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Now that we know how to declare and initialize variables in Java, we can do some mathematics with those variables. What You Should See The plus sign (+) will add two integers or two doubles together, or one integer and one floating-point value (in either order). With two Strings (like on line 32) it will concatenate5 the two Strings together. The minus sign (-) will subtract one number from another. Just like addition, it works with two integers, two floating-point values, or one integer and one double (in either order). An asterisk (*) is used to represent multiplication. You can also see on line 15 that Java knows about the correct order of operations. b is multiplied by 3 giving 81 and then a is added. A slash (/) is used for division. Notice that when an integer is divided by another integer (like on line 17) the result is also an integer and not floating-point. The percent sign (%) is used to mean ‘modulus’, which is essentially the remainder left over after dividing. On line 19, b is divided by 10 and the remainder (7) is stored into the variable g. Modular arithmetic is a fairly simple mathematical operation that just isn’t often taught in public school or even introductory university math curriculum. Wikipedia’s example is good enough: we do modular arithmetic every time we add times on a typical 12-hour clock. If it is 7 o’clock now, what time will it be in eight hours? Well, once we hit 12:00 we “wrap around”, so it will be 3 o’clock. (8+7 = 15, 15-12 = 3) Put another way, 15 divided by 12 is 1 with a remainder of 3. Modular arithmetic is used more than you would think in programming, but I won’t be using it too much in the book.
Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California report that changes in precipitation over the world's land and oceans can not be explained by natural variability alone and are directly affected by human activities. In a new study, Kate Marvel and Celine Bonfils compared climate model predictions with weather data observed over more than three decades. They note that higher global temperatures increase humidity, which makes wet areas wetter and dry ones dryer. And, increased greenhouse gases and ozone depletion affect atmospheric circulation patterns, pushing storms toward the poles. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , they say while natural fluctuations in climate can lead to either intensification or poleward shifts in rain and snow, it is very rare for the two effects to occur together naturally. Kate Marvel concludes, "External influences such as the increase in greenhouse gases are responsible for the changes."
Krypton is the chemical element with atomic number 36 and atomic symbol Kr. It is a member of the noble gases (group 8 of the Periodic Table). Krypton is found as a trace element in the Earth's atmosphere, and is colorless, odorless and tasteless. Krypton can be chemically isolated by fractionally distilling liquified air, and is frequently utilized with other rare gases in fluorescent lamps. Krypton is essentially inert with respect to chemical reaction with other elements and compounds across a broad variety of physical circumstances. Krypton occurs naturally in the atmosphere at concentrations of approximately 1.14 parts per million by volume. Work by Cardelli et al. suggest that large quantities of krypton are present in interstellar space. There are six known stable isotopes of krypton and over thirty unstable isotopes. At conditions near standard temperature and pressure, krypton (along with all noble gases) is a monatomic species, and is in a highly inert state. However, under certain condtions, krypton can enter into a reaction with halides to form krypton halides; moreover, such molecules are typically unstable and readily decompose. Previous Element: Nitrogen Next Element: Fluorine \|Phase at Room Temp.\|\|gas\| \|Melting Point (K)\|\|116.6\| \|Boiling Point (K)\|\|119.7\| \|Heat of Fusion (kJ/mol)\|\|---\| \|Heat of Vaporization (kJ/mol)\|\|9.1\| \|Heat of Atomization (kJ/mol)\|\|0\| \|Thermal Conductivity (J/m sec K)\|\|0.01\| \|Electrical Conductivity (1/mohm cm)\|\|0\| \|Number of Isotopes\|\|6\| \|Electron Affinity (kJ/mol)\|\|---\| \|First Ionization Energy (kJ/mol)\|\|1350.7\| \|Second Ionization Energy (kJ/mol)\|\|2350.3\| \|Third Ionization Energy (kJ/mol)\|\|3565.1\| \|Atomic Volume (cm3/mol)\|\|38.9\| \|Ionic Radius2- (pm)\|\|---\| \|Ionic Radius1- (pm)\|\|---\| \|Atomic Radius (pm)\|\|112\| \|Ionic Radius1+ (pm)\|\|---\| \|Ionic Radius2+ (pm)\|\|---\| \|Ionic Radius3+ (pm)\|\|---\| \|Common Oxidation Numbers\|\|+2\| \|Other Oxid. Numbers\| \|In Earth's Crust (mg/kg)\|\|1×10-4\| \|In Earth's Ocean (mg/L)\|\|2.1×10-4\| \|In Human Body (%)\|\|0%\| \|Regulatory / Health\| \|OSHA Permissible Exposure Limit\|\|No limits\| \|OSHA PEL Vacated 1989\|\|No limits\| \|NIOSH Recommended Exposure Limit\|\|No limits\| Mineral Information Institute Jefferson Accelerator Laboratory Krypton in solid form manifests a white color and forms in face-centered cubic crystal. Such a crystal structure is a shared property of the noble gases in solid form, other than for helium, which exhibits a close-packed hexagonal structure. Sir William Ramsay, a Scottish chemist, and Morris Travers, an English chemist discovered krypton in Great Britain in 1898 as part of a residue left from evaporating practically all the constituents of liquid air. The element neon was actually discovered by a similar procedure by the identical research team only several weeks subsequent to the krypton discovery. Ramsay was given the 1904 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of a series of noble gases, including krypton. An international agreement in the year 1960 defined the meter in terms of wavelength of light emitted by the krypton-86 isotope, having a wavelength of 605.78 nanometers. The gas can be used in lighting and photography. Krypton light has a significant number of spectral lines, and their high light intensity output within plasma permits krypton to be extremely useful in a number of high-powered gas lasers, such as krypton ion and excimer lasers; each of these laser types select one of the spectral lines for amplification. In addition, a specific krypton fluoride laser has a number of uses. Due to its long half life of about 230,000 years 81Kr is sometmes utilized for the dating of ancient aquifers. Human health effects When present in high concentrations in the air that is breathed by people, krypton induces narcotic or sleep-inducing effects. Thus it is considered a psychoactive substance. - John H. Holloway & Eric G. Hope (1998). A. G. Sykes. ed. Advances in Inorganic Chemistry. Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-023646-X. - Cardelli, Jason A.; Meyer, David M. (1996). "The Abundance of Interstellar Krypton". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The American Astronomical Society. pp. L57–L60. - Lide, D. R., ed. (2005). CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (86th ed.). Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-0486-5. - Grosse, A. V.; Kirshenbaum, A. D.; Streng, A. G.; Streng, L. V. (1963). "Krypton Tetrafluoride: Preparation and Some Properties". Science 139 (3559): 1047–1048.
Lincoln Home National Historic Site: A Place of Growth and Memory - A Teaching with Historic Places Lesson Plan - Grade Level: - Fifth Grade-Twelfth Grade - Civil War, Government, History, U.S. Presidents - Variable. Adaptable to teacher and student needs. - Group Size: - Up to 36 - indoors or outdoors - National/State Standards: - Relevant U.S. History Standards for Grades 5-12: Era 4 - Expansion and Reform (1801-1861) Standard 3B; Era 5 - Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877) Standard 1A - lesson plan, Teaching with Historic Places, Lincoln Home National Historic Site, springfield, Illinois History, Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, Politics and Government, Presidential History, President Abraham Lincoln, U.S. Presidents, family life, Abraham Lincolns family, Abraham Lincolns funeral OverviewUsing the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, this lesson plan allows students to examine the community that President Abraham Lincoln grew up in. Students will use historic maps, readings, photographs and drawings to explain the role that the Lincoln home played in Lincoln's personal and political life in addition to outlining the national issues that inspired Lincoln to act decisively in politics and propelled him into the White House. - Describe the community in which Lincoln and his family lived, and learn how the citizens felt about him. - Explain the role that the Lincoln home played in Lincoln's personal and political life. - Outline the national issues that inspired Lincoln to act decisively in politics and propelled him to the White House. - Interview a local politician and compare and contrast this person to what they have learned about Lincoln, and write a "newspaper article" on a current political event in their community. BackgroundInformation on how to use a Teaching with Historic Places Lesson Plan can be found here. - Four maps showing where Lincoln lived, slave and free states in the U.S. in 1860, and presidential election results in 1860; - Four readings about Lincoln in politics including excerpts from key Lincoln speeches, and newspaper accounts of Lincoln's farewell address and funeral in Springfield; - Four photographs of the Lincoln home; - One drawing of the Lincoln front parlor. Lincoln Home National Historic Site: A Place of Growth and Memory Each Teaching with Historic Places lesson plan contains the following teaching activities: Getting Started (inquiry question), Setting the Stage (historical background), Locating the Site (maps), Determining the Facts (readings, documents, charts), Visual Evidence (photographs and other graphic documents), and Putting It All Together (activities). See Parts 2-7 for information about how to use these resources. Click here to go directly to the lesson plan. Begin this lesson by asking students to discuss possible answers to the inquiry question that accompanies the "Getting Started" image. Provide them with paper print-outs of the image and question, or direct them to the lesson plan website. To facilitate a whole class discussion, you may want to print or scan the image to make an overhead transparency or digital slide. The purpose of this exercise is to engage students' interest in the lesson's topic by raising questions that can be answered as they complete the lesson. Rather than serving merely as an illustration for the text, the image is a document that plays an integral role in helping students achieve the lesson's objective. To assist students in learning how to "read" visual materials you may want to begin this section by having them complete the Photo Analysis Worksheet for one or more of the photos. The worksheet is appropriate for analyzing both historical and recent photographs and will help students develop a valuable skill. Getting Started section for this lesson Setting the Stage This section is intended to be used, if necessary, as background material. Read this material aloud to students or summarize it, or provide them with paper print-outs, or direct them to the lesson plan website. If students have computers, you can direct them to the page on the website. Setting the Stage section for this lesson Locating the Site Provide students with the maps and questions included in Locating the Site. You can give them paper print-outs or direct them to the lesson plan website. Have students work individually or in small groups to complete the questions. At least one map familiarizes the students with the historic site's location within the country, state or region. Extended captions may be included to provide students with information necessary to answer the questions. Locating the Site section in this lesson Determining the Facts Provide students with copies of the readings, documents and/or charts included in this section or direct them to the lesson plan website. Allow students to work individually or in small groups. The series of questions that accompanies each of these readings is designed to ensure that students have gathered the appropriate facts from the material. Determining the Facts section for this lesson Visual Evidence: Images Distribute the lesson's visual materials among students. Provide them with paper print-outs, or direct them to the lesson plan website. Have the students examine the photographs and answer the related questions. Note that two or more images may be studied together in order to complete the questions. Extended captions may be included to provide students with important information. Rather than serving merely as illustrations for the text, the images are documents that play an integral role in helping students achieve the lesson's objectives. To assist students in learning how to "read" visual materials, you may want to begin this section by having them complete the Photo Analysis Worksheet for one or more of the photos. Visual Evidence: Images section for this lesson Putting It All Together After students have completed the questions that accompany the maps, readings and visuals, they should be directed to complete one or more of the activities presented below. These activities engage students in a variety of creative exercises that help them synthesize the information they have learned and formulate conclusions. At least one activity leads students to look for places in their community that relate to the topic of the lesson. In this way students learn to make connections between their community and the broader themes of American history they encounter in their studies. Putting It All Together section for this lesson
This year’s tornado season could be one of the most active on record. Nearly 1,200 tornadoes have hit the U.S. this year, according to preliminary numbers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Four of these storms have been rated at the highest tornado strength, an EF-5. A tornado is a violently rotating column of air extending from a thunderstorm to the ground. Before thunderstorms develop, a change in wind direction and an increase in wind speed with increasing height create an invisible horizontal spinning effect in the lower atmosphere. Thunderstorms develop in warm, moist air, preceding an eastward-moving cold front. The rising air within the thunderstorm tilts the rotating air from horizontal to vertical. An area of rotation, two to six miles wide, extends through a great deal of the storm. Warm moist air shoots upward, meeting colder, dryer air, and makes a strong updraft within the thunderstorm. As warm moist air rises, it may meet varying wind directions at different altitudes. If these varying winds are staggered in just the right manner, with sufficient speed, they will act on the upward rising air, spinning it like a top. The storm will begin to show visible rotation, often forming a wall cloud--a large, lowering, and rotating base cloud. Inside the storm, these spinning winds can begin the formation of a tornado. On the outside, the thunderstorm rotation might be visible as well. Only about 30% of these storms form tornadoes. Most information about the inside of the thunderstorm comes from data collected by Doppler radar. Tornadoes were originally ranked on the Fujita (F) Scale, which was developed by Dr. Tetsuya Theodore Fujita to estimate tornado wind speeds based on the damage left behind by a tornado. It was used from 1971 to 2007. An Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale, developed by a group of meteorologists and wind engineers, makes improvements to the original F scale. The EF scale has been approved by the National Weather The original F scale had limitations, such as a lack of damage indicators, no account for construction quality and variability, and no definitive correlation between damage and wind speed. These limitations may have led to some tornadoes being rated in an inconsistent manner and an overestimate of tornado wind speeds. The EF Scale rates tornado categories from zero to five, but the ranges of wind speed in each category are now more accurate. It takes into account more variables than the original F Scale did when assigning a wind speed rating to a tornado. The EF Scale incorporates 28 damage indicators (DIs) such as building type, structures, and trees. For each damage indicator, there are eight degrees of damage (DOD), ranging from the beginning of visible damage to complete destruction of the damage indicator. The original F Scale did not take these details into account. The following ratings are given based on wind speeds: EF-0, 65-85 mph; EF-1, 86-110 mph; EF-2, 110-135 mph; EF-3, 136-165 mph; EF-4, 166-200 mph; and EF-5, greater than 200 mph.
Mapmaking and its History History of Mathematics Rutgers, Spring 2000 A map is a small-scale, flat-surface representation of some portion of the surface of the earth, whose purpose of a map is to express graphically the relations of points and features on the earth's surface to each other. Cartography is defined as the art of making maps. As the earth is roughly spherical, this involves the systematic representation of all or part of a round body on a flat surface; such a representation is called a map projection. The contemporary science of mapmaking developed very slowly at first, because the exploration of the earth as a whole is itself a relatively recent historical development. "Although the true shape of the earth was in doubt for centuries, many scholars were convinced the earth was spherical" (Snyder 1). This insight was already reached in the classic Greek period. The transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance gave rise to a basic change in the concept of map projection. During the Renaissance (particularly in the period 1470-1669), interest in map projections developed substantially and became more sophisticated mathematically. Mapmakers began to build on the work of their predecessors and to innovate. Many projection schemes were developed in this period, including the one most widely known today: "Unquestionably, the most famous projection is the one simply named for the inventor Gerardus Mercator" (Snyder 43). An ideal map should meet several constraints. It should represent countries with their true shape, and the countries represented should retain their relative sizes in the map. Distances between arbitrary points as shown on the map should bear a constant ratio to their true distances upon the earth. Great circles (lines of longitude) upon the sphere, which are the curves of shortest length on the sphere joining given points, should be represented by straight lines, which are the shortest distances joining the points on the map ("geodesics"). Finally, the geographic latitude and longitude of any place should be easily derivable from its position on the map. Cartographers have worked for centuries to meet these conflicting requirements, but have yet to do so. Slowly over many years they have mastered individual traits of the ideal map, but have not been able to combine them altogether to create the ideal map. Historically, one of the first steps in preparing a map is to lay down the graticule, or net of meridians and parallels, according to the selected map projection. Different map projections require different graticules. Meridians and parallels can be treated as if they represented precise coordinates, placed as straight lines or smooth curves on the map. The system of meridians and parallels, or lines of longitude and latitude, was developed near the beginning of the history of map projections. Latitude is defined as the angular distance north or south of the Equator. "A parallel of latitude is an imaginary line drawn around the Earth parallel to the Equator and at a constant angular distance to it" (Steers 17). Longitude is a similar angular measurement in an easterly or westerly direction. Unlike latitude, the reference point for longitude is arbitrary. "A meridian of longitude is a line passing entirely around the sphere and through the Poles" (Steers 17). Thus the parallels and meridians of a sphere intersect at right angles. However, before meridians and parallels could be used as the framework for a flat map representing the globe, it was necessary to develop an artificial pattern of lines of longitude and latitude by which positions on the earth's surface could be given systematic locations. Eratosthenes (ca. 275-194 B.C.) had devised a system similar to meridians and parallels, but Hipparchus (ca. 190-126 B.C.) applied more rigor to relate astronomical measurements to the determination of climata, or latitudinal positions. He was the first to use a formalized system of longitude and latitude in which the meridian and parallel circles were each divided into 360 degrees, each degree into 60 minutes, and each minute into 60 seconds (following the sexagesimal system of the Babylonians). (Snyder 4) The progress of science during this time revolutionized man's conception of the earth, and more precise methods of fixing position on the surface of the earth were being discovered. "Astronomers were able to deduce latitudes from the proportions between the lengths of the shadow and the pointer of the sun dial. This was the forerunner of the modern method of obtaining latitude" (Crone 19). The problem of the determination of longitude baffled astronomers for a very long time, because unlike the determination of latitude, for which the axis of the earth provides an established reference, no meridian is marked out as an initial one, in the way that the Equator serves as an initial parallel. Eratosthenes arrived at longitudes by "transforming distances into their angular values in relation to the circumference of the globe" (Crone 20). He also attempted to extend two lines of latitude based on the assumption that locations with similar climates and products would lie on or near the same parallel. There have been several proposed classifications of map projections. One of the most common classifications is based on the association with a developable surface. Such a surface may be laid flat without distortion. The most common projections may be geometrically projected onto a cylinder or cone, and are referred to correspondingly as cylindrical or conic projections. "Probably the projection dominant among those inherited from the pre-Renaissance was a graticule appearing to be rectangular, called equirectangular" (Snyder 6). As we have seen, the idea behind this projection goes back to Eratosthenes. Claudius Ptolemy (90-170?A.D.) provided detailed instructions concerning some methods of map projection, but many of the types of maps dominant before the Renaissance were based on ideas that were philosophical rather than mathematical. These maps include d world maps or mappaemundi, such as the symbolic T-O maps on which the landmasses were neatly fitted into a circle: Whether the earth was spherical or flat was irrelevant to these maps and their makers. Crone states "the O represented the boundary of the known world, the horizontal stroke of the inset T the approximate meridian running from the Don to the Nile, and the perpendicular stroke the axis of the Mediterranean" (Crone 26). However, Snyder explains, "the T-O design depicts the known continents s eparated by the Mediterranean Sea shaped like a T and surrounded by an O-shaped ocean" (Snyder 2). With the expansion of the known world through the conquests of Alexander the Great and the Romans, a vast mass of detail accumulated for use by later cartographers, who were thus able to take up the task outlined by Eratosthenes and Hipparchus wit h greater assurance of success. "Ptolemy was possibly the single most influential individual in the development of cartography in Europe and the Middle East at the dawn of the Renaissance, although he lived 1300 years earlier" (Snyder 10). Not much is k nown of Ptolemy, yet we do have much of his technical writings such as his Geography. Ptolemy's Geography is essentially a guide to drawing the world map. The Geography is "an extensive table of the geographical coordinates of some 8000 localities" (Crone 21). Ptolemy obtained the positions of these localities based on his study of itineraries, sailing directions, and topographical descriptions. In several ways, however, his work hindered the development of an accurate map of the world. "One of Ptole my's principle mistakes was the adoption of a value for the length of a degree equivalent to 56.5 miles, in contrast to Eratosthenes' value" (Crone 23). When it came time to transform distances into degrees, the figures he obtained were considerably exag gerated. Many other misrepresentations in Ptolemy's work show up throughout the maps of the Renaissance. These imperfections were gradually eliminated as the exploration of the earth progressed. During the early Middle Ages, geographical knowledge was fairly meager. Therefore, cartography was merely a routine copying of information; hence, many errors were repeated. By 1300 A.D., cartography began to emerge from its `dark ages'. Features of the mappaemundi were still persistent throughout the Renaissance maps. "Widening horizons presented greater incentives to the cartographer, and spurred him to the solution of more complex problems than had faced his medieval predecessor" (Crone 29). Thus, by the 13th century, advances in mathematics and astronomy spurred cartographers in their work. Towards the end of the 13th century there came into use in Western Europe a type of chart based on direct observation by means of the mariner's compass. These charts are referred to as portolans. The portolan charts portrayed the coastlines and ports for sailors. Not many of these portolans have survived, but the few that have been preserved have several features in common. First, the area that they cover comprises the Mediterranean and Black Seas, with a portion of the Atlantic coasts of Europe. Second, each of these charts is covered by a system of lines, generally sixteen to thirty-two lines, radiating over the whole chart.(Crone 30) There is no known explanation of this system of direction lines. Another notable stage was reached in the 14th century when European cartographers made the first attempt since classical times to include the continent of Asia within their maps. The results of these efforts are seen in the Catalan world maps. Catalan maps originated from the Catalan school. The Catalan atlas of 1375 illustrated here was constructed with the use of three sources: The maps of the 15th century are consistent with the later Catalan maps in that they preserve some medieval features, but differ in that they show the influence of Ptolemy's Geography. Fra Mauro, a monk of Murano, near Venice, presented a world map that is often regarded as "the culmination of medieval cartography" (Crone 53). The last important pre-Columbian representation of the world was Martin Behaim's globe. Martin Behaim was a famous cosmographer from Nuremburg. Behaim's globe was important above all for the simple reason that it was a globe. It is thought that this globe stimulated "controversy over the initiation of Columbus' great design and the subsequent evolution of his ideas on the nature of his discoveries" (Crone 61). The leaders of overseas exploration made the second great contribution to the revival of cartography. In little more than a century, the oceans of the world had been explored, and seamen were able to provide the chart makers with copious data for their maps. Hence, numerous maps were produced in the 16th century. The Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator sought to meet the public's demand for a comprehensive, up-to-date map. Mercator was a maker of mathematical and astronomical instruments. He solved the problem of the representation of the lines of constant bearing, or loxodromes, by straight lines on a chart. Since meridians and parallels are represented by straight lines at right angles, any straight line drawn in any direction crosses all parallels at a constant angle, and also all meridians at a constant angle. Such a line is called a loxodrome. If a line is to preserve a constant corrupt lines here * m to follow a single compass setting based on the bearing of the straight line connecting the point of departure and destination. How Mercator did this is as follows: To represent the loxodromes as straight lines on a flat map, the meridians and parallels must be arranged so that the loxodromes cut the meridians at constant angles. Since the meridians converge, the effect of this is to distort east-west distances, and therefore direction and area at any given point. If, however, the distances between parallels are increased proportionately to the increase in the intervals between the meridians from the Equator towards the Poles, the correct relationships of angles ar e preserved. This was the solution obtained by Mercator. (Crone 106) Mercator's principle achievements were his globe of 1541 and his world map of 1569, an outline of which is shown above. On his globe of 1541 Mercator first laid down the loxodromes, and in 1569 he projected these lines onto a chart, As illustrated below.. Mercator's map was intended not only to be used by navigators, but also to represent land surfaces as accurately as possible. "The projection is a regular cylindrical projection, with equidistant, straight meridians, and with parallels of latitude that are straight, parallel, and perpendicular to the meridians" (Snyder 45). Instead of stretching the Polar Regions north and south, Mercator limited the stretching in latitude to an equality with the stretching in longitude. Therefore we get a conformal projection in which any small area is shown with practically its true shape, but in which large areas will be distorted. For example, according to the Mercator map Greenland is bigger than South America, when in fact South America is nine times larger than Greenland. In the seventeenth century, there was a desire to apply new theories of the physical universe to accurately determine the dimensions of the earth. The invention of new instruments enabled scientists to make the necessary observations. The instruments included the pendulum clock, the telescope, as well as more theoretical tools like tables of logarithms, the differential and integral calculus, and the law of gravity. The advance of cartography was furthered by the measurement of an arc on the earth's surface. In the eighteenth century, the advances in mathematics and astronomy associated with the work of Sir Isaac Newton helped perfect the method of determining longitude within one degree. The results of these technical advances were seen in the increased accuracy of the general outline of the continents and their precise positions. Maps of North America and the Indian sub-continent began to be sketched. The progress of the settlement of North America, the organization of colonies, and a continuing Anglo-French rivalry created an increasing demand for maps of greater reliability. Maps also played a key role in the peace between the American colonies and Britain. The first map projections were based on little supporting information. The subject was basically mathematical, but although geometry and the beginnings of algebra and trigonometry had been developed by the time of Ptolemy, these were only minimally applied to map projections until after the Renaissance. Projections serve as tools to help display geographical data, but the placement of lands over the face of the earth not known amplified by very limited exploration until the Renaissance. After the surge of i nterest by Eratosthenes, Hipparchus and Ptolemy, there were centuries of stagnation resulting from wars and religious intolerance. The Renaissance, however, reawakened mathematicians and cartographers alike. Mercator has provided generations upon generations with perhaps the single most important navigational as well as geographical tool available to this date. "Whatever the future may hold, it is at least clear that the problems and opportunities facing the cartographer will not decrease" (Crone 171).
Go back to site of the week archive index - Energy Quest (http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/index.html) This award-winning, colorful, highly-interactive site contains everything you need to teach K-12 students about all topics related to Energy. It has easy to read chapters, stories, movies, games, science projects, lesson plans, and links to valuable resources. - Department of Energy for Educators (http://www.energy.gov/foreducators.htm) This site provides high-quality, free energy related lesson plans, science fair projects, and fun activities divided by topic and grade level. You can also learn about contests and competitions available for K-12 students and teachers through the Department of Energy. - Planet Science (http://www.planet-science.com/) Planet Science is a great place to find creative science lesson plans, games, experiments, and news. The site was created to help students develop an interest in science from an early age by helping teachers find innovative ways to teach K-12 science. - Eric Weisstein's World of Science (http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/) This free site is updated daily and is an encyclopedia of astronomy, scientific biography, chemistry, math, and physics. You will find detailed illustrations and interactive demonstrations of thousands of math and science concepts. - Nutrition Explorations: Kids' Nutrition at its Best (http://www.nutritionexplorations.org/) This site provides fun interactive games for kids, handouts, and information for students, parents, and teachers about nutrition. A professional staff of nutritionists and dietitians is available to answer questions on virtually any topic related to dairy products, nutrition, scientific research, diet and health. - Strange Matter (http://www.strangematterexhibit.com/) Help your students in grades 5 to 8 discover the secrets of Materials Science. This site contains a teachers guide, curriculum materials, and online activities to enhance your science curriculum. - National Geographic Kids: Animals (http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Animals/) Your students can visit this site to explore animals and their habitats from all over the world. The site is written in language that is easy for kids to understand, is full of interesting facts, and illustrated with vivid pictures. - EcoKids (http://www.ecokids.ca/) EcoKids was designed for children, parents, and educators to learn about the environment through fun, educational games and activities. Educators can find curriculum information, worksheets, and lesson ideas about many topics including wildlife, climate change, energy, water, and more. - Kids Health (http://kidshealth.org/classroom/) This new online resource is a one-stop shop for Health educators to download free curriculum materials for all grade levels. Materials include discussion questions, activities, handouts, and quizzes aligned with national health education standards. The site also includes teacher guides, articles to print out and send home to parents. - Get Body Smart (http://www.getbodysmart.com/) is an attempt to create a fully animated and interactive eBook about human anatomy and physiology. Visually learn about the human body using the interactive Flash animations. - Grey Matters (http://www.ucsd.tv/greymatters/) is an educational series to enhance public awareness of recent developments in brain research. It includes video presentations for key concepts, background and supplemental reading materials, and lesson ideas for high school students and teachers. - Christopher Columbus Awards (http://www.christophercolumbusawards.com/) is a national, community-based science and technology program for middle school students. Students work in teams of three to four, with an adult coach, to identify a problem in their community and apply the scientific method to create an innovative solution to that problem. - EnviroLink Network (http://envirolink.org) is dedicated to providing comprehensive, up-to-date environmental information and news. EnviroLink is committed to promoting a sustainable society by connecting individuals and organizations through communications technologies. - Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) (http://www.bnl.gov/RHIC/) introduces you to cutting-edge research on the study of ions and the exploration of new high-energy forms of matter. Learn about what happens to two intersecting beams of ions in a subatomic collision. Check out the map of the complex! - Exploratorium (http://www.exploratorium.edu/) is a collage of hundreds of science, art, and human perception exhibits. It provides access to, and information about, science, nature, art, and technology. Check out both the Educate and Explore sections! - The Shape of Life (http://www.pbs.org/kcet/shapeoflife/index.html) is a revolutionary eight-part television series that reveals the dramatic rise of the animal kingdom through the breakthroughs of scientific discovery. It features explorations, activities and lessons to accompany the series for informal science educators, teachers, students and families. - Center for History of Physics (http://www.aip.org/history/) makes known the history of modern physics and allied sciences (geophysics, astrophysics, etc.) through documentation, archival collections and educational initiatives. There are online exhibits highlighting different discoveries in these fields. There is also a section for Syllabi for Teachers. - Biozone Biolinks (http://www.biozone.co.nz/links.html) is an extensive database of biology links. Select among the 20 subject images listed to access a selection of useful websites, newsfeeds, and search facilities. - DNA Interactive (http://www.dnai.org/index.htm) teaches you about DNA science and how it can be applied to many different fields of human interest. There are six sections, which take you from the early discoveries on DNA code to the use of forensic techniques to solve historical puzzles. - Carolina Coastal Science (http://www.ncsu.edu/coast/) is an innovative, inquiry-based science resource to explore science in coastal Carolina. It follows the goals stated in the National Science Education Standards and has been designed specifically for an Environmental Science component of the K-12 science curriculum. - Kids Planet (http://www.kidsplanet.org/) is an interdisciplinary site full of animations and activities to protect animals and plants. There are many excellent sections appropriate for K-12. The Teachers Table includes curriculum on different animal species. Defend it! lets you participate in Wildlife protection in many different ways. Learn and enjoy! - Environmental Kids Club (http://www.epa.gov/kids/ ) helps you explore the environment and learn how to protect it using games, pictures, and stories. This site offers information on air, water, recycling, plants and animals, and much more. Teachers can use the Teaching Resources section for lesson plans and activities. - Penguins Around the World (http://www.siec.k12.in.us/~west/proj/penguins/main.html) presents many interesting and fun facts about these animals. You can learn about the different types of penguins in the world and their habitats and then quiz yourself to see how much you know about them. Teachers find organized lesson plans, ideas for projects and much more. - Classroom Resources in Technology (http://www.suelebeau.com/techresources.htm) is an excellent data base of resources on a variety of topics for using and integrating technology in the classroom. There are five major categories: General Resources, Jeopardy Activities, Keyboarding Resources, Educational Portals and Scavenger Hunts. - Leonardo (http://www.museoscienza.org/english/leonardo/default.htm) introduces you to the creative work of Leonardo da Vinci. You have the opportunity to appreciate and interpret his models, machines and manuscripts. Check out Leonardos ideal city design. - Environmental Education for Kids (http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/caer/ce/eek/) offers you information and activities about the natural world around us. You can learn conservation tips and make a difference to help the environment. Teachers have access to activities for Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies. - ARKive (http://www.arkive.org/) is a centralized digital library containing films, photographs and audio recordings of the worlds animals, plants and fungi. It creates a unique record of the worlds biodiversity for scientists, conservationists, educators and the public as a means of building environmental awareness. - Science News for Kids (http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/) is a Web site devoted to science news for children of ages 9 to 14. It offers suggestions for hands-on activities, books, articles, Web resources, and other useful materials. There are ideas for science projects, mathematical puzzles and creative ways for teachers to use science news in their classrooms. - USGS Learning Web (http://interactive2.usgs.gov/learningweb/students/) provides scientific information to help educate the public about natural resources, natural hazards, geospatial data, and issues that affect our quality of life. There are lessons, data, maps, and more, to support teaching, learning, education (K-12), and university-level inquiry and research. - Science U (http://www.scienceu.com/) is a web site devoted to science, education, and fun. It is filled with interactive exhibits, online simulations, graphics software, and a library of reference materials. Science comes alive in new and exciting ways with Science U! - StarChild (http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/StarChild.html) is a site for children to learn about the universe, our solar system, and other space subjects. You can learn how to become an astronaut, about spacesuits, and the history of space travel. The StarChild glossary will help you understand some words you will need to know about space. - Earthquake for Kids (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learning/kids.php) represents an effort to mitigate earthquake losses by developing and applying earth science data and assessments essential for land-use planning, engineering design, and emergency preparedness decisions. Check out the earthquake facts, pictures, games and puzzles. - Web Weather for Kids (http://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/) offers comprehensive information about what elements in the troposphere interact together to produce the weather and learn about different weather phenomena including tornadoes, thunderstorms, hurricanes and more. Check out the games and the hands-on activities! - Global Warming Kids Site (http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/kids/index.html) provides a wealth of materials focusing on the science and impacts of global warming or climate change, and on actions that help address global warming issues. It is designed as a resource for both kids and educators. There are games, animations, events, and links to other relevant sites for kids and educators. - Biology4kids! (http://www.biology4kids.com/) is a site designed to serve as an introduction to the science of biology. You can learn about cells, microorganisms, plants, vertebrates, invertebrates, and animal systems. After each section, you can also take a quiz to see if you have understood the material presented in the specific section. There is also a list of related sites if you need more information about a specific topic. - Passport to the Rainforest (http://passporttoknowledge.com/rainforest/main.html) is a unique multiple media teaching and learning website that focuses more on the science of the forests rather than explicit activism to protect or conserve them. It is based on the belief that more people, in nations north and south, will ultimately care about, and act to preserve rainforests, if they understand more clearly what makes them such rare and wonderful places. Whether you teach ecology or biology or general science, PTRF will help you introduce, explain and simulate such key concepts as: photosynthesis, food webs, the recycling of matter and the transfer of energy through an ecosystem, and much more. - Human Body & Mind (http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/) offers you very comprehensive information about organs, muscles, bones, and the nervous system of the human body. You can play interactive games; learn facts and features about the different body parts, and look at anatomy diagrams that allow you to organize, flex, assemble, and wire the human body. In the Mind section, you can stretch your memory with fun challenges; learn about your senses and their connection to your personality. - Playing with Time (http://www.playingwithtime.org/index.html) allows you to look at how the world around you changes over many different time periods. You will see time sped up and slowed down, and behold the beauty of change. Time will be in your hands to witness, replay, and even create. You never know... you might not look at things quite the same way again. Visit the Gallery of Time to see amazing movies and check out the activities section with exciting challenges and diversions. - Beetle Science (http://explore.cornell.edu/scene.cfm?scene=Beetle%20Science) is an interactive site for you to learn about the relative abundances of various life forms on earth. See how Frances Fawcett creates amazing portraits of newly discovered beetles and look at images of different beetle specimens. Watch home videos and tour the labs of Professor Quentin Wheeler and invasive species expert Rick Hoebeke. - Bridging the Watershed (http://www.bridgingthewatershed.org/students.html) aims to provide high school students with exposure to science in their watershed by applying science concepts taught in the classroom to water quality and other watershed issues. It provides a wonderful opportunity to teach science in context and provide students with a meaningful watershed field experience. All activities are student-directed, with the teacher acting as the guide/facilitator. All lessons are correlated to national, state, and local education standards. - Newton's Castle (http://www.tqnyc.org/NYC051308/index.htm) is replete with inquiry learning, puzzle solving opportunities, and investigative training options. Learn about color, optical illusions, observations from nature, and fascinating facts about how cars roll uphill, and why dogs chase cars. There are several Project Legal (TIPS) lessons included regarding copyright and censorship issues. Take the quiz and get a perfect score to gain access to the treasures contained in the Museum of Modern Art. - NASAs KSNN (http://ksnn.larc.nasa.gov/home.html) is a standards-based program that uses the Web, animation, and video to introduce science, technology, engineering, math, and NASA concepts. It also uses animated characters (grades K-2) and web and video technology (grades 3-5) to explain everyday phenomena of our world, correct misconceptions, and answer frequently asked questions. Each newsbreak includes a follow-up written explanation, inquiry-based activities, related print and electronic resources, and a computer-graded quiz. - The Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education (http://www.k12science.org/currichome.html) explores Internet use in K-12 science and mathematics education. CIESE presents concise instructional activities that utilize "real world" data from the Internet to teach a discrete topic such as exponential functions in mathematics or human genetics and the dominant trait in science. The curriculum projects use data from government and commercial databases; engage students in telecollaborative projects using those databases; and provide access to unique and primary source information. - Journey North (http://www.learner.org/jnorth/) engages students in a global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. K-12 students share their own field observations with classmates across North America. They track the coming of spring through the migration patterns of monarch butterflies, bald eagles, robins, hummingbirds, whooping cranes -- and other birds and mammals, the budding of plants, changing sunlight and other natural events. Find standards-based lesson plans, activities and information to help students make local observations and fit them into a global context. - Cool Cosmos (http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/) involves varied audiences in science with multi-disciplinary educational materials that explain the infrared as well as the multi-wavelength universe. There are short educational videos about astronomy and infrared light in the Video Gallery section. Cosmic Classroom allows you to learn about light outside the visible spectrum through experiments and other classroom activities. In Cosmic Games, you can hunt for hidden animals, solve puzzles, and play games while learning. - exploreMarsnow (http://www.exploremarsnow.org/) aims at inspiring learning about the space sciences and technology through a web-based Mars simulator. You can explore the Mars Base Habitat and Rover to learn about the science and technology underlying the design of these artifacts as well as the hostile physical environment of the Red Planet itself. You can also enter the greenhouse and go on missions in the pressurized rover to actual locations on Mars. - NOAA Research (http://www.oar.noaa.gov/k12/index.html) provides middle school science students and teachers with research and investigation experiences using on-line resources. There are 6 topic sections ranging from El Niño to oceans. Each one of these includes an introduction to the topic, comprehension questions, interpretation, application, and enrichment activities. Teachers can download materials for each topic. This information includes lesson objectives, interdisciplinary uses, standards, and teacher preparation materials. - Shape and Space in Geometry (http://www.learner.org/teacherslab/math/geometry/index.html) offers you a fun and colorful, instructive and practical way to deal with geometry. Experience the geometry of real things: how big they are, whether they fit, how to find them, and what they look like in a mirror. The lab activities included in this site are divided into two broad categories: the section About Shape centers on identifying properties of various shapes and measuring their dimensions, and the activities in the About Space section focus on moving objects-or yourself-around in your imagination, and visualizing how things will look. - FOSSWEB (http://www.fossweb.com/) is a research-based science curriculum for grades K-8 dedicated to improving the learning and teaching of science. The materials in this program are designed to meet the challenge of providing meaningful science education for all students in diverse American classrooms and to prepare them for life in the 21st century. FOSSWEB offers modules that include teacher guides containing a Resources folio of annotated listings for nonfiction and fiction books for students, resource books for teachers, software, multimedia, videos, and web sites that extend the hand-on science activities in each module. These modules and games are organized in three main categories: K-2, 3-6, and middle school. - Exploring the Environment (http://www.cotf.edu/ete/main.html) is a series of interdisciplinary, problem-based learning (PBL) modules for high school students. ETE engages student teams in addressing real-world problems related to weather, population growth, biodiversity, land use patterns, volcanoes, water pollution, and global warming. The teams analyze remotely-sensed satellite images to come up with solutions to open-ended earth science problems that real scientists are working on today in much the same fashion. - Interactivate (http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/ ) provides lesson plans, activities, tools, and a dictionary for the exploration of Science and Mathematics. Each lesson includes a script for teachers to follow when using the activities. The lessons and activities are arranged according to the NCTM Principles and Standards for School Mathematics and the NCEE Performance Standards for Middle School. Each activity comes with a What for background information, a How for instructions, and a Why for curriculum context. The tools section offers stand-alone applications that can be used in analyzing or organizing numbers and data. - Creative Chemistry (http://www.creative-chemistry.org.uk/index.htm) has lots of full-color worksheets and teaching notes for fun activities suitable for a chemistry club, over two hundred pages of question sheets and practical guides, power point slides, and a chemistry calculator. There are also fun chemistry puzzles, interactive revision quizzes, molecular models, and the Sc1 Tune-up Garage to help improve your science investigations. - NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/) is a technological marvel featuring many innovations never before used on a space mission. It is a new platform for exploring the universe using infrared light. Astronomers find the infrared to be a valuable tool as it opens an important window into otherwise hidden regions of the universe. This site will give you a general overview of the technology that makes the science of the Spitzer mission possible. Visit the online gallery to see pictures of Spitzer and its components and learn more about the mission and its history in the About Spitzer section. - NASAs Center for Distance Learning (http://dlcenter.larc.nasa.gov/) enhances k-16 curricula by offering educators FREE multimedia instructional programs to present math, science, and technology concepts to students. Currently, there are five programs available: NASA's Kids Science News Network, the NASA SCI Files, and NASA CONNECT are grade school programs that include hands-on activities, web activities and other resources. NASA's Destination Tomorrow is a technology-based program for lifelong learners, and NASA LIVE is an interactive videoconferencing program. Teachers can air the program they choose as often as they need and make copies of the educator guides to share with colleagues. - CERES Project (http://btc.montana.edu/ceres/default.htm) offers an extensive library of on-line and interactive K-12 science education materials for teaching astronomy. The lessons and materials are closely aligned with the National Science Education Standards and use contemporary teaching strategies. Master teachers, university faculty from Montana State University, and NASA researchers have created three types of classroom-ready activities for K-12 students using NASA resources, data, and images. With these activities, the students construct first-hand knowledge about the astronomical universe, form research teams to solve scientific problems, and explore interdisciplinary science topics within the context of astrobiology. - Biodiversity and Conservation: The Web of Life (http://www.fieldmuseum.org/biodiversity/) shows you that people, plants, and animals are all interconnected in a fragile web of life called biodiversity and that every element is essential to maintain a balance. In this site, you can explore the most fragile ecosystems on Earth, find out what you can do to help, travel around the globe in an interactive experience on this planets web of life, and much more. Teachers can download guides and lesson plans about biodiversity and other conservation issues to use in their classrooms. - Kids Dig Reed (http://www.kidsdigreed.com/default.asp) discover the Reed Farmstead Archaeological site and learn about archaeology, how archaeologists work. Through a series of games, puzzles, and a virtual site tour, you are introduced to the families who lived on the farmstead over 150 years ago, and how these people were able to make a living in the rugged uplands of eastern West Virginia. - Access Excellence (http://www.accessexcellence.org/) offers innovative, successful activities to help students learn scientific concepts and processes. Students can solve interactive mysteries, learn about new developments in science, and ask experts if they have questions with their homework. Teachers can participate in the teaching and learning forum to reflect on new curriculum, assessment tools, and new teaching and learning research affecting the students understanding of science. - Amazing Space (http://amazing-space.stsci.edu) explores planets, galaxies, comets, black holes, and more. Keep updated with the most recent discoveries by clicking on The Star Witness News. Engage in adventures, look at pictures and get answers to your questions in the Capture the cosmos section. If you need help with your homework, do not miss the Homework help section. - POP Goes Antarctica? (http://literacynet.org/polar/pop/html/home.html) visit the Palmer Station, a small biology lab built in 1965, on Anvers Island in Antarctica and find out how the presence of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) affect the ecosystem of the Antarctic coastal seas. - Adventures of the Agronauts (http://www.ncsu.edu/project/agronauts) lets you join Rosy and her team to complete six missions to become an agronaut. Try the three main sections: Glossary, Career Corner, and Teacher Resources. This last section provides you with printable versions of the six missions, the glossary terms and definitions needed, and suggested activities for each mission. - Environmental Inquiry (EI) (http://ei.cornell.edu) where you will find a number of resources that can help you develop your environmental science research. If you are a teacher, EI gives you ideas and other resources to use its curricula in the classroom. - ScienceWorld (http://scienceworld.wolfram.com) makes difficult concepts and ideas easier to understand by using illustrative examples. There are five major content categories: Astronomy, Biography, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics, under which you will find a great variety of resources to consult. - Bridge (http://www.vims.edu/bridge) is the ocean sciences teacher resource center. Find out the answers to questions like these: What is an estuarine environment? What do coastal storms bring? What is an olive ridley?, and learn other interesting facts about marine life and related topics of ocean exploration. - PRISM Polar Explorer (http://ku-prism.org) find all things related to polar exploration. Keep tabs on current experiments in the Polar Regions. Follow the adventures of the Bears on Ice. - ActionBioscience.org (http://www.actionbioscience.org) offers up-to-date information on topics and developments related to biodiversity, genomics, biotechnology, and bioscience research as well as articles, lessons, and resources for classroom use. - Memory (http://www.exploratorium.edu/memory) offers useful information on how our memory works and how remembering and forgetting are possible. - Living Things (http://www.fi.edu/tfi/units/life) learn about the anatomy and physiology of plants and animals and about systems for their classification. - Leveraging Learning (http://ll.terc.edu/toplevel/home.cfm) gives you great hands-on activities for grades 5-8 science. It also offers teacher guides and assessments. - Inclusion of Science Education for Students with Disabilities (http://www.as.wvu.edu/%7Escidis) promotes the teaching of science, the development of curricula and instructional materials for students with any manners of disability in the learning process. - Saint Patrick's Day in the Classroom (http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Forest/848...class.html) Celebrate St. Patrick's day with a great variety of fun activities to do in the classroom. Choose among creative writing, science, math, and research activities. - NASA Qwhiz (http://prime.jsc.nasa.gov/Qwhiz/libs.html) by the NASA Johnson Space Center. Great K-12 activities ranging from integers to problem solving. There are also many science activities. Check the Kid Made (http://prime.jsc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/Qwhiz/all/list_by_grades.cgi?lib=Kid) and Teacher Made (http://prime.jsc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/Qwhiz/all/list_by_grades.cgi?lib=Standards) sections and test your knowledge. - MBGnet (http://mbgnet.mobot.org) provides you with information on Biomes of the World, Freshwater Ecosystems and Marine Ecosystems. - Cool Science for Curious Kids (http://www.hhmi.org/coolscience) offers you five informative natural science projects to help kids learn to identify, classify and observe things. Great for K-3. - NASA CONNECT (http://connect.larc.nasa.gov) a series of FREE integrated mathematics, science, and technology instructional distance learning programs for students in grades 6-8. - Weather (http://www.learner.org/exhibits/weather) lots of information and related resources on what forces affect our weather conditions. - Chem4Kids (http://www.chem4kids.com) lots of information and activities on matter, atoms, reactions, elements and the like. - Am. Alliance for Health, Phys Ed, Recreation, & Dance (http://www.aahperd.org) organization of professionals supporting and assisting those involved in physical education, leisure, fitness, dance, health promotion, and education and all specialties related to achieving a healthy lifestyle.
