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1. Starting with the Fish Young Nile Tilapia fish are warmed by heat radiating from coils of water connected to a roof-level water tank that absorbs the sun's energy. for Tilapia * duckweed and algea that grow in the nutrient-rich water. 2. Aerobic Biofilter Habitat The water falling from the plants above onto the rocks in the fish pond creates a habitat with a balance of air, moisture and nutrients for microbes that cleanse water. 2a. Wetland Biofiltration Beneficial bacteria thrive on the submerged, oxygen-rich plant roots of papyrus. The bacteria convert the toxic ammonia in fish waste to nitrate, used for nutrients by vegetables. 2b. Wetland Plants Wetland plants have adapted to the anoxic conditions of marsh depths lacking oxygen by drawing air down from their stems and leaves into their roots. These oxygen-rich roots are teeming with aerobic microbes. 2c. Anerobic Biofilter Habitat Porous lava rocks lining the pond bottom provide a home for the teeming anerobic bacteria that transform ammonia into harmless nitrogen gas that returns safely to the atmosphere. floats over the gravel bed. It absorbs the ammonia and converts it into a protein-rich biomass that easy to digest by fish. Click on the frog to learn more about duckweed: 3a. Cultivating Duckweed Duckweed, equal in protein to commercial fish pellets, produces more protein than soybeans. When combined with plankon and algea, duckweed provides a complete nutrient source for Nile Tilapia, while cleansing the water. Red earthworms (Eisenia fetida) eat semi-decomposed foodscraps, yard waste and manures. They can transform dried fish sludge into vermicompost. Mix in kelp and greensand, if available, to add valuable trace minerals and grit for earthworms. 5. Soil-Media and Irrigation Vermicompost is mixed with shredded coconut hulls or vermiculite for a soil media. This mix provides balanced nutrients and air, and wicks up moisture from the flow of water pumped up from the fish pond below. 6. Plant Troughs Almost any vegetable can be grown in the plant trough. Shallow rooting varieties, ie: watercress, lettuce, salad greens or basel, do especially well. 7. Renewed Water The cleansed water recirculates down into the fish pond, completing the cycle. Powered by sunlight, enriched by oxygen from the waterfall, nourished by fish-waste nutrients, the pond is home for a treasure of microscopic creatures. An 18' pond with nearly 100' of plant troughs. Three-tiered Aquaponic System Build your own system for bio-intensive fish-vegetable
Why Major in Languages? Studying languages develops essential skills sought by employers throughout a diverse range of occupations. - The study of foreign languages can literally make you smarter. The following are highlights from multiple studies conducted on the cognitive benefits of speaking a foreign language: - Speaking a foreign language is shown to improve the brain’s functionality by challenging it to recognize, negotiate, and communicate in different language systems. By speaking or learning a foreign language, the brain’s ability to negotiate meaning in other problem-solving tasks is increased. A psychologist, Ellen Bialystok from York University in Toronto, said, "It focuses attention on what's important and ignores distraction. Therefore, for a bilingual, the executive control system is used in every sentence you utter. That's what makes it strong.” - According to the Department of Psychology at Illinois State University, students who study a foreign language tend to score better on tests, especially math, reading, and vocabulary, than their peers who only speak one language. - The University of Pennsylvania conducted a study which showed that people who speak multiple languages are superb multitaskers because they are able to switch between two systems of speech, writing, and grammatical structures. - According to a study from the University of Chicago, bilinguals tend to be better at making decisions. - Learning a foreign language can improve your English speaking skills and can make you more perceptive of grammar and conjugations of sentence structures. - The study of languages develops communicational skills: - You can become multilingual! A Gallup study shows that 33%of college graduates and 43% of students with postgraduate education are bilingual. Impressive! - You learn cross-cultural communication. - You learn how to express and understand multiple viewpoints, - The study of languages strengthens reading, writing, and editing skills. Rudolph Pope, who is a Spanish Professor at the University of Virginia, observed after grading an assignment completed by his students, “that some of the papers written in Spanish had better syntax than some of the students writing in English." - The study of languages develops understanding of people and their cultures: - You understand and appreciate cultural differences. - You develop a sensitivity to cultural issues. - You learn how to appreciate cultural history, literature, politics, music, and more! - You develop and strengthen research skills. - You learn how to analyze information, cultures, and complex problems. - You learn how to think collaboratively. - You are able to gather information from a variety of sources. - You learn how to weigh alternative solutions. - You learn how to understand alternative perspectives. You may be asking the age old question: “Will I ever find a job if I major in a foreign language?” The answer is yes! According to CNN, 25,000 jobs are expected to open for interpreters and translators between 2010 and 2020. This is an estimated 42% growth for the language job market! Studying another language will set you apart in the job market and make you a stronger candidate for certain job positions. In fact, those who entered the workforce in 2014 with a second language fluency expected a 10 to 15 percent pay increase. In 2014, Arvind Chary, who is the managing principle of Atlas Real Estate Partners, was focused on hiring employees who were multilingual when his markets spread to Spanish speaking populations. He said, “"We have been raising more capital from abroad and need employees who can communicate with our foreign investors. I would encourage anyone to learn a second language in order to advance their career opportunities."” What kind of jobs are available for students who study a foreign language? - An interpreter - A Translator - An Attorney - A Journalist - An International Relations Specialist - A Teacher or Professor - A Librarian - A Copywriter - A Court Interpreter - An Editor - A Publisher - Careers in film and entertainment The options are limitless! Do you want to share a major with a multitude of celebrities? Then the foreign languages are for you! - Joseph Gorden-Levitt is a pro at French after studying French poetry at Columbia University! - Our former United States president, Herbert Hoover, translated a book on mining known as the De Re Metallica from Latin to English! Wow! - Brooke Shields majored in the Romance languages at Princeton! - Jimmy Carter studied Spanish at the United States Naval Academy! - Ashley Judd was a French major at the University of Kentucky. - Chris Martin from the band Coldplay studied Greek and Latin at the University College London. - Woodrow Wilson learned German while earning his Ph.D. in history and political science from John Hopkins University. - Our beloved J.K. Rowling earned her Bachelor’s degree in French and Classical studies from Exeter University. - Bill Clinton studied German at Yale University.
I. BACKGROUND AND BASIC CONCEPTS. 1. Introduction. 2. A Brief History of Plant Ecology. II. THE SPECIES AS AN ECOLOGICAL UNIT. 3. The Species in the Environmental Complex. 4. Population Structure and Plant Demography. 5. Allocation and Life History Patterns. 6. Species Interactions: Competition and Amensalism. 7. Species Interactions: Commensalism, Mutualism, and Herbivory. III. THE COMMUNITY AS AN ECOLOGICAL UNIT. 8. Community Concepts and Attributes. 9. Methods of Sampling the Plant Community. 10. Classification and Ordination of Plant Communities. 11. Succession. 12. Productivity. 13. Mineral Cycles. IV. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS. 14. Light and Temperature. 15. Photosynthesis. 16. Fire. 17. Soil. 18. Plant-Water Dynamics. 19. Water: Environment and Adaptations. 20. Major Vegetation Types of North America. Literature Cited. Index. Back to top Rent Terrestrial Plant Ecology 3rd edition today, or search our site for other textbooks by Michael G. Barbour. Every textbook comes with a 21-day "Any Reason" guarantee. Published by Benjamin Cummings.
Get this from a library legislative process in india : a study of state financial committees [krishan lal. Legislature: meaning of other states have bicameral legislature 22 states of india have to perform its due role in the legislative process. Legislative process in india under the constitution of india- authorstream presentation. Home about the profession brief history of law in india brief in the process through judicial pronouncements and legislative action. Why doesn't every state in india have a vidhan parishad or legislative accountability and transparency of the decision making process the existence of a. The legislative process is more complicated than taught in most civic courses this section presents a detailed description of the legislative maze a bill must navigate before it can become law. Bills for session 2018 as bills are introduced during the legislative session, the bill number and short description are included in the list below active bills are displayed in blue all bills must achieve certain milestones within specific deadlines throughout the legislative process in order to remain active. How can the answer be improved. The legislative bodies in india are also known by their more common name: parliament the legislature has members who are democratically elected by the indian election process. Legislative proposals are brought before either house of the parliament of india in the form of a bill a bill is the draft of a legislative proposal, which, when passed by both houses of parliament and assented to by the president, becomes an act of parliament. Register free to download files \| file name : legislative process in india a study of state financial committees pdf legislative process in india a. The legislative process all legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a congress of the united states, which shall consist of a senate and house of. The legislative procedure for bills involving taxing and spending--known as money bills--is different from the procedure for other legislation money bills can be introduced only in the lok sabha after the lok sabha passes a money bill, it is sent to the rajya sabha the upper house has fourteen days to act on the bill. Elections in the republic of india in 2018 include by-elections to the lok sabha members to the state legislative councils naga peace process edit. The legislative process is fundamental to democracy1 public participation with the legislative process results in better laws and fewer amendments1 both transparency and accessibility of the legislative process are required for effective public participation democratic governments provide for public engagement in lawmaking through. Candidates from india and pakistan will be professionals (ages 25-40) with experience in the legislative process and/or policymaking, including: good governance (transparency, anti-corruption, right-to-information), legislative and political processes, including the role of women, minorities, and marginalized populations in them, youth politics and. Bills for session 2018 all bills must achieve certain milestones within specific deadlines throughout the legislative process in native american indian. Election procedure in india the constituencies for elections to the legislative the nomination of candidates is an important part of the election process. Legislative process in india under the constitution of india. The rajya sabha is the upper house of parliament 233 of its members are elected indirectly by the legislative assemblies of elections in india elections in india. Indiana general assembly 2018 session primary navigation links each entry expands to a submenu containing a structure of links disposed in. Legislative process latest breaking news, pictures, videos, and special reports from the economic times legislative process blogs, comments and archive news on economictimescom. The president is not a member of either house of the parliament but he is an integral part of the legislative process he plays an important role in the making of laws lawmaking is not initiated by him but he can significantly influence it (a) summoning the house- the president has the power to. 7 main functions of legislatures in india they may be classified as legislative determination of policies and legislation through a process of debate and. The legislative process in the indian parliament the law-making process in the indian parliament involves various steps, from the introduction to the final approval of the president the process is a long one and has often been criticised on many grounds, justified or otherwise. The legislative procedure in india for the union government requires that proposed bills pass through the two legislative houses of the indian parliament the legislative procedure for. In 1787, leaders from each of the states gathered to write the united states constitution the constitution sets out how our nation is governed and. National portal of india is a mission mode project under the national e state legislature get information about the legislative assembly of himachal. Legislation has been defined as the process of making or types of bills introduced in the parliament of india of bills in the legislative process of india 1. A member of legislative assembly (mla) is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district (constituency) to the legislature of a state in the indian system of government each state has between seven and nine mlas for every member of parliament (mp) that it has in the lok sabha. Legislative process in india in india, the law making bodies are parliament at the central level and legislative assemblies and councils (wherever applicable) at the state level. The legislative branch of government has responsibilities which in many cases transcend the process of enactment of legislation among these are the senate's power of advice and consent with regard to treaties and nominations.
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By Richard Romando – The word motivation is coined from the Latin word “movere”, which means to move. Motivation is defined as an internal drive that activates behavior and gives it direction. The term motivation theory is concerned with the processes that describe why and how human behavior is activated and directed. It is regarded as one of the most important areas of study in the field of organizational behavior. There are two different categories of motivation theories such as content theories, and process theories. Even though there are different motivation theories, none of them are universally accepted. Also known as need theory, the content theory of motivation mainly focuses on the internal factors that energize and direct human behavior. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Alderfer’s ERG theory, Herzeberg’s motivator-hygiene theory (Herzeberg’s dual factors theory), and McClelland’s learned needs or three-needs theory are some of the major content theories. Of the different types of content theories, the most famous content theory is Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs. Maslow introduced five levels of basic needs through his theory. Basic needs are categorized as physiological needs, safety and security needs, needs of love, needs for self esteem and needs for self-actualization. Just like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, ERG theory explains existence, relatedness, and growth needs. Through dual factors theory, Herzeberg describes certain factors in the workplace which result in job satisfaction. McClelland’s learned needs or three-needs theory uses a projective technique called the Thematic Aptitude Test (TAT) so as to evaluate people based on three needs: power, achievement, and affiliation. People with high need of power take action in a way that influences the other’s behavior. Another type of motivation theory is process theory. Process theories of motivation provide an opportunity to understand thought processes that influence behavior. The major process theories of motivation include Adams’ equity theory, Vroom’s expectancy theory, goal-setting theory, and reinforcement theory. Expectancy, instrumentality, and valence are the key concepts explained in the expectancy theory. Goal setting theory suggests that the individuals are motivated to reach set goals. It also requires that the set goals should be specific. Reinforcement theory is concerned with controlling behavior by manipulating its consequences.
What is an X-Ray? An x-ray (radiograph) is a painless medical test to help physicians diagnose and treat medical conditions. Radiography involves exposing a part of the body to a small dose of ionizing radiation to produce pictures of the inside of the body. X-rays are the oldest and most frequently used form of medical imaging. Additional information is avaliable at RadiologyInfo.org.
Chapter 7. British North America at Peace and at War (1763-1818) In the half century or so between the Conquest and the end of the War of 1812, colonial North America was essentially reinvented. New France disappeared from the maps, although the people of New France were still a prominent part of the landscape. British authority spread out across the continent and then snapped back to, ironically, the boundaries of pre-1713 New France (less the Ohio, the Pays en Haut, and Louisiana). Nova Scotia, similarly, expanded, divided, contracted. New colonies were carved out of what had been Canada and Acadia. Newfoundland became less “a great ship moored off the Grand Banks” and more a settlement colony with permanent residents and a formalized system of colonial administration. The greatest change, of course, came in the form of the new republic comprising the Thirteen Colonies. Their War of Independence was simultaneously a civil war, one that resulted in the exodus of 80,000 to 100,000 Loyalists, roughly half of whom made their way to the remaining colonies. The Loyalist legacy is a complex issue. As an infusion of population and especially families, the Loyalists very abruptly accelerated the settlement process of the northern colonies. Looked at another way, they accelerated the process of displacing Aboriginal peoples, removing them from their traditional lands, overwhelming their numbers, and thus outweighing whatever threat they might still pose to newcomer communities, whether in the Maritimes or around the Great Lakes. Administratively, the Loyalists brought particular demands. They were loyal to the Crown but they were accustomed to a degree of self-government in the old Thirteen Colonies. This necessitated the creation of New Brunswick and Upper Canada, two colonies in which Loyalist agendas would dominate political life for the better part of a century. The Loyalists brought with them a suite of values, as well, that informed British North American life. Among the elite there was a strong tendency toward conservative principles and a deep-seated mistrust of democratic and republican ideals. Many of the frontier farmers, Mohawk, German settlers, and freed slaves who were part of the migration north, however, came with different political positions in their cultural baggage. It is commonly claimed that the Loyalist legacy in modern Canada is detectable as a strain of patriarchal and aristocratic conservatism distinct from what is found south of the border. However true that may be, historians and political scientists agree, too, that there were contrary tendencies within the exile community. At the very least, the Loyalist migration defined the revised British North America in opposition to the United States. Enmity, suspicion, lingering attachment, and admiration were all part of the range of emotions felt toward the United States by this cadre of refugees and those who joined them in later generations. By 1815 British North America had demonstrated a convincing unwillingness to disappear. The War of 1812 brought to the surface tensions that existed between Loyalists and Late Loyalists, between the official notion of a British colony and a transplanted community of Americans, especially in Upper Canada. It also drew to an end the military role of Aboriginal peoples in the Great Lakes colony and farther east. Some alliances, like the Council of Three Fires, continued but the military value of Aboriginal allies was no longer a currency in Aboriginal-European diplomacy in British North America. abolition: Refers to the abolition of the institution of slavery. In Britain a single piece of legislation resulted in the abolition of slavery in 1834. Abolition in Upper Canada was initiated by John Graves Simcoe in 1793. aboriginal title: Aboriginal ownership of land and/or territory and/or other material resources. absentee landlords: Also called proprietors, the main landowners on Prince Edward Island whose land was allocated to them in a lottery held in London in 1767. Few of them visited the island and few attended to the responsibilities they were given as landlords. Most, however, attempted to charge significant rents to their tenant farmers in the colony. See also escheat. Act of Proclamation (1763): Also called the Proclamation Act, the legislation that created the Province of Quebec and recognized Aboriginal title in the west. The Act angered American settlers because it hampered westward movement into the Ohio Valley. African-American slaves: Chattel slaves, principally from Africa, who worked primarily on plantations. Slavery occurred throughout North America in both European and Aboriginal communities. Some African-American (as opposed to African-Caribbean) slaves were later freed (see freedmen) depending on their role in the American Revolution. anglicization: British policy of replacing French culture — language, customs, laws, and Catholic religion — with those of Anglican/Protestant Britain. brewing: The production of beer, like the distilling of whisky, was a means of adding value to surplus grain being grown in Upper and Lower Canada beginning in the 1780s. John Molson of Montreal was an early participant in brewing and, like many Canadians who followed in his footsteps in the liquor production trade, amassed a great fortune. British North America: Term used intermittently after 1783 to describe the colonies left to Britain after the Revolution. Initially these included Newfoundland, the Province of Quebec, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. Subsequently the list would increase to include new colonies (Cape Breton Island and New Brunswick), a partitioned colony (Upper and Lower Canada), and in very general terms Rupert’s Land (which was not administered by a Crown delegate). Vancouver Island and British Columbia would also be regarded as part of British North America before Confederation. Chateau Clique: A highly influential cadre of economic and social leaders who fashioned themselves politically as the British (or Tory) Party in Lower Canada. Their numbers included prominent merchants like James McGill and John Molson. Their agenda included assimilation of the French Catholic population and perpetuating a hierarchical social and political order. Chesapeake Affair: During the Napoleonic Wars, a British attempt to reduce American shipping to France by capturing U.S. shipping and impressing (forcing) sailors into the British Navy. In 1807 the USS Chesapeake, a warship, was bombarded and captured by the HMS Leopard; four sailors were seized and tried for desertion from the British Navy, one of whom was subsequently hanged. The Americans regarded this as an act of aggression and it fomented war fever in some quarters. See War Hawks. Clergy Reserves: Created by the Constitutional Act (1791), land parcels set aside (one-seventh of all public lands) in Upper Canada for the use of the Church of England (a.k.a. Anglican Church). There were smaller Clergy Reserves in Lower Canada as well. common law: British code of laws dealing with property, contracts, and other civil matters. Constitutional Act (1791): The legislation that created two colonies — Upper and Lower Canada — out of what was left of the Province of Quebec after the Treaty of Paris, 1783. In Upper Canada the British common law was applied while the Coutume de Paris survived in Lower Canada. Both colonies received their own administrative structures. Coutume de Paris: A code of civil law developed in and for Paris and extended to New France. Addressed land ownership and use, family relations, and inheritance. decapitation thesis: Historical theory that explains the apparent loss of Canadien leadership in the colony after the Conquest as the result of an exodus of leading commercial, administrative, and social figures to France. Embargo Act (1807): In an attempt to force British and French respect for American shipping, federal legislation that was passed in Washington that effectively closed off all exports to foreign ports. The objective was to starve the importing nations of American goods and thus oblige them to cease preying on American shipping. It was repealed in 1809. escheat: A movement to force unimproved lands on Prince Edward Island back into the hands of the Crown. The Escheat Party made the land issue the dominant one in the colony in the 19th century. Family Compact: An association of leading individuals and families in Upper Canada devoted to the suppression of republican tendencies in the colony and perpetuating an oligarchy in government. Fort Pitt: Site of modern-day Pittsburgh. Replaced the French establishment, Fort Duquesne. franchise: The ability and right to vote in a democratic society. It is always arbitrarily determined and is defined as much by who it excludes as by who it includes. “Universal adult male suffrage” was never achieved in British North America before Confederation, far less the extension of the franchise to women or Aboriginal peoples generally. freedmen: Slaves who, by manumission or by emancipation, were freed from slavery. Intolerable Acts: A number of taxes and tariffs introduced by the British government during the Seven Years’ War that targeted the American colonies in an effort to recover financial losses. Following on American protests, Parliament passed more laws that gave Britain greater powers in the colonies. It also introduced the Quebec Act, which reattached the Ohio Valley and the Northwest to the Province of Quebec and enhanced the rights of the Catholic Church; both provisions were provocative in the Thirteen Colonies. Together, the Intolerable Acts catalyzed the revolutionary movement in the colonies. Jay’s Treaty (1794): A treaty that resolved several issues outstanding from the Treaty of Paris (1783). The Americans were keen to address the continuing British presence and role in the Ohio/Northwest. The British wished to secure American neutrality in the French Revolutionary Wars and clarify the boundaries with Canada. Late Loyalists: American immigrants who arrived in British North America in the years after the Revolution, especially in the 1790s and the first decade of the 19th century. Their “loyalism” was never certain and they were often outspoken critics of Toryism. Louisiana Purchase: The sale of the Louisiana Territory by Napoleon to the United States. In 1800 France briefly reacquired the territory, which encompassed the western half of the Mississippi drainage (that is, from New Orleans to southern Alberta and Saskatchewan). Less than three years later, France decided to forgo attempts to rebuild New France and sold the territory back to the United States. marchands: The Canadien merchants of Montreal, as opposed to the post-Conquest British and British-American merchants who arrived to take over the fur trade. Napoleonic Wars: A series of wars involving France and much of the rest of Europe from 1803 to 1815. The War of 1812 was a chapter in the larger conflict. Northwest Indian War: (1785-1795) Part of an ongoing attempt to insulate the Ohio Valley and what the Americans now referred to as their Northwest Territory against American invasion. Also known as Little Turtle’s War. Followed on Pontiac’s Rebellion and anticipated Tecumseh’s War. Pennsylvania Dutch: German settlers in Pennsylvania, many of whom moved to Nova Scotia shortly after the Conquest. pre-Loyalists: Non-francophone settlers in British North America who arrived before the Loyalist migration in 1783-84. Almost exclusively associated with settlers in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. proprietors: See absentee landlords. Province of Quebec: Created by the Act of Proclamation (1763), included lands from Detroit to the Gaspé but removed the Ohio Valley and the west from Quebec’s (Canada’s) control. Quebec Act (1774): Also called the British North America Act, 1774 (not to be confused with the British North America Act of 1867); the legislation that restored the Ohio Valley and the northwestern Pays d’en Haut to the Province of Quebec, provided official recognition of the rights of Catholics in the colony, and restored the Coutume de Paris and the ability of the Catholic Church to collect tithes. It recognized the rights of seigneurs and irritated the Thirteen Colonies where it was seen as cheating the Appalachian colonies of their prize in the Ohio. It was grouped with the other Intolerable Acts. It is regarded as a partial cause of the American Revolution. taxation without representation: A principle espoused by American colonists in the 1770s articulating the view that British law forbade the seizing of a citizen’s property by the state without his consent (which could be given by an elected representative in Parliament). As the colonies had no representatives in Parliament, the colonists maintained that they could not be taxed. Tories: Associated with Loyalists in the American Revolution whose philosophical position was opposed to the Whiggish/republican stance of Thomas Paine and the Patriots. Treaty of Ghent (1814-1815): Intended to end the War of 1812 between Britain and the United States. The treaty was agreed to in 1814 but not signed into law by the American Senate until February 1815. The treaty restored the status quo ante bellum between British North America and the United States, which meant that Britain was removed from the American Northwest, leaving Aboriginal peoples without an ally to help defend their interests. Treaty of Paris (1783): Ended the American Revolution (War of Independence). Not to be confused with the Treaty of Paris, 1763. Britain recognized the independence and sovereignty of the United States of America. Boundaries were established (and later disputed) between the United States and British North America. The United States was to compensate Loyalists for lost property, which never occurred.See also Jay’s Treaty. United Empire Loyalists: An honorific title taken by Loyalists and their descendants to celebrate their migration to British North America at the end of the Revolution. Typically signals a strong Tory bent. War Hawks: American politicians mainly from the South and West who were angered by British predations on American shipping out of their ports and British-Aboriginal harassment of settlers and American regiments. Their enthusiasm for war finally won out over New England caution in 1812. Whig: A mutable term associated with the British Whigs (a radical/liberal political party), the American Patriots/Whigs (revolutionaries in 1775-1783), and 19th century Canadian liberals. Common features include a challenge to the prerogatives of the Crown, a suspicion of Catholicism, and belief in individual rights and liberties. In the American colonies it developed into a form of republicanism. - What was the significance of continued Aboriginal resistance to the British in the West? - Of what significance was the Proclamation Act of 1763 to Aboriginal nations, to the Canadiens, and to the new, English-speaking settlers of Canada? - Why did Governor James Murray choose not to persecute the Catholic Church? In what other ways was he conciliatory to the colony’s French-speaking population and why? - In what ways did the British regime change the economy of Canada and Nova Scotia? - What was the Quebec Act and what was its importance? - Characterize the Nova Scotian population and economy in these years. - What developments precipitated the American Revolution? - Who were the Loyalists? To what were they “loyal”? - Why did Canada and Nova Scotia not join in the Revolution? - What impact did the arrival of the Loyalists have on the Maritime colonies? - Why was the Constitutional Act considered necessary? What problems did it seek to address? - Who were the Late Loyalists and what was their impact on life in Upper Canada? - How and why was the landscape of the Canadas undergoing change? - What was the nature and character of slavery in British North America before 1818? - In what ways did the Napoleonic Wars benefit the Maritimes, Newfoundland, and the Canadas? - What was the character of Aboriginal resistance to American westward expansion? - In what ways did British and Aboriginal agendas vis-à-vis the United States correspond? - What were the outcomes of the War of 1812? - Bannister, Jerry. “Convict Transportation and the Colonial State in Newfoundland, 1789.” Acadiensis XXVII, no.2 (Spring 1998): 95-123. - Fenn, Elizabeth A.“Biological Warfare in Eighteenth-Century North America: Beyond Jeffery Amherst.” The Journal of American History 86, no. 4 (Mar., 2000): 1552-1580. - Keough, Willeen. “The Riddle of Peggy Mountain: Regulation of Irish Women’s Sexuality on the Southern Avalon, 1750–1860.” Acadiensis XXXI, no.2 (Spring 2002): 38-70. - Morgan, Cecilia. “’Of Slender Frame and Delicate Appearance’: the Placing of Laura Secord in the Narratives of Canadian Loyalist History.” Journal of the Canadian Historical Association 5, no.1 (1994): 195-212. - Pastore, Ralph T. “The Collapse of the Beothuk World.” Acadiensis XX, no.1 (Autumn 1990): 52-71. - Reid, John G. “Pax Britannica or Pax Indigena? Planter Nova Scotia (1760-1782) and Competing Strategies of Pacification.” Canadian Historical Review 85, no.4 (December 2004): 669-692. This chapter contains material taken from U.S. History: The American Revolution: 1763-1783/Patriots and Loyalists created by Boundless. It is used under a CC-BY 4.0 International license. - Jerry Bannister, "Naval Government 1729-1815," on Silk Gowns and Sou'westers: History of the Law and the Courts (2000). Accessed 23 December 2014, http://www.heritage.nf.ca/lawfoundation/articles/naval.html . ↵
Ducks are from the family Anatidae that has been on Earth before the pre-historic period. These aquatic birds are generally found near ponds, lakes, rivers, and seas. Also, ducks’ vision is different from humans’. So, are ducks colorblind, or can they see more colors than us? The answer is: Ducks are not colorblind. They can see colors more vibrantly than humans. They are tetrachromatic and can perceive reds, greens, yellows, blues, and ultraviolet much better than us. Also, ducks can distinguish thousands of color shades that are even invisible to a human eye. They have excellent vision allows them to notice two to three times farther than humans. Like every bird, ducks are also primarily dependent on their vision. Therefore, in this post, we will discuss more on Ducks’ Vision and how do they see the world. So, without any further delay. Let’s begin. Are Ducks colorblind? Duck Vision Ducks can see and recognize more colors than humans. They are tetrachromatic; it means the cones in their eyes can perceive ultraviolet, blue, green, and red colors from wavelength 300 nm to 700 nm. On the other hand, humans are trichromatic, meaning our cones are sensitive only to blue, green, and red colors from 380 nm to 750 nm. Ducks can perceive a more comprehensive range of electromagnetic spectrum as compared to humans’ visible spectrum. Additionally, their eyesight is more sensitive towards red, green, yellow, and blue colors. It represents that they can see dazzling shades of these colors. Below we have inserted an image showing the absorption of the different colors in ducks’ eyes. The image demonstrates that ducks absorb blue, green, and red colors best at 445, 508, and 565 nm, whereas the human eye perceives colors best at 424, 530, and 560 nm. In this way, you can imagine how differently ducks can see the exact color compared to us. Additional knowledge- There are more than 167 species of ducks. Do Ducks have good eyesight? Ducks have excellent eyesight during the day. Their eyes are more sensitive to light and have more cones than rods, permitting them to perceive millions of color variations. Ducks have a different eye mechanism where many powerful muscles control the curvature of their corneas and lenses. It enables them to see at a greater distance clearly. According to Ducks Unlimited, ducks can see three times farther than humans. Not only this, the eyes of ducks comprise various sensitive cones that grant them superiority in color sensing capability over human vision. They carry on various day-to-day activities through their sharp vision like finding food, searching for mates, etc. In a nutshell, ducks and geese can sense the environment twelve times better than humans during daylight. However, ducks cannot see clearly at night because they have very few rods in their eyes compared to nocturnal birds. Still, they perceive the environment much better than humans in the dark. Apart from their vision, they have other sensing abilities like beak sensitivity that allows them to navigate in low-light situations. Later in this post, we have discussed ducks’ vision at night in detail. Can Ducks see color? (What colors do ducks see) Ducks have a vast number of cones in their eyes through which they can see thousands of color shades, including ultraviolet light. Their eyes sense ultraviolet, blue, green, yellow, and red colors vibrantly during daytime. Ducks’ vision is more titled towards blue-violet and green colors, whereas human vision is more focused on red-orange colors. Also, they have the ability to filter out specific colors to attain greater sensitivity selectively. As compared to humans, they see colors differently. For Example, Ducks see red, green, and blue colors with more brightness in contrasting shades. Also, they cannot see black color; they can sense and detect it as a dark gray shade. In addition, they witness orange color in an obscure shape not as bright as we do. However, in the dark, they don’t have the ability to detect any color except ultraviolet rays. Additional knowledge- Ducks like the green color the most. Can Ducks see in the dark? Duck Night Vision Duck cannot visually discern in the dark but can sense their environment through various abilities. They don’t have a special thin membrane in their eyes called tapetum lucidum that assists them in seeing in the dark. Therefore, they use beak sensitivity to search for their food at night. Ducks’ beak is covered with susceptible skin through which they can feel things, similar to our hands. In this way, they don’t need their eyes to sense their food. Ducks are generally diurnal but can change to nocturnal depending on geographical and weather conditions. Also, it can be seen that ducks usually migrate at night from one place to another, where their senses mainly guide them. Most of the time, ducks love to sleep and take during the night. The nighttime is the ideal time for them to slow their senses and relax. But it doesn’t mean that at night they are easy to catch. Even in sleep, they are in the firm of intermittent alertness, and like other birds, they rest one side of their brain at one time. In this way, they can sense any predatory and react quickly. How do Ducks see humans? Ducks see humans the same as we see but with more color shades. They are tetrachromats and discern us with colors along with ultraviolet light. It means their vision comprises more blue-violet hues rather than red-orange like ours. Ducks can also recognize their owners through their vision and beak. It is witnessed that they show too much affection to their caretakers in the form of a cuddle or pet. In contrast, they also express their anger to other people. In brief, ducks can see and distinguish humans from other living beings. However, the only catch is detailing. Their vision has slightly less detailing and sharpness as compared to humans. We see the world with more sharpness and clarity; however, among birds, only eagles have more sharp eyes than us. Must Read- Can Eagles see in the Dark? Eagle Vision How do Ducks see the world? Ducks see the world predominately in blue-violet and green colors. They are monocular and have a wide range of vision that empowers them to perceive a vast area at one time. Their eyes focus on area rather than depth and focus. Humans have binocular vision. It means our eyesight has depth, and we can focus on a particular entity simultaneously. In conclusion, ducks are not colorblind. They perceive colors better than us and see the world in different shades. Duck Vision vs Human Vision \|Have tetrachromatic vision \|Have trichromatic vision \|Can see ultraviolet rays \|Cannot see ultraviolet rays \|Cannot see clearly in the dark \|Cannot see clearly in the dark Here, we have discussed “Are Ducks colorblind,” along with other relevant queries on their eyesight. We will be back with another post. Till then, stay tuned with us and read the articles below. About Ducks by Ducks Unlimited Meet Abhidept (nickname Monty), the visionary founder of How It See, being an engineering student, he’s fueled by an insatiable curiosity about the world around him. He is captivated by an eclectic correlation between animal groups, science, and nature, and this fascination drives his quest for understanding. After completing his degree, he’s set on a mission to delve deep into the realm of nature, accumulating knowledge to share with you through his writing. In the meantime, he loves to watch anime and read anime.
In the presence of abundant water and sunlight, most plants conduct photosynthesis using what is known as the C3 pathway. Some plants can conduct C4 photosynthesis in water-limited conditions; a different enzyme collects carbon dioxide from the air to form a 4-carbon chain that lends itself to the pathway name. In water-poor conditions, some plants collect and process carbon at night rather than during the day through crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) photosynthesis, named for its discovery in succulents. In the December 1, 2017 issue of Nature Communications, a team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers and including scientists at the Joint Genome Institute sequenced and analyzed the genome of Kalanchoë fedtschenkoi to better understand how this plant transitioned from C3 to CAM photosynthesis. Read more on the JGI website.
Establish clearly defined school-wide behavior expectations rather than rules that describe only general principles. Here is an example of a clearly defined rule: “No teasing. Teasing is name-calling, starting rumors, gestures, or other actions that are likely to make students feel bad about themselves.” Use predictable and escalating consequences for aggression rather than creating a unique consequence for each student and each situation. When there are inconsistent consequences for bullying, young people are likely to continue. Maintain a positive emotional tone between adults and youth rather than treating students with anger and frustration. When consequences come from a rubric, when they are earned rather than given, and when there are planned next steps if the student continues to choose aggression, there is no need for adults to use anger as a behavior management tool. Acknowledge positive actions rather than ignoring positive behavior or using person-based praise. When staff point out students’ positive behavior using descriptive language, students are more likely to repeat this behavior. Provide structured opportunities for aggressive youth to think about their actions instead of using threats, lectures or anger. When young people take responsibility for their actions and for hurting others, they strengthen conscience. [cp_modal display=”inline” id=”cp_id_bceb2″][/cp_modal] Work to develop a peer climate in which bystanders discourage bullying and in which peers befriend targets When 85 percent of the school population, the bystanders — stop watching silently and start telling bullies to stop, telling adults, and reaching out in friendship, bullying behavior becomes less damaging and less frequent. - Protect targets and bystanders from repeated or retaliatory harassment. Reducing the rate of bullying is the best support we can give targets. Help targets to reverse feelings of self-blame and to feel powerful. Targets often begin to believe what the bullies say about them: that they are stupid, ugly, or fat. Helping targets to see themselves more positively often takes time. Help targets build friendships. Social isolation is the most painful part of being bullied. We can encourage peers to reach out in friendship and help targets participate in that friendship. Recognize and build on the strengths and accomplishments of your school community. When we recognize the positive programs and practices that stop bullying in a school, staff and students are more likely to continue them. This article is adapted from the book, Schools Where Everyone Belongs, by Stan Davis.
The Art of Setting Clear, Achievable Learning Objectives Imagine setting out on a journey without knowing your destination or how to get there. That’s akin to what learning without clear objectives looks like. The path of education requires a distinct destination and a well-paved path to guide learners—the learners in this case being your students. As an educator, your job is to ensure that the path is illuminated with well-defined, achievable learning objectives. P.S. There’s a surprise tool at the end that is helping educators all over the world create lesson plans in minutes and not hours! So, what does it mean to set clear, achievable learning objectives? Well, it means categorizing what you want your students to learn and achieve by the end of each lesson. These aims should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-based, often referred to as SMART goals. - Specific: Objectives should pinpoint what they want the students to do. - Measurable: You should be able to assess or evaluate whether students have achieved the objective or not. - Achievable: Each objective should be attainable in a given time frame and with the resources available. - Realistic: Students should be set objectives that are within their grasp and matching their levels of competency. - Time-based: Each learning objective should have a set beginning and end. These factors, mind you, aren’t arbitrary. Rather, they’re crucial components of an effective lesson plan. Here’s why: Clear learning objectives set the stage for everything that follows in a lesson plan, including the teaching methods used, the resources deployed, and how learning outcomes will be evaluated. To breathe life into these objectives, you’d need to present them in a way that’s digestible and engaging for your students. It’s not enough to list them out; they need to be weaved into the fabric of your lesson plan. You could categorize these objectives as knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation, aligning them with Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. To put this into perspective, let’s see how it can be implemented using a table example: Imagine preparing a lesson plan as setting a table for a feast. Every component has a unique significance and most importantly, they all need to fit together for the meal to be a success. Here, a meal symbolizes the most effective learning experience you aim to serve your learners. \|Lesson Plan Component \|What It Means \|Setting Clear, Achievable Learning Objectives \|Setting the Table \|Choosing and preparing what you want learners to take away from the lesson \|Creating Stimulating Lesson Content \|Designing enticing, substantial content to satisfy intellectual appetites \|Encouraging Interactivity & Participation \|Piquing interest, encouraging questions and discussions \|Fostering a Culture of Continuous Feedback \|Continually checking in to ensure the students are enjoying the learning process \|Pacing the Courses \|Delivering content at an effective pace to prevent information overload \|Using the right educational software to efficiently streamline lesson planning \|Effective Assessment Techniques \|Assessing understanding and retention after the learning session Let’s break down what this table implies. In the same vein how a well-planned meal is thoughtful of dietary restrictions, taste preferences and nutritional requirements, a lesson plan must consider characteristics such as learner pace, educational objectives, and learning styles. Remember this, every time you sit down to draw up a lesson plan for your class. As you start refining these components, you’ll notice an increase in engagement and effectiveness of your lessons. Tying It All Together: The Well-Balanced Lesson Plan Just as no feast is complete without dessert, your lesson plan isn’t complete until you’ve carefully considered and implemented each of these seven. habits They form the backbone of your plan and provide the structure, rigor and adaptability needed for a truly effective learning experience for your students. Creating Stimulating Lesson Content that Resonates Creating content that stimulates your students while resonating with their unique learning styles is a habit of every highly effective educator. This is a tricky balancing act, but not an impossible one. Let’s delve into this. Understand the Students Begin with a thorough understanding of your students. Consider their interests, passions, strengths, challenges, and learning preferences. This initial understanding serves as the foundation upon which you can build relevant lesson content. Create Contextual Content Next, create content that situates learning in real-world, relatable contexts. When students understands the ‘why’ of what they are learning, their retention and interest significantly improves. Whether it’s linking mathematical concepts to everyday shopping experiences or relating history lessons to popular films, creating relatable content is a crucial step. “Great teaching is about so much more than education; it’s about drawing out what’s inside your students” – Uta Hagen Effective educators often use various formats to present their lesson materials. This may include: - Texts for the reading learners - Videos for the visual learners - Aural materials like podcasts for the auditory learners The aim is to ensure that all students, regardless of their preferred learning style, have the opportunity to engage with the material in a way that suits them best. Balancing Simplicity and Challenge A critical aspect of creating resonating content is striking the right balance between simplicity and challenge. The content should not be so simple that it fails to challenge the students nor should it be so complex that it tends to lose them. Remember, engagement comes from finding the ‘Goldilocks’ zone where content is just right – neither too easy nor too hard. Lastly, add a dash of your personality to the content. Educators are not content delivery machines, but human beings who can deeply impact the lives of their students. A joke, a story, or a personal experience can work wonders in making the lesson content memorable. So, the secret sauce to make your lesson content resonate with your students is a mix of understanding their preferences, using various formats, providing relatable contexts, finding the right challenge level, and finally, adding a personal touch. You can get inspiration from using tools like Educator Pal, which work by merging your understanding of the students and best practice in education. The Magic of Interactivity and Participation Let’s reveal the truth about the magic of interactivity and participation in lesson plans. Although every student learns differently, interactive activities can engage all types of learners, from auditory and visual to kinesthetic and reading/writing learners. And it doesn’t stop with learning styles; interactivity can also contribute significantly to retention and motivation. But how can you seamlessly weave these into your lessons? Let’s map this out. Start by using engaging instructional strategies. Discussions, group work, mind maps, interactive videos are just a few tactics proven to increase engagement. Tools like Educator Pal create interactive lessons based on the age and stage of development, your curriculum goals and more. Try it free here. Direct instruction might have its place, but shaking things up with varied strategies keeps students alert and excited for what’s next. Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. – Benjamin Franklin Next, you must remember that participation isn’t accidental—it’s something you must plan for. This means creating explicit opportunities for student involvement, whether it be through question and answer sessions, group activities, or individual presentations. Participation paves the way for peer-to-peer learning, a dynamic that’s been known to significantly enhance retention. - Discussions: Stimulate intellectual conversations and deepen understanding. - Group work: Foster teamwork and collaboration, key skills in the modern world. - Mind maps: Promote visual learning and help students make connections. - Interactive videos: Combine visual and auditory stimuli for a more immersive experience. When thinking about interactivity, remember—the ultimate aim is to ensure that your students are active participants in their learning journey, not passive recipients of knowledge. So, here’s your mission: Challenge yourself to incorporate at least one new interactive element into your next lesson plan. You might just be pleasantly surprised by the results! Fostering a Culture of Continuous Feedback and Observation Great teachers understand the invaluable role that continuous feedback plays in any learning environment. It’s a two-way street; teachers to students and vice versa. Thoughtfully provided, such feedback can drive significant improvements in teaching and learning dynamics, resulting in more effective lesson plans. Let’s walk through how to weave this critical habit into your habits. The Peer Review Process: In adopting feedback culture, peer reviews can be an essential tool. By encouraging students to provide constructive feedback on each other’s work, they’ll develop a critical eye and improve their own understanding. - Student 1: I didn’t quite understand the explanation for Pythagoras Theorem. - Student 2 Through your child observation, you notice that a three year old is quiet during circle time, everytime it is their turn to speak, they start to cry. Reviews like these allow teachers to shape their lesson plans according to student preferences and understanding levels, leading to a more personalized, effective learning journey. Embrace Tech Tools: As an educator, it’s wise to leverage technology designed explicitly for gathering student feedback. Platforms such as Google Forms, Canva, and SurveyMonkey are incredibly helpful in collecting opinions quickly and efficiently. Collated feedback can inform your future lessons and will help you to plan in a more targeted and optimal manner. Feedback is the breakfast of champions. – Ken Blanchard A feedback-friendly culture isn’t built overnight. However, consistent efforts to cultivate it will bring remarkable changes to your teaching style and your students’ learning trajectories. Let’s face it; nobody is perfect, and we all have room for improvement. Feedback helps to identify those areas and take the leap from being a good teacher to a great one. Feedback for Personal Development: Furthermore, it’s of equal importance that students understand this feedback isn’t just about academia. Learning to accept and act upon constructive criticism is an essential life skill. By promoting this, you are equipping your students with the maturity to handle future professional scenarios better, thereby contributing to their holistic development. Time Management: The Backbone of Well-Structured Lessons When it comes to creating effective lesson plans, time management is, without a doubt, a pivotal factor. Mastering the art of time allocation allows you to stay organised, keep learners on track, and accomplish all your educational goals within the given period. It is the backbone of well-structured lessons and cannot be overlooked. So, how can you manage your time effectively? Here are some habits to consider: Utilizing Technology for Efficient Lesson Planning: Educator Pal Do you ever find yourself overwhelmed with the mountain of tasks involved in planning effective lessons? If the answer is yes, then be assured, you’re not alone. Technology has offered us a brilliant friend in ‘Educator Pal’. With a plethora of features that cater specifically to educators, it’s almost like having an additional assistant helping out with your lesson planning. - Lesson Planner: This core feature allows you to outline your students interests or curriculum themes, break them down into individual lessons, set learning objectives for each session and map out the activities or resources you need to achieve them. Just answer 5 main questions and Educator Pal created developmentally-appropriate lessons! It’s free to get started for every reader here. Educator Pal is among a suite of other emerging educational technologies that aim to make the lives of educators easier and more productive. It’s a reminder that you’re not alone in your endeavour to provide high-quality education. Using it wisely can help you manage your time, enrich your content, and foster continuous improvement in your teaching style. Remember, it’s not about replacing your role as an educator but enhancing your efficiency and efficacy. After all, the most effective lessons are those that have been thoughtfully planned and executed, technology or no technology. And tools like Educator Pal aid in just that – planning and executing exceptional lessons.
