either with a sense of mystery of a feeling of horror of with both. The first situation that strikes terror in the heart of the Mariner (and also the reader) is the appearance of the skeleton-ship. When this skeleton-ship is sighted in the distance, the sailors feel happy to think that they will now get water to quench their burning thirst. But in a few moment they discover the reality of this ship. The description of the ship with its “ribs” and its “gossamere-like sails” fill us with terror. It is a strange mystery that this ship should sail on the sea without wind and without a tide, while the Mariner’s ship stands still “like a painted shop upon a painted ocean”. Obviously it is a supernatural force, which drives the ship, and the crew also consists of supernatural characters. The feeling of terror is heightened when a reference is made to the crew of this ship. The crew consists of Death and Life-in-Death. But Coleridge creates the sense of horror in this poem not by describing a direct and crude description but by employing suggestive and psychological methods. For instance, he does not describe the physical features of the spectre woman and her death mate or other external phenomena at length, but he simply portrays the effect of those external things on the mariner’s mind. The appearance of Life-in-Death is described in the following three lines: Her lips were red, her looks were free, Her locks were yellow as gold: Her skin was as white as leprosy. (Lines 190-92) These three lines are followed by these two: The night-mare Life-in-Death was she, Who thicks man’s blood with cold. (lines 193-94) Coleridge, after giving us only three lines of description, conveys the horror by saying that the sight of her would have the effect of freezing a man’s blood. In other words, he leaves it to us to imagine for ourselves the horrible appearance of Life-in-Death that personifies the unspeakable torture of a man who cannot die.
Coleridge merely offers a few suggestions to be developed by the reader himself. The effect of the skeleton-ship with Death and Life-in-Death on board again conveyed to as by the following two lines: Fear at my heart, as at a cup, My life-blood seemed to sip! (lines 204-5). That is, instead of giving us a detailed description of the whole horrible sight, Coleridge refers to the effect of that horrible sight upon the mind of the Mariner and says that fear sipped his life-blood. Another situation that produces horror in the poem is the death of the two hundred sailors who dropped down one by one, and each of them looked at the ancient Mariner with a curse in his eyes: One after one, by the star-dogged Moon, Too quick for groan or sigh, Each turned his face with a ghastly pang, And cursed me with his eye. (lines 212-15) The ancient Mariner heard a whiz-like sound every time a soul left its body: The souls did from their bodies fly,— They fled to bliss or woe! And every soul, it passed me by, Like the whizz of my cross-bow! (lines 220-23) What a horrible experience it must have been for the ancient Mariner and how horrible for the reader too. The agony and spiritual torture of the lonely ancient Mariner on a wide wide sea when he could not pray or die are, perhaps, the most terrifying and horrifying elements in the poem. The following stanzas convey some of the horror of the Mariner’s state: I looked upon the rotting sea, And drew my eyes away; I looked upon the rooting deck, And there the dead men lay. I looked to heaven, and tried to pray; But or ever a prayer had gusht, A wicked whisper came, and made My heart as dry as dust. I closed my lids, and kept them close, And the balls like pulses beat; For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky Lay like a load on my weary eye, And the dead were at my feet. (Lines 240-52) What makes the situation still more horrifying is that the curse in dead men’s eyes had never passed away: The look with which they looked on me Had never passed away. (Lines 255-56) Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse, And yet I could not die. (Lines 261-62) Here, again, no ugly details are provided. We are to imagine the horror of the situation ourselves. We shudder (tremble) with fear to think of the Mariner who is left alone after seeing “four times fifty living men” dropping down one by one, “with heavy thump, a lifeless lump.” It is at this stage that the Weeding-Guest begins to experience a sensation of fear because he thinks that the Marines himself must also have dropped down dead and that it is the Mariner’s ghost who is now speaking to him and so he says: ‘I fear thee, ancient Mariner! I fear thy skinny hand! .................................. I fear thee and thy glittering eye, And thy skinny hand, so brown.’— (lines 224-29) Next, the groaning, stirring, and coming back to life of the dead crew must have been a terrifying experience for the ancient Mariner till he discovered that the bodies were inspired not by their original souls but by a troop of angelic spirit. We are certainly terrified when we read: The dead men gave groan, They groaned, they stirred, they all uprose, Nor spake, nor moved their eyes; (lines 330-33) They raised their limbs like lifeless tools We were a ghastly crew. (lines 339-40) In real life, if a dead man happens to open his eyes (because he has not really died), all the mourners get terribly frightened and run away helter-skelter. In this case two hundred dead men got up on their feet and started working at the oars.
The horror of the situation can well be imagined. Again, towards the close of the poem, the poet wishes to tell us how horrifying the Mariner’s face appeared after he had undergone his strange adventures. The poet does not describe the features the face; he simply describes the effect of the face upon the Pilot’s mind: I moved my lips—the Pilot shrieked And fell down in a fit; (lines 560-61) In other words, the Mariner’s face was ghastly like the face of a dead man, and it struck so much terror in the Pilot’s heart that the Pilot fainted. The Pilot must have thought that the Mariner was not a human being but some horrible spectre. The effect on the Pilot’s boy was that he went crazy with fear: I took the oars: the Pilot’s boy, Who now doth crazy go, Laughed loud and long, and all the while His eyes went to and fro. (lines 564-67) As for the Hermit, he too was terrified but, being a holy man, he sought courage from God: The holy Hermit raised his eyes, And prayed where he did sit. (lines 562-563) The Hermit is, indeed, badly shaken and, on stepping forth from the boat, could scarcely stand because of fear: The Hermit stepped forth from the boat, And scarcely he could stand. (lines 572-73) In a nervous state of mind, the Hermit asks the Mariner to tell him immediately what manner of man he is. In short, the horror of the Mariner’s face is conveyed to us through the reactions of the Pilot, the Pilot’s boy, and the Hermit. Coleridge’s treatment of the supernatural is quite different from that of such writers as Horace, Walpole, Mrs. Radcliffe, and Monk Lewis. The difference between Coleridge and the others is the difference between the maker of horror and the maker of horrors. Coleridge creates the atmosphere of mystery and fear by indefiniteness and by subtle suggestion, while the others employ crude description and they pile horrors in order to send a cold shiver down the reader’s spine and to curdle the reader’s blood. The theme of this poem is crime, punishment and reconciliation. In this poem the Mariner did not act but was only acted upon and he was the recipient rather than the doer. He is the recipient of the odd and of the fate. There is a tragic flaw for the Mariner as the killing of the bird starts his suffering. The suffering endured by the Mariner is due to killing the bird that represents imagination, and by killing the bird the Mariner kills the imagination and the loss of the imagination is a kind of death. The Mariner suffers mentally and spiritually, and he is isolated. Then in his suffering, he sees water snakes and blesses them, which eventually releases his suffering.
Source: Purwarno Hadinata
|
<urn:uuid:e02e03be-224d-4ff7-90cf-7252ec6b777a>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://thecutestliterature.blogspot.com/2005/12/essay-s-t-coleridge-as-supernatural.html
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00151-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.96277 | 2,783 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.