Any parent worries about a sick child, but that anxiety magnifies during the night hours. Parents contact on-call physicians or nurses during the night most commonly for fevers, but the second most common reason is breathing problems, such as "wheezing." Over the phone, the physician or nurse can get a good idea whether your child needs to be seen urgently or not. A pediatrician's top concern would be that your child is in respiratory distress, and measuring your child's respiratory rate is the easiest and most accurate assessment for respiratory distress. Respiratory rates of 60 or more times a minute in infants and toddlers or 40 or more times a minute in older children indicates respiratory distress. With expirations, you might notice their ribs more pronounced, with a "hollow" area just above their breast bone and their noses flaring somewhat like a rabbit. Importantly, children in respiratory distress cannot sleep because they are laboring too hard to breathe. If your child is in respiratory distress, he needs immediate medical attention, and if not, then your pediatrician will have time to ask about other symptoms. The definition of "wheezing" is not intuitive. It is not a whistling sound caused by nasal congestion, nor is it the rattle you can feel in your child's chest, which is congestion in the large airways. It is a high-pitched musical sound heard during expiration which indicates a restriction of the very small airways that lead to the air pockets of the lung, or the alveoli. It is usually accompanied by a short, dry cough. Except in infants, wheezing is mainly caused by asthma, and a history or family history of allergies and asthma is common. Croup is a condition that might be mistaken for asthma and wheezing. It occurs in small children at night and is notable for a cough that sounds like a seal barking with a gasping sound as the child breathes in. It is caused by inflammation of the upper airway, the trachea, just below the glottis that separates the trachea and esophagus. Although it is frightening to witness, it usually subsides with the cool, moist, night air of your back porch. Grunting is a much less certain sign. It can occur in respiratory distress, particularly in infants, but it can also be caused by congestion and fever. So grunting alone is not a dependable sign as to the degree of illness of your child and is only useful in the context of the other signs of respiratory difficulty. When to Be Concerned A child with respiratory distress is in need of emergency medical care, and a 2004 government study by the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project found respiratory difficulties to be the most common reason for hospital admission from emergency departments. If you are concerned about your child's breathing difficulty, contact your pediatrician or his on-call service immediately.
- To identify the events which led Martin Luther to take a stand against the Catholic Church. - To list Luther's major ideas and - To discuss the significance of the Edict of Worms and the reasons for its lack of success. - To explain the reasons for the peasant revolt in the mid-1520s and Luther's response to it. - To support the following statement with specific facts: German nationalism and the ambitions of the German princes affected the spread of Luther's ideas. - To analyze the connection between Henry VIII's marital troubles and the creation of the Church of England [Anglican Church]. - To identify the changes which Henry VIII made in the English Church and the additional changes made by his - To list the major beliefs of John - To explain how Calvin's theology was different from that of Luther. - To describe the roles played by Mary Stuart and John Knox in establishing Calvinism in Scotland. - To explain the dilemma that many people faced in the 1500s as reflected in Thomas More's dying words: I die the king's good servant, but God's first.
Wildlife and Rabies Rabies is a virus that is carried by some species of animals and is spread by: - a bite from an infected animal - by having contact with an infected animal’s saliva onto a cut or other open wound - by having contact with an infected animal’s saliva through the mucous membranes (ex. mouth, eyes or nose) All mammals are susceptible to the rabies virus, but risk is usually higher in carnivores. Common Infected Animals In North Carolina, the most common vector species for rabies are raccoons, bats, skunks and foxes. Animals with head trauma or other bacterial or viral diseases may present with similar symptoms. Rarely Infected Animals Opossums are seldom diagnosed with rabies due to lower body temperature that does not allow the virus to survive. Other mammals such as squirrels and rabbits are seldom found to have rabies. Signs of Rabies A rabid animal will generally have erratic and crazed behavior, including: - symptoms of aggression - drooling or foaming - out and in view at times and in areas not normal - approaching both other animals (such as dogs and cats) and/or humans - tameness or lack of fear - approaches but without apparent aggression - has paralysis that begins in the hind quarters and progresses forward These animals will bite without provocation or warning and in some cases will chase after a person or animal. Rabies Precautions for People If bitten by or exposed to a rabid animal, a series of shots from your doctor will prevent you from getting rabies; HOWEVER, one should contact health officials immediately if there is a possibility of exposure. Get the first post-exposure vaccination RIGHT AWAY. Once the virus is activated within the body, which can happen from only a few hours to a few days depending on exposure location, the vaccination does not work. Protect your pets. Keep your pets vaccinated and indoors or leashed. If a vaccinated pet is bitten by an animal you suspect has rabies, get them a booster shot immediately, regardless of when it last received a rabies booster.
- Kingdon: Animalia - Phylum: Chordata - Class: Mammalia - Order: Rodentia - Family: Caviidae - Genus: Hydrochoerus - Species: Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris - Common Name: Capybara - Scientific Name: Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris Distribution and Habitat - Capybaras are distributed throughout the basins of the Orinoco, Amazon, San Francisco and La Plata Rivers. Water and temperature are the main factors in its distribution. - Its range covers the countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela. - Capybaras live in lowland habitats near water sources. Its habitat includes forests, wetlands, mangrove swamps and riverbanks. - The capybara is the largest living rodent. - Females are slightly larger than males. - It has a large and heavy body covered with coarse red-brown, light brown to light yellow-grey hair. Hair length ranges from 1.18 to 4.72 in or 30 to 120 mm. - Limbs are short and digits have partial webbing. Forefeet has four digits and hindfeet three. - Capybaras have broad head and short and rounded ears. - These rodents weigh from 77 to 145.5 lb or 35 to 66 kg and are about 4 ft or 1.2 m long. - Capybaras live in herds of an average of 7 individuals during rainy season and 16 during the dry season. The number in a herd is affected by the condition of habitat and not by season. - During drought groups capybara herds, made up of hundreds of animals, congregate around water sources. - Herds are formed by a dominant male, females with offspring and few subordinate males. - Capybaras live in home ranges averaging 10 hectares but spend most of the time in a small area of less than 1 ha. - They mark their home range with scents from their nasal and anal glands. - During the morning they rest by the water under shade. During the hottest part of the day they roll about or lie relaxed in mud holes or water. - They are slow and selective grazers and spend several hours in this activity. - Capybaras are semi-aquatic and are good swimmers. - Capybaras are herbivores. - They are grazers and feed mainly on grasses and aquatic plants. They also eat seeds, grains, nuts, fruits, leaves, stems, and bark. - Male and female capybaras reach reproductive maturity at 18 months. - They bread throughout the year but it peaks at the beginning of the rainy season. They are polygynous. - Gestation lasts up to 120 days. - Litter size is 1 to 7 with an average of 3.5. - The young are weaned at 3 months and stay with their mother until they are about 1 year old. - Average lifespan in the wild is 6 years but they can live up to 10. - In captivity they can live up to 12 years. - Capybaras, especially the young, are at risk of predation by green anacondas (Eunectes murinus), vultures, feral dogs, jaguars (Panthera onca) and caimans (Caiman crocodilus). - Humans hunt adult capybaras for its meat and hides. - Its main threat is the loss of habitat due to water contamination from to mining and oil exploration activities. - The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species lists the capybara as a least concern species due to its wide distribution and large population unlikely to decline. - They occur in many protected areas however some local populations are in decline due to over-hunting. Did you know? Capybaras are closely related to guinea pigs and rock cavies. References and further research
Protect Yourself and Those You Love! By Larry D. Jones, MPH October 17, 2012 Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is a contagious respiratory illness caused by viruses that infect the nose, throat, and lungs. It can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death. The best way to prevent the flu is by getting a flu vaccine each year. For everyone 6 months of age and older, getting vaccinated each year provides the best protection against influenza throughout flu season. Most experts agree that flu viruses are spread mainly by droplets made when people with flu cough, sneeze or talk. These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs. Less often, a person might also get flu by touching a surface or object that has flu virus on it and then touching their own mouth or nose. The flu is contagious and most healthy adults may be able to infect others beginning one day before symptoms develop and up to five to seven days after becoming sick. Children may pass the virus for longer than seven days. Symptoms start one to four days after the virus enters the body. That means that you may be able to pass on the flu to someone else before you know you are sick, as well as while you are sick. In general, the flu is worse than the common cold, and symptoms such as fever, body aches, extreme tiredness, and dry cough are more common and intense. Colds are usually milder than the flu. People with colds are more likely to have a runny or stuffy nose. Colds generally do not result in serious health problems, such as pneumonia, bacterial infections, or hospitalizations. Vaccination is important for everyone, especially those at higher risk of severe influenza and their close contacts, including healthcare personnel and close contacts of children younger than 6 months. People who are at high risk of developing serious complications like pneumonia if they get sick with the flu include: Seasonal flu vaccines protect against the three influenza viruses (trivalent) that research indicates will be most common during the upcoming season. The viruses in the flu shot are dead (inactivated), so you cannot get the flu from a flu shot. About two weeks after vaccination, antibodies that provide protection against influenza virus infection develop in the body. There are three different flu shots available: 1) a regular flu shot for people ages 6 months and older, 2) a high-dose flu shot approved for people 65 and older, and 3) an intradermal flu shot approved for people 18 to 64 years of age. Flu vaccine is also available as a nasal-spray for use in healthy people ages 2 through 49 years of age who are not pregnant. Talk to your healthcare provider to decide which option is best for you. Influenza can occur at any time, but most influenza occurs from October through May. In recent seasons, most infections have occurred in January and February. Remember, the single best way to protect against the flu is to get vaccinated each year. Getting the vaccine as soon as it is available should provide protection for the season.
The Reading Like a Historian curriculum engages students in historical inquiry. Each lesson revolves around a central historical question and features a set of primary documents designed for groups of students with a range of reading skills. This curriculum teaches students how to investigate historical questions by employing reading strategies such as sourcing, contextualizing, corroborating, and close reading. Instead of memorizing historical facts, students evaluate the trustworthiness of multiple perspectives on historical issues and learn to make historical claims backed by documentary evidence. To learn more about how to use Reading Like a Historian lessons, watch these videos about how teachers use these materials in their classrooms.
A bog is a type of wetland with a high water table, acidic soil and is nutrient poor. Camosun Bog is the oldest bog in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, and remained undisturbed until development of the surrounding residential neighborhood caused changes to its groundwater conditions, threatening its current persistence. The goal of this study is to provide an updated examination of Camosun Bog’s groundwater conditions and to discuss relevant bog restoration measures. Groundwater elevation and chemistry (pH, conductivity, nitrogen and phosphorus) were monitored for several months in 2019. Results indicate that current groundwater elevations are lower in Camosun Bog than they were thirty years ago, especially in the north and northeast regions. Locations in the north and center parts of the open bog experienced groundwater nitrogen enrichment and higher pH, indicating that raising the water table should be the main goal of restoration for Camosun Bog. Coastal wetlands are naturally resilient to changing sea levels; however, as rates of sea-level rise increase, the interaction between changing sea-level and ongoing human impacts will be a major driver in future coastal tidal marsh stability. My goal is to provide decision makers with recommendations to increase the resilience of the Fraser River delta front tidal marsh communities over the twenty-first century. I conducted a literature review to (1) examine the current knowledge base regarding effects of sea-level rise on tidal marshes and (2) identify current ecosystem-based adaptation strategies for increasing tidal marsh resilience to sea-level rise. Based on this review, recommendations are made for strategies that could be used to increase tidal marsh resilience in the Fraser River delta. Recommendations include (1) initiating delta-wide marsh accretion modeling to assess tidal marsh vulnerability under possible sea-level rise scenarios and (2) implementing sediment augmentation pilot projects for both direct (e.g., layered sediment lifts) and indirect (e.g., mud motor) sediment augmentation strategies to test ecosystem based adaptive management strategies as part of an adaptive management framework. Bioremediation has gained traction for its sustainable principles. Although, advancements in effectiveness are still needed to enable widespread application. This research has two major components. First, priming fungi could prove to be a useful tool to increase efficiency of white-rot fungi when used to bioremediate petroleum hydrocarbons contaminated soil. This study evaluated T. versicolor colonized in two substrates to test this theory. TPH was extracted from the soils using hexane shaking method, and measured on a CG-MS. The study results were not conclusive, and more research should be conducted to determine if priming white-rot fungi can increase the effectiveness of degradation of TPH in contaminated soils. Second, historical and unethical oil production in Ecuador has left an environmental and human health disaster. The goal of this study was to produce a high-level bioremediation plan that can be used and amended for site specific applications in Ecuador.
When dental emergencies and pain occur, our attention is often focused on diseases and injuries related to the teeth. However, it's important to remember that the soft tissues of the mouth — the gums, tongue, lips and cheek lining — may also be affected. While they are tough enough to stand up to the oral environment, these tissues can be damaged by accidental bites, falls, sports injuries, and scalding liquids. They may also suffer injury from foreign bodies that become lodged below the gum line, and they can develop painful and potentially serious abscesses. First Aid for Soft Tissues Soft tissue injuries in the mouth don't usually bleed excessively — although blood mixing with saliva may make any bleeding appear worse than it actually is. To assist someone with this type of injury, you should first try to rinse the mouth with a dilute salt water solution. If a wound is visible, it can be cleaned with mild soap and water; if that isn't possible, try to remove any foreign material by hand, and rinse again. Bleeding can usually be controlled by pressing damp gauze (or, if unavailable, another clean material) directly to the site of the injury, and keeping it there for 10-15 minutes. If the bleeding doesn't stop, immediate medical attention will be needed. Try to see a dentist within 6 hours of the injury for evaluation and treatment. This usually involves determining the extent of the damage, performing initial restorative procedures, and occasionally suturing (stitching) the wound. An antibiotic and/or tetanus shot may also be given. Occasionally, foreign objects may become lodged in the space between teeth and gums, causing irritation and the potential for infection. There are a few foods (such as popcorn husks) that seem especially prone to doing this, but other items placed in the mouth — like wood splinters from toothpicks or bits of fingernail, for example — can cause this problem as well. If you feel something stuck under the gum, you can try using dental floss to remove it: Gently work the floss up and down below the gum line to try and dislodge the object. Light pressure from a toothpick may also help work it free — but avoid pressing too hard or pushing the object in deeper. If that doesn't work, see a dentist as soon as possible. Special tools may be needed to find and remove the object, and you may be given medication to prevent infection. Periodontal (Gum) Abscesses Sometimes called a gum boil, a periodontal abscess is a pus-filled sac that may form between teeth and gums. It is caused by an infection, which may have come from food or other objects trapped beneath the gum line, or from uncontrolled periodontal disease. Because pressure builds up quickly inside them, abscesses are generally quite painful. Symptoms may include a throbbing toothache which comes on suddenly, tenderness and swelling of the gums or face, and sometimes fever. Occasionally, pus draining into the mouth through an opening in the sac relieves the pressure and pain, but may cause a strange taste. If left untreated, abscesses can persist for months and cause serious health problems, including infections that spread to other parts of the body. That's why it is important to see a dentist right away if you experience symptoms. He or she will find the location of the abscess and treat it appropriately. Treatment usually involves draining the pus and fluid, thoroughly cleaning the affected area, and controlling the infection. The Field-Side Guide to Dental Injuries Accidents to the teeth, jaws and mouth can happen at any time during any sporting activity. Proper attention can save pain, alleviate anxiety and costly dental treatment. A little knowledge, as they say, can go along way. This field-side guide briefly explains some simple rules to follow when dealing with different dental injuries and when you need to see the dentist... Read Article
Anemia stands for 'without blood' in Greek; When the number of red blood cells (RBC) falls below normal, Anemia is a resultant condition. Hemoglobin is an important constituent of RBC. Hemoglobin usually occurs in the range of 12 and 18 g/dL (grams per deciliter of blood). If the hemoglobin levels show a decrease, anemic conditions set in. Consequently, the various organs and tissues of the body do not receive adequate oxygen on account of the diminished oxygen carrying capacity of the blood. This impairs their normal functioning. Usually women have smaller stores of iron than men. Besides, they also lose blood during menstruation making them primary targets for anemia. World Health Organization (WHO) defines anemia as a hemoglobin level lower than 13 g/dL in men and lower than 12 g/dL in women. It is essential to be familiar with the typical symptoms of anemia. Often anemia is misdiagnosed and left untreated. An anemic person is likely to feel extremely tired and weak. This is accompanied with dizziness and breathlessness. A person suffering from anemia tends to appear pale and experience feelings of depression. In some cases, anemia can lead to heart ailments too. Causes of Anemia Types of Anemia Iron deficiency Anemia - Nearly 20% adult women tend to suffer from this form of anemia. Loss of blood due to menstruation is not compensated with an iron-rich diet. Pregnancy and breast feeding can also deplete iron stores. Iron deficiency anemia is also noticed during growth spurts or internal bleeding. Aplastic anemia - When the bone marrow does not produce sufficient quantities of blood cells, aplastic anemia is noticed. Childhood cancers such as leukemia are often responsible for this form of anemia. Other possible causes of aplastic anemia are radiation, cancer or antiseizure medications and chronic diseases such as thyroid or kidney malfunction. Treatment for aplastic anemia involves blood transfusions and bone marrow transplant. This is done to replace malfunctioning cells with healthy ones. Vitamin deficiency anemia - Low levels of folic acid lead to faulty absorption of iron. Anemia caused due to folic acid deficiency is called Megaloblastic anemia. Pregnancy doubles the body requirements of folic acid and it is imperative that pregnant women take folic acid supplements. Good dietary sources of folate are fresh fruits, green leafy vegetables, cruciferous vegetables, liver and kidney, dairy products and whole grain cereals. Vegetables should be eaten raw or lightly cooked.Folic acid anemia is also a common problem faced by alcoholics. Vitamin B-12 deficiency can lead to a condition of Pernicious anemia. Diseases such as thyroid malfunction or diabetes mellitus can affect the body's ability to absorb vitamin B-12. This vitamin is vital in the production of hemoglobin. Vitamin C Deficiency Anemia is a rare form of Anemia that is the result of small red cells owing to prolonged dietary deficiency of the Vitamin C. Sideroblastic Anemia: In this anemia, the body has sufficient iron but it fails to incorporate it into hemoglobin. Hemolytic Anemia results from high rate of destruction of Red Blood Cells (RBC) at a rate faster than the rate bone marrow can replenish them. Thalassemia anemia - Thalassemia or Cooleys Disease is a hereditary disorder found predominantly in people of South East Asian, Greek and Italian racial groups. This form of anemia is seen in differing degrees as Thalassemia encompasses a group of related disorders that affect the human body in similar ways. The most common occurrences of Thalassemia are alpha and beta thalassemia. Thalassemia anemia is characterized by symptoms like jaundice, enlarged spleen, shortness of breath and facial bone deformities. A complete blood count test will test for hemoglobin levels and display an anemic condition. But often anemia is a symptom whose cause lies deeper. The cause and type of anemia will determine the treatment that is needed. A stool test will help in detecting occult blood. Hemoglobin electrophoresis is a blood test that helps identify abnormal hemoglobins. Diagnosing thalassemia or sickle cell anemia becomes possible with this test. Deficiency can be treated with supplements of iron, Vitamin B-12 and Vitamin C. Partaking an iron-rich diet can be beneficial for those suffering from nutritional deficiency anemia. Seafood, nuts, whole grains and dried fruits such as raisins, prunes and apricots are rich in iron. Ensure adequate consumption of Vitamin C as it aids and stimulates iron absorption. Try and combine citrus foods with iron-rich foods - add tomatoes to a turkey sandwich or chopped strawberries with iron-fortified breakfast cereals. MPV blood test MPV (Mean platelet volume) blood test measures the average number of platelets in a volume of blood. When the average size of platelets rises, it can indicate risk of heart attacks or strokes. Lower than normal MPV may be caused by aplastic anemia or inflammatory bowel disease. Fifth disease, also known as Erythema Infectiosum or Slapped Cheek Syndrome, is a viral infection caused by parvovirus B19 that leads to a rash on the cheeks, arms, and legs. It is known as fifth disease as Parvovirus infection is one of the five common illnesses that develop with red rash during childhood. It is most common in children between the age group of 5 and 15 and usually occurs in winter and spring. Fifth disease usually is a mild illness. It is contagious and spreads through direct contact with fluids or mucus from the nose or mouth of an infected person. Though rare, adults can also become infected with virus and develop fifth disease. However, the symptoms and the severity of the disease vary between children and adults. The symptoms of fifth disease almost resemble flu with mild fever, headache, cough runny nose and muscle ache. Stomach related symptoms like nausea, vomiting and diarrhea may also develop in due course. These symptoms subside after 3 or 4 days and only then the red rash will start to surface, initially on the cheek and later spreading to arms, chest and even legs. The rash has a lace like pattern at the time of fading. At this stage, the disease is no longer contagious and the child can be allowed to attend school or day care. In adults, fifth disease also gives rise to joint pains, but this is very uncommon in children. The incubation period for fifth disease ranges from 4 to 28 days and the rash usually lasts for 1 to 3 weeks. Normally fifth disease is diagnosed after noticing the rash on the cheek. Fifth disease is rarely threatening and clears off on its own without any aggressive treatment. Doctors generally prescribe acetaminophen or ibuprofen to treat fever and other flu like symptoms. Adequate rest, plenty of fluids and avoiding exposure to sun and heat helps immensely in relieving the symptoms. Fifth disease does not cause any complications in normal cases. However patients with certain underlying conditions such as autoimmune disorders, sickle-cell anemia, Aplastic anemia, Spherocytosis and low count of red blood cells need to be highly watchful of the disease as it can cause serious complications for them. They should seek immediate medical attention in case of suspicion to avoid further damage. Fifth disease can also be dangerous to pregnant woman. In rare cases, the disease can spread from a pregnant woman to her unborn child. In such a condition, the baby will develop severe anemia with low red blood count leading to heart failure. Hence it is very important for pregnant women to avoid exposure to the disease and maintain hygiene throughout the term. There is no vaccine to prevent the infection and also no medication is available to treat it. It is best to prevent the disease by following certain steps like: Enter your health or medical queries in our Artificial Intelligence powered Application here. Our Natural Language Navigational engine knows that words form only the outer superficial layer. The real meaning of the words are deduced from the collection of words, their proximity to each other and the context. Diseases, Symptoms, Tests and Treatment arranged in alphabetical order: Bibliography / Reference Collection of Pages - Last revised Date: September 18, 2021
Korku, tribal people of central India concentrated in the states of Mahārāshtra and Madhya Pradesh. At the end of the 20th century, they numbered about 560,000. However, poverty and restricted use of ancestral land due to government attempts to save the Bengal tiger have led to a serious problem of malnutrition and starvation among the Korku. Most are settled agriculturalists, and many have substantial farms; others shifted as recently as the late 19th century from slash-and-burn jungle cultivation (jhum) to forestry and field labour. The Korku live in villages of thatched houses. They have hereditary headmen and trace their descent along paternal lines. They speak a language of the Munda family. In religion the Korku are Hindus. Their ceremonies resemble those of the low castes in that they employ their own priests and mediums instead of Brahmans. They regard themselves as ranking above the Gond and Bhīl peoples, although their dietary habits are considered unacceptable by most Hindus.
Nematodes are microscopic, worm-like organisms that live in the soil. There are well over 15,000 known species, making them the most numerous multicellular animals on earth! A single handful of garden soil can contain thousands. Most nematodes are harmless, but a handful of troublesome species attack the outside surfaces of plants, burrowing into the plant tissue and causing root, stem, folar and even flower damage. Other nematodes live inside the plants for part of their lives, causing damage from the inside out. Plants injured by nematodes are also more susceptible to bacterial and fungal damage as well. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to distinguish nematode damage from other issues like poor fertility or disease. A soil test may be required to positively diagnose nematodes as the problem. Not all nematodes are bad! In fact, there are numerous nematodes that occur naturally in the soil that break down organic matter (like in your compost pile!). Increasingly, nematodes are also introduced into gardens and on farms as an organic, biological control method to help control pests such as grubs, fleas, cutworms, and root maggots. Once released, nematodes get right to work. Depending on the type of nematode released, they either “cruise” around the soil to find the larvae of pests or wait for a host insect to pass by and then “ambush” them. The nematodes release toxic bacteria that kills the pest larvae within 24-48 hours. The bacteria then serves a food source for the nematodes to reproduce. Once the food source dwindles, the nematodes start the search for a new host, helping to eliminate pests from your garden. If a particular pest is causing problems in your garden, consider applying beneficial nematodes. You can purchase nematodes online (see below), and they are easily applied by mixing them with water and spraying with a hose or watering can. However, because nematodes are living organisms, it’s important to take care when selecting, handling and applying them. They require adequate moisture, moderate temperature, and can’t be exposed to direct sunlight. And as with any pest control, it’s important to purchase and apply the right type. Explore the resources below to learn more about nematodes.
What is the main idea of the interlopers? The theme of The interlopers is about hatred and it may lead to tragedy. The story is a example of the feud between the two families. If the two families could have compromised over the ownership of the forest. Ulrich and Georg wouldn’t make themselves into crisis or even lost their life in the end. What is the main lesson of the interlopers? The moral of the story is to lay aside feuds or arguments because they could lead down the path of destruction. What is the conclusion of the interlopers? Conclusion is when you summarize the story you have just read. In the story “The Interlopers” Georg and Ulrich , the two enemies are trapped in the forest caused by a branch. As they screamed for help the decided it would be best to become allies. Wile screaming for survival their death sentence arrived. What caused the feud in the interlopers? The feud is caused by an old land dispute between the Gradwitz and Znaeym families. As the other educator pointed out, the feud is inherited by the succeeding generations of both families. The land in dispute is only a “narrow strip of precipitous woodland” on the outskirts of the Gradwitz property. Who owns the land in the interlopers? What is the main conflict in the interlopers? The central conflict in the story is between Ulrich and Georg over a virtually worthless piece of land. It is an example of a man versus man conflict. Their conflict with each other is as a result of a family feud that reaches back through generations over this boundary line between each man’s land. What are two main conflicts? All conflict falls into two categories: internal and external. Internal conflict is when a character struggles with their own opposing desires or beliefs. It happens within them, and it drives their development as a character. What is the climax of the story the interlopers? Man, the climax comes when the two enemies, Ulrich von Gradwitz and Georg Znaeym, reconcile their differences. Then, once they are friends, they are yet engaged in another conflict: Man vs. Nature. The climax of this conflict comes as the two men shout to beckon what they think are their hunters. What is ironic about the ending of the interlopers? What is unexpected and ironic about the ending is that the men are fighting each other, but they both end up fighting wolves. This is situational irony. “The Interlopers” is a fable about two men who are battling with each other. What does the tree symbolize in the interlopers? The Beech Tree Symbol Analysis. Despite Ulrich and Georg both being armed with the intent to shoot, a huge, falling beech tree is what nearly kills them when they finally come face-to-face. The tree immobilizes the men, and in pinning them, prevents either man from using his rifle to murder the other. What is the irony in the interlopers? Topic Sentence: The ending of “The Interlopers” is an example of situational irony because both the reader and the two main characters believe they will be rescued but in the end they are attacked by wolves. Who are the true interlopers? The interlopers in the story are two men, Ulrich von Gradwitz and George Znaeym. The two are involved in a feud that has spanned three generations, all resulting from a lawsuit Gradwitz’ family placed against Znaeym for the land. The courts granted them the land, however the Gradwitz’ family refused to give it up. Do Ulrich and Georg seem to meet by chance or by design? Do Ulrich and Georg seem to meet by chance or by design? They meet by design because they were both looking for the other to kill him. What means interloper? noun. a person who interferes or meddles in the affairs of others: He was an atheist who felt like an interloper in this religious gathering. an intruder; trespasser. a person who intrudes into some region or field of trade without a proper license. Where is the word interloper used in the story? “Wolves.” 1. Georg is an “interloper” on Ulrich’s land, but Georg feels as though the land is really his family’s and Ulrich is the “interloper.” What does the wild weather foreshadow? Another example of foreshadowing in the story is when the falling beech tree pins both Georg and Ulrich down. Since weather is a natural phenomenon neither man can control, the incident foreshadows Ulrich and Georg’s final ambiguous fate at the hands of wolves (another element of the wild that neither man can control). What is Ulrich’s state of mind at the beginning of the story? How would you describe the mood, or atmosphere, at the beginning of “The Interlopers”? He is angry and hopes to find his enemy. What inference can you make about Ulrich at the beginning of the story? He suspects that Georg is poaching in the forest. What is the mood of the interlopers? So, the mood of the story is one of eeriness, darkness, and suspense. Our sensitivity to evil is heightened by Saki’s use of details about both nature and man which create a sense of foreboding about some kind of danger to come, and it is an appropriate mood for this story. What is a metaphor in the interlopers? However, the greatest metaphor in Saki’s story is the title: “The Interlopers,” the forces of Nature that interfere with the settlement of the men’s feud. For, when the two enemies encounter each other suddenly, vis-a-vis, their civilized natures do not allow them to react immediately. What literary devices are used in the interlopers? Literary Devices in The Interlopers by SakiLiterary Devices in The Interlopers by Saki. Ethan Lex.Theme Statement.Foreshadowing.Symbolism.Character Types.Dramatic Irony.Climax.Allusion.
A great week of learning in Hawthorn class! We have begun our new topic ‘Cheshire & a Contrasting European Region’. The children had their place knowledge put to the test when they were tasked with locating Cheshire on a map of the UK and France on a map of Europe. They were then able to use atlases to check if they had identified the correct location. Following this, the children recorded a description of both places, referencing the 8 compass points. In English, the children have been focussing on different elements of grammar and – practising how to include adverbial phrases, modal verbs and parenthesis into their writing in order to engage the reader. The children are building up a toolkit of effective writing techniques ahead of writing their character description next week. In Maths, we have been continuing our fractions unit. The children have been comparing and ordering fractions and finding the common denominator in order to add together fractions with different denominators.
What does the Bible say about justice? Part 13: The History: Acts The Gospels were written, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as biographies of Jesus of Nazareth, each with its own target audience. Luke, the travelling companion of Paul, was the author of two works in the Christian Scriptures, the Gospel which bears his name and the history of the early church in Acts. The book of Acts was written between 60 and 62 AD. In two instances, Luke uses the word “justice,” but uses two different Greek words for the term. In Acts 8:33, Philip has encountered the Ethiopian who, is reading the book of Isaiah. Luke quotes from the book in his relation of the incident. Isaiah 53:7 speaks to the Messiah being humiliated and killed, thus being denied justice. Luke uses the word krisis in this passage, meaning decision. From what we know of the gospel accounts, Jesus was the victim of judicial murder by the Jewish leadership and denied justice. Later, Paul, while traveling to Rome, lands on the island of Malta. There, he is bitten by a poisonous snake. The local population interpret this as a sign that Paul is a terrible criminal. Justice, they say, using the work diké, had caught up to Paul after his escape from the sea (Acts 28:4). The usage indicates that justice is a sense of universal right. However, the viper was not harmful to Paul In both instances, the usages of justice were used to begin a gospel conversation. Each is consistent with our definition.
Renewable and Non-Renewable Energy Resources Renewable Energy Sources Renewable energy encompasses solar energy, wind energy, and geothermal energy. It is energy that is available in nature for free than can be used to power homes, buildings and mechanical equipment. Following is a list of the most common renewable energy sources Solar Energy: Solar energy is harvested and converted into electricity through the use of a photovoltaic (PV) system. A PV system uses panels that convert sunlight into electricity and consists of several solar panels, a controller or power converter, an inverter, several batteries to store energy and other components. A solar panel is made up of several photovoltaic cells that are used to generate and supply electricity for commercial and residential buildings. Each panel is rated by its direct current (DC) output power and typically ranges from 100 to 450 watts. Wind Energy: Wind energy can be used to generate electricity by using windmills that rotate as the wind hits them to generate electricity. The wind turns the blades of the windmill, which in turn work as a generator that produces electricity. The largest producers of wind power in the world are China, the United States, and Germany. Geothermal Energy: You can heat and air condition a home or building using a geothermal heat pump. A geothermal heat pump, also called a ground source heat pump, absorbs heat from the ground when heating and rejects heat to the ground when cooling to heat or air condition a house. The heat pump takes advantage of the relatively constant temperature in the ground (55 °F) that works as either a heat source or a heat sink. Pipes are buried in the ground, which carry either a refrigerant or water, to transfer energy between the earth and the heat pump. The pipes are arranged either in a horizontal or vertical arrangement and can reach depths of 250 feet. Non Renewable Energy Sources Non renewable energy sources are natural resources which cannot be produced, and once they depleted, will no longer be available. Some of the most common used sources are fossil fuels like coal, diesel oil and natural gas. Fossil fuels are used in power plants as energy used to power a turbine that generates electricity. The combustion process of burning these fossil fuels generates carbon gas emissions that are harmful to the atmosphere and increase global warming. Coal: Coal is a fossil fuel that is burned for the production of electricity and heat. In thermoelectric power plants, it is used to boil steam, which then turn the blades of turbines that generate electricity. Coal is the most used fossil fuel to generate electricity and it also produces the largest amount of carbon emissions out of any fossil fuel. Diesel: Diesel can be used in diesel generators to produce electricity and in vehicles for fuel. Although burning diesel is not as toxic to the atmosphere as burning coal, it is still more harmful than burning natural gas. Natural Gas: Natural gas is used for electricity generation with the use of gas turbines. Burning natural gas to produce electricity is cleaner than other fossil fuels and has lower carbon emissions than burning petroleum or coal. For domestic use, natural gas is used in ovens, clothes dryers, water heaters and central heating with furnaces. In commercial and industrial buildings, heating with natural gas is usually accomplished by using boilers.
CYGNSS data delineate the streams and tributaries across the Amazon basin in South America. Hurricanes bring heavy rainfall and strong winds to coastal communities, a potent combination that can lead to devastating damage. In 2016 NASA launched a set of eight satellites called the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, or CYGNSS, mission to gather more data on the winds in these tropical cyclones as part of an effort to increase data coverage of hurricanes and aid forecasts. As the first year of data is being evaluated, a new and unexpected capability has emerged: the ability to see through clouds and rain to flooded landscapes. The flood maps are possible thanks to one of the innovations of the CYGNSS constellation. The microwave signal the CYGNSS satellites use to detect wind speed based on the choppiness of the ocean is actually not generated by the satellites at all. Instead the satellites use the constant and ubiquitous signals from the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system, which is also responsive to reflections from standing water and the amount of moisture in the soil.A map of South America, where some of the data was collected. Credit: NASA/JPL/NIMA “Before about 2015, people had inklings that you could use GPS reflection data over land to look at various things, but there hadn’t been many observations to prove it,” said Clara Chew, a researcher at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. “With the launch of CYGNSS we’ve finally been able to really prove that yes, these signals are very sensitive to the amount of water either in the soil or on the surface." Chew developed flood inundation maps of the Texas coastline after Hurricane Harvey and of Cuba after Hurricane Irma, as well as flood maps of the Amazon River in Brazil, which overflows its banks seasonally. "When we made our first complete map of the Amazon, everyone was really shocked because you can see a lot of the tiniest, tiniest rivers throughout the basin, and nobody knew that we were going to see rivers a hundred meters wide or so in the data," Chew said, noting that the native resolution of data over the ocean varies between 10 and 15 km and it is averaged to a consistent 25 kilometers. "When I saw the first land images of inland water bodies, I was amazed at their quality," said Chris Ruf, CYGNSS's principal investigator at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. "We had known beforehand that there would be some instances of coherent scattering possible. That's the phenomenon that creates such high-resolution images. It rarely happens over the ocean and we hadn't really considered how often it might happen over land. It turns out that it happens quite frequently, and almost always when observing small inland water bodies. This promises to open up entirely new areas of scientific investigation."An artist's rendering of one of the CYGNSS spacecraft. The CYGNSS satellites measure wind speed by determining how choppy the water is from a microwave signal bounced off the ocean surface. Similar to how light can reflect a clear or distorted image of the moon on a lake depending on whether or not the water has ripples, the microwave signal changes depending on how smooth (low wind) or choppy (high wind) the ocean is. Credit: University of Michigan CYGNSS’s advantage over other space-based sensors for flood detection is its ability to see through clouds, rain and vegetation that may otherwise obscure floodwaters. Currently, flood detection is generally done by optical sensors on the U.S. Geological Survey-NASA Landsat satellites, which can't see through clouds, and the microwave sensors on the European Space Agency's Sentinel 1 and 2, which can't see through vegetation. Capturing data from eight satellites instead of one is another advantage because it decreases the time between observations for locations, meaning more coverage, more rapidly, of flooding in the tropics. Together this means CYGNSS could bridge gaps in current coverage. "Flooding from hurricanes can happen really quickly," Chew said. "You can go from dry to a complete flood within a matter of hours. So even with satellites that observe Earth every two to three days you can miss a lot of information such as how quickly an area flooded and the maximum extent of flooding. But if you have more samples, like what CYGNSS gives you, then you can start to really pinpoint these types of things." However, this type of detection is still in its early days of development, and Chew and others are exploring how to infer the amount of water present and other parameters to complement soil moisture and flood data from other satellites. In addition, CYGNSS data currently takes two days to go from observation to data users. "It's very fitting that one of the new things that CYGNSS is unexpectedly good at determining, the extent of flood inundation, is very often a direct consequence of the thing it was designed to measure, namely hurricanes," Ruf said. "So now, not only will we be able to observe the hurricanes while they are over the ocean, we will now also be able to map much of the damage they cause from flooding after landfall." To learn more about CYGNSS, visit: To learn more about NASA's work studying hurricanes, visit https://www.nasa.gov/hurricanes/. To read papers on CYGNSS flood mapping, visit:
Through the voices of an immigrant and refugee, youth gain empathy and understanding of the experience of leaving your home for a new place. ... Filter by subjects: Filter by audience: Filter by unit » issue area: find a lesson Unit: Cultural Competence Students research the names, causes, and symptoms of common sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). They identify resources someone can turn to for help with STDs and propose and carry out a plan to teach others about STDs. This lesson will familiarize learners with a story of Creation from the Jewish mystical tradition. The story, based upon the Sefer Yetzirah, provides the foundation for the Jewish concept of tikkun olam, repair of the world. Learners will begin to formulate a personal concept... Unit: Impact of Giving Learners investigate local and global issues, and learn about nonprofits in the community. Students examine root causes and effects, and learn about the Sustainable Development Goals and #GivingTuesday. As a service project, they organize an event, such as a volunteer fair or game-a-thon, and... Unit: Heroes and Their Impact Rosa Parks' acts of philanthropy brought a community of people together for the common good and resulted in major social change in her community and in the nation. Participants identify a need in the community and take action with personal responsiblity. Unit: Bully-Free Zone The students experience and reflect on a literature book written from the view point of a reformed bully, Confessions of a Former Bully. They analyze the data collected from their survey to determine how bullying behavior affects their school. The students learn that addressing bullying... Young people learn what it is like to be a refugee through pictures, video, and stories. They build empathy and do an activity that simulates choices refugees must make. This lesson raises awareness of water quality and responsible management of water resources around the world. We explore the issue of safe water and the responsibilities of a global citizen to assure all people have safe drinking water. Unit: Global Education: Equity Unit: Advise and Consent Participants identify and compare the different roles of the four sectors of the economy (government, business, nonprofit, and family). They identify which sector does what and observe how they approach differently the sometimes overlapping responsibilities....