In today’s post, we are talking all about empathy! I am sharing a bunch of my favorite read-alouds for learning about empathy and why I like each one. I will let you know that I actually share all this information in video/audio format if you want to watch that, just click below: To read this information instead, just keep scrolling! Now before I dive into the picture books, let me share some things to keep in mind when teaching empathy to our youngest learners. A while ago, empathy was taught as “putting yourself in someone else’s shoes” to see how they might be feeling, but realistically it is impossible to know exactly how someone else experiences things. So keeping this in mind, there are 3 main things we want to focus on when teaching our youngest students about empathy. 1. recognize emotions and observe body language In order to feel empathetic towards others, we really need to be able to recognize others’ emotions and observe their body language to see how they may be feeling. Empathy is a skill that takes a lot of time to develop, so having students recognize and identify different emotions and how they present themselves in others is a great place to start. 2. embrace similarities and differences within diversity Even while we cannot know exactly how someone else is feeling, we can make many connections with them with our own experiences. Humans are diverse in so many ways and while we can recognize those differences, we can also make connections and share similarities amongst the experiences we have. These connections we make help us empathize with others! 3. have discussions around book characters and make connections Especially in the younger grade, books and characters are a great place for students to begin learning about empathy. Picture books mimic real-life situations our students will face, but they take the personal feelings out of it. This way students can talk about the scenario, what they might do and what others did in that situation. Keeping these things in mind when teaching empathy, I have 5 favorite books to use when teaching this skill that I think your kindergarten, first, grade, and second-grade students will enjoy! The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld This story is about a little child, Taylor who builds a huge block tower he is proud of only for it to come crashing down. Naturally, he feels upset and a bunch of animal friends notice he is feeling sad. They each come over with their own way to help Taylor feel better. Some suggest talking, yelling, throwing the blocks away, hiding, etc. but none of these are good solutions for Taylor. Then a rabbit comes along and just sits near Taylor and listens to him and waits until Taylor expresses what will help him feel better! This book is great because it helps students recognize that we all have different ways that help us feel better, but just because something helps me feel better, doesn’t mean it helps someone else and true empathy means recognizing what someone else needs! You can find this book here: The Rabbit Listened Emma and the Whale by Julie Case This is a fun, different one for teaching empathy. In this story, Emma lives by the ocean and she shows empathy for animals – a whale, specifically, in this case. Emma has loved sea animals for a long time and one day she notices a whale stranded on the sand bar. While she cannot communicate with the whale, she shows empathy by staying by the whale and helping it get back into the ocean so it can reconnect with its mother! Similar to The Rabbit Listened, Emma stays with the whale providing comfort. I love this book because I am pretty sure in every classroom I’ve taught in, I have always had a few students who seemed to really connect with animals and this sweet story is a great example of how having empathy doesn’t only apply to other humans! You can see this book here: Emma and the Whale Not So Different by Shane Burcaw Okay, I love this book for a number of reasons – but one of the first is that it is a nonfiction book! We don’t get too many nonfiction books that teach about social-emotional learning topics, so this is a great find. Shane Burcaw and his wife, Hannah, have a YouTube channel (for adults) where they share all sorts of different stories and he shares what it’s like to have spinal muscular atrophy. He wrote this book for children to answer the questions that naturally arise when they meet Shane. Children have a natural curiosity and that shouldn’t be stifled, but we do want to teach them how to empathize with others. Some of the questions he answers in his book include: why do you look so different? why is your head so big? what is wrong with you? how do you play with your friends? With each question, Shane answers them in a kid-friendly where and explains that absolutely NOTHING is wrong with him, he just may do things differently than them because of his SMA (spinal muscular atrophy). With each question, he also makes connections to students to share how in many ways, he is just like them. For example, he likes to play video games with his friends just like your students do – he just accesses them a bit differently. He likes a lot of the same foods your students do – his family just helps him eat the food. He also talks a bit about how it feels when people make fun of him, instead of getting to know him. It’s truly such a wonderful book to help students connect with those who have disabilities! You can grab this one here: Not So Different You, Me, and Empathy by Jayneen Sanders This next one is a pretty straightforward book to teach about empathy! This story is about a little boy who is learning about the world around him and taking note of how others behave so he knows how to behave. On each set of pages, there are different scenarios where the little boy learns how to act. For example, his mother gets sick and he remembers back to a time he was sick and his mom gave him a hug and some tissues, so he decides to get her some tissues and give her a hug. After each little scenario, there are a couple short questions to guide students through too. I would definitely break this book up into a few days and pick a few scenarios to discuss showing empathy with your students! This book really centers around the question, “how can we show others that we care about them?” Also at the end of the book, there is a discussion guide for parents and caretakers to talk all about empathy! There are also some fun activities to promote empathy, kindness, and compassion at the end too. You can grab this here: You, Me, and Empathy The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig I have shared this book many times before because I love it to help teach so many different skills! This book is about a little boy named Brian who feels invisible at school. His teacher doesn’t call on him often, he doesn’t act out, he doesn’t sit with anyone at lunch, etc. Until one day a new kid comes to school and notices Brian. He talks to him, invites him to play at recess, and sits with him at lunch. These little acts of reaching out help Brian feel seen. I love this book to teach about empathy because it teaches us to notice others and not only think about ourselves. If we take a minute to look around and observe others, we can notice students like Brian who may be sitting by themselves or playing by themselves and we can reach out. We can ask them to play with us and see how they’re feeling. A little act of kindness goes a long, long way! You can see this one here: The Invisible Boy So there are 5 of my favorite picture books for teaching all about empathy! Are any of these new to you?! Do you have others you love to use with this skill? Let me know down in the comments! Also, if you’re looking for other picture book suggestions, you might like any of these posts: Pin this post to remember:
If someone is described as disabled then typically we will imagine them in a wheel chair, and the disabled signs on toilet doors and parking spaces seem to encourage this view of the term. Perhaps in some cases we might think of someone with a walking stick or crutches as disabled, but for the most part we tend to only be aware of the disabilities we can see and only those that we recognise as problems that we’re familiar with. However this is a very limited view of the term and actually the word disability can cover any number of different conditions and problems for people covering an amazing range. There are types of disability and there are also degrees of disability, and understanding these can help us to be more accommodating, sympathetic and understanding of others’ plights. When designing a property for instance it can help you to ask whether it’s truly got disabled access – are a few ramps enough to cater for the wide range of disabilities? Here then we will look at some of the different categories of disability and what they mean. Physical Disability: Of course a physical disability is a physical limitation/impairment that affects the limbs or motor movement in general. In some cases other health conditions that affect certain aspects of life can also be considered physical disability, including surprisingly sleep apnea. There are several scales on which the severity of physical disability can be measured, such as the Roland disability questionnaire. There are also many other arbitrary levels of disability used by government organisations and insurance companies etc to assess the condition of clients. Sensory Disability: This is a form of disability that we often forget, but it is one of the most common and restrictive of all. Of course the term describes any situation in which a person lacks a sense or is seriously impaired in one. Within this category of disability are various subcategories then: Visual Impairment: Of course a lack of sight, and one of the disabilities that owners of commercial businesses can do the most to help by installing brail signs. Disability in this area is considered any visual impairment that is severe enough to require additional support other than the conventional means. There are of course a range of ways too in which the vision can be impaired. Hearing Impairment: The deaf or hard of hearing can also be considered disabled when the problem is severe enough. Thoughtful owners of businesses can include subtitles or sign on their instructional videos to help those with hearing disabilities to follow instructions. Olfactory and Gustatory Impairment: This is not always considered a disability in the common sense but includes lacking and limited senses of smell and taste. These are not normally considered disabilities though technically they fall into the same category. Other things like ‘phantosmia’ where people have unpleasant ‘phantom’ smells could also be considered disability. Somatosensory Disorder: These involve insensitivity to touch, hot and cold and is actually an important consideration for those with these conditions who need to be careful running baths and keeping their home adequately heated. It is also very regularly related to other physical impairment and is a result of damaged neural pathways. Sometimes the conditions will be localised to specific areas. Balance Disorder: Balance disorders leave patients unable to stand and walk easily or without aid and can cause physical disability as a result. Intellectual Disabilities: These are those disabilities ranging from mental retardation to less serious cognitive deficits such as some learning disabilities. Mental Health and Emotional Disabilities: Emotional and mental health problems can regularly be severe enough to be classed as disabilities. Developmental Disabilities: These are disabilities that effect individual’s development. For example this could mean a range of learning disabilities, but it can also mean physical disabilities that are related to development such as spina bifida.
For a good governance of an association, a set of rules and regulations are required. Similarly, for chemistry, certain rules have been stated to make the study easier and less complex. As it is said that all matters in this universe have a tendency to attain stability; and to do so the process shall start at the molecular level. So that’s how it is: Hence the Octet Rule states that atoms of main-group elements tend to combine in such a way that each atom has eight electrons in its valence shell, giving it the same electronic configuration as a noble gas. Octet rule gives the number of bonding electrons, valence electrons, oxidation number and the number of bonds that would be formed. Hence and the idea of stability could be generated and by knowledge of valence electrons, the stability could be predicted. Yet the stability could not be confirmed as for transition elements, due to the shielding effect of their “d” orbital electrons a steric hindrance is offered which octet rule could not justify. Hence an idea of stability could be generated, but solely one can’t rely on octet rule for the stability of an atom. 1. The octet rule is not applicable for non-metal after silicon as those elements have a tendency to expand their octet and store more than 8 electrons. PF5, SF6, H2SO4. In PF5, the P atom has 10 electrons in the valence shell; similarly For SF6 the S atom has 12 electrons in its valence shell. And for H2SO4 the S atom has again 12 atoms in the valence shell. 2. Atoms with an odd number of electrons do not follow the octet rule. For Example NO and NO2. The N atom in both molecules has 7 electrons in their valence shell. Hence the octet is incomplete. 3. For some molecules, central atom can’t have 8 electrons. For example BeCl2 and BCl3. Be has only 4 electrons in valence shell and B has 6 electrons. Hence the octet rule is not valid in such cases. Hence the OCTET rule has been a great rule for determining the valence electrons and determining the number of bonding electrons in a molecule. Through octet rule we determined the number of valence electrons and bonding electrons, now to see how bonding happens a sharing of electrons take place we need to draw some basic structures. One of the structures is the Lewis Dot Structure. The diagrammatical representation of bonds being formed between valence shell-electrons and the lone pair electrons present in an atom is termed as Lewis Dot Structure. NOTE- one electron is shared with only one electron of the other element and as the number of electrons being shared with each other reaches 8 stop connecting the dots and the Lewis Dot Structure is Ready. From the above-mentioned Lewis Structure of CCl4, it is Clearly depicted that Carbon being tetravalent has made 4 covalent bonds with Chlorine, where each Chlorine Atom has shared one electron with each Carbon electron. (http://weknownyourdreamz.com/symbols/chlorine-electron-dot-symbol.html) refer the link for more images. As in Lewis structure, the number of bonding and non-bonding electrons could clearly be determined. Now the electrons that don’t take part in the bonding would induce charges on the molecule formed, yet the molecule remains stable and electrically neutral. This stability is explained by the concept of Formal Charge. Hence formal Charge is defined as the charge assigned to an atom in a molecule, assuming that electrons in all chemical bonds are shared equally between atoms, regardless of relative electronegativity. FC = V - N - (B/2) Hence, with the Lewis Dot Structure, the nature of a bind could easily be predicted and further calculations involving electrons could also be carried out. Assignment Writing Help Engineering Assignment Services Do My Assignment Help Write My Essay Services
A podcast is a digital audio file that is made available through the internet. Students can produce a podcast individually or collaboratively. This option is a great option for students who may struggle with writing and prefer to express themselves orally. Educators can also use this to present learning materials to students. If podcasts are stored on a website that students can access, they can review lessons as often as needed. digital audio recorder or computer with microphone device with audio editing software speakers or headsets Be sure to have enough recording devices for the number of groups or individual students If there are not enough recording devices, consider scheduling students/groups Create a rubric to share with students at the outset that contain the learning outcomes they need to include in their podcast. Have students listen to a few exemplar podcasts on a related topic. Flexible groupings of pairs, trios or quads. Some students may prefer to work alone. Have students determine their topics Here is an example of a class podcast created by Nick Marino’s Grade 4/5 class in Vancouver, BC. The class worked on an unit of study that looked at family history called, “How Did We Get Here?”. The podcasts consist of student’s interviewing their parents and grandparents. Nick Marino was interviewed at two local radio stations and the podcast has been featured on CBC Radio. Click here to listen. Students should listen to examples of podcasts and listen for the speakers expression, pacing, and cadence. Students should make notes about what they want to record. Some students may prefer to write out exactly what they want to record and others may be able to speak from an outline of notes. Podcasts can take several sessions to plan, record and edit. If students are bringing their own recording devices to school, this is a great opportunity to have them leverage the technology. But consider assigning students to groups so that students without personal devices are paired with ones that do. Students may need a quiet space to record their audio. Students may want to conduct interviews with other students or family members depending on the assignment. Grouping: Students can work in alone, pairs or small groups of 3-4. Students can also work on a class podcast. Students will need to become familiar with editing software in order to produce their podcasts. VoiceThread is a cloud based podcasting tool that allows students to create narrated slide show presentations or speak to a graphic. Students will need to create an account in order to use this tool.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, snow is a really important feature of life in the Arctic and Antarctic, as well as in high mountain areas all over the planet. It affects how people and animals can move around, can turn a beautiful hillside into a death trap and can provide a safe haven for animals and plants who spend winter below it’s surface. I have just spent a week knee deep in snow digging a bunch of snow pits, so thought to write this plog all about why and how holes in snow are useful, not only for science but also reindeer herding and winter activities like mountaineering and skiing. To learn some snow skills, read on… Onions have layers, Ogres have layers, and snow has layers In places that get reasonably deep snow (deeper than just a few cm) and where it stays throughout most of winter, the snow pack starts to build up layers. On top is the soft fresh snow that has recently fallen, whilst on the bottom is more dense snow which has been compacted by the weight above it over time. Throughout this older snow you might get layers of ice and soft, hard or crunchy snow depending on the weather conditions when that snow fell, or any changes in temperatures when it was already lying on the ground. Looking at these layers, where they are compared to each other and how they are structured is the important bit about snow science. In order to look at these layers then, you basically have to dig a big hole so you can look at the snow side-on, from the shallow fresh stuff on top to the oldest snow lying on the ground. This side-on view is called the snow profile, and looking at this profile can help to forecast where and when avalanches might occur, both on mountains near settlements as well as areas where people might do winter sports like skiing. If you’re an outdoorsy person yourself these are tests you can do too when on a mountain in winter. An avalanche can happen for many reasons. Shaking caused by earthquakes and explosives might move the ground enough to make the snow slide down en masse. Perhaps more common are avalanches cause by people on skis and snowmobiles, animals walking or even just new snow or rain building up on the snow surface. In these situations the snow slides because a slab of snow is sitting on top of a softer weaker layer, and so when enough extra weight is added to it on top, it causes the weak layer to crumble. The slab slides and starts to build up momentum as it goes downhill, picking up and shaking off more snow with it as it goes. Avalanches are more likely to happen in late winter (December-April) as the snow layers have had time to build up. They also tend to happen more often on slopes that are shaded from direct sunlight (often north facing slopes) as they stay cooler and so the snow layers are less likely to bond. However, later in spring sunnier slopes can have a greater risk because there might be more warming and melting, causing wet snow slides. So, what can you and a shovel do about this? Well, you can’t really stop an avalanche but you can predict where they are more likely to happen and so choose where you go to avoid them. By digging a snow pit you can look at the profile and see if there are softer layers lower down in the snow pack, lying under a harder snow slab on top. You can then put this together with info like which way the slope is facing, how much direct sun does it get, and how steep is the slope (generally steeper slopes are riskier) to get a feel for the safety of the area. Forest rangers might also use this kind of info to purposefully trigger a controlled avalanche when no one is around so people can go there afterwards and use the mountain. Probably best to leave that up to the experts though… On a little side not, if you ever do get into an avalanche (which I very much hope you don’t) try to get off the slab as fast as possible. Otherwise grab for a tree or if this isn’t possible try to ‘swim’ in the avalanche to prevent you being pulled to the bottom when the snow settles. If you remember back to an earlier plog where I spoke about the research I’m doing on reindeer ecology, it doesn’t involve mountains or avalanches, so why would I care about snow structure? Even when it’s not sliding around, snow can cause many problems or even solutions for wildlife. Though it is cold, snow acts as a very good insulator. Many animals and plants benefit by being covered by snow over winter when they are hibernating or dormant, as being under it keeps them warmer than being in the open air. In terms of reindeer, snow and ice coming together can freeze lakes and rivers allowing the animals to walk across them and so saving them from having to make big detours when they are migrating. If it is hard enough, reindeer can walk on the snow surface, but if it is too soft and deep their weight might constantly break through, making movement really slow and tiring. These kinds of conditions might make the reindeer avoid an area even if there is good food around, as reaching that food would just take too much energy. On the other hand if the snow is too hard, so for example if there is a thick ice layer somewhere in the snow profile, the reindeer might be physically unable to dig through it to reach the plants below to eat. This means that once again food is around but they can’t reach it, and so either have to move to a new area to get food or risk starvation. This isn’t a hypothetical scenario- ice crusts in snow recently caused as many as 61,000 reindeer to starve to death over winter in Siberia, so it’s a big problem. For this reason reindeer herders pay a lot of attention to snow conditions and the ice layers. This involved a lot of fine-tuned knowledge about the environment, as the herders need to be able to predict how snow conditions will change over winter so they can bring their reindeer to the right pastures at the right time to reach food. If conditions are really bad they may even have to buy special feed to help the reindeer through difficult weather which can be really expensive. It can also cause some issues when the reindeer’s stomach tries to adjust from their natural winter food (largely lichen) to the richer stuff found in commercial feed. Understanding snow is a key part of being in cold places, whether you are skiing, hiking, a lichen or a reindeer. Being aware of what is going on beneath your feet in these places means you can make the most of the snow whilst appreciating and respecting that it is a strong force of nature that should be prodded or jumped on with care. For more info: How to measure snowfall: https://weatherworksinc.com/news/how-to-measure-snow Basic info on digging snow pits to test for avalanche risk: https://avalanche.org/avalanche-encyclopedia/snowpit/ Title picture: Author
The idea that all humans naturally belong to one of a few biological types or races that evolved in isolation was unchallenged for centuries, but large-scale modern studies failed to associate racial labels with recognizable genetic clusters. Recently, the conclusions of those studies have been questioned by authors who argue that racial classification has objective scientific bases and is indispensable in epidemiology and genetics. However, no classification is useful if the classification units are vague or controversial, and no consensus was ever reached on the number and definition of the human races. The available studies show that there is geographic structure in human genome diversity, and that it is possible to infer with reasonable accuracy the continent of origin from an individuals multilocus genotype. However, clear-cut genetic boundaries between human groups, which would be necessary to recognise these groups as relatively isolated mating units which zoologists would call races, have not been identified so far. On the contrary, allele frequencies and synthetic descriptors of genetic variation appear distributed in gradients over much of the planet, which points to gene flow, rather than to isolation, as the main evolutionary force shaping human genome diversity. A better understanding of patterns of human diversity and of the underlying evolutionary processes is important for its own sake, but is also indispensable for the development of diagnostic and therapeutic tools designed for the individual genotype, rather than for illdefined race-specific genotypes. Keywords: human diversity, population structure, geographic variation, gene flow, selection, isolation, risk factors Rights & PermissionsPrintExport
The sea level off New Jersey’s coast is up to 12 inches higher than it was in 1950.1 This increase is mostly due to New Jersey’s sinking land, and it’s causing major issues. Solutions in New Jersey can be complicated because as land is sinking, shores are also eroding. The state has many oceanfront communities and countless species of wildlife at risk from sea level rise.2 There are already over 45,000 properties at risk from frequent tidal flooding in New Jersey.3 The state is planning over $2 billion in sea level rise solutions, which include restoration projects, catastrophic flood prevention, and building seawalls. Sea level rise is speeding up The sea level around Atlantic City, New Jersey, has risen by 12 inches since 1950. Its speed of rise has accelerated over the last ten years and it’s now rising by over 1 inch every 5 years.1 Scientists know this because the sea level is measured every 6 minutes using equipment like satellites, floating buoys off the coast, and tidal gauges to accurately measure the local sea level as it accelerates and changes.4 SEA LEVEL MEASUREMENT FROM ATLANTIC CITY AREA TIDE GAUGE SINCE 1950
An influenza pandemic is an epidemic of an influenza virus that spreads across a large region (either multiple continents or worldwide) and infects a large proportion of the population. There have been five in the last 140 years, with the 1918 flu pandemic being the most severe; this pandemic is estimated to have been responsible for the deaths of 50–100 million people. The most recent, the 2009 swine flu pandemic , resulted in under a million deaths and is considered relatively mild. These pandemic s occur irregularly. Influenza pandemics occur when a new strain of the influenza virus is transmitted to humans from another animal species. Species that are thought to be important in the emergence of new human strains are pigs, chickens and ducks. These novel strains are unaffected by any immunity people may have to older strains of human influenza and can therefore spread extremely rapidly and infect very large numbers of people. Influenza A virus es can occasionally be transmitted from wild birds to other species, causing outbreaks in domestic poultry, and may give rise to human influenza pandemics. The propagation of influenza viruses throughout the world is thought in part to be by bird migration s, though commercial shipments of live bird products might also be implicated, as well as human travel patterns. The World Health Organization (WHO) has produced a six-stage classification that describes the process by which a novel influenza virus moves from the first few infections in humans through to a pandemic. This starts with the virus mostly infecting animals, with a few cases where animals infect people, then moves through the stage where the virus begins to spread directly between people, and ends with a pandemic when infections from the new virus have spread worldwide. One strain of virus that may produce a pandemic in the future is a highly pathogen ic variation of the H5N1 subtype of influenza A virus . On 11 June 2009, a new strain of H1N1 influenza was declared to be a pandemic (Stage 6) by the WHO after evidence of spreading in the southern hemisphere. The 13 November 2009 worldwide update by the WHO stated that " of 8 November 2009, worldwide more than 206 countries and overseas territories or communities have reported 03,536 laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 2009, including over 6,250 deaths." Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease of birds and mammal s. It was thought to be caused by comets, earthquakes, volcanoes, cosmic dust, the rising and setting of the sun, vapors arising from the air and ground, or a blast from the stars. Now we know that it is caused by an RNA virus of the family Orthomyxoviridae (the influenza viruses). In humans, common symptoms of influenza infection are fever, sore throat, muscle pains , severe headache, coughing, and weakness and fatigue In more serious cases, influenza causes pneumonia , which can be fatal, particularly in young children and the elderly. While sometimes confused with the common cold , influenza is a much more severe disease and is caused by a different type of virus. Although nausea and vomiting can be produced, especially in children, [ these symptoms are more characteristic of the unrelated gastroenteritis, which is sometimes called "stomach flu" or "24-hour flu." Typically, influenza is transmitted from infected mammals through the air by coughs or sneezes, creating aerosols containing the virus, and from infected birds through their droppings. Influenza can also be transmitted by saliva, nasal secretions, feces and blood. Healthy individuals can become infected if they breathe in a virus-laden aerosol directly, or if they touch their eyes, nose or mouth after touching any of the aforementioned bodily fluids (or surfaces contaminated with those fluids). Flu viruses can remain infectious for about one week at human body temperature, over 30 days at 0 °C (32 °F), and indefinitely at very low temperatures (such as lakes in northeast Siberia). Most influenza strains can be inactivated easily by disinfectants and detergents.] [ Flu spreads around the world in seasonal epidemics. Ten pandemics were recorded before the Spanish flu of 1918. Three influenza pandemics occurred during the 20th century and killed tens of millions of people, with each of these pandemics being caused by the appearance of a new strain of the virus in humans. Often, these new strains result from the spread of an existing flu virus to humans from other animal species, so close proximity between humans and animals can promote epidemics. In addition, epidemiological factors, such as the WWI practice of packing soldiers with severe influenza illness into field hospitals while soldiers with mild illness stayed outside on the battlefield, are an important determinant of whether or not a new strain of influenza virus will spur a pandemic. (During the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, this practice served to promote the evolution of more virulent viral strains over those that produced mild illness.) When it first killed humans in Asia in the 1990s, a deadly avian strain of H5N1 posed a great risk for a new influenza pandemic; however, this virus did not mutate to spread easily between people. Vaccinations against influenza are most commonly given to high-risk humans in industrialized countries [ ] and to farmed poultry. The most common human vaccine is the trivalent influenza vaccine that contains purified and inactivated material from three viral strains. Typically this vaccine includes material from two influenza A virus subtypes and one influenza B virus strain. A vaccine formulated for one year may be ineffective in the following year, since the influenza virus changes rapidly over time and different strains become dominant. Antiviral drugs can be used to treat influenza, with neuraminidase inhibitors being particularly effective. Variants and subtypes of Influenzavirus A Variants of Influenzavirus A are identified and named according to the isolate that they are like and thus are presumed to share lineage (example Fujian flu virus like); according to their typical host (example Human flu virus); according to their subtype (example H3N2); and according to their deadliness (e.g., Low Pathogenic as discussed below). So a flu from a virus similar to the isolate A/Fujian/411/2002(H3N2) is called Fujian flu, human flu, and H3N2 flu. Variants are sometimes named according to the species (host) the strain is endemic in or adapted to. Some variants named using this convention are: * Bird Flu * Dog flu * Horse flu * Human flu * Swine flu Avian variants have also sometimes been named according to their deadliness in poultry, especially chickens: * Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza (LPAI) * Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), also called: deadly flu or death flu The Influenza A virus subtypes are labeled according to an H number (for hemagglutinin) and an N number (for neuraminidase). Each subtype virus has mutated into a variety of strains with differing pathogenic profiles; some pathogenic to one species but not others, some pathogenic to multiple species. Most known strains are extinct strains. For example, the annual flu subtype H3N2 no longer contains the strain that caused the Hong Kong Flu. Influenza A viruses are negative sense, single-stranded, segmented RNA viruses. "There are 16 different HA antigens (H1 to H16) and nine different NA antigens (N1 to N9) for influenza A. Until recently, 15 HA types had been recognized, but recently two new types were isolated: a new type (H16) was isolated from black-headed gulls caught in Sweden and the Netherlands in 1999 and reported in the literature in 2005." "The other, H17, was isolated from fruit bats caught in Guatemala and reported in the literature in 2013." Nature of a flu pandemic Some pandemics are relatively minor such as the one in 1957 called Asian flu (1–4 million dead, depending on source). Others have a higher Pandemic Severity Index whose severity warrants more comprehensive social isolation measures. The 1918 pandemic killed tens of millions and sickened hundreds of millions; the loss of this many people in the population caused upheaval and psychological damage to many people. There were not enough doctors, hospital rooms, or medical supplies for the living as they contracted the disease. Dead bodies were often left unburied as few people were available to deal with them. There can be great social disruption as well as a sense of fear. Efforts to deal with pandemics can leave a great deal to be desired because of human selfishness, lack of trust, illegal behavior, and ignorance. For example, in the 1918 pandemic: "This horrific disconnect between reassurances and reality destroyed the credibility of those in authority. People felt they had no one to turn to, no one to rely on, no one to trust." A letter from a physician at one U.S. Army camp in the 1918 pandemic said: It is only a matter of a few hours then until death comes .. It is horrible. One can stand it to see one, two or twenty men die, but to see these poor devils dropping like flies .. We have been averaging about 100 deaths per day .. Pneumonia means in about all cases death .. We have lost an outrageous number of Nurses and Drs. It takes special trains to carry away the dead. For several days there were no coffins and the bodies piled up something fierce .. Flu pandemics typically come in waves. The 1889–1890 and 1918–1919 flu pandemics each came in three or four waves of increasing lethality. But within a wave, mortality was greater at the beginning of the wave. Mortality varies widely in a pandemic. In the 1918 pandemic: In U.S. Army camps where reasonably reliable statistics were kept, case mortality often exceeded 5 percent, and in some circumstances exceeded 10 percent. In the British Army in India, case mortality for white troops was 9.6 percent, for Indian troops 21.9 percent. In isolated human populations, the virus killed at even higher rates. In the Fiji islands, it killed 14 percent of the entire population in 16 days. In Labrador and Alaska, it killed at least one-third of the entire native population. A 1921 book lists nine influenza pandemics prior to the 1889–90 flu, the first in 1510. A more modern source lists six. Spanish flu (1918–1920) The 1918 flu pandemic, commonly referred to as the Spanish flu, was a category 5 influenza pandemic caused by an unusually severe and deadly Influenza A virus strain of subtype H1N1. The Spanish flu pandemic lasted from 1918 to 1920. Older estimates say it killed 40–50 million people while current estimates say 50 million to 100 million people worldwide were killed. [ This pandemic has been described as "the greatest medical holocaust in history" and may have killed as many people as the Black Death,] although the Black Death is estimated to have killed over a fifth of the world's population at the time, a significantly higher proportion. This huge death toll was caused by an extremely high infection rate of up to 50% and the extreme severity of the symptoms, suspected to be caused by cytokine storms. [ Indeed, symptoms in 1918 were so unusual that initially influenza was misdiagnosed as dengue, cholera, or typhoid. One observer wrote, "One of the most striking of the complications was hemorrhage from mucous membranes, especially from the nose, stomach, and intestine. Bleeding from the ears and petechial hemorrhages in the skin also occurred."] [ The majority of deaths were from bacterial pneumonia, a secondary infection caused by influenza, but the virus also killed people directly, causing massive hemorrhages and edema in the lung.] The Spanish flu pandemic was truly global, spreading even to the Arctic and remote Pacific islands. The unusually severe disease killed between 10 and 20% of those infected, as opposed to the more usual flu epidemic mortality rate of 0.1%. [ Another unusual feature of this pandemic was that it mostly killed young adults, with 99% of pandemic influenza deaths occurring in people under 65, and more than half in young adults 20 to 40 years old. This is unusual since influenza is normally most deadly to the very young (under age 2) and the very old (over age 70). The total mortality of the 1918–1919 pandemic is estimated to be between 50 and 100 million people, constituting approximately 3–6% of the world's population. As many as 25 million may have been killed in the first 25 weeks; in contrast, HIV/AIDS has killed 25 million in its first 25 ''years''.] [ Asian flu (1957–1958) The Asian flu was a category 2 flu pandemic outbreak of avian influenza that originated in China in early 1956 lasting until 1958. It originated from a mutation in wild ducks combining with a pre-existing human strain. [Greene, Jeffrey. Moline, Karen. 006(2006) The Bird Flu Pandemic. .] The virus was first identified in Guizhou. It spread to Singapore in February 1957, reached Hong Kong by April, and US by June. Death toll in the US was approximately 116,000. The elderly were particularly vulnerable. Estimates of worldwide deaths vary widely depending on source, ranging from 1 million to 4 million. Hong Kong flu (1968–1969) The Hong Kong flu was a category 2 flu pandemic caused by a strain of H3N2 descended from H2N2 by antigenic shift, in which genes from multiple subtypes reassorted to form a new virus. The Hong Kong Flu pandemic of 1968 and 1969 killed an estimated 1–4 million people worldwide. Those over 65 had the greatest death rates. In the US, there were about 100,000 deaths. Russian flu (1977–1979) The 1977 Russian flu was a relatively benign flu pandemic, mostly affecting population younger than the age of 26 or 25. It is estimated that 700,000 people died due to the pandemic worldwide. The cause was H1N1 virus strain, which was not seen after 1957 until its re-appearance in China and the Soviet Union in 1977. Genetic analysis and several unusual characteristics of the pandemic have prompted speculation that the virus was released to the public through a laboratory accident. H1N1/09 flu pandemic (2009–2010) An epidemic of influenza-like illness of unknown causation occurred in Mexico in March–April 2009. On 24 April 2009, following the isolation of an A/H1N1 influenza in seven ill patients in the southwest US, the WHO issued a statement on the outbreak of "influenza like illness" that confirmed cases of A/H1N1 influenza had been reported in Mexico, and that 20 confirmed cases of the disease had been reported in the US. The next day, the number of confirmed cases rose to 40 in the US, 26 in Mexico, six in Canada, and one in Spain. The disease spread rapidly through the rest of the spring, and by 3 May, a total of 787 confirmed cases had been reported worldwide. On 11 June 2009, the ongoing outbreak of Influenza A/H1N1, commonly referred to as swine flu, was officially declared by the WHO to be the first influenza pandemic of the 21st century and a new strain of Influenza A virus subtype H1N1 first identified in April 2009. It is thought to be a mutation (reassortment) of four known strains of influenza A virus subtype H1N1: one endemic in humans, one endemic in birds, and two endemic in pigs (swine). The rapid spread of this new virus was likely due to a general lack of pre-existing antibody-mediated immunity in the human population. On 1 November 2009, a worldwide update by the WHO stated that "199 countries and overseas territories/communities have officially reported a total of over 482,300 laboratory confirmed cases of the influenza pandemic H1N1 infection, that included 6,071 deaths." By the end of the pandemic, there were more than 18,000 laboratory-confirmed deaths from H1N1. Due to inadequate surveillance and lack of healthcare in many countries, the actual total of cases and deaths was likely much higher than reported. Experts, including the WHO, have since agreed that an estimated 284,500 people were killed by the disease, about 15 times the number of deaths in the initial death toll. Other pandemic threat subtypes "Human influenza virus" usually refers to those subtypes that spread widely among humans. H1N1, H1N2, and H3N2 are the only known Influenza A virus subtypes currently circulating among humans. Genetic factors in distinguishing between "human flu viruses" and "avian influenza viruses" include: :PB2: (RNA polymerase): Amino acid (or residue) position 627 in the PB2 protein encoded by the PB2 RNA gene. Until H5N1, all known avian influenza viruses had a glutamic acid at position 627, while all human influenza viruses had a lysine. :HA: (hemagglutinin): Avian influenza HA bind alpha 2–3 sialic acid receptors while human influenza HA bind alpha 2–6 sialic acid receptors. "About 52 key genetic changes distinguish avian influenza strains from those that spread easily among people, according to researchers in Taiwan, who analyzed the genes of more than 400 A type flu viruses." "How many mutations would make an avian virus capable of infecting humans efficiently, or how many mutations would render an influenza virus a pandemic strain, is difficult to predict. We have examined sequences from the 1918 strain, which is the only pandemic influenza virus that could be entirely derived from avian strains. Of the 52 species-associated positions, 16 have residues typical for human strains; the others remained as avian signatures. The result supports the hypothesis that the 1918 pandemic virus is more closely related to the avian influenza A virus than are other human influenza viruses." Highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza kills 50% of humans that catch it. In one case, a boy with H5N1 experienced diarrhea followed rapidly by a coma without developing respiratory or flu-like symptoms. The Influenza A virus subtypes that have been confirmed in humans, ordered by the number of known human pandemic deaths, are: * H1N1 caused Spanish flu, 1977 Russian flu and the 2009 swine flu pandemic (novel H1N1) * H2N2 caused Asian flu * H3N2 caused Hong Kong flu * H5N1 is bird flu, endemic in avians * H7N7 has unusual zoonotic potential * H1N2 is currently endemic in humans and pigs * H9N2, H7N2, H7N3, H10N7 H1N1 is currently endemic in both human and pig populations. A variant of H1N1 was responsible for the Spanish flu pandemic that killed some 50 million to 100 million people worldwide over about a year in 1918 and 1919. Controversy arose in October 2005, after the H1N1 genome was published in the journal, ''Science''. Many fear that this information could be used for bioterrorism. When he compared the 1918 virus with today's human flu viruses, Dr. Taubenberger noticed that it had alterations in just 25 to 30 of the virus's 4,400 amino acids. Those few changes turned a bird virus into a killer that could spread from person to person. In mid-April 2009, an H1N1 variant appeared in Mexico, with its center in Mexico City. By 26 April the variant had spread widely; with cases reported in Canada, the US, New Zealand, the UK, France, Spain and Israel. On 29 April WHO raised the worldwide pandemic phase to 5. On 11 June 2009 the WHO raised the worldwide pandemic phase to 6, which means that the H1N1 swine flu has reached pandemic proportions, with nearly 30,000 confirmed cases worldwide. A 13 November 2009 worldwide update by the UN's World Health Organization (WHO) states that "206 countries and overseas territories/communities have officially reported over 503,536 laboratory confirmed cases of the influenza pandemic H1N1 infection, including 6,250 deaths." The Asian Flu was a pandemic outbreak of H2N2 avian influenza that originated in China in 1957, spread worldwide that same year during which an influenza vaccine was developed, lasted until 1958 and caused between one and four million deaths. H3N2 is currently endemic in both human and pig populations. It evolved from H2N2 by antigenic shift and caused the Hong Kong Flu pandemic of 1968 and 1969 that killed up to 750,000."An early-onset, severe form of influenza A H3N2 made headlines when it claimed the lives of several children in the United States in late 2003." The dominant strain of annual flu in January 2006 is H3N2. Measured resistance to the standard antiviral drugs amantadine and rimantadine in H3N2 has increased from 1% in 1994 to 12% in 2003 to 91% in 2005. ntemporary human H3N2 influenza viruses are now endemic in pigs in southern China and can reassort with avian H5N1 viruses in this intermediate host. H7N7 has unusual zoonotic potential. In 2003 in Netherlands 89 people were confirmed to have H7N7 influenza virus infection following an outbreak in poultry on several farms. One death was recorded. H1N2 is currently endemic in both human and pig populations. The new H1N2 strain appears to have resulted from the reassortment of the genes of the currently circulating influenza H1N1 and H3N2 subtypes. The hemagglutinin protein of the H1N2 virus is similar to that of the currently circulating H1N1 viruses and the neuraminidase protein is similar to that of the current H3N2 viruses. Assessment of a flu pandemic The World Health Organization (WHO) developed a global influenza preparedness plan, which defines the stages of a pandemic, outlines WHO's role and makes recommendations for national measures before and during a pandemic. In the 2009 revision of the phase descriptions, the WHO has retained the use of a six-phase approach The grouping and description of pandemic phases have been revised to make them easier to understand, more precise, and based upon observable phenomena. Phases 1–3 correlate with preparedness, including capacity development and response planning activities, while phases 4–6 clearly signal the need for response and mitigation efforts. Furthermore, periods after the first pandemic wave are elaborated to facilitate post pandemic recovery activities. In February 2020, WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic explained that the WHO no longer uses this six-phase classification model: "For the sake of clarification, WHO does not use the old system of 6 phases—that ranged from phase 1 (no reports of animal influenza causing human infections) to phase 6 (a pandemic)—that some people may be familiar with from H1N1 in 2009." For reference, the phases are defined below. In nature, influenza viruses circulate continuously among animals, especially birds. Even though such viruses might theoretically develop into pandemic viruses, in Phase 1 no viruses circulating among animals have been reported to cause infections in humans. In Phase 2 an animal influenza virus circulating among domesticated or wild animals is known to have caused infection in humans, and is therefore considered a potential pandemic threat. In Phase 3, an animal or human-animal influenza reassortant virus has caused sporadic cases or small clusters of disease in people, but has not resulted in human-to-human transmission sufficient to sustain community-level outbreaks. Limited human-to-human transmission may occur under some circumstances, for example, when there is close contact between an infected person and an unprotected caregiver. However, limited transmission under such restricted circumstances does not indicate that the virus has gained the level of transmissibility among humans necessary to cause a pandemic. Phase 4 is characterized by verified human-to-human transmission of an animal or human-animal influenza reassortant virus able to cause "community-level outbreaks". The ability to cause sustained disease outbreaks in a community marks a significant upwards shift in the risk for a pandemic. Any country that suspects or has verified such an event should urgently consult with the WHO so that the situation can be jointly assessed and a decision made by the affected country if implementation of a rapid pandemic containment operation is warranted. Phase 4 indicates a significant increase in risk of a pandemic but does not necessarily mean that a pandemic is a foregone conclusion. Phase 5 is characterized by human-to-human spread of the virus into at least two countries in one WHO region. While most countries will not be affected at this stage, the declaration of Phase 5 is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalize the organization, communication, and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short. Phase 6, the pandemic phase, is characterized by community level outbreaks in at least one other country in a different WHO region in addition to the criteria defined in Phase 5. Designation of this phase will indicate that a pandemic is under way. During the post-peak period, pandemic disease levels in most countries with adequate surveillance will have dropped below peak observed levels. The post-peak period signifies that pandemic activity appears to be decreasing; however, it is uncertain if additional waves will occur and countries will need to be prepared for a second wave. Previous pandemics have been characterized by waves of activity spread over months. Once the level of disease activity drops, a critical communications task will be to balance this information with the possibility of another wave. Pandemic waves can be separated by months and an immediate "at-ease" signal may be premature. In the post-pandemic period, influenza disease activity will have returned to levels normally seen for seasonal influenza. It is expected that the pandemic virus will behave as a seasonal influenza A virus. At this stage, it is important to maintain surveillance and update pandemic preparedness and response plans accordingly. An intensive phase of recovery and evaluation may be required. In 2014, The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention introduced an analogous framework to the WHO's pandemic stages titled the Pandemic Intervals Framework. It includes two pre-pandemic intervals, and four pandemic intervals, It also includes a table defining the intervals and mapping them to the WHO pandemic stages. In 2014 the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention adopted the Pandemic Severity Assessment Framework (PSAF) to assess the severity of pandemics. The PSAF superseded the 2007 linear Pandemic Severity Index, which assumed 30% spread and measured case fatality rate (CFR) to assess the severity and evolution of the pandemic. Historically, measures of pandemic severity were based on the case fatality rate. However, the case fatality rate might not be an adequate measure of pandemic severity during a pandemic response because: * Deaths may lag several weeks behind cases, making the case fatality rate an underestimate * The total number of cases may not be known, making the case fatality rate an overestimate * A single case fatality rate for the entire population may obscure the effect on vulnerable sub-populations, such as children, the elderly, those with chronic conditions, and members of certain racial and ethnic minorities * Fatalities alone may not account for the full effects of the pandemic, such as absenteeism or demand on healthcare services To account for the limitations of measuring the case fatality rate alone, the PSAF rates severity of a disease outbreak on two dimensions: clinical severity of illness in infected persons; and the transmissibility of the infection in the population. Each dimension can be measured using more than one measure, which are scaled to allow comparison of the different measures. Management of a flu pandemic Strategies to prevent a flu pandemic This section contains