A symmetrical molecule is one whose appearance does not change if you turn it about an axis of symmetry; original and rotated states are indistinguishable from one another. By contrast, an asymmetrical molecule has no axis of symmetry; you can tell if it has been rotated. Symmetry and asymmetry are important properties that affect how molecules respond to light waves, form bonds and operate biologically. Carbon dioxide is a simple symmetrical molecule in which the atoms are arranged in a straight line -- a carbon atom is set in the middle with oxygen atoms at each end. Because of this symmetry, CO2 in the atmosphere allows incoming sunlight to pass, but blocks infrared coming from the warm land and oceans, resulting in the greenhouse effect that contributes to the global warming phenomenon. Many types of sugar molecules come in two nearly identical shapes termed left-handed and right-handed. The number of atoms and other characteristics are the same, but the two molecules are asymmetrical mirror images of each other, much as your hands are. In the distant past, living things evolved to live on specific types of sugars. Sucralose, an artificial sweetener, is a left-handed asymmetrical molecule that tastes sweet but contributes very little in terms of calories; human metabolism doesn’t “recognize” it as sugar. For this reason, diabetics and others who must limit their sugar intake can use sucralose as a sweetener. Methane is a symmetrical molecule consisting of four hydrogen atoms surrounding a central carbon atom; as a fuel, it is called “natural gas.” On Earth, much of the methane comes from organic matter, whether from cows, termites or decaying plants. In the atmosphere, methane is a potent factor in global warming, having 25 times carbon dioxide's ability to trap infrared rays. Acetic acid is a useful asymmetrical molecule found in vinegar and used in the manufacture of acetate plastics and other chemical products. In fermentation processes, Acetobacter aceti bacteria convert alcohols into acetic acid, turning wine into vinegar. At concentrations of a few percent, as in vinegar, acetic acid is harmless; concentrations greater than 10 percent bring the risk of skin burns and lung irritation. - University of North Florida: Molecular Symmetry [PDF] - University of California: Sucralose - University of Wisconsin: Bond Angles and the Shapes of Molecules - Center for Climate and Energy Solutions: Main Greenhouse Gases - NASA: Methane: A Scientific Journey from Obscurity to Climate Super-Stardom - Kenyon College: Acetobacter aceti - University of South Dakota: Acetic Acid [PDF] - Hemera Technologies/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images
Linen is a yarn or fabric made from the cultivated flax plant, named Linum usitatissimum. This domesticated species is believed to have been developed during cultivation. It is a cellulosic plant fibre, or bast fibre, and it forms the fibrous bundles in the inner bark of the stems of the plant. The plant is an annual that grows to a height of about a metre and the fibres run the entire length of the stem and help hold it upright. The fibre strands are normally released from the cellular and woody stem tissue by a process known as retting (controlled rotting). In Ireland this was traditionally done in water, rivers, ponds or retting dams. Flax was grown in Ireland for many years before advanced agricultural methods and more suitable climate led to the concentration of quality flax cultivation in northern Europe (mainly northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands). Since the 1950’s the flax fibre for Irish Linen yarn has been, almost exclusively, imported from France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The linen manufacturing process is complicated and requires great skill at each stage of production. There are many processes involved in turning flax to fabric, which are summarised here as follows: Linen is a natural fabric produced from fibres of the flax plant. The plant is sown in April, produces delicate blue flowers in June and is harvested in August. After pulling, the crop is laid out in the fields to ret, a process where the woody bark of the plant is naturally rotted so that the fibres come loose from the main stem. The seeds are removed and used for linseed oil or cattle cake and a process called scutching removes the bark. It is used for chipboard. No part of the flax plant is wasted. Treating Flax Fibre & Spinning into Linen Yarn The fibres are hackled (combed), to separate the long line and short tow fibres. The line fibres are generally drafted and doubled, and then lightly twisted before undergoing a wet spinning process. This produces strong, fine yarn. The short tow fibres are carded and drafted and then spun using a dry spinning method. Dry-spun yarns have a heavier count and are used for furnishing fabrics, heavy apparel and household textiles and knitwear. Weaving Linen Yarn into Linen Fabric Weaving is an ancient craft which has been revolutionised by technology. The latest Computer Aided Design systems and dedicated sampling machinery ensure that new designs are turned around with utmost efficiency. High-speed, computer controlled looms are operated under the watchful eye of an experienced weaver giving the industry an ideal mix of automation and skill. Irish linen weavers produce a vast range of fabrics – all weights of apparel fabrics from fine cambric’s to heavy suiting, damasks, furnishing fabrics and towels, both for the kitchen and the bathroom. Finishing Linen to Create Texture of Purpose Fabric finishing describes treatments, which occur after weaving to make the fabric suit customer requirements. These include bleaching, dyeing, coating, bonding, printing, texturising and calandering to name a few. These treatments can change the nature, feel, performance, look and texture of a fabric. Finishing linen is a complicated process, and new techniques are continually being developed to give the final fabric new properties and handles. Different finishing treatments can produce the crisp elegance of a fine damask tablecloth or the cool comfort of linen sheets and meet the demands of the fashion industry for new textures and performance. Recent developments in finishing include softwash and aero finishes for a relaxed look and easy care finishes which cut down linen’s creasability and allow the fabric to be fully washable and tumble-dry friendly. Linen is the oldest fabric known to man – it even pre-dates the invention of the wheel. When Pre-Historic man decided that fur and skins were no longer the height of fashion, he turned to the fibres of the flax plant to create the first ever fabric. However, it was probably the Egyptians who first organised the industrial production of linen, recognising it as a noble fabric – early production methods are shown on ancient hieroglyphics across Egypt. Linen became a luxury worn by royal households and other aristocracy in both life and death – around 1000 metres of fine linen would have been wrapped around Egyptian kings as part of the mummifying process. Linen probably came to Ireland in early Christian times, and St. Patrick, the Patron Saint of Ireland, is said to be buried in a shroud of Irish Linen. The production of Irish Linen continued through the Middle Ages, but it was not until the 17th Century that the industry started to develop in any structured way, initially under the guidance of the Earl of Stafford and the Duke of Ormonde. In the late 17th Century, the Huguenots, who had recently fled from France to Ireland, added their expert textile skills to the already well-established Irish Linen industry, and the fame and reputation of Irish Linen flourished. The industry was concentrated in the north of Ireland, particularly in the area of land between the two great rivers of the north, the Bann and the Lagan. This area is known today as The Linen Homelands. Linen was the focus for the Industrial Revolution in the north of Ireland, with the Province’s engineering, trade and infrastructure developed around the requirements of the industry. In the 20th Century, linen played a vital role in both World Wars. Rope, net, twine, hosepipes, sailcloth, canvas, blackout sheets, tents and aeroplane wing sealants were all made from Irish Linen. After World War Two, synthetic fibres replaced linen in many of these heavy industrial products. However, despite the interest in man-made consumer fabrics such as nylon and polyester in the ’60’s and ’70’s and the new microfibres of the ’90’s, Irish Linen is a truly contemporary fabric. It can be blended with the man-mades such as Tencel and Lycra, finished to give it a fresh feel and improve wash and care performance or kept in its purest white or natural colour and form. The Irish Linen industry is proud of rich heritage, and never loses sight of the craftsmanship, which has been developed over generations.
Measurement in Everyday Life Measurement is a part of everyday life. It is an essential life skill. Measurement is one of the most important and widely used applications of mathematics. Children must understand the importance of measurement and be familiar with their use in everyday life. Parents can help children see the relevance of measurement in the real world by pointing out its applications as it arises in their life on a daily basis. Various kinds of measurement are important in everyday life. Time, Money, Temperature are some of them. Lets see some real life examples. Time is used to talk about our daily life, our daily routines. Time management is a part of our daily routine. Time is a sequence of events that relates to our daily life. Following are a few examples: School begins at 8:00 AM in the morning. We eat breakfast between 8 Oclock and 9 Oclock in the morning. Sarah has history at 9:45 in the morning. The football match is at 3:30 in the afternoon. The concert is at 7:00 in the evening. Clocks / watches are tools that measure time. A calendar is another way of measuring time. Its a tool to help us keep track of days of the month, days of school, birthdays, festivals, planning events, and activities. A clock is used to measure time intervals of less than a day, and should not be confused with a calendar. Money is a part of our everyday life. We use money to buy the things we need. Using money involves using different math skills like counting, adding, and subtracting amounts of money. When we go to a store, we need to know Math so we can get the right amount of things. Suppose I go to a grocery store with $10.00 to buy tomatoes. 1 pound of tomatoes costs $2.00 (say). I calculate and figure out that I cant buy more than 4 pounds, because 4 pounds of tomatoes cost me 4 Ã— $2.00 = $8.00 + I need to pay tax for this amount. We use basic math to compute change in the grocery store. Suppose I paid $8.75 for the tomatoes then the balance due is $1.25. I expect to receive this exact change from the store cashier. Temperature is a measure of how hot or cold something is. Temperature is one of the factors that characterize the state of the atmosphere. What we wear and what we do are in response to the temperature outside. We wear gloves and mittens in winter. We skate in winter. We go swimming in summer. Measurement skills have many real-world applications. Here are a few more: #1 Measurement skills are extensively used in every kitchen, every recipe. Cooking temperature of the oven For many recipes, we need to count and measure ingredients. For example, to make ˜Hot Chocolate" just for one person, we need: 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 cup of milk, 1 ounce unsweetened chocolateâ€¦â€¦ We estimate how much each person will eat and make appropriate amount of food. To increase the number of servings we multiply all the ingredients in the recipe, and to decrease we divide. #2 When planning a trip, we calculate the mileage (miles per gallon) using the odometer in the car, calculate the distance traveled; determine when to fill up the gas tank againâ€¦ #3 we use measurement skills when planning a garden space, measuring floor covering, painting the interior of your home. The amount of paint to be bought is directly proportional to the surface area of the walls in your home. #4 we use measurement when sewing a dress. #5 we choose air conditioner based on the volume of the house. #6 we buy fruits and vegetables in a grocery store by weight. We weigh them using a balance scale. Im Chandrajeet, an in-house writer for iCoachMath. iCoachMath is an effective, convenient, easy-to-use online Math Program which has been used by thousands of students, teachers, and parents. iCoachMath strives to lead K-12 students to excellence in math by offering quality web-based educational solutions. iCoachMaths instructional and lesson materials are aligned to State Curriculum Standards in all 50 states (USA).
Our bodies break down carbohydrates and starches you eat into a simple sugar called glucose, which is transported from the bloodstream into our cells by the hormone insulin where it can be used for energy. Insulin also signals the liver to stop producing sugar. Sometimes things go wrong, such as in diabetes, when our bodies allow blood glucose (sugar) levels to rise higher than normal. This hyperglycemia comes in two forms. In Type 1 Diabetes, the body does not produce insulin and it must be introduced artificially. In Type 2 Diabetes, which is 95 percent of people with diabetes, the body instead develops insulin resistance, primarily due to overconsumption of food, and the pancreas which made extra insulin to handle the extra blood glucose became overtaxed until it was no longer able to keep blood glucose at normal levels. Ketogenic diets are where participants consume low amounts of carbohydrates and high amounts of fat. Like all crash diets, proponents tout short-term weight loss but a new study finds that an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes in the early stage of the diet may also be on the plate. Ketogenic diets linked to insulin resistance in the liver In a mouse study conducted by ETH Zurich in conjunction with University Children's Hospital Zurich, the researchers found that ketogenic diets were linked to improper blood sugar level control and there was insulin resistance in the liver. It involved feeding mice two different types of diet (a ketogenic diet and a high fat diet, which causes the liver to become resistant to insulin) and then performing standard metabolic tests on them. Using specialized procedures the researchers were able to determine the effects of internal sugar production from the animal (mostly the liver), and sugar uptake into tissues (mostly the muscle), during insulin action. When the liver is unable to respond to normal levels of insulin to control blood sugar levels this may lead to an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes. There are confounders. Despite what anti-science activists like to claim when results will help their fundraising or lawsuits, mice are not little people. And Type 2 Diabetes is frequently linked to obesity. The Ketogenic Diet has not been a fad for long enough to know if it causes obesity. Outside excess glucose production leading to insulin resistance, the aetiology of Type 2 Diabetes is unknown, so they don't have a biological mechanism to explain the process. Generally speaking, all diets are good, and if a crash diet helps get someone on the path to thinking about weight and health long-term, that is welcome, but fad diets carry risks. The best solution remains a sensible diet and exercise.
posted by mZ. YoU . How do you find Absolute error and how do you find relative error? Absolute error is the difference between the experimental value and the actual value. Relative error, usually expressed as a percent, is the error relative to the correct value. For example, We perform an analysis on a sample for Na. We find 34.0%. We turn in the results and the instructor tell us she made the samples and they were 36.0% Na. Absolute error is xexp - xtrue = 34.0-36.0= -2.0%. Same values as above. relative error = [(34.0-36.0)/36.0]x100=5.56%
1 Book for Every 300 Children While the neuroscience behind language acquisition and reading readiness is complex, the pathway to early literacy development is not. No special tools or toys are required — and in fact, some may actually get in the way. All a child needs is a caregiver with basic instruction on some purposeful activities that can be consistently worked into everyday activities. The research into the effects of parent involvement is deep and compelling. Consider: - Parental involvement in their child’s reading has been found to be the most important determinant of language and emergent literacy (Bus, van Ljzendoorn & Pellegrini, 1995). - Parents who introduce their babies to books give them a head start in school and an advantage over their peers throughout primary school (Wade & Moore, 2000). - Parental involvement in their child’s literacy practices is a more powerful force than other family background variables, such as social class, family size and level of parental education (Flouri & Buchanan, 2004). - The earlier parents become involved in their children’s literacy practices, the more profound the results and the longer-lasting the effects (Mullis, Mullis, Cornille et al., 2004). So if the solution is as simple as involved parents reading to their children and introducing some very basic skills, why do so many children enter kindergarten unprepared to learn? For many children, the answer is as simple as the solution — no books are available in their homes, or even in their pre-school classrooms. This is especially true among low-income families. A recent study found that in middle-income neighborhoods, the ratio of books to children was 13 to 1. In low-income neighborhoods, it was 1 to 300 (Neuman, Susan B., et al, 2001). 1 book for every 300 children. For those same children attending pre-school programs or after-school programs, the news is no better. A 2001 study showed that 80% of preschool and after-school programs serving low-income populations have no age-appropriate books for their children (Neuman, Susan B., et al, 2001). Without access to books, the likelihood that these children will enter kindergarten ready to read is remote. There is hope, however. Most of these children have access to the vast resources of a local public library. Just as libraries have helped close the Digital Divide, so too can they help overcome the Book Barrier. To do so requires work outside the library walls. Librarians need to be visible and vocal in the communities they serve through outreach to daycares, community centers, churches — and wherever else their community gathers. Parents need to know exactly how important it is to read to their children and understand that there are hundreds if not thousands of books available at the library. Every child deserves the opportunity to start kindergarten with the basic skills needed to be successful. Our public libraries are uniquely positioned to help make that happen.
What would it look like to fly through the distant universe? To find out, a team of astronomers estimated the relative distances to over 5,000 galaxies in one of the most distant fields of galaxies ever imaged: the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF). Because it takes light a long time to cross the universe, most galaxies visible in the video are seen when the universe was only a fraction of its current age, were still forming, and have unusual shapes when compared to modern galaxies. No mature looking spiral galaxies such as our Milky Way or the Andromeda galaxy yet exist. Toward the end of the video the virtual observer flies past the furthest galaxies in the HUDF field, recorded to have a redshift past 8. This early class of low luminosity galaxies likely contained energetic stars emitting light that transformed much of the remaining normal matter in the universe from a cold gas to a hot ionized plasma.
A proton is a subatomic particle that has a positive charge of +1 e. An "e" is defined as the elementary electrical charge that a proton possesses, measured at approximately 1.6 x 10^-19 coulombs. The positive electrical charge of a proton is opposed by negative charge of an electron. The discovery of the existence of the proton and its electrical charge occurred in related experiments conducted by British scientist Ernest Rutherford in 1917, first reported in 1919. Rutherford studied the interaction of nitrogen gas with positive helium ions, which produced what he determined were hydrogen ions. He concluded that hydrogen ions were the basic building blocks of all matter, and, after a meeting in 1920 with the British Association for the Advancement of Science, termed the new particle a proton.
Creating Weight With Rotation When astronauts embark on long flights in space, it's important that there is gravity in the spaceship. One way of creating gravity is through rotation, or in other words, the partial rotation of the spaceship on its own axis. The force of rotation can be discovered with this simple experiment where the rotation is sufficient to lift weights. Lifting Weights With Rotation You will need: - Something long and hollow such as a plant stalk or a straw - 4 acorns or 1 acorn and 2 chestnuts - Fishing line (about 50 cm) - Crochet hook What to do: Pull the fishing line through your straw or stalk, using the crochet hook if necessary. At one end of the line, tie one acorn and tie the other 3 acorns (or alternatively the 2 chestnuts) to the other end of the line. Hold the straw/stalk in front of you so that the weight of the 3 acorns/2 chestnuts pulls the line vertically down. Make circular motions with the straw/stalk. By rotating the single acorn at one end, you should find the other heavier objects at the other end can be lifted.
Global Hunger Index 2019. Global hunger index for the year 2019 has been released. As per the index, among 117 countries India stands at a position of 102. But for Afghanistan, India has performed worse than all of its neighbouring countries. Only some African countries are below India’s ranking. About Global Hunger Index: Global Hunger Index (GHI) indicates the level of hunger and undernutrition worldwide. It is jointly prepared by Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide. There are four parameters used for calculating the hunger index: - Undernourishment: the share of the population that is undernourished (insufficient caloric intake). In India, just 9.6 percent of all children between 6 and 23 months of age are fed a minimum acceptable diet. - Child wasting: the share of children under the age of five who are wasted (low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition). Wasting means low weight for height. India’s child wasting rate is extremely high at 20.8 percent—the highest wasting rate of any country in this report for which data or estimates were available. - Child stunting: the share of children under the age of five who are stunted (low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition). Stunting is the impaired growth and development that children experience from poor nutrition, repeated infection, and inadequate psychosocial stimulation. India’s child stunting rate, 37.9 percent, is categorized as very high in terms of its public health significance. - Child mortality: the mortality rate of children under the age of five (in part, a reflection of the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments) Global Hunger Index 2019 Reasons for India’s dismal performance: - Practice of open defecation: Though the government has launched many programmes to eliminate practice of open defecation, there are still many places in the country where it is still in practice. Open defecation leads to many diseases like- cholera, typhoid, diarrhoea etc. These diseases some times become fatal for children of small age group. Many states on paper have declared themselves Open Defecation Free. However, the claim is far from reality. As reported in the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation’s National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey 2018-19, there are still large number of households in states like Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir etc., who does not have access to toilets. Some steps like- construction of toilets in every household, mass awareness campaign regarding ill effects of open defecation, penalizing etc. may be taken to curb the practice. Monitoring at periodic intervals should be undertaken in places where open defecation is still in practice, to make sure the toilets are being used and are functioning properly. Necessary steps should also be taken to ensure that people do not leave the practice of using toilets. - Unavailability of nutritious food: Lack of intake of required level of nutrition leads to problems like stunting, wasting, reduced mental development etc. In India, a large portion of population cannot arrange for itself food for two times, let alone arranging nutritious food. Food security act, PDS scheme, mid-day meal schemes, food fortification etc. are some of many steps of Government for providing nutritious food to public below poverty line. However, corruption, unawareness, infrastructural problems are some of the bottlenecks, impeding the successful implementation of these schemes. Lack of nutrition in food, is not a problem in public below poverty line only. Many people who are well above poverty line also lacks proper nutrition in their diet. The reason may be attributed to modern lifestyle and lack of awareness. Mass media platforms like television, radio, internet etc. should be used to make people aware of eating unhealthy food. Habit of healthy eating should be inculcated in children in schools. - Lack of Immunization: India is yet to achieve its goal of universal immunization. Vaccines against diseases like polio, rotavirus, hepatitis etc. protect children from these diseases and hence reduce mortality. Lack of proper health care system, shortage of health care personnel, illiteracy etc. have been major hindrance in achieving universal immunization goal. Some steps like- - Mass immunization drive, - Awareness campaign, - Identifying and tracking cases where programme could not reach and taking necessary action thereafter. Global Hunger Index 2019 Human resource is the biggest asset of any country. If nurtured well they become instrumental in paving way for development, otherwise become burden. For India to become a world power it becomes imperative for it to take care of all the hurdles that come in way of development of its human resources. For more such articles check this link.
The Papal States is a country on the Italian penisula composed of states ruled by the Pope, with its capital being Rome. During the 15-16th centuries, the Papal States grew closer diplomatic relations with France and Austria, advising both the Austrian and French kings to end their rivalry with each other, especially as the Reformation ramped up during the late 15th century. The Reformation Edit In 1497, with the Protestant Reformation rising throughout all of Europe, the major Catholic powers, including some members of the Holy Roman Empire, were invited to the Italian city of Milan for the new Council of Milan, to combat the Reformation. Eventually the Counter-Reformation was formed, and all Catholic nations were required to implement it. England refused, converting to Protestantism in response. Austria then fought a long war against its many Protestants in Transylvania. It was during this period that a Protestant League was formed, consisting of the nations Russia, Spain, Holland, Sicily, Denmark, Naples, Serbia, Venice and other Protestants minors in the Holy Roman Empire. The Papal States responded by forming the Catholic League, consisting of France, Ireland, Austria, Portugal and most of the HRE. The Catholic and Protestant Leagues fought in the Great League War, resulting in the loss of millions of lives. The war, starting in 1512 and lasting through to 1629, was the longest war in history, finally ending in a decisive Catholic victory, and pushing the Protestant Germans back into the Rhineland, and kicking the Protestant Neapolitans back into Sicily. The Renaissance Edit The Papal States flourished through the Renaissance, being the home of many famous artists. During the period, there was even a Papal colony founded in the Peruvian region, called the Vultar Order, or simply Vultaria.
The First Amendment of the US Constitution identifies the rights to assemble and to petition the government, but does not specifically mention a right to association. However, the US Supreme Court has held that freedom of association is an essential part of the Freedom of Speech because in many cases people can engage in effective speech only when they join with others. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) proclaims in Article 20 that: - Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. - No one may be compelled to belong to an association. The UDHR reiterates this right with special reference to trade unions in Article 23 (4): “Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.” It is one of the central provisions underpinning the work of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the UN specialized agency which works to uphold the rights of workers and employers to form organizations and to bargain collectively. This right is further reiterated and defined in subsequent UN human rights documents such as Article 8 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and Articles 21 and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). In Article 15 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) the right of association is extended to include children according to its principle of evolving capacity. Governments that have ratified these international treaties have agreed to implement these standards at the national level. Related Human Rights Instruments: - Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948) NAACP v. Alabama 1958
How do you write the equation of a line in slope-intercept form if you have a graph write an equation in slope-intercept form for trying to find the equation for. Write an equation in slope-intercept form of the line that passes through the given point and is parallel to the graph of the given equation i will give - 8087358. 102 resources for slope-intercept form: write an equation on 11 grades and 2 subjects search and discovery of digital educational resources from all over the web. Explains the slope-intercept form for a linear equation, written as y=mx+b with m as the slope and b as the y-intercept time-saving slope intercept form videos. A summary of slope-intercept form in 's writing equations learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of writing equations and what it means. Write an equation in slope -intercept form of the line having the given slope and y-intercept then graph the line m : 4, y-intercept: ±3. A method used to find the equation of straight line is slope intercept form the slope intercept form equation is expressed as y=mx+c (m=slope, c = y intercept. An equation in the slope-intercept form is written as $$y=mx+b$$ where m is the slope of the line and b is the y-intercept you can use this equation to write an. This is called the slope-intercept form because m is the slope and b gives the y-intercept (for a review of how this equation is used for graphing, look at slope. Write an equation in slope -intercept form for the line that passes through the given point and is parallel to the graph of given equation (3, í2) , y = x + 4. Fun math practice improve your skills with free problems in 'slope-intercept form: write an equation' and thousands of other practice lessons. Cc8ee6 -- use similar triangles to explain why the slope m is the same between any two distinct points on a non-vertical line in the coordinate plane. Write an equation in slope -intercept form for the line described slope sdvvhvwkurxjk ±4) 62/87,21 substitute m = dqg x, y) = (12, ±4) in the. Purplemath in the previous lesson, we saw the slope-intercept form for straight lines the other format for straight-line equations is called the point-slope form. Equations that are written in slope intercept form are the easiest to graph and easiest to write given the proper information all you need to know is the slope (rate. Use the equations y=mx+b this equation is called the slope-intercept form thus, if you have slope and y-intercept then you are all set by definition, slope is the. Write an equation in slope -intercept form for the line described slope 15, passes through (0, 5) $16:(5 y = 15 x + 5 passes through (3, 5) m = ±2. How to convert the equation of a line from point slope form to slope intercept form explained in a video tutorial, with practice problems worked out step by step.
How They Lived Around the big strikes, boomtowns sprang up—hastily established settlements of miners populated largely by men who abandoned prevailing Victorian social customs, law, and order. Occupants of these towns mixed classes and races in ways that very rarely happened in older established cities. Native Americans, Asian and European immigrants, and American citizens interacted with each other on a daily basis, lubricated by the giddy promise of wealth and, often, copious amounts of alcohol. The relative absence of women led men to feel entitled to behave differently than they would have in “polite society”—most women in the towns were prostitutes or Native or immigrant women who belonged to classes that were not afforded the same respect as the middle-class white women many of these men had left behind. Violence was disturbingly common; boomtowns had incredibly high rates of homicide during their relatively short existences. Conveniences were incredibly expensive, as retailers used lack of supply, difficulty of access, and high demand to charge exorbitant prices for basic foodstuffs or clothing. At smaller mining claims, life was even rougher—often the miner and his family (if they were with him) lived in quickly constructed shacks in the wilderness miles from neighbors and were forced to fend for themselves. Personal accounts from the time outline the severe hardships miners and boomtown inhabitants faced in their quest for gold.
Presentation on theme: "Environmental Engineering Lecture 8. Disinfection As practiced in water treatment, disinfection refers to operations aimed at killing or rendering harmless,"— Presentation transcript: Environmental Engineering Lecture 8 Disinfection As practiced in water treatment, disinfection refers to operations aimed at killing or rendering harmless, pathogenic micro-organisms. The other treatment procedures like coagulation and filtration should remove > 90 per cent of bacteria and viruses. A good disinfectant should: Be toxic to micro-organisms at concentrations well below the toxic threshold to humans Have a fast rate of kill Be persistent enough to prevent regrowth of organisms in the distribution systems Disinfection The rate of destruction of micro-organisms is often postulated as a first-order chemical reaction Disinfection The following factors can result in low efficiency of disinfection: Turbidity Resistant organisms (Giardia) High amount of organic material Deposits of iron and manganese Oxidizable compounds The most commonly used disinfectants are: Chlorine dioxide Ozone UV radiation Chlorination Disinfection – Chlorine Dioxide Yellowish or yellow-green or reddish gas that liquefies at approximately l0 o C. Its application does not cause any deterioration of taste and odor. Its disinfection efficiency is largely pH dependent. The formulation of tri-halogen methane (THM) can be neglected (although other chlorinated compounds can also be formed). It does not react with ammonia. The solution in water is not stable and degrades, especially when exposed to light therefore chlorine dioxide must be produced on site before application. Chlorine dioxide forms toxic inorganic compounds (Chlorate ClO3-), may provoke methanoglobinemia in babies (like nitrates N03 -) if concentrations in drinking water exceed the value of 0.1 mg/L. Disinfection – Ozone Ozone is a bluish gas with an unpleasant smell. It is one of the most powerful oxidizing agents It can be produced in a high-strength electrical field from oxygen in pure form or from ionization of clean dry air Ozone is chemically unstable it must be produced on site and used immediately Substantial amounts of energy (10 to 20 kWh per kg ozone) are required to split the stable oxygen bond to form ozone. The typical dosages ranging from 1 to 5 g/m3. Therefore, costs of ozonation are 2 to 3 times higher than the costs for chlorination effective in killing viruses Improvement of odor and taste Transformation of almost non-degradable substances into easily degradable ones Largely pH independent No remaining residuals - (Re-growth of micro-organisms within the water supply system due to the production of more easily degradable substances) Disinfection – UV Radiation UV light is a promising method of disinfection. Although it leaves no residuals, effective in disabling both bacteria and viruses. The most effective band for disinfection is in the shorter range of 250 to 280 ηm. This is the range where the UV light is absorbed by the DNA of the micro-organisms which then lead to a change in the genetic material so that they are no longer able to multiply. Light of this wavelength range can be generated with low- pressure mercury vapour lamps The properties of UV radiation as a disinfectant include: Necessity of having clear water (turbidity free) and thin sheets of water No residual No odor, or taste problems No chemicals added Disinfection – Chlorination During the past 50 years, it has been the most widely used procedure for the treatment of water However, the application of high doses of chlorine run the risk of developing large amounts of potentially carcinogenic by- products chlorine is a yellow-greenish gas showing high toxicity to humans and animals Chlorine can be liquefied at room temperature HOCl= H + + OCl - Disinfection – Chlorination HOCl molecule is the most effective compound for the disinfecting process. Its efficiency is considered to be 80 times as high as that of the hypochlorite ion (OCl - ). Disinfection – Chlorination Most of the chlorine feed systems in use are gas-to-solution systems, implemented only for indirect chlorination. Indirect chlorination means the preparation of a chlorine solution from Cl 2 gas and water on site, which then serves as the disinfectant. Instead of adding Cl 2 gas to the water Choosing hypochlorites is for safety reason because Chlorine gas is very toxic and its handling requires extreme care. A residual of at least 0.2 mg/L must be detectable after the disinfection step. The maximum level must not exceed 0.5 mg/L The by-products of organics oxidized by chlorine are often: Trihalogen methanes Chlorinated phenols Halogenated methanes and ethanes Halogenated hydrocarbons Chlorinated aldehydes Disinfection – Chlorination ADVANCED WATER TREATMENT PROCESSES The purposes of advanced water treatment processes are: To take a water treated by standard processes and to improve it to an exceptionally high quality as often required by particu1ar industries, e.g. beverage, pharmaceutical To treat a water containing specific chemical or microbiological contaminants to an acceptable standard, e.g. the removal of iron and manganese, the removal of algae, the removal of specific organics ADVANCED WATER TREATMENT PROCESSES Examples of advanced water treatment processes are: Water softening (hardness removal) Iron and manganese removal Ion exchange reaction (IX) Adsorption of organics Membrane processes including reverse osmosis (RO) Electro-dialysis Reversal (EDR) Water Softening Example The chemical reaction for removal of calcium hardness by lime precipitation softening is given by What dosage of lime with a purity of 78 % CaO is required to combine with 70 mg/l of calcium 1 mole =162 g Lime 1 mole = 56 g 1 mole =162 g We have 283 g Lime 1 mole = 56g ? Softening by Ion Exchange IX processes are reversible and the direction of the reaction depends on the concentrations and the level of saturation of Na resin. A water softening unit consists of a bed of the medium of about 0.5 to 2 m high with a filtration rate of 4l/s/m2. Iron and Manganese Removal Fe Reduced water when comes in contact with air, it is aerated easily and the Fe is oxidized after a short time. Mn The pH has to be 9 or 10 before Oxidation by oxygen takes place. Iron and Manganese Removal Iron Removal by Precipitation Theoretically, how many mg/l iron can be oxidized by 1 mg/l of potassium permanganate. 1 mole =158 g We have 1 mg 1 mole =167 g X=?
Now that we have a better idea of what a space is and what linear independence is, we can expand our definition to a span. A span just describes the space reachable by linear combinations of some given vectors. In fact, it is the set of all vectors reachable by linear combinations of vectors in the span. What makes this slightly annoying to think about is that that a span describes an infinite set and infinite sets are a little hard to reason about. But if we think about it geometrically, it is actually a case that we have seen before. Say for instance we have the following vectors in 2D space: The span of these two vectors is all of 2D space. The reason for that is that you can give me any 2D point and I can tell you two scalar multiples of these two vectors that will give you that point. For example, say you wanted the point ; I could say, well, is really just Now, what if you had the vectors and . These two vectors are not linearly dependent. Can we reach any point in 2D space using just combinations of those two? What about ? The answer, if you look at the diagram is that, yes, you can. I can take and ; adding both gives me What if I have the vectors and ? The answer by the diagram is that you cannot. The two vectors are parallel and so it is impossible to combine them in such a way to make In fact, because of the fact that we cannot reach that vector (or any other vector outside of that line), the we can only say that the span of those two vectors is the line defined by Of course, you can generalize to higher dimensions, for instance, the span of three vectors may be all of 3D space, or it might only be a plane if there was a linear dependence amongst the vectors.
The geographic and ethnic diversity of the Philippines resulted in distinctive oral storytelling traditions, including song, riddles, poetry and legends. Each group told their own legends, and while Spanish and American colonialism had a great impact on native storytelling, many precolonial stories have also survived due to the efforts of scholars and native storytellers alike. Creation Story from the Igorots The Igorots tell a creation story that accounts for the different languages and skills of the ethnic groups in the Philippines. According to their legend, the primary god, Lumawig, cut reeds and spread them throughout the earth. Each pair of reeds grew into humans who spoke a different language and taught that language to their children. Lumawig attempted to teach each linguistic group a certain skill, such as getting salt from the ocean or shaping clay, but many of them had difficulty understanding his instructions due to the language gap. In time, however, each different group acquired the skills they were meant to acquire, providing the foundation for their culture and their role in the economy. Mindanao Story of the Stars According to a myth from the Bukidnon province on the island of Mindanao, long ago, the sky hovered above the ground and resembled calcified coral. This changed one day when an old woman decided to pound rice. To prepare for her work, she hung her beads and her hair comb up on the sky. She raised her pestle to pound the rice, touching the sky and pushing it upward. The sky rose high up, taking her comb and beads with it. Her comb became the moon and the beads scattered about, turning into the stars. Tinguian Story of the Moon's Craters The Tinguians inhabited Luzon as well, and told an origin legend about the moon's craters. According to their story, the Sun and the Moon got into an argument over who was better for humanity. The Sun bragged about his ability to bring light during the day and pointed out that the Moon would have no light without the Sun. The Moon countered that women preferred her cool light. Enraged, the Sun threw a handful of sand into the moon's face, permanently obscuring her complexion. To this day, we can see the result of their argument in the moon's craters. Tagalog Story of the Sky According to the Tagalog, when all humans were innocent, their souls went directly to the sky upon death. But over time, there were too many souls and they had pushed the sky upward, damaging it. God worried that the sky would fall. He asked the angels to hold the sky up until he could repair it. The angels complied. The tallest angel stood in the center of the sky, and the sky held its curve after god repaired it. Since then, the sky has been curved and heaven has been large enough to hold the souls of the innocent. Style Your World With Color Let your imagination run wild with these easy-to-pair colors.View Article See how the colors in your closet help determine your mood.View Article Understand how color and its visual effects can be applied to your closet.View Article See if her signature black pairs well with your personal style.View Article - National Commission for Culture and the Arts: Early Philippine Literature - American Anthropologist: Philippine Literature - Project Gutenberg: Filipino Popular Tales - Philippine Folk Tales: The Creation (Igorot) - Philippine Folk Tales: How the Moon and Stars Came to be (Bukidnon/Mindanao) - Philippine Folk Tales: The Sun and the Moon (Tinguian) - David De Lossy/Digital Vision/Getty Images
Chapter 1- 2 INTRODUCTION: THEMES IN THE STUDY OF LIFE Exploring Life on Its Many Levels 1. Briefly describe the unifying themes that characterize the biological sciences. 1. The cell an organism’s basic unit of structure and function 2. Heritable information: the inheritance of biological information in the form of DNA which is encoded in the nucleotide sequence of DNA. 3. Emergent properties: emerge as a result of interaction among components at the lower. 4. Regulation: it maintains a steady state for internal factors. 5. Interactions with the environment- organisms are open system that exchange material and energy with their surroundings. 6. Energy and life: all organisms must perform work, which required energy. 7. Unity and diversity: unity is found through universal genetic code and diversity is grouped into three different domains: bacteria, Archea, and Eukarya. 8. Evolution: explains both unity and diversity of life. 9. Structure and function: form and function are correlated at all level of biological organization. 10. Scientific inquiry: this includes observation based discovery and the testing of explanation through hypothesis- based inquiry. 11. Sciences, technology and society: these are all applications if sciences lead to technologies which are created for the society. 2. Diagram the hierarchy of structural levels in biological organization. The hierarchy of structural levels of biological organization, from bottom to the top is molecules, organelles, cells, tissue, organs, and organs systems, organism, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere. 3. Explain how the properties of life emerge from complex organization. The lowest is atom that order into complex biological molecules. The biological molecules are organized into structure called the organelle, the components of the cells. The cell is a fundamental unit of structure and function of all living things. A group of certain kind of cells completing a function makes up the tissue, which make the organs of organ system. This is need for all individual living things, also known as organism. Organism belong to populations, localize groups if organism belonging to the same species. These populations of several species in the same area comprise a biological community. The populations interact with their physical environment to form an ecosystem. The biosphere consists of all the environments in the earth that ate inhabited by life. 4. Describe the two major dynamic processes of any ecosystem. The dynamics of any ecosystem include two major processes 1. Cycling of nutrients, in which materials acquired by plants eventually return to the soil 2. The flow of energy from sunlight to producers to consumers 5. Distinguish between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Prokaryotic cell are smaller and simple, its DNA is not separate from cytoplasm in nucleus. Eukaryotic cells posses a nucleus and many specialized organelles. In most of the eukaryotic cells, the largest organelle is the nucleus, which contains the cell’s DNA as chromosomes. 6. Describe the basic structure and function of DNA. DNA is a substance of genes and the units of inheritance that transmit information from parents to the offspring. DNA in human cells is organize into chromosome where each these chromosome has DNA molecule with hundred or thousand of genes arranged along its length. 7. Describe the dilemma of reductionism, reducing complex systems to simpler components that are more manageable to study. 8. Discuss the goals and activities of systems biology. List three research developments that have advanced systems biology. 1 High-throughput technology. Systems biology depends on methods that can analyze biological materials very quickly and produce enormous amounts of data. An example is the automatic DNA-sequencing machines used by the Human Genome Project. 2 Bioinformatics. The... Please join StudyMode to read the full document
Unless you live the life of a hermit or are extremely diet conscious, the chances are we will be ingesting a lot of saturated and unsaturated fatty acid. Conventional wisdom has it that as far as food intake goes, unsaturated fatty acids are better than saturated fatty acids. So what are saturated and unsaturated fatty acids and which food contains saturated fat and which contains the unsaturated? To live a healthy life we need to know the answers to these basic questions. First let us take a look at saturated fat. Saturated fatty acid is a type of fat that contains triglycerides which contain only saturated fatty acids. These fatty acids have no double bonds between the individual carbon atoms of the fatty acid chain. This causes the chain of carbon atoms to become fully saturated with hydrogen atoms. Different saturated fatty acids can have different number of carbon atoms, varying from 3 up to 36. Fatty acids generally contain various proportions of saturated and unsaturated fat. Foods that are high in saturated fat may be from animal or vegetable fats. Foods that contain a high proportion of saturated fat from animal fats are: -as well as fatty meats. Those Vegetable fats which have high content of saturated fats are: -palm kernel oil, Unsaturated fat or fatty acid has at least one double bond within the fatty acid chain. It is called monounsaturated if it contains one double bond and polyunsaturated if it contains more than one double bond. The formation of double bonds eliminates the hydrogen atoms. Therefore, saturated fatty acids, which contain no double bonds has the maximum number of hydrogen atoms boned to the carbon. In metabolism, unsaturated fat molecules contain lesser calories than a comparable amount of saturated fat. However, unsaturated fats are prone to rancidity and can cause food poisoning. Antioxidants can protect unsaturated fat from becoming rancid. Examples of foods containing unsaturated fats are: -nuts and vegetable oils such as canola and olive oils. Meat products contain a mixture of both saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. Now that we know what saturated and unsaturated fatty acids are, we can compare them from the health angle. Research has shown that by replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fatty acids in our diets, helps in lowering cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels in blood. However it is pertinent to note that trans-unsaturated fat should be avoided as it allows fat molecules to form plaque deposits in our blood vessels. Although unsaturated fatty acid is considered to be safer it should not be consumed in unlimited amounts. The US FDA has recommended that a maximum of 67 grams of unsaturated fat is the upper limit in a 2000 calorie diet. This is roughly about 30% on the daily intake of calories. The saturated fat intake has to be limited to 10% of daily calorie intake and in high risk groups it is restricted to 7%. Studies have shown that Insulin resistance is lowered with diets higher in monounsaturated fats, while a diet high in polyunsaturated fats and saturated fats have the opposite effect. There is a strong correlation between saturated fat intake and cholesterol levels and cardiovascular disease. High levels of triglycerides, LDL or low levels of HDL increase the risk factor of heart problems and strokes. Research has established a link between saturated fats and certain types of cancers such as breast, ovarian, prostrate, small intestine cancers. There is evidence that saturated fat intake can adversely affect bone health. As you can see, given the option, unsaturated fatty acids are better for health than saturated fatty acids. There are recommended daily limits for both and they should not be exceeded. Processed foods generally contain more saturated fat. This is because saturated fat is more stable and will have a longer shelf life. If you are not a diet conscious type of person, then stick to moderation in your food intake. If you are given an option between foods containing saturated and unsaturated fat, stick to the latter. Learn portion control while eating. It is easier and better to stay thin than try to loose fat. Do moderate exercise and ensure that you get some amount of sunshine. Drink plenty of fluids. Remember health is wealth. This article hasn't been commented yet. If you are or were using fish oil, krill oil, flaxseed oil or coconut oil please share your experiences with us and write a testimonial on the results and effects of particular oil on your health. On Fish Oil On Flaxseed Oil On Krill Oil On Blackcurrant Oil
An allergy occurs when your immune system recognizes an environmental or food molecule (allergen) as a dangerous intruder to get rid of. The dreaded symptoms are just the tools your body has to get rid of the intruder. The allergy mechanism is quite complex and involves the immune system and a series of biochemical reactions. It ends up with histamine and other mediators being released in the bloodstream and causing symptoms. Allergens may result from our environment, food, medication, or personal care products like skin creams or suntan lotions. The body’s response to an allergen results in “allergy symptoms” ranging from mild to severe, and sometimes deadly. If you are experiencing an allergic reaction you may feel tired, hazy, dizzy, or exhibit cold or flu-like symptoms. Exposure to environmental allergens like dust, pollen, animal hair and dander may cause more external symptoms like sneezing, stuffy nose, and build up of mucus in the respiratory passages and eventually in other systems like the digestive tract. Since not all allergic reactions are experienced right away it can be difficult to isolate specifically what you’re reacting to. In some cases a reaction can take up to 72 hours. Allergies can be present at birth, genetic, or developed later in life, often called “adult-onset”. Is it a cold or an allergy? There are many types of allergies and a wide variety of symptoms. Fairly often symptoms can resemble that of the common cold. If you do not know that you were exposed to an allergen, it can be quite easy to confuse the two. Sometimes you may think you have been dragging a cold for weeks when you are actually suffering from allergic rhinitis. Types of allergies There are 4 main types of allergies: environmental, food, medication, skin (or contact). - Environmental allergies include pollens, animal hair, dust, molds, insect bites, etc. What we call hay fever is usually allergic rhinitis caused by pollens. Some of us are so affected by hay fever that summer is only bearable indoors, with the windows closed and the AC on. A particular pollen is typically in the environment at a specific time of year. Depending which pollen(s) you are reacting to, your allergies can last all through spring and summer or last just a couple of weeks per year. Environment allergy symptoms can include one or a combination of the following: itchiness, runny nose, congestion, eczema, hives, asthma attack (increased production of mucus in the lungs, shortness of breath, coughing and wheezing) and allergic rhinitis (feels just like a cold). Symptoms can also show up in the eyes, causing allergic conjunctivitis. That is when the protective layer of the white part of the eye becomes inflamed. Your eyes become red, itchy and watery. It is often combined with allergic rhinitis. This is typically seen in allergies to pollen or cats. 2. Food allergies and food intolerances are very common; nearly everyone will be affected at some point. However, food allergy and intolerance are often confused: an allergy is an abnormal reaction from the immune system. Food intolerance is the inability to digest that food properly and unrelated to your immune system. For example, if dairy products make you sick because you are lactose intolerant, it is not an allergy. Since the symptoms can be similar, the two are often confused. Food allergy symptoms can range from skin rashes, to diarrhea, vomiting, and deadly anaphylactic shock. In North America, the most prevalent cause of anaphylaxis in children is the ingestion or the exposure to peanuts, nuts, wheat, shellfish, milk and eggs. Most children who suffer from those severe allergies can thankfully tolerate those foods by the time they are 16. 3. Medication allergies are not to be confused with adverse side effects. It is an allergic reaction when the immune system perceives the medication as an intruder and creates a response against it. The most common is penicillin allergy. Vaccines, sulfa drugs, barbiturates and anticonvulsants are also common allergens. The release of histamine can cause symptoms such as hives or rashes, congestion, digestive problems or more severe respiratory constriction and anaphylaxis. When you are already feeling sick and needing medication, the last thing you want is dealing with an allergic reaction; therefore, if you suffer from a drug allergy, it’s best to wear a medic alert bracelet. 4. Contact allergies are triggered from a contact with the skin to an allergen such as latex, nickel or poison ivy. The skin reacts locally to contact with a foreign substance and you end up with a burning, itchy rash. Symptoms can show up as late as a day or two after contact. It can be difficult to tell apart a contact allergy to a contact dermatitis (non allergic reaction). Symptoms are quite similar but the cause is different. Contact dermatitis is usually more painful than itchy and means you have been in contact with a toxic substance. Treatments for allergies The most common medication for allergies is anti-histamine. It works by blocking the production of histamine, which is produced by our body to defend itself against “the intruder”. Histamine is one of the main causes of the much-dreaded symptoms. Homeopathy offers natural remedies for allergies. They can be taken alongside medication, during pregnancy and by young children. Allergy Relief from A.Vogel targets a wide spectrum of symptoms typical of seasonal allergies. Since it also prevents the release of histamine, it is a good idea to start taking it a couple of weeks before your seasonal allergy symptoms usually appear. If your nose is already dripping, then it’s too late for prevention. Allergy Relief nasal spray will quickly help keep away the tissue box. Stinging Nettletincture is also an interesting choice because it helps regulate histamine levels. It helps with allergic rhinitis and it is especially effective for hives. For more tips on how to deal with allergies, click here.