strategies to prevent a flu pandemic by a Council on Foreign Relations panel. If influenza remains an animal problem with limited human-to-human transmission it is not a pandemic, though it continues to pose a risk. To prevent the situation from progressing to a pandemic, the following short-term strategies have been put forward: * Culling and vaccinating livestock * Vaccinating poultry workers against common flu * Limiting travel in areas where the virus is found The rationale for vaccinating poultry workers against common flu is that it reduces the probability of common influenza virus recombining with avian H5N1 virus to form a pandemic strain. Longer-term strategies proposed for regions where highly pathogenic H5N1 is endemic in wild birds have included: * changing local farming practices to increase farm hygiene and reduce contact between livestock and wild birds. * altering farming practices in regions where animals live in close, often unsanitary quarters with people, and changing the practices of open-air "wet markets" where birds are kept for live sale and slaughtered on-site. A challenge to implementing these measures is widespread poverty, frequently in rural areas, coupled with a reliance upon raising fowl for purposes of subsistence farming or income without measures to prevent propagation of the disease. * changing local shopping practices from purchase of live fowl to purchase of slaughtered, pre-packaged fowl. * improving veterinary vaccine availability and cost. Strategies to slow down a flu pandemic Public response measures The main ways available to tackle a flu pandemic initially are behavioural. Doing so requires a good public health communication strategy and the ability to track public concerns, attitudes and behaviour. For example, the Flu TElephone Survey Template (FluTEST) was developed for the UK Department of Health as a set of questions for use in national surveys during a flu pandemic. * Social distancing: By traveling less, working from home or closing schools, there is less opportunity for the virus to spread. Reduce the time spent in crowded settings if possible. And keep your distance (preferably at least 1 metre) from people who show symptoms of influenza-like illness, such as coughing and sneezing. However, social distancing during a pandemic flu will likely carry severe mental health consequences; therefore, sequestration protocols should take mental health issues into consideration. * Respiratory hygiene: Advise people to cover their coughs and sneezes. If using a tissue, make sure you dispose of it carefully and then clean your hands immediately afterwards. (See "Handwashing Hygiene" below.) If you do not have a tissue handy when you cough or sneeze, cover your mouth as much as possible with the crook of your elbow. * Handwashing hygiene: Frequent handwashing with soap and water (or with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer) is very important, especially after coughing or sneezing, and after contact with other people or with potentially contaminated surfaces (such as handrails, shared utensils, etc.) * Other hygiene: Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth as much as possible. * Masks: No mask can provide a perfect barrier, but products that meet or exceed the NIOSH N95 standard recommended by the World Health Organization are thought to provide good protection. WHO recommends that health-care workers wear N95 masks and that patients wear surgical masks (which may prevent respiratory secretions from becoming airborne). Any mask may be useful to remind the wearer not to touch the face. This can reduce infection due to contact with contaminated surfaces, especially in crowded public places where coughing or sneezing people have no way of washing their hands. The mask itself can become contaminated and must be handled as medical waste when removed. * Risk communication: To encourage the public to comply with strategies to reduce the spread of disease, "communications regarding possible community interventions uch as requiring sick people to stay home from work, closing schoolsfor pandemic influenza that flow from the federal government to communities and from community leaders to the public not overstate the level of confidence or certainty in the effectiveness of these measures." The Institute of Medicine has published a number of reports and summaries of workshops on public policy issues related to influenza pandemics. They are collected in ''Pandemic Influenza: A Guide to Recent Institute of Medicine Studies and Workshops'', and some strategies from these reports are included in the list above. Relevant learning from the 2009 flu pandemic in the UK was published in ''Health Technology Assessment'', volume 14, issue 34. Asymptomatic transmission appears to play a small role, but was not well studied by 2009. There are two groups of antiviral drugs available for the treatment and prophylaxis of influenza: neuraminidase inhibitors such as Oseltamivir (trade name Tamiflu) and Zanamivir (trade name Relenza), and adamantanes such as amantadine and rimantadine. Due to the high rate of side effects and risk of antiviral resistance, use of adamantanes to fight influenza is limited. Many nations, as well as the World Health Organization, are working to stockpile anti-viral drugs in preparation for a possible pandemic. Oseltamivir is the most commonly sought drug, since it is available in pill form. Zanamivir is also considered for use, but it must be inhaled. Other anti-viral drugs are less likely to be effective against pandemic influenza. Both Tamiflu and Relenza are in short supply, and production capabilities are limited in the medium term. Some doctors say that co-administration of Tamiflu with probenecid could double supplies. There also is the potential of viruses to evolve drug resistance. Some H5N1-infected persons treated with oseltamivir have developed resistant strains of that virus. A vaccine probably would not be available in the initial stages of population infection. A vaccine cannot be developed to protect against a virus which does not exist yet. The avian flu virus H5N1 has the potential to mutate into a pandemic strain, but so do other types of flu virus. Once a potential virus is identified and a vaccine is approved, it normally takes five to six months before the vaccine becomes available. The capability to produce vaccines varies widely from country to country; only 19 countries are listed as "influenza vaccine manufacturers" according to the World Health Organization. It is estimated that, in a best scenario situation, 750 million doses could be produced each year, whereas it is likely that each individual would need two doses of the vaccine to become immuno-competent. Distribution to and inside countries would probably be problematic. Several countries, however, have well-developed plans for producing large quantities of vaccine. For example, Canadian health authorities say that they are developing the capacity to produce 32 million doses within four months, enough vaccine to inoculate every person in the country. Another concern is whether countries which do not manufacture vaccines themselves, including those where a pandemic strain is likely to originate, will be able to purchase vaccine to protect their population. Cost considerations aside, they fear that the countries with vaccine-manufacturing capability will reserve production to protect their own populations and not release vaccines to other countries until their own population is protected. Indonesia has refused to share samples of H5N1 strains which have infected and killed its citizens until it receives assurances that it will have access to vaccines produced with those samples. So far, it has not received those assurances. However, in September 2009, Australia, Brazil, France, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, the UK, and the USA agreed to make 10 percent of their H1N1 vaccine supply available to less-developed countries. There are two serious technical problems associated with the development of a vaccine against H5N1. The first problem is this: seasonal influenza vaccines require a single injection of 15 μg haemagluttinin in order to give protection; H5 seems to evoke only a weak immune response and a large multicentre trial found that two injections of 90 µg H5 given 28 days apart provided protection in only 54% of people. Even if it is considered that 54% is an acceptable level of protection, the world is currently capable of producing only 900 million doses at a strength of 15 μg (assuming that all production were immediately converted to manufacturing H5 vaccine); if two injections of 90 μg are needed then this capacity drops to only 70 million. Trials using adjuvants such as alum, AS03, AS04 or MF59 to try and lower the dose of vaccine are urgently needed. The second problem is this: there are two circulating clades of virus, clade 1 is the virus originally isolated in Vietnam, clade 2 is the virus isolated in Indonesia. Vaccine research has mostly been focused on clade 1 viruses, but the clade 2 virus is antigenically distinct and a clade 1 vaccine will probably not protect against a pandemic caused by clade 2 virus. Since 2009, most vaccine development efforts have been focused on the current pandemic influenza virus H1N1. As of July 2009, more than 70 known clinical trials have been completed or are ongoing for pandemic influenza vaccines. In September 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration approved four vaccines against the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus, and expected the initial vaccine lots to be available within the following month. Government preparations for a potential H5N1 pandemic (2003–2009) According to ''The New York Times'' as of March 2006, "governments worldwide have spent billions planning for a potential influenza pandemic: buying medicines, running disaster drills, nddeveloping strategies for tighter border controls" due to the H5N1 threat. Together steps are being taken to "minimize the risk of further spread in animal populations", "reduce the risk of human infections", and "further support pandemic planning and preparedness". Ongoing detailed mutually coordinated onsite surveillance and analysis of human and animal H5N1 avian flu outbreaks are being conducted and reported by the USGS National Wildlife Health Center, the CDC, the ECDC, the World Health Organization, the European Commission, the National Influenza Centers, and others. In September 2005, David Nabarro, a lead UN health official, warned that a bird flu outbreak could happen at any time and had the potential to kill 5–150 million people. World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO), believing that the world was closer to another influenza pandemic than it has been any time since 1968, when the last of the 20th century's three pandemics swept the globe, has developed guidelines on pandemic influenza preparedness and response. The March 2005 plan includes guidance on roles and responsibilities in preparedness and response; information on pandemic phases; and recommended actions for before, during, and after a pandemic. "forts by the federal government to prepare for pandemic influenza at the national level include a $100 million DHHS initiative in 2003 to build U.S. vaccine production. Several agencies within Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)—including the Office of the Secretary, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), CDC, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)—are in the process of working with vaccine manufacturers to facilitate production of pilot vaccine lots for both H5N1 and H9N2 strains as well as contracting for the manufacturing of 2 million doses of an H5N1 vaccine. This H5N1 vaccine production will provide a critical pilot test of the pandemic vaccine system; it will also be used for clinical trials to evaluate dose and immunogenicity and can provide initial vaccine for early use in the event of an emerging pandemic." Each state and territory of the United States has a specific pandemic flu plan which covers avian flu, swine flu (H1N1), and other potential influenza epidemics. The state plans together with a professionally vetted search engine of flu related research, policies, and plans, is available at the current portal Pandemic Flu Search On 26 August 2004, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson released a draft Pandemic Influenza Response and Preparedness Plan, which outlined a coordinated national strategy to prepare for and respond to an influenza pandemic. Public comments were accepted for 60 days. In a speech before the United Nations General Assembly on 14 September 2005, President George W. Bush announced the creation of the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza. The Partnership brings together nations and international organizations to improve global readiness by: * elevating the issue on national agendas; * coordinating efforts among donor and affected nations; * mobilizing and leveraging resources; * increasing transparency in disease reporting and surveillance; and * building capacity to identify, contain and respond to a pandemic influenza. On 5 October 2005, Democratic Senators Harry Reid, Evan Bayh, Dick Durbin, Ted Kennedy, Barack Obama, and Tom Harkin introduced the Pandemic Preparedness and Response Act as a proposal to deal with a possible outbreak. On 27 October 2005, the Department of Health and Human Services awarded a $62.5 million contract to Chiron Corporation to manufacture an avian influenza vaccine designed to protect against the H5N1 influenza virus strain. This followed a previous awarded $100 million contract to sanofi pasteur, the vaccines business of the sanofi-aventis Group, for avian flu vaccine. In October 2005, Bush urged bird flu vaccine manufacturers to increase their production. On 1 November 2005 Bush unveiled the National Strategy To Safeguard Against The Danger of Pandemic Influenza. He also submitted a request to Congress for $7.1 billion to begin implementing the plan. The request includes $251 million to detect and contain outbreaks before they spread around the world; $2.8 billion to accelerate development of cell-culture technology; $800 million for development of new treatments and vaccines; $1.519 billion for the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Defense to purchase influenza vaccines; $1.029 billion to stockpile antiviral medications; and $644 million to ensure that all levels of government are prepared to respond to a pandemic outbreak. On 6 March 2006, Mike Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services, said U.S. health agencies are continuing to develop vaccine alternatives that will protect against the evolving avian influenza virus. The U.S. government, bracing for the possibility that migrating birds could carry a deadly strain of bird flu to North America, plans to test nearly eight times as many wild birds starting in April 2006 as have been tested in the past decade. On 8 March 2006, Dr. David Nabarro, senior UN coordinator for avian and human influenza, said that given the flight patterns of wild birds that have been spreading avian influenza (bird flu) from Asia to Europe and Africa, birds infected with the H5N1 virus could reach the Americas within the next six to 12 months. 5 Jul 2006 (CIDRAP News) – "In an update on pandemic influenza preparedness efforts, the federal government said last week it had stockpiled enough vaccine against H5N1 avian influenza virus to inoculate about 4 million people and enough antiviral medication to treat about 6.3 million." The Public Health Agency of Canada follows the WHO's categories, but has expanded them. The avian flu scare of 2006 prompted The Canadian Public Health Agency to release an updated Pandemic Influenza Plan for Health Officials. This document was created to address the growing concern over the hazards faced by public health officials when exposed to sick or dying patients. Since the Nipah virus outbreak in 1999, the Malaysian Health Ministry have put in place processes to be better prepared to protect the Malaysian population from the threat of infectious diseases. Malaysia was fully prepared during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) situation (Malaysia was not a SARS-affected country) and the episode of the H5N1 (bird flu) outbreak in 2004. The Malaysian government has developed National Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Plan (NIPPP) which serves as a time bound guide for preparedness and response plan for influenza pandemic. It provides a policy and strategic framework for a multisectoral response and contains specific advice and actions to be undertaken by the Ministry of Health at the different levels, other governmental departments and agencies and non-governmental organizations to ensure that resources are mobilized and used most efficiently before, during and after a pandemic episode. * Timeline of influenza * List of epidemics – Health – EU portal WHO European Region pandemic influenza website – European Commission – Public Health The Great Pandemic: The United States in 1918 Pandemic Viruses at the Influenza Research Database ''A Cruel Wind: Pandemic Flu in America, 1918–1920'' by Dorothy A. Pettit, PhD and Janice Bailie, PhD (Timberlane Books, 2009)
The cerebral cortex of the brain can be further classified into different brain regions. German anatomist Korbinian Brodmann defined and numbered 52 different regions of the cerebral cortex based on the cytoarchitectural organization of its neurons. These 52 areas are known as Brodmann areas of brain. In 1861, a French neurosurgeon Paul Broca identified for the first time, the existence of a â€œlanguage centreâ€ in the posterior portion of the frontal lobe of left hemisphere. Now this area is known as Brocaâ€™s area. This was in fact the first area of the brain to be associated with a specific functionâ€”in this case, language. Ten years later, a German neurologist Carl Wernicke, discovered another part of the brain in the posterior portion of the left temporal lobe. This one known as Wernicke's area involved in understanding language. People who had a lesion at this location could speak, but their speech was often incoherent and made no sense. Neuroscientists now agree in the left hemisphere of the brain, there is a sort of neural loop that is involved both in understanding and in producing spoken language. At the frontal end of this loop lies Broca's area, which is usually associated with the production of language, or language outputs. At the other end (more specifically, in the superior posterior temporal lobe), lies Wernicke's area, which is associated with the processing of words that we hear being spoken, or language inputs. Broca's area and Wernicke's area are connected by a large bundle of nerve fibers called the arcuate fasciculus. Brodmann area 44 â€œPars opercularisâ€ and area 45 â€œpars triangularisâ€ are parts of Broca's area. Brodmann area 22 â€œSuperior temporal gyrusâ€ is usually considered to contain the Wernicke's area. Brodmann area 39 â€œAngular gyrusâ€ and area 40 â€œSupramarginal gyrusâ€ are considered by some to be part of Wernicke's area. Fig 1: Lateral surface of the brain with Brodmann's areas numbered Fig 2: Medial surface of the brain with Brodmann's areas numbered Fig 3: The Broca's and Wernicke's area of Brain.
The occurence of hail and hail damage in South Africa The occurrence of hail is very much sporadic. For this reason, it is quite difficult in the longer term to predict the possibility of hail at a specific point in time or for a specific area. In the short term, radar and satellite technology can determine the development and movement of hail storms reasonably well, but the predictability is limited to very short periods like minutes up to perhaps an hour or two if it is a very strong developing storm. These short-term predictions may be of value to move, store or safeguard vehicles, animals and other assets, but it is of little value for planting. The question is, however what can a grain, fruit or vegetable farmer do to limit hail damage or to better manage the effect of hail damage. One of the most important aspects to consider is to determine to risk of hail damage. In other words, how often they occur, the time of the year they happen, as well as the average but specifically maximum intensity of hail and hail damage. It is therefore also very crop specific and the effect of hail on various growth stages of different crops often differs significantly. How is hail formed? Hail occurs when air rises fast and moisture occurs in the atmosphere beyond freezing levels. This process takes place during strong thunder storm activities or if wind and moisture move up against mountains or mountain ranges. During this process water drops freeze to form hail stones. The hail stones may become bigger when more water drops accumulate around the stone. At some point in time the hail stone becomes too heavy and falls to the earth. Hail risk areas The first aspect to consider is to determine where the high-risk hail areas are located in South Africa. Given the discussion around the formation of hail the high-lying areas of the summer rainfall region have the highest occurence of hail as there are many thunder storms due to high energy summer rainfall, which is strengthened by the height above sea level and the mountain ranges. It includes areas that are adjacent to the Drakensberg mountains and other smaller mountain ranges. The eastern Free State, central and western parts of KwaZulu-Natal, the northern parts of the Eastern Cape, as well as parts of Mpumalanga therefore have the highest occurence of hail. Statistics show that there are on average six to eight hail days a year in parts of Lesotho, the eastern Free State, surrounding parts of KwaZulu-Natal, as well as parts of Mpumalanga. The occurence decreases closer to the coastal regions, as well as to the west. Hail storms as a result of the strong upwards movement of air can also occur on relatively flat areas depending on the strength of systems. The mountain ranges in the southern parts of the country do not cause the same frequency of hail as these ranges are more subject to frontal rainfall and the rising is not as strong. However, there is a misconception that hail does not occur in these regions. Although the frequency of hail is much less some summer rainfall systems move very far south and cause intense hail storms and damage. For example, heavy hail storms with hail stones the size of golf balls in places in Ceres (22 October 1958), Robertson (6 December 1964), in the Swartland and on the West Coast on 3 April 1968 are noted in the archives. In the Southern and Eastern Cape mention is made of large hail storms in the Langkloof and surrounding areas (14 January 1949; 7 December 1964; 14 October 1985 and 12 November 1987). Even though the occurence of hail in the Western Cape is less than one day a year, the intensity of hail storms are still high when they do occur. From a decision-making point of view a grain, vegetable or fruit producer can therefore do very little to limit hail damage as the growth season determines when crops are exposed to the elements and risks like hail. However, it is important to be aware of the risk and to plan and make decisions accordingly. The question is whether the producer can carry the frequency of hail damage as well as the intensity of damages on his own or whether risk transfer should take place, as in the case of crop insurance. Can the producer recover and continue his operations if damages occur? This decision is dependent on the exposure to risk and financial position of the producer. For example, the risk of a producer who produces mainly one type of crop is concentrated and he would probably take out insurance whilst another producer who produces more crops that are in the fields at different times of the year would decide not to take out insurance because his risk is spread throughout the year. If a producer can subsidise a large loss from other sources he would probably decide not to take out insurance. The most important decision a producer must take is to determine the risk (it can be any risk) and whether they can carry and manage the risk themselves. Santam offers insurance right and proper, and peace of mind to the farmer when it comes to insuring their assets. Make use of Santam’s expertise today and contact your broker or visit Santam’s website at www.santam.co.za to find out more about the available cover and options for the unique insurance requirements of agriculture partners.
Will Your Future Furniture Be Made Of Lab-Grown Wood? MIT Research Says Tech Could Solve Deforestation 3 Mins Read Why do we need to cut down trees when we can simply grow them? That’s the question that researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) asked. In a new paper, the scientists detail how they’ve developed plant-based materials like wood and fibres by cultivating it in their lab – and this could help lighten our environmental footprint on the planet. New research conducted by MIT scientists shows that we can grow structures out of plant cells in a lab. The study, published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, proposes that certain plant tissues like wood and fibre can be lab-grown – the same way that food techs are now cultivating meat directly from animal cells as a sustainable protein solution. “If you want a table, then you should just grow a table,” study co-author Luis Fernando Velásquez-García, principal scientist of the Microsystems Technology Laboratories at MIT, told campus paper MIT News Office. Together with lead author and PhD student in mechanical engineering Ashley Beckwith and Jeffrey Borenstein, a biomedical engineer at nonprofit institution Draper Laboratory, Velásquez-García believes that lab-grown technology presents a solution to the unsustainable depletion of Earth’s resources. I wanted to find a more efficient way to use land and resources so that we could let more arable areas remain wild, or to remain lower production but allow for greater biodiversity.Ashley Beckwith After extracting cells from zinnia leaves, the team grew wood-like cells in the lab, without soil or sunlight. First culturing the cells in growth medium, they then moved the cells into a gel and encouraged them to grow into a wood-like structure using auxin and cytokinin, two types of plant hormones. The scientists can even tweak or “tune” the levels of hormones, which controls the amount of lignin the cells produce, to determine how firm the final product will be. “You can visually evaluate which cells are becoming lignified, and you can measure enlargement and elongation of cells,” explained Beckwith. While the technology is still in its early stages and far from being market ready, the paper starts the conversation on novel ways to produce biomaterials, which could have a big impact on disrupting forestry and agriculture. “The way we get these materials hasn’t changed in centuries and is very inefficient. This is a real chance to bypass all that inefficiency,” said Velásquez-García. There’s an opportunity here to take advances in microfabrication and additive manufacturing technologies, and apply them to solve some really significant problems in the agriculture arena.Jeffrey Borenstein “I wanted to find a more efficient way to use land and resources so that we could let more arable areas remain wild, or to remain lower production but allow for greater biodiversity,” added Beckwith. Describing the innovation as “unchartered territory”, the researchers recognise that there still remains many technological and scientific hurdles before lab-grown plant materials can be a reality. Among some of the key obstacles they anticipate include whether this can be applied to different plant species, and how to scale-up production – a similar obstacle that cell-based alternative protein startups face. Nonetheless, co-author Borenstein believes that this is only the beginning. “There’s an opportunity here to take advances in microfabrication and additive manufacturing technologies, and apply them to solve some really significant problems in the agriculture arena.” Lead image courtesy of Unsplash.
Defense against microbes is mediated by the early reactions of innate immunity and the later responses of adaptive immunity. (Figure 1, 2; Table 1) Innate immunity (also called natural or native immunity) provides the early line of defense against microbes. It consists of cellular and biochemical defense mechanisms that are in place even before infection and are poised to respond rapidly to infections. The mechanisms of innate immunity are specific for structures that are common to groups of related microbes and may not distinguish fine differences between microbes. The principal components of innate immunity are: (1) Physical and chemical barriers, such as epithelia and antimicrobial chemicals produced at epithelial surfaces; (2) Phagocytic cells (neutrophils, macrophages), dendritic cells, and natural killer (NK) cells and other innate lymphoid cells; (3) Blood proteins, including members of the complement system and other mediators of inflammation. Adaptive immunity (also called specific or acquired immunity) system recognizes and reacts to a large number of microbial and nonmicrobial substances. The defining characteristics of adaptive immunity are the ability to distinguish different substances, called specificity, and the ability to respond more vigorously to repeated exposures to the same microbe, known as memory. The unique components of adaptive immunity are cells called lymphocytes and their secreted products, such as antibodies. Foreign substances that induce specific immune responses or are recognized by lymphocytes or antibodies are called antigens. Figure 1. Just as resistance to disease can be innate (inborn) or acquired, the mechanisms mediating it can be correspondingly divided into innate (left) and adaptive (right), each composed of both cellular (lower half) and humoral elements (i.e. free in serum or body fluids; upper half). Adaptive mechanisms, more recently evolved, perform many of their functions by interacting with the older innate ones. Innate immunity is activated when cells use specialized sets of receptors (Pattern recognition receptor, PRR) to recognize different types of microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, etc.) that have managed to penetrate the host. Binding to these receptors activates a limited number of basic microbial disposal mechanisms, such as phagocytosis of bacteria by macrophages and neutrophils, or the release of antiviral interferons. Many of the mechanisms involved in innate immunity are largely the same as those responsible for non-specifically reacting to tissue damage, with the production of inflammation (cover up the right-hand part of Figure 1 to appreciate this). However, as the nature of the innate immune response depends on the type of infection, the term ‘nonspecific’, although often used as a synonym for ‘innate’, is not completely accurate. Adaptive immunity is based on the special properties of lymphocytes (T and B, lower right), which can respond selectively to thousands of different non-self-materials, or ‘antigens’, leading to specific memory and a permanently altered pattern of response - an adaptation to the animal’s own surroundings. Adaptive mechanisms can function on their own against certain antigens (cover up the left-hand part of Figure 1), but the majority of their effects are exerted by means of the interaction of antibody with complement and the phagocytic cells of innate immunity, and of T cells with macrophages (broken lines). Through their activation of these innate mechanisms, adaptive responses frequently provoke inflammation, either acute or chronic; when it becomes a nuisance this is called hypersensitivity. Figure 2. Innate and adaptive immunity time line. The mechanisms of innate immunity provide the initial defense against infections. Adaptive immune responses develop later and require the activation of lymphocytes. The kinetics of the innate and adaptive immune responses are approximations and may vary in different infections. Innate and adaptive immune responses are components of an integrated system of host defense in which numerous cells and molecules function cooperatively. The mechanisms of innate immunity provide effective initial defense against infections. However, many pathogenic microbes have evolved to resist innate immunity, and their elimination requires the more powerful mechanisms of adaptive immunity. There are numerous connections between the innate and adaptive immune systems. The innate immune response to microbes stimulates adaptive immune responses and influences the nature of the adaptive responses. Conversely, adaptive immune responses often work by enhancing the protective mechanisms of innate immunity, making them more capable of effectively combating pathogenic microbes. Table 1. Features of Innate and Adaptive Immunity \|Specificity\|\|For molecules shared by groups of related microbes and molecules produced by damaged host cells\|\|For microbial and nonmicrobial antigens\| \|Diversity\|\|Limited; germline encoded\|\|Very large; receptors are produced by somatic recombination of gene segments\| \|Nonreactivity to self\|\|Yes\|\|Yes\| \|Cellular and chemical barriers\|\|Skin, mucosal epithelia; antimicrobial molecules\|\|Lymphocytes in epithelia; antibodies secreted at epithelial surfaces\| \|Blood proteins\|\|Complement, others\|\|Antibodies\| \|Cells\|\|Phagocytes (macrophages, neutrophils), natural killer cells, innate lymphoid cells\|\|Lymphocytes\| Interferons: A family of proteins produced rapidly by many cells in response to virus infection, which block the replication of virus in the infected cell and its neighbors. Interferons also have an important role in communication between immune cells. Defensins: Antimicrobial peptides, particularly important in the early protection of the lungs and digestive tract against bacteria. Lysozyme (muramidase): An enzyme secreted by macrophages that attacks the cell wall of some bacteria. Complement: A group of proteins present in serum which when activated produce widespread inflammatory effects, as well as lysis of bacteria, etc. Some bacteria activate complement directly, while others only do so with the help of antibody. Lysis: Irreversible leakage of cell contents following membrane damage. In the case of a bacterium this would be fatal to the microbe. Mast cell: A large tissue cell that releases inflammatory mediators when damaged, and also under the influence of antibody. By increasing vascular permeability, inflammation allows complement and cells to enter the tissues from the blood. PMN: Polymorphonuclear leucocyte (80% of white cells in human blood), a short-lived ‘scavenger’ blood cell whose granules contain powerful bactericidal enzymes. The name derives from the peculiar shapes of the nuclei. MAC: Macrophage, a large tissue cell responsible for removing damaged tissue, cells, bacteria, etc. Both PMNs and macrophages come from the bone marrow, and are therefore classed as myeloid cells. DC: Dendritic cells present antigen to T cells, and thus initiate all T-cell-dependent immune responses. Not to be confused with follicular dendritic cells, which store antigen for B cells. Phagocytosis (‘cell eating’): Engulfment of a particle by a cell. Macrophages and PMNs (which used to be called ‘microphages’) are the most important phagocytic cells. The great majority of foreign materials entering the tissues are ultimately disposed of by this mechanism. Cytotoxicity: Macrophages can kill some targets (perhaps including tumor cells) without phagocytosing them, and there are a variety of other cells with cytotoxic abilities. NK (natural killer) cell: A lymphocyte-like cell capable of killing some targets, notably virus-infected cells and tumor cells, but without the receptor or the fine specificity characteristic of true lymphocytes. Antigen: Strictly speaking, a substance that stimulates the production of antibody. However, the term is applied to substances that stimulate any type of adaptive immune response. Typically, antigens are foreign (‘non-self’) and either particulate (e.g. cells, bacteria) or large protein or polysaccharide molecules. Under special conditions small molecules and even ‘self’ components can become antigenic. Specific, Specificity: Terms used to denote the production of an immune response more or less selective for the stimulus, such as a lymphocyte that responds to, or an antibody that ‘fits’ a particular antigen. For example, antibody against measles virus will not bind to mumps virus: it is ‘specific’ for measles. Lymphocyte: A small cell found in blood, from which it recirculates through the tissues and back via the lymph, ‘policing’ the body for non-self-material. Its ability to recognize individual antigens through its specialized surface receptors and to divide into numerous cells of identical specificity and long lifespan makes it the ideal cell for adaptive responses. Two major populations of lymphocytes are recognized: T and B. B lymphocytes: Secrete antibody, the humoral element of adaptive immunity. Antibody: Is a major fraction of serum proteins, often called immunoglobulin. It is made up of a collection of very similar proteins each able to bind specifically to different antigens, and resulting in a very large repertoire of antigen-binding molecules. Antibodies can bind to and neutralize bacterial toxins and some viruses directly but they also act by opsonization and by activating complement on the surface of invading pathogens. T (‘thymus-derived’) lymphocytes: Are further divided into subpopulations that ‘help’ B lymphocytes, kill virus-infected cells, activate macrophages and drive inflammation. Opsonization: A phenomenon whereby antibodies bind to the surface of bacteria, viruses or other parasites, and increase their adherence and phagocytosis. Antibody also activates complement on the surface of invading pathogens. Adaptive immunity thus harnesses innate immunity to destroy many microorganisms. Complement: As mentioned above, complement is often activated by antibody bound to microbial surfaces. However, binding of complement to antigen can also greatly increase its ability to activate a strong and lasting B-cell response – an example of ‘reverse interaction’ between adaptive and innate immune mechanisms. Presentation of antigens to T and B cells by dendritic cells is necessary for most adaptive responses; presentation by dendritic cells usually requires activation of these cells by contact with microbial components (e.g. bacterial cell walls), another example of ‘reverse interaction’ between adaptive and innate immune mechanisms. Help by T cells is required for many branches of both adaptive and innate immunity. T-cell help is required for the secretion of most antibodies by B cells, for activating macrophages to kill intracellular pathogens and for an effective cytotoxic T-cell response.
As for ES, there were seeds of 14 species under roosts – seeds bats had clearly moved away from parent plants, suggesting potential for urban seed dispersal. But hey – it’s only seed dispersal if the seeds remain viable. And they do, as evidenced by high germination success. Of course, that was in vitro – recruitment depends on the fate of seeds in the field. And several seeds were in spots where they’ll never become trees either because the substrate is hostile to germination or because people will remove them. To call it an ES, we must also ask which plants bats disperse. And some are invasive, such as spiked pepper (Piper aduncus). And some, such as Fagraea crenulata, only occur in horticulture, so CYBR could help them escape cultivation. Those would be ecosystem disservices. Still, its most important food plants are native. Like the Tembusu (F. fragrans)– a heritage tree that CYBR ate most often. So, it may help maintain populations of native trees. Finally, we must ask where CYBR eats. And we can’t really say because we didn’t track them – this would be a good next step in this line of inquiry. Still, finding DNA from an unidentified species of Avicennia, a mangrove tree, 6 km from the nearest mangrove suggests CYBR must at least sometimes forage far enough away from its roosts to disperse native plants over long distances. Besides, it eats fruit from pioneer trees, such as tiup tiup (Adinandra dumosa), and drops seeds in more degraded, urbanised patches. In doing that, CYBR might promote forest succession. And if it eats rare, native trees in Nature Reserves and disperses them outside, then it could help establish urban populations to buffer from extinction. This thesis (submitted with Drs Elizabeth Clare and Sheema Abdul Aziz) is now in revision, so watch this space. Angela is a biology teacher and award-winning wildlife photographer.
Our junior grade curriculum focuses on developing students’ fluency, interest and habit in learning and using the language. In G7 and G8, students learn English in a holistic approach. We teach all skills in the form of novel study. For G9, we will prepare students for and help them better transit to senior grade curriculum by adopting different theme-based texts and tasks. - To be able to read and understand a wide variety of literature, appropriate for this grade level, using a range of strategies to construct meaning. - To recognise varieties of text forms and text features, and demonstrate understanding of how they construct meaning. - To read and understand a wide variety of vocabularies appropriate for this grade level. - To reflect on their strengths as readers and their areas for development. - To generate, gather and organise ideas and information for an intended purpose and audience. - To be able to draft and revise their writing, using a variety of strategies to adapt and edit for a purpose and audience. - To use proofreading, editing and publishing skills to correct and refine their work effectively. - To reflect on their strengths and areas for development in their writing skills. - To be able to listen to various situations with varying levels of difficulty. - To be able to listen for specific information, understand the gist of a conversation and identify key vocabularies. - To learn how to take notes and use the alongside written information to prepare longer writing tasks. - To listen to and respond appropriately in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes. - To be able to use speaking skills and strategies to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes. - To reflect on their strengths as listeners and speakers, areas for improvement, and the strategies that they found most helpful in oral communication. An alphabet poem written for novel study by a junior grade student. Senior Grades (For HKDSE Candidates) The English Language curriculum at the senior secondary level specifically aims to enable students to: - broaden and deepen the language competencies they have developed through basic education, so that they are able to use English with increasing proficiency for personal and intellectual development, effective social interaction, further studies, vocational training, work and pleasure; - further develop their interest and confidence in using English as their understanding and mastery of the language grow; - further broaden their knowledge, understanding and experience of various cultures in which English is used; - develop and prepare themselves for further studies, vocational training or work; and; - further develop learning how to learn skills and positive values and attitudes conducive to meeting the needs of our rapidly changing knowledge-based society, including the interpretation, use and production of texts for pleasure, study and work in the English medium. The NSS English Language Curriculum is made up of the compulsory part and the elective part. It provides a flexible framework that broadens students’ learning experience and caters for their diverse needs, interests and abilities. Both the compulsory and elective parts include the learning of English Language in the Interpersonal, Knowledge and Experience Strands. They also comprise the same learning objectives, which embody the essential content of learning for English Language at the senior secondary level. In the compulsory part, teachers will apply the organising structure of modules and tasks to facilitate the learning and teaching of the four language skills, grammar, communicative functions, vocabulary and text-types. This part comprises a range of modules which are categorised into Language Arts and Non-Language Arts. Students are required to take three of the following modules with at least one from each group: - Learning English through Pop Culture - Learning English through Social Issues - Learning English through Workplace Communication Senior Grades (For GCEAL Candidates) This course is specially designed to prepare the GCE-takers at our school for IELTS (International English Language Testing System). Recognised globally by the majority of universities, particularly in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, IELTS is used by a number of professional and government institutions worldwide. The course aims to develop students’ language competency with a focus on techniques and skills for the IELTS Academic test. Students will be introduced to and thoroughly practise the language skills and test techniques for all aspects of the test. The curriculum covers the four test sections (Listening, Academic Reading, Academic Writing and Speaking) in depth. It provides extensive reviews of listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. Students will learn test-taking strategies through regular practice and receive individual feedback on their progress. To cater for students with different needs, different sets of materials will be developed. The course materials will help students familiarise themselves with the format and requirements of the test and develop the necessary skills. - Understanding question types and the type of answers required - Identifying key words and synonyms - Predicting the listening topic and content - Summarising factual information - Strengthening vocabulary needed for different contexts - Analysing and describing graphs, tables, charts and diagrams - Expressing opinions; making an argument for or against a particular topic - Presenting ideas using academic-style language and paragraph structure - Enhancing vocabulary and grammar needed for the above - Understanding question types and the type of answers required - Skimming, scanning and reading for detail - Identifying answers quickly - Paraphrasing and summarising - Distinguishing main ideas from supporting ones - Building confidence in speaking ability - Communicating information on everyday topics and common experiences - Giving opinions with justifications - Analysing and summarising ideas - Improving pronunciation, fluency and coherence - Reducing speaking errors - Developing lexical resources Throughout the course, students will learn how to read successfully and to write high-quality essays. Students will continue to have further practice of listening, reading, writing and speaking skills, with more focus on vocabulary and grammar input. They will also do practice tests of the four papers, learning how to maximise their scores utilising these skills. The skills covered, however, are not restricted to test-taking strategies but also reflect the broader range of language that students will encounter in an English-speaking environment.
Bombous impatiens - Bumble Bees TARGET ROLE: Natural pollination using bumblebees is an effective way of increasing profits and reduce labor costs. Bumblebees can increase crop production through more efficient pollination. Many crops are well suited to natural pollination with bumblebees, including; cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, vegetables, seed crops, strawberries, blueberries, cane berries, melons & squash. Nectar produced by the flowering plants in the greenhouse is not always sufficient for the optimal development of a bumble bee population. For this reason, sugar water is supplied. Depending on the circumstances, the hive may be supplied with additional insulation. DESCRIPTION: Bumble bees are easily recognized, being large (3/4 inch long) with black and yellow or orangish hair patterns on their abdomens. Queens and workers have pollen baskets on their hind legs. Bumble bees can be distinguished from carpenter bees because of the presence of orangish or yellow hair patterns on the upper surface of the abdomen on the honey bee. Some members of bumble bees (Subfamily Bombinae) in the genus, Psithyrus, are parasites of bumble bees, feeding on larvae. LIFE CYCLE: New queens emerge during the late summer or early autumn. After mating and feeding to store fat reserves on their bodies for the winter, they will then hibernate. During early spring the following year, the new queens emerge to establish new colonies of their own. However, towards the end of summer or early autumn, again, new queens emerge from the colony she has founded. The rest of the colony, however, including the workers and the original queen, will not survive. All in all then, providing a queen is successful and is not killed by disease, pesticide or predators, she may live for about a year – part of this time being spent in hibernation. Accounts of how long bumblebees live, do vary between species and studies. For example, Bombus terricola workers were observed to be 13.2 days on average – around 2 weeks. But in other studies, workers were observed to live for up to 41.3 days – about 6 weeks. It is believed that workers engaged in nest duties live longer than bumblebee workers whose main duty is foraging. These bumblebees are of course more prone to predator attack, and are also exposed to varying weather conditions. It is not unusual to find a bedraggled looking bumblebee needing to rest and revive itself after having been caught in a shower. RELEASE INSTRUCTIONS: Bee hives can be introduced when the first flowers open. In winter, a minimum of 2 hives per acre is used at the start of a round tomato crop. Follow up by two weekly introductions of approximately one hive per acre. When a crop starts in summer, more hives are needed at the start, minimum 4-5 per acre. It is recommended to place some extra hives in spring when the outdoor vegetation starts to flower, since this flowering makes a proportion of the workers leave the greenhouse Place the hives (preferably) evenly distributed along the south-side of the main path in the greenhouse in order to have the maximum shade from the crop in summer. The best position is on a horizontal platform (avoid inclination, or else sugar solution may leak). Before opening the flight hole, allow the colonies to calm down a minimum half hour after placing on final position. Whenever possible, open flight hole when vents are closed to prevent loss of workers. Best at ambient temperatures of 10-30°C/50-86°F. It may be necessary to provide extra shade (e.g. with styrofoam). The sugar solution that is provided with the hive is generally sufficient for the entire life of the colony. Secure the hive so that ants cannot enter it, (i.e. with a barrier of grease or insect glue). Also avoid contact between plants and hive, since this can also be a way for ants to reach the hive. If pollination is required during a longer period, regularly place new hives in the greenhouse. STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS: Close CO2 lines in case they are close to the bumblebee hives. Let the colonies calm down for at least one hour after placement before opening the flight hole. Close and remove the colonies prior to the application of pesticides (if advised so by our consultant). Feed additional pollen in case flowers do not produce sufficient pollen. Adapt introduction schedule prior to heavy blossoming outside the greenhouse in spring. Watch out for continuous high humidities as a result of poor ventilation.
Have you ever wondered – how do computers work? Even if you use it all the time, there is a possibility that you are not aware how it actually works. After all, most computers are created to be very user-friendly. That means you can use it even if you have no idea what goes on behind the scenes. The truth is all the details about how computers work can be very confusing. Not everyone will understand it. But if you try to get to know the basics, it should help you gain insight on how it really works. By doing so, you will gain a better appreciation of your computer. In effect, you will learn how to use it properly. Parts of a computer To understand and answer the question “how do computers work?” you need to know the different parts of the computer first. There are two main categories that make up a modern computer: hardware and software. This is the physical part of the computer that includes the monitor, keyboard, mouse, speaker, and printer. At least, these are the main parts. These have other parts like the motherboard, processing chips, CPU (central processing unit), etc. What the hardware does is to process any command that comes from the software. It is also the one performing the calculations and tasks. This involves the programmes installed on the computer. These will prompt the hardware to perform computing tasks. There are so many types of software programmes. You have the operating system software (e.g. Windows or Apple iOS). There are also several application software programmes like tools, office systems, games, etc. These two make up the computer. But how do computers work? You need to provide input. You will be the one to type the command, click on a link, or choose an icon. That is how the software will know what command to give the hardware. Let us explore that a bit further. How they all work together If you want to use a computer, what do you do first? You provide your input by pressing the power button. This will tell the software that you want to open the computer. It will send the command to the hardware so it will start specific programmes for you. Once completed, that is called booting up. Once the computer is open, you will see the different programmes. If you want to send an email, you will use the mouse to click on the icon. The software programme will open this part of your computer and the hardware will display it on the screen. You are then free to type the email address, message, etc. When you press send, that would prompt the software to send the message out. The software will also prompt other parts of the hardware like the modem, etc. As you can see, answering the question “how do computers work” is very simple. You just have to understand that parts and how they all work together. The process is always the same. You will give the input so the software programmes will know what command to give the hardware. It creates a cycle of cause and effect as all three work together to help you find the results that you are looking for.
If life does exist anywhere else in the universe, it may only be fleeting. Now scientists are researching how signs of life might look on dying planets. Astronomers have discovered hundreds of distant alien planets in the past two decades. Future missions could detect potential signs of life called biosignatures on those worlds, such as oxygen or methane in their atmospheres. Astrobiologist Jack O'Malley-James at the University of St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland and his colleagues noted that biosignatures of life on Earth have not remained the same over time, but have altered considerably over its history. This led the researchers to speculate about how Earth and other planets might look in the future. "Astrobiology as a field seems to put a lot more focus on the origins of life and how to find life beyond Earth, but less emphasis is put on the end of life, which is what got me interested in finding out more about how biospheres on other planets might meet their ends, and by extension, how long we could expect to detect life on a habitable planet over the course of its habitable lifetime," said O'Malley-James, the lead author of the study. The scientists were testing a computer model of the climates and biospheres — the overall life — of possible exoplanets. "That was when the idea came about to run this model forward in time to see when all water and all life would disappear from the planet," O'Malley-James said. The Sun is a middle-aged star, currently about 4.6 billion years old. In the later stages of its evolution, about 2 billion to 3 billion years from now, the Sun will grow much hotter, leading to much higher surface temperatures on the future Earth and thus far harsher environments for any last life to grow and survive on the planet. The research team modeled the biosignature gases Earth's biosphere would generate up to 2.8 billion years from the present. "The most exciting thing about these results is that they suggest that we could potentially detect the presence of life on a planet even at the very end of its habitable lifetime, when the diversity of life and population sizes are considerably reduced compared to what we see on Earth today," O'Malley-James told Astrobiology Magazine. The death of Earth's biosphere as it exists today would start with plants dying off. Rising temperatures cause silicon-loaded rocks known as silicates to wear away, increasing their absorption of carbon dioxide. The resulting drop in atmospheric carbon dioxide, which plants need in order to generate energy from sunlight, would eventually bring an end to the age of plants. The extinction of plants would both curtail atmospheric oxygen levels and remove the primary source of food from most ecosystems, leading to the simultaneous extinction of animals, from large vertebrates to smaller ones, with invertebrates having the longest stay of execution. All in all, the researchers calculated Earth's surface would become largely uninhabitable between 1.2 billion and 1.85 billion years from the present. Still, life is hardy, so microbes could last for much longer than more complex organisms on a dying Earth. After the extinction of plants and animals, the scientists reasoned the planet's future biosphere will be much like its early biosphere in consisting mainly of single-celled microbes. Without plants to help generate oxygen, atmospheric oxygen would eventually reach negligible levels, triggering a relatively quick shift — within a few million years — toward microbes that can survive without oxygen. The final survivors of Earth could persist either in caves, deep underground, or in relatively cool refuges at high altitudes until roughly 2.8 billion years from now, when the Sun will probably make the planet too hot for astronomers to detect any life from a distance. The scientists calculated the extinction of higher plants would lower atmospheric oxygen and ozone levels to concentrations undetectable by astronomers by about 1.11 billion years from now. Still, this drop in oxygen could mean levels of the volatile compound isoprene could build up in the air, potentially serving as a biosignature until plants go extinct. Isoprene is a biological substance that normally has a very short lifetime in the atmosphere, since it quickly reacts with oxygen. The death of plants and animals would also generate large amounts of decaying matter that would release compounds such as methanethiol into the atmosphere. This gas is only known to come from biological sources — although sunlight rapidly breaks this gas down, the resulting gas, ethane, could serve as a potential biosignature until all plants and animals go extinct. Methane could also be a biomarker when all other biomarker gases become undetectable in a dying planet's atmosphere. In fact, far-future levels of methane in Earth's atmosphere could be 10 times higher than the present — methane-producing bacteria get more of the carbon dioxide they need as fuel because plants are no longer there to remove the carbon dioxide. Still, the researchers caution life is not the only source of methane — volcanoes and chemical reactions involving volcanic rocks can generate the gas as well. The scientists also conjecture that clouds might serve as homes to potential biosignatures on a dying planet. Once the planet's surface becomes too hot to live, microbes could find refuge in the clouds — microorganisms are known to exist in Earth's atmosphere today, although it remains uncertain whether they are just passing through before falling back down or whether they actively live in the sky. Airborne microorganisms could help generate unexpectedly large cloud droplets in the atmospheres of arid planets, the researchers say. In addition, vegetation could serve as a detectable biosignature until higher plants go extinct — leaves cause a red edge to appear in the spectrum of light reflected off Earth. One major confounding factor into how a dying alien planet might look could be the influence of extraterrestrial intelligence. "Intelligent life is difficult to factor in when making these kind of predictions," O'Malley-James said. "It's certainly possible that intelligent life could play a role in mitigating these changes to the far-future environment, perhaps by some form of geoengineering [artificial changes to the land, sea or air], or even moving the planet out to orbit in a cooler position. Predicting what that would do to a planet's biosignatures would be quite a challenge, but it may simply make the planet's biosphere appear younger than we would expect given the age of the planet." All in all, when astronomers start finding habitable-zone planets circling older stars, "it will be useful to know if we could expect to see any signs of life and, if we can, what signatures that life might leave for us to detect, because the biosphere on a dying planet would be very different to the life we are familiar with on Earth today," O'Malley-James said. The next step with this avenue of research is to start applying it to real examples astronomers have discovered of older, habitable-zone planets around Sun-like stars, O'Malley-James said. "There are not very many of these yet, so this may involve some modeling of theoretical planets around chosen nearby examples of older stars," he noted. "It's likely that these worlds would not be nice exact copies of Earth, so this may impact the timeline of events that lead up to the end of life on that particular planet." O'Malley-James is also investigating whether Mars could serve as a template for an alien planet that has reached the end of its habitable lifetime — "in this case, by becoming cold and dry," he said. The researchers would adapt their existing computer model "to simulate Mars and populate all the potentially habitable regions on the planet with microbes that could live there, with the aim of adding to the suite of possible biosignatures for dying biospheres." O'Malley-James and his colleagues detailed their findings in the International Journal of Astrobiology. Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments. - How 'Starshades' Could Aid Search for Alien Life - The Brightest Planets in September’s Night Sky: How to See Them (and When) - Yearlong Mock Mars Mission Will Test Mental Toll of Isolation - LEGO to Launch: Astronaut from Denmark Taking Danish Toys to Space Station This article originally published at Space.com here
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a talking therapy used to help individuals overcome emotional and physical health problems in children, adolescents and adults. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) focuses on recognising how thoughts and feelings can influence behaviour. Our physiological state is also linked to our emotions and our thoughts. Within therapy Individuals learn how to identify and change destructive or disturbing thought patterns that have a negative influence on their behaviour enabling them to feel more satisfied with their lives. This may involve working together to find past and present successes and using these to address the challenges currently being faced. When working with children, we use a combination of CBT and play therapy. Play therapy enables children to express their emotional experiences through play. Therapy is a place to identify and build on current strengths, learn problem-solving strategies, develop or enhance coping skills, learn more effective ways to communicate with others and receive support and feedback. During our first session (intake session), we will gather information about history, current strengths, struggles/areas of concern and goals for treatment. Feedback regarding recommendations for CBT will be provided, and the goals for therapy will be decided upon together. CAN CBT HELP? CBT is evidence-based in treating depression and anxiety disorders and recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). NICE recommends CBT in the treatment of the following conditions: You can access NICE guidelines here: https://www.nice.org.uk
The research base on cooperative learning was examined for its applicability to academically talented students. Common types of cooperative learning are described with highlights of the model characteristics as they apply to academically talented students. The models include: Teams-Games-Tournament (TGT); Student Teams Achievement Divisions (STAD); Team Accelerated Instruction (TAI); Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC); Circles of Learning or Learning Together; Cooperative Controversy; Jigsaw and Jigsaw II; Group Investigation; Co-op Co-op and Cooperative Structures; Groups of Four; and Descubrimiento or Finding Out. Advantages and disadvantages of the various models for academically talented students were summarized. The weaknesses in the cooperative learning literature, as it relates to academically talented students, were also identified. Weaknesses fall into two broad categories which include: (1) lack of attention to academically talented students and (2) reliance on weak treatment comparisons to demonstrate the effectiveness of cooperative learning. In addition to an examination of the research base, two issues in practice were identified as important for academically talented students. These issues were: (1) curricular coverage and pacing and (2) group work and motivation. Finally, a series of recommendations for practice was included. Cooperative Learning and the Academically Talented Students - Cooperative learning in the heterogeneous classroom should not be substituted for specialized programs and services for academically talented students. - If a school is committed to cooperative learning, models which encourage access to materials beyond grade level are preferable for academically talented students. - If a school is committed to cooperative learning, models which permit flexible pacing are preferable for academically talented students. - If a school is committed to cooperative learning, student achievement disparities within the group should not be too severe. - Academically talented students should be provided with opportunities for autonomy and individual pursuits during the school day.
Hey guys! In this video I'm going to talk about center of mass which is a pretty straightforward concept in physics. The idea of center of mass is that when you have a bunch of objects in a system, you can simplify that system and represent it as a single objects. For example if you have thousands or even millions of planets and stars in the galaxy spread all over the place, you could treat the entire system with millions of things as one object. Let's check it out. As I said, sometimes it's useful to simplify a system of objects, a collection of objects, by replacing all of them with a single equivalent object. For example instead of having a bunch of things moving this way, I can simplify this and just say that there's a single object that goes that way. This single object will have mass m equals the summation of all the individual masses. Since you're combining, you add up all the masses and the system will be located at the system's center of mass. Here's a really simple example of that. Let's say I want to combine the system made up of two masses, 2 kilograms and 2 kilograms, into a single object. First of all, the total combined mass will be 4 kilograms. Where would it go? I hope you're thinking that if I wanted to simplify this into one thing, the center of this whole combination of things is actually right down the middle. I would have something like this where this gap here is 5 meters okay and this would be a 4-kilogram object. The reason it's down the middle is because this is a balanced system. The left and the right have exactly the same masses. But if for example I had something like a 2 here and a 10 here, the center of mass would be much closer to the 10. It'd be somewhere over here. That's the idea. The middle things only works if they are the same. You're not going to get that. You're going to need to use an equation. You're going to need to use the center of mass equation to figure out where the center of this combination of masses is. You're going to use the x position so where along the horizontal the center of mass is. ItÕs going to use this equation: sum of mx / sum of m. I will explain what that means. I'll give an example where you have let's say 3 objects. Sum of mx looks like this: m1x1 + m2x2 + m3x3. That's what it means to do the summation of mx. YouÕre gonna have m1x1 + m2x2 + m3x3. The sum of mÕs is just m1 + m2 + m3. This is in the case like this where both objects are the x-axis. We draw a line between them and the center of mass will be somewhere along that line. But if you have objects at a two-dimensional plane, something like this and notice that I'm intentionally drawing the balls different sizes. If you have a system made up of four objects, the center of mass will be somewhere in the middle of the system. In this case, the left side balances with the right so it's going to be somewhere down the middle. But the bottom is much heavier than the top, so you're not going to have the center of mass be along a line here. It's going to be further down somewhere here, a little bit closer. This is where the center of mass is. I hope you see how this is two dimensions because I have x and y. In that case we're going to use not only the Y equation but you're also going to use in addition to the Y equation, you're going to also use x and y and the equation is the same, sum of m instead of x, sum of my divided by sum of m. This looks like this: m1y1 + m2y2 + m3y3 / m1 + m2 + m3. x and y is the x and y position of these objects. Let's do two quick examples to see what this looks like in practice. I have the two masses placed along the x axis. Here's the x axis. One mass is mass A at zero meters, so let's say zero is over here. At zero meters I got A which is 10 kilograms. At 4 meters, I have B which is 20 kilograms. I want to know what is the center of mass. This is x axis only so I'm going to say that the center of mass is the X center of mass and the equation is this. It's m1x1 + m2x2. What I'm going to do is write the masses here, 10X + 20X / 10+20. All I got to do is plug in the numbers. What is the x position of the 10? The 10 is at 0, and the 20 is at 4. I put a 4 here and that's it. Very straightforward. This cancels. I have 80 / 30 and the x position of this thing is 2.67 meters. The middle between 0 & 4 is 2. You should have been expecting that the actual center of mass is somewhere to the right of the middle because the system is heavier on the right side and that's what it is. X center-of-mass, thatÕs what we got, 2.67. If you think about it a little bit, sometimes youÕd be able to sort of guess where the answer will be. I want to make a quick point and then we're going to jump into the next example. There are two terms that are similar. One is center of gravity and the other one is center of mass. In this video, we're only talking about center of mass. We're not talking about center of gravity and we're not really going to do problems with center of gravity. But I do want to clarify that there are two different terms and they mean different things. Without getting into what center of gravity is, I will just tell you that they actually are the same thing if the gravitational field is constant. This is a conceptual point that I want you to remember. If the gravitational field is constant, then center of mass and center of gravity are the same thing. We can use them interchangeably. What does it mean for the gravitational field to be constant? Let me draw something real quick. You don't have to draw. This is just conceptual. But let's say here's the Earth and you're here and your sister is here whatever. You're very close to each other and you form a system. The gravity where you are is let's say 9.8 and it points straight down. Your sister is right next to you so the gravity that she feels is also 9.8 and it's also straight down. If you guys are close enough together, the gravities will be almost identical. In fact, they'll be so close that we can consider them to be the same. Because the two objects feel the same gravity, the gravitational fields is the same for both. The center mass is the same as the center of gravity. That's the idea. If two people on earth are really far apart, they will feel different gravities because even if it's 9.8, one is being pulled this way, the other one is being pulled this way. ItÕs conceptual point for you to know. A lot of professors don't even get into this. If you didn't really hear the distinction between the two, don't even worry about it. It's not that big of a deal. The last point I wanna make here is that unless otherwise stated, we're just going to assume that this here is the case. We're going to assume that the gravitational field is constant. What does that mean? It means that these two things mean the same, are the same thing. If gravitational field is constant, these two words mean the same. We're going to assume it's constant. We're going to assume that these terms are the same thing and we can use them interchangeably. Again, not going to do problems with center of gravity but I do want to touch up on the conceptual point there. Let me quickly do example 2 and we'll be done with this concept. That's all we're doing. Three masses are placed on the XY plane. I'm going to draw a little XY plane like this, Y X. Mass A is placed at 0,0. 0,0 is right here. Remember guys, coordinate systems are x,y so this means x equals zero and y equals zero. This is object A which has a mass of 10. B is that (0,3) so this is x and y. X equals zero is on this line here and three going up will be somewhere here. This is zero in the x axis and three. Zero in the x axis means you haven't moved left or right, you're in the middle and then three in the y axis means you go up 3. B 8 kilograms. C is that (4,0). The x value is 4, I go 4 this way but I stay on the x axis, I don't go up or down. (4,0) looks like this and this is C which has a mass of 6 kilograms. Here's the diagram. I want to know what is the x and y coordinates of the center of mass of the system. You might be thinking that the center of mass of the system is somewhere here. You can actually think about this in terms of x and y. Let's try to look at this. In the y axis, I have this guy on the y axis and these two guys on the y axis. Notice how this one is 8 and these two here combine to be 16. The y axis is heavier towards the bottom. I'm going to predict that this thing will be somewhere like Ôround 1, not 3, not in the middle but closer to zero. On the x axis, you have these two here and this here. The center of mass will be somewhere in the middle. The left, I have 10 and 8, that's 18. To the right, I have 6 so this thing is much heavier towards the left. Instead of being in the middle between 0 and 4 which would be 2, I'm going to guess it's going to be to the left of 2. I'm going to guess that's going to be around 1. Again, I'm just doing rough estimates so that we can later see if it makes sense with what we expected. We're just going to plug it in and weÕre done. X center of mass is going to be the masses are 10, so IÕm gonna do this, 8 and 6 divided by 10+8+6. Then the Y center of mass is the same thing, 10, 8, and 6 divided by 10+8+6. The only difference is that here I'm going to add X values and then the other one I'm going to add Y values. What's the x value of the 10? Just look right here. It's 0. Of the 8 is 0 and of the 6 is 4. What about the Y value? The Y value of the A is 0, of B is 3 and of C is zero as well. When you do this, you get 64 = 24 / 24. ItÕs a coincidence that the numbers happen to divide so neatly, 1 meter. Then here, this cancels and this cancels. I get 83 = 24 as well. Again, a coincidence that this happens to be the same as that divided by 24, 1 meter. My rough estimate happened to be dead on. But usually you just know that it's roughly a number. It's (1,1). You can they say that the center of mass of the system is at position (1,1) meter. That's the final answer. That's it for center of mass. Let me know if you have any questions.
Here's some info on network components (OSI-model interpretation). - Layer 1 : amplified by hubs and repeaters (both being layer 1 devices) - A group of network nodes (interfaces) with similar caracteristics concerning network performance, i.c. all network nodes that compete for bandwith. - All devices on the same hub are in the same collision domain. Demarcated by layer 2 devices. - Layer 2 : amplified by bridges and switches (both being layer 2 devices) - A group of network nodes (interfaces) with similar caracteristics concerning network performance, i.c. network nodes that receive the same broadcasts. - Ethernet broadcast: within 1 domain. - ARP request can reach different networks over routers. - Layer 1: Signal amplifier with 2 ports (no buffer). - Layer 1: multi-port repeater (typical for UTP). - Layer 2: can read MAC-adresses (physical adresses): the bridge uses source and destination MAC adresses to build a table of nodes on its right- and leftside. - Broadcasts and packets with unidentified destination pass through. - Layer 2: a hubbed bridge: can buffer several frames. - Layer 3: demarcates the frontiers of a LAN (--> blocks (ethernet- and IP)broadcasts.) - Sends packets to the correct interface. Routers are protocol-specific (--> IP-networks require IP-router). Multi-Protocol Routers can manage them all. - Builds tables using network adresses. - Layer 4: binds networks with different protocols. Comments, questions,...? email@example.com or PM me...
How can I determine the endurance limit of steel and how does it get measured properly? Fatigue is defined as the damage that occurs in a material due to the repetitive application of loads that may be substantially below its yield point. Most engineering materials contain defects at a microstructure level. These defects serve as regions of stress concentrations, thus amplifying the applied stress and encouraging fatigue crack initiation and propagation. (Learn more in the article The Effects of Stress Concentration on Crack Propagation.) The value of the stress below which a material can endure an infinite number of repeated load application cycles without failure is known as the fatigue limit, or endurance limit. In other words, once the material is subjected to a stress value that is below the endurance limit, it should theoretically be able to withstand an indefinite number of repetitive cycles from that specific loading. Endurance or fatigue limit should not be confused with fatigue strength, which is the maximum stress a material can withstand for a given number of loading cycles. The endurance limit of steel can be measured in several ways. Specimens are usually tested using various types of fatigue testing machines depending on the mode of fatigue and kind of loading under consideration. Once the sample is loaded in the test device, it is subjected to a specific alternating stress and tested to failure. The load is gradually reduced until the sample is able to withstand a sufficiently large number of cycles (i.e., around 107 to 108) without breaking. This value of this load is termed the endurance limit. Some of the most common machines used to determine the endurance limit of steel components include: - Axial (direct-stress) testing machines – The test specimen is subjected to a uniform alternating axial stress or strain throughout its cross-section. - Bending fatigue machines – These are the most common type of fatigue machines. Bending fatigue machines can be classified as: - Cantilever beam machines – A tapered cantilevered specimen (one fixed and one free end) is subjected to a cyclic load at the free end, resulting in alternating tension and compression on the top and bottom faces of the sample. (Some ways to measure compression and other forces are examined in the article 6 Tests to Measure a Material's Strength.) - Rotating beam machines – A two-point load is applied to a simply supported rotating specimen. As the test sample rotates, the load acting on the specimen induces fluctuating bending stresses. The test is repeated with gradually reduced loading until a condition is reached where the specimen can resist high amounts of cyclic stresses. - Torsional fatigue testing machines – Torsional fatigue testing machines apply an alternating clockwise and counterclockwise rotational stress on the specimen. As with all endurance limit tests, the rotational stress is reduced until the sample remains intact after a sufficiently large number of load cycles.
Improve student test scores and involve parents in the process. - Content-based games - Research-based principles - Tested and proven in classrooms Fun, exciting, interactive, and inclusive „ these sets of content-based games help students master curriculum outlined in the current NCTM Standards for grades 1-8. Written by teachers using research-based principles, each game has been tested and proven effective in classrooms like yours. Each Class Pack set of games provides comprehensive coverage of topics required for math testing at that grade level. Engage students in learning with over 750 review cards, each set focused on a specific topic, and an additional 12 double-sided game boards for study and review. The Class Packs include materials for 36 students, an extensive teacher's guide, a presentation CD featuring interactive review questions for use on your computer or projection unit, and a free introductory online subscription to interactive content, activities, and assessments. Designed to stimulate parental involvement, the Take-Home edition mirrors the Class pack content through 25 individually packaged games, a parent resource guide, presentation CD, and online subscription. These kits are designed to help parents reinforce math concepts at home in fun, new ways. Each game features a set of 30 standards-based review questions, a double-sided game board, and materials for up to four children. Games address content of 6th grade math curriculum. Includes topics Whole Numbers to Trillions; Commutative/Associative Properties; Distributive Property; Proportions/Equivalent Fractions; Percents; Ordering Fractions; Add/Subtract Fractions; Multiply/Divide Fractions; Mixed Numbers; Rational Numbers; Percent, Rate, Base; Order of Operations; Repeated Multiplication; Exponents; Evaluate Exponents; One and Two Step Functions; Evaluate Formulas; Simple Proportions; Area of Triangles and Quadrilaterals; Area and Circumference of Circles; Plotting Points; Area of Coordinate Polygons; Measurement Conversion; Statistics; and Graphs.
David Livingstone can still be seen as a great example of what people can achieve. After his death, in some ways, David Livingstone became even more famous than before. The famous meeting with Stanley, the manner of his death, his return to England, and his funeral captured the British public’s imagination and people were fascinated by him and remained so until the mid 20th century. David Livingstone was instrumental in forcing the abolition of the east African slave trade and because of this and his fundamental belief in human equality, David Livingstone remains well respected in many parts of Africa today. In contrast, in Britain, Livingstone became associated with the Empire and fell out of favour. A major achievement and legacy of David Livingstone was that his account of the Nyangwe massacre caused public outcry in Britain and forced the government to act. In 1873 the Sultan of Zanzibar signed a treaty which abolished the East African slave trade. However David Livingstone remains a controversial figure when considering the colonisation of Africa.
The solar flow battery should be a simple, cheap, and more efficient way to get round-the-clock electricity from the sun As solar power gets more affordable and installations rise, so does the need for batteries that can store all that energy for 24-hour use. Now researchers report a new device that combines solar cells and batteries into one integrated device, a “solar flow battery.” If it could be made affordable, it could be an ideal way to bring electricity to people in remote, off-grid regions. It is, of course, possible to just store electricity produced by solar panels in large batteries for electricity when the sun isn’t shining. But combining the two processes and using sunlight to directly charge a battery should in principle be a simpler, more efficient, compact, and cost-effective approach to utilize solar energy, says Song Jin, a professor of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Besides, the device Jin’s team reported in the journal Cell can also behave as a straight-up solar cell or a battery. Researchers have integrated solar cells with rechargeable batteries before by coupling a light-absorbing semiconductor electrode with a battery electrode. But the 14.1% round-trip efficiency of the new device—calculated as solar energy input to electrical energy output at a different time—is higher than devices made previously. There are several ways to tap energy from the sun: convert it to electricity with photovoltaics; use its heat to produce steam for turning power plant turbines; and using sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to directly produce liquid fuels. Sunlight can also be stored as chemical energy by using it to charge the chemicals in a liquid electrolyte. This is the principle Jin and his colleagues have harnessed for their solar cell/flow battery hybrid. Touted as ideal for grid storage, flow batteries store energy in tanks of electrolyte solution. The electrolytes, called anolyte and catholyte, serve as the electrodes. Ions move between the electrolytes during charge and discharge. To make the solar flow battery, the researchers put a highly efficient solar cell on top of a thin reaction chamber, which contains the anolyte and catholyte separated by a thin membrane. The chamber is also connected to a small reservoir each for the anolyte and the catholyte. The chamber is sandwiched between two carbon electrodes. A control box that is connected to the solar cell and the two carbon electrodes lets the researchers switch the device to one of three modes. In battery mode, the two carbon electrodes are connected, and the device works like a normal flow battery with the electrodes charging and discharging the chemicals in the electrolytes. In solar cell mode, the solar cell is connected to the carbon electrode on top of the reaction chamber, so the chamber is out of the picture. And in solar recharge mode, the solar cell is connected to the bottom carbon electrode. The voltage created in the solar cell causes a reshuffling of electrons that creates ions in the electrolytes, charging the battery. Jin says there is room for improvement in the device. The high-efficiency solar cell made of expensive III-V semiconductors such as indium gallium arsenide is expensive. And the cell’s voltage does not perfectly match the battery’s working voltage, which hurts efficiency. By using more cost-effective semiconductors, improving the chemistry, and further tweaks to device design, efficiency should go up and cost should go down. The cost for integrated solar flow battery devices should eventually be lower than individually operated solar photovoltaic devices plus redox flow batteries, he says. “We can see a clear pathway to achieve round-trip efficiency greater than 20 percent [and] believe we could eventually get to 25 percent efficiency using emerging solar materials and new solar cell designs. Then I think commercialization could be possible.” Published at :
Anticipates the future The effective 21st century teacher has an awareness of rapidly changing technology trends and ensures students are not left behind in the wake of this technological change. They are in tune with the direction of the economy and career opportunities for children in the future. They are committed to preparing their students for the world in which they will live and work, as opposed to their current world. They are advocates for change in educational thinking and prioritisation of spending. Is a lifelong learner The effective 21st century teacher understands the importance of being a flexible, life-long learner, willing to accept and embrace change and unafraid to make mistakes but willing to learn from them. They focus on the process and the outcome rather than the tools to get us there. Technologies are simply tools to improve our quality of life; when they fail to do that, it’s time to invent new tools. Fosters peer relationships Students might have 500 friends on Facebook, but do they know how to be a friend? The effective 21st century teacher should model and demand courtesy, communication, respect and cooperation. Technology can encourage isolation, therefore interpersonal skills need to be taught so students can go on to be effective in the workplace and fulfilled in their lives. Can teach and assess all levels of learners The effective 21st century teacher should understand the importance of being a ‘situational leader’ – assessing the level of each student’s learning ability and commitment to learning. Teachers should aim to bring students to a level where they feel comfortable having a say in their own learning. Is able to discern effective vs. non-effective technology Children are very quick to adopt new technologies and the effective 21st century teacher should recognise that these technologies can often enhance student learning, while other technologies are non-productive. The effective teacher needs to be adept in judging the educative and non-educative use of technologies available to them and to their students at school and at home.
The vast, mysterious ocean, covering 71 percent of the Earth, plays an essential role in our everyday lives. Not just for the coastal and island dwellers, but for everyone. The ocean provides many ecosystem services, including food production, fisheries, pharmaceuticals, oxygen regulation, carbon storage and sequestering, water quality enhancement, coastal protection, biodiversity, economy, cultural values, and climate and weather regulation. Without the ocean, we would not be able to survive. One of the most critical ecosystem services of the ocean is weather and climate regulation because it affects economies and livelihoods on a global scale. The sea has a low albedo, meaning it absorbs most of the sun’s heat radiation. Thus, water molecules heat up and evaporate into the atmosphere and create storms that are carried over long distances by trade winds and currents. These storms can become destructive as they accumulate warm water while traveling over the ocean. Ocean currents are crucial for regulating the climate and transferring heat around the globe. Water density, winds, tides, and the earth’s rotation direct and power the currents, which are found on the ocean’s surface and at a depth below 900 feet. They move water horizontally and vertically and occur on a local and global scale. The currents create a global conveyor belt that acts as a global circulation system. It transfers warm water and precipitation from the equator towards the cold-watered poles and vice versa. It also plays a vital role in distributing nutrients across the ocean. As seasons change, so do wind and weather trends, sea surface temperatures, and currents. Currents are stronger in the winter than they are in the summer because there are stronger winds and colder sea temperatures. Furthermore, spring is a considerable transition period. During this time, temperatures begin to warm, the density and salinity of the ocean changes, and wind patterns shift. These factors significantly influence currents, causing them to become unstable. Without currents, the land wouldn’t be habitable because temperatures would be too extreme; the equator too hot and the poles too cold. Additionally, the precipitation distributed by currents and wind is necessary to all living things and is needed to sustain life. Foreseeable current, weather, and climate trends are key components in maintaining a healthy economy by supporting crops, livestock, tourism, etc., and can also save lives from dangerous storms and create more resilient communities. Currents are measured and monitored by moored and drifting buoys that relay data via satellite. These buoys are efficient in collecting data, but they are quite costly and require much effort to deploy, retrieve, and maintain. Moored buoys often break from their mooring and can't be implemented in deep waters. Wave Gliders, however, can measure and monitor surface currents on a local and global scale in any seas without the considerable exertion and cost. Therefore, they could be utilized as an alternative to some of the moored buoys or drifters while collecting other vital data such as salinity, sea surface temp, CO2 levels, and much more. Europa has not experienced much trouble from the changing spring currents thus far. Although, on April 5th, she hit a robust northern current with no sea state to give her power, which made her veer off course a little. Fortunately, we were able to turn on the thruster (a small solar powered, electric propeller on the sub) that quickly put her back on track. We hope the currents remain steady and in our favor, so she’ll return home as soon as possible.
All manufacturers strive to produce the highest quality products for their customers. As a result, materials testing services from a materials testing lab like Innovatech Labs are frequently used to ensure that product quality. Materials testing can uncover the causes of product failures, identify contaminants or toxins, and also determine the chemical composition of samples. When it comes to analyzing the surfaces of products, Electron Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis (ESCA) and Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) are two commonly used materials testing techniques. While both have similar applications, each is unique and valuable for different situations. Below we discuss similarities and differences, and when each technique is utilized. ESCA and AES are both known for their ability to analyze thin films, stains and contaminants on the surfaces of products. Also, both techniques can be used to analyze passivation layers on metallic surfaces. AES can be performed on conductive and semi-conductive materials, ESCA can be performed on these types of materials in addition to polymers, glass and other insulating materials. As a result, both techniques can be useful for electronics and medical device manufacturers. Instrumentation and Sample Extraction ESCA analysis, which is also called X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (or XPS), uses an x-ray beam to excite atoms on the surface of a solid sample, which results in the emission of photoelectrons. Then, an energy analysis of the photoelectrons is performed to identify both elemental and chemical bonding information. On the other hand, AES uses an electron beam to excite atoms, which results in the emission of electrons known as Auger electrons. Like ESCA, an energy analysis is then conducted to uncover the analytical information. ESCA analysis can analyze oxidation of chromium and iron. This is especially useful for electronics and medical device manufacturers that worry about oxidation leading to product malfunction or failure. For example, an electronics manufacturer discovered a haze on a polyimide film. The manufacturer believed that the haze was from the chromium film that was not completely etched away during manufacturing. ESCA scanned the area and determined that there was in fact a presence of chromium, supporting the manufacturer’s theory. As for AES, this technique can analyze the chemistry and thickness of passivation layers of stents and small diameter wires. For example, AES was performed on a Nitinol stent to determine any impurities in the oxide layer and the thickness of the layer. Testing revealed that the passivation layer was composed mostly of titanium dioxide and its thickness was approximately 300 angstroms. When is Each Testing Method Used? ESCA analysis can be used to: - Evaluate the passivation of stainless steels and the oxidation of chromium and iron - Analyze the surface chemistry of polymers, glasses and other insulators - Resolve issues related to metal interdiffusion, resin-to-metal adhesion or oxidation AES can be used to: - Determine the chemical composition of a surfaces and interfaces - Analyze contamination and stains - Analyze passivation layers For more information on ESCA analysis, Auger Electron Spectroscopy or any other materials testing services from Innovatech Labs, contact us today.
What is the Now Function in Excel? For those new to all things Microsoft software, the now function in Excel continuously updates the date and time whenever there is a change within your document. You can either format the value by now as a date or opt to apply it as a date and time with a numerical format. The purpose of the function is to set (and keep track of) the date and time. Notes on Use While the Now function in Excel does not have parameters, it does require empty parenthesis. The value returned by the Now function automatically updates after each refresh. If you need to, you can use “F9” to force the worksheet to refresh, recalculate, and update the value. For those of you who need a static time (e.g. one that won’t change), you can use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + Shift” to enter the current time. The NOW Function in Excel returns the current date and time − formatted as date and time − as shown below in cell B1. If the cell format was General before using the function, Excel will change the cell format to match your regional settings for date and time. The NOW Function has no arguments, but the empty parentheses () is required, as seen in the formula bar above. The NOW Function in Excel is Volatile, meaning every time Excel calculates the worksheet the function result changes. And you can’t always tell when this will happen. To see what I mean, enter a NOW Function in a worksheet cell then play around with the worksheet. I’m not a big fan of Volatile functions. Used sparingly they can serve a specific purpose, but left unchecked in a workbook with a large amount of data they can drastically slow things down. The cell formatting in cell B2 is General and you can see the serial number. The integer to the left of the decimal point represents the date, and the numbers to the right of the decimal point represent time. The B3 cell format is Date and you see only the date portion. The B4 cell format is Time and you see only the time portion. Both cells have the same underlying value, 40409.47966. Tip for Static Date or Time in Now Function in Excel To enter the current date into a worksheet use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+; (semicolon). To enter the current time use Ctrl+Shift+: (colon). Both are static entries that won’t change.
Authors: Christian L. Reichardt, Roland de Putter, Oliver Zahn, Zhen Hou First Author’s Institution: University of California, Berkeley The expansion of the universe is accelerating. The discovery of this fact was revolutionary in astronomy, and, it turns out, is the type of discovery that will win you the Nobel Prize in Physics. Prior to this result, most people believed the expansion of the universe must be slowing down, since gravity tries to pull matter back together. An accelerating universe means that there must be something pushing on space itself, causing it to expand faster and faster. The exact mechanism for this process remains unknown, and we parameterize our ignorance with the term dark energy. The current favored cosmological model, known as the model, tells us that roughly 73% of the universe today is composed of this mysterious dark energy (check out this astrobite for a more detailed discussion of this cosmological model). The simplest form of dark energy is known as the cosmological constant and involves an energy whose density is constant in time. In this case, as one looks back in time, the relative importance of dark energy quickly becomes much smaller than that of matter and radiation; this arises from the fact that the density of matter scales as and the density of radiation scales as , where is known as the scale factor and parameterizes the size of the universe . Thus, at early times in the universe’s history when the universe was much smaller , its density was dominated first by radiation and then by matter. Dark energy’s influence only becomes apparent at much later times, such as the present. However, there are alternatives to the cosmological constant model in which the influence of dark energy in the early universe was not negligible in comparison to that of radiation and matter. These types of theories are known as early dark energy (EDE) models because they predict a strong dark energy effect at early times. The authors of this paper consider such a model, and constrain the density of EDE using the latest measurements of the temperature fluctuations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) from the South Pole Telescope (SPT). How can high-resolution measurements of the CMB constrain the existence of dark energy in the early universe? The amplitude of the CMB’s temperature fluctuations as a function of angular scale is sensitive to several important parameters, including the densities of matter, radiation, and dark energy (just recently, measurements of the CMB provided evidence for the existence of dark energy independent of any other measure of the universe’s expansion rate). The existence of EDE would imprint a strong signature on the CMB, and we can search for this signature in the CMB power spectrum. The power spectrum characterizes the size of temperature fluctuations as a function of multipole , where large (small) corresponds to small (large) scales on the sky. The multipole number is similar to the frequency of a wave, in that a larger multipole number corresponds to fluctuations of a smaller physical scale. For a great introduction to the CMB power spectrum, check out this tutorial by Wayne Hu. The CMB’s power spectrum as measured by SPT is shown in the figure below. The addition of EDE increases the expansion rate in the early universe, which suppresses the growth of matter perturbations. This suppression in turn drives an increase in the amplitude of the temperature anisotropies, most strongly on small scales. Thus, the addition of EDE enhances the peaks in the CMB power spectrum at high . Until recently, the CMB power spectrum had been measured with small errors only at low by the WMAP satellite (shown on the plot by the open diamonds), but as the effects of EDE are strongest at high , the WMAP measurements are not sufficient for strong constraints on its existence. However, SPT has a higher spatial resolution than WMAP and is able to measure the small-scale CMB temperature anisotropies with much greater precision. The figure above shows the WMAP and SPT measurements of the CMB power spectrum as well as six different best-fit models with varying EDE density, denoted by , from 0% (black) to 5% (red). Each of the EDE models is consistent with the WMAP data at large scales, but they differ significantly from each other and from the data at the smaller scales to which SPT is sensitive. Using the combination of WMAP and SPT measurements, the authors place a strong upper limit on the density of early dark energy. With a confidence level of 95%, the authors find an upper limit . If dark energy existed in the early universe, it did not account for more than 1.8% of the total density of the universe. This is roughly a factor of 3 improvement over the upper limit derived solely from the WMAP data, . The probability distribution for derived from the data is shown in the figure to the left. The authors also point out that in the next year, order of magnitude improvements in the measurements of the small-scale CMB power spectrum are expected from surveys like SPT, the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, and the Planck satellite. These improvements promise to further our understanding of the nature of dark energy and its importance in the early universe.
Phosphate in Blood How It Is Done The health professional taking a sample of your blood will: - Wrap an elastic band around your upper arm to stop the flow of blood. This makes the veins below the band larger so it is easier to put a needle into the vein. - Clean the needle site with alcohol. - Put the needle into the vein. More than one needle stick may be needed. - Attach a tube to the needle to fill it with blood. - Remove the band from your arm when enough blood is collected. - Put a gauze pad or cotton ball over the needle site as the needle is removed. - Put pressure on the site and then put on a bandage. In a newborn baby, the blood sample is usually taken from the heel (heel stick). For a heel stick blood sample, several drops of blood are collected from the heel of your baby. The skin of the heel is first cleaned with alcohol and then punctured with a small sterile lancet. Several drops of blood are collected in a small tube. When enough blood has been collected, a gauze pad or cotton ball is placed over the puncture site. Pressure is maintained on the puncture site briefly, and then a small bandage is usually put on. How It Feels You may feel nothing at all from the needle puncture, or you may feel a brief sting or pinch as the needle goes through the skin. Some people feel a stinging pain while the needle is in the vein. But many people do not feel any pain (or have only minor discomfort) once the needle is positioned in the vein. The amount of pain you feel depends on the skill of the health professional drawing your blood, the condition of your veins, and your sensitivity to pain. A brief pain, like a sting or a pinch, is usually felt when the lancet punctures the skin. Your baby may feel a little discomfort with the skin puncture.