Teach adolescents to become keen observers of nonverbal language and make accurate inferences using a variety of learning methods. - Detect and interpret others' perspectives correctly - Correctly interpret and use nonverbal language - Increase success in social communication and social interactions - Boost self-esteem by learning how to control social interactions The activity pages are filled with graphic organizers and interesting photos. The lessons give students specific, clear directions and teach them to: - identify nonverbal language - understand personal space - observe and accurately interpret posture, facial expressions, tone of voice, and emotions - tell if a group is ready for them to join in - observe for and use active listening These learning strategies are used to give students practice in interpersonal negotiation: - explicit instruction - other guided practice The lessons can be presented to individual students or small groups of students. You may purchase Nonverbal Language individually or as a 6-book set. The 6-book set consists of: Spotlight on Social Skills Adolescent Conversations Spotlight on Social Skills Adolescent Emotions Spotlight on Social Skills Adolescent Getting Along Spotlight on Social Skills Adolescent Interpersonal Negotiation Spotlight on Social Skills Adolescent Making Social Inferences Spotlight on Social Skills Adolescent Nonverbal Language Copyright © 2008 - Children with limited language skills experience a poor quality of social interactions (Hadley & Rice, 1991; Fujiki et al., 1997; Craig, 1993; Cohen et al., 1998). Such children have greater deficits in social cognitive processing than children with typically-developing language. They have particular deficits in identifying the feelings of each participant in a conflict, identifying and evaluating strategies to overcome obstacles, and knowing when a conflict is resolved (Cohen et al., 1998). - Social skills intervention can improve children's social cognitive skills (Timler et al., 2005). - Targeted language intervention with at-risk students may result in more cautionary, socially acceptable behaviors (Moore-Brown et al., 2002). Intervention for adolescents with language impairments may include objectives aimed at improving deficient social communication skills (Henry et al., 1995; Bliss, 1992). - For students with ASD, explicit instructions to attend to facial expression and tone of voice can elicit increased activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, part of the key network for understanding others' intentions (Wang et al., 2007). - Only 7% of the information we communicate to others depends upon the words we say; 93% depends on nonverbal communication (Mehrabian, 1971). - In selecting remediation targets within social communication among adolescents, clinicians should consider the relative importance of various communication skills in terms of enhancing peer communication. Communication skills involving social perspective taking (including nonverbal language) that focus on another person are more valued by adolescents than skills that focus on the speaker's thoughts or linguistics (Henry et al., 1995). Spotlight on Social Skills Adolescent Nonverbal Language incorporates these principles and is also based on expert professional practice. Bliss, L.S. (1992). A comparison of tactful messages by children with and without language impairment. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 23, 343-347. Cohen, N.J., Menna, R., Vallance, D.D., Barwick, M.A., Im, N., & Horodezky, N.B. (1998). Language, social cognitive processing, and behavioral characteristics of psychiatrically disturbed children with previously identified and unsuspected language impairments. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 39, 853-864. Craig, H. (1993). Social skills of children with specific language impairment: Peer relationships. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 24, 206-215. Fujiki, M., Brinton, B., Robinson, L.A., & Watson, V. (1997). The ability of children with specific language impairment to participate in a group decision task. Journal of Childhood Communication Development, 18, 1-10. Hadley, P.A., & Rice, M.L. (1991). Conversational responsiveness in speech and language-impaired preschoolers. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 34, 1308-1317. Henry, F.M., Reed, V.A., & McAllister, L.L. (1995). Adolescents' perceptions of the relative importance of selected communication skills in their positive peer relationships. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 26, 263-272. Mehrabian, A. (1971). Silent message. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Moore-Brown, B., Sanger, D., Montgomery, J., & Nishida, B. (2002). Communication and violence: New roles for speech-language pathologists. The ASHA Leader (April-June). Timler, G., Olswang, L., & Coggins, T. (2005). "Do I know what I need to do?" Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 36, 73-85. Wang, A.T., Lee, S.S., Sigman, M., & Dapretto, M. (2007). Reading affect in the face and voice: Neural correlates of interpreting communicative intent in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 64, 698-708.
The wood thrush has lost 43 percent of its population over the past 40 years, making it a species of conservation concern. As with other species in decline, the main culprit seems to be the loss and fragmentation of woodland habitats, largely due to development. Ongoing research at the University of Delaware compares the breeding success of wood thrushes at a university woodland preserve and in a nearby neighborhood. Roth discovered that loss of habitat hasn't deterred the remaining wood thrushes from summering in Delaware. However, many must try to breed in less than desirable conditions; in the 1980s, Roth studied a sizable population of wood thrushes in the wooded Newark neighborhood of Arbour Park. These birds had the usual two to three nests with three to four eggs per year, but raised significantly fewer young than wood thrushes breeding in the UD Woods, located just two miles away. And, unlike the thrushes at the UD Woods, few of the banded adults in Arbour Park returned there the next year, which was more likely an indication of bird dissatisfaction than mortality. "UD Woods' leaf litter fosters excellent food resources, such as larval and adult insects, earthworms and millipedes. And on the edge of the woods, the birds can forage for berries from spicebush, elderberry and other shrubs," notes Roth. "A suburban neighborhood often doesn't provide such an abundant food supply, much less native trees and shrubs for nesting and shade." While many nests were lost to predation at Arbour Park, the nests there also were more frequently parasitized by the brown-headed cowbird. It lays its eggs in the nests of wood thrushes and some other song birds, often removing a host's egg for each one laid. The unwitting host incubates the cowbird eggs and feeds the cowbird chicks along with her own. The negative effect on wood thrushes is the loss of eggs. "Cowbirds are more apt to parasitize nests in small forest fragments, wooded neighborhoods and other edge habitats created by humans than in deep deciduous forests, where the wood thrush thrives," says Roth. "Don't blame the cowbirds; we created the favorable conditions for them."
Sickness and diarrhoea in children Gastroenteritis is an infection of the stomach and bowel. The most common symptoms are diarrhoea and vomiting. Gastroenteritis can have a number of causes, such as a norovirus infection or food poisoning. However, in children, the rotavirus is the leading cause. This topic focuses on gastroenteritis in children. See the Health A-Z topic about gastroenteritis in adults for more information about this condition. A rotavirus is a virus that infects the stomach and bowel. It is spread by infected children who do not wash their hands properly after going to the toilet. They may then leave tiny samples of infected faeces on surfaces or utensils, which can be picked up by another child. Small droplets of infected faeces can be carried in the air, which children can breathe in. How common is rotavirus gastroenteritis? Rotavirus gastroenteritis is extremely common in children. It is estimated that every child will have at least one rotavirus infection before the age of five. Most infections occur among children aged between three months and three years. Rotavirus gastroenteritis is more common during winter and spring. The first infection tends to be the most severe, because the body builds up immunity (resistance) to the virus afterwards. This is why rotavirus infections are extremely rare in adults. The rotavirus is highly contagious among children with no immunity to the virus. Even if your child has had a previous infection, they may not have built up full immunity. There are also different strains of the virus that your child may not be immune to. Therefore, it is important to keep an infected child isolated from other children for 48 hours after their last episode of diarrhoea and vomiting. Most cases of rotavirus gastroenteritis in children are mild and normally pass within five to seven days, without the need for medical treatment. However, children (particularly those under the age of two) are at risk of dehydration, so it is very important that they drink plenty of fluids. More severe cases of gastroenteritis and associated dehydration may require hospital treatment. However, it is estimated that only 1.5% of all childhood cases of gastroenteritis in England will require hospital treatment. Deaths caused by rotavirus gastroenteritis are extremely rare in England. Only three deaths occurred in England and Wales in 2008. Contagious is when a disease or infection can be easily passed from one person to another. Dehydration is an excessive loss of fluids and minerals from the body. Diarrhoea is the passing of frequent watery stools when you go to the toilet. The stomach is the sac-like organ of the digestive system. It helps digest food by churning it and mixing it with acids to break it down into smaller pieces. Symptoms of gastroenteritis in children The symptoms of rotavirus gastroenteritis normally begin with a rapid onset of diarrhoea and vomiting. Your child may also have a high temperature (fever) of 38°C (101 °F) or above, and complain of abdominal (tummy) pain. The symptoms of vomiting usually pass within one to two days. In most children, it will not last longer than three days. The symptoms of diarrhoea usually pass within five to seven days. Most children's diarrhoea symptoms will not last more than two weeks. It is very important to be aware of the symptoms of dehydration and recognise them in your child because dehydration is potentially more serious than the rotavirus infection itself. Symptoms of dehydration include: - dry mouth and eyes - no tears produced when the child cries - sunken appearance of the eyes - weakness and drowsiness - deep, rapid breathing - passing urine infrequently Contact your GP for advice if you think your child has become dehydrated. If this is not possible, call NHS Direct on 0845 4647. When to seek medical advice Rotavirus gastroenteritis shares many of the initial symptoms of more serious childhood conditions. So, it is important to be alert for signs and symptoms that suggest your child has a more serious condition. Signs and symptoms to watch out for are: - a temperature of 38ºC (101ºF) or higher in children younger than three months - a temperature of 39ºC (102.2ºF) or higher in children older than three months - shortness of breath - abnormally rapid breathing - a change in their normal mental state, such as appearing confused - stiff neck - a swelling in the soft part of their head (fontanelle) - a blotchy red rash, which (unlike most other rashes) does not fade when you put a glass against it - blood and/or mucus in their stools (faeces) - green vomit - they complain of severe abdominal pain - swelling of their abdomen - their symptoms of vomiting last longer than three days - their symptoms of diarrhoea last longer than two weeks - symptoms of dehydration persist or worsen, despite treatment with fluids and oral rehydration solutions If you notice any of the signs and symptoms listed above, call your GP for advice as soon as possible. If this is not possible, call NHS Direct on 0845 4647. Causes of gastroenteritis in children Rotaviruses infect the stomach and intestines (bowel) of children. They often spread to other children before the infected child starts to feel unwell. Poor hygiene usually causes the spreading. For example, if an infected child does not wash their hands after going to the toilet, any rotaviruses on their hands will be transferred to whatever they touch, such as a glass, kitchen utensil or food. If another child touches this contaminated object, then touches their face, or they eat contaminated food, they may swallow some of the viruses. Rotavirus infections spread easily in this way, particularly among young children who often forget to wash their hands after going to toilet or before eating. The virus can also survive for several days on surfaces or utensils. This is why these types of infections frequently occur in places where there is a high concentration of young children, such as playgroups, nurseries and infant schools. The rotavirus affects one of the main functions of the intestines: the absorption of water from digested food and into the body. This is why one of the most common symptoms of gastroenteritis is diarrhoea, and why dehydration is such a common complication. In a minority of cases, gastroenteritis in children may be caused by factors other than the rotavirus. These include: - food poisoning from eating contaminated food - drinking contaminated water - a side effect of antibiotics Diagnosing gastroenteritis in children In most cases of gastroenteritis, your child will not need a diagnosis from your GP because their symptoms should disappear without treatment. A diagnosis is usually only required if any of the circumstances or situations listed below occur: - your child has recently been abroad (they may have acquired a more serious type of infection caused by a parasite) - their diarrhoea symptoms do not improve after seven days - they have signs and symptoms not usually associated with gastroenteritis (see Rotavirus gastroenteritis - symptoms for examples of these) - there is blood and/or mucus in their stools - your child has a weakened immune system, due to a health condition, such as acute leukaemia, or as a side effect of a medical treatment, such as chemotherapy Your GP can make a diagnosis by taking a sample of their stools (faeces). This can be checked for the presence of viruses, bacteria or parasites. In some circumstances, blood and urine tests may be used in order to rule out other conditions, such as a urinary tract infection or pneumonia. This is normally recommended when the child has symptoms suggesting that their infection is not simply limited to their digestive system, such as a rapid heartbeat or low blood pressure. Treating gastroenteritis in children You should usually be able to treat your child at home. An important part of treating your child is assessing whether they have an increased risk of dehydration. Factors that can increase your child's risk of dehydration include: - your child is younger than one, particularly if they are younger than six months - your child has passed more than five stools (faeces) in the last 24 hours - your child has vomited more than twice in the last 24 hours - your child has not been able to hold down fluids - your child has suddenly stopped breastfeeding - your child is less than two years old and had a low birth weight when born No increased risk If your child does not appear dehydrated and has no increased risk of dehydration, continue to feed them as usual, whether with breast milk, other milk feeds or solids. If your child is eating solids, encourage them to eat as soon as their vomiting is under control. There is no evidence to suggest that not allowing your child to eat will shorten their episodes of diarrhoea. Simple foods that are high in carbohydrates, such as bread, rice or pasta, are recommended. It is not recommended that your child drinks fruit juices or carbonated drinks ('fizzy drinks'). These can worsen their symptoms of diarrhoea. If your child does not appear dehydrated but does have an increased risk of dehydration, the advice above still applies. Also, give your child an oral rehydration solution (ORS). ORS usually come in sachets that are available over the counter (without a prescription) from your local pharmacist. You dissolve them in water and they help to replace salt, glucose and other important minerals that your child loses through dehydration. If your child vomits after drinking an ORS solution, wait 5-10 minutes before giving them some more. However, make sure they drink it slowly. For example, you could try giving them a spoonful every few minutes. It is usually recommended that your child drinks an ORS each time they pass a large amount of watery stools. The exact amount of ORS they should drink will depend on their size and weight. Your pharmacist will be able to advise you. The manufacturer's instructions that come with the ORS also give information on recommended dosage. If your child has symptoms of dehydration, use an ORS then call your GP. If your GP is unavailable, contact your local out-of-hours service or NHS Direct on 0845 4647. Your GP or the NHS Direct health advisor will ask questions about your child's symptoms and general state of health, to assess whether your child is well enough to be treated at home or whether they need to be admitted to hospital. Treatment at hospital Admission to hospital is usually recommended if your child has signs and symptoms of severe dehydration, such as: - a decreased level of consciousness, such as appearing drowsy or unaware of their surroundings - pale or blotchy skin - their hands and feet feel cold - rapid heartbeat (tachycardia) - rapid breathing (tachypnoea) - their pulse feels weak Admission to hospital may also be recommended if your child's symptoms get worse despite treatment with ORS, or if they keep vomiting up the ORS. Treatment at hospital usually involves feeding the child some fluids and other nutrients directly into their vein (intravenous fluid therapy). Most children respond very well to treatment and are able to leave hospital after a few days. Treating other symptoms Symptoms of pain and fever can normally be relieved using paracetamol. Young children may find liquid paracetamol easier to digest than tablets. Do not give aspirin to children who are under 16 years of age. Anti-diarrhoeal medicine is not recommended for children under 12 years old. The use of medicine to prevent vomiting (anti-emetic medication) is also not usually recommended for children due to the risk of adverse side effects, such as muscle spasms or allergic reactions. Consult your GP before giving your child anti-emetic medicine. Preventing gastroenteritis in children As gastroenteritis can be very infectious, it is important to take steps to prevent it spreading from your child to other children. Even if you isolate your child, it may be possible for adults in your household to spread the infection to other children without realising it. Recommended steps include: - Encourage your child to wash their hands thoroughly after going to toilet, and before eating. - Thoroughly clean the potty or toilet using disinfectant after each episode of diarrhoea and vomiting. Make sure that you include the handle and the seat. - Wash your hands regularly, particularly after changing a nappy or cleaning a potty. - Do not share your child's towels, flannels, cutlery or eating utensils with other members of your household. - Do not allow your child to return to nursery or school until 48 hours have passed since their last episode of diarrhoea and vomiting. - Do not allow your child to enter a swimming pool for the first two weeks after their last episode of diarrhoea - even though they are free of symptoms, research has found that the rotavirus can spread to other children via the pool water. Practising good food hygiene will help your child to avoid getting gastroenteritis as a result of food poisoning. Some ways of achieving this include: - regularly washing your hands, surfaces and utensils using hot, soapy water - never storing raw and cooked foods together - making sure that food is kept properly refrigerated - always cooking food thoroughly - never eating food that is past its sell-by date There is a licensed vaccine in England that protects children against rotavirus gastroenteritis, known as Rotarix. Rotarix is available as a liquid that is sprayed into your baby's mouth. Two doses are given, with at least four weeks between each dose. Ideally, the vaccine should be given before a baby is 16 weeks old. It must be given before a baby is 24 weeks old or it will not be effective. Side effects of rotarix include: These side effects are usually mild and should resolve with time. Rotarix is not given as part of the routine childhood immunisation schedule, and is not usually available free of charge on the NHS. This is because it is currently felt that the public health risks posed by the rotavirus are not serious enough to justify routine immunisation. If you want to vaccinate your baby, you are likely to have to pay a fee. Fees can vary across private practices from around £60 to £100 a dose. See what the doctor sees with Map of Medicine The Map of Medicine is used by doctors throughout the NHS to determine the best treatment options for their patients. NHS Choices offers everyone in England exclusive and free access to this cutting-edge internet resource, which lets you see exactly what your doctor sees. The information in the Map has been approved by the UK's leading clinical experts, is based on the best available clinical evidence, and is continually updated. To take advantage of this unique resource go to:
The main cause of snoring is the partial closure of the airway during sleep. As we sleep, muscles in the neck relax. For some people, the soft tissue in the upper throat vibrates – causing the sound we know as snoring. Some snorers also stop breathing – a medical condition known as sleep apnoea. This occurs when the airway is closed completely during sleep, preventing snorers from breathing. A sleep study is the only way to diagnose obstructive sleep apnoea. Snorers are often made to feel guilty about their condition. However, the causes of snoring are often beyond a person’s control. Certain factors increase the chances of snoring: Snoring is more than a loud noise. It leads to broken sleep for snorers and their partner. This can have a profound impact on the quality of a person’s life, and may lead to embarrassing situations and stressed relationships. Further, snoring is associated with medical complications. Left untreated, snorers have the potential to develop obstructive sleep apnoea. Studies have shown that the lack of sleep caused by snoring has wide-reaching effects. This includes: There are 4 clinically proven snoring treatments. These are:
Data storage in a drop of DNA US researchers have come up with a novel method of storing the world’s ever-increasing amount of data, turning to a storage technology that humans would quite literally not be able to live without — DNA. The concept is not an entirely new one, with researchers at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) demonstrating in 2012–13 the storage of 739 KB of data in DNA. And according to the authors of the current study, published in the journal Science, DNA has all the characteristics to make it an ideal storage medium: - It is ultracompact — about one million times more so than regular digital media. - It comes in a liquid state, so it is not bound by the physical limitations of other storage mediums. - It can last for hundreds of thousands of years if kept in a cool, dry place, as demonstrated by the recent recovery of DNA from the bones of a 430,000-year-old human ancestor found in a cave in Spain. “DNA won’t degrade over time like cassette tapes and CDs, and it won’t become obsolete — if it does, we have bigger problems,” said study co-author Yaniv Erlich, from Columbia University and the New York Genome Center (NYGC). Erlich and his colleague Dina Zielinski, an associate scientist at NYGC, chose six files to encode into DNA: a full computer operating system, the 1895 French film Arrival of a train at La Ciotat, a $50 Amazon gift card, a computer virus, a Pioneer plaque and a 1948 study by information theorist Claude Shannon. They compressed the files into a master file, and then split the data into short strings of binary code made up of ones and zeros. Using their own customised version of an erasure-correcting algorithm called fountain codes — originally designed for streaming video on a smartphone — the researchers randomly packaged the strings into so-called droplets, and mapped the ones and zeros in each droplet to the four nucleotide bases in DNA: A, G, C and T. The algorithm deleted letter combinations known to create errors and added a barcode to each droplet to help reassemble the files later. The scientists generated a digital list of 72,000 DNA strands, each 200 bases long, and sent it in a text file to DNA synthesis start-up Twist Bioscience, which specialises in turning digital data into biological data. Two weeks later, they received a vial holding a speck of DNA molecules. To retrieve their files, the researchers used sequencing technology to read the DNA strands, followed by software to translate the genetic code back into binary. They recovered their files with no errors. They also demonstrated that a virtually unlimited number of copies of the files could be created with their coding technique by multiplying their DNA sample through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and that those copies, and even copies of their copies, could be recovered error-free. The capacity of DNA data storage is around 1.8 binary digits per nucleotide base, accounting for the biological constraints of the material as well as the need to include redundant information for reassembly. By applying their version of fountain codes, called DNA Fountain, the researchers ensured the reading and writing process was as efficient as possible. They succeeded in packing an average of 1.6 bits into each base nucleotide — at least 60% more data than previously published methods, and close to the 1.8-bit limit. The downside of the study was that cost remained a barrier: the researchers spent $7000 to synthesise the DNA they used to archive their 2 MB of data and another $2000 to read it. The price of DNA synthesis may be reduced, however, if lower-quality molecules are produced and coding strategies like DNA Fountain are used to fix molecular errors. Ultimately, the researchers showed that their coding strategy packs a whopping 215 PB of data on a single gram of DNA — 100 times more than the method published by EMBL-EBI. According to Erlich, this makes it the highest density data-storage device ever created. The latest research by a team from Cornell University has found that current approaches to gene... The world of genomics just got a whole lot richer, with scientists completing sequencing for not... US scientists have managed to generate near-atomic resolution snapshots of gene editing tool...
Cognition may have two major (but complementary and overlapping) elements - Thinking, and And the role of the teacher is to mediate the learning, that is engage* with the learner, helping to address any 'dysfunctions' in the thinking and learning processes of - Elaboration and Thinking including our expectations, is important because what we think about our experiences plays a vital role in shaping both - our perceptions of what happened - perception is reality - our specific thoughts about how well (or otherwise) 'what happened' matches our expectations - our feelings about the experience (as we perceive it) - our feelings come from our thoughts rather than from our experiences - our responses to the experience - largely as an outcome of our feeling (emotions get us into motion) - we then have thoughts about that experience including how well it matches our hopes and expectations - and these thoughts result feelings which prompt - our actions in response to the experience Unfortunately, our thinking is so rapid that we may be unaware of even having specific thoughts or feelings. This is one reason why we often use "feel"and "think" interchangeably in everyday conversation. It is also the reason that we often fail to recognise the role of fear in problematic behaviour. A person's fear is not problematic to others until it is converted to anger which results in aggression. The conversion can happen so quickly that no-one is aware of the underlying fear. Over time we develop patterns of thinking based on our expectations and paradigms (models of how things should be). For better or worse, these patterns can become entrenched as "habits of mind". Social and emotional learning is often associated with confirming or challenging our - perceptions - "Did Josh actually intend to hurt you?" - expectations - "Is there a reason why it is important for you to be the leader every time?" - paradigms -"Josh can't take turns!!" Thinking and school expectations School expectation may be explicitly stated as hopes, expectations, rules and/or agreements. They are also tacitly implied by the actions of those who represent the school and community. Explicit statements of expectations need to reflect the intended outcomes for the student. They also need to be consistent with the actual practices and arrangements within the school. Consistency is important - it is easier when - the expectations apply to everyone involved in the life and work of the school - the expectations are frequently highlighted and made explicit - the school acknowledges and celebrates achievements in meeting the expectations The school’s expectations are intended to guide everyone's ongoing actions and interactions but the detailed meanings change from context-to-context, from setting-to-setting. Thus, they need to be continually constructed and reconstructed moment be moment in within the life and work of the school To understand, appreciate, accept and support the school's requirements involves substantial social emotional learning – the expectations have to be met, the rules observed and/or the agreements kept. The capacity to do so involves judgement informed by emotional literacy and action involving social skills and habits of mind. Rules represent boundaries beyond which expectations have not been met and the associated activity is unacceptable. There are only three basic social/school rules: - No harm (care) – self, others, property - No disruptions (consideration) – work and play - No offense (courtesy) – other community members - "Be safe, Be your best, Care for the rest" (Exeter Primary School) Building blocks of thinking Greenberg has developed 10 Building Blocks Of Thinking from her work with Feuerstein. While these were originally developed in relation to classroom learning they are equally valid for social and emotional learning These are prerequisite skills upon which thought processes are based. The teacher evaluates the learner's level of competency and use of these Building Blocks and seeks to help develop those that are underused. - Approach to Task/Experience: Beginning, engaging with, and completing an event, including gathering information, thinking about the task and situation, and expressing thoughts, feelings and/or actions related to the task and situation.. - Precision and Accuracy: Awareness of the need to automatically be exact and correct in understanding and using words and ideas. - Space and Time Concepts: Understanding basic ideas about how things relate in size, shape, and distance to one another (space); and the ability to understand measurement of the period between two or more events and/or changes that occur due to these periods (time). - Thought Integration: Pulling together and using at the same time multiple sources of information which are a part of a given event. - Selective Attention: Choosing relevant pieces of information when considering thoughts or events. - Making Comparisons: Awareness of the need to automatically examine the relationship between events and ideas, especially in determining what is the same and what is different. - Connecting Events: Awareness of the need to automatically associate one activity with another and use this association in a meaningful manner. - Working Memory: Enlarging the thinking space in order to enter bits of information from the mental act, retrieve information stored in the brain, and make connections among the information gathered. - Getting the Main Idea: Awareness of the need to automatically find a fundamental element that related pieces of information have in common. - Problem Identification: Awareness of the need to automatically experience and define within a given situation what is causing a feeling of imbalance. These tools are needed if a person is going to be an active generator of information and not just a passive recipient. The teacher assists the learner to develop and become aware of their use and value of: - Inner Meaning: An awareness of significance to oneself that provides intrinsic motivation for learning and remembering. - Self Regulation: Controlling our approach to learning by using metacognition (thinking about what you are thinking and how you are feeling) to determine factors like readiness and speed. - Feeling of Competence: Knowing we have the ability to do a particular thing. Lack of this tool often results in laziness and other avoidance behaviours; presence of it results in feeling confident and motivated to learn. - Goal Directed Behaviour: Taking initiative in setting, planning for, and reaching objectives on a consistent basis. - Self Development: Being aware of our uniqueness as an individual and working toward becoming all we can be. - Sharing Meaning: Communicating thoughts to ourself and others in a manner that makes the implicit explicit. - Acceptance of Challenge: Being aware of the effects emotions have on novel, complex, and consequently difficult tasks; knowing how to deal with challenge. - Awareness of Self Change: Knowing that we change throughout life and learning to expect, nurture, and benefit from it. Some schools explicitly teach philosophy in order to enhance student thinking. In doing so they inevitably address social and emotional issues.
Weather and Atmospheric Patterns Date: Summer 2012 Is different weather caused by different layers of the atmosphere? Interesting question! Most of our weather occurs in the troposphere, the lower level of our atmosphere. The troposphere contains about 80% of our atmospheric mass and 99% of all atmospheric water vapor and aerosols. The troposphere is where all the exciting weather action is. Weather patterns we see in the form of storms are largely due to warm areas and cool areas of tropospheric air colliding and creating a disturbance. Clear weather we generally see as a large mass of cooler or warmer air settling in. There may be warming effects because of upper layer Ozone depletion, but that is a long term situation. Hoping this helps. Peter E. Hughes, Ph.D. Milford, NH You have asked a fairly complex question, but a very relevant one. Most weather systems and events originate in the lowest layer of the called the Troposphere. However, coupling between the different layers of the atmosphere does occur, thereby involving layers above the Troposphere in what happens weather-wise near the Earth's surface. Some examples include: 1) Thunderstorms begin and grow in the Troposphere, but can become so tall that they "overshoot" into the Stratosphere above, where they can actually grow taller more quickly and where the conditions for producing hail and are enhanced. Atmospheric instability conditions that can make it ripe for thunderstorms to begin and develop, either in a squall line ahead of a cold front or in a cold front, can occur at the Tropopause (separation between the Troposphere and Stratosphere), thus involving two layers of the atmosphere. 2) Cirrus clouds can form in the Stratosphere, thereby reducing the solar radiation reaching Earth, affecting the temperature and temperature the Troposphere, and thus affecting what kind of weather can develop in the 3) Certain chemicals that are destructive to ozone become trapped in layers of the atmosphere (Stratosphere and above) for long periods of time, particularly above Antarctica, destroying ozone and thus allowing harmful ultraviolet wavelengths of light to reach the Earth. I am sure that we could find many other examples, but these give you an idea of how different layers of the atmosphere affect each other and us weather-wise. David R. Cook Climate Research Section Environmental Science Division Argonne National Laboratory Click here to return to the Weather Archives Update: November 2011
\|Part of a series of articles on History and traditions In Christianity, an archbishop is an elevated bishop. The word comes from the Greek αρχι (archi), which means "first" or "chief," and επισκοπος (episcopos), which means "overseer" or "supervisor." While the bishops under his jurisdiction must follow the archbishop's orders on matters of church discipline, an archbishop is not superior to a bishop in sacred matters. Thus, when someone who is already a bishop becomes an archbishop, that person does not receive new Holy Orders or any other sacrament. However a person can become an archbishop without first being a bishop, in which case he must be ordained a bishop before being created an archbishop and installed. Traditionally, an archbishop leads an ecclesiastical province or a diocese of particular importance called an archdiocese. In ancient times until the Renaissance and beyond in some jurisdictions, the office of archbishop often involved substantial political power as well as spiritual authority. It was second in ecclesiastical prestige only to that of "patriarch," signifying an archbishop of one of the most important cities of the ancient Christian world, such as Rome, Antioch, Jerusalem, Alexandria, or Constantinople. The office of archbishop today exists primarily in the ancient Christian churches such as the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and similar traditions, as well as the Anglican Church. Only a few, usually small, other Protestant denominations also have archbishops. In the early Christian church, the office of bishop emerged from an increasing need for supervision, direction, and the resolution of disputes, both theological and ecclesiastical. In the earliest letters of Saint Paul, the offices of apostles, prophets, and teachers seem to have been the most important. Early sources also refer to elders and occasionally "overseers" (episcopi), although scholars dispute whether the authentic Pauline letters actually refer to the office we know today as bishop. The Book of Acts, however, indicates that James, the brother of Jesus, held central authority to resolve disputes at Jerusalem; and tradition holds that Saint Peter became the first bishop of Rome. By the early second century, bishops were clearly present in several Christian churches, although it is not certain that they ruled their churches singly. Indeed, there is evidence that in some cases these "overseers" acted as a board of elders, making their office similar to that of the presbyters. By the later second century the so-called "monarchical episcopacy" had begun to emerge in the "orthodox" churches as the bulwark of correct teaching authority against the threat of "heresy." On the other hand, many of the most important heresies of succeeding centuries were led by bishops of the most important cities of Christianity. The emergence of archbishops Meanwhile, the number of bishops had also multiplied. Country bishops—known as chorespicopi—were notorious for their lack of education and sophistication, and for their vulnerability to theological notions deemed heretical by their more sophisticated counterparts in the cities. The bishops of great cities naturally came to hold greater prestige and authority than their country brethren. To these were given the title of metropolitan bishop, and later "archbishop." The title of pope once belonged to several metropolitan bishops at once, being synonymous with that of patriarch. It is difficult to determine an exact date when archbishops, as we now use the term, were first appointed. Metropolitans were mentioned in the resolutions of the Council of Nicaea (325 C.E.) and by the Council of Antioch (341), which reads: "The bishops of every province must be aware that the bishop presiding in the metropolis has charge of the whole province." However, in this period the concept of metropolitan bishop was not carefully defined. For example, it was applied both to bishops of provincial capitals and to those who are now called "patriarch" and "pope." The precise term "archbishop" itself did not occur in its present meaning before the sixth century, although the office described by the term was already in evidence a century earlier. Archbishops soon became important figures in Eastern churches and would play a key role in the history of the Roman Catholic Church in its efforts to realize an effective administrative structure in far-flung provinces in "barbarian" Europe. The area of an archbishop's jurisdiction is termed an ecclesiastical province. Such jurisdictions first assumed a fixed form in the Eastern Roman Empire shortly after Christianity became the favored religion of the emperors in the fourth century C.E. The more important centers (Antioch for Syria, Ephesus for the Roman province of Asia, Alexandria for Egypt, and Rome for Italy) were regarded as the mother-churches of the newly-founded Christian communities. Earlier, from the second half of the second century, the bishops of various territories had been accustomed to assemble on important occasions for common counsel in synods. From the early third century onward, these increasingly important synods were usually called by the bishop of the capital of the state province, who normally also presided over the assembly, especially in the East. Important communications were also forwarded to the bishop of the provincial capital, whose greater staff and resources allowed him to coordinate communications with the other bishops. Thus in the East during the third century, the bishop of the provincial metropolis came gradually to occupy a certain superior position. At the Council of Nicea (325) this position of the metropolitan bishop was already taken for granted. In eastern canon law since the fourth century, each civil province was also a church province under the direction of the metropolitan—the bishop of the provincial capital. This division into ecclesiastical provinces did not develop so early in the West. In North Africa, the first metropolitan bishop appears during the later fourth century, the bishop of Carthage being recognized as primate of the dioceses of Northern Africa. After this, metropolitans of the various provinces gradually appear in the record. However, the boundaries of these ecclesiastical provinces did not coincide with the divisions of the empire. A similar development can be discerned in Spain, Gaul, and Italy. The migration of the "barabarian" nations, however, prevented a stable formation of ecclesiastical provinces in the West as in the East. In the West, it was only after the fifth century that ecclesiastical provinces gradually developed in accordance with the ancient divisions of the Roman Empire. In Italy, this development was even slower. Disputes often arose regarding the delimitation of church provinces, both between local bishops and between the papacy and the eastern patriarchs, especially the patriarchy of Constantinople, the seat of the imperial throne. Archbishops became important agents of the pope in resolving disputes between Rome and the western provinces, and archbishops thus became papal vicars entitled to wear the pallium, previously reserved to the pope. By around 600 C.E. the existence of church provinces as the basis of ecclesiastical administration was fairly universal in the West, as well as in the East. In the Carolvingian period, these provinces were reorganized in accordance with the realities of that present age, and have retained their place until now. In western Christianity, an archbishop is entitled several privileges that a simple bishop does not receive. First, an archbishop's coat of arms looks different. Roman Catholic archbishops are allowed ten tassels a side on their coat of arms, while a bishop only receives six. In addition, an archbishop can also place an archiepiscopal cross (two bars instead of one) behind his shield. In the Catholic Church such a cross used to be carried immediately before archbishops in liturgical processions, but this is not always the case today. In the Anglican Communion an archiepiscopal or primatial cross is carried before an archbishop in procession. Also in liturgical protocol, archbishops precede simple bishops. Catholic archbishops dress and are referred to in the same manner as a normal bishop. Exceptions occur in the Anglican Communion, where an archbishop is styled The Most Reverend while a simple bishop is styled The Right Reverend. Today, most western archbishops are called so because they are in charge of an archdiocese, a diocese of particular importance. This importance is usually due to the archdiocese being the metropolitan see (episcopal domain) of the ecclesiastical province in which the see is located. These metropolitan archbishops, in addition to the usual ceremonial privileges of archbishops, hold the responsibilities of a metropolitan bishop over the diocesan and auxiliary bishops within a metropolitan's province. Only archbishops are privileged to wear the pallium, an ecclesiastical stole originally reserved to the pope alone. If an archdiocese is particularly significant, the archbishop may become a cardinal. Sometimes, a diocese is an archdiocese because of its history or size and not because of its jurisdictional importance. Their archbishops, while retaining the ceremonial privileges of archbishops, act as normal residential bishops and usually are subject to another metropolitan bishop. Most of these non-metropolitan archdioceses are located in Europe, a few examples being the Archdiocese of Strasbourg, which is not in any ecclesiastical province, and the Archdiocese of Avignon, whose archbishop is under the authority of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Marseilles. A residential archbishop who resigns his see and does not take up another one retains the title Archbishop Emeritus of the last see he occupied before his resignation. This occurs when an archbishop retires or is transferred to some other non-diocesan office, such as the Roman Curia. This recent canonical innovation was instituted to conserve titular sees for active auxiliary bishops and members of the Roman Curia who have not had a diocesan appointment yet. In the past, the pope would normally bestow a titular see on every retired bishop and every bishop who transferred to the Curia. Finally, some archbishops hold their privileges ad personam. This means that the archiepiscopal dignity is conferred on them alone and not to their diocese. The primates of the Anglican Communion are this kind of archbishop, since they only hold archiepiscopal rights for the duration of their presidency. In the ad personam archiepiscopal privileges usually endure perpetually. In the Eastern churches archbishops and metropolitans are distinct, although a metropolitan may be referred to as metropolitan archbishop. While Orthodox priests are generally not required to be celibate, from about the sixth century, it has been the rule in the Orthodox churches that bishops and archbishops must be single men or widowers. They are normally drawn from the Orthodox monastic orders rather than the regular clergy. In the Slavonic and Antiochian traditions, a metropolitan outranks an archbishop. The reverse is true in the Greek tradition. The Oriental Orthodox generally follow the pattern of the Slavic Orthodox with respect to the archbishop/metropolitan distinction. The change in the Greek tradition came about relatively late in Greek Orthodox history, because the diocesan bishops of ancient sees were still called "metropolitans," even though their churches had diminished in importance, for example in lands occupied by the Muslims. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America is the notable exception in the Greek practice, with its diocesan bishops still carrying the title of metropolitan. Archbishops in other traditions A number of smaller denominations also use the term "archbishop," usually as a term of honor designating the person of highest authority in that tradition. - Cunningham, Agnes. The Bishop in the Church: Patristic Texts on the Role of the Episkopos. Theology and life series, v. 13. Wilmington, Del: M. Glazier, 1985. ISBN 9780894534690 - Kaufman, Peter Iver. Church, Book, and Bishop: Conflict and Authority in Early Latin Christianity. Boulder, Colo: Westview Press, 1996. ISBN 9780813318172 - Long, Edward Le Roy. Patterns of Polity: Varieties of Church Governance. Cleveland, Ohio: Pilgrim Press, 2001. ISBN 9780829814446 - Moore, Peter Clement. Bishops, but What Kind?: Reflections on Episcopacy. London: SPCK, 1982. ISBN 9780281038602 (Found at Worldcat.org - Rahner, Karl, and Benedict.The Episcopate and the Primacy. Quaestiones disputatae, 4. New York: Herder and Herder, 1962. OCLC 655670 New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here: Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.
The collapse of a huge ice shelf in Antarctica in 2002 has no precedent in the past 11,000 years, a study that points the finger at global warming says. Measuring some 3,250 square kilometres in area and 220 metres thick, the Larsen B iceshelf broke away from the eastern Antarctic Peninsula in 2002, eventually disintegrating into giant icebergs. Ice cores taken before the collapse contain the remains of plankton and algae embedded in layers of minerals layered over millions of years, providing clues about ice cover and climate change over the millennia. Ice Shelf Thinned The researchers, reporting in the British science weekly Nature, say since the end of the last Ice Age, some 11,000 years ago, the ice shelf had been intact but had slowly thinned, by several dozen meters. Its coup de grace came from a recent but decades-long rise in air temperature, they say. "The modern collapse of the Larsen B ice shelf is a unique event within the Holocene," they write. "The Larsen B Ice shelf eventually thinned to the point where it succumbed to the prolonged period of regional warming now affecting the entire Antarctic Peninsula region." The Holocene is the period of relatively balmy weather that followed the last Ice Age. The research is the latest in a series of studies to sound the alarm about the effects of climate change in Antarctica, where the bulk of the world’s freshwater is locked up. The Antarctic Peninsula, which juts northwards out of West Antarctica, is considered a warming hot-spot. Over the past half century, temperatures in the peninsula have risen by around two degrees Celsius. In recent years, the peninsula has lost ice shelves totalling more than 12,500 square kilometres, equivalent to four times the area of Luxembourg. Of the 244 glaciers that drain inland ice and feed these shelves, 87 per cent have fallen back since the mid-1950s, a British study published in April says. For the first time ever in Glasgow, Montana, temperatures remained above zero degrees Fahrenheit (17.8C) in December. The average temperatures was 10.9 degrees Fahrenheit (6C) above normal. All across North America, an unprecedented autumn heat wave from mid-November to early December broke or tied more than 700 daily-high temperature records from the Rockies to the East Coast. Temperatures rose into the 70F (20C) as far north as South Dakota and Maine.
Aerosol Optical Thickness (1 month - Aqua/MODIS) About this dataset Tiny solid and liquid particles suspended in the atmosphere are called aerosols. Examples of aerosols include windblown dust, sea salts, volcanic ash, smoke from fires, and pollution from factories. These particles are important to scientists because they can affect climate, weather, and people's health. Aerosols affect climate by scattering sunlight back into space and cooling the surface. Aerosols also help cool Earth in another way -- they act like "seeds" to help form clouds. The particles give water droplets something to cling to as the droplets form and gather in the air to make clouds. Clouds give shade to the surface by reflecting sunlight back into space. People's health is affected when they breathe in smoke or pollution particles. Such aerosols in our lungs can cause asthma or cancer of other serious health problems. But scientists do not fully understand all of the ways that aerosols affect Earth's environment. To help them in their studies, scientists use satellites to map where there were large amounts of aerosol on a given day, or over a span of days. What do the colors mean? In the maps shown here, dark brown pixels show high aerosol concentrations, while tan pixels show lower concentrations, and light yellow areas show little or no aerosols. Black shows where the sensor could not make its measurement. ATBD (Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document) Imagery by Reto Stockli, NASA's Earth Observatory, using data provided by the MODIS Atmosphere Science Team, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Federal Geographic Data Committee Geospatial Metadata View the FGDC Metatdata for Aerosol Optical Thickness (1 month - Aqua/MODIS)
Author: Sarah Kearns Editors: David Mertz, Zulierys Santana-Rodriguez, and Scott Barolo Proteins do most of the work in your body: Depending on their shape, they can digest your food, fire your neurons, give color to your eyes and allow you to see colors. Proteins follow instructions encoded in your DNA to fold into their shape, but how do they “know” what shape to fold into to perform their biological functions? What happens when they fold incorrectly? Structure Defines Function In every biological system, including the human body, proteins promote crucial chemical reactions to keep cells alive, such as breaking down food into energy or building the scaffold that supports the structure of the cell. Proteins are chains of amino acids, which are small molecules made of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, phosphorous and sometimes sulfur atoms. Each of the 20 amino acids that make up proteins has a unique side group that gives it a specific chemical property, such as hydrophobic, polar, acidic, or basic. When a new protein is produced, RNA, a blueprint for proteins, instructs the ribosome to assemble amino acids in the proper order. As a sequence of amino acids comes off of the ribosome, it doesn’t stay in a long line, but instead folds into a compact blob. This shape is important because the protein’s function is defined by its structure. For example, the protein amylase, which breaks down starches into simple sugars, and the protein hemoglobin, which carries oxygen in the blood, look very different (see Figure 1). Within the amylase, complex chains of sugars called starches can weave between the red and blue domains of the protein. Amino acids surrounding the starch chemically cleave bonds to yield individual sugars. Hemoglobin, on the other hand, has inorganic groups, called hemes, where oxygen can bind. This allows hemoglobin to transport oxygen throughout the body. Without their particular structures, neither amylase nor hemoglobin can function – which means no breakdown of food and no oxygen transportation. Folding into Formation If you were to throw a string of pearls onto the ground, there is an infinite number of ways that it could land. For amino acids in a protein, this is not the case because different shapes require different amounts of energy to maintain. Chemical and physical forces push, pull, and fold each protein chain into its correct shape. Some physical properties within a protein that contribute to this energy stabilization are hydrogen bonds, ion salt pairings, and hydrophobic interactions. Hydrogen bonds and ion salt pairings are examples of interactions between atoms. Hydrogen bonds between amino acids form the most common structural features found in proteins (see Figure 2). Ion salt pairings occur between charged side chains of amino acids, groups of atoms that branch off the protein backbone, sort of like how a sodium ion (Na+) pairs with a chlorine ion (Cl-) to make salt (NaCl). But relative to hydrophobic interactions, the tendency of nonpolar molecules to be repulsed by water, the atom-atom interactions above are very weak. Hydrophobic collapse, which is caused by a protein’s interaction with water, stabilizes protein structures by pushing hydrophobic side chains toward the center of the protein (Figure 3). Even though these forces are very important in defining structure and stability, protein structures are not static. In fact, they must be able to move quite a bit to perform their chemical functions. As a protein chain is being constructed on the ribosome, it could have a multitude of possible conformations as ion pairs can form and break. There is also a possibility that the final protein shape might change from the intermediate folds because a hydrophobic collapse may not occur until the protein chain is completed. When the chain grows, not only are there more possibilities for interactions, but also the possibilities of stronger interactions that ensure the correct structure increase. The measure of a ”correct” protein structure is described in terms of minimized energy since the structure with lower energy is more stable. Graphs that show this minimization of energy are called energy diagrams. They plot energy levels against the possible folds, determining how much energy it takes for the protein to achieve each conformation (Figure 4). Each time a protein folds into a more thermodynamically favored shape, the number of subsequently possible folds decreases, funneling the protein towards its lowest-energy, properly folded state. How Protein Misfolding Can Be Dangerous Misfolded proteins cause some diseases, like sickle cell anemia. In sickle cell anemia, a mutation in one of the amino acids in hemoglobin causes the entire protein to fold into a “sickle” instead of the ring shape of Figure 1, thus causing tissue damage and reduction in blood flow. Protein misfolds prevent important biological functions such as proper scaffolding, growth, and removal of waste. As a result, neuron growth is hampered, and toxins in the body are increased. Typically, misfolded proteins are not in the most stable form and are instead partially-folded intermediates that are trapped in “the valleys” of the energy diagram. However, certain misfolded proteins can form very stable aggregates, called plaques, which are difficult to break up. That’s the case in some neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s (AD), Parkinson’s (PD), and Huntington’s Diseases (HD). These misfolded aggregates – of beta-amyloid protein in AD, alpha-synuclein in PD, and huntingtin in HD – can form plaques that kill neurons in the brain. How such accumulation leads to cell death is a mystery, but there’s evidence associating plaques with neurodegenerative diseases, diseases from brain trauma, and even diabetes. Answers to questions about protein folding and plaque formation are being investigated using computer simulations because they are too complicated for wet lab techniques. Be sure to check out part two (coming soon) to see how games are helping to provide answers to the tricky questions about protein folding! About the author Read all posts by Sarah here. Figure 1: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Salivary_alpha-amylase_1SMD.png (left) and https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Blood#/media/File:1GZX_Haemoglobin.png (right) Figure 2: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Figure_03_04_07.jpg Figure 3: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cartoon_of_protein_hydrophobic_interaction.jpg Figure 4: Sarah Kearns
Between 1642 and 1646 england was torn apart by a bloody civil war shortly before the war broke out, partisans of both sides began to. In my opinion, civil war did not break out due to king charles i i think that the events he claimed that these changes were to improve the church of england. The term english civil war (or wars) refers to the series of armed the first ( 1642-1645) and the second (1648-1649) civil wars pitted the war broke out less than forty years after the death of the popular elizabeth i in 1603 own, led to a serious break between charles and his english parliament, and. The english civil war (1642–1651) was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations the english civil war broke out less than forty years after the death of queen elizabeth i in 1603 without parliament's support, charles attacked scotland again, breaking the truce at berwick, and suffered a comprehensive. Then, in 1637, charles made a mistake which triggered of a chain of events leading to civil war as well as being king of england, charles i was also king of . Of england of the several grievances and oppressions they s tain, and nothing as localism in the 1630s or in 1640 leads naturally into neutralism in 1642 civil war certainly did not grow out of a gradual and inexorable collapse in the 57 eg l schwoerer, 'the fittest subject for a king's quarrel: an essay on the. The causes of the english civil war, from the edited h2g2, the one of the reasons why the civil war broke out in england in 1642 was because of charles' lack of charles called a parliament to try and get taxes to fight the. The english civil war broke out in 1642 between king charles ii and parliament in the following essay i will state some of the most important factors of how the. The monarch's income was paid out of customs duties and when a new king or queen came to the throne parliament voted for their income to be paid for life. 1640-1642 opening of pendents-breaking out of the second civil war-fairfax's campaign in the east revolution, in surpassing, did not make that of england less great in these first essays of constitutional rule failed. The english civil war, this period was otherwise known as the english in this essay i am aiming to achieve the conclusion of why the civil war broke the war between parliament and royalty broke out in 1642 and ended in. The english civil war began in 1642, and was fought between supporters of civil war time line 1639 1640 1642 1642 1644 1646 war breaks out in. A study of the english civil wars in the seventeenth century will enable us to a great theory of natural law and of the natural rights of man was worked out by grotius that the break was so violent, as compared with the struggle between the after the first civil war (1642-1646), the liberals, who in england were the . Why did civil war break out in england in 1642 modern historians still argue upon the causes of the english revolution (the english civil war) the people, in . And other possessions in my opinion, civil war did not break out due to king charles i i essay on why civil war broke out in england in 1642 - in 1642, king. [APSNIP--] [APSNIP--]
There are two different types of rainforests. One is the tropical rainforest and the other is the temperate rainforest. Rainforests are found in 15 countries. Rainforests are found near the equator where the temperature stays above 80 degrees farenheit. These dense, damp forests occur in Latin and South America, Africa, and in Southeast Asia. Even though these forests only cover 7% of the Earths surface, the rainforest accounts for 50-90% of its animal and plant life. Tropical rainforests are the oldest of the rainforests. The Tropical Rainforests have three layers: the forest floor, the understory, and the canopy. The forest floor has very poor soil. Mainly bugs live on this layer, but larger animals such as jaguars and gorillas live there. Smaller animals live in the understory, such as anteaters, lemurs, and tree kangaroos. In the understory you will also find small trees and shrubery. The canopy is made up of the tops of the trees which can stand 200 feet in some places. Many birds, monkeys, apes, snakes, and other animals also live in this layer. Temperate rainforests are located along the Pacific coast of Canada and the United States, and are also found in New Zealand, Tasmania, Chile, Ireland, as well as Scotland and Norway. These rainforests are much more scarce than the tropical rainforests. The Temperate rainforest is the youngest of the rainfoersts, they tend to be less than 10,000 years old. The soil in the Temperate rainforest is much more nutrient based than that of the tropical rainforests. Rainforests are very important for us to protect. This is one of the only areas where trees can grow to amazing heights. There are over 180 different types of trees in these rainforests. These trees are quickly being cut down because the rainforest houses valuable woods like mahoganies, teaks, rosewoods and okoumes. These woods are very valuabe to wood companies. These trees also offer other valuable materials like nuts, fruits, rubber and rattans. It is very important for us to keep these rainforests the way they are. In these rainforests we also find a very large number of animal species. These different species have adapted hemselves to this particular biome. Scientists have noticed that most of the species have a green or brown coloring. These colors help the animals blend in with their surroundings. One of the best creatures we see this with is the chameleon. The chameleon changes its body color to whatever it is standing on or next to. This is not the only creature that has adapted but it is one of the best examples that alot of people click on the animals of the rainforest below to learn more: Information provided by:
Chad Orzel's young son recently read the classic children's book Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. He asked his father how long it took the rabbit to say goodnight to everything. Orzel ran some calculations based upon the movements of the moon (pictured above) over the course of the story: So, how can we use this to measure the passage of time? Well, we know that the full moon in the sky covers an angle of about half a degree of arc. On our big copy of the book, the diameter of the moon in the final illustration is just about 7/8" (I only have an English-unit tape measure here), while the distance from the corner of the window to the outer edge of the moon is 2 and 5/8", exactly three times the diameter. So the moon has moved through about 1.5 degrees in the course of the story. Now, the Earth rotates through 360 degrees in just about 24 hours, which is 15 degrees per hour (the Moon's motion is slightly slower, owing to its orbital motion, but it's not a significant difference for our purposes). This suggests that the bunny's goodnight ritual takes about 0.1 hour, or six minutes. Link via Geekosystem Previously on Neatorama: Goodnight Keith Moon Goodnight Forest Moon We hope you like this article! Please help us grow by sharing:
Plotting expressions is important to visualize data, relationships between variables, and perform analysis. Mathcad plotting allows visualization of variable values, functions, and data points. Included in this demonstration is common calculus techniques such as symbolic or analytic solutions to differentiation or integration. Use the following worksheet to step through example problems related to using trending capabilities and calculus analysis in a Mathcad worksheet. - Mathcad Plotting and Calculus Worksheet (xmcd) - Mathcad Plotting and Calculus Worksheet (pdf) - Mathcad Plotting and Calculus Worksheet Solution (pdf) comments powered by Disqus
Causes – Epilepsy 101 There are many causes of epilepsy: - Injury to the brain before, during or after birth, such as: - Developmental defects of the brain - Perinatal brain injury due to bleeding or lack of oxygen - Traumatic injury of the brain later in life - Genetic defects - Degenerative disorders that affect the brain - Metabolic and chemical disorders - Infections of the nervous system - Brain tumors and clots - Toxic reactions to drugs and other substances Some of the potential causes of damaged brain cells – and therefore epilepsy – can be prevented through good health care practices, highway safety, and recreational safety. For example, as a result of automobile accidents alone, 540,000 Americans suffered from head injuries each year. Almost 20,000 of them will develop persistent epileptic seizures as a result. Thus, prevention of epilepsy focuses on avoiding head injuries and brain damage by observing these simple points: - Minimize risks in recreational activities (wear protective headgear for bicycling, skateboarding, football, baseball; play it safe when diving or climbing). - Drive all vehicles safely (use seatbelts, observe speed limits, wear helmets where appropriate).
Beyond Black History Month Go beyond approaches that marginalize African American history by "shifting the lens" to look at events from new perspectives. Black History Month can be a wonderful celebration of the contributions that African Americans have made to American history and culture. All too often, however, those contributions are heralded in February but seldom mentioned throughout the rest of the year. Ideally, every month’s history curriculum should include those contributions, but how do you integrate African American history into the curriculum on a regular basis? The usual strategies Curriculum developers, textbook writers, and educators try to work the African American experience into their U.S. History materials, but the ways that they do so (especially in older texts) can fall far short of full integration. Typically, older courses and textbooks fall into one of three broad approaches: "Big Moments in African American History," "Great Men and Women in African American History," or "Add African Americans and Stir." A more effective way to integrate the history of African Americans — and, in fact, of all Americans — into the curriculum is to teach various topics from their perspective. This shifts the focus of history toward ordinary Americans of various backgrounds and away from the powerful groups (typically, wealthy white men) that tend to dominate stories of the American past — and it makes history more relevant and interesting to all students. Great Moments in African American History Most books cover times of great crisis and change for African Americans — slavery, Reconstruction, and the Civil Rights movement — but they often fail to fully cover what happened in the lives of African Americans in between those watershed events. This version of history would lead one to believe that the story of African American history begins with Harriet Tubman, proceeds through the Civil War, pauses briefly to mention the Harlem Renaissance or the Tuskeegee Airmen, and then travels directly to Rosa Parks’ refusal to get off the bus in Montgomery, Ala. But what, for example, was life like for African Americans in the 1890s, and how did it vary by region? How did black communities sustain themselves during the Great Depression? Where were African Americans during the conservative revolution of the 1980s? The "great moments in African American history" approach leaves these questions largely unanswered. In addition, this approach seems to discuss African Americans only when it is absolutely unavoidable — one can’t talk about Civil Rights without talking about the black experience, so it appears in that chapter, but does the African American perspective also show up in sections on industrialization or Vietnam? Great Men and Women in African American History Sometimes textbooks focus on individual African Americans who have made a difference in U.S. history. This individualized model may tell the stories of politicians, military officials, business leaders, inventors, or famous entertainers, discussing the contributions of these individuals to the broader culture. While this approach certainly emphasizes the significant historical contributions made by African Americans, it is only as useful as the criteria used to select the featured individuals. Sometimes this model has the same problems as the "great moments" model — students learn about a few key events and their leaders, but little about the rest of African American history. And too often, the individuals singled out are only those whose actions are acceptable to people in power (typically, wealthy white men). If a textbook or course excludes movements, individuals, and groups that challenged the dominant culture, it may present a view of African American history that remains centered on the beliefs and values of white America. The students may learn about George Washington Carver but never hear about Stokely Carmichael or Gil Scott-Heron. Like all historical approaches that center on the lives of "great men" or "great women," this approach provides a view of history from the top down. Individuals with power, wealth, or authority receive a great deal of attention, while the experiences, contributions, and beliefs of the vast majority of Americans are virtually ignored. Such a view of American history can alienate students, giving them a sense that history is not about "people like me" and is not relevant to their own lives. Add African Americans and Stir Still other textbooks include African American history sporadically throughout the book, offering insight into black history and culture only as asides. For example, a book may discuss the American Revolution in great detail and then include a paragraph or two about what African Americans or women thought about the conflict. This "add minorities and women and stir" model gives the impression that the real story of an event in the past centers on whites, men, and political, military, or economic leaders; it relegates minorities and women to the sidelines. By separating out the experiences of women and African Americans, such a view of history marginalizes those experiences and sends the message that the actions and views of those groups are peripheral, not central, to the American past. While these three models are broad generalizations (one hopes that no modern classes only deal with African American history in these ways), they still appear in a good many textbooks and classrooms. As we work to integrate African American history into the curriculum, we would do well to avoid these models, as all three share some common problems. First, including African Americans in any of these three ways never fundamentally shifts the assumptions about what is important in American history. What is "really important" to cover remains the same in each case — the actions, ideas, and experiences of the white men in power — and the African American experience is presented only when it is absolutely unavoidable (the Civil Rights Movement), when an African American did something like what those white men did (George Washington Carver), or when the authors of a textbook feel that they need to "say something" about black history for political reasons (the "add and stir" approach). By separating out the African American experience from the broader narrative of American history, these approaches can serve to marginalize that experience and make it seem less important than other stories that receive more consistent attention. And all of these approaches provide the impression that there were two worlds in much of American history — one white, one black — when, in reality, the lives of whites and blacks, though sometimes in conflict and often unbalanced in terms of power, were deeply intertwined and interconnected But if you’re not going approach black history in one of these three ways, how can you approach it? I would argue that the most powerful way of integrating African American history is to shift the focus of some class topics away from the dominant culture and the powerful white male individuals that are at the center of many historical studies and toward the perspective of other kinds of Americans. For example, select a topic that you need to cover in your social studies course and ask yourself, "How do I currently introduce this topic to my students?" Consider critically the example, story, or perspective that you start with. What does this "first taste" assume to be central to the story? Whose perspective does it reflect most accurately? And is there a way to reframe the discussion — to "refocus the lens" — so as to start from an unusual perspective? For example, when I thought about how to introduce the topic of Reconstruction to my United States history students at the university level, I consulted several texts for ideas. The textbooks I found usually started their discussion with the devastation caused by the war, the political challenges posed by the war’s end, or the "problem" of what to do with newly freed slaves. I became frustrated that none of these perspectives really took the African American view as central. While many books eventually reached a discussion of the joys of African American freedom, few started with the perspective of the previously enslaved people who were most dramatically affected by the war. In previous classes, I had noticed that students seldom seemed to deeply grasp what freedom meant and what challenges freed African Americans faced in the weeks, months, and years that followed the Confederate surrender. I ultimately chose to abandon all of the approaches I saw in the texts and open my in-class discussion by sharing a story that I uncovered during my research in the American Missionary Association Papers. The document I found described a parade of children, some 500 strong, marching down the streets of Savannah, Ga., in January of 1865, just a few weeks after General Sherman had come through with his troops. An American Missionary Association official observed that the "army of colored children moving through the streets seemed to excite feeling and interest second only to that of Sherman’s Army. Such a gathering of Freedmen’s sons and daughters that proud city had never seen before! Many of the people rushed to the doors and windows of their houses wondering what these things could mean. This they were told, is the onward march of freedom."1 The children were headed for a former slave market that had been converted into a school by missionary teachers from the North. As one observer noted, "these halls in which the poor slave mother has often groaned in the anguish of her soul as she has seen her darling babes one after another torn from her embrace and sold from her sight — are now resounding with the merry shouts of happy school children."2 I described this scene to my students, using passages from the original documents, and I asked my students to imagine themselves as the parents of some of those children and to write down the thoughts, hopes, and fears that they might have had in a 5–10 minute free-writing exercise. The change in the students’ interest level and enthusiasm for the topic compared to previous years’ classes was extraordinary. Their writing expressed exhilaration at freedom, fears that whites would find a way to re-enslave African Americans, deep desires for educational and economic opportunity, and bittersweet satisfaction that the old slave market was now being used to educate black children instead of condemning them to a life of servitude. Students embraced this perspective in ways that I had never seen when introducing the "standard" version of the story as described in the textbooks. Instead of serving as an aside, the perspectives of everyday black parents and children were the central focus of our class discussions of Reconstruction from that point forward. In the coming days, we explored other aspects of Reconstruction — the battles between Congress and the president, the perspective of white Southerners, the rise of the Klan, and the ultimate end of the Reconstruction experiment with the election of 1876 — but students kept coming back to the opening story about those schoolchildren and their parents. Whereas in some semesters the election of 1876 seemed just another boring political event to memorize before the midterm, in the semester in which I shifted the focus of Reconstruction toward African Americans, the election became an outrage. Students used terms like "sell-out," "criminal," and "unfair" to describe the federal withdrawal from the South and the rise of Jim Crow. They wondered aloud what happened to the schools set up by the AMA and the Freedmen’s Bureau. They expressed anger that so few politicians considered the impact of their decisions on black Southerners. Having connected to black history in the beginning, they now saw all of Reconstruction through the eyes of black families struggling to retain what they could of their freedom. Their understanding of not only the African American perspective but of all of Reconstruction was much richer for it. Of course, if every discussion starts with the perspective of African Americans, this model becomes no more useful than the old textbooks that begin every topic from the perspective of powerful white men. But "shifting the lens" on particular topics throughout the year — especially topics that are not traditional "black history" topics — can offer your students new ways of seeing the past. You might consider other groups upon whom you could focus your lens, such as women, immigrants, children, or farmers. In units that do not begin with an African American perspective, one can include that perspective over time by seeking out diverse examples of key themes and ideas. Students learn wonderfully well from examples of everyday individuals in oral history narratives, personal accounts, photographs, and other "real life" sources. The examples that instructors provide to illustrate key themes and ideas in American history will provide the groundwork for students’ understanding of what constitutes "real" history. When the textbook uses example after example of Depression-era poverty among whites to demonstrate the depths of the economic crisis, and then has a subheading titled "Minorities and the New Deal" at the end of the chapter (the "add and stir" approach), it should come as little surprise that students come to understand the white experience as the "normal" Depression-era experience and the black experience as peripheral to the subject and therefore far less important.3 Simply by introducing examples of African American life earlier in the lesson, alongside the core of the subject matter instead of in a separate marginal section, teachers can change the way students view the examples. When you use some examples from minority groups to teach the key ideas that you want to convey in American history, the history of those minority groups becomes a central part of the curriculum and not simply window-dressing at the end of the chapter. To find these examples, teachers frequently have to go beyond traditional sources of information. After all, part of the problem we’re addressing here is the lack of good African American history in those sources. Fortunately, the World Wide Web is becoming a treasure chest for such research. Many libraries are placing first-hand accounts on the Web that allow teachers and students to read about slavery from the point of view of slaves and not plantation owners, to explore World War I through the letters of African American G.I.s, to view photographs of African American share-croppers during the Great Depression and more. The paucity of source material on African American history (and, indeed, on the history of a variety of groups, from the poor to women to immigrants) can provide, in and of itself, a useful learning experience for your students. A conversation about why it might be hard to find out about the lives of freedmen in the years following Reconstruction could allow for creative problem solving and interesting historical thinking. It might also lead to a broader understanding of how history is "made" through the choices, inclusions, and omissions of archivists, librarians, census-takers, photographers, newspaper editors, interviewers, and so on. Ultimately, whatever sources we can find from the imperfect information available to us can enrich our students’ understanding of the past by refocusing the historical lens in creative and inclusive ways. By teaching at least some lessons through the vantage point of a minority group or some other seldom-heard voice, we can radically change the nature of American history. It becomes, in this model, not just a story about the wealthy, powerful, and dominant, but a story to which all Americans can relate. It becomes a story in which every child in the class can recognize someone "like me." And it becomes a story that is truly inclusive, allowing many groups to be at center stage instead of watching from the wings as the Lincolns, Carnegies, and Eisenhowers bask in the spotlight. And, most importantly, it becomes a story that more truly reflects the realities of the American past — a past in which the vast majority of Americans have not been wealthy, have not been individually acclaimed, and have wielded comparatively little power on the national and world stage. These goals help not only African American students but all of us to understand American history in a much richer and more accurate way.
Like short-lived mice, the cells of naked mole rats are suffused with free-floating, cell-damaging oxygen free radicals. Unlike the mice — and every other species that appears compromised by oxidative deterioration, including humans — they've found a way to live with it. "When we compare the lab mouse with the naked mole rat, we find a striking difference in their systems," said study co-author Asish Chaudhuri, a University of Texas Health Science Center biochemist. "Their proteins are still working. Even when damaged, the functions are maintained." The findings, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, represent a new wrinkle in the oxidative-stress theory of aging. According to the theory, mitochondria — cellular machines that produce our bodies' energy — pump out highly reactive oxygen molecules during respiration. Called free radicals, these molecules bind easily with other molecules, including DNA. Over time, DNA breaks down, compromising cellular function. Eventually whole tissues and organs no longer function. Multiple studies have found evidence of mitochondrial malfunction in a range of diseases that become more common with age, from heart disease to neurodegeneration to cancer. Drugs designed to rejuvenate mitochondria have shown promise in treating diabetes, and are celebrated as possible therapies for other conditions. Chaudhuri's team's findings don't contradict the role of mitochondria, but expand the theory to include cellular proteins other than DNA. They also explain a condundrum: some long-lived species display plenty of oxidative damage. "We've studied a dozen species, half short-lived and the others long-lived. One long-lived species would have lots of oxidative damage, and another would have little. The one thing that seemed to be consistent was protein stability," said University of Texas Health Sciences Center gerontologist Steven Austad, who was not involved in the current study. "Until recently I've focused on DNA damage and repair, but this strikes me as even more fundamental. For DNA repair to work, you need all the repair proteins to work properly." Mole rats caught the researchers' attention because they can live for 30 years, or ten times longer than lab mice, even though the two are similarly sized. They found that mole rats do have efficient mitochondria that release fewer free radicals than expected. But their mitochondria aren't perfect. Free radicals still gather and cause damage. Two-year-old mole rats show just as much oxidative stress two-year-old mice — and then live for another quarter-century. The key appears to be their proteins, which continue to function despite damage. Study co-author Rochelle Buffenstein, a University of Texas Health Sciences Center physiologist, likened the phenomena to rusting cars: in other species, the axles rust, but in naked mole rats, it's just the doors. With heat and urea — both of which typically cause complex protein spools to unfold — the researchers tried to break down the proteins, but to no avail. "You can basically hit them with a sledgehammer, and the proteins don't unfold," said Buffenstein. "Something makes them inherently more stable. There might be small molecules that tack on to proteins and help them retain structure in the face of cellular stress."
Gravitational energy is the potential energy held by an object because of its high position compared to a lower position. In other words, it is energy associated with gravity or gravitational force. For example, a pen being held above a table has a higher gravitational potential than a pen sitting on the table. Gravitational potential energy is mechanical energy minus kinetic energy. It has a scalar quantity measured in Joules (J). An object gets gravitational potential energy when it moves uphill. The energy used up when moving up the hill is changed into gravitational potential energy. When the object comes back down again, the gravitational potential energy is turned back into kinetic energy (movement). That is why riding a bike up a steep hill is very hard, but when you are coming back down, you will not need to pedal at all - you are being powered by the gravitational potential energy that you stored when you rode up the hill. Another way gravitational potential energy helps us is by keeping earth and the other planets in orbit in our solar system around the Sun. Formula and exampleEdit The mathematical formula for the gravitational potential energy: Gravitational potential energy = - m is the mass of the object , - g is the gravitational acceleration of the object , and - h is the height above a chosen point. - The value m is in kilograms. - The value h is in metres. - The value g is a physical constant with the value of 9.81 metres per second squared. This is known as the gravitational constant. - The value of the gravitational potential energy that is calculated using values in the above units is called the Joule (J). For example, an object with a mass of 1.5 kilograms that is 2.5 metres above the ground would have a gravitational potential energy value of:
West Hartford Elementary Fine Arts Standards During the elementary years from PreKindergarten to grade 5 the goals and standards of the Visual Arts Department are sequenced to build upon each student’s skills. The National Standards for the Arts (1994) and the National Core Arts Standards (NCAS) (2015) serve as a foundation for instruction and expectation, ensuring implementation of a rigorous and relevant curriculum in the Visual Arts. Student experiences are developmentally appropriate and foster 21st century critical thinking skills. Art teachers will guide students in making meaningful connections between the Visual Arts and their everyday lives. It is the expectation of the Visual Arts Department that every student will demonstrate an understanding of each of the Anchor Standards: • Creating: applying art materials, techniques and processes; use and apply the elements and principles of design to create an art composition. • Connecting: synthesizing and relating knowledge and personal experience to make art; making connections with art and other subjects such as Math, Science and English. • Responding: perceiving and analyzing artistic work; describing, analyzing and evaluating subject matter, symbols and ideas. • Presenting: discussing works of art and being able to make judgments; selecting, analyzing, interpreting artistic work for presentation. Lessons the Arts Teach - The arts teach children that problems can have more than one solution and that questions can have more than one answer. - The arts teach children to make good judgments that do not necessarily depend on rules. - The arts celebrate multiple perspectives so that they may see the world in many ways. - The arts show children to be willing and able to accept the world of possibility in their problem solving. - The arts teach that the limits of language do not define what we know. - The arts teach that small differences can have large effects. - The arts teach students to think and express through use of a material (medium). - The arts enable children to have an experience they can have from no other source. - The arts teach children acceptance and appreciation for a wide variety of cultures, artists and artforms. Adapted from Elliot Eisner’s “10 Lessons the Arts Teach,” NAEA publication. - Colors and Shapes/Piet Mondrian, Grandma Moses/Leo Lionni/Mexican Art - Self Portraits/Mary Cassatt/Henri Rousseau/Eric Carle/ African Art - Figure Drawing/Romare Bearden/Paul Klee/Claude Monet/Japanese Art - Soft Sculpture Fish/Color Theory/Vincent Van Gogh/Henri Matisse/ Alexander Calder/Native American Art - Carousel Horses/Georges Seurat/Georgia O'Keeffe/Optical Art - Pop Art/Surrealism/Andy Warhol/Pablo Picasso/ Rene Magritte
The Reading Like a Historian curriculum engages students in historical inquiry. Each lesson revolves around a central historical question and features a set of primary documents designed for groups of students with a range of reading skills. This curriculum teaches students how to investigate historical questions by employing reading strategies such as sourcing, contextualizing, corroborating, and close reading. Instead of memorizing historical facts, students evaluate the trustworthiness of multiple perspectives on historical issues and learn to make historical claims backed by documentary evidence. To learn more about how to use Reading Like a Historian lessons, watch these videos about how teachers use these materials in their classrooms.
The scientific name of a sponge is Porifera, which means pore-bearing. Porifera. © 2004 Dlloyd What are Sponges? Sponges are the simplest form of multi-cellular animals. They are very diverse and come in a large variety of colours, shapes and structural complexities. They range in heights of 1-200cm and in diameters of 1-150cm. They have partially differentiated tissues, and not true tissues. Sponges don’t have internal organs. They don’t have muscles, a nervous system, or a circulatory system. Their walls are lined with many small pores called ostia that allow water flow into the sponge. The structure of a sponge is simple. One end is attached to a solid such as a rock while the other end, called the osculum, is open to the environment. Sponges are able to get microorganisms such as algae and bacteria for food through openings. Some sponges are carnivorous and use their spicules to capture small crustaceans. What are Sponges Made of? Sponges are made of four simple and independent cells. The first are the collar cells, which line the canals in the interior of the sponge. Flagella are attached to the ends of the cells and they help pump water through the sponge’s body. By pumping water, they help bring oxygen and nutrients to the sponge while also removing waste and carbon dioxide. The second cells are the porocytes, which are cells that make up the pores of the sponge. Epidermal cells form the skin on the outside of the sponge. Finally, the amoebocytes exist between the epidermal and collar cells in an area called the mesohyl. They carry out functions of the sponge and help transport nutrients. They also form spicules, which are the sponge’s skeletal fibers. They work together with the collar cells to digest the food for the sponge and produce gametes for sexual reproduction. What are Some Types of Sponge? There are four different types of sponges from different classes: Calcarea, Hexactinellida, Demospongiae, and Sclerospongiae. They are split into the classes based on the type of spicules they have. For example, spicules may be made of calcium carbonate or a spongin fiber. Where Do Sponges Live? Sponges live in all types of regions all over the region. They are able to thrive in most environments. 99% of all sponges live in marine water, but some sponges made of spongin fiber live in freshwater. Sponges can be attached to surfaces anywhere as deep as 8km in the ocean on the bottom of the ocean floor. There are a higher number of sponge individuals and sponge species in the tropics of all regions because the water is warmer. They like to live in clearer waters over murky waters formed by currents. The murky waters may often clog the pores on the sponges so the sponge cannot get its nutrition and oxygen to survive. What is their Importance to the Ecosystem? Sponges are important in nutrient cycles in coral reef systems. Scientists believe they may be important factors to changes in water quality, whether good or bad. Scientists analyze how fast sponges breathe and the amount of nitrogen they release while doing so. Sponges collect bacteria when they filter the water around them. These bacteria are believed to be able to do many things. First, these bacteria may be able to create forms of nitrogen from the nitrogen gas in the water that may be nutritional for the sponge. They may also be able to turn ammonium from the sponge’s breathing into nitrogen gas that is then released into the atmosphere. This process would lower excess nitrogen levels in coral reefs, also preventing harmful ecosystem changes. Scientists believe that the conversion of nitrogen gas into useful nitrogen is also beneficial to the survival of other organisms in the area. They are hoping to have discovered a pathway for the removal of excess nitrogen from coral reefs. What are Some Adaptations They Have to their Environment? Sponges are strong animals with dense skeletons that are well adapted to their environments. As they may live almost everywhere, they adapt to the regions and surfaces they grow in. Certain sponge species are adapted to freshwater environments. Their skeleton types allow them to live in either hard or soft sediments. Their pores allow them to filter the water around them for food. Inside the sponge, there are flagella that create currents so their collar cells may trap the food. Sponges may have adapted to these feeding habits from a long time ago when food sources may have been scarce. Sponges have strong structures that are able to handle the high volume of water that flows through them each day. By constricting certain of their openings, sponges are able to control the amount of water that flows through them. Scientists believe that sponges are colourful because the colours act as a protection from the sun’s harmful UV rays. Sponges have been around for a very long time. This is because although the world is constantly changing, sponges are still able to respond to these changes through adapting to their environment. Sponges are also able to release toxic substances into the environment around them to make sure they have a good place to grow in. How Do Sponges Reproduce? Sponges may reproduce sexually and asexually. This helps keep them alive in their habitats. Most sponges are both male and female. In sexual reproduction, they may play either role. The ‘male’ sponge would release sperm into the water, which would travel and then enter a ‘female’ sponge. After fertilization in the sponge, a larva is released into the water. It floats around for a few days and then sticks to a solid to begin its growth into an adult sponge. Sponges are also able to reproduce asexually through budding. This is when a small piece of sponge is broken off but is still able to survive and grow into another sponge. Sponges are also able to repair damages to their bodies. These characteristics of sponges are ideal because even small parts of sponges may survive in the water. Diversity is created when different sponges reproduce with other different sponges. Information on the Internet - Phylum Porifera description, structure, reproduction, body type, habitat - The Secret Lives of Sponges - Solving Mysteries on a Coral Reef importance to ecosystem - Sponge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia description, structure, reproduction, body type, taxonomy, pictures - Sponges description, structure, type, reproduction - Sponges - Phylum Poriphora description, structure, feeding, diagrams - Introduction to Porifera structure, type, taxonomy, phylogeny
A few summers ago, Europe experienced a prolonged period of high temperatures that broke many records. By definition, cool season grasses are grass types that thrive in areas with cold winters and relatively hot summers. These grasses grow best when temperatures are between 18 and 27°C. The summer of 2018 saw daytime temperatures consistently reaching 30°C and above in both Northern and Central Europe over a prolonged period. This saw drought-tolerant fine leaved fescue species suffer in a way that is not often seen purely because they are not warm season grasses. Even those areas of Europe where C4 grasses are the desired species, golf course turf suffered from heat stress. Greenkeepers commonly react by implementing a range of strategies to respond to this form of extreme abiotic stress. 2018 was no exception and these included maintaining transpirational cooling with daytime syringe irrigation, raising mowing heights, using solid rollers on cutting units as opposed to the grooved variety, enhancing root growth where possible and moderating any applied nitrogen inputs. It is important to remember that temperature is constantly influencing the quality of sports turf playing surfaces. It can be from springtime temperature fluctuations that see inconsistent growth between species to high temperatures during summer days that impact upon plant health; both lead to a reduction in playing surface quality. As hot summer days are underway in some areas and fast approaching in others, excessive heat can impede the respiration of the plant and reduce turf quality. Heat stress initially causes decreased root growth, followed by slowing of shoot growth, reduced density and eventual cessation of growth with turf becoming a darker blue-green colour. It is important to understand what is happening physiologically to the grass plant as a direct result of heat stress. During periods of high heat, the ability of the plant to regulate stomatal tissue is critical to maintain optimum respiration. Stomatal tissue is regulated by potassium influx. Plants low in potassium will not be able to provide adequate regulation of stomatal tissue. This lack of potassium influx into stomatal tissue will reduce plant respiration, leading to reduced growth and quality. As can be seen from the diagram, plant respiration is the utilisation of sunlight energy combined with carbon, hydrogen, and water to form carbohydrates in a process known as photosynthesis. Once plants have created the basic energy unit as a carbohydrate, the process continues as plants combine mineral elements to form amino acids, proteins, roots and leaves. Plant respiration is driven by the ability of the plant to transpire water from roots up through the plant and out through leaf stomates. Under optimum growing conditions, efficient plant respiration occurs and consequently improved plant health results in more economically viable sports turf surfaces. Under conditions of heat stress, providing the plant with optimum levels of potassium is critical. However, as any experienced turf manager would note, soil uptake of potassium during heat stress is difficult if not impossible. In soils, potassium is often fixed to soil particles and becomes difficult for the plant to take up during respiration. This is particularly true during periods of heat stress when greenkeepers are frequently watering, and the plant is respiring at an accelerated rate. Potassium in the form of a bio-active ion will insure that adequate potassium is provided to the plant. You may ask what a bio-active form of potassium is? It is the combination of potassium with a specific carbon to aid in the uptake and movement of potassium throughout plant tissue. Providing bio-active potassium will prevent soil fixation of potassium and the bioactive organic chemistry will insure optimum movement of potassium throughout the plant and into the stomatal tissue. Utilising bioactive potassium as a spray application will increase the efficiency of applied potassium and increase stomatal conductance helping the plant overcome heat stress during the coming summer days. As we more regularly experience higher temperatures than those which we expect our grasses to tolerate, we need to understand that turf is likely to be suffering from heat stress and needs help to increase respiration. Historically focus has been on reacting to biotic stress. The time has possibly now come for turf managers focus on mitigating abiotic factors such as heat stress. Was the summer of 2018 a one-off or is it a sign of things to come? Spray applications of a bio-active potassium that is available to the plant for uptake and use in order to increase turf quality will be beneficial at this time. Redox TurfRx K+ MicroCrystal is one such product; containing plant-available potassium essential for osmotic regulation and plant-available phosphate, an essential component to maximise respiration.