This worksheet is about finding 1 less than the given number. We do this by taking one away from the given number. When we take one away, we go to the whole number just before the number we started with. Write the number which is: 1 less than 33 33 - 1 = 32 When we count we go.... 30, 31, 32, 33. 32 is the number just before 33. So, the answer is 32
Aphids that infest a leaf or flower bud cause stunted, distorted growth, but a strong jet of water usually removes them. Small, pear-shaped, sap-sucking insects, aphid numbers increase in spring and fall but reduce when natural predators eat them or the weather turns hot or cold. Cultural control methods such as hosing and pruning, along with insecticidal soaps and oils, usually provide effective control. Aphids quickly develop resistance to insecticides containing toxic chemicals, so these should only be used as a last resort. Regular hosing usually controls aphid infestations on a bud. Set your garden hose spray attachment to the high pressure stream setting or cover the end of an open hose with your thumb and direct a jet of water directly at the bud as close as possible with causing damage. Most unopened buds are unaffected by jets of water from 3 or 4 inches away. Spray other infested areas on the plant, paying special attention to the undersides of leaves and shoot tips. Spray again every three or four days as long as the infestation lasts. Ants sometimes farm aphids, protecting them from predators, so fix a sticky band trap around tree or shrub trunks to prevent ants from introducing new aphids. A bud can be pruned to prevent the aphids from spreading. A flower or leaf bud heavily infested with aphids is unlikely to grow healthily. Pruning the bud and disposing of it reduces aphid populations. Disinfect your pruning shears by wiping rubbing alcohol on the blades and prune off aphid-infested buds where the stem of the bud joins the plant. Place all pruned buds in a plastic bag. Seal the bag and put it in the trash. Disinfect the pruning shears again after use. Wash With Soap Insecticidal soaps and oils kill aphids on a bud. Insecticidal soaps and oils destroy the aphids' waxy coatings or smother them and must be applied directly on the insects. Insecticidal soap offers only short-term control, so repeat applications are necessary. Soaps and oils can damage plants when temperatures are higher than 90 degrees Fahrenheit or plants are drought stressed. Some plants are sensitive to insecticidal soaps and oils, so test a small area before spraying the rest of the plant. Apply a ready-to-use insecticidal soap, wetting all buds and other plant parts on a cloudy day. Spray plants again twice a week or weekly as needed, or apply according to the manufacturer's instructions. Coat in Chemicals Toxic insecticides can control a heavy aphid infestation on a bud, but these products kill beneficial insects. Insecticides containing malathion, permethrin, acephate and imidacloprid kill aphids that haven't developed resistance to them. Imidacloprid is a systemic insecticide, which plants absorb through their roots, and aphids die when they suck treated plants' sap. To avoid killing bees and other pollinators, don't apply products containing imidacloprid just before or during blooming periods. Pyrethrins are also toxic to aphids and other insects but break down quickly in the environment. Apply a product containing 0.01 percent pyrethrin and 1 percent canola oil to buds and all other plant parts when temperatures are lower than 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray again weekly or every two weeks as needed or apply according to the manufacturer's instructions. - Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images
Researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology wanted to learn more about how ants moved and behaved in their colonies, so they did what anyone — well, anyone who worked at an Institute of Technology — would do: they built a robotic analog for the insects. The robots don’t look like real ants — they’re simple, boxy things about the size of a sugar cube that are powered by watch motors — but they behave the way ants do, moving randomly in a general direction or following the trails laid down for them by earlier ant explorers. As it happens, though, these two simple tactics allow the robots — and the ants they’re modeled after — to navigate complicated mazes. Called Alices, the robots are programmed to act like ants do, moving in one general direction, but otherwise randomly. As they do so, they leave trails of light that other Alices can detect — a pair of light sensors on each robot mimic antenna on the real-life insects. These light trails are the robot equivalent of a pheromone trail. Using just random movement and the trails left by other robots, researchers found that the Alices were able to find the most direct route to a designated target and navigate large mazes with nothing but the most minimal programming. One result of the research is that it shows ants don’t need complex cognitive processes to navigate the complex tunnel systems they call home — they can get around just fine being real dumb, thanks very much. More practically, though, the technique could prove helpful in teaching new generations of swarming robots to adapt to their surroundings with minimal effort on the part of designers. Relevant to your interests - Now we just need robot ants that enslave other robots - The difference between ants and computers get fewer every day - Fire ants can crown more than one queen
Solifuges (also called camel spiders, wind scorpions or sun-spiders) are ancient, nonvenomous arachnids in the Order Solifugae. They are related to true spiders and scorpions and the other members of the Class Arachnida (I like to think of them as cousins). They are easily identified by their huge forward facing jaws, called chelicerae. Unlike spiders and scorpions that use venom to kill their prey, solifuges use their powerful chelicerae to crush and macerate their prey. Then they use their rostrum (an organ that operates like a straw) to suck down and filter all of the juices of the crushed food. Solifuges have some unique structures on their bodies that other arachnids don’t have. Males of most families have a flagellum on the inside of their jaws. It’s a little appendage that varies greatly in size and shape, from short stubs to an elaborate, membraneous, rotating structure. This organ helps arachnologists to identify these animals to the species level. Its function is not known, but we think it may play a role in mating. Another unique structure is a set of special sensory organs on their fourth pair of legs called racket organs, or malleoli that aid in feeling vibrations. It looks like solifuges have ten legs instead of eight like other arachnids, but those front leg-like organs are actually mouthparts called pedipalps! Even though all arachnids have pedipalps, only solifuges have tiny suction cups on the ends, charmingly called suctorial organs. These help them hold onto prey and climb vertical surfaces like plant stems, walls and even glass. Remember, they are climbing these vertical surfaces with mouthparts, so it’s like you climbing the side of a building using only your lips! Pretty incredible… These arachnids live in arid, and semi-arid environments all over the world, and are found on all continents except for Australia and Antarctica. In the United States, they range from Texas, west to the high deserts of California and Oregon, and north to Montana. You can find solifuges during the warm summer months in cooler climates and year round as you get closer to the tropics. Not all species live in the desert; one large species has been found in the tropical forests of southeast Asia! Most solifuges live in burrows that range from shallow depressions under rocks to small tunnels 3 feet underground. Females tend to stay with their burrows and defend them, eventually laying eggs. Males will have temporary burrows and usually roam at night hunting prey and searching for females. These animals are predators with huge appetites! They mainly eat insects in their size range like crickets, roaches and termites, but some of the larger species have been known to eat small lizards and rodents. They are solitary creatures and will not hesitate to attack and eat each other in an encounter. Some have been reported to eat so much at one time that their abdomens bulge and distend and they are unable to walk until they digest their meal. We have a great picture of this in The Bug Chicks Episode 2: Spider Specifics! - There are about 1200 different species of solifuge in the world, and more are being described all the time. - Solifuges are incredibly fast runners! Some have been clocked at over 50 cm/second. - They range in body size from a few mm to over 7 cm in length. - Males have longer legs and females have thicker bodies. - Most are a tannish brown in color, but some species are black and red, and others white and purple! - Most solifuges are nocturnal but there are several species in Africa that can only be found running around during the hottest part of the day. I’ll be writing a great deal more on solifuges in the future, as I studied them in East Africa for my Masters work in grad school. Look out for posts on solifuge myths, legends and lore! These animals are tragically misunderstood and demonized and I hope to shed some light on their real behaviors and biology in the coming months. In the meantime, check out the great resource site of the NSF Global Inventory and Survey on Solifuges at www.solpugid.com. Please also feel free to share any stories, anecdotes or questions you may have regarding these fascinating creatures! **All images copyright Solpugid Productions and The Bug Chicks
WHAT IS RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS? Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the most common forms of arthritis. It affects more than 2 million Americans. RA involves swelling of the lining of the joints causing pain, stiffness, warmth, redness and difficult movement. It also can affect internal organs. A person with RA may have a fever, a feeling of tiredness and a decrease in the number of red blood cells (anemia). There is probably no other disease that causes body tissues to suffer such prolonged and sustained inflammation. Sometimes rheumatoid nodules (lumps of tissue under the skin) form close to the joints. Joints commonly affected include the neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees and ankles. WHAT CAUSES RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS? The cause of rheumatoid arthritis is unknown. It occurs when the body's natural immune system attacks healthy joint tissue causing swelling and joint damage. Genetics can play a role in the chance of developing the disease. Some scientists believe that bacteria or a virus may trigger the disease. Others believe that certain hormones may play a role. RA is not contagious. WHO IS AT RISK? Rheumatoid arthritis occurs in all races and ethnic groups. It occurs much more frequently in women than in men and also may be more severe in women. It occurs at any age from infancy to late adulthood, but it tend to strike during the prime of life in the 30s and 40s. In some families, inherited factors play a role in a person’s risk for developing arthritis. If a parent or other close relative has been diagnosed with arthritis, it is important to share this history with a health care provider. Early diagnosis and treatment is the key to successful management of arthritis. HOW IS IT DIAGNOSED? An analysis of your medical history, a physical examination and blood tests are used to diagnose rheumatoid arthritis. Another blood test indicates the amount of inflammation in the body. Rheumatoid arthritis usually attacks joints in symmetrical fashion. A doctor will suspect this disease when the same joints on both sides of the body are involved. In the affected joints, there are usually pain and swelling and morning stiffness, perhaps the most sensitive measure of the degree of inflammation. X-rays also may be taken to check for damage to the joints. HOW IS IT TREATED? Although there is no cure for rheumatoid arthritis, there are many treatments offering relief of symptoms and increasing the ability to function at, or near, normal levels. Medications include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin or ibuprofen, which are often used to reduce pain and swelling. Newer drugs called COX-2 inhibitors are used to manage pain and inflammation with fewer stomach ulcers than NSAIDs but are much more expensive. Corticosteroid medications may be used to reduce inflammation and pain. Because of side effects, they cannot be used for long periods of time. Disease-modifying anti-rheumatic agents (DMARDs) are used to limit the amount of joint damage. Biologic response modifiers delay structural damage in patients with moderately to severely active RA. They target the specific components of the immune system that contribute to disease, while leaving other components of the immune system intact. Successful management of arthritis pain and disability includes self-management. It is important for patients to learn about their disease and take part in their own care. Working with health care professionals allows a person to share in decision making and gain a sense of control. Self-management includes arthritis education, exercise programs, rest, relaxation and stress management, eating well-balance meals and maintaining proper weight, taking care of joints and using assistive devices to rest joints and relieve pressure. Research shows that patients who take part in their own care report less pain and make fewer doctor visits, as well as enjoy a better quality of life. WHEN SHOULD YOU GET HELP? Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment are very important in the management of rheumatoid arthritis. Physicians now believe that damage to bones begins within the first two years that a person has the disease. Early diagnosis can decrease symptoms and long-term complications. A person should see a health care professional if symptoms of pain or swelling in multiple joints on both sides of the body develop. RESOURCESMore information about rheumatoid arthritis can be obtained from the following organization: National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases of Public Health 535 West Jefferson Street Springfield, Illinois 62761 Questions or Comments
\|\|This article contains orbital elements but does not include an epoch, or date when those elements, which typically vary over time, were correct.\| Venera 15 orbiter \|Launch mass\|\|4,000 kilograms (8,800 lb)\| \|Start of mission\| \|Launch date\|\|June 2, 1983, 02:38:39UTC\| \|Launch site\|\|Baikonur 200/39\| \|End of mission\| \|Last contact\|\|July 1984\| \|Pericytherion\|\|7,081 kilometres (4,400 mi)\| \|Apocytherion\|\|72,078 kilometres (44,787 mi)\| \|Orbital insertion\|\|October 10, 1983\| Venera 15 (Russian: Венера-15 meaning Venus 15) was a spacecraft sent to Venus by the Soviet Union. This unmanned orbiter was to map the surface of Venus using high resolution imaging systems. The spacecraft was identical to Venera 16 and based on modifications to the earlier Venera space probes. Venera 15 was launched on June 2, 1983 at 02:38:39 UTC and reached Venus' orbit on October 10, 1983. The spacecraft was inserted into Venus orbit a day apart from Venera 16, with its orbital plane shifted by an angle of approximately 4° relative to one another probe. This made it possible to reimage an area if necessary. The spacecraft was in a nearly polar orbit with a periapsis ~1000 km, at 62°N latitude, and apoapsis ~65000 km, with an inclination ~90°, the orbital period being ~24 hours. Together with Venera 16, the spacecraft imaged the area from the north pole down to about 30°N latitude (i.e. approx. 25% of Venus surface) over the 8 months of mapping operations. The Venera 15 and 16 spacecraft were identical and were based on modifications to the orbiter portions of the Venera 9 and Venera 14 probes. Each spacecraft consisted of a 5 m long cylinder with a 0.6 m diameter, 1.4 m tall parabolic dish antenna for the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) at one end. A 1-meter diameter parabolic dish antenna for the radio altimeter was also located at this end. The electrical axis of the radio altimeter antenna was lined up with the axis of the cylinder. The electrical axis of the SAR deviated from the spacecraft axis by 10 degrees. During imaging, the radio altimeter would be lined up with the center of the planet (local vertical) and the SAR would be looking off to the side at 10 degrees. A bulge at the opposite end of the cylinder held fuel tanks and propulsion units. Two square solar arrays extended like wings from the sides of the cylinder. A 2.6 m radio dish antenna for communications was also attached to the side of the cylinder. The spacecraft each massed 4000 kg. Both Venera 15 and 16 were equipped with a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). A radar was necessary in this mission because nothing else would be able to penetrate the dense clouds of Venus. The probes were equipped with on board computers that saved the images until the entire image was complete. This radar system replaced the normal landers that previous Venera probes brought to Venus. List of spacecraft instruments and experiments: - Polyus-V Synthetic Aperture Radar - Omega Radar Altimeter - Infrared Fourier Spectrometer - Cosmic-Ray Detectors (6 sensors) - Solar-Plasma Detectors - The Soviet Exploration of Venus - Catalog of Soviet Venus images - Venera 15 - Venera 15/16 Radar Mosaic Browser
Capture Heroic Moments: Creating Narrative Scenes about Heroes, A Unit of Study For Grades 3-5 by David Kelly, Media Arts Educator- MY HERO Project Grade Level: K-4,5-8, Subject Arts - Media,English/Language Arts,Social Studies, Students are introduced to the vocabulary and processes of writing their own short narrative scripts. This series of lessons provides an introduction to the basic vocabulary and concepts of narrative scenes for film and/or theater. Topics include developing characters, plot and conflict in order to write a short screenplay. Once students have completed these short scripts, they may use them in the production of a short theatrical performance or film. As students become familiar with the techniques and terms in this lesson, they can apply their new skills to create their own fictional works, be they short films, plays or fictional written material. Note: Each lesson can take approximately a 45-minute period. -Learn the basic vocabulary for narrative story telling (Lesson 1) -Develop basic research skills (Lesson 2) -Develop understanding of story structure, character development and creative writing skills (Lessons 3 & 4) -Develop collaborative skills by working in small groups (Lessons 5 & 6) -Develop reading and public speaking skills (Lesson 7) LESSON 1: THE BASIC ELEMENTS OF STORY 1. Warm-up/discussion: Mingle Mingle! Show the students the following film from the MY HERO website:The Bridge 8 Minutes \| Short \| Kosovo \| By Jeton Neziraj Jeton Neziraj shares this animated version of his acclaimed short play "The Bridge." This story shows the simple power of forgiveness and the importance of working together.http://myhero.com/bridge To get the class active and thinking about these questions, do a mingle/mingle: a small group discussion of what is hero is, where the children change partners quickly at the teacher’s direction. Give your question out, have students walk around the room, and when they stop, ask them, one question at a time, the questions below: Who is the hero of this story? How does the hero behave in a story? Which actions are the ones that make this character a hero? 2. Vocabulary Introduction As a way to introduce students to the elements of narrative storytelling, introduce the following key concepts and vocabulary. Have a large chart paper up with each of these elements below in a column (this chart can then serve as a reusable graphic organizer for every story they play with.) Before unveiling each element, prompt students, “What makes a story? What must you have to create a story?” As they guess several, unveil (or write down) each element and reveal any that they do not guess. Feel free to use appropriate story examples which all students know (e.g. fairy tales, your current literature book, Harry Potter, etc.) as you define each term. Characters: The people that make up a story. Who are they? Where do they come from? What do they want? Etc. Setting: Where does the story take place? Even when you’re writing a story based on real events, you have the freedom to choose where it takes place. A scene set in your main character’s kitchen will have a very different feel than one set in a crowded restaurant. Think about where a scene takes place, and how that setting can influence the character’s choices in a scene. Objective: A character’s main goal, which he/she actively tries to achieve in the story. Ask students for an example of a character’s objective in a popular film/TV show. For example, in Finding Nemo, the objective of Nemo’s Dad, Marlin, is very clear: to find Nemo. Motivation: The “why,” or the reason that a character pursues their objective. Generally, the stronger the motivation, the more active a character will be. As an example, consider the popular children’s book Charlotte’s Web. In the book, the character of the rat named Templeton is rather selfish and always hungry. Whenever he helps out the main characters, it is always because they offer him food. Getting more food is his motivation, and it is a powerful one. Obstacles: Whatever stands in the way of a character in achieving his or her objective. The bigger the obstacle, the bigger the conflict in the story. Obstacles can come in many forms. An obstacle might be an external occurrence such as a hurricane, preventing the character from saving his family. An obstacle can also be personal; in Finding Nemo, Dory’s faulty memory is often an obstacle to her being able to help Marlin. Actions: The concrete steps that the a character takes to achieve their goal. They can be thought of as tactics, and are generally in verb form (to beg, to attack, to impress). Again, consider Marlin in Finding Nemo, and the different actions he takes to get back his son Nemo (leaves home, befriends fish, travels far, etc.) To get students more involved, have them write examples of each term on post-it notes, using different stories they have read that year in class. Then have them walk up to the board and place their post-it example on the appropriate term. Likewise, you could create a quick story together, i.e. a story about a boy, his sister, their bicycle, and a problem, and label each element with the right term. LESSON 2: GUIDED PRACTICE SESSION (OPTIONAL) 1. Warm-Up Activity: Ask students to raise their hands on who would like to build a rocket one day. Tell students they will be researching the real life story about how a poor coal miner’s son (Homer Hickam) went on to build rockets and work for NASA. Give the students class time to research Homer Hickam’s life story and write down key facts about him. In addition to the school’s resources, students find newsreel on American historical figures at The U.S. Library of Congress website, http://www.loc.gov/ Students can also use sources from the archives at myhero.com and organize their materials on a customized web page by using MY HERO’s Create program (http://www.myhero.com/go/create/) 2. Film: Show students the narrative film made about Homer’s life, October Sky. After the movie ends, ask the students: Was the character of Homer as presented in the movie similar to what you thought of him before the film, or different? Why? In the film, what actions made you feel that Homer was acting like a hero? What qualities did he display? Once again use the graphic organizer of key narrative terms (Elements of A Story), this time inviting students to use post-its and paste examples from October Sky. Continue until there are a few good examples of each narrative term. Assessment: Be sure to view each post-it for comprehension, and do a quick Think-Pair-Share where students summarize October Sky, tell the summary to their neighbor, and then share our one or two with the group. LESSON 3: WHAT IS A SCRIPT? Resources needed: Copies of the Script for each student, Elements of a Story Chart 1. Warm-up activity: Think Pair Share Remind students about the narrative elements of a story they learned in the last lesson. Invite a student to summarize the graphic organizer. Next, you will lead students through a Think Pair Share Activity. For the Think, you ask the following question and give students a moment to silently ponder: Think about your heroes, from either a book they have read or from history. What makes someone a hero? What actions do they take that make them heroes? What challenges did they face? Have students turn to the student next to them to Pair, where they take turns sharing their thoughts on the question. Then their partner shares, and the teacher invites several students to share what their PARTNER said, enhancing their listening skills and learning about each others’ heroes and what they have in common. 2. Activity: Make a Scene Explain that students will be making a fictional scene about a heroic moment, in which their main character (the hero) has to overcome an obstacle in order to achieve a goal. The obstacle should come from another character in the story, who opposes the hero in some way. Be sure to bring up the “Elements of a Story” Chart and past post-its to jog students’ memories and serve as a platform for the upcoming activity. 3. Sample Script Look at the sample scene from Bridge To Terabithea as an example of how to format a script (sample #1, attached). Either project this scene onto the whiteboard from your computer or document camera, or make copies for partners in the class to go through. Go through the scene and note how it is formatted. The scene location and time of Day in bold in the script starts each scene. Description of characters and setting are in normal paragraphs. Characters names get capitalized the first time they appear in the script (with their age described in parentheses). And dialogue centered and indented, with character names in bold before their lines. Then read aloud the scene from Bridge To Terabithea, as Jesse tries to convince his mom that he needs to keep his old shoes, not wear his sister’s pink pair of shoes. Complete the graphic organizer of Story Elements together as a class and prompts students to help her name each character’s objective, actions and obstacles, etc. EXAMPLE OF CLASS’S GRAPHIC ORGANIZER USING BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA -When Leslie tries to go into the Girl’s restroom, Janice Avery blocks her and demands a dollar to enter: -to get money from Leslie, show her who’s boss -to go to the bathroom without paying special by proving she’s tougher than everyone else -Her Dad is mean to her, she thinks she has to be mean to others -has to go to unfair for Janice to demand money that Janice is bully, doesn’t want to play her games brave, does not give in to bullying like other students bigger, smart and tough -to make fun -to stand up LESSON 4: WRITING A SCRIPT, TOGETHER AND BY YOURSELF Resources needed: Character Graphic Organizer, copies for each student 1. Motivation: Ask students, “Have you ever been in a conflict?” Tell the students that they, as a class, are going to write their first scene together. The basis of this scene will be a conflict between two characters. Tell them a conflict in a story is when one character, character A, wants something from another character, character B. B will not give A what A wants. So the two characters are in conflict, and must try different actions to get what they want. As an example, show students the scene from Bridge To Terabithea in which Janice demands money from Leslie for going inside the Girl’s room. Then give them the script for the scene, sample #2 in the attached handouts. 2. Graphic Organizer Afterward watching this scene, have students identify the different narrative elements of the scene using the Chart: what is each character's objective, motivations, obstacles and actions? Make copies of the attached Narrative Elements_Character Work Sheet for students to complete (it’s a small handout version of the graphic organizer of Story Elements). Take note of these elements on a marker board or similar (see the above brainstorming example with Leslie and Janice for a sample of what the marker board would look like). Next, ask the students to think of different actions that both Janice and Leslie might have taken. How could the scene end differently? Choose some one or several of Leslie’s new actions, and tell students that they are going to write a new version of the scene where Leslie uses these actions. Have a student take notes on a marker-board, as the class collectively maps out each moment of this new scene. At the end the class will have a detailed scene outline. 4. Write the Script Finally, tell students to write a short script with dialogue of this scene at their desks, 1-2 pages. Read a few aloud and offer both notes and praise. Have students go through the process of writing their own scenes about fictional heroes. Suggest that students create characters based on individuals in their own lives, or base their characters off of other works of fiction (e.g. Tom Sawyer). As in the teacher-led example exercise, the students should come up with 2 characters that have a simple conflict. As in the example from Bridge To Terabithea, one character wants something from the other that the other will not easily give; both characters should use at least two different actions to get what they want. Students should write a brief summary of what happens in their scene, as well as each character's objective, motivations, obstacles and actions. Then they should write a 1-3 page script of their scene. Have students include an opening narration to explain the set-up of the scene (time, setting, what the characters have been doing prior to the scene, etc.), as well as closing narration to describe what happens to the characters after the scene. Use the attached Scene Writing Assignment handout to remind students about the steps they should take. You may also use the attached Mock Scene as an example of a finished assignment. LESSON 5: GROUPWORK – READING SCENES ALOUD 1. Motivation: “Today we get to share our work!” The teacher should break the class into groups of three. Each student will have their scenes read aloud by two classmates in their group. All groups will get a chance to practice before they are asked to read a scene aloud before the class. After each scene is read aloud, the teacher can ask students to give supportive, constructive criticism on how the scene plays out. Are the elements in the script that need to be changed, or reworked? Refer to the graphic organizer of Story Elements, to make sure all of the motivations, obstacles, etc. are clear. 3. Final Changes and Upload After each scene has been given this feedback, give students time to make any final changes to their scripts. The teacher should have students upload all finalized scripts onto myhero.com/start. The teacher can then create an organizer page via the MY HERO Teacher’s Room (myhero.com/teachersroom) that features all the students’ work. LESSON 6: PUTTING ON A SHOW – DRESS REHEARSAL 1. Motivation: “Raise your hand if you’d like to be an actor one day?” Assign different students to play the roles in each scene. The writer of each scene will coach his/her actors after the lines are memorized. Then conduct a final dress rehearsal of each scene, in the location in which it will be performed and/or filmed. In preparation, assign small student groups to handle the various jobs of producing the scene: Costumes, Set Decoration, Props, etc. One student should be selected to MC the ceremonies, reading the logline of each scene prior to performance. Others can play the role of narrators for each scene, reading opening and closing narration from each script. LESSON 7: LIVE PERFORMANCE Have students perform their scenes before their classmates, with the option of inviting friends and family. The scenes can be filmed if desired. -Final or end-of-lesson quizzes on key vocabulary and concepts -Completion of assigned written materials -Evaluations of final filmed scenes and/or live performances (for a helpful rubric, check out http://myhero.com/scriptrubric) National Arts Standards, 5-8 Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes: Select media, techniques, and processes; analyze what makes them effective or not effective in communicating ideas; and reflect upon the effectiveness of their choice. Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes: Intentionally take advantage of the qualities and characteristics of *art media, techniques, and processes to enhance communication of their experiences and idea. Common Core English - Language 6-12 Conventions of Standard english: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
Solar power is light or heat radiation collected from the sun's rays that is converted into electrical power. It is a renewable, clean, sustainable and alternative energy source. Solar power is also very versatile — it can be used to power private homes as easily as it can power satellites. Solar power is harnessed through solar panels. which are made up of an array of photovoltaic cells constructed from semiconductor material. The two discrete layers inside these cells contain an imbalance of electrons and allow for the free movement of electrons. When sunlight strikes these cells, it knocks these electrons loose from their atoms. This allows them to flow as electricity into metal contacts. Solar power can also be harnessed by allowing sun rays to heat a wide range of materials that then transform it into energy. Solar energy has been touted as a highly pragmatic energy source due to its environmental friendliness, renewable nature, and cost-cutting practices. Solar power neither polllutes nor uses natural resources. With storage batteries for nighttime and cloud cover, it is limitless in its availability. Over time, solar panels have decreased in price, and customers have reported dramatic decreases in electrical bills once they go solar. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
Well before the colonial times of the British, Belize was the home of migrant Asian tribes who traveled east centuries ago searching for new areas to settle. The Asian migrants form the indigenous tribes of Belize today. Of course, in the 15th Century, the drive by Europe to colonize the New World would begin and form a different Belize. Early inhabitants of Belize and the rest of the Caribbean and Central American regions were people from the tribes known as the Caribs and Arawaks. They were like other native tribes throughout the Americas: skilled hunters, fishers, and farmers. How was Belize Discovered? New World exploration of the Caribbean would bring squabbles over the region between the British, Dutch, French, and Spanish. All of these countries saw the value of Belize in terms of agriculture and of course wars would be fought for control of the region. The New World explorers would not only bring their violent methods of domination but would also bring disease to the Mayans that inhabited the region. Spain tried to wipe out Mayan civilization but this culture was not an easy target and they never were defeated. However the resistance by the Mayans would result in many deaths and a population that was once 400,000 Mayans reduced by 86%. Why is Belize called British Honduras? When the British arrived in Belize, they had no encounters with Mayans. The British who did arrive here initially were pirates that liked to raid the Spanish ships and settlements. In the 18th Century, the British were forced out by the Spaniards however the Spaniards never inhabited the land and the British just moved back in. To the British, Belize was great for logging. As the British moved farther into the interior they finally had an encounter with the Mayans and clashes resulted as well. There were continued clashes until the death of the Mayan leader Marcos Canul. Like other Caribbean countries, Belize used slave labor in the 18th and 19th Centuries to help in its lumber industry. The slaves were brought in from Africa or they were convicted criminals and indentured servants from Europe. All slaves were emancipated in 1838 in Belize as well as other colonies of the British. What country was Belize before? Today, Belize is a melting pot of cultures and heritages as is most of Central America. The rich mixture of heritages and the Belize history makes it a fascinating place.
Shielded Cable Assemblies Why Is Shielding Needed? Cable assemblies used for the transmission of data need to be protected from electromagnetic interference (EMI). EMI is a disturbance, sometimes called noise, which affects an assembly or electrical circuit due to either electromagnetic induction or electromagnetic radiation emitted from an external source. The disturbance may interrupt, obstruct, or otherwise degrade or limit the effective performance of the circuit and can range from a simple degradation of data to a total loss of data. The source of the disturbance may be any object, artificial or natural, that carries rapidly changing electrical currents, such as nearby electrical circuits and machinery. Installations such as the factory floor, data centers, and offices are typically electrically noisy environments. Electrical noise either radiated or conducted as electromagnetic interference (EMI), can seriously disrupt the proper operation of neighboring equipment. An assembly's insulation and jacket material protect a cable mechanically from scrapes and abrasion and environmentally from moisture and spills, but these components are transparent to electromagnetic energy and offer no protection. The primary way to combat EMI in assemblies is through the use of shielding. The shield surrounds the inner signal or power carrying conductors. The shield can act on EMI in two ways; first it can reflect the energy and secondly it can pick up the noise and conduct it to ground. Cables are offered with various degrees of shielding and offer varying degrees of shielding effectiveness. The amount of shielding required depends on several factors, including the electrical environment in which the cable is used, the cost of the cable, and issues such as cable diameter, weight, and flexibility. In some applications, an unshielded assembly may be used and installed in a controlled environment. This controlled environment, such as inside a metal cabinet or run through a metal conduit, protects the cable from ambient EMI. The metal of the enclosure shields the electronics, circuits, and assemblies inside. Types of Shielding There are two types of shielding typically used for cables: foil and braid. Foil shielding uses a thin layer of copper or aluminum, typically bonded to a carrier such as polyester to add strength and ruggedness. Tape shields provide 100% coverage of the conductors they surround, providing complete isolation from the external environment. Tape shields are thin which makes them difficult to work with, especially when applying a connector. Typically, rather than attempting to ground the entire shield, a drain wire is used to terminate and ground the shield. The second method of shielding used for cables is braiding, which is a woven mesh of bare or tinned copper wires. The braid provides a low-resistance path to ground and is much easier to terminate by crimping or soldering when attaching a connector. Braided shields, however, do not provide 100% coverage. Depending on the tightness of the weave, braids typically provide between 70% and 95% coverage. Because copper has higher conductivity than aluminum and a braid has more bulk for conducting noise, a braid shield is more effective than tape shields. However, braid shields add size and cost to the cable. When assemblies are used in very noisy environments, multiple shielding layers are often employed. The most common of these would be the use of both a foil and a braid. In composite cables, individual pairs or other components are sometimes shielded with a foil shield to provide crosstalk protection between those components and the other components of the cable. An overall foil, braid, or both would be still used on the cable. To reduce or eliminate EMI a cable with sufficient shielding for the application's needs should be used. Some environments may dictate the use of only a foil shield while other environments may dictate the use of a braid or foil/braid combination. Make sure to use a cable suited to the application. Repeatedly flexed cables usually require the use of a spirally wrapped shield as opposed to a braid shield. In a flex application foil shields have the potential to tear and should be avoided. The equipment that the cable is connected to needs to be properly grounded. The use of an earth ground is needed wherever possible. Most connector designs allow for a full 360° termination of the shield. Connectors used in a shielded cable assembly should offer shielding effectiveness equal to that of the cable. The connectors used in a shielded cable assembly should be manufactured with metal-coated plastic, cast zinc, or aluminum backshells. The components of a shielded assembly must match – a high quality cable won't improve the effectiveness of an assembly if a poor connector is used, and a well shielded connector won't improve the performance of a poorly constructed cable.
Catherine West was having no luck. Knee-deep in the cold waters of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, West scanned the rocky seabed for butter clams. The clams had buried themselves in the sand, as clams are wont to do, so she was looking for the telltale siphon—a small tube they stick out, to suck up the nutrient- and oxygen-rich seawater. “It looks like a black straw,” called her colleague, geologist Fred Andrus, digging on shore. West stared doubtfully down at the water, a mosaic of sea stars and spiny urchins under the surface. “Everything looks like a black straw,” she said. Aleutian Islands, Alaska West, a Boston University research assistant professor of archaeology, had come to the remote island of Unalaska—800 miles southwest of Anchorage in the Aleutian Islands—for a week in August 2017 to solve a mystery whose answers date back thousands of years. The butter clams, if the scientists could find some, were to be a critical piece of evidence. Scientists know, through sediment and ice core samples, that the Northern Hemisphere underwent a dramatic cooling period between about 2,500 and 4,700 years ago. And when archaeologists found a surprising cluster of bones in an ancient garbage heap here, they suspected that this global climate change may have had a dramatic effect on the island and its inhabitants. Using two sets of artifacts, seal bones and clamshells, as well as some other clues, West and her colleagues want to find out how far the temperature dropped in Unalaska during that cold snap and—if the change were drastic—how did the people and the animals adapt? The answers to these questions matter. The discoveries that West’s team hopes to make will teach us a lot about present-day commercial fisheries, marine mammal behavior, and global weather patterns, as well as the impact of climate shifts on all these things. Dramatic effects of climate change are already assailing the Arctic—like the rapidly thawing permafrost throughout Alaska—and scientists are beginning to understand better how fluctuating conditions in the far north influence weather around the globe. “We’re intimately connected on a climate level,” says West. “In Boston a few years ago, when we had feet and feet of snow, we know that that was an Arctic system coming down.” “Up here, they are already feeling the big influences of warming, especially further north. Their villages are crumbling into the ocean,” she continues. “We should be watching them as a predictor of what we are going to experience in Boston Harbor and New England. But I’m not sure that most people are as aware of that as they should be.” Unalaska Island is a strikingly beautiful place. Craggy mountains, softened by a coating of deep velvety green turf, rise at every turn, ringing cobbled beaches and harbors. The best known of these is Dutch Harbor, immortalized in the Discovery Channel series Deadliest Catch, which follows king crab fishing crews through winters on the Bering Sea. In “Dutch,” as everyone calls it, and throughout the island, humans are dwarfed by the magnificent green hills, as in some kind of Hobbit-y alpine fairyland. But the most striking characteristic of the island, one impossible to capture in photographs, is the ceaseless wind. People call the Aleutians the birthplace of the winds, and on this remote chain of about 69 islands, stretching for 1,100 miles from the tip of the Alaska Peninsula along the edge of the Bering Sea, the winds live, die, and reincarnate in the same instant—whirling from all directions. On Unalaska, the wind has its own name: williwaw. The williwaw whips down from the green hills, coats cars with gray silt, and topples cargo containers that aren’t sufficiently weighed down with rocks. Sometimes it just ruffles your hair. But it is always there. The inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands, known as Aleuts or the Unangan people, have lived there for 9,000 years, enduring extreme isolation, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, frequent fog, storms, rain, snow, and gale-force winds. Maritime hunters and gatherers, they had the sophistication and knowledge to live off the land and survive calamity. A volcano would erupt, leaving a layer of ash, and the Unangan people would come right back and build on top of it. “Aleuts lived in the most dangerous, even catastrophic northern area,” write archaeologists Allen McCartney and Douglas Veltre in the journal World Archaeology. “Northern Alaska, the Canadian Archipelago, and northern Greenland are, by comparison, gentle places of predictable seasonal changes.” The US government evacuated the Unangan people to the mainland during World War II, after Japanese bombers attacked the American air base at Dutch Harbor. Though some Unangan people returned to Unalaska, many did not; but we know from oral history, artifacts, and archaeology how the ancient people managed to thrive on the island. With no trees, they built houses of sod and made cooking fires from seal oil and driftwood. They crafted sewing needles from albatross bones and sewed waterproof parkas from long ribbons of seal gut. One plentiful thing was food: Pacific cod, sea lions, whales, otters, and clams. Archaeologists, studying buried Unangan settlements and artifacts, note the remarkable stability and persistence of their culture. There is, however, one mysterious blip, during that global cooling period known as the Neoglacial. The first hint of this blip came in the late 1990s, when archaeologists excavated a site in Unalaska called Margaret Bay and found, surprisingly, the bones of a ringed seal and possibly a polar bear. Then, in the early 2000s, the Alaska department of transportation decided to build a bridge on the island. The bridge footings were to land on the buried remains of a village, so archaeologists excavated that site as well. When archaeologists examined the Amaknak Bridge site artifacts, they found the usual bones—harbor seals, sea lions, fur seals, otters, puffins, murres, cod, and salmon. But they also found more unexpected artifacts: abundant remains of bearded and ringed seals, including juvenile ringed seals. The finds were surprising, since both species spend critical parts of their lives on sea ice; ringed seals, for instance, birth their pups on ice, hiding them in layers of snow to protect them from polar bears. But there’s no sea ice on this island today, or in historical memory, even in the dead of winter. In 2017, the Arctic sea ice crept only as far south as Alaska’s Bristol Bay, still about 350 miles north of Unalaska. That’s further than the distance from Montreal to Boston. “I remember thinking, that’s crazy,” says West, recalling the first time she heard about the find. “But I know the person who was identifying the stuff, and I have great confidence in her work, and I thought, that must be a pretty remarkable place.” So, what were these ice-loving seals doing in a place with no ice? Did they get lost? Did they drastically change their behavior? Did the Unangan hunters start traveling far north to harvest them? Or did the Neoglacial cooling period hit the Aleutians so hard that the harbor iced over? That would mark a dramatic change for the island’s inhabitants. “It would be like Boston Harbor freezing over and polar bears appearing on our landscape,” says West. “That would be kind of shocking. We’d have to change the way we do things a little bit.” The artifacts from the Amaknak Bridge and Margaret Bay sites, along with those from another nearby site, Amaknak Spit, now live at the Museum of the Aleutians in Unalaska. They are a remarkable scientific collection. The most valuable bounty comes from the site’s garbage piles, or middens, where thousands of shells of butter clams have leached calcium carbonate into the acidic soil, keeping bones and teeth remarkably well preserved, with plenty of shells left as well. Working with a $650,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, West and her two co-PIs—Michael Etnier, an anthropology research associate at Western Washington University, and Fred Andrus, a professor of geology at the University of Alabama—plan to reexamine the animal bones, searching for more evidence of bearded and ringed seals, as well as evidence of other ice-loving mammals like polar bears and belugas. Her team will also chemically analyze both ancient and fresh clamshells, trying to pin down an estimate of ancient water temperature. The team hopes that these two lines of evidence, along with an examination of other bones and artifacts, will paint a more detailed picture of what happened here thousands of years ago. Cracked teeth and flipper bones Michael Etnier picks up a heavy-duty Ziploc bag and pours a pile of bones onto a yellow plastic tray. As West and her two students, Anna Goldfield (GRS’17,’17) and Carly Buta (CAS’17), look on intently, Etnier begins a rapid-fire identification: sea lion distal radius, fur seal scapula, sea lion fifth toe, cracked canine tooth. Etnier, a marine mammal expert, is overseeing the mammal bone identification, and his skill and speed are astonishing; to the untrained eye, it all looks like garbage. “It is garbage!” Etnier shouts gleefully, sorting a harbor seal flipper bone from a fur seal humerus. “Somebody ate this as a meal 3,000 years ago and tossed it in the heap.” “I love the bones because I can pick one up and tell you, ‘Oh, that’s a Pacific cod,’ and I know someone here was eating Pacific cod for dinner one night,” says West. “And it sounds silly, but it feels powerful.” Etnier picks up a graceful curve of bone studded with tiny teeth—a seal mandible. “To figure out if these ringed seals were on the ice edge 30 miles from here or were being brought in, we need a massive, massive sample—which is what makes the Amaknak Bridge site such an amazing resource,” he says. “It was a gigantic site; they saved everything; it’s all been really well documented. So we’ll have these gigantic samples and we can then dig deeper and deeper into some of these research questions.” The Bering Sea provides a critical habitat for many marine mammal species—not just residents, like sea otters, but also migrants, like right whales and orcas. Because each plays a role in a complex ecosystem that reaches southward to the Pacific Ocean, understanding how these mammals may—or may not—adapt to climate change could have widespread implications. “In the Bering Sea and North Pacific Ocean, we have seen marine mammals responding to environmental changes both through their behavior and in the health of their populations,” says West. For instance, in the last five years, an unusual number of orcas have been plundering fishing lines in the Bering Sea, wreaking havoc on the halibut industry. As the mammals change, says West, “their critical relationship to the ecosystem—and to commercial interests—becomes increasingly clear.” Etnier’s analysis may offer more clues about mammals’ ability to adapt and also about the extent of past climate change: if he finds bones that were cracked to remove fat and marrow, for instance, that might indicate that people were short of food, struggling with the cold weather. But despite the promise hidden in this pile of bones, Etnier says that they alone can’t answer the climate question. That requires shell chemistry, he says: “The humble clam.” The humble clam Fred Andrus is back on the Amaknak Spit, having found no butter clams the previous day. He carries a spade and does not look optimistic. “If I were betting,” he says, “I’d bet against me.” Andrus walks to the waterline and sticks his spade in. He breaks through a layer of black rock and popweed, finds his way to gravelly sand, and digs in. About six or eight inches down, water begins to fill the hole. “Holler if you see something that looks like a clam!” he says. The data Andrus develops could be useful well beyond this current project, he says. “We’re focusing on butter clams for the archaeologists, but yesterday we collected, like, five different species of shellfish,” he says. Blue mussels, he notes, are a common food source throughout the world. “The mussels have commercial value, and there are actually some significant questions about their shell chemistry, their growth, that’s valuable in itself.” Regarding the Unalaska project, Andrus cautions that he won’t be able to create a “flawless digital thermometer of the past. We’re never going to be able to come up with a definitive sea surface temperature, but we’ll be able to say it’s cooler or warmer than usual,” he says. “If we use 10 different methods, and they all tell the same story, that’s a pretty compelling story.” Lessons in resilience The story of the Unangan people is embedded in the artifacts they left behind, many of which remain buried around the island. West, Goldfield, and Buta drove out to Summer Bay, an inlet of the Bering Sea, to have a look at a recent dig. The bay joins a freshwater lake and the salmon were running home—so many you could see them jumping from the water. The professor and her students walked across the beach to an eroded hillside, where West pointed her trowel at a thin line of black running horizontally across the brown dirt. It’s the earthen floor of a house, with charcoal, shell, and fish bones ground into it, packed down and densely compressed. “To actually stand here and look reminds you—it reminds me, at least—that these were real people,” she says. “I’m looking at other humans’ stuff, and not just doing lab work and counting bones and looking at chemistry.” What would those resilient ancient people make of us modern folk? In the past few months, our cities have been scorched by wildfires, flattened by hurricanes, shattered by earthquakes. It’s not so easy for us to go back and rebuild, to sew our own clothes, live off the sea. But maybe we can learn some lessons from the Unangan people about the value of listening to the land, living close to it, and adapting. “The people here were living in an environment that presented dramatic seasonal challenges,” says West. But they were “pretty flexible in the face of change. “While it may be difficult to see how such a small society can teach us about adapting to climate change today, working at this scale reminds us to look at our own, local environment—how is it changing as the climate changes? What will we need to do to adapt to those changes or protect our own infrastructure and resources?” she adds. “Many past ecosystems and people—like the Unangan people—successfully adapted as their environments changed, so knowing how and why they did will be a critical lesson for us, too.”
Kids and Earth Day are a natural combination -- with their sense of wonder and excitement about the environment, as well as their boundless energy, this is the perfect time to get kids involved in Earth Day activities like art projects, music, crafts and anything else that celebrate Earth. 01 of 08 Kids can learn about the Earth, its oceans, ice masses and continents by making their very own globe from strips of papier-mache wrapped around a balloon. Painting and naming each land mass, mountain range and body of water is a valuable geography lesson they can take home and keep for years. 02 of 08 Make a joyful noise unto the Earth with these two songs about Earth Day and kids' involvement in the celebration: "Recycle" and "The Earth and the Rainbow." Kids love music and singing, and these songs will help get them in the Earth Day spirit. 03 of 08 Kids can learn about recycling discarded items while making a whole menagerie of colorful animals. Egg cartons, plastic bottles, corks, bottle caps, grocery bags, popsicle sticks and other household items can be turned into caterpillars, fish, camels, birds and insects with just a little glue and imagination. 04 of 08 If a day spent indoors seems like a lousy way to celebrate Earth Day, get the kids outside and spend some time where the wild things roam. Most zoos and aquariums are planning special Earth Day festivities especially for the young ones, who can learn first-hand about the natural environment, the plants and animals living there, and why it's important to save them.Continue to 5 of 8 below. 05 of 08 If you're looking for some easy coloring for Earth Day to keep younger children thinking about nature, visit the website of the EPA for Earth Day coloring activities. This section of the EPA's site also includes links to other places with great ideas for celebrating Earth Day with kids. 06 of 08 Kids love it when you read them a story, and the following list of Earth Day-related titles is by no means complete: - Celebrating Earth Day: Circle the Year With Holidays, by Janet McDonnell - Every Day Is Earth Day: A Craft Book, by Kathy Ross - Keeper of the Swamp, by Ann Garrett - Mr. Garbage, by William H. Hooks - Gover's 10 Terrific Ways to Help our Wonderful World, by Anna Ross - Tanya's Big Green Dream, written by Lida Glaser - Pollution? No Problem!, by David Morichon - For the Love of Our Earth, by P.K. Hallinan 07 of 08 Originally designed in the 60s to celebrate the environmental movement, the green Earth Day flag has evolved over the years and now has a partner, the blue Earth Day flag. Pick one (or both) and hoist it on your nearest flag pole. 08 of 08 Birds are migrating back north this time of year -- help them on their journey by making an inexpensive pine-cone feeder for Earth Day. All you need is a pine cone, some string, and peanut butter (or lard -- this can be mixed with seeds, oats, corn meal or nuts). Smear the mixture onto the pine cone, then hang it outside to attract cardinals, chick-a-dees and other birds.