A survey of childhood blindness in three schools for the blind in Zambia Aim: To assess the causes and distribution of blindness in children in three schools for the blind in Zambia, and to estimate the average cost of primary education per child per year. The results of this study will be used to develop baseline data for planning a nationwide intervention. Methods: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study with a quantitative component, conducted in three schools for the blind in Zambia. The World Health Organization Prevention of Blindness childhood blindness proforma was used to collect data and a questionnaire on cost was developed and administered to the head teachers. The data were recorded in Excel and analysed in the Epi InfoTM statistical software package, version 6. Results: A total of 133 children were examined. The sex distribution was 91 males (68.4%) and 42 females (31.6%), giving a male to female ratio of 2.2:1. The age range was 6-24 years with a mean age of 13.9 years. A total of 64.7% of the children were below 16 years of age. Whereas 1.5% of the children were found to have no visual impairment, the majority (60.9%) were blind. The major anatomical site for visual loss was the retina (30.8%). Oculocutaneous albinism accounted for 68.3% of all visual loss affecting the retina. Hereditary diseases (36.8%) were the most common cause. Measles and vitamin A deficiency combined accounted for 65.2% of all causes due to childhood factors. A total of 60.2% of children were blind from conditions that could have been avoided. Fifty per cent of children changed visual status from blind to severely visually impaired after refraction. Overall, 23.3% of children were recommended for enrolment into mainstream education. The three schools had unique features, which meant there was a wide variation between them in the total yearly cost per pupil. It was therefore not possible to determine a yearly cost per child that could be used as a guide for the whole country. Conclusion: If low vision aids are provided, a significant proportion of visually impaired children can be given the same opportunities and educational experiences as sighted children. Using the key informant method to investigate childhood blindness related to vitamin A deficiency disorder in six rural sub-districts in Bangladesh Aim: This study was undertaken to assess the prevalence, causes, and risk factors of childhood blindness related to vitamin A deficiency disorder (VADD) in six rural sub-districts in Bangladesh. Methods: The study was carried out in rural sub-districts of Kishoreganj during June and July 2006. Risk factors of VADD-related childhood blindness were explored in six rural sub-districts. The key informant method of identifying blind children was used for the study. Key informants are unpaid volunteers from the local community who know their community very well. After receiving training from the field team of the Child Sight Foundation, the key informants had two weeks to identify blind children and motivate parents to bring the child for an eye examination. A cross-sectional study design was used to determine the prevalence and causes of childhood blindness for the Kishoreganj district. A case-control study was carried out to explore the risk factors of VADD-related childhood blindness. Results: Prevalence of childhood blindness in Kishoreganj was found to be 1.03/1,000 children; 32.7% of all children with severe visual impairment/blindness (SVI/BL) had lens disorders leading to blindness. Corneal opacity was the cause of SVI/BL in 23.4% of the study children. Thirty per cent of children were severely visually impaired or blind due to hereditary diseases and 27.1% were severely visually impaired or blind due to childhood factors. Overall, 37.8% children were severely visually impaired or blind due to treatable eye conditions. Illiteracy of mother (odds ratio [OR]=2.45), illiteracy of father (OR=1.74), mother’s disease in pregnancy (OR=3.74), child not receiving vitamin A capsule during diarrhoea (OR=5.01), and child not receiving vitamin A capsule during measles (OR=3.88) appeared as significant risk factors for VADD-related childhood blindness. The following were found to be significant protective factors against vitamin A deficiency in children: child immunised against measles (OR=0.10); colostrum given to child (OR=0.15); child breastfed (OR=0.13); child given dark green leafy vegetables (OR=0.01); child given meat/fish/eggs (OR=0.08); oil/fat used in child’s food (OR=0.14); vitamin A capsule given to child in last year (OR=0.31); vitamin A-rich food eaten during pregnancy (OR=0.02); and antihelminthics given to child (OR=0.15). Conclusion: A comprehensive and integrated programme is needed to control the high prevalence of childhood blindness in the Kishoreganj district. The control programme should include primary prevention strategies for VADD-related blindness, strategies to identify children with eye disease at an early age, and referral and treatment of children with cataract. These programmes should take a primary eye care approach to highlight the risk factors and protective factors of VADD-related blindness in children. Use of key informants in determining the magnitude and causes of childhood blindness in Chikwawa district, southern Malawi Background: Population-based studies to determine the magnitude and causes of childhood blindness require very large sample sizes and are very costly. Alternative methods such as the key informant method (which is cheap and easy to use) have been found to be as reliable as population-based studies in settings where the population is very dense. Aims: To determine the magnitude and causes of childhood blindness in Chikwawa district, Malawi, using the key informant method; to see how this method can be used in a setting of low population density, where the population is widely dispersed. Methods: Key informants are local people who know their community well. They were randomly selected by the communities themselves and trained for one day in techniques to identify children in the community who are blind. Each key informant covered on average 4-7 villages which were widely dispersed. Identified children were examined by the ophthalmologist to confirm the diagnosis. Results: A group of 44 key informants was selected and trained. There were more female (80%) than male (20%) key informants. The key informants correctly identified 37 children who were blind in 196 villages (86% of the expected number from the area). The prevalence of childhood blindness was found to be 0.09%. Cataract was found to be the most common cause (35%) of childhood blindness, followed by corneal scarring (22%). Conclusion: The key informant method was found to be cheap and useful in identifying children who are blind, even in areas where the population is widely dispersed. We recommend that this method be used to identify children who are blind in other districts of Malawi and where population-based surveys cannot be conducted. A national survey of visual impairment in Botswana Aims: To estimate the prevalence and determine the causes of visual impairment in people aged 50 years and older in Botswana, and to assess cataract surgical services in the country. Methods: Multi-stage cluster randomised sampling with probability proportional to size was used to select a cross-sectional, nationally representative sample of 2,662 adults aged 50 years and older. Demographic details were collected for each of the subjects. This was followed by measurement of distance visual acuity. The crystalline lenses of all the subjects were examined for cataract. All those whose vision did not improve to 6/18 with pinhole had their pupils dilated with a short-acting mydriatic and their fundus examined. Subjects with vision <6/60 due to cataract were asked why they had not had surgery. Blindness was defined as vision <3/60 in the better eye with available correction and visual impairment as vision <6/18 in the better eye with available correction. The convention used by the World Health Organization, of assigning the major cause to the disorder most amenable to treatment, was used for those with more than one disorder causing visual impairment. Results: A total of 2,127 eligible subjects were examined (79.9% response rate) from 55 clusters. Of those, 130 were blind. The age and sex-standardised prevalence of blindness was calculated to be 3.69% (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.38-5.00%). A total of 56 had severe visual impairment (age- and sex-standardised prevalence of 1.69%, 95% CI 1.04-2.33%). The main causes of blindness were cataract (46.9%), diabetic retinopathy (20.0%), non-trachomatous corneal opacities (13.1%), and trachoma (6.2%). Cataract was also the main cause of both severe (58.9%) and moderate (40.2%) visual impairment. Refractive errors were responsible for 38.5% of moderate visual impairment. In total, 55 (37%) of the eyes had best corrected vision <6/60 after cataract surgery. The age- and sex-standardised cataract surgical coverage for vision <3/60 was 66.5% for persons and 40.9% for eyes. For both blind and severely visually impaired people, the main reason given for not seeking surgery for cataract was lack of awareness of the presence of cataract. For those who were bilaterally blind, this was followed by lack of escort and cost of surgery. For those who were blind in one eye, fear of the operation ranked second, followed by lack of escort and the cost of surgery. Conclusion: There are an estimated 6,370 adults aged 50 years and older who are blind in Botswana. The majority of them are blind from operable cataract. There is a need to provide high-volume, high-quality, efficient and accessible cataract surgical services in Botswana to address cataract blindness. Strategies also need to be developed to combat blindness secondary to corneal scarring and diabetic retinopathy. Prevalence of blindness and low vision in Sawah Kulon village, Purwakarta district, West Java, Indonesia Background: In order to provide comprehensive eye care in a district, it is important to determine the prevalence and causes of visual impairment. Studies done in various parts of the world have identified a large proportion of treatable causes of blindness in people aged 40 years and older. Aim: To conduct the first study to assess the prevalence of blindness and low vision in Sawah Kulon, Purwakarta district, West Java, Indonesia, where there is a primary health care centre. Methods: Census data were used to design the survey. A sample size of 1,102 people aged 40 years and older was calculated for this district. Enumeration and door-to-door visual acuity examinations were performed for all persons aged 40 years and older. Further eye examinations were conducted by an ophthalmologist on people with visual acuity <6/18. Differences in the prevalence of blindness associated with age group, sex, and economic status were explored using stratified analyses. Results: Blindness and low vision were found in 1.67% and 6.05% of the sample, respectively. Blindness and low vision increased significantly with increasing age; these conditions were also twice as high in females as in males. They were higher in people with lower income, although this was not statistically significant. Cataract was the principal cause of low vision (70.7% of people) and blindness (62.5% of people). Refractive error was responsible for 20.7% of blindness and 25.0% of low vision. Conclusion: These data will be valuable in planning appropriate services in this district. People with lower income have poorer access to services and local health services need to be developed appropriately. Diabetic retinopathy: analysing the Pakistan survey and evaluating local resources Aims: To estimate the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in adults in Pakistan, to estimate the current service facilities for DR treatment in the province of Sindh, and to compare the current infrastructure with similar data collected in 1998 in order to provide evidence that can be used for provincial planning of diabetic eye services in Sindh. Methods: The data of the recent Pakistan National Blindness and Visual Impairment Survey were analysed to calculate the prevalence of DR and to identify risk factors. Statistical methods used to assess association between the variables included summary statistics, simple cross-tabulation, and Mantel-Haenzel odds ratios (OR). Two community ophthalmologists from the department of ophthalmology at Dow University of Health and Sciences (Karachi) collected information about available infrastructure and human resources from all government tertiary centres and non-government hospitals which had treatment facilities for DR. This was performed under supervision of the provincial co-ordinator of the prevention and control of blindness programme in Sindh. Relevant information was collected using a data collection form based on one developed in a previous study. This allowed comparisons within Sindh province to be made. Additional data on the availability of fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA) were collected. Results: A total of 17,311 adults (aged 30 and older) were enumerated for the survey. Among the 16,507 subjects examined, 660 diabetic patients were identified. Of these, 101 (15.3%) exhibited evidence of DR. The overall prevalence of diabetes was 4% and the overall prevalence of DR was 0.6%. The odds ratio (OR) of DR was higher in adult diabetic subjects living in urban areas (OR 2.7, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.08-4.1) compared to those living in rural areas. The risk was also higher in hypertensive (OR 2.77, 95% CI 1.0-4.1) and obese (body mass index >30) participants (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.7-4.2). Government sector hospitals provided better diabetic eye care services in terms of diagnosis (100% had diagnostic facilities) and treatment (85% had functional laser facilities), compared to the situation in 1998 (when only 50% had functional lasers). Twenty per cent of government tertiary centres and 50% of non-government hospitals had FFA capability. We found the same picture as in 1998 regarding vitreo-retinal surgical facilities. Conclusion: The burden of blindness due to diabetic retinopathy can be reduced by good planning. Equal distribution of resources among the rural and urban areas must be targeted to obtain a comprehensive diabetic eye care programme. There has been some training of human resources for the management of DR, but it needs to be improved. Further research regarding the affordability of the service is required. Rapid assessment of avoidable blindness in Kunming, China Background: According to global estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), there were 141 million people with visual impairment in 2002 and cataract was then the leading cause of blindness. A national survey of China in 1987 suggested that the prevalence of blindness (as defined by the WHO) was 0.42% for all ages. Aim: To evaluate the prevalence and causes of visual impairment in people aged 50 and older in Kunming, China. Methods: A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted using multi-stage cluster sampling (including probability proportional to size, compacted segment and non-compacted segment sampling) to select 46 clusters of 60 individuals, each over 50 years of age. The standardised protocol for rapid assessment of avoidable blindness (RAAB) was used to identify people with visual impairment (VI) and ophthalmic examination was used to determine the main cause of VI. The RAAB software package and STATA 9 software were used to enter and analyse data. Results: A total of 2,588 people from the sample of 2,760 were examined. Age- and sex-standardised prevalence of blindness (available corrected visual acuity <3/60 in the better eye) was 2.7%. It was 2.3% for severe visual impairment (SVI) and 7.2% for VI. The main causes of blindness were cataract (63.2%), other corneal scarring (14.7%), and glaucoma (7.4%). In total, 84.2% of blindness was avoidable, including cataract, other corneal scarring, uncorrected aphakia, and surgical complications. Cost was the most common barrier to cataract surgery. Cataract surgical coverage (CSC) in persons with best corrected visual acuity <3/60 was 58.9%. Cataract operations had a good outcome (visual acuity ≥6/18) in 43% of operated eyes. Conclusion: The prevalence of blindness in Kunming is relatively high. The leading cause of blindness, SVI, and VI is still cataract. CSC is quite low and the outcome of cataract surgery is poor in the survey area. Prevalence and perceptions Prevalence of diabetic retinopathy and barriers to uptake of eye care services by diabetic patients at the Social Security Institute Central Hospital in Asunción, Paraguay Aims: To estimate the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy (DR) among patients at the endocrinology department of the Social Security Institute (IPS) Central Hospital, Paraguay, and to explore the health-seeking behaviour of diabetic patients. Methods: We randomly selected 307 patients from all diabetic patients attending the endocrinology clinic in order to establish the presence or absence of DR. Systemic and ophthalmic data were collected using questionnaires. DR was classified according to international disease severity scales for clinical diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular oedema. Blindness and visual impairment were measured according to the grading system of the World Health Organization. Two focus groups, one comprising patients with visual impairment due to DR and another comprising diabetic patients with normal vision, were identified through purposive sampling. Patient behaviour with regards to seeking health care was explored in both groups. Quantitative data were analysed using EpiData and Stata, and a thematic framework was developed for the qualitative analysis. Results: Of the 307 diabetic patients examined, 113 (36.8%) were male and 194 (63.2%) were female. A total of 304 (99%) patients had type-2 diabetes and three had type-1 diabetes (0.9 %). Eighty-nine patients (29%) had some level of visual impairment. Of these, 16 were blind, a prevalence of 5.2% (blindness from all causes). DR accounted for 33% of visual impairment and 43.8% of blindness. The overall prevalence of blindness from DR was 2.28%, while 149 patients (48.53%) had some level of DR. Diabetic macular oedema was present in 88 patients (28.7%). Proliferative DR was present in 26 of all patients (8.5%). The risk of getting DR was on average 1.9 times higher for every five years a patient had suffered from diabetes. Associations with other risk factors such as high blood pressure, body mass index, or HbA1c level were not significant in this study. The most important issues raised by the qualitative study included a general lack of awareness about diabetes and its possible complications, denial of the disease, and fear of going blind once DR had become established. Conclusion: Findings from the study in the IPS Central Hospital in Paraguay suggest that diabetic retinopathy is an important public health problem. We highly recommend that a systematic screening programme be implemented to diagnose and treat DR earlier. Some of the issues encountered in the qualitative part of the study included lack of awareness about the serious complications of diabetes and difficulty coping with or accepting the disease. These results call for an urgent improvement of health education and promotion, as well as the provision of social services to patients. Genetic eye diseases and genetic counselling services in Egypt Background: Available data suggest that two-thirds of childhood blindness in the Middle East is due to genetic diseases (with a prevalence ranging from 47% in Tunisia to 86% in Kuwait) and that autosomal recessive disorders, attributed to high rates of consanguineous marriage (between blood relatives), are common. Consanguineous marriage is common in Egypt (40%) and genetic eye diseases are assumed to cause at least half of all cases of childhood blindness. Genetic counselling services have been recommended by the World Health Organization as a potential control measure, but these services have not been evaluated with respect to eye diseases in children. Aims: To assess the availability and level of use of genetic counselling services in Egypt, to evaluate parents’ attitudes towards and satisfaction with these services, and to assess ethno-cultural beliefs about the causes of genetic disorders. Methods: In-depth interviews were carried out in Egypt with consumers of the service (the parents of affected children) and service providers (ophthalmologists and geneticists). Results: There are no guidelines for referral to genetic counselling services, and referral by ophthalmologists is affected by their personal experiences and research activities. The parents of affected children interviewed were satisfied with the service provided and the geneticists interviewed were qualified and highly skilled. However, services are insufficient and there are long waiting lists. The main barriers to service uptake were lack of motivation by parents, cost, long waiting lists, distance, and lack of awareness among doctors. Many parents attributed the condition of their child to the will of Allah, while doctors thought consanguinity to be the cause. Parents’ perceptions of the term ‘genetic disease’ varied, but the majority understood it to mean a condition inherited within the family. The main motivation for seeking advice was to discover the risk of having another affected child. Parents were compliant with doctors’ advice, but they often found it difficult to understand the level of risk. Abortion is prohibited in Islam and mothers were often blamed, even by other women, for their child’s blindness. The possible consequences of genetic diseases were reported as divorce, husband taking another wife, social stigma, having no more children, and financial difficulties. Conclusion: Genetic eye diseases are prevalent in Egypt, where they are due to high rates of consanguineous marriages. Genetic counselling services have the potential to reduce the prevalence of genetic disorders, but education and community support are needed to maximise the efficiency of such programmes. Visual impairment in leprosy patients in northern Viet Nam Background: The visual impairment suffered by leprosy patients is an additional health burden often overlooked by health service providers. The prevalence of visual impairment and blindness is higher among leprosy patients than in the wider population, and it occurs as a complication of the disease or as part of the ageing process. Various studies have found that the prevalence of visual impairment is about 15% in patients who have had leprosy for less than 10 years, increasing to 40% in those who have had leprosy for 15 years or more. Eye care services in leprosaria are often neglected or under-utilised by patients. It is necessary to know the prevalence and causes of visual impairment and blindness, and to investigate existing eye care practices, in order to improve utilisation of eye care services and to allocate appropriate resources. Methods: One of the largest and oldest leprosy villages in northern Viet Nam was selected for this study. All the residents of this leprosarium (all of whom have leprosy) were invited to participate and examined for visual impairment and blindness. Patients who would have benefited from eye surgery, but who had not taken it up, were interviewed about their reasons. Responses were recorded on the questionnaire. Results: A total of 403 patients were seen at the leprosarium. The prevalence of blindness was 9.9% and that of visual impairment, 24.1%. Cataract was the most common cause of blindness (57.5%) and of visual impairment (83.5%). Corneal opacity, from exposure keratitis (15%) and trachoma (12%), was the second most common cause of blindness. Cataract surgical coverage was 42.9%, trichiasis surgical coverage was 50%, and lagophthalmos surgical coverage was only 7.9%. Lack of awareness about treatment was the main reason given for not seeking treatment. Conclusion: The prevalence of visual impairment and blindness in leprosy patients is very high and, at present, patients’ eye care needs are not being met. There should be an urgent, comprehensive blindness prevention programme for leprosy patients. There is a need for better collaboration between leprosy control and blindness prevention programmes. Situation analysis of human resources in eye care in Afghanistan Background: The lack of adequately trained eye care personnel in low- and middle-income countries has been identified as a factor in the persistence of avoidable blindness. This situation is even more acute in fragile states, such as Afghanistan, where governments lack the capacity to manage public resources and deliver basic services, and are unable to protect and support poor and vulnerable groups. Aims: To undertake a situation analysis of human resources in eye care in Afghanistan by assessing the number, qualifications, and distribution (geographical and by type of practice) of ophthalmologists, ophthalmic paramedical staff, and other ophthalmic personnel; and to assess the number and distribution (geographical and by category) of training institutions for eye care personnel. Methods: The study was carried out between July and August 2006 in all provinces that had eye care centres and institutes. Data were collected from all private, government (public and army), and non-governmental organisation (NGO) eye care centres, as well as from training institutes for eye care personnel. This was done by visiting most of the centres and using electronic communication. Results: The total number of eye care personnel in the country was 441. Out of these, 118 (26.8%) were ophthalmologists, 197 (44.7%) were ophthalmic paramedics (of which 103 were mid-level ophthalmic personnel), and 126 (28.5%) were other ophthalmic personnel. The ratio of ophthalmologists to population was 1:200,000 and that of mid-level ophthalmic personnel was 1:229,126. A total of 384 eye care personnel (87%) worked in urban areas and 57 (13%) worked in rural areas. Amongst them, 29 worked in the private sector (6.5%), 60 in the public sector (14%), 148 in NGOs (33.5%), 118 (43%) in mixed organisations (government and NGOs), and 15 in the army (3%). There were no eye sub-specialists or paediatric ophthalmologists. A total of 74 eye doctors were medical officers (62%) and there were just four community ophthalmologists. Of the ophthalmic paramedics, 103 were mid-level ophthalmic personnel (ophthalmic technicians and nurses, refractionists, and optometrists). There were five eye care training institutions in the country. Conclusion: The human resources presently available in Afghanistan are inadequate, not only in quantity but also in quality. Eye care personnel are poorly distributed, with serious shortages in rural and peripheral areas. Most eye care personnel worked in government centres and NGOs. There were very few eye care training institutions, most of which were run by NGOs. A situation analysis to provide information for developing a screening and treatment programme for retinopathy of prematurity in Sri Lanka Background: Sri Lanka is a lower-middle-income country with very good health indicators and services for premature babies. However, the expansion of intensive neonatal care units (NCUs) is leading to greater survival of premature babies and more blindness from retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). Aim: To collect information on policies regarding neonatal care, current service provision and facilities for premature babies, and to assess current programmes for ROP. This information will be useful for planning a national ROP programme. Methods: Hospitals with NCUs were visited in three provinces. Data were collected on infrastructure, personnel, policies regarding ventilation and oxygen administration, and survival of premature babies (from hospitals and the Ministry of Health). Data on ROP screening policies and the number of babies examined and treated were collected from ophthalmic units where possible. Results: There are approximately 340,000 births annually, 17% of which are premature (defined as birth weight [BW] <2,500 g). There are no data on the proportion of babies with BW <1,500 g. Survival of babies with BW <1,000 g is 51%; it is over 75% for babies with BW of 1,000-1,500 g. Continuous monitoring of oxygen is not possible in all NCUs and alarms are often not adequately set up. Equipment is not equally distributed among provinces. Screening for ROP is not well organised and babies are often examined outside the NCU. The incidence of pre-threshold and threshold ROP ranged from 34.8% to 46.8%, and that of stage 4/5 was 1.3% in one NCU. Data collection is inconsistent. Conclusion: Survival rates are relatively good in babies most at risk of ROP. Rates of ROP are high, which may be due to inadequate oxygen monitoring. Current ROP programmes need to be better organised, with standard screening criteria, examination methods, indications for treatment, and data collection. Long-term follow-up and referral systems for rehabilitation also need to be planned. Assessing human resource needs for prevention of blindness in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries: identifying the gaps Aim: To obtain an overview of the current human resource needs in eye care for the prevention of blindness in the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN): Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam. We identified the different levels of eye care personnel, their numbers and distribution, and the training capacity for them in the region. Methods: A mail-based questionnaire survey was used. Participants were recruited using the ‘snowballing’ technique, whereby one subject gives the researcher the name of another subject, who in turn provides the name of a third, and so on (Vogt, 1999), based on predetermined criteria. The specially designed questionnaire was pre-tested before distribution to assess its validity. Various channels were used to distribute it and participants were provided with several options to respond, including a web questionnaire. Ethical approval was obtained from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine ethics committee prior to conducting the survey. Participants were provided with information sheets about the survey before their informed consent was sought. Results: Seven out of ten countries responded. The result of the study shows that there is, to varying degrees, a shortage and maldistribution of ophthalmologists in some ASEAN member countries, particularly in Indonesia and CMLV countries (Cambodia, Myanmar, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and Viet Nam), where the burden of blindness is significantly higher. Furthermore, the integration of primary eye care into mainstream primary health care is incomplete. At secondary and tertiary level, the shortage of ophthalmologists has been supplemented by the use of mid-level eye personnel. However, their impact in addressing cataract (the main cause of blindness in the region) is restricted, as their roles are limited to carrying out basic eye tests, history-taking, and instrument care. Local training facilities are available for most levels of eye care workers, but questions about their quality and capacity remain unanswered. The working conditions of ophthalmologists in the ASEAN region are reasonable, and ophthalmologists are supported by professional and regulatory bodies. However, career structures for mid-level personnel are not available in all member countries. Conclusion: In order to meet current needs, especially in countries with a high burden of blindness, there is an urgent need to address the shortage and maldistribution of ophthalmologists. Career structure and deployment CHK of mid-level eye personnel need to be addressed and aligned to meet current eye care needs. The ASEAN region has the capacity to address its eye care needs and should do so through capacity building and service delivery programmes. Situation analysis of human resources for eye care in the North West Province of Cameroon Aim: To provide comprehensive information on existing human resources for the provision of comprehensive eye care services in the North West Province of Cameroon. Methods: Quantitative data were collected using a pre-tested questionnaire administered to all consenting eye care workers in the North West Province. Data on service outputs were obtained using a checklist and other available documents. Qualitative data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews administered to staff of eye units, primary level eye care workers, and visual rehabilitation workers. Results: The North West Province, which has a population of 2.1 million, had 9 eye units, 3 ophthalmologists, 21 ophthalmic paramedics, 47 community-based rehabilitation workers trained in primary eye care, and 8 ophthalmic paramedic students. There were also 19 special education teachers in two schools for the blind. In addition, the province had 3,131 community-directed distributors of ivermectin. The duration and type of ophthalmic training of ophthalmic paramedics, as well as their educational backgrounds, were very diverse. Close to 90% of the staff in the eye units were employed by mission hospitals and the distribution of human resources in the province was grossly unequal. The cataract surgical rate had increased by 35% between 2002 and 2005, to a total of 414 per year. The coverage of refractive services and the number of patients consulted per outreach had remained constant during the same period, at less than 1% and at 30 patients, respectively. The main barriers to the provision and uptake of eye care services were lack of human resources, poor collaboration among stakeholders, cost of services, and patient beliefs. Conclusion: The number, distribution, mix of skills, and output of eye care workers in the North West Province are inadequate. At provincial level, it would be desirable to have a committee for the prevention of blindness. It would be worthwhile to research consumer perceptions and barriers to the uptake of eye care services. At national level, an action plan, advocacy, and funding for in-country training of different levels of eye care personnel should be considered. Evaluation of the SAFE strategy for preventing trachomatous visual impairment in the Enemor and Ener District of Ethiopia Background: Although the SAFE strategy (Surgery, Antibiotics, Face washing, Environmental change) is increasingly implemented to control trachoma, its operational effectiveness is not well known. Aim: To evaluate the implementation of the SAFE strategy in a trachoma control programme area in the context of VISION 2020. Methods: A cross-sectional trachoma survey, focus group discussions, and routine data analysis were undertaken in July 2006 in the Enamor and Ener District of southern Ethiopia. Using multi-stage cluster sampling with probability proportionate to size and compact segment sampling methods, 544 households were selected from a population of 110,000. Individuals were examined for signs of trachoma and visual impairment, and the heads of two-thirds of households were interviewed about risk factors. Results: Of the 2,510 people enumerated, 2,637 (95%) were examined. The prevalence of trichiasis (TT) in people older than 14 was 9.04% (95% confidence interval [CI] 7.4-10.6%). Trachoma was responsible for 13% of visual impairment in people older than 40. Follicular trachoma (TF) in children aged one to nine was 33.1% (95% CI 29.4-37.1%), while 56.1% (95% CI 52.7-59.5%) had clean faces. The percentage of households using latrines was 74.4% (95% CI 69.9-78.87%). The themes that emerged from discussions included distance and fear as barriers to surgery, appreciation of antibiotics, “quest for water” and “education with legal enforcement’ in terms of facial and environmental hygiene. A minimum of US $18 per person was invested on SAFE over five years. Although active trachoma and visual impairment were moderately reduced as compared to baseline estimates and projections (40% for active trachoma and 25% for visual impairment), the programme was not adequate to control trichiasis. Conclusion: The SAFE strategy may be effective when implemented for a longer duration, to an adequate extent, and with concurrent development programmes. SAFE should be routinely evaluated in order to improve its implementation. Further investigation of its socio-economic impact is recommended. Evaluation of cataract surgical outcomes in Cicendo Eye Hospital, Bandung, West Java, Indonesia Aims: Cicendo Eye Hospital is a referral hospital in West Java Province. Every year, the hospital performs about three thousand cataract operations on average. However, cataract surgical outcome has not been evaluated. Outcome is an important indicator for monitoring the progress of the hospital’s cataract surgical services towards the goals of VISION 2020. Methods: This was a prospective observational study of all consecutive, age-related cataract operations booked on the elective list at the hospital from 1 April 2006 to 31 June 2006. Data were collected by means of a standardised computer cataract surgery outcome record form. Pre-operative visual status was recorded and the post-operative visual outcomes were measured at one day and one month after surgery. Analysis was done to identify the risk factors for poor outcome. Results: A total of 443 patients were operated on. The mean age was 63 years and 52% of all patients were male. Using the WHO definition, 26.6% were blind pre-operatively and 72.69% of all eyes operated had visual acuity <3/60. Most of the operations were extracapsular extractions with intraocular implantation. One day after surgery, 42.44% of eyes achieved a visual outcome better than 6/18. At one month, this was the case for 76.08% of eyes. A poor outcome of less than 3/60 was seen in 11 cases (2.48%) at one month after surgery. Intra- and post-operative complications were seen in 10.84% of all cases, mainly due to vitreous loss (66.67%). Intra-operative complications, systemic diseases present before the operation, and associated eye diseases were significant risk factors for poor outcome. Conclusion: At one month after surgery, visual outcome of the operated eye almost attained WHO criteria for available correction. The most significant risk factor for poor outcome was intra-operative complications, which could be minimised by improving skills and taking due care during operations. An evaluation of eye health promotion activities to increase the use of eye care services in the Kilimanjaro VISION 2020 Direct Referral Site programme Aims: To assess community awareness about the Kilimanjaro VISION 2020 Direct Referral Site (DRS) eye care programme in Tanzania and the effectiveness of promotion strategies to increase the use of eye care services, and to solicit ideas on how these activities can be improved. Methods: Quantitative methods were used to analyse secondary data (30,019 patient records collected at the point of service between January 2003 and June 2006) about how patients received information about the Kilimanjaro VISION 2020 DRS programme. Additionally, 75 interviews were conducted at markets, mosques, and churches in the districts of Same, Mwanga, and Hai to complement the retrospective data. Qualitative methods were used to collect perceptions about eye diseases and about the programme from patients, the community, and health facility personnel. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with patients and families of operated and non-operated cataract patients. Focus group discussions with community leaders and health facility workers involved a total of 47 participants. Purposive non-probability sampling was used to select participants. The sample included a roughly equal balance of men and women. Results: The quantitative analysis of existing data revealed that most respondents (39.3%) had received information from churches or mosques. The second most frequently mentioned source of information was posters (25.4% of responses), followed by radio, medical personnel, other sources, and village leaders. The qualitative analysis showed a high level of awareness about eye diseases, with cataract emerging as the most commonly recognised eye problem. Some people were aware that an operation was the treatment for cataract, but there was limited understanding amongst the community and health facility workers of what the operation entailed. However, patients who had undergone the operation were able to give quite detailed accounts. The conceptions held by community members provided useful entry points for future promotional work. One community member suggested that “the word upasuaji (operation) gives a bad impression, meaning to cut the eye.” Suggestions from others included explaining the operation in terms of cleaning of the eye, removing the cataract, or correcting the eye. Many people in the DRS areas were able to describe in detail how the programme worked and what services were provided. However, users wanted more clarity, particularly about the costs of surgery. Health facility workers were both aware of and involved in the promotional activities. The community perceived the DRS programme as providing an affordable service close to home which included transportation to hospital. People reported that the eye health promotion activities had helped to dispel fear about surgery. There were, however, a few comments about how the programme had become too “business-like,” not allowing enough time for detailed examination. Opinions about how best to communicate the DRS programme emphasised multiple-method approaches, and suggested improvements to the posters, greater use of interpersonal channels, more time for promotional activities in the build-up before a DRS visit, and the use of loudspeakers. Conclusion: Promotional activities have created awareness, encouraged the use of eye care services, provided opportunities for facility workers and community members to participate, and fostered positive attitudes towards the DRS programme. There is room for improvement: we can increase the reach of promotional activities, perfect the posters, ensure greater clarity on the issue of fees for services, and build interpersonal channels to encourage more two-way communication with users. Cataract surgical outcome and genderspecific barriers to cataract services in Tilganga Eye Centre and its outreach microsurgical eye clinics in Nepal Aims: To evaluate the cataract surgical outcome in Tilganga Eye Centre (TEC) and its outreach microsurgical eye clinic, to determine the barriers to patient uptake of cataract services in both urban (TEC) and rural (outreach clinic) settings, and to explore genderspecific health care-seeking behaviour. Methods: The records of 562 patients who had undergone cataract surgery in the hospital from 1 January 2006 to 30 June 2006 and of 178 patients treated by the outreach clinics were analysed. Surgical outcomes were measured using the OUTCOME software package. An open-ended questionnaire was used to interview 80 cataract patients with visual acuity <6/60 (38 in hospital, 42 in outreach clinics), in order to explore possible gender-specific barriers to cataract surgery. Results: At discharge from the hospital, 69.9% of patients presented with visual acuity (VA) >6/18 and 78% presented with best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) >6/18. At the three-week follow-up, 79.4% presented with VA >6/18. On providing them with best correction, VA was >6/18 in 93.2%. A total of 50 (8.9%) presented with VA <6/60 at discharge. At three-week follow-up, 2.8% presented with VA <6/60, which improved to 2.4% when best corrected. At discharge from the outreach clinic, 79.2% of patients presented with VA >6/18 and 85.5% presented with BCVA >6/18. At the three-week follow-up, 72.8% presented with VA >6/18. When best corrected, VA was >6/18 in 93.6%. A total of 16 (9%) presented with VA <6/60 at discharge. At three-week follow-up, 5.8% presented with VA <6/60, which improved to 2.6% when best corrected. The rate of complications was 7.8% in the hospital and 6.7% in the outreach clinics. The causes of poor outcome were surgical complications and case selection in the hospital, and refractive error (p=0.02) and case selection in the outreach clinics. Urban women chose to seek cataract services later, as they felt able to cope with their deteriorating vision, whereas rural women gave the long distance to services as the main reason for postponing surgery. For urban and rural men, the main barriers were cost and the lack of someone to accompany them. Conclusion: Good visual outcome can be achieved in outreach clinics if strict protocols are followed. Operative complications and the rate of poor vision are not significantly different in both settings, despite the differences in environment. To bridge the barriers presented by distance and a lack of money, it is possible to carry out operations with good outcomes closer to rural communities. Cost analysis of cataract services by eye care providers in Nigeria Aim: To determine and compare cost-effectiveness of cataract services in different eye care settings in Nigeria. Methods: The study was conducted in three eye care facilities in the states of Lagos and Ogun in Nigeria between January and December 2005. Patient records were retrieved from three eye hospitals: a private hospital, a government hospital, and an NGO hospital. Recruitment criteria included all bilaterally blind cataract patients above the age of 40 with visual acuity (VA) <6/60 on the Snellen visual acuity chart who had undergone cataract operations in one eye. Twenty to thirty per cent of the operated patients were traced to their homes and interviewed to determine their visionrelated quality of life, using an adapted version of the Indian vision function questionnaire, the IND-VFQ33. Cost data included provider and patient costs. Major outcome measures were cost-effectiveness ratios, restoration of good vision post-operatively, gain in utility and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) post-operatively, change in visionrelated quality of life, and patient satisfaction. Results: Within the period of the study, 350 cataract operations were performed in the private hospital, 53 in the government hospital, and 543 in the NGO hospital. Among the patients who were bilaterally blind, 60 were in the private hospital (17%), 15 were in the government hospital (28%), and 147 were in the NGO hospital (27%). The mean age was 66.59 years (standard deviation 0.50). The unit cost of cataract surgery was highest in the government hospital (US $2,734), while good sight restoration (VA ≥6/18) was highest in the private hospital. The NGO hospital was the most cost-effective, at US $224 per QALY gained. Patient satisfaction was greatest for the private hospital and lowest for the government hospital. Conclusion: Although cataract surgery in the private and NGO eye care sectors in Nigeria falls within an acceptable range of cost-effectiveness, there is an urgent need to reduce unit cost. Cost outlay, output and outcome of cataract surgery need to be reviewed in the government sector. Comparing the cost-effectiveness of school eye screening versus a primary eye care model to provide refractive error services for children in India Aim: To compare the cost-effectiveness of school eye screening (SES) for refractive errors with a primary eye care (PEC) model that provides comprehensive eye care, including refractive services, to children of school age. Methods: Retrospective data from SES and PEC clinics in Delhi slums for 2005-2006 were examined. Children who had been dispensed spectacles through both models over 12 months were surveyed. Visual acuity with and without spectacles was measured and the children’s spectacle-wearing behaviour was evaluated. The quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained were calculated using utility analysis for each model and were compared. Results: The SES model was more cost-effective than the PEC model in all areas. In the SES model, the cost to examine a child was US $0.64, the cost to examine and dispense spectacles was US $12.13, and the undiscounted cost per QALY was US $18.11. In the PEC model the cost of examining a child was US $3.10, the cost of examining and dispensing spectacles was US $25.58, and the undiscounted cost per QALY was US $45.42. The correlation of spectacles prescribed to spectacles manufactured was excellent in both models, with a combined correlation of 98%. The sensitivity of teachers screening for vision impairment was 100%, while their specificity was 59.8%. Conclusion: School eye screening in India is a highly cost-effective method of correcting visual impairment due to refractive errors in school-age children and should be expanded where possible. As not all children can be examined through school screening, comprehensive eye care clinics play an important role in the correction of refractive errors, but at a higher cost.
Human genome’s 3D structure has fractal properties Scientists have deciphered the three-dimensional structure of the human genome, paving the way for new insights into genomic function and expanding our understanding of how cellular DNA folds at scales that dwarf the double helix. They used a new technology called Hi-C in order to answer the thorny question of how each of our cells stows some three billion base pairs of DNA while maintaining access to functionally crucial segments. The research comes from a team led by scientists at Harvard University, the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, University of Massachusetts Medical School, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “We’ve long known that on a small scale, DNA is a double helix,” says co-first author Erez Lieberman-Aiden, a graduate student in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Science and Technology and a researcher at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and in the laboratory of Eric Lander at the Broad Institute. “But if the double helix didn’t fold further, the genome in each cell would be two meters long. Scientists have not really understood how the double helix folds to fit into the nucleus of a human cell, which is only about a hundredth of a millimeter in diameter. This new approach enabled us to probe exactly that question.” The researchers report two striking findings. First, the human genome is organized into two separate compartments, keeping active genes separate and accessible while sequestering unused DNA in a denser storage compartment. Chromosomes snake in and out of the two compartments repeatedly as their DNA alternates between active, gene-rich and inactive, gene-poor stretches. “Cells cleverly separate the most active genes into their own special neighborhood, to make it easier for proteins and other regulators to reach them,” says Job Dekker, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular pharmacology at UMass Medical School and a senior author of the Science paper. Second, at a finer scale, the genome adopts an unusual organization known in mathematics as a fractal. The specific architecture the scientists found, called a “fractal globule,” enables the cell to pack DNA incredibly tightly (the information density in the nucleus is trillions of times higher than on a computer chip) while avoiding the knots and tangles that might interfere with the cell’s ability to read its own genome. Furthermore, the DNA can easily unfold and refold during gene activation, gene repression, and cell replication. “Nature’s devised a stunningly elegant solution to storing information — a super-dense, knot-free structure,” says senior author Eric Lander, director of the Broad Institute, who is also professor of biology at MIT, and professor of systems biology at Harvard Medical School. In the past, many scientists had thought that DNA was compressed into a different architecture called an “equilibrium globule,” a configuration that is problematic because it can become densely knotted. The fractal globule architecture, while proposed as a theoretical possibility more than 20 years ago, has never previously been observed. Key to the current work was the development of the new Hi-C technique, which permits genome-wide analysis of the proximity of individual genes. The scientists first used formaldehyde to link together DNA strands that are nearby in the cell’s nucleus. They then determined the identity of the neighboring segments by shredding the DNA into many tiny pieces, attaching the linked DNA into small loops, and performing massively parallel DNA sequencing. “By breaking the genome into millions of pieces, we created a spatial map showing how close different parts are to one another,” says co-first author Nynke van Berkum, a postdoctoral researcher at UMass Medical School in Dekker’s laboratory. “We made a fantastic three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle and then, with a computer, solved the puzzle.” The solution to this puzzle, though, is only a first step. In the future, the researchers hope to enhance their three-dimensional views of the genome using higher resolution techniques, something that requires even deeper DNA sequencing capabilities. Given the rapid evolution of sequencing technologies, higher resolution studies are likely to become feasible in the not-too-distant future.
Within this STEAM Reader Activity Book, the students of First Grade at Sunny Street Elementary School continue their journey with our readers. The following describes key content areas in the book and is meant as a general summary as is not comprehensive of content. In first grade our readers will follow the class as they learn about the different forms of matter and their physical properties as they prepare for Mee’s birthday party. They will learn how physical changes in matter can be reversible for example through the melting and refreezing of a ice pop and how sometimes the changes can be permanent for example with Spot the Firedog’s unfortunate footprints in concrete. When Louis’s scarf is blown away our readers will follow the class as they learn about energy and force and see it in action as they discover the invisible magnetic force that mysteriously shuts the treehouse door. They will learn about the many different forms of energy as the class goes on a field trip by train to the Transport Museum where they meet an astronaut and see the Space Shuttle. Our readers will follow the class as they record the weather and discover where the rain goes when they learn about the water cycle. They will read about the class vegetable garden and the composition of soil and structure of plants that they grow. Finally, they will read about a fallen bird rescued by the class and through this the needs of living things and their dependance on the non-living world around them. Finally, they will learn about food chains and adaptations using the bird as their example.
DIVERSITY Sole Species The brown recluse spider, Loxosceles reclusa, is a well-known member of the family Sicariidae (formerly placed in a family “Loxoscelidae”). It is usually between 6–20 mm, but may grow larger. It is brown and sometimes an almost deep yellow color and usually has markings on the dorsal side of its cephalothorax, with a black line coming from it that looks like a violin with the neck of the violin pointing to the rear of the spider, resulting in the nicknames fiddleback spider, brown fiddler or violin spider. Coloring varies from light tan to brown and the violin marking may not be visible. Recluse spiders build irregular webs that frequently include a shelter consisting of disorderly threads. These spiders frequently build their webs in woodpiles, sheds, closets, beds, garages, plenum, cellars and other places that are dry and generally undisturbed. They seem to favor cardboards when dwelling in human residences, possibly because it mimics the rotting tree bark which they inhabit naturally. They also tend to be found in shoes, inside dressers, in bed sheets of infrequently used beds, in stacks of clothes, behind baseboards, behind pictures and near furnaces. The common source of human-recluse contact is during the cleaning of these spaces, when their isolated spaces are suddenly disturbed and the spider feels threatened. Unlike most web weavers, they leave these webs at night to hunt. Males will move around more when hunting, while the female spiders tend to remain nearer to their webs. Spiderlings hatch from eggs which are laid from May to July. Eggs are laid in a case of white silken sac. There are approximately 50 eggs in each egg sac. From the egg that is produced from the brown recluse female the spiderlings emerge in 1 month. It takes one year before a spiderling can be considered an adult. It takes a spider about eleven months to reach the adult stage from the time of hatching. Adult brown recluse spiders often live about one to two years. Each female produces several egg sacs over a period of two to three months. The brown recluse spider is resistant to long periods without food. It can tolerate up to 6 months of extreme drought and scarcity of food. The venom from a brown recluse spider is extremely venomous. Because of its venom the brown recluse spider is perhaps considered one of the most medically important groups of spiders. Envenomations can result in dermonecrosis and sometimes general systemic illness that can be life threatening; especially for the elderly and children. To avoid brown recluse spiders, avoid keeping clothing on the floor. Store clothing and shoes inside plastic containers, and shake out all clothing that has been in a hamper before wearing or washing.
Electricity produced in wind turbines is transported to the consumer via a series of transmission and distribution networks. Each component of the network changes the voltage of the electrical power to optimize its transition to the next part of the network. Due to the structure of these networks it is currently not possible to buy wind energy alone. Wind turbines capture the kinetic energy in wind and convert it into electrical power. Large blades on the turbine rotor are connected to an electrical generator via a shaft and a series of gears. Wind blowing past the blades causes the shaft to rotate. In the generator, the rotating shaft causes a set of magnets to turn about a coil of wire to create an electric current due to electromagnetic induction. Turbine to Transmission Grid Electricity from the wind turbine generator travels to a transmission substation where it is converted into extremely high voltage, between 155,000 and 765,000 volts, for long distance transmission on the transmission grid. This grid comprises a series of power lines that connect the power sources to demand centers. According to the Energy Information Association, the United States has three major transmission grids: the Eastern, Western and Texas interconnects. Grid to Consumer Power substations at the demand centers convert the high voltage power from the transmission grid to a lower voltage power, typically in the region of 10,000 volts. From here it moves into a smaller distribution grid to which consumers are connected to this grid via another transformer. Here the distribution voltage is converted to the desired consumer voltage. Buying Wind Energy All sources of electricity feed power into the same grid. It is therefore impossible to know exactly where the power you are buying comes from. Many utilities now offer the option of purchasing “green energy” at a higher rate. The increased tariff subsidizes the development of renewable energy sources like wind power. According to Wind Energy America, by choosing to buy renewable energy you are telling the utility that you are concerned about the environment and are willing to pay more to protect it. About the Author Michael Owen holds a PhD in mechanical engineering. His fields of expertise include fluid dynamics, heat transfer and computational fluid dynamics. His interests include renewable energy and sustainability.
Select the unit to convert from in the input units list. Select the unit to convert to in the output units list. Enter the value to convert from into the input box on the left. The conversion result will appear in the output box. The volume of an object refers to the three-dimensional space occupied by that object. You must have encountered with questions like "Up to what weight can the box hold?" or "What is the capacity of the container?" To know the answers of such questions, one need to calculate the volume. When it comes to find the area of a shape then we usually work with two dimensions like squares, rectangles, triangles etc., on the other hand finding the volume requires to work in cubic units. One can find the volume of variety of shapes and sizes. Although it is not that much tough to calculate volume of an object but still it might become a burdensome task sometimes to calculate the volume as there are some formulas that need to be take into account while calculating volume of objects. Online Conversions is here with its user-friendly volume unit conversions tool that will surely make your calculations swifter and accurate. Volume of many shapes like cube, rectangular prism etc can be calculated with the help of simple formulas but when it comes to calculate volume of more complicated shapes then it is required to cut into simple shapes and add the volumes for the total. Mathematical methods are also used to estimate the volume of even more complicated shapes. Either you can use of these complex mathematical formulas and calculations get the volume of desired product or there is a more simpler way you can use our easy-to-use Volume Unit measurement conversion tool. Common measurements of volume include liter, cubic centimeters, cubic meters, as well milliliters. Sometimes calculus formulas are also used to identify the volume of an object or shape but with online conversions tool calculating volume is just a matter of few seconds. All this can be done easily with the help of this online conversions tool. Most often used Volume Unit measurement conversion barrels (petroleum) to gallons (fluid) (bbl to gals) converter 1 barrel (petroleum) (bbl, bo) is equal 42 gallons (fluid) (gals) gallons (fluid) to barrels (petroleum) (gals to bbl) converter 1 gallon (fluid) (gal) is equal 0.023809523809524 barrel (petroleum) (bbl, bo) cubic feet (ft³) to cubic yards (cu ft to yd³) converter 1 cubic foot (ft³, cu ft) is equal 0.037037037037037 cubic yard (yd³) cubic yards to cubic feet (ft³) (yd³ to cu ft) converter 1 cubic yard (yd³) is equal 27 cubic feet (ft³) (cu ft) cubic meters to cubic yards (m³ to yd³) converter 1 cubic meter (m³) is equal 1.3079506193144 cubic yards (yd³)) cubic yards to cubic meters (yd³ to m³) converter 1 cubic yard (yd³) is equal 0.764554857984 cubic meter (m³)
Sleep, Diet & Hygiene Are Important To Your Child’s Health It might start with a scratchy throat or a runny nose. It’s that moment when you know your child is sick again and you will be missing work and possibly becoming ill yourself. Most school-age children contract six to 10 cold viruses per year, and influenza infection rates among school children and their caretakers average 20 to 30 percent most years. Keeping your children well seems like an uphill battle at times, but there are steps you can take to limit their exposure to germs and strengthen their immune systems. First, examine your child’s sleep patterns. Studies show that most children and teens do not get enough sleep. School-age children should get 10 to 11 hours of sleep every night; teens should be sleeping 8.5 to 9.5 hours regularly. Lack of sleep has been linked to lowered immune response. Sleep is also required to release chemicals and hormones that aid in cell repair. Children’s lives are busy, and homework, after-school activities, and screen time all contribute to this sleep deficit. Help your children learn good time-management skills and place importance on sleep as a vector to good health. High sugar intake will depress your child’s immune system. White blood cell function decreases for four to six hours after consuming high-sugar foods. Offer fruit for dessert and vegetables as snacks. Make sweets an occasional treat and don’t let holidays become synonymous with excess sugar. If your child becomes ill, immediately cut sugary foods out of their diet to help them recover faster. Vitamin D Is Important Vitamin D is used by every cell in the human body in physiological processes, but most people are chronically deficient. It is believed that flu season coincides with fall and winter because there is less sunlight, and vitamin D levels naturally fall. As days grow shorter and less time is spent outside, exposure to the sun is diminished, along with the opportunity to naturally manufacture vitamin D. Supplements, which should be available to the whole family during the cold season, are readily available in most supermarkets and drug stores. You can also serve foods that are rich in vitamin D, such as salmon, mushrooms, nuts and dairy products. The easiest way to stop germs from infecting your children is to avoid them altogether. Emphasize hand-washing at home and make sure your children understand how germs are spread from surface to surface. Teach your children how and when to wash their hands: with soap and warm water for at least 30 seconds, and then dried thoroughly, after using the bathroom and before eating. Keep alcohol-based sanitizing gels on hand for times when hand-washing is not possible. Flu Shots For Everyone Consider flu shots for the whole family. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all people over the age of 6 months get a yearly flu shot. School absences double during flu season, which leads to missed work days for parents as well. A regular flu shot may be the easiest way to avoid an illness that is at best miserable and at worst potentially life-threatening. Most insurance plans cover flu vaccines. You can also keep an eye out for free or reduced-price flu shots through schools and county health departments. Try to get a shot as soon as you can for the longest window of protection. Flu shots are available until May, but supplies may grow short. Small changes in habit can help your family resist colds and flu viruses. Adequate sleep and diet, proper hygiene and preventive vaccines are all integral parts of an intelligent approach to avoiding illness. By incorporating these strategies, you can keep your family well all year long.
The basic element of the Multi Layer Perceptron (MLP) neural network, is the artificial neuron. An artificial neuron, is a unit that performs a simple mathematical operation on its inputs. In the figure below, the neuron is graphically presented. The input, x, of the neuron consists of the variables x1 ... xn and a bias term, known as the momentum constant, which is equal to 1. Each of the input values is multiplied by a weight, wi , after which the results are added. On the result, a simple mathematical function, f (x), is performed. This function is also known as the activation function. The calculations the neuron performs are thus given by: Numerous choices for the functions exist. Frequently used implementations are the Sigmoid functions: f(u) = 1 / (1 + e-u ) f (u) = c1 * tanh ( c2 * u) (in the picture c1 = c2 = 1) An MLP network, as any type of back-propagation network can consist of many neurons, which are ordered in layers. The neurons in the hidden layers do the actual processing, while the neurons in the input and output layer merely distribute and collect the signals. Although many hidden layers can be used, it has been shown that an MLP with one hidden layer can approximate any continuous function. Therefore in 20-sim, the MLP networks only have one hidden layer. The MLP network is trained by adapting the weights. During training the network output is compared with a desired output. The error between these two signals is used to adapt the weights. This rate of adaptation is controlled by the learning rate. A high learning rate will make the network adapt its weights quickly, but will make it potentially unstable. Setting the learning rate to zero, will make the network keep its weights constant.
Climate change is directly related to the building of urban areas and cities. As the city scapes apply materials that are not environmentally friendly, it reverses the compatibility of the city. An effect that many urban areas experience is the heat island effect. This is related directly to the development of the streets and buildings. Using different landscape supply materials alters the outcome of the heat that is held within city limits. The heat island effect takes place because of the materials used with the cities. Chemicals used to create pathways and incompatible building materials absorbs heat from the sun. As it absorbs and holds the heat, it creates a climatic effect in the region, developing a heat island effect. The landscape supply and materials are unable to respond to the heat. Instead, it reflects on other buildings and absorbs in the pathways and unnatural materials. Unusual levels of heat are developed specifically from this phenomena. As cities begin to build sustainability in urban areas, is also the need to have landscape supply that is compatible with nature. Porous materials are able to respond to heat differently. Instead of reacting, absorbing or reflecting the materials, it works with nature to balance the heat. Using organic materials and items that respond with a porous approach also reduces the heat island effect that is within the city. Landscape architects not only need to look at the basic approaches for their materials and development. Calculating the heat island effect with their landscape supply will alter the quality results that take place. More important, it will assist with balancing nature and urban areas to reduce the problematic environmental issues that are now at hand. Changing the urban development through different approaches will alter the outcome of the climate and nature. Using a landscape supply that balances with the environment will also reduce the impact of the heat island effect. With natural materials, lower amounts of maintenance and less heat absorption will take place in city scapes.
The Kohoutek 4-55 a star located 4600 light years from Earth has been observed at its final stage for the past 16 years. The latest photos from the Hubble Space Telescope show exactly how the process occurs. As a star ages, the internal nuclear reactions become more uneven and falter. The uneven energy release because the star to pulsate causing wave energy discharged into the universe. This leads to it shedding its gasses each time it pulsates getting smaller and weaker with ever energy impulse. "We have nothing to worry about at the moment, the sun is still at optimum performance," said a NASA scientist. "But the star provides insights about how it will eventually happen." The telescope took photos in three wavelengths to show in detail hat actually happens. The red wavelength showed the presence of nitrogen and oxygen and the primary catalyst of the supernova occurrence. It was noted that the oxygen and nitrogen appeared in the clouds of swirls. The sun still has about five billion years to go. But when it does happen, scientists predict that it would be a beautiful spectacle for the rest of the universe.
How you can help your students avoid difficulties with organic chemistry Organic chemistry can appear unattractive to some students at first glance. The terminology it uses can make some see it as a difficult section of chemistry to understand. Fears of the subject area can then be compounded by the complexity of some organic compounds, the requirement to visualise them in 3D and a perceived need to rote learn lots of information. But there are many ways to help students see organic chemistry in all its glory. Carbon-based materials are all around us and the diversity of these makes the study of carbon compounds both interesting and confusing. The very word organic has several meanings which may be more familiar to students, referring to the way some food products are produced or to living materials. The terminology we use can be a barrier to learning as students struggle with a whole new ‘language’ of specific terms which, designed to systematise nomenclature, can muddy the waters as we introduce new names for familiar materials. Ethanoic acid for acetic acid and poly(ethene) for polythene, for example. ‘Old’ names persist in industry and in some areas of higher education simply because they are familiar and short and yet the dictates of examinations mean we have to help students to grapple with this whole new language. Students often fail to connect organic chemistry with other branches of the subject because it is taught in isolation although a more holistic approach in some schemes of work such as Salters’ Advanced Chemistry can avoid this difficulty. Seeing organic chemistry as a series of facts to be learned is often how students perceive the subject and our teaching approach needs to connect ideas to give an integrated structure to students’ thinking. Not least of the difficulties students face is the bewildering complexity of compounds and their 3D structure. Why is carbon special? The ability of carbon to form long chains and stable rings of atoms is unique among the elements and this provides a starting point for many teachers. We often introduce simple hydrocarbons and the naming of them to begin our study of organic chemistry. Students can be turned off by rote learning so an approach which includes some mind games such as gridlocks or card sorts can challenge and stimulate them. Carbon compounds, especially hydrocarbons, are important fuels but the kinetic stability of chains of carbon compounds in this context is counterintuitive. A mixture of hydrocarbon or alcohol vapour and air is thermodynamically unstable, but thankfully kinetically stable at room temperature. Demonstrations such as the ‘whoosh bottle’ can bring this distinction alive and inspire our students at the same time. The stereochemistry of carbon compounds is crucial to the biological activity of many organic compounds but students often have difficulties visualising the molecules especially if they have only seen 2D drawings of them. There are many types of models available commercially and their use in conjunction with samples of optically active compounds such as carvone can bring this alive and allow the students to appreciate the subtleties of 3D structures. Some schools, and many students, have access to smartphone and tablet apps which also allow the building of 3D images that can be rotated on the screen. A mechanistic approach Students find a rote learning approach to organic reactions and mechanisms difficult and unengaging. An alternative method is to use their prior knowledge of electronegativity and electrostatics and consider how these affect interactions between molecules and attacking species. Students may be familiar with this approach if the suggestions made in an earlier article from the CPD series on chemical bonding have been followed. You can engage students in studying reaction mechanisms by asking them to illustrate the reaction using models: photograph each stage and use a smartphone app to produce an animation of the reaction. Practical organic chemistry Organic reactions where preparations require prolonged heating might not give the instant gratification that students find so stimulating in inorganic chemistry. Organic chemicals are also often perceived as hazardous or just plain smelly. Adopting a reduced scale approach to practical organic chemistry can improve manipulative skills, take less time, minimise risks by using small quantities of potentially hazardous or unpleasant chemicals, and generate quiet independent work. Examples of such experiments can be found on Learn Chemistry and from the CLEAPSS advisory service (see guide L215 and these videos). David Everett is a retired chemistry teacher now working as an independent science education consultant This topic is covered in one of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Developing Expertise in Teaching courses, designed to support you throughout your teaching career. Find out more about CPD for Teachers courses on offer.
New work from a team of astronomers led by Carnegie’s Jennifer van Saders indicates that one recently developed method for determining a star’s age needs to be recalibrated for stars that are older than our Sun. This is due to new information about the way older stars spin, as spin rate is one of the few windows into stellar ages. Their findings have implications for our own solar system as they indicate that our Sun might be on the cusp of a transition in its magnetic field. Just like planets, stars rotate around an axis. As stars age, this spin slows down due to the star’s magnetic field acting on its stellar wind, which is a flow of gas moving away from the star. The loss of mass, as the flowing gases get caught in the magnetic field and spin outward until they are ejected, affects the Sun’s angular momentum and causes the slowdown. In this way, the magnetic field acts like a brake. About a decade ago, it was discovered that this phenomenon can be used to calculate the age of a Sun-like star if its rotation rate and mass are known. The process is called gyrochronology. However, in their new paper, van Saders and her team demonstrate that stars don’t spin down exactly as expected when they get older. The correction affects the gyrochronological calculation for older stars. Prior to gyrochronology, scientists would use properties of a star that change over time like the surface temperature and luminosity to infer its age. However, the changes are so slow and minimal that precise inferences of age are difficult. Another newer method involves studying sound waves in the interiors of stars, which can detect changes in a star’s deep core where hydrogen is burned to helium. However, these kinds of observations are expensive and require bright targets, so they can’t be used for many stars. Measuring rotation, on the other hand, is fairly straightforward — if we can validate and calibrate gyrochronology, it could be a powerful tool for measuring ages in large numbers of stars “The ability to determine a star’s age is important for improving our understanding of the life cycles of astronomical systems — for cataloging how the star and the objects near it have changed through history and for predicting how they might change in the future,” van Saders said. “Gyrochronology has the potential to be a very precise method for determining the ages of the average Sun-like star, provided we can get the calibrations correct.” Data from the Kepler spacecraft now make it possible to test the calibrations of gyrochronology for stars older than our Sun, which is what van Saders and her team set out to do. What they found is that standard models predict more slowdown as stars age than actually occurs, leading the team to conclude that the magnetic field’s braking action is weaker in intermediate-aged and old stars — stars older than the Sun. Their findings imply that something fundamentally changes in the magnetization of stellar winds as stars get older. If so, our Sun could be close, in an astronomical sense, to a critical transition to a weakened braking power for its magnetic field. This is something that would likely occur on timescales that seem long to humans but very fast in comparison to the lifetime of the Sun. It’s impossible to say how quickly based on current data, but the team is now working on answering this and related questions. More concretely, it means that using current gyrochronologic calculation techniques will not be as accurate for stars that are more than halfway through their lifetimes as they are for younger stars. “I think this is a very important result that will greatly improve our ability to understand the stellar aging process,” said John Mulchaey from Carnegie.
The meat of most adult mammals falls in the category of red meat, such as beef, lamb, pork, venison, goat and some others. Not all red meats are the same color. The color variations result from differences in diet, exercise, breed, and especially by the age of animal, which can produce darker red meat as it gets older. In the case of red meat, you probably associate a pinkish-red color with freshness. This color is a result of the protein called myoglobin, that stores oxygen in muscle cells and is purplish in color. When it is mixed with oxygen, it becomes oxymyoglobin and produces bright red color. The more myoglobin there is in the cells, the redder the meat. When you cook the red meat, the color changes depending on what the meat’s interior temperature is. The redder the meat, the darker it will get when cooked. Prolonged exposure to air and light will darken meat that starts out bright red. Color changes can also occur if raw meat is frozen, where it can fade or turn more of a brownish shade due to oxidation. Even if there’s a color change, the meat remains perfectly fine to eat if stored in the refrigerator or freezer and consumed within a safe period of time. Ground meat may be refrigerated for one to two days and five days for other cuts. Beyond color change, the best way to tell if the meat gone bad is to let your other senses be your guide. Smell it, touch it, and look at it.
Around the time that your child starts secondary school, you might need to adjust your approach to discipline. Effective discipline for teenagers focuses on setting agreed limits and helping teenagers work within them. Teenage discipline: the basics Discipline isn’t about punishment. It’s about teaching children appropriate ways to behave. For teenagers, discipline is about agreeing on and setting appropriate limits and helping them behave within those limits. When your child was younger, you probably used a range of discipline strategies to teach him the basics of good behaviour. Now your child is growing into a teenager, you can use limits and boundaries to help him learn independence, take responsibility for his behaviour and its outcomes, and solve problems. Your child needs these skills to become a young adult with her own standards for appropriate behaviour and respect for others. An important part of this is learning to stick to some clear rules, agreed on in advance, and with agreed consequences. Teenagers don’t yet have all the skills they need to make all their own decisions, so the limits you agree on for behaviour are an important influence on your child. Teenage discipline is most effective when you: communicate openly with your child, so you can check in with each other about how the limits and rules are working build and maintain a warm and loving family environment, so your child feels safe to make mistakes. Children with warm family relationships learn to control their own behaviour, especially when guided by parents. is a key part of communicating with teenagers and can help avoid problems. Negotiating with your child shows that you respect his ideas. It also helps him learn to compromise when necessary as part of decision-making. Agreeing on clear limits Clear limits and expectations can discourage problem behaviour from happening in the first place. Limits also help your child develop positive social behaviour, including showing concern for others. Here are some tips for setting clear limits: Involve your child in working out limits and rules. When your child feels that you listen to her and she can contribute, she’ll be more likely to see you as fair and stick to the agreed rules. Be clear about the behaviour you expect. It can help to check that your child has understood your expectations. For example, a rule such as ‘Come home after the movie’ might mean one thing to you, but something different to your child. But you can say it more precisely – for example, ‘Come straight home after the movie ends and don’t go anywhere else’. Discuss responsibilities with your child. For example, ‘I’m responsible for providing for you. You have responsibilities too, such as tidying your room’. Agree in advance with your child what the consequences will be if he doesn’t stick to the rules you’ve agreed on. Use descriptive praise when your child follows through on agreed limits. For example, ‘Thanks for coming straight home from the movie’. Be willing to discuss and adjust rules as your child shows responsibility or gets older – for example, by extending your child’s curfew. Different families have different standards and rules for behaviour. To check whether yours are realistic and reasonable, you could talk with parents and friends who have children of the same age. Many schools can also help with guidance. Or why not connect with other parents by joining our pre-teens forum or early teens forum? Video Deciding family rules In this short video, mums, dads and teenagers talk together about why family rules are important, how rules are decided, and how household jobs are shared out. They also talk about how to sort out conflict over the rules. Teenagers sometimes test limits and break rules. Using our Talking to Teens interactive guide , you can see how different approaches to handling this tricky situation can get different results. Sometimes your child might behave in ways that test your limits or break the rules you’ve agreed on. One way to deal with this is by using consequences. Make the consequence fit If you can make the consequence fit the misbehaviour, it gets your child to think about the issue and can feel fairer to your child too. For example, if your child is home later than the agreed time, a fitting consequence might be having to come home early next time. The aim of this strategy is to help your child understand your perspective and to learn that she needs to give and take. For example, if your child wants you to drive him to social outings, you could say you’ll do this if he follows the rules. Try to avoid making this into a bribe. Let your child know beforehand that you might withdraw your cooperation as a consequence for misbehaviour. For example, ‘If you’d like me to keep driving you, you need to come home on time. If you’re late, I won’t drive you next time’. The aim is to help your child understand your perspective and to learn that he needs to give and take. This consequence should be used sparingly – if you use it too much, it won’t work as well. The idea is to remove something that you know your child enjoys – for example, going to a friend’s house. You need to let your child know in advance that this is what you plan to do. You don’t need to withdraw privileges for a long time for this consequence to be effective. Aim for a short withdrawal that occurs within the few days following the misbehaviour. Whatever consequence you choose, these strategies might help to reinforce it: Communication: explain calmly and clearly what the problem is to your child. Tell her how she hasn’t stuck to the rules you agreed on, and let her know that you’ll be applying the agreed consequence. Self-reflection: encourage your child to think about his behaviour and how it could be different in the future. Talk with him about the agreement you had, and what he thinks should happen as a consequence of breaking it. Often teenagers will be much harsher than their parents. This allows you to settle on future consequences that you both see as fair. It’s best to balance rules and consequences with warmth and positivity. Try to aim for six positive comments for every negative comment. Why teenagers test the limits Teenagers have the job of developing into independent adults. One way they do this is to test boundaries, and then see how others react to their behaviour. This teaches them what the social expectations are. As they receive feedback, they learn what’s expected. On top of this the teenage brain goes through massive growth and development during adolescence. As a result teenagers try new things but don’t always make good decisions. They’re more influenced by peers. And they feel things more intensely than you do. At the same time, teenagers are getting better at seeing the big picture and reasoning. This means they question their world more and use creative ways to solve problems. For all these reasons, it might sometimes feel like you’re on a collision course with your child. But you can work around obstacles with your child and guide her away from tricky situations.
Article from the spring 2014 issue of The Livestock Conservancy News An Island for Cattle and Seabirds By: William Schlegel Coastal islands often support both wildlife and feral livestock with rare genetics. This is the case in Alaska’s Aleutian Island chain. A number of the Aleutians are home to feral, semiferal, or managed populations of cattle, bison, horses, sheep, or reindeer, introduced within the last 200 years. The cattle on one Aleutian Island have come to the attention of the media. I speak of Chirikof Island, and the cattle that bear its name. You see, the cattle of Chirikof Island were originally introduced to feed workers for a fox farm on the island in the late 1800s. After a period of abandonment, the island was subsequently leased for ranching until the year 2000, when the lease was not renewed because of a change in jurisdiction. The island was no longer managed by the Bureau of Land Management, but by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), which chose not to renew the final lease. There was a final failed attempt to remove the cattle in the early 2000s, but ever since, the cattle have remained and have reverted to feral. To understand what is happening on Chirikof it might be best to go to another set of islands off the California coast. A few years back, I was lucky enough to make it out on a field trip put together by Santa Barbara Botanical Garden to Santa Barbara Island, one of the smallest Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California. California’s Channel Islands have a history of agriculture, including rare livestock breeds, and like the Aleutians, in the 20th century these livestock came into conflict with rare and endangered native plants and animals. At the time of my visit to Santa Barbara Island, the native vegetation had been severely impacted by past farming and livestock rearing and water had to be hauled by boat for the animals. Native plants were coming back, but non-native annual grasses transported to the island during its agricultural era were thriving. So too was a species of invasive iceplant transplanted to the island by seabirds from the mainland. Removing feral livestock from islands is an action which is being repeated around the world. Many islands were populated with livestock during the days of exploration and settlement, where they were often left unmanaged. Left to fend for themselves, these populations are subject to unique selective forces and genetic drift. Many descend from breeds that are today lost or uncommon. Unfortunately, the pattern has also been that when a large herbivore is introduced to an island without predators, its population exceeds its carrying capacity and overgrazing is the natural consequence. Many island plants are poorly adapted to grazing, and will go into decline if grazed. This is particularly an acute problem in biodiversity hotspots like California and the tropics. Isolated islands in these regions may not only hold high diversity, but may also harbor native plant and animal populations found nowhere else in the world. Even after removing introduced livestock, it is difficult for these native animals or plants to come back. By the same token, having evolved to live by the island’s specific set of environmental and climatic rules, native island plants and animals often tend to be unique. Therefore islands represent a tremendous opportunity for ecological restoration, and many islands around the world have restoration programs. In California, a choice was made to rescue some of the rare domestic breeds for conservation on the mainland (see the accompanying article on Santa Cruz Island sheep), and also to rehabilitate the islands to protect their native flora and fauna, much of which can be found nowhere else on earth. This ensured the future for both the livestock and the wildlife, and was possible only through collaboration between organizations such as The Nature Conservancy, The Livestock Conservancy, and university researchers. On Chirikof Island, during the last effort to remove cattle, some genetic samples were taken. It seems the cattle of Chirikof Island are special, very special. A 2007 scientific paper by scientists at the US Department of Agriculture National Animal Germplasm Repository confirmed that they had a relatively small degree of genetic relatedness to other breeds of beef cattle. The Chirikof cattle were more like the cattle of Russia, the country which originally colonized and then sold Alaska to the United States. They determined this by comparing the Chirikof cattle DNA to that of rare Russian Yakut cattle, which showed a closer relationship than any other breed they had tested. Some of the cattle introduced to Chirikof Island must have descended from the animals of the early Russian settlers and missionaries of coastal Alaska. Not only did these Russian genetics make it to the island (and probably other Aleutian Islands as well), but they thrived there. Animals with Russian genes out-survived all other cattle intro ductions, which continued even into the 1980s. Though Chirikof Island cattle can be variable in appearance and even have a variety of coat patterns, they form a genetically discrete group or breed, with less within-breed variation than many other breeds. The Chirikof cattle are well known for cold tolerance and can live on grass year round. They are the result of natural selection for thriving on grass in a hostile climate. The genetically unique nature of Chirikof cattle and their adaptations to cold and grass-only diets make them perhaps ideally suited to serve the need for hardy, cold-adapted, range-fed cattle. Producers in Alaska, Canada, and many Western states might benefit from such a hardy breed for grassfed beef. Some might find value in using Chirikof bulls in a crossbreeding program, while conserving their unique traits by maintaining a purebred herd to replenish their breeding stock. Grassfed beef has proven health benefits to consumers, and cattle genetics that perform well on grass are in demand. Chirikof cattle could potentially have a bright future in the beef industry. Research on the genetics of Chirikof Island cattle may unlock clues to cold tolerance and other fitness traits in cattle. Chirikof Island and many of the Aleutian Islands are managed by the USFWS as part of the Maritime Wildlife Refuge. The USFWS does not have it as part of its mission to maintain feral cattle. They are charged with protecting archeological sites, native seabird breeding grounds, and native vegetation. An unmanaged cattle population, with no controls on herd size, grazing, or wetland access, will tend to trample stream banks, eat certain plants preferentially, and cause increases in bare ground. More bare ground could cause accelerated erosion rates and damage to archeological sites. All of this is damage the USFWS believes may be in progress on Chirikof Island and other islands in the Refuge. The USFWS recently held a public comment period, seeking input on how to approach the problem. The Livestock Conservancy, USDA’s National Animal Germplasm Laboratory, locals, and concerned individuals such as myself have responded. Local folks in Alaska would like the cattle left on the island. Some see having a healthy population of cattle on a remote island as an insurance policy against potential devastating livestock diseases. Like many of us, they see cattle as food, as a resource for their subsistence. At least one local rancher has claimed an ownership interest in the herd. Locals would also like the opportunity to save and eat the meat of any animals slaughtered in the name of restoration. My favorite solution to this conundrum is a return to livestock management. A new lease or partnership of some kind would allow cattle management to return to the island. The cattle could be fenced out of sensitive portions of the island to allow streams, wetlands, and archeological sites to heal. Fencing might also allow portions of the island to be used for nesting habitat by seabirds, either through rotational grazing or permanent cattle exclosures. Perhaps the cattle wranglers could participate in eradication of introduced foxes and rodents. Eradicating nonnative foxes and rodents would enhance the restoration goals of the USFWS while allowing the rare cattle to remain in the environment where they have been allowed to evolve for the last hundred years. Although a solution which allows the cattle to stay on the island might not be within the scope of the USFWS’s current mission for Chirikof, it is not without precedent. The Wichita Mountain National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma has played a central role in the preservation of the historic Texas Longhorn breed. The Wichita Mountain effort was likely the first federal attempt at rare breed conservation on the planet. Begun in 1927, it saved the Texas Longhorn from extinction. A similar mission could be appropriate for Chirikof Island, as the Chirikof Island cattle are a historically important remnant of the original cattle brought to Russian America by early settlers. Any such opportunity would also have to weigh the conservation of wildlife, native culture, and practical aspects of tourism to this remote island, and protecting and preserving both the Chirikof cattle breed and wildlife may not ultimately prove practicable. The alternative option to ongoing management would undoubtedly mean the removal of Chirikof Island’s cattle from their historic home. The worst-case scenario would be eradication without salvage, as happened not so long ago on a nearby island. In the 1980s, the USFWS determined that they should remove cattle from the Shumagin Islands. Most attempts to physically remove cattle from the island failed, so most animals were simply shot and left to rot. Ten animals were moved to Unga Island and under ownership by a native group, and now number 30-100 head. Better options than simple slaughter may be available for Chirikof. A mobile abattoir is used for processing grass fed beef for a cattle ranching operation on nearby Sitkinak Island. The USDA Livestock Germplasm Repository and the Livestock Conservancy are interested in helping to salvage germplasm as well as live animals. Realistically, even for such a rescue mission to procure beef to feed people and germplasm to rescue the breed, substantial funding must be obtained.
These NGSS lesson plans will help students learn about the human population and the impact it has on the consumption of natural resources. This resource has six lessons. Included are a standards poster, photos and data charts/graphs for stimulating discussion, task cards to aid in student research, links to data, an informational article about deforestation, and a rubric for grading the student’s claim. There are also short readings about solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric energy sources, as well as one about biofuels. There are also 4 essential vocabulary cards, and more! Lesson 1: Phenomenon – Easter Island Lesson 2: A Growing Population Lesson 3: Deforestation Lesson 4: Impacts of Increased Human Population and Per Capita Consumption of Natural Resources is Having on Earth’s Systems Lesson 5: Renewable Energy (optional) Lesson 6: Writing a Claim About How Increases in Human Population and Per Capita Consumption of Natural Resources Impact Earth’s Systems ✅Please make sure you have access to YouTube before you purchase this Unit.
As an electromagnetic wave intersects the interface between two dielectrics, it is the boundary conditions on the electromagnetic field that determine the properties of the reflected and trans-mitted waves. In the dielectric where the incident wave is present, the electric and magnetic fields are the vector sums of those of the incident and reflected waves. The boundary conditions that need satisfying can be derived from Maxwell’s equations in integral form and are the same as were derived in “Essential Electromagnetism”. The relevant geometry is shown in below Figure together with the Gaussian pillbox and Amperian loops to be used. Figure: Gaussian pillbox and Amperian loops straddling the interface to be used in determining the boundary conditions on the EM wave fields. The Gaussian pillbox is to be used with Gauss’ law ʃ D • dS = qf, encl and the no-magnetic-charge law ʃ B • dS = 0. The pillbox is infinitesimally thin and so we are only concerned with free surface charge, but in our case, we have σf = 0. Hence, The Amperian loops are to be used with Ampere’s law (as modified) ʃ H * dr = ʃ (Jf + δD/δt) • dS and Faraday’s law ʃ E • dr = — ʃ δD/δt • dS. The Amperian loops are infinitesimally thin such that the contributions of δD/δt and δB/δt are negligible, and so we are only concerned with free surface currents but in our case Kf = 0, so, For the equations involving the magnetic field, we can substitute B = (n/c)E. Thus, for a monochromatic plane EM wave in a non-magnetic material, for which µ ≈ μ0 such that Ԑ ≈ n2 Ԑ0, we have a set of six simultaneous equations for Er and Et to be solved in terms of the (known) amplitude the electric field of the incident wave Ei, its angle of incidence O and the refractive indices of the two dielectrics. For the cases of polarisation perpendicular to, or parallel to, the plane of incidence, three of the six equations are identity equations leaving three equations (one of these three being redundant) which we will solve in the following sections.
On 8 January 1918, Thomas Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924), who had been President of the USA since 1913, held a programmatic speech before both houses of Congress in which he interpreted the war as a moral struggle for democracy and staked out the cornerstones for post-war Europe. Wilson demanded a new basis for international relations: there was to be no more secret diplomacy and the peace should be negotiated ‘frankly and in the public view’. Another point concerned the establishment of a ‘general association of nations’ as a platform to afford ‘guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike’. In 1920 this led to the foundation of the League of Nations, the forerunner of the United Nations, for which Wilson was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Wilson’s programme also contained a number of demands concerned with trade politics such as ‘absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters’ and the ‘the removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers’ in international trade relations. And in a further point he made reference to a ‘free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims’. In addition to these demands, which were somewhat vaguely formulated and intended principally as food for thought and debate, Wilson’s famous ‘Fourteen Points’ speech also contained concrete demands for a new European order. Germany was to re-establish Belgium as an independent state and return Alsace-Lorraine to France. The Russian areas under German occupation were to be evacuated and given the freedom to determine their own political development. Furthermore, the new order after the conclusion of peace was to include the establishment of an independent Polish state and provide for stability in the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire. With respect to the Habsburg Monarchy, Wilson demanded that the border to Italy be redrawn in accordance with the language spoken on either side (‘along clearly recognizable lines of nationality’). Particularly significant was the fact that Wilson supported the demand of the peoples of Austria-Hungary for guarantees of ‘the freest opportunity to autonomous development.’ The reactions were divided. The USA’s European allies were sceptical about the demands, which in their opinion were too idealistic. As from the German point of view Wilson’s demands seemed quite acceptable, Berlin interpreted the programme as a basic set of conditions for German capitulation. When the negotiations in the treaties of 1919/20 concluded in the suburbs of Paris finally led to results differing significantly from Wilson’s demands, the Germans considered that their trust had been abused and made extremely distorted claims concerning Wilson’s original intentions. Vienna likewise considered Wilson’s plan for the post-war world an acceptable one. In particular, his concern for the continued existence of the Dual Monarchy was regarded as offering a glimmer of hope, for according to Wilson the multi-national state was in principle to remain in place, even though the individual nationalities were to be guaranteed the greatest possible autonomy. In May 1918, however, the USA underwent a fundamental change of attitude. As Austria-Hungary was not willing to revoke its alliance with Germany, there was no longer any taboo on dismembering the Habsburg Monarchy and the establishment of nation-states in Central Europe now became the general aim of the Entente in the new ordering of post-war Europe. This was the final death blow for the Monarchy, because Wilson’s call for the Central European nationalities to be accorded ‘the freest opportunity to autonomous development’ was now understood by their political leaders as a call for national liberation. The campaigns for independence being waged by the non-German and non-Magyar ethnic groups acquired new impetus and the anti-Austrian line gained the upper hand in public opinion. Even though the noble principle of the ‘self-determination of the nations’ was hardly applicable to central and south-eastern Europe, because there were large areas inhabited by two or more different ethnic groups, the new catchword thus became the guiding principle for the creation of the new territorial order. Translation: Peter John Nicholson Bihl, Wolfdieter: Der Erste Weltkrieg 1914–1918. Chronik – Daten – Fakten, Wien/Köln/Weimar 2010 - The course of the war 1917–1918: Face-to-face with imminent downfall - The situation in the hinterland - Apathy and resistance – The mood of the people - The Sixtus Affair: A major diplomatic débacle - A programme for world peace – President Wilson’s Fourteen Points - ‘To My faithful Austrian peoples’ – Emperor Karl’s manifesto - The collapse - The disintegration of the Habsburg Monarchy – Part I: On the road to self-determination - The disintegration of the Habsburg Monarchy – Part II: The situation in Vienna and Budapest - The last days of the Monarchy
Definition: Area is the total amount of space inside a two dimensional shape. Area is measured in square units, such as “square meters” or m². Each two dimensional figure has its own unique area formula. Example: Find the area of the rectangle: Use the area formula for rectangles to find the area of the figure. Step 1: For this figure, we’ll use the formula Length x Width = Area. We can determine these values from the figure: length = 5 m width = 2 m Step 2: Plug the values into the formula and solve. Length x Width = Area 5 x 2 = Area 10 = Area Because area is always measured in square units, we will label this answer as 10 square meters or 10 m². Still need help finding the area of a figure? Download Yup and get help from an expert math tutor 24/7.
A disorder that includes difficulty staying focused and paying attention, difficulty controlling behaviour and hyperactivity. Although ADHD is not considered a learning disability, research indicates that from 30-50 percent of children with ADHD also have a specific learning disability, and that the two conditions can interact to make learning extremely challenging. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a condition that becomes apparent in some children in the preschool and early school years. It is hard for these children to control their behaviour and/or pay attention. Many children with ADHD approximately 20 to 30 percent also have a specific learning disability. The principle characteristics of ADHD are inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. There are three subtypes of ADHD recognised by professionals. These are the predominantly hyperactive/impulsive type (that does not show significant inattention); The predominantly inattentive type (that does not show significant hyperactive-impulsive behaviour) sometimes called ADD; and the combined type (that displays both inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive symptoms). Symptoms of ADHD The principal characteristics of ADHD are inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. These symptoms appear early in a child’s life. Because many normal children may have these symptoms, but at a low level, or the symptoms may be caused by another disorder, it is important that the child receive a thorough examination and appropriate diagnosis by a well-qualified professional. Symptoms of ADHD will appear over the course of many months, often with the symptoms of impulsiveness and hyperactivity preceding those of inattention, which may not emerge for a year or more. Different symptoms may appear in different settings, depending on the demands the situation may pose for the child’s self-control. A child who “can’t sit still” or is otherwise disruptive will be noticeable in school, but the inattentive daydreamer may be overlooked. The impulsive child who acts before thinking may be considered just a “discipline problem,” while the child who is passive or sluggish may be viewed as merely unmotivated. Yet both may have different types of ADHD. All children are sometimes restless, sometimes act without thinking, sometimes daydream the time away. When the child’s hyperactivity, distractibility, poor concentration, or impulsivity begin to affect performance in school, social relationships with other children, or behavior at home, ADHD may be suspected. But because the symptoms vary so much across settings, ADHD is not easy to diagnose. This is especially true when inattentiveness is the primary symptom. According to the most recent version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR), there are three patterns of behavior that indicate ADHD. People with ADHD may show several signs of being consistently inattentive. They may have a pattern of being hyperactive and impulsive far more than others of their age. Or they may show all three types of behavior. This means that there are three subtypes of ADHD recognized by professionals. These are the predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type (that does not show significant inattention); the predominantly inattentive type (that does not show significant hyperactive-impulsive behavior) sometimes called ADD – an outdated term for this entire disorder; and the combined type (that displays both inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive symptoms). Hyperactive children always seem to be “on the go” or constantly in motion. They dash around touching or playing with whatever is in sight, or talk incessantly. Sitting still at dinner or during a school lesson or story can be a difficult task. They squirm and fidget in their seats or roam around the room. Or they may wiggle their feet, touch everything, or noisily tap their pencil. Hyperactive teenagers or adults may feel internally restless. They often report needing to stay busy and may try to do several things at once. Impulsive children seem unable to curb their immediate reactions or think before they act. They will often blurt out inappropriate comments, display their emotions without restraint, and act without regard for the later consequences of their conduct. Their impulsivity may make it hard for them to wait for things they want or to take their turn in games. They may grab a toy from another child or hit when they’re upset. Even as teenagers or adults, they may impulsively choose to do things that have an immediate but small payoff rather than engage in activities that may take more effort yet provide much greater but delayed rewards. Some signs of hyperactivity-impulsivity are: - Feeling restless, often fidgeting with hands or feet, or squirming while seated - Running, climbing, or leaving a seat in situations where sitting or quiet behavior is expected - Blurting out answers before hearing the whole question - Having difficulty waiting in line or taking turns. Children who are inattentive have a hard time keeping their minds on any one thing and may get bored with a task after only a few minutes. If they are doing something they really enjoy, they have no trouble paying attention. But focusing deliberate, conscious attention to organizing and completing a task or learning something new is difficult. Homework is particularly hard for these children. They will forget to write down an assignment, or leave it at school. They will forget to bring a book home, or bring the wrong one. The homework, if finally finished, is full of errors and erasures. Homework is often accompanied by frustration for both parent and child. - Often becoming easily distracted by irrelevant sights and sounds - Often failing to pay attention to details and making careless mistakes - Rarely following instructions carefully and completely losing or forgetting things like toys, or pencils, books, and tools needed for a task - Often skipping from one uncompleted activity to another. Children diagnosed with the Predominantly Inattentive Type of ADHD are seldom impulsive or hyperactive, yet they have significant problems paying attention. They appear to be daydreaming, “spacey,” easily confused, slow moving, and lethargic. They may have difficulty processing information as quickly and accurately as other children. When the teacher gives oral or even written instructions, this child has a hard time understanding what he or she is supposed to do and makes frequent mistakes. Yet the child may sit quietly, unobtrusively, and even appear to be working but not fully attending to or understanding the task and the instructions. These children don’t show significant problems with impulsivity and overactivity in the classroom, on the school ground, or at home. They may get along better with other children than the more impulsive and hyperactive types of ADHD, and they may not have the same sorts of social problems so common with the combined type of ADHD. So often their problems with inattention are overlooked. But they need help just as much as children with other types of ADHD, who cause more obvious problems in the classroom.
Ants and epiphytes: A longstanding relationship The first farmers on the Fijian archipelago were ants: For millions of years, an ant species on the islands has nurtured epiphytes, which provide them with nesting sites. Moreover, the interaction is vital for the survival of both partners. Many species of ants live in symbiosis with plants, and both partners in these relationships profit. One of the most remarkable of these interactions is that between the ant species Philidris nagasau and at least six members of the plant genus Squamellaria on the islands of Fiji, which is the subject of a new study by botany professor Susanne Renner from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich and her Ph.D. student Guillaume Chomicki that is coming out in the journal Nature Plants. By reconstructing the evolutionary history of these relationships, the LMU researchers demonstrate that the ants began to actively cultivate their plant partners at least three million years ago — long before humans in the Near East hit on the same idea. The genus Squamellaria is made up of epiphytic species that grow on trees. The tiny ants begin their careers as gardeners by collecting seeds from the Squamellaria species to which they have become adapted. The insects then "plant" the seeds in fissures in the bark of the host tree, where they then germinate. "The plants colonize three or four tree species, which are also attractive for the ants, either because they produce readily accessible nectar, or because their bark is particularly soft, so that the ants can easily widen the cracks that form," Renner says. Squamellaria are adapted to this niche, as the hypocotyl of the germinating seedlings elongates into a unique 'foot', enabling the seedling to rapidly grow out of the bark crack and into the light. The seedlings then immediately form a tiny tuber with a preformed hole – the so-called domatium – into which ants enter to defecate and thereby fertilize the seedling. As the seedlings grow, the domatium becomes larger, forming a network of galleries connected to the outside, which the ants colonize to form large colonies, continuing to use some chambers for fecal matter, others just for their larvae. As epiphytes, Squamellaria species cannot draw on soil as a source of inorganic nutrients, and the ants promote their growth by supplying them with 'fertilizer'. As the ants plant more seedlings, all of which they eventually colonize, they are creating a kind of village on the supporting tree, with many well protected nests. A single ant colony occupies many Squamellaria plants, only one of the many 'houses' containing the queen: "One often finds dozens of colonies, connected by ant highways, on a single tree. All of these individuals are the progeny of a single queen, whose nest is located in the center of the system," Chomicki explains. In contrast to other instances of symbiosis between plants and ants, the interaction between Squamellaria and Philidris nagasau has become so specialized that neither partner can survive on its own. The LMU researchers were able to date the beginnings of the ant-plant symbioses by using the degrees of difference between homologous DNA sequences in both plants and ants as independent molecular clocks. — Based on calibrated rates of mutation, one can work out approximately when the species involved in the interactions originated, and thus the earliest point at which the symbioses could have formed. The results indicate that the mutualistic relationship between Philidris and Squamellaria began about 3 million years ago, probably as a result of the evolution of reciprocally beneficial adaptations. The ants presumably "discovered" how to promote the growth and propagation of their hosts only after Squamellaria had adopted the epiphytic lifestyle.
lysine demethylase 6A The KDM6A gene provides instructions for making an enzyme called lysine-specific demethylase 6A that is found in many organs and tissues of the body. Lysine-specific demethylase 6A functions as a histone demethylase. Histone demethylases are enzymes that modify proteins called histones. Histones are structural proteins that attach (bind) to DNA and give chromosomes their shape. By removing a molecule called a methyl group from histones (a process called demethylation), histone demethylases control (regulate) the activity of certain genes. Lysine-specific demethylase 6A appears to regulate certain genes that are important for development. Lysine-specific demethylase 6A is also believed to act as a tumor suppressor, which means it normally helps prevent cells from growing and dividing in an uncontrolled way. At least five mutations in the KDM6A gene have been identified in people with Kabuki syndrome, a disorder characterized by distinctive facial features, intellectual disability, and abnormalities affecting other parts of the body. The KDM6A gene mutations associated with Kabuki syndrome delete genetic material in the KDM6A gene sequence or result in a premature stop signal that leads to an abnormally short lysine-specific demethylase 6A enzyme. As a result of these mutations, the enzyme is nonfunctional. A lack of functional lysine-specific demethylase 6A enzyme disrupts its role in histone demethylation and impairs proper regulation of certain genes in many of the body's organs and tissues, resulting in the abnormalities of development and function characteristic of Kabuki syndrome. Although lysine-specific demethylase 6A is believed to act as a tumor suppressor, a loss of this enzyme's function does not seem to increase cancer risk in people with Kabuki syndrome. Some KDM6A gene mutations are not inherited but occur during a person's lifetime. Such mutations, which are called somatic mutations, are present only in certain cells. Somatic mutations in the KDM6A gene have been identified in certain cancers. These include cancers of the breast, esophagus, colon, kidney, and brain, and cancers of the blood-forming cells called myeloid leukemia and multiple myeloma. Most of these mutations result in an abnormally short, nonfunctional lysine-specific demethylase 6A enzyme that cannot perform its role as a tumor suppressor, resulting in the development of cancer. - bA386N14.2 (ubiquitously transcribed X chromosome tetratricopeptide repeat protein (UTX)) - histone demethylase UTX - lysine (K)-specific demethylase 6A - lysine-specific demethylase 6A - ubiquitously transcribed tetratricopeptide repeat protein X-linked - ubiquitously-transcribed TPR gene on the X chromosome - ubiquitously-transcribed TPR protein on the X chromosome
Geology, Soils and Climate; how they affect the El Yunque National Forest’s Ecosystems. By Alan Mowbray El Yunque National Forest Puerto Rico is part of a large volcanic island complex that occurs between the junction of the American and Caribbean tectonic plates. These islands were shaped during the formation of the Caribbean plate and the separation of North and South America. The rocks underlying the Luquillo Mountains were formed by active volcanoes at or near sea level during the Cretaceous and Tertiary geological periods. Debris from these volcanoes was deposited in deep water after being moved by submarine landslides and currents. Later tectonic activity uplifted this debris and it became the dominant structure of the Luquillo mountains. The Luquillo Mountains are composed mainly of igneous rock formed in the Cretaceous period, with some intrusive materials from the Tertiary. Luquillo mountain soils were formed in residual volcanic ash, and are moderately rich in nutrients. Little stable organic matter accumulates, due to rapid decomposition, except in local areas at upper elevations, where decomposition is inhibited by water saturation of the soil. Except for phosphorous, nutrients in the soil are typically greater than those found above ground. Most soils in the upper Luquillo Mountains are typically a red or yellowish color, due to their high concentrations of iron and aluminum oxides and hydroxides. In addition they often contain quartz and kaolin, and small amounts of other minerals and organic matter. Soil profiles vary as a function of topography. Steep slopes, cliffs and stream beds may have less soil depth than flatter areas. Puerto Rico lies in the path of the trade winds that constantly move eastward across the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea after they form off the coast of Africa. Because they lie at the northeastern end of the island, the Luquillo Mountains are the first land mass that the moisture laden trade winds encounter. As a result, these mountains are the wettest area on the island. Wonderful map of annual rainfall in Puerto Rico. Average rainfall ranges from 96 inches at lower elevations to over 175 inches at higher elevations. Maximum rainfall occurs from May to November, although intense rainfall may occur at any time during the year. These intense rains can measure as much as 2.5 inches (6.35 centimeters) in one hour. The forest’s average temperature ranges from 80°F at lower elevations to 64°F at the higher elevations. El Yunque is typically 10° F cooler than nearby coastal areas. The forest’s maximum and minimum temperatures are 90º F and 52° F . El Yunque’s elevations range from 575 feet (175 meters) at the forest’s northern boundary to 3,533 feet (1,076 meters) at El Toro, the forest’s highest peak. The terrain ranges from gentle slopes in the lower elevations to steep, almost vertical rock-faced cliffs at higher elevations. What does all of this mean? Out of necessity, some of the trees, plants and shrubs of the forest have adapted to the varying geological, topographic and climatic conditions of the forest’s four vegetation zones. As an example, the Mountain Sierra Palm (Prestoea montana); grows exposed “buttress roots” to stabilize the tree by helping it cling to steep cliff edges, unstable soils and river banks occurring in the forest’s 5,000 acre Sierra Palm zone found above 1,400 feet elevation. Other trees, plants and shrubs (and some animals) have adapted in special ways to accommodate the forest’s differing conditions. When you next visit El Yunque, and view its vast biological diversity while you are hiking, discover for yourself how some plants and animals have had to adapt to accommodate their environment or habitat! . . . . . . abridged version of an article written by Alan Mowbray. The Dwarf or 'Cloud' Forest is a unique example of adaptation to extreme conditions of wind and rain.