Figurative Language Lessons Johnny Appleseed • Information Links Figurative Language • Online Resources Ohio Instructional Management System “Descriptive Language and Theme – Grade Three” - Students tune their ears to listen for and appreciate descriptive language within texts. They identify and synthesize description and consider how it shows, supports or enhances an author’s intended message. “Visions of Poetry – Grade Four” - See, feel, hear and experience mood! This lesson offers students an opportunity to internalize the meaning of mood and its expression in a variety of different media. “The Right Mood – Grade Six” - In this integrated lesson, students compare how the three disciplines of music, art and literature create mood. They use this information to produce a piece of descriptive writing based on a piece of art or music selected to evoke a particular mood. While the concept of mood is introduced to students in the fourth grade, it remains a challenging concept for many. This lesson helps make the concept come alive at the same time it requires students to take a more advanced look at the meaning of mood. Ohio Resource Center • Reading - Scroll to the box that says "I know the ORC resource I want to see," enter the ORC Lesson number, and click "View Resource". “I Have a Metaphor” ORC Lesson #2674, Grades 4 - 7 - Topics: Reading – Reading-Strategies & Skills; Reading; Literature; Nonfiction - Professional Commentary: Many teachers integrate the speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. into their classroom instruction. “Figurative Language Awards Ceremony” ORC Lesson #2799, Grades 4 - 5 - Topics: Reading – Vocabulary; Children's Literature; Reading; Writing; Writing Strategies; Communication; Speaking; Literature - Professional Commentary: Using their knowledge of figurative language, students complete activities to identify examples of similes, metaphors, and personification heard during read aloud. Students compile a list of phrases, then nominate and vote on the best terms. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” ORC Lesson #4540, Grades 5 - 7 - Topics: Reading -- Vocabulary; Literature; Poetry - Professional Commentary: How does a poem or a song express feelings and meanings? Using the book Color Me Dark and a poem by James Weldon Johnson entitled “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, this lesson explores the use of figurative language and imagery. Students explore the origins of the poem and come to understand how it conveys a sense of hope and unity despite hardship. Other Online Resources Alice in Wonderland “Pictures in Words: Poems of Tennyson and Noyes,” Grades 6-8 “Figurative Language Lesson Plans & Activities” - “Hyperbole” by Celine Ellison Similes and Metaphors - “Poetry: Simile and Figurative Language,” Grades 3-4 - Interactive Simile Practice - “Lonely as a Cloud: Using Poetry to Understand Similes” - Includes links to poems that have similes such as "Willow and Ginkgo" by Eve Merriam, "A Red, Red Rose" by Robert Burns, "spring is like a perhaps hand" by E.E. Cummings, "Lost" by Carl Sandburg, "People Who Must" by Carl Sandburg, "Since Hannah Moved Away" by Judith Viorst, and "The Daffodils" by William Wordsworth - “A Simile and Metaphor Sample Lesson Plan for Teaching Similes and Metaphors,” Grades 5-12 - “Writing: Similes and Metaphors” - “The Bilingual Students: Understanding Language Imagery” by Ruth M. Wilson - Proteacher.net Discussion Threads - “Creating Original Characters, Themes, and Visual Metaphors for Your Digital Short Film”
HOP TO IT! Students will learn how a frog's strong back legs allow it to hop long distances. Segments from two ITV programs will be used to help students become interested in imitating the jumping behaviors of frogs. The students will estimate the distances they can jump with two different movements. They will jump and measure the actual distances to determine which kind of jumping resulted in longer jumps. The students will use this information to make second estimates and jumps. This information, as well as their personal reactions to the comfort and ease of each type of jump, will help students determine which kind of jumping is best for them. Although this lesson could stand alone, it would fit nicely as the opening activity in a science study about frogs or within a unit on measurement. This lesson can be completed in one day. Reading Rainbow #415: My Little Island The Magic School Bus #105: The Magic School Bus Hops Home Students will be able to: - estimate the distance they will travel with two different types of - measure the distance of the two different types of jumps using nonstandard measurements (such as linking cubes, especially for younger students) or standard measurements (centimeters, in most cases). - use the information gathered from the first set of two jumps to estimate the distance they will travel with a second round of jumps. - use the information they have gathered to draw a conclusion about the best type of jumping for them. Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS), Grades K-4: - Demonstrate an understanding of measurement concepts using metric and customary units. - Demonstrate an understanding of probability and statistics. - Estimate solutions to a problem situation. - Acquire scientific data and/or information. - Interpret scientific data and/or information. - Make inferences, form generalized statements, and/or make predictions using scientific data and/or information. if using nonstandard measure: - diagram of a hopping frog if using standard measure: - linking cubes - large paper clips - crayons or straws - tape measures or meter sticks - a recording sheet - pencil or crayon - front legs - back legs Tell students that in this activity they will be moving like a certain animal and measuring to see how well they do at moving like this animal. Ask the students to guess what animal they will be moving like. After several students have had the opportunity to guess, tell them that LeVar Burton was out on a search for one of these animals in the Reading Rainbow program about the book "My Little Island". Tell students that they should watch carefully to determine what animal LeVar was looking for and where he would find this animal. Background information: Frogs are amphibians. They have backbones and their skeletons are inside their bodies. Frogs are cold-blooded, so their body temperature stays the same as the air or water around them. Frogs usually have moist skin. A frog has a large mouth with a long sticky tongue that shoots out quickly to catch prey like insects. Frogs lay eggs in the water which hatch into tadpoles. Tadpoles go through metamorphosis, which is a series of changes to the size, shape, and appearance of it body. Frogs have four appendages. The two front legs are short and weak. Each front leg has four toes and is used for balance and to land after a jump. The two back legs are long and well developed. Each back leg has five toes and many frogs have webbed back feet used for swimming. A frog rests with its back legs folded so it can hop quickly to catch prey or to escape from predators. (Information about frogs adapted from Victor, E. (1975) Science for the Elementary School, Third Ed., New York: Macmillan Publishing, p. 524-525.) In this lesson, it is important that students learn how to jump safely and use this information during the jumping activity to prevent injuries. Demonstrate and explain the appropriate ways to jump carefully to the students. Frog jump: The student will squat, with hands on the floor in front of the feet. The student will jump a short distance and land on the hands and feet simultaneously. The hands and arms absorb part of the landing impact to prevent excessive strain on the knees. The students should be frequently encouraged to consider personal estimates and actual measures in order to discourage aspects of competition in jumping. Standing jump: The student will bend legs at knees, jump by taking off with both feet, swing arms forward upon takeoff, and will land on both feet. The arms help with an upswing and the movement of the body combined with the force of the feet helps lift the weight. A jumper lands lightly on the balls of the feet with the knees bent. (Information adapted from Dauer, V. P. & Pangrazi. (1989). Dynamic Physical Education For Elementary School Children. New York: Macmillan, p. 281, 282, 448.) Segments from two ITV programs are used in this lesson. Reading Rainbow is used as an anticipatory set to create interest in frogs. The Magic School Bus segment is used to help students focus on how frogs can jump. Since one of the purposes of using the first video is to discover the animal and what it can do, there are no pre-viewing activities. CUE the Reading Rainbow video to the point after the book reading segment and LeVar has been to a market to examine fruits and vegetables on sale there. BEGIN the video as LeVar says, "Some of the fruit here is pretty wild. But it's not only the wild life here on Monserrat. Meet me tonight up in the mountains and I'll show you what I mean." PAUSE after LeVar says, "Ssh! We're out here trying to catch mountain chickens. You gotta be quick. But they're usually quicker." Ask, "Where is LeVar?" (in the mountains, a place with lots of trees, dark) Ask, "What is LeVar looking for?" (mountain chickens) Ask, "What do you think mountain chickens are?" (Students may make various guesses such as birds or chickens.) Tell students to watch the next segment to see if they find a mountain chicken. RESUME the video to continue as LeVar and his guide are prowling in the dark. PAUSE as the hand reaches down before it picks up the frog. Ask, "Do you think they found something?" (yes) Ask, "What might he have found?" (a mountain chicken, a frog, others) Ask, "Why might it be hard to spot the mountain chicken?" (too dark, animal is camouflaged, its color makes it hard to see) Tell students to watch the next segment to see what he caught. RESUME video and PAUSE where guide picks up frog and says, "LeVar, I got one. Come, you see it." Ask, "What did he catch?" (a mountain chicken, a frog)Tell students to watch the next segment to see if the frog is really a mountain chicken. RESUME video to continue through the examination of the frog's back. PAUSE where LeVar says, "One of the reasons they're so difficult to catch." Ask, "Is it a mountain chicken? (yes) Why do you think they call it that? (it lives in the mountains, people like to eat frogs' legs, some people say it tastes like chicken) [Note: These points are not discussed in the video, so the teacher may need to discuss these ideas with the students.] Ask, "What is special about this frog?" (the eyes look fluorescent- they glow, the mouth can expand like a balloon to make sounds, the color of its back makes it hard to see) Tell students the frog's legs help it to do something special. Tell students to watch the next segment to see what else is special about its legs. RESUME the video. PAUSE after LeVar says, "Stay right there, you guy." Ask, "What are the frog's legs like? (long, strong, funny toes) What can the frog do? (jump far) How can the frog jump far? (strong legs push him) How did LeVar say the frog felt? (slippery) Why do you think the frog felt slippery? (he was wet, rain, frogs like to be wet) What did LeVar say the toes look like?" (twigs from a tree) Tell students that LeVar is going to put the frog down. Ask, "What do you think the frog will do?" (jump, hop away) Tell students to watch the next segment to see what the frog will do. RESUME the video. STOP the video where LeVar puts the frog on the ground and says, "There you go, guy." and the frog sits on the ground. Ask, "What did the frog do? (sat on the ground) Why do you think he didn't hop away? (he was scared, he was trying to hide) What do you think of when someone mentions frogs? Jumping, of course. But how far can a frog jump? Tell students to think about how far frogs can jump as they watch a segment of The Magic School Bus Hops Home. EJECT the Reading Rainbow video and INSERT The Magic School Bus Tell students to watch the first segment to see what the problem is. BEGIN The Magic School Bus video with the first appearance of the Magic School Bus. PAUSE after the bus shrinks and the cat first appears. Ask, "What is the problem? (the frog is missing) How will they find the missing frog? (by acting like a frog) What does the bus do? (turns into a frog, it shrinks, gets smaller) How big is the bus when it shrinks?" (about the size of a frog) Tell students to watch to see how they will know where to go. RESUME video to continue as bus hops. PAUSEwhere Ralphie says, "Ms. Frizzle, do we have to hop?" Ask, "What did the bus hop over? (a fence) Do you think a frog could hop over a fence like that? (yes) Where might Bella the frog have gone? (to find food) What kind of food did they say Bella would like? (bugs) Where might they go to find bugs?" (outside, FAST FORWARD until the cat begins to stalk the bus. Tell students to watch the next segment to see where the bus goes. RESUME video and continue as the bus jumps into a tree. PAUSE as Carlos says, "It's just a little mishap." Ask, "Where did the bus hop? (into a tree) Do you think a frog could really hop that far?" (It's pretty high, but some frogs live in trees.) FAST FORWARD past the jump out of the tree, past the fast moving water, past the heron and STOP the video where the beavers build a dam. Tell students to watch the next segment to see if Bella is there. RESUME video and continue as it shows the heron stalking the frog. PAUSE when the empty lily pad is shown and the children call, "Wanda!" Ask, "Where was Bella? (in a beaver pond) Why was she there? (slow moving water, food) Why did the frog disappear? (a heron was coming) What did the heron want? (to eat the frog) How did the frog get away from the heron?" (it hopped away)Tell students to watch the next segment to see if Bella and Wanda are OK. RESUME video. STOP the video after Ms. Frizzle says, "They're all part of the same food chain." Ask, "Why is the beaver pond a good place for Bella the frog to live? (It has food, slow moving water to swim in and lay eggs in, and space to hop.) What would the frog like to eat? (bugs) What did the frog do to catch a bug?" (hopped) Could we really shrink to be as little as a frog? No, it's not possible. But we can imagine that we can hop like a frog. They will see if they can jump better on four legs like a frog or on two legs like a person. Explain to the students that they will hop or jump in two different ways. One way will be more like the way a frog hops. Describe and model how to do a frog jump. (See explanation in background information section.) Then describe and model how to do a standing jump like a person might do. (See explanation in background information section.) Which way do the students think will make a longer jump? It is beneficial for students to have some points of reference about the measurements they will be using in the activity. For younger students, nonstandard measurement with materials such as linking cubes or large paper clips is an appropriate measurement tool. Show the students the materials they will use. About how long is one unit? About how long are ten units? Let students compare 1 unit, 10 units, and 100 units to things they know, such as parts of their bodies. A similar process should be followed if using standard measurements. Ask students to examine the tape measure and find a part of their hand which is about one centimeter. The width of a pinky, for example, is usually about one centimeter. Now ask students to use their hands to estimate the length of 10 centimeters. Young students may find they can open their fingers just a bit to get a hand spread which will match 10 centimeters on the tape measure. Then ask students to estimate and check on 100 centimeters on the tape measure. Children may relate this to the span of both arms stretched wide or to the length of a table or desk. Now that the students have some general ideas about the length of 1, 10, and 100 centimeters, they are ready to estimate. Each student should use a recording sheet (see attachment) to write an estimate for the distance he or she will travel with one frog jump and with one long jump. You may wish to use an overhead transparency of the recording sheet to demonstrate to students how to write their estimates. Emphasize that estimates are only guesses at this point and that we are not concerned about correctness. You might have the students write their estimates with crayons to discourage them from wanting to change the estimates after they do the actual jumping. After all students have made estimates for the distance they will go with each jump, the group is ready to begin. Identify the starting line and have each student do the frog jump. After jumping, each student should write the distance under "actual distance". Then have each student do the long jump and write the distance under "actual distance". When the actual distances are written on the recording sheet, the differences between the estimates and the actual measurements need to be determined. Calculators may be used for this. Students should now be asked to reflect upon their experiences in doing the activity the first time. Allow for about two minutes to reflect quietly. Ask students to use the information they found to make a second round of estimates on the bottom half of the recording sheet. After each of the members of the group has written estimates, the group is ready to complete the activity a second time with a new round of jumping and finding the differences between estimates and actual distances. Ask students to put a star by the kind of jump which took them farther. Then ask the students to put a happy face by the kind of jump which was easier. Have the students use this information to determine which type of jump was best for them. Make a graph of the choices made by the students. Which type of jump was chosen more often? Ask students why they think this The students can use the Internet to access the Froggy Page at Yale University through http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/sjl/froggy.html. Have the students use telecommunications to communicate the results of their jumping experiment and encourage others to try and send their results.Have students research to determine if any types of frogs are on the endangered species list. Why would these frogs be endangered? What can people do to Science: Bullfrogs eat bugs and herons eat bullfrogs. Frogs are part of a food chain. Have students research and create a picture to show the food chain mentioned briefly in The Magic School Bus Hops Home. Writing: Create a word web to tell about frogs. Ask students to think of things they know about frogs. This information could come from the video or from their own knowledge and experiences. You may wish to collect the information about frogs by writing a web such as this on the blackboard or on a chart. This information can be used by students to write about frogs. Mathematics: Have the students use a bar graph to compare the actual results of their best of each of the two types of jumps. Ask students to examine the graphs to help them make judgments about these two types of jumping. What other kinds of jumps might children make? Have the students determine another kind of jump and estimate, jump, record, graph, and compare these results to those from the first two types. What does this new information help us to understand about jumping? Health: Jumping can be good exercise. Have students experiment with other types of jumps, such as the long jump or the triple jump. Which kind of jump helps students jump farther? Click here to view the worksheet associated with this lesson. NOTE TO TEACHER For the english learner: The student who is learning English as a Second Language will benefit from the active demonstration and practice of vocabulary in the lesson. As the students participate in the activity, be sure to emphasize the words which tell what they are doing, such as squat, jump, hop, and land. Also be sure to emphasize the names of the parts of the body used for jumping, including hands, arms, feet, knees, and legs. These words may be printed on word cards to help the student connect the spoken word with the written word. Students will have the opportunity to use mathematical vocabulary, such as estimate, distance Lesson Plan Database Thirteen Ed Online
Too much sunlight can increase the potential for Macular Degeneration. As spring and summer months approach many of us will spend more time in the sun. Most of us are mindful of the risks of skin related diseases however are we aware of the risks that sunlight has on our vision? UV exposure is one of the major risk factors that cause macular degeneration. It’s estimated that 10% of people between 66 and 74 show some findings of macular degeneration and that percentage rises to 30% as the population ages past 75. Sometimes known as “Age-Related Macular Degeneration,” macular degeneration is abbreviated as AMD. This is because the disease usually occurs later in life, and because the risk for developing macular degeneration increases with age. Studies have shown macular degeneration probably develops due to a combination of factors, a leading one being the destruction of the macular pigment by blue light or sunlight. Within the past few years, research has provided eye care professionals with some exciting information. Studies have shown that: 1. Virtually all people who suffer from macular degeneration display a thinning of the macular pigment. 2. People who have a dense macular pigment are very unlikely to have or develop macular degeneration. These two facts, considered together, have led scientists to believe that the key to preventing and treating macular degeneration lies in maintaining the health of the macular pigment. The Macular Pigment The macula is an area in the centre of the retina of the human eye, in front of the fovea. The fovea is the area of the eye that contains the highest concentration of photoreceptors. It is responsible for sending signals re: detailed central vision, the type of vision that allows us to read, sew, drive a car, and even to recognize faces. Within the macula is a substance called the macular pigment. This substance is now thought to be essential in protecting the sensitive cells of the fovea from light damage. The macular pigment is made up of three carotenoids: lutein, zeaxanthin, and meso-zeaxanthin. The third of these xanthophylls, meso-zeaxanthin, has only recently been identified. Unlike the first two, meso-zeaxanthin is not found in food, and cannot be obtained through diet; it’s a product of a process within the eye involving lutein. The macular pigment protects the eye in two ways: 1. By neutralizing harmful free radicals, molecules that occur from processes such as oxygen metabolism, or come from outside sources such as pollution and 2. By filtering UV light so that blue light will not damage the sensitive cells of the fovea. Prevention And Treatment Now that these causes and mechanisms have been revealed, new ways of preventing and treating the disease are becoming evident. Obviously, protecting eyes from blue light is essential. Sunglasses with orange or red-orange lenses that filter 100% of UV rays should be worn regularly. And keeping a high level of antioxidants in the body can keep the macular pigment fit to combat free radicals. This can be achieved through a combination of diet and supplementation. For those who are already showing signs of macular degeneration, supplementing with the three carotenoids of the pigment has been shown to restore pigment density and reverse symptoms of the disease. The most effective formulation contains meso-zeaxanthin as well as lutein and zeaxanthin. Do you do anything to prepare yourself you sun exposure?
This image, captured by the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC), shows a number of trails of small craters. These trails, called secondary crater chains, are formed when ejecta from an initial impact are launched outward. As the ejecta fall back onto the planet's surface, they can form their own, often overlapping, small craters. This image was acquired as part of MDIS's high-resolution surface morphology base map. The surface morphology base map will cover more than 90% of Mercury's surface with an average resolution of 250 meters/pixel (0.16 miles/pixel or 820 feet/pixel). Images acquired for the surface morphology base map typically have off-vertical Sun angles (i.e., high incidence angles) and visible shadows so as to reveal clearly the topographic form of geologic features. The MESSENGER spacecraft is the first ever to orbit the planet Mercury, and the spacecraft's seven scientific instruments and radio science investigation are unraveling the history and evolution of the Solar System's innermost planet. Visit the Why Mercury? section of this website to learn more about the key science questions that the MESSENGER mission is addressing. During the one-year primary mission, MDIS is scheduled to acquire more than 75,000 images in support of MESSENGER's science goals. Date acquired: August 20, 2011 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 222325515 Image ID: 654912 Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) Center Latitude: -73.33° Center Longitude: 59.77° E Resolution: 220 meters/pixel Scale: From left corner to right corner, this image is approximately 320 km (200 miles) across Incidence Angle: 78.2° Emission Angle: 0.8° Phase Angle: 78.8° These images are from MESSENGER, a NASA Discovery mission to conduct the first orbital study of the innermost planet, Mercury. For information regarding the use of images, see the MESSENGER image use policy.
Band Pass Filters (BPFs) are used to pass (transmit) a range of wavelengths and to block (reflect) other wavelength on either side of the bandpass. The region of high transmittance is known as the passband and the region of high reflectance is known as the reject or reflect band. The pass-band and reflect-bands are separated by the roll-off region. The complexity of these filters depends primarily on the steepness of the roll-off region, the width of the pass-band and also on the ripple and insertion loss specifications in the pass-band. In the case of a relatively high angle of incidence, polarization dependant loss may also be a consideration. Center Wavelength [nm] This is the average or mean wavelength based on two points on the curve at the same transmittance level. A typical level is at Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM) or -3dB. At this level any ripple or other pass-band defect will not effect the center wavelength calculation. Pass-band (PB) [nm] This is a region of high transmittance. It is usually specified by a pass-band width, peak IL and ripple. The pass-band width is specified in nm at a certain transmittance level relative to the peak transmittance. e.g. PB @ -0.3 dB: 1530nm-1570 nm The pass-band can also be specified by defining a cent er wavelength (CWL) and pass-band width. e.g. CWL @ -0.3 dB: 1550+/-0.5 nm PB @ -0.3dB > 40 nm Reflect-band (RB) [nm] This is a region of high reflectance. It is specified by a reflect-band width in nm at a certain transmittance level relative to the peak transmittance, e.g., RB @ -30dB:1450-1525 nm and 1575-1630 nm The reflect-band can also be specified by defining a cent er wavelength (CWL), reflect-band width and operating wavelength range , e.g., RB @ -30 dB < 50 nm Operating Range 1450-1630 nm This is the region between a pass-band and a reflect band. This regions is called a dead-band or roll-off region and it does not typically contain any transmittance specifications. The roll-off slope is usually inherent in the pass-band and the reflect-band specifications. Polarization Dependent Loss (PDL) [dB] Polarization Dependent Loss (PDL) can be defined as the maximum change observed in transmittance or reflectance at a given wavelength as the light is cycled through all possible polarization states. The PDL can be calculated based on the difference between the s- and p-polarization states of light, i.e., Transmittance PDL(l) [dB] = Ts(l) [dB] – Tp(l) [dB] Peak insertion loss is the value of maximum transmission in the passband. Peak IL = T(lPeak) [dB] e.g. Peak IL < 0.1 dB within passband Usually the passband ripple is specified as the difference between the maximum and minimum transmittance in the passband width (see above figure). Note that this passband ripple is different from that of a substrate etalon ripple. Reflectance Isolation [dB] This is difference between the maximum reflectance in the pass-band and the minimum reflectance in the reflect-band. The minimum reflectance in the reflect-band is very often close to 0 dB so that the reflection isolation is typically dominated by the maximum reflectance in the passband. For filters with no absorption, the transmittance and reflectance must add up to unity. Hence, there is often a relationship between the specified reflection isolation in the passband and the sum of the peak IL and ripple in the passband, i.e., If the reflection isolation is specified to be -15 dB (corresponding to a reflectance of 3.2 %), then as T+R =1, the minimum transmittance in the passband is given by T=100-3.2=96.8 % which is equivalent to a 0.14 dB transmittance loss. Hence, to achieve a reflectance isolation of -15 dB, the transmittance loss must be less than 0.14 dB. Note that if a minimum allowed transmittance loss of 0.2 dB is specified along with a reflectance isolation of -15 dB, then the overriding transmittance loss to achieve the necessary reflectance isolation is 0.14 dB.
Dolphins are aquatic mammals. Dolphins are in fact whales, and some whales are in fact dolphins. Dolphins belong to the class of whales, called Odontoceti which actually means "toothed whales". As the name suggest this species of whales have teeth and are predators, unlike the baleen whales that eat plankton. Within the group of toothed whales is the family called Delphinidae or oceanic dolphins. Some species that are commonly referred to as whales like the Orca (Killer Whale) or Pilot Whale are members of the Delphinidae family and are classified as Size: Dolphins come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They can be as small as 4 feet long to 30 feet long (orca whales). Habitat: Dolphins can be found in all oceans and fresh water dolphins can be found in some of the world's largest rivers. Diet: Dolphins are predators they eat fish, squid, and crustaceans. Their diets can vary based on their environment and the available food sources. Senses: Dolphins have an acute sense of hearing. They have acute vision both in and out of the water. Dolphins have elastic lenses that expand and contract so they can see both above and below the water. A dolphin's sense of touch is well developed. A dolphin's skin has many nerve endings, and they are very sensitive to touch. On the other hand a dolphins has a limited sense of smell. Dolphins use a system of "radar" called echolocation for navigation. Description: Dolphins can vary in color, shape and size. A dolphin's skin feels like smooth and is often described as feeling like rubber. All species of Dolphins produce a series clicks and sounds that resemble whistles, moans, trills, grunts, and squeaks. They are able to communicate with their pod using different pitches and sounds. Did You Know? Orca Whales are actually dolphins. They are the largest species of dolphins growing up to 30 feet in length. Hunting: Most species of dolphins are highly social and often travel in groups called pods. They will often work as a group in order to coral fish and hunt. Gestation: Dolphins have long gestation periods and can carry their young 11 to 17 months depending on the species. Birth: All species of dolphins give birth to their calves tail first. They are the only mammal that gives birth tail first. The size of the dolphin's calf can vary depending on the species. Calves: Dolphins are known to form strong bonds between mother and calf. Sexual Maturity: Dolphins are very sexually active and often have multiple partners. Their can be fierce competition for breeding partners. Life Span: Dolphins can be afflicted with many diseases that are found in humans including: stomach ulcers, skin diseases, tumors, heart disease, urogenital disorders, and respiratory disorders. Some smaller species of dolphins have predators. All dolphins are sensitive to pollution and habitat destruction. Fishing nets can also result in the deaths of dolphins, as dolphins require air to breathe, if they become entrapped in a net they are unable to surface for air. Social Structure: Dolphins are highly social and travel in groups called pods. They form strong social bonds and have even been known to assist and support injured dolphins in their pods. They will also compete with each other and act aggressively in order to mate. Athleticism: Dolphins are effortless and efficient swimmers. Dolphins can swim up to five times faster than the fastest human Olympic swimmers. They can swim 25 mph for miles and with bursts of speed up to 35 mph. Unusual: Dolphins can voluntary breathers. They breathe when they are half sleep, during the sleeping cycle, one brain hemisphere remains active, while the other hemisphere shuts down. The active hemisphere controls the dolphin's surfacing and breathing behavior.
An anatomy project can display well-researched information pertaining to an interesting question about human anatomy and physiology, such as "Why do people cry?" or "Does stress increase a person's chances of catching a cold?" Another idea involves conducting an experiment on the impact of caffeine consumption on heart rate.Continue Reading To set up an experiment investigating the impact of caffeine on heart rate, a student should first gather a group of 10 or more adults and assign half of them to a placebo group and half to a control group. To perform a true blind study, the adults should not be made aware of whether they are in the placebo or control group. The adults should receive instruction not to eat or drink anything at least two hours prior to the experiment to control for the impact of other foods or beverages on heart rate. After having the adults rest for about five minutes, the resting heart rates of each adult should be recorded. Then, each adult drinks either a caffeinated or placebo beverage. It is important that the student makes sure to keep a record of which adults have the caffeinated or placebo drinks. After the adults drink their beverages, they are measured three times for pulse rate after five, 10 and 15 minutes have passed. Once all information is recorded, the student can gather it onto a graph and present the findings to a science class or at a science fair.Learn more about K-12 Curriculum
The volcanoes of Java are part of the “Ring of Fire,” an area of heightened seismic activity around Pacific Ocean Basin. Just three days after an earthquake struck Java, on May 27, 2006, the island’s Semeru Volcano showed signs of heightened activity. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) flying onboard NASA’s Terra satellite took this picture on May 30, 2006. In this image, Semeru’s summit is outlined in red. The outline indicates that MODIS detected unusually high surface temperatures. To the west of the summit are gray-brown clouds that dissipate as they move westward. These clouds could result from volcanic ash emitted by the Semeru Volcano. Semeru ranks among Indonesia’s most active volcanoes. It is Java’s highest volcano, rising 3,676 meters (over 12,000 feet) above the nearby coastal plains. Like its neighbor Merapi Volcano, it has claimed human lives in historical eruptions. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response team. - Terra - MODIS
On its way to Mercury in August, 2005, eight years ago, Messenger Spacecraft took 358 images with its wide-angle camera over 24 hours, one Earth rotation. The images were brought together in this 13 second time lapse video. From APODVideos: The spacecraft was 40,761 miles (65,598 kilometers) above South America when the camera started rolling on Aug. 2. It was 270,847 miles (435,885 kilometers) away from Earth – farther than the Moon’s orbit – when it snapped the last image on Aug. 3. Farther than the Moon’s orbit. Lit beautifully in the darkness of space, this is what Earth looks like as you leave it. You can also see Mercury spin. The smallest of our eight planets and the one closest to the Sun, Mercury is being well-documented by Messenger. After two years in orbit, it finished imaging 100% of the planet in early 2013.
The world is urbanizing rapidly. By 2050, almost 70% of the global population will reside in cities. As a result, a greater number of people are vulnerable to adverse shocks and stressors that affect cities, from natural hazards to air pollution and infectious diseases. To keep their residents safe, cities must learn to prevent and mitigate risks, and build their capacity to respond and recover from adverse events. Urban resilience is an emerging framework that can rally different sectors, among them disaster preparedness and response, humanitarian action, urban planning, and climate change mitigation, to work toward building safer and more sustainable cities. It views cities as complex systems composed of interconnected components — housing, water, health care or power — that each play a role in maintaining a well-functioning whole. By using a systems approach, stakeholders can better understand and anticipate the consequences that one type shock or stressor could have on different parts of the system. Toward integrated approaches Cities in low- and middle-income countries have struggled to respond to rapid urban growth with adequate infrastructure building. As a result, millions of people around the world live in unplanned, under-serviced neighbourhoods, often located in the more hazardous parts of cities. In order to think about cascading failures and their impact on the interconnection between different systems, you need to acknowledge that it’s more than one system that matters. Robin King, director of knowledge capture and collaboration at the World Resources Institute’s Ross Center For Sustainable Cities. The global south is also where the effects of climate change are being felt most intensely, leading to increased instances of disasters caused by natural hazards or extreme weather events like tropical storms and flooding. Governments, local communities, and development actors have historically worked in isolation from each other. When disaster strikes, humanitarian organizations have been on the frontline of the response, providing short-term relief to populations without always addressing the context in which a crisis occurs. That approach has shown its limitations, for instance, NGOs involved in relief efforts in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti found themselves largely ill-equipped for the type of large-scale planning required to rebuild the city. Without the link to risk reduction, there is also the danger that recovery efforts exacerbate future risk. “Resilience strategies are most successful when local communities are involved.” Robin King, director of knowledge capture and collaboration, World Resources Institute’s Ross Center For Sustainable Cities Government stakeholders also tend to operate in silos. It would be difficult to make plans for improving infrastructure in an informal settlement without taking into consideration the socio-economic makeup of its population, the health hazards caused by inadequate waste management, or the national policies that influence land tenure. Yet the type of cooperation between municipal departments and across all levels of government that’s required in order to build cities in a way that encompasses all dimensions of sustainable development, is often lacking. Resilience can help stakeholders tackle immediate needs while keeping long-term sustainable goals in mind, in line with global frameworks including the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the Sustainable Development Goals, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and the New Urban Agenda. “It includes things like thinking about how a bus line is going to be able to continue to operate going through an area that has really poor drainage, which is often an informal area, during the monsoon season,” King explained. In the past few years, various actors have developed toolkits and frameworks to guide their work through a resilience and systems lens, among them the International Rescue Committee, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the Global Facility for Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery. UN-Habitat’s City Resilience Profiling Tool, which the agency uses when working in partnership with cities, is one of the most comprehensive of these frameworks. It uses a phased approach to collect data on risks and hazards, identify relevant stakeholders, and map various urban systems, before providing a set of recommendations for cities to implement. “We basically do an MRI of an urban system, and provide the city with a diagnosis,” Esteban Leon, head of the Urban Resilience Profiling Programme at UN-Habitat. The methodology is highly participative and involves multiple stakeholders, which helps them take ownership of the process and move to implementing the recommendations. And it places a focus on making evidence-based, data-driven recommendations, which Esteban said prevents the process from being politicized by local governments. “When you present this publicly in front of everyone, it’s very difficult for politicians to deny that this is evidence,” he explained. “It serves as an accountability mark.” Resilience strategies are most successful when local communities are involved, King added. The impacts of shocks can sometimes play out at a hyperlocal level, and communities are best positioned to voice their needs and possible solutions to challenges, she explained. In Pune, India, waste pickers were integrated into the formal waste management system thanks to the participation of local civil society organizations in policy reform, an outcome that allowed the city to save on the costs typically associated with centralized waste management. “The overall solution was better for everybody,” King said. “It was better for the poor people, it was better for the people who needed their waste picked up, and it was better for the city overall because they didn’t have to raise taxes as much.” A multidisciplinary approach Still, cities can face many hurdles when designing and implementing resilience strategies, one of them being the high level of collaboration that’s required between urban actors. That’s why the Resilient Cities Network is championing the creation of chief resilience officer positions within municipalities and regional governments. CROs can act as a single point of contact for cross-cutting initiatives, said Lauren Sorkin, executive director of the Resilient Cities Network. “We’ve often joked that the chief resilience officer is another name for a ‘chief silo buster,’ and that you have to go around and knock down the walls between your colleagues to solve complex challenges.” Another challenge lies around data collection. Low- and middle-income countries often lack the capacity to gather quality data, which then creates knowledge gaps. Part of UN-Habitat’s work with the City Resilience Profiling Tool lies in helping cities build their capacity to gather data. In Asunción, Paraguay’s capital, the collaboration with UN-Habitat led the government to start collecting gender-disaggregated data, Leon said. In instances where official data sources are lacking, resilience practitioners should not hesitate to partner with local communities, said RCN’s Sorkin. When Chennai’s CRO Krishna Mohan Ramachandran took office, he partnered with local universities to conduct surveys and needs assessments in informal settlements. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the municipality was able to set up food delivery programs in those communities within days, based on the data that was previously collected. “You can activate those multiple benefits because you know the communities, but you have to start that work as part of your resilience plan and strategy. And that is the responsibility of those resilience officers from day one,” Sorkin explained. The current pandemic, Sorkin says, has further demonstrated how interconnected the various components of resilience can be, and why cities shouldn’t focus on one area at the expense of another. “We’ve confirmed that the systems approach is the only approach. We’re only as strong as our weakest link,” she said. Article originally published in Devex
THE EVOLUTION OF METABOLISM Because cells originated in a sea of organic molecules, they were able to obtain food and energy directly from their environment. But such a situation is self-limiting, so cells needed to evolve their own mechanisms for generating energy and synthesizing the molecules necessary for their replication. The generation and controlled utilization of metabolic energy is central to all cell activities, and the principal pathways of energy metabolism (discussed in detail in Chapter 3) are highly conserved in present-day cells. All cells use adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP) as their source of metabolic energy to drive the synthesis of cell constituents and carry out other energy-requiring activities, such as movement (e.g., muscle contraction). The mechanisms used by cells for the generation of ATP are thought to have evolved in three stages, corresponding to the evolution of glycolysis, photosynthesis, and oxidative metabolism (Figure 1.4). The development of these metabolic pathways changed Earth’s atmosphere, thereby altering the course of further evolution. In the initially anaerobic atmosphere of Earth, the first energy-generating reactions presumably involved the breakdown of organic molecules in the absence of oxygen. These reactions are likely to have been a form of presentday glycolysis the anaerobic breakdown of glucose to lactic acid, with the net energy gain of two molecules of ATP. In addition to using ATP as their source of intracellular chemical energy, all present-day cells carry out glycolysis, consistent with the notion that these reactions arose very early in evolution. Glycolysis provided a mechanism by which the energy in preformed organic molecules (e.g., glucose) could be converted to ATP, which could then be used as a source of energy to drive other metabolic reactions. The development of photosynthesis is generally thought to have been the next major evolutionary step, which allowed the cell to harness energy from sunlight and provided independence from the utilization of preformed organic molecules. The first photosynthetic bacteria probably utilized H2S to convert CO2 molecules a pathway of photosynthesis still used by some bacteria. The use of H2O as a donor of electrons and hydrogen for the conversion of CO2 to organic compounds evolved later and had the important consequence of changing Earth’s atmosphere. The use of H2O in photosynthetic reactions produces the by-product free O2; this mechanism is thought to have been responsible for making O2 abundant in Earth’s atmosphere, which occurred about 2.4 billion years ago. Generation of metabolic energy Glycolysis is the anaerobic break- down of glucose to lactic acid. Photosynthesis utilizes energy from sunlight to drive the synthesis of glucose from CO2 and H2O, with the release of O2 as a by-product. The O2 released by photosynthesis is used in oxidative metabolism, in which glucose is broken down to CO2 and H2O, releasing much more energy than can be obtained glycolysis. The release of O2 as a consequence of photosynthesis changed the environment in which cells evolved and is commonly thought to have led to the development of oxidative metabolism. Alternatively, oxidative metabolism may have evolved before photosynthesis, with the increase in atmospheric O2 then providing a strong selective advantage for organisms capable of using O2 in energy-producing reactions. In either case, O2 is a highly reactive molecule, and oxidative metabolism, utilizing this reactivity, has provided a mechanism for generating energy from organic molecules that is much more efficient than anaerobic glycolysis. For example, the complete oxidative breakdown of glucose to CO2 and H2O yields energy equivalent to that of 36 to 38 molecules of ATP, in contrast to the 2 ATP molecules formed by anaerobic glycolysis (see Figure 1.4). With few exceptions, present-day cells use oxidative reactions as their principal source of energy.
EASTER DIGITAL ACTIVITIES \| Functional, differentiated, and now PAPERLESS skill work that is the perfect addition to your early learning rotations and centers. This digital basics set of workpages will help your students practice basic math and ELA skills, and once mastered, can be a set of skills they complete successfully and independently. What is included? • 8 (nine) different digital activities (please read list below to see skills practiced) • instructions for opening and editing the document (*must have access to Google Slides™) • direct link to copy and save the files to your Google Drive™ What skills are practiced? Build a Bunny - 11 pages - 1 activity: given a model, build a bunny to match it Comparing Groups - 11 pages - 1 activity: look at the groups and determine greater than, less than, or equal to CVC Spelling - 16 pages - 1 activity: look at the picture and use the letters to spell that CVC word Letter Matching - 14 pages - 1 activity: match uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet CVC Spelling - 22 pages - 2 activities: listen to the sentence, then choose (or type) the correct word to complete the sentence. Multiplication - 17 pages - 1 activity: move the correct number to complete the multiplication sentence Easter Shapes - 15 pages - 1 activity: look at the shape, count how many sides it has, then type that number in the box STEM - 7 pages - 1 activity: read about a place, then use supplies to build that place using supplies mentioned Build Numbers to 50 - 31 pages - 1 activity: look at the number, then make that number using the moveable eggs Nervous or a little curious about going digital in a special needs classroom? Connect with me: • • • • • • Don't forget about the green ★ to follow my store to get notifications of new resources and freebies! Thanks for Looking and Happy Teaching!
In this video, Monte explores an approach to the question “What is the purpose of life?” developed by the Greek Philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC). Aristotle reasoned that just as artificial things (such as tools and workers) have characteristic capabilities with respect to which they are judged to be good or do well, so each kind of natural thing (including plants and humans) has characteristic capabilities with respect to which can be judged, objectively, to be good or do well. For plants and animals these mostly have to do with nutrition and reproduction, and in the case of animals, pleasure and pain. For humans, these vegetative and animal capabilities are necessary but not sufficient for our flourishing. Since reason and the use of language are the unique and highest capabilities of humans, the cultivation and exercise of intellectual friendships and partnerships, moral and political virtue, scientific knowledge and (above all) theoretical philosophy, was argued by Aristotle to be the ultimate purpose of human life.
What is a test pattern? It is a picture or pattern that is broadcasted so that the quality of the television picture received can be examined and improved if necessary by using the controls on the equipment. History of test pattern During 1939, the Indian Head test pattern was developed for testing. It often appeared just before the broadcasting started in the morning and just after the broadcast ended at night. The Indian head image was integrated into lines and patterns which was used for calibrating broadcast equipment. This was then later replaced by color bars when in the year 1960 the color television made its debut. Color test pattern Color test patterns is the process through which one can recognize patterns using a machine learning algorithm. Pattern recognition can also be defined as the classification of data based on information already gained on statistical information that is taken from patterns and their representation. One of the important aspects of pattern recognition is the application potential.
An arms race occurs when two or more countries increase the size and quality of military resources to gain military and political superiority over one another. The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union is perhaps the largest and most expensive arms race in history; however, others have occurred, often with dire consequences. Whether an arms race increases or decreases the risk of war remains debatable: some analysts agree with Sir Edward Grey, Britain's foreign secretary at the start of World War I, who stated "The moral is obvious; it is that great armaments lead inevitably to war." Dreadnought Arms Race With the Industrial Revolution came new weaponry, including vastly improved warships. In the late nineteenth century, France and Russia built powerful armies and challenged the spread of British colonialism. In response, Britain shored up its Royal Navy to control the seas. Britain managed to work out its arms race with France and Russia with two separate treaties. But Germany had also drastically increased its military budget and might and built a large navy to contest Britain’s naval dominance in hopes of becoming a world power. In turn, Britain further expanded the Royal Navy and built more advanced and powerful battlecruisers, including the 1906 HMS Dreadnought, a technically advanced type of warship that set the standard for naval architecture. Not to be outdone, Germany produced its own fleet of dreadnought class warships, and the standoff continued with both sides fearing a naval attack from the other and building bigger and better ships. Germany couldn’t keep up, however, and Britain won the so-called Anglo-German Arms Race. The conflict didn’t cause World War I, but it did help to increase distrust and tensions between Germany, Britain and other European powers. Arms Control Efforts Fail After World War I, many countries showed an interest in arms control. President Woodrow Wilson led the way by making it a key point in his famous 1918 Fourteen Points speech, wherein he laid out his vision for postwar peace. At the Washington Naval Conference (1921-1922), the United States, Britain and Japan signed a treaty to restrict arms, but in the mid-1930s Japan chose not to renew the agreement. Moreover, Germany violated the Treaty of Versailles and began to rearm. This started a new arms race in Europe between Germany, France and Britain — and in the Pacific between Japan and the United States — which continued into World War II. Nuclear Arms Race Though the United States and the Soviet Union were tentative allies during World War II, their alliance soured after Nazi Germany surrendered in May 1945. The United States cast a wary eye over the Soviet Union’s quest for world dominance as they expanded their power and influence over Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union resented the United States’ geopolitical interference and America’s own arms buildup. Further fueling the flame of distrust, the United States didn’t tell the Soviet Union they planned to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, although they had told them they had created the bomb. To help discourage Soviet communist expansion, the United States built more atomic weaponry. But in 1949, the Soviets tested their own atomic bomb, and the Cold War nuclear arms race was on. Recommended for you The United States responded in 1952 by testing the highly destructive hydrogen “superbomb,” and the Soviet Union followed suit in 1953. Four years later, both countries tested their first intercontinental ballistic missiles and the arms race rose to a terrifying new level. Cold War Arms Race Heads to Space President Dwight D. Eisenhower tried to tone down the rhetoric over the success of the launch, while he streamed federal funds into the United States’ space program to prevent being left behind. After a series of mishaps and failures, the United States successfully launched its first satellite into space on January 31, 1958, and the Space Race continued as both countries researched new technology to create more powerful weapons. Throughout the 1950s, the United States became convinced that the Soviet Union had better missile capability that, if launched, could not be defended against. This theory, known as the Missile Gap, was eventually disproved by the CIA but not before causing grave concern to U.S. officials. Many politicians used the Missile Gap as a talking point in the 1960 presidential election. Yet, in fact, U.S. missile power was superior to that of the Soviet Union at the time. Over the next three decades, however, both countries grew their arsenals to well over 10,000 warheads. Cuban Missile Crisis The Cold War arms race came to a tipping point in 1962 after the John F. Kennedy administration’s failed attempt to overthrow Cuba’s premier Fidel Castro, and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev implemented a secret agreement to place Soviet warheads in Cuba to deter future coup attempts. After U.S. intelligence observed missile bases under construction in Cuba, they enforced a blockade on the country and demanded the Soviet Union demolish the bases and remove any nuclear weapons. The tense Cuban Missile Crisis standoff ensued and came to a head as Kennedy and Khrushchev exchanged letters and made demands. The crisis ended peacefully; however, both sides and the American public had fearfully braced for nuclear war and began to question the need for weapons that guaranteed “mutually assured destruction.” Arms Races Continue The Cold War ended in 1991; however, in 1987, the United States and the Soviet Union had signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) to limit the scope and reach of all types of missiles. Other treaties such as the START 1 treaty in 1991 and the New START treaty in 2011 aimed to further reduce both nations’ ballistic weapons capabilities. The United States withdrew from the INF treaty in 2019, however, believing that Russia was noncompliant. Though the Cold War between the United States and Russia is over, many argue the arms race is not. Herman, Steve. US Leaves INF Treaty, Says Russia ‘Solely Responsible.’ VOA. Hundley, Tom. Pakistan and India: The Real Nuclear Challenge. Pulitzer Center. Sputnik, 1957. Office of the Historian. The Reader’s Companion to American History. Eric Foner and John A. Garraty, Editors. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. What Was the Missile Gap? Central Intelligence Agency.
The following terms and definitions are often associated with and provide a common, working language for ADL’s educational anti-bias programs and resources. The definitions are written for older youth to adult reading levels, unless otherwise specified, and some include age-appropriate versions for younger ages. Ability: Having the mental and/or physical condition to engage in one or more major life activities (e.g., seeing, hearing, speaking, walking, breathing, performing manual tasks, learning or caring for oneself). Ableism: The marginalization and/or oppression of people who have disabilities, including temporary, developmental, physical, psychiatric and/or intellectual disabilities. Activist: Someone who gets involved in activities that are meant to achieve political or social change; this also includes being a member of an organization which is working on change. - Elementary school version: A person who uses or supports actions such as protests to help make changes in politics or society. Ageism: The marginalization and/or oppression of older people based on the belief that older people are inferior, incapable or irrelevant. Ageism also describes the marginalization and/or oppression of people who are too young to have social independence. Aggressor: Someone who says or does something harmful or malicious to another person intentionally and unprovoked. - Elementary school version: Someone who says or does hurtful things to another person on purpose and over and over. Ally: Someone who speaks out on behalf of or takes actions that are supportive of someone who is targeted by bias or bullying, either themselves or someone else. - Elementary school version: Someone who helps or stands up for someone who is being bullied or the target of bias. Anti-Bias: An active commitment to challenge bias within oneself, others and institutions. Anti-Immigrant Bias: The marginalization and/or oppression of people who are of immigrant origin, transnational or outside the dominant national identity or culture. (Other related terms include xenophobia to describe a fear to anyone or anything that is perceived to be foreign or strange.) Anti-Muslim Bias: The marginalization and/or oppression of people who are Muslim based on the belief in stereotypes and myths about Muslim people, Islam and countries with predominantly Muslim populations. (Often called Islamophobia to describe a fear of anyone or anything that is perceived to be of Islamic religion or culture. Anti-Muslim bias is supported by racism, anti-immigrant bias and religious bias. People who are not Muslim may be racialized as Muslim and experience prejudice and/or discrimination.) Antisemitism: The marginalization and/or oppression of people who are Jewish based on the belief in stereotypes and myths about Jewish people, Judaism and Israel. Anti-Trans Bias: The marginalization and/or oppression of people who are transgender and/or non-binary (identifying as neither a man nor a woman) based on the belief that cisgender (gender identity that corresponds with the sex one was assigned at birth) is the norm. (Often called transphobia to describe a fear of anyone who is perceived to be transgender. Other related, specific terms include cissexism, transmisogyny and binarism.) Bias: An inclination or preference either for or against an individual or group that interferes with impartial judgment. - Elementary school version: A preference either for or against an individual or group that affects fair judgment. Bigotry: An unreasonable or irrational attachment to negative stereotypes and prejudices. - Elementary school version: Prejudice and/or discrimination against a person or group based on stereotypes. Bisexual: A person who is emotionally, physically and/or romantically attracted to some people of more than one gender. Bullying: Repeated actions or threats of action directed toward a person by one or more people who have (or are perceived to have) more power or status than their target in order to cause fear, distress or harm. Bullying can be physical, verbal, psychological or any combination of these three. Bullying behaviors can include name-calling, obscene gesturing, malicious teasing, rumors, slander, social exclusion, damaging a person’s belongings, threats and physical violence. - Elementary school version: When a person or a group behaves in ways—on purpose and over and over—that make someone feel hurt, afraid or embarrassed. Bystander: Someone who sees bias or bullying happening and does not say or do anything. All forms of bias can be both explicit (aware, voluntary and intentional) and implicit (unaware, involuntary and unintentional). All manifestations of bias and discrimination can be both personal (an individual act of bias, meanness or exclusion) or systemic (policies and practices supported and sanctioned by power and authority and that benefit some and disadvantages others). The specific, pervasive systems of oppression and marginalization described in some of these definitions are upheld by institutionalized, cultural and historical ideologies and discrimination. These systems exist simultaneously, compounding the harm to individuals with multiple marginalized identities. Individual acts of prejudice and discrimination are informed by and perpetuate these systems, which exist regardless of individual prejudices and interpersonal acts of bias.
A new collection of free and printable family of facts worksheets is available to help you evaluate your students’ skill in solving fact family problems. Check out the first worksheet below! These fact family worksheets contain simple exercises about number relations. Make your kids understand fact family easier by comparing it to how a real family works. Numbers can have different relationship with each other at different times, like people in a family. Three fact families can be situated in many different ways using addition and subtraction. More family of facts worksheets are presented in the images below. When 3 numbers are related, a fact family is built. These 3 numbers make a set of related Math facts. Studying about fact family is important in Math. By working on the exercises in the worksheets, children can learn to determine the relationship between the numbers in a fact family. Eventually they will understand the relationship concept of each number in a family. These fact family worksheets are made to help your children understand that numbers in a fact family are related. All pictures presented are printable and available in best quality. Print them all and make your students’ skill in connecting numbers’ relationship well practiced!
No Products in the Cart First Grade Math Mats Bundle - Daily Math Practice and Review for the school year. This printable and digital resource (Google Slides) includes 20 different Math Mats. Each mat has 4 different math skills and standards on it for students to practice and review. This resource is comprehensive and provides a lot of spiraling math practice each month. Great for math workshop, math journals, and morning work. Build math fact fluency with these math activities and story problems. Questions and activities on addition, subtraction, word problems, 2D and 3D geometry and shapes, measurement, time, numbers to 100, place value, graphing, money, patterns, and more! Buy the bundle and SAVE $9 (2 packs for FREE)! This BUNDLE is a collection of 10 monthly Math Mat resources. 3 RESOURCES IN 1: What is included in this Math Mats Bundle: Aug/September Math Mats October Math Mats November Math Mats December Math Mats January Math Mats February Math Mats March Math Mats April Math Mats May Math Mats June Math Mats Look at the PREVIEW for a look at the 4 ways to use Math Mats and a breakdown of what a Math Mat looks like and how it can be used. The activities align to the Common Core standards for first grade. This is perfect for first grade, but could also be used for a challenge in Kindergarten and for extra practice/as review for second grade. Additional pages are provided for Canadian users. Additional pages include Canadian spelling and Canadian money. Check out a detailed blog post about Math Mats HERE! 4 ways to use Math Mats in your classroom! 1. Print on cardstock & laminate. Use with white board markers during your math centers! 2. Photocopy with the booklet cover and staple into a booklet. Have your students complete 1 mat a day for morning work or for extra practice during math workshop! 3. Shrink the pages and have your students use the mats in their Interactive Math Notebooks! 4. Photocopy and place into a math folder to practice each day. The skills covered in Math Mats include: Addition word problems Subtraction word problems Addition math fact practice with fingers, number lines, 10 frames, and pictures, as well as figuring out the missing addends, adding 3 numbers, and whether equations are true or false. Subtraction math fact practice with fingers, number lines, 10 frames, and pictures, as well as finding out the missing numbers, subtracting 3 numbers, and whether equations are true or false. 2D Geometry - draw, identify, and describe shapes 3D Geometry - identify, describe, and match shapes with real life objects Measurement - counting number of units, describing which object is tallest/shortest/longest, and drawing objects that are taller/shorter/longer Time to the hour and half hour - add hands on clocks & reading clocks Months of the year Numbers to 100 - fill in missing numbers and completing number charts Write number words to 20 Place value to 20 - counting and drawing ones and tens blocks Greater and less than 1/10 more or less Number order to 100 Ordinal numbers to 10 Skip Counting by 2's, 5's, & 10's - counting groups and using the skip counting patterns Graphing - adding data onto graphs and answering questions Sorting - counting groups and making a sorting rule Patterning - create and complete different types of patterns *Money - identify and count coins (provided in Canadian on additional pages) Upon purchase, you will be able to instantly download a ZIP file for each month that includes a printable PDF, PPT files, details for using with Google, and images/instructions on how to use in Seesaw. You might also be interested in: Stay connected with Proud to be Primary ♥Join our email list and get weekly teacher tip emails and access to our FREE resource library. ♥Visit our website at Proud to be Primary for tons of engaging ideas for teaching kids in the classroom! ♥Join our Facebook group and connect with thousands of PROUD primary teachers like yourself. Please read the description, review the preview file, and read the FAQ in our Help Center carefully before purchasing. Question not answered? Reach out to support at support@proudtobeprimary. All digital sales on Proud to be Primary of resources are considered final and non-refundable. © Copyright Proud to be Primary, Elyse Rycroft. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to copy pages specifically designed for student or teacher use by the original purchaser or licensee. This product is licensed for personal classroom use ONLY unless multiple licenses are purchased. The reproduction, alteration, adaptation, copying, or sale of any part of this product is strictly prohibited. Read the full Terms and Conditions HERE.
This lesson tests both your vocabulary and your spelling. All the stems (the starts of words) below can have '-able' or '-ible' added to them. Can you decide whether they need able or ible? Once you have decided, try to match the word to the correct sentence. Good luck and let us know how you get on. -able and -ible are both suffixes, groups of letters that are added to a word to change its meaning or use. When -able and -ible are added to words it generally means 'capable of being' e.g. Enjoyable: can enjoy. -able When the root word looks like a whole word then you should be able to add able: Enjoy + able = Enjoyable When the stem word ends with 'e', drop the 'e' and add '-able'. Value + able = Valuable -ible when the full root word is not a whole word you can add ible. Ed + ible = Edible Because English has plenty of irregular words, sometimes this 'drop the e rule' does not apply. All you can do is try to remember the irregular words. Many of them have a c or g before the e e.g. noticeable, changeable. Use -ible or -able with a root word to complete each sentence. Only use each stem word once:
Diabetic peripheral neuropathy is a type of nerve damage that affects the nerves of the arms, legs, hands, and feet, causing symptoms such as pain, numbness, and tingling in the affected areas. According to the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse, as many as 70% of people with diabetes eventually develop neuropathy. Pain from this condition is often difficult to treat, but researchers at the University of Virginia have recently made a discovery in mice that may shed light on how to effectively reduce nerve pain. Previous studies have indicated that a certain type of calcium channel (a structure that allows cells to communicate with one another) plays a role in the development of peripheral neuropathy pain. To investigate how these calcium channels contribute to neuropathy pain, researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine examined mice with neuropathy, Type 2 diabetes, and morbid obesity. They found that high levels of blood glucose change the structure of the calcium channels in such a way that the channels are forced open and calcium is released into the nerve cells. This overload of calcium causes the cells to become hyperactive, which in turn causes the characteristic symptoms of neuropathy such as tingling and pain. “Normally pain is useful information because it alerts us that there is a damaging effect — something happening to tissues. But this pain is typically without any obvious reason,” says researcher Slobodan M. Todorovic, MD, PhD. “It’s because nerves are being affected by high levels of glucose in the blood. So nerves start working on their own and start sending pain signals to the brain. It can be a debilitating condition that severely affects quality of life.” Dr. Todorovic and his colleague, Vesna Jevtovic-Todorovic, MD, PhD, showed that the pain from neuropathy could be reduced in the mice through the use of neuraminidase, a substance that naturally occurs in both animals and humans. The researchers note that this finding may help with the development of treatments not only for neuropathy pain, but for other conditions that cause chronic pain such as combat wound injuries or nerve damage from accidents. For more information, read the article “Discovery Shows the Way to Reverse Diabetic Nerve Pain” or see the study in the journal Diabetes. And for more on dealing with neuropathy pain, click here. Source URL: https://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/blog/mouse-study-sheds-light-on-cause-of-neuropathy-pain/ Copyright ©2019 Diabetes Self-Management unless otherwise noted.
Subtracting from a 2 digit number Show the number square (below) and explain that, if we need it, we will use this to help us subtract. We will be subtracting 2-digit numbers by counting back in 10s and 1s. Write down 76 – 35 = and read it together. Model solving the subtraction by counting back three 10s from 76 to 46, then subtracting the 5. Most children should know 6 – 5 = 1 because 1 + 5 = 6. So 76 – 35 = 41. Demonstrate this using Number square tool. Repeat, calculating 58 – 23 =. Remind them to count back the 10s then subtract the 1s by using the number facts 8 – 3, or by counting back three 1s. When you have done this, model using the number square. Demonstrate counting back 20 (up two 10s on the grid) to 38, then back 3 to 35. Remind children that subtraction cannot be done in any order; we canʼt swap the numbers round and still get the same answer. Model answering 56 – 43 = by counting back four 10s then three 1s. Then model switching it round to 43 – 56 = and ask children why this does not give the same answer. Show nine objects and ask children to take away six. How many are left? Now ask them to try and take nine objects away from six and see what happens! Agree that there aren't enough objects to subtract nine. Adding 2 digit numbers Explain to children they will be adding two 2-digit numbers. We are all getting really good at this so it should be no problem! Write on the whiteboard 26 + 42 =. Read it together. Model starting with the larger number, 42, rewriting the addition if necessary: 42 + 26 =. Then demonstrate adding 26 by adding 20 (62), then adding on 6. Use the Number square tool to model the addition. Children should know 6 + 2 = 8 but they can count on in 1s if absolutely necessary. Write 53 + 45 = and 66 + 27 =. Ask children to work with a partner to solve 53 + 45 and 66 + 27. For 66 + 27, check that they first added 20 to 66 to give 86. Then discuss how they added 7 to 86. Some children will have worked out 86 + 7 by bridging 10 (adding 4, to give 90, then adding 3). How can you add these two numbers? Which number will you begin with? Why? What do you do first? Then what? Which number facts can help us solve this? Why is it better to use number facts instead of counting on?Will the answer be more or less than 100? How do you know? Display the tuck shops (below) Visit the shop and choose two things, e.g. the apple and the banana. Write the prices as an addition, i.e. 31p + 26p =. Use 10p coins and 1p coins to make each price. How could we find the total cost of buying these two things? Suggest that we count the 10ps and then the 1ps. How many 10ps do we have altogether? And 1ps? Complete the addition: 50p + 7p = 57p. Repeat, this time making sure that items chosen have 1s digits with a total of more than 10p (e.g. 38p + 47p). How can we add 70p and 15p? That’s easy: add 15 by adding 10 then 5! So the total is 85p. How many 10ps and how many 1ps are in that price? How many 10ps do you have altogether? How many 1ps? What is the total money you have spent? Can you find the total without using coins? How will you do it? Move on to buying three items at a time, with a total of more than £1. Use 10p and 1p coins to help if needed. We have 130p in 10p coins. How many 10p coins make £1? So we have £1 and 30p in 10p coins. Now, how many 1p coins do we have? So, how much do we have altogether? Whatʼs the total of our 10p and 1p coins?
Stem Cell Research has taken a new curve in the advancement. If we talk in simple words, then the stem cells are the cells that have the capability of regeneration or that can be differentiate into special type of cell of the body. These cells can renew the damaged cells into new one. In fact we can also refer these cells as the foundation of all parts of the body. These cells increased its number by division and also replace the old cells. These cells can differentiate into any type of body cell such as nerve cell, blood cell, gut cell, fat cell etc. These cells are long lived cells and their regeneration takes place throughout the life. Thus, the stem cell research would definitely open number of opportunities in the field of medical science. First of all Ernst Haeckel in 1868 used this term ‘stem cells’ for describing multicellular organisms that originate from unicellular organisms. After him, many scientists describe the term stem cells and stem cell research thus progressed to a new stage. These stem cells can be isolate from the embryo, umbilical cord, skin, deciduous teeth etc. These stem cells are different from other type of body cell due to its differentiation quality. Firstly these cells are undifferentiated but we can make them differentiate into specialized cells. Stem cells are of two types: - Embryonic stem cells - Adult stem cells or somatic cells or tissue specific stem cells : Adult stem cells are generally found in the form of specialized cells such as: - Neural stem cells: Give rise to neurons or nerve cells - Hematopoietic stem cells: Give rise to blood cells such as RBCs, WBCs, macrophages etc. - Mesenchymal stem cells: Give rise to fat cells, stromal cells, skeletal stem cells etc. - Skin stem cells: Give rise to epidermis, follicular stem cells etc. - Epithelial stem cells: Give rise to goblet cells, enteroendocrine etc. Embryonic stem cells have pluripotency which make them different from the somatic cells, or in other words embryonic stem cells are pluripotent cells that can give rise to any cell type of the body. This pluripotency is not found in somatic cells (or adult stem cells). Adult stem cells can also be differentiating into special cells but at a certain range. This is the limitation of these adult stem cells but the best thing about these adult stem cells is that we can induce them into embryonic stem cells known as induced pluripotent stem cells (Ips cell). Above information is all about stem cells. Now we step up towards the stem cell research. You must think that how can be used these stem cells for research purpose? So you should know that these cells can be cultured into laboratory. Number of copies can be made by the scientists for research purpose. Stem Cell Research in present scenario is going on throughout the world. Versatility of these stem cells allows scientists research on them. Scientists can differentiate these cells into special cells and can find the cause of disease in a particular cell type. Scientists can also find the effectiveness of drugs on disease, how drug reacts with the cells in a disease? These cells have the potential of treating genetic defects. Presently scientists are working on human stem cells. Scientists involves in treating cancer, Alzheimer, stroke, arthritis, Parkinson defect etc. Scientist successfully treat blindness through these stem cells. What is stem cell research controversy There are some debating issues with regard to the stem cell research. Main controversy arises with the embryonic stem cell research because these cells are isolated by disassembling a human embryo. There is no or few controversy with the adult stem cell research, because in these adult stem cells we need not to destroy any life. Human embryo is the only resource of embryonic stem cells for the scientists that’s why thousands of people debating on it, calling it non scientific and unethical. But we have many resources of adult stem cells such as umbilical cord, breast milk, skin, bone marrow etc. So scientists may easily use these cells for research purpose but the pluripotency of embryonic stem cells excited them. They really want to know the versatility of embryonic stem cells, how they formed? How effective they are for treating dieses? etc. However, they have successfully reprogrammed adult stem cells into embryonic stem cells but these IPS cells are not exactly like that, they differ a little bit in its characteristics. Exact copy of pluripotent cell is not formed. Isolating embryonic stem cells from an embryo is not only the issue. People are also debating on regulations for stem cell research. Some country banned embryonic stem cell research but some are funding for embryonic stem cell research in case if embryonic stem cells isolate from the spare embryos of the fertility centre only. Scientists try to discover new techniques for extracting embryonic stem cells without damaging an embryo. If scientists are success in do so then the debate will over. There will be no controversy. Presently controversy is related with the human ethics. Many questions arise for the embryonic stem cell research that’s why this controversy is going on. People are debating on the questions below: - Are there any rights of human embryo? - When a life begins in an embryo? - Can be call a living person similar to an embryo? - Few days old embryo is immature so how a life can exists in it? - Why can not be use frozen or spare embryos of IVF process? - Is it ethical to destroy a life for saving the existing one? - How can be lowers down the standard of a human life? - Human life is god gifted; no one has the right to take it besides the god. For the above questions you may understand stem cell research controversy. However scientists try to find new ways for pluripotent cells without ruining any embryo. Scientists have succeeded in creating induced pluripotent cells and somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) technique. If stem cell research will go on then scientists will successfully find new alternatives for the embryonic stem cells. They will need not to kill any embryo; also the debate will stop. Stem cell research pros cons We have studied the stem cell research controversy but what’s the reason behind this controversy. You may find it by knowing the pros and cons of stem cell research. Before reaching any conclusion you should know its positive and negative aspects. Pros and cons of stem cell research are given below: Stem cell research pros: - Stem cell research may open new door for medical science. New discoveries can be done by the scientist on stem cell. - Scientists may develop new techniques for treating genetic defects such as multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s etc. - Stem cells have the renewable potential that helps in replacing damaged or injured cells. - These cells can be dividing into number of copies and can be cultured in laboratory. Scientists can work on number of stem cells at a time or find effectiveness of particular drugs n different cells. - Embryonic stem cells are long lived so these can be preserved in laboratory. - Adult stem cells can be altered to pluripotent cell results in induced pluripotent stem cells. - Chances of rejection can be avoid in induced pluripotent stem cells. - Research on these cells may help scientists in finding the cause of disease. - Stem cell research is truly beneficial for treating diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, spinal cord injuries, myocardium, infections, diabetes mellitus etc. - Stem cell research provide a knowledge to scientists how a cell replace or renew damaged cell in the body. - Stem cell research may also reduce the risk of transplantation. - Stem cell research is expensive but it can be compensate by its thousand of benefits. - SCNT (somatic cell nuclear transfer) is a consequence of stem cell research. Stem cell research cons: - Some people believed that killing an embryo for stem cells is clearly a murder. - Killing an embryo is unethical that give rise to controversy. - Some scientist also use frozen or spare embryo that is formed by the IVF technique but it is also inhumane. - This ethical issue hindered embryonic stem cell research. - Scientists are bound to adult stem cell or somatic cell research only. - It has not yet been proved how effective is embryonic stem cell research? - How much these cells are effective in combating genetic diseases have not cleared yet. - Regeneration ability of these cells may have reverse effect results in causing tumors during cancer treatment. - Use of embryonic stem cells in disease treatment is not so simple. It needs a long and painful procedure. - A rejection chance is increased with embryonic stem cells due to which doctors have to refer immunosuppressant for the patient. - Stem cell research is unpredictable. - These stem cells are less in numbers when isolated from the cord blood or adults. Due to its minimal count scientists face difficulty in research. Stem cell research facts Facts of stem cell research allow you in getting an idea of stem cell basics. There is lot of facts of regarding stem cell research. - Stem cells have special properties that make them different from other type of body cell. Primary function of stem cells is proliferation. They can increase their number by division and can help in repairing damage tissues or cells. - Stem cells can differentiate into any type of body cells. These cells have the potential to differentiate unspecialized cells into specialized cells of the body such as nerve cell, blood cell, fat cell, gut cell etc. Stem cells can be categorized on the basis of its potency: - Totipotent cells: these cells can give rise to any type of body cell along with placenta. - Pluripotent cells: some totipotent cells give rise to pluripotent cells. These pluripotent cells can be differentiate into any type of cell besides totipotent cells. - Multipotent cells: these cells give rise to cell lining of specific type of cell. - Unipotent cells: these cells can give rise to any single type of cell. - Stem cells may help in treating leukemia, retinal disease, heart disease, spinal cord injuries, Parkinson’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, burns, diabetes etc. - Cord blood is rich source of stem cells. - Scientists are trying to find new techniques for isolating embryonic stem cells without killing an embryo. - Adult stem cells can be induced into embryonic stem cells known as induced pluripotent stem cells and these cells can worked as embryonic stem cells. - Some scientists from University of Minnesota claimed that they successfully altered the effects of stroke by the use of stem cells and these stem cells isolated from umbilical cord. - Stem cell research is allowed for therapeutic cloning only. Reproductive cloning is banned in almost all the countries. - Embryos used for embryonic stem cells are generally leftover by the fertility centre or IVF techniques. - Therapeutic cloning is done for treating disease whereas reproductive cloning forms new organisms with the same genetic material of the host. - Scientists try to find the cause of uniqueness of stem cells. - Isolation of embryonic stem cells is still controversial. No other methods or techniques haven’t created yet now. - Regulations are set up for embryonic stem cells by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the year 2000. Mainly debate is arising due to the destruction of embryo for embryonic stem cells. Some ethicist, policy makers, government officials do not want to compromise with the human life for embryonic stem cell research. They stand out against embryonic stem cell research calling it unethical. According to them, this embryonic stem cell research is irrelevant because it destroy an embryo for unpredictable results. We can not kill an embryo for these embryonic stem cell research, doesn’t matter how much it beneficial for us? An embryo can not be destroying for this purpose because this is inhumane. Even the best thing is we can create induced pluripotent stem cells for embryonic stem cell research so why choose for embryo destruction? After all research means creating new things, not destroying the existing one.
A huge asteroid is heading towards Earth, and you immediately think of all those Doomsday movies where governments try to find a way and save the planet. Although NASA is keeping an eye on all Near Earth Objects and their trajectory, they must also work on a back-up plan just in case an asteroid does happen to come our way. This is why they have designed a spacecraft called Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) which will not destroy asteroids, but it will redirect their path when the space rock is heading towards Earth. Tests of the spacecraft might begin as early as next year when DART will try to move a “non-threatening” asteroid. On their website, NASA described DART as being a “planetary defense-driven test of one of the technologies for preventing the Earth impact of a hazardous asteroid: the kinetic impactor. DART’s primary objective is to demonstrate a kinetic impact on a small asteroid.” Hitting an Asteroid With a Speed “Nine Times Faster than a Bullet” As for the asteroid that will be nudged from its trajectory is the “binary near-Earth asteroid (65803).” The first mission will test DART, and it will send it to the binary asteroid also called Didymos A and B which will fly close to our planet between 2020 and 2024. According to a statement, Dart will get close to the smaller asteroid which is almost 160m long and will hit it with a speed “nine times faster than a bullet, approximately 3.7 miles per second.” The planetary defense officer at Nasa Headquarters (Washington), Lindley Johnson, stated: “DART would be NASA’s first mission to demonstrate what’s known as the kinetic impactor technique – striking the asteroid to shift its orbit – to defend against a potential future asteroid impact. This approval step advances the project toward a historic test with a non-threatening small asteroid.” The co-leader of the DART investigation, Andy Cheng of The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (Laurel, Maryland), explained that this project is a vital step in proving that we can protect Earth in case an asteroid will come crashing down: “Since we don’t know that much about their internal structure or composition, we need to perform this experiment on a real asteroid. With DART, we can show how to protect Earth from an asteroid strike with a kinetic impactor by knocking the hazardous object into a different flight path that would not threaten the planet.” Rex Austinwas born and raised in Thunder Bay Ontario on the shores of Lake Superior. Apart from running his own podcast (Ice Fishing And Other “Cool” Things), he spends his time canoeing and backpacking in Northern Ontario.. As a journalist Rex has published stories for Global News (Thunder Bay) we well as Buzz Feed and Joystiq. As a contributor to Great Lakes Ledger, Rex most covers science and health stories. Contact Rexhere
Building endurance (increasing the length of time that one can continue a physical activity) is a central part of physical fitness. Fitness is important for preschool children because health habits begin early and can influence later childhood and adult health. The Illinois Early Learning and Development Benchmarks 20.A.ECa and 20.A.ECb stress the need for teachers to encourage young children to increase endurance by becoming more active. Young children need to move! Avoid lesson plans that keep a preschool child inactive for more than an hour at a time. Integrate movement into your lessons. If the children are reading a story about an animal, take time to stretch as tall as a giraffe or walk like an elephant. Make a letter T by holding arms out straight. Count by jumping up and down five times. Provide time for structured physical activity as well as time for self-directed play. Plan for at least 30 minutes each day of structured activity that includes stretching, large muscle activities, and time to cool down. Make it fun by including games and dancing. Avoid competitive games that may discourage the overweight or inactive child. Teach skills and attitudes that encourage healthy, active lives. Teaching children to stretch, warm-up, and cool-down when exercising helps avoid injury. A child who learns basic movement skills, such as throwing and catching a ball, or jumping with both feet and landing safely, may be more confident in her ability to enjoy sports and games. Be aware of special needs or limitations, and plan to include all your students in movement activities. Teach fitness for children as an ongoing process. Emphasize regular vigorous exercise and healthy lifestyles. Encourage children to set and meet their own exercise goals and not compare themselves to others. If Caron tells you that she spends her evenings playing with dolls or watching videos, help her set a goal of jumping rope or dancing for increasing periods of time instead. Follow-up by encouraging her to mark her choices on a chart. Make an activity pyramid with your class. Begin with a broad base of exercises that can be done everyday. Add a layer of the kinds of vigorous exercise and active play the children should enjoy several times a week. Top with activities to cut down on, such as watching television and playing computer games. See the following Web site for an activity pyramid you can use with your class: http://extension.missouri.edu/explorepdf/hesguide/foodnut/n00386.pdf. Many adults are interested in improving their own fitness and endurance levels. Encourage parents to walk and play actively with their children. Turning off the television and going for a walk or dancing to recorded music can be fun for everyone in the family. - Blog: Active Play Promotes Young Children’s Development - Tip Sheet: Games for All Young Children - Tip Sheet: Physical Fitness for Preschool-Age Children - Tip Sheet: Physical Fitness for Toddlers - Tip Sheet: Things to Do While You’re Waiting: Get Physical - Tip Sheet: Things to Do While You’re Waiting: Physical Activities
A new study from scientists at the Carnegie Institution for Science contradicts prevailing theories about the relationship between in carbonaceous chondrites and comets, finding that carbonaceous chondrites likely did not form in the same regions of the Solar System as comets and suggesting that most of the volatile elements on Earth arrived from a variety of chondrites, not from comets. Washington, DC — Scientists have long believed that comets and, or a type of very primitive meteorite called carbonaceous chondrites were the sources of early Earth’s volatile elements—which include hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon—and possibly organic material, too. Understanding where these volatiles came from is crucial for determining the origins of both water and life on the planet. New research led by Carnegie’s Conel Alexander focuses on frozen water that was distributed throughout much of the early Solar System, but probably not in the materials that aggregated to initially form Earth. The evidence for this ice is now preserved in objects like comets and water-bearing carbonaceous chondrites. The team’s findings contradict prevailing theories about the relationship between these two types of bodies and suggest that meteorites, and their parent asteroids, are the most-likely sources of the Earth’s water. Their work is published July 12 by Science Express. Looking at the ratio of hydrogen to its heavy isotope deuterium in frozen water (H2O), scientists can get an idea of the relative distance from the Sun at which objects containing the water were formed. Objects that formed farther out should generally have higher deuterium content in their ice than objects that formed closer to the Sun, and objects that formed in the same regions should have similar hydrogen isotopic compositions. Therefore, by comparing the deuterium content of water in carbonaceous chondrites to the deuterium content of comets, it is possible to tell if they formed in similar reaches of the Solar System. It has been suggested that both comets and carbonaceous chondrites formed beyond the orbit of Jupiter, perhaps even at the edges of our Solar System, and then moved inward, eventually bringing their bounty of volatiles and organic material to Earth. If this were true, then the ice found in comets and the remnants of ice preserved in carbonaceous chondrites in the form of hydrated silicates, such as clays, would have similar isotopic compositions. Alexander’s team included Carnegie’s Larry Nitler, Marilyn Fogel, and Roxane Bowden, as well as Kieren Howard from the Natural History Museum in London and Kingsborough Community College of the City University of New York and Christopher Herd of the University of Alberta. They analyzed samples from 85 carbonaceous chondrites, and were able to show that carbonaceous chondrites likely did not form in the same regions of the Solar System as comets because they have much lower deuterium content. If so, this result directly contradicts the two most-prominent models for how the Solar System developed its current architecture. The team suggests that carbonaceous chondrites formed instead in the asteroid belt that exists between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. What’s more, they propose that most of the volatile elements on Earth arrived from a variety of chondrites, not from comets. “Our results provide important new constraints for the origin of volatiles in the inner Solar System, including the Earth,” Alexander said. “And they have important implications for the current models of the formation and orbital evolution of the planets and smaller objects in our Solar System.” Image: Carnegie Institution for Science
Meet the new species of pit viper found in Arunachal Pradesh Itanagar, May 10: India now has a fifth brown pit viper with a reddish tinge, a venomous snake with a unique heat-sensing system - from a forest in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. The discovery, published in the March-April volume of the Russian Journal of Herpetology, makes the Arunachal pit viper (Trimeresurus arunachalensis) the second serpent to have been discovered after the non-venomous crying keelback in the State's Lepa-Rada district in 2018. The new species also makes Arunachal Pradesh the only Indian state to have a pit viper named after it. What does heat sensing ability means? They have special pits located between their eyes and nostrils that can sense minute temperature changes as infrared rays, as an aid in locating warm-blooded prey such as rodents. Snakes use the radiation to generate 'thermal images' of predators or prey, but the underlying physiology has been unclear. The more advanced infrared sense of pit vipers allows these animals to strike prey accurately even in the absence of light, and detect warm objects from several meters away. It is found on the sensory nerve fibres that stimulate the snakes' pit organ, the highly specialised facial structure that initially detects radiant heat and consists of cavities located on each side of the head. Also called 'heat vision', the infrared rays have longer wavelengths than those of visible light and signify the presence of warm-blooded prey in three dimensions which helps a snake aim its attack. A pit has two chambers. The interior chamber is naturally the internal temperature of the snake itself. The exterior chamber heats up when it is close to a heat source. The snake is then able to detect the temperature difference between the two chambers. This system is so accurate that pit vipers are actually able to detect temperature changes as little as 0.002 degrees centigrade. Types of snakes with pits As snakes evolved, they branched out into vipers and constrictors. The vipers further evolved to include pit vipers (part of the scientific sub-family in Viperidae called Crotalinae). Not all vipers have pits, and not all boa constrictors and pythons do either. Pit vipers are found worldwide and are all poisonous, just as all vipers are poisonous. India had four brown pit vipers - Malabar, Horseshoe, Hump-nosed and Himalayan - before the Arunachal Pradesh discovery. Other uses of the pits Snakes also use pit organs to help them find cool places to regulate their internal temperatures. Snakes are reptiles and cold-blooded, which means they have to warm up in the sun. When they get too warm, they have to find a cooler area to use for bringing down their temperatures. The pits on their faces help them find these cool places. When the loreal pits are blocked or otherwise covered, the snake has trouble finding these places when needed, as if blind.
The incubation period or latency period is the amount of time between being exposed to a contagious disease and when you begin developing symptoms. This is not the same as the contagious period or the time during which your child can get others sick. Depending on the disease, the incubation period can be just a few hours or can last for several months. Knowing the incubation period for a disease can help you understand if your child is still at risk of getting sick or if he is in the clear — whether he is exposed to someone with strep throat, measles, or the flu. “The incubation period is the time from exposure to the causative agent until the first symptoms develop and is characteristic for each disease agent.” It can also help you figure out where and when your child got sick. For example, if your infant develops chickenpox, a vaccine-preventable disease, you can’t blame it on your cousin who doesn’t vaccinate her kids and who was visiting just three days ago. The incubation period for chickenpox is at least 10 to 21 days. So your child who is too young to be vaccinated likely caught chicken pox from someone he was exposed to a few weeks ago. As we saw in recent outbreaks of Ebola and measles, a diseases incubation period can also help you figure out how long an exposed person needs to stay in quarantine. After all, if they don’t get sick once the incubation period is over, then they likely won’t get sick and can be released from quarantine. Incubation Periods of Childhood Diseases The incubation period for some common diseases includes: - Adenovirus – 2 to 14 days, leading to a sore throat, fever, and pink eye - vomiting after exposure to Bacillus cereus, a type of food poisoning – 30 minutes to 6 hours (short incubation period - Clostridium tetani (Tetanus) – 3 to 21 days - Chickenpox – 10 to 21 days - Epstein-Barr Virus Infections (Infectious Mononucleosis) – 30 to 50 days (long incubation period) - E. coli – 10 hours to 6 days (short incubation period) - E. coli O157:H7 – 1 to 8 days - Fifth disease – 4 to 21 days, with the classic ‘slapped cheek’ rash - Group A streptococcal (GAS) infection (strep throat) – 2 to 5 days - Group A streptococcal (GAS) infection (impetigo) – 7 to 10 days - Head lice (time for eggs to hatch) – 7 to 12 days - Herpes (cold sores) – 2 to 14 days - HIV – less than 1 year to over 15 years - Influenza (flu) – 1 to 4 days - Listeria monocytogenes (Listeriosis) – 1 day to 3 weeks, but can be as long as 2 months (long incubation period) - Measles – 7 to 18 days - Molluscum contagiosum – 2 weeks to 6 months (long incubation period) - Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) – 2 to 10 weeks (long incubation period) - Mycoplasma penumoniae (walking pneumonia) – 1 to 4 weeks - Norovirus ( the ‘cruise ship’ diarrhea virus) – 12 to 48 hours - Pinworms – 1 to 2 months - Rabies – 4 to 6 weeks, but can last years (very long incubation period) - Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) – 2 to 8 days - Rhinovirus (common cold) – 2 to 3 days, but may be up to 7 days - Roseola – about 9 to 10 days, leading to a few days of fever and then the classic rash once the fever breaks - Rotavirus – 1 to 3 days - gastrointestinal symptoms (diarrhea and vomiting) after exposure to Salmonella – 6 to 72 hours - Scabies – 4 to 6 weeks - Staphylococcus aureus – varies - Streptococcus pneumoniae (can cause pneumonia, meningitis, ear infections, and sinus infection, setc.) – 1 to 3 days - Whooping cough (pertussis) – 5 to 21 days Knowing the incubation period of an illness isn’t always as helpful as it seems, though, as kids often have multiple exposures when kids around them are sick, especially if they are in school or daycare. Conditions with long incubation periods can also fool you, as you might suspect a recent exposure, but it was really someone your child was around months ago. More About Incubation Periods - The incubation period of a viral infection - Incubation vs Contagious Periods - CDC – Introduction to Epidemiology - CDC – Using an Epi Curve to Determine Most Likely Period of Exposure
Home sweet home Many desert animals make use of the wide variety of cholla found within the desert environment. The fleshy fruits are a source of both food and moisture for many species of mammals. Birds find the fortress of spines within the cholla plant an ideal location to build a safe nest. Shown here is a cactus wren, Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus, nest snuggled deep inside the protective spines of an isolated cholla. When the fruit of the cholla cactus is allowed to mature, it forms what is commonly known as cholla buds. Cholla buds are considered the super food of the desert. Indigenous Native People, such as the Tohono O'odham, gathered these buds each spring. The buds provide a rich source of calcium and could be dried to use at a later time when other food sources were scarce. Beauty in savage land The many species of cholla found scattered across the North American deserts are a source of unique beauty in what often is a very harsh land. They have the ability to grow in such an arid region ,while adding an endless array of shapes and sizes to the environment. Their fruits have long provided a invaluable source of food for both desert animals and the people of the desert. And their beautiful springtime flowers add a touch of refreshing color to an often bleak landscape.
Published at Friday, October 04th, 2019 - 06:07:07 AM. Kids Worksheet. By Madeline Jacob. If your child or student is learning to multiply, a good way to have them start out is learn skip counting. Skip counting is simply counting by a whole number other than one. It is counting by twos, threes, fours, etc. For example, skip counting by twos is the same thing as reciting the two-times tables. So what are the benefits of using playing cards to learn skip counting compared to staring at multiplication worksheets? Well, for one thing, it is not boring! For another, if you are actually counting objects, you have the tactile experience of feeling what you are counting.And there is the fact that you are saying the numbers ,for a reason - after all you are actually counting something. These worksheets had puns or puzzle questions at the top, and as the students worked the problems they were given some kind of code for choosing a letter to match that answer. If they worked the problems correctly, the letters eventually answered the pun or riddle. Students enjoyed these worksheets, but there are a couple problem areas even with these worksheets. Some students would get the answer to the riddle early and then work backward from letter to problem answer, so they were not learning or practicing anything. Any content, trademark’s, or other material that might be found on the Rafahpundits website that is not Rafahpundits’s property remains the copyright of its respective owner/s. In no way does Rafahpundits claim ownership or responsibility for such items, and you should seek legal consent for any use of such materials from its owner.
“What cues are used to differentiate matter types?” is a question of differentiation, or telling matter types apart. Differentiation in chemical thinking is based on the assumption that every chemical substance has at least one differentiating property that makes it unique. Good differentiating properties do not depend on the amount of substance under analysis and have unique values for different materials. Examples include boiling points, solubilities in water, and molecular structure. The characterization of these differentiating properties is critical for the design of methods to separate substances, identify them, detect them in our surroundings, or quantify their amounts. The Chemical Substances Inventory (CSI) formative assessment was developed by the ACCT team (indicated by the star), and the Rain Puddle formative assessment was designed by a past ACCT cohort member. The CSI is a formative assessment tool for learning about how students think about identifying and differentiating chemical substances. It has been tested in middle school, high school, and university chemistry classes. More information about the CSI is freely available in an open-access article in the Jourrnal of Chemcal Education. The CSI Survey itself can be adapted by teachers to use as they wish. Refer to question 2 in each version of the survey to investigate students' chemical thinking regarding the question "What cues are used to differentiate matter types? The Rain Puddle formative assessment asks students to evaluate four submicroscopic representations of evaporated water and say whether they agree or disagree that each is an accurate representation, and explain why. The focus of this formative asssessment is the process of evaporation as a physical change to matter, in order to make students’ thinking visible regarding how they view what happens to water molecules after evaporation.
Within the Linux kernel, knowing how memory is separated is extremely important. As knowing what programs reside where, and the requirement on the system to move memory from one place to another, can provide a huge insight into the performance, or lack of, within a system. And when it comes to the world of networking (i.e NFV), where we need to move packets through a system, having this knowledge is even more important. Memory is divided into 2 areas, known as kernel space and user space (synonymous to the terms – kernel and user mode). - Kernel Space – Executing code has unrestricted access to any of the memory address space and to any underlying hardware. It is reserved for the highest of trusted functions within a system. Kernel mode is generally reserved for the lowest-level, most trusted functions of the operating system. Due to the amount of access the kernel had, any instability within the kernels executing code can result in complete system failure. - User Space – Executing code has limited access. API calls are used to the kernel to request memory and physical hardware access. Because of the restricted access, malfunctions within user mode are limited only to the system space they are operating within. In Layman’s terms… Kernel space is where the kernel (i.e., the core of the operating system) runs and provides its services. Its something that the user is not allowed to interfere with. User space is that portion of system memory in which user processes run. The irony is that even those processes are managed by the kernel. 😉 Think about the computer system as a house for a family where kernel space is the list of chores that the parents take responsibility for and user being any of the children that the parents have. So, the children don’t interfere with what the parents do like paying the electricity bill etc but they do know that the parents will keep them in the best possible condition and they need not worry about a thing. What the children does, like their homeworks from school comes under user space that the children themselves had to do but the parents(kernel) supervises upon and parents also put up the curfew times like the kernel makes constraints for the available resources that a user can use to perform its job.
General concept of the inverse of a function and how the domain of the function may need to be restricted (in order to obtain a one-to-one functions) to ensure that the inverse is a function. Determine the sketch graphs of the inverses of the functions defined by $y = ax + q$ $y=ax^2$ $y=b^x$ $(b > 0; b \ne 1)$ Focus on the following characteristics: domain and range intercepts with the axes asymptotes (horizontal and vertical) shape and symmetry average gradient (average rate of change) intervals on which the function increases/decreases Learn the concepts: Revising the basics Sometimes we forget the basics, like, what is a function really? And how do we move it around the Cartesian plane? These videos will help to remind you of all of these things. If you need more of a reminder, check out the Grade 11 section.