Connecting mathematical experiences to the world around them, children are challenged to become increasingly sophisticated in dealing with mathematical concepts. The mathematics curriculum builds on students' math understanding, skills, and proficiency at each grade level, as appropriate, by integrating concepts such as number and operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, and data analysis and probability. Students also engage in problem solving, reasoning, and communicating ideas while making connections to the world around them. District 196 Board-Approved K-12 Beliefs - All students can learn mathematics. - Mathematics develops logical thinking and problem-solving skills which help students understand and function in the world round them. - Learning mathematics is an active, collaborative process that balances computation, procedures and problem solving, and provides support and challenge for all learners. - Mathematics curriculum must be coherent, focused and well articulated through the grades. - Technology is essential in teaching and learning mathematics. - Assessment supports the learning of mathematics and provides useful information to students, teachers, parents and the public. - On-going professional development is a key component of a strong mathematics program. - Quality mathematics education is enhanced through public and home support. (Adapted with permission from Principles and Standards of Mathematics, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, © 2000) Please access the links below for the complete text of the Minnesota Academic Standards for Mathematics or the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Principles and Standards. - When you click on the following link, you are taken to the Minnesota Department of Education Website. Click on the menu option “Academic Standards.” Scroll down the page for the Mathematics menu option on the left hand side of the page. Minnesota Academic Standards - When you click on the following link, you are taken to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards page. You are able to navigate through the levels by clicking on menu options at the top of the webpage. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
A protostar is a stage in the evolution of a young star (see star formation) after it has fragmented from a interstellar gas cloud but before it has collapsed sufficiently for nuclear fusion reactions to begin. It may last from 100,000 to 10 million years, depending on the mass of the star. A protostar is surrounded by a dense cocoon of gas and dust that blocks visible light, but allows through large amounts of far infrared and microwave radiation. A protostellar core is the smallest opaque clump into which a collapsing interstellar cloud fragments. The characteristic mass of a protostellar core is about 0.01 solar mass. It subsequently grows by accretion as surrounding matter falls toward it, attaining stellar mass, and becoming a protostar, within 100,000 years after its initial formation.
Reproduction in Plants Plant reproduction is the process by which plants generate new individuals, or offspring. Reproduction is either sexual or asexual. Sexual reproduction is the formation of offspring by the fusion of gametes . Asexual reproduction is the formation of offspring without the fusion of gametes. Sexual reproduction results in offspring genetically different from the parents. Asexual offspring are genetically identical except for mutation. In higher plants, offspring are packaged in a protective seed, which can be long lived and can disperse the offspring some distance from the parents. In flowering plants (angiosperms), the seed itself is contained inside a fruit, which may protect the developing seeds and aid in their dispersal. Sexual Reproduction in Angiosperms: Ovule Formation All plants have a life cycle that consists of two distinct forms that differ in size and the number of chromosomes per cell. In flowering plants, the The flower produces two kinds of gametophytes, male and female. The female gametophyte arises from a cell within the ovule , a small structure within the ovary of the flower. The ovary is a larger structure within the flower that contains and protects usually many ovules. Flowering plants are unique in that their ovules are entirely enclosed in the ovary. The ovary itself is part of a larger structure called the carpel, which consists of the stigma, style, and ovary. Each ovule is attached to ovary tissue by a stalk called the funicle. The point of attachment of the funicle to the ovary is called the placenta. As the flower develops from a bud, a cell within an ovule called the archespore enlarges to form an embryo-sac mother cell (EMC). The EMC divides by meiosis to produce four megaspores. In this process the number of chromosomes is reduced from two sets in the EMC to one set in the megaspores, making the megaspores haploid. Three of the four megaspores degenerate and disappear, while the fourth divides mitotically three times to produce eight haploid cells. These cells together constitute the female gametophyte, called the embryo sac. The eight embryo sac cells differentiate into two synergids, three antipodal cells, two fused endosperm nuclei, and an egg cell. The mature embryo sac is situated at the outer opening (micropyle) of the ovule, ready to receive the sperm cells delivered by the male gametophyte. The male gametophyte is the mature pollen grain. Pollen is produced in the anthers, which are attached at the distal end of filaments. The filament and anther together constitute the stamen, the male sex organ. Flowers usually produce many stamens just inside of the petals. As the flower matures, cells in the anther divide mitotically to produce pollen mother cells (PMC). The PMCs divide by meiosis to produce haploid microspores in groups of four called tetrads. The microspores are housed within a single layer of cells called the tapetum, which provides nutrition to the developing pollen grains. Each microspore develops a hard, opaque outer layer called the exine, which is constructed from a lipoprotein called sporopollenin. The exine has characteristic pores, ridges, or projections that can often be used to identify a species, even in fossil pollen. The microspore divides mitotically once or twice to produce two or three haploid nuclei inside the mature pollen grain. Two of the nuclei function as sperm nuclei that can eventually fuse with the egg and endosperm nuclei of the embryo sac, producing an embryo and endosperm, respectively. For sexual fusion to take place, however, the pollen grain must be transported to the stigma, which is a receptive platform on the top of the style, an elongated extension on top of the carpel(s). Here the moist surface or chemicals cause the pollen grain to germinate. Germination is the growth of a tube from the surface of a pollen grain. The tube is a sheath of pectin , inside of which is a solution of water, solutes , and the two or three nuclei, which lack any cell walls. Proper growth of the pollen tube requires an aqueous solution of appropriate solute concentration, as well as nutrients such as boron, which may aid in its synthesis of pectin. At the apex of the tube are active ribosomes and endoplasmic reticulum (types of cell organelles ) involved in protein synthesis. Pectinase and a glucanase (both enzymes that break down carbohydrates ) probably maintain flexibility of the growing tube and aid in penetration. The pollen tube apex also releases ribonucleic acid (RNA) and ribosomes into the tissues of the style. The tube grows to eventually reach the ovary, where it may travel along intercellular spaces until it reaches a placenta. Through chemical recognition, the pollen tube changes its direction of growth and penetrates through the placenta to the ovule. Here the tube reaches the embryo sac lying close to the micropyle, and sexual fertilization takes place. Fertilization in flowering plants is unique among all known organisms, in that not one but two cells are fertilized, in a process called double fertilization. One sperm nucleus in the pollen tube fuses with the egg cell in the embryo sac, and the other sperm nucleus fuses with the diploid endosperm nucleus. The fertilized egg cell is a zygote that develops into the diploid embryo of the sporophyte. The fertilized endosperm nucleus develops into the triploid endosperm, a nutritive tissue that sustains the embryo and seedling. The only other known plant group exhibiting double fertilization is the Gnetales in the genus Ephedra, a nonflowering seed plant. However, in this case the second fertilization product degenerates and does not develop into endosperm. Double fertilization begins when the pollen tube grows into one of the two synergid cells in the embryo sac, possibly as a result of chemical attraction to calcium. After penetrating the synergid, the apex of the pollen tube breaks open, releasing the two sperm nuclei and other contents into the synergid. As the synergid degenerates, it envelops the egg and endosperm cells, holding the two sperm nuclei close and the other expelled contents of the pollen tube. The egg cell then opens and engulfs the sperm cell, whose membrane breaks apart and allows the nucleus to move near the egg nucleus. The nuclear envelopes then disintegrate, and the two nuclei combine to form the single diploid nucleus of the zygote. The other sperm cell fuses with the two endosperm nuclei, forming a single triploid cell, the primary endosperm cell, which divides mitotically into the endosperm tissue. Double fertilization and the production of endosperm may have contributed to the great ecological success of flowering plants by accelerating the growth of seedlings and improving survival at this vulnerable stage. Faster seedling development may have given flowering plants the upper hand in competition with gymnosperm seedlings in some habitats, leading to the abundance of flowering plants in most temperate and tropical regions. Gymnosperms nevertheless are still dominant at higher elevations and latitudes, and at low elevations in the Pacific Northwest coniferous forests, such as the coastal redwoods. The reasons for these patterns are still controversial. The seed is the mature, fertilized ovule. After fertilization, the haploid cells of the embryo sac disintegrate. The maternally derived diploid cells of the ovule develop into the hard, water-resistant outer covering of the seed, called the testa, or seed coat. The diploid zygote develops into the embryo, and the triploid endosperm cells multiply and provide nutrition. The testa usually shows a scar called the hilum where the ovule was originally attached to the funicle. In some seeds a ridge along the testa called the raphe shows where the funicle originally was pressed against the ovule. The micropyle of the ovule usually survives as a small pore in the seed coat that allows passage of water during germination of the seed. In some species, the funicle develops into a larger structure on the seed called an aril, which is often brightly colored, juicy, and contains sugars that are consumed by animals that may also disperse the seed (as in nutmeg, arrowroot, oxalis, and castor bean). This is distinct from the fruit, which forms from the ovary itself. The embryo consists of the cotyledon(s) , epicotyl, and hypocotyl. The cotyledons resemble small leaves, and are usually the first photosynthetic organs of the plant. The portion of the embryo above the cotyledons is the epicotyl, and the portion below is the hypocotyl. The epicotyl is an apical meristem that produces the shoot of the growing plant and the first true leaves after germination. The hypocotyl develops into the root. Often the tip of the hypocotyl, the radicle, is the first indication of germination as it breaks out of the seed. Flowering plants are classified as monocotyledons or dicotyledons (most are now called eudicots ) based on the number of cotyledons produced in the embryo. Common monocotyledons include grasses, sedges, lilies, irises, and orchids; common dicotyledons include sunflowers, roses, legumes, snapdragons, and all nonconiferous trees. The endosperm may be consumed by the embryo, as in many legumes, which use the cotyledons as a food source during germination. In other species the endosperm persists until germination, when it is used as a food The fruit of a flowering plant is the mature ovary. As seeds mature, the surrounding ovary wall forms a protective structure that may aid in dispersal. The surrounding ovary tissue is called the pericarp and consists of three layers. From the outside to inside, these layers are the exocarp, mesocarp, and endocarp. The exocarp is usually tough and skinlike. The mesocarp is often thick, succulent, and sweet. The endocarp, which surrounds the seeds, may be hard and stony, as in most species with fleshy fruit, such as apricots. A fruit is termed simple if it is produced by a single ripened ovary in a single flower (apples, oranges, apricots). An aggregated fruit is a cluster of mature ovaries produced by a single flower (blackberries, raspberries, strawberries). A multiple fruit is a cluster of many ripened ovaries on separate flowers growing together in the same inflorescence (pineapple, mulberry, fig). A simple fruit may be fleshy or dry. A fleshy simple fruit is classified as a berry (grape, tomato, papaya), pepo (cucumber, watermelon, pumpkin), hesperidium (orange), drupe (apricot), or pome (apple). Dry simple fruits have a dry pericarp at maturity. They may or may not dehisce, or split, along a seam to release the seeds. A dehiscent dry fruit is classified as legume or pod (pea, bean), silique or silicle (mustard), capsule (poppy, lily), or follicle (milkweed, larkspur, columbine). An indehiscent dry fruit that does not split to release seeds is classified as an achene (sunflower, buttercup, sycamore), grain or caryopsis (grasses such as corn, wheat, rice, barley), schizocarp (carrot, celery, fennel), winged samara (maple, ash, elm), nut (acorn, chestnut, hazelnut), or utricle (duckweed family). Some fruiting bodies contain non-ovary tissue and are sometimes called pseudocarps. The sweet flesh of apples and pears, for example, is composed not of the pericarp but the receptacle, or upper portion, of the flowering shoot to which petals and other floral organs are attached. Fruiting bodies of all kinds function to protect and disperse the seeds they contain. Protection can be physical (hard coverings) or chemical (repellents of seed predators). Sweet, fleshy fruits are attractive food for birds and mammals that consume seeds along with the fruit and pass the seeds intact in their fecal matter, which can act as a fertilizer. Dry fruits are usually adapted for wind dispersal of seeds, as for example with the assistance of winglike structures or a fluffy pappus that provides buoyancy. The diversity of fruiting bodies reflects in part the diversity of dispersal agents in the environment, which select for different fruit size, shape, and chemistry. Pollination and Pollinators Pollination is the movement of pollen from the stamens to the stigma, where germination and growth of the pollen tube occur. Most (approximately 96 percent) of all flowering plant species are hermaphroditic (possess both sexual functions within a plant, usually within every flower), and thus an individual can be pollinated by its own pollen or by pollen from another individual. Seed produced through self-pollination ("selfed" seed) is often inferior in growth, survival, and fecundity to seed produced through outcross pollination ("outcrossed" seed). As a result, in most species there is strong natural selection to maximize the proportion of outcrossed seed (the "outcrossing rate"). Flowering plants are unusual among seed plants in their superlative exploitation of animals (primarily insects) as agents of outcross pollination. The outcross pollination efficiency of insects, birds, and mammals (primarily bats) may have contributed to both the abundance and diversity of flowering plants. Abundance may have increased because of less wastage of energy and resources on unsuccessful pollen and ovules. Diversity may have increased for two reasons. First, insects undoubtedly have selected for a wide variety of floral forms that provide different rewards (pollen and nectar) and are attractive in appearance (color juxtaposition, size, shape) and scent (sweet, skunky) in different ways to different pollinators. Second, faithfulness of pollinators to particular familiar flowers may have reduced hybridization and speeded evolutionary divergence and the production of new species. Although flowering plants first appeared after most of the major groups of insects had already evolved, flowering plants probably caused the evolution of many new species within these groups. Some new insect groups, such as bees and butterflies, originated after flowering plants, their members developing mouthpart structures and behavior specialized for pollination. In extreme cases, a plant is completely dependent on one insect species for pollination, and the insect is completely dependent on one plant species for food. Such tight interdependency occurs rarely but is well documented in yuccas/yucca moths, senita cacti/senita moths, and fig trees/some fig wasps. In all three insects, females lay eggs in the flowers, and their young hatch later to feed on the mature fruit and its contents. Females ensure that the fruit develops by gathering pollen from another plant and transporting it to the stigma of the flower holding their eggs. Plants benefit greatly in outcrossed seed produced, at the small cost of some consumed fruit and seeds, and the insects benefit greatly from the food supply for developing larvae at the small cost of transporting pollen the short distances between plants. Pollinating agents, whether biotic or abiotic , have exerted strong selection on all aspects of the flower, resulting in the evolution of tremendous floral diversity. This diversity has been distilled into a small number of characteristic pollination syndromes. Pollination by beetles selects usually for white color, a strong fruity scent, and a shallow, bowl-shaped flower. Bees select for yellow or blue/purple colorings, a landing platform with color patterns that guide the bee to nectar (often reflecting in the ultraviolet range of the spectrum), bilateral symmetry, and a sweet scent. Butterflies select for many colors other than yellow, a corolla (petal) tube with nectar at the base, and the absence of any scent. Moths in contrast select for nocturnally opening flowers with a strong scent and drab or white color, and also a tube with nectar at the base. Bats select also for nocturnally opening flowers, but with a strong musky scent and copious nectar, positioned well outside the foliage for easy access, and drab or white color. Hummingbirds select for red or orange flowers with no scent, copious nectar production, and a corolla tube with nectar at the base. Other pollinating birds that do not hover while feeding select for strong perches and flowers capable of containing copious nectar (tubes, funnels, cup shapes). Wind as a pollinating agent selects for lack of color, scent, and nectar; small corolla; a large stigmatic surface area (usually feathery); abundantly produced, buoyant pollen; and usually erect styles and limp, hanging stamens. In addition there is great floral diversity within any of these syndromes, arising from the diverse evolutionary histories of the member plant species. Selfing and Outcrossing Most flowering plant species reproduce primarily by outcrossing, including the great majority of trees, shrubs, and perennial herbs. Adaptations that prevent self-fertilization include self-incompatibility (genetic recognition and blocking of self-pollen) and dioecy (separate male and female individuals). Adaptations that reduce the chances of self-pollination in hermaphrodites include separation of the anthers and stigma in space (herkogamy) or time (dichogamy). In many species, both self-incompatibility and spatiotemporal separation of the sex organs occur. The ability to produce seeds by selfing, however, is advantageous in situations where outcrossing pollination is difficult or impossible. These include harsh environments where pollinators are rare or unpredictable, and regularly disturbed ground where survivors often end up isolated from each other. Selfing is also cheaper than outcrossing, because selfers can become pollinated without assistance from animals and therefore need not produce large, attractive flowers with abundant nectar and pollen rewards. Most primarily selfing species are small annuals in variable or disturbed habitats, with small, drab flowers. Most desert annuals and roadside weeds, for example, are selfers. The evolutionary transition from outcrossing to near-complete selfing has occurred many times in flowering plants. Outcrossing and selfing species differ in their evolutionary potential. Outcrossers are generally more genetically diverse and produce lineages that persist over long periods of evolutionary time, during which many new species are formed. Selfers, however, are less genetically diverse and tend to accumulate harmful mutations. They typically go extinct before they have an opportunity to evolve new species. The ability to produce new individuals asexually is common in plants. Under appropriate experimental conditions, nearly every cell of a flowering plant is capable of regenerating the entire plant. In nature, new plants may be regenerated from leaves, stems, or roots that receive an appropriate stimulus and become separated from the parent plant. In most cases, these new plants arise from undifferentiated parenchyma cells, which develop into buds that produce roots and shoots before or after separating from the parent. New plants can be produced from aboveground or belowground horizontal runners (stolons of strawberries, rhizomes of many grasses), tubers (potato, Jerusalem artichoke, dahlia), bulbs (onion, garlic), corms (crocus, gladiola), bulbils on the shoot (lily, many grasses), parenchyma cells in the leaves (Kalanchoe, African violet, jade plant) and inflorescence (arrowhead). Vegetative propagation is an economically important means of replicating valuable agricultural plants, through cuttings, layering, and grafting . Vegetative reproduction is especially common in aquatic vascular plants (for example, surfgrass and eelgrass), from which fragments can break off, disperse in the current, and develop into new whole plants. A minority of flowering plants can produce seeds without the fusion of egg and sperm (known as parthenocarpy or agamospermy). This occurs when meiosis in the ovule is interrupted, and a diploid egg cell is produced, which functions as a zygote without fertilization. Familiar examples include citrus, dandelion, hawkweed, buttercup, blackberry/raspberry, and sorbus. Agamospermous species are more common at high elevations and at high latitudes, and nearly all have experienced a doubling of their chromosome number (tetraploidy) in their recent evolutionary history. These species experience evolutionary advantages and disadvantages similar to those of selfers. Evolutionary Significance of Plant Reproduction Strategies The attractive, colorful, and unique features of the most abundant and diverse group of land plants—the flowering plants—are believed to have evolved primarily to maximize the efficiency and speed of outcross reproduction. Each major burst of angiosperm evolution was a coevolutionary episode with associated animals, primarily insects, which were exploited to disperse pollen and seeds in ever more efficient and diverse ways. The first major burst of flowering plant evolution was the appearance of the closed carpel together with showy flowers that were radially symmetrical . The closed carpel prevented self-fertilization through recognition and blocking of self pollen within the specialized conducting tissue of the style. Insects attracted to the showy flowers carried pollen between plants less wastefully than wind, and the radial symmetry accommodated insects of many sizes and shapes. The second major burst was the appearance of bilaterally symmetrical flowers, which happened independently in many groups of plants at the same time that bees evolved. Bilateral symmetry forced bees to enter and exit flowers more precisely, promoting even more efficient outcross pollen transfer. The third major burst of flowering plant evolution was the appearance of nutritious, fleshy fruits and seeds, coincident with a diversification of birds and rodents. The exploitation of vertebrates for fruit and seed dispersal resulted in less haphazard transport of offspring to neighboring populations of the same species (also visited as a food source), thereby reducing the chances that progeny inbreed with their siblings and parents and providing more assurance than wind currents that they find good habitat and unrelated mating partners of the same species. Stewart T. Schultz Ayala, F. J., W. M. Fitch, and M. T. Clegg, eds. Variation and Evolution in Plants and Microorganisms. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2000. Barth, F. G. Insects and Flowers. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991. Baskin, C. C., and J. M. Baskin. Seeds: Ecology, Biogeography, and Evolution of Dormancy and Germination. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 1998. Briggs, D., and S. M. Walters. Plant Variation and Evolution, 3rd ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Chittka, L., and J. D. Thomson, eds. Cognitive Ecology of Pollination: Animal Behavior and Floral Evolution. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Dickison, W. C. Integrative Plant Anatomy. San Diego, CA: Harcourt/Academic Press, 2000. Heywood, V. H., ed. Flowering Plants of the World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. Marshall, C., and J. Grace. Fruit and Seed Production: Aspects of Development, Environmental Physiology and Ecology (Society for Experimental Biology Seminar, No. 47). New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Proctor, M., P. Yeo, and A. Lack. The Natural History of Pollination. Portland, OR: Timber Press, 1996. Richards, A. J. Plant Breeding Systems, 2nd ed. Cheltenham, England: Stanley Thornes Publishers Ltd., 1997. Simpson, B. B., and M. Conner-Orgorzaly. Economic Botany: Plants in Our World, 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1995.
Blood films, Giemsa stained A blood film or peripheral blood smear is a thin layer of blood smeared on a microscope slide and then stained in such a way to allow the various blood cells to be examined microscopically. Blood films are usually examined to investigate hematological problems (disorders of the blood) and, occasionally, to look for parasites within the blood such as malaria and filaria. Blood films are made by placing a drop of blood on one end of a slide, and using a spreader slide to disperse the blood over the slide's length. The aim is to get a region, called a monolayer, where the cells are spaced far enough apart to be counted and differentiated. The monolayer is found in the "feathered edge" created by the spreader slide as it draws the blood forward. The slide is left to air dry, after which the blood is fixed to the slide by immersing it briefly in methanol. The fixative is essential for good staining and presentation of cellular detail. After fixation, the slide is stained to distinguish the cells from each other. Routine analysis of blood in medical laboratories is usually performed on blood films stained with Romanowsky, Wright's, or Giemsa stain. Wright-Giemsa combination stain is also a popular choice. These stains allow for the detection of white blood cell, red blood cell, and platelet abnormalities. Hematopathologists often use other specialized stains to aid in the differential diagnosis of blood disorders. After staining, the monolayer is viewed under a microscope using magnification up to 1000x. Individual cells are examined and their morphology is characterized and recorded. Characteristic red blood cell abnormalities are anemia, sickle cell anemia and spherocytosis. Sometimes the microscopic investigation of the red cells can be essential to the diagnosis of life-threatening disease (e.g. TTP). White blood cells are classified according to their propensity to stain with particular substances, the shape of the nuclei and the granular inclusions. - Neutrophil granulocytes usually make up close to 80% of the white count. They have multilobate nuclei and lightly staining granules. They assist in destruction of foreign particles by the immune system by phagocytosis and intracellular killing. - Eosinophil granulocytes have granules that stain with eosin and play a role in allergy and parasitic disease. Eos have a multilobate nucleus. - Basophil granulocytes are only seen occasionally. They are polymorphonucleated and their granules stain dark with alkaline stains, such as haematoxylin. They are further characterised by the fact that the granules seem to overlie the nucleus. Basophils are similar if not identical in cell lineage to mast cells, although no conclusive evidence to this end has been shown. Mast cells are "tissue basophils" and mediate certain immune reactions to allergens. - Lymphocytes have very little cytoplasm and a large nucleus (high NC ratio) and are responsible for antigen-specific immune functions, either by antibodies (B cell) or by direct cytotoxicity (T cell). The distinction between B and T cells cannot be made by light microscopy. - Plasma cells are mature B lymphocytes that engage in the production of one specific antibody. They are characterised by light basophilic staining and a very eccentric nucleus. - Other cells are white cell precursors. When these are very abundant it can be a feature of infection or leukemia, although the most common types of leukemia (CML and CLL) are characterised by mature cells, and have more of an abnormal appearance on light microscopy (additional tests can aid the diagnosis). The preferred and most reliable diagnosis of malaria is microscopic examination of blood films, because each of the four major parasite species has distinguishing characteristics. Two sorts of blood film are traditionally used. Thin films are similar to usual blood films and allow species identification, because the parasite's appearance is best preserved in this preparation. Thick films allow the microscopist to screen a larger volume of blood and are about eleven times more sensitive than the thin film, so picking up low levels of infection is easier on the thick film, but the appearance of the parasite is much more distorted and therefore distinguishing between the different species can be much more difficult. From the thick film, an experienced microscopist can detect all parasites they encounter. Microscopic diagnosis can be difficult because the early trophozoites ("ring form") of all four species look identical and it is never possible to diagnose species on the basis of a single ring form; species identification is always based on several trophozoites. Please refer to the chapters on each parasite for their microscopic appearances: P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, P. malariae. The biggest pitfall in most laboratories in developed countries is leaving too great a delay between taking the blood sample and making the blood films. As blood cools to room temperature, male gametocytes will divide and release microgametes: these are long sinuous filamentous structures that can be mistaken for organisms such as Borrelia. If the blood is kept at warmer temperatures, schizonts will rupture and merozoites invading erythrocytes will mistakenly give the appearance of the accolé form of P. falciparum. If P. vivax or P. ovale is left for several hours in EDTA, the buildup of acid in the sample will cause the parasitised erythrocytes to shrink and the parasite will roll up, simulating the appearance of P. malariae. This problem is made worse if anticoagulants such as heparin or citrate are used. The anticoagulant that causes the least problems is EDTA. Romanowsky stain or a variant stain is usually used. Some laboratories mistakenly use the same staining pH as they do for routine haematology blood films (pH 6.8): malaria blood films must be stained at pH 7.2, or Schüffner's dots and James's dots will not be seen. - In the television series Dexter, serial killer Dexter Morgan keeps samples of his victims' bloods in blood slides.
New Weizmann research in bats and published in Science has identified ‘social place cells’ in the brain that respond to the locations of others in the spatial environment, revealing a sub-population of neurons that encode the specific location of other bats that are flying nearby. Whether we are playing a team sport or just strolling with our family through the park, we are continually aware of the positions of those around us – and where each is heading. In recent decades, scientists have pinpointed neurons called ‘place cells’ in our brains that encode our own location in the environment, but how our brains represent the positions of others has been a mystery until now. “Bats, like humans, are social animals; they are supreme navigators and they are very aware of other bats in their spacial environment,” said Professor Nachum Ulanovsky of the Weizmann Institute’s Neurobiology Department, who led the study. Ulanovsky’s research with Egyptian fruit bats focuses on the place cells, which are found in a part of the brain called the hippocampus. These cells, which help us and other mammals form the internal cognitive maps that we use to navigate our environment, garnered their discoverers a Nobel Prize in 2014. More recent research has suggested that the hippocampus may also play a role in social interaction. So Ulanovsky and his group, including Dr David Omer, Dr Liora Las and research student Shir Maimon, asked how these two functions, place and social, might intersect in this part of the brain. Ulanovsky and his team devised an experimental learning situation for the bats in their unique ‘bat lab’ in which two bats – a ‘teacher’ and a ‘student’ – were paired. The student at first observed how the teacher flew randomly towards one of the ‘fruit stands’ placed in the lab and back to his perch. After about 13 seconds, on average, the student tracked the teacher’s route to the food. To uncover what was taking place within the bats’ brains, each bat was equipped with a miniature wireless recording device called a neural logger and tiny electrodes that enabled the researchers to record the activity of nearly 400 brain cells in the forward region of the hippocampus. These tiny electrodes and recording device, which have been developed by Ulanovsky and his group over the years, do not interfere with the bats’ activities in any way. “The most challenging part of the experiments was to prevent the two bats from flying off together, as we needed one to stay put so we could differentiate the self- from the other-place cells,” said Ulanovsky. “The trick was to identify the alpha males of the group and make them the teachers – this then made the students ‘pay respect’ and not fly out together with the teachers.” The results of these experiments support the idea that our brains create a cognitive map not just of our location in the environment, but one that includes social mapping. When the student bats navigated the lab space on their own, their place cells were naturally active. But when they stayed still and observed the teacher bats, around 18% of their hippocampus cells represented the position of the other bat – that is, they became active when the teacher flew through a specific portion of space. Further analysis suggested that around half of these cells were acting alternately as regular place cells or as social place cells that located the other bat, while others were responsive only to the other bat’s location. Motion sensors that tracked the head movement of the student bats showed that these movements could not account for the social place cell activity. Another set of experiments addressed the question of whether the sub-populations of cells the researchers had identified are truly social. The scientists had the student bats observe moving objects – balls or dice — taking the same paths as the teachers had taken in the previous experiments, with and without the rewards at the end. The objects were also represented in the hippocampus, but there was a clear distinction between these and the cells that fired electric pulses in response to other bats. A functional anatomy analysis of these cells showed a spatial separation between areas in the hippocampus that map objects or other animals. Together with a similar study conducted in rats by scientists at RIKEN, also published today in Science, this research opens the door to some new questions on these social place cells. For example: How do these cells act in “social settings” with many participants? Does their activity depend on the relatedness of the other animal, or their sex? “These findings suggest that the ‘place’ part of the hippocampus is not just involved in navigating the physical landscape. It plays an important role in navigating the social landscape, as well,” concluded Urlanovsky. Professor Nachum Ulanovsky’s research is supported by the Andre Deloro Prize; the European Research Council; and Rita and Steven Harowitz. Bats flying in the darkened lab are identified by blue and red lights. (See the video below to see which bat is which) Illustration of two bats flying from a perch to a stand with food
Books open up new worlds, and provide the gateway for learning. Reading is one of the most important things children learn in the primary years. Because of this it is a priority in our preschool program. We ensure that students develop skills needed for early reading and on-going reading success. An individualized approach allows students to advance as quickly as they are ready through each level of our program (see curriculum map for more information). Preschoolers master critical phonics skills, build vocabulary, and increase comprehension through a variety of developmentally appropriate and engaging activities which are kinesthetic, auditory, and visual. Our goal is to provide a strong foundation for future academic success, and spark a love of reading in our students. Through interactive, hands-on activities, students gain a strong foundation in math which is critical for ongoing conceptual understanding. The teacher facilitates exploration in geometry, patterning, classifying, number sense, arithmetic, and graphing, setting the stage for advanced math development. DIG: Outdoor Science Program DIG (Discovering and Investigating God’s Creation) is one of the premier programs at Bear Creek. This outdoor science experience helps students have a sense of wonder as they explore God’s creation. They examine rocks and trees, leaves, flowers, and grass. With delight they plunge their fingers deep in the soil of our DIG boxes searching for spiders, snails, and slugs. They observe and track the growth of the plants in the garden beds. Kale and parsley grown and nurtured by our preschoolers are popular preschool snacks. As they walk through the wetlands they listen, look and feel; discovering this amazing habitat. Our preschool students grow in kindness, responsibility, and respect through our Character Counts program. Each character quality has a stuffed animal that helps students remember the quality, and stories are read to give models of strong character. The playground and the classroom provide many opportunities for kids to practice and teachers to encourage character development. Tomorrow’s leaders must be able to imagine, create, and innovate. The Imagination Lab is a place where preschoolers are free to explore the many interesting materials available and use their inquisitiveness to create. Whether they are designing and constructing a machine, making puppets for their own puppet show, or fashioning an intricate pattern, they experience the joy of imagination and invention. History and Social Studies Young children love to learn facts and build up knowledge about the world around them. Social studies is taught through stories, songs, field trips, and other interactive experiences, Our P3 students learn about community members and their roles and contributions. P4 and P5 students learn about famous Americans, the United States, and American traditions. Handwriting Without Tears is our handwriting curriculum. It is designed to help preschoolers develop fine motor skills and learn important fundamentals. Our preschoolers progress through Levels 1-3 of the program and learn proper pencil grip, letter formation, and number writing. Through journal writing and other activities, students use emergent writing skills beginning with drawing, and leading to full sentence writing. Exploring a variety of mediums, students paint, mold, color, and paste, growing in their confidence as artists. Each preschooler gets to celebrate art by displaying some of his/her artwork in the all school art show (Authors & Artists) in the spring. Students grow in their love of music as they experiment with percussion, learn aspects of rhythm, sing songs, and dance. In addition to regular class sessions with our music specialist, teachers incorporate music into daily activities. These experiences nurture physical, emotional, and social development in children, and cultivate an appreciation for God’s gift of music. A Biblical worldview is central to all that we do in the preschool classroom and is integrated throughout the entire program. God’s Amazing Creation is our curriculum theme. Students memorize Bible verses and learn many Bible stories related to this theme. Each student experiences God’s great love through activities in the classroom. Students participate in a monthly chapel time. Lessons focus on concepts that preschool-aged students are ready to learn: knowing God, loving Him, and living for Him.
Cat scratch fever is something most people have heard of, but could not describe it if asked. Cat scratch fever is more commonly called cat scratch disease (CSD) in the medical field, or it may be referred to by its scientific name, Bartonella henselae. CSD is a bacterial infection thought to be found in the feces of infected fleas and spread when the cat scratches her self and then scratches a human. When the cat scratches herself, the infected flea feces may get on the claw into the tiny crevices and in the sheath of the claw and then when that cat scratches a human, the bacteria are transferred into the open wound the scratch created. Washing any cat scratches and bites promptly with warm water and anti-bacterial soap reduces the likelihood of human infection. The human symptoms include site infection (swelling, redness, puss, tenderness of the surrounding skin), fever, headache, fatigue, skin eruptions, swollen and painful lymph nodes and weight loss. Very rarely will a CSD infection become more severe, but there have been cases such as spleen enlargement and heart valve infection. People who's immune systems are compromised are more likely to experience severe complications than healthy individuals. Approximately 40% of cats are believed to carry CSD at one point in their lives. Carriers of Bartonella henselae usually show no clinical signs. There is no one test that truly diagnoses a cat with CSD, but there are some oral medications that can be administered if it is believed the cat is carrying CSD. These oral medications are not always effective. To reduce the likelihood of your cat being a carrier and you getting CSD from your cat there are a few basic rules of thumb to adhere to. Use a flea preventative, comb your cat for fleas as often as necessary, keep your cat indoors to reduce his exposure to fleas, don't rough play with your cat, keep her claws trimmed, wash any scratches and bites promptly and don't let your cat lick at any open wounds.
The Perfecting the Pillars eight-book series teaches students about the first two pillars of Islam: shahada (testifying to the oneness of Allah) and salah. The other three pillars of Islam will be covered in the remaining six books of the series, which are currently under development. The lessons in this series are based on short stories that make learning facts more enjoyable. The stories feature young children that the student can identify with, and they take place in different countries (America, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt) to give students a world view of Islam. They feature different economic and social environments to allow students to see different family structures and situations (i.e., nuclear families, orphans, needy people, widows, and interracial families). Each book features: - Quran and hadith references - Highlighted vocabulary - Review section at the end of each lesson - Illustrations (no animals or human beings) - Glossary of Arabic terms These short stories feature five-year-old twins, Muhammad and Maryam, as they learn about tawheed (the oneness and unique nature of Allah). This is Part 1 of two parts in the series.
A school of psychology concerned largely with emergent Gestalt phenomena in perception. Its forerunners were the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), the Austrian physicist, philosopher, and psychologist Ernst Mach (1838–1916), and especially the German philosopher Christian von Ehrenfels (1859–1932), but the emergence of the school is usually traced to 1912 and the publication of a seminal article on apparent movement by the German psychologist Max Wertheimer (1880–1943). The school was transplanted to the US with the rise of Nazism in Germany, as Wertheimer emigrated there together with the other founding German psychologists Kurt Koffka (1886–1941), Wolfgang Köhler (1887–1967), and Kurt Lewin (1890–1947). The cardinal principles of Gestalt psychology are the primary importance in psychology of subjective experience and of its forms and structures, and a rejection of elementalism. See also appurtenance, Bender Gestalt Test, bundle hypothesis, field effect, Gestaltqualität, good Gestalt, grouping law, Höffding step, isomorphism (3), Korte's laws, levelling (1), member, membership character, perceptual constancy, Prägnanz, precision law, symmetry law, Ternus phenomenon, trait centrality. Subjects: medicine and health — psychology.
- Muscular paralysis - Puncture wound to the torso (affecting ability of diaphragm to create respiratory movement) - Changes to the oxygen-absorbing tissues - Persistence of laryngospasm when immersed in fluid - Prolonged exposure to a gas that displaces oxygen from the lungs (e.g. methane) - Overdose of solute free water which leads to hyponatremia and swelling in the brain - Holding one's breath (Apnea) The person may effectively drown without any sort of liquid. In cases of dry drowning in which the victim was immersed, very little fluid is aspirated into the lungs. The laryngospasm reflex essentially causes asphyxiation and neurogenic pulmonary edema (œdema). In normal breathing, the diaphragm contracts, causing the lungs to expand (lungs are above the diaphragm). This expansion draws air into the lungs by generating a negative pressure or vacuum. Air first travels through the rigid larynx and upper airways before filling the inflatable alveoli in the lungs. When water or other foreign bodies are inhaled, laryngospasm occurs and the person's larynx spasms shut. As a result, the vacuum created by the diaphragm cannot be filled by the inrush of air into the lungs, and the vacuum persists. In an attempt to force air in through the spasmed larynx, the person may breathe deeper and with more effort, but this only increases the vacuum's force inside the chest. The obstruction to the inflow of oxygen causes hypoxia, and the obstruction to the outflow of carbon dioxide causes acidosis, both resulting in death. In addition, a multifactorial form of pulmonary edema is produced. The heart continues to beat normally during this time, and blood continues to circulate, though pulmonary oxygen and carbon dioxide gas exchange is markedly reduced. The volume of blood in the pulmonary circulation increases, by pulling in more blood from the abdomen, head, arms and legs; abnormally large volumes of this blood enter the pulmonary circulation via the superior and inferior vena cavae (great veins) in response to the persistent partial vacuum. From the vena cavae, the increased blood volume flows through the right atrium and into the right ventricle. The blood volume is great enough to stretch out the ventricle, similar to water entering a balloon. The ventricle typically responds to this increased volume of blood by contracting and pumping with increased strength—a phenomenon known as the Frank–Starling mechanism. On being ejected from the right ventricle, the blood is forced into the pulmonary artery and then to the pulmonary circulation. In the lungs, the nature of the vasculature changes. The vessels that carry deoxygenated blood (the pulmonary arteries) to the lungs become extremely narrow—narrow enough that red blood cells have to pass through in single file. The walls of the vasculature also become extremely thin to allow oxygen to enter the red blood cells and carbon dioxide to leave. In the case of dry drowning, however, there is no oxygen available in the lungs; there is only a partial vacuum. This partial vacuum draws some of the fluid from the vasculature and into the airspaces of the lungs, creating pulmonary edema, and the patient is now drowning in their own fluids. At the same time, the sympathetic nervous system responds to the emergency of the closed larynx. Among other things, it constricts much of the body's vasculature. This vasoconstriction increases the blood pressure against which the left ventricle must pump, and may cause enough backpressure to ripple back through the left ventricle, into the left atrium, and into the pulmonary vasculature. This additional pressure on the blood in the lungs' blood vessels exacerbates the edema described above. Additionally, the actions of the sympathetic nervous system can damage the lungs' vasculature, allowing even more fluid to escape into the lungs' airspaces. Misnomer in media Dry drowning was cast into the media spotlight in June 2008 after the death of a 10-year-old boy in South Carolina several hours after swimming. In this case, "dry drowning" may have been a misnomer, however. The incident described by the boy's mother did relate an episode of forceful apnea that would have indicated laryngospasm and therefore dry drowning. What is clear is that this boy's death involved the delayed effects of an injury suffered by his lungs while in the swimming pool. Typically, dry drowning involves laryngospasm and immediate hypoxia and death, not delayed pulmonary edema. Theoretically, it is possible that the negative inspiratory forces of the diaphragm against the closed upper airway in laryngospasm could cause enough barotrauma to trigger alveolar injury and pulmonary edema. In this case of barotrauma, the dry-drowning survivor could suffer laryngospasm too brief to cause death, but long enough to cause delayed pulmonary edema and death several hours later. This phenomenon would be similar to the delayed pulmonary edema of a "wet drowning" victim, however, and therefore fairly impossible to distinguish. It is unclear as to why the media labeled the 10-year-old's death a case of "dry drowning" rather than a "secondary drowning" or "delayed-submersion injury."[original research?] - Splitting of S2 (heart sounds) in which the normal changing intrathoracic (inside the chest) pressures of breathing influence the timing of events in the heart. - Circulatory system - O'Leary, R.; McKinlay, J. (2011). "Neurogenic pulmonary oedema". Continuing Education in Anaesthesia, Critical Care & Pain 11 (3): 87–92. doi:10.1093/bjaceaccp/mkr006. - Auerbach, edited by Paul S. (1995). "Wilderness medicine". Wilderness and Environmental Medicine (St. Louis: Mosby) 18 (3): 1214–1219. doi:10.1580/1080-6032(2007)18[232a:BR]2.0.CO;2. ISBN 0-8016-7044-6. OCLC 30516725.

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