Teaching the Critical Vocabulary of the Common Core Item: 615712 Teaching the Critical Vocabulary of the Common Core 55 Words That Make or Break Student Understanding by Marilee Sprenger Your students may recognize words like determine, analyze, and distinguish, but do they understand these words well enough to quickly and completely answer a standardized test question? For example, can they respond to a question that says "determine the point of view of John Adams in his 'Letter on Thomas Jefferson' and analyze how he distinguishes his position from an alternative approach articulated by Thomas Jefferson"? Students from kindergarten to 12th grade can learn to compare and contrast, to describe and explain, if they are taught these words explicitly. Marilee Sprenger has curated a list of the critical words students must know to be successful with the Common Core State Standards and any other standardized assessment they encounter. Fun strategies such as jingles, movements, and graphic organizers will engage students and make learning these critical words enjoyable and effective. Learning the critical vocabulary will help your students with testing and college and career readiness, and will equip them with confidence in reading, writing, and speaking. Grades K-12, 220 pages
Leading Accelerator Technology From blueprint to construction, Fermilab scientists and engineers develop particle accelerators to produce beams to take particle physics to the next level, collaborating with scientists and laboratories around the world to help build these complex machines. Researchers build accelerators to be efficient and robust along every step of the particle beam's path, from the time it's born to its termination on target. The machines themselves must be efficient, cranking up beam to high energies while using as little energy as possible. They require strong magnets to form tight particle beams to get the most science out of them as they smash into targets or other beams. The targets must be robust and reliable, able to take the onslaught of high-power beams. And to see how it will play out before building the brick-and-mortar accelerator, computing experts simulate every last detail using advanced software and hardware, helping accelerator scientists build the right accelerator from the get-go. Fermilab tests and develops superconducting radio-frequency accelerating cavities, a key technology for next-generation accelerators and the future of particle physics. SRF cavities enable accelerators to increase particle beam energy levels while minimizing the use of electrical power by all but eliminating electrical resistance. Future experiments looking into the origins of the universe and nature of matter, including the proposed International Linear Collider and Fermilab's new proton source, will require advanced SRF technology. SRF technology is a highly efficient way to accelerate beams of particles. It starts with shiny, curvy, virtually perfect cells made of niobium, a superconducting metal, which are connected like a string of hollow pearls. The cells are cleaned and polished so that not a speck of dust or the slightest imperfections remain. Several strings, or cavities, are nestled in a vessel called a cryomodule, which bathes them in liquid helium and keeps them at the ultracold temperature that is key to their operation and efficiency. Running through the string of pearls, or cells, is an electric field that oscillates between positive and negative millions or billions of times per second. Each cycle, or wave, swells to its peak and sinks to its valley within the space of a single cell; it is as if each cell rapidly switches between a positive and negative charge. The cycles are timed to kick charged particles as they speed from cell to cell. When the particles enter the cell they are pushed forward by the electric field; as the particles move to the next cell, the electric field switches so that the particles are again pushed forward once they enter that cell. This process continues until the particle has shot all the way through the accelerator. To ensure that the accelerating field is as high as possible so that the particles get the high energy needed for the planned collisions, the cavities are welded, polished, high-pressure-rinsed and tested to the best performance. Learn more about SRF research at Fermilab. Magnets shape and steer the particle beam in a particle accelerator. They are used to make the beam bend around a curve and can also make the beam flat like a ribbon or round like a cord. The stronger the magnet — that is, the higher the magnetic field — the more focused the beam, the better the chances that particles will interact once they collide, whether they smash into a target or meet with another high-energy beam of particles coming at them. Fermilab is one of the world's leading laboratories in accelerator magnet R&D. Scientists and engineers develop both superconducting and normal-conducting magnets to shape and steer beams at ever-higher energies. They are also working on new superconducting materials to develop even more powerful magnets for the next generation of particle accelerators. A major component of Fermilab's magnet program is the development magnet technology for CERN's Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland. The LHC Accelerator Research Program consists of four US laboratories that are working to develop accelerator components to increase the beam luminosity of the LHC. Learn more about magnets at Fermilab. One way to flush out particles that are deeply hidden from view is to send an intense, powerful particle beam into a material, such as carbon or a metal, producing a gusher of new particles that scientists can then study. As the birthplace of particles in many particle physics experiments, the target is no less important than the beam that collides with it. Fermilab experiments require hardy, robust targets that can withstand the power of the particle beams that pummel them. In the future, these targets will need to withstand even higher beam power and more punishment. Fermilab's scientists and engineers are hard at work developing targets and target materials that can resist the fatigue caused by the rapid and repeated punches and that retain their strength over long periods of time. Researchers are even investigating targets made out of liquid metals, which can withstand the very high-power beams envisioned for the future. Learn more about targetry at Fermilab. Accelerator theory and modeling expertise is of tremendous importance to accelerator design, research and development. Fermilab's talent in these areas helps accelerator experts make the most of their machines and plan for the future by giving them a better understanding of the physics of beams. Through theory and modeling, scientists also provide the tools to predict and simulate how a particle beam behaves when it is accelerated, steered and focused. Beam physicists develop theoretical and analytical tools for the laboratory's current and next-generation accelerator facilities. They provide accelerator physics support for existing operational programs, train accelerator scientists and engineers, and carry out experimental programs for a broad range of accelerator R&D, which can be accessed by both Fermilab staff and the worldwide high-energy physics community. Computer scientists develop software that lets experimenters manipulate the multiple variables involved in accelerating a beam of particles in a simulated setting. They run simulation programs on more than 100,000 cores, housed at Argonne National Laboratory, keeping Fermilab at the leading edge of the rapidly changing field of high-performance computing. Experimenters currently apply beam dynamics and energy deposition simulations to the Main Injector for a future high-intensity proton accelerator, the debuncher for Mu2e, and studies of the Booster. They also contribute to simulations for the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland, and to the studies of Fermilab's future accelerator facilities. - Last modified - email Fermilab
Livestock - Poultry Chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys were kept by even the poorest Virginians, slave or free, for fresh meat and eggs. Feathers were useful in bedding, and goose quills in particular made handy writing utensils. Turkeys could be driven by children through tobacco fields to help control damage caused by the voracious hornworms that constantly attacked the crop. Chesapeake fowl, like other livestock, were of mixed Old World breed heritage. Collectively, chickens were referred to as dunghill fowl. It is believed that turkeys, ducks, chickens, and geese were kept together in one mixed species flock. They ranged around the domestic yard, nesting their eggs where convenient and seeking shelter when necessary. Poultry houses are seldom listed on estate inventories. Cockfighting, like horse racing, provided colonials with an opportunity for socializing and gambling. Fighting cocks, like racehorses, received unusual care and attention, but unlike the racehorse, the fighting cock rarely lived to compete another day if unsuccessful.
Meiosis and Sexual Reproduction The ability to reproduce in kind is a basic characteristic of all living things. In kind means that the offspring of any organism closely resemble their parent or parents. Hippopotamuses give birth to hippopotamus calves, Joshua trees produce seeds from which Joshua tree seedlings emerge, and adult flamingos lay eggs that hatch into flamingo chicks. In kind does not generally mean exactly the same. Whereas many unicellular organisms and a few multicellular organisms can produce genetically identical clones of themselves through cell division, many single-celled organisms and most multicellular organisms reproduce regularly using another method. Sexual reproduction is the production by parents of two haploid cells and the fusion of two haploid cells to form a single, unique diploid cell. In most plants and animals, through tens of rounds of mitotic cell division, this diploid cell will develop into an adult organism. Haploid cells that are part of the sexual reproductive cycle are produced by a type of cell division called meiosis. Sexual reproduction, specifically meiosis and fertilization, introduces variation into offspring that may account for the evolutionary success of sexual reproduction. The vast majority of eukaryotic organisms, both multicellular and unicellular, can or must employ some form of meiosis and fertilization to reproduce.
Global mean surface temperatures have risen by 0.74°C ± 0.18°C when estimated by a linear trend over the last 100 years (1906–2005). The rate of warming over the last 50 years is almost double that over the last 100 years (0.13°C ± 0.03°C vs. 0.07°C ± 0.02°C per decade). Global mean temperatures averaged over land and ocean surfaces, from three different estimates, each of which has been independently adjusted for various homogeneity issues, are consistent within uncertainty estimates over the period 1901 to 2005 and show similar rates of increase in recent decades. The trend is not linear, and the warming from the first 50 years of instrumental record (1850–1899) to the last 5 years (2001–2005) is 0.76°C ± 0.19°C. 2005 was one of the two warmest years on record. The warmest years in the instrumental record of global surface temperatures are 1998 and 2005, with 1998 ranking first in one estimate, but with 2005 slightly higher in the other two estimates. 2002 to 2004 are the 3rd, 4th and 5th warmest years in the series since 1850. Eleven of the last 12 years (1995 to 2006) – the exception being 1996 – rank among the 12 warmest years on record since 1850. Surface temperatures in 1998 were enhanced by the major 1997–1998 El Niño but no such strong anomaly was present in 2005. Temperatures in 2006 were similar to the average of the past 5 years. Land regions have warmed at a faster rate than the oceans. Warming has occurred in both land and ocean domains, and in both sea surface temperature (SST) and nighttime marine air temperature over the oceans. However, for the globe as a whole, surface air temperatures over land have risen at about double the ocean rate after 1979 (more than 0.27°C per decade vs. 0.13°C per decade), with the greatest warming during winter (December to February) and spring (March to May) in the Northern Hemisphere. Changes in extremes of temperature are also consistent with warming of the climate. A widespread reduction in the number of frost days in mid-latitude regions, an increase in the number of warm extremes and a reduction in the number of daily cold extremes are observed in 70 to 75% of the land regions where data are available. The most marked changes are for cold (lowest 10%, based on 1961–1990) nights, which have become rarer over the 1951 to 2003 period. Warm (highest 10%) nights have become more frequent. Diurnal temperature range (DTR) decreased by 0.07°C per decade averaged over 1950 to 2004, but had little change from 1979 to 2004, as both maximum and minimum temperatures rose at similar rates. The record-breaking heat wave over western and central Europe in the summer of 2003 is an example of an exceptional recent extreme. That summer (June to August) was the hottest since comparable instrumental records began around 1780 (1.4°C above the previous warmest in 1807) and is very likely to have been the hottest since at least 1500. Recent warming is strongly evident at all latitudes in SSTs over each of the oceans. There are inter-hemispheric differences in warming in the Atlantic, the Pacific is punctuated by El Niño events and Pacific decadal variability that is more symmetric about the equator, while the Indian Ocean exhibits steadier warming. These characteristics lead to important differences in regional rates of surface ocean warming that affect the atmospheric circulation. Urban heat island effects are real but local, and have not biased the large-scale trends. A number of recent studies indicate that effects of urbanisation and land use change on the land-based temperature record are negligible (0.006ºC per decade) as far as hemispheric- and continental-scale averages are concerned because the very real but local effects are avoided or accounted for in the data sets used. In any case, they are not present in the SST component of the record. Increasing evidence suggests that urban heat island effects extend to changes in precipitation, clouds and DTR, with these detectable as a ‘weekend effect’ owing to lower pollution and other effects during weekends. Average arctic temperatures increased at almost twice the global average rate in the past 100 years. Arctic temperatures have high decadal variability. A slightly longer warm period, almost as warm as the present, was also observed from the late 1920s to the early 1950s, but appears to have had a different spatial distribution than the recent warming. Lower-tropospheric temperatures have slightly greater warming rates than those at the surface over the period 1958 to 2005. The radiosonde record is markedly less spatially complete than the surface record and increasing evidence suggests that it is very likely that a number of records have a cooling bias, especially in the tropics. While there remain disparities among different tropospheric temperature trends estimated from satellite Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU and advanced MSU) measurements since 1979, and all likely still contain residual errors, estimates have been substantially improved (and data set differences reduced) through adjustments for issues of changing satellites, orbit decay and drift in local crossing time (i.e., diurnal cycle effects). It appears that the satellite tropospheric temperature record is broadly consistent with surface temperature trends provided that the stratospheric influence on MSU channel 2 is accounted for. The range (due to different data sets) of global surface warming since 1979 is 0.16°C to 0.18°C per decade compared to 0.12°C to 0.19°C per decade for MSU estimates of tropospheric temperatures. It is likely, however, that there is slightly greater warming in the troposphere than at the surface, and a higher tropopause, with the latter due also to pronounced cooling in the stratosphere. Lower stratospheric temperatures feature cooling since 1979. Estimates from adjusted radiosondes, satellites (MSU channel 4) and reanalyses are in qualitative agreement, suggesting a lower-stratospheric cooling of between 0.3°C and 0.6°C per decade since 1979. Longer radiosonde records (back to 1958) also indicate cooling but the rate of cooling has been significantly greater since 1979 than between 1958 and 1978. It is likely that radiosonde records overestimate stratospheric cooling, owing to changes in sondes not yet accounted for. Because of the stratospheric warming episodes following major volcanic eruptions, the trends are far from being linear. Precipitation has generally increased over land north of 30°N over the period 1900 to 2005 but downward trends dominate the tropics since the 1970s. From 10°N to 30°N, precipitation increased markedly from 1900 to the 1950s, but declined after about 1970. Downward trends are present in the deep tropics from 10°N to 10°S, especially after 1976/1977. Tropical values dominate the global mean. It has become significantly wetter in eastern parts of North and South America, northern Europe, and northern and central Asia, but drier in the Sahel, the Mediterranean, southern Africa and parts of southern Asia. Patterns of precipitation change are more spatially and seasonally variable than temperature change, but where significant precipitation changes do occur they are consistent with measured changes in streamflow. Substantial increases are found in heavy precipitation events. It is likely that there have been increases in the number of heavy precipitation events (e.g., 95th percentile) within many land regions, even in those where there has been a reduction in total precipitation amount, consistent with a warming climate and observed significant increasing amounts of water vapour in the atmosphere. Increases have also been reported for rarer precipitation events (1 in 50 year return period), but only a few regions have sufficient data to assess such trends reliably. Droughts have become more common, especially in the tropics and subtropics, since the 1970s. Observed marked increases in drought in the past three decades arise from more intense and longer droughts over wider areas, as a critical threshold for delineating drought is exceeded over increasingly widespread areas. Decreased land precipitation and increased temperatures that enhance evapotranspiration and drying are important factors that have contributed to more regions experiencing droughts, as measured by the Palmer Drought Severity Index. The regions where droughts have occurred seem to be determined largely by changes in SSTs, especially in the tropics, through associated changes in the atmospheric circulation and precipitation. In the western USA, diminishing snow pack and subsequent reductions in soil moisture also appear to be factors. In Australia and Europe, direct links to global warming have been inferred through the extreme nature of high temperatures and heat waves accompanying recent droughts. Tropospheric water vapour is increasing. Surface specific humidity has generally increased after 1976 in close association with higher temperatures over both land and ocean. Total column water vapour has increased over the global oceans by 1.2 ± 0.3% per decade from 1988 to 2004, consistent in pattern and amount with changes in SST and a fairly constant relative humidity. Strong correlations with SST suggest that total column water vapour has increased by 4% since 1970. Similar upward trends in upper-tropospheric specific humidity, which considerably enhance the greenhouse effect, have also been detected from 1982 to 2004. ‘Global dimming’ is neither global in extent nor has it continued after 1990. Reported decreases in solar radiation at the Earth’s surface from 1970 to 1990 have an urban bias and have reversed in sign. Although records are sparse, pan evaporation is estimated to have decreased in many places due to decreases in surface radiation associated with increases in clouds, changes in cloud properties and/or increases in air pollution (aerosols), especially from 1970 to 1990. However, in many of the same places, actual evapotranspiration inferred from surface water balance exhibits an increase in association with enhanced soil wetness from increased precipitation, as the actual evapotranspiration becomes closer to the potential evaporation measured by the pans. Hence, in determining evapotranspiration there is a trade-off between less solar radiation and increased surface wetness, with the latter generally dominant. Cloud changes are dominated by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation and appear to be opposite over land and ocean. Widespread (but not ubiquitous) decreases in continental DTR since the 1950s coincide with increases in cloud amounts. Surface and satellite observations disagree about total and low-level cloud changes over the ocean. However, radiation changes at the top of the atmosphere from the 1980s to 1990s, possibly related in part to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon, appear to be associated with reductions in tropical upper-level cloud cover, and are linked to changes in the energy budget at the surface and changes in observed ocean heat content. Changes in the large-scale atmospheric circulation are apparent. Atmospheric circulation variability and change is largely described by relatively few major patterns. The dominant mode of global-scale variability on interannual time scales is ENSO, although there have been times when it is less apparent. The 1976–1977 climate shift, related to the phase change in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and more frequent El Niños, has affected many areas and most tropical monsoons. For instance, over North America, ENSO and Pacific-North American teleconnection-related changes appear to have led to contrasting changes across the continent, as the west has warmed more than the east, while the latter has become cloudier and wetter. There are substantial multi-decadal variations in the Pacific sector over the 20th century with extended periods of weakened (1900–1924; 1947–1976) as well as strengthened circulation (1925–1946; 1976–2005). Multi-decadal variability is also evident in the Atlantic as the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation in both the atmosphere and the ocean. Mid-latitude westerly winds have generally increased in both hemispheres. These changes in atmospheric circulation are predominantly observed as ‘annular modes’, related to the zonally averaged mid-latitude westerlies, which strengthened in most seasons from the 1960s to at least the mid-1990s, with poleward displacements of corresponding Atlantic and southern polar front jet streams and enhanced storm tracks. These were accompanied by a tendency towards stronger winter polar vortices throughout the troposphere and lower stratosphere. On monthly time scales, the southern and northern annular modes (SAM and NAM, respectively) and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) are the dominant patterns of variability in the extratropics and the NAM and NAO are closely related. The westerlies in the Northern Hemisphere, which increased from the 1960s to the 1990s but which have since returned to about normal as part of NAO and NAM changes, alter the flow from oceans to continents and are a major cause of the observed changes in winter storm tracks and related patterns of precipitation and temperature anomalies, especially over Europe. In the Southern Hemisphere, SAM increases from the 1960s to the present are associated with strong warming over the Antarctic Peninsula and, to a lesser extent, cooling over parts of continental Antarctica. Analyses of wind and significant wave height support reanalysis-based evidence for an increase in extratropical storm activity in the Northern Hemisphere in recent decades until the late 1990s. Intense tropical cyclone activity has increased since about 1970. Variations in tropical cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons are dominated by ENSO and decadal variability, which result in a redistribution of tropical storm numbers and their tracks, so that increases in one basin are often compensated by decreases over other oceans. Trends are apparent in SSTs and other critical variables that influence tropical thunderstorm and tropical storm development. Globally, estimates of the potential destructiveness of hurricanes show a significant upward trend since the mid-1970s, with a trend towards longer lifetimes and greater storm intensity, and such trends are strongly correlated with tropical SST. These relationships have been reinforced by findings of a large increase in numbers and proportion of hurricanes reaching categories 4 and 5 globally since 1970 even as total number of cyclones and cyclone days decreased slightly in most basins. The largest increase was in the North Pacific, Indian and southwest Pacific Oceans. However, numbers of hurricanes in the North Atlantic have also been above normal (based on 1981–2000 averages) in 9 of the last 11 years, culminating in the record-breaking 2005 season. Moreover, the first recorded tropical cyclone in the South Atlantic occurred in March 2004 off the coast of Brazil. The temperature increases are consistent with observed changes in the cryosphere and oceans. Consistent with observed changes in surface temperature, there has been an almost worldwide reduction in glacier and small ice cap (not including Antarctica and Greenland) mass and extent in the 20th century; snow cover has decreased in many regions of the Northern Hemisphere; sea ice extents have decreased in the Arctic, particularly in spring and summer (Chapter 4); the oceans are warming; and sea level is rising (Chapter 5).
Which of the relations below is correct? Seven squared equals 𝑥 squared minus 16. 𝑥 equals four squared plus seven squared. 𝑥 squared equals seven plus four squared. Or, 49 equals 𝑥 squared plus 16. So we are given a right triangle. And we know two of the side lengths, four centimeters and seven centimeters. The third side, which is the unknown side, we call 𝑥. And since it’s the side across from the 90-degree angle, this is the longest side. And this is important in order to use the Pythagorean theorem. The Pythagorean theorem states: the square of the longest side is equal to the sum of the squares of the shorter sides. So we already know that the longest side is represented by 𝑥. So we can plug that in. Now the other two sides are the shorter sides. And they’re seven and four. And now we can plug these in. So we have 𝑥 squared equals seven squared plus four squared. Let’s begin to look at our options for answers. Option B is very close, except 𝑥 needs to be squared. And the four squared and seven squared are in different spots. But that’s okay. When adding, we could have switched them around. It wouldn’t change anything. But again, that 𝑥 needed to be squared. So we can eliminate B. C looks very close as well. 𝑥 squared equals seven plus four, then squaring. So is seven squared plus four squared the same as seven plus four squared? Let’s check. So for seven plus four squared, we need to add first. So seven plus four is 11. And 11 squared is 121. So now, let’s check the other, seven squared plus four squared. Seven squared is 49. And four squared is 16. And 49 plus 16 is 65. So these are not equal. Therefore, we can eliminate option C. Let’s compare options A and D because they’re very similar. Option A is: seven squared equals 𝑥 squared minus 16. And option D is: 49 equals 𝑥 squared plus 16. So the sign on the 16s are different. And one of them is equal to seven squared. And one of them is equal to 49. However, seven squared is equal to 49. So those actually mean the same thing. So the only difference is, one is 𝑥 squared minus 16 and one is 𝑥 squared plus 16. So let’s go back to our equation, created from the Pythagorean theorem and manipulated so the 𝑥 squared and the 16 are on the same side, and see if we need a plus 16 or a minus 16. And the 16 will come from the four squared because four squared is 16. So in order to solve, let’s go ahead and subtract 16 from both sides. This way it’s on the same side as the 𝑥 squared. We have 𝑥 squared minus 16 equals seven squared, which is the same as seven squared equals 𝑥 squared minus 16 because it wouldn’t matter if the sides of the 𝑥 squared minus 16 and the seven squared were on opposite sides as long as their sign could stay the same. Therefore, our option A is our correct answer: seven squared equals 𝑥 squared minus 16.
Ohio Content Standards: - Grade 9 Social Studies Skills and Methods 1, 2, & 3 - Grade 10 History 2 b & c, Geography 2, Economics 1 & 3, Citizenship Rights and Responsibilities 1e & f, Social Studies Skills and Methods 1 - Grade 12 Economics 3, 5a, 6 & 7, Government 1 & 2, Citizenship Rights and Responsibilities 3, 7, & 8 Duration of Lesson: 2 Class Periods/ 50 Minutes each, one block - Students will collaboratively analyze and compare editorial cartoons focusing on the Energy Crisis of the 1970s and early 80s. - Students will compare and contrast the Energy Crisis of the 1970s and early 80s with the current oil situation. - Students will identify the cartoonists' intentions and evaluate the effectiveness of the message of each cartoon. Students will be asked to analyze and evaluate editorial cartoons regarding the Energy Crisis of the 1970s and early 1980s. Students are expected to determine tools the cartoonists use to express his or her opinion. Students will compare and contrast the Energy Crisis with the energy problems of today (2007). - Editorial cartoons 1-6 with publishing information and accompanying transparencies (for teacher) - cartoon analysis worksheetand accompanying transparencies (one for each cartoon) - Media Lab Teachers should use these questions to facilitate a class discussion. - How has the US dependence on foreign oil affected you and your family? - How has it affected the United States in general? - Complete pre-assessment class discussion. - Display cartoons 1-6; choose 2 for class analysis. - Display cartoon analysis worksheet on smart board or LCD projector and have class fill in questions together. Students will use completed handout as example for the post-assessment. Students will choose from the remaining cartoons of the energy crisis era and compare that cartoon with a modern day energy editorial cartoon using the Cartoon Analysis Worksheet for the modern day cartoon. Some criteria may include caricaturization, labeling, irony, and analogy. The following websites are recommended: When students turn in the Post-Assessment the class will discuss the differences and similarities in caricatures and other tools that the artists use in both the past and present cartoons.
Therefore this is an ample opportunity to make to make proper as well as precise process flows to learn the language in smooth way. These invitations are premised on in-depth understanding of our students, which requires formatively assessing them to determine where the next learnings should be placed and combined with careful and contingent scaffolding. For example, a student, who is trying to learn a skill set, cannot accomplish it without the assistance of the teacher or peer; the teacher then extends guidance or assistance to the student to attain the skill. Another principle that I also incorporate is to start with a basic schedule or framework and allow it to evolve and grow over time. Mihaly, along with colleagues from around the world, conducted over 8,000 interviews of people who enjoy their work—from Dominican monks, to blind nuns, to Himalayan climbers, to Navajo shepherds. It is the area where a learner will need some help or will need to work hard to understand the concept or complete the task at hand. The professor works with the student to help him to learn how to approach the philosophy book and how to consider the right questions to ask himself while reading alone. As the child begins to learn, the nature of the scaffolding required changes. Can skills or capacities be both acquired and developed, or are a few lucky ones just born with the right genes? It is important to note that the terms cooperative learning, scaffolding and guided learning all have the same meaning within the literature. Vygotsky was intrigued by how we process higher cognitive functions associated with memory, attention, decision making, and language comprehension. He has written over a dozen books and countless articles on varied areas of research. Scaffolding not only produces immediate results, but also instills the skills necessary for independent problem solving in the future. Some concepts require prior knowledge that the student may not already possess. Think of going back to a textbook containing that by now you would have internalized long ago. This process is referred to as scaffolding, which is the way in which an adult helps the child learner to move from the inability to perform a task to being able to do so through guidance, interaction and questions. So think of the very next step the child could reach with just a little bit of help and practice. Let's put this all together and see how Mrs. Ultimately students must find library resources or a tutor when presented with challenges beyond the zone. The teacher then helps the student attain the skill the student is trying to master, in hopes that the teacher will no longer be needed for that task. Therefore, it is not only the language that develops, but also the structure for learning it. This is the zone of proximal development. I talk more about this in my blog titled. We do that by performing the opposite mathematical function, so if 3 x is multiplied, we need to divide 12 by 3 to get x alone. Yet, as often happens, we use terminology with a limited understanding of the concepts involved. In short, then, a good learning strategy is one that actively seeks the right scaffolding for your skill development. She can count 10-20 with your help. This sort of occurs as the learner is completely immersed in the task with someone more knowledgeable. The idea being that an association, if not an immediate, then a gradual one has to be built between concepts, experiences, and reactions. Teaching in the zone of proximal development is important because so many times, children are presented with material that is either way too challenging and they get frustrated or way too easy and they lose interest. It's crucial for a child's development that they are able to interact with more knowledgeable others. As both a former elementary school teacher and now as a parent to five inquisitive children, I have thoroughly enjoyed finding those teachable moments that are in the zone of proximal development. Through appropriate coaching that focuses on their strengths, they are able to learn to serve the ball effectively. Taking the different learning pace, habits of mind, and prior knowledge of individual students into account in mathematics can be challenging. I will have to read further to see how the studies dealt with possible placebo effects, but I can definitely see the refinement of flow questionnaires as a way to get a better idea of what stimulates and what does not, and perhaps how it relates to other studies of motivation. She has assumed all of them know the steps to solving an equation and is not making any attempt to assist. Simply jumping in and expecting a child to perform at mastery level is like climbing to the top of the scaffolding and dropping bricks down into place at the bottom! Lev Vygotsky, 1896-1934 Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons, Pataki Márta, 2013 When I was getting my teaching degree, Vygotsky was mentioned in nearly every class because so much of our current philosophies of teaching are credited to him. . Let's see if we can't help Mrs. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does. By working with the student to teach how to sound out words and use other word recognition strategies, the child is able to learn to read. The zone of proximal development is a concept developed by psychologist. Another important thing to keep in mind when thinking about your individual students is any they may be diagnosed with and adjust your instruction accordingly. This is as simple as the plain work out to make the language learning procedure easing along with comfortable in all the way. When the child was doing well, they became less specific with their help. Each step is an accomplishment to be celebrated! I think you get it! They would not be able to expand on what they know if this wasn't possible. Scaffolding consists of the activities provided by the educator, or more competent peer, to support the student as he or she is led through the zone of proximal development. By working with the student to teach how to sound out words and use other word recognition strategies, the child is able to learn to read. For a very long time my sense of self-worth was tied to the intelligence I perceived I was projecting and my ability to at least appear competent. Lesson Summary In summary, the zone of proximal development allows instructors to assess the range of tasks that a child can perform independently and with the help of an advanced other. Teaching in the zone of proximal development is important because so many times, children are presented with material that is either way too challenging and they get frustrated or way too easy and they lose interest. The graph below states the conditions for flow and is a good guide to understand what you should aim for: As you can see from the graph, flow happens in a situation where a high level of skills is required in a highly challenging situation. So what exactly is flow, you might ask? In this way teaching precedes development. Okay, class, what should we do at this point? A study of assisted problem-solving.
GET ACTIVE, WHEREVER YOU ARE GET ACTIVE, WHEREVER YOU ARE NIH—-NEWS IN HEALTH Opportunities Abound for Moving Around Get Active, Wherever You Are You know that physical activity can help you live a longer, healthier life. But did you know you don’t need to join a gym or use costly equipment to be physically active? No matter where you live, work, or go to school, you can find ways to move more and sit less throughout your day. In addition to helping your health, you might have fun without spending a lot of money. Moving more and sitting less can reduce your risk for many serious conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, and certain kinds of cancer. Some studies suggest that physical activity can have mental benefits as well, helping to relieve depression and maintain thinking abilities as you age. Healthful physical activity includes exercise as well as many everyday activities, such as doing active chores around the house, yard work, or walking the dog. Activities that cause you to breathe harder are called aerobic activities. These make your heart and blood vessels healthier. Aerobic activities include brisk walking, dancing, swimming, and playing basketball. Strengthening activities, like push-ups and lifting weights, help make your muscles and bones stronger and can also improve your balance. But even though many of us know that physical activity is a good thing, most adults nationwide don’t meet even the minimum recommended amounts of physical activity. (That’s at least 30 minutes of brisk walking or other moderate activity, 5 days a week.) Why aren’t we more active? “Lack of time is a common reason for not exercising,” says Dr. Mary Evans, an NIH expert on physical activity and nutrition. “Another important factor is location—having safe places to walk and engage in different activities. That can mean having sidewalks, public parks with well-lit walking paths, a shopping mall where you can walk, or other features that can make activity inviting and easy to do.” NIH-funded research has found that your environment—where you live, work, or go to school—can have a big impact on how much you move and even how much you weigh. Some communities don’t have safe playgrounds or sidewalks, so kids tend to spend their free time indoors. Sitting instead of moving makes it hard to maintain a healthy weight. Many adults sit behind the wheel driving to work and then sit most of the day at a computer, taking few breaks to stand up and move around. In suburban neighborhoods, people often have to drive rather than walk to get to grocery stores, shops, and even public transportation. “Our environments have become less friendly to being active. But studies show that people will walk more if the environment provides them with opportunities to do so,” says Dr. Brian E. Saelens, a health psychologist and behavioral scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle. “How close are you to a library? Can you walk to a store? Is there a safe path for walking to school? All of these factors affect how active we are each day.” Having places to walk and have fun can help more people get moving and active. “It’s not just dangerous neighborhoods, broken streets, and crime that can keep people indoors and away from being physically active,” says Dr. Allen Glicksman, director of research at the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging. “We’ve also found that, from ages 18 to 80, if a neighborhood has someplace nice to walk to—desirable destinations like a book store, grocery store, coffee shop, a place to eat or meet—it can have a healthful effect on how much people weigh and how much they walk.” Research also shows that taking public transportation—like buses and trains—can help boost activity. In a recent Seattle-area study, Saelens and colleagues found that people tend to add about 15 minutes of activity to their day when they take public transportation, in part by walking to and from the mass transit site instead of taking a car from door to door. “That’s half the recommended amount of physical activity added to their day,” Saelens says. Having opportunities to connect with others can also have a positive effect. “Many people are more likely to walk if they’ve got one or more buddies to walk with,” Glicksman says. “When you think about what brings people together, what brings people out and active, the answer can vary depending on your community.” In urban Philadelphia, Glicksman and others have found that neighborhood features like access to public transportation, better bus shelters, and even murals in some neighborhoods seem to encourage more physical activity. When community gardens were created for older adults in Philadelphia, Glicksman says, “we wanted people to garden to help them eat fresh foods and get them out and moving in the nice weather.” When younger adults joined in as well, the gardens had the added bonus of connecting people across generations. The older adults acted as gardening mentors, while the younger people helped with heavy lifting and digging. “Bringing people together is not only a way to encourage more activity; it’s also a way to get people thinking about how we can change our neighborhoods for the good.” So take a look around your neighborhood, your workplace, or your school. Can you think of changes that might make the surroundings more inviting for walking or exercise? “Consider: How can we change our environment so activity is an easier choice for us to make?” Saelens says. In many communities, people have gotten together to organize activities and improve their environments to encourage more physical activity. Steps might include improving local parks, requesting safe and usable bike paths and sidewalks, or asking for more physical activity and healthier meals at schools. If you have some ideas for improving your surroundings, discuss them with your neighbors or local leaders. Although your environment can affect how active you are, you can still look for new ways to use the world around you to add some movement to your day. “If you’re at work, try climbing the stairs instead of using the elevator. And get up from your chair and move around at least once an hour,” Evans says. Stand up and walk to a colleague’s office instead of sending an email. Try standing instead of sitting when you’re on the phone, or have “walking” meetings with co-workers instead of sitting in a conference room. And take a brisk walk on your lunch break to get some activity in. “It’s not really necessary to engage in vigorous physical activity like running to have beneficial health effects. Just 30 minutes of brisk walking most days, in at least 10-minute segments, can have a positive effect,” Evans says. “We have to look for opportunities to fit physical activity into our days,” Saelens adds. “Some people love to put on their sneakers and to go to the gym, and that’s great for them, but it’s not the only way to get active.”
What is an omphalocele? An omphalocele is a birth defect, which is an abnormality that occurs before birth as a fetus is forming in its mother's uterus. Some of the abdominal organs protrude through an opening in the abdominal muscles in the area of the umbilical cord. A translucent membrane covers the protruding organs. The omphalocele may be small, with only a portion of the intestine protruding outside the abdominal cavity, or large, with most of the abdominal organs (including intestine, liver, and spleen) present outside the abdominal cavity. Further, the abdominal cavity itself may be small due to underdevelopment during pregnancy. What causes an omphalocele? It is not known what causes omphalocele. Steps that normally happen in the development of the abdominal organs and muscles simply did not happen properly. It is not known to be caused by anything the mother did during pregnancy. Many babies born with an omphalocele also have other abnormalities. Why is an omphalocele a concern? Since some or all of the abdominal organs are outside the body, infection is a concern, especially if the protective membrane around the organs breaks. Also, an organ may lose its blood supply if it becomes pinched or twisted. A loss of blood flow can damage the affected organ. How is an omphalocele diagnosed? Omphalocele can often be detected on fetal ultrasound in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. A fetal echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart) may also be done to check for heart abnormalities before the baby is born. After birth, the omphalocele can be noted by the physician during the physical examination. X-rays (diagnostic tests which use invisible electromagnetic energy beams to produce images of internal tissues, bones, and organs onto film) may also be done after birth to evaluate abnormalities of other organs or body parts. What is the treatment for an omphalocele? Specific treatment for an omphalocele will be determined by your baby's physician based on the following: Your baby's gestational age, overall health, and medical history The extent of the condition Your baby's tolerance for specific medications, procedures, or therapies Expectations for the course of the condition Your opinion and preference For a "small" omphalocele (only a portion of the intestine protruding outside the abdominal cavity), shortly after birth, an operation is done to return the organs to the abdomen and close the opening in the abdominal wall. For a "large" omphalocele (most of the abdominal organs, including intestine, liver, and spleen are present outside the abdominal cavity), the repair is done in "stages" and may include the following: Initially, sterile, protective sheeting is placed over the abdominal organs. Because the abdomen may be small and underdeveloped, it may not be able to hold all of the organs at once. Therefore, the exposed organs are gradually moved back into the abdomen over several days or weeks. The abdominal wall is closed surgically once the organs have been returned to the abdominal cavity. Because the abdominal cavity may be small and underdeveloped, and the organs may be swollen, a baby with an omphalocele may have breathing difficulties as the organs are returned to the abdomen. Your baby may need help from a breathing machine called a mechanical ventilator while the swelling is decreasing and the size of the abdominal cavity is increasing. What is the long-term outlook for a baby born with an omphalocele? Problems in the future often depend on: The size of the omphalocele If there was a loss of blood flow to part of the intestine or other organs The extent of other abnormalities Babies who have damage to the intestines or other abdominal organs may have long-term problems with digestion, elimination, and infection. Consult your baby's physician regarding the prognosis for your baby. For more information or to schedule an appointment, call 314.454.5437 or 800.678.5437 or email us.
Microsoft Access is a database software application. It has a number of uses for both end consumers and developers. Access was first released in 1992. While the file formats for Access can be used by other Microsoft Office products like Excel and Word, their functionality can be limited. Microsoft Access database files require that the user has a compatible version of Access to open them. While some Access files can be opened in other Microsoft Office applications (e.g., Excel, Word) the functionality is limited. The user can access the data tables but not the organizational features of Access that are necessary for creating reports. Reports in Access do not have all the functionality of a program like Word. For example, Access can create a report on very specific areas of the database but the user is limited in the way the information is presented. Word or PowerPoint allows for more creativity in the actual presentation of information. Databases with multiple variables and a wide variety of information can pose problems to those attempting to organise the information. For example, all the variables, while relevant, may not fit neatly into a report. The result may be a very large, hard-to-follow report that is not user-friendly. Very large databases can take a long time to generate a report. Once the desired parameters have been specified, Access begins to compile a report. If the database is very large, compiling and organising that data can take quite some time.
What You Need to Know About GMAT Exponents Exponents are among the common algebra concepts that you can expect to encounter on the GMAT quantitative section — primarily on problem solving questions, but occasionally on data sufficiency questions as well. Definition: An exponent, or power, refers to the number of times a number (called the base) is used as a factor, i.e. the number of times it has been multiplied by itself. For example, in the number 23, the base is 2 and the exponent is 3. This means that 2 is multiplied by itself three times. Thus, 23 = 222 = 8. Foundational GMAT Exponent Rules The GMAT often tests your ability to manipulate exponents and combine them or separate them in order to simplify an algebraic expression, solve for a variable, combine or simplify polynomials, or simply find a resulting number. Make sure you learn these core exponent rules that will enable you to solve anything the GMAT throws at you involving exponents: Rule 1: You cannot combine bases or exponents when adding or subtracting terms. Ex.1: a3 + b3 does not equal (a + b)3 Ex.2: a2 + a3 does not equal a(2 + 3) Rule 2: You can combine bases when multiplying or dividing terms, provided the exponents are the same. Simply multiply or divide the bases. Ex.1: a3 * b3 = (ab)3 Ex.2: a3 / b3 = (a/b)3 Rule 3: You can combine exponents when multiplying or dividing terms, provided the bases are the same. Simply add the exponents in the case of multiplication and subtract the exponents in the case of division. Ex.1: a2 a3 = a(2+3) = a5 Ex.2: a5 / a2 = a(5-2) = a3 Rule 4: When raising an exponential number to a power, multiply exponents. Ex.1: (a2)3 = a(23) = a6 Rule 5: Any number raised to the first power equals itself. Thus, a1 = a Rule 6: Any number raised to the zero power equals one. Thus, a0 = 1 Rule 7: With negative exponents, take the inverse of the number and change the negative exponent to a positive one. Ex.1: 3-2 = 1/32 = 1/9 Ex.2: 1/3-2 = 32 = 9 Exponent Trick: When in doubt, write it out! “When in doubt, write it out!” is a saying that I use all the time with my students. It’s a helpful reminder that if you’re ever looking at an exponent problem and you can’t remember what the rules say to do, simply write out verbatim what the exponent is telling you. For example, with something like (a2)3, you may forget the rule and think to yourself, “Shoot! Do I add the exponents? Or multiply them? I forget!” Simply write out what it’s telling you. Technically, it’s telling you to take a2 and multiply it by itself three times. Of course, a2 itself is simply aa. Thus, the problem is telling you that you’re taking (aa) and multiplying it by itself three times, or (aa)(aa)(aa) which = aaaaaa which is 6 a’s, or a6. That’s the same outcome as if you remembered the rule, but it’s a fool-proof way to ensure that you don’t make a careless error on test day. It’s also a useful trick on more difficult exponent problems, as illustrated in this graphic on the right. Many students mistakenly think that (x+y)2 = x2 + y2, but of course if you write out exactly what’s going on, which is that technically you’re multiplying (x+y) by itself, you’ll discover that there’s actually a middle term of 2xy as well and avoid the common trap that the test makers are hoping you fall into. So remember, “When in doubt, write it out!” On the GMAT You can think of the rules above as foundational tools that will enable you to solve more difficult GMAT exponent questions. You may need to be creative and combine several of the rules within the same question to solve it. Consider this example: Question: If (1/5)m (1/4)18 = 1/(2*1035), then m = Give it a try and see how you do. Once you’re done check out this solution video that introduces another advanced GMAT exponent concept about solving for a variable when the variable is in the exponent:
The hypothalamus is a small region of the brain. It’s located at the base of the brain, near the pituitary gland. While it’s very small, the hypothalamus plays a crucial role in many important functions, including: - releasing hormones - regulating body temperature - maintaining daily physiological cycles - controlling appetite - managing of sexual behavior - regulating emotional responses The hypothalamus has three main regions. Each one contains different nuclei. These are clusters of neurons that perform vital functions, such as releasing hormones. This area is also called the supraoptic region. Its major nuclei include the supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei. There are several other smaller nuclei in the anterior region as well. The nuclei in the anterior region are largely involved in the secretion of various hormones. Many of these hormones interact with the nearby pituitary gland to produce additional hormones. Some of the most important hormones produced in the anterior region include: - Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH). CRH is involved in the body’s response to both physical and emotional stress. It signals the pituitary gland to produce a hormone called adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). ACTH triggers the production of cortisol, an important stress hormone. - Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH). TRH production stimulates the pituitary gland to produce thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH). TSH plays an important role in the function of many body parts, such as the heart, gastrointestinal tract, and muscles. - Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). GnRH production causes the pituitary gland to produce important reproductive hormones, such as follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH). - Oxytocin. This hormone controls many important behaviors and emotions, such as sexual arousal, trust, recognition, and maternal behavior. It’s also involved in some functions of the reproductive system, such as childbirth and lactation. - Vasopressin. Also called antidiuretic hormone (ADH), this hormone regulates water levels in the body. When vasopressin is released, it signals the kidneys to absorb water. - Somatostatin. Somatostatin works to stop the pituitary gland from releasing certain hormones, including growth hormones and thyroid-stimulating hormones. The anterior region of the hypothalamus also helps regulate body temperature through sweat. It also maintains circadian rhythms. These are physical and behavioral changes that occur on a daily cycle. For example, being awake during the day and sleeping at nighttime is a circadian rhythm related to the presence or absence of light. This area is also called the tuberal region. Its major nuclei are the ventromedial and arcuate nuclei. The ventromedial nucleus helps control appetite, while the arcuate nucleus is involved in releasing growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH). GHRH stimulates the pituitary gland to produce growth hormone. This is responsible for the growth and development of the body. This area is also called the mammillary region. The posterior hypothalamic nucleus and mammillary nuclei are its main nuclei. The posterior hypothalamic nucleus helps regulate body temperature by causing shivering and blocking sweat production. The role of the mammillary nuclei is less clear. Doctors believe it’s involved in memory function. Use this interactive 3-D diagram to explore the hypothalamus. When the hypothalamus doesn’t work properly, it’s called hypothalamic dysfunction. Several things can cause hypothalamic dysfunction, including: - head injuries - certain genetic disorders, such as growth hormone deficiency - birth defects involving the brain or hypothalamus - tumors in or around the hypothalamus - eating disorders, such as anorexia or bulimia - autoimmune conditions - surgery involving the brain Hypothalamic dysfunction plays a role in many conditions, including: - Diabetes insipidus. If the hypothalamus doesn’t produce and release enough vasopressin, the kidneys can remove too much water. This causes increased urination and thirst. Unlike people with diabetes mellitus, people with diabetes insipidus have stable blood sugar levels. - Prader-Willi syndrome. This is a rare, inherited disorder. It causes the hypothalamus to not register when someone is full after eating. People with Prader-Willi syndrome have a constant urge to eat, increasing their risk of obesity. Additional symptoms include a slower metabolism and decreased muscle. - Hypopituitarism. This disorder happens when the pituitary gland doesn’t produce enough hormones. While it’s usually caused by damage to the pituitary gland, hypothalamic dysfunction can also cause it. Many hormones produced by the hypothalamus directly affect those produced by the pituitary gland. Hypothalamic conditions can cause a range of symptoms. Which symptoms you may experience depend on the part of the hypothalamus and types of hormones involved. Some symptoms that could signal a hypothalamus problem include: - unusually high or low blood pressure - body temperature fluctuations - unexplained weight gain or loss - changes in appetite - short stature - delayed onset of puberty - frequent urination While some hypothalamus conditions are unavoidable, there are a few things you can do to keep your hypothalamus healthy. Eat a balanced diet While eating a balanced diet is important for every body part, it’s especially crucial when it comes to the hypothalamus. A recent study in mice found that eating a high-fat diet led to inflammation of the hypothalamus. Another study in mice found that a high-sugar diet also caused inflammation of the hypothalamus. To reduce your risk, make sure you’re aware of how much sugar you consume per day. Get enough sleep A 2014 study found that sleep deprivation was associated with hypothalamic dysfunction in rats. In addition, researchers involved in the study suggest that sleep deprivation may increase someone’s risk of neurological diseases. Like eating a balanced diet and getting enough sleep, regular exercise boosts your overall health. However, if you’re having trouble with the diet part, exercise is particularly important. A 2012 study involving mice found that even a mild amount of regular exercise reduced hypothalamic inflammation related to a high-fat diet. Not sure where to start? Check out our beginner’s guide to working out.

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